Author's Note

My name is Fireflower and welcome to the eighth installment of my first My Little Pony fanfic, a Mature story using canon characters as human beings: as such, I’ve decided to focus on one of the main characters alongside others; nevertheless, while this chapter’s tame, the overall story will deal with heavy subject matters unsuitable for certain readers so be warned.

As always, My Little Pony, or rather Friendship Is Magic, including its settings and characters belong to Lauren Faust and Hasbro; however, this concept of my fanfic alone belongs to me so I will say this line one time only: please do not steal this story or I will sue.

Lastly, let me also say I hope you enjoy this chapter now and stay tuned for future chapters later on: after all, you're going to be taking solace in the fact the following pattern will serve as a heads–up so to speak of; besides, we've a long way to go before you can meet the rest of them.

Nocturne

There was only darkness, a simplistic form to describe such a nothingness within its own world; as such, it was capable of harboring the element of surprise by means of uncertainty so to speak. That being said, whatever cubic centimeters of this very transient ocean would do little, if any, to hide away whichever objects ready to be found even inside the naked yet trained sort of eye as is. The mere idea of something and/or someone dwelling within the jet–black void alone for any number of reasons, known and unknown, was but time immemorial thereof, so liminal to a fault.

“What did she do this time: that’s right, she locked you in the cellar again, like before, hasn’t she…?” a faint voice was heard, soft and suspecting as a soprano sticking outwardly.

At first, the golden silence returned instantaneously, unperturbed by the question poised at hand as if nothing had ever happened; however, it’d never been able to last as long like it’d have, all thanks to a lost and tarnished but soulful silver tongue slipping by: like the primordial, it was docile and submissive but more timid to any ear within range all the same, “this is my child…”

“She may as well have harmed you; don’t be scared: I am here with you…” the very same voice from before has spoken up, unchanging in both tone and temperament altogether as so no less, “tomorrow is another day…”

“Whoever you are, you’re wrong, you know you are: these people are monsters, they ruined us – they’re the reason Octavius exist and then everyone pretended nothing mattered, like it’d never happened; what makes you think today would be any different now…?” a faint sniffle soon cemented itself into the area of influence almost immediately without any hesitation whatsoever.

It didn’t matter much as the primordial said, “Trixie…”

“Stop saying that they’d saved us; it isn’t true: all it’s doing is hurting us more – Igneous, Cloudy, Marble, Limestone…” the aforementioned respondent had now wept, more saturated than earlier as far as either of the speakers were already concerned, “I don’t care if you hate me for thinking this, but there really is nothing we can do: we’re all going to die because of me. I’ve accepted it; can’t you accept it too…? Please… let me die alone…”

“Trixie… Trixie… Trixie…?” a similar yet different voice called out to the listener, solidified by the accompanying knocks upon the flat surface above.

Not much had been taken for the titular tenant to reply, “oh, what; why can’t I sleep forever…?”

“Trixie, are you awake…?” the corporeal caller cried out again, devoid of melancholy compared to the lacrimosal listener so to speak of, “it’s breakfast time: you’re going to be late; please get up…!”

“Who could it be now…?” Trixie whined.

In any case, an answer was found when some creaking had been made, bringing on the light into the lair of darkness as its contents were being unveiled in a matter of seconds. Standing firmly above was a young woman with off–white integuments, her cyan tresses already matching both eyes as they were covered by both a hairnet and a whiter scarf. Plastered onto her body was a long–sleeved lavender blouse with some thick white boarders, already accented by a scarlet necktie underneath the wearer’s chin as it were.

Opposite of the young woman was another of a similar build, lurking about inside what was once the jet–black void from the start: although the latter’s eyes were cold, they were both like amethysts, moist with tears from what the former can plainly see so far; in addition, despite having flat silver hair being illuminated by the light, they were both of the same age range as is.

The lavender lady had said to Trixie in an instant, “it’s 8:30, you should go change and get ready for today: the neighbors are coming to lend the Pies a hand at their farm; I’d also taken the liberty of feeding your son earlier…”

“My son… Octavius… where is he; when did he get out…?” the darkly inhabitant had asked timidly as she’d started to move towards the light slowly but surely no less, “please tell me, Coco…!”

“At school: Marble and Limestone had their own sons walk them off there an hour ago; I’d made sure of it myself and so did Maud, if you’re willing to asking her, of course…” the eponymous eyewitness answered immediately, reaching out to extend a hand towards Trixie without bias or fear.

Initially, the darkly inhabitant was frozen still like a crystal lake, both amethyst orbs still trembling about so to speak of; still, their hands had met at long last, showing off a sleeve of moody blues as a contrast to the nights in white satin on replay: sure enough, she’d stepped out into the light, already dressed in some simple pajamas yet otherwise barefoot all the same here.

Trixie was currently on a whole another level as she’d closed the hatch adjacent to both herself and the lavender lady no less. The midnight tenant had taken her own time to study the background she was now in, finding it all filled to the brim with taupe. A thin carpet was discovered in the epicenter of the floor nearby the women, bearing different hues of purple in some ringlets. A pair of curtains darker than Trixie’s attire hung near the windowsill, already portraying the life outside their world with the sun. Standing firmer than their very skin and clothes was a lonely fireplace with its own logs dry and barren, betwixt drawer and shelf.

The midnight tenant wasted no time in asking Coco instantaneously, the latter donning a denim skirt, “come to think of it, is the bathroom vacant…?”

“No: Marble is taking a bath as we speak; she’ll be ready to finish up in about twenty minutes from now, if it’s okay with you…” the lavender lady responded freely as she and Trixie began to walk away from where the latter had climbed out of earlier, “as with her sisters, Maud is helping Limestone with the laundry; they’ll have the clothes ready for her when she gets out soon…”

“Why am I not surprised: it seems that whatever was on the poor girl’s mind must have been heavy; anyways, is there any chance I could have some papers and a pen to write with then…?” the midnight tenant asked Coco while facing one of the windowsills in their collective line of sight in the meantime.

The lavender lady had wasted no time answering Trixie in a matter of seconds, “of course, there should be some in Mister Pie’s work study: I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if I borrow some for you; after all, it’s not like he’s anything to fret over the small stuff, right…?”

“Yeah, sure; besides, even after everything, he’s a patient man: not even he’d go so far as to fly off the handle over it, Coco…” the midnight tenant had said as the aforementioned woman left her alone so to speak; from then on, the former moved on closer, “Igneous Rock, of course… fuck, ‘twas genius; how come I’d thought of that at the time…? Once upon a time, you were just a great and powerful magician, just like your old man, Jackpot; if anything, the least you could do was follow in his footsteps and live up to the family name of Lulamoon, for Celestia’s sake: smoke bombs and laser pointers were just child’s play, not like marauding murderers or troublesome technology from the past and future. Used to be a time when everyone loved your most spectacular feats of magic ever witnessed by puny eyes since time immemorial; now, you’re worse than a common laughingstock, moreso when you can’t even prevent your own trailer from getting destroyed: all of your stuff, food, clothes, tools, and memories – dashed against the dirt by an Ursa Minor, thanks to two brats! Keeping a roof over my head became even more harder with my reputation in tatters, especially when it’d came to cleanliness: whatever money I had made since the repairs started to dwindle every time someone came over to spray paint my fucking wagon; soon, the rock farm was the only place I could ever find work to make ends meet, if not, stay out from the cold of nighttime! At the very least, I can applaud Mister Pie for being so kind to let me stay here just so long as I can pull the weight around here: I just wish that it would’ve been some other rock farmer not related to one of Twilight Sparkle’s friends out of all the Equestrians; still, no one normal, especially them, deserves to become dragged into the horrors of war, especially not like this…! Imagine my luck if Pinkamena ever found out about her dearest brother, Octavius, and how he was conceived in this very home: she would never even let me live this down, especially with someone so garrulous as the likes of her gabbing to her friends already; on the other hand, she would’ve most likely killed me all kinds of dead and herself afterwards, all because of me…! Speaking of which, I’m not ever even sure if I could ever face my own mother now that this dreaded war is over so to speak; oh, she’s alive and all, no doubt about that for sure, despite everything, but what in the fucking Tartarus could I ever say to her: ‘sorry that I was unable to reach you on the account being some spooge–drenched blowjob queen at age fifteen no less?!’”

Trixie’s eyes looked upon the scenery with contempt, despite the peace and prosperity plastered about up on display so to speak of. The golden sun had already emerged far from the log horizons of daybreak’s bell, its light and warmth shielded away by the glass. The numbers of people like both tenants were only few and far, reflecting of the nearly barren environs and its very structures too. There were mountainsides raging with growth and erosion in the process of their trying times, bearing witness to them and Trixie. Tones were neutral due to their utter lack of coloring and an abundance of extreme mediocrity; despite all of this, life goes on as is.

Despite staring at the outside world looking in, the midnight tenant was unconvinced all the same, the amethyst glare taking perspective as far as memories of a past cure were concerned inasmuch as the future coming on before solidification as a feature presentation in and out here.

Soon, a new pair of footsteps entered the room Trixie’s was in, prompting her to turn around and face its very owner immediately; however, they were nothing like the soft and graceful moves in which Coco had made prior as far as the former’s eyes can see: rather, they’d were more or less the same, especially considering the lack of variations between the latter and the newcomer here. As such, there was yet another bright woman staring back at the midnight tenant, both eyes mismatched compared to them: the right side was green as an apple named after a grandmother but the opposite had been amber as of ancient pasts frozen about; unlike the latter, the former’s tresses were fifty shades darker but otherwise gray, short to touch the left shoulder but no more. Worn upon the newcomer’s body were a white blouse with shorter sleeves and a plum skirt covering all of the wearer’s legs; unlike Trixie, there were a pair of brown boots big enough to make a noise, hence the sudden encounter all between themselves: needless to say, based on the latter’s conversation with the second woman, the familiarity alone was enough to ease tension.

“Morning Trixie, wasn’t expecting you to be up at this hour: Marble and I had been able to get Octavius out of the cellar you were in prior; Coco had told me about your awakening recently…” the modest woman said to the midnight tenant instantaneously, the former’s voice a rough and tumble contralto as far as the latter can hear clearly enough.

The titular onlooker had then sighed uncomfortably, now a means in eye contact with the rather heterochromatic newcomer immediately nevertheless here, “hi, Limestone… I’d also heard that Coco had cooked some breakfast earlier: it must have been really good; did your folks get some first anyway…?”

“Of course, thanks to Maud, ma had no trouble eating it but pa still had to be fed due to the lack of arms all the same anyway…” the eponymous woman responded to the midnight tenant all the same, closing in on the former slowly and surely so to speak, “speaking of which, his prosthetics are due for a replacement sometime soon; his insurance should be able to cover the costs still…”

“All thanks to the Princesses, no doubt about that: even without it, we all would’ve pitched in, with or without your sister; I know I’d have if not for a certain band of troublemakers earlier…” Trixie snorted as she’d now stepped away from the windowsill all the same, paying what little attention had thereof to the heterochromatic inhabitant in the process.

This made Limestone cross as she’d spoken up to the midnight tenant, more stern yet docile than before, “don’t go badmouthing my sister like that: Pinkie was hurt too when they’d turned ma, Marble, and I into slaves in our own home, even more so than Maud; besides, she did all that she could to fix this as much as she could when it was all over…”

“Yeah, when it was all convenient; true, I was glad when Maud killed the bastard dead all of the sudden but it didn’t stop the pain!” Trixie had sobbed again, albeit more restrained compared to the sordid past uncovered by Coco for the lack of a better term, “I had to hide further away from Pinkie with Octavius in tow because I didn’t want to let her know about the whole rigmarole! She loves you all too much to even comprehend the gravity of the situation at hand, especially her father ironically enough here: it’s bad enough I had to bear the brunt of the insults just as much as Marble had done with the brute’s abuses most of all recently; the realization alone would only hit Pinkie far harder than a stone’s throw to the face so to speak of, no offense…”

“None taken, but there’s nothing you can do about soon enough: even with your skills as a magician, Pinkie has a way of figuring out something’s up; it runs in my entire family…” the heterochromatic inhabitant susurrated about as the midnight tenant wiped away what little tears had appeared afore the former so to speak of.

Trixie had struggled to regain her composure all the same as she’d wept onward nevertheless, “I know that because I’d saw it in action with Maud first years ago; sometimes I can’t help myself but wonder why she’d bothered to help me at all, knowing what I’d done to her father, no her family…”

“It’s called being a good person, something I’d thought you would’ve understood by now, Trixie, much like everyone else!” Limestone had replied almost immediately, walking over to right where the midnight tenant had once stood by not too long ago, “I actually couldn’t stand how strange Maud was but then I found out how she’d tried to kill herself before adulthood…! I’d never wanted any of this to happen to her and none of our parents thought of her as someone on the verge of being condemned in spite of failing; fuck, even Pinkie and Marble came to cheer her up at the hospital years before this whole ‘Nightmare Moon’ event came about and almost ended all of Equestria. When was the last time you did something for anyone you didn’t expect something back from; better yet, can you think of a happy memory with someone you’d loved in the past: your parents, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, friends, neighbors, anyone…?”

“Happy memory…?” Trixie muttered keenly.

The heterochromatic inhabitant scoffed at the past response instantaneously so to speak of as is, “don’t even fucking tell me that you’d went through life so far with that fucking depression shit; I know for a fact that everyone else has been gathering up memories of their life being happy: even grandparents in and out of our family can recall past events fondly without photos…”

“Of course, I did have happy memories, Limestone: I remember going to Celestia’s School for the Gifted when I was young…” the midnight tenant said back to the aforementioned speaker almost immediately, miffed at how the latter replied to the former, “at first, I was scared of leaving my mom even for a second because she was the only one to raise me since my birth. She’d once said that this was one of the surefire ways I could get closer to my dad since he was one of the greatest magicians; after all, I was a talented prodigy at least in her eyes but so were the others and none of them could ever reach the top as me: even then, I couldn’t stay here much longer doing the same tasks as my teachers had expected of me, like so many other schoolmates. In time, I’d made it my life’s mission to see him in Las Pegasus and make him proud of his own daughter all the very same then: the world of magic and the ability to harness it wasn’t as simple as it’d seemed, not even to the likes of me as far as I’d recalled; even to this day, some of the best stunts were also the most dangerous, not to be taken lightly as far as anyone was concerned. Remembering them alone wasn’t even enough so to speak, especially when it’d involved creatures such as manticores; to tell you the truth, had it not been what had happened in Ponyville seven years ago, I may as well would’ve partaken in it: I would’ve practiced my heart out to the bitter end until my mind and body were ready for the main attraction as it’d have been. Unfortunately, as you may have remembered all too well as I have, all these happy days came to an end when she’d came along: Twilight Sparkle couldn’t even handle the sheer fact that I was so talented enough to prove her own miserable friends wrong; I’d even thought she was the one whom put my so–called fanboys up to this Ursa Major plot just because they wanted to see it. Still, it was my choice alone to overdo what I’d done earlier and I couldn’t even tame it at all even if I’ve liked to so to speak: it was a powerful creature after all and his appearance alone had scared me just as much as everyone else here, even herself; if anything, it’s times like these that had made me wish I’d stayed in that school on that day instead of ending up here in Rockville.”

“Excuse me, mind if I cut in…?” a stray voice entered both of the women’s ears with so little much as a warning; out of them, Trixie was quick to recognize it all the same before the next sentence had begun: the lavender lady herself.

Both the midnight tenant and heterochromatic inhabitant came across Coco with parchments and pen in tow as the latter eyewitness had asked, “Coco, what are you doing here with all of this stuff…?”

“Oh, this: Trixie wanted something to write with earlier so I had to go to the study and get them all for her, Limestone, okay…?” the lavender lady answered them both, setting the sheets and utensil upon the surface area of the flat drawer nearby the fireplace, “I also got word from Maud that Marble will be getting out of the bathroom soon; she’s just given her sister some clothes…”

“Ah, I see, at least she’ll be refreshed soon enough; will she be able to walk out of here by herself now if it’s not too much trouble, Limestone…?” Trixie commented hesitantly, nodding off before facing the titular tenant tentatively so to speak; despite the latter’s redness, the former was unharmed no less.

The heterochromatic inhabitant answered neutrally in the process, “if not for the therapy, then it’d have been Maud helping her out as always; besides, it’s what sisters are supposed to do, especially the big ones: protecting and placating the little ones is the natural way…”

“I wish I had a sister that would protect me: at least she wouldn’t let me get raped to exhaustion like Marble and Limestone did…” the midnight tenant had cerebrated about, shedding only but a singular teardrop in the meantime but otherwise calm and collected, “can I please go there right now since she’s already done…?”

“No problem: I was going to wait until later on this afternoon to wash up; I just hope I can make up for lost time enough to get this work all settled down…” the eponymous eyewitness had said before walking off on the same path as Coco did not too long ago, leaving both her and Trixie alone much like before so to speak of.

Sure enough, Trixie had started to follow the heterochromatic inhabitant merely seconds later, the lavender lady left in the dust no less. In any case, it wasn’t long until the midnight tenant had heard a loud creak nearby them followed by some brief scurrying about alongside. Responsively, Trixie could soon pick up on the scent of warm air and moisture as well, closing in as the concentration became thicker. Eventually as it were, the midnight tenant could make out a nearby egress where the aroma was originating from almost instantaneously.

Much like before, Trixie was surrounded by blandness all throughout, its walls sedimentary like the rocks but otherwise uniformly; a white dome above her head had already illuminated the area as her eyes were treated to the sight of various accommodations: a toilet, sink, mirror, cabinet, hamper, and bathtub with gray curtains became a cold comfort for the likes her as it’d done prior. The midnight tenant had taken her precious time surveilling the area immediately, especially considering the reality she was in: hidden behind the curtains upfront of the amethyst orbs was a mixer tap and its three handles resting about in the warm oxygen; as such, she’d rested a hand onto the leftmost before arranging its polar opposite in an instant, her ears ringing about recently. Sure enough, a deluge of water fell upon the moist surface area underneath the faucet, its plain scents emanating about from the compound in question while its vapors generated about no less; as far as she could see it, the small puddle was going to grow about in due time, restricted to only one area alone, prompting her to turn around and face the mirror nearby her without restriction. As Trixie stared at her reflection, she was treated to the condensation building up before herself as the running water lapped against the bathtub before rebounding about; nevertheless, she’d paid no attention whatsoever as she began to lock the door her feet had stepped through earlier. In any case, the midnight tenant was alone in being besieged by the sights and smells of fog and liquid as she’d then opened the mirror without breaking it in any shape or form altogether, eyeing a slender bottle of azure amongst the fully stocked contents within the more finite space. Upon closure, she’d opened the item and poured its small fraction into the growing body of water speedily; at long last, the otherwise clear bath became filled up with froth as clusters of bubbles had now emerged from the singular concentrated downpour briefly in action so to speak. With time of the essence, there wasn’t much else Trixie could do but cast aside the very fabric already, shedding her midnight pajamas hesitantly; as they fell onto the stony flooring beneath, she was reduced to a thin layer of violet clutching onto her predominately exposed integuments. Eventually, the young graying woman was now in the altogether as she’d stepped inside rather slowly and carefully at once, closing the curtains as she’d embraced the heat and foam almost instantaneously, already at ease but having the foresight to shut off the faucet in due time no less.

She was now in the naked space with a heavy sigh as she was free from the very outside world as she’d knew, moreso since she had the bathroom all to herself; at the very least, she could treat her recent sortie within the darkness as a burning memory to be left in the past like the one too many yesteryears of youth and yearning she and her compeers would’ve experienced the same.