A Skyrate Tale: Servant Betrayed

Chapter 2

The Quest Begins

A murmur went through the crowd as Nova was hauled away from the stage. What had happened and why was she taken away. Some voices were saying she was involved in a secret coup to over throw the Princesses, others were saying she was behind the whole affair.

"Nova! Let her go she's innocent!" Was heard above the crowd, but no one paid attention to this. Professor was beside himself in worry for his daughter. There was no way his angel was behind this, no way at all. Snapping up Patches, who had been thrown across the crowd by the royal voice, he spread his wings and took off for the Princesses.

Patches squirmed in Professor's mouth trying to set himself straight. "We must speak to lulu! Our Nova is not behind this, she was in front!"

With a flick of his head, Professor flipped Patches onto his back. "I know Patches, my girl would've even taken the shot for the Princess had she been on the stage." This thought made him wince. "Not...that I would want her too" He had witnessed what that one shot had done, the poor guard who had taken the shot was completely obliterated.

With a squeak Patches sat down on Professor's and sobbed. "Oh precious Nova what are they doing to you in the dungeons!"

Rolling his eyes, Professor never did understand Patches connection to his Nova.  From what he had gathered she had fallen off a roof and broke her wing when the doll found her and took her to the hospital. "I don't think they're gonna do anything to her yet" He replied to the doll's question.

Circling above the stage where the Princesses both ponies whined in defeat.  Both Princesses were already gone and the guards had already removed Broken Shield's body from the ground. "that was fast..." Was all he muttered before changing direction and flying towards the throne room.

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With a clang a cell door was thrown open as two guards hefted a distraught Nova into her new home. "assassinate the Princesses will you? Hope you rot in here!" One of the guards harshly said as he slammed the cell door closed and left her to herself.

Nova landed landed with a heavy thud and even heard a pop in one of her wings. "owww...what happened?" All she knew in that exact moment was that her head hurt and that she was pretty sure she might have broken a wing again.  Turning over onto her belly, she would moan as more pain hit her.

"I remember being...." With a gasp she shot up to her hoofs only to fall back onto her haunches and grasping her head. "That...that self absorbed stallion bashed me in the head!" She growled to herself and then she realized where she was. "how how could they blame me? I'd never hurt my Princesses" Then another thought came to her mind, she was gonna be tried for attempted assassination! That meant she would be at best executed or worse banished!

She collapsed to the ground and put her hoofs above her head. "oh they can't banish me I'm innocent...right...I bet everypony that comes here says that" Sighing she rolled her eyes and sat back up.

Looking around the cell she would notice it wasn't like most prison cells with iron bars, nope this one was an isolation cell of some sorts. "They really know how to make a girl feel special huh" Stretching her wings, she would wince as a small popping sound came from her left wing. "Why am I always hurting this wing? Last week I even bruised it while training..."

Stretching her long legs she would make herself comfortable and soon she was asleep.

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Guards and civilians alike shrank back when their Princess of the Night passed by them. Her anger was very apparent to anypony who saw her as she made her way to the dungeons. Of course they all understood why she was angry, some uncivilized pony had tried to murder her and her sister. What they didn't realize was that she was angry for another reason.

"How dare they blame Nova for what happened! We know that she is innocent and yet those nobles still demand us to banish her from Canterlot!" Luna fumed as she and her sister neared the dungeon they had thrown Nova into. "We be some of them would like banishment themselves"

Celestia could understand why her sister was so angry, but while it wasn't fair for the young mare to be banished she still understood that some pony had to be blamed to keep the peace. "Think of it this way sister, if she was to remain here her life would surely be in danger from anyone wanting to play vigilante" She saw Luna sigh and nod her head.

Coming to the door to the prison Luna would turn towards her sister. "Tia would stay out here while I talk with Nova?"

Celestia smiled at Luna's use of her nickname. "Of course Lulu, I know this is very important to you"

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Inside the prison, Luna made her way to the lowest depths where they were keeping Nova. Sergeant Buckshot was standing on guard outside the lonely cell.

"Sergeant report!" Luna asked with an authoritative voice.

Buckshot saluted the Princess and answered with a grin on his face. "My Princess we took the traitor and we 'kindly' threw her in. She's been silent the whole time." Was all the Buck could say before getting hoofed through a wall by the Princess.  When he came to his senses, the only thing he saw was the door to the cell being closed. "what did I say?"

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Luna was seething with anger as she entered Nova's cell, but quickly calmed when she saw the brown mare sleeping in a corner. Silently moving to the sleeping mare she would look her over to make sure there were no bruising from her rough treatment.

The Princess actually winced when she caught sight of a large bruise on Nova's face from where Broken Shield had slammed her head. Ever so gently she prodded Nova's side. "Wake up Nova, we must speak"

"Five more minutes..." Nova muttered and turned over, her wing catching the Princess in the face.

Chuckling at her friends response, Luna pressed her harder. "Rise Lunar Guard your Princess is in trouble!" She put her hoof to her mouth to suppress another laugh.

On instinct Nova jumped up and flared her wings, ignoring the protest her left one gave. "Who What When Where!" Looking around the room the only one she saw was the Princess herself. "Princess why are you in trouble?!"

Unable to contain her laughter any more the Princess collapsed in a fit of giggles. "And that Nova is why I know you're innocent" Standing back up Luna brushed herself off and took a serious tone. "I need to know though, what do you know of this Broken Shield

Hearing the name Broken Shield made Nova wince. "He...is a bad memory" Taking a deep breath before telling the Princess what she knew. "Broken Shield thought himself the only pony for me and I once believed him" Her voice took on a happy tone. "There was a time when he was everything I ever wanted, he was brave, strong and most of all smart enough to avoid my dad" Her dad had a habit of scaring any pony who wanted to be her coltfriend away. "Then.." Nova's voice dropped to a sadder tone. "he became obsessive"

Luna held her hoof up to silence Nova. "I don't understand isn't being obsessive a good thing?"

Shaking her head. "No no no it's not, not in this case." Nova ran her hoof through her mane, trying to figure out how to explain this to Luna. "It was an unhealthy obsession, it started off nice and then it got worse.  There were days he threatened me just for looking at my friends, He even once tried to beat up my dad for putting his hoof on my shoulder" Broken Shield had ended up tossed off her balcony. "That was when I left him and he swore to make me miserable and come back begging"

Clearing her voice before speaking again. "It sounds like he was 'broken'" This made Nova facehoof. "but I must say he has succeeded in making you miserable" Luna turned away from her friend to hide the tears in her eyes. "The nobles have called for your banishment from Canterlot and we are unable to stop them"

Nova's ears fell as fast as her heart. "Banished from Canterlot? But but this is my home, all my precious things are here" Falling to her haunches she broke out into tears. Sensing her friend's misery Luna put a hoof on her shoulder.

"We do have some good news" Lifting Nova's chin so that she could look her in the eyes. "It is not a permanent banishing..." Stepping back Luna took a royal pose. "Lunar Guard Nova Starlight please present yourself to your Princess"

Shock crossed Nova's face as Luna called her 'Luna Guard' did she not lose her position if she was banished. Quickly she stood up and saluted her Princess. "Nova Starlight reporting for duty!"

"Nova Starlight you are hereby charged of leading the search for whomever is behind this plot to kill us.  We believe the group is called 'The True Rulers'. You will be given access to anything you will need for this mission...provided you get it before you are banished." Luna took another breath. "You will be given two hours before you are banished to gather your things, do you know where you will begin your search?"

Two hours? That was a lot of time to get her stuff she thought. Most ponies didn't even get a minute before banishment. Then replying to Luna's question. "Yes I do Princess yes I do..." Grinning like a madmare she would utter a single word. "Skyrates"