Twilight and friends relive the lives of their ancestors. Previously titled Memories of Days Long Past.
A rewrite of Memories of Days Long Past, featured on Equestria Daily long ago. Planned revisions include removing a lot of redundant prose and cutting down on the amount of fluff used to pad arcs. How long the revision goes and if the story will be continued is dependent on the interest of the readers and author.
Original synopsis from Equestria Daily: Twilight Sparkle discovers a spell that allows her and her friends to relive the lives of their ancestors. What starts off as an educational experience, however, quickly turns into a terrible tale that imparts to them many truths of the time before Celestia's reign, as well as what it exactly means to bear the Elements of Harmony.
Everything that lay before her eyes was shrouded by a haze of distortion. The sky threatened to fall and the earth beneath her trembled, cracking violently and parting before her eyes, but the static haze prevented her from grasping the full picture. She felt her mouth open of its own accord, her voice projecting itself towards the far side of the room. She could feel the words rise from her throat, yet the words were distorted, corrupt even.
“… rry… I’m… rry… sa… elf…”
It was disturbing, speaking without knowledge of the words said. It was like she was but a marionette whose strings were pulled by an unknown puppetmaster far above. She existed inside a body that was not her own, inside a body that had its own will, it's own consciousness. She was herself yet somepony else at the same time. The thought sent a chill through her body, a chill that her proxy probably had no awareness of. This entire experience was unpleasant, but she it was important for her to maintain this strange connection.
“… ia… Luna… Ele… mony… ath…”
The marionette perked at the fragmented phrases. Luna? As in Princess Luna? She cursed the static for the distorted dialogue.
Two voices called at her from beyond the forming crevice, but unlike her own fragmented speech she could make out nothing of those other voices. Yet despite the muffled words, her eyes began to mist. A melancholic despair took hold of her body, shaking her heart to its very core. But why? What did those voices say that made her feel this way? The static interference grew as her proxy fought against the tears. She could feel every bit of her strength being directed towards fighting off the despair that clawed at her heart. She didn't know if she could take it anymore. There wasn't anything more that she could learn due to the growing distortions, and if she stayed anchored here any longer she might be swallowed up by her proxy's emotions. She was about to give up on this connection as a lost cause, when suddenly--
She smiled. With the last ounce of her strength, the last drop of her will, she smiled a genuine smile to combat the despair. It was an expression of finality, punctuated by a single tear streaming down her face.
“We can’t fight this fate. So save this world for us, will you?”
The connection snapped, the hazy surroundings instantly dissolved into nothingness. The wall of static was now pressing on all sides of her nonexistent body, and a harsh buzzing sound pierced her eardrums. She felt like she was suffocating, and if she didn’t get out of this void soon, it felt like her spirit would be snuffed out of existence. She desperately searched through her memory to remember the emergency escape spell, and when she did, she quickly set about casting it. The static began to recede, and bit by bit, her consciousness began to settle down. She began to slowly regain the feeling in her hooves, and soon enough the familiar sights of her room entered her vision.
Yes, this was her room. The familiar scent of parchment and wood filled her nostrils as if they welcomed her home. Her body was her own again, and her surroundings calm. She took the time to reorient herself with her body, and once she was satisfied of the complete reconnection of her consciousness, Twilight Sparkle collapsed onto the floor out of exhaustion.
"Spike? Spiiike?" she moaned. "Could you carry me to my bed please? I have a massive headache..."
The baby dragon poked his head into Twilight's room. “Geez Twi, why can’t you do that yourself? You’re only a few feet from your bed after all…”
“Spiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiike!” the unicorn whined.
Spike sighed and gave into Twilight’s order. He grudgingly dragged her onto her bed, where she instantly passed out. “Sheesh, not even a word of thanks…” Spike muttered as he left the room.
Twilight allowed her muscles to relax in the comfort of her own bed. Her mind was racing with what she just experienced. She hoped to discover something new from her little excursion, but the entire ordeal left her with more questions than answers. As the unicorn struggled to piece together some answers, she slowly drifted away into the realm of slumber.
Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity were gathered outside of the library, watching a certain orange earth pony pace back and forth irritably.
“Where is that gosh darned stripey-maned pegasus?!” Applejack exclaimed. “She was s’posed ta be here ten minutes ago like everypony else!”
“U-um, maybe she’s busy with work… or something…” Fluttershy squeaked, trying to come up with a reason as to why Rainbow Dash was late.
“Work? Are ya pullin’ mah tail, Fluttershy?” Applejack threw her hooves up in the air. “That pegasus gets less work done than a filly durin’ naptime!”
“Oh, oh! I remember naptime!” Pinkie Pie was jumping around excitedly for no actual reason. “It was all sleepy and dreamy and full of candy! Except when I had candy I couldn’t get to sleepy! So that means no dreamy! And no dreamy means no—”
“Don’t be so hard on Fluttershy, darling.” Rarity said to Applejack, completely ignoring Pinkie’s randomness. “Just because Rainbow Dash is such an unrefined pony for being late doesn’t mean you have to take out your frustrations on poor little Fluttershy here. Isn’t that right, Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy smiled shyly at Rarity. “U-um… yes.”
Applejack sighed. “Well ah apologize fer snappin’ at ya, sugarcube, but whenever that darn pegasus pony doesn’t show up when she’s supposed ta, ah always feel so—”
A rainbow blue blur suddenly whizzed past Applejack, stylishly braking in front of the group of ponies. “Somepony call for the amazing Rainbow Dash?” The pegasus pony said triumphantly.
Applejack facehooved. “‘Amazing?’ More like amazingly late! What took ya so long!?”
“Oh… heh heh.” Rainbow Dash let out a nervous laugh. “I woke up a little late from my nap is all, no big deal.”
“Sure it’s no big deal if ya do it once.” Applejack commented dryly. “But when ya do it again and again and again and again—”
“And a dream within a dream within a dream within a dream is totally like Inception!” Pinkie Pie cut in energetically. The other four ponies gave a strange and confused look to Pinkie Pie. “What?” Pinkie said, shrugging. “It totally is!”
Rainbow Dash shook her head, trying to rid herself of Pinkie Pie’s random comment. “A-anyways, what’s so important that we all gotta meet up here anyways?”
“Are you seriously asking that question, darling?” Rarity asked, tilting her head. “Don’t tell me you’ve been so preoccupied with your silly flight practice that you haven’t noticed!”
“Silly?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “I’ve been working my flank off to get into the Wonderbolts!”
“And I, as you so elegantly put it, ‘have been working my flank off’ too on a large order for Hoity Toity!” Rarity scoffed. “And yet even with my busy career I still know what’s been going on. You were probably napping the entire time.”
“So what if I was?!” Rainbow Dash shouted. Rarity snickered, causing Rainbow Dash to quickly notice her mistake. “I-I mean, uh, BLAH!” The blue pegasus crossed her hooves and glared at Rarity. “Since you know so much about everything going on in Ponyville, why don’t you fill me in on what’s going on? Or are you worried that I might sleep through your explanation?”
“Oh nonsense!” Rarity waved her hoof at Rainbow Dash’s comment. “There’s no way anypony would fall asleep while I’m talking! That’s preposterous!” Rarity laughed haughtily while the other three ponies plus Pinkie Pie gave her a disbelieving stare. Rarity noticed the stares plus Pinkie Pie, and instantly toned down her haughtiness a few levels. “Well, um, you see Dashiekins,” The blue pegasus winced at the overly sugary nickname. “Our dear Twilight Sparkle has locked herself in the library and nopony has seen her in ages! Why, I am just head over heels in worry for the poor mare! Just think of how her mane must look after being deprived of natural light saturation, simply dreadful!”
Pinkie Pie perked up instantly. “Weelllllllllllll—”
“Anypony that’s not about to break out into song?” Rainbow Dash added.
“Oh fooie-patooie!” Pinkie huffed.
“Um, I suggested we visit her since she hasn’t been out in a couple days.” Fluttershy mumbled. “Twilight’s probably hard at work studying, and, uh, I thought it would be nice if we all greeted her and let her take a break. You know, if it’s okay.”
“Just studying?” Rainbow Dash sighed. “Does that unicorn ever do anything other than study when she’s not hanging with us?”
“Um… no.” Fluttershy answered timidly.
Rainbow Dash facehooved.
“Whatever’s keepin’ her inside must be big though.” Applejack commented. “She got some delivery in the mail a couple o’ days back, and she hasn’t left the library since!”
“She’s just a workaholic.” Rainbow Dash yawned. “Since I’m here, maybe she’ll let me borrow her bed…”
“GAH I CAN’T TAKE IT!” Pinkie Pie suddenly burst out from her extended silence. “I HAVE TO SING THE SONG I MADE FOR TWILIGHT!” The other ponies grimaced as Pinkie Pie took a deep breath.
“Here we go again…” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.
Pinkie started to sing. “Oh Twilight Twilight Twiiiiiliiiiiighhht, you always study so haarrrrddd! Oh Twilight Twilight Twiiiiiiiiiiiliiiiiighhht, you don’t even send us a caaarrrrddd! You study all day but you don’t come out to play and now your friends stand in your yaaaaaaaaaaarrrrdd!”
“Oh Celestia, what is with all this noise?!” Twilight threw open her front door, glaring at the source of the noise.
“Oh hi Twilight!” Pinkie said, oblivious to Twilight’s look. “Didja hear my song? Didja, didja?”
“Yes, Pinkie. I heard your song.” Twilight sighed. “Now what’s this all about anyways? What’s everypony doing here?”
“Y’see, sugarcube.” Applejack explained. “Fluttershy here was worried ‘bout ya since ya’ve been locked up inside this here library fer the past couple o’ days. Ain’t that right, Fluttershy?”
The yellow pegasus nodded timidly. “Um… yes.” Fluttershy’s shy smile melted away the annoyed look on Twilight’s face.
Twilight Sparkle sighed. “It can’t be helped I guess. Why don’t you all come inside and I’ll serve you all some tea?” The other ponies nodded and gladly stepped inside the library. “SPIIIIIIIIIIIIIKE! YOU AWAKE?” Twilight called. “I NEED YOU TO MAKE SOME TEA!”
“Alright, alright!! I’m right here!” Spike called out from under a pile of books. “You could add a please at the end though…”
“Please Spike.” Twilight smiled as Spike dug himself out of the books and made his way to the kitchen.
“Oh Twilight! You look simply dreadful!” Rarity exclaimed as the ponies settled down.
“I do?” Twilight asked. She quickly examined her looks. “I don’t really see anything off about me… although I guess I haven’t really brushed my mane in a while…”
“Oh no no no! That simply won’t do, darling!” Rarity trotted over to Twilight and started to brush her hair. “Now don’t worry dearie, Rarity’s going to fix everything up for you!”
“Wait, where did you get that brush?” Twilight asked.
“Oh you silly girl.” Rarity chuckled. “I wouldn’t be caught dead without at least a hairbrush on me!”
“All this froo-froo aside,” Applejack cut in. “What’ve ya been up ta, Twilight? From the looks of things, ah’d say some crazy nights o’ studyin’.”
Twilight giggled nervously at the mess of books around the library. “Is it really that obvious?”
Everypony nodded. “Yep.”
“Well… maybe if Spike did a better job cleaning then it wouldn’t be… speaking of which.” Twilight raised her voice. “SPIKE! SPIIIIKE! HOW’S THAT TEA COMING ALONG?”
“Fine, fine!!” Spike called out from the kitchen. “You’re such a slave driver, Twilight! Geez…” The dragon came out of the kitchen with a tray of tea and an annoyed look on his face. “Here’s your tea Twilight. And here’s yours Rarity!” Spike’s tone instantly perked up when serving Rarity her tea.
“Why thank you Spike!” Rarity complimented.
“Anytime Rarity…” Spike said dreamily.
“Ahem!” Twilight cleared her throat. “I think that’s all we need for now, Spike. Thanks for all the hard work!”
Spike frowned. “Yeah, yeah, you’re welcome Twilight. I’m going to take a nap…” The dragon yawned and dragged himself to Twilight’s room, leaving the ponies to converse by themselves.
“So what’s so important that you gotta spend all this time studying for?” Rainbow Dash asked, getting straight to the point.
“Oh, well…” Twilight suddenly beamed from being able to talk about her studies. “You see, I was delivered some really interesting books the other day, and I just had to do some research on their contents! At first, I thought it was a load of manure, but it’s actually pretty amazing stuff!”
“And what is this amazin’ stuff exactly?” Applejack asked.
“Well…” For a moment, the enthusiasm fell from Twilight's face. She was still troubled by her experiment from earlier, shaken by the emotions that had gripped her proxy.
"Umm...Twilight?" Fluttershy said softly. "Are you alright...?"
Twilight blinked. "Uh, yeah Fluttershy! I'm just a bit drowsy from my nap." Fluttershy gave a small nod of understanding, Twilight smiling in response. She didn't want her friends to worry about her, especially since she didn't know why exactly she should herself should be worried.
"Anyways," she continued, “it’s a book that’s instructs how to access the memory of a pony’s deoxyribonucleic acid by utilizing an ancient spell that’s designed to dissect the inner workings of the electronic impulses that run through our cells! It’s especially interesting because it operates on the proposed theory that memories are locked within our DNA, which many ponies of academia tend to look upon skeptically. I must admit, while I read the books I was pretty skeptical too, but through a test run I was able to access part of my ancestor’s memory! If you told me before today that there was a spell that allows a pony to examine the inner workings of their very cells, I’d call them crazy! Especially since the idea of tiny particles composing the systems of everypony and everything is a relatively new study! It’s amazing how the ancients already knew these things that we’re only discovering today! It’s neat stuff!!”
“… you lost me at ‘It’s a book.’” Rainbow Dash commented. “Anypony understand a word she just said?”
“Oooh! Oooh! I did!!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. For some reason, nopony really was surprised at this.
“Mind explainin’ it fer us plain folk ta understand?” Applejack asked.
“Sure!!” Pinkie said before Twilight could get a word in. “It’s a magical magic spell that lets you go into the past!! But not actually into the past, because that will cause all sorts of nasty paradoxies!”
“… you lost me again.” Rainbow Dash admitted. “One more time in simpler terms?”
“It lets you see the past!” Twilight Sparkle answered before Pinkie Pie could answer for her. “It’s really cool, since you experience it like you’re actually there!”
“Well that’s definitely interesting and all.” Rarity commented, putting the finishing touches on Twilight’s mane. “But I don’t really see how this is so important that you have to neglect your poor mane for it!”
“Gotta agree with her.” Applejack said. “Not really with the mane part though.”
“Same here.” Rainbow Dash added.
“… ditto.” Fluttershy squeaked.
“It makes perfect sense to me!” Pinkie exclaimed.
The other four confused ponies shot a glance to Pinkie Pie.
“What?”
Twilight cleared her throat. “Anyways girls, you see, this spell can be used to observe the past before Celestia’s reign!”
A look of understanding and later shock slowly dawned over everypony’s face.
“B-but isn’t that the hidden history?” Fluttershy stuttered. “I-I thought it was hidden for a reason!”
Twilight shrugged. “It’s not really hidden, it’s just that nopony really kept any records of history until after the fall of Princess Luna. Anything before the tale of the Mare in the Moon can barely even be found! And Celestia just laughs and says I don’t need to concern myself with ancient history whenever I ask her.” Twilight pouted.
“So basically, this is one huge glorified study trip?” Rainbow Dash asked bluntly. The other ponies glared at the pegasus. “What?! I’m sure you all were thinking that too!”
“Well… kinda, yeah.” Twilight admitted. “But don’t you girls think it’s interesting? Being able to live out a history that nopony knows about? It’s exciting just thinking about it! And besides,” Twilight looked at each of her friends. “Aren’t you curious what your ancestors might’ve been like?”
“Oooh! Oooh! I am! I am!” Pinkie bounced.
“… maybe a little.” Fluttershy admitted.
Rainbow Dash and Applejack just looked at each other and shrugged. Applejack answered for the both of them. “Ah guess, sugarcube.”
Twilight Sparkle beamed at her friends. “Okay then! So why don’t we get ready to dive into the past?”
“Hold up a minute!” Applejack exclaimed. “Ya sure this spell is safe?”
“Of course, Applejack!” Twilight exclaimed. “The way this spell works is that your consciousness is transplanted into your ancestor, and you’re able to move them around based on your will! Isn’t that cool?”
“… but wouldn’t that make it not a memory anymore?” Fluttershy asked.
“Well, it would still be a memory.” Twilight explained. “While you have some control over your ancestor’s actions, you won’t be able to speak through them and the spell will adjust the setting in case you go too much against the memory. I guess you could call it… ‘desynchronization’ if you step too far outside the bounds of the memory. Though I don’t think that’ll happen too often.”
“It sounds pretty complicated.” Rainbow Dash commented. “We’ll just take your word for it, okay?”
“Oooh! Oooh!” Pinkie Pie bounced. “Would we be assassins in our memories? Going to go fight the Templars and save the world from solar flare aliens?”
“… uhh, I don’t think so, Pinkie.” Twilight said, confused. What were Templars anyways?
“Hold up another minute, sugarcube!” Applejack interrupted. “If we go through with this, how long’ll we be out of it?”
“Well the books said time will travel differently for each of us, depending on the events our ancestors are going through…” Twilight explained. “So while it may seem like we’re in there for a long time, in reality only a couple minutes would have passed!”
“… well, as long as ah can get back to the farm to get some work on later on.” Applejack smiled. “Alright, sugarcube. Guess we’re in.”
“You bet!” Rainbow Dash punched the air. “I hope my ancestor kicks as much flank as I do!”
“Which is hardly any, sweetheart.” Rarity chuckled. “I know that my ancestor will be as fabulous as I am!”
“I hope mine’s… nice.” Fluttershy commented.
Twilight smiled. She thought that it’s nice to be able to share such an educational experience with her closest friends. “Alright girls, I’m going to cast the spell now!” She concentrated her magic the way she read in the book and performed the necessary protection spells. Last time she was kicked out it was because she was in a corrupted memory, but she figured if she cast the spell to place them at the beginning of their ancestor’s lives… then it can build up properly to the corrupted memory and play it properly. And if that doesn’t work, then they’d just have to call it a day!
The magic washed over the six ponies and put them all in a dreamlike state, transferring their consciousnesses to the faraway time, long before Celestia’s rule. As they connected to their ancestors, the memory of Twilight's last attempt drifted briefly through her mind.
“… rry… I’m… rry… sa… elf…”
“… ia… Luna… Ele… mony… ath…”
“We can’t fight this fate. So save this world for us, will you?”
It was a strange feeling, awareness during one's birth.
The very instant Twilight’s consciousness settled down into the past life of her ancestor, she was greeted by the sensation of coming out of her mother’s womb. Her eyes were unable to adjust to the harsh light of the outside world at first, but gradually they became accustomed to her surroundings. However, Twilight Sparkle could do little to manipulate the newborn foal’s body; it was instinctively flailing around and crying the way newborns often did. Her ears could hear nothing but the her shrill wails, and her eyes have not yet developed enough perceive anything more than the blurriness of the world around her. Only her senses of touch and smell seemed to function with any proper acuteness.
As soon as Twilight deduced these details about herself, her proxy's incessant crying suddenly halted. She could feel herself being transferred into the hooves of who she presumed to be her mother, judging by her warm scent and loving touch.
“Congratulations!” said the nurse pony after handing the foal to her mother. “It’s a filly!”
Twilight looked up to the mare who was holding her, just barely able to discern a smile upon her face. It was an incredibly warm and loving smile, its presence having a calming effect on the newborn foal. She reached up and tried to grab her mother’s smile, the way a newborn would, her mother giggling feebly at her attempts.
Wait. Something was wrong. The newborn wouldn’t have noticed at all, but Twilight immediately sensed the trouble. There was something about the way this mare was holding her child, something about how her hooves trembled while she was holding her, the weariness hidden behind her smile. It hit Twilight almost immediately. She instinctively tried to cast a spell that might avert the upcoming tragedy, mustering every bit of the magic within her. But there was no source of power to draw from. As a foal who had only been living for a scarce few minutes, whatever magic Twilight tried to harness did not exist. Besides, even if she could cast a spell, she was nothing more than an observer in this memory. It was impossible to change what had already occurred.
“Oh, Goddess no!” The nurse pony cried. “She’s hemorrhaging!!”
Chaos erupted at the nurse's exclamation as the medical staff fought to save her mother. From what little Twilight could tell, medical magic hadn’t evolved enough to make the necessary spells available to save the foal’s mother from her fate. The mare knew she was dying and that her death was unavoidable, yet for some reason, she was surrounded by an atmosphere of calm. She continued to smile warmly towards her offspring.
“You’re a beautiful unicorn.” The mare croaked. “This wonderful shade of indigo… I’m sure you’ll grow to be as lovely as your mother one day.”
“Don’t speak, save your energy!” One of the nurse ponies called out. “I swear, we will save you! We will!!”
The mare only smiled weakly in response to her caretakers. She turned back to her child, who was innocently waving her hooves in an attempt to touch her mother's face. “This is fine, isn't it?" she said wistfully. "My only regret is that I won’t be able to see my little one grow up.”
“There must be something we can do—”
The nurse pony's voice stopped at the look in the mare's eye. There was no fear, no agony present on the face of the dying mother, only a small hint of sadness hidden in her beaming smile.
“She’s a beautiful child, isn’t she?” The mare muttered, her strength beginning to give out. “Such a wonderful shade of indigo… almost like the night… and such sparkling eyes…” She strained to kiss her child on her forehead. “Midnight Star. I think that’s a beautiful name for such a beautiful child. A shining star to light up the dark midnight…”
The mare was interrupted by a harsh fit of coughing. The nurse ponies prepared to leap to her aid, but the head nurse lifted up a hoof. “There’s nothing more we can do.” She said tiredly. “Just… let her go out the way she wants…” The other nurses hesitated, giving one last long look at the dying mare.
“Midnight Star…” The mare muttered to herself. “May the Goddess bestow a blessed life upon you… my dear, dear child…”
The light in the mare’s eyes dampened, signifying the departure of her soul from this world. The nurse ponies solemnly separated Midnight from her mother, causing the foal to begin crying. The nurses gave a questioning look to the head pony.
“Just… take her to the nursery.” The head nurse said. “We’ll figure out what to do with her later…”
The other nurses nodded and took Midnight away from the delivery room. The last sight the newborn saw before leaving was a blanket being folded over her mother, whose eyes would never see the light of day again. The nurse pony laid Midnight Star down into a small crib alongside all the other foals that were born that day. Midnight continued to cry innocently, pining for the warm touch of her mother.
Twilight's heart cried for the newborn foal. She wanted to comfort her, to relay her sentiments to the main occupant of this body. Twilight didn't know what to expect upon diving into her ancestor's memories, but it certainly wasn't this. To be so young and have your mother taken away, such an event was painful for anypony. Twilight sighed. Nopony said history had to be pretty. Until breakthroughs in medical magic were developed for childbirth, dying in the midst of labor was common. The nurse ponies of this era tried everything they could to save Midnight's mother, but everything sadly wasn't enough.
Twilight's thoughts turned to her friends. What if they had to experience something like this too? She didn't mean for them to go through anything sad, it was meant to be a wholly educational experience! Maybe some degree of darkness was to be found in the past, but surely it was nothing worse than what she and her friends have already gone through! Twilight tried to reach out to their consciousnesses, but her probing mind felt nothing. It appeared that she couldn't communicate with her friends while attached to Midnight's body.
“Yes. Yes, she’s right here.” A nurse pony led two extravagantly dressed earth ponies, one a stallion and the other a mare, into the room, interrupting Twilight’s train of thought. Twilight judged from their attire that they were of the highest class, possibly even royalty.
The stallion examined Midnight’s physique. “Hmm, a healthy baby unicorn? And this was Vega’s child, correct?” The nurse pony tilted her head in confirmation. “It's such a tragedy that she passed away, right Ambrosia?”
The mare nodded in agreement. “Such a tragedy indeed, Themis. She was a valuable friend, if only she listened to your advice.”
“Yeah…” Themis bowed his head solemnly. “She should've aborted that child when she had the chance."
Twilight froze at Themis's words. Aborted?
“Oh?” The nurse pony tilted her head curiously. “If you don’t mind me asking, sir, why did you ask her to have the child aborted?”
The stallion sighed. “Vega… she never wanted to have a child. The only reason she got pregnant was because—”
Ambrosia held up her hoof. “That’s enough, dear. We don’t want to go around spreading the story, just think of what it’d do to poor Vega’s reputation!” She turned to the nurse. “I’m terribly sorry, but the reasons why are confidential. I do so hope you understand.” Ambrosia gazed sadly at the child. “And to think, she decided to go on with the birth, even though…”
“The Quota?” The nurse inquired.
Themis and Ambrosia winced at the nurse’s words. “Yes, the Quota. Although since Vega has passed away there’s no real need to uphold it in this case.”
Quota? What’s that? Twilight willed for the other ponies to continue talking about it, but it appeared that they had said enough of the subject, frustrating Twilight.
“Anyways,” Themis cleared his throat. “Ambrosia and I will be taking this young filly under our care and protection. It’s the least we could do for our old friend.”
“Is that so? Well, just sign the papers and I can hand her off to you.” The nurse pony rummaged through some files and brought out a stack of adoption papers.
Themis clicked a pen and began filling out the form with his mouth. Before he finished signing off on the papers, he paused and turned to the nurse. “Erm… does this child have a name?”
“Oh,” The nurse pony gazed sadly at the foal. “Her name’s Midnight Star, if I recall correctly. Poor Vega spent her last words naming her, she even gave her the blessing of the Goddess.”
Ambrosia nuzzled the foal in the crib. “Using the last of her strength to name and baptize her child, that’s definitely Vega alright…”
Themis finished filling out the papers and stamped his hoofprint on it. “There, that should take care of the legalities.” The nurse nodded in confirmation. “Well, we should get going then.” The stallion moved next to Ambrosia and gazed down upon the child. Midnight swung her hooves at them, innocently trying to grab their smiles.
“Don’t worry,” Ambrosia cooed as the nurse pony attached the crib to her hindquarters. “You’ll be well taken care of.”
Themis sighed. “Hopefully the servants will raise her properly, we’ve already got our hands full with two of our own, after all.”
“Not to worry, dear.” Ambrosia reassured. “I trained them myself, I’m sure they’ll raise young Midnight to be a wonderful mare.” She smiled warmly at the oblivious foal. “And besides,
“Celestia and Luna will grow up having somepony around their age to play with! Isn’t that wonderful?”
What?
Themis and Ambrosia made their way out of the nursery. The nurse bowed deeply behind them. “It’s always a pleasure to receive His and Her Highnesses.”
What? What?
The walls around her suddenly deconstructed, leaving a blank white void in its stead. Static distortions were scattered about the void, but unlike before, they were relatively controlled and unobtrusive. Twilight Sparkle found herself floating among this void, trying to piece together what she just heard and saw.
Celestia? Luna? Are they saying that Midnight Star, Twilight’s ancestor, had an incredibly close connection to the two Princesses? If so, why didn’t Princess Celestia inform her about this connection before? Twilight gritted her teeth. There were so many things she didn’t know about the past, like who is this “Goddess?” And what was with that “Quota” thing they were talking about?
Twilight Sparkle’s thirst for knowledge compelled her to dig further for this truth. She felt as if there was a lot more than what she just experienced, especially since she only experienced her own birth. Twilight could tell there was a lot more to Midnight Star’s life. Much, much more.
Not to mention there was one huge thing that disturbed her the most about the past. It was something small, something that took a while for her to notice with her underdeveloped vision. And even when she did notice, Twilight wasn’t consciously aware of it until the moment the room deconstructed itself. The observation just nestled in the back of her mind until then, giving her an incredibly uncomfortable feeling that she couldn’t quite put her hoof on.
Nopony in the past possessed a Cutie Mark.
Her settings suddenly began reconstructing itself. Out of nowhere walls and fixtures quickly sprung up from the void, making it seem like it never even existed in the first place.
Twilight found herself in a vast library, idly skimming through a book. Except it wasn’t her hooves that flipped the pages, it was Midnight Star’s. It seemed that the jump through the void skipped through the many years of Midnight’s childhood, for she was already a young mare, fresh out of fillyhood. As soon as Twilight’s consciousness began to settle down in Midnight’s body, she could feel the gaps in her memories being filled.
Midnight lived a privileged life from what she could tell. Much like Twilight Sparkle herself, she was raised by the royal family and was brought up surrounded by books. Twilight would even go as far as to say that she and Midnight’s childhoods were pretty much the same! Although Midnight didn’t seem to have a dragon assistant like Twilight did and the subject matter of her books was completely different. Instead of the books on magic that Twilight was used to reading, Midnight was reading a book about some Goddess. The text only listed various procedures in regards to the Goddess, such as how to pay proper tribute, how to say prayers to her, how to abide by her mandates…
"I see you're studying diligently, Miss Midnight Star."
The young unicorn quickly turned around and saw an elderly unicorn wearing a long white robe. The unicorn trotted up to Midnight and shut the book she was reading, much to Twilight Sparkle's displeasure.
"Reviewing the basics?" the unicorn scoffed. "As your mentor I would hope that you utilize your free time with more advanced material."
Midnight blushed. "I was just looking up a couple things for Princess Luna!"
"That doesn't surprise me." The elderly unicorn frowned. "At any rate, you are not the Princess's encyclopedia, Princess Luna should be responsible for the material herself. Is that clear?"
Midnight's head bowed down in embarrassment. "Yes, Professor Gnosis."
"Well, now that that's cleared up," Gnosis said, "it's about time you went along to see the King and Queen. You know you've got an incredibly important appointment with them today." Gnosis paused. "You do remember your appointment with them, right?"
Midnight grinned sheepishly. "I was studying all night last night, so it might have slipped my mind."
Gnosis sighed. "I know how much I support your pursuit of knowledge, but you should also keep in mind your other obligations. Enough studying for now, make yourself presentable so I can take you to His and Her Highnesses."
Midnight grudgingly closed all the books around her and shoved them all into a neat little stack. “Please excuse me for asking, but would it be alright if you put these books away for me while I get ready, Professor?"
"If I must, just please be quick." Gnosis gave a mock bow and began organizing the books.
Midnight trotted into a back room and shut the door. Honestly, why did she have to go to all these appointments all the time? It felt like it had been forever since she was able to get in a full day of studying.
As the unicorn trotted past a mirror, Twilight got her first full look of her body. Midnight grew into a fine mare, her coat a beautiful deep indigo. The way her mane was frazzled reminded Twilight of the many nights she spent awake studying, and once it was tidied up Twilight imagined that it would look exactly like her mane. She should’ve expected that her ancestor would look so similar to herself.
Midnight knocked on one of her cabinets, and a strange mechanical device burst out of it, surprising Twilight. There were many fixtures attached to this device, and it appeared to be a self-grooming machine. Twilight Sparkle didn’t know they had this kind of technology in this era. The unicorn yawned and placed her hooves on the machine. She began to manipulate a set of simple sticks, and the fixtures took input from Midnight’s commands and brushed her hair for her. After a few moments, Midnight’s mane was all neat and tidy.
Twilight Sparkle was astounded at the level of technology Midnight possessed. It was the same type of device earth ponies and pegasi in the present used to brush their manes when nopony else was around to help them, since they couldn’t use magic like unicorns could to do it themselves, but why did Midnight have to use such a device? Couldn’t she use magic to do it herself?
Midnight burst out of the backroom before Twilight could ponder over this anymore. “Alright Professor, I'm ready."
Miraculously, the library was already tied up. Twilight couldn't help but wish that Spike was as efficient as this Professor. Gnosis nodded and briskly led Midnight outside of the library and into a magnificent hall. It reminded Twilight of the halls back in Princess Celestia’s castle, with the way the drapes hung beautifully over the pillars alongside the guards stationed at every entrance.
As Twilight took in these details, two young ponies dashed up to Midnight. At an instant, Twilight could recognize them as much younger versions of Princess Celestia and Luna.
However, they weren't alicorns anymore.
Gone were their brilliant wings and shining horns. In place of the magnificence Twilight was used to seeing was nothing but two playful mares, only slightly older than Midnight Star.
Luna was the first to reach Midnight, tackling her and giving her a hug. “Midnight!” Luna exclaimed. “You’re alive!”
“Of course I am, silly.” Midnight smiled. “A little studying never killed anypony.”
“A little?” Celestia giggled. “Why, if the amount of studying you do is a little I would hate to see what a lot would be.”
The three young mares laughed at their small exchange. Gnosis cleared his throat and interrupted their banter.
"Excuse me, princesses," Gnosis said, "I'm afraid Midnight doesn't have time to play today. She has some important business to attend to with your parents. Besides," He smirked at Luna. "If you have time to play you should certainly have time to crack open an encyclopedia."
Luna blushed and stuck her tongue out at the Professor. "Studying is boring! I'd rather play with Midnight and Celly!!"
Midnight smiled and patted Luna on her head. "Now Luna, be nice to the Professor."
Luna puffed out her cheeks in protest. "But--"
"No buts." Midnight pulled Luna into a brief hug. "Sorry Luna, I can't be any later to this appointment than I already am. Celestia?" She turned to the white-coated pony. "You understand, right?"
Celestia nodded. “I know that it isn’t wise to keep mother and father waiting. Go on, Midnight, Luna and I can play for a while without you.”
“Boo!” Luna pouted. “Big Sister Celly isn’t as fun as you, Midnight!” She ran off from the group of ponies, sticking her tongue out at them. "Boo on you!!" She ran into the courtyard, happily prancing around as a filly normally would.
“That Luna…” Celestia sighed. “She’s already a mare but she still acts like such a child…” She turned to Midnight. “Well, good luck with your business with our parents. Hopefully they won’t pile any of their silly requests on you.” Celestia pranced off into the courtyard to join her sister. “Hey, Luna! Don’t run off outside the gates!!”
"Honestly, that Luna," Gnosis muttered to himself. "I don't know how she handles her responsibilities."
Midnight Star smiled warmly after her two sisters. "Come on, Professor, don't want to keep them waiting anymore, right?"
The older pony nodded. "If you'd step right this way..."
The two ponies walked across the hall and entered the audience room, where Themis and Ambrosia were waiting. Gnosis and Midnight bowed, with the former stepping outside of the room after exchanging the standard pleasantries.
“Midnight Star, you may stand.” The sole guard in the room spoke. Midnight complied and faced her parents.
Ambrosia smiled. “Good morning, Midnight. I’ve heard you’ve been studying all night again?”
The two elder ponies laughed at Midnight’s remark. “It’s good to see that Canterlot's future advisor keeps up with her studies!” Themis laughed.
Midnight smiled awkwardly. She wasn’t used to thinking about the future of this land, and she was even less used to thinking of her own role. “Y-yes…” Midnight stuttered. “So what is the reason you called for me today?”
“Oh Midnight, can’t your mother and father just call you in for a simple chat?” Themis questioned.
“Well… no.” The unicorn admitted. “Not to be disrespectful, but you never call me in unless you have a reason.”
Themis sighed. “That may be… alright then, let’s cut directly to the chase.” He and Ambrosia stood up and trotted over to Midnight. “Listen, you already know full well what your position in this family is, right?”
Midnight nodded sadly. “Yes, you took me under your hoof when I was just a foal.”
Themis continued. “And you remember where Celestia and Luna's futures lie, right?”
“As mandated by the Goddess’s prophecy,” Midnight said softly. “Celestia and Luna will one day ascend to the heavens and govern these lands.”
“So therefore, you don’t need to be reminded of your duties towards those two, right?”
“Yes father.” The unicorn bowed her head. “I am to protect them and be their advisor until the Day of Ascension.”
“And you remember the reason as to why the Day of Ascension is so important, right?”
Midnight nodded once again. “To free our lands and to allow us to discard the Quota.”
"Good."
Themis and Ambrosia gave their adopted daughter an impromptu hug. Midnight was caught off guard, but she quickly relaxed.
“You know we love you too, Midnight.” Ambrosia whispered. “Even if we devote most of our attentions to your two sisters, you still hold a special place in our hearts.”
“I know mother.” Midnight replied. “And I’m thankful for your generosity in allowing me to be a part of the royal family."
The three ponies parted from their embrace. Themis cleared his throat. “Now, for the reason why I called you here. I’m sure you’ve been hard at work studying for your future position as Princess Celestia’s and Princess Luna’s advisor, but I must ask, do you think all this book studying will give you all the tools you need to be a successful advisor?”
Midnight pondered the question for a moment. “I think it would. I learn so much about the Goddess and the world around me from my books."
“But does it give you experience, Midnight?”
Themis’s question threw Midnight off her train of thought. “Experience? Uhh… I think so? I mean, Professor Gnosis knows exactly what books I should be reading and--”
The stallion shook his head, cutting her off. “That’s what I thought. Listen, Midnight, in order for you to be truly ready for the position as their advisor, you need to have experience.”
“Experience with what?” Midnight questioned.
“Experience in socializing with the general population.” Themis explained. “You must learn how they think, how they live, how they interact. Being locked up in the library all day is good for strict information, but it definitely won’t give you the experience to work with others. Not to mention the only other ponies you talk to besides us are Celestia and Luna!”
“… what are you getting at?” The unicorn asked hesitantly.
“What your father’s trying to say, dear.” Ambrosia cut in. “Is that we’re sending you outside for a little while.”
“Wait… you’re sending me out there?!” Midnight bit her lip. She’s never been outside of the castle before, and to be suddenly sent into the outside world? Madness!
“Don’t worry, Midnight, the village we’re sending you to is relatively safe.” Ambrosia reassured. “At worst a Collection is held there, but you don’t have to worry too much about that. Records say it it happens very seldomly.”
“B-but, but!” Midnight sighed. “… fine. Where are you sending me?”
Themis smiled. “Down south of the castle lies a small village the locals call Ponyville. All we want you to do there is interact with the populace a little, learn about relationships, broaden your horizons—”
“In short, Midnight.” Ambrosia interrupted. “We want you to make some friends.”
Twilight Sparkle felt a strange feeling of déjà vu creep up on her.
“You hafta go away, sis?”
Princess Luna looked up sadly at Midnight Star as the unicorn loaded her few belongings onto the carriage. Midnight tried to avoid her sister’s gaze, for Luna’s sad expressions always broke her heart. But Luna was just too adorable to ignore, and the unicorn found herself embracing her sister before her gaze could make Midnight feel any worse than she already did.
“Yeah Luna, I’m sorry.” Midnight apologized. “Mother and father are the ones who are sending me away, and I can’t really do much to go against them.”
“They’re just being a couple of mean meanie-faces!” Luna pouted.
Celestia trotted next to Luna and pulled her apart from Midnight. “Now Luna, don’t talk about our parents that way. Don’t forget that you’re the older sister here, and you should be setting Midnight an example.”
“Only by a few more days!” Luna whined. “Midnight’s more like the older sister than me…”
“Now now, enough of that.” Celestia scolded. “Besides, it’s not like Midnight’s going to go away forever, is she?”
“No I’m not.” Midnight smiled and nuzzled Luna lovingly. “Be a good girl for me and keep up with your studies while I’m gone, okay? I’ll be sure to write often!”
Luna frowned and stuck her tongue out at Midnight. “You better!” She turned tail and ran back into the castle, shutting the door behind her.
Celestia sighed. “That girl, I’m starting to think she’ll never grow up.” She turned to Midnight. “You have everything you need? Parchment? Books? Food?”
“Don't worry, I’m fine!” Midnight said. “Our parents arranged everything; I’ll be staying in Ponyville’s library and once I arrive a pony will be there to assist me. And stop worrying so much about Luna, she should have fun while she still can.”
“Well, I can’t really object to that…” Celestia bit her lip. “After all, once our training for the Day of Ascension officially begins--”
Midnight held up her hoof. “That’s not exactly the last thing I want to talk with my sister about before I go.”
“Well I suppose you're right. But aren’t preparations for that day the reason you’re being sent to Ponyville?” Celestia questioned.
Midnight nodded. “As your and Luna’s future advisor, I have to be well versed in every bit of knowledge that’ll be useful for that Day. And unfortunately, I also have to gain the trust and support of other ponies before I’m really qualified to serve you two.”
Celestia giggled. “Oh look at you, so antsy about having to make friends. It’s really not that nerve-wracking, you shy filly.”
Midnight blushed. “H-hey! I’m not a filly anymore! A-and I’m not shy! It's just, I would rather spend my time reading than making friends is all…”
“Sure it is, my dear, dear Midnight.” Celestia teased. “After all, those books sure do get lonely whenever you’re not around.”
“Exac—wait!!”
Celestia laughed at Midnight’s slip-up. “Really, dear, I think it’s good that you get to have this opportunity. Why, I myself would like to go down to Ponyville to make some friends if it wasn’t for my position. It gets so lonely and stifling inside the castle sometimes.”
“But at least you have Luna, right?”
The castle door suddenly flung open at the mention of Luna’s name and the aforementioned pony spilled out, falling flat on the ground. “Owwies…”
Celestia chuckled. “I suppose that’s right, I’ll always have Luna. After all, we share the same future. Isn’t that right, my dear little sister?”
Luna quickly picked herself back up and glanced nervously at the two other ponies. “I-I wasn’t eavesdropping or anything!” She cried, not hearing Celestia’s question. “I-I just… umm…”
Midnight smiled and patted her sister’s head. “I’m sure, Luna.” The unicorn turned around and stepped into the carriage. “Well, I guess I have to go now. I have a schedule to keep!”
“Have a fun trip!” Celestia smiled. “Hope you make a lot of friends!”
“Yeah… right.” In all honesty, Midnight dreaded the thought. However, it was her duty to learn about friendship, so regardless of her personal feelings on the matter she had to put them aside and try to make some friends. “Alright gentlecolts, go on!”
The two stallions attached to the carriage gave a brisk nod and began pulling the carriage away from the castle. Midnight gave one last look at the castle and her two sisters.
“Be safe, Midnight Star!” Celestia brightly called out while Luna hid behind her flank, trying not to let anypony see her cry.
Midnight chuckled and gave a wave of her hoof back. “I will! Take care!”
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.
“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?!”
“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.
