//------------------------------// // Revelations and Story-Time // Story: Mother Moon, Father Shadow // by MatCor1337 //------------------------------// Chapter 4: Revelations And Story-Time It’s been a week since the mess caused by Discord, and everything was just as it was beforehand. There were no incidents or problems of any kind in the little town of Ponyville; all was peaceful and quaint, the townsponies mingling about without a single worry. Everything was perfect… and that, was Twilight’s problem. There wasn’t a Friendship Problem for her to solve and fix, it was past noon, and she was starting to panic. She went to her friends who were having a picnic for help, telling them her woes. She did not expect them to practically laugh at her problem, though they did tell her that she was just overreacting and that it wasn’t something to worry about. They then offered her to join their picnic, but she politely declined and left to find a Friendship Problem as though her life depended on it. Currently, Twilight was arguing with her reflection in a puddle that was made by a mix of stress-sweat and some fearful tears. So into her “argument”, she didn’t notice a figure coming up behind her until they spoke. “You know that if you talk to yourself, ponies will get the wrong idea.” Said a strong, feminine voice. Twilight yelped and jumped into the air, falling onto her back on the ground. “Ow…” she groaned. “Oh dear, are you alright?” the unknown mare asked, her voice sounding like a mother worried for her child. A voice that was also familiar… The disgruntled unicorn opened her eyes to see who was with her… and froze. Even upside down, she could easily recognize the black coat and tall frame of the alicorn that tried to plunge the world into eternal night. “N-N-Nightmare Moon!” Twilight screamed, rolling away and scrambling to her hooves. She tried to run, her stressed mind temporarily forgetting about her magic, but she was lifted off the ground by dark-teal magic. “Calm yourself, Twilight. I promise that I mean you and this town no harm.” Nightmare Moon said, turning the mare in her grasp around, looking at her with pleading eyes. Seeing the sincerity in her cat-like eyes, Twilight calmed down and noticed a difference in the alicorn’s appearance. Most notably she wasn’t wearing her armour, and her mane and tail didn’t have their ethereal look either, both having a violet colouration. “W-what do you want from me?” Twilight finally asked the dark mare. “I just want to talk.” She replied, looking around. “But somewhere a little more private.” Before the smaller mare in her magical grasp could so much as yelp, they were gone in a flash of light... =][= Golden Oaks Library... Spike was sweeping the floors of his and Twilight’s workplace/home, humming one of the songs that the girls had done a while back when a bright flash momentarily blinded him. Blinking the spots out of his vision, the young drake squinted his eyes in the direction of what he knew was a teleport. They then widened when he witnessed his sister/mother-figure placed on the ground by the villainess Nightmare Moon, who gazed around the library calmly. “Aagh! Nightmare Moon!” Spike screamed, sprinting up the stairs to find some parchment and send it to Princess Celestia, calling for her help. “Spike, wait!” Twilight called out, grabbing his tail in her magical grasp before he was completely out of sight. She then brought him back down to the foyer, the baby dragon staring at her like she’d grown a second head. “Twilight, what are you doing? Nightmare Moon’s right behind you!” he cried. Twilight sighed. “She’s not here to hurt us. She just wants to talk.” She said, gently placing her no.1 assistant onto the floor. “Talk? What in the world about? How’s she even here anyway? I thought she was destroyed when Princess Luna was turned back to normal when you and the girls used the Elements of Harmony on her.” Spike asked, calming down as he went on. Twilight blinked, curious herself. “Now that you mention it…” she looked towards Nightmare Moon, who was looking through one of the bookshelves. “How are you here? We thought you were destroyed.” Nightmare Moon turned to the smaller mare and even smaller dragon. “I promise to answer all your question that I can, but we must address some more pressing matters first.” She walked up to them and looked directly into Twilight’s eyes. “Tell me why you were acting the way you were when I found you, and don’t even think about lying.” Her tone was stern and left no room for argument. Twilight was at a loss. Here was a past enemy of Equestria asking, more like demanding, that she tell her why she was sulking on the bench in the park, giving her the ‘Mom-look’ that compelled her to answer truthfully. ‘Oh, what harm could it do?’ Twilight thought to herself before speaking. “Well, I’ve been going around town looking for any friendship problems anypony may have, but there weren’t any. I’m due to give Princess Celestia my weekly Friendship Report, but there aren’t any problems to solve or report, and I’m running out of time!” she said, starting to panic slightly as she remember her earlier predicament. Spike groaned. “You’re still worrying about that?” Before Twilight could retort, Nightmare Moon spoke. “So if I understand this correctly, Celestia commissioned you to resolve “friendship problems” in town and has you give her a report about it every week. Correct?” she asks, getting a nod in response. “Well then, just tell her that you can’t do it this week.” “What?” Twilight and Spike said in unison; the former in mild shock and the latter in curiousity. “Tell Celestia that there weren’t any problems this week and thus you’re unable to make a report. Maybe tell her that you were getting stressed and you couldn’t focus or think properly. Or something like that.” Nightmare Moon finished with a shrug. Twilight thought about it for a few moments, then realised that she was right. “Alright, I guess I could do that. Spike?” The aforementioned dragon nodded before getting a quill and parchment from seemingly nowhere, writing down everything that Twilight told him to, which was what Nightmare Moon suggested. After making sure that it was what she wanted and that it didn’t mention anything about their ‘guest’, Twilight had Spike use his special fire to send the message, catching Nightmare Moon’s attention. A minute passed in silence until Spike belched out the Princess’ response. Twilight immediately caught it in her magic, unfurled it, and begun reading aloud: “Dear Twilight Sparkle, I feel I must apologise to you for the stress that I had involuntarily put you in, so I’ve decided that once I’ve set the sun and my sister raises the moon I will be coming to your home so that we discuss this issue and resolve it together. It may also be a good idea for you to invite your friends over as well. Best they be aware. I’ll see you all tonight. Signed, Princess Celestia.” “Sundown, huh? That gives us plenty of time.” Nightmare Moon said after Twilight was finished, moving towards the kitchen. “I’m going to make us some tea and hot chocolate, maybe even get some snacks. You two get yourselves comfortable; you’re gonna need to sit down for what I’m about to tell you.” Twilight and Spike glanced at each other before shrugging, doing as the alicorn suggested. After getting comfortable, Nightmare Moon returned to the main room with a tray holding a tea kettle, cups, a mug of hot chocolate, and some biscuits. She set the tray down on the table in the middle of the room and sat next to it. As she floated over the hot chocolate to Spike and poured the tea for herself and Twilight, Nightmare Moon spoke. “Before I begin, I’d like to get something out of the way; that being my name.” The small dragon and unicorn looked at her curiously. “What I mean is that ‘Nightmare Moon’ is not my true name, and even then I didn’t have it for long. So from now on, I would like for the two of you to call me Nyx.” The two blinked at that, but nodded. Nightmare Moon, or Nyx, took a deep breath before beginning her explanation. She told them of how before Twilight and her friends ‘defeated’ her, the Elements of Harmony themselves spared her from being destroyed, as she would’ve been as a being born from darkness. They learnt that while she was in her astral form, she kept watch over Twilight since she moved to Ponyville, keeping to the shadows and out of sight. She told Twilight of how she was why the young mare’s nightmare about Zecora turned into a dream where the two simply talked. Nyx also told Twilight that she was very pleased with how she comforted Gilda when she fled the party, causing the lavender unicorn to lightly blush. Whether it was from the praise or mention of said griffon, she wasn’t sure; but the thought of it being the latter made smirk slightly. She then told them that when Discord was freed, the Elements enlisted his aid to create a body for her as she did inhabit Princess Luna’s body, but further detail on that was for another time. And finally, she told them of how she had remained in the old castle in the Everfree Forest to get herself used to her new body before finding Twilight, which brought them to the present. When Nyx was finished, Twilight spoke up. “Wait, if the Elements have a will of their own and for some reason don’t like Princess Celestia, why haven’t they done anything like telling me and the girls about this themselves?” The dark alicorn frowned. “I’ve asked myself that same question since they spared me, with no clear answer. The only reason that seems to make sense is that they’re waiting for something; that something needs to happen first before they take any real action. I believe that they are capable of freeing Discord any time they wish, but don’t think it’s the “right time”.” Twilight hesitated for a second, but finally asked the question that has plagued her since her first night in Ponyville. “Well, now that you’re here, I have to ask something.” Nyx raised an eyebrow. “When we were in the castle, you acted strange around me; kept calling me your “little star” and asked me if I knew Discord and other things. So I have to ask: why’d you act like that?” Nyx took a small sip of her tea before putting it down with a somewhat saddened expression. “I...I thought you were my daughter.” She admitted, shocking the unicorn and dragon. “Y-you had a daughter?” Spike asked, stunned. “Yes. She and Twilight look perfectly identical, even have the exact same name, though my daughter was an alicorn like myself and her cutie-mark even had the pink star in yours, but it was in a purple fireball.” “H-how?” stuttered Twilight. “I mean, how can we look so similar?” Nyx sighed. “For a while a thought that the universe was playing a cruel joke on me, but after remembering something that the Element of Magic said, I’ve started to believe that you actually are my daughter, and something happened to you after I was banished to the moon.” Twilight stared in stunned silence. In an instant, the dreams and visions she’s been having suddenly made sense. They were memories - her memories - of a life once completely forgotten. If she truly was Nyx’s daughter from a thousand years ago, someone must’ve turned her back into a foal and kept her preserved with powerful magic. And whether she liked it or not, Celestia was the prime suspect. She was pulled from her thoughts when Spike spoke. “But how do we know if that’s true? I mean it’s not like there’s a spell that can determine someone's exact age with a strand of hair, for example.” He said with a shrug. Twilight got a large smile as an idea struck her. “Spike, you’re a genius! There is such a spell and I just happened to learn it last month!” she squealed, using her magic to pull out a strand of her mane. “Of course I am.” Spike said proudly, puffing out his chest, causing Nyx to chuckle. Twilight stared hard at the strand of hair floating in front of her face, closing her eyes and taking deep, calming breaths, before her horn started to glow brighter as she begun the spell. A minute or two later, her eyes opened, wide in surprise. “Well, Twi? How old does it say are you?” asked Spike, both him and Nyx being curious. “.........One-thousand twenty-two years, eight months and two weeks...” Twilight muttered, looking up to Nyx’s eyes, seeing them as wide as hers. Why not? This only meant and confirmed three things: Twilight was born over a thousand years ago, not twenty-two. Something happened to her that resulted in being raised by the ponies she thought were her real family, most likely because of Princess Celestia. Her biological mother was - once - the fearsome Nightmare Moon, and she was sitting right in front of her. Not ten seconds after she finished speaking, Twilight was enveloped in a tight but not uncomfortable hug. In fact, it felt warm and soothing; the kind only a loving mother could give. “Oh, Twilight… my little star… it is you.” She said, barely above a whisper. “Mom…” Twilight found herself saying just as quietly, even returning the embrace. She didn’t know why she said it, but when she did it felt natural - felt right. After about a minute, the truly reunited mother and daughter were interrupted when Spike cleared his throat. “I really hate to interrupt, but it’s almost sunset.” He said, gesturing to the window and fading light. Twilight reluctantly left the embrace and spoke. “Okay. Spike, could you go and gather the girls and bring them back here while mom and I… figure something out?” “Sure thing Twi!” Spike said with a salute before making his way to the main entrance. He was just about to grasp the door handle when there was a knock on it. “Twilight, are you in there?” a voice called out through the door, one they recognised as Rarity’s. Aforementioned unicorn began panicking about how her friends would react to seeing Nightmare Moon, but a small flash to her right caught her attention. When she look there, her jaw dropped. “Well? Aren’t you going to let your friends in?” Nyx teased with a coy smile. Twilight shook her head clear and motioned for Spike to open the door. He did so and greeted the rest of the Mane Six as they walk in, closing the door behind them. “Twilight, we’ve been worried sick ever since you ran off this morning and we couldn’t find you anywhere!” said Rarity, being just a tad overdramatic. Rainbow Dash however quickly noticed the unfamiliar pony standing next to Twilight. “Hey Twi, who’s this?” she asked. The pony was a unicorn mare with a tan/brown coat and thick, copper/brass mane and tail tied with multiple bands in a way that made them resemble scorpion tails, her eyes were cyan-blue and her cutie-mark was a polished dark blue shield with silver trim. Nyx smiled at the group before introducing herself. “Hello everyone, I’m Nyx Scorpos, I was a senior student at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns when Twilight was a freshman and tutored her every now and again. I was in town and decided to catch up from the little time we spent together.” She lied easily. Applejack just barely felt that this “Nyx” mare was lying, but a voice that reminded her of an wise old stallion told her to let it slide for the time being, that she’ll know the truth in time. Oddly, the farmer found herself listening to the voice in her head in ignored the lie for now. “Well it’s a good thing you guys are here, Princess Celestia will arrive any moment to discuss something.” Twilight informed her friends, getting curious looks from them. After a quick run-down on what’s going on, the sun had set and a minute later Celestia teleported just outside the door. Quickly being introduced to Nyx - and being none the wiser to her true identity - the solar princess gestured for Twilight to begin. The lavender unicorn told her friends and teacher(aunt) of how she was stressing out from being unable to find a friendship problem to solve for her weekly Friendship Report. Twilight admitted that after failing to get help from her friends, said mares looking a little guilty, she got even more stressed and probably would’ve caused a problem herself just to have something to fix, if Nyx hadn’t shown up. Managing to weave a believable backstory on the spot, Nyx said that she has an autistic little brother who can’t handle stress very well, and was thus able to use her experience to calm Twilight where they made it back to the library and sent the letter to Celestia they brought them all to the present. After some time thinking, Celestia decided that from now on Twilight would only have to send her reports if and when she had something to report. She even included the other Element Bearers in on it. Almost immediately, the small group started to make their report about being more trusting and believing of your friends, to always take their problems and issues seriously. Happy with what has transpired, the solar alicorn made her leave after bidding her goodbyes, followed by the other mares, leaving Twilight, Spike and Nyx alone again. The silence was broken after a moment when Spike loudly exhaled. “Phew, I thought for a second there that the Princess was gonna see through your disguise.” He commented to Nyx, who shifted back into her true form. “Well, now that we have that out of the way, why don’t you tell me a bit about my past? Maybe they’ll jog my memories and I’ll be able to actually remember them.” Twilight asked her biological-mother. Before the dark alicorn could answer though, there was a knock on the door. “I got it.” Spike said, walking to the door and wondering who it could be so late as he didn’t remember the girls bringing anything that they could forget. He opened the door… and blinked twice in surprise at what he was seeing. A griffon. A young, female one at that; most likely a teenager. Her body was composed of various shades of bluish-grey: the feathers around her lower-jaw and throat were the lightest, the top of her head and area around her eyes was darker, and the rest of her head and neck was somewhere in between. The lion-fur and tail was the same shade as the top of her head, bright yellow eagle-like hands, and her wings and end of her tail were the darkest parts. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Spike finally asked, “Uh, can I help you?” The griffon smiled brightly and grabbed one of Spike’s hands, shaking it enthusiastically. “Hey there, I’m Gabriella, but you can call me Gabby, I’m here to deliver a package to Twilight Sparkle from Gilda, the mayor said that she lives here.” She said in one breath. Twilight’s ears perked up. “I’m Twilight Sparkle.” She called out, making her way to the main entrance. Gabby reached into her satchel and pulled out a large, thick object from it, handing it over to the unicorn. “Here you go ma’am.” Immediately ripping off the packaging paper with her magic, Twilight stared in wonder at the tome in her grasp. Slightly thicker than her hoof, the worn black leather bindings mystified the scholar, the silver flower-patterns embroiled along the cover’s edges and the spine standing out greatly. However, what was truly eye catching was the stencil-like image of a dragon made from small pieces of thin metal that took up almost the entire cover, enchanted to not rust. “This must be the book Gilda said she had when I asked her about Void Dragons.” Twilight mused before looking up at the griffon. “Do you have a place to stay, Gabriella? It’s getting late and you’re welcome to stay the night.” She offered. “Thanks, I hope you don’t mind. And you can call me Gabby.” The post-griffon said as she entered the library foyer. “Do you want anything to drink Gabby? We still have a few biscuits on the table there.” Spike asked their guest. “Just some water will be fine, thanks.” Gabby replied, sitting on a cushion near Nyx as Spike went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. She turned to Twilight and asked, “If you don’t mind me asking, what did you want that book for? You have plenty of others here.” Twilight sat across from her mother, opening the book to the first page as she answered. “Yeah, I have plenty of books in my library, but none of them had so much as a reference to what I’m looking for.” Turning a couple of pages, she found something odd to her. “That’s weird, I didn’t think this was a story book.” From her position Nyx couldn’t tell what book it was, but when she heard Twilight mention Void Dragons and that it was a story book, she instantly knew. Then an idea struck her. “Why don’t I read it to you? If it’s the one I think it is, this book was one of your absolute favorites.” “Really? Well, if you’re offering.” Twilight gave the book over to Nyx who waited for Spike to sit down after giving Gabby her drink. When he did, she began to read… (A/N: read this like the story-book opening in the first episode and each line is a "page") Long ago, in a time forgotten by most, there was a mountain that stood taller than any other, believed to pierce the heavens themselves. Bald Mountain, it was called, and it was rife with mystery. One day, a grim day occurred. Bald Mountain shook and trembled before the stone came asunder. And from the rain of stone, great wings of metal and flame. Following the wings, the great and terrible beast that owned them. Within Bald Mountain rested a being ancient even then, one of great power and fury that could devour suns. This being was Mag’ladroth, the Void Dragon. It’s large and powerful wings caused immense winds that tore even the oldest trees from their roots. Why it awoke was never known, only that it sought the destruction of all matter of life in the world, it’s terrible breath of aetherial flames burning and aging all it touched into nothingness. Seeing their inevitable doom, the magi from across the world and all walks of life came together to seek a salvation. They needed something with a beast’s ferocity but a scholar’s intellect. Something that knew how to defiantly face impossible odds and not give in. One with power and weapons beyond their imagining. They made the preparations to summon such a being, and succeeded. However, instead of a single warrior, their saviour was a race. The Kingdom of Man. Man heard the cries and pleas of the people, and took the challenge of vanquishing Mag’ladroth. Man brought to this world from theirs their hulking monsters of metal and weapons the breathed fire and spat metal that roared like thunder. Man unleashed their instruments of mass destruction upon the Void Dragon, the battle against the ancient beast long and grueling, the lands remade in effect of the blows delivered. It was when Man utilised their vessels in the void that brought Mag’ladroth’s end, shattering its body of living metal into countless Shards. Man sought to collect these Shards, for they still held great power, as “payment for their services”. But they could not get to all in time. Many dragons believed Mag’ladroth to be the god of their race, and wished to possess its power, to become more like it, fusing themselves with the Shards. They were not the only ones. Others, whether intentional or not, also discovered and fused with Shards and gained a fraction of Mag’ladroth’s power. Because the stars seemed to burn brighter in the night sky at this time, Man, being the greater authority, gave these beings the name C’tan, meaning “star god”. Due to the number of dragons finding Shards and becoming C’tan, Man also named them as the Void Dragon sub-class, as they were the most common and bore similar attributes. All other C’tan were starkly different from each other, many of the variables being the environment of where the transformation took place, the race of the being that became the C’tan and the being themselves prior to fusing with the Shard. After many months most of the C’tan were destroyed, trying to fight against Man, while the rest went into hiding or left this world for another. Knowing that there were still Shards to be found and the hiding C’tan could become a threat, Man gave the people of this world the capability to create Tesseract Vaults, constructs designed to imprison any C’tan. With their deed done and spoils claimed, Man left the world and its people to rebuild it however they sure fit, creating the world we now know. Nyx stopped reading and took in the awed expressions of her audience. “Wow… to think something like that could even exist.” Twilight breathed. “Indeed.” Nyx agreed. “Now then, we’ve all hard a long and rough day, so let’s get to bed.” The pony, dragon and griffon before seemed read to object, but were halted when they simultaneously yawned. “I guess I am pretty tired after flying here all the way from Griffonstone.” Gabby muttered, trying to stifle another yawn. Twilight glanced at the nearest clock and widened her eyes. “Woah, I didn’t notice how late it’s gotten. Maybe we should go to bed.” She then asks Nyx and Gabby, “You two don’t mind sharing the guest room, right? I’m pretty sure we have two spare beds.” “I’m perfectly fine with the arrangements.” Nyx answered. “Yeah, I’m okay with that.” Added Gabby. Smiling, Twilight led the alicorn and griffon to the guest room on the second floor while Spike went straight to theirs. Once there, Gabby immediately took the far right bed and barely muttered a “Goodnight” before falling asleep from exhaustion. As Twilight was about to head to her room, Nyx embraced her with a wing. “Thank you for letting me read that story to you, Twilight. It reminded me of when your father and I did it when you were younger.” “You’re welcome, mom.” Twilight replied, returning the hug with a foreleg. When the mother-daughter pair separated, they wished each other sweet dreams and went to their respective beds and happily slept the night away.