//------------------------------// // To Where We've Never Been // Story: The Twilight Child // by Detectivefish //------------------------------// Midday Eclipse smiled. Using the Heart's Desire she had managed to gather useful knowledge, and using what she had acquired, she had formed a solution, a means of returning to her own time. She smiled to herself. Of course, time was now a commodity she could not waste. She looked at the small book she'd bought over a week ago and never used. She considered something. She walked over to the table and lifted a quil and an inkwell over to herself. Hello. If you are reading this, and you are not me, then I have evidently suceeded in my attempt to breach the time barrier. Or killed myself in the attempt, that's a possibility I suppose. Don't bother trying to contact my next-of-kin, because I don't have any. Well, I do, I suppose, they just don't know it. Unless of course I don't suceed and don't go anywhere, in which case I'll just destroy this thing the minute I get back here. General ambivalence, Midday Eclipse. She paused, and wondered whether she should have sent Princess Celestia a letter informing her of her attempt to return home. She noticed she was still smiling. This was it. She was gonna go home. She looked around the library, and remembered the first time she'd travelled through time and space, all of a few weeks ago, and what had happened directly after it had worked. ***** Fifteen minutes later, on the outskirts of town, Midday found herself smirking. The Heart's Desire had managed to show her a way, a means of generating a portal through space-time that would (hopefully) return her back to just after she'd left, some twenty-three years ahead of the time she was in. She found her heart beating. Return home. It seemed so strange, so alarming. Maybe, she thought to herself, she should have told Twilight Sparkle about this, or Spike, or anypony. She focused. If she returned home and mother was angry with her, she was okay with it. She could handle it now. She focused her magic, focusing on the spell. She couldn't believe the Heart's Desire had shown her to a hidden alcove in the library she didn't know of, in which had been a book containing numerous weird spells, half of which had been utter madness. Dragon summoning indeed. What pony would be stupid enough to try that? Besides, Spike was a dragon, and he didn't need magic to be summonded. All that was required to summon him was to be polite. An energy portal opened in front of her, a swirling vortex that seemed to go on into forever. That wasn't what she'd been expecting, but nonetheless, she charged into the unknown. With a slight fizz, the portal shut behind her. There was silence, saving for the distant sound of birds flying to their winter rests. ***** "Hey, Spike?" Twilight Sparkle said, looking around the library nervously. "Yeah?" "Have you seen Midday anywhere?" The small dragon gave this some thought. "I don't think so" he eventually said. "I wonder where she could be." The purple unicorn frowned. Twilight hoped that she was okay. She found herself feeling unusually concerned for the somewhat abrasive and anti-social unicorn. She had assumed that the mare's behaviour was a result of being sent away from Canterlot, from her home and her friends (if she had any, a part of Twilight noted) but it seemed different than that, as if there was something else going on. But, she reasoned, Midday was a grown mare and she could look after herself, wherever she was. ***** Hours passed. Nothing happened. Several more hours passed, and still nothing happened, save for Rainbow Dash damaging a few trees during a high-speed turn. And then, almost at sundown, something did happen. In the center of Ponyville, a strange static charge built up. Stray leaves and bits of paper that hadn't been there before began to swirl and toss in the air. Electricity arced everwhere, and then a massive energy portal emerged and then disappeared. And in its place was a unicorn, with royal blue fur, a blue mane with an orange streak going through it, and a Cutie Mark of an eclipse. She wasn't moving, though she was breathing. Pinkie Pie was the first to notice, having been working in Sugarcube Corner she saw the flash of the portal appearing and disappearing and rushed outside to see what had happened, her Pinkie Sense going haywire all the while. She had rushed to get Twilight, and the two had quickly got the mare to Ponyville's hospital. Once there the doctors were quick to explain that the mare was just unconcious. ***** Eyes blinked open to see a set of six mares staring straight at them. The eyes then opened a lot quicker. The mare yelped, and immediately recoiled against the wall, before her eyes darted wildly around the room, and to the pale green robes on her person. "Where am I?" She demaned, in a familiar voice. Pinkie smiled. "It's Midday! She's okay! (ooh, that rhymes)" The mare stared at Pinkie like the pink one was speaking in Old Equish. Her burnt orange eyes darted to Twilight, and then to Applejack, then Fluttershy, then Rainbow Dash and finally Rarity. There was an uncomfortable silence. "So, ah... Midday dear, what did you do to your hair?" "Pardon?" There was something fundamentally different about her voice. Some unidentifiable thing that was just... off about the whole thing. "It's... blue" Fluttershy said, simply. "It's always been blue" The mare said back. "It was lilac the last time I saw you." Rarity replied. The mare just blinked. "Must have been a side-effect of the teleportation." She muttered. "So... where have you been?" Twilight Sparkle asked. "Oh, well, I was just trying out a teleportation spell" she said, smiling slightly. "Did it work?" asked Fluttershy. "Evidently. Though it does seem to be a bit... problematic if it renders me unconcious every time I use it." The six mares shared glances. "I didn't know you teleported" Twilight said. The mare blinked, and for a second she looked completely alarmed. "Oh, I dabble here and there." She smiled again. "You never told us you could teleport." Pinkie frowned. Then she look concerned. "Actually, you've never said anything about yourself. Not even said when your birthday is!" A look of horror flashed across Pinkie Pie's face, "How can I throw you a birthday party if I don't know when your birthday party is?" The blue mare simply stared at Pinkie Pie. "My birthday is March the twentieth." Pinkie cheered at this, and rushed off. "Well" Twilight said, "The doctors say they'd like to keep you here for the night, just under observation, if that's okay with you Midday." The mare smiled gently. "It is quite alright, Twilight Sparkle." She looked past the mares, out into the hallway where an orderly was passing by. "Is that a book cart? I wouldn't mind having something to read once you've left." "You're an egghead?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "How come you've been seeing through all my pranks if you're an egghead?" She said quietly. The mare simply stared at Rainbow Dash and smiled an innocent smile. "Beginner's luck?" Rainbow Dash fumed silently. "What sort of book do you want?" Twilight Sparkle smiled. "Oh, one of Equestrian history. I rather enjoy it, and if all else fails it might help me get to sleep." The six mares all shared a laugh at that. "Well, I suppose we'll leave you to recuperate then" Rarity smiled, "But do be sure to let us know once you've recovered. I'm sure Pinkie Pie will no doubt wish to throw a celebratory party once you have." "I'll make sure to do just that." The mare said. She watched as the six ponies left the room, with Rainbow Dash gently encouraging Pinkie not to keep stopping to wave goodybe, and closed the door behind them. Then her smile vanished, replaced by a concerned frown. She sat there for a few seconds, waiting until she was sure they were gone. "Midday?" she said to herself. She looked around the room, before she looked at the history book. She slowly opened it, and cautiously looked at the table of contents. ***** "Hey, did something seem up with her to you?" Rainbow Dash asked, as they left the hospital. "She was smiling a lot" Rarity said, "Though that is hardly a crime" "And there was something up with her voice." Fluttershy murmured. "I'm sure she was just surprised from seeing all of us at once. She doesn't seem like the most sociable pony there is. And I haven't seen her getting any mail from Canterlot. I wonder if she even has any friends." "She's an accountant Twilight" Rainbow Dash said. Twilight wisely decided not to ask what Rainbow Dash thought of the social skills of accountants. The rainbow pegasus eyed the hospital. Something didn't seem right to her, and while she couldn't tell what, she knew that Midday Eclipse was the reason for it. ***** The royal blue pony skimmed through the book, her expression getting evermore alarmed. At first, the book had made sense to her, events flowing as they should have, but then it seemed to change, and with each page it read more and more like some bizarre horror story. She tried to stop, but something about it just forced her to read on. After several minutes she managed to toss away the book, eyeing it carefully as if it were about to sprout fangs and wings and attack her. She looked at the Cutie Mark on her flank and frowned. She wasn't entirely sure where she was right now, but it wasn't where she'd been hoping to go. It was somewhere better. She could practically smell the love and tolerance dripping off of everything in this world. She looked out of the window, at the town of Ponyville now framed by the setting sun. It was very picturesque, at least to her mind. "This is going to take some getting used to" The pony who had named herself 'Midnight Eclipse' smiled.