Skye walked the expanse of the tunnel, her disguise falling away like autumn leaves. Lost in her thoughts, the alicorn occasionally muttered a word or two under her breath. The only other sound was that of her hooves made a faint echoing 'clip-clop'. Eyes cast downward, Skye hardly noticed when the castle came into view.
She only looked up when a frantic Majesty flew down to her, speaking very quickly. She must've been very disturbed by something if she didn't call her, 'Miss Mist'.
"Skye, thank the Allmother you're back! We were worried and then this weird thing happened and now something's happened and I don't know what to do and-"
Her words were so jumbled up beyond that point that Skye had to magically shut her beak and ask her calmly, "What's wrong, Majesty?"
Skye released her magical grasp and continued calmly on towards the castle, certain that Majesty was bound to follow her.
Majesty took a deep breath and fell into step, or flight, with Skye. "Somepony found the cave."
Skye blinked, processing what she just heard. She shook her head in exasperation. Couldn't have today been normal? Her mind was already scrambled enough.
But she continued on towards the castle, muttering something sounding non-Equestrian. Majesty tipped her head in confusion, but continued as she flew beside Skye.
"She came just a few hours ago after the sun rose a little late...By the way, do you happen to know why that happened in the first place? Sorry, off topic. Ahem, anyways, Arctic and me questioned her but all she said was that she had something for you...and that she had to ask you a few questions. We couldn't stop her from entering. Right now, she's in that room that you never want me or Arctic to go into. Said something of importance was kept there."
Hovering, Majesty now looked back at Skye quizzically. Skye had locked up, her hooves not making another step and her eyes vacant.
Somepony had managed to find her home. That somepony was in her home that second. That somepony was in her mother's study, the room she kept a secure lockdown spell on at all times. Most importantly, that somepony knew about her, the real her, or else they wouldn't have had come here in the first place.
Majesty opened her beak to say more, but Skye sped towards the castle, wings propelling madly.
She burst through the doorway and immediately veered towards the hall the study was on, her wings not stopping.
Skidding to a stop, Skye panted and steeled herself. She could hear Majesty trying to call to her, but she blocked it out. She turned back into her pegasus disguise. Then, in a burst of magic so that neither phoenix could follow, the study door was promptly opened and closed in a hasty manner as Skye slipped through. She cast a silence charm so that the two, or more specifically Arctic, couldn't eavesdrop.
"I was wondering when you'd come back home. I have to say, I'm rather glad you kept the place up with the modern world."
Skye immediately whipped around to face her trespasser, but alas the pony was not seen, only heard. The pony sat behind the desk in the swivel chair; the back of the seat faced Skye, not allowing her to see who her trespasser was.
Skye narrowed her eyes. She spoke in a quiet, icy voice. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"
The pony chuckled lightly. "Oh, how you've grown. You used to be so carefree and happy. What ever made you turn into this emotionless and tight-lipped pony?"
Skye said icily, "I'm the one asking questions here. Now that you've finished your little bit of humor, care to explain why you're in my home?"
The pony turned the chair around, letting Skye see exactly who had trespassed on her home. A middle-aged unicorn mare with a pure white coat, light blue mane, and turquoise eyes sat in the chair. They locked eyes for a moment. The pony seemed to study Skye for a moment, then the pony smirked. "The name's Shining Crystal, dear. I presume you must be Skye Mist?"
Skye flinched a bit. Somehow, she knew that this mare knew more than she was letting on. Averting her gaze from Shining Crystal's eyes for a fraction of a second, she told a half-truth. "I don't know who you're talking about. My name is Snow Dusk, not Skye Mist."
She didn't sound convinced. "Oh, I'm sorry then. If you wouldn't mind, could you pass on a message to her then?"
"Depends on what the message is." Skye said warily.
"Tell her:...her mother wants to see her again."
"Wha-" Skye's breathing slowed, her eyes widened in shock, and her heart stilled. All of her pent-up emotions flooded through her.
Pain. Sorrow. Grief. Sadness. Loss.
But she couldn't let any of it show. And she didn't.
All her life, she dreamed of it. All her life, she wanted it to be true. All her life, she wanted to believe.
And this pony was offering a chance for her to see her mother again. All the pieces were coming together.
The sudden disappearance of her mother after her separation from Luna. The uncanny followup of this mare finding Skye's home. The odd little questions and comments the mare had been asking and saying.
Skye asked, her voice a bit shaken, "Wh-who are you? Who are you truly?"
And right before her eyes, Shining Crystal's coat started to change. Skye's breath stopped, her eyes blinked in an attempt to clear away her disbelief, and she stepped backwards to fall onto her rump. Even though she had guessed, she could never have had thought she was correct. The pony who sat in front of her...was her mother.
.............
"M-Mother?" She finally croaked out.
Nightmare smiled softly at her disguised daughter with tears in her eyes. She whispered, "It's me, Skye."
Skye dropped her disguise. She flung herself at her mother and enveloped her in a hug. Tears threatened escape her eyes.
"I missed you." The words came out as a whisper.
"I missed you too." Nightmare hugged back.
************
"Why, Mother?" Skye asked quietly.
Nightmare didn't need to ask what she meant. "Just before...it happened, I was blindsided by...a foe from my past. Eventually, I was beaten and I'm sure that he used some of his magic to influence my mind's decisions. My mind was jumbled so greatly that I couldn't think straight, and then...that happened. Me and Luna."
"Well, I'm glad you're here now."
There was a moment of silence in which both prayed that there would be nothing else separating them.
"What happened to Night?" Nightmare asked her daughter.
The question, although seemingly harmless, reopened an invisible wound in Skye's partially mended heart.
In a low and quiet voice, Skye blurted all about that fateful day. The day Night went to the Castle of the Two Sisters. The day there was a loud shriek in the night. The day Night disappeared without a trace.
Skye's eyes watered. She raised her hoof to wipe them away before they would leak out, but a pitch black wing wiped them away before her hoof could.
Nightmare put a wing around Skye, pulling her into a hug. Skye, in response, nestled into it.
Mother and daughter sat in stone silence, each silently wishing for the day when their family would be together again.
But at that moment, things were... perfect.