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// 12 Bonds Remade 
// Story: Nyx Returns 
// by Bronyxy 
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There was a sudden twitching next to Twilight, shaking her from her morbid reverie. She had no idea how long it was since she had nuzzled down next to Nyx and given up on the world, but opened her eyes to see that it was as if the sun had started to rise, for all around her colours were leaching tentatively into their surroundings. This was Nyx’s dream, so this must mean that she was dreaming again, which meant she was alive!

Twilight allowed herself to believe positive thoughts for the first time since she had regained consciousness and looked down to see a pair of turquoise eyes looking back at her.
“Mom?” she asked hesitantly “You came back for me?”
Twilight nodded. There were so many things she wanted to say, had to say, but none more important than what she settled on.
“I love you, Nyx” she said with more feeling than she had ever put into those few simple words in her entire life.
Nyx smiled.

“Is Princess Luna awake yet?” she asked.
“No, not yet.”
“Then I would like to dream something that would make her happy.”
Twilight looked at the form of Luna laid out close to her and hoped, no, prayed that she would recover and rejoin them soon.

“I know a dream she would like” said Twilight, trying not to let the emotional feeling choking in her throat sound obvious “Can you put her on a bed under the light of giant purple flowers with a full moon in the sky and a waterfall behind? I know that’s her favourite place.”
“How do you know that, Mom?”
“I’m a dream walker too.”

As Twilight continued lying next to the Princess of the Night’s unmoving body, both she and her daughter constructed Luna’s nirvana around them so that she would see something happy when she woke up. It gave them something to do and distracted them both from the prospect that she may not wake ever again; Twilight explaining what she wanted and Nyx casting her mind’s eye around to realise what her Mom described and then tweaked it a little as Twilight remembered more details. Finally, it looked blissful.
“I want to keep this dream whatever happens” said Nyx “I kind of, well, you know, feel at home here.”
“Princess Luna would like that very much” said Twilight approvingly, fearing that it may yet be her only living legacy.

Back in Canterlot there were recriminations between the two Princesses as to which one had let Twilight go off to the dream realm whilst having only barely regained consciousness. The lilac pony herself in that dimension knelt with her legs tucked under her looking as enigmatic as the fabled sphinx, and betraying nothing about what she was seeing in the other dimension.

As Cadence turned away from her aunt in a huff following another unpleasant exchange of sharp words, she suddenly noticed Nyx stirring in her bed, and raced to her side, calling to Celestia as she went.
“Nyx, Nyx” she cooed as she rocked the filly gently, trying to bring her back from her slumbers “You can wake up now darling.”

“Mom! Mom!” called Nyx “I’m waking up!”
“Fight it off!” replied Twilight with some urgency “If you wake, your dream will disappear and then I don’t know what will happen to Luna and me. You must stay asleep!”
“I’ll do my best, but how do I do it?”
“Focus on the beautiful world you have created for Princess Luna. Look at the flowers, the moon and marvel at how pretty they all are; you did say how much you liked it here.”
Twilight hoped that her daughter had the willpower to resist whatever forces were trying to wake her, in spite of all she had been through.

“Don’t wake her!” called Celestia when she saw what Cadence was doing.
“What experience do you have of bringing up children?” bit back Cadence, still upset from their previous argument.
“No Cadence, its not that at all” she replied “It’s just that her dream could be the only thing providing safety for Luna and Twilight. We don’t know what it’s like up there, but we can be sure that when it’s safe, Twilight will let us know somehow” said Celestia lowering her voice.
Cadence suddenly realised the wisdom of what her aunt had said and regretted the rashness of her instinctive action, straightening Nyx’s bedclothes before backing away from the filly.

“And yes, you’re right, I don’t have your experience of bringing up children” said Celestia sadly “Whether I want to or not, I am barren and will never be gifted with the luxury of feeling that pleasure.”
Cadence suddenly forgot all about their earlier misunderstandings and walked over to her aunt to give her a gentle nuzzle.
“I’m sorry” she cooed softly “I’m so sorry.”

Both mares hugged in a deep familial embrace of the type that had been missing between them ever since Cadence could remember. Celestia dwelled for a moment on the gift that most mares in Equestria would share at some time, that of giving birth to a foal that they could love as their own and a sad damp trickle ran down either side of her muzzle. Cadence noticed, but said nothing and held the white pony close as she too felt tears forming in her eyes.
“I’m sorry too Cadence” said the most powerful pony in Equestria, remorsefully “It’s just that …”
“Hush now” whispered Cadence, letting the intensity of her hug speak for her more eloquently than words ever could.

“I’m OK now” said Nyx to her Mom “I’ve got it under control again.”
“Well done Nyx” praised Twilight “You’ve done a good job here; I can’t wait for Luna to see it for herself.”
“How do you think she is, Mom?”
“I don’t know. Can you remember what happened?”

“When you left us, Princess Luna cast a spell that joined us together; you know, like two of us in the same body. I think it was something to do with joining the magic from each of us, but only having to protect one body to keep us both safe. I remember seeing you direct all that magic at us and everything going red, and then I think I had some bad dreams, but I don’t remember too clearly. I do remember Princess Luna separating us when things got bad and I was really frightened that she might leave me, but she didn’t – she just faced it all by herself … on her own …”

“I think we should give her a bit more time yet then” said Twilight, picturing the image of the defiant dark alicorn facing the combined power of three alicorns and the malevolent entity infecting her with its abhorrent dreams against a background of burning red, whilst all the time keeping Nyx safe. She let out a solitary sob, imagining Luna's courage as she lived up to the promise she had given to protect her daughter. She couldn’t help it, but one sob led to another and soon she was crying with the anguish of mixed emotions swirling around inside her; she had Nyx, but she may have lost Luna …
“Please don’t leave me” she whispered into the ear of the midnight blue mare.

It was now a whole day since the ruling quadrature had risen to defend Equestria from the attack of the malevolent dream invader and Celestia, now feeling a lot more alert had taken no truck whatsoever from the moon when she had commanded it to rise. A combination of snacks had been brought to Princess Luna’s chambers, but with a noticeably evident bias towards cakes.

Although Celestia and Cadence were both concerned about Luna, they were concurrently coming to grips with not having to perform royal duties; such tasks having been delegated to trusted deputies before they left. For Cadence as the junior of the two, this wasn’t such a big deal, but Celestia was showing signs of strain due to not being at the heart of decision making on a minute by minute basis. However, she had learned from her previous episodes with Cadence that she had to keep a tighter rein on her fractured emotions so as not to cause friction, even if it killed her inside.

In the dream realm too, Twilight and Nyx kept their vigil. They had no idea about the passage of time, but with each minute the tension ratcheted one more click. Nyx was finding it difficult to hold the dream together in spite of Twilight’s best efforts, and she would have to be allowed to wake before much longer.

Suddenly, Luna kicked out with all four legs simultaneously in both realms and gasped as if she had just surfaced from having held her breath for too long underwater, her eyelids snapping wide open revealing her eyes to be the colour of moonstones. In the dream realm and in Canterlot, Luna’s very closest family and friends watched stunned, waiting for her next move.

Her forelegs moved, like she was searching for something and under the blanket in Canterlot, her forehooves made contact with the Wand and her body stopped moving. In the dream realm, she relaxed as her eyes returned to normal and she tried to adjust her head to the reality in which it found itself.
“Luna” said the lilac Princess softly “It’s me, Twilight. You’re safe.”
She noticed an imperceptible twitch of her midnight blue ear and took a chance she was listening.
“I love you Luna. I’m so glad you’re back.”
With that, she snuggled in close and draped her lilac wing over the recovering form of the pony she so wished would be her marefriend.

“Twilight” she heard her name as softly as a summer breeze.