//------------------------------//
// Secrets 
// Story: Demon Heart 
// by SoulboundAlchemist 
//------------------------------//


2
Secrets

It was early dawn when Nyx woke up. Night was fading over the rooftops of Ponyville as if the rain had washed the darkness out of the hem of its garment. The alarm clock said just before five, and Nyx was going to turn over and go back to sleep when she suddenly sensed someone else in the room. Startled, she sat up and saw Twilight standing by her open closet door.
“Hello,” she said, putting Nyx’s vest in a saddlebag. “I’m sorry, I know it’s very early, but we have to leave. Spike’s down in the kitchen making breakfast.”
Still drowsy with sleep, Nyx nodded. Outside, the birds were twittering loudly as if they’d been awake for hours. Twilight packed another vest and a pair of glasses in her saddlebag, closed it, and carried it to the door. “Wear your vest and glasses today,” she said. “We don’t want to draw any attention to us.”
“Where are we going?” asked Nyx, but Twilight had already disappeared. She looked out of the window, feeling confused. She almost expected to see Dusk Shine, but there was only a blackbird in the square hopping along the edge of the fountain, which was wet from both the rain and the fountain and the fountain itself. Nyx put on her vest, careful to tuck her wings inside, grabbed her glasses and stumbled into the kitchen. A set of saddlebags, a travel bag, and what seemed like a small mountain of books stood out in the hall.
Spike was standing in front of the stove, making pancakes and cocoa for breakfast, while her mother sat at the kitchen table making sandwiches for the journey. When Nyx came into the kitchen Twilight looked up briefly and smiled at her, but Nyx could see she was worried about something. “Mom, we can’t go away now!” she said. “The school holidays don’t start for another week!”
“Well, it won’t be the first time I’ve had to go away on business during the school term.”
She was right about that. In fact, Twilight went away quite often, whenever an antique dealer, a book collector, or a library needed their books re-shelved, re-catalogued or restored and commissioned Twilight to restore their library, freeing them of clutter and dust or restoring books to pristine condition. Nyx didn’t think the word librarian described Twilight’s work well, and a few years ago she had made her a sign to hang on the door of her private library saying TWILIGHT SPARKLE, BOOK KEEPER. And the book keeper never left the library without making sure her daughter was in good hooves, or rather, good claws, going so far as to pull Nyx out of school whenever she left on business. They had always done that and they always would, never mind what Cheerilee said. At least until today…
“How about cutie pox? Have I used that excuse already?”
“Yeah, last time,” Spike said, placing a large stack of pancakes and a piping hot mug of cocoa in front of Nyx. “When you had to go reorganize the Princesses’ library.”
Nyx scrutinized her mother’s face. “Mom. Is it…is it because of last night we have to go?”
For a moment she thought Twilight was going to tell her everything – Whatever there was to tell. But then she shook her head. “No, of course not,” she said, putting the sandwiches she had made into a paper bag. “The Princesses and I have a friend called the Doctor. We visited him once, you were very young. He’s been wanting me to come put his library in order for a long time. He lives beside a lake on the border of the Crystal Empire, I always forget which lake, but it’s a lovely place, a day’s journey by train.” Twilight didn’t look at Nyx as she spoke.
Nyx wanted to ask: ‘But why do we have to go now?’ But she didn’t. Nor did she ask if she had forgotten that she was meeting someone at midday. She was too afraid of the answers – and she didn’t want Twilight to lie to her again.
“Is this friend as crazy as some of your other friends?” was all she said. Twilight’s friends and fellow bearers of the Elements of Harmony had long since went their separate ways, with only Applejack and Fluttershy still living in Ponyville. Rainbow Dash, after finally achieving her dream of becoming captain of the Wonderbolts, now lived up at the Wonderbolts Academy, training new recruits, and doing stunt shows. Rarity, on the other hoof, was now a successful and extremely popular fashion designer with boutiques all across Equestria. As for Pinkie Pie, no one really knew where or what she was doing, since she kept popping up in the most random places.
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“That’s right!”
Gah! Pinkie, don’t sneak up on me like that! Can’t you see I’m trying to write Nyx’s story here?!?
“Oh D, don’t be silly” giggled Pinkie. “Pen Stroke already wrote Nyx’s story!”
It’s a continuation. Now get back in that computer where you belong!
“Fine, but you’ll be seeing me again soon!” said Pinkie, jumping back into the computer screen
Sorry about that readers. Now back to the story!
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Twilight smiled. “Oh, yes. Though crazy is a bit of an understatement for him. But you’ll get along just fine with him.”
“So how long are we going to be away?”
“It could be quite some time.”
Nyx took a sip of her cocoa. It was so hot she burned her lips and had to quickly press the cold blade of a butter knife to her mouth.
Twilight pushed her chair back. “I have to pack a few more things in my library,” she said. “It won’t take long. You must be very tired, but you can sleep once we’re on the train.”
Nyx just nodded and looked out of the kitchen window. It was a grey morning. Mist drifted through the empty streets of Ponyville, and Nyx felt as if the shadows of the night were still hiding in the alleyways.
“Pack up the food and take plenty to read!” Twilight called from downstairs. As if she didn’t always! Years ago Twilight had had Big Macintosh make a box to hold Nyx’s favorite books whenever they went on trips, short and long, near and far. “It’s a good idea to have your own books with you in a strange place,” Twilight always said. She herself always took at least half her library with her, using an undetectable extension spell on her saddlebags to get them all to fit.
Nyx had painted the box red. Red, like the capes the Cutie Mark Crusaders always wore. She had decorated the lid with a yellow filly rearing on her back hooves, against a blue shield shape. The Cutie Mark Crusaders emblem. The box was lined with shiny black taffeta, but you could hardly see any fabric because Nyx had a great many favorite books, and she always added another whenever they went to visit her grandparents. “If you take a book with you on a journey,” Twilight had said when she put the first one in her, “an odd thing happens: The book begins collecting your memories. And forever after you have only to open that book to be back where you first read it. It will all come into your mind with the very first words: the sights you saw in that place, what it smelled like, the cupcakes you ate while you were reading it…yes, books are like flypaper – memories cling to the printed page better than anything else.
She was probably right, but there was another reason Nyx took her books whenever they went away. They were her home when she was somewhere strange, which was almost every time she visited her grandparents, since they moved around a lot. Her books were familiar voices, friends that never quarreled with her, clever, powerful friends – daring and knowledgeable, tried and tested adventurers who had traveled far and wide. Her books cheered her up when she was sad and kept her from being bored while Twilight organized and re-catalogued, restored and renewed what countless hooves leafed through on a daily basis.
Some of her books always went away with Nyx. Others were left at home because they weren’t right for where she was going or to make room for new, unknown stories she hadn’t yet read.
Nyx stroked their curved spines. Which books should she take this time? Which stories would help to drive away the fear that had crept into the house last night? ‘I know,’ thought Nyx, ‘why not a story about telling lies?’ Twilight told her lies. She told terrible lies, even though she knew that every time she told one Nyx looked hard at her muzzle. ‘Pinocchio’ thought Nyx. ‘No, too sinister. And too sad.’ But she wanted something exciting, a story to drive all other thoughts out of her head, even the darkest. Eragon, yes. She’d take the dragon riding colt who battled evil – and Hearts of Harmony, with the heartless, and the many fantastic worlds with all sorts of creatures, great and small. Her journey could hardly be more than the heroin’s, could it?
On the left-hoof side of the box there were two picture books that Nyx had used when she taught herself to read – a single day old, she’d been, and you could still see where her tiny hooves had moved across the pages – and right at the bottom, hidden under all the others, was the book Nyx had written herself. She had spent countless weeks reminiscing and interviewing, all in an attempt to write a detailed account of her birth, and the time she spent as Nightmare Moon, entitled Past Sins. Twilight had sent it off to get published, of course, but only under the name of ‘Pen Stroke’. Nopony needs the celebrity attention at the age of four. But Twilight had never read it aloud to her. Not once.
She had tossed Nyx up in the air, she had carried her on her back to school, she had taught her how to make a book mark of a blackbird’s feathers. But she had never read aloud to her. Never once, not a single word, however often she put books in front of her.
Nyx straightened up. There was still a little room in the box. Perhaps Twilight had a new book she could take, an especially big, fat, wonderful book…
The door to Twilight’s library was closed.
“Mom?” Nyx pressed the handle down with her magic. The huge shelves where Twilight kept her extensive collection of books had been completely emptied, with not a book nor a pamphlet in sight. Twilight had packed everything. Had she been lying after all?
Nyx went into the library and looked around. The door to the Vault was open. The Vault was really just a storage room, but Nyx had given the little cubby hole that name because it was where her mother stored her most dangerous magical items: combat spell books, the Alicorn Amulet, just about anything dangerous that she came across went in there. Nyx put her head around the open door and saw Twilight encasing a book in some of the most complex protective spells Nyx had ever seen. It was not a particularly large book and not especially fat. The green linen binding looked worn, but that was all Nyx could see because Twilight quickly hid the book as soon as she noticed her.
“What are you doing here?” she snapped.
“I-“ For a moment Nyx was speechless with shock, Twilight’s face was so dark. “I only wanted to ask if you had a new book for me. I’ve read all the ones in my room, and…”
Twilight passed a hoof over her face. “Yes, of course. I’m sure I can find something,” she said, but her eyes were saying: ‘Go away, go away Nyx’. “I’ll be with you in a moment,” she said. “I have a few more things I need to pack. OK?”
A little later Twilight brought her three books, but the one she had been wrapping in spells wasn’t one of them.

***

An hour later, Nyx and Twilight were making their way to the train station. Nyx shivered when she stepped outside. It was chilly after the night’s rain, and the sun hung in the sky like a pale coin lost by someone high up in the clouds.
“Sweet Celestia, what did you pack in her? Rocks?” asked Twilight as she carried Nyx’s book box to the train station.
“You’re the one who says books have to be heavy because the whole world’s inside them,” said Nyx, making Twilight laugh for the first time that morning.
The train, standing in the station, prepping for departure, was almost a second home for Nyx, on account of how often she visited her grandparents. Years ago, Princess Celestia had bought out one of the passenger cars for the Elements of Harmony, allowing the Bearers free travel across Equestria.
Nyx was fond of the train, but this morning she hesitated to board. When Twilight teleported back to the library to make sure Spike would be OK, she suddenly felt they would never come back here, that this journey was going to be different than any other, that they would travel farther and farther away, in flight from something that had no name. Or at least none that Twilight was about to tell her.
“All right then, off we go north,” was all she said as she popped back next to Nyx. And so they climbed the stairs to the train, without saying goodbye to anyone, on a morning that still seemed much too early and smelled of rain.
But Dusk Shine was waiting for them, leaning against the train.