The Bells Strike Midnight
Slowly, the Sun began to dip under the all-encompassing, colorful canopy of the early-fall Everfree and hints of the brightest stars began to twinkle on the edges of the great canvas of the burgundy sky.
In the middle of the forest, the royal city of Equinox began to prepare for the day’s end. None bothered to light torches, the setting of the celestial light meant their day was over and it was time to rest. As the blanket of night draped itself over the elegant spires painted in purplish and dark blue hues and the less-artistic stone hovels which peppered the great clearing, its advance was suddenly halted by one building still defiantly glowing from the inside.
Unlike the rest of the town, the inn was only starting to become lively. Its weathered sign—bearing a rustic etching of a pony with an oversized mug stuck on their head dancing wildly among the stars—rattled as it swayed back and forth from the early night’s wind. Below the mare, written in bold, oblique letters, the words ‘The Moon-Mug Mare’ heralded the inn’s title. The ground outside was illuminated by the light of a grand fireplace which shone through the fogged-up windows, its roaring flames granting warmth to the many patrons of the pub. A passerby, who still had some important business to attend to, shook his head in mild disappointment upon hearing the muffled noises of drunken revelry.
Though the inn was a popular and rowdy gathering place on any night, tonight was special and the crowd’s mood reflected this. The air was thick with the sweet smell of hard cider mixed with the salty musk of a hot day’s worth of sweat, as ponies shoved each other left and right to get a glimpse of the events at one table. What started as little more than a friendly game of cards quickly escalated and by that point only two ponies remained at the table—which groaned under the weight of two sizable piles of bits—the rest having skulked away after realizing luck wasn’t in their favor that night. One of the players still sitting, a pale red earth pony, smashed his mug of cider on the table and looked his opponent in the eye.
“All in, rookie,” he called with a smug smirk, before glancing down at the five cards held in his other hoof. “Unless you intend to chicken out.” He was bluffing, of course. Two of the cards were pips of unequal value. The other three? His gaze passed over the gentle smile of the Sun Princess, the fierce scowl of the Princess of the Night, and the eternal guffaw of the petrified Chaos Serpent, all painted in painstaking detail.
His cards were utter trash, yet he had a good feeling about this showdown. For he was Cheap Shot, the best gambler to be found far and wide Equinox, nay, all of Equestria, and he wasn’t about to fold to a little upstart.
He sharply turned to the dealer, an elderly earth pony who kept nervously glancing between the two, and barked, “You!” The old pony jumped to attention. “Give me two!”
The petite mare sitting in front of him shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Her radiant golden tail flicked nervously as she gazed at the cards held in her slightly trembling hooves. The bust of Celestia stared back at her reassuringly with three slightly different expressions. A bead of sweat rolled down her light khaki temple. She already had the strongest three of a kind, but this far into the game it simply wasn’t good enough anymore. Yet, just with one more good card, Harmony willing, she was sure she could win. She took a deep breath and let it out as a quiet sigh, before dipping her muzzle into her cider to wet her desert-dry mouth and give her heart a bit of strength.
“Call,” she replied, after wiping her muzzle, taking care not to get any of the sticky drink onto the cards. Despite her best efforts, her voice still wavered a little. “And please give me two as well.”
The players slipped their cards to the dealer and received new ones. Cheap Shot took note of his cards and his cocky smile faltered. His face morphed into an unreadable mask as he gritted his teeth and mouthed something under his breath, too quiet to be heard under the crowd’s excited chatter. On the other end of the table, doing her best to keep her dwindling composure, Golden Bit checked her own cards and, for the first time in several hours, a small smile graced her lips.
“Showdown,” she said with growing confidence as she laid her cards on the table, one after the other. With each, more and more of the crowd went silent and after a few moments the inn itself joined the ranks of the slumbering buildings outside.
“Three Celestias and a pair,” someone in the crowd whispered in disbelief, her words cutting through the silence like a knife despite their quietness. “That is an extremely strong hoof.”
Slowly, all eyes wandered over to Shot, whose face twitched. He bent over on the table, his black mane obscuring the rest of his face. His shoulders gently wobbled.
“Is he?” somepony asked quietly.
“Can it be?” came another unsure question.
But before any more questions could be asked, he suddenly broke into laughter. He raised his head and locked eyes with Golden. “My, my, my, my, my! I was oh-so-close to being scared for just a moment, but sadly, lass, you chose the worst possible night to wager your coins.” With that, he bared his own cards, flashing a toothy grin.
Golden Bit’s stomach sank. She slouched forward, catching herself on the edge of the table, as the world began to spin with her. For a moment she was sure she would throw up as she felt the bitter taste of bile mix into the stale sweetness of the cider she drank earlier, which still lingered in her mouth. The dull throbbing of her own heart filled her eardrums as she read her opponent’s cards again and again.
There was no mistake.
“That… That is…” she whispered helplessly. On the table, facing the hoof she thought unbeatable, she saw a Nine, a Ten, two Alicorns, and a Draconequus, all in the same suit.
“It is!” the stallion declared with gusto. “A Harmonic Flush! Cheap Shot wins again!” He let out another sharp laught, before turning to Golden. “You might be a pretty filly and you might even have the luck to match that prettiness with how you managed to last this long, but it was all for naught. Nopony walks away with Cheap Shot’s coins.” He reached out and pulled both piles of bits towards himself. “Well, I’ll be taking this.”
Golden almost smashed against the floor as she stumbled backwards from her chair. The crowd stared back at her with varying levels of pity and glee as she clambered back to her hooves, then parted for the loser. She didn’t say another word, hanging her head in shame instead. It took her an eternity until she finally reached the door. There she looked back one last time.
Crested by the crowd which began to loudly celebrate yet another victory for its unbeaten champion, she saw her life’s earnings cradled by her opponent with the loving embrace of a mother finding her long-lost foal. She might have stayed there, frozen in place, if not for the gap closing again, obscuring the sight from her. She was out of the game; nopony cared about her anymore. All she saw now were backs.
She placed a hoof on the heavy wooden door and gave it a shove. As it opened, a draft of icy air rushed into the building, making the hairs of her coat stand up. Compared to the pleasant warmth and light of the inn, the dreary cold and darkness waiting for her were anything but welcoming, but she stepped outside, paying it little attention. The door closed behind her with a dull thud, but she didn’t stay long enough to hear it, rushing off into the night.
With the game done, it didn’t take too long for the crowd to realize the hour was getting late. One after the other the patrons slowly filtered outside, some merely looking tired, some stumbling from the amount of cider they drank. Soon, only three ponies remained. The bartender hummed quietly as he cleaned a mug with a damp, slightly spotted rag and tried his best to avert his eyes from the other two in the room. Cheap Shot filled his saddlebag with the coins, while the dealer stood next to him, fidgeting his cards with nervous flicks. The stallion in the chair rolled his eyes and reached into the bag, fishing out and hoofing over several coins.
“Buy something to strengthen your heart, old friend, ya hear? It would be a shame if you couldn’t conduct my next game.” He put emphasis on his words as he patted him on the back.
The old dealer sighed as he accepted the coins with a measure of discomfort. He counted the bits, thinking back to the piling debts at home. Even without her to fill in the rest, surely this would be enough, if only barely. He cast a glance at the bag’s open mouth which shone gold from the many bits reflecting the hearth’s light.
Then, without a word, he pocketed his cut and left.
Golden wasn’t sure where she was. She ran with her head down, caring only to not run into something, until the cold air wore her lungs down. Only then did she slow down and look around.
She found herself on a wide street, bathed in the gloom of night. Her eyes could only faintly make out the details of the buildings she trotted by, using the dim light provided by the pale Moon hanging in the sky. As her senses came back to her and she spotted the golden towers on the horizon, she realized she was walking through the main road of the town, leading to Equinox’s sister city, Solstice.
The two cities had long coexisted in peace, but until now their ponies rarely intermingled because of a great river separating them. Traversing this river wasn’t as much difficult—ferries were more than affordable and the river was gentle and lazy—it was rather the ponies’ innate respect for nature that made them wary of crossing such a natural barrier without good reason.
As the mare ambled on, her hooves clopping against the wide cobblestone path, she finally left the tall buildings behind and arrived at the edge of the city. There, under the open sky, she came face to face with a long, black mirror. To the left and to the right she saw only darkness as the river bank stretched as far as her eyes could see, bordered by the spare dwellings of those living on the fringes of the towns. In front of her hooves lay the warped image of a hundred-thousand stars blinking back at her, along with the Moon swimming lazily on the surface of the river.
A great stone arch split the illusion in two, connecting her shore with a city so similar, yet so different to hers on the other. This bridge was the Princesses’ message to their subjects: No barrier shall stand against the unity and friendship of all ponykind—such was the will of its rulers.
As it had opened to the public only a day prior, long banners still hung on both sides of the arch, almost reaching the surface of the water. Embroidered into them were the faces of the Sun and the Moon as one figure in unity. As the wind sped past below the arch, they fluttered wildly, reminding Golden of monsters desperately trying to latch onto the rocks to drag such hubris down into the depths below. She shuddered at the thought, but then stepped on the bridge regardless. There was nothing left for her on this side. Her money and future was gone, so—ill omens be damned—why not visit the other one last time?
She was around the middle of the arch when she heard a splash from the waters below. Curious, she walked to the edge and peered down. The river was just as calm as before, only where the great columns holding up the arch dipped below the water did it stir a little.
Golden was about to step away when a loud brassy sound hit her ears—the city’s bell tower struck midnight. A second later, Solstice’s own bell rang and the river became loud from the duet’s eerie back-and-forth.
As she listened to the bells’ play, she heard something splash again, this time much louder than before. Golden peered down into the river and almost jumped back. Farther away the stream was just as quiet as before, but the water right next to the bridge seemed to almost churn from the noise. Waves rose, fell, and collapsed on each other, stirring up foam as they fought. In the middle of this watery maelström she briefly glimpsed something. No, that wasn’t possible. In one of the roiling waves she saw… Was that a hoof? But just as quickly as it came, whatever it was, it disappeared. Surely it was just the darkness playing tricks.
A cold chill ran down her spine and her eyes went wide. Not that far away, in the simmering battlefield of waves, a pony’s head lazily emerged from below, foamy water trickling from the messy wet locks of its mane. Golden almost yelled out for help, but instead froze in place. The pony seemed completely unaffected by the wild currents and, as an especially powerful wave crashed behind it, the mare realized she could faintly see through its body. The shade’s glassy eyes slowly gained clarity and it glimpsed around in awe, before finally settling on the bridge—Golden was entirely certain the apparition was staring at her, yet she was too afraid to move even an ear.
“Oh… What great joy!” the being called out. Its voice was a quiet whisper, like a mare’s echo reverberating from afar and yet, despite the angry waters and the final strikes of the bells still ringing in her ears, Golden could hear it clearly. “Up, up, brothers and sisters. Merrily now! We have a new bridge to greet!”
A second figure emerged from the water, an old unicorn stallion. Then a third, a pegasus filly. An earth pony colt. And so on, more and more pale forms rose from the foam. Though their shapes and age varied greatly, their manes and coats were all various tints of dirty white.
Like clouds of mist they separated from the river below in groups and floated up before descending in deathly silence till their ethereal hooves touched down upon the bridge.
Golden stared frozen in fear as she found herself surrounded by a myriad translucent shades. She took a tiny bit of relief in the fact that they didn’t seem to take notice of her, though the feeling died in its own ashes as she glanced around and realized both paths to her escape were blocked by the spirits. Once again silence reigned, broken only by the occasional drop of water hitting the rocks.
Suddenly, the congregation in front of her parted and the memories of a unicorn and an earth pony stepped into the middle, bowing deeply in front of Golden.
“We met on a dreary cold day…” began the former.
“…yet you made me feel warm,” replied her love.
“Our love was pure, but they thought otherwise…”
“…blame them not, it was the sin of the age.”
“Now, just like then, we’re together again,” they said and, rushing past the mare, leapt into the still-raging depths below.
Akin to a splash, the crowd erupted in cheers as they disappeared. An old earthen mare took their place. She was covered in elegant jewelry from head to hoof, except for her mark, which was of a great turnip with a rake laid over it.
“I felt ashamed of my destiny,” she cried, “so I chased fame and fortune. Yet here, at my last light, they bring me no consolation for a life wasted. May the water wash away my shame instead.” She jumped to another splash of applause.
A fat unicorn wobbled to the bridge’s rim. “Those noponies coveted my food, saying they’re starving and I’m selfish,” he sputtered, his words half-illegible as he greedily scarfed down a carrot. “Well, I think they’re the selfish ones! But they can have it, if they can catch me!” With a pig-like snort, he took a step backwards and, with an awkward flop, tumbled backwards into the depths.
Next, a pegasus filly with tiny wings clambered onto a finely chiseled block. She teetered on the edge precariously for a few seconds before finding her balance. “I could not clear the flying test”—she muttered averting her gaze bashfully, before raising her head and staring at the crowd with shining eyes full of determination—“but I was lucky and the softness of water broke my fall! Now I can try once more!” With a brave smile, she turned towards the river. “Clear, fly, fall,” she mumbled like a mantra as she dove from the bridge. She hung in the air for a second, her wings fluttering desperately, trying to propel her forward. Unlike then, her performance was met with thunderous applause.
Golden almost screamed in fear and disbelief when she spotted the next figure. Though his mane and coat had lost their audacious colors, his face was unmistakable. It was one she had grown to loathe in merely a few hours. He struggled to climb onto the rocks under the weight of a great burlap sack on his back, which bulged from being stuffed with small round objects.
“I was the greatest swindler in this city, nay, all of Equestria,” he huffed with a grin on his face. “Alas, the gig is up.” He sighed theatrically, wiping the sweat from his brow. “But I will be the one to have the last laugh. I’ll just hide my treasure here and once the charges are cleared, there will be no stallion richer than me.” He snickered as he tied the sack to one of the banner posts and began to lower it towards the water.
Even before it reached halfway down, the knot snapped with a loud twang. The stallion instinctively grabbed the rope as the bag began to fall, causing him to almost tumble over the edge from the sudden pull. With panicked movements he tried to find his balance again, but his legs slipped, making fall on his stomach instead. Slowly, he began sliding towards the murky depths, yet he continued to clutch the frayed strands.
Out of nowhere, a second apparition walked into the middle. Golden recognized him too. He anxiously looked at the scene in front of him.
“Help,” Cheap Shot groaned weakly. The other walked closer, but stopped after a few steps. “You idiot, pull us up already.”
“W-Why should I?” the dealer asked, his voice nervous. “S-so that we can ruin more ponies?” He stopped fidgeting and grabbed the struggling stallion’s hoof, stopping his slide. “No, I don’t think I will,” he said with newfound firmness in his voice. “Let go of the coins and climb up yourself.”
Cheap’s eyes went wide as he stared up at the other. “N-no! What’s gotten into you? Don't you know how much this is? Just pull us up,” he pleaded while grappling with the rope. The dealer relaxed his grip for a second, causing him to slip another inch forward. “Sweet Harmony! Fine! I’ll give you a third… No, the half of it!”
“Oh… What’s this? Never before did you seem so willing to pay this idiot properly for throwing away his morals.” The dealer shook his head with a disdainful snort as he grabbed him again. “Sadly, you have made me play this ploy for far… too… long, old friend.” To the red stallion’s horror, he began to push Cheap towards the water. “If you aren’t willing to let them go yourself, then I’ll just have to make the river wash away these past sins.”
Before he could say another word, the collapsed stallion shook himself violently and, in a fit of adrenaline-fueled power, grabbed onto the dealer’s front legs, who yelped as he too lost his balance and slipped forwards. A moment later, half of his body hung over the edge, with only his hindlegs jamming into the cobblestone stopping the two of them from tumbling into the icy depths below along with the deadly weight.
“Let go of the sack, you madpony!” The dealer howled in pain as he tried to pull himself back. “I couldn’t pull you back like this, even if I wanted!”
Cheap stared back at him, with crazed greed glinting in his eyes. “No!” he whined. “I earned it! I need it!”
Suddenly, the dealer stopped struggling. He merely continued to hold onto the gambler, while the bag below them continued to sway back and forth. “Perhaps it is for the best then,” he finally said in a quiet voice. His lips twisted into a pained smile. “I suppose it was foalish of me to assume I could start a new life in the first place with the amount of suffering on my hooves.”
“Wh-What are you jabbering about?” Cheap asked with growing fear in his voice.
“I did not expect to see you, my love, so quickly again. Our blessed Harmony’s ways truly are inscrutable.” He chuckled mirthlessly, then stared up towards Golden. The mare shivered at the sight; the old stallion’s eyes were blind and unfocused. “I only hope you will be able to forgive me,” he said in her direction, seemingly deaf to Cheap’s increasingly desperate pleas.
“What are you…? But wasn’t she…?” Realization dawned on Cheap Shot’s face. “Wait… Wait, wait, wait! You can’t seriously be thinking of—” his words were cut off by his own screams.
Three rounds of applause followed shortly after each other.
With the gambler’s demise, the storm of souls intensified. Golden watched in terror as larger and larger groups of specters plunged into the icy waters. Yet with each splash, the circle around her only grew tighter and tighter. She took a step back, then another. With each, the ghosts took one forward, forcing her closer to the edge. Her hoof kicked a pebble, which landed in the water with a loud splash, causing her to yank her head backwards. In front of her, the army of death stared at her with button-like eyes. Behind her, the roiling waters opened up like a maw to swallow her whole.
“No, please,” she begged, but the phantoms gave her pleas no regard as they took another step towards her.
Another half step back and she slipped on the cold, wet rocks, catching herself at the last possible moment.
“I don’t… I don’t want to fall.” Warm tears welled in the corners of her eyes. “Somepony, please help me,” she whispered as she collapsed on the ground, covering her eyes with her hooves. As the harrowing echoes of wet hooves came closer and closer, she could imagine them ready to push her into the depths. The mare took a deep breath, one she was sure to be her last…
“Gaze up, Our faithful subject,” a voice from above, like white lightning, pierced through the veil of darkness. “Gaze up, for there is nothing to be afraid of.” The words were soft, but behind that softness they radiated unimaginable power.
Golden Bit carefully cracked open her eyes and did as she was told. The ghosts weren’t facing her anymore. They were all looking towards the sky, which was half-covered by the Moon hanging like a gigantic disk.
A dark figure, hardly even visible against the Moon’s halo, hovered in the middle of the glowing prism. Yet even from such a distance, Golden could see how her mane burned with raging starfire, causing her armor to shine. Her steely cold eyes radiated the haunting, cold light of a nebula as they surveyed the scene below.
With frightening speed she dove down, surging through the cold air above the river’s surface. At the last possible moment she pulled herself up and splayed her wings. A few moments of gentle gliding later, her armored horseshoes clinked against the bridge’s stone. The Night Princess began to trot towards the tiny mare.
The pale circle turned to completely face the alicorn. “Leave us, o Deathless One. We claim this one as ours,” one of the specters called, blocking her way. Without as much as slowing down or saying a word, Luna stared down the defiant spirit with a glare that could punch through metal. Her horn shone briefly. For a moment nothing happened. Then the ghost gasped in utter horror as its body collapsed into ethereal dust. The twinkling motes were quickly carried away by a harsh wind that suddenly blew across the bridge.
Luna stepped in front of the mare and flared her wings. “Any daring to lay a hoof on a subject of Ours will taste the wrath of Night Eternal,” she said with the calmness of an ocean. Burning specks of stardust rained from between her feathers, winking out of existence a second later, while her horn blazed with an otherworldly fire. “Now begone.”
The specters hissed, their faces contorting into terrifying, loathsome grimaces, but none dared to approach. Luna continued to stare back at them with the same serene firmness on her face. Seconds ticked by like an eternity, until finally the spirits’ will broke under her gaze. One after the other, they reluctantly turned to the water and jumped in. This time, however, they did so in eerie silence, without applause.
Soon, the bridge was empty, save for the alicorn and the mare who was still slightly shaking from fear. Luna lowered her wings and extinguished her horn, before slowly turning around and looking at her.
“We are pleased to see you unharmed,” she said with a warm smile. “It is of great luck that We sensed your distress before it was too late.”
The mare, upon realizing she was in the presence of the warrior-princess, threw herself into a shaky bow. “T-Thank you, P-Princess,” she stammered. “P-Please forgive my imprudence.”
The smile wilted from Luna’s face and a disappointed frown took its place. She sighed ever so gently. “We ask you to raise your head and be at ease. It doesn’t please Us to see Our subject cower in Our presence.”
Golden Bit awkwardly stood then immediately fell on her haunches from the exhaustion. The cold air and the amount of stress her mind suffered sapped her body of all energy. Yet, she did her best to accommodate her princess’s request and looked at her, though still avoiding her eyes.
“Princess, if I may?” she asked quietly.
“Yes?”
“What were they?”
Luna hummed, before speaking up. “It is even beyond Our knowledge to fully grasp what the magic permeating this capricious forest is capable of. But even if We don’t understand the ‘how’, We are regardless certain of ‘what’ you have seen. These wretched spirits were memories of the past… and some of the near future. They are the remains of ponies who meet fate by their own hoof or by unusual circumstance.” She trotted to the edge of the bridge and peered into the water, scrutinizing her reflection in the calm mirror. “These specters are jealous of those with the potential to live long, fulfilling lives. It is their singular purpose to prey on such ponies and drag them into their ranks. To never let them find rest or peace again.” She shook her head with a bitter frown, then turned back towards the mare. “They are drawn to sources of great joy to sow misery, like this bridge Our Sister and We have built, and also of great grief to feed their numbers. Are We mistaken to think that this well of sadness might be you?”
Golden averted her gaze. Now that the adrenaline had left her body, she was reminded of why she came here in the first place and began to tremble. Her cheeks burned against the cold air as tears once again began rolling from her tired eyes.
“You are right. I have been fooled by a gambler and lost everything to my name,” she explained, between two sobs. “It… It is partly my own fault. I got too cocky and I was sure I would win. And… And I would have, but I did not expect that he’d cheat. I’ve heard his spirit’s confession. I don’t know when, but both he and his accomplice are bound to die from his greed. I… I saw it happen.” Her stammering monologue came to an abrupt halt as she took a long, shuddering breath. Then she looked Luna in the eyes. Her own were still teary, but they glinted with determination. "Princess, I might be ruined by his hoof, but even like this I cannot wish this fate upon them. You are so powerful, can you not save these two too?”
A bittersweet smile played on Luna’s lips, before she shook her head. This time she was the one to look away, unable to bear the sight of the mare's hopes being dashed once more.
“We are now certain that you are of a pure and noble heart," she replied with warm pride in her voice, only for this warmth to extinguish a moment later. "Yet this fiend you speak of can not be saved even with Our might. He chose the path he trots and so did his accomplice. Even if We were to imprison them or otherwise, Harmony’s will would still meet them when their time comes. We shall, however, make sure they will not ruin another pony under our watch.” She paused for a second, then gently wiped the mare’s tears away with the tip of her wings. The ethereal feathers felt pleasantly soft on Golden’s face, entirely unlike the fearful power they radiated. “And We shall also reimburse you from Our own treasury.”
“Princess! I cannot…" Before she could continue, her objections were silenced with a raised wing. Golden Bit fell into another bow. "Oh, thank you! Thank you so much!” Though the mare's voice rang with genuine happiness from below, being unable to see her face felt like an icy stab in Luna's heart.
“Stand up… please,” the princess sounded pained, almost pleading. “Oh, Harmony. Why cannot We be so direct with Our subjects as Our Sister?” she mused wistfully. She slapped a wing on her mouth when she realized she said that aloud. “Forgive Us, it seems Our tongue is far too loose tonight,” she said with the slightest hint of nervousness and embarrassment on her face. “Tell Us, what is your name?”
“I am Golden Bit,” the mare replied, almost bowing again. She stopped herself upon noticing the Princess biting her lower lip as she was doing so.
“Golden Bit?" Luna repeated with a proud smile and an approving nod. "A fitting name for a mare of such quality. We are delighted to make your acquaintance. Come then, Golden Bit, the night is still young. Let Us escort you to your home and make sure you face no further transgressions. We shall soon send Our treasurer to repay you the entire amount winning that game owed you.”
A while later the towers of Equinox and Solstice began to ring again, their bells striking one hour. The bridge was empty once more.
