The door to the school kitchen flew open with an audible crack as it hit the wall. The girl flinched, lighting her horn to pull the door back, checking for any damage. Nothing, thank goodness. But back to the problem at hoof.
The date. She’d forgotten the date. It was their first date in who-knows-how-long and she’d forgotten it. So now she had an hour to create a big fancy meal and get it down to the gazebo. No pressure.
She dropped her bag to the floor and removed her notebook, where she’d written down everything she planned to make. A quick look at the notes and all hope was gone. Stuffed collard greens? Mushroom tarts? Pasta puttanesca? Apple cupcakes? This would take hours to make, at this rate, she’d only have enough time to make a few sandwiches. But oh, how she wanted to surprise him, as he had for her on their first date. It seems now that it wouldn’t happen.
Unless…
Nyx’s eyes drifted to the leather-bound corner poking out of the edge of her bag. A little dark magic couldn’t hurt...not for a good cause, at least.
She grabbed the book. There had to be a spell for fancy food. There was a spell for practically everything else anyone could ever need. She flipped through the book, past spells, charms, jinxes, hexes, potions, for everything from uneven hooves to things that she was sure even Nightmare Moon wouldn’t dare try.
Soon enough she came upon something that would work: a transfiguration spell, specifically to transform one type of food into another, as anyone who studied magic would know it is impossible to conjure food out of nothing. One could summon food, if they knew where it was, or could change the type and increase the quantity of what they already have.
‘A Principal Exemption to Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration,’ Nyx thought to herself, ‘Nightmare made sure I knew that one.’
So she could make four simple sandwiches and transform them into each of the foods she planned to make. Then she could transfigure it to what she needed. That wouldn’t really be considered dark magic. It was just food. Lots of creatures use transfiguration magic. Sure the source she was getting the spell from was questionable, but if it didn’t take so much energy to perform it, the spell would be performed a lot more often by the average pony, not just the very powerful. It’d be fine.
***
The gazebo was as old as the school itself. Back when the school was under Celestia’s command, it was a favorite study spot for young Unicorns. Quiet and isolated, it made a perfect spot to practice Professor Inkwell’s lessons. Now, with most students preferring the state-of-the-art library and study halls, it was perfect for a young couple to get away from the paparazzi for a date.
Nyx arrived first. She cleared out the brush and vines that had grown over the benches and table in the past years. Once that was complete, the meal was spread over the table. She’d just gotten the last dish in place when she heard Will whistling up the lane. He stopped at the edge of the tree line.
“Hello, dear lady!” he called, “How are you this fine evening?”
Nyx let out a laugh and leaned over the side of the gazebo. “Why, delightful, my king! Isn’t the view here just splendid? Such scope for the imagination!”
Will stepped closer and pressed their foreheads together. “I concur.”
“I’ve missed this,” the filly sighed, “Just getting to be us. No messing up in front of a camera.”
“Speaking of being us,” Will started as he climbed up onto the gazebo, “what’s up with the glasses?”
“They’ve been back for a while now.”
“We haven’t been alone long enough for me to ask for a while either. I thought you weren’t going to hide your eyes anymore? What changed?”
Nyx dodged the question. “We have more important things to catch up on,” she admonished, a hoof coming up to fiddle with her new necklace. “Sit, eat. I’ve made mushroom tarts for you and stuffed collard greens for both of us, because I don’t like mushrooms, and for an entree, we have pasta puttanesca, and apple cupcakes for dessert.”
“This is amazing, all my favorites! How long did you find time for this, it must have taken days!”
“Oh, don’t even ask me! Now, tell me more about this traveling idea.”
The colt complied, laying out his plans while Nyx dished up their plates. “Well we’re going to Bridleway, of course, we already have the tickets, but I figured we could go a few days early and explore Manehattan. And Luna Bay is a pretty popular spring break spot, and I happen to know of a quiet little cove. I read online that Hoofflix is filming a Bo Moolaney show in Las Pegasus soon. I know how much you like his comedy, so maybe we can get some tickets.”
The Alicorn smiled. “That sounds wonderful.”
Will returned the grin. His horn flared and he gripped a fork in his magic, cut off a piece of his mushroom tart, and lifted it to his lips. His eyes rolled back. “You’ve outdone yourself, love,” he sighed, “This is the best tart I’ve ever tasted.”
The appetizers were gone within moments, and the pasta dish wasn’t far behind. Nyx had really developed a passion for cooking and baking that rivaled her love for painting and magic. Her favorite meal, daisy sandwiches and celery soup, was simple and easy to prepare, so she turned to the dishes her loved ones were partial to. Lady loved sushi, specifically an avocado and mango brown rice roll. Flare’s favorite was carrot cake. Shade’s was Manehattan-style deep dish pizza, with onions, olives, and green peppers. Nova and Sunny shared a love for cloud cake, though Nova preferred chocolate flavored and Sunny was partial to strawberry. Lolly’s favorite was flan, and while she boasts that she’s never tasted one better than her mother’s, she begrudgingly admitted Nyx’s was a close rival.
She spent weeks perfecting the recipes for Will’s favorites in preparation for their picnic, with her friends as her taste testers, and the colt in question none the wiser to what she was up to. She’d even learned to make pasta from scratch. It was really too bad she didn’t get a chance to actually make it.
“Do you have napkins?” Will asked.
Nyx looked up to see the colt had somehow managed to get tomato sauce on the tip of his muzzle. She started snickering.
“Yeah yeah, laugh it up!” Will said dryly, which only prompted more laughter. He smirked and quoted the filly. “Well, I guess you can dress me up, but you still can’t take me anywhere.”
Nyx laughed even harder, remembering how awkward she’d been on their first date. Her laughter choked out, however, when her eyes focused on the hoof Will was reaching in the picnic basket.
“I can get the napkins!” she cried, reaching out but it was too late. Confusion was written across the colt’s face as he pulled the spell book from within.
“What’s this?” he asked, flipping it open. He paged through the passages the filly had marked. “Memory Enhancement spell,” she’d spent ‘every spare moment reading up on Equestrian history’, “repairing charm,” she was wearing her glasses again, glasses that were destroyed in their battle with Nightmare Moon, “food transfiguration, a Principal Exemption to Gamp’s Law of…” food prepared so quickly, “Nyx, are you still using dark-hey!” Will had looked up to find his head encased in the filly’s pale blue aura. He flared his own horn, blocking out the girl’s magic.
“I-I can expla-”
“Are you trying to spell me right now?!” he shouted, leaping to his hooves, his chair falling backward with the force of the motion. Nyx slowly stood up and backed away, a front hoof held out in a pleading motion.
“Look, I’ve had a hard time wi-”
“You think being a king at sixteen isn’t hard?!” Will shouted, “Hate to break it to you, but it is! And yet I haven’t resorted to dark magic and sorcery! We’re supposed to be learning what to do together!”
“That is so easy for you to say!” the girl fired back, “You’ve had your entire life to prepare for this, I’ve had six months! Six! Months!”
“You can’t just lie and cheat your way out of difficult situations!”
“Since your coronation, everything I’ve done, said, and, dear Celestia, even thought has been calculated and critically assessed so my actions don’t reflect badly on you!”
“Then why use dark magic!” Will yelled, dropping the book on the table.
“Because it was all I had! I couldn’t do it alone!” Nyx retorted, her voice breaking. “I’m not one of those fair Equestrian Princesses, Will! I couldn’t...I can’t be the perfect lady you need me to be. I can’t. I’m not good enough.”
The fight left Will as quickly as it had appeared. The filly flared her magic and snatched up the book. She pushed past the colt.
“Nyx, wait!” he pleaded, catching her hoof in his own as she passed. She jerked away.
“Don’t bother!” she seethed, sped to a run, and disappeared down the lane.
***
The door slammed shut behind the Alicorn. She threw her spell book onto her bed and paced around the dorm, thankful Lady wouldn’t be back from studying with Doub until just before curfew. If she were here, she’d ask questions and Nyx was not in the mood for questions. She paused briefly at the closet she shared with the Changeling before slowly opening it.
The closet was a moderate size; walk-in, just big enough for both girls. Lady’s clothes were on the left, Nyx’s on the right. A single row of frilly, pastel-colored dresses, blouses, and skirts. No more cracked old leather or tight-fitting jeans. Not for a future mare of the court.
However, she was never able to bring herself to throw any of it away. Tucked away at the back was a box, filled with every item of clothing she’d brought with her from the Island, and the little bit of her old style she’d accumulated in Equestria before she turned it all over in exchange for outfits more appropriate of a lady. At the top of the box lay her favorite jacket.
She had found it one garbage day, nestled between a broken video game console and a pile of musty, moldy old children’s books. It was practically brand new, and while it wasn’t made for one with wings, it wasn’t anything a pocket knife couldn’t fix. She’d been thirteen then and wore the jacket every day.
She put it on now, the weight of the leather more comforting than she’d remembered. Despite being packed away for months, it still carried its warm, almost sunshine-like feel. It almost made her drowsy. Nyx exited the closet and caught sight of herself in her mirror.
Equestrian blue lace versus studded Island leather. She sniffed. It was an almost perfect metaphor for her own predicament. Equestrian lady versus Island denizen. If Nightmare Moon, and therefore Luna, had never been banished, she would have been born here. She might have been the blonde-haired, pale-coated princess Will needed at his side. Instead, she was raised on the Island, with a midnight coat and the purple mane that was peeking out at her roots. Born for one world, and raised in another. Belonging, it seemed, to neither.
Tears spilled from her eyes again. “I don’t know who I am anymore,” she whispered.
But she did know one thing: she couldn’t handle Equestria anymore.
The Island was a different story. She was born there. She spent the majority of her life there. She ruled there.
That she could handle.
She unclasped her necklace and laid it out on her nightstand. Her glasses were placed on top of it. Then she turned to her saddlebags. She dumped out her school supplies to make room for what she’d need. She changed out of her dress into clothes from the Island and packed another set. Her sketchbook and a pack of pencils. Her spell book. A few pieces of cheap jewelry from various thrift stores and arcades that weren’t worth much here but would be on the Island. Moving to her bed, the filly reached under her pillow and got the hoofball jersey she wore to bed. A framed picture of all her friends taken at the coronation afterparty was added along with the jersey. She could stop by the kitchen for a food supply. Who knows when she’d find food again. She snagged a few bills from her wallet and tucked them into a pocket hidden inside her jacket. It wasn’t stealing if she paid for what she took.
With her bag packed, Nyx grabbed a notebook from the pile she’d emptied out and a pencil from her desk. She couldn’t just disappear. She had to tell Lady.
‘Lady,’ she wrote, ‘Don’t come looking for me. It’s better this way. Will and I had a fight and it made me realize how foolish I’ve been. I don’t belong here, and I certainly don’t deserve him. He needs someone who knows what she’s doing, and that’s not me. I’m going back to the Island. Again, don’t come after me. I’ll be okay. You all can keep my stuff. I’m taking what’s important to me,’ she paused, then, ‘Tell the boys ‘bye’ for me. Tell Princess Luna,’ she stopped again, erased, ‘Tell my mom I’m sorry. Maybe we’ll see each other again one day. I love you. -Nyx.’
As the girl set the notepad down, she remembered the small weight on her horn. A ring. Will’s ring. The one with his family crest, the one he gave her at his coronation. She’d barely taken it off since then. She took it off now and set it by the note.
‘P.S.,’ she added, ‘give Will his ring back for me. Tell him to give it to someone who’s worthy of it.’
***
Flying had its perks. For example, it took maybe an hour to get to the coast, whereas a train or carriage would have taken until long after dark, maybe into the next day. And while the latter options would have saved her poor wings much pain, it would run the risk of getting recognized or questioned. Flying was better.
Nyx sat on the edge of a cliff, eating an apple. It wasn’t filling but she wanted to save the heartier foods for her arrival. She flipped through her spell book. The Island was protected by a powerful barrier. Luckily there was a spell that, if cast just before she reached the wall, would make her impervious to the barrier’s spell just long enough for her to get inside. But the barrier’s magic blocked any other magic from getting in, so once she was there, she was there for good. No matter. That's what she wanted.
She finished off the apple and tossed it into a wire trash can. With the book tucked away, she was ready to go. She readied herself and took off. Rocky shore turned to miles and miles of endless sea as ocean winds both fought and helped her on her journey. The Island was approaching fast. She flared her horn. She had one shot. There was a bright light. A feeling like ice water trickled down her spine, so cold it burned more than any fire. And then she was crashing into a market stall.
The girl picked herself up, ignoring the shouts of an angry old mare. She looked herself over. She could feel bruises forming under her coat, but that wasn’t what had her attention. The magic keeping her coat grey was melting off, leaving a dark, midnight black in its wake.
The mare, furious at the girl for bursting through the barrier into her stall and then ignoring her, snatched the filly by her blonde mane, prepared to give her a piece of her mind. Nyx whirled around, pupils dilated, a vicious snarl etched on her lips. She bared her teeth and let out a roar. The mare screamed and bolted.
Nyx watched her run, amused. A wicked gleam reflected in her eyes. A familiar old chuckle rumbled in her chest. She was home.
***
Will sat at his desk, slowly making his way through the mountain of paperwork on his desk. His mind wasn’t on the task, however. He kept going over the fight with Nyx. Had he really not noticed what she was going through? What she’d been doing for him? How had he been so clueless? He would apologize, but he’d give her time to cool down.
A bright light flashed in front of his desk. Within a few whirlwind seconds, an angry Changeling had hopped over his desk, shoved him, still in his chair, against the wall, and had ripped his pen away from him with her own magic and held it to his throat like a weapon.
“You have five seconds to tell me what you did,” she seethed.
“Wh-what? Listen, we just had an argument, I’ll let her cool down and then I’ll apolo-” a piece of paper was shoved in his face.
“She left!” Lady screeched.
“She...she what?” Will sat up straight, taking the paper and reading his marefriend’s writing.
“After all she’s done for you! I don’t think she’s slept more than a few hours a night in months! I had to force her to put down that princess manual Sunny gave her because she’d been reading for two days, two days, and she didn’t eat the whole time! She passed out in a hallway twice from exhaustion and dehydration and she wouldn’t let anyone know because she wanted to prove she could do this! She didn’t think she was worthy of you, but in my opinion, you don’t deserve her! Everything she did was to benefit you, and you picked a fight over her only way to cope. If she didn’t love you so much, I swear, I’d kill you myself!” Lady breathed hard, her voice raw from screaming.
Will sat in dumb disbelief. “She left.” Something clinked on his desk. His ring.
“She went back to the Island. We’re considered traitors there, she’s practically walking into a death trap.”
“Well then I need to go get her!” the colt lept to his hooves, “I need to find her and apologize! A-and beg her to come home!”
“You’re not going alone,” the Changeling sighed, “As much as I hate you right now, I’m going to help you. You wouldn’t last a minute. I’ll get the boys; Shade knows Nyx’s territory better than I do, and Flare’s a genius.”
Will nodded. He gulped and backed away from the pen she wielded like a sword. “Thank you.”
The girl looked him over and tutted. He wore pressed beige slacks and a deep blue suit jacket with his family crest stitched in gold thread on the back. Much too kingly. “You’ll need a disguise. If anyone sees you dressed like that, they’ll tear you to shreds.”