Nightfall had experienced many wonders since her return to life. None of those had prepared her for ice cream.
Her fears of discovery, the fear and anger her friends still held from her time as Nightmare Moon, all that faded into the background. She sat across the table from Midnight, who had herself a tall glass of something dark brown instead of a bowl with a spoon.
All her questions about where the ice might’ve come from and how it could be brought here faded into the background, and instead she only managed to splutter. “What’s yours?”
“Mint chocolate milkshake,” she answered, pushing it across the table toward her. They sat in a tucked away part of Sugarcube Corner, at a booth that was mostly concealed behind candies so colorful that they hurt her eyes to look at. Sapphire Breeze had come too, and Nightfall no longer felt self-conscious around her. She’d been there through their second trip to the Everfree. If nothing else would prove to Nightfall that the pegasus was on her side, it was that.
Nightfall stared up at the milkshake, sitting up in the wooden bench and craning her neck. She wouldn’t have known what to do with the clear stick emerging from it, except she’d seen Midnight do it. She stuck her mouth on it, then tried to make the same sucking sound.
She was overwhelmed all over again, far more than her bowl of plain white had done. She recognized the chocolate flavor in there, though the rest was new to her.
This is what I almost destroyed. Equestria has all these wonderful things, and I wanted to ruin it for everypony. The shake turned sour in her mouth, and she pushed it back.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t want to start you on something like this. Vanilla is a good first one.”
Sapphire Breeze didn’t have anything overwhelming or strange in front of her, just a few bits of fruit dipped in chocolate. She took a big bite into a strawberry, grinning ruefully. “It’s a guilty pleasure. A pony shouldn’t eat like this very often if they want to stay healthy.”
Well so much for asking if they could bring some home so she could have some of this every day. But that wasn’t even her first concern anymore. “It’s not that…”
“Oh.” Midnight watched her from across the table, slitted eyes sharp. She glanced into the shop, searching for ponies who might overhear. But there was only the pink pony who’d served them in right now, and she was busy frosting a cake. The kirin still spoke in a quiet voice, just above a whisper. “I think I understand, Nightfall. What keeps happening, I mean.”
Nightfall perked up, though she couldn’t really hide the doubt she was feeling. “I know it was hard for you growing up too. Being different. But it’s not the same. You didn’t deserve ponies hating you. I do.”
“Nightmare Moon hurt a lot of ponies,” Sapphire Breeze said, apparently startling Midnight as much as it did Nightfall. But this was a different angle than Nightfall had heard before, even if it was a painful one. “But that was a long time ago, Nightfall. It was so long ago that ponies today didn’t even remember when she came back. It was so long ago that when she came back there were only two ponies in Equestria looking for her—Celestia and her apprentice.”
Midnight made an unhappy clicking sound with her tail against the underside of the table. Nightfall couldn’t tell what it was, but the adults seemed to be communicating something just by looking at each other.
“Here’s the point. The ponies Nightmare Moon hurt aren’t around anymore. She scared Ponyville a little when she came back, sure… but nothing that bad happened that night.”
Not for lack of trying. She hadn’t been fighting the town maybe, but there were the Elements of Harmony. If they had been a little less competent… Nightfall shook her head vigorously, trying to banish the unfamiliar thoughts.
“I think she gets it,” Midnight said, reaching across the table with a wing and resting it briefly on Nightfall’s hoof. “But no matter who they’re talking about, it isn’t right for Nightfall to be the one feeling guilty about it. Your friends at school aren’t afraid of you. They’re afraid of the things someone else did. You don’t have to be her if you don’t want to be.”
Nightfall had heard that before, though, and she wasn’t sure how much she believed it. But the door had opened, and a group of little ponies were making their way inside. She recognized them at once—it was Aura and Featherweight, the ones she’d thought might be her friends. “See, I told you she was in here,” Aura whispered, but not nearly quiet enough that she couldn’t overhear. Nightfall watched them come, even as the adults pretended not to notice.
I don’t want them to hate me, she thought. But here’s where you’ll see. They saw through my disguise. They don’t want me in Ponyville.
“Hey, Nightfall!” called Featherweight, from a few feet away. “You think when you’re done you could come out and play Touchball with us? We’re short a player, Zipporwhill’s left for a trip to Trottingham, so…”
Her eyes widened. She could see no trace of recognition on their faces, no fear. Maybe she’s right. They don’t think I’m Nightmare Moon. Maybe she could have friends after all.
So long as they never find out.
She looked up, at Midnight. “Twilight is expecting us. But I’m sure that meeting won’t take very long. You can play with your friends as soon as we’re done with her.”
The ice cream had been wonderful—but now she left it behind, scooting away from her chair. “Then I’m done eating. Let’s go talk to Twilight.”
The meeting passed in a blur to Nightfall. Twilight’s library was nice, and the librarian herself seemed kind, if more reserved and less friendly than Cheerilee. She kept glancing up at the window, checking to see that her friends were still outside.
Equestria or at least Ponyville had become a far safer place than the one she remembered out of the mists of history. It didn’t seem the least bit odd that young colts and fillies were running around unsupervised. They’ve tamed all the monsters.
“I’ve got bad news,” Twilight said, pulling Nightfall’s attention back to the meeting. They sat in her kitchen, with the little purple dragon busying himself with their tea. Tea that Nightfall hadn’t touched, since she was plenty full from ice cream.
Nightfall’s heart sank as she heard it, and a dozen images appeared before her. All the different ways Equestria might change its mind and decide to lock her up somewhere. Maybe in Tartarus, where nothing evil could ever escape.
“Celestia’s best wizards have finished investigating the summoning ritual. Nopony told me the magical specifics, but… they did tell me something. There was only one rare ingredient in that spell, and it won’t help track the culprits. They needed a unicorn with certain sympathetic connections to an Alicorn for fuel—me. As far as they can tell, that was the only thing the ritual used beyond magical tools you could get at unicorn shops all over Equestria. No dragonheart or chimera venom, I’m afraid. Nothing to trace through the market.”
“A dead end,” Midnight said. “You mean the investigation hit a dead end. We won’t be able to find the cult.” Then she eyed Twilight sternly, glancing briefly back at Nightfall. Though she didn’t say a word, even Nightfall could guess what she was thinking. And you said it around her?
I want to know, Midnight. It’s me they’re looking for. But she kept her mouth shut, pawing at the couch. She didn’t feel brave enough to say that around this powerful unicorn.
“Unfortunately,” Twilight said, apparently oblivious to Midnight’s anger. “The number of ponies who know of my connection to Celestia is… big. Ever since the whole Elements of Harmony thing, we ended up in the newspapers a few times, and…” She shook her head. “Well, that list includes basically anypony in Equestria who reads.”
She focused on Nightfall, looking sympathetic. “I’m sorry I don’t have better news. Celestia wanted me to tell you that she’s still doing everything she can to protect you, and she’ll keep her best ponies in Ponyville for the duration.” She sipped her own tea, emptying her third glass. “For both of us, actually. They might need both of us if they want to finish the ritual, so… we’re in this together.”
She passed the empty glass to her dragon with a glowing horn. “I just hope you all know you’ve got friends here in Ponyville. These aren’t the first ponies trying to hurt Equestria, and they won’t be the last. We’ll stop them.”
That was right, Nightfall did have friends in Ponyville. And she wanted to get back to them. She pushed away from the chair, glancing at the window. “Midnight, can I… can I be excused? It’s getting dark outside, and… we won’t be able to play soon.”
“Sure.” Midnight didn’t make any sign of caring what Twilight thought. “You go ahead, sweetie. Just stay where I can see you from the window.”
Nightfall didn’t stay a second longer than she had to. She could dimly hear the adults switch to the conversation Twilight sounded like she had been itching to ask about, something about kirins and how rare they had been in Equestria. That was all plenty interesting to Nightfall, but not enough to keep her there. Whatever curiosity she might’ve had for the mysteries Twilight didn’t feel like sharing when she was around, the temptation to spend time with her new friends was just too strong.
Nothing out of the ordinary happened after that, nor indeed during the next few weeks to come. Nightfall gradually adjusted to a life in Ponyville, surrounded by ponies who were still recovering from actions she remembered in her earliest memories. But at least they didn’t keep repeating the story. What Aura had said about living in Ponyville was apparently true—it really did feel like a great deal of Equestria’s dangers decided to come to Ponyville first.
Nightfall had few memories she could call her own—but as time passed, she began to feel like the town was home.
And she wasn’t the only one. She couldn’t be sure, but Midnight seemed to get less suspicious around Sapphire in their home. Nightfall herself began to expect her there every day—and was relieved to have somepony else around to talk to. Where Midnight would protect her and make her feel safe, Sapphire wouldn’t keep from sharing something scary to make her feel better. Sometimes she wanted to know what was out there.
To a child’s eyes, Ponyville was the most wonderful, welcoming town, full of miracles like electricity and ice cream. She didn’t notice the increasing number of strange visitors passing through, or of a handful of strange ponies that had started watching the school.
Smokescreen set the report down in front of Spell Nexus. It was the most detailed report he’d ever made—at least a dozen words in there, and most of them didn’t even overlap. Of course, he was most proud of the pictures. Getting a camera close enough to the school hadn’t been easy.
“You’re certain?” Spell Nexus asked from across the train, his voice so quiet that he could barely hear it over the rattling from the tracks. “This pony has been under our noses the whole time? She never even left Ponyville?”
“Looks like it,” Smokescreen said. “They don’t give out city records about minors, but I borrowed ‘em anyway. It’s the next page, under my excellent description. Reads like a cover story if ever I read one. No real filly has that much written about her.”
Spell Nexus raised a dark eyebrow. “You’re saying you know this is her because the documents about her are so detailed?”
“I know it’s a cover story because it’s not real. I got an uncle in Motherlode, see. Sent a telegram. He ain’t never heard of no ‘Nightfall Storm’ there. And she kind of stands out in a town full of earth ponies.”
“She does look the part,” Nexus agreed. “Except that she isn’t an Alicorn. That’s an important detail.”
“That’s where the pictures come in.” Smokescreen sounded even more pleased with himself. “That headband—she’s never taken it off. Not in the yearbook, not at the Touchball tournament… nowhere. That’s her, boss. That’s our Queen. All glory to her majesty and that, right?”
“All glory to the true queen of Equestria,” Nexus recited. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but excellent work, Smokescreen. Perhaps the Children of Nightmare has some use for you after all. I’m sure there will be much for you to do in the days ahead. We must complete what we’ve started, and return the power that was stolen from her. But until then… you must remain where you are. Make certain she does not leave Ponyville. When we are ready to complete the ritual, we will know where to find her.”