A Glimmer of Hope: Reborn

Seeing the wolf cry threw Luna off her defensive stance, while Twilight shared his sorrow.

“Nick, you saved us though, helped us kill the cyclops,” she went over to him, trying to place a hoof on his cheek. For a moment she could feel his fur, soft as she remembered, before her hoof ended up going through his body. As it did a look of horror appeared on her face, thinking him to be fragile and a simple movement would disperse his apparition.

“I’m still learning how to use these powers,” he explained, waving away her concerns. “And I don’t know how long I have… I just needed to see you two and apologize, especially to you Luna.”

As he looked at her, the mare could feel herself flush and turn her head away answering with a grunt. “I know you opened up to me, laid bare your scars, trusted in me, yet I betrayed you,” he closed his eyes tightly. “You have every right to hate me, but don’t take it out on Twilight.”

“Why not??” she screamed at him, tears trailing from her eyes. “You both convinced me to join your herd, using your persuasion tactics to swoon me and then use me until you got bored!”

She lifted her hoof and struck him in his chest, which at the time chose to solidify and sent him flying backwards into the helm of the ship. Twilight gasped in shock while Luna was terrified at what she just did. The image didn’t move and Twilight rushed over to him.

“Nick! NICK!” she tried to hold him up but couldn’t.

“I-I love you both…” he weakly spoke, before his form disappeared.

Twilight felt her eyes start to sting from the tears that formed, and then rubbed at them furiously, a new emotion filling her. Looking at the older mare, she snarled.

“LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE!!! That could have been our only chance to talk to him, but just like you typically do, you just gave into your emotions and now he’s gone!” she began to cry in between each few words, in pain from everything that happened. “You don’t deserve his love! Don’t deserve any love!”

She spread her wings and leapt off the siding, taking flight into the night. Luna stood there, holding the offending hoof as tears of her own began to fall, at how foolish she had been.

“Ugh… I deserved that,” the wolf held his chest, the wind blown out of him from both the effort of trying to bridge the gap between worlds and Luna’s strike.

“You sure you’re ok?” Chrysalis carefully attended to him, making sure nothing was broken.

“Only thing broken is a bit of my pride,” Nick sighed, sitting down. “I thought I could just talk to them, but it seems there are scabs on the scars. And the only way to heal is to remove them. Maybe when they complete the next task I’ll try talking to them again.”

“I may not be able to feel their emotions anymore, but it seems to me that maybe your marefriends don’t feel the same about you, especially Luna.”

“Yeah, maybe they’d be better off without me. I just seem to cause them pain.”

“Well… you could always work things out with them when you get back I guess. Or maybe just move on...”

“The more important thing is just to get back to Equestria,” he stood up, steeling his resolve. He wouldn’t give up on the two mares, not until they flat out told him it was over, but the best thing to do was move forward. There were two more villains to “befriend” and two more challenges, and if the cyclops was any indication, things would only be tougher from here on out.

“What is her problem??” Twilight shut the door to her room, which was being shared with Tempest and Rarity, who were both curious as to what had happened. They heard yelling but considering it wasn’t any of their business had decided to stay in their room.

“We don’t mean to intrude darling,” Rarity tried using some tact. “But what exactly happened up there?”

“There was this glowing light that started flickering and Luna and I followed it, it turned into Nick and as he was trying to talk to us, Luna punched him! He went flying and then disappeared. That could have been my only chance to talk to him! To ask him if he… he…”

The mare burst into tears, her friends quickly by her side and comforting her.

“It’s alright Twilight, just let it all out,” Rarity cooed, rubbing the alicorn’s back. “While I can’t say that I know exactly what you’re feeling, I’ve had my share of heartbreaks and relationship issues. Communication is the key to solving most any problem, which is something unfortunately Princess Luna is having a hard time embracing. I wouldn’t say tonight, but perhaps whenever the time is right, I’d suggest just going to her and asking her to tell you what’s wrong.”

“I’ve tried that though Rarity,” she sniffled. “For over a year I tried to get her not to leave, but she chose to anyway. Now Nick’s back and… I could lose him forever.”

“He still loves you Twilight,” Tempest spoke up, feeling a tinge of something flow through her as she said those words. Why would it matter to her if he did? “You should have seen him rushing off to stop the cyclops before you or anyone else could get injured. Hearing him just talk about you gave away how happy you made him, how he’s thought about you while he was gone. It seems the divide is between himself and Luna, as he didn’t mention her at all. So there will be problems when he is revived, but I know you will find a solution.”

“Sniff… thanks Tempest,” she hugged the unicorn tightly. “Thank you both,” she smiled softly at them.

“Let’s get some sleep, it would do wonders for us all,” Rarity smiled, walking over to her bunk.

Luna had eavesdropped on the conversation and felt her heart sink at the mention Nick hadn’t talked about her to Tempest. While she wanted to be even more angry at him for that, her actions on the deck showed perhaps why he didn’t. It made her realize how monstrous she had been to the both of them, Twilight and Nick. Before returning to her room with her sister, she made a decision to accept her niece’s help in the matter.