The Ballad of Midnight Edge

Twilight Sparkle was not expecting new visitors that day, the new visitors however were a welcoming sight. Applejack's cousin and an unknown organism. She Had seen the fungus before building Midnight Edge's future house which she authorized, and she found information about it in the journals, but she was curious to get closer to one of those walking puffballs.

"Hey! Nice to see you again?"

"Hello Twilight Sparkle." As midnight edge responded the greeting with a mildly informal response he noticed Babs Seed bowed before the princess, the confused fungus followed her in a near perfect mimicry with it's four short appendages bending to lower it's head before the princess and the two upper appendages placed on the floor in an almost religious and very ceremonial manner.

Twilight Sparkle responded to the unexpected reaction with a notable humility which made her presence even more regal. "You don't have to do that. We are friends."

"But we don't even know you." Replied the filly in surprise to Twilight Sparkle's kindness. Her tone was a combination of surprise and gratitude.

"You are Applejack's cousin, and she is almost like family to me, you don't need to bow before me. And that creature, well, I don't think it cares too much about nobility."

"A true regal behavior," Stated Midnight Edge with both joy and admiration. "Only a noble and benevolent leader asks it's subjects to not bow in the presence of nobility."

"Please, don't treat me like that," Twilight Sparkle blushed, she was not really used to or fond of being treated like a princess. "I am just a pony, just a librarian. Maybe I am an alicorn and my voice has been given as much weight as that of the mayor if not more. But I don't want to be treated as if I was superior."

"Praise the Ancient Architect for that." Midnight Edge's expression was notably alien in context, evidence of his years in foreign lands where Celestia was unknown. "Very few leaders in the multiverse would dare to admit that they are part of the people. Most would believe themselves above the commons."

Midnight Edge noticed his friend still vowed, ignoring the requests to stand as equals within the castle. In order to make it stand Midnight Edge struck the floor with his hooves, a sound the fungus recognized as communication more accurately than words since the resonance on the floor was more audible to it than the vibrations of the vocal chords in the air. The creature responded with a high pitched sound which resembled a trill.

"My friend here did not understand your request clearly. He was waiting for confirmation."

"Confirmation for what? If you don't mind answering."

"He wanted to know if his hearing was not mistaken. Sometimes he will hear things wrong and act in undesired ways, to prevent that an auditory cue which could be passed through the floor was established as confirmation of the course of action. You see, he, just like any other fungus, has little interest in our matters or customs, fungi have a different culture and hierarchy system, normally they don't bow, but he learned to because some unworthy leaders felt insulted by his reluctance to bow even though they considered him just a pet, so now he vows whenever he sees others bowing. If I bowed right now he would do so."

The explanation made sense, but left Twilight Sparkle uncomfortable. She knew such tyrants existed, she faced some of them, but she never imagined they could be as common as to have an effect on the behavior pattern of such an alien creature.

"You mean that thing is civilized? I thought it was a pet or maybe a trained creature."

"Not exactly. His sapience is in the middle. Puffy is intelligent, but I am not sure it is civilized. It might show certain patterns of behavior consistent with civilization and is both sentient and sapient, but saying it is civilized would be a bit of a stretch. You could say his species is in a stage of proto-civilization. Almost like domestic animals here in Equestria, which, unlike animals in the wilderness, display behaviors similar to ours and even understand written words."

"Interesting. Do you mind if I study your friend for a while? Don't worry, I will keep the little guy safe."

"If he wants to. You might want to interview him too. He has some cool stuff to say... Well, more like write since his vocalizations make little sense to ponies."

"Great! Are you going to continue your investigation?"

"Yes. In fact I just brought my new potential assistant. That is if she does not get bored reading lengthy books on cutie marks and magic."

"I can't believe there is nothing on cutie marks that present visual changes in them written on the books I gave you. I haven't been able to read them yet. I have so many new books now that I don't even know what to do with all of them."

"And I have considered providing you with copies of all my journals, so you might find yourself overwhelmed with new texts with details of five years of travel as well as future journals."

...

The hours passed without any useful leads. There were a few references to changing cutie marks in a couple of books which Babs Seed found. But none of them had any in depth study on them. All the reports on the matter seemed to consider it as something normal, something which was not really necessary to study in depth. Midnight Edge felt extremely frustrated. If he was the first to ever consider it worth to be studied then his research would become much harder and would force him to stay longer in Equestria, unless he decided to consign the task to another researcher.

"Thank you for your help." Midnight Edge spoke expressing gratitude to his new assistant.

"But we didn't find anything at all."

"Not exactly. We might have found very little, but even the smallest bit of information counts, and I am pleased to see you are eager to know more about it too."

"Well. I'm curious about cutie marks too. I don't like to think cutie marks should mean the only thing we are good at. I like my special talent, but I want to be more than just a hairdresser. Just because I like that doesn't mean I don't like other things."

"That is why I want to understand cutie marks too. I reject the idea of predestination. The future can't be written before it happens just like the past should not be rewritten. But we should take a break of all this. We will have a lot of time for such matters later if you wish to stay."

"If I'm going to be your friend I want to know more about you."

"Go ahead, ask. I already answered a lot, but there are many things to reveal."

"Fine, I won't ask you if you have killed before. I know you did."

"How did you? I won't deny it, but, how could a foal think of that."

"You carry a sword, you defeated that timber wolf, it is obvious you at least have killed a few pony eating monsters with that sword."

"I prefer to use nonviolent means when possible, but I am always ready for battle. I hope that won't change your opinion on me."

"It won't if you don't hurt innocents."

"Maybe your cutie mark was a mistake, your accent is strange, but your tone makes you sound like a detective."

"Maybe that's something I am good at without having a cutie mark for it."

"Then I will take this as an interrogation to clear my name. Detective Babs Seed, you may ask any questions, I will respond with the truth."

"What I want to know is, how did you began to eat meat? Why do you like it? I mean, I've heard some ponies tried it and they say it tastes awful. Did you go to war and you tried it there?"

"I once found myself in a war, and left the battlefield as soon as I could. But the first time I tasted meat was before I got my cutie mark. The story is long but I can tell you if you want."

"I want to know. I want to know as much as I can about you. If I don't I can't make sure my parents will approve our friendship. I mean, you are as old as Applejack if not older, and I just met you."

"Well, when I was a young colt, I had a friend, he was a griffin named Jacques. One day we agreed to swap our lunch bags without even knowing what was in there. My bag had a small tart and an apple. In exchange I got a BLT sandwich. A sandwich made with bacon, lettuce, and tomato." Midnight Edge smiled as he remembered that day, the day that made him a freak. "Jacques told me I could take back my lunch, but I was curious, so I took a bite. The taste was strange, but I liked it. I ended up eating the whole thing except for a tomato slice. Jacques was shocked, I made a bet. If I got sick he would owe me an apple pie, if nothing bad happened I owed him a cake. I ended up spending my savings to buy a big cake. Ever since then I manage to get some meat to eat in secret." His expression changed, there was sadness in his eyes. "But sometimes ponies find out and they reject me, even when I point there is historical evidence that other ponies did the same. It is just that most ponies don't like the taste."

"How did you get the meat? I mean, there aren't many places where you can buy meat in Equestria."

"Jacques' father was a cook. He had some providers who sold meat to griffins. I managed to get some meat from his kitchen, he didn't seem to have a problem with that, neither did my relatives. When I grew older I began to buy it directly from the providers. It is rather expensive since most of it is brought from Griffonstone or far away from Equestria. Minotaurs and griffins eat meat, but in Equestria that is a niche market."

"You really are weird. I like that, being all the same feels wrong to me. Anypony who thinks everypony should be the same, do the same, and think the same must be crazy."

"Believe it or not, there are places where such insanity is common, those who live there are not happy."

The interrogation went further until sunset when both took separate ways. Babs Seed managed to get almost all the information Midnight Edge wrote in his journals and she found out a lot about his past. She knew he had siblings. That his sister was a scientist and went missing not so long after he began to travel. She also knew Midnight Edge found her location and planned to take her back to Equestria. She knew his diet was unusual and he did not like fresh tomatoes and fish. That he felt uncomfortable with talking about the creatures he slayed with his sword because ponies were mostly pacifists. He wanted to visit the Crystal Empire. He had never been in love. He was afraid of himself sometimes because the customs of other places rubbed on him. He disliked time travel because most time travelers would not be cautious with their actions. And one thing in particular, that he refused to stay in Canterlot for too long because of the sad memories.

That night Midnight Edge went to sleep feeling uncomfortable thinking he made a mistake by accepting Babs Seed as a possible companion, meanwhile Babs Seed dreamed of the possible adventures. She was excited, eager to go on adventures as exciting as those her cousins went through. In her dreams they were catching criminals together, exploring mysterious forests, and facing monsters she knew only from folk tales. One was afraid of putting a new friend in danger, the other wanted to be there, knowing she would be safe as long as she was not alone.