Nyx's Hearts and Hooves Day: A New Heart's New Joy

Chapters

Prologue: The Morning Before
Chapter 1: Worries and a New Friend
Chapter 2: Unwanted Advice and The New Member
Chapter 3: The Invitation and the Lunch
Chapter 4: Blind Date and The Ticket
Chapter 5: Indesisive and The Letter
Chapter 6: Exploring The Heart
Chapter 7: The Unexpected

Prologue: The Morning Before

“EEK! EEK!” A loud cry of a phoenix named Peewee echoed through the Golden Oak Library, waking all those on the top floor of the strange tree building: a library and a kitchen on the bottom floor, with a small bedroom with a desk, bed quills and parchment, and about everything you’d expect from an at-home student. Spike, a small purple baby dragon with tiny green scales, woke up just long enough to give the baby fire bird a terrifying glare to be quiet, immediately returning to some ice cream or Rarity related dream. Nyx, however, welcomed the shrieks, jumping out of her small basket-like bed with a large smile on her face and ran over to the baby bird’s cage, which sat atop a small drawer.

“Thank you, Peewee! This was super awesome of you!” Nyx quietly screamed, opening the drawer underneath his cage to get some of his favorite seeds. Normally, Spike only fed Peewee these seeds if he was good or if it was a special day. Nyx reasoned today couldn’t be any more special. It was her first holiday ever since coming to Ponyville, Hearts and Hooves Day! After feeding her little helper his bribe, the black-coated alicorn filly ran down the stairs to the main floor, the library. The library had a relatively small collection of fairy tales, biographies, history books, and anything else you’d expect to find in a library. There were a few bookshelves that reached the ceiling, with ladders for those that didn’t have the convenience of magic to get the books they needed. Behind the stairs Nyx had just rushed down was a kitchen, normally hidden with a disguise spell to simply look like an empty wall, but the spell is usually relaxed at night. Nyx took no time to slow down before rushing into the place, wanting to get some food in her stomach, suddenly shocked to find her adopted mom, Twilight Sparkle, standing in the middle of the kitchen with a few small candles lit, magically holding over a stove and flipping what smelled like eggs in a pan. At the eating table just behind her was a medium-sized metal covered pot, steam emitting from it barely visible in the candle light.

“Mom?” Nyx exclaimed, her glowing cat-like turquoise eyes stretching into a confused face, “What are YOU doing up so early?”

“I had a feeling you’d be up a bit early today.” Twilight explained, keeping most of her concentration on the eggs she was currently cooking. “I remember the first holiday I celebrated when I came to Ponyville, Winter Wrap-Up, I was so excited to get started I couldn’t sleep. So, I had gotten up, gathered all my things, and headed out the door bright and early. Albeit it was a little too early” Twilight softly chuckled. Twilight then turned off the flame of the stove, released the pan, and magically reached for the cabinet and silverware for bowls plates and forks, a faint purple aura upon her horn and the dishes as they floated down to the table, setting what appeared to be themselves neatly.

“Anyway,” Twilight continued, “I figured you would also want to be up early for your first holiday in Ponyville, so I decided I would also get up and get you some food started.”

Nyx blushed at predictability, but soon ran over to the table to see what was in the pot, as well as for the eggs. After getting a light blast of steam in the face, Nyx saw that the pot contained her favorite dish in the wide wide world of Equestria, celery soup!

“Oh, wow, Mommy!” Nyx squealed happily, “How’d you know I wanted celery soup?”

“I didn’t,” Twilight explained, “I just really wanted soup as well.”

“yeah right mom,” Nyx exclaimed, rolling her eyes, “You know how much I love celery soup. How could this have possibly been a geuss?”

“I mean it. I really didn’t know! I guess we just have the same blood.”

This light joke by Twilight wasn’t as metaphorical as it seemed. Despite being adopted, Nyx was still sharing Twilight’s blood, though not in any normal way:

One year ago, Twilight had been ponynapped and taken to the Everfree forest by a cult who called themselves the “Children of Nightmare”, led by a former student of Princess Celestia, Spell Nexus. They were in the process of trying to reincarnate one of the greatest villains to ever face Equestria, Nightmare Moon, and needed a small amount of blood from the Element of Magic to complete the ritual. Princess Celestia and the royal guard were able to arrive in time to keep the spell from being finished, but they didn’t exactly stop the ritual.

The next day, in search of her lost saddle bag nearby where the ritual had occurred in the Everfree forest, Twilight heard a noise coming from a small thorn bush nearby. Curiosity getting the best of her, Twilight went over to see what it was, finding a small filly alicorn in the bush, around the same age it looked, as Apple Bloom. It had a purple mane, a night-dark coat, and, what stood out most to Twilight was its turquoise eyes, the same eyes as Nightmare Moon. Despite her nagging conscience telling her to report to Celestia of this potentially dangerous pony, Twilight took it home, keeping it hidden from even Spike until later that night, and tending to any wounds it had received from the thorn bush.

Over time, Twilight became very friendly with this new little one, caring for her, teaching her- something the filly especially loved- and even naming her; Nyx. Soon, Twilight introduced Nyx to Rarity, and, after convincing her that she was of no harm, asked her to make her a special vest for the filly to hide her wings so she wouldn’t be seen as abnormal when she was enrolled at the school. In addition to the vest, Twilight gave Nyx a pair of enchanted glasses which would camouflage her eyes.

After introducing Nyx to all her friends, Twilight let her go unsupervised by her personally for the first time to go to school. After just a short day of school, Nyx had already made friends with Apple Bloom, and later even joined the Cutie Mark Crusaders (somehow, despite being the reincarnation of somepony who had a cutie mark, she was “born” a blank flank.) Soon, Twilight even took on the responsibility of being Nyx’s mother. She even had Nyx meet Celestia, saying she was her half-cousin staying with her for an uncertain amount of time.

Despite all she did however, Nyx had great raw magic, even greater than Twilight’s, one could say, which would lead to Celestia’s hearing of it in Canterlot. When the regal alicorn went to see Twilight once again, Twilight burst forth the entire truth. After hearing her story, Celestia said she was going to take Nyx away to see if any of the evil thoughts of Nightmare Moon remained in her heart, saying the head master of the school for gifted unicorns- and at the time unknown traitor- Spell Nexus had a way to see into the heart of a pony and their true intentions, promising if she had none, Nyx would be back by morning. Despite Twilight’s protest, Celestia took away her pupil’s “daughter” with great guilt, and brought her to Spell Nexus. As his final treachery, he had Celestia power the “heart-reading” spell, only to find out when it was too late it was to complete the restoration.

After being fully reincarnated in to her dark mare form, Nightmare Moon worked quickly, ordering the cult that followed her to raise the castle they had built for her underground to be raised to the surface. She also quickly took down Princess Celestia and Luna, banishing each to their heavenly orb, and bringing forth the Night Eternal, later even imprisoning her own “mother”. Soon, though, guilt built into her, and then a realization that perhaps she could become her own mare. She stopped the Night Eternal, and went back to how everything was originally done.

In fear that Nightmare Moon would not stay the ruler he wanted, Spell Nexus hatched a plan to harden her soft heart. He gave Twilight, who still lived in the castle dungeon, a “blessing” in which a small black cloud entered the body, and the one that it entered became under the will of Nightmare Moon. With control over Twilight, Nexus instructed her to attempt and fail to kill Nightmare Moon, Hoping a betrayal by her own mother would darken Nightmare Moon’s heart. However, after learning of this, Nightmare Moon was able to remove the “blessing” from Twilight, Spell Nexus, and the entire cult, releasing them and giving power back to the minor princes and princesses of Equestria.

After this surrender of power, Nightmare Moon spent her days in self-declared exile, taking time only to eat or raise or lower the sun and the moon. This changed, however, when she was told by a friend of Twilight’s, Zecora, of an impending attack on Ponyville by many creatures that lurked within the Everfree forest. With the help of old friends, if you would call them that, she was able to save all the ponies of Ponyville, getting them up to her castle for safety. However, during the struggle, Nightmare Moon was severely injured. With the help of Twilight, doctors of Ponyville were able to get her better, and Twilight was able to eventually convince her to free Luna and Celestia from their astronomical prisons. After much convincing by citizens of Ponyville to give “Nyx” an easy punishment in light of recent events, Luna decided on a rather unique judgment.

She took away much of Nyx’s powers, the one’s that had belonged to her when she was Nightmare Moon, leaving only what Nyx had received in her time, even returning her to her filly form. After taking back her powers, Luna was transformed into what could only be described as a shadow version of Celestia. When this was completed, Twilight was officially given the role of being Nyx’s mother by the princesses. After returning home to the library, Nyx discovered she had finally earned her cutie mark: a dark blue knight’s shield, symbolizing her desire to protect those that she loves.

Twilight shook her head in order to snap her thoughts out of last year and into the present. What’s there to worry about? She thought. Nyx is completely harmless now. Her magic is still recovering from being taken from Luna’s spell. It takes her so much effort just to put up the smallest shield. Right now the only thing she can magically pick up is a single piece of paper or a quill, and not even both at the same time. Twilight quietly laughed to herself about the current irony, but not quietly enough for Nyx not to pick it up.

“What’s funny, Mom?” Nyx asked.

“Hmm? Oh, nothing really. So, are you excited? Did you remember to write everypony in your class a card?” She mused while sitting down at the table, sitting down at the table while using a ladle to magically pour soup into their bowls, and lifted the pan to slide two eggs onto their plates, leaving two on a plate on the other side of the table.

“Uh-huh!” Nyx responded excitedly. “I wrote one for Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Twist, Snips, Snails, Pipsqueak…” quickly rattling off all her classmates, except for a key two.

“Hmmm… I didn’t here Diamond Tiara or Silver Spoon’s name in that list. Did you write them a card?” Twilight questioned.

“Aww, Mommy? Do I have to? THEM?” Nyx complained. She had hated those two spoiled fillies ever since their first “prank” on her that sent her into the Everfree forest.

“Trust me, Nyx. I am no fan of those ponies either. But we need to get them to at least not hate you; otherwise they’ll never leave you alone.” Twilight explained.

“But…”

“No buts,” she interrupted. “We’ve got to get you off their bad side, and I think this is the easiest way to do so. After all, everypony loves getting a card on Hearts and Hooves Day.”

“Do YOU ever get a card on Hearts and Hooves Day?” Nyx asked, a large smile of excitement bursting onto her face.

“Well, no, not really. I just don’t have a special somepony at the moment.” She replied, now starting to regret bringing up the topic.

“WHAT! WHY NOT?!” Nyx exclaimed, her jaw suddenly dropping like she was watching Fluttershy make a dragon cry.

“Well, it’s complicated,” she explained, feeling embarrassed by the fact, and now it was practically written on her face her regret for bringing this up. Nyx began to ponder this, her chin down on her hoof and eyes scrunched, until a light popped on over her head. However, this was mainly because Spike had just come from upstairs and turned on the lamp.

“Morning, you two” Spike said sleepily, his eyes just partially open from not enough sleep. He went and sat down to the table to eat his now cold eggs.

“Morning, Spike” the two ponies replied, their greetings somehow filled with more energy despite less sleep. Right after her reply, Nyx return to what she thought of as Twilight’s dilemma, until a metaphorical light bulb came on over her head, and a bright smile once again appeared on her face.

“I know! Maybe you can ask Big Macintosh to be your special somepony. Apple Bloom said he wasn’t seeing anypony now and…”

“Whoa-ho-ho, No” Twilight interrupted mid-sentence, a scared face suddenly popping on. “Look, Big Mac is nice and all, but he isn’t really my type.”

“Oh, I see.” Nyx sadly replied, her ears and head drooping down sadly at the sudden rejection of her idea.

“Besides,” Twilight continued, now trying to cheer up her daughter, “I’m already related to my old foalsitter because of my brother. If I were to say, marry Big Mac, Applejack and Apple Bloom would suddenly become my sisters. Can you imagine how weird that would be?”

“Oh, yeah, I guess” Nyx’s head slowly started to lift up, coming kind of to an understanding.

“And, if you were to think about it,” Spike said with a sneer, “If that were to happen, Apple Bloom would become Nyx’s aunt!”

“Hmm, you’re right Spike, I didn’t even think of that, maybe I should go and see Big M…”

“You don’t have to see Big Mac! Forget what I said! You’re fine just as you are now!” Nyx quickly exclaimed, her face quickly twisting into one of outright panic.

There was a short moment of silence before all three of them began bursting into laughter. A laughter that only subsided at the sounding of an old grandfather clock.

“Oh no! I’ve gotta get my stuff ready for school!” Nyx exclaimed, gobbling down her eggs and slurping her soup to nothing and running quickly back upstairs to grab her saddlebag. After going through the contents of it, she ran down stairs to her own personal checklist, however instead of its usual content, it had a special list for Hearts and Hooves Day. Once she finished her check-off, she began to run out the door, to in a hurry to close the door.

“Be sure you write those cards for Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.” She yelled to her daughter from just inside the doorway.

“I’ll write them when I get to school, Mommy!” Nyx exclaimed slightly annoyed, her voice fading with distance.

Twilight gave a little sigh of relief to the possibility of finally removing those two from Nyx’s list of bullies, and went onto thinking about Nyx’s most recent response. If there was one thing that had changed about Nyx since she was Nightmare Moon, it was her development of an attitude.

“So,” Spike said, snapping Twilight back to reality once more, “Why does Nyx need to write a card for THOSE two prissy ponies?”

Twilight’s eyes suddenly widened with fear, pupils dilating to the smallest they could go. She got on the ground, a pleading look on her face, “Oh please, Spike, in the name of Celestia, don’t make me go through that again!”

Chapter 1: Worries and a New Friend

“Huh, so that’s what all that hub-bub was about. You guys were so loud I wasn’t able to get back to sleep. It was bad enough when Peewee woke me and Nyx up, but somehow you two were even worse.” Spike stated, helping Twilight to clean up the table from the little mess Nyx left behind after her little ‘Dine-n-Dash’. Somehow during the cleanup and putting away of dishes, Spike convinced her to tell him just what she and Nyx we’re talking about before Nyx’s surprised screams had woken Spike.

“Yeah, sorry about that Spike. I just don’t know what to do about this now.” Twilight said, levitating the pans and plates from the table into the kitchen sink to be washed. “Obviously she gets the concept that you give cards to somepony you care about on Hearts and Hooves Day, and she seriously expected me to have one. What do you think that means?” she asked, a worried look on her face.

“Well, maybe it was because you said everypony liked getting Hearts and Hooves Day cards. For some reason, she probably thought you knew what you were talking about.” Spike said with a smile, trying and failing to keep a snicker from escaping his lips. This was met naturally with a stern, slit eyed glare from Twilight, who quickly ended with a sigh. She and Spike, who was happily bounding over to the stairs, left the kitchen, Twilight’s head sadly to the ground all the way through, even when activating the cloaking spell. Soon, the kitchen appeared to be gone, and instead a wall with an uncanny resemblance to those not covered by bookshelves stood in its place.

“Just what am I gonna do, Spike? Is Nyx starting to expect some sort of father figure in her life?”

“Wait, what?” Spike replied, halfway up the stairwell. “Where in Equestria did you get that idea, Twilight?”

“It’s just what my parenting books say, ‘All colts and fillies will usually have a father in their life, and that will help them later on in adulthood’. Oh, no! What if I misread them! I’ve got to try to remember where I put them!” Twilight exclaimed, her face twisting into panic as she ran around magically pulling off random books from shelves, searching the spines of each ones for titles.

“Whoa, Twilight, you’ve got to calm down! We don’t need another fiasco like last time with you enchanting a doll to solve your problem!” Spike exclaimed. He had just returned from upstairs , and was holding a well-designed bouquet of flowers in his claw. “Look, maybe you should just take it easy right now and go decorate the library for Hearts and Hooves Day. That might help you calm down a little.”

Twilight was breathing very heavily, although she did begin to calm down upon Spike’s words. Breathing heavily, she responded, “I guess you’re right. I’m probably getting overworked over nothing, I… uh, Spike what’s with the flowers?” she asked, just now noticing the bouquet.

“THIS, Twilight, is going to be my Hearts and Hooves Day gift to Rarity.” He said, sighing after he spoke his true loves name.

“Oh, brother, Spike.” Twilight said rolling her eyes at this new situation, “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you, but Rarity just isn’t in love with you, she just thinks of you as a friend.”

To this, Spike gave an angry grunt and began to rush out the door, “You and everypony will see, Twilight! After this day, Rarity will be mine!” Naturally of course, Twilight simply rolled her eyes as Spike ran off, no doubt to Carousel Boutique, to see his true love. After he left Twilight decided to take on Spike’s advice and try to calm down. She started by levitating an string with a Purple-Pink paper heart pattern on it, and two pins up to the wall behind the checkout desk, pushing the pins into the wall and little notches in the string to hang the pattern. She then went to put up the ‘Hearts and Hooves Day Origins” book up on display on the window sill for everypony to see. She was very calm while she was putting up her decorations. At least for a little while…

Nyx is eagerly running to school, excited for the Hearts and Hooves Day party going on at school. She had already met up with Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Twist, who were also very eager for their first holiday party with Nyx.

“Oh, Nyx I can’t wait for you to see all the stuff they put up for today!” Apple Bloom squealed.

“Yeah, we get to play ‘Pin the Heart on the Pony’, Bobbing for apples, we swap cards,” Twist said in her nasally voice, letting out a little giggle before continuing, “Saying who our colt-crush is.”

“Bleh!” Nyx and Scootaloo exclaimed in unison, getting a laugh from the other three ponies.

“Man, if falling in love would be anything like what we put Ms. Cheerilee and Big Mac through last year, I hope I never do!” Scootaloo exclaimed, making a fake barf-face. This too got a round of laughs from everypony, Nyx joining in this time.

“Seriously, though Sweetie Belle, why didn’t you read the book a little bit further? I’ve never heard of anypony getting their sister’s boutique destroyed for not reading the next few sentences.” Nyx proclaimed after catching her breath from running and laughing at the same time. “Or being banned from giving their teacher a card because the last one was too big.”

“Ha-ha, yes we get it, Nyx. Sheesh, I hereby regret ever bringing up this story.” Sweetie Belle said slightly annoyed, rolling her eyes. Once again they all started laughing.

“Hey Sweetie Belle, by the way, what did you do with your saddlebag?” Scootaloo questioned. Everpony looked over and noticed she had unlatched one of the bags, carrying only one bag around her neck like a purse.

“Well, I figured I only needed this to carry my Hearts and Hooves Day cards, so I decided it would be too much effort to take both, and unlatched it before I left.” The four ponies began to laugh yet again, this time at Sweetie Belle’s lack of desire to put in effort, until Nyx noticed Spike skipping happily, holding a bouquet of flowers in his claw.

“Hey, Spike!” Nyx yelled in his direction, “Where are you going?” Spike, however, did not reply, most likely too far away to have heard her.

“He’s probably on his way to see my sister” Sweetie Belle giggled “He has a really big crush on her.”

“WAIT, WHAT, WHY? SINCE WHEN!?” Nyx screamed. The conversation she had with Twilight about relationships with friends’ siblings has pretty much left her traumatized.

“When would be ever since he first saw her. As to why, I have no clue.” She said, immediately picking up on her friend’s worries, however, she finished, “But don’t worry. Rarity is about as thick as a rock when it comes to stuff like this. Spike would have to wear a ‘Heart Rarity’ T-shirt for it to cross her mind.”

“But don’t sweat the small stuff now, Nyx. We’re here! It’s time for the Hearts and Hooves Day Party at school!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, pointing her hoof at the pink, heart decorated building that was their school house. Outside stood Ms. Cheerilee letting all the young colts and fillies into the school, into which the quintet ran to as well. Apple Bloom is right, Nyx thought, I’ve got nothing to worry about with Spike. My ‘brother’ couldn’t have any chance with her. I should focus on having the best day at school ever!

This is the worst day at school ever! Nyx thought. Even though she had already given out all her Hearts and Hooves day cards, she had yet to receive any from anypony other than the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Diamond Tiara had simply scoffed at Nyx when she tried to give her card, simply letting it drop from her mouth to the floor and then walking away. Silver Spoon had done the same, but at least had the decency to keep the card.

She had not been expecting a card from those two, nor did she want one, but almost none of her class had given her one either. Apparently, many of her classmates’ parents were very afraid of ‘Nightmare Moon’, and discouraged or downright ordered their children from writing a card for her. Due to this a large majority of the class had become afraid of her as well, refusing to play any of the games with her, fearing “she would blast off their heads if she lost”. Ignored and scorned, she simply went to sit down at one of the corners, reading. Despite attempts from the Crusaders to get her to play with them, she said she was fine, insisting they go and play without her. She was almost on the verge of crying, however, for almost nopony had given her a card.

Now there is a special emphasis on almost nopony, for there was one colt in particular who did. Pipsqueak was bounding around, handing out all his Hearts and Hooves cards practically leaving a trail of smiling fainting fillies in his wake, one of which being Sweetie Belle. Whenever he would look back, he put on a confused look, seeing and then assuming that somehow all the fillies were simply tired out from all the partying, and collapsed simultaneously. After looking around for a few seconds, the young brown and white pony spotted Nyx sitting down reading one of her books at the corner, and rushed over to her, holding out a small card for her with his hoof. Nyx had looked around for a moment, to see if there was somepony else around that she was unaware of. After confirming they were the only two over at this side of the room, Nyx pointed at herself with her hoof with a confused face, body language asking if it was for her.

“Well of course it’s for you!” Pipsqueak answered in his adorable accent, “You’re the only one I haven’t given a card to yet.”

Nyx took up the card in a barley even visible magical aura, and opened it to see that there was inside a poem:

Your beauty like the night on a full moon

A unique filly has entered our class

They say your eyes fill ponies with much gloom

But I say they are your kind soul’s eyeglass.

You are a good pony, all that I know.

A shield, your mark, no greater show of strength.

your wings majestic and your horn aglow.

And even now your knowledge shows great length

You always help us to learn new things.

Despite all those around you think your cruel

Just for having a horn, black coat, and wings

Your kindness, beauty, eyes are all a jewel.

So while always we cannot be at school

If we could be friends that would be just cool

Sincerely, Pipsqueak

Nyx suddenly blushed at the kind words said in the poem, and looked at Pipsqueak, obviously looking for an answer to the last line’s question. “Umm, yeah, sure Pipsqueak. We can definitely be friends.” Nyx blushed even more after a sudden hug from the young colt and his jumping up and down saying “Thank You, Thank you, thank you!”

“Ooh, hey, I know. Let’s go play bobbing for apples! Or, do you want to?” Pipsqueak asked his new friend. Nyx nodded in response, laughing with Pipsqueak as they went for the game. Nyx had a sudden light feeling in her chest, one that she could not explain, but she ignored it, because she was now having fun with her newest friend.

After the party at school ended, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were walking home together, only not at such a runny pace this time. Besides Scootaloo, each of them was looking through their Hearts and Hooves Day cards, Nyx however was simply rereading the card Pipsqueak had given her. Apparently, so was Sweetie Belle was at the time , who dashed over to see Nyx’s.

“You got a card from Pipsqueak, Nyx!” she exclaimed, “I thought you said you didn’t get a card from anypony other than us.”

“I didn’t,” Nyx responded, “at least not until a few minutes you guys came to talk to me. Who exactly is Pipsqueak anyway?”

“Oh, yeah, that’s right; you don’t really know everypony in our class yet do you?” Apple Bloom asked, to which Nyx shook her head no.

“Well,” Sweetie Belle began, “Pipsqueak is a super-sweet colt from Trottingham. He moved here just a few days before N…”

“NOVEMBER!” Scootaloo bursted out. She had arrived just in time to put her hoof over Sweetie Belle’s mouth to stop what she had thought would be a bad idea to say. After her quick action, however, she received a very confused look from Nyx.

“Yup,” Scootaloo said in order to break the awkward silence, “Just a few days before November two years ago.” After removing her hoof from Sweetie Belle’s mouth, she began to complain, only to be pulled over to the side right away by Scootaloo.

“OK, now Scootaloo, what’s the big idea?” Sweetie whispered demandingly, spitting out dirt that was on Scootaloo’s hoof.

“The idea is; that we can’t be telling Nyx about Nightmare Night!” Scootaloo whispered back.

“Why not?”

“Because, if you tell her that even exists, she’ll probably ask what it is. What are you gonna say to that” Scootaloo asked, then doing a bad mimic of Sweetie Belle’s voice, said, “ ‘oh, it’s only a holiday we do where we bribe and hide from the one you were reincarnated from so she doesn’t go cannibal on us’?”

“Oh, yeah, your right” Sweetie said, now coming to a realization of what almost happened.

“Look, just do something to change the subject and it’ll be fine.”

They then returned to the group, trying to pretend like nothing had happened. Taking Scootaloo’s advice, Sweetie Belle asked a new question to change the subject to something else that was nagging at her, “So, why is it that you care about it? You’ve been reading his card to you practically all day, could it be…” she asked, squealing in joy when she came to a realization, “Could it be, YOU’RE IN LOVE WITH HIM!!!??”

“What?” Nyx exclaimed when she heard this. She looked down at the ground slightly blushing before looking back up and saying “No, of course not. He is just a friend. Albeit he is very sweet. And a little bit cute.” She began to blush, “but I guess in the tiniest, quark –sized way I kinda-sorta, do a little bit like him.”

Sweetie Belle, as well as even Apple Bloom, began to squeal, “So in other words, you do…”

“WHOA, look at the time!” Nyx interrupted, looking at her wrist as if she had a watch on. “I promised Mom I’d be home sooner than normal, so I really gotta go now. Bye!” She rattled off blushing, then running away at a speed that would amaze Rainbow Dash.

Sweetie’s eyes suddenly began to light up, a warning sign for Scootaloo. “Oh, No,” she said, “we are not doing that again. Do you remember what happened last time? Every time I think about it my legs get sore remembering all that work we had to do.”

“Yes I remember what happened,” she answered annoyed, “But this will be different. This time we know that Nyx is in love. It’ll be just fine.”

“Ugh,” Scootaloo grunted, “fine, but no love potions. Deal?”

“Deal”

“OK then,” Apple Bloom interjected, “let’s get out there and make Nyx and Pip the best ever Special Someponies, ever!”

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS MATCHMAKERS II, YAY!” The friends screamed. And now they were off to the clubhouse, giggling, to plan their schemes.

Chapter 2: Unwanted Advice and The New Member

Nyx’s Hearts and Hooves Day

Chapter 2

“Oh, no! Where is it, Where is it?” Twilight exclaimed in a panic. Despite Spike’s recommendation to her to her try and calm down, Twilight was simply too worried about this morning’s conversation with Nyx. Even though she has gone through the books so many times, though, Twilight simply cannot find her parenting book.

Only the bizarre sight of Spike walking through the door in what could only be described as a daze, wobbling and sighing like a loon, would cause her to shortly pause. The bouquet he was carrying earlier was gone, replaced by a small box with a tag that simply said ‘To: Spike From: Rarity”. Also another bizarre finding was a kiss mark on his cheek! This further halted Twilight’s rampage for her to simply stare at him in confusion. However, after Spike somehow managed to keep upright long enough to get upstairs and into their room, Twilight soon snapped back into her groundless panic to continue her search.

Not long after Spike returned did Rarity and Applejack run in, Rarity appearing quite scared. Applejack, in addition to her giggling that sounded like she was trying to keep herself from bursting into an all-out laughing fit, was for some reason wearing a frilly white and brown outfit that looked nearly completely torn instead of her usual cowpony hat. When Twilight noticed her two friends, she gave a winded “Hello”, not even stopping her desperate hunt. Rarity was trying to get her attention, but Twilight was simply too engrossed to notice them any further. In the end, Applejack had to hold down Twilight by the tail with her hoof to get her to stop and calm down.

“Whoa-ho-ho, there, missy,” Applejack laughed, “What in haysake are you doin’; getting ready for a twister? Cuz, uh, you do realize doin’ it’s work for it won’t stop it from comin’, right?” she asked, using her free hoof to point at the large mess of books.

Only now that Twilight had stopped did she fully notice the large mess she made, books thrown around the floors in every way possible. Only after she was completely calm did Applejack release her tail.

Twilight gave a heavy sigh before saying, “I’m sorry, girls. This really does look bad doe… uh, AJ, what’s with the dress?” she asked, only now noticing the torn dress Applejack was wearing.

“Oh, this?” Applejack replied before giving an annoyed sigh and turning to the other unicorn in the room, “Rarity, why was it you needed me to do this, again?”

“Oh, come now, Applejack, you remember. I needed somepony to model my brand new winter-line outfits so I could see if I needed to change anything. Oh, and thank Celestia I found somepony. Just look at how much I had to take off!” It was true. The dress looked like it had been thrown into a thorn tree at the gorge.

“Ok, so, why me?”

“Well, you were the only one left who could, of course! Fluttershy is still traumatized by last time, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash simply can’t keep still, and Twilight was busy watching the library. Or at least, I thought she was watching the library.” Rarity sternly stated, moving her gaze all over the area.

Twilight gave a slight chuckle before responding, “Yeah, I’ll admit it’s pretty bad. But wait, if you don’t need me for your modeling, why are you here?”

“Ah, yes, you see, Spike came over to my boutique a little while ago,” Rarity said, putting on a smile, “and, well he being such a gentlecolt- or gentledragon, in his case- had brought me simply the most fabulous bouquet of flowers. They were so beautiful; I simply had to give him something in return. I had completely forgotten to finish his present, since I was so busy with my project, so I decided to give him some gems. They were going to be for my new dress, but I just knew Spike would love them. Anyway, I quickly got them into a box before Spike could notice, but when I walked over to get them to him…”

“Then,” Applejack interrupted, “she tripped over what looked like one of Sweetie Belle’s saddlebags and fell on Spike, face straight on the cheek. And then,” Applejack was beginning to look like she was having a hard time keeping a straight face, “when she got up off of him, he looked at his cheek in one of Rarity’s fancy mirrors before putting his claw up to it,” she was now unable to control her laughing, “He smiled the most bizarre face, and started to laugh and wobble around like some kinda drunk. I’m tellin’ ya Twi, I didn’t wanna do this for Rarity at first, but that made it so worth it!” By now, Applejack was on her back, hind legs kicking the air, and front hooves clutching her rib cage while she laughed uncontrollably. By now, even Twilight began to laugh relatively loudly.

Rarity, however, hadn’t nor has noticed her accidental peck to Spike or the kiss mark on his cheek, so she was not seeing just what her friends were laughing about. “I honestly don’t understand what you two find so amusing about this.” She growled, a great frown upon her face. “Spike could’ve been severely hurt. Why, if I had given the poor thing a concussion, I don’t know what I would do.” She became angry again, only now with a pony who wasn’t even there, “Oh, honestly Sweetie Belle, this is all your fault. Just because you didn’t need your bag today doesn’t mean you can leave it anywhere. I mean where do you think you live, Swee…”

“Before you finish that sentence,” Applejack interrupted, her face now void of all prior amusement and now holding an angry glare at Rarity, “Make sure you remember who’s gonna hear it.”

“Oh, very well. Anyways, Twilight,” Rarity redirected her attention, her face once again one of worry, “please, tell me, is Spikey-wikey ok? I don’t know if I’d be able to live with myself if I’d hurt him.”

“Relax Rarity,” Twilight assured, trying to keep her face straight, “Spike is fine. I’m sure he’s is just tired. Nyx and I had him up kinda early with our chatter.” She admitted

“Chatter? Whatever about?”

“Well, you know how today is Heart’s and Hooves Day? Or about the problems Nyx has been having with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon?”

“Why of course we do, sugarcube. But what in tarnation do those two have to do with today?” Applejack asked, one eyebrow raised.

“You see, I told Nyx that if she were to give them a card for today, they might stop bullying her.” Twilight drooped her head depressed. “So then, she asked me if I ever get a card for today. And well, I don’t. Just what does this mean? Is she expecting a father? I’ve almost destroyed the library looking for my parenting book, because I thought it would have some answers, but I can’t find it anywhere.”

“Oh, I think I know what’s going on.” Rarity said, wrapping her hoof around her friend.

“YOU DO?” exclaimed not only Twilight but Applejack in confusion.

“Yes, I do. Twilight Sparkle, you are lonely.”

“Huh?” Now Twilight was really confused. “What do you mean Rarity? I’m not lonely. I mean, I’ve got you guys, Spike, Nyx, my brother…”

“No, no, not that kind of lonely, Rarity said, chuckling the negatives. “I mean you feel alone, like you need a good stallion in your life. A coltfriend, if you would

“Ah, and now couldn’t be a better time! I mean really, with the tri-annual Hearts and Hooves Day fair coming up! Why, there couldn’t possibly be a more perfect place for him to ask you to be his marefriend!”

Twilight was now beginning to turn a bright red at what Rarity was saying. “Oh, no, really Rarity. I’m very certain it’s nothing it’s nothing like that. I just nee…”

“A-pup-pup, not another word, dearie. I have decided I will help you. After all, nopony can tell the perfect stallion quite like I,” Rarity lightly gloated, bumping her mane elegantly with her hoof.

“This comin’ from the pony who tried to get hitched to prince “snobby-blood” back at the gala?” Applejack laughed, if only to deflate Rarity’s ego, “Boy, if that’s your idea of the perfect stallion, I can’t wait to see who ya get Twilight with!”

“Oh, honestly Applejack, what was I supposed to expect? He was royalty, and they are supposed to be gentlecolts. However, the only thing royal thing about Blueblood was that he was a royal pain!”

“So, in other words, the only reason ya liked him was because he’s royal? Geez, Rarity. I knew you were a diamond hunter, but I didn’t know you was also a gold digger.” In response to this insult, Rarity merely grunted angrily.

“Anyways, Twilight, I will help you find just the stallion you need. However, please come over tomorrow. I have a lot of work to do on this new dress,” she paused shooting a subtle yet evil smile at Applejack, “and as it is, it will take me all… day… long.” Upon this, Applejack scowled and unwillingly went along, out the door.

However, before leaving, Applejack quickly popped her head into the doorway and told Twilight, “By the way, didn’t you tell us that you kept yer parenting book upstairs on your bookshelf?” Twilight thought for a second, and then slapped her face with her hoof, remembering it was upstairs. However, once she and Rarity left, she instead decided to clean up the gigantic mess of books on the main floor, giggling about Rarity’s ‘absurd’ plan.

That’s just silly Twilight thought. I’m not lonely. I don’t need a special somepony. Besides, it’s not like I need to know about relationships now.

Suddenly, Nyx burst through the library door, breathing heavily and sweating like she had just finished a marathon. “Oh, hello Nyx. How was your day?” she greeted her daughter. Fortunately, she was able to get quick work on the mess, and had just finished putting up all the books using her magic. It was bad enough to Twilight that her friends had to see her in panic, but she didn’t need her own daughter to see it as well. Trying to keep a face on that showed nothing was out of the ordinary, she listened to Nyx’s story of the party.

Nyx wasn’t all that happy about telling it, though. Sadly, she described the day. She had made her cards for Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, yet neither showed the slightest bit of gratitude or even caring. She then told her mother of how almost everypony didn’t give her a card and were afraid to play with her. She said she spent most of the party in the corner reading, constantly on the verge of crying about her being shunned.

“Wait a minute,” Twilight stopped her, catching on to a few certain words, “What do you mean most of the day? Did they finally choose to play with you?”

“No. But,” Nyx said, perking up, “But I did make a new friend! His name is Pipsqueak! He was the only one to play with me or give me a card other than my friends. And he is just super sweet!”

“Really? Well, it sounds like you really like Pipsqueak.”

“Umm, yeah, I guess.” Nyx began to blush.

“HEY NYX!” yelled a new voice from the doorway. It was Scootaloo, and her surprise shout frightened Nyx quite. Instinctively, she ran over to behind the checkout corner. Once she got over her fright, she began to half-yell, half-complain at her friend, forgetting her mother was still standing there in the room.

“I already told you guys, I am not in love with Pipsqueak! He is just nice and kinda cute!”

Wait, Nyx thinks a colt is cute? Twilight thought, staring at her daughter in amazement. Nyx, however, didn’t notice, waiting for Scootaloo to say something.

“Ugh, no not that.” Scootaloo replied, “Come on, we need to get over to the tree house. We have a new member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders!”

“Wait, we do? Yay! Let me go get my cape!” Nyx squealed, running upstairs to get the ‘trademark’ cape, ran back down the stairs, and off through the door before Twilight even had time to get a word in. She was now very troubled.

She likes a colt now?! Oh, no. What do I do? I know for a fact my book doesn’t say anything about when your elementary school daughter falls in love! Now Twilight, instead of going to her shelves upstairs, was simply running around in a bug-eyed panic. After some time, though, an idea popped into her head. “Maybe I should go to see Rarity for advice. If I can understand relationships, I’ll be able to help Nyx. But wait,” Twilight said, coming to a realization, “In order for me to understand relationships, I’ll need to be in a relationship, which means I’ll need, a coltfriend!”

“So, who is the new Crusader, Scootaloo?”

“You’ll find out soon.” Scootaloo giggled. She and Nyx had quickly made their way from Twilight’s house down to Sweet Apple Acres to their clubhouse, Nyx very eager to meet their partner. However, when they were almost there, Nyx began to slow down and stop when she had thought of something. “Hey, Nyx. What’s wrong?” Scootaloo asked, slowing her running to a halt as well.

“Well, is it really ok for the new member to see me?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You remember the party at school today. Nopony wanted to be near me! Maybe I shouldn’t go. I don’t want to be the reason we lose a member.” Nyx sighed, drooping her head sadly.

“Ah, don’t worry about that,” Scootaloo laughed, putting her hoof around her friend, “Our new member already knows your with us, and he still says he wants to join us!”

“Really? Well, then let’s go!” With new energy, Nyx and Scootaloo ran excitedly to the clubhouse. When they finally arrived, Nyx wasted no time to get up the ladder and inside to greet their new crusader, to find Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Twist standing in a line, smiling.

"Introducing, our newest member," Sweetie Belle announced before they stepped back dramatically and exclaimed in unison, "Pipsqueak!"

Nyx simply was standing there, mouth agape, at her crush's unexpected joining. Pipsqueak, however, didn't seem all that surprised, and was leaping with joy. "Oh, wow, isn't this awesome, Nyx?" he squealed joyfully "Now we can have even more fun. And just look at my cape, isn't it the coolest?" He referred to the cloth on his back. It wasn't at all different from any of the other crusader's, but to Pip it was still unbelievable.

"Anyways," Apple Bloom said, "We've already gotten him through the initiation, so now we need you to give him the rundown of our clubhouse, and our mission."

"Wait, what?" but it was too late. By the time Apple Bloom's words had hit her, the other four had run out of the tree house, leaving Nyx and Pip alone for the tour. Trying to keep calm, Nyx simply decided to try and get the 'tour' over with. "So umm, this is where we do roll call." Nyx stuttered, pointing toward a point on the wall that had two pieces of paper on it. One had a picture of Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo's heads next to a check-box. The other had a picture of Nyx, Twist, and now Pip with the same features.

"Ooh," Pipsqueak said in wonder, a little too much fascination, Nyx thought.

"This is where we eat, and over there is the 'thinking spot'" she referred to a small table left to the door, then a target on the floor under a lamp and near a window respectively.

"Cool!" Pip gazed all around the tree house as if it was Canterlot Castle.

"And, uh, o-our mission is..." Nyx stammered, simply amazed at Pip's childish fascination, before he excitedly finished.

"To help our members earn our cutie marks! Oh, this is going to be so much fun! We're supposed to do fun stuff like comedy, hang-gliding, or slaying hydras, right?

"Umm, yeah, I guess so."

"Oh, and Twist said we're going to the Hearts and Hooves Day fair that's coming to Ponyville soon. I just can't wait!"

"You really like Hearts and Hooves Day?" Nyx asked, her face turning a bright red that was slightly hidden by her dark coat.

"Uh-huh. It's my second favorite holiday."

"Second? What's your first favorite, then?"

"Oh, that's easy. It's N..."

"NOVEMBER!" Scootaloo screamed putting her hoof over Pipsqueaks mouth. The other crusaders had left her outside the window to watch and make sure that nothing went wrong, and she was just in time now to stop Pip from revealing the one holiday Nyx should never know about, or at least in her mind. However, now Nyx and Pip were staring at her like she was some kind of crazy pony, wondering both where she came from, and why she yelled what she did.

Scootaloo needed to figure out an excuse, and fast.

Chapter 3: The Invitation and the Lunch

"Uh, yeah, November." Scootaloo chuckled nervously as she lowered her hoof from Pipsqueak's mouth. "It was the first full month he was here in Ponyville, so for some reason the squirt treats it like a holiday," She explained ruffling his mane.

"That isn't what I was going to-"

"Could you please excuse us for a moment." Scootaloo interrupted, grabbing Pipsqueak and running out the door, leaving a completely confused Nyx in her wake.

"What is it, Scootaloo?" Pipsqueak asked, still getting over the small rush that had just occured.

"Listen to me Pip. You must not ever, under any circumstances, tell Nyx about Nightmare Night!"

"Why not?"

"OK, you know Nyx is technically Nightmare Moon, right?"

"Yes, so?" Pip motioned for her to continue.

"Nightmare Night, is to keep Nightmare Moon from eating us." she explained.

"Um, yes. Yes it is." He said, obviously still not understanding the whole deal.

She could clearly see this fact, and sighed annoyed, placing her hoos over her eyes. "Look, just don't tell her about it. If a subject relating to Nightmare Night comes about, find something to change it to."

"But Nyx is gonna learn about Nightmare Night when it comes. How will you keep it a secret then?"

"That bridge will be crossed when we get there. Anyways, she already finished the tour?"

"Uh-huh. She made everything sound so exciting!" Pipsqueak said happily, although Scootaloo thought he was exaggerating or too excited.

"OK then. Do you want to thank her?"

"Of course I do!"

Scootaloo tried to look for a moment like she was pondering before suggesting, "How about this? Invite her to join the other Crusaders at Sugar Cube Corner tommorow after school."

"But how will that be thanking her?" he asked.

"Well, how about you make it your treat? That way, you can thank the rest of us for initiating you at the same time," she suggested. Unlike the others, Scootaloo wanted to be able to get something out of their little scheme of matchmaking, and this seemed to her a good way as any. Pipsqueak eagerly agreed to this, thinking it was absolutely brilliant. After walking over to the ladder down, she gave one last suggestion before leaving, "Oh, and when you invite her, do it like a gentlecolt would, got it?"

"Yes ma'am!" He responded with a salute. Convinced she had set the stage, Scootaloo slid down the ladder to the ground and trotted off, a slight sneer not visible to Pipsqueak appeared, imagining what would happen. Soon after the orange pegasus was gone, Pipsqueak began to head back to the tree house door. Only now, instead of in his usual energetic dash, he began to march over, holding his head quite high, showing no sign of a rush. Back in Trottingham, Pipsqueak had practically been drilled in acting like a gentlecolt by his father. By now, it came so natural, it was like somepony flipped a switch.

Nyx was sitting down at the eating table, waiting for Scootaloo to be done talking to Pipsqueak. She was still confused as to why Scootaloo said he treated November like a holiday., but was more concerned as to why she was even giving him a tour of a tree house. At first, she thought her friends were trying to get her in an awkward situation with him, but quickly banished the thought, believing her friends wouldn't be that extreme. Before she could make another theory, the door opened, allowing in a very calm and controlled manner. "Oh, hey, Pip. What was it Scootaloo had to talk to you about?"

"My dear lady Nyx," he answered in a tone and with a posture that would put a Royal Guard to shame, "I would wish to inquire if you would accompany I and our companions to an outing at Sugar Cube Corner on the morrow. It shall be my treat."

Nyx was simply siting there, amazed at what she was hearing and seeing right then. Not knowing what exactly to say , she just stammered out, "Um, y-yeah, sure. That sounds l-like fun."

"I thank you quite for accepting," he said. Then he did something that Nyx, or Scootaloo, if she were the, would never have expected; he took her hoof in his, and kissed it! It wasn't a long kiss, just a very quick, gentlecoltly peck. However, it was still enough to cause Nyx's face to become so red it was visible through her black coat. Pipsqueak soon then gracefully spun around, and he sauntered out the club house door. Almost immediately after leaving, though, his 'gentlecolt switch' turned off, reverting him to his normal self as he slid down the ladder and bounced back home.

Nyx, on the other still stretched out hoof, was still sitting there, confused and embarrassed by these sudden events.What j-just happened? she thought. Why did he just k-kiss me? And why was he talking so different? Did he just ask me out on a d-date? She quickly slapped herself with her hoof to knock some sense in. "Don't be ridiculous, Nyx," she told herself aloud."There is no way he'd ask you out so soon. I'm sure he was just being nice. Besides, he said our friends would be there. It couldn't be a date if there were other ponies with us, right?" She sighed in relief, satisfied with her reasoning. "Not to mention, we only really met just today. There's no way he could already know I like him." Suddenly, Nyx's eyes went wide in fear, a theory entering her head. Did Scootaloo take him outsise to tell him that?

"No, no. That's even more ridiculous. There's no way my friend would do that to me. I'll just ask her tomorrow what she told him. It was probably something about the Crusaders that she forgot to say." Confident in her plan and her friend, she left tree house, and went on home.

After Scootaloo had set up the plan, she went over to the barn, meeting up with Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Twist inside. They were there in order to discuss their little date plot for tommorow, but they waited to discuss it until after Pipsqueak and Nyx had left and went home. When their two friends were seen leaving, and they were convinced they weren't returning anytime soon, Scootaloo told the others of their plan. They all agreed to it, however they added a small detail that didn't really go over well with her.

"Awww, come on! Do we have to leave before we get to eat the free food?" she complained.

"Well, of coure we do, Scootaloo. Come on, think!" Apple Bloom replied annoyed, knocking on Scootaloo's head.

"We need to give those two as much alone time as possible." Sweetie Belle explained. "If we left after we ate, then they would just leave with us. We need to leave before the food arrives so they'll have no choice but to stay."

Upon, hearing this, Scootaloo, simply sighed, hanging her head in defeat. "Don't worry, Scoots" Twist said sympathetically, "we can go to my house and have treats."

Scootaloo brought up her head, with a new look of determination. "OK, everypony, let's get them that date!" she declared.

"YEAH!"

Twilight and Spike were setting the table for a small dinner when Nyx got home. By that time of the day, Twilight had already officially decided she would go to Rarity's tommorow, in hopes she could teach her about relationship's. She also, however, planned to keep this a secret from Spike an Nyx. If Rarity was right, and Nyx wasn't really expecting anything, Twilight was afraid her plan might scare the filly.

Spike sometime after Nyx scrambled out the door with Scootaloo had woken out of his 'coma'. Learning from what had happened at his birthday party last year, Twilight got rid of the kiss mark before he woke up. When he saw what she had done, she gave her an angry glare, only to be met with a chuckle. It didn't take Spike long to get over this, and he soon decided to help Twilight prepare the dinner.

The dinner itself was very short, no words spoken other than a thank you from Nyx to Twilight after she finished eating. She went over to put up her dishes in the sink, and went up to bed. It wasn't all that late, the sun was just half set. However, her getting up early and the overall excitement of the day had left her completely exhausted, so she wasted no time in falling asleep. Soon following were Twilight and Spike, they both tired as well. As they fell asleep, both ponies were in anticipation of the day following.

The next day at school, Nyx was very spaced out. During that day's lecture, Ms. Cheerilee had to stop the lesson at least twice to go and see if Nyx was alright. She wanted to be paying attention, she wanted to keep focus, but yesterday just wouldn't stop nagging at her brain. Despite her trust in Scootaloo, she was still very scared about what it was that she had talked to Pipsqueak about.

It was a rare time that she ever wanted school to be over with, and the first time it's felt like it stretched on forever. When school finally did end, all the colts and fillies had begun to whoop an cheer, for then it was a special weekend. Since the Hearts and Hooves day fair would be held on Tuesday, the school gave them then and Monday off in addition to their normal weekend. All the children rushed out the door cheering, Cheerilee's wishes for safety and fun all but muted out from the noise. Nyx, though, walked out carefully, as if trying to keep attention away from her self. She was unable to find her friends when she finally got outside, so decided to go to Sugar Cube Corner on her own. She to walked slowly, as to not get anypony to not notice her.

This plan, though, didn't get her very far. When she had gotten but a few yards away from the school when, a well known and disliked, earth pony filly went in front of her, an angry glare worn on her face. "What do yo want, Diamond Tiara?" Nyx asked, trying but failing to keep her voice strong and not wobbly, like she was afraid. Right then, she was more concerned with getting to the sweets shop and finding the antidote to her worries.

Diamond Tiara, however, had an agenda of her own. "Oh, nothing much," she responded, "Just an apology for what you did yesterday."

"What do you mean? What did I do?" Nyx asked scared.

"I think you know quite well what I mean. I want an apology for getting me scolded by Ms. Cheerilee, just because I threw away that stupid card you gave me."

"Uum, look, I really don't have for this. So, later!" Nyx quickly ran around the pink filly, dashing away to fast for Diamond Tiara to stop her, instead trying to yell at her to get her to stop. This didn't work, and she eventually gave up, turning around and angrily muttering.

"That annoying, no-good blob of..." was all Nyx could make out due to distance. However, she quickly let the recent event slip to the back of her mind, thinking now about the tasks at hand; getting to Sugar Cube Corner and asking Scootaloo for the truth. Fortunately, the walk from school there wasn't that long. On large parts of the day, Nyx couldn't go to the shop because the owners babies, Pumpkin and Pound Cake, were terrified of her eyes, and it would always cause a commotion. Thankfully, Pinkie Pie had been able to convince the Cakes to make a nap-time be sometime around when school had ended. That way, Nyx could go if she wished.

When Nyx entered the store, she saw her friends immediately, sitting over at a table of 6 chairs. Pipsqueak was the first to notice her, and motioned her to come over with his hoof. Nyx took the only free seat there; one that was standing in between Twist and Scootaloo, and just so happened to be parallel to Pipsqueak's. When she seated she was met with a friendly slap on the back from Scootaloo, "Hey, Nyx, where've ya been? It's not like we left from somewhere different."

"Uum, yeah, I got a little sidetracked." She said nervously. She had not wanted to worry her friends about her little dilemma, so instead she decided to change the subject, quietly asking something to Scootaloo, "Anyways, about yesterday. Why did you take Pip outside during the middle of the tour?"

"Oh, uh," she began to chuckle nervously, wracking her brain for an excuse. She decided to tell the truth, or at least a convenient part of it, for her answer. "I took him outside to tell him to invite you to come here today."

"Really?" Nyx asked, cocking her eyebrow in suspicion. "Why did it take so long? Why couldn't you have just told me? Why..."

"Oh, my gosh!" came a sudden and somewhat spurious-sounding gasp of surprise from Twist, saving Scootaloo from the question barrage she had been receiving. "I forgot, my dad asked me to go straight home to check on the goods in the oven while he's out! They might burn if I don't get there!" With that Twist ran straight out the door for the 'emergency'. Almost immediately after, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo rattled their excuses out before rushing out the door as well.

"Oh, landsakes! Applejack said she needed me to help with re-painting the barn!"

"Uh-oh! I have to go and help my sister out with her new Winter Dress thingy!"

"Ah, man, I almost forgot! Rainbow Dash said she had time to check out and help me with my new scooter moves!"

Before Nyx or even Pipsqueak could speak or realize what was happening, all of their four friends had bolted, leaving them alone at the table. Pipsqueak was the first to speak, "Wow, I can't believe they all forgot stuff they needed to do. Do they always do that, Nyx?" Nyx shook her head no, although she did think she had an idea as to why they did that. Right then though, Mr. Cake had come over to the table to ask what they wanted. Remembering that Pipsqueak was paying she asked for a simple Snapdragon Sandwich and slice of Clover Cake, the cheapest things she could find on the menu. Pipsqueak asked for an Aster Salad and slice of Golden Daisy Pie. Mr. Cake finished writing their orders and went to the kitchen to prepare them.

There was an akward moment of silence. Nyx, desperate for it to cease, said the first thing that popped into her head, "So, what did Scootaloo have to talk to you about yesterday?"

"Oh, uh," Pipsqueak began, before he remembered the orders he had received from the orange filly, "Actually, first I wanted to ask you how it is like living in Ponyville." Nyx was quite suprised by this sudden and deep question, but felt as if she had nothing to hide, so she decided to tell him.

"Well, I live in the library with Twilight, and she and her friends are all really nice. You and the others are really nice as well, and Ms. Cheerilee is too, but..." she paused, sighing and drooping your head. "to be honest, you guys are pretty much all there is for me. Many of the ponies here don't even like me, or want me to be in their line of sight."

"But why? What did you do? I know that some ponies are kind of scared of you, but my daddy told me for some reason it was because your an alicorn and your eyes are a 'weird color'," he said with air quotes.

"No, it was because I was Nightmare Moon."

"But why are they afraid of you now? You're not Nightmare Moon anymore, you're just Nyx. The princesses said so."

"It's because I was Nightmare Moon that they hate me.They think I'm still her, just waiting to turn evil again when they least expect it. They think I've done something to the princesses that made them think that. Almost everywhere I go, ponies are staring at me with rage, fear, or suspicion. Mares on the street will turn their foals away from me like them seeing me would turn them to stone. One time Apple Bloom's own Granny Smith tried to take me to the police once." Nyx had began to feel herself tearing up, "And that's with strangers. Even some ponies I know are afraid of me. At the school party yesterday, a bunch of our classmates were to afraid to play with me because they thought I'd hurt them if I lost." By now, she had begun to start lightly crying.

"But that's just ridiculous! You wouldn't hurt anypony!" Pipsqueak exclaimed, now regretting asking her any questions about this. He was starting to feel very desperate, wanting to comfort his new friend, but not knowing how. "Well, did they at least give you cards or something?"

"No, they didn't. I had given everypony in our class a card, and other than you and our friends nopony gave me one." Nyx said in between sniffles.

Pipsqueak was now beginning to hate himself what he had done, but right now he wanted to make Nyx feel better. Deciding that asking more questions wasn't going to be a good idea, he got up and went to sit down next to Nyx, wrapping his hooves around her for one quick hug. Nyx stopped crying when she felt the sudden warmth around her, jumping in surprise when she saw it was Pipsqueak. "Wh-what're you doing?" she asked.

"Ms. Pinkie says that hugs are always funnerific, and can always make a friend feel better." Pipsqueak explained smiling. "I'm sorry I brought up all that stuff, Nyx." He apologized with a soft voice. "But don't worry, with our friend's help, I'm sure we can keep away the mean ponies away. We'll be able to show them that you are a nice pony, and anypony that tries to hurt you will answer to me first!"

Nyx blushed at Pipsqueak's kind words, thanking him and returning the hug that he had given her. She dried her tears as Mr. Cake came back with the food that they had ordered, setting it down for them while Pipsqueak got out his bit pouch to pay. She smiled, thinking how happy she was that she had such a sweet and nice friend as Pipsqueak. She was simply so thankful for him, that by now she had lost all prior caring of what Scootaloo had told him. So what if Scootaloo told him I like him? she thought while eating her sandwich, he is still trying to be such a nice pony, more than anypony new has since I came back. He wants to be my friend even though I am so hated.

I will try and tell him I do like him, someday. But for now, I am just very happy that I have such a wonderful friend.

Chapter 4: Blind Date and The Ticket

"Aaah, but Twilight. Why can't I go with you to Rarity's?" Spike complained. The day had just recently begun; Twilight had seen Nyx off to her last day of school before her four-day weekend, and finished up any loose assignments she had to do for the princess. It was now around ten o' clock, and Twilight decided she needed to get going. However, when she had decided yesterday she would take some advice, she hadn't counted on needing to keep away her lovesick assistant.

"I'm really sorry, Spike, but I'd like to have this visit alone. Besides, I need somepony to watch the library while I'm out."

"Since when? There have been plenty of times that we've left the library unsupervised," he stated annoyed.

"Well yeah, but, uh that was before you got Peewee! Yeah, the poor things just a baby, so you need to watch over him as well." Spike wanted to protest, but Twilight had bolted out the door to quickly after finishing her sentence, leaving him inside the main room grumbling. Twilight hated to do that, but she felt that she needed to go to Rarity's. She felt that all she was doing now was for her daughter's sake.

When she was sure there was no purple dragon trying to catch up with her, Twilight began to slow her pace and think. She thought about all she knew about Nyx's 'situation'. OK, I do know that she likes, or at least thinks is cute, Pipsqueak. He was the only one other than her old friends to give her something on Hearts and Hooves Day. This morning she said she was going to be at a lunch after school with him and her other friends, and...

"Heya, Twilight!" yelled a familiar voice, dragging her out of her deep pit of thought. She looked to see a smiling, bouncing Pinkie Pie standing right in front of her, her saddlebag slung across her back.

"Oh, hey Pinkie Pie. You scared me there for a second ," Twilight chuckled when she got over her fright, "So how are you doing today? Do you need something from me?"

"Actually," Pinkie said as she used her fore hoof to search her saddlebag, until pulling out a stub of paper that looked like a ticket, "I wanted to know if you wanted to have the extra ticket for the baseball game tommorow. See, last week was Pipsqueak's birthday, and he really likes baseball, so I told him I would take him and a friend of his to tommorow's game of the Baltimare Orioles vs. the Ponyville Packers. It's weird, though, why are they called 'packers' when they don't pack stuff? One time I asked them to pack a Astronomical Astronomer's Almanac to All Things Astronomy book so I could send it to a friend of mine in Canterlot, and they looked at me like I was crazy! Some of them even..."

"Uhhh, Pinkie," Twilight said, interrupting Pinkie Pie's rant, "Can you get back to the extra ticket?"

"Oh, yeah. Anyways, Pip said he couldn't think of anypony he knew who'd want to go, so he said I could give the ticket to somepony. But everypony else didn't want it. Rainbow Dash already bought hers, Fluttershy just made a squeaky noise and said no, and Rarity and Applejack just told me that she was too busy with Rarity's new dress. So, whaddya say? You want the ticket?"

Well, going to the baseball game *would** give me an opportunity to actually meet Pip, but how would Nyx feel about me hanging out with the colt she likes, even if I was invited?* Twilight wondered. Not to mention, Rarity was talking about helping me find the *perfect** stallion. Even I can geuss that would take longer than one day.* "I'm really sorry, Pinkie. I'm going to be very busy tomorrow. Maybe you can ask one of the Crusaders if they wanted to go."

"Hey, that's a great idea, Twilight! But what are you going to be doing tomorrow?"

"Oh, uuh..." Twilight began to stutter, thinking up her second excuse of the day, "I'm going to be helping Rarity with her dress!"

"Huh, that's weird, I thought Applejack was helping Rarity."

"Well s-she is, but Rarity asked me to help her out as well. She said she'd need help if she lost anything. In fact, I have to help her out today as well, so I need to get going soon," she lied, trying to keep a straight face. She was beginning to think she failed when Pinkie Pie cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Are you OK Twilight? You sound scared of something."

"I'm fine Pinkie. I just really feel like I should go now." Pinkie Pie stared at her suspiciously, before giving a gasp of realization and giggling, an action that Twilight didn't exactly understand.

"Okey dokey lokie! Bye, Twilight," she said as she began to hop her way down to Sugar Cube Corner. Twilight gave a sigh of relief, still confused as what Pinkie Pie was laughing about but pushing that into a later time of worry, and continued on to Rarity's shop.

When Twilight finally reached the shop and entered, Rarity had wasted no time to go to the door and greet who she at first thought to be a customer, "Welcome to Cara... Twilight, darling! I am so glad you could make it! I was getting worried you wouldn't really be coming."

"Well, I gave it a little thought after a nudge I got, and I decided I should."

"Yes, very good, but come along deary. We need to get you into a dress."

"Dress?" Twilight asked. "What dress? I thought you were going to give me advice on how to find the 'perfect stallion'," she explained using air-quotes on the last two words.

"Oh, no, my dear, I have already found you the perfect stallion. He is an acquaintance of Fancy Pants I met when I was in Canterlot, and he is such a gentlecolt! Yesterday I lettered him after Applejack and I returned, and he said he'd be more than happy to come here today and meet you." she explained as she pulled over a row of dresses with her magic.

"Oh, that was very sweet of you, Rarity. But I don't need that much assistance. I just need your..."

"A-pup-pup, not another word, sweetheart," Rarity interrupted. She picked up Twilight in her aura and had her brought over to the dresses to be tried on, shooting down a majority of them before trying the next, "Too casual... not casual enough... too athletic... too sedentary... too antisocial... oh my word, why did I even make this one... Ah-ha! Here we are!"

Twilight was now standing in a seemingly downgraded version of her Gala dress. The skirt was shortened, but not to the point it didn't hide her cutie mark, and it was made completely not poofy. Her star earrings were reduced in size, now looking more like a twinkle. The extension on the neck was completely removed, and the bodice received sleeves that went down tho her forehoove's knees. The only things that were truly kept the same was the color and the star pattern at the end of the skirt. Despite all these changes, the dress was still a ways away from being casual. And Twilight didn't take long to begin to feel embarrassed about it. "Uh, Rarity? Are you sure about this? It doesn't seem like something you'd wear on a first date."

"Oh, it is completely necessary dear. Now, then you two will be going to the Jade Vine Garden. I had reservations booked for you already, under 'Twilight' for two. Don't worry about cost, he said he'd be more than happy to cover it. He should be here soon..." The door once again opened, letting in a tall dark blue unicorn stallion with a light blue mane. He was wearing a tuxedo coat with a tie and dress shirt, but that was all. His cutie mark was a single, finely-detailed diamond. "Ah, Clear," Rarity exclaimed in joy, "Your timing couldn't have been more perfect!

"Twilight Sparkle, I would like for you to meet Clear Crystal. Clear Crystal, Twilight Sparkle." Rarity said for the introductions.

"Charmed," the stallion said with a polite yet light nod of his head, a gesture Twilight quickly returned. "Well, shall we get going," Clear asked, holding open the door once again. Twilight nervously walked over to join him, and they began their walk over to the restaurant Rarity had chosen. The first few moments of the trip were dull, so Twilight tried to strike up a conversation.

"So, um, are you a jeweler?" she nervously asked Clear.

"Hmm? Oh, no," he chuckled, "I am in the mining business. My business owns a large chain of rock farms and mines that look for rare gems such as fire rubies and sell them to jewelry stores all across Equestria. Perhaps you've heard of us, 'Crystal Clear Inc.'?"

Twilight thought for a moment, then her eyes lit up when she remembered where she heard that name, "I have heard of you! Your company is famous for being able to distribute high quality gems, and are also for being so good to employees." Clear began to blush just slightly at the praise. "Oh, wow, we're already here. That was a short walk," she said as they looked up to the restaurant. It was a rocky building, seemingly random in pattern, with the name in large green cursive above the entrance.

As they entered, Clear magically opening the door for Twilight, they saw the interior was also quite impressive. There were relaxing scented candles at each table, the air filled with light chatter and the sound of silverware lightly tapping plates and bowls. There were plants hanging from the ceilings, and the mare in charge of reservations was standing a few feet from the doorway. "Hello. Twilight, party of two. We have a reservation." after the mare confirmed her reservation, she led the two to a table sitting next to a window, and left them to choose their foods. This didn't take very long to do, so Clear Crystal decided to restart the conversation, "So now that we know about me, what about you? What do you do for a living?"

""Me? Well, I am the head librarian of the Golden Oaks Library, but I don't exactly get paid for it..." Twilight paused as their unicorn waiter walked over to their table, a notepad and pen in his dark green aura.

"Sir, Ma'am. My name is Olive Branch and I will be your waiter. Can I ask what you would like to drink and if your ready to order?"

Twilight was the first to order, "I would love an iced tea and a daffodil sandwich, please."

"A water and orchid salad would be nice, thank you."

Olive finished jotting down the requests before speaking again, "Very good. I'll be out with your drinks in a moment and I'll get your orders to the kitchen." With that he left. Twilight wasn't able to finish her sentence again before Olive returned with the drinks amazingly quick, so decided to try again, sure he wouldn't be back soon.

"Anyways, I don't get paid for working at the library because my teacher, Princess Celestia, sends me money every month to cover living costs. I always tell her it's unnecessary, but..."

"Please excuse me, but," Clear Crystal interrupted, "Teacher? The Princess?"

"Oh, yes, I'm sorry. I am Princess Celestia's personal student of magic," she explained. Clear simply sat there staring at her, completely dumbfounded, before beginning to chuckle lightly.

"Well, isn't that interesting. You truly do learn a knew thing everyday."

"Yes, I suppose you do," Twilight agreed.

"I must say, though, when Rarity lettered me the other day, I was honestly afraid to come here."

"Why? Don't tell me your one of those super rich ponies that simply can't stand being near such an uncouth town." She said jokingly, mimicking a noble ponies way of talking for effect, and even causing Clear Crystal to laugh, before magically lifting her iced tea.

"Oh, no nothing like that. I was afraid because I heard that," he paused, as if saying something would make it appear, then bringing his voice to an almost inaudible whisper, "Nightmare Moon was in this town." Twilight suddenly began to cough a little, having forgotten to swallow her sip after hearing the end of the sentence. "What, what do you mean?"

"I mean what I say! I heard that Nightmare Moon was in this very town. Now granted, I don't really read the news, but I heard that Princess Celestia had turned the thing into a young filly, around the same age as a grade-schooler, and is allowing it to roam this area free." Twilight was not believing what bad things she was hearing, but gritted her teeth, waiting for the 'but' that would change his story. It never came.

"Now Twilight, please understand, I mean no disrespect to the Princess, but that was simply foalish! Fancy Pants and Stardust say that it is harmless, but I know better. That thing can't be trusted with this big of a lack of security. What's worse, I've heard she's put it with some poor citizen here."

"She has," Twilight said sternly, "I'm the one who is watching her."

"What?" Clear Crystal said in shock, but the thought for a moment, "I suppose that makes sense. You being her student and all, she would put that thing in your capable hooves. But that still doesn't explain why she didn't send it to the moon when she had the chance. What would happen if it were to get it's powers back up, or is just hiding them? It could seriously hurt you, or even kill you. It needs to be rid of. Aren't even you the slightest bit scared of what might happen?"

"I don't think I would ever have to worry about my own daughter doing that to me," Twilight growled angrily.

"What?!" he exclaimed. Clear couldn't think of any reasons for this sentence, so he simply stared at Twilight shocked, "Did you call that thing your daughter? How could it be your daughter? That thing is just pure evil! It put us into a Night Eternal. It nearly got my business bankrupt, since we couldn't find gems without any light. Besides, how could it possibly be anypony's daughter? It's just a mass of magic, not even a living thing! It probably doesn't even need to go to the moon, just zap it and..."

"You stop right there," Twilight snarled, pounding her hoof on the table. It made a noise loud enough to scare him, yet other ponies in the restaurant didn't seem to notice it. Clear Crystal could've sworn he saw Twilight's mane light for a moment before she continued, "Yes, it is true she did some bad things, but she was just a scared filly, barely a year old! As to why I call her my daughter, it's because she is my daughter. Because she is real. Because she is alive. She goes to school, she has friends, she plays, she feels, she eats, she sleeps, she cries, she laughs, she gets hurt, she cares!"

"But it's still..."

"And another thing," she interrupted, now Clear was almost certain now he saw fire, though he was not sure if it was in her eyes or her mane, "Stop calling her 'it', she isn't an 'it' She, her, filly, Nyx! These are all things you can call her, but she is not an it! Then again, why should I even care what you call her? I am never going to be seeing you again. I am leaving. Goodbye!"

Twilight scooted out of her seat angrily, stomping her hooves as she walked away. Along the way, she almost bumped into Olive Branch, holding in his aura what looked like their food. He was in the kitchen during the whole scene, so didn't know what was going on. "Oh, um, I'm sorry, ma'am. But, uh, the lavatory is that way," he explained, pointing with right hoof to show the bathrooms.

Right then, Twilight was still extremely angry with what Clear had said, and was right then simply wanting to go somewhere and scream, and she almost felt like just letting loose there. No she told herself Olive hadn't done anything, and he shouldn't feel like he was the one being yelled at. She put on a straight face, and tried to explain the situation, "Oh, no it's not that. Something unexpected had just turned up, so I need to leave now." With that, she began to treck towards the door, and decided to go over to the Carousel Boutique to talk with Rarity.

"OW! Hey, watch it with that pin," Applejack complained. She had arrived at the shop a short time a short time after Twilight and Crystal Clear had left, and was now helping out Rarity again with the winter line dresses. As of now, she was wearing a white dress that looked like a ball gown, snow flake-shaped holes on the very edge of the skirt.

"I do apologize for spacing out, Applejack. I am simply worried about how Twilight is doing on her date. Clear said he was very nervous about coming here for some strange reason. I hope they are doing all right." Suddenly, the bell atop the door rang, and there stood Twilight, looking very worn out, her eyes very red. For a reason not yet known to Rarity or Applejack, Clear Crystal wasn't with her. "Oh, there you are, my dear. That was much shorter than I thought it would be. Where is Clear?" She looked behind Twilight at the empty space, expecting him to be there.

"Him? He is still at the restaurant." Twilight answered grumpily, walking in. Rarity just looked at her shocked.

"You just left? Why in Equestria would you do that?"

"Well, it had a big part of being it's mother."

"It's? Twilight, what are you talking abo... oh," Rarity just then realized what she meant. " Oh, Twilight, I am so sorry, I had no idea he thought that." she began to feel a large range of emotions, including anger, betrayal, and sadness.

"It's OK, Rarity he had me fooled, too," Twilight said to her purple maned friend, who was now the one who seemed to need a hug. "But, still, what am I going to do now? How am supposed to help Nyx with her crush, if it's because of ponies fear of her that I can't learn about relationships."

"Wait so your only doin' this just cause Nyx is crushin' on some colt?" Twilight sadly nodded her head up and down. "Well then, why didn't ya just say so? I can help with that."

"Ah, I think it's working! Look! Look how much fun they're having" Sweetie Belle whispered excitedly. Despite the excuses that they had made, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had really just gone to stand outside, watching through the window the 'date' Nyx and Pipsqueak were having. At first, things started going downhill, but after a hug from Pipsqueak, it suddenly got better even quicker. At the moment, the two were laughing about something Pipsqueak had said

"Yeah, I geuss it's working, but probably not." Scootaloo grumbled.

"Whaddya, mean, it ain't workin'?" Apple Bloom asked. "Just look how happy those two are!"

"Yeah, but Pip is really thick. Don't you remember last Hearts and Hooves. A filly in our class had written Pipsqueak the gooiest, mushiest, makes-me-wanna-puke-iest love letter ever, and Pip just acted like it was some normal card!"

"Oh, yeah, that's right," Twist responded, drooping her head, "Poor Dinky."

"I don't think that this is gonna be enough to get them together," Scootaloo explained. "We need a bunch of big pushes, but what..."

"HI GIRLS!" Yelled a voice from behind them. They jumped and turned, seeing a harmless Pinkie Pie, instead of a psychotic Twilight like last time.

"Oh, hey Pinkie Pie." Twist replied. "How are you."

"I'm great, but I need to ask you four something important."

"Yes?" they asked in unison.

"Do..." she paused, reaching into her saddlebag, "any of you want to come with me and Pip to a baseball game? I've got a free ticket!" she flashed the stub of paper.

Scootaloo was the first to say anything, "Ooh, ooh! I wan..."

"We would love to go with you," Apple Bloom interrupted, using a forehoof to keep Scootaloo from saying anything more, "but we are all busy tomorrow. But, maybe you could take Nyx with you. After all, she's never seen a baseball game before."

"She hasn't?!" Pinkie Pie screamed in amazement. "Oh, well then this is an emergency! She has to go now. Where is she?"

"She's in the shop right now," Sweetie Belle answered, pointing at the window.

"Thanks, girls. Nyx needs to get 20 cc's of baseball fun, STAT!" With that Pinkie Pie ran into the store to present the offer. When it was certain that she wouldn't be coming out to offer again, Apple Bloom removed her hoof from Scootaloo's mouth.

"I am really staring to hate this." Scootaloo grumbled, just getting a laugh from her friends.

"Don't worry, Scootaloo." Apple Bloom reassured, wrapping a hoof around her friend's back "Soon, we will see that all of this will have worked, and our hard work will have paid off."

"It better."

Chapter 5: Indesisive and The Letter

"Ha ha! That's amazing!" What happened next," Nyx asked. She and Pipsqueak had by now finished their food, and Nyx was now listening to a story of Pipsqueak's life in Trottingham. The previous conversation has been all but forgotten, and right then Nyx was happy just to have a new pony who would ever talk to her.

"Well, after he spilled his drink, she..." he began, only to pause, and move his gaze to something slightly above Nyx, "Oh, hello Ms. Pinkie,"

"Hiya Pip! Hi Nyx!" Responded the pink mare. Nyx, having been to caught up in Pipsqueak's story, never even noticed her come up around her, and the surprise caused her to jump. She did not exactly notice where she ran over to, but when she had gotten over her fright, she noticed she was hiding behind Pipsqueak on his chair. The table that they're friends had sat the at had chairs that we're large enough to seat a normal grown pony, so Nyx easily fat behind him. The chair wasn't large enough, though, to give enough ground to an embarrassed filly to scoot away, and nearly fell we're it not for a quick thinking Pinkie Pie and an adjacent chair.

"Heh, sorry about that," Nyx chuckled nervously to her 'savior', however it was only met by a cocked eyebrow and a sudden gasp from the mare.

Okie dokie, then. Now she *needs** to* "No, it's OK. It was my fault. I shouldn't have snuck up on you," she said apologetically, "But now I need to ask you something. Nyx, do you want to come with me and Pipsqueak to a baseball game tomorrow?"

"Baseball?" Nyx asked, slowly articulating this new word.

Pinkie Pie gasped in utter shock, "You really didn't know. OK, this is serious. We are going to need foam hooves, shirts hats, cotton candy, and , ooh!" Her eyes lit up, "Yeah, we can have that! Alright, then. You to stay right here, and I'll be right back with Spike and a jar." She received but ignored the odd look from Nyx as she ran out the door.

"Umm, do you have any idea what she was talking about, Pip?" The colt simply shook a negative. "Well, we need to stay here for a while, apparently. So, what happened next?"

"Oh, yeah! So, after he spilled his drink..."

"What do you mean, you can help me out with Nyx? How?" Twilight asked. She was currently sitting in the middle of the boutique, Rarity was standing beside her, listening to what her orange friend had to say.

"It's really quite easy," Applejack stated, "Before my ma and pa had to move to Phillydelphia, just when Apple Bloom was still a little foal, they told me and Big Mac everything we had to know so we'd be able to raise her." She shuddered, "I tell ya, I had nightmares about some of the stuff they told us. But they also taught us how to help out Apple Bloom if she ever found a special colt."

"Oh, really now, Applejack. That is just ridiculous," Rarity said sternly, "The ways of the heart, especially of one so young as Nyx, cannot be simply told. They must be learned through experience. That was another reason I'd set up a date for Twilight." She looked over to her fellow unicorn and took her into a friendly hug, "Again, sweetie, I am so very sorry about what happened. I honestly didn't know he thought like that."

"It's fine, Rarity, really," Twilight reassured, returning the hug, "I know you were just trying to help. You don't have to apologize for that." She sighed, "I just don't know what to do about Nyx's crush on Pipsqueak. And I'm her mother, for Celestia's sake!" The bell over the door rang suddenly, and in popped Pinkie Pie, carrying a jar in her forehoof. She had begun to say something, but then looked over at Rarity and Twilight, and began to start giggling and squealing.

Twilight was the first to say anything we she finally stopped, removing herself from Rarity's friendly embrace, "Oh, hello again Pinkie Pie. Do you need something?"

Pinkie Pie took a short moment to regain herself before continuing, "Actually, I need two things. One," she motioned to her jar, "can you make this hold spells? Also, can Spike mail himself?"

"Um, no to both," Twilight said, slightly confused. "Why in Equestria would you even need to hold spells?"

"Well, duh! I need to get a spell! And Starry is the only one who can do it," she stated.

"Oh, well if it's a spell you need, I'd be more than happy to..."

"No!" Pinkie interrupted stubbornly, "It has to be from Starry, otherwise it's no good!"

"Well, I'm sorry, Pinkie, but it's not possible to contain spells in physical objects." Twilight said, slightly hurt.

"OK, then, Twilight. Ooh, and before I forget, I finally got somepony to take the ticket."

"Oh, that's great. Who?"

"Nyx! She said she's never been to a baseball game before, so of course I have to take her!"

"Wait, what?" Twilight's eyes went wide, "She's going with you? And Pip? Tomorrow?" She was about to protest about this last minute notice, but Applejack cut in.

"Why that sounds like just a great idea Pinkie Pie. I'm sure she'll have a great time. You should really also tell Twilight everything that goes on with Nyx while she's there. I'm sure she'd love to hear about her own daughter's first baseball game."

Pinkie Pie’s eyes lit up, “Ooh yeah, AJ, that sounds like an awesome idea! OK, Twilight, I’ll be at your house at 9:30 to pick up Nyx, because it would be silly if I picked her up at 10, ‘cause that’s when the game starts, and..."

"We get it, Pinkie Pie. Don't worry. Twilight will have her ready."

"Oh, yay! OK, I need to get back to Sugarcube Corner. Sorry I interrupted you two. Oh, and Applejack," Pinkie Pie concluded with a giggle, "you look very lovely." Applejack looked down at the white dress she was wearing, and grunted angrily at the absent Pinkie.

"What was that about," Rarity asked angrily, "Nyx, last time I checked, was Twilight's daughter, not yours. That wasn't your call to make."

"Relax, Rarity, it'll be fine," the light orange mare stated. "We need to know just how it is that Nyx feel's about Pip, so we can know how to go about this. And what better way than to learn it from the one mare that we can be sure she won't be nervous around?"

"Great. So now I have to put all my faith about being able to help my daughter into somepony else?"

"Um, well, I..." Applejack stuttered.

"Ugh, no, your right, I knew it. I can't even help her out with something as little as this. I'm a terrible mother," she sighed as she slumped to the ground in defeat.

"Oh, now don't say that, Twi," Applejack left the pedestal she stood on while Rarity worked on the dress, and went to stand in front of Twilight, kneeling so to be at eye level. "You've been a great mother to her, Twi, and you've done a great job raising her."

"You mean that?"

"Would I lie?" she joked. "Yes, I do mean that. It's proven by the fact that you're not trying to do this alone. That just shows how much you care about her well being. Even if this is all just pointless worrying, you want to help her no matter what. That's more than enough proof I need to see how much of a great parent you are." She snickered, "In fact, the way it is this probably is just worried nonsense. Nyx is one of the smartest little fillies I know, thanks to you, and she probably doesn't even need help."

A tear ran down Twilight's cheek, "Thanks, AJ. I think I needed that."

"You betcha. Now, come on," Applejack exclaimed, hopping up from her crouch to go to the boutique's door, "We need to find a certain somepony that will be at the game tomorrow."

"But I thought that we..."

"Pinkie Pie means well and all," Applejack interrupted, "but I'm not gonna be countin' on anything. Last time we were at a game with her, she was way to wrapped up in the game. She didn't notice that a foal had spilt it's apple juice all over her mane until after we left." Twilight giggled at what it must've been like.

"Wait a moment, Applejack."

"Ugh, what is it this time?"

"Well," the alabaster unicorn said sternly, "If you're looking for whom I think you are, please return my dress before it gets... a stain."

Applejack looked down to realize she had completely forgotten, yet again, she had been helping Rarity with the dress and was still wearing it. "Heh, sorry 'bout that," she chuckled nervously as Rarity removed and hung the dress, horn aglow.

With that out of the way, Twilight and Applejack went in search of who they needed to find.

"What? No, that doesn't even make sense!" Nyx laughed at Pipsqueak's conclusion of his story.

"I wouldn't have believed it either if I hadn't been there. But It was true." he said between giggles. When giggling, they noticed Pinkie Pie walking up calmly to their table, unlike last time.

"Hey, you two. Come on, I've got something I need to give to Nyx, but I also want Pipsqueak to be there to see it."

"Oh," Nyx said, "Did you get what you needed?"

"I got the jar," Pinkie Pie said with a frown, "but Twilight said they can't hold spells. But don't worry. We can have fun at baseball even without changing cotton candy." She recieved but ignored the confused look from Nyx, and instead motioned for the two to go upstairs, warning them to be quiet. When they arrived up, Nyx saw a long hallway with three rooms on the left and two on the right, where they were, and parallel of them was the Cake twins bedrooms, where they were sound asleep. Nyx was guessing that was why Pinkie asked them to be quiet.

While they walked down the hallway, Nyx noticed a strange room. It wasn't exactly the kind of room that she thought that she'd see in the cake shop. It seemed more like the room Spike would joke, or at least she was sure he was joking, about Twilight's room when they lived in Canterlot being like. There was a window perfectly parallel to the door, standing in front of it was a telescope. This wasn't however, nearly as eye-catching as what else was in the room. There were notes, everywhere. Some on little sticky pads, some scribbled over posters of various musicians on the wall, some on the very wall itself! All of the ones Nyx could see appeared to be tracking movements or patterns of what she guessed to be planets. "Hey, um, Pinkie?" she whispered, "what's that room with telescope in it?"

"Hmm? Oh, that? That's just the room of Mr. and Mrs. Cake's nephew when he was living here lived in." When they finally got to Pinkie Pie's room they went up to a treasure chest-esque box, a sleeping Gummy next to it. "OK, Nyxie. I've got some stuff that I have been saving for a while now, and I have decided that you should be able to get them. First up;" she paused before dramatically whipping something out from the box, "The shirt!" She instantly slipped Nyx into the shirt. It was a strange shade of green, and had a white one on the front.

"And of course, we can't forget the Foamy hoof!" she exclaimed as she pulled out another green object. Like the name suggested, Nyx saw it was a a large hoof-shaped object, and it had a little slit on the end, which with Pinkie Pie's help, she learned was to be put on the hoof.

"Thanks Pinkie, but uh," she paused, drooping her head, "should I even be going? I don't even know how to play baseball. What if I mess up and we lose? Ponies might get angry or laugh at me."

Pinkie Pie just laughed, "Oh, don't worry about it, silly filly. You don't have to play the game, you get to watch it!"

"Really!?"

"Yeah!" Pipsqueak answered, "Going to a baseball game just means that we are watching two teams who work hard at playing this. We're supposed to be watching and having fun, and nopony can get angry at you for that."

"OK, that's good. But, I still don't know how they play."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that, silly," Pinkie giggled, "Baseballs a super-easy game to learn. I'm sure a smart filly like you can figure it out in no time!"

"Well, if your sure..."

"I am very sure." she said with a happy grin, "Now then, you two should be getting home soon. I really hate to have us stop having fun, but your parents might start getting worried soon. I'll be at both of your houses to get you before ten."

"OK. See ya later, Pipsqueak. Thank you for the shirt and hoof, Pinkie!" Nyx called to the two, a little too loudly. A faint crying noise became audible from the other side of the hallway.

That took way too long Nyx thought worried. Her loud farewell had accidentally woken the Cake foals, who went into a bawling frenzy from the unwanted wake-up call. Pinkie had tried to calm them down by making funny faces, but in the panic Nyx accidentally tried to join in, causing the twins to cry even harder. After a long time of faces and a strange dance involving a pig snout and tail, Pinkie Pie told she and Pipsqueak to get a flour bag. The two had brought the bag up as fast as possible, and to their surprise Pinkie opened it up and dumped it on herself. To even further surprise, the foals finally stopped crying after that and calmed down enough to go back to sleep. Pinkie had told the two to get home and she would take care of the rest. This walk wasn't going to take a little bit longer than normal, though.

Even with Pipsqueak's help, the flour bag had been far from light, and the stairs also weren't exactly helpful either. By the time they had gotten it upstairs, her hooves were extremely sore, and she couldn't run very fast. She knew, however, that she needed to get to home quick, the sun was setting, and she needed to get home before Twilight got into one of her all out panics. She feared greatly that Twilight wouldn't allow her to even go, and she knew being late wasn't going to help.

Fortunately, the library was coming into sight. With a final burst of energy, she ran over to the door. When she got in she was breathing heavily and saw her mother sitting on cushion, holding a book in her aura. She could plainly see the clock, yet what seemed strange to Nyx was that she wasn't very angry or worried. At all. "Um, hey Mom." she said warily.

"Oh, hello, Nyx. Welcome home," the mare answered, releasing her book, "How was the lunch?"

"It was nice. Um, listen, I needed to know if it'd be OK if I were to go to a baseball game with Pinkie Pie and Pipsqueak tomorrow. I know this is short notice, but..."

"Of course you can go." Twilight said with a chuckle.

Nyx's face lit up, "I can!?"

"Well of course you can. In fact, If it's a baseball game you're going to ..." she led Nyx up to the main bedroom upstairs, magically opening her treasure chest. "Need something form in here."

"Haven't you already shown me the stuff in this?"

"Not this, I haven't." She pulled out a cap that had two capital C's on the front, one in blue and the other in red. "This was my brother's when he was playing baseball at his middle school. He gave it to me when I left to remember him, but I think you'd probably like to have it at your very first ever game."

"Oh, really? Thanks, Mom," she beamed as she went to hug the mare's foreleg.

Twilight laughed, "You're very welcome. Now then, I'm gonna go downstairs to help Spike out with finishing dinner. You stay here and finish your homework, that way you won't have to worry about it tomorrow."

"Yes, Mom," she said, eagerly plopping into her bed basket and pulling out a quill and piece of parchment.

"Wow, so Nyx has a crush already?" Spike asked in amazement from atop the ladder he needed to reach the pots.

"It's amazing, but yes."

"Ha! It's not nearly as amazing as that Clear guy you were set up with. I still can't believe he seriously didn't know that you were Nyx's parent. That guy must be really out of the loop."

"Well, that's all in the past now, Spike, so let's just forget that he ever existed. Let's especially not bring him up in front of Nyx."

"Yeah, that sounds like a goo-" he was uninterrupted by a sudden strange feeling in his stomach. His face warped strangely, and a green fiery burp gave way to a parchment scroll. Twilight caught it with her magic, narrowly keeping it from dropping into the soup.

"Hello, what's this?" She opened up the scroll and began to read it in her head. For a good long part of the reading, a look of worry appeared on her face, and she looked like she was going to faint if she didn't breathe soon. It was only at the end of the document did she exhale in relief and smile.

"Well, what did it say?" Spike asked, sweating from either the suspense or the steam rising from the pan.

"It's nothing," she said rolling up the letter and beginning to exit, "You stay here and finish cooking. I need to go and get the guest bedroom ready."

"We have a guest bedroom?"

That night, in Canterlot...

"And then she yelled at me for calling it an it! I mean can you belie..."

"Oh, for Celestia's sake, Clear. Will just shut up about this? I'm surprised you're still able to find stuff to complain about," groaned an annoyed star-white stallion unicorn as he sipped his apple cider. The unicorn was sitting in the seat adjacent to Clear Crystal, hind legs set up on the bar, similar to Clear. What wasn't similar, though, was the way they talked. The white stallion hadn't a Canterlot accent, and instead was slightly southern.

"I seriously don't understand how you can defend that thing, Stardust. It's Nightmare Moon, for crying out loud!" Clear said, cheeks overly reddened.

"So what? Have you actually met her?" The stallion apparently named Stardust asked.

Clear began to stutter, "W-well, no, but..."

"But nothing!" Stardust interrupted. "Unless you've actually met somepony, you can't properly judge their psyche and thoughts. You'd think somepony who had graduated at the top of their psychology class at Canterlot University would be able to know that much."

"But don't you see? I don't need to understand her to know she's going to do something bad, someday! Trust me on this, I know these things."

"You also 'knew' that we would never again see the light of day, and we saw it four hours ago. You 'knew' that we'd never see either of the princesses again, just yesterday they were in charge of holding an event to raise money for the old orphanage downtown." Stardust snorted, "Face it, Clear, so far all your 'knowledge' of 'Nightmare Moon' -whom, just so you know, is called Nyx according to Princess Celestia- has been dead wrong. Why can't you just let go of the past and leave the topic of the little filly alone?"

"Because, your so called filly is secretly plotting to kill us all!" He exclaimed in rage.

"Why do I even try to reason with you when you when you're drunk? Why do I even talk to you period? Look, can we just change the subject?"

"Fine," Clear said with a grumble, "So, I hear you're gonna be goin' back to your hometown for a few days. Bet your missin' that mare of yours, huh?"

"Oh, for the love of," the star-white stallion said with a grunt, "How many times have I told you that it just isn't like that? She's just a friend. Calling her anything else other than maybe a sister would feel just wrong."

Clear rolled his eyes, "Uh-huh, sure. So, how long are you going to be gone?"

"Truthfully? I was planning on moving back permanently. I've finished all of my studies at the university, so I don't really have any more reason to stay here in Canterlot."

"Huh, well that's a shame. It's gonna be quiet here without you."

"I know. Promise me you'll try to stop being such a pain in the plot about this little Nyx thing to Fancy?"

"Fine," Clear grumbled, "but don't forget to tell him your leaving as well. Bet he'd just hate to hear his sweetheart is leaving so soon." He nudged Stardust's ribs.

"You just love turning my friendships into the exact thing they aren't, don't you?"

"It's become a hobby," Clear laughed drunkly.

Stardust sighed, sliding off his chair and taking his saddle bag from beside it, "Well, I need to get back to my apartment and finish packing. See ya never." He walked out of the bar and off to his apartment, grateful he wasn't much of a drinker given the distance. Along the route, he picked out a piece of from his bag, horn aglow. It was a picture of him at what appeared to be a party. He appeared much younger, was wearing glasses, and was surrounded by three other ponies under a banner that said Happy Graduation Day! Enjoy Canterlot!. He smiled at the picture and the memories it brought. "It has been a while, now, hasn't it?"

Chapter 6: Exploring The Heart

That whole night, Stardust had been packing all his possessions. Toiletries, personal supplies, pictures, books, everything he owned into a few small boxes. For once in his time there, he had been glad that he had to get an apartment, for while that limited what he could own, that limit reduced the time to pack it all up. All that had remained outside a box or already in the carriage outside was a feather mattress he had used for sleep. He had woken up slightly early, despite his heavy eyelid's protests, to go and put all his boxes onto his rented transport. In the middle of his working, a familiar face came around, though it wasn't the hungover stallion of last night.

"I see what Clear said is true, then," Fancy Pants said sadly, "you really are returning to your old home." The night before, Fancy Pants had heard the news from a clearly drunken Clear Crystal. He hadn't believed it to be so, but the sight he had walked on made it difficult to deny. "Are you sure you can't stay a little while longer? Surely it's not as if you will be blocked out if you don't leave tomorrow."

"Actually, I will. Don't you remember?" Stardust asked, lifting boxes horn aglow, "The pegasi have the final snowstorm of winter planned for the mountainside in two days time, and they are gonna be making it one heck of a doozy. The train won't even have time to make it back to Canterlot once it makes the rounds, since it takes a whole day just to get off the mountain." He released the large box on top of a disassembled bed. "Besides, I had told auntie weeks ago I'd be there on Monday, and she has a tendency to panic if something that is planned is late."

"I see," Fancy Pants sighed, "It can't be helped. It won't ever be the same without you here. You are truly an amazing friend, something rare to find in Canterlot. It is such a shame we will never again meet."

"Aw, come on. You know that's not true." Stardust laughed. "I know as well as anypony in this town you've had a lot of business back at my hometown. I remember last time you were there, you were gone for a whole month. Trust me, we are going to have plenty of time to spend together," he paused. "You are to swear that you will never tell Clear I said that while he's drunk."

Fancy Pants gave a calm chuckle, "Do not worry. However, speaking of friends, there has been something I have been meaning to ask you for quite some time. I ask you do not think me rude."

"Fancy, your definition of rude is burping within thirty hooves of somepony. Trust me when I say nothing you tell me I could possibly take as 'rude'."

"Well," Fancy Pants cleared his throat, "as I said, it's been on my mind for some time, but you aren't the most... sociable of ponies I've met."

Stardust cocked an eyebrow, "What do you mean? I'm sociable."

"Not very. Normally, you would just be cooped up in your room studying. The only ponies I've ever seen you carry a conversation on with other your teachers were Clear and I. And again, even at my Garden Parties, you will just sit in the corner, with a book or some form of study material at hand, only saying hello to ponies I have to bring over to you to introduce, and even then that's all you say."

Stardust just sighed at this, "Listen, it's not good to get to attached to a place, especially one that you don't plan on staying at. I've known ever since I came to Canterlot I'd be moving back once I finished my studies. I shouldn't have any reason to not want to."

"I... suppose that makes sense. But still. It is not healthy to do nothing but study. One needs to go out and see the world, not just read of it. And what of love? Every stallion needs a good mare or stallion in their life, and that's not going to happen with"

Stardust gave an annoyed groan that interrupted the wealthy stallion, "Again with this? Look, I appreciate that you worry about me, but I just don't have time for stuff like that. I'm gonna be getting a lot of work from the Royal Astronomical Research Center, and I mean a lot, and I'll just barely have enough time to spend with the friends and family I already have. The last thing I need is a marefriend taking up that."

"Besides," he continued, "who would go with me? I was in the astronomy club back at high school. The music I listened to was considered 'marely'. I was a total wimp with glasses!" he sighed after he finished his list. "Love and romance just isn't for everypony, Fancy."

"Maybe, but I can tell that isn't the case with you. True, you may not be the best looking pony in Equestria. Or Canterlot. Or Trottin Street. Or"

"Get to the point" Stardust deadpanned.

"Ah, oh, um, yes, quite." Fancy Pants chuckled, giving a slight cough, "but you are both a well-mannered and kind stallion, who not only majored but topped in both psychology an astonomy. And if you are worried about looks, think of how you traded in your glasses for a pair of contacts, and you have bulked up as of late. I'd say that any mare would be lucky to be with you. You are truly, oh how are the children saying it these days, a 'rockin' and a rollin' party king'?"

Stardust began to laugh on the verge of hysteria, "Ah, Fancy. It's just adorable the way you try. And thank you, really, for caring but the couple's life just isn't for me. Being a bachelor is where it's at! No learning to talk sweet, no wasting bits on chocolates and roses. No going through daddy's 'So, what are your true intentions with my daughter' interrogation." he explained, lowering his voice to imitate a stallion not in his very early 20's for the latter.

Fancy Pants simply rolled his eyes, "I swear, you have been listening to far to many of Clear's stories. Not all relationship's can be like that. Most mares will only care that you care for them."

"Look, we can either debate this all day, or you could help me with the boxes so we can get to our game of golf with Clear on time." a sneer began to form. "Although, I can understand why you'd want to stall. I've been constantly beating since I got here, I doubt you'd want Clear to be added to the list of ponies I've embarrassed you in front of."

Fancy Pants gave a competitive smile, one that not even Stardust had ever seen, before he began to take a few boxes inside his own magic and levitate them into the carriage. "By the way," Fancy Pants added as a footnote, "earlier you mentioned your auntie, did you not?"

"Um, yes, I did. What of it?"

"Well, I don't know, it's just strange. Not once in the five years you have been here did you ever tell us anything about your old family and friends other than their names. It'd be nice to here about your old life. Besides," he added, "I plan on visiting the moment the snowstorm goes out, so I would very much like to know what to expect."

Stardust chuckled, "Yeah, that does seem pretty fair. Well, like you already know, my auntie's name is..."

"...yx? Nyx? Come on, sweetie. Rise and shine," Twilight spoke softly. She was kneeling beside Nyx's basket bed, who's owner was slowly drawing herself out of sleep to the voices beckoning, wincing at the sudden assault of sunlight upon her eyes. Beside her was the Smarty Pants doll given to her by Twilight, and immediately adjacent to her bed was all the baseball ticket and trinkets she had received the day prior. She grumbled as her eyes became relatively used to the light, receiving a giggle from her mother. "Come on, wake up. Its nine o'clock. Pinkie and Pipsqueak will be here soon."

"Mmmm, huh?" Nyx asked sleepily, her eyes moved slowly to the grandfather clock behind Twilight, immediately going into a rushed panic to get the clothes she was given and scurry to the bathroom after taking in the right angle the clock's hands formed upon the face. "Oh, no. Oh, no! Mommy, why didn't you wake me up earlier? I'm going to not be ready when they get here!" The black filly squeaked as a hot shower hit her, quickly reaching for the knob to lower the temperature."

"I've been trying to get you up for the past half-hour." Twilight said as she rolled her eyes, "It's your fault for staying up so late. I told you you should finish all of your homework, not Smarty Pants'."

"She had a big essay she needed to get done!" Nyx protested through the stream of water and soap running out of her hastily shampooed mane, "I couldn't help it!"

"Well, you just get dry off and get dressed and I'll go get breakfast ready."

"Is Spike still asleep? Why isn't he doing it?"

"Spike had to go to Canterlot for something. He won't be back until Monday." Twilight explained, her voice slowly beginning to become inaudible. Nyx reasoned that Twilight had gone downstairs, and that saying anything more would just be talking to the water on her coat. She hopped out of the shower, and quickly dried off. After which, she took her shirt and hat in her mouth, and hopped up to the sink so to be in front of the mirror. She decided not to go into the time wasting procedure of styling her mane once she got into her green shirt, reasoning that she'd only get it messy again after she put on the hat. She took the cap in her mouth by the sun-guard, flicking her head so that it could loop-de-loop through the air and onto her head, and...

Nothing. It was just pitch black, save for a small layer of light that peaked out from just under her nose. The cap was too big! Nyx gave an annoyed grumble as she removed the cap and rotated it to the Velcro side, tightening it to the smallest it could be. With another flip, it slipped onto her head.

And still nothing. The light peeked in slightly more, but there still wasn't any actual visibility. Even after tilting up the sun-guard it was difficult to see. Almost at the edge of her nerves, she tried putting it backwards, having the sun-guard lightly touching the back of her shirt. Finally, she had been able to actually look herself in the mirror.

"Wow. This is awesome!" Nyx exclaimed in a hushed voice. She swiveled herself in different angles to admire her appearance in the mirror, taking a keen note to the tuft of hair popping out between the gap in the Velcro strap and the rest of the cap. And, unlike her old disguise, it was something she chose and enjoyed to wear. "I look so cool!"

I bet Pipsqueak'll think you look cool, too. Maybe even cute.

Nyx blushed and giggled as she made her way to the bedroom for her ticket and miscellaneous. "Oh, come on, Pipsqueak would never think I'm... wait," she darted her head to the sides, "Who said that?"

"Nyx!" Twilight yelled from downstairs, "Come get breakfast! Pinkie and Pip will be here any minute!"

"Aah! Coming!" the black filly replied in a panic as she made her way down the stairs, a giant green hoof in her mouth."

Twilight hummed as she flipped the glowing pan, releasing the two eggs held in it to the air before they returned sunny side down. These'll be good for her energy she thought while she slid the thoroughly scrambled breakfast from the levitating pan to a plate. If this going to be like what Pinkie Pie has us do, she'll need it. "Nyx, come get breakfast!" she called to upstairs, "Pinkie and Pip will be here any minute."

"Aah! Coming!" she heard her daughter say panicked. To Twilight's amazement, no sooner than did she get the plate to the table did she see Nyx sitting at the exact chair, and no sooner than did she put down the plate did Nyx begin to dig in.

She's always so panicked if she's late for something. Just *where** does she get that?* Twilight took a look at her daughter, and when the form of how she wore Shining Armor's old baseball cap hit her, she began to chuckle.

"What's so funny, mom?"

"I'm just impressed, Nyx," the lavender mare explained. "You haven't even seen a game yet," she motioned to the cap, "and already you're wearing that like my baseball nerd of a big brother would.

Nyx gulped down the remainder of her eggs before speaking, "Really?"

"Yes, really. He would go to every game that was possible, even if it meant deviating from my perfect schedule I had made at the beginning of the month. But that's besides the point, you look very nice."

"Thanks mommy." Nyx giggled.

"Now then you have everything you need? You've got your ticket?"

Nyx rolled her eyes at the constant reminders, "Of course I do," she reached for a pocket on the side of her shirt that held the ticket in a space that practically spoke it was designed for holding tickets. "See?" she asked as she flashed the stub.

"OK, good." Twilight stared up at the small coo-coo clock that hanged above the sink. nine twenty-nine, the face read. after a few more ticks of the second hand it shifted to nine thirty, and at the exact time, almost as it was waiting for that specific time to arrive, a knock came at the door. Nyx took no waste of time to safely deposit her dishes in the sink and run to answer the door.

A very eager pink mare stood on the outside, wearing a shirt similar to Nyx's, as well as a strange cap that bore two cups, one on each side, which had straws dangling near her face. She also had her saddle bag on her back, which had five green hooves in it in addition to to a small bit bag ringed to the strap. "Heya, Nyxie!" Pinkie squealed, "are you ready for some funa-fun-fun at your first ever baseball game?" An eager nod and a farewell wave at Twilight was all the mare needed before they began to run off, a quiet slam of the door showing they weren't to be back soon.

Twilight let out a calm sigh, and walked over to the bookshelf immediately adjacent to her marked Myths and Legends and picked up a dust cloth. She took up a random book off her shelf, and began to dust the blue cover. After she was certain not a grey speck remained upon it, she went to the portion of the shelf it had sat upon and went off to dust it. This had been Twilight's new way to spend her now exceedingly large allowance of free time. Princess Celestia, despite Twilight's protest, had as of late cut down her workload from the mountains of papers and forts of books it normally was. The princess had reasoned that between her friends and her now required duty of mothering Nyx, she would simply be too overworked to have any free time to herself. But now, Twilight was under-worked, and had nothing but mind numbing cleaning to spend time upon when even reading for pleasure came to be a bore. It also seemed rather pointless, considering all the time that as of late Nyx would spend out with her friends, such as their regular sleepovers. Thankfully, the princess had, after some convincing allowed Twilight to letter her as part of her studies the magics of maternal love, though that was more out of a desperate desire for something to do than actual caring of the magics involved.

A few now sparkling shelves later, a quiet knock came at the door that broke Twilight out of her trance, causing her to drop the book that was in her aura. She shook her head back into reality, and stared at the door. Why is somepony *knocking***, she wondered. True, this was her house, but it was also the Ponyville library, and nopony had ever in her history of being there had knocked when the library was open. When she brought the door ajar, however, all her question became answered. "Oh, hey there, Fluttershy."

"Um, h-hello, Twilight." the canary mare quietly chimed back. "I-I just was wondering if you could help me with a little problem I have."

"Well, of course I can. I'm just cleaning up right now, so"

"Oh," Flutttershy said in a hush before cringing away, "I'm sorry, I didn't know that you were busy. I can always come back tomorrow or"

Twilight waved a dismissive hoof and giggled, "It's fine Fluttershy, really. Frankly, I am glad you came here, I need something to do. Spike is in Canterlot and Nyx is out with friends, so I am here alone with practically nothing to do! Just give one quick second."

"Oh, OK. take your time."

With that, Twilight began a clean up of her cleaning. She lifted the dusty cloth from the ground and guided it to a small basket also filled of cloth waiting to be washed at the side of the sink. She then went to the book that had been earlier dropped and set to return it to it's proper place. Twilight, then, however, caught a glimpse of the title upon the spine, and suddenly her stomach began to twist, the left part of her chest brought a steady beat of pain, and a tear began to run down her cheek. Nyx of the Night the spine read. It took Twilight a moment to figure it out, but she finally realized what had was the cause of her emotional torment. Her Nyx had grown. It was a sentence that, beforehand, Twilight had looked down upon as silly and redundant. Of course the child would continue to grow, it was a part of nature. What was there to cry or feel sad about?

These thoughts, however, were something that she had before Nyx had come into her life. It meant more than she was simply she was moving from age nine to age ten, or just leveling up a grade in school. It meant that she would eventually no longer need Twilight, and that realization had given her a sudden and strange sensation in her throat that made it difficult to swallow. Perhaps this is the feeling her mother had felt when Twilight was moving into Celestia's school, and that she would rarely ever see her daughter, now. And Twilight had simply brushed off her feelings and the extended hug she was given as being overly dramatic.

Even more entered her mind after that. When was the last time Nyx had even asked for a bedtime story, the last time she'd pretty pleased for that one last chapter before the candle was snuffed out, and slumber was invited to take her? The last time since that barrage of question after question came at Twilight since Nyx wanted to know even more about something she learned or read? The last time that...

"Umm, T-Twilight," Fluttershy asked nervously, "a-are you sure this isn't a bad time? I mean it, this isn't something that I need help with now."

Twilight snapped herself away from the edge of the hole of terror she almost fell into, and wiped a hoof at her eye. "I'm fine, really, Fluttershy." she reassured as she levitated the book up to the shelf. "Now, then, what is it that you need?"

"Oh, well, um, actually, it's over at my cottage. I can explain on the way. If that's OK, I mean."

"Of course it is. Please, lead the way."

"What do you mean, Nyxie's ticket isn't any good?" Pinkie Pie asked in a desperate confusion. The walk over to the stadium was surprisingly uneventful. All that had ever really happened on the way there was an impossible to follow conversation between Pipsqueak and Pinkie about random names and decimals. It was similar to how, in Nyx's opinion, to how Rainbow Dash and Twilight would talk about Daring Do. That, however, Nyx could understand, having read the books herself, and she could even join into the conversation. What they were talking about, however, was to Nyx nothing more than senseless gobblygook. Afraid to ruin the obvious fun they were having, and in just plain fear of embarrassing herself, Nyx had simply found a pebble on the road to entertain herself with, kicking it with her forehoof as they walked along. However, when they finally arrived, Nyx was beginning to wish she was the tiny pebble, for it was not getting stared at angrily.

"It's not the ticket that isn't any good," the ticket mare explained, glaring at Nyx, "its that that isn't any good."

"What are you talking about," Pinkie growled, "I payed good bits for this ticket, and you can't just say no to it, got that."

"Look, kid," the mare sighed, "I can give you a refund for the ticket, but I am not gonna risk that thing blowing up this entire stadium, and everypony in it, just because the game didn't go the way she wanted."

"But that's ridicu"

"It's OK, Pinkie," Nyx interrupted, sighing, "I don't want you guys to ruin your own day just because of me. I'll just go home."

"But Nyx," Pipsqueak protested.

Pinkie Pie drooped her head for a moment before lifting it in determenation, "Alright, lady, listen up!" she demanded. "I don't care what you say, Nyx is gonna be going to this game, and I have a ticket for her right here!"

"Kid, don't you listen? We've got a right to reject any and all customers if we give a refund for the ticket, and that's exactly what I'm doin'. So, I'm gonna say it one more time, I'm not letting it in."

"You will let her in!"

"I won't let it in!"

"You will let her in!"

"I won't let it in!

"You won't let her in!"

Wait, what? Nyx cocked an eyebrow.

"I will let it in!"

What's going on?

"You won't let her in!"

"I will let it in in!"

"I'm telling you she won't be going to this game!"

"Yeah, well it'll be going to this game whether you like it or not!" The now enraged mare swiped the ticket out of Pinkie's hoof, punched a hole in it to show it was accepted, and shoved it straight back at Pinkie Pie.

The pink mare merely shrugged, "OK, suit yourself. Come on Pip, Nyx, let's go!" she arced with her hoof. Though still slightly confused as to what had just happened, Nyx followed the pair into the stadium, leaving behind a baffled ticket mare.

"Fillies and gentlecolts," a large voice echoed throughout the stadium, "Welcome to the Ponyville sports stadium! Today we have the match between bitter rivals Baltimare Orioles and Ponyville Packers!" The crowd began to scream, holler, yay, and boo all at the same time as two groups of ponies, largely earth ponies or pegasi, made their way to the circumference of the stadium. The stadium, by the standards set by places such as Manehatten or Canterlot, was not very large, only able to fit around three or four hundred ponies. To Nyx, however, the stadium was a giant just waiting to crush her like an ant. There were so many ponies, some that Nyx couldn't even recognize. Pipsqueak said that was because sometimes ponies from the city that was playing would go to the games and support their team.

"Now, before we commence, please rise now for Equestria's National Anthem, sung by Lyra Heartstrings of our own Ponyville." A roar of excitement came from the half of the stadium Nyx sat upon, and even Nyx was a part of it. Lyra, and her marefriend, Bon Bon, were two of the nicest adult ponies she had met in Ponyville on her own, and good friends to her.

Lyra had one day, before the... situation that caused Nyx to lose her magic, come into the library searching for an old book that was filled with sheets of music. Originally, Nyx had been hiding behind the check-out counter in her disguise from the strange mint mare, but a sound suddenly came from in the middle of the main wing. She looked out from the desk to see a strange stringed golden object caught in her magic. Slowly she had approached the mare, and when she arrived, she was greeted very warmly and, upon a simple request, was shown and taught all there was to know, short of playing, the stringed instrument apparently called a lyre (Which to Nyx's embarrassment, took time to explain wasn't an instrument that didn't tell the truth.)

Eventually, she had also been introduced to Bon Bon, who had also taken a quick liking to Nyx, and would sometimes sneak to Nyx candies behind Twilight's back. When she had learned, about the two's relationship, apparently she was the first to be told, a whole new stream of questions had begun to overflow her mind and mouth, though for some reason Bon Bon wouldn't allow Lyra to answer some, her only reason she'd give was that she'd go "to in depth". Even after the troubling events of the past year, Lyra and Bon Bon would still go and talk to her.

After her reminiscing of the past, Nyx decided to try and wave, but stopped, wondering if the mint mare would even see her. An arc of a wave back, one that Nyx recognized all too well, quickly answered her question. After Lyra walked out onto the center of the field, where a megaphone attached to a metal stand so Lyra could sing into it stood, she took out her lyre from the saddlebag on her side, and began to sing.

Blessed bodies of the Heavens

Sun and Moon of greatest light

Bathe us in your warm embraces

Shield us with your peerless might

Help us to stand firm as mountains

Doing right and shunning wrong

May we find our strength in friendship

Unite our herd as one group strong.

Kindness save our herd from sorrow

Laughter lift us through the day

Honesty shall purge our anger

Generous we'll be in our ways

Loyal to our roots remain us

Day by day the magic swells.

Love and tolerance shall lead us

O'er the seas and hills and dells.

In brotherhood we stand together

In sisterhood may we find grace

The Sun and Moon shall ever guide our

Never ending pony race!

Why should we fear threats of discord

Standing now all here as one?

We shall find our strength in friendship

Herd unite as one group strong

There was a brief moment of quiet before an amazing round of applause began. By the time it had died down, Lyra had left the center of the field and the megaphone left the field. "Again, Thank you Lyra Heartstrings!" the unseen stallion called from a megaphone, "And now, without further ado, let's Play Ball!"

Chapter 7: The Unexpected

"Honestly, though, Fluttershy. How could what happened to Angel be considered not important?" Twilight called from a small. for some reason heavily glued, table in the main room of Fluttershy's cottage. Her friend had gone into the kitchen to make tea for her, as a way of thanks.

A short time ago, on the way to the canary mare's house adjacent the Everfree forest, Twilight had been explained Fluttershy's 'small' dilemma. Apparently, Beakatris, a young cardinal temporarily under her care, had swiped lettuce leaves from Angel's breakfast bowl. Enraged, the small rabbit had begun to chase the bird around the cottage, despite Fluttershy's protest. Eventually the chase had led to go outside, and by the time the pegasus had exited her cottage, somehow Angel had gotten his head stuck inside one of the birdhouses, Beakatris stood atop it's red roof chirping in glee.

It hadn't taken long for Twilight the assistance required. Just a simple spell to expand the wood of the house long enough for the cottontail to remove itself. Twilight, however, was still feeling herself dumbfounded, not only by the situation, but Fluttershy's attempts just a short while ago as 'not important'. She was quite vocal of her concerns as well.

"W-well," the timid mare stammered, walking from the kitchen. Balanced upon her left wing was a tray that held two finely detailed cups for tea. "I just meant that if you were busy, I could've asked somepony else. Like Rarity, or Ms. Heartstrings, maybe?"

"You know as well as I do Rarity is busy with her dresses right now," Twilight stated with an arched eyebrow, "and do you even know where Lyra Heartstrings lives? Or have ever talked to her?" No quicker than did she try to put together a protest than did she slump her head in defeat and admit a negative to both questions.

Twilight softened her glare, "Listen, Fluttershy, I know you mean well, but you know we're here to help you if you need it. You can't just keep thinking of your problems as defferable inconveniences."

"But it wasn't that important, Twilight, really. I'm sure Angel wouldn't have minded waiting for a little while longer. Would you have, Angel?" she asked, though a carrot launched from his small tabled home an a disapproving glare said otherwise. Convinced then he had made his point, the Angel swiped his head back inside his home to settle down for a nap.

Twilight returned her attention to Fluttershy, "Look, you've just need to learn to tell us when something is wrong, OK? We're your friends, we're more than happy to help you. You know that."

"I do," Fluttershy sighed, allowing the tray that rested upon her wing to slide off and sweep gently onto the table. "I just don't asking a lot of you girls. Just yesterday I asked Applejack if she could watch the girls during their sleepover, since she's the onlyone who can seem to handle them. I could barely take when there were just three of them, but now that there are five..."

"Six, actually," Twilight corrected, taking one of the fine china glasses in her magic. "A classmate of theirs had just joined them."

"Really?" she asked with a shudder, one that subsided almost as quickly as it arrived, and turned in to a warm smile, "That's nice. Who is she?"

"He," Twilight stated, "Is Pipsqueak. He's just a colt from Trottingham, is all."

"Oh, I see. Is he nice? To Nyx, I mean?

"I haven't really seen him around her, but from what she says of him he does sound like he is very sweet to her. From what I've seen of him around Ponyville, he's practically a gentlecolt."

"So then,": Fluttershy cocked an eyebrow, "what do you have to worry about? He sounds just fine for Nyx."

"I suppose he... wait, what?" Twilight's eyes went wide, "what do you mean?"

"Your worried about this, Twilight, I can tell. I've seen that look in many of my critter friends' eyes before in situations like this."

"What, what do you mean situation? I'm not worried, Fluttershy. There's nothing to be worried about"

"If that's so," Fluttershy said calmy glancing up to the teacup in Twilight's aura, "then why are you shaking so much?" It was true. Twilight's cup was shivering in her aura. The tea it held had been creating small waves, some few droplets running out from the edge if the wave was large enough. It hadn't been an entire spilling, though a small brown stain was becoming visible on the carpet where Twilight stood.

Twilight groaned in annoyance, and allowed the cup to fall from her grip, though not from a height that would make it shatter from the fall. "You're right, Fluttershy. This is still bothering me. I don't know why. Applejack is helping me already, so I should be fine, shouldn't I?" She sighed in self-pity, allowing herself a glance at Fluttershy, though not too long a glance. She did not want her friend to see her in this, she believed, idiotic state of being. All she could manage to say was, "I'm sorry Fluttershy. I'm just venting myself onto you, aren't I? This is just stupid, don't worry about it."

A warm, feathery feeling wrapped around her back, and she looked to the source. "Now who's reducing their problems to silly inconveniences?" Fluttershy asked, chuckling. "Don't worry about it Twilight, it's natural that you are worried about your daughter." Twilight allowed the canary mare's hoof to stroke her mane gently. "Just tell me about it OK?"

Well that was officially a bore Rainbow Dash grumbled internally as she flew from the stadium. She had been asked. for some reason, to spy on Nyx and Pinkie Pie. She had agreed to it, a little too quickly, she thought. Thankfully, Applejack had gone and offered her a free mug of Apple Cider for this favor, making any take back all but impossible. The actual doing of the task, however, made a take back suddenly very tempting. The filly was doing nothing!

The entire 'stakeout had been just one big snooze fest of nothing, Rainbow Dash thought. Nyx had been just sitting there quietly, either sipping at her cup, or asking Pinkie Pie a question. Anytime the ponies around her applauded, it took around five seconds for her to start her own weak clapping. The only interesting thing that happened was when she nearly dropped her popcorn due to flinching at an incoming foul ball. A ball that was caught by the brown and white colt that sat next to her.

After she confirmed the two left, the little colt leaving almost exactly when they did, she had begun her trip back to her cloud house which resided above Ponyville. At the speed she had gone, it took but mere minutes to arrive at her puffy home. Flying through an open 'window', she was able to speed into to her room and flop onto her bed. Despite what her friends would somewhat subtly assume, her house was not an unkempt model of Tartarus. The floors were very clear, not a single article of clothing (which she didn't even have enough of to make a significant mess), nor paper lay upon it. The kitchen was also very clear, very few dishes, if any at all, were ever in the sink or laying around. It would be however, fair to say that the cloud home was practically littered with Wonderbolt posters, figurines, and other memorabilia.

After settling into the cumulus mattress, Rainbow Dash began to shift around for a few moments before finding her usual comfort zone. Applejack wasn't expecting her until that afternoon with a 'report' on Nyx, so she decided to take a nap before that time. Still, Rainbow found this rather strange. Wouldn't just be easier to go directly to Twilight with the information? Uh-huh. Sure it would. Ignoring her nagging subconscious, she closed her eyes and freed herself to the light bliss her napping brought.

Pinkie Pie had been right; the game was easy to understand. The ponies would go up to a small square with a large stick called a bat. They would try to hit a ball with it, and then run around in an even larger square unless they got touched by a pony who caught he ball. It was hard to tell when to cheer or not. Sometimes the ponies around her would go berserk with cheer, other times with rage for the exact same thing.

However, other things began to wander through her mind as she gave a farewell to Pipsqueak and Pinkie at the library. Why wasn't anypony using magic? Why did ponies just stop running when a ball was caught in midair? What were those silly pictures on the scoreboard next to team names?

Why hasn't Scootaloo told you what she talked about outside the tree house yet?

"Yeah, why... wait," Nyx paused mid sentence, tensing her muscles as to be able to jump at a moment's notice. She glanced around, "Who's there? Who said that? Show yourself!"

My, my. a voice echoed getting a little feisty, are we? Well, um, showing myself is going to prove a might difficult. After all, I'm up here.

Nyx tilted her head up reflexively, squinting her turquoise eyes to get a better view of the top of the house.

Not the *ceiling!* the voice cried out in annoyance. I'm up *here, in your mind, you know.*

It took a small time for Nyx to fathom the information, and when she did, her eyes went from concentration to full-blown terror. She began to back away, slowly, one hoof at a time, as if she were being stared down by a great shadow. She spoke, or rather stuttered, when her back finally made contact with a bookshelf, "N-no. You can't b-be here. P-princess Luna g-got r-r-rid of you. I got rid of you. There's no way you could still be here."