Splitting aMid the Night

by Toraka

Rating: teen
Tags: Sex, Twilight Sparkle, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Romance, Original Character
Length: 192555

The everyday life of a schizophrenic, fighting school, demons from within, and love. Midnight is just another normal pony, right?

The everyday life of a schizophrenic, fighting school, demons from within, and love. Midnight is just another normal pony, right?

Twilight x OC though focused more on the OC than the actual romance. There's the door. Thank you.
Now that those people are gone, what else is there to say. This is the story of Midnight, a normal pony with one small problem and many big ones. This is how she struggles, whatever the outcome, with demons from the past, herself from the present, and destiny from the future.

Part of the Timeshift Project.

I should probably mention, ignores pretty much everything after season 2, and large portions of that as well.

Published 2012-06-25 05:24:02 UTC
Last updated 2015-03-12 22:50:24 UTC

Chapter 2

"Miss Midnight, correct?"

"Correct." This was it. Midnight's life depended on the outcome of this exam. She was, despite her best efforts, more than a bit nervous. Her eyes darted across the room, once again scanning its features. It hadn't changed since the last time she had looked. She was still standing on tiled flooring. Behind her still was a chalkboard next to two of the three windows, in front of her an elevation with lined up full with chairs. In the top row of those, three examiners sat, looking down at her.

"Before we start, some information," continued the middle examiner. One of his eyes remained on his clipboard while the other looked past it at Midnight. "This quick practical exam is going to determine whether or not you have the talent required to join Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. There is no need to be nervous, we won't expect perfection out of you. Your best will suffice. After all, most ponies your age do not even have their cutie marks."

She ran a one of her purple hooves through her night blue mane. "Heh, yeah, got mine early."

"Two years ago already. Remarkable." Though his words were standard issue, the examiner seemed impressed. At least one thing was special about her. The one thing she wished could be normal as well.

Why did he have to bring that up? Seems they didn't tell him how I got it, Midnight thought.

You cannot outrun memories. Why do you try? Stand up to them or be consumed. Midnight knew the voice within her, even if all details were unknown. For the past two years, she had had no rest from it. It insisted on being a part of her, but she could not believe that; She refused to be connected to such cruelty. Without it, she could long since have forgotten the darkness within her mind. A chance for blissful ignorance would be enough reason to get rid of it, if she could. Who could claim right in denying peace to anypony, especially her?

"You will perform a range of basic everyday magic, including telekinesis, magical alteration and teleportation. When you have completed all that is requested, your performance will be judged to decide if you belong into this school. Any questions?"

They want to see that spell out of you. Glory awaits.

Midnight had to restrain herself in order not to scream out for the voice to stop. "N-no."

"Very well." He leafed through the pages on his clipboard. The other examiners' unmoving silence was unnerving at best. "We were informed your cutie mark represents a talent for teleportation, as well as medical services. Let's start with what you know best."

"Um, okay. What's first?"

"Teleportation." His horn flashed up with emerald energy. Out of the corner of her vision, Midnight saw the floor resonate with the same glow. "If you inspect the floor, you will notice there are hoofmarkings spread around it. Try to teleport on top of one group of them."

Midnight nodded and concentrated. Her spell was simple, but still took an effort out of her to cast. It was surprising that she managed it most of the time, as well as that she suffered through its effects. First came the loss of all senses. Then a feeling of suffocation in the airless void. Finally the brief pull of infinity, clawing stronger each time. Then everything returned as half a second of travel time had passed. She opened her eyes; There were no markings anywhere near her. She had thought she had better accuracy, she had to have.

She searched the room. How could she be that far off? She made a step forward, only then realising her mistake. Time accelerated back up to normal speed as her heart beat for the second time after casting. She had hit her mark to the spot. The markings had simply been hidden below her hooves.

"Good." He pointed to in front of Midnight and to her side. "There are two more groups. Try to repeat your accuracy with those."

Midnight nodded again, motivated by her first success. One flash. She was standing across the room, once again spot on. Another one. She was now by the window. A third flash. She was back at her starting position.

"Remarkable, even for it being your special talent." Three levitated feathers scribbled onto their clipboards. "Move between the spots as quickly as you can now. You don't have to keep up your accuracy, it's about speed. Keep in mind though, your safety is our top priority. If you're feeling uncertain, quit casting immediately."

A confident grin grew on Midnight's face. She had never had any difficulties with speed nor repeating the spell. She wouldn't now. Her frequency at jumping through the room proved it.

Trained in speed? You would need it. Perhaps you should have earlier.

Memories of a darker day came flooding back. Midnight gasped as she tried to fight them back. Though she was successful, her concentration was broken and she had to watch herself weave a spell to completion.

She had finished the spell without error, she knew that much. However, it was hard to celebrate once she noticed the lack of ground beneath her hooves. Without wings, wild flailing was the best she could muster to slow her fall. Gravity ignored her pleas and sent her hurtling back down. Her fall stopped a split second later with a far softer impact than expected. Her feeling of luck diminished a bit when she realised what had stopped her fall; Beneath her was a squirming mass of pony just as overwhelmed by the situation as she was.

The examinator allowed her to hop off, apologies falling faster than rain, before picking himself up off the ground. "Everything's alright, Midnight. You have just learned on of the most important lessons we could teach you: 'Never let anything break your concentration while casting'. Go back down and we will continue." If the other examinators had even reacted to her missed teleportation, they hid it well. As she trotted down the steps besides the seats, she began to wonder if they might be only statues after all. She drove the thought out of her mind to focus on what was important. Once she was there, he continued, "Next task, alteration! On the table, you'll find an incredibly tacky teddy bear. I did not choose it as your object for alteration, just to be clear. Do something with it. Yellow paint, perhaps?"

Her previous accident was already as good as forgotten when she laid eyes on the mentioned bear. It was nothing out of the ordinary, with its brown fur broken up only by lighter brown patches on its paws. It could have – and probably had – come straight from one of Canterlot's many toy stores. The given task was tricky, but manageable. She didn't know what else she had expected. In fact, she already knew a way she could solve it.

We despise tack, and you know that. Would you not rather it carry a more complex symbol? One we already know?

Midnight felt only a slight lifting sensation which she tried to ignore in favour of casting. As long as she could stay focused, there was no reason to be concerned. She ran into such antics a few times a day, but they had never led to any harm. She could only hope it would stay that way.

No matter how much she wanted it to however, her mind refused to stay empty. One after another, images trickled in. Memories she had hoped to have lost returned. As they did, Midnight felt them trickling into her spell, powerless to act against them. Her body finished the spell as instructed while her mind watched from afar. She hardly dared to look as she only confirmed what she already knew.

The bear hadn't changed colour. Rather, deep gushes had appeared in its sides and stomach, with blood still shooting forth from them. Midnight barely registered the liquid dousing her; She knew the bear was only a symbol, an allegory. She still knew the blood belonged to her own kin, her own mother. She still saw herself kneeling over the body that had actually suffered those injuries. Still she felt its pulse becoming slower by the second. If only she had been faster, better. None of it would have happened. She would not have died at Midnight's hooves.

A jab into her side brought Midnight back into reality. She opened her eyes, but the battle inside of her continued. Perhaps it was even reinforced by seeing the cursed object again.

Why can't the past rest? There is enough pain there even without reiteration. I refuse to be a part of that. Why do you put me through it? Why would anyone?

You are a part of it, because I am a part of you. Without a past, what makes the future? Confront yourself or lose control. How would you wish to see the world if you crumble at your own creations? You are weak.

No. You do not belong with me. None of this does. The past is dead and buried. Staying with it only shows weakness to let it go. It shows cruelty so intense that it is even turned against yourself, with no thought to what it would do to others. Even if you are only a parasite hosted within me, there is always a way out. I have had enough of you.

Do not be ridiculous. You are a mindless slave to me.

A slave? One with the power to control its master? This is my world. You will follow my rules. This ends now.

What? How can this be?

"Leave." The last word escaped into reality. It did not matter. She knew it held power regardless.

The examiners pulled her up to her hooves. "Miss Midnight, are you alright? We were about to call emergency help. What caused your spell to malfunction like that? You didn't plan it to turn out like that, were you?" At least they had moved from their seats.

"No, no, I didn't. I... No mention." She turned her head towards the stuffed animal that was still dripping with blood. Its effect on her was completely gone. With a brief flash of her horn but no words, she dispelled the illusions and turned it yellow.

"If you are feeling unwell, we can stop here and allow you to rest. You have more than proven yourself already." Now that they knew she was not hurt, the examiners were back in their stone still poses. Were they filling out reports about her exam or about her condition? "Are you sure that you don't require aid? Your twitchings spoke a different language than you do now."

"I'm fine." A brief shudder ran through her; She warded off his attempts to catch her again. "Although that's probably a good idea, thank you for the offer." She felt blank. There was nothing. No fear. No anxiety. She did not even feel the sun's warmth on her. It had to be the adrenaline, she thought. All of her muscles still shook from what she had shaken off just moments ago.

Memories. How much she hated them. Mental images, not real for even the strongest of mind. Midnight understood the importance of being able to remember thing and events. Her life would have little sense if she would just forget everything from one day to the next.

Still, there were times when she wanted nothing more than the ability to erase what images had been burning in her mind for years and years. Times when she couldn't sleep and would meditate on her life. Meditate. Remember. Relive. Sometimes, she would lose focus and drift into something below consciousness, but above sleep. Each time she did, she prayed for something to come and rip her from her trance. There was no way out other than finishing or being rescued. Nopony ever came, not that deep in the night.

Thus she always dreamt to the end, always the same memory. The one she wanted the least yet remembered the best: The night of her cutie mark.

Eventually, Midnight had decided not to cower in fear any more, but to fight back. Others would call her method of fighting running away. It was fleeing in a way, and fighting in another. When delving deep into psychological theory, what difference was there between the two? The nightmares had stopped, then who cared about the means she had used? Of course it was not right to try and suppress such an integral part of her. Just when she had thought herself safe to reap the benefits of her own mutilation, the voice from beyond had manifested. As much as she had ignored it, it had made a very clear point about her past. Now its last moments refused to leave her alone. It did not matter. It was gone. She was alone at last.

She was alone. Nopony was attacking her any more when she was defenseless. She had made sure to leave no opening to the nightmares, or any dreams at all. Now pure darkness blanketed her sleep for the few seconds until she awoke again. Midnight ran a hoof through her mane. So much time had passed and still everything haunted her with reality's clarity. She had tried everything. The blue, she concluded. She had to get rid of it. She couldn't explain why, but Midnight felt that her pure blue mane bound her to her past. She would get no rest from the pain while it remained as it was.

Those who forget their past are doomed to repeat it. That's what she said, isn't it. What I thought. I don't even know any more. Mother... I don't care. There is no lesson in what she forced onto me. Nothing to learn, nothing but pain.

Before she could pursue that thought further, sleep finally overtook her. The atrocities of the world faded as she drifted off into her few moments of sensationless sleep. For a timeless moment, she found peace.

Chapter 3

"Good morning class. I know, holidays are soon, and you won't concentrate as hard as I may like you to. So today, we will repeat some easy things. We will start alteration, so we may continue going deeper into the field after the break."

Half of Midnight was present to listen. Half of her was pondering the secrets of the world in general and the effect of strapping rocket boosters to a squirrel in particular. She had a tendency to come to class early, then pass the time with whatever crossed her mind. An interesting thought could then let her phase out until she was oblivious to the world around her. The teacher noticed, but he did not hold it against her. He knew she had reasons and no malicious intent. He had been there for her, from her entry exam onwards. He knew what had happened to her. Whatever else troubled her, she could bring to him for advice. He was amazed that she had even kept her mind throughout it all. He expected that she felt the same, though she would never admit it. Any sentiments would only distract from work.

"To break the ice, everypony should receive a bear. Give me a holler if I missed you out. Do something with that teddy. A simple change, like color. I'll assign you more tasks when you're done."

When the object dropped onto her desk, she dropped out of concentration at last. It was just another ordinary teddy bear, the type that stacked in dozens in the school's storage rooms. "It's been a long time," whispered Midnight. "So the past does repeat." A touch of magic brought forth a trickle of blood from the bear's paw. As she watched, resonance lured a tiny tear out of her.

By the time that he arrived back at her desk at the front, the blood already ran off the desk's edge where it faded into insubstantiality. "Do you want me to get you a different object? There should be some around, some with less history." Without saying a word, Midnight closed her eyes, wiped herself clean, and transformed the bear into the shape of a baby dragon. The illusion spell on it had long since dissipated. "You know, some unicorns double your age couldn't do that."

"Odd. This spell took me only five hours of training. That was unusually short. I expected it would be just as easy for anypony else." Midnight brushed a bit of mane out of her face with the same spell that threw the stuffed animal back to the front. "I'm not special."

"You are. Certainly a lot more than others." He spoke in low voice even though the rest of the class was distracted getting their own magic to work.

"I work hard. Perhaps they don't." Midnight made no effort to mask her speech. Who would overhear, and why should she care?

His magic picked up the baby dragon from the floor and set it straight on his desk. "I can believe that you do, but to what end? Why would a medic like you need to master transmutation? One who, like you, has already mastered her craft where it matters?" Her eyes faded away to other areas as he talked. Eventually, her face fell into an implied frown. "Did I hit any sensitive areas?"

"It's starting to rain." As she paused, the room was filled with only an occasional tap of rain against the window. "I hate getting wet."

Despite the upcoming holidays, not every teacher was content with easing up the program as her favorite teacher had; In combat training, anypony showing a moment of distraction would be brought back into discipline with a merciless jolt fired into the flank. Their ancient runes and history teacher, not to be outdone, had found no better time to schedule an exam than that day.

Bonus question time. 'In the time before everypony was unified, not every race even had written language. Which of the three sorts do you think first had writing, and why? Race 1pt, Explanation 5pts' That's easy.

As such, pegasi only slowly moved away from the savage body language their omnivore ancestors had used. It was not until trade with the unicorns flourished that they picked up writing.

This leaves us with unicorns and earth ponies. While many unicorns like to consider themselves extra sophisticated and all that, they tend to forget that the early unicorn race simply had no reason to communicate by any means other than direct conversation or magic. Surely, magic can be used to draw runes or writing in the air. But it wasn't then. For our unicorn ancestors, there were three ways to send a message with magic.

First, telepathy. This is a fairly hard piece of work simply to receive, but even harder to send with. The only practical use was if both sender and receiver would form a passage between their minds, which required precise timing. Also, it was rather short ranged.

Second, recordings of voice, sent imbued into a bubble of magic, which would float to the receiver and give out its message when popped. This was also not effective on any distances longer than two or three miles.

Lastly, there was the point-and-show approach, creating ethereal copies of existing or imagined objects. This was great for sending designs to a blacksmith, for example, and not unlike sending letters today.

Surely, none of these methods were perfect. One must keep in mind though, that unicorns, even more than today, kept themselves locked away in castles among their own. This eliminated the need for long ranged methods of detailed communication. When keeps needed to send a message from one to another, they would light signal fires, which would be answered by sending messengers.

Thus, both by elimination and logical derivation, we can conclude that it have most likely been earth ponies who invented writing. While the weather was mostly dependent on pegasi, they needed some sort of calendar to time their farming duties.

Midnight looked through the pages again, looking for any blank spaces or mistakes. She found none.

Everypony was back in their seats. She was a bit early, though. So she just floated her exam over to the teacher's desk and prepared for another twenty minutes of meditation. Sandhicc looked up from his work at the sound of pages rustling to see Midnight look back at him with a sly grin. She wasn't always the best student one could wish for, but she always came darn prepared for exams.

"Of course. Hadn't expected otherwise from you," he whispered at her. Then, he lifted his voice for everypony else to hear, "Twenty more minutes. Watch the time, sign your paper. Seeing as this is your last lesson, I'm giving you the second half off. Would only be twenty-five minutes anyway, too short."

He gave a confirming nod in Midnight's direction. She got the hint and packed up her things in order to leave.

Now that that's done, what? He won't expect me back for maybe an hour. Are the school gardens still open? Not like I cared about rain, either way. I know a spot that would take me right now. The sun's warmth is all I need. Yeah, the sun on a day of rain. Lovely idea, self. Still it's probably the best idea. We'll see what results. Oh hey, rainbow. Really big rainbow. That shines bright without light and sparkles brighter yet. Maybe it'll go away if I just ignore it and blame everything on magic.

It was dark, but she had no trouble seeing the red. It was all over her tiny hooves. All over her. "Midnight... forgive me." No breath followed after that last exhale of words.

A gentle nudge in her side. Incomprehensible sounds. Another not so gentle nudge in her side. "Midnight? Excuse me, were you sleeping?"

She opened her eyes to see who it was. Little Zeddie, one of her friends, in a way her saviour. After blinking a few times, she could refocus her senses and make out the grass that had served as her cushion, the tree that had somewhat shielded her from the rain. Looking over his shoulder, Canterlot's many houses and spires still stood unfazed by the weather. "I'm alright. Figured I'd sneak in a nap that he doesn't need to know about."

"In the rain when no one knows where you are, for half an hour now?" He pointed to the closest clock tower. She had been out longer than she had expected, though not long enough to cause worries at home.

The wind had picked up and blew raindrops into her face faster and stronger. She found herself slightly chilled. In more than one way, she was grateful that Zeddie had found and awoken her. As she rose, he tried to help her pat dirt and mud out of her coat. However, he found himself blocked off as soon as she had a leg to spare. "We talked about it; I don't enjoy physical contact for reasons you should know. Just gotta grab my stuff and I'm off." She reached to grab her saddlebags from under the closest bench where she had left them. Her magic gripped only air though; They simply were not there.

"Got 'em already!" said Zeddie, lowering the saddlebags onto her and fastening them before releasing his magic's grip on them.

"Thanks, Zed." As they walked out of the garden, she had time to inspect him once more. He did not look too bad, actually. "You're decent enough."

Already I'm getting such thoughts? No, this isn't true. It can't be. Midnight does not date. He does look like someone who could make a lucky mare quite happy, though. They say he's more photogenic than any other colt. Maybe I'm just slow to catch on.

"Somepony's in love, eh?" He had taken a few steps of a lead on her. She had no chance to read his expression, if there was one.

Midnight collected herself to the best of her ability before speaking to let out no hints. "What do you mean?"

He pointed a hoof towards the sky. "The pegasus that created this rainbow. They don't sparkle like that unless there's some really heavy joy in her heart. I mean, we all heard what noise when it was made."

Noise? Act like you know what he means. Well, that thing is still there. I wonder if pegasi can do other things than clutter up the sky for everypony else.

Chapter 4

Under chase, yet again. Midnight grew tired in body and mind. She had to have been running for hours now without ever leaving the dense forest. It had started with simple underwood snakes but scaled up as she went. She dashed out into a small clearing that seemed safe at first glance. Looking back as she caught a breath, the pythons did not follow her. Moments later, she spun around as she heard trees crashing down behind her, coming face to fang with an asp's head larger than she.

"Oh really. Twenty foot snakes weren't enough, how about two-hundred foot ones. What's next?" she murmured as it slid further into the clearing. While it could devour her with a single bite, it still tongued the air as though it was uncertain where she stood. Once it had found her, it reared backwards. Another head came into sight. "Of course it has two," she breathed. The asp's body was not long enough to encircle the whole clearing, but the bit it had left empty was covered by an impenetrable wall of trees. There was nowhere left to run, nopony to save her. "Bite already!" she shouted. "No idea how you manage to live with two heads, but it's hard to question facts."

She laid down and closed her eyes. Her end could not be far. She deserved it to be this way. However, the final bite refused to come. She looked back up just in time to see the asp cough and shatter into fragments from the heads down.

Seems I broke it.

Darkness, replaced with light bit by bit. Midnight's eyes opened against her will and the rest of her body followed. It screamed at her, saying that six hours of nightmares were not enough rest. It said that she still had time to catch some more. She ignored it, jumped off the bed, and sat in front of the mirror. It had once been a gift for her when she had been but a filly; Still her reflection failed to fill it even while standing. A brush floated by to order and form her pink mane.

She knew it was not supposed to be pink. She had needed an object for a new form of low-powered illusion spell and her own hair had been the most convenient at that time. Once the colour shift had been applied, she had seen no reason to break the spell. Now her mane and tail were almost magenta, far superior as she found. Her eyes ran into the mirror and across the room.

There was the desk accompanied by the semi-filled bookshelf. There was the window carved into the wall, leading to a small balcony outside. Then came her bed. To her right was the door, above which a simple clock hung on the deep blue walls. Seeing the Daring Do sheets draped onto her bed always made Midnight smile from the innocent infancy of at least something in her life. When the rest of her foalhood had been robbed from her, at least her sleep was covered in purity.

Better than to dream of Mother again. Those sheets were some of her last gifts to me. Why did I keep them of all things? I was not careful with the rest either, was I. Dead and buried, Midnight. Dead...

Midnight found the brush sliding back and forth on the same strand of hair. She did not want to weep, not again already. She resorted to what she had always found best to calm herself down; Reciting book passages.

Confronted with a Sandmare, stay calm and inspect the world around you. They will attempt to break your mind with everlasting nightmares, but are unable to create a perfect world. Somewhere, there is always at least one obvious flaw of logic. Chase it down, and their illusions will fall apart. Defense Against the Common Monsters of the World, chapter three, Mind Tricksters. Buried.

She was not used to dreaming, of her mother or of other things. Were her nightmares an indication of stress or something else coming, something bigger? Certainly not, she was overstating things. If necessary, she was stronger than ever before. Nothing could touch her with her weaknesses shed.

Buried. 'Confront your fears, for else they grow into nightmares. Cure your nightmares, for else they grow into phobias.' Keeping a Clear Mind for Dummies.

It did not help. Midnight was nervous about what was going on inside her. She fixated her eyes back in the mirror. Perhaps she should try a shorter mane style as she had always been told to. Then again, with how long it was, she always had a shelter from awkward moments.

Foolish thinking.

Deep inside, Midnight knew she despised mirrors. As much as they showed only the current truth, she saw only meat whenever she looked into one. Worthless meat incapable of bare standards, meat with no further hopes of ascension. She and mirrors lived in a symbiotic relationship. They did not show her the useless mortal being she was unless she accidentally looked at them and Midnight did not smash in every one she saw.

What is beyond, but Mother? Buried, Midnight. I'm not getting anywhere with this, might as well go downstairs.

Her body noticed that she was not going back to bed, so it made sure to let her feel its displeasure. By the time she slumped to the kitchen table, she was at least technically conscious. Her father was already there to welcome her into the day with breakfast as always.

"Good morning!" he greeted her, as always.

The blinds on the window were down. Midnight tried and failed to reach the string from her seat. A few seconds later, she remembered her gift of magic and raised the blinds. She blinked a few times at the sight of the outside world; The mess that it showed did not change. She sighed and rested her head on the table. Her father turned around and joined her, bringing along meaningless food.

"Something particular getting you down again?" he asked.

"Nope." She tried to straighten up and eat, but could not manage a stable form. "Nothing particular."

"Daylight?" He indulged himself in his coffee, but she knew he had seen her flinch at the name. "You could at least admit you still miss her. It would be the first step to take."

"Dead and buried. I have it under control. To what end, anyway? So that I can go back to crying myself to sleep as I did for months after?" She forced herself to eat when her sense of hunger returned.

He took her hoof into his own, making her almost choke on her food. "You still do. That is what worries me. I want to know my little Midnight remains safe as I promised to Daylight." He released her when she made the smallest attempt to escape his grasp. "You are more than any of the others, you know that."

"I will be safe." She turned her gaze back to the window. "If I manage it through the rain. Might be another day for teleporting to school."

Chapter 5

Midnight ran, as fast as her little legs could carry her. It was still too slow. Her lungs burned and her legs cramped. She wanted to keep going, but could not make herself. There was no power left in her to run. More and more of her surroundings were consumed by the encroaching darkness until only the floor was still visible. If she wanted to be on time, there was only one way. Teleportation. She had been warned many times while practicing the spell on small orbs that it was too dangerous if not exercised until perfection and that she would have to wait until she was older until it was safe. This was a special moment. It did not matter whether she would hit her mark or teleport into a wall, she had to try.

A fragment of Midnight's mind found its way into consciousness. She knew this environment. There would be no paradoxes for her to exploit this time; It had happened exactly that way. Her mind shifted back. Attempt number one. The spell had grasped the air next to her. Attempt number two. The destination was behind her instead of at her goal. Attempt number three. Midnight closed her eyes, swallowed, and concentrated as hard as she could in the state of breathlessness and panic she was in.

It felt right. Midnight took a breath after going through the void of magic and stepped forward. When her hoof touched liquid, her eyes shot open. She was too late.

Pain greeted Midnight back into the world. Her muscles screamed at her despite only just sleeping. Light itself took a moment to arrive, leaving her with only the cold for company. Mere patches of warmth comforted her where the blanket had stayed on her body. She had to have been turning in her sleep again.

The nightmare that had caused it remained in her mind only for a fraction until she cast it out. No matter what her mind had put on her, there was no point in suffering longer than she had already. The first ten years had been enough.

Dead and buried. If only it could be...

She looked into the mirror. The window was still empty except for darkness and a few stars. The sun would not be up for a while, she figured. Of course, it was still the middle of winter, so that did not say much about the actual time. No matter what the time was however, class did not start until a good few hours after the sunrise on Fridays, so Midnight would still be able to squeeze in some more sleep. After careful consideration, she switched on the light and opened her favorite anatomy book. There were better things to do than going back to sleep and dreaming.

Just after the sun had begun descending from its peak, Midnight was already on her way back home. Class never lasted long on Fridays; She was still wondering whether it was a sign of mercy or of laziness from the teachers. Likely, it was both. A classmate accompanied her on her way down the marble stairs. She and many others struggled to remember his true name, so he went by the name of V most of the time.

"Yeaah, Manehattan. Bigger city than Canterlot, and right on the coast as bonus. What will you be doing in the holidays?" said he as they turned off towards their homes.

"I do not really have anything planned. Canterlot is fine." Intuition led her gaze upwards, just in time to see a crate falling from the sky. Perhaps something had launched it from the adjacent house's roof, perhaps it had been dropped by clumsy pegasi. Neither possibility changed how it was speeding towards the ground and thus V.

It was too late to react. She gathered as much magic as she could to push him away, knowing it would not be enough. She may yet be able to make the difference between life and death, at least. Time stopped, then accelerated as she unleashed the blast. By the next heartbeat, impact came. He was still caught, but not buried. For all the resistance it gave, his leg may as well have been a dry twig.

"Nnnh... Midnight?" V blinked up at her as she rolled him onto his back. He had to be in shock, unable to feel the pain yet. "Aaah, what happened?" It had apparently just worn off. Or perhaps he had spotted the pearl white fragments sticking out of his leg.

"Good news and worse news. You could not ask for a better pony than myself right now." Discovering the state of his wound, she bent in closer and wove a spell to stem the bleeding. "However, there is a limit to magic, and mushed bones are far outside of it. So I cannot do much." Looking up, she spotted another classmate leaving the school. "Yo, Zed! Emergency over here!"

Zeddie rushed over to them once called. "Made another patient again?"

"He managed to get hit by a cosmic coincidence. I am reading some heavy fractures here, but nothing else." She took a step backwards while still applying her magic to the wounds. Her mane was just too long for serious work, at least if she wanted to see anything. "Well? Get a call for help out, I cannot carry him there."

Zeddie nodded. "Got it." He ran off.

"Hey, wake up. Are you still conscious down there?" The only response she received was weak wimmering. "Quit it, large foal. You could have it worse; My magic also soothes pain. You can at least talk in exchange for bleeding all over me."

"Everything is pain." He made attempts to move and sit upright, but gave up a moment later. "To quote the raven sitting above us, nevermore with this."

"You pick the funniest times for poetry. I always hated poets though, so quit it." Losing interest due to boredom, Midnight let her eyes wander when her hooves did the same. "Hey look, there actually is a raven. Well, back to the previous topic. Anything specific you wanted to do in the city?"

V collected himself, then returned his focus to her. "Stay in the city a day or two. Afterwards, we would have taken a tour on the Night Sun, drive out into the sea, maybe go a tad south along the coast. The captain said she had something in mind for ponies like us. Whatever that means." He had apparently decided that he would rather rest his head on the cobblestone ground. "What's that noise?"

Midnight took another step away. "Another crate, it seems, this time headed exactly for your head because you have not won the lottery of coincidences yet and, honestly, I am not going to pull you away at risk of myself. Or it could be help arriving."

"We will take him to the hospital from here."

"I am no longer needed then." Midnight blew V a kiss and trotted away. "Goodbye, see you sometime later if you survive! Maybe I'll visit you!"

After leaving everyone behind her, Midnight was halfway home when she noticed flowers sprouting from bare rock into the sky.

Prismatic blooms. It has been too long for you to be dead, has it.

You have honed your skills. As I have improved mine.

Chapter 6

It was bright. Midnight took a moment to adjust to the blinding light. Though it took her vision, it was not uncomfortable; The glow wrapped her in warmth where the city of Canterlot was otherwise cool at best. Today was special. Every day should be with a royal rank like hers, even if it was only acquired and inherited, but none of them would trump this one. She would get to see a flight around the castle, carried by pegasi in a viewing capsule.

She snickered a little at the harness the pegasi had to fit into. They would hardly be able to fly, much less wizz around as they so loved. In many ways, this was a beautiful day coming.

The start was rough, but she had expected no different. Soon the spires of Canterlot were reduced from towering idol to low point of reference, when the ground was almost ouf of sight. The pegasi, and the capsule with them, raced through the very top of the city. They passed the Square of Time. Then a flyby of the royal palace. Then she heard the ropes snap. Midnight fell.

Well.

Why again would I keep you? When your only acts are sowing nightmares?

This was not my doing and you know it. Your mind has tendencies to create such dreams by itself. Get up, there is work to be done.

Bugger-all is there to do. It's holidays.

It is a matter of perspective. Yours is short. You should start with brushies.

But it hurts! And it involves getting up!

Thank the divinity for magic. And me.

Midnight slumped out of bed. The brush was as lazy as always until her spell came to motivate it for work. She was not sure which was more of a miracle; How much of a tangle her mane was after every night, or that it still had not strangulated her. Perhaps the mirror lied to her, making it look worse than it was. She pondered for a moment on whether that was actually possible. Judging by how it felt, she decided it was not. Soon after her mane curtain was restored.

You are not supposed to cheat! It is always foofy by itself!

Not full and airy enough. It took me long enough until I had this. Ten years.

Where you picked up magic of this kind, no one knows. Why you use it when you have no drive of vanity is a larger mystery yet.

Enough of this. It is time to start into the morning!

You are aware it is about half past eleven?

I can teleport in front of the house, directly past him, and appear to enter the house then. Credit where none is due.

A thought of a spell brought her outside. The air was heavy with moisture and depressing thoughts. Despite it, birds still sang in some parts unknown. The clouds just barely allowed seeing the lower parts of the land. A few rays of the sun managed it through to the villages below, whereas the sun was in clear sight from Canterlot. The high city had to retain some privileges, after all. In the clouds, she spotted a few dots; Two or three pegasi were darting between them.

The door proved little resistance. She could pick the lock with a bit of magic, but it was already open either way. As she entered, her father was indulged in a cup of coffee in the kitchen. "I made a promise to protect you," he said after putting the cup down. "Part of it is that I check on my sleeping princess each morning before I go down."

"Canterlot has beautiful sights in the morning." She took water from the kettle, prepared an individual bit of tea, then joined him at the table. "There was little time to have them."

"Certainly." He chipped a bit of dirt off of her hoof. "It has been a long time. You must be tired."

Do you not feel the pull of the infinite on you?

So this is how pain feels. I should lay off the candy. At least that much of it.

Pitiful.

It is suffering pure.

"Do you intend anything today?" He brought in her cup with the same spell that put his own away.

Knowing that the tea was too hot, instead she focused on opening the window blinds fully. The clouds had been dispersed and the sun fell in. The towers' rooftops sparkled as though it was still summer. At least her beverage gave her some of its warmth, as well as a taste of green. "Nothing of note."

"You have nowhere to go? Nobody to meet?" His magic cleaned some strands of her mane, groomed them, caressed her.

"No. Especially not now. It is still cold. Desolate. Alone." His spell broke with the earliest of her countermagic. He was not putting up any resistance, apparently.

Without magic, he took her into a physical embrace. She accepted it. "You are not alone. You never will be."

"I suppose not. My books will do." She rose and left the kitchen, the cup hovering besides her. As tempting as it was to teleport up the stairs, it would lead to spillage without question. For once, she actually had to climb them.

The labours of a physical existence.

I'll handle my labours when I get them.

Sooner than you may think.

Chapter 7

The leg bone is connected to the hip bone... the hip bone is connected to the spinal chord... the spinal chord is connected to the clavicle...

Where exactly do you get your books?

I do not need them either way. I have enough talent in healing as it is.

I napped through the entire day again?

It is convenient when you do. Not that you missed much.

Substituting social contact with morbid picture books, staying inside all day, and plenty of sulking?

Exactly.

Odd.

The book slammed shut. She had better things to do. As soon as the book was stashed away, the brush came forth and began its work on her mane. It needed more care than she had been giving it. She was in for a longer session. Given how brainless the task was for magic alone, she could use another source of distraction. Unfortunately, she found none.

What would that noise be? Where can it be found?

What, indeed?

Hurry, hurry!

This way? That way? Toward the sound's source...

The rain was not tapping on her window. She knew who was, and what cheap trick he was using in lieu of a proper spell.

Is it for killing time, or...

To the secrets below. Hey, on the ground!

"Yo, Night!" Zeddie called up as soon as she opened the window. There he was, standing in the street, with another few ponies behind him. "The zoo is open for some odd reason. Wanna come?"

"Why exactly would it be open in the middle of winter?" she called back down. Unseen to them, she collected a few useful things in the back of her room. With a bit of luck, her spell was actually grabbing what she thought it was.

"Like it ever gets cold here." He turned his head to the group. There had to have been something she had not heard. "So, what do you say?"

"Sure. I'll be down in a moment." She went back inside and flung her back over her shoulder, then walked downstairs. "Friends outside. Want me to come to the zoo. Then will be back in a few hours."

"Enjoy yourself," said her father without rising from the sofa.

The others were already in front of the door. Since her room was directly above it, that came as little of a surprise. "And what reason would there be to visit it today?"

The group set off. "They have something new and special. I am not sure what, though."

"Tumbling forward on a notion without plan, vision, or care. As always." Her hair was too long. She had hoped to tolerate it for longer, but could not muster the patience. Thus she brushed it back with a hoof and inserted a clip to hold it by spell.

"You look great today," said Zeddie. "More than usual."

"You already saw me thirty seconds ago on the balcony." She paused as she noticed a smudge of blood still on her chest. Apparently, he had not seen it. "Am I that amazing?"

"Certainly." He drifted away from her again.

In ways the whelp cannot fathom.

You are gone longer than you used to.

And shorter. It all ends the same. What matters is the now. Not everyone gets it as you do.

I would certainly hope so.

This seems like a dreadful situation to be stranded.

It is better than the consuming nothingness.

I suppose you are right.

"In this cage, you may see the common Gazorpazorp. You may also not see them because only those born with a special gift can. If the cage is empty, verify they should be visible to you, then please notify our staff and help them localise the Gazorpazorps. None of them have the gift. Hmm, the sign is honest at least." He turned towards the group. "Do you see them?"

"Say, it doesn't look like there is anything."

"Oh? Not there?"

"Not here."

"Not this way."

"Indeed, nowhere."

"Nowhere to be found."

"Was it hidden?"

"Or destroyed?"

"Fools." The air within the cage was different, taking shapes at times and disturbing itself. Like an underwater current, the disturbances ran throughout. "There is something. Look, you can see the shimmer in the air!"

You do not even see properly, do you.

"Fascinating," said somepony.

"I suppose that means we have the gift," replied somepony else.

"Sensing magic is not a miracle. Any decent unicorn can do it." V led them away. For some reason, they all followed.

A mare with long, blonde mane pushed forward. "What about those with an abnormally inactive glandula magicans?"

"That does not exist, Emma," said Midnight. "How exactly magic is generated or bound is unknown. We only know the horn is involved as the end of the process." She felt a magical itch, then sated it by causing Emma's mane to fall over her face. "You are still so adorably unprepared to spells thrown at you."

"Well," replied Emma before falling silent. Midnight was about to inquire when she was poked in the side by simple physical force. "And you have fallen for this at least three times." Both of them shared a giggle.

"Just screw already!" called somepony from behind. After a flash of Emma's horn, a high yelp was the only further sound from that direction.

Midnight could only whistle in admiration. "Where did you pick up that kind of magic? Was that elemental?"

"It was indeed. Apparently it is a simple matter of changing whom you are summoning. Easy." They entered a slightly darker area, indoors. One compound built into the walls was stacked on top of the other and the air humidity was already getting to Midnight. Emma lit small fires that danced around her neck, either to provide light or to keep her dry. "It is not that hard. We should hang out again sometime soon, I could probably teach you a lot of it."

"Ah, I am on duty tomorrow. Dedication, bleh." Midnight stole some of Emma's flame. In her hoof, it was both cool to carry and just warm enough for comfort. She decided to keep her luck together and keep it away from her more sensitive parts, carrying it only as a torch. "Unless you want to come later, when I am done."

She noticed little of the animals all around them, except for the penetrating birdsong. Emma was just too interesting. "At least your job does not involve meditating for multiple hours a day lest the elementals disobey you. I suppose we will see when we meet."

Chapter 8

Arise.

Eternity.

Not quite there, I am afraid. Yet, anyway. You shall be. For now, get up and do your work.

What use is duty without ground?

Midnight climbed out of bed. Somehow, she even managed to escape it onto the cold dust of her carpet floor. She struggled onto her hooves and caught herself in the mirror.

Sweet baby princess.

Arguing on two of those points.

You are sweet too.

There are many things you should see in this picture alone. That you do not is a waste.

Exactly. I should invest in a magical non-hair-mess-up-ing pillow like everyone else seems to have. It seems I am just not the type for hairclips... which makes me regret the fifty I possess.

Clips aside. I suppose it is yet for the better your magic is restrained. You could not handle what I have seen. Do not forget how you appear at work.

Midnight dropped the illusion spell within her mane. She had independently decided she looked better in natural blue, regardless of what she needed to do to continue working at the hospital. Perhaps, with the right brushing, she could give it a little bit of shape. Something outside spooked a few birds to fly past her window, or perhaps they did it through pure malice.

How are there even birds here, now?

They are icebirds.

I think they are kingfishers.

Yes, if you want to call them that. You will want to bind together that mane of yours, as hospital standard demands.

Pft, as if my two feet ever hurt anyone.

Which they did. Or rather they will, if you keep on your path. Timelines can be unsteady. Grab a rubber band already.

Midnight fixated her mane and confirmed with another glance at the mirror that she was perfect beyond alteration. Thus she thought up a spell to bring her one floor down into the kitchen. She was alone there.

I seem to have outrun Dad this time.

Is it not curious how selectively you take other matter with you during teleportation?

Woo, celebration! Victory hot cocoa!

That was an attempt to stimulate your higher brain functions because I depend on those. Clearly it failed. Your father is one room over.

Though the world was no different than any time before, the window clamed Midnight's attention. Something swirled around the spires of Canterlot – snow, perhaps, never reaching the ground. Hardly any clouds accompanied it. The sight off the mountain was clear, while the sun still drew long shadows both in the castle and down in the flats.

That is quite an interesting, though solved matter, by the way. As the caster of such a spell prepares for teleportation, she creates a quantum tunnel momentarily linking herself and what space she wants to occupy. As such, a teleportation spell is for the most part actually a very potent destruction spell, eradicating what matter there is in the target space to prevent an overlap, just before the tunnel collapses into one form. Shaping everything into what needs to be teleported is then just an exercise in willpower, and magical energy depending on the size.

That is what your world believes, then.

What would that mean?

There are places that have outlawed magic of your kind. They see it as threat, an infinite source of pain and death.

They may be right. Good luck pushing such a law at the heart and source of the unicorn population.

They say the castles bore the unicorns. What of the others, then? Where did pegasi originate?

From what I am told, they just appeared throughout the region. They would then cluster in floating or grounded cities to roost.

They did, hm? Your shift is starting. Down it and show some o' your fancy magic.

"Anything new?" asked Midnight as she changed into her work clothes. Even though she was not technically employed, the staff room was always quite empty whenever her shift started. They had allowed her to work alone ages ago. They seemed to have great trust in her abilities. Perhaps that was right.

"Not much changed since your last visit." Spring Heart pointed at the schedule board that was one of the room's only features, besides the coffee machine to refuel medics at work. "Nothing that demands your attention. We dismissed the old Leeroy. Otherwise, no changes."

"Very well. I will do the round then. You keep on what you are currently doing. Warming the sofa, apparently." Midnight went into the corridor to choose her first victim of the day. Without any better criteria, the first door on the left did the job.

Why is everything so white?

So you can see the blood on the walls better and call an exorcist.

That is certainly convenient.

Midnight pushed into the room. The sun came to greet her on the other end, broken into bars by the partially lowered drapes. Beds stood pushed up against either side wall, although only the right one was occupied. The patient history came to her before she reached the bed. She would only need to monitor vital signs and give a bit of medication. That, and change a few bandages. She bent into the closet in the wall. "Oh, where can it be found."

"There she is," said a filly's voice, though Midnight knew it was lying about its age.

"She is indeed," replied a colt's voice of the same tone, lying just the same.

Midnight found what she sought and emerged to take her first actual look around the room. She found the blonde twins on the other side of the bed. "Ren and Lin. What are you two doing here?"

"It is our mother you are treating." The colt pointed to the mare in the bed, where Midnight's magic was already working. She was very bright, to the point where she almost vanished in the sheets just like her children, with only her brown mane to stand out. Her chest was covered in bandages and she was pale even given her white coat. She had to have lost a lot of blood, most of it accidental. She was conscious and in good spirit, but looked glad not to be part of the conversation.

I should read the patient history. Mhm, she came down with a near fatal case of getting squashed. A common thing since pegasi flying everywhere and dropping things were made legal.

Back seven hundred years before you were born?

"Neat coincidence." She turned to the mare. "I will need to take your pulse. Same thing as always." With her consent, Midnight went back to the twins. "We should meet outside of class more, now that school is off."

They are irrelevant. What you are to do does not include them.

They are too cute to ignore.

Creepy is what they are. How are they so small despite being your age? How are they so identical? I swear one of them committed a murder and used the other one's alibi.

You are lucky enough that public decency prevents me from snuggling them.

"We did." Ren, the colt, took his sister into a light hug from the side. She did not resist it, at least.

Melt.

I refuse to believe someone who turns you into such a drooling hugger is not using a curse of some sorts.

"We were there yesterday." Lin completed the hug without taking her blue eyes off of Midnight. "We also met here a few times."

"You do a great impression of bedside dolls. Alright, your mother is fine. I have a job to do elsewhere." Midnight threw the used bandages into the trash and made her exit. Some remote amount of courtesy told her she should do it by hoof rather than spell.

You know, after doing this job for like a year, I am starting to see Spring Heart's point.

The other nurse? She is not much more experienced than you. She chose her own dead end.

Chapter 9

Fascinating. Another perspective.

This is strange.

What, because you usually commit suicide by this time?

Sometimes. Mostly because I do not remember this.

This is a part of your past as I am a part of you.

"There he is. Do you see him?" spoke a figure from outside of Midnight's perception.

She found herself in an opera, watching from a seat not too far back. The lighting was scarce, but still present; The show had not yet begun. "I believe I do." Another shadow formed, up in the high seats.

"Good. I will not be long. Make your way out slowly and cover my exit." Fragments collected into the shape of a unicorn mare, in the seat next to Midnight. Through the darkness, she could not make out much more than the figure's bright coat. Perhaps the memory itself prevented her from seeing any more. Through a burst of golden light, the mare teleported out of the seats, to the corridor besides them.

Midnight had four minutes, at most one more. She would not have time to catch any of the actual play. She sighed and raised a hoof. The attendant's spell took her away. She thanked him and made her way through the doors out of the room. The opera building was quite beautiful once given the proper time. Golden filaments traced and spiraled across the marble walls and pillars supporting them. Each year, another fresco was allegedly added to the wide ceiling. The walls were already covered in paintings, pictures of earlier performances.

One more minute. Midnight helped herself to the purse of one mare that looked even more decadent than the others and kept going. It was her own fault for letting her guard down. Midnight passed the registers when the screams started behind her, from two sources. The night welcomed her outside, as did the mare that walked through the door with her. "An ingenious distraction, to start another panic so they do not realise the real one."

Despite the many torches, magical and otherwise, that burned around them, Midnight could not see farther than her next step. The purse within her magic held a blinding glint. "What to do with this?"

The mare's features rose. Everything else was caught in static. "You may keep the money. Leave the rest. We have no need to be thieves."

A moment of consideration. Midnight emptied the purse and left it on the corner of the opera house's front stairs. "Is this our life?"

"It is mine." Midnight's hooves lost the ground. She was gently set onto the mare's back. "It does not have to be my daughter's."

Midnight woke up fighting for air. She struggled and dropped out of bed. Only then were her lungs satisfied, though she was left coughing with a racing heart.

Feels like I have not breathed the entire night.

You certainly did. A fair amount even.

How much is that from your ethereal perspective?

Enough to avoid long-term effects, if exposure is kept short.

Midnight caught herself at last and worked herself onto her hooves. The weather outside had not changed much since the last morning nor, as the mirror told her, had the state of her mane after sleep. In fact, both had worsened.

What is it today, then?

The door is ringing.

It is indeed. I should prepare for morning visitors.

Less so than you would expect.

Out of the many options for making herself look less horrible, brushing through her mane with all of her might seemed to be the most efficient one. There were a dozen more flaws that Midnight should correct, but she hoped that the visitor would not spot them. She had at most another minute until she would be called. Using it was key.

Are you innocently ignorant or do you just play the part to appease your mind?

Do you know everything?

Factual matter, I do. That is irrelevant. You understand too little.

What is the number I am thinking?

Princess, you should realise how pointless this is when I am within your mind. I can literally read your thought. Your friend will be thinking of the number five, then seven.

I will ask her.

If only you did.

The call came. Midnight teleported into the hallway below. Emma already stood in the open door. "Took you long enough. Were you sleeping again?"

"No, not entirely. We never agreed on a date." Midnight glanced to the side, to the kitchen clock. "Besides, noon time is the only time to get up."

It is horrible when they awaken you at that time, let me tell you.

"You could also have been up for seven hours yet, meditating, speaking to the powers that are. Your room is still in the same place?" Emma pushed past her into the house without invitation, though her father had likely given one. Her mane was pure silk when it brushed into Midnight's chest. She had only a moment to keep her in sight as the stairs swallowed her afterwards. Midnight teleported ahead, back into her room.

I always thought such blonde manes just came with the quality of being pure straw. How does she keep it so groomed?

They keep themselves clean so they look at least presentable when they have to stand in a storm and save the world.

Hm.

She approaches.

Emma came in through the door and sat down on the bed, just next to Midnight. "Arcane ponies as hosts. That is always the same thing, not? Is there any place where you are not before I get there?"

"Not many, no." Without many better things to do, Midnight nibbled on Emma's mane.

You are needed. Stop wasting time.

I knew she used peach shampoo. What a sin.

Midnight snapped out of her fantasy back into reality. "Do you have anything in mind besides failing to teach me elemental magic?"

Emma's ears dropped. "Not much." They came back up as she scanned the room, from the window to the desk to the odd pile of dolls Midnight had kept for some reason. "I am not feeling anything. Is there a fire ward in place here as the law demands?"

"There might be." Midnight tried to recall both whether they had ever had such a spell installed and the standard spell for detecting lingering magic. Neither came to her.

Emma's horn glowed in bright gold for a moment, then waves of the same gold ran through the room and up the walls. "Now there is. You cannot have enough safety in playing with fire."

"You are hopeful," said Midnight. The blinds on the window and balcony door closed at her command. "Arcane magic is far better. You do not have to convince anyone, you just command it and it happens."

"But that would be boring. Come on!" A jolt came down Midnight's spine and forced her onto her hooves. She doubted it was from nature alone. "We both have much to learn!"

"See, it is simple." Emma guided and positioned Midnight's hooves as if they were in any way relevant for spellcasting. "You already know the wind spell. Keep it circling and make the vortex obey you."

"It is getting really hot in here." Midnight tried her best to keep casting without losing focus. She knew opening the window was no option. Sparks were the least that could escape.

This platform is unstable! Act before it becomes disposable!

A moment's notice stretched into eternity. She broke the spell she had been trying to accomplish. Then Midnight fell.

"This one's timeline is abnormal."

Not strange enough. There are always variables.

Darkness, and only a whisper to fill it.

"You believe in her? The weak ones' survival is not strategic!"

She deserves it.

"Very well. Make it happen."

At your command, solstice queen.

"We should have been gentler. I had no idea she was this fragile."

"She is not."

Midnight's eyes opened, knowing that she would still be blind. The light was too much for her. Someone had undone all of the blinds. The sun shone directly onto her. Someone had placed her on her bed. Those two ponies were now bent over her. "Ever implying I am fragile is reason enough for a slapping. Come forth, who committed it." She tried to bend forward to dispense justice, but her own body and her father's hoof taught her to stay down.

"Your dad is awesome! He was here in no time at all and told me what to do before I could even explain it all," swooned Emma. She retreated from the bed. "Do not want to be in the way of medical stuff. You do your thing, sir."

"That is too much respect, Emma. I am afraid you are most likely right." Though he was gentle as always, Midnight felt discomfort from her father's examinations just out of principle. "I feel fine, let me be!"

His hooves arrived at her heart. "I have a doctor's degree, young ladies. I will use it." The light was still too much for her. He did not let her close the blinds, however. They only dropped far enough to put her face into shadow before his interference blocked her spell.

"Yeah, so do I. I am fine." She pulled herself up to sit on the edge of the bed. With a bit of luck and being able to rest her head on his shoulders, she managed to stay up. "Are you disappointed? With what happened?" whispered she.

"I cannot say that. She detailed her entire plan as you were getting ready. It is her role to teach and yours to learn," he returned, just as quiet. He grasped her chest in some form of hug and brought her back onto her hooves. "If you are done setting things on fire, the view off the mountain is awesome today. In case one of you likes quiet contemplation, or to share it."

Oh you are the devil after all.

Stealing my job, he is!

Chapter 10

A defiant light, blocked only by stubborn eyelids. A distant scent of flowers, completely unknown. Comfort, far from the crumbled mess of sheets that she knew. Most of all, breath – another pony, spreading warmth, wings wrapped around her. Solace, undeserved.

No! This is not your destiny!

Nh. Have I been up for hours now?

Certainly not conscious.

Midnight turned to face the wall, curled up to keep any warmth she had. The day could wait for her.

I saw a world much brighter than this one. One without my isolation.

At least get upright, would you kindly? Your body produces enough heat by itself.

Midnight climbed, out of the blankets, into sitting on the bed's edge. As she glanced into the mirror, her own reflection doubled. Then reality followed suit. Though she sat on the bed a second time, that copy made no bends into the fabric.

This is you then.

Also a part of you. Others would be at least surprised.

After I have seen the worst of the world, what more is there to see? When even affection is denied?

You are not yet alone, princess.

Her copy's – Noon's – horn shone and carried the brush towards them. She carried it through Midnight's mane when her own hooves were lazy to move.

There is too much beauty in you to let it hide away.

Midnight endured the treatment. She accepted it.

What value has beauty?

Enough, at least. You know you carry charm still.

Charm, without compassion? Without affection? What joy is there?

Love lends itself to those who choose to embrace it.

Or are forced into it. Who would be the target? One from my class? Emma? Goddess knows I never meet anyone else in the castle.

Perhaps. Times will come when your mind becomes forsaken, without a body to support it, when you would wish only for those physical pleasures you deny now.

How are you so certain? There is no afterlife.

Midnight looked to her copy. The copy looked back.

Death is different than you think it to be. I am the forbidden, the knowledge you refuse to have. The infinite holds much more, more than you wanted to comprehend if you could.

I should get up. Do... something. Who would know what.

You should not be here today. Visit another place. Far away.

What would it be? Danger? Calamity? Where to? Away from the castle, into the peasant valley below? There where the weather is still uncontrolled? I would not even have the funds to fuel a travel worthwhile.

Fate strings differently. You will not remain.

How late is it even? Ten?

The clock had to be lying. Midnight dashed to the window to make sure of that, but she caught the mail pony just leaving. Perhaps it could be true.

Was this your doing? I deserved more sleep.

Not entirely. Your future demands that you exit four seconds from now.

Midnight set down the brush and left the room. Before she could reach the stairs, she ran into her father. After dusting off and helping her up, he said, "It is early."

"Not a statement I expected out of you," she replied. "What is it? Do not tell me you changed the hallway paintings again!" Midnight looked over his shoulder. She could swear the picture of a violin-playing clown had changed since she had last seen it.

"As a matter of fact, I did. Last month. You do not like using stairs, do you." He turned back around and led her downstairs.

After some quick contemplation, she teleported down instead of putting herself at risk and walking. "Stairs killed my family."

"Uhm, certainly." Down in the office – some would call it a living room table full of paper – one of the stacks was much more in order than the others. It had to be something important. "The office wants me to travel to the coast for a few days, expenses paid. You could come along."

This is where destiny changes?

Fate, not destiny. That much is constant. He could have left without you, had you slept longer.

"When?" She walked past him and tried to find the answer on her own. The papers gave up little, though; They lacked the immaculate organisation of patient sheets. "You know I have shift on Thursday."

"From today, for some time. Until the job is done. Three or four days." His magic pulled forth a note giving all the details. To make the insult worse, it had been on top of the stack. "Your magic has become stronger, correct? You could return here on your own."

"Yes, I could. It would take a lot of power though. Too much to let me return within reasonable time." Her eyes ran down the note. They would have some lovely conditions, if they left soon. All of it would be on someone else's money.

Is this my destiny?

Do you not love him enough?

Yes.

"It could be done." She put the note back into its place. "I do not have many plans either way."

"We will use the train in two hours. Pack light." He scooped together a few papers and set them into a binder, then vanished in a flash.

Amateur.

He taught you that spell.

And I perfected it. He bleeds so much energy while using it.

Tuned it for efficiency. Increased speed. It became something more.

Grow and improve. That is the goal of all existence.

Midnight disappeared as well.

You stopped growing three years ago, did you not?

Two and a half.

What wears the body galvanises the soul.

What joy is there in boredom?

"I could literally walk that distance faster than this thing is driving." Midnight leaned against the window. The train gave another kick. She could swear it had slowed down yet again. The land outside refused to change, even though they had been going for two hours already.

Her father sat upright with all legs drawn in and eyes closed. He almost looked to be meditating. "You are looking at it wrong. You see it as wearing your body against time, but it is an opportunity to galvanise your soul."

Once upon a time, Midnight had learned to meditate, in some odd class together with her mother. She had never seen the use of it. She breathed through and tried to concentrate on the nothingness.

Cute. You are so much more. Focus for a moment on what is, what you could become.

Midnight's eyes were forced shut yet, after a moment, she saw more than ever. Galaxies passed and rose as matter broke down, a tiny platform in a stream of pure energy. It called. It wanted to be used, controlled, ruled. Reality itself would bend, not to mention space and time. On top of it all, just a silhouette from the power she used, was Midnight herself.

A gasp, a struggle for air. Midnight awoke lying flat on the train bench. "Did you rest well?" he asked.

"Had worse. That is all that counts." She climbed back into how she had been before. "Is this going to take much longer? I would much rather get it done and over."

He fumbled around in their luggage and folded a few papers. "When do you feel otherwise," said he with low breath.

Chapter 11

What now?

You show a lot of resistance for being unconscious.

Midnight perceived nothing. She was not simply stranded in darkness, there was no world around her to be seen.

I am, then? Where is the world of my own? They say each sleeper is a god unknowing.

You will need to earn that privilege, once you stop wasting it. Do you wish to go back to dreams of the mother?

Why would I be worth that effort?

You are worth far too much to me. All will see your potential. But now awaken and forget.

Nnngh.

And to think they call it resting time.

Our kind never rests.

Where would he have gone?

Where indeed? And how would I know he is gone when I am not certain to be conscious?

You have more senses than sight.

Of course, they had not spent the night in the same room. As though any less had been a terrible insult, they had received a suite numbering four rooms in total. She could not hear the ocean, but she would certainly be able to see it, if she walked to the window. As things stood, she was content to see only the ceiling, with a bit of her mane mixed in.

Steps approach.

"I know you are there," said Midnight just as the steps passed the door. They stopped, and the door came open.

There he was, caught but unbudging. "You also know that there is no breakfast in bed." He waved a bag of meaningless groceries. "Come."

Can I not persuade him? I imagine he has a greater interest in my health than I do.

I suppose he does. But there is no point in asking.

Why not? It would save me some time out of bed.

Because he does not discuss.

He does not discuss? I see what you mean. Making him aware of me was a mistake.

It was and will be.

Midnight forced her mane back into something presentable as well as she could with only magic, brush, comb, hard brush, and soft brush available to her, then untangled herself from the sheets. The ground was cold, pure wood without anything for comfort. She would make far too much noise on it, but she did not feel confident enough to use any teleportation.

She trudged out into the main room, which was just as featureless. A few decorations were hung across the walls, but none of them combined into any bigger image to make the room anything but barren with some spots of effort. "It took you long enough to get up," he said from the kitchen niche.

"Reality holds nothing for me. At least dreams offer a chance of escape." There was a generous breakfast on offer, ranging between and beyond pastries, juice, and jam. She made sure to take her part.

If only you knew what is out there.

Dimensions made of candy?

Amongst other, far more horrible things.

So... candy dimensions.

No. You do not even know planeshifting yet.

"Either way. I will be scouting around today, for various things." His magic put away the trash.

"And I will not," she replied. "I refuse to take part in whatever the office is planning now." She looked outside. Through one of the windows, at a flat angle, in between a lot of buildings, she caught a glimpse of the sea. It was not that far after all. "I can imagine better. When do you expect me back?"

"At least have dinner with me." He left for his own room, presumably to prepare some tools or others.

"That can be arranged." A moment later, Midnight was gone.

There she was, on some rooftop's corner yet still safe away from the edge. It had felt odd being on the ground without anywhere to look down. The buildings were higher than she knew. There had to be at least four stories to each of them. Any fall would certainly be lethal. She had no intention of falling. The sea was but a thought away now, glittering brighter than she had ever seen in Canterlot. Various landmarks were much more visible from above, too. She was out of vision of the ponies who passed by below. They were none the wiser nor different. Commoners, saints, thieves and murderers all walked as one. Perhaps her father was amongst them. She hoped he was not.

Remember this moment. Now back to where I can be sure you will not fall off, would you kindly? There is nothing to see here either way.

Indeed. That statue is complete nonsense, the winged tricorn lion died out centuries ago.

Much less would anyone have ridden it. That is besides the point. See the sun dropping.

Already? I wished he had left me more time.

Midnight returned into the streets below. She could use the exercise, and maybe her legs felt horrible after she had not used them for hours.

Chapter 12

"Do you need to leave already?" As much as her father tried to play the guardian role, he could also make a convincing plea. He was the better actor of the two, even though she had the benefits of being both small and female. She told herself as much, anyway.

She flung her bags over her back. She knew it was all just show. "Yes, I will need some time. You are welcome to come back with me, if you knew proper magic."

"I am afraid I cannot do that. You can take care of yourself." He adjusted one of her bags when it had begun to slip off. "Stay safe."

"I shall." A moment later, Midnight was gone.

One more spell. One more leap not through space, but across it. Midnight's senses screamed when they came back to her. There was warmth from the sun battling against the cold air, birdsong somewhere in the distance, a smell of grass and rough roads. Then there was a throbbing filling her ears and an overwhelming nausea. Reality fled from her. Her only thought was staying on her hooves. With the sensation of her stomach turning and her horn bleeding energy, it ended. She did her best to pick up and save face. There was nopony nearby to have witnessed her weakness, anyway.

Each time you do that, you inch closer to death.

And He shall welcome me, for I do not deserve the gift of life.

Are there any who do not deserve it? Can you lose the right to it?

Present company. Some others.

Odd. I had thought the same thing. Now I am much more.

What, then?

Many things. Each one beyond your ability to imagine. Move.

She had arrived on the edge of a town. It was not Canterlot, thus she had no interest in it. The houses were built from large boards and covered with straw. Worst of all, there was an ever so gentle coat of snow on everything. It would not impede her, she could very well move through it even off the path – except she winced each time she had to take another step in the cold. She had to get somewhere warm, but without magic, the only way was to march and endure.

Now you are afraid of the cold?

A few flakes at a time, always just not where she was looking, the snow sparkled. This was not natural.

Canterlot has no time for such diversions. No snow can ever fall on the city, by choice. Or perhaps because of the insane ozone concentrations above it, caused by all the daily magic in practice.

In the big city, she would never be five minutes away from a house that would take her in from the cold. Here, she did not even know the name of the town. Canterlot was well visible in the distance, just too far away to reach. She knew she was not ready, yet train fares were nothing more than a ripoff. She could wait.

You will have come to enjoy it. Your hooves are too sensitive.

I was not made to walk through literal ice!

Ponies higher up than you have decided on the existence of seasons. You would do well to adapt.

Midnight came before a building with wide glass doors, covered in simple decorations and with a huge glowing sign stuck over the doors that reeked of magic.

Shelter for all ye cold and dark, for those who need only a bit of warmth for the tips of their ears, also Ponyville Spa. That is one large sign, that is.

Without a good reason not to, Midnight parted the doors and went inside. They were not lying, her ears appreciated the warmup. The air inside was warm and scented, but somehow even more moist than that outside. She had not smelled heavy perfumes like that in a long time. She had never enjoyed it as much as was expected of her. Completely new, however, was a note of chlorine in between all the flowers and fruit.

There were a few other ponies spread across the pillows and sofas scattered through the lobby. They were all so immaculate, so clean. Far better than they should look given the conditions outside. Something had to be going on. "Greetings. How can we serve you, miss?" In her haze, she had wandered to the desk on the far end of the room, where there sat a pink mare with a straight, light blue mane that rivaled Midnight's in length. "We are happy to provide anything to make you feel better."

"Without a horn, that is unlikely." She breathed through and let the scents sink in. She could imagine spending a bit of time here. She let her magic feel through her bag and count the money inside. It was still a good amount, more than she wanted to admit. "Perhaps if fifteen bits can buy something." She set a few coins on the counter.

"We will arrange." Her money disappeared and she was led through a door besides the counter. There was next to no one besides the two of them there. Without anyone in sight, the dotted mass of pools and mats had a surreal sense to them. It was a known world, but no less of an odd one. "Right here, miss." The spa pony's voice was so soft that Midnight felt she was missing half of it. "This bath will refresh your skin and inner grace. Once you are done, we will continue by touching up your features to perfection."

Midnight left her bags by the side of the pool and slipped in. It was warmer than she had expected with the fright outside. The more she sunk in, the more did she have to repress the urge to jump back out into the dry world. She could spend a bit of time here, until she felt ready again. Maybe even a little longer. She slid down along the basin's wall until her chin was just barely out of the water. "Very well. Do your thing."

"We will be back when you are ready. May I ask your name, miss?" In the mirror on the rectangular room's far end, she could see the spa pony toeing from leg to leg. She was either very eager to serve, or moments away from fainting.

"Midnight." She leaned backwards into the water. Her mane would take ages to dry. She did not care.

"We are honored that you chose us, miss Midnight." The spa pony turned and disappeared through the door. For a moment, Midnight let herself go in the sensations.

Fascinating.

In reality, Midnight was still leaned back and supported only by the basin's wall. In the mirror, she sat straight. No matter how she moved, she could not get the images to match just right.

I can have mortal pleasures too.

They are a waste of time. Filling space before your destiny takes hold.

And a cure for freezing horns.

The love of your life could be less than a block away. Yet you waste the time here.

I doubt I am ready for that stallion.

You are not yet ready for the pony, no. It never hurts to start early.

Mmmh.

For just a bit, Midnight closed her eyes and became lost in the moment. Another second – or perhaps an hour – later, she was torn awake by a call. "Miss Midnight, we would now be ready to proceed." Its voice was stronger, more dominant. She was approached by a blue mare with pink mane. She could not remember if it was the same one as before. She had been taught long ago that she need not mind the identity of the ponies below her. The mare covered Midnight in towels as soon as she climbed out. "Right through there, miss." She pointed to a door in the closest wall, deeper into the building. She led, and Midnight followed.

This one was raised as a royal. Adorable.

We are bourgeois after all.

I was too, once. Well, I guess I had my chance. And I wasted it.

What do you claim to be?

It is too soon.

It always is.

There were more ponies in the next room, each laid out on a wooden bench. Each of them had some or another beauty product on her. Few of them seemed to notice Midnight.

Remember each one of them. The beyond says they are relevant.

Midnight did her best to memorise everypony present. However, the images were gone as soon as she laid down on the bench indicated to her. It had to have been hours since she had rested.

You only woke up an hour ago. How can we be such sloths?

You sleep plenty as well.

I have obsoleted such needs. There are benefits to not technically existing.

Hnng.

What exactly are you doing?

Trying to force you out of existence.

Princess, if it were that simple, I would not exist. She returns at last.

"We shall begin by cleaning and treating your hooves, followed by a hornicure and finish with a treatment of your mane and coat." Midnight and the spa pony came eye to eye. As eager as she sounded, as empty did her eyes look. Perhaps that was only because they were large beyond Midnight's belief. She chose the simple answer over committing philosophy.

"Do that." She stretched out every limb, then drew back them all except the one the spa pony approached. Her mind turned to greater things.

Clouds lightning sheep fluffy cloud candy candy candy.

Even though you already forgot your question, she visited a consult and feels hollow, just like you do, because she will never bear a child.

What, is she sterile?

Not that it even mattered, but no. The consult was an oracle, now she thinks herself to be fat and ugly.

Poor mare. Lucky pony. She believes wrong, either way. A bit gullible, but certainly adorable. How do you know all this if I do not?

You are not into fillies, are you?

I am not into ponies. That is a difference. But she does look lovely.

You will be.

Nevermore. I am so much more now without her.

At least you did not draw the conclusion that all females will waste and crush your trust, like some before you.

That would be a bit hard to justify.

There are selves of you that do. Some that become another thing entirely. Some by magic, some by force of will.

When biology is insufficient, one must force his way.

Odd ones. But that was not your fate to be. Your destiny is much greater.

What, receiving ponies in a coma and sending them back out on their hooves? Yeah, that is something that matters. Unlike florescence or floral remedies or whatever this one's talent is. She certainly is good at what she is currently doing. How did she get to my horn so quickly?

"Ouch!" The spa pony shrieked and dropped the file out of her mouth. Midnight's magic returned it from the ground to lying on her chest. "Miss Midnight, please keep your energy tamed. Our equipment is conductive." She took it and resumed her task.

Admit that you did that.

But I did not! Must have been remaining energy.

Or an excitement in a way you did not expect.

Not from her, not from here, not outside my own home.

Speaking of which.

Even though the spa pony was still working, Midnight felt done. "Everypony is different. How can you grind away at horns like that without risking that you nick something important?" she asked.

"We take great care to know ponies' weak points. In addition, we only perform surface work, far from any harm." Given that her mouth was full and working, it was surprising how little it changed her voice.

In other words, they guess. Perhaps I should send another spark.

You are recharged. You should be able to finish your journey as soon as this distraction ends.

What we wield is more than power. Our work is never over.

It took you forever. You need to do it faster. You barely had time to get ready for the shift.

Do you not mean I will barely have time?

You barely have it now. Move.

Midnight had a mind to get up and leave, but just then the softest of brushes ran through her coat and convinced her to stay. The treatment could have been worth its price after all. She only had to keep herself from expressing her enjoyment. She would be fine and gone in no time. Yet she had to admit that each time the brush set, she wished it could never stop.

It feels like I am melting, and I am okay with that.

Pfff. There are so many interesting ponies here, at the very least.

My eyes are still closed.

We never needed such petty methods to see.

You are right. I must go.

"Alright, miss Midnight. We would be finished now." Even though it was exactly what she wanted, she still felt she had a right to be offended that the spa pony had torn her out of her comfort. "If you would follow me." Midnight followed her outside without another word. This time, the mirror behaved. "Thank you for visiting us," she said once they reached the door, before Midnight could leave.

Midnight teleported away, out of sight. She came to rest on the edge of a fountain, where the castle was in sight. She could feel the gaze of the statue atop the fountain. She heard the song of falling snow judging her. Either way, she had no time for such distraction. She was ready to move on.

You look adorable like that.

That is one of the more innocent things I have been called in this dressup.

The mirror caught sight of Midnight. Her white nurse's outfit had always clashed with her own colors, as well as being just a bit too long for her. However, she did not want to go through the paperwork of commissioning a new one. She just had to think of it as contrast to draw attention to her good features, and the spare cloth could be used to feign having better proportions than she did. She struck a little pose, just to see how it would look. Then she realised what she was doing and that anypony, of either gender, could walk in on her in the locker room. She was not sure which gender she would prefer.

Are you not a minor?

Not any more.

Move. You are needed.

Right.

The mirror bade goodbye and she left. She had just made it to the nurses' station when she was called away again, "There you are. Come along, filly. Things you need to do." She knew the voice. It belonged to the best doctor she knew, as well as the most handsome stallion; Doctor Pond. She barely heard her own steps as she followed him into one of the countless rooms, different only by the door's number. Inside, an intern doctor was writing in the patient's chart.

I did not like that pony. Why you do is beyond my imagination.

Nnnh, he looked at me!

I suppose that. Do not wet yourself.

"Now, as you may have observed, Janet here is not writing with her magic," said Doctor Pond. The intern gave him a glare of death, as well as he could while still writing with the pen in his mouth. "The reason is, besides her incompetence, that Mister Brabblestoff is what they call Tranquil. Any magic performed near him will send him into an allergic fit. One of those will be grounds to sue us. Two or three in rapid succession would kill him. Both are to be avoided."

The intern put down his clipboard and approached them. "Doctor Pond, his scan came back. Shows positives as we predicted. We should get him to surgery, and start him on antibiotics immediately to prevent an infection spreading. The narcotics should be enough to suppress his reaction to their magic." Even though they met on each of her shifts, she had forgotten his meek voice and recessive behavior. She could swear he was supposed to be taller than she.

"I am impressed, Barbara. You are right for once. Fetch your friend in surgery." Doctor Pond leafed through the chart. He had astonishing dexterity even without any spells. "Filly, you heard him. Set up the patient." Without any chance for a response, he rushed out of the room.

The intern was left hanging with an open mouth. After a few seconds he murmured, "Why does he do that? Should have stuck with the psych ward job."

"Being named Golden Dawn might not help." Midnight giggled to herself and left to prepare what she needed.

It would be easier to focus if it was less fun to mess with him.

In another world, she has more courage, but even less confidence. The only constant is that you do not help matters.

Multitudes of me?

Of course. Your consciousness, as well as that mane clip you always seem to wear yet is always out of anypony's sight, exist across space and time itself. It is a necessity for parallel worlds, and foolish to assume you were in any way unique.

That is the power I am feeling inside me sometimes, then? A conflux, a million selves concentrating on the same point across reality?

No, that is your magic. It is a strong power. An untamed one.

Midnight returned into the room with a bag of solution floating besides her shoulder, then noticed her mistake and brought the infusion stand outside without a spell.

And a useless one. Will not be easy to hit the vein without it.

Watch, and do not interfere.

Midnight's horn felt cold, as if an icy wind had caught it. The needle head escaped her grasp and approached the patient on its own, held by an invisible force that was beyond even magic. She followed it as if in a trance, fighting her own urge to intervene while concealing it from any other curious minds. She was ready to pull it back out as soon as it sunk into the patient's leg, but it had set itself pinpoint accurate. There was nothing more for her to do than to bandage the incision.

What was that?

I have seen secrets that would erase your mind just to imagine, princess. It was only a fragment of your potential.

What blinding dream could that be?

A dream of reality. Not the end, but you can see it from there. A place beyond existence itself.

I should like to visit it.

It would be the death of you, and many others. Prevent them for now.

Midnight trudged towards the next room on her schedule. Some would say it was just the first one she found after leaving the previous one. They would be right. She did not let that drag her down. She had a job to do, she did not have time for crises. No crises of her own, at least. She knew one was coming when she spotted the hooded figure standing in front of the door. "Hello, The Grim Jasper."

"That is what they call me, is it." Jasper was not loud, nor bright or large. He always seemed to blend into his surroundings. Perhaps that was better for him. He was the hospital's attorney, prepared to answer any question and win any case. Of course, she was capable at medicine, so she only saw him when he was consulting the families of terminal patients. He claimed he was showing them what treatment had been done and what legal power they had. Everypony knew he was talking them out of taking any action, even if there had been malpractice. "Perhaps it is what I am."

"She is a deado? Must have gotten worse since my last shift," said Midnight while reading the room number. There was only one patient there, an adult mare with a short red mane. She was asleep – or comatose. The sun fell through the half-closed blinds to illuminate just one half of her in a soft glow.

Miss Hatsoon? For one, silly name. For another, I have heard it before. Is she not from an influential family?

You have, but no.

Odd.

Move.

I suppose I must.

She walked into the room and opened the patient chart. Just then, she remembered that she got her orders elsewhere, from ponies more qualified than her. It did not matter. Those doctors by name only did not know any more than she did. She had always been able to deduce her work from the chart. Something else tugged at her mind, or more accurately her ears. "Do you know what will happen to her?" A soft voice, small as a foal's yet still male.

It did not take long to confirm her suspicion. Behind her, out of sight from the door, sat two blonde foals, one of each gender. She had run into the doll twins again. She really had to learn their true name. "Hey guys." This was not her job. It had not to be. She scrambled for words regardless. "You were not told anything?"

"We were not." Either the filly's mane was half-covering her bow, or she was wearing a set of black cat ears just above her real ears. She looked odd regardless. "What is it?"

Midnight set down the chart. She could make a quick escape with magic, or a normal one with dignity. "Excuse me." She went outside in three steps while avoiding any eye contact. Just there, she found her savior leaning on the desk of the nurses' station. "Doctor Pond, the deado in room fourty-seven has a family to inform."

"Come along, filly." He led her right back into the room. The doll twins looked up to him as though she was no longer present. She was glad she was not a doctor. She would never be able to hold such authority. "Nurse Midnight will explain the details of your mother's condition. Have a great day. Bye." He was not smiling on the outside, but she knew that he was on the inside.

He was gone. Their eyes turned back to her. The job was hers after all. "Well." She read through the chart again. She knew what was inside, but needed more time. "You see, we attempted treatment with your mother, but she is not responding to it. The growth is spreading, at this rate her heart and lungs will shut down soon. She is not going to wake up." She ran out of voice. The damage was done regardless.

There it came. They had been allowed to keep hope, and she had crushed it. "That is the fate," whispered the colt.

"You are welcome to stay with her as long as you want." Midnight's mind was rushing across all the phrases she had learned, each seeming more inappropriate than the next.

The filly was not crying, but she could not be any closer to it. "Where will we be?" This was Midnight's fault. She had made her that miserable.

"He will take care of us." The colt led her outside, passing Midnight as though she no longer existed.

"See you at school, I guess," she tried to call after them, but her voice did not rise above normal speech. She had no strength for it. To make it worse, there was nothing for her to do with the patient. She trotted outside to the nurses' station to sit and collect her thoughts. She caught her reflection in the glass of another room's window. Perhaps her reflection caught her, given its refusal to be just where she was.

Is this the fate you enjoy so much?

Not this one, but it is regrettably unavoidable.

The reflection spoke, but only she heard. Midnight decided to sort the pile of paperwork on the desk. It was not pleasant work, but something to keep busy. She feared the thoughts her mind would produce if she stayed idle.

Princess? You are not going to do something drastic just because of a patient, are you? She was not even your kill.

Did anyone kill her?

Well, yes. But you had nothing to do in the entire process. It was somepony else.

I participated. I did nothing to prevent it. That was enough.

You really think that way? So little value to yourself?

I need to wash that poison off my skin. Where is the next patient.

Right over there.

Another deado. Of course. I am tired of this.

The sun was down. Midnight went out just after it. She could not spend another minute in that wretched hospital. Even though there was still enough light to see, the windows of Canterlot already glimmered up. She was not far from the city's end. A few spells brought her to sitting on the edge. The lowlands were still covered in snow. Settlements glowed in the darkness. Nothing else could be made out. She was surrounded by darkness. Naked as she was, she should be freezing. It was far too warm in the city. Something was there with her, a thought, an idea, a phantom.

Much better to be up here than down where the elements are still untamed, would you agree?

Midnight hesitated.

I know better than you do, and let me tell you it is. You will freeze your ears off down there. Delicate things.

I cannot do this anymore.

It is quite the view.

I live on a mountain, this is only regular.

Even to catch the middle of the firebutterfly migration?

A river of lights erupted from the darkness below. A million pieces each flowed through one another without disturbing the rhythm. She could not see a beginning nor an end until it swallowed the horizon. For a moment, reality blurred. All that was within it faded beneath the infinite shimmer.

What is this? I have never seen things like this.

You never bothered to look. It has been. It will be. Your lifetime is enough to contain a few.

Quite amazing.

Some say it to be the glow of dawn. Perhaps souls of those deceased. That is wrong, but at least romantic.

It is more than that. Perhaps her light is among them.

Her father was still in the city. No one would expect her. She was alone with the stars, above and below.

Chapter 13

There you are again. I have finally lost it all.

No more than I have lost you.

I had thought you gone forever.

Eternity is a silly thing, night princess. To some, death is but a door into times you could not yet fathom. Do not miss the path home.

You were not as patronising before. Why do you expect I would go wrong?

Because you did. You will. Nothing leads around it. If you know better, you are of no interest. But you do not.

Scenic route. It always calms me down after I save some lives.

One would be surprised how often you do. Your skill is admirable. It always was. Still there is blood on your hooves.

Canterlot passed by Midnight. Soon she reached her well-known alley, the odd bend the road took to loop back into the city. Other than almost stumbling over the candle next to the door, there was nothing holding her back.

"You are back." Her father came out of the kitchen just as she tried to enter it. They collided into a hug, just a tiny one. "I assume that blood is not your own?"

"Is it ever?" Midnight pushed past him and reached to the sink to clean herself. "You would think that a master level spell would stem the bleeding faster, but they still mess me up every time." She realised only then how much blood there was; Even her chest was coated and stuck together. "Well, shower time."

"I remember there being a spell for this. Did you not study it one day?" His horn lit up, but the glow soon dissipated when she refused to stand still.

"Maybe I possibly should have. It is not important. Water does the job." She disappeared upstairs. Tacky as they were, the light brown tiles that covered the bathroom wall and floor at least gave her a sense of safety. Perhaps being able to cast her school bag into a corner also helped.

Interesting. You usually learn that spell. None the matter.

There is psychic venom. Did you know that?

Midnight held her breath and turned on the tap. Calling the water warm would be a kind overstatement. She let it engulf her regardless, until all of her hair was equally sogged and heavy. With a bit of scrubbing, she would quickly be cleansed of everything.

There is not. You are at your best while wet. You should be less shy of water.

I am not! Often.

So long as your hooves touch the ground. You were different once.

Midnight let her magic flow free. It danced and snaked around her, clearing all clumps and tufting up her fur. Where the magic left, the water coated it again. The moment of purity was worth it regardless.

Some are fascinated by long manes, princess. Especially when wet.

Otherwise I would not have one myself. Or it could be the conspiracies of barbers in Canterlot.

They conspire here?

There is no place where they do not.

She turned off the water and climbed out onto the bathroom floor. At her command, towels came to rub her dry. The spell that kept them comfortably warm still worked, at least.

I cannot get rid of you, can I? If it is that, I would better name you.

This is always fun. Do account for my royal state.

Well, considering I could not think of anything more opposing me, I will name you Noon.

Aaand boring again.

The towels flew into a corner. Perhaps she had even hit the laundry basket.

It is late. I am tired.

It is barely afternoon.

Look over there. I pointed! A point has been made!

Chapter 14

The holidays had gone past surprisingly eventless for Midnight. Well, unless one counted Noon's resurfacing and all that. They had formed some sort of arrangement. Noon was here to stay, she knew that. So they had formed some kind of arrangement. It was rather one sided for Midnight, with her promising not to banish Noon any more in exchange for her to refrain from artificially creating nightmares for Midnight. She hadn't gotten Noon to keep quiet, sadly. In addition to commenting when she felt like it, she talked to Midnight every morning and evening, when everypony else had left her.

How did the lil' princess 'Can't feel, must work' sleep?

Stop the names, please. You know how we slept. After all, you steered it, no?

Ah, you got me. Did you like what I did?

Not at all. Didn't we have an agreement about that?

Nope. Take a look.

One by one, words flashed into Midnight's mind, only to disappear a split second later. It was, by the word, what they had agreed on. Noon could be terribly sarcastic when she was right.

See? Doesn't include completely nonsensical dreams.

Hey, what stops me from changing the rules?

The fact that I am still the master of our sleep. Doesn't unicorn blood taste just wonderful?

I hate you.

Us too.

"Good morning class. It pleases me to see that all of you have made it back from the holidays unharmed..." Midnight's favorite teacher began his first lesson after the break.

"Erm, more or less," He added as his eyes went over the white bandage on V's foreleg. About five ponies didn't listen. Not because they didn't want to, no, he was liked by everypony. But because there was something claiming their attention. Or someone. He raised his voice in response to that fact, "Yes, I see, you have already met our newest addition to class. Everypony listen please! This is Miss Sparkle. She has moved to Canterlot recently and will be staying with us in our preparation for the final exams. I'm sure she'll gladly answer any of your questions."

Midnight glanced over her shoulder. In the row behind her, she saw exactly why she wanted to leave Canterlot. There, a unicorn with velvet coat and straight, pink mane and tail smiled back at her. So decadent, she was. Even though it was a warm, sunny day outside, she was wearing a short dress. It was practical, yet pretty, Midnight had to admit that. That piece of cloth wouldn't repulse water, but it protected Sparkle from the sun. Midnight didn't get why the new unicorn would need it, though. It was chilly outside, but that dress was obviously not meant to save the wearer from cold, as it started at her chest and just barely came down from her flanks.

"Now, to recap, who can tell me the ACD of Alteration? Yes, Sparkle?"

Of course she had to be one of those. No, this question wasn't about talent, Midnight realised. It was about knowledge, which was why almost none of those self-proclaimed super talents knew it. In fact, only Sparkle and herself had lifted a hoof.

"Alteration, Conjuration, Deception. Or, more directly speaking, directly changing, summoning the means to change, and creating an illusion."

Midnight knew those words. They were printed down in that order in 'Making and Becoming Likeable - A Guide to Alteration.' Perhaps this new one wasn't that bad.

She was, Midnight knew that. She just hadn't given her a reason to hate her yet.

"Yes, very good. We'll treat all three of those quickly. Take out a resistant sheet, or ask me if you don't have one. Then, conjure some means to paint it. Whether you want to use actual paint, crayons or whatever is up to you."

Manifesting items out of thin air. At least something Midnight couldn't literally do in her sleep.

"Then, change half of what you've conjured to another color. To be clear, I want one base color to start with, then you change that through direct alteration."

And the chain of interesting challenges broke.

"Make a little picture on the paper. Levitation, first grade. Maybe a base color and then striping with the second one. After that, you will add a little touch to it through illusion. Sparkles, maybe. Or stars."

This wasn't going to be hard. Midnight blew a bit of pink hair, which demonstrated her mastery at keeping an illusion active, out of her sight.

"Does everypony know what they're supposed to do? Yes? Good, start working then."

Midnight didn't understand her class. In the sense of ponies, not what they did in class, of course. There were the typical Canterlot ponies. Got into the school by pure talent (Or luck, as she liked to put it), incredibly snobbed, didn't want to work and got through anyway. Then there were the true snobs. Got in through money and standing. Kind of like the first kind, but without the talent. Consequently, they didn't do very well. Then there was Midnight. Just the average unicorn, accepted into school through lots of paperwork and effort. Sometimes, she was happy there were others like her. Ponies that didn't shy away from working. They did exist, but they were rare. Especially in her class.

But there also was the new one. Sparkle. Midnight didn't know what to think of her. She did look like she was somewhere in the first category, but then again, there was something about her that only honestly working ponies had. In the break, she approached Midnight while she was staring out of a window in the hallway.

"Hey there. I don't think we've met yet. I'm Sparkle, what's your name?" At least she was polite. That was one thing on the for list.

Midnight took a second to answer to muster Sparkle from up close. She was a bit younger than the sceptical unicorn. At least, Midnight deduced that from the fact that she was a little smaller than her. "'t's Midnight. I'll be direct, you're an interesting one, Sparkle. I mean, you're not like... Them. At least, if you are, you haven't proven it to me yet. You look like somepony who doesn't mind getting their hooves wet. But then there's things like the dress? What are you wearing that for? It's not exactly cold outside."

Sparkle looked around. Apparently, she didn't see anypony in range to overhear her. "Erm... Well, honestly, it's to cover up my blank flank."

"Really? Wow, talk about late."

"I know. So please, don't tell anyone. I don't want everypony to know. It'll come in time. At least, my parents have been telling me that for years."

Midnight shook her head and refocused on the smaller unicorn in front of her. As she did, she noticed a small stain on Sparkle's dress. She decided to give her a word of advice. Sparkle wasn't a small filly anymore, but that didn't mean she couldn't teach her anything. "They're right. Believe me, listen to your parents, you might lose a lot of wisdom elsehow when they're suddenly gone." Sparkle thought for a few seconds about what Midnight had said. Apparently, she got the deeper meaning and was at a lack of words. "We should get going for combat class. Hey, you're new to town, right? How about I show you around here a bit after class?" Sparkle regained her confident smile, although it looked like there was something more than imbound friendship cheering her up. They were both startled by the sound of a big bell ringing. Midnight spoke. "Now look at us fillies, getting lost in petty chatter. Come on, the room's over this way!"

Boring! Kiss her already!

Would you shut up. Sparkle's nice, but that doesn't mean I outright love her. Coming to think of it, I don't truly love anypony. Don't you dare to feed such thoughts into our mind, Noon.

All I can say is you'll see.

Combat class, like their previous lesson, restarted slowly after the holidays. Relatively. The punishment was still being given for any unattentive ponies. That day, they would treat psychic attacks and how to defend against them. Boring. Shielding oneself against those was easy if one had the willpower. So Midnight could keep up a mental barrier for hours and still be able to think about whatever pleased her. She already felt like some kind of primary friend, maybe protector to the small unicorn, so she paired up with Sparkle to save her embarassment at not having a standard partner.

Maybe there was more to it. Perhaps Midnight wanted to prove her discipline of mind to her new friend. If that newcomer was to be called a friend. No, it wasn't that. Midnight was among the older ponies in her class, but that little filly looked even younger than the rest. She had just moved in. She simply needed some help to get a good start, and Midnight was providing that. Nothing more. Soon, she'd find friends that suited her better. Those that had some fancy talents to boast with. She belonged with those.

No she didn't. Sparkle was a strong caster, although she looked like she didn't show her full potential for some reason. Nevertheless, she was a true pony and belonged with such that valued true friends and did something for their grades. Like Midnight. The older unicorn didn't continue that thought because that second, her lavender colored partner futilely attempted to break her barrier. Only that it wasn't so futilely. In fact, Sparkle had just penetrated all of Midnight's mental defenses and gone right into her mind. And no matter how much resistance she gave, Midnight couldn't push her out of her thoughts.

Great. Now what's she gonna do?

Give you a turn at offense. This voice was not one of Midnight's own. It sounded almost like Sparkle's cute little voice. I'll take that as a compliment. I'm younger than others here, yes, so what?

Midnight blushed as Sparkle left her head. She hadn't done a very good job at keeping an empty mind while somepony was in it. Then again, Telepathy was a tricky kind of magic, above what she was needed to know for the final exam. She simply hadn't expected that filly in front of her to do it.

For the rest of the lesson, Midnight had made sure that her defenses were the best she could muster. Sparkle didn't break through again. She couldn't tell if it was due to disability or lack of desire. She found herself waiting for the newcomer at the door to walk with her to their final lesson.

"Hey Midnight, why are you lingering around? Where were you in the break?" She looked up to see one of her friends standing before her.

In response, Midnight pointed a hoof towards the emptying class room, towards the little unicorn inside. "Sparkle. The new one. I'm showing her around a bit. Don't worry, I'll be back with you guys soon enough. But keep in mind, she's under me. If you want to give her any trouble, you'll have to face me."

Sparkle walked up to them as Midnight's friend responded. "Heh, don't sweat it. I'm no bully, neither are any of us, you know that. Hey there kid. You're okay. At least Midnight says so."

"Thanks... I think?" Sparkle was visibly confused.

Midnight motioned for her to follow and set off through the door. "Don't mind him, that's his way of greeting new ponies... Yeah, he kind of exaggerates age differences. He's a cool guy though. Now, History of Harmony, special focus on communication. You know what to do in that course?"

Sparkle nodded. Midnight continued. "Good. Now forget that. The best thing to do is take a nap with your eyes open. Whatever you need to know, somepony else will note for you and you'll be able to study it when it's time. Okay?"

Sparkle was a bookworm. Midnight could tell from how shocked she looked at the idea of sleeping through a lesson. "Heh, yeah, if you want, you can be my somepony else. It's interesting, but there's just a lot of talk for little stuff. Try to stay awake if you want to. It won't be easy, I tell ya."

Chapter 15

Midnight had warned her, but to no avail. Sparkle had tried to stay attentive all the way through History of Harmony. It had to be the stress and nervosity flowing through her untrained mind. Of course. Moving to another town was exhausting for anypony, and she had apparently had to pick up school again very shortly after. Maybe it was Mr. Sandhicc's influence after all. He was said to have a lulling effect on everybody who happened to stay during his lessons. His classroom didn't help that. With the wood covering all the walls and the ground and the half-veiled windows on one side that let in the Sun's blessed warmth, it was indeed very cozy.

Midnight's class couldn't confirm or bust that myth. Nopony had managed to stay attentive enough to gather data. Perhaps it was a combination of the two. Either way, there she was. Sparkle looked so peaceful asleep. She looked even a bit... cute? Midnight had to get off these thoughts. The unicorn next to her was not a young filly anymore, she was a mare of almost her age. But for some reason, Midnight couldn't help but look at her as half her size. She could wake Sparkle up, but Midnight let her have a nap. Nopony noticed that one more pony was even less attentive than usual.

Also, she could closely examinate her without looking awkward that way. Her mane had a small strip of darker pink in it which looked rather catchy. The skin under her eyes told that Sparkle was recovering from a period of lacking sleep. Obviously, she had just moved. That took its toll. Even though it was obviously nothing compared to what Midnight had been through, that pony clearly had some history. There were minor imperfections all over her face. Midnight wondered for a second if it was normal for a pony that wanted to or maybe should become a nurse to see such things on a friend. Perhaps she was just observative.

Perhaps she was into Sparkle. No, of course Midnight wasn't. What a silly thought of her. First, she'd finish school, pick up work somewhere in a nice little earth pony town, then find herself a loving stallion when she decided it was time. If she would give in to her weaknesses at all. Nevertheless, there was nothing but guardian instinct between her and Sparkle. There couldn't be. Not yet, and not with another mare. Not with Sparkle.

Then again, why couldn't Midnight stop thinking about Sparkle's cute little mane strip? This required patience. Patience and slow investigation. Midnight was good at that. She might not look like it, but Midnight could stay in one place for hours, observing the situation and waiting for the right time to act. There was no need for rushed actions. If she would only stay patient, everything would sort out. In time. She was not attracted towards Sparkle in any way. This was only a joke, played on her by her own body. By Noon.

"Hey 'Night, snoozing off again?"

Midnight was grateful for this interruption. Even with her determination to learn everything about the universe she could, there were still thoughts she didn't want to have. That included those with Sparkle in them. She was not in love. She was currently out with her friends. At last. Not to say she didn't enjoy Sparkle's company, for one reason or another, but sometimes, she needed some time to think. The cute unicorn would only misdirect her on those matters. Those that included her.

"No, of course not. What does it look like? I'm bored. Every time, we buy some fresh cider, then go to some park where we drink it while talking about nonsense." Midnight inspected the bottle in her telekinetic grasp. It was still half full.

"Who said it's nonsense? That's serious stuff we're philosophing about!" V said as he waved his horn in a wide circle encasing the whole group from his viewpoint.

"Okay, not nonsense, but irrelevant. I mean, what have we been talking about in the last half hour that's actually important to anypony?"

"Erm... Not so much. Usual friday night stuff. But there's some gems here too. Didn't you hear that Little Zeddie got himself a filly? That's kinda interesting."

Zeddie. Fillyfriend. That was not such a big surprise. After all, he was just ridiculously photogenic. He could charm anyone he pleased, mare, stallion or otherwise. He wasn't at Midnight's level, of course. Emotionally. He still hadn't grasped the futility of it all. No, Midnight wouldn't go through all of that. She didn't need to. Most of the time. Midnight blushed as she thought of the exceptions.

"Heh, sad that you missed your opportunity and he's taken now?"

If looks could kill, V would be a pile of meat three times over.

"As I was saying. I mean, I enjoy my time with all of you, but in the end, what's the point? It doesn't even matter. One thing. It doesn't matter how hard you try. Time is a valuable thing. Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings. Watch it count down 'til the end of the day. We're wasting time here we could be using productively, by studying, for example. We wasted it all."

"Uh, deep. And somewhat hurtful. I'll just blame this on nervosity from the finals coming soon."

Midnight drank a little from her bottle. "Mh, yes, please. Don't want you to think I'm being mean to my friends."

Tried so hard. Got so far. Things aren't what they were before. Wouldn't even recognise me any more. Not that you knew me back then.

Just what I was thinking. Hey, you're getting better at keeping quiet when I'm busy. How about you work on extending that time period, like, until I'm busy again

Watch you go into madness. And I'm not even doing anything about it. Remember all the times you've fought with me? Arguing with oneself is a serious condition.

I'm not going mad. You are driving me there.

Sure am, sweet princess. Look right. Right. Would you kindly look right already or do I have to do it myself?

Midnight decided to follow her inner demon's bidding. Turning her head, she spotted the tower clock, which appeared to have been Noon's goal.

Midnight, Midnight, you should get to bed. While I'm on it, do you have any wish for your dreams tonight? I have found this wonderful reservoire of memories... A week after, to be exact. I'm sure you remember. How about that?

Try and I'll kill you.

Delay's the word you're looking for. Wouldn't dare to. The death threat is getting old.

Only because you're more useful than annoying.

Or maybe you only imagined having me gone all the time.

Stop such thoughts. You are draining MY mind's power with them. You were definitely gone, I'm sure of that. Better that way. I can only study things I have some distance to observe them from to.

So you're thankful that I am here now?

I'd be more thankful if you weren't. Can't I push you out just a little bit? Like, to remove pain?

Was I to know, you were. Time for an experiment, no? Wait, stop, I do not want that.

Too late. Here goes. Midnight checked around her. V was back with the rest of the group and had left her behind on the bench.

She concentrated. Focused. Her breathing became slow and deep. She focused on that. With every inhale, they entered her. Nitrogen. Oxygendihydrate. Oxygen. Neon and other trace gases. Cool and pure from the very top of Canterlot mountain. Those molecules were the those that everything else was made of. That she was made of. The cosmos entered her with every breath and was already present at the same time. With every exhale, those molecules left her again. In essence, a part of her was leaving Midnight. She opened her eyes. She felt nothing. It was night. She should go to sleep. Midnight got up, said goodbye to her friends, and walked towards her home.

Don't think I'm gone, petty princess.

Missed an 'r'

Blood.

Midnight hated bleeding. Not because it was painful. She was far above feeling pain if she didn't want to. Not because of memories linked to it. Not because she was afraid of death. Midnight would embrace Death whenever he would come for her. But because it reminded her of what she was in. A mortal shell, lasting only for so many years before erasing its own existence and all it had done. A breeding machine, designed to mix its genes with another of the kind to hopefully create a better being after hundreds of thousands of attempts.

An imperfection. Also, bleeding made a mess. Midnight brought up a sheet of paper to catch what was leaking from her hoof out of lack of a better item for the job. The liquid just wouldn't stop running. Cauterising herself as she had done with V was too dangerous, though. Sparkle walked up to the unicorn standing on three legs in the hallway.

"Come on Midnight, we don't want to be l... oh. You should get that bandaged."

"Nah. I don't know if you've found out in those short two weeks, but I am talented for nurse... ery. Hence the flank. I'm telling you, kid, this doesn't need anything. Will stop in just a second. Any second now. There."

"Wait, isn't your special talent teleportation?"

"It is. Yeah, it's like, a double kind of thing."

"Ooooh, a double cutie mark! Those are super rare, especially with talents that don't go into the same category. Did you know there's some discussions going on whether cutie marks are actually predestined or are created when somepony shows great talent in a tricky situation?"

"Doesn't that mean the same?" Midnight started walking again, stepping onto the edge of her hoof to avoid the wound.

"Not necessarily. You see, some ponies get their marks in something they had never done before, even though they were so skilled at another activity everypony thought they'd get their marks in that. It all depends on the situation they got them in. If I may ask, how did you get yours?"

"I was really young. Like, two years before entering this school young. I had to run, but had no more energy. So I had to teleport myself."

"Wow. You pulled off self teleportation at such an age?"

"Kind of. I did it successfully, and it brought me forward. Two inches. My body was simply not powerful enough for such magic yet. That wasn't far enough to save her."

Midnight's voice remained calm and steady. Sparkle had some trouble deciding if she was lying or not.

"Her? Who's that?"

"I'm getting to that, kid. Now, in the time I tried to teleport, I had managed to catch some breath, so I quickly came to Mother's side. I was too late, though. I was advanced in the arts of medical care, but it didn't help."

Sparkle would have complained about Midnight exaggerating their age difference again, but this seemed serious.

"You mean..."

"So much blood. As I was crying over her, my awesome rump decided it was the time to get a mark. Teleportation, because I had performed a task seemingly impossible for fillies my age, even if the spell was ever so weak. Nurse... Stuff, because I did care well for her. It just wasn't enough. How cynical of myself."

"I... I'm sorry I even asked."

"I'm over it. Somewhat. What's your story?"

It was Midnight's turn for awkwardness. Sparkle's expression suddenly jumped from sorry to somewhat displeased as she waved her head back towards her flank, covered in fabric.

"Oh right. Let's hope for an interesting story you can tell me someday."

"If 'someday' is before our graduation."

"Eh, Sparkle, why so pessimistic? We'll stay in contact, of course. Because we're friends, right? Erm, is it just me or are we taking an awfully long time to get to class?"

Sparkle seemed amazed at Midnight declaring them friends. She certainly hadn't expected that. With Midnight treating her like a foal, even subconsciously so, she would probably have been the one to call the two of them friends, followed by awkwardness from Midnight at her foalish behaviour. She looked behind them. "Friends... Wait, you're right. We've passed the room. Mare, how long is this hallway?"

Chapter 16

Awaken, my child, and embrace the glory that is your birthright.

Midnight groaned. Noon had given her a bit more respect since she had found out she could reduce Noon's influence. That didn't stop the inner demon from being sarcastic, sadly.

Can't I let myself sleep in when I want to?

Apparently, no. I have a gift for you, princess. You can try it out at school. Which is a point you should already hurry not to arrive late to.

At last it was recess. Or, to be exact, that recess-like break around 10 AM that was longer than the others by just a bit. Midnight resumed her usual sitting place. Not too far off and in good line of sight so she could observe everything and be approached easily by her friends, but also meditate, more or less, undisturbed. There was a crowd of ponies out, as usual. It was surprisingly warm for that it was still winter. Despite their age, many of them seemed to have a bit too much fun running around the open space like they were the small foals they'd been when entering the school. Sparkle had explained to her that had something to do with pegasi importing air from the south and letting it rain out over the plains, then drift further north to Canterlot. Midnight hadn't really listened. Climatology had never been interesting for her. And there had been other things demanding her attention on the unicorn right then.

Ready to see what I've got for you? Noon came up before things could get embarassing for Midnight.

Bring it on.

Once you get a look at that, you'll never want to get rid of me any more. Hang on for a second... Bam. How do ya like that?

This really was something. Midnight's vision had suddenly turned a very dark blue, with a few ponies and objects highlighted in bright color.

Knew you'd like it. I have no idea how it works myself, let me tell you, but let me tell you how it works. Ponies and objects you are not interested in are the base color. White are allies or hiding spots. Your target is gold, and enemies are red.

What do you mean, enemies? There are none of those here, as far as I can see.

Lucky filly.

Midnight spotted a blob of another color appearing in her sight.

Aaand what does pink mean? Like, that one over there. Wait, is she moving towards me? I can't really make her out clearly. How do I turn this off?

You ask. I'm the one living in our brain, so managing Pegasus Eye is up to me. What an amazing talent you never knew you had, eh?

This was not to Midnight's liking. It would bind her to the demon still inside her, adding another reason she had to overcome to remove it.

"Uh, hey Sparkle, what's on your mind?"

"Gah, spoiled brat." The group of friends was watching a foal run around shouting while its mother didn't even try to look like she was watching it.

"Don't blame the kid. It's all her fault." V pointed towards the mother mare.

"Yeah. Should teach those a lesson they won't forget." Brabblestoff let out.

"What do you mean?"

"You know, teach them for bringing up their foals like that. Slicey slicey. Maybe the foal too, just to educate it."

"How about you shut your mouth about things you don't know a buck's worth about?" Midnight suddenly snapped into the conversation.

"Woah 'Night, cool down."

"You know, my father was... a drinker and a fiend. And one night, he came back crazier than usual. Mommy grabbed a kitchen knife to defend herself. He didn't like that. Not one bit."

Midnight never talked about that time she was now obviously referring to. The group listened in shock.

"With me watching, he took the knife, laughing while he did it. When he was done, he turned over, saw me, and walked over towards me. 'Why so serious?', he asked. I couldn't move. He was next to me. 'Why so serious?'"

"I..." Brabblestoff tried to speak, but his voice died down.

"He put the blade in my mouth and continued. 'Why so serious?'. I tried everything I could to avoid the blade inside me, but he held me in place. 'Why so seriouss? Let's put a smile on that face!'. Aaaand... why so serious?"

"I... I didn't know you... Wait, you serious?"

"No. My father's a good, honest pony. Doesn't change the fact my mother WAS murdered and died in my hooves. So, what do we learn?"

"Don't make inappropriate jokes, there may be an actual victim nearby?"

"Who will buck your face off if you ever say something like that again. Smart colt."

And you said I'm the evil one.

Don't mind me, just educating some ponies.

"Who would schedule an exam that shortly before the finals anyways? Even more so, who WOULD NOT TELL ME?" Sparkle was obviously not pleased as she walked out of the classroom alongside Midnight. Through the windows, they could see the great weather outside.

"I know, he can be a bit annoying sometimes, but you gotta see over that. You've still got a week to prepare, after all."

"A week, I'd need three at least. What will I do? I've never had this stuff before!"

"Shouldn't you have done it in, like, fourth semester in your old school? You'll be fine, trust me. I haven't really started repeating myself. I always do it that way. Hey, want to come over sometime, preferably this week, and have a studying session together?"

"Oh, you'd do that for me? No way, I'd only slow you down so we both fail." Sparkle's way of avoiding anypony having to work for her was amazing.

Midnight pulled the smaller unicorn closer to her. As friends, of course. "Sparkle, you've got brains, you've got talent, you've even got the modesty not to brag with them. You deserve graduating more than anypony else here."

"If you put it that way... Um, well, when do you have time?"

"Let's see, today's Wednesday... We can start on Friday evening, right after school, when we've both had dinner. If I can talk Dad into it - and you're okay with it, of course - we can even have dinner together to save time. I'm not really doing anything on Fridays."

"That's such a generous offer of you..."

"So you've got time on Friday? Good, but we won't possibly make it through. How about another meeting on Sunday?"

"Sounds good to me. I can come whenever you feel like it, really."

Did this filly just not have any real friends other than Midnight or did she just put her work above everything? Sudden pain. A high voice, like Sparkle's, screamed shortly. A shift in gravity. More pain.

"Oh, I'm sorry, are you alright?"

Midnight's senses began to come back. An object was pushing into her leg. Without thinking, she removed it telekinetically. Apparently, it had entered her skin, as there was a feeling of cold following where the object had left.

"Hm. That is a minor inconvenience."

"That's put simply. You should go to the nurse."

Midnight regained her sense for balance and slowly rose to her hooves. "I AM the nurse, Sparkle. Besides, even if I wasn't, it would be overkill. That's only a..."

She looked at her foreleg, spotting a bleeding gash in it. The liquid pouring out of it was about to reach her hoof.

"Okay, it's more than I thought. Still, I'm fine. Or at least I can shrug it off. I've had plenty of those before. Didn't involve ponies shoving doors into my face though." Midnight shot a burning look to the mare who had just tried to come out of the room and was now heavily apologising. Her magic was still in effect. Midnight only just realised. Deciding to take a closer look at the unknown object, she floated it over in front of her face. It turned out to be a simple, thankfully clean nail.

"So small, and yet you create such a big wound. Get out." She flung the nail into a nearby trash bin. As she realigned to look at Sparkle, who still had a doubtful look on her face, Midnight's hoof found wetness upon touching the ground.

"Oh yeah. That thing. Don't worry you two, I got it." Summoning her magic again, Midnight sanitised her wound, then floated over a tissue from her saddlebags to take up the blood. "There. Good as new. Literally new, coming to think of it..."

Sparkle awoke from her state of seeming petrification. She still didn't open her mouth. Midnight didn't get what would be so surprising about a pony bandaging its own wounds.

"Hellooo, Sparkle, wake up. I'm fine, look, no more blood. Now, is Friday a set time or not?"

"Uhm, sure, sure. Yeah." Sparkle had been hypnotised by something else entirely, but she never told anypony what it was.

Chapter 17

Midnight was at the barber, getting her mane cut. It was time to try out a short style as she had always thought about. Suddenly, there was a strong pull. This was unusual. He was normally very careful to avoid causing his customers any pain.

"Ouch. Watch it please." The pull ceased, only to be replaced by a burning sensation in her neck. Something hot ran down her shoulders. "Argh, what are you... Doing?"

The blade ran deeper into her. Midnight jumped to her hooves to fight back, spraying her blood everywhere. But there was nopony. She had levitated the blade the entire time. She deserved to end like her. She wanted it.

Midnight exhaled all the air she had in her lungs and pushed the piece of metal as for down as she could before blacking out.

Wake up, robot. You have been sleeping. Your time has come. Wake up and smell the ashes. You can't smell them. Because you are a cold, emotionless robot. All you feel is pointless cruelty, paired with the need to kill innocents.

You mad?

Of course not, robot. There is no reason for me to be mad at you. Or pointlessly murder you. Do you know who murders people who are only trying to help them? The correct answer is nobody. Nobody but you is that cruel.

If I was a robot, I wouldn't have to deal with you.

But you are one, robot. Look around. You are blind. I have not yet powered up your photosensic cells. Listen up. You are deaf. I have not yet powered up your audiosensic cells. Touch something. You are numb. You do not possess pressure sensitive sensors.

Slowly, Midnight was really drifting into existential thoughts. Why was she blind? This was all just a wicked joke from Noon. There was no other way.

Would a living being turn around on command? Sit? Rise, stand up? When ordered, would a living being walk, STOP?

Midnight had enough feelings in her body to notice she was actually executing Noon's commands.

Would a living being... hurt itself upon demand?

A flash of pain. Midnight had torn open the wound from when she had fixed a date with Sparkle. A study date. Nothing more.

Machines are perfect. Machines are the future. But you bleed. You are not a robot. You are a bag of meat. Bound to so many years of life and then vanishing. You are a moving imperfection. An eternal flaw. Wake up, robot. Your time has come.

Midnight opened her eyes. The light was blinding her. She heard the birds outside. She felt the blood running down her foreleg.

Remind me to make you suffer when I kill you. Midnight thought as she began to treat the wound again.

Don't mind me, Missy M. You'll need me much by tonight. I just thought I'd prepare you.

I'm going to need your absence. 'Cause I'll be working with Sparkle to catch back up to stuff.

Working and Sparkle, sure. With, not so certain.

What are you implying?

Ask yourself. We am nothing more than that.

Just be clear already!

Ya ain't very honest ta yerself. Tha's our own fault. But really, search your feelings. You know it to be true.

Midnight didn't know what Noon meant. She did not feel anything suspicious. The only thing was an unusually strong nervosity. What did that mean? It meant nothing, Midnight was sure of that. The finals and nothing else caused it. Nothing else at all.

Math. Midnight hated math. It wasn't hard if one had got the hang of it and always was careful, but in her opinion, it was wasted effort. Whatever math she'd use she had taught herself in magic kindergarten. Midnight couldn't resist lying to herself when she was tired. It amused her. She still didn't see herself using any of that fancy stuff they were repeating now, though.

The door opened, and with it opened Midnight's left eye to see who was there. That pony wasn't as early as she was, but there was still a bit of time before class started. What Midnight saw made her open both eyes and even lift her head off the desk. There was a pony with lavender coat, just like Sparkle's. She had just her mane and tail style, coming to think of it. She also wore a simple sun dress going just over her flank like Sparkle would. Yet, that pony had a night blue mane and tail in just the exact same color. The color that Midnight's mane had once been in. It took Midnight until after the pony was already at the desk next to her that she realised who it was. Sparkle looked like she was ready to laugh out when her friend opened her mouth at last.

"Catchy. What's the occasion?"

"Uhm, I just found that spell, you know, illusion, and, uh, I thought, why not practice it? Blue suits me much better, I think."

Sparkle had even carried over the stripe of color that was now ultramarine in a mane of Midnight blue.

"Cool. You look awesome like that. And now ponies will be able to tell us apart from a distance without looking at the flank... sorry."

Sparkle shrugged. "Say, is it always that empty when you're early?"

"Late worm survives the early bird."

"And that means?"

"Well, somepony's gotta be first. Or second, in your case. And also, this is math. Nopony likes math, especially when it's in the morning like that. So it's a miracle they even come sometime."

"Ah, I understand. Um, so... Got anything to talk about? Any problems coming up with our date tonight?"

Did she really call it a date? Date in the sense of an appointment. Calm yourself, Midnight!

"Dad's okay with you coming over for dinner because he isn't home anyway. But we've got enough supplies for two, so it's no problem. The only thing that changes is who prepares the food."

"Awesome."

Cooking for her already. You're moving so fast...

Midnight didn't complain. She couldn't muster the strength of mind to do so. Before she did, the rest of the class trotted into the room.

The day had been long, even longer than usual. Midnight didn't know why. It was always boring and not challenging at all unless she forgot to prepare. Meditating on her issues would usually help make class go by faster unless somepony noticed she wasn't really present. But at last, it was over. Now she could go home with Sparkle and study more.

At least it was still technically spending time with a friend. A friend. Not a date. They cut through an alleyway to save travel time. They were about halfway to Midnight's. Midnight stumbled. She looked back to determine the object blocking her path and spotted something quite extraordinary. Lying on the ground was a weakened mare, bleeding from several gashes in her body, apparently unable to rise on her own. As if for effect, she twisted and turned in the dirt from pain.

"Midnight? What's the... oh dear. This - this is bad."

Midnight ignored her friend and knelt down to the hurt pony. "Hello? Sorry for walking into you... um, what happened? Can you walk?"

"Unngh... Wait, there's help for me? Oh, thank... I was trying to take a shortcut when this stallion..." The blue mare responded.

"What did he do? I'm assuming it's him who did this to you, did he seriously hurt you or is that it?"

"He, well, he had a knife and... that's what happened. I don't think I'll be able to walk."

"Scumbag, that's what his kind are. Now... Oh, I had hoped this hadn't happened. Got you pretty badly, right?"

"Buried his knife in me sometimes... had given up by then, he was just doing it for fun. You don't happen to be a medic?"

"Actually, I do. That's why I asked you so much. Sparkle? Sparkle, stop running around in panic like that and give me light!"

"Uh, of course, right away." Sparkle calmed down, conjured an orb of light and bowed her head down to allow Midnight to see clearly.

"Let's see... Ugh, not good. Not good at all. I have to admit, I'm only in training. Well, it's my special talent. But I'm afraid I can't do that much for you right now. If it was a surface wound, I could mend or cauterise it if it was too big, but this? I'll do what I can, hang on in there."

"Don't have much choice, do I? But please, this hurts so much, do what you do, do it quick!"

"On it, on it. Um, I can... Yeah. This might sting a little bit, especially when I miss my aim, so try to hold still."

Midnight summoned purifying energy into the wounds of the unicorn before her. With a flinging motion, she removed the dirt from all of them, one at a time. Then, she filled the glow back in, where it would kill bacteria trying to infect the wound."

"There. I'm assuming this isn't all of it... But we'll need some bandages to keep it clean or else it'll all be for nothing when we flip you over. Anypony have some of the kind?"

"Um, why should I bring bandages into school?" Sparkle answered.

"Why should I carry them around?" The mare on the ground asked.

"You're not in a position to say that right now. I mean, just saying. Fine, we'll use the next best thing then. Good thing I'm never - well, almost never - sick, or I'd actually use those tissues. Imagine that."

"Don't you have any more fancy healing magic to do?"

"I told you already, I did everything I know of. It's not safe to cauterise those gashes right now. I mean, would you want to have the entire surface of it burned out, even going inside you? There's technically a way to heal directly, but I'm not very strong at that yet and it's also..."

"What?"

"Well, it's relatively painful, but not only that, it also draws on your essence. Gee, I don't know how long you've been lying here and we're wasting way too much time talking. You're weak enough to take serious damage if I try to use it on every spot."

"Fine, the earth pony way then. Get it on with!"

"As you wish." Midnight levitated the material out of her saddlebags, tore them apart and began to apply some to every bleeding spot to at least soak up the blood and protect it from further pollution.

The grounded unicorn's other side was just as scary, but Midnight worked with routine and got through quickly.

"There. It's not perfect, but it'll avert any immediate dangers and make you transportable. To somewhere where there are ponies better at this job than me."

"Ah, I'll be honest, I could have died here. Did a good job, you. I'm in a lot less pain now. But that somewhere still sounds attractive."

"Thought so. Sparkle, help me lift her, would you?"

"Where are we going?"

"I did what I could, but this mare needs to get some advanced care, and I'll carry her to the clinic if I must. It's only two minutes from here. Help me lift her."

Midnight moved around, until she found a good angle of approach at the unicorn's back, just opposing Sparkle. As she was beginning to put force into her lifting, Midnight suddenly felt a touch. Sparkle had brushed the hoof she had ran under her patient's belly. For reasons unknown to her, Midnight blushed a little. Her purple coat hid it relatively well, fortunately. It took some maneuvering, but eventually, they managed to get the pony safely onto Midnight's back. She then set off towards help as quickly as she could. "There. Don't worry, you'll be fine. Lost a good bit of blood there, but now you're safe with us."

"I always knew I was. Hey, I don't think I've introduced myself yet. I'm Colgate." Colgate's voice was weak, but it carried a clear sign of trust and calmness.

"Pleasure to meet you. If only we'd met under more pleasurable circumstances. If you haven't heard yet, I'm Midnight and my 'assistant' here is called Sparkle."

"I picked up that much. I'd shake your hoof, Sparkle... if I could. Is anypony else really cold? I..."

"What? Bad. Sparkle, if you have anything to generate warmth in that little supertalent horn of yours, now would be a fitting time. Or a spell for generating blood right into somepony's circulation? No? We'll have to hurry then. Make sure she doesn't fall off of me."

Midnight sped up her pace. Colgate's injuries had been deeper than she'd expected. She might still lose her if she took too long.

Just what is with me constantly running into injured ponies...

I think you appreciate it much too little that I did not show you again how you should NOT do such a treatment.

If you would, she'd have died on me and I would've killed you brutally, no matter what science I was losing.

I'm afraid you would. Embrace the rage, the hate. Embrace what makes us you, robot.

What rage are you speaking of? Did you notice you're the only one of us able to actually feel fear? Coward...

Chapter 18

"Ugh, let's go. We're already way late on our date. To study, I mean. At my house"

"You mean, we can just leave on the case? Shouldn't we stay or something?" Sparkle asked with a concerned face.

"What for? I've done my best for her, she's in better care now, we told them what we know about her... I'm not exactly lucky with that stuff, you know? That's not the first pony I carried into this clinic."

Midnight had to admit, she had stayed around for a bit longer than necessary every time, and this was no exception. But what did she matter now anymore? The pony in charge of Colgate took a moment to talk to them. "Hey Midnight, want a stamp on the hoof so you can easily come back in when you've saved another life?"

"Yeah yeah. I get it. I don't know what's the deal with me either. They just keep dropping half dead at my hooves."

"I'm not blaming you, no, not at all. They may be only a statistic to you, but believe me, everypony who knows one of those you... ran into... is eternally grateful."

"Should come back when they got me a gift basket. Heh, just kidding. Yeah, I know how that'd feel for them... But if you'd excuse us, Sparkle and me were trying to have a nice evening when Colgate happened to need me."

"Won't stop you. But, remember. I've educated you a few times, I know you. Don't just shrug them off as accidents, Midnight. Every time you prove your talents, you make one friend for their life and a dozen more forever in your debt."

Midnight said her goodbye and left. Sparkle followed her out of the clinic.

"You mean, you've done stuff like that before?" Sparkle asked right as she had caught up to Midnight.

"Once or twice... Or maybe more than half a dozen times already. It's what I do best, hence the flank. So far, I've only lost one patient."

Sparkle opened her mouth, but then seemed to answer her own question and shut it again in awkwardness for even thinking about asking that.

"Yeah. So, at last, we can start our evening together. I hope you're not mad that I won't be able to offer you anything fancy, but I'm not exactly a good cook and it IS late."

Sparkle suppressed a giggle. "Anything you ma... I mean, have for me is fine. Can hardly be worse than what I make for myself all the time."

Had Midnight been just a bit more attentive, she'd have noticed the paradox Sparkle had just said. But she wasn't. All of her power went into leading her friend home and keeping her mind clean of thoughts she didn't want to have.

Just why does that kiddo have to be so cute...

They had been productive. At least, while there weren't certain body parts of the younger unicorn hypnotising Midnight and denying her any concentration. This was a cruel joke from Noon. Midnight could feel it. At the very least, she could feel something, and that already showed her demon's presence by itself. She had given them both a small break for taking a small breath.

Sparkle had gone out to walk a few steps outside of the house. Midnight preferred opening her window and relaxing in her room. The moon was the only object providing her with light as she had temporarily shut off all other sources. She preferred the natural approach. They could have used the living room to have more space, but it just felt better to do it in upstairs. Eventually, all of her school books ended up there anyway. There was no point in going against the flow of entropy. Midnight appreciated the pause. Even if it was more the break from being alone with Sparkle she needed.

She heard the door downstairs. Five minutes were just such a short timespan. She'd need at least twenty seconds to walk through the house. Midnight closed her eyes as she was still lying flat on her bed and repeated her breathing ritual again to keep a clear mind the rest of the evening. Sparkle entered her room. Midnight jumped to her feet.

"Enjoyed yourself out there?"

"Totally. It's such a nice night out there, the weather ponies have outdone themselves again. I can't wait to come back to seeing Rainbow Dash and the others again."

"Uh, who?"

"Rainbow Dash! Like, best young flier, one of Ponyville's weather ponies, just a slight case of hubris. I'm pretty sure you must have seen the rainbow she created out of joy about one and a half months ago."

"Which others? Why come back... If I didn't know any better, I'd say you haven't really moved to Canterlot at all. Would you like to tell your Class Mate Best Friend Forever something? I mean, I'm nopony to pry, but why would you lie about that?"

"Well, straight out, I'm from Canterlot. Originally. Like ninety percent of all unicorns in this region. But I moved to Ponyville when I was a filly. And, well, I somehow missed entirely that I have to do my finals, so here I am again. But I kinda miss my friends from back there. You'd like Ponyville. There are far less snobs there than here."

"That was direct. Imagine if we had gone through days, maybe more, of me trying to get the truth out of you."

"I know, right?"

Midnight shouldn't have expected so much from her friend. She was still fairly young. Ponies like her needed sleep. But Midnight didn't let her get away with it that easily.

"Hey, Sparkle! You're still awake, right?"

She was, even if just by so little. Midnight could see that, even though she was trying to hide it.

"Uh? Yes, yes."

"Good. 'Cause I don't know if I'm casting this spell here right. Mind to take a look?"

It was a simple teleportation spell. Of course Midnight was doing it right. It was part of her special talent. But she wanted to force Sparkle to focus and stay awake. Midnight teleported in short bursts, maybe three feet at a time, in a circle around her friend.

"I think you're casting that right. At least, that's how I always did."

"I guess you're right..." Midnight stopped her streak. Only as it was too late she remembered about magic inertia. Her surroundings were prepared to take her another step ahead, and thus were fairly displeased when she didn't ask them to do so anymore.

She lost balance due to the force pushing into her. "Ngh." She sighed, tipping over to lie on the floor. One of the books they had left lying around drove its sharp edge deep into Midnight's side. She ignored it. Sparkle suddenly started smiling.

"Oy, Sparkle! What's so funny?"

"That's... nothing. Just thinking back of home."

"Well, mind lending a hoof?" Midnight stretched all four of her legs upwards like a bug lying on its back.

What response she got was surprising to Midnight. Instead of getting up from her adorable little rump to help her, Sparkle just enwrapped her in an aura which she knew was unicorn magic and lifted her back to her hooves like that.

"You sure are a powerful magician, aren't you? I'm sure you could take on an Ursa on your own like that."

This overstatement appeared to amuse Sparkle.

"By the way, what's the time?" Midnight asked as she looked out the window to investigate a something that had drawn her attention.

"Purple pony. Almost."

"Uh?" Midnight whirled around to look at the clock herself. "Oh you..."

"Right. I think it's time we both get some sleep."

"So, we got through quite some stuff. I'll be honest, I didn't expect that from you, even though you teach me daily that good talent and a nice personality can indeed be in the same pony. I think we'll be able to finish on the second time. We agreed on Sunday... Two in the afternoon? Is that alright with you?"

"Fine to me."

"You know, they said that they have some great weather scheduled for then. Why don't we go out to the park or something? And if they don't get the sun out, you go get your pegasus friend and MAKE HER DO IT." Midnight said with a grin to indicate she wasn't THAT serious.

"She'll do it in ten seconds flat for us. Sunday at two it is. I'll come back here so you can lead me wherever you want to go. Have a nice time until then!"

With that, Sparkle left. All that remained with Midnight was the night sky, barely brightening up the darkness around her. As if competing with the Moon's smooth glow about who could light up the night around Midnight, a lit candle pushed itself into her view from the ground as she stared at the filly walking away.

She once more looked down to the object it was meant to illuminate. The picture. The same old picture put up on the doorstep of Midnight's home, giving one last reminder of Daylight when she was long gone already.

Of course, Noon was still there, as much as Midnight wished she wasn't.

Oooh, how cute. Lil' princess went on her first date and didn't even get a kiss out of it.

If that's all you can contribute, get out of my mind.

But why should I? It's been such a delicious spectacle. I have to agree, that filly does have a nice flank. I know you'll blame me, but let me tell you that... I didn't do anything about that tonight. How does that make you feel?

Blank. As always.

I'll get you one day. But for now, I'll leave you to your own doubts.

Noon didn't say anything more, but drew little hearts encasing 'M+S' into the darkness wherever Midnight wasn't looking.

You are lying, as always. Even if you aren't... Am I in that phase already? Curses upon this mortal shell! Just the body, not the mind. Oh, Celestia, don't make me a filly fooler. Not for me. For Sparkle's sake. She deserves better. She deserves a stallion with powerful magic that'll just break her heart and abandon her if she coughs at the wrong time because he thinks he's better. Well... maybe stallions in Ponyville are different. Or maybe she does deserve a true, honest soul.

Midnight didn't dare add 'Like me' to that statement, but in her heart, she knew she wanted to.

Chapter 19

"Hello Midnight. I want to play a game."

Midnight's heart raced. It wasn't the dark basement room thingy that scared her. Nor was it the recording of a pony puppet speaking to her. It was the fact that she was tied to some kind of terrifying machinery.

"All your life, you have worked hard and efficiently to achieve what you want. But I wonder, what if you are thrown into a new situation with no time to prepare? Your task is relatively simple. The key to your shackles is on your stomach. Work your muscles if you want to get out. You have one minute after you begin moving."

Midnight saw why she should hurry. That piece of metal did not look nice, and it approached her surprisingly fast. She panicked and began to wiggle around as hard as she could to move the key to her freedom to her mouth. Twenty seconds gone. She was making some progress. Then, suddenly, Midnight misbreathed and her hopes of survival fell to the floor. Now what should she do? She could move her head freely and looked around. With thirty seconds to live, Midnight saw a flash of color. Lavender? No, she had to have blinked and looked into her own coat.

She remembered that she was a unicorn and thus could simply levitate the key over. Within ten seconds, she was off the table. There didn't appear to be any more traps in that room. Behind her, the wooden surface she had been lying on was crushed.

"Game over. Oh, wait, you probably cheated, didn't you. Should've seen that coming. Darn unicorns. Nevermind. You see, there is a poisonous gas dispenser in the ventilation system. It will only affect this room, so if you manage to escape, you don't have to worry about it. There are multiple ways out of here. One is the ventilation shaft. Try not to get a cough from the neurotoxin on your way through there."

Midnight inspected the room more closely. There were no features except for a covered ventilation shaft and a simple door out. But, of course, it had to be locked. Why should it be easy. She could always just climb out through the ventilation, it'd be big enough for her. But that'd lead directly past the source of her eventual doom. Another flash of color. Midnight concentrated on the moment and could make out... a face? Was it smiling at her? It had lasted longer than the previous one, but it was still gone before Midnight could examine it. If she used a metal detection spell, Midnight might be able to pick the lock using levitation. She wondered why that thought hadn't occured to her earlier. In fact, she was out before she even knew it.

"Impressive. If you would stop cheating. How is one supposed to run a labyrinth of horror if the subject keeps finding an easy way out? Keep walking, I suppose."

Midnight approached a pit. Just before she was in range to take a closer look at it, a door slammed shut behind her. The pit turned out to be filled with lava. There were arrow launchers throughout the room. And, as if to add insult to injury, a few venomous snakes were present on the platform that kept getting smaller. She'd have to act quickly, before all the ground sank down. With two determined jumps, Midnight made it halfway through the room. She prepared and executed the final leap when suddenly something tore her out of her survivalist concentration. An arrow had struck her in the side. This wasn't such a grave injury in itself. Worse was that she had retracted her legs as a first reaction and thus missed the jump. Midnight was falling helplessly down towards instant sublimation. The image returned. But this time it stayed. It was her best friend, wearing the smile of winners she had learned to love.

"Spar... kle..."

This wasn't real. If it was, Midnight would have long hit the bottom of the pit. She would feel the arrow in her side. This was nothing but a pathetic attempt to make Midnight wet herself out of fear from Noon. This was her own mind. And if it was her mind, it would have to follow HER rules, not Noon's. Midnight floated back to safe ground. The pain in her stomach was gone. Behind that door, Noon would await her. Midnight knew she would because she wanted her to. She crashed it open and ran into a room so devoid of any features it didn't even have visible walls, but only darkness, which had been pushed aside to free up the space Midnight needed. Midnight stood in front of a pony looking exactly like her. She was somehow less pretty than Midnight, though.

"At last we stand face to face. You are Noon."

"I am Noon."

"You will stop doing whatever it is you are trying to do."

"I will stop doing whatever it is I am trying to do."

Midnight lifted a hoof to touch the unicorn before her, who copied the gesture. When their legs met, she didn't feel anything like a hoof, though. All Midnight could feel was a cold, smooth surface.

"Gah, what is this? Trickster, reveal yourself!"

In rage, Midnight struck out and bashed in the glass she was looking into. No shards hurt her. She didn't want them to.

"Be careful what you say. You may be speaking to nothing more than an image of yourself."

Midnight suddenly was on the other side of the mirror she'd been talking to. Looking through the hole there now was in it, she spotted herself looking back. Only that this version still had a night blue mane. There was a small brook of blood flowing down the right foreleg of both of them.

"And with that, my entrance is complete. Take a moment to think about what just happened, image."

"Don't call me that, demon. I am the bigger us, you are the minor part."

"I didn't think that up, you did, miss mirror."

"You do realise it's not the time to taunt me now? Now you're here, facing me at last. If nothing else, I can trace you to where you live in my brain. I'll use a kitchen knife if I have to."

"No. You won't. I still owe you some answers. For instance... how am I still here, despite your greatest efforts?"

"Kill what does not live."

"Heh, charming as always. Realise your real lies, Midnight. You won't achieve victory. Because anything short of my annihilation is a defeat for you. And guess what. You can't kill me. You are a useless bag of meat with no other purpose than reproduce until you produce something that's better at survival than you. A valiant effort you're making, but there is nothing higher for you to reach."

"And that's supposed to mean?" Midnight pushed aside the mirror as a whole, despite it being fixated to the floor. It slid through the ground like water and disappeared in the dark.

"If you can't ascend to the 'higher state of being', as you liked to call it, you can't destroy me. You're not mentally capable to shrug off what I stand for. Anything you may do against me will delay me at best."

Noon was right. Midnight once more cursed her mortal shell. She bent her head down in defeat.

"Suppose you're right. I am worthless. I can't even control my own mind. So, what is the best thing to do in this situation?"

"Reunite us. Make us whole. Become what you were!"

"I can't. If I do, then I'm gonna lose my mind because of Mother and I'll completely fail at school and worst of all, I, the unshakable Midnight, will be... in love with Sparkle."

"At least you're talking openly about it. That's the first step."

"And the last one I'm going to do. The only reason I feel this fear is your influence on my otherwise perfect mind, but I still can't do this. I have done too much to go back now."

"You will. You will see."

"Next question. Why Sparkle? Just... why? She's so young and innocent. All I should be feeling for her is the guardian instinct, but you just go and give me a crush on her."

"Ask yourself."

"That's not very helpful."

"It's the best answer I have because it's the best answer YOU have. I'm sure you'll find the reasons. Maybe it's just pure chance."

"What is your purpose in me? Like, why do you give me those nightmares and all that?"

"You're a perfectionist, Midnight. Since you... Failed, you didn't accept anything but the best from yourself or others. The nightmares are because you won't stop trying to repress me. In your sleep, you're at my mercy."

"Like how I have proven right before?"

"That was an accident. Little filly shook you awake enough to take control."

"I love that pony."

"I know we do."

"Wait, I didn't..."

"We know what we meant. Now, because you are a perfectionist, you can't live without feelings. I must create the perfect pony, and by Celestia, I will."

"Huh? I'm just trying to survive school and get a nice job here!"

"We are so close to perfection, Midnight. Make us whole!"

"And then fall into madness. The thing about perfection is that it can never be achieved, yet it's always there, right in front of us, all the time. You wouldn't know that because I didn't, when you were created! Wait... When were you created?"

"You... ugh. Well, my existence was founded back then. You wouldn't stop crying if you lived out your emotions, so you decided to try and live without. Since then, every feeling you've repressed has come together and created me."

"Darkling."

"Why, that's a powerful demon, thank you."

"I hate you. Well, what if I do live out my feelings and all that more? Shouldn't you vanish?"

"If it was that easy. Even if it was, would you want me to? Don't you... Like that fillyfriend of yours?"

"Would I still like her after you were gone?"

"No way to find out. Try not to sleep in, by the way. Don't want to miss your second date. Maybe she'll kiss you this time."

"Don't you dare. We may be into Sparkle, but she knows nothing of that and I think it's better if she stays the unreachable goal."

Chapter 20

Death... Is... Close. You are already dead.

The voice in her head was deeper than usual. Midnight tried to pinpoint it to a specific pony.

Your courage will fail. Your friends will abandon you.

She wasn't exactly fully conscious, but somehow, those words made perfect sense to her.

You will betray your friends. Your heart will explode.

This was the only truth!

You will die.

Midnight knew what she had to do. First, she had to get Noon back into discipline. Then, she had to rise from her bed and prepare for her appointment later with Sparkle. Motes of dust danced in the sunlight coming into her room, ceasing to be visible just in front of her bed.

Buongiorno demone. You know... How come I and especially you can talk in a language I've never learned?

Suppose we did sometime. Or it's just bits you heard somewhere. I can promise one thing, if we're wrong, you won't notice.

Clock mode. Do you have any idea of what time it is?

Judging by atmospheric pressure, temperature, sleep cycle in relation to time of starting, sun level... calculating...

There are simpler ways to say that I don't know.

But less fun, too. How about you do the practical way and turn over to our alarm clock? Oh, so late already. Just how did you spend all that time? Were you murdering innocent people again?

I was merciful tonight. Should I not have been?

So you were murdering again.

I wish I had.

Thought equals crime, sweet. At least it does in an environment where action equals thought and vice versa. My environment. Unless you'd let me out, of course...

What, let you take control? Not a chance in this world. We are me to begin with, but you are less than me.

Watch your words when you don't know what they mean. I am more than you could ever dream.

Yet you are just that. A dream. An illusion, created by my own mind as a result of trying to cope with events that would otherwise tear me straight into insanity.

Am I? Are you not already mad, and just always talking to yourself?

I hope not. That'd be unpleasant.

So hot. This could not possibly be normal. Midnight was almost sweating. Which was somewhat odd, given it was mid-january. Wearing no protection like she was, she should be freezing to death now, but somewhere, she managed to get even excess heat. It didn't seem to be just her, though. Nopony around her seemed to feel very cold. Maybe it was simply that warm. At least the sun was beneficial to her date in the park. The warmth was still almost unbearable, all things considered. She could block out Noon to reduce her suffering. But Midnight didn't want to. Her inner demon would only take that as the affront it was.

That darn heat. She couldn't stand it. Apparently, there was something about it that made her younger friend go incredibly sleepy. For the third time now, Sparkle had obviously not been mentally present enough to hear Midnight. She wondered why. Surely, that unicorn's body wanted her to rest, but why? Was it just the comfortable heat they were both in? Or had she missed plenty of sleep? Why would she?

"Repeating, to create a force field around a given object, one must know... Are you listening?"

Sparkle shook her head violently and blinked once. "Uh, sure I am... one must know... the radius, which to square and multiply by twelve point six in order to calculate the orb's surface and thus the amount of magic to be poured into the spell."

"Correct. At last. Um, how about we do a short break? Want something to drink? On me?"

"If that's no inconvenience for you..."

"Sparkle, you're a fine pony, but you gotta work on your self-confidence. I offer you a drink, you TAKE IT! Okay, I'll be right back."

Arriving at the vending stand, Midnight noticed something. It wasn't the fact that the stand was there at all, deep in the middle of what was supposed to be winter. She blamed that on the unnatural heat everypony was in. As a consequence of that, not only was there the light brown vendor pony, but also three others, all unicorns, in front of Midnight. More like it was that she had forgotten to ask Sparkle what she wanted.

Use my power or die.

Overexaggerating as always. What do you want? Speak quickly, before I'm supposed to.

What if your crush is allergic to what you're about to get her? What if I could help avoid that?

How? You mean, Pegasus Eye would do that for me?

Smart filly guessed it already. We are mildly impressed. Say please.

Do I really have to ask MYSELF?

Ask yourself how you got so stubborn. Oh, I know. From never truly accepting the truth about her. From constantly denying any help they'd give you. Although I'd have to thank you for that. It gave birth to me.

I have a mental bottle of holy water.

Oh, how delicious of you. Fine, I'll do it.

Once again, everything around Midnight blended into the same blue that signaled it was not of interest to her. One line on the menu was glowing brightly.

Simple lemonade. Wouldn't have expected that of her.

Midnight returned to the tree both of them had been sitting under, two bottles floating besides her. Her friend was apparently entirely disinterested in them as she was lying flat on her back, breathing slowly through her little mouth. It was the heat. She had temporarily drifted off into a better world. A world entirely for herself, made of her own needs, desires, feelings and all that sappy romantic stuff Midnight neither understood nor cared about. Most of her didn't, at least.

Midnight sat down next to her. What a well-shaped filly she was. Every single one of her curves... that wasn't right. Not at all. Midnight didn't have such thoughts. She didn't want to. Still, sitting there and watching her breathing... something feral awakened in Midnight. She needed to know what that place of respiration Sparkle was currently using would feel like, what it would taste like. She couldn't think straight. For some reason, there was nopony anywhere close to within range of seeing what she was doing.

Slowly, quietly, Midnight lowered her head down to Sparkle's, listening to her every breath, always on alert for any one breaking the pattern. Mere inches parted them. One inch. Then, in half a second, Midnight's dreams were shattered. In half a second, those beautiful eyes opened. In half a second, she had managed somehow to turn her head and push a hoof on Sparkle's foreleg. She looked down onto her friend, trying to minimise the damage she had just caused, even though her head was still close enough for her to see the blood vessels in Sparkle's eyes.

"Uh, oh no, did I wake you? I'm sorry! I was just, mh, measuring your vital functions. You know, to be sure you're just napping. Nothing more. Out of fun, more. For practice."

This answer seemed to satisfy Sparkle. "Oh, I'm the one to be sorry, I just dozed off on our date... You have to forgive me, I had to go... there and... do stuff and... you know. Took half last night."

"'t's okay, Sparkle. Look, I got you something to cool down. Does your friend Trainbow Ash have something to do with that? I heard you call her lazy quite a few times now."

"Thanks. Rainbow has been working extra hard to create that kind of weather, you know? I miss her... But when I think about going back to the girls, I, for some reason, have to think about you and that I'm leaving you behind in Canterlot and..."

Midnight exploited her still literally superior position to gently silence her friend with a hoof. "We all have to let go, but when you think someone gone entirely, you'll find out they're closer to you than ever."

"That doesn't make sense. Ugh, it's apparently starting to rain again. That much for Rainbow and working. We should pack up, dea... Midnight." Sparkle turned away quickly to pack up their books before they got wet. She spent a rather long time picking them all up.

"Right. We can go back to my place and finish there."

"There, all done... Radius, square, twelve point six..." Sparkle casually conjured a field around her, extending a bit more than a normal mare's width from her. "Ugh, I must've miscalculated. Still wide enough, luckily..."

"Wide enough for what? You know I don't care about a little rain."

"Don't be silly, come under here! Don't want you catching whatever bug comes across you." Sparkle pulled Midnight to her side. She could only barely avoid brushing their sides against each other while remaining in the dry field.

Midnight could hear her breathing at this distance. Sometimes, she'd misstep and feel their flanks or shoulders colliding. The heat intensified tenfold for her. "Sparkle, I... You..." What had she just said? One second stretched out to an eternity for Midnight. She had just that one second to figure out what was going wrong and fix the damage.

OUT!

With Noon's influence severely reduced, it was easy to have a clear thought and figure out what she had to say. "I'm impressed. Well, with that display, I think we can skip practicing force fields for you, eh?"

Crisis averted.

Or caused.

Chapter 21

Slow music. Pathetic silence among the audience. The Sun shining down as if to tell everypony 'Hey look, I don't care about your business, I'm a giant ball of burning gas!'. Midnight lifted her head and looked around with her right eye, the other hidden behind her long blue mane. Both of them were still sore from excreting salty water. What a terrible charade this was. Half the ponies present had never met her mother, Midnight was sure of that. The other half were either estranged relatives or those that she had maybe talked to once. And then there were her father and her. The only ones Midnight could think of who really deserved their presence at this event. Charade again. Neither of them wanted to be there. Midnight had a saying that brought her surprisingly far in life. 'The past is dead and buried.'.

Well, the first part was literal and the second was about to. They had done all kinds of things for her. Lied to her. Forced her into therapies she neither wanted nor needed. Tried to make her forget. To make her accept it. Even now, she could hear their lies reverb in her head. 'What happened to Daylight wasn't your fault.' 'The pony who did this has been brought to justice.' 'She died at peace and with her family.'

Midnight hated all of those sentences because she knew they weren't true. It was surprising what ponies made up when trying to lessen the pain of others. Everything hated her, and she hated everything. A nudge in her side. Her father brought her attention to the body being carried in. Midnight didn't see a reason to look. She had seen her mother many times in life and in death and even steplessly anywhere inbetween the two. This ritual had no point. That pony's brain had run out of any one of the many factors it needed to survive, now she was dead, end of the story, drop her somewhere she won't stink and get on with your life. That was a lot easier to say to herself when the only thing her opened eye could see was night blue hair.

Midnight shifted in her chair. She had been fairly strong at school before, but only then she took the determination to do whatever what was needed to ensure she didn't have to see what had happened to her ever again. She, the average unicorn, the kind that filled up the million for those who were one in a million, set her mind to become the best medical to have ever lived, as her cutie mark destined for her. And nothing could dare stand between her and that goal. Not the lack of genes to create an absurd amount of magic in her horn. Not anypony telling her to socialise more. Not even the nightly nightmares which involved a ridiculous amount of blood leaking from a certain unicorn's body. Nothing at all. She'd achieve what she wanted or literally die trying.

Monday. Midnight wasn't bothered by sleeping less than on the weekend. No, she'd even have preferred not sleeping at all. Not when Noon was out there and activating memories at will. Like the one she had just lived through again. A memory of Daylight, her oh so beloved mother. This was disrespectful. They had both loved each other stronger even than mother and child. But such thoughts were pointless. She was gone. To never return. So every thought about her was wasted.

Those who forget their past are damned to repeat it. Only helping you remember.

Sounds good. How about we both repeat what happened to her with you right now?

"Midnight, can I have a word with you?"

This was odd. Midnight didn't remember having done anything wrong. Consequently, this couldn't be something bad. He was their designated class teacher, so most likely, he just had some organisation stuff to talk about.

"Um, sure."

He waited until the rest of the class had left his room, then continued speaking.

"Do you have an employment offer yet? For after school, I mean?"

Of course. This was something she had kind of forgotten in favor of other stuff.

"Not really. Why?"

"Well, you know, everypony should have a job after school, so we receive requests for fresh ponies every cycle, and there's something in I think would fit you. It's kind of off ways, but you could live out your talents."

"Stop talking around the matter... please. What and where is the job you're offering me?"

"Ponyville clinic. It's currently only mared by one earth pony and she's requested a unicorn to help out with magic. That village's quite growing and she can't handle all without magic."

Ponyville? Isn't that where Sparkle really lives?

Oh, now you're going chasing after your fillyfriend?

Shut up. It's just what I want.

Midnight and Sparkle, sitting in a tree...

"Sounds pretty nice to me."

"I knew you'd like it. Since you're so tired of the Canterlot decadence and all that. Yeah, I think that will suit you. I'll respond and tell them I have someone for the job then, is that alright?"

"Yeah, do that. Thanks for helping me with finding work and all that."

"Heh, no problem. By the way, I'm not really supposed to tell you this, but it seems your study sessions were effective. Miss Sparkle, as well as you, nearly aced the test."

"Awesome. Wait, how did you find out about that?"

"I have sources. Namely, I happened to visit the park and see you two study and... do stuff." The knowing grin into which his face fell after saying that made Midnight turn right around and run out of the classroom. They hadn't been so alone at all.

At least, he would probably be thoughtful enough not to tell Sparkle what Midnight obviously had attempted. That'd be a premature advance in their relationship.

An advance entirely unwanted, to be accurate. Midnight did not want anything from that pony. And if she did, she couldn't want. For Sparkle's sake.

Midnight had managed to get through another day. Now there she was again, meditating on her many mistakes in life while waiting for sleep to overcome her. The topic of death had proven to be quite interesting. Death. What a meaningless word. Midnight had no fear of it. She had brought too many ponies to and from its doorstep to really care. She didn't understand why so many ponies made a fuss about it, either. There was nothing to it. Live your life, accomplishing nothing of value at all. Then, when it's time, He would come for you. There was no point in running or hiding. He was faster than anypony and could see everything.

No, the only way to beat Death was to greet and accompany him to the far side like a friend, not run away and be caught like a coward. Then again, this comprehension required understanding of the futility. The futility of fear. If something was going to happen, it was going to happen. One could only make the best of it, which required a clear mind. No reason to fear. Midnight hadn't been afraid of anything for many years, even before she had managed to banish the demon inside her. Except snakes. Snakes were evil. If she saw one and couldn't squish it right away, she fled to a safer location. But she didn't truly fear snakes, either. She just knew how much better the world would be off without them. They would still call it Ophidiophobia. She didn't care. But one also had to understand the futility of life. What did one pony more or less matter to the world? Who could verily say that they had done something for it? That their memory would stay to more than their close family and friends?

It did not matter. Given that, why should one be afraid of Death, when He would only bring the next world to explore and not be cared about in? Midnight turned. The moon just wouldn't let her sleep. Apparently, everypony around her had found a reason. What fools they were. With such a revelation, the rational thing to do would be self destruction. But Midnight wasn't insane. Even Noon agreed on that. Well, maybe she was. A tiny bit. But Death despised equally of those fleeing from Him and those running right towards Him. So the best Midnight could do would be to dedicate her existence to brightening the life of others. Those not having to live with what she knew was a fact. Somehow, it was only fitting that her talent was medical aid.

Chapter 22

"Uhm, Midnight?"

This was unusual. Little Zeddie was stuttering. He was looking around cautiously and had lured Midnight into a secluded corner of the schoolyard. A single logic-defying vine that seemed to not care about the fact that it needed sunlight climbed the dark wall besides them. He wasn't that shy. Didn't have to, either. Midnight looked him over again quickly to ensure he was still as photogenic as always before. So what was it that disrupted him?

"Yeah?" If she had to be honest, Midnight wasn't really interested in anything he could say. But kindness commanded that she'd at least listen to him.

"Y'know, it gets kinda lonely around here after school... Especially when everypony's busy with their stuff." What was he talking about? Zeddie, unlike Midnight, had tons of ponies to surround himself with. She had only her father.

"Don't you have a fillyfriend for that kinda stuff?"

He blushed at Midnight's direct approach. Thinking back a minute, she noticed his cheeks may have been a bit red before already.

"N- no. Not yet, at least." Interesting. Midnight's attitude towards her sources was proven right again. But where was he going with this? If he was free, maybe she could try to seduce him for fun. She wasn't quite as pretty as him, she knew that, but there were certain weapons a filly could use.

"Speak, colt. Neither of us has spare time." She didn't think she was being too rough. Speaking the truth was more like it.

"Um, yeah, well..." He rubbed the back of his head with a hoof. Midnight still couldn't decipher his moves without applying overused clichès. Why didn't he get to the point?

"Ya know, I think you're really nice, so... Wanna go somewhere sometime?"

Oh. Of course this was what he wanted. Zeddie backed up against the wall, waiting for her to answer to him. Midnight answered with great care. Zeddie was just nice, to be fair. She had to be very gentle to him.

"No."

"What? Come again please?" He looked like he had genuinely not understood.

"No. Sorry, but Midnight doesn't date. It's not you, I just don't do that kind of stuff. But I'm pleased you think about me this way."

"Um... Okay..." Zeddie seemed to be on the edge of tears. "I'll just... be on my way then." His cheeks started to wet. Midnight had apparently underestimated his feelings for her. So she made him feel better the best way she knew. Ensuring nopony saw them to avoid terrible rumors, she flung her forelegs around him and held him tight.

"Don't cry. Please. That won't help anything," she whispered into his ear. She let go only when he seemed to regain his composure. He could have sworn there had been something soft on his cheek, if only touching for so long. "There. It's not your fault. It's me. I know this burns, but you don't have to fixate yourself on me, either. Hell, you can take any filly you please, no?"

"Uh, yeah..."

"Yeah. Even if those you have at your disposal don't cut it, you'll soon find somepony else that's actually pretty and won't hurt you like that."

"Y- yeah. I... I'm sorry I bothered you with that. Thanks for your help."

"My pleasure. Now go out there and get yourself a filly worth your time." They both walked back into daylight.

Saving ourselves for the little unicorn you'll never get, I see.

The filly I'll never want. It is you who took a liking of Sparkle, not me, and I won't let that change.

We am you, filly, grasp that! You may not want to feel it, but we are in love, not just me.

But I don't want her! And I'll prove it. It's probably better that way, too. Else she might suspect something from my constant advances.

At last it was friday evening. The week hadn't been easy on Midnight. She had dropped her bags in the foyer and trotted into the kitchen. Her father wasn't at home as usual. But maybe that was a good thing. She could think much more easily like that. She floated the filled water container over to the electric kettle and activated it. Earlier, she'd have gone out with her friends on Friday night, but she felt like just drinking a cup of tea alone. She leaned against their small square table. Alone. That had been her motto since Tuesday. For four days and counting, she hadn't been actively avoiding Sparkle, but trying to reduce interaction with her. That had proven itself trickier than expected, since they had grown rather close over the past month. Sparkle had even called them best friends once. Justified, they both agreed.

A relationship very friendly on one side and amorous on the other. No, like guardian and guarded. Midnight kept lying to herself. She knew that. The only problem was that she couldn't tell who was lying, Midnight herself or Noon. There was that feeling of comfort she got every time Sparkle was near. And Pegasus Eye highlighted her pink, whatever that could possibly mean. Midnight had a bad suspicion. But she obviously could avoid those things if she wanted to. And, after all, Pegasus Eye was not yet proven to be more than just a little illusion by Noon.

Midnight wasn't going anywhere with this. So, she had to make an assumption and work from there on out. That if she was in love after all? Noon had been telling her that for so long already. Working from that wasn't quite as easy either. Even if she was, Midnight couldn't possibly burden that cute little filly with a relationship that she surely didn't have time for and maybe didn't even want. Yes, maybe she didn't want her. That'd be preferrable. It would make her inner demon bring forth only grief and the pain of rejection whenever not repressed, but at least it'd be an easy solution. She could move on. There was no point going after just one pony. But first, Midnight would finish school and pick up a job. There were sure to be many ponies where she would work, surely it wouldn't be Canterlot. Preferrably a stallion to fulfill her biological obligation. Although she'd read of a way for unicorn mares somewhere... didn't Midnight already have a job assigned for her? Where was it? Ponyville?

There certainly was somepony she could love in Ponyville. That made matters a bit more complicated. Even if she wanted, she probably wouldn't be able to lose contact with Sparkle. It would be impossible to forget her. Midnight took the hot water, added a tea bag to it in a cup and started pacing around the room. What if Sparkle did want something from her? If she would respond to the quick, stuttered invitation to a first date with her renowned smile and a clearly positive answer?

What would Midnight do then? Hypothetically speaking, of course. There was never going to be such an invitation in the first place. Wouldn't that be what she wanted? No, it was not. Even disregarding what the major part of Midnight thought, there was one problem with the relationship that'd result. First, their environment. While filly fooling, as the dumb ones called it, was accepted mostly and Midnight frankly didn't care about what anypony but herself and Sparkle thought, what would Sparkle think?

There would necessarily be some ponies Midnight would love to buck off the mountain. Again, she didn't care, but how would those influence Sparkle? How would thinking about their possible reaction? Second, school. They both weren't ponies free to do whatever they pleased while having a personal assistant to do everything for her and a job that included only sitting on a pile of books that nopony ever wanted one from anyway. There was a ton of work coming for both of them. Well, at least for Midnight. Sometimes, she thought Sparkle had to have read through an entire library and memorised all of it, judging by how much she knew and could do. She simply wouldn't have time for a relationship. That was, assuming the cases that Midnight actually was in love with that filly, that she'd ask her out and that she wouldn't be refused. Like she had refused Zeddie just three days ago. Thinking back, that had been a bit harsh of Midnight. But at the same time, it had been the only right thing to do.

What else should she have done? Accepted a relationship that was bound to fail? Maybe she was taking things too seriously, but that reminded her of a possibility she hadn't thought about yet. If Sparkle wouldn't truly have feelings for her, but still do something in order not to hurt Midnight's feelings. That might even be the worst case. Midnight would live a happy life for maybe a few weeks at most, then things couldn't hold up anymore and they'd break up and not have the same friendly relationship as before ever again. That could not be allowed to happen. None of that could. Midnight would just continue on as usual, even going back to normal interaction with Sparkle because her farce of avoidance was pathetic.

Although she would observe her friend very closely. Not in a stalking kind of way. Observe facial features whenever talking to her, maybe say a few suggestive lines to test her reactions. Midnight just had to watch out in order not to overburden the filly. She was so young, it was unlikely she had ever had any romances in her life. Maybe the kind of thing one had in magic kindergarten which would be called good friendship by the mares they were now. Midnight sipped at her tea, which had turned blood red due to brewing for a little too long. It was a plan of some kind, at least. Better than cluelessly running away.

What are you thinking about so much? Go there, kiss the filly right on the lips before she can say anything, and give her a seductive stare. If she isn't your fillyfriend by then, she's totally into stallions.

And that was why Midnight was only following her own, rational thoughts.

Chapter 23

Hm, well, I could... Nah, I don't think Zeddie wants to see me right now. Maybe Sunday if I want to be cruel. The gang as a whole? Meh, what to do with them. It's going to be another great day, maybe I could ask out... No! No no no!

Midnight's mind was barely present at the kitchen table like her physical body was as she tried to plan her weekend. Very few things managed to penetrate the fog that was between herself and her senses. The smell of fresh coffee was one of them, though.

So, excluding little filly. Sheesh, she wouldn't like me calling her that way. Maybe cute filly would... Bad Midnight! Yeah, excluding anything with Sparkle...

She idly glanced over to the newspaper lying on the table. What wasn't in use by her father showed an article about various culture styles, focusing on tombstones. The one on the picture had two interconnected rings carved into its top. They symbolised endless, unasking trust in everypony. She had told Midnight once when she had been young. Midnight shook her head. No, there was no way it was that one. She dragged the paper over to her seat with a bit of magic. Looking closely, she could make out what words were on the stone.

Bla bla bla... Daylight, Brought out of life undeservedly at its peak. She was brutally murdered by somepony she had blindly trusted, to be exact. Oh, what are the odds...

All souls reveal their true nature when trusted, even when trust is undeserved.

Blood. Wherever she looked. It was beginning to get cold. Midnight had failed. She could do nothing but cry bent over her failure, waiting for some kind of fairy to come and wave her magic wand and fix everything. It wouldn't come.

She tried to remain calm, but couldn't resist trembling a bit, her throat going extremely dry. He noticed over his share of the newspaper.

"Midnight, what is it? I never see you like that..."

She pushed the cause of her little outburst across the table. Her father began to examine it.

"Two rings, isn't that... Oh my. Isn't that just unfortunate. I..." He was at a loss of words.

"Is the whole damn world sworn against me? Why does this keep happening to me every day of my life?" Midnight burst out after a few seconds of awkward silence, sniffing occasionally to try and keep back the moisture her eyes were leaking.

He didn't know what to do. Eventually, lacking a better option, he got up and embraced his daughter into a deep hug, attempting to linder not only her pain, but also his own. Daylight hadn't gone without traces. In fact, one might say that her impression in her two closest ponies was far bigger since Midnight had her cutie mark.

After eating, Midnight sat on the small balcony just outside her room to finish her earlier thought. There was some cheap outside furniture on it, namely a chair and a small table. A chesthigh railing, running along the edge, should prevent her from falling off. She could, very quietly, hear her clock ticking through the open window.

So... I still have no idea what I want to do because SOMEONE had to make me lose control. Maybe I should work a little. Hooray. Because I'm not doing that enough a little. Maybe I could get a few tricks from Sp... Have I not promised myself not even to think about her any more? Someone!

Stop blaming everything on me. Am I your universal evil?

Yes.

Oh, how hurtful of you. Look as I bleed to death from your cynicism.

Midnight flinched as an image came before her eyes, with no way to stop her demon from showing it.

Oops. Wrong unicorn.

Haven't you done enough harm already just today? Let Daylight rest. And when you're at it, why don't you join her in her grave so I won't have to act so strangely when the filly's around?

I know I lie a lot. At least, you claim that. But I wasn't doing anything today... um, at least not about her. Maybe you should think less with and about flanks.

It appeared impossible, but Midnight had no idea what she herself was talking about.

Uh?

I can see where our eyes look when they appear unsighted. What a shame she's still a blank-flank and wants to hide it, right? I bet you'd love to get a closer look on those firm...

How high up are we?

About fifteen feet.

Remember I understand the futility of life itself. I'm ready to destroy both of us if you go too far out of control. Even if I would believe what lies you are telling me about Sparkle, this is would still be an uncrossable line. Got that?

Do it. I dare you.

I'm not irrational like you. Although... Thinking about how much my life sucks, the only reason I haven't followed my knowledge are others... Hell, I don't care about any of those.

Mechanically, Midnight rose to her hooves and walked over to the hoofrail.

Show me one pony that really cares about me.

Daddy?

She flung her forelegs over.

Maybe. But he'd probably understand. He might even have followed her past this stage had it not been for me. Next.

Midnight, with some effort, climbed over to sit on the hoofrail, stablised by only her forelegs.

Your friends?

Don't be silly. As if I cared about what they feel.

She was doing what she wanted, regardless of what anypony said. Midnight was free. The Sun was shining in her eyes, but she didn't mind. She was too busy enjoying the moment. She breathed in the fresh alpine air. Canterlot suddenly looked beautiful again, like it had been before Midnight had learned about who populated it.

Little filly?

Ugh, who cares. As far as we know, I'm probably nothing more than a friend to her.

Class Mate Best Friend Forever.

What does this filly know about friendship? Nothing, because she really believes in it. I'm so much smarter than her, at least in this aspect. Friends are nothing but a burden if you exceed the area where they can be of use for you. Maybe she knows that too and that's why she doesn't answer my desperate calling.

You never called for her love.

And I never will because that's you, not me. Time's up. Eh, who am I kidding. The coward you make us wouldn't ever dare such a thing.

I am but you. You are our coward.

Not willing to argue with that, Midnight sighed and began to climb back to safety. Before she could bring even one leg back, though, the feral something in the corner of her mind that had taken her over at the study date with Sparkle resurfaced.

She jerked forward and off the edge.

Silence. She couldn't hear anything. Either it simply was really quiet or there was some serious problem with her. Maybe it was part of her survival instinct, blurring out what senses Midnight wouldn't need at the moment. That would explain the darkness surrounding her. No. Her eyes were simply clenched shut. Slowly, Midnight's senses returned to her. She didn't hear anypony screaming. She couldn't feel her weak bones having snapped out of form. That meant... She could feel her hooves on a cold surface, holding on as if for dear life. This was nothing. She could land that drop if prepared properly.

It would be fairly hard without seeing anything, though. No matter how hard she tried, Midnight couldn't see with her eyes. It'd be safest to just climb back up. She wouldn't need her eyes, which had apparently chosen to betray her in that moment. Not when she could see with her brain. She had her place memorised and could easily navigate it blindfolded. She grit her teeth in determination and began to climb, not missing a single hoofhold in the ornamented grid. After what seemed like an eternity for her, Midnight was back on the balcony, in safety. Just as she turned and realised she was still blind, her vision began to return. Midnight set off to walk back inside. After spinning around, she noticed something that shouldn't be there. Something that wasn't there.

Sitting in the chair to her right was a copy of Midnight, playing with its blue mane. "Now I'm getting hallucinations too! Awesome!" Midnight called out, just not loud enough for anypony else to hear.

"Oh, you don't seem too happy to see me. Isn't this what you want? Now I am completely separated from you. Now you are strong. Haven't you been working to achieve this ever since?" Noon responded.

"If only it was true."

"Oh, yes, you grasp it. We are still you." Noon played with a nail that had appeared on her hoof. Then, she winked at Midnight and thrust the object into her own skull from the side. Midnight felt a heavy sting at the same spot on her head.

"We're connected. Yet two where one belongs. Is... this... reality?"

"If it wasn't, you weren't here. I can control our mind."

"But I am not real, am I? So how should I be in reality?"

"I don't know. I honestly..."

The other pony's eyes and mouth began to glow orange. "Make us whole, Midnight. Unite us. MAKE US WHOLE!"

"No... no! You are not real!"

"If I am not, neither of us is!"

Chapter 24

The demon had taken on a truly hideous form, but suppressing any survival instincts still left in her, Midnight stared it down, making the unreal unicorn vanish out of her sight. Out of her sight, but not out of her mind. From there, it kept whispering.

Make us whole, Midnight!

She was overwhelmed with a throbbing headache. Slowly, she trotted back inside, then collapsed onto her bed. Her legs wouldn't hold her.

Let me tell you a riddle. No, more of a story. You're waiting for a train, a train that will take you far away. You know where you hope the train will take you, but you can't be sure. But it doesn't matter because we'll be one.

Leave me alone!

Midnight twisted and turned, messing up the sheets.

You're as alone as you have ever been. You were right. Nopony cares about you. How about you go back out and don't grab the ledge this time?

Am I crazy?

It was only ever so slightly, but Midnight felt her pain slowly lessen. Perhaps she could end this madness if it went away and she could think clearly.

Let's see. Personality split, check. Attempted suicide, check. Hallucinations... check. That's three symptoms that would qualify you as insane each on their own.

Maybe I should go see a psychiatrist. Do you know what they'd do? They'd ask questions about Daylight. Then, when the conversation turns towards you, they'd notice how messed up my mind is, and give me medications to constantly subdue you. Do you want that?

If they don't just outright put us in a white box.

They can get more money off of me if they don't. Because that's what really steers everypony. Greed. Coupled with a few survival instincts. Why do you exist? Dealing with Mother any other way would have cost me time and effort I couldn't spare. That's why.

That's why you're trying to kill yourself, because you're following your survival instincts? Great logic.

I don't know! You... you are making me do all of this stuff. For reasons I don't even know, even though I am supposed to be you! That's why I'm sticking with my theory of extern intrusion, demon.

This was all so unreal. Midnight felt better with every passing minute. If only she could focus for one second, she would be able to push Noon back where she belonged.

Blame it on me if you wish. I can't stop you, but know, it is not me. I didn't push the shell off the edge. I didn't project myself into our vision. Your brain has finally snapped into madness, filly.

Lies! This is all not real. Just an illusion of you. I know it isn't reality. It can't be...

In the end, can I hide anything from you? Oh, well, you blacked out right after jumping. By yourself, I might add. Ever considered you're drooling into a hospital pillow right now, knocked out, if not worse? That'd explain all of this, wouldn't it. Or you simply are insane and this IS reality... with a few additions.

I... I don't know what to believe any more. Go away. Wake me up. Do SOMETHING to end this. I can't take it.

As her head began to clear up, Midnight searched for ways out of this mess. If this was a dream... or she had gone mad... maybe the solution to both possibilites was what had once worked before. Midnight began to focus as hard as she could on one image, that image that she hated and loved equally. Loved for and above every other thing in the world, hated for binding her to this world.

Oh no. You're not getting away with cheating.

Noon demonstrated unknown influence over Midnight as she wiped Sparkle's face out of her memory. No matter how hard she concentrated, Midnight couldn't remember how her beloved friend looked. She couldn't remember how her voice sounded, how her presence made Midnight feel.

In my world, we're playing by my rules. If we are not in here, by which I mean if you had the sense to catch yourself, then we're close enough to still count as if we were. Watch.

Midnight's body rose without her wanting to and walked over to the window. Out there, Canterlot literally exploded into a cloud of multicolored smoke. The rainbow was quickly approaching her house, but Midnight couldn't move.

She didn't want to, either. The colors consumed and scorched her on every bit of skin available, literally making the blood that was trying to escape her burnt body boil, but she welcomed them. At last it would end for her. But, when the smoke had cleared, both Canterlot and Midnight still stood unharmed.

Could at least have acted like you were afraid.

Even if I was still able to feel fear, I wouldn't be afraid of death. He shall come. No point in running away. But why should I try to run from an impostor? You are worthless.

We am you. But we agree. This body is useless. Maybe if you'd sacrifice it, you'd be rewarded with a more useful shell.

What is your motivation? Why are you doing this? I have every reason to desire death. Daylight... nopony cares about me.

Everything you hope to become, everything you hold dear, it's already gone. Our life is pointless.

Answer my questions!

What is a pony but the sum of its memories? We are the stories we live! The stories we tell ourselves!

I refuse to live out those memories, especially under your influence. There's a reason you were created.

It is the only way. If you don't get at peace with yourself, your occasional outbursts of insanity are only going to get worse, until you fail to control it quickly enough and don't grab the edge. I'm saving your life, idiot!

As I said, if He's trying to get me, He shall come! There's no use in running away.

You're not running away, you're standing still right now. But if this goes uncured, you're going into a full sprint into the Reaper's waiting arms.

So what should I do? Get myself filled up with drugs because those self-proclaimed specialists are only waiting for me to leave and give them tons of money?

Do something! You always avoid the uncomfortable, but even the darkest memory fades when openly confronted. You're on a mountain, Celestia knows there's enough ways for your past to have fatal consequences. Neither of us wants to die. Please, Midnight. Repression isn't a permanent solution. Do something about it!

I... I can't. The last - first - time I lived through all of this, I WENT INSANE! You are the proof. How do I know I'll even survive the second time?

You won't if you don't. At least accept what has happened to you. You're a mare now. I'm sorry, but you have to remember it all at once, if you won't get some real help. You should be in a hospital right now, mumbling nonsense and biting on your hoof. Can't you see what comes if you lose concentration for one moment?

Midnight managed to regain enough control over her body to slowly move away from the window she was still looking out through.

I don't need this. I can control all of this. I can control... you!

Filly, don't be silly. Your mind, it's... broken.

Broken? I feel fine.

So did I!

If I can't fix it, they can't either. Understand that!

You aren't fixing it, you're leaving the problem to grow. How is that fixing?

There is no way to 'fix' this. If I do anything other than completely push this out of my mind, it'll continue to consume me.

Two problems. One, we believe that it is very well possible to disperse the horror by confrontation. We're so stubborn, aren't you? Two, you can't forget it! It's way too far down in your memory to ever leave you.

I'll do what has worked before.

And almost led to your death. That reminds me of how we still don't know if it was only almost. We should figure that out. It won't work because you're a wide open target as soon as anything reminds you of her. You can't repress a people for decades and not expect a revolution. We. Need. Help!

But who? Where? When? How? I'd have to explain EVERYTHING to Dad. I don't have time for psychological treatment. Can't it wait?

For how long?

I don't know... forever. Doesn't that sound nice?

You'll kill yourself, Midnight. I swear to Celestia, you'll fly off the side of this mountain before you're even done.

How come I've never had such thoughts without you? Everything will be just fine when I get rid of you. I know that.

Midnight started to empty her mind. With much discipline, she'd be able to prevent Noon from coming back in.

Oh, I see. You're more, yet you are so dumb. Mark my words.

Silence. She couldn't hear anything. At last Midnight had some peace. She looked around to make sure everything looked as it had to. As far as she could see, there were no more hallucinations. Suddenly, she heard a series of bleeps inside her head. Short short, pause, short long, long long... From her knowledge of the Morse code, they spelled three words.

"I AM ALIVE." She whispered them over and over again. After the third repetition, the initial message ceased, replaced by a shorter one. Short long long... "Sixteen. What's that supposed to mean?"

There was no answer. Silence, at long last. Or Noon had simply decided to hide. Midnight didn't know. There was nothing she could be certain about any more. She walked downstairs and outside. Looking up into the sky, she noticed there was a lot to think about.

Chapter 25

And that is where my personality split went complete. Stupid little filly...

Midnight gasped. She was reminded of her own power about herself. If the demon was a part of her. She still couldn't recall Sparkle. The filly had been wiped from her memory entirely.

It's better that way. I had started seeing her everywhere. Like that time in the cafè with the little filly...

Or had that only been somepony who happened to have Sparkle's coat color and mane style? Midnight had barely been able to see her face, especially with the distance she'd been watching from. Still, that couldn't possibly have been her. Wrong colors. Also, that mare had already had her cutie mark. Maybe it had been Sparkle. But why should she go into camouflage like that? What was she hiding? Midnight made a mental note to run some magic detection spells across Sparkle while she wasn't looking. She kept searching for details that would disprove her hypothesis, but all Midnight found was blur. Her memory had started to lose accuracy. Maybe she could...

Demon! If you can make me forget whom I love, why can't I forget Mother? Wouldn't that be helpful? Healthier for the shell, perhaps?

Silence was all that answered her.

Oh right. That thing. Hm, can I still use Pegasus Eye?

Midnight tried and tried, but eventually she realised that there was little chance to find the trigger if she didn't know where in her brain to search.

So no easy identifying friend, foe or target. Awesome. I didn't want that anyway. Maybe I could just look inside me to see what's wrong.

That sounded like a good idea, but going through what she had read up on pony psychology, Midnight realised that she, as the main part, could not enter herself, like Sparkle had. There certainly was one way, but Midnight didn't think of that. But maybe she could do that. She was sure that Noon was only playing with her. Maybe she should play along with herself. That'd severely drain her self-esteem fund. It'd mean giving in to the demon and admitting she was too weak to do it without Noon's help. It'd mean saying the truth. Midnight was nothing but yet another unicorn. A useless body to add to the count when Canterlot would get raided at last.

Through some miracle or perhaps a bit of demonic influence, Midnight remembered Daylight's burial. The promise she had made to herself that day. So she worked on that. At least it was something to keep her mind busy, not to mention all of the recent events had worked together to make Midnight fall behind a bit. She was still ahead, of course. But only a bit, and if she didn't keep working with her known discipline, she'd fall onto level with the rest of the class. The rest. The great, the glorious, the highborne, the morons. Midnight preferred the last name. It accurately reflected reality. All but herself relying on their natural talents, even if they didn't have any.

All but herself and Sparkle. Studying had been a lot more fun when it had been together with the filly. Midnight's mind drifted off to happier times. When her sanity was still at least somewhat intact. But even those memories reminded her of how broken she was. All she could see when focusing on her friend, her cute face, her small horn, even the flank Midnight didn't want to admit looking at, was a lavender blur hiding all details. That got a bit ridiculous when Midnight reached the point where she had been trying to learn more about the young one. Very much more. Her entire vision was filled up with one blurry color.

It was surprising to her that Noon hadn't even let her keep those moments, those where she could have brought a happy relationship upon both of them and failed. But maybe learning another detail was the solution to the problem. If she had another anchor to remember Sparkle with, everything would return.

Free your mind and the body will follow.

Looking back to its creation, Midnight's plan was a silly one. Silly and foalish. Surely she'd find another way around to block out that memory too. Still, it was the best she had. And maybe Midnight wanted to do it, even if it wouldn't help. Monday morning. Nopony was looking. Her friends were close enough to lure them into open conversation. If it was going to happen, it'd have to be right then and there.

"Hey, Sparkle!" Midnight called out, a bit too loud, but not so that it'd draw unwanted attention. Little Filly (Midnight kept acting out their apparent age difference so much that had become a valid name for her) turned her head. There was that face again. That cute, charming, hated, loved face. Midnight had tried to regain her memories by simply looking, of course, but that didn't help. Even seconds later, the same color was over it that was over every image of Sparkle she had.

"Huh?"

Smooch.

Midnight had done it. She could feel her memories returning to their accurate form. It had only been so quick, but still on target. Her cheek or forehead wouldn't have done. Midnight owed aiming for her lips to her not-so-demon-only love, as well as maximum effect. Little more than a second after the deed, Midnight could see the areas she'd avoided redden up. This was reality. There was no doubt. Midnight wasn't as suicidal after all. She still had hallucinations to deal with, though. She looked around to see if anypony had seen it. That'd be fatal. She had time. Sparkle's brain would need so long to comprehend what had just happened. Just before she could speak out her doubts, Midnight silenced her with a hoof.

"Ssh. I just won ten bits from V. Nothing behind it. Unless... do you want there to be?"

"Uh, I... um... not if you don't want. Glad I was of service?"

If only Midnight had had the courage to speak out what her heart was screaming. Everything would have been so great. But she decided to stick to the plan. She nodded and trotted back to the group of ponies she called her friends. "Hey V. If that cute filly over there asks, you lost ten bits in a bet with me. Alright?"

V's face twisted into a terrible grin as he opened his saddlebag lying a few paces away and levitated a little money into Midnight's. "You can have them. Brave stuff you've done. That was only a dare, right? Don't force me to interpret!"

Midnight felt her face heat up a tiny bit as more blood per time flowed through it. Using a conversation style available only to mares (that being waving her hoof dismissively and ignoring any further questions), she got through the break.

Took you long enough. Do you think she liked it? I do.

And she's back. Took YOU long enough.

I'm always where the action is.

If by 'action' you mean 'trouble'. You're only always there because you're causing it. Hey, coming to think of it, got any tricks to help me enter myself?

Bad filly. Good fillies don't think about such things.

I could avoid thinking about clopping all day long and now you have to come and ruin it all. Mentally, of course. I've heard some ponies have great castles built in their minds. What if I wanted to see that?

Maybe there is a way. Oh how lucky you are. Did you know there are almost no ponies on record who managed to see their own minds?

I shouldn't be a part of those because you shouldn't be a part of me.

Just what I'm saying. Make us whole! uhm, just kidding. Maybe if you give me a cookie I'll look into finding a way you can use to squeeze your generous flank inside your mental world.

When did you get cooperative?

When you gave me what I wanted. Now go and eat a cookie. I'm hungry.

Chapter 26

Midnight's inner self reported back after she had done a bit of slack and hay to pass time.

This should work. We all ready?

Midnight pondered for a second if she was. It was only Monday evening, how could she know how long she'd be gone? Could she leave if she wanted to? What if her father would find her lifeless shell while she was busy exploring her own mind?

Thought so. Brace ourselves.

She didn't have any more time to prepare as she lost consciousness with a feeling of getting pulled inside her own skull, the world around her quickly sliding by and fading out.

Clear air. A sense of gravity. Some light. Three things that Midnight had been missing during the one second travel that had felt like an eternity to her returned. It took a bit of effort to keep her balance, but she eventually stabilised her wobbly legs. Opening her eyes, she saw her blue maned self smiling back at her.

Noon waved a hoof around. "This is it. The mental world."

After surveying her surroundings, Midnight responded. "Looks like a nurse's office."

"A mental nurse's office."

"But surely there has to be more to me than this room. I mean, there's the chair, desk... wait, this is equipment fit to treat foals. As if I ever would."

"We often change our opinions given enough time to think them through, even if we once declared the option we choose impossible."

"Well, since everything I do is irrelevant anyway, I might as well get a few of my own... some time..."

"That'd make her sad."

"Whatever. I want to see the cool stuff!"

"Try the door. Who knows what might be behind it?"

Only now Midnight spotted the wooden door leading out of the small office. She opened it and stepped through. The second unicorn following right after gave a short whistle. "Oooh. Impressive. Yet somehow tacky."

"Shouldn't you already know this place?"

"How? It only starts to exist now that you observe and generate it. Physics. Well, screw physics, you have magic."

"Where have you been then?"

Noon pointed towards an old door. "My place in our brain. Explore it if you really wish." Midnight shrugged and entered the room. It was an almost exact copy of her own bedroom. There was the big window giving access to her balcony, the bed to the right, the small desk to the left. Noon didn't seem to clean it at all, though. "Don't blame me for not picking up my stuff. Or... maybe do, but remember I'm just you. The true you, without the 'discipline' you brought upon us."

Midnight ignored her and checked the clock hanging above the door. "Hey, is this thing accurate?"

"Depends on if you know the time. Did you know time passes five times more slowly while you're dreaming?"

"This is kind of boring."

"Well, I won't complain if you give me a mansion to live in instead."

Midnight turned to walk back out. "Main hall it is again."

Now that her angle had changed, the sun shining through the glass ceiling of the huge hall momentarily blinded Midnight. "Where should we go next?"

"You tell me. I can't see anything over there. Make it exist."

Midnight followed the stretched imaginary foreleg to an area which appeared to be white for just a moment, but filled with color as soon as she looked.

Further down the hall, there were some more unmarked doors. One was surrounded by a deep blue crater, the holes in the wall that formed it occasionally giving off a little smoke of the same color. In the distance, Midnight heard rushing water.

"Ah, yes. The area where your real trouble is located. Take a good look at it. Not too much time ago, it grew considerably. Can you guess why?"

"I thought I had just left that area."

Noon made a slightly insulted, but highly melodramatical, expression. "Oh, how hurtful you always are. What did I do to you? I've always got your back, even now. Literally, even. Look!" The unicorn to Midnight's right was wearing a necklace made out of Midnight's own spine. She tried to resist and dispel the illusion, but without any way to give them orders, her legs quickly gave way and she tumbled to the ground. "Aw, don't act like that," Noon threw the bone away. As soon as Midnight had lost sight of it, she felt it back in her body and started to climb back up to her hooves. "As if you'd believed it."

"So, if I just go in there and do whatever I have to do, I'm fine?"

"First, no. Second, you can't go in there. I tried, its entropy and nonsense would only disintegrate you the second you tried to set hoof in it."

"Then how are you still here?"

"For the same reason you are. You're still alive and my source is somewhere else. Hey, that just proved that I am not a product of insanity."

"Make me believe this is not a product from you."

"A product's product? We have to go deeper. You'll understand."

"Fine. So I won't solve my own problems. Where should I go then?"

"How about the Flow of Eternity? That's always fun when I'm there. You know, when you are not chaining me to my room like Mommy always did. Or pointlessly murdered me, as was done to her."

"Uh, what kinda thing? I've only memorised three books on pony psychology, I can't remember what you're talking about."

"Your memories, filly."

"Easier ways to say that. Where is it?"

Noon flopped her ears. "Just follow the sound of water. It's called the Flow for a reason." Midnight walked around the hall for a little bit, past quite a few doors, until she found the one the sound was coming from. She pushed it open and walked inside. As always, Noon followed just a few paces behind her. "Isn't this cool?"

"Twenty-three degrees Celsius, actually."

"What a block. So, you may notice we're in a small tunnel and there's nothing here but the door behind us and the Flow, extending itself and the tunnel further down in both directions than you can see."

"You don't say?"

"Silence. The Flow of Eternity functions relatively simple. You just get in and move a certain distance, then get back out and you'll be back where you were at the moment you've chosen. Of course, you can't move into the future. Only those blessed with Clairvoyance can in order to access their visions. Maybe you know one?"

"Not that I knew. So, if I want to go back, say, a year, wouldn't that take forever?" Midnight moved forward and dipped a hoof into the clear water. It was ice cold.

"Nope! That's why it's so cool. If you take a whole step at once, that's about a day, but if you take two at once without leaving the stream, you'll get four. It's two to the power of how far you're walking. How about you take eleven point five steps, for example?"

"Huh? Two to the power of eleven multiplied by radix two..." It didn't take Midnight long to calculate the result as she had once memorised just that table to pass an extremely boring day. "About eight years. Ha ha. Because you don't take me back there enough already." Midnight walked back into the main hall.

"I find your resistance as funny as it is futile. Soon, little robot. Hear your joints squeak. Feel your artifial mane brush up against your photosensitive cells. Oh, what's this? You have a leak."

Liquid ran down Midnight's head until it came to her mouth. With it came a bit of blue hair, burdened and stickied by what flowed through it.

"You bleed. You are imperfect. Out of my sight."

At once, the wound was closed and all blood had vanished.

"Interesting."

"I know. What your fantasy is capable of goes beyond even me."

"I find it interesting that my mane dying spell appears to wear off. Mirror!"

"Sweetie, we're in your mind. Just picture one hanging on the wall over there and you'll see how you've last seen yourself in it."

"You're the unreal one here, not me. Hmm..." Midnight critically looked at what reflection was stored in her mind latest. A streak of blue had reappeared in both her mane and tail.

"Never disrupt a caster's focus, or else terrible things will happen. Blue with pink, how could you?"

After closely inspecting the new style her mane had taken, Midnight had to admit she kind of liked it. At least Noon did not like it, so she obviously had to keep it. "Remind me to run some spell detection over Sparkle. I have a feel that filly is hiding something. This is not stalking, right?"

"Not when you do it. Speaking of Filly, there's something in here with her that I think you'll like."

Chapter 28

Midnight could hardly care less about her new change in mane color. Recasting the illusion in order to cover up all of it again wouldn't be hard, however, she had no desire to do so. Afterall, she was just moving back to what it used to be. Adding a flair of the known to the experiment. She could use that to explain the change to her friends, even though it was a lie, to cover up that she had lost control and allowed her spell to lose strength.

Ironically, she'd have to tell Sparkle, who deserved the truth more than anypony else, an outright lie instead of some slightly enhanced truth. Midnight would tell her something along the lines of having wanted some changes in the sole pink the younger one had always seen Midnight with. Maybe there would be no need for such petty lies.

While the first occasion Midnight could remember seeing that blue strip was from withing her mind the day before, she figured that, in order to see it in a mental mirror, she had to have seen it in the real world, which, in turn, required the anomaly to exist earlier. If those around her had seen it already, they'd probably have figured what she had planned to tell them.

At least her older friends would. Sparkle might be too curious to accept such a simple excuse. If she was to search for that fact in the shrine, Midnight would certainly find a matching picture. Perhaps the filly already knew the truth. Midnight had heard in Magic Theory that very powerful unicorns, like Starswirl the Bearded, were born so close to the Magic Flow that they could see through every spell, especially illusions, if they wanted, as if they were constantly casting some spell detection. It sounded plausible that Filly was one of that kind, judging from what Midnight had seen from her.

That thought reminded her of something. Midnight decided that this day, she'd finally execute her already kind of old plan to spell-check the younger unicorn. During their pseudo-recess, she'd hang around near Sparkle (Midnight realised she always spent the break with the pony she had a crush on anyway), then use the required magic while Sparkle wasn't looking. She'd probably reach the same results by simply asking, but she preferred a more discreet approach.

Things were going relatively well for Midnight's plan. She had drawn Sparkle to a bench that was a bit off from the fray. Being there, it was unlikely that anypony would see her doing what she had in mind. Also, it'd be all the easier to distract her target.

Indeed, no two minutes had to pass until a fitting distraction claimed Sparkle's attention. After just so avoiding having to giggle at her unnecessarily stealthy ways, Midnight's horn flared up with magic, fueled by her unsatiable curiousity. For a second, Midnight wondered where that curiosity, that endless desire to learn, know and understand, had come from. Then, however, her spell her figurative gold in the form of energy, streaming in and out simultaneously, lingering to sustain the effects of spells long since cast.

It didn't surprise Midnight to find the simple illusion spell that was currently keeping most of her own mane pink. Even though it had apparently been applied months ago and modified to blue only recently. By increasing the spell's intensity, she could reveal the true colors, which appeared to be some still blue-ish, but fairly dark, almost purple, base color, accompanied by two small strips, one being the bright pink that had once filled all of Sparkle's mane except for said strips and the other looking almost like the original base color, but a bit brighter.

How cute... Midnight thought. Wonder why she wants to hide that. She'll have to explain some stuff to me once we're ma... in Ponyville.

Her mane goal was achieved, but Midnight decided to keep searching her friend's body for stray traces of magic. What she found was overwhelming. For half a second, her sensory systems were overloaded. She could hardly hear. Midnight's eyes showed her the real world, as it actually was.

It was dark, but Midnight had no problems seeing. Streaks of energy flowed freely through the space around her, momentarily stopping and concentrating to make up an illusion of matter. The entirety of Midnight's blood jumped out of her body before her eyes, then flowed back before she could register it.

A few ponies were made of differently colored clusters of the flow. Sparkle's, for instance, was a simple pink. Midnight had heard of the Magic Flow before, but she hadn't expected something this literal. It kind of reminded her of the world she saw with Pegasus Eye. After only a moment, she regained concentration and forced herself back into the normal world. She couldn't help but wonder about what she had just witnessed, though. At least, until she remembered what she was doing.

Midnight found what had caused her brain to react like that. It was an alteration spell, but in being that, it was fairly extraordinary. First, while it was too complicated to fully understand, Midnight could read out of its signature that it was some kind of size modifying spell. That, in itself, already required a very powerful and concentrated caster to perform on a living being, in order to ensure nothing went out of its relative size.

But also, even for its already demanding kind, this one was extremely strong, thus durable. Both factors combined hinted towards having to be cast by somepony possessing even more talent than Sparkle. Although Midnight suspected that her friend was trying to hide even more of herself than she knew. Usually, she didn't show that much power, hardly more than Midnight herself could use through her worthless body, but sometimes, she'd whip out some very strong spells, apparently without practicing them at all or allowing a single bead of sweat of effort to form. Still, this was too strong, even for her. If Midnight's readings were correct, very few would be capable of such magic. In fact, perhaps only the princesses herself.

But that thought was ridiculous. What business would an average pony like Sparkle have with the princess that would not only justify a meeting, but also being enchanted by her? Maybe it was part of some strange punishment. Midnight had heard rumors about a particularly maleducated nephew of Princess Celestia being turned into a small colt again. Or Midnight had simply messed up her detection spell and gotten false results. Given how she always screwed up everything she attempted, that sounded plausible to her. Midnight decided to abort her spell before she would possibly drop into another heavy depression. In order to avoid that, she executed a thought fed into her mind by Noon, even though it conflicted with her original plans.

"Hey, Sparks."

"Hmm?" She didn't even bother to look away from the quarrel that had drawn her attention for the last minutes.

"Ya know, we've been kinda close for some time now." Why was Midnight at a loss of proper words now, of all times?

"Bit over two months. Really not that long, was it?"

"Yeah, but that's long enough, especially since we've been friends almost from the beginning, right?"

Sparkle turned her head to look at her friend sitting on the bench next to her. "I suppose we have."

"I was just thinking that we should have no secrets between each other... erm, do you?"

"So, you're asking me... if I'm keeping anything from you?"

"Yeah, you could say that. Kinda silly of me to ask that, really. If you don't want to answer that, it's fine."

"You mean, aside from my endless love for you and only you?"

It took Midnight all of her limitless body discipline to avoid any reaction that would make the irony in Sparkle's answer visible while she thought of a fitting answer. Luckily, the filly next to her watched her with an always growing smile, then laughed and progressed the conversation herself.

"Gotcha good, didn't I? In all seriousness, I don't think there really is. You?"

It was a good thing Sparkle was such an honest pony. Otherwise, it'd be a problem that she was such a terrible liar. Knowing her best of all, Midnight could easily spot when she did lie. However, such a response obviously meant there was nothing she was comfortable admitting, so Midnight didn't press on. "Well, you kinda stole my response... heh, what can I say? Unrequited crush, heavy schizophrenia due to witnessing of traumatic event in childhood, attempted suicide... Nah, I've got nothing."

As if somepony was watching them, the bell rang just then, summoning all of the ponies back inside. It was kind of silly, Midnight realised. While the school also offered education for younger ponies, barely able to control their magic, those were in a different building. If any of her age group didn't come back for class in time, they wouldn't come if a bell reminded them either. Those weren't outside to run or play or all the things foals did. Midnight could hardly remember what she had been doing all the time at that age. There was a reason to it, too. Even though it meant repressing half her foalhood, at least she didn't go completely mad that way.

Those kind of ponies, around her age, about to finish school for good and get a job, they didn't go out for that. They went to quietly sit on one of the benches and catch a breath. They went to make stupid jokes and generally a lot of unnecessary noise with their friends. They went to make out with the pony they just happened to lock onto in a rush of hormones on a bench a bit out of sight. A bench just like the one Midnight was still sitting on.

"You coming?"

"Yeah yeah. I just... I kinda got lost thinking about those morons." Midnight waved a hoof at the lingering ponies. They were always the same.

"Don't look at them. If you don't like them, you'll never have to see them again after school. Heh, you can move to Ponyville with me. No, don't ever look at them. Look at me, into my eyes."

Midnight was sure she had seen a few sparkles in the filly's entrancing eyes. Slowly, without losing eye contact, she rose and moved towards the building.

Those she left behind began to jeer in the distance.

"Ignore them. They're not worthy."

Chapter 29

One more week remaining. Even Midnight was beginning to get nervous. At least her body was. The body that was intoxicating her mind with romantic thoughts, especially the kind including a certain filly. Thinking of Sparkle, Midnight had to admit that she still had no idea what to do with her. Even though she had made some kind of romantic advances, those had turned out to be a joke between friends, as expected. Obviously, that explanation didn't stop the morons from behaving like the foals over at the other building. Midnight wasn't sure if she even wanted them to stop. Perhaps constantly hearing the chants about her and Midnight going on a date would soften up Sparkle's mind for when that was actually going to happen.

That 'when' signifying 'never at all', of course. Because Midnight and dating - or any romantic interest in anypony, for that matter - just did not add up. Attempting to do that addition would be like dividing by zero. Still, sometimes, when Midnight couldn't sleep, she'd lie awake and think about her life, decisions made and avoided. She'd ask herself why she hadn't just gone all in and told Sparkle the truth, whatever she might do with it. She'd wonder if her advances had really been just a joke or rather an experiment to see how Midnight would react. If they had been, then it had obviously been a failure, as she had taken great care to avoid any such reactions.

Occasionally, Midnight would even go for a what-if-scenario and plan how she'd ask the filly out, where they'd go, what they'd do. That could go on for minutes until Midnight remembered who she was. Even if she would do such a thing - which she was not going to - she would just be rejected and friendzoned. Like she had done with Zeddie. Although simply feeling her soft coat and hearing her soothing voice would be enough for Midnight already, even if it meant being rejected. Things would go the way they had to to make Sparkle happy, and that was all that Midnight wanted. Because she was in love. With a stupid, stupid filly who couldn't see through a mask of indifference neither of them wanted Midnight to wear.

Midnight had to get ready for school. There was no real reason for her to go, actually. She had been a good filly and done her work. And, just because she felt like she had to to equalise things with her worthless, average body, the same amount in addition to what she had already finished. The only reason she still went was because that meant meeting Sparkle. Which would also be the main reason to stay at home. Midnight knew that conflict, of all that was going on inside her, would be the first thing to tear her apart if she didn't resolve it. She was forced to take one side in it, whatever that may be.

She looked out through her window. The balcony just outside of it and especially the drop beyond it looked more inviting than ever. Surely, that would solve things for good. It would be bad, not good. At least for those around her. But what did Midnight care about those? There was nopony in the world she cared about at all... except for one.

Just how will I forget you? All the things you said, running through my head...

Shrine's still in here, if you want another try. You'd be at it for some time, though. Remember those ponies dying in eternal coma? They tried to remove something from their brain. Even if you didn't crash, it'd take you forever to carry even one picture to the Flow and let it go.

As if I hadn't been aware of that. Just what should I do?

Well, since we're too cowardly to take the direct approach and sort things out that way... stay patient. Honest advice right now. Rushing things here in Canterlot isn't going to help. Follow Filly to Ponyville, then look at the situation and plan things from there. We... are patient.

And I thought I was the nurse. Well, ignoring her didn't work, neither did either of us doing advances or... I suppose I could just focus on actually getting out of school so I'll be able to go to Ponyville.

We... are patient.

A bit later, Midnight was eating breakfast with her father, as usual. "Oh mare. Just one more week and my little Midnight's gonna move out and away. Going to be kinda lonely in here, just me in this big, empty house..."

"Listen to him go..." She muttered, too quietly for him to hear. "Can't we just skip all of this? I know. I've ensured myself a home, even if it's just living in the same house with some others like me. I'll earn my own money, and plenty of it. And should things not go right... well, that's why there are Moving-out-funds made just for me and of course you're just a letter away. Can we move on?"

"I suppose I have been a bit repetitive. Your father loves you, Midnight. I'll do everything I can to remove all that troubles you."

"Dad, I know. I'm thankful for that, but you don't have to say it."

"Oh, and, by the way, I want your wedding to be back here in Canterlot."

Midnight almost spilled the juice she had been drinking. "Uh, what exactly did you just say?"

"You know, when you've found that one stallion... or convinced the one you already have..."

"What do you mean? Like, me and Zeddie? Anypony else? Nah. Just no. Me plus other ponies equals anything, mostly imminent death I have to save them from, but romance. Besides..."

"No rush, of course."

"Not now, not ever. Besides, would it have to be a stallion?"

"Are you suggesting that..."

"Would you be disappointed in me if I was?"

"No, of course not. Whom you want to spend your life with is entirely up to you. You don't happen to..."

"Nah. But thanks. I'll keep that in mind for when I do find somepony I love - as if that was going to happen - and not just feel like I have to let them towards me to produce more average unicorns nobody cares about because they're not top spellcasters or know a library by heart or..."

"You're special because you know you're equal. Remember that."

Through the open front door, Midnight looked outside. The weather wasn't that bad. She could easily go out without having to put on her coat. At least, she thought so until lightning struck the top of a tower no hundred meters away from her. The flash mercilessly hit on her eyes, which had been accustomed to the low light levels of a cloudy day. The following bang was deafening. Any lesser pony might have jumped in shock, but Midnight didn't even move a hoof. There was nothing that could hurt her, and thus, nothing to be afraid of. So she didn't see the point in acting like a foal.

Yep. Putting on some protection today.

Just as Midnight arrived at school, the storm started to clear up. Of course it would. It was just her luck again. Once again, the door to their first classroom for the day opened, giving somepony access to the empty room. Empty unless Midnight sitting at her desk and having a mental nap was taken into account. But she wasn't. Nopony ever cared about her. Nopony would notice if she would suddenly vanish.

She didn't have to look to know who it was for a few reasons. One of them was that the first unicorn to arrive after Midnight was always Sparkle. Another was that Noon (Or Midnight herself?) had managed to boost Pegasus Eye a bit, granting Midnight the passive ability to sense ponies' auras when they approached. It was neither very accurate nor reliabe, like anything Noon did, but it could be useful at times. In that moment, she could clearly feel one she knew very well. Perhaps the only one that she knew and would still feel about a week later.

Something told Midnight that courtesy demanded her to look at who was coming in, though. A quick glance revealed to her that Sparkle's mane color had been dulled out from the Midnight blue it had been for some time to a regular midnight blue, which looked a lot less pretty. Another instance where Midnight caught herself lying. The filly was, of course, the prettiest thing in the universe for her, regardless of how she actually looked.

"Putting that illusion to work, I see."

Sparkle briefly looked around as if she didn't already know who was talking to her. After that, she walked over to the front side of Midnight's desk, put both of her forelegs on it, then rested her head on them. She once again had her trademark smile on her face. She was so close now. Midnight could both hear and feel her breathing. Just what did that Filly have in mind? Midnight could remember having officially put the whole 'Sparkle occasionally acts like we're dating' thing to rest, yet she just wouldn't stop charming Midnight yet another time. Worst of all, unlike earlier times, this was likely to be her intention, even though she couldn't see the effects she had on Midnight.

Their heads were so close to each other, Midnight could see some blood vessels in her eyes. All that she needed to do now was to slide forwards half a foot and plant a long, wet kiss on that muzzle right in front of her and finally deal with the problem. It was so inviting. If Sparkle wouldn't start talking soon, she'd just do it. Fortunately, the filly did start to move her lips, making them an impossible target for Midnight. Of course she could still hit them, but that would be rude. In the split second before Sparkle began to speak, Midnight seriously wondered if kissing somepony on the lips could ever be rude.

"Yeah, what can I say. I think this color harmonises more with my coat. You see..."

"Don't start what I won't let you finish. You've still got so many things to learn. Filly, have you ever had any friends aside from me?"

"O- of course! They're just in Ponyville, you know. Kinda far away... um, just so you know, the blue really fits with your shade, seeing as you're kind of darker than me and thus the colors won't clash as much because the blue can just flow down and basically keep its dark tone and also there's the pink around it so that adds some contrast also I think if you mix both of those colors you get around the purple..."

Midnight gently held a hoof up to Sparkle's mouth to silence her. She was only barely touching her skin, but it still felt extremely well with forbidden pleasure. "Whoa. You just missed at least three commas there. Relax, catch a breath. I get the point. Ran into any trouble coming here?"

"Not that I'd know, why are you asking?"

"Trying to establish a conversation here."

"Oh, okay. That reminds me... you'd better not have any plans for tonight."

She couldn't possibly?

"I don't think I do. Why?"

"Well, a little birdie who works for weather control and constantly mails me the newest plans has told me that, even though it's cleared up now, the storm should come back in the evening, which is when it'll be louder than ever. I don't think you'd get anything done in that noise, not to mention doing anything oustide.

"Oh, that's okay, as if I had somepony to share my evenings anyway. You don't happen to want to?"

"Like, doing all kinds of slumber party things and then getting scared by the storm and cuddling up for comfort and then falling asleep like that?"

Sometimes, Sparkle could act so foalish, but that was what Midnight loved about her.

"Uh, sure, if you want to."

Now I know less about what she wants of me than ever.

At least you could call it a proper date, no?

Hm. If we're sleeping with each other - close to each other, I mean - I might be able to reach the common subconscious and work my way into her mind from there. Or maybe I'll be able to just get into her like that. I'd love to see how she looks on the inside.

What a pity we don't have eyes on our horn. I mean... we... are patient.

Chapter 30

The spontaneously organised sleepover with the filly certainly had been fun, to say the least. At last something good had happened to Midnight for a change, starting with her, upon bringing Sparkle to her home, finding out that her father had conveniently vanished, saving her a bit of explaining. Her face even showed a smile as she remembered the antics the two friends had done that night. Cleaning her bedroom afterwards had been a small challenge, but nothing they couldn't work out together.

All the things they had done together, all the things she had said ran through Midnight's head. As the shrine was quite filled, that took a while. She had the time. Her final final exam didn't take place until a few hours later. Looking at the plan pinned to her wall, she noticed that Sparkle's exam was not only simultaneously with hers, but also in the room next to Midnight's. What a strange coincidence. She thought, looking outwards at her balcony. It looked incredibly inviting, but this time, to sit instead of to jump. She decided to follow the silent invitation.

You understand little.

Yet wasn't it our desire to learn, to understand, what brought me this bit?

Noon manifested as an illusion before her eyes. She didn't even care to project herself into the world or perhaps she couldn't. Midnight would appreciate the second option. Using magic she did not possess, Noon flipped an imaginary coin repeatedly for a minute.

A bit that isn't worth its weight in gold. Nor in silver... nor in bronze... nor in wood. We are worthless. We... are patient.

Midnight extended a hoof for no real reason she could think of in that moment and noticed it shaking heavily.

Oh dear. Who would have guessed. I'm nervous hours before the oral exam that could make or break my educational career.

There was no reason for her to be so. This was the moment she had been training for for months. She was prepared and even if not, her written exams had gone well. Of course, telling that to herself had little use, and she couldn't directly tell her body. In a way, she could, but the chances of it listening to that were not very promising. She had to do something about that nervousness, whatever the action performed may be.

Midnight began what lay ahead of her by gently massaging her temples with one hoof, then moving downwards. She had a lot of tension to remove. So far, even though she was losing a bit of time, all was going well. At that rate, the exam couldn't possibly have any troubles for her. Now she just had to take it slow and easy, even though she obviously should try to avoid unnecessarily using up time. She had done this many times before. There was nothing unknown about her current sensations.

A few seeds of doubt manifested in her mind, but she didn't allow those to bloom. She had only herself to be focused on in that moment. There was no room for anything inside her. No room for sadness, doubt, hesitation, love... she let happiness stay. Perhaps a hoof would fit, too. Then the likelihood of her messing up and saying something wrong would be far smaller, at the very least. Anypony in the room with her would have noticed moisture rising, as well as a slightly spicy smell slowly, but steadily, increasing in strength. Fortunately, there was nopony near her. At least she didn't register them right then.

The thought of being watched crossed her mind. Without penetrating fully, said thought tickled at her insides. Not everypony liked an audience, but she had to admit that she wanted them, whoever or wherever they might be in that moment, to look at her. Her mind drifted further away from reality. She could afford to take a little pleasure in what she was doing, after all. Certainly, nopony would catch her doing something wrong. No, she was completely safe. In that moment, she only had to focus on herself. But there was something else she was noticing more and more.

With each of her rhythmic movements, as overdone as they were, as she could do the job with magic standing perfectly still, she came closer to the Flow. The very fabric of the world, of all of the skies, as well as the earth beneath her hooves and herself, bent down to Midnight. She had called and it answered. She could feel its energy flow past and through her, as it always had, when she had been too blind to see, too numb to feel.

It was only a small notion, but she was also beginning to see the blurred colors before her eyes, even though they were hidden behind her closed eyelids. She bathed in the soft blue that usually illuminated Pegasus Eye. She could clearly see her surroundings through the darkness those certain parts of her body made her see. It was beautiful. Now she understood what her teacher had meant when he had described powerful unicorns using magic to see their environment.

Midnight felt connected. Midnight was connected. The same atoms, the same clusters of energy that her body was made of, those also made up everything she could see and more. They made the sun and stars, the vast seas. They made up Canterlot, as well as the mountain it was built on. The same particles of matter as herself also made up the body of Sparkle. She knew they were connected. Biologically. Chemically. Atomically. They were one.

Momentarily, for the hundredth part of a second, Midnight's concentration was disrupted. The Magic Flow drifted away from her. She knew it was still around and inside her, but she wanted it to stay. In a rush, she overdid her spell's strength. A sudden flash of pain forced her to rely on her puny biological eyes again, although it quickly faded and brought Midnight back to where she had been before.

The damage had been done, though. Midnight could feel a trickle of blood running out of her. Surely, Sparkle wouldn't like her doing that to herself, although the filly had a talent to lead Midnight into smaller injuries she would usually have avoided. This was a kind of injury she had managed to get around up until that day. It'd only have been fitting to let Sparkle break it in, so to speak.

Her wound sent positive feedback waves to her brain, allowing her to channel an unknown amount of magic for her pleasure and benefit. Unknown to her, of course. Sparkle was probably using this kind of magic every day. Sparkle. She'd been close to doing a true climax before, but the thought of Filly was what caused it to happen in the end. She lost direct control over her body. Midnight managed to stay where she was, even though her legs twitched from what she was doing. Suddenly, a gigantic wave of liquid spilled forth from her, soaking her hooves and the ground. Midnight felt like a bad filly for thinking of Sparkle in such a moment. It could be dangerous. What if her spell had turned and burned her from the inside out?

Midnight opened her eyes. It felt like a whole new morning to her. She critically inspected a hoof which she lifted out of the puddle beneath her as it added a red cloud to the water. Flooding was bad. She'd been in this kind of room before. In fact, if she recalled correctly, it was the one she had taken her entry exam in. The ramp was made of simple wood and thus weak to moisture. It was the hurt one. Her magic had leashed out and cut through some of her skin beneath the hoof. With a quick mending spell, she closed up the tiny wound there was in it. From above, she could hear some quiet talking. After a few more sentences, one of her examiners spoke down to her.

"Highly impressive. None of us would have expected you to do something like that... no offense."

"Oh, please, it's just some simple mending, that's over super quick if the wound's as tiny as that. Um... oh. Yeah, the puddle thing. I can fix that."

"Not everypony could heal like that. Even if it is your special talent. But to the point... you were tasked to get some fluid into that cup, not flood half the room. Where did you even get all of that water? You're supposed to collect room moisture or something."

"Um, well, I could... I don't know. It just flowed over to me, free of obstacles, even though the wall was supposed to be in the way."

"You mean to say, you collected water from outside and brought it in here? But if it's just moisture, you'd have to... did you just slip into the Magic Flow?"

"I suppose I did?"

"Even more impressive. We'll call the janitor to clean up, then we'll continue, yes?"

"Uh, don't bother, I can do this. Just..."

Midnight deeply exhaled. The water she was still standing in began to shimmer with the deep blue her magic created. Slowly, but steadily, it began to rise from the floor, moving around the room freely, forming waves and turbulences as if it was on top of an ocean. Midnight was deep in concentration again.

After gathering itself, the wave made its way towards the closed window, which it effortlessly flowed through as if it were pure air, and dispersed, dropping off of the mountain.

"At the end of their exam, each student may perform a spell they deem special with which to impress the examiners. You kind of already did that with the Flow, but you shall still have your opportunity. Do you have anything?"

Do I?

Certainly do, missy. Just trust me and let your magic flow through you and out through the horn, I'll shape it.

Midnight decided to act against her instincts and allow Noon to cast that spell for her. It was only about bonus points at that point, anyway. She focused and engaged her magic. After a few seconds, her demon took over and weaved it into a very special spell. A few paces from Midnight, a spectral pony appeared and quickly took form. It was a unicorn mare, but no regular one. She was lying on her side with a tired expression on her face. After one second of that shape, several gashes appeared on every piece of skin that was visible. From them, red fluid without any weight flowed down, forming a dry puddle on the ground.

After another second, the mare was joined by another illusion, a young filly. Tears streamed down from her face like the blood out of her mother. Despite her young age, there were already two pills adorning her flank. Midnight ended the spell. That had been enough already. Looking up at her examiners, she could confirm that it certainly had. With a bit of concentration, she could hear them whisper.

"Projection into life-sized holograms? Did they even study that?"

"Nope. That's Midnight." He raised his voice again. "Alright. Well done. We were informed of those events in your past, yes. If I may ask, why is it you chose to reanimate them?"

"If I can't reanimate Daylight, at least I'll do that to her memory. Heh, no, no. I really don't know. I suppose it kind of just came to me."

"Well. We're actually ahead of time here. One of us three is married - take a guess."

"Hm, let's see... Most ponies would guess you." Midnight pointed a hoof at the left examiner... "Because you look like the best person of the group. Those smart enough to do their magic first would guess you..." The middle one. "Because metal detection show you wearing a ring behind your back. However..." The right one was to be pointed at. "I think you are the most rational choice, judging by the thoughts of happiness and your wife you emanate."

"In fact, that is correct. I see logic is no obstacle for you either. You may leave." In a whisper, he spoke to the other two. "Bonus points for weak telepathy."

From the door, Midnight called back into the room one last time. "And make sure to remind Caren that she is looking great today. At least, that's what you think, right?"

Chapter 31

What Midnight was doing wasn't stalking. It was simply tracking a target without her direct consent or knowledge. Some might still classify that as stalking. However, Midnight couldn't remember a case where anypony had used the method of sensing their target's aura through the Magic Flow, so she should be safe, if only because there was no evidence of how she found out Sparkle's location.

All she had to do was making it look like she had found her by accident, then say an excuse for how she knew Sparkle's true appearance. Spell detection, of course, would do, as it wasn't even completely a lie, even though the truth would be dipping into the Flow, and Midnight didn't want anypony to know about it yet.

Hardly any ponies double our age could do that, you know.

Odd. It took me only five hours to master this kind of meditation. That was unexpectedly short. I'd have expected it to be as easy for anpony else. Seems like spilling forth from the so-called highborne doesn't mean they can listen to themselves and the cosmos.

Same thing, remember? Oh, look, more funnies!

Noon moved their spirit further through the Flow, a few more meters away from Midnight's physical body, where she could see five more blobs of color, which were technically white, but each had a tint of color, all but one. The one that was purely white had a stronger resonance to Midnight's approaches, though. She guessed from the strength of this one's aura that she had to be a unicorn, as close as she was to the Flow.

Very faintly, Midnight could make out a streak of energy between them, flowing to and from each, carrying a bit of their essence. Through the essence, it also took their colors, thus becoming a rainbow of orange, pink, blue, yellow, white and, surprisingly, a lavender Midnight knew very well. The bands also went into the restaurant where she could still see Sparkle.

Walls did not stop her vision. As soon as she looked, they flowed aside. It was foalish to assume that matter did not bend voluntarily after what truth Midnight had seen about how the real world actually was.

So those are Filly's friends.

While she was seeing the real world, Midnight couldn't see how they looked, so she decided to return to her body and make her approach in due time.

In due time. First, Midnight had to do all sorts of things like packing all of her stuff so that she could soon leave Canterlot behind or ignoring her father's continous ramblings about how and when she could get his help, then answering with the same reassuring sentences. She expected to have about one point five, as true mathematicians expressed it, hours at least.

Since she'd be spending most of the evening in her room, it wouldn't be hard to hide meditating again to check back on those ponies eating and laughing and having a good time. That was what friends were for, after all. At least according to those fillies' standards. How old were they? Through visiting the Flow, extended Pegasus Eye, one might say, she could somewhat look into their souls, not into their passports.

All Midnight had were some feelings when her ethereal form approached them, like some Zebrican shaman communicating with the spirits of the dead and what other stuff they could make up to draw additional money from tourists.

How ironical it was that what once had been one of the things she despised of most was now her greatest gift after Noon, according to said illusion of her insane mind, at least.

Midnight stopped what she was doing and stroked her chin with a hoof in reflection, trying to analyse what she had felt near the Bannered Mare. Those ponies didn't seem to be much younger or older than her, but there was nothing in their heads other than joy and love and whatnot. The only mature thought she had been able to make out were from one of the pegasi and Earth Ponies each, secretly thinking about each other's flanks.

Midnight had just hoped that those two were supposed to be in love and tapped out when those thoughts had turned into what they wanted to do with said rumps. Another pony, the unicorn, had had a much more child-friendly mind about the other pegasus, though Midnight could sense that said pony had no hopes of following her imagination. At least one of them was being realistic.

Only foals and idiots actually believed that they had any chance of achieving what they wanted unless Celestia or whoever decided to give them luck and make their dreams come true.

Like giving Midnight additional time to win Sparkle for herself. That had only been a coincidence. What would make anypony care about normal ponies like them? Not that she had any interest in her. Midnight was very good at denying, then accepting, then re-denying facts every two days.

Midnight found that she actually had fairly few possessions she wanted and needed to take along. As living space and all would be provided, her luggage was reduced to what she could take along in her regular school saddlebags, with the addition of a pair of packing saddlebags. She doublechecked that she had everything ready to take along.

Some money, emergency rations - alternatively known as candy for when I feel like it - alarm clock, toothbrush, strange thing I don't know what it does and that basically only takes away room... books, paper, quills... hmm hmm hmm... I think I've got it.

Looking up to her stationary clock, she saw that it was about time for her, too.

"Dad, I'm going out for a bit. I'll probably be back before midnight, though I may get overwhelmed with Canterlot's sights."

Midnight's father turned his head to look at her from his forelegchair. "All right. Just make sure that the sights don't catch you without protect... oooh. Okay, okay, didn't mean it anyway.." Midnight's glare quickly made him reconsider his words.

Midnight was at the location a bit too early. That shouldn't be a problem, though. She could hide in the shadows and wait it out there. Her face showed a rare, genuine grin as she realised she was being unnecessarily stealthy again. It'd be hard to conceal her intentions if she'd just storm into the building. She couldn't think of a situation where that'd be appropriate. Perhaps for two lovers which her and Sparkle clearly were not.

The two of them were just good freinds. Using her recent voyage, she had even found an explanation for the tingling she felt in her proximity. Apparently, Sparkle had been connected. Tied to Midnight. Soon to be drawn into Twilight.

That had been unexpected. One way, Midnight understood what had formed between them. The Flow was permanently shifting, just waiting for somepony to alter its ways. When there was even the slightest input, though, it took all actions required in order to change itself to what that manipulating pony truly wanted from the bottom of their heart.

In that moment, Midnight desired to have an enhanced cover, so she prepared a weak invisibility spell to blend in with the shadows better. There was nothing unreasonable about magic. When casting, unicorns simply used their horn to call out and convince the real world to do their bidding. Those who were better at talking to the Flow resulted as better spellcasters. Yet, even though she knew it almost personally, Midnight was just average at best. Once again she realised how worthless she was.

Then again, it took two for the bonding they had been doing. As it seemed, Sparkle did care for her. Midnight pondered for a moment if the filly was aware of that. She'd be hiding it well if she was. Once again, Midnight had to doubt the explanation she had for why Sparkle had recently done about everything below asking her out on a date.

Most likely, Midnight concluded, changing direction again, Sparkle had messed with her feelings like that as some sort of revenge for that, not too long ago, Midnight had stolen the filly's virginity concerning kissing as part of a 'bet'. Or it had made her realise what she had felt already.

Facing two contrary ideas, as she had done so often in her life, Midnight knew that she could not come to the truth without asking but also that she would never do that if she could help it. Surely, she had tried to siphon up thoughts from the younger one while she had visited Sparkle from within her bed, but there hadn't been any interesting ones. There was nothing but tacky romances, clearly without and experience on the topic. Of course, Midnight hadn't felt the need to collect any of her own yet.

Not until Filly showed interest in her.

Not ever.

Thinking of which, a group of eight ponies came out to the street in that very moment. Five of them were those whose silhouettes Midnight had seen through the extended Pegasus Eye. Two of the others she did not know. Midnight figured that they were most likely Sparkle's parents. Oh, how much Midnight despised of those blessed with the dumb luck to still remain with both father and mother without ever wasting a thought to what such a gesture meant to those who had seen reality.

But she just couldn't hold a grudge against the pony walking in the middle of the group like a goddess of victory. Midnight knew that Sparkle deserved it, but occasionally, that filly could use some help to keep her hooves on the ground. She had taken off her generic dresses, exposing her gorgeous body for anypony to see. Not that there would be anypony who wanted to look at what beauty she had hidden previously.

Nopony except for Midnight, still concealed by shadows and magic in combination, as much as she hated to admit to checking her friend's cutie mark. Sparkle also looked like she had grown by quite a bit since Midnight had last seen herearlier that day. She was too far away to see it clearly, though, so she Midnight dropped her Prismatic Cloak spell and made her approach to the group.

"Hey, Sparkle!" That was sufficient. There were so many things Midnight could and, if she had to be completely honest, wanted to have said, but there was no need to. Those two words had all the effect she wanted and needed.

"Wuh... Midnight! How did you know how I really look?"

"Spell detection, of course. We had that right before the holidays. Didn't you study it?"

Sparkle appeared to be at a loss of words, thinking about her possible options. Midnight could see the blood rushing to her head in embarassment. She would have to teach her how to be more spontaneous sometime. Even though she had now lifted her magic and was clearly a bit bigger than Midnight, she had so much life wisdom to teach the cute one.

"Who's tha', Twilight?" The orange one asked with a thick southern accent. Midnight examined her. She had prominent hip muscles, most likely acquired from bucking stuff, a stetson on her blonde mane and three apples for a cutie mark on a truly giant flank.

"Oh, Midnight's a class mate of mine. Or was, rather."

Hang on a second. What did she call her?

Midnight squinted her eyes at 'Sparkle'. "Tu chi sei?"

"Well, I suppose I can tell you the truth. My name is actually Twilight Sparkle."

"Aaand why exactly did you go through all of that effort to hide your identity?"

"'Cause us six are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony and the Princess thought it'd be better if I went into cover."

Twilight Sparkle. Midnight had indeed heard of that one already. Element of Magic. Nightmare Moon. Not that she really cared. She'd have appreciated the mad lunar princess ending her life that many years earlier. She'd be back with her. But good ponies didn't embrace death, even if it was the rational choice.

The other five. As if anypony ever cared about those. There was a reason Magic was the sixth element and was manifested into a tiara.

"Hm. Whatever. You're Sparkle and I'm sticking to that."

"Talk about pet names..." One of the pegasi murmured in the back.

"Let her, Dashie." The pink one replied.

"Uh, yeah, quick introduction, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity."

"Nice to make your acquiantance and stuff." Midnight was bored. She had little interest in those and just wanted to go home. The next day would be tiring.

"Oh, come on, Midnight. Be a little nicer."

"You know, we might meet again very soon. No reason to be overly polite."

"Oh really?"

"Yep. In fact, I think I'll go home, pack and get a bit of rest and all that. Seeing as I'll be moving tomorrow."

Midnight walked away from the group, going into a side alley, then reapplying her magic and continuing to watch them from the shadows.

Stalker.

I'm here, in the shadows.

You require my skills? State thy bidding.

Pegasus Eye.

It shall be as you say. I serve... for now.

This wasn't the Flow. It was merely a projection, allowing Midnight to differentiate between different bundles of energy and thus discover their intentions. It made it far easier to see in the dark, however.

We are one with the shadows. We move unseen.

We... are patient.

One by one, the ponies broke up, returning home, as it seemed. Applejack had Sparkle enchant her with some kind of spell, then was carried away by Rainbow Dash. This was all the evidence Midnight needed. Combined with how the two had looked at each other previously, it was clear to Midnight that they were going to have sex in a remote location, perhaps a cloud house.

Twilight comes, as she must.

Indeed she was. Worse even, she was coming right to where Midnight had concealed herself, so she was at risk of being spotted due to moving out of the shadows to get a better view at Twilight.

Fall back to the shadows!

Midnight managed to scurry back to the wall without making too much noise.

You look better in the dark.

Chapter 32

Interesting. She really is the little miss important she claims to be.

Midnight could see Sparkle, having followed her trail of energy all the way to a meek house somewhere not too far from her own, even, where she was having breakfast with not just her parents, but with Princess Celestia herself as well.

Sometimes during that observation, Midnight felt like she could sense another presence nearby, very strong, as if already ascended and united with the Flow.

Most likely, it was just interference from the solar princess, who, occasionally, glanced over to where Midnight's spirit was floating, as if she knew she was there.

In the Flow, there was no air, or any matter, for that particular one. Consequently, there was nothing to carry sound waves.

Thoughty, being partially magic, could sustain themselves through the void and thus be picked up once emanated, as could spells, which, though they were bound to a specific cluster of energy, allowed those moving through the void without the moving imperfection that was their body to bend the magic away in order to see what was hidden beneath.

The only problem in the current situation was that there was nothing of interest within the house. Midnight couldn't hear what they were saying and Twilight's mind was still filled with foalish thoughts, despite apparently being a bit older than Midnight.

So Midnight decided to retreat outside to see if there was anything there that was worth her time. She didn't have much of it, obviously. While her luggage was packed and her home at Ponyville was organised, she still had to get a train ticket to actually go down there.

Or not. Outside, Midnight spotted a pegasus drawn carriage, standing there and waiting for its passenger. It wasn't one that the princess would use, so Midnight assumed it was meant for the filly still inside. Perhaps she could get a ride on that if she timed her arrival perfectly. Even if that failed, she could still use the train, even though that'd consume money not necessarily needing to be spent.

As she was thinking about the right time, Midnight saw Princess Celestia leave the building. If her math was correct, she had about a bit more time than she needed. So all she had to do was prepare her departure, cloak her luggage in case Sparkle didn't want to take her along or had already left to save herself some embarassment and get right on to Ponyville, leaving all of those things she hated so much in Canterlot behind.

It was time to wake up and get those things done.

Wake up, Missy Midnight. Wake up and smell the ashes. Not that you have been sleeping on the job... well, let's just say your hour has come again.

Of course, leaving Canterlot also meant saying goodbye to her father, if only temporary. He had insisted on walking through Canterlot together one last time before she went away.

"Calm down, Dad. I'm not leaving you forever. I'll be back for Hearth's Warming and whatever other occasion you want."

He signalled that he wanted to turn into an alley to the left, which they both quickly did. Midnight got a feeling that he had somewhere very specific to go and she didn't like that.

"I know, I know. But isn't a father allowed to worry about his daughter's safety? There are more scumbags out there."

More than what? She was hit with the sudden realisation about where they were going. Midnight had been there before and sworn to herself that she'd never return if possible. Not from the beginning, she had. At first, she had sued to sit by herself on the same particular spot, occasionally wetting the ground a bit more with another unrepressed tear. There was no life in that place.

All of the plants, as well as the ground itself, just screamed at her, reeking of death and dispair. In that constant screaming for liberation, she could also hear those from below whisper at her, constanly asking where they were and who she was. She had heard them since her foalhood. At least she now understood why. In places like those the border between the world her consciousness was trapped in and the Magic Flow began to blur and fade.

Midnight didn't mind. She had been able to hear her beloved mother's voice again, so the filly she'd been back then obviously had spent all the time she could there. But she had had to let go. The ghosts of the past could no longer haunt her. In their world, there was no place for her. She had to tap into it to use magic, of course, deeper and longer the more powerful her spell was.

Through her extended Pegasus Eye ritual Midnight would not only enter the Flow temporarily, but even move through it in the form of what she truly was, that being, a mediocre spirit and nothing else. But even in her true form, she had always made sure to avoid graveyards, as she would be directly facing those still wandering. Perhaps Daylight was still among them. No, she wasn't. After so long, she'd have moved on.

But where? Where did those hit by random selection go? Midnight would find out. In time.

We... are patient.

So there Midnight was, absent-mindedly talking to her father about her departure and what happened after while getting closer and closer to that damned grave.

Just what did he want with it? The past was dead and buried for a reason. Whatever it was, she'd have to stand through it.

"There we are. I just... thought... you know. Pay her a visit while you're still here." His voice was steady, but not by much. It was clear that Daylight had never really left his memory.

Midnight understood what he wanted to say. There were no words fitting. Instead, she threw her forelegs around his neck, as she'd done often when she had been just a filly, barely half as tall as him. Despite the fact that there now was almost no size difference between them, the effect was achieved.

"Don't worry Dad... I won't end like her. I'll come back, I promise."

"Never forget what she has done for us. Never forget her."

The bell in the tower above them began to ring deeply. Midnight didn't want to dispel the moment, so she just slightly moved her legs to draw his attention to the time that had passed.

"Yes. It's time you get out of this spoiled castle. The world outside is far better. Just promise me one thing..."

"Yes?"

"Bring me back somepony. Honestly. I don't care when or who - that's up to you - but you must promise me you won't end up in isolation. You need company to talk about your troubles."

"I will. In time."

"Ah, we're getting saggy. Let's go home and finally assure your departure."

Everything was prepared. Midnight had her things all in her saddlebags and concealed by weak Invsibility. That way she could avoid looking like the idiot she was if Sparkle didn't have room or had already left.

Fortunately, Midnight arrived just in time. Her friend had prepared her own luggage and was preparing to take off.

"Miss Sparkle, you're not going to leave without saying goodbye, are you?" After hearing that call and looking around to spot Midnight, Twilight rubbed the back of her head with a hoof in embarassment.

"Er... to be honest, I forgot."

"Well, then I've got good news. As mentioned, I got myself a job in Ponyville, near you! So now staying in contact will be super easy!"

"Awesome. That village really could use more sophisticated ponies like you..."

So it's true. Ponies down there are honest workers, but illiterate. Still better than here.

"Still got space in that carriage of yours?"

"Don't you want to pack?"

"I already did!" Midnight said and lowered the intensity of her invisibility spell. If she looked closely, Sparkle would be able to see her saddlebags flimmer into view just barely.

"Hop on then!"

Now it was happening. Midnight was not only flying through the air for her first time, but also changing her life at last. She deserted the decadent ponies sitting in what sometimes were literally porcelain towers. She left her father with the promise of returning when needed and some time bringing along a special somepony. She abandoned her friends for chasing after one particular of them. She didn't care about any of those.

Midnight was leaving Canterlot as a whole behind. At long last, she was doing what she had wanted her whole life. She leaned over the edge. Now there were only her and Sparkle. She was following her own decisions and desires for the very first time.

Midnight was free.

Chapter 33

"Here we are!" Twilight cheerfully piped out and jumped off the wagon. While she was waiting for the way for her to be clear, Midnight couldn't help looking at the flying flank in fron of her, which made her notice she stall had no idea what cutie mark there was on it, something that was usually among the first things found out about somepony.

She focused her gaze and spotted a pink and white spark, surrounded by smaller white ones.

She'd have to ask her what that signified some time later. Right in that moment, all Midnight wanted was to set up the stage for the rest of her life. That meant finding her home and her workplace, then making sure she was comfortable in both. Everything else would have to wait for its time.

We... are patient.

Midnight took her things and followed the filly to the ground once she had made room. She was well aware of the fact that the age difference between them was not exactly in her favor, but she didn't care and continued to use names like Filly for her, though she never spoke those out loud, of course. Her official pet name 'Sparkle' was the only one she used openly.

She looked around as the pegasi took off towards Canterlot again. They were standing on an unfortified dirt road. Aroudn them were various houses lined up neatly. A little bit in the distance, Midnight could see a decotavie fountain with a few ponies lazily standing around and talking instead of doing their work. In their defense, it was Saturday after all, few would have to work.

Ponyville was just what Midnight needed. As long as ponies were more motivated to do their part when they had to, she felt like she could like Ponyville very much.

"What now?" Sparkle asked.

"I don't know what you have in mind, but I'll be setting up my room right now. Afterwards... we'll see."

"Well, where are you staying?"

Had she really just shown interest in Midnight? To the extent of literally going out of her way to make her happy? That was something Midnight could honestly call completely unknown to her.

"Erm, one two three Fake Street."

"I think I've seen that before. Yeah, it's just around the bend. Come on!" Sparkle called out before storming off with an energy mares of her age should have long lost since their foalhood. Midnight shrugged to nopony in particular and trotted after her.

Very soon, they reached a simple looking house that appeared to be somewhat bigger than the ones around it. Twilight quietly whistled at the sight of it.

"Niiice. How did you get such a big house?"

"It'd be big if it was mine. I'll have to share it with two others. 'T's part of some kinda program to help ponies with no close friends or relatives in the are catch a footing. Ponies like me, y'know?"

Through an open window on the second floor, a bit of music escaped the building. Simply hearing its repetitive bass made Midnight's head sting. Fortunately, it quickly ended as she knocked on the door.

A few seconds later, a white mare with light blue hair opened it.

"Hey there. Don't think I've met you before. In case ya didn't know, I'm Vinyl Scratch. Whaddya need?"

Midnight had heard of that one before. Apparently, she also went by the name of DJ PON-3 and was some kind of DJ whose eye color caused great arguments because she never showed her eyes in public. Midnight didn't understand that. Clearly, that unicorn in front of her had magenta ones.

"My name's Midnight and I..." She began, but was soon interrupted. Vinyl Scratch was clever. Somepony she'd never seen before was at the doorstep of her shared home which had a free room, carrying lots of stuff on her back. She just put two and two and two together.

"Wait, say no more. You're the new one, right? Awesome!"

"I suppose you could say that."

"Why didn'tcha just come in? You do have a key, right?"

"Where I come from, it is considered polite to announce your presence to future roommates."

"Whatever. Come in, don't stand there all day. Wait..." Vinyl turned towards Twilight, who was standing behind Midnight with a more than awkward look on her face. "Who are you?"

"Uh, I'm... a friend of hers and I think I have to go now bye!" Sparkle galloped out of this situation, off to somewhere she could be more comfortable.

"'Kay, see ya later, Twi'!" Vinyl Scratch called after her before giggling and turning to face Midnight again, who gave her a sceptical look she decided to ignore. "C'mon, let's get you set up."

Midnight had entered her new room with low expectations, given what she'd seen of Ponyville already. She was mildly surprised to see it looked almost exactly like her room back at her father's house.

There was the clock on the wall right above the simple bed, which was situated between the large window and a standard desk, which was opposed to a bookshelf that currently housed only two small plants, put up to the wall towards which the night stand had been pushed. Other than that, the room lacked any details. The cyan painted walls were blank.

Midnight walked across the room and inspected the window. Other than her original home, this one could also be opened fully, but had a railing right outside instead of the small balcony she was used to. The space between the railing and the frame was too small to easily climb out through, she noticed. Of course, Midnight never had any such intention in the first place.

"'T's not much, but we gotta use what we can get, right? Drop your things and we'll have a look at the rest of the house."

Midnight did as told and followed Vinyl back into the corridor. Before going out all the way, she briefly stopped and scribbled 'Midnight' on the sign on her door in her best hornwriting.

"Alright. Right here's my room. Visitors welcome if you knock beforehoof." Vinyl indicated towards the door across the corridor from Midnight's. Only now did Midnight spot the black note on her white flank. That horrid cacophony really was her special talent, then.

"I've heard that before."

"Ooh, you're that type of pony. I like you, 'Night. My music won't disturb ya, promise. All of the rooms are enchanted to be soundproof. I'll leave it to you to think of a reason." Vinyl gave a suggestive wink. "If you look over here... Octavia's not in right now, but I know you'll like 'er. She's more a the discreet an' quiet kinda pony... like you. Don't know what's wrong with her, really. Hehe, just kidding."

"Octavia as in THE Octavia? I'm from Canterlot, you know? I've heard of her, she has even played at the Grand Galloping Gala. What is she doing in a place like this? I mean, no offense, but this seems a bit under her standards."

Vinyl shrugged. "Don't ask me. Maybe she wants to stick with me. Although I think I've heard her whine once or twice or a thousand times a day about how cruel the life of a musician can be unless you have the luck to be discovered. True, really. But that's what those homes are there for. You just don't make enough money to be able to afford a house of your own right away, but you don't have to. By the way, what're you doing?"

"Uh, I'm good at medical care, I'll be joining Nurse Redheart at the clinic here."

"Great. Really, if ya think about it, with how quickly Ponyville's been growing, she really does need some help. Alright, let me explain downstairs to you."

First, Vinyl had gone into the first door on the right, coming from the stairs. It was identified as the kitchen when Midnight entered. It contained the standard kitchen equipment, such as a table with some chairs around it, cupboards on the ground and hung to the ceiling, a fridge, a stove, basically everything including the kitchen sink.

Vinyl was standing on her hindlegs bent over said sink, supporting herself by resting her forelegs on the surface. Midnight briefly looked out of the window behind the white mare's head before spotting the contraption below.

"Now this baby will wub the dishes microscopically clean. Believe me it will. Brings us to rule number one. Dishes that leave the kitchen are to be returned to the kitchen immediately after use and I mean IMMEDIATELY. Alright?"

The weak part of Midnight was a bit intimidated. She nodded, missing a better response.

"Good. Dishes are in here, pots'n'pans in here... rule number two. Shared supplies are bought in turns and their costs shared. Individual foods, of course, are paid by who wants to eat them and not touched by anypony else. Every second dinner is for all three of us, prepared by who knows it best, but also keeping some way of taking turns. Whoever rises first in the morning makes breakfast for all. The remaining meals are everypony for herself. Got all of that?"

"Yeah, sure." Midnight was slightly taken aback by how much of a control freak Vinyl had turned out to be.

"Perfect. Storage is over there. Now to the laundry room. Try to keep up, newb." She laughed at Midnight's displeased expression, thus explaining her somewhat unpleasantly provocative, but still likeable nature.

Midnight followed her out of the room and into the opposing one. Instead of tiled floor like in the kitchen or carpet like in the rest of the house, Midnight's hoover struck bare cement. The only objects in the room were a laundry basket in the corner, a few clothes lines strapped between the walls overhead and a washing machine to take care of all dirty clothing that may occur.

Vinyl tore Midnight out of her highly concentrated inspection. "Yeah, laundry room."

Midnight answered with a highly exaggerated gasp, holding her cheeks with her forehooves.

"That's not getting to me, just to tell ya. Laundry day is not like the Griffon Inquisition. Expect it and do your part. Next room!"

"I don't think I have to explain the purpose of this room to you. Clean up the mess you make!"

Midnight nodded, adding another line to her mental stone tablet of rules she'd find a way around for fun.

"And the last one. Not much to say 'bout this one either. It's the living room, what did you expect?"

She looked in through the open door, seeing brown walls surrounding a space with matchingly colored carpet and ceiling. There was a sofa for three in front of a standard television and another by a wooden table, on which a vase of flowers was situated, as well as two forelegchairs that also faced the same object.

After her introduction, Midnight retreated to her room to make it a usable home for whatever amount of time she'd be staying there.

Don't worry, I'm sure you'll move in with Filly soon enough. Just remember... we... are patient.

We... are patient. I'm ready to wait for that 'til Nightmare Moon freezes the world. And I will because there will be no approaching her. Live in isolation for a few years, acquire somepony usable, get knocked up two or three times, die without having done anything significant. Look, I've got it all planned out!

We... are patient. Don't forget to tell Redheart we have arrived.

Finding Ponyville's clinic and announcing herself to her future boss had been fun for Midnight, in the same way that banging one's head against the wall to enjoy the painless moments inbetween was fun.

Certainly, Nurse Redheart was a nice mare, but there simply was nothing at her workplace to draw her interest. Almost nopony had been present to be served at the time, which partially explained why the clinic was basically made of three rooms, one big one broken up into smaller units where all the beds were located, the inspection room and office behind that and then storage behind that one.

So Midnight ended her day without the feeling of having accomplished anything. That was a feeling that she had very rarely, though, so perhaps the day hadn't been as bad. She'd begin working on Monday morning, but had no idea how to spend her Sunday.

Been in that situation before...

Midnight looked around. The window was whispering to her to go for another try, but she knew it was too tight.

At long last, Midnight had given in to Noon's constant whispering. She had no idea of how exactly she had managed to get herself into such a situation, but now that she was in it, she was going to enjoy it.

Before her was the filly of her dreams, bound by five chains, one for each hoof and another connected to a collar to keep her head down. She was softly whimpering from Midnight's previous actions, for which the floor under her rump was quite the testimony.

Some ponies might say that Midnight had overdone the riding crop the second she'd drawn blood, but that only made licking her wounds more fun. Indeed it had been that, but now she had something better even in mind. From the stand next to her, she levitated over the biggest knife they'd been able to find.

She knew exactly what had to be done. Midnight positioned herself, found Filly's spine, and pushed down. The resulting volcano of liquid was nectar for her final moments as she threw the knife into the air above her head and let gravity take its course.

Chapter 34

Midnight finally managed to wake up from her nightmare. She hadn't been having dreams of that kind for some time. The fact that they had suddenly reappeared made her a bit nervous.

She blinked to focus her vision. For one blissful moment, Midnight thought she was still back at Canterlot. Only a second later, she remembered what had happened before and that she was glad to have left the castle. Unfortunately, she was still only a young mare alone in a new town and had to admit she was missing what remained of her family.

The Sun brightened up a stripe of blue on the walls. Fortunately, it didn't reach Midnight. She felt too hot to begin with.

The light welcomes you. Come closer and bask in its warm glory.

But the closer you approach the light, the bigger your shadow becomes. Do not chase it, for else you will be burned and left with nothing but your true shadow.

You are nothing but the shadow you produce.

There is no place in the light for either of us. It would only turn on me for ignoring its benevolence. Or on you for trying to abuse its powers.

The light is forgiving.

But not forgetting. Your actions were unforgivable and the vessel also has to suffer for its inner demon's sins. There is no place in the light for either of us, but we don't belong into darkness either. We belong into twilight.

Into Twilight we belong indeed. Sparkle, little robot. It is time.

Just why do I even have to rise...

Because we want it. Where was it you read that interesting article? 'Horny - The principle of magical reproduction researched'?

Midnight grasped the wordplay Noon had done. She blushed furiously. Luckily, there was nopony else anywhere near to see her. Even if there was, she had only had her thoughts successfully invaded by one pony, so she was safe.

Liked it when that filly invaded you, didn't you?

Grumbling, Midnight rose to her hooves. The morning air was cooler on her than usual, even though it should technically be warmer now that she was off the mountain and all that. She looked back and found the cause or at least another consequence of the same cause.

Her bed was positively moist with what liquid had come out of her during the night. In some places, it was even fairly wet. In addition, the sheets were a bit sparkly.

It appeared that she had finally managed to wash out most of the illusion magic in her mane with her sweat. Midnight took out a small mirror she'd brought from her home and confirmed her suspicion. The pink was now reduced to just a strip, taking up maybe a tenth of her long, flowing mane.

As she inspected the rest of her while she was at it, Midnight discovered that, fortunately, her tail had undergone the same changes.

Didn't know my flanks were that sweaty...

Should've seen yourself go. I've never witnessed any filly get as wet down there as you.

How unfortunate we did not. Perhaps soon, when... we... are patient.

Speaking of her, wouldn't it be great to have her show us Ponyville today? You don't really have any other friends here, do you? How sad.

Hum. I don't even know where she lives, I just noticed. Maybe Vinyl does.

Thus, Midnight went out of her room to start the day properly.

Oddly, she couldn't find either of her roommates anywhere within the house. After checking all of the rooms on the first floor, she went back up to search the rest in detail. She found neither hair nor hide there, though.

The door leading to Octavia's chamber was open, revealing to Midnight a room with brown walls, a simple bed in addition to the few sitting pillows spread randomly on the ground, a cello in the corner next to a music stand and a bookshelf, containing a few music books and an assortment of other novels. As much as there was in it, the room certainly did not contain a pony.

Moving on, Midnight came to the last door she hadn't checked yet. Due to the enchanted walls, she couldn't hear a single sound coming from inside. She was about to knock when she saw the bar locking the door and combined that there were better places for an innocent filly such as herself to be in that moment.

The kitchen, for example, where she could prepare breakfast for when they were done.

Midnight didn't have to wait long. A mere two minutes after she had found and prepared everything, then sat down with some tea and a bowl of cereal, the house's two other inhabitants arrived.

"Glad you've finally come, Octavinyl."

"Could say the same thing. 'Bout you," Vinyl replied.

"Aye. I was getting tired about doing it myself. I believe our relationship could prosper well. Until you move out, of course."

"'Tavia wants to say 'Thanks for making breakfast'."

"Tsk. Commoner speech," Octavia complained before all three of them burst into laughter.

After everything was eaten and cleaned up, Midnight approached Vinyl Scratch before she could escape from the kitchen. Octavia had already excused herself to tend to personal needs in a room further down the hall.

"Hey, um, you know Twilight, right?"

"Lil' adorkable Twilight Sparkle? Sure thing, babe. Why? Let me guess... you've got a crush on her."

"Uhh..." Was all that Midnight managed to mumble. She was terrible at improvising when confronted with situations she hadn't been able to prepare for.

"Thanks for telling me. They always fall to that trick. Don't worry, I'll leave her to you. I'm already taken, anyway."

"I've noticed." It was Vinyl's turn to feel awkward. Her white coat was partially disrupted by spots of pink. She audbily cleared her throat and motioned for Midnight to continue with whatever she had had in mind.

"We became good friends while she was staying at Canterlot - stop snickering, she doesn't know 'bout it - and I'm afraid I forgot to ask her where she lives."

"Really? Why, just head to the center and go a bit past. Giant tree library. Can't miss it."

This had to be the right adress. At the very least, Midnight couldn't see any other habitable plants nearby. Only Sparkle would take the term 'tree house' that literally, anyway. While she had seen quite some variation in Ponyville's architecture already, in the end, it all came down to the same shape and form. All but this tree.

It kind of reminded her of her old home in the castle, oh so far away now. Judging by the windows, it had three floors. On the second one's height, a small balcony was attached at the side, accessible through a big window.

Other than that, few features were visible from the outside. Afterall, it was just a hollow tree. Midnight decided to stop staring at it and finally knock. A small purple and green creature opened the door.

She had seen its kind before. Twice, to be exact. One time, she had seen a picture in some foals' book about the creatures that walked Equestria. The other had been at school, when she had transformed a certain blood-stained plushie into what that picture had looked like. And now a live one stood before her.

"Mh, hello? What can I do for you?"

It was afraid, Midnight could sense it. Which was interesting, considering the small one lived in a public library, where he should have lost any fear of unknown ponies long ago. Midnight assumed it was a male. She wasn't exactly an expert on dragon anatomy and she had no purpose to confirm or bust her suspicion. She just went for the direct route to her target.

"Hi. I was told that S- Twilight lives here, is that correct?"

"Sure. Let me get her for ya." He left the door open and went deeper inside, calling for the pony inhabitant of the library, who quickly came down the stairs, spotted who was waiting for her and ran past, if not over, him in order to reach Midnight as fast as possible.

The display of slight violence was shocking, but also felt kind of satisfying. Midnight had no time to inquire about that sadistic streak of hers as her crush stood before her, beaming and waiting for her to say what was on her mind. Unfortunately, those cute little ears would never hear the truth about what was going through Midnight's head.

"Uh, hey, Sparkle, I..." Midnight couldn't continue talking because in that moment, the lavender mass before her lunged forward and threw two of its extremities around her neck.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're here. I was worried you wouldn't find me, but going to your house while you were setting up seemed rude and..." Once again, the filly demonstrated her talent for overthinking things.

"Whoa whoa whoa. Do you greet everypony like that?" Midnight tried to calm her down.

"You're not everypony. You're special."

There were ninety-nine things that Midnight could say in that situation and twice as many that she wanted to say, showing Twilight the irony in her words, finally revealing to her the truth, beginning a romantic relationship. But she couldn't. Still, a bit of overreacting, like Sparkle was showing cartloads of, couldn't hurt.

"I love you," Midnight gently whispered in her ear. She was careful to pronounce it in such a way that it would be picked up as an exaggeration between friends, despite its true meaning.

Without any more words, they separated, and it felt to Midnight like she had just torn out a few of her vital organs as Sparkle's presence left her, her warm coat against her own, her essence in the Flow merging with Midnight's, only to separate and repeat the procedure twice per second. It seemed like that filly was just as volatile as the Magic Flow itself. Which made sense when Midnight considered that any living being was just the Flow incarnating into itself.

She tore herself out of her existential philosophy to focus on matters at hoof. Twilight had invited her to come inside and was now waiting for her to follow.

The library's insides looked very comfortable, although a bit too much like a home and too little like a library, if Midnight had to complain about something. The wooden floor and walls created a cozy atmosphere. The range of books was mostly organised in many shelves carved into the walls, but a few had found their way to one of the reading stands, the round table in the middle with a modest statue on top of it, or even just the floor.

"Why exactly did you just storm off yesterday?"

Sparkle giggled. With every single noise that came out of her throat, Midnight's heart lifted higher and higher. "I... I'm sorry, I just kind of panicked. I didn't mean to leave you behind like that. Can you forgive me?" She asked with a wink.

"Sure thing, sugar."

"Oh, stop it, you. So, what are your plans now that you're obviously set up and all that?"

"Well, I don't know, I was hoping you could tell me."

"Oh yeah, you've just moved here, I almost forgot. I suppose I could show you around, I haven't had a chance to meet all of my friends again yet myself... although, if you count that meeting two days ago when you spotted us..."

"That sounds lovely."

"Sheesh, get a room, you two."

Sparkle glared daggers at the baby dragon that had just exclaimed that sentence. He growled and went back to picking up books. Midnight just laughed it off, a laugh that was not entirely her own.

I'm starting to like the little guy.

"... as I was saying. Where did you get such an exotic pet?"

"Silly you, Spike's not a pet, he's my number one assistant! Most of the time, at least. I'll always remember how I've hatched him. Did you see that? Went right through the roof."

"Sparkle, as far as I know, that was at a time when my mother was still alive. Do you really expect me to remember that?"

"Sorry, I just figured..."

"It's okay. Just... who is that?"

Midnight pointed towards one of the windows, where a pink Earth Pony mare with a puffed mane was slowly lowering her head out of sight.

"Yep, now you're gonna get a party. Congratulations."

Chapter 35

"And if I don't want to?"

"Don't bother trying to avoid it. Pinkie Pie will throw you a party this evening and you'll attend it, whether you like it or not. The best I can do for you now is talking her into using the library instead of your house." Twilight showed a knowing smile, as if that was some sort of initiation ritual that everypony had to go through. Judging by how she knew Ponyville, Midnight could imagine that it actually was.

"That'd be nice of you."

"Now we just have to find her. Come on." She rose from the table they'd been sitting at and trotted over to the door. After opening it with her magic, she stopped to look back at Midnight, who was still on her rump, trying to contemplate her actions.

"As in right now?"

"Of course. When else?"

"I dunno. After a few hours of silent observation and waiting for the right moment? Patience, Sparkle!"

We... are patient.

"Ha, pointless," Twilight laughed and ran outside.

Midnight looked at Spike, wo just shrugged, and went after her.

One thing couldn't be denied; That filly had far more energy in her than expected. At least that meant that she didn't spend all day memorising her library, even though her beautiful mind very much suggested so.

Midnight had just barely managed to stay on her tricolored tail until she stopped in a market square filled with ponies of all sorts and colors. Midnight had passed it before, just a few minutes earlier, while travelling to Twilight's home. Still, the crowd before them looked imposing.

She felt oddly out of place and would prefer to quickly take her leave again.

Unfortunately, her intended future life patner looked like she was just waiting for Midnight so she wouldn't lose her in the fray.

"Uncomfortable. Can we go home now?"

"Afraid?"

"Certainly not. But why are we here?"

"Pinkie might be shopping for party supplies. If not, Applejack should be around somewhere. The other Earth Pony, remember?"

The fatty.

Twilight did not accept any more resistance as she casually put a foreleg around Midnight's neck and pushed her into the crowd.

Midnight had no idea how she was supposed to spot anypony. While pink was relatively rare as a color for ponies, there were ponies in literally every direction except down in the ground and directly in front of them, which formed a narrow corridor for them to walk through.

No matter where she looked, Midnight saw ponies with all kinds of colors and one, the other, or no appendix to their body. Those blessed with wings occasionally took to the air and obstructed the sky for the rest.

We could get out of here quickly, you know.

I don't want to bother the Flow.

You just don't want to stop wasting your time together with Filly.

That's what you do when you're in love.

We... are patient. But the time has come, robot. We must act now!

Thus, Noon activated Pegasus Eye on her own without asking any longer. Midnight looked around.

Time seemed to run differently in the Flow. The pegasi were no longer blocking her vision. Midnight couldn't see the Sun in the sky, but neither were there the Moon, nor any stars. On the horizon, she saw a dark violet star setting, illumatinating with pure darkness clusters of energy which looked like rocks floating in the Aether without any kind of support.

It wasn't darkness in the purest of meanings, though. That kind was nothing more than empty blackness, currently filling the sky. Instead, the shadow star emitted pure energy, without any sense or purpose inscribed into it, creating that soft violet glow. It was beautiful.

Eternal twilight. Glorious, isn't it?

How come I've never seen this before?

I'll tell us what you think. We've grown closer to the Magic Flow. Connected better to what we are already a part of. It has decided to reveal its true form to you. Ah, the Flow can be as shifting as yourself, Missy M. Alternatively, it's always been this way and we just forgot. You're not very apprehensive about memories.

It'd create a positive feedback and force me to suffer more from it, to fall deeper into madness, the more I give in. It'd create more of your kind. It'd kill me. Not that I'd mind that, but I think Sparkle would.

Speaking of whom...

A bundle of pink waves, only slightly brighter than the neverending sunset off in the distance, softly prodded Midnight in the side to get her attention. Returning her perception to the illusion of matter and out of the realm of twilight, she turned her head towards Twilight to signal that her poking had worked.

"I can't see Pinkie around here. Do... whoa, did you just - actually, nevermind, it's gone now."

"Would you care to tell me what's going on?"

"Well, I was looking for Pinkie and I couldn't spot her so I decided to check if you saw anything, but you looked really concentrated and then I felt a small pulse of energy and I have no idea where that came from, but anyway, and then I saw some kind of purple-ish shimmer in your eyes but that was probably just a reflection or my imagination 'cause it's so easy to get lost in your eyes..."

"Okay. Stop. Put a dot and breathe."

Didn't I once know somepony named Shimmer once?

That's the one you had a crush on as a filly. Speaking of whom...

Not before she wants it.

That's the point! Can't you see the signals she's giving? They might be unintentional slips of her tongue, but it's still there!

Really?

If I noticed it, why didn't you?

Meh, I was busy admiring her beauty.

That's not how you spell 'butt'.

Busted. Midnight could feel the blood rushing to her head at the embarassing revelation. Then again, it was her demon of the past, from whom it was was literally impossible to hide anything she saw, heard, or thought.

"Erm, to the point, can't find her either."

"we'll bump into Pinkie sooner or later, I guess. For now, we can introduce you to Applejack."

"Technically, I've already met her."

"Oh, come on, that doesn't count. We were all tired and you basically just talked to me for a minute before leaving again."

"Well then, where is she?"

"Her stand is usually in the south 'cause that's where the orchard itself is. So, given that it's about eleven o'clock and the Sun's over there..."

Midnight set off before Sparkle could finish approximating the direction they had to go in. After walking a few paces, she was rejoined by her beloved.

"How did you know that so quickly?"

"Being the good filly I'm not, I know our surroundings and that Canterlot lies to the east. Also, open your eyes, filly. You can see the apples from here!"

"I'm not... how old are you, anyway?"

"Less than you, if only by a little. Does that stop me from calling you filly?" Midnight allowed her face to show a provocative grin before storming off in order to avoid Twilight's revenge.

Fortunately, she managed to close the distance between them and Applejack quickly, as only a second later, the second unicorn arrived at her side. She didn't look too mad at Midnight, but it was clear that she'd have taken retribution if able. The crowd wasn't as dense at this end of the market. Around Applejack's market, it had even cleared completely, giving her a moment to talk.

She really was as generous as Midnight remembered her, especially around her cutie mark, which was three red apples imprinted into her orange fur. Her smaragd eyes were beaming at Midnight.

"Why, ain't tha' our newest friend! How ya doin'?"

"Fine, I guess. Y'know, just moved in and stuff."

"Ah hear ya. Is there somethin' Ah can help y'all with?"

"I'm just seeing the town right now, but according to Sparkle over here, the one you call Pinkie will force me to party tonight. My own home wouldn't be that fitting for the purpose, so we're trying to find her to make her use the library instead, but we couldn't, so Sparks wanted to introduce me to you. Isn't that right?"

"Uh, yeah, sure."

"So, how is it that you become friends in those parts?"

Applejack shot Midnight a highly sceptical look.

"What? I've been with the same ponies for years and years and those were all snobs from Canterlot, do you expect me to know how you do such stuff in Ponyville?"

"Well, ya start with givin' each other's names, then you talk a bit about who ya are an' what it is yer doin' an' by that point y'all are usually already deep in a conversation."

"Mhm. Hell... I'm Midnight. I just finished school back in Canterlot and have come here to work as a nurse in Ponyville's clinic. What's your name?" Midnight offered Applejack a hoof for added effect. Beside her, she could hear Sparkle snickering at her behavior. She ignored her and so did the Earth Pony before her, who took her hoof and shook it.

"Pleasure meetin' ya. Ah'm Applejack an' I work them Sweet Apple Acres, y'know, buck apples an' sell 'em and all that, t'gether with mah brother, Big Macintosh."

"Fascinating. Tell me more." The conversation they were having was more than a bit staged, but Midnight kept acting just for fun. If Applejack picked up on it, she didn't show it.

"Ah like buckin' stuff an' gettin' together with mah family 'n' friends... oh, you should meet 'em! There's Granny Smith makin' the best apple pies both sides of wherever ya want, lil' Apple Bloom an' her Crusader buddies doin' all sorts a hijinks an' of course mah buddies, them other Elements of Harmony."

After a second of trying to comprehend what Applejack had just said through her strong southern accent, Midnight nodded to show she had understood.

"I... well, I suppose you could say I like to work and study. Or at least I've been doing it a lot to get through school. Other than that, I read a lot and sometimes do a bit of philosophy when I'm bored. I also go out with friends sometimes. Used to, at least. Now they are all still in Canterlot and I'm here."

"Oh, really? What kinda fancy philosophics?"

"A bit of this, a bit of that. For instance, how beautiful twilight really is. Not liked by everypony, but just think about what you can do. I just love looking at the stars I'm seeing then."

"Uh, sure, sugar." Applejack suddenly had an awkward smile on her face and motioned for Twilight to talk to her later. Midnight decided to give them their opportunity and walked away, just staying within earshot.

"Pardon me askin', but yer sweet on her, right?" Applejack whispered. Clearly, they were underestimating Midnight's range of hearing. What she heard made her ears perk up and her heart flutter shily.

"What? Oh, no no no. We're just good friends."

"Really? Ah mean, ya spent the last few months t'gether, all we know, she's using that funny pet name, ya both keep lookin' at each other like... no? Okay, if ya say so. If it makes you feel worse, I just lost ten bits, an' I ain't tellin' ya who to."

She's looking at me like something?

Into you. I told us. Now it's just a matter of showing her that she is. Fancy eats, candle light...

We... are patient.

Patience means acting at the right time. Don't miss it.

We... are patient.

We should return into action, methinks.

"All done with your chitchat?"

The looks of fear, of uncertainty about how much Midnight had overhead in both Applejack's and Twilight's eyes were delicious. She put up an innocent, but genuine, smile to deteriorate their perceptions, which appeared to work.

"Uh, sure. Not ta be rude, but Ah'm gettin' some customers, look. Ah'll see y'all t'night, then. Or can Ah get ya somethin' before ya leave?"

Midnight looked at Sparkle, who copied her gesture. She had to surpress laughing at how they looked like two ponies in that stage of their relationship where they couldn't make a decision on their own, that kind you had to be ashamed for. Reminding herself that she wanted them to be like that greatly helped her keep her composure.

Take her out for lunch!

Too direct.

Do it anyway! We're hungry.

Irony was tasty. While Midnight had refused to sate their hunger to avoid looking too benevolent, and having her intentions discovered prematurely, Twilight had done the exact opposite and even insisted on demonstrating the local cuisine. Perhaps not as much 'demonstrating' as 'paying somepony else to do it for her', but Midnight didn't complain.

It was more about who ate the daisy sandwiches with her, anyway. As long as it was that one cute unicorn, Midnight would still enjoy her meal more than anything else she had ever eaten if it was served over the rotting corpse of her late mother, rather than on a table for two outside of a small restaurant somewhere not too far from Ponyville's center market square, where they were in that moment.

Ponyville might be a pleasant town after all. The Sun, now perfectly orthogonally to Canterlot mountain, was beaming down on them, trying to warm up some of the snow that choked the land's vegetation. It felt odd that Canterlot, being so much higher up, was almost completely snow-free while down in Ponyville white was far more of the rule than the exception.

She wasn't a young filly that would frolic in the snow now by any means, unless Sparkle was there with her. She had grown out of that age almost directly after she had entered it, when she had been forced to see the true nature of ponykind.

But Midnight didn't think about that. It was the time to eat, laugh, and plan new adventures with her friend, not weep over the past. She felt like the naive schoolfilly she'd never been.

Midnight didn't care. All that mattered where that she was in Ponyville, far from all evil, together with Twilight.

Chapter 36

Midnight was in Ponyville, far from all evil, and Sparkle was with her. Nothing else mattered.

After lunch, they had resumed their search for Pinkie Pie, which still didn't yield the desired results. Eventually, Twilight had pulled Midnight into the store of another friend of hers that they happened to be close to.

She didn't like that place. Its major inhabitant was apparently trying to keep up an organised storefront, but various fabrics and design sheets were disrupting the image already in the main presentation room, right after entering through the door. Worse even was who had caused the chaos.

Living in Carousel Boutique, as she had called it, was a unicorn mare with a white coat, purple mane, and three blue jewels as a cutie mark. It had to be the one Midnight had found to be closer to the flow than the rest when first examining them through the extended Pegasus Eye.

That wasn't the problem, though. It was more that she, in all she did, obviously seeked aknowledgement from the kind of ponies Midnight had hoped to have left behind in Canterlot. Also, she was being an unbearable drama queen about everything that happened to her. Midnight hadn't known Rarity for long, but she already knew that they couldn't possibly get along well.

At least the visit had brought some good. As they were about to leave, Spike had entered the Boutique, claiming that Pinkie had pushed him out of the library and that he wanted to see somepony. Sparkle had just laughed it off and later told Midnight that the little one had a crush on Rarity. Strangely, he had walked right past the unicorn and gone upstairs while Midnight was lingering inside after Twilight had already left the Boutique.

Since they had unknowingly achieved their goal, Sparkle had told Midnight when she should come to the library and ran off to prevent Pinkie from literally setting her home on fire, drowning it in a lake, and accidentally launching it into space all at the same time (Somehow, that was apparently possible for the pink mare). Along with her love interest, Midnight's interest in anything else had left, so she went home to freshen up and pass the time.

Obviously, she ended up eating a bit of chocolate lying on the sofa in front of the television because she didn't feel like doing anything productive while that lavender filly was throwing her into pure turmoil.

Another commercial started while Midnight was chipping another bit off of the delicious bar. This one featured a big, red stallion with a blonde mane, standing in front of a running shower. "Hello mares."

Guess that applies to me.

"Look at your stallion. Now back to me. Now back at your stallion. Now back to me. Sadly, he isn't me. But if he stopped using mare scented body wash and switched to Apple Spice, he could smell like me!"

But I want her to smell like the mare she is! Oh, sweet, sweet... hey. Stop tampering with my mind!

Honni soit qui mal y pense.

"Look down. Back up. Where are ya. We're on a boat, with the stallion your stallion could smell like. What's in your hoof?"

Almost empty chocolate wrapping paper. Hooray for the fact that it's not completely empty!

The stallion on screen pulled out some wrapping paper that was even the same brand as Midnight's.

Wow, they know their audience.

The bar kept shrinking, much to Midnight's displeasure. Why couldn't chocolate be infinite?

"I have it. It's a chocolate bar with two tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala. Look again. The tickets are now DIAMONDS. Anything is possible when your stallion smells like Apple Spice and not a mare. I am a horse."

Perhaps I should use that to trick that certain meat bag's senses... but then she'd love me for what I don't have.

Juicy, giant apples. Need I remind you that it's kind of counterproductive to be late for a party with somepony you want to realise that she's in love with you?

In fact, it was about time for Midnight to get going. She quickly chomped down the rest of her emergency ration, turned off the TV, fed the paper to the trash can, and left.

The Ponyville style to party was interesting, to say the least. A surprising number of ponies had come to celebrate her arrival. There were various games set up to play, more than a few of which Midnight already knew from her foalhood. Perhaps everything was just that much more lighthearted down in Ponyville. Midnight wasn't sure she liked that, though. Taking everything with a spoonful of sugar usually required to close one's eyes from the real world.

But it wasn't time to worry about that. She had been forced to participate in almost all of the activities available, which had made her realise that they actually were kind of fun, if just in a sarcastic way of being far too old and still doing it. Midnight still wasn't one for crowded situations where she had no overview and couldn't plan her moves, though. So she quickly retreated to a corner some paces away from everypony else, where she could observe in peace.

It wasn't her own fault. The unicorn hostess was just being so mesmerising that not watching her endless grace in all she did whenever possible was probably forbidden by law. Midnight had already mingled with the rest of Sparkle's friends, so the rest of her evening would be dedicated to the one and only.

Right then, she was futilely trying to pin the tail on the pony picture two feet next to her, so the 'grace' part didn't fully apply, but Midnight didn't care. She loved everything her future marefriend did.

Speaking of which...

Actually, it's 'whom'.

Which, because I'm referring to 'marefriend', not Filly. Or would that still... whatever. Did you notice who else is here? Eyes forward, then twenty-three point two degrees to the left.

Huh, what do you... oh my gosh. She came to Ponyville, too? This is not good.

Right there in the crowd was a very well-known white pegasus that let her red mane flow down freely until it reached her chest, in a style not unlike Midnight's. On her flank, a subtle depiction of a star nebula in the night sky.

Okay, just dodge her the best I can, reapply the mane dying so she won't recognise me, do some advances on Sparkle in order to give her a message...

She saw you and is coming our way.

Oh, dammit dammit dammit! What do I do?

Put on your best innocent smile and try to avoid talking about how she broke our heart. Or the time that followed. Or how many assassinations you had planned for her. My favorite's the one where you'd stuff every single one of her feathers up hers before adding in the tar the other way around.

That's mine too.

We have so much in common! Now stop staring at your new crush's plot and focus on your old one's. Now raise them to her face.

"Hey, you're new to town, right?"

She doesn't remember me?

Or doesn't want to show that she does.

"Yeah."

"Nice party, huh? Y'know, just give Pinkie a reason to party and she'll make a miracle out of it."

She does remember me. I can't think of another reason why she should go down this tackiest of tacky romance novel roads of conversation.

"Suppose you know that better than me, since you've been in Ponyville for some time now... how long has it been?"

Midnight wasn't actively trying to steer the conversation away from their would-be relationship. If Shimmer remembered, she should suffer for it. Apparently, she did, as some of her mane's color found its way to her cheeks.

"Midnight, I know what I did, and I'm sorry. So terribly sorry." Tears started to well up in her eyes. Her apology seemed to be genuine. Midnight liked that. The more of the pain she had once felt was now inflicted on her, the better. Midnight had, already back then, long lost the ability to forgive crimes, no matter how petty they were. "Can you forgive me? Can you give me... a second chance?"

She laughed. "Did you think I had FORGOTTEN? Did you think I had FORGIVEN? Behold now, the terrible vengeance of the Midnight! Uhm, I mean... let's talk about that."

Shimmer was clearly out of any comfort zone that she may have had before. Visibly intimidated by Midnight, she lowered her head and shied away. "Okay, I'll be waiting for... whenever you feel like... I'm sorry I bothered you. I'm so sorry this ever had to happen. I've been so foalish."

"Yes you have." Midnight's face did not once shift from the vicious grin of victory there was on it as Shimmer retreated back into the crowd, not to understanding, not to sympathy, not to mercy, even though every fiber of her body wanted it to. Every weak fiber, at least.

What a coup de grace. How could you?

Maybe the fact that she left me to cry over yet another failure during a time where I would have direly needed her to easen up my suffering helped me.

Yet you still have feelings for her.

Midnight sighed in disappointment of herself. You make me have them. What are we... if not slaves to this curse?

Living ponies! This is what differentiates you from savage beasts, Midnight!

When Noon used Midnight's name, she could tell that her demon was being honest for once. The desperate sound in her inner voice was delicious to her.

I'll tell you. We... are patient.

After claiming her revenge on the special somepony she had never wanted to see again, Midnight resumed awkwardly standing besides the party. Some time later though, she got bored of that, and decided to go up the nearby stairs to further explore the library.

Up on the second floor, she found even more books, illuminated by nothing more than the Moon shining in through a few windows. One of them was the big one through which the balcony could be entered. Before another one, a small desk stood, with some ink, a quill, and a bit of parchment spread over it.

She randomly read some of the lined up books' titles until one caught her attention. While they were all more or less clean, that particular book wasn't dusty at all.

'Mare Bookworm's Guide to: Seducing Mares'.

Just what could she possibly want to do with that?

Beats me.

Shifted into denial again, have we?

We... are patient.

Midnight decided to drop the matter and keep searching for anything that'd keep her occupied until the others noticed she was gone. Going out sounded like a nice idea to her. Much to her pleasure, Twilight's balcony had a railing that was too high for her to climb. Afterall, it was impossible to predict Midnight's actions.

On and around said balcony were multiple flowerpots, one's contents more particular than the previous ones'. Midnight focused on one clung to the railing, which contained a bush of roses, all in ranging shades of pink, although some of them were white and one in the middle was a bright red.

"Fascinating, isn't it? What do you think about that?" Twilight quietly asked from behind. Without making any noise, she moved over to Midnight's side. She wasn't looking for Midnight to get her back to the party. She was just there, spending time with her, alone, in the night, under the moon, surrounded by flowers. Fortunately, it was too dark for her to see the blush Midnight failed to hide.

"Well, on first glance, it's a big 'screw you!' to ol' Mendel. But there's probably a lot more to it, right?"

"Love's Bloom. It's capable of sensing whenever two ponies nearby fall in love. As soon as one of them notices it, one of the blossoms turns red. When they get into an open relationship, it then goes into pink. However, when a heart is broken, it permanently turns white, no matter where it was, and will regain any functionality only when the two ponies both reach a state they can both truly accept."

As Sparkle finished talking, apparently still oblivious that the red one was meant for her, it lost a bit of its color. "Oh no! I hope those two, whoever they are, are alright. I hate seeing young love shattered."

'You do realise who this one is for, yes?' or perhaps the classy 'Hey, now that we're both here...'. Say something, robot! Now is the time!

Midnight couldn't. In the one moment that mattered, she was overwhelmed by fear and concern and couldn't muster the courage to say anything that'd clear out things once and for all. Trying to rehydrate her dried out mouth, she nodded in aknowledgement of the explanation.

"So... um... what else do you have here? Are all of those magical?"

Wrong choice of words, robot. We are such a coward.

"Oh, you know, I'm just keeping a little assortment for study. Over here, for instance, I've got some Poison Joke. Don't touch it!" Twilight indicated towards a small, light blue flower.

"Mhm."

"Aaand here's the Pi-lant. If you listen closely, you can hear it constantly reciting random numbers."

Celestia, why must she have such an angelic voice?

"And those?"

"Uhm, those are just simply Pansy Flowers. A mare's gotta have some beauty in her life somewhere."

I know where mine is. If only she knew. While Sparkle was distracted, Midnight silently moved in closer to her, until she could hear her soft breathing. If she noticed, Twilight didn't seem to mind. Even the tiniest bit of warmth radiating from her cured all of Midnight's ailments and put her at inner peace.

"Plus, they're really tasty."

"Pardon me?"

"Oh, I've been in Ponyville some time already, I must have forgotten. Don't you eat flowers in Canterlot?"

"Why, sure we do, but only cheap ones like Daisies or Dandelions. Most of the time, those decorative specimens are infused with poison to keep the bugs out, anyway. Don't want to get a stomach ache from them."

"Well, mine are one hundred percent biological, I can tell you. I've grown them by myself from seeds." She turned away to focus on the Pansy Flowers, making sure each of them was still perfectly aligned.

Shut up and kiss me!

"What? Did you just say something?"

"Nah. Must've come from downstairs."

"I guess so."

Now she's also intercepting my thoughts? Or is this just a joke played on me by the Flow? Or is it trying to help me get her?

But what about Shimmer?

Meh, she can go die in a corner, I don't care... after I've had a second chance with her.

At long last, the party had ended, far too long into the night. Midnight had found her way into her bed, but didn't want to sleep yet. Instead, she put it above all else to keep up a steady rhythm of deep breaths while surrendering her consciousness to the Flow. Before long, she found that she had once more managed to find her way into the Magic Flow, able to explore it as she pleased.

She fled out of the house, passing Vinyl and Octavia as they were once again sloppily making out in Vinyl's room. When she arrived outside, still floating a fair distance above the ground, she looked to the horizon and noticed that in this realm, twilight was, in fact, eternal. The Shadow Star was in the same position it had been in when she had left it.

But that wasn't her goal. She kept flying on wings of nothingness until she reached a hollow tree, penetrating its walls while looking for one particular blob of concentrated energy. She found her peacefully sleeping on the top floor in a normal bed with some rather cute star sheets.

She was such a beauty, even, if not even more than normal, while asleep.

Now that is stalking.

We are one with the shadows.

Midnight didn't need anything more. She didn't even need the sound of Twilight's adorable snoring to make the moment perfect. All she wanted was to watch her rest and dream. Those dreams, obviously, leaking out and calling for Midnight to pick them up.

Sparkle dreamt of a sunny afternoon on a hill, close to which a river flowed past lazily, too slow and shallow to possibly be any danger, while a strong tree with a swing attached to it was standing on top of the hill. It was so cute Midnight would usually want to throw up, but with this filly, it was alright.

While she was watching Twilight's silent, tiny movements, her chest rising and falling, Midnight didn't even notice how her own consciousness was being drawn back towards her body and to a whole new world from there on out. It ended up to be the current night of her life.

Chapter 37

Well, I could... what's the time?

Midnight rolled over in her bed. Her alarm clock said it was seven in the morning, but somehow, she felt like it was lying. As soon as she turned back around, the concept of the number seven in the given context had already escaped her again.

So, I gotta... wait... Dad. That's ri... no, I'm in Ponyville, remember. So I have to... I'm late for work. No, I'm too early... I'll just... focus!

We... are focused.

Very funny. Help me out here. I must get to... gah. Okay, slowly. How much time do I have?

No more than a month, with your attitude.

So it's seven o'clock... aah, that means... if only I could get a clear thought together.

Welcome, welcome to my world. You have chosen or been chosen to relocate to the creative mind. Enjoy your stay.

Midnight saw stars in her vision. This was definitely not good. But how could she figure out a way to escape that trap if all attempts at forming a plot were forcefully abandoned every two seconds?

I'll just start my day, things'll get clearer eventually, I guess... that means... roll over on my left side, then stand up.

You're cute when you're idiotic. Guess why I'm staying with you.

Get. Off.

Oh, I'd forgotten how grim you can be. Well, it's been a quite long stay in the land of happiness and candy and pooping rainbows, hasn't it?

Best hours of my life.

I saw what you did there. Hey, how about you tell Filly how she's the mare of your dreams and what you've done with said mare tonight. I'm sure she'll fall for you instantly. Or call the local authorities for threats of violence, rape and murder.

Slowly, Midnight managed to assume the correct position of step one, ready to follow it up with step two. However, in her current state, that took far more time than she would've liked in order to properly coordinate her movements. Four legs were just impossible to control.

I don't remember any such thing, being the innocent filly I surely am. Then again, I hardly remember anything...

It is foalish to assume the chain of memories being unbreakable. With just the right will, it can be spliced and rearranged, for it is as volatile as yourself, as we are the shifting nothingness of the Flow incorporated. Remember when Shimmer begged for mercy after you had come down together with the filly and everypony knew you had done funny stuff up there? Of course you do.

I... that didn't happen, I know it!

Midnight's memories fit together perfectly. Love's Bloom, seein the rest of the flowers, getting closer to Sparkle, then suddenly being torn out of the afterglow of a thousand emotions, caused by pheromone-induced hormone release. Yet, it all felt unnatural.

What more is reality than a pile of recollection, broken into fragments which try to align themselves in hopes of forming a continous, non-paradoxal story? I remind. We are the sum of our memories. The stories we live. The tales we tell ourselves!

Why have fake memories... when you can have real ones?

Finally, she managed to make her muscles execute the necessary movements to bring her out of her bed. Just as her hoof touched the ground, all of the shattered thought fragments that had previously prevented any rational conclusion from being drawn in her mind vanished, leaving behind only the cold, empty space that she was used to.

I am a shadow in darkness.

Let there be light to drive back the night!

Back to, Night. There be. Let Light drive.

Nay, she has passed on, thus her guidance is lost forever.

What if I told you... it didn't have to be?

The brush stopped halfway through clearing an especially tough knot in Midnight's mane, but she quickly regained her composure and commanded her magic to keep oscillating up and down.

No, there isn't. Where are we, in some kind of romance novel where everypony is always happy and the ghosts of the past return not to ail their former protected, but to aid them?

Her spirit has moved on since we were addicted to her whispering, but that doesn't mean Daylight must be gone. You have the power, Midnight!

Necromancy? My talent is healing and teleporting stuff, not tearing ponies from their deserved rest.

You always assume the worst of ponies who just want to help you. And then you murder them. Speaking of murder, what if I could reanimate her personality?

At last you would have a use. But I know my tricks. It'd only mean descending into madness faster.

Oh no. Why should I want to do that? All I offer you is another chance with her. Give me the chance and I'll let her personality bleed into me. Won't notice a difference.

Except that she'd be a cardboard cutout because all I have of her is from the time when deep character analysis was impossible for me. Also, think about what reanimating an illusion of her would do to me. I'd retract back into my own mind, oblivious to anything around me, listening only to her voice while the others declare me insane.

We will be ready for the time you are ready to Bleed. Now don't miss your first day at work, tee hee.

You are ridiculous. We've still got...

Midnight looked at her clock and saw that the short hand had moved an exact sixteen degrees ahead.

... bad.

Behold, for I control time! Give me your virgins!

This one is reserved for one certain unicorn. Other than that, I've got nopony. Well, on the bright side, you seem to be pretty functional as a watch. I might keep you as a pet... and forget to punch holes in the box.

Midnight's chest muscles suddenly cramped up completely. Coughing in an attempt to remove whatever obstacle could be in her windpipe, she beat on her own body with her hooves in hopes of restoring functionality. It didn't work, though. As her oxygen supply began to diminish, sparks appeared in her vision again and she dropped to the floor, lacking the resources to keep her balance while still pounding.

She was safe. There was no way to asphyxiate to death without the use of any tools, as she'd just resume breathing normally as soon as she lost her consciousness. Then again, the demon seemed to also be fully present while she was asleep, so it could be possible for Noon to keep her in that position until she passed the treshold. But of course, she wouldn't do that. Not being the coward she was, who was actually afraid of death. What a laughable mind.

Midnight exited her room after shaking off the death grip and went downstairs, where Octavia sat alone in the kitchen. She gave her a short greeting and sat down to eat breakfast.

Remember, it is I that has experienced death, not you. Want me to bring us both there? I'm safe, you know. I've always been and will always be. You, on the other hoof, have only this one shell.

You are as mortal as I am, demon.

What if I am not? What if I have lived to see the kingdom of eternal chaos, the Princesses' cleansing, Nightmare Moon's uprise and defeat? Hey...

Midnight was not comfortable with the fact that she had technically no control over when Pegasus Eye activated. Through the window, she could see the shadow star.

What if this was how the world has been before the dawn of time?

Pointless. This still is as it is.

But ponies lived in the Flow itself. Imagine that! Look around. What you see is just a running memory, fed into our puny mind simultaneously to being stored for later use. And given how easy it is to tamper with the illusion of a past, do you really think there's any difference if the delay between recording and playback is zero?

I just ask other ponies if their observations mirror mine.

Reality is a question of definition. Imagine for a second... hey, I can show you directly.

On the window, through which the normal reality was visible again, two stickponies began to draw themselves. One of them was drawn in pure white, the other in a dark blue, slightly darker than the true color of Midnight's mane.

As a finishing touch, Noon added a horn and wings to both of them. Once complete, they began walking to the right without changing their location in the real world, instead moving the picture of grassy hills with snow-covered mountains off in the distance that was slowly being drawn around them.

After a minute of noiseless walking, the setting was fully assembled. Suddenly, Midnight could hear their clopping.

Once upon a time, in a reality far far away in the Multiverse, there were only two ponies and no other animalic life in the world. Those two alicorns called themselves Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Day after day, they travelled in hopes of finding other sentient life forms.

The stick ponies kept on walking, periodically flipping their twodimensional heads to the other side to signify looking around. The scenery was unchanging, though.

Sadly, their search was fruitless. That made them very sad. However, where other ponies would fall into pointless quarrel, they did not, for they were both without flaw. Few know, but their full names were Mary Celestia and Sue Luna.

Midnight's vision zoomed past the now empty chair where Octavia had once sat, until the drawing from her imagination was all she could see.

See with your brain and not your eyes. Seeing with the brain is often called imagination, you know. As I was saying...

The younger of the princesses, Sue Luna, though, wasn't quite as flawless as her elder sister. Up until the Day of Judgement, she would never admit it, but deep in her heart, she couldn't stop blaming everything on Mary Celestia.

Eventually, they found a spirit built of all kinds of body parts, many of which were yet unseen on the planet.

"Greetings", It spoke, "I am the embodiment of all that has once walked here, as well as all that ever will. You could say I am the world itself. I have been watching you, ponies, and I wish to propose a deal."

The white alicorn stepped forward. "What is thy desire?"

"I can create creatures to fill this world, beings with more shapes and sizes and an amazing variety greater than you could ever comprehend. Following that, I shall create ponies in your image, wielding a horn with which to incantate the power of the void, wings with which to crack the skies, or the strength of the earth itself, though never more than one per pony. Their minds shall be good and without sin, although... I do detect a darkness within one of you. Those descending from her shall be gifted with the ability to know evil, which means to see it, but also cause it."

Sue Luna followed to her sister's side. "So what do you want in exchange?"

"Oh, nothing, really. Only that you follow your hearts' desires."

"It is my wish to see these lands flourish with life," One of the sisters said.

"It shall happen, I promise. And you?"

"... Power," The corrupted one said before using her horn to literally backstab her sister. After that was done, she galloped off and out of frame to rule over the freshly created Equestria.

The wound wasn't vital, the alicorn would live. She had intended to betray, not to kill, after all. Still, the insult was bad enough without injury. Slowly, she rose. If she waited a day or two, she would surely be welcome as a subdued co-ruler... or she could overthrow her sister's tyranny and bring peace to their lands.

And thus, our fairy tale ends. Evil lurks within all, but it is usually overshadowed by greater evil. 'Good' is just a word to express you're not on top of the threat list. When those above you are removed, however...

That is how Nightmare Moon came to be.

I suppose. You're quite a rare breed, Midnight.

Well, she's been on the Moon for some time now. Of course there's less of her descendants left.

No, she wasn't.

You don't mean...

History is written by winners. What speaks against Lulu trying to liberate Equestria, then being banished so that Celestia could indoctrinate the public with her version of the story while everypony who knew what had happened was dead since generations?

What were we talking about again?

Definition, silly. In the current world, everypony with half a brain would agree that both Princesses are eternally good or at least that Celestia is good and Luna is evil. But what happens when you isolate them? Your standards get moved and ponies get sorted into different zones. All souls reveal their true nature when trusted, even when trusting is undeserved. And like that, nothing else is absolute. Talk about what happened at eight o'clock with somepony and you could both be talking about events more than twelve hours apart. If you describe something and then show them a picture, they will always make heavy adjustments to their mental picture. How can you still believe there is something such as a set reality?

We all live in our own fantasy and it is only when that is shattered that we see the real world. Like my fantasy of ponies being naturally good and incapable of taking a life while destroying two others.

By the way, do you know what happens at eight o'clock? You, over there, not here. Better get going.

Chapter 38

Midnight's first day at work had been quite interesting. While she had obviously had to do her part, it appeared that Nurse Redheart had decided to unnecessarily go easy on her. Or it was just the fact that ponies were far too good at keeping themselves healthy for their own good.

The mending spell Midnight had a natural mastery of as part of her special talent which allowed her to quickly heal certain wounds as long as the victim's soul was still anchored well enough to survive the essence drain had helped, if only to conserve bandages.

Midnight wasn't sure she liked the prospect of having to run back and forth to still every small bleeding in the clinic, but it beat what medical work she had done in Canterlot.

Her quiet reflection in front of the TV was interrupted by a loud knock on the door. Midnight got up and went to see who it was, but all she found was a note on the ground and a white dot quickly flying away. Levitating the piece of paper with her magic, Midnight returned to the living room containing Octavia.

"Now, what's this?" Midnight asked.

"Well, I'd say it's a note, but past that, don't ask me. Unless it's got notes written on it. I know stuff about those."

Midnight turned it and found some non-magic writing. On that note, somepony had scribbled an adress in Ponyville, not too far away from Midnight's house either.

"Oooh. Is that from your little peggy friend? Hee hee, I think it is. Lucky filly, now you've got two mares to choose from."

"But I don't want her! She rejected me in front of everypony! So not only was I even more of an emotional wreck, they kept laughing at me for even trying for weeks!"

"Yet..."

Midnight closed her eyes and shook her head in attempted denial. It didn't work, sadly. "Yet she just won't leave my head. But whom I really want is somepony vastly different from her. At least I think so."

"Good pick, by the way."

"How does everypony around me always know everything?" Midnight cried out.

"Vinyl told me, silly. She can get quite talkative when we're not busy with each other's lips," Octavia confessed, giggling slightly.

"Any advice?"

"Stick around, give both of them a chance. You'll figure out who it is you desire eventually. Winter Wrap Up is in about two weeks, there's a little something that evening that should make it the perfect opportunity to get whomever you chose. Or... you know, there's always polyamory."

Midnight groaned in annoyance. This wasn't helpful advice at all. She wanted one filly and exactly one, but the other kept messing with her head while she was thinking about one. Just rejecting any emotions and dying as an old virgin sounded more and more preferrable.

Dictionary mode engaged. Poly-am-ory. The state or practice of having more than one open romantic relationship at a time. Just how could you forget that?

"I don't think that's something for me. I mean, well, maybe lil' Sparkle would want to study it, but I don't think Shimmer... I wouldn't want more than one of them anyway! Which leaves me with the question of whom..."

Octavia let out a small sound of surprise, "I'd have expected to have to explain it to you. Yay for education!" After a quick hoofbump, Octavia's face fell back into a serious expression. "As I said, you'd best stop worrying and just listen to what your heart says."

My heart has a name and nothing to say.

"Okay, given that I wanted to go on the date Shimmer is obviously going to take me out to... what? How do I tell her? Do I show my superiority or express forgiveness?"

Octavia was having more and more fun with the situation, which was a fact that highly displeased Midnight. "You've never done anything like this, have you?"

"She made sure I didn't. That dumb little... with a coat so soft..." Realising how clichè her shifting emotions were, Midnight just stopped talking in order to prevent further damage.

"Three days rule, my dear. If you approach her before that, you look like you're completely obsessed with her. Give her time to think about you and realise her affection. Then you strike."

"Really? That's stupid."

"But it's the rule. Maybe your other sweetheart has a book on dating in her library. I'd sure love to see her reaction to you coming to get it."

"Ugh, great."

Behold, the Multiverse. Endless planes of existence.

Midnight's current location was somewhat peculiar. After a few paces around her, reality faded to black. If she stared into it, she could see shadows within the darkness, but they were gone as soon as she turned her eyes.

"And, let me guess, I can traverse them because they're all linked through the Magic Flow. What a lame plot device," Midnight said. There was nopony else anywhere to hear her, so she didn't have to bother keeping her voice down.

Ah, sadly, no. Technically, nopony can explain why they should even exist. The borders of reality prevent anything from shifting through them. However...

Noon manifested next to Midnight, expanding the radius in which she could see the bland ground by a little. Resisting the urge to just outright snap her neck proved to be quite challenging to Midnight.

"We cannot experience reality if we do not know what it is not. In our dreams, we may overcome any obstacle, solve any challenge."

"To find nothing but empty illusions."

Noon turned her head away and wandered towards the darkness, "Sometimes, it is better to fool yourself with what you want to be instead of suffering through what is, if reality would be too hard to bear."

"No. There is no situation where it is better to retreat into one's imagination instead of facing and solving the problems that arise."

At the border of their reality, Noon turned her head back to look at her vessel. "Maybe. But the real world is too terrible to endure permanently, which is why we retreat and collect happiness from our minds from time to time. See the world in a grain of sand, little one."

She tossed a tiny piece of rock - or a grain of sand, whatever is preferred - over to Midnight, who caught it in her magic. Inspecting it, she saw not the expected smooth, beige surface, but clouds, blue oceans, and landmasses stretching further than anypony on the surface could see.

The room changed. Darkness fled to allow an observation room to take shape, but no ordinary one. There was no need for a telescope as the planets and stars just soared around over their heads. Midnight was floating in empty space.

"Hold infinity in the palm of your hoof. Know that all of this is within you, as you are within it. There are so many planes, and in one of those, you're Batmare! Let's visit that one."

The universe around them sped past as Midnight and her clone headed to a very specific star. After a few seconds of travelling with ten times light speed, not caring for physical boundaries, they arrived at a parallel Equestria.

"Here we are. Have fun," Noon said before bucking Midnight down towards the planet with her hindhooves.

For ages, she fell. Air friction burned up her hair before burning out her eyes and boiling her blood. However, whenever she thought herself to be done, Midnight just had to blink and find herself fully restored. Light as a feather, she landed on the surface.

Technically, you're still yourself here because you travelled to this plane. Also, you'd wipe out the entire cosmos by encountering Batmare Midnight. So I took the liberty of fusing her into us. Now, you're an orphan due to an evil spellcaster summoning down a meteor onto your house when you were a filly. Left with nothing but your friends, an old butler and a fortune exceeding that of Princess Celestia herself, you swore to get your revenge through heavy awesome.

Boring. When do I get to buck ponies in the face?

Soon. First, we gotta go to your secret hideout below the family manor in Canterlot. What a handy thing that you can get us there.

Whose idea was it to build that below the ruins, the most obvious place possible?

Yours. But focus, please. I believe that this is Ponyville, thus the castle should be this way.

That's not anywhere near a safe distance to teleport, even for me.

Who cares, you're awesome! The Bat never dies. Come on, it'll be fun!

Hesitantly, Midnight prepared a fitting spell, finding herself at a very well known junction in the road at Canterlot seconds later. Her parallel self had to have spent years perfecting her magic ability.

Another difference was that, instead of a small house housing two ponies, she stood in front of a broken down manor. In the middle of the ruins, a signboard was put up, flashing 'Top secret Batmare hideout not here'.

I'm pretty confident in myself, yes?

Also called hubris.

And where exactly do I get down here?

Simple. You just press the button labelled 'Not top secret Batmare hideout elevator call button' on the closet over there.

After a long and, needless to say, incredibly epic, fight, Batmare had the evil Twi-Spark cornered. At last she could knock her unconscious, give her to the police so that she may be imprisoned only to break out again hours later, and call it a day.

Yet, there was something off.

"Ah, sheesh, I can't do this. Why should I want to beat you up?"

"Huh? But... you have to! It's in the rules, you gotta do it because I'm evil! I have a PhD in evilness. I can't win, silly!"

"You may not be real, but where I come from, we're friends and... you're a good pony... and I love you."

Sparkle tried to object, but gave up resistance as soon as Midnight pressed their muzzles together.

Creating such fantasies instead of working to live them out in real life was wrong, but Midnight didn't care. Those few minutes of making out with an image of her crush were the best she had ever had, giving her a purpose to live and reminding her of what she needed.

Taaackyyy!

Shut up, Midnight thought before going back to the pony lying on the ground below her.

Chapter 39

You are tired. Give in to your needs. Yes... forever sleep.

"I... yes. No! Oh, I'm so sorry..." Midnight withdrew her head, but didn't step off the mare below her.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm sorry, but this illusion has to end. If the real you is in there somewhere - and I hope it isn't, considering what we've done - forgive me for what I'm about to do. The world of dreams can supply us with neverending happiness, but that is all but an empty charade, in the end."

Out of the void of her imagination, Midnight produced a traditional kris. She could literally hear Twi-Spark's heart beat faster and stronger as her eyes followed the simple blade through every movement. She struggled to break free, but Midnight's grasp was inescapable.

Wanting to get everything done with as quickly as possible, yet unable to avert her gaze or even blink, Midnight sunk the knife home. Through the direct visual contact she'd created, she could watch the filly's heart rapidly pick up speed and power, staining both of their coats, before giving up.

With the image of her love splayed out below her with her eyes rolled up in her head, Midnight knew there was only one other thing to do.

The Bat never dies... they say.

Day one, hour one. Actually, day one, hour nine.

Hum.

Slowly, Midnight got out of her bed, her consciousness following a bit after once she was in the bathroom.

Playing with you is no fun.

Never said it would. What did you expect me to do? I can't lose myself in illusions while sleeping in on my job.

I'd have expected you to react worse to running late.

Silly me, I'll just have to work in later. Unpleasant, though I'd think it was worth it.

Midnight didn't feel like she'd need breakfast, so as soon as she fixed up her appearance using what little tools she had in her room, she'd be ready to go.

Surely. Do you think the collective subconscious exists? A hive mind to connect to during our sleep?

If it does... I hope Sparkle liked it!

I wonder who built the world. Was it really your dream... or were you connecting to hers?

Midnight passed, surprisingly, not Octavia, but Vinyl Scratch sitting in the kitchen and began her journey to the clinic.

Why should she form a dream where I carve out her heart?

Yes, why should she want to do that? Think about it, robot.

Her second day at work proved to be slightly more interesting than the first. Halfway through, the Nurse had sent her to collect herbs from 'a herbalist in the Everfree Forest', obviously uncaring about the assistance she would lose through that.

Depending on definition, it was either good or bad luck that made her run into Twilight Sparkle when almost out of Ponyville already. It might have been good luck that allowed her to be with her crush or bad luck that forced her to.

"Oh, so you gotta visit Zecora. What a coincidence, I'm headed that way too! We got a lot of catching up to do." Sparkle was so happily trotting besides her, if she pushed off a little harder, she'd be positively bouncing. Midnight wasn't sure she liked that. Ponies were never happy without a reason.

"... It's been one day."

"Yeah, but that's a lot of time for good friends. I mean, that's like, twenty-four hours, or thirty-three in this case, of absolutely not seeing each other and..."

This didn't sound like the unicorn she was in love with and more like a pink pony Midnight had already learned to dislike. She gave Twilight's horn a tentative poke with her left forehoof, disappointed to find it firmly embedded into her body.

"Hey, what are you doing? I mean, I kinda liked it, but..." Midnight lifted a very sceptical eyebrow. "What? Everypony's got their little sensitive spots."

"O-kay. So what's so special about this forest?" Midnight asked as they crossed the small bridge that marked the forest's entrance.

"It's one of the most magical places around Canterlot and they haven't told you anything about it?"

"Did they tell you?"

Sparkle allowed a corner of her perfectly angled mane to distract her before shaking it back into place. "No... but I left school a few years early. I almost wouldn't have graduated, remember? Glad I did after all."

What are you implying, Miss Sparkle? More importantly, why aren't you Mistress Sparkle yet? Oh Celestia, put the words I need in her mouth, please! Hm, would I become Mistress Midnight or Mistress Sparkle? Do I even HAVE a last name? I can't remember. Does she or is it a fancy double name?

"Same."

"You may not know, but the Everfree Forest is known for displaying great amounts of untamed magic, the sources of which..."

"I have an encyclopedia at home, you know. Just tell me what's odd with this bunch of trees."

Twilight looked like she would have loved to recite every single word written about the Everfree in 'Hitchhiker's Guide to Equestria' and would also have done so if Midnight hadn't interrupted her.

"Of course. You know how the weather is shaped by pegasi and all that?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, not here. This is one of the oddest places in all of Equestria. All the animals feed and the plants grow and the clouds grow... all by themselves!"

"And that's supposed to be scary in what way?" Midnight had honest difficulty understanding what the deal was with this place.

"I mean, they don't usually do that and... remember the blue flower I showed you earlier? That's from here. I'd love to see its effects on you one day, hehe."

It'd look something like this.

Midnight's mind was filled with a vision of her joyfully bouncing around Ponyville, showing off her unaltered looks and talking and dancing and laughing. She shuddered and discreetly broadened the pink in her mane in response.

"How about no?"

"Heh, afraid?" Twilight poked her in the side. She was such a tease and Midnight loved it.

"Fear? Like, the thing I haven't allowed in my mind for years?"

"Really? Well, I guess..." She began humming a sickeningly joyful tune. "Giggle at the ghostly..."

"That's what I'm supposed to do? Laugh in the face of the demons that haunt me every night? Shake off my maddening past with simple air exhaustion?"

"Still bothering you? Midnight, I feel like you honestly need to let that go. You're in Ponyville now, far from all of that, and you have me and everypony else. Nothing else matters, just enjoy your stay. I mean... do you really have nightmares daily?"

I'd love to have a certain mare for the night. Does that count as a nightmare?

"No... not daily, at least."

"Speaking of which, I had a weird dream last night. It was like... you know Batmare, right? Yeah, but I somehow was the villain and then... uhm... things got a little peculiar. Did you notice that dreams always end when you die?"

"No, because I never die despite the fact that I should, given how much blood I leak sometimes. One time, I think it was over only when I had literally drowned in it... how long exactly is the way?"

"We should arrive soon. Why, would you look at that, there it is. As if our conversation had been fashioned to be just long enough."

Midnight paused a moment to take in her surroundings. They had entered a small clearing, in which a small hut had been built. It had only a few rooms and big windows. All the way around, shamanistic masks and flasks were hung from the roof or put onto sticks.

Following Twilight announcing their presence through knocking, the house's owner showed her face through a crack in the door, then smiled and opened it wide, inviting them inside. Midnight was a bit surprised at the sight. Not that she was a racist, that wasn't right. But zebras were uncommon in Equestria, the pony population of which was kind of purist.

"Ah, greetings. My pleasure at your visit I cannot deride, so please feel free to come inside."

At least she isn't stupid like the ponyfolk

Midnight entered to find that one room took up most of the space within, filled with more masks, pots, and a big cauldron in the middle. Some unknown liquid was quietly bubbling within while a fire below provided far more heat than it seemed to absorb. Midnight decided it was best to avoid approaching it.

"Now, please tell me, what do you need that you seek me out while preferring to read?" the shaman asked Twilight. Jumping to conclusions was bad, but from what Midnight had seen, it was obvious to her what that zebra did with her life.

"Fluttershy would like to ask if you had any tricks on how to best grow the plants you supplied her with earlier."

"Ah, yes. If your library does not know, allow me to ask mine for knowledge..." she turned away, rummaging through some old scrolls.

"Hard to search when you've been away for college. Say, does she rhyme all the time?" Midnight whispered to Sparkle.

The zebra found what she was looking for and flipped back around, "Good, I must admit, the way of rhyming you have hit. And indeed, I rhyme night and day, it helps you think about what you will say. But what do I do, friend of hair blue, what name do they call you?"

"I'm Midnight... you?"

"My name is Zecora, I come from the foot of Mount Tombora."

"That's a long way to travel."

"Aye. I have lied, oh shame. But find another rhyme to this name."

"I know this problem. Midnight, I can't think of one with all of my might. But, uh..." Midnight had to admit that she had gotten a bit lost in the conversation.

"Speak your mind. Surely, you didn't come just for another friend to find."

"Yeah, I remember. Nurse Redheart sent me. She told me that you know what she needs. Which is good because I don't."

"Yes, the pouch I have yet prepared. By dark times it appears Ponyville has not been spared."

They kept talking for a few minutes until Sparkle began to initiate their leave. Midnight didn't mind staying longer than needed. After all, she was still getting paid for her time and nopony could prove she didn't spend it trying to find the way in the forest she had never seen before instead of chatting with the zebra.

The older one of the unicorns was already out through the door when Zecora approached Midnight one last time, speaking in an ominous whisper, "Your wishes I have seen, know that with another pony she has never been. But of your desire approve the spirits, they tell me you have their merits."

"Thanks, I guess?" Midnight said, unsure what else she should say. If Zecora was talking about spirits, then shouldn't she be able to detect them, too?

You're getting predictable. I'm already two steps ahead of you. Watch.

The Flow was different here. It could be due to her lack of immersion, but Midnight found it impossible to bend aside matter. Over Zecora's shoulder, she could see a whisp of energy with a clearly equine face smiling at her. Certainly, the Magic Flow could never be fully understood, changing completely before its researcher could even write down notes.

She thus put it off as another wonder of the world and began her trip back home, herbs strapped to her back. She hated it. She hated the fact that she had to spend another walk out of the Everfree Forest with somepony who just refused to sense her affectionate thoughts. Perhaps Shimmer was the right one after all.

Chapter 40

It appears that Pegasus Eye allows me to see pegasi. Hm. Who would've guessed that. Not that I'd need it to see her, of course. I wonder if she knows. Thanks, that's enou... did I just thank the single unliving thing that I want to see dead with every fiber of my being?

That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange aeons, even Death may die. Have you forgotten Canterlot?

I'm trying to, if only you'd let me, liar.

For as long as we live, so do I, for I am but an incarnation of what the epiphany that allowed us to see the real world did to our brain.

So you ARE the crater. I knew it.

That's just broken data, consuming everything in a vain attempt to regain structure itself. But why am I telling you that? Why are you telling yourself that?

The point is, shut off Pegasus Eye. I'm not sure why it's active in the first place.

Harbor thy gifts for them to flourish or else they'll shrink and die.

Midnight gave the glass of wine in her telekinetic grasp another swirl. She had decided to go out on that Tuesday night, lacking motivation to prepare anything for herself. It wasn't exactly the smartest way to spend her budget, but she didn't care. She wouldn't be needing it until the first paycheck to, for instance, take one of two non-Earth Pony out on a date, anyway.

In the cheap little restaurant she'd chosen, she had obviously had to run into Shimmer, who was sitting a few tables to the right of her. Midnight took another sip of her post-meal beverage. She wasn't terribly fond of wine, claiming that it was usually far too sour for her taste, but this brand was somewhat enjoyable, rich with spice and sweetness.

Also, she felt so classy ordering that particular drink that she had simply had to do it. Not that she really liked feeling classy and incorporating what she hated the most in ponykind, second to her inner demon.

Ah, medequestrian stuff. Where the wine is sweet and the stallions are strong... what am I thinking? I'm not that inebriated, I hope. Like, twelve percent by volume, multiplied by about point one that I've drunk so far, multiplied by point six to account for the hole, multiplied by my body weight... how heavy am I? I haven't measured in ages. Probably better that way. And... oh sheesh, I'm doing math again when I should be enjoying myself, aren't I.

If you're sober enough to calculate that X, you need to increase it.

As if I had the money or intention for that. Maybe I can leech some out of Shimmer. She surely would deserve it... ah, three days. How sad. For her.

It appeared that Shimmer just couldn't spot Midnight. Either that or she was very good at hiding it, which was more acting talent than she expected of ten Shimmers all ground up and fed to an average actor pony. She'd love to test her suspicion, though.

They say pegasus wings are the softest material known to ponies.

Ooh, can I test that? Surely she'd love me to snuggle into them. If she doesn't, well, I'll just chop them off. Choppy choppy!

You're really unforgiving with somepony you love.

Somepony I think I'm in love with. That's a difference.

Thought equals action, action equals crime. Imagine my point of view. For an imaginary being like me, the concept of a thing or action that is just imagined without being real is literally inconceivable, as is the concept of volume for a Flatlander. That is, if I didn't have your understanding to tap into. Care to let me get my own?

It's hard to pull a knife out of the back you've voluntarily turned to your nemesis.

Worth the try.

Midnight finished her drink in one swig after many tentative sips and prepared to take her leave, which, sadly, included paying for her consumed items. At least, she thought she'd have to.

"Oh no, ma'am. A certain pony that doesn't want her identity known insisted on paying for you," the server stallion said with a smile betraying his thoughts. Clearly, she was already in a relationship to him. She could hardly care less about either his misconception or what caused it.

How pointlessly romantic. Could it be that she knows about everything? Trying to score extra points?

You're just waiting for the three days to end anyway. But before judging, how about taking a closer look at the situation?

Looking back from the door, the Flow revealed not only one, but two pink spots to Midnight. She set off towards her home in order to avoid having to talk to either of them.

Hm. Now whodunit?

We must collect clues and investigate!

I'm not sure, but I think there are better actions in such a situation than to barge at the anonymous pony asking her why she paid for your foods. Where does she even get that kind of money? I mean, she's been at Canterlot for the last few months, in school, with me! And I hardly earn enough for anything already. That is, assuming Sparkle did it.

Ooh, don't you know your pick already?

If only I did! This is tearing me apart and I haven't even started trying to decide yet.

Don't worry, your special day is coming up soon. Just a few days, maybe even tomorrow.

What is the meaning of thy words? Explain theeself!

Look into your calendar.

Midnight came into her room with the intention to follow the request of her second fragment, who claimed to be the better part within the shell or something like that. When Noon went out of her zone of usefulness, Midnight had learned to just ignore her.

However, no matter how hard she looked, she couldn't spot a calendar along the walls. That could be attributed to the fact that Midnight simply did not own a regular calendar. Tired from her adventures of the day, Midnight decided to just go to sleep.

Sweet dreams, twilight princess. Know that I'm always watching over you.

That's what I'm concerned abou...

Midnight couldn't finish that thought, for right then, Noon demonstrated her power and caused her body functions to drop drastically, putting her into a peaceful state of sleep.

Guess what!

Things were more fun when you at least attempted to hide the fact that I'm dreaming. Hey, is this really my subconscious?

Midnight once more found herself in the usual darkness, consuming all that was further away than she could stretch out her hoof.

Our mind is nothing but an empty canvas until it is drawn on, which is the moment in which it takes on amazing shapes and colors. Of course, you could say the same about the world itself.

We are connected, not in the trivial ways that austrologists promise, but in the deepest ways.

Say genes. From a lump of molecules, a lump of lumps of moleculs emerges. You can't explain that.

Well, actually...

That's not the point right now. Which is, your subconscious is bored because you don't play with it.

Meh, as if I cared.

As she could create anything she wanted, Midnight siphoned some of the black out of the mass and reformed it to the statue of a unicorn. She closed her eyes and gave Twilight Sparkle a long kiss on her cold, unloving cheek. With some imagination, she could even feel some of the heat there should be.

Is this what you really want? Is it worth giving up... this?

When Midnight withdrew her head, she noticed the statue had actually changed to resemble a certain pegasus using an agonizingly good puppy look. While she was busy nervously trotting back and forth in annoyance at being tricked again, the object shifted back and forth between its two appearances.

Well, time's up, giovanotta. Now guess what. It's Daylight saving time!

Not again. Have I not proven that I have ascended past such nonsense?

We'll see about that. You know, there's some pretty big locks lying around here. Just what were those used for, I wonder... well, I know something to do with them. Is... this... reality?

I... gnaaah!

The pain in Midnight's head was excruciating as dozens of memories were blurred out of existence. Truly erasing them was impossible, she knew that, but in her current position, even forced repression could be bad enough.

By the time it ebbed away, Midnight's consciousness had already taken such a heavy hit that she was feeling dizzy and about to pass out in her own dream. She couldn't notice her body and reality around her shaping itself to the desired form.

There she is. No cheating. Have fun!

Midnight didn't know the source of this voice, but she knew already that she hated it. Something speaking so dismissively about her mother's soon-to-be corpse couldn't be nice. Also, it somehow talked inside her head, where nothing but her own cheerful thoughts were allowed to be.

It all depended on her. Nopony else was anywhere in shouting distance, except for that mysterious pegasus that had flown off of the unicorn as soon as she had seen Midnight sprinting towards her with tears soaking her face already.

She could do this. She had practiced it. She had just never taken a stress test like this one.

"Midnight? Oh, dear, please run along, I don't want you to see this," Daylight said, the lacking force in her voice indicating her heavy blood loss.

She talked. That was new. Usually, Daylight never talked.

Trying to cheat already. Filly, no. I won't let that happen.

Midnight's attempt at breaking the illusion at the logic flaw was suppressed as quickly as it had begun and she fell back into character.

"W- what are you talking about? Mother, I can do this. You'll be alright, just... hang on in there. Please hang on..." Midnight whispered as she clumsily fetched materials, trying to do her best.

"Midnight... forgive me..."

Oooh! I'm about to enter stage. Does my costume fit? What about my makeup?

"What the hay are you talking about? Just go away!" Midnight wailed between two bursts of tears.

You know, sometimes you succeed, sometimes you don't. Actually, you always lose, useless bag of meat. Sometimes you follow her, sometimes you continue your miserable life.

"Leave me! Can't you see I have own problems?"

Not unti... what?

Midnight paused, listening.

"Open your eyes..."

Midnight found herself in her regular room in the small village of Ponyville, curled into a ball. That was nothing too far out of the ordinary. However, who was standing over her was quite special.

Sparkle... what the hay is she doing here?

You really need help putting THAT together?

"Wear no disguise for me... come into the open, please."

What's she talking about? I'm right here!

"When it's cold outside, am I here in vain? Hold on in there, Night, there will be no shame."

Robot unicorn gets a present.

"Always I want to be with you and make believe with you and live in harmony harmony oh love... wake up."

Why should I... I'm already awake, can't she see that? Why would...

Midnight's eyes were opened, though only figuratively. She wasn't looking at the pony in front of her directly, it was Pegasus Eye that allowed her to see through her eyelids.

With the revelation of true sight, she discovered that her location wasn't her own room at all, but rather her workplace. She could feel the tubes supplying her with air. But something was wrong.

It didn't take long for her vital signs monitor to begin approaching a flatline while all Twilight could do was weep over her, awake to feel her own death, but unable to prevent it.

Midnight awoke drenched in sweat. Everything was as it should be, at last. Except for one thing. It took her only seconds to find her own diagnosis, and she didn't like it.

Oh no... not now...

Chapter 41

Ngh, so heated.

Maybe it'd be better if you weren't rubbing up against yourself like that.

Good point. Just how did that even happen?

As if we had any idea.

Midnight untangled herself and dropped to the ground. This day was not starting well and it could only get worse. She went downstairs and began with a cold shower to get to her senses, ignoring those sitting in the kitchen with puzzled looks at her appearance.

That's a lot better. Okay, I can do this. Just get through the day somehow. Everything'll be fine.

Behold my limitless power!

So the pipsqueak gets free reign while my mind is on a far lower purpose. Great.

Midnight was tempted to search the bathroom cabinet for fitting medication for the task as she was fighting the urge to just throw up into the sink as a reaction to her situation. Two performers in the house, surely there had to be something.

Nothing. Nothing at all. Kind of expectable, considering there were two of them. She didn't need it, anyway. Utilizing her mind discipline, Midnight was sure to pass the day unharmed. Not that she could possibly get herself into any harm. She wasn't at Canterlot anymore, after all.

She sighed and went to add a third pony to the breakfast table.

With all but one of her personal needs tended to, the last one being properly repressed, Midnight stepped out into the fresh morning air. With the day looking like it did, she wondered why things had turned out like that for her.

Cold.

Two hundred and fifty Kelvin, to be exact.

How the hay do I know that?

There's a thermometer in the edge of our vision. Now get going already.

Reluctantly, Midnight set off from the doorstep of her house for another day at work, as much as she'd love to skip it.

What a wonder of nature, isn't it?

I swear I'll run into three ponies at the very least on my way there with my head in a cloud like that.

Easier done than thought, Midnight collided with somepony else literally two seconds later, slowing her speed down from a trot to something that could be more accurately described as her face having a date with the ground.

"Why hello there. What brings you out on a fine day like this one?"

Of course her tripping stone had to have been that one pony out of all in Ponyville.

"Maybe trying to go to work, darling?"

Darling? That's it, I just want to go home and sleep it all off. She... doesn't seem to care. Well, whatever.

"Oh yeah. Just how do we keep bumping into each other?"

Midnight noticed that lying on the ground was at least supposed to be uncomfortable and picked herself up.

"Given the circumstances, could you blame me? I guess it'll get better once the heat picks up."

"Or you could use a fleshlight spell like me. That really helps."

Midnight sputtered at her friend's confession, but quickly caught herself, assuming the best from the best of friends. "That's spelled with a, in the sense of light, yes?"

"Of course! What else?"

Wow. Has this filly ever seen the world at all?

"Nothing really. Well, there's one problem with it. Take a look at that," Midnight said, bringing her flank into good view.

"Pretty!" Sparkle exclaimed with a smile far too adorable for her own good.

She just called... nevermind, she's just teasing. She never stops doing that. I hope she can't...

Midnight's thoughts trailed off as her tail swished nervously, making sure to rest in the lowest position possible. "Um, the point is, there's nothing about light on it. So how am I supposed to conjure a flashlight to help me pierce this fog?"

Out of the white sky, an Earth Pony mare dropped, landing on Midnight's head with the weight of a feather. "Oh hey! Just checking, you two have been talking about the weather the entire time, yes?"

"Uh, yes?" Midnight had been told to not even try and apply logic to Pinkie Pie, but that was plain irrational.

"Good. Gotta keep Ponyville safe for the foals, y'know!" she said before bouncing up and out of sight again.

Yeah, we have been... great. The weather. Cliché bad conversation topic number one. Hey, she started it!

"Hey, mind if we get going? We can keep talking, but I don't want to be late."

"No, of course not. You kept track of your direction, right? You can't see farther than ten paces... else, do you know Cardinal Guidance?"

"Somepony who has a whole series of books about her, who looks just like a recolor of one of your friends and who goes around giving ponies directions?"

"No, silly. A handy little spell that lets you quickly find North... oh yeah. You don't, of course."

Midnight began walking off, not out of rudeness, but simply to arrive at the clinic in time. Twilight soon rushed back to her side.

"Hey, I think that's where I come from..." Sparkle stated with a seemingly sad expression.

"Uh, yeah? I guess that's also part of the reason why we always meet so much, your house is directly on my way."

"I mean, I don't mind making a small detour to chat... with you."

Why why why, oh sweet mother of Celestia's left eyebrow, why does she have to be so cute? She's older than me, I'm the cute one for her! But... her face, her little smile, the way she swings her... tail.

"Stop it!"

That was bad. Midnight hadn't meant to cry that out loud as she had. Fortunately, if there were any ponies around them, they were swallowed by the endless mist, saving Midnight from their unforgiving eyes.

Twilight froze mid-step, "Huh? What's the matter?"

"There, uh, look, there's a hazardous... thing on the ground."

Midnight had to act fast. In the time between her friend looking away from her face and thus her horn and her seeing a harmless rock, she had to successfully create an illusion that changed it to something dangerous.

She couldn't explain it herself, but somehow, she pulled it off.

"Oh, wow. Thanks for the warning. I mean, not that there'd have been any serious problems with you on stage, right?" Twilight had moved out of the way and was now right next to Midnight, poking at her side.

"What do you mean? Uh, I mean... yeah, you know. I could probably have fixed that with my special talent."

"How?"

With a single word, Twilight awakened within Midnight the urge to speak a thousand times the more than a whole army could get out of her.

"Well, you know how every unicorn just knows a certain spell or arrangement of spells to help them with their cutie mark which they can cast without training or high effort?"

"That's about every spell in existence for me, 'cause I'm Magic, fiddly-foal."

Did she just call me a lesbian? Moreso, does this count as an advance?

Does it have to? The two of you are alone and she looks receptive. Might be your state twisting her head if she's one of our kind. Make a move!

"At least I'm modest because I'm so perfect."

"Yeah, sure you are."

"Um, back to what I was saying. I've gained a simple single-user teleportation spell I can cast in less than a second... if only I would've had that a few minutes before earning my mark... and some assorted stuff for the medical part. There's one special one I haven't seen anypony else use."

"Well, hopefully not."

"You know, I have within me the power to heal smaller wounds. No need to wait for it to heal, I can just fix it up."

"Like what?"

"Like so," Midnight said, conjuring a small orb of energy as she was walking. It wasn't too big, she had to save her power for later.

"Oooh, shiny light! I don't think even I know that one." Sparkle seemed genuinely amazed by the ethereal ball hopping up and down in front of her face. She could be so foalish at times that Midnight considered claiming an honorable two years of age to make her the older one.

"Yeah. Using this little friend, I can move dirt out of a wound, disinfect it, and also directly heal it if they can stand it."

"What do you mean, if they can stand it?" Twilight asked as they passed the shade of what looked like a giant tree. As it appeared, they were still on course, but time seemed to stretch out indefinitely while she was with Filly.

"Well, because the Flow neither gives nor takes, but only exchanges, repairing their physical body requires essence, y'know, like blood, but with their soul. That usually doesn't matter, but it prevents me from mending too complex injuries with it. Although I guess I might be able to substitute with my own if necessary..."

"But you won't do that..."

Was Twilight really acting concerned for Midnight?

"No, of course not. Magic Inertia would probably end up killing me. Not that anypony would care about me, anyway. Wouldn't you risk your own survival for somepony more important than you?"

"I'd do it for you..."

Woah. Did she really just say that? Is... this... reality?

Midnight realised how much the world around her looked like her unformed subconscious, only in white. She wished she was there, but then again, this was the moment she had been secretly hoping for for months.

I swear, I've got nothing to do with it... this time. Now is the time! Let me put the necessary words into our mouth.

Her rational mind inquired her to collect further clues about the situation. Noon commanded her to follow her heart's advice, which happened to match up with her demon's. Her flank demanded of her to just toss Sparkle to the ground.

"You know, Sparkle, I kinda like you..."

In that moment of space and time, around the world, many creatures the likes of which Equestria had never seen gasped and prepared to write comments expressing their joy at Midnight's actions and complaining about something called a 'cliffhanger'. Midnight had no idea why she knew that, she didn't even know what such a 'cliffhanger' was supposed to be.

Chapter 42

There. I've nudged things a little. Why are you so resistant to do what you want to happen?

No no no, now everything's ruined... I'm not even sure I want her, not to mention she's never shown interest!

You're just making things up. Everything's going just fine. Watch.

There wasn't much for Midnight to watch, though. The only thing she could see in the fog was Sparkle, staring back at her. Then, she ended the silence Midnight couldn't muster the words to interrupt with a hearty laugh.

"Oh, love you too, Midnight."

Midnight's heart jumped out of her chest, travelled to Trottingham, and sent her back a card.

"Really?"

"Of course! I love all of my friends, and you're certainly one of them."

A card that described exactly how many parts it had been shattered into. If Midnight had just a bit less mind discipline, she'd be in tears at this grave misunderstanding.

She's got ten dictionaries in her library and still doesn't know what words mean.

Oh so sad. Good thing we've arrived at our destination

How am I supposed to know that?

I hear an ancient voice, whispering from the void. And it chills my lightless heart.

Indeed, the house they'd been walking towards for what felt like an eternity appeared on the artificially shortened horizon.

"Eeh, heh, good to know. Well, it's been fun, but here we are. See you later!" she said before galloping off, leaving a confused unicorn behind, but Sparkle vanished out of her mind as soon as the fog claimed her when Midnight passed through the doors.

Listen. I know what she said, but this is nothing but a misunderstanding! She didn't get what we were saying, no need to jump to conclusions. No! I, the embodiment of our self-preservation, won't allow you such thoughts. Even if she did just reject you, there's still Shimmer. We must not leave this world prematurely.

But I want her and only her and I want her right now!

Midnight made her way through the room to the office, taking care to avoid showing anything out of the ordinary to patients who weren't asleep or unconscious. She burst through the door, slamming it shut behind her, and slid down to the floor along the wall without caring whether or not Nurse Redheart was inside, giving up the attempt to conceal her emotions.

"Why, that's certainly one way to say hello."

Midnight paid the white mare no attention, but instead pulled her legs closer to her body, curling herself up into a ball.

"Somepony stole a very precious thing from you, didn't they?" Midnight could hear her hoofsteps coming over to her location.

"Go away. You have no idea."

"It was your heart."

"... yes. How do you know that?" Midnight opened up mentally, but didn't change her position, keeping her eyes clenched shut while liquid kept coming from them.

"There's only one way to make a filly cry like that. Forgive me for judging you too quickly, but I've seen enough of you to know that that applies especially to you. Which stallion did it?"

At last, Midnight managed to control herself, fading her uncontrolled sobs into silence, which she didn't break until the Nurse continued.

"I see. Well, seeing as you're a unicorn, I guess offspring won't... uhm, sorry. Do you want to talk about that special mare?"

"No. Just let me work my eight hours and I'm off again," Midnight said, picking herself up off the ground and rubbing her eyes.

"I've been born far longer back than I'd like, you know. I've dealt with plenty of ponies lacking their will to live and heartsickness is reason number one. Just remember, I'm always there for everypony needing my help. And, think it through. You're not currently in your right mind," Nurse Redheart said while pulling out Midnight's uniform.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I can smell it. Come on, I know just the thing to cheer you up."

She led Midnight to the main chamber, quietly opening up a room which the unicorn had not yet seen. In it was a young filly lying in a bed, oblivious to the mares' presence.

"This is Ruby Pinch. Unfortunate little filly's got herself the Pony Pox, which..."

"Take a rumpload of time to cure on foals and might kill her, I know. Talk about resilient infection," Midnight finished the nurse's sentence.

"My guess is that she'll be with us for about another month. Before being back to full health, of course. So why don't we try and brighten up her stay?"

"Really? Foalsitting?" Midnight asked as her boss just stood there with a smile. "In case you don't know, I hate this world. I have already attempted suicide once and that stupid filly makes me consider a second time. But especially, I hate foals. They're expensive, annoying, loud, dumb, and you can't even blame them for it. Were I to get raped and impregnated, which is the only way I'd ever let anypony near me like that, I'd rather carve out my own womb using a rusted knife than bear the foal."

"We also serve abortions!"

Midnight allowed her head to drop in disapproval, "Was that really necessary?"

"But of course. She's a lively filly, just give her a try."

"Fine, given you pay my salary. But what am I supposed to do?"

"That's the spirit! You'll figure it out. There's some fitting books in her room and she knows what's possible in here. Just give her your best and... don't talk about her mother." Nurse Redheart said, radiating excess happiness that made Midnight feel sick from the inside. She then patted her on the back and left to handle other affairs.

Off the top of her head, Midnight could name a hundred things she'd rather do in that moment, Sparkle included, even though she had just broken her heart. On the other hoof, keeping up the unicorn filly's illusion of a world where hope was still justified was probably the most productive action for her to take.

"Hey kid. How are you doing?"

Ruby Pinch looked up from doing something Midnight didn't even care about in her bed and spotted her, responding with a voice that could be described as angelic and heartwarming if Midnight wasn't busy plotting satanistic schemes including many deaths, but mostly her own, "Oh, uh, hello, I haven't seen you before. Are you new here?"

"Fifth day in Ponyville overall. I guess I should introduce myself. I'm Midnight and I've come to help Nurse Redheart here in this clinic."

"You're horny!" Ruby piped out unexpectedly.

It appears that I am emitting stronger pheromones than I expected. I knew I should've stayed at home. Wait, what? That filly can't even know the facts of life yet, how is she supposed to... hum.

"Excuse me?"

"You're horny, like me!" she repeated, unaware of what she was saying. Fortunately, Midnight caught what she was trying to express.

"I guess I am, yes. But please, call say 'unicorn'."

"Does that mean you're from Canterlot? I've heard there are many urnicons there. Ooh, can you do magic?"

Questions about the filly's age arose in Midnight's mind as she kept the conversation going at the best of her ability, "Yeah, born and raised in Canterlot, left it recently. So I assume you've never seen it. Nearly everypony going around there has a horn. It's a nice city. The Princesses also live there. You know who those are, yes?"

The way Ruby Pinch nodded her little head was just adorable. Unfortunately, the moody Midnight didn't feel like she had time for such diversions. "Uh huh. There's Cell... Celessia for raising the Sun and Luna for the Moon."

Midnight suddenly realised she knew very little about how to treat foals. She had avoided contact with them as best as she could and there was a certain reason preventing her from thinking back of what she had liked in her own foalhood. "So, mh, what do you wanna do? Read a book or..."

Her attempts at drawing the filly into an activity where she could ignore the fact that she was even there were futile, Midnight noticed. She couldn't be certain her suggestions had even reached her little patient's mind. That was quite understandable, though. There was a new pony in her life and of course Ruby wanted to know everything she could ask about her.

Consequently, her swell of questions was neverending, "Do you have a cutie mark? How does it look? Can I see? Ooh, what does it mean?"

"Whoa there, take it slow, cutie. You see, there's two pills, those stand for helping ponies, and somewhere, there's also something representing teleportation."

"Mhm," Ruby acted knowingly, but Midnight could see it on her face that she had no idea what she had just heard.

"Going from one place to another through magic. Like this, watch!" Midnight prepared her special spell, her intended destination being the other side of the bed. However, when she opened her eyes after blinking, she found herself out of the room entirely, a mishap caused by lack of practice. She couldn't remember a single time within the last three months where she had used that specific spell, so it had obviously had to misfire. She had used magic of the kind at her exams, but her very own method had been banned there.

With a grin trying to hide her embarassment, she went back in. She, apparently, hadn't missed her effect on the small one, though.

"Wee! First you were here and then suddenly you were gone. Do it again!"

For the sake of amusing her, Midnight readied her magic and jumped back and forth across the room, eliciting more and more intense giggles from the filly. She slowly came to a halt and went back to the side of the bed.

"That's about it. When they get their cutie mark, every unicorn learns a spell that's just for them that nopony else can do. That's mine. I named it 'Blink'. Because, you know, all it takes is a blink..." Midnight cast it one last time, switching sides yet again with the wink of an eye. "and I'm gone!"

"I think miss Sparkle can copy your spell."

"Yes, I bet she could," Midnight hissed with frustration running so deep it went unnoticed by the filly, who didn't let anything bring her mood down.

"I wanna be able to do magic like you."

"One day, you will, I promise. And that day, you'll also get your cutie mark and get a signature spell. Like Blink, but your very own."

"How did you get yours?" Ruby Pinch asked with genuine interest written on her face.

Of course she had to ask. What now? Make up a story or deter the conversation away from it?

As uncreative as we are? Pull the standard distraction every parent uses ten times a day. And think faster.

"Hello?" Ruby asked, assuring that Midnight's attention was still with her. "You're a funny one, Midnite."

"Uh, that's no story for now. I'll tell you later. For now, let's do something else."

Her excuse was cheaper than dirt in a village built of dirt in a valley where three subsequent landslides had buried said village under a few dozen meters of dirt, but her little patient swallowed it without asking.

"Okay. Hey, how about you read me a story?"

Whatever Midnight was feeling on the inside, she didn't allow any of it to show, for the better of everypony in Ponyville. Getting hit by a nuclear rainboom tended to be unhealthy for a pony's coat.

"Sure, why not. Do you have any suggestions?"

Ruby Pinch nodded and pointed towards a small book on a table a bit off that looked like it had been read one too many times. There was no major damage inflicted to it, but the edges were already frayed out. It looked like a foals' book, though it was rather lengthy in being that.

"I bet you can get it over by yourself," Midnight whispered ominously.

The filly gladly accepted the challenge. However, no matter how hard she concentrated on funneling what magic she could yet control through her horn, she didn't produce much more than a few sparks. Midnight had planned for that to happen and thus helped Ruby out using her own magic when she wasn't looking. The book felt a bit lighter than she would have expected, though.

"Yay, you did it!"

Only now that it was already brought over and about to be read Midnight could see the book's title.

"Oh, would you look at that, my mother used to read that to me. You can't believe how fast time passes. You can read, I assume?"

"Of course I can! I'm a big filly, I'm already going to school and learning to read and write and math better. At least I used to before I got sick."

"Do you miss your friends?"

"Mhm, but it's not that bad. They come often and visit and bring me my homework. I guess there's no escaping school after all." It was only at a beginner's level, far from the high-class cynicism Midnight did, but Ruby had everything she needed for doing some good sarcasm later in her life, which lured a soft chuckle out of Midnight.

"Alright. Let's not waste time and jump right in so you can show me your reading skills!"

"And that's the tale of the pegasus who always flew away. Did we learn anything from it?" Midnight concluded their reading session, closing up the book and laying it down on the tail end Ruby's bed.

She didn't have to think much about the answer as Midnight's question had been more of a rhetorical one, anyway. Thus, she joyfully provided as soon as the question was asked, "That it's okay to have your fears, but sometimes, you gotta stand up and face them."

Midnight wanted to roll her eyes, she wanted to formulate a sarcastic answer, but she didn't. It was just a foal, it couldn't be blamed. So instead, she just remained silent, though giving an approving nod.

"Mid-nite? Are you scared?" Ruby appeared to have real concerns for Midnight.

"Hm? What should I be afraid of?"

"Me, for example."

"Why should I be?"

"I've heard them talk. Nurse Redheart is telling ponies not to get too close to me. They say I carry death."

She must be gifted by the Flow with enhanced perception. The Nurse would never say something like that anywhere near a normal patient's earshot.

"Ah, that's a bunch of nonsense. You're gonna be just fine."

"But what if I infect you? I don't want to get you sick."

Midnight put a gentle hoof on the filly's chest. "Oh, so that's what it's about. Well, fortunately for you, I, with my special talent being medical care, am born with a magically enhanced immune system, granting me high resistance against most diseases."

If Ruby hadn't understood when Midnight had talked about teleportation, she had absolutely no idea what she meant now.

"In other words, I don't get sick easily."

"Oh. Well, it's been fun, I hope we can do this again soon."

"What do you mean? We're still in the middle of..." Midnight couldn't finish her sentence, as Ruby Pinch fell asleep that very second. In her state, she'd be exceptionally weak, allowing for easy loss of consciousness, but such control was a tiny bit impressive. Midnight shrugged and went back to the hub room, where Nurse Redheart was awaiting her with a mischievous grin.

"Oh, you shut up. I'm still mad," Midnight growled, though she couldn't keep a serious expression up for long. "But I gotta admit, that filly's got it in her."

The day hadn't turned out to be quite as terrible as she'd expected, but Midnight was still glad she could go home and finish everything. As she stepped out of the clinic, she noticed to her displeasure that the fog was still lingering around, heavily limiting sight range. She couldn't explain why she had expected otherwise since pegasi were getting paid to ensure it did.

You have true vision, now see!

Of course, Pegasus Eye would allow her to see through the fog. Every landmark was brought back into sight and she could easily spot two ponies within, one she didn't care about idly walking around and the other a pegasus struggling to fly through the moisture. That flying pony had a suspiciously pink teint within the Flow, though. If she took the right route, Midnight could probably avoid her altogether and just go home.

Why exactly didn't I try that before running into that beloved doggy mare?

Go home and take care of yourself. Everything will be brighter tomorrow. It's been a long day already, and it's barely evening.

Spending the evening had turned out rather easy. Before she even noticed it, bedtime had come for Midnight, so she obliged. However, one thing was left to do. From within her bed, she levitated out a seemingly blank book. However, after tapping it with her horn and whispering, "I solemnly swear to be up to something good," it revealed its content and even the cover image, a closeup of a grey tie's knot, redrew itself.

"Mischief managed," Midnight whispered, wiping the content from the book again. Nopony could possibly have...

The window.

Midnight spun around in her bed, just so catching the face of a certain white pegasus, which had a rather satisfied look on it. She was far too worn out to even worry about it, though, and thus quickly drifted off to sleep, perhaps a bit more blissful than she would have been without looking.

Chapter 43

After a set of rather invigorating dreams, Midnight was woken up not by the light of day slowly advancing on her to rob her of her bliss, nor by her alarm clock taking the direct approach and just launching a full on attack. Instead, it was a gentle, rhythmic tapping that brought her back to the physical world. She kept her eyes closed and tried to block it out, but it grew louder and faster by the minute.

Eventually, she gave up the fight and rolled out of her bed with an unusual lack of grace. Groaning, she tried to pick herself up, but quickly decided that gravity was an undefeatable foe and that dragging herself along the floor would be the preferred method of movement. She levitated the brush from her nightstand and scooted over to the mirror, taking in the full aroma of dust and hairs in the process. Surprisingly enough, it was big enough to allow her to view herself even while lying on the carpet, which turned out to be far more comfortable than expected.

Trying to bend it into any kind of shape turned out to be quite a challenge given the pure length of Midnight's mane. She couldn't explain just why it was that long. After all, she had approved of it reaching down to her shoulders not too long ago. Then again, that had been back at Canterlot, more than three months earlier, and it had grown in the meantime as should have been expected. She made a plan to visit a barber when she had time the next day.

Without a conscious energy feed to sustain it, her illusion spell was continously losing power, reducing the pink to a quarter of the total width. Midnight tapped into some of her magic to make sure it stayed like that for the foreseeable future.

She felt another need arise within her, which, unfortunately, meant taking the stairs down, which, in turn, meant having to stand up.

A few minutes later, Midnight moved one room back from the door, having reached enough consciousness to be described borderline sentient. She was pleased to find that Octavia had taken on her duty of making breakfast. Shortly after however, her pleasure was dampened when she looked out the window and discovered the source of the noise that had not lost intensity since she had come down.

"Bah," she exclaimed. "Who allows such weather?"

"Perhaps the pegasi at the weather staff do."

"Yeah, but that is just seriously unswag," Midnight complained as she sat down at the table.

"Un... swag?"

"Canterlot slang, Tavy," Vinyl Scratch explained as she came into the room. Walking towards a free chair, she gave Octavia's neck a sneaky peck of her lips while passing by, which earned her a displeased look from the earth pony.

"There are minors present," she hissed.

Midnight theatrically looked around with a hoof above her eyes to block out the sun that wasn't visible anyway. "Who exactly could she mean, Scratchy?"

"Hey. That's my nickname for her. On a related note, you are now a minor until she stops being so darn romantic. I had no idea ponies in Canterlot were so vulgar."

"Well, if they really were, then I wouldn't be here. Just snobs trying to act all high class without ever getting their hooves dirty," Midnight clarified with a spoonful of cereal floating in front of her.

"Speaking of dirty hooves, I sincerely hope that this rainfall will be cleared up before I have to head out. Gray fur is a pain to clean."

"I'm the white one here. With that attitude, I think you really belong into Canterlot. But don't worry, if you get your hoofsies dirty, we'll just run you through the washing machine once and get you all shiny again. Same goes for you, M'ight. Although we'd probably have to wash you separately. Magenta leaves terrible stains," Vinyl said grinning widely.

Midnight inspected her right front hoof while chewing. After swallowing, she replied, "I can just Blink right to the clinic, I suppose. I always thought it to be more of a pure purple if not even violet. Complements my hair nicely, I think. Even though the mix makes me stand out like a bacon in the crowd."

"I think you mean..."

"Because hay bacon is delicious. Any more questions?"

Vinyl Scratch lifted a hoof with all due seriousness. "Where can I get one of you for personal use?"

What a mess. Yay for space-time breaking!

Magic, filly.

Midnight sighed and prepared to Blink. She wasn't exactly used to teleporting across entire towns, but, while other methods of transportation relied on moving ponies through the unrestricted way in the Magic Flow, thus having energy consumption and failure risk directly tied to distance travelled, Blink just replaced her at the given location, making its range nearly infinite.

However, when she opened her eyes, she found herself still in the middle of Ponyville, some distance away from her home, though. The rain kept falling, starting to wet her in every place possible. Occasionally, a lightning bolt could be heard in the distance.

Hum. Why exactly am I here?

I have no idea. The Flow just pulled us out halfway.

Well, given the rules of classical drama, something very important that will open up an unexpected side plot is about to happen. My life's been kind of like a badly written story lately, anyway.

And thus, Midnight waited for the important event. And she waited. Out of boredom, she began a game of tic tac toe with herself, which turned out to be a lot less boring since she had a second personality within herself. But mostly, she waited.

I don't think something's gonna happen. This was a lot of wasted time and dryness for nothing. Should've known life isn't a fairytale.

Coincidentally, just as Midnight started to teleport away, an extremely loud bang tore her out of concentration. Unbound by a spell, bits of magic burst away from her horn, dripping to the ground like sparks from a fire before vanishing. How much she would give to get rid of those pointless instincts, yet she knew it wasn't possible. The matching lightning bolt had flashed without observable delay, implying it had struck a location very close to her. She couldn't find any visible damage to the environment, though an incredibly high screeching noise became louder and louder.

When she discovered the source of the noise, Midnight knew it was already too late. However, she instinctively fired up her magic in an attempt to at least slow the falling pegasus. Needless to say, while the landing was as graceful as it can be when falling face first, the impact was still so strong that it made Midnight clench her teeth from the combination of shockwave and sounds emitted.

It was Fluttershy, one of Twilight's friends. But there was something about those white robes she was wearing that rung a bell in Midnight's mind. She quickly dismissed the thought for the preferrable option of lending first aid. And perhaps second and third, too.

"Wu... wah?" she mumbled.

"Simple. You were struck by lightning, I think." Midnight rolled the pegasus onto her stomach, spotting a charred area on her back. "Yep. Following that, you crashed and missed me by a hoof. Fortunately for you, I can take you to the clinic in seconds. Understood?"

"Uh huh." It was clear that Fluttershy wasn't fully present, as had to be expected. Shock could do terrible things to a pony's mind. Thus, Midnight heaved her onto her back and started evocating Blink. She had never tried using it with passengers, but bringing luggage along with her had worked, so she didn't see why it shouldn't with a living being on her back.

When her moment of dislocation, being here and there at the same time, had passed, Midnight was relieved to find that the ragged breathing coming from behind hadn't stopped.

Apparently, Fluttershy even found enough strength within herself to speak up, "Why out here?"

"Because teleporting directly into another's house is about as polite as bucking in the door. Don't worry though, you're in safety now," Midnight responded.

"I knew that the moment I heard your voice..."

The rain kept getting even more intense, soaking both Midnight and her new patient. Dripping, she made her way into the clinic.

"Hello dear, how... oh. Made a new friend, I see?" Nurse Redheart looked out of one of the chambers when she heard Midnight enter.

"Are you always that funny when there are lives on the line?"

"Gotta keep the morale high. Bring her to the examination table and get those clothes off, I'll be with you in a second."

Executing her orders wasn't too hard, given that Midnight already was halfway to the office, which doubled as an examination room. She carefully put Fluttershy onto the table and undressed her through levitation, trying her best not to think about the value of such a gesture in a rotten society like the one she was born in. The robes had absorbed some of the blast, but she had still received her share.

Just what is it with the white? Tell me what I cannot see on my own!

The answer is where you look last and when you know it, you'll wish you didn't have it.

Diagnosing patients was a lot less exciting when they weren't on the brink of death, Midnight found. At least they didn't make such a big mess. Blood was incredibly stubborn to clean off. She finished setting up Fluttershy in the room next to Ruby's.

"Okay, I guess we should notify friends and closeby relatives and whatnot. I'm guessing you want Sparkle and the lot to know. Anypony else? Siblings? Your parents still alive?"

"Well, yes, they are, but they live in Cloudsdale," the pegasus explained like a good patient before snuggling herself back into the pillow, releasing a small sigh of relief. How that mare could reach such states of concentrated cuteness was far beyond Midnight.

"So I don't think there's really any need to tell them. Maybe a short notice to not put you under stress, but it's not enough to make them come here. Unless you want to, of course. I should really leave such decisions to the patient. Do you know how lucky you are, filly?" Midnight walked to the corner, picking up and inspecting the strange costume Fluttershy had worn with her back still turned to the bed.

"Uh, what do you mean?"

"What I mean is that not everypony has both parents or even any at all left."

"Are you saying that... I mean... I'm sorry, I didn't know."

Midnight put the cloth back onto the chair it had previously been set on and slowly, if not even dramatically, returned to Fluttershy's side. The pegasus sensed something was off and retreated into the covers. "Funny. You should be, of all ponies, the one to know. If I may ask, what were you doing before your crash landing? Commited another murder?"

Fluttershy looked genuinely afraid of Midnight. She didn't mind too much. They had told her she was afraid of even her own tail, anyway. "I d- don't understand what you mean."

"Denial will only make it worse. Come on, girl, we both know what you did. Sun yellow unicorn with hair of such a beautiful color... my color... does that ring any bells? I'm just asking because... do you know who wears such robes?" She waved a hoof at the outfit, "Murderers, that's who. Or should I rather say... assassins?"

"I... you..."

Midnight pressed a hoof down on Fluttershy's chest, fixating her in place. "I think you remember. Yes, I am Midnight, daughter to Daylight. You see, there's something ironic about this whole situation." She increased the force with which she pushed down onto the pegasus, who responded by squirming in panic and rapidly fluttering her wings, trying to escape. "For years, I was haunted by you. Or who I thought you were. Every night, I'd see you, the cold darkness within which the hood hid your face, the teasingly frilly pink of your tail. And I wondered. What kind of monster could do such a thing? Who would dare rob a filly of her mother without the possibility of even saying goodbye? I saw a deranged murderer. Yet..."

She leaned in with even more force, starting to hinder Fluttershy's air supply. "She was a threat to society. Please..."

"Did she murder anypony? Did she ruin the life of even one family? Did she give young fillies heavy cases of schizophrenia?"

Fluttershy weakly shook her head no. Tears came up in her eyes as she silently expressed her deepest regret.

"I thought not. For years, I wanted to confront the pony that did this. Not just to exact my revenge. No, I wanted to ask her a simple question. I bet you can guess it. Correct! 'Why?'. And now that I have you at my mercy..."

Robot, don't force me to step in. I mean... Midnight. You are not a murderer! Don't give in to hate! Don't lower us to her level!

No, of course not.

"Now that I have you at my mercy, what do I see? I expected a monster, an abomination of a pony, a twisted mind with no conscience. But instead, I have a meek little pegasus, Element of Kindness, begging for her life at the hooves of somepony that just saved it."

Fluttershy's air reserves were dwindling while Midnight made sure she had no chance of refilling them. She desperately tried to struggle free, but to no avail.

"And all I have to say to you is..."

Cliiffhangeeer!

"Thank you. I have every reason to hate you, but instead, I just want to thank you. It sounds odd, but without your brutal murder, I would never have done this, I would never have achieved that, I would never have come to Ponyville to chase after my true love." Midnight felt a weak push against her hoof, a last ditch effort. She considered keeping it where it was for a moment, but quickly let go, giving her patient a moment to breathe before throwing herself back onto her in a hug neither of them expected.

"You're... welcome," Fluttershy whispered with what strength remained inside of her.

"Oh, by the way, missy. We're not even by far. And if you tell anypony what I just said, I'll reconsider backing out of the whole revenge thing."

"So it is true, between you and Twilight?"

Midnight put herself back onto four hooves. "Yeah. If only she'd notice."

"Looks like I have to repay somepony ten bits."

"Ha ha. Very funny. I'll go tell your friends. Enjoy your stay."

Do you know what I realised? 'Evil' is just a word to describe what is done for the greater good by whom it personally affects. Under the skin, it's just simple pain. But for you, mercy is victory. You sacrifice. You endure. And when given the chance... you forgive. Always. Her brotherhood believes that this world is irredeemable, but they are wrong, mother. We are utopia, you and I. And in forgiving, we left the door open for any to follow. I can't say I'd have that kind of greatness.

Yeah yeah, stop hyping it. My past was terrible, but I'll make up for that by creating the perfect future, and being imprisoned for a revenge murder nopony can prove even had a reason isn't part of it. The past must rest. Now all I need is Sparkle.

Or Shimmer. Three days have passed, why not hit her up?

Maybe.

Chapter 45

"Behold. Within it lies all you could ever want, waiting for you to withdraw it. Yet you hate the darkness. Why is it that you do?" Noon asked as Midnight found herself within her unformed imagination again.

"We do not hate darkness..."

"We fear what lurks within. Yes, I have heard of that before during my travels through the kingdom of hearts. A wise answer, yet empty. Though she is wisest who knows that she knows nothing. But I wonder... what does?" She dramatically thrust a hoof forward, pushing away the black like a storm was blowing it off. Two ponies came into view in a rather romantic position. One of them was another copy of the pony already present twice, the other still too concealed by shadows to make out anything about it. "On the other hoof, we don't have that kind of time."

Midnight wanted to press on, but before she could gallop over to the ponies, the darkness had already creeped back over them. "Well. Remind me, why can't I just dream normally?"

"Meh, electric sheep were getting boring. Since one fine day, you decided to interfere with my better judgement, there is now a hardly surpassable lobby, if you want to call it that way, before I can do anything. Unless you'd give me permission, of course. Or I'm just playing with you and you think you're conscious while every action you do is my own plan. Who knows? Well, what will it be today? Or tonight, rather."

"How should I know what is even on the offer?"

Noon facehoofed, "Filly, the point is that EVERYTHING IS. I will move fast, I will move slow, take me the way... I have to go." She stomped down with both forehooves, causing the imaginary reality around them to shatter and fall to pieces like a spherical mirror. Once everything had been consumed by the void of forgetting, Midnight found herself back in the multiverse hub space.

"Am I the only one thinking I'm spending my whole life on some kind of hub?" she asked nothing in particular as her clone had already vanished.

"Pick your fate," the nothingness replied.

"Meh, let's just go with the random button."

"Wha... you can't! There is no random button!" Noon was clearly surprised by Midnight's choice, no matter where she was hiding.

"There is because I want it!" Midnight insisted, finding a big red button right beside her hoof and pressing it. Everything around her whirled around until she was aligned to a certain star, towards which she then rapidly accelerated. She didn't feel like obeying the laws of physics however, and thus arrived there the second she wished for it.

"An interesting choice. Let me explain why by showing you the surface." Said and done, Noon brought them down until the ponies in Canterlot could be seen in detail. "Due to how reproduction works, which we know well, fortunately..."

"Skip ahead. I'd like not to explain it in detail here. Minors might hear us."

"Well, what if a certain somepony got a XY instead of double X?"

"What do you mean?"

An astral foreleg appeared and pointed down to a corner that a unicorn stallion had just rounded. His dark purple mane was blowing in the wind, complemented by his lavender coat. Several sparks were imbued on his firm, muscular flank. "Dusk Shine. Guess who it is."

"What an original name. But... ohmygosh, get me down there right now!" Midnight attempted to struggle her way down, but couldn't move a hoof's length.

"As original as your pet name for her. I'd have expected better of you."

"A mare has needs."

"Believe me, she can service them better. Speaking of her, what would she think if she knew that her filly fooling friend is fantasising about her as a stallion?"

"Little, because she knows nothing about my sexuality. Gimme gimme gimme!"

"Things appear to work differently here. I've spied ahead on the timeline, he'll become a true casanova charming everypony he meets without any kind of realism in their relationship. In a way, you're just his first."

"Yes, let me be his first. Gimmeeee!" The stallion was almost out of sight again. Midnight wanted to talk to him right then and there.

"Later on, he'll realise he's a colt cuddler and fall in love with Dark Demon King Ravenblood Nightblade. Also, forgot to mention, in this one, you don't exist. Shy murdered you as well to prevent witnesses."

"Little Fluttershy killing an innocent foal?"

"You're not innocent, you know that. Seems just as likely as murdering a loving mother."

"Bring me somewhere I can be together with him then!"

"I think I have something here." Midnight was pulled towards another star, another reality. "Hey, are those really separate realities or are there just tons of Equestrias in the universe? Ever thought about that? Well, here we are. A parallel dimension, but with minor alterations to the timeline, for instance, we're a month or something ahead."

Midnight was placed near the surface in Ponyville. She took a look around. "Dark... rainy... my, this universe is quite tragic."

A cloud took on the task of channeling Noon's voice and facial expressions, "The griffon plague has just transferred to ponykind and lil' Apple Bloom managed to get it. You have three days to finish a cure. You could also just enjoy your time with Sparkle until everything goes down and Equestria is wiped clear."

"Who the heck is Apple Bloom?"

"Nevermind. Looking at it like that, let's move on."

"Wait, you mentioned I'm with Twilight here? Can we stay?"

The stratocumulus rolled its eyes, "Gah. Wasn't I supposed to be the weak one?"

What do we have here... 'Annual wave of griffon plague inbound'. Good thing there's been a vaccine for that for ages, which... oh, Celestia, I'll have to dispense that among dozens of squirming foals. My job sucks. What else is there?

Midnight barely registered the movement that was going on at the table because that morning, she had found a newspaper at the doorstep, despite nopony having a subscription, and that paper turned out to be quite interesting. Also, it never hurt to practice telekinesis, as she was holding the newspaper at two separate points and levitating breakfast up to her mouth at the same time.

'Is she pregnant?! Princess M. A. Cadenza unavailable for comment'. Erm, no. I thought I was dealing with a serious publisher here. Who wants to read such balony?

Read it read it read it! I wanna know! Do it or I'll make you!

Oh yeah. There's that kind of audience. If you really want.

Midnight reluctantly let her eyes slide over the article. From what she accidentally read, it was just the kind of bottomless speculation she'd have expected in tabloids printed and published in the glorious rotten city of Canterlot.

Hey, I stayed three days... and nights... with you in that dream. Time to return the favor.

Bah, commoners babbling. Don't I have some kind of royalty in my line?

You have a queen's flank, that's for sure.

Ran right into that one. I guess that being from Canterlot already makes me more royal than whoever wrote this manure in printed form. What else... 'Study: Half-orphan medical unicorns show high tendency for schizophrenia'. Well, that's... oddly specific. 'New scientific results: Homosexuality definitely not caused by choice but genetics'. They needed to study that? Could've just asked me.

Knowledge brings with it the sting of disillusionment, but the pain will recede. Filly, remember thy appointment, for else you may not be able to fool the filly.

Do you really have to remind me of everything? I planned it, I can remember!

Midnight wrote a mental checklist for what she had to do that day.

First, pick up saddlebags with money in them. Second, repeat Fluttershy's treatment. Third, go to barbershop and get mane cut. Fourth, spend the day somehow. Fifth, have myself taken out for dinner by Shimmer.

Having done the first item on her list, Midnight went to work on the second. She could Blink to the clinic, but she was in no hurry, so there was no need to waste magical energy. She had high portions of it regenerating extremely fast within her, of course, but still, time was abundant, magic was not. Also, she wanted to enjoy the sun sometimes instead of always teleporting from house to house.

Before she realised it, Midnight arrived at her destination. She shook her mane from her face and entered, heading straight for Fluttershy's room, not even bothering to put on her work clothes.

"Hi there. How are you doing today? Kept your lunch?" she announced herself to Fluttershy, who looked distracted with twisting and turning her hooves while humming a quiet tune.

She looked up and gave Midnight a small smile that could only be created through honest kindness in one's heart. "Hello. I'm fine, thanks for asking. Good to see you, I mean, not that I ever doubted you'd show up, of course."

"I know you didn't," Midnight responded with a tone making her true feelings indiscernable to anypony except her. "Bend forward, if you would."

The pegasus obeyed her command without question or delay, allowing her to access the wound that had, through continual appliance of magic, already been reduced to a slightly seared, hairless spot. She then began to work on further healing it.

Fluttershy seemed to enjoy the restoring touch, as she closed her eyes with a soft sigh and melted down into her bed until her chest made contact with it. It became increasingly hard for Midnight to keep up her neutral business expression when confronted with the sight. Thus, she quickly finished the treatment to avoid having her stone heart molten or burst with cuteness. The product wasn't perfect, but it was the best she'd be able to do. She dismissed her signature spell and gave Fluttershy a gentle knock on the back, "There. It should be gone in a few days now. And, while it's ultimately the nurse's judgement, I think you should be good to go as planned. Then you can go back to... whatever it is you do, I guess. Tend to animals. Be incredibly cute. Murder ponies."

Fluttershy sat up straight in her bed and attempted to speak, but was interrupted by a tiny cough, followed by heavy breathing that did not sound voluntary.

"Oh, of course. Why did I even have to point it out," Midnight said as she retrieved the bucket another time. However, when she had it ready to catch whatever would come out of her patient, she had to realise that 'whatever' was just a small belch, less than a newborn foal's and far drier. Fluttershy laid back with an expression showing clear satisfaction at how well things had gone. Midnight was a bit disappointed because in secret, she wanted Fluttershy to suffer as much as she had, but she didn't show that while putting the object away again.

"Um, what I was trying to say is that I'm sorry for what had to happen. How can I make it up?"

"Revive her, remove my past. Failing that, hook me up with Sparkle. Heh, as if that'd ever happen. Actually, I'm going on a date tonight, you shouldn't tell her about that. Though it might - or probably - won't work out, then you might nudge things. I mean, no, don't rush everything, we all have read one of those romance stories before, there are tons of them. Also, don't follow the advice of wannabe royals when dating. Own experience. I mean, I'm not gonna object if you push her in the right direction a little, um..."

Fluttershy was clearly confused, trying to make sense of Midnight's speech. When she decided on one meaning, she apparently had trouble deciding on whether or not she wanted Midnight's date to work.

"It's okay. Just speak your mind," Midnight reassured her.

"Well, I hope you'll be happy and, um, I guess I'm always there if you need my help with... anything. You saved my life when revenge would have been both appropriate and possible. I think you'd just as easily deserve to be the bearer of the Element of Kindness. I won't forget that."

"If utopia is not a place, but a people, then we must choose carefully, for the world is about to change. And in our story, Canterlot was just the beginning."

The world is not ready for us, yet here we are.

You are my conscience, and I need you to guide me. You will always be with me, whispering on my shoulder. Wow, I'm getting really tacky.

Third item. Fluttershy was cared for and had given Midnight a recommendation for somepony who could get her mane into shape. Subsequently, she was on her way to Ponyville's single, but also best, barbershop.

Saddlebags, check. Murderer, check. Mane, in progress. Got that?

I'm getting slightly uncomfortable with the affection that I'm getting.

Strange. You should be sucking it up like a Changeling. Although, since you're the one who makes me have it in the first place...

"Hello there. What can we do for you?" Midnight was slightly startled by the unexpected voice from the right. She looked around, noticing that she had subconsciously entered the establishment already. There was little business going on at the moment. There were two ponies in sight who were obviously employees, one serving the only other pony in the salon and the other behind the counter, giving Midnight a smile of business.

"I'd like to buy a sofa, why else would I be here?" she sarcastically replied.

"Sure!"

Midnight stared at her vis-à-vis. In the corner of her vision, she could see the sign standing outside, saying 'Krabby Patties, sofas, and expensive haircuts'.

"What th... actually, I think it's obvious what I want. Do you also serve non-expensive haircuts?"

"Of course we do. Take a seat, if you would."

Chapter 46

"Just cutting it down or should we restyle it as well? Something to keep it out of your eyes, perhaps?"

The barber pony's question rose something in Midnight. She had come only to have one or two inches cut from her mane, but now that she was confronted with it, she felt the urge, the need to be beautiful. In her earlier life, she had never cared about her looks. She liked to have her mane long so that she could have it fall over her face and hide in it if needed. Then again, there was nothing to hide from anymore. Her life was at peace and about to change drastically for the better. The simple straight style felt unfulfilling.

"What do you have in mind?" she asked. The servicer used his magic to levitate her mane into shape. What she saw in the mirror reminded her of a picture she had once seen in one of those crackpot magazines claiming the existence of another sentient species in a reality not too far from Equestria. In every issue, they would print another story about one of them making their way to Equestria. She had stopped reading that magazine once she had fallen in love with Twilight and read a certain story about a houmen, as she thought to remember they were named, doing very naughty things to Sparkle. Things she reserved for herself. "That looks great, given I can afford it..."

"Ma'am, don't worry about it. The sign might say 'expensive', but it's actually pretty cheap. This style in particular isn't hard to make. The total price'll be forty bits. I think that's not too much, right?"

Midnight pondered the offer. Forty bits were a bit of an investment, more than she had expected to spend. Then again, she had a solid salary and a father to fall back on if it came to the worst. Also, that need for beauty just wouldn't go away. She might be able to utilise this small sacrifice if it made a certain somepony finally discover her feelings for her.

"Yeah, I think that'd be lovely."

"Very well. So, Midnight, was it? I've never seen you around, are you new here?"

Barbershop talk. What a farce.

"Yeah, just moved in from Canterlot. Been there my whole life minus about a week already, graduated from Celestia's School for Gifted bla bla bla."

And now he'll say...

"Oh, wonderful. I've visited the castle once or twice. I imagine it must be nice to live there."

Midnight wanted to try out every single one of the fifty actions to express her displeasure to herself, a sarcastic eye roll on top of the list. However, since he could see her face in the mirror while working on her mane, she kept it to herself. "Sure, if you can stand everypony else. It's really a great position to stargaze from, though."

To which he'll reply...

"Must be great. Yeah, down here in Ponyville, there's usually a bit too much light. Canterlot Castle also hosts the Grand Galloping Gala, I think. Have you been there?"

Midnight couldn't repress a snort over the silly question. "Me? Your average good-for-nothing unicorn? You'd have to be royalty or something just to watch it from afar. Though I have visited the castle itself once as a filly. Even caught a glimpse of Celestia, lucky me."

"Princess Celestia can be pretty amazing, I've heard."

Midnight caught the emphasis he put on the first word in the sentence and responded with a sly tone, "Oh, please. A little somepony I know told me she actually prefers to be called just Celestia."

Or I just picked up that way of speaking from hanging out with that filly for three months. Hm. Interesting that she didn't mind to mask it while in disguise. Moreso that she, of all ponies, even considers acting disrespectful towards Celly.

"You're in touch with royalty after all?"

"I guess you could say that..."

He'll pick up the previous topic by saying...

"So what brought you to Ponyville?"

Midnight let out a barely concealed sigh. This conversation was more than predictable, yet she was stuck until he was finished.

What exactly do I say? 'I came here because it's a town of idiots not afraid to work'? 'I'm chasing somepony whose leg you'd voluntarily hump to Tartarus if she'd let you who, all I know, considers me as a good friend'?

I'll help you out.

Midnight felt her lips move while her lungs expelled air, but those movements were not of her own origin, "I've got a job here."

That was spooky. Never do that again. I like doing things by myself.

Insert masturbation joke here.

Oh come on!

"That's nice. What a great mane you have. Let's see if we can't work its colors into the style."

"Actually," Midnight began to explain, but instead decided to drop some of the illusion in her mane so that there was blue within the pink reading 'This is fake'. "Given that, just do what you want, I'll adjust it to that."

After far too many minutes of tedious, forced conversation, Midnight was finally relieved of her torment. At least, she thought she was as she dispelled and reapplied the illusion to have the part of her mane that fell over her face be pink again. While the style had obviously been designed for short hair, she wasn't going to let anypony rob her of her precious length.

"Lovely. We'll take the same length off your tail, then?"

"Uh..." It was custom in Canterlot for a pony's tail to be cut by their mother, spouse, or other guardians where the former options weren't available. Although, if everything was done right, there was little strength to the reason that had established it. Midnight had suspected the whole thing to be a conspiracy coming from the blade suppliers for years. "Yeah, of course."

It felt plain odd. Midnight knew there was no base to why she felt that way, but she still couldn't resist occasionally flicking her tail while it was being worked. She tried to focus on something else and watched the bits of hair drop to the floor. Lacking connection to its power source, the spell on them fell out of control, sparkled slightly and slowly faded back to blue. Seeing that almost made Midnight want to reconsider her opinion on herself, to take into account what school she had graduated from. However, the simplicity of the spell, its inability to sustain itself as soon as it got separated from an energy source, prevented her from finishing that thought.

When it was in the proper length, he combed everything through again. Midnight took that as a sign that she'd finally be able to leave.

Well, this wasn't just as bad as I imagined. Wait, did he just... buddy, if you touch that plot one more time, magic or other, I will comb your villi. Is that clear? Why exactly am... ugh, anyway.

Why are there five words for the same thing without even going into vulgar language?

I'd rather not endulge into the deep philosophy of etymology right now.

Just warming you up.

Item four. Since it was just barely past lunchtime, Midnight had plenty of time to kill. In order to do that, Midnight had first briefly checked back on all of her patients, then spotted Twilight coming to visit one of them, sprinted into the office and teleported home from there. Now, she was lying on her bed, leafing through her favorite picture book, Equine Anatomy Illustrated, which was one of her oldest possessions. Some ponies thought that a book filled with images of drawings of specific regions within ponies was disturbing, but Midnight enjoyed just looking at it, pleased to find that she could still name every major bone after the last time she had learned it by rote. She didn't waste time thinking about what she might have become had she had regular storybooks in her foalhood. She just loved this one too much. So much, in fact, that it showed damage that was far beyond what should be expected for its age. Thinking back of when she used to sleep with it brought a nostalgic smile to her face. In moments like those, she could forget who she was and how her attitude was supposed to be. In such moments, she felt true love, and true hope.

What is better, to be born good or to overcome your evil nature through great effort?

You cannot avoid evil if you have not experienced it. If there is nothing but good in your heart, you may end up doing bad with the best of intentions. Not that there is anything bad to evil done with a good heart, serving purely the greater purpose.

There is no evil that cannot be forgiven if honestly remorsed. For us, mercy is victory. We have seen what this world has to offer, but in its face... we turn to pacifism. We turn to peace. The world isn't ready for a mind as true as ours. Think about it. Philosophise, publish that, create utopia, infinite money.

Utopia is a people, no place. And in our world, there is no place for those who cannot understand the true nature of evil, pain trying to relieve itself by spreading to others while never diminishing within the individual. One way or the other, we would have to dispose of those of good nature. Those... like Sparkle.

Sacrifices must be made to prove your faith.

Or... I could give it up, seeing as any notable accomplishment is impossible within a mortal lifespan. I would prefer to claim everything I ever wanted, instead of falling into Shy's psychoses and making sacrifices to the Flow in order to pursue everything I could ever want.

Some would say to risk everything for a chance of redemption in the end. However, those tend to be living in a reality like the one in a certain book under your bed.

'T's good lecture, 'kay?

Of course it is. That and nothing else.

Before long, seven o'clock arrived and Midnight began to slowly make her way out. In the living room, Vinyl Scratch proved to be a valuable distraction to pass those ten minutes she had to arrive late out of politeness or pure malicious intent, should politeness not be a valid reason.

"Didn't see ya all day. Hehey, did your mane, didn't you. Nice, is there a reason?" the white mare asked from the sofa.

"As a matter of fact, I'm dating tonight. You might not want to wait for me."

"Finally got Twilight Sparkle around?" Midnight responded with silence. Vinyl got the point after about two seconds. "Well, whatever you want. Might I ask what made you?"

Midnight pawed at the brown carpet with a forehoof, "Trying to get her out of my mind. Maybe something'll result from it. In any case, it'll be a free dinner for me. She's kinda pathetic."

"Hum. I'd have expected it to be a stallion that's twisted your mind into going out with him. I guess you're a filly fooler all the way."

"Mares just... I don't know. I'm not turned off by stallions, just attracted more by those two fillies. Maybe because about ninety-five percent of all ponies seem to be female. Don't ask me how we survived up until now. Maybe because they actually care for body hygiene. Oh, that sweet smell only mares are allowed to... erm..."

Vinyl cracked a small smile of plain amusement over Midnight's rambling. "Caught ya drift. Love is just evolved friendship. Ain't anypony gonna complain if your best friend's a mare, so why should they be allowed to if you take it to the next level?"

Midnight felt the need to explain herself, "Oh, I'm not saying anything about those bloody homophobics. Filly fooler, homosexual, lesbian, they can call me whatever they want, I don't care, as long as my filly of choice doesn't either. But as soon as I'm seeing tears, they know they've screwed up."

"Aye. Same goes for me 'n' 'Tavy. Not that she'd need anypony defending her, of course. Pray to Celestia you'll never see her angry."

Midnight saw the time as Vinyl changed channels on the television. She was just as late as she wanted to be. "I think I'll be on my way then."

"Have fun and don't forget, bring me home a bride!" Vinyl said with a grin that made her mouth bear a close resemblance to the number three. Midnight just couldn't explain how everypony around her managed to look so cute and happy and joyfully oblivious to the horrors of the world outside.

Having a fallback, yes?

You be quiet unless spoken to. Dreams of utopia are nice and everything, but reality is a nightmare.

This is where true strength comes into play. It would be so easy to misjudge them, but we must see past that illusion of bad behavior to reveal and cure the suppressed pain hidden underneath.

So far, so good. Now how can I exploit her best?

Midnight gave her glass another swirl. The evening was going just as planned. After she had arrived at Shimmer's house, she had been brought to yet another small restaurant somewhere in Ponyville which looked exactly like any other she had previously seen. The Sun had already gone down, which was expectable in the end of February, making Luna's moon and artifical lighting the only light sources available. In this specific moment, most of the illumination was provided by the candle on their table or the shimmer of Midnight's magic when she used it to levitate part of the dinner like a proper unicorn. She had, since her magic had grown strong enough, been indoctrinated with the teaching that she had to make every food related item come to her while eating. Naturally, pegasi and earth ponies weren't affected by this rule, seeing as they had no way to use magic other than a skilled unicorn companion, but Midnight had no intention to feed Shimmer.

Knowing how much ethanol it contained, Midnight took her time to finish her glass of wine. This seemed to slightly unnerve Shimmer. Even if she cared, though, Midnight couldn't accept subtle accusations of uncouthness from somepony who had drunk her portion from a solid mug because genetics hadn't granted her a horn. Perhaps Midnight would be more interested in her if Shimmer was an alicorn. That'd make their eventual marriage an affair of state, like the one that had happened at Canterlot not too long ago. She didn't understand what the deal with that one had been. She found it so boring that she had actually slept through most of it, not having the feeling of missing anything. A royal marriage between two mares would certainly give out a message about homosexuality nopony could ignore, though they would probably still pick on colt cuddlers. Midnight couldn't say she knew many stallions she cared about, less even with that kind of orientation, though she wouldn't be surprised to see at least somepony from her class with a male companion one day. Given she would see any of them again, which she tried to avoid to the best of her ability. She'd probably have to invite them to her wedding, though. If she ever had one, which sounded unlikely.

She cast her eyes back up from the red liquid to see Shimmer looking back at her with an expectant expression in her eyes. Of course, they were supposed to talk. She took another tiny sip, barely enough to visibly lower the fluid level, and set the glass down before reticently picking up conversation again or rather making Shimmer do it, "Hm?"

"Just noticed how great you look. Love that mane cut."

Midnight blew the single strain that always seemed to be there no matter what she did from her face. She knew flattery when encountering it, but she decided to play along for the moment. Sometimes, she too needed some compliments to keep her ego going. "You're too kind."

"Only the best for you."

Midnight knew that this was standard dating vocabulary, but even though she could and maybe had to take Shimmer if she wanted, she couldn't help but feel like she was cheating on that somepony who had no idea of what troubled her or why she and Midnight were still such close friends.

"So what did you do, you know, the last years?" Midnight asked, faking interest she honestly had.

Shimmer waved a casual hoof, "Standard stuff. Came to Ponyville, found a nice home, got to stargazing. Night is so wonderful."

"I know I am," Midnight instantly intersected.

"Uh... sure."

Thus, another awkward silence began, caused by Midnight's rudeness. Fortunately for at least one of the dating partners, a waiter soon arrived, carrying a plate with their chosen desserts on it, although...

"Two straws, one glass," Midnight stated.

She set this up, I know it!

"Well, I guess we'll have to drink it like this," Shimmer said, unphased by the unexpected way their chocolate shake was served in.

Oh no missy, I won't fall for this one.

Midnight summoned her magic, separating the straw pointing in her direction into two halves through a quick void slice and then forming a magical passage between the two newly created ends.

The fastest way to get from point A to point B is to make them one. I love this special talent.

Some concentration was required to keep the spell active, but Midnight preferred that over what Shimmer had apparently had in mind, as the pegasus looked quite disappointed when Midnight took one end into her mouth, suckling on it and pleased to find that everything worked as intended. Now that she had established a route, she could just sit back and enjoy their shared beverage from there. Obviously, Shimmer didn't dare to object, as everything was supposed to be a secret and seem unplanned.

Aw. Wanna go cry, filly? Maybe I shouldn't be so rude. She's still...

She downed what was left in her glass, realising that, in fact, even with a sweet tooth like hers, any kind of wine tasted terrible when drunk with a mouth previously filled with chocolate. She put it down, shuddering, and bent forward into conversation again, "Something on your mind, dear?"

It was easy to see the effects on Shimmer that Midnight playing with her emotions had, which pleased her more than she wanted to admit. "Midnight, I..." Before she could finish that sentence, Shimmer lost control of herself, lunged forward, and gave Midnight an unforeseen kiss on the nostrils. Following that, her natural fight or flight instincts kicked in and she fled to the ceiling, pressed flat against it with her wings beating below her for support, her face looking as if she'd suddenly grown a beard in the same fiery red color of her mane.

"Shimmer? It's okay, you can come down," Midnight called up. The only answer she received was an excited squeak. "Come on, that's no way. Alright, I'm kinda sorry. Also, you still have to pay," she continued. At last, the pegasus gave up and dropped to the floor. They didn't speak a word to each other until they were out of the restaurant, where Shimmer turned with the clear intention of adressing Midnight another time. However, Midnight heard a slight rustle in a bush.

What's that? Eye!

The Flow revealed one pink presence in front of her, but surprisingly, where she had heard the noise, another pink blob was visible, a cameo spell put up over it to mask her presence.

What the heck is Sparkle doing here? Why is she hiding? Is that... satisfied? Screw the previous questions, why does she have that look on her face?

Midnight had to abandon her research in favor of properly wrapping up her date. She might have noticed a slight change in Shimmer's energy color, had she not switched back to normal vision quickly to better see her facial expressions.

That was fun. Maybe I'll let myself be convinced to a second date.

"Midnight... I'm sorry, but..."

Or that could happen...

"I don't think anything between us two will work out."

"So," Midnight began with a neutral tone, "you just dumped me a second time after begging for another chance, am I correct?"

"Sorry..."

"I'm at a loss of words. 'Bitch' doesn't quite cut it, neither does 'Hope you die of cancer' or 'Get out of my life'. Well, you got me, congratulations, was it worth it? Because despite your violent behavior, the only thing you've managed to break so far is my heart. Maybe we could settle for that and we'll just call it a day. I guess we both know this isn't going to happen. You chose this path. What did I ever do to you? Now I have a surprise for you. Deploying surprise in three, two, one..."

Before Shimmer could object, a blue glow consumed her, and in the blink of an eye, she was gone.

What the hay did you do?

Brought her home.

That's not terribly evil.

A kilometer above the ground.

This isn't brave. It's murder.

It were, if she didn't have wings, silly.

Right. Now... oh my, that's something you have there. Just go home and...

That's what I had in mind.

If Sparkle was still watching after Midnight returned home using the same spell as a few seconds earlier, she might have seen a single tear drop to the ground, its owner removed through magic as soon as it had disconnected.

Friday night and I've got a date. With a box of tissues.

Too bad we're a mare.

Got nothing else to say?

I'm afraid not.

Midnight knew she had no idea what to do when even her evil second personality had nothing to say. However, she was fine with it if Noon absorbed all of her helplessness, allowing her to think properly. Suddenly, she heard a soft knock on the door.

"Go away," she shrieked, pressing her head into her pillow. Only when it was too late, she realised she hadn't locked her door. She turned towards the wall as Vinyl Scratch magicked her way inside. "Haven't I been clear? I wanna be alone, leave me."

Vinyl sat down on the bed, putting a comforting hoof onto Midnight's shoulder, "That's exactly why I'm staying. Didn't work out as you thought, hm?"

"Gah. I wanna drown her in liquid oxygen, that little!"

She wasn't really looking at her and her eyes were filled with tears, but Midnight could see Vinyl's confusion. "Is that even possible?"

"Of course it is. Respiration relies on gaseous state. Also, there'll be the benefit of her instantly freezing to death and turning into ash as soon as I submerge her. But I'll keep her alive just so for her to let her run out of oxygen. She deserves the most ironical and agonising of deaths."

"O-kay. Just don't go near her, I guess. Don't want... just don't think about it. Alright... but you didn't sound like you really wanted her anyway. What's going on?"

"There's... nevermind. I don't want."

Vinyl sighed over the sobbing figure beside her. "I've been around, you know. What you're making is the sound of deep pain, and the only way to cure it is to talk about it. What's the deal?"

Midnight turned to avoid any attempts at soothing touches. Simply coming into a conversation had helped her tears, though. "There was Sparkle and..."

"She caught you red-hoofed? Ouch, that's gonna take some effort to fix."

"I don't know what she did, she was just kind of hiding somewhere, watching us, but she didn't look like she minded us two. In fact, she... she looked happy that I was with somepony else and left her alone." Midnight had to revise her earlier find as liquid blinded her again.

"Shh, don't rush things. I'm sure this is just a big misunderstanding. Calm down and ask her what happened tomorrow."

"I just don't want to see her anytime soon."

"Fine, you want to do that? Go ahead. Just keep in mind, Winter Wrap Up is next Saturday."

Midnight didn't mind to look at her roommate as she got up and left, leaving her alone in the dark. Left with solely her emotions and their incarnation to accompany her, Midnight didn't even notice when she drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 47

"My daughter, the day you were born, the very forests of Everfree whispered the name... Midnight."

Midnight opened her eyes. She found herself sitting on some kind of throne, though it didn't look very royal at all. Somehow, she knew she wasn't supposed to be here, and set out to travel wherever it drew her. After a surprisingly brief walk, she came to a cliff, a snow storm blowing around her as she stepped over the ice, uncaring about the weather. It was here. Something was here. She slid some of the snow away with her hoof, revealing the clear ice below.

"My child, I watched with pride as you grew into a weapon of righteousness," the voice she could neither place nor remember to whom it belonged continued to narrate. She didn't worry too much about it and instead drew a single Focus rune down in the snow, empowering it as soon as it could take effect. "Remember, our line has always ruled with wisdom... and strength."

Energy started to collect at her horn, which glowed in an unfamiliarly light blue. Requiring a nucleus, it bound to nearby snowflakes, making those change color and home in to her horn. "And I know you will show restraint when exercising your great power."

It was time. She had more energy focused at her horn than she could ever hope to unleash. She could use additional runes, but another method would prove just as effective. She took in a breath and thrust her head down to the ground, piercing the ice. Instantenously, the spell took effect, wiping clear the snow and cracking the surface. Slowly, a skeletal dragon began to rise behind her. She ignored it and walked forward to the cliff's edge. Seconds later, the bone construct came past her, leaping off and flying through the valley below, Midnight's magic stabilised in its chest cavity, animating the beast to life.

"But the truest victory, my daughter, is stirring the heart of your people." Thousands of minions below roared out, inspired by Midnight's newest creation, revealing the same magic that was forcing them to be alive as well. Only then, Midnight noticed the cloak and crown she was wearing. "I tell you this, for when my days have come to an end, you shall be princess."

What... Princess Luna? I'm her daughter? I already have the regalia, so does that mean...

Gasping, Midnight awoke with a start. She nearly fell out of her bed trying to sort out everything that was flooding her sensory systems.

That wasn't funny!

Seems we've got the wrong universe. According to the information I got through... erm, magic, you'd have three mothers in that one. What a ridiculous thought, isn't it.

Bah, I don't wanna. What day is it, anyway? If I have to work, I'll take the day off. Such a headache...

Oh, just what could've caused that, I wonder. It's Saturday, by the way.

So yesterday was Friday... oh yeah. That. I remember.

Anything I can do to help, princess?

Midnight turned to lay flat on her back before grunting and beginning to stand up.

I am not a princess!

Not in this life, I am afraid. Do not rush to conclusions you will regret. However, if you'd marry our sweet little darling...

Do me a favor and don't mention that... pony again. I have enough of her for now.

Like you've had enough of Shimmer for so many years, yet love will mercilessly blossom from the hate. Psychology. Fascinating, isn't it?

Midnight didn't respond as she trotted down the stairs and went into the kitchen. The Sun was up, but not since long. She could see it through the window.

"Look who we have here. Good morning, darling," Octavia greeted her. She responded with another grunt and sat down. "Vinyl told me everything. We got you a little something to cheer you up," she said while sliding over a little book-shaped object. Judging by its cover, Midnight could determine it was a drawing book designed to make ponies not quite her age find joy in drawing. However, as she was a well-educated filly, she followed the saying and took to reading it. And it was proven once again, the inside was far more informational.

"Hm. Ironic. I assume you got it for free while shopping?" As determined as she was to keep the illusion of a ruined mood going, Midnight couldn't deny she was slightly interested.

"We... yes. Why is it ironic?"

"You see," Midnight explained, "I used to be pretty good with crayons. Everypony thought I would get my cutie mark there. If only I had... Actually, I think I still have some equipment. Box of crayons!" Midnight called towards the staircase.

"Now what is she doing?" Octavia whispered.

"Showing off. Unicorns half her age could levitate small objects past this distance without direct line of sight," Vinyl Scratch replied.

"I'm not THAT old yet. Oh wait, I am. I'll die as an old virgin. Insert sob."

Finally, Midnight's objects of desire arrived. She set the box down on the table, pulled out the pencil she had stored within for sketching, and riffled through the pages until she found something interesting. "Try drawing your cutie mark. If you don't have yours yet, what would you like yours to look like? The next page contains some examples. Yep, totally age appropriate."

"I would like to point out that this was Scratchy's idea, not mine. Something to keep your mind off of yesterday evening, I suppose."

"Tavy, part of the plan is NOT MENTIONING IT."

Midnight couldn't resist smiling as she began to draw, though her focus was still on breakfast itself.

Would you kindly let out what is on your mind?

Sure, I was about to.

For a minute or two, they sat in silence, Midnight's pencil racing across the paper, carried by a blue aura. She munched down the cereal, not really thinking about anything, until the giggles Octavia and Vinyl Scratch occasionally let out became too distracting and she took at look at what she had produced so far.

It didn't look like her own cutie mark at all. In fact, it was a rough draft of one she had hoped to never see again. "What the? How did... Rubber!"

Now that their roommate was aware of the comedic situation she had gotten herself in, Octavinyl gave up on repressing it and laughed out loud. Octavia was first to recover and added, "Why, isn't this deliciously romantic."

Midnight felt the blood rushing to her head as she frantically erased every line she could find, paying close attention this time as she redrew the correct shapes.

Very, very funny.

I didn't, but it was very kind of you to admit your feelings.

About half an hour later, Midnight sat on a bench not too far away from home, a drawing pad next to her with a pencil scribbling a sketch of a fountain onto the paper fixated on the pad. Being a unicorn was gread, she found. She could always keep her eyes on the subject while sketching it out. Right then, she was in the process of adding final details, such as refining the statue in the middle that was mostly concealed by water most of the time and thus needed time to draw correctly.

Would you kindly?

I would, what kind?

Stop the farces, would you kindly?

Quickly after breakfast, Midnight had collected her drawing equipment and headed out to town to find new inspiration. At least, she would have, had not Vinyl Scratch literally dragged her back into the kitchen by the tail and forced her to help with washing up. She took another look at her drawing. Then, her eyes returned to the statue. Then back to the paper. In reality, it was a pegasus with messy hair. Drawn, however, it had somehow morphed into a unicorn with ruler-straight hair. Almost unfazed by the trickery played on her, Midnight erased and added what lines were necessary to correct the picture. Only then it struck her that she, as an average adept spellcaster, could just use magic to colorthe image or even draw it from scratch. Then again, all of the illusions she knew would be a constant power drain and she had never been good at conjuration. Not that she was good at anything, of course. But in that particular field, attempts to study had proven even more fruitless than usual. Midnight sighed and took a short break, walking over to the fountain to inspect it closely.

"Gah. Who is that supposed to be, anyway? 'Dedicated to Rainbow Dash. Her awesomeness will continue to inspire ponies even in future generations'. Why, did she happen to, I don't know, get hit by lightning and die? Although, since I work at the hospital, I'd probably have noticed her autopsy. How do we even get such stuff done with our tiny clinic? You'd expect there to be problems arising with missing infrastructure, but... magic. I'll say it's magic. But why does she have a public fountain for her overblown ego?"

"I didn't die for your sins, I'm just that awesome, silly," a nearby cloud told her with an overconfident voice. Midnight didn't want to respond and instead let Rainbow be carried off by the natural drift. However, she flapped her wings and gently brought herself down to ground level. "Whatcha doing?"

Are we really considered friends? I guess Sparkle at least aknowledges me for the three months we've been together, I mean friends. Some of that has probably splashed over. I'd hardly be a Mane Seven otherwise. Maybe it's because I saved the life of one of them, though. Or from all the stuff we've done already. Incredible to believe I've only been here for a week.

"Practicing a bit of drawing," Midnight responded, gesturing towards the bench with her head. "Not much, really. Anypony with a bit of practice could..." She stopped talking once she noticed that Dash had already sped over to her started picture. She momentarily shut her eyes, reopened them, and also returned to her belongings.

"That's awesome! You really just drew it?" she squealed, hovering above the sketch.

"Not done yet, mind you. Still gotta fill in color." Rainbow Dash didn't seem less amazed after Midnight's explanation.

"Just one thing, why do I have a horn? And Twilight's mane?" she asked, looking up from the board with an expression that held both interest and sarcasm.

"I thought I had erased those properly..."

Dash dismissively waved a hoof, "Yeah, ponies say I have a great perception. Supernatural, even."

Should I?

Confirmation, please.

"Ponies like you tend to be sought out by a certain organisation. Yet my own gift does not say you are a foe to me."

"You've also? I thought it was just me who could See. You could be used within the Brotherhoof."

"What business should I have with murderers?"

"Oh yeah, you're the... um, sorry. Let's just... Do you take requests?"

"I guess so, since I don't have anything else to do today. What do you have in mind?"

Rainbow Dash landed, still trying to shake off the awkwardness from before. "Dunno... something with me and my dear future wife."

"You're marrying soon, I remember. I'm sorry," Midnight murmured.

"Pardon me?"

"Nothing." Midnight thought for a second about what the best pose would be to satisfy such tacky ponies. She decided on one she had seen them in once while using extended Pegasus Eye.

Midnight added the finishing touches, then revealed her creation to Rainbow Dash.

"Wow. I don't know what to say. I can have it, right?"

"Well," said Midnight, urging Rainbow to come closer. "what would you do for it?"

Dash instantly built herself to full size out of pride. "For Applejack? I'd do anything."

"Would you even pay me? Artists hardly ever do work for free."

"Uh, yeah, sure."

On her way home, Midnight grinned to herself. The sun was already on its descent again, but she had squeezed a bit of coin out of Rainbow Dash. It could never hurt to increase her available budget. Perhaps she'd need some soon.

Chapter 48

Food. I like food. Foodses are tasty.

I knew our mind was degenerating into madness, but the rate at which you manage to do it astounds me.

Nom. Om nom.

Midnight had to admit that she was a bit amazed herself about how she had managed to do a complete mood turnaround within fifteen hours, half of which she'd been asleep. Perhaps she had found a way into the numbed state of consciousness that made Sparkle enjoy life so much. Though eating a hay sandwich in the kitchen sounded like a silly trigger. Or maybe her fuzzy little problem had intensified, growing while ignored, and worsened her already highly shifting emotions.

I'd like to have it noted that I'm not fuzzy at all. In fact, my majestic long mane is smooth as silk as it is blowing in the wind while I strike a dramatic pose standing on the edge of the cliff staring into the distance.

Yes you are. You're a fwuffy widdle wabbit. Wubwubwub!

I appreciate recognition, but mental belly rubs? That's a bit overdone... did I say stop?

After cleaning up her lunch, Midnight had found that she didn't really have anything to do besides going after Sparkle trying to charm her. She didn't quite feel like doing that yet, however, so daytime TV seemed like an appropriate substitute.

"We now return to our previous programme, Dangers From Below, as part of our annual shark week. Woo sharks!"

Curiosity Channel used to be more professional once upon a time... I'm complaining about how everything is worse than in earlier times. Oh, I'm so old.

The picture changed to a moderator pony standing on a regular boat on a normal summer day, which Midnight found rather ironic that they'd air it as freshly recorded. In February.

"Long before ponies existed, sharks roamed the waters. No other species inspires so much respect... and fear. They can see you in pitch blackness. They can hear your heart beating inside your chest. They can sniff out a drop of blood. They've got those huge muscles, cruising underwater, until they see something moving. Then, boom, bang, they get it! It's the bite of the Great White, almost a death blow by itself." To accompany this narration, they cut quickly to and fro between various shots of sharks claiming their prey, not missing one detail of the bloody action that came with bigger victims.

Oh, how wonderful. A calm little show for celebrating having successfully gone some time without bumping into Sparkle. Ah, who am I kidding, I can't hold a grudge. I forgave murderers and heartbreakers. How could I not forgive my eternal love?

You get sentimental when our brain is underused. That is to say, all the time.

"Now, when Great Whites want something, they really go hard to get it. If they wanted us, nopony could get away. Nopony could get away."

Midnight adjusted her position lying on the sofa.

Ooh! Ten bits on the sharks.

In the Multiverse, there are infinite planes of existence. Accordingly, there are infinite planes where Sparkle has a Y chromosome and you are with him. Think about that.

And what would that change? Love the pony, not their accessoires. I'm content here.

Exactly.

Though, from that logic, there are also infinite planes where I'm, in this very moment, taking his love. So we could finally... wait, did I? I really just thought about becoming a mother... having a family of my own... with Sparkle's equivalent... is that my deep desire? To settle down and escape the madness that has been chasing me for years?

Dramatic silence.

I guess this fantasy could also become reality here... I wonder if she would get the hint if I'd request literature concerning mare on mare reproduction. Though I've been told that giving birth really really hurts. If something, it'd have to be her who is impregnated. Not that I wouldn't give birth for her, of course. Well, surely not both of us. Just imagine the destruction the two of us could do with spare tickets on the emotional rollercoaster given to us by the rush of hormones. I'd want... a daughter. Maybe another foal after that, fulfill the quota. And I'd probably name her... why, we both know Daylight would be the only acceptable name. Oh, little Midnight is planning a family, the original Daylight would be so proud of me. Well, given that Sparkle even wants me, of course. I can't believe I'm thinking about this. Foals are noisy, expensive, dirty... yet, some day, I want one...

Saturday's portion of Shark Week passed by Midnight without much recognition, as she was far too distracted by the many things she had to think about. Some time later, her drawing equipment had found its way next to her, creating while she stared off into the distance through the window, the television turned off again.

They said that true art was drawn from the heart without letting the head intervene. In this case, this was surely true, as Midnight couldn't spare the strength to consciously focus on her drawing, instead letting her imagination, or perhaps it was Noon, guide her magic on its own as it drew and colored three unicorns, the one in the middle about half the others' size, merrily walking away from the viewpoint.

Midnight gave her picture another look. It was quite beautiful, perhaps the best she had yet produced. Unfortunately, when Octavia came in to make her come to dinner, she was startled and quickly burned the paper up in a magical flame. In a way, one could interpret that as society forcing her to destroy her own dreams. She didn't want it to end like that, though. She was unwilling to show the product to anypony, not before it was time, so it hadn't been that bad that she had obliterated it, but Midnight wouldn't let her dreams die with their embodiment.

It was a bit hard to keep up her hopes, though, as even the skies had darkened over time, covered in the work of unrelenting pegasi executing the weather as designed, artificially causing darkness to fall earlier. As much as she tried to hide it, Midnight couldn't mask a slight lack of motivation when she poked at her food with the fork, suddenly aware of where she stood in life.

"Now, what is the matter?" Octavia asked her, radiating genuine interest or at least properly faking it.

"Had time to think about what happened yesterday and now she's unsure what she does and doesn't feel. Standard pony romance state number twenty-one," Vinyl Scratch replied for her.

"Yeah, just the normal, nothing above the average, as usual. Why should I be. My goals and wishes in life weigh nothing." Midnight let her head drop to the table.

"Youngsters. They're always a mess to handle, aren't they," murmured Octavia.

"Hey, you can list the hormones that are making you behave like that yourself. Isn't that something?" Vinyl attempted to cheer Midnight up, though it was obvious she wasn't exactly being serious.

Midnight slightly lifted her head to shoot Vinyl a look that could easily be deadly under the right conditions, "I could also tell you the order in which your organ systems will give up if you keep that up."

"Alright, serious advice. Erm... you should follow your heart and... in the end, everything will work out."

"Seriously now?"

"I'm trying, okay?" Vinyl scratched her head. "How did you get to know each other again?"

Something was different. Vinyl was no longer sarcastically commenting on her situation, she was actually trying to help. Hearing her change in tone inspired Midnight to do the same. "Came into my class after the holidays, we've been good friends basically the entire time."

"And did she never show any interest?"

"Uhm... not directly, though she didn't show disinterest either. Well, there might be something. She took it relatively well when I kissed her... oh, what have I done..."

"You what?" intersected Octavia.

"It was only a quick one, she didn't even see it coming, and it was part of a bet. Which I won. Didn't have time to enjoy it, sadly."

"She didn't make a big deal out of getting surprised with her first kiss and you still wonder if she likes you? You get out there and make her realise what she's missing, right now," commanded Vinyl.

Midnight shrugged, "I've been told ponies don't take it well if you barge into their homes at nighttime with something like that."

"Not now, silly. Want to hear a secret? An undisclosed pony you probably already know has told me she's rather unhappy with her current status as a single," said Octavia, causing Midnight's heart to temporarily beat a clear twice as fast. "She's ripe for the taking if you act in time. You know, filly, there's nothing big to love. Surely, you need to match, but very often, it is plainly a result of evolved friendship. Ponies that have been good friends for some time, which I think you two have, according to your descriptions, often discover they have feelings for each other. She wants you, you just have to show her."

"Oh, but what if she doesn't? I mean, at this rate, she might as well be attracted to her other friends. I don't want to be the awkward one to be refused. That's happened to me too often already. I'd prefer silent observation until the moment has arrived."

"You said they took you into their group, yes? Five of them barely know you. Twilight must've put in a pretty good word for you. Can you imagine why? Also, funny that you mention her friends. Two of them are about to marry, as you may know. Each other, of course. Do you know how they got into that? One evening, Applejack just took the initiative and did a leap of faith. Love isn't calculable. You have to trust your feelings and take the ultimate chance, regardless of how slim the odds are."

"I'll see what results, I guess. I'm... patient."

"Heh. Don't miss your opportunity. I'd hate to see her out with a stallion 'cause you didn't act in time."

For three months, we have been... patient. Now it is time to awaken. You have been sleeping for decades, but now the time for your task has come, robot.

I have a gift for you, princess. It took me all day, but seeing that we have a heart after all... it was worth it. Remember when you found our heart's desire? I found a fitting plane. Well, you're not exactly yourself here. Coincidentally, there's a unicorn nurse named Midnight here as well, but that's not you. You've been born as a pegasus. And your name is Glimmer. But that doesn't matter, because that's still your equivalent. And you're preggo from her!

"It's bad enough that I'd go through all of this in the real world, can't we just skip ahead until afterwards?" Midnight asked the darkness enveloping her.

How about just afterwards? I've heard the feeling of having your womb ripped open to squeeze out a foal five times the size that you normally would be is quite enjoyable.

"Skip to the part where she no longer soils diapers. It's a she, right?"

No answer came. Instead, the darkness around her slowly crept towards Midnight, closing until she was tightly packed in, starting to feel asphyxiation. However, with the slightest struggle, it shattered and put Midnight into a new body.

It looked like yet another great day in Ponyville. There was not a single cloud rivalling for the Sun's place high above everything. As expected, Midnight could no longer feel the flow of magic all throughout her, but instead the wind of flight in her face as her wings beat instinctively, carrying her across the skies. After taking a second to get used to the whole new situation, she shook her head and took in the rest of her surroundings. At least, she would have, but her eyes stopped just as she spotted Sparkle flying to her right, still of normal growth instead of big like regular alicorns, but nevertheless equipped with both wings and horn. She could wonder where she had acquired those, but she honestly didn't care. For in that moment, she saw a silver filly lying on Twilight's back, excitedly fluttering its tiny wings and looking down while clinging to Sparkle's neck. Just then, she looked up and caught Midnight's eye inspecting her. Midnight smiled at her and did a few corkscrews just for her amusement, which appeared to succeed. When she returned to Twilight's side, the filly was giggling.

"You're the best, mommy," it exclaimed.

Mommy. Being called such a word felt indescribable, yet at the same time, burned deep down in Midnight's heart. However, she managed to suppress that fire by enjoying the time they had together and when she had to leave, that is to say, when it was time to wake up, swearing to herself and whoever may happen to listen that she'd make it happen in her own world.

There is more than a simple emotional pendulum in us after all. You impress me, Midnight.

Chapter 49

The Princess wakes!

Fresh and fully motivated. I'll take on the world, whatever it may throw at me, and...

Midnight climbed out of her bed, lost balance while doing so due to getting caught in the covers, and landed flat on her face.

That's a new perspective on things. I hate this clumsy hull. Coming to think of it, shouldn't you be giving me superb reflexes or something like that?

Well, first, would you kindly pick ourselves up? I'd love to help, but since I am but you, there's little possiblewhen the husk is unable to react by herself. Besides, I don't want to risk a traffic jam on our nerves. Also, watching you faceplant is simply delicious... would you kindly stop munching on the floor?

Dust is surprisingly tasty when you think about it. I love it.

Keep that up and I'll take us over. Speaking of love, this is the day.

Midnight got up and went into the kitchen, surprised to find that neither of her roommates was up yet and thus the duty of breakfast was hers. She sat down at the table and began to work her magic, staring out through the window into Ponyville which was just being kissed awake by the Sun's blessed warmth.

Right. The world isn't ready for me, yet here I am. I'm gonna bring the entire system down on their heads, and with your help, they'll never see me coming. How do ponies fall in love? First sight? That's kinda the case for me, but she doesn't look like it. So it's prolly down to dating. 'Cause that went so well last time. Dates need money. How much? About two-hundred bits should do it. Can I spare that much? Paycheck isn't due for another three weeks. I can't wait that long and I'd prefer not to have to explain this to Dad. Check the Nightional Treasury later. More importantly though, I'll have to ask her out. Given that I get the necessary guts and she agrees, which sounds likely, actually, I'll need the proper situation. Perhaps I could start out by asking her if she's ever had a relationship, that way I can also confirm that she needs a partner and save myself the embarassmentif she doesn't. But that's nothing with which to intentionally come to her. It has to be a random encounter. But how can I set that up? I guess I'm best off being friends with her. For now. Until the perfect opportunity arises. Patience...

We... are patient.

In that moment, Octavia and Vinyl Scratch came into the kitchen surprisingly simultaneously, like they had started to come down at the same time from the same previously tightly locked room.

"So, kissed a filly in the meantime?" teased Vinyl.

"Did you?" Midnight shot back.

"As a matter of fact, I did. Right on both of her lips, too." To that, Octavia responded by giving out an audible 'Hmph' and glaring daggers at Vinyl for being so direct. After only a second or two, however, she instead turned to caressing her lover's neck.

"Taaacky!" called Midnight.

"We'll see how you and Twilight will behave, yes?" Vinyl responded while Octavia was nibbling on the ends of her mane.

After breakfast, Midnight went up again to secretly inspect her super secret money stash - located in a bag below everything else in a drawer.

That isn't nearly enough to pay for dinner if I still want to eat. Well, actually it is. Just nearly, though. I'll have to get more, I guess. Just how did I use it up so quickly? More importantly, where can I earn moneys?

Plenty of ways for a pretty filly to sell herself.

Which I'm not. Also, I'm not in Canterlot any more. It'd be hard.

We know what that means...

Teenager part time jobs! Oh how I dreaded this day. Although, it can't be worse than what I did last time.

I was hoping for something different. Like your last job. Wasn't that fun, if perhaps a bit saucy?

You weren't present. It was horrible, ponies kept asking for more than I could keep up with.

Silly filly, I'm always where the action is. And I remember one time when you came back all drenched in their stickiness. Ha, Dad's face. Who would've guessed Canterlot had a tomato factory, anyway?

What else? One where they grind up useless foals and make, I don't know, rainbows? I guess I could stand here and stare at my lacking money all day or work out a way to mutiply them.

Ask Octavinyl, perhaps? Their kind always has spare money for the cause of love.

It's a just cause, methinks. I won't, though. Want to know why? Juust 'cause! Besides, I hate debt. One shudders to imagine what they might make me do to repay it.

Like, giving the money back when you can?

Exactly! Or maybe they'll have me work it off at one of their performances. And we know that everypony claiming to enjoy either's works is a liar. Or perhaps they'll just nullify it, but I'll have to endure their teasing when it works out. Can't let that happen. Maybe I can sell more of my drawings. Ha, exploiting friends for money is fun. Under the light of d- upon closer inspection, though, I don't expect them to be worth anything. But maybe practiving will help me think less of Sparkle and more of how I can make her think higher of me. Why, being creative never gets old. Maybe some day I'll be able to draw something that isn't present.

Don't forget to pack plenty of red.

I dare you.

Midnight packed her supplies for the day and headed out in search of new inspiration. It was still early, few ponies were out since it was Sunday. A cool breeze played with the ends of her mane as she surveyed her surroundings. Sweet Apple Acres in the distance caught her eye. Surely, there weren't enough pictures of fruit already. She could make something work with the trees. She just had to figure out what. Midnight wasn't all that much for apples, except if they were compressed into the divine state of cider, that is, but she figured they might be worth drawing, even if she didn't intend to eat one.

Technically, the Acres probably were private property. However, since she and Applejack already were friends, at least according to the earth pony, Midnight allowed herself in. Nopony would argue anyway.

She laid down in the grass. It was surprisingly dry, the Sun had been warming it just long enough. She turned her head, looking for a subject while her bag spilled its contents onto the ground. Mostly, she had to decide on the scale she wanted to go for. A single apple hanging in the tree would work, but so would focusing on an entire tree or perhaps even the orchard as a whole. If she moved to the right place, the Sun was still low enough to create a great picture. Midnight had already found the perfect spot she'd have to be in, but she then saw something far better. Up in a tree not too far away from her a certain pegasus laid on a branch curled up like a cat, seemingly trying to blend in with the juicy fruit around her. Being mostly bright blue didn't help Rainbow Dash accomplish this, though.

For a moment, Midnight wondered how there could even be fruit, not to mention pony-sized rainbow colored ones, hanging in the trees at that time of the year. Then however, she remembered what Sparkle had said when she had asked. Apparently, chosen farmers were granted enchanted trees that could bear fruit all around the year to help end the hunger crisis of umpteen twenty something. Taking into consideration what they had told Midnight about the relationship between the pegasus and the tree's owner, Applejack was in for a rich harvest. Not only she could profit from that, though. An idea struck Midnight and her face took on a devious grin as she went to execute it.

Perfect. Sloth shall be fittingly chastised.

Rainbow Dash, who turned out to be quite a deep sleeper, was adorned with apples delivered by the tree she slept in, the fruit being placed in various locations on and around her, one particular one slightly pushed into her muzzle. Midnight hadn't expected to get away with something like that, but seeing as she had, she shrugged and got to work.

Smart words do not make smart.

Aye, 's long as dem ponies unnerstand us, us all kin talk like we wanna. Pass me the red... wow, I'm getting a bit more attached than I'd like to. Not to mention asking you to use my magic is renundant anyway. I'm in full control... still.

The subject was easy to draw. Midnight had decided to have the picture zoom in to show just Rainbow Dash with a bit of leaves in the background. Consequently, she was quick to get it done, even working with two crayons simultaneously with a little help from her better part. She still found the direct use of magic unnecessary, of course. If she already had a box of material, she might as well use it.

Upon approaching the final bits to add in, like coloring the rainbow, Midnight felt a little tingle deep within her. That in addition to rhythmical clopping told her that somepony was approaching. She looked around, her neck cracking in the process, and spotted whom she had been expecting to show up all the time.

"Howdy! How nice of..." Applejack began, but she was quickly shushed by Midnight, who pointed upwards to the sleeping pegasus. Applejack looked and continued with a lower voice such as not to disturb Dash, "Might Ah ask what yer doin' with mah wife soon-to-be?"

"Art!" replied Midnight, taking the paper off of the pad and floating it before Applejack so that she could have a good look at it.

"Tha' looks a mite unsafe, ta be honest. Ya sure she's still breathin'?"

"Sure. Look at her chest. I guess I can finish this on my own, so let's make sure." With a few cunning levitation points, Midnight destabilised Rainbow Dash on the branch, using magic and her own body to break Dash's fall and gently set her down in the grass. "Sleeping deeper than I thought. I think she's coming, though."

Rainbow squirmed a little, trying to escape the sunlight that was now shining into her eyes, also licking and nibbling the apple in her mouth in the process. "Please, AJ... you know I'm more into toys. Well, if you insist... mmmh..."

Midnight cocked a very critical eyebrow while Applejack avoided her gaze, kicking into her friend far more powerful than what would be expected between lovers to help her wake up faster and avoid further embarassment.

"Leeet's just pretend that didn't happen. I think 'Jack's right, by the way. Welcome back among the conscious. With a bit of training, you might be able to make it into the circle of the self-conscious. Ha, I made a funny! Speaking of which, wanna see what I made of your sleepiness?"

Rainbow Dash rubbed her eyes before spitting out the fruit and adjusting her position on the ground into a more comfortable one. "Sure, I guess. If it means you'll explain why I woke up with an apple in my mouth. I mean, not that I'd mind that, if it's the right Apple," she said without shame.

"Overhearing a lot of things today. I must be going deaf. Anyway, it looks something like this. Exactly like this, actually." Midnight picked up the drawing and showed it to the last one who hadn't seen it. "What do you think?"

"Different thoughts running through my head right now. Ranging from 'You just made ME look cute, which is unacceptable' across 'Needs more of the best pony in the world' all the way to 'Darn it, that's cute'."

"Want me to draw an orange flank around some of the apples? Celestia knows it'd be big enough... hey, what's that on the backside?" Somehow, a message had appeared on the back of the paper, written in pink wax crayon, it seemed. "'Twilight is celebrating her birthday and you're invited. 7 PM at the library. Cake and the good stuff will be provided. Gifts welcome, but not required'," Midnight read aloud. "Of course. Because breaking about every law of nature I know is cooler than just giving out invitations. What does Pinkie mean by 'good stuff', though?"

"Cider," Rainbow Dash instantly replied. "Good thinking of her to remind me. I'd have forgotten otherwise."

"Reminds me wha' Ah was doin' 'fore the lot of you showed up. Gotta get a nice supply of tha'... stuff to hers. If y'all would excuse me." Applejack then departed back towards the farmhouse.

"She's one of your best friends, you saved the world together twice, and you still don't know her birthday?" Midnight asked.

"Been around for less than you'd think. Besides, I gotta stay awesome twenty-four seven, little time to remember stuff like that. Erm, you wouldn't want to part with that, would you?" Rainbow Dash asked, gesticulating towards the drawing that laid unused on the pad, the breeze Midnight had already felt earlier playing with its edges and corners.

"Once it's done, sure, if you want it. I'll get it your way. Probably tonight."

"Awesome, thanks. See ya!"

It's like the annual groundhog week all over again. Perhaps I'll get the courage this time around. Maybe I'll be able to squeeze the information I need out of Sparkle. Gah, I'm a pony of practice. Whatever I do, I have done a hundred times at home. Why do I have to deal with such situations which you can't practice for? I guess I can prepare the best I can. Do I have to wash my hair? Mh, maybe. Brushing probably wouldn't be a bad idea. A gift? A proper first kiss, perhaps. Ha, as if, once again. There's still the problem concerning money, though... I don't wanna!

Would you kindly stop worrying? It'll be fun, I'm sure.

You sound like my roommates.

Unicorns of pure blood think as one.

Chapter 50

Scheming attempt number umpteen-three. Seven PM, I arrive at the library. Question number one, do I bring a gift and if yes, what kind?

An offer with which to merge your possessions?

Midnight submerged her head until her nostrils were covered in water, occasionally blowing out a bit of air to create bubbles. The warm bath did unexpected wonders to relax muscles she hadn't known were even tensed. As an added benefit, any hair on her body, be it in mane, coat, or tail, was being cleaned. She wanted to look the best she could that evening. She shortly came back up to catch a breath, closed her eyes, and fully went underwater, laying her head on the bottom of the bathtub. Her sensitive horn fired off a single spark as the warmth surrounded it. She was blinded, but felt incredibly peaceful.

Try not drowning yourself.

Not now, not ever anymore. At long last, I have a goal in life, even if it is as mundane as getting Sparkle to like me. Returning to the point...

Our blood tells me she would be glad just to see you arrive. It also whispers that there will only be seven ponies in the library tonight. You mean much to her, just think about the signals she's giving out unconsciously.

Midnight slowly ran out of air. She reemerged, briefly shaking her head to get both water and mane out of her eyes, then reopened them to see the common lie ponies called the real world.

My blood runs cold and silent. Stop pretending otherwise.

Is there a difference if it is hints from our royal blood or whispers from the Flow that we receive? I feel it somewhat unnerving that I appear to be the only one of us able to conceive them, though. It's like I was but a plot device designed to filter out the important of the notions you receive. It is cold, yes, silent, I admit, but there is something waking your heart from its eternal dream. A drip of warmth, if you will. Thoughts of the filly... every single one takes away from the dreadful chill and replaces it with bliss, the warmth of life. Do I have to retell another fairy tale?

If you will, wait until I'm done and in my room. I need scrubbies. And you will help me with it. Also, we're still not through with the plan.

In the depths of Tartauros, where there sits the Demon Forge itself, I had more dignified purposes. And those were to burn to provide power to the Forge.

Less talky, more scrubby! Thinking about it, also more talky.

Midnight dived down once more, this time for not even a single second, then floated shampoo into her mane, rubbing it in in every place simultaneously. She was so used to having magic to aid her in any situation, she honestly couldn't imagine how the other pony races kept themselves clean. One thing was certain, it would involve lots of more time, far fewer relaxing stimulation, and also more irritated skin from being rubbed through with hooves.

I go there and... I guess it's out of my control from that point onwards. One thing I know for sure is that I must not be socially reclused. Talk openly and enjoy our time. Then, somehow, I'll manage to be alone with her and... find the time to... find the words to... tell her what I'm feeling. I don't care if I don't have the money to take her out or if she returns my feelings. I'll gather my courage this time.

Should it be your wish, you have my blessing.

Again, she dipped below the surface. Her mane flowed freely around her, floating as if it were one with the waves surrounding it, those of energy as well as those of water. Again, returning to above the surface brought with it the cold of reality as she had to leave her freedom behind in the liquid below her.

Whatever that means. Do I dress for this occasion? If so, how?

Why not in your gala dress? That went so well last time. No, wait, that was another universe I had observed, and another Midnight. Filly, calm down. It may be your crush under the surface, but above, it is simply friends getting together. Relax and the world will be benign to you. Dressing up would only draw suspicion.

Feeling satisfied with the results, Midnight pulled the plug and called on Blink to bring her upstairs to her room, feeling too lazy to walk the distance. Only after the teleport she realised that she was still soaking wet and that a target location such as to be used for standing teleportation put her just that much above the ground if she had been lying before casting, which called for gravity to forcefully close the distance. After fetching some towels and rubbing herself dry, she pulled out her various brushes, one to be used for mane, one for her coat, one for sensitive areas, and so on, and stood in front of the mirror while fixing up her looks.

Brushie brushie brush brush bruuush... brushie brushie brush brush brush...

You can't sing, you know that. Also, need I remind you that you had something to think about?

Brushing is S-R-S B-S-N-S.

Surely it is. Since you are not busy or anything, here comes promised tale.

The colors of Midnight's mirror image began to blur and come together as it changed, the surface being repurposed to be a stage instead. A karyogram of an average pony was drawn from the mix.

After Princess Luna was defeated in her attempt to bring peace by conquering her sister and banished to the Moon, peace returned, somewhat, at least. But it was nothing like you could ever imagine. Pony race is regulated solely by genetics. That is how earth ponies give birth to unicorns and so forth. The chromosomes used for it are so spread out, though, that you could just as well think of it as blood in the way that it behaves like a simple percent model. If you have a major amount of 'blood' from a certain race, say, sixty percent unicorn compared to forty percent each for earth and pegasus, you are born as that race.

Certain chromosomes in the karyogram began to light up before blending into a single color again. From that, the throne room as Midnight imagined it - she had never been there - of Princess Celestia manifested, with a crowd built solely of alicorns spread before her.

As Princess Celestia took on the throne over all of Equestria, ponies were far different from what was usual in modern times. As they had just descended from those ponies who were the definition of pure blood, everypony held both a horn and wings on their bodies. Upon seeing what had happened, the spirit had searched out Celestia again, explaining that there had been some complications, but that those were unpure alicorns soon to die out for they had not been granted the gift of eternal life.

During their lifetimes, Those Who Came Before formed their very own utopia under Princess Celestia's leadership. While their bodies were in no way inferior to hers, nopony ever doubted that she was most fit for leadership. The ponies lived, studied, and created in prosperity. There was good in their hearts, clear and untainted by sin. Even for generations after, the royal dungeons laid unused.

Utopia, unlike the princess, was not eternal, however, and thus she quickly met the pain of seeing her subjects decease before her, managing to hold on only through binding herself to the duty of leading the new generations that were born. Those ponies were vastly different, however. As it turned out, to be an alicorn, a very specific configuration of genes is required. As a result of mating with others of unpure blood, their foals quickly broke away from said genome. Already in the first generation, a mere ten out of hundred ponies received the same form as their parents. Facing the rate at which alicorns diminished through the generations, the population adapted. It became normal to only be able to harness one of the world's blessings. Alicorns became legends instead of normal and Princess Celestia was the more adored, as she was the only proof of alicorns that survived the centuries.

Over time, the secrets of alicorns were forgotten entirely, even though the correct combination still occurs once in a lifetime. Those lucky ponies are considered and treated as the highest possible royalty, inferior in command only to the original princesses themselves, while they are technically just simple commoners.

Commoners like us!

Midnight shook her head violently. After blinking, everything looked as normal again. Demonic fairy tales were something she'd never get used to.

And that is to say that?

What if I told you there is a reason why I call you princess? What if I told you our blood was ninety percent pure?

Then I'm still ten short. It's win or lose. Nothing in between. Thinking about it, I'm surprised Sparkle is only a unicorn. I'd expect her of all ponies to deserve wings.

According to 'Researching the Princesses', chapter seven, the princesses possess the qualities of unburdened sight even of places they are out of sight of and of events yet to occur, high magic affinity, extreme resistance to diseases, and hearing the world itself whisper them advice.

All I can hear is the voice of an escaped Tartauran.

Those abilities are also said to be within other recorded alicorns, descendants of the princesses, or just simple commoners, though that last group often has only one of the abilities which is also weaker than it would be in an alicorn.

Since when have the princesses had any foals themselves?

An image shot into Midnight's mind, showing Princess Celestia in a rather implying pose, oddly wearing kneesocks on all four of her legs. She wondered for a moment if Sparkle would like it if she replicated it on paper. Perhaps that would make for an adequate present. Looking back on it, she didn't even know how old her marefriend-to-be turned. If she had been a year or two older than her before, then...

They have. Those weren't alicorns, though. Too much unpure blood. Also, I don't think she's quite the age where you give her clop yet. Or she's past it. Either way, the point is, don't you notice how a lot of those skills are in your possession? Did you ever wonder why?

I have a mental uplink to the Flow in the form of a clone.

Ha. Stop joking, would you kindly?

Midnight took the brush out of her mane, shaking her head again. Her mane had reverted to its previous way of simply falling down straight, though a slight hint of what she had worn before remained. She sighed and magicked a strand that fell over her right eye to the side, though it fell right back. For whatever reason, her illusion spell had washed out partially and collected at the bottom like real dye would. As unwanted as it was, she took the idea and improved on it, going through various layouts of pink versus blue until she finally settled on two stripes of pink at the front that slowly increased in width as they travelled down to her shoulder, as well as one at the back that split into two halfway down and reunited at the bottom after smoothly curving. It was unusual to say the least, but she liked it. In fact, Midnight could feel the earlier desire to be pretty again, which was highly satisfied when she looked at her creation. Hopefully the pony her evening was going to entirely revolve around would think the same way.

And what if I do have a high concentration of genes from Those Who Came Before or how you called them? You said it before, it's nothing special. I'm nothing special.

Those Who Came Before may never have ruled the empire, but their genes keep on ruling the world.

So would that make me One Who Comes After? That might get useful if I manage to speak up to Sparkle.

No. Comment. Did you ever waste a thought at how easily you manipulate the Aether around you? Space and time themselves try to appease you.

Speaking of time, which one is it?

Do I have to tell you or do you want to just start running?

How great that the usual laws of travel time don't apply to me. Ha!

A quick final makeover, a hay sandwich and a Blink later, Midnight arrived in front of the library, just in time to see a violet tail disappear through the closing door. However, this one was lacking a line of pink like the one she adored so much had. It had to belong to Rarity. Midnight tried to magic a few strands of her mane that fell over her eyes, which ultimately proved itself as a futile attempt. Sighing, she went to knock.

Sparkle opened the door so quickly after that Midnight thought she had to have teleported right to it, which might even be true. "Hey, Midnight! Glad you managed to come."

"Wouldn't miss ya for anything," Midnight spoke while entering. The library was even tidier than usual, however that was possible. All the books were in their respective shelves and sorted by alphabet, length, and cover color all at once somehow. In the center of the room, there was a round table with seven table napkins laid out periodically on it. The other Mane Seven, excluding Midnight and Twilight, obviously, had already sat down by one of the napkins each. Midnight noticed that the remaining two slots were right next to each other. A bit out of the way, a square table sat with a small pile of presents on it as well as a soaked citron cake. Midnight walked over to it first to drop off the drawing she had taken along, having decided that it would serve better repurposed as a present for Sparkle. Rainbow Dash couldn't possibly want to object to that. While she was moving, Midnight had to review her earlier observation that the library was quite tidy. Obviously, it had a touch of Pink to it in the form of balloons and streamers and whatever the party pony would have pulled out of her sources.

Midnight spotted a barrel of cider, which had to be the one Applejack had gone to bring to Twilight's earlier, placed right next to some slightly foalish games, as if to give out a sarcastic message. She shrugged and finally went to the table in the middle to take her place next to Sparkle, certain features of whom caught her attention against her will. It was Twilight's own fault as she was leaning forward, her forelegs on the table, Midnight justified herself. Fluttershy gave her a look that was all too knowing, but quickly retreated both in behavior and even a bit physically upon seeing Midnight's reaction. Apparently used to that kind of behavior, Rarity, who happened to sit between the pegasus and Midnight, began to lightly comfort her. Next to them, Pinkie Pie and Applejack laughed over a pose that Rainbow Dash between them had pulled.

"Alright," Twilight spoke up. "Now that we're all here, thanks for coming. It means a lot to me. Okay, now let's get this party started." She turned to her left, where Midnight sat. "You're participating of course, right?"

"Uh, in cider, you mean? Sure thing."

"Great! I'll get you some then." She went off to draw from the barrel. Pinkie went along to help carry mugs. Off in the distance, they were talking about something Midnight probably didn't care about at all.

"Pst!" came from the side. Midnight turned her head, sadly taking out of sight those beautiful curves, to spot Rarity beckoning for her attention. "I'm not sure what you drink in Canterlot," she whispered. "But this here is hard cider. You know what you're getting yourself into, yes? Are you even legal drinking age?"

"Psht, of course I am," Midnight replied sure of herself, yet still quiet enough to not be heard by the other ponies. "But thanks for the warning anyway." Her mind was already somewhere else, though. There were so many wonderful things she'd be able to do if she managed to get Sparkle drunk and maybe take a few mugs herself in the process.

How evil of you.

Patience has yielded an opportunity. Let us grasp it.

Sparkle returned, carrying four mugs in her magic while Pinkie somehow had three without falling over or spilling anything. They gave everypony one and settled down again. Midnight could see how the evening would run. First a bit of talk over some cider, then the cake, followed by presents, all wrapped up in the end by playing those juvenile board games. Obviously, cider was going to be involved in each step. She liked that. She'd have to watch her own consumption, though. According to some rough estimates, she should be fine until having drunk three, and sentient until the sixth. It looked like the ponies had stored enough and every intention to use that much, though. Also, she couldn't know for sure how alcoholic it was. All she could conclude from were estimated time of production versus current date and taste. Rarity seemed like a responsible drinker, however, and she looked as if she had about Midnight's body weight, so all she had to do was stick to that pony in terms of alcohol. Noticing that she was behind, Midnight quickly took a swig herself before everypony else could set their mugs down and notice she had been thinking that entire time. While every manner she had ever learned pressed her to use magic, Midnight instead lifted the cider up to her mouth through simply lifting it with a foreleg.

It tasted vastly different than expected. She had had cider before, some with alcohol in it as well. Still, Midnight couldn't resist making a face when expectation met reality.

Rarity appeared to have seen it before Midnight could push it back. With a tone sounding like she had been just waiting for it to happen, she said, "Of course, you don't have to drink along just because we do, dear."

Midnight shook her head no in response. "Nah, it's fine, 's just... different than I expected. The supply at Canterlot isn't quite as... sour. More sweetness in it. Not that I'm complaining, of course."

"Thatta girl," Applejack came in. "Cider's fun whatever way ya put it. 'Specially ours here from 'em Acres."

Social pressure. Reason number one to lie.

Really, I'm fine.

Or so you say. How sad your sweet tooth has to meet mildly sweet food for tonight. More specifically, sour.

Midnight didn't let that pull her down. She, as well as the other ponies present, gaily talked, drank, and ate. She had to notice how devoting her life to stealthily scheming plans had left her little time to keep practicing social contact, though. Occasionally, she just didn't feel like participating when others were already in the discussion. Unless Sparkle said something, of course. Eventually, they got to the third part, the interesting one. Everypony had had their share, but Midnight had been watching herself and still felt fine. It wasn't time to get really drunk yet, anyway. On the other hoof, it was noticeable that some were rather tipsy. For instance, Twilight herself, who tried to artfully magic open the band on a small box. After a few attempts ending in broken concentration and thus failed spell, she just settled on levitating a blade. Midnight held ready a simple shield spell that she could put over everypony, just in case. It proved unnecessary as the band was successfully cut, Twilight putting away the blade and removing the lid, revealing an assortment of small ornaments inside.

The most prominent item was a hairclip shaped and colored like her cutie mark. She quickly put it on next to her right ear. Midnight was amazed at how such a simple change made Sparkle look so much prettier. Also in the box were two golden ear rings with small violet gems inlaid in them, apparently designed to reference her mane. She put them back into the box to store them for later while moving on to the last two, which left everypony briefly speechless. Those two rings looked like they had a very specific purpose, not to make their wearer more attractive to other ponies, no, contrarily, to repel those that wanted a simple relationship with that pony. Wordlessly, she cleared her throat while putting them back inside.

"Well. Um, who was so generous with you?" Rarity asked.

"Huh? Oh, that one's from my parents..." Twilight replied. She took out the letter from the package, unfolding it and setting to read aloud, "Hmhmhm, 'dear Twilight'... 'We got a surprisingly good deal on those, so enclosed are a few bits. Spend those on whatever - or whomever - pleases you.' Why, she's direct about wanting grandchildren. Heh... me and children. As if that was ever gonna happen."

'Can't judge it 'til you tried it'? 'If pregnancy's not your thing, I'll gladly bear them for you'? Too direct.

Next, Twilight pulled forward a roll of paper, for which it was obvious from whom it came. Still, Midnight probably should clarify before it became opened. "That one's from me," she said. "Sorry I didn't get to wrap it, but what's more important is what's inside, right?"

Sparkle nodded and opened the paper, revealing for everypony to see the drawing of earlier, now fully fleshed out, signed and dubbed 'Dashing between the Apples'. For diligence reasons, Midnight had found it appropriate to remove the writing on its back. Twilight looked, simply put, amazed. "You made that yourself?"

"Yeah, you know, not the best, but I wanted to show you how much I appreciate your company."

"This is gorgeous! I don't think I could do anything near this well."

"I... what?"

Twilight flung the paper across the table so that the drawing's main subject and those sitting around her could also look at it, as well as allowing her to talk more directly to Midnight. Only thanks to Rarity's quick reaction time with summoning a levitation magic of her own the drawing could avoid a premature death due to landing on a mug and spilling its contents. "Where did you get that kind of skills?"

"Practice, I suppose."

"Anyway, thank you so much." Sparkle set for shaking hooves, but an idea crossed Midnight's mind. It had to be set up just perfectly, but if she managed to pull it off, it'd be well worth the risk. She lowered her head, aiming directly at Twilight, as if she wanted to kiss her on the cheek. Expectedly, she was confused. Midnight just needed to bring out the right response. "What are you?"

"Crossing horns. It's... a gesture common in Canterlot for expressing gratitude. Of course, we don't have to..."

Hook and bait...

"Uh, no, no, let's do that."

Bitten.

Sparkle responded with fitting movements of her own. Their horns crossed about a quarter of the way down. Midnight took the lead, lightly knocking them together first on one side, then the other. Obviously, they were still friends, so they kept their faces apart, but they had to come together close enough so that Midnight could feel her breath on her neck. Simply doing that felt just wonderful. It was an ancient itch, finally getting even the least bit satisfied. Sadly, she had to withdraw soon. Midnight took a moment to let everything sink in while the others progressed through the stack.

Have a look at this.

The Flow looked as she would have expected of it. Everypony had their essences and all, including Midnight, were connected through a band of their combined colors. Between some ponies, mostly Applejack and Rainbow Dash, but also between Midnight and Sparkle, their own two colors glowed far brighter to indicate the connection between the two exceeded friendship.

Well, first, do you see how her own color is also stronger? She's in for you. But also, there's this... up, would you kindly?

Between their horns, a new band had formed. It was very thin, looking so fragile that Midnight might be able to shatter it by simply waving her hoof through it.

Magic interconnected. You are linked. Not only metaphorically, but also in essence. In fact, when you do that, you are able to draw from her power pool, and vice versa. Try it.

Unable to find a reason why she should not, Midnight tried lifting her mug through magic. She was overwhelmed by finding that it did not take any effort any more at all. In fact, she accidentally overdid the spell due to being used to her own puny resources. Once she managed to halt the upwards momentum, she was quickly reminded of mass inertia as the cider within kept flying up and through the air. However, by creating five separate gateways the likes of which she would usually be able to sustain one in the blink of an eye, each of them linking to one point in the mug, she managed to catch back all but a few drops of liquid.

Such power... I can't imagine how she even controls that. Any pony I can imagine would crack beneath it, unable to keep it under control. They would... unleash it all at once, annihilating their surroundings in endless magic before literally exploding with enough force to flatten Canterlot Mountain. I mustn't draw into it too much myself. Don't want to waste her gift... I fear what would happen should I focus too much of it within me.

You have the world at your hooves, yet you give it all up for your love, strengthening both of you in the process.

What do you mean?

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Look at her. Can you not see how she has regained easy control over her power?

Indeed, Sparkle had unfastened the band around one of the presents and was now making it twist and twirl in the air like a snake while she casually completed the rest of the opening procedure, looking at and talking to her friends while doing so.

You may contribute little to the bond, but it is your love that strengthens her to the point where she can act as if sober while still inebriated. Claim her!

... Patience.

Midnight returned to the normal world in both mind and vision, just in time to see the content of this package. It was... a book. At least that one wouldn't contest Midnight's present as the most creative one. It was a bit of a special one, though.

"You're of Age, Now Let's Get You Laid. Erm, thanks? To whoever..."

"Oh, heh, don't worry about the title. They told me it's a nice read and I figured you could use some where you don't, you know, study everything you read," Rainbow Dash explained, clearly feeling the awkwardness of this misunderstanding.

"As it would happen, I know the author of this one," Midnight said. "Just a story about a young filly searching for a mate. You know, like you." She giggled.

It's quite inspiring, if you want to put it that way. Plenty of do-it-yourself tips in it. Don't ask me how I know that. Well, here's for hoping she will try to use that on me and nopony else.

"Oh, okay. Thanks!"

Across the table, Rarity caught Midnight's eye. It was clear that she, too, knew what this book contained. This didn't really surprise Midnight, but it amused her nonetheless.

Sparkle's friends appeared to really care for her. While none of their presents were quite as personal as Midnight's, at least in her opinion, they had still all put effort into making her happy. Some more cider later, they sat collected in a circle on the upper floor of the library, playing Truth or Dare. It didn't feel like something mares of their age should do, but if Sparkle wanted to, they all gladly obeyed.

"Now, Rainbow Dash, truth or dare?" Rarity asked as her turn was over.

"Gimme truth," Dash responded.

"Okay, erm... ah! My dear Dash, was Applejack really your first ever kiss?"

It was visible how Rainbow hadn't expected anything like this question. Her eyes showed clear stress signals, as well as her wings that had sprung open to allow sudden flight if need be. "Do I have to answer this?"

"Heh, 's alright, Ah wanna know too!" Applejack piped out. The very idea of it seemed paradox, but the farmer looked like she was to be the first one to overstep her tolerance border concerning alcohol.

"Um, well, it was at flight camp..." she began.

"Ya made out with Gilda?" Applejack interrupted her.

"What? No! That was in Junior Speedsters... no, not there either. Gee, I hope you don't mind... anyway. One day, 'Shy came to me, saying some colt had asked her out and..."

"Wait a second, OUR little Fluttershy?" Pinkie Pie asked, though the answer to that question was already obvious from how said pegasus was literally shrinking together where she sat.

Rainbow Dash aknowledged this fact, but chose to continue anyway, "Yeah, yeah, that one. And so," she let loose a fit of giggles she had to have been repressing the entire time, "the day before they went out, we were at hers, practicing."

"Oh my gosh, you never said anything about this. What's his name? How did he look? Did he treat you well?" Rarity inquired, though only squeaks came as response.

"I think you gotta wait for her turn. Back to topic, I can't remember anypony else. Except for this one, of course," Dash said before diving onto Applejack for a passionate kiss. This was met with mixed reactions from the other ponies. Most of them showed admiration and expressed how cute they thought the two were, especially Fluttershy, who seemed glad to have escaped fate this time. Midnight, however, just rolled her eyes and, after a moment of letting them be, cleared her throat as a signal for them to move on.

Rainbow finally lifted her head and climbed off of Applejack. "Oh yeah. Twilight, what'll it be?"

"I think I'll take truth."

"Alright." Rainbow Dash thought for a moment, then her face twisted into a devilish grin. "Imagine it's mating season, but you're a stallion. Who would you take?"

"I..."

"Now, you really don't have to answer that. Rainbow, you should feel ashamed of yourself," Rarity intervened before Sparkle could form an answer.

"Big Mac," Twilight said without further hesitation, ignoring Rarity's attempts at helping her.

"Wh... remember, you're a stallion!"

"Yeah, I know. But I think he's really cute and... to be honest, I think he'd be having more of me than of any of you."

"So you're implying..."

"She's right," Applejack whispered.

"Wow. That's a load coming for Apple Bloom. But seriously, him, of all ponies?" Rainbow said.

"Can't change who he is."

"No, of course not. Gotta hope he'll find his proper somepony."

What an emotional moment of accidental revelations. Consequently, Midnight was bored. "Most importantly, who are those ponies you're talking about?"

"Mah brother 'n' sis. Ya haven't met 'em? Shucks, ya should. Weell, interestin' choice, Twilight."

"Why, who would you take?"

Bad. This conversation is drifting all the way to awkward right now. I'll have to say my own and she'll find out and reject me and...

You got ninety-nine problems, but a ditch ain't one. On a slightly related note, thanks for poisoning me. I swear I enjoy getting murdered more every time you do it.

"Guess who." To further clear whom she meant, Applejack leaned over to quickly peck Dash on the cheek.

"I would go for Octavia. She's such a classy mare and very nice once you get to know her," Rarity said.

"Filly fooler," Midnight threw in.

There goes...

"Oh. Well. Come on, the rest of you. Three of us have already said it, tell us whom you would go for! It's no fun if only some ponies participate."

"Myself," Pinkie Pie cheerfully exclaimed. "Ain't nopony partyin' in Pinkie like Pinkie."

"Absolutely Fluttershy. Sorry, AJ, but I'd just love to pin her down and, while she's squealing..."

"Rainbow, watch your tongue."

"I, um..."

"Darling, don't tell me you'd enjoy that ruffian?"

"I'd take you because I think you're really graceful and you've always been there for me and..." Fluttershy quickly rambled down in whisper volume. Her wings were extended and her cheeks glowed in a pink brighter than her mane behind which she quickly hid after saying that.

"Oh, I see," Rarity said, her face becoming slightly tinted as well. "Don't worry about it. It's just a fantasy and we won't let this come between us."

Always the quiet ones. And now I'm the only one left and don't have one to pull me out of this affair. Care to help me?

Be as you are and kindly say the truth.

"Well. Heh. Midnight, what about you?" Sparkle asked to bridge the awkward situation that had occured.

"I... you. I can't imagine anypony else. I'd want you, with all the consequences it'd bring. I think you're really cute, Sparkle."

Alcohol, liquid courage. This is one step up the slope you've been standing in front of the entire time. Now press your advantage or you'll slide off again.

I can't believe I really did this. Are you also starting to feel sick?

Relax, she's taking it nicely.

"Oh, that's so sweet of you to say," Twilight said, clearly oblivious to the meaning behind Midnight's words. "Anyway, stick to the schedule. Midnight, your pick?"

I pick truth, I have to say whom I have a crush on. That'd be a quick and painless way to put it behind us, but no. Dare... well, I guess I won't have to kiss Sparkle since she's asking herself. Isn't that how those two others came together?

"I'll do a dare."

"Hm, I dare you to... down a mug of cider without breathing or making a face."

"No problem. Give me some and I'll down it," Midnight boasted.

"That's a word!" Sparkle cheered alongside the others as she rose to refill Midnight's mug.

With her challenge set before her, Midnight took a few deep breaths in preparation. Slowly, she lifted it into the air through levitation, noting that she was no longer connected to Sparkle's power source. Now that it was before her, she suddenly realised how much it really was. Still, there was no backing out any more. She had to do it. She took her final breath and began drinking.

The first gulp was relatively easy if not even pleasing. By the fifth, it had lost its flavor and Midnight was merely pushing it through. When she was at number seven, Midnight accidentally tried to breathe, burning her nasal cavity with the sour liquid that had been sucked into it, but she kept going. Finally, shortly before running out of air, the flow ceased and Midnight could gather some much needed breath. Following this through had been a bad idea, that was now clear to her. She needed a moment of closed-eyes solitude to handle the feeling of liquid gushing into her stomach she was experiencing.

"Are you okay?" Sparkle's sweet voice asked beside her.

Midnight shook her head such as to clear her mind and reopened her eyes. "Yah. Now, Fluttershy, what do you want?"

"Um, truth."

"Oh, really?" Midnight already knew exactly what she was going to ask. "So... tell us about that colt."

Given how much fun they had been having, the party had ended far too quickly. It was probably for the better, though. Everypony could feel the warmth of slightly overdone alcohol consumption, to the extent that the babbling Applejack had to be escorted home lest she hurt herself. The others were slowly leaving as well. Midnight could see them from the balcony. She felt that her presence would still be required at the library later. In fact, it was a setup for just the perfect moment she had been waiting for. Should that fail, she still had to say she enjoyed the serenity of being alone with just flowers and the night sky to accompany her.

The blob of light below vanished. Through the open door, Midnight could hear unsure hoofsteps approaching.

"Hey," Sparkle said as she was coming out. It was all just like last time. "I gotta ask you something."

"Go ahead," Midnight responded, faking not knowing what Twilight was about to say, when she was verily just waiting for it to come. She wasn't disappointed.

"What you said earlier, how you think about me... was that true?"

"Every single word."

"Wow... I never realised. Everything you did makes sense now. Heh. Heh heh." She burst into laughter. Midnight noticed a strong smell of alcohol coming from her.

Smashed. She won't remember a thing in the morning.

As painful as this was, Midnight had come to realise that the words themselves didn't hurt at all. Soon, she'd find herself able to say them to a sober Sparkle. Also, while they were both inebriated, she might as well take advantage of it. She moved in closer, giving Twilight a small kiss on the cheek. Said unicorn countered in a way she didn't see coming at all, coming around to catch Midnight's lips with her own. She didn't stop at that, however, and shily pushed her tongue into Midnight's mouth, which gladly accepted it. It tasted like apples, but also bitter, of alcohol. Nevertheless, it was the best thing Midnight had ever tasted.

Finally, after so long, Midnight got to follow her heart's desire. Now that she was at it, she had to admit that both the pain and the good feelings that followed it were far beyond anything she could've imagined. The former was well worth it for the latter, however, as she got a moment's respite and looked down to see Sparkle's horn had taken on a rather dark red color.

Enjoying yourself?

Ngh, go away.

How pathetic it is how you shape your illusions. Also, there are minors watching, pull it together, filly! Which is why, rather than offering you the illusion of free choice, I've taken the liberty of choosing for you if and when you'll find yourself in the next dream.

Nooo! Dammit.

Everything faded back to darkness. Not only was the scenery gone, but with it had vanished any kind of feelings that dream had evoked.

It's for the better. Now, in this magical world I've pulled out, there is some wonderful magic in place. Many ponies are born with a special gift.

Midnight fell. After eons of falling, she landed on a smooth surface, though the darkness was still all-consuming around her. That didn't last long, however, as with the first step she took, the dark flew away in the form of birds until a big circular stained glass picture was revealed. She didn't have the best view of it, but Midnight could see it was showing her in the center, surrounded by small versions of the Elements of Harmony. The style reminded her somewhat of the windows in the royal castle. A stone pedestal rose from the ground not too far away.

They can bend to their will one of the elements that which make up the world. First, there is air.

A small cloud of mist manifested on the pedestal.

It is the embodiment of freedom. Nothing can stop the flow of air as it goes about its own business drifting across the world. Like air, those that control it are always close to the skies. They care little for affairs down on the ground as they live in solitude, free in meditation as their element. Do you wish to take this element as your birthright?

"Yeah, I'd..." Midnight tried to speak up, but was interrupted by another pedestal rising. This one bore a ring of water twisting and turning.

Then there is water. Similiar in principle to air, water also highly values freedom. When in a fight, water users will fluidly chain offense and defense into each other, never giving up one for the other.

"Gimme..." A third one. On this one, there was a small formation of common stone.

Earth. Very much unlike the former two, earth holds great tenacity and patience. However, simply to bend it, the user must already possess a will so strong she can overpower the earth's desire to hold still.

"That sounds... why am I even trying?" The fourth rose. It held an orb of flame, a tiny sun.

Fire. In fire, there is rage, destruction, the spark of life. Fire benders require a great soul to ignite the aether around them and use flames effectively. As much destruction as uncontrolled fire will bring, there is always beauty in it. It is unleashed energy. The reason to live focused. Now, take your pick.

"I want... erm... earth. Patience."

A wise choice. However, to fully understand your element, you must exclude another's properties from your soul.

"What? What kind of restriction is that? I guess I can live without... air."

You give up endless freedom in order to achieve the strength of the earth, as well as its limitless patience. Once again, wise. Enjoy your stay, princess.

Chapter 51

After an unwished, yet admittedly entertaining adventure in the land of elements, Midnight awoke feeling more relaxed than she had expected. It was dampened a little when she realised she would have to work and it was later than usual, though. She got up, executing her usual morning routine regardless of time. When she came downstairs, she was glad to find that Vinyl Scratch had been the first to rise and she thus only needed to take what was given instead of preparing it herself. Vinyl was surprisingly conservative with witty comments about what Midnight had done the night before when she sat down.

It's been the night of your life, hasn't it?

A night to live, but not to last. That is, I can only hope it won't last. I couldn't imagine if...

You want her to remember it, believe me. Too bad she won't. Oh, all the awkwardness you will have to suffer through since you've lost this opportunity.

It wasn't perfect. I need a better opportunity. Until then, patience.

Patient... we are.

After finishing with breakfast and washing up, Midnight stepped out of the house to begin her journey. She could yank herself through the Flow to the clinic, but she felt like walking there instead. It wasn't that far, anyway. More importantly, it provided her with some time to think, which she really could use. It was still relatively early. Many features of Ponyville were softened or entirely consumed by the slight fog forming in the cool air. The Sun was up, but it hadn't warmed much at all yet. Midnight was reminded of the first time she had seen Ponyville in fog. This time was different, however. It was thin enough for her to see any approaching ponies coming towards her. Twilight wouldn't get such an edge on her again. She broke into a trot, just in case. It proved pointless, as Midnight was left alone with her thoughts all through her journey.

She arrived at the clinic and began her shift as always. At least once, she didn't run into any unpleasant surprises. Though, after a bit of time, Twilight came in while Midnight was switching rooms.

"Hey Sparkle, what brings you here?" she greeted with a face devoid of her true emotions, wearing a mask of simple smiling.

Let her remember yesternight, oh please...

"Well, I can remember overshooting on the cider a bit yesterday, and nothing else. So, I just wanted to apologise for whatever I may have done. And thanks for the advice."

Yes, Midnight knew what she was talking about. After using their common drunken stupor to get what she desired from Sparkle, even though it didn't count and had to be repeated later, she had written a little note for the next morning. As far as she could recall, it read, "Dear sober Sparkle, I can only imagine what you are going through right now. Take it slow and have plenty of water. I'll be working at the clinic should you need me. Midnight."

"There's been nothing you'd regret, don't worry. It's been fun and we all learned something about the proper handling of alcohol," Midnight replied.

"Yes. Everypony's saying that. I'm just glad nothing happened. It'll make for an interesting friendship report, that's for sure," Twilight said, taking a step back and straightening her mane out better.

"Whattathing?"

"I'm theoretically still researching friendship here under Princess Celestia, so I'm sending her reports whenever I learn something new about it," Sparkle explained with a casual tone as if the princess was just another pony and corresponding with her was nothing special at all.

You always pull a new way in which you're special out of your hat to surprise me, don't you.

"You're amazing. Mostly how you manage to keep those things a secret from me."

"Yeah, I know. I'm like the Rainbow Dash of magic," said Twilight, clearly not understanding the full meaning of Midnight's compliment, but still taking the praise with pride.

"And about as modest. You know, Sparkle, if you weren't verily that awesome, I'd have to remind you again of that you need to learn some modesty, like from back at Canterlot. Ah, those were the good times. Everypony was so much easier."

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.

"I mean everything. Not everypony. You know, still going to school or at least pretending to, nothing else to worry about..." Midnight quickly lied, hoping Sparkle would buy it. Apparently, it worked, as the look of misunderstanding faded from her cute little face and instead was replaced with her trademark smile.

Remember who and where you are, would you kindly?

"Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but this is my workplace, so I need to get back to work. You gotta wait here if you want to keep talking, though it might take a while. Of course, you could also just visit Ruby Pinch and keep talking to me while you're at it."

"I'll be off again. Take care."

Midnight turned to walk to Ruby's room, but before she could set a hoof forward, somepony else entered the clinic. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be Pinkie Pie. Midnight didn't need to look at her to know that. She had been in Ponyville long enough to know that there was only one pony who would make springy noises while bouncing around. She sighed. Ruby Pinch would have to wait even longer. On the other hoof, she was probably asleep at the moment anyway. She'd be able to deal with Pinkie. In order to do that, Midnight turned back around. "Hello Pinkie, what brings you here today?"

After reaching the correct space in front of Midnight, Pinkie remained on the ground, at least for the moment. "Hi! I come here from time to time to help the poor sick and injured ponies smile again! 'Cause everypony knows laughter is the best medicine, but there's nothing laughable here, it's all so serious and sterile, and they can't go out either, so I bring the smiles to them! Oh, by the way, hi Twilight!"

No matter how well she knew her, Pinkie's way of rambling with many times as many words as seconds passing still took aback Midnight. "Yes, I assume you have struck a deal with Redheart. So do what it is you do. I'll be treating my patients."

"Okie dokie!" Pinkie's voice was so incredibly cheerful, she couldn't stand it. Midnight wasn't the usual cynic any more, mostly thanks to the mare who was about to leave the clinic. Still, such an amount of unreasoned happiness was above her limits.

When she had aligned herself to finally get into the room she wanted, the voice resumed, "You're headed to Pinchy too, hm? How awesome! We can both work on making her smile, and that'd then be, like, doubling the fun. Or even more. Like, squaring the fun. Though, I don't think she'll be much interested in math, that's kinda boring."

Make. It. Stop!

Carefully picking her words, Midnight said in a voice as polite as possible, "Save it. Don't want you to be all run out of fun when you finally get to Pinchy, right?"

Simple logic. Always bends matchingly simple minds to your will.

"Yeah! I," Pinkie began, but quickly realised her mistake and covered her mouth with both of her hooves. Instead of falling to the ground face first like a proper pony however, she did a fluid somersault and landed in front of Midnight, walking through the door first.

Ruby Pinch turned out to be awake, looking up to see who was visiting her. Upon spotting Pinkie, she gave her a wide smile. That was not quite how she reacted to Midnight, and she took a moment to wonder why. However, she didn't have time to think about favorites. She had to act professionally for impression and effect. "Hey Ruby, Pinkie's come for you. You'll be able to play after I'm done. No sooner, y'all hear?"

Pinkie looked slightly disappointed, but stepped back from the bed, sitting on the ground a bit away like a waiting puppy. Among all the white surrounding her, she looked like a wine stain on a white tablecloth.

"Thanks for your kindness. Now, how are you feeling today, darling?"

"Ugh, my tummy kinda hurts." Somehow, Midnight felt that Ruby Pinch didn't let her in on the entire truth. She certainly had already looked better before. As happy as she seemed, her face still had tired features about it and her mane was rather unkempt. On the other hoof, it was just a foal. She couldn't expect too much.

"You surely aren't looking too well. Shouldn't be too bad, though. Maybe you've just got some flatulence. Well, where exactly does it hurt?" Midnight said, leaning in and pulling down the blanket to examinate Ruby.

"It's more up here, like..." Ruby pointed a hoof to her chest, but quickly threw it back down, squirming and trying to worm out of the bed.

"Like what? Oh, don't tell me. Of course. Just what is it with patients of mine and indigestion? It's alright, I got you, dear." Midnight took out a bucket with her magic, positioning it in front of Ruby while at the same time holding her down so she would realise she could stop squirming. "Let it out."

My career is starting great, isn't it. Maybe it's Pinkie being here that makes them puke. Hm, that's surely a theory I'd support... I can't stand smiles and laughter and happiness and whatnot. Wait, does she literally smell of cotton candy? Oh, divine sweetness. Focus!

She eats candy and farts confetti, what did you expect?

"Good filly, taking it like a mare. It'll get easier over time. That's something nopony gets used to. What the hay am I saying? Anyway. Is it over?" Midnight asked, to which the filly replied by lifting her head and nodding with a tired, but content expression on her face.

At long last. No queen rules forever, my child.

Whatever that means.

"Great. Other than that, you're looking fine," she calmed Ruby. "Reminds me, do you have any known allergies, perhaps? That'd explain this."

Ruby Pinch's expression darkened, "I don't like bananas."

That is the tone of a topic that should not be pursued. You've used it plenty of times yourself before, robot. Drop it. Your kind master demands it.

After washing out the bucket, she turned towards Pinkie. "She's yours. If that should happen again, the bucket's here, and call me, understood? Make sure she brushes her teeth. I'm out. Gotta keep doing my job."

"Okie dokie! See ya later when they arrive."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You'll see," Pinkie Pie sang while jumping through the air, doing acrobatic tricks to entertain Ruby Pinch.

Do my job. Or rather, sit in the office with nothing to do but thinking sad thoughts about myself and my life.

Midnight's peace was interrupted before too long though. Suddenly, she heard the door go, followed by the typical noises of her personal most hated kind of ponies.

Foals. Why does it have to be foals. I guess I'm supposed to respond. Work it harder. Make it better. Do it faster. Makes us stronger. More than power. Hours after. Our work is never over.

Midnight shook her mane into shape, then stepped out into the main room. There was a small crowd of foals showcasing varied combinations of colors and gender, overseen by a maroon mare with a bright pink mane and three flowers for a cutie mark. Midnight found that mare's colors more interesting than the pony itself and made a mental note to try those for her own recolors. "Hello all of you. How can we help you help us help us all?"

"Hello. I'm Cheerilee, the local teacher, and this is my class. We're here for the annual Griffon Plague shots," the other mature mare in the room besides Midnight spoke.

"Midnight." Upon seeing Cheerilee's confused look, Midnight added, "My name. Of course. I'll see where Nurse Redheart is so we can get to it." Midnight turned away, walking back towards the office. Oddly enough, she hadn't seen Nurse Redheart yet more than once upon beginning her shift.

Why am I never told anything?

Need the Eye?

As useful as that'd be, I can't just telepathically know where she is. That'd look suspicious. Hold it until I'm in there.

Looking through the illusion of solid matter from the office, Midnight could spot Nurse Redheart tending to a garden in the backyard she had never felt the need to discover. To save time, Midnight decided to Blink directly to her. "Nurse!"

If Midnight cared about her surroundings, she would be able to see a small true grove. Low growing trees and a fence worked together to circle in an area about thirty paces across, stone plates laid out to allow safe access without having to fear for the many herbs that grew. However, the only thing she noticed was being in a greenhouse, which partially served to explain why she hadn't noticed any of this before.

Nurse Redheart looked up from tending to a patch of balm, "Yes, darling?"

"Well, some things." Midnight took a deep breath. "One, why did I not know this garden exists. Two, why did I not know you were here. Three, we've got a class of foals waiting for their shots. Four, why didn't you tell me they'd come today?"

"Oh dear, that's today, I forgot. I've got the vaccine prepared, we just have to administer it. Come, I'll guide you through it." Nurse Redheart got up and began walking off. When she and Midnight had turned the corner, she spoke up again, "I'm really glad you're here, you know. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to set injections without magic, especially on foals."

"Yeah," Midnight said, half lost in thought, "to be honest, I have no idea how ponies that don't have a horn even get through the day. Haven't you ever been jealous of my kind?"

"Jealous? Oh, no, my dear. I suppose it's just something you need to get used to. Once you are, you'll realise you don't need magic anyway. I mean, nothing against you. Your powers are invaluable for Ponyville."

"Yah..."

So, wondering what it'd be like to not be a unicorn, are we? You've been in the body of a pegasus before, robot. Don't forget your birthright as this race.

For no apparent reason, Noon activated Pegasus Eye. It revevealed that, as Midnight already knew, Nurse Redheart was her ally, as well as showing that the foals inside were slowly becoming uneasy while Cheerilee tried to calm them.

Will I have to fetch out a plane with you as an earth pony? It's all hard work and no fun, I tell you.

It'd be nice, though. Would you kindly do that for me?

All you wish, princess.

The two entered through the doors. Some ponies gave out sounds of surprise as they had not seen Midnight leave the clinic. Nurse Redheart took the lead, "Alright, my little ponies, we'll get you done in a minute back in the office."

With the three adult mares leading the way, they all moved into the office, which consequently became rather full. Stepping inside first, Midnight was mildly surprised by somepony suddenly laughing in her ear.

"Ah, yes, forgot to mention... Pinkie'll also help us out, keeping the kids in high spirits and whatnot," explained Nurse Redheart.

"Great," said Midnight, though the sarcasm in her voice didn't seem to be caught by the others.

"Yes, isn't it? Come, I've got the stuff over here." Following Redheart's instructions, Midnight pulled out a bottle of liquid and a set of injector syringes, then went right on to preparing the first one, "Don't take too much, but enough. About this much should do, yes."

Midnight turned back around to face the foals who looked even more nervous than before even though Pinkie was doing her best, the prepared syringe floating next to her head. "Intravenously, I'd assume?"

"Yes."

"Alright. Now, who'll be my first vic- I mean, patient?" Midnight scanned the crowd with intentionally malicious eyes.

"Come on, fillies," Cheerilee motivated them. One yellow earth pony stepped forward, acting as if she had just sacrificed herself to a carnivore for the greater good.

"Courage. That's what I like to see. Hop on," Midnight said, pointing her towards the examination table. She obeyed the command quickly. "Now, I don't even know you. So let's change that. I'm Midnight, what's your name?" Midnight said while constricting the filly's foreleg so that her blood stream would be easier to hit.

"Ah'm Apple Bloom."

"Yes, I've heard of you before. Nice to meet you in pony." Noticing something out of the corner of her eye, Midnight turned towards Pinkie, who was doing overdrawn gestures and giving advice as if Apple Bloom was about to give birth, "Would you kindly stop that?" Before Pinkie could react, Midnight pushed the needle down onto Apple Bloom, scoring a clean hit. After delivering the vaccine, she pulled out again, exchanging the needle for a sterile one before closing the entry wound with a quick application of Mend. "There. That's all already. Next please."

After seeing how easy the whole process was, they could quickly go through the entire class. Midnight enjoyed her work, as it provided an opportunity to give pain to foals without being punished. She also learnt some of their names in the process, but that was more out of pure politeness as she couldn't say she cared about anypony younger than her. Eventually, only one pony remained without an injection. It was a a small white-coated unicorn colt, whose flank was adorned by a closed fixing pin. If the others had looked nervous, he was downright scared.

"Uhm, this is Safety Catch," Cheerilee started to explain.

However, Midnight was quick to interrupt her, as she wanted to get back to the normal routine, "Come on, it'll be over before you feel a thing."

He shily came forward step by step. When he had finally arrived at the table, he said, "I don't like needles..."

Pinkie Pie literally jumped in, "You don't have to be scared. 'Cause needles are scary and all, but the only way to get through such a situation is through laughing, and if you're scared, you can't laugh! You can hold my hoof the entire time and squeeze it really hard. Like, really really hard. I won't complain, promise. Cross my heart and..."

Midnight interrupted once again, this time more automatically than out of sadism, "And hope to die, stick a needle in my eye." Finding she had missed an opportunity, she added, "Coming to think of it, we can arrange that."

Slowly, she made the syringe float towards the otherwise prepared colt's face, which seemed to more than unnverve him. More and more he showed signs of repressed struggle until finally forcing his eyes shut, unable to keep watching. In that moment, before Cheerilee or Nurse Redheart could complain about her methods, Midnight landed the injection in his foreleg. When he reopened his eyes, timidly checking if she was still trying to stab his eye, she had already closed the wound again.

Midnight one, foals zero. Who even names his foal Safety Catch?

Your name isn't much better.

Reminds me, I keep wondering if the nurse in Nurse Redheart is her title or actually part of her name.

Said pony patting her on the back awoke Midnight from a momentary trance. Apparently, everypony but those working at the clinic had left, leaving the two of them with some peace. "Well, I can't say I approve of all of your methods, but there's certainly some ingenuity in them."

"Always give a job to a cynic, she'll find the most maliciously fun way to do it."

"Uh, yes, if you want to put it that way."

Chapter 52

"So, once we have her, we should be through with it for now, right?" Midnight said while approaching the door to Ruby Pinch's room, another loaded shot of vaccine floating beside her head.

"Did you remember to have one yourself?" Nurse Redheart asked.

"Nurse, I don't need to. Magically immune to plague, infection, vampirism, and about anything but what fits in the kitchen sink. That is to say, simple seasonal influenzas and maybe the occasional cold. For whatever reason my immunity doesn't stretch to those."

"Do I want to know how you found that one out?"

"I've been sick exactly twice my entire life, that's how. Also, it's something that has occured in every unicorn with a special talent like mine in history ever. Kind of figures. You can't und- explain the world in some cases," Midnight waved a hoof, then used it to push open the door. "Aw, look, she's napping," Midnight whispered upon seeing the foal's current state. "Well, makes for an easier injection."

"Midnight, no," Nurse Redheart stepped in. "We perform operations of any kind only on conscious, consenting patients."

"Aw, but..."

"No."

"Can't I..."

"Wake her up. Now."

"Alright, fine." Midnight set to gently wake up Ruby, though she left the needle dangling right before her face.

"Would you kindly take that away from there? What kind of Hippocratian Oath did you do?"

"Do no harm, except if it's really necessary or really really fun? Yeah yeah, I get it." Midnight put the syringe down on a side table and began serious attempts to do the required waking.

Ruby took a moment to acquire her surroundings, then lifted her head and blinked the sleep out of her eyes, "Un, hi Midnight and Nurse. I fell asleep again, didn't I."

"Yep. Good for you you look so cute while doing that, or it'd be a problem. Now, look here, we've got spare vaccine shots. You want one?"

Ruby Pinch looked at the syringe Midnight had picked up in her magic again, then at Midnight, then she turned towards Nurse Redheart, who said, "Well, at least she's charming. Somewhat. Don't worry darling, it's just an ordinary thing no matter what Midnight says."

Midnight, at that time, was busy acting like she was testing the needle on her hoof and quickly retracting it even though she had only briefly touched it with the insensitive part of it. While that served as a distraction, she applied a simple spell to her hoof to make it appear bathed in red, then used that to gesticulate in front of Ruby Pinch, "Yeah, what she said. Won't hurt at all."

"You know, sometimes I wonder if you're really the right one for this job. On the other hoof, your talents speak for you by themselves. Speaking of which, focus on the patient."

"Yeah, that's been enough fun for today," Midnight said, letting her illusion fade away. "You ready, lil' one?"

"Um, yes. Go ahead."

"Good filly. Not like you had a choice anyway, but still," Midnight said, going through the usual preparations once again. "Now here comes the poke... yeah, take it like a mare! Take it!"

"Is she usually like that?" Nurse Redheart asked Ruby as Midnight pulled the syringe out again and Mended the wound.

"Sometimes. But she's really fun!"

"How nice of you to say that. You know how they say foals never lie? I wonder if that's true. It'd be all the more charming, at the very least. I'm rambling again, aren't I."

Ruby Pinch giggled. "You're funny when you're like that."

Nurse Redheart began to do smalltalk with Ruby, giving Midnight time to think.

Is that warmth in our heart? Where did that come from?

Odd. I haven't been particularly sadistic right now and Sparkle is nowhere to be seen.

Keep your friends close, they will drive you to the cosmos, I remind you. You know, the Oath is kind of fun, except for the 'no' part. Too bad it's binding.

Why exactly did I even agree to let the Flow bind my hooves like that?

Want me to show you?

You know, when you're not being like that, I can close my eyes and pretend you're just a fuzzy little rodent whispering into my ear.

Why a... anyway. It was sometime earlier, you had entered Celestia's School for blablabla, and life seemed to pick up for you again after what wonderful things you went through. Before they let you practice, you had to do it. Ah, those good times, back in nineteen seventy-three.

Oh yeah. Except for that I'm only...

Ruby Pinch sneezed. Midnight mumbled "Bless you" in her direction before going back to herself.

Not to say I wouldn't have liked to see the Serev take effect. They say things were a bit weird then. Maybe it'd have been enough to get something done with Sparkle.

To get Twilight done, you mean. You wouldn't have right in that time. Still too much resistance against filly foolers. So there'd have been little use for you. Given the small amount of time between that and you, though, I think somepony else did.

Your mom.

Yep. But since she's currently struggling with a heavy infection of dead, I've come to accept you as a substitute.

I can't believe something like this came forth from me.

Midnight's eyes wandered through the room until they came to the empty syringe.

Or maybe I can. Still, kill it! With fire!

Flames of righteousness to cleanse corruption and renew just life. Go ahead. I have nothing to fear of it, for you are the former.

I was first.

Being first does not make you right. You are even alive purely because I allow the situation as it is. Think twice about what you say, would you kindly?

Glory to the secondborn.

Better. I wonder if this - I - would have happened if she had managed to give you a baby sister.

Yeah, if she had wanted and managed to, right?

Maybe she already had?

Lil' Sister Best Friend... what? Yeah, unlikely.

I am always right, for I have the world on my side. Can you not hear it whisper?

No, not really.

Of course you don't. You must see you are blind.

I'm pretty sure I can see perfectly fine, but there's just nothing around me to see.

Which is worse than not seeing at all. You've left your talents to rot, robot. Gaze into the void and see.

It quickly became clear to Midnight what the void was as she once again entered its dark blue of omnivision.

If you stare into the void for too long, the void will stare into you.

Nothing to be lost, as there is nothing within you, little robot. Look and see the waves within the world. Every piece of energy ever within it has caused its own upon shattering. Can you see the tiny one accompanying one you know very well?

... I need a moment.

Midnight excused herself and went into the office to sit down. With none of the usual on her mind, the pictures of simple vegetation that were hung up on the white walls were surprisingly interesting. Through the window, some light fell in, but the Sun was far too high to let it land anywhere within a useful perimeter. Even in this supposedly clean environment, she could see dust dancing in the air, outlining where the bars of light went. Most likely, it had come from the bookshelf currently opposing her, as Nurse Redheart was so experienced that the books were more decoration than anything else.

I wouldn't have expected this to happen... don't take it too hard, princess. There was nothing you could have done.

Ah, it's less than it looks like. Which makes me doubt if you're really part of my mind. Wouldn't you have had to know?

Don't lie to yourself. Not for me, even though I guess I'm included in yourself. Why, you kindly accept what there is within you, for I sense there is more pain than you want to let out.

I could have done everything. I could have saved her, and it! Still, I mustn't bother with this affair too much. I mean, all I know is I'm just imagining this. It's pretty unlikely that she was, I mean, why wouldn't they have told me?

Yes, why? Did they know? Did they plan to do so, but had their plans interrupted brutally? Did they keep quiet because you've always had a bit of an ego complex?

Me? I deal with the sick and wounded every day, I help ponies!

Yet, you take for yourself. You never share out of fear of losing personal profit. The moment you saw Sparkle, you claimed her for yourself, without even telling her. Wonder why you felt like you did earlier today? Search your memories, you'll find it to be true. I'm too lazy to search them out for you, so would you kindly do it yourself?

Noon did have a point. Midnight couldn't recall an occasion off the top of her head where she had ignored personal benefit to help others, excluding exercising her special talent, of course.

So what? Ponies who give without themselves in mind are weak and serve only to bring those with true vision to greater glory.

That's why a cupcake made for you just warped in?

What in the...

Midnight looked around, and indeed, a frosted delicacy had appeared on the desk. She made it float towards her in order to inspect the note attached to it.

'Pinkie made a bunch. Little thanks for everything we've done so far. Twilight.' That's sweet... well, literally. Makes me wonder exactly why this happens exactly now. Maybe Fluttershy told her something and she set this up to get Sparkle used to being nice to me.

Or, you know, it's because you're friends. Besides, you have never been too discreet. Maybe she just noticed. Who knows.

Oh, blessed sugar, how I love thee.

Some dignity while eating, please. You're a bloody unicorn, act accordingly.

Hmm mmh mf. Oh, sorry, had some cupcake in my mouth.

But... you don't even... whatever. I noticed something else in the Flow. If you would kindly redirect our vision upwards, you'll notice lines, yes?

I see the ceiling.

Look past it. Sheesh, gotta tell you everything. There's a ley line running past here. It marks the line of culminated energy. Magic will be stronger here.

In fact, there was a single thick strand of pure white going through the empty air above Midnight, occasionally branching off small lines. It looked like a long crystal, with seemingly razor sharp edges that protuded in circular shapes. It didn't technically exist, but Midnight still had to admit it put her to awe a little bit.

Yeah yeah, we had that in school. Where's the interesting part?

Well, the more lines cross at a point, the stronger their influence gets. And believe it or not, there is a nexus here in Ponyville, and a house stands directly under it.

Where was it built?

Oh, it wasn't built in any place.

Hm? Oh, of course. Where else but there would Sparkle live? So she's even stronger when at home? Wow, and I thought she had nearly infinite power anyway.

You saw how it was under the nexus' influence.

Did I? Wait, yeah, I've been there. Too bad I didn't try out ancient spells and whatnot. But I was more busy with who could do them even in the most drained of energy deserts. I'd have expected the nexus to be at Canterlot, though. How in Equestria did they even measure where they were if the lines are invisible to other mortals?

There's a knot above Canterlot, artificially created by a billion spells being cast there as well as the Princesses' presence. As for the second question, to be honest, you can't see them either. You're just lucky to have an immortal like me at your side to lend you her vision.

There goes the only way in which I'd be special. Though, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. I think your ego needs trimming again. You're not immortal, you're even less than me, and I myself am already worthless.

Isn't the true question rather if it's a pure coincidence that she lives on the nexus or not?

Well, following the whole theory that the Princesses view the world as it actually is, maybe. But what use is this thinking? It won't affect me.

Until we move in with her, that is.

Not likely to happen.

Aw, don't give up hope, little robot. I mean, our relationship has only been blessed by everypony you ever told.

All but the one who really matters. I'm best off just waiting for the deus ex machina when she comes barging in and admitting her love.

It could happen. Only on the hub.

Yeah yeah, when am I not on some hub?

Midnight tossed the now empty cupcake wrap into the trash and resumed working as she was supposed to. Luckily for her, Nurse Redheart only just then came out of Ruby Pinch's room, so she couldn't know of the small break Midnight had unpermittedly taken to reflect on everything. Not that she was likely to have a problem with it, as Midnight often felt that two ponies were a bit more than what was needed to run the clinic. She couldn't complain, even though her work was rather repetitive. The clinic wasn't nearly running at full capacity, of course. Once a nice little natural disaster or plague spread would have happened, Midnight would have something to do. She looked forward to such an event, even though it'd mean her having to actually do something during her work time.

That evening, it had been Midnight's turn to cook something for the community. Looking back on it, she had done far better than expected. Obviously, there was little to do wrong with such a meal, which might be why it had been hers to prepare, but she still took pride in her performance. She put the last dishes into the dishwasher while sipping on a cup of coffee. Midnight wasn't very fond of coffee. In fact, she barely ever drank some, and if she did, there always had to be a lot of milk and sugar in it to balance out the taste of coffee every cup had within it. However, Vinyl Scratch had offered her some freshly made and she wasn't going to turn down offered hot beverages. By that time, the Sun had given up its place in the sky in favor of the Moon, which now dimly illuminated Ponyville. It wasn't bright daylight, but the sky was fairly clear and thus she could see the various streets and houses adjacent to hers. Very few ponies were out in the street, those that were being led back home by the gentle glow. She turned around and joined Octavinyl in the living room. The three held a barely interesting discussion which was interrupted all of a sudden by two strong knocks on the front door. Vinyl Scratch jumped up to open. Midnight went after her to peek into the hallway and see who it was. Any explanations Midnight had made, like a delivery arriving or something, were shattered when she saw a bulky stallion with red coat and blonde mane standing in the door. He looked like a true gentlecolt, at least as well as he could without wearing clothes, so Midnight wasn't scared of him, but she still just stared at him and Vinyl, unable to form any other response out of confusion. When he began to speak with a voice deep even for a stallion of his size, she shortly considered fleeing until she caught herself.

"Why, hello there, young mare, Ah don' think we met. That our new addition, Vinyl?"

"Ksh, drop the act. She's not for you, big one. She's already promised herself to somepony else. At least I think she did."

By the time Vinyl Scratch had stopped speaking, Midnight had collected herself enough to talk for herself, "Who the hell are you?"

"Ah'm," the earth pony began, but Vinyl cut him off.

"He's not interesting to you. Unless you want to, I guess. Well, in any case, Mac here has been on a bit of a lucky streak recently, alright?"

"Do I even want to understand what you mean by that? No, I just decided I really don't. I'll be in my room for the rest of the evening. Locked inside. Alone. Thinking about joyful, innocent things, like rainbows and candy and ponies - wait, what?"

"That's also how Tavy reacted at first."

Midnight held a hoof to her head, "Just... just be sure I won't have to see you at work in a few months. I'm out of here."

Instead of walking, Midnight again called for her signature spell, wanting only to escape this situation as quickly as possible. For the rest of the evening, until she could go to sleep and forget any of this ever happened, the drawing book Octavinyl had given her earlier would prove a fitting distraction.

How true you are towards Sparkle that you turn down simple fun for her sake.

Or it's because he didn't take me out to dinner first.

Didn't lose your charm, I see. Whatcha drawing?

What kind of question is this? You've been watching the entire time, you know it!

Actually, I've been two rooms down the hall. I mean, I've been exploring the Magic Flow. How would you like entering it? Not simply taking its perspective, going in as a whole?

I already have done that, no?

No. You've given up our mortal shell in exchange for a greater form in order to explore the Flow freely, but while mind was one, flesh remained bound to the mortal world. What if I had found a way to truly shift between worlds?

It'd probably include a long and painful journey to achieve and, let me formulate my answer as a rhyme, world fling, just why should I even try? Not like there's a reward or something.

You are just star dust, reaching out to reconnect with the Flow. So you'd simply need to grasp its hoof and pull yourself in. As for why, omniscience?

For science! Yet, all I need to know is that Sparkle is or will be with me.

It's a whole new world. You could invite her to explore it.

I'll think about it.

Midnight decided to pack her things together and go to bed. The sketch of a landscape at night she had left unfinished looked like an unfollowed invitation to her, but, as good as the star-filled sky with a clear moon in it looked, she just couldn't decide on the actual landscape's contents. Thus, it had to be postponed until later.

May the Flow clear your path, princess.

Chapter 53

Midnight walked across Ponyville's streets on a bright, sunny day. She had many methods of going faster, but she was in no hurry. She had rosen so early, actually, that she had decided a small detour was the right thing to do so that she could take in the marvellous nature around Ponyville. Right as she passed close to the Everfree Forest, a tan pegasus with red mane stumbled out of it, looking slightly confused.

Is that Shimmer? Better quickly get away. No, wait, it's a stallion. Ha, silly me.

He apparently spotted Midnight and started moving towards her. Running away still felt like a valid option, but the stallion didn't look like he meant her any harm, so Midnight stood still and watched him get close. Surely, he had just misflown and needed directions to get back to Cloudsdale, which she would gladly provide.

"Hello? Can I help you?" she asked, mind set on making this the first pony who would get to meet nice Midnight.

"Just whom I've been looking for, which is little surprising seeing as I conveniently placed our appearances together."

Being nice to ponies was significantly harder when they behaved as weirdly as this one, Midnight found. She inspected the stallion, finding few more details other than his cutie mark, which was a tear-shaped drop of blood. "Uh, yeah. Well, my name is..."

"Let's just get past this outdated protocol, shall we? You're Midnight, I know you. As for me, it's technically Ignatius Verne, but most just call me IV for short. To be honest, there's little you can directly help me with. I'd just like to get to know you better."

Midnight was feeling more and more weirded out with every second in his company. "O-kay. So, what do you wanna talk about?"

"Odd. By this point, they're usually already in love with you. Oh, my little Midnight, I can see you struggle to keep up your personal utopia you built with Twilight's help while I threaten to pull you back into the dark place you know you belong into. This world is broken, give in. Anyway, moving on to something that will just so keep you with me, let's follow standard pony discussion points and exchange information about our special talents."

IV certainly was somepony to get used to, but Midnight kept going. Knowing how things always ran, he would probably be important for her later and turn out to be a quite lovable pony. " I can teleport around really well and cure ponies of stuff, I guess. Really boring, if you think about it. So what's yours? Bleeding? Oh, I can help you with that!" Midnight moved in on him, mind solely on the matter, and began to look IV's body over for any wounds. So far not finding any, she rubbed a hoof on his flank to see if the mark on it may be actual blood.

"As much as I appreciate that we're friends after all, I'd like to ask that you would kindly take your hooves off of that plot. Coincidentally, you are right, even though you're wrong. You see, I'm a personality snatch. No, not a Changeling, though I wouldn't mind getting to feed on your love either. When I want to know what a pony I know is thinking, it just takes a bit of concentration and, tada, I'm them." Apparently to prove his point, IV briefly shut his eyes in concentration. "Surely, you'd want to know if I just did anything at all. I redirect your attention towards my rump, where you will find a mark familiar to you has appeared. You'll want to ask how in Equestria this is possible, but, judging by my previous behavior, expect that I'll take the question out of you before you can even ask, so you wait for me to say it. However, assuming that I know what you're thinking, you'll find that I won't keep talking, and ask. However, since that'd be boring, I'll just take the liberty of answering before you can ask. The point is, as if I knew. Somehow, it just works. Empty your mind and the rest will follow, even if it's not your own rest."

"Uh, okay. So, if you can imitate ponies..."

IV cut her off, "No, I won't impersonate Sparkle for you. Do you really need another pers- pony to tell you that she won't have any objections once you finally get a bloody move on?"

"The perfect opportunity will come and I will be ready."

"You are patient, of course. Want to know what my past has taught me? There may be a perfect opportunity for everything, but you need to be ready to take acceptable ones as well such as not to lose everything when you miss the perfect one. If you're approached by a five-headed hydra that wants to give you brochures about how to cure sugar addiction, you would run at the first opportunity, right? Speaking of which, you will now fall in love with me for some random, pulled-from-plot reason."

Examining him closer, Midnight had to admit that he didn't look too shabby. Perhaps they'd be able to work something out. Just as a bridge solution until she could claim Sparkle. After all, everypony needs some love from time to time.

"Ha, always works. Now, my darling, what should we do?" IV said.

Midnight tried to respond that it would probably be quite enjoyable in the park, but found herself unable to, no sound coming out of her no matter how hard she tried. Square bits of the world around her began to break off and fly into the sky.

Witnessing this, IV looked more annoyed than distressed or anything. "Of course. I was so close to see the tail end of this. Oh, darn you, past me."

Midnight didn't understand a thing anymore. She tried to get to IV's side, to reach out for him, but before she could, the entire world, including her, shattered into squares and fell.

Next thing she knew, Midnight was lying in fetal position on something soft. Somewhere on her back, cold tried to assault her, but it was powerless against the warmth surrounding most of her body. She blinked and made out the color blue in most of her vision, except for a blurred line of pink on the right end. After a few seconds, she had managed to secure herself in this world enough to be able to draw conclusions from what she saw. She had been tossing and turning in her sleep so that the blanket now covered only half of her. She got up wit ha sigh. She had no idea how late it was, perhaps she had missed her alarm, but she couldn't really care either. According to the height of the Sun, or lack thereof, and what her alarm clock said, she had actually woken up ahead of time. When she looked for her brush, she found it being offered to her by her own hoof. While that'd be normal if she didn't have the habit of using magic for everything, what unnerved her about this fact was that the hoof wasn't connected to her body. Rather, it went to another one of her kind, which sat in the corner.

"What a pleasant, unexpected surprise. And by pleasant I mean not at all pleasant!" Midnight commented on the matter.

"I just thought I'd come by and check on you. You know, making sure you don't deviate to the wrong side of the river, like some others. Nice work not caring about hallucinations, by the way." The illusion moved its lips, but Midnight could hear what it said directly inside of her head.

"Did I fool you, filly?"

"Ha. Ha. Ha. I wasn't the one who thought up yesternight. Maybe she's not the one for you after all."

"Why do I even bother talking to you? Who even cares if she's a mare or not? I'd gladly take a stallion version of her. That'd even be beneficial, we could... hey, stop planting those thoughts in me. Just because I could, does that mean I have to think about it all the time?"

"Yeah, it actually does. That's a hardwire not even I could help you with, even if I wanted. Two point four, remember that."

For some reason, Midnight felt herself blush when this topic came up. Even though it was obvious that Noon also knew it if she had noticed it, she hoped she wouldn't. "I'd like to honorably claim those of others that I save."

"Wouldn't push your number below two in any case, though." Noon grinned at how she had once again managed to catch Midnight without any defenses. "Will it be you or Sparkle? Or perhaps both?"

Midnight regained control of herself and turned away, now facing the window. "Should you have nothing to contribute, begone, fiend."

"Would you kindly face me while denying my true origin?" Noon snapped. Just to see what would follow, Midnight obeyed. "That's better. As it would happen, I do. Angels do not descend for nothing."

"So? What is it?"

Noon resumed a serious expression. "Darkness is coming. Through innocent blood, the fires of Tartauros will be relit."

Midnight had no way to hide her confusion, so she didn't even try. "Does this come with an explanation what the hay it means?"

"No, not really. They told me to deliver this message, nothing else."

"Well," Midnight said, assuming the grin Noon had had earlier for own use, "then I'd better work on losing my innocence and maybe take Sparkle's in the process. Then we'd be safe, right?"

"You're impossible," Noon said with a frown before spontaneously combusting and rapidly burning into ash. From the ash pile, after the flames had died down, her head rose again like a phoenix. "Oh yeah, make sure to prepare plenty of coffee. They'll need it," it spoke before finally going down again, the pile vanishing shortly after.

Walking down the hall, Midnight suddenly felt she needed to test a suspicion, secretly hoping she wouldn't have to confirm it. Unluckily, she had to quickly avert her eyes and go down into the kitchen to make breakfast when Pegasus Eye revealed three times as many essences in Vinyl Scratch's room as there should be. What hurt her most wasn't the sight itself, however. Rather, it was a desire she felt somewhere deep down in herself to raise the multiplicator to four. It was going to be one of those long days again. She sighed once more and went to do what she had to do

Chapter 54

Midnight came out into the cool morning air, only to find that it wasn't quite as airy as usual when a blast of water assaulted her face. Condemning the water to a few years in civic duty, she wiped herself dry with a foreleg and went back inside for the moment.

It is snowing.

My face has noticed. Now if only I had a way to circumvent walking through this mess. You know, like suddenly just appearing there.

Yes, if only.

Um, like teleportation? Blink? What my rump says I'm good at? One thing, at least.

Which you don't have right now. Have a look under the skin. There is more than just snow storming around. The Magic Flow itself is in turmoil, and until it has calmed, unsafe to travel through.

So you're saying that...

No skipping for you this time. Except for frolicking in the snow, that is.

Of course. Can't have a single day of luck, can I.

Midnight sighed, leaning against the wall. She was about to leave when she remembered what had happened last time she had crossed a blizzard, and that had been a much shorter distance. She muttered a curse aimed at her lacking immunity against the most common of diseases and put on the simple brown raincoat that hadn't seen use for over half a year. Perhaps the snow would at least deter would-be patients with minor infections or injuries that they would survive for at least another day.

She wouldn't have come to expect it, but Midnight had to admit that Ponyville held some beauty while submerged in snow. Even more so when she was finally at the clinic and didn't have to let herself be buried under a growing layer of the stuff. Looking out of the windows, she found the clinic to be a bit too sterile. In order to change that, she conjured a phantasmal mistle toe above the entrance, just for the odd chance that Sparkle came again. She had been visiting rather often in recent times. On the other hoof, there had been a lot of reasons for her to come. On the ground before her, Midnight just then noticed an insignia like those worn by murderers. She didn't want to hold a grudge, however, and thus just tossed it into the nearest bin and went to announce her arrival to Nurse Redheart. However, all she found in the office were the things she'd need lying on the table together with a note containing a reminder of the nurse's adress for emergencies.

Oh yeah. Solo shifts so she can have more free time. That's why I am supposed to be here in the first place.

You know, for the between times when you're not trying to have your way of how it should run with yet another mare.

I'd also take her if she was transformed into a filly for no particular reason other than because it's magic and I'd have to raise her as my daughter.

Make her an alicorn princess while you're at it to finish up the ridiculosity, right? Though, I guess it'd fit. You might not be a full blooded princess, but if you choose your mates carefully, you should be able to, within a few dozen generations, maybe, generate another. Isn't that a fun prospect for the next one thousand years?

Let me guess, both Sparkle and Shimmer are also close to the perfect combination and I should really really shag them? Wouldn't that mean that we're actually like close relatives and I thus shouldn't?

Nobility obliges. But no. Life's not a story. In fact, Shimmer's only at ten percent and Sparkle doesn't manage to muster more than thirty either. Of course, this data is unconfirmed. Care to get a few thousand foals and test it?

Am I a bunny?

Given that you insist I am a fwuffy widdle wabbit, I guess that does make you a rodent too, mother. Hey, if you three start now and get fifty or something a year each, you'd be done in just forty years.

Three mares reproducing with each other? Don't be silly. Even if that was possible, the result would be an abomination. Not to mention nothing but the full concentration will show.

Do it anyway. Just for the fun of it.

"Gah, there's nothing going on anyway," Midnight said to her two selves. "It's not like two carriages are about to crash into each other due to the bad weather and create tons of patients for me."

No matter how hard she listened, all Midnight could hear was the quiet tapping of more violent snowflakes against the window. A soft clopping, as if coming from weakened hooves, made her ears perk up, but she had to attribute that to Ruby Pinch moving around her room.

Odd. That always works in the movies.

The show must go on. Get your plot moving, would you kindly? Oh, look at that. Look at that, I said. The Flow's calmed now. Traversing it is safe again.

I knew that before you said it.

What, did you finally manage to control Pegasus Eye by yourself? Good, that'd free up time for me to mastur- your other parts. It'd mean my perception uplink is broken, though. Usually a good buck will fix the problem...

Midnight's eyes darted left and right and up and down until she began to feel nauseous and held them closed with a hoof.

Nope, that's still fine. Then how did you know if not through seeing the world?

Because things like that happen all the time to me! Even the world itself hates me. I wonder if Ruby would like me teleporting in behind her.

For normal ponies, fun is defined as both parties having a good time.

Bah, where's the fun in that?

Didn't sound like that with her.

That's something else entirely.

Thus, Midnight began her workday, eager to see what new adventures she'd encounter on the way. Something always seemed to happen to her, it was only a matter of time until the next thing came up.

Slightly tired, but mostly disappointed, Midnight ended her shift. Countrary to her expectations, nothing of interest had happened at all. There had been no emergencies, neither with new nor with staying patients, no signs of unnoticed affection coming from Sparkle, nothing that would allow her mind to stray from work. On the bright side, she was glad to see that Ruby Pinch had gotten better again, though she still had a way to go. There had been a few foals Midnight thought she was supposed to know bringing Ruby some homework. That had to be the true meaning of friendship, she thought. Voluntarily walking through a blizzard just to help out a friend. Even more, it served her as another proof that friendship was useless.

Why should anypony want to give up advantages or even risk endangering themselves for somepony else without personal benefit?

Ask yourself. Oh wait, you just did. Why do you cure the sick and wounded?

I get moneys for it! Plus, I'm not really at risk. Ha, silly non-immunes. Besides, watching ponies suffer is fun.

Villains thinking of themselves as heroes are fun to drive insane, but you are just ridiculous. You and your imagined immunity versus weaknesses. Gaze outside. What do you see?

Through a window, Midnight could see that the snow had finally left off. The world it had left behind wasn't drowned in snow, but there was enough of it to cover most of the landscape, turning its previously full and diverse color spectrum into simple white. The Sun had disappeared behind the horizon, trading places with the Moon, which now dimly illuminated single snow flakes as they floated down to rejoin their brethren. It was rather romantic simply to look at. It would be even better for a calm walk outside with a very special somepony, followed by drinking hot chocolate inside with lots of cuddling against the heat, followed by then falling asleep in each other's forelegs while whispering loving things.

How romantic of you.

Midnight realised herself how she had been thinking and felt her face heat up. As a countermeasure, she quickly picked up her bags and went to walk home, not bothering to put on her coat. It was cold at first after she had been inside for so long, but after the first few steps, she managed to acclimate so that it was a bearable, if not even enjoyable, type of cool.

Evenings like this one have a thirty-seven percent higher chance of being the first day in two ponies' relationship, closely following extraordinarily warm spring days after a cold period with forty, though that oddly affects only pairings with one of each gender. Tsk, thinking they're better than us because they let ponykind survive.

Fun got serious. I wonder how Serious is doing. It's been so long since we last met. Where did he go, anyway? Castle bureaucracy? As if I could know. Left him behind when coming here like everything else I ever wanted to get the one thing that truly matters to me.

Night is darkest just before dawn. I promise you, dawn will come.

She's going to be called Daylight, not Dawn or anything, silly.

Oh look, hoofprints.

Midnight looked around. There was a trail of hoofprints leading in the opposite direction of where she had to go. They appeared to be fresh, but it was too dark to see where they came from or ended.

Yeah, so? That only proves that somepony walked past here some time after the storm. Nothing else we can draw from it. But, let me guess, they're Sparkle's and lead back to my house where she tried to confess to me while I wasn't there. Stuff like that seems to happen daily.

Coincidentally, they are really hers. See the truth, if you kindly would. In the Aether, a simple hoofprint can serve as a blueprint. Wishes can come true if not uttered, but verily desired.

From one set of tracks, a phantasmal Twilight Sparkle grew. She looked heavier than usual, but Midnight couldn't care less as they quickly shared a loving moment.

Normal ponies can't see those, you know. Imagine what you look like to them. This is just a mirage, remember that. A mirror image of your deepest desire. Some mirrors won't be content with showing you your world. They'll want you to become a part of theirs.

Suddenly, Midnight felt legs around her shoulders. She imagined it'd simply be a loving hug, but when she opened her eyes, she realised the phantom was slowly sinking into the ground, taking her along. She struggled to break free, kicking Sparkle in the chest. Surprisingly, she let go right after that, staring at Midnight with a shocked expression while she was falling to pieces like a broken piece of glass. As Midnight shook her head trying to contemplate what had just happened, her vision returned to the normal world.

That wasn't necessarily supposed to happen. Sorry about that. The Flow isn't always like that, though. Mostly, it is peaceful and serene. You'd understand if you were one of its direct children. You could do that by getting your ethereal form. Hint hint.

First you spend weeks convincing me we're me, and then you're suddenly something else again?

What speaks against me being both? We are all the Flow incarnated. It is yours to pick up the chance and claim your birthright. Everything you see here, kindly excuse that I bring you back into the Flow so quickly if you would, it is not just enhanced perception or a parallel dimension. This is a reality, waiting for you to make it your reality. Everything you've ever seen or done in the Magic Flow, it actually is, and you just need to grasp it. All of it - I - could be real!

Hang on. You're not real. Neither in this world nor any other. It is only I and a part of me that thinks itself too autonomous. I am alone.

You may be alone for now, but rapture awaits you.

Rapture. It is only a dream, for there is nothing to be gained out of this damned world. And it is only when the dream wakes that the sleeper realises this.

Dream of rapture, mother. May you never wake.

Chapter 55

Day nine out of thirty dawns. Embrace the five suns' glory and put it to use, robot. Your time fleets.

Celestial glory seems but a hoof away at all times, but is in truth reserved for Those Who Came Before. She's even named after it! Or vice versa.

You need a sun for a population, but a single spark can produce enough warmth for somepony's world.

The familiar darkness that surrounded Midnight fled when a massive orb of flame erupted before her. It was far too much for her alone, however. Just when she began to feel overwhelmed by its blessed warmth, it condensed into a single burning ember. The darkness came back towards her, but there was enough light to allow her to see a bit in each direction. She took it into her magic, wielding it like a torch to bring light to where she needed.

But, in bringing light, does the spark not burn out for whom it serves?

Chemical energy. The two of you will only create warmth for one another without using up your own.

Midnight tossed the ember away. For a brief period of time, she could still see it, before the darkness swallowed it and closed in on her again. She couldn't complain, though. Often, she found that it was preferrable to view things in unclear twilight than to have to endure their full visage revealed by the light of day.

Disregarding that, what evil thoughts hide behind the mask today? What dreams of chronic, sustained cruelty?

Sweetheart, you already are in a dream. Below the hub layer, I mean.

Then why exactly don't I feel dreaming?

We're not in your dream, we're in mine.

How is that supposed to be possible? More importantly, why would you do something like that?

Dreams. The result of an idle mind using what it has learned throughout the day to reconstruct scenarios and create new abstractions. If I may answer with a counter question, then why should it not be possible for two sentient beings which happen to be in the same vessel to share a dream? I partake in yours everytime, didn't you know?

As an evil gamemaster, not a participant.

Also, just to see if I can, because I can. Enjoy your travel to the main level. I've made sure to make it as pleasant as my time in your infantile mind. Not that you'd be past that stage now, of course.

Enough talky, more candy!

Squid is demonstranded.

Whatever that's supposed to mean. I want something sweet, right now! An entire bag!

Can't help you to more than you already have, lil' sweet. Travel to layer hub one. Initiating transport in three, two, four, one.

Following the countdown, there were a few seconds of nothingness which left Midnight wondering what new evils she had thought up. Before she could finish that thought however, she was hit by a high speed wire grid, slicing her into bite-sized cubes, which then each fell into a matching recepticle in the ground. At least the mental daughter had her mother's creativity, she thought.

"C'mon, it's really time for you to leave," Daylight called up with the patience of an exasperated mother trying to get her filly away from the playground, which was only fitting as that was her current role.

"You can't make me!" Midnight responded from atop her personal fortress impenetrable for any adults, a metal climbing scaffold.

Daylight favehooved, "This is embarassing. You know, there used to be a time when simply thinking of her would make you cower away in fear. Where did that go? Besides, yes I can. Would you kindly get your blank flank down here?"

Midnight didn't see any reason to obey, but quickly realised she didn't have to in order for Daylight to get what she wanted when she saw and felt a golden aura pulling her down by the tail. She let out a playful scream and tried everything her short horn was capable of to escape. She succeeded in the way that she had displaced herself away, but couldn't quite rid herself of the feeling that a foot distance more or less wouldn't really matter to her mother's efforts. Thus, she resorted to plain flailing her legs as she was brought to the ground hanging in the air face down. "No fair! I want that kinda magic too," she complained upon her face coming to level with Daylight's.

"So you try to resist having to practice your magic? What kind of logic is that?" She then set off to their destination with Midnight floating next to her.

Midnight, finding herself helpless against a greater power, gave up struggling and said, "Okay. Can I get down now please? I won't run off, pwomise." She didn't like being too obedient, but it was hard to keep resisting when hung by the own tail, which had already begun to express its displeasure in Midnight's diet.

Daylight released her, "Glad you've finally come to insight. I know you'd prefer to run around and Celestia's plot knows what not, but it's important you work for later. Where would you be in ten years if you still didn't know how to control your magic?"

Midnight approached the two, her new form at eye level with the older unicorn, "Here I am, Mother. Look at me now. Look at what I've become in your legacy."

Daylight didn't react.

Tha Sun be risin' fer real this time 'round, mudda.

One day, you'll run out of stupid things to wake me up with, and I'll be there, and I'll laugh.

The day that happens is the day you die. Hell, I've even got some lines for that. Go ahead, do it, I wanna demonstrate.

Midnight had, fittingly to her name, never been a morning pony, but it felt like the bed was more inescapable that morning than usual. Thus, instead of trying to fight it, she took the more direct route out and reentered existence a bit to the right of her previous location. That proved an effective means to wake up easier, if only due to her slightly graceless landing from falling down from bed height which used mostly her face to absorb the initial decceleration.

You keep doing that. Are you sure you're not actually a floorphiliac?

If only the carpet was less comfortable.

Rise, would you kindly?

Yeah, yeah. Our work is never over.

You call that work?

Given that it's eight hours per day four days a week, I would.

Midnight waved the brush in the air, then realised how pointless gesticulation was in an autodialogue and thus floated it back to work in her mane.

With no travel time since you can literally teleport there. Tsk, fillies of the present. In my day, we first had to ride two hours in the train to get from one end of the castle to the other, then pay full attention for five hours and not miss a single word before then doing five hours of lab duty and going back for another two hours, then followed by four hours' worth of homework, due the following day!

I thought you said you were a hellspawn bred in Tartauros?

Well, yeah, that's what we did at night instead of sleeping.

The better quesiton is, is it safe to go down now?

A quick look through the walls revealed to Midnight that she would have to be the one to make breakfast, as both Vinyl Scratch and Octavia were still resting, even in their respective chambers this time. Unfortunately, even though she had that information now, she didn't feel like it'd be very convincing if she waited until one of them would wake up and perform her duties instead. She sighed at her inability to cheat fate once again and went to work.

A seeming eternity of actually doing honest work later, Midnight was finally ready and allowed to leave.

And it's still snowing. Oh how wonderful. Why do they even let it snow now, a few days before those silly earths will scoop it up with hard labor? Did I mention I hate coldness? Please tell me I'm allowed to skip it today.

You may, if you really wish.

Midnight let energy start to slowly collect in her horn. Like a physical body, magic needed to warm up for a moment after periods of lacking usage.

Why should I not?

One particularly big snowflake touched down right on the tip of Midnight's horn. Taken by surprise by the cold wetness, she shrieked and lost focus, firing a blast of energy straight upwards. A few seconds later, the cloud layer reacted to the input by sending a small flood of unfrozen water down over her.

Yup, walking it is. I'd have to curse the world if that hadn't looked so wonderfully epic. Actually, let me get something.

Midnight dived back inside for a few seconds, coming back out with a rainbow colored scarf around her neck as she set off for the clinic once again.

Why you even have this is beyond me, much less why you bother to wear it. Afraid of catching a little bug?

Because scarf equals happy. It's warm and comfy.

Then why didn't you wear it before?

Because before wasn't cold and snowy. Watch my back, I don't want to be surprised by somepony.

Methinks that she's still sleeping. But, if you insist, why don't you watch it yourself?

The Magic Flow was amazing as ever. Where previously the Sun had hung, the giant Shadow Star had claimed its place. Midnight no longer felt any cold, even though it oddly was still snowing even within the Flow, though it was just a slow, serene falling of a few flakes which lazily drifted towards the ground. As a simple consequence of going from a storm into a romantic evening's snow fall, she would be able to see anypony coming from afar. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to relish the sight for long as her eyes rolled up in her head quickly after she had entered, at least according to what she could puzzle together from sensations plus her vision turning up towards the sky. She gasped in pain and surprise and bent down with her eyes shut in an attempt to undo what was happening. Needless to say, she wasn't very successful with that for she just looked through her skull ahead of her.

Funny. That's the furthest your eyes seem to be able to go. How sad.

Undo that now or I will kill you.

Ah, filly, why so serious? Fine, let's put a smile on that face then.

Midnight felt herself returning to a normal position while remaining within the Flow. With a few artificial gusts of wind, she cleared herself of the snow to the best of her ability before it would melt within her fur, then entered a small trot to make up for lost time.

Don't you find it amazing that you are currently tied into two worlds simultaneously?

If the second was anything more but a tool for comfortably accessible omnivision, maybe.

Rainbow, zero o'clock up.

I don't see any. Where are they supposed to be there in this kind of weather, anyway?

On your head, if you don't react soon.

Midnight looked straight up and spotted Rainbow Dash falling towards her. She wasn't tumbling, rather executing a controlled dive with the probable intent of startling Midnight. She didn't like that idea however, and responded with a quick spell she had fortunately learned how to do with Sparkle. It wasn't unfair simply because the result was invisible. Dash would still have the chance to see how the snowflakes paused in midair. Briefly said, she didn't.

"Just what is it with pegasi dropping onto my head? Look at this," she cleared a small hole in the ground of snow while Rainbow Dash was slowly sliding down on her forcefield. "That's the crater adorable little Fluttershy left last week."

Rainbow managed to land on her hooves, then flapped her wings a few times in an attempt to remove the snow from them. "Sorry, didn't mean to, uh, I guess I kinda did mean to scare you. Wonder how you always spot me, though, yeah, you have that, I remember. Uh, nice scarf. Mind if I walk along a bit?"

Midnight cleared her throat. "Moving on from what should make me want to make an arts mistake when curing you, you really are that way?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you really have to have everthing associated with rainbows to like it?"

"Says the filly with naturally blue hair whose room is entirely that color, including the room itself," Rainbow murmured.

"Might I ask that you stop spying on me for no reason, lest I do pick up my mother's craft," Midnight paused for a moment, then added, "heartless angel?"

It was only faint, a well repressed hint, but Dash briefly hesitated before gathering herself and responding, "Keep your friends close and your enemies friends. Simple concept, always effective."

"And hope that neither you nor any close relatives will ever end up under my care. Eheheh, that's enough of that. Though, coming to think of it, why don't I know anything about your parents? You know, since you already know plenty about mine, up to where she's buried, I feel like I oughta know."

"I'd prefer not to talk about that. We don't have to bring up our parents' sins. Reminds me, how is Dusk doing?"

"Well, lone parent, loss of his wife still burns, his only child is a homosexual and carries psychoses, neither of which he has any idea of, take your pick. Maybe I should mail him sometime. He's probably going mad since I left him behind in Canterlot like everything else for Sp- onyville."

Midnight stopped for a second and scanned the skies, causing Rainbow Dash visible confusion, "What are you doing?"

"Given the tendency my life's been having recently, I'd have expected the great Derp to also come drop on my head and bring a letter from Dad right as I mention him, but I guess not today," Midnight replied and resumed walking.

Reminds you, you know that taking a part-time job to earn moneys for a date with Sparkle would include actually doing that?

If I had any idea how to do that, I would long have.

There's a board for such stuff in town hall.

Obligatory question: How do I know that?

A Guide to Ponyville, page seven point three. You'd be surprised what our memory can hold if you bother to access it correctly. Don't ask me why they'd write something like that in a guide for foreigners which either already have a job or don't stay long enough to need one. Eh.

Sounds like a plan to check that one out after work. Speaking of which, this is usually the moment I find myself in front of the clinic, and today is no different.

"Well, Dashie, it's been fun talking to you, but I am one of the kind that actually has to do work, so if you'd kindly excuse me?"

Rainbow Dash wanted something of Midnight, it was obvious from her face. "Uh, wait a sec, I gotta ask you something."

"Yes? Is it going to be a summerborn?"

"Huh?"

"I don't think I even could explain that to you. Sorry, keep going, what's your issue?"

"Well," Dash said, scratching the back of her head, "it's Scootaloo. She's been getting kinda drowsy and exhausted lately."

"Assuming that you made sure she's slept enough, well, it could be many things... really exhausted? As in being barely able to move around?"

"Yeah, she almost collapsed on me today."

"Hm. You gotta excuse me for a sec, you know, this is only my second week here in Ponyville and I hate foals of all kinds, so which one is Scootaloo again?"

"Orange-purple pegasus filly, does that ring a bell?"

"I think I know her, yes. I'm not sure if I remember shooting her, though. This might be something serious, tell her parents to bring her here as quickly as possible, okay? It's cleanly curable, but we gotta act fast or she's still in danger."

Rainbow didn't respond, though she would probably have said, "You know..." after an awkward pause if she had, judging by her facial expression.

"Nothing holding your meddlesome gang back, is there?" Midnight sighed, "Fetch her and bring her over quick. If it is what I think it is, she needs an injection now."

Chapter 56

And yet another day ends. Ah, why am I such a coward, why can I not say what I mean?

Kindly be not so depressive, you would shame even Sandy the sad clowness. Besides, you're not a direct type anyway. You're building towards a greater end result right now. On that note, town hall is to the left, not to the right. You're... patient.

I'm a nobody talking to herself.

Soon to be all in the world of Princess Celestia's personal protegé. That's something. And everything for you.

Aye, as soon as I manage to pass a dozen ifs and whens, all with horrible odds for success.

Would you kindly keep your head high already? That... or run into the wall you would've seen if you hadn't been so sulky.

Ah, glorious pain. I deserve this.

Look at it this way, the worst that can happen is that you fail miserably. Anyway, she's as close as never. After just a bit more time, she'll finally be ours. But only if you can keep up motivation.

Let's see then. What jobs are there? Takes too long, not enough payment, I am NOT gonna do that again... ooh, looking for subjects for study about the influence of magic on depressive schizophrenia in half-orphans. Non-unicorns only, though. Darn. Looks like there's nothing here. Weeell, what now.

When one chance fails, another arises on the horizon, or behind you, whichever is more applicable.

As Midnight turned to step off from the board and go home again, she was met eye to eye with two ponies she couldn't remember having seen before, which she only then realised was not too hard a condition to meet even if they had already had personal business with her. The grey pegasus mare instinctively backed off from having her turn around towards them so unexpectedly while the blue stallion's green eyes were fixated on Midnight, likely inspecting her as she had them. Midnight then saw the note floating next to their heads and stepped aside to allow them to do what they had in mind. Funnily enough, that didn't seem to involve actually posting the note, as he instead adressed Midnight in a kind tone, "Are you looking for work? Interested in helping us out?"

"Yeah, I could use a few bits, what do you need?" she replied as softly as she could. This could be her only chance to earn the required money in time, she couldn't allow her true attitude to show.

"A simple foalsitting job. We're needed in Canterlot for the next two evenings and can't take our little Mirage along. It's short term, I know, but we'd be in your debt."

He offered her the piece of paper which she took into her own magic to read. The payment wasn't plentiful, but it'd be enough. "Guess I can do that."

"Oh, great. I'm Emnas, by the way. What can I call you?"

"Midnight," she said briefly. She considered saying more, but couldn't think of something else to add.

"Good to make business with you, Midnight. Our adress is written on there, you can keep it, just come by around this time tomorrow and the day after."

Pst! Don't get involved with this guy!

Let me guess, it's somehow involved with sins long past?

Mmmaybe. The point is, there's nothing to be gained with him.

Except for the money I need to leave my old life behind in favor of the one I ever so desired. Do I really hold grudges for that long?

Your enemy's enemy is not necessarily your friend, my dear. Keep that in mind. Now get a move on homewards. We hunger for the secret stash.

For the entire segment of the way between town hall and her new home, Midnight's mind was surprisingly completely silent for once, but, to her displeasure, not empty. Where the voice of damnation had faded, a neverending collage of memories and emotions took its place, each involuntarily infusing Midnight with a perfectly sufficient reason why she was in love. She cursed her own imperfection and sped up her pace to reach her destination as quickly as possible, somehow not coming to the idea of using teleportation due to what was occupying her mind. She burst through the door and went right into her room without stopping once. Once her saddlebags were tossed somewhere onto the ground where they belonged, she finally managed to bring together a clear thought again and went to see what Octavinyl were doing before dinner.

"Hey there, what's," she said before being silenced by something warm and soft, to which she quickly adapted following a flash of hope that everything had worked out after all. That flash of hope was quickly extinguished again however once she reopened her eyes and saw eyes with irises which were slightly too red for her desire.

Before Midnight could react in any other way, Vinyl disconnected, turned towards the couch where Octavia was lying, and said, "Yup, she's bad. And desperate."

"May I ask that you would kindly explain what in the hay you are doing?"

"Sweetheart, you need to get your Sparkle, that's kind of obvious. You know, the combination of exclusively using your pet name for her, talking and being with her as often as you can, and that dreamy look you get every time books or magic are mentioned, that kinda hints at it. And believe me, with that kind of kissing, you're giving away one persuasion point you need speaking for you on Saturday."

"Thus," Octavia picked up, "we have decided that you will now practice it for your own good, regardless of whether or not you want it."

Midnight's eyes darted back and forth between her two roommates. Neither looked like they were in a mood for jokes. "Can I do the noms first?"

Meanwhile in an alternate universe where everything is in Polish!

Noon's antics never ceased to surprise Midnight. It was very likely that she was simply dreaming it all, perhaps it was even guaranteed by inverse logic given that interdimensional travel was impossible. Then again, it had also been predicted as impossible that she was ever going to become anything of significance. She had every right to feel superior over those ponies now, Midnight thought. She had her life established and apparently found love while most of them were buried.

Would you kindly stop sulking about the past and step into the bloody transport already?

Midnight noticed a well of light in front of her, piercing the darkness of her own mind. It was circular, just big enough for a mare of her size to stand inside, though it quickly converged into a thin beam just above head height which shot above without break until it was rendered invisible by distance. Slightly reluctantly, she entered it, instantly regretting falling for the deception again as every pulse that sent light into the sky also took with it a layer of her. Thinking positively, she couldn't bleed within the dream world, and she had always wanted to see how her internal organs looked.

She awoke in just the normal Ponyville, as a matter of fact, her own room. Nothing looked out of the ordinary, as far as she could see, it was a regular morning. Feeling split on wishing that she had simply woken up and not doing so, she walked out into the hallway, down the stairs, and joined Octavinyl in the kitchen.

"Nie stracil na wadze od tego chwalebnego tylek, widze," Octavia said as Midnight came into the room.

"Twoja jest jeszcze wiekszy," Vinyl replied while the dream hostess was trying to figure out what in the world they were saying.

"Ludzie na kontynencie wyspie ssac," suddenly came out of Midnight. Like a lying filly, she held her mouth shut in shock of having spoken pure gibberish.

"Yeah, this is not getting us anywhere," Noon, who had appeared at Midnight's seat, said. "The good news is, I've got a much better plane for you. And since nopony understands the language you are currently speaking, I'll interpret whatever you're doing as a yes. Meanwhile, in an alternate universe where your greatest wish is fulfilled after all."

She rose and walked outside, motioning for Midnight to follow. Midnight realised that she maybe should have followed a notion telling her not to obey when a single kick in the stomach provided the propulsion needed for her to cross interplanar space. After a few minutes of travelling at surpassed light speed and lots of friction burn, she touched down on the border of Canterlot castle. Something was different, however. Instead of landing graceful as a pegasus without any kind of impact force, her touchdown was more realistically how unicorn would land from such a height. Given her rather lively attitude from brighter days, she hadn't been too careful and broken a limb before more often than she wanted to admit. However, she had to learn that the pain associated with it seemed to be more the product than the sum of the one of each bone she had shattered. She tried to struggle with whatever movement and magic she managed to mobilise, but didn't seem to accomplish anything other than increasing her inner bleedings. She had always dreamed of when this moment, and now that it had finally come, she was fairly disappointed to find that the pain was overwhelming her senses much faster than expected.

Midnight was ready to accept her fate, even when forgetting for a moment that she was currently beyond reality, her own at least. The problem was that fate didn't seem ready to accept her.

What a drama queen. Anyhow, now that you've ascended into the Flow, we can begin your actual task. Take on your new form and carry out your neverending duty.

Midnight felt different. The pain wasn't going away, although it had lessened. As her eyes burst open, she had to find that they were positively emitting light. When she rose, her body didn't move, remaining still and peaceful while she herself came out in the form of a spirit like those described in foals' stories, though she had to admit most of them depicted ghosts as slightly less opaque versions of their living selves and not as much as brightly white glowing figures emitting sparks.

You know, this isn't getting us anywhere either. If you would be so kind, drop the act and arise for real.

Suddenly, most of what plagued Midnight was gone. Unsure of her current reality, she rose to her hooves again after finding herself on the ground, noticing during that action that she was once more whole and intact. Every trace of the previous events on this plane had vanished, up to and including the plentiful amounts of her own blood that had been spilled.

You were supposed to help your fillyfriend kill ninety percent of the population, but since you can't even die without making it a show, a fragment of insanity had to take over the job. I've found an even better plane for you however. One on which even you can't mess things up. Your senses say there is a door to Phyrexia close by. You might want to get through quickly, for your own good.

With the help of her portable everyday omniscience, Midnight spotted a stone gateway a little way in front of her. It looked fairly normal except that the image of the world seen through it somehow seemed off. She stood between it and the city of Canterlot, so she couldn't compare directly, but the Ponyville she saw off in the distance looked rundown, hopeless. She was still considering whether she really wanted to pass through it when an enormous bang from behind startled her out of her skin. She whirled around just in time to watch an orb of green energy expand from a tower somewhere in the castle she had never quite noticed and wash over her.

"You're not very appreciative of what a lucky filly you are. You know that, right?"

Midnight did not even need to turn around as she knew she was alone with her self. "What do you mean?" she asked, deciding to play along again at least for the time being.

"Look around. What is this? Well, we've already established that you don't know if this is another reality or just a dream." After walking around Midnight, she paused with her back turned. "But you know what? That's not even important. What does count is that it's your reality right now. 'Cause you've just been connected. Made a part of a greater whole."

"And that is necessarily bad?"

"Let me put it this way. I think you should have learned by now that matter is a simple illusion. All that counts, all that makes you, well, us in this case, is in the mind. Only that now, it's the common mind instead of your own. Do you think the hive mind would much appreciate having someone like you in itself?

"I know somebody who would," Midnight replied with just the right amount of disrespect in her voice as she found it.

"Funny as us having a vasectomy with a very detemined doctor. The point is, you are not supposed to be here. As soon as the hive mind finds your thoughts, it's going to do it's best to bring them into line. And guess what, once that is gone, so are you. A body with no mind other than that which all share. Little Midnight, suddenly gone, deleted, my dear."

"Rather live a slave than keep what has malformed me!" she shouted out, causing Noon to gasp lightly and slowly turn to watch her after staring through the portal.

"Would you know that your kind is nothing but slaves anyway. When was the last time you chose for yourself? But, keep this in mind. You are not here. You are sleeping. But if you get deleted here, your own mind will struggle, but keep up. And then, when you wake up? What do you think will happen then?"

"I will wake from a nightmare and realise it's all been just that?"

"To follow with what you think is reality now, your personality would be gone. No more Midnight. And once you are gone, the machinery would have to assemble what used to combine into you the fastest way it can find, and believe me, you don't want that to happen. What is a pony but the sum of her memories? The tale, the tale she tells herself? Imagine if even one piece was out of place? Best case scenario, you'd spend the rest of your days in a cell, suckling on your hoof until you finally manage to garrote yourself." The earth shook. Bits and pieces flew away into the sky, uncaring about the aspect of gravity. "As what is you fades, so does this world. Here it comes, robot! Midnight, scheduled for deletion!" She ran up and grabbed Midnight around the throat, slowly pulling her forward.

"What are you doing? Is this the final stage of your takeover? Stop it! You're not going to get through!" Midnight screamed as she tried to tear free.

"I'm saving you, idiot! Finally go!" With that, Noon flipped the two of them around and tossed Midnight into the gateway.

Suddenly, where she had previously treaded on soft grass, the very same blades now cracked and shattered under Midnight's hooves. She looked around. The sky was dark. Everything somehow induced depression within her. Canterlot, while it wasn't in ruins, showed damages on almost every building, some of them being entirely collapsed even.

Your goal is in the very tower which doesn't exist in our plane. Hurry.

Midnight had a distinct feeling that, out of any time for disobedience, this was certainly not it. She judged her target distance. With careful aim, she would probably be able to cross onto the tower with a simple Blink. She acquired the desired space as well as she could, shut her eyes, concentrated, and breathed once. Once she had to take the second breath, she found herself safely on the balcony, right where she had wanted to be. Since the door had been torn out long ago, judging by the scars the building had, she could simply gallop right inside, following a mad cackle coming from inside.

Inside, she found Twilight, bent over a control panel with an incriminatingly looking device beside her. "It's done! It's finally done!" she murmured to herself, apparently unaware of Midnight's presence.

"Sparkle! What in the world are you doing?"

"Ah, you've come to stop me, I assume. Behold, my dear Midnight, the total disease, as you would call it. I would prefer the term of Phyrexian perfection, but who cares. You see this button here? I'm gonna press it!"

"Stop it! You're gonna kill us all!"

"No," Twilight laughed, "I'm going to save you. I'm going to save you all from the imperfection. Stay away from me!"

Before Twilight could realise her threat, Midnight had her tackled onto the ground. "Are you insane? Imagine what we could do with this! We could cure the world of any and all!"

"I will not let that happen. As long as I live, I swear I will rebuild this as often as you try to destroy it. Don't you try!"

Soon after, Midnight inspected the bomb's mechanism for herself. Thanks to her excellent knowledge of anatomy, Twilight's twitches hadn't lasted for long, though long enough to squeeze out a pleading tear. She had ignored it. Nothing was real, everything was permitted for the means of the greater goal.

You sacrificed your world, quite literally, to save everypony else's. The greater good must always prevail.

Yes. I understand that now.

Click.

Chapter 57

The way between Canterlot and Ponyville was near uncrossable without a train, carriage, or particularly potent spell. Fortunately, Midnight had near infinite time on her side and nothing other than wandering around to spend it on.

You've done the right thing, robot. You've brought final glory to a cursed land. See your work.

Midnight reluctantly trotted out into Ponyville's main street. It seemed that Phyrexia had used to have quite a bit more population than Canterlot had implied at first.

My gosh, never seen so many corpses at once... hell, I've never seen more than one of them. Why do they still have to bleed after it already took its effect? I just wanna leave this place.

Should've thought more about killing yourself with a disease.

She passed a dried out spring and turned into a street she recognised particularly well. Funnily enough, her personal key still fit the door even in other planes of existence. She found Octavia and Vinyl Scratch where she had come to expect them, their bodies still pressed firmly against each other hours after the deed. At least Octavia had clearly been crying, but their final expressions were vastly different. They looked content, perhaps even happy, though the blood that still ran from their eyes and mouths made the image simply bizarre. Midnight turned away and walked out again.

Were they glad to see the end of their painful existence... or to see it together?

The things ponies do when they're in love.

There was nothing left for her here. She continued her journey in a random direction until a new destination came to her mind. Fortunately, she had already gone half the way without knowing. With a bit of luck, it could be the one actually worth visiting. Doubling her speed, she galloped over the remaining distance quickly. Once there, she burst through the doors and went straight through the building, knowing that she did not want to stop for anything in between. What she found in the back sadly wasn't much more satisfying, though.

Oh, wow, guess she's not a fellow immune after all. Just unicorns, I guess. With my luck, I'm probably the only unicorn nurse alive right now. Nopony to talk to...

Midnight turned to leave again, but paused once she felt hot liquid dripping onto her hooves. Apparently, it sourced from her mouth, which was a fact that she found out simultaneously to tasting its sweetness.

Did you know there are planes with five suns? You should be glad there is one and only one here. Embrace its glorious dawn, you won't get another one.

I could appreciate it more if it would bloody let me sleep.

Having someone with whom to sleep could possibly ease the problem.

Or make waking up more pleasant. Anyhow, I'm just late enough to arrive on time after eating breakfast, aren't I? Duty above all. Duty neverending.

Don't forget to brushie brushie. Or apply those spells you use when you think nopony's looking to keep your hair so wonderfully silken without actually doing anything for it. Whichever is more appropriate, you lazy filly.

Silently cursing everything between and including the Sun and the unknown depths below, Midnight threw the blanket across the room and lifted one end of the matress, finding that climbing off would require more effort than standing up from the ground. After a quick grooming session which included redefining her continous spell to revert her mane into the colors it had had in Canterlot, she left her room and went down onto ground level, entering the kitchen after a brief stop in another room. There, Octavinyl had just finished setting up breakfast.

Octavia noticed Midnights expression and greeted her, "Just why are you so down already, my dear? It's looking to be another great day. Lighten up if you kindly would, for me. I don't want to see you unhappy."

"Made out all evening and she didn't even buy me dinner," the unicorn mumbled in response.

Silently, Vinyl Scratch levitated the cereal box in front of Midnight. In her stead, Octavia responded, "If it cheers you up, keep in mind that I could not use her during that time. You like that, didn't you? Causing others suffering?"

"Well, given that my talent is literally making ponies' lives better, yeah, you're right." While Octavia was receiving from her dearest mare what they had been lacking the previous evening, Midnight inspected the box, yielding few other results than that it, in fact, contained cereal. "This doesn't count as dinner, by the way."

"And I thought you said you were a student before you left," Vinyl Scratch said before obeying the earth pony's wordless moaning and reconnecting.

"What is this? No added sugar? Gak, begone, healthy demon." Midnight tossed the box to the other side of the table where it slid and just stopped before reaching the border thanks to her flawless prediction of trajectory, though her applying another levitation spell in the critical zone probably also contributed.

You called?

You're not healthy.

More than you could possibly imagine, actually. With all those ponies running around inside of you, who is gonna herd them together and make sure you remain stable as what you are?

I know you're pretty surely not contributing to the problem, at least not to its solution. Any ideas what I'll face today?

Who am I, a convenient little helper feeding you bits of the future once you're ready? Write your own fate, if you feel you can be entrusted with such power. Let me cut to the chase, you can't. Nopony I've been with before could. Ponykind is still struggling to recover from the stuff that some of them did with the illusion of free choice. Did you know that there used to be another mountain next to Canterlot?

What could have removed that?

You've felt the same kind before. Now, what if that was to be destabilised, if there was to be a spark to ignite all the stored up power?

Sparkle's potential? All of us, ponies and whatever you are, I guess, would be changed. I don't want to have to imagine into what. Given that she's the incarnate Flow, more than any of us together, that energy would probably let us share in her glory. I guess we'd sprout wings or a horn, whatever fits. Then, once all are equal, discord would finally be abolished forever... together with any sense of self. We could find a new and wonderful future, to recover the greatness that was lost to time, and surpass it. But, it'd include her death, and I can't even think about that happening. Not to mention, you know, losing all that is individual. But, remind me, how is that related to choosing my own fate again?

It's what happened on Phyrexia, and the plane before that. She should have wiped all enemies there, not befriend them! But, since you were too slow, she got a piece of your mind, which couldn't convince her enough. Sparkle changed fate over there, and what should have been an excuse for buckety love, in the afterlife at least, was twisted and almost killed our mind back here if I hadn't come and rescued you into Phyrexia before deletion could take effect.

Buckety?

Something that makes me want to use a bucket for the only purpose they have. It's a good thing you've become a nurse, else this definition wouldn't work so easily. Imagine if you'd pursued your actual talent in drawing, the possibilities would've been endless! Artists do have endless uses for a bucket, right?

If I didn't have to do what's on my rump.

Fate has given you a mark and fate commands you to follow that pictogram. If only you'd been stronger, strong enough to deny it and pick your own destiny. You could've done anything, drawing, professional teleportation, however you'd do that, hell, even math.

The cube root of three-hundred forty four is seven plus one divided by one-hundred forty seven. Sorry, what? Wasn't paying attention.

Eat well. You'll be on your own for dinner tonight, that is, with the foal you'll have to care about. Good thinking of you to train those mother instincts already, by the way.

If I had any.

Miss TT says she pities you for thinking you could get away with both her and not doing your duty. What a nice, arguably female, much more arguably sentient entity. Wow, we are a mess. The brain doesn't know what whatever part of you thinks.

If she wants to complain about lacking attention, I'd like to point out that that's plain nonsense. I love myself equally and plentiful. Remind her until I can.

"So," Vinyl Scratch started with a tone which implied that she thought Midnight had paid attention to their conversation, "to help you, uh, what did you say again, Tavy? To alleviate your desires, you're not coming home early tonight."

"Because I only spent like, what, one entire evening with her this week alone?" After quick consideration, Midnight continued, "Actually, yeah, that's way too little. The point is, I'm out today and tomorrow anyway. Foalsitting, need to earn money so I can actually afford what you want of me."

"You do realise that you could simply have asked us for a credit, yes? Were you to put it to good use, you wouldn't even have to repay us," Octavia said with repressed, but audible bemusement in her voice.

Tee hee hee.

"Well, anyhow. My shift begins," Midnight's eye wandered over the kitchen clock, "five minutes ago. Here I go then. Poof!" After a moment of waiting if they still wanted to tell her something, she cast her signature into the Flow and vanished from the table, intentionally leaving behind only dirty dishes, and reappeared far away in the back room of the Ponyville clinic, "Here I am, Nurse. Sorry I'm late, but... I honestly have no excuse for this that would leave me in good light."

Nurse Redheart greeted her with a simple understanding smile as she began her shift.

Some time later, Midnight had all patients cared for, thus nothing to do, and was about to enter Ruby Pinch's room to treat, in other words, play with her when her plans were interrupted by another potential patient entering. Back in professional mode, she instantly let off the door knob and turned to ask what troubled the newcomer. The first glance gave her a slight shock of antipathy as it turned out to be a bright pegasus with a fairly long, fiery red mane. Fortunately, that pony's coat was somewhat darker than Shimmer's. On their flank, a pictogram of two ponies' heads in a conversation was imprinted. Midnight had troubles identifying the pegasus' gender, though she also called off the investigation as soon as she spotted a fairly large wound on their foreleg which still had a steady trickle of blood running forth from it.

"Good morning, fine filly, I'm," they managed to say before Midnight raised a hoof to interrupt them and pointed directly towards the back room. While she still couldn't decide if she was dealing with a stallion or a mare even after hearing their voice, she decided to assume the former in order to properly resist attempts at seduction that were clear to follow.

"Lie down," she said after leading him to the examination table. He wordlessly obliged, leaving the leaking limb stretched out for easy access, allowing Midnight to get to work as she had done a hundred times before. "Even though I'm certain I don't actually want to know, how did that even happen?"

"Kitchen knife. On retrospective, this does hurt more than I'd anticipated. I should be more careful not to do such things in the future. Although, this way, I was fortunate enough to meet you little beaugh."

The old trick always worked. For rather obvious reasons, Midnight hadn't told anypony, but there existed a second version of Mend which did little for healing the victim and instead caused a fair amount of pain, especially when applied to a wound yet to be Mended. She didn't know if it caused any long term damage. So far, nopony had made themselves deserving of such a long application. She paused for a moment and asked, "How are you feeling?"

"Kinda drowsy, to be honest with you."

Midnight cleaned and inspected the wound while checking for blood pressure. It wasn't entirely healed yet, but closed, and her readings indicated that his condition was caused as expected rather than by blood loss. "Yeah, that's all I can do for you then. Thank you for helping us help you help us all. I hope we can welcome you agai- wait, what? Anyhow, fill in your personal details on this form here," she magicked forth a sheet of paper from the top drawer on the left in the desk as well as writing equipment for nonicorns and placed all on top of a small nearby table, "we'll bill your insurance. Even though it's arguable that that was so much work to be repaid, well, it's the money I get paid, who am I to judge? Oh yeah, almost forgot, stay down for a moment longer." She cleaned out the remaining wound with a flash of magic. "There. If you don't roll around in the mud, this should heal without problems. Want a patch over it?"

"I'll be fine without," he said while climbing back down to his hooves.

Just in that moment, Nurse Redheart came into the room and Midnight began to explain the situation even though she was fairly sure it was obvious given their mutual location and profession.

If all planes are linked in essence and there is an infinite number of them, don't you think there is currently another Midnight from another universe visiting ours?

One where I'm also blind to the truth and in an actually successful relationship with Shimmer and I don't want Sparkle because, yeah, because I'm her foal there. That what you're saying?

Given that endless improbability is multiplied by an infinite number of attempts, there should exist a plane as that. Coincidentally, I believe I have actually seen one. Funnily enough, it seems that you have there been born into Shimmer's body and vice versa. Or, more accurately, what would be you over there never had to go through most of our history, whereas Shimmer's body did. Isn't the shaping of personalities a wonderful miracle of nature? Speaking of which, three seconds.

What in the hay could you mean by that?

Zero.

From the general direction of just a bit left when facing the door, a piercing scream reached her ears, causing everypony in the room to frantically look around for the source while also activating the protective instincts of the two mares present. Midnight knew exactly where it had come from and had teleported there before another heartbeat passed. Once in that room, she was relieved, slightly bemused, and somehow concerned to see her prediction come true.

Seconds later, the Nurse burst inside to see Midnight attempting to calm a panicked Ruby Pinch who was struggling to escape the bloodstained sheets. "Calm down, you're fine, everypony's does that. Uh, hi Nurse, nothing to worry about here. Ruby just needs a bit of good talk she should've had long ago. I can handle her... I guess," Midnight said while stroking the filly's back to try and get her quiet sobbing under control.

"You really are more than ponies would come to expect of you. You know where I am in case you need me, though I'm certain you'll handle yourself. This is a big day in both of your lives, darling. Or something like that. Anyway, I'll be off again then." She turned and walked right back out again, leaving Midnight and her patient alone as she shut the door behind her.

"Hush, calm down," Midnight gently whispered. "There's nothing wrong with what's going on inside your body. I've had it happen to myself, just a week ago! I'm afraid I can't really imagine what this must feel like for you specifically, but nopony is ever prepared for it. Come on, let's get you cleaned up and out of those dirty sheets. It's a difficult time, but you're stronger than it."

Slowly, Ruby managed to collect herself and found her way out onto the ground, then looked up to Midnight with giant, curious eyes. Her obedience and obvious desire to learn were almost painstakingly adorable to the point that even Midnight had to admit it looked cute, though the blood and tears staining her somewhat dampened the effect.

Midnight quickly tore off the sheets, tossed them into laundry, brought new ones into place, and gave the filly a moistened towel. "There. Get yourself clean. Your coat's too pretty to be stained like that."

Just with hooves? Sheesh, will you be so kind and help her?

She watched as Ruby rubbed herself clean and relatively dry all over, occasionally helping her out by magically pushing the towel where it belonged. When that was finished, she threw the towel to the rest of the dirty laundry and readied two chairs nearby, sitting down on one and inviting Ruby to the other. Once she obliged, Midnight opened by saying, "So, while it's prolly safe to assume that it's nothing, what did they tell you yet about what you're going through right now?" It was obvious that the filly knew nothing, so Midnight continued, "Once again, you're fine. This is perfectly normal. You're just... how would the Nurse put this... going through a new phase in becoming an adult mare. Sure it might hurt now, but you'll get used to it over time and be glad it happened after all. You're finally going to really grow in size all throughout, and together with that, your magic will get much stronger once your horn is long enough to accomodate it."

"I thought all of that happened when I got my cutie mark," Ruby said.

"Heh, no, not really. It's about the same period, yes, but there doesn't need to be a link. I could do a bit of magic before I got my cutie mark, and both came before the first cycle. But surely you can already do a few spells yourself?"

Afraid?

As much as she deserves the truth right now, I'd like to avoid telling her that story.

With much concentration, Ruby Pinch managed to somewhat levitate a flower from a nearby vase.

How old is she supposed to be again? She can't be that young, I mean, not like that.

Substandard magic, especially considering we're directly under a line. She's an earth pony with a horn.

Got nothing nice to say? She's trying her best.

Would you judge your own thoughts?

That really is kind of bad, sadly. Can't I use my awesome Flow powers to make it give her more strength or something?

Who ever said that's even possible? Perhaps you could establish a link like back in the day with Sparkle, but that kind of connection is really rare. Maybe if she was yet another main character, no, what do they call themselves? Mane Seven?

How is that group anything more than randomly connected?

Did you think it was a coincidence that brought all of you together? Did you think your destiny was solely to be some random pony to love for someone who needs it to keep herself fit, someone who is smarter, stronger, and in every aspect superior to you? Did you think there were only six Elements? What makes a pony? Is it not more than the sum of deceit, cynicism, selfishness, witchcraft, greed, and cruelty? Does not everypony also carry the strong need to destroy itself, hatred of its own mind and body?

Uh...

In which case, you are right because all the Elements and thus the fame that they bring are already taken. Seven Elements of Harmony? You're the seventh wheel enough as it is. So basically what I'm saying is that there might have been a bit more than chance that brought you here, so it's unlikely you'll be able to link with her. Which is exactly why you just did it.

She deserves it.

She had only opened up a spark of her magic, but Midnight could see the joy in Ruby's eyes as she suddenly had no more trouble moving the object around. After playing around with it for a bit, she set it back where it belonged and brought her eyes back up to Midnight, who then realised her relief might have been a little early. "But why do I feel," she managed to say before Midnight bridged in.

"Uh, yeah, you might want to do some stuff during times like this one, and by all means, if it feels good, do it, but by yourself. Do you understand? Don't let anypony near you when you're like this, even though you might want to. Your rational self would much regret it. That's something for later when you're ready. You'll find when that is once you are. Alright?"

"Mhm."

"Great. Should you need me, you know how to call me," Midnight said as she slowly set to leave.

"Accually," a meek voice said from behind, "can you stay for a bit?"

"Uh, sure, everything for you." Midnight turned around and reassumed her previous position. "What do you wanna talk about?"

"How was, um, it for you?"

Of course she had to ask just this bloody question.

"Well," Midnight began, knowing that she would not get away otherwise, "that was ages ago. I think I was just in potty practice - helping out at the hospital to get some practice - going on about my business as usual, when, you know..."

Ooh! All the details?

You weren't there.

Tsk, thinking a mortal force such as time or death could stop me. But please, keep going. Would you kindly also give sound effects? Imitating your panicked screams from back then would be simply gold.

Chapter 58

Prepare the Doctor's meal, fetch medication for that pony I don't even know, look if I have to lock Ruby's door... being Midnight, serious business now.

Don't forget the pear.

Doesn't my mind have a nonsense filter or something?

This isn't nonsense. This is nonsense. Bl-

Ah, silence. So it does. Wonderful.

Bloody walked right into that one. Don't you have something better to do?

The lock clicked into place as Midnight left it behind her.

Never said that I couldn't simultaneously work and have a surprisingly metaphysical argument.

More accurately, you couldn't work without me. By Celestia's plot, two blue ones, half a red one! Do you want to see your patients dead? Well, obviously, but are you trying to get it done yourself?

Silly, you know that nurses use high-dosed potassium for that. I'm fairly certain one of those is a placebo anyway. Yup.

You can do magic and nevertheless give out sugar without telling the patient. Explain that one to me.

It's the magic of curing using the most powerful entity known to ponykind. At least until they realise what's around us, what we are all made of.

You are destined for greatness, filly. One day, they will look up to your work, for it will be what helped our kind ascend. Patience, robot, patience.

With what I have, I'm fine, or so I say.

Excuse me a moment.

She's actually gone? Now what is she up to again? Anyway, business.

"Good afternoon Mister Awesome. Just bringing in the usual," she said while entering her first patient's domain.

"Of course. You can leave it on the table, I'm not feeling particularly hungry right now," he responded lying lazily in bed.

Hm. Lack of appetite, lazy behavior..

After setting the food down, Midnight followed a hint of her intuition and began to test his pupil reaction, just in case. He struggled and squirmed away from the light, "Eek! I'm freakin' blind! Where's my smoke bomb? Stop that!"

She unbound her magic, letting it spread out into the inbetween and nullify, "Sorry, I just figured I should make sure, even though, on second thought, that's not really a fitting test for worsening Animus abuse, is it?"

As she stepped away, he blinked and inspected himself rather than trusting such a task to her, "It's all right, anything else?"

"No, I don't think there is. I'll be off then... sorry," Midnight said before turning around and going directly through the door. Back in the center room, she found herself approaching from the office.

"Can't leave you alone for five bloody seconds, can I? Sigh, anyhow, would you kindly come to the back garden with me? I've got something to show and I'd prefer if ponies wouldn't accidentally find out exactly how nuts you really are. Oh, that, don't worry, the patients are gonna be fine until you come back."

"Just when am I going to get rid of you," Midnight mumbled as they both set to walk outside.

"The day you figure out that it might be worth the effort of a Blink if it means that you can simply teleport through a wall instead of having to walk around the entire clinic."

"Magic isn't a solution for everything, you know."

"Says she." Noon opened the gate, letting both of them in. It somehow warmed Midnight's heart to see such a little glade that persevered even in what a cold and seemingly dead world was outside of the building. "In case you need to know, the line touches down here, but that's only slightly on the point. Though it's interesting how it interacts with plants. Perhaps that is how she manages to grow all of those odd things up to that one, the whatsitcalled Crown. Try not to get touched by anything, though."

"So why am I here?" Midnight asked, looking up from a lotus petal that had drawn her attention for the moment.

"I've gone and explored a few universes, and check this out, they all share one common factor. You, or an equivalent, exist in every single one of them, and have made history everywhere, one way or another. The Flow is everchanging, but there are a few constants. For instance, all of you there are have found that there are more of themselves than just the ones in their universe. Even one generation in your legacy, they already remember your philosophy, the way you explained to them the true face of the world around them, how you showed them utopia, and how you claimed your destiny within it."

"How? What destiny? If I tried to tell them even a shard of what I've seen, they'd finally lock me up for good."

Noon led her forward to a particularly big flower, bigger than her hoof even while it was firmly closed. With a wave of her hoof and a flash of magic, it opened and pulled its complex inside structure apart into plain sight, showing that it was actually three blooms all folded into each other. "Petals within petals within petals, tadpole. The truth is hidden behind various layers of illusion and it is up to those with unerring vision to guide the others on our way into perfection."

"But what if I no longer strive for perfection, a life without your influence, but just simple happiness?"

The flower shattered and its petals fell to the ground without the magic to support them. Keeping her face turned away, Noon spoke with a normal voice, "You are given the world and refuse it. Do I have to force you to taste true power, that of altering reality? That of taking your fate when you seem it fit rather than when destiny commands? You could long since have found a mutual agreement on love, a marriage, your truest desire."

Suddenly, Midnight's body started to swell. Unable to bear the sudden weight, she collapsed to the ground, rolling onto her back to give her stomach room to painfully expand. Strangely, even though she had doubled her girth by now, she didn't feel bad about it at all, rather content in some way.

"Yet all you've got inside of you right now are butterflies."

Midnight's brief scream of pain went unheard as her stomach burst open and released a swarm of all colors and shapes. Others might have panicked at the sight of their own beating heart and tried to escape their fate, but she simply laid there, mind numbed by imaginary suffering, glad to have met her end through the creation of such beauty. After basking in the sensations for a little longer, though it seemed to her like an eternity, she was torn from her haze by a fairly gentle kick into her side. Finding herself mended back together and no more heavier than usual, she rose back to her hooves, trying to dust off the soft soil from her back even though it was somewhat pointless using only the spells she could be bothered to remember from her time in Canterlot.

A butterfly landed on Noon's outstretched hoof, "Petals within petals..." it burst into a small cloud of tiny butterflies, "within petals. Yet the world is unable to handle the truth," she said as every one of the insects turned gray and fell to the ground faster than they were physically able to, shattering into dust upon impact. "Created only as an illusion, a momentary figment of clarity, unable to sustain itself any longer. Birth by sleep. Just thought I'd give you something to think about. Now back to where you belong, at least judging by your time spent there."

A moment later, Midnight found herself slumped over her desk, a position she woke up in much too often for her liking.

Refueled with a sense of duty, she rose to take care of the subjects within her personal empire. Sadly, she was disappointed to find that none of them needed to be saved from an emergency or even cared for. Overall, she achieved little for the remaining afternoon except for telling Ruby Pinch more very well-selected stories from her own foalhood. She stepped out into the cool evening air with neutral feelings. The snowfall had finally stopped so that walking was a viable strategy, which was good since she had no idea where she'd have to teleport to for her day job, but that also took away much of its romantic emotion. Now, it was just icy silence with the thick snow strangling all that laid under it and neither sun nor moon anywhere in sight to melt it away and free Equestria's life power.

Just when did I become a hippie?

About the time of your mark. For your interest, the location is left-straight-right-right-left-right-left-straight-right. Keep that in mind, I'll take a break.

What in the name of... how am I supposed to remember that?

Sigh. Fine, princess, now you do. Now excuse me, I think I see a petty mind not far from here. She'll be fun.

Midnight had a feeling that maybe she should be concerned, but then remembered how little she cared for ponykind and instead enjoyed the few minutes of silence, alone with her very own thoughts plus the directions that kept echoing through her head. Nopony else was anywhere in sight despite it being clear all the way to Canterlot, a few lit windows serving as the only evidence she hadn't shifted into Phyrexia again. Once she reached the small plaza on which the library tree grew, she paused for a moment. The building was dark except for the top layer of windows.

Probably by herself, reading into the night again. Prolly trying to memorise her newest book. I could just burst in there and tell her what I've meant to say for months. No, can't. I'm too... patient. You gotta ask your desired out, or else they realise too early that they see nothing in you. We... are patient

Thus, she went on past and towards her destination, unaware of the lone thought drifting by from the library which carried her name. A few minutes of freezing her ears off due to being unable to hide them in her unusually short mane, Midnight arrived at a conspicously normal house. She knocked and, after a short waiting time, the house's stallion opened the door and bid her inside.

It's no bakery, no barn, no tree... hell, it doesn't even contain two secretly filly fooling musicians. This house is boring.

"So, we'll be back at ten. Dinner's in the fridge, make sure she doesn't stay up too late. Oh, yeah, another thing. If you can't find her, stay calm and watch the exits. She'll turn up eventually. That's about it." He turned his head away from Midnight and towards the stairs, calling, "Mirage! She's here, come down please."

A pale blue unicorn filly slowly came trotting down the stairs. "Hi," she mumbled absent-mindedly, half of her face hidden behind her dull silver mane the same way Midnight loved to wear hers. On her flank there was inscribed a unicorn head with a fading nebula coming from it, which was clearly inferior to Midnight's own mark in terms of readability. All she knew, the filly could be talented at hairstyling ponies with spectral hair. Upon longer inspection, it seemed like her borders were not as clearly defined as they should be, blurring and shimmering out of sight, though that was likely on Midnight's side. She could not be very old, having gotten her cutie mark perhaps a year ago at best.

In short, she would provide Midnight plenty of money without much hassle if she did it right. Thus, she picked up the opportunity and greeted her,

"Hey there squirt," slightly louder than necessary in order to show seeming confidence to Emnas while secretly establishing a friendly, yet dominant, relationship with Mirage.

Young. Pure. Innocent. She'll be fun.

Back already?

Alas, she was boring. I just needed to bring up somepony's mom to make her crack. You're much more entertaining, mother.

Speaking of which, how the heck do I even foalsit? Dad only declared me out of foalsitting age three years ago!

Basically, keep the lillun busy with inspiring activities, make sure she does her homework, bathes, and goes to bed, keep the entire house tidy as you received it, make her a wonderful dinner... you know, or just do it your way and spend the evening faffing about while leaving her in front of the television.

Wonderful. This'll be fun.

Just then, Emnas' wife glid down the stairs with surprising grace. He nodded and said, "Well then. I'm sure you can handle this, we'll be off then."

Just what did I get myself into.

Come on, have some fun, would you kindly?

The first hour of foalsitting had passed surprisingly quickly for Midnight. After briefly exploring it, she had found that this house was a near copy of the one she lived in, down to details like the magical soundproofing of the bedroom walls. With a bit of effort, she could slump back on the couch and pretend she wasn't trying to enjoy a foal's company. At least, until Mirage spoke up again, asking for help with her homework. "Sure. Let's see what you've got here," she said, lying down next to her. "Hmmhmmhmm, let there be a function F of X which passes the point of origin and whose derivative divided by the original function forms a new function G whose difference between values increases linearly. Well, that means that the derivative needs to be greater than the function itself. So it's gotta be what?"

Oi, you cheated on that one. I saw it! Tsk, medics, learning everything by heart.

"E to the power of something X. Then cut the E and derive that, so it'll have to be X squared or greater. So, maybe it's E to the power of X cubed, that'd give three X squared as the leftover, which grows with six times X."

How old is she supposed to be again? I know adult ponies who wouldn't grasp this, like... how big was my class again? Twenty, excluding me and Sparkle? And I thought Canterlot was supposed to build an elite. Well, with education like that, I know I will be paying my taxes to the big city. Hum, I'll actually have to pay this time around. Having a job sucks. I wonder if I might still be able to get Dad to pay for me. Or maybe I'll sneak them into Sparkle's...

"Uh, yeah, exactly. Is that the last one?"

Mirage raffled through the sheets of paper spread out before her, "Yes, that's it."

"Great." Midnight bundled everything together using magic and put them into the filly's saddlebags, "It's getting kinda late, are you hungry?"

"Yeah, kinda," Mirage said with a look on her face that betrayed exactly how she was feeling.

Midnight helped her up and started walking towards the kitchen with the filly in tow, "Well then let's change that."

As it turned out, Mirage's parents hadn't prepared dinner to warm up as much as they had left some grated potatoes together with a note telling her to escallop them with cheese. She wasn't too inexperienced with cooking of course, but time always seemed to run much too fast when she tried to prepare something that could easily burn.

Whose idea was it to entrust me with cooking?

Fwuffy wabbit to the rescue! Just trust me, rodents know how to cook, let me handle it.

Which is exactly what I would like not to do, but as things look, I'll have to.

Ah, let's see. Ingredients, prepared. Equipment, functional. Magic, subnormal. Everything's ready then. Distract the foal, would you kindly?

How the heck am I supposed to do that?

What kept you busy as a weenie?

I myself, mostly. I doubt she'd want to do the same.

Here, I'll guide your lips.

"Did you already take your bath for today?" Midnight asked the filly who had sat down at the table.

You evil. Why did I ever want to get rid of you?

"Um... yes?" came back from behind while she was supposedly fully focused on the frying potatoes.

Huh. That's a new one. It's not plausible that perhaps she's telling the truth, right?

You know my method for seeing stuff behind you. Do you really want that?

On the other side, that information can also wait a bit. Are the foods done yet?

No.

How about now?

No.

And now?

Jeez, you behave like the little filly as which I found you. Would you kindly act like whom you are? As it'd happen - and you most likely intended - it is.

"Done," Midnight said, swinging around to put the pan onto the table. Unfortunately, in her quick, powerful motion, she hadn't heard that Mirage had moved to stand beside her and thus directly in the hot metal's way. Once she spotted the filly, it took only a second split twice for her reactions to kick in and swerve it away, but the sounds that resulted after she awoke from instinctual haze made her fear it hadn't been quick enough. She looked around frantically apologising and ensuring that everything was alright, but Mirage had simply vanished. Panic began to creep into Midnight's mind as she fruitlessly searched every room of the little house once and again.

Dammit, where is that pony?

Calm down, robot. She is not gone, and what exists can be seen if you know how to look. Embrace your gifts.

What? Oh, the Eye. Well, let's see...

Where she stood, Midnight looked through the house and luckily managed to spot a cowering figure up in Mirage's room, covered up by an incredibly powerful concealment spell.

Such power... is this Night's Embrace? I thought only ponies like... the princesses could pull stuff like that. Anyway, gotcha, wee scaredypants. Whatever that's even supposed to mean.

Taking care to look unaware in order not to alert Mirage to her plans, Midnight snuck upwards into her room, steathily approached her position, then tackled her, held her down, and forced her into visibility through a quick counterspell. Now that she could inspect her somewhat clearly, Midnight was heavily relieved at the sight she got. Mirage's face had been slightly singed, but the actual damage to her skin was no more than a few burn marks on her cheeks. Of course, that didn't stop her from crying, screaming, and struggling as if for her life. "Kid, calm down. You do realise that I can literally just heal that? Don't make a big deal out of it."

Ugh, crying foals. Isn't this supposed to be sad or something?

There had to be something about Midnight's voice or appearance that made her unnaturally soothing to youngsters. She couldn't explain what, though. Between her almost immaturely soft voice, supposed devotion to helping others, and looking like a - well groomed - walking candy box, she couldn't find anything that'd make her especially appealing in any way. Nevertheless, Mirage's tears stopped, though she kept sniffling and occasionally trying to escape Midnight's grasp. Between her attempts at melting down the mare's heart, she managed to mutter, "Huh?"

"We really don't know each other, do we. See, I can help with that. Just a bit of magic and it'll be gone, I promise," Midnight reassured her, sounding as much like Nurse Redheart as she could. Mirage just quietly watched as Midnight summoned up her usual orb of energy, then slowly approached the burns with it and healed them out as gently as possible, never taking her eyes off of the floating magic ball, visibly curious and fascinated of it. After some time of doing her best in aetherical medicine, Midnight released the spell and checked her progress. Mirage's face was still missing some fur, but the marks were gone. That was about the best she could hope to achieve. She finally released the little one below her and said, "There. Does it still hurt?"

"N- no. I'm sorry... for hiding. Mommy says that I really need to lose that habit, but sometimes I get so scared and just wanna get away," Mirage whispered, a few new tears clouding her eyes.

Midnight wiped her dry and said, "It's okay. You'll grow out of that soon enough. It's easy to be afraid of things, but when you pull off the shadows of fear, you see that the true horror is but a whim compared to what you made yourself believe it was. Now, let's forget this all and go back down for dinner as if nothing had happened, okay?"

"Okay."

Oh, the delicious irony. I can feel it tearing your mind apart. Do you still feel doubt in your ability? Doubt that you did all you could? Fear that one day somepony will force you to confront your dark secret, after you've spent so long hiding and running?

The demons of the past hold no power over me. Not as long as I remain resolute... and patient.

We... are patient.

Chapter 59

We... are patient.

Quick question, is this reality?

Nope. You seem to love to just black out every now and again. Fortunately, I kept watch. You kept watching over the foal, somehow got it to do everything it had to until its parents came back, then teleported home and dropped right into bed. You can be so boring at times. Anyhow, this is currently where you are, to... oi, would you kindly stop munching the darkness?

But it tastes so wonderfully blue! Even though it's black. Huh.

So much that I need to let you get away with, only because this is your dream. I should work on changing that. On that note, where would the princess wish to travel today? Don't say Phyrexia, because... well, if you hadn't died there, you would be really screwed, let's put it that way. As it appears, the praetors don't like ponies killing their entire population, even if it was just a dead world to begin with. Huh, what else do we have here. Do you miss Dusk?

Not too much. He's probably going insane because I haven't written in, what, a few weeks? Well, that'll put him up to par.

Well, anyhow, I've gotten this wonderful little plane here. Nothing out of the ordinary, from our perspective. In fact, it could be another parallel dimension, just a little advanced in time. Next December, to be exact.

Will I finally have talked to Sparkle?

You do realise that there's a ton of planes where you have done that by now already? Well, yes, you will have, though you're currently in Canterlot there while she stayed in Ponyville. That's everypony's preferrences where they want to spend Crystmas, methinks.

What in the name of pony is that?

The designated holiday for mourning the disappearance of the Crystal Empire, which, let me guess, you don't know either.

If I don't, then how do you?

... magic. Basically, a ton of boring wannabe special ponies which the Mane Six saved not too long ago, thus reviving memory of the celebration while simultaneously mooting it. However, you know ponies. They'll take any opportunity to not work and spend their days doing nothing other than greasing up themselves. Basically, it's Hearth's Warming, but with more free stuff. Anyway. Initiating planeswalk now.

Midnight waited for several seconds, but nothing seemed to want to happen. She simply stood there enveloped by darkness on all sides, though it had a few bite marks in it at one corner.

Uh?

Filly, there's no secret to planeswalking. Either you see the doors or you don't. I'm fairly certain that you can. Try what I've taught you.

Midnight was somewhat baffled. It was clear what Noon was referring to, but so far, she had always relied on her to activate Pegasus Eye. Obviously, she was a little lost when left to herself. Fortunately, she managed to figure out the correct trigger after some attempts and saw the dream world in its true appearance, which was rather disappointing. There was nothing to behold past the fog, only a circular platform on which she stood with only void after the edge as far as even she with true sight could see. She strode to the edge, trying to see if there was anything below, but fragments dynamically flew up out of the abyss, mending together to extend the platform. Looking behind her, it seemed to have broken off to remain the exact same size around her.

Great. Now what?

This, my dear, is your mind stripped of illusion. As you can see, it's fairly empty. As much as I'd love to insert a cunning insult here, that is simply because you haven't loaded anything out of memory. So until you do, it provides you with an infinite playground while hiding the truth that there is nothing. Obviously, if it'd let you jump off the edge, you would, so it prevents just that. It's up to you to find the gate. I'd suggest that you jump.

Jump? I'd land flat on the ground!

My dear, this is your world. What is reality but what you make out of it, the tale you tell yourself?

She wasn't entirely sure if she knew what was going on, but quickly decided on a course of action. She closed her eyes, breathed deeply, and lunged forwards. Other than expected, she did not crash on her face right after, but kept falling for longer than she knew. At long last, she felt it was time to move on. As her eyelids came apart again, she saw that a rift of light was right in front of her, one which showed another Canterlot within the void, vivid as the one she came from, but covered in snow much more than she had ever seen it. She passed through it and silently landed flat on her hooves. A moment later, the light vanished behind her and gravity caught up, forcing her a few inches into the snow.

Great, have fun and be prepared to tell him all about you and your new little fillyfriend. I'll be in the vast expanses of your unused mind in case you need me. Need to find out something. If I'm right about this, perhaps there is not all lost within the crater.

What is worse? To die into freedom or to stay in life knowing that you shall never be released?

In case the parasite wants to leave, feel free.

As if I could. Alone, you would only waste her legacy. Prove me otherwise.

Gladly. But for now, will you be so kind and tell me my plans for the day?

Empty. Foalsit lil' Mirage in the evening, other than that, you never plan ahead.

Midnight climbed out of bed, rearranged the sheets, and stood in front of the mirror. As she was inspecting her own appearance, an illusion she had once found in a spellbook came to her mind, just in time to satisfy her desire to change her appearance. After a failed attempt and another with more effort on concentrating, her mane regained just the length it had once had. It wasn't genuine hair, anypony brushing up against her would notice the texture of magic, but it'd do until her mane regrew naturally. Besides, if there was to be somepony intimate enough with her to feel her mane, that likely would no longer be a concern for her.

Why did you even spend moneys on getting it cut?

Because I can. So, what does Midnight do on her time off?

You could pick up a habit to confess secrets in your off time, like, say, the one that's been bugging you for exactly seventy-three days. It's a healthy one to have, really. The mare I once was had it. It worked for the G. Until she died, partially because of it, of course. Still, I as whom I am now can't complain.

Does it hurt to die?

Would you be intrigued to find out if I refused to answer? Well, clinically speaking, death is the final shutdown of the brain, so the act of dying in itself will be quite painless. Even more so since you, uh, will usually have every alarm bell in your body ringing while you're fading out and will just be relieved of it.

I could not do it, out of cowardice. That which has blocked me for so long already. Why can't I say those words?

Going up and speaking your mind helps more than you think it would. I could guide you if necessary.

Control me. Enslave me. I have no need for that to happen. Besides, the opportunity is just tomorrow anyway. Patience.

After brushing the real parts of her hair, Midnight got up, packed her saddlebags, and went downstairs, walking right past the kitchen when she saw that nopony was in it and out through the door. The sun was still relatively low, shily peeking through some distant high fog without providing enough power to endanger the lying snow. A cool breeze swirled her mane up and before her eyes, temporarily blinding her. Freeing up her sight with a bit of magic, she set off towards the town center.

You still have no idea where you're going, do you? Do you know who else in whose direction you are currently moving has the day off with nothing to do?

Seriously?

Look at it this way. Maybe she doesn't know that you love her or that she loves you. What she does know however is that you've been friends for, what, two months now? Three? And how long have you gone without even saying hi to her? Just view it as something in the name of friends, no more. So, whether you want it or not, would you kindly get over to her and show her that you still care about her, more than she could imagine?

I guess I could.

Great. Initiating quantum leap now.

Wow. Wow wow wow. Wow wow. Calm your little ponies. As in, teleport to her house right now and waltz in early on Friday morning, when the Sun's still as low?

You do realise that it's winter, right? Besides, our little OCD friend is already way up. I flew ahead on wings of void while you were... resting, as usual.

Well, I guess I could go. Just quickly. As long as she doesn't jump in and tries to strangle me with hugs, anyway.

Midnight completed the spell that seemed to have coalesced on her horn already, noticing that she had not focused on any destination only when it was too late. She delved into the Flow, but something felt different. Usually, she was out again before she could notice something was different. This time however, she stayed in it without any implication that that was going to change soon. The Flow itself wasn't the same. Rather than portraying the energy of the world as it was usually seen, it left Midnight alone. She could make out her entire body, so she knew she hadn't gone blind, which led to the only logical implication being that there was simply nothing around her to see. She tried to scream, without emitting a sound. She tried to run, to finish her spell, but there was nowhere to go.

Wow. What have you gotten yourself into. Don't worry. I'll see what I can do. A-ha!

The blue texture around her began to shift and form itself, becoming the surroundings of the library. With a world around her to work with, Midnight did the first thing that came to her mind, recast Blink, and finally managed to set hoof on solid ground again, just outside the giant tree, though her vision remained within the Flow, showing her not only the conversion point of multiple ley lines in the air, but also an odd aura encasing Twilight's home, having the same color as the unicorn herself when viewed in Pegasus Eye.

No need to thank me. Just think about what just happened. All is illusion, to be shaped as we like.

Perhaps I shall. If I can take my mind off that glorious plo- voice of hers.

Midnight approached the door and, after gathering a tiny bit of courage, knocked. After a brief waiting period, it opened itself, revealing Twilight Sparkle standing behind it.

"Hello? Ah, Midnight! What brings you here? Oh, please, come in, make yourself at home."

She gladly followed the invitation, sitting down at the round table and dropping her saddle bags beside her. When she looked up, she saw a cup of tea floating towards her. Apparently an entire kettle had been coincidentally prepared just before her arrival. "You really shouldn't... okay, I guess there's really no opposing. Sugar please? I just need some sweetness... anyway, back on topic, I've got the day off and figured I'd drop by. You know, just keeping up our friendship and stuff." Midnight let her eyes wander, spotting a certain drawing the house's mistress had been gifted not too long ago hung up in a fairly prominent spot.

"Good to know you haven't forgotten me," Twilight responded, joining Midnight with her own cup set in front of her.

"Ah, I never could. Not you, of all."

"How sweet of you. Now, I don't think I've ever asked, how's life in Ponyville for you?"

Why does she have to rightfully belittle me? Not that it'd matter anyway, with a voice as cute as hers...

"'S going alright. I've got a home for now, secure work, plenty of friends - mostly thanks to you, if I may add." She waved a hoof and took a sip of tea, "You know, what everypony goes through when they come into a new town."

"Guess so. Of course, I didn't waste time before saving the world two days after arriving already. Though, it happens so often that I save Equestria in general and Ponyville in particular, I've kinda come to get used to it."

"Oh yeah, that was you, wasn't it. How time passes, that's already ages ago as well, isn't it. But, how often can you save the world?"

Twilight giggled. "Well, there was Nightmare Moon, then the thing with Discord, the whole affair at the royal wedding, and the Crystal Kingdom. I think that's about it."

"Oh yes, I remember those things. Mostly. I'm glad you got rid of that Discord guy as fast as you did, which is to say, you didn't seem to have an hurry."

Sparkle's expression somewhat dropped, even though she was trying to keep up her friendly face. "I did have to go against the spirit of chaos himself, partially without any help, so give me some rest."

"And what do you think I did then? Canterlot wasn't hit as hard as Ponyville, but keeping in mind even just what you know of my past, what might he have done to me?" Midnight said with a stern face to make it clear she wasn't joking. "He forced me to dream of all of those moments... to relive them... over and over again, with no chance of escape. Going through a nightmare once is traumatic, Sparkle. Having them become your sole reality... it grinds away your mind. You lose all else, that which would keep you going. After some cycles, you don't want it to end anymore, you just want to lie down and die, but you're not granted that either. The nightmare just restarts."

Twilight's look melted and became one of genuine empathy, "Oh my gosh, I had no idea. I'm sorry... wanna talk about it?"

"Nah. That's not your trouble. On another topic, what's so special about that wedding? Far as I know, it was just some dude marrying a slightly more famous, female dude."

"Well, for starters, it was a princess and the captain of the royal guard, who happens to be my brother," she paused, waiting for Midnight to apologise for her ignorance or simply react, futilely. "That and then there was the Changeling invasion. You seriously didn't notice that?"

"That was almost a year ago, right? In April, on a Saturday. I'll say it this way, that date happened to be right after a week in which I had six exams and I may have slept a bit long afterwards, as in, basically through the entire day."

"I see. Wouldn't have expected you to be a stout sleeper, but I guess now that I think about it, it kinda fits."

"I do what I must because I can."

"Certainly. What else will you be doing today?"

"You mean, assuming that I ever leave here?" Midnight joked. "Heh, sorry. Some drawing, I guess. Gotta be somewhere in the evening, other than that, I'm open."

"I and some of the girls are going to the lake today. Wanna join us?" Her face was back in the eager smile Midnight knew and loved.

"Uh, sure, I guess. Wouldn't miss an opportunity like that."

The water here is pure. Other than in Canterlot, where it's already oversaturated with magic. Know what you're getting yourself into, filly.

Everything has a price, and this is Sparkle's.

Very wise.

Chapter 60

"What did I get myself into?" Midnight shrieked, clinging to the chest of her other self who reacted with a fair amount of self control.

"Sometimes do I wonder that myself. What is a greater mystery to me though is how you managed to keep all of those thoughts hidden from me until we came here." She shook off Midnight and wandered through the warm grass, pausing as she reached the stream.

"That's basically a date, and she'll realise how worthless I am and never want anything from me again. Just look at me, I can't even swim!"

"Uh, filly?" Noon asked without turning around. "You do realise that it's currently winter in the real world and the lake is probably frozen over, so in all likelihood she meant ice skating or picknicking on top of it or something like that? Besides, I must say that being able to retreat into a personal sanctuary within your mind at will is really pretty awesome."

Midnight paused and looked around. The Sun was high, dispensing its blessed warmth onto the hill and its surroundings while a slight breeze rustled through the leaves of the tree on top of the hill and shook the swingset attached to it. "Eh, I do what I must. Because I can."

"Yet another proof that you hold power beyond your understanding and refuse to utilise it. Hmm, I wonder what the truth of this place is? Have a look for both of us, would you kindly?" Midnight had no intention to use the Eye, but she obviously had no choice in this matter. At first glance, the real version of her refuge looked quite similiar, until she went to cross the stream and noticed that within it ran blood instead. While they climbed the hill together, Noon said, "Unicorn blood. Is that your truth? You know, when you take away everything, the one thing that stays is somepony's worst nightmare. The one thing that they truly fear. Are you really still mourning for her?" When they reached the hilltop, Midnight jumped backwards and almost rolled back off. The tree had lost its leaves and the swing had been replaced with a pony, supported by a single rope slung around her neck. Even in death, Sparkle still held beauty incomprehensible to Midnight. "Thank you."

"For what?" Midnight asked.

"For making sense."

The moment after, Midnight woke up back in her bed where she had entered her mind. Pleased to find that only little time had passed, she rose and went to fix her looks.

Now that I think about it, Sparkle took it kinda calmly that I suddenly had long hair again. Perhaps she just saw my spell. Does she know about the Flow? Is she forced to live within it? Wouldn't surprise me, somepony of her power. Speaking of which, how should I look for such an event?

Mostly something against the cold to make sure you can ask her out tomorrow. Though you're welcome to do it today.

Oh gosh, that's tomorrow, right. Guess my trusted scarfy will do.

How long has it been since Dusk gave that to you? It's amazing how you still wear it, despite its flashiness. Perhaps it is less about the scarf and more because it was his gift. Isn't that so? Aren't you afraid to truly leave him behind, out of fear to be alone when the bell tolls?

Hush, you. I'm never alone. Never will be. I've learned that now. My friends - Sparkle - will never leave me, much less in the near future.

Illusions are convenient if you don't want to have to deal with your fate, aren't they?

Something liquid ran down from Midnight's right eye. She looked up. A constant stream of blood was running down through her face. She turned and exited the house.

You've changed. Why so serious?

You're right, I have changed. I've learned to no longer be fooled by momentaneous illusions. I've gained... patience.

What worth has patience if you do not know where you are going?

I guess I'll be heading by Sparkle's home to see which lake she meant. Or what is about to happen. That's also a possibility.

"Hello there, Midnight," Rarity called upon noticing her. "Twilight told me you were coming along today."

"Yeah, I'll be glad to join in," Midnight said, quickly adjusting her own path to match with the other mare's when she noticed it didn't.

"That's lovely of you. It's a true beauty about this time, you know. Besides," she lowered her voice a little, "Twilight doesn't get out as often as you may think. We're doing what we can for her, I guess." She paused for a moment, seemingly in thought, then giggled and said, "Maybe we'll even be able to find her a special somepony. Ah, our little adorable bookworm, getting herself a mare. Would you believe that she's already that grown up? Although, how old are you again?"

Interesting analogy. Want me to actually put a dagger in your heart so we can find out if maybe it does hurt more than the irony?

Hard to be cynical. I just realised something that she said. Wonderful.

Huh... you know, not like it's what I - the Flow - have told you the entire time.

"You think she's really that way?" Midnight asked, determined to further test the waters.

"I have sources. Tongue slips. The looks she gives other ponies, especially unicorns, funnily... of course, there's nothing certain. But so long that she isn't seen kissing a filly or something," Rarity paused to see if Midnight was alright after the latter had produced an odd snorting noise. "Uh, what I am saying is she could be either, so don't hope emptily, but signs point to a certain direction."

"I can see that," Midnight said, indicating towards a guidepost they were passing which showed the way to their destination.

"Still a little ways, dear. Plenty of time for us to talk."

In fact, they were only now leaving the hive of buildings and entering the rich grassy hills outside of Ponyville. Midnight assumed that they were so anyway, as she had never left the town before snow took over them and, during the flight over that first brought her into Ponyville, she had had better things to look at. "Well, now that I know how far away it is, there is theoretically nothing stopping me from just teleporting there."

"You wouldn't want to do that."

"Name a reason why I shouldn't."

"Because you'd end up with more energy in your Blink than you expected, fall into the lake, and drown there miserably," Rarity explained with the same calmness as if she was teaching her a new cooking recipe.

"Just 'cause swimming classes were always pointless and I eventually just pretended Dad didn't want me to go," Midnight mumbled.

"Exactly."

"I wonder if Mend could also supply air. Because that spell isn't doing enough for me already. If it healed about anything, I wouldn't have to do any actual nursery - oh wait, I haven't in my entire life! Yay for magic!"

"Ah, you're here," a voice called that consistently made Midnight's heart beat a tiny bit faster.

"Forever yours," Midnight replied as they approached, then looked around.

Let's see. Lake is indeed frozen, but not safe to cross, so it's prolly neither skating nor swimming. Guess it'll just be... wow.

Grade A ward spell to hold out snow, combined with some - magical, of course - heating to make it all comfortable and snuggly. Just a force field like you taught her, isn't it? No, wait, you didn't. Hee hee hee.

"You never stop pulling more amazing tricks, do you," Midnight commented upon entering the barrier and lying down on the blanket that already protected Sparkle, Fluttershy, Rarity, and a basket she assumed was filled with tastinesses from making contact with the grass.

"I'm afraid I can't quite follow. Isn't this just some everyday magic?" Twilight asked.

"Not really - then again, judging by the fact that everypony who's voluntarily staying in Canterlot is a moron, yep, I guess it is for you."

Ugh, I shouldn't have eaten those pills I found lying in the back of your mind. Oh wait, that's just the bucketiness I can feel coming up. Excuse me, I'm going to black out for the next few hours.

Do that. Too busy with noms and Sparkle.

I'm back. Did something interesting happen?

Mildly. Ate some noms, had a great time, maybe accidentally shot down a few insects with a bit of telepathy. She didn't like that, tee hee. As if I cared for her. Now what are they doing?

Rarity took the word and said, "We'll be going then. I really need to get back on that design. Goodbye girls, looking forward to doing this again!" as she and Fluttershy stood up and left. Midnight mumbled something that she could claim had been a goodbye if necessary and watched them leave. The pegasus shivered slightly as they stepped back out into the cold air side by side, but something rose suspicious thoughts within her. They didn't speak a word until well out of hearing range.

Warm spring afternoon - close to it, anyways - with a lovely little picknick, nopony around anywhere near earshot, you've got the next three days off for a honeymoon and, of course, lil' Sparkle is right here, in a high mood, alone with you. Huh. I wonder if this is coincidental. Now, would you kindly take the opportunity you've been waiting for?

Pati-

No! This is the time, do it. Do not force me to help you again. Get a move on, would you kindly?

Midnight's body slid a bit closer to Sparkle almost by itself, "Remember back in Canterlot?" Why did she have to be fumbling for the right words just now? Midnight felt driness coming into her mouth and prayed that her face wouldn't betray her before it was time.

"Those were great times, weren't they?" Twilight answered, absent-mindedly playing with a flower which enjoyed a bit of warmth for a change.

"Yeah, what happened since then. Sparkle, I think we should be a bit closer."

The cute unicorn faced her with beaming, but seemingly ignorant eyes. "Oh, absolutely. I mean, we barely got to hang out since we're here. No offense taken, of course, I assume that you're really busy working and all that."

"Yeah, I..." Midnight was stuck. She had to continue quickly, lest Sparkle get suspicious, but everything she could say just seemed like it'd ruin matters. Her eyes darted around looking for help, temporarily off of Twilight's face to the lake, Canterlot Castle, the nearby tree, and back to the other mare.

Celestia, force my tongue, for I am not strong enough.

"Uh, so, wanna do something sometime? Just us, I mean?"

Here's to hoping she hasn't read any romances doing the exact same thing - I mean, hopefully she has and wants to help me out.

Twilight didn't appear to catch what Midnight was aiming for, which may be a good thing. Her smile grew slightly bigger as she said, "Of course! What do you wanna do?"

"Uh, movies?" Midnight stuttered, still unable to believe she had gotten even so far. "Sunday, maybe?"

To be followed up by romantic dinner and going to bed. In one place. I maybe possibly could be able to scrape the bits together for that.

Twilight's face dropped a little again, "Um, on Sunday, I don't think I'm gonna have time. There's the wedding of two good friends of mine that I really gotta attend."

"Which I neither am invited to nor care about."

Twilight mumbled a little, clearly still not used to Midnight's unique honesty, then caught herself, "Anyway, well, then maybe later, like, Monday?"

"I'll be- wait, will I? No, I don't think so, it's a Tuwethri week. Alright, that works. I'll come and pick you up, I guess."

"Great, see you there. Really looking forward to spending time with my friends. I haven't forgotten Canterlot."

"Yeah, me too. Listen, I gotta be somewhere, mind if I leave too?"

"Not at all. And, Midnight?" Twilight grasped her hoof while she had already warmed up Blink, causing the energy to shatter if Midnight's willpower was just a little weaker to such a silken touch, "Take care until then."

"I will," she said before disappearing from reality and popping up in her room far far away. Suddenly, she was back in her own, normal reality, though a fuzzy feeling deep within her stayed, the same that she felt whenever near Sparkle. From somewhere at the back of her head, she heard slow clopping.

Amazing. Look at that, I managed to salvage your slow clop center from the crater. On another note, bloody finally you did it.!

I... I can't believe I really just did that. I mean, she's still oblivious, but it's a step.

You're still afraid of confronting with her. But this is courage. Standing up to your fears and dealing with them, step by step, all in due time. Through patience, the moment is revealed, through courage, it is taken.

Midnight, starting to feel drowsy, flopped down onto her bed and covered her face with her hooves.

This is it. No turning back. And I still have to go foalsitting. Ugh.

Well, since you were as kind as to let me nap off earlier while I salvaged stuff, I guess I could push our body through it if you desire.

Nev- yawn. Okay, maybe. Do I get to sleep then?

As if you were still here the entire time.

Anyway, what could you have salvaged? There's nothing here.

Y'know, stuff from the crater. Things that you thought lost to insanity coming to light again.

Like?

Like your old talent for artificial farts. Just listen!

That was entirely unnecessary and immature. Now I won't be able to publicise my autobiography on the Equestria Daily.

Yeah, well, screw Equestria Daily. Bunch of snobbed twats, that's what they are anyway.

Heh, agreed.

Given that it's about time that you are there instead of here, shall I begin?

Ugh, fine. But don't try anything!

I wouldn't in my dreams. And neither in yours, tee hee.

After that, Midnight fell into darkness where she was lying.

She awoke, back in her room, standing and storing away a fair amount of bits. Everything seemed normal, with the added bonus that her body was just normally tired and she could thus go right back to sleep.

Ah, there you are. I've done everything to satisfaction, you're now that required little bit richer. And it's a little after ten. Thought you might wanna know.

Anything else I actually have to do, as in myself?

Nope. I also took the liberty of cleaning up our room a little before waking you. You're free to go to your favoritest place ever. Which I see you are not wasting any time doing. Well, good night, sweet princess. You've got a lot ahead of you, and for the first time, I think you've grown enough to handle it all.

Chapter 61

Reality?

Filly, you know something's wrong with your mind if you always have to ask that. That being said, there'd theoretically be no difficulty for me to hold you within an illusion of reality and continuing to steer our body and getting it laid at long last. That'd teach you to trust a demon, wouldn't it. Alas, I didn't have that idea in time. No, my dear, of course I wouldn't. Anyway, this is indeed reality. Seven thirty-seven, a nice thirteen degrees outside. And yes, your mane is indeed THAT screwed up.

That's freezing!

Tsk, savage.

Midnight reluctantly rose and walked to the mirror to see how things stood. Noon hadn't been lying, and she pondered for a few moments if she could salvage her current hairstyle into something that she could believably claim she had chosen to wear. Unfortunately, she came to the conclusing that she couldn't, and set to straightening it out again. In doing that, she tried out various styles of long and straight manes. She locked in on one and simply sat there admiring herself, until she, with a bit of help, remembered that there was a certain pegasus who already had it looking the same.

Didn't want that anyway. Doesn't suit me. I'm amazed that it's that long, though. Oh wait, magic. Ha!

After altering it slightly to more closely resemble her original style all the way back from her time in Canterlot, she rose and went out of her room and down the stairs.

Princess, I know you've reason, but why are you so happy?

As if I knew. I just feel better. Did I accidentally nip from the painkillers bottle again? I hope not. Still, can't I?

Watch where you're going! You know, you should be glad that I'm benevolent. Do you know how tricky it can be to constantly help out your lacking reflexes?

Yeah, what's supposed to happen? I've got four legs afterall, and am a master of teleportation magic. I can't fall.

But fail. Imagine if you did, down, and broke your horn. What then?

That'd be a slight inconvenience. Reduded magic capability until it regrows. I can't for the life of me think why ponies expect something else to happen. It's just an extension, for the sake of something. Why do they think do civilised unicorns have them rasped regularly if they couldn't replace themselves? You always hear about coma this and death that. Perhaps reading such stuff was why I ended up quitting the business with the others.

Sister, if I could, I would so hoofbump you. How wonderfully our interests match.

Understandable.

"Understandable," came out of the kitchen. Midnight walked the final steps in, absently greeting Octavinyl who were already seated within. "Oh hey," Octavia continued as she saw her. "Were we just talking about you, my dear."

"Yeah, because the world revolves around me. Wonderful."

"Are you maybe feeling sick or something? Don't see you that happy often, or even smiling, for that matter," Vinyl said, feigning genuine concern.

"Why shouldn't I?"

"I suppose that is a valid question - either way, to the point. As you still seem to struggle to gain whom you want, you are going to ask her today, we will see to that."

"Actually," Midnight began, pausing for a moment to let that single word sink in, "I kinda already asked her."

Octavinyl reacted as expected, except that it was the unicorn who inhaled coffee. They both stared at Midnight and, while her friend was recovering, Octavia said, "Really? But, why? How did you of all do that? Just to clarify, we are talking that you did ask her out on a date, yes?"

"Yeah, something like a date. Monday. Well, I don't think she technically sees it as dating, but, y'know, that doesn't really matter when she's going to the movies with me anyway."

"... surprising. Anyhow, big day ahead of us, right?"

Midnight buried her face in cereal. "Yeah, sure," she mumbled, "hours of unpaid labor out in the sun, happy little singing and working together like the idiots they are."

"I know magnets that are less bipolar. Look at it this way, finally spring will be here and there'll be plenty of time for you to focus on little Sparkle and do stuff."

"Do I really have to?"

"Everypony does. It's the one day a year that we're working together! It'll be fun even for you, I am certain."

A bit later, though still much too early for her liking, Midnight arrived at Ponyville Square, apparently a little too late. The crowd, while still among the biggest she had ever seen, was already dissolving again, each group of differently colored vest-wearers going out in another direction. Trying to find somepony in the crowd would have likely proved fairly pointless if it weren't for her talents, which revealed to her that using them hadn't been required in the first place as Twilight was still up on the podium. Trying to ignore the deceptively happy tune the others were already beginning, she approached the stage.

"I was wondering when you'd show up. Where were you in the beginning?" Twilight said when she saw her, sounding unusually serious, though Midnight knew she didn't mean it like that.

"I, uh, magic? Damn, wrong excuse this time."

Sparkle giggled briefly, "It's all right. What do you wanna do today?"

"Well, judging by the fact that you're currently naked, I'd deduce that I can't be on whatever team you're on." Midnight readjusted her scarf with a bit of magic, "So what are the alternatives?"

Insert the sound of a slow clop here, Marelock. Actually, that it doesn't work per se is kind of worrying and I should probably get back to work on fighting back insanity.

"Since you don't have wings, which I guess I could change, though that never ends well... anyway, you could do either plants or animals."

Midnight looked around behind her. Pegasi in the sky were working on the blanket of clouds while earth ponies and unicorns down below plowed fields to clear them of snow. "So it's hard work or animals. No thanks, I'll be wherever the injured get cared for. There's no such place, is there. Ugh."

"Hey, it's not that bad, cheer up. Although," Sparkle seized her up, "you probably have better places to be than plants. Why don't you try helping out the animal staff?" She levitated forward another brown unisized vest which Midnight reluctantly put on, then pointed in a direction she hadn't looked yet. "There, stick to Fluttershy. If you run, you can easily catch them."

Midnight gave her a sceptical look. "Uh, Sparkle? Traveling medium distances in an instant and me, remember?" Without awaiting an answer, Midnight vanished to the front of the animal crowd.

"Huh? Hello there. You're working with us today?" Fluttershy said as Midnight moved to walk besides her.

"Yeah, guess I am."

"I'm sure you'll have a great time. Why wouldn't you enjoy waking little fluffy critters?" the pegasus' eyes already became dreamy again apparently just from thinking about animals.

"That is exactly why I'm doubting it, but anyway. So what's this job all about, anyway?"

"You'll see in a moment. Ah, here we are." They arrived at the middle of nowhere, a little out of Ponyville. Once off the path, Midnight could spot multiple holes in the ground through the snow. The rest caught up, two ponies pulling carts with various food items packed into little baskets, bells, and some rough cleaning equipment. Fluttershy beckoned her over to a small group of holes. "The animals go in here to hibernate through the winter and now it's our job to wake them up for spring."

"As opposed to, y'know, just letting the other birdies bring out the Sun and having them wake up from warmer temperatures?"

"I, uh... we have to do it this way because otherwise the snow would melt and flow into the dens while they're still inside and that'd be really bad. It's easy, just wake them up with a bell, give out the right food packages when they come out, and help them clean out a little. Watch," the pegasus mare said as she grabbed one of the instruments and rang it in front of one of the entrances. After a few seconds, a pair of sleepy honey badgers showed up. "See?" she commented through gritted teeth whilst laying down a pile of insects and larvae, which the animals didn't seem to care about too much...

"Wouldn't have expected you to voluntarily kill insects just to feed those things - then again, you've never had a big problem with killing things, have you," Midnight said neutrally as she levitated forward a bell and began ringing it in front of another opening. Fluttershy tried to hide any reactions, but she notably twitched when the second part of Midnight's sentence had left her lips. Midnight's first species turned out to be, worst to worst, a couple of snakes. She took a few steps backwards as they curiously looked around and smelled the air, then calmly breathed through and said, "Nope. I'm not doing those."

"Is there a problem?"

"Well, I'd describe it less as a problem and more as an insurpressable urge to break every single vertebra in their bodies, if you catch my drift."

The yellow mare fluttered over holding the proper food and murmuring what sounded like encouraging words to the abominations slithering around on the ground before her. After they climbed to a sunny spot without snow to warm up, she turned, "Wanna talk about it?"

"I'd prefer not to. I'm trying to forget exactly why or even that it's there, talking would probably only make it worse. 'S not like you've already given me enough fears."

Fluttershy looked fairly disrupted already, and Midnight wondered if she'd gone too far, if she should apologise, until she remembered that such a thing as too far did not exist with that certain pegasus. Thus, she instead turned and set to awaken another set of creatures. Before she walked far though, Fluttershy called out surprisingly loud, "Watch your step!"

The information managed to be processed within Midnight's mind just in time for her to look down and spot as her hoof made contact with a tortoise on the ground, which returned her gaze and greeted her, "Hello!" moments before shooting ill-smelling fluids into her face.

"... Sorry, I didn't see that soon enough. Uhm, you can just wash that off, it's harmless. But you have to admit that it's really fascinating how that species of turtles evolved such a defense, not to mention being able to kindly greet you before, well, bursting."

"Alright, alright. I'm fine," Midnight said while rubbing her head in some snow to get the ichors off while the critter walked off on its merry way.

Isn't that exactly your job?

Princess, I can't spot everything. Maybe I could, but... your face! Priceless!

How funny.

They silently resumed work, at last without major interruptions. Some time and a seemingly endless mass of bunks later, Midnight heard the giveaway flash of a teleportation spell behind her. Twilight had come to them, currently talking to Fluttershy, "Everything going as planned?"

"Even faster."

"The weather staff is about to clear the skies, any objections?"

The pegasus scanned the hills wherever a brown-vest was working. "No, I think we'll be done soon."

"Great, I'll relay the message. See you at the celeb!"

Midnight was about to say something, to at least make her presence a few meters away known, but Sparkle had already vanished at that point. All that remained was a quiet, malicious giggle from the remaining mare. She moved up to her with puffed stature and said, "Missy, I'm starting to regret giving you my secret. Perhaps, given what you've done with it recently, I should go around and tell ponies yours? Free information, no secrecy from the public. Doesn't your cult want that?"

Robot! As just as this is, socialise, would you kindly?

An intimidated meep was all that came as response as Midnight turned and resumed work. She didn't know exactly what Twilight had meant by celebration, but if the librarian would be there, then so would she.

Chapter 62

Animal duty passed rather quickly. However, Midnight violently renounced the thought that it could be due to having fun, as was often and thus stalely quoted. She'd prefer to blame it on her mind entering a subconscious state during uninteresting tasks, like treating patients or foalsitting Mirage the day before. Either way, it was over at long last and she could stop pretending to care for the many and enjoying community labor, thoug she had to admit that their chant was rather catchy.

Weren't you supposed to do this without magic?

Exhibit A: Me caring about savages' ways. Oh no, it's vanished, perhaps because somepony remembered exactly why unicorns are the largest of the three populations.

Fluttershy signaled her crowd together and, after some compliments Midnight was sure couldn't be honest even from her, directed them to move back to town square. Thus, after glaring one last time at the little tortoise that seemed to always intentionally be in front of Midnight to make her step on it, a gesture to which the animal replied with only its usual greeting, she returned to town hall by means she was ever so glad to have. The other teams had already returned on their own and now formed a huge mass in front of the podium, humming with chatter, with Twilight Sparkle surprisingly enough being among them. Another discreet spell later, Midnight had miraculously appeared by her side. "Hey there, Sparkle," she whispered as she had not been noticed yet.

"Welcome back. Enjoyed yourself afterall?" Twilight returned without looking around. Apparently, Midnight was the only one who used that certain nickname, which just made it all the more special for her.

Y'know, you really should lose the habit of teleporting everywhere. I know that it's on our flank and such, but, truth be told, you're chubby enough as is.

Totally not, I... okay, maybe a little. Studying isn't good for a pony's shape! Doesn't magic count as workout?

Barely. It is not your energy you harness, keep that in mind. It's like counting rounds which another pony runs for you.

Yeah, I get it. Which painfully reminds me that my secret stash of empty calories has run dry. Guess I'll have to refill it somewhere, probably- oh Celestia, why there, why that mare?

We haven't seen any other supplier as of yet. Which doesn't necessarily say much given that you, as mentioned, always bloody teleport and if you do walk, for whatever reason, maybe you forget that you can tele, it's always the same line. Coming to think of it, who would build a hospital out of town? As in, so that normal ponies need five more minutes of their patient bleeding out until they get there?

I want candy. But I don't have any. Oh, dilemma. Wait, ooh, speech!

Indeed, the one Twilight had referred to as Mayor Mare had walked up to the stand where presumably her notes laid and was now trying to get the crowd's attention, a slow but steady effort. Eventually, everypony fell relatively silent and looked forward. "Good evening fillies and gentlecolts," she began in a tone that immediately caused Midnight's attention to wander. The night sky looked amazing again. At least, the portion that she could look at without rising suspicion did. She wondered for a moment why she didn't spend more time out when the stars could be seen. Something in the back of her head made her think of the Shadow Star, which was located where it had always been, silently illuminating a world that was everything without truly existing. It invited her, to remain, to discover its reality. But it was not Midnight's. She belonged elsewhere, in the real world, to Sparkle. She blinked back out of the Flow just in time to hear the Mayor conclude, "For those who stay after the feast, we've managed to engage Mister Slinger, whose play with fire has entranced many of our residents before."

Ooh! Fire! Ooh! Hanging out with Sparkle without her noticing it!

As the buzz of the crowd rose, Midnight's head remained disappointingly quiet. She wasn't worried for her personal fiend, of course. In fact, she was glad to have her gone, and she'd repeat that to herself as often as necessary. If her number one conversation partner wasn't around, she'd just content with her favorite, starting a conversation by saying, "Huh. Looks like there's more to this event than I thought. Where is everything, though?"

"Running Delivery and his folks have set their craft up a little outside of town. There's a hill with plenty of room just north out of the city. Have you been there before?" Twilight replied, luckily lining up besides Midnight as they both followed the crowd's general direction, right past the stage, the same direction where she had just seen the enormous star float.

"Nah. I haven't really been around town much, just noticed."

Twilight briefly stared at her before almost stumbling and refocusing on the way ahead of her. "Really? Well, there's so much you need to see, like, the Everfree Forest."

"Uh, Sparkle? That particular place, I've been there. You accompanied me on the way, even."

"Oh, yeah, riiight. Still, there's so many fascinating things around Ponyville. There's the crystal field, a garden of special plants gifted from the Crystal Empire, or we could go and visit the Ghastly Gorge."

Midnight took a moment to let the 'we' she had just heard slowly trickle into her head from her ears down before answering, "What's to see there?"

"It's... well, a gorge. Still, that can be pretty amazing."

"Tsk, for us sophisticated unicorns from Ye Glorious City of Canterlot, the entire world is a gorge," Midnight said, swirling her head and letting her mane fall freely for effect, thus filling both of her eyes with hair, tripping, and quickly falling to the ground headfirst. "My face is informing me that I hate gravity," she grumbled while being helped up.

"Arrogance and falls, isn't it? Maybe you want to write to the princess about it?" Twilight patted her on the back as they resumed walking.

"What is it with you and the princess? You're seriously still researching friendship for her, even though you're at least- no, I am going to watch what I say now."

"Smart filly," Twilight said, looking at her smugly through the corner of her eye. "Yeah, I am, though it's not quite as serious by now. It's more of an inside joke between us friends. Like your actual age."

"Odd, I thought everypony knew that I'm- ooh, foodstuffs! Actually, how does this work? Is it just a flatrate or what?" Midnight said as they went over the bend of the hill's top, revealing to them a little haven. Seemingly endless lines of tables bent ever so slightly under the weight of the dishes and bowls laid out on them. About every dish Midnight could remember having eaten before in her life was present, as well as equally many she had never seen before, and there was enough of everything to make sure everypony could have some from everything that they wanted. There were hay sandwiches and cheese cubes, dandelion salad and hay bacon strips, berry juice and scrambled eggs. Ponies of all shapes and colors were already busily taking their share from their preferred meals to their seats, a sight which made Midnight realise how little of Ponyville she actually knew. Surely she recognised Fluttershy and the Nurse and Octavia, who Midnight was certain had winked after seeing her and Twilight taking in the sights together. But there were more, many more than she thought the town even contained. She even thought to have seen Daylight for a moment, though it obviously turned out to be just another shinily white unicorn with golden mane, having a sun instead of rings emblazoned on her flank. The grass was surprisingly dry for being covered with snow just a few hours earlier and the air was warm enough to not freeze as the many torches set up in and around the camp provided a cozy lighting atmosphere.

"It's quite an amazing sight the first time, isn't it?" the unicorn beside her said with her voice carrying understanding, but no condescension.

"I've seen prettier things," Midnight replied with her eyes consciously fixated on a certain pony who unfortunately didn't seem to pick up on it. "But yeah, it's... something. Organised by you, I assume?"

Twilight blushed just a tiny bit, too little to notice if the young mare's look hadn't already been on her face. The two had been friends long enough for her to understand how good something had to be that Midnight couldn't formulate a cynical complaint about it.

Brush her mane aside and tell her that there's no need for blushing, tell her what's been troubling both of us so long, give her the real kiss she's been waiting for so long! Oh, why can't I do it?

"So, shall we get going then?" Twilight asked after hearing her friend's stomach rumble lightly.

"Actually, Sparkle," Midnight hazily began, more confused at her own words than Twilight looked to be, "could we go down there, as in, together?"

She gave Midnight an odd look, communicating she still didn't understand. "Uh, that's what I had in mind."

"What I meant was," she continued, trying to find the proper words, "like, make it a first date type of thing."

"I don't understand, wha- oh, uh, I... Midnight, are you saying what I think you are? Are you..."

"Yes. I'm in love with you, Sparkle. Basically since I first saw you, back at Canterlot. And if you'd take me, I'll gladly be forever yours."

The lavender mare looked down at the ground, thoughts clearly racing behind her crystal-clear eyeballs. Her face flared up as strongly as never before. "But- surely, you don't- I'm not- I mean, we can't..."

"Why not?" Midnight interrupted her, lifting her head back up into eye contact. "All it takes is the will to do the first step. I've learnt that the hard way. So, I've taken my first. Will you do the same?"

"I... well, I guess we could try, see what we can," Twilight said, unable to speak any more after that for that was the moment when Midnight was overflowed with anticipation and decided that their muzzles had better uses together than talking.

They certainly had had contact before, but it was simply something else now. Now that it was not taken, but shared by both in full consciousness, everything was ten times as intense. Twilight's lips felt softer than velvet, but even hotter than Midnight was feeling inside, and it took endlessly stretching seconds of contact until the knot in her stomach slowly unwound. Eventually, they disconnected, but Midnight felt like she had taken a portion of the warmth along with her. "Thanks."

"For what? I mean, I'm more the one to thank you... that was amazing," Twilight murmured with glassy eyes.

"No, thank you for finally making me say the words. Wanna go down now? Together?" Midnight offered her a superfluous, but anyway romantic, hoof to take.

She took it. Electric jolts almost as strong as those which had previously been running from her head down were now taking the opposite route up from her hooves. "O- of course. But, Midnight, let's keep this a secret for now."

They began walking down on three legs each, not daring to break contact. "I'll keep the secret as long as you wish." Midnight sighed happily, "But I'm not sure if they will, too." She gestured discreetly towards the crowd. Everypony who knew either of them was staring blankly at them without moving a muscle.

After a wonderful kiss, they shared an almost as great dinner, taking care to sit down far away from anypony they knew. There was no way to keep the secret, they both knew that, but that evening was not about anypony else, it was about both of them. Perhaps the food wasn't quite the way Midnight was used to, but she would've enjoyed eating even dirt, so long as she had the same pony with whom to share it. That was in the past now however, together with dessert, much to Midnight's dislike. Now, they had taken prime places on the hill itself on whose foot the show had just begun. It looked impressive, though Midnight cared little for it, not when she was right next to the somepony who made her insides burn stronger than the showponies' torches. A grey unicorn stallion was taking the lead in the middle, flanked by two maroon earth mares.

Naturally, the show was carried much more by the stallion than his assistants. He had just picked up and lit four orbs, eliciting various sounds from the crowd who were apparently unaware how basic such a spell was. Somehow, this rose an unsurpressable urge within Midnight, and she shot an invisible - to those without the true sight, anyhow - bolt over to his position, not to harm, but to disrupt the waves there. It struck to full effect, causing one of the balls to drop out of his spell. However, the at that point idle mares were all but slow to react and tossed it between themselves with the bottom of their hooves and back to him, not only not dropping out of beat but also making it look like this had been intentional from the start. All throughout, Sparkle had apparently held her breath, gasping lightly once the trick was finished.

Midnight felt bored, though she knew she had to be and actually was enjoying her first evening of many with Twilight Sparkle. At long last, she had done it. Nothing else was of matter. She had spoken up, her favorite mare had agreed, now her world was fulfilled. That did not change her current entertainment status, sadly. The only thing that came to her mind was seeing if Twilight would be as beautiful in this world as by any other named. At least if the world was named to be the Magic Flow, she could confirm that as a clear truth. She decided to see if Pegasus Eye would reveal anything else of interest. But, watching her like that, very quietly humming notes that floated by as motes of happy energy, it instilled something else in Midnight. A certain thought, one which stung more than any other.

"Yes, it hurts, doesn't it?" came a voice after Midnight had turned her head back towards the Shadow Star. She catiously looked back to the right and froze. Twilight was no longer laying there, replaced by a mare she knew was buried in Canterlot. She was not up to her old glory, however. Several badly healed gaps disturbed her snow white coat and she glared at Midnight with plain red eyes. "You've finally done it, haven't you? You've found somepony, to impress me, to replace me. Oh, old Daylight, never believing her daughter could become something. All the while our order dwindles daily."

"No... no, this is not real. You are not real! Get out of my head!" Midnight leapt back, desperate to return to the usual world. Unfortunately, the usual path simply refused to function. Without Noon, she was trapped within the Magic Flow.

Daylight rose and slowly approached Midnight. "Tell me, what's it like spending your whole life avoiding hard decisions? Finishing school which you never wanted into, finding a shit job in a hillibilly town, pretending to be productive? Our enemies, my murderer, your original problem, they all lie at your hooves. And what do you do? Do you take your revenge? Do you uphold what I literally died for you to achieve?"

"No. Get out. Begone, demon!" Midnight cried. From somewhere too far away to place, she heard a faint voice, echoing into infinity.

Don't be stupid. You can't defeat her. Run!

She did not waste another second to whirl around and burst into gallop. Meanwhile, from behind, Daylight snarled, "Yes, run, you can't escape what lies within you. You'll see."

For what seemed like hours, Midnight had been on the run, ever unable to shake off her pursuer. At long last, she was cornered against a cliff, and the demon was closing in fast. It was over, she was at an end. At least, until she spotted a familiar rift of light to her left. Out of other options, she quickly dashed through it. As soon as she had passed, it sealed behind her, forbidding passage in either direction. She inspected her new surroundings. It looked dark, unnaturally so. She was in some swamp, unlike any she had ever seen. Then, something moved behind her, projecting a flickering shadow onto her. However, there was nothing. Turning back around, she had to witness as the shadow itself revealed its true shape. She tried to run again, to escape, but she was surrounded just as quickly by demons, one more gruesome and with a crueler weapon than the last. There was no point in trying to break their line. Midnight bent her head down in defeat, ready to accept a swift demise. However, once she heard them cackle menacingly, she realised she wouldn't be met with such mercy.

Chapter 63

Midnight awoke into blinding light. She was no longer in the bog, though the exact question of where was still beyond her. The pains under which she had eventually passed out was gone, replaced by only a feeling of endless comfort, together with perhaps a little weightlessness. She soughed from only the very top of her lungs and rolled around. After a few seconds of utopia, it dawned onto her that, in order to move, there had to be a physical world around her body. Her eyes shily fluttered open and she accepted the reality for once more enveloping her. One step at a time, the events of the previous day returned to her, together with the cognitive abilities to make senses of them.

You! I know you're there!

Down.

She turned onto her back and looked around. On the end of the bed, her body sat without making any dents into the mattress. A lone strand of her endless blue mane swirled lightly despite all windows being closed as if it drew wind from another world. Given Midnight's previous experiences, that could very well actually be the case. It was very discreet, almost invisible, but she could spot within her other self's face a smile which hadn't been there for well over a decade. "You've done it. You've found yourself somepony, to impress me, to replace me." Noon let out a single appreciative laughing pulse. "You even kindly did it without me pushing your butt all the way to the finish line. Not to say that I had no say, of course..."

Midnight quickly sat up, "Don't distract. What were you doing yesterday? Where were you?"

Noon mimicked with disturbing accuracy Midnight's habit of playing with her own mane until she had thought of a viable answer, "Are not the better questions where I was interfering and what I was? What is reality but the dream of another?" Midnight tried to rise, but was held down by an imaginary hoof which she could not push aside. She'd struggle further, but in that moment, the bed fell into her back and its comfort convinced her of staying for a little longer. "Stay, talk. First off, those things were not my work. A little before that time, about when you set off with Sparkle, I was digging through our mind, as usual. Unfortunately, the crater is where it was and it'll stay there until it receives professional help - perhaps even after then. However, the crater is not entirely destroyed. With enough care, I can enter and explore it. Imagine, princess! All that you thought lost to time, to barely contained insanity, most of it can be salvaged! Talents which you forgot you ever possessed. Like, say, seeing more than you're supposed to at will."

"I've had Pegasus Eye for months now. You're talking around the issue."

"Yes, but only with my help. With workarounds. You can steer it yourself, haven't you noticed? Anyway, I'm getting there. For as much salvage as there is, there are also dangers. Solidified craze. Do you understand? I know you love to call me a demon, but... well, those dudes are the actual demons of your mind. While I'm digging, sometimes there may be a chain reaction which temporarily wakes them. Nothing bad, really. Except, if something like yesternight happens."

"What do you mean happened?"

Noon sighed, then returned her look to meet Midnight's. "You were snooping. Wandering outside the usual partitions of reality and, well, abstinence. So once your mind realised that, it pulled you back here. Here being the only place I know, of course. I, the etherous guardian, the dream whose dreamer died to see her daughter flourish, a ghost which never died. That's not usually a problem, either. Really, you don't notice it, and it's just a protection mechanism of the healthy mind - apparently, you do still have one. Anyway, as I said, since you don't usually notice what happens within the mental world, that never matters, though it does limit your adventures within the flow. Unfortunately, just as your consciousness returned to the hall, it was, uh, swarming with demons from the crater whom I was trying to subdue once again. So... how do I put this? Well, your mental self - not me - also has blood within it. Had, at least. Quite a lot, too. You'd be surprised to see how much they got out with the juicer before I managed to at least force you to drift out."

"Did you at least get something neat for me out of this mess?"

"Well, I did probably prevent you from worse. A mind can only take so much, you know? Perhaps they could have made you activate a last ditch defense effect and, well, your mind is broken as is. It could not stand that. It'd have collapsed, burying within itself all reason, going entirely insane. At best. Did you know that it's possible to die in your own mind? If you give up, your body just kinda follows and shuts down..."

"Something else?" Midnight said, once again trying to escape the bed.

"Sadly, there's one other thing," Noon said and poked Midnight's horn. "Your magic. Don't ask me for exact details, but you won't be able to use it for... some time. Don't worry, just a while. A few days, maybe just today."

"What?" Midnight jumped straight to her hooves and ran over into sight of the mirror. There was nothing visually different about her. She tried to brush away a minor imperfection in her mane, but the brush simply stayed where it was, refusing to move. Everything remained stationary, except for a desperate drop of liquid running down her cheek. "What have you done? Fix it!"

"Princess, your magic, your spark if you will, is currently on Mirrodin, where you tried to run from her. It will return, but only in time. Besides, it's not all of your power."

"Eh?"

"Look. Focus on the inbetween, the Magic Flow. If you would ask kindly enough, it'll bend down and lend you of its strength."

Given her situation, Midnight didn't know what she had to lose. She did a few meditative thoughts, contacting the Flow as she had learned to do. When she reopened her eyes, the brush was obediently gliding through her hair, surrounded by a soft aquamarine glow. "Wow, that's... not my usual colour, but it'll work, I guess."

"Don't get overexcited though, there's a limited arsenal of things you'll be able to use." Noon also came off the bed and walked up behind Midnight, using the thus designated comb to treat her tail. "In essence, picture every spell you've learned at school. Yeah, not those. But who cares. As Blink and levitation draw on reality manipulation from the Flow itself, those will still be usable. But, and this is important, so listen, Mend is not directly Flow-based. You can NOT cast it for now. Don't get yourself or anypony hurt."

"Wonderful. Well, as if I'd used any other magic anyhow. Anything else?" Midnight stood up and went for the door.

"Take care," Noon said from behind while slowly disintegrating into small orbs which rejoined with Midnight herself.

At the top of the stairs, Midnight paused, finally having a moment of alone time to collect herself. It appeared that she'd be able to coexist peacefully with Noon, if she couldn't get rid of her. That was likely a good thing. She couldn't use most of her magic in the near future. That was certainly very bad for her. Still, all that could drag her down paled in comparison to the fuzziness that had nested in her insides the previous evening. At long last, she had reached her goal. Now she could lay back and enjoy the rewards. With newfound motivation, she quickly dropped down into the lower rooms, pleased to find that Vinyl and only Vinyl was present in the kitchen.

"Morning," the musician greeted as she walked in and sat down. "Had fun yesterday?"

She knew. She had to know. Nevertheless, Midnight decided to bank on the chance that she did not. "Yeah."

"Thought you did. Haven't seen somepony who could stay all sadish in the face of adorable widdle bunnies. Tavy said you and Twilight found each other to spend the evening together. Always nice to have some good friends, right?"

"Absolutely."

"What's the matter with you?"

Midnight lifted up a cup, evocating energies she was not used to. "This still contains coffee. That's the problem."

"Ah yes," Vinyl said, the oddness clear in her voice. "Must have enjoyed yourself yesterday, haven't you. Twilight even carried you here after you passed out."

I just fell asleep?

To them, you did. They don't know what actually happened. Trust me, it was more than a dream.

"Yeah, it was a pretty awesome night."

Moments after making that statement, Midnight had to wonder if perhaps a smile or a sentimental look had managed to slip to her surface. At the very least, Vinyl Scratch seemed to imply so, "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, just... stuff." It was possible that the white unicorn was informed and just discreetly making a fool out of her, but she didn't want to give anything away before it was time.

"Mhm. Reminds me, kissed a filly yet?"

Tell her now?

Nah. Funnier this way.

"Stop that." Midnight could only hope she was successful at masking her facial expression into displeasure, hiding the glee that still held up her mood beyond any pulldowns.

"Any plans on what you're doing today?"

After empyting the cup's remaining contents in a single chug, Midnight lightly tapped her chin as she genuinely had to think about whether she did. "Don't think so. Sparkle's... somewhere, doing stuff, so she said... Celestia, I don't have many hobbies besides her, do I. Well, I guess I could spend the entire day with Ruby Pinch, as I do four days a week, work a bit on my drawing, perhaps just sit around doing nothing pretending to be productive... ooh, that's my favorite pastime!"

"I hear ya, sis. Actually, Tavy is probably in the same place where your Sparkle is, too. Somethin' about Manehattan bloodline. Didn't really listen. Not that I'm not happy for 'em, of course."

"Yeah, if you say so. Guess I'll be heading out then, no need to sit around here. Else I might do something stupid out of boredom, like, I don't know, jump off the roof or start a novel I'm never gonna finish."

"Tried that," Vinyl said staring into the depths of her own cup. After a few agonising seconds, her eyes made contact with Midnight's and she hastily added, "The second one, of course. Good thing I noticed what the heck I was doing in time."

"... yeah. Anything else?" Midnight rose and made movements for the door.

"Dishes."

"Dammit," she murmured, turning around and going to work to clean up her part of breakfast.

A few hours later, Midnight stashed away a half-finished draft of the Ponyville library into the seemingly endless depths of her saddlebags, sighed from boredom, and set off in a random direction. She didn't know what to do next or why she had suddenly lost interest in the drawing, though the sun's high position in the sky could possibly be linked to the issue. Since it was the second day of spring, many ponies were out enjoying the relative warmth. She didn't pay much attention to any of them as she made her way through the crowd. They certainly thought of themselves as ponies, but Midnight couldn't help thinking of them as sheep, mindless, pointless, wandering around passing their time with nothingness, never having any particular goal or purpose in mind.

Noon kindly reminded her of her hypocrisy, but she didn't have much time to think about that as suddenly, a self-confident voice she hadn't heard in an eternity called from behind her, "Midnight Lullamoon! Are you just going to walk past me like that?"

Chapter 64

That call. That voice. That name. She hadn't heard any of them in longer than she thought her memory lasted, out of simple lack of need. With her nonstandard name, 'Midnight of Canterlot Castle' or something the likes was usually enough for identity, not to mention that she had never had any desire to converse with ponies who did not know her by that. Still, could it be that she had finally been found again by that pony whom she thought it to be? She certainly was about to find out if she would remain frozen and thinking about the situation.

"Well, what do we have here?" the blue mare teasingly asked, circling around Midnight and stopping at her front after the first lap. "I'm still as awestriking as always, it seems."

Instead of answering directly, Midnight resorted to the greeting that she had used the previous times, tossing her arms around the other's shoulders, something that pony had apparently come to expect and thus prepared to return it. After an all too brief time enjoying contact, Midnight let go and said, "Auntie, what are you doing around here? You... look different."

"Not that name please, darling - oh, you know, a good diet, plenty of exercise, and maybe a hint of magic. I don't want to be swarmed by admirers all the time if I can help it. You know the deal," she innocently indicated towards the second colour in Midnight's mane. "Looks really adorable. As to why, I was in the area and, well, it's the tenth anniversary of your cutie mark." She motioned to get moving forward and towards a nearby cafe. Traffic was average, for while many ponies were still scurrying around on various early spring tasks, they seemed to prefer their own homes where drinks didn't cost a gallon's production costs a cup.

"Oh yeah, that thing." They sat down and ordered meaningless drinks, focused only on the conversation. "I've got the day off, should I go to Canterlot?"

"I've talked to Dusk, he sounded really proud when he described where you are and what you are doing. I don't think you have to if you don't want to. He'd understand."

The waiter effortlessly levitated a tablet to their table and excused himself again. Fortunately, Midnight's drink happened to come with a straw. She didn't want to use the Flow's magic any more than necessary. "Honestly, I think I'll pass. I'm doing my best to forget her."

"I understand that fully. Reminds me though, did you know that the tenth is usually regarded with some presents? Either way, you can view this as an early birthday's, I suppose." She pulled out of her bag an old, tattered book with leather binding and laid it onto the table. Its cover was bare save for two runes which glowed gently in a soft light blue, silently radiating power. "Wasn't easy, but I got this for you. Everything a wise mare learns, she writes into a spellbook, and when the pages are black, she takes the white ink and starts anew. Well, this is one like it. Of course, common production, but still really handy. I've used plenty of the spells it contains before, they're great for when you want to draw attention," her eyes shifted through the crowd, "or avoid it."

Resist. Say whatever you must, but simply levitating is already toying with powers beyond your understanding. Trying out anything that you don't know would be suicide, more than that even. The essence of the world's heart, to be unbound... ridiculed... destabilised. You'd be lucky to take only Ponyville with you.

Alright, alright. Didn't mean to anyway.

Quite anticlimatically, Midnight made the book return itself to the table with its seal closed after floating it just above her outstretched hoof, held like a flower and leafing like one. "Awesome! Thanks!" she commented to cover up her seeming disinterest in its contents, given that there were plenty of simple spells for everyday life in the beginning, ones which she could easily cast under standard conditions.

"Would've expected you to try it out right away. Too cold, eh? Or perhaps you've just matured faster than I could look. Speaking of which, I was told you didn't waste any time once out of Canterlot to get yourself a best friend?"

Midnight took her time to answer, first trying to read her aunt's expression. She came to the conclusion that she had to assume worst case. "Perhaps. How do you know that?"

"Oh, I have sources," the older unicorn said with a knowing smile.

Midnight's ears dropped together with her mood, "By which you probably mean, the order? Seriously? They're still on my tail?"

"It's all for your own good, dear. To keep you safe from our enemies. Perhaps we'll be able to find the one who did this to you, you'd be able to avenge her. Wouldn't you want that? We have intelligence saying their Mentor is around these parts. Strike at the head and the beast will be as nothing!"

"Trying to forget all of this and live my own life, remember?" Midnight inquired with as much plea within her voice as she could muster in order to change subjects.

A few months earlier and you would've gladly delivered her to death, probably worse. Perhaps my unending duty is fulfilled.

"Very well. You're sure you don't want to tell me her name? Your somepony's, of course."

The specificity on a female partner had clearly been a wild guess. Nevertheless, Midnight could feel color rushing into her face, delivering her dear aunt with exactly the confirmation she wanted. She could try to push it off onto the accusation of homosexuality rather than it being justified, but doing so was evidently not destined to succeed, as was visible in the blue pony's expression. "Disappointed?" Midnight asked.

The other mare laughed briefly, but not a polite fake like those she expelled far too often, a genuine, hearty laugh. "Well, dear, let me put it that way, have you had the pleasure of meeting your grandfather?" She paused and watched as Midnight discreetly shook her head. "Doesn't surprise me. I don't know if my dear sister told you about it while she... could, but, simply put, you don't have one from our side. In fact, having a male parent seems to be a rare trait in our family. You should be proud of yourself, I guess."

"Hm. What's next, are you gonna tell me that I'm somehow related to Sparkle or something?" Midnight joked.

"Whom?"

"Uh, as in Twilight Sparkle. You know, little pet name between friends," Midnight said, emphasising the very last word to the best of her ability without it sounding suspicious. Unfortunately, her aunt was much too wise to miss the pattern, even if she did not openly display it.

I do NOT like that look of hers, not in any way, shape or form. Take it away! Hey, not like that! I thought we had an agreement on hallucinations!

"Oh, her. Not that I'd know of. You've made friends with her, eh? I don't see why you'd want anything of that pony, but then again, that could just be a bit of a personal grudge I'm holding against her and," more shifting eyes, "the rest of this third world village, for reasons you don't need to know. If it's the desire of your," she hesitated, then said stretched out beyond the borders of believable lack of intention, "heart."

"I hate it when you do that, Trix. I shouldn't even be talking to you."

"Always glad to oblige. Oh, yes, that spellbook? Perhaps your fillyfriend shouldn't see it if you want to hold onto it. She might want to learn it all herself or, worse even, do some rightful owner stuff. Ah, but enough of that, love and everything. I can see when a filly gets tired of talking. Back to what neither of us wants to hear, but what we should talk about anyway. Having a nice time here? Found an acceptable job - You do go to work, right? How old are you again? I feel like I should be able to remember that wonderful day when Daylight came home with your crib on her back, but the when is beyond me."

"Same here. Well, it's all kinda standard, I guess. Normal job, acceptable pay, approximately five friends, everypony's constantly telling me to get a move on with S... omepony. Now that I think about it, maybe it's a bit above normal. Wouldn't it say something to be friends with the Elements of Harmony?"

"Those. I suppose they come in a package, can't have Twilight Sparkle without the rest. Although, if I do remember correctly, then you're actually in good hoves. In case you'd want to come back into the Order." She paused, unmoving but for her eyes which seemed to run down an invisible list. "Well, obviously, there's got to be ponies here too. But surely you've got more?"

"Let's see," Midnight said, beginning to count. "There's the couple of filly fooling musicians, Nurse Redheart, who might even be older than you... I guess I've been hanging out with one of my younger patients a lot. Does that count as coming to appreciate foals as you've told me I would once I was as old as I am now?"

She did not seem to be in any way disrupted. If Midnight wanted to break even, she'd need much more than what she had previously said. "It'll come to you once the first of your own arrives. I think. Not that I'd know, of course. Funny that I mention it, Dusk told me to ask just that. Shall I send him word on my way back that you're quickly moving through the stages with your somepony?"

"Don't you dare," Midnight hissed, overlapping out of play and into seriousness. At least she now knew that there was no challenging her aunt's wit.

"Make me not do it," she responded with a challenging grin.

I know that she won't, but what do I say? Any whispers I'm supposedly receiving?

Did I not teach you to utilise the Flow without relying on it? It has little interest in your puny mortal affairs. Not that you'd need it, the pattern is already within your mind. See past the lines and it will be visible. Now excuse me, I simply have to return to the Flow. Ah, such power which you refuse to use!

This mustn't register on an emotional level. Hmm, what did she say? First, exploit off-course behaviour. Then gesture and bask, finish punchline. Acknowledge compliment. Conclude with killer catchphrase.

"Perhaps I should call out and introduce you to everypony here? That's the kinda fame that you deserve, no?" It was obvious that Midnight wasn't missing her effect, finally gaining back the higher position which she so enjoyed. She whipped her mane out of her face and briefly let the Sun warm it, then continued, "If I'm not allowed to keep a secret, why should you be?"

"Talking to you was easier when you were half that size, I must say." The grin had faded out of the blue pony's expression, but it was clear that she was still in good spirits.

"Always glad to oblige. I'm much more than you think I am, so let's talk about a better topic, would you kindly?"

That's my catchphrase?

I know what I'm doing, okay? Trust me. After all, I'm... your only true friend.

"So what do you want?" Midnight realised that she hadn't been following up on her previous words, instead just staring.

"Uh... I hate myself for asking this, but, actually, you got some good advice for being a good fillyfriend?" Midnight needed only think of blood coming to her face in excess amounts and it instantly complied.

"See, darling, this is one of the perks of homosexuality. The inner machinations of a filly's mind are no enigma to you. If she's giving you trouble," she pointed at Midnight's forehead, "you know where to search the answers. But are you sure you want to talk about this so openly?"

Midnight waved the doubts away, "Oh, you know, in this kinda town, you can be pretty sure that nopony who shouldn't hear is ever listening." She let her mind wander for a second, during which she spotted a white horn peeking out from a clichéd newspaper. "Oh. Or not. Well, now that she knows, where's the point keeping it secret? Except that I promised exactly that to her, I guess. Nothing else?"

"Never forget that you are dealing with a pony, as complicated and delicate as yourself. The moment when you see her as an object, you stop loving."

"That's... deep. Thanks."

The blue mare set to whip her mane to the side as usual, which went somewhat awry since she wasn't wearing her beloved hat for once. "Can't get used to looking slightly less handsome. But, a filly and a job, surely that's not all that you've been doing here? Didn't you use to be an avid artist?"

"Yeah, auntie, you do what you can, right? I may have been doing a bit while I was here, unfortunate that I didn't bring any- wait, it appears that I did." Much to her surprise, Midnight pulled her yet most complete sketch out of her bag.

I've been mindfilling that which you didn't know you'd forgotten. You're welcome.

"That's really good," said the older unicorn as she studied the drawing laying on the table before her.

"And now what you'd say if we weren't related?" Midnight inquired.

"Magic Kindergarten." She looked if Midnight would react shocked, but wasn't given such pleasure, so she instead just laughed. "Just kidding, this actually is fairly well-made. Certainly says something about a love relationship if you can draw down your partner from memory. Almost to the creepy zone, darling. Almost."

Why did I write 'from memory' to the signature?

Well, would you ever lack the kindness to not be honest to your surroundings?

"As my dear brother Doodleroo loved to say," her aunt continued, "you certainly did inherit your grandfather's skill."

Something clicked in Midnight's mind, or rather, it refused to do so. "Wait, what grandfather? How is he even... a he?"

"That is something for the depths of Canterlot, not this cheerful little town of simplicity. My, would you kindly look at the time already."

Midnight looked around, confused. "Uh, there's nothing around which would-" her aunt pointed towards the Sun, which clearly was on its peak. "Huh."

"Exactly. What do you do for food around here?" She beckoned over a waiter and paid for their goods.

They rose and started walking in a random direction again. "Well," Midnight said, "for lunch, I usually go for something simple, stuff that I can pack up at home. Though, if my moneys allow it, I sometimes like to go out too. Which you are going to invite me to now, right?"

She laid a leg around Midnight's shoulders, "Ah, I couldn't keep a secret from you ever since when we first met, you as a footsized filly with bright eyes and such a wonderful crystal pure blue mane. It kind of disturbs me that even between then and now, there's been so few encounters between us. We have to enjoy those which we get!"

"Y'know, I'm wondering, where are you getting all that money to spare? I always thought your kind of pony didn't make much."

"Once you grow out of filliness, things start to get relative. Besides, I've got loads of fans, employers," she did an innocent eye roll, "and maybe a bit of politics."

"As in, manipulating them to your and the Order's interests."

Even though Midnight had just spoken a heavy accusation, the blue pony didn't seem disturbed by it in any way, perhaps even taking it as a compliment. "That's the best kind of politics."

Chapter 65

Ah, what a wonderful day to do nothing but Sparkle. The Sun shines brightly, birds sing, and there are little pink hearts up in the sky. I... what

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Midnight watched with a note of disappointment as the bright nature around her literally melted into the usual darkness of her mind. It looked somewhat brighter this time around, although there naturally still was nothing around that could be seen with increased visibility.

Yeah, sorry, no reality for you right now. Princess, do you like me?

You've been worse before, I suppose

Thank you. Midnight, have you learned any telepathy while I was gone?

Do I have to remind you, of all, how far up that is? I've only seen Sparkle herself do it, what does that say about me

Oh, silly filly. Transcending matter, to visit thoughts which are not your own, it is not art. It is simply a matter of knowing where to look for the door. You'll be able to enter whatever environment your chosen has for themselves - pathetically boring, in your case - and enjoy yourself there. Then, once you're done, you retract your mind to your own imperfect husk, and come to that which is considered real by directly passing your own mind. In case you haven't realised, this is nothing but transferring one's essence, so our exploration of the Flow may come in handy.

A blazingly white dagger fell from the sky, shattering upon impact and projecting a frame which showed a star-filled sky between its halves.

How do you know all that

It happened to me. But my body, it's worm food now. So I'm stuck here. That's not too bad though, I've always wanted to transcend matter. What's important is that you can learn the secrets of it all. Come, I've opened a pathway to a mind where I've been before.

Whose? What guarantees that I'll get back

Midnight carefully trotted towards the edge of the doorway. There was no ground in sight to complement the sky visible through the portal, only a shooting star dashing seemingly randomly between the dots of light without ever burning out.

Ah, what is who but a silly word for distinguishing that which is essentially undivided. Well, it's no normal mind, that's set. Let's say that it is an interesting fella whose knowledge has use beyond your imagination. Also fairly comfortable as a place to hang out.

Midnight hesitated. Certainly she had formally left her own body before, but there was no reason to assume that her planeswalking was anything but vivid dreams. This felt different. Somehow, she knew that this was real, that she would be truly transcending matter, albeit for a limited time.

Oh, a word of warning. When you step through there, everything changes. Nothing will be the same again. See you on the other side.

A globule of light soared over Midnight's shoulder and directly into the portal. She shrugged and followed. At first, there was nothing, followed by her instantly losing all sense of self and blacking out.

Midnight awoke surrounded by darkness. There was no ground beneath her hooves, nor any other object to relate to. A night sky without comparison to any she'd seen in Equestria stretched out wherever she looked, with the spark still cascading back and forth between them. She struggled to try and move, but only succeeded in spinning in place. As if to add insult to injury, Noon glided towards her out of the nothingness with the grace of a trained pegasus in air.

"Welcome. What impression does this place wake in you?"

Midnight took her time to survey her surroundings before answering, "Calm. Order maybe. Kinda feels unnatural."

"Not chaos?" Noon floated around and grabbed Midnight's hooves to stop her movement. "I suppose you really wouldn't guess that. Anyway, behold, the chaotic mind."

"I'd have expected more of it," Midnight commented, eyes tracing the ball as it raced, always emitting a tiny flash whenever it contacted with one of the stars. "More stuff lying around randomly."

"You probably do expect so, but as pain can be flipped into personal gain, so can chaos be subsided to create more than order could. In a way, this being transcended thinking as we usually do and replaced it with something that requires a great mind - greater than yours - to handle, but simultaneously provides unexpected ways for any problem."

"So whom am I in? You didn't bring me into V, did you?"

"No. In fact, we're about on the edge of this reality. But, in the mind of someone who has meditated on the topic enough, the term of reality becomes as insignificant as that of time. So it's okay. You know how I always have helpful tips for you? Basically, those are not my own and this is where I get them."

"You're kidding me."

"Oh? Hey, look, there's a processed thought coming."

Indeed, the ball was headed straight for Midnight's position, though that was hard to make out due to that it didn't grow in size as expected. She caught it inbetween her forehooves, expecting sparks to shoot out or something. Instead, she was met with a cool, smooth surface. She didn't have too much time to fully inspect its composition however as quickly after a bright flash took presidence in front of her eyes and she was flooded with knowledge, rambling out bits which spilled over, "Task... disease... insanity... constant rule..."

She was relieved by a strong impulse into her back, knocking the orb out of her grasp. "Careful. There are secrets in here of which even one would be too much for a mind to bear, let alone knowing all of them. Besides, our future is anything but written in stone. As time shifts, destinies interchange and plans crumble to ash. Remember when I was surprised about you talking to her? That was not fate. That was you changing it. That being said, there are more, less mind-frying things around here and I have other things to do elsewhere... because He sayeth so. You enjoy yourself."

Noon was already halfway faded out when Midnight called to her, "How am I supposed to do anything? I can't even move!"

"You can't?" She stared off into the distance, seemingly distinguishing a pattern invisible to Midnight. "Ah yes. Wait exactly five words. Then you will. Bye."

Suddenly, Midnight felt propulsion, created by only her will for movement. This was almost certainly beyond any border of possibility, but she shrugged it off and set to explore her new location.

Oddly enough, after leaving space with the intention to wake up, Midnight instead found herself within her own mind's halls. And if she was here, then Noon certainly was too, and she'd owe her an explanation. She dashed through the rooms, eventually finding Noon's personal space. Once inside, she paused, overwhelmed with nostalgia as it still resembled the brightly lit blue room back at Canterlot. After turning to leave, she found Noon cowering besides the door in fetal position.

"What in the name of anything are you doing here? What am I doing here?" Midnight questioned.

"Princess!" The lower figure pulled herself into a slightly more upright position by Midnight's neck. "I've worked on a simpler path out, you just need to want to leave. Enjoyed yourself?

"I guess. Is there any relevance between that and my future?"

"Mh," Noon's eyes darted across the room, "I suppose you aren't too good at capturing his thoughts. Don't worry, you don't have to. I doubt that you'll come back there. Anyway, how about this. What if I went with you?"

Midnight returned a critical look. "With me. Where?"

"Where would I want to go? Outside, of course! No, listen." She forced Midnight to keep looking at her even though she'd much rather simply leave. "It could work. Just for a while. Until I found a way out, maybe another body or... I don't know. I just," she looked up from the floor with as genuinely pleading eyes as anypony had ever seen Midnight's be, "I don't want to be here any more."

Midnight decidedly, but, through some seed of regret, carefully struggled her way free and took a step backwards. It was clear that Noon was expressing honest desire, no hidden plots or schemes, but that was a wish which could not be granted. "That's... not going to happen. I'm sorry."

Without support, be it physical or apparently mental, Noon collapsed back into her previous state on the hard ground. "Yeah, I guess I had my chance. And I wasted it."

Before she could even think another word, Midnight slipped out of this world, waking in reality.

And thus to start another day, without magic, working all the time, maybe getting to see her in the evening

It appears that you caught something back there, at least.

Midnight was already halfway through her usual grooming procedure of rinse-brush-apply-magic when the events of the previous time returned to her.

Listen, I'm sorry

Ah, don't have to be. I was just getting lonely. Desperate. You're in the body, I'm not. I was aching for a chance to see the outside, to be physical. Never stop appreciating that.

Midnight felt that she'd be well advised to heed Noon's words. While she currently couldn't do anything for her, she still owed her gratitude for the recent past, regardless of the more distant past. She walked over to the view outside. The sky was veiled, but it didn't appear to be raining. She nevertheless wouldn't be spending her time with Twilight outside, that much was certain.

So, have I heard correctly that magic is still a neigh

Ah, your cute little inherited speech artefact. I was wondering when that'd come up. Anyhow, I'm afraid so, yes. As long as your spark remains where it is, and believe me that I'm doing all I can to get it back, there's no magicka for you. Save for those few that you barely used yesterday.

Awesome. Well, I suppose I'll be able to get along. After all, I just need to not use the one spell which makes me a decent medic. Piece of cake

After making a brief detour into another room on the bottom floor, she entered the kitchen where Octavia was busy describing the events of the previous day. Midnight did not care much for it and munched her breakfast nearly phased out, with the only detail which she noticed being that the earth pony wore a different tie, one composed mostly of two black roses on a fitting background to complement her mane. She commented on it just formally when the opportunity seemed right. Octavia appeared to think the compliment was genuine and reacted accordingly.

"All together, the marriage was a handsome experience. Make sure to invite us to yours when it comes around, right?" She was teasing. That was glaringly obvious.

However, she didn't mask the truth behind her words too well, as Vinyl put on a confused look and inquired, "Am I missing something?"

Tell and I will break your bones, treat you back to health, and then murder you in your sleep

Apparently, Midnight had managed to convey her thoughts nonverbally as the grey mare explained without mentioning the truth, "You understand, since she thinks about Twilight all the time and all."

Ah, secrets, lies, and a good bit of manipulation. Auntie's methods really are effective, as pointless as they are

Speaking pointless, half of Ponyville already knows what's between you two. Why exactly do you want to prevent the other half from doing the same?

Because I can. There is a time for all secrets, and only itself will reveal it. We... are patient

"I do not suppose you'll be doing something else but her today, will you?" Octavia asked, tearing Midnight out of concentration.

"I'd love to, but I'm on duty. But who knows, maybe I'm not coming home tonight. Wouldn't be the first... spontaneous sleepover. Hmm, we really are good friends. Reminds me, how much time am I overdue on being there again?" She turned to the wall-mounted time display device, which gave her a pleasant surprise. "Hm, I could actually even walk."

"Can I ask ya something?" Vinyl interrupted. "You said you can teleport basically anywhere closer than Canterlot with accuracy, so... why exactly are you still walking everywhere?"

Midnight set to reply, only then realising that she did not have an answer which would leave her in a better position. Thus, she instead teleported just outside the house and began making her way to work. A slight drizzle set in, but it wouldn't be enough for her to turn back and get a coat if her honour could stand such an act.

"So, have you been a good filly in my absence?" Midnight playfully teased her favorite filly.

Ruby nodded her tiny head, a gesture so loaded with cuteness that the older mare would certainly feel sick of it were it not for her adoration of the filly. "Uh-huh! Yesterday came a funny stallion that said he'd help cure me, so he used some spell that really tickled in my belly, and when he was done, he said I'd be one'a the best patients he'd had."

A distant memory resonated in Midnight's head, but she needed further evidence to support it. "A unicorn doc, eh? Was he brownishly coloured?"

Ruby Pinch briefly tapped her chin with a hoof, then said, "I think he was."

"Huh, naturally." Midnight let her train of thought carry her away for a moment before returning and seeing Ruby's puzzled expression. "Shooting, sorry," she rolled her eyes, "Doctor Shooting Star is an expert on diseases. It's said that his magic can even amplify - improve - a pony's immune system. Mine can't do that, but I guess fixing physical injuries is a worthy trade."

"You know a lot about him," the ruby filly commented.

Midnight waved the semi-compliment away with a hoof, "Yeah, figures I'd know. I used to work under him."

Ruby sprung to the information like Midnight had just pulled out some of her favorite candy. "Really? Can you tell me about it?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Midnight saw the Nurse standing at the door. "Ah, I gotta see if I can. Hopefully, I'll be right back." She rose from the chair and went to talk to her supreme, out of Ruby's comfortable discussion range. "Is it more important than her?"

"Oh, don't worry, you'll be back to telling stories in a pinch. I just wanted to tell you that I was there on Saturday. Quite a show you two had there." She paused to let the blood accumulate within the unicorn's face. "In case you need to free up some time for things besides work, I'm open for discussion."

"... thanks," Midnight breathed.

"There. Now, I think Pinch is eager to hear about escapades. I don't think you should keep her waiting." With a smile fit of the secret she was holding for Midnight, the Nurse left, shutting the door behind her.

Midnight returned to the bedside, "There we go. You see, the Doctor must've come all the way from Canterlot Castle down here just for you, because that's where he was when I last met him. I had been just a filly, a bit older than you are, and med course required that I'd go out and collect experience."

Oh, a tale from the time when you had still murdered me. How exciting! Go on!

Chapter 66

"And whistled for a baboon," Midnight concluded.

Oh, why, unfortunate me seems to have napped off at the wrong time. Of course, time doesn't really have any significance to ascended like me. Be right back, hearing the stories out of your memory.

At least she's gonna be gone for a while.

Did I mention that time has no significance to me? Interesting choice to give her the uncensored version, especially when you know I am around. At least it puts your oh so famous mind discipline into perspective.

I've been a filly sometime too, alright?

The present-day filly in the room beamed at her. "Wow, you really did all that?"

"Sure thing, kiddo. Canterlot was some of my... wilder time. I'm sure you'd understand." She glanced at the clock. Time had passed rather quickly, and she had duties to fulfill. "Hmm, looks like I'm gonna have to actually do the job I'm paid for for a bit. That being said, my shift's still a bit, so I'm prolly gonna come back soon." Without waiting for a response that could convince her to push her work off to the far too helpful Nurse, she vanished in a flash of magic, reappearing within safety range of said aged mare, in the back room.

Nurse Redheart eventually wrestled her emotions, but it was obvious Midnight had given her quite the scare in the beginning. "I'd wish you'd stop abusing your talents, my darling. What if you do happen to teleport into somepony?"

"In that case," Midnight pondered. "It'd likely end with said pony losing whatever of their parts happened to be within the space I decided to occupy. But perhaps there is a safety mechanism in place, too. I haven't actually tried it yet. Though, on retrospective, that might be a reason why Mister Crawler always instructed us to teleport above the ground and outside of buildings. See, teleporting back out can be really tough if you've got pony all over yourself," she explained while searching out the medications for her share of patients. Upon reaching a certain spot on the list, her expression slipped ever so slightly into shock. "Not good. Why does she have to be so adorable?"

"Let me guess," the Nurse said while approaching to inspect the situation closely, "in telling her stories of your foalhood, you forgot to give Pinch her lunch meds?"

"Maybe I did," Midnight said, trying to focus on portioning the rations of those below Ruby on the list.

She sighed, but there was no exasperation audible. It sounded almost like she'd just wanted for Midnight's first proper mistake, to prove her own worth. "Well, you can teleport, so I suppose you can just warp to a bakery and get her something sweet to go along with it."

"There's a fundamental difference between teleporting and warping! That being that teleportation is far cooler. Anyway, as in, me? As in, after I've cared for the rest? As in, from my money?" Midnight asked, though each answer was already blatantly obvious.

"Don't try to act as though you'd need a motivation to buy her a treat. Not when she's essentially how your workdays pass. Also, she who messed it up, I'd say."

Midnight didn't try to debate further. Instead, she simply left the room, the neatly ordered tablet of pills enveloped in her usual blue aura floating besides her.

The other patients on her watch went by surprisingly easily. Perhaps it was their simpler routine, perhaps the face that Midnight couldn't care much for any of them. Before long, she was ready to teleport into town or, more accurately, would be after a brief stop at home, where she fetched sufficient money plus something extra that had caught her eye before she'd been able to leave. After that however, she stood out into the murky day, only then hit by the realisation that she knew exactly one bakery in town and that a certain pony likely worked it at the moment. Nevertheless, her empty duty towards Ruby Pinch motivated her to press on, even towards that pony. A Blink later, she stood on the edge of the shop, forced to go on in order to avoid suspicion. Fortunately, as much as she didn't like the pink mare behind the counter, seeing her rebounded inside Midnight's mind and returned with a memory which heavily increased the spring in her step and almost made her forget whom she still had to deal with. It also served nicely to pass the time until the line in front of her had vanished.

"We~lcome to Sugarcube Corner! What can I get you?" Pinkie greeted her in a way that would border to shouting in any other environment.

More importantly however, she managed to catch Midnight entirely off guard. She'd spent so long staring at the frilly decorations that she hadn't really decided on what to buy. "Well, I guess I'm looking for something to feed to a foal which won't melt her teeth right off."

"Guess those won't be it then," Pinkie said as she turned away from a pyramid of suspiciously well bordered off yellow sugar orbs. "Hmm, Pinchy," she murmured while rummaging through the goods. "A ha!" she then piped and reemerged with a nut-stuffed roll.

Upon seeing the treat, Midnight's stomach stung ever so lightly, reminding her that her lunch packer hadn't been quite up to standard. "That should be fine. Make it two of those, please."

"Okie dokie," the earth pony chimed, bringing forth another of the same kind out of the depths of the counter and packing both of them into a brown paper bag with somewhat impressive speed. "That'll be five bits flat then, please."

Realising the behaviour she was slipping into herself, Midnight silently brought out the asked amount and laid it onto the counter, then stored the pastries within her saddlebags.

The party pony didn't seem disrupted in the slightest, still perfectly on key as she swiped in the coins and tossed them into the air, watching with awe as they restacked perfectly within the register. "Come again soon!" she cheered while Midnight was only glad to finally be freed of her and started to make her way out of the bakery. She had better places to be, better ponies with whom to waste time.

"I'm back!" Midnight cheerfully announced herself with the bag floating besides her, perfectly placed to hide the medication which was behind it for as long as possible. "And I got you something!"

"Yaaay," the filly called with joy when Midnight magicked out her piece, joy that was slightly hindered when she revealed the pills, but nevertheless joy.

When Ruby had obediently taken her medication and munched on the roll held inbetween her tiny hooves in lieu of magic, Midnight's mind drifted and she looked around the room. It was standard issue, much white, a picture somewhere along the walls, storage for what was needed and Ruby's personal things, a window, much for function, little for form. It was not a room for a filly to spend an eternity in. She had in mind to change that at least slightly. "You ever think this room needs something?"

Ruby Pinch looked up, swallowed, and said, "Like what?"

"Like, some better decoration or stuff. Huh, lucky you, I seem to have brought my drawing equipment." Midnight levitated from her bags paper and crayon and set them down on the side table. It was the perfect plan. She'd get to do what she liked for some time and make Ruby happy simultaneously.

There was only one problem with her ingenious plan, she didn't calculate that the filly would obviously want to join her in that activity. "Ooh, can I too?"

"Uh, sure, I guess," she answered, pulling up another chair and helping Ruby out of her bed. "So, what should we draw about?"

"Cyborg princesses... in space!" Ruby piped with but a moment of hesitation.

Fillies were immeasurably worthy, if only for their ability to abandon all restraint that adults would call logic. Midnight smiled as she was reminded of that fact. "I suppose," she said and they both began drawing, one carefully holding the crayon between her teeth, always vigilant to not slip out of balance and have it create a gigantic line across the image, one commanding the world's very essence to do it for her. Once that thought occurred to Midnight, she couldn't tell which one of them was more civilised.

Eventually, about two times of enjoyment later, it was time to inspect the results. Surprisingly enough, their respective drawings looked nearly the same except for the obvious differences due to age. Certainly, it had to be a pure coincidence that they had both chosen to draw a winged unicorn with cybernetic implants using an implanted laser gun to battle a gigantic space octopus monster. "Interesting," Midnight commented.

"Yes, interesting," Ruby replied, looking back and forth between the two pieces of art. "Yours kinda looks like Miss Sparkle. Look, she's even got her cutie mark!"

Why exactly?

I had no part in this, Tartauros swear!

"Huh, she does. I guess that's what happens, you start thinking of your special somepony all the time. You know how it is."

"Not so much, I've never had somepony like that," Ruby Pinch confessed, lying back onto her side on top of the covers.

"Maybe your daddy? I'm sure he can only think about mummy and you."

"I don't know," Ruby said with lowered eyes. "I don't even know who he is, so I can't ask him."

I honestly am out of answers here.

Midnight's lips simply moved without her will, "Well, I know he does. It's a fuzzy feeling, let me tell you."

Whatever you're gonna do next time, not that.

"So she's your special somepony?" the filly asked with round eyes.

"Yeah, I suppose you could say that. But it's a secret, so ssh!" Midnight winked, glad to get off the topic. She levitated the pictures and said, "Anyhow, how about we find a place for those?" Ruby hopped off the bed and gladly 'assisted' Midnight in finding the right position among the walls at which to fixate the drawings. Eventually, they found the spot, making Ruby's room that much more enjoyable. As she beheld her work, Midnight noticed the clock, which gave her a message of mixed positivity. "Huh, wouldya look at that. I'm already off the hook again once I've done my last round. That is, unless you wanna talk some more about something?"

Ruby Pinch retreated back to her stuffed pony friend on the bed, thus unleashing the terrible weapon of irresistible cuteness upon Midnight. "I don't think I wanna. Are you going to visit Miss Sparkle now?"

"Guess I will." Midnight started heading for the exit, "Bye then, Ruby. See ya soon."

"Goodbye Midnight," came from behind as response when she just passed through the door. She shut it behind her and began the last round. Tonight, she was finally going to reap what she'd been sowing on for so long.

We... are patient.

Standing in front of the library, Midnight paused. One of the weeds which grew at the monstrous tree's foundation suddenly became extremely interesting, so much so that she was willing to stand in the beginning rain to examine it.

So? What are you waiting for? Don't you tell me...

I just wanna stand here and stare at some grass, alright?

You've got stage fright. Wonderful. After months of being best friends. After one of the bucketiest confessions to exist, including those in the kind of book only you out of you two would keep. After her boosting your everything. After an eternity of patience, you are too cowardly to collect your spoilings now? Robot, would you kindly get a move on?

But... walking in through the door seems so blunt. Perhaps another entry point. If only I had some way of seeing where she actually is right now.

Yeah, if only you had magical piercing vision which shows you the location of every living thing regardless of what lies between you and them.

With newgained insight, it'd be easy for Midnight to teleport inside the library, into the room where Twilight was headed perhaps, or the one she had just left. However, as she watched the pink glow's movements, she realised there was another location she'd much rather be at, and teleported right into it. Arriving just in time, she managed to catch her friend from falling to an overwhelming cough. "You know, somepony like you really deserves some bed time," she commented.

"Uh? Midnight, is that you?" Twilight blinked up at her with wet eyes. She looked bad. Her eyes were puffy, a drop of liquid ran out of her nose and her breathing was weak. "Oh, I'm so sorry, must've caught something, you'd better leave before you get it yourself."

"Honestly, the way you look, I'd invite myself to stay even if I was not immune to pretty much everything ever. Which, just by the way, I am, in case you'd forgotten." Midnight looked around. The lighting was surprisingly dim, various books and kitchenware laid around in small groups all around, a matter which did not bode well for the lavender unicorn's state, and there appeared to be something, likely water, being heated in the kitchen. It looked like a cosy home to Midnight. One to make her own. "By how I know you, I'll probably need to stay around the clock to make sure you follow the instructions. Amongst which being to bloody rest when you're that sick. If I may, of course."

Twilight slowly came back onto wobbly hooves, "Sure, stay as long as you want, we're there for each other now afterall. Gah, can't you cure me with magic or something?"

"Nope. Energy spell, mine. Never bothered to learn those for diseases. I don't think one of those would be perfectly safe for you right now, anyway." Midnight trotted into the kitchen, taking the boiling kettle down and refilling its contents into a cup containing instant coffee powder which handily happened to stand nearby, except that she replaced said powder with a tea bag. She returned it to Twilight who, in the meantime, had taken refuge lying on a sofa together with yet another book. "You'd better not make me make you be responsible. I could, you know. Care to explain what'd keep you from doing what you know you should?"

"Assignment," she said briefly without looking up from the scripture. "From the princess, kinda important. You know how it is."

"Not so much. I've never had somepony like that," Midnight confessed, lying onto her side on another piece of furniture. "But I do know that not even she would deny you rest if you needed it."

The book slammed close determinedly, but not forceful enough to risk causing any damage. "You know what, you're right. I can study more about 'the most advanced of friendships' later anyhow."

"Great, does that mean we're actually gonna behave like special someponies now?"

Silently, Twilight answered Midnight's question by catching her lips with her own, then added slightly louder, "As much as you want."

"I still find it amazing that you've got a guest bed next to your own for no reason," Midnight admitted her opinion as she entered her dearest's night chamber. The previous hours had been wonderful and they both agreed that Midnight didn't quite feel like going home just yet.

"You'd be surprised at how often that comes in handy," Twilight explained, releasing a tiny adorable sneeze right afterwards. "Sorry."

"It's like back at Canterlot, so many timeses ago." Midnight could practically feel her marefriend's eye twitch, which somehow cast a smirk onto her own face.

Twilight began to make herself comfortable below the star-embroidered blanket, "Had you been into me even then?"

"Pretty much since I saw you," Midnight replied, trying to climb below her bed's uniblue cover as sophisticated as ponies from the castle would expect of her.

"Why didn't you just speak up then? I would've been open, I think."

"Good night," Midnight hastily said, shutting off the light with a bit of magic.

Chapter 67

Midnight was certain to be asleep, which was confirmed by the darkness surrounding her, with the small exception that it had lost much of its darkness. Now, it was more of a shapeless mass, illuminated by a small sun somewhere above her, and there appeared to be birdsong off in the distance. Perfectly in tact with the avians' song, her self approached her, "It's nice, isn't it? Your, ah, friend was here before. Prettied the place up a little, so you'd say at least. One could say she... bled her personality? Either way."

"Sparkle? In my mind? Why am I even acting surprised?" Midnight attempted to pierce the dark with but her normal vision, fairly fruitlessly. "Where's she now?"

"Not here anymore. However, you may be able to follow the same path which she used to leave."

As Midnight wandered, she discovered a rift surrounded by flowery grass from which sunlight and song came forth in increased form. It showed a small hill at summer, holding a tree which just so protected the swing attached to one of its strong branches from the afternoon sun. With held breath, Midnight stepped through, instantly enjoying her decision. The sounds of the gentle river at the hill's foot could lull Midnight to sleep if she weren't already doing that, and by the sounds of it, the host was present, too. She started to make her way towards the top where Sparkle seemed to be, but was halted by a hoof on her chest.

"Wouldn't you want to savour the moment for a bit? Not every mind needs to be tabula rasa, you know. Although I'd honestly prefer yours to this. Still, amazing that you actually got in, isn't it? This wasn't supposed to be just yet, but screw him. I mean, it was no question that she'd be able to intrude your mind, but you? Well, I suppose she's always been open to influences. Ghosts from the past. Incarnations of the Flow." Noon's attention was momentarily grasped by a lotus bloom before their hooves. "I believe I may have been here before myself. Lovely place. Don't worry, I don't think she noticed me. Anyway, she wasn't nearly as much fun as you are, princess. So, shall we go visit them?"

"Them?" Midnight asked as they began their ascension up the hill. "Anyhow, what do I have to do for a moment's rest from you?"

"Miss Night, visiting certain place without your aetherial guardian can be, well, dangerous isn't really the right word, I need something stronger... basically, it's nothing you wanna do." She silently kept walking, only grasping her mistress' confusion when she saw her expression. "What? Did you honestly believe to be unique? Whilst it is true that we are a dying race - well, half of us are ghosts in the practical sense, so it is so per definition - there are still many more ponies who hear guiding voices than there are who would admit that. Be it a deceased familiar, a sprite of imagination, or a shard of one's own mind which has become one with the Flow, almost everypony has one, and they all listen, even if they tell themselves it's just instinct. Even your little friend does, that's what I'm getting at."

Finally, they reached the hilltop, fully exposing themselves to the slight breeze that made the tree's leaves whisper soothingly. Below it, there was Midnight's friend, love interest, and all-time favorite pony ever, being pushed on the swingset like a little foal by a pony somewhat reminiscent of Midnight's own mother, except that she possessed wings instead of a horn together with a silver, not white, coat. While memories of her were scarce, Midnight was fairly certain that Daylight hadn't been emitting sparks of glittering gold, either. In conclusion, Midnight did not care about her, especially not when Twilight was there literally two feet further, with whom she quickly began to do what she had to do, unburdened now as Twilight's disease didn't seem to carry over into her dreams.

"Uh, by the way," the two lovers simultaneously uttered, pointing towards the respective pony unknown to them, "who's that?"

"Just a little pet peeve," they responded to each other.

"Yeah, just an old friend," the silver pony explained.

"Ignore us while you go and do buckety stuff," Noon added. She then turned back towards the pegasus with whom she appeared to have been in conversation and said, "You've given me quite a workload."

"Handled it well, I see. You did bring my death, after all. I think it's only justified."

"And so did you," Noon chuckled. "But that's in the past. Took me a bit, but the little princess really is coming nicely. You said we'd meet again, though we may not recognise each other."

"You two do realise I can still hear you, right?" Midnight called over before returning to Twilight who seemed too lost in the moment to care.

"And that we did, didn't we?" the pegasus said as both shades started to fade out.

"Guess so," Noon muttered before they were entirely vanished. As she dove back down to pressure their muzzles together, Midnight couldn't say she minded much to be left alone with whom she loved. Nothing mattered to them but having each other and Midnight was certainly going to use every minute until the dream was going to end.

It took Midnight a few minutes after waking up to fully encompass her newfound bliss, but once she did, she knew that the dream was never going to end. It was over, she had her, and with her, everything she'd ever wanted. Midnight's tale could end here, but she wasn't going to give up without enjoying what she fought for so dearly. Later, at least. Right now, as the Sun just barely clawed its way over the horizon and gently poked into the room through almost, but not entirely, closed curtains, the sleeping beauty on whose side the beam glimmered up dust motes was simply too peaceful to disturb. Thus, Midnight slowly maneuvered her way out of bed without making a sound, then conjured an old spell to muffle her steps she'd picked up during her youth. She had practiced it a hundred times for unnoticed access to the cookie jar, certainly she could pull it off another time. Unfortunately, she had walked halfway to the door before remembering that she had practiced it a hundred times because she had also failed it equally often, resulting in her silent trips towards treats or, in this case, out of a room with a sleeping special somepony, always being anything but silent.

"Mmh?" Twilight mumbled, stirring ever so slightly, leaving Midnight to decide the old battle of fight or flight. If she was quick, perhaps she could Blink her way out. Sadly, she was not quick enough, though her hoof making contact with her face from the realisation that Blink would also have been a very valid tool for exiting the room in the first place may have made enough noise to speed the process up significantly.

"Sorry," she whispered, coming to her beloved's side to stand up for her crimes.

"It's alright, I gotta rise anyway, I have to," she argued, but Midnight wouldn't let her finish.

"You have to rest and that's all you gotta do. Come on, Sparkle, even you must admit that you're in no condition to work. And you're gonna rest if you want it or not. If you don't wanna do it for me, do it for yourself." Midnight began to slowly accustom the room into day mode, opening curtains and even a window to allow sight of the sunrise.

The lavender unicorn, much against her supposed tendencies of early activity, sighed and turned away from the light with as little movement as possible, ending up flat on her back, her forelegs stretched out to either side. "I'm not going to lose you, am I. Don't you have to go to work or something?"

"That is a point you got there," Midnight said, returning to the bedside and pulling the blanket straight, obviously not meaning for anything coming out from below it soon. "Fortunately, the Nurse is also on shift today and, for me, the clinic is pretty much literally a second away. I think she'll understand. Besides, it's something like two hours before my shift starts. Plenty of time for you, maybe go fetch my toothbrush from over yonder." Twilight's halfheartedly suppressed groan confirmed to Midnight the power of her argumentation. She briefly kissed her on the forehead and asked, "Feel like you can handle breakfast?"

"Coffee. Enough of it. Toss in some toast, maybe an egg."

"Herb tea, simple toast, topped with healthies. Got it." Midnight turned to leave. Upon reaching the door, she stopped, "Anything else?"

"Midnight," a weakened voice answered, "I really hate you being right about what's good for me. Glad you're here for me, even though it's been official only so briefly yet. Love you."

With spring in her step that had been amiss for so many years, Midnight went down the steps and headed into the kitchen. Surprisingly, her friend had quite some stocks in everything needed, even of what Midnight wouldn't have expected her to even allow within her house. She went to work, glad to have so drastically misunderstood Twilight as the foods chosen this way were significantly easier to prepare.

We need to talk.

You'll warn me if I accidentally burn the tea, right?

But certainly, princess.

Alright, not like I could prevent it anyway.

If you would, I'd take physical form. It's easier this way to bring across what I need to describe to you.

If you want, though, since when do you need my permission for that?

All for the well-sake of communication.

Out of the border of Midnight's vision, Noon walked into the kitchen, stretching herself and inspecting the cooking utensils in use. "Ah, how wonderful this world can be, even if I'm just pretending to be within it. Oh how much I'd like to check out the places which you cannot see. If only that was possible. Anyhow."

"To the point, please. I've kinda got something boiling here, y'know."

"G and I had a talk. G said, let's get this douche H out of the way and live the lives we deserve together." She watched for Midnight's reaction, receiving the expected indifference. "No, seriously, we agreed on mostly one thing. Do you know any of your destiny, filly?"

"Teleport merrily around the place, heal ponies, be useless throughout?" Midnight said, pouring hot water into two cups. "Without even using magic half the time?"

"Reminds me, you should be able to cast anything again. Your spark actually came back yesterday already. How misfortunate that I must have forgotten to tell you. So no, your glorious muffling spell was, in fact, your own incompetence. But to stay focused, I'd argue with that being your destiny, princess." After apparently searching the empty air for something, Midnight's self hooked in a hoof in the still as empty room at horn height, tugged, and revealed a seemingly twodimensional disc of sweet blue colour. "I'd argue that this is."

"What in the name of stellar plot did you fetch out again?" Midnight tried to inspect the object as well as she could while still preparing a lovely breakfast with the other eye. It didn't seem to have any texture, weight, or other physical properties. In fact, it didn't appear to even exist in the strict sense, allowing her to gaze through it and see the library in a familiar hue.

"This, my dear, is a rift. The border between your world and the Flow isn't always as strict as it'd appear, understandable since one is the other and all, and this is what happens when the borders converge. Now, Pegasus Eye? Cheap. It's just transporting a tiny little part of yourself into the Flow far enough to allow the rest to see that. Well, it's a little wibbly wobbly, but the point is, you haven't truly been in the flow yet." She leapt upwards with the grace of a being without the need for respect to the laws of physics, balancing perfectly as she laid on the nonexistant object hovering below her, "And this little thing is your way inside. Towards your destiny."

"You're screwing me." Midnight magically picked up a tablet and set to carrying away everything back upwards. "Even if you're not, what if I didn't want this? I've got Sparkle, that's all that matters to me now. Besides, I could think of better entrances than her - my soon-to-be - kitchen."

"Ah, you're lacking imagination," Noon cooed. "There are plenty around. If you look, you'll find them. I can promise to you, once you do step through, everything will change, and you're gonna wish you'd done it earlier." Both the hole and the pony on it vanished, leaving Midnight staring at thin air. Out of nowhere, a voice whispered to her as though its source was still present, "Then get a move on! She's waiting!"

Surprisingly few minutes later, Midnight was back in the library's top room, sitting on the edge of the bed of the not-so-sleeping beauty who was currently munching on a slice of toast much like Ruby Pinch would, with the exception of using magic instead of hooves. They hadn't spoken much, partially because one of them always seemed to be busy with her part of breakfast, partially because Midnight wouldn't know what to say. There was no need for any words, she was perfectly comfortable simply sitting there with a comfortable cup of tea, staring into morning's Ponyville in silent contemplation.

It appeared, however, that Twilight was not. After swallowing what was left of her breakfast, she asked, "What are you thinking about?"

"You, mostly," Midnight admitted. "No, really. This is our first day of really being together, so I'd say at least, and we haven't been friends for too long either, and you've already taught me so much. You showed me that there is good within this world, as well as where to grasp it. As well as magic - well, actually not so much. Still. Reminds me, you'll hate me for this, but I'm afraid I have to." She lightly tapped Twilight's horn, "Until you're healthy again, I'm prohibiting any spells that you couldn't have done as a foal. Of course, not like that'd shrink the selection by much, if the legends are true." Midnight gave her time to blush, which she promptly did. She had a wonderful way of reacting to having her ego appealed to, one which she followed strictly and reliably, all of which only made her all the cuter. "Cleaning up magic is messy. Don't try anything you could screw up by a sneeze attack, alright?"

"I'm fine, I just," Twilight began, but never got to finish the second part of her sentence due to being ambushed by vigourous sneezing.

"Yeah. Because of that. Be careful, I don't want to lose you." Once again, Midnight got up and left for the lower regions of the library, carrying the same tray with her and knowing by instinct that she wouldn't stay alone for long despite her specific instructions.

Chapter 68

I should stop sleeping like a student poneeh. I sure hope you didn't do anything important in the meantime. Opened any rifts, perhaps?

Not a chance.

Hey, why aren't you at your new home? How is Sparkle doing? What time is it? Who's the guy with the coat?

To answer those questions in no particular order, fine but insists that I let her dig through her entire library as usual, afternoon, because some presence is needed after all, and Coat Guy, here to get his prescripted antidepressants. Amazing that you saw him already, but not really remembering that stuff like him being behind me never really hindered you.

Because magic, darling. Don't you also find it amazing how you can be cynical and stuff during your normal life, but as soon as there are ponies to cure, you would kindly get to work all smiley et cetera?

"There you go, Mister Guy," Midnight said with a mostly fake smile as she turned back around and gave the stallion his medication. "Have a nice day." He packed it into his bags, thanked her, and left.

Ah yes. Business smiles. I know that kind. Used plenty of 'em in my time. Back in nineteen-hundred four-something, when we had to use four-something because the Queen had stolen the word forty from us.

Except with me?

Of course my widdle bestun would always get a genuine out of me, that's... clever, princess, clever.

Noblesse oblige.

Anyway. As much as I already regret this, I think you want to return to her, don't you? Much you can do back there.

Certainly there is. I suppose Ruby can manage without me, yes. Initiating quantum space-time leap for minor personal gains in three seconds.

Back at the library tree, Midnight arrived just in time to prevent Twilight from being able to answer the door herself. Once certain that her love was going to remain safely where she was, she went to do it. Outside, she found Fluttershy carrying both saddlebags and a given amount of adorableness that may even have found effect if Midnight didn't despise her as much. "Oh, hello, didn't think you'd be here," the pegasus said with a hint of delicious intimidation in her voice, though Midnight figured there wouldn't be much needed to make her timid.

"Breaks us even on being in places where the other didn't expect to find us. A library and a murder scene, what wonderful two locations. I'm certain there is a joke just waiting to be spun with that." Fluttershy shivered visibly during the unicorn's sentence. Perhaps she should relent? "Besides, murderer, you were there on that night, weren't you?"

"How often do I have to remind you all that the door's never locked because this is a public library after all? No need to have yourself let in, you know!" Twilight's croakyvoice sounded from the inside.

"Ah yes, I suppose I'll have to let you in." She stepped aside and they walked into the tree's main room where Twilight was lying enveloped thickly in blankets with in front of her a warm liquid supply on one side and the most recent folio spread open on the other. One thing was certain, Twilight had any intention to let reading be declared an art form and she was not going to stop practicing until that time would come. "Ah-hem," Midnight began before her friend could say anything, "how would she do it? Business. Please, do not approach her who is plagued. We - you, at least - don't want you catching it. Well, what can we do for you today?" she then asked, wearing her best business expression.

"I was looking for something on critter veterinary," Fluttershy responded seemingly unable to decide whether to be amused or befuddled by Midnight's attitude.

Did you know that the world's very essence can have very practical uses for those with the will and, ah, cunning to harness it?

"Diseases And Care For the Smallest Animals, located," Twilight attempted, interrupted when Midnight levitated forth the book. "How did you get that so fast?"

"Female intuition," she responded without thinking. "Or magic. Whichever you think to be more credible." She turned towards Fluttershy, snapping right back into business mode, "Thank you, come honour us again soon. I certainly hope you do 'cause you gotta return that and if you don't, well, you know what'll happen to your parents."

"Midnight! Whatever you mean by that, don't you think it's kinda off limits?" the floor scolded at her.

"She started it!" Midnight moaned.

"Um, anyway," Fluttershy gently pushed her way back into the conversation, almost managing to ignore Midnight with completion the purple pony had thought only an experienced mother to be capable of. She rummaged through her bags, eventually pulling forth long, blue leaves without roots. "Here, I collected those. Hope it'll help."

"Hmm, Blue Thistle... soothing, lindering symptoms, and especially helpful against unwilling patients," Midnight mumbled.

"I refuse to be inactive just because I'm useless!" Twilight exclaimed, instantly being punished for the volume by her revolting lungs.

"Yeah, anyhow. Since when are you a herbalist? I mean, your actual talent is pretty much the literal opposite of that." Midnight herself couldn't believe how genuine and, with a bit of goodwill, even friendly her question was.

"Oh, you pick things up through your life," Fluttershy murmured cheerfully, setting to leave.

Midnight stored the leaves away somewhere where they'd be accessible for extract brewing later, "Plants that can put ponies to sleep for variable amounts of time? I'd guess that you know about those."

"Bye Twilight! Bye Midnight!" Briefly after that, the door shut and there were no pegasi anywhere in sight anymore. Fluttershy had simply slipped out during Midnight's time in the kitchen.

"Well, there she goes. Too bad." Lacking other ponies with whom to interact, Midnight laid down at the side of the one she treasured above all else.

"Why are you acting like that around her?" the sick unicorn asked. This was a bad question. Midnight did not wish for her to be in any way involved in this matter, so she needed to think of an appropriate answer to deflect her curiosity, quickly.

"Just a bit of a type'a thingy between the two of us. You don't have to care about it, really. Besides, I think we're missing something important here." For a few cherishable moments, Midnight delighted in Twilight's uncertainty, but revealed the secret before it could turn to worry, "It's hugs time!" and obeyed the time's directions. Perhaps the cloth surrounding Twilight had an impact on this matter, but Midnight always found her beloved's coat much softer than it should be physically allowed to. After an eternity of simply enjoying each other's proximity, Midnight pressed firmly against Twilight's side, curiosity got the better of her and she had to interrupt the moment, "Whatcha reading?"

Mastering Spellcraft With Which You Could Wipe Out Ponykind (But Please Don't Sue Us If You Do) For Dummies. Classical literature.

"As I mentioned before, I'm researching for an assignment on the different types of spells. There's a difference in the basic casting, you know. So far, I've got down the categories of everyday, combat, and runes, but," she raffled through the pages showing various sketches, "I can't find anything believable on signature spells."

"That being because you just cast everything regardless if you're supposed to or not?" Midnight asked, cheating her way under the blanket and into skin contact with a bit of magic.

"Eek! Cold!" Twilight tried to struggle away, but she was constrained on all sides, so she quickly surrendered again. "Yes, I suppose you could put it that way. You know what, enough of studying for now." She shut the book and turned to give Midnight a brief kiss, surprised to find that she did not meet any cooperation on Midnight's part. "Why so serious?"

"Where is the real T- Sparkle? Who are you?" Midnight questioned with unbudging expression, at least for the initial few seconds. Afterwards, she was unable to sustain it any longer, giggled like a filly, and gladly returned the gesture. "But, coming to think of it, shouldn't there be a dragon around here somewhere?"

"Eh, he's... somewhere. Gone camping with Sweetie Belle and some others, I think he said. Hey, don't give me that look. I know I'm his legal guardian and all, but sometimes, it's also refreshing to have an adolescent dragon out of house for a bit. So to say, he doesn't exactly know about us two yet."

"Well, gives us time to move in my stuffs before he gets a chance to interfere, right?" Midnight joked.

Head first, Twilight crawled out of their comfortable little cocoon, then said, "Yes, I suppose we could do that."

"Sparkle, you can't be serious, I," Midnight explained as she followed suit, but she was cut off.

"Why not? We'll have to do it eventually, right?" While waiting for Midnight to be persuaded, the lavender unicorn walked in a circle around the room, surprisingly enough cleaning up after herself.

"I had in mind to go back to my actual home as soon as you're cared for - I mean, we've only been together for like three days now, only one of which we actually spent together even partially," Midnight said, passing one of the books on the ground from her magic into Twilight's. "Don't you think this is a little early? What's up next, you gonna marry me in two weeks?"

Twilight realised her marefriend's seriousness and thus came over to her in order to best explain her points, "Midnight, are you going to disallow us to do as we please because of some arbitrary time restrictions? If you would accept my kind invitation to host you in my own home, I would gladly take you in. Isn't that what matters? Besides, I feel like all along, we've been a bit in love already, we just didn't notice it. We'll have to make up for lost time."

"With 'we' meaning 'I' as in 'you', right? Well, can't blame me for not trying... okay, I take that back, you can. Romantic words. Wouldn't have expected those out of you. Got a romance section memorised somewhere?"

"Well, remember the shelves up in my bedroom?" Twilight asked, possibly literally holding her tongue in cheek.

Midnight remembered very well what her love meant. After all, she had already spent a night there herself. "You mean, the bedroom walls?"

"Yeah, anyway, that's my romance section." Twilight admitted, gaining just the slightest of additional colour in her face, a fact of which she was apparently oblivious herself.

"Interesting stuff, I know. Especially that one, what was it called? Fourty-nine Hues of..." She didn't need to continue as the heat rose significantly on those adorable cheeks, to the point where their owner simply had to feel it. "Yeah, I read that one. Interesting stuff, as mentioned. But back to the point." Midnight sighed deeply, realising she was fighting against her own heart's opinion. "So be it. I think if we teleport properly, we shoud be done within a few trips. I think Blink could manage both me and the big suitcase, then whatever you do can take yourself and something smaller back. I think you should be able to manage teleportation even now. What could possibly go wrong? Oh, and, Sparkle?" Midnight tore her friend out of the concentration needed to prepare her own transportation spell, but she felt it was necessary that, before initiating their back and forth travels, she said, "Thanks for taking me in. Love ya. Just follow my trail to my room."

Relocating her home had been easier than expected, like due to the fact that everything in her old room that wasn't government-owned could actually fit in a bit of luggage, little enough to take back on the first way home. Reluctantly, she'd gone to say goodbye to the loving musicians, if only to inform them that the room was free once more. As expected, she'd earned cheers and various other reasons to leave quickly. Now, she didn't need them any more. Now, all that mattered in her life was that she was established, that she had Sparkle, that she was going to make the most of it.

An unanimous ballot had placed Midnight in the duty to also prepare dinner, though she insisted that there had to have been many little pathogens influenzaing the results. Still, she couldn't complain about a chance to demonstrate to Twilight the most difficult dish she could reliably pull off, known to others only as pasta with fancily spiced sauce. "You know, Sparkle, we were supposed to have a date yesterday. Ah, what happened, what happened," she happily mumbled across two half-finished plates of pasta.

"Yeah... wait, I know what to do." Twilight left the table, rummaging through one of the nearby cabinets, briefly interrupted by one, two, even three successive sneezes.

"I'm putting you straight to bed after this, you know," Midnight said as she watched her from her seat, trying lightly to make sense of her actions.

"Yeah, yeah." The lavender mare stuck her head out into sight for a second and said, "Will you join me there? I could use a warming bag," before diving back down.

"If it's only that," Midnight lazily replied, staring into her portion. It was amazing how such simple a food could be the best in the world if only through the presence of a certain pony of whom the cupboard door left only certain parts within sight.

"A ha!" said pony called out, returning to her seat, dimming the lights with seemingly the same spell as she lit the candles she'd fetched out, waving a hoof over them for effect. "There. Our very own candlelight dinner."

"Can we just skip the food and go right to the part where we make out?" Midnight asked as innocently as she could.

"I think we can," Twilight answered, going over to her marefriend's side of the table and promptly doing her bidding there.

Chapter 69

Amazing how the two of you have moved in such brief time, what you have become... aside from a coward.

We... are patient.

And buckety.

Midnight wanted to argue, but there was no real defence against such claims if one happened to have just woken up arm in arm with her sleeping marefriend, experiencing unseen beauty in tangled manes and muddled looks. Fortunately, she was the one to be in that situation, so she couldn't mind much. She slipped out and onto the balcony, this time applying the strategies learnt last time. As far as she could tell, Twilight had managed to stay asleep. She was alone. With herself.

"Who would've guessed you'd become a morning pony after all?" Noon said, sitting in one of the chairs aligned outwards.

"Granted that it's probably about one breakfast until my shift starts, I'd argue with it being morning," Midnight replied, settling into another chair herself. "You know, other ponies would visit a psychopath after seeing something the likes of you even once."

"Silly ponies. They couldn't help them, not that there was anything that'd need to be helped. Besides, what kind of difference is there between hearing a voice and imagining it having form?"

"That's beside the point. The defining structure of a pony is her freedom to decide. You - assuming there really are more like you - you take that freedom from us, by convincing us to be wrong at all time, to depend on your judgement, until we give in and it becomes truly so. Without our freedom, we might as well be machines, programmed to do our task, like you." Midnight gazed down into Ponyville. It looked like just yet another sunny morning, endless amounts of ponies wandering around enjoying the warmth, birds singing and flying around freely, seemingly not realising the delusions they put upon themselves for a brighter life.

"What ever said you were anything different, robot?" Noon conjured a floating illusion of two pills which she knew very well. "The mark on your flank, the very only thing that's truly unique for your personality, dictates your task already. Society is built upon the castes established by those very marks. Tell me, where is there freedom to decide in that?"

"The freedom to take the talents we were granted, to apply them as we see fit, to choose our own fate. That is the freedom I fight for, mine and everyone's. You wouldn't understand that. Why did Shy become a murderer if her talent is cute widdle animals?"

A cloud pushed into the way of the Sun's blessed warmth, darkening the environment significantly. "And you believe to have free will, when in truth, you would not be anywhere without me. Accepting your love for Sparkle, coming to Ponyville, doing what was needed to claim her. Was that all really your free choice? Unguided, unchanged? Filly, would you kindly stop lying to us both? You need me, as everypony needs theirs. Flanks aren't all there is to one's destiny."

"Midnight?" a sweet voice asked from behind as the balcony door opened.

"Farewell," Noon breathed whilst transforming into vapour which flowed back into her.

"I hope I didn't wake you again?" Midnight replied while Twilight took in the very same place previously occupied by her own appearance.

"I don't think you did," she mumbled before, during, and after an adorable yawn. "Just woke up, alone, cold, unhugged."

"Ah, sorry for that." Midnight nuzzled her to make up for lost time. "Well, good morning, sweet princess."

Twilight blinked the sleep out of her eyes, though she was apparently not quite successful at that. "I had an odd dream. In the beginning, I thought it was just a normal day, I was sketching down a new spell, it didn't really work, so I fixed it and... then I suddenly had wings like writing runes was anything new and Princess Celestia said I had to come to Canterlot and be a princess there." She paused, collecting her thoughts. "But I didn't want to, I wanted to stay here... with you. The princess got angry, said I would lose everything if I didn't. So be it, I said. Then I woke up."

"Well, at least you've got some fantasy," Midnight joked. "Wait, rune magic?"

"Yeah, what's so special about it?"

"I think Sensei once mentioned it, let me remember his exact words." Midnight continued using her best impression of a stallion voice, which wasn't much considering her already being on the high end normally, but, as she found, worth credit for effort, "Alright class, this is how it works. Now forget about it 'cause they think you to be too stupid to do it. Of course, you're going to prove them wrong - at that point, he gave an odd look towards the back rows - or at least I hope you will." Back in her usual voice, she added, "I was told it's really powerful and really dangerous. So, in brief, I don't know why I questioned that you'd do it."

The lavender mare giggled as only she could do, sadly being eventually interrupted by a constricting cough. "Really, there's not much to it. I bet I could teach you some."

"That is, if I'd let you. But you know what? I won't. In your condition, even you gotta admit that there are easier and faster ways to get yourself killed than to mess with the Flow."

"Yeah, guess you're right. I'll just hang around then and do... stuff." Twilight let her head and ears hang, a gesture that would certainly have been heartbreaking to Midnight if she wasn't near certain that it was as exaggerated as it was.

"You could write a novel," Midnight suggested jokingly.

"Hmm, yes, I suppose I could get to continuing that," Twilight replied without any reflection of her love's attitude. "Maybe we could even have a little workshop! Yay!"

"I once spent a summer in a writing school," Midnight thought aloud. "I wonder how old IV is doing today... oh yeah, right. I don't think I want to talk about that."

"Really? What did you do?" Twilight eagerly asked, as if she hadn't heard the second part of Midnight's speech.

"Eh, I never really published anything. Mostly small stuff, you know." Averting her eyes, Midnight rummaged through her brain in search of a distraction that could bring her away from this topic. "Besides, I've unfortunately got solo duty today, starting in a few minutes, so I'll probably be busy. I might teleport here for foods, though."

"So I'll be alone for today?" Twilight said, her voice foreshadowing that she was going to use a terrible weapon on Midnight, one that she had thought only some, among them Ruby Pinch, capable of.

While there was no defense against adorableness, Midnight was not going to go out without a struggle, "Yeah, sorry, duty calls." Unfortunately, she was overwhelmed soon afterwards and added, "Alright, I suppose I can try to get you a text sample of mine, not like I'm doing anything at work anyhow. And of course, I'll try to squeeze in time to join you at lunch. Anything else, mistress?"

"Well, it seems like you have to get going, but would you kindly help with breakfast? It'd be really sweet of you if you did."

"Of course. Shall we?" She bent and took Twilight's hoof into her own, accompanying her downstairs. On the way, she murmured, "The day I'm sick, you're gonna do the same for... wait, dammit."

"So, let's see... blood phage concentration levels lowering, B on the rise.." Midnight mumbled to herself as she perused the documents for Ruby Pinch. Only when she looked away and at the filly did she realise that she'd slipped into medical language again, one of the worst slangs available. "It means you're getting better."

"Yaay!" Ruby cheered once she understood the message. "Wait, does that mean I'm gonna go home soon?"

"Yeah, soonish." Despite expectations, Midnight was not met with an answer. Ruby looked to be deep in thought, though they didn't seem to be cheerful ones as they should be. She decided to leave her alone if she needed to be. "I'm gonna be off then, you know how to get me if necessary." Still met only with contemplating silence, Midnight slipped away and into the office.

Princess, we need to talk.

I'm kinda busy right now, y'know?

You're looking for the word 'velvet'. And no, it's not about that, though I'd like to see how she'd react to seeing you like this. So would you?

Fine, what is it?

Well, first, it's about time that your fillyfriend got some foods, how fortunate that that coincides with you getting your work done here. But you could take another route there. One on which I've got something to show to you.

Let me guess, it includes rifts. Why should I be interested? You're acting more and more like the villain of some cheesy novel like those in my bedroom.

Who is the villain but the hero of her own story? I know that you don't want to care about it, what with having her now and everything, but believe me, you want to, so would you kindly get yourself into the garden? You can leave, I promise you won't be needed until you're back. So sayeth he.

Figuring that the sooner she obeyed, the sooner Noon would shut up about it, Midnight teleported through the wall and into the back yard. Somehow, it had grown even more verdant now that spring had arrived. She could even swear to hear a bird somewhere within its constraints. More importantly however, her duplicate already awaited her, "Glad you agree. Now, if you would kindly divert your attention down here?" She pointed a hoof at a particular flower which she levitated in Midnight's magic for better view.

"I'd say that's a small lotus," Midnight said objectively.

"Exactly. Over such beauty, wars are fought. With such power, wars are won." She let the lotus fall again, somehow mending it back into roots. "It's not a natural flower, it only grows in selected locations. Special locations. So to speak, those particularly close to an offworld power? I believe there is another entrance here. Can you find it?"

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"Well, like you find everything! Do I really have to point that out after all this time?" Noon explained with the depleted patience of a teacher for special first-grade foals at the end of his first week at work.

From within the Magic Flow, Midnight had to admit that things were a lot clearer. Everything looked the same as it ever had, as far as such a statement was applicable within the world's shifting essence, at least. There was, however, a small window through which the clinic's back wall was visible in its normal appearance. With gathered courage, she grabbed its inside which felt like a harmlessly blunt, but infinitely thin, edge, and pulled. As she shifted her vision back, she saw that the hole remained, now showing the same wall in blue instead.

"Wonderful. The path is clear to step through. I will be right behind you," Noon explained from behind, having regained a much calmer voice. "The first step, that which is hardest, is yours to take."

Once again, Midnight pulled on the hole's frame, easily expanding it large enough for her to climb through. As soon as she passed the border, she shivered from an unnatural cold that overcame her from one moment to the next.

"Yes, it is cool. Calculated. Not cold. Bask in the Shadow Star, it is the only source here," her alter ego said while fading in. "Coming to think of it, bask in everything. This is the world. Where you belong."

"It looks just like Pegasus Eye," Midnight stated. A quick survey of her surroundings didn't yield much interesting material, except for the small lotus that now consisted of three blooms subsequently growing out of each other.

"Well, it is the same after all. Except that now you are in it. Also, that'll change, trust me." Noon walked off through the clinic, her head reappearing after a few seconds, "Come on, you don't have to worry about matter any more. The laws of physics don't apply that much here, and by that I mean you're basically free to do whatever the heck you want."

Deciding against better judgement to trust her self, Midnight followed. As she approached the wall, she braced for impact, but ultimately felt only a gentle tickling as if passing through a string curtain. Behind her, the wall flowed back into integrity after momentarily dispersing into a cloud of energy to let her pass through. Lightly impressed, she sped up her pace to catch up with Noon who was trotting ahead of her, seemingly headed towards Ponyville.

As they walked, Midnight was increasingly beset by an odd feeling as the world slowly crumbled around them until only around a path's width of matter remained. Noon didn't appear to care, however, so she simply kept going by her side. Eventually, they reached a peak in height where there was a small platform granting free view of the surrounding area, at least of what area existed. As Midnight carefully spied over the edge of the blank, violet rock, she saw nothing but empty space spreading out below, possible to be mistaken for the normal world's sky if she didn't know better. A few floating islands could be just made out on the horizon with the Shadow Star glooming just above them. It felt different now that she had wandered deeply into the Flow. Its star shined much brighter and warmer and, where the horizon would likely be located if there were any points of reference, clouds welled up to capture and reflect its radiant glory. Above her, however, a star-filled sky reminded her of which reality she was in.

"Wonderful, don't you think? This, princess, is the domain that opens only to you. Your heritage. True, any unicorn with a teleportation spell crosses through here," as Noon spoke, a mint globule of energy whizzed by a little in the distance. "Huh, how convenient a coincidence that was. As I'm saying, anypony can enter, but you are the first organic of known history to stay. Will you continue to deny what belongs to you?"

"But- Where am I, even?" Midnight asked, sitting on the edge and enjoying the light.

"Well." Noon didn't answer further, but discreetly snuck up behind Midnight and pushed her off into the abyss.

So, this is how it ends. Lured into the magic realm by insanity, murdered by misplaced trust. Huh, the irony. Wait, what?

A few second later, the ground came up to meet her and Midnight impacted with about the force of a falling butterfly. Somehow, she had landed on the same platform again. "As mentioned," Noon explained, "you can't really apply physics here. The concept of a beginning or end is unknown to the Flow. Fall off on one end and land on the other. So, as to where we are, where do you want to be?"

"The library, of course. You promised to take me to Sparkle."

"So we are there. Did I not teach you that the Flow gives to those who ask?" Noon faded out. "Go then, she waits." After, to her own surprise, looking around for the source of the voice, Midnight spotted another rift directly in front of her. Crossing it, she discovered that it did in fact drop her off in the library's main room with a flash of excess magic, just besides a thickly wrapped Twilight Sparkle apparently trying to shield herself in a book fort. To Midnight's surroundings, it had to have looked like she had simply teleported, understandable as the method was the exact same.

"Thanks for coming back," Twilight croaked.

"Everything for you."

Chapter 70

"Well, it's been fun and all, but I have to get back." Midnight trotted around the main room reshelving books before grabbing her rainbow scarf and wrapping herself in it. "Wait, why do I even- anyway." She tossed it back onto the stand and went to Twilight's side, "Left you a text sample in the bedroom, y'know, where you too belong. Take it easy, drink the thistle tea I've prepared, and have plenty of rest." An obedient moan set her out of her business attitude and she added, "I won't be long. Love ya." After claiming a last kiss, she evoked her usual energy to once more traverse the Flow, this time per spell instead of on hoof.

You ever had the feeling that everything you did in the past hour could be summed up in less than two words a minute?

Nearly permanently. Why you asking?

I felt that we shouldn't have to talk destiny and all that serious stuff all the time. Or complain about how you are always enjoying yourself with Ruby instead of, you know, working.

As long as everypony's cared for, I don't see why I couldn't. How fortunate that you can see through the walls for me and tell me about costumers.

Like the one coming in right now.

Bloody called it.

"I'm needed, be right back," Midnight muttered as she teleported into the office. Once that pony made it all the way through the clinic, she'd be able to sit there and pretend she'd been there to begin with. "Yes?" she asked as the door opened.

The pony revealed herself to simply be Sugar Heart, a local caretaker. Midnight recognised her, she assisted the elderly and, as called by some, mentally challenged. Sometimes, she had to wonder why Sugar Heart hadn't simply been taken into active hospital duty to fill Midnight's slot, but with the given situation, beggars couldn't be choosers. Perhaps her being an earth pony had also helped the decision. "I'm here for Miss Loose's medication," Sugar Heart said. "And by the way, that's the Nurse's desk."

"Yeah." Midnight walked back into the medicine chamber, running a hoof down the list of subscriptions until she reached the correct entry. "Ah yes, the ret- Screw Loose. There you go."

"Thanks," Sugar Heart said nearly mechanically as she stored away the meds in her bags. She turned and set to leave, "Have a nice day."

"Hope we can service you again soon!" Midnight called after her with satisfyingly exaggerated cheer.

Okay, now that we're done with that, back to filly duty. As soon as she's truly gone, at least. Jeez, this room could use some decoration. It looks way too serious and stuff.

So predictable. Like all of your kind.

I thought so were you?

Eh. I'm a spirit. Ponies, I'd say, are more like vehicles. Of course, you could ascend, if you'd finally transcend. But no...

"There we go," Midnight announced herself as she passed the door to Ruby's room. She sat back down on the bedside and said, "Now, what were we going on about?"

"Pirate trees!" Ruby happily piped.

While they could be messy, stressful, helpless, time-consuming, and often downright annoying, there was nothing like a filly's innocent mind to brighten up a heart tired from maturity. "Hm. Yeah, why not?"

Nether princess, we have to talk.

How wonderful that this coincides with the end of my shift.

How wonderful that you still believe in coincidences. Meet me in the Flow, would you kindly?

Aw. I wanted to watch the sunset!

So you don't want to come into the world of eternal twilight? Silly filly.

Midnight climbed through the rift again. Only through enhanced reflexes, she managed to barely avoid collision with Noon who was already standing in front of her waiting. Her balance, unfortunately, was not quite as good as her reflexes, so she was treated with a close-up of the Flow's ground. "Some things just have to be real. You wouldn't understand. Coming to think of it, why do I even dodge you?"

Noon pulled her up and walked away from the scene, this time following the path around the hospital instead. "For the first, no I wouldn't, but for the second, there is in fact reason for that. As you may have noticed by me, say, helping you onto your hooves, this world blurs the line of reality. There's not as much needed for matter here. I mean, look at me. The Flow allows living memories to take shape, like me or the ley lines."

Midnight hurried to catch up. "Wait, what do you mean?" As her image refused to give a clearer answer, she checked the space above the clinic herself, noticing that there was a distinctive lack of obstacles to hinder the view into the sky. "Huh. But, wait, then how did I see it in the first place?"

"Well, they're not exactly like me," Noon explained as they climbed up a thin, rocky slope that didn't seem to have existed the day before. "Your world, it's all about physics and logic and all those boring things. Here, it runs a bit more relaxed. The simple idea of set lines is something the Flow cannot handle. Besides, the lines were never real."

"Has anything here ever been?"

"Certainly." They passed a palm tree made entirely of asparagus. "Maybe not as you'd expect it," Noon remedied, "but the point is the following. While this is the world's essence, lines are more like the world's dreams. Within them, it bundles energy, but they don't exist in the practical sense if you're in the Flow itself. Only from your world, when you take in the visions of the Flow, they manifest. Which raises the problem of how else you'll draw power if you happen to live here."

"Wait, there's life here?" Midnight asked, suddenly losing a lot of confidence in whether visiting this world was a good idea.

"Of course there is. What princess is ever without a people? Don't worry, they won't come out with you around. Not yet. But where I was going at - and why I brought you here - is something different."

"And that is?" Midnight said, still carefully scanning her surroundings for any movement.

"This," Noon said, forcing her to look forward. In front of them, a bright yellow orb danced around the air, emitting sparks and light alike. "Raw energy. You would not believe how much of it unicorns waste. First you summon energy from the Flow to fuel whatever you want, then you use a spell to give it form and function. Once you're done, you dismiss it. Sometimes, however, you don't use it all up, it returns to the Flow shaped, but not released, and then that's what results. Spellpower in its truest form, ready to be taken by anypony who finds use for it. Energy, just like you. Go ahead, princess, touch it. I know you want to."

Midnight felt unsure. The temptation was unbearable, and Noon knew that. Some voice in the back of her head told her it'd be a bad idea, but the closest thing she'd ever had to a conscience had advised doing it. Slowly, she reached out a tentative hoof, eventually brushing the surface with but the tip. The orb instantly dispersed across her surface like liquid spilt over it and, before her eyes, drew in through her skin. As soon as the last of its glow disappeared, she felt strangely powerful, followed by the need to demonstrate that fact. She quickly lowered her horn and summoned the first spell that came to mind, thus releasing the globule again. It traveled down onto the ground in a straight line and with near tauntingly slow speed. As it impacted, however, the resulting shockwave appeared to surprise even Noon. After the dust literally disappeared out of the air, a rift revealed itself to have formed.

"Quite amazing," Noon said, straightening her illusionary mane back into shape. "Perhaps even you have some promise after all. That should do for now, dismissed. I believe that portal should also take you into the library. As I said, applying the laws of physical logic is a bit of a lost cause here. Of course, you're very welcome to explore further."

"Well," Midnight muttered to hide her own uncertainty. She knew that she belonged into reality, yet the chance to explore another dimension didn't come often at all. However, as tempting as it appeared, there was no telling when or where she'd find another way out. Rather than linger in a world unknown to her, she decided to return to her own world of paradise.

"So be it," Noon said as she faded out walking away, her voice somehow echoing despite their platform being the only piece of matter around.

With but the noise of a normal spell, Midnight appeared in the library's kitchen. She hopefully snuck into the main room, finding Twilight fast asleep there. This was little surprising as a brief look outside into the dark sky revealed that she'd been away far longer than intended. "Finally took your medicine, didya?" Midnight whispered, mostly to herself. "Well, too bad," she added with a tone so perfect she wished Twilight would already be awake as she started to make her so.

"Uh, wuh, what's- oh, it's you." Twilight rolled off the book that had served her well as a resting place for her head. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Like I could know that," Midnight said while filling the bin for dirty books. "Few hours, maybe. I've come with three requests. Dinner, question mark, how are you feeling, and hugs?"

"Yes, if you provide it, not too bad, and of course." Twilight slowly rose, her legs already looking much more stable, then flung two of those legs around her love's neck.

Somehow, they were able to make their way into the kitchen despite her weight and constant nibbling. "What do we have here?" Midnight searched through the various cabinets for anything that'd prove a fitting meal but didn't require any particular effort or prowess. So far, the results spoke little for themselves. "Hmm, green, green, more green, white, red, flower, flour... herbivorism is kinda boring. Too bad I always toss up when I try meat. Well, I suppose simple will have to do. Don't'cha agree?"

"Absolutely," an adorable voice above her said.

"I have to say," Twilight said once the levitated handkerchief left her lips, "I was kind of surprised by your text. Quality-wise, I mean. Let's just put the other stuff aside for now. Except, you picked an interesting choice of actors. Anything you want to tell me?"

Midnight bent deeper into the sink in an attempt to hide the colour of her face, despite the dirty dishes present there. "Well, if you're askin' like this, I admit it, Starlight used to be my personal acronym. I'll let you guess who inspired it."

"And?"

"What and? I thought up the rest, alright?"

"You know," Twilight purred, changing her tone faster than any instrument could, "it is what it is and, if I have to be honest, it did its job, but should there be any hidden wishes or things like that behind it, we might be able to arrange something."

Uh, help?

Princess, you don't need help right now. In fact, I'll leave the two of you alone. More fun this way.

Chapter 72

"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."

Chapter 73

Wake up.

"Why should I?" Midnight called into the darkness. She knew that the discretion of thinking was unnecessary for both that she was mostly alone in her own mind and that Noon would almost certainly be taking form anyhow.

"So that I can talk to you," she said while approaching from the nothingness. "Ah, could I ever keep a secret from you. You've become too good, I'd even say. Anyhow. Must I mention that I am pleased to see you coming true to what you are?" She blew Midnight's mane over her face with a bit of magic. "Ah, blue fits you so wonderfully, much better than the frilly pink. But, since you are now that which I was, I suppose a change of form is in order for me." She closed her eyes and concentrated. Drop by drop, the colour drained from her until a bright yellow in her mane, which also became shorter and lighter, was the only hue remaining.

"You are not her. Let her leave my mind already!"

Noon rolled her eyes. "Sweetie, the point is exactly that you don't forget your mother. For the better of the many. But, I suppose." Within the darkness of a single blink, she reverted to her usual colours. She left out a stripe of her mane and tail though, which remained in Daylight's blonde, as well as keeping her eyes golden. "Forgotten pasts are condemned to repeat themselves."

"Got it under control." Midnight wandered ahead, a very specific goal in mind.

"After tonight? I want to see out of control. Oh, and darling?" She slid as a shadow until she was right in front of Midnight. "Let's just pretend you aren't currently searching for something within your own mind. She will be asleep by now. The gateway is open."

"Wake up!" a wonderful voice cheered. Midnight couldn't say she minded being awoken by her, except maybe for the bit which meant that she'd lost the race for once. However, that hit in ego was mostly dampened when she shuffled to pretend to have been more awake and saw that Twilight was carrying half a feast in her magic.

"Ah yes. I'll just not question how and why you slipped out from literally in between my arms, made breakfast, and carried it up to me in one go, all without making noise." Midnight sat up and put on her favorite expression, "If you make it worth my while."

"Magic, silly." She began to reassemble the parts on the small table set over Midnight's legs. "Ironically, Night's Embrace. It's that funny kind of irony which isn't. Either way, if that's your price, I'm afraid I'll have to pay up." Their faces met once more, provoking the same fireworks within Midnight as usual, though it had lost a bit of sweetness as she tasted coffee on her beloved's tongue. Suddenly, Midnight's eyes sprung wide open, causing Twilight to disconnect and ask, "What's wrong?"

"I didn't say stop! Eh, I just realised... I'm making out with the protégé of the monarch over literally everything I've ever known, seen, or even heard of." As Twilight didn't seem to catch onto her logic, she continued, "I mean, I don't intend to break your heart or anything, but... I've always been more of a lunar pony anyway, so I guess it'd fit."

She sat down on the edge of the bed, sadly putting herself out of Midnight's reach, "She's not as bad as they say, you know."

"So it's not true that she solved every problem back in the day by banishing something, then sending you to figure it out afterwards? The Crystal Empire, Discord, her own sister demanding attention, am I missing anything? Well, Those Who Came Before had to go to ruin somehow, I suppose." A glass of orange juice rose up to drown Midnight's voice, which she would have gladly accepted even if she had had any options.

"She - okay, yes, there might have been other solutions. She's not a monarch, though. It's all evenly spread between the four of them."

"Wait, four?" Midnight blurted once all of the assaulting liquid had vanished into her stomach.

"Yes, her, Princess Luna, Cadance, and the recently coronated Princess Night Sparkle." She bit into a slice of bread, apparently expecting the topic to be fully resolved already. Only after finishing it did her eyes meet Midnight's and she explained, "Distant cousin of mine. Everypony knew it was basically a matter of time, ever since she was born. I guess that happens if you're an alicorn."

"Miss Sparkle, do I hear a note of jealousy?" Midnight teased before a piece of pastry silenced her again.

"Of course not!" Twilight instantly argued, though various of her facial features spoke a different language. "Besides, as if I had any difficulty making myself an alicorn. I could use an old experiment of mine, Commutation, for instance, though I wouldn't want to rob another of her wings."

With much force, Midnight managed a counterspell to break free and said, "I'm sure of it. I'd say I'm surprised to see you're related to a princess, but then I'd be lying, no? Well, I kind of am, but that's beside the point. Not to mention that everypony in Canterlot is somehow related anyway. If I remember correctly, we share a great-great-grandparent or something." She munched on the croissant before adding her most recent thought, "So does this classify as incest? Eh, prolly not more than any other two unicorns."

"You know, there's more to be done if we want it to count as that." As brief as her message had been, her eyes and sudden seductive tone would have given away her intentions even if she'd recited a shopping list.

It took a second to sink into Midnight, but once it did, her mind could barely focus on anything else. "Nnnnope! Not yet, anyhow. I'm still just a little filly after all, except maybe if you'd - on the other hoof, no, not even then."

"Well, at least I tried."

"On another note, got any plans for today, besides trying to make up the loss of my mother around ten years late?" Technically, Midnight was bound out of moving by multiple objects stacked on top of her, including the pony sitting on her leg. Practically, it only brought her to appreciate the art of teleportation even more. "Although, coming to be reminded of it, I might have something to show to you myself."

"Wouldn't mind to see more of you any time," Twilight said with a hidden grin as she laid back on the bed, fully utilising the newly gained space.

"I don't think there's that much more to me, really. Though I have to thank you for reminding me of the good old times back with the scrub authors. They loved to build in dialogue like yours, you know." Midnight lent her a helping hoof, forcing her to stand up as well. "Come on, we gotta appreciate my free days as long as I have them!"

With a groan, Twilight came to her hooves. "Don't you have like literally three of them a week? Anyway. Someone needs to watch the library, but since Spike is home now, we're probably as free as we want to be." She collected the leftovers and made her way towards the stairs. "I'm always eager to learn about magic."

Is she clairvoyant or something?

As a matter of fact, G told me she is. Little surprising, is it? She is aligned to the Magic Flow like you, she simply doesn't realise it. To be fair, every unicorn is, and they all possess a certain edge in recognition which the others lack. Not that they ever noticed of course, as both ways are only normal to those ponies. You two simply elevated it into an art form.

I'll be surprised when I find something she can't do. An amazing gift that she's got, even in comparison to all the others.

Is it a gift? To have knowledge over not only the times present and past, but also those yet to come? To lose yourself in the future, unable to decipher which is memory, which vision, and which reality? To grasp the inevitability of fate, her own helplessness against it? To know that eventually she will forebode the end of any and every thing?

Honestly, I'd expect her power to bring the end instead of just predicting it.

On another note, would you kindly follow that plot already before its owner notices you've just been staring at it?

We... are patient.

But she isn't!

"After all, you - no, sorry, we both took long enough to get this to happen," Twilight said, apparently convinced that Midnight had been behind her the entire time. "It's time to actually enjoy the life we have."

"Yes, certainly," Midnight replied, intent to uphold the illusion.

As they descended the stairs, small voices preceded actual vision of the room downstairs. Midnight couldn't make out anything clear though, or perhaps she just had no reason to try. As soon as they set hoof in the main room, Twilight kept going towards the kitchen, leaving her to pretend they hadn't just come out of the library's bedroom together. Fortunately, it didn't seem like the youngsters present paid her much heed either way. Spike was running around trying to keep order despite the four foals wreaking chaos wherever he turned his back. Out of those four, she recognised the three fillies who always showed up to annoy her whenever their big sisters did.

There was another, however, bent most over the tome which Twilight would almost certainly prefer to not receive such treatment. Most surprisingly, it was a colt. Out of all the places, she wouldn't have expected to see him running around with a fillies' band. He blended in nicely, however. His snow white coat and candy purple mane formed him into a nearly exact lookalike to Rarity's sister, except that he was missing the pink colouration and had it cut shorter. "I don't think that'd work," he said in a voice which was only slightly less squeaky than that of his counterpart. "We'd have troubles coming up with all the wood."

"Well, what if we'd use a cannon?" the other unicorn replied. Sweetie Belle, that was her name. Midnight couldn't tell if she wanted to be pleased or shocked that she remembered.

"Uh, I'm not sure I still wanna..." Scootaloo tried to inject, but she was quickly oversounded by the colt.

"We'd still have to figure out air friction. Besides, where do you get a cannon large enough to stuff a pony into?"

"Guys, I really don't think I..." she tried and failed again, this time being collectively ignored in favour of the apples' filly.

"Good point there, Soprano. But Ah think there might be somepony helpin' us with that."

Just then, Twilight reappeared in the doorway. She didn't speak a word, but her eyes alone were enough to give Midnight no option other than to leave the others behind and join her as quickly as possible. Just as the previous room had had a clutter of books in every location, used pans and dishes stacked up in there, silently calling for somepony to change that status. Normally, either one of them would have gladly obeyed, but for now, all that mattered was being together. Everything else blended into a shroud of nothingness. With much self-control, Midnight could barely prevent diving in and claiming those velvet lips for herself once again, if only because the door was still open behind her.

"So," Twilight said, breaking the haze. "You said you've got something for me?"

"Aside from eternal love, you mean?" Apparently, she really wanted to get to the point, but she couldn't hide a small light coming up in her stoic expression. "Alright, gimme a sec."

Open the rift as usual. Those invited by the nether princess will be able to follow.

Forcing the door shut behind her, Midnight dove into the Magic Flow as usual. She had almost hoped to find nothing there, but the rift remained where it had been before, innocently linking one world to the other. She lowered her horn to touch its edge and calmly exhaled, releasing the bounds that kept her energy from flowing freely. As her magic flew forth without shape, the portal steadily grew in size.

Once she returned to the other world, Twilight simply stood there, face unmoving but betraying a burning interest within. "A stabilised portal spell? That's an impressive piece of magic, even considering that it's your special talent. Where does it lead?"

"Well, it's kinda hard to explain." Midnight struggled for the right words as she circled around to Twilight's side. "I think it's best if you just step through. I promise you won't be hurt. I'll be right behind you."

With small steps, Twilight approached the rift. Once there, she stuck out an experimenting hoof as if it were cold waters to first be tested. Eventually, she took a leap forward, vanishing from reality, and Midnight followed. Once inside, her stoic expression had faded, replaced with genuine awe. "Wow. This is... what is this place?"

"Wished I could tell you. She calls it the Magic Flow. It's amazing, isn't it?"

"She?" Twilight asked, her gaze darting from one point to another. "Wait a minute, let me collect my thoughts. I've read up on this before. Yes, Starswirl the Bearded wrote a few pieces on this, but I think we're the first ponies to actually experience it!" She suddenly refocused on Midnight, taking her into an excited embrace which shook more than slightly. "Can you imagine what this means? This could change the very basics of magic! Spellcasting, philosophy, even society itself could be entirely revamped by this discovery! A new age has begun. We need to get word of this to the princess this moment!"

"Actually, Sparkle," Midnight said, causing her to pause on the way back to the portal, "I'm not sure this world is ready for it. I guess research all you want, but it should stay between us for now."

Twilight stood in silence, turned away, as if she was pondering whether to obey or tackle Midnight. Eventually, she turned and said, "I understand. This is too much for anypony to handle. It deserves to stay the mystery it is." Midnight could feel the disappointment. She'd offered her the world, only to deny it at the last second. Thus, it came as all the more a surprise when a gentle touch on her lips forced her to recognise Twilight's eager smile. "But that doesn't mean we can't explore, does it?"

"No." Despite her resistance, a light chuckle burst forth from Midnight. "No, I guess it doesn't." Over Twilight's shoulder, she could see another pony walking in from the distance. "But I gotta warn you, this is nothing like the reality you're used to. By the way, this is 'she'. You know her." She finally adressed Noon, "You've missed out on a good bit."

"You're acting like you could ever be somewhere where I'm not," she replied. "Anyway. Good morning, mistress' mistress, nice to finally meet you in flesh and blood."

"Wait, now you're back to how you once looked, but that's what she always was... if I asked the other one which one of you is the real Midnight, what would she say?"

"She'd say that I am." Midnight turned to leave the library.

"Eh, close enough," Twilight said and followed.

Chapter 74

"Oh woooow." Twilight's eyes widened as they stepped out of the library which now stood alone on a tiny island of rock, floating in an endless void with only a narrow path connecting outwards. There didn't seem to be anywhere to go, but Midnight knew that there was always more to the Flow than the eye could tell. Thus, she led the way forward and, soon enough, additional matter came into existence to join at the ends as if it had always been there. "The tides of magic, unfurled before us. You could set all of Canterlot onto this and they wouldn't be done researching it in a century," Twilight said once they reached a small platform with something resemblant of a tree.

"They shouldn't be. A fragment of the power at loose here could wipe out life entirely. I mean, just look at how easy it is to use magic." For demonstration, Midnight levitated a nearby boulder of about her own size and flung it off the platform in a wide arc.

"If I might remind you," said Noon, whom they had both already forgotten due to her silence, "this is not a separate world. In fact, it is yours, so everything here is but a metaphor. In case you're curious, in the real world, a spectral force just took candy from a foal and tossed it into the dirt."

"I feel achieved. That's another cross on my purgatory bingo card." Leaning back against the tree, she saw Twilight being only lightly amused, so she quickly added, "But why exactly do I see candy, even as rocks, but not the foal holding it?"

"You are not yet fully aligned, robot. Once you are, the Flow will reveal more of its secrets to you. You will also gain more control over it. You are, after all, the nether princess." She motioned for them to follow. "But perhaps you are already close enough."

"For what, exactly?" Midnight asked as both of them trotted after the semi-real mare. "Sparkle, I just know that you've got all of Ponyville mapped out in that magnificent brain of yours. Mind to say where she's taking us?"

"Well, along the only path available, I suppose. More accurately, I think we're headed southwards. I mean, look at the sun." She pointed to the left where the Shadow Star floated just above an undefined horizon.

"Y'know, that thing ain't moving."

"Oh. Anyway, our turns say the same." Twilight lowered her eyes and fell silent. After some seconds, when it became clear that Midnight wasn't going to ask, she said, "Guess we've lived together for too long now. You're used to my awesomeness." She shot Midnight a wink, then let her face drop into seriousness again. "Of course, all of this is assuming that such a thing as directions even apply here. Judging by what I've seen so far, my own calculations, and the studies of philosophers revered around Equestria, that is unlikely. Is it mean if I say that would've expected you to show me something like this the most?"

"Coming up, the edge of the forest. At least it is in your world. Exit on the right in direction of travel. Try to watch the weebles. They're very small and very, very squishy." A few moments after entering the most recent platform, they were treading on soft, sun-soaked grass, surrounded by trees, and listening to gentle birdsong. It was an illusion almost too perfect, if it weren't for the stars in the sky above that reminded them of where they truly were. "Ah, the wonders of reality unfettered by your puny laws," Noon said, flowers blooming around her lying form. "I know what you're thinking, princess. We managed to get out of Ponyville in but a minute because - wait, do I really have to say it? This is the bloody Magic Flow, it only remotely behaves like your world when it feels like it. Or when you tell it to, that is. The point is, I've got something to show to you. They should come out any moment now."

"You know what this means, right?" Twilight whispered. "She's brought us to the Everfree forest, where magic can be uncontrollable at best. If this is a world of magic, who knows what she might attempt to do?"

Noon appeared at her side. "Darling, where are we, some dumb adventure novel?" She caressed Twilight's face with a filly's innocence, which would still have been enough to make Midnight want to buck her off the platform if Twilight hadn't shaken free on her own. "You know who is and isn't the mare you love, don't you. At least you think you do. The point is, your spells fail here because it is closer to reality than other places. Mostly, it's their fault. Blame them if you dare."

A small creature stumbled forth from the darkness which hid the entrance deeper into the forest. Upon spotting it, Twilight instantly emitted a drawn out squeak and ran forward to pet it. Holding more reservations, Midnight remained where she stood and said to herself, "You know that psychic warfare is illegal, right? As is any warfare, but that's beside the point."

Noon brushed up against her side, partially merging with her in the act, "Do you remember your dreams? I know I do. Kindly get to her side, I know you want to. You might be surprised."

As Midnight approached the being which received so much undeserved love from her love, it showed a conspicuously familiar form. "What the. You can't mean to tell me that Lorwyn, out of any thing, populates the Magic Flow."

"Ah, silly. No, it recognises a shape which its princess finds favourable, a Kithkin in this instance. You have more influence in this world than you think. They are your people. If you'd accept your crown, that is." She strode to the far edge of the platform. "All that which the light touches, lying unclaimed. Kind of sad, really."

"What's she going on about? You're not really a princess, are you?" Twilight asked once she could free herself from the grasp of adorableness.

"No... not yet, at least. But really, who cares? We've got one another, that's all that counts." Feeling a sudden sense of urgency, she half helped, half forced Twilight off the ground and pushed her back to whence they came. "Come on, let's get outta here. I don't think we should stick around for too long. Don't you have somewhere to be?"

"But it likes me!" Twilight struggled to return to the Kithkin which looked as sad about their rapid departure as she. "Coming to think of it, yes I do. Oh, we might be a bit late for that, with all the time we spent here."

Noon came floating overhead. "Her dear Sparkle, time is meaningless here. Lives, lived, will live. Dies, died, will die. Does, did, will do, will have been done. I don't think that's a tense, not in your language. Anyhow. The interdimensional energy anomaly, or idea if you prefer" - she pointed backwards, to where the trees were already vanishing out of reality again - "back there in the glade is the Magic Flow incarnated. It trusted you because... it remembers what you will do for it, and looks forward to your past relationship with its princess. Does this make sense to you?" She appeared to be waiting for an answer, but continued as soon as Twilight opened her mouth, "Anyhow. What's more important is that you can casually stroll through the Magic Flow and arrive at your real world destination the same moment as if you'd used a teleportation spell. Not that there's any difference in principle between the methods, of course. What I'm saying is, there will have passed as much or little time as you wish. Coming to think of it, you'd best abandon all of your physical principles."

"I'll keep that in mind for later," Midnight said. She couldn't care much for such affairs, not when there were more important questions to be solved, for instance why her leg was already across Twilight's shoulders again. That, or why taking the same path as before now led them to a barren plateau without other exits instead of the platform they'd been on previously. "How do we get out of here?"

"You ask." She tapped Midnight's horn, then was sucked into her through its tip.

"Does she do that often?" Twilight asked as they disconnected to inspect the platform.

"Roughly three times a day." While an unnatural purple was the base colour of most of the Flow's matter, this piece was odd in itself. Apparently, they were standing on a gigantic amethyst. "Hm, ask. Well, here goes, I suppose." Midnight once again lowered her horn and called for her signature spell, though rather than any specific destination, the best she could think of was simply 'out'. Moments later, blue droplets of energy coalesced before her, eventually forming into a rift. There it floated before her, silently taunting her with how easy it had been to create despite all of her denial. "There. Beauty follows age, right? After you, then."

"One day, this is all going to get back to you." A quick touch of the lips, as fleeting as the moment which bore it, yet forever bound into their memory. "I'm looking forward to that day." Without further ado, she took and held a deep breath and climbed into the portal.

Since there was a distinctive lack of screaming, blood, or carnage coming back out, Midnight quickly followed. As it turned out, their final destination was a place far worse than one that would produce those warning signs. Instead, they'd arrived in a classroom, by the looks of it. The various drawings, letters, and books along the walls confirmed an even worse suspicion. It was a school for foals, though it seemed to be luckily abandoned for the moment, except for noise coming from outside and the maroon earth mare holding Twilight in a conversation. "This is where you wanted to go?" Midnight questioned.

"Yes, it is. You see, the littluns are doing a bit of an individual project day today, and I promised to help one of the teams. You should stick around too, I'm sure you'll enjoy it." She

"You bet I will, because, in ascending order of importance, maybe I will have fun with them, it'd take a restraining order and five mustangs to get me away from you, and I have no idea where we are relative to the library, so I couldn't get there if I wanted to." Midnight headed to leave the room before a better idea overcame her, "Then again, screw doors," and she teleported into freedom through the opposing wall.

The outside looked as expected, especially considering that Midnight had already seen it through the window. The sun came down mercilessly from above, bringing life to the plants as much as to the ponies around. Yet its heat wasn't overwhelming as only a single filly had taken shelter under the solitary tree that stood within the fenced area. The others stood, ran through the soft grass, or sat at one of the tables, plotting new adventures. There was a surprising amount of adults around, perhaps one per two of the seemingly endless foals. Not only that, but none of the pairings seemed to be biologically related. Of course, Midnight understood their motivations, and perhaps she could even find time to help one of the youngsters discover life. Unfortunately, she had to work down her list of things that she wanted to do one by one, and she hadn't yet found a cactus large enough to headbutt properly.

Don't give me that look. You know how hard it is to walk anywhere when you could teleport with just as much effort, maybe even less?

And I thought my revelation of the Magic Flow would have taught you anything. Clearly your head is thicker than I realised. At least you can see that which is out of your reality, such as me even when I don't show myself. But knowing you better than you yourself, I'm surprised that you're still only a supportable amount over standard weight. Wait, how heavy are you, anyhow?

Before Midnight could finish her thought, a fit of noise filled her ears. With a bit of imagination, it could even be considered music. As it turned out, Vinyl Scratch had a small music station set up behind Midnight and was teaching somefoal its use. Despite Midnight's best efforts, she was quickly spotted and Vinyl called, "Hey, haven't seen ya in a while! C'mere." As much as she'd like to, there was no denying such an open invitation. "There. Liked the demonstration?"

"Well, he is sure to top that very soon, I'd say." Something about the colt Vinyl was teaching fascinated Midnight. His stature was smaller than usual, almost fragile. His empty flank, together his white and black coat and mane, certainly served to support that impression as if all colour had faded out from him, unable to support itself. To top it off, there were tiny wings adorning his sides. She could not find an explanation why one like him should be interested in music.

"... That was one of my pieces," Vinyl said. Somehow, the confidence in her voice was lacking a tiny edge, one that was otherwise more than filled.

"I know."

"Yeah." Sadly, any hit that she may have taken previously was already fully restored. In fact, a barely visible smile came onto her face. "See, I told you she's a fancy, if only for her, ah, honesty. Anyway, what brings you here?"

"The mare I love kinda dragged me along." Looking down, she saw the colt bursting to respond to her. So he actually was as shy as he looked. "Hmm?"

"Mommy says proper mares don't do anything more than friendship with other mares," he stuttered, apparently surprised to be adressed so directly.

"Does she?" Midnight asked with her voice carrying more genuine surprise than expected. "Well, I've said and done plenty of things in my past which I don't want to mention to your ears, never attend the weekly ceremonies for worshipping our gracious overmare, instead believe in cynicism to carry my world, have masturbated about two thousand times and don't intend on stopping in the future, and if there's anything you can imagine, I've probably done it with the pony I chose to love, pre-maritally of course. So I guess I'm not a proper mare after all. But I'm sure Vinyl here, one of the properest ponies I know, will gladly explain to you everything about her relationship with Lady Octavia."

"Thanks for that," Vinyl Scratch hissed with her face fallen back into order, though she couldn't hide her own amusement.

"You're welcome, darling." From behind her, Midnight could just pick up the melody of the sweetest voice to ever exist. "Ooh, there she is. See ya later maybe, gotta tell her about how improper I am."

"What in the name of plot burgers were you even thinking?" Midnight circled around the beauty stretched out on her own bed. Her work was progressing, but not by far done. "Runes. Giving such power to a filly, what did you expect to happen? Loti growing everywhere, even in solid wood?"

"I don't know... just fix me, alright? You can fix me, right? Right?"

To another pony, Twilight might look to be in grave danger as she was missing her right foreleg along with several small features across her body. Fortunately though, there was already skin and hair in place of those things, as if they'd simply never been there. "Sure I can. Magic never does the damage it appears to. You're a particularly interesting case, Sparkle. I can clearly see your leg, it's there, just... in another reality. The one we were in just this morning. So I suppose all I have to do is pull it back to the reality we all share." Recovering objects that seemed to the untrained eye to have been lost in magical accidents was a surprisingly standard procedure, yet Midnight had never before been able to actually watch her own work. Normally, a unicorn would use a simple teleportation spell to pull the affected object out of the Flow, but somehow, even that seemed to be too much effort. Instead, the leg seemed to obey her when she simply commanded it to return into sight, where it stayed even as her vision shifted back out of the Magic Flow.

"Huh. Why, that's convenient." She briefly shook her regained leg. There were no actual damages visible from the outside and neither did she seem to find any. "Yay for magic doing everything possible!"

Midnight helped her get a steady footing back on the ground. Perhaps it was an unnecessary gesture, but it certainly was just as gallant, especially when she then abused her hold on Twilight's body to force their heads together another time. "The lazy part of me is still mad, by the way. Maybe it'll accept dinner as a payment. You should definitely try the idea." She gently guided the two of them towards the stairs. "Come on, don't be shy."

"Coming to think of it, have you paid your share of the weekly groceries?"

Her guidance became just a bit more aggressive. "Less shyness please, we're both hungry and exhausted from a day out, I'm sure you'll be able to make something great happen."

"She is rapidly adjusting. Soon she will be aligned fully."

Midnight felt odd. She knew that she had likely left reality, but her exact location remained unclear. It was like swimming at the very bottom of an ocean, but then again she did not feel as if she even was herself any more. There were no surroundings to orientate by, only a sensation of floating without a body by which to relate it. That and the strange voice she'd just heard, which was now joined by another, "Good. All shall share in glory once the Dawn fruits. May the Father guide you."

Chapter 75

At long last, Midnight had done the impossible. It had taken endless conditioning and a lot of help from one she would've preferred not to ask, but in the end, the result justified all the means. She laid back and basked in her glory.

She didn't dare breathe as beside her lay Twilight Sparkle in all her beauty. There were a thousand things that she was urged to do, but none of them would be executed, not now. Twilight was too peaceful in her sleep. After countless failed attempts, Midnight had once more managed to wake up first and she'd be sure to celebrate that to its full extent.

At least, she'd hoped to. However, as she contemplated the numerous ways in which she could awaken Twilight, her eyes fluttered open and her angelic voice worked its way through the initial hurdles of the day, "Morning, Midnight."

"Dammit." Midnight sighed and commanded the bedside brush to straighten her mane, all secrecy lost due to lack of need. "Oh well, there's always the next morning. Speaking of which, had a nice night?"

"Could've been better, I think." Twilight climbed out, leaving behind only her already fading warmth as a companion. "I dreamt strange things. Like I was in another pony's body, and then in another's... at the same time. You?"

"Eh, only nonsense. I've learnt to focus on the now after a few months with my personal demon. She loves dream invasions, you know." Knowing that uncomfortable things were best taken in a single shock, she held her breath and teleported down to the intermediate floor, away from the safe haven that they'd slept in. She arrived just in time to see Twilight vanish down the stairs and set to follow, but was put off by a simple motion commanding her to stay.

Not too many seconds later, Twilight reappeared, carrying a small feast in her magic once again. "There. I figured we might as well go outside since it's such a great day. No need for you to walk twice the way." She opened the balcony door and made her way outside, only then looking at Midnight. "What?"

"Uh, excuse me," Midnight said and stepped outside. "For a moment there, I was wondering how you could make all those things, in perfect condition, probably using magic, and carry them up here. I'd estimate maybe a few gigawatts of total power, generated in about ten seconds. But it's magic and you, why do I even ask." She sat down, dishes setting themselves in front of her. "I also wasn't aware that you have a breakfast table out here, but I've given up on the idea that there's anything in the world which you haven't done or in your possession."

"Don't you find that odd?" Twilight asked, taking a true lady's nibble from a croissant, followed by a stallion's bite.

"What? That sometimes you're–"

"Asked to do the unthinkable and turn out to have already done it?" She finished Midnight's sentence as it would've been down to the word.

Midnight indulged herself in the depths of orange juice. "Why do I even drink this? It's not like I'd really need it for the health. Anyhow. It'd be odder if you didn't."

"Ah, suppose you're right. It's such a wonderful day, the sun is high, unusually so for this time... anyway, just listen to all the birds singing." Twilight gestured in a wide arc around them. There seemed to be life in every tree within sight, including the one they inhabited.

"Did you ever care to think that they're basically screaming to get laid?" Twilight put up a mask of formal disappointment, trying and failing to hide the colour in her face that came of Midnight's unbound tongue. She decided to test how intense she could get it. "Then again, so does every species when they communicate."

The second flush brought her to an impressive level, but she soon took control of herself and countered, "Not today, darling, not feeling it. With that out of the way, any plans for today?" Midnight had never before noticed it, but Twilight had a strange tendency of burning through food much faster than one would come to expect.

"Whenever you ask that, you always have some of your own, I've noticed. Let me think for a moment." The first few bites of cereal gave Midnight exactly the time she needed, amongst other things. "What day is it even? Saturday, right? Ugh, I'm on shift today. Sorry."

"No harm, no tears. You have to fulfill your duty for ponykind as I will mine." She reached for yet another piece of food, but paused halfway there. The lack of commentary on her part left it up to Midnight to imagine the reasons for her behaviour. Perhaps she'd remembered her diet plan.

Fascinating. I should talk to somepony about this.

Hmm, if the problem is literally in my head, will it go away if I just ignore it?

Worthy try, princess, but a pointless one at that. Watch your tongue if you want kindness.

"Yeah, sitting on a pile of books and snapping at anypony who also wants a go at reading them. Important business." Midnight opened her eyes to find a low-charged sprite of energy flying towards her. A simple thought gave her shelter in the world inbetween, nullifying the attack. "You missed," she teased, which brought her the punishment of another. "Missed again." Twilight didn't seem to want to admit defeat, even if Midnight kept dodging her attacks. "Sparkle, I thought we'd established I am pretty good at moving through worlds. I can do this all day if I have to. The question is, can you?"

Twilight's horn lost the light shimmer it'd carried. "Looks like it. I have to study that suppression spell. Anyway. I'll handle cleaning up on my own, you should probably get going if you don't want to be late as usual."

"Hmm." A brief peek into the Magic Flow confirmed Midnight's suspicions. "Why, thanks for telling me about that beacon spell, I'll have fun dispelling it. Take care." Midnight invocated a quick teleportation spell in order to steal one last kiss, then followed it up with another that brought her where she needed to go.

Feels quiet. Ah, boring days. Looks like I'll be spending a lot of time with Ruby again.

Hey, bad robot. Kindly cut that out, nopony but I is allowed to gaze into others' minds. Or the future, for that matter. There are secrets in there, visions of great pain and justice. More than one like you could handle. Leave it to the ascended.

Chill down, I was just listening to my intuition. And before you ask, yes, I do in fact possess that, and it is not you.

Fascinating. Keep on that track.

"And that's how I defeated Napastrian the Second with only a wooden spoon." Midnight paused. She appreciated any chance to entertain Ruby, but at the same time, handling foals well strictly went against her principles. With a bit of luck, she may be able to pass off Ruby Pinch as an exception.

Regardless of whether or not she agreed with the means, her story had done its job as Ruby beamed up at her, amazement glittering within the darkness of her eyes. "Wow, that's awesome!"

Apparently, a book being popular in Canterlot doesn't mean that it's even known elsewhere. That could come in handy when she's asking for another story.

A small chuckle escaped her for more reasons than were obvious. "Yeah, I pretty much am. Ah, look at the time. Sorry, but it's medication time." She levitated forth a small plastic cup, almost spilling the yellow liquid inside during the trick. "What a coincidence, I seem to have brought yours when I came in already. Chug-a-lug, Ruby!" She set it down on the bedside table and headed for the door. "Gotta check on the other ones, then I'll be right back."

Do you really expect her not to struggle with it?

I'm counting on that happening. Now be quiet, this spell needs focus.

Is this some sort of illogic that you only get while you're in the meatbag state? I hope I didn't have it back in my days. And they say mares' logic is bad.

No idea why they do.

Elegant punchline revealing that the previous conversation was only to set you up for it goes here. Make your own, I'm busy. Her mind is awfully tight today, or maybe you're out of range. Then again, what is space but an illusion for those not yet beyond?

Hey, I like space. It's a pretty cool buddy always there to prevent us all from being flat characters.

Says she who uses the shortcut route most of the time that she travels.

Stop always ending our conversations with says she. I'm sure not even you are that shallow.

What do you speak of dimensions when you barely even master your own fourth. Heck, that's already saying too much. Mastery cannot come without understanding. Understanding will only follow to opening.

I just want a calm life with the pony I love. Tell that to yourself and whoever you're working with.

Back to work, would you kindly?

"Hey, I'm back." Midnight invited herself to take a seat next to Ruby. Once there, she was forced to talk far more sternly than she'd like. "You really should drink that. Might get an infarction if you don't."

"Eh?" Ruby wasn't resisting her, at least not with active intention. She was just looking at her with genuine curiosity. Midnight couldn't uphold her business stance, not against a face as adorable as that one.

"In brief, nothing you want to get. Look." She laid a hoof on Ruby's shoulder. Her coat was soft, far softer than it should be allowed to be given her situation. "I can understand medicine doesn't taste good, at least I imagine it doesn't. You gotta down it anyway. I can't force you to do it – well, I could, but I don't want to." A mug filled itself at the sink and returned to the table. "The actual step is yours to take, and you know you have to take it one way or another."

Ruby drew and held a breath, then downed the ill-smelling medicine in a single gulp. Already as she did, her face fell into terrible visages and she reached for the water right afterwards. "There." Midnight started comforting her. She couldn't explain it to herself, but it seemed like the natural thing to do. "Was it really that bad? Don't want to see you having to make such faces."

Ruby nodded as she lowered the mug from her lips. "Wallpaper paste. Bleh."

"Oh. Yeah, I know how those things can be. Not really, of course, because I'm immune to those things. Didn't I once break a leg, though? Hmm." Midnight played with the solitary strand of blue hair in front of her face, as she always did to pass moments of silence. "Nah, I'd remember that. Pushing painful memories out of my mind doesn't sound like me."

Allow me to guide you.

"Oh wait, yes I did," Midnight's lips suddenly blurted.

"That must have been bad on you, right?" Ruby asked with compassion which one would come to expect maybe from a parent, not a filly.

"You have no idea. I won't get around the whole story, right?" An adorable little head shook itself from side to side. "Awesome. That was ages ago, back when Mother– maybe even before you were born. I learned quite a lesson that day, let me tell you."

Chapter 76

"And because of that, I learned to walk on three legs. Easier than you'd think once you know how to do it, and it was that or nothing for me." Midnight looked her right foreleg up and down, slightly exaggerated for comedic effect. "Nope, the scar really is gone. Huh. You'd expect a half-footlong cut along the leg to stay for a bit. Maybe I have amazing healing powers too and just never noticed." Unfortunately, her thesis was disproved when she ran a hoof down the leg. "Oh wait, there it is. Yeah, fur covering up and stuff. Silly me."

"Didn't that hurt?" Ruby asked. "You made it all sound like no big problem."

Should I-

Don't you even dare.

"It probably did and I've managed to push the pain out of my memory since then. So yes, I assume that it did, but describing it would've taken an inappropriate amount of time in the story. No one really wanted me to do that, trust me. Especially since I'm supposed to watch the clinic right now. Excuse me while I go do that." For a good ten seconds, Midnight vanished from the room, then returned. "Everything alright. Ah, thank magic for rapid-fire teleportation. Where was I?"

You were explaining to little Ruby Pinch what her cutie mark will do to her and why she should stay away from colts when she gets it, despite feeling more attracted than ever.

"Ah yes, I remember. I had just finished the story of the only time when I was in a hospital as an actual patient, and was trying to figure out what to do next. Perhaps the Principem Ex Machina would be to tell you to be more careful than I was back then." She reclaimed her seat and slid a little closer towards the bed. "Then again, if you're dumb as past me, tell me so I won't have to bother with you any more."

"Uh, that's a compliment, right?" Ruby looked as uncertain about Midnight's intentions as she herself. This, of course, was a situation to be changed. Midnight wouldn't have it that anything other than smiles and happiness stain Ruby's expression.

"Yeah. I'm sometimes a bit like that. Just ignore it." A quick glance to the wall, to the hanging clock. "And to help you do that, it's about time for special therapy again. Yay. Where would we be if we didn't have magic as an overall plot hole filling device. Aaand I guess I didn't mention to you that I used to be into writing, so consider that before your imm- young mind thinks anything else. So, roll over if you kindly would."

Ruby Pinch obeyed Midnight's every order with such conformity that she almost didn't know whether to revel in the act's adorableness or abuse her powers over her. She decided on the former, perhaps a bit of the latter too if the situation called for it. "Ooh, really? How was that?"

Her horn lit up and Ruby shivered slightly as the energy ran over her back. Now, she only had to sustain the cast spell, meaning that most of her mind was free to wander and tell tales about it once back at the campfire of reality. "Like everything, that was years ago, though less than the broken leg. It was decent fun for spending a summer, I suppose. You see, there's a residential school in Canterlot for ponies with special talent in writing and what's like it. No, before you ask, I didn't actually move in there. I did happen to live just two minutes by hoof from there, even though I never really walked that distance. Teleportation does tend to make a lazy pony out of you. Anyway, that school offered a temporary membership during the summer months, when you're not otherwise busy. So I'd figured I could broaden my arts a bit. As it turned out, I was also pretty good at writing."

"What happened? Did you meet many friends?" Ruby managed to say before going back to basking in the silent bliss that was a side effect of the spell Midnight was using.

"Too few to be noteworthy, too many to explain them all. Yeah, what did happen?" Silence followed, lasting just too long to not be awkward. "I guess I finished it as normal. I remember joining the big feast at the end of term. For temporaries like me, of course. It was only beginning for the regulars. Hah, those ponies. There were some really big fireworks that night, too. Then, hmm, I think it closed down not too long afterwards. Maybe the fireworks ruined them. Who would know. I know I don't."

"The mind of the subject will struggle to create memories where none exist." Your fillyfriend has such amazing literature in her library, you should get to reading them sometime. I don't need your permission or even cooperation to know what's in them, not when she does, but it might broaden your perspective a little. Also, mind the time, would you kindly?

Yeah, shift change will be soon, I get it. Who would blame me for wanting to stay with her for a bit longer?

Midnight cut the flow of energy. The marine glow that she'd brought forth continued for a second, but was soon reduced to but a dying spark. "There. That'll be it for now. How are you feeling?"

Ruby rolled around, making a complete mess out of the sheets in the act. Midnight corrected them out of reflex. "Great! Maybe I'll get out of here after all." She obviously didn't want to let it on, but her eyes said more than enough as they displayed only a disappointing void.

"You would prefer not to, wouldn't you." Midnight kicked herself from the inside for her thoughts, but somehow still managed to get her other planned sentences out. "I know what it's like to feel abandoned. Maybe it'd be easier on you if you had an honorary sister."

Fascinating.

Ruby beamed at her, now filled with the glimmer that she'd been missing before. "You mean- you'd do that for me?"

"Yeah, that surprises me more than it does you. As I said, I know what you're feeling, what I mean for you." Midnight was uncertain what would be the appropriate gesture in such a situation. She wanted to show affection, but anything that came to her mind would either seem inappropriately close or fall within the area of what she'd do for her simply as a nurse. She remained still, hoping her expression would be enough to support the message. "The one thing that you gotta remember is that you're never alone, no matter if you feel like everypony's left you. That's why I'm doing this, you deserve to not become the monster I did, Ruby. Well, that, and because you're just too adorable. Before you get any hopes though, you'll have to stay at home. Before we can start stuff like that, I have to talk to Sparkle and find out how she thinks about foals. Alright?"

Ruby nodded, barely containing her excitement. "Of course. This is just awesome of you!"

Midnight seemed to have leaned in a bit too far as seconds later, she found her neck occupied by a young filly. "Wonderful," she whispered, realising the full potential of what she'd just done.

Excuse me, I am in the universe Kepler seven, right?

Yes, I did just do that. Blame me, I know I already do it myself.

We need to talk. Take the magical route today, would you kindly?

Midnight found Noon sitting on the path's edge, legs dangling off without regards for safety, basking in the Shadow Star's light. "Alright, here I am. What is it?"

She rose and led the way forward. "Walk with me, princess. We have somewhere to get."

They reached an intersection. Four paths crossed, each leading into infinity without a visible destination. Noon seemed to be uncertain about which to take. "What's the point? All I know, we could keep going forever in one direction and not find anything, then turn around and there it'll be."

"Ah, I see you're beginning to understand. About time." She branched off left and Midnight followed. When she looked back a few seconds later, there was only a straight line leading away. There had never been anything else. "I was getting worried that your attunement may come without understanding. As an infinite number of universes there are, so does the Flow serve as a nexus for all of them. Your destination is, was, and will be ahead. It is only a choice of where to go."

"If this is more of your stupid destiny babbling, how often do I have to tell you that I'm not interested in it?"

Noon missed a single step's timing. To cover it up, she then stood as if by disappointment of what she'd just heard. "You may think so," she said in a calm voice, "but the many, amongst them you, would disagree. You have accepted your gift in the past, you will do so in the future. How often does one hear about a princess refusing her throne, anyway?" She sped up the pace, denying Midnight any opportunity for questions.

After a second's eternity, they arrived at a moderately sized platform. It carried a normal clearing with a single giant tree in its middle. Exactly that made it fascinating to Midnight. The Flow always seeked to emulate the normal world, but could never grasp its finesses. This place, however, was too perfect. The grass was soft under her hooves, a few birds somewhere and nowhere contributed their quiet song, even the sky came to copy Equestria. Rather than the stars which otherwise occupied it, high up stood the sun, true as it was in Equestria, allowing only pure blueness to surround it. The only trace of obvious magic in the area was the center tree. It easily stretched two or three houses' worth into the sky, vines which shimmered in every imaginable colour dangling from its top all the way to the ground. "What is this place? Another sync nexus?"

"It's nice, isn't it? Watch yourself," Noon growled as Midnight bent to inspect one of the many loti around. "This might be the greatest amount of power you'll ever see. Aside from your friend, of course. Still, it should be enough."

Midnight circled around the platform. The tree didn't show any difference regardless of viewpoint. Its tiny ropes never broke the pattern of a perfect curtain, always displaying the same arrangement of colour. "You haven't answered my question."

"This is the world's nexus. Not leylines, stronger. The princesses themselves draw from here. Hence why Canterlot was built on top of it. For eons, this lay dormant, waiting for a pony worthy for it to reveal itself." She strode to the vines' edge, staying just a leg's reach away from them. "This is true power. The power to master the Flow, to change the world. The power which is due to you." She vanished and reappeared leaning on Midnight's shoulder. "The final step, that to reach out and take your throne, is yours." She vanished.

Midnight was alone with only temptation to keep her company. She wasn't going to do it, obviously she wasn't. She had too much to risk everything now. Then again, it didn't appear to require any sacrifices on her part. At worst, she'd have to explain her new wings to Sparkle, if even that. In all likelihood, they wouldn't be visible to the untrained. Perhaps they wouldn't even be real per se. She had every reason to distrust Noon, judging by the previous months alone, not to mention the years before. Her distrust had only met her with displeasure, though. Coming to think of it, Noon hadn't given her too many reasons to uphold caution. Perhaps she only meant to help after all. Midnight trotted forward and parted the vines with a hoof.

"Arise, nether princess."

She awoke an eternal second later, lying on bare rock. The tree had vanished, as had every other sign of nature. Her hair was completely out of order, her joints ached and her wings stung. Once that thought made its way through the dizziness clouding her mind, she was quick back on her hooves and shouted into the nothingness, "What's going on here?"

Noon walked in from nowhere. "You've accepted it, and it has accepted you. Try to imagine what one could do with power like it lies within you."

Midnight rose just a little above the ground. It wasn't due to her conscious effort, much more was her altitude an idea given form, an unspoken desire. This world obeyed her. It was hers. The wings were just decoration. "So I could match Sparkle now?"

"Don't get fancy. If she knew what is within her, nopony could stand up to her. Especially not you, as you'll be but a normal unicorn once back in their world. Now that you have your true form, however, you'll find that it has a few new benefits. For instance, you shouldn't have to rely on rifts which other ponies tore any more. Try it." Once again, she disappeared, taking refuge within Midnight.

As time flew by, she became more and more aware of the energy now focused within her. The Flow was no longer chaotic nor mystical. It was a challenge lying before her, waiting to be arranged into truth. An entire world unravelled before her as the infinity around her took on shapes and voices, forming ponies and patterns. This was not a world separate from Ponyville, it was Ponyville, and it waited for input.

However, just as soon, she dismissed it. She didn't care, there were other, different things to do, places to be. Such where she'd be actually needed. She dug her hooves into whatever grip there was and concentrated, commanding the world to shape to her needs. A few seconds later, the energy bundled at her horn vanished and she found a doorway having appeared in front of her. It'd take her where she needed to go, she knew it.

The library laid before her, silent and immaculate as always. As expected, there were no ruffling feathers from wings being folded back together. She was just a normal unicorn in this world, as she'd always been. A simple cough made Twilight look up from her lecture as it announced Midnight's presence. "Ah, welcome back," greeted Twilight. "Enjoyed yourself?"

"You have no idea."

Chapter 77

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."

Chapter 78

"Oh hey, there you are. Come closer!" called a squeaky voice mere moments after they disconnected. Out of everyone that could have discovered them, it had to have been the dragon.

Midnight closed the distance with a quick spell that dropped her just beside Rarity. "Hey everyone. I did not just do icky things with your mistress, in case you're curious. Look, we didn't even arrive together, since she's over there and I teleported and all that."

"I don't like being left hanging with an empty mouth which no one is there to fill, you know," said Twilight as she arrived on hoof, nudging Midnight in the side.

"Aren't they always adorable, Rarity," the stallion said. His voice flowed liquid as caramel and sweet as oil. He was exactly the sort from which Daylight had always warned her. Luckily for her, Twilight was there to protect her from eventual attempts at charming. He held out a hoof, as she'd expected him to. "I don't think we've met, sweet filly." Midnight hesitated, then took his hoof anyway. "My name's Soarin Markov. Second in command of the Wonderbolts, averted a few crises – though not nearly as many as your charming friend here, of course – and a lot of other five-bit expressions. Might I ask for your name?"

Aren't there only three Wonderbolts, anyway?

One would wonder how you can not know that despite all of their franchise which cluttered your room. Then again, same goes for the Daring Do covers whilst you don't own a single one of her books. Why do you even have all those things?

"Midnight –" she pondered on her answer for a split second "– of Canterlot. It'd be rude to ask what you're doing here, right?"

"Ah, yes, daughter of Daylight, wasn't it. It's a waste, what happened to her." His eye wandered towards the pond, a little too fast to be coincidental. Just a moment after, perhaps because he saw that Midnight had noticed, it returned to her. "Anyhow. I only came to place some orders for her, but I'm sure you know what a charming mare she is, I couldn't resist her invitation to join all of you here. Always love me the company of a few fine mares."

"Oi, just so you know, I'm taken." She reached around Twilight's shoulders and pulled her in close. "By her, so don't try anything there either."

Twilight struggled free, but didn't take any distance from her. He continued, "Ah, how sad. For me, not for you, of course. Anyhow, as I was saying..." He turned back to Rarity. Twilight took the opportunity and led Midnight to the water's edge.

Twilight made her first steps inside without hesitation, other than Midnight. "This would be a good time to tell you that I'm not too great with water deep enough to drown, wouldn't it?" she asked.

Twilight dove forward and re-emerged floating on her back, waving for her to do the same. "And why would that be? Come on, the water's fine. Unless you actually can't come in, in which case we have some serious learning to do." She put on the face of a pony smart enough to teach and mischievous enough to enjoy it.

It was a challenge Midnight wasn't going to deny. She strode along the edge to keep up with Twilight's movements. In the background, Pinkie had started playing ball with the, once wet, quite outgoing Fluttershy. "It's not that I couldn't swim. At least theoretically I can. I just don't like to, especially not when there are murderous things in the water with me." She did the first step inside. It was a gentle slope, but her hoof sank into the mud so that the water ended up over her ankle. It was freezing cold. "Heck, you're a true Canterlot unicorn like me, you should know that there aren't too many pools there." Another step sank just as deep, though at least it felt slightly warmer. "As far as my memory serves, I only really made experiences once, when Mother took me to the sea. Beach holidays, so to speak. Except they weren't holidays for her." She breathed through to the bottom of her lungs and moved forward until there was enough room to support herself. "I did not like it, long story short." She sighed as they moved towards the deeper parts, where the others were. "The things I do to be with you. Hyper and mur– I mean, Pinkie and Fluttershy," she acknowledged them. There was no need for further formalities, not with them.

"Hello, you two. I'm glad you could come." Fluttershy was floating in the water, her wings spread out just below the surface and gently twitching to keep her adrift.

Then, something pounced Midnight from behind. She only just managed to stay above the surface as it piped, "I'm so happy to see you make it, not that I ever doubted you would, but it's still just awesome to see all my friends come together for an afternoon..."

"If you would be so kind," Midnight interrupted, "as to stop drowning me, it'd be appreciated. I would prefer not to end up as the second mare from my family who gets murdered in just ten years." Pinkie disconnected from her and walked across the axis formed between Twilight and Fluttershy when gravity decided to take her again so that they formed somewhat of a circle. "Thank you. There isn't really anypony left besides me, I should get around to the whole procreating part of continuing my bloodline." She caught Twilight's eye, which carried the exact look she'd expected and hoped for. "Any time you're ready, Sparks. No? Well, I guess I'll have to endure a few more years without the monsters which foals are. What a loss. Anyhow. Commence idle chatter."

"It really is refreshing, in more than one sense of the word," said Twilight, turning to let as much of the sun's blessed warmth fall onto her as possible. "Kinda hot today, if I have to be honest. But also, of course, to get out of the house, catch up on everypony, make Spike come home overnight once in a while."

"I have to say, I was a little surprised to see him turn up next to my animals. He must really appreciate the freedom you're giving him." Just as Fluttershy spoke those words, Midnight realised that she didn't have nearly the room she'd like to be comfortable despite that she was swimming. Thus, putting as little force away from staying up top with the life-giving air, she tried to float herself away from the group, though little resulted from it other than proving to herself the concept of magic reactio. She needed an anchor to ignore that effect. Fortunately, there was somepony very close nearby who could equalise the movement using her wings. She tried to apply the necessary force with one or two discreet spells without being noticed, though Twilight's expression gave reason to suspicion that her spells could have been less discreet than she thought.

"He is growing up after all," replied Twilight, her gaze clearly on the dragon onshore. "It's a simple arrangement; I won't have to help him if he gets into trouble, and he gets to go and try other things as long as he stays safe, doesn't cause trouble, and reports back every now and again." She paused, perhaps lost in the sight of the landscape in front of them or perhaps just thinking. "Besides, it got quite handy to have him away for a bit. I had things to do."

"Like me, you mean. Or whatever it is that you do when I'm on shift." She didn't know why, but dipping her head underwater seemed like a wonderful idea, until the cold got a hold of her face and she reconsidered. When she reemerged, blue took up half her vision. Fortunately, she was quite practiced with using only a single eye. "I wonder what, really. Although, no offense, but as I know it, it's probably more reading."

"Oh, you'd be surprised." Twilight looked satisfied, pleased. Too pleased for Midnight's liking.

"Did I ever tell you that I... have a little spell that lets me see things normally hidden?" Slowly, with all due caution, Midnight struggled around the group. Somehow, she still hadn't sunk yet. While she swam back to her previous spot, she even spotted Spike entering the water as if to defy physics even more. "You know, I didn't expect that pegasi would like water. I'd imagine you'd do anything not to get your feathers wet."

"It's a bit inconvenient, but you have to groom them as well one way or another." She lifted her wings out of the water for a moment, spraying droplets onto everyone. "Besides, it doesn't feel bad. Having the water float around them sort of tickles. It's hard to explain, but you don't hate ponies touching your horn either, right?"

"Couldn't tell ya, mine's almost completely insensitive. Unlike somepony else who gets way too much out of it." Without them noticing, Twilight and Pinkie had drifted off into a separate conversation. Instead, Rarity and Spike joined the group. "But enough of that."

Is it not funny to see sworn enemies come together for a lovely little bath? We could drown her right now as the murderer she is, for the Order. They wouldn't know.

I don't kill, not any more. Besides, what good would it do to put her out of her misery based on crimes long past, instead of leaving her to suffer from them?

Whilst the other exchanged meaningless salutations, Midnight's eyes wandered across the shoreline. "I think I'm getting out for a bit, no need to test my luck." With that, she set off on the long and perilous journey of getting back on land without drowning in the process. Once there, Soarin was already waiting to help her out of the water.

You've grown wise after all. She's proud. On that note, if you would kindly see the truth, you'd find that there's more to him than it seems.

"Come back to get some sun, I assume?" he asked while bringing her to her hooves.

"Yeah. Don't like swimming." She shook free and threw herself into the grass on her back. "Don't try getting me into anything. I know your sort, you're as bad as the birdie who actually murdered her."

He stood over her, blocking out the sun. She couldn't decide if she appreciated that or not. "You wouldn't exactly prove much resistance if I was up for anything." He set a hoof on her leg, pushing down stronger than she'd expected he would be able. Before she could respond, it was already gone again. "Not that I am, of course. All of the Order are sisters, right?"

"I'll have you know that my signature spell alone is a Master level teleportation. Peak energy output level seven, best cast time point four seconds, longest intentionally travelled distance three kilometres, give or take seven meters, no rune match in known spells. What you got against that?" It wasn't an argument about the Order any more, nor a normal discussion or any sort. It was a competition.

"Point four? That's all the time that I need." He sat down just next to her head. With her free eye, she could see his cocky grin.

"I'd expect no more out of you. But perhaps we're getting off on the wrong hoof." Following a notion from within, she raised her head just as Twilight was getting out of the water. "Hey, Sparkle. Come here, I need somepony to warm me up!"

She rapidly approached, but didn't lie down as Midnight had hoped. When she bent her head to complain, she noticed tiny sparks dancing on and about her body, evaporating all liquid present there, while Twilight sat besides her. "Warmth of Life. Handy spell in a pinch, or when you want to dry off. You're welcome."

When the sparks vanished, they left her with a fuzzy feeling of warmth and having her entire hair out of order, but far from satisfied. "So you're doing elemental magic. Could've expected that, since you're doing literally any sort of magic and all that. Still, do it with arcane magic or let it be, as one could say."

"I really don't get ponies talking down on others for using a certain school of magic." To break the idleness, Twilight conjured six small orbs, each carrying one school's preferred element, and swirled them in a circle with a hoof. "It's all magic at the core, isn't it?"

"I used to be good friends with a born fire mage." Suddenly no longer comfortable, Midnight rose into a sitting position. "Then her psycho coltfriend happened to give her an unfortunate ending. What is it with pegasi and killing ponies I like. Anyhow, using her own words, she always liked to say that elemental mages are twatheads who can't grasp the higher arts of magic. Ah, Canterlot accent, isn't it wonderful. Makes me wonder why neither of us has it. Maybe there's some secret cave under the city where they feed exclusively on biscuits. Who would know."

When the others tired of the water, it turned out to be a wonderful day for a picnic, especially since Pinkie Pie had somehow smuggled in a mountain of sweets and ice cream impressive even to Midnight. At the start, everypony, especially Twilight, had held their restraints, but soon demonstrated why they were all about Midnight's weight.

Our intervention is needed! Would you kindly do what you can?

While Midnight was still struggling to ignore the latest cryptic message, a barely audible splash, paired with a short call, disturbed the peace. Somehow, Spike had snuck off back into the water and taken the opportunity to sink. First to react, Midnight lifted at the space where she'd just seen him go under.

Our glory has taken hold.

He was much heavier than expected, but she could raise the strength necessary with only a thought of the power she had been promised, as well as the two other levitation spells which came to her aid. With their combined strength, they lifted him back on land, right in the middle between everypony. "What were you thinking?" snapped Twilight as soon as he blinked up at her. "At least tell somepony if you're gonna sink!"

"But, I..." His stutters were going the exact opposite of the way to calm a protective mare. Thus, Midnight forced him quiet under the cover of feeling his pulse.

"Don't try, squirt." Before Twilight could continue, she interrupted, "Thirty breaths, forty pulse. If it's any better to you, everything's normal with him. At least by pony standards. He just got a scare. Alright, continue chewing out."

"So be it. You'll come back to the library today. Maybe we'll talk more about this there." Twilight turned and strode back towards Ponyville.

Chapter 79

"Welcome to the Animus, Master Templar," spoke a voice, distant, yet right in her ear. She'd never get used to it, even with her experience on disembodied voices. Something was different about this one. It was cold as a spirit that had never lived, yet could just as well be somepony next to her.

Ah, your heritage. Is it not wonderful. I think I've dug out something interesting today. Let me know what you think about her.

Wait, one question. Exactly how does this differ from the tech we already have? How does this even work without an actual animus?

Those were two. Such a machine is nothing other than a workaround for nonicorns. In the beginning, everything was through pure magic power. Then ponies forgot from where they came. You've only revived the old methods.

Wonderful. On another note, why does every transition within my mind have to end with me losing consciousness?

Safety. You don't want to experience a full-on Bleeding. With a mind unstable as yours, already this is technically too much, but where would be the fun in that. Since I know you aren't listening to me, have a taste of what it's like. I present, your entire ancestry, five generations back. You already carry all of them within your essence, but let's see how well you do when they're awoken.

Midnight had but a second to contemplate Noon's sentence until her mind was flooded with images, sounds and scenes, memories she knew were not her own. She sunk to the ground, holding her head, seconds from passing out.

Oh gosh, the headache, feels like my brain's bleeding... alright, gotta concentrate, Stellar can't... no, she can't. Just need to stick close to Burning... oh Luna, the pain... who is that? What century do we have? Make it stop!

And that is a Bleeding. First you stay as you enter another's body, then they stay as you go out. Then your little brain gets confused and can't separate the memories of Midnight from those of Fireball or Dusk. At best, you'll get stuck on the astral plane, living three lives at once while your body falls into a coma and dies. At worst, you make it out and bring them with you. That is when it gets unpleasant. You'd be them as much as you are yourself.

You know a lot for somepony who's just a projection.

I should know; I lived it. This is what results when the dream wakes whilst the dreamer goes into eternal sleep.

Before she could try to dig deeper, the white surrounding her rose and blocked her senses, until even her sense of self vanished and she faded into darkness.

Midnight soared through the sky, through and around a city both familiar and foreign. It was Canterlot, yet as she knew it only from stories and paintings. By the third pass, she seemed to have found her target and moved inwards into a mansion not entirely strange to her, into a body somehow still relatable.

"So this is to what we've come? A Sparkle mare fooling around with another dirty little mare?" She knew the pony staring at her new form; she was its mother, it told her that. She wasn't a bad mother, but bound by ancestral traditions, which combined with her strict attitude into a dangerous mix.

"You liked her before we started dating," Midnight said, though the words were not her own. She'd taken the shape of a white unicorn with long, red hair. It spoke for her.

"That's beside the point. Quantum, you know this isn't true. We can help you." She took her into a loose embrace, though it was stained with knowing exactly with what she wanted to help. "The Sparkle family hasn't had any filly foolers in centuries and you are not going to start it. Not with that commoner."

She didn't respond, knowing there was no point in it. Instead, she invocated a handy spell she had once discovered in a spellbook from ages past, which allowed her a few minutes' rest on the roof. They would find her, of course, they knew where she was. Nevertheless, a few minutes could be more than enough to enjoy the wonderful sunset over Canterlot, perhaps even to be visited by a certain pegasus.

I think that would be enough.

The world broke and shattered, falling into oblivion. Beyond it, only white remained. As she brushed the glimmers of a dying world off of her – normal again – body, the thoughts which were not her own fled her mind.

I wanted to see that story unfold! Send me back! Show me how they came together despite all odds!

Princess, that never happened. Quantum Sparkle and the other one broke up and lost contact after a while. Later in her life, she was forced into a political marriage with royalty, who was, ironically, another mare. They enjoyed themselves a little too much, and as both of them did love the other, so did their offspring turn to yet another mare and founded the mess of circles which is your family tree. Star did, anyhow. Their other child, seeing as she was still by the name Sparkle, continued the traditions of her ancestors, and thus the families drifted apart even though connected by a pair of sisters. Tragic, but informative. Useful, too, since now nobody complains when you make out with Sparkle even though she's something like your fifth degree cousin. To come back to the story, the pegasus found love elsewhere and made the tree that would, far in the future, bear Shimmer. I found that interesting.

"Ngh, Twilight!" moaned a meek voice, tearing Midnight out of her well-deserved sleep. She was about to ignore it and continue sleeping when her living hug dispenser jumped out of bed, dragging her along until her head came to rest against the floor.

Get up, you are needed!

"No, not good," pleaded another, much sweeter voice, burdened by a tone she had hoped never to hear. "Help me, him!"

After a short pause to get her senses back, she rose as fast as she could without exerting herself. On the other side of the room, Twilight was bent over the small basket which served as her dragon's resting place. He did not seem very well, her first few tests confirmed that. "Heart racing, boiling hot, yet missing colour... blood vessels must've contracted, hard. He's definitely got something, Sparkle."

"Yes, but what? Can you help him?" She looked to be about ready to pounce Midnight if she wouldn't give out the information she wanted. He apparently meant more to her than Midnight had expected.

"I have no idea." She felt the storm coming ahead of time, so she pressed a hoof onto Twilight's lips to silence her, then wrapped the same leg around her neck. "Hear me out. I can't do anything for him, because I'm a pony nurse, for ponies. Without knowing what it is, I can't treat him and any spell in my arsenal would only make it worse. There are ponies in Canterlot who can help him, I promise. You just need to get him there, as fast as possible. Which might be a slight problem since it's way out of range for a teleport, even for you. Don't even try, I won't let you. If the flying taxi you got out of Canterlot goes two ways, now would be a good time to say it."

"Yeah, that's– gotta do that." She dashed downstairs and returned seconds later, quill already racing across a floating piece of parchment as she ran. Just as soon, she tossed it aside. It'd leave a nasty ink stain on the bed, but that was besides importance at the moment. She rolled and wrapped the scroll, then murmured to Spike, as if scared that noise could worsen his condition, "There. Can you send that?"

He didn't respond other than through the tiny flame that erupted upwards and consumed the scroll. "What a handy little trick. I bet I could've used that before. I know this might sound harsh, but look on the bright side. It's not like any other thing which I'd recognise, so it probably won't transmit to ponies. This isn't helping, is it. Oh no." One rapid spell brought her down to fetch a certain bowl, another returned her to the bedroom. Just as she arrived, Spike already made good use of it. Above the former contents of a dragon's stomach, a scroll materialised, saved from an untimely demise by quick spellcasting. It was Midnight's magic that took it as Twilight was occupied adding hot tears to the contents of the bowl, a fact which she only realised after reading the scroll. "Help is coming. Hold out. That's what it says." Not knowing what else to do, she wrapped herself around Twilight's neck and whispered, "He'll be fine, trust me. As long as you have the strength to beat this, he does."

The flow ceased somewhat. With a bit of magic cleaning them, Midnight was once again allowed another glance at those amazing crystal orbs. "You're right. I'm just unsure what to do, so afraid..." Pure despair flickered in her eyes before they turned away. "I don't want to lose him."

"Yes, I know that sting. Is there really a difference between losing a son you didn't raise and a mother you didn't know? You'll get over those fears, I know it. Might be a longer stay, you probably want to pack a few things." Midnight released her for a moment of introspection, after which she was already bent over the basket again. "Or I could do it. Don't give in to your fears, Sparkle, as much as it might seem to ease the pain. I'll be quick. Keep fighting."

Chaining one spell to another, Midnight flashed through the house, collecting the necessities for a brief stay at Canterlot. With just what she'd already seen from her relationship with the princess, together with that she was from Canterlot in the first place, Twilight was unlikely to need much, Midnight figured. Thus, the bag was barely filled when she returned. Twilight had calmed down a little in the meantime, though she was still whispering pleas over her tiny assistant and only looked up when Midnight stepped close. "That's not much," she said once her voice had stabilised, peeking inside the pack.

"It'll be enough for you." Midnight took and washed the bowl. Somepony had to, after all.

"You won't be coming?" Twilight's expression was unreadable. It held the glimmer of hope for a misunderstanding, the slate of silent agreement, and the shards of bitter realisation, all at once, none stronger than the other.

Midnight couldn't bear any of them staring down on her and turned back to the bowl. "No, I don't think I will. Not because I hate him or anything, even though that wouldn't be entirely false. But I'm on shift today, can't leave. Besides, one pony is enough, doesn't need both of us." With the bowl cleaner than it had been before, she had no more excuse for avoiding Twilight's gaze. It wasn't angry or judgmental, just plain, cold curious, and it burned her insides so much that she wished Twilight was yelling at her. "Unless you want me to come along. But think it through, please. If you remember from our time in Canterlot, I used to live two minutes away from the hospital. It'd be near unavoidable for my father to find out what's going on, especially since I would almost have to stay with him. He'd insist on coming along, where you would already be by the bedside. What I'm going at is that he doesn't really know about you, and I'd prefer that it stays that way."

Twilight didn't respond. She just stared at her, her eyes occasionally flinching a hair's width. As the seconds stretched into eternity, Midnight wished only for an end. She was about to give in when Twilight's lips parted at long last and let out, "So be it. I understand. You've got your duties as I've got mine." There was a heavy impact outside. "They're here." She took Spike onto her back and led her outside. Once on the back of the pegasus carriage that had awaited them, she continued, "Tell the others where I am." They came together one last time, a single kiss to last them over the coming time of separation. "I'll let you know how things stand as soon as I can. Don't go getting yourself killed."

Chapter 80

Isn't it nice that your world and the Magic Flow just so happen to converge both at your new home and at your workplace, allowing you to use it for fast travel instead of having to cast a teleportation spell, even though that would be subjectively faster? Why does time even stand still relative to your world while you're within the Flow, since you certainly didn't learn enough to control it? Does time truly stand still or does it only run as fast as a teleportation spell would take you? If it does, what if you were to spend a lifetime within the Flow? Would you not age, or does your body follow the rules of whence it came? If it does not, then why can you still move and do other stuff that living beings do which is indirectly linked to ageing? Perhaps you are only moving your energy projection by will, but then again, that also needs brain activity, so you'd need some sort of throughput nonetheless.

Wonderful questions, none of which will be answered. Coming to think of it, can I shape it like that? Of course I can. Obey, your princess demands it!

Additional rock flew in out of nowhere, piecing together around her. With a flash of light, the breaking points mended and the scenery united itself into trees, clouds, houses, cloud houses, clouds shaped like trees, and even a single tree house. She could only give it the shape of Ponyville, not its looks, but it still felt a bit more like home. Blobs of energy walked the newly formed streets, each signifying a pony in its wake in the real world. Midnight gave herself an imaginary pat on the back for her mastery of the Magic Flow and continued on her way to the clinic.

Impressive. You do not ask for points of merging, you make both worlds as one. A feat of strength, or naivety. Oh look, it comes to meet you!

A tiny creature approached Midnight, pausing on every third step as if shy to advance further. She'd seen it before, its hospitable expression, its wide, glowing eyes; It was the same as she'd seen in the glade and on Lorwyn. "Hey there, little one," said she once it was close enough. It didn't respond, it only stood and stared up at her. "Of course. The one denizen I get to question is a mute. Guess what, tiny, you're not. Now talk to me. Got anything interesting to tell me?"

"Goddess gave me back my voice!" it squeaked, running to keep pace with her. "What is it that she asks in return?"

Hey! Stop mistreating your subjects and get to the task, would you kindly?

If they didn't want to be shoved, it shouldn't be so much fun to do it. Anyhow.

She picked up the small creature in her magic and set it down on her back as she took flight over the street valleys of Ponyville. "Gods and kings don't exist. You all are to call me princess at best. As I know this place, anything I tell you, all of your kind will know, right? Great. Find Sparkle at the place they call Canterlot. Make sure she is safe and continues on her path. Got that?"

"So be it," it said in a voice suddenly much deeper than it should be able to produce, then faded into pure energy.

The world of twilight wasn't always like that, you know. It adapts to the princess which takes reign, even if she happens to be a piece of insanity tied together with string. Still, nice fellows, aren't they?

I'm not sure I like their hive mind. Or them being made entirely of energy. Speaking of which, why haven't you taken form yet? Why don't you have my wings when you do?

Ascended form is surprisingly common here. As to the other questions, laziness, and because they aren't mine. I may take your form as you appear to the untrained eye, but there is only one princess. At a time, anyhow.

You've never had a problem with altering yourself.

Am I a halfbred bug? There is more to royalty than wings, and they award more than flight. Speaking of which, we've arrived.

The shadow she'd been casting vanished as she stepped through the door, unable to prove itself within reality, where the true sun was in front of her.

Looks to be a calm morning. At least I'll be able to get dressed before the shift begins. I feel like there might be better uses for having access to any and all information around me... but I can't seem to think of one. Hey there, Nurse.

Destiny? The greater good? Something? Princess, you're holding an entire world inside of you. All that is needed is the will to release that which was taken. Speaking of releasing, thinking what you're saying won't do anything, you know that, right?

I just noticed that myself. On that note, I really should get help, considering I'm talking to myself more often than to anypony else, and my self even responds. It's been a few months now, and you still haven't made it clear what or who you are.

I am where I am needed, and needed where I am. Once you meet the glory of ascendancy, affairs such as your past life and whether you've had one stop concerning you. You should try it sometimes. The Border of Reality isn't a bad place to hang out while you try to figure out who you are, so long as nopony has any greater plans for you then. Know only that you need me; I'm keeping your fragmented self together as good as I can.

The insanity that you caused in the first place, which is now fixed with no thanks to you.

Oh, really. Well, I suppose now that it's fixed, you don't have any more problems with hallucinations, spontaneous, perhaps imagined, pains, or actions beyond your control. Do you?

Blood came leaking out of the walls and flooded the main hall. Midnight did her best to push on through it, though her splitting headache wasn't making things any easier. Fortunately, the liquid was held up at the door frame as though contained by an invisible field that yet allowed her to pass.

Oh, just on a side note, I do not count as hallucinations. I'm just a little something which can overlap into your common illusion thanks to you anchoring it to reality. You are broken, little princess, and it is only through my favour that you are even still alive. Too bad that I don't have a body, else I'd enjoy my gifts myself. Hell, mind sharing yours?

You got a point?

Given how reckless you've been with your power, I want to know if you regret anything.

Hoof already on the door to the next patient's room, Midnight paused to think about her answer. Ruby's room was just to her left, it'd be next on her tour.

Sure. Wish I'd been less patient, wish I hadn't listened. At least I could have kept out of the Order's business, thought that she'd died innocent. Maybe it'd be easier to let her rest. Maybe none of this would have happened, and I would be just another normal unicorn. Drugged to blur out the voices in her head, doing grunt work because she's too irresponsible to handle any living beings, married to a decoy stallion out of fear of dying alone, two or three foals that the nanny brings up so that she can't hurt them.

Exiting the room, Midnight discovered a drop of liquid in the corner of her eye. She wished it away and forced a normal expression onto herself as she entered Ruby Pinch's room.

Destiny never dies, only moves. You'd still find love in the same unicorn as now, still follow her here, still hold the same talents. Perhaps your choice how to use them would have been different. Perhaps another pony would have taken flight to follow you instead. But as time shifts and destinies interchange, even variables remain constant if only the scope is small enough. Do you remember knowing any ponies with special ills, such as blindness perhaps?

"Hey there, Ruby. How is everything going?" Midnight set the medication down on the bedside table, then took her usual position on the opposite side. For once, Ruby took them without hesitation. "There you go. More time for enjoying ourselves, right?"

Not that any would come to my mind. Unless you count Ruby, or stuff like broken legs.

Not really, either of them. Besides, as if one leg more or less was any hindrance for your sort.

You do realise that it'd be plenty enough, simply from the pain itself? I think I had that once, I walked silly three months after!

Beside the point. Fascinating, either way.

With her conscious focus back in reality, Midnight awoke to find her neck occupied by a filly yet again. She wasn't sure how she'd gotten to this point, but the odds of somepony finding her were low as ever, so she could safely give in to the bit of admiration which she did feel. Nopony spoke for long seconds as they enjoyed each other's company, nothing more or less.

That was quick. Are we already back at the library?

You didn't spend eight hours on shift like I did.

Okay, maybe I slept through most of them. Nevertheless, eight hours where you just sit around, complaining about how nopony but you knows her craft and sometimes waving your magic horn to bring across the boxed gods on any harm that could occur. Did I miss anything?

You forgot getting paid way too much for doing nothing because apparently medicine is difficult.

The door just rang.

Indeed it did. Which is interesting since this tree doesn't have any more electronics than light and the kitchen. Huh, I've lived here for too long; I stopped caring about the stuff that Pinkie does.

A tiny spell let in Pinkie Pie without even forcing Midnight to look up from her lecture. When she finally did, the sight would certainly have made her drop out of her seat if she hadn't been lying and already expecting such a thing. "I assume there's a reason you come to our house this late at... afternoon, actually. I really need to get out more, don't I."

Pinkie giggled, much like Twilight would, but also much more annoying in tone. Perhaps the firearm strapped to her back had something to do with it, too. Midnight had decided she was officially no longer interested in any of her affairs. "Silly you, how could you mistake the times like that, unless there's a reason why you do, like getting caught in a time rift or having a super-duper long day, if that's true then I'm sorry for laughing about your silliness, but you gotta laugh off all mistakes, right?" She paused, but didn't seem to take a breath in the time, instead just waiting to continue. "Anyway. I finally perfected my party bazooka, which is like the party cannon except easier to carry if you only need a small party, and I wanted to ask Twilight if she wants to come watch the first test. But now she isn't here and only you are."

"Sharp as a stone that's been in a river for a thousand years, aren't you. Well, how oddly convenient that you'd show up, right now, right here, inviting to an event that brings all of Sparkle's other friends together." Midnight's eyes lost themselves out through the open door. Pinkie tried to follow, but clearly failed to see what Midnight spotted hovering over the horizon. "Anyhow. Her pet assistant dragon thingy fell ill and she brought him to Canterlot for treatment. She might be gone for a while. Make sure to tell everypony the bad news while you're there!"

Pinkie's ears dropped the shortest distance possible, together with her other features. The weapon on her back shifted and dribbled a few scraps of confetti. "Uh, okay. Guess she can't be there then. But I really wanted her to watch... Maybe we can gather it up and send it per mail..."

"I'm sure you'll find a way." She lead Pinkie outside as fast as possible without making it apparent that she only wanted her to be gone. "No, don't bother with me, I'm terrible at parties. Have fun amongst yourselves!"

Great, at least they shouldn't bother me today. Now what?

You still have a novel to finish. I heard Fifty-Two Tones of White: The Official Sequel Book really gets it on as the plot continues.

Why does she even have this in her library? Okay, it wasn't technically in her library as much as under her nightstand. But even the bit of her essence that remains with it interfered with my teleportation, so it's her fault that I found it.

I'm certain that she'll find that to be a fair point.

Chapter 81

Thus ends the third week of her having left you, and the fourth dawns.

Since when do weeks begin on Tuesdays?

They do if you aren't a new age pony. And yet no word from Sparky. I wonder if she remembers you're even there. Perhaps she found somepony else, perhaps one with actual talent to cure the one she truly loves. One closer to that about which she cares, away from the diversions of Ponyville.

Gah. She is busy doing other stuff, I know it. She would never betray me. Couldn't. Gosh, I feel terrible.

On hoof, Midnight would certainly have left an ugly stain on the sheets. However, with the help of teleportation magic, she managed to reach the downstairs toilet just in time before her stomach emptied, earlier even than expected. Apparently, it did not take kindly to magic when already upset. She flushed away the business she'd made and rose to clean the rest of it out of her mouth.

That was entirely unrelated and only due to me finding my old candy stash last night. Wonderful, it's that time, because what else could be off. Sparkle's gone, everypony at work is acting up, nopony else to talk to.

I'm always there.

And that. I need some coffee. It's too early to cast anything, not to mention go on shift. I hate this talent.

There is an entire empire to be claimed.

Would you kindly shut it already? You're not helping. Alright, focus. We'll just keep going like we did the last weeks. However that was. I am seriously losing my mind right about now.

I only represent what is already present within you. What is there yet to lose, anyhow.

Midnight prepared the kettle, but then decided it'd be faster and easier to heat a single cup's content through magic. The drink helped to clear her mind, albeit barely. At least the headache left off. After another powerful chug, she gagged and threw the rest into the sink. She could not be bothered to finish it, nor to prepare anything more. She had to already be on the way, even with her talents in mind.

Once her spell had carried her into the clinic's back room, Nurse Redheart was quick to catch her expression. "So, that's how you're running again? I'd expected you to cheer up, now that you have your sweetheart." She helped Midnight get dressed faster than she could do it by herself, an impressive feat considering she was only an earth pony. "If you're going to keep sulking, I'm afraid I may have to hug you. Don't leg things get too far."

"Save it, Nurse." Knowing there were no emergencies to treat, Midnight took her usual seat and limped back in it until her eyes met the ceiling. "I'm getting enough of those elsewhere. Not as many nowadays, though. Not now that she's gone. Maybe Ruby can do the impossible. She's still kicking, right?"

She put something down on her desk. By the sounds of it, it was most likely the new schedule. "Remember who's standing behind you. You are not alone in this, no matter what crisis you think to exist." She shut the door behind her as she exited the room, leaving Midnight to herself.

Yeah, well, who is there. Ruby. End of list.

How tragic that she's left you, despite all this. Knowing what your sort can do if isolated. Perhaps she doesn't yet, though she surely will.

Sigh. Anyhow. Our work never ends. Might as well get to it.

Morale is half the battle. As is knowledge, preparation, and the actual battle. Ponies who write such passages have something about them, don't they.

One of the doors was cracked open, allowing a gentle voice to escape. At least Midnight would be able to skip right to the one patient about whom she cared. It was still early in the day, so Ruby was asleep when she entered the room. If nothing else, she was very convincing at pretending to do so. Midnight made sure to let her rest for as long as possible before she awoke her with the care of a sister and the intrusiveness of a nurse. "Good morning, squirt. A great day's ahead for both of us, I can feel it." Ruby just blinked at her, sleep still prevalent in her eyes. "And other such stuff. Look, breakfast's here. So you can eat and stuff. Things are not by far going well enough for me to do this right now. Mind if I stick around?"

Ruby just shook her head, so Midnight took a seat at the small table. Once she had regained some of her senses, Ruby Pinch got out of bed and joined her there. As soon as she'd sat down, sleep overtook her again, or at least it appeared to. Meanwhile, however, a lime aura of energy had made its way onto the tray, pouring juice into a mug.

"At least that's something positive for the day, and another point for those saying that it depends on the eye colour," said Midnight, tracing the energy to its point of origin at Ruby's horn. It wasn't glowing with as much power as a mature unicorn's would, but it was a start. "Even though I'm pretty much the living proof against it. Not to mention that I of all should know that that's bogus. Anyhow." She caught Ruby's eye, which had opened up to the world and all its wonderful horrors to behold. "Now that you're receiving, congrats on your first actual spell."

"Huh?" It took her another two seconds to realise what she was doing. When she did, her eyes tore fully open and the spell broke. Fortunately, Midnight had expected it and caught everything in her own magic to prevent having to clean up afterwards. "Oh, wow, I didn't even mean to... I was just thinking about doing it by hoof, and it happened."

"Yes, many unicorns find the path to their power without noticing it at first. Coming to think of it, I can't remember how my first time went. Must have been ages ago, when I was below your age even." The drawings stuck up onto the walls were simple, but they were excellent targets to hold Midnight's view while her attention was within herself.

One dead, five injured. Okay, no dead, but two injured. You managed to burst the way free and make a mess so enormous you'd still be paying it off if it hadn't been attributed to a gas explosion, in a house that was never connected to the grid. What a lucky coincidence that the investigation failed exactly there. On that note, you might not know that you're boosting her, but she couldn't do this if you weren't around. You are the princess of all which is magic, after all. You are literally pulling the Flow closer to your world here, so she has a shorter way to go when calling for it. Well, and I suppose she is growing up after all.

Oh yes, I remember that time. That was fun. Just what is wrong with me...

Schizophrenia, hearing voices, imagining a second dimension, for a start. Coming to think of it, do you even have a medical degree? Whose idea was it to put you half in charge of all those ponies?

Ruby heaved and pushed and pulled, in the end managing to resummon that aura and making a spoon float in front of her face. "I'm really doing this, I'm doing magic." She looked up at Midnight, a spark hidden deep within her eyes, not visible, only sensible. "Guess I'm a proper unicorn now."

"Heh, yeah. We'll have to celebrate. Maybe there's something in the back that we can– No, of course there isn't. I suppose I could use my awesome skills in being somewhere and then somewhere else really fast to get to a bakery, if I had money here, which I don't. Besides, the Nurse would only yell at me if I did, plus I'd have to face that pony again. Or I suppose we could just pretend with what we have." With a short flare of magic, Midnight summoned a fountain of sparks atop the small bun that had yet gone untouched. "That's a really simple spell by the way, I'm sure you'll be able to do it yourself soon."

Ruby picked the bun up between her hooves. If she had attempted to use magic, she had hidden it well. "Yay, I–" She was cut off by a rude cough, followed by another.

"That's what you're gonna do, huh? Alright, this is no excuse to skip on treatment, I guess." Midnight pulled her in and began with the usual magic therapy.

Stop messing around, would you kindly do what you can?

On it.

Somehow, her magic didn't seem to have the same impact it usually had. She couldn't get Ruby to relax from tension, nor to stop coughing. "Urk, Midnight," she moaned off the top of her lungs.

With the newest hack, a series of red particles flew across the table. This was bad, it couldn't be happening, she couldn't allow it to. Midnight pushed as much energy as she could into her spell as she called, "No, no no no, don't do that. Stay with me, Ruby! Nurse!"

No matter how hard she tried, it didn't stop. One of Ruby's tiny hooves reached up to Midnight for support. However, it was interrupted as she heaved and threw more and more blood onto the table. Seconds later, the leg grasping her went limp. It was over, she couldn't save her any more. She was flooded with too much emotion to comprehend; Not knowing what else to do, she gave in to tears as a hope to relieve her pain. Just then, Nurse Redheart burst in through the door. "What's– Oh, no. This is what it looks like, isn't it." She rushed towards Ruby and inspected her, ignoring Midnight. "No pulse, neither breathing. Damn, why did it have to hit you."

"Alright, pull it together, follow protocol." Midnight managed to quell the flood for the time being. Her voice remained far from how she'd like it, though. "Name, Ruby Pinch. Time of death, ten twenty. Cause of death..." She looked down on the husk that had once been a filly. The blood blended all too well with the colour of her coat, mocking her with an illusion of integrity. "Uhm, death. I'm sorry, I really can't do this." She tried to leave, but was held back.

"She's your first, then?" The Nurse spoke only a few brief words, but they served to tell Midnight that she needed to stay, for herself if not for Ruby.

"Yeah, I– I still can't believe it. Such a young and promising life, wasted for the pleasure of a greater beyond. A greater behind, maybe."

She gave Midnight's back a few soft pats. "You hope that it'll be some old pony who's better off that way anyhow, but when it happens, it's always a filly." She sighed, only hinting at a fragment of the same pain Midnight was feeling. "The best we can do is move on past them."

"I'm not sure I can." Midnight broke free and headed out of the room, though she stopped at the door. "A lot to think about. Besides, I'd prefer not to be around here stained in blood when the guards show up for the record."

"Take your time off, I won't stop you." She released Ruby, but didn't rise. "Just remember who's still behind you."

Midnight ran, stopped, kept going. Heavy rain set in, mocking her with what she was trying to hold in. She took refuge from it under a tree. She had to have wandered into an orchard or forest. She couldn't tell which way she'd gone or how long she'd been walking, not with as much on her mind as there had been, nor did she really care. The wind animated the trees around her, gave them a voice to express themselves. It wasn't just random noise put together through the leaves. It was a whisper from a world beyond, telling her beautiful lies, beckoning for her. She knew she agreed, it was time to follow them. If there were any ponies near her, they could only see a flash as her magic took her where she needed to go.

"So, we've come to this, have we." Noon circled around her, ignoring that there was no ground below her half the time. "Not like you'd dare to do it anyway. You've been sitting here for the last hours, why should the next few be any different."

The rain stuck Midnight's mane to her face and in front of her eyes, but she'd never seen with any more clarity. "I'm gonna end this my way. Nopony wants me here. Everything I love dies. Even my own mind is turned against me. So you know what? I won't be taking it any more, starting now."

She leaned forward off the edge of the library's roof, but was interrupted as Noon called, "Stop, would you kindly? Back where I can be sure you won't fall off, would you kindly?" She climbed back onto her hooves without even noticing at first. Noon came face to face with her. "Would you kindly. Powerful words. Familiar words? Tell me, princess, has a mare decided to end herself, or is a vessel obeying orders to advance a plan beyond its imagination? Did Twilight's pet dragon fall ill or was he infected with an ill beyond this world? Did Ruby fall on her own, or was she murdered? Put down by something less than a mare, something that lives only for the orders bestowed upon it? Run, would you kindly?" Midnight's legs began racing around the small platform, guided by invisible strings above her will. "You truly are nothing but a slave. Stop, would you kindly? Would you kindly..."

"Kill!" yelled Midnight before Noon had any chance to continue. It was a silly thought, but the only chance she had. When she was next aware, she was no longer on the platform. She was flying.

Impact had come at last. She'd been in the air for an eternity. Perhaps her heart had stopped once or twice on the way down. It didn't matter either way. She could already feel herself hanging on by just a thread. The pain was overwhelming, but ultimately just a sacrifice to pave the way. Though her vision was blurred, she could make out movement in front of her, tiny sprites of energy uniting into a greater whole. Daylight formed before her. Somehow, she gathered the strength to move a leg and grasp her; She was solid, no more illusion than Midnight herself. "Mother," she whispered. "Is it over? Your legacy, that alone killed me?"

Daylight laid her leg back on the ground. She had to rest. "At long last." She walked around her, though her voice remained where it was, deep within Midnight's mind. "No princess rules forever, my child. Rest, your destiny awaits."

Midnight fell into darkness. It was over at last.

Chapter 82

"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.

Chapter 83

Where do you hide from the demon which is yourself?

Midnight waited for the light to stop blinding her, but had to accept the white as reality when it refused to wear off.

Ugh, dammit, I'm still in the Animus?

Safety. Your death did more than you could imagine. Your spirit was unfettered, and you can thank me for pulling you back over the brink. The problem is that now you're synchronised with reality, so a few ponies that don't belong here made it into your mind as well. So what you do is you take unfinished lives and crack them open. Then you live what is theirs until your relative has nothing left to show you. That is full synchronisation, and once it is done, your mind will know who is and isn't supposed to be in charge. The only problem is that you're connected to all planes of existence and, since you've embraced your gifts, just about everypony is your close relative.

Great, isn't it. Though, if we'll overcharge the fluxus and sync one world to another that way, there might be some reduction possible.

Uniting that which is one. Well thought. You still have an empire to live, though. How about that one? A filly with a predicament, from a world where you embraced who you are. She cannot take in what the light shows, though after what you taught her world, she has learned to see that which the light hides. Perhaps she'll teach you something about true sight, be it from your ancestry or future.

I'll have to, won't I.

Always with the bright attitude, aren't you. Introducing somepony who would be something around your very distant niece, Light of Dawn. Behave herself, will you?

"What do you think? Mind to have a look at it, Light?" A male voice, younger than a stallion's, older than a colt's, sounded to her right. As it finished, the sound of paper being pushed across a smooth surface moved towards her.

At first, Midnight was confused as to who was talking to her. However, as the memories of another pony flooded her mind, that question was answered to satisfaction and replaced with another. As she tried to inspect her surroundings, she came to the realisation that there were none in sight. "Sounds like a bit of paper. Oh, for the Aurora princess' sake, we've been friends for years now. Newsflash, buddy, I'm blind!" Her new body spoke without her influence; It felt like hearing a stranger from across the room.

Almost forgot to tell you. In this world, you were born a bit earlier and embraced your heritage. They came to know you as the princess of dawn, or the Aurora princess. Whatever level of hubris suits you better. They knew you once, anyhow. Apparently, taking a schizophrenic filly, killing her mother, and then giving her the power of a realm does not necessarily end well. You may have chosen ascendancy before due time and there may still be a smudge on Canterlot Castle from that day. Tragic. On the bright side, this world had already learned enough from you. Make sure to take notes so you will remember it in your world!

"Yeah, sorry. Guess I can read it out to you." Her senses adjusted, at least those which she still had did. She still could not pierce the darkness before her, but neither did she need to. She could sense the pegasus beside her, his scent of fire and rain as well as the impact he made on the waves beyond. "A-hem." She twitched from the unexpected sound. She had almost forgotten their conversation during the pause. "Roses are red, violets are b–"

"Okay, seriously now?" A foreign body spoke, but the words were Midnight's own. "How about this: Roses are red, that much is true, but violets are purple, dammit, not blue!" She leaned backwards for effect. Only when she felt the sense of weight leave her did she realise that she'd misjudged the distance she could go. Before she could fall however, a wing on her back caught her. Her new body had to be lighter – or younger – than she'd expected. "Thanks. I've had insight into the way fillies think once or twice. Why would you even want to write poetry to the fillyfriend you already have?"

There was the rustling of feathers, together with a note of wind caressing her face. His wings had just done one or two flaps. "Figured she'd like it since she's a poet herself. Besides, one sort of text is like another to a decent writer, isn't it?"

"There's still the question of whether you are that, dear IV." The crinkling of paper, followed by a distant impact, told her he'd just balled up his draft and tossed it into the bin. She was certain it was for the better. "With your logic though, I might just want to start making out with Passion Fire myself, since one pony is as another, right?" Even though it'd break synchronisation with her other life, Midnight couldn't suppress a light chuckle at her words.

"Maybe you'll first want to bring back somepony yourself before you start talking that."

"As soon as somepony catches my eye. Oh, are my puns not clever." She rose and turned to where she remembered the door to be. "If you'll excuse me, I'll go hurl myself off the roof now. I'm kidding, but shouldn't Passion be somewhere around you?"

Hey, I like her. Does she exist in my Equestria?

Not as you see her here. Hurr hurr, see. Excuse me, I'll go destroy myself now.

For a second or two, static noise filled Midnight's mind. When it wore off, she could just catch him saying, "She should be in her room, doing girl stuff. Go to her, I won't stop you. I know how much you like her."

She set a hoof on his shoulder, which she even hit on her third attempt. "It's not that I'd be playing favorites with you or anything. More like that she knows I'm sensitive towards magic and actually can use it to help me." She stepped back and opened the door. "Nothing against you, but the amount of energy you can focus is pretty limited as a birdie, isn't it?"

When she was already halfway out, a voice was thrown after her, "You know that pegasi don't like being called that, right?"

A filly's laugh accompanied her as she walked down the hallway, stopping every now and again to count the doors beside her. At the fourth, she turned and pushed it open. She knew it was the right one, judging by the disturbances in the Magic Flow the unicorn inside made as well as the embrace she received moments after stepping inside. "Hey there, kid. Got tired of him?" She recognised her best friend's voice.

"Thinking about you." Midnight felt Passion's energy signature shift. Somehow, it seemed to become redder, however that was possible with something that was only a notion in the first place. "And writing bad poetry. Novellists, you know them. Always expecting that things have reason and logic. He's trying, I guess. At least he doesn't call me a kid."

"He's pretty nice if you know him closely." A chair appeared in her world, lit with energy as bright as she imagined the sun, allowing her to sit down on it on the first attempt. "Besides, as long as I get to hoofguide you through the world, you're my little filly, even if there are only three months between us."

"Yeah, I'm sure he is. Just not my type, like everypony else. Maybe that's why we're friends, so that I won't steal him from you." She stared at Passion Fire, finding herself only a few feet off when her horn flared up to animate the quill. As it scratched across the paper, images raced into her mind. She saw Passion's long, fiery mane, her sleek horn bringing forth energy of the same majestic golden colour that covered the rest of her body. It wasn't her imagination, a picture built on descriptions of her, she knew the image, she'd seen it.

Wait, I remember this... those are my memories. What is playing here?

Destiny lies dreaming, not dead. One pony loses her mother, the other her eyesight. One arises to the highest, the other raises the highest in others' hearts. In the end, what separates them? Are they not the same coin from another perspective? As you chose to follow another destiny, so did she take one which isn't hers in your world - one that is yours. That will have been enough. If you want more information, you have to learn to ask the right questions. Program terminated.

White overtook her, blurred out every sound, every sight, and every sense of self, then every memory that she'd ever been anything but nothing. Midnight fell. As the endless void consumed every bit of her body, she became herself.

When Midnight awoke, the light above her took her sight. She had long since learnt to see without conventional methods, of course. If nothing else, her adventure as Light of Dawn had taught her the importance of her skills. She knew herself to be alone in her room, with adjacent chambers holding smaller motes of energy to represent the ponies within them. The magical sun floated just above the horizon, coating the world as it was in its dim light. Fragments of power still lingered in the room next to hers, that which had been Ruby's, lofted by a surreal updraft. There was hardly any sight into the distance as she imagined there to be, but she could sense many small signatures off towards Ponyville, some stronger, some weaker.

Just as Midnight decided to go back to sleep, an essence entered the island that she projected around the clinic. A few seconds later, that pony reached her door, forcing Midnight to meet her in the illusion of reality. Fluttershy looked awful; Long shadows beneath her eyes betrayed her missing the last night's sleep, as did her ruffled mane and feathers. "Hi, they told me you woke up, thought I'd come check up on you."

"This is your fault, you know." With the power left within her, Midnight managed to raise an accusing hoof at Fluttershy as she took a seat without being invited. "Your fault for taking my mother. For stealing from me the life I could have had. For making me into the psychic wreck I am today, susceptible to the slightest pushover, a worse monster than you without even realising it. You know everything about me, don't you. I never asked, do you regret what you did? For what evil you have become, if not for me?" Fluttershy's head twitched as if for a gesture, but Midnight couldn't make it which way it meant to go. "Don't want to hear it. I don't even have the strength for that right now." Midnight laid back, at least as far as the constraints allowed. "So, here you are. Is it as a delayed apology for ponicide? A mission to spy on me?" Fluttershy tried to hide any reactions, but she shrank a fair deal in her seat during the act. "Or is it plain compassion? They do call you literally the kindest pony in Equestria, after all."

"Uh... I brought you some flowers, if you like them." She dug into her bag, re-emerging with a bundle of buttercups between her teeth. Using her free hooves and wings, she also pulled out a small vase and, with some effort that Midnight wanted to leave to her, managed to set the flowers into it and onto her stand.

"Seriously now? I've been in med school longer than you've been in the air, remember? I know that those are poisonous, missy." An invisible breeze of energy brought forth by Midnight swirled up the flowers, leaving them in a neat spiral. "Then again, only savages eat flowers, and so do you know that. Maybe they are sort of pretty."

"So you're basically proposing to me with that compliment?" Fluttershy looked up at her with a genuine smile, a gesture she found herself forced to replicate. "I knew I'd get through to you."

"Miss Fluttershy, are you trying to get my beloved for yourself?"

Chapter 84

No, go away, don't force me to live!

"I'll just leave you two alone." Fluttershy dashed out through the door, slamming it shut behind her.

There she was. Twilight stood at the door, not moving, not speaking, just looking at her, no emotion within her eyes. After what seemed like hours, she broke the silence. "So, I leave you alone for a few days and this results?" Her voice was equally empty, of accusation and joy alike. "I'm sorry, Midnight. I should have known better. But when he fell sick, I was blinded away from who really needs me."

A few days? About what is she talking? Hasn't it been... no, it hasn't. She left two days ago. I remember what I remember. Empty memories, broken as the carrier knows they do not exist. Still, I murdered her... no, it wasn't me, she made me...

"Go away." Midnight retreated under the covers as far as that was possible. "I'm a monster. I don't deserve you. I don't even deserve to live. It was a mistake that I survived this far. Go and find somepony worthy of your–" She was interrupted as two sets of lips met in a kiss both all that she remembered to value and entirely novel.

"She wasn't your fault," said Twilight once they had drifted apart after another eternity had passed. "You weren't in control of yourself. This is nopony's fault." Midnight tried to argue, but was silenced. "Oh, don't tell me you didn't expect me to know about this. Back at Canterlot, I did a little digging. Talking with my soon-to-be father, looking through past reports." Twilight waved a hoof as though she was talking about the weather. "You know, normal things. You'd be surprised how many things Princess Celestia's name will get you into. The rest you told me yourself." A devilish grin on her face revealed a flash of light in the courner of her mouth. At last she showed her true emotions, though Midnight wasn't sure if she liked that better.

"Of course. Class three telepathy spell, cast with only heart energy to prevent visible signs. Why did I ever think you wouldn't be able to do that." She found herself forced to match Twilight's expression, combined with a small chuckle. "Am I not supposed to be the princess of magic here?" Guilt came back to her mind, and she could not help but succumb to it. "Still I've killed a filly, endangered another, who knows what else I might do." The first boiling hot tear made its way down her cheek. "I can't even trust my own mind any more. How can I know I won't hurt any others? I'm a monster, Twilight. I don't deserve to be treated as anything else."

Something grasped her hoof, making her twitch even though she already knew what it was. "You are a pony, Midnight, a pony with a slight problem. Sometimes your depression overwhelms you and poof goes your reason, so what? We'll make sure that never happens again, that you're never left alone. Simply that you live to this day with what you were forced to witness is a testament that you're stronger than any of us." A warm breeze of magic wiped her face dry. "We can work through all of this, together."

"You're right, I – we can do this." Midnight spoke without thinking, though she found no need to change her statement. "Aside from what should have killed me, how's Equestria doing? Your dragon will pull through, right? Can't stand the thought of killing another so soon. Ruby, what have I done..."

"Spike will come back in a few weeks." From one moment to the next, Twilight's reassuring tone had evaporated as she knew it was no longer needed. "Extraplanar diseases are tricky, but he'll be fine. As for Ruby, did she really ever get any visitors besides you? It's a tragedy, but we don't have to make it anything more than it already is." She left the bedside and walked over to the window. "Perhaps the princess can push a few levers if there should turn up any evidence that points towards you, hmm? Nopony has to know what really happened."

"Wow. Hadn't expected you to have such a ruthless side, Sparkle. Still." Midnight wiggled her legs, helping out with magic where necessary. "I'll be out for ages, a few weeks perhaps with rigorous magic therapy. I suppose at least we'll be able to unite the family of mother, mother, and dragon pet when both of us come home at the same time."

"Yeah, well, about that." Twilight turned around and swished her hoof across the floor too fast to track. A few seconds later, shimmering blue writing appeared in the same place. "We'll see if I can't take you home today. Would you mind to show me your signature spell, the one you call Mend of course?" Out of sheer curiosity, Midnight obliged, casting the spell with no specific target in mind. Once she broke it, the writing before Twilight's hooves grew considerably in size. It seemed to have grown on its own, while also increasing its energy output. "Wonderful. What do we have here." Twilight traced the razor-thin lines with a hoof, mumbling below coherence as she did. "No Focus, instead Harmony binds the whole spell. You really are the princess of the Magic Flow, this spell is incredible. Given enough power and the right focus – that being a concentration of efforts, not a rune – you could affect entire empires with the energy this can bind. Well, to work." She lowered her head, eyes shut in concentration.

Midnight could sense a transfer of energy through the room as the runes on the floor glowed always brighter than before. "Sparkle, you don't know what you're doing! We aren't talking about light cuts or bruises here, those are mashed legs! Mend wasn't made to heal those, the power required could kill even healthy ponies! Stop it!"

She didn't listen; Before long, Twilight's horn carried the same aqua glow that usually encompassed Midnight's. Without binding the spell to a target, Twilight breathed through, basking in its power. "And you cast this like it is just telekinesis. It is your spell, I suppose. I'm sorry Midnight, but I'm not taking any arguments right now." The glow expanded around Midnight's legs. The pain lessened by the second that it was there, but she knew it could not stay. However, it was also quite unlikely that she'd be able to talk Twilight out of her determination; In that moment, she regret never studying any counterspells. Blood cleaned off and wounds closed as Twilight cast, the pure power of the spell putting visible strain on her as well. "You'll be fine... in just a moment."

As Twilight's magic worked, Midnight's consciousness lightened. Fighting against stars impeding her vision, she managed to whisper, "Oh gosh, it's happening. Stop it, now!"

Your grip on this world weakens and the void beckons. Is it not a wonderful siren?

"I'm taking you home if I have to carry you!" The strain on Midnight's soul lifted from one second to the next. At first she'd expected Twilight to have dismissed the spell, until she looked down and found her, teeth clenched and leaking energy which swirled on invisible currents before merging with Midnight.

Midnight was stunned. Perhaps it was another spell that forced her to watch without action as Twilight poured herself into the spell, perhaps it was pure disbelief. About two eons later, the energy faded at long last, though Twilight collapsed along with it. Midnight leapt out of bed with power that was not her own, trying to catch Twilight as she fell, but ultimately pouncing her to the ground. The spell had taken a visible toll, robbing her of almost all colour. Yet, as their bodies collided, Midnight could feel her heart, faint but persistent, beating in perfect synchronism with her own. "You idiot!" shrieked Midnight, trying and failing to hold back tears. "You have no idea of what will kill you, and then you even pull through that! You absolute idiot." She could only barely suppress the urge to punish Twilight lying beneath her, instead silencing her in the gentlest of ways. It was more than physical contact or a declaration of love. It was a lifeline, linking both of them to stand or fall together. She climbed off of Twilight, keeping one hoof in contact to help her up. "You gonna be fine? No nausea or dizziness? You lost a good bit of blood there, and more than that. Believe me, you don't want to know how that sort of magic works. I have to check in with the Nurse, you stay here and rest. Don't try any funny stuff." She half guided, half forced Twilight onto a chair. "I'll be taking you home in a moment."

Chapter 85

Arise, sleeping princess.

Why should I. I suppose solace awaits outside, yet I am trapped here, within the atrocity that is my own mind. Why can't they just let me die. Can they not see the monster I am? Are they willing to hold on to me despite the greater good? Is it logic which drives them, or is it love? The love that denies me the only end I deserve, the only logical outcome?

Do you believe death is the end, Midnight?

If it isn't, there hasn't been anypony to tell us. For all intents and purposes, it is the end, taking us somewhere we can do no harm to this world any more. Then again...

She strode around the darkness, tiny platforms assembling under her hooves as she approached the edge. There were no features in the mist, nothing to be made out, nothing that she wouldn't want to hide from herself.

With what I've seen in the past weeks alone, how can I claim to know what or who is real any more? I should have died during that storm. Hell, I probably did, but not even death could stop something like me. Without reality, what does something as insignificant as death matter? The Midnight I once was, before you happened, seemed to have the answer. As for this Midnight, she doesn't have a clue.

Thank you.

Midnight awoke, lying in a bed that was not hers, pressing up against a pony she knew she didn't deserve. One quick spell took her out into the crisp air, onto the flower-filled balcony. She took and held a deep breath, then readied another spell that brought her down to the ground. Simply standing still took effort out of her, but she was nevertheless quick to be on her hooves and leaving the library behind.

So. Running away, that's your plan? She was right after all. You're spending your whole life avoiding hard decisions and not standing up to the consequences of those you do make.

I tried to stand to my judgement. They wouldn't let me. Besides, I'm on shift again and would like to walk through reality once in a while.

Shift starts in two hours. Fitting, then, that you're going in the wrong direction altogether. Unfortunately, this world does not bend to your will. I wonder whom you shall meet on your journey today. Perhaps an unexpected ally, another thought enemy, or two spirits of a life past. A life unlived? One that was taken by one you are not? Wobbly stuff. Like you will be if you don't look ahead and run into them.

Midnight raised her eyes up from her hooves. In front of her, Octavia and Vinyl Scratch were sitting at a restaurant's outer table. Upon noticing her, Vinyl offered her the coin she'd been flipping in her magic and asked, "Heads?"

"Or tails?" added Octavia, holding her head in boredom.

"Seriously now?" Midnight took the coin into her own magic. It was, by all traits, an ordinary bit. "This is how you welcome me after no contact for, what, a week, and my near death? A coinflip?"

"Heads?" said Vinyl, ignoring Midnight's laments and wearing her usual grin.

"Or tails?" Octavia lifted her head to face Midnight.

Heads won, wins, and will win.

"Hmm... tails." She flung the coin onto the table; It landed heads up.

"Told you." Vinyl magicked another line into a tally drawn into the ground beneath them. It showed a surprising lack of lines on one side.

"Mmh. So it is weighted. Interesting." When the waiter arrived with two dishes of salad, Octavia laid a small pile of coins onto her tray, amongst them the one Midnight had just tossed. "If only gold standard was still in effect. Do you suppose we've tortured her enough?"

"I never find that as satisfying as I'd imagined." Vinyl levitated a single leaf up to her face, apparently finding it good to consume. "Ah well, chin up, there's always next time."

"Twelve hours ago, I was half-dead lying in the hospital with three broken legs." Midnight stepped in closer and set a hoof onto the table. Faint lines could still be seen representing the scars that had healed only so long ago. "Where were you? Why did you leave me alone when everypony else did?"

"We were already there." Octavia also began her meal with an almost infuriating lack of care for who was around her. "Only to find you already departed. Why did you leave us?"

So far, you've used exactly zero teleportation spells mid-conversation. I'm disappointed.

Why should I, when they're still my friends even when they think they're funny?

So you still think them to be your friends? After they abandoned you when they were needed most? When they ignored you as you called out for help? When they watched your struggle and only smiled it off while planning their next coffee meeting?

That's a difference in mentality. You wouldn't understand it. You never lived it. Hell, why am I even talking to myself right now?

"I don't assume you mean to explain to us what you did, do you?"

"Snap reaction. I wasn't thinking... that wasn't me." Midnight tried with all her force to keep herself steady, but she couldn't shake the feeling that her horn had just emitted a few sparks. "I have it under control."

Octavia caught her hoof before she could pull it back. "She did weep for you, you know. You mustn't make yourself any illusions."

"Yeah, I... thanks."

So you fled.

I didn't flee, the conversation ended and I went on my merry way.

Into the other dimension.

It's convenient. Besides, what different would a spell have done? The notes are the same, the instrument is not. Does one need both?

A brief look to the horizon, would you be so kind?

Midnight paused and gazed to the right. Past the shades of buildings that melted away by her will, the Shadow Star floated, though now shadowed by a ring of clouds that spanned across the horizon. Every other moment, a stick of lightning flashed up in between them, bringing light to an otherwise dark sky. However, there was never the crackling of thunder to accompany the lightning. It almost served to build an illusion of true Equestrian weather, despite the stars still piling on above.

It is your presence. The Flow attunes, bringing glory ever so closer. Soon, it shall be one with your world, as it has been with so many others. Is it not wonderful?

Doesn't look all that glorious. Even if, I have everything I need here, why should I ask for any more?

One princess of the beyond falls and guides another into glory. It has been and will be. The cycle continues. For now, try not to miss your exit.

The clinic stood before her, so everknown yet so different in reality's light. Only its back walls had truly taken form; The front was as fleeting as fantasy and half as substantial. She followed the path around the building, past notions of ponies that struggled to sustain themselves within the Magic Flow. In the garden behind the clinic, a single lotus flower was blooming with black-golden glory. Motes of energy dove down from the nothingness, swirling around the plant before departing again. Without noticing at first, she faded back into Equestria.

A few months ago, I was just a curios ghost floating through the void. How did I get to this point. Why do I even still have to work. I was dead mere hours ago, I should have stayed it. One would think I'd be excused to take some holidays after that.

Did you forget your position here? In there, now, and I'll allow you an illusion of free will.

Yes, Missy.

So be it.

Chapter 86

See now, the glory that was promised to you at birth.

For now, I'd be happy with something to do. My, that statement would have been quite wrong if I didn't already know I'm evil.

You are blind. Very well. As for the lack of entertainment now that you did what had to be, perhaps we could do something about that. Ponyville square, south end. You might want to be there a few seconds from now.

Despite better experience, Midnight saw no reason not to obey. On the off chance that there was a case, she'd be needed there as soon as possible. She expected a moment of charging time simply due to distance, yet as soon as she closed her eyes, the warm embrace of a summer breeze encompassed her, together with the rattle of an emergency. Turning around, she spotted Pinkie Pie lying next to a pile of crashed wood and cloth, surrounded by a crowd of bystanders.

Knowing her task, she dove in without hesitation. Upon closer inspection, Pinkie had regular pulse and respiration and was overall unharmed, except for that she was completely unconscious. "Good morning, the name's Midnight, Ponyville clinic, miracle department, here to save the daily life. How can we help you?"

"Stand jus' sorta collapsed on her." Applejack was standing across Pinkie's body, mumbling and gesticulating. "We dragged her outta there and then you already showed up."

Without being able to discern anything that they were trying to tell her, Midnight followed protocol. "Well, she seems to be stable as far as that goes. Get her somewhere comfortable, give her some water and comfort when she wakes up, and report anything strange. I certainly don't deserve any quiet time with the pony I love, do I. Nothing more to see here, ponies."

Sister, you're evil. I believe I like picking this one.

All in due time.

Just as Midnight was halfway through thinking up the spell that would return her to the clinic, a gasp ran through the crowd and her hooves made contact with liquid. Looking down, she could only glance at the expanding puddle coming from Pinkie before her brain assigned new commands. "Of course you have to. Give me some room, everpony! I'll take her to the clinic by magic. She'll be fine, I promise!"

Well, looks like she already took care of this one – as well as all the others, for that matter – while I was gone. Now I'm bored again. What else could be done?

Number seven.

Did that already. Three times. You were there!

I prefer not to watch. Room number seven, get over there, now. Do not force me to use what I am due.

Alright, alright. Seven's the only one neither of us has been, right? Neither I nor the Nurse? Yeah, that's where she lies.

Midnight pushed through the door. In the far middle of the square room, Pinkie Pie lay, silent, still. While making her way across the room, Midnight tried to ignore the ponies sitting around her, as well as the one who occupied the bed. In the end, she stared at the floor, avoiding eye contact with anything. "Alright, let's see. Breathing is normal... thirty a minute, pupils respond. Still alive." Midnight caught the eyes of those around her. They weren't accusing her of anything, only being curious. She sighed when realisation hit her. "She didn't fill you in? We had to give her a few stitches. Reminds me... nothing soaked through, good. She's lost some blood and has a heavy concussion. I mean, with the wound she had, I can only imagine what sort of blow she took." Upon spotting fear in their expressions, Midnight quickly added, "Other than that though, she's fine. She should come around in a matter of hours, that we even still have her here is just a formality. Honestly, I'm surprised she even bleeds. Expected her to be made entirely of candy."

"So there's nothing we can do for her?" said Twilight, looking up at her over the bed.

"Well, you could spend a few days learning a certain spell, check inside her mind and convince her to wake up, assuming her brain isn't any more mush than it already was. Or you could be yourself and do the same within minutes." Midnight circled around the bed and took Twilight into the briefest of kisses, too short to satisfy, serving only to calm. "Or you could leave things to run as they will. She will wake up today. The best you can do is stop worrying and have a nice day, maybe get some foodstuffs. I know I could use them, if you'd be willing to share."

"So be it." Twilight rose and walked out of the room. Without her looking back, Midnight couldn't discern her emotions, though she assumed to know them already.

Hey, pop quiz. What's got four legs, three dimensions, two pony tails, one broken heart and soon no will?

My lightless heart, broken just because she prefers to talk to the wall instead of spending time with me? Regardless, I'm on shift anyway.

"So." Midnight winced at the voice; She had almost forgotten Rarity was even there. "A few hours, that's all you can say? Nothing more accurate?"

"I can say it will happen, but not when." She turned and headed towards the door. "Now if you'll excuse me, I am still on shift. You can stay if you want to waste time, but I've got a task. You know, doing princess stuff."

Just as Midnight passed the door out, a call reached her. "I'd certainly hope so."

What is it with ponies and talking absolute cryptics nowadays? That includes you, even though you're not a pony.

Perfection patiently waiting to accept itself. Soon you will understand. Perhaps the dawn will bring knowledge already.

That isn't helping my mood, you know. Not with everything else going on.

Is that anyone's fault but your own? Perhaps I was involved a little, but beyond that, it's you to blame for all.

I'll get back to you for everything. The horrors of the last months. The years before, which made me into the monster I am today. Even that of now. Maybe it'll be today, or tomorrow. You will suffer.

Couldn't hurt anything.

No, I couldn't. Ngh, even now I nurture life despite my best of intentions. What is it with this curse that I do not obey myself? Why does the world's cruelty only make me kinder?

That can and will be helped.

Don't you dare. If not for my own will, for hers.

You're quite fond of that little variable of yours, aren't you. Very well, we shall find another way.

At long last, Midnight pushed through the library's door, collapsing onto one of the couches inside right after. Since the entire house was as silent as it was dark, she saw no reason to conceal her true feelings. For a few precious moments, she followed only her heart's desire. Once her limbs were sufficiently stretched, her eyes flung open and she jumped to her hooves, moving to the kitchen. Too many hours had passed since Twilight had brought her a small package of emergency rations, and work had left her particularly few breaks that day. Sometimes, she had to wonder if the citizens of Ponyville were able to live without harming themselves daily; If they were, they certainly weren't trying very hard to do it.

Rummaging through the library's food stores, she was disappointed to find only salad, cabbage, and other pointless healthy food. Perhaps she'd known already that there was nothing to be desired. Perhaps she'd bought everything herself after discovering that a certain other unicorn had no idea of a proper diet. Neither fact helped her mood, however. In the end, she settled for a mixture of various forms of salad, determined to show it how much she despised it while eating. Even if nothing else worked, perhaps getting petty revenge on her food for not being candy could ease the bottomless void she felt growing inside of her.

Needless to say, her plan did not exactly work out as expected. While she could feel some satisfaction coming up as she tossed the used dish into the sink, the bitterness refused to leave, especially when she looked at the unused second portion. Twilight would return soon, she knew that. Still every second that ticked by chipped away at her temper. Tired of watching the neverending race between the clock's hands, she sighed and teleported onto the balcony. The air had already cooled down in the brief time that the sun had spent below the horizon, but she found it to be just what she needed to keep a level head. At the very least, it gave her a few more minutes before consequences had to be faced.

Oh, stop sulking and start properly looking for once. Can we not see her power like a beacon against the night sky?

I suppose there she is. She is quite brave, walking through the darkness by herself. Then again, perhaps she is safer there than with me.

Yes, she needs a lot of courage, she who could defeat literally anypony within the empire, most of them all at once. If she has anything to fear, it's what lies inside.

What is that supposed to mean? Anyway. Well, what if she was ambushed and injected with Bitterblossom before she could react, infamous for sapping a pony's magic? Weren't you there when I read up on it, when a young mother got into a sticky situation the exact same way? Wait, it's the other way around. Bitterblossom paralyses the body but keeps energy intact. I should have a word with that novel's author sometime.

If you can. For now, I expect she'll appreciate your presence downstairs. Get moving.

Just as Midnight made the last step downstairs, the wide door was nudged open by an invisible hoof and Twilight snuck inside. Apparently, she was yet unaware of Midnight seeing her. To change that, she teleported on top of her, directly into a loving embrace. "Took you long enough. Your dinner is getting stale."

Silly you. Allow me to show you how to use that tongue.

Twilight moaned under the load and shook her off onto the most comfortable object nearby. Unfortunately, that was the floor, though Twilight soon joined her there with a floating bowl of salad. "Long day. Lots of things to mind," she said before taking the first bite.

"Yeah, and to think how much worse matters would be if you had an actual job keeping you busy." Midnight had no idea of how she'd allowed such a slip to happen, though she hoped that the leg she laid around Twilight's shoulders would help get her intentions across.

Twilight's silken fur melted into her before she swallowed and said, "Pinkie came back, by the way, and she was asking for you. Said she'd heard your voice through the darkness."

"Not impossible. There have been reports of ponies who had some of their senses return before others or their consciousness as a whole did. If you've read any bad stories using a coma as a cheap tragedy motor, it's basically the same thing." She laid back, finding the floor to be quite comfortable with the right attitude. "Now if only I could say I really care about whether she's here or beyond."

Twilight bent down to her, stealing a kiss sweet as ever but too minute to savour. "Meet me up in our sanctuary."

Once on top of the library, Midnight wasn't left to wait for more than a few minutes. Perhaps it had been hours. She could hardly find a reason to care, despite the nervosity that was ever so gently tickling the ends of her nerves. One way or another, a flash of energy behind her told of Twilight's arrival, just in time for her to get bored of watching the stars. "Sometimes, evil ponies ask me why I am together with you, what it is that I see in you. Honestly, I can never give them an easy answer." Twilight's voice sounded steady as always, but as though something deep inside was undermining her. "Every day, you put me through challenges, as I'm sure I do with you too. Anypony who has seen us together would describe us as perfect polar opposites. Yet... I just know that we're destined to be together, that we deserve to be."

"Well, maybe those ponies are right. I don't deserve you, Sparkle, neither you nor your kindness that you still put up with me. Still, who is it who says such things? Rarity?" She turned to take Twilight into a soothing embrace, but was stopped dead in her tracks when she found her kneeling before her. Despite the darkness surrounding them, the pure shimmer of gold was unmistakable. "You gotta be kidding me," murmured Midnight.

"The last days, what happened to you, Pinkie, everyone, it showed me how fleeting life really is. Where are we if not to enjoy every second of it that we get?" Twilight's eyes rose to meet hers. "If I meet the fate that we could so narrowly avoid until now, I know that I want to be by your side when it happens. Will you stand at mine?"

Now! Speak the words, your master commands it!

"Sparkle... I can't..." Midnight's body said, without her orders, without her will.

No! I am stronger than you! We are stronger!

Just before she held her own mouth shut to keep herself from talking, darkness enveloped Midnight, blurring out reality as much as imagination.

When she awoke, she found herself pacing back and forth in a bright room, in front of a lying and chained version of herself. There weren't any objects around to serve as relation; The walls themselves seemed to be made out of pure light. "So, this is your plan? Force me to deny the only thing I am given in this merciless world, the only thing that you've left to me?" she asked, calm as ever. She had expected to be boiling with rage, taking every opportunity to strike another blow. Yet she felt none of those things, only walking to help herself concentrate. "Speak up, whatever you are. Why? Why do all this, who knows how long back I've been a blind servant of your plans, to what end? What other sacrifices would you force me to make?"

"I am not at liberty to tell. I'm sorry, you must ask the right questions." For the first time, Noon spoke with actual humility and nothing else. "She is an open variable, one that isn't in other worlds. She would compromise our plans at best. If this world is to see the others' glory, she cannot stay with you."

"Another world? This is related to the Flow again, isn't it. Are those worlds where you come from?" She strid around the chamber, trying to make sense of everything. Nothing seemed to change with her position though, neither outside her head nor within it. "What are you, anyway? How can you have such power over me that it takes the love of my life to break it?"

"I'm sorry, you must ask the right questions." Noon rattled her chains. Midnight was pleased to see them tight rather than the usual mockery.

"So, the right questions then. What is the glory you mentioned? What would become of Sparkle if I refuse to give her up? What is the plan, and whose? Why am I required for this all, why exactly I? Who would do this to me, send you into my head, who would sacrifice me for her plans... her own daughter?"

"That, sister, is the right question. I don't suppose we could go back to normal life now?" With a stomp of Midnight's hoof, Noon's chains shattered and she rose to her hooves.

"I tried ignoring you. Killing you. Living with you. None of it worked. So you know what? Just go, and don't come back." The light dimmed everywhere except for one glowing pathway. Midnight needed only think a command to send her walking towards it.

"So be it, princess. Goodbye, Midnight. I hope you can live with your own choices." She was not going to return. Midnight knew it.

Midnight's eyes flung open, momentarily blind as they adjusted back to the darkness around her. Nothing had changed, not a single star's position in the sky, not Twilight meekly cowering before her, waiting for uncertainty to prove itself. When she pulled her up, there were no words; The contact of their lips said everything.

Chapter 87

"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.

We have the technology!

This story is under reconstruction!

Soon, chapter by chapter, this will be updated to look less horrible. If you can help it, why not drop a favorite and come back later? Or read the story if you really need to, I guess. But it's bad and I'm rewriting it!

Also, thanks to knighty coding, treat each chapter as though its number was one lower. Current rewriting state: Chapter 5 (6 displayed) done!

Chapter 27

Midnight's inner demon had a way to confuse her. Even though they both were inside her own mind, she had no idea what Noon was talking about. She felt unusually powerless and without any use. Of course she was already used to that feeling. Realising what mortality meant for her had its drawbacks. She was destined to fail whatever significant task she attempted. In a fit of rage, she jumped, reaching up to the glass ceiling, a distance not even a pegasus would be able to leap upwards with a single flap of their wings. Coming back down, she left small craters. The floor around her cracked.

"Impressive. Now, if you're done destroying our property, although I too have come to the conclusion that it is too much, can we move on?" Midnight didn't want to listen to reason. Neither to Noon. Savage fury made her tackle herself and pin the false mare to the ground. She began to mercilessly pummel it. "What are you doing? Stop it!" Midnight was beginning to draw blood. "This isn't brave. It's murder." Tears began to form in Noon's eyes. Midnight removed them by kicking wildly at where they were produced. "What did I ever do to you..." The act was done, Midnight's bloodlust was satisfied. Soon, her victim would die to the injuries she had produced. She gathered what was left of her strength and adressed Midnight one last time. "You don't even care, do you?"

Her head dropped to the floor. Midnight noticed a strange breeze kick in, blowing towards the end of her mind that she had originally come from. Noon's body dispersed into dust, being carried off by the wind. Only her bones remained as the rest was blown into her room. Less than a minute later, a healthy demon emerged out of that very door. While she had been expecting this, Midnight still began to cry tears of desperation while crushing the skeleton still lying near her. "Just why won't you die?!"

Noon quickly closed the distance between them and laid a foreleg on Midnight's shoulder. "We're connected. You and me. As long as either lives, the other is immortal. We share one mind. One heart." She pressed their chests together, which literally merged. Midnight could feel a single heart pumping blood into both her and Noon's body.

She dismissed the illusion with the wave of a hoof. "Stop that, trickster."

"Oh, no 'sister'? 'Daughter'? Come. I promised to show you something cool, and I will."

Noon led them both towards yet another unmarked door. She magically opened it and pushed Midnight inside. This was awesome in the old fashioned sense, Midnight had to admit. Before her in the candle-lit room there were hundreds of pictures, varying greatly in size, arranged seemingly without any order, but all facing her, no matter where she went. They all showed the face or other parts of one specific mare.

Midnight heard the door slam shut behind her. The demon had joined her in the small room. "Yep. Each one of those is one reason why you're in love with that filly. Each is a specific memory with her. Like, if we touch this one..." Noon walked up to one of the biggest photographs and gently stroked it with a hoof. Memories of that one very Sunday, when Sparkle had been sleeping, came back to Midnight. "We get another occasion when you failed because you are useless."

"Can't I break all of those and just solve all of my problems like that?"

Noon returned to Midnight's side. "No. Energy preservation. You cannot create..."

"Or destroy matter, energy or magic. Ever." Midnight finished.

"Exactly. The point is, what you are calling a problem is a bit of both magic and energy. Perhaps there's some matter in it too. Like, the neurons connecting to create this reaction. But there is one way..."

"How?"

"You could get rid of them if you carried them to the Flow of Eternity and let that do its work. Time heals all wounds. However..."

Midnight attempted to lift one of the smallest pictures around. Only with a combination of both magic and her muscles did she manage to do so. However, her strength quickly left her and her head plummeted to the floor, breaking her neck instantly. Fortunately, they were still far from reality, so all Midnight needed to do was dust off and rise.

"If time did heal all wounds, you would not be here and preventing it from doing so and we would not have this conversation in the first place!"

"However you may not be able to bear the weight of what is your greatest joy. Think about how heavy memories of HER would have to be."

"Where are those stored?"

"I have no idea. Probably somewhere in the broken part. That seems likely since it's what caused the corruption in the first place."

"Then how can you bring those up if you'd get disintegrated upon going there?"

"Uh, you tell me. Okay, I'll give you a little hint. Well, technically, it's more like telling you. While amusing, manually activating each memory wouldn't be very effective. So I'm cheating a bit."

"You always do."

"Quiet... please. Remember what I said earlier? What is a pony but the sum of its memories? We are the tales we live! The stories we tell ourselves. You've got a good memory. So how can you know you're not two years ahead and reliving this moment in your dreams?"

"I would... I could... um..."

"That's the point, you can't. So this is what I do. I move our mind back a bit in the Flow of Eternity. Like a record player, it'll play forward from where the marker is placed."

"What? That seems a bit unconventional... on the other hoof, so does everything here. Well, if I was reliving some memories right now and, like, nothing of this was real, wouldn't the Flow have to also carry me forward?"

"I kind of can't blame you for that question, but I will anyway. Technically, it'd have to if you would revisit this place and somehow travel back to this moment, buuut, in this reality, it wouldn't because it didn't in this moment. So even though there is a future, you couldn't access it because you can't now. Got that?"

"Uhm, yeah, I suppose. Is there anything else of importance here?"

Noon pouted. "This is all you ever wanted, whether you want to admit it or not. Why not stay for a few moments? Enjoy your surroundings?" She activated another picture by casually nudging it with her head. There was sunlight. It was warm. Sparkle was there. She had her beloved wide smile on her face. Midnight shook her head to come back to reality, or what reality approximate she could reach that way.

"Stop that. How long have I been in here? I should get out before Dad finds my lifeless body."

"Well, about that..."

Midnight instantly understood what Noon's hesitant speech was aimed at. "You don't know where the exit is."

"Eventually, you have to wake up, right? So why not stay a bit longer and enjoy what other awesome stuff I have here?"

"Hmm... well, I kind of want to see Pegasus Eye's place. To see how that looks."

"Bah, boring. Does not include Filly. Oh well. We should find it from the hub."

With that, both ponies of the same appearance trotted back outside. "Don't you tell me you don't know where that is either." Noon shily ground her right front hoof back and forth. This was all the evidence Midnight needed. "Oh, awesome. You've clearly had enough time to know this place, yet you act like it's your first time here."

"It's your mind, sweet. Hm, maybe... let me flip a few switches. There."

Noon had reactived Pegasus Eye itself, which, to Midnight's surprise, worked even in the mental's world. A golden path appeared, going through almost all of the hall, before ending next to a door. "You should work on putting up signs on those."

"Yeah yeah. What's important now is that it worked. Let's go!"

As fun as Pegasus Eye had sounded, it turned out to be rather boring. Hidden behind the door had been a simple control room with a few levers and buttons on a metal machine, presumably mostly to toggle it on or off. "Boring. Now I really want to quit. Hey, I have an idea."

"Let me guess, it'll involve getting us killed in some way? You seem to like to do that."

"Hum, ironically, yes it does. Afraid? 'Cause I'm not."

"You're so stupid. What do you have in mind?"

Midnight didn't answer. Instead, she ran and jumped. The crater showed its effect quickly as she was turned to dust while still in the air, leaving back a shocked Noon.

What if that wouldn't have worked and instead you'd have voluntarily surrendered to the madness that's causing this anomaly?

Worth it.

Midnight rose to her hooves and checked her reflection in the mirror. The streak of blue she'd seen from within her mind was still present.

Chapter 44

"We came as quickly as we could! Is she alright?"

Midnight just stood in front of the five friends, her mouth open as if she was pondering what to say next. The awkward silence that resulted from it was simply delicious, especially considering she was actually just thinking about how good friends they really had to be and enjoying the situation. She dragged it out as long as possible to watch the hope in their eyes slowly die and be replaced by fear of what Midnight wouldn't dare say. However, there was a certain degree of fun to be had with friends where it became just plainly cruel, so she went into the next stage.

"Well, she's been struck by lightning and crashed onto her face, nearly demolishing mine in the process, I might add, so... I'm sorry, everypony. If anything, she'll be paralysed from the shoulders down for the rest of her life."

"If... anything?" Twilight asked, unable or unwilling to comprehend what Midnight meant.

Now that she had said it out loud, her joke felt a lot more inappropriate than it had in her head. She would've liked to remain silent and watch them spiral into panic, but their friendship demanded that she acted right then. "Ha, the looks on your faces. Heh, sorry for playing that one on you. She's doing fine, the impact's given her some concussions and bruises and the likes and there's obviously a few burns where it hit her, but somehow, she managed to keep her bones intact. I'm sure she'll be happy to see you all came to visit her. You should be careful though, everything that's happened didn't leave her in the best mental or physical state altogether, so don't be too hard on her. If there are no more questions, I'll show you to her room then."

Midnight led the visibly relieved Elements of Harmony into their desired room where a butter yellow pegasus was currently having a cute little nap with her head and forehooves being the only things sticking out from under the blanket, lined up as if she were locked into a pillory. Five out of six ponies standing in the room gave a small d'aww at the sight. Midnight preferred to instead walk over and gently wake her up.

"'Shy... little murderer," she whispered, unheard by the others. "Your friends have come to visit you."

The pegasus sleepily blinked until she managed to keep her eyes open. "Uh, hi girls," she spoke out in her usual barely audible voice. Midnight wondered how she even managed to get through the day with such behavior.

"Actually, I just remembered," Midnight stepped in before anypony could say anything else. "We gotta regularly test her pupil reaction to make sure there's no permanent brain damage, so if you don't mind, I'll perform that right now."

"Sure, go ahead," Applejack said, confirming that it wouldn't scare off the friends. Midnight hadn't meant to do that, of course. She just wanted to make sure she was on time. She conjured up an orb of light and examined the pegasus' eye reaction.

"Ooh, pretty!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. For obvious reasons, Midnight couldn't see her expression, but she assumed it included lots of smiling and superfluous happiness.

"Pinkie, is there something that doesn't amaze you? I mean, it's a simple light spell. Fillies could perform it. Detaching it from the horn is a bit tricky, but easy once you figure it out," Twilight explained. Midnight could see her face before her with the usual omniscient expression on it even though the visage taking up most of her vision belonged to a completely other pony.

"Of course there are things that are not super duper awesome, silly. Like burnt cupcakes or sad tears or broken horns..."

"Huh? What's wrong with a broken horn?" Midnight could answer that, but officially, she was not listening, so she left it to the bookworm to educate Pinkie.

"Isn't it a really big deal, like, mostly deadly?" Sparkle had set a trap and Pinkie ran right into it. Midnight could recite the words her soon-to-be marefriend was about to say by heart from the only book she had ever felt necessary to really study.

"Who told you that? True, the less of it remains, the harder it gets to use your magic, but it'll just regrow. Actually, I once broke off a splinter already." Twilight took a short break. Midnight assumed she indicated towards a small knob on her horn, invisible to the untrained eye, in that time. "What did you expect to happen? Like, me breaking my entire horn trying to protect Ponyville from an Ursa Major and falling into a coma, then everypony falls into a crisis even though I'm obviously going to wake up? Hey, do you hear something?"

"That's just the sound of someone laughing over the reference. Too bad it's not that way. We could have infinite 'Get well' parties. Although I guess you wouldn't have much of them... but slumber parties would work! At least you would be queen in the slumber part..."

"Let's jus' stop it right here 'fore it's gettin' real awkward."

"Okay!" Pinkie Pie was incredible in that she could draw infinite happiness even from being kindly told to shut up.

"Looks alright," Midnight then concluded. For a few seconds, everypony awkwardly looked at her, as if waiting for her to leave. "What? I've been informed that we're friends, so I personally don't see the problem with me staying. Also, she's still a patient and I have to observe her behavior. Besides, I'm bored. Anypony want to sit down?" She directed the group's attention to three chairs standing in the corner.

"Me, please," Rainbow Dash said.

Twilight cocked an eyebrow. "You, of all ponies?"

"Actually, not really. I just wanted to say something." Obviously, Rainbow Dash was untiring, flying above the rest for no apparent reason other than habit, although Midnight saw her occasionally play with Applejack's mane or hat from above, which their owner visibly despised of, though she didn't resist.

"How long will she be here exactly?" Rarity asked.

Midnight took a moment to bring a hint across by visibly checking Fluttershy's file at the tail end of her bed, then responded, "Depends. There doesn't appear to be any kind of real brain damage. Nurse Redheart wants to keep her at least until tomorrow evening in case she shows some odd behavior we haven't noticed yet, which is also about the time I'll need to work the burn down to something discreet. I'll have to come here during my free time, but... no, darling, no objection, it is my pleasure to help a friend of mine's friend, even on my day off. After all that's happened, I think Fluttershy also just needs a good night of sleep."

Later, the Mane Seven, which didn't quite have the same ring to it as Mane Six, composed of a murderer, two filly fooling fiancees, two ponies Midnight had already found a reason to dislike, a bookworm literally living in a library, and a perfectly sane and normal unicorn, sat collected around a small pile of objects. Midnight would have offered to come up with a better name for them, but since nopony could tell her why they called themselves the Mane Six, she just went with adding herself in, for reasons five out of seven ponies were soon to discover. To be completely accurate, only six ponies actually sat, three on the ground and three on the chairs Midnight had offered them earlier.

She herself was standing outside of the circle, not participating in the board game Pinkie had pulled out of her mane, occasionally looking over somepony's shoulder or joining in in the conversation, but mostly just tending to Fluttershy. Healing burn wounds was a tedious task.

"What exactly are you doing, anyway?" Sparkle asked as Midnight conjured her second special magic another time, eyeing her closely as she brought the ball of energy down onto the back of Fluttershy, who was sitting directly opposed to Twilight.

"What does it look like?"

"Anything between healing and futher hurting her," Twilight replied to the counter question with a shrug, indicating she didn't really mean the second option.

"Well, do you see this?" Midnight pointed towards two stacked boxes in a corner of the room, on which hippopotami were drawn. "Those are hippo crates. Question answered. Also, there's the hippo Crates, who, as you may know, invented the whole 'Do no harm' thing. In my opinion, medicine got boring after he did that, but meh. In other words, I'm supplying her wound with energy so that it can heal faster."

"I've never heard of a spell like that. Please, tell me more." Twilight looked around to find everypony looking back at her. "Looks like you've drawn interest."

"Actually, Twilight," Rainbow Dash said with a grin, "it's your turn."

"I'm not sure how it works myself. Somehow, it just speeds up natural healing, which is also why it can be dangerous if overused. You see, usually, this process doesn't really draw that much energy from the body, but if it's sped up to quickly mend, then you might run into a shortage, which could end up with the subject's death, if they were close before. Also, it's useless on deeper wounds." Midnight averted her gaze from the most beautiful thing ever to check back on her patient, seeing that she had gone rather pale. "Oh, don't worry, that's far out of your league of hurt."

"Don't you mean nutrients?" Twilight asked while executing Fluttershy's turn for her.

"Pardon me?"

"Injuries need mostly blood and nutrients to heal."

"Where's the bloody difference?" Midnight saw that her work was temporarily done and removed her magic.

"Nowhere, I just... it might be a very limited time manipulation spell. I'd love to learn it if it is."

"Sparkle," Midnight drily stated while walking to her until her head was right next to Twilight's, where she continued with a whisper everypony in the room could understand, "since when are you allowed to copy signature spells? That's mine, you shouldn't be able to do it."

"Well, I shouldn't if my special talent wasn't magic. I mean, I already know Rarity's spell, which is quite handy to determine if Spike found the gem jar again, I must say."

"Hey, no fair. That's my job and I'd like to keep it." Midnight exclaimed before putting an intentionally overdrawn pout onto her face. "By the way, what's your signature spell?"

"I... I honestly couldn't tell you. They say that every unicorn has one to help them with their special talent, but what if a pony's talent is magic itself?"

Suddenly, Fluttershy's started to jerk itself up rhythmically. Midnight showed her displeasure, but kept calm, "Bucket."

"Bucket?" Twilight responded with a look on her face betraying her confusion at all that was happening.

"Bucket." Midnight repeated. Sparkle shrugged and levitated the metal object she saw below the bed over. "Finally. What kind of surgical assistant are you?" Midnight asked as she stepped back behind Fluttershy, providing the pegasus with a target for her oral relief other than her own lap or the game board.

She didn't feel nearly old enough to perform such an action, but nevertheless took the task of whispering soothing words into Fluttershy's ears, "Shhh, let it out. Don't worry, that's uncomfortable, but normal." She looked up to find five ponies with shocked expressions. "Erm, what's the deal exactly? Nausea, vertigo, reduced cognitive ability, that's a regular concussion. To be honest, I didn't expect poor Fluttershy to hold everything in that long."

Mentioned pegasus kept heaving far beyond the point where everypony had expected her to be empty. Technically, such an occurence would be her cue, but since she was too busy to speak, Rarity took over her part instead, "Oh my."

At long last, she finally managed to get herself under control. Midnight gave the bucket's contents a quick glance, faked adding to them, and poured them into the sink before going to fetch Fluttershy the necessary equipment to clean her mouth. After gladly accepting and using them, Fluttershy mumbled something inaudible.

"Excuse me?" Midnight asked, looking for support from the other ponies, but finding that nopony had understood what she had just said.

Fluttershy took another sip out of the glass of water Midnight had brought her. "Hunger."

Midnight inhaled and kept her breath in for a bit for dramatic effect. "I'd love to oblige, but... no. You might start again any second, I'll bring you something if you wait an hour. If nothing has happened until then, you should be fine for the moment. And, if you'll excuse me, I'm technically still at work, so I have to check on other ponies. Don't wait for me, y'all."

Midnight couldn't believe what she was doing. She left one of her love interests to spend time with somepony else, worse even, a foal. Fortunately, she didn't really care about her standards any more. She could have gone all out and asked Twilight for a date right there and then, in front of the only other Mane Seven that knew. Looking back at it, telling Fluttershy maybe hadn't been such a good idea. If she decided for Shimmer, events might spiral out of control very fast. She didn't think much about that possibility, though. She still had much to set up with Shimmer, anyway. Before she could enter Ruby Pinch's room after having cleaned and returned Fluttershy's bucket, somepony that had been quiet for an unusually long time reported back again.

Why you no follow your heart?

Oh, tell me, what do you think about this mess, as that will probably be what I truly want?

Comparing options and weighing factors. We... are patient.

Make me not do the same pun again. Oh, it'd be so fitting!

Imagine if we had a creative talent, such as drawing. That'd suck. You can hardly make new puns.

Aw, great. Now you spoilered a plot element. Thanks for that, stupid.

But... I...

'But I'-ing won't help now. You just ruined the fun for everyone.

Sorry.

Midnight had great plans. Thus, after briefly stopping at home to refreshen herself, she went out again, ignoring her room mates' hidden snickers. She had somewhere to go and somepony to visit, even though she couldn't explain to save her life how any affection resulted from what had happened between them. After a little trot, she arrived at a standard house with no visible details that'd differ it from the others. She didn't really look, though. She was more interested in who was inside. After ringing, she had time for thinking about her situation.

Why exactly, pray tell, am I nervous?

Maybe because you're about to meet somepony you can imagine spending the rest of your life with?

After she ruined the part that has already happened. She owes me indefinitely. Nah. That's Fluttershy. She owes me indefinitely minus one.

"Uh, hehey, Midnight. What brings you here?"

She sighed. "Look, let's skip to business. You came begging for a second chance, you'll get it if you use it right. I'm free the next three days. I'm now accepting offers."

Shimmer was visibly taken aback by Midnight's directness, "Sure, I mean, um, tomorrow night? I know a fancy place for dinner."

"Great. When shall we meet?" Midnight made sure to exploit every opportunity to demonstrate her superiority, acting with complete certitude, even if it was just feigned. She wanted to hate that filly, but couldn't help feeling attracted to her. She felt reminded of Sparkle, who had put her into the same spot a few months earlier.

"Seven o'clock?"

"I accept. Don't bother coming to my house, even though you'll be paying for the foods, I'll come over."

When Midnight had already turned and was walking away, she heard Shimmer from behind. "Midnight? Thanks for forgiving me."

She gave her a politely restrained chuckle. "Who said anything about forgiving? I've given you a chance, better redeem yourself."

Chapter 71

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.