“What are you doing in here dearie?” came a gentle female voice, “This ain’t no place for youngsters, especially not in the dead of night.”
“Twilight” the sobbing filly choked “I want Twilight.”
“What, the Princess herself?” asked the kindly mare, “She ain’t for the likes of you and me to go disturbing. Now how’s about you tell me what’s wrong?”
Nyx looked up to see a Bat Pony serving maid wearing an apron and matching frilly hat kneeling down beside her, a tray of used plates on the floor by her side. As soon as she saw Nyx’s face, she gasped and recoiled.
“Oh my!” she gasped, backing away nervously “Your eyes! You’re … you’re Nightmare Moon!”
“Twilight!” called Nyx, “Please, I want Twilight!”
“I don’t want no evil pony attacking Princess Twilight, not with our Princess Luna and Princess Celestia away in the Crystal Empire. No, that won’t do at all!”
But something in the maid’s voice softened as she recalled that Nightmare Moon was a full grown pony, and the distraught filly in front of her was just a filly. She also couldn’t imagine Nightmare Moon crying for anypony and her compassion took over. She approached once more, a little more warily, but still driven by the same kindness she had shown when she was first drawn by this filly’s tears.
“Hush now” she soothed, gently stroking the sobbing filly, “You’re not Nightmare Moon, are you?”
Nyx shook her head sadly, not feeling confident enough to look the maid in the eye in case the sight of her distinctive eyes set her off again.
“So you wanted Princess Twilight, did you?” she asked. Nyx nodded, her tears drying up as she began to trust the kindly Bat Pony.
“Why do you want her?” she probed, still harbouring residual doubts, “And in the dead of night too?”
“She’s my Mom” Nyx whispered.
The maid was taken aback at this but decided to lead the filly to the guards outside Twilight’s chambers – they would be sure to know what to do for the best.
They walked through the corridors, exchanging little in the way of conversation, each taking a chance on trusting the other. When they approached Twilight’s chambers, the maid saw the guards spring to attention.
“I have with me a filly” she said, “Says she’s Princess Twilight’s daughter.”
“You’re new here aren’t you?” the nearest of the two guards observed, breaking from his aggressive stance, then turning his attention to the filly, “What’s the matter Nyx?”
“I … I want my Mom” she replied.
“She really is Princess Twilight’s daughter?” gasped the maid.
“Yes” replied the guard, turning to the filly, “What’s the matter? Is there anything we need to know about?“
Nyx shook her head, “I just want my Mom, please.”
The maid watched as the guard entered the Royal chambers and emerged less than a minute later with a bleary-eyed Princess Twilight.
“Nyx” she said, “Is everything alright?”
Nyx rushed forward and gave her a big hug, tears of relief replacing her earlier tears of anguish.
“This maid found her and brought her along to us” explained the guard.
The maid stared open mouthed. “Glad I could help, your Majesty” she stammered, recovering her composure and curtseying deeply.
“Thank you” said Twilight, drawing Nyx into her chambers, “Thank you all. Now if you’ll excuse us, I think we would like a little privacy.”
Twilight drew Nyx close and cuddled her lovingly as she calmed down. She didn’t say anything, she didn’t need to, she just held her daughter and stroked her gently.
“Mom” the filly whispered, “I don’t ever want to be Nightmare Moon again.”
“You won’t Nyx” comforted Twilight, “It’s all in the past.”
“But I saw it all again tonight. Clearer than I ever have before. I was a bad pony.”
“None of that was your fault, Nyx. You’ve been forgiven. It’s alright.”
After a long pause for reflection Nyx looked into her mother’s eyes.
“Would you like to see what I’ve done in the night sky?” she asked.
“Of course” replied Twilight, putting up an act to convince her daughter that she wasn’t tired, and wanted pretty much more than anything else to be sound asleep. She went to her windows and opened the door to her balcony, leading the way for them both to step out into the night air.
“There” said Nyx, pointing.
Sure enough, there were two familiar cutie marks shining down from the night sky. Twilight drew her daughter close and held her.
“What happened, Nyx?” she asked gently.
There was silence for a long while before she received an answer.
“Somepony called me ‘Your Majesty’, and suddenly I remembered all those ponies I had heard say that to me and what I made them do. I treated them all very badly. That’s why they all deserted me in the end.”
Twilight felt a strong pang of sadness for the pain that had been inflicted on her daughter by circumstances beyond her control and held her tighter.
“That wasn’t you, Nyx. That was what the cult made you do. You have had judgement passed on you and have paid in full. Don’t keep beating yourself up. It’s all in the past and you have been forgiven.”
She felt Nyx pull her tighter.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get over it” she said.
“Have you finished your duties for the night?” asked Twilight.
“No. I haven’t done the dream walking yet.”
“Is that important?”
“It’s one of only two jobs that Princess Luna gave me to do, so I have to think it is.”
“Can you manage by yourself, or do you want me to be with you?”
Twilight had long realised that she would not be getting any sleep during the rest of the night and was worried that if she tried, she would probably oversleep or Nyx may lose her self-confidence and not lower the moon. No, she had to stay awake now and live with the consequences tomorrow – her daughter needed her.
“Can you come with me, please?” she asked timidly.
“Of course. It’s magic and I don’t know about it. Hey, don’t you think that the bearer of the Element of Magic should know these things? Come on …” said Twilight, genuine enthusiasm pumping through her tired mind.
Nyx led her to Luna’s study where two guards greeted her.
“Carpe noctem, your Majesty” one said.
Nyx froze, fighting down the fear of that title once more, desperately trying not to ride that escalator back into her troubled past.
“Carpe noctem, your Majesty” said the guard again, looking suddenly a while lot more attentive.
Nyx pulled herself back, recalling what her mother had told her and knowing that she was there with her gave her strength to face her fears.
“Carpe vitam” Nyx replied, “Sorry, it’s been a difficult night.”
“Yes, your Majesty” he acknowledged, returning to attention “Thank you, your Majesty.”
The words still grated like fingernails across the blackboard of her psyche, but somehow it was a little easier this time and some of her confidence began to return.
As Twilight followed Nyx in to the study, she gasped in wonder at what she saw. Next to Luna, she was the one pony in the whole of Equestria who could fully appreciate what was laid out in front of her.
“Luna never told me about this!” she marvelled.
“Come on Mom” urged Nyx, “There’s something else I’ve got to show you first.”
Twilight’s hooves followed her daughter’s, but her head stayed behind as long as it could, craning to scan the indescribably rare collection that filled the walls of the room as they climbed up the spiral staircase.
They emerged out into the penthouse meditation room with its unrivalled views of the night time vista and Twilight was once again speechless with admiration, marvelling at Luna’s carefully concealed sanctuary of which she had never previously been aware.
“This is where I do the dream walking Mom.”
“What do you want me to do, Nyx.”
“Can you stay with me? You don’t have to wait up here; you can be downstairs if you like, but I just want to know you’re near me.”
“I’ll be downstairs if you need me” said Twilight as she watched Nyx prepare the room, making notes about the solitary magical ritual unfolding before her that she had never seen before, but as soon as Nyx had transcended into a trance-like state, she slipped silently back down the spiral staircase. As she spied the full extent of the magical repository before her, Twilight’s curiosity got the better of her and suddenly she wasn’t tired any more.
A gentle clopping of hooves on the spiral staircase snapped Twilight from the volume of arcane magic she held before her and turned to see Nyx coming down to meet her; clearly she had completed her dream walking session. She looked to the hour and suddenly realised that she had been immersed in her studies for a lot longer than she had anticipated.
“Oh, Nyx” she greeted, ”Welcome back. Did it go well?”
“Yes, thank you Mom.”
“How do you feel now?” Twilight asked.
“I shouldn’t have run away like I did. I’ve seen plenty of ponies in their dreams with problems worse than mine, but there was just something about those words that brought it all back. I’m sorry.”
“I’ve made plenty of mistakes in my time too” said Twilight, “And each one can haunt me if I let it, but I’ve learned to make amends as and where I can and then move on. You’re a good pony Nyx, you’ve got to learn to move on.”
“I’m also a very hungry pony” said the filly with an embarrassed smile, “I kinda missed my lunch …”
“It’s almost time to lower the moon now. Shall we go?”
Nyx put away what she had got out and led Twilight to the door.
“Just one more thing” said Twilight, “When can you let me back in here again?”
“Umm, I don’t think that’s up to me, Mom” replied the filly awkwardly “You see, it’s Princess Luna’s, and I don’t think …”
“OK, I understand” said Twilight taking one last look around the treasure-trove of knowledge around her, already rehearsing how she was going to approach Luna.
They walked happily outside together and performed the ritual of handing over from night to day without incident. In fact, the task was becoming easier every day. They both took one last look at the latest cutie marks to grace the night sky as it brightened from the east, bleaching them into nothingness, then headed for the dining room.
Nyx was worried that the serving staff would all laugh and point at her, and ushered Twilight to enter first, keeping close behind her so nopony would see. In practice, none of the staff present gave any indication of what had happened earlier and treated both guests as befitted Royalty, much to the filly’s relief.
Twilight kept the conversation bright and cheerful, telling creaky old jokes as well as more up to date anecdotes and once the meal was over, Nyx gave her a heartfelt hug before retiring to bed.
Twilight was exhausted. She had a full day ahead, but the hours’ sleep she had enjoyed were far from sufficient.
She trotted off with more enthusiasm than she felt to the throne room and took her place on Celestia’s throne to begin proceedings. Not only was she tired, but she was distracted too, constantly thinking back to what lay within Luna’s study as well as worrying about Nyx.
She tried, she really tried to keep the same interest that she had the day before, but she knew, even at this early stage that her need for sleep was going to win before the day was out.