The sun shines down on the Everfree as it clears the horizon, signalling another bright new morning in Equestria. The sound of birds and small creatures fills the the air as the forest springs into life, animals going about their business with single minded purpose. The rising sun blazes in the sky, slowly continuing its upwards journey, and the light continues to bathe the forest canopy. As it passes by one section, however, a place of twisted trees and strange unnatural growth, it seems to briefly focus. A sunbeam manages to pierce the veil of leaves, lighting up a large tree at the center of the corruption. A tree that has been made into a pony’s abode. Inside, the sudden light disturbs the rest of the occupant, breaking into her dreams. But as quickly as the sunbeam appeared, it vanishes, leaving the pony to wake to her normal, darkened room.
The pony beneath the covers growled lightly as sunlight pierced through her blanket and woke her. “By Discord can’t I sleep through one bucking day?” She muttered and slumped out of her bed.
Her blue, reptilian eyes briefly strayed across her room’s single mirror, pausing as she looked herself over. Her deep purple coat was slightly ruffled, and her deep, lustrous violet mane was mussed from her long night. The unicorn turned to levitate her usual cloak from its hanger, a midnight black affair that covered her from head to hoof. She paused, her eyes furrowing with confusion as nothing happened.
This had her most confused, normally her chaos magic came to her call easily and telekinesis was something every unicorn could do by young adulthood. “mm.. Strange.. perhaps father is free again and playing tricks.” She said, smiling and grabbing the cloak by her teeth before throwing it over herself. It wasn’t the first time that she had had to do things manually, hell she remembered one time “daddy” Discord had actually turned her into an earth pony for a few days as a laugh, she had thought it was funny to for a while, now it was more annoying.
She quickly left the house after fastening the neck of her cloak, heading for Ponyville, planning to take the train to Canterlot and see if Discord’s statue was still in the gardens.
------------
It took her a good few hours of walking before she made it out of the Everfree and into the outskirts of Ponyville, and by the time she was at the town proper the sun had reached its midday peak. As she walked through Ponyville, most of the ponies she passed gave her polite smiles and a word of greeting to the unfamiliar newcomer. Night didn’t return a single word of it, glaring at all the overly friendly, obnoxious ponies as she headed to the marketplace to get her lunch for her trip.
“Ohmygoshyou’renewherearen’tyou?!” a bubbly, cheerful voice gasped from behind her. Night couldn’t help but groan at the sound of the voice behind her, it sounded more over the top and stupidly cheerful than anything she had heard in her entire life.
A pink blur came racing around from behind, somehow stopping immediately in front of her and wobbling a bit as if magnetized to the ground. “I’m Pinkie Pie! I know you’re new here because I’ve never seen you before and I remember every pony I see because I’m friends with everypony and everybody wants friends and oh my gosh are those your eyes those are so cool mmghfffph-” The bright pink pony’s voice was cut off as Night shoved a hoof right into her mouth. “I don’t give any sort of cares to what you have to say, I do not want or need friends, so go take your lies and falsehoods and leave me be.” She said with the most menacing glare she could muster.
Night was briefly surprised as Pinkie grabbed her hoof and pushed it away. “Lies and falsehoods? No friends?” the pink pony exclaimed, sounding genuinely hurt and confused, “Everypony wants friends, even if they don’t know that themselves…” Pinkie’s eyes narrowed and she leaned in close, scrutinizing Night, and somehow managing to make the aloof pony uncomfortable.
“Stop staring at me and leave me be!” She exclaimed with frustration.
The pink pony didn’t seem to hear her, instead raising a hoof to her chin and stroking it in thought, all the while muttering to herself. Suddenly, a look of inspiration came to her eyes, and she sped off, a faint “seeyoulaternicetomeetyoubye” trailing over her shoulder.
Night shook her head and continued on with her walk to the marketplace, confusedf by the strange pink pony. She shook away the though as she browsed the food on offer for purchase. “mm, Apples sound nice.. maybe Daisies..” she muttered to herself, making her way from stall to stall.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a hoarse, shouted warning from above. Night instinctively turned and looked, reptilian eyes going wide as a trio of fillies tumbled through the air from the roof above her, covered head to hoof in goggles, sweatbands, and other random sports wear. Her confusion was interrupted as the three crashed into her, making a jumbled mess of hooves, legs, and bodies.
Night groaned as the dust settled, finding herself awkwardly positioned with her face in the dirt and her flank in the air. “Ah, geeze, I’m really sorry about that, lady.” An orange filly said, looking off to the side, embarrassed.
“See Scootaloo, ah told you Parkour was a bad idea!” a yellow filly exclaimed with a look saying ‘I told you so’ plastered across her face as she extracted herself from the pile.
The third, a white filly with a somewhat flighty look in her eyes, simply stared at Night’s face for a bit before speaking. “What’s up with your eyes?”
“Sweetiebelle!” the yellow one hissed quickly, only to be interrupted by Night.
“Do you have a problem with my eyes little filly?” She growled, her eyes narrowing as she began stand. “You children should be not doing such stupid acts. Why don’t you go.. play with your toys or something..” She continued with a slight sneer.
The white filly, Sweetibelle, pouted and looked right back in Night’s face. “Well, I waaaaaas going to say they were cool, but if you’re going to be a meany-head then I guess I’ll just leave,” she grumbled before trotting off with her friends, the trio talking amongst themselves about their next ‘idea’.
“Children..” She scoffed as she walked off to get some apples from the market. After a small amount of searching she found what seemed like a suitable vendor and approached the orange farm pony at the stand.
“Hey there, ah ain’t seen you around here before! Ah’m always happy to welcome a new face to town,” the pony smiled cheerfully. “Anything catch yer eye?”
Night Shrugged, at least she wasn’t like that obnoxious pink pony. “Indeed you have not, and you would do well to forget i was even here, I simply wish to buy some apples and be on my way.” her tone was flat, mostly annoyed from the day’s events thus far.
The orange pony gave her a confused look before seeming to shake it off, “Alright, sugar, how many did ya want?”
“About 6 I should think. The trip will not be that far.” Night replied, fishing the bits out of her cloak, having mild difficulty with the task due to her missing magic.
“Alright then, that’ll be five bits,” the orange pony smiled and put the apples in a bag before reaching a hoof out for the requested money. Night nodded and handed over the bits.
“If ya like ‘em remember it was the Apple family that sold ‘em to ya!” the orange pony called out as Night walked off, heading for the train station.
Night quickly made her way out of the bustling marketplace, scowling from under her hood at the various ponies she passed along the way, finally emerging onto the far less crowded main street. It took her a second to remember where the train station was, since it had been quite some time since she was last in Ponyville, and after getting her bearings she headed down the cobblestone road towards her destination. The bright colors and innate cheerfulness of the town was starting to get under her skin, and she spent most of the walk grumbling under her breath and sending barbed looks at various smiling townsfolk. When she arrived at the station she headed straight up to the ticket window with determination in each step.
“My Destination is Canterlot.” She said flatly to the ticket pony.
“mmm...alright the next train is in 10 minutes. Here you are ma’am, that’ll be 30 bits,” the pony responded, pulling out the requested ticket, and taking Night’s bits in exchange.
The deep purple pony turned around only to find herself face to face with the pink one from earlier.
“You’re going to Canterlot? I loooooooove Canterlot!” She exclaimed enthusiastically. Night groaned as she heard the pink pony’s voice. “Yes, I am going to Canterlot. Did I not tell you to leave me be you annoying pink pony?” She said venomously.
“Well, you might have said it but that was, like, twenty minutes ago! I wanted to throw you a welcome to Ponyville party, but if you have to leave in ten minutes I’ll have to think of something else instead…” Pinkie Pie faded off as her eyes glazed over, deep in thought.
Night rolled her eyes. “I think I will pass on whatever asinine thing you wish to throw.” Even if parties could get Chaotic, and she did love a little chaos now and then, she did not want to associate herself with this pink pony. It hadn’t taken her long to connect the dots and figure out that this insanely bubbly creature was one of the six that had brought about Discord’s second demise.
Pinkie Pie didn’t seem to take notice of her response at all, instead she just sat there, thinking. Night gave the pink pony a questioning look before rolling her eyes and walking over to one of the station’s benches to wait for the train to arrive. A few minutes later, the train arrived right on schedule, pulling up to the station with the hissing of steam pistons and the screech of badly oiled brakes.
“Gosh darnit, Grease, you were supposed to oil those before we left the station!” a voice faintly called out over the sound of releasing steam and ponies exiting their train cars, followed by a meek “sorry sir, I’ll get right on it.”
As the rush of disembarking ponies slowed to a trickle, a sudden voice called out over the train station from the speakers set on the walls. “1:30 train to Canterlot, now boarding!”
Night sighed, it was about time, and now she could leave this stupid town. She stood up and walked towards the nearest train car, ducking inside and quickly heading to the almost empty back car before finding a seat. “Finally some silence…” Night grumbled as she shifted on her seat and pulled out her lunch, still having a bit of trouble without her magic.
“All aboard!” somepony cried out up ahead, and with a hiss and a lurch the train kicked itself into motion, slowly building speed until it was comfortably chugging along the countryside. Night decided to relax and enjoy her lunch, munching on the savory apples she had purchased. She was surprised and a little confused to find an extra apple in the bag.
“Huh, she must not have counted very well, oh well more for me.” She was a bit of a fan of the apple family’s products, though she’d never admit it aloud. They were certainly masters of their art, although she would hardly consider growing apples to be an art form.
She finished her light meal, saving a few of the apples for later, before leaning back to rest and wait out the rest of the journey. It didn’t take long for the gently swaying cars to constant soft chugging of the train engine to lull her to sleep.
A cacophony of banging noises startled Night from her slumber. The deep purple pony quickly rubbed the sleep from her eyes and looked around, confused and somewhat worried. Outside the train a group of native buffalo were keeping pace with the train, occasionally bumping into it as they stuck close. A faint voice called out something from what sounded like the roof of the train and the lead buffalo nodded and began to move away from the train, the others following him.
One last loud bang sounded out and a chunk of the train’s ceiling fell into the car, followed by a duo of ponies wearing heavy, concealing clothing and bandanas over their mouths. The one other occupant of the train let out a terrified yelp and fled out the door into the other cars, leaving just Night and the two interlopers.
Despite her normally… venomous demeanor, Night told herself to be quiet and not cause trouble. Her magic was gone and she had no way to defend herself if she started anything, so she just glared at the pair from under her hood.
One of the two roguish looking ponies walked up to Night, her blue eyes focusing hard on Night. “This train is now under my control,” she began, voice muffled and unclear thanks to the bandana. “This train is now…” the pony paused dramatically before somehow ripping off all the uncomfortable looking clothes and whipping out what looked like a cannon, “A PARTY TRAIN!” Pinkie Pie’s shouted exclamation was accompanied by a boom as the train was instantly covered in confetti, streamers, and other party decorations. “Woohoo! I love my party cannon!”
Night facehoofed as the pony was revealed to be Pinkie Pie. “Oh for the love of Discord..” She muttered under her breath, as she glared at the pink pony. “Take your ridiculous canon and go decor-”
Night was interrupted mid sentence as she suddenly found one of the best cupcakes she had ever tasted in her open mouth, courtesy of Pinkie’s hoof. “Just try and enjoy it, it’s only bad if you want it to be bad,” Pinkie spoke softly, and for the first time Night saw a glimmer of intellect in her eyes. “See? That’s a good cupcake, right?” Pinkie asked, the glimmer disappearing just as fast.
Night shoved her hoof away as she ate the cupcake, taking a deep breath before launching into a brief tirade. “All I desire is to get to Canterlot gardens relatively unmolested. I desire to be left alone! I do not mind Parties, but I am not in a party sort of mood. My magic is gone and I endeavor to find out why, thusly I am NOT in the mood to put up with some annoying party!” Night stood there, glaring at Pinkie Pie.
“Your magic is gone? Gee, that’s no good.” She briefly turned to her companion. “Sorry Joe, party’s off.”
“That’s alright miss Pinkie,” the stallion said in a gruff voice as he removed the bandana, “I just sort of agreed to this since I was on my way back to Canterlot anyway.” He shrugged before walking nonchalantly out of the car, only to be barreled over by a trio of angry conductor’s bursting through the door.
“What in Celestia’s name is going on here?!” the lead conductor shouted, his eyes shifting around the crazily decorated train car.
“Shhhhh,” Pinkie replied, holding a hoof to her lips, “Mare problems.”
“What?” The conductor replied with confusion.
“Shhhhhh,” Pinkie continued to shush him as she stood up and slowly pushed the conductors and Joe out of the car, the stallions all too confused to do anything about it. Pinkie quickly shut the door behind them before turning back to Night, hopping into the seat across from her.
“So, how in the world did you lose your magic?” Pinkie asked inquisitively, “Oooh, I bet my friend Twilight could help you out!”
“No.” She said flatly. “Frankly you should forget I even mentioned it, it was not like me to let slip such information to those I care nothing for.” She said, her tone rather flat and partially annoyed.
“Oh come on, you can tell me! I Pinkie Promise I won’t tell anyone! And I always find it helpful to talk to friends when I’m having a rough day,” the pink pony protested.
Night shook her head. “You are not a friend of mine, I only have one creature I would ever give such a title to, and he, waits for me in Canterlot Gardens.” she stated, avoiding his name. After all Discord was not liked by the majority of pony-kind. “More to the point, I do not know why it was not present when I woke this morning.”
“Only one friend?! Well then, you know what? I’m gonna be friend number t-” Pinkie started to say before Night interrupted with a resounding no. Pinkie just rolled her eyes before getting a more serious look on her face. “So it was gone when you woke up, huh? There’s no such thing as magic stealing fairies or something right? Cus that would be weird, and I think I would’ve heard about them before… Anyway, have you tried a hard reboot?”
“You are quite odd.. no wonder he enjoyed playing with you.” Night remarked smugly.
“Yeah, yeah, I know you’re totally into Discord, no need to beat around the bush,” Pinkie said, waving her hoof flippantly and rolling her eyes.
Night voice reflected her shock and confusion as she spoke. “How.. did you know?”
“Well, duuuuuh! No, wait, it was just a lucky guess,” Pinkie responded with a huge grin.
Night facehoofed once more as she spoke. “Well since you guessed correctly, yes I follow Discord, I am one of the few ponies that both enjoy causing chaos, and do so naturally. It is... my special talent.” She said proudly.
“And you’re going to Canterlot to see him and get your magic back,” Pinkie Pie stated.
“If he was the one who removed it, but I doubt this since he is a Statue. But he may have knowledge of why it is missing.. Though I am willing to bet your.. ‘Sunny’ princess had something to do with it.”
“Oh, I doubt it was Discord. Fluttershy would totally chew him out if he did do something like that. Although maybe she’d make an exception since you are in his fanclub and all.” Pinkie joked, “Oh, and I think he’s actually back in Ponyville visiting Fluttershy at the moment.”
Night blinked. “Wait a moment. what did you just say? Discord has been a statue since you and your friends defeated him. That. Princess of yours would never let him out if she had anything to say about it.” She said with confusion.
Pinkie giggled before answering, mirth in her eyes, “Show’s how much you know! Old Sunbutt totally let him out and gave him a chance to play nice around a month ago. Can you believe Fluttershy got him to behave? Total plot twist, am I right?” Pinkie grinned at Night, who had been quiet this entire time.
“I. Didn’t know..” She said, her voice softer, as she stood and headed for the door of the cart, she didn’t want to talk, especially when, to her, it felt like her entire world had just crumbled.
She was stopped by a sudden hoof on her shoulder. “It’s not like he forgot about you,” Pinkie smiled reassuringly, “He’s just been soooooo busy getting acclimated, he’s barely had any time to himself! Besides, he’s only been good for, like, just a couple weeks!”
“You don’t understand, He’s always had time for me.. Always.” She felt lost, but her plans had definitely changed, instead of heading to the castle gardens, she needed to head back to Ponyville.
Pinkie gave Night a quick hug before the reclusive pony could stop her. “Well, I bet he has a perfectly good reason for not having time, or else Fluttershy is going to have something to say to him! And me too!”
Night nodded too lost in thought to shrug off Pinkie’s hug. She felt consumed by an emptiness inside her, one that she had almost forgotten about. How could he forget me? How could he just abandon me like that?
Night tried to shake the thoughts out of her head, but they refused to leave, plaguing her for the rest of the ride to Canterlot.
-----
A few hours later the train pulled into the Canterlot station, Night still consumed by doubt and anxiety. Pinkie had thankfully remained quiet for the rest of the trip, although Night was so wrapped up in her thoughts she hardly noticed. As she stood and began walking to the train’s exit, her gaze remained vacant and empty, pushing out the world around her.
“Thank you for your business,” one of the conductors said from somewhere behind her as she stepped heavily onto the station platform. She managed to haul herself over to a bench nestled against one of the fluted pillars holding up the station roof before slumping over and curling into a ball, trying her best to hide from everything.
How could he forget about me? How could he just ignore me after all I’ve done for him, all I’ve dedicated to him? He could he- Night’s thoughts were interrupted as something sharp and hot poked into her shoulder. The startled pony turned her head towards the disturbance only to find herself face to beak with a large, brilliant, fiery colored bird perched on her shoulder.
“What? Where did you come from little fella?” She mumbled in confusion, temporarily drawn out of her depression. It wasn’t every day that you saw a phoenix, much less having one land on you, and even Night found the birds entrancing. As she gazed at the bird, she noticed something held in its mouth. A rolled piece of parchment held closed with a wax seal. After a moment of confusion, Night reached out and took it from the birds mouth. Its job apparently done, the bird immediately took to the skies, leaving a startled Night holding the sealed document.
Night hesitated briefly before breaking the seal and unrolling the parchment.
For my wonderfully chaotic Night,
As you are no doubt aware by now, I’ve been released from that uncomfortable statue in the garden. (If you didn’t know, surprise! Also, you seriously need to keep up with current events. Ponies can go crazy all by themselves in the woods, you know.) Anyway, as I stated, I’m out of- actually, I have a better idea. You have nooo idea how annoying it is to write with a claw and a paw.
The letters on the parchment began to swirl and reform before Night’s eyes, finally coming to rest in the familiar shape of Discord’s face. “Hey, is this thing on?” his voice spoke directly into Night’s head, the mouth of the drawing moving along with it. “Yeah, anyway, I’m out but Celestia’s been riding my ass about being good and making up for stuff I did in the past. Did I mention that? Yeah, apparently I’m good now.” Night got the distinct impression of a shrug before the voice moved on. “It’s not all that different really, I guess. My pranks can’t be dangerous anymore, but other than that I’m kinda free to do whatever I want in that respect. I just have to apologize and make up for it if I upset anybody. Which is actually rather infuriating. Me, apologizing to a pony?” The voice sighed. “Oh, I’ve been increasing the size of Sunbutt’s flanks little by little every day so far, waiting to see how long it is until she notices. I even convinced her that she had been putting on weight from eating too much cake, so now she’s dieting. So yeah, still fun things I can do.” The voice snickered before continuing. “Anyway, on a serious note... Yes, I know, me? Serious? Impossible! A month ago I would have agreed with you but that little yellow one has the most disturbing stare when you do something wrong. I don’t even know why I care, but I do. Actually, I do know why I care. Apparently I now have a friend.”
Night’s face took on an ashen hue at those words, the parchment slipping from her hooves and fluttering to the ground. “B-but… I was your friend…” she stuttered, tears beginning to form in her eyes.
Heedless of her state, the voice continued on. “Which is actually why I wanted to talk to you. You’ve been quite the dedicated follower over the years, and I’ve certainly enjoyed seeing you grow from a surly and promising filly into a, well, surly and accomplished adult.” That last line was followed by a light, jovial chuckle. “You know I care greatly for you, but Sunbutt and the yellow one have successfully impressed upon me the importance of friendship, and I think you need to get some friends.”
Night covered her ears at the words, trying to block out the voice even though she knew she couldn’t. “No… don’t leave me…” she choked out, unsuccessfully holding back tears.
“That brings us to where we are right now,” the voice continued, oblivious, “you need a real friend! Sure, you could say that the two of us are friends, but we’re friends in the way a teacher and a student can be friends. It’s nice, but you need more than that. You need a real friend, an equal that you can count on and who can count on you.” The voice cleared its throat. “Soooooo… I may have conspired with Celestia to take away your magic until you make a real friend,” the voice admitted a little guiltily. “I would suggest starting in Ponyville, after all, if I was able to make friends with one of the residents you could probably befriend the whole town. Plus, if you need to get in contact with me you can talk to Twilight Sparkle and have that trumped up alicorn wannabe send a message to Sunbutt.”
“B-but I only need you..” Night stuttered through tears as the voice faded away, her whole body shuddering as she tried to suppress her sobs. The parchment soon disappeared into ragged tatters under the hooves of the crowd in the station, unnoticed by Night as she struggled to cope with the sudden onslaught of loss she was feeling. It seemed like she lay there for hours, before she began to feel something different. She felt.. angry. How dare he betray her like this? She had been devoted to him, gave him anything he wanted of her, they shared the delightful Chaos together, she thought of him friend.. and he dared to turn to Harmony NOW?! She didn’t have her magic, but she would be damned if she would bow down to that arrogant Sunbutt Princess! As she became more and more irate. She would head for Canterlot Castle, and make that stupid alicorn regret messing with her life!
With angry determination, Night got to her hooves and stomped off towards the castle.
-----
“Let me in this instant!” Night screamed into the guard’s face, not even managing to slightly change his relaxed demeanor.
She was standing in front of the magnificent white and gold gates leading up to the castle, and much to her frustration, the gates were closed.
“Sorry miss, like I said, visiting hours are over for today,” the guard stated blandly, barely paying the irate purple pony any attention, even going so far as to suppress a yawn.
“Let. Me. In. Right. Now.” Night growled through gritted teeth, punctuating each word with a jab to the guard’s chest. Her hoof didn’t even sway him.
“Look, lady, I already told you, visiting hours are over. It’s up to you whether or not you want to make a scene, but I’d really prefer you didn’t.”
“Oh, hey, wait, hold up there!” a bright, bubbly voice sang out from behind Night. “Don’t mind my friend here, she stumbled into some poison joke last week and now she can’t talk without being angry.” Pinkie sidled up to the guard and whispered in loud, conspirational tones. “We originally came to Canterlot to find an alchemist to fix her up, but I maaaaaay have spent all our money on a giant cake shaped like a turtle.”
The guard just looked at the pink pony with blank confusion, completely lost as to what she was talking about.
“Anywho, off we go!” Pinkie sang, grabbing Night by the shoulder and steering her away from the gate.
Night growled and unsuccessfully tried to push her away. “I have to get inside, don’t try to stop me.”
“Psh, you don’t have to get inside, angry you just wants to get inside,” Pinkie stated cheerfully as she continued to steer the unwilling pony away from the gate.
As soon as Pinkie dragged Night’s struggling form out of sight of the gate she stopped moving and put a hoof comfortingly on Night’s shoulder. “Look, I don’t know what it is that has you so upset, and I know that saying I’ve been there will just make you angrier, so I won’t. Instead, I’ll say that the stuff we do when we’re angry is stupid and tends to cause more problems than good. Take some deep breaths, try to find some calm.”
Night growled at her. “You don’t understand! She made him betray me! and I’ll make her pay...”
“No she didn’t, and even with your warped view of the world you should know better than to think Celestia would force anypony to do something bad like that. And he didn’t betray you, did he? Did he say he never wanted to talk to you again? Did he say he didn’t like you?” Pinkie countered.
“You're just on her side you annoying Pink pony! I’ll make her pay and there’s nothing you can do to stop it!” She shouted before jumping at Pinkie and trying to knock her out of the way, only crash into the ground on the spot Pinkie had just been.
“Ouch, that looked like it hurt.” Pinkie commented as Night slowly picked herself up, eyes still brimming with anger. “Now come one, let’s go get some coffee and donuts before heading back to Ponyville, my treat.”
“I am not leaving until she is punished for what she’s done.” Night growled at Pinkie, turning back towards the castle.
“She didn’t do anything,” Pinkie began, blocking Night’s path. “You’re just letting your anger lead you to stupid conclusions and reckless decisions. And believe me, I know a thing or two about reckless decisions! Whatever you’re feeling right now hurts, but taking it out on others like that just isn’t healthy or nice. You need to calm down, get your bearing, and then decide what you are going to do.”
“I want to make her pay for this. I’m not being reckless, she turned him against me!”
“Really? Did she really turn him against you? What has he done to make you think he’s turned against you, nothing right? You’re just making assumptions and illogical leaps because he’s different from what you remember, and you’re scared of change.” Pinkie started, looking straight into Night’s eyes.
As Night returned the pink pony’s gaze her anger started to ebb away, until all that was left was the pain. She nuzzled her and began to sob. “He.. He said I wasn’t his friend.. that I was... just his student..” She had trusted in him, devoted her life to him, and now he had abandoned her.
Pinkie wrapped up the melancholy pony in a hug. “Did he really say you were just his student? Or did he say something not so… abandon-y, and it just sounded like that to you?”
Night haltingly summarized what she remembered from the note, Pinkie quietly waiting for her to finish. “How could I take that any other way? He’s always been my best friend... my only friend. He didn’t think I was a freak for my chaos magics... He never called me stupid for not being able to learn other magics...”
“Oh, you’re just being thick headed,” Pinkie said with a smile, gently tussling Night’s mane. “He’s not saying that he isn’t your friend, he’s saying you need to find other friends too! Discord’s not the type of friend you’d get drunk with at a party, right? He’s more like a mentor that cares lots and lots about you, and helps you when he can, but can never be that kind of casual, relaxed friend. I mean, seriously, it’d be like if me and my dad went out and got trashed. Do you have any idea how weird that would be? I mean, it’s not like I don’t love my dad, I definitely do, and he’s definitely a friend, but he’s not that kind of friend.” Pinkie’s face took on a more serious demeanour. “He’s not somepony I can confide in with really personal problems, or somepony that will help me without, you know, being all fathery and telling me the ‘right’ way to do things and not letting me learn on my own. Do you get what I mean?”
"B-but he’s all I have, all I've ever had, and all I ever needed. I didn't want any friends because I had him.. he was the only friend I needed…” Night sniffed back tears, trying to compose herself.
“Weeeeeeell, that was then, this is now! Now you have him and me and he’s encouraging you to go make even more friends so you can be happy!” Pinkie leaned in close and whispered conspiratorially, “I’m actually working on a research paper about how one of the species traits of ponies is that they need friends to survive. I maaay not have any ‘scientific’ evidence but I’ve seen things, y’know. So yeah, by telling you to get friends he is doing what’s best for you and what will bring you happiness in the long run!”
“Y.. would you.. umm help me?” She stuttered nervously, her usual cynicism and aloofness gone.
“Well duuuuuuh! I already said that I was, silly. Now come on, let’s go get some donuts and coffee before we head back to Ponyville!” Pinkie answered with her usual bubbly tone, starting to drag Night off towards whatever donut shop the pink pony had her mind set on. For the first time in a long time a smile tugged faintly at Night’s lips as she followed her enthusiastic new acquaintance. Friend. Her new friend.
----
As Night relaxed with Pinkie, munching on a donut and drinking some inside a shop aptly named ‘Donut Joe’s’, she found herself unsure of what to do. With Discord she had always just done something chaotic and told him about it. “mm..” She hummed in thought.
“I know, right? These donuts are fantastic!” Pinkie exclaimed cheerfully with her mouth half full of her ninth donut. “Hey Joe, you still got it!” she called from the booth the two were sharing to the stallion behind the shop’s counter.
“Thanks miss Pinkie,” the stallion grinned back sheepishly, blushing a bit from embarrassment as the other customers in the shop turned briefly to see what the noise was.
“Hey, no need to for that, your donuts are all the thanks I need!” Pinkie said cheerfully, stuffing a tenth donut into her mouth for emphasis, “sheee?”
Night actually giggled a little from watching Pinkie, even she couldn’t outlast the bubbly pony’s infectious cheer.
“Hey, that’s the first time I’ve heard you laugh!” Pinkie exclaimed happily after she finished swallowing her donut.
Night blushed a bit and looked away sheepishly. “I don’t usually laugh when I’m not causing chaos...”
“Well I’m glad you’re expanding your horizons!” Pinkie grinned, reaching across the table to bop Night’s shoulder playfully.
Night shook her head. “No, you’re just amusing.”
Pinkie rolled her eyes. "But I'm not being all chaos-y, right? So you are kinda expanding your horizons!" The Pink pony stuffed one more donut down the gaping chasm that was her mouth and let out a contented sigh. "Alrighty! We should probably go grab the train soon, don't want to be stuck her overnight, right?" Pinkie said with a grin.
Night shrugged and nodded. “Indeed.”
-----
The pair spent the ride back to Ponyville in silence. Pinkie had sat comfortingly close to Night Star while she ruminated on the day's events, her presence helping keep the unicorn from spiralling down into a depression. Night was still upset with Celestia, still blaming the princess for everything that had happened even though she knew that the alicorn wasn't really responsible for it. Unable to really focus her anger on Celestia, sadness instead washed through her, and by the time they got to Ponyville and disembarked the train, she was on the verge of tears despite Pinkie's efforts to comfort her.
The pink pony nuzzled her lightly, "Hey, tomorrow's gonna be a brand new day, okay? We're going to get you some more friends and have a wonderful time!"
She shook her head. "You go home Pinkie, I'll be fine." She said, as she headed for the everfree forest. "Besides, I don't invite others to my home."
"Oh, yeah, like I'm going to leave you alone when you're being all said and mopey. Like that's never gone badly," Pinkie replied sarcastically, grabbing Night by the hoof and tugging her down one of the other streets. "If you don't want me in your house, then you can stay in my house... err, that's probably not a good idea actually. Pretty sure my landlords wouldn't be too happy. Oh, I know!" she exclaimed, switching direction as the passed under one of the shining night lamps lining the street.
She tried to jerk back. "I told you I am fine Pinkie, I just live in the everfree forest and you might get hurt in the area around my home."
“I don’t really ‘get hurt’, at least not physically,” Pinkie began in a serious tone, still dragging Night along, before switching to her normal, excited voice, “Besides, sleepovers are super duper fun!” Night bumped into the pink pony’s flank as she stopped suddenly in front of a large tree. A big sign with an open book on it stood to one side of the door, and she could just make out a light in the balcony window above. Pinkie pulled Night with her up to the door and knocked rapidly for a few seconds.
"Pinkie let me go home, I have a lot to think about.." Night grumbled sourly.
“Well then, this is the perfect place,” Pinkie exclaimed, a smile plastered across her face, “Twilight is great at thinking!”
Before Night could respond to the unwelcome revelation that she was standing in front of Twilight Sparkle’s house, the door creaked open slightly and a bedraggled purple alicorn with bags under her eyes peaked out. “Pinkie?” she asked before yawning, “Do you have any idea what time it is? And who is that?” She finished as her gaze settled on Night, the alicorn trying to blearily blink the sleep from her eyes.
“Oh, her? She’s my friend Night Star! She was one of Discord’s followers but she was all alone in the woods and stuff and didn’t know that he came back but he did but since he’s all goody now he and Celestia decided that she needed to get out and make friends instead of being a creepy hermit in the Everfree so to do that they took away her magic so she’d have a reason to talk with ponies but she’s all sad because she thinks Discord isn’t her friend now and she’s also mad at Celestia because she’s blaming Sunbutt for him changing and because she’s sad and stuff I’m a bit worried about her wandering into the forest without magic at night and I figured ‘why not have a sleepover, everypony loves sleepovers’ so here we are!.” Pinkie rattled out in an increasingly fast voice before taking a deep breath. “So yeah, Night, meet Twilight, Twilight, meet Night.”
Twilight stared tiredly at Night for a moment before shrugging her shoulders and motioning for them to come inside, her heavy sigh evidence that she was quite familiar with Pinkie’s shenanigans.
Night sighed. "I would assume this is normal given your reaction.. I would prefer to go home." She said, still trying to pull herself from Pinkie's grasp, “How is a little pink pony so strong?"
“Pinkie is Pinkie. I’ve never really been able to deduce where anything she does comes from. As for you going home, well, I suspect that Pinkie may be right. Typically, the time immediately after a sudden traumatic event is dangerous for the affected individual, and it’s when one is most vulnerable to depression and other destructive urges.” Twilight shut the door behind Pinkie and Night before joining them in the building’s center room. A small circular table stood in the center with a bust of a horse’s head on it, and the shelves were entirely filled with books all the way around the room. A staircase ran along one wall up to the second floor, and a door led farther into what Night assumed would be the building’s living area.
The magic deprived unicorn narrowed her slitted eyes. "I would agree if it were anyone but myself, I am fine."
Twilight didn’t flinch at all. “Affected individuals also profess to be fine in many cases. Besides, you’re not getting away from Pinkie if she thinks you might be in trouble. Now, I’m going back to bed, Pinkie can show the guest room.” With that Twilight turned and trotted up the stairs, stopping briefly to call out a goodnight over her shoulder.
“Okay, you heard her! This way,” Pinkie smiled, pulling Night through the door she had seen earlier and down a small hallway until they reached the guestroom. Inside was a bunk bed, dresser, and other assorted bedroom items.
Night continued to grumble under her breath, desperately wishing she still had her magic, as Pinkie motioned to the bunk beds with smile. “Alright Night, which one do you want?”
Night didn’t say anything and walked to the bottom bunk, worming her way under the covers and curling up. From above she heard the sound of Pinkie hopping up to her bed, the frame creaking and rocking a bit from her heavy landing. “Goodnight friend!” Pinkie whispered down. Night said nothing and pretended to be asleep, scowling a bit with her eyes closed as Pinkie giggled and whispered again. “I know you’re faking it, but I do hope you get to sleep soon! See you tomorrow.”
Night was definitely not going to stay in Twilight’s house if she had anything to say about it, so she decided to wait Pinkie out and sneak away when the pink pony fell asleep. She didn’t have to wait long, within 5 minutes the earth pony was letting out soft, somehow happy sounding, snores.
Making certain to remain careful and quiet, Night got to her hooves and crept out of her bed. She paused, briefly, worried that Pinkie had heard, but the she continued on snoring, blissfully unaware of Night’s impending escape. The unicorn grinned before slinking out of the house, finally closing the door behind her with a quiet click. She quickly made for the Everfree forest, looking forward to getting into her house and away from the crazy ponies, although she wasn’t sure they were all bad anymore.