//------------------------------// // Chapter 37 // Story: Complications // by Hiver //------------------------------// I left her bowl of chili just outside the bars where she would reach it if she changed her mind. Exiting the dungeons, I found Midnight waiting for me, sitting on a bench outside the prison, a book floating before her. “You waited for me!” I told her with a grin, “Finally released from prison and there is a mare outside waiting for me!” That got a snort from her which I counted as a win before she smiled and shook her head as she closed her book and put it away in her pack, “I was looking for you,” she clarified, “Princess Celestia asked me to come find you, she wants to talk to you about something.” Again? “Oh?” I asked and moved to walk with her as she turned to leave the way, “What’s going on?” She shrugged her wings, “I don’t know. She just asked if I could go find you, but that it wasn’t urgent.” That made me relax a little. Not urgent meant no alarm bells ringing. Besides, If she really needed something from me urgently, she would have sent a pegasus to find me. But I just saw her literally an hour and a half ago. Midnight got off the bench and put her saddle bags back on before joining in next to me to head towards the castle proper. “So how are you doing?” I asked her as we entered the castle, the two guards by the doors pulling them open for us. I gave them a quick nod on the way past as Midnight shifted her wings, “...I’m doing okay. Just worried.” “Oh?” “My friends back home,” she clarified and sighed softly, “Tirek attacked here too, the changelings did the same. What if the Storm King attack home too and I’m not there to help them!” I shook my head, “You don’t know that,” I told her, poking her side with my wing, “Seriously. Me being here has set off some Mothra sized butterflies and the changes just keep getting larger. There is no guarantee it’ll happen at all in your world.” “Mothra?” she asked with a frown. “...Giant moth monster from a story,” I explained, “It doesn't matter. You get what I’m meaning?” Midnight sighed softly, “I suppose, but we just don’t know. It makes me worry.” “Yeah, I get that,” I agreed before I smiled to her, “Besides, even if you’re not there, everypony else is still there. Still no ideas how to get home?” She shook her head a bit, “No. But I can’t think about that right now with the potential of his attack there. If I do, I’m going to panic and I can’t do that right now.” I just nodded and then looked at her, “Well, luckily we have about the ultimate distraction going on.” Midnight frowned and looked at me worried, “Do you really think it will come to actual war?” “I hope not,” I said and sighed, “Nopony wants a war from this. We just need to convince the Storm King to agree with that.” Midnight nodded, “Hope that works.” “Yeah, me too,” I said and then shifted my wings, “But we won’t know for a few days more still. Look, you need to just unwind your brain for a bit. Take an evening and just lay down by a fireplace with a book or something.” She hesitated for a second so I continued, “How about this? I’m thinking to have dinner with Luna, Sunset and Twilight tomorrow evening. How about you join us?” Midnight frowned slightly in thought. I smiled at her, “Come on. You said we were friends. And you need more. Did you know any of them in your world?” She nodded, “...Sunset a little. A little Princess Luna. But… not really. We were friends, sure, but we never did become that close.” “So you didn’t really know either of them that well?” I asked, “The Princess of Friendship need more than one friend, you know. Come on, I only know so many ponies. I mean, I could always introduce you to Swift Spear-” “Hello!” Swift said from where he trotted along behind us, giving her a small wave before quickly going back to acting like the guard he was at her surprised look. “-Or Thunder Cloud. I do know I want to introduce you to Silver Leaf at some point,” I continued like he didn’t say anything, “But the point is that you need to get to know more ponies and can’t just be shut away in the library doing research.” Midnight hesitated and scraped her hoof against the floor for a second before she nodded, “...Okay, I’ll come. If I’m not intruding.” “You’re not, I promise.”