Midnight Snack

Midnight's eyes fluttered open as the last rays of sunlight peeked through a window, casting the bedroom in a warm orange glow. As he rolled over, trying to shield his eyes from the glare, he bumped against a gray foreleg that held him snugly against the warmth of the stallion still sleeping soundly beside him. This elicited a soft groan from the slumbering form, and the foreleg flexed, pulling him closer with a gentle tug.

He could see a small smile on the stallion's face as he accepted the unconscious embrace, and heard a contented sigh in response. Heh, I think he's even cuter like this. Midnight thought wistfully.

Appreciating that warm fuzzy coat on his side, he reflected. How long had he been focused on his own endeavors, only to miss things like this? Sure, he had friends; and of course his little brother was always a joy to have around, even if he was a hoofull from time to time, but there was a certain sense of loneliness that came from waking up in an empty bed day after day. Laying there in the moment, he never wanted it to end.

End it did though, when he was jolted out of his musings by a door slamming somewhere downstairs. It was evening, and he had completely forgotten about dinner, though he would certainly need another shower before anything else, as he could still smell the musky scent of their earlier activities hanging heavy in the air.

With a groan he rolled off the bed, and was already halfway across the room when a worried voice called up the stairs.

"Big brother, where are you!?"

"Be down in a minute, I was just hopping in the shower!"

A pair of golden eyes peeked out from the sheets, blinking blearily as Specter woke with a yawn, just in time to see a black and blue tail disappear through the doorway.

*****************

A quick hot shower later and he crossed paths with Specter in the hallway, the stallion's mane and tail still in a messy state of fuzzy disarray as he was greeted by him.

"Morning Midnight, sleep well?"

"I did, but...you know it's not morning right?"

"Eh, close enough. I usually get up around this time anyway. Nocturnal, remember?"

"Right...Well, Twinken's probably hungry and I've got to see about doing something for dinner." Midnight replied as he got another whiff of that musky scent that conjured up images of earlier, sending a twitch through his nethers and bringing a slight blush to his face.

"You're more than welcome to join us...after a shower." He offered, wrinkling his nose.

"Aww, didn't wait for me?" Specter asked in mock disappointment as he took in Midnight's freshly groomed appearance.

"Maybe I didn't feel like trying to work around your incessant wingboners." Midnight said wryly, giving Specter's plot a firm slap with his tail as he trotted past him.

"Don't take too long!" He called out as he reached the stairs, smiling wryly when he saw he had produced the mentioned reaction as Specter blushed furiously, wings flared out at his sides.

The moment Midnight reached the base of the stairs, he was nearly knocked off his hooves as an indigo blur flew out of nowhere to tackle him in a hug.

After their teary reunion a few days back following his shrunken misadventures, the colt had been stuck to him like a lost puppy. It had taken his friends a lot of convincing to finally get him out of the house again for anything outside of school. Midnight had told him what had happened, though of course left out the graphic details, especially the young colt's own unconscious involvement.

"Sorry I got caught up in my work again, when Specter gets down here maybe we can all go out to eat?" Midnight suggested, tussling the colt's mane with a playful noogie.

"Yeah! Can we go...wait, you were working in your bedroom?"

That question gave Midnight pause. "Yeah...it was a sleep study."

He hated lying to Twinken, but at least that answer was somewhat close to the truth, and fortunately it seemed to satisfy the colt's curiosity.

"By the way, the mailmare stopped by and dropped this off." Twinken said excitedly, waving a letter in Midnight's face.

His heart sunk when he saw the sender. "Oh...it's from dad."

He opened it with a flick of magic and quickly scanned through the contents, a pit forming in his stomach with each sentence. He did his best to push his feelings aside when heard the shower shut off though. This would need to be dealt with at some point, but at least they could have decent night first.

It was only a few minutes later when Specter came trotting down the stairs. He was still slightly damp, but he at least appeared freshly groomed and smelled faintly of shampoo. He was also now wearing that blue topaz earring Midnight had sold him. It was such a minor detail, but Midnight couldn't help but smile to see his work was appreciated.

"Hey, Twink and I were thinking of grabbing some pizza. You in?"

"Sure, I just got to check on something at home first. Meet you there?" Specter responded, almost too eagerly.

Strange. Sure, Midnight wasn't exactly the element of honesty when it came to reading other ponies, but he could have sworn that what he had just heard wasn't the full truth.

"Sure thing. Meet you there..."

About an hour later Midnight and Twinken were sharing a booth at Pepper Pony's Pizzeria. It was well into the evening at this point, but the place was still at the tail end of the dinner rush. About a third of the booths were occupied, and there was a steady background noise of idle chatter over the bustle of the kitchen.

Orders had been placed, and they were making small talk when Specter finally walked in. Midnight did give him a curious look when he sat down. What had been so important? But he didn't press the issue.

The meal came and went. Many laughs were shared as Twinken told them some of his most interesting adventures with the CMC, and Midnight and Specter recounted their wildest experiences on night patrol. Even through all this Midnight couldn't get what was in that letter out of his mind. But at least they're are having a good time, he thought with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

As they left the restaurant, Specter stopped him before they could part ways,

"Hey, would you mind if I joined you for a few ciders? I feel like you've got something on your mind."

Midnight almost started at the accusation, but immediately perked up at the idea.

"Yeah," he smiled, "I'd like that."

**********************

It was well into the night. Moonlight bathed the balcony of Midnight's tower as the two ponies sat in the cool air, sipping hard cider from chilled glass bottles while kicking back and lounging on beanbag chairs Midnight had provided.

"Ah... that's good stuff," Specter sighed in content as he felt the cider bubbling pleasantly in his belly.

"Yeah, uh... Mac gave me a special discount during his family's last cider season," replied Midnight though he sounded distracted. "Normally, Apple Family Cider has to be drunk soon or it goes bad, even if you refrigerate it. But thanks to a preserving spell I put on the keg, I've made my purchase last for the right occasion.

"I'm glad I did."

"Okay, spill." Midnight gave Specter a look, misunderstanding, until he saw a serious look in his friend's eyes before Specter said, "Something's eating ya, and it's getting in the way of you enjoying our drinking time."

Seeing the serious look on Specter's face soften with concern, Midnight sighed and explained, "It's... my folks."

"You've never mentioned them," noted Specter. "Sore subject?"

"My dad is, yes," Midnight rubbed his temple, "He's a semi-retired Captain of the Royal Guard. After he stepped down for Shining Armor, he became a trainer of recruits.

"Ever since I was a colt, my father, Ignitus Enflame, 'encouraged' me to become a guardspony. But my interests have always been in developing my skills and knowledge with magic. But he never understood that..."

"I understand the feeling too well." Specter replied, eyes sparkling sympathetically.

"My mother was a royal guard, and I wanted to be a night guard to follow in her hoofsteps, but when I never made it through training. 'Too undisciplined' they told me." Specter spat.

"I don't think she ever really held it against me, but I just couldn't see eye to eye with her after that. I haven't talked to her or my dad since I left Canterlot."

"Specter, I'm sorry, I- ...My parents got into so much drama over me, that as soon as I could I left," Midnight sighed, feeling like a coward. "I ran from my problems, and when the issues worsened my mother sent my little brother to live with me so Twinken wouldn't get caught up in all that.

"Except he is, because I'm the root of it. My dad won't accept me refusing to follow in his hoofsteps while my mom is defending my right to live my own life."

"I..I didn't know all that. At dinner tonight I though, that was what a really family looked like. Something I haven't had in years..." Specter sighed.

"My family and I haven't shared a dinner together ever since I left a couple years ago..." Midnight responded sadly. "Twinken sometimes goes back to Canterlot to see our parents but I don't. Sometimes our mom comes to visit us here, but she always goes back.

"My parents still can't agree about me, but they still love each other, so... that's something. I just wish my dad would accept I'm living my own life and I don't have to live how he wants me to. He won't even explain why it's his way or not at all!"

For a long moment, there was silence, and Specter could see it clear as the full moon above. So he asked, "There's something else, isn't there."

Midnight clenched his eyes, refusing to shed tears, and bitterly answered, "I got a message from him earlier... He told me, to send Twinken home to Canterlot. If I won't be the perfect son he wants, then he'll go with Twinken instead."

"My father is a proud stallion... he hates to admit when he's wrong," Midnight furrowed his brows. "Like how he's wrong to think he can control my life the way he controls his soldiers... I'm going to meet with him and tell him face to face, he will never mold Twinken into his little toy solider any more than he tried with me."

"Whatever you do, I'll be there to help. If he thinks he can get away with this, he's got another thing coming!" Specter said proudly, nuzzling Midnight's now tear-stained muzzle, and gently wrapping a wing over his shoulders.

For a long moment Midnight just sat there, face pressed into Specter's fluffy chest as he brought his feelings back under control. Eventually, he was able to get himself together when an earlier question popped into his mind.

"By the way, what were you doing before dinner? Was there really something urgent at home?"

"Ok. I didn't go home earlier." Specter admitted, seeming to remember something. I went to get this for you..." He said, as he reached under a wing to grab a small golden earring set with a citrine stone that shone softly in the moonlight.

Midnight took the gift and regarded it, something so small yet so beautiful as it reflected the gentle glow of the moon on its smooth surface. It reminded him of the topaz earring he'd sold to Specter, and he smiled.

"Moving kinda fast, Spec," Midnight teased, "we haven't even had our first official date."

"Heh, I didn't mean it like that.." Specter answered sheepily. "More a token of our friendship, or... maybe a sign of something more. I don't know, it just felt right at the time. I got a local unicorn to enchant it. She says as long as you concentrate on it I'll be able to find you. Could come in handy considering what happened the last time I couldn't find you."

Midnight raised a teasing brow, "You asked another unicorn for an enchantment? What am I, chopped hay?

"Well if I asked you it wouldn't be much of a surprise, now would it?" Specter retorted.

"Fair enough," Midnight shrugged before looking at the earring yet again... and then securing it to his left ear. "Thanks, Specter. It's a gift I'll treasure."

Midnight pulled Specter in for a hug, followed by a deep kiss that he eagerly accepted. As their tongues danced, so too did the light seem to dance in the stones they wore on their ears. Midnight's a fiery facsimile of Specter's golden eyes, and the one on Specter's ear like ocean waves splashing his own icy blue.

END