“I’m having it again.”
“That dream.”
“The dream which has tormented me since I was younger.”
“No.”
“That’s not it.”
“Dreams aren’t this painful; dreams don’t hurt you or cause you to suffer.”
“This isn’t a dream.”
“This is a nightmare.”
“My inconceivable, inescapable, eternal nightmare.”
Midnight Star had a smile on his face as he looked at what he had managed to do in such short time; the house was spotless, dinner was cooked and prepped for eating, and dishware had been neatly cleaned and put away. He had managed to do all this as well as study his magical history lessons in under 25 minutes, he should know, he timed himself; and with 15 minutes still left, Midnight wondered how he’d spend it.
Being a young colt he couldn’t necessarily leave the house lest he run into trouble, it’s not the fact that he’d not be able to fend for himself, it’s the fact that he didn’t want to worry his mother. With nothing better to do, Midnight levitated a book of poetry his mother had read to him before and began to read, waiting for his mother’s return. He wasn’t very far into the his first poem when the door to his home opened, quickly placing the book back on its shelf, Midnight rushed to the door to grace his mother as he always did when she arrived.
“Welcome home mom~~,” the young unicorn sang as he hugged the alicorns foreleg with a giggle. “I did all my chores and worked on my studies just liked you asked.”
“You never cease to amaze me Midi,” the alicorn chortled as she enveloped the small unicorn in magic and blew a raspberry on his small stomach forcing him to erupt with laughter.
“Your going to be staying for dinner this time, right?” Midnight asked in a soft tone as he stared into Solar’s eyes, his golden eyes locking with hers.
“Of course, I’m all caught up with the work at the school so I’m all yours.” Solar’s nose began to twitch as she smelled the mouthwatering aroma which snuck it’s way out of the kitchen. “My, my, somepony has certainly cooked up something delicious, what’s for dinner?”
“It’s a new recipe for spiced dandelion soup,” Solar lowered the unicorn back to ground level and watched him scamper away into the kitchen. “Come on! you gotta try some.”
“Oh alright, but let me just—” a knock on the door to the cottage intervened with the alicorn’s statement, her comment now became a question as a puzzled look crossed her face in the process of opening the door. “Now who could that be?”
Midnight watched from the kitchen as the door opened slightly, he couldn’t see whom his mother was talking to, nor what they spoke of, but somehow, Midnight knew. He felt his stomach tighten into a knot, whenever his mother received a knock at their door, he knew what it meant. She gave a nod and a sigh before looking back at him and trying her best to give him a comforting smile.
“Sorry sweetie, but apparently there’s some work that I have to finish at the academy so—” Solar Wind couldn’t even get out the last of her statement before she felt the tightening grip of a small pony wrapping himself around her leg.
“Please mom, don’t go, it’s been so long since we’ve sat down and had dinner together. I made the spiced dandelion soup because you said its your favorite,” Midnight looked up at his mother with tears rolling down his cheeks as he began to sob, he begged, pleaded for his mother to stay. “Why do you have to leave anyway? Can’t you just stay here, with me? Just this once?”
“Sorry Midi, but my responsibility as the principal outweighs my responsibilities here,” Solar said as she shook of the small unicorn and made her way out the door, but not before poking her head in again and muttering one last comment. “Sorry Midnight, but you just don’t interest me like you used to, not when I have an academy teeming with ponies who are far more special than you.”
The door shut, leaving a sobbing young colt staring at the entrance. He quickly jumped up and made a run for the door, upon opening it, he found no grass teeming with life; Celestia’s sun wasn’t setting as it should have been; his mother wasn’t present; nothing, nothing was present. Midnight found himself staring into a dark abyss, an ever-expanding black void; it was so immense, Midnight couldn’t tell where it began or where it ended, if it ended for that fact. Midnight quickly realized that the door he had been staring out had disappeared, turning around he found his home had done the same, only the dark void remained.
Midnight continued his quiet sobbing as he drifted in the empty vacuum of darkness. He was alone, no matter where he turned, no matter where his gaze drifted, all he found was nothing, nothing but himself lost amongst the sea of black.
‘It’s always like this,’ the young colt thought to himself as he curled into a ball and clung to his tail for dear life. ‘She’s always gone, and I always end up alone. Mom…mommy? Why did you have to go? Couldn’t you have stayed for just a bit longer?’
Midnight felt his stomach tighten, more than it did earlier; he quickly grew noxious but was unable to vomit. His head soon began to hurt with each sob, and he soon found himself light headed. Then, he felt cold. Not the cold he usually felt when he grew angry, it was a different cold, a lonely cold, a somber cold. He clung tighter to his tail for warmth but to no avail, the cold started at his lower half but now enveloped his entire body. Midnight’s small colt figure was shaking violently, trembling, his tears continued to follow through, never faltering in their task.
‘Mom, I’m scared. Somepony, anypony…..please.’
“There, there,” a voice cooed softly, somehow calming the unicorn. “There’s no need to tremble, everything is going to be just fine.”
Midnight immediately recognized this as not being apart of his usual nightmare, there was never any comforting, only suffering and sometimes potential self loathing due to his powerlessness. He looked around but couldn’t find the source of the voice, it somehow felt familiar to him, yet, it’s soothing sound was also new.
“It’s okay, I’ll stay by your side until your all better, I’ll be here all night if I have to.”
Midnight realized that the voice was not a creation in his dreamscape, but instead was a voice coming from the outside world, something he didn’t expect. Nothing had ever stopped him from this nightmare that plagued him every night, and here it was, coming to an end. The darkness began to retreat back to the corners of Midnight’s subconscious as a blinding white poured in all around him; all he could do was shield his eyes.
Midnight’s eyes struggled to open, but even when they did they still struggled to see in the dark of his room. He could see the small rays of Luna’s moon shining through the shutters of his window, the only source of light in the room. Midnight couldn’t shake the feeling he was alone, he couldn’t explain it, but he felt like he was being watched. He closed his eyes, stalled his breathing, and listened carefully; silence surrounded him, not a single soul was in the medical wing this time of night which made the silence all more easier to hear. Suddenly, Midnight’s ears perked up, it was only for a brief second, but there was no mistaking it: someone exhaled, it was light, barely audible, but someone exhaled a breath.
Only two responses clicked in Midnight’s head: one, he was suffering from a hallucination due to a recent lack of sleep and the pain reduction medication that his doctor proscribed; or two, someone or something was here to threaten his life, an assassin of sorts. He felt something touch his horn. That confirmed it, someone was in his room. Knowing he wouldn’t reach the light switch in time, Midnight lit his own horn to better see his intruder; he was more than a little surprised.
The dark gray unicorn’s horn hummed to life as his golden light lit up the dim room, staring back at Midnight with one hoof on his horn was a very familiar face; this was probably the reason why he didn’t fear for his life or move in for the kill against his would be assassin.
“Mary, what in Luna’s night white moon do you think your doing here?” Midnight deadpanned as he stared at his friend’s expressionless face.
“Oh, I’m sorry. It’s just, I like watching you sleep.” Mary began stroking Midnight’s horn with her hoof, “You just seem so peaceful when you sleep, at least, you usually do.”
“I’m not even going to begin to tell you how messed up that is. And stop,” Midnight knocked Mary’s hoof off of his horn, “Stop touching my horn, it feels, weird. So, what, you came here to watch me sleep?”
“Yeah, I usually only come in and watch you for a little bit before returning to my room. But,” Mary tried to touch Midnight’s horn again but he slapped her hoof away before she could do so. He than sat up with his back against his pillows so she couldn’t try again. “But, tonight, you were talking in your sleep, whimpering and moaning too. I couldn’t really tell what you were saying, but you seemed distressed. So,” Mary pointed a hoof at her friend’s horn once more, “So I started stroking your horn to calm you down, my grandma used to do it when I had a bad dream, it always soothed me.” Mary cocked her head sideways at Midnight like a curious dog, “Did you have a bad dream?”
“It’s none of your concern,” Midnight replied coldly as he fluffed his pillow.
“Aren’t friends supposed to talk about any problems that either of them might be dealing with?”
Midnight stopped his fluffing for a moment and glanced back at his friend’s blank gaze before returning to his pillow. “If you must know, yes, I had a nightmare. But it’s nothing you should concern yourself with, I’ve had the same recurring nightmare for years now and trust me it’s not going away.” Midnight shifted himself around and laid his head back on his pillow and adjusted himself. “Mary, it’s late. Please, just go back to your room.”
“Okay.”
Midnight pulled the blanket of his bead up until it was under his neck, he let out a sigh as the light on his horn died down and consumed the room in darkness once more. He closed his eyes and prepared to drift off to sleep when another magical aura illuminated the room a second time, this time however, not coming from Midnight.
“Goodnight, Midnight,” Mary said blankly.
The hospitalized unicorn exhaled a vexatious sigh, “Goodnight, Mary.” The light in the room died down again, only for Midnight to feel something touching him again. Lighting up the room himself, again, Midnight stared at the light brown unicorn who had a hoof on his horn. “Your not going to leave my room for the rest of the night are you?” he asked in a deadpan voice.
“Uh-uh,” Mary replied innocently as she kept her hoof on her friend’s horn. “I told you, I’m going to stay by your side until you get all better, even if I have to be here for the rest of the—”
“Okay, fine you can stay,” Midnight snapped as he slapped Mary’s hoof away once again. “Just……stop touching my horn, it’s making me uncomfortable and also, it’s kind of creepy.” With that said, Midnight threw the blanket over his head and tossed and turned himself until he had his back to his intruder. He closed his heavy eyelids and felt himself begin to lose consciousness, however, it was not to be.
“Goodnight, Midnight,” Mary chimed, lighting her horn once again, causing Midnight to let a growl escape from his throat.
Midnight looked over his shoulder at Mary who’s horn hummed with a glow. “Goodnight, Mary,” Midnight hissed through gritted teeth. He waited for patiently for the light to dim, when it didn’t he turned back to his friend once more, “Aren’t you going to get some sleep?”
“I’ve suffered from insomnia for a few years now, I don’t really sleep.”
“Of course you don’t,” Midnight groaned as he kept his back to his friend. He grabbed his pillow and wrapped it around his head followed by digging under the covers of his bed to further encase himself in darkness. It was going to be a long night.