The Crimson Mare Meets The Princess of Shadows

  “Hey Midnight, ready for a new day?” I ask my sleepy bat hanging from the wall above me. With a happy chitter he swoops down and gives me a nuzzle before settling upon an ear, which has apparently become his favorite perch. As he gets settled in I begin to get ready for the day ending with a shower. His playful antics in the added bath specially for him cause me to giggle. Playfully he splashes me before zipping to my back and takes the loofah pad, scrubbing along my spine diligently. His help with bathing ends with a massage and combing my wet mane. A towel is gathered and I carefully pat and rub him dry before he’s placed on a hook as I dry off and brush my teeth.

  As usual I've timed it just right so I can join mom and Celestia for our usual breakfast along with watching them perform their ritual of rising and lowering of the sun and moon. “So, do you have anything special planned for today, Moon?” Celestia’s question comes as normal but the tone throws me a little, like she’s more than just a little curious.

  “Well, other than playing with Midnight I don’t really have much planned, why?”

  “I just happen to have some free time and would love to spend some time with you and Midnight.” Celestia lets out a grunt as I hug her tightly with a smile.

  “I as well would like to join you before I have to go to sleep.” Mom’s words make me feel alot happier, this being one of the rare times I can spend time with her due to our differing time schedules. As the round of hugs end we make our way to the garden, laughing and joking the entire way there.

  “Ok Midnight, show us what you got!” With a grin I form a small frisbee and throw it as hard and high as I can. Immediately, he launches from his perch and races towards the flying disc, catching it in his feet as he performs a barrel roll. Then he pulls up into a sharp spinning climb and ends with a loop de loop before making his way towards us, hanging the frisbee from Celestia’s nose, causing me and Luna to giggle. For the next two hours the three of us spend it watching Midnight perform silly tricks while catching the frisbee, talking and just overall having fun.

  All too soon both mom and Celestia have to leave and Midnight begins to tire as well. “Alright buddy, last throw and we'll figure out something else to do.” As he begins to chase after the frisbee something causes him to cry out painfully and he begins to plummet to the ground. In a hurry I grab him in my magic, my heart racing in fear as I pull him to me. “Are you alright Midnight, what happened?” To answer he holds out his left wing, clearly shredded in some parts. Without thinking, I hold him tight and dissolve into my gaseous form and I race for Ponyville, my mind going over all the bad endings this can have.

  I arrive there a few moments later, hoping that I had been quick enough. With a startled eep Fluttershy, who had been tending to some of her animals jumps behind the nearest tree as I make my way towards the ground in my gaseous form. “Oh..... Uhm..... Hey Moonshade, is- is everything ok?” She steps out as I solidify with a worried expression, cradling Midnight gently. “Poor thing, what happened to him?” She asks as I follow her to her cottage.

  “I-I don’t know, w-we were just playing and then he started falling...” My sentence trails off.

  “Calm down, Moonshade, I promise he’s going to be okay,” Fluttershy says gently. She pauses for a moment and looks at me then back at her cottage. “Oh, uh… I happen to have some company, if that’s not a problem.”

  “Huh?” Before I have time to ask who it is she rushes inside. Suddenly, I feel something very wrong inside the cottage, just a feeling of dread and unease. I freeze outside the door and try to shake the feeling off but it just won’t leave. Despite the feeling of dread I open the door and step inside, my sole focus right now on Fluttershy, everything else is ignored. However, my whispered words don't go unnoticed, along with my appearance. "Please let Midnight be okay, please dear Celestia let him be okay."

*****

  The door to the cottage opens bringing a cold draft in with it, sending a shiver down my spine. I look over as Fluttershy runs past and to the kitchen. For a moment I wonder what she’s doing, but I go back to the book I was reading.

  Before I even find my place on the page, the door opens again this time giving way to a grey unicorn. Some parts of her coat are a dark blue, but she is mostly grey. I manage to catch a glimpse of her red eyes filled with concern. Something’s wrong.

  Yeah, the door is still open.

  That too, but I was talking about the unicorn. I sigh and get off the couch, careful not to put any weight on my right foreleg or my right wing. Even though I’m still uneasy on three hooves I manage to the door easily enough and close it with a kick of my hind leg. With that I head to the kitchen to see what’s going on.

  Fluttershy and the unicorn stand near the table, occasionally I can see something on the table moving. Once I get closer I see that Fluttershy is tending to the wing of a wounded bat. I wince inwardly knowing the pain of a torn wing. “Anyway I can help?” I ask getting me a quick yelp from the both of them.

  “Oh, Nova, sorry about that but I’m a little busy right now.” Fluttershy exclaims quickly going back to work on the bat.

  “You know, I could help.”

  She stops for a moment and looks at me then back at the bat. “Um… alright, could you hold this here as I go get some gauze from upstairs?” she asks. For a moment I go to argue that I should go get the gauze until I realize I can barely climb the stairs on my own.

  I sigh and take the cloth from her as she runs upstairs. The bat hisses at me when I get close, I roll my eyes and hold the cloth to his wing anyways. The bat hisses again, in pain or anger, probably both. “You’re hurting him!” the unicorn shouts.

  “Trust me, he’d be in more pain if I wasn’t here. I take it that this is your bat?” I ask the unicorn.

  “Uh, he’s… he’s my friend. His name is Midnight.”

  I give her what I hope comes across as a friendly smile. “Don’t worry he’ll be fine, Fluttershy knows what she’s doing.”

  “I hope so.”

  It doesn’t take long before Fluttershy comes back into the kitchen carrying a small basket of medical supplies. She takes my spot at the table and take a few shaky step back to give her space. I stick around for a few seconds, long enough to watch Fluttershy start disinfecting the wing.

  With that I head back to the couch for some rest. I flop down on the couch, and grab my book flipping through the pages to find where I left off.

~~~~~     ~~~~~     ~~~~~

  As I watch Fluttershy work on wrapping up Midnight's wing I can't help but turn my attention for a second back to the strange crimson coated mare. Something about her bothers me a bit but I put it in the back of my mind. "There, all done, now try not to get his bandages wet and you'll need to change them daily, I also brought down some pain medicine for him, bring him back in a month and I'll reevaluate his wing." Fluttershy instructs as she cuts off and secures the gauze, giving him a tender nuzzle afterwards.

  "Thanks Fluttershy, I owe you a lot, by the way, who's the mare you have, and what happened to her?" I very carefully gather Midnight in my magic and I give him a soft kiss before nestling him in my mane protectively. "How much do I owe you?"

  "Oh..... uh no need to pay or owe me Moonshade, I'm glad to help you and Midnight out. I'm happy he was able to find a very loving owner that takes such good care of him. As for Nova, I… I don’t think I should say, it’s something she wants to keep to herself. But, why don't you..... go introduce yourself? that is..... if you want to."

  "You sure you won't accept payment? alright then, but if you need help don't be afraid to ask." With the offer given I head into the living room and look the mare over, taking my time to really look her over, noticing the bandaged and splinted wing and foreleg. "Hi, I'm Moonshade, thank you for your help and sorry about shouting at you earlier."

  "I'm Nova, and don't worry too much about it." Her reply is tense and filled with reservation as she makes a poor attempt to be friendly, I give her a second quick glance and begin to exit as she returns to her book, but something stops me and I look at her again, this time focusing on her golden eyes.

  'You know we could have some fun with her, nothing serious or fatal, she looks like she needs some cheering up.' The remnant pipes up from her cage, trying to be friendly.

  'No, first off I don't trust you or your ideas, secondly I don't think she's in the mood for fun, there's something about her eyes that bother me for some reason.'  After a few seconds I place what it is that is bothering me about the eyes. 'They remind me of my own eyes. Sad, hurt, angry, like she's done something very bad.'

  'You know, if you hadn't BETRAYED ME you wouldn't have that look, you'd be ruling right next to me.'

  'Oh shut up, I don't want to hear any more of your whining.' As that is said I tune it out and refocus on Nova, who's staring back at me, her eyes narrowing.

  Despite her injuries she tenses as if getting ready for conflict, her tone getting angrier. "May I help you?" At her question I look about the room before I go and talk to Fluttershy far enough away so we can't be overheard. After listening to my request Fluttershy gives a very nervous nod and clears the house of her animal friends, giving the two of us complete privacy. To ensure that I cast my dome of shadows spell, using its second form to create a bubble of sound proof, opaque walls around us before approaching Nova again.

  "Hey, I know we don't know each other..... but something about you reminds me of myself. It hurts don't it, that feeling of fear after having done something bad or had it happen to you." I tell her as I keep my back turned towards her. My voice goes from happy and friendly to sad as I talk. I take a deep breath once I finish my statement and wait patiently for her to answer. "You don't have to tell me now, I just wanted to let you know you aren't alone with how you're feeling, in the meantime I'd like to be your friend, Fluttershy knows how to get in touch with me."

*****

  I scoff as she turns away. No one knows what I’ve been through… what I’ve done. “You don’t know anything about me.” I grumble as I go back to the book. I hear her stop and turn around.

  “I know the pain of hiding something dangerous inside you. I know your fear of hurting those around you.” she says gently. Still I turn and glare at her, finally giving up on the book.

  “You don’t know what it feels like to hurt your closest friend!” I snap stomping my good hoof into the ground. “You don’t know what I’ve been through!” I can feel the heat and anger building up inside of me. “You think you know me but you can’t--” Suddenly shadowy images appears in the center of the room.

  An image of Moonshade, a different Moonshade appears. Black armor covers her and she wields a scythe in her magic. Three ponies cower in front of her, unarmed and terrified civilians. The image Moonshade laughs, the same type of laugh I hear in my mind. I watch entranced as the scene unfolds.

  Moon swings her scythe, ripping the forelegs off of the closest one to her. He falls to the ground screaming, though the screams sounds weak and distant through the shadow image. She moves swiftly onto the next cleaving the head clear off. Tendrils of shadows wrap around the first one, quickly killing him off and ending his misery. The last one she walks up to, her horn begins to shine and a few tendrils of shadow wrap around the last pony’s head. She starts screaming and Moon simply lets her fall to the ground in a trembling ball.

  The image drops and we stand in silence for some time. I finally notice her eyes, the same kind of eyes that stare back at me whenever I look at my reflection. “You still think I know nothing about you?” she says.

  Oh… now she seems interesting. How much you wanna bet she’s nothing compared to us?

  I take a deep breath to collect my thoughts. “Okay, you do know something about me. How ‘bout we start over?” I ask sitting down and offering my good hoof. “I am Nova Hearthfire, I’m a pegasus with a psychopath living in my head.”

  She looks at me curiously, but shakes my hoof anyways. “My name’s Moonshade.”

  “Pleasure to meet you, Moonshade,” I say lying back down on the couch and start making myself comfortable. “Sorry for yelling at you, I tend to be a little… defensive… and temperamental.”

  "I understand, and I know what it’s like wanting to keep a secret and then have somepony discover it without even trying." With a giggle she gives a soft smile. "Seems we have two things in common, I also have a resident psychopath within me, and here's the proof." She again produces the shadowy image, instead this shot is apparently taken in a hospital. A trio of ponies holding Moonshade down as she screams, a shadowy thing is exiting through her chest and takes the shape of Nightmare Moon, though this one is the size of Midnight and slightly transparent.

  “Good to know, but you really didn’t have to show me that. Your eyes are those of somepony who regrets what they’ve done. And we both know full well what it looks like. Now, no offence, I would like to get some rest. So, have a nice day, maybe we can talk again some day.” She smiles and heads for the door again. “Oh, and needless to say, I would rather you don’t tell anyone about me.”

~~~~~     ~~~~~     ~~~~~

   With a smile I nod to her and try giving her a light caring nuzzle, but she just scoots away from me. “Sorry, I have an issue with ponies getting too close to me,” she says with an apologetic smile.

  "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye, I promise nopony will learn of you and your special gifts from me. Just make sure you don't upset Fluttershy ok? I do have one question, do you know Twilight Sparkle since you know Fluttershy?" I end the shadow dome spell as I ask my question, motioning for Fluttershy that it's ok to enter.

  At the mention of Twilight's name Nova lets out a snort and glares at me, being enough of a confirmation for me that she knows Twilight. "Well, whenever you wanna talk or just hang out with me, let Fluttershy know, she can get a hold of me ok? Also..... I don't know how you feel about being in crowds but my birthday is coming up. It won't be anything big, me, Twilight and her friends, three other friends and my mom and aunt. I'd love for you to come, but will understand if you don't, think it over and take care Nova."

  "Sure..... I'll..... think it over, but don't get your hopes up. Take care Moonshade, hope Midnight gets better soon," she says before returning back to her book, a small smile decorates her muzzle.

  'Hm, she seems like a useful minion, hey she may even be more amenable to using my powers than you are'

  With a dismissive shake of my head I start to make my way to the door but stop and look back at her. "Hey Nova, some bit of advice, if things get too bad for you, maybe you can try writing out a mood journal or keeping an art journal. They could be a helpful release for you until you feel comfortable talking to somepony. Hey Fluttershy, can you come with me for a little bit please?"

  My advice causes Nova to give me a sceptical look. "Really, and how exactly would a journal be helpful?"

  "Basically what you do is write or draw whenever you are feeling upset or even happy. When you put down whatever is upsetting you it can be a safe release for those negative feelings. When you put down something happy it can be used as a positive reinforcement and help you cope with any negative thoughts that appear. Also I want you to remember these words." I pause long enough for her to take what I've suggested in. "Your past doesn't fully define who you are, because your past is not your today or tomorrow."

  "I'll keep that in mind, thanks." She offers another smile and waves before I walk out the door, followed by Fluttershy. A chilly wind wraps around the three of us for a moment.

  "Hey Fluttershy, would you..... would you keep me informed if something goes wrong with Nova please. Also before I return home I wanna go into town. I want to give Nova something but I don't think I can stay out much longer before mom and auntie start getting worried, so you'll have to give it to her for me."

  "O-okay, but can we hurry please, it's getting close to dinner time and I don't want my friends to go hungry." With her agreeing we hurry to Ponyville. "If you don't mind but..... what did you two talk about to make Nova so..... open with you after just meeting her. It took Twilight and Rainbow a while before they could gain her trust." Her question comes out in pants due to our hurried pace as we finally enter the town square and head straight for Rarity's.

  "I can't tell you, sorry Fluttershy but I promised." I answer her as my hoof wraps against the door, hoping that Rarity isn't too busy or gone.

  "Coming..... oh it's you darling how have you been?" A wide smile graces the eloquent and well groomed white unicorn as she opens the door, inviting us in quickly. "Are you looking forward to your first royal ball? I must say I am a bit jealous but also happy for you. Can I offer you some tea or a snack?"

  "No thanks Rarity, and I have been doing good thank you. I'm not really looking forward to it to be honest, but that isn't why I'm here. I was wondering..... could you..... make a necklace for me with a charm shaped as my cutie mark?" I can't help but fiddle with the locket and nine charms dangling from two different chains as I make my request.

  "Of course I can dear, is this a special  gift for Lily? have you two finally decided to get together?" I can't help but giggle at her expression when she gets on the topic.

  "It is a gift, but not for Lily, as for that....." I take a deep breath, having heard this question many times before from her. "I don't know how I feel about Lily, I like her as a friend but I'm not sure if I feel that way for her enough to take it to the next level."

  "Very well darling, I'll have your necklace done in no time. You should really think hard about you and Lily being a couple over very hard." Her words travel from a back room while me and Fluttershy are left alone.

  "Hey Fluttershy, you know how I feel about my relationship with both Luna and Celestia being known, so..... please don't tell Nova. I don't want her to be scared of me just because of who I'm related to."

  "O-okay Moonshade, I won't tell her. Uh, how is Midnight doing?" In response I carefully expose him resting peacefully within my mane, his bed strengthened by a shadowy net. Concern and tenderness cross her face at the same time.

  "Here you go Moonshade, and no I don't expect you to pay me, I hope whoever this gift is for likes it." A small box is handed over to me and placed in my hoof. The sight of Midnight nestled comfortably in my mane causes Rarity to ooh and gush.

  "Thanks Rarity, I appreciate it. Take care and I'll see about inviting you to the castle or I can come and visit you sometime." Before me and Fluttershy part ways I cast a simple but very effective calming spell on the necklace and hand it to her. "See you later Fluttershy, take care, of both of you. Also let her know that I cast a calming spell on it to help her out when she needs it."

  "Be safe Moonshade, and take care of yourself please." With a nod and salute I gather enough shadows to create a pair of wings. After giving a couple test flaps I take off and make my way back to Canterlot. As I make my way back my mind reels over not just Nova and her issues but also the events that caused Midnight to be hurt in the first place.

*****

  I sigh and flip over to the next page of my book. Being bed-ridden is not fun, not in the slightest. I look out the window as snowflakes float down to the sky. Sorry I couldn’t make it home, I think. For the next few minutes I just sit and watch the snowflakes drift to the ground, thinking and missing home.

  “Nova?” Fluttershy’s quiet voice comes from my left, snapping me out of my home-sickness. “Sorry, I had called you for dinner, but you didn’t say anything.” she says while putting a bowl of soup on the table nearby.

  “Thanks.” I say sitting up and taking the bowl of soup. “Sorry for not hearing you, I was… thinking.”

  “Is there something you want to talk about?” she asks wrapping a hoof around my shoulder, but I move away from her.

  I don’t answer her for a few seconds, but ultimately I decide not to worry her. “No, I’m fine. Just cursing the weather.” I say with a small chuckle. A small and slightly concerned smile crosses her face, but she doesn’t say anything more. Instead, she simply sits next to me as we look out the window watching the snow fall.

  We stay that way for the better part of an hour as we eat our soup. “Fluttershy, do you know the story behind Moonshade?” I ask her once my soup is pretty well gone. I sense her tense up at the question.

  “I-I… I, um… she didn’t want me telling you, sorry.”

  Not quite the answer I was looking for, but a respectable one nonetheless. “It’s fine, if she didn’t want you telling me you don’t have to. We all have our secrets to keep.” I say, shrugging to the best of my ability.

  “Oh, but now that you mention it, she wanted me to give you something.” She gets up from the couch and heads back to the kitchen. A moment later she returns with a small box. “Here you go.” She puts the box down next to me on the couch and looks at me expectantly.

  She got me something… she hasn’t even known me for a day. Then again, we’re both pretty messed up and need help… severe help. With a shake of my head I get out of my minor mental debate and undoes the latch on the box, flipping it open. Inside is a necklace with an amulet shaped like Moonshade’s cutie mark.

  Well, this is quite nice, I think taking it out of the box. I’m going to have to get her something now-- The necklace starts glowing red, causing me to yelp and drop it. As soon as it leaves my hoof it goes back to normal. “Nova, are you okay?” Fluttershy asks already halfway to the stairs to get some medical supplies.

  “Uh, no… yeah, yeah. I’m fine, just… overwhelmed.” I look back down at the necklace. Briefly, an image of a light green unicorn filly flashes through my mind. I quickly pick the necklace up, put it into the box and close it. Placing the box on the table I hobble my way to the stairs. “I-I just need some rest. Goodnight, Fluttershy.”