> Like Sister, Like Student
>  by Bronyxy
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> 1 The Invitation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,
Princess Celestia and Princess Luna request the pleasure of the company of yourself and the filly Nyx at the Royal Castle, Canterlot this weekend. Please arrive Friday evening for dinner at 7pm.
A Royal chariot will arrive an hour beforehoof.
RSVP (please state your preference for one of my chariots or one of Luna’s).
With fondest regards,
Celestia

“Well, Nyx” said Twilight furling the scroll and laying it down on the breakfast table beside her plate, “I hope your calendar’s clear.”
“Why’s that Mom?” asked the jet black alicorn looking up with a piece of freshly made pancake poised to go into her mouth.
“Oh, nothing much” Twilight deadpanned, “Just that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have invited us to Canterlot tonight for the weekend!”
Nyx dropped her pancake as her face broke into the widest smile. “A whole weekend?” she asked, not believing her good fortune, “Tonight?”

“And …” continued the lilac mare, watching her adopted daughter’s face “You get to choose whether you want to be picked up in on of Celestia’s or one of Luna’s chariots – the Princess is waiting for your answer.”
“Oh Mom, it just has to be Princes Luna’s!” she bubbled enthusiastically, “Will it be drawn by Bat Ponies? They’re so cool!”
“I expect so” said Twilight, casting her mind back to the only time she had ever seen pegasi from the Royal Guard pull one of Luna’s chariots, a poignant moment following a narrowly won battle bought by personal sacrifice and heavy losses.
Nyx did not pick up on the look of sadness that flashed across Twilight’s face but giggled in her dizzy excitement at the prospect ahead.
“Shall I take that as a ‘yes’ then?” asked Twilight, finally making eye contact with her happy filly.
“Oh, yes please!”

Spike came back in from the kitchen with another plate piled high with pancakes.
“Hey, what did I miss?” he asked, sliding the newly filled plate onto the table, “What was in the scroll from Princess Celestia?”
“I’m going to Canterlot for the weekend” enthused Nyx, “And we get to ride in Princess Luna’s chariot with real Bat Ponies!”
“So that means you’re in charge Spike” added the benevolent librarian with a smile, “You up for it?”
“Hey, what do you know, I just so happen to have some new comics, and …”
“… And the library will have to be opened on Saturday as usual” confirmed Twilight.
Spike giggled a little nervously, “Yes Twi, that’s just what I was going to go on and say.”
“Glad to hear it Spike. Owlowiscious will be around to lend a helping claw when you need, but you’re the one who has to ensure it all runs smoothly.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ve got it covered” his mouth responded, while in his brain he was preoccupied with working out how he could maximise his own dragon time; plans that involved extensive delegation to Owlowiscious.

“May I be excused from table so as I can pack please, Mom?” asked Nyx, eyes wide.
Twilight marvelled at how Rarity’s etiquette lessons had made such an impression on the filly and gave her permission with a loving smile, wondering what packing she could possibly have to do that would take her all day.

“You want me to keep these warm for her, Twi?” asked the baby dragon, looking at the quantity he had prepared for two hungry ponies and himself, “She’ll be hungry again before long.”
“No I don’t think so, thank you Spike” replied Twilight with a little giggle, “She’ll be bouncing all day.”
“So, more for me then?”
“OK, but don’t make yourself ill – I don’t want any little accidents when you send the response to the Princess.”

After breakfast, Twilight dictated her reply to Princess Celestia and Spike despatched it in a puff of dragon smoke. Upstairs, there was the sound of drawers being slid open accompanied by little gasps of frustration – clearly what she was looking for eluded her.
“Mom!” came the inevitable call from upstairs, “Do you know where my dress is?”
“Which one?”
“You know, the dark blue one?”
“Why do you want a dress?” enquired Twilight, having come up the stairs and joined her daughter in her bedroom, “You see Princess Luna every week for private lessons and you know Princess Celestia well enough too.”
“Yes” replied the filly tensely, “But when I see Princess Luna we always do some flying together, but this time we’re going to Canterlot by chariot, in Princess Luna’s chariot Mom, I’ve got to look my best!”

“Um …”offered Twilight, “Didn’t I last see you wear it to one of your Crusader meetings?”
“Oh no” she froze on the spot and then slowly turned her head to face her mother, mouth agape, “I didn’t forget to put it out for wash did I?”
“Well, I haven’t seen it.”
“What will I do?” the filly wailed.
“Well, you can start by getting a grip on yourself” lectured Twilight, “Run down to Carousel Boutique and see if Rarity has anything in your size.”
“Oh can I really Mom?” she asked excitedly, “Can I really have a new dress?”
“Only if Rarity has one. Now go on and find out.”

Nyx fairly flew down the stairs and out the door as Twilight watched her disappear into town from out of her daughter’s bedroom window, shaking her head gently and smiling at the filly’s enthusiasm.
“What was that, Twi?” asked Spike.
“That, Spike” she replied, “Was a filly on the way to get a new dress.”
“Big deal” said her loyal assistant dismissively.
“It’s kinda like a baby dragon let loose at a jewellers and allowed to pick what they want.”
“Oh right, so it really is a big deal then” said Spike, taking a moment to consider the image of being allowed free reign among a whole shop full of perfectly cut gemstones.
Twilight giggled and set to work straightening out the debris of discarded dresses draped over every conceivable hanging place in her daughter’s bedroom.

Nyx’s hooves indeed didn’t touch the ground until she careened up to the gaudy building that everypony knew and respected as the centre of sophistication in Ponyville, extending her hooves out before her and spraying up a shower of dirt and dust as she skidded to a halt just by the entrance. She pushed the door open, panting as a cloud of freshly kicked up dust floated in with her.

As Rarity turned towards the cheerful jingling of the little bell perched above the door, she began her practiced spiel, “Welcome to Carousel Boutique where every garment is chic, unique and …”
Suddenly catching sight of the dying remains of a cloud of dirt settling onto her immaculate sales floor, her mouth fell open and she raised her forehooves to her face as her pupils shrank to pinpricks. 

Dirt.

In her boutique. 

This was the worst possible thing!

She let out a whimper.

Stood at the epicentre of this travesty, and no doubt responsible for it, was a familiar jet black alicorn filly who had her mouth open ready to speak, but for some reason of developed self-preservation had chosen to be quiet.

Rarity swallowed, biting down with it a selection of the most unladylike expressions and forced a smile onto her face.
“Nyx dear” she greeted through gritted teeth, “How can I help you today?”
“Um, I can come back later if this isn’t convenient …” struggled the young alicorn.
“Not convenient? Not convenient? No” she paused for effect, pouting and tossing her head back theatrically, “Now is fine, but I should be most gratefully obliged if in future you were to leave the dirt outside where it belongs.”

Nyx looked around. It seemed to be spotless, but perhaps being a truly refined Lady bestowed one with some heightened awareness of cleanliness that she had yet to develop, she thought.
“Um, sorry …” she stammered, looking down to her hooves.
“No matter” chimed Rarity, “You seem in an awful rush, darling. What can I do for you?”
“Do you have any dresses in my size please, Miss Rarity?” she enquired hopefully, “Only I’ve been invited to spend the weekend with Princess Luna and Princess Celestia in Canterlot …” 
“Canterlot?” the seamstress exclaimed loudly, “Well, we must give you something to wear that befits the occasion. It just so happens that I have the outline of something that might fit. Now, come and stand on the stage, darling.”

The talented fashionista soon got to work with her tape measure, noting down all manner of dimensions while making very positive ooh and aah Sounds.
“Right we are darling, how long can you give me?”
“Well, I’m being picked up at six this evening, so …”
“Oh, plenty of time then” chirped the white unicorn, “Come back at five, and it’ll be ready for you. Only …”
“Yes?” enquired Nyx, hanging on her every word.
“Next time, please leave the dirt outside.”
Nyx uttered an apology and Rarity gave her a warm hug to show there were no hard feelings before the filly carefully opened the door and walked out in a manner more befitting a Lady.

When she returned home, Nyx was tense with the excitement of being a Royal guest and the prospect of a new dress. She paced nervously, oblivious of the effect this was having on the other occupants in the library, and it fell to Twilight to take her to one side before she knocked over piles of books with the swishing of her tail or by bumping into them.
“Hey Nyx” said Twilight comfortingly, “You’re fully up to speed with all the magic homework Princess Luna’s set you, aren’t you?”
Nyx stopped and thought for a moment.
“Well” continued Twilight, “Why not do a bit of background reading and really impress her with what you’ve learned for yourself; I’m sure that will be a nice surprise for her.”
Fortunately, that did the trick and Nyx found herself a comfortable spot where she set to work reading ahead in the books she had been given to study.

Fired up with enthusiasm to impress Princess Luna, she pored through the books until sometime later when Twilight sidled up to remind her that she needed to start getting ready and that Rarity should have finished the new dress for her by now.
Dropping everything as a new wave of panic gripped her, she sprinted out of the door and flew into the centre of Ponyville in much the same way as she had this morning, but this time remembering to land before she got to Carousel Boutique, so that she could walk in like a Lady.

“Ah ha!” exclaimed Rarity, looking up. She had been expecting Nyx, and was delighted to see her make a much more genteel entrance into her shop than she had earlier in the day.
“Well Nyx” she chimed, “I have something here that I think you will agree is spectacular, not garish, eye-catching, yet restrained, in short just perfect for your weekend with the Royal sisters! Ta-dah!”
She moved to one side so that Nyx could now see the mannequin adjusted to her specific dimensions draped in a rich purple and blue dress with spangled chiffon overlays, looking like a shimmering homage to the beauty of the night sky.

“it – it’s beautiful …” gasped the young filly, “Is it really for me?”
“Well of course it is” comforted Rarity, “Who else in Ponyville has your precise measurements?”
“Oh thank you!” sobbed Nyx, overcome by emotion, “How can I repay you?”
“Seeing your smile is payment enough” said Rarity, “That, and remembering to leave the dirt outside of my boutique.”
Rarity put a forehoof under the filly’s chin and gently lifted her face so they made eye contact, and Nyx was rewarded by one of the warmest smiles she had ever seen. In spite of herself, she flung her forelegs around the bearer of the Element of Generosity and gave her a heartfelt hug.
> 2 New Challenges
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At a quarter to six, the excited filly ran out onto the uppermost balcony above the library and placed a forehoof on the telescope, aligning it to the north east and pressed up close to the eye-piece, straining to catch the first glimpse of Princess Luna’s chariot approaching from Canterlot.

After about ten minutes of searching, she finally spotted a dot that slowly morphed into the dark purple royal chariot she had been waiting for. It was indeed pulled by two ponies in dark purple armour that matched the chariot, and she watched spellbound as they turned on to finals to make their approach to land in front of her home, knowing that they had come all that way just for her.

The chariot pulled up outside the Golden Oak library just as the chimes for six o’clock faded from the Ponyville clock tower. Nyx stood wide eyed at the doorway with Twilight just gathering the last few things she needed behind her.
“Mom!” she gasped, “They’re so cool!”
“Well, why don’t you go over and say hello then?” prompted Twilight.
“Can I?” she asked and sprang forward enthusiastically, slowing down when she got closer as she suddenly appreciated how big the Bat Ponies were.

“Good afternoon Sirs” said Twilight unfazed, catching up to her dumbstruck daughter.
“Good afternoon, Princess Twilight” they replied deferentially.
“I don’t know if you’ve met Nyx, the newest member of the Night Guard’s fan club?” she continued with a dazzling smile.
“No Princess, I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure of being introduced to the young Lady” the nearest one responded, shooting a cheeky smile to the shy filly who found herself edging behind Twilight in a reflex action.
“It’s OK, Nyx” she said reassuringly, “They won’t bite.”

Nyx regained some of her self-confidence and straightened up, looking to her mother for approval before approaching the two powerful looking stallions.
“Love the eyes, kid” said one of the Bat Ponies, admiring Nyx’s vertically slit pupils.
“Nice wings” said the other, “Heard you take flying lessons with Princess Luna.”
“Thank you” she stammered, “I just hadn’t realised how big you are.”
“Sure we’re big kid, you need strong ponies to pull chariots, and Princess Luna picked us for the job personally.”
“Wow! We sure are honoured” Twilight chipped in, “Nothing but the best for us today then!”
“Want to hop in now, kid” said the nearest Bat Pony, “We’d better get moving if we’re going to reach Canterlot on time.”
The two VIP passengers mounted the chariot in a most ladylike manner which would have earned even Rarity’s approval and settled back as they were whisked away with the sun behind them, out over Ponyville and off towards Canterlot.

As the chariot descended through the dying rays of the day’s sun, deepening shadows extended their long pointy figures out over the landscape, making a grasp for the last isolated patches of brightness.

Nyx snuggled in close to Twilight and looked up at her, her big teal eyes expressing a mixture of excitement and gratitude. Twilight looked back at her daughter and couldn’t withhold giving her a gentle and reassuring hug, a happy smile breaking out across her face.
“Look Nyx” she said pointing towards the city laid out before them, pinpricks of individual lights just starting to flicker into life amongst the random collection of different shaped buildings, “Magical isn’t it?”

Twilight felt a little shiver run through the jet black alicorn holding her close, but didn’t ask; she was just savouring the intimacy of the moment and knew that Nyx was comfortable enough in her company to speak if she wanted.
“Princess Luna’s taught me to recognise Canterlot at night from every angle according to the shapes made by the rows of street lights” she replied, “But I still think of it as a toy town full of dolls’ houses and tiny ponies.”
Twilight’s smile grew wider and she felt a tear start to form in her eye as she wanted to capture this moment of cuteness in a bottle, so she could open it when times got hard, just to remind her of the wonderful moments that parenthood had given her.

The chariot executed a turn and Nyx sat bolt upright, ears pricked attentively as she could see the Royal Castle now directly in front of her. She marvelled at how the two charioteers worked as one, never needing to talk to each other, but instinctively knowing what was needed and what role each would take and what their partner would do to achieve it.

As they descended lower, Nyx could see two ponies waiting to greet them; one white and one midnight blue. Although she knew them both individually, it was nonetheless unusual to be met by both together. There was a time when this may have caused her concern, but now given the more convivial relationship between all of them, she regarded the prospect with unbridled excitement.

The charioteers made minute corrections then descended through a slight wind shear to place their VIP payload effortlessly onto the ground with barely a bump, coming to a stop immediately adjacent to the Royal Sisters. A footpony scurried forward to assist the guests from the chariot and Twilight extended a hoof to meet that which he proffered as she regally dismounted. Nyx fought the urge to jump down and instead remembered Rarity’s etiquette lessons, waiting behind until the footpony returned to assist her, duplicating the aplomb shown by her mother.

“Welcome Twilight, Nyx” said Celestia, moving forward to greet her guests, and turning to face the filly, “I trust you had a pleasant journey?”
“It was amazing!” replied Nyx. She embraced Celestia warmly and then Luna, “Thank you for allowing us to use your chariot and for sending your very best Bat Ponies!”
“I can tell them if you like” said Luna, “Or you can thank them yourselves if you would rather?”
“Oh, yes please!”
Luna led the enthusiastic filly to meet the charioteers who delighted in the praise from the adoring young filly, whose resemblance to their own beloved Princess was only counterpointed when seeing the two of them together.

Twilight and Celestia shared another affectionate hug, both glad that past differences had been laid to rest, even if the memories remained to remind both of them of the limits they had grown to accept in the other.
“Thank you for the invitation Celestia. I know you must be really busy.”
“Oh, there’s nothing new in politics. Everypony believes their own problems to be unique and intractable, but to be honest, I’ve seen every type of dispute over hundreds of years; the skill comes in trying to remember which approach worked best each time.”
“Nyx looks very grown up in her dress” continued Celestia, “I’m guessing that it has only just been hoof stitched by Rarity?”
“She’d love to hear that compliment from you, I’m certain of it” replied Twilight.

Just then, the opportunity presented itself as Luna and Nyx rejoined the other two Princesses.
“I was just saying to Twilight how well that dress suits you” said Celestia.
“Thank you Princess” she replied coyly.
“This is, I believe the first time we have seen you in a dress” commented Luna appreciatively, “Unless we were to include the Nightmare Moon costume you wore in the play during the Ponyville Spring Festival.”
Nyx shifted a little awkwardly at the reference, but Luna leaned in and gave her a friendly nuzzle showing that there was no jibe intended.
“Now, I think we have an appointment to keep” said Celestia, looking towards the midnight blue mare.
“You are quite correct Sister” said Luna, “Time waits for nopony.”
With that cryptic exchange, the party of four alicorns set off for the Royal balcony.

Emerging through the grand hall onto the balcony was an experience, suddenly revealing the majesty of Equestria laid out from the idyllic vantagepoint.
“Nyx” said Luna, “Come stand close to me please.”
While Celestia and Twilight exchanged a few words, Luna turned to face Nyx.
“You are aware that the story of your creation is unlike any other pony in the history of Equestria” she began, “And that you were summoned from the shreds of Nightmare Moon. This means that you are more closely related to me than any other pony, even Twilight whom you think of as your mother. I have many roles in Equestria, most of which are linked in some way or another to dark magic, which is why I control the realm of night. You have made great progress in your magical studies Nyx, and now I feel you are ready to try your hoof at one of my most important tasks - raising the moon.”

Nyx trembled as she felt a shudder run through her, could this be for real? Was Princess Luna expecting her to raise the moon by herself?
As she watched, the sun sank gracefully to the horizon. If she had taken the opportunity to look towards the other two ponies on the balcony, she would have seen a magenta aura reaching out to the sun, laying it to rest.

She looked at Luna, who met her gaze and said, “Think hard about summoning the moon, Nyx. Picture it and feel it responding to your call. I will be with you to make sure nothing goes wrong. Do not worry, just see if you can do it.”
Nyx focused her mind, gradually closing out everything else around her and then reached out to the moon, willing it to rise. Her aura rose in intensity, reflecting the effort she was channelling and then, much to her surprise, the silvery orb began to peep out from the horizon.

Buoyed up by this success, she applied herself even harder and watched, shocked, as it shot straight up into the sky and wobbled uncertainly in a crazy dance.
“Eeep!” whimpered Nyx, fearing the effect of her inexpert spellcraft.
“Focus” said Luna softly by her side.
Gradually the moon’s position stabilised and it assumed its position just above the horizon.

Nyx let out a huge sigh of relief and turned to look not at Twilight, but up at Luna, who smiled happily back at her.
“You have done very well for your first time, Nyx” she said, “I am proud of you.”
The young filly suddenly became aware of the clapping of hooves from her mother and the Sun Princess and turned to see two more smiling faces. She felt happy, no, far more than that, she was ecstatic, and giggled as she did a little dance in celebration.
> 3 Secrets Shared
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dinner was a grand affair, with all the pomp and splendour of a formal occasion, which unbeknown to the two guests, it was.

Nyx bubbled away happily about her having raised the moon, something that was of particularly special importance to her as it epitomised the acknowledged culmination of alicorn magic. It was of all the more significance to her since she had worked hard to develop her magical skills following the judgement passed down to her when Luna had drained her of the magic that had been bestowed to her from the shreds of Nightmare Moon. 

It would be true to say that since that time, she had worked hard at developing her own magic under the tutelage of both Twilight and Luna. These lessons had been counterpointed by flying tuition, which she had taken to more readily, as she had retained the flying abilities of Nightmare Moon and so she was significantly more advanced in this discipline than any other filly of her age. In fact, even Rainbow Dash took time out from the Wonderbolts to teach her tricks when the time allowed.

Nyx excused herself from the table and once out of earshot Twilight asked, “Luna, how much did you help her raise the moon tonight?”
“Very little” came the reply, “She has an innate ability, probably due to our combined past. I believe it will only be a matter of a few more days, possibly even by the end of this weekend, before she can do it all by herself. How did you do with the sun?”
“Oh, I think I’m going to need a little more help yet. What do you think Celestia?”
“I only watched this evening” said the Sun Princess in her soothing voice, “You did it all by yourself.”
“What?” exclaimed Twilight.
“Your touch is different from mine, but I sense the sun is happy to respond to your control.”

Twilight sat open-mouthed for a moment, trying to take in what she had just been told.
“Why do you appear so surprised?” asked Luna, ”You are the bearer of the Element of Magic, are you not?”
“Yes, but …” she stammered.
“But nothing” said Celestia, “A time is coming shortly when you will be called upon to exercise this ability, and I believe you will be ready.”
“What about Nyx?” asked Twilight hesitantly.
“She too will be expected to play her part” said Luna solemnly.

Nyx approached her place at table with the proper deportment and rejoined the company.
“With your permission Twilight” said Luna, “I should like to give Nyx the opportunity to stay up late and accompany me in my duties tonight.”
Nyx’s eyes grew wide with anticipation.
“Can I? Oh, please can I Mom?” she begged.
“Um, I don’t know” she replied, “You’re going to be very tired if you stay up all night.”
“I can cast a spell that will help, should you agree” said Luna.
Nyx continued to stare imploringly at Twilight, who still had Celestia’s words running round in her head. Perhaps they really did need Nyx to understand Luna’s role? Perhaps this was the reason they had both been invited up this weekend? Perhaps the Royal sisters believed that Nyx and her were the only ones who had any chance of being able to deputise with sun and moon duties? Perhaps …?
“Of course” she replied, cutting off her own rambling thought process.
Celestia and Luna nodded in silent agreement while Nyx treated Twilight to an excited “Thank you!”

Following a selection of the most exquisite desserts that the Royal kitchens could muster, the diners rose from the table and split into pairs, Celestia taking Twilight into one of the castle’s drawing rooms while Luna led Nyx to a special adjunct of her personal apartments protected by two Bat Ponies of the Night Guard. The guards snapped smartly to attention when Luna approached. As she unlocked the door, the more senior of the two guards spoke up.
“Carpe noctem, your Majesty” he said.
“Carpe vitam” she replied, “Everything is in order, thank you.”
“Yes, your Majesty” he acknowledged, returning to attention “Thank you, your Majesty.”

Luna opened the door and went in, sparks of blue flitting from her horn and alighting atop wall sconces where ethereal flames sprang up, illuminating the room within. She held the door for her awestruck guest and then closed it promptly behind them.
“Wow!” gasped Nyx, “What is this place?”
“This is where I study and where I perform my most demanding work. I have all manner of very special magical items that I use in my work, items that must never be allowed to leave this room. Consequently, nopony except me comes in here. Ever.”

“Thank you for inviting me in Princess” said the awestruck filly, “But what did you say to the guard?”
“Because what is in this room is so powerful, there is a chance that somepony could try and force their way in by using me as a shield. We have a planned secret dialogue in a long dead language to confirm that I was happy to have you come in with me. It means literally ‘seize the night, seize life’; if I had said it wrong or not at all, you would have had a spear in your back by now.”
Nyx blanched visibly.
“It’s that serious, then?” she asked, already knowing the answer.
“Yes” replied Luna, “It is.”

Nyx looked around at the bookshelves stacked with ancient looking tomes interspersed with weird looking artefacts on display in alcoves. On a central table sat a scrying ball upon a three-legged wooden stand and an open book next to it.

Hesitantly, she inched forward into this repository of magic, not doubting for a moment the power that Luna had told her lay within these walls. She was aware that the Princess of the Night was observing her closely, gauging her reactions and assessing her suitability for the task ahead.
“You understand the trust I am placing in you by showing you my study, Nyx?” the Princess said in a quiet yet powerful voice, “Had you but known of this repository when you were Nightmare Moon, the outcome of your reign would most certainly have been different; I should still be held prisoner in the moon and my Sister in the sun. The fact that I am even sharing its existence with you is a measure of the responsibility with which I choose to invest in you. Do you believe you can live up to my expectations, or do you doubt your own ability?”
“What if I say no?” came a small voice.
“Then I will erase your short term memory and none of this will have ever happened” replied Luna.
“I’m ready” Nyx heard herself say, although inside she was terrified, but had to know more.

“Follow me” said Luna as she crossed the room towards a staircase in the far corner and began to ascend its spiralling steps.
Nyx knew not what strange sights awaited her and although she felt reluctance, her hooves followed Lunas’ while her mind freewheeled in anticipation.

The stairs opened into a large, unfurnished circular room, but what really demanded her attention was that the walls and ceiling were a single transparent dome, commanding an unspoiled view of the night sky.
“I never even knew this place existed” gasped Nyx, “And I’ve flown over this castle hundreds of times.”
“You would not have” said Luna, “It is protected by an illusion spell and appears as a small tower to the untrained eye.”
“You mean, you’ve fooled everypony, since forever?” asked Nyx in astonishment.
“The illusion has held its secret successfully since the construction of the castle” confirmed Luna with the merest hint of pride, “But now we must prepare ourselves for what we will do tonight.”

Luna walked to what Nyx recognised as the cardinal points of the room and muttered indecipherable incantations at each of four equally spaced locations, summoning burning incense. Once she had concluded her preparations, she returned to the wide eyed filly and passed her a black livery collar just like her own, but emblazoned instead with her own shield cutie mark.
“Put this on” she commanded.
Nyx did as she was bidden, her pulse quickening with rising expectation.
“Now lay down, like so” instructed Luna, tucking her legs beneath her, “First I will cast a spell shifting your natural biorhythms by half a day. You will need this to be able to concentrate on the task ahead, but it will take a few days to recover once the counterspell is cast. Do you agree to this?”
Nyx nodded, feeling herself beginning to tremble.
She looked into the face of Princess Luna and briefly saw her eyes turn moonstone white as a blue aura sparked from her horn and she felt a crackle of electricity course through her, leaving her feeling completely alert.

“How do you feel?”
“Keen and ready to go” she replied.
“Good. Now I will take you to somewhere you go regularly, but have not ever truly seen in its entirety – the dream realm. Just enter a meditative state as I have shown you before, and my ethereal form will enter your consciousness and take you there. Do not be afraid.”
With Luna’s last words providing her the reassurance she needed, Nyx closed her eyes and inhaled the soothing scent of the incense, cleared her thoughts and began to let her mind drift.

After a few minutes, Nyx had allowed the scenery of her special inner place to replace that of the room in which her body lay and was unsurprised to see Luna walking towards her, but taken aback by the unexpected radiance of her mane.
“Princess, your mane looks even more glittery than usual” she said.
Luna giggled, “That is because the mane you see in the waking world is but a projection of how it truly is in the ethereal plane. You are now getting to see it in its true form for the first time.”
“I wish mine could be as pretty” said Nyx.
“One day, perhaps” comforted Luna, “Now you must follow me.”
With this, Luna led Nyx into the dream realm.
> 4 A Busy Night
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As they emerged out into the dream realm, Nyx could feel herself floating. She could walk, although she felt no appreciable resistance. She fluttered her wings tentatively and found that they worked as they would in Equestria and could move her faster if she chose, but again with that same strange feeling of effortlessness.

All around her were spheres; balls containing images, some of which were of ponies she recognised.
“These” said Luna, “Are ponies’ dreams.”
Nyx stared at them in amazement, each an individual fragment of film playing out as she watched.
“If you look out, you will see they are spread as far as the eye can see. The ones we see here are from those ponies in the Royal Castle. If we wanted to see dreams from Ponyville we could either go there and enter the dream realm when we arrived, or travel across the dream realm from any starting point we choose.”

Nyx experimented with the odd sensations of walking, trotting, galloping and flying in this strange environment before coming back to Luna who was waiting patiently for her.
“When we wear these collars, we may enter ponies’ dreams” explained Luna, “And we can make ourselves seen if we choose. But it is most important that we never spy on ponies or linger if the dreams get personal. If ponies need help, we can suggest or directly intervene, but these courses of action must be thought through very carefully and never undertaken lightly. Finally, it should go without saying that the dream walker never repeats what they see.”

With Dream Walking 101 under her belt, Luna felt that the filly should be given the chance to experience the process for herself.
“Right, now I’m going to look around for somepony with problems that I can help with. Come with me and I will show you what a dream walker does.”

All seemed to be relatively trouble-free within the castle, so Luna flapped her wings gently and took a quick reconnaissance flight over the dreams of the ponies in Canterlot, diving down when she noticed something that seemed out of the ordinary to her trained senses. Nyx followed her down and as she got closer she could see what looked like marauding monsters invading somepony’s dream.

“Let us observe closely first” directed Luna, “There is yet a possibility that the events unfolding are of the dream caster’s choosing. Tell me what you think.”
Nyx focused on what she saw. The location appeared to be a windowed room with a clock prominently featured on the wall and whilst most of the antagonists seemed to share basic traits common to all cliched monsters, the protagonist central to the events seemed to be standing against them.
“It looks like somepony’s having a bad day” said Nyx sadly.
“What can you tell me about the setting?” prompted Luna.

“It looks like a classroom” said Nyx thoughtfully.
“Go on …” Luna coaxed.
“The unicorn having the dream is an authority figure – is she a teacher?”
“Keep going …”
“The clock! It’s going backwards …”
“So what does this suggest to you?”
“The unicorn mare is a teacher. She’s got a difficult class and she feels like the lesson will never end?”
“So, do you think we should intervene?” Luna enquired.
“I wouldn’t like to think of Miss Cheerilee having a bad dream like this. Can we help her?”
“Right, how do you think we could change it for her?”
“I … I don’t know. Make them all go away, perhaps?”
“That is a nice sentiment, but will not provide a long term aim or solution. I suggest we allow her instead to focus on a positive future; something to aim for that will make her efforts feel worthwhile. How about we let her see the whole class graduating and maybe one or two saying ‘thank you’ to her. As a teacher, what better outcome can you imagine?”
“Gosh, that’s clever. But how do we do that?” asked Nyx.
“By focusing our thoughts through the livery collar” replied Luna, “Watch.”
As the novice dream walker watched, the dream changed as Luna had outlined. The air of tension evaporated as the monsters became less frightening and morphed back into ponies, each of whom lined up on stage at graduation to receive their diploma and then filed past the teacher in turn with kind words of thanks and the occasional gift.
“There!” said Luna with satisfaction evident in her voice, “The first success of the night.”

She led the filly through a number of other nightmares, teaching her how to recognise them, analyse them and work out appropriate solutions, allowing Nyx progressively more leeway to make her own decisions. Only once did she feel it necessary to intervene and that was when a lovestruck stallion’s dreams turned towards a certain raspberry maned florist of his desires and threatened to become age inappropriate, at which point Luna blushed and quickly departed with her young student in tow.

Nyx had worked hard with the daunting new set of responsibilities and so when they reached an appropriate juncture half way through the night, Luna led her out of the dream realm whereupon they resumed a state of wakefulness under the glass dome in the Royal Castle once more.
“My prize student” said Luna with a warm smile, “You have done well, very well indeed. Come, let us take our luncheon.”
Nyx thought she would burst with pride having received such praise from the Princess of the Night, and despite herself launched forward to give the midnight blue alicorn a large and unexpected hug.
“Thank you, Princess” she cried into Luna’s neck fur, clutching her close as a tear formed in her eye.
Once she pulled herself away, she looked at the tear stains she had left behind causing Luna’s immaculate fur to stick out in little patches and raised a hoof to redress her appearance. As she moved in, Nyx felt a gentle kiss on her head and couldn’t help but give another hug to the alicorn who had become her mentor.

When Luna had secured everything in her study, she opened the door and Nyx heard the smart crack as hooves sprang to attention on the stone floor outside. Her euphoria dimmed slightly as she edged out after the Princess, taking a quick look at the spears each guard held in their hooves and winced involuntarily, remembering what Luna had said earlier. Luna observed the customary pleasantries with the guards and then accompanied Nyx through the torchlit passageways for an eagerly awaited midnight feast.


Their lunch was served in the dining hall as were the meals during the daytime, but it somehow felt peculiar to be receiving full service from the castle’s staff in the middle of the night. Although the experience was broadly similar to what she had been used to, there were a few subtle differences; for example they were waited on by Bat Ponies and the decor seemed somehow different too. Closer inspection revealed that night themed heraldic tapestries had been unfurled to reflect the Princess’ dark realms. Nyx struggled to recall what she had seen in their place before, but couldn’t put her hoof on it.

The service was first class and the meal excellent, showing that the accustomed standards of Royal hospitality certainly did not drop when the shifts had changed. 

They spoke freely about the experiences of the evening, Luna tidying up some points of detail arising from the work they had done.
“Are we going to do some more dream walking now?” asked Nyx as they rose from the table.
“No. For this morning’s activity we will take a break from sorting out other ponies’ problems and do some art.”
“What do you mean, Princess” she asked inquisitively.
“When you raised the moon earlier, I did not do more than arrange a basic pattern of constellations; just the stars that are needed to navigate by. To the untrained eye, it is as if mist has rolled over and obscured all but the brightest stars. Now you know that is not the case, it is only that I have not yet arranged the secondary stars in their places. This is the job I generally perform first, as soon as the moon has risen, but tonight I wanted your full concentration on dream walking. Now, do you want to paint the night sky with me?”

Nyx was open mouthed once more.
“You mean you place all the stars by your own hoof?” she gasped in amazement.
“Not tonight” replied Luna, “Tonight, you will be helping.”

The midnight blue Princess led her student through a labyrinth of passageways in the castle and up an interminable flight of stairs until they emerged on a balcony at the top of the highest tower, giving them a commanding and panoramic view of the night sky around them.
“Very well Nyx, where shall we start?”
“Umm” the filly thought, then pointed a forehoof, “How about there?”
“Now, if you are to command the night sky, you must tell me which two constellations that space lies between.”
“Well” said the filly pensively, pointing with a bit more detail, “That one’s easy – it’s Orion, and that one … that one … I think is Canis Major?”
“Huzzah!” cheered Luna, “You have studied well.”

The Princess summoned a selection of stars that she twisted and turned into patterns in front of her eyes and then transported the finished cluster in her blue aura to the allotted space in the sky.
“Wow! That’s beautiful, Princess!”
“Now it’s your turn” said Luna, “I want you to create something to fit between Orion and Canis Minor.”
She felt no need to patronise her student by pointing as the filly clearly had a working knowledge of the constellations.
“How many stars do you desire?” she enquired.
Nyx did some quick adding up and replied, “Eleven, please.”
Luna was a little surprised at such a large number to begin with, but gave her the benefit of the doubt and summoned the miniature stars before them.
“Now use your aura to manipulate them in your mind’s eye, and they will follow your bidding.”
Nyx did as she was told, and soon found herself manoeuvring the pinpricks of light with a reasonable dexterity.
“Tell me once you have completed your design” said Luna.

Nyx had her tongue subconsciously pinned at the side of her mouth, giving her concentration a slightly comical appearance as she applied the final adjustments and stood back to admire her work.
“Done” she said proudly.
“Now, focus on where they are going, and project them using your aura once more.”
Nyx concentrated hard and the stream of energy from her horn propelled the stars way up above Equestria, lodging them more or less where she had intended.
They both stared at Nyx’s first attempt, the young alicorn wearing a broad smile on her face, while her mentor’s jaw hung open. In the space between Orion and Canis Minor lay a six point star with five others around in a familiar pattern.
“Twilight’s cutie mark!” gasped Luna.
“Did I do it right?” asked Nyx, slightly perturbed by the delay in hearing a response.
“You have executed the pattern perfectly” said Luna, “It is such an honour.”

Together they spent the next few hours painting the sky with myriad pretty patterns, some of which resembled mythical creatures in the same way as the major constellations. The final result was breathtaking.
“We must stop now, I fear” said Luna.
“Oh, why must we?” asked Nyx, “Surely it’s not time to lower the moon yet, is it?”
“No, but we have an hour if you want to do some flying …”
Luna’s offer was cut off by an enthusiastic cheer and the two of them leapt from the balcony to frolic under the dazzling night sky.
> 5 Secrets Revealed
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

High up above the city of Canterlot, two alicorns began their descent under a glittering moonlit sky. Following a night time of fast-track learning, an hour of aerobatics had been introduced as a reward for the diligent student.

From this altitude, Canterlot was just a criss-cross pattern of bright intersecting lines; the street lamps denoting the shape and direction of the roads over which they stood their lonely night time vigil.

They both knew where the castle was, not because there were any distinguishing features that could be recognised from so far up, but because of the way the street lights could be seen respectfully moving their paths around it.

Luna’s ethereal mane flowed from her in a portrait of serenity, the moonlight dancing joyfully off each individual spangle in her mane and tail, whereas her young companion’s conventional mane and tail buffeted and bobbed haphazardly in the airflow. The contrast could not have been greater, but equally neither could be the strength of the biological bond, as one was descended directly from a projection of the other, unadulterated by the genetic input of any other stallion or mare. They could have been mother and daughter, yet it was nowhere near as simple as that. 

Both carried dark stains from the recent past and both had tasted the fruit of evil, yet both had been redeemed from their excesses by the love of the same lilac pony, who to one was a trusted friend, and to the other, her mother. This most valued pony was currently down below them engaged in casual friendly conversation with the single most powerful alicorn in Equestria, stood out on the Royal balcony awaiting their return as the sun fidgeted restlessly just below the horizon.

The two dark silhouettes hurtling towards the ground with giddy delight had shared a night time of deep interpersonal bonding together and were now racing down to fulfil their final obligation of their watch.

It was Celestia who first heard the gleeful cries descending out of the sky and looked up to see the impending arrival of her sister and her step-clone. She and Twilight backed up instinctively in order to give the incoming ponies more space, but they needn’t have worried as the Royal balcony was a plenty big enough target. Luna held back and allowed Nyx to claim the honour of winning the race, at the same time ensuring that her young protégé had sufficient room to complete a safe landing without being crowded.

“Mom! Mom!” called the excited filly, “Look! Look what I did for you!”
Nyx extended her forehoof out towards where she had claimed a portion of the night sky with the lilac pony’s cutie mark.
“You … you did that?” asked Twilight seeing the bold artwork etched across the sky “By yourself?”
“Yes she did” said Luna, “It was the very first thing she did too.”
“Thank you Nyx, I’m very impressed” said Twilight leaning in to give her daughter a big hug.
“I was about to ask how you two had got on” said Celestia, “But I think I can see for myself. Well done, the pair of you.”

All four looked up into the night sky as Nyx gave a running commentary on everything there was to see, anecdotes spilling out from the excited filly.
“It is indeed beautiful Nyx, but all beauty must fade and so it is now as we must make way for the sun” said Luna, finally managing to get a word in, “We can do more tomorrow, but I believe we are already overdue the sunrise and must yield. The night was good, one of the very best I can remember, and I hope you will honour us by repeating the feat tomorrow?”
“Sorry” Nyx nodded, “I’d quite forgotten. But we can definitely do it again tomorrow, right?”
“Of course” said Luna, “Now would you care to lower the moon please?”

Luna stood a little behind Nyx and waved a forehoof that only Celestia and Twilight could see, attracting their attention to her own horn which remained unlit.
“That’s good” coaxed Luna, watching the stream of magical energy being directed by Nyx up towards the moon. It wobbled a little, but nothing like it had when it had risen, and sank contentedly below the horizon.

“May I, Princess?” asked Twilight, stepping forward.
Celestia nodded her approval and the lilac pony shot a stream of magenta energy towards the horizon whereupon she was greeted by the friendly feel of the sun, rising at her summoning to begin the day, albeit a little later than scheduled. Twilight turned to face her former teacher with a hint of triumph in her expression.

Nyx looked up as the patterns she had lovingly spread across the sky faded, bleached by the brightening sky. To Luna’s relief, Nyx was sanguine about the loss and did not make a fuss about losing what she had created.

“Well, I think I smell breakfast” said Celestia, ”Shall we?”
At the mention of food, Nyx rallied to Twilight’s side once again, bubbling with more stories about what she had seen and done. Meanwhile, the two Royal Sisters held back, not far enough for their hesitancy to be obvious, but just far enough so that they could not be overheard.
“Is she ready?” asked Celestia.
“Yes” replied Luna, “And Twilight?”
The Sun Princess nodded.
“Good” said the midnight blue alicorn, “And not a moment too soon.”

“And last night, Mom” chatted the filly excitedly, waving her forehoof around the dining room as they entered “There were different tapestries, really beautiful ones about stars and mystical creatures in the night sky … And the waiters were Bat Ponies … And it was all totally awesome!”
Twilight gave Nyx a hug and turned to the two ponies following on behind them, “You know Luna, I think I’ve just lost my daughter to the dark side.”
“Well Twilight, I think there was always a degree of inevitability about that” said Celestia, “Whilst you are her mother, and the most excellent and committed mother I can think of, she does owe her biological lineage to my Sister.”
“I guess” said the lilac pony reflectively, drawing Nyx tighter, “She certainly seems to have an aptitude for it. All I want is for her to be happy, and I can’t think of a better mentor to bring her talents out.”

The ponies all arrived at table and took their places, the Royal Sisters opposite each other with the more junior alicorns to either side.
Nyx had finally come to a stop in her recollections for the time being.
“So what did you get up to last night Mom, huh?” she probed.
“Oh, nothing much” she replied, ”Celestia and I had a chat by an open fire and then we went to bed. Tell me, how do you feel following the spell Luna cast to keep you awake?”
“I felt really bouncy, Mom” she said, “But now I’m starting to feel like I’m going to crash.”
“I am hardly surprised, Nyx” said Luna, “Your body must now rest, especially as you have just completed two waking cycles back to back whilst your day has been adjusted to occur during the night.”

Luna and Nyx tucked into their supper while Celestia and Twilight were served their breakfast, looking forward to the day ahead.
“So tell me, Celestia” asked the lilac pony, ”Why did you really invite us here this weekend?”
Twilight noticed a look cross between the Royal Sisters and felt a flash of concern strike her.

There was a pause.

Luna gave her sister a silent nod.

Even Nyx had finally come to recognise the silence that had overtaken the bright conversation around the table.

“Luna and I have to negotiate a treaty with the Diamond Dogs” explained Celestia, ”Their race is growing and expanding its territory under the ground.”
“There have already been cases of subsidence and sink holes have opened up within the Everfree Forest, some even as close as the outskirts of Sweet Apple Acres” continued Luna, “And we must act before homes suddenly fall into the ground, injuring or even killing the occupants.”
“We have agreed to meet with them underground where we can negotiate on their own ground, so to speak” said Celestia.
“And whilst we are there” added Luna, “We can evaluate the scope of their tunnelling and the threat it poses to us.

There was a pause while the Royal Sisters let this sink in.
“So whilst we are underground, we will have no contact with the sun or the moon and need somepony or some ponies to keep the natural cycle going, so that the ponies of Equestria may continue about their lives; growing crops, controlling the weather, progressing trade and so on” said Celestia.
“We appreciate we are asking a lot of you” said Luna, backing up her sister’s position, “But without your support we would have to keep breaking off our discussions and would not be able to secure such a positive outcome with the Diamond Dogs.”
“Just for the moment we don’t want ponies at large knowing about this, just in case panic spreads, so life must be seen to be going on as normal” added Celestia.

Twilight and Nyx were dumbstruck.
“You want us to run Equestria while you’re away?” gasped Twilight, noticing that Nyx’s jaw hung open too.
“Well, most of the routine issues will be handled by the Court officials, but other than that, yes.”
“How long are you going to be gone?” asked Nyx, finally recovering enough composure to speak.
“We do not know” said Luna,” We do not know how many Diamond Dogs there are, nor indeed how extensive their tunnelling networks extend, but it could take days, especially if negotiations are difficult.”
“Are you up to it?” asked Celestia bluntly.

Twilight looked at Nyx, then at the Royal Sisters, then back to Nyx again. There really wasn’t much of a choice.

“We got this” she said.
> 6 Learning the Ropes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After breakfast, Celestia briefed Twilight over tea and cake on the many factors that had to be considered as Head of State. Mostly, this involved reciprocal trust in her advisers who knew the protocols, precedents and procedures necessary to support Royal decision making with everything from routine issues to international political problems. Anything not covered directly by her advisers fell by default to the military, and Canterlot was home to the largest garrisons in Equestria due to it being the seat of government.

Having outlined her responsibilities and explained the mechanisms of command available to her, Celestia rose and motioned for Twilight to follow as they headed off towards the castle’s briefing room. Waiting for them was a select group comprising her senior advisers, the Generals of the Royal Guard and the Night Guard; the three key groups with whom Twilight and Nyx would have to work in her absence.

It was a little unusual to call such a high level meeting over a weekend, so Celestia had softened the blow by providing a plentiful supply of tea and cake for all participants. When the two alicorns entered the room at the allotted hour, the gathered audience had already helped themselves to refreshment and were respectfully seated close to the stage.

The Sun Princess greeted the attendees informally as she strode up to the stage and then waited as Twilight took her place by her side before beginning to explain the mission which she and her sister would be shortly undertaking, and that Princess Twilight Sparkle assisted by Nyx would be deputising for the Royal Sisters.

That, as she spelled out, had only been possible because Twilight, as the bearer of the Element of Magic and former student of Princess Celestia had, under her tutelage learned how to control the sun. Similarly, she explained that Nyx, because of her very close links to Princess Luna was the only pony in Equestria who had even the slightest chance of being able to control the moon.

Whilst everypony knew Twilight as the Princess of Friendship and trusted her implicitly following her numerous brave exploits, concerns were voiced about Nyx due to her age and her chequered past, but both mares worked to put doubting minds at rest and secure their support. 

The fact that Nyx would not be working completely on her own autonomy and that she would be responsible through Twilight provided the final reassurance to satisfy even the most sceptical of voices. It was further confirmed that whilst Twilight would be seen representing Celestia at Court, Nyx would be kept firmly away from any and all publicity, to ensure that old animosities would not be given the chance to surface.

With a consensus reached, Celestia advised everypony present of the official cover story that would be issued through the press to cover the Royal Sisters’ absence for the duration, yet continued to give the impression that they were still available to raise the sun and moon respectively. This story focused on their making a journey to the Crystal Empire for family reasons, and occasional rumours would be allowed to surface suggesting that Princess Cadence wanted a foal, leaving the public free to make their own connection, given Celestia’s historically alleged talents with fertility magic.

Before disbanding the meeting, Celestia reinforced the need for secrecy and offered further tea and cake to the attendees if they chose before they headed back to their homes or places of work. Most chose to stay behind and take the opportunity to socialise with the two alicorn Princesses while those with more pressing commitments departed leaving more cake for those remaining.

Eventually, Celestia wound up the informal reception as it was lunchtime and escorted Twilight to the dining room where the lilac pony protested that she already felt a little bloated from so much tea and cake, and wasn’t really ready for lunch.
“You come here not so much because you’re hungry” said Celestia, “But because you have to ensure a regular scheduled break in between all the events you have to fit in to your calendar. If you didn’t schedule lunch at a fixed time every day, then you would soon find that time filled with appointments too and so you would never get any break – trust me Twilight, I’ve been there.”

This made perfect sense to the lilac pony who ignored all the fancy courses on the menu and instead requested a custom order of a celery soup starter and a daffodil sandwich entrée because it was all she was in the mood for.
“OK Celestia” said Twilight, trying to smile despite her bloated feeling, “What have you got for me this afternoon?”
Her lunch companion giggled, “Oh Twilight, I have already introduced you to those with whom you will be working, so unless you have any particular concerns, then you are free to use the Royal library.”

“What will you be doing Celestia?” she asked in response, “Is there anything we can do together?”
“My time is short to prepare for the forthcoming meeting” explained the white mare, “There are many details yet to be fully resolved before I will feel confident.”
“So, when are you going then?” asked Twilight conversationally.
“Oh, didn’t I say?” said Celestia, knowing full well she had wanted to see how both she and Nyx had performed before committing herself, “Tomorrow.”
“I’m sorry Princess” said Twilight, tittering nervously, ”But I could have sworn I just heard you say ‘tomorrow’? Silly of me I know …”
“No, that’s quite right. Tomorrow morning to be precise.”
“TOMORROW?” said Twilight as her face contorted into panic, "But I'm not ready ..."
“I have every confidence in you” reassured Celestia, but her words were lost as Twilight’s self-confidence entered a tailspin.
“But how long will you be?” she asked as soon as she could form coherent words once again.
“I conservatively estimate a week” said Celestia, “Maybe more.”
Twilight’s pupils shrank and her jaw fell open.
“Just try not to declare war on any of the neighbouring countries, and we’ll call it a success” said Celestia reassuringly, turning to leave, “Now if you‘ll excuse me, I have preparations to attend to. Do help yourself to more cake and the library is open to you as you wish.” 


***


Twilight rested her forehooves on the stone balustrade separating the Royal balcony from a sheer drop, looking out over Canterlot in the late evening sun. By tomorrow night, she would be in charge of Equestria and although the thought terrified her, she was placing the pieces together in her mind as a way of coming to terms with the responsibility. ‘Just try not to declare war on any of the neighbouring countries, and we’ll call it a success’, Celestia had told her. How that humour had weighed on her all afternoon.

As she looked out, she suddenly felt the full burden of responsibility for everypony she could see, scurrying around conducting their peaceful business below her, and for the first time truly appreciated the weight that her former mentor carried on her shoulders day after day.

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts, that she did not hear another pony approach her.
“A penny for your thoughts?” enquired a friendly voice by her side.

She didn’t need to look. 

She knew the voice. 

She had reconciled herself to what lay ahead and wasn’t going to overreact, so continued calmly watching the abstract activities unfolding on the streets of Canterlot as the shadows grew longer.
“You have done this job for over a thousand years” replied the lilac pony, making no conscious movement other than the wind ruffling through her mane, “I can hold it together for you until you get back.”
“That’s the spirit” said Celestia, ”You have a fine body of advisers and a military capability second to none, so you won’t go wrong.”
Twilight turned slowly to look into her purple eyes.
“If I had any doubts, I wouldn’t have put you in this position” said the white mare.
“Thank you Princess” replied Twilight, acknowledging the trust that her former mentor was placing in her.

A disorderly clattering of hooves broke the respectful silence between the two friends and Twilight turned to see a jet black alicorn filly scampering out across the balcony to greet her. The sight of her daughter’s unbridled enthusiasm acted as a tonic and Twilight cast aside her worries in an instant to immerse herself in the joyful reunion with her daughter.
“Mom! Mom!” she cried as she held her mother tightly, “Princess Luna says I can raise the moon tonight all by myself!”
The innocence of her enthusiasm was infectious, and Twilight couldn’t help but break out into a wide smile. She chose a moment when Nyx wasn’t looking up at her to make eye contact with Luna and nod her head in recognition of the responsibility that had just been entrusted to them.

“OK, Nyx” said Twilight ,”Let’s do this together. How’s about I try to lower the sun and then you take care of the moon? What do you say?”
The Royal Princesses exchanged glances and nodded to each other, standing back to give their newly appointed understudies the freedom to perform.

As the sun hovered above the horizon, the lilac pony took centre stage with three pairs of eyes watching her closely.

She aligned her body towards the sun and braced herself, pointing her horn directly at her target. Sparks began swirling around the tip of her horn as she made contact with the sun’s inner spirit and then focused her energy into laying it to rest. Twilight spoke to the fiery orb through her magic, reinforcing their friendship by sending it comforting messages as it slid majestically out of sight and then cut the magical bond as she allowed it to sleep.

Celestia and Luna looked at each other and exchanged appreciative glances. The sun was in safe hooves. Now it was the turn of Nyx to demonstrate her capability with the moon. Luna radiated confidence, betraying no indication of the trepidation she felt inside.

Nyx stepped forward and adopted the same stance as her mother had before her. Sparks flew and her horn lit sending a stream of magical energy probing over the horizon, looking for the subject of its intentions.

Luna continued to stare at Nyx, but was cued by some inner sense when she felt her sister’s gaze fall upon her, clearly beginning to feel anxious.
“Come on” said Nyx under her breath, “Come on, where are you?”
“Try treating it as a friend” said Twilight, “Talk to it nicely, like you would any other pony rather than just an inanimate lump of rock.”
Nyx did not acknowledge her mother, but the lilac pony knew she had heard as her expression softened and shortly the familiar silvery glow began to show itself as it began its climb upwards to light the night sky.
Luna exhaled a quiet sigh of relief and Celestia tore her gaze from her sister, shooting an admiring glance to the happy filly who was now dancing with delight before them.
“I don’t think we need to worry, Luna” said the white pony softly.
“Good” responded Luna giving an understated nod in acknowledgment, “I am confident we may be free to focus on our task at hoof, untroubled by concerns about the stewardship of Equestria.”

Nyx happily hugged everypony present and then led them all into the dining room where her breakfast awaited.
> 7 Handing Over the Reins
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unaware of the responsibilities racing up to meet her the next day, Nyx enjoyed an evening that began with decorating the night sky, followed by dream walking duties and finally aerobatics punctuated once again by a midnight feast under the night time decor in the dining room inspired by Princess Luna.

To Nyx, it was all fresh and exciting, but to Luna it was her final check of the filly’s potential. By the rising of the sun tomorrow morning, she would have to be sure that she would be capable of doing it all by herself. Admittedly, she hadn’t shown Nyx the dark side of her work, but she had at least transferred sufficient knowledge to keep Equestria running along smoothly in her absence for the next week, and she couldn’t really hope for much more than that.

Nyx revelled in the artistic side of Luna’s responsibilities and created a collage of friends’ cutie marks across the night sky, making sure always to do Twilight’s six point star first. Luna had thought hard about the location from where Nyx should continue to perform her dream walking duties and settled finally on maintaining her access to her study, although she had been careful to hide away and magically seal all but the most benign of artefacts and texts.

Luna had also made arrangements with the guards to ensure that her wishes were not misunderstood, including briefing them that her protégé may want to bring a certain lilac pony as a guest. She was hoping that Nyx would resist the temptation as she had kept the study secret from anypony for hundreds of years, but if she couldn’t, then she didn’t want any accidents arising that might result in Twilight ending up with a spear in her back. Such headlines, she knew, would not play out favourably.

Nyx was having a marvellous time and Luna had become quite relaxed in both her artistic ability and her judgement, which was mature beyond her years – probably some vestige of the responsibility she had felt when she had ruled Equestria before Luna had stripped her of her powers.

All too soon, night was over, and the happy pair raced through the dark sky to their rendezvous on the Royal balcony. As expected, two alicorns were there to greet them, silhouetted against the light escaping from the dining room. The filly’s hooves had barely touched the ground when she ran over to her mother to show her the cutie marks of her and her friends etched into the night sky.

Luna landed close behind, catching the eye of her sister and giving a silent nod that the Sun Princess reciprocated. Celestia knew this meant that Nyx had met up to Luna’s expectations and that she was content to leave her in charge.

Once Twilight had been conducted around the latest additions to the night sky, she gave a gentle cough and Nyx followed her eyes that were looking directly up at the moon.
“Oh, err … right Mom …” said the filly apologetically.
“That’s OK, Nyx” replied Twilight, “It’s been great admiring your artwork in the night sky, but Equestria is waiting for us to begin their day.”
Nyx returned a sheepish grin and then adopted her pose, focusing on the moon and talking to it gently through her magic as she had been taught. Everypony present marvelled at how smoothly she bade the silvery orb to its sleep, especially considering how random her first attempts had been only two nights ago.

The filly turned as she caught the delicate waft of supper that hung temptingly on the air and both she and her mother heard her tummy rumble.
“OK Nyx” said Twilight “Hold on just a fraction longer and we’ll be good to go.”
The lilac mare stepped up and reached over the horizon, finding to her delight that the sun was ready to rise and summoned it effortlessly into the sky.

She turned to see the Royal Sisters stood side by side, both extending silent respect for the duties they had seen performed in front of them, then all four joined up for some bonhomie over their choices of breakfast and supper respectively.

“Twilight” began Celestia, “As you know, Luna and I have forestalled our visit until such time as we knew that you and Nyx were capable of fulfilling our roles in our absence. We both believe that we now have complete confidence in the pair of you to administer Equestria in our absence and as a consequence will be leaving this morning.”

“I understand, your Highness” said Twilight.
“I don’t” Nyx chipped in, “What’s going on?”
“Nyx” said Luna, focusing her with the undivided attention of her hypnotic teal eyes, “My Sister and I are going out of town for a few days and may not be able to fulfil all the duties that are expected of us, so you are to be the honorary Princess of the Night.”
“You’ve been deputised!” joined in Celestia.
“But … me? … wait ... really?”

“A toast to Nyx” cheered Luna, raising her glass, “Princess of the Night!”
The filly accepted the acclamation from the three alicorn Princesses with a wide smile of delight and once the hubbub had died down, she asked, “Does this have anything to do with the rumours I heard about Princess Cadence?”
The three mares looked at each other, then Celestia leaned over and whispered conspiratorially, “A Lady never reveals her secrets”, giving Nyx a sly wink.
“You mustn’t tell anypony” interjected Twilight quickly.
“Cross my heart, hope to fly …” incanted the filly.

Once the meal was over, the Royal Sisters retired to prepare for their journey, leaving Nyx still reeling from the responsibility she had been entrusted. She moved closer to Twilight and gave her a nuzzle, more for her own benefit than for her mother’s.
“You’ll still be around, won’t you Mom?” she asked seeking reassurance, “You know, just in case …”
“Of course I will, Nyx” said Twilight forming a happy smile.
The filly tucked her muzzle in gently and smiled in the comfort and security that her mother offered.

Nyx was starting to feel tired after a busy night, but forced herself to stay awake so that she could be there to say goodbye to the Royal Sisters when they departed. After about an hour, a page came to find Twilight and Nyx, advising them that Celestia and Luna were ready to leave. He led them down to where a Royal chariot was waiting. This was one of the largest chariots at Celestia’s disposal, a sturdy looking vehicle drawn by four pegasi. In readiness next to them was a regular sized chariot where two ‘advisers’ sat waiting. These two ponies would be accompanying the Princesses and sitting with them during discussions with the Diamond Dogs, appearing to assist with negotiations, but as the two most adept members of an unpublicised elite special force, would be there to act as bodyguards if the Princesses got in trouble.

Celestia stepped out of the castle in her full regalia with Luna behind, looking just as regal and imposing as her sister. Something about their characters seemed to have changed with the businesslike look they adopted, each radiating a confidence and regality that intimidated with the merest glance. 
Nyx fought the urge to want to hide behind her mother, telling herself that these two ponies were still the same ones she had supper with only an hour ago, but Twilight could see through the external appearance to the ponies beneath and stepped forward without a second thought to give each a hug and wish them well. Nyx followed with a degree more reticence and aimed first for Luna, the pony whom she had most in common with.

Sensing the filly’s nervousness, Luna waited until Nyx had made eye contact, then scrunched up her nose into a funny face and made her laugh. With the ice broken, the two alicorns hugged, Luna bending down to give her protégé a kiss on her head. Nyx gave Celestia a hug too and then withdrew to her mother’s side as the Royal Sisters entered their chariot and took off followed closely by the second chariot containing their two advisers.

“Didn’t Princess Luna look beautiful?” sighed Nyx to her mother.
“Yes, they both did” replied Twilight, “I’m sure they’re going to make quite an impression when they arrive.”
Nyx yawned deeply.
“And you” said the lilac pony, “Need to get your beauty sleep if you’re going to remember everything Luna’s taught you tonight.”
“Yes, Mom” replied the filly, turning to enter the Castle. Then she stopped and turned to face Twilight, rushing back to give her a big hug too.
“Love you Mom” she said.
“Love you too Nyx. See you at breakfast this evening.”
> 8 Stepping Up
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The page who had been tactfully maintaining a diplomatic distance between himself and the lilac Princess advanced, once having confirmed that the young deputy to the Princess of the Night was retiring to her chambers.
“Your Majesty” he said, “Court is ready to assemble and awaits your pleasure.”
Twilight thanked him and set off for the throne room where she was admitted by two imposing looking guards and made her way up to Celestia’s throne where she took her seat as the locum Sun Princess.

Once introductions had been made and formalities had been observed, the Princess of Friendship settled herself down allowing the Court to be convened and the first petitioner admitted. She sat in unbiased judgement, showing total concentration as the earth pony before her explained how a new housing development was spreading onto fields that he cultivated as part of his farm. Twilight was patient despite the farmer’s obvious lack of aptitude for public speaking and listened attentively until the allotted time had expired then interrupted him by raising her forehoof.
“Thank you for bringing this to my attention” she said to the farmer, “But I do have a lot of other ponies to see today and I think we’ve just about covered this from every angle.”

Turning to the Court stenographer, she delivered her judgement, “Please write to the land developer in question and order him to cease his activities until this dispute is settled. He is to provide evidence as to why he believes he has the right to build on this land within fourteen days or he will be ordered to withdraw. I shall weigh the evidence from both sides and issue my decision fifteen days from now.”

The farmer bowed reverentially, proffered his thanks for the hearing and backed from the Court. In the period before the next petitioner was admitted, Twilight turned to the Court usher.
“This is fun!” she exclaimed wearing a broad smile across her face, “So many ponies I can help through understanding and friendship. How many more cases do we have to hear today?”
“That all depends on Council issues” he replied.
Twilight’s smile grew wider and she clapped her forehooves together.
“Great! So when do we meet with the Council?” she asked, barely containing her enthusiasm.
“Not we, your Majesty” he corrected, “But you. Council business is held at the Council Offices and commences sometime this afternoon.
“You are expected at the Council Offices at 2pm your Majesty” interjected the adviser “Princess Celestia would work until 1pm and then partake of luncheon on her way over.”
“Lunch!” thought Twilight, “I can now see why Celestia fixes a set time for it. This is all so exciting that it must be so easy to overrun!”
Nopony present seemed to share or even understand her excitement. They all knew Celestia sometimes found it hard to stay awake, and gave each other subtle sideways glances at the almost manic enthusiasm being shown by the Princess of Friendship.

She relished the remaining cases that came before her, taking the opportunity to exercise different aspects from her portfolio of friendship to bring about solutions even in challenging situations. After a while, the Court got used to her way of doing things and warmed to her personal approach that differed from Celestia’s more regal demeanour.

Twilight was prompted by her adviser when the session drew close to its end, and sadly adjourned the Court for lunch, although when she rose, her tummy rumbled and she realised that it was probably a good idea to stop. When she was seated in the dining room, she had so many things she wanted to talk about, but she suddenly realised that she was alone, save for the serving staff and for the first time since coming to Canterlot, felt lonely.

With no company, Twilight couldn’t wait to leave the sterile atmosphere of the dining room and headed off for the Council Offices where she arrived ahead of time. To fill the embarrassed wait while the Council officials arrived, she was offered tea and cake, something that she was starting to appreciate was a feature of her role. She paused for a moment to consider whether immortality also meant a never expanding waistline, but dismissed the idea as she helped herself to a generous slice of gateau.

When the Council meeting convened, Twilight listened intently to the discussions about repainting streetlamps, routing new sewers and the colours of new roadsigns, playing an active part in each. Once again, the officials she was with were taken aback by her enthusiasm and attention to detail, although it did slow down proceedings much more than they had become accustomed to. It wasn’t until hours later that they had to conclude their business for the day, having only got through a fraction of what had been scheduled.

Once she had thanked each of the Council officials personally, Twilight was on the cusp of being late to lower the sun and decided that running, no matter how fast would be impractically slow, so sprang into the air. She flew towards the castle, silhouetted against the pinks and oranges of the oncoming sunset as the sun sat low in the sky waiting to be magically assisted below the horizon. Flying faster than she was truly comfortable, Twilight found herself closing on a tower much more quickly than expected, and span round the turret on one wingtip in a trick that Rainbow Dash had once showed her. Taking a firmer grip on herself, she levelled off and descended towards the balcony where an ebony pony could be seen waiting for her.

Twilight backwinged as she made a vertical descent and touched down surprisingly gracefully given her recent near miss against the castle’s turret.
“Wow Mom!” gasped Nyx, “I’ve never seen you fly like that before. Have you ever thought about trying out for the Wonderbolts?”
“Good evening, Nyx” she said, composing herself, “I think I’ll leave the fancy flying to them, it still kinda scares me a bit.”
“Are we good to go, Mom?”
“Yes. Yes we are” said Twilight, focusing her energy on the sun waiting patiently for her command. Nyx saw her mother blush a little and the sun went down without discernible protest.
“Err, Mom” said the filly, “Was that a trick of the light, or did I just see you blush?”
“Umm … yes, actually” replied Twilight, “I was a little tardy and well … well, the sun kinda told me.”
“What, like you only got a B+ and must try harder you mean?” Nyx giggled.
“Hey!” she said a little defensively, “It’s been a hard day. Let’s see what you can do.”
“OK Mom” her daughter replied with a mischievous grin, “I’m only teasing.”

Nyx stepped up and aimed her magic out over the horizon, reaching out for the moon that she knew was there. She found it and drew it up gently into its place, heralding the beginning of the night.
“That was a good job” said Twilight admiringly.
“Thanks Mom. You up for breakfast?”
“I’ll take supper with you, if that’s what you mean” teased Twilight and they walked happily into the dining room together.

Twilight really appreciated the company during her supper, a total antidote to the solitary penance she had been served over lunch. She bubbled away, sharing anecdotes from what she had been doing all day and when she started to run out of steam, Nyx could see by the rings around her eyes that she really needed her bed.
“Are you going to be alright by yourself tonight?” asked Twilight.
“Don’t worry, Mom” replied Nyx, “If there’s any problems I’ll have you woken up straight away, I promise.”
They embraced and Twilight turned to leave her daughter in charge - in sole charge of Equestria. She hadn’t held such a position of responsibility since she had been Nightmare Moon, bestowed with all the evil power in the shreds from which she had been created. Twilight baulked momentarily and then just as quickly dismissed it; Luna had stripped her of all that evil power and had since trusted her fully. After all, she wouldn’t have handed over responsibility if she didn’t trust her. And Twilight trusted her too – with her life.

Nyx started by arranging the stars and creating two new minor constellations, one in honour of each of the two Royal Sisters. She was pleased with her work and wanted to show it to somepony, but there was nopony there to share it with; no Twilight and no Princess Luna. She felt alone, alone in a way she hadn’t in a very long time.

She entered the dining room with her head hung noticeably down and even missed Luna’s tapestries that were once more on show, presenting herself to the Bat Pony maître d’ who stood ready to attend to her order. 
“Your Majesty” he began, “Would you like me to guide you through the menu …”
“Your Majesty?” interrupted Nyx quizzically as unpleasant flashbacks from her past life as Nightmare Moon flooded back to her.
“Your Majesty?” she repeated in a more raised voice as the horrors associated with being addressed by that title and all it signified hit her with frightening clarity.
Although Luna may have stripped her of Nightmare Moon’s evil magic, some of the memories remained; memories of things she had done of which she was not proud and wanted to forget. Those two simple words that had not been addressed to her since she was Nightmare Moon had acted as a trigger to unlocking thoughts and emotions that she hadn’t realised she had retained and had lain dormant. They frightened her, especially now that she was in charge of Equestria once more.

The scared jet black filly ran from the dining room with tears in her eyes and raced towards Twilight’s chambers leaving the maître d’ clutching the night’s menu, now with no apparent purpose.

She ran through the corridors and took the turns she thought were correct, but as she was unfamiliar with the castle’s layout she got lost among the featureless corridors, ending up at the throne room. She skidded to a halt fearing this coincidence to be part of a bad dream. She did not want to wield this power again and yet fate had brought her back to the very seat of power she wished to avoid.

Nyx fell to the floor, covered her muzzle with her forelegs and cried.
> 9 Unwelcome Memories
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What are you doing in here dearie?” came a gentle female voice, “This ain’t no place for youngsters, especially not in the dead of night.”
“Twilight” the sobbing filly choked “I want Twilight.”
“What, the Princess herself?” asked the kindly mare, “She ain’t for the likes of you and me to go disturbing. Now how’s about you tell me what’s wrong?”
Nyx looked up to see a Bat Pony serving maid wearing an apron and matching frilly hat kneeling down beside her, a tray of used plates on the floor by her side. As soon as she saw Nyx’s face, she gasped and recoiled.
“Oh my!” she gasped, backing away nervously “Your eyes! You’re … you’re Nightmare Moon!”
“Twilight!” called Nyx, “Please, I want Twilight!” 
“I don’t want no evil pony attacking Princess Twilight, not with our Princess Luna and Princess Celestia away in the Crystal Empire. No, that won’t do at all!”

But something in the maid’s voice softened as she recalled that Nightmare Moon was a full grown pony, and the distraught filly in front of her was just a filly. She also couldn’t imagine Nightmare Moon crying for anypony and her compassion took over. She approached once more, a little more warily, but still driven by the same kindness she had shown when she was first drawn by this filly’s tears.
“Hush now” she soothed, gently stroking the sobbing filly, “You’re not Nightmare Moon, are you?”
Nyx shook her head sadly, not feeling confident enough to look the maid in the eye in case the sight of her distinctive eyes set her off again.
“So you wanted Princess Twilight, did you?” she asked. Nyx nodded, her tears drying up as she began to trust the kindly Bat Pony.
“Why do you want her?” she probed, still harbouring residual doubts, “And in the dead of night too?” 
“She’s my Mom” Nyx whispered.
The maid was taken aback at this but decided to lead the filly to the guards outside Twilight’s chambers – they would be sure to know what to do for the best.

They walked through the corridors, exchanging little in the way of conversation, each taking a chance on trusting the other. When they approached Twilight’s chambers, the maid saw the guards spring to attention.
“I have with me a filly” she said, “Says she’s Princess Twilight’s daughter.”
“You’re new here aren’t you?” the nearest of the two guards observed, breaking from his aggressive stance, then turning his attention to the filly, “What’s the matter Nyx?”
“I … I want my Mom” she replied.
“She really is Princess Twilight’s daughter?” gasped the maid.
“Yes” replied the guard, turning to the filly, “What’s the matter? Is there anything we need to know about?“
Nyx shook her head, “I just want my Mom, please.”

The maid watched as the guard entered the Royal chambers and emerged less than a minute later with a bleary-eyed Princess Twilight.
“Nyx” she said, “Is everything alright?”
Nyx rushed forward and gave her a big hug, tears of relief replacing her earlier tears of anguish.
“This maid found her and brought her along to us” explained the guard.
The maid stared open mouthed. “Glad I could help, your Majesty” she stammered, recovering her composure and curtseying deeply.
“Thank you” said Twilight, drawing Nyx into her chambers, “Thank you all. Now if you’ll excuse us, I think we would like a little privacy.”

Twilight drew Nyx close and cuddled her lovingly as she calmed down. She didn’t say anything, she didn’t need to, she just held her daughter and stroked her gently.
“Mom” the filly whispered, “I don’t ever want to be Nightmare Moon again.”
“You won’t Nyx” comforted Twilight, “It’s all in the past.”
“But I saw it all again tonight. Clearer than I ever have before. I was a bad pony.”
“None of that was your fault, Nyx. You’ve been forgiven. It’s alright.”

After a long pause for reflection Nyx looked into her mother’s eyes.
“Would you like to see what I’ve done in the night sky?” she asked.
“Of course” replied Twilight, putting up an act to convince her daughter that she wasn’t tired, and wanted pretty much more than anything else to be sound asleep. She went to her windows and opened the door to her balcony, leading the way for them both to step out into the night air.
“There” said Nyx, pointing.
Sure enough, there were two familiar cutie marks shining down from the night sky. Twilight drew her daughter close and held her.

“What happened, Nyx?” she asked gently.
There was silence for a long while before she received an answer.
“Somepony called me ‘Your Majesty’, and suddenly I remembered all those ponies I had heard say that to me and what I made them do. I treated them all very badly. That’s why they all deserted me in the end.”
Twilight felt a strong pang of sadness for the pain that had been inflicted on her daughter by circumstances beyond her control and held her tighter.
“That wasn’t you, Nyx. That was what the cult made you do. You have had judgement passed on you and have paid in full. Don’t keep beating yourself up. It’s all in the past and you have been forgiven.”
She felt Nyx pull her tighter.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get over it” she said.

“Have you finished your duties for the night?” asked Twilight.
“No. I haven’t done the dream walking yet.”
“Is that important?”
“It’s one of only two jobs that Princess Luna gave me to do, so I have to think it is.”
“Can you manage by yourself, or do you want me to be with you?”
Twilight had long realised that she would not be getting any sleep during the rest of the night and was worried that if she tried, she would probably oversleep or Nyx may lose her self-confidence and not lower the moon. No, she had to stay awake now and live with the consequences tomorrow – her daughter needed her.
“Can you come with me, please?” she asked timidly.
“Of course. It’s magic and I don’t know about it. Hey, don’t you think that the bearer of the Element of Magic should know these things? Come on …” said Twilight, genuine enthusiasm pumping through her tired mind.

Nyx led her to Luna’s study where two guards greeted her.
“Carpe noctem, your Majesty” one said.
Nyx froze, fighting down the fear of that title once more, desperately trying not to ride that escalator back into her troubled past.
“Carpe noctem, your Majesty” said the guard again, looking suddenly a while lot more attentive.
Nyx pulled herself back, recalling what her mother had told her and knowing that she was there with her gave her strength to face her fears.
“Carpe vitam” Nyx replied, “Sorry, it’s been a difficult night.”
“Yes, your Majesty” he acknowledged, returning to attention “Thank you, your Majesty.”
The words still grated like fingernails across the blackboard of her psyche, but somehow it was a little easier this time and some of her confidence began to return.

As Twilight followed Nyx in to the study, she gasped in wonder at what she saw. Next to Luna, she was the one pony in the whole of Equestria who could fully appreciate what was laid out in front of her.
“Luna never told me about this!” she marvelled.
“Come on Mom” urged Nyx, “There’s something else I’ve got to show you first.”
Twilight’s hooves followed her daughter’s, but her head stayed behind as long as it could, craning to scan the indescribably rare collection that filled the walls of the room as they climbed up the spiral staircase. 
They emerged out into the penthouse meditation room with its unrivalled views of the night time vista and Twilight was once again speechless with admiration, marvelling at Luna’s carefully concealed sanctuary of which she had never previously been aware.

“This is where I do the dream walking Mom.”
“What do you want me to do, Nyx.”
“Can you stay with me? You don’t have to wait up here; you can be downstairs if you like, but I just want to know you’re near me.”

“I’ll be downstairs if you need me” said Twilight as she watched Nyx prepare the room, making notes about the solitary magical ritual unfolding before her that she had never seen before, but as soon as Nyx had transcended into a trance-like state, she slipped silently back down the spiral staircase. As she spied the full extent of the magical repository before her, Twilight’s curiosity got the better of her and suddenly she wasn’t tired any more.

A gentle clopping of hooves on the spiral staircase snapped Twilight from the volume of arcane magic she held before her and turned to see Nyx coming down to meet her; clearly she had completed her dream walking session. She looked to the hour and suddenly realised that she had been immersed in her studies for a lot longer than she had anticipated.

“Oh, Nyx” she greeted, ”Welcome back. Did it go well?”
“Yes, thank you Mom.”
“How do you feel now?” Twilight asked.
“I shouldn’t have run away like I did. I’ve seen plenty of ponies in their dreams with problems worse than mine, but there was just something about those words that brought it all back. I’m sorry.”
“I’ve made plenty of mistakes in my time too” said Twilight, “And each one can haunt me if I let it, but I’ve learned to make amends as and where I can and then move on. You’re a good pony Nyx, you’ve got to learn to move on.”
“I’m also a very hungry pony” said the filly with an embarrassed smile, “I kinda missed my lunch …”
“It’s almost time to lower the moon now. Shall we go?”
Nyx put away what she had got out and led Twilight to the door.
“Just one more thing” said Twilight, “When can you let me back in here again?”
“Umm, I don’t think that’s up to me, Mom” replied the filly awkwardly “You see, it’s Princess Luna’s, and I don’t think …”
“OK, I understand” said Twilight taking one last look around the treasure-trove of knowledge around her, already rehearsing how she was going to approach Luna.

They walked happily outside together and performed the ritual of handing over from night to day without incident. In fact, the task was becoming easier every day. They both took one last look at the latest cutie marks to grace the night sky as it brightened from the east, bleaching them into nothingness, then headed for the dining room. 

Nyx was worried that the serving staff would all laugh and point at her, and ushered Twilight to enter first, keeping close behind her so nopony would see. In practice, none of the staff present gave any indication of what had happened earlier and treated both guests as befitted Royalty, much to the filly’s relief.

Twilight kept the conversation bright and cheerful, telling creaky old jokes as well as more up to date anecdotes and once the meal was over, Nyx gave her a heartfelt hug before retiring to bed.

Twilight was exhausted. She had a full day ahead, but the hours’ sleep she had enjoyed were far from sufficient.

She trotted off with more enthusiasm than she felt to the throne room and took her place on Celestia’s throne to begin proceedings. Not only was she tired, but she was distracted too, constantly thinking back to what lay within Luna’s study as well as worrying about Nyx.

She tried, she really tried to keep the same interest that she had the day before, but she knew, even at this early stage that her need for sleep was going to win before the day was out.
> 10 Trouble Brewing
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Time dragged.

Word had spread that it was now the Princess of Friendship holding Court and suddenly there were more petitioners than ever, each hoping for a more sympathetic hearing than they may have otherwise secured from the Sun Princess.

They all seemed to be droning on interminably and Twilight kept her starched smile in place as she tried to focus on each little niggle and gripe that bogged down the Court from hearing really important issues. Her eyelids drooped, and one by one the Court officials could see her attention slipping away, all thinking similar thoughts along the lines of, “Well, that didn’t last long.”

As they ran up to lunch the doors were suddenly flung open and a rainbow maned cyan mare burst in, completely failing to observe any of the established courtly protocols.
“Wha .. what’s going on?” startled Twilight, who had been on the verge of nodding off to sleep again.
“Twi, we got problems!” said the daredevil flyer, hovering in place in front of her.
“Excuse me Miss!” interjected the Court usher, “Everypony thinks their issue is the most important in Equestria and there is a process to be followed that will give you a time and a date when your grievance can be heard and not before!”
Rainbow Dash completely ignored the Court usher, who to her mind was nothing more than a jumped up pencil pusher anyway.

“Twi, weather team says there’s a big storm coming in and it’s going to hit Canterlot, slap bang in the middle!” said Rainbow, smashing one forehoof into the other for dramatic effect.
“Miss, I must insist!” barked the Court usher.
“No, no, let her speak” said Twilight, “This sounds important.”
The Court usher felt a little humiliated and returned to his seat, continuing to stare daggers at the cyan mare.
“Can anything be done?” asked Twilight.
“Well, it’s more powerful than we can handle” Rainbow explained, “We can’t stop it, but we can possibly divert it - you know, so it can hit somewhere else instead.”
“Where would that be?”
Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck with her forehoof and replied uncertainly, “Ponyville.”

Twilight was mortified. “How much damage will it cause?”
“I’ve never seen a storm like it, Twi. It’ll be serious wherever it hits.”
“Is there any place you can divert it where it won’t hit a built up area?” Twilight asked desperately.
“No way, Twi. I’m sorry, somewhere’s going to get hit, and hit hard. You just gotta choose where.”
“Court dismissed!” ordered Twilight, “We’ve got a disaster to avert!”
“Twi, I don’t mean to be pushy, but the sooner we know where to direct it, the greater the chance we have of making it happen.”
“When’s it due?”
“Tonight, Twi, tonight!”
“It has to be Ponyville” said Twilight sadly, “It’s the smaller of the two. Send regular reports on its progress to Ponyville and Canterlot as we may have to evacuate one or even both.”
Rainbow saluted smartly and flew up to an open window at the top of the throne room and sprang out of the Royal Castle heading back to the weather team.

“I need the generals and heads of Civil Defence in the briefing room ten minutes, tops! Send a messenger ahead to Mayor Mare in Ponyville and tell her to prepare for evacuation! Prepare the Royal chariot! Get the Canterlot evacuation plans!” she barked in quick succession, before turning to the Court usher with an apologetic smile and adding in a much more conciliatory tone, “Sorry to cut across proceedings.”
The Court officials rose and bowed respectfully, but Twilight had already left for the briefing room.

As she entered the briefing room, she became aware of the bustle from half a dozen caretakers and cleaners hurriedly setting out the the tables and chairs for the forthcoming meeting as the first few invitees stood back, giving them room. Then, as if watching something exploding in reverse, it all came together in an instant and the staff disappeared leaving the room ready for the urgent business of the day.

Twilight sat at the head of the table, and one by one seats filled up on either side of her. She smiled, respecting the promptness with which those she had summoned streamed into the room and was delighted when a serving maid appeared at her left side offering her tea and cake. Perhaps today wouldn’t be so bad, she thought.

An aide, red faced and panting presented himself to Twilight as she tucked in to a delicate French fancy, offering a hardcovered codex coated in years of dust. Her eyes lit up immediately; Celestia had thought of everything!

She wiped her forehooves politely on a serviette, then absent-mindedly licked the last traces of frosting off her forehooves and opened the cover, scanning through the copperplate script that looked as if Celestia had written herself. Twilight made appreciative “oooh” and “aaah” sounds interspersed with an occasional “mmm” as she sped through her former mentor’s notes, recognising how her forward planning would save a lot of time, and potentially ponies lives too.

By the time she looked up, most of the seats to either side of her were filled, all eyes on her, but before she started the meeting she summoned the aide over once more to request him finding a similar document for Ponyville. Even as he was disappearing through the door on his latest mission, Twilight got to her hooves and trotted over to a whiteboard on which she outlined the nature of the emergency and plans Celestia had made centuries ago for the protection of Canterlot’s citizens. Principally, this involved accommodating the populace within the castle and the garrison as the most sturdy buildings in the city as well as a network of civil defence shelters that most had never even heard of. She appointed one of the generals to be her second in command and take charge of the defence of Canterlot on her behalf while she went to supervise the protection of Ponyville, her adopted home.

The red faced aide returned, shaking his head sadly and Twilight suddenly knew there was no point waiting any longer. Leaving the military in charge, she excused herself and left them to it; at least they had a plan, and if there was one thing the military could do well it was to follow a plan. Ponyville needed her more right now, but so too did Nyx. Should she take her? Should she even wake her? Given her adverse reaction to the serving staff recently, should she even be away from her side?

The decision was finely balanced, and in weighing up the options, she suddenly remembered how scared Nyx had been in the storm when they had first met and this tipped her judgment. She wrote instructing her daughter to be in whichever location wasn’t going to be hit, taking the final decision under advice from the weather ponies, but ensuring that if she were to travel it would be with an escort and that she allowed enough time to make the make the journey safely. She gave the note to the aide with explicit instructions to ensure that Nyx followed them explicitly and then left to board her chariot.

The sky looked perfectly clear out to the west where she knew the storm would come from, but Twilight still stared towards it for her entire journey. As they approached their destination, she looked down, recounting her decision to steer the storm over this quaint and idyllic little town that she loved and called home, wondering what it would look like tomorrow.

The chariot landed by the Town Hall where the Mayor was waiting anxiously for her, the tension evident in her face.
“Princess Twilight” she greeted, clearly eager to hear first-hoof what was going on, “Please come in, we have much to discuss.”
“Madam Mayor” she replied, still in Canterlot mode, “Summon your highest ranking military officers and the civil defence, we need to talk!”
“Surely you know Twilight” replied the Mayor, “We don’t have either.” 
The Princess of Friendship had never really considered this aspect of local infrastructure before, but the enormity of its absence suddenly hit her, and she felt sick inside.
“Um, I don’t suppose we have any evacuation plans, do we?” she asked, already fearing the answer.
“Well, of course” replied the Mayor, “As soon as the messenger arrived we started going through the archives, but as of this moment, no.” The look on her face said it all.
“Right!” said Twilight with determination, ”It’s you and me then. Call a meeting and get everypony together now!”

Twilight took the brief lull to fly back to the Golden Oak Library. Just because they couldn’t find any record of an evacuation plan in the Mayor’s office, didn’t mean it didn’t exist, and if it did, it would be in the library, right?

“Oh, hi Twilight” said Spike, strolling nonchalantly across the library, comic in one claw and mug of cocoa in the other, “Didn’t expect you back so soon.”
“Yes, I can tell” said the lilac librarian acerbically, surveying the general untidiness all around, “But we haven’t got time for that right now. Spike, I need your help. Evacuation plans for Ponyville. Please tell me we’ve got some …”
“OK, I’ll go check in just a minute …” began Spike, completely missing the gravity of the situation.
“NOW!” ordered Twilight, “Ponyville’s in serious danger. Do your best and bring what you find to me in the Mayor’s office.”

Spike dropped his cocoa and his comic and quickly about-faced as Twilight made for the door, taking in the spreading stain of the sweet smelling beverage as its puddle spread across the floor and shook her head in disapproval. Although the sight rankled her sensibility, she knew she had bigger problems right now, but the image would continue to haunt her for the rest of the day.

Twilight trotted back into the Mayor’s office and was ushered into a seat facing the Mayor’s desk where tea and cake had been laid out for them both.
“I don’t like it, Ivory” said Twilight, “I don’t recall ever having seen any evacuation plans, but I’ve got Spike going through the library now. He’ll join us as soon as he can find something.
“What do they do in Canterlot?” asked Ivory.
“Well, Princess Celestia put together civil defence plans a long time ago. I don’t think they’ve ever been used.”
“What’s in the plans Twilight?”
“Well, the ponies all take cover in the Royal Castle and the garrison and there’s even a network of underground shelters that everypony’s forgotten about. She’s planned it really thoroughly.”
“Why then would she not do the same for Ponyville? I’m sure she cares about the ponies here just as much.”
“Well, of course she does. There must be something.”
There was a pause as they both sipped their tea.

“Unless it’s so obvious she didn’t think it was necessary to write it down!” exclaimed Twilight.
“What do you mean?” asked the Mayor.
“A sturdy building! Oh, it’s so obvious Ivory!” babbled Twilight, “ The Castle of the Two Sisters! It’s the strongest building for miles around!”
“Of course!” agreed the Mayor as both ponies jumped to their feet and made for the door, Twilight swinging it violently open in her haste, only to be confronted by a startled looking baby dragon who had just put a claw up to tap on the door.

Twilight stopped dead in her tracks, not wanting to knock her assistant over and Ivory bumped into her flank, pushing her into the wide eyed dragon who still had his claw raised to knock on the door that wasn’t there any more.
“Aaah!” screamed Spike.
“Ooof” gasped Twilight.
“Sorry ...” said the Mayor

“Oh sorry, Spike” said Twilight as the baby dragon picked himself up, “Got anything for us?”
“Uh, no Twi. If they exist, then they’re somewhere else, ‘cos they sure aren’t in the library. What’s all this about an evacuation anyway?”
“The Mayor’s called a meeting where we’re going to have to tell everypony that there’s a strong chance a storm could hit.”
“Whoa, pretty serious then?”
“Yes, but don’t worry, I think we may have found a way to protect everypony.”

The streets of Ponyville were deserted; shops were closed and even the ponies tending the fields had come in to hear the news. Twilight took centre stage with the Mayor by her side and explained the high probability that the storm could hit at night and given the notice there would be little time to make any arrangements other than to put to gather supplies of food, water and bedding.

As Twilight was speaking, a blue pegasus flew straight up to the stage and landed right by her side.
“Princess Twilight” he said, turning his head away from the audience and then continued at a whisper, “I’m Clear Skies from the weather team. It looks like it’s going to miss Canterlot …”
“I understand” said Twilight, “When’s it going to hit?”
“Tonight, your Highness.”
“Thank you and please continue to keep both Canterlot and Ponyville informed of progress. We are going to evacuate to the Castle of the Two Sisters before the storm hits, so look for us there if we’re not here.”
“Thank you, your Highness” he said and turned to depart as quickly as he had arrived.

“Mares and Gentlecolts” announced Twilight, turning back to face the audience, “I have just received word that the storm is still on track to hit here tonight and Madam Mayor will now outline the agreed evacuation plan and I expect everypony to follow it to the letter; anypony causing delays will tie up others to help them, putting them at risk too, and that is not acceptable!”

“Thank you Princess Twilight” said Ivory, “We are going to relocate to the Castle of the Two Sisters until the threat of the storm has passed. I am looking for teams of ponies to relay essential supplies starting as soon as we can. Take special care to remember the needs of the youngest foals, the sick and the elderly.

Within twenty minutes the first party was ready to make the journey into the Everfree Forest, earth ponies laden down with heavy saddle bags while unicorns levitated as much as they could in their magic and some pegasi flew patrols while others carried what they could.

Twilight volunteered to lead the first party so she could start organising the accommodation at the castle, while the Mayor stayed behind to co-ordinate the evacuation.

Between them, they had a plan.
> 11 A Perfect Storm
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Castle of the Two Sisters was filling rapidly with a mass of ponies milling around in a carefully organised if unorthodox looking ballet.

Twilight was at the centre, alternately taking questions and shouting out orders as more ponies arrived with supplies. It was the busiest the castle had been for a thousand years and it was no doubt grateful to feel its deserted rooms and corridors filled once again with activity as it had so long ago. It was almost as if the castle sensed their need and instead of things going wrong, ponies were pleasantly surprised when they found the condition of what it had to offer.

Mr and Mrs Cake had even managed to fire up the old wood burning ovens with a little help from Applejack and the smell of freshly baked bread wafted appetisingly throughout the castle. Everything was good, provided that one chose to ignore the rather large hole in the roof.

A nagging feeling had been growing within Twilight, but she had been far too busy bringing her organisational talents to bear to stop and think, especially as a stream of items had been pouring in as well as the first patients from the hospital seeking safe refuge. Ivory had claimed an annex to the library to be their centre of operations; this would be where either her or Twilight would be available at any time of the day or night.

The nagging feeling got worse and Twilight excused herself for a breath of fresh air and saw the sun suspended above the horizon – then it hit her; the sun had been giving her reminders about the time. From where it was hanging, the sun could see the moon waiting patiently just below the horizon and was awaiting the formal command to be allowed to rest.

Twilight had become no stranger to the sun picking her up on her tardiness and once again had to offer her apologies before the golden orb sank and the sky darkened through the rich pinks and purples that bore her name. She hoped that Nyx was ready and worried whether she would be able to handle herself tonight, but couldn’t allow herself to get wound up about it as she had much more pressing issues here, protecting Ponyville.

The dark clouds were rolling in faster now and it was clear that the storm would be upon them within the hour. Indeed, she had been watching the clouds form and had forbidden any more ponies from returning back to Ponyville two hours ago, but still watched as the constant exodus of ponies continued arriving like an unending stream.

The clamour for her attention was rising again and she returned to help out. A team of unicorns was taking it in turns to maintain a constant sealing spell over the roof as family after displaced family claimed a space on the floor of the old throne room.

Finally the last stragglers arrived, damp from the first falls of rain that heralded the leading edge of the storm. She stood at the doorway and cast her eyes around outside to make sure nopony was still making their way along the path that led from the bridge, then she looked up at what remained visible of the night sky. She smiled as she saw the cutie marks of her and her friends, gasping as she noticed a new addition that she could have sworn hadn’t been there last night; a crescent moon next to her six point star - Nyx’s cutie mark next to hers! The tension of the day coupled with the lack of sleep the night before and the worry she felt for her daughter overflowed and she started crying. She didn’t feel any shame or any need to hide the outpouring of her emotion and let it roll over her, wishing she was with Nyx but realising she was much safer where she was.
“I love you, Nyx” she said to the night sky.

She pushed the door closed and dropped the bar across with her magic. They were ready for whatever the storm would bring.

Twilight threaded her way through the sheltering throng, exchanging pleasantries and allaying fears as she went, making her way up to the annex in the library where she greeted Ivory and aimed for a blanket, falling asleep almost before she lay down.

Nyx looked out across the peaceful night sky. She had been briefed by Twilight’s aide and the general left in charge about what had happened during the day. Skies were clear over Canterlot and it was hard to believe the reports from the weather team that a once in a lifetime storm had been diverted and was currently heading towards her mother and her friends in Ponyville.

The general had told her about the civil defence plans and outlined how the long forgotten shelters had been accessed, cleaned and prepared, while in parallel, the castle and garrison had been readied to accommodate the population of Canterlot. Ponies had been made aware of the dangers and the measures being taken to avert them, but ultimately the weather team had managed to pull off the dangerous and risky feat of diverting the storm away and now the city of Canterlot was stood down.

She had felt useless in the face of so much planning having been done while she slept and wanted to go and join her mother as soon as she had found out, but her mother’s note had been explicit. She had watched the sun waiting to go down and began to worry why it wasn’t making the last step in its daily journey, but finally to her relief she had watched it sink and she knew her mother was alright.

It had felt odd raising the moon while standing completely alone; no Twilight or no Princess Luna by her side, but she had remembered what she had been taught and promptly busied herself with decorating the night sky, sending a special message in the stars to her mother, if she had time to see it.

The first half of the night had gone well, but now she faced the prospect of going to the dining room, which she seriously considered missing, and then dream walking, something else she had never done alone. Her self-doubt was starting to rise within her once more and she just wished that somepony she trusted could be there to help her.

Feeling both fragile and alone, she had no wish to expose herself to anything that may upset her as a chance comment had the night before. While she appreciated that such fears may seem irrational to most ponies, nopony had ever been brought into the world with the baggage that she was forced to carry.

To remedy the first of these problems, she had requested a sandwich be left for her on the balcony, thereby mitigating the need to meet the serving staff in the dining room. As she nibbled around the edges of the freshly prepared sandwich she looked out over Canterlot and thought longingly of the Royal Sisters and especially her mother whom she knew was in the middle of a terrifying storm right now. Suddenly this thought quashed her appetite and she pushed aside the barely tasted food as even the thought of it was too much for her at the moment. She really missed her mother.

After a period of reflection during which she had stared forlornly over the balustrade, she forced herself into the mindset to attend to the second half of her responsibilities and turned back to the castle. “The ponies of Equestria expect me to protect them in their sleep” she reasoned, “I lost their trust once and I must work to regain it. It won’t matter to them how I feel, but I owe it to them all to play my part.” Summoning all her courage, she set off down the deserted corridors to Luna’s study, alone.

Following the customary exchange of codewords with the guards, she entered the study, everything seeming somehow more sinister and threatening than it had when she had been accompanied by another pony. Nonetheless, she got on with her duties and set about calming the dreams of the ponies in Canterlot. She would have rather tended to those in Ponyville, including her friends whom she knew were hunkered down as the storm swept over them, but her mother had also been explicit about that in her note. As it turned out, anxieties had been running high in Canterlot and she spent her time reassuring ponies that they and their loved ones would be safe; once she had done the first one or two, it became a simple repeatable task, which suited her in her current state of mind.

Finally, she left the dream realm, utterly exhausted. It had been a busy night and she left the study heading for the balcony, thinking about how her mother had coped and wishing for all the world that they could be together. At the allotted hour she lowered the moon and waited for faraway magenta alicorn magic to reach out and start the day.

The storm had passed over Ponyville and was now losing strength fast as a team of very tired weather ponies led by Rainbow Dash descended on the Castle of the Two Sisters. She banged on the door with her forehoof, rattling the latch rings and the solid wooden securing bar behind.
“C’mon guys” she called, “Storms passed, how ‘bout letting us in?”
A rough grating sound signified the securing bar being dragged away from its mounts on the other side of the door and the Mayor appeared silhouetted in the doorway as the door was opened by a strong earth pony to her side.
“Pegasi” observed the Mayor, “Do come in; you must be the weather team.”
“Thank you Madam Mayor” acknowledged their rainbow maned leader, counting all of her crew in before going in herself.
“How does it look out there?”
“Worst has passed. It’s too dark to tell, but when the moon comes out, you can see big lakes where there never used to be lakes before, if you get what I mean.”
“Please come in and warm yourselves. We have fresh baked bread, apples and hot potatoes if you want.”

Rainbow had been in the Castle of the Two Sisters when it was abandoned and spooky, but couldn’t believe seeing every square foot of floor being filled with ponies in family and friendship groups, all sheltering from the storm. There was a gentle hubbub of subdued conversations and snoring as most ponies were trying to sleep.

The friendly warmth of camaraderie seemed to banish all the scary ambience for which the old castle had become renowned over the last thousand years and the smell of warm food wafted invitingly up from the kitchens.
“Yes please” said Rainbow, “We could all do with some hot grub and a place to sleep. We’re beat.”
“You’ve done a grand job and all of Ponyville is proud of you” said the Mayor, “Thank you all.”

The Mayor had been up all night too and was feeling tired herself, so went up to the library to wake Twilight. She stretched out a khaki forehoof to the lilac alicorn who had not moved since she had collapsed on a blanket last night.
“Wha … What time is it?” asked the bleary eyed Princess.
“It’s still dark” replied Ivory, “But the weather team says the worst of the storm has passed.”
“Yes, but what time is it?” she persisted.
Ivory rummaged around and found a timepiece somewhat bemused by Twilight’s obsession with the time. Celestia hadn’t raised the sun, so what was the problem?

Twilight was getting increasingly agitated and when Ivory finally told her the time she made a hasty excuse and left their cosy little library annex to find an unoccupied room with a view of the eastern horizon. Finally she found a window in a store room at the top of one of the towers and gave it a nudge, but it stuck so she pushed it a little harder and the whole window fell from its hinges, tumbling away down the outside of the building and embedding itself in the saturated ground below. Twilight groaned and felt a sprinkle of drizzly rain on her face as she peered into the darkness, lighting her horn.
The sun was unimpressed at having been kept waiting yet again and Twilight had to apologise profusely before it deigned to rise for her. As soon as it rose, she cast her eyes around and saw a new landscape littered with little lagoons, sparkling in the first rays of sunshine.

Twilight made her way down into the castle where she followed her nose towards the smell of fresh baked bread. There she found Rainbow Dash and the weather team sat at a trestle table tucking into a meal with such ferocity that it appeared they had not eaten for a week.
“Twi, Twi” said Rainbow, mouth full of baked potato, “That was one hell of a storm last night! The team here did a fantastic job diverting it, but … hey, I’m really sorry about Ponyville.”
“That couldn’t be helped Rainbow” she replied sadly, “It was my call.”
“You took a tough decision” said the pegasus, ”Hey, d’you want to fly reconnaissance with me so we can report back?”
“You’re too tired, surely?”
“Nah, just want to see if you’ve remembered how to use those wings” she replied.
“Well, if you’re up for it” said Twilight uncertainly, “But, finish your breakfast first.”

Once they were both ready, the two friends found their way onto the old Royal balcony and launched into the air.
“That’s funny” said Rainbow sounding confused, “I’d swear there was a lot more water out here earlier; you should have seen the rain, Twi.”
“Hmm, I don’t know how, but I believe you’re right. I’m sure I saw more settled water when I looked out earlier too.”

They swung by over Sweet Apple Acres and Rainbow suddenly shouted, “Look! Look down there!”
Twilight saw it too, and they both went lower to investigate further.
“It’s a whirlpool!” called Twilight in disbelief.
“Err, yeah … but … don’t you just get them at sea?” said Rainbow, “Kinda unusual in an apple orchard, don’t you think?”
“Quick, follow me!” said Twilight, “There’s something I want to check out.”
She led them down into the Everfree, and pointed with glee as more whirlpools came into view.
“Say what now?” said Rainbow looking perplexed, “One is weird enough, but all these - that’s just plain wrong.”
“I do hope the Princesses are alright” said Twilight under her breath, then to Rainbow she said more loudly, “Come on, let’s go check on Ponyville.”
> 12 The Morning After
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The landscape was unrecognisable. The strong winds had pulled at anything standing, stripping some rooves and walls off wooden buildings and leaving nothing but bare skeletal frameworks behind. Few would have seen the extent of the flooding; only the witness marks bearing testament to the water levels that had been reached, and then just as quickly disappeared once more, but Twilight and Rainbow were the only two to see exactly what had happened.

The water drained very fast and by mid-morning it was possible to begin the move back to Ponyville, to recover what they could and begin rebuilding. Some families were in tears with what they saw and others just gave thanks, the wind seeming to have been completely indiscriminate. However, nopony had been lost and homes could be rebuilt.

Around lunchtime everypony was surprised to see the shape of Royal chariots emerge from the sky and put down next to the castle. Celestia and Luna got out and took the opportunity to talk to those who were making their way to and from their stricken town. Word of their arrival spread and after a few minutes, a lilac alicorn came bounding along and embraced them both eagerly.

Once they had some privacy, Twilight asked, “I thought you were going to be away for the week, does this mean you’ve got it all wrapped up already?”
“It wasn’t going very well at all to start with” said Celestia.
“Their negotiating stance was as adamant as it was blunt, and I confess that if they had chosen to ignore us we would have had some difficulty pushing back" added Luna, "They are surprisingly deft tunnelers and would have been difficult to apprehend.”
“But then last night their tunnels started to get flooded. We’re not talking ankle-deep or knee-height here, but entirely submerged.”
“The one thing they had no defence against was flooding, and even though we did not see entirely eye to eye, one could not help but feel sorry for them as panicked reports from their underground communities came in. They were justifiably concerned for loss of life among their own kind and withdrew.”
“Of course we warned them that this sort of thing was a regular occurrence …” said Celestia with a twinkle in her eye.
“That may have been a slight exaggeration, Sister.”
“Yes, but nonetheless necessary to press home our advantage, and so they have agreed to seal off all their tunnels and expand instead in the opposite direction under the uninhabited Badlands.

“Oh, well done Princesses!” cheered Twilight, clapping her forehooves together.
“But it looks like our victory has been bought at a cost” added Celestia sadly.
Twilight’s demeanour suddenly changed.
“It’s all my fault Princess” admitted Twilight, her eyes starting noticeably to tear up, “A big storm was going to hit Canterlot and I ordered the weather team to divert it away, in the full knowledge that this is where it would come.”
“A difficult decision” concurred Luna, “But the correct one.”
“I think a little magic may help things along here” said Celestia “What do you think, Sister?”
Luna nodded in affirmation.
Twilight perked up a little at the prospect and then added, “You should have seen the whirlpools.”
The Royal Sisters looked at her quizzically.
“When Rainbow Dash and I overflew the area this morning, we saw whirlpools where the lakes of floodwater were all funnelling down through the sink holes into the tunnels below. I’m glad nopony or no Diamond Dogs died, although I confess I was worried for you.”

A group of giggling mares had gathered at a discrete distance, far enough away to provide privacy to the Princesses, but close enough to show that they wanted to talk. Eyes seemed to be fixed on Celestia, and so she excused herself to go and see what they wanted. As the Sun Princess drew close, the group pushed forward one of their number to act as their spokespony, but she retreated to the back of the group in shyness and another was pushed forward in her place.
"How may I help you?" asked Celestia as the mares all bowed before her.
"Your Majesty" said the mint green unicorn at their head, "Is it true that Princess Cadence is going to have a foal?"
Before she could receive an answer, the mares all began giggling loudly in anticipation.

"Ladies, please" replied Celestia wearing a maternal smile, "I'm sure you know it would be wrong of me to speculate on such things."
The atmosphere in the crowd seemed to deflate visibly.
"But" she continued, "When Princess Cadence and Shining Armor do choose to have a foal, I can assure you that he or she will combine the best aspects of both of them ..."
"The Princess said 'when', not 'if' ..." came a shout from the group, "So it really is going to happen!"
Celestia knew is was pointless to argue and was equally aware that these ponies would need something positive to boost their morale as they rebuilt their lives, so chose not to deny the story any further.

Luna and Twilight had watched from a distance, and although they hadn't heard anything that had been said, the cooing sounds of the mares made it obvious what they were discussing.
"Good cover story, huh?" said Twilight. 
“Indeed" replied Luna, before switching the subject to a matter that was best discussed between the two of them, "But tell me, how did Nyx manage?”
“She’s played her part magnificently, but she did have a bit of a meltdown. I know she would love to see all of us again tonight” said Twilight, “And by the way, that library of yours …”
“Oh, I see she has shown you then” said Luna, “I wondered how long it would be.”

They surveyed the devastation together and Luna turned to Twilight, “How did it go for you as ruler of Equestria?”
“Uggh, don’t” she replied, “I wasn’t expecting a storm like this to come through on my watch. I feel so bad for all the ponies I let down.”
“Difficult decisions had to be made. Neither my Sister nor I could have done any better” said Luna reassuringly, “How did you fare otherwise?”
Twilight smiled wryly at Luna, “You know, I don’t think I could cope with all the tea and cake that being a Princess entails.”
“Oh, that part is not obligatory Twilight” said Luna wriggling her nose playfully, ”Why do you think I am so much slimmer than my Sister?”