Twilight Sparkle awoke the next morning with her mind still running laps. After being thrown out of Midnight’s house, the group of friends had all headed back to Golden Oaks Library to discuss what they thought of the town’s new resident. Rainbow, AJ, and Rarity were all in agreement that Midnight had been exceptionally rude by throwing them out, although everyone except Rainbow and Pinkie did agree they had been rude too by letting themselves into someone else’s house like that. At first Twilight was going to remind them that they had done the same thing when she first came to town and that both she and Midnight had every right to call the authorities, but then Twilight remembered that nopony had gone into the private living area of the tree and had only been in the library, which was a public area.
There was something else that was bothering her though, and it seemed like none of her friends either saw it or acknowledged it: Midnight wasn’t a normal pony. For one, she was huge, even bigger than Big Mac. Although she wasn’t THAT much bigger, that was still pretty big for a mare. Next were her eyes, which were just like Spike’s; the eyes of a dragon. But, while her coat was also jet black, Twilight doubted that she was Nightmare Moon in anyway, since Nightmare Moon and Princess Luna were one in the same.
There was also the way her cloak moved when she roared, which were two more things that weren’t normal. The cloak had moved as if she had… wings underneath it, but that would make her an alicorn, and only three were known to exist, and none of them had traits similar to Midnight. On top of that ponies don’t roar. The last thing she thought of was what Pinkie had told her about Midnight’s tail; how it had a blade on it. The whole thing was too weird.
Crawling out of bed, Twilight walked into her bathroom. Now that she was awake, her thoughts began to speed up. What if she was an alicorn? Should she write to the princess? Was Midnight dangerous? What if she wrote a letter to Celestia and Midnight found out? Her traits seemed familiar, so what if she was somehow linked to Nightmare Moon, like a cultist or something? Maybe she was trying to bring back Nightmare Moon? Maybe she was an assassin to take them out so the Elements of Harmony couldn’t work! Maybe she needed their blood for a ritual! Maybe she was just over reacting and she was just an odd looking unicorn!
Twilight sighed, calming herself down. “At the very least I should go over there and apologize for what we did, even if we did help her and she acted like a grump about it.”
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Midnight wiped the sweat from her brow and examined her work. The hole in the cliff she was digging was coming along nicely, and at this rate would be done by lunch time. The first thing she had done that morning was test out the stairs, and after the fifth one collapsed under her hoof, she decided that upstairs could wait some more. She was just about to get back to it when she heard a noise at the front of her house.
“Hello! Anypony home?”
“What is it?” Midnight called, coming around from the back. From the front of the house a familiar lavender face appeared. “Oh, you’re one of Pinkie’s friends form yesterday. Twilight, right?” The mare nodded. “Well, what do you want?"
Twilight grimaced for a second, but composed herself. “I just wanted to come over an apologize for how we basically broke into your house yesterday, but I also like an apology for the way you acted after we helped you out with your kitchen and helped Pinkie Pie with the party she wanted to throw you.”
Midnight snorted indignantly at her. They had the gall to demand an apology from her? Then again... they did save her some time an effort. 'Nopony’s ever apologized to me for something they’ve done to me before’ Midnight thought, a bit of guilt and a tiny speck of hope rising in her ‘maybe things will be different this time.’ Finally Midnight spoke up. “Well, thanks to you guys I can at least cook on the stove top, so sorry, I guess. You want some instant coffee or something?”
Figuring that was the best she was going to get, Twilight nodded and followed Midnight inside. In the kitchen, Twilight was surprised to see that there was now a table of sorts, made from what looked like poorly cut wood, along with cushions on the floor around the sides so they could sit comfortably.
“When I get more settled in and established I’ll be able to afford proper furniture. Anything specific in your coffee?”
“Just some milk and sugar please.”
Midnight nodded, then pulled out milk, sugar, and creamer and set it next to the two cups she’d pulled out for them. Twilight was trying to look interested in the table while at the same time trying to figure out how to steer the conversation to why the other mare was always wearing a cloak when she heard Midnight talking to her.
“Hmm?” she asked, dropping the table’s leg with an audible *thud*.
“I asked what you do in this town.”
“Oh! I’m the local librarian, but I’m only here because Princess Celestia tasked me, as her personal student, with learning the magic of friendship.”
Midnight looked at her like she had five heads, but simply turned back to her work with the coffee. “RRRRight, and I’m a spy for Nightmare Moon.”
Twilight frowned. “I’m telling the truth, and I know you can’t be a spy for Nightmare Moon because my friends and I defeated her with the Elements of Harmony this past Summer Sun Celebration, or did you miss the fact that the sun didn’t rise until a few hours after it was supposed to that day? And how about the fact that Princess Luna is back?”
Well, Midnight had to admit Twilight had her on that one, and she did recall seeing a newspaper article a month or so ago, but she had been in a hurry and hadn’t picked up the paper that day. But still, if she WAS Celestia’s personal student, why would she be in a town like this and learning about friendship? It just didn’t make any sense to her.
*BANG*
They both jumped. “What was that!?” Twilight yelped.
Midnight snorted. “It’s just a shelf I put up in the front; third time it’s done that this morning.” She moved towards the door leading to the front when she felt something pull her cloak. When Twilight had put down the table leg, it had landed on part of it, and when Midnight made the sudden move towards the door, the cloak caught and jerked her back, pulling her onto her back on the floor. “Gah! Stupid cloak!” In her rush to get back up, she twisted around and stood up, completely pulling the cloak off her. She froze, realizing what she’d done, and turned towards Twilight. The mare was gawking at her.