Let Our Values Endure

Chapters

The 988th Summer Celebration Pt 1
The 988th Summer Celebration Pt 2
Meeting Twilight Sparkle
Coming Home
Military Track
Planning A Change

The 988th Summer Celebration Pt 1

Author's Note

The following is an OC Story Idea. If you end up liking this story please considering tracking it and commenting on your opinions, so you can continue reading this story when it gets updated.

The upload interval for this story will not be as stable as other stories, but I'll try to upload once or twice every month to keep things fresh.

While the Rating will not change, there is the possibility of more Red Tags being added depending on where this story goes. If so, a warning will be placed over whichever chapter causes that change.

Now sit back, relax, and enjoy the story.

This is the story of my OC, Midnight Blitzer.

The 988th Summer Celebration Pt 1

Arc: Childhood
Chapter 1: The 988th Summer Celebration Pt 1

“Today’s the day! Wake up!”

A voice rang through my head as I slowly gained consciousness. Sleepy and groggy, the only thing I could see was darkness with my eyes closed. Using the most minimal effort I could, I sent out my response, my words coming out sluggish, barely audible, and barely comprehensible.

“It’s Saturday… Please leave me alone…” My voice came out with a murmur as I instinctively grabbed the blanket that had been around my body and pulled it closer to me. It was a very soft blanket, soft blue and decorated with clouds the last time I checked. Unless somebody purposefully grabbed it within my sleep, put it inside the washing machine with the white pillow, and turned it light blue. Like that’s ever happened to me before.

I prepared to return to the dream world. It was a weekend, and since my alarm clock never rang I had up to two hours left to sleep. Unfortunately, before I could even begin, I was interrupted when I felt my bed creaking under the pressure of somepony jumping on it.

“Come on little brother! Wake up!” The voice said again, this time closer than before. I groaned. I might as well say ‘goodbye’ to any hopes of sleeping in. Realizing who was talking to me, I tried to address her, but still in the laziest way possible. If there was any hope to get some extra shut-eye, better to try now right?

“I’m trying to sleep. I’m not your ‘little brother’ either. I’m the same age as you are. Now please leave me alone sis.” I yawned as I proceeded to ignore her, only to yelp as I suddenly found myself being sprung into the air before falling onto the carpet floor. Letting out an ‘oomph!’ I simply groaned as a small amount of pain coursed through my body. Nothing serious, just a small sting, but it was still annoying.

“Oops! Sorry little brother. Guess I bounced on the bed too hard.” The voice said, sounding apologetic and sincere. Finally coming to the truth that I wasn’t going to be sleeping anymore, I forcibly opened my eyes, finding myself in my room. The walls were painted blue with a lightning bolt pattern. The ceiling and floor were decorated with white clouds, which would’ve been real if we'd lived in Cloudsale. Huh. Cloudsale. A city made out of clouds and populated only by pegasi. I guess it must be the polar opposite to Canterlot, the city we’re living in, where the majority are unicorns.

Hmm… what was I thinking about again?

“Uhm… Midnight? You’re kind of spacing out there.” The voice said again. “Did I accidentally make you go unconscious? Midnight~! Wake up~!”

Oh yeah. That.

Lifting myself, my eyes were faced with a pair of lightning blue eyes. They were young, beautiful, and determined. Putting some distance away and refocusing my eyes, I saw a light blue pegasus. Her mane and tail were spiky white, with a tint of electric blue. She had a cutie mark, which was a lightning spark. Hence, her name.

“Hey Lightning Spark!” I said, placing a fake smile on my face. “Nice of you to just drop by and THROW ME OFF MY BED!” My demeanor had quickly changed to a growl. Sure, she was my sister, but there was a limit on how many times you could get thrown onto the floor before you began to lose your patience.

Lightning Spark stared at me, flinching for a bit, before she began to laugh. It wasn’t meant to be mean, it was just a simple light-hearted laugh, with the intent to defuse the situation.

“Oh, Midnight! Sorry for throwing you off your bed, but you just look so cute when you’re mad that I can’t help but laugh! I’ll make it up for you though.” Lightning said as she began to help me, my anger disappearing as she lifted me up. It’s hard to be mad against somebody like her. Sure, she’d throw you onto the floor one day and then prank you the next, but she always made sure that I’d get something in return that makes me happy by the end of the day.

Even though we’re the same age, she tends to act like an older sister.

“Well, now that I’m awake, let me just go to the bathroom to brush my teeth, alright?” I said to her, my growl changing to that of a smile. She nodded as the two of us exited my room before we split paths as my sister used the railings to slide down the stairs. I went to the bathroom, which was colored white, and grabbed my blue toothbrush before brushing in front of a large mirror, getting a glimpse of myself.

Green emerald eyes reflected to match my own, as I saw a blue pegasus with a spiky dark blue mane. Unlike my sister though, I haven’t gotten my cutie mark yet, leaving me ‘blank flank’. It was a visible difference given that everybody but me had gotten theirs already. But just like my sister told me: ‘Who cares what the world thinks about us? The important thing is how we think about ourselves!’

Thus being a blank flank wasn’t a real problem for me, because even though I wasn’t the best in one thing, I was certainly an all-rounder. I’d get an average of 90 across all subjects, I’d be able to shift from any position from any sport and still perform well by the end of the day, and I had the drive to learn more. My father was always happy with me along with my mum, saying that my ability to learn anything fast is something that I should be happy about, whether I had a cutie mark or not.

Just the thought of my family smiling at me filled me with happiness as I finished brushing my teeth and left the bathroom. Unlike my sister though, I decided to glide down the stairs using my small wings, landing at the end before entering into the dining room. The moment I opened the door, my father looked up from his newspaper and smiled at me.

“Hey there Midnight! Had a good sleep?” My father asked. He was a dark blue pegasus with a nearly pitch-black mane, while his cutie mark was a dark thunder cloud. He looked at me with his gray eyes, smiling at me as I sat on my chair at the table.

“Hmm… I guess you can say it like that.” I said, smiling back at him. My father grinned at me, ruffling my mane a bit.

“So, do you know what today is my son?” My dad asked. His name was Thunder Storm by the way. Next to him was a golden helmet from the army. My dad was a Royal Guard, one of the best I think. Back before me and my sister were born, my parents lived in Cloudsdale, but they moved here to Canterlot so that my father could go to and from work faster.

A simple cough brought my attention back to my father, he looked at me with an eyebrow raised, waiting for my response. I blinked as it took me a few seconds to remember that he asked me the question, and thus my sister decided to chip in first, as she also noticed my rather late response time.

“Midnight’s been spacing out a lot recently.” Lightning Spark spoke, causing my father to let out a soft laugh as he smiled towards us.

“I remember when my parents called me out for spacing out too much as well. It’s normal for a growing colt like him.” My father said, messing up my sister’s mane, who faked a pout before they both laughed. Making up a response I responded to my dad’s question.

“Well… today is Saturday… and… is there something I’m missing right now? Cause I’m still a bit groggy from waking up.” I said, scratching my head, before smiling as a white-blue pegasus began to trot in the room from the kitchen, carrying various plates of food to the table.

“Well why don’t you first get yourself something to eat Midnight? Maybe that can help.” The mare said, smiling at me. She was my mom, whose name was Snowy Blizzard. Her cutie mark was a flurry of snowflakes. Contrary to what many would think, she’s a very nice and warm pony, treating everyone well. The only exception to that is when somebody tried to be mean, especially towards me or my sister. The air around her would drop before she’d sent out a very cold stare at whoever was trying to hurt us, which usually would scare them away. In other words, she was the best mom ever! Nice and warm and ready to defend when the time came.

She set down a plate of toast and butter in front of me, giving me a motherly kiss and ruffling my mane, before turning to serve my sister and father something similar. After stuffing my face with the delicious delicacy of toast and butter, my mind wandered off to what my dad was trying to say. He asked if I knew what today was, so today must be important right? As I searched for the answer, I suddenly realized what this day meant. Seeing my face of realization, my sister came up to me and hugged me.

“Happy 10th Birthday Midnight!” Lightning said, smiling at me, while I let out a playful laugh.

“Isn’t this also your birthday?” I asked out loud, causing her to giggle.

“I guess this hug is for both of us then right?” She said, laughing a bit. “In truth, your birthday is technically tomorrow, due to how time works when the Sunset Celebration occurs, so why not celebrate our birthdays for two days instead of one?” Lightning said. She was right in that matter. We were both born at the same time that the sun rose during the Sunset Celebration, and since the day before would always be elongated to also cover the time between midnight to the sunrise of the day of the celebration, our birthdays technically stretched two days. It’s kind of like how ponies born on leap years could only truly celebrate it every four years. The same applied to me, my sister, and all of those born on the day of the celebration.

“Well, that’d be great! Though I don’t think you’d allow us to go all night long using cake and sugar as our means to stay awake, would you mom?” I asked jokingly, which she was able to see.

“No Midnight. You can’t just sugar-rush the night like you did last time. Maybe you can stay up all night long, but you’ll probably be woken up by me and your father an hour before sunrise.” My mother said, nuzzling me. I smiled at her.

“Alright, mom. Thanks.” I said, before turning to my sister who was still embracing me. “So. Wanna go out and play?” I asked. She immediately nodded with a grin.

“Yeah let’s play! I’ll give you a thirty-second head start to get yourself to the library before I come!” Lightning challenged, smiling at my shocked face as I began to scramble towards the door. Usually, whenever my sister invited me to a race, she’d always win, even if she gave me a fifteen-second head start. But I always felt that victory was so close, and thus if she was now giving me thirty seconds, maybe I might be able to win!

“Bye, mom! By dad!” I said as I passed by them, trying to use this thirty-second head-start to my advantage. My dad couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh as I opened the door as fast as I could, which ended up wasting a precious second as I fumbled the doorknob.

“Stay safe you two! And please don’t stay out for too long!” My mother yelled out to me as I closed the door behind me so that when my sister started she’d have to open the door again. I opened my wings and began to glide my way through the streets of Canterlot, looking for the familiar large tower structure that housed the library that me and my sister would sometimes go to. I knew flying was much faster than gliding, but I hadn’t learned to do that yet. My sister though?

...

I’m starting to realize how she’s been winning every single race so far.

Upon seeing the Canterlot Library in the distance, my mind was filled with happiness. Nearly immediately after though, a feeling of dread washed over me as I began to realize that my thirty-second lead was finished. Looking behind me I saw a faint blue dot that was only increasing as it got closer, and it didn’t take long for me to realize that it was my sister. Finally landing on the base of the stairs, I began to run upwards as fast as possible. Dodging everybody that got in my path, I pulled myself up the final stair. I was tempted to let out a shout of victory until I turned back and realized that my sister was no longer behind me. The feeling of dread picked up, culminating into one of self-disappointment when I heard a familiar voice

“Hey, Midnight! Ya waiting for somepony?” Lightning said nearby. I turned around only to groan as I realized that she had beaten me to the doors of the library. She held up a grin of victory as she saw my defeated face.

“Oh c’mon! You can fly! I can’t!” I exclaimed to my sister, demonstrating by spreading my wings and trying to fly, only to fall face-forward onto the ground. I heard Lightning Spark snickering and trying to stifle a laugh, but unfortunately for me, she wasn’t able to hold it in. As my face was planted on the ground, I could do nothing but hear her laughter, which caused me to internally frown.

“Oh, Midnight! You looked so silly when you fell on the ground like that. Here, let me help you up.” My sister said as I felt her hooves grabbing me by my waist before pulling me back up. Unfortunately, I found myself standing on my hind legs, and soon I fell back onto the ground, causing her to laugh even more. “My bad. We should get somebody who can train you to strengthen your wings though. Imagine the day when you can fly alongside me!” My sister said with excitement.

“Yeah. Can’t for when I can finally beat you in a race.” I said out loud. She smiled softly at me.

“Keep dreaming brother, and hey, maybe you’ll one day do it. Stay determined.” Lightning said with a wink. “Anyhow, anything you wanna get from the library? I heard they’re bringing in a recent comic series that you might find interesting.” My sister said as she lifted once again, making sure that I didn’t trip.

“Sure! And then after that, we could go eat some ice cream?” I asked hopefully. My sister nodded as she held up a bag of bits that our mom must’ve given her after I left.

“Yep! But first, let’s go in here, shall we? Not just to read, but because I can’t stand the heat right now.” Lightning panted as visible sweat traced her forehead. Since it was summer, it was hot. It was then that I realized that I was also exhausted from running and gliding.

“Y-Yeah let’s go inside,” I replied as we began to pull the door open. The cool air inside suddenly hit our faces, causing us to let out a breath of relief and satisfaction as our bodies immediately cooled down. We began to trot through the library, immediately heading towards the comic section. While there was nothing wrong with reading a regular book, something about a comic felt much more natural. It helped immensely in immersing into the fictional world, showing you exactly how things look and letting the imagination run faster. Sometimes, me and my sister would find ourselves sitting there for hours, blitzing through various chapters and comics until we were pulled out by our parents.

After taking a while to search through the shelves, my sister pulled out a comic book that had the depiction of six mares who I presumed were the main heroes, a little colt who I supposed was the sidekick, and a purple mare in the background who I imagined was the villain.

“Midnight! Allow me to introduce to you the Power Ponies comic!” My sister exclaimed enthusiastically, nearly shoving the comic in my face. She instinctively flinched though when everypony in the library shushed her as they reminded her to use indoor voices. “Sorry.” Lightning said apologetically as she shrunk a bit, before showing me the comic again. “This comic is the first of a new series that a small company has made, and it’s already been growing in popularity. You’ll love this, I’m sure of it!” My sister said with intense energy, again being shushed by the library. I blinked at her before shrugging.

“Alright. Let’s read.” I said, smiling as I opened the first page.

Five Power Ponies Issues Later -

“Midnight.”

“What?”

“Our mom is here.”

“Wait what.”

As I looked up from the latest entry that I was reading, I let out a sheepish laugh as my eyes settled on the towering image of my mother. Meanwhile, my sister was letting out a nervous laugh of her own. This wasn’t the first time we were in this situation, but it didn’t make the next any easier.

“Hello, Midnight.” My mother said with a neutral expression. What made it terrifying was that I couldn’t tell what she could be feeling or thinking. I blinked at her before I began to nervously scratch my mane. Not knowing how to respond to her, I simply did what I could.

“H-Hey m-mom. L-Like the comic I’m reading?” I asked as I lifted the issue that I had been reading and showed it to my mom. My mom let out a sigh and shook her head slightly.

“I told you two to come back soon. I expected you two to perhaps read, then go get your ice cream, and come back in at most twenty minutes, not an hour! You two had me worried!” My mother said. It was at that moment when I understood that she was not mad with us, but worried. Worried something had happened to us that prevented us from coming back.

“I’m sorry… but this comic series is so good that I guess I didn’t realize how much time flew by,” I admitted. My mother let out a soft sigh as she smiled towards me.

“Why don’t we check out those comics so that you can read at home?” My mother offered. My face immediately beamed upon hearing this proposal.

“Yes! Thank you, mom!” I exclaimed as I hugged her. She nuzzled me as she ruffled my mane. As she began to pick out one of each issue, I walked towards my sister who shifted a little. My eyes met hers and I let out a sheepish laugh. “We should’ve kept the time right?”

“Yep. At least we’re not in trouble.” My sister said. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something that I couldn’t believe I was seeing. Lightning Spark turned around and widened her eyes as she noticed what I was watching.

“Hey. Is that a dragon?” I whispered to her. In front of us was a small purple dragon with green spines and green eyes. He held up a comic, and it didn’t take long for me to notice that he was holding up the first issue of the Power Ponies series. Tentatively I went up to him and poked his shoulder, grabbing his attention.

“Uhm… Hi?” He asked in confusion, shifting a bit while holding the comic in his… claws? I nervously extended my hoof to him.

“H-Hi! My name is Midnight Blitzer! What’s yours?” I asked in the nicest way possible. The small dragon grabbed my hand and began to shake it after I gained his trust.

“My name is Spike!” The small dragon said. My sister soon came along and stood next to me, smiling at the small dragon who looked at her with a puzzled look. “Who are you?” Spike asked, causing my sister to grin.

“My name is Lightning Spark! I’m Midnight’s twin sister! I see that you have the Power Ponies comic. My brother is a fan of it!” My sister stated. The dragon instantly grinned upon hearing this statement.

“Really? Me too! We could talk about a lot of things about the Power Ponies! Who’s your favorite character?” Spike asked. Before I could respond a purple unicorn suddenly appeared next to Spike and tapped on his shoulder. Her cutie mark was that of a purple star surrounded by several smaller white stars. She appeared to be a teenager, around the age of 14-16. She had a saddlebag full of books on her back and she appeared to be very concentrated on studying.

“Come on Spike we have to go.” The mare said with a serious tone. The small dragon turned around and frowned.

“C’mon! Let me finish this comic at least.” Spike complained before the purple unicorn grabbed it with her telekinesis and passed it to the librarian so that the book could be checked out.

“You can read it later. As my #1 Assistant, I need you to help me with my experiments and studies.” The purple mare asked. As she began to drag the small dragon away, me and my sister began to follow them with questions.

“Wait. Who are you?” Lightning Spark asked as we followed her. She either didn’t hear us or decided to ignore us because she continued walking without stopping, carrying Spike on her back and retrieving the comic from the librarian’s desk. I decided to step in front of them, causing the unicorn to sigh.

“What do you want? I need to study for Celestia’s next exam that she’ll give to me.” The unicorn declared.

“We just want to know what your name is,” I replied, trying to strike up a conversation. The mare simply passed by me while giving us an answer.

“Twilight Sparkle. Now please, I need to leave. Say bye Spike.” The purple mare said. Twilight let out an ‘oomph’ though when she bumped into another pony, and as we all looked up, I realized that she had bumped into my mom, who held that neutral expression that she carried just a few minutes ago.

“Twilight, that’s your name isn’t it?” My mom asked, which prompted the younger mare to nod. “Well Twilight, I have a question for you: Do you have any friends?” My mom asked, causing Twilight to flinch.

“I do! What question is that!?” Twilight asked in shock, getting a bit angry that somebody would say that she didn’t have any friends. My mother kept her neutral face on though.

“Are you sure that they are your friends, or are they just your study group?” Blizzard asked.

“What’s the difference!?” The unicorn yelled, clearly starting to get a bit annoyed by my mother. Then, we felt it. The temperature suddenly plummeted around Twilight, who began to shake. Even upon activating a spell through the flicker of her horn, she only began to shiver even more as the temperature only continued to drop further and further. Spike thankfully was unaffected, whether because he was a dragon or more probably, that he wasn’t the target. My mother simply stared at Twilight with a smile.

“A study group is a small group of ponies who work together on a subject. Friends, though, do much more than that. They help each other out, even when nobody asks them to. They keep in touch with one another, visit them when they’re sick, or host celebrations for something like birthdays or major accomplishments.” My mom said to Twilight, who already was starting to turn a bit blue. “Maybe I made some mistake in my assumption, so to test you, name everypony in your study group.” Snowy Blizzard asked. The young teenage mare simply blinked as she struggled to answer.

“Uhm… Uhm… UHM…. I… I don’t know…” Twilight Sparkle admitted. This caused Snowy to frown.

“You don’t know. Not even one?” My mother asked.

“N-No…” Twilight answered as she started to sweat under the freezing temperatures, which probably was a bad sign for my mom as she immediately lifted the temperature around her, causing Twilight to let out a series of pants as her body temperature began to increase again. However, the disappointed look on my mom’s face didn’t lift.

“If I’m correct, the names are Minuette, Lemon Heart, Twinkleshine, and Moondancer. It’s hard not to notice how out of place you’ve become Twilight. Everypony has at least one friend or at least tries to be friendly. You, however, focus only on your studies.”

“But studying is important! Celestia entrusted me that I must become as good as I can be! Friendship would just get in the way of studying!” Twilight responded.

“Do you think that only studying can get you that far? Sure you’ll end up getting great positions due to your status, but without any friends, if you end up falling, nobody will help you, nobody will notice you. You’ll accomplish so many things, but you’ll feel empty.” My mother said before she motioned me and my sister to come. “These two kids are my children. And I would like for you to make friends with them, Twilight.”

“B-but… But I don’t have enough ti-” Twilight yelled, beginning to freak out until the entire library and my mom shushed her.

“Then just let my son be your friend, and let him help you along with the little dragon next to you.” My mother said. Spike’s face immediately beamed upon the thought of me being near him, and I could already tell that he was excited about the possibility of us becoming very close friends and the things we could talk about.

“I… Fine… But since he must have so many things to do, can he stay with me for only one month?” Twilight asked, clearly intending to give every excuse to not deal with me entirely, or at least lower the amount of time she’ll be forced to be friends with me. My mother laughed a bit.

“Sure. One month. But I bet you’ll want to have him stay with you after those thirty days.” Snowy Blizzard said, giving her a smug smile. “My son will begin traveling to your home tomorrow, so make sure you’re prepared, cause he’ll go whether you want to or not.” My mom asked before looking at Twilight straight in the eye. “Understood?”

“...Yes… I understand…” Twilight said after looking down in defeat. My mother beamed.

“Great! My children, let us leave for now. We’ll be getting some ice cream soon.” My mother said, causing me and my sister to exclaim happily. “You can come along Spike if you want.” Spike immediately let out a cry of happiness before Twilight got in the way.

“No! I need him to help me! He’s my assita-” Twilight’s voice trailed off as she froze under my mother’s stare, and feeling the temperature drop around her, and not wanting to experience it again, she sighed. “Fine. Just don’t let him overload himself with it. He’s just a baby dragon. Just don’t forget to bring him back.” Twilight said, to which my mother nodded.

“Alright. Come on you three, let’s go get some ice cream.” My mother said. The three of us let out a yell of excitement, only to get shushed for the third time by the library.

“Oops,” I said out silently. As the four of us began to leave the library, I took one look back at Twilight, who just sat there silently before taking a book out of her saddle and beginning to study it, as if, or maybe trying to act as if nothing had occurred. I let out a sigh. I didn’t have many friends, again, my lack of cutie mark, lack of flight, and other things made it difficult for me to gain ponies. My sister tries to remind me that she’s my friend, but she’s my sister, and by default, she’s supposed to be my friend. It just doesn't feel earned though.

Hopefully, I can do well to earn Twilight Sparkle’s friendship, and also make her happy.

The 988th Summer Celebration Pt 2

Author's Note

I will try to update this story on a Tuesday, not every Tuesday mind you, but when I can it'll be on that day of the week.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy this chapter, and post any helpful commentary if you wish!

The 988th Summer Celebration Pt 2

Arc: Childhood
Chapter 2: The 988th Summer Celebration Pt 2

“So who’s your favorite Power Pony?” Spike asked once we got out of the library. The sun was still high, but it was clear we had burned through some time reading those comics. Not a significant amount, but still, a noticeable one.

A soft tap on my shoulder by my sister reminded me that Spike was still waiting for my response. Giving my sister a silent “thank you”, I quickly turned to address his question, placing a smile on my face.

“Definitely Zapp. Her ability to control the forces of nature and hail down lightning, storms, and tornadoes on her enemies are just so amazing! Who wouldn’t want to have that kind of power! What about you?” I asked. Before Spike could answer, my sister tapped on my shoulder again, making me notice that we had reached our destination. As we entered the ice cream shop, a small bell rang above us, instantly summoning a creamy white unicorn who beamed at our arrival.

“Hi, everypony! My name is Eiscreme and welcome to Glace’s Shop! What can I get for ya?” The stallion said with a grin. My sister, being the fastest to respond, gave her order first.

“Can I get some strawberry ice cream?” Lightning Spark asked with a smile. The white stallion simply smiled as he began to take notes.

“Strawberry ice cream coming right up! What about you my fellow baby dragon? Got something on your mind?” Eiscreme asked Spike, who pondered on what he wanted to order.

“You guys don’t happen to serve gem sprinkles do you?” Spike asked, to which the unicorn shook his head.

“Nope! But we do serve sprinkles that look like gems and have a sort of ‘crunch’ to them. Not the real deal but they are still tasty!” The stallion replied, causing the purple dragon to smile.

“Then I’ll take some vanilla ice cream with those sprinkles on top,” Spike ordered, which the stallion noted down before turning to face me.

"And how about you? Anything you prefer?" The stallion asked as he showed me some potential options.

"How about a cone of vanilla chocolate?" I asked, to which Eiscreme nodded and jotted down. As my mother gave her order to the white stallion, Spike turned to me and answered my question.

"I think I'd choose Radiance. There's just this ring to the name that makes it so nice. But apart from that and the way she carries herself, I’d choose Masked Matter-Horn as a second option.” Spike responded. I simply nodded to his response as the stallion left to the inner compartment of the store before returning with our desserts.

Immediately we began to taste our savory treats as my mother led us to a table so that we could properly enjoy it. My sister and I couldn’t help but watch Spike as he licked his ice cream using his two-tipped tongue, so much so that we nearly forgot to pay attention to our ice creams which began to drip a bit. We were barely able to save our treats, but soon we found ourselves looking back at Spike, who finally noticed that we were looking at him.

“Why’re you looking at me like that?” Spike asked, causing me and my sister to blink. I simply scratched my head in embarrassment.

“Well… it’s about how you’re licking your ice cream… or rather what you’re using to lick it.” I responded with a nervous laugh. It was now Spike’s turn to blink before he chuckled.

“Oh, that! Yeah, I have a forked tongue, and it’s very long! It’s a dragon thing, like breathing fire!” Spike replied, causing me and my sister to go quiet.

“Y-You… You breathe fire?!” My sister yelled out in shock. Spike nodded with another grin.

“I do! Dragons breathe fire you know. Can’t show it to you two right now, considering the risks of doing it in this building, but maybe in the future I can show you two how I do it.” The purple dragon said proudly before returning to finish his treat, which we followed suit. After another few minutes, our ice cream cones were finished and we soon went outside.

“So I guess we’re going to leave you back with Twilight?” I asked Spike as my mother soon began to guide us back to the Canterlot Library. The young baby dragon simply nodded with a hint of sadness.

“Yeah. Back to helping Twilight, organize her books, serve dinner to her, wipe the windows, and so forth.” The dragon said casually while my mother suddenly stopped for a moment to process what Spike had just said.

“I think I’m going to have another discussion with Twilight again.” My mother said with a neutral expression before letting out a sigh as we arrived at the front doors of the library. As Spike began to enter through the doors alone, my mother called out to him one last time. “If you need anything dear, please don’t be afraid to contact me.” Snowy Blizzard said. Spike simply nodded.

“Thank you, but I’m pretty sure I can do all of my chores without any help,” Spike said as he closed the door behind him, leaving my mother silent.

“And he calls them chores… Let’s go home, my children.” My mother said as she grabbed me and lifted us into the air using her wings, with my sister flying behind her. As I felt the small gusts of wind hitting my face, I couldn’t help but feel the sense of freedom. Oh! If only I knew how to fly by myself! Then I can feel this emotion every day!

Eventually, we landed in the yard in front of our house. My mom gently placed me on the ground as my sister landed next to me with a soft smile and patted my shoulder.

“Don’t worry. You’ll soon learn how to fly. Wanna play a game?” Lightning Spark asked as my mother opened the door and let us in. I nodded with a smile.

“Alright!” I said enthusiastically to her before turning to my mom who had gone to talk with my dad. “Hey, mom! Can I go play with my sister upstairs?” I asked, to which my parents nodded.

“Sure. Go ahead, son. Just remember to go downstairs when we tell you to.” My dad responded with a smile. I ran towards my parents and tried to hug them at the same time.

“Thanks, mom! Thanks dad! I’ll do just that!” I said as I instantly went towards the staircase and began to rush upstairs, before tripping myself and letting out an ‘oomph!’ as I face-planted on the last stair. Lightning Spark, who had gone ahead before me, began to snicker before helping me stand up again.

“Oh, Midnight! You’re just so funny, especially when you make those cute little sounds!” My sister said as she playfully shook my mane, causing it to become even messier than it was before. I simply nervously laughed.

“I bet if I tried to make cute sounds you’d probably collapse from cuteness overload syndrome,” I stated, causing my sister to raise an eyebrow and smirk.

“Alright. Give me everything you got Midnight!” Lightning Spark said with a determined look as she sat down and prepared to defend herself from any cute sounds I could do. After pondering about which cute sound I should make, I picked my sound and took a deep breath.

“Hewwo!” I said out loud, using everything I had from cute puppy eyes to making my voice echo a bit. My sister stared right at me before she fell over, knocking me down onto the ground as she collided with me. Her body shook and twitched as she could only say a few words.

“C-Cuteness O-Overload!” Lightning Spark yelled before letting out a quiet ‘bleh.’ I simply stared at her fallen body, blinking at it before I began to nudge her. As she regained her consciousness, she began to lift herself, staring at my eyes with a sleepy look. Looking away, she pouted before letting out a smile. “Alright, Midnight. You win.” My sister stated, causing me to silently celebrate.

“Yay! I won!-”

“You’re now the cutest creature on the entire planet right now.” My sister added on, causing me to blink before I began to laugh nervously.

“A-Alright… Now can we go ahead and play? Maybe chess this time” I asked my sister who nodded.

“Fine with me. Chess isn’t exactly the game I would choose, but there’s no doubt that if done correctly it can become an intense battle. Bullet match?” My sister asked as we entered my room and pulled out the black and white chessboard, along with the clock used in chess tournaments.

“Bullet match,” I confirmed as we quickly placed the chess pieces in their place. “Flip the coin. I choose heads for black.” I ordered as my sister grabbed a small golden bit and tossed it into the air. When it landed on her extended wing, it showed heads, to which I nodded as I spun the board so that the black pieces were in front of me. My sister prepared the timer, giving us one minute each.

“Ready?” My sister asked as she held the King’s Pawn while her wing extended to start the clock. I nodded as I held my own King’s pawn with a smile.

“Ready!” I said with determination, grinning as we looked at each other intensely, ready to attack each other the moment the clock began.

“Go!” My sister yelled as my sister played e4 and stopped her clock, as I followed by playing e5. I barely was able to switch the clock when my sister switched it back after playing Qh5. I played Kc6, defending the e5 pawn and preventing a potential Queen check from there. Trying to fool me, my sister played b4, intending to have my knight capture that piece so that her queen could check me and capture the hanging pawn, but seeing through I played Nf6, attacking her queen. She shivered as I turned the clock against her, as she moved her queen to f5.

I accidentally fumbled my pawn and instead of moving to d5 as intended, I moved it to d6, not entirely bad, but not the best either. Seeing my bishop sneakily attacking her queen, she moved it back to f3. I moved my bishop to g4 to attack her queen and grinned as she was about to capture it until she realized that it was defended. She mumbled something under her breath as she moved her queen to b3.

As the game progressed she began to fumble more and more, the pressure from the ticking clock causing her to lose her concentration as she tried to move her queen to safety. By the time we traded queens, she was very low on material as I was ten points ahead of her. I began to check her King. An Rb2+ forced her king to move to f3, where I checked her again with a Knight to d4. My rooks and bishops slowly began to feast on her scattered pawns. At one point Lightning tried to turn the tables around with a Rook to e1 check, but moving a rook the attack was canceled. As the sole white rook was gobbled up near the end of the match, my sister began to sweat as she only had seconds left to move.

But before she could move I quickly tapped her shoulder and pointed to the board, making her groan as she realized what happened. Her King had been checkmated by my bishop, unable to move to another file due to being cornered by my rook, and any other potential escape paths were being blocked by my knight. It was game over for her, and she knew it.

“Ugh! The most annoying part is that you don’t have a chess-related cutie mark! Imagine how more powerful you’d be if you had a pawn, rook, or knight piece as your cutie mark! How are you so good anyway?” Lightning Spark asked as she began to put the pieces back in their place. I simply shrugged.

“I just like playing chess. Not enough to make it a talent, just a hobby. As for getting good at chess, a good idea is to make sure that you always apply pressure to your enemy while developing your own pieces. I chased your queen for the entire first half of the game, and you saw what happened.” I said, to which my sister nodded.

“Yeah. I think you’re a good tactician, which makes up for your lack of physical skill… have you ever thought of being part of the Royal Guard?” Lightning Spark asked, which caused me to blink in surprise. I never thought about that truthfully, which caused me to stall for a bit.

“I… I never thought about that question, to begin with.” I confessed, looking away for a bit as we decided to play again without any time limit. “Like… don’t they just stand in place for the entire day and do nothing else?” I asked, causing my sister to shrug.

“They probably do other things like train. Hey! Maybe it can help you train your wings so you can fly Midnight!” My sister exclaimed. The thought excited me until I realized something else, which caused me to frown.

“Wait. Military school starts from the age of twelve at the earliest, with the age usually being twelve to fifteen. I’m just ten, and I doubt that I’d need to go to military school to learn how to fly by the time I become age-appropriate.” I stated, causing my sister to realize her misjudgment and nod to the side.

“Yeah. You’re right on that. Alright, forget what I just said, let’s go back to playing chess… But if it’s true that the only thing the Royal Guard does is stand around on guard, I bet if you did end up in the military for whatever reason, you’d destroy the competition-”

“Checkmate.” I simply stated, causing my sister to look down and realize that my queen had checkmated her King, with a bishop defending it. She simply groaned as she began to reorganize the pieces again.

“Again. How?” Lightning Spark asked, causing me to roll my eyes.

“Easy. You did not perceive the future threat of checkmate and did nothing to prevent my bishop and queen from attacking that square.” I said calmly as my sister sighed.

“Well. I’m beat. Can we go ahead and do something else?” My sister asked. I nodded.

“Alright,” I said as I began to pack away the chess pieces as she brought out a board of checkers. “Hmm… maybe we should ask dad about what he does during work,” I said out loud, causing my sister to nod.

“Yeah, let’s do that. But not right now. Maybe in the future if you decide to become interested in being a royal guard.” My sister said. I simply shrugged in response.

“I don’t know if it’ll fit me, given that I think I’ll need to pass a physical test or something. Eh. Only time will tell.” I replied as we began to play checkers. We spent the next few hours playing board games, toys, drawing, and so forth. Soon my mom came up and told us that we had a few hours left as she needed to prepare dinner. When I noticed that she had placed the comics at my desk, I immediately grabbed them to read. As I continued reading the adventures of the Power Ponies, my sister got bored of playing games and began to do some wing-ups, causing me to momentarily look up from the piece of material I was reading and stare at her.

“Have you thought of becoming a Royal Guard? You’d certainly pass the physical test if you tried.” I said out loud, before becoming surprised as she simply laughed.

“Nah. I want to become a Wonderbolt! You do know what they are right?” My sister asked, to which my response was a shrug. “They’re the best fliers in Equestria, and they’ll be performing at the Summer Sun Celebration! I want to be just like them, and show how good of a flier I can be!” My sister said as she continued to do her training routine. I simply nodded.

“That sounds like a fun dream. No doubt you’ll reach it when you’re old enough to apply.” I responded with a smile. She returned the gesture by hugging me.

“Thanks Midnight.” My sister said before her ear twitched as she heard something downstairs. Going to the door, she heard our mother calling us, as she began to shout her reply. “Yes, mom! We’ll be coming down soon!” My sister yelled before turning to me. “Dinner’s ready. Let’s go downstairs.” Lightning Spark stated. We quickly placed our things away and neatly organized them before heading downstairs. She went ahead by sliding down the railings while I glided alongside her until we both reached the bottom of the stairs. Right when we hopped into our chairs, the lights went out. As I looked out the window, the outside world had become as dark as the inside of our house, which meant that nightfall had arrived. I could sense and hear ponies shuffling in the darkness, along with the sound of a plate being set on the table.

And then, as a small flicker of light began to appear, a soft song began to play in the background, before an invisible group of guests began to sing.

“Happy Birthday to You
Happy Birthday to You
Happy Birthday to You.
Happy Birthday to You.

From good friends and true,
From old friends and new,
May good luck go with you,
And happiness too.”

The candle from the now visible cake finally brightened up, revealing not only my parents but some family members too as well as the many friends Lightning Spark had gained, who also considered me as their friend. They all shouted ‘Happy Birthday Lightning and Midnight!’ in unison, before they did their best to hug us in a massive group hug. Even though I felt my body being squeezed past the standard limit, I couldn’t help but smile and laugh.

“Thank you everypony for this wonderful day! I mean night- I mean… ya know what I meant!” My sister said giggling, as I laughed along with her along with the rest of the crowd.

“Go ahead you two, blow the candle and make a wish.” My mother said as me and my sister stepped in front of the cake. The delicious pastry was of blue and white color, with lightning marks on the side. We smiled at each other as we mentally agreed to blow five candles each. And as we closed our eyes and prepared to blow, I silently wished this:

“I wish to one day be able to fly, and show everypony what I can do.”

Immediately upon blowing the candles together, the crowd began to cheer and the lights turned back on. My father immediately helped put on some party hats and the event began to go into full swing. Apparently either they had a good party planner or my mom was just good at doing everything for us as in just a few hours, they managed to make everything look perfect. From party games to decorations, the house had completely changed its appearance.

Soon I joined my sister and her friends in their games. We played Pin the Tail on the Donkey, a small Pinata game, and a bunch of other fun pastimes. The cake ultimately met its untimely demise as we kids soon were served a piece of it, with me and my sister gaining a slightly larger portion of it, courtesy of my mom. The parents of these kids also joined in and began to mingle with my mom and dad as they talked about all sorts of things that I didn’t pay attention to. It was our birthday, so why distract ourselves from anything other than celebrating?

As seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours, we were able to plow through the entire night, going past midnight and into the early hours before sunrise. Something that I found interesting was that ponies, who usually sleep through the day, are granted unlimited energy the night before the solstice, which would’ve been really helpful information for the nine-year-old me who thought using sugar and sweets as an energy source was a good idea. While I did (barely) manage to stay awake back then, that was at the cost of a tummy ache soon after, so it was good that my mother convinced me to not do the same thing this year.

“Everypony! Thank you for coming here and celebrating my children’s birthday, but I’m afraid we’re going to have to pack up soon because sunrise is about to come!” My mother exclaimed, causing everybody to immediately squeal in delight before they rushed out, my sister and I included. As our parents followed behind us to make sure nobody was being left behind or lost, I noticed Twilight and Spike among the crowd of spectators, but they were too far away to be reached in time, and with risk of being lost, I decided to stay put. Instead, I opted to lean on my sister’s shoulder and smile.

“Love you, sis,” I said out loud, causing my sister to smile.

“You too, dear brother. Look! It’s Princess Celestia!” My sister exclaimed. The crowd began to cheer as Celestia landed in front of them, being escorted by several royal guards by her side, the Equestrian flag hanging in the background. The audience began to quiet down as she began to give her speech, before lifting herself in the air. We watched in awe as the sun quickly rose behind her, giving the impression that she was the glowing sun, as the night sky disappeared and revealed the wonderful early sunrise colors in the background.

We all cheered. Such a sight occurred every year, but having Princess Celestia present herself and raise it in front of you is somewhat rare, given that she tended to move from city to town each year to host the celebration. My parents came from behind and hugged me and my sister, and I found myself letting out tears of joy.

This tenth birthday of ours was the best one yet!

Meeting Twilight Sparkle

Author's Note

After thinking about it for a moment, instead of being uploaded on Tuesdays, this story will be updated as often as possible, maybe once or twice per week, to speed up the rate that this story is going. This may apply to other stories, but this rule will only be applied to this one for now.

I've also formed a new Youtube Channel, so check it out if you want by typing my name 'Midnight Blitzer' on youtube. You should be able to find it.

Like, Comment, Track, Follow, and Enjoy this story!

Meeting Twilight Sparkle

Arc: Childhood
Chapter 3: Meeting Twilight Sparkle

“Midnight! Time to wake up~!”

Five seconds later, I found myself flailing in the air before landing face-first onto the floor of my bedroom. Once again my sister decided to appear in my room, once again she decided to bounce on my bed, and once again she caused me to tumble onto the floor. I simply let out a sigh as I slowly lifted my gaze towards her.

“I’m beginning to feel that you like doing this to me,” I stated as I looked outside my window and tried to see where the sun was. Shortly after Celestia's presentation of raising the sun in front of us, me and my sister had quickly gone to sleep. Thankfully, just like how ponies can party throughout the entire night before the rising of the sun, they can continue feeling energized for the rest of the day. Of course, kids like us still need to sleep given that we’re still growing, but even so, we just need a small nap of an hour or two to become recharged again.

My sister gave me a small smile upon hearing my words before she went in front of me and began to ruffle my mane.

“Duwu i wook wike the pony who wouwd pwank theiw wittwe bwothew?” Lightning Spark asked me while using a cute English variant. Unfortunately for her though, I wasn’t so easily demolished by her cute sounds, and I simply laughed it off.

“Yes. You’re the type of pony who would do that to me.” I said jokingly as I hugged my sister. “I guess you woke me up because mom told you so?” I asked. If we were to compare each other, my sister was always the one who woke up earlier than me, early enough that my mom practically made her my alarm clock, even though I already have one.

Lightning Spark simply nodded with a smile.

“Yep! You do remember that you have to go with Twilight starting today right?” My sister asked, which was understandable, seeing that I tended to drift in my thoughts and forget about a few things. Unlike other times though, I was able to remember and thus nodded.

“Yeah, I do. Thanks for waking me up.” I said as I began to lift myself from the ground. “Just please don’t make it a habit of throwing me off my bed ok?” I request. Lightning simply smiled as she gave me a mischief smirk.

“No promises.” My sister stated, causing me to roll my eyes before heading to the bathroom to get ready for the day. After a few minutes, I glided downstairs like I always do and sat in my chair, where my dad was reading a newspaper article.

“Hey, dad! What are you reading?” I asked my dad, but to my surprise, he completely missed what I said and continued to read the article. “Dad?” I asked once again, but like before, he was unaware of my presence. He wore a serious expression as he continued to read the news. “Dad!” I yelled. Upon realizing that my dad wouldn’t respond to me, I tried looking at the article he was reading, but before I could even read the first bold sentence, he noticed me and quickly hid the newspaper away.

“H-Hey son! How long have you been there?” My dad asked, trying to keep his cool, though I could feel that he had become a bit nervous. I simply let out a light-hearted laugh, trying to make him calm down.

“Just recently arrived. What are you reading dad?” I asked as I leaned over the table to see what it was about. Before I could find out though, my mother touched me in the shoulder as she held over a plate of pancakes with her wing.

“Breakfast is served!” My mom said as she placed the plate in front of me. Immediately I had forgotten what I was about to ask, my attention having fully swayed to eating the pancakes. After putting on some strawberry jam and white syrup (which I believe is called buttermilk syrup), I began to munch down on my food. Of course, it didn’t take long for me to remember what I wanted to ask my dad, but seeing that he was eating his meal happily, I decided that should I ever touch that topic again, it would be later.

“So… are you excited to visit this… Twilight Sparkle?” My father asked while my sister joined into the meal along with my mom, the two of them having their conversation. I quickly nodded and let out a smile.

“Yep! While I’m mostly going there to see Spike, I wouldn’t mind talking with her. She’s one of Celestia’s students, so maybe I could try and learn something from her.” I replied. My dad began to scratch his head as he processed what I said.

“Hmm… Twilight Sparkle… like if I remember correctly she’s not only Celestia’s most prized pupil but… hmm… Midnight? Mind doing me a favor?” My dad asked as he turned to face me. I nodded, which allowed him to continue. “Ask Twilight Sparkle if she has a brother and what his name is. Because ‘Sparkle’ sounds a bit familiar to me, but I forgot what it was. Can I trust you in doing that?” My dad asked.

“Sure dad! Anything you want!” I answered. As we all finished eating, we all lifted ourselves from the table. My dad walked over to my mom who simply smiled at him.

“I’ll be going to work if you don’t mind. Want me to bring Lightning Spark with me or do you want to take her with you when you go to drop Midnight off with Twilight?” My dad asked. My mother thought about it for a moment.

“Hmm… Alright. That sounds fair. Take Lightning with you.” My mother said before turning to face Lightning Spark. “Does that sound good to you, or do you want to come with me?” My mom asked. She shrugged.

“Eh. Fine with me. I want to know if it’s true that all that the Royal Guard does is stand around or not.” My sister said, causing my dad to laugh.

“Oh? Is that what you think of me my little Lightning Spark?” My dad said as he walked over to Lightning before attacking her with a flurry of tickles, causing her to laugh. “Maybe I can take you to a flight track so you can practice your skills alright?” Thunder Storm said, to which my sister immediately nodded excitedly.

“Yes! I’d love to go on one of those flying tracks!” My sister exclaimed as she hugged my dad. He grinned as he walked towards the door before opening it.

“Then let’s go right now!” My dad said before the two pegasi spread their wings before flying away. My mother turned to face me with a soft smile.

“Why don’t we go ahead and drop you off with Twilight?” My mother asked. I nodded and soon she grabbed me by the hoof as we headed out of the door. She made sure that the door was locked, before firmly grabbing me and taking us up into the sky. In no time we had arrived at the Canterlot Library where I had first met Spike, and already through the window, I could see him patiently waiting. He soon noticed us flying from the distance and immediately rushed towards the door, disappearing for a moment before reappearing as he opened them, just as we landed.

“Hi Midnight! Hi Midnight’s mom!” The purple baby dragon said, causing my mom to chuckle.

“My name is Snowy Blizzard, Spike.” My mom said, “And no, you don’t have to call me by my full name or by ‘misses’. Just call me Snowy.” My mother immediately added, to which Spike nodded.

“Alright, Mis- I mean Snowy,” Spike said, immediately correcting himself. “You’ll be coming in? Are you two hungry? Cause I can make something for you two eat-”

“We already ate, though we appreciate your offer, Spike.” My mother said, her face forming a neutral expression. “On that note though, I need to talk to Twilight Sparkle about a certain matter, so if you will excuse me I’ll go ahead and meet with your guardian. In the meantime, try spending time with my son if you want.” Snowy said as she stepped through the open door. The two of us simply blinked.

“Yeah, I don’t think she likes how Twilight is operating and is going to do her best to ‘educate’ her,” I stated, which caused Spike to drop onto the floor and laugh.

“Educate! Oh, that’s a good one!” The small purple baby dragon exclaimed as he continued to laugh. Seeing the joke I unintentionally created, I began to laugh as well, with a bit more control though.

“Oh, dear. Twilight must be deep in that rabbit hole if that’s a joke.” I commented. “Let’s just go inside shall we?” I asked. Spike nodded and thus the two of us walked through the doors, closing them behind us. We soon noticed my mom and Twilight talking near a table, but based on her movements, expression, and random twitching, I was able to tell that Twilight had just recently experienced another ‘Blizzard Attack’.

“Spike?” Twilight Sparkle asked, causing the young dragon to look up to her.

“Yes, Twilight? Let me guess: You need me to organize all of these bookshelves again before cleaning up the floor right?” Spike asked, causing Twilight to freeze and look over to my mom nervously. She let out a nervous laugh before turning back towards the small dragon.

“U-Uhm… actually Spike… why don’t you take the day off? You can make those chores optional. I… I need to talk with Midnight’s mom for a moment.” Twilight said nervously. Seeing that she was becoming more and more nervous, I decided to step next to her and give her a soft smile.

“Hey Twilight! How are you?” I asked, trying to start a conversation with her. She simply let out a nervous laugh before sighing.

“I could be better… Your mom is a very tough mare Midnight.” Twilight said, before nervously laughing again. Deciding to do what my father asked, I decided to go ahead and ask her a question.

“Hey, Twilight. Do you have a brother?” I asked, causing the purple unicorn to blink at me.

“Uhm… yes…? What about him?” Twilight asked in confusion, not knowing where I wanted to take this conversation. I decided to press forward with the subject.

“What’s his name, and who is he?” I asked, causing her to look at me, still confused, before letting out a soft smile.

“Oh? You mean my BBBFF?” Twilight asked. Now it was my turn to become confused as I tried to figure out what that acronym meant.

“I presume that means Big Brother Best Friend Forever?” I asked hesitantly, hoping I didn’t get it wrong. Twilight simply beamed as she heard me say those words.

“You got it! You don’t know how many ponies struggle learning what BBBFF means! His name is Shining Armor, and he just became Captain of the Royal Guard just last year! I try to keep in contact with him, but with him doing his duties and I having to study, it’s been hard, to say the least. Why did you ask anyway?” Twilight Sparkle asked, raising an eyebrow towards me.

“My dad wanted me to ask you about your brother. Considering that he is a Royal Guard, he probably met or heard about Shining Armor, and thus when he heard that I was going to visit you he probably connected the dots, but still wanted to make sure that he was right.” I stated. Twilight Sparkle simply nodded.

“I guess that makes sense… So I guess you’re going to be playing with Spike now?” The purple unicorn asked. From the corner of my eye, I could see Spike’s eyes glinting as he thought about the possibilities of playing with me, especially since his chores were now optional for the day. I nodded.

“Yeah. I plan on playing some things with him, but is there something you’d want to do?” I asked, causing both Twilight, Spike, and my mother to blink. My mother soon began to smile while the other two remained confused.

“Uhm… Study?” Twilight said hesitantly, lifting a large textbook with her magic. I simply shook my head.

“Why don’t we play three-way chess?” I offered, causing Spike and Twilight to blink at me. My mother’s smile only grew when Twilight began to smile as well.

“You like chess right?” She asked, to which I nodded. “Yeah. I loved playing that game with my brother. I usually won. So you want to play three-way chess with me and Spike right?” She asked, to which I nodded.

“Like if Spike is ok with that, we could spend the first half-hour doing it,” I said. “Wanna join Spike?” I offered. The small baby dragon thought for a moment before nodding.

“Sure. We do have all day to have fun, even if I decided to do some chores on my own accord.” Spike said, before smiling at me. “Sure! Let me get the old three-way chessboard we used to play with Shining.” Spike said as he disappeared around the corner. My mother simply smiled at me and Twilight.

“Well, I need to go back home. Stay safe Midnight, and take good care of him Twilight.” Snowy Blizzard said as she lifted herself from the table. Twilight simply shivered but kept a warm smile.

“Bye Snowy! I’ll try to remember what you said.” The purple unicorn said as my mom stepped outside.

“Bye, mom!” I yelled just before she closed the door. She stopped for a moment, smiled at me, before leaving. Immediately when the doors closed, Twilight let out a sigh of relief before staring at me.

“Your mother really can be scary sometimes.” She stated. I simply rolled my eyes at her. Soon enough, Spike brought a circular board and set it on the table. Unlike the black and white chessboard me and my sister had, this board had a light and dark brown pattern. The three sets of pieces came in black, gray, and white colors, which I found to be satisfying.

“So how shall we decide to play then?” Spike asked. I decided to raise my hoof, which brought their attention to me.

“Can I have the gray pieces please?” I asked. Twilight simply nodded.

“Alright, I’ll take the black pieces then, and Spike can play the white pieces. We’ll switch colors when we finish this game.” Twilight stated. Spike shrugged before he began to set the pieces. Immediately I noticed that several pieces were adjacent to each other like how my right rook was next to Spike’s left rook and my left rook was next to Twilight’s right rook. Before I was able to comment on that, I then noticed the green line that separated our armies, and I was able to understand from there that those borderline pieces wouldn’t be captured until they passed that wall.

I also noticed various colored oval-shaped lines within the circular board, which I presumed would help players figure out where to move their bishop or queens in a diagonal pattern. After studying the board for a bit longer and developing strategies, we shook hooves (or claw in Spike’s case) and began our game.

We all ended up playing the King’s Pawn move, though it felt strange how it looked like it barely moved at all given that the board was scaled up to 12x12. As the game began to progress, I began to realize that Spike, though very young, was much more intelligent than the average kid, playing moves that usually ended up balancing the struggle between me and him. Against Twilight though, there was no such thing as competition as she began to dominate us, checking us using the diagonal paths of the chessboard. But while Spike was nearing capitulation, that didn’t mean that I wasn’t able to put up a fair fight. Each time she took a piece, I’d either take it back or create a threat that she’d have to deal with. Pretty soon Spike was just reduced to a King with two pawns while me and Twilight duked it out, ‘simplifying’ things as we continued to take pieces from each other.

Of course, I always felt like she was holding back, making moves that were always ‘excellent’, but never the ‘best’, as if she wanted to see where I lay. However, as we moved into the endgame, the advantage quickly began to slip into Twilight’s favor, who must’ve studied that category extensively, as in a matter of no time she slipped a queen into a square, attacking both of our Kings and saying a simple sentence.

“Checkmate.”

I looked down and saw that me and Spike were both pinned to the sides, however, I felt great about this match. I was able to find somebody stronger than me and had a good time fighting against them. Even though I lost, I felt a sense of pride that I was able to put up a fair fight against her. I proceeded to lift my hoof towards her and smile.

“Good Game,” I said, and the two of us shook hooves. She simply smiled.

“You’re a rather good player Midnight. I think you’d be placed as an ‘advanced beginner’, you’re around the rating of 1200 to 1400, which is pretty high for your age. Spike on the other hand is around a rating of around 1000, which again is good for his age, as I’ve been trying to teach him how to become intelligent despite his youth. I’m in the 2000+ Rating though, so considering that you were able to fight well against me is pretty impressive. You remind me of my brother in that regard, as you two might have similar ratings.” Twilight commented, which caused me to smile.

“Thanks Twilight. Wanna play again, this time just you and me?” I asked. Twilight looked over to Spike, who shrugged.

“You two could do whatever you want. After all, he’s going to be visiting us for an entire month, maybe even more depending on your choice. I’ll go ahead and do some chores if you want, maybe read some comics afterward before cooking up something for us to eat.” Spike responded. Twilight simply sighed before coming over to Spike and hugging him.

“You do what you think is best, Spike.” Twilight Sparkle said before she disappeared around a corner before bringing back the regular chessboard. “So Midnight. Wanna play for a few more rounds?” Twilight asked me as Spike left to go ahead and read some comics by himself. I instantly beamed as she began to place the chess pieces.

“Let’s do this!” I yelled enthusiastically as I chose the white pieces and played the King’s Pawn, beginning the game.

The next few hours were intense but had the same outcome.

No matter what I tried, no matter how many times I threatened her King with a knight fork, a bishop, a queen, a rook, or any of the many ways I could attack her, her experience with the endgame always gave her the edge. Now, that didn’t mean that I was angry at her, far from the contrary, as I was able to grow from my mistakes at a decent pace. However, it was annoying feeling so close to victory, only to end up losing in the end.

It got even more annoying as my mind began to tire out and I began to create blunders. Sometimes I would move the pawns in front of my knight before getting sniped by a bishop or a queen. Sometimes checkmate was inevitable due to her being able to keep both of her rooks while I only had a bishop left. Sometimes it was the old-fashioned queen-rook checkmate that got me, other times she was able to promote her pawn to a queen first. Against her, victory seemed downright impossible.

But I continued to try, and whenever I felt that she was trying to go easy on me, I’d tell her to stop and that she should continue fighting aggressively. Otherwise, how would I learn if my opponent gave me the win on a silver platter?

By the end of the day though, I was exhausted. Spike, after doing some chores and reading some comics, decided to act like a host announcer of some sort as he tried to predict what our future moves would be. Again, early to mid-game isn’t a problem for me. It’s the end game that proves to be the most difficult for me. The moment I saw her two rooks and queen ready to beam down at my weakest points, I knew I was dead because my King would always be in a weak position.

“Twilight? I’m tired right now…” I simply stated as she checked me for perhaps the 100th time today. The purple mare simply sighed before giving me a soft smile.

“Yeah, me too. You’re a good opponent, but you need to learn how to pin me down in the endgame. Still, it was nice playing with you. This was the most fun I had since I played with Shiny.” Twilight said. She taught me that she likes to call her older brother by the name of ‘Shiny’, while he would call her ‘Twily’. It sounded cute to be honest, seeing how those two were close together.

Hearing her say that it was fun playing with me caused me to let out a smile and a soft laugh.

“Heh. Thanks, Twilight.” I said, before pausing as I thought about asking another question, but unsure as to what would be her response. “Hey, Twilight?” I asked, causing her to bring her attention to me while she began to put the pieces away. “Are we friends now?” I asked. This caused the purple mare to freeze, her eyes darting around. She still seemed reluctant to make me her friend, perhaps not because I was younger than her, or because I wasn’t suited for her, but most likely because friendship was still something she felt she wasn’t ready for?

“I… well… I guess I never really had true friends. I only have my study group, but even calling them friends would stretch the line.” Twilight stated, causing me to frown a bit.

“Twilight… I think my mom is right about something. You need to make friends. And I could be your first one!” I said, trying to convince her with my enthusiastic voice. She simply placed a hoof on her face as she tried to think.

“I know I know. Everypony tells me to ‘find some friends’. Even Princess Celestia had tried to knock that into my mind. But for a long time, I don’t feel that friends are worth…” The purple mare froze as she realized what she was about to say, which I presumed would've been the words ‘worth the time’. She went silent for a moment as she tried to find a better way to say it, but before long she let out a sigh. “I just never felt like it was… like I needed friends… They might be worth it for others… but… I never found myself needing friends ya know? If I had a problem, all I needed to do was either formulate a plan inside my head to solve it or read a textbook about that problem. Friends weren’t necessary if I could do things myself.” Twilight stated, looking down at the table. The two of us stayed silent, which allowed me to hear Spike cooking something in the background (apparently this library had a place for Twilight and Spike to live in, this was their home in a nutshell). Finally, after a few minutes, she spoke.

“I’m not ready for friendship Midnight. I just… I just don’t have the need or want inside me…” Twilight said, which caused my ears to lower a bit in disappointment. “But… I’d be interested in trying with you.”

My frown instantly turned into a smile as I heard her say that, my body becoming excited, and a grin was plastered on my face.

“R-Really?” I asked, wanting to hear her confirm what she said. She did a light shrug, softly smiling while doing so.

“Sure. You’re a good kid, and even if we don’t end up being friends, I think we could develop some type of teacher-student relationship if you want to learn chess from me. Which would kind of be like friendship? I don’t know, this whole concept is new to me. This is the first time that a subject has caused me to think this long.” Twilight stated, laughing a bit. I laughed along with her.

“Yeah. Sure. Friendship doesn’t need to happen immediately. We can try slowly ya know? Learn what we both like, our interests, and such. And maybe I could help you turn your study group into a real group of friends if you want Twi.” I said. She smiled.

“That sounds fine.” The young mare said before gesturing towards the kitchen area. “I think Spike prepared something special tonight. I will change how much he has to work since your mother pointed out that I should give him a bit more care, but I can’t deny that he’s been a good cook. So… Wanna head over to eat there?” Twilight asked. I nodded once more.

“Sure,” I replied. She smiled softly before lifting herself and putting the chessboard and pieces away.

“Then let’s go,” Twilight said. I immediately hopped out of my chair, smiling. Maybe we weren’t officially friends, but there was the chance that we could end up being close. Not to mention that I could help turn her study group into her new close friends and develop a friendship with Spike as well.

Hopefully, I will be able to make a difference and help Twilight find the meaning of friendship!

Coming Home

Author's Note

Hey guys! It's me, Midnight Blitzer, and I am once again back in production with this story!
It's been a long time since I've touched this story, but I've come determined to continue this fic. While I have become busier than usual with other side projects, most of them are non-writing-related, meaning that any second I use for writing will be dedicated to this story!

I will try to post a new chapter as often as I can, and hopefully, with the new system I made for myself, I will be posting several chapters throughout the following months.

Anyways, wish me luck, and Midnight Blitzer signing out!

Also it's my B Day so yay.

Coming Home

Arc: Childhood
Chapter 4: Coming Home

As the two of us entered the kitchen, I immediately felt a strong aroma of great food flowing throughout the room while hearing a familiar voice humming a well-written tune. Looking around for the source, my eyes slightly widened as I saw Spike expertly flipping various Morning Stars (veggie patties) while slicing a bunch of vegetables at the same time.

"W-Wow Spike! Twilight said that you were a good cook, but I'd think you'd pass off as a master chef with those kinds of skills!" I exclaimed as I was continuously marveled by how calm and coordinated his movements were. Upon hearing this the small purple dragon formed a small blush on his face at the admiration he was being given.

"Well I don't know about being a master chef, but I'm certainly a good cook!" Spike replied as he turned off the stove and began to form some hayburgers from what he prepared. Twilight simply smiled before giving Spike a nice hug.

"Thanks Spike, you were a real help today. Though I do have to ask why it took you an hour or however long me and Midnight played for you to cook this. You're usually very fast at this." The purple mare stated, causing the baby dragon to grin as he lightly tapped the oven's door.

"Well, that's because I made something else before doing this. Otherwise, I would've called you two much earlier." Spike answered before taking off an apron that he had been wearing and placing it to the side. "The surprise still needs time to cook, so why don't we go ahead and eat first!"

"Yeah! I can't wait to try what you made!" I exclaimed energetically as Spike finished his final preparations before placing three hayburgers on the table. Upon seeing that I had nowhere to sit, Twilight magically lifted a chair before placing it next to where I was.

"Thanks Twilight! Thanks Spike!" I said as I took a seat and took a bite out of the hayburger. My mouth instantly watered at the unique texture and flavor it had, and soon I found myself munching on it at a rapid pace. It was only till I was halfway done did I notice the pair of them looking at me, causing me to sheepishly smile at them.

“Well, what can I say? It’s really good!” I nervously announced. The two of them looked at each other before letting out a soft giggle.

“Oh don’t you worry about it Midnight. I can’t help but zone out whenever I eat one of these,” Twilight said with a smile, which caused Spike to laugh as this triggered a memory in his mind.

“Ha! I remember the time you were eating so many of these inside a restaurant that somepony thought you brought a lawnmower inside the building!” The purple dragon exclaimed, continuing to laugh out loud. The purple unicorn simply rolled her eyes, lifted a nearby newspaper, rolled it up, before proceeding to bonk the young drake’s head.

“Anyways, I think it would be a good idea for us to just enjoy this meal and to not bring up any past events for our own entertainment, alright? Cause I do have some very ‘interesting’ events about you, Spike, that I will be ‘forced’ to use if you seek to continue that path.” Twilight playfully warned as she gazed down at her purple assistant, who simply rolled his eyes while forming a soft smile.

“Alright, deal.” The purple dragon said as he munched on his hayburger. I smiled happily at the two of them before continuing to eat my food. It was only when Twilight practically obliterated her burger in one massive bite that Spike lifted a scroll in his hand while forming a smug look.

“Luckily for me, my stories are less embarrassing than yours!”

“SPIKE!”

I couldn’t help but laugh as Spike began to list off some of the most embarrassing moments in Twilight’s life while the purple mare hurried to retrieve Spike’s own list of hilarious events. As the purple unicorn returned with her own scroll to combat the dragon’s attack, I simply sat back, took a bite out of my hayburger and watched as the battle unfolded.

By the time the oven pinged to signal the war’s end, many stories had been fired from the two siblings. From Twilight’s ‘book fort’ collapsing onto her to Spike’s many failed attempts at breathing fire, there was never a single moment that didn’t cause me to laugh. Despite the initial rivalry to up the other’s embarrassing moments, they soon began to laugh at how ridiculous they must’ve looked in retrospect.

“Well, that was fun to watch!” I exclaimed to Twilight while stifling a laugh. Spike meanwhile proceeded to take out a delicious-looking pie from the oven. The purple mare simply rolled her eyes while holding a small smile.

“While I would’ve preferred that some dragon remained quiet,” Twilight stated as she stared directly at the purple drake, who simply grinned at her fake face of anger as he placed the dessert onto the table, “I do have to agree that it was fun telling these stories. Pie?” The unicorn asked as she sliced up the treat with her magic.

“Sure!”

I happily accepted my slice before proceeding to eat it, with Twilight and Spike following suit as they got their slices as well. Like the burgers the pie ended up being very delicious, causing me to let out a satisfied sigh as I enjoyed my treat.

As I finished wiping my mouth with a small napkin, Twilight turned to check the clock before looking at me and clearing her throat, catching my attention as she spoke.

“So Midnight, your mom told me to bring you home at a specific time, and well that time has come.” The purple mare stated, causing Spike to let out a sigh.

“Awww… I wanted Midnight to stay here to read some comics! We were going to do that!”

“Well, we did end up playing chess for some time. The good thing though is that Midnight will be visiting us for a month straight, so you’ll have a lot of time to do some things with him.” Twilight said as she patted the drake’s head, causing the purple dragon’s eyes to shimmer with happiness.

“Alright! I’m fine with that deal! But what about after the month? Will we still meet?” Spike asked as he looked up to the purple mare, given that she had the final say in all of this. The unicorn simply scratched her mane as she thought about this.

“While I would love to keep seeing Midnight every day afterward, I have to keep studying for Celestia. One of the reasons he’s leaving right now is because I have to catch up on reading the new book that Celestia sent me a few days ago. I’ll still need to study as her student.” The mare stated before looking at me as she continued to speak. “I’ll find a way to accommodate you in my schedule, Midnight.” Twilight reassuringly said. I simply nodded upon hearing this.

“Alright. While I’ll probably be spending time with Spike if you end up being very busy, maybe I could sometimes join whatever you’re doing? Maybe study with you?” I offered, causing the mare to giggle a bit.

“Oh Midnight. While I appreciate the offer, I’ve become so advanced in my studies that even most adults struggle to fully comprehend what I’m talking about, much less someone of your age.” The purple unicorn stated. “Still, I appreciate the gesture, and I am certain that you’ll have fun with him. But now, we’ll need to go right now.”

Her horn glowed as she levitated her saddlebag over to her and placed it on her back. After placing the dishes in the sink, Twilight and Spike began to head towards the exit, causing me to follow them.

Given how close my home was to the library, I was able to show them where my house was, and from there the three of us quickly walked through the streets. There wasn’t much that Spike and I could’ve talked about, as we were practically already on my house’s block by the time we could even begin to formulate ideas of what we could discuss. Soon we were in front of my home, a cloud-styled house that brought a small Cloudsdale vibe to Canterlot.

“Mom! I’m home!” I yelled as I announced my presence. The door opened revealing my mother who stood at the entrance of the house. She instantly smiled upon seeing me and rushed to hug me. I smiled as I felt myself get pulled into her grasp, feeling protected under her wings. She looked up to Twilight with a soft smile.

“So Twilight, how did things go with you and Midnight?” Snowy Blizzard asked. While she tried her best to reflect my mother’s tone, the memory of the blizzard attacks resurfaced, causing Twilight to stutter a bit.

“Uhm things went well! Very well! Me, Spike, and Midnight played some chess together!” The purple unicorn said with a hint of anxiety. While I have never felt my mother’s blizzard attack, even I knew that it was scary to see her neutral face stare down at you.

Thankfully Snowy Blizzard didn’t carry that face anymore, as it was clear that she was happy that Twilight had played one of my favorite games during my stay. Releasing me from her hug, the snowy blue pegasus walked over to her before softly stroking her mane.

“It’s alright Twilight, I won’t blizzard you again. I saw the enthusiasm when you said those words, and I’m happy that you took the time to play with Midnight instead of shoving him with Spike. You’re a good pony, you just need to learn how to socialize, that's all.” My mom stated with another smile, causing Twilight to blink as she realized she was safe for now.

“Uhm… Ok…”

“Thank you for taking care of Midnight by the way.” Snowy Blizzard said before turning to face me. “Now say goodbye to them son.”

I looked at the purple unicorn and drake before waving my hoof at them while wearing a smile.

“Bye Twilight! Bye Spike! Hope to see you tomorrow again!” I exclaimed, the two of them waving back at me.

“See ya Midnight.” The purple unicorn replied with a soft smile.

“Hope to read some comics with you tomorrow Midnight!” Spike enthusiastically yelled as he and Twilight began to walk away. Soon they became nothing but small dots as they got further and further away until they eventually disappeared from my view. As I let out a small sigh, my mother tapped me on the shoulder while she began to walk back to the house.

“Come Midnight, let us go inside right now.” My mother said as she opened the door. I nodded before walking towards the door, made sure that I wasn’t bringing any dirt inside, and entered the house.

As I looked around I soon realized that Lightning had yet to return home from her trip with my dad as she was nowhere in sight. Though my mom was nearby in the kitchen, I couldn’t help but shiver as I walked towards the table where we had eaten earlier in the morning. It just felt strange being all alone, and thus I began to see if I could distract myself with something.

It didn’t take me long to stumble across the newspaper that Thunder Storm was reading. At first, I thought about leaving it alone, but soon curiosity took the better of me as I lifted the item and placed it on the table for me to read.

I blinked as I noticed that my father had not completed the crossword that was always on the back of the print. He liked solving this in the morning and would usually finish before he needed to leave for work, but for some reason, he had not touched the backside at all. Remembering how he seemed serious when reading the article, I presumed that my answer was simply a flip away. Taking a deep breath I decided to go forwards and see what my dad was reading.

Turning the newspaper to the front page, I raised an eyebrow at the headline, which read “Changeling Civil War Ended!: Peace In Our Time!”. Reading further, the article stated how a young proto-queen was finally able to end the conflict after uniting all the changelings under one banner. I quickly became confused. Why did my dad have that neutral face while reading the article? Wasn’t it good that the changelings didn’t have to fight each other?

I simply sighed as I soon lost interest in what the article was saying. Maybe I didn’t get the bigger picture. Maybe dad was worried that he would have to work a bit longer due to some protocol about a new nation appearing? Maybe this was simply none of my business and I shouldn’t be even thinking about this.

With my sister still absent from the house I decided to simply go upstairs and take a nap. My mother knew that I would usually sleep whenever I felt bored, so I knew she wouldn’t get worried. Walking up the stairs I soon opened the door to my room, snuggled into my bed, before proceeding to doze off.

.
.
.

“Oh Midnight~”

I opened my eyes only to yelp as I saw my sister already jumping onto the bed. Wanting to go out on my terms I immediately rolled myself off my bed, letting out an ‘oomph!’ as I landed onto the floor. Not expecting my sudden move, my sister let out a yelp as she bounced off of my bed at the wrong angle. Unfortunately for me, that angle turned out to be exactly what was needed for her to end up landing on me, causing me to let out another ‘oomph!’ as she landed on my back.

After quickly regaining her composure, my sister gave me a wide grin as she looked at me from above as I groaned underneath her.

“You tried to be sneaky huh? Luckily for me, I still got you~!” Lightning said in a singsong voice, lightly taunting me from the high ground. I simply rolled my eyes before lifting myself up, or at least I tried to as I was unable to lift our combined weights. My sister flew up into the air just when I collapsed back onto the ground. The white-furred pegasus simply giggled before she helped me up. After I recovered my balance my sister looked up at me with a smile.

“So, how was your day? Did you have fun with Twilight and Spike?” Lightning asked. I enthusiastically nodded at her question. Before I could return the question she beat me to it as she continued. “Well, my day was very fun! Did you know that the military has these amazing obstacle courses for fliers? It was so cool! I got to see dad fly through these courses and he’s very fast! He could have easily been a Wonderbolt had things been different!”

My sister began to pace around the room excitedly as I simply watched her.

“So there’s a course for flyers in the military?” I asked out of curiosity. Not like I could participate in them given that I currently couldn’t fly. My sister quickly nodded.

“Yep! Dad says that he might be able to get permission so that I could try out the course! Apparently, the Wonderbolts are a branch of the military, so maybe this is my way to enter their ranks!” Lightning exclaimed before coming up with an idea. “You should come too! You can see me fly out there, and who knows? Maybe we could get an instructor for you!”

While I was enticed by her idea, I soon remembered my plans with Twilight and Spike and quickly brought this up to Lightning.

“I like the idea, but well, I want to be with Twilight and Spike. It was very fun being with them, and like my mom, I want to see her create stronger friendships with those she knows. Plus, didn’t dad try to teach me how to fly? I’m fine taking things slow and steady, and I’ll probably eventually learn how to do what you do.” I explained, yet Lightning continued to insist.

“Oh come on brother! You can play chess with her another day. I’ll still respect your decision to go with her should you decide that, but even if you don’t want to fly, I want you to be there. I want you to see me fly. Please Midnight?”

After seeing just how much my sister wanted me to come with her, I simply rolled my eyes before smiling at her.

“Alright alright, I’ll come. It’ll be cool seeing dad at work, and I’ll make sure to be there for you when you take your shot at the course.” I said, only to let out another ‘oomph’ as Lightning tackle-hugged me. It took all my strength to prevent us from collapsing onto the floor as she began to become excited.

“Thank you Midnight! I’ll make sure to give the best performance I can for you!” The blue-tinted white pegasus said before heading towards the door. “I’ll tell dad that you’re interested in coming. See ya!” Lightning said before sliding down the stair rails. I couldn’t help but smile as I heard her excitedly talk about her plans with my father downstairs. It was good that Lightning was taking a huge initiative to become a Wonderbolt, and I’m certain that with that added practice she would tear her competition apart when she was old enough to sign up.

I walked up to the mirror as I looked at myself. I let out a strained grunt as I extended my wings to their full wingspan. My wings were quite large, thus they ended up being too heavy for me to properly lift. After seeing me unable to fly after he tried to teach me, my dad told me to set a time to repeatedly extend my wings so that I could get accustomed to their weight. He told me that if I was able to extend them with no strain at all, I would finally be able to take flight. Of course, this was easier said than done, and the most I managed to do was to glide with them, but I had high hopes that I’ll match my sister’s flying capabilities one day.

I know I will!

Military Track

Author's Note

Hello everyone! It's me, Midnight Blitzer! After some delays due to time, I finally was able to finish this fifth chapter, which will introduce a character that will appear later down the line again!

For chapter 6 I might require the same, less, or more time depending on circumstances as I will need to watch some MLP episodes for research! I hope you guys like this chapter, and I'll see you all next time!

Military Track

Arc: Childhood
Chapter 5: Military Track

The sound of wind getting forcefully pushed echoed through the air as a small but fast blur of mass traveled around a massive room. With a very good speed, my sister flew through various rings that were suspended in the middle of the air, took several sharp turns as she sped through some very tight corridors, before appearing in front of my view before continuing the loop.

It was a few days after I visited Twilight and Spike. My father, being one of the top officials in the military, was able to reserve some time and space for him and Lightning to fly in. Of course, some officials decided to spectate the small but agile pegasus, wanting to see what the daughter of one of their most talented guards could do, all of which naturally boosted her ego.

The wind whistled as my sister performed another tight turn, the white blue-tinted pegasus getting bolder and bolder each time she made another lap. At first, Lightning somewhat struggled with the course, taking a somewhat slow pace to not crash into the objects that hung in the air, but by the time the spectators had arrived she had rapidly increased both her speed and agility, the entire track becoming ingrained in her mind as she continuously improved.

Though bummed out by the news, Twilight and Spike were nevertheless happy that I was going to support my sister and told me to wish her good luck. I was also saddened by the fact that I couldn’t be with the unicorn-drake pair, as Spike wanted me to read the newest edition of the Power Ponies with him, but we figured that we could read it together the next day.

Speaking of the Sparkles, I kept forgetting to answer my dad’s question about who Twilight’s brother was. I either had a hyperactive Lightning Spark to watch out for or my dad was at work doing guard things. That and I tended to forget things if I don’t get reminded. Deciding that now was the best time to tell him I scooted over to where my father sat before tapping him on the shoulder, getting his attention.

“Oh uhm, Twilight’s brother is called Shining Armor.” I awkwardly said, knowing that I had forgotten to tell him days ago. The dark blue pegasus simply chuckled before ruffling my mane.

“Ah Midnight, I almost forgot that I asked you that question in the first place. Thanks for remembering.” Thunder Storm said with a soft smile before going into his thoughts. “Shining Armor… I heard about his rapid ascent in the military. It’s nice seeing a youngster like him become the Captain of the Royal Guard. I hope to see good things come from him.” My father said before going back to spectate my sister.

I simply smiled as I decided to join him, but I couldn’t help but twitch my eyes whenever I felt somebody was looking at me. Finally having had enough, I turned to see a yellow pegasus with a red mane staring at my wings with a calculative look. I raised an eyebrow at him, and thus he decided to approach me and my dad.

“Your son has a nice pair of wings, Thunder Storm.” The guard stated. The fit stallion seemed to be around 20 years old, and while I didn’t know much about ranks, he seemed high enough to talk to my dad informally. My father simply smiled at the young guard.

“Yes he does. Nice to see you again, Fiery Kickstart. What brings you here?” The dark blue pegasus asked, though he already knew what made Fiery come here. The yellow pegasus looked up to where Lightning was flying, her pace had increased once more, though she started to look fatigued after so many laps.

“Well, when I heard that your daughter was going to fly the track I couldn’t help but come here to spectate. Is your son going to try?” Fiery Kickstart asked as he stared at my wings again. Thunder Storm simply shook his head.

“His wings are too heavy for him to fly, so in the meantime, he’s unable to take the course.”

Fiery Kickstart gives me a sympathetic look before letting out a sigh.

“Well kid, hope you’ll learn how to fly soon. It defines us pegasi and it would be a shame to see you unable to experience it.”

The young soldier shook his head once more before looking back at Thunder Storm.

“Anyways I think I will take my leave. It was nice seeing you and your children. I hope you teach your son how to fly soon, cause with those wings he’ll be breaking records for his age group rather quickly.” With that the stallion turned around and left, leaving me and my father alone to spectate Lightning as she finally began to slow down.

After completing her final lap the now extremely fatigued pegasus slowly landed onto the floor, her wings barely keeping her body airborne before she finally touched the ground. Slowly trotting to us, my sister grabbed a nearby water bottle before finishing it in one go as she threw her head back and drank the substance. Wiping the liquid off her mouth she continued to pant as she looked at me.

“Thanks for coming here Midnight.” Lightning Spark said before looking at Thunder Storm with a grin. “Dad! How did I go?” My sister asked energetically, causing the stallion to chuckle.

“You did great Lightning. With that type of skill, I know you’ll be able to achieve your dream of becoming a Wonderbolt.” The stallion stated, smiling as my sister’s face nearly glowed with energy.

“Thank you dad!” Lightning Spark exclaimed before she proceeded to hug our father. He brushed her mane with his hoof as we began to walk away.

“You're welcome. Now let’s go home shall we?” My father said as we proceeded to leave the room.

Overall the military buildings looked… ok. While the track that my sister flew in was relatively new, most of the buildings seemed to lack attention. Sure, the gold and marble that decorated the walls looked very nice, but I could tell that the military was not given as much care as other places. And I’m factoring out the fact that the nobles, given that they’re probably rich enough to remodel their homes to make them more luxurious than before. I’m just talking about middle-class families and their homes. Even without a high salary compared to the noble class, those houses look much more maintained and polished than the military buildings Equestria had.

I don’t know, maybe I came just before they remodeled the buildings? If they have a budget to make a new track, then surely they have enough to do maintenance. Then again, the ‘new’ track was actually a few years old and there haven’t been any major additions to the military so who knows.

“Hey dad, why does everything look so uhm… underwhelming?” I asked my father as we walked through the building’s halls, wanting to get some answers. The dark blue pegasus stopped as he looked at his surroundings before closing his eyes and letting out a sigh.

“The military doesn’t get a huge budget, so our ability to maintain our buildings and equipment is limited at best. I’ve been trying to change that, but it hasn’t been easy.” Thunder Storm stated, letting an annoyed sigh this time before we began to walk again.

Clearly, my dad’s attempts at getting a bigger military budget haven’t worked out to say the least. Maybe he needed just a few more ranks to have enough influence? Or maybe it was Celestia herself? After all, Equestria hadn’t been at war in a thousand years, so it’s not like they need to maintain their military, though it would be useful in case anything happened.

As we exited the building I took a look back at the place before softly shaking my head. The military didn’t impress me that much, though if I had checked the other areas, maybe I could’ve been convinced otherwise? The only highlight of this trip was seeing my sister on the course, with my focus being on her rather than the course itself. The track was ok I guess, but not as extremely sophisticated as it could’ve been. Again, to be fair, I hadn’t seen everything. Perhaps there were just more things here that I hadn’t explored.

Not like I plan to visit this place any time soon.

The three of us began to head home, with my dad and sister stopping once in a while for me to catch up. My large but heavy wings made it hard to fly, thus I was limited to just gliding, which slowed my pace considerably. I always have the option to ride on my father’s back, but I wanted to do things by myself, which he understood.

Eventually, we got to our home safe and sound. After the door was unlocked the two of us walked into the living room. I soon spotted my mom, who was slicing some apples in the kitchen room. I smiled as I walked over to greet her.

“Hi mom!”

Snowy Blizzard stopped what she was doing as she realized I was here before proceeding to hug me with her wings.

“Oh Midnight! You’re back! How did things go?” My mother asked with her sweet gentle tone. I simply giggled as I felt her wings softly tickling me.

“Well it was fun! My sister did very well on the track!” I exclaimed while managing to wiggle my way out of her grasp. Snowy simply smiled as she heard the excitement in my voice.

“Oh did she? That’s wonderful!” The white-blue pegasus stated while my sister appeared at the door.

“Oh hey mom! You’re preparing some apples? Nice!” Lightning Spark exclaimed as she walked over to see what types of apples my mom had sliced. “Ah cool! Some red and greens! If everyone’s ok, I’m taking one red one.” My sister exclaimed as she nabbed a red apple slice before walking away while eating it. I couldn’t help but softly chuckle before grabbing a green slice.

As I munched on the treat I wondered what I could talk about with my mom. I always wanted to know more about her, what she did, and what stories about her past. Sometimes she would tell me whenever I’d go to sleep, but lately, I wanted to talk about it more often during the day as well. After searching for an idea I finally found one, and thus I tapped my mom’s shoulder to ask her a question.

“Hey mom. Can you tell me about some of the adventures you had with dad?” I asked Snowy. Sometimes she would tell me and my sister about how they once took a grand tour to travel around the world before they decided to settle down. She told some of her stories, but not all of them, and I wanted to learn more about them.

My mother smiled at me while her eyes became distant for a moment as she pulled a memory from long ago into her mind.

“Well, I remember when me and your dad went to Zebrica once. It was wonderful to enter into the jungle and encounter a Zebrican Tribe. The leader of that tribe was quite nice to us and allowed us to meet his children. It was nice teaching them some tricks that we had, and well the journey inspired us to make a family of our own, as you two were born when we returned to Equestria. If I were to estimate how old they are now, the youngest would probably be around Twilight’s age and the eldest would be a bit older.”

“Wow! Cool!” I exclaimed, happy to once again hear my mother talk about her adventures with my father. “What types of tricks did you teach them?” I questioned, causing my mother to giggle.

“Oh well, you know what type of trick I taught them.” Snowy Blizzard said in an all-knowing voice, causing me to nervously laugh as I realized that out there in Zebrica, a poor group of zebras would be experiencing what every pony who crossed my mother would feel.

“And what did dad teach?” I asked once more, causing my mother to tilt her head as she thought about it.

“I think he spent most of his time talking with the tribe leader. Don’t really know what they talked about since I was with the leader’s two daughters, but if I were to guess they were talking about politics, economics, and military management. Your dad loves to discuss about those things.” The white pegasus replied, causing me to nod.

“Yeah. He told me how he wanted to see the military get a bigger budget to maintain the buildings and their equipment.” I said, looking at the dining room to see my father looking at the newspaper that I secretly grabbed a few days ago. After reading a newspaper my father would usually throw it into the recycling bin, calling it old news, which I guess would make sense as eventually, those papers would get outdated. Yet I was surprised that he still had the newspaper with him, making it one of only a few dozen that he kept for safekeeping.

Why he had kept it was a mystery to me, but I had already planned to not think about it anymore. It was his business and I shouldn’t be trying to pry for more information than what I already did when I viewed it before.

My mother tilted her head as she saw me stare at Thunder Storm. Clearing her throat, she brought my attention back to her, her face becoming slightly worried.

“While I will always support everything you do Midnight, you have to know that the military is a hard place to be in. Hey, I was a guardsmare once, which is how I met your father, and I know how difficult it can be. I know that if you’re determined enough you can be just as good as your father, but please remember that if you plan to be like your father, it’ll be a long and difficult journey.”

I turned around and blinked at my mother, confused as to where she got the idea that I wanted to be in the military. Realizing that she didn’t know why I had glanced at Thunder Storm and thus presumed that I wanted to be a guard, I simply shook my head at her while forming a small smile.

“Don’t worry mom, I don’t plan to be a guard. In fact, I don’t even know what I want to be in the future. Sure, having you two train me would make the military easier, but again, I feel that I’m not interested in it at the moment.” I said to her, causing Snowy Blizzard to give me a soft hug.

“Well whatever you decide to be, we’ll fully support you. Like how your father brought Lightning to train in the military’s flying track. He’s open to the idea of having your sister join the Wonderbolts by having her conscripted into the military. Not that it’s his top choice, he’s more keen on training her himself, but if she wants to get even more experience then having the military hone in on her skills would be the best for her. And there’s a lot of careers that you can gain experience in while in the military.”

Upon seeing my somewhat bored face my mother simply let out a nervous laugh before returning to slicing up the apples.

“But hey, you did say that you’re not interested in the military. I’m just figuring out what’s the best for you Midnight, you understand?”

I stared at her for a few moments before giving her a small smile while she passed me my full plate of apples.

“Alright mom, I understand. Thanks for talking with me, and thank you for the apples!” I said with my usual energetic voice. My mother simply smiled while nodding at me.

“You’re welcome dear.”

As I walked into the dining room, I simply thought about what had occurred today. Overall it had been fun to see my sister fly around the track, though it was interesting that in one form or another everyone considered the possibility of me joining the guard. My sister had said that training in the military would help me with my wings. My father doesn’t mind having Lightning, and by proxy, me, train in the military. My mother believed that I wanted to be part of the military even though I wasn’t interested in it. Hey, the look that Fiery gave me could imply that he wished that I was able to use more of my potential, and given that he’s a guard I wouldn’t have been surprised that he would think that me being part of the military would be beneficial to my flight.

Even my name, Midnight Blitzer, might imply that it has to do something with the military. I’ve seen the shorter term ‘Blitz’ being described as being something quick and fast, like how I was able to rapidly adapt to whatever task I had to handle and thus I’d get a smooth 90s across the board, but ‘Blitz’ also was a military tactic. Perhaps when they named me my parents wanted to reference their role as guards but also give me the liberty of choosing whatever I wanted to be by naming me ‘Blitzer’ to make that connection less apparent.

But even as I thought of these things while eating another apple slice, I found myself to be indifferent to the idea of becoming a guard, no matter what angle I viewed it. I just couldn’t make myself become interested in being one. Perhaps under different circumstances where it was a necessity that I would lean towards the military, but Equestria, hey, the whole world was at peace!

Thus I decided at that moment to clean my thoughts about the military for the most part and focus on some other, more important things. Like Twilight! I wanted to see if I could strengthen her connection with her friends and make them all happy!

Now that was an important thing to do.

Planning A Change

Author's Note

Hello everyone! It's me! Midnight Blitzer! And I am back after two months!

I'm still busy with a ton of things, mainly trying to continue the Lightendark OST. You should definitely check out my Youtube Channel for that!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPYY513XHWV3e2qAsQ4pwYA
And I also created a server, so that I can interact with you guys. It's new and I have little idea on how to manage a server, but I hope you guys will find it useful!
https://discord.gg/ZTcvEGAejC

Anyways I hope that you guys enjoy this chapter. I just wish that I had more time because what I plan for this story will be nothing short of magnificent. It's kind of rough trying to keep character consistency due to the fact that I tend to have long pauses between writing sessions, but I hope that I continue to do a good job for this series!

Planning A Change

Arc: Childhood
Chapter 6: Planning A Change

I couldn’t help but grin as my mother dropped me off at Twilight’s place the next day. With only the long spiral staircase left in my way, I began to climb up the steps while my mother stayed behind waving at me.

“Stay safe Midnight!” My mother yelled out to me. I smiled at her as I continued to ascend before ultimately reaching the door. After knocking with my hoof the door was opened, revealing Spike on the other side. He held a Power Pony comic in his claw and the moment he saw me his face beamed.

“Midnight! You’re here!” The dragon exclaimed before turning around to call Twilight. “Hey Twilight! Midnight’s here!”

Soon the purple mare appeared at the door carrying a large book with her magic. After closing the tome, Twilight stared down at me while giving me a small smile.

“Hey Midnight! Glad to see you here!” The young pony said before showing me the cover of the book, which had the title “Advanced Arcana” written on it. “I’ve just got this book from the library so that I can develop my magic even more! It's really cool for those who want to study as a spellcaster.”

I simply smiled at Twilight, happy to see how much she liked to study. Of course, I knew that she tended to go too far and isolate herself from the world, up to the point where she couldn’t even remember the names of her study group friends, but I planned to change that.

“So I’m guessing that you’ll soon have them come over to study with you right?” I asked her as we all headed inside. The unicorn simply raised an eyebrow as she set the heavy book onto the table and opened it.

“Erm… Who?”

I was about to deadpan at Twilight when I soon realized that I hadn’t specified who ‘them’ were. After giving myself a small face hoof, I looked back at Twilight with a sheepish look.

“Oh uhm, your friends! The ones in your study group?”

The purple unicorn blinked at me before darting her eyes around, clearly trying to remember who I was talking about. After a few seconds of silence though she looked back at me with no answer prepared.

“Who?”

This time I did end up deadpanning at her, and after jogging her memory a bit, her eyes widened as she realized who I was talking about.

“Oh! You mean Moondancer, Twinkleshine, Minuette, Lyra, and Lemon Hearts right?” Twilight said before slightly leaning towards me. “I did get their names all right, right?”

“Yes indeed!” Spike exclaimed as he gave Twilight a thumbs up from the side. I simply blinked as I stared at his claw. Ponies don’t have digits, yet somehow it just felt right seeing Spike’s claw form that gesture. Of course, having lived with him for a long time, Twilight was unfazed by what I was being fazed by, instead, she simply smiled at the young drake.

“Thanks Spike. And well to answer your questions Midnight, no, I haven’t invited them. Now thinking about it, I don’t think I’ve ever invited them here at all.” The purple mare said as she scratched her head.

“Then why not invite them now?” I proposed excitedly. Twilight simply blinked at me before rubbing her mane, her mood shifting a bit as her eyes darted around the room.

“Erm… I’ll think about it.”

With that the purple mare began to read her book, becoming instantly lost in the sea of words and letters in front of her. As her horn began to glow with the power of the book’s first spell, Spike motioned something with his claw. Even though I shouldn’t be able to know what it meant, I just knew that he was telling me to come with him, and thus we separated ourselves from Twilight as we went into our own little corner.

Our ‘little corner’ by the way was something that Spike organized after our first meeting. Two bean bags were set in a corner along with a small shelf that contained every Power Ponies comic currently published. The series had taken the entire comic industry by storm, publishing at a rate never seen before. Sometimes the library barely had enough time to organize one issue of Power Ponies before a new set arrived. And these comics weren’t just a few pages. They were full-blown issues that other companies would only post once a week.

Soon, other companies increased their production rate to try to keep up with the growing series, but even so, the Power Ponies were just too fast and powerful, landing them a spot as one of the most popular comics in Equestria. Already around 20 Issues have been published and it’s just been two weeks!

As I sat on one of the bean bags, Spike gazed at me with a curious look while I reached my hoof to grab a comic. Upon noticing his stare I looked up and gave him a puzzled look of my own.

“What?” I asked with a confused stare as I watched the little drake form a soft smile.

“Do you really think you’ll be able to convince Twilight to speak with her friends and invite them over here?” The purple dragon questioned, to which I hesitantly nodded.

“Uhm… yeah? Like, I am on the path to becoming Twilight’s friend, if not somepony close to her.” I answered as I slowly opened the comic. Seeing that he was going to continue, I decided to put it away, letting him speak.

“Well, it’s one thing trying to become Twilight’s friend, and it’s another thing to try and convince her to socialize after so many years of having a book in front of her face. Yes, they’re her ‘friends’ per se, but I think the more proper term would be acqu… aqua… erm… somebody you know but barely have any connection to.”

The two of us simply blinked at each other at Spike’s attempt to say a word that neither of us knew. Even though he lived with Twilight, who seemed to be a prodigy genius, he still was around my level in terms of vocabulary. At least he knew the definition, he just wasn’t able to find the word.

I simply nodded my head as I thought about how I could respond to him. After formulating my sentence I opened my mouth and spoke.

“I know it will be hard, but it would be cool seeing Twilight’s friends with her. True friendship you know!” I said with energy. The purple dragon placed a claw on his chin, and once again I found myself dumbstruck as I knew that it was his thinking gesture. Upon realizing how I stared intently at his claws, Spike looked up at me.

“Hey Midnight, why are you staring at my claws?” The purple dragon asked, snapping me out of my days. I simply scratched my mane in embarrassment as I looked at him.

“Well uhm… you keep doing these weird gestures with your claws, but somehow I’m able to know what they mean. It surprises me ya know?” I stated, causing the baby dragon to grin.

“Ah that! Well, I guess it has to do with the fact that all in all, the direction of my movements is the same. Even though I have claws and you don’t, we both wave one of our hooves to greet each other. We both pump our arms into the air when we’re celebrating a victory, and we both extend our arms to shake.”

The purple dragon smiled as he extended his arm towards me, his claw outstretched in a form that signaled that he wanted to shake my hoof. I tentatively stretched my own and found that it felt almost no different from shaking a pony’s hoof, with the exception of his scales and somewhat sharp tips of his digits.

“See? Even though you might be confused, your mind already knows what each gesture means and how to respond to them.” Spike said before looking into my eyes again. “But anyway, you said that you think you’re able to convince Twilight to be more social right?”

“Right, that’s the plan,” I replied. The purple dragon stared at me for a moment as if he expected me to continue. Upon seeing me blink in confusion his eyes slightly narrowed.

“Wait, that’s it?” Spike asked incredulously. I simply stared at him for a moment, darted my eyes left and right, before nodding, to which the purple dragon face-clawed himself. “No Midnight it doesn’t work like that. You can’t say ‘Oh I have a plan’ and not plan out the details. You actually need to plan things out. That’s what Twilight told me and it’s helped me be organized and on time for whenever I manage her things.”

I simply nodded my head as I planned my response. Said planning took only a second as I responded pretty quickly to his statement.

“Well, I guess the plan would be to bring her friends over here and have them be together?” I said unsurely. The purple dragon continued to give me a narrowed gaze.

“Hm alright. And do you know where they live? Do you know how to convince them to come here? How about Twilight? How will you guarantee that she won’t go back to her book due to her lack of social skills?” The purple dragon asked as he looked at me. I simply opened and closed my mouth as I tried to form an answer. Unable to find a response to any of those questions I simply blinked as I decided to say something else.

“Wow, Spike… uhm… didn’t expect you to think so critically like that,” I stated, congratulating him for thinking more like a responsible teenager than a young baby dragon. Spike simply smiled at me as he noticed my awed expression.

“Well, I grew up with Twilight, one of the smartest ponies out there, so her intelligence rubbed off on me. Most of the time I still think like any other kid, but I have my moments. Anyways, I think it’s clear to me that you need help organizing your plan.” The purple dragon said, to which I slowly nodded while looking down a bit.

“Yeah, that I do,” I replied before looking up at him. “Can you help me?”

Having already expected that question, Spike simply gave me a huge grin while giving me a thumbs up. While I was still getting accustomed to the fact that I could understand his claw movements, this detail didn’t distract me anymore. I formed a smile of my own as the baby dragon spoke once more.

“Why wouldn’t I? It’d be nice seeing Twilight happy around her friends instead of using them as automated ponies to gather as much knowledge as she could. I know where Moondancer, Twinkleshine, Minuette, Lyra Heartstrings, and Lemon Hearts usually go, so we could try and meet with them.” The purple dragon stated. It was at that moment that I realized a critical flaw in our plan.

“But wait, how would we be able to go out in the first place?” I asked, staring at the purple dragon. He scratched his chin a bit as he tried to formulate an answer to that. After a few seconds of waiting it was clear that he hadn’t thought about that either. Eventually, he decided to shrug before looking up at me.

“I guess we’ll have to hope that we stumble across them whenever Twilight allows us to go outside.” Spike simply stated, but even as I raised my eyebrow in doubt, the baby dragon himself didn’t seem to believe that such a course of action would work.

“Hmm… why don’t you give me a picture of them so that if I ever stumble upon them I would know who they are.” I proposed, to which the purple drake smiled as he got up from his beanbag.

“Yeah, that sounds like a great idea Midnight! Let me go get the picture!” Spike exclaimed as he quickly left. As I waited for the baby dragon to come back with the picture, I wondered how I would be able to convince Twilight’s friends to come to visit her in this library. Perhaps there might be one who was as interested in books as Twilight was? Or maybe one who wished to strengthen their bond even further?

Either way, bringing Twilight’s friends over to her place was a much better alternative to getting another blizzard attack!

“Hey Midnight! I have the picture!”

I snapped from my thoughts as I looked at the small frame that Spike was carrying. He quickly kicked his bean bag so it was next to mine and sat down on it, letting me lean over and see for myself.

In the picture, there was Twilight along with five other ponies, all of them around a small table. I would’ve said that they were all eating, however, I couldn’t help but shake my head with a smile as I saw that Twilight was stuck reading a book, her face forming a concentrated look as she was trying to tune out all the sounds around her, including that of her friends!

Meanwhile, there was another pony with the exact same mane style as Twilight, however, she was a cream-colored pony. Her mane was mainly red, though there were two shades of purple stripes running down the hair, and she wore some eyeglasses. Her similarity to Twilight surprised me, and I was tempted to ask if she was Twilight’s cousin or a fan of some sort.

Beside her was a cerulean-maned yellow pony. Next to her was a white cream pony with a pink mane, her mouth covered in the remains of a cupcake. Alongside her was a light blue pony with a mane that reminded me of the toothpaste I used. Her nose was covered with cupcake remains as well. And finally, there was a mint-colored pony with a cyan and white mane. All of them were unicorns.

“This here is Moondancer. She views Twilight as her role model.” Spike started, confirming my theory that she was a fan of sorts. “Ever since they’ve met in Celestia’s School For Gifted Unicorns, they’ve done everything together, that is, reading books! The pony next to her is Lemonheart. Then here is Twinkleshine. This one is called Minuette, she can be a bit energetic, but she’s great to have around. Finally, this is Lyra Heartstrings!”

I smiled as I skimmed over the picture multiple times, trying to memorize each pony’s appearance. Knowing what name belongs to what pony certainly helped!

“Alright! I think I got it! Here you go!” I exclaimed as I passed the frame back to Spike. “I will be on the lookout for them whenever I go out,” I stated, causing the purple dragon to smile.

“Thanks Midnight. And if we can work this out together, we’ll be able to bring Twilight and her friends close together soon!” Spike said before extending his hand for what I could only deduce could be a bro-hoof… bro-claw?

Ah, I already know I’m going to have a lot of fun tripping myself with these word choices.

“Uhm… yeah! Yeah! We’ll do this together!” I said as I recovered from my confusion as we connected our claws and hooves.

And I already know that things will be a lot of fun with Spike!