• Published 1st Jun 2016
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The Nyxing Hour - Nagel Navari



Midnight Storm, a Kirin who fled civilization after a lifetime of persecution, now lives in the Everfree Forest. She is content with living in the wild, the forest is filled with creatures to practice hunting and fighting with, and she doesn’t have

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Chapter 22

Nightfall knew what she had to do—if only she could figure out how she was supposed to do it.

They want to make me into Nightmare Moon for real. All of this… they’re trying to force it. From the way those ponies had been talking, they thought Nightmare Moon was the rightful ruler of Equestria.

Because I am. Celestia took it from me. She doesn’t know how to care for her ponies. But I do, I would treat them better. You should go to them. The voice continued, almost constant now no matter how hard she tried to banish it.

Shut up! I don’t want to take over anything! I just want to keep living here with Midnight! But Midnight had been taken by the cult. They’d done something to her—but it hadn’t worked as well on her as some of the others. She let Nightfall get away.

Can anypony help me?

Twilight Sparkle would be a good first pony to visit, but from the way the cult talked about her, Nightfall didn’t think that would work. Maybe the local guards? Or were they already busy fighting the cult?

Her own friends were just kids, like herself. They shouldn’t be going out into a dangerous forest to fight a cult. The best thing Nightfall could do for Aura and the others was to keep Ponyville safe.

Zecora. Midnight always said she was safe, and she was nice to me. Zecora lived out in the Everfree anyway, so she wouldn’t be afraid of its dangers.

But I have to get there. That would be the biggest problem.

Nightfall glanced up over the windowsill, looking down on Ponyville. Being in the center of town meant she had a very good view of almost everything.

It wasn’t good. She could see a few royal guards tied up in the street, and a few more hobbled and marching behind the cult. They were shouting something to the ponies of the city, who mostly slammed their doors and tried to hide. Nightfall leaned closer, pressing her ear to the glass to try and listen.

“Ponies rejoice! The night of your queen’s coronation has arrived! All who show only the love and respect owed to your queen will be spared. Those who resist will face the wrath of Nightmares. So remain where you are, pray for forgiveness for your loyalty to a false princess. And wait. The time is almost upon us.”

That can’t be good. She could only imagine how terrified Pipsqueak would be, hearing that. Or little Aura, cowering in some apartment on the far side of town. Is all of this my fault too?

Yes, answered the voice. It’s your fault for not going out to them. We can be a princess who rules in justice and friendship, who won’t abandon her sister or let the ponies of Equestria forget her. We can end all their fears together.

A tantalizing promise, except that she had seen the way these cultists acted. Hurting Sapphire, using awful magic on Midnight. That wasn’t the sort of thing good ponies would be willing to do. I don’t want to be like them.

Nightfall waited for the procession of searching cultists to pass, before creeping across the hall into her room. She found her disguise, securing it along with a long coat. It wouldn’t make her invisible, but at least she would only appear dark brown in the night if anyone looked at her, instead of completely giving herself away.

She moved more slowly down the stairs, ears perked for any motion there. And sure enough, she could hear someone pacing back and forth. She froze, and in a few seconds, she saw a pony wearing a black robe and a pale white pack pass in front of the stairs. He didn’t look up—or else he would’ve seen her immediately, just turned around and paced back.

Horseapples. They’d apparently thought of the chance that she might still be here, or maybe that she would return. Either way meant bad news.

Nightfall adjusted her wings under her cloak, but neither of them would really do her much good. She hadn’t really had the chance to practice with her horn much—she couldn’t use it at school without a glow coming from nowhere and giving away her disguise, so she’d always just pretended not to have magic.

But she wouldn’t have to do much to create a distraction here, and she knew the house pretty well. Nightfall concentrated on the front door, her invisible horn starting to glow as she pushed. At first nothing happened—so she pushed harder, gritting her teeth together. She was really an Alicorn, wasn’t she? She could…

There was a sudden roar from outside, a shattering of wood and glass Nightfall knew must be the door exploding under the force of her magic. So maybe she should’ve thought about it a little harder before she tried to force it open. But the cultist went running towards the front of the house—that was all she needed.

Shouts came from down the street, cultists rushing in from all directions.

Nightfall ran, jumping the last few steps, reeling through the kitchen, and out the back door into an alley.

She hadn’t been here often—but she didn’t need a very good sense of directions to stay in the shadows and run from the noise.

That was exactly what she did, until the shouts for help and calls for more ponies had faded into the background. Nightfall collapsed beside a dumpster, breathing heavily. She’d made it out of the house—that was the first step.

Maybe I should go to Canterlot instead. I could try to catch a train, warn Celestia directly. If only she had a pet dragon like Spike, who could send magical letters. Princess Celestia would know what to do. Or… or maybe Luna. At least their enemy was the same pony.

Me.

Us. Celestia betrayed us, and Luna is only the shell left behind. We don’t need them. The ponies of Equestria have recognized us now. They will lift us on a throne grander than anything Celestia ever had. We can make a night that never ends. Look around us, Nightfall. We’re in darkness. Those searching haven’t found us, because this is our domain. We are the shadows that lurk just out of sight of every pony. We are the hunger of the unknown thing that calls in the distant forest. We are the predator. And those ponies only want to give us back our power. Return to them.

She could practically feel the voice dragging her out of the alley, into the illumination of a streetlight. If the cultists saw her, then there was no way she’d get away. Unless she tried to fight.

That won’t work. Sapphire Breeze is an adult mare trained to fight, and she couldn’t get away. I couldn’t either.

But while Nightfall couldn’t resist the cultists if they caught her, she could resist the voice. She could imagine Midnight’s voice, and the promise she’d often repeated. You don’t have to be Nightmare Moon if you don’t want to. And she didn’t. She just wanted to be herself—she wanted to be Nightfall Storm, she wanted to go to school in Ponyville, and make friends, and learn to fly.

The voice faded back into the distant corners of her consciousness. Her body stopped shaking. Nightfall waited another few minutes, just to be sure, then scampered off into the Everfree.

Night in the Everfree was a different prospect than the day. It was dangerous, the dwelling place of many mysterious predators. Those mysterious calls the voice in her mind had spoken about, she could hear them now. Creatures that sounded like they had many mouths and plenty of sharp teeth.

She’d heard the Everfree was unsafe to travel alone. She’d heard it was unsafe to travel at night, or without a guide. Now she was doing all three.

But she had a good feeling about the direction she was walking. She’d seen Midnight lead her, even if she had been on the kirin’s back for most of that trip. She could get there without wandering too far off-course.

The trails helped, marking out the path between strange plants with a road that she knew couldn’t hurt her. Smells drifted in from off the path, lures meant to pull her away into dangerous places for her to be devoured. But even if she wasn’t as experienced living out in the wild—certainly not as experienced as her adoptive mother—she could stay on the path.

The forest itself seemed to realize that something was wrong. She could hear constant motion in the trees, animals fleeing the same direction she was in a panic. One moment she stopped dead in the shadows as a pair of gigantic canines crossed the path only feet in front of her. She could make out only their outlines, and the reflection of dagger-like teeth as long as her hooves. But she froze, and just as the voice promised the shadows were at her command. The monsters all passed her by.

I’ve done this before, she remembered. On the night she woke up, she’d cowered all night while predators swarmed around her. Then the day had come, and Midnight arrived to free her. The ponies had tried to take that freedom away, but Midnight stuck up for her.

She stuck up for me again tonight. She didn’t tell them where to find me. I’d already have been dragged off for the ritual if it hadn’t been for her. Maybe so, but it still didn’t feel like what should’ve happened. Midnight Storm should’ve fought them off, then the three of them could have flown away from Ponyville. Canterlot wasn’t far away—Midnight could carry her that far.

But instead, Nightfall was alone in the middle of the night, running away from a mind-controlled mom and a Ponyville taken over by cultists.

From the look of things, her journey was ending at last. There was a shape forming in the darkness up ahead, and she knew it had to be the huge trees surrounding Zecora’s cabin. Her instincts had led her right there. The wise zebra would know what to do, or would know somepony who did. She could get away. And if I get away, then the Children of Nightmare fail. They can’t have what they want without me. Celestia’s troops will catch them.

She passed over some old wood, clutching to the rope with each hoof step. It’s okay, we’re almost there. Not much further.

There were lights on up ahead, filling the many windows of Zecora’s cabin. Which… didn’t have many windows. And wasn’t made of stone, with ancient crenellations, and a distant wooden bridge, and a crowd of wild animals crouched low all around it like they’d come to worship.

Nightfall squeaked in absolute terror, turning to run—but she couldn’t move.

This is where we need to be, said the voice. It’s okay, we won’t be afraid again soon. They already know we’re here. We were the only one they were waiting for. Equestria will soon know its Queen again.

And it wasn’t lying. Several cultists emerged from the darkness behind her, cutting off her retreat. Cultists blocked the bridge, and her wings were covered by her coat. She couldn’t glide down into the ravine, but from the sounds coming from down there she didn’t want to anyway.

“Great Queen of all Equestria,” said a voice from beside her. A unicorn seemed to materialize out of the gloom, one Nightfall recognized from the attack on her home. This was Spell Nexus, the leader of the Children of Nightmare. “We’ve searched long for you. Forgive my ignorance—I should have known you would find your own way here.”

The crowd of cultists closed in behind them—though Nightfall knew she never could’ve escaped even if she tried to run. She was no Rainbow Dash. What would Midnight do?

She already had an example. Her mother had obeyed the cultists until the critical moment, letting her escape. Maybe… maybe Nightfall could do the same. If she fought and got tied up in chains like Sapphire, she wouldn’t get the chance. I have to play along. Hope they give me a chance to… To what, she didn’t know.

The voice inside her mind rejoiced—she could feel its pleasure at the praise, and it was hard not to share it. My power will return, and all Equestria with it. It’s time to take back what we’re owed.

Nightfall nodded. “I am here,” she said. “I’m ready for my coronation.”

Author's Note:

Written by Starscribe as a reward on Patreon