The Twilight Child

by Detectivefish


Three Little Words

Neither Twilight Sparkle or Spike had noticed anything odd when Midday Eclipse returned to the library without saying a word, and had found nothing incongrous about the fact that she instantly made her way upstairs and fell asleep, and neither had bothered asking the other why she looked like she'd been crying. They quickly went back to their usual routine, with Spike occasionaly taking moments off to check on Peewee. Twilight had pointed out to Spike that the baby phoenix actually had parents he needed to be returned to, but Spike had convinced her to let them keep Peewee until the baby phoenix was old enough to travel. Eventually, they wrapped up the normal affairs of the day, which mostly consisted of Twilight studying everything she could about weather systems, and went to bed.

The next morning, Twilight woke up and went about her daily routine, and as she did, noted Midday was still fast asleep. For a moment, she considered waking the mare, before deciding that after whatever the mare had gone through yesterday, she doubtless required extra sleep. Then she heard Trixie yawning.

"I had the strangest dream," the showmare mumbled, "I was fighting a Nightmare, and winning. And then there was something about that really muscle-y brother of Applejack's."
Twilight Sparkle stared at Trixie, "Please don't elaborate, Trixie."

"Wasn't gonna" she muttered.
And so, for the next few hours, everything went as normal as it usually did on a Wednesday, though as time went on Twilight became increasingly concerned at Midday not waking up. Finally, after lunch-time, she marched upstairs, strode over to the still slumbering form of Midday, and then gently nudged her with a hoof.

Nothing happened. The mare continued resting, giving no indication she'd ever felt what had just happened.
"Midday?" Twilight asked, nudging her with a touch more force. There was still no response.
"Midday?"

She rushed toward the door to downstairs.
"SPIKE!"

"Yeah?" she heard the little dragon ask.
"I need you to go fetch a doctor!"

*****

Spike quickly did as he was instructed, and the royal blue mare was quickly taken to Ponyville General Hospital, and after a nerve racking period of several minutes (Twilight wasn't sure how long), a doctor appeared looking concerned. Twilight stood up to ask him what was going on, and he simply frowned.

"I'm afraid your friend has suffered a massive depeletion to her magic. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, and she would begin to recover almost immediately, but for whatever reason, her magic isn't recovering. For now, the most we can do is keep her on magical support and wait."

Twilight quickly made her way to the room the mare was resting in, Spike following alongside her. She saw the mare resting, on the usual mucus green coloured bed-sheets, wearing the usual mucus green coloured hospital gown, and noted that Rarity would probably have a word to say about the clash between the awful green and the mare's royal blue fur. She smiled at the thought, and noticed Spike was staring at her.

"Sorry, Spike, my mind just wandered there for a moment."
The little dragon looked at the strange variety of machines sitting around the mare, including one that was filled with a strange greenish-purple light.

"What are all these?" he asked.
"Well, most of these machines tell the doctors and nurses how Midday is feeling, that one there analyses her blood pressure, her heart-rate, and a few other things. Those cylinders, don't touch them by the way," Spike quickly drew his hand back, "Are filled with magic, as a form of supplement to her own depleted reserves."

She looked at another strange device, "And that one over there is designed to keep in a calm state, because otherwise..."
Spike just looked up at Twilight, who was frowning. "Well, I'm sure you can guess the reason why."

Spike gave that some thought, and eventually nodded.
"I guess, yeah."

He turned to look at Midday. He wasn't sure why, but seeing the mare just lying there, barely moving and her expression unchanging felt horribly wrong to him.
"So... how long do we wait?" he asked.

"I don't know," Twilight said quietly.

*****

Thanks to the speed of gossip, which in Ponyville was a speed easily labelled as 'too fast for its own good', ponies across town quickly heard that Midday Eclipse had apparently fallen unconcious without warning, and that for whatever reason she looked four years younger than usual. And then there was something about barrels of pickles, and dishwashers.

So it was that the next day, when Twilight Sparkle went to the hospital, six more ponies followed after her, causing the nurses to shoot the group filthy looks, in the manner of all nurses whose main purpose in life is to inflict pain and discomfort, rather that care and actual comfort.

Rainbow Dash spent the entire journey up to Midday's room repeating that she had only come because she was talking to Fluttershy when the mare heard, which nopony seemed to notice.
Rarity, on seeing the immobile form of Midday did not in fact make any remarks about the mucus green coverings on the mare, instead looking confused.

"Why exactly does she look like an eighteen year old?" she asked.
"Because she... is eighteen?" Fluttershy said, quietly. Twilight just hummed.

"I did think it had something to do with her draining her magic, but now I'm not certain. But after she disappeared after we got that plant off of her, she just returned an hour later, looking like this."
"I see," Rarity said, before something occured to her, "And I recall hearing that you met her father. What was he like?"

Twilight shrugged. "Strange. I mean, he was actually quite like Midday, he always looked like he was upset about something."
"Don't forget the way he hugged you when he entered the library" Pinkie smiled, "That was super-duper weird."

Twilight's expression indicated she hadn't forgotten that. "Another mystery about the mare."
"Pardon?" Applejack asked. Twilight frowned and turned to look at them.

"Nothing about her makes sense. For one thing, her name isn't really 'Midday Eclipse'"
"Well, duh" Rainbow Dash deadpanned, "It's such a phoney, made-up name."

"She's got almost the exact same colouration to her fur as her father, which just happens, apparently to resemble that of the usual colouration of the House of Starcatcher. She can't teleport, except when she can. She knows Princess Celestia, maybe not personally but the Princess knows of her enough to ask me to look after her, and she's obviously not some accountant. Has anypony even seen her perform any accounting? Ever?"

All six ponies, and Spike, shook their heads when they realised that they hadn't.
"And she definitely knows Princess Luna well enough, to sing with her," Twilight said, an odd tone sinking into her voice, "She hates Star-Swirl the Bearded, until she doesn't just because she talks with a random madpony who claims he was Star-Swirl, and then... there's her Cutie Mark."

Applejack frowned, "Everypony keeps secrets, Twilight. So why are you so hot an' bothered about this?"
"Indeed," Rarity said, though she was certain she knew why Applejack was saying that, even if nopony else was, "You almost seem to be taking this personally."

"Maybe I am! It's like when you're working on a problem, and no matter how hard you try you can't figure out the solution. That's what this is for me. There is something about this mare I cannot understand and it's driving me to distraction"

"Twilight," Fluttershy said, "You should probably calm down, before somepony decides to remove you from the hospital for disturbing patients."
"Fine, let them! I don't care, I just want her to trust us enough to tell us the truth!"

*****

Five minutes, and some rather painful hoof-jabs from some nurses later, Twilight continued fuming outside, muttering darkly to herself.
"You know, that's the first time Trixie has ever been thrown out of a hospital. What an exhilarating experience that was, and I hope to repeat it in the near-future."

Twilight Sparkle ignored her, and sat down on a convinient nearby bench. Spike walked over to her, and patted her gently on the leg.
"You know," he said quietly, "Midday was mentioning to me, that she was going to tell you something yesterday. Actually, she'd been saying it for a while, now. And then that weird plant got her, and then this."

Twilight Sparkle sighed. "I'm doing it again, aren't I?" she moaned, "I'm just getting worked up over nothing. Again. Even when I promised I wouldn't."
The six ponies shared nervous looks. "Well, maybe you are," Fluttershy said, before wincing slightly when Twilight glowered at her.

"What I mean is, you promised yourself you wouldn't, but in the end you can't really help doing that, because it's part of what makes you... you. You can't simply just declare 'today I will be better' and assume that everything will be different just with a click of your tounge. And perhaps, one day you might get worked up over what just looks like nothing, and it'll turn out to be really important."

Twilight just looked angry, "And by that point, nopony will listen to me."
Applejack froze, as she recalled what Midday had said to her back at Dodge Junction, and the reason the young mare had held a poor opinion of Applejack, and at that moment, Applejack felt a sudden clarity about what she had to say next.
"That ain't gonna happen. Ever."

Twilight looked up at Applejack, who had managed to speak with cast-iron assuranity. "You may be a bit... nutty when you're annoyed, and you do sometimes shoot yer mouth off without thinkin', but you never get worked up 'bout nuthin'. 'cept 'course the whole Smarty Pants thing, but that's one tiny mistake, and you're the only pony still holdin' that against ya. If you think there's a problem, you tell us, loud and clear, and if we don' listen, then you keep on tryin' until we do listen."

In the sudden quiet, everypony could hear Rainbow Dash's muted 'huh'.
Twilight paused for a moment, and smiled. "Thanks, Applejack."

"Ain't nothing."
"(Trixie may require a barf bag in a moment if these speeches continue)"

Twilight stood up. "You know what? You're right. Like Spike said, she was going to tell me something yesterday. And if that was who she really is, okay then, and if it wasn't, that doesn't matter, because if it's important that she tell us who she is, she will, no matter how long it takes. All we have to do is wait for her to recover, and be there when she does."

*****

However, the very next morning, Twilight returned to the hospital only to recieve some disturbing news.
"For whatever reason, she will not wake up. No matter what spells we cast on her, she will not awake."

Twilight and her friends stared at the mare, listening to the steady beat of her heart-beat.
"This is terrible," Rarity said, "Just terrible."

Twilight Sparkle frowned, and turned to the doctor.
"Why won't she wake up?"

"I honestly couldn't say, myself, but if I had to guess, it might perhaps be because something inside her is keeping her from waking."
At which point he politely excused himself, leaving the seven mares to stare at Midday.

"Something inside keeping her from waking?" Rainbow Dash asked, "Like what?"
"Good question" Rarity sighed, "But alas, there is no way we can tell. She will have to bring herself out on her own."

"No" Twilight said firmly, before turning and heading out of the room. A few moments later everyone else followed after her.

*****

Some forty-five minutes of careful examination of every book in the library by all seven ponies, Twilight just frowned.
"Nothing. Not a single spell that can help us."

"What was it you were looking for?" Fluttershy asked. Twilight shook her head.
"I don't know, just something, anything that could let us help Midday."

Then there was a small cough, and all eyes in the room turned to look at Spike.
"We... could just ask Princess Celestia to send somepony. I bet she'd know something about this sort of thing."

For a moment Twilight gave this some thought, and then bounded over to Spike.
"Of course, that's it! Spike, you're a genius!"

The little dragon blushed.
"Well... yeah."

So, Twilight Sparkle quickly had Spike transcribe a letter to the Princess, explaining the problem and asking if there was somepony she could find that would help. Her response was unsual.
"Dear Twilight Sparkle"
Spike read out, frowning as his gaze went down the letter,
"This is a serious problem you speak of, thankfully
I do know of a pony who can lend you assistance,
and they shall arrive in Ponyville within the hour.
Assuming, of course, I can wake her up."

"What does that mean?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Roughly forty minutes later, Spike belched up a letter informing Twilight that the 'specialist' was due to arrive.

The seven ponies and one dragon quickly filed outside, and looked about.
"So, is she coming via on those cool flying carriages or something?" Pinkie Pie asked, "Or is she getting sent via a box fired by catapult, or maybe carried by a whole bunch of bats!"

There was a short pause, before Rarity dared ask "Why bats, exactly, Pinkie Pie?"
The party pony shrugged. "Well, because Rarity, th-"

Suddenly she started twitching, and instantly six ponies leapt away from her.
"What is it?" Fluttershy asked.

"I think..." Pinkie said as she continued twitching, "It's an imminent Princess arriving"
They were suddenly looked around, before Applejack finally saw something.

"Hey, what's that?"
She was facing in the direction of Canterlot, and her pointed hoof was aimed at a rapidly approaching dot, which very quickly turned out to be a rapidly approaching pony, with a dark blue coat, and an etheral mane, who managed to land with a surprising amount of grace in front of the library.

"Princess Luna!" Twilight gasped. Instantly all but her were bowed in respect (Trixie and Applejack even removing their hats), though Luna looked mildly put out by that.
"Twilight Sparkle" she nodded. Then the looks of respect changed completely into one of surprise.

This might have had everything to do with the fact that when Luna had last visited Ponyville, she had yet to come to terms with modern Equestria speaking habits, and as a result tended to sound loud and kind of angry whenever she spoke, along with her archaic speaking terms, all of which had made her attempts to interact with Ponyville's inhabitants a struggle. Now however she sounded... completely different. She sounded quiet, calm, and composed, and ever-so-slightly cheerful.

"Did... something happen to your voice?" Rainbow Dash asked. Luna looked at her.
"My voice?"

"It sounds... different...-y" Pinkie Pie said, edging backwards when Luna turned her gaze on her, remembering all the things she'd done that might result in spiders in her bathtub, or even worse, an octopus in her bathtub, as opposed to a tiny alligator in her bathtub, which was perfectly alright.

"Ah," Luna said, before sighing, and taking a deep breath.

"THOU WOULDST PREFER'T IF WE TALKED LIKE THIS ONCE MORE?" she boomed, dislodging bits of rooftop and tree.
"... no?" Pinkie squeaked from behind her mane.

"Poetic as it may be, it doesn't suit me anymore. Plus, it really begins to hurt the throat after a while, which may have been why my sister disposed of it" she said, before smiling, "And now, I believe there was a problem you require aid wi-"

"Your Highness!" a voice cried out, and everypony turned to see a small gathering of curious (and mildly alarmed) ponies approaching Luna, with Ponyville's mayor at the front of it.
"We had no idea you would be in Ponyville" the mare said, but Luna cut her off before she could speak.

"That is because I am not here on state business, I have merely to Ponyville so that I may render assistance to my sister's student."
A few quick glances were exchanged between everypony as Luna seemed to slip back into a more formal tone of voice, to which Rarity merely raised an eyebrow.

"I see," the mayor said, nervously, "Well, if there is anything I can do, please, do not hesitate to contact my office, which is loc-"
"Rest assured, I am quite aware of where your office lies, good mayor. I remember it quite well from whence I last came here."

The mayor smiled awkardly, apparently struggling to determine whether she'd been insulted, or had caused insult "Okay, good. I'll just... get back to work. Your Highness."
The group of ponies stared at Luna, before apparently deciding as one that she wasn't about to start throwing pumpkins at anypony anymore.

"What was that?" Rainbow Dash whispered. Luna look quizically at her.
"What do you mean, Rainbow Dash?"

"One minute you're all 'I don't speak like that anymore', then you're all stuffy, like Twilight after she's seen a blackboard."
Luna just raised an eyebrow, while Twilight silently muttered about blackboards.
"Give it some thought, Rainbow Dash, and you'll understand why. Now then, what has befallen young Midday?"

*****

Luna was quickly led to the Ponyville hospital, and then to the beds, the nurses jaws dropping when they saw her walk past. Upon arrival at the room Midday was being kept in, Luna began to examine her, occasionaly giving a small hum.
"Oh" she exclaimed after several minutes.

"Oh?" Trixie asked, "What's 'oh'? Is this a good 'oh' or a bad 'oh'?"
"I believe I will leave that to you to determine, Trixie Lulamoon."

"Ix-nay on the ulamoon-Lay" the mare said through clenched teeth, even as she felt shocked that Luna knew her second name.
"So, what is it? What's wrong?" Spike asked. Luna's expression was leaden.

"Something inside her mind is preventing young Midday from waking. She is... for want of a better explanation, trapped in her mind, inside a dream."
"Is there a way to get her out?" Twilight asked. Luna looked to the young mare, and then down to Midday.

"Yes. But depending on what is in there, it may be difficult."
"How so?" Rarity asked.

"I am sure you all have realised she is hardly an ordinary pony. Her mind is capable of actively resisting my prescence, and at the moment I believe for whatever reason, she has... retreated into herself."
"What?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"She has been placed through an emotional and physical strain, and while one has healed, the other has not. Or, more likely, it has, but she is now incapable of waking herself up."
"So... what does that mean?" Fluttershy asked.

"It means I am about to ask you to do something that poses terrible risk. I will require you to travel inside her mind."

*****

It had taken several minutes of arguing with the hospital staff before Luna could get Midday discharged from the Ponyville hospital, and the convinient discovery that apparently she had named Twilight, then Rarity as her emergency contacts. Eventually, however, Midday was placed on top of her usual bed, which had been placed in the center of the bedroom, at which point Luna had requested scented candles be placed around the room.

"Why, if you don't mind my asking?" Fluttershy said.
"Because if one is to cast forbidden magics in a risky experiment," Luna smiled, "It is best done Properly, or not at all."
This had caused a nod of agreement from Trixie, as well as Pinkie Pie, who then wondered out loud if anypony had noticed the fact that Luna'd managed to capitalise a word mid-sentence.

"So, what now?" Rarity asked, once the scented candles were laid out.
"Stand in a circle."

They did, with Trixie and Spike abstaining.
"And, once we're inside her head, what do we do?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Search through every dreaming world, fight the evil Dream Eaters, and unlock the Seven Sleeping Keyholes!" Pinkie cheered.
"No," Luna said after a small pause, which to the observant might have looked like she was fighting down a smile, "You will know what you are looking for when you see it."

"Will we?" Fluttershy asked.
"Yes."

At this, Luna's horn began to glow, and a strange mist seemed to spread from pony to pony, and then to Midday.
"Be warned, once you are inside her mind, I will not be able to help you in any form. Though I shall say this, if you see something that looks dangerous, stay away from it, just in case."

One by one, each of the mare's eyes began to close, and they felt strangely distracted by odd thoughts and tangeants.
Then they fell asleep.

*****

Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes, getting a strange feeling beneath her hooves. Stone, from the touch. She unsteadily got to her hooves. Around her, she could see each of her friends doing the same thing.
"Where are we?" Rainbow Dash asked. Twilight looked about. It almost looked like the old Canterlot castle, only in far better condition.

"Probably not anywhere that actually exists. We're inside somepony's mind, remember?"
"So, what do we do?" Applejack asked, "Ah mean, Luna said we'd know what we're lookin' for when we find it, but... this ain't what ah was expecting."

"What, pray tell, were you expecting, Applejack?" Rarity asked. The farmpony shrugged.
"Not sure, actually. But it weren't a creepy old castle, that's for sure."

"How are we supposed to find whatever it is we're looking for?" Fluttershy asked, "We don't know where it is, or where it's located, or anything about it other than a vague hint."
Twilight frowned. "I guess we'll have to split up and look for it."

She looked around. "Presumably, if this mindscape follows dream-logic, the actual location will change as we move about the place without warning."
She looked at everypony, "Okay, so Applejack and Fluttershy, you two head up that flight of stairs," she said, pointing to where everypony noticed there was in fact a convinient flight of stairs.

"Rarity and Pinkie Pie, you two," she looked about, and noticed a corridor leading to another unknown location, "you go down that way. Which leaves-"
"Aw..." Rainbow Dash pouted, "I get stuck with the egghead?" she frowned, and then smiled.

"Fine, fine. I'll go with you."
Twilight turned to face everypony else. "Alright, everypony remember: Be careful!"

~~~~~

Rarity quickly encountered a problem as she and Pinkie Pie made their way through the strange dream-castle, one that was set aside from the fact that she didn't know where to go.
Pinkie was being quiet.

"Is everything alright, Pinkie? You're being unusually quiet"
Pinkie Pie nodded. Rarity looked about, staring at the walls, the odd purple-grey colour of the stones.

"A thought occurs. Princess Luna didn't inform us how to remove ourselves from this mindscape. How exactly will we accomplish that?"
Pinkie Pie shrugged. Rarity frowned at her.

"You know, you can speak, Pinkie Pie."
The mare shook her head, and Rarity noticed her expression was oddly blank.

"Can you speak, Pinkie Pie?"
Pinkie shook her head.

"Why not?"
Pinkie shrugged.

"Curious."
The two continued walking, Rarity occasionaly glancing towards Pinkie Pie to make sure she was still there.

~~~~~

Applejack and Fluttershy's progress was not as slow as the farmpony had expected it to be. She'd expected something akin to the long death-march from when they'd gone to confront the dragon the other year, with Fluttershy managing to slow down a hike that should only have taken a day and a half at the most by days. In fact, she'd assumed Twilight had put them together because of exactly that, but now she was beginning to wonder if there wasn't another reason for their being partnered. Either way, Fluttershy's complete calmness was beginning to annoy her slightly.

"What is it?" Fluttershy asked, politely. Applejack smiled.
"Just thinkin' about things, is all."

"Oh. Okay then" Fluttershy smiled. Applejack frowned.
"Ah'm just wonderin' why you're so calm, is all."

Fluttershy stopped and looked at her. "Well, I'm not exactly calm. We're inside the mind of a teenager with a mysterious past, who disappeared for an hour and returned looking four years younger before falling into a vegetative state, apparently from emotional trauma. And she barely reacted to anything that's happened over the last few months. I'm just good at pretending I'm calm"

There was a small pause as Applejack's mind did the legwork on this. Suddenly she found herself thinking about the hike again.
"Fluttershy, you remember when we were all climbing up that mountain to get rid of that dragon?"

Fluttershy stared blankly for a moment, before nodding, "Yes?"
"And that leaf fell on your back and you started screamin'?"

Fluttershy looked down at her hooves, "... yes."
"And that caused a rockslide?"

Fluttershy's response was too quiet for Applejack to hear. "Well, right now I feel like it's the bit just after you screamed, and everythin' went real quiet, and we all thought we were fine until we saw the pebbles."
"You think there's about to be a rockslide?" Fluttershy asked.

Applejack stared at her, and noticed an odd look on Fluttershy's face. "Were... were you tryin' to make a joke?"
"Maybe. Sorry, I'm not very good at jokes."

Applejack smirked. "Nice effort, though."
"Thanks" Fluttershy said.

~~~~~

Twilight and Rainbow Dash looked around. They had decided to see if the dream-castle had an 'outside' and had found themselves in an unusual place, standing right in front of a massive, mountainous even, edifice which appeared to be made almost entirely out of crystal.

"What is this?" Rainbow Dash asked, "And how come we're here?"
"It's dream-logic, Rainbow Dash, things aren't going to make sense."

"I guess" the pegasus said.
"We might as well see if there's a way into this thing" Twilight said. Rainbow Dash frowned.

"You ever seen anything like this before?"
"No," Twilight said, "But I've heard Midday talk about something that looked a lot like this. Some fairy-tale about dark lords, and an entire city vanishing into nothingness."

"What?" she said, on noticing Rainbow Dash's expression.
"Really? Dark lords? Who in the world actually calls themselves a 'dark lord'?" Rainbow Dash snorted, "I've seen Daring Do villains with more subtlety than that. Including that really weird one in the last book."

"Which one was that again?" Twilight asked, as they walked under the shadow of the large building, toward a flight of stairs.
"The one who talked all freaking weird. 'Jou vill show uz ze mageks!' Who the hay talks like that?"

Twilight just stared at Rainbow Dash, who had managed to avoid meeting the infamous Photo Finish, who it seemed had left a lasting effect on Fluttershy.
"You'd be surprised" she smiled.

~~~~~

Rarity sighed. Progress through the mindscape had been delayed until she had found a way to communicate with Pinkie Pie, which they solved by having Pinkie stamping her hoof. After this, they continued onward, and after a while they noticed a sudden increase of lights, and found themselves arriving in a strange room, one that was a pleasant marble design with deep red carpeting liberally covering the floor.

"Canterlot Castle?" Rarity frowned, "How unusual."
She turned her head to see the gloomy tunnelway that she and Pinkie Pie had just navigated, and felt a bit of surprise, having expected it to be completely missing. Somehow, the fact that it was still there wasn't reassuring to her.

"Pinkie Pie, do you think we should turn back or keep going?"
Pinkie tilted her head, and shrugged.

"Forward, then?"
Pinkie stomped in the affirmative.

"Forward it is, then."
The two continued onward, making their way through exactly identical rooms, until they finally found something that shocked them. A giant statue of a pony, with a horn and wings, smiling serenly. On her flank was a Cutie Mark of a crescent moon.

"Princess Luna?" Rarity asked, "But why is she here?"
"Well," a voice out of nowhere declared, "Perhaps you should just ask."

Rarity darted around, looking for the source of the voice.
"Up here" it said. Rarity looked, and saw a small blue filly staring at her.

"Midday?"
The filly looked confused, before leaping off and bouncing off of Pinkie's mane.

"No. Not exactly. Hi, Rarity!" she smiled. Rarity stared down at the filly, or what looked like a filly.
"It's because she's awesome" the filly said. Rarity stared blankly at her.

"Second best Princess in the whole wide world. Or third, maybe fourth" the filly frowned, pacing as she started muttering several things to herself, occasionaly glancing at the dumbfounded looks on Rarity's face.

"Okay, she alternates between being the second and third best Princess ever, depending on whether or not I count princesses among the Princesses."

"How... many Princesses can there be?" Rarity asked. The filly frowned at her.

"Why are you wandering around in here, anyway?"
"We were looking for you," Rarity asked, "According to Twilight you went to sleep and haven't woken up."

The filly smiled, "Oh, that's easy. You just find a handsome prince. Although those are kinda hard to find, right? And making one'd be hard, because my mom said Sapphy was a miracle anyway. And she's a girl, so that wouldn't be any help..."
Rarity stared at the filly, and realised exactly what she meant by 'making'. She turned a violent shade of pink.

"Yes, well... I... that is," she paused, coughed, and stared at the filly, "Luna said waking you up would require finding something specific, and that we'd know it when we saw it. But we've found you, so... why haven't we woken up yet?"

The filly tilted her head, "Maybe it's because I'm not what you're supposed to find. Silly Rarity, I'm just a memory echo. My mind's been fragmented while I'm asleep, so right now you're talking to a bit of my mind that's..."
The filly hummed, "Something about huddles. I don't know. I'm not the bit of my mind you're looking for."

A thought seemed to occur to her, "The others are in here as well, aren't they? Miss Dash, Miss Fluttershy, and Applejack, they're in my mind right now as well."
Rarity nodded. The filly chewed her lip.

"You aren't saying anything, Miss Pie. Are you alright?"
Rarity turned to look at Pinkie, who was just staring at the tiny Midday.

"She hasn't been able to speak since we entered your mind. You... wouldn't happen to know why, exactly?"
The filly stared at Rarity. "How should I know? I'm just an echo. Oh, that rhymes."

The filly smiled at that, before looking toward the next hall.
"Since I'm not what you're looking for, I'd suggest going that way. Or not, I don't know. But I wouldn't go back. One should never go back, only forward."

At this, the tiny filly bounced away, singing to herself. Rarity frowned and turned to Pinkie Pie.
"That was... less than helpful," Rarity sighed, "And since when were there more than two Princesses?"

Pinkie Pie made an expression that managed to indicated that not only did she not know, but that if she did, she wouldn't be able to express such a fact even if she did.

~~~~~

Applejack sighed angrily, looking around the corridor they were in. The featureless, grey corridor, with a dozen doors all painted a truly mind-sapping cream colour. It had just sprung up on them, completely without warning, and now she and Fluttershy were unable to figure out which way to go.

"Ah'm guessing one of these doors probably goes where we want to go, right?"
Fluttershy just looked at her. "I wouldn't know. I'm not really an expert on exploring the mind-scapes of teenagers."

"Is this what everypony's head is like? Contradictory and confusing? Or is it just this girl?" she gave this some thought, and eventually decided it depended on a pony by pony basis.
"Bet'cha Twilight's mind looks like her sock drawer, or something."

She was suddenly shaken from her train of thought by a horrific screaming noise from down the corridor, and turned to see Fluttershy pressed flat against one of the doors, her eyes clenched shut.
"Fluttershy!" Applejack ran over to the mare, "What is it?"

Fluttershy just raised a hoof at a door which, unlike all the other doors in the featureless, grey corridor, had a sign on it, proclaiming 'Do not ever, ever, ever open this door on pain of trauma'.
"I might have opened it" Fluttershy whimpered. Applejack just shook her head.

"Now, c'mon, Fluttershy, what could be so scary behind that door?"
"Don't open it," Fluttershy whispered. Applejack turned, and frowned at it. She was not designed to be curious, her grandmother having spent a lot of her life informing Applejack of what horrors dwelt within the Everfree, waiting for curious fillies to...

'No. Ain't gonna think 'bout what she said. And my eyes aren't made of jelly, anyway!' she thought. However, while Applejack was not curious, she was confused as to what lay behind this door that scared Fluttershy so much, especially since she'd only taken her eye off the mare for a few seconds. She pressed her hoof against the handle, and there was a small click as it opened, revealing none other than...

"Princess Celestia?" Applejack asked. Something seemed wrong. The solar diarch was calmly standing in what looked like a part of the Everfree Forest. And then Applejack realised something was truly wrong. Like ever pony ever, Applejack knew what Princess Celestia looked like, and therefore it had taken her a few seconds to realise there was something not right about the mare.

She couldn't see her eyes, and should the mare's hair have been that colour of red?
"You... dare say no to Us?" the Princess said, coldly.

"Close the door, close the door thedoorthedoor!" Fluttershy squeaked.
"Insolent FOAL!" she roared, her mane seemed to grow, and she advanced menacingly toward Applejack. The farmpony was too alarmed by the sight of an enraged Celestia advancing toward her to recognise that Fluttershy had grabbed the door-handled and slammed it shut.

Applejack slowly turned to look at Fluttershy, utterly unsure of what to say.
"Did you...?" she asked quietly, pointing to her eyes.

"What do we do now?" Fluttershy said, her eyes occasionally glancing to the door, as if expecting it to explode.
"We get as far away from that... whatever that was as our legs can take us."

So they ran, and they ran, occasionally turning down various corners, until they came to a door that was larger than all the others, and for whatever reason was painted a rather odd pink colour, with a sign above it glowing bright green and reading
'EXIT'

Fluttershy and Applejack exchanged glances, nervously looking back down the corridor, as if expecting a snarling, blood-thirtsy monster to come haring after them. Actually, both of them thought at the same time, blood-thirsty monsters would be better than an angry Celestia.

As one, they slammed against the door, which shot open, and the two plunged through it...
Onto a warm, fluffy king-sized bed.

"This is... nice" Fluttershy said.
Applejack opened her eyes and looked about. "Ah don't know. Can't say much for the decor."

Fluttershy looked around. "Oh, yes. It is a bit hideous, isn't it?"
In Applejack's opinion, it looked like it was halfway between creepy, and not creepy, resulting in it being a sort of creepy where even the person who lived there had thought it was a bit too much, and had hired some workmen to renovate the whole thing. Applejack was quickly becoming convinced fire would have been helpful in speeding the process along.

"What now?" Fluttershy asked.
"Well, ah guess we can stay here. Or... hold up, d' you hear singing?"

Fluttershy nodded. There was a long awkward pause not helped by the fact that they were lying on a four-poster bed together in a position best described as 'unfortunate'.
"Guess we should follow the music, huh?"

They quickly got off the bed, and followed the sound of singing. If Fluttershy had been focusing on the singing, and not the sheer terror that comes of seeing a snarling angry Celestia looking ready to burn anything that remotely offended her, she would have noted that despite the singer's capability, she was missing a few notes here and there. Especially since she recognised the song. More or less.

"Hush now, quiet now,
it's time to lay your sleepy head
Hush now, quiet now,
it's time to go to bed

Drifting off toward sleep,
Just put your long day behind you.
Passing into blissful slumber,
Let the land of dreams come find you."

Applejack and Fluttershy found themselves in front of another door, behind which the singing seemed to be coming from. For a moment, neither was sure what to do. Finally, Applejack raised a hoof.

"Hush now, quiet n-"

As Applejack's hoof rapped against the door, there was a pause, followed a few seconds later by a sudden blast of noise, and the sound a pony desperately scrambling to stop it.
Fluttershy and Applejack paused as they heard a familiar voice speaking.

"It's okay, 's okay, baby, go to sleep, go sleep. Mommy's here, go to sleep. Please, stop crying honey!"
After some time of muted whisperings, as the voice grew softer and softer, Applejack and Fluttershy considered leaving. Then the door handle turned, and they saw a truly strange sight.

Standing in the doorway was a mare with royal blue fur, dishevelled blue hair wrapped around a small crown, and and a pair of wings just visible beneath a deep blue coloured dressing gown. A pair of incredibly sleep-deprived eyes glowered at the two ponies, before softening.

"Applejack, Fluttershy! Hello. What brings you here at this time of night?" the pony they knew as Midday Eclipse beamed.

~~~~~

Twilight and Rainbow Dash had, from their point of view, struck gold. They'd found something. On close investigation of the strange building, they had found a pair of doors, opened them, and found an almost entirely empty throne room.
"Wow!" Rainbow Dash said, in mounting awe, "We've found a whooole lotta nothing."

Twilight looked around the incredibly blank room, noting there were some obvious holes in the wall, despite the otherwise pristine look of the room.
"I mean, you'd think whoever decorated this place would've put in, oh, I dunno, a carpet or something! Or a cool window!" her voice began to echo as it increased in volume.

"Because there's! Nothing! HERE!" she scowled as the echoes died down, "Except, you know, a throne. Woo. A big chair. Hooray. Can we go now?"
Twilight walked over to it, and shook her head. "I thought you read Daring Do, Rainbow Dash. Why would you have a room with nothing in it, in the middle of a massive palace?"

Rainbow Dash's brow furrowed. "I dunno. I mean, there was Azuhy's death-castle thing. The writer was on fire with that one. Traps disguised as all sorts of thing. I kept waking up in the night 'cuz I thought my pillow was gonna eat me."
Twilight walked around the throne, staring intently at the massive headrest.

"What?" Rainbow Dash asked. Twilight looked at her.
"I think... I've found something."

She focused, and was overjoyed to find her magic actually worked in a dream, even though she noted that made sense, since Rainbow Dash was flying about still rambling on about Fluttershy's writing.
A small beam of magic lanced from her horn, hitting the massive throne. Suddenly, the floor in front of Twilight began to fade, revealing a deep, deep dark pit.

And stairs. She leaned over the edge, and saw there were a lot of stairs.
"Huh. That's a lot of stairs" Rainbow Dash observed. Twilight looked up at her.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
Rainbow Dash stared at her. "Unless you're thinking about the Wonderbolts, no."

"I think whatever it is we're looking for is down there. But it looks like a long walk."
Rainbow Dash just snorted.

"Hey, World's Fastest Pegasus at your service for quickest flight down freaky-long stairwell."
"Who in Equestria would need all these stairs?" Twilight asked as she walked over toward Rainbow Dash.

"I know. This whole place is like a fairy book land invented for eight year olds or something."
Rainbow Dash hovered into the air, and grinned.

"Hold on, egghead."
Twilight suddenly felt her stomach drop, and got the feeling she was going to be joining it in a second.

"Rainbow, wait, what are you doing?"
The pegasus hovered over the center of the stairwell. She cracked a broad grin.

"This."
Her wings stopped moving, and Twilight closed her eyes and winced, just before the two plummeted toward the bottom.
Twilight cursed herself for going along with one of Rainbow Dash's ideas, until there was a sudden feeling of Rainbow Dash righting herself, followed by a polite cough.

"Twilight? You can stop trying to break my neck. We're here."
Twilight laughed nervously, and hopped off. She and Rainbow Dash found themselves staring at a door. Twilight moved toward it, but Rainbow Dash stuck out a hoof.

"Hold up, there's no way it's going to be this easy, right?"
Twilight frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, come on, Twilight. Massive bunch of stairs and and right at the bottom, there's just one tiny door between us and what we're after? That isn't setting off any alarm bells in here?" she said, tapping Twilight's head.

The unicorn nodded, and her horn glowed, reaching out toward the door. There was a feeling of something struggling.
"Whoever put this here..." she groaned, "Used some pretty strong magic!"

"Maybe the evil overlord did it" Rainbow Dash smirked.
Then, there was a triumphant click, and the door swung open, and then disolved, leaving them facing...

"A brick wall," Rainbow Dash said, "I... can honestly say, wasn't expecting that."
"And why is it purple?" she added.

Twilight walked over to it, and placed a hoof on it. "It's magic" she breathed.
"Pure magic. This must be some sort of... barrier, in Midday's mind. But... the strength of this thing, Rainbow Dash. I can practically taste the magic that made it."

Her eyes glinted in an odd fashion that made Rainbow Dash feel uneasy.
"There's something behind this wall. And I'll bet it's what we're looking for. I can feel it!"

Rainbow Dash looked up at the distant light from the throne room.
"Are you sure, Twilight? I mean, what if that wall's there for a reason?"

Twilight considered this, and nodded.
"Good point. You go check elsewhere and see if there's something upstairs we missed. I'll stay here and... try and get past this wall."

~~~~~

Rarity and Pinkie had decided that following the filly was probably not the best choice of action, and instead had chosen to go an entirely different way. As a result, they had walked through a room that looked almost exactly like the Hall of Windows in Canterlot, save that they all depicted Midday in some shape or form, save one which Rarity found intensely disturbing, of a dark mare standing on top of a representation of the library, smiling a horrific smile, and when Rarity looked closer, she noted the mare had two red streaks going through her mane that looked exactly like Midday's.

"What could this mean?" she asked. Pinkie nudged her, pointing to a tiny plaque, which kindly informed Rarity what she was seeing.
"Oh my" she whispered. She looked at Pinkie, and down the small corridor.

"I think, Pinkie, we should abandon our little exploration of this mare's memories, before we find something we cannot forget."
She tried not staring at the window. Or the plaque, with the word 'Nightmare' plainly visible. Pinkie frowned at her.

"Pinkie, we cannot go backwards, but... I daren't go forward. I think our part in this adventure has petered out, and we must accept it, and wait for the others to find what they need."
"In that case," the voice of filly-Midday chimed, "You'll need somepony to show you the way out."

Rarity turned to see the filly-Midday smiling at her. "Don't worry, I wouldn't hold a grudge against you for feeling the need to opt out. Nopony made you do this, did they?"

Rarity frowned. "No, but... I feel I have been less than helpful. Doubtless Twilight and Rainbow Dash, or Applejack and Fluttershy have done far more to help than I have."
"I wouldn't know" the filly said, "But you might have done something to help, even by accident in your wandering through my mind."

Rarity frowned. "Really?"
"How should I know? I'm just a bunch of memories taped together to protect them," the filly sighed, and looked down the corridor. "The exit's just by the throne. Can't miss it."

"Thank you," Rarity said, "And we'll see you when you wake up."

And with that, the littly filly bounced away again, leaving Rarity and Pinkie looking toward the distant end of the hallway. Slowly they started moving, Rarity occasionaly glancing at what the windows displayed, noting that they all displayed events which had occured since Midday had arrived in Ponyville. There was a very curious one that depicted Midday, her fur dyed an odd lilac colour, against a bright orange background, facing another Midday with her royal blue colours, against a dark blue background, the one in lilac with her eyes open, the one in blue scowling. And then she looked up, and honestly wished she hadn't, at which point her pace quicked.

Rarity and Pinkie Pie came to a large door, with a large handlebar on it. "Should we go, though?" she asked.
Pinkie stared at her.

"I don't feel right, leaving everypony else to finish. What if they need us? Will we be able to help them?"
Pinkie just looked at Rarity, but made no other expression. Then she leaned against the door, revealing a strange, blinding glow. The two stepped through it.

*****

Rarity woke, and found herself staring at the library.
"Princess! They're awake!" she heard Trixie cry. She looked about to see a concerned look on Luna's face.

"What happened?"
Rarity sighed. "I felt I was not able to continue on my exploration of Midday's mind, and so I... stepped out."

Luna just nodded. "Quite understandable. Other ponies minds can be... unusual places. Full of dark things."
"How do you do it, then?" Rarity asked. Luna opened her mouth to say something when there was a deep gasp from Pinkie Pie.

"I can SPEAK AGAIN!" she yelled, "Oh that was so horrible not speaking and now I'm gonna have to speak even faster to make up for lost time because I couldn't speak in there even though I was trying really really really really hard! But every time I tried it was like my mouth wouldn't work so I couldn't speak and then I had to tap my hooves just to communicate and it was awful! Have you ever tried not speaking for twenty whole minutes at a time?!"

Luna just stared at Pinkie, who hadn't stopped speaking, then to Rarity.
"If you're wondering," she said, "the reason she couldn't speak would probably because time in the mind-space is... malleable. Minutes can seem like hours, hours can seem like minutes. I'd surmise that because of this, Pinkie's usual train of thought was thrown off."

Rarity gave this some thought, then turned back to look at the other slumbering mares.
"I wish I could've seen how everypony else was getting on" she sighed. "I feel so... wretched, for doing that, leaving them in there."

"But Pinkie Pie's inability to speak was clearly upsetting her. Perhaps you were subconciously acting on your desire to help her as well."
"Really?" Rarity asked. Luna looked as if she hadn't expected that response.

"Perhaps" she said, cooly.

*****

Twilight frowned as her magic made its way through the wall of pure magic in front of her. It had occured to her some minutes ago that whatever she was doing was apparently beginning to work, and also that whoever had put the barrier in place, their magic felt alarmingly familiar. Then she hit a snag. The magic was fighting back. She gritted her teeth and poured more magic into her efforts, and then more, and then more, and after a while, there was a triumphant, yet loud 'crack'. She ceased casting her magic as she watched a large crack snake its way down the middle of the wall. Then, the purple bricks began to slide sideways, revealing... another door. She cast another spell, and strangely enough, this time it opened without needing persuasion, revealing... a wide open courtyard, in the middle of night. From the look of it, it resembled a familiar square in downtown Canterlot.

But that wasn't the shock she'd been expecting. Midday had said she'd been from Canterlot, hadn't she?
Ignoring her trepidation, Twilight walked through the doorway. She wasn't sure why she felt so nervous, but there was something that didn't seem entirely right to her.

She stood in the middle of square, and looked about. There was utter quiet, and she frowned.
"Okay. I'm here. What am I supposed to see?" she muttered, looking about. Then, she looked up at the moon.
It was a lot closer and a lot larger than it should have been. And it was glowing purple.

A beam shot out from the moon, landing directly in front of her. A circle formed around Twilight's hooves, and she leapt out of the way entirely on instinct. Then she saw something.
There was a strange fog gathering around the beam, coalescing into the form of a mare. An eerily familiar-looking mare.

Twilight stared, too shocked to turn away as the mare's coat became visible, and it was a light purple. Then, a horn appeared on the mare's head, followed by hair, then a tail appeared, and then a pair of wings. Her expression changed to one of confusion, followed by outright panic as she saw the mare's hair turn blue, with a streak of pink running through it, followed by a Cutie Mark of a purple star with five smaller, barely noticable stars around it.
She slowly dragged her eyes to the mare's face, even as every part of her mind screamed not to look, to ignore what she was seeing. But she didn't.

A pair of light purple eyes stared at her with noticable regret, shame and several other things she couldn't recognise.

And then the illusionary mare began to speak.

With her voice.

~~~~~

Applejack and Fluttershy hadn't really been sure what had happened. One minute they'd been fleeing from an image that both were certain would haunt them to their graves, and then they'd fallen onto a bed, and then followed singing until they found Midday, or what looked like Midday. The mare they knew as Midday didn't have wings, or a crown, and wasn't prone to living in creepy places that were made of something they didn't know what.

And then she'd asked them something, and they were too confused to acknowledge what she said.
"What?" Applejack asked.

"I said 'would you like something to drink?' You look like you could" she smirked. She strode off, and the two meekly followed after her, until she led them to an incredibly large looking room filled with randomly placed kitchen equipment.

"Sorry about the place. Only moved in a few years ago, and the in-laws, bless their little hearts, don't quite understand eating food like we do."
She looked at the two mares, "Now, would either of you like some coffee? Tea? I'm afraid we don't really have anything like cider by the way, no adult beverages, just in case."

At this she began to rummage around through several cupboards until she found what looked like drinking glasses, and a teapot, which made a loud clunk.
"Now, the husband, I do love him, but I wish he'd tell the staff how to use a kettle" she frowned, her horn glowing as a brick emerged from it.

"A brick. In a kettle. I swear, it's like their minds are on the moon."
"Ah, Midday?" Applejack said, "We came to talk to you."

"That's nice," the mare said as she began trying to make what was probably tea.
"Midday, yer lying in bed in the Ponyville library. You haven't moved in days. You just went to sleep and didn't wake up again. Princess Luna said you were probably keeping yourself from waking up."

The mare said nothing for a while.
"I didn't used to like tea. Still don't, but... the husband, he knows his teas. Probably got that from his mother, his real mother, not his birth mother. Bit of a story behind that explanation, by the way, and I don't know all of it. Anyway, he bought this tea, and it's really good at calming the nerves, which I've really needed since... well, little Lilac came along."

"Lilac?" Fluttershy said, "that's a lovely name."
"Well, I was gonna call her something different, but then I forgot what it was. Still, anyway, this tea is brilliant, and you two look like you need a calmative."

Applejack and Fluttershy exchanged glances, then looked back at the mare as she sighed.
"Tea is the answer to all of life's problems, except the big ones, like 'Why is there no more tea, and why am I not drinking it now?' Or something like that..."

Applejack felt the discourse on tea had gone on long enough, and cleared her throat, as the mare calmly poured out a small serving of tea.
"Fluttershy?" she asked. The pegasus looked to Applejack, then back to the mare.

"Yes, please" she nodded. A small tea-cup floated over to her, and she sniffed it, apparently liking the scent. Midday walked over to them, and suddenly looked a lot older than her current appearance of a mare in her mid-to-late twenties. She gave Applejack a cup as well, and the mare, not wanting to turn down a free drink, took it.

"I..." Midday said, her eyes closed, "I couldn't sleep, that first night. I was afraid if I looked away for a minute, she'd stop breathing, or run away, or somepony would take her. I couldn't sleep the second night, the third or the fourth. I did get a bit better after that. But every night, I checked to make sure she was alright, and still there. I sang to her, I talked to her, I played with her, I read to her, even though she didn't understand the words. I carried her, I fed her, I changed her diapers, I helped teach her to speak. She was my creation. My little miracle. My daughter."

She looked over to Fluttershy, who had set the tea down. "It's very nice tea" Fluttershy said, once she was aware Midday was staring at her. Applejack nodded in agreement.
"And then... one day, she was seven. Only seven years old. And the world just... stopped. And you can guess what happened next."

Fluttershy and Applejack exchanged glances as the mare sighed. "I woke up, in that damn library, Twilight was there, my dad was there, you were there. And my daughter was just a dream. Nothing more."
Suddenly there was a noise, not quite a wail, or a sob, but it was there. Tears began to move down Midday's face.

"My little baby."
Fluttershy held the mare tightly. For a few minutes there was only the noise of Midday weeping, and Fluttershy just gently rocking her back and forth.

"And every time- every time I close my eyes, I see her, smiling. Just like she always did. She was my little girl. And I couldn't keep her. In the blink of an eye... she was gone, and she'd never been."
For a few minutes she continued sobbing, though now it sounded like she was trying to fight the tears down. Finally she gently but firmly pushed Fluttershy away from her and looked at Applejack and stared at her.

"So, after that, after having to experience my soul being torn out, and then getting see my body used as an instrument of murder, and pushing myself far beyond my limits, is it any wonder I don't want to wake up?"
Applejack stared at her. "But you have to."

Midday glowered at her. Actually, calling it a mere glower would do a disservice to it. It was a full on glare.
"Do I?" she hissed.

Applejack nodded. "It hurts, doesn't it?" she pointed to her chest, "In here."
"Yes."

"Really, really hurts."
"Yes."

"I know that it hurts. But you have to keep goin'. You mourn, but that's all. It'll suck, it will always suck, but in the end, you have to wake up and keep living your life, because they wouldn't want you to waste your life moping over them. They'd want you to live, to move on with your life, because maybe, maybe one day you'll actually feel alive again. And as long as you're alive, so are they, in our hearts and minds. And there are people out there, who need you. Maybe not right now, but at some point, they'll need you, and they need you to be strong, and alive. Because otherwise, you're insulting the people who need you, and yourself, and the memories. And that's as bad as killing them yourself."

Fluttershy and Midday stared at the farmer, who just looked down at the nearly-empty tea cup, not saying anything else.
"Applejack..." Midday said. She looked at the door to outside, her face fraught with emotions.

~~~~~

Rainbow Dash had not gotten lost. Not exactly, at any rate. True, she had gotten a bit confused by all the identical empty room, but that wasn't the same as being lost in her book. She had found nothing, and returned to the stairwell. She flew down it, finding her way eased by the fact that Twilight Sparkle wasn't choking the life out of her. However, when she reached the bottom, she found Twilight sitting, staring blankly. She felt nervous, and slowly approached the mare.

"Twilight?" she asked. There was no response. She walked around to face her. Twilight didn't seem to notice her. Rainbow Dash reached out a hoof and waved it in front of Twilight's face. The mare yelped and leapt into the air, startling Rainbow Dash.

"Sorry," Twilight said, "I didn't see you there."
"What the buck was that?" Rainbow Dash yelled, funneling her terror into annoyance.

"I was just thinking about things."
"Did you find anything?" Rainbow Dash asked, on seeing the wall was gone, just a blank face of rock.

Twilight said nothing.
"Well, we'll just keep looking, right?" Rainbow Dash smiled. Twilight nodded, absent-mindedly.

Then the world went white.

*****

Four ponies found themselves waking up in the library, none of them looking anywhere near happy or satisfied.
"What the hay just happened?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"She... woke up" Fluttershy said, though if anypony heard her they didn't indicate it.
Rainbow Dash just nodded, then looked at Twilight, who was staring intensely at Midday.

"Twilight, you alright?"
The mare smiled at Rainbow Dash, in a way that made the speedster feel concerned for the royal blue mare, who was beginning to stir on the bed.

"Hey, dashie!" A voice chimed. She turned to see Pinkie Pie carrying a small tray around her neck with some beverages on it.
"Oh, coffee!" Rainbow Dash said, "Great, 'cuz I could drink like a buffallo."

For a few moments, nopony said anything, the only noise being the chirping of the small phoenix Spike was sitting next to. Had anypony noticed, they would have seen the solemn look on Twilight Sparkle's face.

"Hey, where'd Princess Luna go?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"She went downstairs to talk with Trixie about something, left Rarity to keep an eye on things up here" Spike said, inbetween paying attention to Peewee.

Midday sloped off the bed, stretching and groaning. For a minute, she looked far older than an eighteen year-old had any right to be, and then her expression changed to totally neutral.
"Are you going to be okay?" Rarity asked. Midday nodded silently. Then she looked over at Twilight, and a cold chill ran through her veins.

And then she noticed it had gone utterly silent, everypony having apparently noticed Twilight's diamond-breaking stare.
And then she spoke.

"Twilight Twyla Twinkle..." she said, slowly, each word sounding like a thunderbolt.

"We need to talk."

And then, Midday's horn glowed brightly, and there was a bright flash followed by a small 'bloink' noise.