Dawn of Midnight

by TheApostate

One Good Night

‘Cold baths are best during winter!’

-Some odd, sober bloke from northern Equestria.

[Couple of weeks later;]

The repeating whine of a pleasant melody hummed inside one of the bathrooms of Luna’s castle, one usually reserved for the few permanent servants she kept around. True to their vows, they kept the castle and all the publicly known rooms clean. It was the paramount order of their mistress. She might not dwell long within the castle’s wall, but she was nonetheless stringent about its cleanliness.

While the melody had begun unimpeded, a cry would overshadow it nearly completely.

‘Here! The water’s better now?’

‘No, it is still too cold!’ vigorously replied Eufrimia.

‘Just dip one hoof in it, damn it!’

Luna forced Eufrimia to do so, shutting her instantly as she let her battle in the hot water.

‘So?’ asked Luna.

‘Better,’ she grudgingly agreed. ‘It is… acceptable.’

‘Your behavior was unacceptable, however.’

‘Shut up,’ she grumbled. ‘It is your fault it is too cold outside.’

‘It is my house, Eufi.’

‘I don’t care. I don’t like you.’

‘Likewise. Now, take that bath!’

‘But can you stop the music first? It’s too loud and it’s bothering me.’

Loud? Yeah, perhaps. But for Luna, it wasn’t too horrendous, though she sometimes forgot how loud sounds can be to Eufrimia’s ears. At least, she did not complain about the music itself. It was something she had kept from early years – though, she had to admit, wasn’t sure where her additions and the original ending were. For some reason, it did not bother her as it would have for other things.

‘It is never hot enough.’

‘It is bloody boiling! I can barely see from the mist.’

‘You can leave me to bath on my own, you know?’

‘I can, myes, but I have nothing particularly important to do today, so…’

‘Hm…’ For no reason she slapped the water and then in a quick flash of movement, Eufrimia threw some at Luna. ‘Revenge,’ she hissed.

Opening her eyes, Luna saw Eufrimia gathering the falling fur into a ball. She took it from her and threw the heap into a bag.

She forcibly grabbed Eufrimia by the head and forced the foal to clean the empty patches that had formed.

‘Your fur is receding on a faster pass – it is good. But you need to keep yourself clean regardless.’

‘I hope it won’t,’ she snatched her head out, ‘be colder after I lose it all.’

‘It will regrow. It already has in some places – I will show you them when we finish.’ Euftrimia took a small bucket, filled it with water, and dropped it on herself. Between all of this, Luna thought she had heard her agreeing.

The girl wanted to say something, but a small amount of water filled her nostrils, making her cough. Luna had told her the sensation of a burn was normal; she could not help to worry it was actually the case.

‘If you are still cold, I will get you warmer clothes. Or you can just huddle next to me as usual.’

The foal coughed out the last bit of lingering water. ‘Sometimes you are not here. Under your wings is very warm. Can I come with you?’

‘You will have to ask your father when he comes here. I will not provide an immediate answer. In the meanwhile, Eufi, you will stay in your room with the toys I bought you. Or, alternatively, you can practice reading and writing while I’m gone. Angle Right will be there too, lest you forget about her.’ In all honesty, Luna had almost forgotten about her. The mare was trusted to keep the secret of Eufrimia but had a personality that made her utterly forgettable. She was married to one of the captains of her Thestral guards and she liked… drinking water. Luna did not know, but she knew Right Angle and the captain were very close to each other and she was the first one that had volunteered to be a teacher for the young Eufrimia.

‘Yeah… I prefer when you are here.’ She cleaned her eyes by throwing water on her face, making sure to only speak when the water dripped down completely. ‘But you would agree for me to come, no?’

‘I don’t care.’

‘Will I see your sister one day?’ asked Eufrimia, letting Luna drying her up. She could do it on her own and made a show of her abilities to do so, but Luna was nothing but insistent on her decision.

‘What is her name?’

Eufrimia grunted, amusing Luna. ‘Celestia – happy?’

‘Good. At any rate, if you want to, I will let you meet her. But she is always tired or tied to something at day’s end. Not to mention that she is far from here and teleporting…’

‘But you are strong! You raise the Moon!’

‘You can say that,’ she mused. ‘But I am not immune to exertion. It will be difficult. In time though…’

Another set of words she did not understand. ‘What?’

‘What, what?’

‘What “immoone to exertion” mean?’

‘It means that I, too, can get tired. Teleportation is a fi- Uhh… difficult thing. Few master it to use it as easily as we do, but it is a deceptively simple spell to learn. It will burn out the user almost instantly of all magical essence. Yet for some reason, they still try to learn it knowing the risk it entails.’

‘Teleporting soun…uhh… sounds fun, though.’

Luna started to clean Eufrimia’s ears, knowing it would make her listen. ‘It is, yes. But it is not envied on my part. Trust me, it is really not worth it most of the time.’

‘I trust you-’ Luna pressed harder inside Eufrimia’s left ear – the one that typically hurt her the most but also the one that tends to get the dirtiest. ‘Stop it!’ She turned and snatched the towel out of Luna’s grip. ‘I will do it myself. You always hurt me here!’

Luna laughed. ‘Sorry, not sorry.’ She got up. ‘I will leave you to dry and wear your clothes. Don’t expect me to help you this time around, okay?’

‘’Kay,’ she mumbled.

‘I will be next to the fireplace, waiting for you. Hm?’

‘Yes… Uhh… Luna? Why don’t you stay with Celestia during the winter?’

Her expression curled into something approximating anger. ‘It is better this way.’ She turned back toward the door. ‘Finish your errands.’

It was almost noon – at least, Eufrimia thought it to be so. It was hard to tell during winter. It was snowing outside, but Luna had forbidden her from going out to observe the snow fall on her own.

When Luna would be deep asleep and the temperature high enough, Eufrimia would venture toward the high-up window to watch the cascading white powder. She was short but tall enough for a head to peer out from the window. She would get a cramp after a while, earn sore hooves, and light sunburns she managed to hide with her fur and the light of dancing flames. But all things considered, the experience was worth it. Besides, when it would eventually calm down, Luna had promised to play with her outside.

That day, she had elected exactly that. Luna was sleeping like a rock and the snow had ceased its never-ending descent. The Sun was hidden behind thick clouds and the room temperature seemed just about right for her to make that escape without Luna noticing.

Getting up from under Luna’s wing, gently resting it to not provoke her, and leaving the warmth of the blanket, Eufrimia began to make her way to the window.

Eufrimia slid down the bed, dropping on the carpeted floor with a resonating boom. Wary she had awakened Luna, the foal kept staring her until she had deemed it safe to continue.

The silence following the storm was almost deafening. After hours of never-ending strong winds, it was weird to finally return to the prior silence. Decorations had been thrown by the wind, trees were wrenched with tremendous force, and the sound of random doors slamming in the distance had prevented Eufrimia from founding quick sleep. Luna had seemed unfazed by the terrible cacophony around them. When Eufrimia thought the entire construction might fall down upon them, nestling closer to Luna, she had told the girl a story of an ugly little fish that quested to find beauty. Of course the fish did complete his quest, but Luna had lured her into the false impression of an end where it had all being futile. Eufrimia did not like it and had made her know. In return, it earned the foal some harsh words.

Yet, she could still hear the small hiss of the wind whistling from whatever imperfections in the castle’s frame. She was sure the guards had heard her getting up from bed, but Hekatomb promised to let her do her escapades. Each steps sounded louder and more profound, no matter how much she waltzed, a smothered echo was still distastefully resonating in the frankly too immense room – or she was simply too short for it. Eufrimia always thought this castle was too big for what it was used for. She like the decorations, but for almost none activity within, it was empty. Though other rooms were more spacious, the need to make this particular one that big did not register into the foal’s mind. To hold court? With the cold outside? Those Equestrians must be stupid, or Luna more so for guiding them here when they demand so. The latter seemed less plausible. Angle Right once told her that Luna – or “Princess Luna” – rarely, if ever, had held court or summoned of her own accord any Pony with power. In fact, since Angle Right had been married, only once had it been done. Maybe even on accident after a dispute had erupted between the Sisters over some problem Angle could not recall the details of.

Eufrimia wasn’t sure what holding court actually entails, but it sounded important. As all words Luna would say.

Audiences occurred sparingly when she permitted the scant notables to enter her presence. From what Eufrimia noticed from the heavy curtains she hid in, few emerged out from their meeting with satisfactory results. Luna was almost forcing them out, she felt.

A scurry of multiple elements came down crashing all their fury upon the castle. Yet, Luna did not wake up to what was befalling them. The shelves of some old library was close to them, its books able of entertaining them for the whole season. To make Luna proud of her, Eufrimia had taken to read even more. She had improved considerably, and she came to understand that her silent approval coupled with a nod of her head, was enough to express appraisal.

Reaching the window, she could only stare at the frost that had gathered on its edges. She wanted to curse it with all the words Angle Right had unintentionally taught her; it was then that she recalled having wings. At least, the remnants of ones. But above anything else, she wanted to see the garden and rampart covered in snow.

‘It is my dream, after all,’ she whispered to herself, only turning to make sure if Luna had woken up. Except for the more present sound of burning wood, nothing else seemed to have changed.

She tried to fly once. Then a second a time. Then a third. A fourth and fifth time. Nothing that took her higher than a simple jump.

Then she heard the door open. Not thinking twice, she rushed back to Luna’s side. At her speed, she twisted on the thick carpet’s edge. Hekatomb dropped his load of wood and ran to help the foal.

‘Are you alright?’ he asked in his typical low voice.

Eufrimia nodded in a curse, scared of Luna’s reaction.

‘You can leave the logs here, Hekatomb. I will take care of those,’ whispered Luna, barely startled by the noise.

He nodded, replying his acceptance with a somewhat trembling voice. He left immediately, his head bowed, unable to stare at Luna directly but he had enough will to reassure the young Thestral.

Luna raised her head and yawned profoundly, then turned toward Eufrimia. She had approached but kept a distance from her.

Not feeling the need to use her strength to keep her head up, Luna rested it on her cushion and drew the blanket closer.

‘I used to force my sister to stay next to the fire, the same I do with you. I don’t want you to get sick, that is all. You are still a child… I don’t want to explain your ordeal to your father.’

She wasn’t sure what she meant by that last part – no matter to her. ‘You can get sick?’

‘Yes, of course. We are still…’ She hesitated. ‘… like you.’

‘I’m sorry, mom.’

‘Excuse me?’

She stayed quiet for a second, trying to put together what she just had said. ‘I’m sorry, Luna.’

‘Come here.’ She offered Eufrimia her side. ‘Don’t stay out in the cold.’

Eufrimia sat next to Luna, under her wing. Luna then draped them with a thick blanket.

Luna closed her eyes once more and whispered to, for her liking, a too quiet Eufrimia. ‘I know I’ve promised. Later, later. Just don’t underestimate the cold. If you get sick, you won’t be able to play later. Understand?’

‘What if it snows again?’

‘It will not. Trust me. And even it does, I will make sure it doesn’t.’

She turned to face her and kissed Luna. ‘Sorry for waking you up.’

Luna’s lips twitched. ‘Don’t think I am displeased. My night was not pleasant.’

‘Again?’

Luna nodded; she did not want to expand more on the subject.

The foal smuggled closer to Luna. ‘You have another story?’

‘I have a lot of stories,’ she smiled. ‘A whole lot…’

****

Luna would make do with her promise at nightfall.

Shielding them from the scorching cold with magic, Luna taught the foal how to build the sturdiest of snow castles. Then, getting bored, Eufrimia threw a snowball at Luna. She reiterated. The foal threw another one. The skirmish quickly morphed into a tense battle that lasted for one whole hour of constant back and for. Luna used her wings for maximum efficiency, running between quickly built fortifications that shielded her little from Eufrimia’s more than accurate throws.

Knowing she might lose, Eufrimia gradually constructed a circular fort between lulls. Luna played with her scheme and made to weaken the structure with precise hits on points that would not harm the girl.

After a few minutes, Eufrimia began to lack ammunition. Digging deeper in the snow, the foal formed her ultimate weapon and hurled her final snowball with ultimate precision.

It hit Luna on the head mid-run, throwing her out of balance in a loud grunt, and knocking her head first into the snow.

A small rock had hit Luna on the head, bruising her a little. It was nothing, but the foal knew it not. Fearing of having injured her, Eufrimia abandoned her fort and ran to Luna’s side.

She did not bow and beg for forgiveness, as Luna had expected. Instead, Eufrimia leaned on her and franticly searched for the bruise. Not finding a thing, the girl lowered her head to Luna’s level; then in a low, shy voice, she asked if Luna could forgive her.

Luna’s expression beamed. Her smile widened. Then she started laughing a loud, genuine laugh.

Eufrimia’s worry dissipated, only to be brought back when distant howls were heard, an instinctive reaction she could not control.

Putting a hoof behind Eufrimia’s neck and guiding her head in front of her, Luna attempted to reassure her. ‘Wolves – those are wolves, Eufi.’

She pressed herself closer for an embrace that readily came. ‘Th-… that is their sound?’

Luna nodded. ‘They are mighty creatures. In winter, there must be some trespassers of some rival pack. Or they are hunting for sus- food.’

‘They are not coming here? Right?’

She snorted. ‘No. We are next to a big forest; that is why it is so audible. Usually, however, they don’t venture close to population centers.’ Her tone turned dour. Eufrimia recoiled her head. ‘But people tend to believe they will attack them. We are not food for them … No matter. For later. Regardless, you prove that no one learns – no matter how much you might insist. I told you, and you read of it. Wolves are dangerous only when purposefully provoked!’

Eufrimia shuffled closer. ‘I’m sorry.’

Luna took a deep breath and gestured for the girl to get up. Dusting the snow from of her cloth, she gestured forward. ‘Time for you to rehearse what you were taught, girl.’

And they say I am the kid here… she thought. ‘Coming. Coming.’

Luna did not hear her as she quickly moved inside the castle.