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“My name is Midnight Storm,” answered the dark pegasus. “And why are you wandering around the Everfree Forest at night?” The voice was accusatory.
“I wasn’t wandering! That thing,” I pointed a hoof. “Pulled me in! What even is it?”
“You don’t even know what a rattlesnatcher is? How clueless are you?”
“Apparently quite a bit! Believe me, I never would have stepped f-f-f-f-hoof into… the Everfree Forest If I had a choice. But that thing just… snatched me. And it had a rattle. Oh, I get it! A rattlesnatcher!”
Midnight was inspecting the Rattlesnatcher while I talked, poking the head with his hoof. He still had a glare on his face. “The rattlesnatcher will wake up soon. And I won’t save you from it again. Do you know your way back to Ponyville?”
“Ponyville! So it is nearby!”
Midnight looked at me bewildered.
“Oh, uh, no clue.” I found myself instinctively bringing my hoof up to the back of my head and closing my eyes while I answered. That was odd. But I guess normal for ponies?
“Of course, not.” Midnight made a facehoof. “I’ll have to lead you all the way back. Come on, this way,” he said with a flick of his tail.
I trotted over to him, and realized with a start that he was taller than me. Not like Flim and Flam tall, but more like Tempest.
“What is it?” He asked sharply. Everything he said was sharp!
“I…uh…um. Eep!” Great. This always happens. “I…um. I mean…”
He was glaring at me. Glaring down at me.
“It’s n-nothing. J-just that, um…” Work, tongue, work! “You’re tall.”
Midnight rolled his eyes and turned around wordlessly. And suddenly I can talk again.
“I’m sorry! It’s just that I always get tongue-tied whenever I’m talking to somep-p-p-pony taller than me. It’s weird, I know.” It’s less weird when you’re over six feet tall and you almost never meet someone taller than you. And then one day you try a new church and a guy walks over to introduce himself and you realize he has a whole head on you and you go, “Ielimimeigh!” I hurried to catch up to Midnight.Â
“Um, Mis…mmer…ter.” Oh my gosh, girl, figure it out! Wait, I’m a girl! Little bits of euphoria bubbled up in my brain. That’s right. I can do whatever I feel like. I’m free. “Mr. Midnight! Thank you for-m-m saving me, sir, and all, but I can’t go to Ponyville. We have to get my friend.”
Midnight stopped walking. “Friend? There was another pony with you?” There was concern on his face. And somehow it was still a glare. “Where?”
“I… uh…” Where exactly had I come from? I looked around, trying to get my bearings. “He was on top of a tree when I was grabbed. He… he would have gotten down and gone after me. Probably followed my tracks here.”
“Then wait here; I’ll fly over and bring him back.” Midnight opened his beautiful wings that swirled with the colors of the night sky.
“Wait! You’re not going to leave me here!” I eyed the rattlesnatcher.
Midnight sighed and folded his wings back. “You’re right. It’s not smart to leave a filly alone.”
“F-filly?” Wait, I wasn’t that young, was I? I looked down at myself. No, this was clearly Lilyheart’s mare form.
“Anypony foolish enough to get lost in the Everfree Forest and can’t be trusted alone, is a filly or a colt. Now, come on. Let’s get your friend before he gets eaten by a banbitbee.” He turned and began walking towards what I assumed was the direction I had come from.
My ears folded back in confusion. I’m supposed to be insulted by this, aren’t I? Too bad I don’t care about things like that. If he wanted to act all tough and better than everyone else, so be it. He did just save me. And he wasn’t wrong. I was all but helpless in the Everfree Forest. And so was Robin. “Banditbee? What are those?” I trotted to catch up, but let him lead the way.
Midnight rolled his eyes. “Ban-bit-bee.”
“...Banditbee?” I honestly have no idea what I’m getting wrong. And I don’t care, either.
Another eye roll from Midnight.
“You know, my mom told me that if you keep doing that, your eyes will get stuck like that,” I said with a grin.
“You really are a filly,” Midnight said in a monotone as he walked.
“So what are banditbees, anyway?”
Oh, was that an eyebrow twitch?
“They eat ponies. There’s nothing else to know.”
“And what were you doing out in Everfree?” I asked.
“I keep fillies and colts like you from getting eaten.” His sharp voice softened a little.
“Thank you for tha–Wah!” My hoof suddenly found itself in a small ditch, and my entire body followed it to the ground. It’s remarkable how little pain these bodies feel.
“Do you need me to carry you, too?” asked Midnight, unimpressed. Wait, was that a smirk? Just the slightest corner of– He turned around again before I could be sure. Was that schadenfreude? Or just sadism?
I got up and instinctively shook myself before looking at what I had tripped over. Drag marks leading up to two holes resting aside a thick root. “This is where I fought the rattlesnatcher…” A spike of adrenaline in my heart.
Midnight kept walking. “What do you mean fought?”
Once again, I trotted to catch up. “Yeah. At first I managed to get free. But then five more vines appeared, and there wasn’t anything I could do.”
Midnight was quiet. I hated that. It reminded me of my parents. I would talk and talk to them, just thirsty for any attention. But they would only respond when absolutely necessarily. I was just a distraction. For the first time since coming to Equestria, I felt–
“That’s… not bad,” he answered.
My ear perked up. Did he compliment me? He complimented me! “Thanks,” I giggled.
Midnight only made a “Hmm.”
Another silence fell, but I felt less dour about it. I took the change to examine his cutie mark. It was hard to see, a dark color on a dark pelt. But I could make out the outline of a black tornado and a blue lightning bolt behind it. His coat continued to twinkle, as though he was made from the night sky himself. He was almost like a male Luna, like he was a relative. Wait…
“So, Midnight, what are your parents like?” That probably wasn’t as subtle as I’d like. Who randomly asks about somebody’s parents?
“I won’t talk about my parents. Understand?”
His tone was that of anger. Incredible anger. But still controlled. Like a parent seconds from spanking their child. The subject was done.
The shift in tone surprised me so much it took me a few moments to work up the courage to utter an apology. My ears pressed back against my head. “I’m sorry,” I finally mumbled, and brushed a lock of hair out of my face. “It’s just that, I thought you looked a bit like Princess Luna…” Great. If we aren’t in the Equestria from the show, then dropping that name would complicate things.
“I’m not related to Princess Luna, if that’s what you’re asking. Or any of the princesses.”
Ears, pointed up. It was so fun feeling them react. I scratched the back of my neck. It felt like something touched my mane, but I felt nothing but curly hair.
“Your coat though–”
“Is nothing special. Not everypony is born with bland color.”
Okay, I guess that makes sense. There’s ponies like Rainbow Dash, afterall. Wait, bland color? Did he just try to insult me again? My coat is not a bland color, thank you very much! But I bit my tongue. It’s harder to get under my skin than that!Â
“Got it!” I said with a smirk. “So, you were just born all sparkly and pretty.”
“I am not sparkly.”
I giggled. “Oh, you are so sparkly!” I said with a hoof over my mouth.
“And I regret saving you from the rattlesnatcher,” Midnight said in a monotone.
“Eh? You’d be bored without me.” But that brought another question to my mind. “Do you have any friends that you hang out with in the forest?”
There was silence for a moment. Nothing but the crunching of twigs underhoof, and an occasional strange, alien sounding bird call.
“No,” he answered. “I don’t need friends.”
My ears flicked down again. No friends? In Equestria? On earth, I could understand. I didn’t have many friends. Heck, without Robin… But Equestria ran on friendship! Without it… something was missing; something essential. Something dire, a physical need as important as protein or oxygen. Lose too much of it, and the windigos come.
But, maybe that said something about our world, too. Maybe literal monsters don’t appear, at least not visible ones. But without friendship and the bonds that tie us together… societal collapse. Depression. Hatred. Racism. Meaninglessness. Broken families. I guess friendship in our world is just as an intricate component in our world too; a fundamental law that must be followed like gravity. Remove it, and everything comes apart.
But how to respond to Midnight? And it’s not like I can force him to have friends. No more than Robin could force me. But it’s not my business. Not that never stopped me before… Maybe… I looked at him with the corner of my eyes. He seemed to enjoy the silence I was giving him. But what might he be thinking about, in that secret heart of his, shroud in the shadows as everything else about him. But behind it, there must be… pain.
I took a breath. This isn’t the sort of thing I normally do. My heart rapidly thumped. Okay. Okay. You can do this. You’re a girl, Andr–Lilyheart. Your name is Lilyheart, and you’re a girl!
But what did that have to do wi–
I slapped my cheek with a hoof. Midnight looked back at me with a little surprise. Now or never, Lilyheart.
“I’ll be your friend, then,” I said with a forced smile. Oh, that was awkward. That was awkward. Ehhhhhhhh! Fight the urge to cover your head with your hooves! Fight it!
Midnight looked at me with an even greater surprise. “I don’t need friends,” he said simply and turned to keep walking.
“But every-p-p-p-pony needs friends!” I scrambled to keep up, and ignored how fast my heart was still thumping.
“Not me,” came the answer with a flick of his tail. Dang, that thing was long. Did anypony else have a tail that long? Maybe Fluttershy?
“One thing I’ve learned is that you don’t get to choose your friends. At least, not completely. Sometimes, they choose you.” But I didn’t have the energy to do what Robin did. How could I seriously think–
“I said no.” Another tail flick.
Eh. Careful… “But we’re already doing what friends do! Walking along together, talking, protecting each other from danger…” There’s something else I can add to that list, right? Uh…
“And the longer we walk, the more I consider leaving.”
“Joke! Friends joke with each other! That was a good one! I can always appreciate a good deadpan insult!”
Midnight groaned.
Heh. Beautiful friendship commenced! “Driving each other nuts! Another thing friends do!” I said as I began hopping behind Midnight.
“I would say we at least have that in spades, but it would only go over your head, wouldn’t it?”
“Nothing goes over my head. I’m too fast, I would catch it,” I said while still hopping.
“Tell me you’re not that dense.”
I made a horse prrrbrbrbrb sound with my lips. “You kidding? There’s more air in here than fat,” I said while knocking a hoof on my noggin. Taking metaphors literally to make a joke; unfortunately, you just walked into my speciality, Midnight!
His tail suddenly slapped my nose. “Oww–”
“Quiet!” hissed Midnight, his hoof held into the air to warn me to stop. He halted, but wasn’t looking at me. Instead, he was looking around, his ears darting about. Searching. Listening. But I heard nothing.
“Run!” He barked while opening his wings. Two figures appeared out of the bushes and grabbed him from either side. All three blew past me back into the shadows.
“Mid–” A third figure appeared. This time from the canopy. She descended slowly towards me. Her coat was dark green, and her mane short and cyan. Her pupils were shaped like slits, and her wings in a different yet so familiar shape.
“You should know better than to wander around in Everfree at the hour of midnight!” said the batpony.
Maybe this isn’t the Equestria I know after all.