For lack of anything more concrete planned, Shining Armor opted to take everyone on a stroll through one of the many marketplaces in the city. It had been a long time since he'd done a regular hoof patrol; it would feel good to get cobblestones under his hooves again, even if these had a tendency to glitter. Besides, a little informal public appearance always helped public relations. Or so he'd heard.

It was close to noon, and the sky was clear as a crystal goblet. The sun beamed down through the magical dome of the city, warming the face and dazzling the eye as it sparkled off street, building, and pony alike. Not for the first time Shining Armor was grateful for the magic work they'd done on his eyes, otherwise the building-shine would be unbearable. For the others' part, Nyx had kept her hat and sunglasses firmly on, and had used a few coins from her winnings to buy Spike a pair of sunglasses from a booth they passed. Peewee seemed to have no problem with the light; unsurprising for a sun-bird.

Two of the guard tailed along behind; not so close as to keep people at a distance, but more than close enough that if anyone made trouble for the Prince Consort they could leap in.

It was actually rather pleasant.The market was as colorful as any in Canterlot, with traders hawking wares of every kind. There were more than a few non-pony traders working their stalls, Shining Armor noted; He saw a gryphon, a minotaur,  a pair of donkeys.... Once Sombra had finally fallen and the Heart had been restored, eager entrepreneurs of every race had flocked to the newly-arrived nation, products both exotic and mundane in tow. It was a good sign; it meant the Crystal Empire's economy was thriving.

The crystal ponies seemed to be taking it all in stride: another good sign. It had crossed both Shining Armor and Cadence's mind that relations with other races had been rather different a thousand plus years past. Who knew what ancient rivalries and enmities, things that were forgotten history to everypony else, were still fresh in the memories of those who lived in the Empire. They had done research on the era, of course, but the Canterlot libraries were woefully sparse on details about that time... and Celestia and Luna were a bit vague themselves. A thousand years is a thousand years after all, and plenty of time to forget, even for an alicorn.  

Thankfully, no old rivalries seemed to be bubbling under the surface; the crystal ponies were behaving as cheerfully and civilly with the other races as with any of their own... albeit a bit nervously. It had been a while since they had seen outsiders in the Empire, especially ones like minotaurs and gryphons.

There was something off about how ponies were behaving, though. Shining Armor couldn't quite put a hoof on it. The native tradesponies and pedestrians seemed... stand offish with him and his men. Not merely like he would expect anyone to be around ponies in uniform, or even around low ranking royalty like himself (and wasn't it a thing to think of himself like that!) But something different. Something with more of an edge to it.

He fell back a bit so that he could talk to his guards. The two were recent imports from Canterlot who had followed him up to the Crystal Empire; he felt he could speak freely with them. "Tell me," he said to them, keeping his voice casual. "Have you noticed anything different about how the native ponies here react to you fellows?"

The one on his left gave him a hesitant glance from the corner of his eye. He let the stiff-faced professional stance drop just a bit and nodded, briefly. "I was going to say something, sir," he admitted. "The crystal empire citizens seem a touch more..." he paused, obviously searching for the words. "A touch more chilly, I suppose is the word, around myself and Swift Wing."

Shining Armor turned his attention to Swift Wing. The other guard nodded also. "Same here, sir" he said. "Ever since we arrived."

"Don't think it's the armor?" Shining asked.

The guard shook his head. "No sir. If anything the reception is chillier when I'm out in my civvies."

Shining Armor looked them over. It posed an interesting question. Thanks to the "sparkle" effect of the Crystal Heart, everyone in the Empire, native or foreigner, had the same glittery effect on them. If it weren't for their wings, they could have both easily passed for ponies born and raised--

If it weren't for their wings...

Shining Armor looked around at the teeming crowds of ponies. For the first time since he first set hoof in the city, he noticed something that was missing. Or rather, two somethings. " Silver Streak, keep an eye on my niece. Swift Wing, come with me," he said, casually detouring down an alleyway. Once all three of them were out of sight, to his guard's consternation he promptly shucked out of his uniform. "Hold this," he said, tossing it to Swift Wing.

Shining then applied a few spells to himself; the standard-issue camouflage and emergency disguise spells taught to every Royal Guard. His mane and tail turned pale yellow, and his cutie mark changed from a kite shield and stars to a kite on a string. One could only do so much to magically disguise a cutie mark.  "Not my best work, but it'll pass," he muttered.

"What are you doing, sir?" Swift Wing asked, confused.

"A little experiment." He took his uniform and tucked it into one of this saddlebags. The wrinkles would iron out. "You fall back a little bit and watch what happens." Still confused but ready to obey orders, Swift Wing nodded.

A few moments later a blonde unicorn pony with a kite flying cutie mark made his way down the main drag. He picked a random booth, a lemonade stand, and sidled up to the pony behind the counter. "How much for a glass?" he asked cheerfully.

The pony working the stand turned around to look at his customer-- and froze, for just the briefest of moments. His eyes flicked up to Shining Armor's forehead, then down to look him in the eye with a carefully neutral expression. If Shining hadn't been looking for it, he never would have noticed it. "Two bits," he said, his voice cool. Shining paid his two bits, took his glass of lemonade and left. Was it his imagination or did the serving pony glower at him just a bit when he thought Shining wasn't looking?

It was the same story at every booth run by a Crystal Pony(1): That quick darting glance up at his forehead, the suddenly neutral or downright chilly reception. After about seven or eight booths, and a few tries at striking up idle chit chat with ponies on the street, Shining Armor retreated to another alleyway and removed his disguise. He rejoined his two guards. "Well?" he asked Swift Wing.

Swift Wing nodded. "I see what you mean, sir," he said. "Every native pony seems to get a little less friendly the instant they clap eyes on your horn." he scuffed a hoof, not taking his eyes off the surroundings. "You may not have noticed sir, but some of them seemed to get outright hostile once your back was turned..."

"I did catch that," Shining Armor murmured.

"I've noticed ponies glancing at our sides in the same way," Silver Streak said, ruffling a wing by way of demonstration. "It's like they never saw a pegasus or a unicorn in their lives."

"Or they did once and didn't like what they saw," Swift Wing said.

"I'm starting to get a few theories about that," Shining Armor muttered, "and not any that I like."

"Sir?"

"Take a look at the crowd, soldier. I mean really look at them. Notice anything missing?"

The two guards looked around. It took them a few seconds to realize what Shining Armor was talking about. "They're all earth ponies," Silver Streak said, marveling. "I don't see a single pegasus or unicorn in the bunch... not any I'd mistake for a native, anyway."

"And I'd bet my monthly stipend there aren't any. Or they're so rare that you'll never see them," Shining Armor said. "This is a kingdom made entirely of earth ponies. And like I said, I don't like any of the theories I've got as to why..."

"Sir? what I was saying about them looking at you when your back was turned?" Swift Wing said. "I think I should add sir, not all of them looked hostile.

"Some of them looked afraid."

Spike and Nyx were enjoying themselves, trotting back and forth from booth to booth, gaping at all the items on display. If there was any problem in their world, they were blissfully unaware of it. Nyx and Spike had divvied up and eaten the hard candies from her winnings, and the horseshoe had gone into her saddlebag. That still left her with a handful of bits to spend on whatever she liked. It was a giddying choice. There were sweets and treats and toys and trinkets of every kind, sparkly (what else but sparkly?) bric a brac, pretty things for your mane and tail, books and hats and kitschy tourist junk...

The choices were all so tempting that she sat down in the middle of the road, desperately trying to think. So many choices. But do I get one big thing? Or lots of little things? I want my money to last -- well a little while anyway...

Spike had his own money and was eager to spend it. "C'mon, Nyx, make up your mind already," he said, tapping his foot. He had his eye on a booth that was selling loose semiprecious stones down the way.

"Okay, okay, give me a minute," she said. She looked around, then brightened when she saw a particularly colorful stand. Perfect! It would be a nice start to her splurge... And it only cost a quarter-bit. She ran over and, after a little thought, bought five.

Shining Armor and his guards were discussing what they had just observed when they were interrupted by what appeared to be a large hat bearing a pink and blue cloud. "Cotton Candy!" The hat sang. A quick double check revealed it was Nyx, bearing several enormous sticks of cotton candy on a cardboard tray in her mouth. She stopped in front of Shining Armor and held the tray up, smiling hopefully. "Mommy said once that the blue kind is your favorite."

Surprised, Shining Armor levitated the blue cotton candy stick out of the box. "I.... well thank you, Nyx." He took a bite of his unexpected treat.

Nyx turned to the two guards. She set the box down and with some effort she levitated two more cotton candies out and forced them on the guards. "And I got some for you, too," she said. Bemused, they took the sticks in their hooves. Cotton candy treats weren't exactly listed in their typical rules of engagement. Spike came waddling up; she levitated another over to him. "And one to Spike," she said. Then she floated the last one out of the box, smacked her lips and prepared to take a huge bite...

Just as an errant breeze kicked up, wafting her fluffy treat off down the midway. Nyx's teeth chomped down on thin air. "Hey!" she proclaimed angrily and took off in pursuit. She came back a minute later, clutching her cotton candy by the stick with one hoof, trotting along threelegged and grumbling to herself. The three stallions present wisely stifled their chuckles at her mishap. Spike and Peewee, not being so wise, kept right on snickering and cheeping in amusement. She shot them both a death-glare that was somewhat muted in its effectiveness by her pooched lower lip.

There was a muted rumble(2) in the distance. "Oh darn," Shining said, looking up. Through the magic dome clouds could be seen massing on the horizon, a humdinger of a blizzard. The warm air inside the dome would turn it to rain, but it still wouldn't be pleasant to get caught out in it. "Welcome to another little feature of living up here in the Crystal Empire, everyone; the weather around here happens when it darn well pleases." Ponies all around them started hustling to get off the street. Vendors began closing up, preparing to ride out the rain in their tents and booths. "Let's find someplace to get out of the rain."

Nyx turned in a circle. "Oh, oh!" she said, pointing with a hoof. Shining Armor looked; there was a movie theater just down the street. "Can we go see a movie? Can we?" She risked levitating her cotton candy again and started digging through her saddlebag. "I think I have enough bits for a ticket."

Shining Armor pondered. After his little chat with Roller Reel, he found himself curious about the state of the cinema in his new kingdom. "Iiiii think I got us covered for ticket money," he said.  "Come on everypony, let's go spoil our dinner with some bad popcorn." The group trotted for the theater, hastily snarfing their cotton candy as they went.

They stepped inside just as the first drops of rain pattered to the street. Inside it was quiet, comfortable and much to Nyx's relief, dimly lit. She propped her sunglasses up on her hat to look at the movie posters lining the lobby.

"Huh, looks like they've imported a lot of the big hits from Canterlot," Shining said. "Well, it's not like they've had time to build their own movie studios up here. Let's see, what do they got?"

Spike took a look himself. "Lessee, 'Curse of the Vampony.' Looks like a pretty cool horror flick."

Nyx looked over at the poster in question. It looked pretty scary all right. There was an abundance of bats and creeping things all around the edges and letters in gory drippy red font, and in the middle of the poster was a coal black mare with a wild midnight purple mane and white fangs and and black bat wings and glowing eyes and...

Nyx shuddered. "Not that one, please."

"Awww," Spike said, but he relented. A bad tempered or whiny Nyx was bad, in his opinion, but a Nyx waking everyone up with nightmares all night was the worst.

"Hmm. 'Evening Sky,' " Shining Armor read. " 'A love story like no other.' " The poster for this one featured a couple in a 'passionate' embrace. Or, well, at least an embrace of some sort. The leading lady was an earth pony with a face so bland and expressionless it could have been vanilla pudding. She radiated her lack of personality right through the poster.

The male lead was, allegedly, a diamond dog. Allegedly, because the creature on the poster had closer kinship to a groomed long-haired poodle than any diamond dog on this world or any other. "He" was tall, slim, graceful, with pouty lips, high cheekbones and a coat of long flowing silken locks. He also, inexplicably, sparkled.

Nyx gaped in bafflement. Spike on the other hand took one look and fell down laughing. The final verdict: the two of them pretended to stick their hoof/finger down their throat and made gagging noises.

"Dodged a bullet with that one," Swift Wing muttered to Silver Streak. Streak nodded.

"How about this one?" Shining pointed to a poster featuring an enormous dragon stomping its way through some hapless city.

Spike gave him a particularly hard stare. "Pass," he said.

"Oh right, Twilight told me about the, ah, birthday incident," Shining said with a cough. "Moving on...."

"'The Pony of Steel' looks like it might be good," Spike suggested.

"Oh! Oh oh oh!" Nyx suddenly squealed. "It's the My Little Kewpie movie!" At the others' uncomprehending stares, Nyx elaborated. "It's based off this book series about these little creatures called Kewpies," she said, pointing to the pink-ish, monkey-like creatures on the rather flowery poster. "They raise flowers and make candy and they love the color pink, and they have parties and adventures together and... boys... probably... wouldn't... care for them very much," she finished lamely, looking at Spike.

"Hey, got it in one," Spike said dryly. He glanced over at the ticket counter. "We'd better hurry and pick something or we'll miss the first screening." Ponies, mostly young colts and fillies, were pouring through the doors and piling up at the ticket counter.

Curious, Shining Armor snagged one of the colts. "Hey, fella," he said. "Scuse me, but what's the big rush for?"

The colt pointed to a poster they'd missed. "It's the premiere of 'There and Back Again,' " he said, eyes shining with excitement. "It's gonna be the most awesomest movie ever!"

Shining looked at the poster. It featured  a party of rough and ready looking earth ponies, a tallish, bearded unicorn in grey wizard robes, and a small donkey standing in front wielding a glowing, leaf-bladed sword in his mouth. In the background was the silhouette of a lonely mountain, over which the shadow of a dragon flew. "There and Back Again: Part one of three," he read aloud. He looked over at the crowd. "Well they seem pretty enthusiastic about it," he said. Here and there he saw colts carrying toy swords or plush dolls of the burro, or wearing wizard's hats... one or two were dressed in full costumes, medieval clothing like the earth ponies on the poster.

Nyx and Spike gave each other a look. "Well, umpty jillion ponies in goofy costumes can't be wrong," Spike shrugged. "Let's give it a shot."

"You sure, Spike?" Shining Armor asked. "It kind of looks like the villain is a dragon..."

Spikes brow furrowed. "Yeah, I know. I've met other dragons.They're jerks." He crossed his arms. "I kinda think I can cope with one being a villain in a movie."

"Okay, then..." Shining Armor said. "five tickets for 'There and Back Again...' "

Tickets purchased, jumbo sodas and tubs of popcorn secured, they made their way into the theater and found their seats. The projector rolled...

And Nyx and Shining Armor were entranced.

They found that they were watching a legend set "in an ancient, long forgotten time, in a distant, long forgotten land" called Centre World, and the adventures of a humble little mountain donkey named Bilbo Burro as he journeyed with a band of earth ponies and Canter The Grey to defeat the evil dragon Smoak and reclaim their mountain homeland. There were giant spiders and Diamond Dogs (real ones, not like that frilly sissy one on the other poster) and a city of unicorns called Rivendale and a creature called Gargle who told riddles and a magic horseshoe that must've been really important because all the fanponies in the audience went "ooooo" when it appeared and heroic battles and...

And oooh boy, that soda was awful big...

Blushing, Nyx whispered her excuse to Shining Armor, who just chuckled and moved to let her out of her seat. She galloped for the restrooms as fast as she could go. Silver Streak started to stand up to follow her; Shining Armor put a hoof out. "Don't stand outside the door," he said. "Just wait in the lobby for her."

"Sir?"

Shining grinned wryly. "Trust me on this one. It'll make things easier on both of you."

Nyx bolted for the restroom at top speed, frantic not to miss any of the movie. She thought she was going to burst! The moment she clapped eyes on the 'restroom' sign she dove for it like it was her last and only hope. Unfortunately, in her haste and her unfamiliarity with Crystal Empire door symbols, she went into the little colt's room by mistake...

She got through the swinging door and into one of the little stalls just in time. She sat there for a minute or two afterwards, sighing in relief. But before she could get to her hooves and open her stall door, a bunch of rowdy colts came tumbling into the bathroom, shouting and laughing. She froze, her hoof on the stall door latch. Boys? What were boys doing in the girl's bathroom--   oh, horseapples.

Instinctively, she shrank back and pulled her hooves up on the toilet seat. Maybe if she waited until they left she could sneak out. Oh gross. She was going to hear them peeing and stuff...

They didn't seem to be interested in 'tending to business,' though. They were all laughing and jeering at something; No, at some pony. And it sounded like whoever it was really wasn't happy about it.

Curious, Nyx put her eye to the gap in the stall door. There were four or five colts gathered around one, jeering, taunting and pushing at him. He was barely half their size, a scrawny white foal with a tousled mane and tail. "Leave me alone!" he kept saying unhappily.

The leader of the bullies, a stocky, dark red colt with an orange mane, sneered. "Oh, widdle blank-flank pointy-head wants us to leave him alone," he jeered. He gave a shove, knocking the other colt off his hooves. "Think you're so much better than us, huh, Bright Eyes? Think you don't gotta talk to us, huh? You wanna look down on us, your highness? We'll fix that. Let's put him up high, fellas!"

The colts closed on the small one. There was a tumult of yelling, screaming and crying. When they backed away, the small colt was hanging upside down from the coat hooks by the door. They'd tied a knot in his tail and left him hanging there. It obviously hurt a lot. He was crying aloud, tears starting in his eyes while his tormentors laughed.

Nyx smothered a gasp. She'd never seen foals do anything so cruel!

His saddlebags had fallen to the floor. The leader of the group kicked them open. Out rolled a plush doll; one of the Bilbo Burro dolls Nyx had seen one or two other foals carrying in the theater. The bully picked it up and waved it about, grinning like he'd found the prize at the bottom of a box of cereal. "Aww, man, look at this! He still plays with stuffed toys!"

The foal hanging on the wall panicked. "No, don't-- that's mine!"

The bully laughed. "Awww, liddle pointy head loves his little dolly," he said. The other foals joined in, hooting in derision. The colt dropped the doll on the floor. "Bet you'd be real upset if I did this." He stomped on the plush violently.

The doll's owner wept. "Stop it, you're hurting him!"

The bullies howled. "Oh yeah?" the brown colt said. "We told you to never show your ugly pointy-head face in our neighborhood or our movie theater ever again. But you show up anyway, and when we try to talk to you you're all 'leave me alone, leave me alone....' So I guess you gotta learn your lesson like this!" He pinned the doll to the floor, grabbed its forelegs in his teeth and began to yank, jerking his head back and forth savagely.

"Nooo!!--" There was the sound of ripping cloth---

Then an almighty bang from the other side of the bathroom as someone kicked their stall door open. The gang of bullies, even their leader, all stopped and whirled about in surprise. There stood Nyx, head lowered, glaring at all of them over her sunglasses and from under that ridiculous hat. "Leave him alone!"

The group froze. Finally one of them spoke up. "What the heck is a girl doing in here??"

Nyx's temper was running away with her mouth again, but for once it stood her in good stead. She felt her face flush but stood her ground. "Kicking your flanks if you don't leave him alone, Plothead," she said. It was delivered with such cool confidence that the lead bully actually backed up a step, uncertain.

Another of his toadies spoke up. "Dude, are you gonna let a filly talk to you like that?"

He heard this and seemed to remember himself. He sneered and kicked the torn plushie into a corner. "Like heck I am," he said. He strode across the room and gave Nyx a shove that sent her sprawling. " Guess your girlfriend isn't any tougher than you are, Bright Eyes," he laughed, the others joining in.

Nyx got back to her feet, her hat and sunglasses knocked off. She was mad. She was beyond mad. She was, in fact, so angry that she was unaware that her horn was sparking and eyes were glowing and her voice had taken on a strange, tinny echo. "I told you to leave him alone," she said. A spark shot out of her horn on the word alone and bobbled across the room, grounding out on the light switch. The lights dimmed and flickered, throwing the room in shadow. She started walking towards them deliberately, trying to look tough, her tiny wings sliding out of their sleeves in her vest and mantling.

Comedy unexpectedly ensued.

This particular collection of juvenile delinquents had been at the theater proving their machismo to each other by ragging one another into sitting through whatever horror flicks the theater (fifteen screens!) was showing at the time. They had been theater-hopping from one gruesome movie to the next all day, gassing each other up and more or less guaranteeing that all of them would be suffering rip-snorting nightmares for at least the rest of the week.

As it so happened, they had just finished watching "the Curse of the VamPony," which was even more lurid and gory and terrifying than its poster had promised, when they decided to take a break and torture a colt they didn't like. One of the many delightful plot devices in this cinematic masterpiece was the existence of several VamPony foals, who managed to make several appearances throughout the movie, springing out of random corners, pouncing on the hapless cast of victims just when everypony thought they were safe and scaring the utter high-fiber crap out of the audience. Later reviews would describe them as being the highlight of the movie, being even scarier than the titular monster herself. They were small, night-black fillies with indigo manes, wings and glowing cat-like eyes....

The astute reader can see where this is going.

One of the toadies summed it up, his proclamation of panic ascending on a rising note. "...OohhhHHH HORSEAPPLES, she's a VAMPONEEEEE!!!"

Give him credit, 'Dude' held his ground. More or less. "No, no way," he stammered. "Vamponies ain't real, they ain't REAL, guys!" He backed up, forcing the ponies behind him back against the wall. They weren't exactly resisting. In fact they seemed intent on merging with the grouting in the tile.

Nyx paused, gobsmacked. They thought she was one of those monsters on the movie poster? Her? She was about as intimidating as a sofa cushion. These guys were morons!

Nyx didn't like being scared. She hated it. And she didn't like scaring other people. She'd hated being Nightmare Moon because everypony had been afraid of her. But in every heart there lies a mischievous streak that cannot be entirely suppressed and that enjoys a good prank. Besides, these ponies were jerks. And anyway, nopony alive could resist after getting an opening like that.

She stalked forward, head lowered and wings raised, till she was nose to nose with the lead bully. She looked him right in the eye.

"Boo."

Silver Streak was standing in the middle of the lobby, idly waiting for the Consort Prince's niece, when the men's room door burst open and what looked like half a dozen screaming colts exploded into the lobby. They tumbled over one another, then got to their hooves and ran past him, out the front door and into the rain, screaming about 'vamponies.' Caught flathoofed, Silver Streak could only stand akimbo, looking back and forth from the bathroom door to the direction the screaming colts had fled. "What the loopty-loop...?" he said, looking at the startled ticket pony.

The ticket pony sighed and got out of his booth. "Don't worry about it, Mister," he said. "That lot is always causing trouble around here. Let me go get the boss and we'll take care of-- whatever they did in there."

At that moment Shining Armor stepped into the lobby. "What's taking that girl so long?"

Silver Streak saluted. "Sir there seems to be some sort of ruckus in the men's room," he said. "Should we--?"

"Was that all that yelling I heard?" Shining Armor growled. "Come on then, let's go in there. We're the Empire's protectors, on duty or not."

Nyx rolled on the floor laughing. It was the funniest thing she'd seen all week. It took her several seconds to calm down enough to stand up again.

The bullied colt was still hanging upside down by his tail from the coathook. He hung there, his legs tucked into his belly, and stared at Nyx with wide, bulging eyes. Nyx wiped her eyes and looked back at him. "Oh gosh," she said, sobering up. "Here, let me help you down--" She reached up to the colt to try and lift him off the hook.

The instant her hooves touched him though he started screaming. "AAAH! AAAH! AAAH!" He waved his hooves around in a panic as Nyx tried to grapple with him.

"Calm down," she said. "I'm trying to help!"

It was this scene that Shining Armor and Silver Streak burst in on; Nyx, in the middle of a recently panic-abandoned bathroom, roughhousing a foal who was screaming in panic. "What are you DOING?" Shining Armor shouted in anger.

Nyx nearly jumped out of her skin. She let go of the colt and backed into the center of the room, eyes wide. "I... I..."

Shining Armor felt his anger swell. "What is this? What are you doing to that colt?" Shining Armor stormed into the room, stiff with anger. Silver Streak came after, lifting the colt down off the hook while Shining Armor faced down Nyx. "Is that what you get up to when you think we aren't looking?"

Nyx curled up in a ball, eyes wide. "But I didn't-- I--"

"AAAAH! VAMPONY!"

The ticket pony's supervisor, a teenager barely older than the ticket pony, had arrived. He, too, had seen the movie, and upon clapping eyes on Nyx had drawn the predictable conclusion. He grabbed a nearby metal wastebasket and threw it over Nyx, and then jumped up on top, holding it down. "Oh not this again!" Nyx yelled.

"Vampony? What--- She's not a vampony!" Shining Armor yelled in annoyance.

"I caught a vampony! Call the Guard!"

           "I AM the Guard!"

"Let me out!"

"Aaah!"

"YOU'RE ALL A BUNCH OF PLOTHEADS!"

After everypony finally calmed down, they reconvened out in the lobby. Nyx, fuming and unhappy, had finally managed to relate everything that happened. All the arguing and yelling was now taking place between the movie theater manager, who was complaining loudly about the Guard not being able to do anything even when trouble was happening right under their noses and why hadn't they sent anypony when the manager had called about hoodlums in his theater before, and Shining Armor who was feeling angry and embarrassed and not on his best game and who had been reduced to turning the argument around on the manager and demanding to know why the manager was incapable of keeping his own theater under control... Spike, for his part, was just sitting on a nearby bench and watching everypony fuss and argue with a look of disgust on his face.

Nyx finally decided to ignore the fussing grownups. She noticed that the colt she'd helped was still there. He was sitting on the other side of the lobby, cradling the torn pieces of his stuffed toy and crying quietly. His sparkle, she realized, was almost completely out. Nyx trotted quietly over to where he was sitting. "Are you okay?" she asked softly.

The colt nodded. He sniffed and wiped his eyes with his foreleg. "Th-thank you for helping me," he said, his voice thick with tears. "I'm sorry I screamed at you."

Nyx shuffled her hooves a little. "Well I was kind of trying to be scary," she said. She restrained a giggle. "It was pretty funny, though. I thought they were gonna have to mop the floor after those bullies." The colt gave a halfhearted smile. "The best part?" Nyx went on. "When I yelled 'boo' and all their sparkles went out-- all at once. Eeee!" Nyx threw her hooves up in mock horror. This elicited a giggle, and the colt brightened a little more. Literally, in his case; his sparkle regained some of its luster. "My name's Nyx. What's yours?"

"Bright Eyes," the colt said.

"Why were those dorks picking on you?" Nyx asked.

Bright Eyes looked down. "'Cause I'm a Pointy-head," He said. At Nyx's puzzled look, he parted his rather tousled mane, revealing a horn. "There aren't very many of us," he said. "Not any more. And lots of ponies don't like us." His face turned sour and his sparkle dimmed again. "I'm weak. Weaker than anypony in my class. Unicorns are supposed to have magic, but I don't. So they beat me up, because I can't fight back. All because I'm a pointy-head.

"Mom is a normal pony. Dad is a normal pony. Why'd I have to be the freak?"

Nyx was slack jawed. They bullied him because he was a unicorn? "You're not a freak!" she protested. "Being a unicorn doesn't make you a freak!"

"It does in the Crystal Empire," Bright Eyes said somberly.

Nyx was left speechless.

She looked down and saw the torn doll in Bright Eyes' hooves. She held out her hoof. "Can I see?"

Warily, unwillingly, Bright Eyes handed her his damaged Burro. Nyx looked it over. the legs had been torn loose and the seam down the side had been busted. Nyx pulled her own Smarty Pants doll out of her saddlebag. "This is Smarty Pants," she said. "She was my Mom's when she was a filly, then she gave her to me. She's really old, so I gotta fix her a lot." Nyx magicked a small bundle out of Smarty Pant's vest pocket; a pincushion, a needle, a spool of thread. Carefully she threaded the needle and picked up Bilbo.

"I can fix him up a little, so at least he'll hold together till your Mom can fix him up better," she said as she carefully tucked the loose stuffing back inside the donkey. Slowly, she began laboriously stitching the ripped seams back together. Rarity had shown her how to do a little sewing. Nothing fancy, but it got the job done.

It took several minutes and the stitches were crude and obvious, but the sewing was straight and the thread was good and stout. Bright Eyes took him back joyfully. "He's.. he's okay. He's good as new," he said. "Thank you!" He cuddled the plush donkey, a smile wreathing his face. His sparkle lit up the room.

Nyx smiled. It was sure easy to tell when a crystal pony was feeling better.

A shadow fell over the two of them. Somepony cleared their throat. Nyx looked behind her; Shining Armor was standing there, his face a mask. Nyx wilted inside. "Come on, Nyx," he said, his voice tense. "We're going back to the castle."

"You live in the castle?" Bright Eyes said in surprise. Nyx nodded. "Um, I'm visiting," she said.  Bright Eyes looked up at the unicorn stallion standing behind his friend. His eyes went wide as he realized who it had to be. He gulped and bowed, then beat a hasty retreat, leaving Nyx alone.

The walk home was a terribly quiet one. Shining Armor cast a light shield overhead, warding off the rain as they walked. He said nothing, his face stony. Nyx refused to look at anyone, walking with her head down and her hat drooping down over her ears. Even Peewee was unusually quiet.

When they returned to the castle, Shining Armor dismissed the guards with a quiet commendation for their professionalism. The rest of them trooped into the royal quarters, weary and disgruntled.

Nyx didn't say a word. She went straight to her bedroom and closed the door.

It wasn't lost on Shining Armor. After a few brief words to the servants, he walked down to the guest rooms and knocked on the door. "Nyx?" he said softly.

The answer was faint. "Come in," Nyx said.

Shining Armor pushed the door open. Nyx was lying curled up on her bed, Smarty Pants cuddled up to her, her back to the door. Her hat and sunglasses and vest were on the dresser, her saddlebags on the floor. She didn't move or look up when Shining Armor stepped in.

He sat down on the floor next to the bed. "Nyx, I'm sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have... jumped to conclusions. I heard all that ruckus and saw that little colt and-- and I just assumed you were responsible. That was wrong. I was wrong." He looked at her turned back and hunched shoulders.

Nyx still didn't look at him. "It's okay," she said emotionlessly. The tone of her voice made Shining want to kick himself. "It happens a lot. I'm used to it."

"It does, does it?" Shining Armor said.

Nyx nodded. "A couple of weeks ago I went to visit the Apples," she said. "And Granny Smith stuck me under a wicker basket and made my friends sit on it till she got back with a guard from Ponyville to have me arrested."

Shining Armor stifled a snort of laughter. "She actually did that?" he chuckled. "So that's what you meant by 'not this again,' " he said.

Nyx nodded. Shining Armor's amusement faded. He tried to imagine what that must have been like from her perspective...  stuck in a cage by your own friends while a crazy old mare screamed accusations at you and threatened to have you hauled off to prison. Shining Armor felt a wrench of pity for the filly.

Yes, filly. He really believed it now, he realized. He genuinely believed that Nyx really was just a little filly, like any other. Till this moment, he'd always had a little mental twitch of denial whenever it was said, whenever some pony called her his niece. That was gone now. She was his niece; she'd always been his niece. It wasn't a happy realization.

That dreadful mess after trying to make him lunch...That hopeful look on her face when she handed him that cotton candy....

"...That still doesn't make it right," he said.  He put his hoof on her shoulder. She raised her head up and looked at him. "Nyx, I've been.... tricked a lot in the past. And what you did when you were Nightmare Moon wasn't the first. I've gotten untrusting and suspicious, and I took it out on you, even though you did everything you could to make it right afterward. I'm so very sorry. But if you give me a second chance, I'll try to be a better uncle. A real uncle. Can you do that?"

There was a sniffle. Nyx rolled over to face him, tears welling up in her eyes. Wordlessly she threw her hooves around his neck and snuffled into his shoulder.

When repentance is offered, forgiveness should be given.

It felt good.