//------------------------------// // 4 - The Color of Wednesday and Other Madness Part 1: Paradox // Story: All These Midnight Days // by Ninjadeadbeard //------------------------------// “Well, I’d consider that a successful Day One as myself,” Midnight sighed as she sat down onto her bed, hair wrapped up in a towel and herself in a tank top and bright red pajama bottoms, “New clothes, new friends… yeah. Good day.” Tuesday evening was winding down again at the Sparkle household. Once they’d gotten back from the Boutique, Midnight and Twilight spent their time alone, naturally. Twilight had homework to breeze through, and Midnight had a few sleight-of-hand tricks to practice so she could show Trixie she was learning. When they came back together for dinner, however, Twilight found herself the odd-one-out as Night Light and Twilight Velvet came armed to the gills with penetrating questions about Equestria, Magic, Sunset Shimmer, and a few high-explosive ones about a certain Timber Spruce. Midnight tried not to smile during the assault. She wasn’t sure she did a good job of it, but she was nonetheless impressed with how Fort Twilight faired under siege. A ceasefire, as it would happen. After dinner, the girls had washed up, and were now sitting in their shared room. Midnight had spent much of that evening finding space for her new clothes in their combined closet before she realized there wasn’t enough room, and decided to text Sunset for any dimension-shaping spells she or the Princess Twilight might know about. The twins were supposed to get magic lessons, after all. Might as well start with dimensional pockets. Twilight seemed to be fascinated with her own naval tonight, the way she sat like a lump on her bed and stared down at the floor. Midnight, a cheeky grin showing, lifted up Smarty Pants in her magic aura and sent the ragged doll drifting across the room, only to lightly boop her sister atop her head. When that elicited zero response, Midnight returned the doll to her side of the room, leaned forward a little and said, “Earth to Twilight! Hey! You awake?” She finally raises her head up, startled, “Oh? What? I’m here.” “Not entirely,” Midnight smirked. “Sorry,” Twilight blushed, “I was just… thinking.” Midnight held up her chin with one hand, “Yeah? What about? You and… the others come up with some friendship lessons for me yet?” “Actually, no.” Twilight adjusted her glasses, and continued, “Most of what we talked about with the Principals was how to get you… official in the eyes of the law. Which meant finagling some paperwork and test results.” “Test results?” Midnight sat up straighter, “What do you mean, test results?” Twilight winced, “Well… technically, there’s a lot of state and federal tests that the school administers…” “Which we passed!” Midnight said, a bit testier than she meant to, “Or am I supposed to take a couple-thousand question assessment in the sliver of time left before the year ends!?” “Midnight!” Twilight frowned, her voice hardening like their mother’s whenever a lecture was oncoming. It made both girls jump slightly. Twilight breathed, then said, “Midnight, I would never leave you in the lurch like that. Celestia and Luna just want you to take a short assessment. Something basic, so they can properly vary our shared test scores so no one gets suspicious.” Midnight frowned, “But we’re the same… mostly. It’s not like I’m going to be any better or worse at a subject than you.” “Maybe,” Twilight folded her arms, “But we’ve both read the studies on how personality and interest can change how one absorbs and adapts new information. Perhaps with your… more drastic personality shift, you’ll find different core disciplines more or less appealing.” Midnight shifted on her bed, eyes narrowing at Twilight, even as the girl merely rambled on. “Personality shift?” “Surely, you’ve noticed,” Twilight held out one hand, as though she were pointing out a specimen-experiment to someone at a science fair, “You’re…” Midnight snorted, “Angry? Vengeful?” Twilight sighed. “Assertive… confident. Yeah, maybe a little angry but,” her gaze dropped again, “fun.” Concern replaced annoyance, and Midnight leaned forward, bracing her hands on her knees. “Twi? Everything okay?” The bespectacled girl twisted her hands together. Her face shifted between emotions quickly, but Midnight knew how she and her sister processed. She waited. And then, Twilight said, “When I saw you up on that stage today, I started wondering. You looked so confident up there, like you belonged in front of a crowd. I guess that would explain Trixie…” She stood up, and without unfolding her arms, Twilight came over to Midnight’s bed. The two sisters sat side-by-side. Midnight curled her legs up to her chest as she listened. “And that got me thinking,” said Twilight, “What part of… of Twilight Sparkle did that come from? Would I be able to stand in front of a crowd? For music? Or a lecture? Did… did we accidentally give you all of the courage?” Midnight said nothing. This didn’t sound like something to interrupt. Twilight sighed again, “And with the other memory gaps I’ve been finding…” “More gaps?” Twilight nodded, “Lost track of my class schedule. And I completely forgot Mr. Cranky.” “That’s something I think most people would gladly forget…” Both sisters giggled at that. “Yes,” Twilight continued, “But it makes following along in class difficult when you can’t remember his procedures or what will set him off. Was he always so… cranky?” “Yes. Still,” Midnight decided she needed to push, “It can’t just be a few gaps or seeing me strut on a stage that’s got you like this. I know you, sis. We don’t contemplate stuff like this until after we’ve done all the testing first.” There was a flinch. Midnight’s eyes widened, realization setting in. She leaned in, “Unless… you have done some testing…” Twilight didn’t speak for several seconds. She hardly moved. Then, with terrible hesitation, she turned back to Midnight, and said, “Do… do you remember our friends from kindergarten? Minuette, Lemon Drops, Moondancer, and… uh, Twinkleshine?” “Not that we would have called anyone friends back then,” Midnight said sadly, “But yeah. Trixie as well.” Twilight’s eyes widened, “Trixie?” Her sister nodded, “Y-yeah. She’s the blue girl in the back of the picture. The one in the album in our lab?” Twilight seemed not to register, continuing to stare right at Midnight for another few seconds. Then, she swiveled completely around, now looking at the nearby wall. For a moment, neither girl said anything. Then, Twilight reached up to wipe at her eyes. “I… I met up with them at school today,” she said quietly, as though speaking too loud would shatter her, “I didn’t remember them at all, but they said we… drifted apart after elementary… and that we’d made up only a few months ago.” Midnight remembered. Not the details, mind. But she could remember stewing in Twilight’s thoughts at the time, galled that her future sister would waste time with such unimportant people when she could have been seeking out more magic to consume or to study. That was still more than what Twilight could recall. Midnight reached up with one hand, but hesitated. She could hear Twilight snuffle softly, working up the courage to continue. Midnight’s hand settled on Twilight’s back, and at first only received a flinch and a shiver. But after a few more seconds, Twilight turned back around, eyes red and puffy. “The look in their eyes when I had to explain… I could feel their pain. It was almost as bad as what I was feeling,” She said, “I managed to brush it off… until I saw you up on that stage… Then I had to know.” “You used the Memory Scanner,” Midnight finished for her. Twilight closed her eyes, nodded, and then continued, “It was right after dinner. I had to know…” “How much of us was still us.” They sat in silence once more. The entire house was quiet, with their folks in bed and Spike outside. There was nothing to interrupt their thoughts. Midnight bit her lip, then asked, “So… you saw my score…?” “It’s not so bad,” Twilight frowned, “I mean, I only…” “Not so bad?” Midnight leaned in, voice low, then shouting, “Not so bad!?” Blue, fiery light bloomed around the teen for a second, then vanished with her. Twilight gasped at the burst of magic and nearly threw herself off the bed. She spun her head about, and instantly caught Midnight standing on the other side of the room by Twilight’s bed. Midnight reached for their shared bookcase and tore a few, slim volumes from… from Twilight’s old report card portfolios. “‘A’,” she mused as she began flicking through pages, “A-plus, A-plus, A-plus, A in Gym…” “Midnight? What…?” Midnight spun back around, holding up one of the books in one hand, “Twilight Sparkle hasn’t scored less than an 89% since the sixth grade, and that was because of a late-case of chickenpox and Mr. Nexus not accepting make-up work and being a huge jerk! “Twilight Sparkle has never scored lower than an A-minus in her life!” she snarled, hurling a book to the ground, “A sixty-five percent is a ‘D’! Twilight… a … ‘D’! I got a ‘D’ at being ME!!!” “Yeah!?” Twilight shot up, “Well I only got a ‘C’!” Both girls paused, Twilight’s scream puncturing that brief bubble of anger that had begun to build in both of them. Twilight sat down, hard onto Midnight’s bed, while the other sister rushed to her side. Midnight worked her jaw, but no words came. Her face screwed up into a mass of worry and concern, watching a sort of placid, calm despair come over her sister. It was Twilight who finally spoke. “I only scored a seventy-three percent of baseline. I’m… only seventy-three one-hundredths of Twilight Sparkle…” “But…” Midnight still couldn’t find the words. Seventy-three percent!? She tried again, “But that doesn’t make sense! If you were missing that much of your memory…” “It isn’t just memory,” Twilight sighed. “I suppose a lot of the score would be represented by memory, but not all.” Midnight’s eyebrow raised, “Twi? I built that machine right alongside you. It only targets the hippocampus. Memories.” Twilight shook her head. “Memory gap,” she said, smiling sadly, “I increased its range and parameters a few weeks back. You remember Starlight visiting? Telling us that story about mind-controlling her friends? Got me worried again… so I expanded it to personality, thought patterns, that sort of thing…” “Gah!” Midnight snarled, “Memory gaps! This is why you test something as dangerous as this before using it on a live subject! Such… flagrant disregard for scientific procedure!” “Yeah, we really should have thought this through before… magic lobotomy…” Midnight scoffed, “I mean, if Twilight Sparkle was that reckless, then she deserved… she deserved…” her voice wound down slowly, slowly… slowly as she realized what topic she was dancing around. She stopped talking. Twilight stayed quiet as well. Silence. More silence. Both sisters lay down on Midnight’s bed, their legs hanging over the side and their feet still firmly on the carpeted floor. They didn’t blink. They didn’t dare. Twilight sighed, “Do you really want to start this now? Right before bed?” “No,” Midnight chewed her cheek, “But… the topic is raised. Sleeping isn’t really an option anymore, is it?” A mental game of rock-paper-scissors played out in their minds. Loser would have to start. It took them ten minutes, each one silently considering a hand shape, and then dismissing it as the other would have picked the perfect counter, they being so similar in so many ways. Ten minutes passed before Midnight gave up. “Stream of consciousness.” Twilight narrowed her eyes, “Doesn’t work so well for you. You were clearly created at the Friendship Games.” “So?” Midnight half-turned her head, “I still remember being you before then, and after… sort of… and then you remember everything since.” “Not really,” Twilight sighed, “Memory gaps. Technically, the only memories I can trust are the ones from today… and right after we split.” Midnight fully turned, “But you remember the split! We both do!” “Do we?” Twilight turned to face her sister, “I remember a white flash and then blacking out for several seconds. How do we know the continuation of consciousness didn’t start then!” Midnight looked for a workaround. “Well… we still have all these memories…” “Could be copies,” Twilight shook her head, “Not reliable.” “Our geodes!” Midnight snapped her fingers, “If we weren’t the same person…” “No evidence has shown the geodes, or magic itself for that matter, discriminates on who uses it,” said Twilight, a touch of weariness settling in. “Face it,” Twilight sat up suddenly, her voice quickening, “We… we’re just ghosts. Twilight Sparkle… the real Twilight Sparkle is d-d…” As swiftly as Twilight had risen, Midnight had her beat. She leapt, and dragged her sister up with her. Midnight, holding Twilight up by her shoulders, shouted angrily, “Twilight Sparkle is not Dead! She’s standing right here in front of me!” “But…” Twilight’s voice threatened to crack, only shock and the burning eyes of Midnight holding fast to reality in the here and now. “I mean it!” Midnight pulled her into a hug, “You don’t become a different person just because you forget a couple of things. And even if… even if you’re right… so what?” “So what!?” Twilight pushed back. Midnight held her sister still, “Yeah! So what? We’re still alive! And when we… when Twilight did this, she wanted it! She chose this,” her voice sounded… a lot firmer than she felt, to be perfectly honest. Still, it didn’t seem to matter. Twilight sighed, and melted back into the hug. They stood, just supporting one another, for what felt like an eternity. “Thank you, Midi,” Twilight smiled into her sister’s hair. “I’m not joking,” Midnight snorted, “That’s not my nickname.” “Is too.” They finally broke apart to soft chuckles. “Alright,” Twilight wiped at her eyes and cleaned her glasses on her shirt, “Now we really should get some sleep.” “Oh joy,” Midnight snarked, “Another night of nightmares…” Twilight reached up and gave her sister a quick boop on the nose, “You were the one who wanted to talk existential horror tonight.” Midnight had to concede that point, and let her sister have it without rancor. They each went back to their own bed without exchanging another word. At least, not until they had turned down their covers and started to get comfortable. “Wait,” Midnight hesitated to switch off her lamp, “So… there’s no friendship lessons? I just have to talk to Celestia tomorrow about class stuff?” Twilight, squinting without her glasses on, shrugged, “Not quite. You technically lived through all the same lessons that I did… you just need to apply them. Which is why you’re hanging out with Rainbow Dash and Rarity at the band room tomorrow.” “Eugh,” Midnight scowled, “If they want me to sing…” Canterlot High School had weathered many storms. Critical funding cuts, low testing scores (especially when compared with Crystal Prep across town), and the more recent near-apocalyptic bouts of magical turmoil had all taken their shot at the school, and failed to bring her down. Principal Celestia was proud of this. Proud that, despite such a thing being a complete fantasy only a year ago, her little school had managed to survive so many magical catastrophes from that other world. That her school had produced the sorts of people who could weather each such crisis with such care and professionalism. It shouldn’t have been that way, she would often concede to her sister Luna whenever the co-Principals got into their debates over the constant magical goings-on, but from her brief conversation with her… pony self from across the portal… she felt a sort of confidence the Principal never thought she’d truly have again. At least, right up until the Lord of Chaos appeared in her office. “Good mornin’, Principal Pastel!” the lanky, suited monstrosity said as he melted out of her computer screen and drifted up above her desk. “How’s tricks?” A few moments passed before Celestia could pull herself back up off the floor, right her chair again, and then stare at Disqord without screaming. “What,” she took a breath, “do you want?” Disqord seemed not to notice the low-level irritation in her voice, or perhaps he simply ignored it. He drifted down onto one of the chairs in front of Celestia’s desk and crossed one leg leisurely over the other, showing off his mismatched shoes with style. Despite everything she’d seen, Celestia still had trouble reconciling the fact that this… Being was truly more than he appeared. Chaos Gods rarely were… probably, she conceded. Worse, this particular one was only born a day ago, when Equestria’s resident Draconequus accidentally spawned himself a clone in this universe. And while he’d promised, at least for Fluttershy’s sake, to be a reformed Chaos entity… Celestia had her doubts. “Oh, many, many things. My face on a mountain, Fluttershy, a gumdrop the precise flavor of Wednesday…” “W-wait, what was that second one…?” “But I’m in a ‘settling’ mood today,” he smiled a contented, toothy grin, “So I’ll just take the job and leave you to do whatever it is you do here.” The high school principal hadn’t noticed she’d developed a facial tick, but she could feel the corner of her left eye suddenly tugging hard to one side, and she idly wondered how crazed she looked right now. “… Job?” The grotesquerie slicked his short black hair back and said, “I accept! Thank you so much for the opportunity…” “Hold up!” the sudden thought of Disqord, the Spirit of Chaos, and duplicate of that other world’s own Discord, being employed by the school had kicked Celestia out of her stupor and into action. She held up one hand, like she could restrain him with her mind. Celestia raised an eyebrow, “What are you talking about? What job?” Disqord leaned back, an apple speared by a pencil appearing in the air above his head, “Why, as an instructor here at your magical school, of course.” “A-absolutely not!” a bit of a horror-induced-laugh escaped Celestia’s lips as she stood up, her chair crashing back against the wall with a hackle-raising bang. Vice Principal Luna gazed down at the financials paperwork she’d finally assembled after a solid day of rifling through portfolios and a dying computer hard drive. Paperwork that might allow her some means of finagling a way to replace the Wondercolt statue, lost in the Chaos that was Monday morning. Paperwork that she loathed to even contemplate, let alone have to actively read through line-by-line in order to save the school whatever cash it still needed. Paperwork that was now thoroughly soaked through with her morning coffee. Coffee which lightly stained her favorite blue blouse. Coffee which she had yet to taste. “Somedays,” she growled, “I just want to bathe the earth in Night Eternal…” “Oh?” Disqord began sucking on the pencil like it was a straw, causing the floating apple to wither away until both disappeared, “And why not?” “For one thing, you’re only a day old!” Celestia snorted. “Some of your potential students have zits older than that!” To which the former-Draconequus merely shrugged, “Age is just a number. And I come with millennium of experience.” Celestia frowned, “The… Princess Celestia told me you were imprisoned.” “And pardoned,” Disqord smirked, “Completely reformed and rehabilitated. Just ask Fluttershy. Either of them. But since I’m only a day old, technically that was my old man…” Celestia knew from her other self how Discord and Disqord operated. Abuse any loophole, subvert every rule. She needed something ironclad. Something that could bar this menace from her students. “So besides being very old and having been forgiven for committing a crime a long time ago,” she said slowly, an idea forming, “What are your qualifications?” Disqord didn’t like the way she’d said that, judging by the unimpressed frown that saw his bushy white eyebrows converge on his face. He leaned forward, “Qualifications? Are you kidding me? I’m DISQORD!” Celestia reached down and returned her seat to an upright position. “Be that as it may, you need a few things to teach in this country,” she finally sat back down as she finished. Sitting down felt like she was on equal footing with him. When Disqord said nothing, she continued, “A high school diploma, a Bachelor’s Degree, and at the very least you would need a Teaching Credential.” Disqord sighed, “And then you would let me teach?” “Of course not,” Celestia smiled. “But why not!?” he stood up suddenly, and for the first time Celestia realized just how tall Disqord was. Even compared to herself it was… unnerving. “Because,” she fixed him with a stare, “I don’t trust you. You’ve decided, on a silly whim no doubt, to be a teacher at this school. Besides the fact that just the day before yesterday you were trying to doom this world to eternal chaos…” “Doom is hardly the appropriate term…” “… according to everyone…” “Everypony,” he smirked, though not without an accompanying scowl. “Everyone I asked about you said you were unreliable, if not a constant hazard to the safety and wellbeing of those around you,” Celestia finished, tapping one finger on her desk for emphasis, “Even if you had two Doctorates, and a list of recommendations as long as my leg, I wouldn’t hire you.” The Lord of Chaos was fuming by this point. His crimson eyes gleamed with a baleful light, and his teeth ground against one another so hard that Celestia could hear the sparks before she saw them. For a brief moment, though she didn’t show it, Celestia was afraid. Then, nothing. Disqord paused, as still as stone, and let out a long, tired sigh from his nose. The tenseness in his shoulders melted away, and the scowl forming on his face faded into a blissful smile. “So,” he said slowly, hissing like a snake as he did so, “You don’t like to give second chances?” Celestia tensed up now. “What are you getting at?” She knew precisely what he was getting at, of course. “Oh,” he walked away from the desk and began to pace the tiny office, freshly repaired in the wake of a large Alicorn being let loose in here only a day ago, “It’s only that this school has had an awful lot of… shall we say, antagonistically-inclined persons pass through its halls this past year or so?” He began to count on his fingers, “Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, Wallflower Blush…” his pacing reached the wall, and with no apparent effort he started walking up and onto the ceiling. “Please get to the point, Disqord,” Celestia sighed, knowing what he was doing, “Midnight and the new Apple cousins will be here soon and I need to go over their rehabilitation to the human race before first period…” Disqord paused mid-step. Being upside down didn’t seem to faze him, but the look he gave Celestia was worryingly serious. With a pop like an overblown balloon, he vanished from the ceiling and reappeared in his chair, as though he’d never left. He steepled his fingers. “Tell me… does anyone know what happened between you and Luna all those years ago? I mean, it was no Nightmare Moon, but…” Celestia betrayed nothing. She hadn’t moved a muscle when she heard him, but Disqord could tell by the way her eyes seemed to silently scream at him that he’d found the nerve he had been looking for. The pastel-haired principal said, with her voice a knife’s edge above a whisper, “What do you want?” Disqord had the dignity not to smile more than he already was, “Just a wager.” “Terms?” “I go and get these degrees and credentials and so forth,” Disqord waved his hands in the air like he just didn’t care, “and when I come back, you give me a chance to prove myself.” He stood up to his full height. “If I cannot meet your exacting standards, then fire me by all means! But…” Celestia shivered as she felt one hand settle onto her shoulder, and watched as Disqord’s face leaned in next to her own from behind. “… if I get declared Teacher of the Year, you have to keep me on, tenure or not.” She hadn’t blinked yet. Celestia turned back to the Disqord sitting across from her desk, and said, “One condition.” He nodded, acquiescing. The duplicate vanished instantly. “You can’t just snap,” she demonstrated with a quick fingersnap of her own, “and grant yourself the credentials. You have to earn them like everyone else.” “Naturally,” Disqord’s smile remained. He simply held out a hand, a hand that suddenly resembled a claw to Celestia, and waited. Moments later, the door to the Principal’s office opened, and a grinning man with crimson eyes and a suit patterned off of no pattern strutted happily into the school halls. The principal herself simply slid down into her chair, knowing full well that she would pay for that deal a few years down the line. But not for a few years, she reminded herself. Today, all she had to worry about was getting three former-horses on the path to graduate next year… and whatever was called for with her latest student, Midnight Sparkle… At precisely the same moment that Disqord and Celestia’s meeting came to an end, there was a sudden disturbance in front of the school. A crackling flash of blue fire lit the sidewalk, and a peel of thunder ripped the air. Flash Sentry and Derpy had been walking past the once-again statue-less Wondercolt statue plinth when it happened, and they instantly threw themselves down and into the grass. “Not again!” Flash cried. Derpy, trying hard to hide beneath her study-buddy, sighed, “I don’t understand! We just had a magical disaster!” Several other students, upon hearing the noise or seeing the flash, took off at a run to clear some distance from… Twilight Sparkle dropping ten feet out of the sky, face-first onto the grass. Her sister, Midnight, simply standing where the magical light had appeared a moment ago. “Alright,” Midnight sighed, “For next time, remember that we need to be fused to get an accurate teleportation going. I was aiming for the library.” Twilight said nothing. She picked herself up, and leveled a flat glare at Midnight. “What? You said I couldn’t teleport us to school…” “I said you shouldn’t!” Twilight stomped one foot, “You didn’t even bring our bags!” A flicker of embarrassment flashed across Midnight’s cheeks in a red blush. She scratched the back of her head with one hand, while the other quickly traced a light, white rune in the air. With a set of smaller, bubble-gum pops, two backpacks appeared in midair and drifted over to each Sparkle sister. Twilight shook her head and smiled, lightly. “Next time, you should think first, then act.” “That sounds like a you problem,” Midnight said, chuckling. Her eyes were drawn down to the ground, “Oh… I think we disturbed the wildlife.” Derpy was already up, and helping Flash to his feet when Midnight noticed them. “Oh, uh,” Derpy seemed a little confused seeing two Twilights standing in front of her. Though with one wearing pants, she quickly got a better handle on the situation, “Princess?” Midnight shook her head, “No, Derpy. I’m… Twilight’s sister. Technically.” Derpy nodded, smiling, “Oh that’s a relief! I thought you were Midnight Sparkle!” A moment of silence followed, only interrupted by Twilight face-palming, and Flash Sentry sighing. “I am,” Midnight said flatly. “… oh…” the wall-eyed girl looked away. Which only brought one eye back to bear on Midnight. Flash Sentry, a warm and friendly smile on his face, gave a little wave and said, “Uh, hey. Welcome to CHS… Midnight. How’re you doing?” Midnight, finally taking full stock of Flash… smiled. “Hey yourself, handsome,” she said, eyes briefly running up and down his whole body, “Not bad…” “Midnight!” Twilight’s face was beet-red and her eyes bulged, “You can’t…!” But Midnight simply shrugged and said, “Hey, I’m assertive! Can’t blame me for acting on that.” Flash’s eyes blinked back and forth between both sisters very, very rapidly. “What?” “That’s not the point!” Twilight clutched at her head like she was trying to hold back an explosion there, teeth grit and eyes closed tight in concentration, “You can’t just… hit on him! He’s…” “Howdy ya’ll!” a new, familiar voice rang out over the yard, and a very familiar young girl appeared. Applejack was followed closely by her three newest family members, once Apple horses until Discord’s wild, chaotic, magical antics made them as human as Midnight. “Oh, hey! Midnight!” shouted the excitable Cookie, who looked an awful lot like AJ herself with a dark-brown complexion and black hair, “You’re heading to the Principal’s stable too, right?” Cinnamon, who best resembled Apple Bloom but older and with her hair pulled back, shook her head and sighed, “It’s an office, Cookie. They don’t have stables for people!” Cookie giggled, “That don’t seem right. You sure?” Oakley, the former stallion who now looked like a brown-and-yellow dappled Big Mac, loomed over both girls and placed a calming hand on each of their shoulders. “Now, now,” his deep, molasses-sweet drawl sounded, “Don’t run over her so quick. Remember, she might not know who y’are.” Applejack shook her head at her former horses, before turning her chipper morning smile back towards the Sparkle sisters. “Sorry ‘bout them. They’re all sorts of excited about their first day of schoolin’. Kinda like you, Midnight.” “It’s fine,” Midnight smiled, and was surprised to find she meant it. Something about the four Apple siblings… or was their cover-story that they were cousins? Well, something about them seemed to almost warm her as they approached, all smiles and honest faces. She pointed at each one, “Oakley? Cinnamon? And… Cookie? Did I get that right?” “Shor did,” AJ laughed, stretching her accent right to the breaking point, before she noted the still appalled look on Twilight’s face. “Uh,” she frowned, “What’s up?” Flash, almost unheard in the commotion, said quietly, “That’s what I’d like to know…” “I’m trying to explain…” Midnight cut off her sister again, “Twilight’s embarrassed because I’m being assertive and brave and I happened to think this guy over here looked cute. What’s the big deal?” Applejack’s face scrunched up, hard, “Uh? Flash Sentry?” “That his name…?” Midnight had just gotten the words out when she finally heard what she said. Her smug smile fell instantly. “We know him, don’t we?” “Eeyup,” Applejack said, rather uncomfortably, her three… kin glancing around nervously, not knowing a lick of what was happening and starting to fall back on old, skittish horse instincts. Midnight glanced over to Flash, her face already bracing for what she might hear next, “And… I should know you…?” Flash’s face was red. “I had a crush on the… Princess Twilight. And before that…” Twilight, Midnight, AJ, the Apple cousins, Flash, and Derpy (who was already desperately wondering if she should be here at all), suddenly heard a voice that had all of them jump up in a fright. “Before that,” Sunset Shimmer said, cool as ice as she stepped out from behind the statue-less Wondercolt plinth, “He was my boyfriend. And kind of is now.” She leveled a silent, ineffable look straight at Midnight Sparkle. Ineffable, and terrifying. I want to die, thought Midnight. Unfortunately, all she could say out loud was, “Oh bu…” “Bestie!” The voice was loud, close, full of energy, and… dare one say it? Great and Powerful. Blue arms wrapped around Midnight’s neck, and a silver-haired girl’s smiling face joined Midnight’s horrified stare on her shoulder. “Happy first day of school!” “T-Trixie!? What…?” Too much information. There were too many variables flying into Midnight’s mind at once. Flash… Apples… Trixie… Sunset… “Professor Cordwood got caught in traffic and they couldn’t get a sub for zero period,” Trixie stepped back and explained, as though that were the confusing part about her arrival, “So, I thought I’d come out and meet you when you got here!” Midnight, however, continued to sputter, “But… what? Professor…? Is Pinkie going to jump out next!?” Her outburst appeared to pop some sort of awkward bubble, as Applejack chimed in once again, “Oh! She’s havin’ a race against Dash over on the track. Rarity was officiatin’.” Twilight spun back towards the cowgirl, “What? Why?” “Well she weren’t gonna work up a sweat, so…” Cinnamon snorted, “AJ, I think she meant why Pinkie and not you.” “Yeah,” Cookie joined in, “You’re always competin’ with her. Why’s Pinkie doing it today?” Not quite expecting an inquisition, Applejack harrumphed, and then said, “It’s not like I always gotta bicker with Dash. I just saw Pinkie swallow a jawbreaker the size of her head for breakfast, so I’s suspectin’ she’ll give Dash a real challenge. Magic or not, no one beats Pinkie Pie in a sugar rush.” “Did I miss something?” Trixie swiveled her head back and forth between the grimacing Midnight, the flabbergasted Twilight, the shocked and embarrassed Flash, Derpy, and the utterly stone-faced Sunset. Sunset flicked her gaze over to the magician. “Midnight just hit on Flash.” “Oof,” Trixie cringed, and leveled her own incredulous look at Midnight, “Not a great start, Bestie. Hitting on your friend’s ex? Or, current? Honestly, I can never tell…” “It’s not like I knew that!” Midnight threw her hands up, “I don’t even remember him! Although at this rate, maybe I should have a friggin’ list of the people I can’t remember from my own life! Next you’ll tell me Fluttershy has a brother!” After a moment of near-vacuum-level silence, Midnight sighed and said, “For the love of…” She covered her rapidly blushing face in her hands. It had taken Midnight a moment to send her life crashing and burning down around her ears. Idly, she wondered if she could hide out in Twilight’s subconscious again, just until this whole thing blew over. A gentle hand touched her shoulder, causing Midnight to peak out between her fingers. Sunset met her eyes with a smile, “It’s okay. I’m not mad. In fact…” she glanced back over towards Flash, “I guess it’s sort of a compliment?” “Yeah,” Midnight smiled through her embarrassment, “Let’s go with that. Are… are we cool, Flash?” The blue-haired teenager just smiled and shrugged, “Yeah, no worries. Compliment, right Sunset?” His eyes shrank to dots as he met Sunset’s… unamused expression. Deciding that his part in the conversation was over, Flash smiled, turned, and began to march back towards the school building, Derpy following close behind, glad to finally be out of that mess. That drew a fair amount of chuckles from the gathered friends. Before too long, however, Applejack noted the time and turned back to her three newest family-members. “Welp, I ain’t gonna see you three late on yer first day. Let’s hoof it!” she cried, and set the pace at a hard jog following in Flash and Derpy’s wake. Cinnamon grumbled, then followed. Oakley hummed and began to mosey. Cookie bounced in a way that reminded everyone a little too keenly of a pink-haired girl they all knew well. “Well, same goes for you, sis,” Twilight patted Midnight on the back, “Can’t be late on your first day!” Midnight rolled her eyes, “Oh, forbid that the one and only Twilight Sparkle…” she winced, and fell silent. Sunset’s face grew concerned as she looked back and forth between the two Sparkles, as did Trixie… for Midnight, in any case. Both girls had gone from good cheer to a sudden, disquieting silence. “Uh, what happened now?” Trixie asked, slightly annoyed at the constant emotional roller-coaster that was this conversation. Midnight sighed, “I’ll… tell you about it later.” She turned her eyes up, back towards Sunset. “Sunset? Were… were you just hiding behind that statue the whole time?” Sunset’s shoulders tensed. “N-no…” “Then what were you doing?” Twilight asked, a frown knocking her glasses down her nose. “I’ll… tell you about it… later?” Sunset’s face paled, and a pained expression scrunched up her face. “Alright… I might have been… standing in front of the portal to Equestria for the better part of an hour. Like… the whole hour.” “Why?” asked Trixie, genuinely perplexed. Standing in front of a mirror she could understand. As a stage magician, one had to look their greatest and most powerful, after all. “Because,” Midnight sighed irritably, “the spell I used to save the world might have turned her into an immortal Princess like the other Twilight Sparkle. And that bothers her, somehow…” “Twilight’s immortal!?” cried Trixie, “Equestria cheats so hard!” Sunset, however, hadn’t heard the magician’s outburst, instead narrowing her eyes on Midnight. “What does that mean?” Twilight blanched, suddenly remembering her fears of a confident… aggressive Midnight. “Look, I get it,” Midnight said, that previous irritation morphing into a hard tone, “Being a princess was like, your life goal back when you were evil. And part of moving on meant ditching your old dreams, so now that they’ve… maybe come true, you feel like you’re back to square one and you’re worried you’re not worthy.” Sunset clenched her teeth… but that wasn’t really wrong. Despite Twilight’s hand motions to ‘cease and desist’, Midnight pressed on, saying, “But you are! Heck, the Princess personally graduated you Monday, right after… well, you know. If that’s not an endorsement, I don’t know what is! “Besides, you probably would have been a princess earlier if you were back in Equestria,” she waved her hand to indicate the school, “this dimension screws around with magic, and you clearly got an upgrade that at least looks like you were an Alicorn when you first… when you first…” “Beat you?” Sunset smirked, Midnight’s words beginning to seep into her. Midnight huffed, mockingly, “Your words.” Just to her side, Twilight snickered. “I… alright,” Sunset nodded, “Alright, you got me. I don’t… if what happened, happened, then I guess I’ve just never felt worthy of that sort of honor.” Twilight laid a gentle hand on her shoulder, “You are. We all agree.” “Eh, she’s alright,” Trixie gave a so-so wave of her hand. But before anyone else could open their mouths or protest in general, a high-pitched alarm bell, freshly installed that morning, blared over the PA system. The five-minute warning had sounded, and first period was going to begin. The blue magician girl’s eyes snapped wide open. “Oh crud! We’ll be late!” Trixie Lulamoon grabbed her assistant’s hand and began to drag her towards the school. “You might have the same schedule as Trixie! We can sit next to each other, Bestie!” “Trixie, wha…?” “Come on Midnight!” Trixie picked up her pace, leaving the Sparkle sister to stagger behind her, “I’ll walk you to the office!” “This is walking!?” But as they ran across the grass yard, another question suddenly came to Midnight. “Who did you say was your zero-period teacher…?” “Are you sure everything’s okay?” Sunset started walking, slowly towards school. “Y-yeah…” Twilight began… and then stopped. Last night’s conversation with Midnight started playing back in her mind. It was time for an experiment. “No, actually.” Sunset tilted her head towards Twilight, but said nothing more than her concerned frown could. “We… Midnight and I…” why did this feel like every word was tightening a vice in her chest? Twilight took a breath, and plunged. “Nightmares.” “Bad dreams?” Sunset prodded. “No, Nightmares.” Twilight took a few smaller breaths, just to work out a rhythm. “The first night was bad. Last night was worse. We were back at the Friendship Games and…” Sunset held out a hand to stop her friend, and they both now waited just passed the plinth, “Did… did Midnight…?” Twilight shook her head, “No. I was her in the dream, and she was… well, you.” “Me?” “It was all a mess!” Twilight folded her arms and walked back towards the statue plinth. She leaned back against the edge, where she knew the portal wouldn’t be open. “Like I told you all yesterday, the Split wasn’t as final as we hoped. Midnight and I still share dreams, and… they’re just getting worse the more and more we think about this stuff…” “Then don’t think so hard about it. Remember what the Princess told me? You gotta live in the moment…” “But that’s just it! Am I alive!?” Sunset’s concern bloomed into full worry. “Twi? You… okay? What’s that mean?” Twilight recomposed herself. So far, experiment was proceeding as planned. No repression so far. So… good. I can be open with at least one friend. Continue? “Sunset,” she asked, hesitantly, “If you couldn't be sure of your memories... if you couldn't remember your past… would you still be you?” The red-and-gold haired girl took one step backward. She closed her eyes, and seemed to just exist for a moment. She breathed, deeply, and then said, without opening her eyes, “Yes.” “But…” unexpected response, “How…?” “Because I’ve seen your magic, Twilight,” Sunset smiled and opened her eyes, “I’ve seen your soul. It’s still purple, right?” Twilight’s jaw dropped, “That… that can’t be all there is to it!” “Why not? It’s magic.” “But that’s… that’s…” Twilight scratched her head, eyes wildly darting back and forth. Did we overthink this!? Sunset giggled, “Twi, you’ve seen my magic aura, right?” “Y-yes?” “And what color is it?” Sunset folded her own arms. “It’s… red…” “Amaranth, actually, not that it matters,” she took Twilight’s arm and started back towards the school building, “But before I met you… before I changed, my aura was blue.” Twilight wrapped both her arms around Sunset’s, enraptured by the mystery, “Oh? How did it change?” “I changed,” she answered, simply. “I’m a completely different person from how I was. Literally. Maybe a lot more literally…” Sunset’s eyes unfocused, seemingly staring past the school itself, but only for a second, before she said, “But what I’m saying is… your aura’s the same. So, if you think you… I don’t know… replaced Twilight Sparkle, you’re wrong.” “It’s… it’s that simple?” “It’s that simple.” Both girls now stood just in front of the school’s doors. Neither moved, except to turn and face the other. Twilight spoke first. “I think you miss the point of philosophy… but thanks.” “Anytime,” Sunset smiled back, “And if you’d like, I can let Princess Luna know about the nightmares. She can probably help with that.” Twilight nodded in thanks… but then frowned again. “And… have you spoken to any of the Princesses about what happened between you and Midnight?” Sunset shook her head. “Today though, as soon as I have some time to write in the journal.” As they walked through the glass and steel doors of CHS, Sunset whispered, to herself as much as Twilight, “I need to know…” The instant that the bells rang to announce the end of second period, there was a sudden rush of wind that swept through the halls of CHS. While the novelty of real magic had worn off for most students and people in general in Canterlot City, it was still a strange sight to catch a glimpse of a rainbow roaring through the halls. Dash came to a sliding halt at the top of the second-floor railing overlooking the hallways, and quickly hefted a truly massive water balloon up into her arms. It actually staggered her slightly, now that her super-speed, which had borne some of the weight, had worn off. The rainbow-haired girl grinned wickedly, and began looking about for her accomplice. There! Down the hall on the first-floor, Pinkie Pie cast her big blue eyes about, staking out the halls for their chosen victim this day. This is gonna be awesome! “Dashie?” a refined voice rang out behind her, “What do you think you’re doing?” “Hey Rare,” Rainbow Dash hoped the strain in her voice wasn’t too noticeable, “Just doing my part as the welcome wagon…” Rarity scowled, “Pleeease tell me you aren’t doing what I think you’re doing…” Dash scoffed, “Well, what am I doing?” “Playing one of your dreadful pranks on poor Midnight, obviously,” the sound of disappointment in Rarity’s accented style was just shy of palpable. If it’d been any more overblown, Dash might have even felt a little bad about this. Good thing that wasn’t the case. “Oh, come on!” she said, watching for Pinkie’s hand signals, “A little water never hurt anyone.” “Rainbow, it’s her first day!” Rarity pinched the bridge of her nose, daintily, so as not to damage her brilliant complexion, “Can’t you think of someone else’s feelings? You’ll crush her spirit!” Dash rolled her eyes, somehow still keeping them on Pinkie the whole time. “Rarity, if we baby her, she’ll really feel like an outsider! I prank everyone! Heck, when Twilight first transferred here after the Friendship Games, I stuffed her locker full of cheese.” “… Why…?” “Pinkie said she had a phobia or something. Point is,” Rainbow shifted her stance to keep the balloon balanced, “It’s how I let someone know I think they’re cool. So, if Midnight doesn’t get pranked, she’ll think I don’t think we’re friends, and that’ll mess with her head even more than all that exish-exit… existen…” “Existential, darling…” “… bunk already is! This way, she’ll know we’re cool.” “I… wait… that’s…” Rarity sputtered, suddenly recalling the voodoo dolls that had mysteriously replaced her needle cushions last year… and the hardy laugh she shared once Dash had let her in on the gag. Rarity smiled, in spite of herself, “When did you become so devious?” “Tenth-grade philosophy with Professor Cordwood. Dude’s got…” Dash trailed off as movement caught her eye. There it was! Pinkie was giving the signal! With a final, monumental effort, Rainbow Dash heaved the water balloon into the air, and let it drop straight down onto the unsuspecting below. There was a heavy, crashing sound as the balloon hit and water flooded the lower halls. Dash, snickering and tittering, leaned out over the railing to view her handiwork… And caught the eye of a particularly drenched Vice Principal instead. “Rainbow Dash,” Luna’s voice, in its intensity and its tone, sounded like someone dragging a knife along a block of ice, “I should very much like to see you in my office… post haste.” Dash’s eyes snapped to where her lookout… was missing. “Pinkie Pie…” Dash growled, “You… you quisling!!!” She felt Rarity place a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Darling,” she laughed, “I know you’re feeling sorely about losing the race this morning…” “… didn’t lose, she cheated…” “… and I probably won’t see you outside of detention for the rest of the year, but I am proud of you for branching out your vocabulary skills. I knew tutoring you with Shadow Spade novels would pan out marvelously!” Meanwhile, several hallways away, Pinkie Pie skipped and bounded up to a pair of nearly identical girls. “It’s done-zo!” she squealed with laughter. Twilight turned away from her open locker, arms filled with science textbooks, “Um… what’s done-zo?” “It worked?” Midnight leaned in, eagerly awaiting news of victory. Pinkie nodded vigorously, “Yup! Dashie’s prank went off with juuuust the right amount of hitches.” “Prank?” Twilight’s head zipped back and forth between her sister and Pinkie, “What prank?” “The water balloon she was planning to drop on top of Midnight in the hall, silly!” Pinkie tsk tsk’d, “It’s like you weren’t there!” Midnight smiled, “She wasn’t. That was me, remember?” “Oh, right! Silly me!” Pinkie’s eye narrowed, hungrily, “So… you brought my payment?” Midnight reached back into her new locker and withdrew a chocolate bar. “You sold out Rainbow Dash’s prank for a chocolate bar?” Twilight asked, confused, “But… you’ve probably got one in your hair right now!” “Yeah, I do,” Pinkie admitted, “But besides the fact that Rainbow’s trick could have backfired and made Midnight sad and depressed…” “It really wouldn’t,” Midnight whispered to her sister, “but the whole point of her pranks is to increase camaraderie and make me feel like one of the girls, so just knowing she was planning something is fine by me…” “… this candy bar is special! Right!?” And with that, Midnight drew up a flash of her aqua-blue magic from her geode. Twilight swiveled her head around in shock… only to find only mild curiosity on the faces of passing students. Magic light in the halls? Apparently didn’t have the draw it once did. The light settled onto the chocolate bar, which began to grow. And grow. And grow. Until, at last, the bar was the size of a large sign Twilight had seen students carry to all the major school sports. A corner of the bar hit the ground with a solid, heavy whump. But Pinkie easily hefted it into her arms, and with a chilling, mad giggle, the pink schoolgirl raced off down the hall. “I… what!?” “Yeah,” Midnight smiled, “Pinkie’s freakishly strong.” A shrill warning bell rang through the halls, causing little or no change in the regular student body… but had Twilight’s palms sweating and her eyes twitching at once. “Gah!” she looked to her sister, “Quick! You’ve got Harshwhinny with me next! You know how she is!” Midnight, previous smile straining slightly, said, “I… actually have Gym right now.” “What? No, you don’t,” Twilight narrowed her eyes, “I helped design your schedule. You have Cheerilee for first, then Cranky, Harshwhinny third, then gym, Cordwood…” “Yeah, about him… who…?” “… and then all seven, or eight, I guess, of us have sixth together with Cheerilee again!” Twilight counted all the classes out on her fingers, which necessitated dropping her textbooks at a certain point, though she clearly wasn’t focusing on that now. Midnight shook her head, “Nope. I had Celestia trade out my sixth period for a zero one, and for some reason that scrambled my third and fourth.” “Z-zero?” Twilight tilted her head in a manner not unlike Spike when he was trying to make sense of one of her scientific theories. “Why would you take a zero period?” “So I can leave early?” Midnight averted her eyes from Twilight’s, and tried to shift the topic by asking, “By the way, did we always…?” “That can’t be the reason,” Twilight lifted her textbooks up with her magic, furrowed brow never leaving Midnight, “Even considering your personality shift, education’s always been our thing! Why would you make a decision like this just to ‘get out early’?” Midnight folded her arms, and pouted despite herself. Twilight sighed, “Please don’t tell me this is related to Trixie…” “She needs to set up her show after school, so the extra hour helps, and I was thinking…” Twilight smacked her forehead with a facepalm so hard that it took Midnight aback. “You’ve been alive two days!” her voice hit a particularly hysterical note, “How are you already working as a magician’s assistant!? Much less Trixie’s…!?” “Hey! I like Trixie!” Midnight jabbed her sister with a pointed finger, “Aren’t you happy I made a friend!?” “But Trixie!?” The bell rang, and two flashes of purple and blue light flicked in the halls. Technically, teleporting into a classroom before the bells finished ringing didn’t count as being tardy… “I can’t believe you did that just to hang out with me!” Trixie grinned ear-to-ear while skipping along, hardly caring that her tray of spongey noodles, crackers, and… meat? Let’s settle for meat, were bouncing around about to flop straight to the cafeteria floor. “Well, not just to hang out with you,” Midnight gently used a trickle of magic to steady her friend’s tray the best she could, “But… yeah. I figure you need a Great and Powerful Assistant most days, right?” Trixie nodded, happily, “Having any assistant makes a show run so much smoother, but having you there makes it, like, a thousand times Greater!” The two girls laughed together as they walked over towards the eating tables. Midnight spotted her sister and their friends quickly enough, and made to join them when Trixie’s hand gripped her shoulder. “Whoa there!” said Trixie like she was calming a wild stallion, “Where do you think you’re going?” Midnight glanced back at her friends, where her sister was presently waving to her. “I thought…” “You thought wrong!” Trixie hooked her arm fully into Midnight’s, and began to coax her in a different direction, “I told you I wanted to introduce you to a new friend!” Midnight gave a weak, faked grin over towards Twilight… which only earned a shrug from her sister, a perplexed smile from Sunset, and a mocking guffaw with an additional pointed finger from Dash. Deserved, she supposed. Trixie pulled Midnight along with a happy grin and a funny, humming tune on the magician-girl’s lips. But after a few short steps, another presence came up on Midnight’s other side. She glanced left, and looked straight into the brilliant orange eyes of Cookie Apple. “Midnight!” she wrapped her arms in through Midnight’s exactly like Trixie had done, “Ya gotta come sit with me n’ Oakley and Cinnamon!” “Um,” Midnight noticed the other Apple siblings taking up a flanking position, Oakley on Trixie’s other side, Cinnamon behind Cookie, “I…” “Hey! Back off, horse!” Trixie snarled, “I have dibs! Friendship dibs!” “That’s not a thing,” Cinnamon snorted. Oakley leaned his impressively long frame over Trixie to speak to, or rather at, Midnight, “She’s the only other person we can talk to about bein’ a new human. Ain’t that right?” “I was a human before, just a different human,” Midnight futilely argued, just in time for Cookie to give a little tug on her arm. “That’s basically the same thing, sugarcube!” Trixie yanked back, “She needs to meet Wallflower first!” Midnight half-turned, “Wait, that’s who…” “Existential crises take precedent,” Cinnamon sighed, as though she were already tired of the argument. “We’re part of an elite, Great and Powerful club! That Chaos God gave us cards and everything!” Midnight watched as her apple rolled from one side of her lunch tray to the other and back, over the mashed potatoes and oddly-shaped ravioli, each tug from Trixie and Cookie sending her food spilling left and right. She was living Pinkie Pie’s dream of becoming a living food-mixer right before her eyes. And in no time at all, it was too much! “Girls, enough!” she screamed… which was a mistake. First, as Midnight had a very loud voice when she needed it, and it was the sort of voice that carried well whether singing or screaming. Second, Midnight’s voice startled both Cookie and Trixie, causing both girls to pull on her arms and release the entire lunch tray all at once. Third, forward momentum was still in effect. Which meant that the entire tray of food left Midnight’s hands in one second, and crashed straight into the face of another student in the next. The entire cafeteria was silent, except for a distant ‘Ooooh’ from Rainbow Dash and a following slap upside her head from Applejack. Cookie, Trixie, and especially Midnight watched in wide-eyed horror as the poor girl in front of them simply stood, impassively, with an entire meal smashed into her face, front, and own lunch tray. When the foodstuff finally came loose and fell away… taking the girl’s meal with it… Moondancer did not look as thoroughly pleased as one might have imagined. “M-Moondancer?” Midnight squeaked. “Well,” the bespectacled girl slowly, angrily shook the mashed foodstuff from her glasses, “At least you remembered my name this time…” As she returned her glasses to her face, however, Moondancer’s eyes narrowed. “Wait… are you…?” “Midnight, yes,” she winced as a bit of ravioli dropped from Moondancer’s ear to her shoulder, “And for what it’s worth, I do remember who you are.” Trixie leaned in, brows furrowed, “What!? You remembered her but not Trixie!?” A silent, half-lidded glare from Midnight caught Trixie up. “W-well… maybe I-I’ll just go get Wallflower… and another lunch tray for you…” she said before vanishing in a puff of purple smoke… though her rapidly fading footsteps could still be heard in the otherwise quiet cafeteria. Cookie worked her fingertips together, an altogether alien experience for her, as was the shame she was feeling at the moment. “I’m so, soooo sorry. Here, let me help you clean up.” The chocolate-colored girl stepped forward, tongue out, ready to lick away all that mess, when Moondancer’s stiff arms planted on her shoulders and held tight. “Um… no. Thanks. I’ll be fine.” She looked up towards Midnight, eyes clearly tracing the shape of her face, taking in her changed color and style from the Twilight she once knew. “Yeah, sorry about meeting you like this,” Midnight tried, and failed, to smile encouragingly. “Maybe… we can try again tomorrow?” Moondancer just nodded, then turned to seek out the nearest restroom, giving Cookie a disdained frown as she went. Watching her go, Midnight couldn’t help but feel a pang of something. It was crazy, of course. It wasn’t like Moondancer was her friend… But if she was the one who remembered that friendship, then wasn’t she? “See, this is what I’m talkin’ about,” Oakley shook his head at Midnight’s side, “Ya’ll humans’d have it so much easier if ye jes’ ate out of a feedbag like normal folks…” After the excitement had passed, lunch resumed at a relatively normal pace. Trixie brought Wallflower Blush over to eat with Midnight and the Apple cousins/siblings/whatevers, but not a lot of conversing went on. The previous fiasco had cost them all precious time to eat, and Midnight wasn’t in a particularly talkative mood. Mostly, she just glared at Wallflower. Midnight admitted to herself that she was being a hypocrite… but she also didn’t care. Though after a while, she loosened up a bit more and allowed herself to chat with the green-haired girl. “So… you’re like Twilight’s split personality or something?” Wallflower ventured. “Something like that,” Midnight said simply, eyes never leaving her. Wallflower glanced down the table, where Oakley and Trixie were having an eating contest egged on by Cookie, and Cinnamon looked about ready to die from embarrassment. The surrounding tables were taking bets. “Do you…” she coughed, “Do you have some sort of problem with me?” “You erased my memories once,” Midnight jabbed at the tacos Trixie had gotten for her, “Though considering how many I’ve lost due to this whole experiment, I suppose I can’t hold that against you.” “Right… sorry, by the way…” Midnight shrugged it off, “It’s fine. My problem, not yours.” Wallflower sipped at her juice box, then said, “So, you going to this ‘Reformed Villains Club’ thing? Trixie says that… Disqord creature wants us to hang out sometime.” “Please don’t say his name,” Midnight sighed, then glanced around, expectantly. When nothing happened, she said, “He comes when called, you know.” The bell finally rang to end the lunchbreak, and the whole student body began to wearily return to class. But as they did so, Midnight realized she’d yet again become distracted. All day, it seemed, she had been trying and failing to ask a simple question. Now that she was with Trixie again, she realized that an answer could be forthcoming before she had to race off to her next class. “Hey, Trixie? Who exactly is this Cordwood character?” “Oh my!” the distress in Fluttershy’s voice was a touch more so than usual, even compared to that one time she thought she’d accidentally eaten a non-vegan hotdog, “You don’t remember Professor Cordwood at all!?” Midnight was walking through the halls alongside Fluttershy, Twilight, and Sunset, all of whom were on their way to fifth period Government and Economics with Professor Cordwood. Trixie had been… less than helpful, having fallen into a food coma when Midnight went to ask after their new teacher and necessitating a trip to the nurse for a stomach pump. At least, that’s how she looked as she met back up with the four in the hall. “Not a bit,” Midnight shrugged, “And no one has been able to tell me a thing about him all day! All I got out of Celestia and Luna were cryptic remarks and a few giggles…” Sunset laughed, “Well, that makes sense. Rumor is that Celestia used to have a crush on him back when she attended CHS.” Midnight raised an eyebrow at that, to which her sister responded, “It’s true! Professor Cordwood is one of the most respected and distinguished academics on this coast! He has over a dozen doctorates in multiple subjects!” Trixie grumbled, “Sounds like the Principal isn’t the only one with a crush…” “Wait, is that possible?” asked Midnight. "Of course," said Trixie, a little smile returning to her, "She'd probably marry a book if she could..." “Dunno,” Sunset tapped her chin in thought, “He’s ancient though. I think there’s some old pictures of him teaching back in the seventies.” “That’s…” Midnight shook her head, “Wow. That’s hard to imagine. And we liked him?” Fluttershy leaned up against Midnight, her big, beautiful eyes glistening with stars as she spoke, “Oh, everyone loves the Professor’s classes! He has so many funny stories, and he’s always up to date on movies, and music, and stuff like that… and he loves animals!” Trixie smiled, “He encouraged me to take my magic show to the next level, and he even taught me a little sleight of hand.” “He helped me adjust to living in this world, back when I first showed up,” Sunset’s smiled faded, slightly, “He was the only teacher here I never pulled a fast one with…” They entered the classroom, and Midnight almost balked. It was arrayed into a large, debate-style half-circle of desks, which wasn’t too unusual. What stood out were the wall-to-wall decorations. Posters, essays, and even poems, ballads, and a few old CDs, vinyl records, and one wax-cylinder from a phonograph were stuck to the walls, trophies and gifts from hundreds… no! Thousands of previous students. It was utterly astounding, yet only Midnight seemed to notice. “Midnight dear!” Rarity called over to her from a cluster of seats near the middle clearly being held for the entire group by her and Applejack, “Hurry up darling! The Professor likes to start promptly!” Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie entered at that moment, sharing nothing more than friendly shoulder pats with Midnight as they passed by, a sign that all had been long-forgiven. The students hurriedly got to their seats, leaving Midnight a little mystified. She’d never seen this sort of devotion to any of the other teachers on campus, not even from Twilight. Seeing everyone sitting down, notebooks out, and even a few of the slower, ruder students were straightening out and tossing their trash respectfully in the cans by the door. It was so surreal. And then it became downright insane as the door to the classroom opened… no, no. It slammed open with a hard kick just as the bell announced the start of fifth period, and a walking fashion-nightmare high-stepped right into the classroom. “Hiya kids!” Professor Cordwood laughed as he entered, swinging his briefcase as he did so. “Good afternoon, Professor!” the whole classroom announced in synced harmony. Midnight sat with mouth agape. The Professor opened his briefcase and began to dump its contents out onto the table at the front of the classroom, which seemed to be little more than gum wrappers, coiled springs, and an entire house of cards, which landed still in an upright position. “Apologies to anyone who wanted to attend the zero-period class,” he said easily, tossing the briefcase over his shoulder where it burst into lollipops, “But since my past-self was still here at the time, I might have accidentally ripped the space-time continuum in half!” He chortled to himself, and brushed down his silver goatee. “Uh… um…” Midnight’s pupils dilated down to specks and her jaw nearly fell completely off her face as she watched the display before her. Those clothes... that hair... his eyes... Sunset, by contrast, laughed, and said, “Hey, flat tires happen to everybody Professor!” “Indeed, they do, Bacon-hair!” Cordwood chuckled. The sound of a distant, squealing tire could be heard far off, which drew a slight frown from the surprisingly youthful professor. “I had nothing to do with that one, I swear…” “This… this is insane,” Midnight muttered. She spun around in her seat, and quickly took in the faces of her fellow students. Every single one of them seemed completely at ease. Rainbow Dash, tapping out a beat with her pencil, was otherwise enthralled by the professor, and she, Rarity, and Fluttershy all shared the same contented smile. Derpy sat in the back, furiously keeping notes with one eye locked onto the front of the class, and Pinkie Pie… Well, Pinkie was lightly bouncing from a sugar high, as always. But her eyes were drifting back and forth between Midnight and the professor. “Twilight?” she whispered, “Twilight, something’s wrong. Everyone thinks…” Twilight shushed her, “Midnight, I’m trying to listen!” “But… but you heard what he called…” Multiple shushes assailed Midnight from every angle. Even Sunset glanced unhappily at her. She flinched under the scorn, spinning around in utter confusion. What’s going on!? How can they not see…!? “How can they not see, what?” the Professor had walked up to Midnight’s seat without her notice, and seemed to have read her mind. “Miss Sparkle? Sparkle Dos?” he grinned, revealing his gold tooth where the Professor’s more familiar self usually had a single fang. Midnight stood up, and fixed her eyes into a scowl. Eyes that met the crimson gaze of the Lord of Chaos. “What have you done, Disqord?” she asked. The eternally twenty-something Spirit smirked, “Just waiting for someone to notice.” Sunset grabbed at Midnight’s clothes, “Midnight!? What are you doing!? You can’t call the Professor by his first name! That’s rude!” “How are you not more surprised by this!?” Midnight slapped her hand away, “It’s Disqord! You know him!” “Big oof there, Moonbeam,” Disqord leaned back on empty air and reclined, “She can’t hear that. It just sounds like you’re calling me Decimus to my face.” His face scrunched up in thought, “Or… am I going by Dave these days? Oh, it doesn’t matter too much I suppose…” Midnight whirled back on him, “Of course it matters! What have you done to Professor… Cordwood…?” Professor Cordwood, she thought. Disqord nodded, slowly, like he was coaxing an answer out of his slowest student. Decimus… Dave… D Cordwood… “You… are Professor Cordwood!?” her shoulders slumped, and several strands of her hair began standing up on their own. Disqord started laughing. Really laughing. Full belly laughs and mad cackles simply poured out of him as he began floating higher and higher into the air. “Uh… what’s going on?” Dash finally spoke up, “I’m super confused right now…” “Midnight’s hollerin’ about… sumthin,” Applejack scratched her head, a strained look on her face as she tried to recall what all just happened, “And… Professor Cordwood’s laughing?” “But… but how!?” Midnight seemed to be the only one watching Disqord drift through the air like it wasn’t completely normal outside of the mad cackling. “Cordwood’s been here for years!” Disqord managed to get his endless guffaws under some form of control, whereupon he wiped at his eyes and said, “Oh, how long have I waited for this moment? Literal eons!” It snapped into place, the missing piece in Midnight’s mind. “Time travel…” Twilight was up out of her seat, a gentle hand on her sister’s shoulder, “Midnight? Hey! Midnight? Are you okay? The Professor asked if you were new.” “You traveled back in time…” Midnight shook herself free, ignoring whatever conversation Twilight thought they were having, “But why? Just so… so what? I don’t understand!” Disqord seemed to get his giggles out, and slowly settled back down onto the floor. “Oh, but you will,” he said, and then without fanfare of any sort… he snapped his fingers. At the sound, everyone in the class suddenly convulsed, kneeling or bending over and grabbing at their heads in silent agony. All except Pinkie, who had a box of popcorn laid out in front of her. “First, I want you to know that I’ve had a lot of fun being Cordwood,” Disqord said, a flicker of melancholy in his voice, “But I did all of this for a reason, after all. I knew this day was coming.” “What did you do, exactly? And… why!?” Midnight kneeled down next to Twilight, who sat frozen in a grimace of pain, “What are you doing to them?” “Tell me, Midnight, how much did the Princess You hate time travel?” Discord sat down on his desk, legs crossed and kicking. “A lot,” Midnight sank into her analytical mode, calculating and calculating until she could figure out just what was happening, “The threat of paradoxes using time magic is…” Disqord nodded, in full lecture mode, “Precisely! It was an unacceptable risk to my friends, and my dear, dear Fluttershy. That’s why I came up with a memory filter spell before I left…” “… this morning,” Midnight finished, “So… you were protecting the timestream?” “DISQORD!!!” Sunset shrieked as she pulled herself up into her desk, “Oh sweet Celestia, you were Disqord the whole time!?” “Ah,” Midnight pondered aloud, “I see the spell is wearing off now.” “Indeed,” the Lord of Chaos helped Fluttershy to her feet, “I do hope I haven’t disappointed you?” Fluttershy’s face was awash in conflict, jumping between rage, confusion, and sheer delight. After a few moments, it settled on a sort of puzzled sadness. “But… if you’re my teacher…” “Yes, my dear,” he sighed, “It would be entirely inappropriate for us to… continue on as we have been. Unethical, even.” Pinkie Pie threw a fistful of popcorn. “Boo!” “At least,” Disqord’s eyes flash mischievously, “For another month or so. Once you graduate and I retire.” “Yay!” “Why didn’t you tell me?” Fluttershy asked. Disqord just glanced down at her phone, “You left your data off.” As other students began to lift their groggy heads up, faces clearly adjusting to memories they shouldn’t have had, Fluttershy checked her phone. “Oh… there’s a message. Um… okay,” and she sat down with a blush. Rainbow Dash sighed, “So. Did you actually take us to the moon on that field trip in ninth-grade? Or was that just an awesome dream?” Disqord glanced over at her, “Was it this planet’s moon, or one in the outer solar system? You were sick for one of them.” Dash’s face beamed, and she whispered, “Awesome!” “Wait,” Rarity brushed at her hair to remove any damages her clutching might have done, “Does that mean you really did send us back in time to see dinosaurs for last year’s big History fieldtrip? I thought we went to a museum!” “What is life, if not a living museum?” Midnight tapped her chin in thought. “Oh?” Disqord appeared behind her, “What’cha thinking?” His previous self remained by Fluttershy, grinning like an idiot. “That you went to a lot of trouble,” she said, watching her classmates’ nausea from returning memories keep them down in a stupor, “And I can’t help but wonder why.” “To win a wager, naturally,” her teacher answered smugly before turning back to the front of the classroom. “A… wager?” “I wanted to prove to Celestia that I could be a good teacher,” he leaned on the desk, “And… wouldn’t you all agree?” Sunset raised her hand… and then set it down. “Huh… I was gonna say something but… you were basically the only teacher I respected here when I first showed up.” Dash propped her head up with her elbows, “And you were there when I needed a shoulder to cr- I mean, you were cool. Yeah, cool,” she darted her eyes about, daring anyone stupid enough to question where that sentence was originally going. A low, quiet sound came out from Applejack. “You… you were there when mah parents…” Midnight shrieked, “You PANTS’D the time-space continuum to win a bet!? A bet that took you a million years to win!?!?” The whole classroom vibrated with her words… and then it began to ring with her laughter. Midnight howled, tears streaming as she bent over double. Pinkie, out of everyone in the class, sighed, “Dangit. Ya broke her, Disqord.” Leaning on her desk for support, Midnight managed to get her breathing a bit more under her control, saying in half-gasps, “Trixie? Twilight?” “Yeah?” both said simultaneously. “Good call… I like this guy.” “Alright, my little seniors!” Disqord swiped at the blackboard with a flourish and aplomb, transforming the whole wall into a giant abacus, “We still have work to do today, and you’re not going to learn how to cheat on your taxes by lounging about!” The whole class, now passed the issue of their memories being locked away and their favorite teacher being an infinitely old Chaos God… chuckled at the whole insane affair, and prepared to settle in for their schoolwork… When the PA system sounded, letting a squeal of static flood the halls. A tinny version of Principal Celestia’s voice roared over the static. “DISQORD!!!” There was the sound of shuffling, grunting, wood splintering, and a few huffy curses half-muffled, before another voice, far calmer, came over the system. “Would Professor Cordwood please report to Celestia’s Office? We would… like to ask you a few questions about the recent… disturbance,” Luna spoke with the sort of formality one might expect of an executioner. Disqord hefted a microphone out of his pocket, and spoke directly into the PC system himself, “Oh, I don’t think we need to do that. She knows she’s lost the bet. I’ve won Teacher of the Year sixty-seven times in the last century, sometimes awarded by her own hand. “But, if you insist,” he sighed, his static radio-like voice being entirely the same with or without the mic, “Then I need coverage for my current class. Send Cranky, he loves using his prep for something other than eating cheese sticks.” A muffled ‘what!?’ could be easily heard through the wall from Mr. Cranky’s room. There was another struggle. Celestia’s voice came over, low and menacing, “Professor Cordwood. If you are not in my office in five minutes, I am going to set your car on fire.” The PA system shut down. Disqord stared up at the speakers with a curious expression, muttering to himself, “Oh boy… she sounds serious…” He turned back to the class. “Take five, ladies and gentlemen. Celestia miiiight have had a childhood crush on ole Cordwood back in the day… she’s clearly taking this hard.” “Gee,” Trixie grumbled, using her water bottle as an impromptu ice pack on her head, “I wonder why that could be.” “Um, Professor!” Twilight’s hand went up. Disqord sighed, “Twilight? You know my real name.” Midnight, sitting back down, chuckled, “Just go with it. She can’t handle this otherwise.” Their teacher sighed, and nodded. Twilight took a breath, and asked, “Are… are we still taking that fieldtrip to Canterlot University Labs?” “No,” he shook his head, a soft smile forming, “That was for the permission slips. We’ll actually be shrinking down to explore the inside of the human mind.” He then looked straight at Pinkie, “Yours, specifically.” She paused, mid-popcorn-chew, “Fwha?” Disqord grinned, “Let’s just say that, for the rest of us, we’ll fully understand our national crises better once we know what the average voter has going on up there…” “Ohhh… hey!” And with that final exchange, Professor Disqord opened the door to his classroom, which now conveniently opened directly into Principal Celestia’s office, and went inside. “Disqord,” Midnight could clearly hear Celestia’s voice as the door shut, “You Mother-” The door closed with a soft click. “Yup,” Midnight leaned back in her seat, a smile glazing over her features, “Good call.”