Author's Note

This first chapter is quite short compared to what the coming ones will be. The purpose of this one is to sort of set up Nova and Note (both of whom will be important!) as characters, and what they stand for. The following chapters will likely be twice to three times this length, so don't get used to it!

~Thunder

A World and Mind in Darkness

"Get your muzzle out of that book, Glow! It'll rot what brains you have." Nova growled. Without looking up, she shut the textbook she'd been reading.

"And who asked you, Note? Who's to say books aren't so bad, huh?" Note scoffed.

"Yeah, if books were good for you, ninety percent of them wouldn't be banned. Ask the elders; reading won't get you anywhere." Nova shook her head and kicked her chair back from her desk. Using her cerulean magic, she tilted her telescope to view the moon. It was in its waning period, at the moment. She made a mark on her port. The Queen would be rotating it within the next week or so, meaning her chances were becoming slimmer and slimmer.

"Well, Note, I would listen to your mindless ramblings, but I happen to be in the middle of something very important. So, if you'll please excuse yourself..." Note groaned. This caused Nova to finally glance up at her caretaker. Mind-Note Blade. A former Royal Consultant to one of the Queen's advisors. A Unicorn that had been Dimmed when she was just a filly, assigned to one of Equestria's up-and-coming magicians. The irony made her laugh sometimes. Nova used her power so much; she often wondered what it would feel like to have every last drop of magic sucked from your body. She had asked the older mare what it was like to be a Unicorn with no Unicorn magic, but the topic was always brushed off. 'When I was your age, Dims weren't so uncommon. You're lucky the Queen stopped the act before you were born', she would always say. And Nova was very glad indeed. Without her magic, she'd be just as bad as an Earth pony, only with an extra forehead accessory. A reminder of what she used to be.

But she wouldn't be Dimmed. Not when the local Guardsponies told her there was a chance she could be accepted into Black Hole Academy. The very thought made her head spin with possibilities. The most prestigious school in Equestria –no, the world– and actual Lunar Thestrals were telling her she had a chance to make it in. That's why this project was so important. That's why she had to find the data she needed, and she only had seven days –or less– to do it.

"I just need those star blossoms..." she murmured to herself. A sudden, sharp laugh broke her from her thoughts.

"Wait, that's what this 'important' business is? You're still on about this ridiculous space prophecy theory of yours? Nova, I was wrong; you really need to get your head out of those books!" Nova growled. In the dim lighting of her lab, she could just make out Note's outline. Her light blue coat, her yellow mane and eyes...and the crooked, broken horn sticking up from her skull. Note had been one of the unfortunate masses that didn't receive the painless Dimming treatment. If the Lunar scientists didn't have the time or just didn't care enough to do the extraction, they would simply bash the chosen Unicorn's horn in until there was no possible way one could perform magic with it. Again, Nova could only imagine why anypony would do such a thing. But Note clearly wasn't thinking about her broken horn, the only thing that set her apart from other equine races. She was thinking about how in Equestria she wound up foalsitting the most hard-headed, stubborn Unicorn in all of Equestria. And she was letting it show without hesitation. Her ignorance made Nova pity her, but just for a moment. Note's refusal to listen would get them both into trouble.

Nova huffed. "For your information, it's called 'Astral ProjectionTheorem', and it could be the key to getting me– I mean, us– out of this sinkhole of a town. Wouldn't you want to move to a place like Manehatten? Or, what about Canterlot? No...Hollow Shades." Nova's eyes sparkled. "Note, wouldn't that just be a dream? Living in Equestria's capital, with only the most elite of ponies and smartest of scientists. We could be revered there for my work. You could work your way back into the Queen's favor! Note, it would be a paradise." Nova, completely ignoring Note's less-than-thrilled expression, draped herself over her desk and gazed lovingly at the moon.

"Yeah, the last thing I would want to do is move to a place where there's more thestrals per square foot than any other place in the world. Spending eight years of my life around those...those half-breeds ]was enough for me." Note's gaze softened as she strode to stand by the younger mare's side. "Nova, you're sixteen. You know what other sixteen-year-old mares are doing right now?" Nova let her gaze wander to Note, but only so her caretaker could see her boredom.

"What, frolicking around with stallions and wasting away their short existence? No thank you." Note rolled her eyes and laid her hoof around Nova's shoulders.

"Well, yes, but they're also not worried about every little thing that happens in this kingdom. They have easy lives, Nova. They have friends, which is something you are solely lacking. Why don't you go outside and play with the other ponies your age? Or," she nudged Nova's port with distaste, "use your screen for something other than difficult calculations. These things have games, you know." Nova glared at the adult pony.

"I would rather spend my days figuring out how to better myself than drilling hours of attention into friendship and somepony I hardly know. I tried making friends once, Note, and do you know what happened?" Without waiting for an answer, Nova stood from her desk and stomped to one of her many notebooks. "I attempted conversation, and none of those ignorant foals understood a speck of what I was hoping to convey. I'd be more likely to have a talk with one of those mindless Timberwolves than with somepony my age." Note held a hoof up in a neutral gesture.

"All I'm saying, squirt, is that your parents wanted me to shape that big head of yours into something good not just for you, but for everypony else in Equestria. The Lunar Kingdom would definitely appreciate somepony as smart as you, but it would all be for nothing if you can't get along with the other ponies in...well, wherever you might go. It wouldn't be very helpful to anypony if all you do is stay cramped up in this griffon's nest doing nothing but working on theories that you can't prove." Nova groaned. She rolled her chair to another desk, this one stacked with diagrams and hoof-drawn images of surrounding flora.

"And all I'm saying, dog-face, is that my parents were incredibly intelligent, and I'm sure the Lunar Empire would have hired them if we had lived somewhere worth noticing." She allowed her gaze to grow sympathetic. "I understand you can't comprehend how important this is for me. I've been working on this idea for years, and if it proves to be right–if you can predict events in the near future by studying the stars and what they've given us here in Equestria–we will never have to worry about food or warmth again. Queen Moon would never lose another battle, she would never need to deal with foreign provinces, and she would know what the country needed before the country itself knew! If I could finish this–"

"I don't want to hear it, Nova," Note interrupted. Her expression had gone sour. "I understand perfectly that this project is important to you–we all have things we would like to accomplish. But what sets those ponies aside from you–in some aspects, what makes them better than you–is the fact that they don't allow their projects to consume them. A pony who does nothing but stare at graphs and charts all day is a pony who goes mad. They lose it." Nova noted a gleam in the mare's eyes, as if welling tears were on the verge of spilling over. "And the last thing I want on my conscience is that I allowed you to walk down that path. Your parents, hazy as they might be to you, cared for your wellbeing and prosper more than any other pony in Equestria. Can't you imagine what they might think of you if you were to be locked up in the madhouse?" Nova growled and bared her teeth.

"I am not mad," she spat. "I am, in fact, far from it. I am merely gifted with extreme intelligence, and I would like to put that to good use. Finishing this idea and putting it onto paper for the whole world to see would make my parents proud, and nothing you can tell me will change my mind about that. Now, I am busy at this moment, and would like some privacy. Goodnight, Mind-Note." Note winced at the usage of her full name, but retaliated in kind.

"Goodnight, Nova Glow. May the moon and stars guide your sleep."