Past Sins

Past Sins is a fan fiction wirtten by Pen Stroke, with editing and other assistance from Batty Gloom. It spans 21 chapters plus a prologue and cna be found on Equestria Daily. The custom cover image caused a huge stir and was likely a major source of the fic's initial popularity, although the story itself soon proved able to stand on its own merits. It caused a slight split in the user-base of Equestria Daily due to the inclusion of an alicorn OC as the central character in the story, and again when Pen Stroke and Batty engaged in a large-scale revision to answer concerns over out-of-character behavior by Celestia and Nyx's borderline Mary-Sue traits.

Style
Past Sins is written in third-person omniscient, past tense.

Plot
The story opens with Twilight Sparkle being held by a cult of ponies who are fanatically devoted to Nightmare Moon. The cult's leader leads his ponies in a ritual ceremony deep in the Everfree Forest to restore Nightmare's power and give her a body of her own, separate from Princess Luna, so that she may claim the throne of Equestria and usher in eternal night. Some of Twilight's blood is added to the scraps of Nightmare Moon's armor along with other ritual ingredients. As the spell nears its climax, Celestia and a cohort of Royal Guards descend and scatter the cultists, interrupting the spell before it can be completed. The guards attempt to track down the fleeing cultists while Celestia takes Twilight back home to Ponyville.

After getting over the worst of her shock, Twilight realizes that her saddlebags, containing rare books, are missing and she tracks them back to the site of the ritual. When she arrive,s she finds a small, black filly with both a horn and wings, along with Nightmare moon's distinct dragon-like turquoise eyes. Although initially driven back by the filly's appearance, her pitiful state convinces Twilight to at least take her back home, clean her up, feed her, and approach the situation rationally. After gaining the filly's trust, Twilight poses several questions to her and learns that she has no memories beyond a few hours previous, reaching back to the time of the ritual. Despite Spike's insistence on alerting Celestia, Twilight decides to allow the filly, who she names Nyx, to remain under her care for a while until Twilight feels confident about the filly's true nature.

A few days go by, during which Nyx proves to have Twilight's love of learning and reading, and constantly expresses a desire to go outside the library. Knowing she can't keep the filly hidden forever, Twilight calls in a favor from Rarity to create a vest to hide Nyx's wings and bespells some glasses to make Nyx's eyes appear normal. Passing her off as a visiting cousin, she enrolls Nyx in Ponyville's school and finally introduces her to the rest of her friends.

Nyx's insatiable appetite for learning earns her the ire of several classmates, especially Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Their teasing prompts Apple Bloom to come to Nyx's defense and the filly is soon inducted into the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

[CTVvulpin: Feel free to continue this if you find it before I get back; I have to be somewhere]