The Nyxing Hour

by Nagel Navari

Chapter 11

It took Midnight a few hours to get Nightfall to sleep. The filly didn’t seem to get tired as easily as ordinary foals—or at the very least, not as quickly as Midnight would’ve expected.

She hoped it would get easier in a few more days, once their new furniture arrived and the child had a better place to sleep than the large pile of blankets. But that was probably wishful thinking.
Midnight felt as though she had survived a minor heart attack tonight. A few short hours after being entrusted with the safety of Equestria, and she had very nearly lost her charge.

Not that it was her fault. The young Alicorn’s powers must’ve been involved somehow—she couldn’t imagine any other way that the child could somehow get past her and Sapphire at the same time.

Sapphire, for her part, would be staying the night at the Ponyville inn for the first few days. Until they had the empty guestroom outfitted for her. Hopefully that would look a little less suspicious.

But we weren’t exactly subtle. If Ponyville hasn’t figured out who we are yet, they’ve got to before too long. They had seen Midnight herself, as indeed they were building right into their alibi. She was here to protect Ponyville from future attacks. And that wasn’t even entirely wrong.

Something banged on the front door, loud enough to startle Midnight from her stupor. Who in all Equestria would be visiting in the middle of the night?

She lifted her tail a little behind her as she made her way to the door. It banged again, loud enough that she couldn’t help but wince. Please don’t wake her up!

She was glaring by the time she swung the door open. She half expected to see an army of insane cultists outside, all dressed in spooky Nightmare Moon consumes and carrying silly torches.

There was only one pony outside her house—one of the few who could stand before her without looking small by comparison. Her mane drifted in the moonlight, its gentle stars blending in to the night sky visible behind her. Some of the stars even seemed to overlap.

Princess Luna.

Midnight dropped into a reflexive bow, even as all kinds of dark thoughts raced through her head. Sapphire wrote a report about Nightfall and Luna got it that quickly? Wasn’t Celestia the one watching this case? It was supposed to be too sensitive a subject for the night princess, for reasons even Midnight could guess.

“Rise,” Luna commanded. Midnight could hear the family similarity in her tone—like Celestia, there was kindness there, but also an expectation of obedience. “You are the kirin known as Midnight Storm, is that correct?”

She nodded. Midnight might’ve been caught completely speechless at the presence of a royal in her home—were it not for her last few days. After her conversation with Celestia, Midnight could see another view. She now knew the princesses as ponies as well as rulers. She could talk to them. “I didn’t expect to see you, Princess. Sapphire said that you had decided not to see Nightfall. That you… agreed with our thoughts that meeting her might do too much harm.”

“Indeed,” Luna said. “But this is a conversation not suited to be heard by Ponyville generally. Inside, perhaps?”

Midnight resisted the urge to facehoof. “Of course, Princess! You can…” She stepped aside. “We won’t get most of our furniture until tomorrow. But I could… make you some tea maybe, or…”

“No need,” Luna said. “But I appreciate the offer.”

Just as well. We haven’t bought any tea yet.

Midnight shut the front door as she entered, grinning at the brilliantly lit interior of her sitting room. While she lived in the Everfree, Midnight Storm had relied on lanterns after nightfall, which couldn’t light a room half as well as electrics. There were some advantages to returning to civilization.

But I never planned on leaving, did I? Ponies forced me. And now they’d forced her back.

There wasn’t anywhere to sit beyond the floor. She offered the princess a spot anyway, apologizing that she didn’t have more.

“I understand.” Luna waved off her apologies with a wing. “You have only just arrived here, and I am unannounced. And you are correct, I believe that confronting the, uh… confronting Nightfall would be premature. In honesty I was relieved to receive the suggestion that our introduction should be postponed.”

The princess shifted uncomfortably on her haunches, and despite her ethereal mane and imperious features she looked more like an ordinary pony than even Celestia had looked in her palace. There was real pain there, of a sort Midnight understood all too well.

“Nightmare Moon represents a… difficult time in my life. One I was relieved to see that most Equestria had forgotten in my absence. Through no little intervention from my sister, I’m sure…”

“Nightfall isn’t her,” Midnight interrupted, her tone a little defensive. “Celestia said so. They didn’t finish the ritual. She’s not the pony the Nightmare cult wanted.”

Luna hesitated. Taken aback by Midnight’s boldness, probably. Yet she didn’t seem angry. “’Nightfall’ is not the same pony, yet,” the princess whispered. “I trust my elder sister’s judgement. Her mastery of the arcane is without equal and her wisdom has clearly eclipsed my own. Were that not so, we would not be having this conversation in the first place. Yet… yet there are some things my sister could not ever understand. From her earliest days, she has known only adoration and praise for her work. Everywhere she went ponies showered her with love and pretended Equestria was utterly without fault. Even the roadapples they passed didn’t stink if my sister was nearby, or so they would have you believe..”

Midnight failed to choke back a laugh. Her tail scraped once against the floor beneath her in surprise—had Princess Luna just said what she thought she’d said?

Apparently yes, judging by the delicate smile on her face. “I wish to make a point. Nightfall is an Alicorn—somehow. I do not understand where this power came from. I do not understand the sympathetic connections that have created her, or the twists of the arcane that empower her. Take this as no unkindness towards the filly, but she shouldn’t exist. The essence that was Nightmare Moon was destroyed by the Elements of Harmony. It would have been simpler for everypony if the situation had remained that way.”

Midnight stopped smiling. She could feel herself tensing—the same instincts to prepare for a fight that rose in her when a crowd of ponies started to surround her. “Nightfall is not the same pony. She didn’t do the terrible things that Nightmare Moon did.”

Princess Luna winced visibly, her whole body stiffening. “I am… yes, obviously. She is her own pony, with her own identity and history. I am not here to suggest she should be punished.”

“Then why?” Midnight whispered. She could only pray that Nightfall really was asleep, despite all the noise the princess had made. “Just to tell me that you don’t think she should exist?”

Princess Luna took a deep breath. As she did, the stars in her mane seemed to flicker, growing brighter in some patches and darker in others. Midnight imagined she could see through that mane like the largest, most advanced telescope. There was a magical power here that she couldn’t ignore—perhaps it wasn’t the equal of Celestia’s, but it had to be close.

“My sister still does not understand what led to Nightmare Moon’s arrival in the first place. She knows only in the most abstract terms that Nightmare Moon was the result. The story she sometimes recites of the event is designed to spare me the pain of guilt, but instead it casts me as a petulant foal, whose only motivation was ingratitude.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Midnight Storm—the same pressures that created Nightmare Moon once could surely resurrect her a second time. Nightfall is already that pony to some minute extent. It is imperative we do not allow that transformation to escalate to its conclusion.”

“She’s a good filly,” Midnight practically growled. “What you’re talking about… it isn’t there. Maybe the rest of the ritual would’ve brought something evil, but there’s none in my house.”

Princess Luna sighed. “Of course there isn’t. Miss Storm… long ago, I wanted to be part of a world that didn’t want me. I suspect you may have some insight into that life—when Equestria couldn’t give me the love I wanted, I went looking elsewhere.”

The electric lights in the room began to dim. It seemed as though a fog had blown in through the windows, that obscured everything except for the two of them and the awful furniture the last occupant of the house had left for them. “The void is very cold, and its loving embrace difficult to untangle. It makes attractive promises, and always keeps them. But it holds you to your end of the bargain too.”

Midnight felt powerless to move. She could see awful shapes moving in the fog, and hear their whispers. Whispers promising everything a pony could ever want, if only they would consent to one little thing.

“That burden is mine, not Nightfall’s. The guilt is mine, and the nightmares I suffer are deserved.” Luna’s eyes grew distant and glazed, and Midnight heard the voice of a pony who had not known peaceful sleep in a long, long time. “I suspect the Nightmare I called, the one that answered my desperate pleas a millennia ago, is the same creature the Nightmare cult were trying to evoke. If my sister is right, if you are right, then that creature lurks out there, somewhere. It reaches its tendrils into the material world, twisting and corrupting and infecting all that it touches. If it can’t have me, then it will want her.”

She pointed with her horn up through the ceiling. It flashed once, and the illusion vanished. The breeze stopped blowing, the ethereal whispers finally fell still. The two of them were alone in a poorly-furnished apartment.

“Princess… Celestia…” Midnight felt winded. She could only imagine how much more difficult that would’ve been for an ordinary pony, without her kirin constitution. “Princess Celestia didn’t say anything about a demon.”

“My sister doesn’t know,” Luna said. “Or doesn’t understand, at any rate. Only those who have trafficked with the void can comprehend it, and she was always too noble for that. My sister is content to walk to the world’s edge and be satisfied that she has seen all things—I was not.”

Princess Luna rose to her hooves abruptly. “You cannot possibly defeat this creature, if it were to manifest in the physical world. Its power may be infinite… but even if it isn’t, it’s certainly greater than mine.”

“There has to be a way,” Midnight said. “Princess Celestia got you back. And Nightfall hasn’t said anything about a… demon… thing.”

“There is.” Luna stepped towards her, closing the distance. “If the Nightmare can’t have me, then it will want her. Perhaps it is her, somehow… severed from the rest of itself. I don’t know. Only Star Swirl would’ve been able to guess, and he has been gone a long time. Regardless, there is a power you have that it cannot imitate. You can change the world around her. You can make sure that Nightfall is prepared for its whispers. Give it nothing to tug on—when it whispers of hatred, make sure she has memories of love instead. When it prods her jealousy, ensure she won’t listen, because she feels gratitude instead.

“When it reminds her of her loneliness. When it tells her that nopony will ever love her because of how strange she is, that ponies are afraid of her… make sure she knows just how many friends she has, and how welcome she is in Equestria.”

“It won’t come to any of that,” Midnight promised. “She has me to watch. Sapphire, royal guards. Whatever this Nightmare is… if we can keep an eye out for cultists, we can watch for that thing too. It won’t ever get to her.”

Princess Luna turned away from her. “The effort is valiant, but vain. We can’t possibly win the war of attrition, Miss Storm. But if you can ensure that Nightfall does not have weaknesses to exploit… if you can make her a better pony than I was… then we won’t need to fear the Nightmare at all.”

Midnight didn’t get a chance to argue, or to object, or ask anything. The Alicorn flashed, and vanished from the air in front of her as abruptly as the illusion.

That was about the time she noticed the pair of little eyes watching from the stairs.

Author's Note:

Written by Starscribe as a reward on Patreon

Comments

[Skalula7]

*hasn't even started yet and notices that it more or less has the approval of one of the authors*
might be worth reading after all.

[The Watcher Face]

Aww shit, she shouldn’t have been awake.

[xbox432]

Hmm, I don't think her hearing the conversation will be as bad as others seem to expect. While hearing that a demon might be coming after her, and seeing Luna, might shake her up. Hearing Midnight do nothing but defend her from any slight, real or imagined, aught to bring her even closer to the Kirin. It's always nice to KNOW that someone loves you after all.

[NPP6]

So I'm curious. If Midnight got Nyx/Nightfall, does that mean Twilight's going to get Squeaky?

[Greatazuredragon]

8821118
Nightfall could use a big sister.

Nice chapter, good work.

[SonicFan117DASH]

8833231
Yeah, but I was saying she was the second fictional character I’ve found to have a blade at the end of her tail. I was hoping you could guess who was the first.

[jimerjam]

8833238
Axamili esgarouth isthill