Twilight’s tree-home shrunk from Nix’s view as he was flung away from it with terrible velocity. The orange glow of the light from the room he had just hastily, unintentionally exited formed a distracting counterpoint to the overwhelming palette of blue that consumed his vision. The leafy boughs of the tree’s considerable heights glowed azure under the soft murmur of the late evening moon’s otherworldly light, framing the lunar princess’s rage-contorted face perfectly as she hurtled after him. She bared her teeth angrily, adding a flash of white to the human’s present color-coded distractions.

“You know, I’ve got the strangest sense of deja vu right now!” he called out before slamming into the ground, rolling a few times before skidding to a stop.

Luna’s hooves pounded into the earth at his feet shortly thereafter, kicking up a small cloud of dust. “Silence!” she snarled. Her horn lit up.

“No, wait-”

The bolt of magical energy caught him squarely in the chest, the force of the attack driving him into the ground before his mostly intact organic components rebounded forcefully. He bounced a few more meters.

“Would you just-”

Another bolt struck home, sending him cartwheeling through the street.

“Listen, just let me-”

Luna continued playing kick-the-can with the human’s body through Ponyville’s streets with her magic, her normally delicate features chiselled into a mask of uncontrolled fury. After his first few volleys of attempts to reason with the alicorn, Nix remained silent, which may or may not have been a side-effect of her continued assaults on his chest impeding his ability to breathe. All throughout the princess’s rampage, lights began to adorn the windows in the rustic houses that littered the town.

A particularly strong blast of her horn caught him in his chin, snapping his head back. Time seemed to slow, and all at once Nix perceived the end of the road, the brightly colored house at the end of that road, and the filly staring wide-eyed at Luna’s assault of the human from the house’s second story window. Her mouth and her pale green eyes widened considerably when she saw the human meteor sailing directly towards her.

Nix’s mouth remained motionless, but his eyes did begin to glow. Gouts of flame burst from his shoulders and formed into makeshift wings that hammered at the air once, stopping him in place and righting him. He turned the inhuman, glowing blue orbs back to Princess Luna, who halted her pursuit immediately.

“Elsewhere,” he said softly.

“Agreed,” Luna replied coldly. Her horn sparked, and Nix felt himself ripped apart by the threads of harmony magic that tore at every cell in his body as he immediately disappeared. The filly gaped at the abruptly empty street below her window as both Princess Luna and the alien disappeared in a flash of light.

“So, no one for tea?” Glancing Shock asked in monotone. “No one?” He paused, looking around the room. After a few seconds, his head stopped wavering and he merely stared off into empty space. The awkward stare thankfully didn’t last much more than a minute before Twilight snapped out of her shocked revery.

“I...I think we’re good on that front, Shock,” the purple mare replied, finally.

“Very well, then, Twily. If it’s all the same to you, I’d like to borrow your kitchen for-”

He was interrupted by wheezing laughter. His eyes attempted to widen before barreling into his self control. Instead, his eyelids drooped slightly in exasperation. He turned towards the source of the laughter. A deep blue pegasus with the wings of a bat held a hoof to his chest, his eyes squinted shut as he laughed.

“Why, Night-Captain Moon Glade. It’s always a pleasure, and what a terrible surprise to see you here,” he uttered boredly.

The pegasus stifled his mirth and looked up, his eyes as golden as a clear sunset’s birth. While his laughter had ceased, a small part of it seemed to dance permanently behind his slitted pupils. His ever-present smile widened slightly.

“Sparky! Glad ta’ see ya’ still have that Canterlot tower-sized stick up yer bum!”

“I have what?!” Twilight exclaimed.

Glancing Shock sighed. “Not you, Twily. Me. The Night-Captain here exercises almost as much restraint as the primate meteorite that just vacated the premises.”

“Less, hopefully.” The Night-Captain winked at Ridge Dancer as he trotted towards Glancing Shock and Twilight where they stood near the kitchen. The green unicorn’s features darkened before she regained control. “Though rumor has it he could drink one o’ me guards under the table.” Moon Glade’s smile widened. “I’d like ta’ see that.”

“Well, then, I should hope your princess at least leaves the alien’s digestive tract intact.”

The Night-Captain snorted at this. “From what I ‘ear, shan’t be a problem. Boy-o’s gotta knack for healing, amirite? Besides, the lass has taken a shinin’ to tha’ thing. ‘Aven’t seen ‘er this off ‘er rocker since I started this job, ta’ be honest.”

“I fail to see how Luna losing her temper is a good thing.”

Moon Glade draped a hoof over Glancing Shock’s shoulder. The light blue pegasus flinched, but the dark blue pegasus merely shook his head ruefully. “She’s an ice queen, tha’ princess. No two ways about it. Err, I mean ‘Luna’. Never lets ponies get through ‘er shell.” He nodded slowly to Twilight, who was absorbing the conversation with no small amount of confusion. “Present comp’ny excluded, ma’am.”

“R-right,” she stammered back.

“But this new guy-”

“-please remove your hoof before I stop your heart with my condition-”

“-he’s a real character, yeah? None o’ me guard could find ‘er last night. Later I find she’s out gallavanting across some backwater, spending ‘er time chattin’ it up wit’ some alien instead of tending to ‘er duties.”

“A Night-Captain besmirching the actions of his charge,” Glancing Shock muttered drily. “Why am I unsurprised?”

“Prolly ‘cuz yer not a Cap’n anymore, Sparky.”

Glancing Shock’s head whipped around ferociously and he shoved his face into the Night-Captain’s golden eyes, his mouth slowly twisting into a cruel smile. Moon Glade’s hoof catapulted off the back of the previous Guard-Captain’s shoulder, and his smile faltered as he made every attempt to avoid touching the ex-Guard-Captain. The light blue pegasus’s smile deepened slightly, and Moon Glade retracted further.

“Well, I’ve put off tea for long enough I think.” Glancing Shock’s features immediately went blank. “It’s terribly soothing. I can’t imagine how I could maintain control without it.” He shot Moon Glade an evil glare before trotting casually through the kitchen door.

Moon Glade snorted once. Twice. Finally, he shook his head. “Might a’ gotten that stick removed after all, Sparky,” he muttered to himself. He looked towards the two mares. “Any o’ you lasses thirsty? May as well, while we wait.”

“N-no, I’m fine,” Ridge Dancer replied, immediately returning her concerned gaze towards the hole in the wall.

Twilight stared blankly at the Night-Captain of the Lunar Guard. “I think I should see if there’s any alcohol left from yesterday’s party.”

A smile painted the night-pegasus’s face again as he disappeared into the kitchen, after Glancing Shock.

His skin felt like it was burning—an odd sensation to him, given his immunity—but it felt like a chunk of ice had been wedged squarely in his gut. His regenerative powers worked overtime on the cells in his body.

“Jesu- Holy Hell, woman, I feel like I’ve been microwaved. What did you do to me?” Nix muttered, looking up in time to see Ponyville off in the distance. And Luna’s horn charging up. “Oh, for fuck’s-” Her magic shot exploded across his chest, and he hurtled through the base of a nearby pine tree. The tree wavered slightly with a few cracking groans, before teetering and slamming into the ground.

“Thou wouldst dare threaten us?” Another shot from her horn. “Thy vile weaponry daring to touch our royal flesh?!” Nix was flung deeper into the trees. Luna walked slowly towards him as she spoke. The human, meanwhile, seemed to be taking her fury in stride.

“Lu, you’re doing the Shakespony thing again!” The air left him as another magic bolt found its mark. “Alright, I’ve had about enough of-” Another bright blue bolt of energy screamed through the air at him. He shot his hand up and caught it, palming the whirring blue orb deftly as he stood. Luna’s forward march paused, her horn still glowing. Nix looked at the focused magical energy in his palm, shrugged, and tossed it over his shoulder. The blast leveled a few trees behind him, but he was already stalking towards Luna.

“Look, I know I fucked up.” He limply batted away a few more shots with the back of his hand, sending them sailing through the night sky. Luna stood her ground, glaring violently. “But I had no idea that would happen. You know I had no idea that would happen.”

“When our sister expressed her doubts, we vouched for thee! We, possessing thy memories, convinced our sister not to banish thee in spite of the danger!”

“This- this fucking thing inside me didn’t come with a fucking instruction manual,” he spat viciously. “A thousand fucking years and I still can’t enchant my own damn clothes half as good as a waning old god back on my homeworld. I didn’t know, Lu! I was just some fucking guy working a shit job before this! I’m not a fucking god! I didn’t know that would happen!”

“Ignorance is no excuse! Thou nearly flayed our world to pieces, and for what?” Luna spat back. “So thy violence would have an outlet! So a handful of mongrels might tremble before thee as thou trampled them underhoof!”

Nix stopped suddenly a few feet away from Luna, looking away guiltily as his shoulders slumped. “Ridge Dancer was going to die,” he managed to croak out. She gaped as if she had been slapped. He looked back at the princess angrily. “And I’d do it again, too,” he growled. “I’d break your little fucking existence just so one more innocent girl doesn’t die, bleeding to death in my hands, pleading, begging me desperately with her goddamn tearful eyes to save her from the pain, and the darkness. I’d do it a thousand times over until those eyes stop looking up at me in pain, in fear.” Luna jerked her head back, her eyes widening as she glared imperiously upon the human. He glared back, his blue eyes flaring brightly and his face set in stone.

It’s the small things, really. First her eye twitched. Her eyebrows unfurrowed. Her scowl softened into a pained grimace. Before long, every feature on Luna’s face cracked and fell apart, and her breath came out in shudders as she began to sob. Nix’s eyes widened and he drew his head back. Out of nowhere, the Princess of the Night was bawling and fighting to avoid his gaze.

’Great going, asshole. You made the pretty mare cry.’ Nix frowned.

“We just...I just...there’s so much loneliness in your memories,” she hitched out between sobs. “It hurts. It hurts me to know. I wish I didn’t have them. I wish you never regain them.” She squinted her eyes shut and turned her head away. “I just wanted to help you. Why won’t...” she paused, her deep blue chest hitching, “...why won’t you let me help you?”

Luna gasped as she felt warmth press against her chest and wrap around her neck. She opened her eyes in shock as Nix hugged her.

“Because it would be too cruel to ask you to do something you can’t,” he murmured into her ear, his face pressed against hers. “This is something I have to deal with on my own, but...” His voice trailed off as she pressed down on his shoulder, drawing him closer. He tightened his embrace. “...but thank you.”

Luna sniffled and the human’s arms remained wrapped around her. She wasn’t cold at all. “I mean, unless you know a spell or something to send me home. That would make all this drama seem pretty dumb.”

Her chest wretched again. Nix couldn’t tell if it was a sob or a chuckle. He held on. “I’ll look into it,” she finally managed to utter hoarsely, one hoof wrapping around his back. Her flowing mane danced around his charcoal duster. He contented himself with remaining still, his eyes closed and his arms wrapped around sapient pony royalty.

“Not that it’s any consolation, but I know at least one way to get my powers back, now,” he intoned softly. “And so long as it might break your reality, I’ll stay here as long as it takes to find another way.”

“Good to hear, ape,” Luna chuckled. Her tears had mostly dried.

“Besides, I doubt I could face my sister after all of this if I knew a bunch of pastel-colored horsies were unmade on my trek back home.” Nix laughed. Luna held her breath, and slowly drew away from the human.

“Sisters, Nix.” The human dropped his arms and stared at her in confusion. “Your sisters. You had two of them, Jessi and Sarah.” He slowly began to back away from her, shaking his head. His hand shot to the back pocket of his denim jeans, finding it empty.

“Sisters?”

“Please, Nix, wait,” she begged. “Don’t-”

His eyes flared brightly and wings of flame reappeared upon his shoulders. With a gust of wind and heat, and a mighty flap, he shot off through the sky, away from the Princess of the Night. Her sapphire eyes shimmered in the moonlight as she stared after the fiery comet soaring through the night sky—through her night sky.

“-leave me here alone,” Luna finished in a whisper.

Nix arced through the cold night sky towards an odd outcropping of clouds, towards a particular lifeforce. The night’s frigid, biting winds didn’t touch him. He was beyond that. He was the embodiment of fire, of energy, of power incarnate. He did his best to ignore the icy winds that tore at his face as the construct of clouds loomed in his vision.

He shot through the cloud wall and zipped straight to the top, the light of his wings painting an otherworldly golden glow upon the walls of the foggy room. A cyan pegasus with a rainbow streaked mane snored loudly in the center, upon a fluffy white pedestal. Nix floated towards her and jabbed her in the shoulder with his finger.

“Scratchy, wake up.”

Her snores increased in volume. The human’s hand darted through the clouds of her bed and flipped her into the air, sending her limp form to the puffy white floor. A few misty vapors erupted from its surface as she impacted. The mare groaned, and shook her head.

“Urgh, what gives? It’s not even noon yet...”

“Scratchy, where’s that black box I gave you?” Nix growled.

“Huh? What’re you-” she yawned loudly. Nix shot across the room and grabbed her roughly by her shoulders.

“Whoa! Calm do-”

“Shut the fuck up,” the human interrupted harshly. “Where. Is. My black box?”

Rainbow Dash cocked an eyebrow at him. “It’s in my saddlebags over in the corner. Sheesh, no need to-” Nix dropped her and flew over to the canvas sacks in the corner. After rummaging through them, he produced a thin black box. Small tendrils of electricity danced through his forearm and into the device. Its screen powered on, and his fingers flicked across its surface. As Rainbow hovered over the human’s shoulder, a video burst to life on the black box’s screen.

”See, toldja you were good at math,” Sean managed out between a few chuckles. “Brat,” he added in a lower voice.

A prim fist caught him in the shoulder.

“Such violence,” he gasped.

“Are you done yet, Sean?” Mirth twinkled between her light blue eyes as she assaulted her brother’s shoulder. Locks of curly blonde hair leaked out from beneath her black graduation cap.

“Well, I guess you did earn it,” he grudgingly admitted. She withdrew her arm, and Sean took a step back, smiling ruefully at his little sister in her little black gown. “Although I wonder how you’re gonna make a living with a doctorate in mathematics.”

“You have a job in retail,” she retorted.

“I know, I can actually make money every two weeks,” he jabbed back, smiling at his little sister. “You have no idea how proud I am right now, Jess.”

“Yes, I imagine your heart swells every time you remember how you spent countless sleepless nights on your dissertations and proofs,” she said drily. “Oh, wait, that was me.”

Sean socked her in the shoulder. “I’m serious, brat.”

“I’m 24 and I already have a doctorate, I’m hardly a ‘brat’.”

“You’re my little sister, you’ll always be a brat.”

She smiled up at him. No degree in the world she could have gotten would make him seem any smaller. “You promise?” He chuckled and grabbed her shoulder, drawing her close and placing a peck on her temple.

“Your graduation cap just poked me in the eye.”

She shoved him away, giggling. “You’re such an ass, Sean.”

Sean smiled back, rubbing one eye with his hand. “Yeah, but you’re stuck with my dumbass. Congrats.”

Jessi sighed and shook her head. “Somehow, I think I’ll manage, even if you’re helpless.” The man choked back laughter at this. “Come on, let’s get something to eat. While I can still afford it before I try to find a job with my degree, anyway?”

“I knew all those years playing nice would finally pay off. My little sis can finally afford to feed me.” He glanced at her with a grin as they exited the field. “For now.”

His little sister smiled up at him innocently. She leaned into her big brother as the video cut out.

Nix stared dully at the black screen as the video died. His brain raced, searching for something, anything. A thousand memories of a thousand unimportant people greeted him in place of the girl he had just seen on the screen. “Jessi,” he muttered to himself. “Nice to meet you, sis.”

Rainbow Dash looked at the slumped form of the human on the floor of her bedroom. She had no idea how to react in situations like this. “Uh, hey, she seemed pretty cool?” the pegasus offered.

“Say another word, and I’ll hurt you so badly you’ll never taste the skies again, Rainbow,” the human murmured softly. Rainbow Dash gulped and floated away from him. He stared at the black screen for a few seconds more, before his eyes glowed and he floated through her floor, disappearing amidst tendrils of wafting clouds.

Rainbow Dash gulped to herself, wondering how she could get back to sleep, or if she even should. She glanced out her window, into the sea of stars populating the night sky, and her gaze hardened.

She shot out her window, her magenta eyes scanning desperately for his fiery wings.

In the cold early morning hours, shortly before sunrise, Nix ignored the sudden flutter of wings behind him. Instead, he slumped further against the tree trunk behind him, and lost himself further in the reflective black screen in his hands. He stared at it dully, wantonly as he heard hooves thump the ground as they approached.

His voice didn’t want to escape his throat. It was a subdued, garbled mess. “Please punish me quickly. I have to get back to losing everything else.” The hooves stopped. A white wing rested softly on his shoulder.

The human stared into the blank screen of his little black box, wishing he still remembered the family it contained.