The royal carriage set down in front of Sugarcube Corner. Twilight stepped down to the street; the guards made as if to follow her, but she motioned for them to wait by the carriage. She hesitated at the door, took a deep breath and stepped inside.

Nyx and Spike were sitting at the table, munching on the remains of a couple of muffins. Peewee was between them on the table, pecking at crumbs. Nyx was brooding listlessly flipping through one of her books. She barely glanced up when Twilight walked up to the table. Twilight winced; this was going to be an epic sulk.

Twilight sat down. "I'm sorry, Nyx," she said simply.  "I let myself get in a panic and..." She put her hoof on Nyx's. "I'm so sorry." She looked at Spike. "Both of you."

"It's okay," Nyx said, her voice indifferent. But at least she didn't pull away.

"How long have you been here?"

Nyx looked over at the remains of their meal. "About two and a half muffins," she said. "And a jumbo glass of milk."

"Mr. Cake let us run a tab," Spike said. "We woulda gone to the library but... they're closed today and they already changed the locks."

"Already?" Twilight said. The dismay in her voice was obvious. She shook her head; they would have, seeing as she was no longer the librarian-- and how it hurt to even think that. "Didn't you have a packed... lunch," Twilight finished lamely as Spike silently emptied the bag of waxed fruit and plastic junk jewelry on the table. "The waxed apple was tasty but I'm probably gonna be constipated later," he informed her.

She groaned and facehoofed.

"I really was flipping out, wasn't I," she said.

Spike shrugged. "Eh, it wasn't your worst freakout," he said dismissively. "I'd give it a two out of ten, really."

"Oh really." Twilight said drolly.

Nyx was still a bit broody; she was still flipping through the book in front of her in a rather pointed manner. She stopped suddenly and stared at a page. "The heck is that all about?" Nyx said, turning the book around for Spike and pointing at a page.

Spike made an awkward face. "It's, uh, got to do with how babies are made," he said.

Nyx took a second look. "Sure isn't how Miss Cheerilee explained it," she said skeptically.

Twilight looked over at the book. Yes, as luck would have it, the Camel Sutra. "Ahem," Twilight said. She plucked the book deftly out of Nyx's hooves and magically dropped it into her own saddlebag. "That reading's a little too grown up for you," she said.

"Well you gave it to me," Nyx muttered sullenly.

Twilight ignored her and gave Spike a look. "And it's a little mature for you too, mister,"  she said.

Spike gave her a look right back. "Oh please. You have me re-shelve all the books in the library twice a week. You think I don't read a few of them on occasion?"

Twilight decided to let it slide. "Well I do have some good news," she said. "Princess Celestia sent us some help. I have four hoofmaidens now; they'll help keep things from going crazy like this again." She tried to meet Nyx's eye. "I think you'll like them," she said. "They're very interesting ponies." Nyx's ear pricked; her curiosity was piqued. "And they have a very interesting secret. I'm interested to see if you can figure out what it is..." Twilight gave her daughter a teasing grin. She knew from experience that the quickest way to get Nyx out of a sulk was to get her curious.

Nyx tucked her ears back and kept her head down. She wasn't going to go for it, this time.

Twilight sighed. "Nyx, this... this whole Princess thing... it's going to be hard. A lot harder than I expected. I'm afraid I'm going to make a lot of mistakes before I get it right. Please, I need you to be patient with me, okay? You're the most important thing in the world to me, and I don't want you to ever forget that, no matter what mistakes I make." She rested her chin on the table to look the filly in the eye. "Forgive me?" Twilight asked.

Nyx grumped a bit then relented. "Okayyyy," she said reluctantly. "I was gonna anyway...." She shared a nuzzle with her Mom. "So what's their big secret?"

Twilight chuckled and tousled her mane. "Well now that would be telling."

"Awww--"

"Tell you what; why don't we go back to the castle and you can meet them?" Twilight said. "Then we'll see if you can tell me." She got up from the table; Nyx and Spike followed suit, Spike scooping up Peewee in his claws. "I'll be in Court most of the day..." she winced a bit... "And part of the night, to make up for running out in the middle...." ouch, my aching circadian rhythms, she thought.... "So they'll be watching you and Spike."

"Oh, hey, I'm gonna be kind of busy," Spike said as they trooped out the door. It was a bright sunny day and they squinted against the sunshine. "It's my training day."

Twilight paused in mid stride. "Training day?"

"Don'tcha remember? Shining Armor and Princess Cadence want me and Bright Eyes to train together at least twice a week. For..." he looked around carefully. "...You know."

"What? Ohhhh, right. THAT "You Know," Twilight said.(1)

"Yeah."

"All the more reason to get back," Twilight said. She started trotting along.

"Um, Twilight?"

"What?" She stopped again.

"The carriage is this way."

"Oh. Right." Twilight turned around and trotted the other direction, heading for the waiting carriage with a little pain in her heart.

The moment she'd stepped out the door she'd started trotting for the Golden Oaks library.

1)For those that DON'T know, in Nyx's Family, Bright Eyes and Spike, due to a confluence of events and enchantments, became Champions of the Crystal Empire, much to the consternation of a pack of attacking dragons. We are assured by multiple sources that the resulting 'throw-down' was 'wicked righteous' and kicked prodigious amounts of plot.