//------------------------------// // 140. Magical Mystery Cure - Part 5 // Story: Blaze the Pony Tale // by Wolven5 //------------------------------// “YOU DIED?!?!” “Shhh!!” Midnight sharply shushed as he felt Twinken stir in his lap, everypony present except Celestia, Fluttershy, and Big Macintosh covering their mouths. “What is it…?” Twinken moaned as he stirred from the sleep he fell into quite a bit ago. “Nothing, little brother, let’s put you to bed,” the blue alicorn stood up and carried his little brother in his arm and wing. “Twilight? Do you mind if Twinken uses the guestroom?” “N-not at all, but-” Twilight was interrupted by Pinkie suddenly shuddering in a rather familiar way. “Pinkie! Was that…?!” “Yupper-doodles, Twi!” Pinkie replied before it happened again, “I-t-‘-s a d-o-o-z-y! S-o-m-e-t-h-i-n-g-‘-s a-b-out to happen that none of u-s w-o-u-l-d e-x-p-e-c-t t-o h-a-ppen!” “I’m putting my brother to bed,” Midnight stated in a tone inarguable, “But if you want to hear the rest of the story…” He threw an oddly cold look towards Celestia, “Ask her…” The look was so cold everypony shivered a moment as they watched Midnight take the sleepy Twinken upstairs. When they heard the door close, all eyes turned to Celestia who looked ashamed. “Princess…?” Twilight looked astonished, “What did he mean? I mean... how could what he said possibly be true?!” “Yeah, if Midnight died, how’s he upstairs taking care of Twinken?” Rainbow Dash added. “Did he really die?” Spike asked, his brow raised skeptically while his hands were on his hips, “Because if he didn’t it’d be a pretty rotten trick for him to say he did.” Celestia gazed upon each and every one of them before sighing, “I always dreaded when this day would come…” All eyes widened and ears focused towards the princess, “It is true, everypony. Midnight really did die that day. Now, before any of you start rattling off your questions, allow me to explain… “After that day, when both my friend and my apprentice were lost to me, I hoped with all my heart and soul Midnight would be alright, that I would see him again in his own time, finally reunited with all of you. That hope came true, just… not in the way I’d envisioned.” “Princess Celestia…!” Twilight was shocked, “You didn’t… bring him back to life, did you?” Celestia gave Twilight a hard look, “There is no magic in this world that can resurrect the dead, Twilight Sparkle, I trust you know that.” “But if Midnight died and he wasn’t resurrected,” Blueblood pressed, “then how is he here alive and well?” “Because, dear nephew,” Celestia lowered her eyes in shame, “as he was fading away before me, as I sat there, helpless, unable to undo what had been done, after his long journey, after everything he’d done, all that he’d suffered, that he’d accomplished, it was all just so he could die at the hooves of an unstable teenage filly? I couldn’t accept that, especially when he said those words to me, how they wrenched my heart… “I could not save his life… so I gave him a new one.” “A new one?” Applejack echoed, everypony’s looks as confused as hers. “Yes, a new life,” Celestia nodded in a low and even tone. “Just before that last ember of his life snuffed out, I cast a spell I learned long ago, a spell I never thought I would use. The Spell of Reincarnation!” “Reincarnation?!” Twilight marveled at the idea while some of the others didn’t quite understand. “The power to save somepony from the unknown of death by allowing them to be reborn into an entirely new life,” Celestia explained. “With the spell, I insured Midnight’s soul would find refuge in a worthy couple, and almost a year later, there he was, in his new mother’s arms! A tiny little colt, as handsome and as pure as the day I met him when I was but a little filly…” “He was reborn…?!” Twilight had trouble wrapping her head around it as Celestia went on. “Now, before any of you ask,” Celestia said, “no. Midnight did not remember who he was in his past life. Reincarnation means to be born into a new life, a clean slate, like starting over. He was a bright and kind little colt, and I kept a close watch on him as he was growing up. He showed no memory of his past life but I quickly saw the things about him that had made him special, his kind heart, his strong faith, and his unique humor. “It wasn’t the same, but just knowing he was alive and happy was enough. Then, disaster almost fell. When Midnight was ten years old, the day before the Summer Sun Celebration of that year, I fell surprisingly ill. Mind you, it is not often I find myself under the weather from illness but the timing was inconvenient, to say the least. I was so weak I just didn’t have the strength to lower the moon to make way for the dawn for the Summer Sun Celebration, I certainly wouldn’t have had the strength to raise the sun!” “I’m sensing a ‘but’ coming up,” Soarin cracked but nopony laughed as Celestia continued. “It would’ve been disastrous. Unknown to the masses, it had always been critical I maintained the steady cycle of day and night, as the magic I’d used to imprison my sister after she became Nightmare Moon was delicate. For the cycle to have been broken there would have been a chance that Nightmare Moon might have returned sooner than it had been prophesied.” “Well, obviously that wasn’t the case,” Twilight urged. “No, because as my advisers worried over me, one young colt took the initiative,” Celestia nodded as everypony’s eyes widened in realization. “To this day, I don’t know how he did it, but Midnight managed to get inside the castle and make his way to the tallest tower. From there, somehow… he singled-handedly lowered the moon!” “No way…!” Thunderlane whispered. “Yes way,” Celestia couldn’t help but smile a little at the incredulous looks on their faces. “A single unicorn colt, barely a decade old, did what no single unicorn had done in centuries, not since Star Swirl the Bearded.” “What happened next?” Pinkie pressed, “What happened next?!” “Pinkie, manners!” Rarity scolded. “What happened next was a miracle,” Celestia replied. “While the feat was indeed remarkable, I still think it alone was not enough for what transpired. I believe that all of Midnight’s accomplishments and good deeds from his past life carried on over to his next, and his lowering the moon was the icing on the proverbial cake. That night a new alicorn was born!” Everypony gasped as Spike exclaimed, “So that’s how Midnight’s an alicorn!” “Yes, Spike, and Midnight’s ascension created a pulse of power that spread perhaps throughout all of Equestria!” Celestia went on in reverence. “The coming of a new alicorn somehow affected me and cured me of my illness. I knew in that moment what had occurred but I had to see to the sun, and so the Summer Sun Celebration went on with none of the masses any the wiser to the near-miss. “I quickly found Midnight passed out and took him home to his parents, explaining to them what had transpired. We waited for Midnight to awaken before even thinking of announcing a new alicorn had been born. But…” Celestia stopped, looking hesitant, much to everypony’s chagrin. “But…?” Soarin pressed. “But I didn’t just get my wings that day.” All eyes turned to the staircase and they saw Midnight descend them and return to his cushion seat, looking solemn. “I regained my memories, my memories of my past life. After I passed out, I was unconscious for a day and a night, all the while my memories came back to me, of everything I’d experienced since that very first day when I met Big Macintosh outside Ponyville.” “But how?” Twilight asked, deeply intrigued. “I thought that since you were reincarnated you wouldn’t remember your past life!” “Because of this,” Midnight pointed out his cutie-mark. “I didn’t just get my wings as an alicorn, I also earned my cutie-mark. This symbol upon my flank represents who I am, my special talent, and how my powers are augmented by the moon itself, all of it tying to my original identity, and because I had in fact been affected by Star Swirl’s incomplete spell.” That one made Twilight’s eyes widen in shock. “When you cast Star Swirl’s incomplete spell, Twilight, I was in fact affected by it, not only because it affected the Time Stone I created but also because my lack of a cutie-mark made the spell… dormant, I guess you could say. I can’t really be sure, time and space can be so… illogical. But somehow, when I earned my cutie-mark the spell, still with me even in my new life, activated in response to my receiving my cutie-mark and helped me remember my identity, my past identity. “When I awoke, I recognized Celestia, not as the princess I’d marveled at while growing up, but as the friend I’d known over the centuries throughout my time-traveling journey. I didn’t let my parents know and asked to talk to Celestia alone. I told her I remembered so much, it hurt my head as the old memories had to adjust with the new memories. We talked for a long time and I… blurted out a few things that had not yet… happened, at the time.” “Like…?” Twilight’s brow rose. “He told me how my sister would be saved by his friends and the Elements of Harmony,” Celestia spoke up. “He mentioned you by name, even though you were still just a filly, how you were the key to everything.” “But… if you remembered everything…” Twilight addressed Midnight, as she tried to put the pieces together, “did you remember me? All of us?” “Not all at once,” Midnight explained gently, “Remember, this was several years’ worth of memories, I didn’t remember it all in the blink of an eye! However, after our talk, Celestia made a decision…” “What decision?” Spike asked. “Midnight told me in his memories he had none of himself being an alicorn, or knowing of any alicorns but me, my sister, Cadance, and he alluded to others, which I eventually learned were Shining Armor and Sombra. Because of his future knowledge and how he, being an alicorn, was not known during the time… I hid Midnight away.” “What?!” Everypony exclaimed. “What the hay do you mean, you hid him away?!” demanded Rainbow Dash. “She arranged for me and my family to live on a private estate in the countryside,” Midnight said in a tone laced with contempt. “Hid my existence from the world and made everypony who knew me back in Canterlot forget me.” Everypony but Midnight looked in shock at Celestia, who made no attempts to deny Midnight’s words, her face filled with shame as Midnight went on. “Well… almost everypony who knew me. I begged Celestia not to make him forget me, he was my best friend growing up, and still is.” “Who?” Thunderlane asked. Midnight looked hesitantly at Twilight and her eyes widened as he said, “Shining Armor.” “Shining Armor?!” Twilight echoed, “He knew?!” “He knew,” Midnight nodded sadly. “He was the only one Celestia allowed to remember me, besides my parents. Nopony I knew growing up in Canterlot remembered me after Celestia cast a fog of forgetting throughout the city. Not even you, Twilight.” Twilight was shocked, unable to believe what she’d just heard. She looked to Celestia, who sadly admitted, “It is true, Twilight… You and Midnight knew each other when you were both young. Shining Armor and Princess Cadance aside, he was your closest friend.” “…Why?” Twilight’s voice wavered as she gaped at Celestia, “How could you do this?!” “Twilight, please understand,” Celestia’s face was marred with shame and fear, “I made this decision with great trepidation and every day since it hovered over my head, weighed down my shoulders, and though I knew this day would come I both feared and longed for the truth to be made known! Midnight, when he first originally came to Equestria, he met you for the first time the day before the Thousandth Summer Sun Celebration and after he regained his memories of his past self he remembered that meeting and how it indicated many things, that you and he met when you had both grown up as opposed to the two of you knowing each other as foals! The only logical explanation I could conclude was that you forgot who he was to such a degree it was the same thing as meeting each other for the first time! Had I not acted, it would most likely have damaged the course of time! Midnight is nothing short of a miracle in so many ways, his current self existed in Equestria even before he originally came here! His journey through time and his rebirth helped to cement history, with the few cracks being those who knew him yet the history now holds no record of him as an alicorn colt!” “Is anypony following this?” Soarin interrupted. “My brain hurts!” whined Pinkie. “Hush!” Rarity and Applejack both snapped. Twilight looked away from her teacher, her mind trying to process the logic behind this tangled web of lies, deceit, and madness. She could just barely make a basic outline in her mind but said nothing. “I… I need to be alone.” “We understand,” Celestia said apologetically as Twilight went upstairs to her room. Everypony didn’t know what to do as they shared looks troubled and confused when Celestia said, “Everypony, I suggest we all go home and sleep on everything that has transpired here tonight.” Nopony argued but as they filed out Celestia noticed Midnight and Spike remained. She understood why Spike stayed but as she looked at Midnight curiously, the look he gave her was adamant. She sighed in understanding and gently closed the library door behind her while Spike looked up at Midnight, “Are you still the Midnight we know?” “That’s a difficult question, Spike,” Midnight shrugged indifferently. “I remember everything I’ve experienced here in Equestria since that day I first woke up in that field outside Ponyville and met Big Mac. I’ve had years since my former life’s memories returned to me to go explore them all and remember so much…” He then gave Spike a sneaky look, “Like the time you tried to frame Owlowiscious with a fake mouse and ketchup!” Spike gulped at that memory and Midnight added, “Or the time you tried to pet-sit for everypony and chased Angel all the way to the Crystal Empire?” Spike twisted his tail in embarrassment but Midnight wasn’t done yet! “Or that time when you wore that t-shirt with a heart and Rarity-” “OK, I get it! You’re Midnight, sheesh!” Spike huffed, Midnight chuckling, and at that moment Spike realized! “You really are Midnight…! “You ever hear the phrase ‘the more things change, the more they stay the same’?” Midnight held out an inviting arm and Spike shrugged as he accepted a hug. When they let go, Spike asked, “So… ya gonna spend the night? You did put Twinken to bed in our guestroom.” “I’ll crash on the couch,” Midnight nodded as he went towards the stairs, “But first, I have something for Twilight, something I’ve been wanting to give her for a long time.” “Over a thousand years-long, to be exact,” Spike cracked and the both of them shared a good laugh before Midnight went upstairs.