//------------------------------// // The 988th Summer Celebration Pt 1 // Story: Let Our Values Endure // by Shadic Midnight Blitzer //------------------------------// Arc: Childhood Chapter 1: The 988th Summer Celebration Pt 1 “Today’s the day! Wake up!” A voice rang through my head as I slowly gained consciousness. Sleepy and groggy, the only thing I could see was darkness with my eyes closed. Using the most minimal effort I could, I sent out my response, my words coming out sluggish, barely audible, and barely comprehensible.  “It’s Saturday… Please leave me alone…” My voice came out with a murmur as I instinctively grabbed the blanket that had been around my body and pulled it closer to me. It was a very soft blanket, soft blue and decorated with clouds the last time I checked. Unless somebody purposefully grabbed it within my sleep, put it inside the washing machine with the white pillow, and turned it light blue. Like that’s ever happened to me before. I prepared to return to the dream world. It was a weekend, and since my alarm clock never rang I had up to two hours left to sleep. Unfortunately, before I could even begin, I was interrupted when I felt my bed creaking under the pressure of somepony jumping on it.  “Come on little brother! Wake up!” The voice said again, this time closer than before. I groaned. I might as well say ‘goodbye’ to any hopes of sleeping in. Realizing who was talking to me, I tried to address her, but still in the laziest way possible. If there was any hope to get some extra shut-eye, better to try now right? “I’m trying to sleep. I’m not your ‘little brother’ either. I’m the same age as you are. Now please leave me alone sis.” I yawned as I proceeded to ignore her, only to yelp as I suddenly found myself being sprung into the air before falling onto the carpet floor. Letting out an ‘oomph!’ I simply groaned as a small amount of pain coursed through my body. Nothing serious, just a small sting, but it was still annoying. “Oops! Sorry little brother. Guess I bounced on the bed too hard.” The voice said, sounding apologetic and sincere. Finally coming to the truth that I wasn’t going to be sleeping anymore, I forcibly opened my eyes, finding myself in my room. The walls were painted blue with a lightning bolt pattern. The ceiling and floor were decorated with white clouds, which would’ve been real if we'd lived in Cloudsale. Huh. Cloudsale. A city made out of clouds and populated only by pegasi. I guess it must be the polar opposite to Canterlot, the city we’re living in, where the majority are unicorns.  Hmm… what was I thinking about again? “Uhm… Midnight? You’re kind of spacing out there.” The voice said again. “Did I accidentally make you go unconscious? Midnight~! Wake up~!” Oh yeah. That. Lifting myself, my eyes were faced with a pair of lightning blue eyes. They were young, beautiful, and determined. Putting some distance away and refocusing my eyes, I saw a light blue pegasus. Her mane and tail were spiky white, with a tint of electric blue. She had a cutie mark, which was a lightning spark. Hence, her name.  “Hey Lightning Spark!” I said, placing a fake smile on my face. “Nice of you to just drop by and THROW ME OFF MY BED!” My demeanor had quickly changed to a growl. Sure, she was my sister, but there was a limit on how many times you could get thrown onto the floor before you began to lose your patience. Lightning Spark stared at me, flinching for a bit, before she began to laugh. It wasn’t meant to be mean, it was just a simple light-hearted laugh, with the intent to defuse the situation. “Oh, Midnight! Sorry for throwing you off your bed, but you just look so cute when you’re mad that I can’t help but laugh! I’ll make it up for you though.” Lightning said as she began to help me, my anger disappearing as she lifted me up. It’s hard to be mad against somebody like her. Sure, she’d throw you onto the floor one day and then prank you the next, but she always made sure that I’d get something in return that makes me happy by the end of the day.  Even though we’re the same age, she tends to act like an older sister. “Well, now that I’m awake, let me just go to the bathroom to brush my teeth, alright?” I said to her, my growl changing to that of a smile. She nodded as the two of us exited my room before we split paths as my sister used the railings to slide down the stairs. I went to the bathroom, which was colored white, and grabbed my blue toothbrush before brushing in front of a large mirror, getting a glimpse of myself. Green emerald eyes reflected to match my own, as I saw a blue pegasus with a spiky dark blue mane. Unlike my sister though, I haven’t gotten my cutie mark yet, leaving me ‘blank flank’. It was a visible difference given that everybody but me had gotten theirs already. But just like my sister told me:  ‘Who cares what the world thinks about us? The important thing is how we think about ourselves!’ Thus being a blank flank wasn’t a real problem for me, because even though I wasn’t the best in one thing, I was certainly an all-rounder. I’d get an average of 90 across all subjects, I’d be able to shift from any position from any sport and still perform well by the end of the day, and I had the drive to learn more. My father was always happy with me along with my mum, saying that my ability to learn anything fast is something that I should be happy about, whether I had a cutie mark or not.  Just the thought of my family smiling at me filled me with happiness as I finished brushing my teeth and left the bathroom. Unlike my sister though, I decided to glide down the stairs using my small wings, landing at the end before entering into the dining room. The moment I opened the door, my father looked up from his newspaper and smiled at me. “Hey there Midnight! Had a good sleep?” My father asked. He was a dark blue pegasus with a nearly pitch-black mane, while his cutie mark was a dark thunder cloud. He looked at me with his gray eyes, smiling at me as I sat on my chair at the table. “Hmm… I guess you can say it like that.” I said, smiling back at him. My father grinned at me, ruffling my mane a bit. “So, do you know what today is my son?” My dad asked. His name was Thunder Storm by the way. Next to him was a golden helmet from the army. My dad was a Royal Guard, one of the best I think. Back before me and my sister were born, my parents lived in Cloudsdale, but they moved here to Canterlot so that my father could go to and from work faster. A simple cough brought my attention back to my father, he looked at me with an eyebrow raised, waiting for my response. I blinked as it took me a few seconds to remember that he asked me the question, and thus my sister decided to chip in first, as she also noticed my rather late response time. “Midnight’s been spacing out a lot recently.” Lightning Spark spoke, causing my father to let out a soft laugh as he smiled towards us. “I remember when my parents called me out for spacing out too much as well. It’s normal for a growing colt like him.” My father said, messing up my sister’s mane, who faked a pout before they both laughed. Making up a response I responded to my dad’s question. “Well… today is Saturday… and… is there something I’m missing right now? Cause I’m still a bit groggy from waking up.” I said, scratching my head, before smiling as a white-blue pegasus began to trot in the room from the kitchen, carrying various plates of food to the table. “Well why don’t you first get yourself something to eat Midnight? Maybe that can help.” The mare said, smiling at me. She was my mom, whose name was Snowy Blizzard. Her cutie mark was a flurry of snowflakes. Contrary to what many would think, she’s a very nice and warm pony, treating everyone well. The only exception to that is when somebody tried to be mean, especially towards me or my sister. The air around her would drop before she’d sent out a very cold stare at whoever was trying to hurt us, which usually would scare them away. In other words, she was the best mom ever! Nice and warm and ready to defend when the time came.  She set down a plate of toast and butter in front of me, giving me a motherly kiss and ruffling my mane, before turning to serve my sister and father something similar. After stuffing my face with the delicious delicacy of toast and butter, my mind wandered off to what my dad was trying to say. He asked if I knew what today was, so today must be important right? As I searched for the answer, I suddenly realized what this day meant. Seeing my face of realization, my sister came up to me and hugged me. “Happy 10th Birthday Midnight!” Lightning said, smiling at me, while I let out a playful laugh. “Isn’t this also your birthday?” I asked out loud, causing her to giggle.  “I guess this hug is for both of us then right?” She said, laughing a bit. “In truth, your birthday is technically tomorrow, due to how time works when the Sunset Celebration occurs, so why not celebrate our birthdays for two days instead of one?” Lightning said. She was right in that matter. We were both born at the same time that the sun rose during the Sunset Celebration, and since the day before would always be elongated to also cover the time between midnight to the sunrise of the day of the celebration, our birthdays technically stretched two days. It’s kind of like how ponies born on leap years could only truly celebrate it every four years. The same applied to me, my sister, and all of those born on the day of the celebration.  “Well, that’d be great! Though I don’t think you’d allow us to go all night long using cake and sugar as our means to stay awake, would you mom?” I asked jokingly, which she was able to see. “No Midnight. You can’t just sugar-rush the night like you did last time. Maybe you can stay up all night long, but you’ll probably be woken up by me and your father an hour before sunrise.” My mother said, nuzzling me. I smiled at her. “Alright, mom. Thanks.” I said, before turning to my sister who was still embracing me. “So. Wanna go out and play?” I asked. She immediately nodded with a grin. “Yeah let’s play! I’ll give you a thirty-second head start to get yourself to the library before I come!” Lightning challenged, smiling at my shocked face as I began to scramble towards the door. Usually, whenever my sister invited me to a race, she’d always win, even if she gave me a fifteen-second head start. But I always felt that victory was so close, and thus if she was now giving me thirty seconds, maybe I might be able to win! “Bye, mom! By dad!” I said as I passed by them, trying to use this thirty-second head-start to my advantage. My dad couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh as I opened the door as fast as I could, which ended up wasting a precious second as I fumbled the doorknob. “Stay safe you two! And please don’t stay out for too long!” My mother yelled out to me as I closed the door behind me so that when my sister started she’d have to open the door again. I opened my wings and began to glide my way through the streets of Canterlot, looking for the familiar large tower structure that housed the library that me and my sister would sometimes go to. I knew flying was much faster than gliding, but I hadn’t learned to do that yet. My sister though?  ... I’m starting to realize how she’s been winning every single race so far. Upon seeing the Canterlot Library in the distance, my mind was filled with happiness. Nearly immediately after though, a feeling of dread washed over me as I began to realize that my thirty-second lead was finished. Looking behind me I saw a faint blue dot that was only increasing as it got closer, and it didn’t take long for me to realize that it was my sister. Finally landing on the base of the stairs, I began to run upwards as fast as possible. Dodging everybody that got in my path, I pulled myself up the final stair. I was tempted to let out a shout of victory until I turned back and realized that my sister was no longer behind me. The feeling of dread picked up, culminating into one of self-disappointment when I heard a familiar voice  “Hey, Midnight! Ya waiting for somepony?” Lightning said nearby. I turned around only to groan as I realized that she had beaten me to the doors of the library. She held up a grin of victory as she saw my defeated face. “Oh c’mon! You can fly! I can’t!” I exclaimed to my sister, demonstrating by spreading my wings and trying to fly, only to fall face-forward onto the ground. I heard Lightning Spark snickering and trying to stifle a laugh, but unfortunately for me, she wasn’t able to hold it in. As my face was planted on the ground, I could do nothing but hear her laughter, which caused me to internally frown. “Oh, Midnight! You looked so silly when you fell on the ground like that. Here, let me help you up.” My sister said as I felt her hooves grabbing me by my waist before pulling me back up. Unfortunately, I found myself standing on my hind legs, and soon I fell back onto the ground, causing her to laugh even more. “My bad. We should get somebody who can train you to strengthen your wings though. Imagine the day when you can fly alongside me!” My sister said with excitement.  “Yeah. Can’t for when I can finally beat you in a race.” I said out loud. She smiled softly at me. “Keep dreaming brother, and hey, maybe you’ll one day do it. Stay determined.” Lightning said with a wink. “Anyhow, anything you wanna get from the library? I heard they’re bringing in a recent comic series that you might find interesting.” My sister said as she lifted once again, making sure that I didn’t trip. “Sure! And then after that, we could go eat some ice cream?” I asked hopefully. My sister nodded as she held up a bag of bits that our mom must’ve given her after I left. “Yep! But first, let’s go in here, shall we? Not just to read, but because I can’t stand the heat right now.” Lightning panted as visible sweat traced her forehead. Since it was summer, it was hot. It was then that I realized that I was also exhausted from running and gliding. “Y-Yeah let’s go inside,” I replied as we began to pull the door open. The cool air inside suddenly hit our faces, causing us to let out a breath of relief and satisfaction as our bodies immediately cooled down. We began to trot through the library, immediately heading towards the comic section. While there was nothing wrong with reading a regular book, something about a comic felt much more natural. It helped immensely in immersing into the fictional world, showing you exactly how things look and letting the imagination run faster. Sometimes, me and my sister would find ourselves sitting there for hours, blitzing through various chapters and comics until we were pulled out by our parents.  After taking a while to search through the shelves, my sister pulled out a comic book that had the depiction of six mares who I presumed were the main heroes, a little colt who I supposed was the sidekick, and a purple mare in the background who I imagined was the villain. “Midnight! Allow me to introduce to you the Power Ponies comic!” My sister exclaimed enthusiastically, nearly shoving the comic in my face. She instinctively flinched though when everypony in the library shushed her as they reminded her to use indoor voices. “Sorry.” Lightning said apologetically as she shrunk a bit, before showing me the comic again. “This comic is the first of a new series that a small company has made, and it’s already been growing in popularity. You’ll love this, I’m sure of it!” My sister said with intense energy, again being shushed by the library. I blinked at her before shrugging. “Alright. Let’s read.” I said, smiling as I opened the first page.  - Five Power Ponies Issues Later -  “Midnight.” “What?” “Our mom is here.”  “Wait what.” As I looked up from the latest entry that I was reading, I let out a sheepish laugh as my eyes settled on the towering image of my mother. Meanwhile, my sister was letting out a nervous laugh of her own. This wasn’t the first time we were in this situation, but it didn’t make the next any easier. “Hello, Midnight.” My mother said with a neutral expression. What made it terrifying was that I couldn’t tell what she could be feeling or thinking. I blinked at her before I began to nervously scratch my mane. Not knowing how to respond to her, I simply did what I could.   “H-Hey m-mom. L-Like the comic I’m reading?” I asked as I lifted the issue that I had been reading and showed it to my mom. My mom let out a sigh and shook her head slightly. “I told you two to come back soon. I expected you two to perhaps read, then go get your ice cream, and come back in at most twenty minutes, not an hour! You two had me worried!” My mother said. It was at that moment when I understood that she was not mad with us, but worried. Worried something had happened to us that prevented us from coming back. “I’m sorry… but this comic series is so good that I guess I didn’t realize how much time flew by,” I admitted. My mother let out a soft sigh as she smiled towards me. “Why don’t we check out those comics so that you can read at home?” My mother offered. My face immediately beamed upon hearing this proposal. “Yes! Thank you, mom!” I exclaimed as I hugged her. She nuzzled me as she ruffled my mane. As she began to pick out one of each issue, I walked towards my sister who shifted a little. My eyes met hers and I let out a sheepish laugh. “We should’ve kept the time right?” “Yep. At least we’re not in trouble.” My sister said. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something that I couldn’t believe I was seeing. Lightning Spark turned around and widened her eyes as she noticed what I was watching. “Hey. Is that a dragon?” I whispered to her. In front of us was a small purple dragon with green spines and green eyes. He held up a comic, and it didn’t take long for me to notice that he was holding up the first issue of the Power Ponies series. Tentatively I went up to him and poked his shoulder, grabbing his attention. “Uhm… Hi?” He asked in confusion, shifting a bit while holding the comic in his… claws? I nervously extended my hoof to him. “H-Hi! My name is Midnight Blitzer! What’s yours?” I asked in the nicest way possible. The small dragon grabbed my hand and began to shake it after I gained his trust. “My name is Spike!” The small dragon said. My sister soon came along and stood next to me, smiling at the small dragon who looked at her with a puzzled look. “Who are you?” Spike asked, causing my sister to grin. “My name is Lightning Spark! I’m Midnight’s twin sister! I see that you have the Power Ponies comic. My brother is a fan of it!” My sister stated. The dragon instantly grinned upon hearing this statement. “Really? Me too! We could talk about a lot of things about the Power Ponies! Who’s your favorite character?” Spike asked. Before I could respond a purple unicorn suddenly appeared next to Spike and tapped on his shoulder. Her cutie mark was that of a purple star surrounded by several smaller white stars. She appeared to be a teenager, around the age of 14-16. She had a saddlebag full of books on her back and she appeared to be very concentrated on studying. “Come on Spike we have to go.” The mare said with a serious tone. The small dragon turned around and frowned. “C’mon! Let me finish this comic at least.” Spike complained before the purple unicorn grabbed it with her telekinesis and passed it to the librarian so that the book could be checked out. “You can read it later. As my #1 Assistant, I need you to help me with my experiments and studies.” The purple mare asked. As she began to drag the small dragon away, me and my sister began to follow them with questions. “Wait. Who are you?” Lightning Spark asked as we followed her. She either didn’t hear us or decided to ignore us because she continued walking without stopping, carrying Spike on her back and retrieving the comic from the librarian’s desk. I decided to step in front of them, causing the unicorn to sigh. “What do you want? I need to study for Celestia’s next exam that she’ll give to me.” The unicorn declared. “We just want to know what your name is,” I replied, trying to strike up a conversation. The mare simply passed by me while giving us an answer. “Twilight Sparkle. Now please, I need to leave. Say bye Spike.” The purple mare said. Twilight let out an ‘oomph’ though when she bumped into another pony, and as we all looked up, I realized that she had bumped into my mom, who held that neutral expression that she carried just a few minutes ago. “Twilight, that’s your name isn’t it?” My mom asked, which prompted the younger mare to nod. “Well Twilight, I have a question for you: Do you have any friends?” My mom asked, causing Twilight to flinch. “I do! What question is that!?” Twilight asked in shock, getting a bit angry that somebody would say that she didn’t have any friends. My mother kept her neutral face on though. “Are you sure that they are your friends, or are they just your study group?” Blizzard asked. “What’s the difference!?” The unicorn yelled, clearly starting to get a bit annoyed by my mother. Then, we felt it. The temperature suddenly plummeted around Twilight, who began to shake. Even upon activating a spell through the flicker of her horn, she only began to shiver even more as the temperature only continued to drop further and further. Spike thankfully was unaffected, whether because he was a dragon or more probably, that he wasn’t the target. My mother simply stared at Twilight with a smile. “A study group is a small group of ponies who work together on a subject. Friends, though, do much more than that. They help each other out, even when nobody asks them to. They keep in touch with one another, visit them when they’re sick, or host celebrations for something like birthdays or major accomplishments.” My mom said to Twilight, who already was starting to turn a bit blue. “Maybe I made some mistake in my assumption, so to test you, name everypony in your study group.” Snowy Blizzard asked. The young teenage mare simply blinked as she struggled to answer. “Uhm… Uhm…  UHM…. I… I don’t know…” Twilight Sparkle admitted. This caused Snowy to frown. “You don’t know. Not even one?” My mother asked. “N-No…” Twilight answered as she started to sweat under the freezing temperatures, which probably was a bad sign for my mom as she immediately lifted the temperature around her, causing Twilight to let out a series of pants as her body temperature began to increase again. However, the disappointed look on my mom’s face didn’t lift. “If I’m correct, the names are Minuette, Lemon Heart, Twinkleshine, and Moondancer. It’s hard not to notice how out of place you’ve become Twilight. Everypony has at least one friend or at least tries to be friendly. You, however, focus only on your studies.” “But studying is important! Celestia entrusted me that I must become as good as I can be! Friendship would just get in the way of studying!” Twilight responded. “Do you think that only studying can get you that far? Sure you’ll end up getting great positions due to your status, but without any friends, if you end up falling, nobody will help you, nobody will notice you. You’ll accomplish so many things, but you’ll feel empty.” My mother said before she motioned me and my sister to come. “These two kids are my children. And I would like for you to make friends with them, Twilight.” “B-but… But I don’t have enough ti-” Twilight yelled, beginning to freak out until the entire library and my mom shushed her. “Then just let my son be your friend, and let him help you along with the little dragon next to you.” My mother said. Spike’s face immediately beamed upon the thought of me being near him, and I could already tell that he was excited about the possibility of us becoming very close friends and the things we could talk about. “I… Fine… But since he must have so many things to do, can he stay with me for only one month?” Twilight asked, clearly intending to give every excuse to not deal with me entirely, or at least lower the amount of time she’ll be forced to be friends with me. My mother laughed a bit. “Sure. One month. But I bet you’ll want to have him stay with you after those thirty days.” Snowy Blizzard said, giving her a smug smile. “My son will begin traveling to your home tomorrow, so make sure you’re prepared, cause he’ll go whether you want to or not.” My mom asked before looking at Twilight straight in the eye. “Understood?” “...Yes… I understand…” Twilight said after looking down in defeat. My mother beamed. “Great! My children, let us leave for now. We’ll be getting some ice cream soon.” My mother said, causing me and my sister to exclaim happily. “You can come along Spike if you want.” Spike immediately let out a cry of happiness before Twilight got in the way. “No! I need him to help me! He’s my assita-” Twilight’s voice trailed off as she froze under my mother’s stare, and feeling the temperature drop around her, and not wanting to experience it again, she sighed. “Fine. Just don’t let him overload himself with it. He’s just a baby dragon. Just don’t forget to bring him back.” Twilight said, to which my mother nodded. “Alright. Come on you three, let’s go get some ice cream.” My mother said. The three of us let out a yell of excitement, only to get shushed for the third time by the library. “Oops,” I said out silently. As the four of us began to leave the library, I took one look back at Twilight, who just sat there silently before taking a book out of her saddle and beginning to study it, as if, or maybe trying to act as if nothing had occurred. I let out a sigh. I didn’t have many friends, again, my lack of cutie mark, lack of flight, and other things made it difficult for me to gain ponies. My sister tries to remind me that she’s my friend, but she’s my sister, and by default, she’s supposed to be my friend. It just doesn't feel earned though. Hopefully, I can do well to earn Twilight Sparkle’s friendship, and also make her happy.