Re-earning Your Cutie Mark

Chapters

For Without Your Cutie Mark, Who are You?
Arch-Unicorn
The Regal Sisters
The Lunar Twilight
A Rainbow Dream
Weapons Against Struggle
The Catacombs
Debriefing
Prologue

For Without Your Cutie Mark, Who are You?

“You son of a bitch!” the dark blue Pegasus yelled as he reeled from the pain in his haunch and looked over his shoulder quickly to assess the damage done. “You bastard! It’s gone! You cut off my cutie mark!” he stepped back from his attacker that had suddenly appeared out of the Everfree Forest and glared at him. The dark black unicorn hovered a long katana like blade over his head. Blood ran down Oz’s left side as he tried to remain calm. He didn’t have anything to defend himself with against this sudden enemy. Looking closely, he tried to see the face of his attacker, but he was shrouded in a dark ghostly mist and his eyes were aglow with a strange orange hue. This mystery attacker almost seemed unnatural in every way, except for the red glow around the weapon he had. The blue pegasus noticed he still had to use magic to hold the katana like blade that was near the spell caster’s head.

Oz stepped back and tried to think of what to do. The attacker had only assaulted his cutie mark, nothing else. “Now for the other side” the dark figure said in a dark echo. He lunged at Oz, the blade going further than the Unicorn’s physical reach. Without hesitating Oz jumped sideways away from the blade as it swung at his unhurt cutie mark of three stars positioned in a triangle.
“What do you want with me!?” he yelled as he dodged yet another attack.
“To erase you!” the creature shouted as he used a magical blast to hit Oz in the chest and sent him reeling onto his back. He rolled onto his side and grimaced when the dirt from the road entered his wound. As he tried to stand the unicorn grabbed his tail with his magic and slammed his romp down. Oz struggled, flapping his wings, as the menacing creature walked up to the struggling Pegasus.
“I will erase your special talent from existence, for without your cutie mark, you are nothing!”
“Screw you ass hole!” As the blade sliced into Oz’s flank, he bucked the Unicorn that had idiotically gotten to close. They both yelped in pain as their individual attacks connected each other.

Oz had actually been surprised his attacker was even solid mass, but he couldn’t think of that right now, he had to get away. He grabbed the now magic free blade in his hip and pulled it out as fast as he could with his teeth. The pain was so great that when he had managed to pull the blade completely free it was instantly let go for a yell in agony. He attempted to stand but his hips were, for the moment, ruined. Opening his wings, he lifted up off the ground with a few powerful flaps. He looked at his attacker and saw him completely unconscious on the ground. The dark, mystical haze that had hung around him was now gone. The Unicorn pony had been smart, under the haze he wore a dark suit in order to mask his identity leaving the only identifying mark Oz could make out was the white horn.

He looked at himself and saw that his cutie marks were shredded and misshapen. Under the blood and dirt it was hard to tell what Oz’s special talent even was. “Without my Cutie Mark…” Oz whimpered as he attempted to fly to Canterlot “…then who am I?” he left the unicorn there, laying silent in the dust. He hoped to never see that monster again. “I hope my Cutie Mark is not forever gone. Oh dear Celestia, please let my cutie mark heal.” Oz thought as he looked up the mountain and saw Canterlot perched atop it’s majestic precipice. Oz, the pony of Astronomy, felt his ability to follow the stars slipping. He gazed at them as he flapped his wings weakly. With the loss of blood, he was growing weaker by the minute. His vision blurred and then his wings became motionless. The last thing he saw was his beloved stars moving further from him, as he closed his eyes and only momentarily felt the thump of the ground against him.

Oz sat looking at the sky above him with an annoyed look. He wondered why the adult pegasi had to choose tonight of all nights to cover the sky with clouds. It was tonight he had waited so long to just gaze at the stars. Always longing to study them, the young colt would sit on clouds in the middle of the night, just pondering the burning balls of fire that lay hundreds of light-years from him. This night however, would be a short one. He flew from the cloud he had been sitting on to the top of the mist canopy. As half of his body still was surrounded by the clouds, he was to infatuated with the sparkling above him to move any further. He stared at the little dots twinkling so far away and smiled with joy. He never understood why looking at them made him feel so much better, but the fireballs relaxed him greatly. He always seemed to beable to forget the stresses of flight camp when gazing into the speckled void. A cold breeze made him shiver and he sighed as he floated back down below the canopy. Oz yawned as he flew back to his dorm in Cloudsdale Flight Academy.

The next day, after Oz had finished the day of Flight Camp, he sat on the cloud cover resting over Ponyville. He always loved sitting here, especially if his favorite pegasus hadn’t cleared the sky yet. Oz watched the sky searching for her. After a little bit he was surprised to hear a subtle laugh behind him. It wasn’t directed at him but it still caused him to jump and see who was there. It was her, his first true infatuation, Rainbow Dash. He did a subtle smile upon seeing her glistening rainbow colored mane and flowing cyan coat. His thoughts were interrupted by her chuckling at herself again. He saw her looking through a hole in the fluffy ceiling. Filled with curiosity, he hovered behind her and peered through her window to the ground. He made sure that his shadow did not fall in front of her to ensure she did not notice him. He also made sure that he was far enough away that she wouldn’t hear his wing beats…or his heartbeats for that matter.

Below them was Apple Jack at Sweet Apple Acers bucking the trees in the east orchard. Rainbow Dash blushed as she watched her infatuation. She couldn’t help but giggle out loud as she watched with great admiration the strong hind quarters of the brown earth pony below. She had kept the night’s blanket over Sweet Apple Acers per Apple Jack’s request. AJ had asked Dash to do this for her just simply so Celestia’s hot sun wouldn’t be to much of a bother as the Apple Family harvest some of their apples.

Apple Jack bucked, and like always her sister, now grown and possessing her Cutie Mark, caught the apples in a barrel on her head. Rainbow watched the farm girl fully engulfed in her well versed movements. After a firm buck, AJ leaped over her sister, doing a front flip mid air and upon landing on her fore hooves, spun her rear around and delivered a massive blow to the next tree. Apple Bloom was already waiting with a new barrel and caught the apples just as they fell into the wooden cylinder. Oz was both amused and impressed with the sight he saw, but was saddened by the subtle sigh let out by the one he found infatuating.

He landed softly next to her and finally revealed his presence. “Didn’t know you were actually into other girls.” Oz said with slight depression in his tone. He knew he could never have Rainbow Dash. She was in her twenties, and he had just recently turned thirteen himself. However, he had never imagined he would lose out to another girl. Rainbow Dash broke from her hypnotic state and looked up at him surprised. At first she was scared, but once she noticed it was just a little foal that was interrupting her fantasies, she became irritated.
“What do you want kid?” she asked bluntly. She had never met Oz, and had never seen him watching her when she had done her weather jobs. Oz had always been good at keeping himself hidden from her view while she performed her awe inspiring acrobatic stunts that not only cleared the sky, but made his heart skip beats.
“I was just surprised you were actually into girls. I mean, I would’ve thought you would be more into somepony like say…me” he couldn’t stop himself. He just let the words blurt out of his mouth. His cheeks burned red as he suddenly felt smaller than the water molecules holding him up.
“What? Why the hell would I wanna be with some kid?” she glanced back at the Apples and then glared at Oz. “And if you tell anypony, you’re gonna get it.” She zipped the hole in the clouds shut and dashed off. Oz watched her, his embarrassment dwindling as she put distance between them. He felt like something that resembled stupidity should be his cutie mark.

Suddenly and without any reason, he began to sink into the clouds. It was almost as if he was losing the ability to stay aloft in the sky. He tried to flap his wings but it seemed as if the air was just passing right through them. When he slipped completely through the clouds all he saw below him was perpetual darkness, not the ground like he should have.

Oz shook himself awake with that feeling of falling that always would wake anypony and shot up in the bed he was laying in. He would regret that involuntary action for his wings hurt, as did his head and hips; which had caused him to let out a loud grunt. He looked around the dimly lit room and noticed he was sitting in a dark tan tent. It’s door had a mesh screen that seemed to have a zipper that could me moved to open and close it. At this time it was zipped half open, leaving the other half hanging loosely in the air. “W-where am I?” he pondered as he rubbed his bandaged head. He noticed that other than the bed in this tent, there was nothing else except for the candle on the floor, mildly illuminating the area. It occasional flickering seemed to mildly intensify Oz‘s headache.

“So…you’re awake” said a large alicorn walking into the room, pushing the loose material aside. He stood with a natural military stance, but it seemed weaker, as if something had reduced his moral in the past. His body was covered in many scars, most notably were the ones covering his cutie marks. Oz also noticed his horn appeared to have been cut in half at some point.
“Who are you?” Oz managed to cough out.
“I am Nova, from Tesorias. Who are you?”
“Um...I’m Oz, from Cloudsdale.” he responded uncomfortably.
“Hmm…” the Alicorn said as he studied the pegasus. Without any further words from Nova, Oz decided to break the silence.
“What’s an Ali-” before Oz could finish his quarry, Nova disappeared out of the tent without saying a word. “Okay then.” Oz returned to laying on the bed, it made him feel much more comfortable. He pondered about what he had dreamed. How many years ago was that? He sighed and closed his eyes, returning to the sleep he had been interrupted from.

Nova ducked from the claws of a Griffon that passed over him. He glared at the beast and fired a fireball from his horn. The griffon barrel rolled out of the way and came at him, his talons wide open. Without hesitation, Nova shot his wings straight up, letting all lift he had dissipate immediately and making him drop rapidly. The griffon flew right over, just barely missing any part of his body. The bird-lion turned sideways and flew back at him. He cupped his wings and pushed back up, putting his fore-hooves out in hopes his opponent would just slam right into them. His plan almost worked entirely. Yes the griffon was stupid enough to fly right into his stretched out hooves, but he did not just get knocked out as Nova had planned.

The impact made them slam together and drop out of the sky. As they tumbled and twirled the griffon scratched at Nova’s face. He kept his head held back but not enough. At one point when he turned his head sideways to avoid a swing, the bird-lion managed to cross his arm and swing again at the same spot. This attack connected not just with Nova’s face, but the talons chewed right through his eye. He yelled in pain and in a furious rage pointed his horn right at the Griffon. The bird lion grabbed the horn with his beak and bit as hard as he could. The pain in the alicorn’s horn was enough to enrage him even further. He closed his eyes and summoned as much force as he could. The next thing Nova knew was an extreme heat wave erupted in front of him as he felt his horn shatter from the eruption. He opened his eyes and saw the headless corpse falling limply next to him. He looked up, or really it was down, and saw the ground getting closer. Knowing the urgency of the situation, he twisted mid air and opened his wings. They cupped from catching the air and he landed softly on the ground. Looking over his shoulder, Nova saw the Griffon’s twisted body laying in the dirt. He huffed and then began to walk away.

His head hurt to much for him to beable to concentrate on flying. He needed to get to the village nearby, but his strength was fading fast as shock was beginning to set in. All he could think about was keep walking. That’s all he kept saying to himself in his head. “Keep walking Nova, if you stop , you die.” He stumbled into the town and looked around at the buildings. Some were being reconstructed from the last battle that had been there while others were just shoddy shacks. A lot of ponies didn’t consider making permanent homes worth the time because the war would just come back and destroy everything anyway. He spotted the hospital and started to meander to it. Through his blurred vision Nova saw a group of town ponies start to try and help him, but he couldn’t continue on. His vision blackened and he collapsed.

The dark blue Alicorn stirred from his thoughts to stare at the wooded terrain across the road from him. It was dark and creepy and it caused him to wondered if it was the infamous Everfree Forest he had heard a little about. He glanced over his shoulder at the tent he was standing outside of and sighed. The pegasus he had saved reminded him of himself that day back when he lost his eye and horn. He pawed at the eye patch with his hoof and grimaced at the feeling of scared flesh behind it.

He had watched everything happen. He had gone to help, but Oz had defeated the pony before he could get there. The way the pegasus had flown away and then collapsed, made him feel…oddly sympathetic to him. It was the only reason why he had offered any form of help. He stood into the stance that he had been trained to stand, militaristic. He would stand guard against that forest. If any more of those ghostly ponies wanted to attack, he’d be ready. He did hope though, that by defending Oz like this, he’d be happy to become Nova’s first friend. He huffed and pushed the thought away. “Nopony wants to be my friend.” Nova Spat. Oz though…maybe could be his friend…maybe…just maybe…

Arch-Unicorn

Oz sat up in the bed he was in and winced in pain. The skin on his hips burned as the bandages pulled tight. It was just another reminder that yesterday had really happened. He yawned and opened his wings. He bit his lip as his left wing shot with pain. He looked over his shoulder at it and saw a splint there. “I must have broken it when I crashed into the ground after passing out.” he thought. Glancing outside he could see the silhouette of Nova sitting outside. “Has he been out there all night?” Oz pondered. He hopped off the bed and walked as carefully as he could. Each step with his hind legs shot pain up his spine. He managed to walk outside and stand in front of the sleeping Alicorn. Nova was in a lumped sitting position, his mouth hung slightly ajar, and drool hanging precariously from his lower lip. Oz looked the scarred pony all over. “By Celestia, how did he get all screwed up?” Oz was examining the navy blue pony’s scarred flank when the snoring stopped. Oz shot up and looked Nova in the eye. The Alicorn just stared at him with a scowl.
“What d’you want?” Nova spat.
“I-…Sorry…Uh…” Oz stuttered as he rubbed the back of his head with his hoof. “Thanks for taking care of me.” Nova stood and huffed.
“You shouldn’t have been on the ground at that time of night. You have wings dumb ass.” Nova scolded.
“I had already flown a long way, I was giving them a break.” Oz barked back.
“Oh? And where’s this so important place you gotta be so bad?”
Oz pointed at the nearby mountain, on top could be seen Canterlot and spoke, “Canterlot, Equestria’s capital city.” Nova followed the out stretched arm before him and stared at the stunning castle with waterfalls flowing from under it.
“So that’s Canterlot?” Nova asked to nopony specifically.
“Yes, that’s where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna live. I’m sure you know who they are.”
“Of course, they raise the same sun and moon that I live under.” Nova growled as he shot Oz a scornful glare. “Why were you going there anyway?”
“I’ve got something I need to warn the Princesses about.” Oz looked at his bandaged flanks and continued, “And now to see the most powerful Unicorn in the world.” this peeked Nova’s interest.
While trying to not sound to curious; Nova asked, “Who’s that?”
“Twilight Sparkle. She’s the Element of Magic. I’m sure she can restore my Cutie Marks.” Oz said, his anger softening.
“You think she could…?” Nova looked over his shoulder and under his wing at his scarred hip.
“I’m sure she could help you too.” Oz looked along the path and sighed. Without being able to fly it was going to take a long time for him to get to Canterlot, especially since his hips hurt so bad. Nova noticed his long face and grunted.
“Fine, I guess I’ll accompany you to this…Twilight Sparkle…” he said reluctantly.
“I’m glad to hear that…could you…yah know…carry me? Maybe?” Oz asked with an innocent grin. Nova just glared at him. “Okay never mind.” he started limping away. Nova looked at the tent and wrapped his magic around it. He folded it up and put the roll on his back. With it secured in its satchel, he then lifted up and caught up to Oz. As he flew over the injured Pegasus, he looked at the Everfree Forest.
“It’s not that scary” Nova said to himself in a huff. “How long till we get there?” Now directing his speech to the injured Pegasus.
“With me walking like this, probably a few days.” Oz responded, looking up at the Alicorn. Nova just sighed. “If you’d carry-”
“Forget it”
“Okay, fine.”

Oz and Nova sat along the dirt path that led to Canterlot, the tent set up behind them. Oz pawed at a bandage on his hip and sighed. “Are you feeling any better?” Nova asked bluntly, his eye never leaving the forest below. They were now hundreds of feet up the mountain and would be in Canterlot by mid day tomorrow. Oz looked at him.
“Yeah I’m doing better and these bandages don’t hurt as much as they used to.” Oz looked down the mountain side and then back at the Alicorn. “Thank you for doing this. For taking care of me.” Nova stood with a low huff and went inside the tent without a word. Oz stared at the entry way for a moment completely perplexed. Nova hadn’t said much over the past few days that they had been traveling. Only distant, and silent. Nova always traveled flying above Oz, and never walked with him on the ground. Oz was appreciative of what seemed like having a guardian, but…he still would like to know more about this mystery pony. He knew that Alicorns were powerful, but this one seemed…normal. It was almost as if somepony had sapped the power right out of him. Course, he’d never really know, because Nova was the first Alicorn he had ever met. He looked out over the Everfree Forest below and watched as the shadow of the sun’s lowering started to slide across it. He almost thought for a second he could see lights in the midst of the deep dark wood, but upon second glancing, there was nothing. “It’s just the Everfree Forest Oz, nothing to scary…except for a ghastly Unicorn.” he closed his eyes and thought back to the evening where he was attacked. It shook him. The words the pony had cited, it made him wonder what it had intended to do to him had he not knocked it out. He shuddered at the thought and placed a hoof over his hip.

Nova had been watching the young Pegasus from the door way. He sighed and went to lay on the floor. There was only one bed, and Nova was NOT sharing it with another MALE pony. He laid his hooves over one another and plopped his head on top of them. Before he knew it he was sound asleep. Visions of dragons and griffons danced through his head. One image in particular stuck. He stood in the halls of Arch-Unicorn Nahimana chambers, looking at a wooden door and surrounded in dilapidated castle walls. He pressed his hoof against the feeble blockade and it swung open with ease. Taking in the room around him, he saw the degraded walls lined with book shelves. Most were overgrown with nature, much like the rest of the castle, but the far right corner was well light and devoid of any plant life. Inside this area the aged Unicorn laid on her back, her hooves curved carelessly over her, with a book hovering by magic beyond them. When she noticed Nova enter, she put the book down and hurried to stand. “What do you want, young Alicorn?” she asked in contempt of his presence.
“I came seeking more magic, ma’am” Nova stated nervously.
“More magic?” she looked at him suspiciously. “That’s not why you’re here.” her horn began to glow. Nova looked away for a moment and then sighed. His gaze went back to her.
“No. I’m here because-”
“You’ve seen it haven’t you?” he frowned and nodded. “I thought you would. That talent of yours is remarkable.”
“You must be stopped Nahimana. Bringing destruction to this land is pointless!”
“Much like this endless war?” her retort made his face contort into a subtle sneer. “I’m bringing an end to this war, the only way it can be done! By destroying both sides!”
“You can’t be serious! How can you think that destroying this WHOLE LAND will save it?”
“I’ll drop as many meteors on this world as it takes to stop this war.” she said as she lowered her head, pointing her already lit horn at him. He also pointed his horn at her.
“What of the other lands on this planet!? Equestria, Zebracore!?”
“Mere unfortunate casualties. Neither land has faced the death we have! They will witness-” before she could finish Nova let loose a blast from his horn. He had heard enough. She quickly put up a barrier that took the hit. She then fired her own spell at him. Upon realizing she didn’t get hit by his attack, he jumped sideways to avoid her returning magic. He used his wings to spin mid air and upon landing fired another magical blast. She dove out of the way and watched as his attack destroyed one of her shelves. She growled at him as she began to charge up another attack. What she was planning to do, was far beyond what anypony could have imagined. Nova watched with horrid interest as sparks began to flow from her horn. Her eyes began to glow solid white. “I will erase you Nova! Your special talent will be gone!” she yelled. The air in the room began to swirl around her, picking up dust and leaves.
“That’s impossible!” he shouted back at her.
“Watch me!” her horn leveled with his Cutie Mark. His perspective did not allow him to see this as he powered up his own magical spell.
“I have to stop you Nahimana! I’m sorry…teacher…” he released his magic and a dark blue beam could be seen launching across the room. As his went to her, her bright orange magic flew at him and split in two separate balls. Nova had spent so much energy to cast his spell that he still hadn’t recovered enough to move. The spheres of magic splashed across his hips and ripped themselves through his Cutie Marks. He flew backwards from the impact and landed in a heap on his stomach. He coughed and looked up, but couldn’t see anything through the dust that had been generated. He stood, ignoring all the pain in his hind quarters, and walked over to the now lifeless Nahimana. Her torso was torn in two as her chest cavity laid on the bed she had just gotten off of and her hips were against the nearby book shelf. He looked her over, making sure that her intestines being splayed out on the floor indicated death. He huffed and began to walk away. With his adrenalin dwindling at every hoof step, the pain in his skin began to become unbearable. He finally stopped at the door and looked at his hips. There he saw it, both hips were seared and his Cutie Marks were completely removed. He felt faint, as if his magic was being drained out of him like a plug pulled from a bath. He tried to see the vision he had seen that brought him to this castle, but it was no use. He could not see it. Nor could he project his mind into the future at all. His talent of seeing future astrological events was gone with his marks. He fell to the ground and whimpered. What was he to do now?
“Nova!” said a distant voice. He looked up.
“Dad?” he asked.
“I’m not your dad! It’s Oz, wake up!”

Nova’s eye shot open, and he felt the scar under his eye patch pull. He looked up to see Oz standing over him. “It’s morning, we should get going.” Nova looked out the door of the tent and saw Celestia’s sun rising over the horizon. He looked at Oz irritated and then stood.
“How much did I speak?” Nova quarried with a grunt.
“Huh? Nothin’ other than calling me your dad.”
“Good” Nova shoved past the Pegasus and exited the tent. Oz had lied. Most of the night Oz kept being awoken to the Alicorn yelling at somepony in his dreams. He felt sorry for the pony. “Are you coming? I can’t pack the tent up with you inside moron.” growled Nova.
“Oh…yeah! Sorry.” Oz hurried out as Nova put his magic around the tent once more. He closed it up and put it on his back. Nova held out his wings to lift off when Oz spoke up. “You mind walkin’? I uh…was wanting to talk…” Nova glared at him for a moment.
“Fine. It is possible you could answer a few of my questions anyway.” Nova folded his wings over the rolled up tent to better secure it and walked next to Oz. They began walking towards Canterlot.
“You actually have questions for me?” Oz asked with a hint of “feeling special” in his tone.
“Is that odd?” Nova was completely confused. Why was it him having questions would be weird to Oz?
“Only because you’re an Alicorn. I woulda thought you’d be…I dunno…all knowing or something.”
“You haven’t met many Alicorns have you?”
“You’re the first. I’ve never been to Canterlot, so I’ve not personally met any of the Princesses.”
“Are there no other Alicorns?” Nova looked over to Oz with sincere curiosity.
“No. Princess Celestia and Luna are the only ones here. They didn’t used to be, but Princess Cadence went to the Crystal Kingdom a long time ago.
“My land is full of all four races. Less Alicorns than the rest of course, but…” he trailed off, and Oz wasn’t about to try and have him repeat himself.
“So…were both your parents Alicorns?”
“No, my mother was a Unicorn.”
“Ah…both mine were Pegasi…” the paced next to each other in an awkward silence for a few moments. Neither could remember what they had wanted to ask the other. Nova finally thought of something.
“You said the Unicorn we’re visiting is named…uh…Twilight Sparkle?”
“Yeah. She’s Canterlot’s Arch-Unicorn.” Nova stopped walking, which caused Oz to look at him confused.
“I’ve never met a friendly Arch-Unicorn.” Nova grunted.
“I’m sure she’s fine. After all she saved Luna from herself and stopped Discord. Well, her and her friends. The Bearers of Harmony as they’ve become known as.”
“Harmony? No wonder this land has not seen war.” Nova began walking again, with Oz keeping pace. “Are sure we can trust her?”
“I’m positive!”

As they rounded the mountain side Canterlot came into view and they stopped to take it all in..
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a city in such good condition” Nova remarked.
“Why’s that?” Oz asked without looking at him
“My land has been torn asunder by war, nothing still stands from the time before.” they continued walking, neither taking their eyes off the magical castle.
“How long have you guys been fighting?” Oz’s voice had a hint of remorse.
“To long. Nopony remembers why we’re fighting…least, none of the soldiers do.”
“Oh yeah, you’ve prolly been alive for a long time huh?”
“No, I’m actually about the same age as you.”
“Wow, you must be a baby-” Nova slammed his forehead into Oz’s and glared into his eye.
“I’m not a baby ass hole!” with that Nova launched into the air and stayed there. Oz rubbed his head for a moment and then looked up.
“Geeze.”

The Regal Sisters

Canterlot was foreboding to Nova. It's giant and pristine castle walls were so far from normal to him that he didn't want to approach. He hovered next to the pure stone walls and gawked at them. Oz stood at the gates, the guards checking him for anything malicious on his person. He looked up at the flying Alicorn and sighed. "Nova, you're gonna havta get checked by the guards if you want in Canterlot, they don't take to kindly to ponies who can fly going over the walls!" he shouted up. Nova looked down at them with a frown. He pondered to himself if they would arrest him for something stupid just because he was a foreigner. He glided down to them and landed gently, hoping to not do anything that the guards would consider suspicious. The one unicorn guard hovered a spell over Nova that then slid down him as if it was scanning him. When it reached the ground the guard lifted it back up him and then stopped at his broken horn. The guard looked at him suspiciously and then shook it off.
"You may want to get your Alicorn costume fixed, kid." the guard huffed. Nova went to argue the matter but Oz, who was now standing behind the guards shook his head in exclamation. The Alicorn just sighed and nodded in acknowledgment of the guard's remark. The other guard that was a Pegasus lowered his wing, allowing Nova to pass. When he got out of earshot range of the two white ponies he muttered something rather demeaning at them. Oz heard it but simply ignored the remark. As they trotted into Canterlot square Nova became even more insecure. The completely untouched cityscape overwhelmed his senses. The ponies walking around in glamorous attires almost blinded him. Oz was just as surprised at the difference Canterlot was from the floating city he grew up in. both of them stood on a street corner and just took in the view of the glamorous shops and alley ways. Along the street they were standing on was an outdoor café with many-a glamorous pony eating their fancy meals. Nova felt very out of place. As did Oz, his bandaged hide and wing made him feel as if he wasn't good enough for the high life city they were now presented with. Though, it didn't take long before Nova felt a creepy sinsation crawl up his spine. When he finally couldn't resist looking away from the amazing city, he looked over his shoulder to see passers by staring at him. Not Oz AND him, just him. He let out an awkward smile at a couple that passed by, their gaze not leaving his broken horn. They grimaced at one of his broken teeth and trotted away without even trying to hide their haste. He let out a low growl.
"Why do they keep staring at me?" he asked, not really to anypony in general. OZ, oblivious that Nova wasn't talking to him, was glad to respond.
"Because they've never seen an Alicorn not from Celestia's lineage…also…you're the first Alicorn they've seen to have a dick." he said, leaning in close with an awkward smile. Nova grimaced at him.
"What the fuck are you doing?" he scolded.
"I'm kidding you ass, geeze lighten up." Oz said glaring at him.
"Lighten up!? I'm in a city full of strangers-!" Oz slammed his hoof into Nova's mouth. Not hard enough to be considered a punch, but enough to silence him and irritate him at the same time.
"Stop yelling idiot, you're already drawing enough attention!" Nova calmed down at that. He didn't want any more ponies acknowledging his presence than who already had. "It's not that I'm wanting to sneak through Canterlot or anything, it's just that if I got attacked from the Everfree Forest for no reason, by a pony that is, then I can only imagine that whom ever wants to kill me would be here too. Dunno why they want me dead, but I'd rather not risk it." Nova let out an annoyed huff.
"Fine. Is that where we need to go?" Nova asked looking up at Canterlot Castle. Oz followed his gaze to the glistening castle that rested above Canterlot square.
"Yes it is, if we're to meet the Princ-"
"There he is!" shouted a bystander that had two Unicorn guards on each side of them. Neither Oz nor Nova recognized the pony reporting them as a recent by stander.
"What the hay?" Oz shouted as the Unicorns put the two in a binding shield. "What the Tatarus is this!?"
"You're from Tesorias, aren't you Alicorn." said a third Unicorn guard coming from behind the bystander and up to the now hovering Nova. He stopped mere meters from Nova's snout, glaring into the Alicorn's eyes.
"Yeah, what of it?" he grunted with malice.
"I'm Shining Armor, Captain of the royal guard, tell me why you're here Tesorian."
"Well, Rust Bucket, I'm not speaking till you stop this humiliation!" Nova crossed his fore-hooves and snorted. Shining glared at him and then turned to Oz.
"Where are you from, Pegasus?"
"Originally Cloudsdale, sir. But uh…I was coming from Las Pegasus to give a message to Princess Celestia." Shining sneered at him for a moment and then nodded at the Unicorn that had Oz held up. That guard released his magic and Oz fell on his back, doing everything he could from yelling in pain from his wing.
"We'll escort you…" Shining looked down at the injured Pegasus with a questioning look.
"Oz…" Oz said as he sat up, fighting back the tears and rubbing his broken wing.
"Oz…we'll escort you to the castle. You however," Shining turned his attention to the still floating Alicorn, "Will stay incapacitated."
"Whatever." Nova scoffed. Oz stood and let out a sigh as the pain in his wing began to dull as endorphins finally began to take effect.
"Come with us." the guard that was no longer holding Oz said as the shooed away the bystander that had reported them. Oz watched the odd Earth pony walk away, just as he turned the corner an orange hue could be seen coming from his eyes. Oz thought it strange, but the forcefulness of the guards made him quickly push it out of his mind. As they slowly meandered to the castle Oz couldn't keep from wondering how that bystander knew Nova was from a different land. He looked over his shoulder at the simmering Alicorn and studied him. The scars stamped into his skin looked no different than that of any other pony that had had a rough life. Even Equestrian ponies were known to get pretty beat up if they worked in a dangerous field. Another thing that bothered him was, why did the guard at the gate get fooled by his broken horn, yet no other pony has thought of it as fake. He looked at the cobblestone street they walked on heavy in thought. Nova finally broke the silence.
"You can let me go, Shining. I'm not a danger to you." he said irritated.
"That's to be decided by Princess Celestia." Armor retorted. Nova just glared at the white and blue pony. He wished he could use his magic to just rend the bastard in two, but the magic field he was in also dampened his own magic. He only knew that because he had already tried to break it. If his horn hadn't of been broken, weakening his powers, he might have been able to over power the Unicorn holding him, but that was not the case. He cursed the now long dead griffon that took his horn. They walked up the long, winding path that lead to the castle from the square. Looking over his shoulder, Oz could see Ponyville a few kilometers away. He turned his head, and strained to see Cloudsdale from around the mountain. All he could see was the coliseum where he had passed his flight test so many years ago. Glancing at his bandaged wing, he began to long for the ability to fly again. His hooves were sore from having walked so much. Suddenly they stopped. Because Oz was so enthralled in his thoughts he almost didn't notice Shining not moving any more and nearly bumped into him. He managed to shake from his day dreams and stop just before a collision occurred. They had stopped in front of the castle doors, two Unicorn guards stood at attention as they used their magic to let in the Captain and his entourage. Both Nova and Oz were dumbstruck at the brilliance that was on the other side of the entryway. As they were escorted into the main hall they couldn't stop looking around at the brilliant décor. Pictures of Princess Cadence hung on one side as on the other showed Princess Luna. Above the split stair case at the end of the foyer hung a picture of Princess Celestia, smiling down at anypony that entered the halls. Shining Armor glanced at the picture of Cadence and smiled. They went up the stair case, guards standing at attention as their superior passed. Nova noticed that as he passed by they would glare at him. This simply caused him to become even more irritated at the situation he was in. Though, he couldn't help but take one more look at Princess Luna's picture before they entered the left door way at the top of that staircase. They entered a long hallway that led to two large doors. In this hallway stood statues of pony armor that appeared to be from the time when the two regal sisters took over the land. Nova was completely enthralled in the large banner of Princess Luna that hung on one side of the hallway, next to Celestia's. Oz noticed that Cadence's portrait was not present and found it quite odd.
"Why isn't Princess Cadence shown in here?" Oz queried.
"She's not present in the Kingdom at the moment. She's taking care of matters in the Crystal Kingdom." Shining said, as he looked at blank spot on the wall. Oz could only imagine that was where her banner used to be. The two Earth pony guards at the end of the hall rushed to open the door for them. As the two large golden doors moved out of their way, they were introduced to the throne room. It's overbearing glamour was almost to much for Nova, until he saw her. His gaze fell upon Luna's sleek dark curves and luminous flowing mane and he did everything he could to keep his wings from popping up. Not to mention keeping himself from showing the world his tool. He cursed his current lack of clothing. He clamped his wings tight around the rolled up bag laid on his spine as hard as he could. The two princesses broke from their idle conversation to watch the group meander in to the middle of the room. Everypony in the party bowed except Nova. It wasn't because he was incapable of such, he just didn't hold the Princesses in as high regard.
"Even an outsider would be so courteous as to bow to other lands' rulers." Stated Celestia to Nova. He sighed and lowered his head respectfully.
"We brought you the Tesorian, Princesses" Shining said as he stood. The others followed suit. "And this Pegasus claims to have a message for you." he nodded in Oz's direction.
"Well, actually ma'am…I don't anymore. You see…I was attacked on my way here by some ghostly pony that took away my Cutie Marks." he turned his haunch around to show Celestia and Luna his bandaged hide. "I was going to warn you about some astrological event but…I can't remember what it was, and I'm no longer able to read the stars like I used to." the sisters looked at each other and then back at Oz.
"It would seem to be true, my sister." Luna said.
"Yes, Luna. The loss of a Cutie Mark does remove one's special talent as well."
"We came to see Twilight Sparkle and get our Cutie Marks back." Nova spat.
"You're not going anywhere near my sister!" Shining shouted, his face now planted against the force field.
"What? Scared I'm gonna touch her?"
"Shut the fuck up you bastard!"
"SHINING!" Celestia shouted. She used her magic to rip him from Nova's bubble. Nova just waved at him with a cocky smile, burning Shining Armor even more. "Control yourself." Shining stood from the floor he had been drug to and turned to face his ruler. "Why are you here Tesorian?" she asked looking at Nova.
"I'm here seeking aid for my nation. We're-"
"At war, I know. Your disharmonic nation has led me to ban my subjects from entering your lands." she nodded at the Unicorn that still had him bound and Nova was released. He opened his wings and drifted to the floor. "We will not be sending aid to your people. I'm sorry." Nova wasn't sure to be sad, or out right angered by Celestia's disregard of his countries needs.
"What the Tartarus!?"
"I will not have my people subjugated to your land's brutish ways!"
"Maybe, sister, if he could regain his Cutie Mark, he could help the Pegasus in telling us his message." Luna said.
"What do you mean?" Celestia was irritated at Luna's statement. The nighttime Alicorn began to walk down the stairs to Nova. She had seen the look he had given her when he walked in. she had never seen a male Alicorn, so her infatuation with him was peeked. As she walked around him, studying his scarred body, her curiosity about him grew. Celestia watched this irritated at her sister's flirtatious behavior.
"What was your special talent, Alicorn?"
"My name's Nova, and it was to predict astrological events."
"So both of you are astronomers by talent?" she asked as she walked back to her throne.
"Yes" the two new comers responded in unison.
"Then perhaps, sister, Nova could help…" she paused and looked at the blue Pegasus.
"Oh…uh…Oz" the winged pony stumbled.
"Nova and OZ could regain their Cutie Marks and tell us what it is that Oz had seen." Celestia looked at her sister through her flowing mane.
"Sometimes, I wonder if trapping you in the moon has inhibited you to read those around you." she looked back at Nova and sighed. "Help Oz discover what it was he needed to tell us and we'll consider sending aid to your nation." A subtle grin ran across Nova's lips.
"Agreed." Nova figured he had put up with Oz enough, he could deal with him a few more hours.
"Shining, show them to your sister. See if she can restore their Cutie Marks. If I know her, she in the Starswirl the Bearded wing." Celestia ordered.
He nodded and reluctantly led them out of the chamber.

The Lunar Twilight

Shining Armor walked ahead of Oz and Nova. The two guards that had been with them had stopped at the door way to this long hall. Oz looked past his escort to see metal bars in front of many of the doors in this hallway. Except for one. The bars were swung open and a light green/blue hue could be seen projecting on the floor in front of it. This door is the one that they stopped at. Shining peered into the room, looking for his sister. Both winged ponies noticed the lines of bookshelves neatly running in rows in a circle around a hour glass in the middle of the room. Oz’s ears dropped when he saw the Pegasus sitting on top of it reading a Daring Do novel. The multi-colored Rainbow Dash was perched comfortably at the edge of the hour glass’s rim, her hind legs hung without care over the edge as she held the book up with her fore hooves. Shining also noticed her. “Rainbow Dash!” he shouted to get the cyan mare’s attention. Oz jumped when Shining gotten her attention and slightly scooted closer to Nova to hide behind the white Unicorn in front of them. Nova looked down at the cowering Pegasus and rolled his eyes. Rainbow Dash looked up at Shining and waved.
“Hey Shining, what’s up?” she asked.
“Have you seen Twilight anywhere?”
“I’m over here!” yelled Twilight from the back recesses of the room. Rainbow smiled slightly and pointed her hoof in the direction of Twilight’s voice. Shining nodded in thanks and began to trot in that direction with Nova and Oz shadowing him. Oz made sure to put Nova between him and Rainbow in an attempt to prevent being spotted. This only irritated the Alicorn and caused him to shove Oz snout first onto the floor in front of him. Rainbow watched them and laughed at the ponies, until she realized that not only was there an Alicorn here; but she also recognized the Pegasus that he had tripped.
“Do I know you?” she asked suspiciously to the blue and yellow Pegasus.
“N-no, we’ve never met” he said nervously as he scrambled to his feet and tried to hid behind Nova again. Nova rolled his eyes and picked Oz up with his magic. He then hovered the flightless Pegasus to Rainbow, Oz squirming to no avail. Rainbow studied him through squinted eyes as he smiled nervously at her.
“I do know you! You’re that little perverted foal from a few years ago!” she said as she reared back her hoof. Oz held his eyes shut waiting for the pain. When none came he opened one eye to see Rainbow’s hoof being held back by a purple hue. Shining was standing at the end of one of the book aisles, his horn aglow as he glared at Rainbow. She just lowered her hoof and went back to reading with a huff. The magic color that was around Oz changed from Nova’s to a darker purple hue. It wasn’t Shining’s. Oz looked at the aisle Shining was standing in and he saw Twilight Sparkle standing there, hovering a few books behind her as one was flipped open in front of her. She also had a drink hovering nearby. Nova was impressed by her levitation capabilities. Not only was she holding numerous objects, but a pony too. She also wasn’t even looking at any of them except the book in her face. Oz was put back on the ground and the magic around him faded. Twilight looked up at him with curiosity. She walked over to him and began to unravel the bandages on his hips.
“h-HEY!” Oz exclaimed.
“I’m just looking.” she said as she unveiled his scabbed sides. The cuts had not cut off Oz’s Cutie Marks completely, but still they were not visible on the untouched fur. “You have a removal spell on you…both of you.” she looked up to Nova.
“A what?” Nova asked curiously.
“A removal spell. An item or raw magic can be infused with this spell to remove anything the caster wishes. It’s a forbidden spell. Whoever did this to you two must really not like you.” she touched her horn to Oz’s scabs and began to cast a healing spell. Within moments Oz’s hips were covered in three scars, one crossing the other two, instead of damaged skin. The pain in his haunch also completely faded away. He looked at his hip and moved it. He was so happy to not be in pain there any more. She undid the splint around his wing, careful to grab his wing when freed so as to not move it. He yelped a little and bit his lower lip.
“Oh man up pansy.” Nova laughed, causing Oz to shoot him a short glare.
“I’m no medic, but I learned these healing spells recently, so I’m glad to have somepony to practice on.” Twilight said, not breaking her visual concentration. Oz looked at the books she still held up with her magic and began to grow nervous. She tapped her horn against his wing and the magical hue around her horn spread across the part that contained the bone. He felt a sharp pain and then it whisked away with the sound of a relieved coo. Oz stood, and flapped his wings. He lifted himself off the floor a little and smiled.
“What about our Cutie Marks?” Nova asked, killing Oz’s good mood. The Pegasus landed and looked curiously at the purple Unicorn. Shining also looked at her with question.
“That is a different matter. You see…” she trailed off as she trotted into the opposite part of the room. As she left the area with the hour glass, she neatly piled the books at the end of an aisle without even looking. Rainbow looked down at Oz and saw how he had been healed. She just snorted and continued reading. Nova walked over to Oz and looked him over.
“How is it she could detect a spell that I could not?” Nova thought aloud.
“Well, I’m sure-” Nova shot Oz a dirty glare, indicating he wasn’t talking to him. The Pegasus bit his lip and smiled innocently. The clopping of Twilight’s hooves could be heard getting closer, drawing every ponies attention to her. When she reappeared she had a book hovering in front of her, on its cover read A disambiguation of the Forbidden Spells. she was flipping through the pages searching for the right one. She stopped in front of the two winged ponies and kept searching. She glared at the pages as she flipped back and forth until she just turned to the table of contents. Her face lit up and then she furiously turned the pages again.
“Here it is!” she exclaimed. She then read the page aloud. “Forbidden spell #1031: The Removal Spell. It was discovered by the young Starswirled the Bearded and quickly made forbidden by his Arch-Magus. The spell’s dangers outweighed its usefulness.” she looked up at Oz, then looked back at the pages. She flipped it and then went back,
“What’s wrong Twily?” Shining asked.
“The next page is missing.” she said shocked.
“Missing? What do you mean by th-” Oz started, but a creaking noise as if there was movement nearby startled him into cutting his question short. They all looked in the direction of the noise and the silhouette of a ghostly pony could be seen sneaking out of the room. The ponies eyes were aglow with an orange radiant light. It was a Pegasus though, indicating it wasn’t the same one that attacked Oz.
“HEY!” shouted Twilight. In the mouth of the pony could be seen a sheet of paper. “He has the missing sheet!” the Pegasus looked up at them and then darted for the door. Twilight teleported in front of him and then barred the door with a spell. Shining did the same to the window. The Pegasus lifted into the air and began to fly around looking for an escape. Before anypony in the room could react, a rainbow streak shot through the air and the Pegasus was now pinned to the floor, by Rainbow Dash.
“And where do you think YOU’RE going?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at it. Before the others could get to her, the black mist surrounding the Pegasus began to crawl up Rainbow’s arm. She screeched and jumped back, flailing it in the air. The Pegasus on the ground went limp as Rainbow became completely enveloped in the mist. She fell backwards onto her side facing away from her crowd of friends. The shadows picked her up and hefted her onto her hooves. As this happened Shining hovered the page from the incapacitated Pegasus to Twilight. Rainbow’s eyes shot open at this action. They were a vibrant orange.
“Give me that!” she demanded, a dark and sinister voice echoed hers.
“Who are you!?” demanded Twilight.
“I’m your friend, Rainbow Dash. I just want the page.” whoever was in control of Rainbow Dash’s mind was trying to play innocent, even though it knew it wouldn’t work.
“No, give us our friend back!” Rainbow ignored the demand and zipped towards Shining’s spell blocking the window. A thin line forming in front of her. “Shining, your spell can’t stop a Sonic Rain-boom!” Twilight shouted.
“STOP!” Nova yelled, holding his fore hooves out. Magic erupted from his horn as everything in the room became still. Shining was in mid step, Oz still watching in disbelief and Twilight forming an orb around herself. She broke out of Nova’s spell and walked up to him.
“A stop everything spell, genius” she remarked. She walked over to the still in motion Rainbow Dash and wrapped magic around her. She then closed the magic inside of the cyan pony. The mist fell off of Rainbow and then was contained in a small spherical ball that Twilight pulled from her. Nova looked at what she had with great curiosity. Just as she started to expand the ball to let free whatever she had, it cast an orange spell around itself and teleported away. Nova watched with shock as Twilight’s orb shattered from the spell that was cast inside. She looked up at him with great concern. “Whoever, or whatever, that was, they are very powerful.” she said as she canceled Nova’s spell. Nova looked around and the felt very light headed. Twilight interrupting his spell made him lose a lot more energy suddenly and he had to sit down. Rainbow Dash stopped flying right in front of Shining’s blockade and looked at it. She then spun around and looked down at Twilight.
“I’m so sorry, Twi! I couldn’t stop it!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she faced her friend. Oz shook his head and looked at Nova.
“How’d you get over there?” he asked the dazed Alicorn.
“He had cast a Stop Everything Spell” Twilight said as she walked over to the Pegasus that had been under the influence of whatever entity it had been in contact with. She leaned down and looked him over. She frowned and turned to Shining. “It’s Velocity” she said. “And…he’s dead.” Shining ran over to his long time friend and looked down at him. The brown pony just laid there without moving. Shining lowered his head and lifted the corpse with his magic. He then began to walk out of the room. “Where are you going, Shining?” he stopped and looked back at his sister, saying
“I’m going to take him to the morgue. We’ll give him a soldiers burial in the morning.” he then walked out of the room. Twilight’s ears were flat on her head as she felt for her brother.
“I’m so sorry Twilight.” Oz said.
“It’ll be okay…and so will he.” she turned her attention to the page once again. Hovering it in front of her face she began to read the page to herself silently. After some time, she looked up at the two flighty ponies with a worried look.
“What is it?” Oz asked.
“To reverse the spell, requires three Eulanar Crystals.”
“Eh-who-what-now crystals?”
“Yul-a-nær. They’re very powerful magic infused crystals that can help Unicorns focus their magical energy into a spell. This counter-spell requires the focusing power of three crystals.” Oz tapped his chin thinking for a moment.
“So, where do we get’em then?” he asked. Twilight walked over to her neat pile of books and picked up the whole stack with her magic. She pulled out the bottom one and then placed the rest back on the ground. She trotted back over to the two ponies with the book hovering in front of her. As she flipped through the pages Rainbow Dash hovered over her, trying to see the text on each page before Twilight flipped to another.
“AH HA! According to this book the Crystals can be found wherever large quantities of magic is found.” She lowered the book to the ground and then hovered a nearby globe to her. Holding it up in front of Nova and Oz she tapped her horn inside the drawn borders of Equestria. The whole nation was aglow with purple magic for a moment. Then Twilight closed her eyes and focused. The aura shrank down to three flowing dots.
“Shit” spat Nova. “One’s in the Everfree Forest.” Twilight opened her eyes and looked at the globe.
“Yes. It would seem there is one in the Everfree Forest, the Crystal Mines and…oh pony feathers. Here in the Crystal Catacombs.”
“Wait, I thought you said the Crystals formed where there were high amounts of magic?” Oz inquired.
“I did.” Twilight responded in an irritated tone.
“Well, the Everfree Forest is devoid of magic isn’t it?”
“Not entirely. The Everfree Forest runs on its own kind of magic, which is what makes it so unique to Equestria, and why everypony is afraid of it.”
“Oh, I get it…I think.”
“You said here, in the Crystal Catacombs?” Nova inquired. Twilight looked at him and twisted his face begrudged.
“Yes. I’m not to surprised I didn’t see them when I was down there a long time ago.” she hovered the globe over to a makeshift desk she had made in front of the hourglass. Rainbow landed on top of the center piece and peered down on the shoddy workplace. The two blue ponies walked to either side of the desk and sat, waiting patiently for Twilight to finish whatever it was she was doing. She had pulled out a map of Equestria from a stack of rolled up papers that sat on Oz’s side of the desk. She unrolled it in front of her and took a quill from a nearby ink jar and began to circle the three locations on the map. She glanced out the window and saw that it was late in the night. She turned around and levitated the now marked map next to her, showing it to the two winged ponies. “I have marked the locations on this map. If you two want, you can start looking for them tomorrow.” Oz and Nova looked at each other, then back at her.
“We might wanna rest a little. Both of us have been traveling for a while.” Oz said.
“Then the catacombs will be a perfect place to start.” she retorted as she rolled the map back up and slid it into the roll on Nova’s back. Oz let out a subtle groan causing the Alicorn to look at him.
“Do you want your Cutie Mark back?” he asked.
“Yeah I do.” Oz responded in a down tone.
“Then no matter what you’ll do whatever it takes to get it back. Remember, Equestria’s in danger and only YOU know why.” Oz let out a sigh.
“Then I guess we should be off to bed.” he said as he hung his head and began to walk away.
“Tell the guards down the hall to escort you to one of the guest rooms.” Twilight called out to the Pegasus.
“Okay.” he walked out of the room and disappeared around the corner. Twilight looked over to the Alicorn that was beginning to meander down one of the aisles.
“You’re not going to bed too?” she inquired surprised.
“Not just yet, I’m curious of these spells.” Nova responded. Suddenly Twilight heard snoring above her and looked up at Rainbow dash. She was asleep with her fore hooves laid over the edge of the hourglass and her head on one of her arms.

Luna stared through the window to the Starswirled the Bearded wing from her perch at the precipice of Canterlot Tower. She had been attracted to the window by the commotion that had happened in there a few moments ago. She could see Twilight talking to the two new comers, and she couldn’t stop watching Nova. To her he was everything she had dreamed in a man. Mysterious, dark furred, and gruff. He also showed assurance about himself that she knew she could never have. Even though it had been seventeen years since she had been trapped on the moon, she still felt awkward addressing her subjects. Maybe if Nova stood by her side she’d feel more confident. Also the scars made him look more appealing to her. Showed how tough he was and that he’d be willing to not only protect her, but her kingdom as well. “Staring at him isn’t guarding the night, sister.” Celestia said jokingly as she walked up behind her younger sibling. Luna broke from her ponderings and looked over her shoulder at her sister, blushing.
“My apologies sister, he’s…just…”
“He’s not from these lands, Luna.”
“He would be perfect then.” she said smiling up at her older sister.
“How so?” Celestia raised an eyebrow in genuine curiosity.
“If me and him were to get together, it could make a bond between our nations.” Celestia sighed. Once again she knew her sister had a valid point. She looked down at the window and briefly saw in Nova what her sister saw. She then looked back at Luna.
“I’ve done enough harm to you sister, I’ll not stop you from what you believe to be a good choice.” She turned to leave when Luna jumped into hugging her.
“Thank you Tia!” Celestia smiled down at her sibling as she returned the hug. Celestia pulled away from her sister and disappeared into the tower. Luna turned back to the window to see nopony there Anymore. She frowned and returned to gazing across the land. She could see Cloudsdale and Ponyville easily from this perspective. She watched as the last few lights began to shut off in Ponyville. Like all cities however, Cloudsdale was still a-buzz with life. She looked through the telescope in front of her and watched the Wonderbolts practice another routine for their upcoming show. She sat down and sighed. She looked around Canterlot and saw some of the couples sitting together at the roadside parlors. Even though she was a princess of Equestria, she was very lonely. Celestia spent most of her time teaching Twilight magic and Luna herself was usually resting during the day. For a sheer moment, she embraced the feelings that had turned her into Nightmare Moon. She shook her head to get rid of those thoughts. She swore to herself that she’d never go back to being like that. She knew why ponies slept at night and she was willing to forgive them of it. She glanced out across the land again just in time to see a black mist with an orange core fly away from Canterlot and head for the Everfree Forest. She opened her wings and went to follow. She followed the wisp to the edge of the forest where she landed on the road there. She took a step forward when she stepped on something not usual to the ground. She looked down and saw a blood covered blade. Nearby were hoof prints that led away to Ponyville. The other way looked like the place where a tent had been. She realized that this was where Oz had been attacked.
“Come princess of the night. I beckon you into these woods.” echoed a dark disembodied voice.
“Who are thee!?” Luna demanded, letting some of her ancient slur slip.
“I am a mere visitor to these lands only wanting to become more familiar with these lands.” Luna gazed into the forest and saw two orange eyes appear and glare at her. She gasped and stepped back, but it was to late. The eyes rushed her and the mist entered her body. She fell backwards and struggled to keep control of her body. Her horn began to glow as she attempted to cast a spell, but her eyes flashed orange and the spell was interrupted.
“You are under my control, Princess.” the voice echoed in Luna’s mind. Her body fell limp and she laid there for a moment as the entity completely gained control of the powerful Alicorn female. She opened her eyes and they flashed orange again, then faded to her normal eye color, except the edges of her eyes maintained the orange hue. “You will help me get my revenge, your highness.” the entity used Luna to say the words aloud. Luna panicked in her suppressed mind. Everything happening seemed as if it was a dream that she couldn’t break from.
“Who are you!?” she screamed in her thoughts.
“Why should I tell you?” a vision of a dark Unicorn’s face appeared in front of her and then began to slowly spin around her. “Once I’m through with you, you’ll be a meaningless pile of shit.” Luna gasped.
“But why!?”
“Because, you’re the perfect pony to get close. Close enough to kill.” the Unicorn’s eyes narrowed with a malefic grin. In the real world Luna was flying back to Canterlot. As she landed on her perch she looked around with a evil grin. “This day will be perfect, the day I’ve been dreaming of since I was alive.” she said and then chuckled evilly to herself as she pretended to care about watching the land. “In a couple of hours…you’ll be mine.”

A Rainbow Dream

Oz meandered the great halls of Canterlot Castle. He had been walking for hours, mostly because he was glad he could walk at all again. As he walked down a dead end hallway with stained glass windows on each end. He stopped as the moon’s colored light crossed his vision. He looked up at the painted window to see Discord on the receiving end of the Elements of Harmony. He gazed at the picture, focusing on Rainbow Dash. He frowned and waked to the end of the hall. There he stared a the closed door with a Unicorn statue on each side. He examined the door and noticed it had a hole in it large enough for a Unicorn or Alicorn horn. He sighed and sat there, his ears flopped down. “Why so glum, young Pegasus?” said Celestia as she walked up to him. He glanced over his shoulder at her to see her smiling down at him.
“I can’t sleep your highness.” he responded in a pout.
“Is it your Cutie Mark that is bothering you child?”
“No.” he looked up at the window pane with the Bearers of Harmony defeating Nightmare Moon. Celestia followed his gaze and sighed.
“You’re in love with one of them aren’t you?” she asked looking back at him. He huffed and nodded.
“Rainbow Dash…but she’s…a…”
“Fillyfooler?” Oz’s eyes shot wide when Celestia openly said the word aloud. He was surprised that she knew about Rainbow’s sexual preference.
“Yeah…how’d you…?”
“I’ve known for some time. She’s not hidden her feelings from her friends very well. They just haven’t picked up on it like I did.”
“Sooo…are you..?” she chuckled at his gesture.
“No I‘m heterosexual. I’m just not one to have a relationship like my sister and niece.” Her smile weakened. “I must rule this kingdom without any distractions.” Oz looked at her more respectively. She was so willing to forego her own personal desires to make sure her kingdom was up kept.
“I…uh…” Oz stuttered causing Celestia to pat his shoulder.
“Don’t dwell on it young one.” she turned to leave, as she did so she looked back at him. “Get some rest, Oz. You’re going to need your strength for the terrors below this castle.” Oz had been staring at the floor in thought, but her statement made him look up at her worried.
“What do you-?” she teleported away before he could finish his question causing him to let out a subtle snort. Looking around, he was content with his visit in this wing of the castle and meandered outside. As he trudged to his sleeping quarters, he glanced up at the moon over head. It was strange in appearance to him. Was there an orange hue along its edges? He could not figure out what he was looking at. He shrugged it off as his abilities to read the night sky gone with his Cutie Mark. As he meandered past Twilight and Spike’s tower, he noticed a pony pacing back and forth in front of the door. Silhouetted by the moon light, he could not see who it was. He trotted up the stairs that led to the tower home and when the moon was behind the tower he finally made out the multi-colored mane and tail of his infatuation. He stopped in his tracks when he understood he was looking at Rainbow Dash, pacing nervously back and forth in front of the door. She would occasionally stop and go to knock, but then curse and walk back into her pacing. With caution, he approached her. “Everything Okay, Rainbow Dash?” she stopped and glared at him.
“What do you want?” she barked. He lowered his ears and smiled innocently.
“I was just…wondering if you were okay.” she narrowed her eyes at him.
“Of course I’m okay! Why wouldn’t I be!?” she jumped a good meter into the air and hovered with her back to him. Her fore hooves crossed.
“Because you’re scared to talk to Twilight.” she lowered her head and looked over her shoulder at him.
“I’m not scared to talk to her…” she landed and face him fully. She then took in a deep breath and exhaled in exasperation. “…since you already know…about me…I’m actually afraid to ask Twilight…out…”
“Like…dating ‘out’?” he asked with his head cocked sideways in question.
“Yeah…” he frowned and let out an audible sigh causing her to look at him in question.
“So you really are a fillyfo-” she planted her hoof in his mouth.
“Don’t-fucking-call-me-that.” she glared past her outreached arm. She pulled her hoof from his gaping mouth and wiped his saliva off on the ground.
“I’m sorr-…Wait…what happened to you liking Apple Jack?” she looked to the sky and sighed.
“She’s married with three foals now, she never was into me like that.” Rainbow walked over to the railing that ran along the concrete porch they stood on and sat on it. Oz walked over in front of her and sat.
“You know Rainbow…I’ve always had feelings for you…” he said, once again unable to stop himself. He bit his lip and closed his eyes, expecting a harsh reciprocal.
“Yeah, but you’re…a guy.” he opened his eyes to see her looking away and fidgeting her hoof on the railing.
“Well, it is the natural way of things.” he smiled innocently. She shot him a glare, which he lowered his ears to.
“I don’t care. I love Twilight, okay. That’s all that matters to me…” she looked at him, her mane going over one eye, and the moon light glistened off her shiny coat just right . It made her look as if a thousand stars had just lit up in her fur. He really hated having wings at that moment. She looked at his erect wings and chuckled at him.
“Looks like your wings work.” she said through a smile that just made it worse for him. He groaned and did his best to force his wings down. “I’m sorry Oz, but you’re not my type.” he lowered his head and sighed…again.
“Yeah, I know. I was just hoping, that maybe you would grow out of…your preference in ponies.” he walked over next to her and hoped up onto the railing. “Well, at least I’m losing out to some mare and not another colt” he smiled weakly up at her. She just laughed at him and jabbed his shoulder. He just looked away and rubbed his now sore arm.
“You…uh…think you could help me with Twilight?” she asked nervously. He closed his eyes. Her statement jabbed him to the core, as he wished beyond all knowledge in the universe she hadn’t asked him that. At first he was just going to shout a “no” at her, but his inner rage alleviated to a softer depressed state. He looked up at the night sky, a tear rolling down the back of his cheek, as he thought back to something his father had told him years ago.
“If you love somepony enough” his father’s words echoed in his mind, “Then you’ll be happy with whomever they’re with, even if it’s not you.” he closed his eyes and breathed a deep breath.
“Yeah, Rainbow…I’ll help you.” he didn’t even try to hide the reluctance in his voice.
“Thanks!” she said leaning over and hugged him. She jumped back when his wings popped up again and gave him a subtle glair. He just smiled innocently and blushed.

Oz stood there, staring at Twilight’s door. He looked at Rainbow Dash ash she motioned with her head for him to go ahead. “Are you sure she’s awake?” he asked nervously.
“Ugh…for the hundredth time, yes.” she pointed at a light a few windows up and he looked at it. “She is always up late studying.” he let out a gulp and let his hoof tap against the door. Rainbow scoffed and shook her head. He sighed and knocked again, but much harder. A few moments passed and then the door swung open. At first the light from inside the building blinded Oz, but after a moment he saw a very tiered Spike standing there with Owlicious on his shoulder.
“What do you want?” he groaned.
“Oh uh…me and Rainbow were here to see Twilight.” Oz stammered. Rainbow poked around the door and waved nervously at the green and purple dragon. He just let out a yawn and walked away from the door.
“She’s in her study, like always. I’m sure Rainbow knows where it is.” he walked back over to a pile of scrolls he was writing on. As they trotted by Rainbow looked at the mess and raised an eyebrow in curiosity.
“What’cha doing Spike?” she asked. Oz stopped at the bottom of the spiraling stairs that spiraled up the wall into the higher floors of the tower and looked at the young dragon curiously.
“Huh?” he asked looking up with weak eyes. “Oh I’m just writing a story for Princess Celestia.”
“Don‘t you think you should put that quill down and…” he slammed his head down on the table and started snoring, interrupting her statement. “Yeah…that…” she joined Oz at the starecase and took the lead. Oz watched his step as he climbed the stairs, but one look up at Rainbow’s backside caused him to blush and look back down. She had moved her tail just right when he looked up and shown a little of herself. It was usual for ponies to see each other wholly, but he was in love with her. Any part of her that he revered as special made him “happy”. She stopped in front of Twilight’s study and went to tap on the door. She stopped, her hoof hovering mere centimeters from the barrier’s wooden surface. “Y-you knock.” she said stepping aside so that Oz could access the door. He rolled his eyes and put himself in front of the wooden entryway. He knocked three times and heard Twilight say something. He stepped aside and pushed Rainbow into the doorway just as Twilight opened the door with her magic. Rainbow had fought Oz until she noticed that the purple mare was still on the other side of the room horn deep in books.
Rainbow stepped forward into the room, nervous. She walked up to her item of affection and rubber her hoof against her other arm. “H-ey Twilight” she said in a stutter.
“Hi rainbow Dash.” she said without looking up. The cyan mare looked over to Oz and he just gave her an encouraging nod.
“I uh…wanted to ask you something…” she rubbed the back of her head nervously.
“What is it?” Twilight still didn’t look up as she partially paid attention to her admirer.
“I, uh, was wondering if you’d uhm…” she bit her lip and looked at Oz again. He smiled, amused by her shyness, and nodded to push her on again.
“Yes Rainbow?” Twilight asked, looking up from her studies with slight irritation. She looked at the floor and let out a heavy sigh. She puffed out her chest and looked Twilight in the eyes, beaming with confidence
“Twilight, would you be my special somepony?” she said. After the words escaped her lips she let the air out of her lungs, relived to have the question out in the open. Twilight was taken aback by Rainbow’s question. She frowned and looked at Oz.
“Can…you leave us?” he nodded and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. Twilight looked her friend in the eyes and let the expression of apology cross her face. Rainbow frowned at that look, knowing what was next.
“I’m not that kind of mare…you see…I’ve known you were attracted to me like that, but…” she started to pace, not willing to look her slowly crumbling friend in the eyes. “I didn’t have the heart to tell you.” as the words poured out of Twilights lips she began to shiver. She wanted the words she didn’t want to hear stop vomiting up the purple mare’s mouth. She tried to remain calm, but the last few words Twilight spoke pushed her over the edge.
“So you waited till I got the guts to ask you out!?” Rainbow snapped.
“I’m sorry…I thought you were going to wait longer…” Rainbow began to sob, she couldn’t stop the waterfalls from cascading over her cheeks. “Rainbow…I’m so-…” Rainbow Dash bolted for the door, slamming it open and almost smashing into Oz. She zipped around him and barreled down the stairs. Oz wasn’t sure to be happy that Twilight turned her down, or to be sorry for Rainbow. He turned his head into the study to see Twilight slouched over her desk. He walked up to her and looked over her shoulder. She was sobbing.
“Are you okay Twilight?” the purple mare looked up at Oz, tears slowly sliding down her cheeks.
“I didn’t mean to hurt her…” she sobbed.
“You just told her the truth.” she stood and walked over to a nearby bookshelf. She sent out a little bit of magic, it scanned each bind on each book. It finally stopped over a book that was very small, and very beaten up. The cover was torn and illegible and had a stain on one side. She pulled the book from the case and hovered it over to her. As she walked over to Oz, she flipped through the pages until she reached the one she wanted to show him. It was a small poem. He read it silently as she held it up for him.

When awake.
I ache.
When asleep.
I breath deep.

To see the one I love.
All I have to do is look above.
But how can I tell her.
She’s more than a blur?

My secret love.
Is so far above.
And so high
I wish I could fly

He then looked past the book she held up with a raised eyebrow. “So…you really are a fillyfooler too huh?” Twilight bit her lip and nodded.
“I was to afraid to admit it to even myself, but…just now…seeing Rainbow that way after I turned her down…it destroyed me too.” Oz frowned. His chances with Rainbow seemed to be dwindling every second. He lowered his head and looked away. “You love her too huh?”
“Yeah…since I was thirteen.” he mumbled.
“She’s almost twice your age…”
“I know…but…” he looked at her. “The way her mane flows through the wind, her wing beats they’re like-”
“-poetry” Twilight said looking away.
“Not what I was gonna say, but that works too.” she smiled slightly and looked at him.
“Could you go talk to her? I‘m sure she‘s in her cloud home nearby.” he let out a quick emphatic sigh and grinned.
“Sure.” he turned to walk away when she stopped him.
“Thanks, by the way…for helping both of us.” he nodded and began to gallop away. As he ran through the tower he noticed Rainbow had made no attempt at not making a mess. Though he figured with her eyes blurry, it would have not been hard to run into stuff. He walked out the door and opened his wings. As he lifted off the ground his eyes went to the orange outlined moon again. He wondered why it was like that. It was just added on to the plethora of questions that had revolved around this week. He flew north of the castle and over the mountain he saw Rainbow Dash’s home. When Twilight had moved back to Canterlot a few years ago, Rainbow had offered to move nearby so she could stay in touch easier, least that’s what she told Twilight. Oz looked at the moon again. He tried to analyze it, but he couldn’t remember anything from the days when he was studying astronomy.
“Is it really all gone?” he asked himself. “Am I really unable to read the sky’s?” he frowned as the floating house drew closer. He could see a light on in one of the rooms and figured that was where Rainbow was. He stopped next to it and peered in. his assumption was correct as he saw Rainbow face first in her cloud pillow crying. He could hear her muffled sobs clearly. Reaching to the window seal, he pulled himself through. As his hooves clopped onto the floor Rainbow looked up at him. Her eyes were blood shot and her cheeks wet. Oz also noticed that her mane was messed up. He had to fight back a smile at what he considered adorable.
“What do you want?” she asked harshly. He cautiously walked over to her bed and sat down on it, as far from her as he could from her.
“I was just checking on you.” he responded lightly and with sympathy.
“Go away…”
“Rainbow…look, I know how feel…trust me.” she looked at him with her eyebrows pressed together and then looked down at her soaked sheets. “But…maybe if you give Twilight some more time then-”
“Then what? I’ve given her five years Oz…I’ve tried to hang out with her as much as possible, but…” she turned to sit on the bed, her arms behind her supporting her weight. Oz just looked at her sullen. “…she’s never going to love me back…she’s as straight as a pencil” Oz wondered, for a moment, if Twilight would be angry at him for telling Rainbow about her true sexual orientation. He decided not to piss of the Arch-Unicorn and withheld the information. He scooted closer to her.
“I’m sure she’ll come arou-oomph!” Rainbow had dove into him, wrapping her arms around him, much to his surprise and glee. “What are you doing?”
“Just hold me dammit…”
“Uh…okay…” he put his fore-arms around her and she pulled in close to him. “I thought…”
“I just need a hug okay…and you’re the only shoulder around to cry on…” with that she began sobbing again, getting his shoulder wet. He didn’t care, he was holding her, his love. Even if she didn’t love him back, this was good enough for the time being. She then sat back and looked into his eyes. She grimaced and then grabbed his cheeks with both hooves. Without him even having time the react she pulled him in and landed her lips on his. While she still held the grimace, his eyes went from being shot open with surprise to mellowing out in acceptance of what was happening. He couldn’t believe it, he was kissing her. It was a dream come true. Yeah it was just their lips and there was no tongue, but this was the closest to her he had ever been, and hoped that it would never end. Though just as he was beginning to get used to her soft lips against his, she shoved him away and rubbed her lips, coughing.
“By Celestia, I can’t believe I just did that…” she looked at him as he still sat there, mesmerized. “At least somepony enjoyed it” Oz snapped out of his trance and looked at his wings. He just pushed them down with his hooves and smiled innocently with a blush at her. He let out a subtle cough and regained his composure.
“So…why did you do that?” Rainbow spat onto the floor and then looked at him.
“I was hoping that maybe I could pretend you were Twilight or something…it didn’t work…” she looked outside at the moon and yawned. “It’s time to get some sleep anyway. You can sleep here tonight, I don’t care.” she patted the bed as she crawled on top of it and laid down. She turned her back to him as he stared at her wings.
“Are you sure?”
“This is the only bed in my house…unless you want to sleep on the couch.”
“No no…this is fine” he exclaimed as he crawled onto the bed with her. He noticed that she didn’t climb under the sheets, but laid on top of them instead. He did the same as well. As he laid there, he watched her back. She twitched a wing to get comfortable and then yawned again. He yearned to slide up behind her and caress her, but he knew the repercussions of that action would probably be near fatal. He just watched her, until his eyes forcefully closed, drifting him to sleep. Once Rainbow heard the subtle snoring from Oz, she knew she could do what she wanted to. She rolled over and got close to him, her face a mere millimeters from his. She sighed and tried as hard as she could to see Twilight instead of him, as she drew even closer to him.

The next morning Celestia’s sun shown through Rainbow Dash’s bedroom window right onto Oz’s face. The bright light woke him and made him squint his eyes. He used his free wing to blow wind at the clouds and shut the window. Once he was no longer blinded he saw an amazing sight. Rainbow head was tucked under his chin, her neck arching over his right fore-hoof, and her fore hooves curled up between them. Her hind legs ran down between his and he noticed that the curved portion of her hips were pressing into his groin. The discomfort was easily ignored as he smiled and laid his free wing over her. Now she was completely protected in his mind.
“I will always protect you, Rainbow Dash” he thought. “I love you, even though you’ll never love me.” he sighed and this caused her to stir. She had awoken when he jumped at the sunlight, but it wasn’t until she herd the male tone in his sigh that she remembered it wasn’t who she thought it was. Her eyes shot open and she saw his blue furred chest, causing her to shoot her hooves out, launching him off his side of the bed. He landed on the ground with a thump and then quickly stumbled up to where he could see what was going on. She rolled onto her folded legs and opened her wings. She lifted off the bed and landed on the floor with a subtle harmonized clop.
“I’m sorry Oz…I-…I just can’t do this.” she turned and headed for the bathroom. Once inside, she slammed the door shut. Oz walked over and sighed.
“Rainbow…I’m sorry if I…did anything…”
“It wasn’t you Oz!” she yelled through the door. He heard strange noises coming from inside the room and placed his ear against the door. He could hear here sobbing. “I was hoping that by getting close to you, it would help me feel better about Twilight…but…you’re a Stallion…” he sighed. It tore at his heart to be reminded that she wasn’t into males.
“Look, Rainbow, I’m sure you just needed emotional support…”
“Just go away Oz!” he looked away and frowned. He walked into the living room and headed for the door. Just as he opened it, he saw Nova with his hoof up just about to knock.
“Twilight said I could find you here.” he said. Oz just sighed and looked back into the house. “Ready to go?”
“Yeah…lets go.” they both took off into the sky and headed back for Canterlot.

Weapons Against Struggle

Canterlot could be seen coming into view as Nova and Oz rounded the mountain. Fighting back tears, Oz pushed ahead of Nova, wanting more than ever to get some form of distraction. His mind couldn’t replace the image of Rainbow looking at him with disgust. How long he had waited to be with her, and just when she was in his hooves, she pushed him away. His heart ached more than it had in years. Glancing over to Nova, he pondered if the stout Alicorn dealt with these feelings all the time. Nova couldn’t wait for his arrival at Canterlot again. Twilight had told him that she had something for them. According to what she had told him, it was an object of importance to each of them. Getting closer to Canterlot, the two winged stallions could smell the fresh baked bread coming from the royal bakery. The sweet rolling smell wafted into their nostrils, making both of their stomach grumble. They hadn’t eaten a thing since they had arrived in Canterlot the previous evening. “Was there any food?” Oz asked over the wind.
“I didn’t see any in the Starswhatever-it’s-called” Nova responded.
“Maybe they’ll have some for us when we get there.”
“They better.” the two ponies landed in the courtyard at the rear of the castle and walked inside. Oz had traversed these halls last night, but now they looked different as they followed the corridor to the main foyer. There they attempted to climb the forked staircase but the two guards at the base of the incline slammed their wings together, impeding the two equine’s path.
“Nova, Oz.” the guard to their right stated. “You are expected in the meal hall. Celestia has requested your presence.” Nova looked over to Oz with sincere surprise. These two guards had scoffed at his presence just the night before. Now they were telling him…well….both of them that Oz and himself were welcomed at the table of Celestia herself. Oz just simply returned his look with a shrug of his wings.

In the meal hall, both Princess Luna and Princess Celestia sat, sharing their one of two meals for that day. Luna slept the day away to maintain her strength for the night, and Celestia did the same at night. Only the morning and evening meals could the sisters share together. Celestia did notice something different about her sister this morning. She was quiet. It almost seemed as if she was deep in thought. “Is there something troubling you this morning, sister?” Celestia inquired. Luna shook and looked at her sister with an assuring smile.
“No, Celestia. I’m fine. I just had an eventful night. I had to make a trip to the Everfree Forest ‘tis all.” Luna stated as she twirled a spoon in her drink with her magic. Celestia wasn’t stupid. She knew something was up with her sister, but she chose to simply keep playing along in hopes of finding out who the imposter was. She suspected a Changeling and hoped that if that was the case, she could impede its mission and rescue her sibling.
“Oh? I thought you were afraid of the forest since that was where Twilight and her friends changed you back from Nightmare Moon.” Luna’s eyes shot wide and her spoon dropped. She dug for an answer, any response to hopefully not tip Celestia off.
“Well, I became curious.” she stammered.
“Curious?” Celestia had enough. Whoever this imposter was, they were doing a horrible job of pretending to be her sister. Her horn began to glow. She was full and well in the mindset of blasting this Changeling across the room. Just as she prepared to cast her spell on this being, the doors across the room slammed open and she saw the two newcomers come walking in. Luna had been watching Celestia and had seen her horn light up. She wasn’t sure if the spell that was supposed to be cast was going to be an attack, which she was ready for, or just simply to levitate some food to her plate. Apparently it was the latter as some pancakes lifted off the plate in the middle of the table and drifted over to the mare of the sun. She then simply began using her magic to cut the food apart into smaller portions. This caused Luna to just let out an inaudible sigh as she turned her attention to the two winged ponies walking down the table to them. Before Oz and Nova could get to much closer, Luna stood abruptly from her seat and excused herself from the table. The three other ponies in the room simply watched her disappear. Once again Oz saw that orange glow around the eyes as she looked back. However it was more present and almost seemed to drift from them and then dissipate as if it were a force of magic wafting from Luna’s ocular organs. He cocked his head in confusion and before she could disappear from the doorway he called out to her. She stopped and looked at him. Her eyes flashed orange and then returned to normal. However as she stood there, a small mist could be seen forming around her. The entity was doing everything in its power to keep from revealing itself. It was using everything, even Luna’s own magic, to keep the signs of possession hidden, and it was failing quickly. Luna’s impatience became the best of her as Oz just simply studied her. She then darted off. Nova had also noticed her strange behavior. On the other hoof, he didn’t really know her, so her actions also didn’t phase him. The dark mist floating around her seemed cute to him though.
“I take it you saw it too?” Celestia asked the analyzing Pegasus. He spun to face her and raised an eyebrow in question.
“What was I supposed to be seeing?” he asked. Nova walked over next to where Luna had been sitting and placed himself there. He lifted some food from the table and placed it on his plate. He wasn’t sure what manners he was supposed to participate in with the ruler of Equestria almost next to him, so he simply attempted at being patient and just ate small portions of his food. Oz walked around the table and sat across from where Luna had sat. He used his wing to cause a small tornado that brought a small portion of food to him. He learned the trick from one of his fellow classmates back in Cloudsdale. His first attempt at the trick gave him a bath in mashed potatoes. This time the food glided successfully onto his plate right where he wanted it to. Nova looked up from his meal, genuinely impressed with Oz’s little feat. He held out his wing as Oz and Celestia spoke about the matter of Luna. He curled it as he saw Oz do and then tried to let a little tornado float across the table to some pancakes. He watched as the cyclone picked up the food and then boomeranged right at his face. He gasped but it was to late, as a pancake hung from his snout and another had his broken horn stuck through it. Oz looked at him surprised and did everything he could to keep from out right laughing.
“Don’t worry, Nova, I screwed that trick up the first time too.” Celestia however was not amused. She simply simmered, and it was evident that she was annoyed as she just simply glared at the Tesorian. Oz noticed her furrowed eyebrows. “Is everything okay?”
“My sister has been replaced by a Changeling, there is a potential threat to Equestria, and you two are my only hope of finding out what that threat is.” she looked sternly at Oz as she spoke. “No, not everything is okay.” Oz lowered his ears. Nova simply huffed as he continued cleaning himself off.
“I didn’t ask for this task, Princess. I’m simply doing it so I can get my Cutie Mark back and so that you will send Tesorias help.” Nova grunted. “How I go about doing this will be done my way.” He looked up at Oz, his eye not leaving the Pegasus’s frown. “Our way.” he finally corrected himself. Oz looked at the blue Alicorn in surprise. He pondered to himself wondering if the pony was finally beginning to respect him to some degree, and in truth, Nova was. He had listened to Oz describe to Celestia what he had seen as Nova was hitting himself with cooked dough. The analytical capabilities of the Pegasus would definitely be valuable to him, so he was willing to accept the annoyance’s presence. Celestia was willing to accept that. She wasn’t the one going into the Catacombs today anyhow. She sighed and let her anger lift away.
“Forgive me” she said as a subtle smile returned. “I’m just worried for Luna. I am simply hoping she is okay.” Oz nodded understanding.
“The why don’t YOU do something about it princess?” Nova challenged as he crossed his fore hooves and glared under his mane. She looked at him and responded with a simple, emotionless sentence.
“I am the ruler of this land, therefore I must take care of my subjects as well.”
“Don’t you think that the moon rising in the night is important?” Nova wasn’t backing down. He was an Alicorn too, so he knew she couldn’t pull anything like that into the argument. However, she did say quite the unexpected.
“Yes, it is. However, young Alicorn, should the need arise, I can still raise it myself. My sister is still not as strong as she was before she became Nightmare Moon. I think…she’s afraid of her power.” Celestia looked away, he flowing magical mane hiding her face from the two ponies in her presence. Oz went to say something, but a guard came through the door.
“Oz, Nova. Twilight has requested your presence in the Starswirled the Bearded wing.” he shouted.
“Oh yeah, she was probably expecting us immediately huh?” Oz asked Nova. The Alicorn simply nodded; his eye, no longer possessing a glare, staying on the Princess. Oz stood and began to walk to the other side of the room. As Nova stood, Celestia looked over her mane at him. He could see only one eye, and a tear ran down it. He bit his lip as something he didn’t feel very often crept up in his chest: sympathy. Oz called out to him and broke his thoughts. He turned and followed the Pegasus out of the room. As Celestia watched them leave. She thought to herself,
“How can I protect my Kingdom, if I can’t protect my sister?” A tear slid off her cheek and splashed on the floor.

“I’m going back to the Crystal Kingdom.” Shining Armor stated. His statement made Twilight pick her head up out of her studies and look at him in shock.
“But…what about Velocity’s memorial?” she responded worried.
“I will have to miss it.” he lowered his head and sighed. Twilight looked upon her brother with great sympathy. He stood there, weak, and almost destroyed as if is youth seemed to have drained from him overnight. The longer he stood there the more it almost seemed as if he was going to collapse into one of the bookcases he stood between at any moment.
“What’s wrong Shining?” she walked up to him and matched her vision with his, having to lower her head to do so.
“It’s Cadence…I haven’t heard from her in a week. I have to go find out what’s wrong.”
“I’m sure she’s okay” Twilight smiled weakly. He looked up into her eyes fully, the seriousness in his own making her ears drop.
“It’s decided, sis. I know you enjoy my company, but if Cadence is in trouble…she may need me” he looked away as he finished his statement. Twilight just simply hugged her brother and then stepped back smiling.
“Be careful, Shining Armor.” she said in a tone that gave him blessing.
“I love you Twily” he said as he turned down the hall of books.
“I love you too BBBFF.” he chuckled at the old nickname and walked away. As he exited the aisle he saw Rainbow fly in through the open window and land quietly on the top of the hourglass.
“Bye Rainbow.” he said as he kept walking.
“Huh?” she responded with a raised eyebrow.
“I’m going to check up on my wife in the Crystal Kingdom.”
“Oh, yeah. Princess Cadence is back there helping them out right?” he simply nodded and continued to explain to her what he had already informed to Twilight, who was slowly walking to the middle of the room. Rainbow noticed her and did everything she could to keep from letting her ears drop in tune with her heart. To avoid disrupting Shining, she quickly looked back at him, half interested in his story. When he finished she simply and quickly stated, “I’m sorry. Good luck and uh…have a safe trip.” she gave a fake smile as he nodded and left. When he was fully around the corner Rainbow’s ears flopped to her neck and she looked over to the Arch-Unicorn with an expression of remorse. “I’m sorry Twilight.” she said, rubbing her upper arm with her other hoof. The purple mare didn’t say anything. She just teleported Rainbow to the same floor as her and looked deeply into the nearly crying eyes of the Pegasus. Rainbow just froze, her mouth hanging slightly ajar, as if they were a landing pad. Twilight leaned closer, her lips also slightly separated. The cyan Pegasus’s heart began to beat faster as her infatuation drew near. She began to question reality. Maybe she was dreaming. After all, Twilight had just said no more than a couple of hours ago that she wasn’t a fillyfooler. Their noses passed and their lips were just millimeters away. Twilight’s eyes were shut, but Rainbow had her’s just open enough to see what was happening, to make sure that everything was real. Just has Rainbow could feel Twilight’s breath on her chin…
“Well, this is an interesting sight.” Nova interrupted. Twilight and Rainbow Dash jumped apart as if an anti-gravitational explosion had tossed them away. Rainbow hovered over the hourglass as Twilight stared at the two winged males, one of whom had their wings straight up in the air. Nova glanced at his companion and rolled his eye. Oz himself was completely petrified. He had seen the most awesome, yet depressing, sight. Had Nova not stopped them Oz might have lost control of himself. He shook his head and tried to regain his composure, lowering his wings as he did so. “When you asked for us to stop by, I didn’t expect a show too.” Nova jested as he walked into the room. Oz, for a moment, refused to enter. He was to embarrassed for himself and the two mares.
“N-Nova…Oz…uhm…I wasn’t expecting you two so soon.” Twilight stammered. Oz finally gained control of his legs and walked close enough to the flying pony to beable to talk to her.
“You okay Rainbow?” he asked. She looked down at him, tears streaming from her eyes and then dashed out of the window, a rainbow following close behind her. He stared at where she went for a long while as Nova helped Twilight off the floor. She straightened her blue and starry robe as she regained some of her self esteem.

“Well, lets get down to business.” she said as she tried to brush off the embarrassing moment. She turned back to the hallway the two had come from and motioned for them to follow. As she left the room, they did as well. Oz stopped at the turn into the hallway just long enough to look out the window again. He frowned and then rejoined the other two.
“Where are we going?” Nova inquired as they approached a locked gate near the end of the hall.
“This is where I test new technologies.” she simply stated. She seemed to be short tempered at the moment, but then again, her cheeks were still a little more red than usual. She used her magic to open the gates. They swung open with a metallic whine that ran shivers down Oz’s back. The luminescent aqua tone at the bottom of the steps almost seemed foreboding, but Twilight began to just trot down them as if at the base there would be no worries. Nova and Oz followed close, to ensure one could duck behind the Arch-Unicorn should anything try to blow up in their face. As they drew nearer to the bottom of the rounding stairwell, loud explosions and the metallic thumps of some sort of device could be heard. As they rounded into the bottom hallway, the room opened up into a small testing laboratory. The dim aqua colored lights let the fire billowing from the ends of tubes and large cylinders be seen easily through the thick glass windows lining in a hallway. Twilight passed through the corridor without concern as Nova and Oz looked around worried that something may try to kill them at any second. As they passed one particular testing station, Oz noticed a Pegasus with two cylinders on his wings. He held them up, only curving at the joint to level the cylinders with a target at the end of the room. Oz also noticed that there were chain like ribbons running along the bone near the marginal coverts of the Pegasus’s wing. They went into a grey metallic box that sat on his back. Without warning the two cylinders became ablaze as white hot streaking metal flew from their barrels. At first the pony had problems keeping the recoil from pushing his wings into erratic movements, but as the bullets kept firing he was able to overcome the force and realign them.
“We have been developing a system to try and negate the adverse effects of using guns on Pegasi wings” Twilight lectured as she kept walking. “The weapons are placed at just the right leverage point that the Pegasus can control them, but they also can push to hard on the wings and force the user into uncontrollable fire, leading to inaccuracy. However, we think we have a solution,” she stopped at the end of the testing room and looked down at a table there. On it resided a vest, having two chains run from a box on it to two other cylinders. However, coming from the cylinders were two hydraulics lifts that connected to the base of the vest. “These tie-rods will tighten at the bite on the bit and will prevent the weapons from pushing the wings backwards. However, when one stops firing, the mechanism releases to prevent any form of not allowing the user to fly.”
“The bit?” Nova asked as he looked the contraption over. Twilight gave a smug smile and let her hoof rest on a helmet that sat nearby. A long cable could be seen running from the back of the helmet to the box on the vest.
“There is a bit inside the helmet here that the user bites on to fire the weapons. Biting the trigger will send a signal down to the box which then relays that signal to the wing mounted guns informing them to open fire.” Oz looked at the device in awe.
“What are guns?” he asked.
“Projectile weapons designed on firing a single cartridge like this,” she hovered a brass tube with a copper top in front of them, “so that one may beable to kill your advisory from afar.”
“Kinda like magic?” Oz’s tone of excitement was hardly hidden.
“Not entirely. It is actually the force of physics. I discovered the studies on the use of black powder a few years ago and asked Celestia if I could research further into it. When she agreed, I was more than happy to develop these weapons for our guards who aren’t fortunate enough to have control over magic.”
“This is so cool! May I take this into the Catacombs?” he looked at her with excitement written all over his face.
“That was the reason I summoned you two down here. Our weapons haven’t been field tested yet, so we would like this opportunity to fit both of you with some of our-”
“Fuck you Twilight. I’m not using any pussy shit. I’m good with my magic.” Nova said glaring at her. She looked at him disgusted at his choice of words, but decided against reacting openly to them.
“Fine then. I understand your decision Nova. I too am not to apt to use such devices, but I made them for our, not so magical associates.” she looked at Oz, who was mulling the weapons over gleefully. Nova looked at the childish pony and huffed, catching his attention. He looked up from the table to see the two other ponies staring at him. This caused him to blush and move away from the table. “Well, Nova, if you wish to just use your magic I will not argue. Oz, our fitting room is down the hall. We have a vest and helmet waiting for you there.” he did everything to keep his excitement hidden as he trotted past the two others. He disappeared around the corner where the testing chambers stopped. Nova looked at the ponies firing an assortment of different weaponry, all of them were either Earth Ponies or Pegasi.
“You do not think any Unicorns would prefer these crude devices?” he inquired.
“I am certain that most if not all our guards that can wield magic, would be okay with us developing our technologies only with the Pegasi and Earth Ponies in mind.” he looked at her and grunted.
“You’re just like every other scientist I-”
“How do I look Nova!?” Oz asked as he came high trotting around the corner. He held his head up with pride as he approached them. Nova looked over the Pegasus Pony and saw that the vest fit him very well. His helmet was a little different from the one on the table. Over Oz’s right eye was Celestia’s Cutie Mark painted onto the grey metallic surface.
“You look like a soldier, how unfitting of you.” he said in a flat tone.
“What do you mean?” Oz asked.
“You just don’t seem like a fighter to me.”
“HEY! I fought off that Unicorn fairly well down near the Everfree Forest!”
“That was just instincts.” Nova turned and started to leave.
“Where are you going?” Twilight asked.
“I’m going to the catacombs to get me a crystal.”
“You’re going the wrong way. The entrance is down here. We power most of our manufacturing equipment from the crystal formations below, so we kept the entryway close by.” he stood there, looking at her over his shoulder and simply sighed. Irritated, he walked past the two ponies. Twilight teleported herself to the end of the hall and turned the opposite direction Oz had taken. The Pegasus followed closely, moving his wings up in down to get used to the weight on them. As Nova and Oz rounded the corner. They saw Twilight standing next to a closed door with cart tracks at its base. The tracks turned into a hallway that cut into the wall. As the two walked past that hallway the stared down it to see another closed door. However, this door was metallic and had warning signs plastered all over it. Once they came closer to the Arch-Unicorn, they noticed she stood next to a button on the wall. She saw Oz investigating it visually and she pressed it to demonstrate its function. The door in front of them slid up and a cold breeze hit all three of them.
“All mining has been halted for you two to find the crystal. Remember, it’s very rare and has to be pristine. Anything else will cause the magical flow to be off balance and cause the spell to fail.” Oz peered down into the tunnel. It’s rainbow glass walls shimmered as his perspective made the light bouncing off changed. leading down on both sides were a row of yellow lights connected by wires. Nova and Oz stepped through the threshold together and peered down into the majestic cave. Noises of wind flowing through the main cavern could be heard echoing up to them. “Good luck you two. When you return, just simply press the button on the wall on your side of the door and it will open.” she hit the button again and the door slammed shut, leaving the hallway to be only lit by the amber glow of the lights lining the walls. Nova looked at Oz and sighed.
“Well, here we go.” he then started walking down the narrow passage with Oz shadowing him nervously.

The Catacombs

Nova let out a subtle sigh. The carbon monoxide expelled from his lungs crystallized in the cold air and became a subtle mist in front of him. Oz bit his lip and took a step back, his rump thumping against the cold steel door. Nova glanced at him with his good eye and rolled it. "C'mon coward." he spat as he began walking down the tunnel. With a gulp, Oz followed. "I don't know what you're afraid of, you've got armor on after all."
"Yeah…b-but what if it's not enough to fend off the baddies down here?" Oz stammered.
"What 'baddies'?" the Alicorn glanced over his shoulder as he slowed his pace, suddenly concerned that there might actually be a fight before them.
"Celestia mentioned something about horrors down here…I put it off as a joke, but now that I see this place…" they moved into a great cavern. A river ran through the middle of it which had a crystal bridge arcing over it. The lights on the wall stopped where the entryway expanded into the rest of the room. Little lights planted in the crystallized dirt ran to the archway that jumped the river. The cart tracks could be seen running between the two rows of illuminated amber. The small light sources could be seen refracting along the crystallized walls and ceiling of this room. Both ponies gazed in awe at the reflecting hues of purple and magenta mixed with green streaks that the crystallized rock produced naturally.
"I don't see any signs of 'baddies'" Nova remarked as he continued into the room. Oz followed, his eyes darting everywhere within his vision that the helmet he wore limited.
"I dunno…I mean we've just started into this cave. Also I wonder if there are any baddies what they would be. Ponies? I don't wanna shoot ponies. Speaking of shooting," he glanced at the box on his back, "I wonder how many of those…bullets…are in there. Dammit, I forgot to ask Twilight, we're still nearby maybe I can-"
"Just shut the fuck up!" Nova snapped as he spun around and let loose a few blue sparks from his horn. Oz's ears lowered and he cowered a little.
"Sorry, I get talkative when I'm nervous." Nova just shook his head and looked down at the river having stopped on the crystal bridge. The water was pristine and looked very cold.
"Do you have any form of carrying water?" Nova inquired after his anger had settled. Oz looked down into the river and frowned.
"Nope."
"Shit. This better be quick." Nova turned to continue into the cave when an orange glow was seen at the tunnel leading out of the cavern. It split into two malicious eyes and flew up into the crystal mirrors above. Princess Luna's face could now be seen scattered across all the different surfaces. Her eyes were billowing orange magic and her snout was curled with the expression of a malefic grin.
"So I see you two have finally managed to find your way down here. Oh how I've been waiting to be rid of the both of you." her voice echoed through the chamber. However, both ponies noticed that there was another voice intertwined with Luna's and it sounded familiar to Nova. He twisted his head in confusion.
"Who are you!?" he roared at none of the faces particularly.
"Ah, Nova, If it wasn't for you I would have never made it to these lands. Such glorious magic here. I had never realized that Tesorias was so devoid of such pure, raw power. And these crystal caverns," Luna raised her hooves over her head and motioned to all the mirror like rocks around her many illusions. "they are capable of intensifying anypony's magic at will. I can breath so easily here."
"Who the fuck are you!?" Nova demanded again, ignoring her monologue. Luna was taken back by his arrogant retort.
"You still haven't figured it out? Well come find me and you'll get not only answers, but a Eulanar Crystal." all her images converged on the middle one that was directly above the two winged ponies and then became a floating orb of orange light. It zipped into the tunnel and disappeared around the corner. As she passed the lights illuminating the hallway, they erupted into pluming sparks, causing the tunnel to look as if it were a dark menacing void.
"GET THE FUCK UP!" Nova shouted at the top of his voice to Oz, who had been cowering behind him. Oz leapt to all fours and stood there looking concerned at the Alicorn. "This is serious! Get those guns ready for a serious fight!" Oz nodded and curled his wings to where the barrels were pointing ahead of him, just over his head. "Good now lets-" suddenly a clamoring sound was heard from down the tunnel. A light could be seen reflecting off the crystal wall. The noise sounded like a rockslide, but also as if gravel was being shuffled across the ground. Both stallions looked at the tunnel for a moment. Nova was first to comprehend the possibility of a threat and leveled his misshapen horn at the gaping maw. Oz noticed his stance and did the same by making sure both his guns were ready to fire on anything that turned the corner. Nova's anticipation built as the light reflecting on the wall grew in intensity. Suddenly a crystallized foal rounded the corner and stopped upon seeing the two fleshy ponies. Nova's eye shot wide as he turned his horn up and used his magic to point Oz's weapons away. The Pegasus foal sat and stared at them. The glow that it was emitting was a bright orange hue. It took Nova a moment to realize what the creature actually was. He realized it was a malefic manifestation, but before he could react the tiny crystallized creature zipped into his chest, ejecting him off the bridge and onto the floor. Once he landed he slid a few feet, crushing a few of the lights on the ground as he did so. Oz pointed his weapons at the flying rock formation and opened fire. The concussion from the weapons surprised Oz, he wasn't expecting such recoil. The hydraulic tie rods held and he was able to correct his aim. The stream of bullets that missed their mark punched into the rock walls behind the Pegasus and shattered them. The buzzing rock pony attempted to ram Oz too, but as he flew at him, a bullet shattered it's tiny wing. It flopped sideways and then slid up to the gunpony's hooves. Nova stood and let out a subtle cough from the pain in his chest. It occurred to him that the little foe had been taken down and was laying just at Oz's feet. The Alicorn walked over to them and looked down at what he considered a little freak. The crystal pony started to stand, and as it did so it began to huff as if it was going to charge as soon as all four hooves were solid on the ground. Nova didn't give it this chance. Oz looked away and heard the metallic crash as crystal shards ricocheted off his helmet. When he looked back he saw Nova with his horn tilted down at a burn spot in the soil.
"That little shit head won't bother us again." he huffed as he stood back up. Without any second thought, Nova began to trot across the bridge again. "Be ready, Oz, I'm sure Luna's got more little bastards for us to kill." he disappeared into the tunnel. Oz jumped up into the air and flew to catch up.

Nova wasn't wrong. The next cavern was abuzz with more little crystal ponies. As soon as they had entered the room Nova had to blast one out of the sky. This room had a s-shaped ramp that led further down into the catacombs. The rails that the carts had ran on now stopped, having been destroyed by the crystal ponies. Oz let loose a few rounds into another Pegasi that was diving at him. The bullets tore through the rock and it fell to earth. Upon impact it shattered into hundreds of shards. They galloped across the open expanse to the s-shaped ramp. Bullets zipped out of Oz's guns as he took down flights and flights of Pegasi ponies. Nova kept blasting Earth Ponies that dared charge him. One almost got to close but he had opened his wings and lifted up over the crystal stallion. After dodging that attack however he had to land abruptly to avoid an incoming Pegasus. As the reached the ledge that had the ramp go down both ponies just leapt off without even discussing the proposition first. They cupped their wings and drifted to the floor below. A few crystal Earth Ponies had leapt of with them and were now shards of glass scattered across the ground. They looked up and saw a horde of Pegasi bearing down on them from the cliff above as the earth ponies were starting to filter down the s shaped slope. Nova growled. He knew that even if they ran from these masses, that they would just continue to follow them into the caves. He couldn't imagine fighting them and Luna simultaneously. He closed his eyes and began to summon massive amounts of magic. "Keep them busy!" Nova called out with obvious strain in his voice. Oz glanced at him and noticed the buildup of magic around his broken horn. With that he turned to face the oncoming mass and gulped. He flared his nostrils to let in a deep breath and then bit down on the mouth piece in his helmet. Bullets erupted from the metallic maws on his wing joints and pushed back into the tie rods. The fountain of heated metallic slag slammed into the front line of crystal ponies and shattered them. However, the bullets maintained enough momentum to continue through the lines of crystallized ponies and shatter more of their numbers. Oz let the bit go to give his wings a rest. They were beginning to buzz from the constant vibration. He took in a deep breath and was just about to fire again when all of a sudden a dark blue wave erupted from behind him. It shot out from the tip of Nova's horn and passed harmlessly by Oz, however his guns were suddenly unresponsive to him biting the bit. The wave passed through the lines of crystal ponies without any resistance. As the magic went through them, they froze and then shattered into tiny pieces. Oz stopped gnawing on his mouth piece to watch as glass came clattering to the crystal floor. He spun around to see Nova laying down and breathing deeply. The blue Pegasus trotted over to him and examined him for injury.
"Are you okay?" he inquired. Nova just looked up to him, panting, and nodded. "I didn't know you had that kind of power!"
"It took everything….phew…I had to cast that anti-summoning spell."
"Anti-summoning spell?" Oz looked at the sand like floor examining the shards of once living crystal.
"Luna had summoned…" Nova strained to stand, and with Oz's help managed to get up onto all four hooves, "all of these from the magic crystals down here."
"How do you know?" Oz stepped back from Nova now that he was up and moving.
"I can sense the magical power in each of these crystals. It's part of being able to cast magic. Each crystal in here can focus magical energy."
"Then why do we need this Eulanar crystal?"
"From what my father told me, a Eulanar crystal is the most pristine and polished naturally forming crystal on this planet. It has internal lay lines, something that no other crystal formation has. Eulanar crystals are magic."
"I know this is weird…but I think that's the longest sentence I've heard come from you…" Oz stared at him blankly.
"Oh shut up, lets get moving." Nova spat as he rolled his eye. He then turned and began meandering to the tunnels leading into the next chamber. Oz sighed and followed.

The next chamber provided a unique challenge. It had two exiting tunnels. While there were no enemy ponies to be worried about for the time being. They peered down each pathway, unsure of which to choose. "This has got to be the right way!" they both exclaimed the same time as they turned to go down different passageways. Upon hearing each other they stopped and looked at one another confused.
"We should go this way." Nova insisted.
"Bah, she's this way for sure." Oz said as he nodded his head down his tunnel.
"I can sense her magic this way, Oz. We need to go this way."
"I dunno how you can sense anything with that broken horn of yours." Nova teleported right in front of Oz and beard down on the Pegasus. Oz returned the glare, for once brave enough to hold his ground.
"What the fuck do you mean by that!?" Nova demanded.
"How am I to know you're really sensing what you are? I mean, when my wing was broken I couldn't fly."
"I can still sense magic you fucking ignorant bastard of a mule!" some small sparks emanated from the broken splinters of the Alicorn's horn.
"Are you sure? I mean, maybe that's why you're such a fucking ass hole! Always being rude and selfish!"
"That's because I'm the only Pony in the Equestria that matters!" Oz looked at him with a sincere look of understanding
"So that's how it is huh? You're only doing all of this for yourself. I bet you don't even give a fuck about Princess Luna." As soon as the Alicorn of the Night's name was brought up, Nova gritted his teeth. He had in fact been growing feelings for her.
"What's it to you!? You're only doing this to get your worthless Cutie Mark back!"
"No I'm not Nova. Like how you came to Equestria to try and save your nation; I'm doing this for mine."
"NOTHING I'M DOING IS THE SAME AS YOU!" Nova yelled and then teleported a ways down the tunnel he had chosen to be the right one. Oz watched his glowing horn fade into the distance. The Pegasus's adrenalin was still flowing as he turned down his tunnel of choice. He fumed for a couple of meters, but as he ran the argument through his mind again, he began to regret it. He lowered his head and sighed, letting the gravity of the situation take hold. Nova and himself were now separated in hostile territory with no way of finding each other should one become overwhelmed in Crystal Ponies or find Princess Luna. He looked up and noticed his tunnel became darker as he continued down it. Soon he wouldn't beable to see at all. He noticed that the ambient light was fading because there were no new chambers for a single light source to bounce off the reflective surfaces of the crystals. When he finally could go no further because of not being able to see, he sighed and turned back, admitting defeat far to late.

Nova pounded his hooves against the crystal floor as he stormed down the tunnel. He couldn't believe the nerve of Oz in accusing him of not caring for Luna. Of course he cared for her! Thoughts of her flowing portrait hanging in Canterlot Castle's foyer made his anger fade slowly as he began to smile at the memory. He remembered how she had walked around him in the throne room, his mind's eye following her tail. He couldn't stop thinking of her. Her flowing mane, her dark fur. Everything about her made Nova's mind turn into mush. He stopped, and looked down the passage way he had gone down. He was in shock. It occurred to him that he was in love. This feeling he felt creeping up his spine lurched at his very soul. He never knew what it was like to love somepony else in this way. Yeah he loved his parents, but that was different from this. He lowered his head and thought of how he had treated Oz just now. In his mind Nova had been ridiculing Oz over his infatuation with Rainbow Dash, but now he understood. Now he could see what drove the blue Pegasus to try and get her to be with him. He turned his head to look down the long void behind him. The emptiness separating him from his potential friend almost seemed to signify Nova's empty heart. He turned to take a step when he heard the sound of flapping wings getting closer to him. His gaze lifted up to see Oz appear out of the darkness and land in front of him. The Pegasus gave a weak smile, even if Nova couldn't see it for the helm on his head. "I'm sorry Nova." Oz said. The Alicorn was taken back at how fast Oz was willing to apologize, and be first to do it.
"Apology accepted" Nova stated with a nod.
"What? You're not gonna apologize too?" Oz's eyebrows furrowed.
"Of course not." Nova gave a smug grin and then continued down the tunnel. "Why should I apologize for being right?" Oz just shook his head and followed the stubborn Pony.
"I'm just glad we got over this little spat." Oz said as he trotted to catch up.
"Look, as much as I really dislike you right now…I need your help. Your analytical skills are better than anypony I've met."
"Well thank you…Yah know. I think you're chan-" Nova stuck a hoof on Oz's helmet and pushed it down over his eyesight, causing Oz to choke on the strap around his throat.
"Say I'm changing and I'll plant your face into the ground…again." Oz just did an subtle nod and Nova removed his hoof. They rounded the corner to see a dark silhouette huddled on the far side of the room. Nova went to dash at it, but Oz stopped him, placing a hoof on his chest. Nova glared at him, but then noticed what Oz's vision was resting on. He followed the gaze and saw a large crystal formation being held up by orange magic. Should anypony walk into the open expanse the crystal could easily have been dropped, crushing anything under it. Around the room could be seen large spiked crystals as well. They all seemed to be pointing at the precipice of the cavern's ceiling.
"You are good, Oz" echoed a dark voice throughout the room. Luna's image appeared on the crystal walls and looked at them. "I never would imagine a Pegasus to be so annoying." the rock moved left and then was thrown right, the magic disappearing at the crest of the throw. Nova and Oz now moved cautiously into the room. Luna's maddened stare following their every hoof-step.
"For the last time, WHO ARE YOU!" Nova shouted at the balled up figure across from them, ignoring Luna's image above. A black mist could be seen coming off of it as it shivered and rocked back and forth.
"Well, since you found me, young Nova, I guess I can teach you one more thing."
"Teach me?" he raised an eyebrow in confusion as the images of Luna converged into one that started to circle the cavern walls.
"Yes Nova. I'll teach you like the days of yore."
"What do you-" His eye shot wide, and the flesh under his patch pulled again. "No." it all made since. The orange magic, the mind controlling. Even the use of forbidden magic right in front of him. They all connected to one being in the universe "HOW THE FUCK ARE YOU STILL ALIVE NAHIMANA!?" he bellowed.
"Ah so now you finally remember me. Well that was what I was wanting to teach you, familiarity. To answer your question, though, I believe that spell you used so many years ago mixed with my removal spell to some degree and displaced my soul from my body as you tore it in half!" A moment of rage let loose from the dark Alicorn that slowly settled back into a cool tone. When she was calm once more, she continued, "When you did that though you had infused my magic with my sprit. With that I had to relearn how to use my magic and as I did so I learned that I could cast spells without end. Without a body, what is there to fatigue me? I am as strong as my mind lets me!" she let out a menacing laugh that screeched through the cavern. The image of Luna slowly changed to a Unicorn with a steal colored coat. Her mane and tail were black with red highlights. A purple highlight ran just down her snout between her eyes. Orange magic billowed around Luna's body as she began hovering into the air. Her eyes were closed as her limbs and wings began to spread open. Nahimana's malefic grin came to stop behind the Alicorn that was now hovering many meters up. "Her magic is stronger when she is not of this world!" suddenly orange magic began to creep down Luna's shoulders and face. After a few moments light blue armor could be seen around her chest and a helm on her head. Her eyes shot open and orange magic billowed from them. "She is strongest as…Nightmare Moon!" Oz's eyes shot wide.
"NO!" he knew who Nightmare Moon was. He was in Ponyville that night so long ago when she returned from her one thousand year exile threatening to keep the world shrouded in night. "She has abandoned that part of her!" he continued. Nahimana just laughed, clearly amused by Oz's ignorance.
"She has held onto that grief, that pain. It's what makes her so weak. She is pathetic…and she is mine!"
"Release her Nahimana! Your quarrel is with me!" Nova yelled. A wind began to pick up as Luna's horn began to glow with an orange hue.
"All Pony's are involved in our quarrel Nova." Nahimana said with a subtle chuckle in her tone. "Then I will force you out of her!" he leveled his horn at Luna's chest and began powering a spell. He closed his eyes in order to concentrate further as magic began to spark and billow from his horn.
"You still have forgotten what I taught you? Rule 67 of casting magic in a fight. NEVER CLOSE YOUR EYES!" Luna teleported to their left and let out an orange missile of magic. Because of the wind in his ears, Nova didn't hear the pop of the teleport and therefore didn't move. With his eyes closed he couldn't tell what was coming at him. At least, not until he heard the sound of metal vibrating. He looked up just in time to see Oz being thrown into him by the magical blast. The Pegasus tumbled over the Alicorn and slid across the ground. Once he came to a stop, he didn't move. Nova stared at him, in complete disbelief. There they were arguing only minutes ago and now Oz just took a hit for him. Nova stopped casting and galloped over to the Pegasus and saw a subtle mist coming out of his helmet, indicating he was breathing. Nova looked over Oz's armor and saw that the missile had blasted a spot on the Pony's chest, leaving a black carbon splash. Nova looked over his shoulder to see Luna still floating there. Nahimana's image behind her with a malefic grin.
"How heroic. To bad he just saved the biggest bastard in Tesorias. Such a waste." Nova needed time to cast the Separation Spell his military tutor had taught him years ago. The spell was what could be considered forbidden, but allowed in special instances where something like its use could be justified as an emergency. He needed to separate Nahimana from Luna, but the spell required a long casting time and Nova's only form of distraction just got taken out saving his life. He glared and figured maybe he could weaken Luna's body and that would limit Nahimana. He sensed the magic lay lines in Luna's form and realized that both Nahimana's magic and hers were being used simultaneously. The magic of an Arch-Unicorn combined with the power of Nightmare Moon. How could he stand up against such a pairing? After all, his own magic was limited by his broken horn. He figured he would try a direct approach at first. Unfortunately most of his magic techniques she taught him. He grunted and figured a combination of physical attacks with magic might be enough to throw her off. She grew bored of him just staring at her and fired another missile. Just as it drew close to him he teleported with a loud quivering snap. He reappeared behind Luna and slammed both his hooves into her back. She flew forward into the dirt and slid. She didn't move, making Nova consider the possibility that he had knocked her cold. Without warning however he was hit by a magical blast from behind, spinning him out of the air with his back slamming into the ground. Luna had made a doppelganger of herself while he had spent the half second in teleportation and her real self snapped away as he reentered reality. The Luna laying on the ground melted into an orange mist that just whiffed away with the swirling wind in the room. He sat up and looked up at the hovering Luna. The orange magic field surrounding her was billowing bouts of magic. He noticed she wasn't even using her wings to fly. As he stood, he let our a grunt from the pain in his back. He tried again, teleporting to her, but then immediately teleporting again. As he teleported the second time he charged his horn with a weak magical attack that once he came back to reality he had leveled on Luna's real self. Nahimana's image on the wall saw his new location and tried to move her puppet away, but the magical attack Nova released upon spotting his target slammed into her lower back. He had been aiming for her neck, but Nahimana managed to move her just enough to get Luna mostly out of danger. As the Alicorn plummeted the few tens of meters to the ground Nova teleported to her and slammed his fore hooves into her chest which hurried her decent. Once she slammed into the dirt floor she bounced and rolled. The black mist dissipated and Luna woke. Nahimana's image disappeared off the crystal wall. Luna looked up at Oz as she sat up and gasped. She then looked at the descending Nova. She held up her hooves to stop him as he came bearing down on her.
"Stop Nova, it is I! Luna!" he stopped as he noticed her Nightmare Moon armor was no longer on her. Her eyes glistened with the beautiful light blue that slowly drew him in. he leaned close to her, initially inspecting her to make sure he didn't hurt her to much, but as his snout drew close to hers, she shot up. Their lips slammed together and this caused his eye to shoot wide. This was the first time he had ever kissed somepony.
"Such a pathetic sentiment!" shouted Nahimana from the wall. Nova pulled back from Luna to see orange magic burning from her eyes again and her armor was slowly coming back. He reeled back and slammed his hoof into her snout, twisting her sideways. As she fell she teleported back into the air. He spun around and glared at her. The Alicorn licked at the blood running from her snout and then mimicked Nahimana's own malicious smile. Oz stirred, making an audible moan. Luna's attention diverted to him. She teleported to the ground and leveled her horn with his exposed eyes. He opened them to see her charging a blast at him. He opened his wings and blasted her with a gust of wind, throwing her back. Oz jumped up and hovered above the ground for a moment. Nova flew over to him and checked him over.
"You okay?" he asked.
"I've got a headache like you won't believe, but yes, I can fight." Oz responded. They looked down to see Luna standing up. Oz leveled his guns at her, and then frowned. He just went back to flapping normally, realizing he couldn't shoot Princess Luna.
"Distract her, I don't care how, but do. Keep her from attacking me. I need to cast a Separation Spell."
"What will that do?" Oz asked as he dove under a magical beam. Nova leveled with him and continued.
"It will separate Nahimana from Luna's body." That's all Oz needed to hear. The cerulean Pony dove right for Luna. He closed in his wings to fly as fast as he could at her. He knew she was going to do something, so he kept his wings at the ready to turn up so as to not hit the ground should she do exactly what she did. She teleported away from him and he cupped his wings. His hooves slammed against the wall as he pushed off, flapping at the same time. The guns on his wings were hindering his flight. The hydraulic tie rods had to be pushed and pulled with each flapping motion, making him work harder at flying. He figured he could chase her around the room so long as it gave Nova enough time to cast his spell. Nova landed and leveled his horn with Luna. He knew she would move before he got the spell cast, but he knew head movements wouldn't stop his concentration. He began to cast his spell, which was evident by his horn glowing. Oz dashed into the spot where Luna was, but she teleported again. He stopped and turned to see her firing a magical beam at him. He let his wings shoot straight up as he fell under the attack, it ricocheted off the wall and burnt the dust near Nova. Oz then developed an idea. His eyes danced across the room as his mind calculated. He ducked another attack and watched it bounce around the room. His mind reeled with mathematics and angles trying to find the perfect spot. She fired at him again and he flew over it as he pushed at her, both hooves ready for impact. Like usual however, she teleported away. He sighed and took a moment to catch his breath. He then realized, where she teleported to was at the crest of the room. It was perfect. He was just in front of a curved crystal that would bounce her magical beam back up and around into that area. Should he keep her distracted the beam may hit her. He waited till she fired the magic. Once it drew close to him he barrel rolled out of the way of danger and watched the beam bounce around and then up. It hit a crystal and leapt across the room. He had to keep her mind off that magical beam as it crisscrossed around above her. He knew that it would either run out of energy or hit her soon. She fired another beam but he dodged it. He glanced at Nova just in time to see his spell reaching completion. The Alicorn's hooves were dug into the ground as magic plumed out of his horn. He gritted his teeth as he aimed at Nightmare Moon. She too noticed Nova and went to fire a missile at him when all of a sudden an orange magical blast hit her in the back of the neck, at the base of the skull. This attack made her go completely limp and Nahimana's image faded from the wall again. The Alicorn fell what would be a fatal fall, but Nova let out the beam of energy from his horn. She fell right into his beam and was pushed against the crystal wall. Nahimana's spirit could be seen splashing across the wall.
"NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" she screamed as she tried to hold on to Luna with her ghostly hooves digging into the Alicorn's shoulders. Nova pushed as hard as he could, but it wasn't enough. The white magical stream faded and he fell forward unable to continue casting the spell. From the laying position he was in he saw Luna's body slide down the wall and harmlessly land on the ground. Oz landed next to him and knelt down.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
"I'll live, but what about-" Suddenly Oz's shoulder was struck with a magical blast that sent him spinning through the air. He landed on his back and then rolled another good meter. Nova looked at him and then back to Nightmare Moon who was walking up to him. Nova had put everything he had into that spell, there was no moving on his own at this point. If he hadn't of cast the Anti-Summoning spell earlier he might have had enough strength to remove Nahimana from Luna's mind. Nightmare Moon stood over Nova.
"Such a waste of flesh." Nahimana's voice echoed out of Luna's snout. "Why did I spend all those years teaching you magic? If I knew I was just going to kill you one day I'd have never wasted my time on you." she leveled her horn at Nova and it began to glow orange. He closed his eyes in acceptance of his fate and waited for it to all end. Moments passed and nothing happened. He looked up and saw her just standing there. Her horn wasn't even glowing anymore. She then stood, her eyes blank, of anything. They were pure white. Suddenly Nahimana's spirit could be seen being pushed out by Luna. She pushed the Unicorn out of her body and then disappeared back into herself. The ghostly image of Nahimana simply laid on the ground as Nightmare Moon shrank back down to Luna. Her armor disappearing as well. She knelt next to Nova and nuzzled his cheek.
"I couldn't let her kill you." she said in a soft coo. Nahimana stood, and glared at them
"Do you think that I'm that pathetic! I'm not done yet!" she extended her hooves upwards and then stretched in an upward arch that came down on Oz's body. His back was to the Alicorn couple and all they saw was his wings stretch out and pick him up. He spun around and looked at them, Orange magic billowing from his eyes. "And now after I end both of you, I will crush this pathetic excuse of a Pony's mind!"
"I don't think so!" Luna stood and her horn began to glow.
"Oh what are you going to do!?"
"THIS!" in mere seconds Luna cast the same spell that Nova had spent minutes to try and cast. The beam of magic slammed into Oz's body, and Nahimana could be seen being pulled out of him. She tried to hang on to his shoulders but was quickly forced out and disappeared when her spirit hit the crystal wall. Oz tumbled backwards to the ground and landed square on his back, his wings sprawled on each side of him. Nova stood and walked over to him. The Pegasus shook awake and looked at both of the Alicorns.
"That was the crappiest thing to ever happen to me. Please tell me that will never happen again." he said.
"The Possession Spell leaves a mental block on the possessed Pony when the possessor leaves, keeping them from taking control of that pony again for some time." Luna said as she helped Oz to his hooves. He shook the dust off of him and looked around.
"So how are we supposed to get the Eulanar crystal now that we got rid of Nahimana?" he asked, his eyes darting to each crystal formation in the room.
"She inadvertently told me where it is." Luna stated with a smile.
"Can you remember where that is?" Nova asked as he walked up next to her. He chanced a wing over her back. She didn't move anywhere but closer to him. He hid his surprise as she started walking towards the center of the room. He moved as quick as he could to keep up and not let his wing slip off of her. Oz followed, looking away, thinking of how he wished he could do the same to Rainbow Dash. As they entered the center of the room, Luna looked up at the precipice of the cave's ceiling. There she closed her eyes and let a beam of magic slam into the center there.
"Uh, Luna…won't that cause the cave to collapse?" Oz pointed out. No one heeded his warning as a crystal slowly began to slide out of the outline she was creating. It then fell from the molten rock and once it got in front of them, both Nova and Luna caught it with their magic. She grinned at him and then pulled it out of his grip. She placed it on her back and then lifted into the air.
"C'mon, I'll teleport us back." she said with a grin. Without question Nova lifted into the air and placed himself next to her. Oz had second thoughts as he looked up at them from the ground.
"Are you sure? You took a pretty bad hit to the back of your neck."
"Just shut up and get up here so we can go!" Nova demanded. Oz rolled his eyes and joined them in the air. Moments later they were gone with the snap of magic.

Debriefing

A loud pop reverberated through the great halls of Canterlot. It's piercing scream loud enough to shake the stained-glass paneling of the throne room that Oz, Nova, and more importantly Luna appeared in. they appeared within a sharp light, quickly flashing and then winking out of existence as soon as it had appeared. The three winged ponies floated to the floor with grace. Pride beamed from Oz, even though it was stunted by his helmet. Nova was glad to see all the guards in the room having a look of admiration towards him. Luna…collapsed. As soon as her hooves touched the solid granite flooring, she fell limp. Many of the guards rushed to her aid; even one that had been talking with Princess Celestia at the time of their arrival. This particular guard stood out to Oz, as they all stood over the fallen form of their Princess of the Night. He looked at the guard's dark armor, and noticed that the Unicorn's eyes were aglow in a soft white hue. When Princess Celestia pushed her way through the circle of ponies, Oz returned his attention to his fallen co-ruler. "Get her to the hospital wing right now!" Celestia exclaimed with a sense of urgency. One of the Unicorns gladly obliged as he lifted the motionless body of Princess Luna into the air, his magenta colored magic dancing across her fur. A precession of ponies followed them as they headed out of the throne room towards the hospital wing across the castle. Nova walked to the right of Princess Luna, while Oz trailed behind Princess Celestia. The Princess of the Sun trailed behind the guard holding her sister, so as to keep an eye on everything. With her sister in a weakened state, she didn't know if anypony would try to attack now. Oz had chosen this place because he could observe something that seemed to bother him. This dark guard that stayed at the Princess's left, why hadn't he noticed him before? Where had this overly concerned guard come from?

Finally movement was seen from Princess Luna. It was subtle, but it existed. She momentarily opened her eyes and looked at the Dark Guard. It was as soon as she opened them that they were shut once more. Oz found her current state out of place. He pondered what her mind was experiencing at this time. It seemed to him as if she was under the influence of great amounts of fatigue. She continued to barely open her eyes, look at one of the ponies near her and then go back to what seemed like a deep slumber.

Nova watched her with anticipation. He wasn't sure which to worry about more, if she was going to wake up, or if this long walk to the infirmary was going to end. Each step closer almost made it seem as if they were no closer to being at their destination. However, every time she glanced up at him, even giving him a subtle smile, it made him more at ease. As they walked, the thing that kept running through his mind the most was the kiss. She kissed him. It wasn't the other way around. She had willingly leaned in and planted her soft moist lips right onto his. He looked at her and noticed her usually free flowing mane seemed to now hang without motion, actually letting gravity's clutches wrench it downward. How he felt at this moment was conflicted. He now knew she had feelings for him as well, but this was too fast. They had just met only yesterday, and now they were kissing. Also, he had to return to Tesorias. If they had a relationship, what would become of it? He shook his head in an attempt to clear his mind. He had to remember why he came to Equestria in the first place.

The Dark Guard continued his watch on his beloved Princess. He vowed so long ago to keep her safe, and the one night he actually chose to leave her side, was the night she was harmed. He cursed himself as they finally pushed through the doors leading into the hospital wing of Canterlot Castle. Tears were not shed however; he had no time for such feeble actions. He knew he had to apologize as soon as Luna was capable of forgiving him of his fault. The Dark Guard did not fear her chastising him; after all, he had known her for some time now. He knew she would simply ignore him for a little while.

Oz stood at the door way, watching as Luna was laid upon a hospital bed, her mane slowly floating to the ground around her. It was an odd sight for him, to see one of the most powerful Alicorns to be in this state. As he looked on, he thought of the fight just a few moments ago. The battle surged in his head. As he thought about it, he realized that if it wasn't for Luna, the very pony they had gone to save, Nahimana may have destroyed them. She was definitely was powerful and he suddenly became concerned that she might be stronger than Twilight. He watched as Nova and the Dark Guard stood over the Princess, both seeming to have the same look of concern. Oz had noticed Nova's signs of romantic feeling towards Luna, but he had no idea that this guard would show the same body language.

Just as Nova began to peer down on Princess Luna's sleeping face, Nurse Redheart came from the back room and began to shoo him away. "Leave her alone, she needs to rest." Redheart stated as she mockingly shooed a hoof at him. He stepped back, partially confused as she turned to the Dark Guard. "And you're sick, get out of here too!" he stepped back from the bed a little, looking at the nurse. "Who knows how weak she is, I don't need any of you getting her sick." she turned to Celestia and bowed. "I'm sorry your highness but I must ask you to leave as well. I will tend to your sister as best I can."

"I understand" Celestia stated with a nod and soon meandered out the door. Nova followed closely behind her, but the Dark Guard lingered. He stood there, watching his mistress sleep.

"Off with you." Redheart demanded again. With his head hung low, he turned and walked out of the room. As the swinging doors shut behind him, he was taken hold by the shoulders and spun facing the area next to the door. There he saw a young blue Pegasus starring suspiciously at him.

"How dare you!" The Dark Guard exclaimed starring down at the pony as if he were his lesser.
"Who are you?" Oz demanded.
"I'm a member of Luna's personal guard, now leave me-"
"I'm not buying that garbage. You're more than any regular guard. Your eyes, they're pure white. In fact they look kinda like Twilight's eyes when her magic erupts unexpectedly. So, who are you?" the guard looked deep into the stubborn Pegasus's eyes looking for a way out, anything to deter attention from himself and maybe get this pony to forget his curiosity.
"I'm a member of the royal guard and personal guard to Luna herself, there is nothing else you need to know, Oz." The Dark Guard turned and continued down the hall. When he had said Oz's name, this had thrown him into a complete confused state. Oz was stuck there, watching the guard walk away as he pondered how he had known his name. Maybe it was a spell? However, Oz hadn't seen his horn light up, and all magic cast, great or small, was always indicated by a glowing horn. Maybe Celestia had told him, that made since right? Oz shook it off. He had to get some sleep after taking his armor to Twilight to be repaired. The spot in his chest-piece that had been hit by Nahimana's attack was partially dented in, and was rubbing against his chest. This eventually would rub in a sore that will most likely be highly uncomfortable.

As he walked from the hospital wing towards the center of Canterlot Castle, he found himself in the center entryway with the y-shaped staircase. He had come in from underneath the right side of the room. As Oz walked from under the staircase he noticed Nova sitting in front of the flowing cloth mural depicting Luna's image. He walked over to the apparent lonely stallion and sat next to him.

"She kissed me" Nova said without any questions from Oz.
"Lucky for you?" Oz quipped in jest. Seeing his remark had no positive effect on the Alicorn, he continued. "Who kissed you?"
"Princess Luna" Oz's eyes shot wide in surprise.
"Why? I-I mean that's good I guess but-"
"-But she's a Princess of Equestria, and I'm a Tesorian." he looked down at Oz and let his one good eye fall on the young Pegasus. "Do you think I have a chance?"
"Well, you're an Alicorn…and she's an Alicorn…" Oz looked down the hall, uncertain of what to really say. He took in a deep breath and faced his friend.
"I don't think the chances are great…"
"Just like your chances with Rainbow Dash?" Nova said looking Oz in the eyes with a halfway smug grin. Oz's ears flopped to his neck and he looked at the floor.
"Yeah, something like that."

"Oz, Nova!" said a guard from the landing of the staircase, between the two sets leading off to elsewhere in the castle. Both ponies mentioned looked up to the one who had called their names with genuine curiosity. "Princess Celestia would like a formal debriefing in her throne room. Please follow me." he continued as he turned up the left stairway.
"Of course." Oz said as he stood fully and joined the guard on the landing. "I'd really like to talk to Twilight though. You see my chest piece here is damaged and is causing me to be a bit uncomfortable."
"She will be attending the debriefing" the guard said as he took a step. Before he continued he looked down to see Nova still sitting there, starring at Luna's image. "It will be there tomorrow, Nova, I assure you" The scarred Alicorn glanced at the unicorn guard, his one eye glaring at him from under his mane.
"I will join you soon, I'm still a little tiered from the fight." he said finally.
"Do you know the way to the throne room?"
"I only had a free ride just the other night, so I'm sure I can find it…" with a nod, the guard continued up the stairs and through the door with Oz following him closely.

"You should be careful of how close you get to her" said a dark voice from behind Nova. With haste, the young Alicorn looked over his shoulder to see two white orbs glowing from under the stair case Oz had meandered from earlier. The dark figure stepped out and Nova could see it was the Dark Guard.
"What do you mean by that?" Nova barked as he fully faced the black pony. He then thought about it for a second and changed his expression to confusion. "Who are you talking about anyway?" The Dark Guard walked slowly from under the staircase and began to approach Nova, a deep scowl written across his face. Nova, finally taking in the appearance of this guard, shot his eye wide when he realized the Unicorn before him had a broken horn, just like him. The black figure glared deeply into Nova's eyes and made a low growl.
"You, Tesorian, stay away from Luna." he said after a short while.
"Who are you to tell me what I can do?"
"First of all, Nova, I'm a royal guard of Equestria. Second, I'm Lun-" he stopped speaking suddenly, his face contorting in pain as he brought a hoof to his throat. He let out a few wheezing coughs and then regained his composure just as fast as his coughing had come up. "As I was saying, I'm Luna's personal guard. And since I don't trust you, I'm not letting you anywhere near her."
"Try it, freak. I'm sure she'll be calling in me-"
"Just because she kissed you, fucker, doesn't mean she's yours. Stay the fuck away." The Guard interrupted shoving Nova backwards and then shuffling up the staircase. He then turned to the right and continued through the door.

Nova had been shoved with enough force that he had been pushed onto his romp. From there he had watched the Guard disappear through the door, a maddened glare following the jet black pony. "Fucking ass hole" Nova spat as he stood back up. He walked up the stairs and turned towards the Throne room. He passed through the doors, using his magic to open them and then close them after he had passed through. As he meandered down the hall towards the guarded door on the other end of the hall, his gaze never left the slightly moving banner of Princess Luna. He didn't stare at it just because of her beauty, but because he felt a sense of remorse. Luna herself had to defeat Nahimana. Nova dropped his head as he remembered looking up past Luna and watching her banish the spiritual beast from Oz's body and the room itself. As he approached the double doors that lead to the Throne room, he noticed there was no sound indicating movement. He looked up and noticed both of the Unicorn guards were simply scowling at him. His eye danced between the two of them as their subtle look of disdain dug into him. "Let me pass, the Princess is expe-"
"Did you hurt her?" the guard to Nova's left said. He looked at this guard and noticed he was wearing dark armor similar to that of the Dark Guard. It occurred to the Alicorn that this was another one of Luna's guards. How had he not noticed him before? Wasn't this guard one of Celestia's before? Then again he had been distracted with being stuck in a magical sphere last time he had passed through these doors.

"No I didn't hurt her." Nova finally said, insulted. "Why the Tuataras would you think I'm responsible for her injuries?"
"You are a Tesorian. Your kind is well known for your violent tendencies"
"What the fuck do you mean-!?" Nova began to yell, his hoof reared back to send in a strike at the guard.
"Nova, you're not helping your case any." Oz said, as his head poked through the door. Nova's eye darted to the blue armored Pegasus, lowering his hoof as he did so.
"How did you know I was here?" Nova asked as he pushed passed the two guards and joined Oz in the room.
"I happened to peek out to see if you were coming. After all you've had us waiting a good ten minutes." Oz said as they trotted towards Celestia's throne. She sat there, watching the two come closer with Twilight Sparkle at the base of the stairs; her snout buried in a book. Her horn was aglow with a vibrant indigo hue as more books hovered over her head. Rainbow Dash was sitting next to her, watching the duo draw near.

"Oz has already informed me that it was Nahimana that had possessed my sister." Celestia said after Nova and Oz had stopped at the base of her throne. "Is she much of a threat?" Oz looked at Nova as he spoke, "I told Celestia how Nahimana had said she was your mentor at one time." Nova glanced at the Pegasus and then looked back up at Celestia.
"I don't remember much about her. I know she was killed, but I don't remember how. She said something about me tearing her in half…but I had no idea what she was talking about. When I lost my Cutie Mark, a lot of my memories went with it."
"I might be of some help, Princess" Twilight spoke up, walking next to the Alicorn, a specific book held in front of her with her magic. Nova looked down at the cover of the book and read its title. Tesorias and its Historical figureheads. His eyebrow rose with curiosity and wondered how it was that Twilight had managed to obtain this particular book. She looked down at the page she had flipped open before her and then back at Celestia. "Nahimana is claimed, according to this book at least, to have been the oldest Unicorn alive." she looked down at the book to read straight from its pages. "Nahimana used the forbidden spell of Longevity to extend her life span far over five hundred years."
"I don't see any problem with that kind of spe-" Oz started to say till Twilight interrupted him by continuing.
"It says here that spell was made forbidden by Starswirled the Bearded himself after discovering that after many years or many uses of the spell, the pony under its effects begin to lose their mind."
"Oh great, so Nahimana is an undead, super fucking powerful, psycho bitch?" Oz quipped with unenthusiastic sarcasm. Twilight looked at him with a sullen look.
"It would seem so." she looked back at Celestia. "Princess, Nahimana is one of Tesoria's arch-unicorns. If she is that powerful, but has no restraints of a physical body…then…to answer your question, she is a hug threat!" Celestia sat silent for a few moments, her eyes bouncing back and forth every so often as if to let the words Twilight had said settle into her mind and take effect. After a short time, she looked at her at-one-time pupil with a stern furrowing of her brows.
"Twilight Sparkle, I want you to contact your Ponyville friends and get them here as soon as they can be." she looked at the cyan Pegasus that was fiddling with her hooves uncaring about the events happening around her. "Rainbow Dash, you are to go to Cloudsdale and retrieve the summoner's monocle." Rainbow looked over her shoulder at her ruler.
"A-are you sure Princess?" Rainbow asked nervously. "No pony's ever been able to control the power of that old thing."
"I know the dangers, Rainbow, but right now my Kingdom is more in danger than it probably has ever been. So, please, go and get it. Tell the guards that I personally sent you."
"You can count on me, Princess" Rainbow said with a salute and then in the next second was out of the room with a rainbow trail following her.

"Forgive me, Princess Celestia, but what is the Summoner's Monocle?" Oz asked, curiosity clearly written on his snout.
"The Summoner's monocle is a gateway to any pony's horrors. It is said that should one harness their nightmares, they can use it to unleash a torrent of nightmarish dreams upon any target they wish." Twilight said as she held another book in front of her.
"She is right. If I can use this on Nahima-" Celestia began to say, but Nova put up a hoof to stop her.
"I mean no disrespect, Princess Celestia, but I believe that if I am the one who killed her once, then I should be the one to kill her again." he said.
"Are you trying to earn extra points with me, Tesorian?" she asked with a suspicious glair.
"It's possible, but does it really matter? I may not remember it, but I have fought her before. Besides, if we can gather the Eulanar Crystals and have Twilight restore our Cutie Marks, then maybe I can remember how to defeat her, and this time for good."
"Then I pass the task of harnessing your worst dreams to you, Nova. Should you succeed, you can use the Monocle to destroy her forever." Celestia said as she stood.
"Now Twilight, gather your friends, and wait for Rainbow Dash to return. Tomorrow we will meet on this matter. We may need to power of the Elements of Harmony to destroy her."
"Are you saying you don't trust me to master the Summoner's Monocle?" Nova barked as his single glair landed on Celestia's eyes.
"I'm only being careful. I will protect this kingdom if I have to, but risking my life…or the life of my sister would preferably be avoided. Without us, this world would fall into chaos."
"You're not immortal Celestia…and you have not always been around either. This land was without you once, I'm sure it can live agai-". Oz slammed his hoof into Nova's snout.
"Shut up dumb ass, before you get yourself killed."
"He is right" Celestia said as she walked down the stairs before them. "It is a little selfish of me to ask others to protect this land for Luna and myself. However, neither of us have heirs, so there would be nopony to take our place should we fall." she stopped right in front of Nova and stared into his eye. "Protect her. She loves you." she then continued walking past them and out of the throne room.

All the ponies in the room stared at the door, unsure of what to do. Princess Celestia hadn't dismissed them and this was the first time Twilight had seen her once mentor act like this. "She's acting so…sullen." Twilight verbally observed. She then turned to Nova, putting all the books she still had hovering above her on the floor in a neat pile behind her. "Sorry for not telling you two that Luna was down there." she said with an innocent smile. "She passed through our testing facility a little before you both came to the library."
"Wait…you knew she was down there?" Nova asked a little surprised.
"Yeah…it slipped my mind…"
"SLIPPED YOUR MIND!? She's your princess and you FORGOT to tell us!" he jumped forward and grabbed twilight under her fore arms, slamming her into the wall behind her. "You sent us in there blind, fully aware of what was going on! I knew I shouldn't have trusted you."
"Nova, what are you doing! Stop!" Oz demanded from behind him. Twilight's horn lit up, and before Nova could respond, a bright violet eruption blew out from her horn and shot him across the room. He landed on his back and slid across the tile floor. Oz looked to see where his friend had landed just to turn back to Twilight and see her floating in the air. Her eyes were bright white and an indigo hue flowed around her entire body. The guards that had been running for them now stopped in their steps to watch what was happening.
"I did not do it on purpose you shit head!" she yelled as she slowly hovered over to him. Nova sat up slowly, watching the Arch-unicorn hover mere meters from him. "I did not mean to forget, I'm sorry for that. You though, you need to learn to control that temper!" the magic around her faded as she gently floated to the floor, her hooves making a soft clop upon touching the hard surface. "Look, Nova. We're doing everything we can at the moment to ensure Equestria's safety. After Discord's release, the invasion of the Changlings, King Sombra's return, and now the crisis in the Crystal Kingdom again; Celestia is stressed to make sure that we are all safe." she reached down with her magic and helped Nova to his hooves.

"I'm sorry Twilight. I have a hard time trusting Arch-Unicorns. I knew a few others in Tesorias that were worse in some ways than Nahimana. At least I think…I can't really remember her anymore." He put a hoof too his head and looked at the floor as if trying to drive the memories of Nahimana to the surface of his mind.
"Nova, don't worry about it. We'll get those Eulanar Crystals and get our Cutie Marks back." Oz said walking up next to Twilight.
"I'm not worried Oz. I know we're going to get them." he looked deep into Twilight's eye that correlated with his own good one. "So long as your spell works."
"It will work. I assure you." Twilight said with a small smile.
"C'mon Nova. We need to get some sleep." Oz turned to leave and then stopped. He pulled off his armor and dropped it on the floor in front of Twilight. "By the way, these guns work great. I just need the chest piece-"
"We have upgrades ready for this piece of gear Oz." Twilight said as she picked up the set of armor with her magic. She then began walking for the door as she continued to talk. "We have a new helmet in mind for you as well as better hydraulics."
"Oh really?" Oz asked as he started walking with Twilight.

Nova watched them leave the room, he watched the door shut, and then waited for the clopping of their hooves to fade away. He turned to the window that was nearby and meandered to it. There he found himself starring at the night sky. "I wonder when it became night." he pondered as the twinkling night sky danced across his ocular. His mind drifted. It bounced around from home, Luna, his future. He found himself thinking about her again. Would they be a good couple? Would it work? Would she be willing to come back to Tesorias with him? He realized he was leaning on the window seal and sat up. "I should go check on her." he said out loud, a little louder than he had intended as he heard his own voice echo off the walls. He did a small embarrassed grin at the guards that were now looking at him funny as he walked out of the throne room and down the long hallway.

The Dark Guard sat at the window of his chambers, starring at the moonless night. He knew that Luna was injured, but for Celestia to also forget to raise the moon was very odd. He stood, and walked over to his coat tree. There sat his armor, shining with the candle light from his nearby dresser. Using his magic he lifted the purple metal off the tree and lowered it onto his shoulders. He then levitated the purple tabard from his nearby dresser and let it hover over his back for a moment. He draped the tabard over his back to make sure he was well covered, and then walked out of the room. He was going to go talk to Princess Celestia and remind her to raise the moon since Luna was incapacitated. He knew where Celestia's quarters were, but he felt himself drawn to Luna's hospital room. "It's on the way." he said to himself as he followed the corridor that led to the hospital wing from the housing wing. As he approached the hospital wing, he saw Nova come from the other hallway that leads from the foyer. He galloped to ensure he beat the blue Alicorn to the doors of the wing. When he reached them he slid to a stop, facing the Tesorian with a glair.
"Oh for fucks sake, you again?" Nova said irritated.
"I told you to stay away from her, Tesorian." The Dark Guard grunted.
"I'm sorry for being concerned for her wellbeing."
"No you're not. All you care about is ensuring Celestia gives Tesorias more lambs to lead to the slaughter."
"What does that have to do with Princess Luna?"
"Everything. If you mislead her into falling in love with you and then get her approval for the soldiers than Celestia will not go against her wishes and allow it. I've seen this before and it tore Luna apart. I WILL not let it happen again."
"I'm not like that."
"And all I have is your word."
"Yeah, I guess, now get the fuck out of my way, whoever you are."
"My name is Corvus." The Guard said as stepped closer to the Alicorn to block his path into the hospital.
"Well, Corv-"
"Would you two shut up!" exclaimed Redheart from the door. "Princess Luna is resting and you two are not helping." Corvus looked at her with an apologetic expression. "If you two are here to check on her you may, but keep the arguing away from here." The two ponies shared a glair with one another and then simultaneously walked through the double swinging doors. Nova and Corvus noticed that Luna had been moved. The room they now stood in was shaped like a crescent moon as it arced away from them. To their immediate right sat Nurse Redheart behind a desk filling out paperwork. Luna had originally been the very first bed, but now as Corvus looked along the wall, he could not see any sign of her.
"Where is she?" Nova asked.
"She is three beds down, inside the curtain area. You see this is a limited healthcare facility. It is not a true hospital. All we do here is take care of the mildly sick and wounded. That being the case we have hidden Princess Luna from the sight of her subjects because we don't want them to know how badly injured she is.
"Is it that bad?" Corvus asked, looking over at her. Redheart looked at him, sullen.
"It would seem so."

Prologue

The cutie mark is a prize for any pony and is a mark of individuality and pride. It is a showing to all others around you what you are the best at what you do and all ponies in Equestria show their marks with great honor. A cutie mark is probably the most important thing to a young foal. Many misunderstand how to obtain a cutie mark, such as the misadventures of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. However, should they finally and successfully find their cutie mark, they were the happiest foal in the world for those few moments. The cutie mark has known to become such an infatuation to some new bearers, that they were known to stand in front of a mirror and stare at their flank for hours on end. To the non-pony races, the cutie mark is not really worth the trouble of getting, but to be a pony without a cutie mark you may as well not even exist. Cutie marks are a sign of adult hood and maturity. If a pony were to go their whole life without obtaining a Cutie Mark, then they would be scorned. However, there is no record of anypony not having ever achieved a cutie mark.

As mentioned before, nopony in Equestria knew what would happen if one were to lose your Cutie Mark. Would your abilities drain away? Would you lose control of yourself? Many a scientist had speculated the matter, but Celestia herself had banned the experimentation. It was noted that most ponies subjugated to the loss of their Cutie Mark were usually involved in scrupulous activity of some kind and were generally the cutie mark was removed by their own lifestyle before any results could be recorded. Also, in the few murders that had been documented in Equestria since Celestia and Luna took the land from Discord, very few have had the removal of the Cutie Mark from both hips; and it has been verified that losing only one of the two Cutie Marks has no effect on the pony.

The ponies of Tesorias are at war, causing Celestia to ban any Equestrian pony from venturing there. They have unfortunately had many opportunities to know about the loss of their marks. Many of them wander the wretched wastes in hopes of ever regaining their cutie marks, just to finally perish without ever finishing their quest. However, even though the land is torn asunder by war, doesn’t mean that they know what happens either. After all, they’re to busy killing one another over petty matters. So what happens if an injury should remove your cutie mark? What would Equestrian society say to that? Two Ponies are soon to find out…