//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Brother And Bother // Story: The Legend of Midnight Hour // by Stratocaster //------------------------------// Chapter 2: Brother And Bother “Wake up, Nightshift!” The next morning, Midnight woke up to a sudden violent shaking from an unknown assailant. The shaking stopped and he looked up dazed at the owner of a smiling face. “Did you miss me? Huh? Huh? Did ya? Did ya?” It was his ever erratic polar opposite twin brother, High Noon. And here he was giving him a rude awakening. Midnight rubbed his eyes and sat up gawking at his brother who was standing at the end of his bed. “Noon?! What the hay are you doing here?!” he exclaimed. “What? I can’t drop by home and annoy my favorite twin brother?” replied Noon. “But I thought you were in Canterlot helping out Star Swirl the Bearded.” “Oh yeah, that, well it turned out he didn’t need a rainbow making spell since the Pegasus ponies had just made a factory for that. Technology, huh? One step forward, two steps back.” Midnight looked at his clock to see that it was a little after 10:30. He usually woke up a bit earlier but didn’t mind sleeping in no matter how long. “Did you see the pie?” asked Noon sticking his nose in his brother’s face. “Yes.” Midnight answered irritated. “I thought you left that for me yesterday before you went to Canterlot.” “Oh no, I picked it up when I got home last night, while you were at the clock.” “So you ate an entire apple pie minus a slice in one night?!” “Hey, that pie was good stuff; those ponies growing apples outside town know what they’re doing. Can you imagine them setting up farms in the wide open countryside? It’s the way of the future I tell you. Well come on, I want to hang out, let’s get some breakfast or something, or lunch, or even brunch, I’ve got money! Let’s go, Nightshift!” Noon scampered out of the bedroom. Midnight slumped out of bed with an annoyed grimace; his brother had that effect on him. High Noon was opposite from him in every way, physically and mentally, despite the two of them being twins. Unlike Midnight’s deep blue coat, Noon’s was bright orange and his main was bleached blonde and left unkempt, apart from his brother’s neatly combed black; his eyes were also strangely brown. Personality-wise, the twins differed greatly. While Midnight was calm and collective, Noon was active and energetic. While Midnight lived on intelligence, Noon lived on action. While Midnight was reading, Noon was out partying. The only thing that they something in common with were their cutie marks. Midnight’s was a full moon with clock hands, while Noon’s was a sun also whit clock hands. This was fitting since Noon had the daytime equivalent of Midnight’s job. When the sun was at its highest point in the sky, he would use its power to magically restart the town clock. Although, since the sun’s power was much easier to channel, and the daytime process did not require much of it, Noon could get it done in a split second from pretty much anywhere even outside Fillydelphia. This left him without much to do throughout the day so he would spend his time doing magic related odd jobs around town and sometimes in the unicorn hub of Canterlot. But he always managed to find time to spend time with his brother, even when it got on Midnight’s nerves. Noon took pleasure from making him his punching bag; the pet name “Nightshift” referred to Midnight’s task. But despite the teasing, the two brothers still got along like old friends. Midnight shook off the dreariness and walked into the bathroom which was next to Noon’s room; they had agreed to live with each other after leaving their parents. He stepped into the shower and ran the hot water almost falling asleep as the drops cascaded on him. After a couple minutes, he looked to see Noon’s silhouette behind the curtain; he was holding what seemed to be a toothbrush and making stabbing motions as if it were a knife. “Come on, hurry up, I’m bored.” Noon whined childishly. Midnight peeked around the curtain and glared at his twin. “If you’re so bored, then why don’t you go fix the kitchen sink already?” “I already told you bro, I tried a dozen times.” “Well then try a dozen and one times.” “Okay, but that’s bad luck.” Noon walked out of the bathroom, dropping what turned out to be Midnight’s toothbrush on the floor, and left him in peace. A few more minutes passed before he began to feel a change in the shower water. It began to decrease in temperature before finally becoming frigid. Midnight rapped at the showerhead muttering at it. Suddenly, the temperature of the water became scolding hot and he yelped as it touched him. He slipped on the floor but caught himself from falling when the water stopped completely. Midnight panted nervously with his hooves clinging to the edge of the tub when he heard Noon yelling downstairs. “Come on you stupid hunk of metal! Wait, where does this piece go? Connect straight piece A to L piece B. Really? Alright, I’ll give it a shot.” Midnight waited frozen as Noon was heard clambering with metal parts; then the water came back. This time it was at a more sensible temperature, but it came down like heavy weight. He fell on his back covering his face and sputtering as the pressure of the cascade pelted him. For what seemed like half a minute, the water repeatedly changed from freezing cold, to burning hot, to light as a drizzle, to heavy as a hurricane, and even pulsed and oscillated haphazardly. Eventually, the torment stopped and the showerhead came to a slow drip. Midnight frantically grabbed the edge of the tub and pulled himself out falling to the floor. He panted looking up at the ceiling when Noon came back in. “Hey Midnight, I fixed it!” he told him cheerfully. “I guess thirteen isn’t so unlucky after all. How was your shower?” Midnight simply glared at him with bloodshot eyes, grabbed the towel, wrapped himself in it, and hobbled out of the bathroom.