The Nyxing Hour

by Nagel Navari

Chapter 25

Nightfall Storm blinked away the fragments of sleep that had once been a nightmare. But just like any fading dream, the specifics were quickly lost to her mind, traces that she could barely remember.

The emotions remained clear, however. As images of gigantic castles and towering monsters melted like chocolate in the sun, she could still remember the fear she’d felt, changing to pity and sadness that there was one creature she hadn’t been able to save.

But then the frightening reality returned. She was standing in a broken castle, surrounded by crumbling walls and frightening cultists in their robes. Ponies that had their minds invaded and controlled, even those closest to her.

At her hooves, the circle of runes and terrible magic dissolved in a few faint puffs of smoke, as if the moonlight overhead had burned it away.

Nightfall tensed her whole body, lowering her head in expectation of the blows. She had destroyed the work of this evil cult, after all. They would not be able to summon Nightmare Moon, not ever again.

But she heard no anger coming from them. Nothing at all, until the first voice spoke. “Where am I?” It wasn’t a pony she knew.

But another answered soon after, one she knew a little better. Spell Nexus. “I… Celestia above, we were about to destroy all of Equestria.” Nightfall looked over just in time to see the former cult leader staring down at his hooves in utter horror. He tore the robe from his body in a single burst of magic, retreating from the circle. “I must… report myself to the crown at once. Perhaps the spell is not too far along to be stopped.” And he ran.

Most of the others were far less coordinated. Some seemed to remember stories of abduction, or a moment where they’d gotten lost and then wandered away from their lives. One by one these ponies retreated from the circle, abandoning Nightfall as thoroughly as though she’d been invisible.

But not all of them.

Midnight Storm had been one of the closest, and now she didn’t walk away. She’d already removed the robe, and now she dared a step towards Nightfall. Not too much closer, ears flattened in embarrassment. Maybe she thought that Nightfall would be mad.

“I’m… so sorry,” she said, her voice clear over the many confused ponies wandering away. “I tried to fight it, Nightfall. Fought so hard… but I couldn’t. Its control was too powerful.”

“You shouldn’t feel bad,” Nightfall said, closing the distance between them. But she didn’t actually touch. Even the conscious knowledge of how it had happened could not take away the pain, not instantly. “Princess Luna couldn’t resist it. Regular ponies… it would be even harder. I understand.”

“What happened? I… I remember dragging you… into the circle. The ritual should’ve been complete. From what Spell Nexus was saying…”

“It could’ve been.” Nightfall sat down on her haunches, looking up at the moon. “I think I… killed myself.” Her voice sounded strange, even in her own ears. “I didn’t want to. I didn’t mean to. But… I must have. She was me, and I killed her.”

“She was you,” Midnight repeated. “You did see Nightmare Moon? The ritual worked after all?”

“It worked, except for one thing.” Nightfall leaned close to her, having to stretch a little to be tall enough to speak into her ears. “Remember what you said? I didn’t have to be Nightmare Moon if I didn’t want to be. I decided not to be. Her power was… impressive. She had so many ponies who followed her. This whole cult… maybe I could’ve done good things with it, like she said. Maybe I could’ve been different. But I didn’t want to try. I didn’t want what she had to give me.”

“You’re right,” said a voice from nearby. For a few seconds it was just a voice, and Nightfall stared at empty air. But then the moonlight seemed to get brighter—and an outline appeared there. A dark pony, with a flowing mane that wasn’t light so much as a window into the sky. It was everything she’d seen in Nightmare Moon, except that it didn’t make her feel sick.

The pony she’d been reflected from: Luna.

And she wasn’t alone. Another figure had appeared behind her, brought by the same Alicorn’s teleport. Sapphire Breeze, with a few patches of mane missing and a bruised face, but otherwise intact. She grinned at Nightfall, exposing a newly missing tooth.

“You’ve now lived my greatest shame, Nightfall Storm. You’ve seen the awful creature I created. The suffering she would’ve brought against Equestria.”

“You…” Midnight’s disorientation from her mind control was fading quickly—probably way quicker than it had from the other ponies. “You’re here? You knew about this, and you didn’t help?”

Nightfall winced at the sound of her voice—something told her that wasn’t the way one was supposed to talk to a princess.

But Luna didn’t seem to care. If the breach of protocol bothered her, she said nothing about it. “Not until the end of the spell. Your friend here was informing me… but when Nightmare Moon died, I felt that. And I knew where you had gone.” She smiled weakly. “What did you think of it, child?”

“I… didn’t want to be part of it anymore,” Nightfall answered. “The things it wanted for Equestria would’ve hurt my friends. It had already hurt my family.”

“I could not have faced her and refused,” Princess Luna said, her voice agonized. “She mastered me, long ago. I gave of myself… so much. More than most ponies will ever have. But what lures were irresistible to me, you ignored.” She turned just slightly, her eyes settling on Midnight Storm. “It seems you taught her well. As I said, there was no way to outwit the cult, or spy out their secret places. But Nightmare Moon… there was one pony she couldn’t control. Herself.”

“I don’t understand.” The words were out before she knew what she was saying. But this might be Nightfall’s last chance to ask, and so she wasn’t going to let shyness win over now. “Was I wrong? Was I really her, or… why did that work? Why is… everypony free? All I did was say no…”

Princess Luna circled around the ruined castle. Her horn glowed in the light of the moon, and with its light Nightfall Storm was transported back. Not just her—Midnight was there, and Sapphire.

Instead of an ancient ruin, the Castle of the Two Sisters was a perfection of engineering as impressive as Canterlot was now. Banners faded and rotted with time regained their luster, and broken windows knit themselves together. The blanket of fallen leaves vanished from the gaps in the ceiling, and the torches on the walls all lit themselves again.

The walls seemed to become transparent, and they saw a massive bedroom. There, Princess Luna lay upon a flowing blanket, curled up and writhing in torment. “You remember my suffering, Nightfall Storm. You inherited it. But what you don’t remember—can’t remember, was the one who answered my pleading when my sister and nopony in Equestria would.”

“Me,” Nightfall supplied.

“Not… precisely,” Luna said. Shadow rose up from the distant bedroom, swallowing the princess, transforming her. “There is a place that is no place—a realm beyond time, beyond good and evil and everything else. It is a changeless, ceaseless eternity, where stillborn things that could never exist emerge briefly from the probabilistic foam only to melt away again. Limbo, if you like—a frozen eternity, where nothing ought to live. Those ponies who summon forbidden forces—the arts we call Dark Magic—all their power comes from there.

“But just because a creature came from there—just because they were a demon—does not mean they would remain so. Nightmare Moon emerged into our world and was shaped by my feelings at the time. All the resentment I felt for my family, the betrayal that had consumed me, that was all she knew.”

“But that wasn’t what Nightfall had,” Midnight supplied for the princess, her anger melting away. “She didn’t come here to be hated by an Alicorn. She wasn’t rejected by Equestria.”

“She might’ve been,” Princess Luna said. “Except that she had the company of ponies who were familiar with that danger. Ponies who knew what could come of a life of alienation and abandonment. Ponies who did not allow that to happen.” She nodded respectfully to Midnight, and Sapphire.

“But ultimately, the decision was yours, Nightfall. You could decide to change your nature if you wanted to. You could give up one kind of life for another. I have been studying the ritual spell for this long time—and I understood it as my sister never could. Her mind has been touched little by this magic, but I cast it myself long ago. I invited you here once.”

Nightfall recoiled, retreating a step from the Alicorn and behind the safety of Midnight Storm. After all that she’d endured, the night’s confusion was already fading. Midnight had fought harder than anypony else in town. Had very nearly overcome the awful mind-control through sheer force of will. It would not be hard to forgive her.

“And you’re… not going to try to get rid of me, are you? I like Equestria. I don’t want to hurt it.”

“No, you don’t,” Princess Luna said. “You don’t need to insist so loudly—I know you are telling the truth. You couldn’t have denied your own desires otherwise. In doing that, you unmade those parts of yourself, returned them to Limbo. Now you’re what remains.” She looked away, staring wistfully up into the sky. “A little shame that most of my power is gone forever now. It will need to be restored over a long time—for both of us. But it’s a worthwhile sacrifice.”

She leaned forward, resting a hoof on Nightfall’s shoulder. Nightfall felt herself stiffen all over as Luna touched her, as though it might be the prelude to any number of terrible attacks.

But there were no attacks. Luna let go another second later, and turned. The illusion of the perfected castle faded away, and they were returned to the ruins instead. “The damage the Children of Nightmare did is mine to repair, not yours. It may take years. But when I am done… it will be finished. I can finally move on.”

“Wait!” Sapphire Breeze called, her voice betraying just a hint of panic. “What about Nightfall? Should she… still be hiding now? Do we need to leave Ponyville again? Your sister never told me.”

Luna shrugged. “I think that should be Nightfall’s choice now, not mine or yours. The past is dead—she doesn’t have to be forced to hide over a pony that I once was.”

The moonlight grew brighter around the princess for a moment, and the fallen leaves were stirred in a gentle breeze. When they finally settled down, the princess was gone.

The palace no longer seemed terrifying to Nightfall Storm. The shadows didn’t lengthen, and there was no patch of ground that seemed to empty into oblivion. She saw only old stone, and broken glass. Maybe a fun place to explore, if she could bring her friends here. Except maybe Aura. She might hurt herself.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” Midnight said, and the tears had returned to her eyes. “I broke my promise to you. I said I’d keep you safe, but I couldn’t. You shouldn’t… you shouldn’t have had to fight them.”

Nightfall shrugged her shoulder. Then she rushed up and embraced the kirin, all previous pain forgotten. “It’s okay, Mom. Maybe you couldn’t fight the cult… but you taught me how to say no. That’s all the protection I needed.”

Sapphire joined them a moment later, and Nightfall welcomed her into the hug too. Somehow, she wouldn’t have felt her family would be complete otherwise.

“I hope you don’t go either,” she said, her voice timid. “Now that… I don’t need protecting. I’d like it better if you stayed.”

“I think I can work something out.”

Author's Note:

Written by Starscribe as a reward on Patreon

Comments

[LostArchivist]

I'm interested to see where this goes, now that the Nightmare is gone.

[Asolem2]

He tore the robe from his body in a single burst of magic, retreating from the circle. “I must… report myself to the crown at once. Perhaps the spell is not too far along to be stopped.” And he ran.

Ohhh, that might be a problem later

And she wasn’t alone. Another figure had appeared behind her, brought by the same Alicorn’s teleport. Sapphire Breeze, with a few patches of mane missing and a bruised face, but otherwise intact. She grinned at Nightfall, exposing a newly missing tooth.

I don't know why, but i find this scene hilarious

[Liqwidice]

9254156
THERE IS ALWAYS NIGHTMARE NIGHT TO EXPLORE....

[harts fire]

we all have demons in us.
some are just true horrors.
and some are good in showing us the true way or our true selves.