Conflict

by Chaos Phantasm

02: Twilights Tears.

"Where did I go wrong...?"

Twilight Sparkle was sitting in a cold dark cell in the dungeons of Nightmare Moons castle, a prisoner of Spell Nexus and the children of Nightmare, as well as a filly she was taking care of just days ago. She was looking at her reflection in a bucket of water which was supposed to be used as a toilet. Her mane was a mess, tears were running down her face and she felt as if her heart was going to break as if it already hadn't. The lavender unicorn turned away and wiped her tears.

".... I wish my friends were here... Applejack knows just what to say... so does Rarity... and Fluttershy... all of them."

Twilight tried to think that they were there and were trying to comfort her, however it was no use, she simply couldn't imagine them, it was hard for Twilight to do much of anything. Her train of thought was always interrupted by the image of Nyx's smiling face. Twilight could only ever think of Nyx, she would try to escape on numerous occasions to return to Ponyville and help her friends however she would be thwarted at each attempt, either by a child of nightmare or by Spell Nexus himself. And it furthered the unicorns depression. Nightmare Moon was feeling just as bad as Twilight was, her new role as ruler of Equestria was so sudden, she could never be prepared for the hardships that lay ahead and the sacrifices she would make. Twilight was one such sacrifice, and Spell Nexus made sure that the queen of nightmare did not visit or see Twilight, or the Cutie Mark Crusaders whom were also locked in a cell.

Twilight and the c.m.c was given food three times a day as per Nightmare Moons request, while the fillies only ate because their families would want them too, Twilight hardly ever touched her food. She would eat some but stop after three bites or more. Twilight sighed and pushed her food away with her hoof and sat sadly on the floor, her head hanging.

"You're letting this food go to waste M.s Sparkle." A unicorn with a black coat walked up to the bars and smirked. "You will starve if you don't eat... then again what happens to you isn't my concern."

"If you want Nyx's loyalty then you will not harm me or the fillies."

"How true but in time she will come to be just as ruthless as she used to be."

Twilight angrily bared her teeth. "She won't, Nyx is too gentle, too kind to become somepony as heartless and cold as Nightmare Moon."

"SHE IS NIGHTMARE MOON YOU FOAL!!!!" Spell Nexus took a deep breath and held it for ten seconds before letting it out. He reopened his eyes and looked at Twilight in a sinister manner.

"No Ms. Sparkle you are wrong... Innocence can be corrupted and can be twisted. Nyx was innocent filly when she lived with you but when Celestia came to collect her," He snickered. "you made her the way she is."

"No..." Twilight shook her head, her breaths were getting heavy.

"Your betrayal was her breaking point, had Celestia never found out you may have succeeded in thwarting our plan but being taken away from her mother, one of the few ponies she could trust... it broke her spirit, it re-awoke her anger and became our queen, thanks to you Twilight Sparkle!"

Twilight flew into a rage and charged at Spell Nexus whom stood behind the bars only to be stopped and jerked back by a chain around her back left hoof. The unicorn was gritting her teeth, her pupils had shrunk, her body was yellow, her eyes red, and her mane and tail were replaced by flames. Spell Nexus jumped back when Twilight caught fire laughing quite loudly.

"It seems I struck a nerve, please Twilight Sparkle do not be so upset it's not going to help you. Not even your rage will melt those chains."

"I like to try!!!"

"Try as you may, you are a prisoner of Nightmare Moon and the children of Nightmare."

"No... I'm the prisoner of a Puppet and the puppet master!"

"hmhmhm. I like that. Now Ms. Sparkle, I leave you to rot down here. I must make plans to stop your friends and capture your Elements of Harmony. The night is still young Twilight, and when the night mother has come to see our way, then Twilight Sparkle... you will die."

Spell Nexus turned to his left and made his was past the series of cells toward the exit, laughing as evil as he was heartless. In her rage Twilight screamed and breathed red fire which lit up the dark dungeon, The c.m.c were only a cell away from Twilight and looked afraid of her as she let out her anger. Twilight let out another angry scream letting all of her flames out which then put her out. Her flame form died down and Twilight reverted back to her normal old self. Twilight sat back down and lowered her head once more. Sweetie Belle approached the entrance of her and the other crusaders cell and frowned.

"T-Twilight...."

Twilight looked at them.

"You're scaring us....."

"Oh... Oh I'm so sorry Sweetie Belle I didn't mean to frighten you three."

The three filly's were shaking fearfully. Twilight continued to frown and attempted to muster up some magic to conjure up a purple glowing orb which was to give the filly's hope. She succeeded, however creating the orb made Twilight weak she looked at the filly's then the orb and nudged it gently, allowing it to move slowly over to the c.m.c's cell. The orb came to a stop between Sweetie Belles hooves, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at the orb with her, then the three of them looked over to Twilight whom was looking over to them.

"Keep that close you three... let it give you hope..." After that she collapsed and passed out. The filly's called out to Twilight full of worry but Twilight had passed into deep slumber brought on by her magic being drained.

Sweetie Belle looked at the purple orb and then at her friends. "What should we do with it?"

Apple Bloom looked behind her at the cell wall, she saw a brick that was just jutting out from it. She got closer to it and using her back legs she kicked the brick upwards which pried it off of the wall. She turned around and used her front hooves to move the brick away. Luckily there was another wall behind this one. Apple Bloom looked at Sweetie Belle.

"We can hide it in here."

"Good idea.." Sweetie Belle held onto the orb with one hoof and placed it into the hold in the wall.

Apple Bloom closed the hole again with the brick, effectively hiding the orb. The filly's then looked at Twilight as she slept, but her rest was not peaceful. Twilights dream centered around Nyx's being taken by the princess, which inevitably brought about the events of now, the Long Night. Twilight shredded tears in her sleep over how she had failed to protect Nyx from turning into the mare of the moon. Twilight awoke to the sound of dripping water which leaked into the moldy and decayed dungeon, she opened her eye a little, a tear running down her cheek, she took a deep breath and let it out.

"I'm so... so sorry Nyx.... I failed you.... I failed everypony...."

Twilight sat up slowly, she could hear cultists laughing and mocking other imprisoned ponies, abusing others. The only ones spared were Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, and Twilight. The unicorn stood up and approached the corner of her cell and looked down the hall through the bars. It was dark and empty, the dungeon was silent save fore the sounds of rats scurrying around the bars and the dripping of water from the ceiling. Twilight looked at the crusaders cell to see they were gone. Twilights ears folded her ears down on her head. A cultist approached Twilights cell and dropped a trey of squashes apples on the floor and kicked it through the gap beneath the door.

"Eat! You're no good to Nightmare Moon a corpse. I think you'd look lovely as a decoration, a stick through your body on the walls." The cultist smiled and walked away.

Twilight looked back at the crusaders former cell then quickly turned her head in the direction of the cultist.

"Wait!" Twilight stood up.

The cultist stopped and turned his head around to look at Twilight.

"The filly's... where are they?"

The cultist sneered. "They were moved, Nightmare Moon didn't very much like having them down here in a rotting dungeon. They are in a new dungeon now. Safe of coarse." The cultist turned away and continued walking. "Until Spell Nexus says otherwise."

"Don't you dare lay a hoof on them do you hear me!! SPELL NEXUS!!!!" Twilight shouted the villains name as if directing her warning toward him specifically.

The unicorn sat down and rubbed her throat which was sore from her yelling just now. Her throat started to feel better after a while, she stopped and sighed, staring down at the dirt covered stone floor. She hung her head for a few moments, then opened her eyes and saw the floor illuminated by the moonlight. Twilight looked up at her barred window at the moon, the clouds were moving away from it, the night sky clearing. Twilight figured that even with Nightmare Moon as their ruler and the night being eternal the weather ponies still had their job to do but she wasn't really all that interested in what the weather ponies were doing, she was more focused on the moon, she closed her eyes softly and started to remember.

It has been 3 days since Twilight found Nyx in that thorn bush in the clearing, the little filly was less shy then she was before, the little filly was watching the pendulum of a clock as it ticked away. Her eyes were locked onto the pendulums and were following them like a cat does to a laser pointer. It was a slow day, Twilight was reading a book about raising filly's which she had been since day 2, and Spike was sorting books whilst Peewee watched from his nest. Owlowiscious gave Twilight her ink and quill when she asked, taking note son certain things that may work with Nyx. The filly sighed loudly and looked around for a moment before standing up and wandering down stairs and into the library's main room. There Nyx was surrounded by books but she wasn't interested in them at first as she had seen the front door, Nyx curiously approached the wooden door only for Twilight to get in her way. Nyx stopped and looked up at Twilight, the filly fell backwards and onto her flank, her ears folding down flat on the top of her head. She looked down sadly Twilight frowned and sighed.

"I'm sorry Nyx you can't go outside."

"Bu..bu...but there are other filly's who get to go outside... why am I the only one who can't..."

Twilight lowered her head and nuzzled Nyx. "There's plenty of things you can do inside."

"Like??"

Twilight smiled and started turning around in a circle looking at all the books. "Well look around you, you have a whole library full of books. Each one filled with history or a story. It can be exciting and wonderful, it can pull you into their worlds, not literally though."

Nyx looked a shelf and approached it. "But... how do you open them?"

Twilight stood beside Nyx and looked at her. "Like this." the purple colored unicorn used her magic to levitate a book out from the shelf then looked back at the filly. "See?" She smiled at Nyx.

Nyx tilted her head looking at the book then looked back at the shelf, she took a step back and closed her eyes, her horn glowed midnight blue and she pulled at a random book which was wedged tightly between two other books. Twilight watched Nyx for a moment.

"Uhh Nyx... need some help?"

Nyx was walking backwards pulling as hard as she could "I can do it Twilight... If I pull harder I'll..." The book came free and Nyx fell backwards.

Twilight closed her eyes tightly as Nyx tumbled back into a pile of stacked books which came down on top of her. Twilight reopened her eyes and quickly rushed over to the pile and started lifting books off of Nyx one by one until she caught sight of the filly whom was shedding tears from being hurt by the books. Nyx looked up at Twilight with a slight whimper, pouting with her bottom lip quivering. Twilight lifted her out of the pile and put her safely on the floor where she sat with her head hanging. The caring unicorn nuzzles Nyx gently.

"I'm sorry I knocked your books over Twilight...."

"Oh no Nyx don't be sorry, it was an accident and accidents happen. Spike and I can just stack them up again no problem. You're not in any trouble."

"I'm not...?"

Twilight shook her head slowly. "No you're not." Twilight kissed Nyx on the forehead which surprised both Nyx and Twilight both.

Nyx had never been kissed before and Twilight didn't understand why she suddenly kissed a filly she had found only a few days ago as if she were her own daughter. Nyx looked up at Twilight, tilting her head curiously. Nyx had wiped her tears away already. Twilight looked into the filly's dragon eyes which gave her the feeling of dread and brought back her fear of who this filly could be, but she did not let them bother her, she wanted to focus on Nyx's reading. Twilight smiled and stood up, she walked over to the book Nyx had picked out and levitated it upward so she could see it. Twilight looked at Nyx with that same smile she had before and walked over to Nyx again. She sat down and showed Nyx the book.

"Do you know what the title says Nyx?"

Nyx took a look at the title, she frowned and shook her head. "I... I don't know how to read..."

"That's okay, I'll teach you." Twilight stood up and walked over to a couch, Nyx followed behind.

Twilight climbed onto the couch and sat down on it. Nyx did the same thing, she sat down beside Twilight who levitates the book in front of Nyx and starts teaching her how to read. It didn't take very long for the mini Nightmare Moon to learn she was actually rather fast. When Nyx had learned, Twilight tested her by having her read the title out loud.

"Rrres-cue at.. Mmidnight... Castle." Nyx looked up at Twilight who ruffled Nyx's mane.

"Well done Nyx. I'll let you read this story now. When you're done just put it back where you found it, or you can leave it on the table in the middle of the room and Spike or I will collect it and put it back on the shelf okay?"

Nyx nodded. "Okay Twilight."

Twilight smiled and got off the couch, she locked the library door in case somepony walked in and saw Nyx. She looked at Nyx again, smiled once more and headed upstairs to continue reading her book on raising fillies. Nyx continued to read her book in this time, she enjoyed while she did but eventually she finished it. She closed the book and frowned, perking up when she remembered there was a whole library of books for her. Nyx put the book back on its shelf and started looking for more, she browsed the different sections from A to Z, she picked out story books, history books, math books and all sorts of books and started reading them, it would take her an hour to finish one book, and sometimes two hours. By dinner time Nyx had read at least 60 of the books available to her. Twilight made her way down stairs to check on the filly.

"Nyx come with me its time for... dinner..." Twilight reached the bottom step and looked around at the main floor which looked like a book version of Manehatten.

Twilights eyes were wide and her mouth hung wide open. It shocked her to see the Library in such a state. She looked around to see Nyx only she couldn't find her. Twilight sighed and walked into the mess, making sure not to knock over the stacked up book towers of unread books Nyx had created. Twilight was looking left and right, down streets and ally's just to see where Nyx was, eventually she found the black alicorn hiding in a kind of book house which Twilight would make when she was a little filly.

"Nyx??"

Nyx giggled. "Who is it??"

Twilight snickered. "It's Twilight, and she's here to tell you it's dinner time."

Nyx came out of the book hideaway disappointed. "Aww... Does that mean I'm not allowed to read for the rest of the night?"

"Not at all, you cna read as much as you like."

"Really?!" Nyx had a wide smile and her slitted pupils were wider now.

Twilight nodded. "Really."

Nyx started cheering happily.

"Except at bedtime."

"Aww... but I really like reading Twilight..." Nyx walked toward Twilight, and Twilight started walking to the stairs.

"I know Nyx, so do I." Twilight stopped and waited for Nyx to be beside her. Once she was they made their way upstairs and to the kitchen. Once they had left the room all the books suddenly collapsed, causing a loud rumbling sound and multiple thuds.

"Did you hear something Twilight?" Asked Spike.

Twilight sighed. "Nyx..."

Nyx giggled sheepishly. "Sorry Twilight."

After they had dinner, three of them headed down stairs to see the largest mess of books Twilight had ever seen. Twilight went pale.

"Catch me I'm going to faint..."

Spike held his arms up to catch Twilight as if it were a Rarity scenario. Nyx looked at them confused, she didn't quite understand why. Twilight walked down the steps, clearing the books to make a path.

"Okay Spike and Nyx, let's get cleaning. Put all books in an alphabetical pile, an A pile, a B pile, and so on. You all ready?"

"Ready Twilight!" Said Spike.

"O-okay..." Nyx said without much enthusiasm. She had hoped to read all the book she had stacked and it saddened her to have to put them back.

Twilight noticed that Nyx was not too happy about it and smiled. "You know you don't have to stack them up just to know which one you're going to read. You can put the book back then pull out the next one you want to read."

Nyx started to smile. "That will work... I guess." She giggled.

Twilight smiled. "Now then lets get to work shall we?!"

Spike and Nyx shouted their replies and the three of them got to work. The flash back ends there, Twilight reopens her eyes and is staring down at the floor, her ears twitch with the dripping of dungeon water from the ceiling, it was annoying. Twilight stood up and walked toward the back of her cell and sat there, she touched her cheek with her right hoof and looked at it. They were wet, her cheeks damp, and the floor where she was sitting before was also stained. Twilight continued to think about Nyx, over and over until she remembered the moment she looked upon Nyx as Nightmare Moon, when Nightmare Moon shouted that Twilight betrayed her trust, betrayed her. It broke Twilights heart again and again to have to hear those words again.

"You betrayed me... after everything you betrayed me... Twilight Sparkle I will see that you rot in a dungeon for the rest of your days so you know the feeling of having your heart broken!!!"

Those words rung in Twilights head over and over again. She lowered her head and took a deep breath just as tears flowed from her eyes like a river. And started to sing, however her words were soft and shaky, and she shed even more tears.

Twilight stood up from the back of her cell and walked over to the window and looked up at the moon. Outside Spell Nexus was preaching to the cultists, Nightmare Moon was walking along a lake in the moonlight. Twilights singing invoked images of Nyx during the time she and Twilight spent together before the filly transformed into Nightmare Moon. Twilight closed her eyes, took a deep breath and continue to sing, reopening her eyes.

The wind outside had started to pick up. Twilight went over to the far corner of her cell and sat there silently but her silence was broken as she began to sob, she laid down on her underbelly, her front hooves out in front of her, much like a horse sits, buried her face in her front legs and cried for a long time, her cell going dark for a fraction of a second as Nightmare Moons shadow passed the cell window.

Twilight was now sitting in the same corner of herself. It was the next day though nopony could tell since it was always night. The unicorn seemed to be more depressed then usual, she sat there in silence, thinking over and over again about Nyx, about her decisions, about everything, even about her friends, she didn't know what was going on with them or Spike. A door swung open down the hall a member of the Children of Nightmare came into view delivering Twilights food.

"Eat up Celestias puppet. The mistress wants you alive. I don't understand why since she hates everypony."

Twilight looked at the slop she was given and levitated it up with a wooden spoon. She scooped up the mashed apple mixed with banana and ate it, shuddering in disgust after she had swallowed. The child of nightmare laughed wickedly.

"Be grateful you are even fed you waste of flesh, it's better then being starved to death, You'd be more an improvement if you did, if our glorious night mother had even a shred of mercy."

The child of nightmare spat on the floor of the cell and left, laughing. Twilight stopped eating and looked down shedding even more tears then she had before.

"And I would deserve it... I don't deserve to be called her guardian... her mother.... her friend.... Not after what I had done... I failed her..."

"But you haven't failed me... you haven't..."

Twilight heard Nyx's voice in her head and she closed her eyes and sighed.

"I cannot give up on her... She is Nightmare Moon now... but I know deep down she is still Nyx... she is my little pony... I refuse to give up!" Twilight exclaimed.

2 months pass, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Trixie attempted to stop Nightmare Moon with the elements of harmony during this time only to fail and have the elements stolen by the queen of nightmare. Nyx's personality had eroded by the end of the first month of the long night and Nightmare Moon had been in power for the whole of the second month and half of the now third.Lately Nightmare Moon has become unsure of herself. Nyx was slowly re-emerging now that her thoughts have returned to whether Twilight is well or not, she worried for the purple unicorn, much to Spell Nexus's irritation. Spell Nexus had been plotting for weeks now, the death of Twilight Sparkle, a public hanging but the only way for Twilight to be publicly hung was if she directly attacked Nightmare Moon herself. Spell Nexus drunk red wine as he contemplated his scheme. Suddenly after figuring out how he would pull of such an unforgivable act of pure evil. A grin formed on his face, he looked to his left over at a small phial with a black vile liquid swirling in it. Nexus put down his wine and his grin turned into a smile. He got out of his seat and walked over to the table the phial stood on and picked it up with his magic, he pulled it close to his face, inches from his eyes and grinned again.

"If our queen is to rule successfully then there must not be distractions..."

Twilight was sitting in her cell looking down at the floor when the dungeon door opened and closed with a loud bang. Twilight jumped and looked at the entrance of her cell, she backed away to the back of the cell when a shadow shrouded her, she looked afraid.

"Twilight Sparkle... You will hang."