Nyx is a difficult character to pin down, and I think I'm starting to see why. I hate to say this but I think the main reason is because she was originally poorly written as a character. Pen Stroke didn't really give her any particular personality or style. A big part of the problem is that for most of Past Sins, she is under duress. It's difficult to determine what a person is like when you only get to see them stressed out.

This thread will be for the purpose of exploring Nyx as a character and discovering who she is.

Personality:
Nyx is a curious minded, deeply feeling pony. She genuinely cares for others, though often does not understand what they are going through unless she has experienced something similar herself. She is selfless, merciful, intelligent, sensitive, curious, informal, and relaxed. She is also overprotective, idealistic, arrogant, naive, impatient, and has a temper.

She seeks out casual, fun times where she can feel lighthearted and relaxed. When not overburdened, she feels strong, with a clarity of mind and rational thought. Unlike Twilight, she does not prefer to use deductive logic when thinking about a problem. She is much more likely to apply her own personal feelings, ideals, and principles when determining a solution to a problem.

She has an intense appreciation for natural beauty and aesthetics over efforts to impress. Unlike Rarity, she would much rather see a beautiful sunset or waterfall than a sequin laden formal gown. These appreciations are often not expressed except to the very few who are the closest to her, for her inner self is hidden from most. Her internal feelings are too complex to share with others who don't already understand her quite well, and so she often retreats to solitude or the embrace of her husband to recharge and shed the temporary burdens of dealing with others.

She cares deeply for the family unit, and her own family in particular. This extends in concentric circles from her immediate family, to her mother's family. The five other element bearers are also like extended family to her.

She has a strong fondness for children, and enjoys the opportunity to interact with them. When a child is not initially afraid of her appearance, it is a special treat, though if they are, she does not hold it against them. Nyx is attracted to the innocence and curiosity of children, and also feels that they are most in need of protecting.

She has a genuine love for her fellow pony, and would readily help anyone who asked, provided she did not have more pressing burdens. In such cases, she often feels guilty not being able to offer the help she normally would. This can lead to internal conflict and feelings of inadequacy.

She is prone to depression, occasionally losing sight of her own self worth. She feels resigned to this role as protector which she cannot properly fulfill the way she originally envisioned. Despite her best efforts, she cannot save everypony.

When confronted with tragedies of others, she feels overwhelmed as the reality sinks in, often unrealistically feeling like she should have been able to prevent what happened. When her ideal world is violated in this way, she has a powerful desire to do something about it, but often finds herself frustrated with her lack of ability to plan out a solution.

Nyx is very creative, which is linked to her idealistic nature. Her creativity shows up in her ability to quickly come up with ideas to solve a problem. These solutions are almost always centered around her personal feelings toward the problem and may not necessarily be the best ideas.

Nyx's Role:
Regarding Nyx's role as a hero, this is something not natural for her. She is physically capable, but internally conflicted about heroism. On one hand, she would prefer to avoid conflict, but on the other hand she cannot sit by while someone weaker needs protecting. And everybody is weaker than her. She doesn't like the "messy" consequences that come with heroism. She would much prefer there were other solutions, though that is not often an option.

There is also Nyx's insecurity to deal with regarding her role as a hero. Nyx doesn't view herself as a hero for real. Not in the beginning of the story, anyway. She is humble and does not seek fame or attention in any way. The thought of others idolizing her as their hero makes her feel very awkward. She can accept this more easily when it is a child, but if an adult considers her their hero, she would probably feel uncomfortable accepting this.

I would compare Nyx to Nite Owl (II) from Watchmen. Ironically, Nite Owl gets a pass for the "misspelling" of night??!

Physical Traits and Abilities:
Nyx is a natural alicorn beginning the early stages of her alicorn transformation, which is to say that she currently possesses great strength that will grow with time, and she will manifest uncontrolled bursts of magic that are associated with intense emotions and sometimes a loss of moral restraint. Eventually, she will transform into an unimaginably powerful "wild alicorn" and also become morally adrift, unless she acquires a Virtue of Harmony, locking her into the state of a "mundane alicorn" which is what Celestia and Luna are.

Physically, Nyx is very durable. This is a combination of resiliency traits. Her skin resists tearing and cutting more than others. Her muscles are much stronger than normal ponies. Her bones are not easily broken. She can endure a greater loss of blood. Her senses are mostly like a normal pony, except for her good night vision thanks to her unique eyes. She is a very strong flyer, but not as fast as Rainbow Dash and slightly behind Luna.

Nyx's magical abilities are stronger than most unicorns, but not quite as strong as Celestia's or Luna's.

Her levitation is above average, being able to lift about 500kg provided the object is very close to her. Extended range levitation is limited to about 15 meters and 100kg.

She can manifest a shield bubble around an object or herself, and its strength is inversely proportional to its surface area. A tight personal shield can stop a small caliber bullet or deflect a large caliber bullet. Shield strength is measured in terms of pressure resistance combined with penetration thickness. High velocity projectiles like bullets put a very high amount of pressure in a small area, overwhelming the shield's pressure resistance, but still having to overcome its penetration thickness. Explosions have a much lower pressure over a much larger area, so they are generally easier to shield against than bullets. Nyx's shield can easily contain a grenade or protect against most conventional magical blasts. Sustained shield operation will drain Nyx's energy reserves quickly if the shield is holding off heavy attack. If something overwhelms the shield, it can fail entirely and Nyx will have to manifest a new one.

Like many powerful unicorns, Nyx has a beam weapon which she can project from her horn. Such beams are high impact, low heat energy which can destroy hard objects and knock enemies around but are not often fatal. Nyx has multiple beam types. Apart from the standard impact beam, she also has a high heat cutting beam which is similar to a high intensity laser with medium levels of kinetic energy. This can burn holes straight through bodies and organic objects like wood, but is less effective on hard objects like stone. This beam uses a lot of Nyx's internal magic reserves, and can be fired at varying levels of strength. It can also be pulsed at a cost of overall maximum power per shot.

Because Nyx is quite young, she has not learned many of the common "tricks" that other skilled unicorns can practice. She is also not like a multi-talented unicorn such as Twilight or Trixie (or the recently introduced Starlight Glimmer).

How she is depicted in the story:
Reluctant Warrior
Badass
Battle Couple (with Rumble)
Dark is not Evil, and when Nyx emphasizes her cuteness despite her intimidating appearance, Perky Goth
Friend to All Children
Hero's first rescue (sort of) with saving the colt in chapter one.
Neutral Good (Mary Sue warning - should we align her differently?)
Heroic Vow
Doesn't Like Guns which is somewhat ironic since she has an energy cannon attached to her forehead.
Heroic BSOD three years ago at the Royal Guard ceremony. Possibly also in a future chapter.
Deadpan Snarker when Nyx is having a bad attitude.
She-Fu which is definitely Nyx's fighting style.
The Sacred Darkness is a common connection with Luna, and also Nyx's advantage in night-time combat.
Lady of War
My God, What Have I Done? and Tears of Remorse after she kills her first pony (or later, after the battle of Withersberg).

How other characters see her:
Aloof Dark-Haired Girl in the tall, intimidating, attractive sense.
Badass Princess and Hot Goddess - Nyx is too humble to have an exalted view of herself, but others would definitely see her this way.
Large and In Charge and Amazonian Beauty, but not in the sense that she is bulked out - she is not. More like she is very strong and yet beautiful. More like Supergirl than She-Hulk.
Physical God ironically this is what she could become, but never does - and it is also how the zebras see her now, in terms of the kind of threat she is.
A God I am Not is Nyx's response to both the zebras presently, and to Luna & Celestia when she will argue against what she might become.

Possible tropes:
The Atoner or Be All My Sins Remembered if Nyx is feeling any remaining guilt over her actions as Nightmare Moon (though I doubt she would, since she was explicitly forgiven for this).

Knight in Sour Armor which might be worth exploring during act two as Nyx is increasingly challenged by the fact that she can't personally fix everything.

<edit>
Incidentally, if Nyx was a real horse...

She'd be an Arabian. (Probably the only good thing to come out of the Middle East, tbh)

They are a whole lot like Nyx. They're fast, agile, and durable. They are emotionally sensitive, playful, highly intelligent, and fiercely loyal. They are curious about everything and always alert. They're also aesthetically stunning. Sounds a whole lot like Nyx, doesn't it?

</edit>

Let's look at the available canon material first.

Nyx begins life very scared and timid. She is judged by nearly everyone and is constantly struggling for acceptance. There's a brief moment when life almost becomes normal for her, and then the entire story thrusts her into this enormous drama where she is magically transformed into adult Nightmare Moon and forced to be the queen of Equestria. Through this period, she is feeling terribly guilty and confused, and eventually she overcomes all this and decides to be her own person. She chooses to take on a defending role, but not because she is naturally protective. She does it for pragmatic reasons. She sees a need, and she fills a need. Ponies are in trouble, and she saves them. She realizes that she can take physical beatings that would kill others, and through this she discovers her special talent.

She is also selfless. Willing to take on punishment for the actions of others. In the Judgement chapter, she wishes for the crimes of the Children of Nightmare to be placed on her.

Another trait is that she shows mercy, even when attacking what she perceives as the enemy. She kills nobody in the palace, and though she stated the intention of killing Celestia, she ultimately did not.

We learn that Nyx's experience as Nightmare Moon have given her a temper of sorts. While I don't think an experience can change your base personality, it can certainly draw it out. So if Nyx has a temper, that's part of her character.

In Winter Bells, we learn that Nyx really doesn't like excessive formality. She'd rather sit and eat at the kids table than put up with the social requirements of a fancy formal dinner. Wealth and affluence do not impress her.

We also know from the canon stories that Nyx is curious as a core trait. Curiosity is often associated with high levels of intuition and often replaces fear of the unknown depending on the situation. I'd like to build upon this trait in Nyx, as I have not yet done so.

It's safe to say that Nyx is intelligent, as she has been written as such. This isn't really a personality trait, but definitely a characteristic to keep in mind.

She is also likely very educated, which is different than being intelligent. Being educated would be a natural result of being raised by Twilight Booksmart Sparkle.

We can't forget emotionally sensitive. She may be tough physically, but she's a delicate flower inside.

So... that's not actually a lot to go on. From the canon material, we see that she is selfless, merciful, intelligent, sensitive, curious, casual, and has a temper.

Naturally, I'll update this when you all can point out stuff I've missed.

So, what can be derived from this?

Nyx is very easy to get along with if you are a nice person. She is a natural explorer, eager to learn about new people and places, and also about how things work. As a curious person, she would naturally identify with others who are curious. The most obvious of these would be children.

Nyx is brave, but not stupid. She knows that she is strong, and won't hesitate to throw herself into danger to protect someone else. She's a quick thinker though, and can assess a situation for urgency, but her youthful lack of experience means that she won't always make the best decision. Intelligence and wisdom are two very different things. I would not call Nyx "wise" at this point.

Intelligent people often think that they know more than they actually do. It is a sort of blindness that one does not know what one does not know. Being intelligent means that you can often get the idea that you are always right. This can lead to a bit of arrogance, which is an additional hindrance of wisdom.

Nyx has the best intentions for others, and thus you could say that she is not malicious at all. Such people often view the world as an idealist, which can result in naivety. She may be blind to the mal-intent of others, even right under her nose, because often we attribute our own good qualities to others until we learn that this is not how the world works.

Nyx's distaste for formalities could also likely come from a feeling that the individual self is a higher priority than corporate inclusion, and may accompany a distaste for tradition (with the exception of traditions she was raised with) or hierarchy. What this means is that some people see their value in their personal achievements and individual characteristics. A sense of belonging is a contrast of "self vs the world". Where do I rank in the world compared to others. Things like that. Other people evaluate their value corporately, which refers to what groups they are a part of. Are you a member of a prestigious social group or organization? That might be where you get your sense of importance. Such people find personal value in traditions, rituals, and knowledge of the group they are a part of. It is a sense of identity that transcends the individual.

I haven't got a sense from anything yet written about Nyx that she places a high value on things like social status, hierarchical position, prestige, or anything of that nature. So on the highest level, she is most certainly not like Rarity in this respect. However, she appreciates being educated on such matters, as seen with her desire for lessons in being a "proper mare" from Rarity. What I do see as Nyx's level of corporate identity is in the area of family. Nyx deeply appreciates being included in Twilight's family as a valued and accepted member. This is best shown in Winter Bells. As such, I would never call Nyx a "lone rebel" type of character. She is a family pony, but family is the extent of her desire for corporate inclusion.

Nyx's natural love of family and of children go together nicely and give Nyx a desire to interact with children whenever she can. She hopes to have her own at some point, but meanwhile, we can expect that Nyx can get right down on the level of a child she meets and enjoy spending time with them. That is, if her appearance doesn't scare them away first.

Having a temper is actually a lack of patience combined with irreverence. This gets mitigated with time, but we can go ahead and say that Nyx still has a temper because honestly she needs some negative traits. If things are annoying or taking too long, we can predict Nyx will not be happy about it and may say something to that effect.

A temper combined with being protective means that she is likely overprotective. Or, fiercely protective. If she sees someone she cares about being threatened directly, she may just jump in and defend them without thinking about if it's appropriate to do so. She may act impulsively as a result of this if she feels someone else is under great threat.

So from these derived traits, we get some interesting negative traits for Nyx.
She is overprotective, idealistic, arrogant, naive, informal, and impatient.

Next, I'd like to explore Nyx's enneagram type. Everyone has one. It consists of a primary type and a secondary type referred to as a "wing". There are 9 types in all, and they are arranged as so:

This isn't the same as personality, but it's related, and has its own system for how the structure works. Things like motivations and fears come into play here. When you find your type, there is usually one adjacent type which you also identify with. For example, I would most likely be a 5w4. This means that I'm primarily a type 5 with many traits of the type 4 blended in there. If you click on the link you can see how indepth this goes.

So, what is Nyx? I'm not sure, to be honest. We could do a process of elimination to narrow it down. We know she's not like several of these. To help with that effort, I'll list a brief summary paragraph of each of the 9 types and maybe we can narrow it down using those.

1: The Reformer

Ones are conscientious and ethical, with a strong sense of right and wrong. They are teachers, crusaders, and advocates for change: always striving to improve things, but afraid of making a mistake. Well-organized, orderly, and fastidious, they try to maintain high standards, but can slip into being critical and perfectionistic. They typically have problems with resentment and impatience. At their Best: wise, discerning, realistic, and noble. Can be morally heroic.

2: The Helper

Twos are empathetic, sincere, and warm-hearted. They are friendly, generous, and self-sacrificing, but can also be sentimental, flattering, and people-pleasing. They are well-meaning and driven to be close to others, but can slip into doing things for others in order to be needed. They typically have problems with possessiveness and with acknowledging their own needs. At their Best: unselfish and altruistic, they have unconditional love for others.

3: The Achiever

Threes are self-assured, attractive, and charming. Ambitious, competent, and energetic, they can also be status-conscious and highly driven for advancement. They are diplomatic and poised, but can also be overly concerned with their image and what others think of them. They typically have problems with workaholism and competitiveness. At their Best: self-accepting, authentic, everything they seem to be—role models who inspire others.

4: The Individualist

Fours are self-aware, sensitive, and reserved. They are emotionally honest, creative, and personal, but can also be moody and self-conscious. Withholding themselves from others due to feeling vulnerable and defective, they can also feel disdainful and exempt from ordinary ways of living. They typically have problems with melancholy, self-indulgence, and self-pity. At their Best: inspired and highly creative, they are able to renew themselves and transform their experiences.

5: The Investigator

Fives are alert, insightful, and curious. They are able to concentrate and focus on developing complex ideas and skills. Independent, innovative, and inventive, they can also become preoccupied with their thoughts and imaginary constructs. They become detached, yet high-strung and intense. They typically have problems with eccentricity, nihilism, and isolation. At their Best: visionary pioneers, often ahead of their time, and able to see the world in an entirely new way.

6: The Loyalist

The committed, security-oriented type. Sixes are reliable, hard-working, responsible, and trustworthy. Excellent "troubleshooters," they foresee problems and foster cooperation, but can also become defensive, evasive, and anxious—running on stress while complaining about it. They can be cautious and indecisive, but also reactive, defiant and rebellious. They typically have problems with self-doubt and suspicion. At their Best: internally stable and self-reliant, courageously championing themselves and others.

7: The Enthusiast

Sevens are extroverted, optimistic, versatile, and spontaneous. Playful, high-spirited, and practical, they can also misapply their many talents, becoming over- extended, scattered, and undisciplined. They constantly seek new and exciting experiences, but can become distracted and exhausted by staying on the go. They typically have problems with impatience and impulsiveness. At their Best: they focus their talents on worthwhile goals, becoming appreciative, joyous, and satisfied.

8: The Challenger

Eights are self-confident, strong, and assertive. Protective, resourceful, straight-talking, and decisive, but can also be ego-centric and domineering. Eights feel they must control their environment, especially people, sometimes becoming confrontational and intimidating. Eights typically have problems with their tempers and with allowing themselves to be vulnerable. At their Best: self- mastering, they use their strength to improve others' lives, becoming heroic, magnanimous, and inspiring.

9: The Peacemaker

Nines are accepting, trusting, and stable. They are usually creative, optimistic, and supportive, but can also be too willing to go along with others to keep the peace. They want everything to go smoothly and be without conflict, but they can also tend to be complacent, simplifying problems and minimizing anything upsetting. They typically have problems with inertia and stubbornness. At their Best: indomitable and all-embracing, they are able to bring people together and heal conflicts.

I think it's safe to say that Nyx is not a 1, 3, 6, 7, or 9. She actually has traits resembling all the others though. This makes her hard to pin down.

She's like a self-sacrificing two.
She's like a sensitive, and reserved four.
She's like an insightful, and curious five.
She's like a protective, resourceful eight.

With the way this chart is structured, the most likely spot for Nyx will be where two of these are side by side. So, four and five. Possibly a 4w5.

There's also the very real possibility that she could be a 5w4 like me, though as one myself, I would naturally be blind to whether Nyx is this type or not. I tend to think not. Someone else would have to point this out if it were the case. It's possible that Pen Stroke himself is a 5w4 like me, being a computer programmer and creative writer. And if Nyx is his self-insert, then that may be what's going on here.

It occurs to me that perhaps the reason Nyx has such a serious internal dichotomy is because her badass heroic traits aren't a natural part of her personality! And yet there they are. So what we've got really, is a manufactured, artificial personality, exhibiting superior traits of multiple types. (aka, Mary Sue) We can excuse this because we will try our best to limit the MarySue-ness and give her enough natural weaknesses or negative character traits to balance this out.

And then, we have the Jungian Cognitive Functions (which determine the Meyers Briggs type) that Nyx might have.

Right away, I can see more contradictions. First, let's take a look at the sixteen possible combinations:

So, there are four "elements" and each one has a polarity: introverted or extroverted. I can sum up all eight of these just from memory.

Se: The "showoff" function. Rainbow Dash leads with this. It drives the mentality that says "look at me do this amazing thing". It's the excitement and thrill of physical stimulation.

Si: The ritual/tradition/secure minded function. These people like things to stay how they always have been because if it ain't broke, don't fix it. They often find it more stimulating to study the past than to theorize about the future.

Fi: The sentimental function. These people are more impacted by their own internal feelings. Sympathy over empathy. Deeply felt values. Passionate. They aren't likely to try and fix other people's feelings.

Fe: The empathetic function. Very concerned with how others are feeling, often being more aware of others than themselves. Because others are so transparent to them, they may become obsessed with interpreting others motivations and trying to fix them. They are genuinely caring toward others but have a hard time not invading the feeling space of people who may not want it.

Ti: The internal database function. These people catalog mountains of facts and process data better than anyone. They troubleshoot by methodically calling upon stored facts to determine the issue. They solve formulas, test theories, imagine possibilities, and get generally nerdy with their brains.

Te: The pragmatic function. Action oriented, these people are thinking of what isn't how it ought to be in the world (or in you) and do their best to fix it. They are more concerned with what you're doing than how you're feeling. If a job needs done, they will be all over finding a solution for it.

Ni: The conclusion drawing function. These people can instantly see the end from the beginning, testing constantly whether an idea is valid or not. They subconsciously tie together everything they've ever experienced using pattern recognition to process ideas and perfect their strategies.

Ne: The ideas function. These people constantly generate new thoughts and possibilities in their mind, often at the expense of focus and being scatterbrained. They make up for quality with quantity when it comes to concepts. Much creativity is due to these types of people.

So... everybody has four of these, and you have a preferred priority which you place on them. I'm an INTJ, which means I put Ni first, then Te, Fi and finally Se.

Here's a fair effort at pony equivalents:

Some combinations never happen. Like you don't get someone who is both introverted thinker (Ti) and introverted feeler (Fi). It just doesn't happen. So, if a fictional character is written having combinations like that, it will seem "unnatural" because we never see people like that in real life. For Nyx, I see some combinations (at rough glance) that I don't think make sense. She's definitely an introverted feeler so that eliminates half of the types. I'd say it's also not in last place, which eliminates Trixie and Applejack. The thing is, if Nyx has Fi, she can't also have Ti (her mother's primary trait). The two don't really go together. She can however, have Te, which is that sense that she needs to take action when something is not how it should be. This doesn't have to be HIGH up on her function stack, but it would be there. Probably lower than her Fi. That would eliminate Big Mac and Celestia.

Nyx is not a showoff and doesn't crave excitement. I don't think she has Se very high on her stack if it's even there at all. This eliminates Scootaloo. I also don't see Nyx as extremely scatterbrained with connection drawing intuition coming up with heaps of off the wall random ideas. This eliminates Pinkie.

What it does leave however, with Fi left as the primary function, is either Fluttershy or Luna. I think the answer here is obvious. Nyx is most like Luna in personality, and that makes a lot of sense being quite nearly a Luna clone. This would mean that Nyx would most likely exhibit traits of an INFP idealist. INFPs may have Ti as dead-last 8th place on the function stack, but that does not make them unintelligent. It just means that they aren't going to be driven by the cataloging and processing of data and facts in their minds like INTPs (Twilight) are.

You can see of course, how difficult all of this is. Because Nyx is a fictional character, it's easy to have written impossible combinations into her. If people say that she's a lot like her mother in the way that she thinks, well then she's not a lot like Luna in the way that she thinks. You can't have it both ways. So, what we've got to do is basically pick her core traits and be consistent with them.

What this also means is that Nyx would share a lot of the stuff that I've already said about Luna in terms of how she processes information. By no means does this make Nyx "just like Luna". Just because two people share the same MBTI type doesn't make them alike. Their motivations, fears, values, skills, and heaps of other important traits could be 100% different. MBTI is more about how you process information thoughts, feelings, sensory data, etc) than anything.

you didnt get anything wrong. but there are a copule of things I want to add..

First of all I think we need to talk about Nyx's creativity .

Nyx is very creative. Not artistically mind you like rarity. But she is an out of the box thinker who can come out with ingenious and original solutions to things.

Especially battle plans

As I have said before I see Nyx's establishing character scene to be her takeover of Canterlot Castle. You have of course highlighted Nyx's mercy which was displayed in that sequence. But apart from the fact that she came up with this plan explicitly to prevent bloodshed,there is the sheer ingenuity of the plan itself.
So again this is yet one more thing that will help make her a great warrior, she can come up with creative solutions to complex problems in the heat of the moment.

Also Nyx is something of an atoner. Not quite the same way that Luna or even Spell Nexus are, but she certainly feels like she needs to be " extra good" to make up for her actions in Past Sins. This means that she feels pressure to " behave " in public settings ( this may be one of the reasons she dislikes formality and protocol and prefers to be out on her own). It also means that she has an extra layer of guilt and grief when things go wrong.

AS for her temper, i think this can be generalized further. Nyx is going to be impatient. Combine this with her high raw intelligence, her literate well read nature, as well as some of her natural arrogance and naivete, and a problem she would probably face as a commander is that she might not be good at fully explaining things. She might give too little information to others, assuming they will be as quick to pick up on thing s as she and Twilight are, or even that others would just put in the work to figure out things the way the brainwashed sycophants did during her brief reign as NM.

Much Like Luna, Nyx probably has an odd combination of coming across as both emotionally explosive and aloof. This comes from the fact that she is arrogant and impatient, yet hates attention, status, protocol and formality, which is an odd dichotomy to have and probably comes off as contradictory to those not used to her. She was quite literally created to be a queen, and yet, for that very reason hates titles. That has to be hard to deal with for someone who is trying to come to terms with her the first time around!

Want to annoy Nyx? call her "princess "or worse " queen". Nyx is self aware and is at some level ashamed of her displays of arrogance and impatience, yet those impulses are deeply embedded in her ( again literally created to be queen) so she struggles mightly with those emotions. Also of course there is the fact that all other known alicorns are princesses ( if you follow my headcanon she actually is a princess legally, but refuses to take on princely duties and it would be politically unpopular for her to do so anyways so no one presses her on it) AND that the worst weeks of her life where the ones where she was LITERALLY referred to as queen and... well you get the point.

Want Nyx to kill you quickly? Become a threat to her mother. Threatening Rumble probably works as well by this point in your story.
What Nyx to kill you quickly AND painfully? threaten a child.

Luna seems very fond of children in Show Canon. So right there you know Nyx has a soft spot for children. BUT to that you also have to add the fact that it was Nyx's childhood that gave her the chance to be more than Nightmare Moon and you can tell just how much children and childhood mean to her. Not only are children the most innocent and vulnerable of all ponies and thus the ones most in need of her protection, but the CONCEPT of a happy childhood is vital to Nyx, since it LITERALLY made all the difference to her. One of the things Nyx would worry most about the war is its effect on children and families with children.

So the third chapter of Pen Stroke's the road home just went up, and in it, we get this scene :

Nyx was wearing a huge grin, but it was less of victory and more of relief. She had remembered the rules correctly. A flush was stronger than a three of a kind. She used her magic to pull the pile of beans a bit closer, and quickly began sorting them into the flavors she liked and the ones she didn’t. She had been betting the ones she didn’t like first, since she assumed they’d get to eat the jelly beans once the game was over.
“Good job, Nyx,” Twilight praised before smiling over at Shining. “And bad luck, Shining. Pocket aces and you got beat by a flush.”
“Tell me about it,” Shining said, but he did so with a smile. He added his own cards to the discard pile before getting up from his seat, and got up from the table to stretch. “But you better be careful, Twilie. With that luck, Nyx may just unseat you as family card shark.”
“I’m not a card shark, Shining, despite what you may think,” Twilight said as she began to deal the next set of hoof.
“Yes, you're just an unassuming Princess of Friendship.” Cadance snuck one more of the jelly beans into her mouth and tucked it into a corner where she could let it slowly dissolve away. “Your humbleness just makes you a better card shark in my opinion.”
“I just have a proven strategy that ensures I take advantage of opportunities that present themselves. There is nothing wrong with that.”
“Ah, but there is something wrong. With your strategy, you don’t take risks.” Shining stood up from the table and moved behind Nyx. “If you had gotten Nyx’s hoof, you would have folded after betting the blind. The reason she won is because she stayed in and took the risk. I’d even bet she wins all the beans.”
Shining leaned into Nyx, grinning as he kept his eyes on Twilight. “Come on, Nyx. You can beat Twilight, right? Show her the risk takers can win against her stagnant strategy.”
Nyx glanced back and forth between her mother and her uncle, suddenly finding herself needing to pick a side. She then smiled, took off her glasses, and joined Shining in staring down Twilight using her true eyes. It was a sight that made Twilight giggle as she finished dealing the cards and picked up the two she had laid out in front of herself. “All right, Nyx, just don’t be disappointed if Shining’s strategy—”

Now there is some interesting stuff there.
But what I want to point out is that Pen Stroke just pointed out a difference between Nyx and Twilight, namely that Nyx is less hidebound and more flexible, more of a risk taker.

I think this corroborates what I said above about Nyx's creativity and flexibility especially when it comes to developing strategies on the fly.

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Yes, it's definitely good to cover her creativity, since that would be a major part of her MBTI type actually.

Let's compare the two types who lead with introverted feeling.

On the left we have the Fluttershy types. In real life, these are usually hippie artists who live only in the present moment. They are very easy to get along with but have a passionate view about just about everything that they find interesting. They love creating, and the way this is expressed is with physical arts and crafts. Like my mom would much rather get her fingers dirty with real paint than use photoshop any day. I was raised by an ISFP, and they are really great people to spend time with.

On the right we have the Luna types. Funny thing - my younger sister is this type. They also lead with introverted feeling but rather than extroverted sensing as the second function they have extroverted intuition. This makes them more philosophical than the ISFP who can't be bothered with deep, complex topics. The INFP is very much an idealist. They are creative with ideas. Extroverted intuition is the idea generator, but not so good at coming to conclusions. So someone of this type would (a) feel passionately, and (b) have tons of ideas related to those feelings. None of those ideas are necessarily good ideas, mind you. But that's not what creativity is all about. A creative person creates; they do not often discern or judge well.

The atonement inclination, and tendency to behave well in public is definitely part of that third function, introverted sensing. The green "S" balanced on the left of the vertical line. For Luna/Nyx this is the sense that behaving properly is important and maintaining the status quo, valuing traditions, keeping things going steady, etc. But it is third place on their function stack, and as such, it is subservient to the top two functions, which often override its tendency. So for Nyx, if she feels like behaving a certain way, and her intuition has an idea to contradict the "proper" way of doing things, well, you can bet that she will do her own thing rather than what is expected of her.

The impatient temper comes back to leading with Fi. We (speaking as one who also has Fi) do tend to get impatient when we view things as not being how they ought to be as quick as we'd like. The sense of "ought to be" itself is from the extroverted thinking (blue T) that for Nyx is in 4th position. But mainly, that blasting Fi will make Nyx's personal feelings seem like the most important thing in the world to her. Combine this with the pinkie-pie randomness that is extroverted intuition, and you get an impatient person. My sister as a baby was probably one of the most impatient temper tantrum throwers in existence. I was completely the opposite.

The emotionally explosive -yet- aloof trait comes from this as well. Fi is all about how SHE feels, and Ne is very impulsive with quick ideas not judging or discerning. INFPs are only 2% of the population, so like many intuitives, the general public may find them a bit odd. Her 3rd position Si gives her a love/hate relationship with formality. On one hand, she values order, but again it is subject to her first two functions which are anything but orderly. This would account for adhering to, and valuing traditions as long as they are ones she was raised with and familiar with. Going into a new setting and being expected to adhere to someone else's social protocols? Not likely.

Going into a new setting and being expected to adhere to someone else's social protocols? Not likely.

Which is precisely why Celestia, not Luna handles Equestrian Diplomacy!

4237420

But what I want to point out is that Pen Stroke just pointed out a difference between Nyx and Twilight, namely that Nyx is less hidebound and more flexible, more of a risk taker.

Yep, and it also helps a lot with the fear that he was trying to play multiple personalities with Nyx. The assumption that Nyx is "mostly like Twilight" would apparently not be correct. At least in how she thinks. What's truly interesting here is that in the cognitive functions list, the INTP (Twilight) and the INFP (Luna) actually have their first and last functions swapped. Like 8th vs 1st place. Luna's would have Ti in 8th place making that totally alien to her. Likewise, Luna's primary Fi would be entirely alien to Twilight. It is similar to what I suspect yours and mine are, mine being Ni first and yours being Si first if my guess is right about you. Such pairs of people bewilder one another. Not that they can't get along, but how each other's brains work is bizarre to each other.

Anyway, this is good news! What Pen Stroke wrote about Nyx confirms my theory. I was a bit worried that he would write Nyx as having some sort of deductive formula for winning at poker (like Twilight) but the only way anyone specializes in deductive formulas is having either Ti or Ni very high on the list. Luna has neither. Meaning deductive logic is something we must not write into Nyx's thought processes. Nyx would not be a detail-geek. We can leave that to Flitter, as the resident INTJ of the group.

4237591
I've updated the character summary, adding quite a few traits.

extra tropes
Aloof Dark Haired girl. not personality wise, but more how Nyx is perceived. This trope has changed unfortunately . It used to mean something like " tall intimidating but gorgeous girl, the kind everyone is attracted to but to afraid to approach because she can and will castrate you if she feels disrespected." Which definitely applies to Nyx.

Anyways in the show Celestia and Luna are upheld as the standards of beauty for all of ponydom, and the animators explicitly copied Luna's body type when they created Fleur-de lis, they did this because they wanted to give fleur a " supermodel" look, which means that Luna has a super model look, and it only stands to reason that Nyx, a near clone of Luna does as well.
Nyx must have had an ... interesting ... effect with the colts turning into stallions in her class back in high school. Those who weren't terrified of her just drooled over her as the girl who was way out of her league. I doubt she got asked out often though.... The very fact that Rumble did says a lot about his courage.

from the princess Luna Page some tropes that clearly apply to Nyx:

Adorkable
The Atoner
Badass Princess ( not necessarily a princess but still regal)
and on that note
Badass Bookworm ( raised by one... in a library... her former castle is turned into a university.... )
Dark Is Not Evil ( the past Sins TV tropes says the following about this trope : "Nyx may as well be the poster filly")
The Sacred Darkness ( nyx will always have a connection to the dark. On the one hand, she prefers to go " hunting" at nighttime, since this is when she has the most natural advantages in any fight against an enemy. Less prosaically, there is probably also some sort of spiritual connection between her and " the magic of the night")
Deadpan Snarker (gotta be careful when to use this one, but her temper, arrogance, and the fact that she has in fact been through a lot for a pony her age, means Nyx probably snaps these out once in a while. Both Luna and Twilight ( her closest " relatives") are this from time to time, further increasing Nyx's chances)
Friend to All Children ( my personal favorite of all her traits)
Hot Goddess ( the princess Luna page is written as if Luna herself wrote it so i have to quote this: "*ahem* Thy princess has been told that, if fans wished to quantify the physical beauty of ponies, she would rank rather high. She has even been told her character model, sans wings, was used to portray a supermodel pony in one episode."..given again that Nyx is mostly a clone of Luna....)
Large and In Charge ( more the way Nyx is perceived than her actual personality. Ponies naturally defer to her because she is the most physically imposing and intimidating pony this side of Canterlot. Nyx has troubles with this. she is not in charge and desperately wishes to let everyone else understand this. Most pressingly, she is barely an adult and ( when not being impulsive and arrogant) knows full well that she is wildly inexperienced. Nyx often finds that she needs to get ponies to pay more attention to older more experienced authority figures and stop turning to her for answers she does not have)
Perky Goth ( a side effect of " dark is not evil")
Physical God ( what Nyx would become ( in the greek demigod sense) if she became an unfettered wild fully grown " natural born " alicorn ( again see depiction of titan in " The Immortal Game") Nyx would like to let everyone know she is not in fact a divinity or divine in any sense)
AGodIAmNot ( What nyx desperately wishes to make everyone understand , especially those confused by the immeadiately preceding trope. Note the use of a quote by Dr. Manhattan to illustrate the point)

Not from the Luna page but nyx is a also a Lady of War AND an Amazonian Beauty. rarely do you find a character that is both but Nyx definitely is. naturally graceful yet deadly like aLady of War yet also the trait that makes it her destiny to be a warrior is her near indestructability , hence Amazonian Beauty.

4266131
Thanks! I've updated the original post.

A few of these are a bit questionable in terms of how I've written Nyx. I'm not sure about the adorkable, or badass bookworm ones. They definitely seem to apply more to Twilight than Nyx.

The Atoner is definitely one we are going to have to talk about at length. It really depends on whether we are going to depict Nyx as having residual feelings of guilt over her Nightmare Moon legacy, or whether she will accept the full pardon which was given to her in Past Sins and not feel guilty over it at all. I'm open to either of these, but we do have to pick one.

Some of these are definitely "how others see her" rather than how she sees herself or even how she actually is. So I made a category for such tropes.

Amazonian Beauty was one I hesitated to accept, but mostly if one views her strength in the Supergirl sense rather than the She-Hulk sense, then it would be okay. I did get the sense from the trope page though, that this one requires bulked-out muscles, which Nyx definitely does not have. Nyx's muscles are much, much stronger than a regular pony's for their size, but she is still slender and unimposing in terms of bulk.

Possible tropes:
The Atoner or Be All My Sins Remembered if Nyx is feeling any remaining guilt over her actions as Nightmare Moon (though I doubt she would, since she was explicitly forgiven for this.

I think that " the atoner" is a much more toned down version of the same idea as " be all my sins remembered". Be all my sins remmbered is much more dramatic. I think Nyx is definitely an " atoner" though much less vocally so than Spell Nexus or even Luna, still i definitely think that this is one of her motivations. Be all my sins remembered on the other hand, seems like something that would de- motivate someone. I only see that particular trope kicking in if and when something catastrophic happens I.e she loses a lot of ponies under her command.

as for adorkable and badass bookworm, remember that i made this list based on my own Biases( how else could I have made it??) . I DEFINITELY see Adorkable and BadassBookworm as being absolutely fundamental traits to the way I read and write Nyx, but that doesnt mean YOU have to read or write her that way ( this may come down to my own level of self identification with Nyx, since I am both a dork and a bookworm though I am certainly not badass and I will leave others to judge wether I am adorable )

4266831

I DEFINITELY see Adorkable and BadassBookworm as being absolutely fundamental traits to the way I read and write Nyx

Yeah, I've had to work at making sure I don't self-insert with Nyx as well. It's definitely a temptation to write a protagonist that has much in common with the author, because it's easier to write about what you can personally relate to. There's a certain pragmatism to it, even if you aren't trying to self-insert for the usual reasons.

That said, I can see how filly Nyx could be considered adorkable, especially in that disguise. Her sheer innocence combined with above-average magic (prior to the spell that made her an adult) kind of fit this description. She had some scary abilities (turning ponies into trees) fit into a tiny, cute package. The adult Nyx in my story doesn't really fit that description I suppose. Not that this is a bad thing, mind you. I do think making her too much like Twilight (when the rest of her personality more closely matches Luna) is kind of like having your cake and eating it too. It's like just picking out desirable traits from what would ordinarily be quite opposite people. I'll go as far as to say that Nyx is well-read, which is a given. But I don't think I should give her any of Twilight's more "analytical" traits.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the current description. It will really help in writing the upcoming chapters!

4267801 also remember our different aims. You are writing her as an adult fighting in a war. By contrast I write her as a filly, with the eventual goal of writing her as a teenager/ young adult in a boarding school/ college setting. adorkable and badass bookworm are traits that fit in better in those environments and are more " organic" to write in those settings than in your setting.

Indeed part of the reason why I wouldn't write a story like yours is that i WANT to write Nyx adorkably and as a badass bookworm, and that would be next to impossible in your setting.

So From Chapter 5 of Pen Stroke's " The Road Home" we get this:

“After talking with the guard ponies that were knocked out in the baggage car, we can confirm Princess Cadance and Prince Armor were in the royal car. They were also being accompanied by Princess Twilight, Great and Honorable Spike The Brave and Glorious, and Princess Nyx. Stallions, that’s our national hero, our prince, and three of this nation's five alicorns that disappeared without a trace. We need to find out what happened as fast as possible.”

Emphasis added.

Does this mean my headcannon of Nyx being a Princess by law just got confirmed??????

4364508
Oh, it would sure seem so!! Not only that but it seems very likely to be MLP CANON now, too!
Check this out. As AntonyC points out, the season opener does seem to confirm this!

4364826 To be fair neither that nor Pen Stroke's story is PROOF that Alicorns are in fact automatically princesses. Plenty of people ( including just in the nyxverse RealityCheck and Myself) have stated they are because it is convenient, but it COULD be that everyone just ASSUMES they are without them ACTUALLY all being princesses simply because alicornhood is so strongly associated with royalty.

having said that it is SO convenient that , if the writers of the show ever have to make a concrete decision on it, they will almost certainly I think, decide to canonize this idea.

4365029
True, it's not ironclad proof or anything. But it's certainly a compelling support for the headcanon.

so we just got some pretty interesting stuff Nyx wise in the latest chapter of Pen Stroke's " The Road Home" including one major new characther trait that Pen Stroke spends like a couple of pages harping on, and is definitely something that you need to introduce into YOUR NYX because it is a skill that would be pretty dang handy in a war zone.

But first some facehoofing.

Nyx and Spike are trying to run away from their captors and run into of all ponies the flim flam brothers. leading to this.

Flam focused in on Nyx, and his eyebrow curled up as his eyes drifted between Nyx’s forehead and her back. “Wait a minute, what’s with those eyes, that horn, and them wings? That’d make you... but now that bottom line doesn’t add up. It don’t add up one bit. There are four princesses in Equestria, though they seem sure to be popping up like weeds as of late.”

emphasis added.

Okay So i always joke about the fact that no one in equestria recognizes ponies that should be super famous. But here Pen Stroke Makes a Point of having Flam note Nyx's eyes only to then conclude she is an alicorn. An alicorn. I mean there is no such thing as a normal regular alicorn, but come on now if you are going to make him focus on her eyes it's completely so he can go " oh shit there is a tiny Nightmare Moon here what do?" kind of a missed oportunity there,

All right but more importantly, we get some new charachter traits.

“Okay, let’s do it, but we should get some canteens before getting out of these tunnels. Besides having a way to start a fire, having a portable source of water is an important priority when it comes to hiking.”
“A word for word recitation from Hoof Travel’s Guide to Camping,” Spike said with a small chuckle before sucking in a deep breath.

Here we get in my opinion, some evidence of Nyx's bookworminess, and what is more it is a very Twilight Sparkle moment. Nyx's reaction to a novel experience is to recite( hopefully relevant) information verbatim from a book she has read. Note that Spike seems to tease her both ina " book smarts vs street smarts" kind of way and because of how twilight sparkle this moment is.

Now the really relevant thing:

“But the charm can’t recharge,” Nyx said. She took the gem gauge from Spike, turning it over in her own little levitation charm. She was inspecting the stick as if examining a complex puzzle, using the one skill she had gotten fairly proficient at in the past year: magical analysis. It was a skill Twilight was more than eager to encourage, and something that could be done with very little magic. “If it could, it’d be drawing on my levitation spell. Once the charge is gone, then the sticks will stop working.”
“Yes, but we’ll be long gone by then,” Flam assured with a slick, salespony smile. “The charm only activates if the stick is held by something with a heartbeat, and it’s got enough power for two hours of continuous use.”
“How long have you two been here?” Spike asked.
“Two and a half hours, but don’t worry. I doubt any one dog has been using his gem gauge for that long.”
“Hey! Mine stopped working!”
Flam stood up straight, he and Flim looking to one fairly large bulldog that was pushing his way through the crowd. He slapped his gem gauge down on the ground right in front of the cart, then pointed at it like it was a misbehaving pet. “It stopped finding gems. Fix it!” That one dog was joined by others that had been among the first to buy the Flim Flam’s product. With each new dissatisfied canine that appeared, the crowd’s mood progressively shifted into that of a pack of angry dogs.
“Oh... well... you see...” Flim stammered, pulling at the collar of his undershirt with a little whiff of magic.
“There is a very logical, reasonable, and crowd-appeasing—” Flam felt the tug of a spell on his moustache again, and he looked back down at his two unexpected guests.
“Say it’s a factory defect. Tell them you’ll fix all of the gauges,” Nyx said as she held up one of the gem gauges. “Then apply a second charm that can recharge the first. You could use the metal decorations to anchor the charm.”
“But then we can’t sell replacements if we ever return,” Flam argued.
Spike snatched the gem gauge and waved it at Flim, threatening to conk him on the nose. “Do you really think these dogs would let you come back if you swindle them now?”
“Fair point,” Flam said before clearing his throat and sitting up straight. “My dear canines, we must express our deepest apologies. Upon closer inspection, we have discovered these gem gauges do have a minor defect.”
Flim looked at his brother as he had just lost his mind. “They do?”
“Yes, but worry not, we can fix them all right here, right now.” Flam cast a levitation spell on the stick the first dissatisfied dog had thrown into the dirt. “You see, my dear canine, your gauge is not broken. It’s simple run out of power. But, with a little unicorn ingenuity, I can apply a Flim Flam Brother’s Patented Kinetic Screw Recharge Enchantment. With it, you’ll be able to put the power back in your gauge.”
Flam applied the charm, and then handed the gauge back to its owner. “Now sir, please, place both of your paws on the detecting tip of the gauge. Yes, very good. Now, work your paws back and forth to make it spin.”
The dog did as instructed, and the gauge began to spit out little sparks of magic. The crowd’s anger was disappeared by the display, all of them watching intently as if it was a grand firework display in a clear night sky.
“As you may notice, the sparks are red. But as you spin it, they’ll begin changing color to green. When they are green, that means your gem gauge is charged and ready to use.”
“Look! Look! Sparks already changing color!” The now satisfied diamond dog cheered.
Flam slipped over beside his brother, hurriedly whispering something into his ear. Flim nodded a few times, a smile spreading on his own face. The brother’s then parted, Flim clearing his throat and trying to get the crowd attention while Flam returned to Nyx and Spike.
“Okay you two, time to get to work,” Flam said as he began to rummage in some of the nearby travel bags.
“Work? For what?”
“Well, you were the ones that said you were trying to escape. Well, we’ll be glad to help you, but now that we have to fix all the gem gauges we sold, it’s going to take us longer to leave. Unless, of course, you help. So congratulations, you two have been promoted from escapees to gem gauge repair specialists.”
“But we can’t risk being seen.”
Flam began shifting the crates and bags from the corner of the cart, stacking them into what could be described as a fort constructed by a young pony. “I’ll hang a curtain over the hole and you two can pretend you're a vending machine. Dog puts a gem gauge in, you fix it, and then you slip it back out. Not a single canine will need to see what’s going on behind the curtain.”
After finishing stacking the boxes, Flam levitated the two inside the small space which was no larger than their previous cage. He then cracked open one of the crates on the top and removed a blank scroll. “Now, you have to apply the charms to fix the gem gauge. The charm is very entry level. You seem to have a handle on levitation, so these shouldn’t be beyond your skill. One is a basic kinetic dynamo charm, and the other is a firework enchantment. Apply them following these instructions and you shouldn’t have any trouble.”
Flam lowered the instructions, which he had burnt onto the paper with magic, into the box fort and gave them to Nyx. “I’ve also added some instructions for an upgrade. That’s where you come in, dragon. If a dog slides in their gem gauge with a gem, use your dragon fire to attach one of these.” Flam dropped a box in Spike’s lap, full of little metal gauges. “They’re magic detectors we got for a steal from a warehouse auction. They should act as nice little charge indicator. Just weld them on with your dragon fire.”
“Aren’t there child labor laws against stuff like this?” Spike asked as he picked up one of the bit sized gauges from the box.
“You’re not working for bits, you’re helping us get out of here faster so all four of us don’t end up being held for ransom.” Flam took the lid off one of the smallest crates, turned it over, and burnt some lettering in on the far side. He then leaned up against the exterior of the box fort, near the little window he had left. It was a basic sign for the diamond dogs, giving them instructions and saying how much the gem gauge upgrade cost.
“Now better get ready, you already got a nice big line.” With that Flam took a pair of light blankets out from one of the traveling bags. He draped them over the box fort, closing off the top as well as creating a parted curtain for the window. Spike glared at the blankets, looking to the same place he and Nyx had been able to see Flam just moments ago. He then sighed as the first gem gauge was slid through the window along with a gem.
“Well, guess we’d better get started.”
“Hey, it’s better than being in that cage with that old hay,” Nyx said, trying to stay positive as she began to read Flam’s instructions. She was surprised, to say the least. The instructions were detailed, and demonstrated a knowledge of magic Nyx wouldn’t have expected from the two salesponies. Normally there would need to be a fourth, more complex charm to link the three other bits of magic together. Yet, just by how the three charms were positioned on the stick, the resulting behavior would be as desired. It wouldn’t be as good as it could be. Twilight could probably make a much better gem finding device.

emphasis added where I think it relevant.

WOW what a goldmine!

We now have one more canon ability that needs to be placed in her characther profile " proficient at magical analysis". Note that this seems to be the kind of analysis you would do in engineering or coding. she can basically break down how a spell is put together and find ways to engineer it better. n fact she is so able she can apparentyly pass judgement on the work of adult unicorns and give them advice ( note that she is " surpised" at the talent the flimflam borthers have and feels confident enough to give them instructions on what to tell the Diamond Dogs and instructions on how to better engineer the device to make it work better!) And if she is this good when she is like 12 and has been doing it for a year, imagine what she will be like at 25. This means in your story whenever a new spell or magic is encountered it should be Nyx who is able to decode and identify it. for a simple example, when Rumble ( or is it daisy) obtains the silenced zebra sniper rifle, it should probably be Nyx who confrims that the silencing chamr is on the rifle. Similarly when the antagonist presents her with new technology Nyx should be able to detect ad anlyze some of the types of magic on it. Securty wards etc are all things Nyx can analyze and engineer reverse engineer ( this probably makes her a good asse when it comes to infiltrating secure locations etc. )

Also note that Pen Stroke makes it a point to emphasize that this ability is not dependent ( at least at teh moment) on magical ability. It is all ( or mostly) intellectual. This means we can definitely add a very powerful detail oriented analytical mind to Nyx's list of ( canonically verified! attributes.

4379837

So i always joke about the fact that no one in equestria recognizes ponies that should be super famous

You know, I was writing some new dialogue in chapter five last night and I actually thought of asking you about this very topic. It's regarding Nyx and whether or not she is likely to have anyone at all in Equestria who doesn't know precisely who and what she is. The events of Past Sins do make for a rather unforgettable global phenomenon, withholding sunlight for weeks and all. Nopony is likely to ever be ignorant of exactly who Nyx is. And yet, this definitely creates some difficult narrative challenges. I would prefer that some (most?) ponies simply don't know much if anything about her. I suppose I may have to fudge this. We'll see.

come on now if you are going to make him focus on her eyes it's completely so he can go " oh shit there is a tiny Nightmare Moon here what do?

Yeah, exactly.

We now have one more canon ability that needs to be placed in her characther profile " proficient at magical analysis"

Mmm. Not bad.

whenever a new spell or magic is encountered it should be Nyx who is able to decode and identify it. for a simple example, when Rumble ( or is it daisy) obtains the silenced zebra sniper rifle, it should probably be Nyx who confrims that the silencing chamr is on the rifle. Similarly when the antagonist presents her with new technology Nyx should be able to detect ad anlyze some of the types of magic on it. Securty wards etc are all things Nyx can analyze and engineer reverse engineer ( this probably makes her a good asse when it comes to infiltrating secure locations etc. )

Very interesting. That would certainly be a useful trait! I'm a bit unsure as to how to weave this into her idealistic personality. No doubt she's very intelligent. But my question is whether Nyx would prefer to utilize rational thought or idealistic feelings when deciding on a course of action or in interpreting the world around her.

If you'll excuse my repeated use of MBTI analysis, this is purely for the purpose of understanding Nyx's character - when I examine Twilight's template and contrast it with Luna's, I get this:

Of particular note is the fact that intuition and sensing are identical in both types. This provides common ground in terms of things like forming ideas or analysis. Both types are idea generators, however that intuition is secondary to the lead function which it serves. In Twilight's case, it is the insatiable thirst for knowledge (introverted thinking). In Luna's case, it is the synchronization with her own deeply held feelings and principles.

So, which is Nyx? You can't really be both. Even if you don't entertain the MBTI model, it's plain to see that people who are walking databases are less concerned with deep internal feelings, and vice versa. It's certainly possible that people blend and shift their personal traits as individuals. In fact, this is an essential truth. However, we rarely deviate too far from our templates when it comes to preferences between feelings and thoughts.

If I were to take a while guess, I'd still say that Nyx is an idealist. I'd say that she is heavily influenced by her mother despite not really relating to that "thirst for factual knowledge" that Twilight exhibits. Being a blend of her base personality and the very influential nurturing influence of her mother, I'd say that Nyx would have a really interesting and complex set of traits. The challenge, of course, is depicting this in a story! I wish to be consistent, and if I'm going to do that, I need to understand her fully.

BTW - I am three chapters behind in Pen Stroke's story. I've only read up to chapter two. I should probably get on that!

4380011 I don't think this overrules your overall analysis of Nyx's personality. I see no reason why she can't recite things from books and have an analytical mind and not in essence have a personality similar to Luna's.

But my question is whether Nyx would prefer to utilize rational thought or idealistic feelings when deciding on a course of action or in interpreting the world around her.

well It is not either/or right? I mean clearly she uses rational thought when it comes to analyzing these magical spells, but that does not mean that the main motivation in her life is not idealistic.

I mean a person that only used rational thought or idealistic feelings would be pretty dysfunctional in the world. One who used rational thought exclusively would be what we call " autistic" whereas a person who only used emotional idealism would be " unemployable" .

I always understood this question as a question of what does a person WEIGH more, not what do they use more. I. E a person's MOTIVATION may be emotional idealism( " make the world a better place") but that shouldn't stop then from being able to use rational thought.

Look I know plenty of attroneys who work for non profits. They are motivated by a sense of idealism, but in order to achieve their idealistic goals they must excel at utilizing rational analytical thought for 60+ hours a week!

I think if you want to weigh idealism more, then you should have her choose her course o actions based on idealism, but have her interpret the world through rational thought ( since Pen Stroke seems to be making this last trait canon) this is not a paradox, since again this is precisely how many people operate in the real world.

4380889 Yeah that's exactly how it works - it's a preference, rather than an either-or. So for me, for example, my deductive intuition is the highest preference with the pragmatic solution-oriented thinking as second place. Third, I've got deep internal feelings but they almost always yield to my rational thought process when deciding on a course of action. I can operate in other ways, but I don't prefer it. So really, this is all about comfort zones. What functions do we feel most at home utilizing? Not necessarily "what is present or not present".

I like the idea of giving Nyx some analytical skills, as that would definitely give her something to relate to her close friend Flitter with. This could lead to some interesting back and forth dialogue as they attempt to solve a mystery given the clues available. Relying on just one character for that would end up being rather bland.

4380966 Yeah what I am saying is i Don't think this development completely overrules your characther analysis or anything.

I like the idea of giving Nyx some analytical skills, as that would definitely give her something to relate to her close friend Flitter with. This could lead to some interesting back and forth dialogue as they attempt to solve a mystery given the clues available. Relying on just one character for that would end up being rather bland.

Yeah that would be awesome.