Love. It means so much to so many ponies, and is the very reason we are here today. Without it, we are lost in the unknown waiting to exist, but with it, we see its beauty and its beautiful effects on the world. It’s so easy to accept it, to embrace it, and to enjoy it. When we experience it ourselves, it is the very reason we persist through the obstacles of life and continue on. It is so easy to accept it ourselves, but almost ironically, it can be so hard to accept when love finds its way to others. Love will inevitably find its way to our foals and their foals, but why can’t I as a parent accept that? Why are we parents so concerned about it affecting our foals? Is it because we fear it’s not real, or concern that there is not enough to share between parents and loved ones? To be honest, I don’t know. All I am certain about is that my son will be loved, and despite the fact others will love him, no one can love him as much as I do, and I will be certain that my love for him will be felt forever.
Twilight concluded her nightly diary entry relieved that all her thoughts were finally out. Ever since her son had been born, she and Flash Sentry have always looked forward to him growing up. Twilight had thought a little harder about her son’s future than her husband did, but she accepted this as another motherly concern. No matter for her, he was still a foal and had not even started school yet. She had years before her son would grow up and she would enjoy it.
As she closed her diary, she caught up with her husband rocking the baby to sleep.
“Beautiful.” she said to him, “He is just plain beautiful.”
“I just got him to go to sleep.” Flash responded. “So what was the thought causing my other baby so much worry?”
Twilight responded with an exasperated smile and chuckle. “Just his future.”
“Well, hopefully we can just enjoy the now. Better put him down.”
Twilight and Flash were relieved that their son finally went to sleep and happier with the fact that they could join him. As they put their son to sleep, Twilight continued to be awestruck the fact that she created such a beautiful son. This never left her thoughts since she had him, but thinking about his future potential and how happy he would continue to make her brought another tear of joy to her eye.
“Have a wonderful night sleep,” Twilight whispered, “Midnight Aurora.”
Twilight was ecstatic to see how much her son had grown. The years that passed provided many proud moments to be celebrated. Even though she wouldn’t have another foal, she didn’t care. She loved her family and she was more than grateful for almost all she had.
Waking up early to take her son to school was one of the responsibilities she wished she didn’t have. Seeing her son rise to the top of his class was fulfilling, but she had developed a taste for waking up on her own time. She was just happy for the god that created caffeine.
Midnight came downstairs to get ready for the day and to thank the god of caffeine as well.
“Mom, thanks for all that you helped me with last night. I never realized how much we are alike.”
“Great minds think alike. Don’t tell your dad. It’ll make him jealous of us.”
“Our smarts can beat his smooth talking strategy any day.”
“This smooth talking strategy is the reason you were born.” Responded Flash out of the blue.
Twilight was a little embarrassed but that joke made her son laugh so she rubbed it off.
“Well, I guess with a good mind and great looks, I can go anywhere.”
“You are definitely your mother’s son.” Flash responded.
After the Midnight had finished his morning routine and got to school, he was ambivalent as usual. Cheerilee had announced the day before that another project was going to be assigned soon, and while he enjoyed testing his intellectual skill, this was going to be a group project. He had mixed feelings about working with partners who may or may not be responsible. However, any chance to challenge his mind was welcomed.
Cheerilee entered the room shortly thereafter and told the class of the project.
“You are almost ready to graduate and I for one am proud, but don’t get too excited, we still have half a year to get through. That being said, we still have time for another project.”
Almost all the class groaned when hearing this despite already knowing about it.
“Oh it’s not that bad. You just have to depict Ponyville in your own eyes. What does it mean to you and give a great and deep analysis of your view. I know it sounds hard but you can do this in any way you like. Not to mention you are working with a partner.”
When Cheerilee began assigning partners, Midnight just hoped he would be paired up with someone who may contribute something to this project. He was not willing to spend another late night finishing someone else’s work, but ultimately had high hopes and low expectations.
“Midnight, you will be paired with… Spirit Guide.”
Midnight was relieved that he was paired up with someone who was going to give effort. He didn’t know too much about her other than she was a decent student. He wasn’t the most social pony in the class so getting to know everypony well seemed like a waste of time. Spirit happened to be one of those not needing a second glance in his opinion.
“Hello Midnight. I guess we got paired up.”
Midnight responded gently, “I don’t know how this project is going to turn out, but I can do a lot of the writing if you want. I just want to finish this early and get a good grade.”
“Oh, well I have something you may enjoy.”
Midnight wasn’t expecting too much from her so he decided that writing his own thoughts down was a better idea than starting with nothing.
The couple of hours given to work began to seem grueling for the young ponies after a while. Even Midnight began to have writers block around the second hour.
“Ugh.”
‘What’s wrong?” Spirit answered.
What? Oh, I’m sorry. I was just writing some thoughts down for the project, but I’m stuck. Hey, do you think that Ponyville is more of a place to lose yourself or a place to find yourself?”
Spirit responded, “Well I’m not sure what that means but if you want you can see my drawing. Maybe it will give you inspiration.
“Sure. I need some inspiration.”
Spirit held up her sketch of Ponyville and was met with a response she was not expecting; Sheer amazement.
Midnight sat there speechless. The sketch spoke to him like nothing before. In that sketch, he saw Ponyville, but he also saw life. He saw a little bit of everypony in that sketch and how they impacted the town, the sense of community and comfort, all told in a story he never could have read. To him, this picture represented far beyond a thousand words.
Even though the sketch was worth more than a thousand words to Midnight, he could not find one to express his awe.
“I know it’s just a sketch, but I hope you find something.” Spirit said softly.
Midnight couldn’t even respond to that. He was entranced in the beauty of the drawing. Finally, he was able to respond.
“This. Is. Beyond. Amazing. I’m speechless.”
“I know. You haven’t spoken in like five minutes.”
Midnight chuckled at that but continued to stare in awe. He realized that Spirit deserved a warm thank you for her amazing work. He may not have known her well, but he wished he had gotten to know her earlier. He looked up to thank her but as he did, he saw that the beauty of the painting derived from a source greater than he had seen before. He was once again awestruck.
“I guess what they say is true. Beautiful art comes from the artists more beautiful than their creations.”
Spirit merely blushed and responded with a meek “Thanks.”
Midnight was mentally slapping himself for not noticing Spirit. He felt that he had robbed himself of getting to know this pony for too long and robbed himself of spending time with somepony he would fall in love with.
Midnight would have little time to speak with Spirit after falling for her as Cheerilee called for the class to continue learning other subjects. The next two hours would prove to be the one time Midnight would have wished to not be studying.
When Cheerilee finally dismissed the class Midnight was deep in his thoughts fantasizing about Spirit. Realizing that he now had an opportunity to really talk to her, he rushed outside to catch up with her and to his delight found her walking home.
“Wait up, Spirit Guide.”
“Oh,” Spirit responded shyly, “hello, Midnight.”
“Listen, I don’t recall if I told you but I really thought that your drawing spoke to me.”
“Yeah, you mentioned it. You also mentioned something about me being beautiful.” Spirit responded as she lightly blushed. “I’m kind of surprised you remember anything you said since you couldn’t speak straight earlier.”
“Right,” Midnight chuckled, “Well it’s not that I didn’t mean it. Your work is good.”
“And that I’m beautiful?”
Midnight took on the look of the shy child talking to his crush that screamed embarrassment.
Spirit responded with a giggle, “I’ll take that as a yes. That… really means a lot to me you know. I never get to express myself without somepony saying I’m too good or insulting me. I like what you said and it means even more coming from somepony as smart as you.”
Midnight finally felt the ecstasy of hearing how happy he made Spirit. After that, the next ten minutes of talking to her lasted seemingly forever, much to the enjoyment of Midnight.
“Well, we have more work to do on the project so I guess we’ll get to talk more”
“Sure thing. I have to hurry home but I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Spirit walked a few steps away but backtracked to face him. To the great surprise of Midnight she hugged him. The hug was so lovingly tight that Midnight showed the widest smile.
“It really was nice hearing it from you. Bye.”
The amount of happiness Midnight felt was like nothing he had ever felt before. The more he spoke to her the more he fell for her.
Midnight was always one to tell his mother anything. From birth he felt as close to her as she did to him and was always so grateful to have her in his life. Seeing other foals live without having their mother or even having a mother that was not as loving as her was only more reason for Midnight to treasure Twilight. The thought of telling her about Spirit Guide was more than exciting. Finding love is certainly what every mother wants to see. The chance to see their child fulfill their destiny and shine as the product of their parents is what life is all about after all Midnight thought.
Twilight had come home exhausted from the day as always, but the thought of spending time with her child was her true motivation to finish the meticulous day to day role as princess. What was even more important to her is that she could come home to a family where everypony understood the problems. Certainly some disagreement would be occasional but Twilight found this to be a sign that the ponies in her life were as intuitive and as independent as she was. This was a comfortable place to be.
As Midnight heard the door creek open he quickly flew to his mother’s arms. The expression on his face was of bliss and joy. The tone of his voice depicted the same.
“Hey Midnight. I guess somepony had a great day.”
“It was unexpected surprise but I think this was one of the most magical days of my life.”
“Oh.” Twilight said softly as she sat down. “Well what was so special about it?”
“Well, you know how you have always said not to judge a book by its cover?”
“Of course.”
“Well, I realized that choosing to not pay attention to others is the same thing. If I choose to not see the full possibilities in something or somepony, then I do the same as pre-judge them.”
“That’s a great observation, but what made you realize this?”
“We had the opportunity to work with our partners for a project and when I was assigned my partner I was reluctant about working with somepony I didn’t know but I realized that I was being ignorant when I saw who she really was.”
“She?”
“I don’t know what it’s like to be in love, but I think Spirit Guide is guiding me toward it.”
Though surprised and saddened by his words, Twilight continued to press for more questions.
“Well,” she asked nervously, “what’s so appealing about her. I mean is she smart, caring, or something else?”
“I think it’s her personality. That’s not to say she’s not beautiful. In fact… she may be the most beautiful filly in school but I think it’s just who she is. She’s an artist and she expresses herself in her work. She seems like such a free spirit who reveals her own beauty by depicting others as such.”
“Interesting. What else? You keep saying that she’s beautiful, but you haven’t described her yet.”
“Her coat is a deep violet, with a dual colored mane of cerulean and coral blue eyes of sea green and a cute beret as well. The way she always has her wings folded and her ears down show just how shy she can be, but her cutie mark say that she is a free spirit. It’s a golden eagle flying through the air leaving a trail of magic behind. Celestia knows she was born to steal my heart.”
Twilight stood worried as her son went on describing Spirit. She sensed a bit of rage, jealousy, and most of all concern for her son. She was afraid and confused as to why she felt this with the slightest notion that she had felt this before. But the more Midnight began to describe Spirit, the more these feelings consumed her.
She asked herself why her son would fall so hard for somepony he hardly knew. And why this filly made him forget of the one pony that would be there through all his life. The fear of having her role replaced in a matter of years ultimately scared Twilight.
“Mom? Mom?”
“What? Oh what was is Midnight?
“So I really do think she’s special. Do you think she’d be my very special somepony?
The words “very special somepony” were just another title Twilight did not want Midnight to give to Spirit, but she could not say anything that would break his son’s heart.
“Midnight,” she said softly as she pulled him closer, “no pony in all of Equestria could meet you and not want to be.”
“Oh, I’m glad you think that. I can’t wait to see her tomorrow. Maybe I’ll introduce you to her.”
“Oh… yes. That would be grand.” Twilight responded almost sarcastically.
Flash arrived home about an hour after the conversation. Tired from a long day, he was eager to sit down with his family, but as he went to put away his uniform, he noticed Twilight in her office. Rather than her usual reading, she was pacing about the room in a mad manner and holding up an old letter in front of her.
“Good evening sweetie,” he began, “what in all of Equestria is causing you so much worry?”
Twilight looked up at her husband and gave him a confused look.
“Something happened.”
Flash responded with an unsure “What?”
“It’s something I feared for quite a while.”
“Twily, what is it?”
“It’s about Midnight.”
“Oh, dear Celestia!” Flash exclaimed becoming increasingly worried. “Where in Equestria is he?”
“He’s not here. He’s doing something I never wanted him to do: start growing up.”
Flash stood there extremely relieved. “Don’t scare me like that. We don’t need two ponies in this family losing their mind. So why do you say he’s growing up anyway?”
“First of all I’m not losing my mind.”
Flash’s only response was a suppressed chuckle.
“Second,” Twilight responded annoyed, “he is growing up. I have been thinking about it since the day he was born, but I never realized how confusing it is until today.”
“Twilight, I love you, but you have got to start making some decent sense. How is he growing up?”
“I think he’s fallen for a filly. He just told me this afternoon that he noticed one of his class mates and fell head over hooves for her.”
“Midnight’s got a crush? Wow, my boy is growing up fast. I hope he’s got an eye on the best looking one.”
Twilight could do nothing but glare at him.
“Twily, we both knew that one day he would have his first crush. We even talked about it. You said ‘that’s a cute scenario.’”
“That’s not what I really meant. Here are my thoughts.”
Twilight passes Flash the diary entry she wrote years ago about love.
“I worried about the day Midnight would find his love for the longest time,” Twilight explained, “but I didn’t realize that it would be so confusing in reality. I don’t want him to be with her.”
Flash responded, “I don’t believe it’s just that. I’ve known you to care for your loved ones as if the world depended on it. You see your friends and family as a part of yourself that you never want to die. And with that, you see our son as the beautiful baby he was born as.”
“Your right I suppose, but I don’t see what the problem is. What is the problem of treating him like my only son?”
“You treat him as your baby boy. What you wrote in that diary shows that you concern for his future, but the future is starting to arrive.”
Twilight looked up at him. She gave him a glare that indicated she was not ready to accept time.
“I get that he’s supposed to grow up, but the point is that he’s growing apart. How can I be the same mother I’ve been if he finds somepony else. If he isn’t here then he’ll go out with other fillies and we won’t even get to see him grow up. It’s not new to me. This is exactly what I went through with my brother when he joined the guards and began to spend his spare time with Cadence instead of his family. I’ve already had to deal with drifting apart from my brother, but I don’t want that to happen again with my son. I’ve never loved another pony more than I love him.”
“I really do think that you’re making too much out of this.”
“What?”
“Not to be offensive, but you’re too worked up. It’s his first crush after all. You and me both have felt that euphoric high when we find our first crush and admittedly it’s even a little cute, but you really don’t jump the gun on this one.”
“I really wish I could believe you. I even was hoping for that, but it just feels different. I saw the look on his face and the tone in his voice. There was just so much passion and love in that moment. I haven’t seen that since the first time I met you.”
“Wow that deep in love.”
Twilight gave him yet another disapproving glare.
“Okay Twily, I guess that’s a fair argument. But I really don’t want you to worry. Even if this filly is our future daughter-in-law and the mother of our grandkids, we don’t know her. We can find out more about her later. Besides, we’re still here to guide him. We don’t have to let go yet.”
“I suppose not.”
“Don’t be afraid. If your parents were like you, you never would have married me and we wouldn’t have a son to love. But by that logic we do have to question and startle the both of them a lot.”
Twilight began to giggle. Flash was being the support she needed. She always relied on logic and reason to get her through these types of situations, but a loving husband’s support doesn’t hurt.
“I guess you are right.” Twilight kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”
“Don’t worry Twily. At least you don’t ACT old yet.”
Twilight playfully hit his shoulder and laughed. “I’m going to have to warn this Spirit Guide about how much RUDENESS he gets from his dad.”
“I’ll warn her about how much sarcasm he gets from his mom.”
Twilight tried to suppress her emotions for the rest of the evening, but was mostly unsuccessful. Her son’s wellbeing was her only concern throughout the evening and night. Finally, she could not wait patiently anymore.
“Midnight?” Twilight said as she entered his room. “How’s your project coming along?”
“Very well. Spirit gave me so much to go on, it’s inspirational. My goodness she’s inspiring.”
“I’m glad to hear that. You know, I didn’t expect you to come home to day acting so much in love.”
“You know, to be honest I couldn’t see this coming either. I was just minding my own business and there she was. I felt so joyful. It was like I was complete, or like I found a part of myself.”
“Powerful words you say. But you only met her a few hours ago, how were you able to feel that connection so quickly?”
“I’ve been wondering the same thing for the past couple of hours myself, and I can’t put my hoof on it. I think it’s just natural. Maybe it’s like when parents find each other.”
“So you’re thinking it’s comparable to the time I met your dad?”
“Perhaps it is. I don’t know how it happened, but I know that when you did find each other it was meant to be. You always said that you and dad just knew you wanted to be together. That’s how I think I feel. What about you?”
“How did I feel when I met your father? I guess you can say I felt kind of the same way. When I bumped into him, I was a little nervous and acted a little dorky, but for me, I felt happy and calm, like I could feel a new sensation coming on. I later concluded that it was just the idea that somepony loved me and wanted to be with me. It was my natural indication that I was loved.”
“That’s exactly how I felt, except I acted more awestruck than dorky.”
“Sounds to me you looked dorky.” Twilight paused trying to get back on track. “What I wanted to see I if you just had a crush or if you think she’s something special.”
“She’s the most special filly in the world to me.”
“Yeah, you told me. Well, I’d really like to see how special she is. Why don’t you walk to school with her tomorrow and I can meet her. I want to see who’s got MY special little pony head over hooves.”
“I can’t wait.”
Twilight left the room. “I almost wish you could.”
Twilight woke up early as usual to fix a great breakfast for her family. As Midnight came down he came down with a letter he had written.”
“Mom, can you send Spirit this letter with your magic? I’m inviting Spirit to come and walk with me.”
Though Twilight could have easily destroyed the letter, she felt that out of fairness, meeting the filly was the fairest thing she could do.
“Alright, I’ll send it.”
“Thanks. I would’ve asked Spike but he’s still out on vacation.”
“That’s perfectly fine. I’ll do anything for you. I hope you know that.”
“Of course I do mom.” Midnight hugged her tightly to say thanks.
Twilight and Midnight left the house about a quarter past seven just in time to see Spirit Guide walking towards them. When he saw her, Midnight flew towards her at a speed that would impress even the fastest pegasi.
“Hey Spirit! Long time no see.”
“I just saw you yesterday. That wasn’t that long.”
“It felt very long without you.”
“Aaaawwwwwwwwwwww.”
Apparently he tells worse pick-up lines than his dad Twilight thought.
Midnight feeling the same joy as yesterday responded, “We better get to school soon. Oh, and did I tell you that my mom wanted to see you too?”
“No you didn’t. Hi Princess Twilight. It’s a great honor to meet you. I’ve never met anypony who’s a princess.
“Nice to meet you too Spirit Guide.”
Twilight tried to keep an open mind. Try to be fair. She’s just a filly and she’s nice. She act’s a little like me when I was that young. Well, if she’s like me then I can live with that. I know that girls like me would be good friends for Midnight.
The group continued to walk toward school with Midnight and Spirit talking about each other. Twilight began to observe Spirit to see what she was like. The more she talked the more Twilight noticed how different Spirit was. During the walk Spirit began to talk of things beyond the world like the stars and the spirits surrounding the real world. As she walked, she would constantly spin and lean on Midnight.
It’s as if she doesn’t know where she is. She’s twirling and spinning like she’s flying in space or something. Is she dumb? No, she can carry a conversation. There’s something off about her that I just can’t place. I don’t understand. Her conversations are intelligent but she goes off into another… reality. Maybe that’s it. She is really weird. She’s almost out of reality and talks about everything that’s beyond the world. Oh, why would Midnight go out with somepony so out of touch? I get that she is smart, but can’t keep it together. I don’t want him to be like that. I like the way he thinks now.
The three ponies finally made it to the schoolhouse with time to spare.
“Midnight go ahead in. I’m just going to introduce myself to your friend.”
“O.K mom, but hurry. Bye.”
Spirit looked at Twilight with awe. She had never gotten a chance to meet a Princess before and was anticipating really getting to know her.
“Princess, I’m so glad to meet you. I’m also glad that I got to become friends with Midnight. He’s so great.”
“Yeah, but don’t get too carried away.”
“Why not? I really like him.”
“Because I know how girls can be. You can be manipulative, cunning, and willing to change boys you like. I love Midnight more than anypony and I don’t want to see him hurt in any way.”
“But I won’t hurt him.” Spirit responded losing her happy attitude.
“No pony wants to hurt another, but it still happens. All I’ll say is that you better treat him great. I’ll do anything for him, and you should know that.”
Spirit had lost her sense of excitement for meeting the princess. As fear began to take the place of the happiness, she started to back away.
“Yes… your highness.”
“I’m glad we could come to an understanding. But I’m still watching you.”
Twilight took off before anypony else could see her. Spirit remained frightened as she walked towards the school. The fear that had taken over caused her to think.
I can’t do anything to hurt Midnight. If I do, I’ll face the wrath of the princess. I wouldn’t do anything to hurt him anyway. I like him too much to do that. Actually, I don’t have a reason to hurt him. We’re kindred spirits. I know that we’ll be great. Princess Twilight is just wrong. I like him too much.
“Spirit, is everything okay?” Midnight said as he noticed her face.
“Yes Midnight. Everything is fine.”
Spirit came up to his face slowly. Midnight gave the expression of confusion. She leaned in slowly, closed her eyes, and kisses him softly and sweetly.
“I really like you Midnight.”
“You have no idea how lovely you just looked.”
“Say more things like that and I may just have to kiss you again.”