Nyx Returns

by Bronyxy

3 Nightmare's Last Secret

The castle had been built in a style that was intentionally imposing, and now in a state of incremental decay, the first impression presented by its jagged edges was nothing short of brutally sinister.

The sun had set an hour since and Twilight stood near the main entrance watching the myriad of sparkling stars emerge against the deepening velvet backdrop of the night sky. Although it was a warm night, she couldn't help feeling a shiver run through her as the castle reached out with its inanimate malevolence to run its icy fingers down her back.

She knew she was being silly of course; the castle was no more than a vessel for what had happened here a thousand years ago, or that is what she had believed until Luna had told her of the arcane dark magic that still waited somewhere within its walls.

The prospect of such powerful magic within her reach both shocked and fascinated her, an involuntary shudder of trepidation combining with the restlessness of unfinished business emanating from the castle. She had always felt a draw from this place and had put it down to the tragedy of Princess Luna and the loyalty she had felt for Celestia, but now she finally realised it was this magic calling to her. She was the Bearer of the Element of Magic after all - who else was it going to call to? She felt she was on the cusp of destiny; her fate could go one way or the other. On one hoof she didn't want to go forward for fear of the risks and the stakes, but equally she knew she would never find peace unless she answered its call.

"Good evening, Twilight Sparkle" said a formal yet soft voice from behind her.
She jumped, her reactions on edge and turned quickly to see the serene midnight blue form of the Princess of the Night.
"I apologise for startling you, Twilight" she reassured "I had to see for myself whether the items of our joint interest are still there; it has been a long time.
"And are they?" she asked, her heart in her mouth.
"Yes."

Twilight's heart skipped a beat.
"I have them awaiting our attention in a secluded room where we can study them without interruption."
Time seemed to have stopped for Twilight. Part of her was screaming to run away and forget all about it, but an inexorable force moved her hooves one at a time to draw up to Luna. She said nothing, just looked deep into her teal eyes, her inner turmoil heightened under Luna's gaze. After an extended pause she nodded weakly. The die was cast.

Twilight followed Luna through the castle, their way lit by ethereal blue flames that danced within the wall sconces. She thought she knew the castle's layout quite well, but it wasn't long before she started to feel that she was following unfamiliar passageways past unknown rooms.

Luna looked back at her companion periodically, a glint in her eye.
"Are you not interested to know where you are, Twilight Sparkle?" she enquired.
"Well, yes actually. I can't say I've recognised anything for a while now."

"Good, then the spell has retained its power" said Luna "You see, where you are does not exist; it is a projection of my imagination. If you take the wrong turn or go through the wrong door at any point, then you will be trapped forever roaming the recesses of an infinite maze. This then, is the first level of protection."
Twilight gulped. If this was only the first level, then what must the other security spells be like?

At the end of the corridor they were on, Luna opened the door and showed Twilight the interior, but barred her way with a foreleg.
"What do you see?" she asked.
Twilight peered in and said in surprise "An empty room with a door the other side with a sign on it - 'library'. Oh, let's go!"
"Not so fast Twilight Sparkle, remember there are traps. Describe the room to me."

The chastened look on the lilac pony's face changed to one of thoughtfulness "The room is unremarkable except that its ceiling is open to the sky."
"Does that not strike you as unusual?"
"Only now you come to mention it."
"Test for magic."

Twilight furrowed her brow and a magenta aura emanated from her horn "I got nothing" she said.
"Good" countered Luna "There is a spell preventing the detection of magic ..."
"Devious ..."
"If one is to enter without having first cast the requisite anti-gravity spell, then one would experience a sensation akin to falling upwards, but in fact one would be falling down into a dark pit. You see, that is not the sky where the ceiling is, but a deep hole; the room is inverted."
"Oh, Luna" gasped Twilight "That's so clever!"

"Would you care to proceed in safety?" she asked innocently.
Twilight nodded sheepishly, feeling in response the glow of Luna's aura flow through her and followed the midnight mare through the enchanted room.

Luna depressed the antique latch on the solid oak door and pushed it open. The interior was illuminated with the same ghostly blue flames in wall sconces as she had become used to in the corridors. Twilight smelled the waft that curled around the door jamb, regaling her senses with a mental image that was part library and part museum; all the types of places where she felt at home. A tremble of excitement ran through her body and she moved forward tentatively, her eyes growing wide as she took in the enormity of the repository. There was a rich variety of books, as one would expect, but also scrolls, tablets and other media she had never seen before.

"I should be surprised if you recognised more than one or two of the books in here, and probably none of the other items" said Luna factually without any hint of showing off as Twilight fought to find the words to express what she saw.

"I will allow you access to this library, but you need to be aware of one more spell protecting the magic in here; none of it may be allowed to leave. If it does, it will cause a magical imbalance on the ethereal plane akin to when Discord sensed us transferring our alicorn magic to you. Such an event would cause unwelcome attention from many quarters, and magical creatures you have never heard of would be drawn in to it from all the different realms. As a consequence, every item in here is individually protected."

Twilight took in the significance of what she was being told and nodded her ascent to Luna who continued "I draw your attention to the book on the table."
It was a deep volume in a dark hide covering, embossed with gold letters that Twilight recognised as being early Unicornian and a runic symbol she had not seen before. The tome smelled musty and when she opened the cover, the pages seemed to assault her senses, expressing resentment at not having seen learned eyes for far too long.

The enthusiastic librarian, having read all the known books at her disposal had turned to studying languages, both contemporary and also those that were no longer spoken. This gave her an advantage when it came to negotiating with foreign dignitaries and also developed an academic understanding of how the roots of all languages ever used in Equestria were all fundamentally linked. Never did she think she would be called upon to put these skills to such a practical use, and revelled in the opportunity laid out before her.

She looked through the titles of the chapters, equal emphasis appearing to have been placed on mind coaching and meting out varying types of destruction.
"Did you read all of these?" she asked.
"Yes" replied Luna sadly "I developed my ability to learn and because of my jealousy, used that potential for my own evil ends. For example, you will remember the different tricks I used to stop you and your friends when I first returned as Nightmare Moon; all that magic is in there.

"Do you believe we can teach Nyx without developing within her the same dependence for dark magic?" asked Twilight "She does carry your essence after all."
"In my case, I studied to get back at my Sister. Nyx does not have the same negative focus. If we do nothing, we have no idea where her power could end up being directed."

"How should we proceed?"
"I will show you the spells and exercises most suited to mind training and direct you past those that I consider the most dangerous. We will discuss them and we can teach her together. I suggest I introduce new topics on a weekly basis as I am currently doing with her already, and you reinforce her training with a daily routine."
"Very well, Luna. Let's start."

***

"Welcome Nyx" greeted Luna "We will be studying magic tonight."
Although Nyx did not want to sound ungrateful, she was really looking forward to more flying.
"Do you not approve?"
"Well, my magic always seems to go wrong, but I'm getting really good at flying. Perhaps I'm just more pegasus and less unicorn?" she replied, really wishing she could show off her flying skills.

"You are an alicorn and as such need to develop yourself in both. If you were a pegasus, then you would be looking to go to the Wonderbolt Academy but with no expectation of learning anything about magic. Similarly, if you were a unicorn, then you would be looking to go to the School for Gifted Unicorns but with no expectation of learning anything about flying. But you are an alicorn and that is why Twilight and I are taking the time to teach you ourselves. You hold a combination of the greatest talents across Equestria and we believe that it is incumbent on us to bring the best out from you."

Nyx hung her head sorrowfully "I'm sorry Princess Luna."
"But we will find time to fly after the magic lessons - Huzzah!"
Nyx immediately perked up at the prospect and set her mind to focus on magic.

Whilst nopony would ever forget how she had turned Fluttershy into a tree during Miss Cheerilee's 'Learn and Play Day', that had been before Luna had passed judgement and taken away her powers. Since then, nothing she had tried had quite gone as planned, and although basic magic such as that required to open doors and levitate small objects seemed to work, at least mostly, she had developed an unintentional penchant for turning things into oranges whether that had been her objective or not. If she focused really hard, then sometimes she could produce a tangerine, but her repertoire appeared to be heavily tilted in favour of orange coloured citrus fruits.

Luna sat the eager young filly down and explained the principles of meditation, then placed a goblet in front of her student.
"Now Nyx, once you have entered your meditative state, reach out to this object and picture it as a stick; believe that is what it is. Take your time and only direct your energy when you are ready."

There was a pause while Nyx screwed her eyes shut tight, a look of extreme concentration on her face and then something started to happen. Luna watched intently as an aura formed around the goblet, swirling mists coalescing together and growing brighter; reds oranges and yellows. She stared in disbelief as what should have been an elementary transfiguration exercise started to enter dimensions rarely seen outside the highest levels of sorcery.

Hurriedly, Luna uttered the words of a protection spell, the blue of her aura mixing with the deepening reds circling the now fundamentally irrelevant goblet, forming a deep purple colour that matched exactly that of Nightmare Moon's cutie mark. Luna recognised the symbolism immediately and started to feel a pull drawing her in, a familiar attraction that was as comforting as it was evil.

She fought against its magnetic appeal, feeling herself being pulled more and more fiercely, her eyes growing wide as she struggled to resist what she had once desired with not just all of her heart, but her very soul. The feel was seductive, tempting her with the attainment of all her most twisted dreams, promising her ultimate power if she agreed to let it consume her. She drew on her reserves of willpower, forming her mouth into a silent scream as she threw everything she had at resisting.

Suddenly it stopped as Nyx's turquoise eyes blinked open expecting to see yet another orange. The purple aura had vanished and its associated magic dissipated in the same instant, leaving Luna wide eyed and hyperventilating in stark contrast to the pervading silence of the room. Nyx was taken aback at her mentor's unexpected behaviour and let out a startled "Eeep!" before hiding under the table.
"Sorry Princess Luna, I'm so sorry!" she quavered.

Luna took a few more breaths to steady herself before she could think about composing an answer. There was no doubt left in her mind that the power within Nyx was growing strong and that she had, however inadvertently tapped into Nightmare Moon, reawakening emotions she had prayed were long gone.
"I am sorry child" she said in the most reassuring voice she could muster "I was working alongside you and must have got a little carried away; forgive me."

In reply she heard a tremulous but indecipherable response from under the table.
"Would you like some refreshment after your exertion before we commence our flying training?"
The thought of snacks followed by flying did the trick, and Luna watched as first a horn then two wide turquoise eyes appeared from under the table.
"Are you cross with me?" she asked apprehensively.
"Of course not. You have worked hard, and I am pleased with you."

Both alicorns simultaneously looked to where the goblet had once stood, and both were surprised with what they saw. Luna kicked herself for not checking sooner what toxic legacy could have been left behind before her young student could see, but it was too late now.

In place of the goblet was a stick, as instructed, but one that had obviously been worked and had once been highly polished, but now bore marks of much subsequent handling. Luna noticed also that it bore a series of symbols around its base and along its length.

Luna recognised it and recoiled in horror.

This could not have happened!

Comments

[Edguy0009]

DUN DUN DUN!

[Bronyxy]

8885527
This stick may not be quite as innocent as it seems - read on!