The Twilight Child

by Detectivefish

Poison of the Soul

Before the founding of Equestria, as every school-foal knows, there had been mighty kingdoms and empires formed of the three tribes of ponies. The earth ponies were farmers and craftsmen. The unicorns the artists and thinkers and politicians. The pegasi ruled from their cities in (and of) clouds. Each of the tribes had different value systems geared towards whatever was considered necessary for their kind to survive. When being made to study the prehistoric pegasi way of life, Twilight Twinkle had noticed the old legend of the box (or vase or whatever it was) that contained within it all the evil and sins and poisons, opened by an incredibly curious and foolish pony. Modern ponies who heard the tale assumed that the part about hope being in the box (or vase, or whatever) meant it had been put there as a counter-agent. Twilight Sparkle had set her young daughter straight in that respect. It was there because the ancient pegasi considered hope more dangerous than anything else in the world. No wonder. Hope made one spare deadly enemies in the belief they might reform, hope made soldiers break ranks to attempt foolish deeds, made the rational consider the impossible, and made those starving from uncontrolable hunger cross lines that should never be crossed.

Hope, the ancient pegasi had said, was a poison of the soul.

When she had been young, Twilight Twinkle hadn't been able to understand that idea. Now, at the beginning of her second week stuck in the past of Ponyville she was finding new appreciation for the old tale. For every time she found a spell book claiming to offer lost knowledge, she found none. Every time she opened one her heart began to race, hoping that this new book would offer some aid. It didn't.

On reflection she would realise this was because nopony would be insane to leave a book on time-travel spells just lying about in their public library. So she cracked open the hidden shelves, and found nothing, save one book listing the way to a pool capable of cloning herself, which she wisely decided to leave where she found it.

She sighed. She had considered every option, even visiting the local zebra Zecora, who had been unable to offer help. Or at least it sounded like she had been unable to help. She couldn't really tell through all the rhyming.

She lay back in the chair and sighed. It was slow going, especially given her resistance to reading, and the occasional interlude of Ponyville shenanigans getting in the way. Though Trixie and Rainbow Dash did seem to be distracting each other, which was something. The last thing she needed was another distra-

Midday looked around the room. She walked over to the front door and scanned outside. There were a few low-hanging clouds, but that was it. Perfectly nice normal day. She wandered back inside. Everything was good. Everything was fine. It was calm. A perfectly calm, ordinary sunday.

"Uh-oh." She sighed.

*****

"It's just a cutie mark"

"Or a lack of a cutie mark."

"That's not helping."

*****

Midday quickly tried to remember where everypony was. Since Twilight wasn't present that meant she was probably testing out a new spell, or visiting a friend. And it probably wasn't Fluttershy because the funeral for her exploded chicken had been the other day, and she remembered that because it had been raining. Pinkie Pie was probably throwing a party, or about to throw a party, or recovering from throwing a party. And if it was a weekend, Rarity was probably messing about with hats. Fluttershy would probably be doing... whatever Fluttershy did, and Rainbow Dash was probably trying to mess around with ink bombs.

Midday looked over to the small parcel she'd recieved the other morning, courtesy of Ditzy. She snorted.
"Nice try, Rainbow." Focusing her magic, she lifted up the parcel, and grabbed her saddlebag.

*****

She sniffed in the scent of Sugarcube Corner, which after having been in the library all week smelt amazing.
"Oh, good afternoon" Said Mrs Cake when she saw Midday enter, though there was some trepidation in her eyes. Midday wasn't sure why. It wasn't as if she and Pinkie had made that much mess. And most of it had cleaned up quickly anyway.

"Oh, hello" She said back, noticing the mare's suspicious look.
"Is... Pinkie here?"

"I dunno? Am I here? Who knows? Why don't you ask Pinkie?" The pouncing party pony smiled.
"Good afternoon, Pinkie." Midday said. At that, Pinkie's smile vanished, replaced by a look of profound despair.

"Why does everypony keep saying that? Why? Why? Enough of the philosophical brainteasers! I'm just a pastry chef!"

"I was just saying hello, Pinkie."
"Oh." Pinkie's hair seemed to suddenly inflate at that, and she smiled and waved a hoof, "Hi."

Midday smiled slightly. It was the kind of smile that made professional gamblers uneasy.
"I require your skills, pastry chef." A serious look came across Pinkie's face, and she beckoned towards the kitchen.

"This way then."
Midday followed the bouncing earth pony, briefly turning to Mrs Cake.

"Congratulations, by the way Mrs Cake."
The mare blinked in confusion.

"Thank you" she said, hesitantly.

****

A few minutes later, both mares were staring at six freshly baked blueberry muffins.
"Smell that?" Pinkie said.

"Smell what?"
"Do you smell that? Muffins, daughter." Her voice was alarmingly low.

"Nothing in the world smells like that. I love the smell of muffins in the morning. That wonderful smell, you know, that muffin-y smell. Smells like victory." Midday stared at Pinkie. Pinkie stared back, and then she smiled.
"Would you like these gift-wrapped?" Pinkie chimed.

*****

Ten minutes later, and Midday entered the Ponvyille Post Office which as is customary for most public services was almost abandoned. She walked up to the front desk and ringed a smell bell sitting there. For a while nothing happened. Then she heard a small tapping noise, like that of somepony trying to sneak about. She looked about the room, and sighed.

"Is there a Ditzy Doo here?" She rang the bell a few more times.
She had taken her eyes off of the desk, and that meant the minute she turned around someone would be staring her in the face. She turned around.

She found herself staring into two large golden eyes. She took a step back, mainly because it was difficult to stare down Dinky Doo at point-blank range.
"Hi." The tiny unicorn smiled.

"Hello. Are you Ditzy Doo?" She said, trying to look calm and collected. The unicorn giggled.
"Yup." She looked at the filly.

"What happened to your wings?"
"Fell off."

"And the horn?" Hoofs quickly covered the horn.
"What horn?"

"Look, Dinky, I am in a bit of a rush, so could you please find your mother?" The little filly pouted.
"Fine, fine." She hopped off and walked over to a door to the back room. A few seconds later a somewhat tired-looking Ditzy wandered through.

"Oh, hello." She said.
"Sorry I didn't hear you. I've been up to my wings in paperwork today and I must have zoned out a bit." She yawned.

"Now then, can I help you miss Eclipse?"
Midday smiled, focusing on the small package in her saddlebag and lifted it out.

"Package delivery." She smiled. And then lifted out the small box.
"Oh, and these are for you." Ditzy looked at the gift-wrapped box and sniffed it. In an instant Midday found herself being hugged by the pegasus.

"Thanks." She said when she pulled back.
"I may have missed lunch" she said.

"No problem, miss Doo."
"And this package, would I be right in assuming it's for Rainbow Dash?"

"A bit." A serious look overcame Ditzy's face.
"It is not the job of the Ponyville Post service to either accept bribes or take part in juvenile pranks."

"I know."
Ditzy looked at the package, and the muffins. Then back to the package, then back to the muffins. A strained look passed across her face, the only hint of a serious internal war.

"Just this once." She eventually sighed.

*****

Midday returned to the library, unencumbered and feeling malicious.
"Take that Rainbow Dash, sending me mail." She muttered.

She opened the door, finding Twilight and Spike had returned.
"Afternoon Twilight."

"Afternoon, Midday." The unicorn said, in-between making a small pile of books on diseases.
The lilac unicorn walked over to the bookshelf and removed one of the book of spells she'd been looking through.

"Anything interesting?"
"Oh, Apple Bloom seems upset because she doesn't have her Cutie Mark yet. Everypony keeps telling her she only needs to wait, and she never listens. I'm just glad nopony in my family has such poor attention to detail." She paused.

"Except maybe my brother. I don't know how he got to be in charge of the guard when he couldn't notice a problem until it was right in his face." Midday felt like she'd been kicked in the stomach.
"Are you alright?"

"Nothing, nothing. Just thinking... about family. That's all."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I should have been more careful about what I said." Midday tried to smile.

"Don't. We've already got one Fluttershy, we don't need two." She walked through into the secondary room, and placed the book down, and just collapsed.
She'd already interfered with time once, just to stop Trixie's little vengeful rampage. And she'd vowed not to change anything else, but... Cadance. And Shining Armor. What if she was stuck in the past long enough to see that?

She looked at the book.
"No." She hissed. She knew they would be fine. They had warded off... it before, they could ward it off again. She started reading the book, much quicker than before.

*****

The day passed into night, and the night into morning. Easy sleep gave way to good moods and everything seemed normal. Midday sat, drinking a usual cup of coffee. Everything seemed fine and good. After all, what was the worst that could happen on a calm monday morning in November.

"Apple Bloom! You got your Cutie Mark!"

Nothing whatsoever, Midday told herself. She sighed, and got back to reading. She heard an overdone sigh, and saw Trixie walking down the stairs, looking amazingly dishevelled.
"Morning, Trixie."

There was a series in inarticulate grunts, some of which had a strange accent to them.
"Nopony 'likes' mondays, Trixie.."

"Oui, oui." The showpony sighed, and walked into the kitchen.
Midday took another sip of her coffee and went back to reading.

*****

Twilight had suggested going for a walk around the town, and rather than a few more hours of CIS Midday decided to join them. All the while she had this strange feeling, that something bizarre was about to happen.
But it was Ponyville, chaos capital of the world.

They had encountered Rarity on the way there, and were just casually wandering the streets when they saw the crowd. They were following Apple Bloom.

"Sweetie Belle?" Rarity exclaimed, "What's going on?"
The minature unicorn smiled.

"Apple Bloom's got her Cutie Mark" Sweetie Belle smiled. Midday's blood froze. She remembered hearing something once about Apple Bloom and 'borrowed' objects and then... then... what had happened then? Unfortunately her mind was filled with pointless spells on shaping pottery. She sighed. Everything would blow over, Apple Bloom would be fine. Though she did briefly feel a minor burst of pity for what Applejack was about to go through.

*****

Later, and Midday had finished the last book in the library. She put the book down. That was it. She had read every single possible book that could've helped, every possible tiny hint followed up on. There was nothing. She looked around. She considered asking Celestia for help. For a tiny, tiny, infinitesimal second she considered asking her mo-... asking Twilight Sparkle for help.

No, she'd just ask Celestia.

Tomorrow.

At the moment she had a strong desire to read about botany.

*****

"Three Cutie Marks?!"

"Help me!"

*****

Applejack had shown up at first light, almost smashing the door down in her alarm. Twilight had been a bit slow on waking up, but once she heard the words 'Apple Bloom' and 'danger', she'd practically flown downstairs. Midday had followed after, and saw the alarming sight of Apple Bloom tap-dancing, while at the same time playing with hula hoops and spinning plates.
"Three Cutie Marks. Three talents. I've never seen anything like it." She pondered, looking at the terrified tap-dancing filly.

"I was just reading something about unusual equinine illnesses, what was it?"
"Perplexing Pony Plagues?" Spike said, waving the book about. Midday wandered over as Twilight started running through the strangely disorganised book.

"Hay fever... the trots..." Which was also the name of the inhabitants of Trotland, who were quite resistant against attempts to change their country's name.
Twilight Sparkle gasped.

"Cutie Pox!"
Two farmponies and a dragon gasped, and repeated what she'd said.

"Cutie Pox. This puzzling pony plague afflicted a population of ponies back in the paleo-pony period."
Spike just laughed.

"Say that three times real fast."
Midday scanned the page.

"A problematic pandemic of potentially perilous proportions" Midday mused.
"Cut out the fancy talk! What's gonna happen to mah sister!" Applejack barked.

"Random Cutie Marks appeared all over the ponies bodies, causing them to perform all the talents that came with them," Twilight gasped.

"There was no known cure. The disease disappeared as soon as it arrived."
"But it doesn't say it was fatal." Midday said quietly. There was a small tinkling noise, and everypony looked to see a fourth Cutie Mark on Apple Bloom's flank.

"Sacrebleu! Plus de Marque de Cutie!" the filly gasped in horror.
"Qu'est-ce cest??! Je parle prancais!" she yelped.

"Mah sister's speakin' in fancy!" Applejack reared back.
"It's only Prench, it won't bite."

Applejack turned to glower at her.
"You ain't helpin'"

"You don't need my help." Midday pointed out.
"She's right. We need somepony who can mix up a cure, and fast!" Twilight declared.

"Tout de suite!"
"Why not ask Zecora?" Midday said, hoping to regain the seconds wasted bickering.

"Of course, Zecora! I was just thinking that!"
"Deprechez vous!"

Quickly Applejack, Twilight, Spike and Apple Bloom set off, with Midday following behind them 'just in case', but they didn't get far before Apple Bloom found herself bearing another Cutie Mark. And another, and another and another. And as this happened, Applejack and Twilight became increasingly terrified. A crowd gathered, watching with increasing trepidation. Spike on the other hand was happily chowing into a box of popcorn. Midday took it from him.

"She is cursed!" Cried one pony.
"Hexed!" Added another alarmed mare.

"Bewitched!" Said a third.
"No she's not." Spike sighed. The crowd sighed with relief. Midday prepared for Spike to say the utterly wrong thing.

"She just has some weird disease with no know cure called Cutie Pox."
The entire crowd screamed and disappeared. Midday turned to Spike.

"After this, we're gonna talk about ending our statements a sentence early."
And then, out of all fortune, Zecora arrived.

"I thought I had removed their fear, the last time I visited here. But doors are barred and shutters shut. Guess I should have stayed inside my hut," the zebra observed.
Midday zoned out as Twilight, Applejack and Zecora conversed, while she kept an eye on Apple Bloom who had begun writing complex mathematical equations on a blackboard, before moving on to weightlifting, to window-washing. Like everypony else in town, she was alarmed, but couldn't turn her head from it.

"Apple Bloom, what do you say? Did this flower just walk away?" Zecora frowned. Apple Bloom didn't respond.
"Guess that's a yes." Midday quipped. Zecora drew some seeds from the saddlebags she was carrying. Midday recognised those. Seeds of Truth. Evidently several hours reading on botany weren't wasted.

"With truth, they'll grow, and the cure is found."
"Come again?"

"Just say something true." Midday said. The seeds were placed into the ground. And then Apple Bloom started spinning. Midday, acting on reflex grabbed her with her magic, trying to hold the spinny filly still.
"Somepony hurry up and say something true!" She felt like she was being shoved sideways, and could feel the ground beginning to move beneath her hooves.

"Anypony!" Applejack yelled.
Nopony said anything. Midday felt like her horn was about to tear free of her head. Felt, not knew, because that was utterly impossible and could never happen, but holding a filly whose body was trying its darndest to spin spin was quite the strain.

"Yesterday I told Mr Cake I ate two corn cakes when I ate three!" Pinkie Pie yelled. Nothing happened. Pinkie squirmed where she was sitting.
"Okay six! I ate six corn cakes!" She sobbed. Still nothing happened.

"Make it stop! Make it stop!" She wailed. Midday wondered if her neck would snap or if her brain would just explode before somepony told an acceptable truth. Every few seconds she kept having to shift her weight, afraid that if she lifted a hoof she'd go flying.
"I can't stand it anymore!" Apple Bloom cried. She tearfully confessed her theft of some Heart's Desire from Zecora's hut the day before, and how she'd managed to make a potion to grant her a Cutie Mark. At that, the Truth in Bloom sprouted. Midday couldn't hold the spinning pony any longer and dropped her. At this, Apple Bloom quickly leapt at the plant. In an instant, the false Cutie Marks disappeared, and the redhead breathed a sigh of relief.

Midday just lay there, waiting for the banging noise in her head to go away. She stood up just as Apple Bloom was finishing 'her' letter to Princess Celestia.
Applejack smiled.

"Ah sure am proud of ya, sis. Seems you've learned the importance of patience."
Apple Bloom beamed, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo also smiling with her.

"Yup! All good things come to those who wait." Midday counted down from three.
"Well, ah've waited long enough" Apple Bloom announced at 'two'. Everypony watched as the Cutie Mark Crusaders rushed off into the forest to get their potion-making Cutie Marks.

"That didn't last long by any metric." Midday laughed, still checking her hoof to make sure it was all attached. Applejack looked at her.
"Midday?" the lilac unicorn's smile vanished.

"What?"
"Ah just wanted to say thanks, fer helping mah sister."

She waved a dismissive hoof.
"I didn't do anything Applejack. She'd have been cured even if I hadn't been here."

Applejack's expression changed to exasperation.
"Ah'm tryin' to thank ya, ya-"
"Isn't it a Tuesday?" Applejack's eyes went wide.

"Apple Bloom's got school!" she rushed off into the forest. Twilight walked over to her.
"There was no need to snap at her. Applejack was just trying to be nice."

"Don't yell at me, mom. It's only half past nine in the morning, and I've got a splitting headache." Twilight Sparkle laughed.
"I'm pretty sure I'm not your mother." she said. Midday blanched when she noticed what she'd said. She laughed nervously.

"Well, I did just have to hold onto a pony-turned-twister, I think I might have strained something" She tried to smile nervously.
"Oh, I think I've forgotten to do something today, look at the time, must dash." She said, before running away, leaving a rather confused Twilight Sparkle.

*****

A short while later, in the Everfree Forest, four hooves trampled through the undergrowth. Their owner scanned the area, looking for any clue of her target. She was so furious she was almost kicking herself.

Heart's Desire. Heart's Desire! And all this time she'd forgotten it. She found herself in a swampy clearing. She looked about the area, looking for the light purple coloured plant. She saw something that looked like it was purple. She wandered over, and found...

A whole clump of Heart's Desire. Midday Eclipse smirked, and then smiled. She began to giggle, which grew into a chuckle, and finally a full-blown bellowing laugh.
There was a reason the ancient pegasi labelled hope as dangerous. It could drive the most rational of ponies to unspeakable madness. It made the moral cross lines they would never cross otherwise.

Hope was dangerous.
Hope was a poison of the soul.
After she stopped laughing, she wondered if there was something she'd forgotten about.

*****

Rainbow Dash woke, and after checking herself in the mirror (and finding herself satisfactorily awesome, radical and cool) and having a light breakfast she went to check the mailbox. There was a large parcel that looked strangely familiar. Disregarding her suspicions, she opened it...

And recieved a face full of ink.

Author's Note:

I don't plan on writing Zecora myself. I lack the capacity to write in rhyme.
(sigh)

Comments

[Siras-chi]

I get the feeling that something horrible is about t happen.

[Bandana The Reaper]

Rhyming IS hard (I have one story I'm working on that has Zecora in it... and theres no way around her talking... unless the one shes talking to speaks Zebreca...)

[notapony]

Rhyming may be difficult for you to pull off, but you've certainly got a hang of alliteration. It's everywhere and I love it.

[RealityCheck]

Yeah, the Greeks thought hope was a poison of the soul. They also thought older men buggering little boys was a perfectly healthy and normal pastime.

To hell with the Greeks.