Nyx Returns

by Bronyxy

1 Princess Luna's Most Faithful Student

The impenetrable darkness that had been the backdrop for the night's flying began to part in a horizontal line trimmed with brilliant gold, providing the first hint of the coming dawn. The black alicorn filly still giggled with giddy excitement, intoxicated by a sense of elation that the freedom of the night sky had offered her.

She banked and rolled over into a gentle dive losing herself in the ecstasy of the moment, feeling the increasing wind resistance on her face as she built speed, her feathers rippling in myriad patterns created by aerodynamic forces she would never know the names of, and cared even less.

She closed her eyes and plummeted, waiting until the moment felt right before pitching up and feeling the g forces strain at her wings as they began to support much more than her bodyweight, while simultaneously sensing her whole body level out and then point heavenwards. Her speed bled away as she reached the top of her loop and lay inverted, waiting for gravity to restart.

“Be careful not to become disorientated” came the friendly mentoring voice beside her “It is easy to fall to one side if you are not careful.”
She pricked her ears to heed the calm voice of maturity, crystallised by hundreds of years of experience. Princess Luna was right, of course, and Nyx took stock of her position, recognising the onset of the lateral disorientation she had been warned of and corrected her attitude accordingly, rolling out of the loop perfectly.
“Thank you, Princess!” she called over in appreciation.
“You have made very good progress and I am most pleased, but night time is drawing to its end and I have duties to attend.”

Turning to her student, the Princess of the Night wrinkled her nose as a cheeky smile crept onto her face.
"Catch me if you can!" she giggled, looking over her shoulder to see the ebony coloured filly beating her wings frantically to join her mentor. Luna led them through a random sequence of beginner level aerobatics, smiling at the sound of Nyx's cries of delight as she did her best to keep up.

Nyx had paid no heed to where she was, just happy to be spending time with the mare with whom she shared aspects of a combined past. Originally, she had been scared of the regal alicorn who had stood as judge and jury over her actions as Nightmare Moon, fearing banishment to the moon for what she had done. Even Princess Celestia had been against her, her only ally in that dark hour being Twilight Sparkle who out of her infinite kindness had adopted her as her own daughter.

It had taken Nyx a long time to develop the confidence to see Luna as anypony other than the Diarch of Equestria, but through her Mom's gentle coaxing she had grown to see her as somepony more. Under Luna's tutelage she had begun to embark on a voyage of self-discovery, exploring the bonds that connected her to the night. This tuition had taken her down many different avenues, tonight's being one of the most fun and she hadn't wanted it to end.

Luna steered them unerringly back towards Canterlot, Nyx marvelling at the spectacle of the first golden rays glinting off the highest features of the great city. Luna lined up her approach with the confident familiarity of hundreds of years’ experience, taking a more conservative line than usual to ensure that the filly accompanying her would not clip herself on the wall.

Twilight was waiting for them on the battlements and felt a lump of pride catch in her throat as the two dark coloured alicorns drew into sight and appeared to skim effortlessly over the wall, wings outstretched and legs braced for landing. She marvelled at the obvious familial similarity they shared and secretly gave thanks that the two of them had cultivated a relationship of such closeness that could never have been imagined only a few short years ago. Although Twilight could teach her daughter much, it was evident that her heritage was born of the night, and hard as it was to accept, this was where her destiny lay; not as a librarian's assistant.

"Nyx, you looked amazing!" she called out, a broad smile on her face "Thank you so much, Luna!"
Luna finished furling her wings with a little flutter and dipped her head in recognition of Twilight's thanks, but was promptly caught a little off guard when Nyx wrapped her forelegs round her in a happy embrace.
"Thank you Princess!" she said, her words tripping over each other in her excitement "That was so amazing! Can we do it again tonight, please?"

Twilight caught her daughter's pleas across the still morning air and sprang into the air herself, gliding down to join them, interceding on Luna's behalf.
"Princess Luna has a lot of duties to perform; not just flying around with you" she observed.
Nyx looked a little put out, but begrudgingly accepted her Mom's gentle chiding.
"I will look forward to continuing your training next week" said Luna leaning down to give the excited filly a nuzzle "Do not forget to practice."
The shy filly still found herself a little overcome with overt displays of emotion from the Royal Princess whom most considered to be unreachable and aloof, even though she had been giving her lessons every week for months.

"Do you have the time to take a meal with my Sister and me?" enquired Luna, looking at Twilight expectantly.
"Why, thank you Luna" replied Twilight, somewhat surprised. She knew that the two Royal Sisters used the opportunity afforded by sharing a meal just after sunrise for Luna to brief Celestia on the night's events. This regular meeting was always considered to be very private because it frequently delved into affairs of State that nopony else should be privileged to hear, especially as snippets of gossip could easily be misreported as solid fact to disastrous effect. Indeed, Twilight could only recall a handful of occasions on which she had ever been invited previously and she furrowed her brow, suddenly speculating as to why both she and Nyx had been invited on this particular morning.

Apprehensively, she followed the midnight blue mare while her daughter skipped happily by her side, oblivious of the significance of her invitation.

The table had been set on the Royal Balcony, no wind ruffling the table cloth, four places set. As Twilight emerged onto the balcony she suddenly recognised that this was no ad hoc invitation, moreover one that had clearly been premeditated. Beyond the table was another door leading into the castle, and visible on the far side of that doorway was the unmistakable pure white form of Princess Celestia, clearly talking with somepony.

As the three alicorns walked over to the table, Celestia terminated her discussion and made her way out to join her guests.
"Good morning Sister" greeted Luna "Are you well rested?"
"Good morning Luna, Twilight and of course, Nyx. Thank you Sister, yes, I slept well and am looking forward to hearing all about the night's activities. But first, let us be seated."

Twilight's mind immediately jumped to the confidential reporting that she knew this meeting always entailed and started to feel that she and Nyx were encroaching. She was even more startled when she found her daughter to be the subject of Celestia's keen interest; startled and nervous. She recalled how Celestia had taken Nyx away from her before and immediately felt her guard raise; she was never going to let that happen again.

Luna reeled off the progress that Nyx had been making across all the subjects she had been teaching and rounded off her report with a resume of her flying skills. Celestia looked most impressed. Twilight felt her guard raise even more.
"Nyx" said Celestia "There's a buffet being kept warm for you through that door, if you would like to help yourself."
"Oh yes please!" she replied and then checked with her Mom before leaving the group.

Twilight felt uneasy that after having been invited to this meeting, Nyx had been sent out of earshot. The scenario seemed all too familiar. A tide of raw emotions surged through her; the previous broken trust and the betrayal, as well as the ultimate judgement when she, Nyx's adoptive mother had been forcibly excluded from proceedings. She gave a stiff nod of ascent that she hoped did not betray the rising anger she felt and Nyx scampered off happily to see what treats awaited.

"It's Nyx isn't it?" blurted Twilight standing suddenly, her rage finding its voice "If you're planning to take her away again, Celestia, I'M NOT GOING TO LET YOU! SHE HASN'T EARNED IT!"

The Sun Princess opened her mouth to speak, but guilt formed a tight knot in her throat and she could only flinch as she soaked up Twilight's outburst of protective maternal aggression. She recalled how she had tricked Nyx away from Twilight once before and hated herself for it still. Of all the things she wanted to forget from her long life, this was among the highest, followed closely by her misjudging Twilight's warning that Cadence was acting out of character at her brother's wedding. On both occasions, Equestria had nearly been lost due to her own poor judgement. She had vanquished entire armies with less guilt than she felt towards her former student, who now, far from being the submissive filly of only a few short years ago, had developed a very pronounced protective streak towards her daughter as a result of Celestia’s own actions.

"No Twilight" interjected Luna as her sister floundered "That is not the issue. Nyx has shown unusual aptitude for magic; a talent of which she herself is not fully aware. All she can see is that her spells sometimes go awry and blames herself for lack of ability, whereas in fact the opposite is true; she has too much ability and does not know how to control it. Another day we can discuss opportunities to school her further, but I think perhaps now is not the right time."
Twilight calmed and Celestia wordlessly wiped fresh tears from her muzzle, still feeling the lilac pony's penetrating glare even though lingering shame prevented her making eye contact.

Peace between the grown-ups had broken out just before Nyx bounded back out to join them.
"Sorry I've been so long, only they had so many of my favourite things I couldn't choose what to put on my plate, so you want to know what they did?" she spouted enthusiastically "They gave me two plates! And they promised to carry them out for me!"
Nyx was so excited that she didn't pick up on the dissipating tension that had less than a minute before threatened the very harmony between the ruling Princesses. As Nyx had proudly announced, waiters followed on behind her with two plates piled high with delicacies. At the sight of royal protocol being driven through with all the subtlety of a herd of marauding buffalo, even Twilight's anger evaporated.
"Are you sure you're going to eat all that?" she asked incredulous.
"Of course I will Mom" came the reply "Flying makes a filly very hungry."

Following on behind Nyx's feast were three other waiters; two carrying a breakfast each for Celestia and Twilight, whilst the other brought Luna her dinner. Luna tried to make a show of enjoying her meal for Nyx's benefit, but the two other Princesses only pushed things half-heartedly round their plates; Celestia still feeling the occasional icy glare directed towards her.

Nyx continued to bubble enthusiastically, covering any awkward silences with a stream of anecdotes about her flying, leaving no doubting that this was the favourite subject she had been coached in so far. The meal drew to a close with Nyx finally having to admit defeat; she had almost gorged her way through the two platefuls, but had reached the point where there was no conceivable way she was going to clean both off to the pattern on the plates.

"I do not believe you will be able to show Twilight your new flying skills now!" quipped Luna.
Nyx contemplated the overly rotund sensation that had once been her empty tummy and returned her a look that may have owed its origins to shame, but ended in a broad grin.

With the meal over and no more smalltalk forthcoming, Twilight offered her grateful thanks and bade the Royal Sisters good morning, gesturing for her daughter to follow. Luna and Celestia stood up from the table to share a formal nuzzle with their guests, a tangible stiffness still hanging between white and lilac ponies.

"Do you think you can manage to fly home?" teased Twilight.
"Of course" replied her daughter quickly, then qualifying her impetuous statement a moment later "... Maybe..."