Nyx Goes to Prison

Deep in the heart of Everfree forest, a cloaked figure walks quietly through the abandoned Castle of Two Sisters. The hallways are coated with dirt and grime, and vegetation is starting to force its way through the cracks and crevices in the walls. Moonlight filters through the broken windows, casting pale shadows and gives the castle a melancholic atmosphere.

The cloaked figure comes to a heavy wooden door that is slightly ajar. The hinges groan in protest as the figure forces the door open to make room to enter. At the far end of the chamber sits two abandoned thrones. A shaft of moonlight highlights one, but leaves the other in shadow. The figure walks to the center of the room and pulls the hood back, revealing the face of Princess Luna. A lonely sigh escapes from her chest as she looked around the old throne room. So many memories were tied to this place, many of them not pleasant. She looks to the thrones and let out a little snort. Luna was the Princess of the Moon, so why shouldn’t her throne be bathed in moonlight?

Luna shakes her head to clear her mind. She is here for a reason, and it isn’t for a trip down memory lane. Her cloak starts to twitch and John Carter emerged from the depths. He looks around nervously and starts scanning. “Are you sure this was a good idea? I don’t detect any spells or abnormal magical energy, but I don’t have much experience with this. In fact, I don’t have any experience at all. Why are we doing this? Why did we have to come here? I don’t like this place,” he murmured and his shell began to vibrate slightly.

“Have heart, little Ghost. No danger will come to you while I am near,” Luna said, trying to put John Carter at ease, but her words have little effect. “Why should I believe you? You ponies are the ones that killed Nyx. How do I know you won’t do the same to me?” John Carter asks. He floats around the room, taking scans as he goes. “I never asked for any of this. Why can’t you just send me back? I would like that very much. You could send me back to the Tower and no one would even know.”

Luna is starting to get irritated by John Carter’s whining. “And what of your Guardian?” she growls. “Surely you wouldn’t think of abandoning her, would you?”

John Carter turns to face Luna. “She abandoned me first. It’s her fault she got thrown in prison.” He looks away and slowly sinks to the floor. “When she was locked away, I worked in the Archives. That was the happiest I had ever been. No one shot at me, no one yelled at me, at least not a lot or very loudly, and I didn’t have to worry about taking care of an overgrown child. Guardians can be very foolish sometimes. I mean, when Ghosts can bring you back to life, why not jump off the Tower walls for laughs? Or face down a Hive Ogre with nothing but a sidearm. Or jump feet first into the depths of hell.”

Luna grabs John Carter with her telekinesis and pulls him toward her. “If you are looking for sympathy, you shall get none from me.” She lets him go and he floats back a little bit. Luna let out a short sigh. “You say she left you alone. I say, what of it? You are here with her now, are you not?”

John Carter nods. “But not because I wanted to. It’s the Red Legion’s fault for letting Nyx out. If they hadn’t showed up, none of this would have happened and I would still be in the Archives.”

Luna rolls her eyes in annoyance. “Oh woe is me! What if this, and what if that?” she says and flails about dramatically. “What if I had never become Nightmare Moon? What if I had never been banished to the moon?” Luna makes her way to her throne and sits down. John Carter had to admit that the princess looked majestic in the moonlight. If he had a real body, John Carter would have bowed and pledged his undying fealty right there.

“I my time, I have come to realize that we cannot control everything in our lives,” Luna says. “We can, however, control how we react to those situations.” Her eyes become hard as she glares down from her throne. “You dislike your master, so what? Where is it written that we must like everypony we meet? Nowhere that I have ever read. You say she abandoned you and now you wish to do the same? So what? You are free to think and do as you please, but know this, little Ghost. You will be no better than the one you profess to hate so much.”

Luna steps off the throne and John Carter can only stare as she towers over him. “I know how I feel about Nyx, and I barely know her. Therefore, I cannot imagine how you must feel after knowing her for so long. Someone that I trust very much once told me that it is good to have a dialogue with people you do not agree with. Otherwise, how will you learn and grow in your understanding?”

John Carter sighs. “You know nothing of what Nyx is like. I have seen what she has seen and I know what she knows. She is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside and enigma. She is a Hunter and Hunters tend to be solitary and difficult creatures by habit.”

Luna lowers her head to look John Carter in the eye. “It seems that nothing I say will convince you, but I will say this as simply as I can so you do not misunderstand my words. I asked Nyx for help and she gave me her word that she would. She asked you and I to do this for her, and so we shall, because I gave her my word. I will not have my trust broken by your cowardice.”

John Carter flinches at Luna’s words. What she said cut him deeply. He know he isn’t the most fearless Ghost, but never did he think himself a coward.

But he was, wasn’t he.

Isn’t this what cowards do? Hide, make excuses, and blame others for their own shortcomings? Nyx was many things, but a coward and oathbreaker she was not. John Carter searches his memory, from before Nyx went into the machine and after, and not once did Nyx ever go back on her word.

Perhaps he doesn’t know his Guardian as well as he thought. Being separated for all those years certainly didn’t help either. He knows of other Ghosts that have rocky, sometimes combative, relationships with their Guardians. John Carter also knows that some Ghosts have chosen to completely abandon their Guardians when the Guardian in question strayed too far down the path of Darkness. John Carter had spoken to Raven extensively on the subject of fallen Guardians and both agreed that this was not the case with Nyx and Hildr.

Luna watches with interest as John Carter wrestled with his thoughts. “I know this must be difficult for you but we should not linger much longer, little Ghost. The sun will rise soon, and with it, my sister.”

John Carter sighs heavily. “I wasn’t serious about going back to the Tower, not really anyway,” he admitted. His eye blinks rapidly and Nyx’s body appears on the ground in a flash of light. Luna moves Nyx’s head closer to her body. “Please step back,” John Carter said and Luna did so.

John Carter can feel the faint flicker of Light inn Nyx’s body. His points separate and begin to spin around his eye as he focuses on channeling the vast and infinite Light of the Traveler into his Guardian. The connection is made and Luna flinches back as a blast of energy spread through the throne room.

Luna blinks the spots from her vision and peers closely at Nyx’s body. Outwardly, she can tell no difference. She looks to John Carter and askes, “Did it work?”

Before John Carter can answer, Nyx’s eyes spring to life and she sits up. Startled, Luna falls back and watches as Nyx rises to her feet. When Nyx’s eyes look at her, Luna feels a chill run down her spine. There is no hint of the playfulness or mischievousness Nyx often has. These were the eyes of the Hunter, and Luna hoped she wasn’t the prey.

We used to have those eyes, Nightmare Moon whispered.

Luna ignores her and hesitantly stands up. “I have done as you asked. Is there anything else you require?” she asked.

Nyx looks around the room and her gaze settles on John Carter, who shrinks back in fear. Wordlessly, Nyx holds out her hand. After a moment of hesitation, John Carter floats forward and settles in her palm. Nyx brings him up to eye level and says, “We have much to talk about.”

“I g-g-guess so,” John Carter stammers.

Nyx lets him go and pointed at herself. John Carter nods and scans Nyx’s body. Luna watches with amazement as light surrounds Nyx and her shape begin to change. When the light faded, Nyx is wearing armor Luna has never seen. What really stands out is the black and gold helmet with three glowing green eyes and the blue scarf with red, yellow and white stripes that wrapped around her neck and trailed almost to the floor.

John Carter disappears in a flash of light and Nyx looks to Luna. “What will you do now?” the princess askes.

“I will do what I must, O Reader Mine,” Nyx replies to no one in particular. “But first I need to visit the library.”

Luna frowns. “But why? Twilight Sparkle and the rest of the Elements are missing,” she says.

Nyx stares at Luna for a moment longer, then walks to the entrance of the throne room. “I will keep in touch,” she says and vanishes through the door, leaving Luna alone and very confused.

“Have I doomed us all?” she wonders out loud.