Twilight Sparkle was immensely confused about the setting of her ancestor’s life. While she did have access to Midnight’s memories, the memories she was most interested in seemed to be locked. For example, Twilight could remember with perfect clarity the many times when Midnight played with Celestia and Luna and other sorts of fun events, but she couldn’t remember anything about this Day of Ascension.
It was exasperating. Midnight read and studied many books about every important thing that was mentioned so far: the Day of Ascension, the Goddess, the Quota, and the Collection. So Midnight was fully aware of what those things were. But for some reason, Twilight could only access the fact that “Midnight Star has knowledge of these topics,” yet couldn’t access what she wanted to know the most about, namely the actual knowledge of those topics. It was like Midnight’s psyche kept the knowledge locked up so she would never have to think about it.
Twilight thought on it a moment. Nah, it was probably a glitch with the spell or something. Knowledge seemed to be the focal point of Midnight’s life, so it wouldn’t make any sense at all to lock up what she loved most in the back of her mind. If anypony invaded Twilight’s mind, she was sure they’d be bombarded with all sorts of “interesting” facts that were stored up in her head!
Well, aside from a rocky start, so far the experience wasn’t all bad. Seeing Celestia and Luna around her age was incredibly amusing. And there’s no way Twilight could’ve imagined how cute Luna used to be. A part of her wondered how such a cute mare could ever become somepony like Nightmare Moon.
Twilight looked outside of the carriage window with Midnight’s eyes. She usually let the unicorn go on auto-pilot, but Twilight sometimes took control when she wanted a better look around. It appeared that as long as nothing too important was going on, Twilight could freely take control of Midnight’s body and look around, but that was about the extent of what she could do. She couldn’t get Midnight to talk or make her do anything too out of character, which was fine since she was very similar to Twilight.
The carriage was getting closer towards Ponyville, and from what Twilight could see, it had a very similar layout to the Ponyville in the present, except for the fact that this Ponyville was smaller and its buildings were made of weaker materials than in the present day. She wondered, do none of the ponies in Ponyville have Cutie Marks too? Ever since she rooted herself to Midnight’s consciousness, Twilight hadn’t seen a single pony with a Cutie Mark. Alongside this strange fact, Twilight Sparkle noticed an absence of magic. Midnight has never cast a single spell, and in her downtime Twilight couldn’t make her cast a spell either. Twilight first attributed this to the possibility that it would be out of Midnight’s character to frequently cast magic, after all some unicorns would rather not use magic and live like an earth pony. However, the few unicorns in the castle failed to cast a spell of any sort. The lack of magic and Cutie Marks seemed to be the key differences between the past and present.
Of course, Twilight might just be overthinking things. Since the royal family was all earth ponies, the unicorns in the castle might be holding back their magic out of respect. Twilight would have to collect more data before she could make any real assumptions.
The carriage passed through Ponyville's borders as she thought this, and Midnight Star stepped out, allowing Twilight Sparkle the opportunity to gather more information about her ancestor’s world.
A pink colored earth pony was hopping merrily through the streets of Ponyville. It was a beautiful day for a party, but she couldn’t dream up a reason to throw one at the moment. Thinking the fresh air would provide her with the inspiration for an excuse to throw a party, she decided to excuse herself from the bakery she worked at to bounce around the village a bit.
Hmm, what would be a good reason for a party? Nopony had a birthday today, she already threw a weather party two days ago, Skyline would get mad at her if she used her as an excuse again… hmm…
“Hey there, Pastel!” An orange-dyed earth pony wearing a ten-gallon hat over her blonde mane trotted up to the pink pony. “Shouldn’t ya be workin’ at yer bakery right now?”
Pastel Lollipop stopped bouncing and turned towards the orange pony. “Oh hey there, Cinnamon! I went on a breakie break since it’s a slowie slow day today! And why are you in town? Shouldn’t you be out in the farm growing all those tastylicious apples?”
“Ain’t much use in growin’ them if ah ain’t gonna sell ‘em.” Cinnamon gestured towards the wheelbarrow of apples attached to her flank. “The family sent me ta the market a bit earlier than ‘em so ah can set up shop.”
Pastel sniffed the apples, causing a bright smile to light up on her face. “Ooh! Ooh! Are these your special super-duper apple cinnamon apples?”
“Why, mah name’s not Apple Cinnamon fer nothin’!” The orange pony boasted. “Why don’t ya go ahead and take one o’ them, Pastel. Ya are a good friend o’ mine after all.”
“That’s super-duper nice of you, Cinnamon!” Pastel took an apple from Cinnamon’s cart and took a long, slow bite. “Mmm, juicy!”
Cinnamon chuckled. “Ya say the same thing every time ya eat one of mah apples. Ah’m surprised you haven’t made apple cupcakes with ‘em yet.”
Pastel’s eyes lit up. “Idea! Idea!” She wrapped a hoof around Cinnamon and extended her other hoof as if she trying to show the other pony something. “Just think Cinnamon, apple cupcakes, everywhere… it’ll be an apple cupcake party!!”
“Ya’ll are so random sometimes, Pastel.” Cinnamon smiled.
Pastel didn’t appear to hear Cinnamon’s comment, and instead, pointed at something headed into town. “What’s that, Cinnamon?” Her happy demeanor faded away for a moment. “It’s not a Collection, is it?”
Cinnamon stepped in front of Pastel as if she was trying to shield her and squinted at the incoming object. “Hmm, settle down, Pastel. Ah don’t think it is, it looks like it’s jus’ a carriage pulled by some ponyfolk.”
“B-but… sometimes ponies are the ones who carry out the Collection.” Pastel whispered, her voice trembling.
“Don’t worry ‘bout it, Pastel.” Cinnamon said. “If it is a Collection… me and Skyline’ll send ‘em packin’ back where they came from! We ain’t gonna let them tear apart Ponyville!”
Pastel looked reassured at Cinnamon’s declaration, but Cinnamon knew she was only putting up a front. If a Collection really did happen she knew there would be no way anypony would be able to stop it. As the carriage got closer, Cinnamon prepared herself to have to take Pastel and run away, but as it got clearer…
Cinnamon felt her body relax. “Why look, Pastel, they’re wearin’ the royal armor. They must be from the castle!”
Pastel’s energy came flowing back into her. “From the castle! Does this mean we’re going to have super-special guests? Oh no, I don’t even have a party prepared for them!!” Pastel dashed off in some random direction, leaving Cinnamon by herself.
Cinnamon sighed. “That pony…” She turned towards the incoming carriage. It appeared to be heading for the center of Ponyville. “Hmm, maybe ah can sell ‘em some apples before they go."
Midnight stepped outside of the carriage, taking in the sights of the small village around her. It was… nice. It certainly didn’t carry the same air of finesse she was used to, but Ponyville wasn’t the castle, so it was understandable.
The unicorn turned to the two stallions and bowed her head. “Thank you gentlecolts for bringing me out here.”
“No problem, milady, just doin’ our jobs.” They bid Midnight adieu and left to return to the castle
Well then, Midnight remembered that her caretaker was supposed to meet her around the village square…
“Well good day ta ya, ma’am!” An unfamiliar earth pony walked up over to Midnight with a cart of apples attached to her flank. Midnight grimaced. Was this the pony who was supposed to be looking after her?
“Uh, hi.” Midnight said awkwardly. “Are you, uh…” What was her name supposed to be again? Aly… Ana… Ame… “Amethyst?”
“Amethyst? Do ah look like that silly froo-froo unicorn ta ya? The name’s Cinnamon, Apple Cinnamon.” The earth pony grabbed Midnight’s hoof and started shaking it furiously. “It’s mighty fine to meet ya, lady!”
“L-lady?!” Midnight could hardly keep up with how this pony was shaking her hoof. “My name is Midnight Star!”
“Uh, Midnight, ya can stop shakin’ yer hoof now.”
Cinnamon already let go of her hoof a few moments ago, but she was still shaking it up and down frantically. Embarrassed, Midnight put her hoof down.
Cinnamon chuckled. “Gotta say, yer a funny one, Midnight. Say, where’d that carriage of yers go?”
“They went back to the castle.” Midnight explained.
“Aw shucks! Ah was hopin’ ta sell ‘em some of my specialty cinnamon apples! They’re plum delicious if ah do say so mahself. Here!” Cinnamon pulled out an apple and handed it to Midnight. “Take one, on the house!”
“Uh… thanks, but no thanks.” Midnight pushed the apple away. “I’m sorry, but I already ate before I got here."
Cinnamon frowned. “Well ah ain’t gonna force ya. But maybe sometime ya’ll can come over ta my farm and we can have lunch together! Mah family’ll be mighty kind ta ya!”
“Um, sure…” Midnight was being carried away by this pony’s great energy. “Oh, so do you know this ‘Amethyst’ pony?”
Cinnamon shrugged. “She and ah are friends.” Midnight winced at the word. “But we ain’t really all that close, after all ah like ta get down and dirty while she’s all sparkly and froo-froo. Why? Ya need a makeover from her or somethin’?”
“Well, you see--”
“Oh, darling!” A purple-maned white unicorn came quickly trotting up to the two ponies. “I am so sorry for being late! I was so caught up in my work that I failed to keep track of time! There was this stitch that just refused to cooperate with me… Cinnamon?” The unicorn noticed the earth pony for the first time. “What are you doing here?”
“Jus’ shootin’ the breeze with Midnight Star here.” Cinnamon shrugged. “What about you, Amethyst? Ah’m guessin’ yer the one who’s s’posed ta be greetin’ her then?”
“Well, why of course! Naturally they would want Ponyville’s most fashionable pony to greet royalty!” Amethyst exclaimed.
“Royalty?” Cinnamon gave Midnight a quick look over. “Ah mean no disrespect ta ya, Midnight, but ya don’t really look like royalty ta me.”
“Cinnamon!!” Amethyst quickly forced Cinnamon’s head down while she bowed deeply towards Midnight. “Please excuse Cinnamon’s incredibly rude comment! I don’t know what came over her, poor dear must be catching a fever!”
“Ya know ah’m not sick, Ame!” Cinnamon protested.
“Hush, you silly pony!” Amethyst hissed.
“Silly pony?!” Cinnamon put her hoof down. “Why, ah am not a silly pony!!”
Midnight chuckled at the two ponies’ exchange. “It’s alright, I don’t really consider myself royalty anyways.”
“Why, but you’re King Themis’s and Queen Ambrosia’s daughter, are you not?” Amethyst asked, confused.
“Adopted daughter.” Midnight corrected. “The real royalty is Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. I’m just here to assist them.”
“Oh, well, you’re still connected to the royal family.” Amethyst trotted up next to Midnight. “Don’t worry, dear, I can give you a makeover that’ll make you shine even brighter than the stars!”
“Uh, no thanks.” Midnight pushed Amethyst away from her before she could attack her mane. “Actually, I’d just like to get some rest. It was a long ride and I’d like to see where I’ll be staying.”
“Well the library is just this way then.” Amethyst said, disappointed. “But you do want me to give you a makeover in the future, do you not?”
“Uh…” Midnight hesitated. Amethyst was giving her an incredibly pleading look, and she could hardly say no to that! “… I guess.”
Amethyst instantly brightened up. “Brilliant! Alrighty then, the sooner we get to the library the sooner you can rest up and I can give you a makeover!”
“Now hold up there, sugarcube!” Cinnamon stepped in front of Amethyst. “Midnight here promised ta have lunch with mah family later! So that’ll have ta come before yer makeover!”
“Oh Cinnamon!” Amethyst laughed. “If you want a makeover too you can just say so!”
“What? Why would ah wanna look all froo-froo and girly like you?”
“Because, Cinnamon. You are a mare, aren’t you? At least, you’re more of a mare than--”
“Look out below!!” A blue pegasus pony suddenly came crashing down in front of them.
Amethyst groaned. “Skyline…”
The red-mared pegasus brushed herself off. “Huh? Oh hey Ame, Cinnamon. What’s shakin’?”
“What’s ‘shakin’’ is that we have a guest here in Ponyville.” Amethyst scoffed.
The pegasus went over to Midnight and examined her. “Oh hey, haven’t seen you around here before. What’s up?”
“S-Skyline!” Another pegasus pony ran up to the group. This pony had a yellow coat and a pink mane. “Y-you know you shouldn’t be flying up high in the air… it’s not allowed…”
“Stop being such a worrywart all the time, Lily.” Skyline said, annoyed. “It’s not like there’s anypony around to punish me for breaking the rules!”
Lily squeaked. “B-but…”
“So anyways, what’s your name again?” Skyline asked Midnight, ignoring Lily’s objection.
“Midnight Star.” Seriously, she was getting kind of tired of having to go through introductions every five minutes. “And by the way, I’m from the castle, so technically I can punish you for flying…”
“Wait what? You’re kidding me, right?” Skyline bit her lip.
Midnight responded. “Afraid not.”
Skyline sighed. “Ah well, I lived a good life.” She held out her hooves expecting Midnight to cuff her. “At least I went out doing what I love!!”
“… settle down.” Midnight chuckled. “I’m not going to arrest you. I’ve never seen a pegasus fly before, after all.”
“Oh really?” Skyline instantly dropped the theatrics. “I guess my awesome skills won you over! You’re pretty cool, Midnight.”
Midnight shrugged. “I guess.” Skyline didn’t really do anything but crash in front of the group after all.
“U-umm…” Lily tried to speak up.
“Oh hey, I don’t think you gave a proper introduction yet.” Midnight turned to the yellow pegasus. “I’m Midnight Star. And you?”
*squeak*
Midnight tilted her head. “… excuse me?”
“Oh, this here is Lily Blossom.” Cinnamon explained. “She’s a shy li’l feller. Can hardly even speak ‘round strangers.”
*squeak*
“Don’t worry, she’ll warm up ta ya eventually.”
Midnight pretended to yawn. She had enough introductions for one day. “Well, it was nice meeting you all, but I really need to get some rest. So if you’d all excuse me.”
“Come on, Midnight, at least let us walk you there.” Skyline said. “I don’t really want to ditch a new friend so soon after meeting her after all!”
Midnight twitched at the word ‘friend’ again. “Uhh, well…”
“… please?” Lily finally spoke up to say something to Midnight.
“Ugh, fine.” The other ponies lit up at Midnight’s agreement.
“Alright then, darling, the library’s just this way!” Amethyst led the group of ponies down the road to the library.
While they were walking, the ponies kept asking Midnight questions about life in the castle. Midnight gave really brief answers to all of these questions, and ended up talking about her two sisters more than anything else. About how responsible Celestia was compared to Luna, who still acted like a little filly that still needed to be taken care of. It was much easier to talk about lighthearted topics rather than something like Midnight's studies.
When the large tree came into view, Midnight felt incredibly relieved that she didn’t have to spend more time talking to the other ponies. They were nice and all, but all Midnight really wanted at the moment was some peace and quiet.
“Well thank you all for accompanying me here. I really appreciate it” Midnight bowed to the other ponies. The unicorn pushed open the entrance to the library. Finally she could get some rest and relaxation.
“SURPRISE!!!”
What now?
An eruption of streamers and laughter erupted as soon as the door opened. Midnight was caught off guard and could do nothing but stare at the sight in front of her. The library was filled with balloons and ribbons and other extravagant decorations.
“Welcome to your party!” A pink earth pony bounced up to Midnight and the others. “It’s very very super duper nice to meet you! I’m Pastel Lollipop!”
“Uh, hi Pastel. I’m Midnight Star.” The unicorn’s eyes couldn’t keep up with how fast Pastel was bouncing around.
Cinnamon chuckled. “So this is where ya ran off ta, Pastel. Settin’ up a party fer this here guest.”
“No silly, the party was already prepared!” Pastel explained while hopping around Midnight. “But before it was just a normal plain-ol’ party This is a mega-ultra special occasion, so I had to make this party mega-ultra special too! After all, we don’t get many new friends in Ponyville!!”
Midnight twitched. “Friends?”
“Yeah silly!” Pastel beamed. “Friends! I already know we’re going to be super-duper ultra-mega fantabulous spectacular friends!!”
Midnight Star sighed. It looks like she won’t be getting that rest and relaxation for a while. Oh well, might as well mingle with the population a little bit more. She does have a job to do.
“Don’t be so frownie frown!” Pastel said to Midnight. “If the guest of honor is all frownie, then this party will be all downie! So turn that frown upside down!!”
Midnight let off a small smile. Pastel’s air was kind of infectious.
“And stop being such a silly filly, Twilight! You need to have fun too!”
"Huh?"
The space around Midnight instantly began to deconstruct. However, instead of completely disappearing into the white void, it condensed itself into a small screen in the middle of the whiteness.
Twilight Sparkle stood in the void, confused. Somehow she was kicked out of Midnight’s body, yet she could still feel herself attached to her.
“Why so confused, Twilight?”
The purple unicorn turned around and saw Pinkie Pie bouncing around in the void. “W-what are you doing here, Pinkie?!”
“Visiting you, duh!!” Pinkie poked Twilight’s nose. “Toot! You’re it!”
“What—Pinkie! How did you get here? And why couldn’t I find you before?!”
“Because your ancestor wasn’t close to our ancestors, silly!” Pinkie pointed to the window that showed Midnight and the other ponies. “See! See! I’m right there!” She pointed towards Pastel Lollipop.
“But how did you know?”
Pinkie Pie shrugged. “I started a twitchin’! That’s how!”
That was Twilight’s signal to stop asking. Some things were not meant to be explained. Well, maybe since Pinkie Pie’s here, Twilight could bring the others into this space. It was worth a shot.
Twilight Sparkle concentrated her magic and reached out to the other ponies. Unlike last time, she felt their presences, held back by some thin invisible wall. She concentrated on tearing apart that wall, and she could feel the wall rip as easily as a hot knife to butter. The other four ponies came tumbling into the void.
“What happened?! Who’s attacking?!” Rainbow Dash was looking around frantically, obviously just as confused as Twilight was when she was ripped out of Midnight’s body.
“Why if it ain’t Twilight!” Applejack trotted over to her and gave her a hug. “Feels like it’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
“Yeah, how’s everything going?” Twilight asked.
Rainbow Dash shrugged. “It’s not that great. Apparently pegasi aren’t allowed to fly in the past.”
"Why?"
“Heck if I know!” Rainbow Dash complained. “Apparently it’s just not allowed!”
“And my ancestor doesn’t use magic to sew!” Rarity exclaimed. “Sure, we have some small bit of magic to work with, but it takes teams of ponies to get anything done! It’s horrible!”
“Wait, why’s that?” Twilight inquired.
“Unicorns in the past barely have enough magic to lift a spool of yarn, dear.” Rarity explained. “We have to use all sorts of contraptions to attach just a simple button! Although I do have to admit it is sort of fun to create things in this sort of old fashioned way.”
“Hmm, interesting.” Twilight pondered over this information. So pegasi aren’t allowed in the air and unicorns barely have a fraction of the magical strength they have today. “Applejack, Fluttershy, what about you two? Anything weird in your lives?”
Applejack shrugged. “Not really, sugarcube. Run a farm and got mah hat and everythin’. Only difference is that the family’s much smaller and we don’t got as much land to plant on, but that makes sense.”
“… not really. I still take care of animals.” Fluttershy mumbled.
“Hmm… do you all know anything about this ‘Goddess’ or a ‘Quota’ or a ‘Collection’?” Twilight asked. “Oh, and a ‘Day of Ascension’”
“Apparently everypony is supposed to pray to this Goddess person every night.” Rainbow Dash answered. “Although my ancestor’s pretty cool, since she doesn’t bother following the rules all the time.”
“Ah don’t know what the Collection is,” Applejack said. “But apparently it’s somethin’ everypony’s afraid of. But ah do know that the Day of Ascension thingy is fer Celestia and Luna, and it’s s’posed ta be the most important day or somethin’”
Twilight crossed her hooves. So far nopony told her anything she didn’t know or infer. “And does anypony know anything about this Quota thing?” The other ponies shook their heads. Twilight clicked her tongue. There were still so many unanswered questions…
“Hey, hey Twilight!” Pinkie Pie bounced. “Can you stop being all thinky-winky and enjoy yourself? There’s a party going on!!”
Twilight Sparkle sighed and smiled. “I guess you’re right, Pinkie. Everything will probably explain itself later on. So what do you all say?” Twilight turned to each of her friends. “Wanna stick around to see if you can teach me the magic of friendship again?”
The other ponies answered in response.
“O’ course, sugarcube!”
“You bet, Twi!”
“Yup yep yeppers!”
“Why of course, darling!”
“… sure.”
Twilight grinned. It looked like everypony was having fun so far, and that none of them experienced anything like she did at the beginning. It’ll be fun to experience the adventures their ancestors have experienced. After all, learning’s always more fun with friends, right?
Midnight Star collapsed in her bed after a long day of partying. Or to be more accurate, a long day of trying to avoid everypony’s attempts to get her partying. Midnight just wasn’t used to the amount of energy the ponies in Ponyville possessed. It was like the time somepony gave Princess Luna one too many cupcakes before bedtime… except ten times more energetic.
“Hey Midnight, whatcha dooooin’?” Pastel Lollipop hopped into Midnight’s room, much to the unicorn’s displeasure. “The party isn’t over, silly! We still have to play pin the tail on the ponyyyy and then eat caaaaake and then open preseeeeents and then—”
“Sorry, Pastel, but I’m just kinda tired.” Midnight groaned. “I’ve already partied with you guys the entire afternoon; now that the sun’s set I just want to get some rest. You understand, right?”
Pastel shrugged. “Well, if you’re really that tired wired then I guess it’s okay. But it’s no fun to have a super awesome party without the guest of honor!”
“Look, I really appreciate the party, but I’m just not that type of pony.” Midnight sighed. “I’m the type of mare who likes quiet nights doing quiet things. Like reading! If you threw a reading party then I could probably get more into it.”
“A reading party?” Pastel tilted her head. “But all the books we have are icky boring ones about the Goddess and all that other edumacational stuff. There’s nothing fun about that!”
“I live for that ‘edumacational’ stuff, Pastel.” Midnight snapped. “So I guess I’m no fun either.”
Pastel frowned. “That’s not what I meant, Midnight! I—”
Midnight waved her hoof. “If you don’t mind, I kinda wanna get some rest right now…”
Pastel pouted. “Alrighty then, Midnight… but you promise to have fun with us again tomorrow, right? Right? We wanna play with you lots more!”
“Sure, sure.” Midnight said tiredly.
“Umm… okie dokie, then!” Pastel turned to leave the room. “Even if you’re being all grumpy wumpy right now, you’re still my friend, Midnight!”
“Wha—”
“Bye bye!!” Pastel dashed out before Midnight could get another word out.
What was with all these ponies and wanting to make friends with her? Surely they couldn’t be that friendly to strangers.
Midnight buried her head in her pillow. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to make new friends, it’s just that she didn’t know how to. She lived her entire life in the castle, surrounded by aloof guards and servants. The only real type of interaction she had was with Luna and Celestia, so it was somewhat natural for her to be such a shut-in.
The indigo unicorn sighed. They probably only wanted to be her friends because of her connection to the royal family. She couldn’t really see any other reason for them to want to get close to her. After all, Midnight wasn’t especially beautiful or talented. She was just a socially inept bookworm.
She closed her eyes and tried to drift off to sleep. It was difficult with the party still raging on underneath her--all those ponies she barely knew celebrating in her supposed honor. Midnight really didn't know how to process the day's events. A part of her wanted to get out of bed and follow up on Pastel's invitation, but the overwhelming majority told her to stay away. She felt that she couldn't be anything but awkward in these kinds of social situations, that anything she said would either be brushed off or made into the flank of somepony's joke. These ponies acted nicely towards her now, but sooner or later Midnight's awkwardness would turn that kindness into disdain. Midnight knew she was thinking the worst about the situation, that in reality, things aren't as bad as she was making them seem right now, but her rationality was being suffocated by her feelings of isolation.
With her mind twisting and turning and the party thumping down below, Midnight drifted into an uncomfortable sleep, not knowing what to expect in the days ahead. It would be nice to make some real friends, and maybe she would in time. But as of this night, as of this moment, she didn’t believe she’d be making any down here in Ponyville.