Under Lunar Wingsby JP HACKChaptersChapter 01: The Song of StormsChapter 02: First ImpressionsChapter 03: TacticsChapter 04: ConfessionsChapter 05: ConflictChapter 6: TwistChapter 07: UnderstandingChapter 08: GenesisChapter 09: ObservationChapter 10: HopeChapter 01: The Song of StormsUnder Lunar Wings Chapter 1 - The Song of Storms By: JP HACK Edited by : JP HACK, Tobyc Story Guided by : Shadow X Razor Provider of ideas: A lot of fanfics..... “From these smoldering ashes we awaken, we lift our eyes unto the smoke filled skies. Shields still splintered, spears shaken, their cries for war still echo through the black mist. We need not fear, for their end is near. They blow their horns and prepare for war once more, for in the name of the princess we shall survive this endeavor. Fix your helms, ready your blades, we shall not sleep, until their last shadow fades!” - Archives of Equestria First there was the arrival of Nightmare Moon. Then the shenanigans of Discord, to the changeling siege of Canterlot on the day of the royal wedding. Though, five years has past since all those events. Everything is peaceful. There are no wars, no villains, or anything bad in general to ruin anything or anyone in the land of Equestria. Little did anyone know that a storm was brewing, a storm that would soon change everything. Location : Ponyville – Outside Sugar Cube Corner. Time: 10 AM There was a blur of pink. A certain mare was quickly setting up tables and serving customers outside. Pinkie Pie had a knack for doing things quickly and somewhat oddly. She somehow managed to balance trays and various pastries on her back and flip them perfectly on the customers table without damaging the pastry itself. She moved from table to table at lightning speed until she reached a certain table with two unicorns sitting. “Heya girls! Glad to see ya both this super duper morning! What can I get ya? We have muffins, sandwiches, breakfast burritos, donuts, coffee and much more! Oh, I just know you're gonna love our cupcakes! So what are you two gonna get? Huh?” Pinkie had a huge grin on her face as she looked at both Rarity and Twilight. Rarity looked at Pinkie for a moment then back to her menu which she was holding with her magic. “Darling. I would like some tea please,” she looked at Twilight. “It’s great to have tea during brunch right, Twilight?” The purple unicorn on the other hoof was staring intently at her menu before she realized that Rarity was talking to her. “Oh uh, yes... It does seem nice to have some tea. But I can’t seem to decide what to get for brunch. I mean it’s a combination of lunch and breakfast right? So that mean, I have to choose something that is lunch and breakfast with the right amount of…” As Twilight rambled on about the proportion of breakfast to lunch that one should intake, Rarity turned to Pinkie and proceeded to order. “Darling, I will take a monte daisy, with the syrup on the side. And for Twilight, just give her some coffee for now. I think she had another all night study session going again.” She eyed Twilight for a minute who was still doing random mental calculations. “Poor darling must be exhausted.” Pinkie Pie put her hoof up to her face and saluted. “Okie Dokie Loki, one monte daisy coming right up with syrup on the side! And a super duper coffee for Twilight!” Pinkie then bolted off into the establishment and got straight to work at a speed that should not be possible to reach. Twilight was still mumbling about breakfast calories and vitamins until Rarity interrupted her. “Twilight, I ordered some coffee for you to start, you look like you need it. What seems to be the matter.” Twilight got out of her stupor and looked at Rarity apologetically. “I’m sorry Rarity. Thanks for ordering the coffee though. I have been out of it for a while. I have not sent any letters of importance to princess Celestia in a long time and I'm a little on edge about it is all. What if she gets upset that I have not learned anything about friendship? Or what if she wants something more than what I'm giving her? Or what if-” She got cut off by Rarity who put a hoof up. Twilight was about to go into one of her crazes. So much pressure on the star student, Rarity had to stop her. “Twilight, Darling, please forgive my rudeness, but didn't you go through this already? The craziness, the spells, the deadline?” Twilight frowned a little. “All I'm saying is that you need to relax with your friends and stop worrying about letters and the like. All good things come to those who wait, remember?” Rarity looked around eyeing some other ponies enjoying their meals before continuing her talk. “You need to remember that I'm sure that princess loves your letters, no matter what subject or how little they contain, okay? Remember, I got you out of the library to relax, not to frazzle yourself.” Twilight's ears went down at those words, then perked up again after her brain processed the information an egghead could use. Rarity was just being her generous self as usual. At last, Pinkie Pie came out of Sugarcube Corner with a tray containing a freshly made monte daisy and a hot cup of coffee. She came to their table quite faster than usual and set the items on the table in front of the unicorns with precision most earth ponies would kill for. “Here you go girls, I made it myself so tell me what you think of it. And Twilight, here is your coffee! I added something special to it to wake you up, I hope you like it.” Twilight eyed Pinkie for a moment, before realizing how droopy she was feeling and picked up the coffee. She took a sip. Her eyes shot open and she immediately put the coffee down. Rarity was eating her monte daisy while observing Twilight's reaction to the coffee. “Pinkie, It tastes great, I feel a lot more energetic, what did you do to it?” Pinkie had a huge grin on her face, got close to twilight and whispering in her ear, “trade secret, Pinkies super secret wake up coffee.” She started to giggle a little bit to herself. “Of course it is. Thanks anyway. Hopefully I can get through the day with just this.” Rarity was enjoying her Monte Daisy before adding to the conversation. “Thanks Pinkie, This tastes delightful as always.” “No problem Rarity, I get a lot of joy when I see everypony smile with my cooking. Anyway, I have to take care to the other customers now, so I will see you around. Bye!” Both the regal white fashionista and the librarian waved their hooves as Pinkie left and then continued their brunch. Rarity then brought out the latest Equestria Daily she had with her. It was good so see what was happening in the land of Equestria from time to time. And the fashionista always wanted to learn the latest gossip in the entertainment section. With her magic she set her forks and knives down and picked up the newspaper. Twilight on the other hoof was trying to figure out what was in her coffee, as with every sip she took, she felt a bolt of energy hit her. Pinkie must have accidently poured a bucket of sugar or something into it. “Oh what's this? That's an interesting headline.” “What is it Rarity?” Twilight took another swig of her coffee, and set it back down. “Well look at this headline right here on the first page.” She turned the paper slightly so both of them could read it. The headline read “Cutie Marks Disappearing, Ponies in Panic in Fillydelphia.” “Well that's interesting, let me have a look at that real quick.” Twilight didn't even wait for Rarity to give it to her. She canceled Rarity’s hold of the newspaper with her own telekinesis and started reading out loud. 'Panic in downtown Fillydelphia, Cutie Marks disappearing from grown stallions and mares. It is unknown who or what is causing these incidents. Those that had their cutie marks suddenly disappear lost their respective talent immediately. This is causing a loss of jobs, ponies getting hurt while attempting to continue their work without their cutie marks, and the hospital is claiming that some are going into shock due to the disappearances. Reports are coming in that some stock market ponies that lost their cutie marks instantly forgot how the stock market worked equating to a loss of thousands of bits due to a breakdown in communications.” 'We do not know the prolonged negative effects mentally and physically,' reports Doctor Blue Vein, 'but we are trying to look into it as much as we can. We do know that it can cause a lot of mental trauma if the cutie mark is directly related to some skill or trade. Though it seems those who have the more obscure ones are not that affected by the recent events.'” “In light all this, all Fillydelphians and surrounding neighbors including Marietta are advised to stay inside, report any suspicious behavior to the local Policeponies, and be alert to your surroundings.” Twilight stopped reading and put the newspaper down. She looked at Rarity who had a disgusted look on her face when hearing the news that was recited to her. “Thats not good at all.” Twilight pondered for a moment. “I recall the case of the Cutie Pox before and how that caused ponies to sustain more than one random cutie mark, and it caused those ponies to involuntarily perform tasks as per given cutie marks, which appeared all over their bodies, not just their flanks. But this is different, these ponies seem to be missing there cutie mark all together and the associated talent that goes with it. How is that even possible?” “Well darling, I don't know how, but I do know that it would be very dreadful to befall anypony! Why I can't imagine having my cutie mark disappear one day and not being able to find jewels for my dresses or keep designing! That's absolutely horrific. I would go out of business.” She then took a stab on her monte daisy with some force with her fork and took a bite. A look of contemplation of loss came over her face. “It seems to be either some sort of disease or somepony is behind all this and on top of that, there were no witnesses to see what caused the marks to disappear? That seems odd, but it’s of interesting subject matter to read upon if you lose your cutie mark to see exactly what will happen. I wonder if I should do something about it. Maybe I should-” “Now Twilight, don't you think of studying or anything,” Rarity interrupted. “You need to relax right now. I’m sure the local authorities will take care of the problem and we can all forget about this horrible thing. And besides, everypony knows that if it were to happen to anyone of us, you will be the first one to figure out a solution.” “I guess you're right...” Twilight trailed off. She loved studying a lot about new subjects that needed to be researched. Especially on things relevant to current events such as the disappearance of cutie marks. Rarity on the other hoof saw Twilight in deep thought for a moment until she suddenly got a smirk on her face and leaned in closely. “Anyway, have you found a coltfriend yet? You seem to be needing of companionship.” Twilight nearly jumped at that statement. “Buah, Rarity! What kind of question is that?!” “I'm teasing hun, you should see the shock in your face, its quite expressive.” Rarity chuckled at the expense of Twilight burning her cheeks off. “Now let me explain to you how not to drive yourself crazy with a lot of work on your hooves...” In the meantime off to the distance in the main market square, unknown to bystanders, dark energy started to form that was very misty and transparent. You would have to be trying to squint your eyes to see it. At the same time though, from the insides of Sugarcube Corner, a certain pink mare with a tray of treats stopped suddenly. Her eyes dilated and she bucked the tray, which landed on the nearest table intact with the food. Mr. Cake was nearby and looked at Pinkie with some concern. “Pinkie, are you okay? Is something the matter?” He got his answer rightfully quick as Pinkie Pie stood still as a statue and stared at him for a moment. There was a mix of emotions going through her at a considerable speed. Mr. Cake backed up, as did other patrons to watch. Mrs. Cake came out from the kitchen to see what all the commotion was about. She saw Pinkie in the middle of the room and didn't waste anytime. “Everypony, back away from Pinkie. Its her pinkie sense! This one seems to be a big one!” Everyone in Ponyville acknowledged the pinkie sense, and even Twilight Sparkle gave up on trying to understand it. If the prized student of Celestia couldn't figure it out, then who could? Pinkie Pie called out what was happening to her. She couldn't stop it nor control it. “Oh lets see,” all four of her legs spasmed, then coiled up. She jumped into the air, nearly hitting the ceiling with her head and floated for a full five seconds before landing again. “Going against the laws of physics? That's a new one! Oh what's this?” Her mane then depoofed and repoofed multiple times. An alter ego's wet dream, from Pinkie Pie to Pinkamina and back again in rapid succession. “My hair feels funny. Ah, something new is gonna happen I can feel it.” The other patrons in the bakery all stared and watched in awe. At the same time, Rarity and Twilight both stood up from there table, wondering what all the commotion was about, and walked inside the building to see what was happening. Pinkie suddenly jumped and leaped towards a table nearby. Some ponies had to scamper out of the way before the pink blur came right towards them. She leap up and then karate chopped the nearest table. At first the table didn't do anything, but then after tapping it lightly, it slid apart cleanly down the middle. If a ninja was watching, he would be so proud. Everyone watched with their mouths agape when the table hit the floor. The Cakes stared at the table before them. What could this pinkie sense mean? Something terrible is gonna happen? Somepony had a foal? Who knew but Pinkie. The Cakes looked at the broken table with some bitterness, but understood that Pinkie couldn't control herself when she is in “Pinkie sense mode”. That table was coming out of her paycheck. If only she had one. “I had no idea I could do that! That was a new one.” Eventually she stopped with the spasms and calmed down, much to the collective relief of everyone in Sugarcube Corner. “Pinkie, What was that all about?” Asked Twilight with anticipation. Pinkie thought for a moment before answering, “I dunno, maybe something amazing is gonna happen? This never happened to me before. It may be be something bad, good or scary. Or something new and scary. I love scary new things too. Did you see me karate chop the table? That was soooo cool, I didn't know I could do that!” Twilight nodded and ignored her after she said she didn't know what it meant. Sometimes it’s best not to question it and move on. Rarity on the other hoof glanced at the table and noticed how cleanly it had been cut down the middle. “I take it that you really don't know what it means? How did you manage to break a table cleanly in half with just your hoof?” Twilight pointed to the table that Pinkie chopped in half. Pinkie Pie simply looked at her with a confused look. “Huh, I don't know but this could mean something BIG is gonna happen. It could foretell a great adventure that we might be sucked into and then we could fight some big nasty villain. It could be that someone got rejected for being a special somepony. I don't know, it could be anything!” Twilight sighed in frustration. It had to mean something, this is rare, especially on Pinkies part, not to know what it means. What could defying gravity, hair problems and a chopped table mean? It looked like another mystery for Twilight to solve in the recesses of her library with the added notation of researching more about cutie marks. A checklist needed to be made today concerning making a checklist for these strange occurrences. “Whoa! Everypony look outside. Is it scheduled for us to have a storm right now?” Asked Lyra, who was sitting next to Bonbon eating cupcakes. Some other ponies then looked out the windows as well and saw a huge storm cloud heading towards Ponyville. There were some pegasi outside flying around, yelling orders in attempts to try to contain the massive front that was approaching. Some patrons took the sight as a sign to leave and quickly get back to their homes. Rarity and Twilight stepped outside the bakery after saying goodbye to Pinkie and the Cakes, just in time to see Rainbow Dash fly right above them at near supersonic speed. “What on Equis is that?! Who let out the storm clouds loose!?” yelled Rainbow Dash at nopony in particular. She sped along and started to whirl around the massive cloud in order to contain it, inciting any pagasi nearby to help. Rarity eyed the clouds with a worried look and saw Rainbow start doing her crazy tricks in the air to try to contain the cloud. “Well it’s been a fun brunch darling, but if that storm comes our way, I better get back to Carousel Boutique. We should do it again sometime.” “Sure Rarity, thanks again for getting me out of the library. I would still be cooped up in there if it was not for you.” “No problem darling, that's what friends are for. I best be going now, bye Twilight.” “Bye Rarity.” Rarity then waved a hoof to Twilight and quickly trotted back home. Twilight just stared at the clouds. It was a very large and puffy storm cloud. Almost like Pinkie Pie's hair. Then it hit her. Like Pinkie Pie's hair! Did she somehow predict the weather? No, that can't be, that's just her mind playing tricks on her. It couldn't be that. Too simple. There's no way that could be. Right? Twilight then turned a corner and trotted towards her library. “Twilight, incoming!” Twilight turned just in time to see Rainbow Dash fly out of the sky and land hard onto an apple cart. She gasped and went right to her rainbow-maned friend. “Dear Celestia, are you okay Rainbow Dash!?” Rainbow dash groaned for a bit and tried to stand up to get back on her hooves. She was stuck headfirst in an apple cart and started to flail her rear legs in an attempt to free herself. Twilight wrapped her in a field of magic and pulled her out of the destroyed cart which had a big hole in it now and set her gently on the ground. “Rainbow, you need to be more careful! What happened? You okay? You never fall out of the sky unless you're crashing into my library.” Rainbow just shook her head and stood back up, checking her wings to see if they were damaged. She seemed quite fine considering that she was flying upwards at 55 mph and crashed into a apple cart, coming out intact. She toughen up after months of trick flying and crashes all just to get into the Wonderbolts. “I'm fine Twilight. but this storm is no ordinary storm. The cloud is like not responding or something. Me and the other pegasi can't stop the cloud or turn it away.” Twilight's mind simply stopped for a moment. Not responding? Like its going against her like Pinkie with her gravity? That could not be a coincidence, could it? Pinkie Pie can't be THAT good. “Hey Twilight, you okay? You're staring off into empty space again, and that storm is right over Sweet Apple Acres and the town. If we don't stop it soon and lightning strikes the trees, Applejack is gonna buck me to Hoofington.” Twilight finally got out of her stupor and nodded. The storm that was approaching had a menacing look to it. With huge black clouds, lightning, and a lot of black and blue wisps of magic dancing all around the cloud from its insides and swirling around at random speeds. “I'm more worried about you than me at the moment Rainbow. That storm does not look like a normal storm. Are you gonna be okay going through that?” She looked at the storm and saw how great it was, and it looked like it was trying to assemble right on the top of the town. “I'm gonna be fine, but this cloud is something different, it’s not responding to anything I’m doing to it. It won't move, break apart, or do anything that I try. No cloud gave this much trouble before. I’d best try to do something before the town gets blown apart, otherwise Mayor Mare has ordered everyone to stay indoors until it passes.” The cloud formation then turned another color from black to blue then back again. Both Twilight and Rainbow looked at each other then back at the cloud. Rainbow took the change in the clouds as a sign to take off into the air while Twilight then resumed going towards her library at a more brisk speed than before. She passed by town hall and trotted through the square. A flash of light came from above followed by the boom of thunder. Twilight jumped at the sudden sound and almost fell over. She hated storms with a burning passion. It always scared the living daylights out of her. The wind picked up more and more before going into a full force gale. She looked around and saw that the pegasi, including Rainbow Dash, gave up and high tailed it back to their homes for shelter. The sky felt as if it was nighttime due to how much light was blocked from the sun. The only light shining through was from the wisps of blue and purple, that were glowing in a circular pattern. Location: Near the Ponyville Library Time: 10: 12 AM Twilight was then just around the corner from her library when she felt a strange feeling came to her. Her horn started to glow without her consent. What is going on? I'm not doing any spells or anything. This storm must have a high magical interference if it’s messing with my magic, though it feels familiar somehow. She looked up again and stared at the horror above her. The storm suddenly swirled right above her in clouds of darkness, quickly rotating around her as if was targeting her. Lightning and blue wisps of energy started dancing around in the vortex with great intensity. Dear Celest-. Twilight didn't get to finish her thought. A beam of energy shot down from the vortex right into Twilight. She screamed in fright as the beam wrapped around her body and pulled at her magic. Her magic was being drained by the storm itself and she couldn't do anything to stop it. She struggled to break free from its grasp but it was to no avail. But then she was calm, as she floated up in the air with eyes glowing and energy flowing around her. Oh my gosh what is happening!? The storm of raw energy that surrounded Twilight in wisps and flows spoke to her in a sudden panicked tone - the voice of a stallion. “I'm sure you're wondering how and why you got into this mess? Well I will explain later but I need you to help me, whoever you are, as you're my only hope. Please let the spell connect to you as it needs a recipient of great magic to complete it. Oh, and its just a teleport spell, so just flare your horn up as if you were normally would for one, and it should complete the transfer of me to you. Trust me. I’m sorry that it took you by surprise as I kinda need to leave like, right now. Please let the spell through as it’s of national security. I need to escape before...” The voice got cut off unexpectedly. Twilight tried to answer back but couldn't. What in Equestria? Somepony is trying a teleport spell? Why did it grab on to me? Who the heck is this pony and what is he running from? What kind of bootleg spell is this? Calm down Twilight, you're going crazy again. You need to analyze the situation. Twilight then calmed herself by going through a mental checklist. She did this all while still floating in a large collection of light based energy. The voice told me to trust him. Okay, but why do I feel like I should the opposite? What did he need to escape from? Twilight, you can do this, just do a teleportation spell and it should all be over. We can ask questions later. I hope. Twilight focused hard, her horn, which was already overtaken in the wisps of pure energy changed color to another shade of blue, then to purple. Another beam of energy was shot from Twilight to the ground. A large bubble of blue energy started to form, creating a crater not too far from her. The same type of bubble that forms right before a teleportation spell, right there on the street. The bubble slowly increased in size until it was as big as a pony. The light intensified to a great degree, nearly as bright as the sun, enshrouding everything in a blinding light. There was a silhouette of a pony in the bubble as it formed. Just as suddenly as it began the storm stopped. The clouds dissipated, and the sky cleared in mere seconds. The energy from the vortex from above in turn stopped and released Twilight of its magical hold. She gently floated back down to the ground. Augh, my head. Now my horn is hurting. I have to remind myself to research this spell. But whom did it teleport? She got her answer when she saw the crater near her. She trotted slowly to the edge of it to peer inside. In it was a unicorn stallion in onyx armor, which was smoking and quite battered, with bright blue and purple accents standing in the middle. The stallion resembled the lunar guard but his armor was quite different in many ways. His normally grey coat charred with cuts and bruises that were visible in the areas where his armor was not covering him. His royal blue mane with a single black streak in it was fringed on the outside due to burns. On his flank laid a picture of the same weapon, an axe, which was lying on the ground next to him. It itself was not shaped like a normal hatchet. It was curved on the sides and had the lunar symbol on it. (See cover image). The stallion looked at her for a moment with his pleading green eyes, legs shaking. “Thank yo-” He abruptly fainted and fell onto the hard ground of the charred crater. End of chapter 1 Credit music plays... Reader has gained... +5 to INT. +2 to LUK. New spell learned. Grand Transport Vortex - This spell is a high level spell that requires the user and a random recipient of a predetermined location to BOTH have a magic power of no less than 9,000 each to complete. Grants the user to teleport to the recipient of a distance of over 100 miles one way. User or initial spell caster must have at least 20,000 Magic Power to initiate spell. Spell can be used as a long distance teleport with an extra 10,000 MP to complete. Chapter 02: First ImpressionsUnder Lunar Wings By JP HACK Edited by JP HACK, Shadow Blaze98, Wildebeest CHAPTER 2 - First Impressions “We shall not give up, for we are the descendants of this great nation. Destiny has unfolded and we are the chosen caretakers of the nation. HEED these words my brother and sisters, we must not fall. Whether the goal is far or short, we cannot sway. We will remain true and victorious. Whether you seek freedom or redemption, materialistic rewards or great glory. The nation will lead all. The nation will guide all, to your true paths. Let it not die, but live on and fight on. Forever into the endless skies.” - Archives of Equestria Location : Outside of the Library. Time: 12:47 PM Twilight stood near the edge of the crater with her mouth wide open. She didn't expect any of this to happen. The sky was now clear. The pressure to her horn was gone. And now she had an unconscious stallion that nearly looked like her older brother lying in the middle of a still smoking crater. What interested Twilight was the armor and weapon that he had on him. It was like nothing she had seen before. Her mind was still going in circles of endless questions. Was he part of the royal guard? Was he the one to request the teleportation spell? What caused him to do the spell in the first place? She stopped herself to examine the situation before her. This stallion looked awfully hurt. He needs medical attention and fast. Twilight then remembered that she knew some measure of healing magic. Her horn glowed for a second then fizzled out right after. Ugh, what is going on with my magic? Even after the bizarre spell, I feel fine. But why is my magic not responding suddenly? I couldn't have magic drainage, could I? Twilight pouted. She needed somepony to get this pony to the hospital before he got in any worse condition. And get herself checked as well. Other ponies started to come out of their homes once they saw the storm suddenly dissipate. They crowded around to look and see what was happening. Some policeponies arrived as well to help contain the crowd. Twilight motioned for one of the policeponies nearby to go and find Doctor Stable immediately for help. After some time, Doctor Stable came to the scene accompanied by two nurses. Doctor Stable trotted down to the crater and started examining the stallion for himself as the nurses started attending to his wounds. After he was done checking him, his face turned sour. He turned to one of the nurses. “Nurse Coldheart, please take the stretcher with Nurse Sweetheart, this stallion is in trauma level 1, unconscious and badly bruised. Get him back to the hospital immediately. We are dealing with severe burns, as well as complete magic drainage.” The nurses quickly brought out a stretcher and placed it near the crater. They both went down and reached on each end of his limbs and pulled the stallion up out and over to lay him on the stretcher. Twilight didn't like where this whole situation was going. She had to do something to help out and get herself checked out as well. She walked up to the doctor who was busy filling out a chart. “Um, Doctor Stable?” “Ah, Twilight Sparkle. Nice to see you again. Thank Celestia that you called for somepony to get me to him on time. What's the matter?” “My magic is not responding to me suddenly. It started with me trying to help this pony right here. I tried to do some healing magic on him, but my magic fizzed out. I doubt I have magic drainage though. Can you help me as well?” The doctor put down his note pad and eyed Twilight with a examining look. He scanned her going from her face to her flank and back looking to see what was wrong with her. Only doctors have the ability to see right through you and know exactly what's wrong. He turned around and faced the nurses that were waiting for further instructions. “Take Miss Sparkle with you, It seems that she has some minor magic drainage as well as far as I can tell. But we have to check her at the hospital to be sure.” Then he glanced back at his notepad and then looked back at Twilight. “Also, Miss Sparkle. It seems that you saw exactly what transpired here, right?” “Yes, doctor.” “Well then, follow the nurses back to the hospital and we will treat you soon enough. Though I want a full report on what happened in order to get a better understanding of what that stallion did to be in such bad shape. And I want to examine you for a moment to see if there is any connections between the two of you especially after trying to help him. Is that okay?” “Yes doctor, I would be glad to help. I never really had this happen to me before.” The Doctor then motioned for everypony to return to the hospital. Twilight walked along with the nurses and eyed the stallion, now with some preliminary bandages on him. As they traveled, the nurses were talking amongst themselves about how cute he looks and about why he has black armor. “Could he be part of the Night Guard?” “Maybe. Or a lost soldier..." Twilight paid no heed to their conversation. Though she did realize that something was missing. His axe! She turned around towards the doctor. “Doctor Stable, what about his weapon? Are we gonna just leave it there?” “I really don't know. It should be work for the Policeponys...” Just in the middle of the conversation the aforementioned axe started to glow. It slowly raised out of the crater and floated lazily towards the unconscious stallion. Both their eyes widened. “Woah!” Twilight yelled. The doctor said nothing but just followed the axe fly through the air with his eyes. A policepony nearby drew out his weapon in anticipation for an attack while the others shouted to back away. The nurses backed away in time for the axe to glow again with some purple wisps and layed on top of the unconscious pony. It was like a foal hugging a doll for comfort. Everyone just stared in awe at the sight that just befell them. How can a weapon move by itself without the use of telekinesis directly? What made it do that? Was it a form of magic? They’d never know until the stallion woke up and explained his side of the story. Location: Ponyville Hospital Time: 1:00 PM “Wait a minute. Explain this to me again. What do you mean that it asked you for a request to do a spell within a spell?” asked Doctor Stable as he was treating Twilight for minor magic drainage. He grabbed a gem and placed it next to her horn. The gem glowed and transferred some magic energy to her horn. Then he quickly switched to another gem of a different color and applied to her horn near the tip. Magic energies flowed this time from her horn to the jem making the gem turn brown. “Your lucky that this is a treatable illness that happens to unicorns that over exert their magic. Simply recharge your inner magic reserves with some rest and some gems that have magic properties and you got your magic back. Though very weakly at first.” “I know. It’s like nothing I have ever experienced or seen before. I was sucked up into the magical vortex and while I was there inside the spell there was a voice.” “A voice?” Doctor turned around and put an amethyst bracelet on Twilight's hoof. “Keep this on for one hour and your magic should return.” “Thanks doctor, as I was saying, a voice of a stallion. It most likely the stallion in the room next to us. He sounded as if he was in trouble and needed to escape from something. What really worries me is the fact that this spell caused some minor damage to the town. I had never heard or researched of a spell that could do that in my many studies.” “Interesting if I do say so myself. I should discuss this with Doctor Blue Vein in Fillydelphia and see if he heard of something like this. Also, what perplexes me is that with a unicorn of your stature, the spell only dazed you a little bit. You don't seem fatigued or tired. You have excellent motor skills to boot. But what do you think caused the stallion to completely lose consciousness?” The doctor grabbed a notepad and started writing down some additional notes. “Well, it seemed to me like a spell that used a lot of magic power to cast. It was probably the reason it created a huge storm, magical resistance and all. Did you not see the clouds and the wisps of purple and blue? It was downright scary to watch.” Twilight jiggled the bracelet on her hoof in annoyance. The thing was slightly uncomfortable to her. The doctor was still writing down some notes and only glanced back at Twilight. “Yes, well this is all good and done now Twilight. Now, please do not try to use your magic for an hour or two. Return home and rest. No strenuous activity for the day, okay?” Twilight pouted again at the doctor but he ignored her. “So what's gonna happen to the pony in armor? He has some apologizing to do for dragging me into this mess.” “Interestingly enough, he seemed rather fine. Other than the magic drainage on him and the cuts and burns, there is nothing else wrong with him. But we’ll have to wait and see when he wakes up before we get an explanation. Though there is the fact that we can't remove his armor for proper treatment. Unicorn magic won't work, so we just treated what was accessible. “Well, that’s something I never heard of before. I better research that when I get back into the library too.” The doctor looked at the clock in the room. “Okay Twilight, I best be going as I have other patients to attend to. The exit is just down the hall and to the left is the stair well. If you find anything of value about this, let me know. Bye.” Doctor Stable waved a hoof and promptly left. “Bye, thanks again for your help,” Twilight sighed to herself. She wanted to ask the stallion a lot of questions when he woke up. Twilight got off the examination table and left the room. She walked down the hallway at a slow pace, the lack of magic was not really doing her any favors. As she was walking down the hallway she overheard Nurse Coldheart and Nurse Sweetheart talking amongst themselves. “Did you see how he started hugging his weapon in his sleep?” “Yeah, it’s really weird, and it’s amazing he is not cutting his face off with the thing so close to him...” Twilight didn't even bother to listen to the rest of the conversation as it was getting too weird for her anyway. A trot down three stories and she finally came to the waiting room and was surprised to see all her friend there. There was Pinkie and Fluttershy sitting together talking amongst themselves. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were both in some kind of heated debate of some sort making Rarity slightly irritated. Rarity saw Twilight come through the doors, which made everypony all greet Twilight with hugs and words of concern. “Girls!” “Twilight! Darling, I was so worried about you. My neighbor Bonbon told me you got admitted to the hospital with some stallion and I just had to round up everypony else to come see what happened to you.” Rarity hugged Twilight and then nuzzled her affectionately. Applejack greeted Twilight as well. “Heya there sugarcube, I hope ya feelin better. What in tarnation got ya in the darn hospital in the first place?” “Well it all started when-” She got cut off when Pinkie burst out some confetti and balloons. “Twilight it's so good to see you all well. I hope the doctor didn't give you a shotty mcshot shot. Those hurt. Ooh, what's that on your hoof? It looks really cool. Oh, this is a great time for my special ‘Twilight is released from the hospital party!’ It’s gonna be really great. How did you get here in the first place?” Pinkie Pie was now really close to Twilight's face. “Errh, Like as I was saying before it started whe-” She got interrupted when Rainbow Dash came up to her as well, hovering in the air just above the ground. Twilight’s frustration level started to increase. “Yeah, we all totally worried about you! After the storm disappeared you somehow ended up in the hospital! I, on the other hoof ended up having to clean up the mess of the town after the storm. ‘Cause that storm was the weirdest thing ever. So what happened?” Twilight was about to answer again before Fluttershy came up to her and nudged her, cutting off communication with the others. “Ohh dear, I hope nothing scary happened to you. Are you sure you are okay?” At this point Twilight had to either stop them or she would never get to explain her story. “Girls! Let me Speak!” The five mares quickly silenced themselves. Twilight composed herself and let out a quick sigh. “Okay, here’s what happened...” thirty minutes went by of retelling of events from the storm to the spell to the stallion. It went by very slowly for Twilight as she kinda went into more detail than necessary. Pinkie Pie almost fell asleep during Twilight’s talk. “...And that’s all that happened so far. I'm not in any danger or anything, it’s just that now I cant use my magic for a small amount of time. No big deal.” Twilight then sat down on one of the chairs in the waiting room. She wiggled her bracelet to adjust it. It was being slightly irritating to her. The mares all stared at her in silence for a moment. Rarity raised a hoof up. “Wait a minute. Do you mean to tell me that all this happened possibly because of this stallion you described to us earlier?” Twilight looked at Rarity with a slightly confused look. “Yeah, I guess. He’s probably the one that cast the spell and got me involved in it.” Rainbow Dash raised a hoof into the air cutting in between them. “So he’s the reason why half the town is in shambles!? The mayor blamed my weather team for this crazy storm! Why I oughta show him a piece of my mind when he wakes up...” She started to walk towards the doors which lead to the rest of the hospital. Applejack grabbed her tail and yanked her backwards. "Hey!" “Now Rainbow I wouldn't be so hasty. Y'all need to calm down and wait till he wakes up. I'm sure he didn't mean it. Right Twilight?” “Indeed, we just need to be patient. I'm sure he will wake up soon.” Then right after, Pinkie Pie froze as still as an iceberg. Fluttershy let out a barely noticeable ‘eep’ and the mares all turned towards Pinkie. The pink pony spasmed and her hooves started to shake. It wasn’t a twitch so much as it was a violent shake. “Oh...did I not have this before? Twitchy hoofs are fun!” Pinkie started bouncing in front of everyone and making silly noises. Twilight, with an audible sigh, asked the inevitable. “What does it mean this time Pinkie?” asked Twilight. Pinkie Pie suddenly stopped again and turned to Twilight. With a huge smile on her face she said... “Actually I think I need to use the mare’s room.” Everyone faced hoofed. Pinkie Pie left in a literal blur and promptly returned. "All done." Meanwhile Applejack turned to Twilight and started speaking to her in a level, even tone. “Twilight, ya know that this storm caused a mighty lot of trouble right there in Sweet Apple Acres as well. Some trees fell down and a lot of the farm is in shambles. Rainbow’s right in terms of wanting ta’ get back at him and he really needs ta’ pay for what he did in terms of hard work.” Rainbow chimed in almost immediately after. “Yeah! I want answers Twilight, I'm sick and tired of waiting for him to wake up. I want answers now!” Rarity this time spoke next with higher than usual but firm tone. “Girls, now may I remind you that this no way to behave." Applejack’s and Rainbow’s ears deflated slightly making both of them stop. "Twilight wants to know as much as we all do. But there's nothing we can do now at the moment. Right Fluttershy?” The yellow pegasus nearly jumped at the sound of her name. “Ummm, yeah I guess so...if you want that is.” Pinkie Pie perked up in the middle of the room and started to have a twitchy meltdown. She jumped around a bit and this time her legs started to twitch. Her eyes went wide and looked to Twilight. “Something crazy is about to happen. Don't you hear the music?” All the mares in the room stopped and looked at nothing in particular. Nopony dared made a sound lest they miss something. Everyone was eagerly expecting something crazy or dangerous to happen at any moment. The air was tense. A scream and a lot of yelling was then heard from within the hospital. It was slightly muffled due to the walls of the building. “Ahhh.....A hospital!? What in the name of Luna am I doing of all places HERE!?” Then there were muffled curses and screams. A crash of a window from up high and the sound of glass shattering rang out. As soon as that happened the six mares in the waiting room rushed through the inner double doors of the hospital that led towards the main hallway. “Ha, I just KNEW that something crazy was about to happen!” yelled Pinkie as she bounced along with the others. Twilight led the group as she knew where the room where the stallion was. “Now I can finally teach this stallion a lesson about making me look bad!” announced Rainbow as she was hovering along with the others. They rushed past a nurse and then turned towards another hallway and up the stairs. A door was swung wide open and they saw Doctor Stable outside of it, in the middle of the hallway, pointing inside the room with his mouth wide open in shock. The mares all shuffled inside to get a look and they saw the armoured stallion, some for the first time. Their mouths all dropped at the sight. Fluttershy was the first to respond with a muffled, “Oh my.” “My word,” Rarity gasped. “What in tarnation!?” yelled Applejack. “Well, that's unexpected.” stated Rainbow Dash. “Oh so that's what it meant by tables chopped in half,” exclaimed Pinkie. “What on earth did you do!?” Twilight loudly demanded. And the others all gathered at the entrance of the room just staring at the sight before them. Doctor Stable just looked and said nothing the entire time, still in shock and horror at the ruined portion of the hospital. It would take so many bits to fix this mess. The armored stallion was standing with the axe in his mouth in front of a large perfect circular cutaway of what used to be the wall with a window. There was debris everywhere scattered around the room. The pony in dark armor just staring at his handy work and looked out to the horizon with his blue mane with the single black stripe blowing in the wind. Luckily there was no other patient in the room or they would've died from a heart attack after what this pony just did. The mares just looked at him, intensely scrutinizing him with their looks. The stallion opened his mouth to release the axe. His horn glowed this time and made it float next to him. He looked back at the mares with a stern look, his green eyes peering through all of them. “Hey. The name’s Nova Blade, and I bucking HATE hospitals.” Nova let out a breath. “Now if you excuse me, I need to head back to Canterlot. National threat to Equestria and all that jazz.” He promptly flung his axe down at the ground hard with his magic. The impact alone made the ground burst into an impact crater. Then he jumped from the edge of the newly cut hole, much to the surprise of everypony, while falling towards his axe on the ground. Again, with another faint glowing of his horn the axe then suddenly flung up to him at great speed pulling some dirt along with it. To the mares and doctor it looked like he was about to butcher himself in midair. The axe turned on its side right before Nova hit it so that he landed on the flat side with his hooves. The apparent momentum of the axe flying upwards canceled the velocity of him falling down from the third story. Nova Blade landed with a thud with the weapon still under his feet. Then he stepped off and shook the purple and blue weapon off and promptly put it back on his back, locking it into place with some unseen magic. He turned around and then waved a hoof at the crowd looking at him with slack jaws and saw the pink one with foam fingers on both hooves which read “Go Blade!” Nova ignored that part though. Twilight shared a look with her friends (minus Pinkie who was too busy cheering.) "This pony is downright crazy." All of her friends nodded sagely. Doctor Stable finally spoke out loud while pointing a hoof at Nova Blade. “Are you just gonna let him go? After what he has done!? Look what he did to my hospital!” “Stop him!” yelled Rainbow Dash, flaring her wings and getting ready to take off. The others turned around, opting to take the stairs instead of jumping out of the window. Nova Looked back over his shoulder, smirking. “If you can, that is,” he said playfully as his horn started to glow bright blue. End of chapter 2 And on that bombshell, good night everypony! Credit music plays... Reader has gained... +5 to STR. +2 to LUK. New skill learned -Wall Slicer- Use your Axe to cut your way through walls that righteously annoy you in a perfect circle. Requires 2 STR and only 500 Magic power. Nova Blades Axe Chapter 03: TacticsUnder Lunar Wings Chapter 3: Restraint By : JP HACK Edited by : Mixolydian Grey, and those that I forgot to mention “Now, my brothers and sisters, when your power is low, your comrades fallen, and your vigor lost, fear not. Remember the very reason of fighting, the reason you came here to begin with. Where was that force to keep pushing you to fight, along with that power that you showed with valor? For it was not skill, nor superior numbers that kept you going but your very WILL to survive, which carried through your holy mission. So, I urge you to pick up your weapons, and power through your inner conflicts, for Equestria needs saving once more.” - Archives of Equestria Location - Rear courtyard of the Ponyville Hospital Time - 1:20 PM A gust of wind shook the hospital room. Rainbow Dash’s wings flapped furiously, pushing debris and papers around, making more of a mess. She turned to look at her target from the third story through the newly made hole in the wall. Stallion, grey coat, blue mane with a black streak, green eyes, impressive black regal armor, and a weapon that looked like it belonged in a museum. She had no time to pay attention to any more details, though, as her target needed to be beaten into submission in less than ten seconds flat. She got her body low, launched out of the hole in the wall, and she raced towards the now unamused Nova Blade. Meanwhile, Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie all quickly went downstairs to get to the ground floor to help Rainbow Dash capture the runaway patient. They all ran through the hallways, bypassing a frightened nurse wheeling a patient on a wheelchair. As they burst out the rear doors that lead into the courtyard. The courtyard was primarily used to help rehabilitate ponies by letting them get some exercise and giving them room to walk around. Now it was a battleground for the world’s fastest flyer and a stallion in armor who was wielding a deadly axe. Twilight eyed the situation for a moment. She turned around back to the girls and motioned for them to all come together for a quick huddle. “Okay girls, anypony have any ideas on how to take down a unicorn with an axe?” The rest of the mares all just shrugged bewilderedly. Twilight realized that she needed to come up with a plan, quickly. The rainbow maned pegasus arced towards Nova Blade at great speed. Nova tried to use his magic to pick up his axe. His horn glowed for a moment before fizzling out. He tried again, but the spell still did not succeed. With some effort, he made a third attempt. His horn gave off a weak glow. Success! Okay then, I can't do anything besides basic telekinesis. Should've never done that crazy stunt that I pulled from the third story. Even though hospitals scare the living mule out of me... what was I thinking? Best not to answer that. Regardless, I need to stall for time,‘cause at this rate it will take me five minutes or so to recharge my magic for a basic twenty mile teleport. Looks like I will have to hold this mare off in order to stall for time. Hang on comrades, Nova Blade is coming! Nova strained to increase the power of his magic to move his axe. It was still on his back and it was difficult for him given the amount of magic he already used. As he was occupied in removing his weapon, he caught a shadow growing around him at the corner of his eyes. Nova turned his face up just in time to see Rainbow speeding down right above him. He nearly panicked as he tried even harder to remove his weapon in time. “This is for disturbing my nap today!” the fast moving rainbow blur yelled out from above. Dash bucked Nova with her front hooves, hitting his back. He got thrown sideways along with his weapon and slid across the ground. Nova groaned in pain and slowly got back up. He looked at his fallen weapon that slid off his back and weakly picked it up. The weapon rose into the air, glowing at the handle. Most unicorns, when they use telekinesis, wrap the entire object in magic, but the most power and grip comes from being selective on what you grab. Something was missing, though; where did that pegasus go? The answer came swiftly when a voice came from above once more. “Hey, you’re not supposed to get up from that! Stay down!” Nova watched as Rainbow Dash did a sudden corkscrew towards him. Rainbow nearly panicked when he held his axe up again as he put it front of her path of attack. She backpedaled her wings to avoid the weapon in her path. She stopped right before him and hovered in the air, her face all bent up in anger. She didn't expect anything like this, as her plan was to stall him as long as possible before he picked up his weapon. “Please stop, I honestly don't have time for the likes of you. And unless you want to get hurt really bad, stand down,” Nova said in a taunting voice. He spun his axe in a circular motion while grinning maniacally. The axe glowed as it illuminated the edge of the spinning blade, creating a wheel of light. Nova maneuvered the spinning weapon closer to him in order to get into a better defensive position. Rainbow grit her teeth and pointed at him with a wing for a split second. “You want to do this the hard way? Fine, let’s do this the hard way!” As Twilight was explaining the game plan of ‘take down the crazy pony,’ Pinkie Pie had another twitchy attack. But this was a more subdued one, a Pinkie sense that was passively pushing her towards a general unknown direction. She looked at Fluttershy who was not really paying attention to Twilight’s plan. As the pegasis was looking at the fight between Rainbow Dash and Nova Blade off into the distance, Pinkie, on the other hoof, while bouncing up and down in a quick nauseating succession, went right up in front of Fluttershy's face. “Hey, Fluttershy, I need your help! Come on, we need to make like a tree and get out of here! My Pinkie sense is telling me something, something BIG, and I need your help!” The poor pegasus nearly fainted when Pinkie jumped in front of her and started talking. Thankfully, she finally came to her senses and formed words other than squeaks and hums. “Ooh, Pinkie you scared me! Uh...what do you mean that you need my help?” “Listen, my pinkie sense is telling me to go up to the sky for some reason, and you're the only super awesome friend who happens to have wings available. I need you to fly me up over the clouds.” “Wait, you want me to...” she gulped. “...fly you up into the sky?” Fluttershy stared at the ground and moved her right hoof in a circular motion. “I dunno about that... it sounds dangerous.” “Please, Fluttershy? Pleeeeease? I need this. Look at me, the Pinkie sense is getting worse.” Pinkie started shaking very violently towards a particular direction. “And to top it all off, it’s moving upwards towards the sky and turning. Come on, we have to hurry and follow it ‘cause it could solve all our problems! Like a secret place, or it means that it has to continue on towards an unknown goal, or it could mean something special. Please, Fluttershy? Pleeeeease?” “I don’t know... I never really did that before.” Fluttershy's voice was so soft that it was a barely audible squeak. “Come on, Fluttershy, Dash’s safety could be on the line! And it won't be that hard, I'm light as a feather. Just this once. Its not like I asked before, even though I wanted to ask before ‘cause it sounded like fun, then Dash said no because it will mess with her training schedule, and she flew off, but that's not the half of it...” Pinkie shook even more and the ground stirred up with vibrations while she continuing rambling, “...anyway, come on, Fluttershy, this is the Pinkie sense, and you know what happens when you don't believe the Pinkie sense!” Fluttershy looked at Pinkie and then looked at Twilight, who was explaining a plan that was far too complex for Applejack and Rarity. Her voice was still barely audible, except for Pinkie who had super hearing that cannot be explained. “Okay, you make a good point, but just this once. I don't want the same thing happening to me as did Twilight when she...uh...went against your warnings.” “Great! Now I want you to fly at a northeast direction with an ascension of 32 degrees while banking to the left. Now get ready for takeoff!” Pinkie saluted to Fluttershy, before beginning a short walk around the bewildered mare. Pinkie inspected her as one would inspect a plane. “Landing gear, check, ailerons functional, wing power at maximum. Okay, ready to go!” Pinkie pulled a pair of goggles from out of nowhere, put them on and hopped on Fluttershy's back, pointing in the direction in which to go. Pinkie tapped her on the side of her flank. “Eep!” Fluttershy flared her wings and took off, though she struggled under Pinkie’s weight at first. She heaved her wings faster to compensate, creating a large gust of wind as they ascended to the air. All the while, Twilight, Rarity and Applejack were so occupied with the ‘plan’ that they didn't really at all notice them leave. “Well, does everypony know their tasks?” asked Twilight as she paced back and forth in front of the mares. “Yes ma'am,” answered Applejack nodding in affirmation. “Certainly do,” said Rarity, who looked around in confusion for a moment. “Um, Twilight?” “Huh? What is it, Rarity?” Rarity looked around and back to Twilight. “Where are Pinkie and Fluttershy?” “What are you talking about? They are-” She looked around her and saw an absence of a shy pegasus and a party pony. She had a gut feeling that Fluttershy might've backed out of the impending scuffle, but didn't begin to bother trying to understand why Pinkie Pie would leave. Regardless, they had a pony to stop. A tweak of her mental plans and voila, a plan taking into account two less participants was completed in Twilight's head at record speed. Then her ideas came crashing into a brick wall at 75 mph. “Okay, now the plan is ruined without Pinkie and Fluttershy here. What are we gonna do now?” Her ears dropped and she pouted again. Rarity and Applejack just looked at each other and shrugged. Rarity raised a hoof. “Darling, let me just go and inform the policeponies what's happening. I'm sure that they would know better than us how to handle this situation, wouldn't you agree?” Twilight nodded. “Actually, I bet if I use mah rope with some of yer fancy magic, we can easily capture the trouble maker. It will be just like in the rodeo!” Applejack exclaimed. Twilight thought over that for a moment. Could that actually work? It’s worth a shot to try to stall or tire him out until the real authorities come. Suddenly there was a yelp and swearing directed towards a certain rainbow maned pegasus. The mares turned around to see what was happening. Rainbow Dash bounced on a cloud as she maneuvered it over her target. With each bounce, she shot a lightning bolt at Nova Blade. Nova seemed tired of just dodging and blocking attacks as he weaved and ducked from the bolts. He maneuvered his axe to just deflect the strikes towards the ground so as to not hit anything flammable around him. Nova looked at his axe to see it glow red from the heat of the strikes. He didn't like where this whole situation was going. Dammit, I have like three more minutes until my magic is past its required threshold and my axe can't sustain that many more strikes. This is getting really annoying. Though,this mare is now shooting MORE lightning at me! Is that even legal!? Rainbow Dash bounced and flew between clouds. She grabbed two more clouds by spinning really fast around them and compressing them. Once she made them into storm clouds she added them to the one that was already shooting lightning at Nova. She sped through them all at a quick speed and kicked the last one with her hind hooves. Lightning from all three clouds struck the ground near Nova at the same time. Nova loudly gulped and deflected one of the many strikes but it was still dangerously close to hitting him. A bolt of lightning struck right next to Nova, nearly taking his leg out. Daaaaang, This mare is good. If it was not for the advice of my teacher, I would be a dead charred unicorn on a stick. I need to take her out of the equation. She seems to know some military tactics. Wonderbolts training perhaps? I dunno, but these are not moves any normal pegasus would use. Nova strained to increase some of his limited magic towards his axe. He brought it close to his face and then crouched lower to the ground. “So how do you like my attacks? Never seen anything like it, huh?” boasted Rainbow as she was circling around Nova. “Listen to me, I know you’re mad at me, though I don't know why. But I am willing to walk away from this, if you are. Otherwise, I will go on the offensive, and quickly take you down. You may be dangerous, but you're not as tough as some of the other ponies I've fought.” answered Nova, who didn't bother to turn to face her. “Ha! I'm the fastest flyer in all of Equestria and next in line to get into the Wonderbolts! You just don't know who you're dealing with!” Rainbow stopped circling around him and went back to hovering in front of Nova with her hooves crossed. “I don't even know your name, I’ve never seen you before in my life, and to top it off, you’re really annoying.” “What!? Why I oughta...” Rainbow flared her wings out mid hover and charged him head on again at a great speed, taking a cloud with her for another attack. “Rainbow, DOOODGE!!” Called out Twilight as she and Applejack came running towards them. Dash banked sharply to the right and sped past Nova, who didn't move. Rainbow distracted him enough to let Twilight shoot a spell from her horn. Nova smirked as the beam came towards him. About time, something I could use to my advantage. Nova stopped the spinning of the axe and shuffled his stance slightly to the left. He turned the axe and deflected the beam, but this time he aimed the deflection at his previous challenger, Rainbow Dash. She was still moving around arcing back towards her companions but the deflected beam of magic shot her right in her side. Her wings locked up and she started to fall towards the ground. “I don't feeell soooo gooodd,” Rainbow slurred as she fell. “Rainbow!” Twilight instantly wrapped her in a field of magic and placed her gently on the ground near a tree. “Applejack, check on her for a moment. It was just a sleeper spell. It was intended for...” she glared at Nova. “...this unicorn. Once you're done, come help me, and hopefully Rarity will be back with the policeponies in time. The spell will only last a couple of minutes.” “Ya can count on me Twilight.” Applejack immediately went towards the now sleeping Rainbow Dash to check on her. Twilight walked up towards Nova Blade with a clear look of anger and frustration on her face. “What's your problem!?” called out Twilight. Nova turned and stuck the axe into the ground. He has been using his limited magic for a while and it was starting to tire him out. Even though he was recharging for the teleport spell, he was facing rapid magic drainage, which could cripple him for days if it did happen. Nova turned and brushed off his armor. “Problem? I don't have a problem. I'm just, you know, trying to not get struck by lightning. No biggie.” Twilight’s anger slowly increased but she kept a level tone. “Your name is Nova Blade, right? Why did you make an hole in the hospital and run away? And look at what you did to our friend, Rainbow Dash!” She pointed towards the sleeping Rainbow Dash and Applejack. She was about to continue speaking but got cut off from Nova. “I thought I announced that I hate hospitals and that I needed to go somewhere urgent. Sorry about your friend, but I need to go. Are you gonna let me do that or do I still need to stand and fight you off my flank?" Nova pointed a hoof at Twilight. "And for the record, you shot the beam. I merely deflected it.” Nova didn't like wasting time, but for the sake of stalling for time for the required amount of magic power to regenerate for a teleport spell, he had to wait. Sorry guys, but Nova is gonna be a little late. Around one minute remaining before I can get out of this crazy town. “You need to answer some questions, mister.” Twilight slammed her right hoof down to punctuate her point. “First off, why did you use me in that teleportation spell?” Nova got taken by surprise from that question. “Wait, it grabbed you? Look, I don't have the time to explain. I don't even know who you are.” “My name is Twilight Sparkle and I believe that you owe my friends an explanation and apology. I'm also the one that took you to the hospital after you came here completely unconscious.” Nova’s mind stopped. There was a reason why there were orders to stay away from Ponyville. TWILIGHT SPARKLE!? Oh buck me to the moon so hard that space itself collapses on me. So that's what she looks like. Kinda good looking. Anyway, then the rest of her friends must be the Elements of Harmony? No wonder they are so protective and are used to fighting. Oh, this is bad, really bad. Luna is gonna send me to the far side of the moon for this. I better just bolt and leave while I can. That should give me more than enough time to complete the spell and forget about this place. Luna forgive me for my stupidity, blame the stupid little pony in my head for not thinking straight.Nova looked at Twilight and contemplated what was the wisest course of action. After about four seconds of deep meditative thought, he considered stopping and explain everything, until he realized that would be boring. “I’m just gonna go. I’m way overdue for some critical matters. Thanks for saving me, but it’s Equestria that needs saving, not me.” He turned around and started to trot away and added, “Thanks for helping me take down that pegasus, she was really annoying.” Twilight's horn glowed and she shot a beam of energy at Nova from spite. Nova, without turning around, moved slightly to the left letting the magics graze him as he pulled his axe from the ground. “You're not going anywhere.” Twilight said with a calm forceful demeanor. “You broke property, assaulted a pony, and worst off, haven't told me anything that I need to know. So you're gonna have to come with us.” She turned to Applejack who came next to her. “Applejack, it’s time to capture this crazy stallion.” “Woah nelly, it's right about time I get to tussle with someone.” Nova looked at the orange and blonde earth pony running towards him. She spun a rope with her tail and had her hat tipped over her eyes. He stared at her in utter awe of her near-supernatural agility and dexterity. The little pony in Nova’s head reminded him that earth ponies have their own type of magic as well. “Fine, let’s get this over with. I'm dead as it is from the backlash I'm gonna get from this detour I took. But remember this, I'm going easy on you all. If it was not for my weakened state, you all would be sent to Tartarus and back.” Nova said as he took some steps back. “Quit yer yapping.” Applejack raced towards him and tossed the lasso. Not the smartest move for Applejack, as Nova swiped it with his axe and cut the rope like butter. But she kept running towards him, much to Nova’s surprise. She zigzagged, turned around and bucked him hard in the side, leaving two hoof prints in his armor. Nova yelped and got thrown forcibly across the ground. He tumbled and spun a couple of times and skidded to a stop. His axe was thrown far back as it embedded into a random rock. “How ‘bout them apple bucking? Once you’ve been doin’ it for years, it’s easy.” Nova groaned in pain and weakly picked himself up. Applejack trotted up to him and surprisingly had another rope from out of nowhere, ready to lasso up the downed stallion. Nova looked at her with fire burning in his eyes. She stopped right before him in fright, unsure on whether or not to move in to capture him. Pure anger was seething out of Nova as if he was actively trying to copy Fluttershy's version of the ‘stare.’ He slowly rose to his hooves and looked back at the downed axe and turned to the earth pony, and then to Twilight Sparkle. He eyes turned back to his armor that was now ruffed up and dented slightly. “Oh, no. No. NO.” He flailed his body around like a dog chasing its tail. “What did you DO!? I just had this painted and coated a couple weeks ago. You're gonna pay for this!” Nova Blade suddenly made his horn glow to his highest magic output that he could muster and grabbed his axe. He twitched a bit in pain as he was exerting magicks of more than he was currently capable of. I've finally charged enough magic power for the teleportation spell, but this mare needs to learn a dang fine lesson in minding someone’s stuff. She is soooooo lucky I can’t be at full power as I need a whole day, I think, to recover after this...I hope my comrades can handle me not using magic once I return. Nova brandished his weapon in empty swings to make Applejack back away. Applejack had no weapon or magic to defend herself and was getting dangerously close to his range. Twilight quickly pushed Applejack aside and told her to stand back near the sleeping Rainbow Dash while she herself faced Nova. “No one hurts my friends. Including crazy ponies in armor who wield weapons that have not been welded since the Lunar and Solar Wars,” she said angrily. “I don’t care, even if you are the Elements of Harmony. It’s time to teach you a lesson for damaging my beloved armor!” “Wait, how did you know th-” Nova didn't wait for Twilight to complete her sentence as he sent, for the first time, his axe directly towards his now startled target. Location : Ponyville Policepony Station Time: 1:34 PM Rarity was power trotting through the town before she arrived at the policepony station. She burst through the doors of the establishment and went right up to the unicorn mare behind a desk. The mare sported a badge and had a uniform on that was blue and white. She also had a white coat along with a green and yellow mane. “Uh, can I help you?” she asked as she stared at Rarity. “Oh you most certainly can, I need assistance right away. A crazy pony escaped from the hospital and is fighting our friends. He won't go back and pay for the damages he caused and he’s violently attacking everypony with an axe! Somepony is going to get hurt if you don't send some of our town’s finest to deal with the situation.” The policepony mare raised an eyebrow. “Okay, gimme a moment.” She picked up an arcane crystal off her desk with her magic and tapped it once. She leaned in to speak into it. “All units, we got a Code 3-H at the Ponyville Hospital. Please be advised, subject is armed and dangerous.” “You got it Dispatch, I'm on my way.” said one voice followed by a series of ‘affirmatives’ and ‘rogers’ from the crystal. The mare turned over back to Rarity. “Can you give me a description?” “Well darling, I would not be a designer if I didn't pay attention to details.” Dispatch gave her a ‘does-it-look-like-I-care’ look and rolled her eyes. “It was a stallion, grey coat, blue mane with a black streak, green eyes and sports armor that is black and has a particularly fine blue and purple trim. Also, he has an axe that he wields with his magic. My friends are facing him right now and I have to get back there to help them as soon as possible.” “Yeah, that seems good enough.” Dispatch turned back towards the crystal and reactivated it. “All units, suspect is a grey coated stallion with blue mane sporting a single black streak and is wearing black armor with blue and purple trim.” Again, a series of affirmations came echoing back through the crystal. Rarity turned around to leave and briskly left back in the direction of the hospital. Meanwhile, as Dispatch saw her leave through the doors, the crystal on her desk glowed again. A voice of another stallion which was rough and gruff sounding spoke out of it. “This is Sheriff Star Force. Dispatch, did you say black armor with purple and blue trim?” “Affirmative.” “In that case I want ALL available units to go to the scene.” “Wait, what for!?” “Trust me, if we’re dealing with the guy I think we’re dealing with, then you all will be glad you did. Dispatch initiate protocol EC-1102.” “Roger that.” The crystal on her desk turned another color and Dispatch spoke again with a unsteady tone. “Uh, all units, protocol EC-1102 has been issued. Please head to the Ponyville Hospital, weapons ready.” The last time that order was given was many years ago. This can't be the same situation, right? Dispatch thought to herself. She deactivated the crystal and sat back down trying to figure out in her head what order she just had issued. “This could be interesting...” Location : Behind the Ponyville Hospital. Courtyard. Time: 1:36 PM Clang! A weapon brandishing against a shield was heard. Twilight just put up a magic shield around her in the nick of time before the weapon nearly chopped her head off. It banged and smashed wildly at random parts of her shield. Nova's horn glowed brighter as he swung his weapon against the shield, this time with much more force. He winced in sharp pain, as he was releasing too much magic for a unicorn to endure, especially one in his deteriorating condition. Twilight gritted her teeth as every hit took a small chunk away from the shield and from her magic. She could not attack back with a shield around her, as it protected her from both directions. “You just had to get one of your friends to touch my awesome armor, didn't you!?” Nova yelled. Twilight didn't answer but looked for a moment back at Applejack, who was caring for the sleeping Rainbow Dash and looking over at the fight. Twilight was glad that they were far away from this little quarrel. Unicorns in battle tend to leave battle scars all over the place, so just being nearby was asking for trouble. “Can't-you-STOP!?” She was interrupted from each swing against her shield. Twilight's anger finally got the better of her, in spite of her training under Princess Cadence about keeping a calm and a level head. She absolutely exploded in magic and dropped her shield quickly to let out a blast of raw energy. Nova Blade's eyes widened and he grabbed his axe back and deflected it back towards its sender. Twilight was just as surprised how quickly he did that and ducked towards the ground to dodge her own attack. Nova seethed with anger towards her. “I wanted to just leave and go back and tend to my friends and duties, but you mares are preventing me from doing that. I'm not gonna answer questions nor pay for any damage. Stand down or the next attack will be your last, oh Element of Magic.” He said as Twilight glared at him. Does he know how powerful a unicorn I really am or is he just toying with me? How does he know I’m one of the Elements? Twilight's head flooded with unanswered questions that only served to make her even more angry and frustrated. “Fine. Lets see if you can handle an offensive spell that my brother taught me. White lighting.” Twilight's horn glowed this time from purple to a light blue. The glow expanded to a blinding degree as she said some words in an ancient language and fired. Nova only looked mildly surprised at the vortex of arcane energy coming towards him, making a small grin. Location : Above the clouds - Ponyville Time : 1:40 PM “Ehrm, Pinkie, are you sure we are going in the right direction? We have been flying in circles around the town for a while now.” Fluttershy was flying slowly above the clouds circling around Ponyville while Pinkie Pie was somehow now wearing a pirate costume. “Argh. I'm Captain Pinkie and I'm looking for the elusive Two Piece!!” “Uhh. Pinkie, could you stop... um, if you don't mind?” Pinkie ignored Fluttershy's warnings and pleas to stop doing all these shenanigans on her back. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie froze still. She looked at her hooves, and then her eyes darted all around her frantically. “Oooh, it’s back, Fluttershy! The feeling is back! I can feel it. Bank left! Back towards the hospital and make it snappy!” Pinkie’s hooves started to twitch and rattled Fluttershy’s back. The poor pegasus had to turn around and give her a mean look to get her to stop. “Heh, sorry.” They flew some distance and spotted a grey coated, blonde maned pegasus with bubbles for a cutie mark pulling a cargo cloud. They got near to her and Fluttershy waved a hoof while Pinkie just saluted.. “Oh, hey Derpy. Uh, nice to see you around. How are you?” asked Fluttershy. “Oh, hey guys. I'm doing great.” She eyed the duo with one of her eyes. “Hey Pinkie, what are you doing on Fluttershy’s back?” “No time for fun and games, there's a charlie in the bushes!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie. Both Fluttershy and Derpy shared a confused glance and wing shrug. Pinkie suddenly jumped off Fluttershy’s back, much to the surprise of the two pegasi, landing on top of the cargo cloud which sported a wooden roof. A collective sigh of relief went through the mares. Pinkie stood tall and froze again. Her hooves shook and quaked in a seemingly random fashion. “Pinkie Sense! Don't let me down now!” She bucked the door of the cargo cloud spilling out its contents to the shock and awe of the hovering pegasi. Pinkie leaped back on Fluttershy’s back in quick fashion and looked down at the spilling content. “What was that for!?” Yelled Derpy while one eye looked down in disappointment. Her eyes aligned and they looked quite menacing as her glare focused towards Fluttershy and Pinkie. Pinkie Pie only answered with, “You will thank me later. Fluttershy, we have to back to the hospital. NOW!” The shy pegasus obeyed with a ‘meep’ and squeak of fear, taking off back towards the hospital. Derpy on the other hoof called out, “Now how the hay am I gonna clean this up?” Location : The courtyard of the Ponyville Hospital Time: 1:38 PM Nova Blade had a sour look on his face. He could not believe that this mare was actually trying to stop him. Twilight fired burst after burst of magical energy at Nova, only for him to effortlessly deflect each one with his axe. Meanwhile, Rarity finally came back with five policeponies. “There he is! Arrest that ruffian!” called out Rarity. Twilight saw Rarity finally come back and stopped her attacks with a sudden instantaneous teleport right next to her, leaving Nova without an opponent mid battle. Twilight and Rarity both walked up to Applejack and to the still sleeping Rainbow Dash. They huddled together in the distance as the policeponies moved in towards Nova. They surrounded Nova, who was still spinning his axe around him like a shield. All of the policeponies, who were all unicorns, drew out their weapons and pointed them towards Nova Blade. Nova looked at the policeponies, then back to the mares, and back to them. He knew when we was outnumbered and outmatched. “HALT! Stop in the name of Celestia and Luna. You are hereby under arrest!” called out one of the policeponies. They all edged in closer. One of the officers even started reading his rights. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do will be-” He got cut off when Nova made his axe go back onto his back quickly with a clang and finished his sentence for him. “Used against me, I know. I heard this like a thousand lunar times before. Jeez. Its time to leave. See ya suckers!” His horn glowed, making the policeponies move in to try to stop him from teleporting. One of the officers who should've been paying attention to Nova started noticing a shadow forming and getting bigger and bigger on the ground. He looked up and saw a bunch of stuff coming straight at them from the sky. “EVERYPONY RETREAT!” The rest of the policeponies all looked up and backpedaled as far away as possible, nearly tripping on their hooves to get away. This left Nova Blade to look at them back in surprise. What the heck are they doing?You don’t arrest someone by retreating. Whatever. As his horn grew brighter in intensity in preparation for the spell, he noticed a certain Pink mare in the distance. She was riding a yellow pegasus, but pointed up with her hoofs. Nova turned his head skyward. “Oh. Y-You gotta be kid-” CRASH! The contents of Derpy’s cart which consisted of a piano, an anvil and a pot all fell on Nova Blade. Everyone cringed in shock and awe, before coming to drag the now knocked out stallion in armor from the wreckage. They yanked him out and the policeponys were quick to put a pair of hoof cuffs and a magic inhibitor on his horn. They left him on the ground as they conversed with the mane five. Nova’s axe was laying on the ground lifeless. A policepony spotted it. He came up to it and tried using his magic to pick it up. A glow of yellow enshrouded the axe but suddenly died down. The Policepony tried a second time. The field of magic appeared and disappeared once more, as if it didn't want to be moved, and fizzled out in sparks. "Having a problem Speed Force?" asked another Policepony. "I don't know.” Speed Force replied with a look of determination. “This axe is giving me a pain in the rear. I can't pick it up with my magic! Why don't you try it, Flagstaff?" Flagstaff sighed and went in front of the axe. His horn glowed and the weapon was wrapped again in a field of magic, but it fizzled out again. Flagstaff raised an eyebrow. "See? This is weird." said Speed Force. Flagstaff looked at him with a stern glare. "Yeah, as if it did not want anyp-" Flagstaff stopped speaking as he and Speed Force both were startled when the axe glowed a hue of blue and started to rise into the air. The axe lazily floated towards Nova who was knocked unconscious and set down next to him. "Don't say anything to the sheriff?" asked Speed. Flagstaff nodded sagely and only replied with a standard, "Affirmative." Sheriff Star Force gave a heavy sigh. He looked at the collapsed pony with a disapproving look. Thank Celestia for that fallen debris which fell on him. Otherwise we could of had a big incident on our hoofs. He approached Twilight who was conversing with her friends and saluted two other ponys both staring at Nova’s axe as he made his way to the purple unicorn. Some time passed as they got into an interchange of information of what transpired. “So are you trying to say that you want to interrogate him and report him directly to the princess?” Asked Sheriff Star Force. He was taking some notes down into his notebook while the other Policeponys stood guard around the now knocked out Nova. “Yes, The princess needs to know of what he did to us and of what kind of weapon he has. No pony had a weapon like his for over a thousand years! And on top of that, he needs to answer some additional questions, and the library is the perfect place to get it out of him, one way or another. Also, he needs to apologize.” Twilight looked back at her friends who were all just conversing with one another and with the Policeponys. “Well, I guess so. Its not everyday that someone requests this. And since you're Celestia's personal student, I can't say I have the authority to say no.” He smiled a bit and turned back to his subordinates. “Okay boys, you heard her! Take him to the town library. He will be ‘interrogated’ there.” "Roger!" the Policeponys called out in unison. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash finally woke up from her slumber. “Wa, what I miss?” she slurred. End of Chapter 3 Reader has gained... +3 STR +8 LUK +2 DEX New Perk unlocked Axe Mastery - Passive Skill - When wielding an axe. Your grip and swing power increase by at least 20% Achievement Unlocked - Broken Harmony - Shouldn't have met the elements in your travels. Luna told you not to. -40 MP every minute. Chapter 04: ConfessionsUnder Lunar Wings Chapter 4: Confessions By : JP HACK Edited by : JP HACK, Tobyc, Mixolydian Grey, Fdrdevotee May the light of your glory be seen, the thunders of your onset heard from east to west, to become the avengers of noble blood! - Kenna the Conqueror Location : Currently Unknown Time : Unknown “Well, this is most unexpected,” Nova Blade said as he opened his eyes to look around at his surroundings. He was tied up to a chair with rope around his waist and hind legs. Right before him was an old table, which had a plate with three cupcakes and a notepad. A single lamp shone above the table with its light barely illuminating the rest of the room which held various beakers and various chemical experiments, some of which glowed eerily and made weird noises that permeated through the darkness. Nova Blade sighed. This is not within the plan at all. Actually, was anything in the plan to begin with? Why does the hero or the good guy always end up in disturbing situations? He looked around to see if there were any escape routes to teleport through, but there was not a single window or door which he could see that could aid in an quick escape. He needed a line of sight make that teleport. Okay, maybe I can use my magic to get me out of this rope? He focused to channel some magic to his horn. A sharp pain came to his head that made him stop instantly. He reached with his front hooves which were not tied up to feel his horn. He felt what was a large ring that had a strange bump on the side of the device. Oh great. A magic inhibitor. Just flipping fantastic. Of all the things that I have experienced so far in life, this is probably by far the WORST. POSSIBLE. THING... Though where is my axe? Nova turned to his left and was shocked to see his weapon in its own chair and tied up as well. “Limb Splitter! What did they do to you!?” Yelled Nova. He looked at the axe with pleading eyes of regret and sadness. The weapon fidgeted in place and actually shed a small tear of its own that dripped down the length of the blade and onto the floor. Nova had to hold up tears of his own as he looked at his weapon. “Don't worry buddy, we’ll get out of this. You know that I have something up my hoof. I think.” Nova eyed the cupcakes on the table. He stared at them and looked at the nice chocolate frosting and sprinkles. “Listen, I remember that if you're caught in this sort of situation, if they leave food for you on the table and if you actually eat ALL the food, then it means you're not guilty. Right?” He reached for the plate with his hooves and moved it towards him. Even though Nova was a unicorn he usually preferred not to use his magic for eating because he believed that it ‘tainted’ his food. Regardless, there was not a hesitation on whether or not to eat the treats that were being presented to him. Poisoning was merely an afterthought as Nova scarfed down the cupcakes with the ease of an earth pony, as most unicorns don't even know how not to do things without their magic. Though as he was eating, there were some muffled conversation which seemed to come from upstairs. “Okay you ready?” Said one of the voices. “Ready!” Answered not one but multiple voices. A door opened from above with light shining out from it. Many hoof steps resounded throughout the basement as they traveled down the stairs in the darkness. Nova only turned around as much as he could but saw what seemed to him to be six ponies in dark cloaks. These should be my captors. Hmm, let’s see what they want. I don't have time though...aww what the hell. I'm not gonna make it back anytime soon. I could have some fun with this. A playful grin came over Nova. He finished eating his cupcakes and turned to the cloaked ponies that surrounded him. His axe fidgeted and stopped for a moment when the cloaked ponies formed a circle around the little interrogation scene. One of the cloaked figures took off their hoods and then revealed herself. She had a rainbow mane and a cyan coat. It was none other than Rainbow Dash. “Okay bud, lets start by asking some questions.” She came close and slammed her hooves on the table. “Cause if you don't start talking there is another bolt of lightning heading towards you and this time it’s gonna head for your flank! Now who are you and who are you working for!?” Another pony removed her cloak and showed her regal purple mane and white coat. Rarity revealed herself and faced Nova Blade as she addressed Rainbow Dash. “Now, Dashie, that's no way to pry information out of a gentlecolt,” she said in a calm tone, “but you do have a point. So let’s start with your name.” Nova looked at the both of them with dumbfounded expression. Are they serious? Didn't I tell them my name back at the hospital? They have got to be kidding me. Whatever, let’s get this over with. He turned to Rarity and matched her gaze with his. “Blade...Nova Blade.” He kept his cool. Rarity winked at Rainbow until she took the hint to move on. “So mind telling us WHY you broke out of the hospital?! And knocked me out cold?” Rainbow demanded. She went right up to Nova and hoofed him the face before he could answer. Nova took it like a stallion and just shook it off. That bucking hurt. I swear, once I'm out of this crazy place, I'm asking Luna to rethink some laws pertaining to vigilante justice regarding revenge when I'm through here. Rarity spoke again in nice calm and relaxed tone, unhindered from Dash’s actions. “This could be easier if you would just come out with a more detailed explanation.” “She just hoofed me in the face! Why should I bother to explain myself again!?” Nova abruptly said. He turned to see Rainbow Dash now pacing back and forth in front of the table. “Because darling, she does not have the patience to wait for an answer. I'm the only one keeping her in line, so its in your best interest to answer.” Rarity explained. Nova thought for a moment before realising something very interesting. Are they playing the good cop and bad cop routine? You CAN’T be serious. It even sounds like it has been rehearsed before they came down here. Even the slap to the face. Awkward. Nova raised an eyebrow at the other cloaked mares. “So why are only two of the Elements of Harmony doing the interrogation routine? And I bet one of you wants to know why I ended up here in the first place, right?” Twilight revealed herself as she took off her hood and stepped forward into the light. Once she did so, Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie revealed themselves as well. Pinkie though was wearing glowing goggles that looked straight out of an action movie. “That's what I want to know as well,” Twilight asked. “So are you gonna say sorry for hurting us and pay for the damages for the hospital?” Nova stared back towards his plate that used to have cupcakes on them and looked back at her. “Nah, but I will ask why you're doing the cloak thingy and the interrogation thingy from Mare and Order?” Twilight hesitated to answer for a moment. Does he know that I took this from a book called ‘Interrogations for foals’? No. It that cannot be the case as he looks like a normal guard of some sort and can't possibly know that, can he? Twilight just continued to just pelt him with questions in the place of Rarity. “So who are you working for? Do you work for the Night Guard? Why do you have a weapon type that nopony has used for over a thousand years? And why do you hate hospitals so much? And why does your armor look so different?” Nova thought for a moment and spoke as Rainbow Dash looked at him with a mean look. He slightly shuddered in his chair as he answered back. “Classified, nope, classified, and one time I took a shot, and it went wrong. Very wrong. My armour is different because it was a gift and custom made. Happy now? Can I go now? And for the record I am slightly sorry.” “That's still not enough! Why did you involve Twilight in that spell that nearly destroyed the town!?” yelled dash as she banged on the table again in front of Nova. Nova decided to ignore her and just answered plainly. “Look, I'm under official orders to not disclose any information, especially to the Elements of Harmony, about who I'm working for and what my current mission is. Things are not meant to be known to you mares, especially coming from me. I'm gonna probably have to beg for forgiveness once this blows over at some point in the future and probably fight...” he gulped loudly, “...her again.” “So wait a darn second right here,” Applejack spoke up from the group, “whatcha’ mean that ya cannot discuss information? If ya know that we’re the Elements of Harmony, then ya would’ve known that Twilight here is Princess Celestia's personal student. So there is no reason for ya ta hide anything from us.” “Yeah!” Pinkie Pie chimed, ”this is so awesome. Secrets, espionage, and tricks and lies. All in one place. Don't you know that you're only a letter away from big trouble Mister Mcmeany?” “I have done some research while you were knocked out and found out that the spell you used was invented by Storm Wind the Bold.” Twilight said matter of factly. “He was a unicorn general in the Lunar Republic during the Lunar and Solar War over a thousand years ago. He was one of the few ponies that knew how to make extremely far teleports but the spell caused some major damage in rare instances to the surroundings of the end destination. How does a pony like you know and have enough magic to use that spell? Especially when even I can’t find a single book on how to perform it.” Twilight and the mares all just stared at Nova who was being distracted from a random fly that was buzzing around the table. He realized he was asked a question and cleared his throat. “Ahem. Again, classified. And for the record, telling Celestia about me will get you nowhere. Just because you know the origin of my spell does not mean anything.” He glanced at Fluttershy who was visibly scared and looked back to Rainbow Dash who was still pacing back and forth with wings spread up. Twilight face hoofed right then and there in frustration. Nothing is working to get information out of this stallion. What do we do? Applejack turned to Dash and pointed to Nova. “Dash if ya will?” “With pleasure!” She suddenly came and hoofed Nova in the face again, this time a little harder. Fluttershy let out a little “eep” when Nova got hit. “Why are you making this situation much more dreadful than it has to be?” asked Rarity. Nova put a hoof to his left cheek. Dang that mare is strong. That’s it, I took an oath and I will complete that oath to the letter. No more mister nice guy. They will have to try to pry the information from my cold dead hooves. Nova steeled himself with an expressionless face and winked towards his axe which was still tied up. The axe glowed around its edges in yellow as it seemed like it wanted to wink back. “I have decided not to tell you anymore information. And there is no way you can make me speak...” Whilst Nova was talking, Pinkie Pie started shaking and bolted out of the basement. She went up the stairs, came back down and laid down three objects on the table. There on the table was a toothbrush, toothpaste and a glass of what appeared to be filled with orange juice. Nova Blade looked at the contents that was on the table and looked back towards Pinkie Pie. She had a little grin on her face that resembled pure evil for a split second. Nova wondered if anyone noticed it, but they probably didn't. For once in his life, Nova started to feel fear. Okay, just slight fear. “Uh, why is there orange juice and toothpaste here?” Asked Nova. A bead of sweat came down his face. “Um, maybe a new interrogation technique?” Twilight answered while looking awkwardly at Pinkie who nodded in return, “but what does a beverage and some hygiene supplies have to do with getting information out of him?” Pinkie went up and whispered something into Twilight's ear. Twilight suddenly frowned whilst Pinkie was explaining the details. “You gotta be joking, right?” Twilight said as she focused her gaze towards Pinkie. Pinkie nodded without saying a word. The other mares looked on bewildered and wondered what was she planning. Nova sat there oblivious to his surroundings and looked at his axe which seemed to be fighting more and more on its chair on its own as if it was trying to get away from something. Pinkie turned to Fluttershy. “Hey Fluttershy, what happens when you put toothpaste and orange juice together?” Fluttershy let out a squeak for being put on the spot. “Oh my,” she answered softly, “it tastes really, umm....bad.” Nova’s eyes went tiny as he realized what they were gonna do to him. No. They can't be SERIOUS!? Can they? Don't they know that brushing your teeth and immediately drinking orange juice right after is probably worse than eating hot peppers drizzled with hot sauce with more peppers on top of that!? I'd rather take poison joke in liquid form and drink it than do this. But I can't let them know how bad it is. It seems that pink mare is the only one that knows how truly bad it can be. Mental note: Take out the pink one when given the chance. The mares nodded in agreement and all stared at Nova as he was thinking to himself. Nova steeled himself once more with an expressionless face as all six mares approached in front and stared at him. Now normally to Nova these colorful bunch of ponies would be cute and awesome in the sunlight but down in the darkness with only their faces showing, created a scene from a cheesy horror flick, and made them at least one hundred and twenty percent more intimidating. Twilight who was in the middle started to speak. “Okay, now we have a way to make you talk. Rainbow, Applejack, please hold him down tighter.” They both complied as they put their hoofs on Nova to restrict his movement even further. “Now Rarity, brush his teeth.” Rarity grabbed the brush and lifted it with her telekinesis. The brush floated lazily into the air and was met with some minty toothpaste. It started moving slowly towards Nova, who was losing his cool each passing second. No, they can't be serious. But they were serious as Rarity made the brush go for his mouth while Twilight picked up the orange juice and made it go slowly towards him as well. Nova watched as they inched it closer and closer to him in slow motion. Not gonna snap, not gonna snap. The objects got to within a foot of his face and Nova watched pinkie with the corner of his eyes for a moment as she pretended to reenact the moment of contact and collapsed on the floor in a fake silent gagging. Holy sweet moon pie crusts, they're actually gonna do it! Nova snapped. “Okay, okay, I’ll talk, I’ll talk! Please just don't make me brush my teeth and drink orange juice right after! Anything but that!!!” yelled Nova in a frantic panic while flailing around in his chair, nearly falling over. The mares just looked at each other with a smile. Rarity and Twilight both put down their utensils of torture. “About time! Now we want the full story and don't leave a single thing out!” Rainbow Dash called out rather rudely. Twilight turned the lights on to reveal that this whole scene took place in the middle of some makeshift science lab slash basement. Everyone gathered around the table to get ready to listen to Nova Blade’s explanation. “I'm going to take notes about this. So please start whenever you're ready.” Twilight took the notepad on the table and pulled out a quill. Applejack and Rarity both sat down while Fluttershy sat next to Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie pulled out popcorn from out of nowhere and started munching in anticipation to Nova’s story. Nova relaxed with them as the whole situation changed in an instant. Suddenly from evil mares to somewhat normal ponies? Where they acting the entire time? Nova mentally face hoofed as he should of done this from the beginning to save himself of all this trouble and torture. “Could you at least untie me before I explain?” “No," everypony said at once. Nova sighed and looked back to his axe and winked. The axe fidgeted to the left three times and the right two times. Nova Agreed with a head nod and turned to face his captors. “Limb Splitter says to get this done and over with,” Nova explained in a firm tone, “so in order to explain why and how I ended up here in the state I was in, I have to start from the beginning.” Everyone just had confused looks. He looked at something random before facing the mares once more, “I'm sure you heard the news about missing cutie marks...” Location : Princess Luna’s Private chambers. Time : Same time as Nova Blade was being interrogated by the Mane Six. Luna was not happy. Not happy at all. All which was heard throughout her room was the sound of deep voice that said “Game Over.” Luna put the controller down with her magic and gave a heavy sigh. Its been five years since she returned and she taken a liking to these ‘video games’, as they call them, a lot. It sort of gave her insight as to what her subjects like these days. She would’ve been sleeping at this time but there was something that was keeping her up. She herself could not really explain what it was, but it was a nagging type of feeling. She looked at her two personal guards who were sleeping on their hooves. Usually, they would be awake when their princess was up and about but in this case Luna didn't really care to wake them up. She smiled to herself and went to her bed to try to get some sleep. Playing the game “Mane Effect 3” was not the best idea to try to get some shut eye though. Damn noobs online. Hate them. If only I can send those buffoons to the moon for what they did to me...no matter, I think its time to get some rest. She laid down and scrunched up her pillow before setting her head down. Her eyes wandered from place to place around the room. As princess of the night, going to sleep was not her favorite thing to do surprising. Her eyelids closed and she started to think happy thoughts. CRASH! Out of nowhere a pegasus and earth pony smashed through the doors of Luna’s chambers, instantly obliterating them into smithereens. The guards who were sleeping woke up instantly while simultaneously being thrown away from the force. Luna on the other hoof shot up and saw everything that happened. A light green pegasus with a red, orange, and yellow mane that had two crossbows mounted on his wings and light barding as well, slid across the ground before grinding to a halt. Next to him was a light brown earth pony mare with two toned purple hair that had some large saddle bags and was wearing power hooves, which looked like hoof bracelets. She was sprawled out on the floor next to the pegasus. Both of them had singes and burns on their armor and coats, including their cutie marks. Luna looked at the two intruders with a hard gaze and eyed the wreckage they caused. Her guards were already back up along with their weapons out surrounding them. Luna though put a hoof up for them to stand down. “What is thy, I mean, what is the meaning of this!?” asked Luna in loud pissed off tone. “Ouch, remind me never to use a pegasus like you as the getaway vehicle,” the earth pony said while rubbing her head. The pegasus smirked at her. He weakly stepped forward to face Luna. “Sorry Luna, but there was a bit of a, uh, situation with our mission.” He said with a hint of pain coming through him. The guards in the meantime helped the mare up to her hooves, all while still shaking from the whole crashing ordeal. “Situation? It twas, I mean, it was a simple task. And what happened to you Lance Skyslicer,” Luna looked at the earth pony mare, “And you too Hammerheart? What brings you here this time crashing through my door completely unannounced. And where is my student of the night? Shouldn't he be with you?” Lance collapsed just slightly on one of his legs and rested on his haunches on the floor. He looked up at the night princess with a hardened gaze. “Well princess, that's why we came back to tell you.” He shook his head in disappointment. “Your ‘student’ is in trouble...again.” “Buck…” End of Chapter 4 Reader has gained +1 STR +1 DEX +1 LUK +1 INT New Skills Learned Axe Telepathy: Your weapon can guide you in your travels and prove to be a valuable travelling companion especially during interrogations. Also it can give you turn by turn directions and provide some measure of tactical support. Orange failure: You are afraid of orange juice and toothpaste. -2 LUK when near orange objects or hygiene supplies. Chapter 05: ConflictUnder Lunar Wings Chapter 5: Conflict By : JP HACK Edited by : JP HACK Provider of internet : The nerds “If you hurt someone or someone hurts you, the same red blood will be shed. It hardly seems like a path, because it is a very thin and and narrow path that slowly makes its way through. The prejudice that makes people fear each other makes blood flow so very easily. This is a path towards a very real sun, not some empty wish.” - Book of conflict, Volume one. Location: Lunas chambers. Time: Around midday Luna stood high before her two subjects, after she settled everything with the palace guards, she went back to silently judging them. One was a Pegasus. His name is Lance Skyslicer. A little advanced in years but he had a slim physique and light green coat. His dual crossbows mounted on his wings that were attached to a skeletal wing brace showed some signs of damage, though it looked like he only used one of them most of the time. His red, orange and yellow mane and tail were singed everywhere, including on his his cutie mark, which was a crossbow with wire outline of wings. He didn't look like he cared though about his looks in front of royalty. The other was an earth pony mare. Hammerheart was her name. Her brown coat and multi-shade purple hair was just as singed. Though she on the other hoof tried to do something about it as she stood before Luna. Her cutie mark was a wrench and a yellow potion. Luna stared at them with a puzzled look for a moment. The night princess ushered for her guards to leave the room and then told the daytime guards to send for repair ponies to fix the damage of the door. She realized that there was still a huge wall rendering any privacy useless in the meantime. Her horn glowed and formed a bubble on the wall blocking all noise and trapping them in the room. She turned her gaze towards the 2 pony's. "Okay. Now that we have some privacy." Luna's royal demeanor and stance disappeared instantly as she scowled with her wings spread out, "Mind telling me what the Faust happened?!" Lance spoke up without moving a muscle, "Well, princess," Luna flinched from that, "We were doing fine at first but the enemy is more powerful than expected. And is gaining more power by the day." "Yeah. If it was not for Nova we would of been killed." Chimed in Hammerheart. "Not only is she getting more daring but is now using lethal force against us." Luna put a hoof to her chin in thought. "This is most unexpected. So give me the short version. Why did you come back without my dear Nova Blade?" Lance then flexed his wings but then retracted them instantly with a yelp from sharp pain. His wings made a screeching noise from the braces, and it looked like he was not gonna be flying anytime soon. Hammerheart looked at him with concern but he put a dismissive hoof up towards her. "Princess allow us to explain what happened two days ago. Might as well get some popcorn cause I'm giving you the long version because the short one is boring." "Lance...really?" Asked Hammerheart as she stared at Lance with a perplexed look. "Hey I'm not going anywhere fast in my condition." He flexed his wings again making him flinch in some pain. "Besides your heavy. You nearly took out my back!" "Hey are you calling me fat?!" Hammerheart barked back in surprise. "Well considering it took us nearly 4 hours to get here or more than double the time than usual, you do the math." "Why I oughta," her power hooves activated with a high pitch whirl and she faced Lance, "kick your flank for saying that to a mare!" Luna watched as Hammerheart edged closer to Lance Skyslicer. Lance rolled his eyes and turned to Luna ignoring Hammerheart. “Luna please, do you want to hear the story or not?” “Fine.” She looked at Hammerheart with a hard stare. “Come on Hammerheart, you should know Lance by now. He didn't really mean it, so stop being like that.” The sound of power hooves powering down in a fading whirl was heard. Hammerheart trotted up to one of the couches and sat down. “Fine, Its not like I was really gonna do anything. Just get on with it.” Seethed Hammerheart. She then busied herself with removing some of her saddlebags and her power hooves. Lance then as well took the opportunity to sit down and relax. Luna waited patiently for everyone to get better but she was running on the more impatient side. She wanted to know what happened to her student. Once Lance Skyslicer was finished taking off the wing braces along with Hammerheart’s stuff as well, they sat in front of Luna. Lance then raised a hoof and spoke. “Well, allow me to start. Your student is an idiot.” Luna didn't bother to flinch. Neither did Hammerheart. Instead they just said nothing for a moment. “Glad we can agree on that, regardless. Here is what happened...” Location : Outskirts of Fillydelphia, West Industrial district. Time: A couple of Hours before the events of chapter 1. Around 11 PM. Nova Blade, Lance Skyslicer, and Hammerheart were all trotting down the road. All of them in their prime. Nova Blade had his armor shining and nearly blending with the darkness around him. His axe glowed on his back which sported the symbol of the axe on his armor even though it covered his cutie mark. Hammerheart was carrying a saddle bag with some light armor as well and had on her power Hooves, while lance was trotting with them at a lazy pace with his wings and crossbows folded. He had some light white armor that looked like it was smoothed out for speed and aerodynamics. Around them were large industrial buildings that held various factories scattered around. From sugar refining to coal processing. A lot of industry was here creating a labyrinth of roads and railroad tracks. The tall buildings created creepy looking shadows throughout its surroundings from the scattered light poles in the night. Only the sound of machinery was heard, and the clopping of hooves on the hard pavement from the trio reverberated through the buildings echoing the hoofsteps. Ponies were scarce at this hour as it was the graveyard shift. Nopony would want to work this late. The trio walked down an alleyway and then turned towards another main road, then suddenly someone started singing, “In west Fillydeplhia born and raised, on the battleground is where I spent most of my days. Chilling out, maxing, relaxing all cool. And shooting some Hoofball outside of the school. When a couple of gryphons, who were up to no good, startin' making trouble-” “SHUT UP NOVA!” yelled Lance and Hammerheart. Nova instantly stopped dancing in song and pouted in annoyance. There was a collective sigh from the earth pony and the pegasus as they walked. After some time, Nova looked at one of the buildings in disgust. “Are you sure we are going in the right direction?” Piped Nova. Hammerheart looked at him for a moment and sighed. “Luna told us that our target could be anywhere. There is no specific directions but to just find and capture this cutie mark stealer.” “Well that's just great. Not only we have a maniac on the loose again, but we don't know anything about he, she or it nor where he, she or it is.” “Wait a minute. Nova you should know about our target. Didn't you pay attention during our meeting before we left?” asked Hammerheart. Nova just gave sheepish smile signifying that he didn't bother to pay any attention. How did he become Luna's student we will never know. Lance cleared his throat loudly, “Well, allow me to explain it real quick that even a foal would understand.” He sighed. “It's like this. Our mission is to investigate why there is a case of missing cutie marks here in Fillydelphia before it becomes a national threat. We have no knowledge of who, or what is the cause of this, but we do know that we need to stop it.” Lance spread his wings, making the metal bracing expand with the crossbows flexing along with them, which made a sharp squeal. “Oh, no. Please don't tell me that I have to lubricate the mechanism again! That's the third time today lance!” Hammerheart exclaimed as she reached into her saddle bag to bring out an oil can. “Well you can lubricate my mechanism anytime you want hammerheart.” Said Lance back with not a hint of hiding that sexual innuendo. Hammerheart just growled at him for a moment before continuing to grab his wing braces forcably and start oiling it much to Lances surprise and protest. Nova on the other hoof just didn't care or really notice his friends in there little feud. For he kept trotting along but pondered of what lance said to him. Did he really daze off during the mission briefing? He couldn't remember anything substantial or noteworthy but something did stay into his head, “Nova Blade, remember to take the cutie mark stealer down, by ANY means necessary.” What did Luna mean by that? Nova mentally scratched his head in thought. The trio walked further into the industrial district, as the buildings were getting larger and more complex the deeper they went. “Okay, i'm sensing a disturbance in the force.” “A disturbance in what?” Asked Hammerheart as she still grabbed Lances wings and continued vigorously oiling them. “Are you a moron?” Deadpanned Lance as he walked with Hammer still grabbing his wings. “No, I mean I feel something is gonna happen very soon. Just stop for a moment.” Nova, Lance, and Hammerheart stopped in the middle of the street. Nova crouched low and looked around with his eyes. They looked around at the dark buildings. They waited and listened for anything substantial. All that could be heard was the humming of machinery and the billowing of steam from the nearby buildings. The street was dark except for the few street lights creating a chilling feeling. Nova stepped forward and started sniffing the air. “Hmmm, I smell a smelly smell. Something that is...smelly.” Before Lance or Hammerheart had the chance to bash against the better judgement of Nova Blade, a loud scream was heard in the distance. “Guys! Scatter!” Nova called out with some new found authority. Instantly Lance Skyslicer took to the air while Hammerheart split off in another direction with a boost from her power hooves. Nova ran for the nearest building. It was a warehouse that was at least 4 stories tall and who knows how big inside. Nova went for the doors that were left open and barged in. In the warehouse, there were rows and rows of boxes and equipment. The rows seemed to go on forever. Though there was a bright light into the distance on the far end of the warehouse. Nova took out his axe from his back and made sure to grab only the handle with his magic to cut down on the light emitting from his horn. He dashed around like a ninja, moving swiftly around box to box with the greatest ease. He looked up at the ceiling and saw Lance through the skylights above. He looked like he was going for the same target. Nova wondered where Hammerheart was but instead decided to just to continue to get closer to the light. In the clearing near the far end of the warehouse, a bright light and some screaming along with laughs of someone being maniacal was heard. Nova peered above one of the boxes to get a good look at the situation. Then from out of nowhere someone poked him into his side. Nova stopped himself from yelping and pointed his axe towards the direction of the poking. He stopped when he saw that it was just Hammerheart smiling sheepishly and waving a hoof. Nova faced hoofed for a moment and then motioned her to watch with him. There in the distance was a grim sight. A unicorn pony with a pink coat and blonde mane, wearing a white cloak that had some arcane symbols on them, was standing in the middle of a fully active arcane circle. The circle itself was moving and rotated on the floor with purple and green symbols and lettering. In that circle was another pony, an earth pony with a orange coat and a green mane, who was being held down in the circle apparently against her will. She yelped and kicked in an attempt to escape. The circle increased with magics and more circles appeared on the floor rotating in different directions. The cloaked pony looked at her handy work and spoke a haughty laugh, “Hahaha, hold still for a moment and it will be all over!” The pony though in the circle though barely could look at her captor, but tried to scream for help. Suddenly the arcane magics activated and wisps of energy shot towards the pony rising her up into the air. It engulfed her as she yelled in apparent pain as the magicks entangled her. It grabbed her cutie mark which was a symbol of coals on fire. Her mark seemed to disintegrate into flakes and moved to transfer to her captor whose flank was glowing from her sides, as if she was gaining the cutie mark to herself but her cloak hid what was really happening. Nova had seen enough. He remembered the consequences of not having a cutie mark and needed to act quickly. This mare had to be stopped at all costs. He turned to Hammerheart who was equally disgusted at the sight she saw and motioned her to get ready to battle. Nova looked up and saw Lance above but this time he inside the building on the ceiling catwalks. The armored unicorn glowed his horn a burst of red like a laser to get his attention and then made his horn glow a series of patterns of light in a specific sequence as if he was communicating through code. Lance only nodded and waved a hoof in confirmation. The evil enchantress was still grabbing the cutie mark out of her victim when a bolt shot right into her magic circle. The arcane magics swirled and imploded in disruption. “Hey what is going on!? This is not the time to fail on me!” yelled the cloaked unicorn pony. Another series of bolts hit the ground with much force but were aimed around the unicorn, stopping her movement and severing the connection of her victim. The now blank flank pony started to fall to the ground until Hammerheart swooped and scooped her out of harms way. This lead enough time for Nova Blade to grab his axe and then charge at the cloaked pony. “So you're the cutie mark stealer!!” He yelled as he delivered a quick and decisive hoof to the face of the cloaked pony. The cloaked pony staggered back in shock and in pain as nova then put his axe in front of him, this time with full power behind it. Lance then swooped down and landed next to Nova and pointed his crossbow at her with his left wing tilting it sideways. Hammerheart was seen off to the side tending to the mare that was injured from the magic circle. Nova seethed with anger, “By princess Luna’s decree, you are under arrest! I suggest you don't make any sudden movements." He punctuated that point by pointing his axe right at her and pretty close to her face. "Yo Skyslicer, keep an eye on her.” "Gladly." Lance then pointed his wings at her and then switched his ammo load out to red bolts made of ruby's instead of standard bolts. Nova slowly came closer to the pony on the ground. "Ah ta ta. That hurt" She got up and brushed herself off to face the armored unicorn and multi-colored mane Pegasus. "well well well...what do we have here?" She fixed her self up a little more as if she tried to look presentable. Then she looked at Nova for a moment before noticing something, "Nova Blade is that you?" She asked in a sincere voice. That caught Nova off guard and he almost dropped his axe. Lance meanwhile raised an eyebrow. Hammerheart in the background finished tending to the wounds and burns of the other pony and came over to join Nova and Lance. Nova then let his guard down by moving his axe only a little before answering, "How do you know me? And what were you doing to that pony?!" "What do mean, you don't remember me?" Nova looked at her features. Unicorn, pink coat, blonde mane, and white cloak. The little pony in novas head fell down the stairs while trying to retrieve any relevant information about this mare. But Nova in his rare moments of pure genius remembered something. "Sonata? Is that you?" "Yes you would be right. But I don't go by that name anymore. Everyone calls me Strife Striker." She took off her cloak and tossed it aside in a showmare fashion. On her flank was complex arcane symbols of a star and with hollow circles at each point. There laid cutie marks inside only two of the circles. One was a wand with a blue swipe. The other was a symbol of coals that had flames around them. Nova, Lance and Hammerheart all gasped in shock. She had two cutie marks? Strife then smiled smugly at the three warriors of the night. Nova looked the most disgusted and smacked his axe on the ground, firmly planting it in. "Sonata. Please tell me you're not the one stealing cutie marks?!" "I told you NOT to call me by that name anymore! My name is Strife Striker! And yes I'm the one stealing cutie marks.” “What? Why? And why Strife Striker?” Nova asked while tilting his head in confusion. Lance and Hammerheart both backed off a bit to give Nova some space. Strife grit her teeth before responding. “Isn't it obvious? After you left the orphanage from being picked up from Luna herself, I was left alone with all those idiots back there. I was picked on, spat upon, and worst off I was made to do lewd things which caused me everlasting strife and anguish that would never go away. So ever since I left I traveled the world and studied everything I can, I learned many things and what made me...” Lance and Hammerheart looked at each other in confused looks. Lance whispered to Hammer, "Is she monologuing?" Hammerheart only answered with, "Yeah she is, and it looks like was Novas fault again. Somehow this does not shock me not one bit at all.” "...and cutie marks have this sort of power that allow me to get what I want. That's why I vowed to take over Equestria to remake it into my own image! Ha HA! So nopony has to go through what I went through ever again. First I grab some cutie marks, then go after the elements of harmony, and after that I take over the princesses to rule all of Equestria! So what are you gonna do Nova? Try to stop me?" "Of course I have to stop you. You just vowed to take over Equestria! I can't let that happen." Novas horn glowed and he gripped his axe, pulling it from the ground and placed it sideways in front of him. "Don't make me hurt you sonata but even regardless of our previous friendship, I will not hesitate to stop you," his voice turned dark, "permanently." Lance in the background whistled in praise. Hammerheart said nothing but silently turned her power hoofs on. Strife made her horn glow and yelled out, "Fine. You and your friends will aid in my takeover by providing the rest of cutie marks that I need!" She shot a bolt of energy towards Nova who deflected it off to the side. Nova yelled out to his friends, "Lance full aerial support and Hammerheart take that injured pony out of here, once you're done I need you to assist me in taking down Sonata!" "I told you not to call me that!" Strife yelled. Lance took to the air while Hammerheart quickly moved towards the still now semi injured pony. Strife this time made her horn glow a different color than from her normal pink glow. She shot a flurry of newly magicked burning coals towards Nova while at the same time the cutie mark of the burning coals on her flank glowed in which she was taking power from. Nova struggled to deflect the flaming projectiles but made them scatter around him in series of fast swipes with this weapon. Strife only got more angry at Nova and charged in for close combat. Nova stood still for a moment and tapped his hoof twice on the ground. Strife didn't take the hint of anything that was about to happen until suddenly a bolt shot right in front of her and exploded. She staggered back in surprise as the red flames engulfed the area between her and Nova. Nova took the opportunity and leaped through the flames and bashed Strife with his helmet. He got slightly singed as some of the flames burned any exposed skin but landed a clean hit to her side. She staggered for a bit and then regained her footing. Strife seethed with pure anger now. "Fine. No more giving you any mercy. I was going easy on you Nova. Should've known that you would of been trained in the Lunar Combat Techniques." She stepped back a couple of steps. "Wait you were serious about actually trying to capture me?" He twisted his axe above him and kept it floating in that position. "Of course I am! Now hold still while I capture you and take your cutie mark!" "Well isn't this a nice reunion were having?" Nova sarcastically remarked. Strife then leaped into the air and then shot another series of energy bolts at Nova at blazing speeds. Nova yelped in sudden fright and then ducked behind one of the many boxes around the warehouse. Lance saw what was happening to Nova and quickly shot off another series of bolts towards Strife from above. Strife saw it coming though and activated a quick shield in time to deflect it before returning back to firing at Nova. Energy bolts ripped up the surrounding crates and boxes splintering them into pieces everywhere. Nova still kept backing away while blocking any energy bolts with his axe in rapid succession. He then turned and bolted towards the interior of the building. He called out towards lance, "Lance! Didn't Luna say any means necessary to take her down? Does that mean I have to...ugh...kill her? I actually don't feel like bringing her down due to the past friendship in all." Lance from a distance called out, "What? Do what you think necessary, are you acting stupid in a fight for no reason?!" He yelled as a clicking of an ammo change was heard coming from his crossbows. “But I kinda don't wanna.” He said with a pleading voice as he pouted and started running back towards strife with his axe in tow. "Of course you do! She trying to do the same to you!" Interjected Hammerheart who came from above the stacks of crates and leaped right on top of strife with her power hoofs digging into her skin. Strife yelped in pain and in retaliation she threw Hammerheart off to the side. Strife's horn glowed, this time directed at Hammerheart, and shot a beam of energy at her. Nova though this time was too far away physically to help Hammerheart so he then flung his axe like a boomerang right in front of beam and made sure to deflect the beam back towards Strife. Strife though moved slightly to the left as the beam passed her and exploded into the distance. Nova galloped back towards Hammerheart. “I don't think I can do it guys, I really don't want to kill her. Can I just capture her?” He said out loud as he helped Hammerheart up while using his axe to deflect any magic from Strife. Another series of bolts came from above but were green in color, exploded and fizzled with emerald crystals shooting from the ground around Strife, who again blocked it with another shield and jumped away to avoid the crystals coming at her. “Nova, you are Luna's personal student, You should know what to do. You trained for this for pete sake!” Yelled Lance as he flew above and dodged a barrage of beams of energy bolts from Strife. Hammerheart got back up and galloped towards Strife while Lance swooped down above Hammerheart and fired more bolts to clear a path for her to land a close quarter blow. Nova watched in horror as Strife this time magicked fireworks, which caused the wand and star cutie mark to glow, and took aim at the pegasus and earth pony. The resulting multi-colored explosion knocked both Lance and Hammerheart back towards the ground hard. Nova looked at Strife as she stood tall and proud of her work. He picked up his axe with his magic and with fire burning in his eyes, he walked slowly towards his enemy while grinning to himself. “No pony, I mean, NO PONY, hurts my friends!” He shouted. His horn glowed in full power and then his axe started glowing a bright blue entirely. “If I have to end this, I swear to Luna I will end this by her orders!” He charged at Strife who didn't expect him to be suddenly so serious.The Nova she knew was usually lazy and kinda of a jerk most of the time. But now he was a stallion on a revenge mission. She threw up a small shield to block the blows of his weapon. Nova swung his axe and with every blow his axe got brighter and brighter and then on a fifth swing, a visible crack formed in Strifes shield much to her surprise. Strife then teleported behind Nova. Nova instantly flung his axe behind him without even turning around. *TINK* He turned around and then saw his axe hit another weapon, but this time made out of pure magic. Strife smiled at him, “Didn't think I could spar against you? Think again!” She swung her magic weapon low and high to block the strikes of Novas axe. Nova whilst battling called out, “Lance! Hammerheart! I need you for artillery support! Don't interfere with the actual battle!” Lance who then got up and first checked his wings and cursed to himself in frustration. He looked over at Hammerheart and helped her up. “Come on Hammer, you heard him. Hes going into his serious mode again, we better do as he says.” “I guess so.” Hammerheart quickly grabbed a pair of goggles from her saddle bags and put them on and then gave another pair to lance. Lance put the techno magic goggles on, which had wires and gems all powering it. He activated the internal power source and made sure his wings were still good for flying. Once he was ready to go, he gave a salute to Hammer and took off to the air above the many boxes of the warehouse. Hammerheart moved away a safe distance from Nova and Strife as to not be near any rogue beams of magic and then tweaked her goggles. Nova and Strife sparred in a quick succession, but Nova was gaining on Strife, just slightly. Every blow knocked her back a couple of times and sometimes she was even forced to stop and go on the offensive by shooting simultaneous beams of energy at Nova instead of using her magic weapons. Lance flew out of the warehouse at an extreme speed up into the sky. Hammerheart in the meantime pressed a couple of buttons on the side of the goggles which scrolled down some data. Activating Syncing with secondary pair 2.567 GHZ frequency set and holding at 785.3 pulse latency Secondary pair synced Displaying all information >Active Hammerheart made a playful grin to herself but then looked on at Nova to see how he was faring. Nova on the other hoof kept sparring with his former friend and now great threat to all of Equestria. Was she really keeping pace with a trained warrior with the power she gained from these stolen cutie marks? It didn't matter now, as Strife took another stance and this time charged Nova taking him by surprise. He leaped out the way, but was met by beams of energy right to his landing zone. A beam of energy hit him and knocked him over. Hammerheart looked in shock and was about move in to help but was stopped when Nova called out, “No! Hammer, you must *ugh* help Lance, I will hold her off.” Nova got back up and made his axe swing around his entire body creating a shield. He slowly trotted towards strife with his axe in front of him in a low crouch. She shot more bolts of energy at him and even used the firework spell at him. Each attack deflected off his makeshift shield and exploded into the distance making the light glimmer off Novas armor. Hammerheart meanwhile spoke to her goggles which doubled as a HUD and a communicator. *static* ~ “Lance, do you read me? Are you in position?” ~ *Static* *static* *Gurgle* ~ I need 2 more minutes before I break the stratosphere! Tell Nova *static* to stall for a couple of more minutes!” *static* *static* “.. You know for a former Wonderbolt, your flying is bad. And you should feel bad!” *static* *static* “Shut up Hammer!” *static* Hammerheart pressed another button and the goggles showed Lances stats, as he was flying, in the glass before her eyes. Connection specific DNS suffix >Active Displaying current information > 10 Second Refresh rate Coordinates 39.9522° N, 75.1642° W Speed 87 MPH Altitude > Adjusting to Default Psuedo Interface > 10+ Miles above sea level. Hammer quickly realized that Lance needed more time. She looked over to Nova who was still fighting in a spar with Strife who seemed to get better at fighting as she went on. “Strife demands, I mean, I demand that you surrender before its too late Nova.” “Not even in your dreams!” He swung his axe and this time did not hesitate to use the sharp end to attack. He lunged forward and then leaped into the air and had his axe in front of him doing a large arcing chop. “Hassan chop!” Strife dodged at the last second when his weapon impacted the ground which made a large crater spreading cracks through out the concrete floor and making more of a mess inside the warehouse. Hammerheart meanwhile called out to Nova, "Nova, Lance needs about 1 minute before initiating his attack. Can you handle her for that long?" A series of swipes and bashes of magic sounds passed through the warehouse. Many boxes of equipment broke and scattered into many pieces from the resulting energies scattering about. Apparently when unicorns fight, they fight! Strife relentlessly continued to pelt him with swipes from her magic weapons. "I will be *bonk* fine Hammerheart. Just let me know when hes ready while you guide him." Hammerheart gave a quick salute and related some quick numbers to Lance. Nova though kept swinging his axe madly to block and retaliate towards Strifes own magic weapons. His axe kept glowing a full bright glow but Nova had his trick up his hoof. He brought his axe close to him and touched it with his hoof which activated another spell to his weapon. Magic energies flowed into the axe and then condensed to the center jewel of the weapon. The axe then lounged at Strife and then exploded to create a full vortex of fire energy towards her. Strives eyes went tiny as she saw what was incoming and in her fright she then dropped all her spells and activated her strongest shield. *SMASH!* The energy that was apparently gained from each swung of Novas axe unleashed a torrent of energy against her shield. She struggled to maintain a grip on her magic but held it together as the energy passed around her. The energys subsided and Novas axe fell down to the ground as Strife stood there panting and out of breath as the magics stopped. How did she stop my Panic Attack? Nova cursed to himself for a moment before reeling in his weapon closer and planting it in front of him. Strife staggered a bit from the overuse of magic but then regained her composure as well Hammerheart looked on at the dual. She knew that Nova was expelling a lot of magic power in a relatively short period of time. That was not good or smart on his part. But strife was just as tired but showed no signs of lack of magic power. Nova looked at Hammerheart for a moment. "Is Lance ready? Cause I can't do this all day you know!" He then went back to stare at strife. "And strife. How did you do that thingy with the coals earlier?" Strife then fixed her hair to make herself more presentable and smiled. "The great and powerful Strife. Ughhhh, damnable cutie mark is making me speak just like her!" She cleared her throat, "Its the individual power of the cutie marks that allow me to do these spells. As most pony's don't know that there is an unlimited untapped power that resides within them. Why do you think it takes forever to get your cutie mark in the first place? The magics have to develop along with your special talent. In turn whatever the cutie mark is, I can attack according to the type of cutie mark and create a spell from it." She lowered her head and growled, "Now hold still so I can take yours!" "You don't even know what mine is!" Nova retorted. Strife shot another flurry of energy bolts at him while even shooting fireworks spells simultaneously now. Nova again deflected them with some difficulty but made his axe move just as fast and called out to Hammerheart who was still tinkering with the goggles and marking way points for Lance. "Tell Lance to aim for the building. And tell him to do it now!" "But that's suicide! What are y-" "Just bucking do it already!" He yelled at Hammerheart as he struck against Strife's magic shield and twirled around to get to a better position. Hammerheart spoke into the goggles, *static* “did you get that Lance?...*static*...aim for the entire warehouse. *Static*. Lance only thought of the worst possible outcome for that plan but didn't even bother to care about novas safety. If he wants to die its his problem. *static* “10-4, Lance Skyslicer over and out.” He leveled himself while flying high above the ground. He looked at the little HUD of his own goggles which displayed the altitude which read 76,032 feet. He sighed with slow breath and muttered, “He better know what hes getting into.” And then tucked in his wings. He free falled towards the ground quickly gaining speed. A cone of air was forming around him and once he got to a certain speed he spread his wings back and out in a V shape. This time he activated both of his crossbows and turned his bracing's to make the crossbows move in a different orientation and switched to a different bolt loadout. The bolts he selected were now black and had silver feathers on their ends. He hoped that this was not gonna be a waste of expensive ammo. Doing a Side Kicker Bolt Shower was a tough skill to learn as is and could be done only once in awhile. He unloaded all his ammo by firing as rapidly as he could while he himself was going nearly 189 mph in a straight down nose dive. He streamlined his body to go faster than terminal velocity. The bolts fired and seemed to almost go no faster than he was going, until the enchanted bolts suddenly burst into flames rocketing towards the target which was the building far down below. The bolts looked like a stream of missiles all going for the same place. He then banked up and put a hoof up to his goggles. *static* “You have almost 20 seconds to impact, you better get out of there Hammerheart!” *static* Back on the ground Hammerheart, turned and bolted for the nearest exit. She called out to Nova who was still fighting Strife. “Nova, 15 seconds!” “About time!” He abandoned the fight and swung his axe around him before making it stop directly on top of him. Strife only momentary stared at him in shock before she looked up, and it was too late. “Have a nice day!” Nova mockingly said as his axe glowed this time purple and spun directly above him. *BOOM!* The bolts that Lance Skyslicer fired hit the top of the warehouse impacting with a great force. A fireball erupted illuminating the night sky for a brief moment. The warehouse imploded and collapsed in on itself in a spectacular fashion. Debris and building material flew around everywhere causing thousands of bits and damage to any buildings nearby. Lance meanwhile arced back towards the ground and spotted Hammerheart galloping away from the explosion and wreckage. He focused and then sped off to meet her in a near free fall as if he used his wings only when it was necessary. Hammerheart turned around a corner of an adjacent building and kept running from the debri cloud. Lance pulled up next to her. "You think Nova is okay? Why did you think he wanted the building destroyed along with him and Strife?" Hammerheart looked at him with sad eyes. She cared for Nova but didn't really show it. "I really don't know. That stallion can be such a moron sometimes." She pressed another button on her goggles. Activating night filters 54% Intensity The scarlet colored goggles displayed everything around her like it was daylight, outlining the buildings and making distinguishing markers automatically. Lance did the same thing and looked back towards the wreckage as the dust cleared. A silhouette of a pony was then shown but was not clearly visible from all the flames and dust. "Hammerheart. I think I see something." "Nova?" "I hope so." Lance took off and landed in the middle of ground zero scanning the area with his own goggles. Flames and broken crates thrown about laid everywhere. Some rubble shifted off to the side catching his attention. Lance pointed a hoof towards it, "Hammerheart check over there." Hammerheart only nodded and jumped higher than a normal pony would with her power hooves, to propel herself. They don't call them power hooves for nothing. She landed with a thud and started looking around. Suddenly the ground shifted as Hammerheart got closer and a series of curses was heard. The rubble started to fly around in random directions making Hammerheart jump back. Novas axe shot up from the ground spinning in a quick succession followed by Nova himself who was talking out loud to no one in particular. "Now limb splitter didn't I tell you that it was a good idea?" The axe then swung back like a boomerang and Nova caught it with his magic. He stared at it for a moment before his face turned red in frustration. "What do you mean I'm an idiot? We took out Strife!" The weapon fidgeted in mid air. "Shes what?!" Nova looked at Hammerheart and Lance who were now standing and staring at him with confused faces. He didn't pay them any attention but stared towards the far end of the ruined landscape. Some rubble in the distance shifted upwards until it exploded out sending shrapnel in random directions. Strife emerged out of the rubble while holding a damaged magic shield around her that was flicking from emanate collapsing. Everyone's jaw dropped. She survived a building falling on her? No unicorn other than Nova is strong enough to do that so...How? Nova wanted to consider these questions but was still in too much shock to care. Lance clicked in another set of ammo to his mounted crossbows while Hammerheart crouched low in preparation to attack. Strife let out a loud growl and looked at the trio. She considered leaving and finding other cutie marks instead of messing with Nova and his friends. But she put those thoughts straight to tartarus and opted for the "destroy all pony's" option. She focused on her horn creating both her cutie marks to glow. With a smile she reactivated her magic power reserves. "Nova. Your Cutie mark!" She yelled. Nova looked back at his flank to see. "What? where?!" Said Nova in a panic. Strife disappeared in a flash and appeared in front of him to his surprise and the shock of Hammerheart and lance. She quickly hoofed him in the face to confuse him and grabbed his entire body in a magical grip. Lance quickly shot bolts aimed for her head but where deflected off from her shield she magicked up at the same time she was gripping Nova. Hammerheart charged towards her and pounced with her power hoofs. She hit another shield and bounced off from it creating a bunch of sparks but didn't damage it. Strife then looked to her side and threw another close range magic firework. It exploded right in front of Hammerheart and Lance who didnt get away in time. They both flew back and landed hard on the ground. Strife turned her gaze back at Nova who was struggling to free himself from her grip. "Any last words before I take your cutie mark. For who knows how Much power I would gain from it?" She licked her lips in anticipation. She stilled her hoofs on the ground which then sprung up the same arcane circle from when she was using before. Nova struggled and tried to use his axe with his magic, which was floating by itself near him, but her magic didn't let him grab it. Strifes magic fought off his magic in an unseen game of tug of war. Nova had ran out of options. He was careless for being an idiot and not setting up an anti-teleport spell. The magic of Strife proceeded to trap and tug at his armor which would reveal his cutie mark. Nova had to escape or everything he had ever worked for would be for naught. He yelled out to his friends in near panic, "Guys, back to Canterlot! We regroup there and think of a plan." Strife frowned at him. "Not thinking of leaving are you? You're trapped. How do you plan on leaving huh?" She taunted. Nova only smirked before erasing all emotion from his face. He closed his eyes and murmured an unknown language. "Helmano Tos regano, Exccenden yon fasten, blink ratora!" Strife raised an eyebrow as he said that and held him in her spell. Suddenly Nova opened his eyes which now where purple and there were wisps of magic flowing out of them to the sides. His horn glowed a dark bubbly purple as he took his axe near to him with the same greenish purple magic. Strife struggled to contain him as he was fighting her on a different level. Her grip lessened until suddenly a blinding light came from Nova himself. A large column of energy blasted up from where Nova was and shot up into the air severing all the magics of strife and throwing back her far away. The beam of light illuminated the night sky once more but could easily be seen from miles around. She skidded to the ground and tumbled a few times. When she got back up she realized that Nova Blade was gone. "What in Equestria?" She looked for novas companions but they seemed to be gone too. Until she heard screaming above her. She looked up and saw Hammerheart yelling in fright as Lance flew off into the distance with her on his back at great speed. "They ran away? Pssh, that's no fun." The alarms and sirens of a fire brigade were heard getting closer along with the sounds of a lot of pony's coming to the scene. Strife licked her lips in anticipation once more with a sultry smile, “Mmm, more victims. This should be interesting...” Her horn glowed and she disappeared in a flash. Location: twilight's basement Time : 2 pm "...and that's what happened.” Nova Blade looked around at his audience. Applejack had a straight face on, Fluttershy shivered in fear while Pinkie Pie was dancing around with glee. Rarity and Rainbow Dash looked at Nova with some new found respect. Twilight on the other hand tried to process all this information. She thought of so many things that needed answering in quick succession, Nova was princess Luna's personal student? How did he know dark magic? Since when does Luna have a personal student? Does Celestia even know? Was it dark magic as he described it or was it different than what the princess taught me? Argghhh, this is making my brian hurt. Twilight stepped closer to Nova who was still in the chair half tied up. "Well that's certainly interesting. But I still don't believe you." As soon as she said that the basement door busted through and shattered in a million pieces. Everyone stood there in shock and backed up a bit looking up at the entrance to the basement. "Why couldn't you just knock?" Asked Hammerheart as she poked her head through while holding crystal which resembled a note pad. "Nah, cause its cooler to do it this way!" Said lance as he trotted through and then hovered in place. He looked at Nova being held down in front of the mini interrogation scene along with the frightened mane six and pointed with his hoof while looking back at Hammerheart, "Wait till Luna hears about this though." End of chapter 5 Reader has gained +10 STR +2 DEX +7 LUK -1 INT New Skill Learned Power Reflection - Take 20% of total damage and reflect back 80% to the enemy only 20% of the time though Combo Attack - You gain power with every hit of your axe, after you charge up 6 blows you can unleash the “Panic Attack” which does 1000% damage. Can only use this attack when you have 6 charges. Author's Note Authors notes: Seriously for my first fan fiction I still have no idea what I'm doing. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Chapter 6: TwistUnder Lunar Wings Chapter Six : Twist By: JP HACK Edited by: JP HACK Story guided by: Shadowxrazor Brain cells fried : 7,462,374 and counting Alone you stand in the midst of battle. Your companions all but missing. Standing in a field surrounded by your enemy's. There is only one option remaining. You pick up your sword once more and point it at the nearest target. Its all for valor and honor or all for nothing. With the last of your strength you charge forward...- Warrior Sociology, Volume 13 Location: Twilights basement. Time: 2:14 PM Everyone had their mouth wide open in shock. The mane six all stared up at the multi colored Pegasus wearing his wing braces and looked at the earth pony mare with power hooves standing behind him. Nova was the first to speak with sheer joy breaking the awkwardness of the moment, "Oh thank Luna you guys are here. I have been stuck in here for who knows how long." Lance stood there with Hammerheart scanning the area along with Novas captors. He stared at Nova and then grinned. Hammerheart then nudged Lance with a hoof. "Are you pondering what I'm pondering Lance?" "I think so Hammer. I think so." He then smiled at the crowd below him. "So everyone, what did he tell you?" The mares all just looked at each other in confusion. Where could this lead to? Who where these two intruders? After some murmuring amongst the girls in cloaks, Twilight came forward to speak bearing some hesitation in her voice. "He um, just finished explaining the battle he had with this mare called Strife. And how he survived. But he still refuses to tell us anything useful...I guess?" Lance spread his wings suddenly and leaped off to land next to the mares. They all backed up away from him while Hammerheart came down the stairs to join him. "Thank you Twilight . Now I'm sure that there's more to the story then of what he has told you." Twilight and her friends gasped in shock. How did Lance know her name? "No need to be alarmed. We know your all the elements of harmony and your names to boot. That is common knowledge so stop acting all surprised." Rainbow Dash spoke up while having her wings flared up defensively, "So who are you two again? And what are you doing here in the first place?!" She had a snarl on her face that looked like it could kill. Lance looked at her for only a moment to answer before turning his attention to a sorry excuse of a student, Nova. "Now you must be, uh, Rainbow Dash? Nova should of explained who we are. I'm sorry but I'm gonna need you to back off a bit. Don't worry this interrogation is still in progress." He said with a voice of authority. He took a double take of Rainbow though. Why did she seem familiar to him though, but then thought nothing of it. Rainbow dash and the rest of her friends in the meantime all stopped and looked at Lance like he was crazy. What did he mean that the interrogation was still in progress? "Back off? Buddy do you know who your deali-." Rainbow got cut off from the sound of a whirl that suddenly reverberated throughout the room. Everyone turned to Hammerheart who had her power hooves activated. She looked angry as her eyes met with Rainbow Dash's and snorted in anger to confirm that she was her target. Everyone backed up a couple of steps as they saw the magical swirls emanate from her hoofs. Rainbow Dash herself backed off as well not saying a word. "Lets not make this more difficult than it is,” Lance explained, “I want everyone to move away from Nova Blade right now or face the wrath of my good friend Hammer and her power hooves. Your choice.” He trotted to the table while Hammer came close to him acting as a guard. Lance went to the opposite side of the table where Nova looked at him with a confused expression. Nova finally got his thoughts together to finally say, "Lance what the-" "SHADDAAAAP!" Lance yelled. "You are in no position to talk!" At that moment the lights of the room went dark until the single lamp above the table turned back on, re-making the interrogation scene once more. "But it was an acci-” Nova suddenly got interrupted. Lance spread his right wing out quickly and made the crossbow and braces coil up into position creating a classic cocking sound of a weapon being loaded and primed. It gleamed in the light as the metal parts shined into the the darkness. Novas eyes went wide from the sight and silenced himself immediately. The rest of the mares all looked on in horror on what was happening. Was this how an interrogation was supposed to be like? Fluttershy nearly fainted at the same time when Lance pointed his weapons at Nova. "I'm gonna count to three. And if you don't answer the following question in time, I'm gonna shoot your head off straight to the moon that it will, so help me goddesses, create an impact crater visible from here! Kapeesh!?” Nova gulped loudly as a bead of sweat rolled down his face. He looked at lance and saw a huge grin on his face. Hammer glanced at Lance with a concerned look before interrupting his stare down with the armored stallion. "Um, Lance this is not what I had in mind." "Hush mare!" Lance then looked at her shock expression and then winked immediately to calm her down. Hammerheart got the message and resumed her makeshift guard duty while looking at the now spooked mane six who were all in a corner watching. The mad light green pegasus came closer to question his friend with his crossbow still pointed straight at his face. "So tell me Nova. Where are you from? One..two..." Nova stared at him for no longer than three seconds before answering. "West Fillydelphia." "How did you become Luna's personal student and warrior?" "I really don't want to have to answer tha-" Nova got cut off as Lance fired a bolt right above his head, brushing against his horn just slightly and careening into the far side of the basement, impacting into a bunch of equipment making them into splinters. Pinkie Pie suddenly came out from out of nowhere with a big sign that read 'miss' before returning to her friends. Twilight instantly yelled, "My experiments! Are you crazy?! That cost a lot of bits you..." She stopped as soon as she met Lances hard stare. The same kind of stare that the next shot won't miss its intended target which could be the purple unicorn at any moment. Twilight just glared at him with a pissed off look but really didn't want to further damage her lab by attacking him. Nova meanwhile looked at Lance in absolute horror while he mumbled something about his horn. "Lance, seriously how long since you last had a drink?" Asked Nova with some sincerity. "Way too bucking long! Moving on. Why couldn't you beat Strife?" "I don't know, she was my old friend, I couldn't bring myself to actually kill her or Injure her myself." "Well you should've finished the job. She claimed her next victim and now has a third cutie mark because of you." The rest of the mares all gasped at hearing that. "Hammerheart, give him the letter from Luna." Lances eyes narrowed as he looked at Nova, "It explains our now 'failed' mission that she originally gave us." He motioned for Hammerheart to give him the letter. She took it out of her small saddle bag she had with her and hoofed it over to him. Lance laid it out on the table for Nova to read. Nova looked at the document and mumbled how he hated reading with a burning passion of a thousand suns. ... Dear Nova blade and friends, As my most trustworthy and gifted student such as yourself, you are no doubt ready for this next task. Time is of the essence as this mission could cost pony's lives if action was not to be taken. I ask that you and your friends leave at once to capture this 'cutie mark stealer.' You will most likely find this individual around Fillydelphia. Please make your plans accordingly and any travel expenses will be paid for, including your required amount of sweet rolls. I have trained you well to make you a great warrior and powerful student of mine. I trust you will make the right decisions as you see fit. Signed, princess Luna. P.S. please for the love of Faust herself. Lay off the sweet rolls. Its kinda disturbing that you can eat that many. ... Nova Blade finished reading the letter. He put his head down in shame. Lance caught on to his feelings with a smirk and backed away. He folded up his wing braces and crossbows concealing them once more. "You have failed lunas mission Nova." Lance then put a hoof on his shoulder. "Not only you have failed us but you have failed the princess herself. How does this make you feel?" Nova's mood changed dramatically to almost to the point of tears. He barely let out a muffled sniffing response. "It makes me feel like a pile of horse crap." "And?" "I need to fix this mess." "Dare I say. And?" "I'm sorry?" Lance broke his hard gaze against the now pathetic looking Nova and looked towards Hammerheart who stood silently like a sentry, watching the mares with a stoic look. He cleared his throat to get Hammer's attention. "Yeah Lance?" "Who would win in a fight? Nova or Strife?" "Ugh, Strife clearly won the last battle. Why you ask?" "Cause as I recall. During our training a while back, do you remember a certain weapon that could cut through practically anything?" Hammerheart thought for a moment before pointing to Nova's axe. "Yeah. Mr. Stupid and his axe here could cut a magic shield down in three swipes rendering the user defenseless." Her eyes went wide in sudden realization and fought the urge to facehoof. The mares in the background all held their breaths so to speak, awaiting her answer. "Oh my goddess. Nova you didn't." "Yep. He did." Lance said rather dramatically. He went up to Nova and slammed his hoofs on the table. "You left the goddess damn safety on didn't you!?" Nova gave a sheepish smile and nodded. Lance's face suddenly turned red with anger and flared up his wings again which made the braces extend further than normal. The crossbows both pointed at him as he edged closer menacingly. "What the buck Nova! Seriously?!" "But I Ha-" "Enough excuses! You could of got us killed with your hesitation! Why would you have a magical sheath on the blades of your weapon I'll never bucking know." He facehoofed and dragged his hoof down his face. He calmed down quite suddenly and folded up his wings once more. Nova only watched as Lance went to Hammerheart's saddle bag and pulled out a bottle of White Pegasus, the hardest drink in all of Equestria, with an alcohol content of nearly 95%, and opened the bottle. "Seriously, sometimes you drive me to drink. Quite bucking literally." He took a quick swig of the drink and started heading up the stairs. "Come on Hammer, lets go back to canterlot. We got the information we need for now. And lets go get some sweet rolls or something I'm starving. And remind me to inform the princess that we found her personal idiot." Hammerheart then turned and waved a hoof towards Nova. "See ya Novey. Well be at the train station awaiting the 3 o'clock train. Normally we would fly back but Lance got way too many tickets for flying under the influence. When you're ready we'll be waiting for you there." She gave a wink and then followed the now pissed off pegasus and left. Wait, what were these sweet rolls that they spoke of? The mane six all just stood there staring at Nova wondering what he will do next. What the hell was all that about? Why didn't they even bother to take him back with him if they were looking for him the first place? And what did they mean when Hammerheart said "we'll be waiting for you there?" And who is gonna pay for a replacement door? Sometimes, the answers to those questions could be found with even more questions! The mares all then turned to each other and then looked at Nova whose head was now face down on the table in sadness. Some friends he had to leave him still tied up. He then stifled a tear back and spoke in a soft voice. "Am I a bad pony?" The mares did not answer for a long minute. Applejack took the initiative to speak first to the depressed pony in armor. "Ta be perfectly honest. No. How could ya if you are Lunas student?" Applejack nudged Twilight to continue. She nodded and spoke in a soft tone. "This. Um. Wow. Lunas personal student? How come Celestia herself didn't tell me or us for that matter?" Nova picked his head up and just stared out into empty space. His mind focused for once and then spoke. "Twilight. Its quite simple to answer your questions. I was never supposed to meet any of you and this was supposed to be a secret from the sun goddess herself. But that all backfired on me in an instant." Rarity spoke next in a soothing tone. "Well darling, thats nothing to be ashamed of. We all do mistakes from time to time. Isn't that right girls?" The rest of the mares all nodded. "No. Its not a 'simple' mistake this time,” Nova explained, “Uh Rarity right?" She nodded in confirmation. "Luna is gonna kill me or send me to the bucking moon for all this. A crazy pony whom used to be my friend which I have no intention on eliminating or capturing is out loose trying to take over equestria and on top of that, I have royally messed up Lunas will to keep this all a secret from you guys and her sister." The mares only waited for him to continue but he resumed staring out into empty space not saying a word. Twilight told Dash to turn the lights back on. With the lights fully illuminating the basement everyone could finally see around them, including the damage that Lance did when he shot that bolt at Nova. Nova pouted and said nothing as the still spaced out in deep thought. His axe didn’t move or glow for the same time that Nova was acting all depressed and sad. Twilight kinda felt sorry for him but decided to ask some more questions to fill her desire to learn more about him and maybe gather information about Luna that she didn't already know. "Wait what do you mean kill? Did you actually hurt ponies?" Asked Twilight. Nova only turned his eyes to look at the purple unicorn. "Im a guard or in this case, Lunas personal warrior and student. Its part of what I am and how I was raised. Even though Equestria is in peace on the outside there is still conflict that happens on the inside. I have indeed hurt some ponies but never killed. That part is only under the direction of the princess herself. But in this case she didn't specify!" Novas voice grew a tad louder, "and now I have to track Strife down before she comes after you guys." Twilight listened and nodded. Applejack said nothing and looked away from the gaze of Nova. Rarity made a huff sound and murmured under her breath something along the lines of 'ruffian.' Pinkie Pie for once actually did nothing as nothing good or funny could be said about Nova at this moment. Fluttershy was hugging Dash in fright and making squeaking noises. Twilight put a hoof up to point at Nova. "So what do you mean that Strife might come after us?" Nova shifted in position and looked at her with his head tilted to the right like he was saying ‘the fuq?’ "Your serious right? Strife steals cutie marks. You are the embodiment of the elements of harmony. That means that the elements themselves are within you and are representative according to your cutie marks. If she steals all six cutie marks then we are so screwed because then she can use the elements of harmony and overthrow the princesses with its power even without using the friendship aspect." Twilight was baffled at his statement. Do cutie marks have that kind of power? She should've studied this when she had the chance before the interrogation. "Wait a minute, we are not in danger are we?" Asked Rarity. Nova nodded and continued, "Not if I can help it. But in a sense, yes. Thats why I was running from all of you to hurry and defeat Strife right away. It was a good thing too that I recognised all of you in the first place otherwise you all wouldn't be standing here now intact and injury free." Nova looked at his axe for a moment before continuing. "Though I have to say I'm eternally grateful to all of you but especially to you Twilight." Twilight gave a slight blush. "It was the right thing to do. Any one of my friends would have done the same." Twilight turned to her friends, "isn't that right girls?" "Oh yes, of course." Cooed Rarity "Yup" Answered Applejack. "You betcha." Said Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy and Dash said nothing but only nodded. Nova smiled at their reactions but then frowned. "Girls thanks for the kind gesture but now that all this information is out in the open, will you keep all this a secret from Celestia?" Twilight thought for a moment and responded with, "I dunno, you put us all throu-" She got cut off as Nova suddenly made his horn flare. He yelled in pain as he increased power to his horn making it glow brighter. The magic inhibitor started to crack and spark until it finally broke apart and fell on the floor. Twilight and the gang all backed up from the sight. As soon as Nova broke the inhibitor he teleported in a flash just next to the table. The mares all had their mouths open in pure surprise. Twilight herself never got out of a magic inhibitor unless she deactivated it with a remote. Nova stood there with his horn smoking and smiled with a wide grin. "I knew I could trust you guys. Now If you excuse me..." He grabbed his axe with his magic ripping the rope that bound it and placed the weapon on his back. "I feel alot better now as this little interrogation gave me the time needed to recharge my magic power back to around 78 percent, so now I can go join my friends and go back to Canterlot to formulate a plan to defeat Strife." He then winked at them and disappeared in a flash of blue and purple. "You have got to be kidding me." Twilight said. She turned around to look back at her friends, "What the heck just happened?" Pinkie raised a hoof with a quick response. "A teleport?" Everypony faced hoofed. "Celestia damnit Pinkie." Rainbow groaned. "Now I think I need a drink too." End of Chapter 6 Reader has gained +1 DEX +3 LUK +9001 (haxor!) INT New Skill Learned Overload - For a temporary time, you can overload your horn to break barriers, spells, and magic inhibitors. Uses 4000 Magic Power and requires the total magic power to be above 50,000 to use. 24 hour cool down period after use. Author's Note Okay I wrote an outline and everytime I write an outline the first 5 sentences of that outline turn up to be 3k words or more. Otherwise I see a long time ahead of me before I even come up with an ending or get even close to writing one. If you see ANY grammatical mistakes on this chapter. Feel free to hit me in the back of the head with any method you see fit. Shout out to Shadowxrazor for providing the ideas and the necessary components to make this story not so crappy. Even though its me who came up with them, hes just ADDING more to this ridiculously LONG story. DAMN HIM! Also special thanks to my little brother who is now my editor and pre reader. HES 13 YEARS OLD AND BETTER AT GRAMMAR THEN ME. Seriously, wut the fuq? Chapter 07: UnderstandingChapter 7: Understanding By : JP HACK Edited by : JP HACK and Zomboni247 Quotes and dialogue by: Shadowxrazor Approved by: The word ‘CAT’ and the letter ‘Q’ Sometimes you need to be the pony you don't want to be but you turn to the pony that they need you to be. - The book of Clover the Clever. ..........................................…............................................ Dear Princess Celestia, I know I have not been writing to you as much as I would like, but things have suddenly gotten interesting for me and my friends. Normally I would have a friendship report to give you, but I have news that concerns you and your sister and some magic breakthroughs with which I have come to learn. Are you familiar with something called the “Grand Vortex Spell?” It’s a spell that allows a user to travel vast distances though requires a lot of magical energy to use. I thought it was unheard of to travel more than 5 miles in a single teleport but this spell allows the user to travel upwards of 100 miles if he or she wishes to do so. Though, to my inadvertent direct experience and research, I have found that it needs another unicorn of high magic power to be at the intended end location for the user to teleport to. In this way it creates a bridge of some sort to connect the magics together and make the spell work. This spell has not been used since more than 1100 years ago, especially during the war of the Lunar Republic and the Solar Empire. I can see why this spell was seldom used as It ruined the landscape of the end location and could flatten a town if not used correctly or collapse in on itself with often deadly results if the user proved to not have the right abilities or proper magic power to use it in the first place. What puzzles me is how a unicorn stallion, with similar appearances to my brother, used the spell so easily. And what's more surprising is that stallion is somepony who seems to have as much magic power as me. This stallion used this spell and it latched on to me to complete it. I learned that his name is Nova Blade and he professed to be the student of Luna in the same manner as i'm your student under you. Did you know about this or am I the first to inform you about this? Nova is somepony to be reckoned with when he is wielding his deadly axe that he constantly carries around with him. His weapon alone seems like it was from the same era as the war. I wish I could ask more questions but he left abruptly claiming that Luna herself will punish him just for speaking to me and my friends. I don't know if its really something I need to point out but I feel that he is up to something no good. Also, did you know there is another crazy mare trying to go after the throne and take over Equestria? She calls herself Strife and she steals cutie marks to gain power. Nova said that it was his duty to stop her and that he and his friends would take care of it. I feel there is something more ahoof to this then he is letting on. He makes a point that if this Strife was to steal our cutie marks and gain power from them, then we would have a big problem on our hoofs. Please get back to me on these matters, I'm worried for me and my friends welfare as this Strife fellow could come after us and our cutie marks at anytime. I know this letter is rather long and tedious, but hopefully it makes up for not being active as I should be with letter writing to you. I write to you with my best regards, your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. …........................................................................................................................ Dear Twilight, It so good to hear from you and how you are exceeding your studies. Though the information that you have given me in your letter was quite a surprise. Luna has a student thats under her? That's certainly interesting, especially because she usually keeps to herself and doesn't talk to me as much as I would like. That spell that you have mentioned is actually a long forgotten spell only used by some high ranking nobles. If what you say is true, then I believe some sister of mine needs to have a talk about magic that is reserved for someponys and about keeping secrets from me. I am now concerned as well about this Strife fellow you describe. The power to steal cutie marks? Strange indeed. But to be on the safe side let me talk to Luna about Nova and see if he really could defeat her. I will assign more Policeponies to Ponyville for added protection without causing a noticeable buildup of military presence. Stay safe my student. Your Loving mentor and friend, Princess Celestia. ................................................................................................................................................. Time : 2:42 pm Location : Ponyville Train Station Its not everyday you see a pegasi drunk on a cloud, close to the ground, being pulled by an earth pony with power hooves. It may have looked like a gag reel of some sort but it was hundred percent true. Lance got drunk and with Hammers insistence to not miss the train, he decided to get a cloud to nap on. Hammerheart though used this to her advantage. She tied a rope around him, because you can't tie a rope around a cloud, and pulled him around town as she shopped for some supplies. It was sort of embarrassing to do this to the pegasus but he brought this upon himself. Hammerheart though used this situation to her advantage. She put all of her merchandise that she bought on the cloud so she didn't have to carry it herself. The earth pony started to head for the train station, with cloud in tow, after all her shopping was done for various equipment and food. Sometimes as the only mare in the group it somewhat had its advantages. Especially being the only support member and medic of the group which lead to access to all the technology and techno magic she wanted. And she provided alot of support to her friends in combat. Lance and Nova were good guys who would work well together in skirmishes but usually fought over the meaningless things like sweet rolls and booze. It made her happy to be with them but sometimes she wanted to shove a gem powered particle cannon up someones flank for being a complete idiot. She had half a mind to just leave Lance there on the cloud to nap all day and float away, but the last time she left him on a cloud to sleep on with anyone but Nova nearby, within a couple of miles, usually ended up in a complete disaster. She groaned as the thoughts came back to her... Time: A couple of months ago. Location : Unknown "Okay boys. I will be right back with some food. You two behave while i'm gone. Okay?" Hammer turned around from before Lance and Nova and trotted away. Instantly Lance turned back to his armored companion and pointed a hoof at him. “Hey Nova.” “Yeah?” Nova tilted his head a bit. “See that cloud over there?” Lance pointed up with his hoof at a nice flat cloud that was lazily floating above them. Nova nodded and waited for Lance to continue. “Its calling me for a nap. Now, I don't want you to bother me while Im sleeping. Kapeesh?” Nova nodded but Lance decided punctuate the point more by adding, “It is Skyslicer tradition to sleep in and nap on clouds. Nova if you take that away from me, I swear to Celestia, Luna and the goddess damned elements," his eyes narrowed, "I. Will. End. You. Is that clear?” Nova saluted silently and then sat on his hindquarters. Lance sighed and took off towards the cloud. 10 Minutes passed. Nova stared into empty space bored out of his mind. He sat and waited for hammerheart to come back from the local town. Nova rested from practicing swinging his axe around. A loud abrupt snort and coughing followed by a satisfying “Ahhhh” came from above. He looked up and saw Lance sound asleep with his whole body all flailed out, looking like he just got hit by a meteor. Nova’s face suddenly turned from happy go lucky to super evil supreme commander mode. I just came up with another idea for another attack move. He picked up his axeand trotted under the cloud with which lance was sleeping on and grabbed his axe with his magic. "Ready Limb?" The axe glowed on its own on its edges a slight green color as if it was giving Nova the green light to start. "Okay, lets do this." Nova applied magic to the weapon which brightened in luminance as it started to smoke and change color from the usual dull purple to a bright yellow and orange. The weapon started to heat up and continued to glow brightly at its tips, crackiling loudly from the raw influx of magic and friction. Nova smiled to himself and eyed the cloud above him with a grin. He made his weapon slowly ascend up under the cloud... Meanwhile, Hammerheart trotted back along the path at a merry pace while humming to herself and carrying a couple of bags full of food within her saddle bags. Suddenly a bunch of birds flew away in the distance as if they were trying to get away from something. She heard somepony screaming out of pain in the distance. "YEEEEEEEH OWWWWW." Silence in the forest permeated through until another yell was heard. "YOUR IN MY HOOD NOW MUTHABUCKA!" Shots of magic bolts could be heard being fired followed by, "I. WILL. END. YOU! HOLD STILL DAMMIT!" Hammerheart stopped immediately. And as soon as she did, an explosion burst into the distance creating a large shockwave throwing a large gust of wind pass over her, messing up her mane. Hammerheart slowly put down her saddle bags filled with food and took out her power hooves and put them on. She brushed her purple mane to straighten it out and narrowed her eyes in the direction of the ongoing battle in the distance. "They are soooooo dead after this." She muttered with pure disgust in her voice. The sound of high pitch whirl erupted from her hooves and the techno magics swirled under her making the ground crack slightly. She propelled herself off into the forest and disappeared in a quick dash. 5 minutes later. Two grown stallions started begging for mercy in front of hammerheart. "Are you two gonna learn to behave while I’m gone?" Asked the pissed off earth pony with power hooves. Two weak voices both said, "Yes ma'am." Time: 2:51 PM Location: Ponyville Train station platform. Hammerheart was busy tying down the cloud that Lance was sleeping on to a nearby pole ignoring the stares of the ponies she was getting. Where they asking for trouble to question a drunk pegasus sleeping on a cloud? The cloud itself was full of food, supplies, and other stuff all thrown around and on top of Lance himself. She didn't really care about how that looked and sat down on the nearby bench to get some rest. A quick glance at the clock revealed the time to be 2:52 PM. Shouldn't Nova be back yet at this time? Hammerheart thought maybe it was not the best idea to leave Nova alone in a basement with those mares. But through all the adventures they had, Nova Blade always pulled through somehow. She sat back against the backrest of the bench and waited. Though, after 30 seconds of her eyes wandering from place to place, she couldn't take not doing anything any longer. I need to tinker with something before I freak out. She pulled out a gadget from her saddle bags. It was a device with a large screen and had a couple of buttons and it had a strap for what appeared for being able to stick it on the foreleg. It though had some wires still sticking out of it. Lets see. Ah, connecting the transversal logic matrix with a different type of gem should work instead of the other one that I was experimenting with. Hammerheart grabbed some tools out of her saddlebag and got to work. Being an earth pony and being part engineer had its set of challenges, but with the use of hoof tools that had levers which were operated by mouth that worked a series of tweezers, claws and other useful manipulation tools, aided in her tinkering. Hammer glanced at the time as she was busy making her, yet unnamed, gadget work. 2:55 PM. She pulled out a square shaped gem from her bag and then placed it into the back of the device. The wires instantly attached from the gems inner magic and the device lit up. Ahh that did the trick. Now lets see if it will work. Hammerheart closed the back panel and then flipped the device to look at the screen but didn't attach it on her foreleg. She sat it on the ground and started use the device. On each side of the screen it had 2 directional pads, one for selecting left and right and the other for up and down. She pressed the middle button on the bottom portion of the screen which read “Start/Select.” Activating > Linear Universal Node Algorithm (L.U.N.A) Starting... System booting. Command Sequence Active >30% >75% >100%. Select System. (S) Status Reports (M) Map Hammer pressed the down button and scanned the information presented to her on her techno magic device. Status reports Select status reports L for Lance Skyslicer N for Nova Blade E for Elements of Harmony P for Princess Luna Scroll down for further options. She clicked N and pressed enter. Nova Blade >Accessing system. Health - 100% Magic Power >Influx Rate -6073 >Error 404 Activating Magical Location Enchantments. Armor tracking >Active. Armor Talisman Transmitting >Locked >Feedback Freq. 45.34 >Parameters Active Locating Target Connection Established >Accessing talisman J13 25% >65% >100% >Found. Coordinates >Error Movement Fault 505 (Recalibrate?) Target is at Ponyville Train Station. End of Program. (R) Return to Main Menu. >(R) Retry >(S) Settings Hammerheart raised an eyebrow. Movement fault 505? Located at the train station? She looked up around her and stared back at the screen. That can't be right. I put that tracker talisman in his armor to make sure that Nova doesn't get lost and so Lance can keep an eye out on him. How can it have a movement fault? Did he take off his armor? No...that can't be right either. The talisman is powered from the armors imbedded magic, so thats out of the question. So what could it be? She looked up from her device and scanned the area for any signs of Nova Blade. Still no armor pony or train but just the random assortment of ponies all around her. She looked at lance who still was sleeping on the grounded cloud and looked for any signs of Nova Blade. Maybe she needs to reprogram her device? Suddenly a spark came from above lance which turned into a large ball of light all bubbling forth, getting bigger and bigger. "Oh you gotta b-” Hammerheart didn't finish her sentence. A large flash blinded everypony for a second and was followed in its place by none other than Nova who appeared from a misguided teleport directly above Lance. "Crap! I'm falling!" The armored unicorn started to fall towards the cloud. Hammerheart just watched in disbelief as Nova impacted the cloud and crashed, scattering all the supplies and landed directly on top of Lance. The cloud puffed out creating a fog obscuring the view of the incident. The cloud vapor finally subsided and revealed an interesting scene. Lance had his wings spread out in excitement and was holding Novas face with his front hoofs in a hug. Lance stared into Novas eyes as Nova struggled to get free. “I love you man. *Hic*” He slurred and moved his muzzle closer to Nova to try to kiss him. “Ahh, Lance stop! What the hell!?” Nova dodged the kiss and tried to get free but Lance, using some hidden drunk powers, grabbed him back even tighter and started to stroke part of his mane passionately that was not covered by his helmet. “Lie down with me. Let me *Hic* show you a goooood time.” Nova struggled to leave the very compromising scene, in public, to try to get out of there as fast as possible. How drunk is Lance to begin with to think a mare dropped right on top of him? Hammerheart looked on at the two, now slightly wet because of the cloud impact, struggle with each other. One was drunk as hell and somehow not disturbed in the slightest of a unicorn with armor falling on him, or his cloud. While the other unicorn stallion was trying to actively escape this unwanted torture that was happening to him. Hammerheart had yaoi coltcuddling fanfilly fantasies of Nova and Lance flash quickly through her mind. “What the buck is going on.” She tried looking away but continued staring. “And why do I like it?” Nova looked to his side and saw Hammerheart staring at him and Lance. “Hammer! A little help here!?” Nova still tried to break free from the death grip that Lance had on him. Hammerheart finally broke out of her intimate fantasies and headed for her saddle bags. “I know what to do. Hang on for a second.” Nova stared at her with wide eyes and pleaded, “Hammer! Quickly hes *oof* trying to make me do naughty things! HURRY!” Lance used his wings as an extra pair of hoofs and tossed Nova to the side. The multicolored maned pegasus lazily got up from the cloud and pressed his body on top of the unicorn in armor. “Hey girl, how you doing? *hic* Let me buy you a drink. *Hic* and rub your belly for a- WOAH” Lance yelled as he got yanked out from being on top of Nova and was thrown onto the hard ground. Hammerheart was holding one end of the rope which was already around Lance and made sure to tie her end to a nearby pole. Hammerheart went up to Lance with no feeling or expression on her face and pulled out a vial from one of her saddle bags. It was a tall bottle that had some yellowish liquid in it. She promptly went up to Lance, who was still struggling to get up and untie himself, and held him down with one of her front hooves. She popped open the bottle with her teeth and with another hoof, jabbed the bottle down Lances throat, forcing him to swallow the liquid in a massive gulp. Lance gagged a bit but the earth pony made him finish the whole bottle. Lances eyes went small and he fainted. "Ah. That should take care of it." Hammerheart looked around her and saw the stares of everypony that were watching the entire scene unfold. Nova also watched on, with new found respect for Hammer. "Um. Hammer? What did you just do to him?" Hammerheart turned to Nova without making any eye contact. She walked past him and picked up her saddle bags. "Something I should of done along time ago." Nova couldn't hide his surprise. "Wait. Did you just poison the bastard!? What the hell! I was supposed to have a death match with him later!" Hammer turned around and hoofed Nova in the horn in a quick swipe. "Ouch!" He rubbed his horn in pain and stifled a tear of pain. "That was for being a moron." She eyed Nova with a small grin and quickly whispered to herself, "a hot one for that matter." She blushed but shook her head to stop thinking those naughty thoughts and continued talking. "I just gave him an anti-poison potion. It will make him sleep and expel all the alcohol that he ingested. Okay? For as you personally have seen, he had way too much." Nova looked at her for a second in a moment of disbelief, with hoof still on his horn, and nodded. Hammerheart gave a heavy sigh and pointed to the wreckage of what used to be a nice pile of supplies on a cloud. "Nova. Could you pick up all of our supplies that got thrown about? The train is about to be here any minute. I will take care of Lance in the meantime." The armored unicorn saluted and turned to face the wreckage. It was a horrible sight to behold as boxes and food laid everywhere. The cloud that Lance was sleeping on dissipated quickly after he was pulled off it. Nova used his levitation magic to grab the scattered objects and put them in a small group in mid air. He turned and trotted back slowly to Hammer. She was looking at a train map on the platform. Lance was tied up and on the ground still passed out. With a heavy sigh Nova came up next to hammer and moved the pile of supplies next to her and released the magic, setting them down gently. "Here. What is all this stuff anyway?" Nova asked. The purple maned earth pony waved a hoof at him in dismisal. "Nova its just supplies. Don't worry about it." Hammer said. Nova turned his attention to the knocked out Lance who was on the ground. "What about Lance?" Nova asked. Hammerheart poked Lance into his side. "What about him? He’ll be fine. That potion I gave him should kick in any minute now." Hammer stopped looking at the map on the wall and faced Nova with a stern look. "By the way, don't think your little mishap went unnoticed. What happened? How did you teleport in midair this time!?" Nova blinked. He didn't like where this was going. His mind tried to jumble a valid excuse for this but he said the first thing that came to his mind. "I, um. Magical disturbance in the air?" Hammerheart face hoofed and narrowed her eyes. "You forgot that you were in a basement and the elevation difference messed up your exit point. Am I not correct?" Nova tilted his head in a manner that said 'what' and just nodded. "I thought so." She looked at the clock that was on one of the walls of the train station. 3:09 PM. "The train is kinda late and Lance needs time to wake up. So what do you want to do when we reach Canterlot?" She asked with just a slight hint of urgency. Nova thought for a moment and only shrugged. “Right now I can’t think of what to do when we get there. We need a plan." The armored The brown earth pony moved to where Lance was and nudged him. "Thats true that we need a plan. But first lets wake up this fool." Hammer suggested sternly. She nudged him to his side and removed the ropes. "I want to see what he would want to do. I rather keep him in the loop cause he hates being left out and becomes very violent." "That I am keenly aware of." Nova explained. He watched Hammer pick up Lances head and hit him side to side to his cheeks. The Multi maned pegasus just slurred words and sentences as Hammer actively tried to wake him up. Lance finally opened his eyes and saw Hammer on top of him ready to slap him again. "Wha?" He slurred. Her hoof came down but Lance dodged by moving his head slightly to the right. Hammer was surprised and backed off from him. "Hey wha’ are yuuu doing?" "Are you up yet? How you feeling Lance?" Hammer asked as she went back to her saddle bags. Nova only observed the pathetic state of his friend but said nothing and only looked on. "Hammyy. Wha’ did yo' do to meh?" His stomach growled and he clenched his stomach in sudden pain. "Owww my stomach." Hammerheart didn't react to that nickname, as only one pony is allowed to call her that, and she answered back to the suffering pegasus. "Ah, it looks like the potion is kicking in. I suggest you get going to the bathroom before your bowels explode." Lance expression was the same as Novas when he heard what Hammer just said. Pure horror. The earth pony came back with another bottle held from her mouth, this time filled with a green liquid and set it before Lance. She turned to Nova with a warm smile. "Nova. Help your buddy Lance up with your magic so he can go to the bathroom. Hes gonna purge all the alcohol within his body." Nova had a look of disgust on his face and took a glance back at Lance. "You sure we need to do this now? We might miss the train." Explained Nova. Lance still suffered and started rolling on the floor in pain. Hammerheart, now with a harsher tone retorted back to Nova. "Nova. Do you really want to get back that badly to be scolded by Luna?" Nova shook his head. "Good, now help the poor pegasus bastard already and go. And make sure he takes that green vial.” Lance groaned loudly in pain. “It is a minor restore potion to make him better. We can just take another train later. Now go!" Nova saluted once more and made a field of magic around the pegasus, picking him up and promptly trotted off to nearest bathroom. Hammerheart in the meantime went back to the pile of supplies that Nova collected and started to count and check everything to make sure she got what she needed. She took another look at the clock. 3:13. Hammer took a moment to look down the horizon and saw that the train was coming. It surprisingly was not running on coal power as it had a team of six stallions running ahead of it. The whistle blew as it got near. Hammerheart gave a heavy sigh when she looked at the approaching train and went back to sorting out her supplies. 1 hour and 25 minutes passed. *knock* *knock* *knock* “Dude, you been in there for more than a frakking hour. Are you okay?” Asked Nova. He stood outside of the door of an out house and put his ears next to the door. He waited for a response. Nothing. Not even a peep from the inside. “Lance?” A flush and relieved sigh sounded through. The door opened and Lance, who was sweating bullets, gave a hard stare at Nova. “Remind me. Never. I repeat NEVER. To drink that many bottles of booze ever again. If it has to come down to getting purged from Hammer, I rather stop before I go over board. So, I give you permission to hit me with your axe if I pass 34 drinks, you got that?” The little pony in Nova’s mind tried to assess what he just said. 34 drinks? That has to be some kind of record for him. “How did you drink that many? That has to some kind of record.” “Back at West Hoof we had to do some ‘Extra curricular’ activities to pass the time. And yes that was an academy record.” “I see.” Nova shook his back shaking his axe to punctuate that it was ready to go for hitting Lance in the future. “I will be awaiting that day to hit you. Anyway Hammerheart is still waiting for us back at the train station. We better get going. You have been in there for a long time. ” Lance nodded and turned around. He went back inside the out house and came back with an empty vial. “I better bring this back to her. She hates it when I don't return her stuff.” Lance flapped his wings and then winced in some pain. "Looks like I'm stuck on the ground with you until I'm ready to fly again." Nova smiled warmly and started back on his way towards the train station with Lance following, not so far behind. "So, Hammer told me that she wants to make a plan to take down strife. Any input?" Asked Nova. Lance thought for a moment before responding. "Lets talk on the train. Do you know the time?" Nova gave a confused look. "Nope." Nova shook his back and spoke to his axe out loud. "How about you Limb. Do you know the time?" Lance gave Nova a perplexed stare and raised an eyebrow. Nova nodded sagely as the weapon pulsated with silent purple glows as a response. "Really? Well thats odd." "What? What did that metal thing say?" Asked Lance., "It says that you are a pathetic loser." Nova responded. Lance frowned. "Nova. You want another show down? This time I will take your armor off in battle unlike last time." Nova stopped in his tracks. What did he say about his armor? Novas horn glowed and his took his axe out from his back and set it before him. "Lance. I will say this only once. If you ever threaten to take off my armor. I will kill you. Is that clear?" Novas voice was dark and very slow. Lance turned to face him and saw him with his axe out and into midair. "Wait." Lance paused for a moment. "You're not joking are you?" "I will take off the safety, this time." Replied Nova. Lance raised a hoof smiling with his wings spread out showing his crossbows. "Do it, you won't." "Is that a challenge?" Asked the armored unicorn. "Challenge accep-." "GUYS! I heard that! Get back here right now! Don't you even think about fighting!" Yelled Hammerheart from out of nowhere. Before even caring on how she did that, both stallions bumped hoofs in mutual defeat and started back towards the train station. Nova though whispered in Lances ear. "I win." Lance wanted to hoof him in the face but thought against it before Hammer got any more angry. Location : Train station Platform Time : 4:45 PM It was not that busy at the station. Only one or two ponies were there waiting for the train to come. Nova only stared into empty space looking out in the distance. A quick use of applied magic to the horn made his axe glow and he took it out from before him. “Your kinda heavy you know.” The axe stuttered in midair before planting itself into the ground. “Fat? I'm not calling you fat!” The axe glowed around its edges and then shook into the ground. “You look fine, what really is bothering me is what happens next.” He stared back out into the horizon and got lost in thought but didn't really notice the conversation that Lance and Hammer were having behind him. “Have you ever seen the guy with his armor off?” Asked Lance who spread and refolded his wings. Hammerheart was still organizing her supplies which surprisingly, had less than what she started out with. “No. I have not seen him take it off, not even once.” Replied Hammerheart. She packed the last of the supplies into her saddle bags and zipped it shut. “Why you ask?” Lance yawned. “Hes just way over protective about it is all. Threatened to kill me or something.” Lance sat down on a nearby bench. “As if he is so proud that it came from Luna, that he will not take it off.” “Probably, thats why." She sat down next to Lance and looked at Nova who was now in conversation with his axe off to the edge of the platform. "You think its weird Lance, that he has the ability to speak to his weapon or that he can have intelligent conversations with it?" Lance turned to her. "Oh so he's not crazy?" Hammerheart just narrowed her eyes in response. "Its interesting alright but nothing to write home about. What worries me right now is to get back, away from this town, and return to Canterlot." Hammerheart nodded. Her ear twitched to the left and she turned her attention to the left side of the platform. "Ah, the train is about to be here in a couple of minutes. I can hear its engine this time. They must of gotten a coal shipment from Zebraria." Hammerheart watched as at the same time, Nova turned and started to jump for joy as the train came. "Remind me why this country is built on resources we don't even have?" Asked Lance sarcastically. Hammerheart mentally applied hoof to face and gathered her saddle bags in preparation for the arriving train. Nova excitedly went in front of both of them, still jumping in full suit of armor like it was nothing, and started talking really fast. "Oh-my-gosh-the-train-is-here!" "We know. We know. Calm down Nova." Answered Lance with all too knowing tone and annoyance from his unicorn friend who was way too excited for a train just like a little colt. Nova still jumped around rapidly and kept talking nonsense. "Something tells me this is gonna be a long train ride." sighed Hammerheart. The other ponies around them watched as well with anticipation for the incoming train. It came through the station billowing steam and coming slowly to a stop. When it finally stopped the conductor came out from one of the cars. “All aboard!” Location: Rear most train car, enroute to Canterlot. Time : 5:00 PM The car rumbled and swayed on the tracks. The rickety wooden frame did a poor job of sound insulation and failed to keep the outside noise down. Inside, Lance Skyslicer, Nova Blade, and Hammerheart all sat together in conversation. “Okay so, Nova.” Nova turned his attention to Hammer. “What is the deal with Strife? How did you know her?” Hammer asked with a serious tone. Lance stared out the window and didn't look at his friends when he added, “If she was not pure evil, I would have banged that.” Both Nova and Hammer looked at their pegasus friend but shrugged it off. Lance is just being Lance again. Nova eyed his axe for a moment before turning his attention back to Hammerheart. “Its kinda hard to explain, and you know I hate explaining things. It makes me uncomfortable.” His axe glowed a dark red color for a split second but Nova ignored it. “And no, Limb, I will not elaborate on how she used to be a sister to me.” Lance stopped staring out the window and turned to Nova. “Wait, what? You have a sister? Bangable?” “Lance shut up.” Retorted Hammerheart. Nova agreed with her and put up a hoof for him to stop. “Okay then...” Lance stared back out into the window and watched the scenery change. Hammerheart only just nudged Nova to continue on. “So since we have about 2 hours until we arrive to canterlot, tell us the story?” Hammer urged. Nova pouted like a little foal and crossed his hoofs. “No, I don't wanna.” “Nova, dont be a baby. Remember, we are your friends. You can tell us.” “Okay, fine.” Nova picked up his axe and placed it on the seat next to him. He looked at his two friends, Hammerheart and Lance, across from him with a sad look. He closed his eyes and reopened them slowly. “What I'm about to tell you, not even Luna herself knows.” Lance, who was actually paying attention now, nodded in understanding along with Hammerheart. “It All started a couple of years ago. I was back at the orphanage then and things were usually rough in fillydelphia, especially for us colts and fillies. Regardless of the peacefulness that equestria is known for, rapes and violence was of the norm and if you didn't fight back, you could be killed. Yes, if you where from where I was from, you be bucking dead. So In general I was with out any one to care for me, nor did I care for anyone. I learned my magic on my own, usually in secret, just to come up with spells to defend myself. “Regardless, it was tough. I befriended Sonata while I was there. She was a fellow unicorn just like me. Usually she got into trouble and somehow, usually by accident, I found her and bailed her out. After a couple of years there, our friendship grew to more like a brother-sister relationship. If she needed help from bullies or someone to talk to, I would be there." Hammerheart and Lance only stared at Nova, not knowing how to react to this new found backstory. Nova only shook his head and continued. "Anyway, when I was taken that night along with you guys to be with princess Luna, I couldn't take her with me. I feared for her safety. I should have begged Luna to take her with us. She was my best friend." Nova stumbled not to shed any tears but mumbled on. "And...and the worst part. She wanted to kill me. And all the feelings that we had in the past meant nothing to her. And now she is trying to take over Equestria and I don't know why or how she is doing what she is doing.” Nova felt a hoof wipe a tear from his face, it was not his own but Hammerheart’s. She went up and gave Nova a silent hug. The unicorn in return embraced her tight and sobbed a bit before drying up and letting go. Lance sat there and gave a knowing nod to his friend. Nothing could be said to quell the feelings that he was stirring inside. The train rocked in motion and made the signature click clack sounds as it sped across the landscape of Equestria. The sun was setting on the horizon created a moment calmness for the troubled Nova. “Have you noticed that we are the only ponies in this train car?” Lance said. Nova got out of his sudden depression and looked around him along with Hammerheart. It was interesting that there was no other ponies around along with them. “Huh, you're right Lance. That is weird though. Wasn't there a lot of ponies on the platform waiting for the train with us?” Asked the armored stallion. The mare of the group just raised a hoof in dismissal. “Guys that does not matter right now. Focus right now on coming up with a plan about Strife.” Hammerheart explained with a hint of concern. Lance gave a heavy sigh and shifted around to a new position in his seat. “Nova, Hammer is right you know. What is the plan?” Lance waited for Nova to snap out of his stupor and come back to the world of Equestria. “Um.” He applied hoof to chin. “It seems we need to do a couple of things.” “Like?” Asked Hammerheart. “One, make a written list of what we are gonna do?” Lance snorted and nudged hammerheart in her shoulder. She looked at him with a confused expression. “What Lance?” “As I recall, you're the only one capable of writing things down. Both me and Nova can't write with our mouths. Breaking of quills with our teeth and all that jazz.” The pegasus wiggled his eyebrows and incited Nova to do the same. Hammerheart stared at them for a second in disbelief before reaching into her saddlebags and pulling out a quill and piece of paper. She laid them out on the table before them and applied some ink to her quill and got ready to write down some notes. “Okay, So first order of business, we need to make a battle strategy that can...” Nova explained the battle plan to defeat Strife. Lance occasionally added some details that made the tasks a bit easier or usually shot down Novas crazy plans about using wheels or some hidden weakness to bring her down. Hammerheart vigorously wrote down everything she deemed important and even stopped at some parts to add her own ideas. 30 minutes passed. Location: Enroute to Canterlot. Time: 5:30 PM “So, I think that about covers it.” Explained Hammerheart with a hearty sigh. All that writing was giving her a cramp. She held up the paper with all the notes and read it out loud. “Lets see, we have three phases here. One, is recon with me, Two is an sniper barrage from Lance, and Lastly we have Nova for the final confrontation. That seems about right. What do you guys think? Any thoughts before we can present this to Luna?” The train rocked in silence as both Lance and Nova thought to themselves about adding anything to make the plan better. Novas brain stalled faster then a train going up a steep hill with leaves on the tracks while at the same time Lances train of thought somehow diverted to more lewd things. Hammerheart tapped her hoof and with a jolt the unicorn and the pegasus came back to attention. “Well since I guess its official. We go with this plan.” Hammerheart set the parchment down. The train went through a tunnel for a brief second. Since there was no lights on in the train, it went pitch black in the train car for a brief moment. A cold breeze passed through the train car in the darkness, and just as suddenly as it came, it disappeared when the train exited the tunnel. “What plan would that be my student?” A regal voice called out from the far end of the train car. Lance and Hammerheart jumped instantly in surprise. Nova absent mindedly answered back with out thinking. “The plan to take down Strife.” “Is that so?” Asked the voice. Lance and Hammerheart both shivered in their seats from some unknown temperature change in the air as they stared at Luna who appeared from the shadows from the far corner of the train car. Only Nova who was not paying any attention kept looking at the parchment and kept reading off it. “Its gonna be great, It will make Luna so proud.” “Really? how will it make me proud?” Asked Luna who winked at Lance and Hammer to calm down from her unexpected visit in a moving train car and watch Novas reaction. They both let out a breath they didn't know they were holding and relaxed. Nova still didn't notice the princess by not turning around to look at her and continued talking. “What are you talking about? We have a plan!” Nova finally turned around to face the pony talking to him with the paper in his hoof. “See?” His eyes went tiny and his face turned white when he saw princess Luna in front of him. Her mane flowed in an invisible breeze and she had on all her royal regalia. She took a look to Nova and frowned in disapproval. Nova looked at the parchment he was holding, looked back to her, and back to the parchment. “Well these plans are useless now.” He grabbed the paper with his magic and tossed it out an open window in the train car. Luna just stood there and gazed at her student with a look a father gives when his son misbehaves. Her voice was still calm and relaxed though when she finally spoke. “Its time for all of you to come with me. We have much to discuss.” “Aww, but I like the train.” Lance interrupted. Nova suddenly took this opportunity to chime in as well. “Me too! I don't wanna go!” Hammerheart facehoofed in her seat and shrugged in Lunas direction to ignore their antics. Luna paid no heed to the protests and raised a hoof to silence them. “We are leaving.” She moved her face close to Nova and scowled. “Now.” All three of the ponies all nodded quickly in agreement and said in unison. “Yes ma’am.” Luna made activated her horn and they all disappeared in a flash of dark purple. Time: Unknown Location : Sugar cube corner. Pinkie pie was near a window sill placing pies there to cool them down. Without warning, a piece of paper flew through the window and landed right on her muzzle. She stumbled back in surprise and grabbed the paper with her hoof. “Ooh, What's this?” She opened the crumbled paper and read its contents. “Plans to defeat Strife a expert plan?” She read on and her eyes widened with every passing word that she read. Her mind raced faster than anything to try to understand the words and strange symbols. She finally came to one conclusion. “I have to take this to Twilight. She will know what to do!” In a quick fashion she put the parchment away and bolted out the door towards the library. End of Chapter 7 Reader has gained +7 INT +2 LUK +1 DEX -1 STR New Skill Learned Nothing for this chapter - I just don't know what went wrong! Author's Note Authors Notes: Hope you enjoy the story so far. And this one is a long one. I really got to cut down on the outlines as each sentence turns to 1k words. I still can't believe that this is my first story. EVER. Shout out to Shadowxrazor and Zomboni247 for keeping this story from sucking and making it grammatically correct. Thanks! I could not have done it without you guys. Authors Rant: I'm still looking for prereaders and editors. Message me if your interested. Author shoutout: My little brother is the best. Chapter 08: GenesisUnder Lunar Wings Chapter 8: Genesis By: JP HACK Co Written: Shadowxrazor Edited by: JP HACK, zomboni247, Shadowxraxor What is a life that is in eternal servitude? What is the purpose? I have slaved for this witch for too long, my mind in shambles, and my internal fortitude diminishing by the second. I may have to tell her that I cannot continue to... *Unreadable text* -Star Swirl the Bearded, Journal entry #1337 Time: 5:36 Location: Lunas Personal chambers. Lunas personal room was something impressive. The black marble shined brilliantly reflecting the lights of the room and had a mirror reflection. The purple and black bed resembled the galaxies and stars on the sheets and pillows. There was a small assortment of furniture but what was most interesting was her game station. There laid the finest techno magic display and the latest game console, the X-colt 720. Luna's two personal unicorn guards stood still in the room, guarding the emptiness. Both had the night guard armor which had white outlines and accents of purple which resembled that they were the highest ranking night guards. Both were standing on each side of the massive door in the center of the room staring into empty space, and one of them sighed loudly with a shake his head. "This is boring." He turned to his companion guard who stared into the princessless room. "What do you think Pepperstone?" The guard, named Pepperstone, only snorted. "Can't you see that I'm busy Darkshade?" Darkshade stumbled not to laugh. "Busy doing what? Standing there doing nothing?" Pepperstone stood there and said nothing for a long time in a motion to ignore his fellow guard. Darkshade gave another heavy sigh and trotted over to the game console and display making Pepperstone raise an eyebrow. "Uh, what the hell are you doing?" Pepperstone said in a high whisper, as if he was afraid of talking. Darkshade only ignored him by grabbing the console controller with his magic, turning on the system in the process. "Hold it! Didn't Luna tell us NOT to play with her games without her?" Darkshade still didn't answer back to his companion but only continued to grab a game titled "The Mare of Duty: Lost souls," popped the case open, grab the disc and jam it into the console. "Shutup Pepper. Since when does luna 'forbid' us to play? I'm bored guarding an empty room." Darkshade turned to give a big smile back towards his fellow guard. "And besides, I have to beat your high score!" Peppertones reply was just his mouth down to the floor and a large gasp followed by a loud snort. "Fine then. You asked for this. I shall teach you your error of your ways" Pepperstones face turned evil with a quest to school his fellow guard in a classic deathmatch. He walked towards the console until he noticed something odd. He couldn't figure it out yet but it was familiar somehow. Darkshade picked up another controller but stopped before hoofing it to Pepper. "Do you feel what I'm feeling on a magical level?" Asked Darkshade. Pepperstone turned around for a moment and trotted back and forth as if scanning for something. "It feels like someone is sucking all the residual magic in the air." "I agree. Do you think it could be Luna coming back?" Asked Darkshade as he kept his eyes open for anything out of the ordinary. "Maybe? I don't Like this..." Both night guards kept a lookout until out of nowhere, in the center of the room, a bright ball of purple and white erupted and started to expand. Darkshade instantly dropped the controller in a near panic, and teleported to his post followed by Pepperstone. As soon as Darkshade got to his post he pressed the off button on the console with his magic and gave a wink to his companion, who in return mouthed 'you're an idiot.' The ball of light expanded and then disappeared revealing Luna, Hammerheart, and Lance Skyslicer. Though another ball of light erupted from above which spat out Nova Blade close to the ceiling, making him plummet nearly twenty feet towards the ground. He hit the marble floor with a thud and laid there groaning in pain. The Night guards had to stifle a laugh at the expense of Nova.. Luna paid no heed to Nova and his companions, and instead looked at her guards. "Guards. Leave us." Darkshade and Pepperstone both saluted. "Luna, should we call for a doctor as well?" Asked Pepperstone who stared at the miserable state of Nova. Luna raised a hoof in dismissal. "That won't be necessary. I will call when you're free to return. Also make sure no one bothers us. Is that clear?" Both night guards saluted. "As you wish." Replied darkshade. "Nova, Hope you get better." Nova groaned as a response and stayed on the ground his tongue out comically. The guards opened the massive door and walked out, closing it behind them. Luna said nothing for a moment until sighing heavily. "Okay then. Now that we have some privacy, I can punish Nova myself." Lance and Hammerheart both shared a look and shrugged. Luna moved over to Novas limp body and wrapped him a field of magic. He was hoisted into the air and thrown across the room once more, crashing into some furniture. Lance was compelled to say, "Critical Hit!" He got a stare from Hammerheart and just dismissed it. Both of them quietly resumed to watch Luna pick up Nova again and throw him across the other side of the room, making him slide and crash right into the wall. As soon as he hit it, a picture that was hanging came loose and smacked him on top of the head. Lance and Hammer both stifled not to laugh at that comedic moment lest they want to face the wrath of luna themselves. "Okay, punishment time is over, for now. So tell me Nova. Why did you deliberately disobey me?" Nova now reduced to a pathetic excuse of a warrior only grumbled and gurgled. "Are you mocking me?" Nova slowly picked himself up and stood before her, limping on one leg. "*struggle* Nn...no." "Then speak! What the faust happened?" Luna spread her wings which made her more intimidating. Nova opened his mouth as if about to speak and closed it. He turned to Hammerheart and asked, "Nows not a good time to be a moron right?" "What do you think Nova?" Hammerheart stood still next to Lance with a serious expression as they both waited to see what was gonna happen next. Luna looked on with a bit of perplexity on her face. What was Nova gonna do now? Nova took a deep breath and gave a hard gaze towards his mentor. His voice deepened and he stopped wincing from pain. “Oh please oh please forgive me!” Nova bolted right up to Luna and hugged her in a tight hug. Luna struggled to get the crying armored pony off of her while Nova kept mumbling “It was an accident! I swear!” The princess used her magic once more and threw Nova off of her back towards the ground. But Nova was suddenly quick on his feet and got right back up and lunged for another hug. “ENOUGH!” Luna screamed. Nova skidded to a stop right in front of Luna and there faces were inches apart. He gave a sheepish smile and gave a wink to his friends. Both Hammerheart and Lance were chuckling in the background. They know that when Nova is not serious or hungry he acts like a little foal, quite literally. Luna though was NOT amused at all. She had a mission to accomplish and the pony responsible for its failure was right in front of her. Why she had the ability to send him to the moon! But that would not the be the wisest choice now wouldn't it. Luna addressed Nova with a tone that could cut glass with a spoon. "Enough of the games. Nova sit down." Luna almost forgot his friends were still there and turned her attention to them. "Hammerheart. Lance Skyslicer. With Nova. Now." All the ponies promptly lined up and sat on their haunches in front of Luna. "Good. Now I'm gonna ask you this once and only once. Why did you not take down Strife as you were supposed to?" Nopony said anything for a moment. Nova raised a hoof, and before speaking he took off his helmet, revealing his royal blue mane with the single black streak. His horn glowed and his helmet was enveloped in a white light and disappeared. "Luna. I apologise, but please don't blame my friends. They were only following my orders and I messed up. Royally." Nova laughed mentally at that little pun he made. Lance and Hammer both didn't say a word to interject but wondered why his tone is so calm all of a sudden. "A simple apology will not suffice this time Nova, for you don't know the scope of the damage and headaches you caused." Luna explained. She turned and grabbed a scroll from on top of her bed and brought it to her. A quick manipulation of magic later and the scroll opened. "Here is the damage report from the Industrial District." Nova and his friends expressions all turned sour. This is not gonna be good. "Complete destruction of the Flim Flam Brothers Incorporated warehouse, at a cost of 100,000 bits. Damage to nearby buildings with a cost of 20,000 bits. And the clean up effort which in itself costs 10,000 bits. 1 pony was rendered unconscious and missing a cutie mark near the destroyed warehouse, and when the local fire brigade unit came to the scene, a white cloaked unicorn attacked them, taking another cutie mark from a poor mare rendering her in critical condition." Luna took a deep breath and continued with effort not to send Nova and his friends to the moon for all these failures. "After I collected these reports, It was obvious to me that you guys failed. But not until Lance and Hammerheart came to me with news that you, Nova, were missing and were found In Ponyville which shows me the scope of your failure. Was that not the train, where I teleported you three coming from Ponyville proper?" "Yes? I think." Answered Nova who was looking at the floor, avoiding eye contact. "Was there not a rule that I set before you and your friends not to go anywhere near Ponyville or meet with the elements of harmony?" Luna waited for a response. This time Lance spoke up before Nova could respond. "Yes. And might I add that it was n-" "No interruptions! I'm talking to the team leader Lance." Luna said sternly. Lance nodded in affirmation and backed off. Nova finally looked up and spoke. "Its true." "Then what do you have to say for yourself and your team?" Asked Luna, expecting a full apology. But even after knowing Nova for a while she was not prepared for the words that will come out of Novas mouth. "I blame this on secret option E. Unexpected turn of events." Everyone groaned in frustration. "No really. Its like this." Novas expression changed from being sad to picking up his head high and cleared his throat. "I was faced with a decision Luna. Something with which I couldn't do." Luna raised an eyebrow. "What would that be?" She asked with added eagerness in her voice. "I cannot take the life of a past friend." Nova said with determination, as if he thought it was a valid excuse. Luna was taken a bit by surprise by this. "What do you mean by this?" Asked Luna. Novas horn glowed a bit in pulses that transferred the same glow to his axe and back. All in attendance wondered what the hell Nova was doing until his axe stopped glowing and he again spoke in a commanding tone. "Strife is actually my best friend from long ago. Her real name is Sonata and we grew up together. When I realised that she was Strife or 'the cutie mark stealer', I refused to take her life and only defended myself in the ensuing battle. I thought of a quick plan to have the building collapse on top her so if she did perish, I would not be blood guilty. Lance collapsed the building while Hammerheart aided me in melee combat. I know you taught me everything I know about weapons and fighting and whatnot. But she ruined the plan of me coming in and ending it right then and there and to my miscalculation on her strength she was about to take my cutie mark as a result of my poor judgment." "What is your cutie mark?" Interrupted Lance. Novas axe glowed red and he just ignored Lance and kept speaking to Luna. "Regardless, I couldn't let her have it. So, I did what I had to do. Use the Grand Vortex Spell. That is part of the reason why I ended up in Ponyville. Due to the nature of the spell by requiring a powerful magical charge to activate it, I teleported to the rare function of "anywhere but here" and it pulled me to the nearest destination bearing the highest magical properties within a 100 mile radius. AKA Ponyville. Normally I would have used a normal teleport but Strife was blocking me from doing that when she held me in her magical grip." Nova stopped and waited for his axe to glow again by itself before continuing. Was his axe speaking for him, through him? Nobody dared asked. "I take full responsibility for breaking your rules and not taking down Strife properly. Please don't blame my friends either as they were only following my orders." Nova gave a heavy sigh and sat back down on the floor giving a quick pat of his axe.. Luna and everyone else stared at Nova like he was from another planet. Did he actually say something logical and cohesive? And was his axe doing the talking? Luna nodded but still had a frown on her face. "That is quite interesting. Lance is all this true?" Luna asked Lance, who was staring at the ceiling and admiring the arch work. "Huh? Oh yes. I was the one that destroyed the building with extreme prejudice and provided the usual air superiority." Luna nodded and turned to Hammerheart who was staring at Nova with concern. "Hammerheart is what Novas testimony true as well?" Hammerheart snapped out of her fantasy world and gave a salute. "Yes its true." "I see." Luna turned and paced back and forth in front of her subjects in thought. I can't believe this is happening! Now most likely Celestia knows about my student and now the whole plan to get back at her is ruined. Though if I can't get Nova to try again and find this Strife fellow in time, I might be able to salvage this plan. I spent too much time training and mentoring for this to fail yet. "Luna you okay? You don't look so good." Asked Hammerheart. Luna got out of her thoughts and cleared her throat. "Don't worry about me. I have to figure out what to do next. But right now it seems to me that were in a bit of a situation because of my student here." "Oh no. Don't blame this on me." Retorted Nova in a whiny high pitched voice. "Thats exactly what I am gonna do!" "Thats Horse crap! You know very well what happened..." As Nova and Luna argued, along with Hammerheart and Lance sitting there watching the show, a couple of hard knocks on the door sounded through. "Luna. Um, someones here to see you." Said one of the guards through the door. Luna stopped her arguments with Nova briefly. "Unless they want to be sent to the moon. No disturbances." She turned back to Nova. "It must me those sweet rolls. I think you're addi-" The voice from one of the guards again interrupted her with another call. "Your highness. Its your sister.." "Nows not the time!" Luna barked back towards the door. Nova smiled towards his teacher and chanted. "Luna’s a sore loser. Luna’s a sore loser!" "Am not." "Are too" "Am not" *CRASH* The doors flung open making the doors into splinters. Again. And making the night guards fly through the air from the impact. There in the middle of the entrance stood Celestia in all her glory. Her mane all glowing and flowing with the same radiance as the sun itself. She was adored with her royal regalia and well, looked pissed as hell. No pony has ever seen her this angry before since the changeling invasion two years back and it scared the buck out of Luna and Nova with both of them falling back in surprise. Lance fell backwards comically while Hammerheart ducked from the flying debris of the door. "Sister. wha..what is the meaning of this?" "Actually I could say the same of you!" Celestia trotted quickly up to Luna and magiced a scroll in front of her face. "Do you know what this is!?" "No. What is it?" "A letter stating that you have your own student from Twilight Sparkle!" Yelled Celestia. "Should of took her out when I had the chance." Mumbled Nova under his breath. Both Luna and Celestia now faced the armored unicorn with equally angry looks but Luna faced her sister once more. "How is this a problem?" Asked Luna in an effort to try to calm Celestia down. "The problem is that you agreed to be more open with me, have less secrets, and come to me for any problems. This is a violation of all of them!" The sun princess voice of sheer disappointment made the atmosphere of the room turn dark. As if you took out the love and joy of Equestria and threw it out the window. "How could you do this?" "Easy! To prove that I could have a faithful student, just like you. But a student willing to fight for Equestria, not through pointless negotiation, but through direct conflict!" She gave a heavy snort. "This is why I hid it from you. I knew you wouldn't approve of my ways. But in order to get things done, direct action must be taken. Something that Twilight would never do!" Celestia was surprised at that answer and stumbled back. "*gasp* Sister! What are you saying?" “I'm saying, do you remember the negotiation deal that you made with the Griffon Empire a couple of weeks back how, after 4 months of negotiations, they suddenly wanted to make a deal?” Celestia winced at that. “You don't mean...” “Yes. Just last month, all you had to do was send in Nova, an expert warrior,” Nova blushed at that comment, “with his team and only kidnap and ransom a high official and threaten to reveal compromising information to their enemies causing something to get done. Simple as that! But you had to waste time and resources all for nothing while your ponies suffered!” “That is not the way you rule Luna! What you are doing is going against the times of our day, which is peace and security! Why would you purposely go about this behind my back!?” Celestia visibly got more and more irritable by the minute causing all in attendance to shiver in slight fear, except Nova, for some unknown reason he was staring at celestia with a slight twitch in his eyes. The princesses kept arguing for a moment before somehow the conversation switched to the subject of Strife. “And who is this Strife or ‘cutie mark stealer’?” asked the Sun Princess. Luna thought for a moment how best to explain something as touchy as this. “Another villain that wants petty revenge against the throne, almost like the changeling queen that you talked about to me when I was out on official negotiations in Saddle Arabia . My student was sent out to dispose of her, but failed. I was administering punishment before you rudely interrupted." "Failed? How could Lunas student fail?" A lot of sarcasm flowed from Celestia as if trolling her sister. She turned to look at Nova and was surprised to be actively stared down by him now, with some hatred in his eyes. She turned back to Luna and softened her voice. "Sister, I know you're mad but please tell me. Who is Strife exactly and how is she evil?" Luna gave a grunt and turned her face away from the sun goddess. She couldn't take anymore verbal assault. "Shes a very powerful unicorn, your highness. Capable of stealing cutie marks and using the interwoven magical power within them to gain power. I admit, I made a careless mistake in my effort to take her down, but let me go back to track her down and end this once and for all, and for the safety of Equestria" Nova explained. His axe glowed now green and then died down a bit. Celestia thought for a moment before responding. "I see." She paused for a bit. "Her powers are very peculiar. What has she done so far?" Nova placed hoof to chin and rubbed, as if he was having trouble remembering anything that happened 24 hours ago. Brain capacitors charging....4%....47%....87%...*Ding.* "She stole so far 3 cutie marks and is hell bent on gaining the bearers of the Elements of Harmony cutie marks to use their power. And to use their power to dethrone you and Luna. Her methods are worst than Discords, she has intentions to kill, not hurt, those that get in her way." Nova gave a heavy sigh and turned back to look at his companions. Hammerheart looked scared having seen the princesses fight for the first time, while Lance was actively picking through Hammers bags to find anything with alcohol in it behind her back. "I see...I deem this acceptable for now. But I want to talk to you later about being a proper princess and leader. And we shall discuss this as sisters to take care of this new threat to our kingdom. Goodnight and make tonights night as great as always." Replied Celestia. She turned around, nodded to them all, and walked out of Lunas chambers with her head held high. Luna turned from angry to sad almost instantly and fell back on her bed in a sob, wetting the pillows beneath her head. The three warriors of the night looked on and said nothing. Nova stood there with almost no expression on his face. He didn't know what to do, nor did he want to make the princess sad. Everything that he accomplished so far was for moot. A villain on the loose, a princess in need of comfort, a pegasi with a drinking problem...what was the next course of action to take? "Everyone out!" Nova barked, he took his axe from his back and swung it towards the ground, impacting with a loud crash which created a crater in the nice marble floor. Hammerheart and Lance and even the two night guards all jumped in shock. "I mean It. I have to talk to Luna alone and in private. So all of you out. NOW!" Luna still sobbed on her bed but gave a slight smile knowing that her student cares for her that much. "Nova lets not be-" Hammerheart got cut off when Novas axe impacted right in front of her. "Out. Now." Nova commanded. Lance said nothing as he knows when not to mess with his armored friend and urged Hammerheart to Leave. Both the earth pony and the pegasi left down the hallway. The two night guards both looked perplexed and stayed. "We are Lunas personal guards, we vowed never to leave her side unless-" Pepperstone didn't finish his sentence when Novas axe appeared from out of nowhere and was inches from his neck. "I dare you to finish your bucking sentence." Nova seethed with pure anger now and really looked deadly. Pepperstone and Darkshade both gulped and backed away slowly. "I want you two to erect a forcefield around these chambers since the door is out. Sound proof it as well while standing outside. Understood?" The night guards nodded and promptly did what they were told lest they want an axe through their body. A magical purple barrier slowly came up and surrounded the room making the outside noises cease to exist. Nova turned around to Luna. "Now lets talk..." Time: 6 PM" Location: Canterlot West Hallway. "I just don't know what went wrong Lance. Did you not see him? He threw a frakking axe at me!" "Yeah. That was hilarious when you nearly peed yourself." Replied Lance. Hammerheart stifled not to take out a power hoove to jab it into his side with max power. "But you should know not to mess with him when hes like that." "True. But that was rude of Nova to do that." "Agreed. But he will catch up to us soon. I left a note in his armor during his rage that we’ll meet up later at certain place. Mares not invited." Lance wiggled his eyebrows at Hammer. "Wait. What? And How did you do that?" Hammerheart asked in surprise. Lance just hummed to himself and whistled that whistle you do when you did something but act like all 'natural'. "Whatever. Anyway i'm gonna go get my power hooves tuned from Magnus the blacksmith. I want you to give me your wing braces. I have some tuning and modifications which I want to do before the next upcoming battle with Strife." Hammerheart waited for Lance to prant and whine how he hates taking them off but surprisingly Lance said nothing about them. "Sure." Lance said without missing a beat. If Hammerheart was drinking anything she would of spat it out instantly. "Wait. Seriously? No nagging, yelling, or acting like a foal? Wait a second..." She went up close to his muzzle and sniffed his breath. She gasped, "You're slightly drunk arent you!" "No. I'm buzzed. Theres a difference!" He chanted. Hammerheart wanted to hoof him in the face for his stupidity. But now she realised why Lance was so calm in all that drama back there. They both reached a split of the hallway. One way lead to Canterlot proper while the other lead to the guards barracks and the blacksmith. Hammerheart held her hoof out as if demanding Lances braces. Lance nodded and pressed off some latches and the braces holding his crossbows dropped onto the floor. His wings shot straight up from not being under constant pressure. Hammerheart rolled her eyes and grabbed the braces with the weapons on them, and placed them on her back. "Thanks. Any requests since I'm going there?" "Actually, now that you mention it, yeah. I need you to recalibrate the tension while fixing the reload mechanism to reload bolts faster. And can you make a scope function on it like what you have with your goggles?" "I will see what I can do." Hammerheart said. She eyed the now naked winged Lance, showing his muscular body and large wings how it complemented his looks. She shook her head. Bad hammer bad. What are you doing looking that way towards Lance!? Okay hes good looking but come on! You like him more than Lance! Get a grip! She got out of her thoughts and started on her way towards the blacksmith. Lance trotted away but paused. "Hammer, meet me and Nova at the "Plot o' Rama" tonight. Thats where I said i will meet Nova." "That naughty place! You should know better Lance to bring Nova, of all ponies there. He can't even have alcohol! Why there of all places?!" She yelled in surprise, nearly dropping Lances wing braces. "Cause I need a drink and they know me. Duh!" He waved a wing. "Bye!" Lance thrusted his wings in one sweeping motion, and flew away at high speed. Due to not having any weight or tension on his wings, he created a large gust of wind in the process. Hammer nearly got blown away as the wind nearly knocked her over. She puffed up at her mane in order to stop it from hanging in front of her face and trotted away. Location: Lunas Chambers. Time: 7:43 PM Luna stood out on her balcony and eyed the darkening sky with admiration. It was time for her to raise the moon, light up the stars, and start her rule of the night. She used her magic and grabbed the large celestial body. A quick tug started to made the moon move and rise out of the Horizon and into the sky illuminating the darkness in a blue glow. She added some more stars here and there to make it sparkle. It was the creation a beautiful night as usual. "Luna what the buck! I'm dying here!" A voice in distress called out ruining the moment. Luna turned, "Hang on a moment Nova, this requires a lot of a mental fortitude to do." "Well hurry up. I need a gunner and I'm getting KSed by, Uhm, xXMuff1nMar3Xx? The hell kind of username is that?!” Nova called from the inside. Luna cringed at that name and almost made a meteor instead of a star from her distraction. She cut her night making short and quickly went back to where Nova was. He was holding his X-colt controller sideways as if was motion controlled and yelled at the screen into his headset that he had on. "Quickly Luna, I need support. I have a mark 2 battle tank but it needs a gunner!" Luna looked at the screen and cringed at the scene before her. Nova was driving a tank shooting enemies but got PWNED by a airstrike not soon after. She quickly grabbed her controller as well and even put on her own head set. She joined Nova and selected her profile. Night Master logged in. Instantly the players on the opposite team raged in chat such proclamations as, Xreo87: “All heeeellll no. Not you again.” MegaMare: “No. Bucking. way. You again? AFK.” MysticalMOO: “ you. Guys we lost.” AllStar765: “Dammit. we had like 3 minutes left till the match was over.” PurpleDragon42: “What just happened? Are you guys lagging?” PieLover12: "Who took all the pies in game and replaced it with muffin bombs!?" The players all raged in the chat, spamming on how the end of the game is inevitably upon them, though those on the same team as Nova and Luna praised them as saviors. The warrior student and the princess of the night continued playing into the evening until Nova paused the game some time later. "Are you sure I can go about finding Strife in my own way?" "Yes. But I thought we were done discussing about that now. Can you unpause?" Luna said with eagerness while shaking her controller, not amused by Novas abrupt pause in the middle of a team death match. "Just making sure. I will leave in the morning, but I have to meet Lance tonight, he’s gonna go hang at some place and left a note that he wants me there.” “I see. Just promise me you will be more prepared in your next encounter with her?” Asked Luna. She eyed Nova with concern. But Nova dismissed it with a wave of his hoof. “I promise, horn swear?” Luna was put off from doing that in the middle of the game. But she finally lowered her head touching Novas horn with hers. Once the both horns made contact they sparked and fizzed. “Happy? Now lets get back to playing. You said that there was a pony called xXMuff1nMar3Xx?” Luna asked. She didn't like the events that transpired but being consoled from her student was helping with her mood a great deal. Video games where the best at making her feel better, especially when she played with friends. “Yeah, why?” Asked Nova. The night princess just smiled at him warmly. “Thats our clan leader.” Time: 9:43 PM Location: Plot o’ Rama. Downtown Canterlot. Wubs. Wubs everywhere. The club reverberated with sound of a heavy bass. In the center was a stage and multiple gorgeous mares with clothes on dancing and twirling themselves around poles and being sexy in all their ways. In the back was the bar that was being tended by a yellow stallion with a brown mane. To the left was a door that said VIP and to the immediate right was the DJ on her own platform controlling the wubs. Outside of the club was a large line and in front of that line had 2 bouncers controlling the flow and kept the peace. Both bouncers had dark blue coats and white manes. They were muscular and larger than average, as necessary to keep the peace. Lance Skyslicer was high in the sky when he dive bombed right in front of the line and landed in a flash. The bouncers put their hoof up to shield their eyes from all the debris that lance scattered around in his abrupt landing. "Hey, Biff and Buzz. Is my spot still there?" Lance asked the bouncers. The earth ponies both smiled until one of them spoke. "Damn Lance. Where were you for the past 5 days?" Said Biff. Buzz just gave a sigh. "Yeah, you missed a drinking contest again." "What? Again?" Asked Lance disappointedly. He looked at the line who were staring at him angrily for holding up the line, but just turned around back towards the 2 bouncers. "Okay. Time to get drunk and have some fun, I see ya guys around." The earth pony lifted the velvet rope up and let Lance through causing everyone to yell and chant that he was a line cutter. Buzz slammed a hoof on the ground. "Shut up! All of you! He is the boss of this establishment! So unless you want Biff here to give you the 'punisher' then settle down!" He yelled. Biff smiled and puffed out his chest making those in the front of the line back off a bit. Lance smelled the air in a deep inhale. "I love the smell of booze, mares, and wubs late at night." He walked in and headed for the bar passing alot of other ponys having a good time. Drinking, dancing, and above all enjoying themselves. The bartender saw him come near and called out, "Skyslicer? Damn. I havent seen you for a while. White pegasi right?" "Hey Spitshine. Haven't seen you in ages as well. How is the gig at Ponyville working out?" Spitshine passed him a bottle, not glass, of white pegasi. He opened it and started drinking it down like it was water. "Its alright. Though working here on weekends is keeping me busy. Vats on yer mind?" He quickly grabbed another bottle of booze and poured into a glass and shuffled it to some other customers. Lance put the now half empty bottle down and smiled at the yellow stallion. "You would not believe what I have been going through lately." He held the bottle in his front hooves and swished it around. "Battle after battle. Skirmish after skirmish. Love escapes me every time. I seem never to get a break from it all." He took another swig of booze. "And now i'm lonely in my time of need." Spitshine washed and dryed off a glass while listening to Lances rant. He gave a knowing nod and kept cleaning. "I know vat vould make ya feel better boss." Lance raised an eyebrow and tilted his head. "What?" "Eey, theres a new mare thats a great dancer. Just hired her actually. Ya vant to have a little fun?" Spitshine gave a sly look to Lance while he nodded rapidly like a little foal. "Aye, she's in the back. Her stage name is Serenity. I give her a call for ya, boss." "Thanks Spit." "Noo problem." Spitshine left the bar for a moment and went back stage. He came out a couple of minutes later followed by a unicorn mare with a mask and having black lingerie on, emphasising her features. Her yellow mane and pink coat contrasted heavily with her colors. Lance stifled not to instantly embarrass himself with a wing boner. The mare came up to him in a hug and started to touch him in the most nicest places. “How ‘bout you. me. back room VIP?” She cooed with a sweet voice full of lust. Lance couldn't contain himself any longer. He grabbed her in his front hooves and flared his wings making a leap in the air. He instantly shot right into the back room with her and slammed the door. Everyone stopped and looked at what just happened until Spitshine called out, “The boss is back everypony!” Lance then poked his head out from the door and called for the DJ. “Hey! Put on Candy Shop by 50 Bitz! That’s my bucking jam right there!” The door slammed shut again and was followed by deep wubs and yells from the small crowd. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=- “Now how do you wanna...” Lance’s question was cut off by the mare’s lips pressing against his and pinning the pegasi to the door. Of course he pushed back with his body causing the two to fall back onto the bed conveniently placed in the small but cozy back room. Lance pulled back from their embrace and nip at the dancer’s ear. A little trick of his that always got the fillies was whispering sensual things in a very masculine tone. “How bout you get that flank of yours up and working?” Serenity blushed and giggled and Lance’s hoof traced up & down the side of her body. “Well you sure know how to convince a mare.” She winked at Lance and using her magic pulled him back up to a sitting position. Lance had no complaints as the mare soon got to work, literally after all she was a stripper this is what she is paid to do. As the sharpshooter was put at ease by the mare’s lewd body gyrating in provocative ways a thought popped into his head. Why is it that I like this more then kicking flank on the battle... His thought was cut short as Serenity started gyrating against a very sensitive part down below. Oh yeah that’s why Lance however was never keen to let such a beautiful thing go with examination and soon found his hoof around her waist, rubbing against her lower stomach and brushing over her still clothed cutie-mark. How is it that mares could look even better with clothes was beyond Lance’s buzzed and hormone clouded brain as soon he pulled Serenity onto his lap and kissed on her neck. Moans emanating from the mare were always a good sign and coming from a stripper were an even bigger ego booster. “Oooooh goddess you really DO know how to get a mare going.” Serenity managed to gasp out. Lance meanwhile didn’t respond and kept at doing his second favorite thing in life after shooting and before drinking. You could say Lance was a veteran at this sort of thing if not by age ‘slightly at least’ but mostly experience. Even Lance himself would admit it that it was pure dumb luck he became this infamous among mares in Canterlot. He came to the conclusion that a couple of mares that he ended up with for a night of debauchery must’ve been friends and of course rumor spreads quickly in a big city. It didn’t help that Nova & Hammer bagged on him about it either but he wasn’t complaining. After all look where it gets him. Serenity was now straddling his waist and facing him. She must’ve switched around when he went into thought but that train to was derailed and a very welcome pleasure rippled through his body. “I figured you like it. Everyone always seems too.” She bit her lip and Lance could swear it made him turn to putty in her hoofs right there. “Oh sweet Celestia yes.” He groaned. Serenity’s magic continued its massage working one of the most sensitive parts on Lance’s body. “I always figured a pegasi’s wings were sensitive, guess I was right.” Serenity sang as rubbed Lance’s shoulders as well. Getting a massage from a stripper wasn’t something he was planning but after the rough day he had it sure as Tartarus was welcome. “How bout we skip the rest of this rubdown and get on with the real show huh?” He grinned, another little weapon against mares was Lance’s cocky grin. It just oozed the words ‘showoff, badass and I’m better than your ex’ and sure enough it worked. Serenity said nothing but stood up and lit her horn. Soon the short skirt she was wearing was off, including her socks and she fell back onto the bed laying down. “Well?” She teased. “Come on big boy.” No complaints were made from Lance as he rolled onto all fours and climbed on top of her. He repeated kissing her neck and rubbing the side of her stomach but kept moving down kissing down her back. Another weapon in his arsenal was kissing a mare’s cutie-mark, if she was ‘in the mood’ for some reason it always seemed to be pleasurable. He could never really understand why but never really cared. Lance made his way down and gazed at her mark. Probably a stripper pole or some sexy... For once in Lance’s life he went from horny to full blown scared in a split second. The mare’s cutie-mark was familiar to Lance but not in a good ‘hey you’re that hot mare I always wanted to rut in flight school!’ way. The image of pentagram star adore by circles, 3 of which contained an image meant that the mare lance was about to rut was... “Strife...” “What was that?” ‘Serenity’ asked, glancing over her shoulder. Lance cleared his throat. “Sorry slurring my words. I said beautiful sight.” He laughed sheepishly and went back to kissing down her leg, but inside Lance’s mind he was panicking. Okay I’m here fairly horny, drunk, was no... I AM about to rut a mare who wants to rule all of Equestria and could blow my head off with a single spell and was also Nova’s best friend... Yay me? Lance kept at his sensual machinations and made his way back up to Strife’s head where he locked lips with her again. Wait, no yay. And how the buck did I not see it was her before? Maybe I was just too drunk. “Please...” Strife said. Lance could hear the mix of both actual lust and acting in her voice. He knew that if he didn’t act quickly she’d steal his mark too. Luckily I don’t think she recognizes me without armor otherwise I’d of been disposed of by... Wait! Lance felt ‘himself’ against her and the deep breaths she was taking. It’s now or never and this will definitely not look good. Slowly Lance brushed off the mask Strife was wearing and confirmed that was her. He could almost see the evil desires floating in her eyes but he was ready. A twist of his body and a false feather fell from Lance’s right wing. A little creation of Hammer’s for tight spots was a hidden hoof blade disguised as a feather which soon found its way into Lance’s hoof and driven in the right side of Strife’s body. Strife inhaled loudly but was suppressed by Lance pressing his muzzle against hers. She struggled against the pegasus kicking and punching at him but Lance twisted the feather knife deep inside her side and felt her whole body writhe in pain. Quick as he could Lance broke muzzles with the evil unicorn and shoved his hoof in her mouth to stop her screams of murder. “Oh come off it Strife.” Lance chuckled as he twisted the knife back the opposite way. “I know this won’t kill you.” Her eyes glared at him confirming his point. Lance leaned in with a sadistic grin on his face. “But I know that it still bucking hurts doesn’t it?” He pressed it in further and twisted more but no matter what he tried tears didn’t fall from Strife’s closed eyes. Only seconds later though Lance realized she wasn’t responding. He felt scared now, even though Strife was a criminal he still would have murder her in basically cold blood. “I didn’t. Did I?” He pressed a hoof against her chest. ‘Thump thump, thump thump’ “Passed out.” Lance sighed and rolled off the unconscious mare. “Thank bucking Luna.” And with a loud sigh of relief he grabbed a bottle of White Pegasi from the nightstand and took a few swigs. A few minutes later once Lance had a nice buzz going he rolled off the bed onto his hoof and pondered what to do with Strife now. Shrugging he threw the thankfully non blood-stained covers over her body and turned to the door. Mama won’t find out about this *hic* mess. Now to find *hic* Nova. Lance made his way out of the room a little too quickly and ended up throwing the door open. Apparently in his absence the bar filled up and a fairly large sized crowd was now looking at the sweating drunken pegasus standing by the backroom door. Even the wubs themselves played by the DJ were silenced in that classic rift interruption. Lance in his drunken stupor shouted the only thing he could. “The mare has been broken in!” He gestured wildly and struck a valiant pose. The crowd took half a second to register what he had just said and soon erupted in cheers, hoots and praises along the lines of ‘Lance rules!’ ‘Neeeeeew Recooooooord!’ and ‘Lance you can have my wife annnnnytiiiiiiiimmmeeee!’ Lance smiled and soaked up the attention he was getting until he heard some loud grunts coming from behind him. "Oh crud, I nearly *hic* forgot. I gotta tell *hic* Nova!" Lance was starting to actually feel drunk now when his liver kicked in. He sped out of there by knocking over some other ponies in the crowd and rushed out the exit. What he didn't expect was to be met by Nova who was talking to the bouncers Biff and buzz. Nova was still in full armor, except for his helmet, when he got air tackled by Lance. They both flew back and landed on the street, grinding to a halt making the bouncers cringe at the impact. "What the buck! Lance what the hell is going on?!" Lance on his back, flailed his arms and legs into the air rapidly screaming, "Help! I have fallen *hic* and I cant get up!" He stopped for a moment and then laughed uncontrollably. Nova came up to him and tapped him. "Buddy. Are you okay?" "I'm not *hic* I'm running away from her, she did something. And it was her. *hic* I took my blade and she got mad. And then *hic* stuffed under the bed sheets. Now, I run into *hic* you. Fireballs. Yum." Lance collapsed and laid there in the middle of the road rubbing his stomach. "My tummy hurts. *Hic*" Nova stood there and pondered over what Lance said. Usually his drunken language skills, he somehow always said that he did something that he was not too proud of and Nova knew him well enough to actually understand some, if not, all of it. "Let me get this straight. You found Strife who was pretending to be a stripper, and you went and stabbed her and after you found out. you panicked, so you shoved her under some bed sheets?" "Yessh" "Holy moon pie. You are drunk. That could never happen in a million years!" Ponies around them gave some stares at Nova for talking to a drunk multi maned pegasus. He ignored them while poking Lance to the side. "Come on Lance. Get up and get sober. Your face is greener than usual. And thats usually not a good sign. Also, you said in your note that you wanted to talk to me about something really important to you?" Lance nodded and rolled a couple times on the street in apparent pain. 1 bottle of White Pegasus is already too much for him to handle. Nova gave a heavy sigh and did not want to do what he was about to do. Great friends always prepare something for their drunk friends. He pulled out a potion from one of his pockets in his armor and opened it. Lance immediately stopped wiggling around and gave a hard stare to Nova. “What the *hic* is that?” Lance slurred. He tried to pick himself up with his wings and hooves but kept stumbling from side to side. Nova said nothing, went up to him and grabbed his face and shoved the potion down his throat. Nova made sure the entire bottle was emptying as he struggled to hold Lance still. He protested and his eyes went in circles. A couple series of gags and coughing followed by a large gulp ensued. Lance spasmed and fell backwards on his flank. He held his head with his hooves and stopped shaking. A look at his own hooves confirmed that he was still alive and not hallucinating. He slowly got up from the ground and gave Nova a stare. "Temporary alcohol inhibitor?" "Temporary alcohol inhibitor. Yes." Answered Nova. "You have 4 hours before the effects wear off and you're gonna feel the most massive hangover of your life once the time is up. You better thank Hammerheart for that." “Gee thanks.” Lance answered with all his enthusiasm lost. He opened his mouth to say something more but was cut off when a scream followed by ponies rushing out of the club. The bouncers rushed inside to see what the heck was happening and not too long after they got thrown back outside, crashing through the entrance of the establishment. Nova was quick to grab them in mid air in a telekinetic grip and set them down on the ground. Biff and Buzz both thanked Nova but looked like they have seen discord himself and huddled together like scared little foals. "Lance you have to help us!" Cried Biff as Buzz stared back towards the club, fear all over his face. More ponies screamed and a lot of smashing furniture sounded through. Everyone cringed when somepony yelled, "Mah beer!" "Boss do something!" Buzz this time cried out. Both bouncers were overcome with fear and ran away leaving Nova and Lance to just stood there in dumbfoundment. Both of them did not expect this to happen. Not one bit. "You said Strife is in there?" "I'm not that drunk to mistake a random mare for a pshyopathic ex best friend." Lance answered. Nova cringed cause It kinda hurt him that she was doing all this with intent to hurt and kill. It didn't have to be this way and Nova knew she had to be stopped. "Wait a minute. Does that mean we have to capture her in a bar?" Asked Nova while he watched everyone scream and panic out of the club. Lance stood next to him watching the scene with him. "Yes. Shes kinda pissed. I kinda, sorta, maybe, Uhm, stabbed her?" "Wait you were serious?!" Nova blurted out. "Oh look at this! Another cutie mark for the taking! Ha ha ha! This one is rare at most." Strife yelled from the inside. Both the warrior and pegasus looked at each other like they were found guilty of stealing cookies from the cookie jar. Nova took out his axe from his back and turned to Lance. He nodded and in that instant, both of them rushed back in the club. Nova shoved other ponies out of his way with his axe while Lance flew above. Inside they saw a mess with the stage nearly destroyed, Injured ponies all over the place, a DJ still playing wubs and one specific unicorn on the stage with blood spilling from her side while having another pony in her magical grip holding him hostage. "She got Spitshine!" Yelled Lance in shock. Now Strife was targeting Lances friends? This got personal for the pegasus who now suddenly wished he had his crossbows so he could put a bolt in her head and get it over with. "Put him down Strife!" Nova commanded. His axe glowed a fiery red and he held it with his magic in front of him. "Luna asked me to capture you and bring your for trial. So put. Him. Down. Now." "Oh this stallion? Me and him are gonna have a little fun!" Strife said playfully.She erected a force field around the stage. "Lets see if you can get to him on time before I take his cutie mark." Spitshine struggled and flailed his hooves wildy in the air in a vain effort to get away. "Vat are ya doing ya crazy mare! Why I aughta' sm-MMM. MMhhmmmMM!" Strife held his mouth closed with a zipper that she magicked up and grinned. "Once your friends attempt to save your sorry flank, then I give you permission to speak!" She informed Spitshine who narrowed his eyes back at her and continued struggling to break free from her magical grip. Lance and Nova both looked at her, then towards each other and back to her and shrugged again. It was a hidden language that they spoke just by reading each other facial expressions. The bar and everything else was nearly destroyed, with broken chairs and tables scattered, bottles of booze broken everywhere, leaking there contents. The only thing still intact and working was the DJ who was still there blasting wubs. Strife stood there holding her captive and keeping a shield going while anticipating Nova and Lances next move. "Hey yo DJ!" Nova yelled. "Whhhhaaatt up?" The DJ, a white unicorn mare with purple shades and a glorious spiked blueish mane, called back. "Play something to get us in the mood for battle and you better get to safety." Nova calmly said. DJ obliged with grabbing a vinyl disc from her stash and then plopped it on the turntable. She put the needle gently down with her magic and got the mix ready while Nova put full power to his horn and axe. Lance got into an attacking position with his hidden blades fully exposed. "I guess I’ll take this time to leave.” DJ announced. She pressed a button making the music change and start to play while she left. As soon as it started, both Lance and Nova looked at each other and nodded in an unseen agreement unlike before. Nova summoned his helmet in a flash and put it on. “Ready Lance?” Nova asked, with his axe giving a green glow. “Lets just get this over with.” Lance now threw away the hoof blade and revealed feathers that were hard and acted like swords. “CHARGE!” End of chapter 8. Reader has gained +1 INT +1 DEX +1 STR +23 LUK. Objective - defeat Strife. (In progress) Secondary Objective - get Lance to a doctor. (In progress) Primary Objective - don't start club fights (failed) New Skill learned - Selected Summoning - You can summon and store objects remotely using Teleport magic. Requires 500 MP and can only be used once every 60 seconds. Author's Note Author's Notes : Thank you for reading and liking this story. Everyone gets a free cookie. Shout out to my boy Shadowxrazor for editing feelings and emotions in this story, something that I can't do and without him, it would suck. Regardless, I'm having ALOT of fun writing this train wreck of a thing and I love it. Also keep note, a lot of quotes or sayings are all references and inside jokes that only my friends will get, good luck finding and understanding them. HA ha! Co-Author’s Notes: He still has no idea of what he is doing... Warning: Next chapter is gonna take use of that “Dark” tag a bit, reader discretion is now advised or not in the ensuing battle. Expect the unexpected. Love and tolerance everypony! ACHIEVABLE UNLOCKED: Over 9000. Read a story chapter with more then 9000 words. 90 G Chapter 09: ObservationUnder Lunar Wings - Chapter 9 Observation By: JP HACK Edited by: Both Author and Co-Author Co-written by: Shadowxrazor Celestia's useless guards are crumbling beneath us as the siege is going exactly as planned. It pleases me that the reports of the vault said to hold the most powerful spell in all of Equestria, maybe even the world, came to me through my spies confirming that it indeed exists. I have three battalions under me, all strong a mighty ponies of the night. We will crush and put an end to her ways. For tonight Canterlot falls under the might of the New Lunar Republic! I will get my hooves on that spell if its the last thing to do. - Admiral of the Lunar Republic Time: 11 PM Location: *static* "Laaaaance....y you o okay?" Nova grumbled. He was on the ground, armor dinged and dented in some areas, and was in some pain. His axe was embedded in the ground next to him and even was slightly chipped. A groan from above came from on top of a rafter hanging from a destroyed section of the building. It jerked and creaked until it finally snapped and fell down. "Craaaap!" Lance fell down along with the rafter in a huge thud, scattering debris all over the Place. "Ouch...remind me to kill you once I have power back to my wings.” He rolled around and moved a hoof. “*wince* And give me a bucking asperane. My hangover is kicking in or something." Lance tried getting up but stumbled on a leg and fell over. "I can't believe she committed a buck n’ run. But at least Spitshine is okay." Nova made no effort to reply only to grunt when he tried picking his head up but fell back and smacked his head on the floor making a loud clang with his helmet. Another struggling voice perked up amongst the wreckage. "Aye....Just so ya know. I'm perfectly fine. Thanks guys. Drinks on the house." Spitshine called out from under a pile of broken tables. He stumbled out and looked around him examining how destroyed everything was. "Or on second thought, dinner is on me once me feelings return to me legs." All three stallions all mopped and moaned to what just transpired. With some intense struggling, Nova got back up on all fours and scanned the area. The club was completely destroyed, along with his ego. What used to be a building was now a crater and a huge mess. The stage was completely wiped out. The bar smashed to pieces with booze leaking everywhere, inciting a single tear from Lance's eye. The DJ’s music was somehow still running even though the record player and equipment where on the ground disconnected from the power. Its was amazing how the buildings next door had not even a single scratch on them. Lance and Spitshine both slowly picked themselves up and cleaned off their coats of the dirt and grime while Lance went to Spitshine to help him walk while Nova stood there staring into space. "I cant bucking belive it." Nova shook his head in frustration. "We lost. Again!" He stomped on the floor tossing some chairs and broken bottles around. "Lance, please tell me you shot a tracker bolt." Lance in the distance snorted a laugh. "Nova? You all there? I don't have my wing braces remember?" Nova faced hoofed with a slow drag across his face. Clearly he was having a bad day. "What was that back there anyway?" Asked spitshine who tried putting as less pressure he could on his hind leg. Lance kept walking allowing him to lean on his back for balance. "Even I don't know what the buck happened. Did Strife use the-" "Grand Vortex spell? Yes." Nova replied abruptly. "And she basically attacked us with some crazy magic to hold us off long enough to use the spell. I nearly could not hold it back in time. Though its seems that she put way too much power into it and teleported away somewhere far, destroying the building with the spell." Lance and spitshine just stared at him and only nodded. "Now what do we do?" Lance asked. He took a look around and a thought occurred to him. "And how can I have some snu snu action with my goddess damned club destroyed!?" Nova raised an eyebrow making Spitshine gave a haughty laugh in response. "What's so funny?" "Ha! Yar club? Lance ya just have the highest VIP here cause ya were a former wonderbolt. Ya didnt own anything ya crazy pegasus." He said in a particular rusty northern trottingham accent. "Says the bartender that screamed like a little foal in the hooves of a girl." Lance replied with a sly grin causing Spitshine to narrow his eyes. "Oi! She was downright scary and nearly took me cutie mark!” "Riiiiiight, and who was it that saved your flank?" Lance asked sarcastically, expecting some praise for his efforts. "Nova." Spitshine plainly said with a hard gaze at the pegasus, causing Lance to nearly stumble over in shock. "What!? Thats Horse crud man! I swooped in and saved you!" "Aye, but is was Nova who broke through her shield to allow you to save me ya blubbering buffoon." Lance took offense and shoved Spitshine off to the side causing the bartender to fall on the ground. "Oops, looks like Nova was not here to save you this time." Lance turned around and looked at his armored friend who was staring around at the scene as if he was looking for something. "Right buddy?" Nova said nothing and didn't even bother to care. He was occupied with something. Something big. He kept his head low as if sniffing the floor like a dog while moving some junk out of the way picking up some stuff and tossing it aside. Lance figured he was doing something stupid and chose to ignore him. He picked up Spitshine who gave him a death glare and helped him walk again. In the distance the sounds of the fire brigade and various medical wagons all were closing in on the club, or what's left of it. Lance helped Spitshine go to the street while leaving Nova to do whatever he is doing. "I'm gonna get healed up. I will see ya around Lance." Lance brushed his wings of some dirt as Spitshine trotted off to the nearby medics. "Kay, see ya Spit. Let me know when the club is rebuilt. Notify Fancy who did this okay? I don't want him to kill me thinking it was my fault. I really don’t want a repeat like last time." "Aye, I was thinking the same." The bartender waved a hoof while immediately getting the attention of one of the medical ponies there. Lance turned back to the club to meet with Nova. From a distance he saw many ponies tending to ground zero and cleaning up. No policepony questioned him on who he was or why he was there and let him in under the newly erected yellow warning tape. He spotted Nova looking around and talking loudly to his axe. “I wonder what Nova is up to?” -=-=-=-=--=-=- Nova was in the middle of the wreckage. His axe was still imbedded in the ground next to him. A glow of the axe in a blue to an alternating purple came from the weapon. The unicorn stared at it for a long time and then scanned the area around it in concern. "You really think that will work?" The weapon fidgeted again with colors as if it was speaking. "But If I do that I will be using almost half my magic power and some of my reserves." A glow of bright red shined from the weapon. Novas eyes went tiny and gasped in fright. "Such language coming from you! But you do have a point." Nova stared into empty space again, lost in thought. “So you're telling me that, if I do a scanning spell and tune it to focus on the left over magic signatures in the air, I can track Strife?” He waited for a response until his face scrunched up in anger from another glow of the axe. “I swear, another word out of you and you get dunked in a bucket of water. Okay!?” The axe stopped and leaned slightly in defeat. “Good. Now shut up and let me think.” Nova took a deep breath. He looked up in the sky and slowly closed his eyes. A blue glow from his horn erupted and engulfed it. It magnified in intensity as Nova continued to pour more magic power into it while his face was scrunched up in focus. “Καλούν τις δυνάμεις δείτε όλα τα πράγματα αόρατα. Δείξε μου τα μαγικά της Έριδος και όπου είναι επικεφαλής.” (Call upon forces see all things unseen. Show me the magics of Strife and where she is heading.) Instantly a beam of energy shot from his horn and went straight into the ground spreading into arcs and a waves. For a second nothing happened until a misty fog started to come up. Nova opened his green eyes with them glowing a hazy white. He saw lines of magics and wisps dancing through the air moving along as if they where currents through the ocean. He saw a large mass of leftover magic and then a stream of magic going straight up and over from that point towards the forest in the direction of Los Pegasus. He stopped the spell and blinked a couple of times to get used to the light. “Oh, I don't feel that good.” He stumbled around, almost falling. He felt a dizziness that he had not felt before. He fell backwards expecting to hit the hard ground but didn't expect to land on something soft. “I gotcha ya idiot.” Lance Caught Nova and gently put him down on the floor before he fell over. “What are you doing?” Nova grabbed his head with his hoofs and shook violently around to get whatever that was bothering him to leave. He put a hoof up to signal to give him a moment to compose himself to Lance. Lance on the other hoof had a puzzled look on his face. What WAS Nova doing? Sweat started to pour from the armored unicorn and he started shaking violently. Lance at this point only raised an eyebrow. “Nova, what did you do?” Nova didn't respond but laid on the ground now in some agony as he gripped his horn which glowed red. Lance didn't like where this was going nor had any clue to what Nova just did. Its not like the other random times he did something stupid. This was more serious as it was actively hurting Nova. “Nova! What the hell man! Speak to me!” Lance went up and slapped Nova in the face. Normally one would snap out of whatever they were doing and get back to reality. Not Nova, for he stopped dead in his tracks, locking every part of his body making himself almost an armor clad statue. Lance counted to three and slapped him again a little harder. “Wake up ya moron!” Nova fell backwards from the force of the slap and rolled on the ground a bit. He grumbled on the ground before picking himself up. Lance had no clue what Nova just did to be in this state and with every second of not knowing it drove him more crazy. “Nova. What did you just do?!” Nova turned around with a small smile. “Found Strife.” Lance stumbled back in pure shock and even had to pinch himself to make sure that this was not a dream. “What!? Come again?” “I Found where Strifes general location is.” Nova said weakly with a slight cough. Nova stood there and stared out to the castle. “We gotta go back and come up with a new plan. Now.” By now Lance had almost a double heart attack. Nova just made logical and cohesive sense and was acting like he really had a mission to accomplish. It was almost too much for Lance to handle. “I, uh, wow. What is wrong with you?” Lance asked with his head tilted questioningly. “I used almost all of my Magic power to conjure up a spell that is normally used for tracking missions of large mythical creatures.” Nova weakly said. Lance nodded questioningly and noticed that his axe was not glowing in any way shape or form. “Limb! On my *Cough* back. Now!” The axe, without any external effects, picked itself up and floated lazily through the air before hitching onto Novas back. As soon as it did Nova nearly collapsed before Lance wrapped a wing around him for support. “Lets go back to castle ya crazy armored freak, you can explain to me what you did on the way there.” “Sure.” Location : Canterlot Castle. Entrance. Time : 11:47 PM “Okay, so let me get this straight. That was your first shield spell? And you never bothered to learn it before?" Lance asked while sticking close to Nova for support. "Your being an idiot again you know that." He rolled his eyes and focused on the street ahead of them. "When was I not? But at least we survived *wince* whatever it is we did." Nova said with a relieved sigh. He didn't look so good and was trotting slowly towards the castle. Lance paid no heed to Novas condition but had a feeling he was missing something. "Nova be serious about answering this next question: how much magic power did you just expel in that scuffle and with that spell you just used?" Nova didn't make any eye contact and cursed under his breath. "If you went to magic burnout just now and suppressed it, let me kill you myself before your actions take you to an early grave. You know full well that you can die from that. Frakking idiot.” Lance snorted and gave Nova a hard stare. “Hey, It was Limbs idea! Tell him Limb!” The axe glowed a purple and then a light cyan color on Nova’s back. Nova stopped for a moment abruptly. He turned his head towards his axe in a gaze that could take on Tatarus and survive. He removed the axe with his hoof in a swift motion and threw it in front of him in frustration making Lance back off in surprise. The axe soared through the air arcing towards the ground and surprisingly stopped right before hitting the floor and came back like a boomerang to hitch on Novas back. Nova seethed with some anger and breathed heavily. “If this axe was a pony, I would have killed him or her for making fun of me or making fun of sweet rolls.” Lance raised a hoof. “Excuse me?” “This thing here,” Nova pointed to his axe, “said that he blames sweet rolls and my lack of judgement. And that its my fault for following a suggestion that he made.” Lance couldn't help but laugh a bit. “Ha ha ha, your axe told you to do that tracker spell knowing full well that you had low magic reserves? Idiot.” Nova narrowed his eyes before realizing that he indeed was very low in magic power and nearly fell over onto the street in a sudden loss of balance. Lance caught him once again and helped him steady himself. “Forget it. Lets just get back to the castle and meet with Hammerheart. I'm sure she finished with fixing your wing bolts and we can come up with a new plan now that I know where Strifes general location is.” Nova said, not wanting to talk about this mess any further. Not only has he failed again by barely fighting Strife off and surviving but now he has to heal up for a day or something before he could do anything to capture her. Luna forgive this idiot. “Thats no problem, if you were not clad in heavy armor I would have flown you there myself. Why don't you ever take tha--” Nova cut him off with his horn glowing and his axe suddenly near his throat. “Don't you even finish that sentence.” Nova seethed, temporarily forgetting his aches and pains. Lance calmly put the axe down with his hoof and smiled. “I forgot that the armor is off limits. My bad. You're right though, we have to get rested and healed up.” Nova returned his axe to his back and kept slowly moving with Lance to the castle. They were not really far only about four blocks away from the main entrance. They walked a bit in silence the rest of the duration of the trip. Neither of them wanted to make the current situation worst than it already was. With Nova failing again in his duties and with Lance almost rutting Strife then and there, it was not the most fond memory they both shared. Some time passed and they both reached the main gate. Two guards stood on each side of the massive steel gate and there was a third guard in a small booth. The guard in the booth spotted them and called out with a hoof raised out. “HALT! Who goes....Um...Nova Blade? Lance Skyslicer?” Both unicorn and pegasus nodded. The guard in the booth called out to the other two in a quick fashion. “Scotch, Mist. Open the gate now. No delays. These two have level alpha access.” The guards in response shrugged and did as they were told. Both of them used their magic at the same time to activate a large switch to lift the gates. They knew that out of the five levels, level alpha was the most rare, usually reserved for the princesses themselves only. “Thanks Keystone!” Nova called out, “I will save good word for you for the princess.” Nova waved a hoof as he and Lance passed by. Keystone sighed in relief and turned to his fellow guards after the two left from earshot. They both gave him a confused look. “Trust me fella’s, unless you two want to be cut up from that axe of his like Woodchip was, I would stay clear out of his way.” “Woodchip sir?” “Never could put his horn back together after Nova was done with him....” Location: Ponyville Library. Time: Approx 4 hours earlier. “Let me see that note Pinkie.” Twilight asked. Pinkie Pie handed her a piece of paper and had a very worried look on her face. The purple unicorn scanned the note and with every line she became more appalled and scared. Pinkie took notice of Twilights changing mood and nudged her side to calm down. “I don't know Pinkie. This explains a lot of horrid things just to stop one villain.” “That's the problem Twilight. He is not gonna just stop her, he is gonna end her like the end of a book! Its something that we usually never hear of. I'm getting goosebumps just thinking of it.” Twilight paused in thought before responding. “We might have to stop him. Otherwise what these plans say here can't be reversed.” “I will call the girls right away.” Pinkie bolted out of the door before Twilight had the chance to say anything. Twilight waved a hoof and dismissed Pinkies quick getaway before going back to reading the note. “Nova Blade....who are you really?” Location: Nova and Lance’s personal Chambers. Time: 11:58 PM “Even after all this. I don't feel remotely tired.” Nova said while holding a set of cards in his magic. He put one down before giving a sly look at Lance across from him with his own set of cards sitting on a floor table. “Draw four.” “Dammit, I had Ena!” Lance reluctantly grabbed another four cards out of the deck to add to his collection. “Your right. Its near midnight and I don't think I will be able to sleep anytime soon myself. I wonder where Hammerheart is.” The pegasus dropped a blue number 4 card and waited for Nova to make his move. “Hammer? I haven't heard from her either. Though do you think we should tell her what had happened?” Lance said as Nova put down a blue 7 card and then a green number 7 card down on top of the deck. The crossbowless pegasus frowned. That was not the color he wanted to see right now. “I don't know Lance. It could make things worse by telling her. And its not like we had to cover up the damage and make it look like an accident like back in the Gryphon Kingdom.” Nova stated as he waited for Lances next move. “And besides as long as you don't tell her what you nearly did to Strife, then everything is gonna be fine.” “Mmmmh. You could be right Nova. I don't want get on her bad side.” Lance said. He took another card from his hold and placed a skip card to which he added a second green 2 card. Nova looked at the deck and back at his current cards. To his dismay he had no moves left. He reached over to the deck and pulled out a card. It was a wild card. Victory is just around the corner! “Ena! I win!” Nova triumphantly exclaimed. He placed the wild card with another yellow card on the pile. Lance stared at Nova and back at his own cards in disbelief. “Goddess dammit Nova. I was only two cards away from winning.” Lance grumbled for a bit and picked up the cards and shuffled them with his wings acting as claws to pick up the cards one by one. Nova picked up his head and turned to the door wit his ears pointed towards it. “Shhh Lance. do you hear that?” “Hear what?” “Like someone yelling and making the guards very angry.” Nova continued to stare at the wall and instinctively summoned his helmet that was next to him and put it on. Lance paid no heed and shuffled the cards in preparation of another game. Though the commotion through the walls increased with somepony yelling and was making the classic “prong” noise with every step. Lance stopped and turned around to face the door too. “Our room guards will stop whoever is coming right?” Asked Lance with a concerned look. “Yeah of cour-” Nova was cut off when one of the guards from outside called out, “Ma’am you cannot enter. You hav-” SMASH! The door flew open splintering across the room, along with two night guards, revealing a pissed off Hammerheart bearing full power hooves and some light barding. Her power hooves where smoking and making a powerful purple glow around them creating a small purple mist. The two guards picked themselves up and promptly ran away from the intruder leaving Lance and Nova shocked and relieved that it was someone they knew and not a random visit from one of the princesses. “WHAT. THE. BUCK. IS WRONG WITH YOU TWO!?” Hammer screamed out while simultaneously increasing the glow of her hooves creating a slight electrical arc between them. Nova and Lance both stumbled back in fright and didn't have any clue what was going on. “Uh....hey Hammer! Long time no see? Eh. How have you been?” Nova hesitantly said. He knew not to mess with Hammer under any circumstances but this time he had no idea what he and Lance did wrong now. “No. No. NO. Both of you idiots front and center!” Hammer demanded with a stomp of her hooves. Lance shrugged and gave a wink to Nova signaling that everything is gonna be fine. Little did they both know that they bucked up, royally. They stood in front of Hammer as she eyed them with an evil stare. She grabbed a newspaper out of one of her pockets from her barding and placed it on the floor for the warrior and pegasus to read. EQUESTRIA DAILY Trouble in Downtown : Plot O Rama Pulverized Its like nothing you have ever seen before. It was like nothing you ever wanted to see before. Its the destruction of the most praised, privately owned club, in all of Canterlot. The Plot O’ Rama. Eyewitnesses describe a blinding light that engulfed the entire club and disappearing in an instant. Taking out half of the club. And how three ponies were seen in a large shield coming from an armored Unicorn with the aid of a pegasus. Though a lot of ponies rightfully blame the Cutie Mark Stealer most are blaming two night guards. Nova Blade and Lance Skyslicer for the mess since they were there at the time of the incident. Other Eyewitness reports say that they saved the life of the local bartender, Spitshine. “Ya blubbering buffoons. It was the Cutie Mark Stealer that did this. My friends Lance and Nova saved me from her taking me cutie mark.” Though that statement alone confirms that it indeed was the Cutie Mark Stealer that did this, we cannot help but feel part of our lives missing due to the loss of the club. The owner, Fancy Pants, had this to say. “It is a great loss, but since my old friend Lance Skyslicer was involved I'm sure he will avenge the culprit and put a stop to this.” Reports coming in point out that it would cost over 1,000,000 bits to fix the club and 6th street and Trotter Ave are going to be closed for investigation. It is advised that pony's stay indoors and increase security around them to protect themselves from events like this from happening. - Featherweight Nova and Lance both stopped reading and looked at each other and back to Hammerheart who was now staring at them as if she had lasers coming out of her eyes. “You two are in deep trouble for this you know that!? Luna now has to make sure that this ‘Nova Blade’ and this ‘Lance Skyslicer’ are just a bunch of nobodies and that the people can move on and not worry about all this mess.” “Well at least I didn't almost rutt the alleged Cutie Mark Stealer...” Nova deadpanned as he looked at Lance. “YOU DID WHAT!?” Hammer screamed at Lance as he made a death glare towards Nova for blurting it out so openly. “Its not what you think Hammer, I was tricked!” Lance quickly said to try to cover his tracks and to be on Hammers good side. Nova though put a hoof to his stomach and raised a hoof in the background. “I'm going to the night guard mess hall. They might have some sweet rolls there. Could replenish my energy.” He trotted off and head out the door as Lance and Hammerheart argued on. “Honest I swear I didn't really do it. I stabbed her as soon as I realized it was not Serenity the stripper. "Lance I can't believe you almost basically rutted Strife. What. The. Buck." "Hey she's damn good looking. It's not my fault she's bent on overthrowing royalty!" "That doesn't mean you can get to third base with our enemy!" "Well what did you want me to do?! Think about you? I didn't know it was her until the last second!" Lance thought mentally about what he just said. Ahhhh... manure... me and my bucking germane mouth. Hammerhearts face swelled up in multiple emotions making Lance a tad uncomfortable. "Lance...... Did you just call me ugly? Am I bucking that repulsive to you!?" "Hammer shut up! You're bucking beautiful. You're nowhere near ugly." The earth pony mare paused and backed up a step in surprise. "Lance... Did you just call me..." "Yes Hammer yes I did..." He gave a heavy sigh and looked away to try to hide a slight blush on his cheeks. Hammerhearts voice calmed and she again spoke in her usual voice. "I know you Lance... And you're hiding something... You can't really keep secrets when your sober... Or drunk for that matter..." "Look Hammer its just... That whole thing with Strife... It kinda made me realize what I've been doing... Running around with all those mares... They're all just stuck up fillies who show off their new cutie marks... You wanna know the only thing I've ever want from mare?" Hammerheart said nothing and shook her head. "I just wanna be there laying on a couch... A full bottle of White Pegasi in one hoof, a bong full of Everfree Joke, and a beautiful mare in the other just chilling and watching cartoons with me..." Hammer’s face contorted into a faint smile as she shut down her power hooves. "You know Hammer... Sometimes... And never I mean NEVER tell anypony this... Sometimes... I wish Nova wasn’t our friend. That he wasn't with us... And that it was just me & you. Because I would've made you mine in a heartbeat." He turned around and lifted his head up high with a mean look on his face. The same look you give when you're about to go on epic quest of justice. "And it just pisses me off... cause I don't think Nova deserves a mare like you." Lance turned around and walked out of the room in the direction of the mess hall, slamming the door behind him leaving Hammer there in silence. “Lance....” Location: Night Guard mess hall and Break room. Time: 12:11 AM "And so like i was saying. She came out of nowhere with the grand vortex spell and nearly could've killed us from the residual magic. If it was not from my shield, which i just remembered to conjure up, we would of died. That and now i have a general location of her thanks to the suggestion of my axe to use a tracker spell." Nova said as he talked to a multitude of guards all around him. Its a rare sight to see technical admiral of the lunar and night guards actually with his guards. "So wait. How much magic did you use to track her with that spell?" One of the guards asked. Nova picked up a piece of a sweet roll and swallowed it whole before responding. He left his axe on the table as it looked like it enjoyed the crumbs or something. “Almost all of it. In technical terms, I had maybe 400 Magic Power left. If I dropped below that I could of been in a coma or knocked out for a day. Though I guess my axe was just trying to get to Strife as much I do.” The guards around him only nodded questioningly and watched him as he downed another sweet roll whole and looked how the weapon was somehow making the crumbs disappear. It sorta freaked everyone out but since is was Nova, its nothing to be alarmed about. Man the unicorn can really down those sweet rolls. “Hey boss, is that your third sweet roll?” Another guard asked. Nova looked down onto his plate and axe. With a quick glance he confirmed that he ate two and was about to finish the third. Nova smiled and smashed his plate on the floor in a quick swipe as he put hoof up into the air. “Bring me anotha!” Meanwhile, a pissed off Lance trotted in a very slow pace towards the mess hall. He approached the entrance which was flanked by a set of guards on each side. Both guards looked at the disgruntled pegasus but one let off a snicker. “Damn Skyslicer you look pissed.” The first experienced guard spoke more concerned than anything. “What’s wrong Lance? Got too drunk and woke up in bed with a colt?” The other laughed as the first guard winced at what was going to happened. Lance went straight up to the rookie and headbutted him square on the dome knocking him out. The other guard stood there with his mouth open he did that as Lance just KO'd a fully armored guard with a headbutt. “Damnit Jet Stream.” The veteran sighed and attended to his fallen comrade. Lances head was red and throbbing, but due to how mad he was he didn't pay any heed. He pushed the doors open to see the sight of Nova surrounded by a lot of night guards as they all chanted for their superior. “Eat, Eat, Eat!” “You can do it Nova!” “Down that sugary goodness like you mean it!” Nova was in a race against time. He used his hooves to grab a fork and with it he jabbed into his next victim, the sweet roll. He slowly inched it toward his mouth and with this last sweet roll it would set a new world record for most sweet rolls eaten in 10 minutes. Lance didn’t know any of this nor did the angered pegasus care. He trotted up towards the crowd, shoving other ponies around to get to his target. “Lance!? What the buck?” Another guard asked when he had the misfortune to be shoved aside from Lance. Other guards noticed him too as he approached the fully armored unicorn. “Whoah. Lance what are you doing here?” More guards stopped cheering for Nova and turned their attention to Lance. He stopped right before Nova, who was busy eating the most awesome pastry in the world, and slapped the fork with the sweet roll still on it, out of Novas hoof. Everyone gasped in shock. Lance though slammed his hooves on the table facing Nova and spoke with a calm tone, one that did little to hide seething anger underneath. “Sparring arena. Now.” Lance removed his hooves off from the table and trotted away. The guards and Nova himself all stared at the pegasus heading for the exit. Nova on the other hoof had a twitch his eye. “My....sweet roll.” The other guards all looked at Nova. Everyone knew that when it came to messing with Nova and his sweet rolls there will be trouble. Nova got up from the table and looked at Lance as he left through the exit of the mess hall. “Uh...Boss. Are you okay?” Asked another guard who looked at Novas changing facial expression from joy to complete seriousness. He looked at the guard with a firm stare. “Lance needs some unwinding from the looks of it.” Nova closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “This doesn't feel right.” The armored unicorn promptly trotted out towards the arena grabbing his axe. All the other guards who were off duty silently followed Nova out with him and watched on as his axe glowed an eerie green and bluish glow on his back. Location : Sparring Arena, Canterlot Castle Barracks Time : 12:24 AM The arena was not really used that often. It was mostly used for entertainment and training purposes for the royals and the guards that needed to be trained in minor combat. The arena had two main gates on each side to let participants in and out. It was surrounded by a high 20 foot wall and by the spectator stands which made it more intimidating in the dead of night. Nopony is crazy enough to fight at this hour except for two. As soon as word got out through to the guards that there was gonna be a practical death match between the personal student of princess Luna versus a former Wonderbolt, everyone who was able to, showed up to watch the battle. It was very rare for anything to happen that could be life threatening in the arena except for the usual magic duel but they only lasted between besting someone in magic, a lame duel in some respects. Since it was the dead of night and that only the guards knew who Nova and Lance was, everyone refrained from yelling or chanting on in encouragement unless they want to give their identities away. It was gonna be a very silent match. The lights around the arena all turned on to illuminate the area. Nova was just outside of the north gate. He had no idea why Lance wanted to spar with him nor really know why it was a death match of some sort. Nova knew that he wanted to let off steam but had not the faintest clue on why. Nova made his way out of the gate and stood in the arena awaiting his opponent. However when the door of the southern entrance opened Lance didn’t walk out. Puzzled Nova called out. “Lance? Buddy you alr-” The ex-Wonderbolt shot out of the gate and smashed into Nova hard causing him to fall back in a skid. Lance flapped his wings hard and took of in the air not leaving that much time for Nova to get back up. The pegasus arced down at a blistering speed with his hoofs out for another blow. Nova, still in shock on how cheap that move was, barely got up in time to dodge the speeding blur. Lance barely grazed his armor and arced around a second time for another pass. The armored unicorn looked up at his opponent. This was not a time to be silly or be stupid, no this was life threatening and by the looks of it, Lance was out for blood. Nova took out his axe and set it before him. He couldn't cut Lance but he can make it into a blunt weapon with his magic by increasing the strength of the safety. Lance came down from above and met Novas axe head on on the flat side creating a *Clang* noise. Lance though with a swift flap of his wings kicked up dust and spun his body mid air above Nova and using his rear hooves to smack Nova into the sider bypassing the axe. Nova nearly fell over but by the time he regained his composition Lance was gone. Nova now slightly battered looked around him to see where Lance was now but didn't see him in the sky above. The lights of the arena made it hard to see anything high in the sky without them blinding your eyes. A whoosh sound was heard and Nova glimpsed Lance racing towards him only inches from the ground heading straight for him. The armored unicorn couldn't react in time to move his axe defensively. Lance landed a sucker punch right into his chest and kept a flurry of blows that only a pegasi can achieve. He kept pounding on his friend without mercy or let up. Slowly denting and chipping away at Novas armor. Nova reacted this time and blasted his friend with some magic causing Lance to stumble back and Land on the ground. The left side of his cheek was singed and he said nothing when he picked himself back up. No grunts of pain, no battle cries, no nothing. Nova at this point was worried. Not only he had to use magic to ward of his attacker but his attacker was not speaking to him. Thats definitely not a good sign. “Lance seriously. What's your pro-” A whirlwind of dust came from Lance on the ground as he took off again into the air blisteringly fast surprising Nova to the point of making him not defend himself in time. Lance lunged and careened all the force he could mister and punched Nova square in the helmet in a large uppercut. The force knocked off the protective head gear clean off Nova while he stumbled and fell back in a heap. Lance landed on the ground back in front of him and waited for his opponent to get up. Nova, on the ground holding his disoriented head with his hooves, looked up and saw what was before him. His axe was still floating next to him but his helmet was completely dented on the bottom and sides. If at this moment you had any right to be pissed, now would be the time to exercise that right. Nova took a look and had to do a double take. Did Lance not know how precious this armor was to Nova? Lance though in the distance said nothing and stood there with his wings flared out, waiting for his opponents next move. Nova stared at him intently while glancing back at the downed helmet a few times, but once they made eye contact, Lance let out a sneering grin. At that very moment Nova really wanted to turn off the safety and did what he did to Woodchip to Lance. The student of the night picked slowly himself up and enacted a shield around him. This confused Lance on what was Novas next move, as shields were only made seconds before defending against an attack because it drains about 500 MP a second, and his friend is apparently making one for no reason. Nova on the other hoof was not just angry, he was downright pissed off. His axe glowed a fiery red and even making his shield red as well as he stared down back at Lance with almost pure hatred. A quick grab of telekinesis spell and he picked up his helmet into the air and then with a flash it was gone. “It shall be repaired later... Lance. I dunno why you did that but you know that was a poor decision. Even for you.” Lance snorted and not even intimidated in the slightest, flapped his wings and took off again into the air. He was not a Wonderbolt for nothing as this time he went shot straight up high above the arena, almost like heading right for the moon above. Nova kept his shield up and looked up to see any signs of the pegasus that is gonna feel some pain when he comes back down. Through the clouds appeared Lance dive bombing down with a visible air cone in front of him. No, he was not trying to make a sonic rainboom, but he was doing something more deadly. A sonic blast which was a concentrated force of air which hit like a cannon and simultaneously made the air very hot, shot down right above Nova spreading out over his shield and impacting with a series of invisible shockwaves. Each shock wave pounded the shield and sent dust and debris into the entire stadium making all the bystanders dirty. Nova struggled keep his his shield at max power as it visibly cracked throughout the top. Lance was not about to let nova move out from that spot and he himself came straight above to hit the shield himself. Nova though reacted by dropping the shield and with his fire red glowing axe, punted Lance right into one of his forelegs. *SNAP* Everyone in the audience silently gasped and some even threw up on the spot. Lance was tossed back in a large arc and hit the ground, hard. His right front foreleg was bent at an ungoddess like angle. Normally anyone at this point will yell out in pain. Not Lance. He picked himself up again quickly and flapped his wings hard to keep aloft. Nova dropped his axe and shield when he realized what he just did. His axe alone is made of the hardest material known to equines and he just punted Lance like a baseball. “Holy shit Lance! I didn't mean to do that.” Nova slowed down and could not believe his eyes. “I was so....uh....mad? What the hell?” Slowly the downed pegasus raised up and without even looking, snapped back his forearm with his hoof and gave another death glare towards Nova. At this point Nova was considering of Remote Teleporting Lance straight into the infirmary out of concern. Must be his adrenaline. I have to end this before he forces me to permanently hurt him. Sometimes he reminds me of my training with Luna. He couldn't believe his eyes when Lance stopped flapping his wings and landed on the ground like nothing happened. He didn't even wince when he put pressure on the damaged foreleg. Nova now stood there and looked at Lance, then back at his axe, and back to Lance. “You can say that again Limb. He is crazy.” Lance immediately started plonking up and down, gaining speed with every jump. Air started to come towards him and colese under his hooves. Sparks started to fly in random arcs causing Nova to step back a bit. He built up speed and at the height of his jump he flared his wings and caused a white cloud to come up under him. Multiple members of the audience of guards gasped. What was Lance gonna do? The disgruntled pegasus stomped on top of the cloud in another jump and turned the cloud dark, making it into a storm cloud. Sparks flied at a quicker pace with greater intensity which dashed throughout the cloud. Nova at this point tilts his head in confusion onto what was Lance doing now. Lance now flew around to the side of the cloud and pushed it up into the air. Once he got it to a height that he deemed acceptable he went back on top of it and started jumping again. Lighting didnt shoot out but he made a lot of electricity come to him instead. He leaned his head down and dropped the edge of his wings to touch the electrified storm cloud. The electricity arced and danced through and went through his body as he slowly raised his wings up closer to each other. A charge of white light built up that arced between his wings as they were only inches apart above his body. Meanwhile, Nova realised what Lance was doing. He was staring down the barrel of a artillery move that only some extremely high ranking military officials know. The Static Cannon. Now was not the time to do a shield spell unless he wants to get outright killed. Lance let out the charge and with it came a massive blinding white light of a near fireball of pure Lightning right at the student of the night. With some quick thinking Nova slammed Limb into the ground with the blade pointing at Lance. “Power Guard. Release!” Nova yelled. The axe glowed a hell of a Blue glow itself and Nova shot every beam of magic into the weapon. Lance fired his weapon and the whole arena went white. Everyone in the stands shielded their eyes as it seemed like a sun was born in the arena. The thunderclap that came with it echo from the mountain and was heard as far away as the Everfree. The dust settled and the scene changed of the arena to show that it was almost completely destroyed. Well, it was not the first time something like this happened. The ground was all chopped up and cracked except for where the two combatants were standing. The surrounding perimeter wall was even cracked all around it and some parts collapsed, taking some guard ponies with it if they were unfortunate enough to be sitting on the stands above the section. Nova was now sweating bullets and had a confused look on his face. His weapon was glowing not from magic but glowing hot as the metal itself was near its melting point. The area around the unicorn was all glass now. Lance though was still standing on the cloud, which turned back to white, and slowly came back down to the ground. Nova weakly approached him and once he got close, Lance laid down on the cloud in defeat sweating and panting heavily himself. “Better now?” Lance looked up and saw Nova grinning ear to ear. He sighed and looked up at his unicorn friend. “Yea. I needed that.” “Okay then. I can't believe you got so pissed for whatever reason that you came at me unarmed. The hell was bugging you?” “You wouldn't understand....” “Understand what? Regardless, come on lets get you to the Emergency Room.” Nova inched forward and put a hoof out to reach for the cloud that Lance was now laying down on. “Wait Nova! Don't touch m-” *ZAP!* A arc of electricity shot out and smacked Nova square in the chest. He stumbled back and nearly fell. “I...Ugh...Static residue. Won't wear off in a couple of hours.” *Twitch* “My everywhere hurts...” Lance explained weakly. He rolled on the cloud and held his forearm close to him. The pain was getting to him and he tried to hide it from Nova from taking notice. Nova on the other hoof walked away and with a glow of his horn summoned his axe from the ground with some telekinesis. He brought it over and inspected it. Steaming hot but okay, no permanent damage. “Yeah, yeah. I owe you. Shut up Limb.” Nova came back and now placed his axe between him and the cloud that Lance was on. Electricity formed around the cloud still in sporadic bursts and arcs into the axe. Though Nova had to get him out of here so he hitched the Axe to one end of the cloud while with the other end he hitched it with some magic to his armor. Like a trailer he pulled Lance out of the arena. Right as they were about to exit the gate they heard the tell tale whirring sound of power hooves. Out of nowhere Hammerheart rounded the corner and charged right into Nova and Lance. She didn't pay any heed to Nova and went straight to Lance hugging him, even taking the sparks as they were not even there. Nova said nothing until Hammerheart reeled up and smacked Lance in the face. “Hey! What the buck was that for!?” Lance yelled while holding his forearm. Hammerheart fixed her hair and gave him a hard stare. “That was for running off like a moron!” She went up to him and kissed him on the cheek earning a reaction out of Lance like a lightning bolt struck him. “And that was cause I know why you did it.” Nova watched the two of them converse with an expressionless look. Although the unicorn didn’t show it. Nova had emotions and right now there was a maelstrom inside him. “Sorry. I came as soon as I heard from one of the guards.” Before she said anything further she looked at the helmetless Nova and his damaged armour. “Did you...Never mind. Both of you need to go to the ER. Now.” She ushered them on to the medical bay of the castle while going back to tend to Lance. She went on top of the cloud and thanks to her power hooves casting a cloudwalking spell upon contact she wasn’t able to fall through. Lance fidgeted and didn't want to be taken care off like a foal but Hammerheart smacked him like a little filly and tended to his wounds. Nova continued though to go towards the ER. He made a left after the exit of the arena and headed down to the back side the castle. The ER was just ahead and once they got inside they were greeted by a surprise. Princess Luna was standing there with a bunch of other medical Ponies which immediately started to help Lance. “Ah, My faithful student of the night. How did the Match go?” Nova and Lance were both shocked to see her except Hammerheart who was preoccupied on tending to the brash pegasus. “Princess!? What are you doing here? How did you know about this?” Nova asked as he unhitched Limb from the cloud. “Silly Nova. I'm the princess of the night. I see all things at this time. Especially how strong you are.” Nova blushed. “But I came here not to converse. I came here bearing news about Strife.” This time everyone stopped and looked at the princess making Nova look tense. “I have received reports from a scout that she has been spotted in Ghastly Gorge. Nova, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to go after her first thing tomorrow after you and your team are rested up.” Lance looked down to his foreleg and deadpanned. “Ahhhh... Manure.” ======================================================== Reader has gained +8 STR +10 LUK +9001 DEX +1337 INT New Perk Unlocked - Sweet Roll Master: You now are fully healed upon eating 2 dozen sweet rolls... Also your sweet rolls CANNOT be stolen anymore. New Perk Unlocked - Rain Dance: You can now perform the infamous RainDance to summon a storm cloud and smite your enemies with god like wrath. New weapon ability - Power Guard. - (Explanation pending) New Inventory Item - One Wat: You have been given a single Wat. Use it wisely. http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/249/212/896.png Author's Note Uh. Sorry that I have been late on this one. My mini Bluetooth keyboard died on me and I had to write the story at home instead of at work. So please forgive me on that. Also I would like to point out that there indeed has been a increase of sexual tension. My friend asked me to do it saying it would help. Whatever. Regardless, it is time to get this show on the road and get the next chapter ready. remember, comments help, views help, and critiques help ALOT. I mean its my first story. Like actually, the first literary work since EVER. Thanks for reading. Note: ALL FANDOM FANFICTION WENT TO COMPLETE WITH TWILIGHT BECOMING A ALICORN! NOTHING IS CANON NOW! EVERYTHING IS RUINED! Chapter 10: HopeChapter 10 - Hope. By: JP HACK Co Written by: Shadowxrazor Editors: Both co author and author. Story steered by : Shadowxrazor Provider of actual sweet rolls : Cinnabon. As the sun goes down, all life dies off. As the world fades, we watch summer turn to winter in three seconds, hark as the world beckons, for the help that we need, please go, listen to our plead. We watch the plants freeze over. Now we have to start all over. We need to take a stand keep going. Look at the world, what has it come to? Everything fades to gray...all we have left is this frozen tipped winter rose...most color we've seen in forever...we will go on, we must go on, for ever and ever... - Unknown. Location: Canterlot Castle Hospital - Room #167 Time: 9:30 AM Lance finally opened his eyes. The last thing he remembered was a bunch of doctors and a frantic Hammerheart tending to his leg. And what was worse is the frakking princess shows up and drops a bombshell on Strifes whereabouts making Nova practically teleport to who knows where. He looked around in the small room. A window was to his left and another patient covered by curtains was to his right. Though, he didn't expect a certain brown coated mare with amazing two toned purple hair to be at his bedside. Now this mare gets some points for being loyal until he realized who it was. “Uh...Hammerheart?” Lance asked the earth pony who was with him on his bedside face down in her own pillow. She grumbled from her apparent slumber and picked her head up to look at the multi colored pegasus. “Hmm?” “Did you stay with me all night?” Lance asked in a tired voice. The earth pony blushed a bit and nodded. “I couldn't leave you. Not after what you did. And Nova, after hearing where Strife was practically dropped you here and took off to who knows where.” Lance nodded and tried looking away. Hammerheart stayed with him in the hospital for the entire night. Why? That question had to wait as a pegasi nurse came in the room and approached the two ponies. "Ah, the crazy patient that 'broke his leg and fixed it on his own. How are ya?" Said the nurse in a sarcastic tone. Hammerheart got up and stood right before the nurse. "And who the hell do you think you are for talking like that to-" "My old comrade from West Hoof?" The nurse said in a calm tone making Hammerheart’s mouth drop before she was about to say anything more but closed it. Lance gave a hearty chuckle followed by a instant death glare towards stallion. "I never thought I see you around again." "I never thought I see you alive again." They both stared at each other for a long time with Hammerheart more confused than Nova on a sugar rush. The two stallions then winked their eyes and started laughing there flanks off. Lance wept a tear from his eye from the laughter and nearly lost it when Hammerheart’s jaw dropped again. "Ha aha ha! Thunder Dust! You crack me up. Are you a nurse now or something? That light blue shirt goes with you." The dark blue pegasi with a whitish mane and a triple lightning cutie mark stopped laughing for a bit and glanced at his uniform. "Me? No I'm off duty right now. I don't go back on active scout duty until next week so I thought I come by to see my old friend since i'm in the area." Thunder came close to Lance and whispered, "Technically there's no visitors at this hour, so I had to, eh, blend in to visit you on my break time." He gave a quick wink. "Oh you sly dog you." Lance answered back in an approving voice. "Ahem." Hammerheart cleared her throat clearly expecting Lance to introduce her. "Oh, and this is Hammerheart. Our medic, tactical officer and hoof to hoof combat specialist." Hammerheart stuck her hoof out and bumped hoofs with Thunder. "Nice to meet you." Thunder looked at her and scanned her entire body, eyes up and down, from face to body to that flank. He quickly turned around back to Lance. "Vacant or no vacancy?" "Vacant... But I believe that somepony has a reservation." Lance explained which left her wonder what the hell they were talking about. "Rightly so. Regardless, I'm glad that you are okay. I heard that huge thundercrack all the way from Baltimare. And when I heard from one of the guards that it you and your buddy got in a deathmatch sort of battle. Now I knew what move you used, but what the buck happened with that?" Lance shifted in his bed and looked at his forearm wrapped in a cast. "You know, stress relief." "Ah. I see. Anyway. I'm glad your doing better." Thunder came a bit closer to Hammerheart who was staring at him with evil eyes. "Thanks. But I can't wait get out of here and see if this mare would like to come out on a date with me?" He looked at Hammerheart who was not wearing any armour and wiggled his eyebrows seductively. Hammer wished she had something on herself so he could stop peeking at her or this pegasus was gonna get beat. "Security! We have an imposter in the room!" Hammer yelled without missing a beat. Lance started to laugh while more voices can be heard from down the hall. "Stop you!" "We got the bastard this time!" "Who breaks into a hospital!?" Thunders ears deflated when he heard the voices and walked up to the window. He gave a look back at hammer and winked. "Looks like its time for my exit. See ya Lance and friend. Real soon." The pegasus plopped the window open just as soon as 3 security guard ponies all trampled in. "Stop!" "Screw you! I do what I want!" Thunder yelled and took off into the sky with a blueish green streak in the air as one of the ponies shook his hoof in frustration. "Dammit. I told you idiots to be more careful!" And he hit the other two in a slap. "Ow!" "Ouch!" "Now back to the surveillance room both of you!" Said the pony who was clad in security barding and seemed to be the leader. Both of the other two trotted out at a brisk pace out the room. The leader turned to the now confused Lance and even more confused Hammerheart. "Sorry about that." He said and left. “Well...Huh. Lance?" Asked Hammerheart. "Yeah?" "Your friends are crazy. Just saying,” she shrugged. "I know. I know...but not all of them are bad. I guess." Lance responded with a sigh. He looked away from hammer in thought and stared into empty space. "So how is my foreleg? Broken?" "I talked to the doctors. Your dumb ass actually broke it cleanly and put it back. They only used a bonding spell on you and made sure it was set correctly." Hammerheart said with her usual voice of technicalities. The pegasus nodded in understanding. "I see." Lance sighed and lifted his forearm up in the cast that they put on him. "So what's the plan now?" "I don't know lance. I don't know. We have to wait for Nova." She pushed her hair back with her hoof. "He is the leader after all." "Yeah. Could use this time to rest." Lance said as Hammerheart agreed with him. The room suddenly was filled with a very awkward silence as the actions of last night ran through both of their minds. However it was cut short by a groan from the other bed in the room which was soon followed by frantic screaming. "Argh! I don't know who I am! I need... I need to find my calling!" The pony yelled. She raged and shook around in her bed but was held down in restraints. Her green mane got even more messed up along with her orange coat as she tried to escape. A doctor and two nurses came in the room shortly after. There faces and their demeanor showed no affection, just business as usual for them. The doctor removed the curtain around the bed for it not to be entangled in it. "Ms. Silverheart and Goldheart. Hold her down." "Yes Doctor Black Vain." The nurses promptly did as they were told as they held the crazy pony down. The doctor calmly lit his horn and grabbed a syringe from the counter. "No. I must try to find my destiny! Let me go! Let go!" The mare yelled. All this commotion made Lance and Hammerheart stop and stare. And then it hit Hammerheart. That mare looked very familiar. Actually extremely familiar. Was she the same mare from back in West Filly with the first encounter of Strife? How did she end up here right next to them in Canterlot? The doctor jabbed a syringe and injected a purple liquid into her. Her eyes went lopsided and she stopped moving. The nurses stopped holding her and strengthened the straps. The doctor took a notepad and started writing notes. "Note that this has been the third day and there no signs of getting better. She's losing mental focus and stability. Suggest increased surveillance and dosages until a cure is found." He said to the nurses and then dismissed them. Then he glanced back at Lance and Hammerheart and came up to them. "Sorry about that. But you two are free to go." "Excuse me?" Asked Lance who was still shocked to what he just saw. "What?” Exclaimed hammer with her jaw dropped. The doctor narrowed his eyes and snorted. “That means that you're free to leave Mr. Skyslicer. A Mr. Blade sent a letter, endorsed by Luna herself, expressing permission to release you before the standard healing period.” Both Hammerheart and Lances jaw dropped again. Not only that Lance was free to go but they were helped from Nova from behind the scenes. What the heck was he doing? “Wait doc. Can you explain to us about what's happening to the pony next to us? She seems to be losing her mind. Is it because she has no cutie mark?” “Since I know who you guys are.” He stated. “And the fact that you're giving me a death glare.” He gestured to Hammer who smiled just a tad. “I guess I have to.” “And we’re kinda pressed for time so just give us the abridged version. Just without the hilarious humor normally associated with abridged things.” Lance slowly made his way out of the bed with Hammer’s help. The doctor urged not to facehoof right then and there. He grumbled to himself but realised that these were the ponies that have to fight the cutie mark stealer and should know the consequences of losing your cutie mark as an adult. It was only logical to explain in detail on what happens to the victims. “Just like you seen with the mare next you. She has no cutie mark. Remember how when you were young at one point and strived to find your true purpose? Thats the same case for this mare now. Its almost if she has no destiny to fulfil and her mind is losing cohesion within itself. Its a sad state. All we can do is sedate her and hope that there is a cure for this. Not only as its a mental challenge but any skill or talent associated with the cutie mark is lost. And we don't know if its permanently gonna stay or until the cutie mark stealer is caught.” Both Hammerheart and Lance just stared wide eyed. They didn't know the of the scope of the damage that Strife was causing until now. For they realised how truly evil her actions are and how she needs to be stopped. “Come on Lance. Lets go.” Hammerheart urgently nudged Lance snaking her way under his injured forehoof and using her body as a crutch. “Oh, like I want to get my sweet cutie mark taken away when we go after her...” Location: Royal Throne Room Time: 8:23 AM Celestia was signing a bunch of scrolls on her throne. It was not her favorite thing in the world to do but if it meant not being in court all day long then it was welcomed. She had a mare with a yellow coat and a blue mane levitate the scrolls for her as she read them. "Hmm...tax decrease request? Denied. Next." The scroll folded up and then went back to a pile until it was instantly replaced by another scroll. "Lets see here." The royal sun princess scanned the scroll for anything important or anything that's not from a snobby noble. "A shipment that needs my signature before it can be delivered to the airship docks? Interesting." Celestia took her pen and signed it and gave it back to the mare. "Okay, next." The mare was about to pick up another scroll before a glob of white and green light suddenly erupted in the middle of the room. Looks like spike was sending a letter from Twilight. Finally something to do that was not boring! Celestia made her horn glow and grabbed the scroll that materialized from the dragon magic and held it up. "Lets see... Strife is still out there....plans for next week....Nova's plan to stop Strife should be stopped?" Celestia couldn't hold back her inner excitement. Anything to distract her from her royal routine was welcomed with open hoofs. She kept reading until she frowned. A scowl erupted from her face until she looked up with near hatred at the poor mare that happened to be in front of her. "Pri- Princess?" Celestia calmed instantly before realizing her emotions were getting to her. "Oh. Sorry about that StarLight. But call one of the guards to come and summon princess Luna. Immediately," she commanded. "Ri- Right away!" Starlight called out in a quick hoof salute and trotted out the door faster than a cockatrice running away from the stare. Location: Canterlot Arena. Time: 8:00 AM The damage from the skirmish that Nova and Lance did to the arena was still there. No pony had dared even to fix anything at this moment due to one unicorn bearing dark purple and blue armor that was in the middle of the arena. Nova blade just came right from waking up and came straight to the arena to practice. He knew that today is the day that he will face Strife and wanted to be prepared. Once he got to the arena he started balancing on top of his axe with one hoof on the handle and the rest of his limbs in the air and started meditating. It was amazing that Nova actually was really focused for once. He balanced and switched hooves with the greatest of ease. A glow formed all around him and the wind swirled around creating an interesting scene. Off to the distance three other off duty day time guards came and faced Nova. The leader turned to his two subordinates and gave them a nod. "Nova wants a training session? Give it to him." The two guards stepped up and threw the most powerful spell they had at Nova. Nova with his eyes closed smiled and hopped right off his axe missing the blasts. Once he landed he faced his opposers in a huge grin. "Throw me three charges. Alternating strength. I have to master this shield spell. Its kinda shaky than from using my axe." "If thats what you want. Fine." The de facto leader turned to both of his subordinates and nodded. "On my mark....Mark!" The unicorn guards blasted the best and most powerful spells they knew at Nova. A bolt of pure green energies spun right at him. The student of the night barely moved a muscle to activate his shield. It visibly staticked and flickered like bad reception. The attacks impacted and the shield instantly cracked all over. It was nearly at its breaking point in no time. Nova wondered why this time his spell was not very effective to normal magic attacks but worked in defending when he needed it at the Plot O Rama and when Lance attacked him before, but he only needed it for no more than a couple of seconds. Why was it failing on him? Why was it not working? "Aww. Manure. Plan B." In a split second the shield went down while Nova switched to his axe, swiped it out of the ground, and smacked the magic attacks away making them impact into the distant wall. “Okay. New idea. Forget the shield spells. My axe technically does it all." He now circled the weapon around him making his signature axe shield. "Come at me with all you got. Usually, nothing get through this." "Fine. You asked for this." The leader waved a hoof to signal his subordinates to back away. The armed guard horn glowed and the magics all cohelested to a single spot at the very tip. "Say hello to my little friend!" The guard blasted a fiery red hot beam of magic right at Nova. The beam bounced right off the spinning axe and careened into the other wall. Again. "Well thats super effective." Nova proclaimed. He stopped his axe and then stopped everything. He looked into his axe with a sneer, "No. I thought I told you to remind me." The other guards looked puzzled as nova had a stare down with his axe. "Wait. What? Since when?" He paused and shook his head. "Oh. Okay then...training can wait for the trip." Nova turned from talking to his axe and faced his fellow guards whom all three shared perplexed looks. "Forcejet. I need you to go and get Hammerheart and Lance out of the hospital and tell them to meet me at the airship field. And tell sergeant Airshock to ready the Nocturne. In the meantime, I have to get some things ready. Is that clear?" "Yes Captain Nova. Right away." Forcejet turned to his fellow subordinates. "Volt, Glaze, you heard him. Lets go." The guard ponies left out of the arena. Once they were out of earshot nova whispered to his axe. "Thanks for reminding me buddy. I almost forgot about the sweet rolls..." Location: Canterlot Mountain: Airship field - Section 14 Time: 11:08 Nova trotted swiftly through the airship field. Many ships were docked and others were either slowly taking off or landing. The unicorn didn't take any notice and quickly went to the airship in the back of the field. Lunas Airship. The sound of his armor clanking around alerted the workers and various pilots to his presence. With his axe squeaky clean and his armor with a perfect finish, Nova was ready for battle. Once he reached the airship though something was definitely wrong. A bunch of engineering ponies of various races all gathered and stared up at a single airship which was between two others. "I cannot describe what I'm seeing in words." Said one. “How? Is a better way to start describing it." Another proclaimed. “Why didn’t we see this before? Or hell how did we NOT see this before?” One called out from a distance. "Seriously. Upside down?" Said a third engineer pony which made the other two both stare at Nova with disapproving frowns. Nova smiled in a huge grin until he realised he was gonna get killed by these ponies for being an idiot. There in front of them was the finest and most badass looking airship in the entire Equestrian Air Navy. The S.S Noctune. Lunas personal airship which was retrofitted with 4 engines, a single front facing high mass bolt driver (a large crossbow) and a ton of light ablative armor. It was regarded as the fastest ship in the equestrian navy with the top speed that could keep up with an average pegasus in full sprint. Luna never liked a chariot like Celestia and usually hates making other pegasi pull her around. She liked her own vehicle. But for the time being it was lended to her student and friends. There was one problem though, it was completely upside down. Nova stared at it, and back at the fellow engineer ponies. “I honestly don't know what went wrong.” Location: Ponyville Time: 9:34 AM Pinkie Pie was with Twilight who was going to the carousel boutique. They both trotted silently until pinkie pie suddenly fell on the floor, bounced back up, and defied gravity once again for a full 12 seconds. Once she finished the defying process she fell back on the hard earth with a thud. Twilight looked at her with her jaw to the floor and asked the dreaded question. "What on Equestria is that all about?" “I think somepony broke physics and it wasn’t me.” Pinkie calmly explained with a huge grin. Twilight started shaking in fear. “You mean someone OTHER than you broke the laws of physics?” Pinkie put a hoof up to her chin in thought. “Uh, yes,” she calmly said. “Twilight?” “Huh. I guess it must be her nap time!” Location : Canterlot Mountain : Airship field : Section 14 Time: 11:23 "How the hell did you...what does...how does one simply make an airship perfectly upside down in the parking space and take until NOW to notice it. And what's worst is that NOTHING is falling out of it." Asked Hammerheart who had her saddlebags on along with some light barding. "Yeah, Hammerheart is right. How the buck did you do this Nova?" Lance asked as he stood next to Hammerheart whom where both grilling Nova in front of them. They were all standing in front of the S.S. Nocturne along with other engineer and work ponies. Nova took a couple of steps back in fear. "Really. I honestly don't know." "Well dont just stand there. Your a bucking unicorn. Fix it." Lance deadpanned. The injury to his forearm must have still been putting him in a bad mood. "Okay, okay, hold your horses!" "What the hell does that even mean!?" He yelled. Nova made his horn glow and a purplish hue engulfed the interceptor class airship. The ship slowly turned and rotated until it was rightside up. Nova panted from the sheer exertion of magic and sat on his haunches when he was done. Hammerheart came up to him and pat him on his helmet. "That'll do. That’ll do nova." "Yay, now we can go and capture Strife. I don't want this to get worst than it already is." Nova mumbled dejectedly. Lance who now was wearing a hoof brace, made by hammerheart, came up to him and looked him in the eyes. Novas mood changed, whatever he saw in lance's eyes meant he knew that Lance knew that it was not good. Strife had to be stopped. And soon. Hammerheart went up the ramp on the side of the ship and turned around to face the ponies below. "Nova, go start up the gem capacitors. You know that this ship needs 89 gigajoules to work. Fire it up with some magic!" Hammerheart demanded. "Yes sir. I mean ma’am, I mean master, I mean princess." "GO!” Hammer shoved Nova towards the boarding ramp. She then turned her attention to the injured sharpshooter. “Lance, your wing braces are in the back of the cargo hold waiting for you with those upgrades you wanted. Put them on and turn on the ships primary weapon and prime the ammo as you see fit. We don't know what to expect.” “Finally!" Lance gleefully spread his wings and bolted inside the ship. “And you three!” Hammerheart yelled at three engineer ponies just staring at the ship. “I want this ship ready in five minutes for take off. All necessary supplies and ammo. Got it!?" "Yeah, sure Hammerheart." One replied. "No. Captain! Captain Hammerheart to you!" The earth pony yelled from on top of the ship. “Too bad I lost that amazing airship captain’s hat...” Everyone started frantically setting the ship up. The engineers checked the engines, some external flaps and other primary components to make sure they're in working order. Nova was charging the capacitor of the ship with magic for the trip. Even though most ships are steam powered this one was special. A recent upgrade from Fancy Industries made this the first experimental Gem powered airship, with the gem acting as a capacitor and power supply. It greatly improved speed, maneuverability, and made the ship a lot lighter. Lance was inside the bow of the ship where the single bolt cannon was located. It was awesome weapon with a self reloading crossbow bolt the size of a hoof. The pegasus loaded a large black bolt onto the side slot and jammed it in. "Should provide a nice surprise when we fire this thing." He almost squee’d in delight. Hammerheart busied herself in the control room. A hell of a lot of dials, gauges, and even some techno magic displays were laid out everywhere. She pressed a series of buttons and the ship rocked and came to life with the external power. She grabbed a microphone and spoke into it. "Ship is about ready to take off. T minus 10 minutes. Boys you better do everything right, you don't want to blow up all over the launchpad like last time." From the bottom of the deck a yell was heard, but was muffled. "That was an accident. Let it go Hammer!" Another voice rang out from below deck. “That’s what she said!” Around the ship the engineer ponies took a step back from tending to the ship. They still can't believe how awesome and how powerful it was. For such a small size it was fully armed with every piece of technology Equestria could offer. Suddenly off in front of the ship a white glow of light erupted and expanded. "POOF" There, right in front of the ship appeared Luna with her two guards, Pepperstone and Darkshade. Even Thunder Dust was with them. Her mane flowed and she held her head up high. She must have just won a team deathmatch online for her to be in a good mood at this hour or something. Though the other ponies with her seemed to be utterly scared from her and shuffled slightly away. The night princess looked up at her ship and gave a smug smile. She walked up onto the deck along with her entourage and called out. "Wheres my student?" In that instant the ship erupted and the engines spurred out flames. Everypony was shaken violently until Nova literally appeared from a teleport right in front of Luna, startling her. "Ohhh, sorry Luna, I uh, Panicked when I heard your voice." Nova apologetically said. "Nova! You nearly gave me a royal heart attack." "I know I'm sorry. Just so you know where kinda in the middle of going after Strife right now..." Nova trailed off. He himself really wanted to get this over with, not just for Luna but maybe to save Sonata herself before shes beyond saving. "Worry not my student. Thats why I’m here. Do you know exactly where she was spotted?" Luna asked. Nova tilted his head in his classic confusion expression and shook his head slowly. "I thought so." Hammerheart came out from the cockpit and waved a hoof at Luna but instantly sneered angrily at Thunder Dust who was standing next to her. Thunder actually backed away a bit and stood behind the princess. "Princess! About time you got here. I need those coordinates." "Hammerheart. Thunder Dust here was actually the scout that found Strife. He will give you the coordinates." Luna calmly said. Thunder Dust came forward, wiggled his eyebrows and laughed a bit causing Hammerheart to take a few steps back from him now. Lance came up onto the main deck and found everyone here. Thunder spotted him in his wing brace and gave out a hearty laugh. "Nice leg you got there." "Nice wings, I hope they break." "Woah, what's wrong with you? A little sour at this time are we not?" "I hadn't had booze in 23 hours." Lance replied. He was dirty from all the soot and dirt that he accumulated from the dirty firing mechanisms he worked on. “Here buddy, I brought some Alicorn Ale with me, usually helps me on the long flights.” Thunder said as he pulled out a bottle with glass wings and a cap that resembled a horn. Lances mouth started watering and he stared at intensely. “Give it now!” Lance glomped Thunder and they started a fight cloud with them after the booze. As Lance and Thunder scuffled more, Hammerheart ignored them and talked to Luna's guards while Nova spoke to the princess. "Luna, forgive me." This took Luna by surprise. "What on Equestria for?" "For not going after her sooner. I let things get really bad." Luna walked up and wrapped a wing around Nova like a caring mother, making sure not to touch the axe on his back. "That's alright. You did what you had to do, from defending yourself and your friends. Your a good pony Nova. You need to remember that." Nova only nodded. “Also, take note. Your friends are there to help you, and you have been taught many things, things that would make other warriors and students jealous, all to help you.” He knew he had a mission to accomplish and he would not let anything go wrong this time. “Just stay safe. I don't want another student failure....like that stupid show mare.” Luna raised a hoof up in frustration leaving Nova partially invigorated and slightly more confused on what the heck Luna was talking about. Some time passed and Luna bid farewell to her student and his friends. As she and her guards left to go back to the castle, a pegasi in the day guard armor came from above really fast and landed right in front of her. “Forgive me your highness, but princess Celestia is looking for you and asks that you meet her in the Royal Archives immediately.” “Uh...Did she find out already?” “What?” Before anything further could be said, Luna's horn glowed and she vanished in a teleport. “I hate it when she does that.” Said PepperStone. Darkshade snorted in response. “Does she not realize that we are with her at all times, and purposely forgets we exist!?” “I believe so, Dark, I believe so.” “Fuuuuuu......” Location: Airship Field : Section 14 Time : 11:34 AM Hammerheart punched in the coordinates that Thunder Dust gave her into the ships techno magic navigation system which was nothing more than a magic powered compass strapped to a chart. The display lit up and showed them as a little ship symbol with a large x on the other side of the chart. “Okay then. Now to make sure everything is ready.” A press of another switch lit up another display which showed the ships vital stats and various levels of power, magic, ammo, etc. She smiled at her handy work before stopping in thought. “Oh I almost forgot I can do this.” The earth pony went up to her saddlebags in the back of the cockpit and took out her Experimental Arcane Device and attached it to her leg. She came back to the controls and press a blue button that said ‘Bluechop Connection Dongle’ which lit up and the controls with all various technical information was transferred to her leg. “Everything is better with Bluechop. Now I can see everything that goes on the ship without having to run it from the cockpit. Sweeeet.” She grabbed a radio and pressed a button. "This is S.S. Nocturne, requesting permission for take off. Over" *Static* "This is General Airshock, your clear to takeoff, all traffic has been cleared for approximately 20 minutes, so take off within that time. Over. "Ten four. Over and out." Meanwhile, Lance and Nova were talking amongst themselves on the main deck after Nova finished charging the ship up to the proper levels of magic. Lance though took off his brace on his leg and wrapped it with some bandages. “So, you can't do a shield spell properly anymore? Then how the heck did you do it when I attacked you and when Strife took off back at the Plot O Rama?” Lance asked as he flexed his wings in a wing shrug. Nova, stood there pondering in thought for a moment before responding. “I don't Know, It seems though I can do just as well with my axe spinning around me then just relying on my magic for temporary defense." The unicorn turned around towards his axe on his back. "What?" He paused. "No, YOU did that?" "Did what?" "This bastard, took some of my magic without permission!" "Wut? What the heck are you talking about." Lance asked. Clearly it was too early for Nova to have problems. "As you know my axe acts as some sort of battery, and I can store almost the equivalent of my max power into the axe along with my own reserves. Its like having 2 unicorns in terms of total magic power." "Which means in plain equine?" "It means my axe choked some of my magic. Isn't that right limb?" Nova clearly didn't know why his axe did that. "What you mean, my life was not in danger at that time? I still could've handled it with-" Nova gasped loudly. "Oh you better not give me the silent treatment. Limb? Did you just hang up on me? How in Tartarus did he do that?" "Your axe has problems." "I want a refund from Luna. Never should've gotten this thing." *static* "Boys everything is ready on my end. Take off in t-minus. 10 seconds." Hammerheart sounded through the loudspeaker. "Wait what?" "7" "Crap, Wings down." Lance said as he hunkered down using his wings as external supports. "5" "Wait I'm not ready hammer!" Yelled Nova as he frantically tried to grab something. "4... Ah screw it, FIRING AFTERBURNERS!" It was too late, Hammerheart punched the big red button. The four engines swiveled to face aft and fired a horrifying bright purple blast of pure energy. The ship rocketed out of the hanger at great speed while inadvertently blowing away everything that was unfortunate enough to be with within a few hundred feet of the thing. In the control tower, Sargent Airshock and others just watched in awe at the purple light in the distance taking off. Everyone gasped in unison with a resounding "Daaaaaaaamn." Nova yelled but couldn't be heard from the roar of the engines as the ship gained more speed. He lost some grip from the railing he was grabbing on too. “Oh Luna rape with the mo....” *slip* Nova careened into the back of the ship as the engines swiveled forward. With a crash he went right through the door and landed in the rear observation room. The ship gained even more momentum going forward before eventually reaching its cruising speed. Hammerheart burst open the door leading to the deck. "Hows that for zero to subsonic in less than 10 seconds flat." She looked around and saw Lance pick himself up as even he himself toppled over and fell along with Nova. The student of the night was nowhere to be seen on deck except a large skidmark leading to the rear side. "Okay then...we should be to Ghastly Gorge in about 1 hour to 45 minutes at this speed and wind currents." The wind was strong as the ship speed through the air making it a bit cold. Though for Lance this was nothing compared to the harsh conditions of upper atmosphere flying. "Hammer, remind me to do kick your flank for doing that." “Oh lighten up Lance, I Haven't driven this thing since back in Zebraria and It has been upgraded lately. Thank Fancy for that." "Yeah, but you nearly sent Nova flying off the ship. He didn't even have a chance to brace himself with magic. Ya better apologise to him." "But Its not my-" "Hammer!" "Fine, fine." Hammerheart pressed a button on the EAC on her forearm which set the ship on autopilot. She went down the stairs and turned towards the rear of the ship. Inside she found one side of the wall cracked completely but was put back together. Odd. Didn't Nova just crash through not too long ago? That question left her when she opened the door, looked inside and gasped. There Nova was actively attacking his axe and his axe attacking back with its own magic. Nova quickly looked at Hammer. "Nows, NOT the-," *Smack* the axe hit the unicorn with another attack. "-Time! Leave!" He turned back to the weapon and summoned a bucket filled with water. "Time to learn a lesson you ungrateful piece of metal." The axe started to spin on its axis. He lunged at the weapon. Hammerheart slowly closed the door. As soon as it clicked shut she heard a muffled explosion and a large yell. But she didn't turn around to look, no she was a bad ass mare. Once she returned to the deck she was greeted by Lance. "Well. Is he okay?" "Don’t ask. I really don't know." "Something happen?" "Lets just say." Hammerheart pulled up some goggles and put them on. "Hes having a bad day. Yeah. Lets go with that." "Alrighty then." Lance rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Thanks for caring for me again at the hospital. You nearly healed my leg overnight." He shuffled and hit the deck with the leg wrapped in bandages to punctuate his point. "Hey, what are friends for?" "Benefits. They are there for benefits." Lance said without hesitation. "Ugh, you disgust me sometimes. Sometimes." Hammerheart said with an added wink. *Tink* Lances wing sprung straight up causing Hammerheart to giggle a bit. "You really need to get that under control." "Okay one. I need more alcohol and two.This is not the time Hammer. If Nova saw us get close...I mean, I don't think he knows why I was pissed at him before and I don’t think I could take him now." Hammer just laughed. “Oh please you couldn't take him in the first place.” "Hey! If magic wasn't a factor and Nova didn't have that psycho axe I’d beat his flank from her to VanHoover and back." Lance paused and got back on track to what he was saying before. “But I'm being honest Hammer. This is the last thing we really need on our minds now.” "I see." Hammerheart ears deflated when Lance practically shot her down. Even though it was the perfect chance she couldn't risk the mission or Luna forbid, Nova just for Lance. Even though she had feelings for Nova, it was wrong to get mixed up in a mess. Her mare problems had to wait. They were all on a mission, a mission to save Equestria. Time: 12 PM Location: enroute to Ghastly Gorge. Heading : SW The ship cruised onwards for quite a while with the sun high above the sky. It was a clear day, not a cloud in sight. Though to Lance that was a bad thing. Clouds provide cover for him during his sniping and it allows him to shuffle clouds around. Not the best conditions in his opinion to engage the enemy or provide support, especially today. Hammerheart was piloting the ship from the front making sure everything is okay with the energy levels and engines. Lance came through the door and then shuffled to the side looking at some instruments. "Hey, how far are we from our current destination?" Hammer only press a button which showed a map and the ship from above. "Hmm, It seems we are about maybe 30 or so minutes away from the coordinates but we are above the beginning of the gorge itself. We could get there faster, in 5 minutes if we put full afterburners on. But those only last for 60 seconds before shorting out." Lance raised an eyebrow. "Really? Well I might as well start looking out for any signs of trouble. Have you seen or heard from Nova in the past hour or so?" "No I haven't. Actually he has been really quiet. I don't like it when its quiet, especially when its him we are talking about." Lance opened his mouth to say something but closed it. He only nodded. "Lets go check on him." "Sure, Let me transfer controls real quick." Hammer pressed a button and again all of the control of the ship transferred to the device on her leg. Lance followed her out and to the rear level where Nova was. They paused before the door. "Okay so. On the count of three. We slowly open the door." Lance said while putting a hoof up. "Gotcha." "One, Two...three." Lance nudged the door open while hammer peered inside. The sight they saw was not really surprising to them but to anypony else it would be, uh, interesting. Inside Nova was surrounded in magic and floating. His axe slowly rotating around him. Three books were also in front of him all open and slowly being read by Nova whose eyes was emitting a large streak of purple energy. He almost looked like Sombra for a second but with a strange smile on his face. "Nova!" Nova startled from Lances rude interruption dropped himself, the axe and the books. He thumped on the floor and banged his head. "What the Buck was that for!?" The unicorn yelled. The books disappeared in white flash while the axe automatically went back to his back. "We are about 30 minutes from the coordinates near Ghastly Gorge. You ready?" "Yeah. I'm ready." Nova said as he shifted his armor back into position. "What the heck were you doing?" Hammerheart asked as she tilted her head in confusion. "You better not be doing anything stupid again." Nova put hoof up to stop her. "No, I was studying on shield spells and how to make my axe behave." The axe shifted and shook on his back. "I know I have been mean to you, I said I was sorry Limb, Its you who won't listen though." The axe shook again and then glowed a bit yellow. "Whatever." "Well come on. You should be on the lookout for-" *BOOM* The ship shook violently and started to angle down taking everyone by surprise. "The hell is happening!?" Nova yelled as he struggled to get up. Hammerheart looked at her screen on her foreleg. "Crap. The ship has been hit. There is a huge air leakage on the right side. We’re losing about 100 cubic feet of air by the second and I don’t think the repair spells can handle it!" Hammerheart said as she looked at her device. Red marks flashed all over the little overview map of the ship. "Everyone out, come see what the hell is going on!" Lance ordered as the two followed him. Hammerheart went straight to the cockpit while the others went to the main deck. She pressed a lot of buttons on her way there to make the ship steady but controls that a hoof can pull or push was better at the moment amidst all the shaking. Nova took out his axe and made sure to keep a lookout. Lance though readied his wing braces and clicked in some ammo. He took off right away while Nova looked frantically around to the sides and front to see what hit them. The ship had a gash the size of a boulder named Tom and was losing altitude fast. Smoke billowed from the airframe but the engines were unharmed for the most part. Hammerheart was clicked and pulled a lot of levers in a quick fashion. The altitude was dropping rapidly and the engines were already pointed down more than usual to keep the ship up. It was a struggle between gravity and forward momentum. "Crap, I have to use the afterburners to keep aloft." She punched the button and the ship exploded with purple energy out of the engines pulling the ship to a stable flight but still descending. Nova out of the corner of his eye spotted a flash and then looked over to the horizon. There in the distance was a clearing and within that clearing was a pony with, what appeared to be, Manticores all around the said pony. "Lance to your left! Mark your target!" Nova commanded. From the distance a beam of light was collapsing and shot towards the ship. Nova literally threw his axe off to try to block it from hitting the ship but missed. The beam impacted the ship causing one of the engines to burst out and explode. Lance in the meantime saw where the beam shot from and circled back to the ship to inform Hammer. He barely came back in time and stumbled through the door. "Hammer, Head northeast 13 clicks, 54 degree bank turn. I know the ship is doomed but I need to at least a get a shot at her." "Wait, what? You know who is attacking us!? Why that specific turn too? Thats almost a crash landing." "Exactly Strife is attacking and she has some help of some Manticores." "What the buck!? Seriously? Does Nova know?" "Now is not the time hammer to question how far a pegasus can see, do what I say and point the ship at her with the information I just gave you! I will tell Nova to help you with energy but I think we might need to abandon ship right after I fire the bolt cannon." The ship rocked and swayed causing Hammerheart to slip and fall. Lance immediately helped her up while she continued working the controls. "Thanks, now go man the cannon if we are gonna do this. Nova better hurry on the energy recharge, I have about 24 seconds of afterburners left and we are descending at a rate of 100 ft per second, lets get a move on!" She commanded and quickly reached for her saddlebag and put on her power hooves faster than lightning while discarding her device on her foreleg. Lance saluted and flew out of the cockpit and went straight to Nova who at this time saw where the attacks were coming from. "Nova! Strife is attacking us, I'm telling Hammer to angle the ship so I can fire a shot at her with the cannon. Come with me and power charge the engines." "But, shes constantly throwing energy blasts at us, with goddam thermal damage! Who the hell is gonna block her attacks?!" "Theres no time Nova. Come on. If I get a good shot at her then her attacks will stop." "Alrighty then..." Nova took his axe back and followed lance below deck. The ship swayed and jittered a lot in its slow descent making the two bump into the walls as they traveled down. Lance immediately went to the back of the cannon and activated the controls. A small screen popped up showing a scope and a target marker. Nova on the other hoof went to the energy crystal capacitor and got ready to charge it. Lance aimed the cannon just slightly up about 4 degrees and primed the weapon. The large black bolt slid into place automatically and then cocked in. "Nova, start charging it. The ship is using all the power for the afterburners, so once I fire this, There will be no power left. We got to teleport out of here as soon as I fire. Understood?" "Yes sir, charging capacitor." Novas horn glowed his classic purple and energy was shot into the spinning ruby gem. Lance saw on an auxiliary screen the power go up and hold to a certain point. *SMASH!* Another blast of energy hit the ship, this time to the side throwing Nova and Lance around. The ship suddenly lunged forward and into a steep dive making nearly impossible to get up from the forces exerted. *”Hang on boys, Strife shot us again but I think I can get up.”* Hammerheart called out through the intercom. "I'm not gonna fail this time, No way!" Nova called out in a victory cry. He grabbed the nearest object and pulled himself up. Once again his horn glowed and energies started flowing back into the capacitor. Lance, inspired by Novas dedication, got up as well and started to take aim while looking at the screen. He saw Strife there in the distance surrounded by at least 20 manticores all in a clearing not too far from the cliff face of Ghastly Gorge. Thoughts on why and how Strife was doing all this baffled him. But now was not the time to care. He focused on zooming in and marking his trajectory. Meanwhile, Hammerheart was doing a hell of a job keeping the ship steady with Novas energy replenishment. The pegasus squinted his eyes and took aim. He pulled the trigger. "Firing Main Cannon." A female voice called out. A streak of black shot out from the ship heading straight towards strife. Partway between her it split into more than a hundred bolts and rockets all going in seemingly random directions. Strife though did nothing immediate but eventually her horn glowed and she with her manticore buddies vanished and reappeared some distance away. The impact destroyed that section of the land which crumbled and fell into the bottom of the gorge. "Crap we missed. Nova, a teleport would be nice now!" Lance said with urgency. Nova stopped charging the capacitor and activated another spell. He and Lance vanished into thin air and reappeared in the cockpit almost causing Hammerheart to die of near heart attack with them suddenly appearing. "Ahhh! What the bucked are you two doing?! And how the hell did you miss Lance!?" "Dammit. Nova how close can you get us?" Lance asked ignoring hammerheart. Nova saw in the distance another glow of energy coalescing where Strife is standing. "Right on top of her." He seethed, his axe glowed purple and his amour even seeped with some magic. “Okay that works.” Lance saluted. "Wait, what!?" Hammerheart pressed a button to put the ship on autopilot right before they vanished into thin air. Location: Ghastly Gorge Time :12:48 PM "Take this!" Strifes made some energy coalesce into a small ball, once it got to a certain point it shot a steady red beam into the airship far off to the distance. It impacted the side of the ship making a nice hole in the hull. Strife was standing amongst some Manticores. They all looked like they were afraid of her but couldnt leave for some reason. She watched the sky above as a purple airship exploded again and fell from the sky. "Those fools think they could find me so easily." She then turned to the manticores and then took out a magic whip. *Smack!* "All of you front and center. I want 2 manticores up front, two on the back, and the rest on the sides. As soon as you see anypony, attack. Understand!?" She threw the whip which again smacked the ground and in that instant the manticores shuffled positions. On her flank was another cutie mark along with the others, that of a whip on top of a paw, which glowed when she used her magical whip. "Come on Nova, you want to capture me and stop me from reaching my goal? Lets see you try." She said to herself. She peered up at the sky and saw the ship finally descend below the horizon. Nova and company were nowhere to be seen. Strife at this point almost considered whether or not that it was the right ship in the first place to attack. Well it had to be. It did have a lunar crest on the outside. And at least it was not as annoying as that stupid pegasus that got away. A hundred or so feet above her a white glow of light erupted and in that instant Nova and the gang came out of a teleport. Though this time nopony screamed or made a sound. Lance immediately grabbed Hammerheart and hovered, holding his position. Nova on the other hoof took out his axe and placed it under his hooves and air surfed to the ground. A manticore looked up and roared causing the others, including strife, to see what the commotion was all about. Nova came in full speed, but didn't say anything, not a single war cry but kept going straight down. His axe glowed and a lot of electricity formed on the bottom side of the axe. Strife saw him and erected a shield while one of the manticores stood directly below him, hoping to stop him. "This is gonna be interesting." Lance said as he continued hovering and slowly moved to the side of the crowd of manticores, looking for a save spot to put down Hammer. Nova impacted the unfortunate manticore with his axe cutting him straight down his side in a long swipe. The manticore didnt have a chance, he fell straight down with blood pouring out of him. The unicorn landed on the ground in a thud causing sparks and rocks flying in all directions, hitting Strifes shield and other manticores. Once the dust cleared of his initial impact he grabbed his axe, now slightly bloody and put it front of him pointing it at Strife. "This ends...now." "Ah, yes! You have fallen into my trap! I was expecting you to co-" *BANG, BANG, BANG* Shots of purple hit multiple manticores causing them to fall over unconscious while sending others in a near panic. Lance was circling above and shot more manticores with expert precision in the chest and wings. Some dodged and some attacked him back by taking off after him. Strife was now down to 16 manticores under her control and couldn't believe how Nova literally wounded one without hesitation. "Nova, I thought you, of all ponies, wouldn't hurt other creatures," she cooed in her soothing, evil voice. The armoured unicorn said nothing for a moment before taking the axe closer to him, smiling to himself, and then looking back at Strife. "I know limb, calm down. Focus on the former friend and now great threat to Equestria." "What on Equestria are you talking about?" Strife asked being quite irritated. She still kept her distance from Nova and at the same time Hammer and Lance kept the Manticores busy. Hammer though with her power hooves started literally decimating her opposition, even though these beasts are 5 times a ponys size, she took down 3 of them with ease already. Lance too was firing bolt after bolt into the half lion half winged things. Strife looked and saw that she was down to already 10 manticores. Her face turned to a horrified expression. She looked at the student of the night and how he was so calm, composed, and above all, not acting like an idiot. "Forget them! Attack Ponyville instead!" Strife yelled at her manticore minions. She wanted them to be a distraction for the three so she can recharge her magic and run away. The remaining manticores all turned and heading into the surrounding woods towards the town. Though to Strifes surprise, once the manticores all turned around and fled, all three warriors under Luna, instead surrounded Strife on all sides. "Buck. I thought you would save the town." "Not a chance, I have a mission to stop YOU, not to save a town. Besides, I think the elements of harmony can handle it." "Oh? How do you plan to stop me from getting revenge on this totaterlaion society?" Strife asked. Her eyes gazed to her left and right where both Lance and hammerheart were standing. She was surrounded by three strong warriors. This was different than the other encounters. There was no hesitation in their teamwork, no stupid shenanigans from Nova. Though she did catch a look at Lance. Lance though tried to not make any eye contact. Strife saw this and guessed that Hammer might be jealous. She could use this to her advantage! But how? "Strife, I'm gonna ask you this. How on earth did you get another cutie mark!? Thats four as of now." Nova asked while his axe slowly revolved around him subconsciously. "Oh this?" She showed her flank more prominently and made sure to make it more known to Lance while Hammerheart's eye violently twitched. Lance raised a hoof up from behind the other two. "For the record... I'd still tap that." "Ummm wow... Anyway... I got this paw and whip from a fellow in near Los Pegasus. He was a manticore circus trainer and I thought that with powers like those, I could have an army of savage beasts that could kill a pony in one swipe under my control." She put a hoof up in dismissal. “But I didn't expect you to be so good in taking them down." "Okay then, seems legit. So are you gonna come quietly. Or are we gonna have to drag you to the hospital to see the damage you done or what?" Nova explained. His voice was calm and his armor actually glowing at the seams and edges. Hammerheart though stomped her hoof down. "Nova, How the buck did you know what's happening at the hospitals?" Hammer asked. "One of the guards told me. And I know the full scope of the situation, the damage she has caused, and the fact that Strife might be the cure for putting the cutie marks back." Nova stopped his axe and then pointed it at Lance. "You ready?" "You know it." "Oh, wait a minute..You're that pegasus... And for the record... I'd let you tap that that!" Strife immediately called out looking at Lance ending with a suggestive wink. This was followed with a very angry earth pony charging full speed at Strife screaming like a psychopath. The multi cutie mark unicorn in return blasted the earth pony with a magic energy bolt, throwing Hammerheart back. "Lance, you and Hammer know what to do." Nova called out. His horn glowed and he got in the most serious stances he ever been in. "Oh? Are you really gonna hit a mare? You know I can block your magic attacks right? I am stron-" Strife herself didn't finish her sentence. Nova charged at her with his hooves in the full armor glowing a fiery red and his axe too the same color. She erected a force field, which was the term for a stronger shield meant solely for blocking. Nova impacted the shield with a huge burst of light ensuing. Hammerheart was helped up by Lance and cursed the ground. "I'll beat that whorse into a puddle if its the last thing I do." She seethed and shook the dirt off her power hooves. Lance put a hoof on her shoulder with a firm shake of his head. "Stop. Hammer. Nows not the time for your feelings." Lance said as he put in more ammo in the crossbows. "Nova needs us, He can't do the final attack unless we do it for him. You know his rule, He can't kill or harm anyone that was his former friend. Those manticores on the other hoof...well you saw what he just did." "I know, I know. I'm just pissed is all." "Then be pissed at Strife. She is the enemy. And any enemy of my friends deserves to be put down." He extended his wings and pointed up. "Yeah, yeah. Just don't pull a bolt in my flank. Its my best quality." "No promises. But I think your flank is second." The pegasus chuckled and shot up into the sky. Nova crashed right through the shield making Strife do a mini teleport away. The armoured unicorn looked downright scary when he wanted to be. His axe was in front of him spinning and doing mini swipes. "Strife, I'm telling you to stop and come with us. You're being irrational." He said as the axe jittered up and down along with his words. "Never!" She summoned up some coals, and lit them on fire. In a sweeping throw she tossed a multitude of fiery heaps at her opponent. Nova in quick succession swiped the axe in a multiple directions deflecting or crushing the projectiles. Suddenly, a shot of green shot near strife causing her to stumble back. But another bolt hit the ground as well, shooting a green sprouts of emerald crystals at her. Lance was doing all this from far above making him invaluable for fire support. With Lance controlling where Strife was heading, Nova lunged at her legs with his weapon, making sure to use the blunt side. Strife though blasted him head on with a water spell pushing Nova back, preventing him from going further. Hammerheart took this opportunity to get the upper hoof on her. She bounced high into the air and aimed for Strife. Her hooves could be quite deadly, not from the initial impact but from the electricity that it emanated. Strife, nearly overwhelmed from the sudden influx of multiple attacks dropped everything and made another shield. Everyones attacks bounced off except Hammerhearts. She literally stood on top of Strife shield and started pounding away at the top, making small cracks with every hit of her power hooves. Almost like a zerg rush. "I will end you right here and now!" Hammerheart yelled. "Well, lets see how you like this." Strife said as she suddenly dropped the shield, turned around and bucked hammer in her free fall from above. The earth pony flew off and again landed in a skid. But Strife should've paid attention to her surroundings. *Bonk!* The multi cutie mark unicorn was hit from Novas axe right to the side throwing her to the ground. Hammer took this opportunity to get up and assist Nova. The student of the night stopped her with a hoof. "Hammer wait." "But we have to capture her!" "Somethings not right..." In that moment strife, who was still on the ground stood back up quickly. A magic seal appeared under her and a large wind picked up coming from her. The magic pressure was almost too much for Nova. "Die!" Strife threw up another force field, and then summoned hot coals again. But she covered them with water. Purple water. Nova saw this and was baffled. What could she be thinking? But there was no time to ponder on that. She threw a multitude of hot gooey coals at Nova and Hammerheart. Nova stood their and got his weapon ready to defend. "Nova! Don't let them touch your axe!" Lance screamed out from above. He unleashed a heavy salvo of black bolts which hit each coal coming straight at nova. The shots hit the coals midair but on impact, exploded in a huge firework like explosion. One of the coals hit Nova though. One that Lance missed and it stuck to his armor like glue. "Crap." Nova literally exploded and rocketed back in a huge arc. If it was not for his armor he would have been seriously injured. "Nova! No!" Hammerheart jumped higher than usual due to her adrenaline to come to her fallen friend. Nova groaned. His armor on his right foreleg and his back was chipped. Some parts were cracked and started to fall. "Here Nova let me help you. Lance! Keep her busy!" Lance didn't need to be told what to do in this kind of situation. He most certainly had the upper hoof in this battle. Its not like Strife can attack him with anything substantial. Right? Strife on the other hoof saw what she did. She herself didn't expect to do that. "Huh, It seems that when I combine certain cutie marks in attacks, I can almost triple or quadruple the damage." She looked up and saw lance ready another dive bomb of bolts. “Oh this will not do. Not do at all." She looked at Nova and Hammer and saw that Novas axe was on the ground. He must have took a huge hit. But how to get rid of that pesky pegasus? Ah, yes she didn't steal that manticore trainer cutie mark for nothing. She turned towards the woods and whistled the classic dog whistle. Lance didn't think of anything of it and went right for her. A black blur shot out of the neighboring woods taking Lance by surprise. A black coated manticore came to Strife. He was at least twice as tall as the other manticores and actually wore some kind of makeshift armor on his body. Lance actually Landed on the ground due to sheer shock. He looked at the opponent then back towards his friends. "Uh, guys. A little help here we might have a problem." "What are you tal-" Hammerheart turned around after bandaging up Nova. "Oh. Well that's not shocking. I've seen bigger." "What!?" "What!?” Both Strife and Lance yelled out. Lance was even more skeptical on Hammers judgement in battle now. He flapped his wings and got close to her and Nova. Nova grumbled but eventually got up. His belly was wrapped in large bandage he groaned a bit in pain. All three of the students of the night just stared at Strife and the large black manticore. "Oh, I didn't see this. The student of the night and his friends being held back from my power?" Strife said as she stroked her mane. "Ha ha ha! Taking over the Equestrian government is gonna be a snitch. I will start by taking Luna down first. Since she means so much to you, Novatic Blade." "What!?" Nova quickly turned to his axe and picked up. "Any bright Ideas limb?" He heard nothing but looked back at Strife. "Guys, I'm going to be very serious. Can you take that large manticore out?" "Yeah. Hopefully." Lance replied as he clicked in more ammo. Though he himself was running low he was really depending on Hammer this time. Hammer herself was somehow really confident in herself. "Oh, the gang thinks this gonna be easy?" Strife taunted the group. She magicked once more her whip and smacked it against the ground. "Pride leader Kimba, Attack!" Lance and Hammerheart took off to face off there new opponent while Nova used a quick teleport to charge Strife. The battle has only just begun. Location: Royal Archives - Top floor Time : 1:23 PM "Sister, what is the meaning of this? Why have you brought me here?" Luna said in the most unpleasant voices. She hated being summoned from her sister and most importantly hated not being told why she was being summoned. Celestia stood with her in the middle of the archive room. "It has come to my attention that something is missing." "Like what?" “Let me show you." Celestia turned to a wall that held only pictures and a pretty standard bookcase. She pressed in one of the lower books with her hoof and the bookcase started to move over revealing a hidden passageway. Torches lit up the way and it seemed to go on forever into the abyss. "Ah, the ancient archives. But what about them?" "Something in here was taken, but no pony can move it, not even me." "What are you saying sister?" Luna shared her sister concern now while Celestial stayed composed. But Luna had a pretty good idea on what her sister was already referring too. "I'm saying, the thing I fear the most is missing." "Why are you really doing this Sonata? Why!" Nova yelled as his axe smashed and clanged against Strifes own magic weapon that she summoned up. "I don't have to tell you anything. Just stay out of my way." She seethed. A furious exchange of weapon against weapon. Sparks erupted every time the weapons met. And each pony was not letting up in their attacks. Nova was surprised how she, a complete amateur in swordplay, was keeping up with him, an highly trained student in terms of speed and technique. This only served to make Nova more frustrated. Though off to the side a large crash and a yell sounded. Nova took a quick look to see Hammerheart being thrown back and Lance firing every bolt he had at the pride leader. "Ha! An opening!" Strife took the chance now that Nova was distracted and hit him with a large energy blast that had flames coming out of it. "Horse apples." Nova took the full front of the blast to his front chest piece, scalding it and making it turn black. The blast pushed him back, skidding him across the ground but he maintained his balance. He looked down at his chest piece and then looked back at Strife. A smug smile erupted from her face. Nova hated when his enemy's looked down upon him. And he hated it more when ponies damaged his armor. But limb had a point. Needless rage would cause unnecessary waste of time and magic power. Luna's armor could wait to be repaired. "Let's try this. Illusionary magic." Strife announced making the star and wand swipe cutie mark glow. "Illusionary what?" Nova watched in horror as Strife disappeared before his eyes. She didn't teleport but visual contact was lost. Novas head turned around in each way, not sure on where she would attack next. "Take this!" Strife yelled suddenly appearing from directly above Nova with more flaming coals right at him. He couldn't block in time with his axe. Each hot coal hit him and his armour, pelting the buck out of him. Nova instantly retaliated by swinging his axe in a long arc at her. But before long Strife disappeared again before Nova could hit her. “Stop relying on cheap tactics!" Nova called out hoping that she would speak while cloaked to give Nova something to tell her position. She remained silent forcing Nova to go back on the defensive. He swung his axe around him in a long arc hoping to hit her when invisible. "You're gonna have to do better than that." She uncloaked and to Novas surprised she appeared right in front of him with her hind legs outstretched. She bucked Nova square in the face with her legs sending him once again flying up and landing on his back. His helmet flew right off from the impact was dented all over. "Nova!" Lance this time called out. "Yikes!" The pegasi dodged a swift swing of Kimbas paw. "Forget him Lance, he will be fine! Just ready another salvo!" Hammerheart yelled as she jumped high hoping to get the Manticores head full of lightning from her power hooves. Though the beast turned around and smacked Hammerheart out of the air. "Oowww!" Strife approached the downed Unicorn with caution. Nova groaned and struggled to get up. "Ohhh, my head." I swear to Luna, she is getting on my nerves. I really don't want to use deadly force on her still, but at this point I might have to. Novas axe rose up glowing red and rotated around Nova making his signature shield. "Oh, I see what the problem is. You will not attack me cause I'm your former friend. A pony you know and used to trust." Strife cooed. "I hope that I'm not causing you internal conflict right now. 'Oh, should I attack her or defend and capture her somehow.' A noble cause but nothing you do will work." Strife said as she came closer. She approached the student of the night and charged up her horn. A magic circle that looked just like her cutie mark erupted around her again. "Time to get your cutie mark Nova, I always wanted to take it, But you always covered it. Now why is tha-" Nova teleported away from his spot and appeared not to far from Strife. He was panting and he struggled to keep his balance. "Oh gonna run away? Hold still while this magic will bind you against your will." "Limb. Release inner reserves." Nova said out loud. In that moment his axe stopped spinning around him and planted back on his back. The weapon glowed a bright blue and purple causing Novas horn to do the same. Energy erupted from the axe now and transferred to Nova, healing instantly his wounds, and also repairing his armor. Strife stumbled back a bit before continuing her attack until she herself realised that Nova was healing himself. With that she charged forward with intentions to kill or to take his cutie mark. Whichever came first. Nova this time shot a beam of energy at strife forcing her to dodge. But she came charging forward with the arcane circle following her. Nova knew that if he got caught in that circle, it would be the end of him. He threw his axe at Strife like a boomerang and simultaneously shot a simple magic attack from his horn. Strife pulled up a shield making that axe and the attack bounce off. The axe though started cutting a circle on top of her shield like a glass cutter cutting through glass. This took strife by surprise as she now had to deal with an axe that was actively trying to get to her by itself. Nova took this distraction and teleported. "Where the heck did y-" Nova literally appeared inches from her and he headbutted her in the face all before touching the ground. He twirled around and then bucked her in the side sending her flying while simultaneously canceling her active spells. She flew across in an arc but Nova once again teleported to the point in Which she was heading. He took his axe and like a baseball bat he punted her back across the field. "Ahhhhhhh!" Strife yelled in pain. Nova was not giving a single buck but was completely serious. Strife rolled and skidded to a halt, brushed and battered from Nova hit. Never did she expect him to do that. Actually she was sort of grateful he used the blunt end of the weapon. "Strife. Stop this you need fix all the damage you have done." Nova reasoned. Strife though didn't want to hear another word. "Rawwwr!" Kimba the manticore roared. He crashed back to where Strife and Nova were battling and landed between the two. Lance though can from above and was carrying hammer on his back. Hammer jumped off his back and aimed for the black coated manticore below. "Booooody slam!" Nova, Strife and even Lance stared in awe as Hammer sent full power to her hooves and landed directly on the manticores belly sending hundreds of volts of electricity through him. The creature spazzed and kicked but immediately fell unconscious. "Finally! Nova what the hell you're looking at!? Capture her already!" Hammerheart called. "I know, I know but that was so co-" *BOOM* Rockets and fireworks exploded around him throwing Nova around like a rag doll. "Ouch, that's gotta hurt." Lance said as he went to Hammerheart side. "You took down Kimba!? That's impossible!" Strife shocked expression was utterly priceless. Her jaw hit the floor when her wild card failed. Lance landed on the ground next to Nova helping him up with one of his wings. 'You okay? Buddy?" "Limb, what are you saying? No that's not a good idea. Limb?" Nova paid no heed to Lance but only looked at his axe with pleading eyes. "Nova what the heck is going on?" The unicorn teleported but not to strife but to his axe which was slowly floating up to strife by itself. 'Limb, no. Bad weapon of lunar heritage. Bad!" At this point Lance, Hammer, and even Strife just stared at nova. He grabbed the weapon in his hooves and brought it to the ground. "Fine, just this once. One fourth okay? That's all I will allow!" “What the safety?" Asked Lance. "Yeah." Nova confirmed. His weapon had a mind of its own and responded to Novas feelings about taking down strife. And the only way to get to Nova was through direct conflict with his wishes. He grabbed his axe and made a defensive stance before Strife. Lance came to his left and Hammer to his right. They all looked at each other and nodded in an unseen agreement. Strife looked at all three expressionless. "Fine y'all want to attack me three verses one? Fine. Let's see you get through this combo spell I was working on." Strife laid a magic circle around her and threw up a force field, then inlaying the shield with fire based properties making it very hot to the touch. The circle beneath her erupted in a large light and she waited for her attackers to make contact. Novas horn glowed and his hooves glowed. With great to surprise to Strife, Nova quick stepped right to her and swiped her shield and kept going despite the heat it was putting out. Strife though kept shots of coals firing at him while turning her attention to Hammerheart and Lance. The earth pony jumped up and aimed for Strifes head. The cutie mark stealer under her shield aimed another spell at her through a small opening she mad and hit hammer. Hammer though didn't fall back, but instead took the brunt of it, much to Strifes surprise, and hit her shield taking it down. Lance swooped in low and aimed his crossbows in a steady flight mere inches from the ground. He fired not directly at her but at her feet but at least for the shot to be near it. A blue streak shot across making strife dodge but she didn't expect the bolts to hit where she dodged to. Lance was good at firing a single bolt to distract his opponent. Strife was startled when the ground shot up blocks of ice that grabbed her feet. Immobilized she had nowhere to run to. "Oh, you think this can hold me? Think again!" Her horn glowed and she teleported out, but failed to realized that the blocks of ice that held her hooves went with her. Lances bolts were inlaid with magic talismans and jewels that have been enchanted for this sort of thing. Too bad she didn't realise it sooner. She came out not to far from where she initially was and toppled over. Strife was like a turtle now and couldn't help herself up, but again she summoned up a spell forming burning coals and melted the magic ice blocks off her hooves. As she did that, Nova came in lighting quick and hit Strife square into the side with his axe. His face cringed every time he did it, but he went more calm as time went on. "Ouch, I wouldn't want to be you right now strife." Lance said as he went back to hammer to get reloaded. Nova watched as the pitiful powerful Strife Striker was now on the floor in a heap. He came closer and again without warning hit her again with his weapon, making her skid across the floor. She cried out in pain. "Nova! What the hell are you doing?! Give her a chance to get back up. I have not seen you do this since the gryphon kingdoms when that stupid gryphon took your sweet roll. Stop it!" Hammerheart yelled, and she went to tackle Nova. They both made contact and nova, including his axe got a hoof full of electricity running through his body. "OWW! Okay, okay I get it Hammer. My bad. Just let me make sure she is down. And get off me!" He threw hammer off, shook off the inlaid electricity running through him and mini teleported right to Strife. Lance also went next to him to make sure she was down. She could be faking it for all Lance was concerned. He poked the limp body with his axe and turned to lance. 'Uh, wait a minute. I smell magic residue...which means. DUCK LANCE!" 'What!?" Lance dropped to the floor as Nova swung his axe right over him. *Clang* The real Strife decloaked making the dummy disappear in a mist and held a magic sword against his weapon. "Oh, you saw threw my little ruse? Ha, what where you gonna do to me after I was down." "This." Once again a sparring match began as Nova and Strife battled. His axe swung low and high, hoping to best her in her armed combat. But as soon as he started to get even more serious something about his weapon was off. Why the hell was it unlocking the seal by itself? "Limb what the hell are you doing!?" Nova called out while still striking against Strife. He was controlling his weapon but his safety was increasingly coming off causing larger and larger sparks to fly when the weapons met. Lance meanwhile tippy toed out of there and went back to Hammer. "I almost died. Damn this better than sleeping with mares. Sometimes. Hammer feel my heart. Pun intended." "Your an idiot. Just get ready another shot while I move in to look for an opening." "Roger roger." In the next instant everything changed for the worst for Nova. Strife sped up her attacks and Nova missed in blocking one of them. "Ahh!" He yelled. He got hit square in the shoulder and was thrown back. Blood seeped through his armor and traveled down his leg. He wanted to stop and put pressure on his wound to stop it from getting worst but instead resumed the attack. "Nova!" Hammerheart yelled from not too far away. With the fury of swiped and blows that the two ponies were in, she couldn't get near. Even Lance had trouble to get a clear shot at her again since they were fighting so close to each other. Nova struggled through the pain and still couldn't believe how powerless he was against her even with the safety at 1/4th off. "Why can you just leave me alone!" Strife yelled in a battle cry. She stopped attacking and tackled Nova head on, throwing herself on top of him and pinning him to the ground. "Ooph!" Nova laid his eyes on the distraught unicorn gazing down upon him. She shared a look at him and smiled for a second before having a deep scowl. "You're too late." She breathed into his face real close making it look like they were making out from Hammerhearts standpoint. "I'm leaving to get my fifth cutie mark and with that, total victory." She quickly teleported off Nova and back to where she was standing. In that instant 5 bolts shot around her and which formed a magic link. Arcs of energy formed around her linking the bolts together. "You're not going anywhere. Anti teleport magic circle, Bolt style." Lance announced from above as he shoved not to far. "Nova, holy sweet celestial your bleeding a lot, let me heal you." Hammerheart quickly went over to the student of the night who was on the ground. Nova struggled to get back up but when he did he saw Strife within lances circle. "This won't hold me. I finally recharged enough to leave. Nothing will stop me." Strife called out while turned around and looking at the circle that surrounded her. Lance flew above and readied more shots in case she decides to take out the bolts. "Holy crud Nova, you have to stop and-" "And what Hammer!? Let her get away?! No, I *twitch* made a promise to Luna. I Intend to keep it." Nova shot up and did a quick teleport. He exited just outside the circle of lances and brought his axe in front of him. He swiped it with his hoof and uttered the words, "Seal." At the same time Strife horn glowed with preparations of another spell. The sky darkened and storm clouds started to form and converge onto their location. Strife was activating the grand vortex spell once again. Nova though was not about to let her leave. He knew one sure fire way to stop her. Her horn. If he hit hard enough it will paralyze her magic for a good while. He aimed his axe at her and strife looked at him with focused eyes. She was about to leave and Nova was gonna be too late. Or so she thought, Nova put his weapon in his mouth and leaped into the air right for her. "Foomm Lunammm!" He mouthed as he came forward, went right in front of her and swung his body and weapon in a wide sweep in front of her. Nova went for her horn to stun the mare, but just a split second before his attack hit. A terrifying thing happened, Nova wasn’t using any magic for his attack, but his axe flared up with immense magic all on its own. And it was too late. *SLICE* The battlefield seemed to be silenced for a second at the act that just took place. A tip of a horn flew in the air and landed on the ground. The silence was cut off abruptly by a wail of pain from the now de-horned Strife. Lance’s jaw dropped and for once the pegasus was speechless while Hammerheart winced at the brutal outcome. "Holy buck, I did NOT mean to do that. It was just supposed to be a tap. I swear!" Nova yelled in pure surprise to what he just did. He looked at his own weapon with fire in his eyes. "What the BUCK did you do LIMB!?" Nova was pissed at his axe but there was no response, no glow no anything at all coming from the weapon. “NOVA BLADE!” Strife was seething mad and looked downright hellish with blood dripping down her face but the more shocking part was the magic sparking and leaking from her half cleaved horn. “I. WILL. END. YOU.” "What the heck." Nova said with his mouth wide open. "You can't be serious." Strife was serious, she was activating the same spell with only half a horn. Lightning flashed and multiple shots flashed around her as the magic in the air bounced around randomly from the instability. "Nova! Get out of there!" Lance yelled as he swooped in and grabbed nova, dragging him away from strife as she became increasingly engulfed in lighting. A large magic cloud surrounded her and with that a light shined, bright and brighter before erupting in a flash, brighter than the sun. Nova and company both put down their hoofs and opened there eyes only to see a large crater to where strife was standing, smoking on the ground. "Did she. Uh. Did she just escape with half a horn chopped off?" Hammerheart asked. Lance turned to her as he put down Nova on the ground next to her. "Yeah, and what's worst that it was probably near uncontrollable for her.” Nova’s gaze was directed up towards the dark magic filled clouds in the sky. "Nova, are you okay? Let me heal you one second." Hammerheart said but the unicorn pushed past her. Lance spoke up. “I saw what you did Nova.” “I DIDN’T MEAN TO...” Nova’s yelling was cut off by a smack from one of Lance’s wing. “I saw you vent your magic before you attack her. That shouldn’t have happened...” Lance stated. “That is beside the point though. Strife got away.” Nova glanced back at the sky and had his horn glow with magic. “I do know this. Unstable magic from a broken horn is possible but leaves a very noticeable trail of decaying energy.” Hammer walked up and inspected Nova’s wounds. “So she left us breadcrumbs to follow right?” “Every Time she uses magic it’ll leave behind a good clump of magic in the general area and a broken horn will leak magic even when not in use so yes...” Lance adjusted his crossbows and hovered off the ground a few feet. “What if she teleports?” Nova shook his head. “She could but it’d be too risky and could put inside the ground, a tree, a few hundred feet up in the air.” His attention went back to the axe laying on the ground in front of him. When Nova went to pick it up however nothing happened. “What the...” Hammer tapped the axe with a power hoof and a spark of magic shot out. “Hey. Your axe just drained like 10% of my power hoof's energy.” The unicorn sighed and reached down picking Limb up in his teeth and throwing it on his back. “I can’t sense anything from him now. It’s like he’s dead.” “A talking axe is one thing but a talking axe that’s DEAD?” Lance shook his head and gestured towards the weapon. “I swear Nova maybe that thing is defective.” “Regardless... Strife’s hurting now so we got the advantage and I’m not gonna rest till she’s ours.” Hammerheart snorted. “She’s right Nova.” Lance landed next to his friend and put a hoof over Nova’s back. “Come on we gotta find her before some more crazy manure happens.” “All right.” However unbeknownst to each other they were all thinking the same thing. “What the buck really will happen next?” ======================================================== Reader has gained +10 Strength 5 Jealousy +20 Regret +50 Feels New Perk Unlocked: Unbridle Rage When user’s loved ones are in danger. Speed & Attack is doubled but Defenses are halved. New Perk Unlocked: Love Polygon The user now has mixed feelings about 2 or more Party Members. When not in battle confusion has increased chances and may cause infighting amongst the group. However Strength is increased in battle when alongside group members. Author's Note For the love of god, I still have no idea what im doing. This ends the Lunar arc. Sorry about the delays, but stuff happened and I just dont know what went wrong. Thanks to shadowxrazor for actually not beling a lazy bum and actually helped me greatly on this chapter. Thanks buddy!
Chapter 01: The Song of StormsUnder Lunar Wings Chapter 1 - The Song of Storms By: JP HACK Edited by : JP HACK, Tobyc Story Guided by : Shadow X Razor Provider of ideas: A lot of fanfics..... “From these smoldering ashes we awaken, we lift our eyes unto the smoke filled skies. Shields still splintered, spears shaken, their cries for war still echo through the black mist. We need not fear, for their end is near. They blow their horns and prepare for war once more, for in the name of the princess we shall survive this endeavor. Fix your helms, ready your blades, we shall not sleep, until their last shadow fades!” - Archives of Equestria First there was the arrival of Nightmare Moon. Then the shenanigans of Discord, to the changeling siege of Canterlot on the day of the royal wedding. Though, five years has past since all those events. Everything is peaceful. There are no wars, no villains, or anything bad in general to ruin anything or anyone in the land of Equestria. Little did anyone know that a storm was brewing, a storm that would soon change everything. Location : Ponyville – Outside Sugar Cube Corner. Time: 10 AM There was a blur of pink. A certain mare was quickly setting up tables and serving customers outside. Pinkie Pie had a knack for doing things quickly and somewhat oddly. She somehow managed to balance trays and various pastries on her back and flip them perfectly on the customers table without damaging the pastry itself. She moved from table to table at lightning speed until she reached a certain table with two unicorns sitting. “Heya girls! Glad to see ya both this super duper morning! What can I get ya? We have muffins, sandwiches, breakfast burritos, donuts, coffee and much more! Oh, I just know you're gonna love our cupcakes! So what are you two gonna get? Huh?” Pinkie had a huge grin on her face as she looked at both Rarity and Twilight. Rarity looked at Pinkie for a moment then back to her menu which she was holding with her magic. “Darling. I would like some tea please,” she looked at Twilight. “It’s great to have tea during brunch right, Twilight?” The purple unicorn on the other hoof was staring intently at her menu before she realized that Rarity was talking to her. “Oh uh, yes... It does seem nice to have some tea. But I can’t seem to decide what to get for brunch. I mean it’s a combination of lunch and breakfast right? So that mean, I have to choose something that is lunch and breakfast with the right amount of…” As Twilight rambled on about the proportion of breakfast to lunch that one should intake, Rarity turned to Pinkie and proceeded to order. “Darling, I will take a monte daisy, with the syrup on the side. And for Twilight, just give her some coffee for now. I think she had another all night study session going again.” She eyed Twilight for a minute who was still doing random mental calculations. “Poor darling must be exhausted.” Pinkie Pie put her hoof up to her face and saluted. “Okie Dokie Loki, one monte daisy coming right up with syrup on the side! And a super duper coffee for Twilight!” Pinkie then bolted off into the establishment and got straight to work at a speed that should not be possible to reach. Twilight was still mumbling about breakfast calories and vitamins until Rarity interrupted her. “Twilight, I ordered some coffee for you to start, you look like you need it. What seems to be the matter.” Twilight got out of her stupor and looked at Rarity apologetically. “I’m sorry Rarity. Thanks for ordering the coffee though. I have been out of it for a while. I have not sent any letters of importance to princess Celestia in a long time and I'm a little on edge about it is all. What if she gets upset that I have not learned anything about friendship? Or what if she wants something more than what I'm giving her? Or what if-” She got cut off by Rarity who put a hoof up. Twilight was about to go into one of her crazes. So much pressure on the star student, Rarity had to stop her. “Twilight, Darling, please forgive my rudeness, but didn't you go through this already? The craziness, the spells, the deadline?” Twilight frowned a little. “All I'm saying is that you need to relax with your friends and stop worrying about letters and the like. All good things come to those who wait, remember?” Rarity looked around eyeing some other ponies enjoying their meals before continuing her talk. “You need to remember that I'm sure that princess loves your letters, no matter what subject or how little they contain, okay? Remember, I got you out of the library to relax, not to frazzle yourself.” Twilight's ears went down at those words, then perked up again after her brain processed the information an egghead could use. Rarity was just being her generous self as usual. At last, Pinkie Pie came out of Sugarcube Corner with a tray containing a freshly made monte daisy and a hot cup of coffee. She came to their table quite faster than usual and set the items on the table in front of the unicorns with precision most earth ponies would kill for. “Here you go girls, I made it myself so tell me what you think of it. And Twilight, here is your coffee! I added something special to it to wake you up, I hope you like it.” Twilight eyed Pinkie for a moment, before realizing how droopy she was feeling and picked up the coffee. She took a sip. Her eyes shot open and she immediately put the coffee down. Rarity was eating her monte daisy while observing Twilight's reaction to the coffee. “Pinkie, It tastes great, I feel a lot more energetic, what did you do to it?” Pinkie had a huge grin on her face, got close to twilight and whispering in her ear, “trade secret, Pinkies super secret wake up coffee.” She started to giggle a little bit to herself. “Of course it is. Thanks anyway. Hopefully I can get through the day with just this.” Rarity was enjoying her Monte Daisy before adding to the conversation. “Thanks Pinkie, This tastes delightful as always.” “No problem Rarity, I get a lot of joy when I see everypony smile with my cooking. Anyway, I have to take care to the other customers now, so I will see you around. Bye!” Both the regal white fashionista and the librarian waved their hooves as Pinkie left and then continued their brunch. Rarity then brought out the latest Equestria Daily she had with her. It was good so see what was happening in the land of Equestria from time to time. And the fashionista always wanted to learn the latest gossip in the entertainment section. With her magic she set her forks and knives down and picked up the newspaper. Twilight on the other hoof was trying to figure out what was in her coffee, as with every sip she took, she felt a bolt of energy hit her. Pinkie must have accidently poured a bucket of sugar or something into it. “Oh what's this? That's an interesting headline.” “What is it Rarity?” Twilight took another swig of her coffee, and set it back down. “Well look at this headline right here on the first page.” She turned the paper slightly so both of them could read it. The headline read “Cutie Marks Disappearing, Ponies in Panic in Fillydelphia.” “Well that's interesting, let me have a look at that real quick.” Twilight didn't even wait for Rarity to give it to her. She canceled Rarity’s hold of the newspaper with her own telekinesis and started reading out loud. 'Panic in downtown Fillydelphia, Cutie Marks disappearing from grown stallions and mares. It is unknown who or what is causing these incidents. Those that had their cutie marks suddenly disappear lost their respective talent immediately. This is causing a loss of jobs, ponies getting hurt while attempting to continue their work without their cutie marks, and the hospital is claiming that some are going into shock due to the disappearances. Reports are coming in that some stock market ponies that lost their cutie marks instantly forgot how the stock market worked equating to a loss of thousands of bits due to a breakdown in communications.” 'We do not know the prolonged negative effects mentally and physically,' reports Doctor Blue Vein, 'but we are trying to look into it as much as we can. We do know that it can cause a lot of mental trauma if the cutie mark is directly related to some skill or trade. Though it seems those who have the more obscure ones are not that affected by the recent events.'” “In light all this, all Fillydelphians and surrounding neighbors including Marietta are advised to stay inside, report any suspicious behavior to the local Policeponies, and be alert to your surroundings.” Twilight stopped reading and put the newspaper down. She looked at Rarity who had a disgusted look on her face when hearing the news that was recited to her. “Thats not good at all.” Twilight pondered for a moment. “I recall the case of the Cutie Pox before and how that caused ponies to sustain more than one random cutie mark, and it caused those ponies to involuntarily perform tasks as per given cutie marks, which appeared all over their bodies, not just their flanks. But this is different, these ponies seem to be missing there cutie mark all together and the associated talent that goes with it. How is that even possible?” “Well darling, I don't know how, but I do know that it would be very dreadful to befall anypony! Why I can't imagine having my cutie mark disappear one day and not being able to find jewels for my dresses or keep designing! That's absolutely horrific. I would go out of business.” She then took a stab on her monte daisy with some force with her fork and took a bite. A look of contemplation of loss came over her face. “It seems to be either some sort of disease or somepony is behind all this and on top of that, there were no witnesses to see what caused the marks to disappear? That seems odd, but it’s of interesting subject matter to read upon if you lose your cutie mark to see exactly what will happen. I wonder if I should do something about it. Maybe I should-” “Now Twilight, don't you think of studying or anything,” Rarity interrupted. “You need to relax right now. I’m sure the local authorities will take care of the problem and we can all forget about this horrible thing. And besides, everypony knows that if it were to happen to anyone of us, you will be the first one to figure out a solution.” “I guess you're right...” Twilight trailed off. She loved studying a lot about new subjects that needed to be researched. Especially on things relevant to current events such as the disappearance of cutie marks. Rarity on the other hoof saw Twilight in deep thought for a moment until she suddenly got a smirk on her face and leaned in closely. “Anyway, have you found a coltfriend yet? You seem to be needing of companionship.” Twilight nearly jumped at that statement. “Buah, Rarity! What kind of question is that?!” “I'm teasing hun, you should see the shock in your face, its quite expressive.” Rarity chuckled at the expense of Twilight burning her cheeks off. “Now let me explain to you how not to drive yourself crazy with a lot of work on your hooves...” In the meantime off to the distance in the main market square, unknown to bystanders, dark energy started to form that was very misty and transparent. You would have to be trying to squint your eyes to see it. At the same time though, from the insides of Sugarcube Corner, a certain pink mare with a tray of treats stopped suddenly. Her eyes dilated and she bucked the tray, which landed on the nearest table intact with the food. Mr. Cake was nearby and looked at Pinkie with some concern. “Pinkie, are you okay? Is something the matter?” He got his answer rightfully quick as Pinkie Pie stood still as a statue and stared at him for a moment. There was a mix of emotions going through her at a considerable speed. Mr. Cake backed up, as did other patrons to watch. Mrs. Cake came out from the kitchen to see what all the commotion was about. She saw Pinkie in the middle of the room and didn't waste anytime. “Everypony, back away from Pinkie. Its her pinkie sense! This one seems to be a big one!” Everyone in Ponyville acknowledged the pinkie sense, and even Twilight Sparkle gave up on trying to understand it. If the prized student of Celestia couldn't figure it out, then who could? Pinkie Pie called out what was happening to her. She couldn't stop it nor control it. “Oh lets see,” all four of her legs spasmed, then coiled up. She jumped into the air, nearly hitting the ceiling with her head and floated for a full five seconds before landing again. “Going against the laws of physics? That's a new one! Oh what's this?” Her mane then depoofed and repoofed multiple times. An alter ego's wet dream, from Pinkie Pie to Pinkamina and back again in rapid succession. “My hair feels funny. Ah, something new is gonna happen I can feel it.” The other patrons in the bakery all stared and watched in awe. At the same time, Rarity and Twilight both stood up from there table, wondering what all the commotion was about, and walked inside the building to see what was happening. Pinkie suddenly jumped and leaped towards a table nearby. Some ponies had to scamper out of the way before the pink blur came right towards them. She leap up and then karate chopped the nearest table. At first the table didn't do anything, but then after tapping it lightly, it slid apart cleanly down the middle. If a ninja was watching, he would be so proud. Everyone watched with their mouths agape when the table hit the floor. The Cakes stared at the table before them. What could this pinkie sense mean? Something terrible is gonna happen? Somepony had a foal? Who knew but Pinkie. The Cakes looked at the broken table with some bitterness, but understood that Pinkie couldn't control herself when she is in “Pinkie sense mode”. That table was coming out of her paycheck. If only she had one. “I had no idea I could do that! That was a new one.” Eventually she stopped with the spasms and calmed down, much to the collective relief of everyone in Sugarcube Corner. “Pinkie, What was that all about?” Asked Twilight with anticipation. Pinkie thought for a moment before answering, “I dunno, maybe something amazing is gonna happen? This never happened to me before. It may be be something bad, good or scary. Or something new and scary. I love scary new things too. Did you see me karate chop the table? That was soooo cool, I didn't know I could do that!” Twilight nodded and ignored her after she said she didn't know what it meant. Sometimes it’s best not to question it and move on. Rarity on the other hoof glanced at the table and noticed how cleanly it had been cut down the middle. “I take it that you really don't know what it means? How did you manage to break a table cleanly in half with just your hoof?” Twilight pointed to the table that Pinkie chopped in half. Pinkie Pie simply looked at her with a confused look. “Huh, I don't know but this could mean something BIG is gonna happen. It could foretell a great adventure that we might be sucked into and then we could fight some big nasty villain. It could be that someone got rejected for being a special somepony. I don't know, it could be anything!” Twilight sighed in frustration. It had to mean something, this is rare, especially on Pinkies part, not to know what it means. What could defying gravity, hair problems and a chopped table mean? It looked like another mystery for Twilight to solve in the recesses of her library with the added notation of researching more about cutie marks. A checklist needed to be made today concerning making a checklist for these strange occurrences. “Whoa! Everypony look outside. Is it scheduled for us to have a storm right now?” Asked Lyra, who was sitting next to Bonbon eating cupcakes. Some other ponies then looked out the windows as well and saw a huge storm cloud heading towards Ponyville. There were some pegasi outside flying around, yelling orders in attempts to try to contain the massive front that was approaching. Some patrons took the sight as a sign to leave and quickly get back to their homes. Rarity and Twilight stepped outside the bakery after saying goodbye to Pinkie and the Cakes, just in time to see Rainbow Dash fly right above them at near supersonic speed. “What on Equis is that?! Who let out the storm clouds loose!?” yelled Rainbow Dash at nopony in particular. She sped along and started to whirl around the massive cloud in order to contain it, inciting any pagasi nearby to help. Rarity eyed the clouds with a worried look and saw Rainbow start doing her crazy tricks in the air to try to contain the cloud. “Well it’s been a fun brunch darling, but if that storm comes our way, I better get back to Carousel Boutique. We should do it again sometime.” “Sure Rarity, thanks again for getting me out of the library. I would still be cooped up in there if it was not for you.” “No problem darling, that's what friends are for. I best be going now, bye Twilight.” “Bye Rarity.” Rarity then waved a hoof to Twilight and quickly trotted back home. Twilight just stared at the clouds. It was a very large and puffy storm cloud. Almost like Pinkie Pie's hair. Then it hit her. Like Pinkie Pie's hair! Did she somehow predict the weather? No, that can't be, that's just her mind playing tricks on her. It couldn't be that. Too simple. There's no way that could be. Right? Twilight then turned a corner and trotted towards her library. “Twilight, incoming!” Twilight turned just in time to see Rainbow Dash fly out of the sky and land hard onto an apple cart. She gasped and went right to her rainbow-maned friend. “Dear Celestia, are you okay Rainbow Dash!?” Rainbow dash groaned for a bit and tried to stand up to get back on her hooves. She was stuck headfirst in an apple cart and started to flail her rear legs in an attempt to free herself. Twilight wrapped her in a field of magic and pulled her out of the destroyed cart which had a big hole in it now and set her gently on the ground. “Rainbow, you need to be more careful! What happened? You okay? You never fall out of the sky unless you're crashing into my library.” Rainbow just shook her head and stood back up, checking her wings to see if they were damaged. She seemed quite fine considering that she was flying upwards at 55 mph and crashed into a apple cart, coming out intact. She toughen up after months of trick flying and crashes all just to get into the Wonderbolts. “I'm fine Twilight. but this storm is no ordinary storm. The cloud is like not responding or something. Me and the other pegasi can't stop the cloud or turn it away.” Twilight's mind simply stopped for a moment. Not responding? Like its going against her like Pinkie with her gravity? That could not be a coincidence, could it? Pinkie Pie can't be THAT good. “Hey Twilight, you okay? You're staring off into empty space again, and that storm is right over Sweet Apple Acres and the town. If we don't stop it soon and lightning strikes the trees, Applejack is gonna buck me to Hoofington.” Twilight finally got out of her stupor and nodded. The storm that was approaching had a menacing look to it. With huge black clouds, lightning, and a lot of black and blue wisps of magic dancing all around the cloud from its insides and swirling around at random speeds. “I'm more worried about you than me at the moment Rainbow. That storm does not look like a normal storm. Are you gonna be okay going through that?” She looked at the storm and saw how great it was, and it looked like it was trying to assemble right on the top of the town. “I'm gonna be fine, but this cloud is something different, it’s not responding to anything I’m doing to it. It won't move, break apart, or do anything that I try. No cloud gave this much trouble before. I’d best try to do something before the town gets blown apart, otherwise Mayor Mare has ordered everyone to stay indoors until it passes.” The cloud formation then turned another color from black to blue then back again. Both Twilight and Rainbow looked at each other then back at the cloud. Rainbow took the change in the clouds as a sign to take off into the air while Twilight then resumed going towards her library at a more brisk speed than before. She passed by town hall and trotted through the square. A flash of light came from above followed by the boom of thunder. Twilight jumped at the sudden sound and almost fell over. She hated storms with a burning passion. It always scared the living daylights out of her. The wind picked up more and more before going into a full force gale. She looked around and saw that the pegasi, including Rainbow Dash, gave up and high tailed it back to their homes for shelter. The sky felt as if it was nighttime due to how much light was blocked from the sun. The only light shining through was from the wisps of blue and purple, that were glowing in a circular pattern. Location: Near the Ponyville Library Time: 10: 12 AM Twilight was then just around the corner from her library when she felt a strange feeling came to her. Her horn started to glow without her consent. What is going on? I'm not doing any spells or anything. This storm must have a high magical interference if it’s messing with my magic, though it feels familiar somehow. She looked up again and stared at the horror above her. The storm suddenly swirled right above her in clouds of darkness, quickly rotating around her as if was targeting her. Lightning and blue wisps of energy started dancing around in the vortex with great intensity. Dear Celest-. Twilight didn't get to finish her thought. A beam of energy shot down from the vortex right into Twilight. She screamed in fright as the beam wrapped around her body and pulled at her magic. Her magic was being drained by the storm itself and she couldn't do anything to stop it. She struggled to break free from its grasp but it was to no avail. But then she was calm, as she floated up in the air with eyes glowing and energy flowing around her. Oh my gosh what is happening!? The storm of raw energy that surrounded Twilight in wisps and flows spoke to her in a sudden panicked tone - the voice of a stallion. “I'm sure you're wondering how and why you got into this mess? Well I will explain later but I need you to help me, whoever you are, as you're my only hope. Please let the spell connect to you as it needs a recipient of great magic to complete it. Oh, and its just a teleport spell, so just flare your horn up as if you were normally would for one, and it should complete the transfer of me to you. Trust me. I’m sorry that it took you by surprise as I kinda need to leave like, right now. Please let the spell through as it’s of national security. I need to escape before...” The voice got cut off unexpectedly. Twilight tried to answer back but couldn't. What in Equestria? Somepony is trying a teleport spell? Why did it grab on to me? Who the heck is this pony and what is he running from? What kind of bootleg spell is this? Calm down Twilight, you're going crazy again. You need to analyze the situation. Twilight then calmed herself by going through a mental checklist. She did this all while still floating in a large collection of light based energy. The voice told me to trust him. Okay, but why do I feel like I should the opposite? What did he need to escape from? Twilight, you can do this, just do a teleportation spell and it should all be over. We can ask questions later. I hope. Twilight focused hard, her horn, which was already overtaken in the wisps of pure energy changed color to another shade of blue, then to purple. Another beam of energy was shot from Twilight to the ground. A large bubble of blue energy started to form, creating a crater not too far from her. The same type of bubble that forms right before a teleportation spell, right there on the street. The bubble slowly increased in size until it was as big as a pony. The light intensified to a great degree, nearly as bright as the sun, enshrouding everything in a blinding light. There was a silhouette of a pony in the bubble as it formed. Just as suddenly as it began the storm stopped. The clouds dissipated, and the sky cleared in mere seconds. The energy from the vortex from above in turn stopped and released Twilight of its magical hold. She gently floated back down to the ground. Augh, my head. Now my horn is hurting. I have to remind myself to research this spell. But whom did it teleport? She got her answer when she saw the crater near her. She trotted slowly to the edge of it to peer inside. In it was a unicorn stallion in onyx armor, which was smoking and quite battered, with bright blue and purple accents standing in the middle. The stallion resembled the lunar guard but his armor was quite different in many ways. His normally grey coat charred with cuts and bruises that were visible in the areas where his armor was not covering him. His royal blue mane with a single black streak in it was fringed on the outside due to burns. On his flank laid a picture of the same weapon, an axe, which was lying on the ground next to him. It itself was not shaped like a normal hatchet. It was curved on the sides and had the lunar symbol on it. (See cover image). The stallion looked at her for a moment with his pleading green eyes, legs shaking. “Thank yo-” He abruptly fainted and fell onto the hard ground of the charred crater. End of chapter 1 Credit music plays... Reader has gained... +5 to INT. +2 to LUK. New spell learned. Grand Transport Vortex - This spell is a high level spell that requires the user and a random recipient of a predetermined location to BOTH have a magic power of no less than 9,000 each to complete. Grants the user to teleport to the recipient of a distance of over 100 miles one way. User or initial spell caster must have at least 20,000 Magic Power to initiate spell. Spell can be used as a long distance teleport with an extra 10,000 MP to complete.
Chapter 02: First ImpressionsUnder Lunar Wings By JP HACK Edited by JP HACK, Shadow Blaze98, Wildebeest CHAPTER 2 - First Impressions “We shall not give up, for we are the descendants of this great nation. Destiny has unfolded and we are the chosen caretakers of the nation. HEED these words my brother and sisters, we must not fall. Whether the goal is far or short, we cannot sway. We will remain true and victorious. Whether you seek freedom or redemption, materialistic rewards or great glory. The nation will lead all. The nation will guide all, to your true paths. Let it not die, but live on and fight on. Forever into the endless skies.” - Archives of Equestria Location : Outside of the Library. Time: 12:47 PM Twilight stood near the edge of the crater with her mouth wide open. She didn't expect any of this to happen. The sky was now clear. The pressure to her horn was gone. And now she had an unconscious stallion that nearly looked like her older brother lying in the middle of a still smoking crater. What interested Twilight was the armor and weapon that he had on him. It was like nothing she had seen before. Her mind was still going in circles of endless questions. Was he part of the royal guard? Was he the one to request the teleportation spell? What caused him to do the spell in the first place? She stopped herself to examine the situation before her. This stallion looked awfully hurt. He needs medical attention and fast. Twilight then remembered that she knew some measure of healing magic. Her horn glowed for a second then fizzled out right after. Ugh, what is going on with my magic? Even after the bizarre spell, I feel fine. But why is my magic not responding suddenly? I couldn't have magic drainage, could I? Twilight pouted. She needed somepony to get this pony to the hospital before he got in any worse condition. And get herself checked as well. Other ponies started to come out of their homes once they saw the storm suddenly dissipate. They crowded around to look and see what was happening. Some policeponies arrived as well to help contain the crowd. Twilight motioned for one of the policeponies nearby to go and find Doctor Stable immediately for help. After some time, Doctor Stable came to the scene accompanied by two nurses. Doctor Stable trotted down to the crater and started examining the stallion for himself as the nurses started attending to his wounds. After he was done checking him, his face turned sour. He turned to one of the nurses. “Nurse Coldheart, please take the stretcher with Nurse Sweetheart, this stallion is in trauma level 1, unconscious and badly bruised. Get him back to the hospital immediately. We are dealing with severe burns, as well as complete magic drainage.” The nurses quickly brought out a stretcher and placed it near the crater. They both went down and reached on each end of his limbs and pulled the stallion up out and over to lay him on the stretcher. Twilight didn't like where this whole situation was going. She had to do something to help out and get herself checked out as well. She walked up to the doctor who was busy filling out a chart. “Um, Doctor Stable?” “Ah, Twilight Sparkle. Nice to see you again. Thank Celestia that you called for somepony to get me to him on time. What's the matter?” “My magic is not responding to me suddenly. It started with me trying to help this pony right here. I tried to do some healing magic on him, but my magic fizzed out. I doubt I have magic drainage though. Can you help me as well?” The doctor put down his note pad and eyed Twilight with a examining look. He scanned her going from her face to her flank and back looking to see what was wrong with her. Only doctors have the ability to see right through you and know exactly what's wrong. He turned around and faced the nurses that were waiting for further instructions. “Take Miss Sparkle with you, It seems that she has some minor magic drainage as well as far as I can tell. But we have to check her at the hospital to be sure.” Then he glanced back at his notepad and then looked back at Twilight. “Also, Miss Sparkle. It seems that you saw exactly what transpired here, right?” “Yes, doctor.” “Well then, follow the nurses back to the hospital and we will treat you soon enough. Though I want a full report on what happened in order to get a better understanding of what that stallion did to be in such bad shape. And I want to examine you for a moment to see if there is any connections between the two of you especially after trying to help him. Is that okay?” “Yes doctor, I would be glad to help. I never really had this happen to me before.” The Doctor then motioned for everypony to return to the hospital. Twilight walked along with the nurses and eyed the stallion, now with some preliminary bandages on him. As they traveled, the nurses were talking amongst themselves about how cute he looks and about why he has black armor. “Could he be part of the Night Guard?” “Maybe. Or a lost soldier..." Twilight paid no heed to their conversation. Though she did realize that something was missing. His axe! She turned around towards the doctor. “Doctor Stable, what about his weapon? Are we gonna just leave it there?” “I really don't know. It should be work for the Policeponys...” Just in the middle of the conversation the aforementioned axe started to glow. It slowly raised out of the crater and floated lazily towards the unconscious stallion. Both their eyes widened. “Woah!” Twilight yelled. The doctor said nothing but just followed the axe fly through the air with his eyes. A policepony nearby drew out his weapon in anticipation for an attack while the others shouted to back away. The nurses backed away in time for the axe to glow again with some purple wisps and layed on top of the unconscious pony. It was like a foal hugging a doll for comfort. Everyone just stared in awe at the sight that just befell them. How can a weapon move by itself without the use of telekinesis directly? What made it do that? Was it a form of magic? They’d never know until the stallion woke up and explained his side of the story. Location: Ponyville Hospital Time: 1:00 PM “Wait a minute. Explain this to me again. What do you mean that it asked you for a request to do a spell within a spell?” asked Doctor Stable as he was treating Twilight for minor magic drainage. He grabbed a gem and placed it next to her horn. The gem glowed and transferred some magic energy to her horn. Then he quickly switched to another gem of a different color and applied to her horn near the tip. Magic energies flowed this time from her horn to the jem making the gem turn brown. “Your lucky that this is a treatable illness that happens to unicorns that over exert their magic. Simply recharge your inner magic reserves with some rest and some gems that have magic properties and you got your magic back. Though very weakly at first.” “I know. It’s like nothing I have ever experienced or seen before. I was sucked up into the magical vortex and while I was there inside the spell there was a voice.” “A voice?” Doctor turned around and put an amethyst bracelet on Twilight's hoof. “Keep this on for one hour and your magic should return.” “Thanks doctor, as I was saying, a voice of a stallion. It most likely the stallion in the room next to us. He sounded as if he was in trouble and needed to escape from something. What really worries me is the fact that this spell caused some minor damage to the town. I had never heard or researched of a spell that could do that in my many studies.” “Interesting if I do say so myself. I should discuss this with Doctor Blue Vein in Fillydelphia and see if he heard of something like this. Also, what perplexes me is that with a unicorn of your stature, the spell only dazed you a little bit. You don't seem fatigued or tired. You have excellent motor skills to boot. But what do you think caused the stallion to completely lose consciousness?” The doctor grabbed a notepad and started writing down some additional notes. “Well, it seemed to me like a spell that used a lot of magic power to cast. It was probably the reason it created a huge storm, magical resistance and all. Did you not see the clouds and the wisps of purple and blue? It was downright scary to watch.” Twilight jiggled the bracelet on her hoof in annoyance. The thing was slightly uncomfortable to her. The doctor was still writing down some notes and only glanced back at Twilight. “Yes, well this is all good and done now Twilight. Now, please do not try to use your magic for an hour or two. Return home and rest. No strenuous activity for the day, okay?” Twilight pouted again at the doctor but he ignored her. “So what's gonna happen to the pony in armor? He has some apologizing to do for dragging me into this mess.” “Interestingly enough, he seemed rather fine. Other than the magic drainage on him and the cuts and burns, there is nothing else wrong with him. But we’ll have to wait and see when he wakes up before we get an explanation. Though there is the fact that we can't remove his armor for proper treatment. Unicorn magic won't work, so we just treated what was accessible. “Well, that’s something I never heard of before. I better research that when I get back into the library too.” The doctor looked at the clock in the room. “Okay Twilight, I best be going as I have other patients to attend to. The exit is just down the hall and to the left is the stair well. If you find anything of value about this, let me know. Bye.” Doctor Stable waved a hoof and promptly left. “Bye, thanks again for your help,” Twilight sighed to herself. She wanted to ask the stallion a lot of questions when he woke up. Twilight got off the examination table and left the room. She walked down the hallway at a slow pace, the lack of magic was not really doing her any favors. As she was walking down the hallway she overheard Nurse Coldheart and Nurse Sweetheart talking amongst themselves. “Did you see how he started hugging his weapon in his sleep?” “Yeah, it’s really weird, and it’s amazing he is not cutting his face off with the thing so close to him...” Twilight didn't even bother to listen to the rest of the conversation as it was getting too weird for her anyway. A trot down three stories and she finally came to the waiting room and was surprised to see all her friend there. There was Pinkie and Fluttershy sitting together talking amongst themselves. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were both in some kind of heated debate of some sort making Rarity slightly irritated. Rarity saw Twilight come through the doors, which made everypony all greet Twilight with hugs and words of concern. “Girls!” “Twilight! Darling, I was so worried about you. My neighbor Bonbon told me you got admitted to the hospital with some stallion and I just had to round up everypony else to come see what happened to you.” Rarity hugged Twilight and then nuzzled her affectionately. Applejack greeted Twilight as well. “Heya there sugarcube, I hope ya feelin better. What in tarnation got ya in the darn hospital in the first place?” “Well it all started when-” She got cut off when Pinkie burst out some confetti and balloons. “Twilight it's so good to see you all well. I hope the doctor didn't give you a shotty mcshot shot. Those hurt. Ooh, what's that on your hoof? It looks really cool. Oh, this is a great time for my special ‘Twilight is released from the hospital party!’ It’s gonna be really great. How did you get here in the first place?” Pinkie Pie was now really close to Twilight's face. “Errh, Like as I was saying before it started whe-” She got interrupted when Rainbow Dash came up to her as well, hovering in the air just above the ground. Twilight’s frustration level started to increase. “Yeah, we all totally worried about you! After the storm disappeared you somehow ended up in the hospital! I, on the other hoof ended up having to clean up the mess of the town after the storm. ‘Cause that storm was the weirdest thing ever. So what happened?” Twilight was about to answer again before Fluttershy came up to her and nudged her, cutting off communication with the others. “Ohh dear, I hope nothing scary happened to you. Are you sure you are okay?” At this point Twilight had to either stop them or she would never get to explain her story. “Girls! Let me Speak!” The five mares quickly silenced themselves. Twilight composed herself and let out a quick sigh. “Okay, here’s what happened...” thirty minutes went by of retelling of events from the storm to the spell to the stallion. It went by very slowly for Twilight as she kinda went into more detail than necessary. Pinkie Pie almost fell asleep during Twilight’s talk. “...And that’s all that happened so far. I'm not in any danger or anything, it’s just that now I cant use my magic for a small amount of time. No big deal.” Twilight then sat down on one of the chairs in the waiting room. She wiggled her bracelet to adjust it. It was being slightly irritating to her. The mares all stared at her in silence for a moment. Rarity raised a hoof up. “Wait a minute. Do you mean to tell me that all this happened possibly because of this stallion you described to us earlier?” Twilight looked at Rarity with a slightly confused look. “Yeah, I guess. He’s probably the one that cast the spell and got me involved in it.” Rainbow Dash raised a hoof into the air cutting in between them. “So he’s the reason why half the town is in shambles!? The mayor blamed my weather team for this crazy storm! Why I oughta show him a piece of my mind when he wakes up...” She started to walk towards the doors which lead to the rest of the hospital. Applejack grabbed her tail and yanked her backwards. "Hey!" “Now Rainbow I wouldn't be so hasty. Y'all need to calm down and wait till he wakes up. I'm sure he didn't mean it. Right Twilight?” “Indeed, we just need to be patient. I'm sure he will wake up soon.” Then right after, Pinkie Pie froze as still as an iceberg. Fluttershy let out a barely noticeable ‘eep’ and the mares all turned towards Pinkie. The pink pony spasmed and her hooves started to shake. It wasn’t a twitch so much as it was a violent shake. “Oh...did I not have this before? Twitchy hoofs are fun!” Pinkie started bouncing in front of everyone and making silly noises. Twilight, with an audible sigh, asked the inevitable. “What does it mean this time Pinkie?” asked Twilight. Pinkie Pie suddenly stopped again and turned to Twilight. With a huge smile on her face she said... “Actually I think I need to use the mare’s room.” Everyone faced hoofed. Pinkie Pie left in a literal blur and promptly returned. "All done." Meanwhile Applejack turned to Twilight and started speaking to her in a level, even tone. “Twilight, ya know that this storm caused a mighty lot of trouble right there in Sweet Apple Acres as well. Some trees fell down and a lot of the farm is in shambles. Rainbow’s right in terms of wanting ta’ get back at him and he really needs ta’ pay for what he did in terms of hard work.” Rainbow chimed in almost immediately after. “Yeah! I want answers Twilight, I'm sick and tired of waiting for him to wake up. I want answers now!” Rarity this time spoke next with higher than usual but firm tone. “Girls, now may I remind you that this no way to behave." Applejack’s and Rainbow’s ears deflated slightly making both of them stop. "Twilight wants to know as much as we all do. But there's nothing we can do now at the moment. Right Fluttershy?” The yellow pegasus nearly jumped at the sound of her name. “Ummm, yeah I guess so...if you want that is.” Pinkie Pie perked up in the middle of the room and started to have a twitchy meltdown. She jumped around a bit and this time her legs started to twitch. Her eyes went wide and looked to Twilight. “Something crazy is about to happen. Don't you hear the music?” All the mares in the room stopped and looked at nothing in particular. Nopony dared made a sound lest they miss something. Everyone was eagerly expecting something crazy or dangerous to happen at any moment. The air was tense. A scream and a lot of yelling was then heard from within the hospital. It was slightly muffled due to the walls of the building. “Ahhh.....A hospital!? What in the name of Luna am I doing of all places HERE!?” Then there were muffled curses and screams. A crash of a window from up high and the sound of glass shattering rang out. As soon as that happened the six mares in the waiting room rushed through the inner double doors of the hospital that led towards the main hallway. “Ha, I just KNEW that something crazy was about to happen!” yelled Pinkie as she bounced along with the others. Twilight led the group as she knew where the room where the stallion was. “Now I can finally teach this stallion a lesson about making me look bad!” announced Rainbow as she was hovering along with the others. They rushed past a nurse and then turned towards another hallway and up the stairs. A door was swung wide open and they saw Doctor Stable outside of it, in the middle of the hallway, pointing inside the room with his mouth wide open in shock. The mares all shuffled inside to get a look and they saw the armoured stallion, some for the first time. Their mouths all dropped at the sight. Fluttershy was the first to respond with a muffled, “Oh my.” “My word,” Rarity gasped. “What in tarnation!?” yelled Applejack. “Well, that's unexpected.” stated Rainbow Dash. “Oh so that's what it meant by tables chopped in half,” exclaimed Pinkie. “What on earth did you do!?” Twilight loudly demanded. And the others all gathered at the entrance of the room just staring at the sight before them. Doctor Stable just looked and said nothing the entire time, still in shock and horror at the ruined portion of the hospital. It would take so many bits to fix this mess. The armored stallion was standing with the axe in his mouth in front of a large perfect circular cutaway of what used to be the wall with a window. There was debris everywhere scattered around the room. The pony in dark armor just staring at his handy work and looked out to the horizon with his blue mane with the single black stripe blowing in the wind. Luckily there was no other patient in the room or they would've died from a heart attack after what this pony just did. The mares just looked at him, intensely scrutinizing him with their looks. The stallion opened his mouth to release the axe. His horn glowed this time and made it float next to him. He looked back at the mares with a stern look, his green eyes peering through all of them. “Hey. The name’s Nova Blade, and I bucking HATE hospitals.” Nova let out a breath. “Now if you excuse me, I need to head back to Canterlot. National threat to Equestria and all that jazz.” He promptly flung his axe down at the ground hard with his magic. The impact alone made the ground burst into an impact crater. Then he jumped from the edge of the newly cut hole, much to the surprise of everypony, while falling towards his axe on the ground. Again, with another faint glowing of his horn the axe then suddenly flung up to him at great speed pulling some dirt along with it. To the mares and doctor it looked like he was about to butcher himself in midair. The axe turned on its side right before Nova hit it so that he landed on the flat side with his hooves. The apparent momentum of the axe flying upwards canceled the velocity of him falling down from the third story. Nova Blade landed with a thud with the weapon still under his feet. Then he stepped off and shook the purple and blue weapon off and promptly put it back on his back, locking it into place with some unseen magic. He turned around and then waved a hoof at the crowd looking at him with slack jaws and saw the pink one with foam fingers on both hooves which read “Go Blade!” Nova ignored that part though. Twilight shared a look with her friends (minus Pinkie who was too busy cheering.) "This pony is downright crazy." All of her friends nodded sagely. Doctor Stable finally spoke out loud while pointing a hoof at Nova Blade. “Are you just gonna let him go? After what he has done!? Look what he did to my hospital!” “Stop him!” yelled Rainbow Dash, flaring her wings and getting ready to take off. The others turned around, opting to take the stairs instead of jumping out of the window. Nova Looked back over his shoulder, smirking. “If you can, that is,” he said playfully as his horn started to glow bright blue. End of chapter 2 And on that bombshell, good night everypony! Credit music plays... Reader has gained... +5 to STR. +2 to LUK. New skill learned -Wall Slicer- Use your Axe to cut your way through walls that righteously annoy you in a perfect circle. Requires 2 STR and only 500 Magic power. Nova Blades Axe
Chapter 03: TacticsUnder Lunar Wings Chapter 3: Restraint By : JP HACK Edited by : Mixolydian Grey, and those that I forgot to mention “Now, my brothers and sisters, when your power is low, your comrades fallen, and your vigor lost, fear not. Remember the very reason of fighting, the reason you came here to begin with. Where was that force to keep pushing you to fight, along with that power that you showed with valor? For it was not skill, nor superior numbers that kept you going but your very WILL to survive, which carried through your holy mission. So, I urge you to pick up your weapons, and power through your inner conflicts, for Equestria needs saving once more.” - Archives of Equestria Location - Rear courtyard of the Ponyville Hospital Time - 1:20 PM A gust of wind shook the hospital room. Rainbow Dash’s wings flapped furiously, pushing debris and papers around, making more of a mess. She turned to look at her target from the third story through the newly made hole in the wall. Stallion, grey coat, blue mane with a black streak, green eyes, impressive black regal armor, and a weapon that looked like it belonged in a museum. She had no time to pay attention to any more details, though, as her target needed to be beaten into submission in less than ten seconds flat. She got her body low, launched out of the hole in the wall, and she raced towards the now unamused Nova Blade. Meanwhile, Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie all quickly went downstairs to get to the ground floor to help Rainbow Dash capture the runaway patient. They all ran through the hallways, bypassing a frightened nurse wheeling a patient on a wheelchair. As they burst out the rear doors that lead into the courtyard. The courtyard was primarily used to help rehabilitate ponies by letting them get some exercise and giving them room to walk around. Now it was a battleground for the world’s fastest flyer and a stallion in armor who was wielding a deadly axe. Twilight eyed the situation for a moment. She turned around back to the girls and motioned for them to all come together for a quick huddle. “Okay girls, anypony have any ideas on how to take down a unicorn with an axe?” The rest of the mares all just shrugged bewilderedly. Twilight realized that she needed to come up with a plan, quickly. The rainbow maned pegasus arced towards Nova Blade at great speed. Nova tried to use his magic to pick up his axe. His horn glowed for a moment before fizzling out. He tried again, but the spell still did not succeed. With some effort, he made a third attempt. His horn gave off a weak glow. Success! Okay then, I can't do anything besides basic telekinesis. Should've never done that crazy stunt that I pulled from the third story. Even though hospitals scare the living mule out of me... what was I thinking? Best not to answer that. Regardless, I need to stall for time,‘cause at this rate it will take me five minutes or so to recharge my magic for a basic twenty mile teleport. Looks like I will have to hold this mare off in order to stall for time. Hang on comrades, Nova Blade is coming! Nova strained to increase the power of his magic to move his axe. It was still on his back and it was difficult for him given the amount of magic he already used. As he was occupied in removing his weapon, he caught a shadow growing around him at the corner of his eyes. Nova turned his face up just in time to see Rainbow speeding down right above him. He nearly panicked as he tried even harder to remove his weapon in time. “This is for disturbing my nap today!” the fast moving rainbow blur yelled out from above. Dash bucked Nova with her front hooves, hitting his back. He got thrown sideways along with his weapon and slid across the ground. Nova groaned in pain and slowly got back up. He looked at his fallen weapon that slid off his back and weakly picked it up. The weapon rose into the air, glowing at the handle. Most unicorns, when they use telekinesis, wrap the entire object in magic, but the most power and grip comes from being selective on what you grab. Something was missing, though; where did that pegasus go? The answer came swiftly when a voice came from above once more. “Hey, you’re not supposed to get up from that! Stay down!” Nova watched as Rainbow Dash did a sudden corkscrew towards him. Rainbow nearly panicked when he held his axe up again as he put it front of her path of attack. She backpedaled her wings to avoid the weapon in her path. She stopped right before him and hovered in the air, her face all bent up in anger. She didn't expect anything like this, as her plan was to stall him as long as possible before he picked up his weapon. “Please stop, I honestly don't have time for the likes of you. And unless you want to get hurt really bad, stand down,” Nova said in a taunting voice. He spun his axe in a circular motion while grinning maniacally. The axe glowed as it illuminated the edge of the spinning blade, creating a wheel of light. Nova maneuvered the spinning weapon closer to him in order to get into a better defensive position. Rainbow grit her teeth and pointed at him with a wing for a split second. “You want to do this the hard way? Fine, let’s do this the hard way!” As Twilight was explaining the game plan of ‘take down the crazy pony,’ Pinkie Pie had another twitchy attack. But this was a more subdued one, a Pinkie sense that was passively pushing her towards a general unknown direction. She looked at Fluttershy who was not really paying attention to Twilight’s plan. As the pegasis was looking at the fight between Rainbow Dash and Nova Blade off into the distance, Pinkie, on the other hoof, while bouncing up and down in a quick nauseating succession, went right up in front of Fluttershy's face. “Hey, Fluttershy, I need your help! Come on, we need to make like a tree and get out of here! My Pinkie sense is telling me something, something BIG, and I need your help!” The poor pegasus nearly fainted when Pinkie jumped in front of her and started talking. Thankfully, she finally came to her senses and formed words other than squeaks and hums. “Ooh, Pinkie you scared me! Uh...what do you mean that you need my help?” “Listen, my pinkie sense is telling me to go up to the sky for some reason, and you're the only super awesome friend who happens to have wings available. I need you to fly me up over the clouds.” “Wait, you want me to...” she gulped. “...fly you up into the sky?” Fluttershy stared at the ground and moved her right hoof in a circular motion. “I dunno about that... it sounds dangerous.” “Please, Fluttershy? Pleeeeease? I need this. Look at me, the Pinkie sense is getting worse.” Pinkie started shaking very violently towards a particular direction. “And to top it all off, it’s moving upwards towards the sky and turning. Come on, we have to hurry and follow it ‘cause it could solve all our problems! Like a secret place, or it means that it has to continue on towards an unknown goal, or it could mean something special. Please, Fluttershy? Pleeeeease?” “I don’t know... I never really did that before.” Fluttershy's voice was so soft that it was a barely audible squeak. “Come on, Fluttershy, Dash’s safety could be on the line! And it won't be that hard, I'm light as a feather. Just this once. Its not like I asked before, even though I wanted to ask before ‘cause it sounded like fun, then Dash said no because it will mess with her training schedule, and she flew off, but that's not the half of it...” Pinkie shook even more and the ground stirred up with vibrations while she continuing rambling, “...anyway, come on, Fluttershy, this is the Pinkie sense, and you know what happens when you don't believe the Pinkie sense!” Fluttershy looked at Pinkie and then looked at Twilight, who was explaining a plan that was far too complex for Applejack and Rarity. Her voice was still barely audible, except for Pinkie who had super hearing that cannot be explained. “Okay, you make a good point, but just this once. I don't want the same thing happening to me as did Twilight when she...uh...went against your warnings.” “Great! Now I want you to fly at a northeast direction with an ascension of 32 degrees while banking to the left. Now get ready for takeoff!” Pinkie saluted to Fluttershy, before beginning a short walk around the bewildered mare. Pinkie inspected her as one would inspect a plane. “Landing gear, check, ailerons functional, wing power at maximum. Okay, ready to go!” Pinkie pulled a pair of goggles from out of nowhere, put them on and hopped on Fluttershy's back, pointing in the direction in which to go. Pinkie tapped her on the side of her flank. “Eep!” Fluttershy flared her wings and took off, though she struggled under Pinkie’s weight at first. She heaved her wings faster to compensate, creating a large gust of wind as they ascended to the air. All the while, Twilight, Rarity and Applejack were so occupied with the ‘plan’ that they didn't really at all notice them leave. “Well, does everypony know their tasks?” asked Twilight as she paced back and forth in front of the mares. “Yes ma'am,” answered Applejack nodding in affirmation. “Certainly do,” said Rarity, who looked around in confusion for a moment. “Um, Twilight?” “Huh? What is it, Rarity?” Rarity looked around and back to Twilight. “Where are Pinkie and Fluttershy?” “What are you talking about? They are-” She looked around her and saw an absence of a shy pegasus and a party pony. She had a gut feeling that Fluttershy might've backed out of the impending scuffle, but didn't begin to bother trying to understand why Pinkie Pie would leave. Regardless, they had a pony to stop. A tweak of her mental plans and voila, a plan taking into account two less participants was completed in Twilight's head at record speed. Then her ideas came crashing into a brick wall at 75 mph. “Okay, now the plan is ruined without Pinkie and Fluttershy here. What are we gonna do now?” Her ears dropped and she pouted again. Rarity and Applejack just looked at each other and shrugged. Rarity raised a hoof. “Darling, let me just go and inform the policeponies what's happening. I'm sure that they would know better than us how to handle this situation, wouldn't you agree?” Twilight nodded. “Actually, I bet if I use mah rope with some of yer fancy magic, we can easily capture the trouble maker. It will be just like in the rodeo!” Applejack exclaimed. Twilight thought over that for a moment. Could that actually work? It’s worth a shot to try to stall or tire him out until the real authorities come. Suddenly there was a yelp and swearing directed towards a certain rainbow maned pegasus. The mares turned around to see what was happening. Rainbow Dash bounced on a cloud as she maneuvered it over her target. With each bounce, she shot a lightning bolt at Nova Blade. Nova seemed tired of just dodging and blocking attacks as he weaved and ducked from the bolts. He maneuvered his axe to just deflect the strikes towards the ground so as to not hit anything flammable around him. Nova looked at his axe to see it glow red from the heat of the strikes. He didn't like where this whole situation was going. Dammit, I have like three more minutes until my magic is past its required threshold and my axe can't sustain that many more strikes. This is getting really annoying. Though,this mare is now shooting MORE lightning at me! Is that even legal!? Rainbow Dash bounced and flew between clouds. She grabbed two more clouds by spinning really fast around them and compressing them. Once she made them into storm clouds she added them to the one that was already shooting lightning at Nova. She sped through them all at a quick speed and kicked the last one with her hind hooves. Lightning from all three clouds struck the ground near Nova at the same time. Nova loudly gulped and deflected one of the many strikes but it was still dangerously close to hitting him. A bolt of lightning struck right next to Nova, nearly taking his leg out. Daaaaang, This mare is good. If it was not for the advice of my teacher, I would be a dead charred unicorn on a stick. I need to take her out of the equation. She seems to know some military tactics. Wonderbolts training perhaps? I dunno, but these are not moves any normal pegasus would use. Nova strained to increase some of his limited magic towards his axe. He brought it close to his face and then crouched lower to the ground. “So how do you like my attacks? Never seen anything like it, huh?” boasted Rainbow as she was circling around Nova. “Listen to me, I know you’re mad at me, though I don't know why. But I am willing to walk away from this, if you are. Otherwise, I will go on the offensive, and quickly take you down. You may be dangerous, but you're not as tough as some of the other ponies I've fought.” answered Nova, who didn't bother to turn to face her. “Ha! I'm the fastest flyer in all of Equestria and next in line to get into the Wonderbolts! You just don't know who you're dealing with!” Rainbow stopped circling around him and went back to hovering in front of Nova with her hooves crossed. “I don't even know your name, I’ve never seen you before in my life, and to top it off, you’re really annoying.” “What!? Why I oughta...” Rainbow flared her wings out mid hover and charged him head on again at a great speed, taking a cloud with her for another attack. “Rainbow, DOOODGE!!” Called out Twilight as she and Applejack came running towards them. Dash banked sharply to the right and sped past Nova, who didn't move. Rainbow distracted him enough to let Twilight shoot a spell from her horn. Nova smirked as the beam came towards him. About time, something I could use to my advantage. Nova stopped the spinning of the axe and shuffled his stance slightly to the left. He turned the axe and deflected the beam, but this time he aimed the deflection at his previous challenger, Rainbow Dash. She was still moving around arcing back towards her companions but the deflected beam of magic shot her right in her side. Her wings locked up and she started to fall towards the ground. “I don't feeell soooo gooodd,” Rainbow slurred as she fell. “Rainbow!” Twilight instantly wrapped her in a field of magic and placed her gently on the ground near a tree. “Applejack, check on her for a moment. It was just a sleeper spell. It was intended for...” she glared at Nova. “...this unicorn. Once you're done, come help me, and hopefully Rarity will be back with the policeponies in time. The spell will only last a couple of minutes.” “Ya can count on me Twilight.” Applejack immediately went towards the now sleeping Rainbow Dash to check on her. Twilight walked up towards Nova Blade with a clear look of anger and frustration on her face. “What's your problem!?” called out Twilight. Nova turned and stuck the axe into the ground. He has been using his limited magic for a while and it was starting to tire him out. Even though he was recharging for the teleport spell, he was facing rapid magic drainage, which could cripple him for days if it did happen. Nova turned and brushed off his armor. “Problem? I don't have a problem. I'm just, you know, trying to not get struck by lightning. No biggie.” Twilight’s anger slowly increased but she kept a level tone. “Your name is Nova Blade, right? Why did you make an hole in the hospital and run away? And look at what you did to our friend, Rainbow Dash!” She pointed towards the sleeping Rainbow Dash and Applejack. She was about to continue speaking but got cut off from Nova. “I thought I announced that I hate hospitals and that I needed to go somewhere urgent. Sorry about your friend, but I need to go. Are you gonna let me do that or do I still need to stand and fight you off my flank?" Nova pointed a hoof at Twilight. "And for the record, you shot the beam. I merely deflected it.” Nova didn't like wasting time, but for the sake of stalling for time for the required amount of magic power to regenerate for a teleport spell, he had to wait. Sorry guys, but Nova is gonna be a little late. Around one minute remaining before I can get out of this crazy town. “You need to answer some questions, mister.” Twilight slammed her right hoof down to punctuate her point. “First off, why did you use me in that teleportation spell?” Nova got taken by surprise from that question. “Wait, it grabbed you? Look, I don't have the time to explain. I don't even know who you are.” “My name is Twilight Sparkle and I believe that you owe my friends an explanation and apology. I'm also the one that took you to the hospital after you came here completely unconscious.” Nova’s mind stopped. There was a reason why there were orders to stay away from Ponyville. TWILIGHT SPARKLE!? Oh buck me to the moon so hard that space itself collapses on me. So that's what she looks like. Kinda good looking. Anyway, then the rest of her friends must be the Elements of Harmony? No wonder they are so protective and are used to fighting. Oh, this is bad, really bad. Luna is gonna send me to the far side of the moon for this. I better just bolt and leave while I can. That should give me more than enough time to complete the spell and forget about this place. Luna forgive me for my stupidity, blame the stupid little pony in my head for not thinking straight.Nova looked at Twilight and contemplated what was the wisest course of action. After about four seconds of deep meditative thought, he considered stopping and explain everything, until he realized that would be boring. “I’m just gonna go. I’m way overdue for some critical matters. Thanks for saving me, but it’s Equestria that needs saving, not me.” He turned around and started to trot away and added, “Thanks for helping me take down that pegasus, she was really annoying.” Twilight's horn glowed and she shot a beam of energy at Nova from spite. Nova, without turning around, moved slightly to the left letting the magics graze him as he pulled his axe from the ground. “You're not going anywhere.” Twilight said with a calm forceful demeanor. “You broke property, assaulted a pony, and worst off, haven't told me anything that I need to know. So you're gonna have to come with us.” She turned to Applejack who came next to her. “Applejack, it’s time to capture this crazy stallion.” “Woah nelly, it's right about time I get to tussle with someone.” Nova looked at the orange and blonde earth pony running towards him. She spun a rope with her tail and had her hat tipped over her eyes. He stared at her in utter awe of her near-supernatural agility and dexterity. The little pony in Nova’s head reminded him that earth ponies have their own type of magic as well. “Fine, let’s get this over with. I'm dead as it is from the backlash I'm gonna get from this detour I took. But remember this, I'm going easy on you all. If it was not for my weakened state, you all would be sent to Tartarus and back.” Nova said as he took some steps back. “Quit yer yapping.” Applejack raced towards him and tossed the lasso. Not the smartest move for Applejack, as Nova swiped it with his axe and cut the rope like butter. But she kept running towards him, much to Nova’s surprise. She zigzagged, turned around and bucked him hard in the side, leaving two hoof prints in his armor. Nova yelped and got thrown forcibly across the ground. He tumbled and spun a couple of times and skidded to a stop. His axe was thrown far back as it embedded into a random rock. “How ‘bout them apple bucking? Once you’ve been doin’ it for years, it’s easy.” Nova groaned in pain and weakly picked himself up. Applejack trotted up to him and surprisingly had another rope from out of nowhere, ready to lasso up the downed stallion. Nova looked at her with fire burning in his eyes. She stopped right before him in fright, unsure on whether or not to move in to capture him. Pure anger was seething out of Nova as if he was actively trying to copy Fluttershy's version of the ‘stare.’ He slowly rose to his hooves and looked back at the downed axe and turned to the earth pony, and then to Twilight Sparkle. He eyes turned back to his armor that was now ruffed up and dented slightly. “Oh, no. No. NO.” He flailed his body around like a dog chasing its tail. “What did you DO!? I just had this painted and coated a couple weeks ago. You're gonna pay for this!” Nova Blade suddenly made his horn glow to his highest magic output that he could muster and grabbed his axe. He twitched a bit in pain as he was exerting magicks of more than he was currently capable of. I've finally charged enough magic power for the teleportation spell, but this mare needs to learn a dang fine lesson in minding someone’s stuff. She is soooooo lucky I can’t be at full power as I need a whole day, I think, to recover after this...I hope my comrades can handle me not using magic once I return. Nova brandished his weapon in empty swings to make Applejack back away. Applejack had no weapon or magic to defend herself and was getting dangerously close to his range. Twilight quickly pushed Applejack aside and told her to stand back near the sleeping Rainbow Dash while she herself faced Nova. “No one hurts my friends. Including crazy ponies in armor who wield weapons that have not been welded since the Lunar and Solar Wars,” she said angrily. “I don’t care, even if you are the Elements of Harmony. It’s time to teach you a lesson for damaging my beloved armor!” “Wait, how did you know th-” Nova didn't wait for Twilight to complete her sentence as he sent, for the first time, his axe directly towards his now startled target. Location : Ponyville Policepony Station Time: 1:34 PM Rarity was power trotting through the town before she arrived at the policepony station. She burst through the doors of the establishment and went right up to the unicorn mare behind a desk. The mare sported a badge and had a uniform on that was blue and white. She also had a white coat along with a green and yellow mane. “Uh, can I help you?” she asked as she stared at Rarity. “Oh you most certainly can, I need assistance right away. A crazy pony escaped from the hospital and is fighting our friends. He won't go back and pay for the damages he caused and he’s violently attacking everypony with an axe! Somepony is going to get hurt if you don't send some of our town’s finest to deal with the situation.” The policepony mare raised an eyebrow. “Okay, gimme a moment.” She picked up an arcane crystal off her desk with her magic and tapped it once. She leaned in to speak into it. “All units, we got a Code 3-H at the Ponyville Hospital. Please be advised, subject is armed and dangerous.” “You got it Dispatch, I'm on my way.” said one voice followed by a series of ‘affirmatives’ and ‘rogers’ from the crystal. The mare turned over back to Rarity. “Can you give me a description?” “Well darling, I would not be a designer if I didn't pay attention to details.” Dispatch gave her a ‘does-it-look-like-I-care’ look and rolled her eyes. “It was a stallion, grey coat, blue mane with a black streak, green eyes and sports armor that is black and has a particularly fine blue and purple trim. Also, he has an axe that he wields with his magic. My friends are facing him right now and I have to get back there to help them as soon as possible.” “Yeah, that seems good enough.” Dispatch turned back towards the crystal and reactivated it. “All units, suspect is a grey coated stallion with blue mane sporting a single black streak and is wearing black armor with blue and purple trim.” Again, a series of affirmations came echoing back through the crystal. Rarity turned around to leave and briskly left back in the direction of the hospital. Meanwhile, as Dispatch saw her leave through the doors, the crystal on her desk glowed again. A voice of another stallion which was rough and gruff sounding spoke out of it. “This is Sheriff Star Force. Dispatch, did you say black armor with purple and blue trim?” “Affirmative.” “In that case I want ALL available units to go to the scene.” “Wait, what for!?” “Trust me, if we’re dealing with the guy I think we’re dealing with, then you all will be glad you did. Dispatch initiate protocol EC-1102.” “Roger that.” The crystal on her desk turned another color and Dispatch spoke again with a unsteady tone. “Uh, all units, protocol EC-1102 has been issued. Please head to the Ponyville Hospital, weapons ready.” The last time that order was given was many years ago. This can't be the same situation, right? Dispatch thought to herself. She deactivated the crystal and sat back down trying to figure out in her head what order she just had issued. “This could be interesting...” Location : Behind the Ponyville Hospital. Courtyard. Time: 1:36 PM Clang! A weapon brandishing against a shield was heard. Twilight just put up a magic shield around her in the nick of time before the weapon nearly chopped her head off. It banged and smashed wildly at random parts of her shield. Nova's horn glowed brighter as he swung his weapon against the shield, this time with much more force. He winced in sharp pain, as he was releasing too much magic for a unicorn to endure, especially one in his deteriorating condition. Twilight gritted her teeth as every hit took a small chunk away from the shield and from her magic. She could not attack back with a shield around her, as it protected her from both directions. “You just had to get one of your friends to touch my awesome armor, didn't you!?” Nova yelled. Twilight didn't answer but looked for a moment back at Applejack, who was caring for the sleeping Rainbow Dash and looking over at the fight. Twilight was glad that they were far away from this little quarrel. Unicorns in battle tend to leave battle scars all over the place, so just being nearby was asking for trouble. “Can't-you-STOP!?” She was interrupted from each swing against her shield. Twilight's anger finally got the better of her, in spite of her training under Princess Cadence about keeping a calm and a level head. She absolutely exploded in magic and dropped her shield quickly to let out a blast of raw energy. Nova Blade's eyes widened and he grabbed his axe back and deflected it back towards its sender. Twilight was just as surprised how quickly he did that and ducked towards the ground to dodge her own attack. Nova seethed with anger towards her. “I wanted to just leave and go back and tend to my friends and duties, but you mares are preventing me from doing that. I'm not gonna answer questions nor pay for any damage. Stand down or the next attack will be your last, oh Element of Magic.” He said as Twilight glared at him. Does he know how powerful a unicorn I really am or is he just toying with me? How does he know I’m one of the Elements? Twilight's head flooded with unanswered questions that only served to make her even more angry and frustrated. “Fine. Lets see if you can handle an offensive spell that my brother taught me. White lighting.” Twilight's horn glowed this time from purple to a light blue. The glow expanded to a blinding degree as she said some words in an ancient language and fired. Nova only looked mildly surprised at the vortex of arcane energy coming towards him, making a small grin. Location : Above the clouds - Ponyville Time : 1:40 PM “Ehrm, Pinkie, are you sure we are going in the right direction? We have been flying in circles around the town for a while now.” Fluttershy was flying slowly above the clouds circling around Ponyville while Pinkie Pie was somehow now wearing a pirate costume. “Argh. I'm Captain Pinkie and I'm looking for the elusive Two Piece!!” “Uhh. Pinkie, could you stop... um, if you don't mind?” Pinkie ignored Fluttershy's warnings and pleas to stop doing all these shenanigans on her back. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie froze still. She looked at her hooves, and then her eyes darted all around her frantically. “Oooh, it’s back, Fluttershy! The feeling is back! I can feel it. Bank left! Back towards the hospital and make it snappy!” Pinkie’s hooves started to twitch and rattled Fluttershy’s back. The poor pegasus had to turn around and give her a mean look to get her to stop. “Heh, sorry.” They flew some distance and spotted a grey coated, blonde maned pegasus with bubbles for a cutie mark pulling a cargo cloud. They got near to her and Fluttershy waved a hoof while Pinkie just saluted.. “Oh, hey Derpy. Uh, nice to see you around. How are you?” asked Fluttershy. “Oh, hey guys. I'm doing great.” She eyed the duo with one of her eyes. “Hey Pinkie, what are you doing on Fluttershy’s back?” “No time for fun and games, there's a charlie in the bushes!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie. Both Fluttershy and Derpy shared a confused glance and wing shrug. Pinkie suddenly jumped off Fluttershy’s back, much to the surprise of the two pegasi, landing on top of the cargo cloud which sported a wooden roof. A collective sigh of relief went through the mares. Pinkie stood tall and froze again. Her hooves shook and quaked in a seemingly random fashion. “Pinkie Sense! Don't let me down now!” She bucked the door of the cargo cloud spilling out its contents to the shock and awe of the hovering pegasi. Pinkie leaped back on Fluttershy’s back in quick fashion and looked down at the spilling content. “What was that for!?” Yelled Derpy while one eye looked down in disappointment. Her eyes aligned and they looked quite menacing as her glare focused towards Fluttershy and Pinkie. Pinkie Pie only answered with, “You will thank me later. Fluttershy, we have to back to the hospital. NOW!” The shy pegasus obeyed with a ‘meep’ and squeak of fear, taking off back towards the hospital. Derpy on the other hoof called out, “Now how the hay am I gonna clean this up?” Location : The courtyard of the Ponyville Hospital Time: 1:38 PM Nova Blade had a sour look on his face. He could not believe that this mare was actually trying to stop him. Twilight fired burst after burst of magical energy at Nova, only for him to effortlessly deflect each one with his axe. Meanwhile, Rarity finally came back with five policeponies. “There he is! Arrest that ruffian!” called out Rarity. Twilight saw Rarity finally come back and stopped her attacks with a sudden instantaneous teleport right next to her, leaving Nova without an opponent mid battle. Twilight and Rarity both walked up to Applejack and to the still sleeping Rainbow Dash. They huddled together in the distance as the policeponies moved in towards Nova. They surrounded Nova, who was still spinning his axe around him like a shield. All of the policeponies, who were all unicorns, drew out their weapons and pointed them towards Nova Blade. Nova looked at the policeponies, then back to the mares, and back to them. He knew when we was outnumbered and outmatched. “HALT! Stop in the name of Celestia and Luna. You are hereby under arrest!” called out one of the policeponies. They all edged in closer. One of the officers even started reading his rights. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do will be-” He got cut off when Nova made his axe go back onto his back quickly with a clang and finished his sentence for him. “Used against me, I know. I heard this like a thousand lunar times before. Jeez. Its time to leave. See ya suckers!” His horn glowed, making the policeponies move in to try to stop him from teleporting. One of the officers who should've been paying attention to Nova started noticing a shadow forming and getting bigger and bigger on the ground. He looked up and saw a bunch of stuff coming straight at them from the sky. “EVERYPONY RETREAT!” The rest of the policeponies all looked up and backpedaled as far away as possible, nearly tripping on their hooves to get away. This left Nova Blade to look at them back in surprise. What the heck are they doing?You don’t arrest someone by retreating. Whatever. As his horn grew brighter in intensity in preparation for the spell, he noticed a certain Pink mare in the distance. She was riding a yellow pegasus, but pointed up with her hoofs. Nova turned his head skyward. “Oh. Y-You gotta be kid-” CRASH! The contents of Derpy’s cart which consisted of a piano, an anvil and a pot all fell on Nova Blade. Everyone cringed in shock and awe, before coming to drag the now knocked out stallion in armor from the wreckage. They yanked him out and the policeponys were quick to put a pair of hoof cuffs and a magic inhibitor on his horn. They left him on the ground as they conversed with the mane five. Nova’s axe was laying on the ground lifeless. A policepony spotted it. He came up to it and tried using his magic to pick it up. A glow of yellow enshrouded the axe but suddenly died down. The Policepony tried a second time. The field of magic appeared and disappeared once more, as if it didn't want to be moved, and fizzled out in sparks. "Having a problem Speed Force?" asked another Policepony. "I don't know.” Speed Force replied with a look of determination. “This axe is giving me a pain in the rear. I can't pick it up with my magic! Why don't you try it, Flagstaff?" Flagstaff sighed and went in front of the axe. His horn glowed and the weapon was wrapped again in a field of magic, but it fizzled out again. Flagstaff raised an eyebrow. "See? This is weird." said Speed Force. Flagstaff looked at him with a stern glare. "Yeah, as if it did not want anyp-" Flagstaff stopped speaking as he and Speed Force both were startled when the axe glowed a hue of blue and started to rise into the air. The axe lazily floated towards Nova who was knocked unconscious and set down next to him. "Don't say anything to the sheriff?" asked Speed. Flagstaff nodded sagely and only replied with a standard, "Affirmative." Sheriff Star Force gave a heavy sigh. He looked at the collapsed pony with a disapproving look. Thank Celestia for that fallen debris which fell on him. Otherwise we could of had a big incident on our hoofs. He approached Twilight who was conversing with her friends and saluted two other ponys both staring at Nova’s axe as he made his way to the purple unicorn. Some time passed as they got into an interchange of information of what transpired. “So are you trying to say that you want to interrogate him and report him directly to the princess?” Asked Sheriff Star Force. He was taking some notes down into his notebook while the other Policeponys stood guard around the now knocked out Nova. “Yes, The princess needs to know of what he did to us and of what kind of weapon he has. No pony had a weapon like his for over a thousand years! And on top of that, he needs to answer some additional questions, and the library is the perfect place to get it out of him, one way or another. Also, he needs to apologize.” Twilight looked back at her friends who were all just conversing with one another and with the Policeponys. “Well, I guess so. Its not everyday that someone requests this. And since you're Celestia's personal student, I can't say I have the authority to say no.” He smiled a bit and turned back to his subordinates. “Okay boys, you heard her! Take him to the town library. He will be ‘interrogated’ there.” "Roger!" the Policeponys called out in unison. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash finally woke up from her slumber. “Wa, what I miss?” she slurred. End of Chapter 3 Reader has gained... +3 STR +8 LUK +2 DEX New Perk unlocked Axe Mastery - Passive Skill - When wielding an axe. Your grip and swing power increase by at least 20% Achievement Unlocked - Broken Harmony - Shouldn't have met the elements in your travels. Luna told you not to. -40 MP every minute.
Chapter 04: ConfessionsUnder Lunar Wings Chapter 4: Confessions By : JP HACK Edited by : JP HACK, Tobyc, Mixolydian Grey, Fdrdevotee May the light of your glory be seen, the thunders of your onset heard from east to west, to become the avengers of noble blood! - Kenna the Conqueror Location : Currently Unknown Time : Unknown “Well, this is most unexpected,” Nova Blade said as he opened his eyes to look around at his surroundings. He was tied up to a chair with rope around his waist and hind legs. Right before him was an old table, which had a plate with three cupcakes and a notepad. A single lamp shone above the table with its light barely illuminating the rest of the room which held various beakers and various chemical experiments, some of which glowed eerily and made weird noises that permeated through the darkness. Nova Blade sighed. This is not within the plan at all. Actually, was anything in the plan to begin with? Why does the hero or the good guy always end up in disturbing situations? He looked around to see if there were any escape routes to teleport through, but there was not a single window or door which he could see that could aid in an quick escape. He needed a line of sight make that teleport. Okay, maybe I can use my magic to get me out of this rope? He focused to channel some magic to his horn. A sharp pain came to his head that made him stop instantly. He reached with his front hooves which were not tied up to feel his horn. He felt what was a large ring that had a strange bump on the side of the device. Oh great. A magic inhibitor. Just flipping fantastic. Of all the things that I have experienced so far in life, this is probably by far the WORST. POSSIBLE. THING... Though where is my axe? Nova turned to his left and was shocked to see his weapon in its own chair and tied up as well. “Limb Splitter! What did they do to you!?” Yelled Nova. He looked at the axe with pleading eyes of regret and sadness. The weapon fidgeted in place and actually shed a small tear of its own that dripped down the length of the blade and onto the floor. Nova had to hold up tears of his own as he looked at his weapon. “Don't worry buddy, we’ll get out of this. You know that I have something up my hoof. I think.” Nova eyed the cupcakes on the table. He stared at them and looked at the nice chocolate frosting and sprinkles. “Listen, I remember that if you're caught in this sort of situation, if they leave food for you on the table and if you actually eat ALL the food, then it means you're not guilty. Right?” He reached for the plate with his hooves and moved it towards him. Even though Nova was a unicorn he usually preferred not to use his magic for eating because he believed that it ‘tainted’ his food. Regardless, there was not a hesitation on whether or not to eat the treats that were being presented to him. Poisoning was merely an afterthought as Nova scarfed down the cupcakes with the ease of an earth pony, as most unicorns don't even know how not to do things without their magic. Though as he was eating, there were some muffled conversation which seemed to come from upstairs. “Okay you ready?” Said one of the voices. “Ready!” Answered not one but multiple voices. A door opened from above with light shining out from it. Many hoof steps resounded throughout the basement as they traveled down the stairs in the darkness. Nova only turned around as much as he could but saw what seemed to him to be six ponies in dark cloaks. These should be my captors. Hmm, let’s see what they want. I don't have time though...aww what the hell. I'm not gonna make it back anytime soon. I could have some fun with this. A playful grin came over Nova. He finished eating his cupcakes and turned to the cloaked ponies that surrounded him. His axe fidgeted and stopped for a moment when the cloaked ponies formed a circle around the little interrogation scene. One of the cloaked figures took off their hoods and then revealed herself. She had a rainbow mane and a cyan coat. It was none other than Rainbow Dash. “Okay bud, lets start by asking some questions.” She came close and slammed her hooves on the table. “Cause if you don't start talking there is another bolt of lightning heading towards you and this time it’s gonna head for your flank! Now who are you and who are you working for!?” Another pony removed her cloak and showed her regal purple mane and white coat. Rarity revealed herself and faced Nova Blade as she addressed Rainbow Dash. “Now, Dashie, that's no way to pry information out of a gentlecolt,” she said in a calm tone, “but you do have a point. So let’s start with your name.” Nova looked at the both of them with dumbfounded expression. Are they serious? Didn't I tell them my name back at the hospital? They have got to be kidding me. Whatever, let’s get this over with. He turned to Rarity and matched her gaze with his. “Blade...Nova Blade.” He kept his cool. Rarity winked at Rainbow until she took the hint to move on. “So mind telling us WHY you broke out of the hospital?! And knocked me out cold?” Rainbow demanded. She went right up to Nova and hoofed him the face before he could answer. Nova took it like a stallion and just shook it off. That bucking hurt. I swear, once I'm out of this crazy place, I'm asking Luna to rethink some laws pertaining to vigilante justice regarding revenge when I'm through here. Rarity spoke again in nice calm and relaxed tone, unhindered from Dash’s actions. “This could be easier if you would just come out with a more detailed explanation.” “She just hoofed me in the face! Why should I bother to explain myself again!?” Nova abruptly said. He turned to see Rainbow Dash now pacing back and forth in front of the table. “Because darling, she does not have the patience to wait for an answer. I'm the only one keeping her in line, so its in your best interest to answer.” Rarity explained. Nova thought for a moment before realising something very interesting. Are they playing the good cop and bad cop routine? You CAN’T be serious. It even sounds like it has been rehearsed before they came down here. Even the slap to the face. Awkward. Nova raised an eyebrow at the other cloaked mares. “So why are only two of the Elements of Harmony doing the interrogation routine? And I bet one of you wants to know why I ended up here in the first place, right?” Twilight revealed herself as she took off her hood and stepped forward into the light. Once she did so, Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie revealed themselves as well. Pinkie though was wearing glowing goggles that looked straight out of an action movie. “That's what I want to know as well,” Twilight asked. “So are you gonna say sorry for hurting us and pay for the damages for the hospital?” Nova stared back towards his plate that used to have cupcakes on them and looked back at her. “Nah, but I will ask why you're doing the cloak thingy and the interrogation thingy from Mare and Order?” Twilight hesitated to answer for a moment. Does he know that I took this from a book called ‘Interrogations for foals’? No. It that cannot be the case as he looks like a normal guard of some sort and can't possibly know that, can he? Twilight just continued to just pelt him with questions in the place of Rarity. “So who are you working for? Do you work for the Night Guard? Why do you have a weapon type that nopony has used for over a thousand years? And why do you hate hospitals so much? And why does your armor look so different?” Nova thought for a moment and spoke as Rainbow Dash looked at him with a mean look. He slightly shuddered in his chair as he answered back. “Classified, nope, classified, and one time I took a shot, and it went wrong. Very wrong. My armour is different because it was a gift and custom made. Happy now? Can I go now? And for the record I am slightly sorry.” “That's still not enough! Why did you involve Twilight in that spell that nearly destroyed the town!?” yelled dash as she banged on the table again in front of Nova. Nova decided to ignore her and just answered plainly. “Look, I'm under official orders to not disclose any information, especially to the Elements of Harmony, about who I'm working for and what my current mission is. Things are not meant to be known to you mares, especially coming from me. I'm gonna probably have to beg for forgiveness once this blows over at some point in the future and probably fight...” he gulped loudly, “...her again.” “So wait a darn second right here,” Applejack spoke up from the group, “whatcha’ mean that ya cannot discuss information? If ya know that we’re the Elements of Harmony, then ya would’ve known that Twilight here is Princess Celestia's personal student. So there is no reason for ya ta hide anything from us.” “Yeah!” Pinkie Pie chimed, ”this is so awesome. Secrets, espionage, and tricks and lies. All in one place. Don't you know that you're only a letter away from big trouble Mister Mcmeany?” “I have done some research while you were knocked out and found out that the spell you used was invented by Storm Wind the Bold.” Twilight said matter of factly. “He was a unicorn general in the Lunar Republic during the Lunar and Solar War over a thousand years ago. He was one of the few ponies that knew how to make extremely far teleports but the spell caused some major damage in rare instances to the surroundings of the end destination. How does a pony like you know and have enough magic to use that spell? Especially when even I can’t find a single book on how to perform it.” Twilight and the mares all just stared at Nova who was being distracted from a random fly that was buzzing around the table. He realized he was asked a question and cleared his throat. “Ahem. Again, classified. And for the record, telling Celestia about me will get you nowhere. Just because you know the origin of my spell does not mean anything.” He glanced at Fluttershy who was visibly scared and looked back to Rainbow Dash who was still pacing back and forth with wings spread up. Twilight face hoofed right then and there in frustration. Nothing is working to get information out of this stallion. What do we do? Applejack turned to Dash and pointed to Nova. “Dash if ya will?” “With pleasure!” She suddenly came and hoofed Nova in the face again, this time a little harder. Fluttershy let out a little “eep” when Nova got hit. “Why are you making this situation much more dreadful than it has to be?” asked Rarity. Nova put a hoof to his left cheek. Dang that mare is strong. That’s it, I took an oath and I will complete that oath to the letter. No more mister nice guy. They will have to try to pry the information from my cold dead hooves. Nova steeled himself with an expressionless face and winked towards his axe which was still tied up. The axe glowed around its edges in yellow as it seemed like it wanted to wink back. “I have decided not to tell you anymore information. And there is no way you can make me speak...” Whilst Nova was talking, Pinkie Pie started shaking and bolted out of the basement. She went up the stairs, came back down and laid down three objects on the table. There on the table was a toothbrush, toothpaste and a glass of what appeared to be filled with orange juice. Nova Blade looked at the contents that was on the table and looked back towards Pinkie Pie. She had a little grin on her face that resembled pure evil for a split second. Nova wondered if anyone noticed it, but they probably didn't. For once in his life, Nova started to feel fear. Okay, just slight fear. “Uh, why is there orange juice and toothpaste here?” Asked Nova. A bead of sweat came down his face. “Um, maybe a new interrogation technique?” Twilight answered while looking awkwardly at Pinkie who nodded in return, “but what does a beverage and some hygiene supplies have to do with getting information out of him?” Pinkie went up and whispered something into Twilight's ear. Twilight suddenly frowned whilst Pinkie was explaining the details. “You gotta be joking, right?” Twilight said as she focused her gaze towards Pinkie. Pinkie nodded without saying a word. The other mares looked on bewildered and wondered what was she planning. Nova sat there oblivious to his surroundings and looked at his axe which seemed to be fighting more and more on its chair on its own as if it was trying to get away from something. Pinkie turned to Fluttershy. “Hey Fluttershy, what happens when you put toothpaste and orange juice together?” Fluttershy let out a squeak for being put on the spot. “Oh my,” she answered softly, “it tastes really, umm....bad.” Nova’s eyes went tiny as he realized what they were gonna do to him. No. They can't be SERIOUS!? Can they? Don't they know that brushing your teeth and immediately drinking orange juice right after is probably worse than eating hot peppers drizzled with hot sauce with more peppers on top of that!? I'd rather take poison joke in liquid form and drink it than do this. But I can't let them know how bad it is. It seems that pink mare is the only one that knows how truly bad it can be. Mental note: Take out the pink one when given the chance. The mares nodded in agreement and all stared at Nova as he was thinking to himself. Nova steeled himself once more with an expressionless face as all six mares approached in front and stared at him. Now normally to Nova these colorful bunch of ponies would be cute and awesome in the sunlight but down in the darkness with only their faces showing, created a scene from a cheesy horror flick, and made them at least one hundred and twenty percent more intimidating. Twilight who was in the middle started to speak. “Okay, now we have a way to make you talk. Rainbow, Applejack, please hold him down tighter.” They both complied as they put their hoofs on Nova to restrict his movement even further. “Now Rarity, brush his teeth.” Rarity grabbed the brush and lifted it with her telekinesis. The brush floated lazily into the air and was met with some minty toothpaste. It started moving slowly towards Nova, who was losing his cool each passing second. No, they can't be serious. But they were serious as Rarity made the brush go for his mouth while Twilight picked up the orange juice and made it go slowly towards him as well. Nova watched as they inched it closer and closer to him in slow motion. Not gonna snap, not gonna snap. The objects got to within a foot of his face and Nova watched pinkie with the corner of his eyes for a moment as she pretended to reenact the moment of contact and collapsed on the floor in a fake silent gagging. Holy sweet moon pie crusts, they're actually gonna do it! Nova snapped. “Okay, okay, I’ll talk, I’ll talk! Please just don't make me brush my teeth and drink orange juice right after! Anything but that!!!” yelled Nova in a frantic panic while flailing around in his chair, nearly falling over. The mares just looked at each other with a smile. Rarity and Twilight both put down their utensils of torture. “About time! Now we want the full story and don't leave a single thing out!” Rainbow Dash called out rather rudely. Twilight turned the lights on to reveal that this whole scene took place in the middle of some makeshift science lab slash basement. Everyone gathered around the table to get ready to listen to Nova Blade’s explanation. “I'm going to take notes about this. So please start whenever you're ready.” Twilight took the notepad on the table and pulled out a quill. Applejack and Rarity both sat down while Fluttershy sat next to Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie pulled out popcorn from out of nowhere and started munching in anticipation to Nova’s story. Nova relaxed with them as the whole situation changed in an instant. Suddenly from evil mares to somewhat normal ponies? Where they acting the entire time? Nova mentally face hoofed as he should of done this from the beginning to save himself of all this trouble and torture. “Could you at least untie me before I explain?” “No," everypony said at once. Nova sighed and looked back to his axe and winked. The axe fidgeted to the left three times and the right two times. Nova Agreed with a head nod and turned to face his captors. “Limb Splitter says to get this done and over with,” Nova explained in a firm tone, “so in order to explain why and how I ended up here in the state I was in, I have to start from the beginning.” Everyone just had confused looks. He looked at something random before facing the mares once more, “I'm sure you heard the news about missing cutie marks...” Location : Princess Luna’s Private chambers. Time : Same time as Nova Blade was being interrogated by the Mane Six. Luna was not happy. Not happy at all. All which was heard throughout her room was the sound of deep voice that said “Game Over.” Luna put the controller down with her magic and gave a heavy sigh. Its been five years since she returned and she taken a liking to these ‘video games’, as they call them, a lot. It sort of gave her insight as to what her subjects like these days. She would’ve been sleeping at this time but there was something that was keeping her up. She herself could not really explain what it was, but it was a nagging type of feeling. She looked at her two personal guards who were sleeping on their hooves. Usually, they would be awake when their princess was up and about but in this case Luna didn't really care to wake them up. She smiled to herself and went to her bed to try to get some sleep. Playing the game “Mane Effect 3” was not the best idea to try to get some shut eye though. Damn noobs online. Hate them. If only I can send those buffoons to the moon for what they did to me...no matter, I think its time to get some rest. She laid down and scrunched up her pillow before setting her head down. Her eyes wandered from place to place around the room. As princess of the night, going to sleep was not her favorite thing to do surprising. Her eyelids closed and she started to think happy thoughts. CRASH! Out of nowhere a pegasus and earth pony smashed through the doors of Luna’s chambers, instantly obliterating them into smithereens. The guards who were sleeping woke up instantly while simultaneously being thrown away from the force. Luna on the other hoof shot up and saw everything that happened. A light green pegasus with a red, orange, and yellow mane that had two crossbows mounted on his wings and light barding as well, slid across the ground before grinding to a halt. Next to him was a light brown earth pony mare with two toned purple hair that had some large saddle bags and was wearing power hooves, which looked like hoof bracelets. She was sprawled out on the floor next to the pegasus. Both of them had singes and burns on their armor and coats, including their cutie marks. Luna looked at the two intruders with a hard gaze and eyed the wreckage they caused. Her guards were already back up along with their weapons out surrounding them. Luna though put a hoof up for them to stand down. “What is thy, I mean, what is the meaning of this!?” asked Luna in loud pissed off tone. “Ouch, remind me never to use a pegasus like you as the getaway vehicle,” the earth pony said while rubbing her head. The pegasus smirked at her. He weakly stepped forward to face Luna. “Sorry Luna, but there was a bit of a, uh, situation with our mission.” He said with a hint of pain coming through him. The guards in the meantime helped the mare up to her hooves, all while still shaking from the whole crashing ordeal. “Situation? It twas, I mean, it was a simple task. And what happened to you Lance Skyslicer,” Luna looked at the earth pony mare, “And you too Hammerheart? What brings you here this time crashing through my door completely unannounced. And where is my student of the night? Shouldn't he be with you?” Lance collapsed just slightly on one of his legs and rested on his haunches on the floor. He looked up at the night princess with a hardened gaze. “Well princess, that's why we came back to tell you.” He shook his head in disappointment. “Your ‘student’ is in trouble...again.” “Buck…” End of Chapter 4 Reader has gained +1 STR +1 DEX +1 LUK +1 INT New Skills Learned Axe Telepathy: Your weapon can guide you in your travels and prove to be a valuable travelling companion especially during interrogations. Also it can give you turn by turn directions and provide some measure of tactical support. Orange failure: You are afraid of orange juice and toothpaste. -2 LUK when near orange objects or hygiene supplies.
Chapter 05: ConflictUnder Lunar Wings Chapter 5: Conflict By : JP HACK Edited by : JP HACK Provider of internet : The nerds “If you hurt someone or someone hurts you, the same red blood will be shed. It hardly seems like a path, because it is a very thin and and narrow path that slowly makes its way through. The prejudice that makes people fear each other makes blood flow so very easily. This is a path towards a very real sun, not some empty wish.” - Book of conflict, Volume one. Location: Lunas chambers. Time: Around midday Luna stood high before her two subjects, after she settled everything with the palace guards, she went back to silently judging them. One was a Pegasus. His name is Lance Skyslicer. A little advanced in years but he had a slim physique and light green coat. His dual crossbows mounted on his wings that were attached to a skeletal wing brace showed some signs of damage, though it looked like he only used one of them most of the time. His red, orange and yellow mane and tail were singed everywhere, including on his his cutie mark, which was a crossbow with wire outline of wings. He didn't look like he cared though about his looks in front of royalty. The other was an earth pony mare. Hammerheart was her name. Her brown coat and multi-shade purple hair was just as singed. Though she on the other hoof tried to do something about it as she stood before Luna. Her cutie mark was a wrench and a yellow potion. Luna stared at them with a puzzled look for a moment. The night princess ushered for her guards to leave the room and then told the daytime guards to send for repair ponies to fix the damage of the door. She realized that there was still a huge wall rendering any privacy useless in the meantime. Her horn glowed and formed a bubble on the wall blocking all noise and trapping them in the room. She turned her gaze towards the 2 pony's. "Okay. Now that we have some privacy." Luna's royal demeanor and stance disappeared instantly as she scowled with her wings spread out, "Mind telling me what the Faust happened?!" Lance spoke up without moving a muscle, "Well, princess," Luna flinched from that, "We were doing fine at first but the enemy is more powerful than expected. And is gaining more power by the day." "Yeah. If it was not for Nova we would of been killed." Chimed in Hammerheart. "Not only is she getting more daring but is now using lethal force against us." Luna put a hoof to her chin in thought. "This is most unexpected. So give me the short version. Why did you come back without my dear Nova Blade?" Lance then flexed his wings but then retracted them instantly with a yelp from sharp pain. His wings made a screeching noise from the braces, and it looked like he was not gonna be flying anytime soon. Hammerheart looked at him with concern but he put a dismissive hoof up towards her. "Princess allow us to explain what happened two days ago. Might as well get some popcorn cause I'm giving you the long version because the short one is boring." "Lance...really?" Asked Hammerheart as she stared at Lance with a perplexed look. "Hey I'm not going anywhere fast in my condition." He flexed his wings again making him flinch in some pain. "Besides your heavy. You nearly took out my back!" "Hey are you calling me fat?!" Hammerheart barked back in surprise. "Well considering it took us nearly 4 hours to get here or more than double the time than usual, you do the math." "Why I oughta," her power hooves activated with a high pitch whirl and she faced Lance, "kick your flank for saying that to a mare!" Luna watched as Hammerheart edged closer to Lance Skyslicer. Lance rolled his eyes and turned to Luna ignoring Hammerheart. “Luna please, do you want to hear the story or not?” “Fine.” She looked at Hammerheart with a hard stare. “Come on Hammerheart, you should know Lance by now. He didn't really mean it, so stop being like that.” The sound of power hooves powering down in a fading whirl was heard. Hammerheart trotted up to one of the couches and sat down. “Fine, Its not like I was really gonna do anything. Just get on with it.” Seethed Hammerheart. She then busied herself with removing some of her saddlebags and her power hooves. Lance then as well took the opportunity to sit down and relax. Luna waited patiently for everyone to get better but she was running on the more impatient side. She wanted to know what happened to her student. Once Lance Skyslicer was finished taking off the wing braces along with Hammerheart’s stuff as well, they sat in front of Luna. Lance then raised a hoof and spoke. “Well, allow me to start. Your student is an idiot.” Luna didn't bother to flinch. Neither did Hammerheart. Instead they just said nothing for a moment. “Glad we can agree on that, regardless. Here is what happened...” Location : Outskirts of Fillydelphia, West Industrial district. Time: A couple of Hours before the events of chapter 1. Around 11 PM. Nova Blade, Lance Skyslicer, and Hammerheart were all trotting down the road. All of them in their prime. Nova Blade had his armor shining and nearly blending with the darkness around him. His axe glowed on his back which sported the symbol of the axe on his armor even though it covered his cutie mark. Hammerheart was carrying a saddle bag with some light armor as well and had on her power Hooves, while lance was trotting with them at a lazy pace with his wings and crossbows folded. He had some light white armor that looked like it was smoothed out for speed and aerodynamics. Around them were large industrial buildings that held various factories scattered around. From sugar refining to coal processing. A lot of industry was here creating a labyrinth of roads and railroad tracks. The tall buildings created creepy looking shadows throughout its surroundings from the scattered light poles in the night. Only the sound of machinery was heard, and the clopping of hooves on the hard pavement from the trio reverberated through the buildings echoing the hoofsteps. Ponies were scarce at this hour as it was the graveyard shift. Nopony would want to work this late. The trio walked down an alleyway and then turned towards another main road, then suddenly someone started singing, “In west Fillydeplhia born and raised, on the battleground is where I spent most of my days. Chilling out, maxing, relaxing all cool. And shooting some Hoofball outside of the school. When a couple of gryphons, who were up to no good, startin' making trouble-” “SHUT UP NOVA!” yelled Lance and Hammerheart. Nova instantly stopped dancing in song and pouted in annoyance. There was a collective sigh from the earth pony and the pegasus as they walked. After some time, Nova looked at one of the buildings in disgust. “Are you sure we are going in the right direction?” Piped Nova. Hammerheart looked at him for a moment and sighed. “Luna told us that our target could be anywhere. There is no specific directions but to just find and capture this cutie mark stealer.” “Well that's just great. Not only we have a maniac on the loose again, but we don't know anything about he, she or it nor where he, she or it is.” “Wait a minute. Nova you should know about our target. Didn't you pay attention during our meeting before we left?” asked Hammerheart. Nova just gave sheepish smile signifying that he didn't bother to pay any attention. How did he become Luna's student we will never know. Lance cleared his throat loudly, “Well, allow me to explain it real quick that even a foal would understand.” He sighed. “It's like this. Our mission is to investigate why there is a case of missing cutie marks here in Fillydelphia before it becomes a national threat. We have no knowledge of who, or what is the cause of this, but we do know that we need to stop it.” Lance spread his wings, making the metal bracing expand with the crossbows flexing along with them, which made a sharp squeal. “Oh, no. Please don't tell me that I have to lubricate the mechanism again! That's the third time today lance!” Hammerheart exclaimed as she reached into her saddle bag to bring out an oil can. “Well you can lubricate my mechanism anytime you want hammerheart.” Said Lance back with not a hint of hiding that sexual innuendo. Hammerheart just growled at him for a moment before continuing to grab his wing braces forcably and start oiling it much to Lances surprise and protest. Nova on the other hoof just didn't care or really notice his friends in there little feud. For he kept trotting along but pondered of what lance said to him. Did he really daze off during the mission briefing? He couldn't remember anything substantial or noteworthy but something did stay into his head, “Nova Blade, remember to take the cutie mark stealer down, by ANY means necessary.” What did Luna mean by that? Nova mentally scratched his head in thought. The trio walked further into the industrial district, as the buildings were getting larger and more complex the deeper they went. “Okay, i'm sensing a disturbance in the force.” “A disturbance in what?” Asked Hammerheart as she still grabbed Lances wings and continued vigorously oiling them. “Are you a moron?” Deadpanned Lance as he walked with Hammer still grabbing his wings. “No, I mean I feel something is gonna happen very soon. Just stop for a moment.” Nova, Lance, and Hammerheart stopped in the middle of the street. Nova crouched low and looked around with his eyes. They looked around at the dark buildings. They waited and listened for anything substantial. All that could be heard was the humming of machinery and the billowing of steam from the nearby buildings. The street was dark except for the few street lights creating a chilling feeling. Nova stepped forward and started sniffing the air. “Hmmm, I smell a smelly smell. Something that is...smelly.” Before Lance or Hammerheart had the chance to bash against the better judgement of Nova Blade, a loud scream was heard in the distance. “Guys! Scatter!” Nova called out with some new found authority. Instantly Lance Skyslicer took to the air while Hammerheart split off in another direction with a boost from her power hooves. Nova ran for the nearest building. It was a warehouse that was at least 4 stories tall and who knows how big inside. Nova went for the doors that were left open and barged in. In the warehouse, there were rows and rows of boxes and equipment. The rows seemed to go on forever. Though there was a bright light into the distance on the far end of the warehouse. Nova took out his axe from his back and made sure to grab only the handle with his magic to cut down on the light emitting from his horn. He dashed around like a ninja, moving swiftly around box to box with the greatest ease. He looked up at the ceiling and saw Lance through the skylights above. He looked like he was going for the same target. Nova wondered where Hammerheart was but instead decided to just to continue to get closer to the light. In the clearing near the far end of the warehouse, a bright light and some screaming along with laughs of someone being maniacal was heard. Nova peered above one of the boxes to get a good look at the situation. Then from out of nowhere someone poked him into his side. Nova stopped himself from yelping and pointed his axe towards the direction of the poking. He stopped when he saw that it was just Hammerheart smiling sheepishly and waving a hoof. Nova faced hoofed for a moment and then motioned her to watch with him. There in the distance was a grim sight. A unicorn pony with a pink coat and blonde mane, wearing a white cloak that had some arcane symbols on them, was standing in the middle of a fully active arcane circle. The circle itself was moving and rotated on the floor with purple and green symbols and lettering. In that circle was another pony, an earth pony with a orange coat and a green mane, who was being held down in the circle apparently against her will. She yelped and kicked in an attempt to escape. The circle increased with magics and more circles appeared on the floor rotating in different directions. The cloaked pony looked at her handy work and spoke a haughty laugh, “Hahaha, hold still for a moment and it will be all over!” The pony though in the circle though barely could look at her captor, but tried to scream for help. Suddenly the arcane magics activated and wisps of energy shot towards the pony rising her up into the air. It engulfed her as she yelled in apparent pain as the magicks entangled her. It grabbed her cutie mark which was a symbol of coals on fire. Her mark seemed to disintegrate into flakes and moved to transfer to her captor whose flank was glowing from her sides, as if she was gaining the cutie mark to herself but her cloak hid what was really happening. Nova had seen enough. He remembered the consequences of not having a cutie mark and needed to act quickly. This mare had to be stopped at all costs. He turned to Hammerheart who was equally disgusted at the sight she saw and motioned her to get ready to battle. Nova looked up and saw Lance above but this time he inside the building on the ceiling catwalks. The armored unicorn glowed his horn a burst of red like a laser to get his attention and then made his horn glow a series of patterns of light in a specific sequence as if he was communicating through code. Lance only nodded and waved a hoof in confirmation. The evil enchantress was still grabbing the cutie mark out of her victim when a bolt shot right into her magic circle. The arcane magics swirled and imploded in disruption. “Hey what is going on!? This is not the time to fail on me!” yelled the cloaked unicorn pony. Another series of bolts hit the ground with much force but were aimed around the unicorn, stopping her movement and severing the connection of her victim. The now blank flank pony started to fall to the ground until Hammerheart swooped and scooped her out of harms way. This lead enough time for Nova Blade to grab his axe and then charge at the cloaked pony. “So you're the cutie mark stealer!!” He yelled as he delivered a quick and decisive hoof to the face of the cloaked pony. The cloaked pony staggered back in shock and in pain as nova then put his axe in front of him, this time with full power behind it. Lance then swooped down and landed next to Nova and pointed his crossbow at her with his left wing tilting it sideways. Hammerheart was seen off to the side tending to the mare that was injured from the magic circle. Nova seethed with anger, “By princess Luna’s decree, you are under arrest! I suggest you don't make any sudden movements." He punctuated that point by pointing his axe right at her and pretty close to her face. "Yo Skyslicer, keep an eye on her.” "Gladly." Lance then pointed his wings at her and then switched his ammo load out to red bolts made of ruby's instead of standard bolts. Nova slowly came closer to the pony on the ground. "Ah ta ta. That hurt" She got up and brushed herself off to face the armored unicorn and multi-colored mane Pegasus. "well well well...what do we have here?" She fixed her self up a little more as if she tried to look presentable. Then she looked at Nova for a moment before noticing something, "Nova Blade is that you?" She asked in a sincere voice. That caught Nova off guard and he almost dropped his axe. Lance meanwhile raised an eyebrow. Hammerheart in the background finished tending to the wounds and burns of the other pony and came over to join Nova and Lance. Nova then let his guard down by moving his axe only a little before answering, "How do you know me? And what were you doing to that pony?!" "What do mean, you don't remember me?" Nova looked at her features. Unicorn, pink coat, blonde mane, and white cloak. The little pony in novas head fell down the stairs while trying to retrieve any relevant information about this mare. But Nova in his rare moments of pure genius remembered something. "Sonata? Is that you?" "Yes you would be right. But I don't go by that name anymore. Everyone calls me Strife Striker." She took off her cloak and tossed it aside in a showmare fashion. On her flank was complex arcane symbols of a star and with hollow circles at each point. There laid cutie marks inside only two of the circles. One was a wand with a blue swipe. The other was a symbol of coals that had flames around them. Nova, Lance and Hammerheart all gasped in shock. She had two cutie marks? Strife then smiled smugly at the three warriors of the night. Nova looked the most disgusted and smacked his axe on the ground, firmly planting it in. "Sonata. Please tell me you're not the one stealing cutie marks?!" "I told you NOT to call me by that name anymore! My name is Strife Striker! And yes I'm the one stealing cutie marks.” “What? Why? And why Strife Striker?” Nova asked while tilting his head in confusion. Lance and Hammerheart both backed off a bit to give Nova some space. Strife grit her teeth before responding. “Isn't it obvious? After you left the orphanage from being picked up from Luna herself, I was left alone with all those idiots back there. I was picked on, spat upon, and worst off I was made to do lewd things which caused me everlasting strife and anguish that would never go away. So ever since I left I traveled the world and studied everything I can, I learned many things and what made me...” Lance and Hammerheart looked at each other in confused looks. Lance whispered to Hammer, "Is she monologuing?" Hammerheart only answered with, "Yeah she is, and it looks like was Novas fault again. Somehow this does not shock me not one bit at all.” "...and cutie marks have this sort of power that allow me to get what I want. That's why I vowed to take over Equestria to remake it into my own image! Ha HA! So nopony has to go through what I went through ever again. First I grab some cutie marks, then go after the elements of harmony, and after that I take over the princesses to rule all of Equestria! So what are you gonna do Nova? Try to stop me?" "Of course I have to stop you. You just vowed to take over Equestria! I can't let that happen." Novas horn glowed and he gripped his axe, pulling it from the ground and placed it sideways in front of him. "Don't make me hurt you sonata but even regardless of our previous friendship, I will not hesitate to stop you," his voice turned dark, "permanently." Lance in the background whistled in praise. Hammerheart said nothing but silently turned her power hoofs on. Strife made her horn glow and yelled out, "Fine. You and your friends will aid in my takeover by providing the rest of cutie marks that I need!" She shot a bolt of energy towards Nova who deflected it off to the side. Nova yelled out to his friends, "Lance full aerial support and Hammerheart take that injured pony out of here, once you're done I need you to assist me in taking down Sonata!" "I told you not to call me that!" Strife yelled. Lance took to the air while Hammerheart quickly moved towards the still now semi injured pony. Strife this time made her horn glow a different color than from her normal pink glow. She shot a flurry of newly magicked burning coals towards Nova while at the same time the cutie mark of the burning coals on her flank glowed in which she was taking power from. Nova struggled to deflect the flaming projectiles but made them scatter around him in series of fast swipes with this weapon. Strife only got more angry at Nova and charged in for close combat. Nova stood still for a moment and tapped his hoof twice on the ground. Strife didn't take the hint of anything that was about to happen until suddenly a bolt shot right in front of her and exploded. She staggered back in surprise as the red flames engulfed the area between her and Nova. Nova took the opportunity and leaped through the flames and bashed Strife with his helmet. He got slightly singed as some of the flames burned any exposed skin but landed a clean hit to her side. She staggered for a bit and then regained her footing. Strife seethed with pure anger now. "Fine. No more giving you any mercy. I was going easy on you Nova. Should've known that you would of been trained in the Lunar Combat Techniques." She stepped back a couple of steps. "Wait you were serious about actually trying to capture me?" He twisted his axe above him and kept it floating in that position. "Of course I am! Now hold still while I capture you and take your cutie mark!" "Well isn't this a nice reunion were having?" Nova sarcastically remarked. Strife then leaped into the air and then shot another series of energy bolts at Nova at blazing speeds. Nova yelped in sudden fright and then ducked behind one of the many boxes around the warehouse. Lance saw what was happening to Nova and quickly shot off another series of bolts towards Strife from above. Strife saw it coming though and activated a quick shield in time to deflect it before returning back to firing at Nova. Energy bolts ripped up the surrounding crates and boxes splintering them into pieces everywhere. Nova still kept backing away while blocking any energy bolts with his axe in rapid succession. He then turned and bolted towards the interior of the building. He called out towards lance, "Lance! Didn't Luna say any means necessary to take her down? Does that mean I have to...ugh...kill her? I actually don't feel like bringing her down due to the past friendship in all." Lance from a distance called out, "What? Do what you think necessary, are you acting stupid in a fight for no reason?!" He yelled as a clicking of an ammo change was heard coming from his crossbows. “But I kinda don't wanna.” He said with a pleading voice as he pouted and started running back towards strife with his axe in tow. "Of course you do! She trying to do the same to you!" Interjected Hammerheart who came from above the stacks of crates and leaped right on top of strife with her power hoofs digging into her skin. Strife yelped in pain and in retaliation she threw Hammerheart off to the side. Strife's horn glowed, this time directed at Hammerheart, and shot a beam of energy at her. Nova though this time was too far away physically to help Hammerheart so he then flung his axe like a boomerang right in front of beam and made sure to deflect the beam back towards Strife. Strife though moved slightly to the left as the beam passed her and exploded into the distance. Nova galloped back towards Hammerheart. “I don't think I can do it guys, I really don't want to kill her. Can I just capture her?” He said out loud as he helped Hammerheart up while using his axe to deflect any magic from Strife. Another series of bolts came from above but were green in color, exploded and fizzled with emerald crystals shooting from the ground around Strife, who again blocked it with another shield and jumped away to avoid the crystals coming at her. “Nova, you are Luna's personal student, You should know what to do. You trained for this for pete sake!” Yelled Lance as he flew above and dodged a barrage of beams of energy bolts from Strife. Hammerheart got back up and galloped towards Strife while Lance swooped down above Hammerheart and fired more bolts to clear a path for her to land a close quarter blow. Nova watched in horror as Strife this time magicked fireworks, which caused the wand and star cutie mark to glow, and took aim at the pegasus and earth pony. The resulting multi-colored explosion knocked both Lance and Hammerheart back towards the ground hard. Nova looked at Strife as she stood tall and proud of her work. He picked up his axe with his magic and with fire burning in his eyes, he walked slowly towards his enemy while grinning to himself. “No pony, I mean, NO PONY, hurts my friends!” He shouted. His horn glowed in full power and then his axe started glowing a bright blue entirely. “If I have to end this, I swear to Luna I will end this by her orders!” He charged at Strife who didn't expect him to be suddenly so serious.The Nova she knew was usually lazy and kinda of a jerk most of the time. But now he was a stallion on a revenge mission. She threw up a small shield to block the blows of his weapon. Nova swung his axe and with every blow his axe got brighter and brighter and then on a fifth swing, a visible crack formed in Strifes shield much to her surprise. Strife then teleported behind Nova. Nova instantly flung his axe behind him without even turning around. *TINK* He turned around and then saw his axe hit another weapon, but this time made out of pure magic. Strife smiled at him, “Didn't think I could spar against you? Think again!” She swung her magic weapon low and high to block the strikes of Novas axe. Nova whilst battling called out, “Lance! Hammerheart! I need you for artillery support! Don't interfere with the actual battle!” Lance who then got up and first checked his wings and cursed to himself in frustration. He looked over at Hammerheart and helped her up. “Come on Hammer, you heard him. Hes going into his serious mode again, we better do as he says.” “I guess so.” Hammerheart quickly grabbed a pair of goggles from her saddle bags and put them on and then gave another pair to lance. Lance put the techno magic goggles on, which had wires and gems all powering it. He activated the internal power source and made sure his wings were still good for flying. Once he was ready to go, he gave a salute to Hammer and took off to the air above the many boxes of the warehouse. Hammerheart moved away a safe distance from Nova and Strife as to not be near any rogue beams of magic and then tweaked her goggles. Nova and Strife sparred in a quick succession, but Nova was gaining on Strife, just slightly. Every blow knocked her back a couple of times and sometimes she was even forced to stop and go on the offensive by shooting simultaneous beams of energy at Nova instead of using her magic weapons. Lance flew out of the warehouse at an extreme speed up into the sky. Hammerheart in the meantime pressed a couple of buttons on the side of the goggles which scrolled down some data. Activating Syncing with secondary pair 2.567 GHZ frequency set and holding at 785.3 pulse latency Secondary pair synced Displaying all information >Active Hammerheart made a playful grin to herself but then looked on at Nova to see how he was faring. Nova on the other hoof kept sparring with his former friend and now great threat to all of Equestria. Was she really keeping pace with a trained warrior with the power she gained from these stolen cutie marks? It didn't matter now, as Strife took another stance and this time charged Nova taking him by surprise. He leaped out the way, but was met by beams of energy right to his landing zone. A beam of energy hit him and knocked him over. Hammerheart looked in shock and was about move in to help but was stopped when Nova called out, “No! Hammer, you must *ugh* help Lance, I will hold her off.” Nova got back up and made his axe swing around his entire body creating a shield. He slowly trotted towards strife with his axe in front of him in a low crouch. She shot more bolts of energy at him and even used the firework spell at him. Each attack deflected off his makeshift shield and exploded into the distance making the light glimmer off Novas armor. Hammerheart meanwhile spoke to her goggles which doubled as a HUD and a communicator. *static* ~ “Lance, do you read me? Are you in position?” ~ *Static* *static* *Gurgle* ~ I need 2 more minutes before I break the stratosphere! Tell Nova *static* to stall for a couple of more minutes!” *static* *static* “.. You know for a former Wonderbolt, your flying is bad. And you should feel bad!” *static* *static* “Shut up Hammer!” *static* Hammerheart pressed another button and the goggles showed Lances stats, as he was flying, in the glass before her eyes. Connection specific DNS suffix >Active Displaying current information > 10 Second Refresh rate Coordinates 39.9522° N, 75.1642° W Speed 87 MPH Altitude > Adjusting to Default Psuedo Interface > 10+ Miles above sea level. Hammer quickly realized that Lance needed more time. She looked over to Nova who was still fighting in a spar with Strife who seemed to get better at fighting as she went on. “Strife demands, I mean, I demand that you surrender before its too late Nova.” “Not even in your dreams!” He swung his axe and this time did not hesitate to use the sharp end to attack. He lunged forward and then leaped into the air and had his axe in front of him doing a large arcing chop. “Hassan chop!” Strife dodged at the last second when his weapon impacted the ground which made a large crater spreading cracks through out the concrete floor and making more of a mess inside the warehouse. Hammerheart meanwhile called out to Nova, "Nova, Lance needs about 1 minute before initiating his attack. Can you handle her for that long?" A series of swipes and bashes of magic sounds passed through the warehouse. Many boxes of equipment broke and scattered into many pieces from the resulting energies scattering about. Apparently when unicorns fight, they fight! Strife relentlessly continued to pelt him with swipes from her magic weapons. "I will be *bonk* fine Hammerheart. Just let me know when hes ready while you guide him." Hammerheart gave a quick salute and related some quick numbers to Lance. Nova though kept swinging his axe madly to block and retaliate towards Strifes own magic weapons. His axe kept glowing a full bright glow but Nova had his trick up his hoof. He brought his axe close to him and touched it with his hoof which activated another spell to his weapon. Magic energies flowed into the axe and then condensed to the center jewel of the weapon. The axe then lounged at Strife and then exploded to create a full vortex of fire energy towards her. Strives eyes went tiny as she saw what was incoming and in her fright she then dropped all her spells and activated her strongest shield. *SMASH!* The energy that was apparently gained from each swung of Novas axe unleashed a torrent of energy against her shield. She struggled to maintain a grip on her magic but held it together as the energy passed around her. The energys subsided and Novas axe fell down to the ground as Strife stood there panting and out of breath as the magics stopped. How did she stop my Panic Attack? Nova cursed to himself for a moment before reeling in his weapon closer and planting it in front of him. Strife staggered a bit from the overuse of magic but then regained her composure as well Hammerheart looked on at the dual. She knew that Nova was expelling a lot of magic power in a relatively short period of time. That was not good or smart on his part. But strife was just as tired but showed no signs of lack of magic power. Nova looked at Hammerheart for a moment. "Is Lance ready? Cause I can't do this all day you know!" He then went back to stare at strife. "And strife. How did you do that thingy with the coals earlier?" Strife then fixed her hair to make herself more presentable and smiled. "The great and powerful Strife. Ughhhh, damnable cutie mark is making me speak just like her!" She cleared her throat, "Its the individual power of the cutie marks that allow me to do these spells. As most pony's don't know that there is an unlimited untapped power that resides within them. Why do you think it takes forever to get your cutie mark in the first place? The magics have to develop along with your special talent. In turn whatever the cutie mark is, I can attack according to the type of cutie mark and create a spell from it." She lowered her head and growled, "Now hold still so I can take yours!" "You don't even know what mine is!" Nova retorted. Strife shot another flurry of energy bolts at him while even shooting fireworks spells simultaneously now. Nova again deflected them with some difficulty but made his axe move just as fast and called out to Hammerheart who was still tinkering with the goggles and marking way points for Lance. "Tell Lance to aim for the building. And tell him to do it now!" "But that's suicide! What are y-" "Just bucking do it already!" He yelled at Hammerheart as he struck against Strife's magic shield and twirled around to get to a better position. Hammerheart spoke into the goggles, *static* “did you get that Lance?...*static*...aim for the entire warehouse. *Static*. Lance only thought of the worst possible outcome for that plan but didn't even bother to care about novas safety. If he wants to die its his problem. *static* “10-4, Lance Skyslicer over and out.” He leveled himself while flying high above the ground. He looked at the little HUD of his own goggles which displayed the altitude which read 76,032 feet. He sighed with slow breath and muttered, “He better know what hes getting into.” And then tucked in his wings. He free falled towards the ground quickly gaining speed. A cone of air was forming around him and once he got to a certain speed he spread his wings back and out in a V shape. This time he activated both of his crossbows and turned his bracing's to make the crossbows move in a different orientation and switched to a different bolt loadout. The bolts he selected were now black and had silver feathers on their ends. He hoped that this was not gonna be a waste of expensive ammo. Doing a Side Kicker Bolt Shower was a tough skill to learn as is and could be done only once in awhile. He unloaded all his ammo by firing as rapidly as he could while he himself was going nearly 189 mph in a straight down nose dive. He streamlined his body to go faster than terminal velocity. The bolts fired and seemed to almost go no faster than he was going, until the enchanted bolts suddenly burst into flames rocketing towards the target which was the building far down below. The bolts looked like a stream of missiles all going for the same place. He then banked up and put a hoof up to his goggles. *static* “You have almost 20 seconds to impact, you better get out of there Hammerheart!” *static* Back on the ground Hammerheart, turned and bolted for the nearest exit. She called out to Nova who was still fighting Strife. “Nova, 15 seconds!” “About time!” He abandoned the fight and swung his axe around him before making it stop directly on top of him. Strife only momentary stared at him in shock before she looked up, and it was too late. “Have a nice day!” Nova mockingly said as his axe glowed this time purple and spun directly above him. *BOOM!* The bolts that Lance Skyslicer fired hit the top of the warehouse impacting with a great force. A fireball erupted illuminating the night sky for a brief moment. The warehouse imploded and collapsed in on itself in a spectacular fashion. Debris and building material flew around everywhere causing thousands of bits and damage to any buildings nearby. Lance meanwhile arced back towards the ground and spotted Hammerheart galloping away from the explosion and wreckage. He focused and then sped off to meet her in a near free fall as if he used his wings only when it was necessary. Hammerheart turned around a corner of an adjacent building and kept running from the debri cloud. Lance pulled up next to her. "You think Nova is okay? Why did you think he wanted the building destroyed along with him and Strife?" Hammerheart looked at him with sad eyes. She cared for Nova but didn't really show it. "I really don't know. That stallion can be such a moron sometimes." She pressed another button on her goggles. Activating night filters 54% Intensity The scarlet colored goggles displayed everything around her like it was daylight, outlining the buildings and making distinguishing markers automatically. Lance did the same thing and looked back towards the wreckage as the dust cleared. A silhouette of a pony was then shown but was not clearly visible from all the flames and dust. "Hammerheart. I think I see something." "Nova?" "I hope so." Lance took off and landed in the middle of ground zero scanning the area with his own goggles. Flames and broken crates thrown about laid everywhere. Some rubble shifted off to the side catching his attention. Lance pointed a hoof towards it, "Hammerheart check over there." Hammerheart only nodded and jumped higher than a normal pony would with her power hooves, to propel herself. They don't call them power hooves for nothing. She landed with a thud and started looking around. Suddenly the ground shifted as Hammerheart got closer and a series of curses was heard. The rubble started to fly around in random directions making Hammerheart jump back. Novas axe shot up from the ground spinning in a quick succession followed by Nova himself who was talking out loud to no one in particular. "Now limb splitter didn't I tell you that it was a good idea?" The axe then swung back like a boomerang and Nova caught it with his magic. He stared at it for a moment before his face turned red in frustration. "What do you mean I'm an idiot? We took out Strife!" The weapon fidgeted in mid air. "Shes what?!" Nova looked at Hammerheart and Lance who were now standing and staring at him with confused faces. He didn't pay them any attention but stared towards the far end of the ruined landscape. Some rubble in the distance shifted upwards until it exploded out sending shrapnel in random directions. Strife emerged out of the rubble while holding a damaged magic shield around her that was flicking from emanate collapsing. Everyone's jaw dropped. She survived a building falling on her? No unicorn other than Nova is strong enough to do that so...How? Nova wanted to consider these questions but was still in too much shock to care. Lance clicked in another set of ammo to his mounted crossbows while Hammerheart crouched low in preparation to attack. Strife let out a loud growl and looked at the trio. She considered leaving and finding other cutie marks instead of messing with Nova and his friends. But she put those thoughts straight to tartarus and opted for the "destroy all pony's" option. She focused on her horn creating both her cutie marks to glow. With a smile she reactivated her magic power reserves. "Nova. Your Cutie mark!" She yelled. Nova looked back at his flank to see. "What? where?!" Said Nova in a panic. Strife disappeared in a flash and appeared in front of him to his surprise and the shock of Hammerheart and lance. She quickly hoofed him in the face to confuse him and grabbed his entire body in a magical grip. Lance quickly shot bolts aimed for her head but where deflected off from her shield she magicked up at the same time she was gripping Nova. Hammerheart charged towards her and pounced with her power hoofs. She hit another shield and bounced off from it creating a bunch of sparks but didn't damage it. Strife then looked to her side and threw another close range magic firework. It exploded right in front of Hammerheart and Lance who didnt get away in time. They both flew back and landed hard on the ground. Strife turned her gaze back at Nova who was struggling to free himself from her grip. "Any last words before I take your cutie mark. For who knows how Much power I would gain from it?" She licked her lips in anticipation. She stilled her hoofs on the ground which then sprung up the same arcane circle from when she was using before. Nova struggled and tried to use his axe with his magic, which was floating by itself near him, but her magic didn't let him grab it. Strifes magic fought off his magic in an unseen game of tug of war. Nova had ran out of options. He was careless for being an idiot and not setting up an anti-teleport spell. The magic of Strife proceeded to trap and tug at his armor which would reveal his cutie mark. Nova had to escape or everything he had ever worked for would be for naught. He yelled out to his friends in near panic, "Guys, back to Canterlot! We regroup there and think of a plan." Strife frowned at him. "Not thinking of leaving are you? You're trapped. How do you plan on leaving huh?" She taunted. Nova only smirked before erasing all emotion from his face. He closed his eyes and murmured an unknown language. "Helmano Tos regano, Exccenden yon fasten, blink ratora!" Strife raised an eyebrow as he said that and held him in her spell. Suddenly Nova opened his eyes which now where purple and there were wisps of magic flowing out of them to the sides. His horn glowed a dark bubbly purple as he took his axe near to him with the same greenish purple magic. Strife struggled to contain him as he was fighting her on a different level. Her grip lessened until suddenly a blinding light came from Nova himself. A large column of energy blasted up from where Nova was and shot up into the air severing all the magics of strife and throwing back her far away. The beam of light illuminated the night sky once more but could easily be seen from miles around. She skidded to the ground and tumbled a few times. When she got back up she realized that Nova Blade was gone. "What in Equestria?" She looked for novas companions but they seemed to be gone too. Until she heard screaming above her. She looked up and saw Hammerheart yelling in fright as Lance flew off into the distance with her on his back at great speed. "They ran away? Pssh, that's no fun." The alarms and sirens of a fire brigade were heard getting closer along with the sounds of a lot of pony's coming to the scene. Strife licked her lips in anticipation once more with a sultry smile, “Mmm, more victims. This should be interesting...” Her horn glowed and she disappeared in a flash. Location: twilight's basement Time : 2 pm "...and that's what happened.” Nova Blade looked around at his audience. Applejack had a straight face on, Fluttershy shivered in fear while Pinkie Pie was dancing around with glee. Rarity and Rainbow Dash looked at Nova with some new found respect. Twilight on the other hand tried to process all this information. She thought of so many things that needed answering in quick succession, Nova was princess Luna's personal student? How did he know dark magic? Since when does Luna have a personal student? Does Celestia even know? Was it dark magic as he described it or was it different than what the princess taught me? Argghhh, this is making my brian hurt. Twilight stepped closer to Nova who was still in the chair half tied up. "Well that's certainly interesting. But I still don't believe you." As soon as she said that the basement door busted through and shattered in a million pieces. Everyone stood there in shock and backed up a bit looking up at the entrance to the basement. "Why couldn't you just knock?" Asked Hammerheart as she poked her head through while holding crystal which resembled a note pad. "Nah, cause its cooler to do it this way!" Said lance as he trotted through and then hovered in place. He looked at Nova being held down in front of the mini interrogation scene along with the frightened mane six and pointed with his hoof while looking back at Hammerheart, "Wait till Luna hears about this though." End of chapter 5 Reader has gained +10 STR +2 DEX +7 LUK -1 INT New Skill Learned Power Reflection - Take 20% of total damage and reflect back 80% to the enemy only 20% of the time though Combo Attack - You gain power with every hit of your axe, after you charge up 6 blows you can unleash the “Panic Attack” which does 1000% damage. Can only use this attack when you have 6 charges. Author's Note Authors notes: Seriously for my first fan fiction I still have no idea what I'm doing. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Chapter 6: TwistUnder Lunar Wings Chapter Six : Twist By: JP HACK Edited by: JP HACK Story guided by: Shadowxrazor Brain cells fried : 7,462,374 and counting Alone you stand in the midst of battle. Your companions all but missing. Standing in a field surrounded by your enemy's. There is only one option remaining. You pick up your sword once more and point it at the nearest target. Its all for valor and honor or all for nothing. With the last of your strength you charge forward...- Warrior Sociology, Volume 13 Location: Twilights basement. Time: 2:14 PM Everyone had their mouth wide open in shock. The mane six all stared up at the multi colored Pegasus wearing his wing braces and looked at the earth pony mare with power hooves standing behind him. Nova was the first to speak with sheer joy breaking the awkwardness of the moment, "Oh thank Luna you guys are here. I have been stuck in here for who knows how long." Lance stood there with Hammerheart scanning the area along with Novas captors. He stared at Nova and then grinned. Hammerheart then nudged Lance with a hoof. "Are you pondering what I'm pondering Lance?" "I think so Hammer. I think so." He then smiled at the crowd below him. "So everyone, what did he tell you?" The mares all just looked at each other in confusion. Where could this lead to? Who where these two intruders? After some murmuring amongst the girls in cloaks, Twilight came forward to speak bearing some hesitation in her voice. "He um, just finished explaining the battle he had with this mare called Strife. And how he survived. But he still refuses to tell us anything useful...I guess?" Lance spread his wings suddenly and leaped off to land next to the mares. They all backed up away from him while Hammerheart came down the stairs to join him. "Thank you Twilight . Now I'm sure that there's more to the story then of what he has told you." Twilight and her friends gasped in shock. How did Lance know her name? "No need to be alarmed. We know your all the elements of harmony and your names to boot. That is common knowledge so stop acting all surprised." Rainbow Dash spoke up while having her wings flared up defensively, "So who are you two again? And what are you doing here in the first place?!" She had a snarl on her face that looked like it could kill. Lance looked at her for only a moment to answer before turning his attention to a sorry excuse of a student, Nova. "Now you must be, uh, Rainbow Dash? Nova should of explained who we are. I'm sorry but I'm gonna need you to back off a bit. Don't worry this interrogation is still in progress." He said with a voice of authority. He took a double take of Rainbow though. Why did she seem familiar to him though, but then thought nothing of it. Rainbow dash and the rest of her friends in the meantime all stopped and looked at Lance like he was crazy. What did he mean that the interrogation was still in progress? "Back off? Buddy do you know who your deali-." Rainbow got cut off from the sound of a whirl that suddenly reverberated throughout the room. Everyone turned to Hammerheart who had her power hooves activated. She looked angry as her eyes met with Rainbow Dash's and snorted in anger to confirm that she was her target. Everyone backed up a couple of steps as they saw the magical swirls emanate from her hoofs. Rainbow Dash herself backed off as well not saying a word. "Lets not make this more difficult than it is,” Lance explained, “I want everyone to move away from Nova Blade right now or face the wrath of my good friend Hammer and her power hooves. Your choice.” He trotted to the table while Hammer came close to him acting as a guard. Lance went to the opposite side of the table where Nova looked at him with a confused expression. Nova finally got his thoughts together to finally say, "Lance what the-" "SHADDAAAAP!" Lance yelled. "You are in no position to talk!" At that moment the lights of the room went dark until the single lamp above the table turned back on, re-making the interrogation scene once more. "But it was an acci-” Nova suddenly got interrupted. Lance spread his right wing out quickly and made the crossbow and braces coil up into position creating a classic cocking sound of a weapon being loaded and primed. It gleamed in the light as the metal parts shined into the the darkness. Novas eyes went wide from the sight and silenced himself immediately. The rest of the mares all looked on in horror on what was happening. Was this how an interrogation was supposed to be like? Fluttershy nearly fainted at the same time when Lance pointed his weapons at Nova. "I'm gonna count to three. And if you don't answer the following question in time, I'm gonna shoot your head off straight to the moon that it will, so help me goddesses, create an impact crater visible from here! Kapeesh!?” Nova gulped loudly as a bead of sweat rolled down his face. He looked at lance and saw a huge grin on his face. Hammer glanced at Lance with a concerned look before interrupting his stare down with the armored stallion. "Um, Lance this is not what I had in mind." "Hush mare!" Lance then looked at her shock expression and then winked immediately to calm her down. Hammerheart got the message and resumed her makeshift guard duty while looking at the now spooked mane six who were all in a corner watching. The mad light green pegasus came closer to question his friend with his crossbow still pointed straight at his face. "So tell me Nova. Where are you from? One..two..." Nova stared at him for no longer than three seconds before answering. "West Fillydelphia." "How did you become Luna's personal student and warrior?" "I really don't want to have to answer tha-" Nova got cut off as Lance fired a bolt right above his head, brushing against his horn just slightly and careening into the far side of the basement, impacting into a bunch of equipment making them into splinters. Pinkie Pie suddenly came out from out of nowhere with a big sign that read 'miss' before returning to her friends. Twilight instantly yelled, "My experiments! Are you crazy?! That cost a lot of bits you..." She stopped as soon as she met Lances hard stare. The same kind of stare that the next shot won't miss its intended target which could be the purple unicorn at any moment. Twilight just glared at him with a pissed off look but really didn't want to further damage her lab by attacking him. Nova meanwhile looked at Lance in absolute horror while he mumbled something about his horn. "Lance, seriously how long since you last had a drink?" Asked Nova with some sincerity. "Way too bucking long! Moving on. Why couldn't you beat Strife?" "I don't know, she was my old friend, I couldn't bring myself to actually kill her or Injure her myself." "Well you should've finished the job. She claimed her next victim and now has a third cutie mark because of you." The rest of the mares all gasped at hearing that. "Hammerheart, give him the letter from Luna." Lances eyes narrowed as he looked at Nova, "It explains our now 'failed' mission that she originally gave us." He motioned for Hammerheart to give him the letter. She took it out of her small saddle bag she had with her and hoofed it over to him. Lance laid it out on the table for Nova to read. Nova looked at the document and mumbled how he hated reading with a burning passion of a thousand suns. ... Dear Nova blade and friends, As my most trustworthy and gifted student such as yourself, you are no doubt ready for this next task. Time is of the essence as this mission could cost pony's lives if action was not to be taken. I ask that you and your friends leave at once to capture this 'cutie mark stealer.' You will most likely find this individual around Fillydelphia. Please make your plans accordingly and any travel expenses will be paid for, including your required amount of sweet rolls. I have trained you well to make you a great warrior and powerful student of mine. I trust you will make the right decisions as you see fit. Signed, princess Luna. P.S. please for the love of Faust herself. Lay off the sweet rolls. Its kinda disturbing that you can eat that many. ... Nova Blade finished reading the letter. He put his head down in shame. Lance caught on to his feelings with a smirk and backed away. He folded up his wing braces and crossbows concealing them once more. "You have failed lunas mission Nova." Lance then put a hoof on his shoulder. "Not only you have failed us but you have failed the princess herself. How does this make you feel?" Nova's mood changed dramatically to almost to the point of tears. He barely let out a muffled sniffing response. "It makes me feel like a pile of horse crap." "And?" "I need to fix this mess." "Dare I say. And?" "I'm sorry?" Lance broke his hard gaze against the now pathetic looking Nova and looked towards Hammerheart who stood silently like a sentry, watching the mares with a stoic look. He cleared his throat to get Hammer's attention. "Yeah Lance?" "Who would win in a fight? Nova or Strife?" "Ugh, Strife clearly won the last battle. Why you ask?" "Cause as I recall. During our training a while back, do you remember a certain weapon that could cut through practically anything?" Hammerheart thought for a moment before pointing to Nova's axe. "Yeah. Mr. Stupid and his axe here could cut a magic shield down in three swipes rendering the user defenseless." Her eyes went wide in sudden realization and fought the urge to facehoof. The mares in the background all held their breaths so to speak, awaiting her answer. "Oh my goddess. Nova you didn't." "Yep. He did." Lance said rather dramatically. He went up to Nova and slammed his hoofs on the table. "You left the goddess damn safety on didn't you!?" Nova gave a sheepish smile and nodded. Lance's face suddenly turned red with anger and flared up his wings again which made the braces extend further than normal. The crossbows both pointed at him as he edged closer menacingly. "What the buck Nova! Seriously?!" "But I Ha-" "Enough excuses! You could of got us killed with your hesitation! Why would you have a magical sheath on the blades of your weapon I'll never bucking know." He facehoofed and dragged his hoof down his face. He calmed down quite suddenly and folded up his wings once more. Nova only watched as Lance went to Hammerheart's saddle bag and pulled out a bottle of White Pegasus, the hardest drink in all of Equestria, with an alcohol content of nearly 95%, and opened the bottle. "Seriously, sometimes you drive me to drink. Quite bucking literally." He took a quick swig of the drink and started heading up the stairs. "Come on Hammer, lets go back to canterlot. We got the information we need for now. And lets go get some sweet rolls or something I'm starving. And remind me to inform the princess that we found her personal idiot." Hammerheart then turned and waved a hoof towards Nova. "See ya Novey. Well be at the train station awaiting the 3 o'clock train. Normally we would fly back but Lance got way too many tickets for flying under the influence. When you're ready we'll be waiting for you there." She gave a wink and then followed the now pissed off pegasus and left. Wait, what were these sweet rolls that they spoke of? The mane six all just stood there staring at Nova wondering what he will do next. What the hell was all that about? Why didn't they even bother to take him back with him if they were looking for him the first place? And what did they mean when Hammerheart said "we'll be waiting for you there?" And who is gonna pay for a replacement door? Sometimes, the answers to those questions could be found with even more questions! The mares all then turned to each other and then looked at Nova whose head was now face down on the table in sadness. Some friends he had to leave him still tied up. He then stifled a tear back and spoke in a soft voice. "Am I a bad pony?" The mares did not answer for a long minute. Applejack took the initiative to speak first to the depressed pony in armor. "Ta be perfectly honest. No. How could ya if you are Lunas student?" Applejack nudged Twilight to continue. She nodded and spoke in a soft tone. "This. Um. Wow. Lunas personal student? How come Celestia herself didn't tell me or us for that matter?" Nova picked his head up and just stared out into empty space. His mind focused for once and then spoke. "Twilight. Its quite simple to answer your questions. I was never supposed to meet any of you and this was supposed to be a secret from the sun goddess herself. But that all backfired on me in an instant." Rarity spoke next in a soothing tone. "Well darling, thats nothing to be ashamed of. We all do mistakes from time to time. Isn't that right girls?" The rest of the mares all nodded. "No. Its not a 'simple' mistake this time,” Nova explained, “Uh Rarity right?" She nodded in confirmation. "Luna is gonna kill me or send me to the bucking moon for all this. A crazy pony whom used to be my friend which I have no intention on eliminating or capturing is out loose trying to take over equestria and on top of that, I have royally messed up Lunas will to keep this all a secret from you guys and her sister." The mares only waited for him to continue but he resumed staring out into empty space not saying a word. Twilight told Dash to turn the lights back on. With the lights fully illuminating the basement everyone could finally see around them, including the damage that Lance did when he shot that bolt at Nova. Nova pouted and said nothing as the still spaced out in deep thought. His axe didn’t move or glow for the same time that Nova was acting all depressed and sad. Twilight kinda felt sorry for him but decided to ask some more questions to fill her desire to learn more about him and maybe gather information about Luna that she didn't already know. "Wait what do you mean kill? Did you actually hurt ponies?" Asked Twilight. Nova only turned his eyes to look at the purple unicorn. "Im a guard or in this case, Lunas personal warrior and student. Its part of what I am and how I was raised. Even though Equestria is in peace on the outside there is still conflict that happens on the inside. I have indeed hurt some ponies but never killed. That part is only under the direction of the princess herself. But in this case she didn't specify!" Novas voice grew a tad louder, "and now I have to track Strife down before she comes after you guys." Twilight listened and nodded. Applejack said nothing and looked away from the gaze of Nova. Rarity made a huff sound and murmured under her breath something along the lines of 'ruffian.' Pinkie Pie for once actually did nothing as nothing good or funny could be said about Nova at this moment. Fluttershy was hugging Dash in fright and making squeaking noises. Twilight put a hoof up to point at Nova. "So what do you mean that Strife might come after us?" Nova shifted in position and looked at her with his head tilted to the right like he was saying ‘the fuq?’ "Your serious right? Strife steals cutie marks. You are the embodiment of the elements of harmony. That means that the elements themselves are within you and are representative according to your cutie marks. If she steals all six cutie marks then we are so screwed because then she can use the elements of harmony and overthrow the princesses with its power even without using the friendship aspect." Twilight was baffled at his statement. Do cutie marks have that kind of power? She should've studied this when she had the chance before the interrogation. "Wait a minute, we are not in danger are we?" Asked Rarity. Nova nodded and continued, "Not if I can help it. But in a sense, yes. Thats why I was running from all of you to hurry and defeat Strife right away. It was a good thing too that I recognised all of you in the first place otherwise you all wouldn't be standing here now intact and injury free." Nova looked at his axe for a moment before continuing. "Though I have to say I'm eternally grateful to all of you but especially to you Twilight." Twilight gave a slight blush. "It was the right thing to do. Any one of my friends would have done the same." Twilight turned to her friends, "isn't that right girls?" "Oh yes, of course." Cooed Rarity "Yup" Answered Applejack. "You betcha." Said Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy and Dash said nothing but only nodded. Nova smiled at their reactions but then frowned. "Girls thanks for the kind gesture but now that all this information is out in the open, will you keep all this a secret from Celestia?" Twilight thought for a moment and responded with, "I dunno, you put us all throu-" She got cut off as Nova suddenly made his horn flare. He yelled in pain as he increased power to his horn making it glow brighter. The magic inhibitor started to crack and spark until it finally broke apart and fell on the floor. Twilight and the gang all backed up from the sight. As soon as Nova broke the inhibitor he teleported in a flash just next to the table. The mares all had their mouths open in pure surprise. Twilight herself never got out of a magic inhibitor unless she deactivated it with a remote. Nova stood there with his horn smoking and smiled with a wide grin. "I knew I could trust you guys. Now If you excuse me..." He grabbed his axe with his magic ripping the rope that bound it and placed the weapon on his back. "I feel alot better now as this little interrogation gave me the time needed to recharge my magic power back to around 78 percent, so now I can go join my friends and go back to Canterlot to formulate a plan to defeat Strife." He then winked at them and disappeared in a flash of blue and purple. "You have got to be kidding me." Twilight said. She turned around to look back at her friends, "What the heck just happened?" Pinkie raised a hoof with a quick response. "A teleport?" Everypony faced hoofed. "Celestia damnit Pinkie." Rainbow groaned. "Now I think I need a drink too." End of Chapter 6 Reader has gained +1 DEX +3 LUK +9001 (haxor!) INT New Skill Learned Overload - For a temporary time, you can overload your horn to break barriers, spells, and magic inhibitors. Uses 4000 Magic Power and requires the total magic power to be above 50,000 to use. 24 hour cool down period after use. Author's Note Okay I wrote an outline and everytime I write an outline the first 5 sentences of that outline turn up to be 3k words or more. Otherwise I see a long time ahead of me before I even come up with an ending or get even close to writing one. If you see ANY grammatical mistakes on this chapter. Feel free to hit me in the back of the head with any method you see fit. Shout out to Shadowxrazor for providing the ideas and the necessary components to make this story not so crappy. Even though its me who came up with them, hes just ADDING more to this ridiculously LONG story. DAMN HIM! Also special thanks to my little brother who is now my editor and pre reader. HES 13 YEARS OLD AND BETTER AT GRAMMAR THEN ME. Seriously, wut the fuq?
Chapter 07: UnderstandingChapter 7: Understanding By : JP HACK Edited by : JP HACK and Zomboni247 Quotes and dialogue by: Shadowxrazor Approved by: The word ‘CAT’ and the letter ‘Q’ Sometimes you need to be the pony you don't want to be but you turn to the pony that they need you to be. - The book of Clover the Clever. ..........................................…............................................ Dear Princess Celestia, I know I have not been writing to you as much as I would like, but things have suddenly gotten interesting for me and my friends. Normally I would have a friendship report to give you, but I have news that concerns you and your sister and some magic breakthroughs with which I have come to learn. Are you familiar with something called the “Grand Vortex Spell?” It’s a spell that allows a user to travel vast distances though requires a lot of magical energy to use. I thought it was unheard of to travel more than 5 miles in a single teleport but this spell allows the user to travel upwards of 100 miles if he or she wishes to do so. Though, to my inadvertent direct experience and research, I have found that it needs another unicorn of high magic power to be at the intended end location for the user to teleport to. In this way it creates a bridge of some sort to connect the magics together and make the spell work. This spell has not been used since more than 1100 years ago, especially during the war of the Lunar Republic and the Solar Empire. I can see why this spell was seldom used as It ruined the landscape of the end location and could flatten a town if not used correctly or collapse in on itself with often deadly results if the user proved to not have the right abilities or proper magic power to use it in the first place. What puzzles me is how a unicorn stallion, with similar appearances to my brother, used the spell so easily. And what's more surprising is that stallion is somepony who seems to have as much magic power as me. This stallion used this spell and it latched on to me to complete it. I learned that his name is Nova Blade and he professed to be the student of Luna in the same manner as i'm your student under you. Did you know about this or am I the first to inform you about this? Nova is somepony to be reckoned with when he is wielding his deadly axe that he constantly carries around with him. His weapon alone seems like it was from the same era as the war. I wish I could ask more questions but he left abruptly claiming that Luna herself will punish him just for speaking to me and my friends. I don't know if its really something I need to point out but I feel that he is up to something no good. Also, did you know there is another crazy mare trying to go after the throne and take over Equestria? She calls herself Strife and she steals cutie marks to gain power. Nova said that it was his duty to stop her and that he and his friends would take care of it. I feel there is something more ahoof to this then he is letting on. He makes a point that if this Strife was to steal our cutie marks and gain power from them, then we would have a big problem on our hoofs. Please get back to me on these matters, I'm worried for me and my friends welfare as this Strife fellow could come after us and our cutie marks at anytime. I know this letter is rather long and tedious, but hopefully it makes up for not being active as I should be with letter writing to you. I write to you with my best regards, your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. …........................................................................................................................ Dear Twilight, It so good to hear from you and how you are exceeding your studies. Though the information that you have given me in your letter was quite a surprise. Luna has a student thats under her? That's certainly interesting, especially because she usually keeps to herself and doesn't talk to me as much as I would like. That spell that you have mentioned is actually a long forgotten spell only used by some high ranking nobles. If what you say is true, then I believe some sister of mine needs to have a talk about magic that is reserved for someponys and about keeping secrets from me. I am now concerned as well about this Strife fellow you describe. The power to steal cutie marks? Strange indeed. But to be on the safe side let me talk to Luna about Nova and see if he really could defeat her. I will assign more Policeponies to Ponyville for added protection without causing a noticeable buildup of military presence. Stay safe my student. Your Loving mentor and friend, Princess Celestia. ................................................................................................................................................. Time : 2:42 pm Location : Ponyville Train Station Its not everyday you see a pegasi drunk on a cloud, close to the ground, being pulled by an earth pony with power hooves. It may have looked like a gag reel of some sort but it was hundred percent true. Lance got drunk and with Hammers insistence to not miss the train, he decided to get a cloud to nap on. Hammerheart though used this to her advantage. She tied a rope around him, because you can't tie a rope around a cloud, and pulled him around town as she shopped for some supplies. It was sort of embarrassing to do this to the pegasus but he brought this upon himself. Hammerheart though used this situation to her advantage. She put all of her merchandise that she bought on the cloud so she didn't have to carry it herself. The earth pony started to head for the train station, with cloud in tow, after all her shopping was done for various equipment and food. Sometimes as the only mare in the group it somewhat had its advantages. Especially being the only support member and medic of the group which lead to access to all the technology and techno magic she wanted. And she provided alot of support to her friends in combat. Lance and Nova were good guys who would work well together in skirmishes but usually fought over the meaningless things like sweet rolls and booze. It made her happy to be with them but sometimes she wanted to shove a gem powered particle cannon up someones flank for being a complete idiot. She had half a mind to just leave Lance there on the cloud to nap all day and float away, but the last time she left him on a cloud to sleep on with anyone but Nova nearby, within a couple of miles, usually ended up in a complete disaster. She groaned as the thoughts came back to her... Time: A couple of months ago. Location : Unknown "Okay boys. I will be right back with some food. You two behave while i'm gone. Okay?" Hammer turned around from before Lance and Nova and trotted away. Instantly Lance turned back to his armored companion and pointed a hoof at him. “Hey Nova.” “Yeah?” Nova tilted his head a bit. “See that cloud over there?” Lance pointed up with his hoof at a nice flat cloud that was lazily floating above them. Nova nodded and waited for Lance to continue. “Its calling me for a nap. Now, I don't want you to bother me while Im sleeping. Kapeesh?” Nova nodded but Lance decided punctuate the point more by adding, “It is Skyslicer tradition to sleep in and nap on clouds. Nova if you take that away from me, I swear to Celestia, Luna and the goddess damned elements," his eyes narrowed, "I. Will. End. You. Is that clear?” Nova saluted silently and then sat on his hindquarters. Lance sighed and took off towards the cloud. 10 Minutes passed. Nova stared into empty space bored out of his mind. He sat and waited for hammerheart to come back from the local town. Nova rested from practicing swinging his axe around. A loud abrupt snort and coughing followed by a satisfying “Ahhhh” came from above. He looked up and saw Lance sound asleep with his whole body all flailed out, looking like he just got hit by a meteor. Nova’s face suddenly turned from happy go lucky to super evil supreme commander mode. I just came up with another idea for another attack move. He picked up his axeand trotted under the cloud with which lance was sleeping on and grabbed his axe with his magic. "Ready Limb?" The axe glowed on its own on its edges a slight green color as if it was giving Nova the green light to start. "Okay, lets do this." Nova applied magic to the weapon which brightened in luminance as it started to smoke and change color from the usual dull purple to a bright yellow and orange. The weapon started to heat up and continued to glow brightly at its tips, crackiling loudly from the raw influx of magic and friction. Nova smiled to himself and eyed the cloud above him with a grin. He made his weapon slowly ascend up under the cloud... Meanwhile, Hammerheart trotted back along the path at a merry pace while humming to herself and carrying a couple of bags full of food within her saddle bags. Suddenly a bunch of birds flew away in the distance as if they were trying to get away from something. She heard somepony screaming out of pain in the distance. "YEEEEEEEH OWWWWW." Silence in the forest permeated through until another yell was heard. "YOUR IN MY HOOD NOW MUTHABUCKA!" Shots of magic bolts could be heard being fired followed by, "I. WILL. END. YOU! HOLD STILL DAMMIT!" Hammerheart stopped immediately. And as soon as she did, an explosion burst into the distance creating a large shockwave throwing a large gust of wind pass over her, messing up her mane. Hammerheart slowly put down her saddle bags filled with food and took out her power hooves and put them on. She brushed her purple mane to straighten it out and narrowed her eyes in the direction of the ongoing battle in the distance. "They are soooooo dead after this." She muttered with pure disgust in her voice. The sound of high pitch whirl erupted from her hooves and the techno magics swirled under her making the ground crack slightly. She propelled herself off into the forest and disappeared in a quick dash. 5 minutes later. Two grown stallions started begging for mercy in front of hammerheart. "Are you two gonna learn to behave while I’m gone?" Asked the pissed off earth pony with power hooves. Two weak voices both said, "Yes ma'am." Time: 2:51 PM Location: Ponyville Train station platform. Hammerheart was busy tying down the cloud that Lance was sleeping on to a nearby pole ignoring the stares of the ponies she was getting. Where they asking for trouble to question a drunk pegasus sleeping on a cloud? The cloud itself was full of food, supplies, and other stuff all thrown around and on top of Lance himself. She didn't really care about how that looked and sat down on the nearby bench to get some rest. A quick glance at the clock revealed the time to be 2:52 PM. Shouldn't Nova be back yet at this time? Hammerheart thought maybe it was not the best idea to leave Nova alone in a basement with those mares. But through all the adventures they had, Nova Blade always pulled through somehow. She sat back against the backrest of the bench and waited. Though, after 30 seconds of her eyes wandering from place to place, she couldn't take not doing anything any longer. I need to tinker with something before I freak out. She pulled out a gadget from her saddle bags. It was a device with a large screen and had a couple of buttons and it had a strap for what appeared for being able to stick it on the foreleg. It though had some wires still sticking out of it. Lets see. Ah, connecting the transversal logic matrix with a different type of gem should work instead of the other one that I was experimenting with. Hammerheart grabbed some tools out of her saddlebag and got to work. Being an earth pony and being part engineer had its set of challenges, but with the use of hoof tools that had levers which were operated by mouth that worked a series of tweezers, claws and other useful manipulation tools, aided in her tinkering. Hammer glanced at the time as she was busy making her, yet unnamed, gadget work. 2:55 PM. She pulled out a square shaped gem from her bag and then placed it into the back of the device. The wires instantly attached from the gems inner magic and the device lit up. Ahh that did the trick. Now lets see if it will work. Hammerheart closed the back panel and then flipped the device to look at the screen but didn't attach it on her foreleg. She sat it on the ground and started use the device. On each side of the screen it had 2 directional pads, one for selecting left and right and the other for up and down. She pressed the middle button on the bottom portion of the screen which read “Start/Select.” Activating > Linear Universal Node Algorithm (L.U.N.A) Starting... System booting. Command Sequence Active >30% >75% >100%. Select System. (S) Status Reports (M) Map Hammer pressed the down button and scanned the information presented to her on her techno magic device. Status reports Select status reports L for Lance Skyslicer N for Nova Blade E for Elements of Harmony P for Princess Luna Scroll down for further options. She clicked N and pressed enter. Nova Blade >Accessing system. Health - 100% Magic Power >Influx Rate -6073 >Error 404 Activating Magical Location Enchantments. Armor tracking >Active. Armor Talisman Transmitting >Locked >Feedback Freq. 45.34 >Parameters Active Locating Target Connection Established >Accessing talisman J13 25% >65% >100% >Found. Coordinates >Error Movement Fault 505 (Recalibrate?) Target is at Ponyville Train Station. End of Program. (R) Return to Main Menu. >(R) Retry >(S) Settings Hammerheart raised an eyebrow. Movement fault 505? Located at the train station? She looked up around her and stared back at the screen. That can't be right. I put that tracker talisman in his armor to make sure that Nova doesn't get lost and so Lance can keep an eye out on him. How can it have a movement fault? Did he take off his armor? No...that can't be right either. The talisman is powered from the armors imbedded magic, so thats out of the question. So what could it be? She looked up from her device and scanned the area for any signs of Nova Blade. Still no armor pony or train but just the random assortment of ponies all around her. She looked at lance who still was sleeping on the grounded cloud and looked for any signs of Nova Blade. Maybe she needs to reprogram her device? Suddenly a spark came from above lance which turned into a large ball of light all bubbling forth, getting bigger and bigger. "Oh you gotta b-” Hammerheart didn't finish her sentence. A large flash blinded everypony for a second and was followed in its place by none other than Nova who appeared from a misguided teleport directly above Lance. "Crap! I'm falling!" The armored unicorn started to fall towards the cloud. Hammerheart just watched in disbelief as Nova impacted the cloud and crashed, scattering all the supplies and landed directly on top of Lance. The cloud puffed out creating a fog obscuring the view of the incident. The cloud vapor finally subsided and revealed an interesting scene. Lance had his wings spread out in excitement and was holding Novas face with his front hoofs in a hug. Lance stared into Novas eyes as Nova struggled to get free. “I love you man. *Hic*” He slurred and moved his muzzle closer to Nova to try to kiss him. “Ahh, Lance stop! What the hell!?” Nova dodged the kiss and tried to get free but Lance, using some hidden drunk powers, grabbed him back even tighter and started to stroke part of his mane passionately that was not covered by his helmet. “Lie down with me. Let me *Hic* show you a goooood time.” Nova struggled to leave the very compromising scene, in public, to try to get out of there as fast as possible. How drunk is Lance to begin with to think a mare dropped right on top of him? Hammerheart looked on at the two, now slightly wet because of the cloud impact, struggle with each other. One was drunk as hell and somehow not disturbed in the slightest of a unicorn with armor falling on him, or his cloud. While the other unicorn stallion was trying to actively escape this unwanted torture that was happening to him. Hammerheart had yaoi coltcuddling fanfilly fantasies of Nova and Lance flash quickly through her mind. “What the buck is going on.” She tried looking away but continued staring. “And why do I like it?” Nova looked to his side and saw Hammerheart staring at him and Lance. “Hammer! A little help here!?” Nova still tried to break free from the death grip that Lance had on him. Hammerheart finally broke out of her intimate fantasies and headed for her saddle bags. “I know what to do. Hang on for a second.” Nova stared at her with wide eyes and pleaded, “Hammer! Quickly hes *oof* trying to make me do naughty things! HURRY!” Lance used his wings as an extra pair of hoofs and tossed Nova to the side. The multicolored maned pegasus lazily got up from the cloud and pressed his body on top of the unicorn in armor. “Hey girl, how you doing? *hic* Let me buy you a drink. *Hic* and rub your belly for a- WOAH” Lance yelled as he got yanked out from being on top of Nova and was thrown onto the hard ground. Hammerheart was holding one end of the rope which was already around Lance and made sure to tie her end to a nearby pole. Hammerheart went up to Lance with no feeling or expression on her face and pulled out a vial from one of her saddle bags. It was a tall bottle that had some yellowish liquid in it. She promptly went up to Lance, who was still struggling to get up and untie himself, and held him down with one of her front hooves. She popped open the bottle with her teeth and with another hoof, jabbed the bottle down Lances throat, forcing him to swallow the liquid in a massive gulp. Lance gagged a bit but the earth pony made him finish the whole bottle. Lances eyes went small and he fainted. "Ah. That should take care of it." Hammerheart looked around her and saw the stares of everypony that were watching the entire scene unfold. Nova also watched on, with new found respect for Hammer. "Um. Hammer? What did you just do to him?" Hammerheart turned to Nova without making any eye contact. She walked past him and picked up her saddle bags. "Something I should of done along time ago." Nova couldn't hide his surprise. "Wait. Did you just poison the bastard!? What the hell! I was supposed to have a death match with him later!" Hammer turned around and hoofed Nova in the horn in a quick swipe. "Ouch!" He rubbed his horn in pain and stifled a tear of pain. "That was for being a moron." She eyed Nova with a small grin and quickly whispered to herself, "a hot one for that matter." She blushed but shook her head to stop thinking those naughty thoughts and continued talking. "I just gave him an anti-poison potion. It will make him sleep and expel all the alcohol that he ingested. Okay? For as you personally have seen, he had way too much." Nova looked at her for a second in a moment of disbelief, with hoof still on his horn, and nodded. Hammerheart gave a heavy sigh and pointed to the wreckage of what used to be a nice pile of supplies on a cloud. "Nova. Could you pick up all of our supplies that got thrown about? The train is about to be here any minute. I will take care of Lance in the meantime." The armored unicorn saluted and turned to face the wreckage. It was a horrible sight to behold as boxes and food laid everywhere. The cloud that Lance was sleeping on dissipated quickly after he was pulled off it. Nova used his levitation magic to grab the scattered objects and put them in a small group in mid air. He turned and trotted back slowly to Hammer. She was looking at a train map on the platform. Lance was tied up and on the ground still passed out. With a heavy sigh Nova came up next to hammer and moved the pile of supplies next to her and released the magic, setting them down gently. "Here. What is all this stuff anyway?" Nova asked. The purple maned earth pony waved a hoof at him in dismisal. "Nova its just supplies. Don't worry about it." Hammer said. Nova turned his attention to the knocked out Lance who was on the ground. "What about Lance?" Nova asked. Hammerheart poked Lance into his side. "What about him? He’ll be fine. That potion I gave him should kick in any minute now." Hammer stopped looking at the map on the wall and faced Nova with a stern look. "By the way, don't think your little mishap went unnoticed. What happened? How did you teleport in midair this time!?" Nova blinked. He didn't like where this was going. His mind tried to jumble a valid excuse for this but he said the first thing that came to his mind. "I, um. Magical disturbance in the air?" Hammerheart face hoofed and narrowed her eyes. "You forgot that you were in a basement and the elevation difference messed up your exit point. Am I not correct?" Nova tilted his head in a manner that said 'what' and just nodded. "I thought so." She looked at the clock that was on one of the walls of the train station. 3:09 PM. "The train is kinda late and Lance needs time to wake up. So what do you want to do when we reach Canterlot?" She asked with just a slight hint of urgency. Nova thought for a moment and only shrugged. “Right now I can’t think of what to do when we get there. We need a plan." The armored The brown earth pony moved to where Lance was and nudged him. "Thats true that we need a plan. But first lets wake up this fool." Hammer suggested sternly. She nudged him to his side and removed the ropes. "I want to see what he would want to do. I rather keep him in the loop cause he hates being left out and becomes very violent." "That I am keenly aware of." Nova explained. He watched Hammer pick up Lances head and hit him side to side to his cheeks. The Multi maned pegasus just slurred words and sentences as Hammer actively tried to wake him up. Lance finally opened his eyes and saw Hammer on top of him ready to slap him again. "Wha?" He slurred. Her hoof came down but Lance dodged by moving his head slightly to the right. Hammer was surprised and backed off from him. "Hey wha’ are yuuu doing?" "Are you up yet? How you feeling Lance?" Hammer asked as she went back to her saddle bags. Nova only observed the pathetic state of his friend but said nothing and only looked on. "Hammyy. Wha’ did yo' do to meh?" His stomach growled and he clenched his stomach in sudden pain. "Owww my stomach." Hammerheart didn't react to that nickname, as only one pony is allowed to call her that, and she answered back to the suffering pegasus. "Ah, it looks like the potion is kicking in. I suggest you get going to the bathroom before your bowels explode." Lance expression was the same as Novas when he heard what Hammer just said. Pure horror. The earth pony came back with another bottle held from her mouth, this time filled with a green liquid and set it before Lance. She turned to Nova with a warm smile. "Nova. Help your buddy Lance up with your magic so he can go to the bathroom. Hes gonna purge all the alcohol within his body." Nova had a look of disgust on his face and took a glance back at Lance. "You sure we need to do this now? We might miss the train." Explained Nova. Lance still suffered and started rolling on the floor in pain. Hammerheart, now with a harsher tone retorted back to Nova. "Nova. Do you really want to get back that badly to be scolded by Luna?" Nova shook his head. "Good, now help the poor pegasus bastard already and go. And make sure he takes that green vial.” Lance groaned loudly in pain. “It is a minor restore potion to make him better. We can just take another train later. Now go!" Nova saluted once more and made a field of magic around the pegasus, picking him up and promptly trotted off to nearest bathroom. Hammerheart in the meantime went back to the pile of supplies that Nova collected and started to count and check everything to make sure she got what she needed. She took another look at the clock. 3:13. Hammer took a moment to look down the horizon and saw that the train was coming. It surprisingly was not running on coal power as it had a team of six stallions running ahead of it. The whistle blew as it got near. Hammerheart gave a heavy sigh when she looked at the approaching train and went back to sorting out her supplies. 1 hour and 25 minutes passed. *knock* *knock* *knock* “Dude, you been in there for more than a frakking hour. Are you okay?” Asked Nova. He stood outside of the door of an out house and put his ears next to the door. He waited for a response. Nothing. Not even a peep from the inside. “Lance?” A flush and relieved sigh sounded through. The door opened and Lance, who was sweating bullets, gave a hard stare at Nova. “Remind me. Never. I repeat NEVER. To drink that many bottles of booze ever again. If it has to come down to getting purged from Hammer, I rather stop before I go over board. So, I give you permission to hit me with your axe if I pass 34 drinks, you got that?” The little pony in Nova’s mind tried to assess what he just said. 34 drinks? That has to be some kind of record for him. “How did you drink that many? That has to some kind of record.” “Back at West Hoof we had to do some ‘Extra curricular’ activities to pass the time. And yes that was an academy record.” “I see.” Nova shook his back shaking his axe to punctuate that it was ready to go for hitting Lance in the future. “I will be awaiting that day to hit you. Anyway Hammerheart is still waiting for us back at the train station. We better get going. You have been in there for a long time. ” Lance nodded and turned around. He went back inside the out house and came back with an empty vial. “I better bring this back to her. She hates it when I don't return her stuff.” Lance flapped his wings and then winced in some pain. "Looks like I'm stuck on the ground with you until I'm ready to fly again." Nova smiled warmly and started back on his way towards the train station with Lance following, not so far behind. "So, Hammer told me that she wants to make a plan to take down strife. Any input?" Asked Nova. Lance thought for a moment before responding. "Lets talk on the train. Do you know the time?" Nova gave a confused look. "Nope." Nova shook his back and spoke to his axe out loud. "How about you Limb. Do you know the time?" Lance gave Nova a perplexed stare and raised an eyebrow. Nova nodded sagely as the weapon pulsated with silent purple glows as a response. "Really? Well thats odd." "What? What did that metal thing say?" Asked Lance., "It says that you are a pathetic loser." Nova responded. Lance frowned. "Nova. You want another show down? This time I will take your armor off in battle unlike last time." Nova stopped in his tracks. What did he say about his armor? Novas horn glowed and his took his axe out from his back and set it before him. "Lance. I will say this only once. If you ever threaten to take off my armor. I will kill you. Is that clear?" Novas voice was dark and very slow. Lance turned to face him and saw him with his axe out and into midair. "Wait." Lance paused for a moment. "You're not joking are you?" "I will take off the safety, this time." Replied Nova. Lance raised a hoof smiling with his wings spread out showing his crossbows. "Do it, you won't." "Is that a challenge?" Asked the armored unicorn. "Challenge accep-." "GUYS! I heard that! Get back here right now! Don't you even think about fighting!" Yelled Hammerheart from out of nowhere. Before even caring on how she did that, both stallions bumped hoofs in mutual defeat and started back towards the train station. Nova though whispered in Lances ear. "I win." Lance wanted to hoof him in the face but thought against it before Hammer got any more angry. Location : Train station Platform Time : 4:45 PM It was not that busy at the station. Only one or two ponies were there waiting for the train to come. Nova only stared into empty space looking out in the distance. A quick use of applied magic to the horn made his axe glow and he took it out from before him. “Your kinda heavy you know.” The axe stuttered in midair before planting itself into the ground. “Fat? I'm not calling you fat!” The axe glowed around its edges and then shook into the ground. “You look fine, what really is bothering me is what happens next.” He stared back out into the horizon and got lost in thought but didn't really notice the conversation that Lance and Hammer were having behind him. “Have you ever seen the guy with his armor off?” Asked Lance who spread and refolded his wings. Hammerheart was still organizing her supplies which surprisingly, had less than what she started out with. “No. I have not seen him take it off, not even once.” Replied Hammerheart. She packed the last of the supplies into her saddle bags and zipped it shut. “Why you ask?” Lance yawned. “Hes just way over protective about it is all. Threatened to kill me or something.” Lance sat down on a nearby bench. “As if he is so proud that it came from Luna, that he will not take it off.” “Probably, thats why." She sat down next to Lance and looked at Nova who was now in conversation with his axe off to the edge of the platform. "You think its weird Lance, that he has the ability to speak to his weapon or that he can have intelligent conversations with it?" Lance turned to her. "Oh so he's not crazy?" Hammerheart just narrowed her eyes in response. "Its interesting alright but nothing to write home about. What worries me right now is to get back, away from this town, and return to Canterlot." Hammerheart nodded. Her ear twitched to the left and she turned her attention to the left side of the platform. "Ah, the train is about to be here in a couple of minutes. I can hear its engine this time. They must of gotten a coal shipment from Zebraria." Hammerheart watched as at the same time, Nova turned and started to jump for joy as the train came. "Remind me why this country is built on resources we don't even have?" Asked Lance sarcastically. Hammerheart mentally applied hoof to face and gathered her saddle bags in preparation for the arriving train. Nova excitedly went in front of both of them, still jumping in full suit of armor like it was nothing, and started talking really fast. "Oh-my-gosh-the-train-is-here!" "We know. We know. Calm down Nova." Answered Lance with all too knowing tone and annoyance from his unicorn friend who was way too excited for a train just like a little colt. Nova still jumped around rapidly and kept talking nonsense. "Something tells me this is gonna be a long train ride." sighed Hammerheart. The other ponies around them watched as well with anticipation for the incoming train. It came through the station billowing steam and coming slowly to a stop. When it finally stopped the conductor came out from one of the cars. “All aboard!” Location: Rear most train car, enroute to Canterlot. Time : 5:00 PM The car rumbled and swayed on the tracks. The rickety wooden frame did a poor job of sound insulation and failed to keep the outside noise down. Inside, Lance Skyslicer, Nova Blade, and Hammerheart all sat together in conversation. “Okay so, Nova.” Nova turned his attention to Hammer. “What is the deal with Strife? How did you know her?” Hammer asked with a serious tone. Lance stared out the window and didn't look at his friends when he added, “If she was not pure evil, I would have banged that.” Both Nova and Hammer looked at their pegasus friend but shrugged it off. Lance is just being Lance again. Nova eyed his axe for a moment before turning his attention back to Hammerheart. “Its kinda hard to explain, and you know I hate explaining things. It makes me uncomfortable.” His axe glowed a dark red color for a split second but Nova ignored it. “And no, Limb, I will not elaborate on how she used to be a sister to me.” Lance stopped staring out the window and turned to Nova. “Wait, what? You have a sister? Bangable?” “Lance shut up.” Retorted Hammerheart. Nova agreed with her and put up a hoof for him to stop. “Okay then...” Lance stared back out into the window and watched the scenery change. Hammerheart only just nudged Nova to continue on. “So since we have about 2 hours until we arrive to canterlot, tell us the story?” Hammer urged. Nova pouted like a little foal and crossed his hoofs. “No, I don't wanna.” “Nova, dont be a baby. Remember, we are your friends. You can tell us.” “Okay, fine.” Nova picked up his axe and placed it on the seat next to him. He looked at his two friends, Hammerheart and Lance, across from him with a sad look. He closed his eyes and reopened them slowly. “What I'm about to tell you, not even Luna herself knows.” Lance, who was actually paying attention now, nodded in understanding along with Hammerheart. “It All started a couple of years ago. I was back at the orphanage then and things were usually rough in fillydelphia, especially for us colts and fillies. Regardless of the peacefulness that equestria is known for, rapes and violence was of the norm and if you didn't fight back, you could be killed. Yes, if you where from where I was from, you be bucking dead. So In general I was with out any one to care for me, nor did I care for anyone. I learned my magic on my own, usually in secret, just to come up with spells to defend myself. “Regardless, it was tough. I befriended Sonata while I was there. She was a fellow unicorn just like me. Usually she got into trouble and somehow, usually by accident, I found her and bailed her out. After a couple of years there, our friendship grew to more like a brother-sister relationship. If she needed help from bullies or someone to talk to, I would be there." Hammerheart and Lance only stared at Nova, not knowing how to react to this new found backstory. Nova only shook his head and continued. "Anyway, when I was taken that night along with you guys to be with princess Luna, I couldn't take her with me. I feared for her safety. I should have begged Luna to take her with us. She was my best friend." Nova stumbled not to shed any tears but mumbled on. "And...and the worst part. She wanted to kill me. And all the feelings that we had in the past meant nothing to her. And now she is trying to take over Equestria and I don't know why or how she is doing what she is doing.” Nova felt a hoof wipe a tear from his face, it was not his own but Hammerheart’s. She went up and gave Nova a silent hug. The unicorn in return embraced her tight and sobbed a bit before drying up and letting go. Lance sat there and gave a knowing nod to his friend. Nothing could be said to quell the feelings that he was stirring inside. The train rocked in motion and made the signature click clack sounds as it sped across the landscape of Equestria. The sun was setting on the horizon created a moment calmness for the troubled Nova. “Have you noticed that we are the only ponies in this train car?” Lance said. Nova got out of his sudden depression and looked around him along with Hammerheart. It was interesting that there was no other ponies around along with them. “Huh, you're right Lance. That is weird though. Wasn't there a lot of ponies on the platform waiting for the train with us?” Asked the armored stallion. The mare of the group just raised a hoof in dismissal. “Guys that does not matter right now. Focus right now on coming up with a plan about Strife.” Hammerheart explained with a hint of concern. Lance gave a heavy sigh and shifted around to a new position in his seat. “Nova, Hammer is right you know. What is the plan?” Lance waited for Nova to snap out of his stupor and come back to the world of Equestria. “Um.” He applied hoof to chin. “It seems we need to do a couple of things.” “Like?” Asked Hammerheart. “One, make a written list of what we are gonna do?” Lance snorted and nudged hammerheart in her shoulder. She looked at him with a confused expression. “What Lance?” “As I recall, you're the only one capable of writing things down. Both me and Nova can't write with our mouths. Breaking of quills with our teeth and all that jazz.” The pegasus wiggled his eyebrows and incited Nova to do the same. Hammerheart stared at them for a second in disbelief before reaching into her saddlebags and pulling out a quill and piece of paper. She laid them out on the table before them and applied some ink to her quill and got ready to write down some notes. “Okay, So first order of business, we need to make a battle strategy that can...” Nova explained the battle plan to defeat Strife. Lance occasionally added some details that made the tasks a bit easier or usually shot down Novas crazy plans about using wheels or some hidden weakness to bring her down. Hammerheart vigorously wrote down everything she deemed important and even stopped at some parts to add her own ideas. 30 minutes passed. Location: Enroute to Canterlot. Time: 5:30 PM “So, I think that about covers it.” Explained Hammerheart with a hearty sigh. All that writing was giving her a cramp. She held up the paper with all the notes and read it out loud. “Lets see, we have three phases here. One, is recon with me, Two is an sniper barrage from Lance, and Lastly we have Nova for the final confrontation. That seems about right. What do you guys think? Any thoughts before we can present this to Luna?” The train rocked in silence as both Lance and Nova thought to themselves about adding anything to make the plan better. Novas brain stalled faster then a train going up a steep hill with leaves on the tracks while at the same time Lances train of thought somehow diverted to more lewd things. Hammerheart tapped her hoof and with a jolt the unicorn and the pegasus came back to attention. “Well since I guess its official. We go with this plan.” Hammerheart set the parchment down. The train went through a tunnel for a brief second. Since there was no lights on in the train, it went pitch black in the train car for a brief moment. A cold breeze passed through the train car in the darkness, and just as suddenly as it came, it disappeared when the train exited the tunnel. “What plan would that be my student?” A regal voice called out from the far end of the train car. Lance and Hammerheart jumped instantly in surprise. Nova absent mindedly answered back with out thinking. “The plan to take down Strife.” “Is that so?” Asked the voice. Lance and Hammerheart both shivered in their seats from some unknown temperature change in the air as they stared at Luna who appeared from the shadows from the far corner of the train car. Only Nova who was not paying any attention kept looking at the parchment and kept reading off it. “Its gonna be great, It will make Luna so proud.” “Really? how will it make me proud?” Asked Luna who winked at Lance and Hammer to calm down from her unexpected visit in a moving train car and watch Novas reaction. They both let out a breath they didn't know they were holding and relaxed. Nova still didn't notice the princess by not turning around to look at her and continued talking. “What are you talking about? We have a plan!” Nova finally turned around to face the pony talking to him with the paper in his hoof. “See?” His eyes went tiny and his face turned white when he saw princess Luna in front of him. Her mane flowed in an invisible breeze and she had on all her royal regalia. She took a look to Nova and frowned in disapproval. Nova looked at the parchment he was holding, looked back to her, and back to the parchment. “Well these plans are useless now.” He grabbed the paper with his magic and tossed it out an open window in the train car. Luna just stood there and gazed at her student with a look a father gives when his son misbehaves. Her voice was still calm and relaxed though when she finally spoke. “Its time for all of you to come with me. We have much to discuss.” “Aww, but I like the train.” Lance interrupted. Nova suddenly took this opportunity to chime in as well. “Me too! I don't wanna go!” Hammerheart facehoofed in her seat and shrugged in Lunas direction to ignore their antics. Luna paid no heed to the protests and raised a hoof to silence them. “We are leaving.” She moved her face close to Nova and scowled. “Now.” All three of the ponies all nodded quickly in agreement and said in unison. “Yes ma’am.” Luna made activated her horn and they all disappeared in a flash of dark purple. Time: Unknown Location : Sugar cube corner. Pinkie pie was near a window sill placing pies there to cool them down. Without warning, a piece of paper flew through the window and landed right on her muzzle. She stumbled back in surprise and grabbed the paper with her hoof. “Ooh, What's this?” She opened the crumbled paper and read its contents. “Plans to defeat Strife a expert plan?” She read on and her eyes widened with every passing word that she read. Her mind raced faster than anything to try to understand the words and strange symbols. She finally came to one conclusion. “I have to take this to Twilight. She will know what to do!” In a quick fashion she put the parchment away and bolted out the door towards the library. End of Chapter 7 Reader has gained +7 INT +2 LUK +1 DEX -1 STR New Skill Learned Nothing for this chapter - I just don't know what went wrong! Author's Note Authors Notes: Hope you enjoy the story so far. And this one is a long one. I really got to cut down on the outlines as each sentence turns to 1k words. I still can't believe that this is my first story. EVER. Shout out to Shadowxrazor and Zomboni247 for keeping this story from sucking and making it grammatically correct. Thanks! I could not have done it without you guys. Authors Rant: I'm still looking for prereaders and editors. Message me if your interested. Author shoutout: My little brother is the best.
Chapter 08: GenesisUnder Lunar Wings Chapter 8: Genesis By: JP HACK Co Written: Shadowxrazor Edited by: JP HACK, zomboni247, Shadowxraxor What is a life that is in eternal servitude? What is the purpose? I have slaved for this witch for too long, my mind in shambles, and my internal fortitude diminishing by the second. I may have to tell her that I cannot continue to... *Unreadable text* -Star Swirl the Bearded, Journal entry #1337 Time: 5:36 Location: Lunas Personal chambers. Lunas personal room was something impressive. The black marble shined brilliantly reflecting the lights of the room and had a mirror reflection. The purple and black bed resembled the galaxies and stars on the sheets and pillows. There was a small assortment of furniture but what was most interesting was her game station. There laid the finest techno magic display and the latest game console, the X-colt 720. Luna's two personal unicorn guards stood still in the room, guarding the emptiness. Both had the night guard armor which had white outlines and accents of purple which resembled that they were the highest ranking night guards. Both were standing on each side of the massive door in the center of the room staring into empty space, and one of them sighed loudly with a shake his head. "This is boring." He turned to his companion guard who stared into the princessless room. "What do you think Pepperstone?" The guard, named Pepperstone, only snorted. "Can't you see that I'm busy Darkshade?" Darkshade stumbled not to laugh. "Busy doing what? Standing there doing nothing?" Pepperstone stood there and said nothing for a long time in a motion to ignore his fellow guard. Darkshade gave another heavy sigh and trotted over to the game console and display making Pepperstone raise an eyebrow. "Uh, what the hell are you doing?" Pepperstone said in a high whisper, as if he was afraid of talking. Darkshade only ignored him by grabbing the console controller with his magic, turning on the system in the process. "Hold it! Didn't Luna tell us NOT to play with her games without her?" Darkshade still didn't answer back to his companion but only continued to grab a game titled "The Mare of Duty: Lost souls," popped the case open, grab the disc and jam it into the console. "Shutup Pepper. Since when does luna 'forbid' us to play? I'm bored guarding an empty room." Darkshade turned to give a big smile back towards his fellow guard. "And besides, I have to beat your high score!" Peppertones reply was just his mouth down to the floor and a large gasp followed by a loud snort. "Fine then. You asked for this. I shall teach you your error of your ways" Pepperstones face turned evil with a quest to school his fellow guard in a classic deathmatch. He walked towards the console until he noticed something odd. He couldn't figure it out yet but it was familiar somehow. Darkshade picked up another controller but stopped before hoofing it to Pepper. "Do you feel what I'm feeling on a magical level?" Asked Darkshade. Pepperstone turned around for a moment and trotted back and forth as if scanning for something. "It feels like someone is sucking all the residual magic in the air." "I agree. Do you think it could be Luna coming back?" Asked Darkshade as he kept his eyes open for anything out of the ordinary. "Maybe? I don't Like this..." Both night guards kept a lookout until out of nowhere, in the center of the room, a bright ball of purple and white erupted and started to expand. Darkshade instantly dropped the controller in a near panic, and teleported to his post followed by Pepperstone. As soon as Darkshade got to his post he pressed the off button on the console with his magic and gave a wink to his companion, who in return mouthed 'you're an idiot.' The ball of light expanded and then disappeared revealing Luna, Hammerheart, and Lance Skyslicer. Though another ball of light erupted from above which spat out Nova Blade close to the ceiling, making him plummet nearly twenty feet towards the ground. He hit the marble floor with a thud and laid there groaning in pain. The Night guards had to stifle a laugh at the expense of Nova.. Luna paid no heed to Nova and his companions, and instead looked at her guards. "Guards. Leave us." Darkshade and Pepperstone both saluted. "Luna, should we call for a doctor as well?" Asked Pepperstone who stared at the miserable state of Nova. Luna raised a hoof in dismissal. "That won't be necessary. I will call when you're free to return. Also make sure no one bothers us. Is that clear?" Both night guards saluted. "As you wish." Replied darkshade. "Nova, Hope you get better." Nova groaned as a response and stayed on the ground his tongue out comically. The guards opened the massive door and walked out, closing it behind them. Luna said nothing for a moment until sighing heavily. "Okay then. Now that we have some privacy, I can punish Nova myself." Lance and Hammerheart both shared a look and shrugged. Luna moved over to Novas limp body and wrapped him a field of magic. He was hoisted into the air and thrown across the room once more, crashing into some furniture. Lance was compelled to say, "Critical Hit!" He got a stare from Hammerheart and just dismissed it. Both of them quietly resumed to watch Luna pick up Nova again and throw him across the other side of the room, making him slide and crash right into the wall. As soon as he hit it, a picture that was hanging came loose and smacked him on top of the head. Lance and Hammer both stifled not to laugh at that comedic moment lest they want to face the wrath of luna themselves. "Okay, punishment time is over, for now. So tell me Nova. Why did you deliberately disobey me?" Nova now reduced to a pathetic excuse of a warrior only grumbled and gurgled. "Are you mocking me?" Nova slowly picked himself up and stood before her, limping on one leg. "*struggle* Nn...no." "Then speak! What the faust happened?" Luna spread her wings which made her more intimidating. Nova opened his mouth as if about to speak and closed it. He turned to Hammerheart and asked, "Nows not a good time to be a moron right?" "What do you think Nova?" Hammerheart stood still next to Lance with a serious expression as they both waited to see what was gonna happen next. Luna looked on with a bit of perplexity on her face. What was Nova gonna do now? Nova took a deep breath and gave a hard gaze towards his mentor. His voice deepened and he stopped wincing from pain. “Oh please oh please forgive me!” Nova bolted right up to Luna and hugged her in a tight hug. Luna struggled to get the crying armored pony off of her while Nova kept mumbling “It was an accident! I swear!” The princess used her magic once more and threw Nova off of her back towards the ground. But Nova was suddenly quick on his feet and got right back up and lunged for another hug. “ENOUGH!” Luna screamed. Nova skidded to a stop right in front of Luna and there faces were inches apart. He gave a sheepish smile and gave a wink to his friends. Both Hammerheart and Lance were chuckling in the background. They know that when Nova is not serious or hungry he acts like a little foal, quite literally. Luna though was NOT amused at all. She had a mission to accomplish and the pony responsible for its failure was right in front of her. Why she had the ability to send him to the moon! But that would not the be the wisest choice now wouldn't it. Luna addressed Nova with a tone that could cut glass with a spoon. "Enough of the games. Nova sit down." Luna almost forgot his friends were still there and turned her attention to them. "Hammerheart. Lance Skyslicer. With Nova. Now." All the ponies promptly lined up and sat on their haunches in front of Luna. "Good. Now I'm gonna ask you this once and only once. Why did you not take down Strife as you were supposed to?" Nopony said anything for a moment. Nova raised a hoof, and before speaking he took off his helmet, revealing his royal blue mane with the single black streak. His horn glowed and his helmet was enveloped in a white light and disappeared. "Luna. I apologise, but please don't blame my friends. They were only following my orders and I messed up. Royally." Nova laughed mentally at that little pun he made. Lance and Hammer both didn't say a word to interject but wondered why his tone is so calm all of a sudden. "A simple apology will not suffice this time Nova, for you don't know the scope of the damage and headaches you caused." Luna explained. She turned and grabbed a scroll from on top of her bed and brought it to her. A quick manipulation of magic later and the scroll opened. "Here is the damage report from the Industrial District." Nova and his friends expressions all turned sour. This is not gonna be good. "Complete destruction of the Flim Flam Brothers Incorporated warehouse, at a cost of 100,000 bits. Damage to nearby buildings with a cost of 20,000 bits. And the clean up effort which in itself costs 10,000 bits. 1 pony was rendered unconscious and missing a cutie mark near the destroyed warehouse, and when the local fire brigade unit came to the scene, a white cloaked unicorn attacked them, taking another cutie mark from a poor mare rendering her in critical condition." Luna took a deep breath and continued with effort not to send Nova and his friends to the moon for all these failures. "After I collected these reports, It was obvious to me that you guys failed. But not until Lance and Hammerheart came to me with news that you, Nova, were missing and were found In Ponyville which shows me the scope of your failure. Was that not the train, where I teleported you three coming from Ponyville proper?" "Yes? I think." Answered Nova who was looking at the floor, avoiding eye contact. "Was there not a rule that I set before you and your friends not to go anywhere near Ponyville or meet with the elements of harmony?" Luna waited for a response. This time Lance spoke up before Nova could respond. "Yes. And might I add that it was n-" "No interruptions! I'm talking to the team leader Lance." Luna said sternly. Lance nodded in affirmation and backed off. Nova finally looked up and spoke. "Its true." "Then what do you have to say for yourself and your team?" Asked Luna, expecting a full apology. But even after knowing Nova for a while she was not prepared for the words that will come out of Novas mouth. "I blame this on secret option E. Unexpected turn of events." Everyone groaned in frustration. "No really. Its like this." Novas expression changed from being sad to picking up his head high and cleared his throat. "I was faced with a decision Luna. Something with which I couldn't do." Luna raised an eyebrow. "What would that be?" She asked with added eagerness in her voice. "I cannot take the life of a past friend." Nova said with determination, as if he thought it was a valid excuse. Luna was taken a bit by surprise by this. "What do you mean by this?" Asked Luna. Novas horn glowed a bit in pulses that transferred the same glow to his axe and back. All in attendance wondered what the hell Nova was doing until his axe stopped glowing and he again spoke in a commanding tone. "Strife is actually my best friend from long ago. Her real name is Sonata and we grew up together. When I realised that she was Strife or 'the cutie mark stealer', I refused to take her life and only defended myself in the ensuing battle. I thought of a quick plan to have the building collapse on top her so if she did perish, I would not be blood guilty. Lance collapsed the building while Hammerheart aided me in melee combat. I know you taught me everything I know about weapons and fighting and whatnot. But she ruined the plan of me coming in and ending it right then and there and to my miscalculation on her strength she was about to take my cutie mark as a result of my poor judgment." "What is your cutie mark?" Interrupted Lance. Novas axe glowed red and he just ignored Lance and kept speaking to Luna. "Regardless, I couldn't let her have it. So, I did what I had to do. Use the Grand Vortex Spell. That is part of the reason why I ended up in Ponyville. Due to the nature of the spell by requiring a powerful magical charge to activate it, I teleported to the rare function of "anywhere but here" and it pulled me to the nearest destination bearing the highest magical properties within a 100 mile radius. AKA Ponyville. Normally I would have used a normal teleport but Strife was blocking me from doing that when she held me in her magical grip." Nova stopped and waited for his axe to glow again by itself before continuing. Was his axe speaking for him, through him? Nobody dared asked. "I take full responsibility for breaking your rules and not taking down Strife properly. Please don't blame my friends either as they were only following my orders." Nova gave a heavy sigh and sat back down on the floor giving a quick pat of his axe.. Luna and everyone else stared at Nova like he was from another planet. Did he actually say something logical and cohesive? And was his axe doing the talking? Luna nodded but still had a frown on her face. "That is quite interesting. Lance is all this true?" Luna asked Lance, who was staring at the ceiling and admiring the arch work. "Huh? Oh yes. I was the one that destroyed the building with extreme prejudice and provided the usual air superiority." Luna nodded and turned to Hammerheart who was staring at Nova with concern. "Hammerheart is what Novas testimony true as well?" Hammerheart snapped out of her fantasy world and gave a salute. "Yes its true." "I see." Luna turned and paced back and forth in front of her subjects in thought. I can't believe this is happening! Now most likely Celestia knows about my student and now the whole plan to get back at her is ruined. Though if I can't get Nova to try again and find this Strife fellow in time, I might be able to salvage this plan. I spent too much time training and mentoring for this to fail yet. "Luna you okay? You don't look so good." Asked Hammerheart. Luna got out of her thoughts and cleared her throat. "Don't worry about me. I have to figure out what to do next. But right now it seems to me that were in a bit of a situation because of my student here." "Oh no. Don't blame this on me." Retorted Nova in a whiny high pitched voice. "Thats exactly what I am gonna do!" "Thats Horse crap! You know very well what happened..." As Nova and Luna argued, along with Hammerheart and Lance sitting there watching the show, a couple of hard knocks on the door sounded through. "Luna. Um, someones here to see you." Said one of the guards through the door. Luna stopped her arguments with Nova briefly. "Unless they want to be sent to the moon. No disturbances." She turned back to Nova. "It must me those sweet rolls. I think you're addi-" The voice from one of the guards again interrupted her with another call. "Your highness. Its your sister.." "Nows not the time!" Luna barked back towards the door. Nova smiled towards his teacher and chanted. "Luna’s a sore loser. Luna’s a sore loser!" "Am not." "Are too" "Am not" *CRASH* The doors flung open making the doors into splinters. Again. And making the night guards fly through the air from the impact. There in the middle of the entrance stood Celestia in all her glory. Her mane all glowing and flowing with the same radiance as the sun itself. She was adored with her royal regalia and well, looked pissed as hell. No pony has ever seen her this angry before since the changeling invasion two years back and it scared the buck out of Luna and Nova with both of them falling back in surprise. Lance fell backwards comically while Hammerheart ducked from the flying debris of the door. "Sister. wha..what is the meaning of this?" "Actually I could say the same of you!" Celestia trotted quickly up to Luna and magiced a scroll in front of her face. "Do you know what this is!?" "No. What is it?" "A letter stating that you have your own student from Twilight Sparkle!" Yelled Celestia. "Should of took her out when I had the chance." Mumbled Nova under his breath. Both Luna and Celestia now faced the armored unicorn with equally angry looks but Luna faced her sister once more. "How is this a problem?" Asked Luna in an effort to try to calm Celestia down. "The problem is that you agreed to be more open with me, have less secrets, and come to me for any problems. This is a violation of all of them!" The sun princess voice of sheer disappointment made the atmosphere of the room turn dark. As if you took out the love and joy of Equestria and threw it out the window. "How could you do this?" "Easy! To prove that I could have a faithful student, just like you. But a student willing to fight for Equestria, not through pointless negotiation, but through direct conflict!" She gave a heavy snort. "This is why I hid it from you. I knew you wouldn't approve of my ways. But in order to get things done, direct action must be taken. Something that Twilight would never do!" Celestia was surprised at that answer and stumbled back. "*gasp* Sister! What are you saying?" “I'm saying, do you remember the negotiation deal that you made with the Griffon Empire a couple of weeks back how, after 4 months of negotiations, they suddenly wanted to make a deal?” Celestia winced at that. “You don't mean...” “Yes. Just last month, all you had to do was send in Nova, an expert warrior,” Nova blushed at that comment, “with his team and only kidnap and ransom a high official and threaten to reveal compromising information to their enemies causing something to get done. Simple as that! But you had to waste time and resources all for nothing while your ponies suffered!” “That is not the way you rule Luna! What you are doing is going against the times of our day, which is peace and security! Why would you purposely go about this behind my back!?” Celestia visibly got more and more irritable by the minute causing all in attendance to shiver in slight fear, except Nova, for some unknown reason he was staring at celestia with a slight twitch in his eyes. The princesses kept arguing for a moment before somehow the conversation switched to the subject of Strife. “And who is this Strife or ‘cutie mark stealer’?” asked the Sun Princess. Luna thought for a moment how best to explain something as touchy as this. “Another villain that wants petty revenge against the throne, almost like the changeling queen that you talked about to me when I was out on official negotiations in Saddle Arabia . My student was sent out to dispose of her, but failed. I was administering punishment before you rudely interrupted." "Failed? How could Lunas student fail?" A lot of sarcasm flowed from Celestia as if trolling her sister. She turned to look at Nova and was surprised to be actively stared down by him now, with some hatred in his eyes. She turned back to Luna and softened her voice. "Sister, I know you're mad but please tell me. Who is Strife exactly and how is she evil?" Luna gave a grunt and turned her face away from the sun goddess. She couldn't take anymore verbal assault. "Shes a very powerful unicorn, your highness. Capable of stealing cutie marks and using the interwoven magical power within them to gain power. I admit, I made a careless mistake in my effort to take her down, but let me go back to track her down and end this once and for all, and for the safety of Equestria" Nova explained. His axe glowed now green and then died down a bit. Celestia thought for a moment before responding. "I see." She paused for a bit. "Her powers are very peculiar. What has she done so far?" Nova placed hoof to chin and rubbed, as if he was having trouble remembering anything that happened 24 hours ago. Brain capacitors charging....4%....47%....87%...*Ding.* "She stole so far 3 cutie marks and is hell bent on gaining the bearers of the Elements of Harmony cutie marks to use their power. And to use their power to dethrone you and Luna. Her methods are worst than Discords, she has intentions to kill, not hurt, those that get in her way." Nova gave a heavy sigh and turned back to look at his companions. Hammerheart looked scared having seen the princesses fight for the first time, while Lance was actively picking through Hammers bags to find anything with alcohol in it behind her back. "I see...I deem this acceptable for now. But I want to talk to you later about being a proper princess and leader. And we shall discuss this as sisters to take care of this new threat to our kingdom. Goodnight and make tonights night as great as always." Replied Celestia. She turned around, nodded to them all, and walked out of Lunas chambers with her head held high. Luna turned from angry to sad almost instantly and fell back on her bed in a sob, wetting the pillows beneath her head. The three warriors of the night looked on and said nothing. Nova stood there with almost no expression on his face. He didn't know what to do, nor did he want to make the princess sad. Everything that he accomplished so far was for moot. A villain on the loose, a princess in need of comfort, a pegasi with a drinking problem...what was the next course of action to take? "Everyone out!" Nova barked, he took his axe from his back and swung it towards the ground, impacting with a loud crash which created a crater in the nice marble floor. Hammerheart and Lance and even the two night guards all jumped in shock. "I mean It. I have to talk to Luna alone and in private. So all of you out. NOW!" Luna still sobbed on her bed but gave a slight smile knowing that her student cares for her that much. "Nova lets not be-" Hammerheart got cut off when Novas axe impacted right in front of her. "Out. Now." Nova commanded. Lance said nothing as he knows when not to mess with his armored friend and urged Hammerheart to Leave. Both the earth pony and the pegasi left down the hallway. The two night guards both looked perplexed and stayed. "We are Lunas personal guards, we vowed never to leave her side unless-" Pepperstone didn't finish his sentence when Novas axe appeared from out of nowhere and was inches from his neck. "I dare you to finish your bucking sentence." Nova seethed with pure anger now and really looked deadly. Pepperstone and Darkshade both gulped and backed away slowly. "I want you two to erect a forcefield around these chambers since the door is out. Sound proof it as well while standing outside. Understood?" The night guards nodded and promptly did what they were told lest they want an axe through their body. A magical purple barrier slowly came up and surrounded the room making the outside noises cease to exist. Nova turned around to Luna. "Now lets talk..." Time: 6 PM" Location: Canterlot West Hallway. "I just don't know what went wrong Lance. Did you not see him? He threw a frakking axe at me!" "Yeah. That was hilarious when you nearly peed yourself." Replied Lance. Hammerheart stifled not to take out a power hoove to jab it into his side with max power. "But you should know not to mess with him when hes like that." "True. But that was rude of Nova to do that." "Agreed. But he will catch up to us soon. I left a note in his armor during his rage that we’ll meet up later at certain place. Mares not invited." Lance wiggled his eyebrows at Hammer. "Wait. What? And How did you do that?" Hammerheart asked in surprise. Lance just hummed to himself and whistled that whistle you do when you did something but act like all 'natural'. "Whatever. Anyway i'm gonna go get my power hooves tuned from Magnus the blacksmith. I want you to give me your wing braces. I have some tuning and modifications which I want to do before the next upcoming battle with Strife." Hammerheart waited for Lance to prant and whine how he hates taking them off but surprisingly Lance said nothing about them. "Sure." Lance said without missing a beat. If Hammerheart was drinking anything she would of spat it out instantly. "Wait. Seriously? No nagging, yelling, or acting like a foal? Wait a second..." She went up close to his muzzle and sniffed his breath. She gasped, "You're slightly drunk arent you!" "No. I'm buzzed. Theres a difference!" He chanted. Hammerheart wanted to hoof him in the face for his stupidity. But now she realised why Lance was so calm in all that drama back there. They both reached a split of the hallway. One way lead to Canterlot proper while the other lead to the guards barracks and the blacksmith. Hammerheart held her hoof out as if demanding Lances braces. Lance nodded and pressed off some latches and the braces holding his crossbows dropped onto the floor. His wings shot straight up from not being under constant pressure. Hammerheart rolled her eyes and grabbed the braces with the weapons on them, and placed them on her back. "Thanks. Any requests since I'm going there?" "Actually, now that you mention it, yeah. I need you to recalibrate the tension while fixing the reload mechanism to reload bolts faster. And can you make a scope function on it like what you have with your goggles?" "I will see what I can do." Hammerheart said. She eyed the now naked winged Lance, showing his muscular body and large wings how it complemented his looks. She shook her head. Bad hammer bad. What are you doing looking that way towards Lance!? Okay hes good looking but come on! You like him more than Lance! Get a grip! She got out of her thoughts and started on her way towards the blacksmith. Lance trotted away but paused. "Hammer, meet me and Nova at the "Plot o' Rama" tonight. Thats where I said i will meet Nova." "That naughty place! You should know better Lance to bring Nova, of all ponies there. He can't even have alcohol! Why there of all places?!" She yelled in surprise, nearly dropping Lances wing braces. "Cause I need a drink and they know me. Duh!" He waved a wing. "Bye!" Lance thrusted his wings in one sweeping motion, and flew away at high speed. Due to not having any weight or tension on his wings, he created a large gust of wind in the process. Hammer nearly got blown away as the wind nearly knocked her over. She puffed up at her mane in order to stop it from hanging in front of her face and trotted away. Location: Lunas Chambers. Time: 7:43 PM Luna stood out on her balcony and eyed the darkening sky with admiration. It was time for her to raise the moon, light up the stars, and start her rule of the night. She used her magic and grabbed the large celestial body. A quick tug started to made the moon move and rise out of the Horizon and into the sky illuminating the darkness in a blue glow. She added some more stars here and there to make it sparkle. It was the creation a beautiful night as usual. "Luna what the buck! I'm dying here!" A voice in distress called out ruining the moment. Luna turned, "Hang on a moment Nova, this requires a lot of a mental fortitude to do." "Well hurry up. I need a gunner and I'm getting KSed by, Uhm, xXMuff1nMar3Xx? The hell kind of username is that?!” Nova called from the inside. Luna cringed at that name and almost made a meteor instead of a star from her distraction. She cut her night making short and quickly went back to where Nova was. He was holding his X-colt controller sideways as if was motion controlled and yelled at the screen into his headset that he had on. "Quickly Luna, I need support. I have a mark 2 battle tank but it needs a gunner!" Luna looked at the screen and cringed at the scene before her. Nova was driving a tank shooting enemies but got PWNED by a airstrike not soon after. She quickly grabbed her controller as well and even put on her own head set. She joined Nova and selected her profile. Night Master logged in. Instantly the players on the opposite team raged in chat such proclamations as, Xreo87: “All heeeellll no. Not you again.” MegaMare: “No. Bucking. way. You again? AFK.” MysticalMOO: “ you. Guys we lost.” AllStar765: “Dammit. we had like 3 minutes left till the match was over.” PurpleDragon42: “What just happened? Are you guys lagging?” PieLover12: "Who took all the pies in game and replaced it with muffin bombs!?" The players all raged in the chat, spamming on how the end of the game is inevitably upon them, though those on the same team as Nova and Luna praised them as saviors. The warrior student and the princess of the night continued playing into the evening until Nova paused the game some time later. "Are you sure I can go about finding Strife in my own way?" "Yes. But I thought we were done discussing about that now. Can you unpause?" Luna said with eagerness while shaking her controller, not amused by Novas abrupt pause in the middle of a team death match. "Just making sure. I will leave in the morning, but I have to meet Lance tonight, he’s gonna go hang at some place and left a note that he wants me there.” “I see. Just promise me you will be more prepared in your next encounter with her?” Asked Luna. She eyed Nova with concern. But Nova dismissed it with a wave of his hoof. “I promise, horn swear?” Luna was put off from doing that in the middle of the game. But she finally lowered her head touching Novas horn with hers. Once the both horns made contact they sparked and fizzed. “Happy? Now lets get back to playing. You said that there was a pony called xXMuff1nMar3Xx?” Luna asked. She didn't like the events that transpired but being consoled from her student was helping with her mood a great deal. Video games where the best at making her feel better, especially when she played with friends. “Yeah, why?” Asked Nova. The night princess just smiled at him warmly. “Thats our clan leader.” Time: 9:43 PM Location: Plot o’ Rama. Downtown Canterlot. Wubs. Wubs everywhere. The club reverberated with sound of a heavy bass. In the center was a stage and multiple gorgeous mares with clothes on dancing and twirling themselves around poles and being sexy in all their ways. In the back was the bar that was being tended by a yellow stallion with a brown mane. To the left was a door that said VIP and to the immediate right was the DJ on her own platform controlling the wubs. Outside of the club was a large line and in front of that line had 2 bouncers controlling the flow and kept the peace. Both bouncers had dark blue coats and white manes. They were muscular and larger than average, as necessary to keep the peace. Lance Skyslicer was high in the sky when he dive bombed right in front of the line and landed in a flash. The bouncers put their hoof up to shield their eyes from all the debris that lance scattered around in his abrupt landing. "Hey, Biff and Buzz. Is my spot still there?" Lance asked the bouncers. The earth ponies both smiled until one of them spoke. "Damn Lance. Where were you for the past 5 days?" Said Biff. Buzz just gave a sigh. "Yeah, you missed a drinking contest again." "What? Again?" Asked Lance disappointedly. He looked at the line who were staring at him angrily for holding up the line, but just turned around back towards the 2 bouncers. "Okay. Time to get drunk and have some fun, I see ya guys around." The earth pony lifted the velvet rope up and let Lance through causing everyone to yell and chant that he was a line cutter. Buzz slammed a hoof on the ground. "Shut up! All of you! He is the boss of this establishment! So unless you want Biff here to give you the 'punisher' then settle down!" He yelled. Biff smiled and puffed out his chest making those in the front of the line back off a bit. Lance smelled the air in a deep inhale. "I love the smell of booze, mares, and wubs late at night." He walked in and headed for the bar passing alot of other ponys having a good time. Drinking, dancing, and above all enjoying themselves. The bartender saw him come near and called out, "Skyslicer? Damn. I havent seen you for a while. White pegasi right?" "Hey Spitshine. Haven't seen you in ages as well. How is the gig at Ponyville working out?" Spitshine passed him a bottle, not glass, of white pegasi. He opened it and started drinking it down like it was water. "Its alright. Though working here on weekends is keeping me busy. Vats on yer mind?" He quickly grabbed another bottle of booze and poured into a glass and shuffled it to some other customers. Lance put the now half empty bottle down and smiled at the yellow stallion. "You would not believe what I have been going through lately." He held the bottle in his front hooves and swished it around. "Battle after battle. Skirmish after skirmish. Love escapes me every time. I seem never to get a break from it all." He took another swig of booze. "And now i'm lonely in my time of need." Spitshine washed and dryed off a glass while listening to Lances rant. He gave a knowing nod and kept cleaning. "I know vat vould make ya feel better boss." Lance raised an eyebrow and tilted his head. "What?" "Eey, theres a new mare thats a great dancer. Just hired her actually. Ya vant to have a little fun?" Spitshine gave a sly look to Lance while he nodded rapidly like a little foal. "Aye, she's in the back. Her stage name is Serenity. I give her a call for ya, boss." "Thanks Spit." "Noo problem." Spitshine left the bar for a moment and went back stage. He came out a couple of minutes later followed by a unicorn mare with a mask and having black lingerie on, emphasising her features. Her yellow mane and pink coat contrasted heavily with her colors. Lance stifled not to instantly embarrass himself with a wing boner. The mare came up to him in a hug and started to touch him in the most nicest places. “How ‘bout you. me. back room VIP?” She cooed with a sweet voice full of lust. Lance couldn't contain himself any longer. He grabbed her in his front hooves and flared his wings making a leap in the air. He instantly shot right into the back room with her and slammed the door. Everyone stopped and looked at what just happened until Spitshine called out, “The boss is back everypony!” Lance then poked his head out from the door and called for the DJ. “Hey! Put on Candy Shop by 50 Bitz! That’s my bucking jam right there!” The door slammed shut again and was followed by deep wubs and yells from the small crowd. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=- “Now how do you wanna...” Lance’s question was cut off by the mare’s lips pressing against his and pinning the pegasi to the door. Of course he pushed back with his body causing the two to fall back onto the bed conveniently placed in the small but cozy back room. Lance pulled back from their embrace and nip at the dancer’s ear. A little trick of his that always got the fillies was whispering sensual things in a very masculine tone. “How bout you get that flank of yours up and working?” Serenity blushed and giggled and Lance’s hoof traced up & down the side of her body. “Well you sure know how to convince a mare.” She winked at Lance and using her magic pulled him back up to a sitting position. Lance had no complaints as the mare soon got to work, literally after all she was a stripper this is what she is paid to do. As the sharpshooter was put at ease by the mare’s lewd body gyrating in provocative ways a thought popped into his head. Why is it that I like this more then kicking flank on the battle... His thought was cut short as Serenity started gyrating against a very sensitive part down below. Oh yeah that’s why Lance however was never keen to let such a beautiful thing go with examination and soon found his hoof around her waist, rubbing against her lower stomach and brushing over her still clothed cutie-mark. How is it that mares could look even better with clothes was beyond Lance’s buzzed and hormone clouded brain as soon he pulled Serenity onto his lap and kissed on her neck. Moans emanating from the mare were always a good sign and coming from a stripper were an even bigger ego booster. “Oooooh goddess you really DO know how to get a mare going.” Serenity managed to gasp out. Lance meanwhile didn’t respond and kept at doing his second favorite thing in life after shooting and before drinking. You could say Lance was a veteran at this sort of thing if not by age ‘slightly at least’ but mostly experience. Even Lance himself would admit it that it was pure dumb luck he became this infamous among mares in Canterlot. He came to the conclusion that a couple of mares that he ended up with for a night of debauchery must’ve been friends and of course rumor spreads quickly in a big city. It didn’t help that Nova & Hammer bagged on him about it either but he wasn’t complaining. After all look where it gets him. Serenity was now straddling his waist and facing him. She must’ve switched around when he went into thought but that train to was derailed and a very welcome pleasure rippled through his body. “I figured you like it. Everyone always seems too.” She bit her lip and Lance could swear it made him turn to putty in her hoofs right there. “Oh sweet Celestia yes.” He groaned. Serenity’s magic continued its massage working one of the most sensitive parts on Lance’s body. “I always figured a pegasi’s wings were sensitive, guess I was right.” Serenity sang as rubbed Lance’s shoulders as well. Getting a massage from a stripper wasn’t something he was planning but after the rough day he had it sure as Tartarus was welcome. “How bout we skip the rest of this rubdown and get on with the real show huh?” He grinned, another little weapon against mares was Lance’s cocky grin. It just oozed the words ‘showoff, badass and I’m better than your ex’ and sure enough it worked. Serenity said nothing but stood up and lit her horn. Soon the short skirt she was wearing was off, including her socks and she fell back onto the bed laying down. “Well?” She teased. “Come on big boy.” No complaints were made from Lance as he rolled onto all fours and climbed on top of her. He repeated kissing her neck and rubbing the side of her stomach but kept moving down kissing down her back. Another weapon in his arsenal was kissing a mare’s cutie-mark, if she was ‘in the mood’ for some reason it always seemed to be pleasurable. He could never really understand why but never really cared. Lance made his way down and gazed at her mark. Probably a stripper pole or some sexy... For once in Lance’s life he went from horny to full blown scared in a split second. The mare’s cutie-mark was familiar to Lance but not in a good ‘hey you’re that hot mare I always wanted to rut in flight school!’ way. The image of pentagram star adore by circles, 3 of which contained an image meant that the mare lance was about to rut was... “Strife...” “What was that?” ‘Serenity’ asked, glancing over her shoulder. Lance cleared his throat. “Sorry slurring my words. I said beautiful sight.” He laughed sheepishly and went back to kissing down her leg, but inside Lance’s mind he was panicking. Okay I’m here fairly horny, drunk, was no... I AM about to rut a mare who wants to rule all of Equestria and could blow my head off with a single spell and was also Nova’s best friend... Yay me? Lance kept at his sensual machinations and made his way back up to Strife’s head where he locked lips with her again. Wait, no yay. And how the buck did I not see it was her before? Maybe I was just too drunk. “Please...” Strife said. Lance could hear the mix of both actual lust and acting in her voice. He knew that if he didn’t act quickly she’d steal his mark too. Luckily I don’t think she recognizes me without armor otherwise I’d of been disposed of by... Wait! Lance felt ‘himself’ against her and the deep breaths she was taking. It’s now or never and this will definitely not look good. Slowly Lance brushed off the mask Strife was wearing and confirmed that was her. He could almost see the evil desires floating in her eyes but he was ready. A twist of his body and a false feather fell from Lance’s right wing. A little creation of Hammer’s for tight spots was a hidden hoof blade disguised as a feather which soon found its way into Lance’s hoof and driven in the right side of Strife’s body. Strife inhaled loudly but was suppressed by Lance pressing his muzzle against hers. She struggled against the pegasus kicking and punching at him but Lance twisted the feather knife deep inside her side and felt her whole body writhe in pain. Quick as he could Lance broke muzzles with the evil unicorn and shoved his hoof in her mouth to stop her screams of murder. “Oh come off it Strife.” Lance chuckled as he twisted the knife back the opposite way. “I know this won’t kill you.” Her eyes glared at him confirming his point. Lance leaned in with a sadistic grin on his face. “But I know that it still bucking hurts doesn’t it?” He pressed it in further and twisted more but no matter what he tried tears didn’t fall from Strife’s closed eyes. Only seconds later though Lance realized she wasn’t responding. He felt scared now, even though Strife was a criminal he still would have murder her in basically cold blood. “I didn’t. Did I?” He pressed a hoof against her chest. ‘Thump thump, thump thump’ “Passed out.” Lance sighed and rolled off the unconscious mare. “Thank bucking Luna.” And with a loud sigh of relief he grabbed a bottle of White Pegasi from the nightstand and took a few swigs. A few minutes later once Lance had a nice buzz going he rolled off the bed onto his hoof and pondered what to do with Strife now. Shrugging he threw the thankfully non blood-stained covers over her body and turned to the door. Mama won’t find out about this *hic* mess. Now to find *hic* Nova. Lance made his way out of the room a little too quickly and ended up throwing the door open. Apparently in his absence the bar filled up and a fairly large sized crowd was now looking at the sweating drunken pegasus standing by the backroom door. Even the wubs themselves played by the DJ were silenced in that classic rift interruption. Lance in his drunken stupor shouted the only thing he could. “The mare has been broken in!” He gestured wildly and struck a valiant pose. The crowd took half a second to register what he had just said and soon erupted in cheers, hoots and praises along the lines of ‘Lance rules!’ ‘Neeeeeew Recooooooord!’ and ‘Lance you can have my wife annnnnytiiiiiiiimmmeeee!’ Lance smiled and soaked up the attention he was getting until he heard some loud grunts coming from behind him. "Oh crud, I nearly *hic* forgot. I gotta tell *hic* Nova!" Lance was starting to actually feel drunk now when his liver kicked in. He sped out of there by knocking over some other ponies in the crowd and rushed out the exit. What he didn't expect was to be met by Nova who was talking to the bouncers Biff and buzz. Nova was still in full armor, except for his helmet, when he got air tackled by Lance. They both flew back and landed on the street, grinding to a halt making the bouncers cringe at the impact. "What the buck! Lance what the hell is going on?!" Lance on his back, flailed his arms and legs into the air rapidly screaming, "Help! I have fallen *hic* and I cant get up!" He stopped for a moment and then laughed uncontrollably. Nova came up to him and tapped him. "Buddy. Are you okay?" "I'm not *hic* I'm running away from her, she did something. And it was her. *hic* I took my blade and she got mad. And then *hic* stuffed under the bed sheets. Now, I run into *hic* you. Fireballs. Yum." Lance collapsed and laid there in the middle of the road rubbing his stomach. "My tummy hurts. *Hic*" Nova stood there and pondered over what Lance said. Usually his drunken language skills, he somehow always said that he did something that he was not too proud of and Nova knew him well enough to actually understand some, if not, all of it. "Let me get this straight. You found Strife who was pretending to be a stripper, and you went and stabbed her and after you found out. you panicked, so you shoved her under some bed sheets?" "Yessh" "Holy moon pie. You are drunk. That could never happen in a million years!" Ponies around them gave some stares at Nova for talking to a drunk multi maned pegasus. He ignored them while poking Lance to the side. "Come on Lance. Get up and get sober. Your face is greener than usual. And thats usually not a good sign. Also, you said in your note that you wanted to talk to me about something really important to you?" Lance nodded and rolled a couple times on the street in apparent pain. 1 bottle of White Pegasus is already too much for him to handle. Nova gave a heavy sigh and did not want to do what he was about to do. Great friends always prepare something for their drunk friends. He pulled out a potion from one of his pockets in his armor and opened it. Lance immediately stopped wiggling around and gave a hard stare to Nova. “What the *hic* is that?” Lance slurred. He tried to pick himself up with his wings and hooves but kept stumbling from side to side. Nova said nothing, went up to him and grabbed his face and shoved the potion down his throat. Nova made sure the entire bottle was emptying as he struggled to hold Lance still. He protested and his eyes went in circles. A couple series of gags and coughing followed by a large gulp ensued. Lance spasmed and fell backwards on his flank. He held his head with his hooves and stopped shaking. A look at his own hooves confirmed that he was still alive and not hallucinating. He slowly got up from the ground and gave Nova a stare. "Temporary alcohol inhibitor?" "Temporary alcohol inhibitor. Yes." Answered Nova. "You have 4 hours before the effects wear off and you're gonna feel the most massive hangover of your life once the time is up. You better thank Hammerheart for that." “Gee thanks.” Lance answered with all his enthusiasm lost. He opened his mouth to say something more but was cut off when a scream followed by ponies rushing out of the club. The bouncers rushed inside to see what the heck was happening and not too long after they got thrown back outside, crashing through the entrance of the establishment. Nova was quick to grab them in mid air in a telekinetic grip and set them down on the ground. Biff and Buzz both thanked Nova but looked like they have seen discord himself and huddled together like scared little foals. "Lance you have to help us!" Cried Biff as Buzz stared back towards the club, fear all over his face. More ponies screamed and a lot of smashing furniture sounded through. Everyone cringed when somepony yelled, "Mah beer!" "Boss do something!" Buzz this time cried out. Both bouncers were overcome with fear and ran away leaving Nova and Lance to just stood there in dumbfoundment. Both of them did not expect this to happen. Not one bit. "You said Strife is in there?" "I'm not that drunk to mistake a random mare for a pshyopathic ex best friend." Lance answered. Nova cringed cause It kinda hurt him that she was doing all this with intent to hurt and kill. It didn't have to be this way and Nova knew she had to be stopped. "Wait a minute. Does that mean we have to capture her in a bar?" Asked Nova while he watched everyone scream and panic out of the club. Lance stood next to him watching the scene with him. "Yes. Shes kinda pissed. I kinda, sorta, maybe, Uhm, stabbed her?" "Wait you were serious?!" Nova blurted out. "Oh look at this! Another cutie mark for the taking! Ha ha ha! This one is rare at most." Strife yelled from the inside. Both the warrior and pegasus looked at each other like they were found guilty of stealing cookies from the cookie jar. Nova took out his axe from his back and turned to Lance. He nodded and in that instant, both of them rushed back in the club. Nova shoved other ponies out of his way with his axe while Lance flew above. Inside they saw a mess with the stage nearly destroyed, Injured ponies all over the place, a DJ still playing wubs and one specific unicorn on the stage with blood spilling from her side while having another pony in her magical grip holding him hostage. "She got Spitshine!" Yelled Lance in shock. Now Strife was targeting Lances friends? This got personal for the pegasus who now suddenly wished he had his crossbows so he could put a bolt in her head and get it over with. "Put him down Strife!" Nova commanded. His axe glowed a fiery red and he held it with his magic in front of him. "Luna asked me to capture you and bring your for trial. So put. Him. Down. Now." "Oh this stallion? Me and him are gonna have a little fun!" Strife said playfully.She erected a force field around the stage. "Lets see if you can get to him on time before I take his cutie mark." Spitshine struggled and flailed his hooves wildy in the air in a vain effort to get away. "Vat are ya doing ya crazy mare! Why I aughta' sm-MMM. MMhhmmmMM!" Strife held his mouth closed with a zipper that she magicked up and grinned. "Once your friends attempt to save your sorry flank, then I give you permission to speak!" She informed Spitshine who narrowed his eyes back at her and continued struggling to break free from her magical grip. Lance and Nova both looked at her, then towards each other and back to her and shrugged again. It was a hidden language that they spoke just by reading each other facial expressions. The bar and everything else was nearly destroyed, with broken chairs and tables scattered, bottles of booze broken everywhere, leaking there contents. The only thing still intact and working was the DJ who was still there blasting wubs. Strife stood there holding her captive and keeping a shield going while anticipating Nova and Lances next move. "Hey yo DJ!" Nova yelled. "Whhhhaaatt up?" The DJ, a white unicorn mare with purple shades and a glorious spiked blueish mane, called back. "Play something to get us in the mood for battle and you better get to safety." Nova calmly said. DJ obliged with grabbing a vinyl disc from her stash and then plopped it on the turntable. She put the needle gently down with her magic and got the mix ready while Nova put full power to his horn and axe. Lance got into an attacking position with his hidden blades fully exposed. "I guess I’ll take this time to leave.” DJ announced. She pressed a button making the music change and start to play while she left. As soon as it started, both Lance and Nova looked at each other and nodded in an unseen agreement unlike before. Nova summoned his helmet in a flash and put it on. “Ready Lance?” Nova asked, with his axe giving a green glow. “Lets just get this over with.” Lance now threw away the hoof blade and revealed feathers that were hard and acted like swords. “CHARGE!” End of chapter 8. Reader has gained +1 INT +1 DEX +1 STR +23 LUK. Objective - defeat Strife. (In progress) Secondary Objective - get Lance to a doctor. (In progress) Primary Objective - don't start club fights (failed) New Skill learned - Selected Summoning - You can summon and store objects remotely using Teleport magic. Requires 500 MP and can only be used once every 60 seconds. Author's Note Author's Notes : Thank you for reading and liking this story. Everyone gets a free cookie. Shout out to my boy Shadowxrazor for editing feelings and emotions in this story, something that I can't do and without him, it would suck. Regardless, I'm having ALOT of fun writing this train wreck of a thing and I love it. Also keep note, a lot of quotes or sayings are all references and inside jokes that only my friends will get, good luck finding and understanding them. HA ha! Co-Author’s Notes: He still has no idea of what he is doing... Warning: Next chapter is gonna take use of that “Dark” tag a bit, reader discretion is now advised or not in the ensuing battle. Expect the unexpected. Love and tolerance everypony! ACHIEVABLE UNLOCKED: Over 9000. Read a story chapter with more then 9000 words. 90 G
Chapter 09: ObservationUnder Lunar Wings - Chapter 9 Observation By: JP HACK Edited by: Both Author and Co-Author Co-written by: Shadowxrazor Celestia's useless guards are crumbling beneath us as the siege is going exactly as planned. It pleases me that the reports of the vault said to hold the most powerful spell in all of Equestria, maybe even the world, came to me through my spies confirming that it indeed exists. I have three battalions under me, all strong a mighty ponies of the night. We will crush and put an end to her ways. For tonight Canterlot falls under the might of the New Lunar Republic! I will get my hooves on that spell if its the last thing to do. - Admiral of the Lunar Republic Time: 11 PM Location: *static* "Laaaaance....y you o okay?" Nova grumbled. He was on the ground, armor dinged and dented in some areas, and was in some pain. His axe was embedded in the ground next to him and even was slightly chipped. A groan from above came from on top of a rafter hanging from a destroyed section of the building. It jerked and creaked until it finally snapped and fell down. "Craaaap!" Lance fell down along with the rafter in a huge thud, scattering debris all over the Place. "Ouch...remind me to kill you once I have power back to my wings.” He rolled around and moved a hoof. “*wince* And give me a bucking asperane. My hangover is kicking in or something." Lance tried getting up but stumbled on a leg and fell over. "I can't believe she committed a buck n’ run. But at least Spitshine is okay." Nova made no effort to reply only to grunt when he tried picking his head up but fell back and smacked his head on the floor making a loud clang with his helmet. Another struggling voice perked up amongst the wreckage. "Aye....Just so ya know. I'm perfectly fine. Thanks guys. Drinks on the house." Spitshine called out from under a pile of broken tables. He stumbled out and looked around him examining how destroyed everything was. "Or on second thought, dinner is on me once me feelings return to me legs." All three stallions all mopped and moaned to what just transpired. With some intense struggling, Nova got back up on all fours and scanned the area. The club was completely destroyed, along with his ego. What used to be a building was now a crater and a huge mess. The stage was completely wiped out. The bar smashed to pieces with booze leaking everywhere, inciting a single tear from Lance's eye. The DJ’s music was somehow still running even though the record player and equipment where on the ground disconnected from the power. Its was amazing how the buildings next door had not even a single scratch on them. Lance and Spitshine both slowly picked themselves up and cleaned off their coats of the dirt and grime while Lance went to Spitshine to help him walk while Nova stood there staring into space. "I cant bucking belive it." Nova shook his head in frustration. "We lost. Again!" He stomped on the floor tossing some chairs and broken bottles around. "Lance, please tell me you shot a tracker bolt." Lance in the distance snorted a laugh. "Nova? You all there? I don't have my wing braces remember?" Nova faced hoofed with a slow drag across his face. Clearly he was having a bad day. "What was that back there anyway?" Asked spitshine who tried putting as less pressure he could on his hind leg. Lance kept walking allowing him to lean on his back for balance. "Even I don't know what the buck happened. Did Strife use the-" "Grand Vortex spell? Yes." Nova replied abruptly. "And she basically attacked us with some crazy magic to hold us off long enough to use the spell. I nearly could not hold it back in time. Though its seems that she put way too much power into it and teleported away somewhere far, destroying the building with the spell." Lance and spitshine just stared at him and only nodded. "Now what do we do?" Lance asked. He took a look around and a thought occurred to him. "And how can I have some snu snu action with my goddess damned club destroyed!?" Nova raised an eyebrow making Spitshine gave a haughty laugh in response. "What's so funny?" "Ha! Yar club? Lance ya just have the highest VIP here cause ya were a former wonderbolt. Ya didnt own anything ya crazy pegasus." He said in a particular rusty northern trottingham accent. "Says the bartender that screamed like a little foal in the hooves of a girl." Lance replied with a sly grin causing Spitshine to narrow his eyes. "Oi! She was downright scary and nearly took me cutie mark!” "Riiiiiight, and who was it that saved your flank?" Lance asked sarcastically, expecting some praise for his efforts. "Nova." Spitshine plainly said with a hard gaze at the pegasus, causing Lance to nearly stumble over in shock. "What!? Thats Horse crud man! I swooped in and saved you!" "Aye, but is was Nova who broke through her shield to allow you to save me ya blubbering buffoon." Lance took offense and shoved Spitshine off to the side causing the bartender to fall on the ground. "Oops, looks like Nova was not here to save you this time." Lance turned around and looked at his armored friend who was staring around at the scene as if he was looking for something. "Right buddy?" Nova said nothing and didn't even bother to care. He was occupied with something. Something big. He kept his head low as if sniffing the floor like a dog while moving some junk out of the way picking up some stuff and tossing it aside. Lance figured he was doing something stupid and chose to ignore him. He picked up Spitshine who gave him a death glare and helped him walk again. In the distance the sounds of the fire brigade and various medical wagons all were closing in on the club, or what's left of it. Lance helped Spitshine go to the street while leaving Nova to do whatever he is doing. "I'm gonna get healed up. I will see ya around Lance." Lance brushed his wings of some dirt as Spitshine trotted off to the nearby medics. "Kay, see ya Spit. Let me know when the club is rebuilt. Notify Fancy who did this okay? I don't want him to kill me thinking it was my fault. I really don’t want a repeat like last time." "Aye, I was thinking the same." The bartender waved a hoof while immediately getting the attention of one of the medical ponies there. Lance turned back to the club to meet with Nova. From a distance he saw many ponies tending to ground zero and cleaning up. No policepony questioned him on who he was or why he was there and let him in under the newly erected yellow warning tape. He spotted Nova looking around and talking loudly to his axe. “I wonder what Nova is up to?” -=-=-=-=--=-=- Nova was in the middle of the wreckage. His axe was still imbedded in the ground next to him. A glow of the axe in a blue to an alternating purple came from the weapon. The unicorn stared at it for a long time and then scanned the area around it in concern. "You really think that will work?" The weapon fidgeted again with colors as if it was speaking. "But If I do that I will be using almost half my magic power and some of my reserves." A glow of bright red shined from the weapon. Novas eyes went tiny and gasped in fright. "Such language coming from you! But you do have a point." Nova stared into empty space again, lost in thought. “So you're telling me that, if I do a scanning spell and tune it to focus on the left over magic signatures in the air, I can track Strife?” He waited for a response until his face scrunched up in anger from another glow of the axe. “I swear, another word out of you and you get dunked in a bucket of water. Okay!?” The axe stopped and leaned slightly in defeat. “Good. Now shut up and let me think.” Nova took a deep breath. He looked up in the sky and slowly closed his eyes. A blue glow from his horn erupted and engulfed it. It magnified in intensity as Nova continued to pour more magic power into it while his face was scrunched up in focus. “Καλούν τις δυνάμεις δείτε όλα τα πράγματα αόρατα. Δείξε μου τα μαγικά της Έριδος και όπου είναι επικεφαλής.” (Call upon forces see all things unseen. Show me the magics of Strife and where she is heading.) Instantly a beam of energy shot from his horn and went straight into the ground spreading into arcs and a waves. For a second nothing happened until a misty fog started to come up. Nova opened his green eyes with them glowing a hazy white. He saw lines of magics and wisps dancing through the air moving along as if they where currents through the ocean. He saw a large mass of leftover magic and then a stream of magic going straight up and over from that point towards the forest in the direction of Los Pegasus. He stopped the spell and blinked a couple of times to get used to the light. “Oh, I don't feel that good.” He stumbled around, almost falling. He felt a dizziness that he had not felt before. He fell backwards expecting to hit the hard ground but didn't expect to land on something soft. “I gotcha ya idiot.” Lance Caught Nova and gently put him down on the floor before he fell over. “What are you doing?” Nova grabbed his head with his hoofs and shook violently around to get whatever that was bothering him to leave. He put a hoof up to signal to give him a moment to compose himself to Lance. Lance on the other hoof had a puzzled look on his face. What WAS Nova doing? Sweat started to pour from the armored unicorn and he started shaking violently. Lance at this point only raised an eyebrow. “Nova, what did you do?” Nova didn't respond but laid on the ground now in some agony as he gripped his horn which glowed red. Lance didn't like where this was going nor had any clue to what Nova just did. Its not like the other random times he did something stupid. This was more serious as it was actively hurting Nova. “Nova! What the hell man! Speak to me!” Lance went up and slapped Nova in the face. Normally one would snap out of whatever they were doing and get back to reality. Not Nova, for he stopped dead in his tracks, locking every part of his body making himself almost an armor clad statue. Lance counted to three and slapped him again a little harder. “Wake up ya moron!” Nova fell backwards from the force of the slap and rolled on the ground a bit. He grumbled on the ground before picking himself up. Lance had no clue what Nova just did to be in this state and with every second of not knowing it drove him more crazy. “Nova. What did you just do?!” Nova turned around with a small smile. “Found Strife.” Lance stumbled back in pure shock and even had to pinch himself to make sure that this was not a dream. “What!? Come again?” “I Found where Strifes general location is.” Nova said weakly with a slight cough. Nova stood there and stared out to the castle. “We gotta go back and come up with a new plan. Now.” By now Lance had almost a double heart attack. Nova just made logical and cohesive sense and was acting like he really had a mission to accomplish. It was almost too much for Lance to handle. “I, uh, wow. What is wrong with you?” Lance asked with his head tilted questioningly. “I used almost all of my Magic power to conjure up a spell that is normally used for tracking missions of large mythical creatures.” Nova weakly said. Lance nodded questioningly and noticed that his axe was not glowing in any way shape or form. “Limb! On my *Cough* back. Now!” The axe, without any external effects, picked itself up and floated lazily through the air before hitching onto Novas back. As soon as it did Nova nearly collapsed before Lance wrapped a wing around him for support. “Lets go back to castle ya crazy armored freak, you can explain to me what you did on the way there.” “Sure.” Location : Canterlot Castle. Entrance. Time : 11:47 PM “Okay, so let me get this straight. That was your first shield spell? And you never bothered to learn it before?" Lance asked while sticking close to Nova for support. "Your being an idiot again you know that." He rolled his eyes and focused on the street ahead of them. "When was I not? But at least we survived *wince* whatever it is we did." Nova said with a relieved sigh. He didn't look so good and was trotting slowly towards the castle. Lance paid no heed to Novas condition but had a feeling he was missing something. "Nova be serious about answering this next question: how much magic power did you just expel in that scuffle and with that spell you just used?" Nova didn't make any eye contact and cursed under his breath. "If you went to magic burnout just now and suppressed it, let me kill you myself before your actions take you to an early grave. You know full well that you can die from that. Frakking idiot.” Lance snorted and gave Nova a hard stare. “Hey, It was Limbs idea! Tell him Limb!” The axe glowed a purple and then a light cyan color on Nova’s back. Nova stopped for a moment abruptly. He turned his head towards his axe in a gaze that could take on Tatarus and survive. He removed the axe with his hoof in a swift motion and threw it in front of him in frustration making Lance back off in surprise. The axe soared through the air arcing towards the ground and surprisingly stopped right before hitting the floor and came back like a boomerang to hitch on Novas back. Nova seethed with some anger and breathed heavily. “If this axe was a pony, I would have killed him or her for making fun of me or making fun of sweet rolls.” Lance raised a hoof. “Excuse me?” “This thing here,” Nova pointed to his axe, “said that he blames sweet rolls and my lack of judgement. And that its my fault for following a suggestion that he made.” Lance couldn't help but laugh a bit. “Ha ha ha, your axe told you to do that tracker spell knowing full well that you had low magic reserves? Idiot.” Nova narrowed his eyes before realizing that he indeed was very low in magic power and nearly fell over onto the street in a sudden loss of balance. Lance caught him once again and helped him steady himself. “Forget it. Lets just get back to the castle and meet with Hammerheart. I'm sure she finished with fixing your wing bolts and we can come up with a new plan now that I know where Strifes general location is.” Nova said, not wanting to talk about this mess any further. Not only has he failed again by barely fighting Strife off and surviving but now he has to heal up for a day or something before he could do anything to capture her. Luna forgive this idiot. “Thats no problem, if you were not clad in heavy armor I would have flown you there myself. Why don't you ever take tha--” Nova cut him off with his horn glowing and his axe suddenly near his throat. “Don't you even finish that sentence.” Nova seethed, temporarily forgetting his aches and pains. Lance calmly put the axe down with his hoof and smiled. “I forgot that the armor is off limits. My bad. You're right though, we have to get rested and healed up.” Nova returned his axe to his back and kept slowly moving with Lance to the castle. They were not really far only about four blocks away from the main entrance. They walked a bit in silence the rest of the duration of the trip. Neither of them wanted to make the current situation worst than it already was. With Nova failing again in his duties and with Lance almost rutting Strife then and there, it was not the most fond memory they both shared. Some time passed and they both reached the main gate. Two guards stood on each side of the massive steel gate and there was a third guard in a small booth. The guard in the booth spotted them and called out with a hoof raised out. “HALT! Who goes....Um...Nova Blade? Lance Skyslicer?” Both unicorn and pegasus nodded. The guard in the booth called out to the other two in a quick fashion. “Scotch, Mist. Open the gate now. No delays. These two have level alpha access.” The guards in response shrugged and did as they were told. Both of them used their magic at the same time to activate a large switch to lift the gates. They knew that out of the five levels, level alpha was the most rare, usually reserved for the princesses themselves only. “Thanks Keystone!” Nova called out, “I will save good word for you for the princess.” Nova waved a hoof as he and Lance passed by. Keystone sighed in relief and turned to his fellow guards after the two left from earshot. They both gave him a confused look. “Trust me fella’s, unless you two want to be cut up from that axe of his like Woodchip was, I would stay clear out of his way.” “Woodchip sir?” “Never could put his horn back together after Nova was done with him....” Location: Ponyville Library. Time: Approx 4 hours earlier. “Let me see that note Pinkie.” Twilight asked. Pinkie Pie handed her a piece of paper and had a very worried look on her face. The purple unicorn scanned the note and with every line she became more appalled and scared. Pinkie took notice of Twilights changing mood and nudged her side to calm down. “I don't know Pinkie. This explains a lot of horrid things just to stop one villain.” “That's the problem Twilight. He is not gonna just stop her, he is gonna end her like the end of a book! Its something that we usually never hear of. I'm getting goosebumps just thinking of it.” Twilight paused in thought before responding. “We might have to stop him. Otherwise what these plans say here can't be reversed.” “I will call the girls right away.” Pinkie bolted out of the door before Twilight had the chance to say anything. Twilight waved a hoof and dismissed Pinkies quick getaway before going back to reading the note. “Nova Blade....who are you really?” Location: Nova and Lance’s personal Chambers. Time: 11:58 PM “Even after all this. I don't feel remotely tired.” Nova said while holding a set of cards in his magic. He put one down before giving a sly look at Lance across from him with his own set of cards sitting on a floor table. “Draw four.” “Dammit, I had Ena!” Lance reluctantly grabbed another four cards out of the deck to add to his collection. “Your right. Its near midnight and I don't think I will be able to sleep anytime soon myself. I wonder where Hammerheart is.” The pegasus dropped a blue number 4 card and waited for Nova to make his move. “Hammer? I haven't heard from her either. Though do you think we should tell her what had happened?” Lance said as Nova put down a blue 7 card and then a green number 7 card down on top of the deck. The crossbowless pegasus frowned. That was not the color he wanted to see right now. “I don't know Lance. It could make things worse by telling her. And its not like we had to cover up the damage and make it look like an accident like back in the Gryphon Kingdom.” Nova stated as he waited for Lances next move. “And besides as long as you don't tell her what you nearly did to Strife, then everything is gonna be fine.” “Mmmmh. You could be right Nova. I don't want get on her bad side.” Lance said. He took another card from his hold and placed a skip card to which he added a second green 2 card. Nova looked at the deck and back at his current cards. To his dismay he had no moves left. He reached over to the deck and pulled out a card. It was a wild card. Victory is just around the corner! “Ena! I win!” Nova triumphantly exclaimed. He placed the wild card with another yellow card on the pile. Lance stared at Nova and back at his own cards in disbelief. “Goddess dammit Nova. I was only two cards away from winning.” Lance grumbled for a bit and picked up the cards and shuffled them with his wings acting as claws to pick up the cards one by one. Nova picked up his head and turned to the door wit his ears pointed towards it. “Shhh Lance. do you hear that?” “Hear what?” “Like someone yelling and making the guards very angry.” Nova continued to stare at the wall and instinctively summoned his helmet that was next to him and put it on. Lance paid no heed and shuffled the cards in preparation of another game. Though the commotion through the walls increased with somepony yelling and was making the classic “prong” noise with every step. Lance stopped and turned around to face the door too. “Our room guards will stop whoever is coming right?” Asked Lance with a concerned look. “Yeah of cour-” Nova was cut off when one of the guards from outside called out, “Ma’am you cannot enter. You hav-” SMASH! The door flew open splintering across the room, along with two night guards, revealing a pissed off Hammerheart bearing full power hooves and some light barding. Her power hooves where smoking and making a powerful purple glow around them creating a small purple mist. The two guards picked themselves up and promptly ran away from the intruder leaving Lance and Nova shocked and relieved that it was someone they knew and not a random visit from one of the princesses. “WHAT. THE. BUCK. IS WRONG WITH YOU TWO!?” Hammer screamed out while simultaneously increasing the glow of her hooves creating a slight electrical arc between them. Nova and Lance both stumbled back in fright and didn't have any clue what was going on. “Uh....hey Hammer! Long time no see? Eh. How have you been?” Nova hesitantly said. He knew not to mess with Hammer under any circumstances but this time he had no idea what he and Lance did wrong now. “No. No. NO. Both of you idiots front and center!” Hammer demanded with a stomp of her hooves. Lance shrugged and gave a wink to Nova signaling that everything is gonna be fine. Little did they both know that they bucked up, royally. They stood in front of Hammer as she eyed them with an evil stare. She grabbed a newspaper out of one of her pockets from her barding and placed it on the floor for the warrior and pegasus to read. EQUESTRIA DAILY Trouble in Downtown : Plot O Rama Pulverized Its like nothing you have ever seen before. It was like nothing you ever wanted to see before. Its the destruction of the most praised, privately owned club, in all of Canterlot. The Plot O’ Rama. Eyewitnesses describe a blinding light that engulfed the entire club and disappearing in an instant. Taking out half of the club. And how three ponies were seen in a large shield coming from an armored Unicorn with the aid of a pegasus. Though a lot of ponies rightfully blame the Cutie Mark Stealer most are blaming two night guards. Nova Blade and Lance Skyslicer for the mess since they were there at the time of the incident. Other Eyewitness reports say that they saved the life of the local bartender, Spitshine. “Ya blubbering buffoons. It was the Cutie Mark Stealer that did this. My friends Lance and Nova saved me from her taking me cutie mark.” Though that statement alone confirms that it indeed was the Cutie Mark Stealer that did this, we cannot help but feel part of our lives missing due to the loss of the club. The owner, Fancy Pants, had this to say. “It is a great loss, but since my old friend Lance Skyslicer was involved I'm sure he will avenge the culprit and put a stop to this.” Reports coming in point out that it would cost over 1,000,000 bits to fix the club and 6th street and Trotter Ave are going to be closed for investigation. It is advised that pony's stay indoors and increase security around them to protect themselves from events like this from happening. - Featherweight Nova and Lance both stopped reading and looked at each other and back to Hammerheart who was now staring at them as if she had lasers coming out of her eyes. “You two are in deep trouble for this you know that!? Luna now has to make sure that this ‘Nova Blade’ and this ‘Lance Skyslicer’ are just a bunch of nobodies and that the people can move on and not worry about all this mess.” “Well at least I didn't almost rutt the alleged Cutie Mark Stealer...” Nova deadpanned as he looked at Lance. “YOU DID WHAT!?” Hammer screamed at Lance as he made a death glare towards Nova for blurting it out so openly. “Its not what you think Hammer, I was tricked!” Lance quickly said to try to cover his tracks and to be on Hammers good side. Nova though put a hoof to his stomach and raised a hoof in the background. “I'm going to the night guard mess hall. They might have some sweet rolls there. Could replenish my energy.” He trotted off and head out the door as Lance and Hammerheart argued on. “Honest I swear I didn't really do it. I stabbed her as soon as I realized it was not Serenity the stripper. "Lance I can't believe you almost basically rutted Strife. What. The. Buck." "Hey she's damn good looking. It's not my fault she's bent on overthrowing royalty!" "That doesn't mean you can get to third base with our enemy!" "Well what did you want me to do?! Think about you? I didn't know it was her until the last second!" Lance thought mentally about what he just said. Ahhhh... manure... me and my bucking germane mouth. Hammerhearts face swelled up in multiple emotions making Lance a tad uncomfortable. "Lance...... Did you just call me ugly? Am I bucking that repulsive to you!?" "Hammer shut up! You're bucking beautiful. You're nowhere near ugly." The earth pony mare paused and backed up a step in surprise. "Lance... Did you just call me..." "Yes Hammer yes I did..." He gave a heavy sigh and looked away to try to hide a slight blush on his cheeks. Hammerhearts voice calmed and she again spoke in her usual voice. "I know you Lance... And you're hiding something... You can't really keep secrets when your sober... Or drunk for that matter..." "Look Hammer its just... That whole thing with Strife... It kinda made me realize what I've been doing... Running around with all those mares... They're all just stuck up fillies who show off their new cutie marks... You wanna know the only thing I've ever want from mare?" Hammerheart said nothing and shook her head. "I just wanna be there laying on a couch... A full bottle of White Pegasi in one hoof, a bong full of Everfree Joke, and a beautiful mare in the other just chilling and watching cartoons with me..." Hammer’s face contorted into a faint smile as she shut down her power hooves. "You know Hammer... Sometimes... And never I mean NEVER tell anypony this... Sometimes... I wish Nova wasn’t our friend. That he wasn't with us... And that it was just me & you. Because I would've made you mine in a heartbeat." He turned around and lifted his head up high with a mean look on his face. The same look you give when you're about to go on epic quest of justice. "And it just pisses me off... cause I don't think Nova deserves a mare like you." Lance turned around and walked out of the room in the direction of the mess hall, slamming the door behind him leaving Hammer there in silence. “Lance....” Location: Night Guard mess hall and Break room. Time: 12:11 AM "And so like i was saying. She came out of nowhere with the grand vortex spell and nearly could've killed us from the residual magic. If it was not from my shield, which i just remembered to conjure up, we would of died. That and now i have a general location of her thanks to the suggestion of my axe to use a tracker spell." Nova said as he talked to a multitude of guards all around him. Its a rare sight to see technical admiral of the lunar and night guards actually with his guards. "So wait. How much magic did you use to track her with that spell?" One of the guards asked. Nova picked up a piece of a sweet roll and swallowed it whole before responding. He left his axe on the table as it looked like it enjoyed the crumbs or something. “Almost all of it. In technical terms, I had maybe 400 Magic Power left. If I dropped below that I could of been in a coma or knocked out for a day. Though I guess my axe was just trying to get to Strife as much I do.” The guards around him only nodded questioningly and watched him as he downed another sweet roll whole and looked how the weapon was somehow making the crumbs disappear. It sorta freaked everyone out but since is was Nova, its nothing to be alarmed about. Man the unicorn can really down those sweet rolls. “Hey boss, is that your third sweet roll?” Another guard asked. Nova looked down onto his plate and axe. With a quick glance he confirmed that he ate two and was about to finish the third. Nova smiled and smashed his plate on the floor in a quick swipe as he put hoof up into the air. “Bring me anotha!” Meanwhile, a pissed off Lance trotted in a very slow pace towards the mess hall. He approached the entrance which was flanked by a set of guards on each side. Both guards looked at the disgruntled pegasus but one let off a snicker. “Damn Skyslicer you look pissed.” The first experienced guard spoke more concerned than anything. “What’s wrong Lance? Got too drunk and woke up in bed with a colt?” The other laughed as the first guard winced at what was going to happened. Lance went straight up to the rookie and headbutted him square on the dome knocking him out. The other guard stood there with his mouth open he did that as Lance just KO'd a fully armored guard with a headbutt. “Damnit Jet Stream.” The veteran sighed and attended to his fallen comrade. Lances head was red and throbbing, but due to how mad he was he didn't pay any heed. He pushed the doors open to see the sight of Nova surrounded by a lot of night guards as they all chanted for their superior. “Eat, Eat, Eat!” “You can do it Nova!” “Down that sugary goodness like you mean it!” Nova was in a race against time. He used his hooves to grab a fork and with it he jabbed into his next victim, the sweet roll. He slowly inched it toward his mouth and with this last sweet roll it would set a new world record for most sweet rolls eaten in 10 minutes. Lance didn’t know any of this nor did the angered pegasus care. He trotted up towards the crowd, shoving other ponies around to get to his target. “Lance!? What the buck?” Another guard asked when he had the misfortune to be shoved aside from Lance. Other guards noticed him too as he approached the fully armored unicorn. “Whoah. Lance what are you doing here?” More guards stopped cheering for Nova and turned their attention to Lance. He stopped right before Nova, who was busy eating the most awesome pastry in the world, and slapped the fork with the sweet roll still on it, out of Novas hoof. Everyone gasped in shock. Lance though slammed his hooves on the table facing Nova and spoke with a calm tone, one that did little to hide seething anger underneath. “Sparring arena. Now.” Lance removed his hooves off from the table and trotted away. The guards and Nova himself all stared at the pegasus heading for the exit. Nova on the other hoof had a twitch his eye. “My....sweet roll.” The other guards all looked at Nova. Everyone knew that when it came to messing with Nova and his sweet rolls there will be trouble. Nova got up from the table and looked at Lance as he left through the exit of the mess hall. “Uh...Boss. Are you okay?” Asked another guard who looked at Novas changing facial expression from joy to complete seriousness. He looked at the guard with a firm stare. “Lance needs some unwinding from the looks of it.” Nova closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “This doesn't feel right.” The armored unicorn promptly trotted out towards the arena grabbing his axe. All the other guards who were off duty silently followed Nova out with him and watched on as his axe glowed an eerie green and bluish glow on his back. Location : Sparring Arena, Canterlot Castle Barracks Time : 12:24 AM The arena was not really used that often. It was mostly used for entertainment and training purposes for the royals and the guards that needed to be trained in minor combat. The arena had two main gates on each side to let participants in and out. It was surrounded by a high 20 foot wall and by the spectator stands which made it more intimidating in the dead of night. Nopony is crazy enough to fight at this hour except for two. As soon as word got out through to the guards that there was gonna be a practical death match between the personal student of princess Luna versus a former Wonderbolt, everyone who was able to, showed up to watch the battle. It was very rare for anything to happen that could be life threatening in the arena except for the usual magic duel but they only lasted between besting someone in magic, a lame duel in some respects. Since it was the dead of night and that only the guards knew who Nova and Lance was, everyone refrained from yelling or chanting on in encouragement unless they want to give their identities away. It was gonna be a very silent match. The lights around the arena all turned on to illuminate the area. Nova was just outside of the north gate. He had no idea why Lance wanted to spar with him nor really know why it was a death match of some sort. Nova knew that he wanted to let off steam but had not the faintest clue on why. Nova made his way out of the gate and stood in the arena awaiting his opponent. However when the door of the southern entrance opened Lance didn’t walk out. Puzzled Nova called out. “Lance? Buddy you alr-” The ex-Wonderbolt shot out of the gate and smashed into Nova hard causing him to fall back in a skid. Lance flapped his wings hard and took of in the air not leaving that much time for Nova to get back up. The pegasus arced down at a blistering speed with his hoofs out for another blow. Nova, still in shock on how cheap that move was, barely got up in time to dodge the speeding blur. Lance barely grazed his armor and arced around a second time for another pass. The armored unicorn looked up at his opponent. This was not a time to be silly or be stupid, no this was life threatening and by the looks of it, Lance was out for blood. Nova took out his axe and set it before him. He couldn't cut Lance but he can make it into a blunt weapon with his magic by increasing the strength of the safety. Lance came down from above and met Novas axe head on on the flat side creating a *Clang* noise. Lance though with a swift flap of his wings kicked up dust and spun his body mid air above Nova and using his rear hooves to smack Nova into the sider bypassing the axe. Nova nearly fell over but by the time he regained his composition Lance was gone. Nova now slightly battered looked around him to see where Lance was now but didn't see him in the sky above. The lights of the arena made it hard to see anything high in the sky without them blinding your eyes. A whoosh sound was heard and Nova glimpsed Lance racing towards him only inches from the ground heading straight for him. The armored unicorn couldn't react in time to move his axe defensively. Lance landed a sucker punch right into his chest and kept a flurry of blows that only a pegasi can achieve. He kept pounding on his friend without mercy or let up. Slowly denting and chipping away at Novas armor. Nova reacted this time and blasted his friend with some magic causing Lance to stumble back and Land on the ground. The left side of his cheek was singed and he said nothing when he picked himself back up. No grunts of pain, no battle cries, no nothing. Nova at this point was worried. Not only he had to use magic to ward of his attacker but his attacker was not speaking to him. Thats definitely not a good sign. “Lance seriously. What's your pro-” A whirlwind of dust came from Lance on the ground as he took off again into the air blisteringly fast surprising Nova to the point of making him not defend himself in time. Lance lunged and careened all the force he could mister and punched Nova square in the helmet in a large uppercut. The force knocked off the protective head gear clean off Nova while he stumbled and fell back in a heap. Lance landed on the ground back in front of him and waited for his opponent to get up. Nova, on the ground holding his disoriented head with his hooves, looked up and saw what was before him. His axe was still floating next to him but his helmet was completely dented on the bottom and sides. If at this moment you had any right to be pissed, now would be the time to exercise that right. Nova took a look and had to do a double take. Did Lance not know how precious this armor was to Nova? Lance though in the distance said nothing and stood there with his wings flared out, waiting for his opponents next move. Nova stared at him intently while glancing back at the downed helmet a few times, but once they made eye contact, Lance let out a sneering grin. At that very moment Nova really wanted to turn off the safety and did what he did to Woodchip to Lance. The student of the night picked slowly himself up and enacted a shield around him. This confused Lance on what was Novas next move, as shields were only made seconds before defending against an attack because it drains about 500 MP a second, and his friend is apparently making one for no reason. Nova on the other hoof was not just angry, he was downright pissed off. His axe glowed a fiery red and even making his shield red as well as he stared down back at Lance with almost pure hatred. A quick grab of telekinesis spell and he picked up his helmet into the air and then with a flash it was gone. “It shall be repaired later... Lance. I dunno why you did that but you know that was a poor decision. Even for you.” Lance snorted and not even intimidated in the slightest, flapped his wings and took off again into the air. He was not a Wonderbolt for nothing as this time he went shot straight up high above the arena, almost like heading right for the moon above. Nova kept his shield up and looked up to see any signs of the pegasus that is gonna feel some pain when he comes back down. Through the clouds appeared Lance dive bombing down with a visible air cone in front of him. No, he was not trying to make a sonic rainboom, but he was doing something more deadly. A sonic blast which was a concentrated force of air which hit like a cannon and simultaneously made the air very hot, shot down right above Nova spreading out over his shield and impacting with a series of invisible shockwaves. Each shock wave pounded the shield and sent dust and debris into the entire stadium making all the bystanders dirty. Nova struggled keep his his shield at max power as it visibly cracked throughout the top. Lance was not about to let nova move out from that spot and he himself came straight above to hit the shield himself. Nova though reacted by dropping the shield and with his fire red glowing axe, punted Lance right into one of his forelegs. *SNAP* Everyone in the audience silently gasped and some even threw up on the spot. Lance was tossed back in a large arc and hit the ground, hard. His right front foreleg was bent at an ungoddess like angle. Normally anyone at this point will yell out in pain. Not Lance. He picked himself up again quickly and flapped his wings hard to keep aloft. Nova dropped his axe and shield when he realized what he just did. His axe alone is made of the hardest material known to equines and he just punted Lance like a baseball. “Holy shit Lance! I didn't mean to do that.” Nova slowed down and could not believe his eyes. “I was so....uh....mad? What the hell?” Slowly the downed pegasus raised up and without even looking, snapped back his forearm with his hoof and gave another death glare towards Nova. At this point Nova was considering of Remote Teleporting Lance straight into the infirmary out of concern. Must be his adrenaline. I have to end this before he forces me to permanently hurt him. Sometimes he reminds me of my training with Luna. He couldn't believe his eyes when Lance stopped flapping his wings and landed on the ground like nothing happened. He didn't even wince when he put pressure on the damaged foreleg. Nova now stood there and looked at Lance, then back at his axe, and back to Lance. “You can say that again Limb. He is crazy.” Lance immediately started plonking up and down, gaining speed with every jump. Air started to come towards him and colese under his hooves. Sparks started to fly in random arcs causing Nova to step back a bit. He built up speed and at the height of his jump he flared his wings and caused a white cloud to come up under him. Multiple members of the audience of guards gasped. What was Lance gonna do? The disgruntled pegasus stomped on top of the cloud in another jump and turned the cloud dark, making it into a storm cloud. Sparks flied at a quicker pace with greater intensity which dashed throughout the cloud. Nova at this point tilts his head in confusion onto what was Lance doing now. Lance now flew around to the side of the cloud and pushed it up into the air. Once he got it to a height that he deemed acceptable he went back on top of it and started jumping again. Lighting didnt shoot out but he made a lot of electricity come to him instead. He leaned his head down and dropped the edge of his wings to touch the electrified storm cloud. The electricity arced and danced through and went through his body as he slowly raised his wings up closer to each other. A charge of white light built up that arced between his wings as they were only inches apart above his body. Meanwhile, Nova realised what Lance was doing. He was staring down the barrel of a artillery move that only some extremely high ranking military officials know. The Static Cannon. Now was not the time to do a shield spell unless he wants to get outright killed. Lance let out the charge and with it came a massive blinding white light of a near fireball of pure Lightning right at the student of the night. With some quick thinking Nova slammed Limb into the ground with the blade pointing at Lance. “Power Guard. Release!” Nova yelled. The axe glowed a hell of a Blue glow itself and Nova shot every beam of magic into the weapon. Lance fired his weapon and the whole arena went white. Everyone in the stands shielded their eyes as it seemed like a sun was born in the arena. The thunderclap that came with it echo from the mountain and was heard as far away as the Everfree. The dust settled and the scene changed of the arena to show that it was almost completely destroyed. Well, it was not the first time something like this happened. The ground was all chopped up and cracked except for where the two combatants were standing. The surrounding perimeter wall was even cracked all around it and some parts collapsed, taking some guard ponies with it if they were unfortunate enough to be sitting on the stands above the section. Nova was now sweating bullets and had a confused look on his face. His weapon was glowing not from magic but glowing hot as the metal itself was near its melting point. The area around the unicorn was all glass now. Lance though was still standing on the cloud, which turned back to white, and slowly came back down to the ground. Nova weakly approached him and once he got close, Lance laid down on the cloud in defeat sweating and panting heavily himself. “Better now?” Lance looked up and saw Nova grinning ear to ear. He sighed and looked up at his unicorn friend. “Yea. I needed that.” “Okay then. I can't believe you got so pissed for whatever reason that you came at me unarmed. The hell was bugging you?” “You wouldn't understand....” “Understand what? Regardless, come on lets get you to the Emergency Room.” Nova inched forward and put a hoof out to reach for the cloud that Lance was now laying down on. “Wait Nova! Don't touch m-” *ZAP!* A arc of electricity shot out and smacked Nova square in the chest. He stumbled back and nearly fell. “I...Ugh...Static residue. Won't wear off in a couple of hours.” *Twitch* “My everywhere hurts...” Lance explained weakly. He rolled on the cloud and held his forearm close to him. The pain was getting to him and he tried to hide it from Nova from taking notice. Nova on the other hoof walked away and with a glow of his horn summoned his axe from the ground with some telekinesis. He brought it over and inspected it. Steaming hot but okay, no permanent damage. “Yeah, yeah. I owe you. Shut up Limb.” Nova came back and now placed his axe between him and the cloud that Lance was on. Electricity formed around the cloud still in sporadic bursts and arcs into the axe. Though Nova had to get him out of here so he hitched the Axe to one end of the cloud while with the other end he hitched it with some magic to his armor. Like a trailer he pulled Lance out of the arena. Right as they were about to exit the gate they heard the tell tale whirring sound of power hooves. Out of nowhere Hammerheart rounded the corner and charged right into Nova and Lance. She didn't pay any heed to Nova and went straight to Lance hugging him, even taking the sparks as they were not even there. Nova said nothing until Hammerheart reeled up and smacked Lance in the face. “Hey! What the buck was that for!?” Lance yelled while holding his forearm. Hammerheart fixed her hair and gave him a hard stare. “That was for running off like a moron!” She went up to him and kissed him on the cheek earning a reaction out of Lance like a lightning bolt struck him. “And that was cause I know why you did it.” Nova watched the two of them converse with an expressionless look. Although the unicorn didn’t show it. Nova had emotions and right now there was a maelstrom inside him. “Sorry. I came as soon as I heard from one of the guards.” Before she said anything further she looked at the helmetless Nova and his damaged armour. “Did you...Never mind. Both of you need to go to the ER. Now.” She ushered them on to the medical bay of the castle while going back to tend to Lance. She went on top of the cloud and thanks to her power hooves casting a cloudwalking spell upon contact she wasn’t able to fall through. Lance fidgeted and didn't want to be taken care off like a foal but Hammerheart smacked him like a little filly and tended to his wounds. Nova continued though to go towards the ER. He made a left after the exit of the arena and headed down to the back side the castle. The ER was just ahead and once they got inside they were greeted by a surprise. Princess Luna was standing there with a bunch of other medical Ponies which immediately started to help Lance. “Ah, My faithful student of the night. How did the Match go?” Nova and Lance were both shocked to see her except Hammerheart who was preoccupied on tending to the brash pegasus. “Princess!? What are you doing here? How did you know about this?” Nova asked as he unhitched Limb from the cloud. “Silly Nova. I'm the princess of the night. I see all things at this time. Especially how strong you are.” Nova blushed. “But I came here not to converse. I came here bearing news about Strife.” This time everyone stopped and looked at the princess making Nova look tense. “I have received reports from a scout that she has been spotted in Ghastly Gorge. Nova, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to go after her first thing tomorrow after you and your team are rested up.” Lance looked down to his foreleg and deadpanned. “Ahhhh... Manure.” ======================================================== Reader has gained +8 STR +10 LUK +9001 DEX +1337 INT New Perk Unlocked - Sweet Roll Master: You now are fully healed upon eating 2 dozen sweet rolls... Also your sweet rolls CANNOT be stolen anymore. New Perk Unlocked - Rain Dance: You can now perform the infamous RainDance to summon a storm cloud and smite your enemies with god like wrath. New weapon ability - Power Guard. - (Explanation pending) New Inventory Item - One Wat: You have been given a single Wat. Use it wisely. http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/249/212/896.png Author's Note Uh. Sorry that I have been late on this one. My mini Bluetooth keyboard died on me and I had to write the story at home instead of at work. So please forgive me on that. Also I would like to point out that there indeed has been a increase of sexual tension. My friend asked me to do it saying it would help. Whatever. Regardless, it is time to get this show on the road and get the next chapter ready. remember, comments help, views help, and critiques help ALOT. I mean its my first story. Like actually, the first literary work since EVER. Thanks for reading. Note: ALL FANDOM FANFICTION WENT TO COMPLETE WITH TWILIGHT BECOMING A ALICORN! NOTHING IS CANON NOW! EVERYTHING IS RUINED!
Chapter 10: HopeChapter 10 - Hope. By: JP HACK Co Written by: Shadowxrazor Editors: Both co author and author. Story steered by : Shadowxrazor Provider of actual sweet rolls : Cinnabon. As the sun goes down, all life dies off. As the world fades, we watch summer turn to winter in three seconds, hark as the world beckons, for the help that we need, please go, listen to our plead. We watch the plants freeze over. Now we have to start all over. We need to take a stand keep going. Look at the world, what has it come to? Everything fades to gray...all we have left is this frozen tipped winter rose...most color we've seen in forever...we will go on, we must go on, for ever and ever... - Unknown. Location: Canterlot Castle Hospital - Room #167 Time: 9:30 AM Lance finally opened his eyes. The last thing he remembered was a bunch of doctors and a frantic Hammerheart tending to his leg. And what was worse is the frakking princess shows up and drops a bombshell on Strifes whereabouts making Nova practically teleport to who knows where. He looked around in the small room. A window was to his left and another patient covered by curtains was to his right. Though, he didn't expect a certain brown coated mare with amazing two toned purple hair to be at his bedside. Now this mare gets some points for being loyal until he realized who it was. “Uh...Hammerheart?” Lance asked the earth pony who was with him on his bedside face down in her own pillow. She grumbled from her apparent slumber and picked her head up to look at the multi colored pegasus. “Hmm?” “Did you stay with me all night?” Lance asked in a tired voice. The earth pony blushed a bit and nodded. “I couldn't leave you. Not after what you did. And Nova, after hearing where Strife was practically dropped you here and took off to who knows where.” Lance nodded and tried looking away. Hammerheart stayed with him in the hospital for the entire night. Why? That question had to wait as a pegasi nurse came in the room and approached the two ponies. "Ah, the crazy patient that 'broke his leg and fixed it on his own. How are ya?" Said the nurse in a sarcastic tone. Hammerheart got up and stood right before the nurse. "And who the hell do you think you are for talking like that to-" "My old comrade from West Hoof?" The nurse said in a calm tone making Hammerheart’s mouth drop before she was about to say anything more but closed it. Lance gave a hearty chuckle followed by a instant death glare towards stallion. "I never thought I see you around again." "I never thought I see you alive again." They both stared at each other for a long time with Hammerheart more confused than Nova on a sugar rush. The two stallions then winked their eyes and started laughing there flanks off. Lance wept a tear from his eye from the laughter and nearly lost it when Hammerheart’s jaw dropped again. "Ha aha ha! Thunder Dust! You crack me up. Are you a nurse now or something? That light blue shirt goes with you." The dark blue pegasi with a whitish mane and a triple lightning cutie mark stopped laughing for a bit and glanced at his uniform. "Me? No I'm off duty right now. I don't go back on active scout duty until next week so I thought I come by to see my old friend since i'm in the area." Thunder came close to Lance and whispered, "Technically there's no visitors at this hour, so I had to, eh, blend in to visit you on my break time." He gave a quick wink. "Oh you sly dog you." Lance answered back in an approving voice. "Ahem." Hammerheart cleared her throat clearly expecting Lance to introduce her. "Oh, and this is Hammerheart. Our medic, tactical officer and hoof to hoof combat specialist." Hammerheart stuck her hoof out and bumped hoofs with Thunder. "Nice to meet you." Thunder looked at her and scanned her entire body, eyes up and down, from face to body to that flank. He quickly turned around back to Lance. "Vacant or no vacancy?" "Vacant... But I believe that somepony has a reservation." Lance explained which left her wonder what the hell they were talking about. "Rightly so. Regardless, I'm glad that you are okay. I heard that huge thundercrack all the way from Baltimare. And when I heard from one of the guards that it you and your buddy got in a deathmatch sort of battle. Now I knew what move you used, but what the buck happened with that?" Lance shifted in his bed and looked at his forearm wrapped in a cast. "You know, stress relief." "Ah. I see. Anyway. I'm glad your doing better." Thunder came a bit closer to Hammerheart who was staring at him with evil eyes. "Thanks. But I can't wait get out of here and see if this mare would like to come out on a date with me?" He looked at Hammerheart who was not wearing any armour and wiggled his eyebrows seductively. Hammer wished she had something on herself so he could stop peeking at her or this pegasus was gonna get beat. "Security! We have an imposter in the room!" Hammer yelled without missing a beat. Lance started to laugh while more voices can be heard from down the hall. "Stop you!" "We got the bastard this time!" "Who breaks into a hospital!?" Thunders ears deflated when he heard the voices and walked up to the window. He gave a look back at hammer and winked. "Looks like its time for my exit. See ya Lance and friend. Real soon." The pegasus plopped the window open just as soon as 3 security guard ponies all trampled in. "Stop!" "Screw you! I do what I want!" Thunder yelled and took off into the sky with a blueish green streak in the air as one of the ponies shook his hoof in frustration. "Dammit. I told you idiots to be more careful!" And he hit the other two in a slap. "Ow!" "Ouch!" "Now back to the surveillance room both of you!" Said the pony who was clad in security barding and seemed to be the leader. Both of the other two trotted out at a brisk pace out the room. The leader turned to the now confused Lance and even more confused Hammerheart. "Sorry about that." He said and left. “Well...Huh. Lance?" Asked Hammerheart. "Yeah?" "Your friends are crazy. Just saying,” she shrugged. "I know. I know...but not all of them are bad. I guess." Lance responded with a sigh. He looked away from hammer in thought and stared into empty space. "So how is my foreleg? Broken?" "I talked to the doctors. Your dumb ass actually broke it cleanly and put it back. They only used a bonding spell on you and made sure it was set correctly." Hammerheart said with her usual voice of technicalities. The pegasus nodded in understanding. "I see." Lance sighed and lifted his forearm up in the cast that they put on him. "So what's the plan now?" "I don't know lance. I don't know. We have to wait for Nova." She pushed her hair back with her hoof. "He is the leader after all." "Yeah. Could use this time to rest." Lance said as Hammerheart agreed with him. The room suddenly was filled with a very awkward silence as the actions of last night ran through both of their minds. However it was cut short by a groan from the other bed in the room which was soon followed by frantic screaming. "Argh! I don't know who I am! I need... I need to find my calling!" The pony yelled. She raged and shook around in her bed but was held down in restraints. Her green mane got even more messed up along with her orange coat as she tried to escape. A doctor and two nurses came in the room shortly after. There faces and their demeanor showed no affection, just business as usual for them. The doctor removed the curtain around the bed for it not to be entangled in it. "Ms. Silverheart and Goldheart. Hold her down." "Yes Doctor Black Vain." The nurses promptly did as they were told as they held the crazy pony down. The doctor calmly lit his horn and grabbed a syringe from the counter. "No. I must try to find my destiny! Let me go! Let go!" The mare yelled. All this commotion made Lance and Hammerheart stop and stare. And then it hit Hammerheart. That mare looked very familiar. Actually extremely familiar. Was she the same mare from back in West Filly with the first encounter of Strife? How did she end up here right next to them in Canterlot? The doctor jabbed a syringe and injected a purple liquid into her. Her eyes went lopsided and she stopped moving. The nurses stopped holding her and strengthened the straps. The doctor took a notepad and started writing notes. "Note that this has been the third day and there no signs of getting better. She's losing mental focus and stability. Suggest increased surveillance and dosages until a cure is found." He said to the nurses and then dismissed them. Then he glanced back at Lance and Hammerheart and came up to them. "Sorry about that. But you two are free to go." "Excuse me?" Asked Lance who was still shocked to what he just saw. "What?” Exclaimed hammer with her jaw dropped. The doctor narrowed his eyes and snorted. “That means that you're free to leave Mr. Skyslicer. A Mr. Blade sent a letter, endorsed by Luna herself, expressing permission to release you before the standard healing period.” Both Hammerheart and Lances jaw dropped again. Not only that Lance was free to go but they were helped from Nova from behind the scenes. What the heck was he doing? “Wait doc. Can you explain to us about what's happening to the pony next to us? She seems to be losing her mind. Is it because she has no cutie mark?” “Since I know who you guys are.” He stated. “And the fact that you're giving me a death glare.” He gestured to Hammer who smiled just a tad. “I guess I have to.” “And we’re kinda pressed for time so just give us the abridged version. Just without the hilarious humor normally associated with abridged things.” Lance slowly made his way out of the bed with Hammer’s help. The doctor urged not to facehoof right then and there. He grumbled to himself but realised that these were the ponies that have to fight the cutie mark stealer and should know the consequences of losing your cutie mark as an adult. It was only logical to explain in detail on what happens to the victims. “Just like you seen with the mare next you. She has no cutie mark. Remember how when you were young at one point and strived to find your true purpose? Thats the same case for this mare now. Its almost if she has no destiny to fulfil and her mind is losing cohesion within itself. Its a sad state. All we can do is sedate her and hope that there is a cure for this. Not only as its a mental challenge but any skill or talent associated with the cutie mark is lost. And we don't know if its permanently gonna stay or until the cutie mark stealer is caught.” Both Hammerheart and Lance just stared wide eyed. They didn't know the of the scope of the damage that Strife was causing until now. For they realised how truly evil her actions are and how she needs to be stopped. “Come on Lance. Lets go.” Hammerheart urgently nudged Lance snaking her way under his injured forehoof and using her body as a crutch. “Oh, like I want to get my sweet cutie mark taken away when we go after her...” Location: Royal Throne Room Time: 8:23 AM Celestia was signing a bunch of scrolls on her throne. It was not her favorite thing in the world to do but if it meant not being in court all day long then it was welcomed. She had a mare with a yellow coat and a blue mane levitate the scrolls for her as she read them. "Hmm...tax decrease request? Denied. Next." The scroll folded up and then went back to a pile until it was instantly replaced by another scroll. "Lets see here." The royal sun princess scanned the scroll for anything important or anything that's not from a snobby noble. "A shipment that needs my signature before it can be delivered to the airship docks? Interesting." Celestia took her pen and signed it and gave it back to the mare. "Okay, next." The mare was about to pick up another scroll before a glob of white and green light suddenly erupted in the middle of the room. Looks like spike was sending a letter from Twilight. Finally something to do that was not boring! Celestia made her horn glow and grabbed the scroll that materialized from the dragon magic and held it up. "Lets see... Strife is still out there....plans for next week....Nova's plan to stop Strife should be stopped?" Celestia couldn't hold back her inner excitement. Anything to distract her from her royal routine was welcomed with open hoofs. She kept reading until she frowned. A scowl erupted from her face until she looked up with near hatred at the poor mare that happened to be in front of her. "Pri- Princess?" Celestia calmed instantly before realizing her emotions were getting to her. "Oh. Sorry about that StarLight. But call one of the guards to come and summon princess Luna. Immediately," she commanded. "Ri- Right away!" Starlight called out in a quick hoof salute and trotted out the door faster than a cockatrice running away from the stare. Location: Canterlot Arena. Time: 8:00 AM The damage from the skirmish that Nova and Lance did to the arena was still there. No pony had dared even to fix anything at this moment due to one unicorn bearing dark purple and blue armor that was in the middle of the arena. Nova blade just came right from waking up and came straight to the arena to practice. He knew that today is the day that he will face Strife and wanted to be prepared. Once he got to the arena he started balancing on top of his axe with one hoof on the handle and the rest of his limbs in the air and started meditating. It was amazing that Nova actually was really focused for once. He balanced and switched hooves with the greatest of ease. A glow formed all around him and the wind swirled around creating an interesting scene. Off to the distance three other off duty day time guards came and faced Nova. The leader turned to his two subordinates and gave them a nod. "Nova wants a training session? Give it to him." The two guards stepped up and threw the most powerful spell they had at Nova. Nova with his eyes closed smiled and hopped right off his axe missing the blasts. Once he landed he faced his opposers in a huge grin. "Throw me three charges. Alternating strength. I have to master this shield spell. Its kinda shaky than from using my axe." "If thats what you want. Fine." The de facto leader turned to both of his subordinates and nodded. "On my mark....Mark!" The unicorn guards blasted the best and most powerful spells they knew at Nova. A bolt of pure green energies spun right at him. The student of the night barely moved a muscle to activate his shield. It visibly staticked and flickered like bad reception. The attacks impacted and the shield instantly cracked all over. It was nearly at its breaking point in no time. Nova wondered why this time his spell was not very effective to normal magic attacks but worked in defending when he needed it at the Plot O Rama and when Lance attacked him before, but he only needed it for no more than a couple of seconds. Why was it failing on him? Why was it not working? "Aww. Manure. Plan B." In a split second the shield went down while Nova switched to his axe, swiped it out of the ground, and smacked the magic attacks away making them impact into the distant wall. “Okay. New idea. Forget the shield spells. My axe technically does it all." He now circled the weapon around him making his signature axe shield. "Come at me with all you got. Usually, nothing get through this." "Fine. You asked for this." The leader waved a hoof to signal his subordinates to back away. The armed guard horn glowed and the magics all cohelested to a single spot at the very tip. "Say hello to my little friend!" The guard blasted a fiery red hot beam of magic right at Nova. The beam bounced right off the spinning axe and careened into the other wall. Again. "Well thats super effective." Nova proclaimed. He stopped his axe and then stopped everything. He looked into his axe with a sneer, "No. I thought I told you to remind me." The other guards looked puzzled as nova had a stare down with his axe. "Wait. What? Since when?" He paused and shook his head. "Oh. Okay then...training can wait for the trip." Nova turned from talking to his axe and faced his fellow guards whom all three shared perplexed looks. "Forcejet. I need you to go and get Hammerheart and Lance out of the hospital and tell them to meet me at the airship field. And tell sergeant Airshock to ready the Nocturne. In the meantime, I have to get some things ready. Is that clear?" "Yes Captain Nova. Right away." Forcejet turned to his fellow subordinates. "Volt, Glaze, you heard him. Lets go." The guard ponies left out of the arena. Once they were out of earshot nova whispered to his axe. "Thanks for reminding me buddy. I almost forgot about the sweet rolls..." Location: Canterlot Mountain: Airship field - Section 14 Time: 11:08 Nova trotted swiftly through the airship field. Many ships were docked and others were either slowly taking off or landing. The unicorn didn't take any notice and quickly went to the airship in the back of the field. Lunas Airship. The sound of his armor clanking around alerted the workers and various pilots to his presence. With his axe squeaky clean and his armor with a perfect finish, Nova was ready for battle. Once he reached the airship though something was definitely wrong. A bunch of engineering ponies of various races all gathered and stared up at a single airship which was between two others. "I cannot describe what I'm seeing in words." Said one. “How? Is a better way to start describing it." Another proclaimed. “Why didn’t we see this before? Or hell how did we NOT see this before?” One called out from a distance. "Seriously. Upside down?" Said a third engineer pony which made the other two both stare at Nova with disapproving frowns. Nova smiled in a huge grin until he realised he was gonna get killed by these ponies for being an idiot. There in front of them was the finest and most badass looking airship in the entire Equestrian Air Navy. The S.S Noctune. Lunas personal airship which was retrofitted with 4 engines, a single front facing high mass bolt driver (a large crossbow) and a ton of light ablative armor. It was regarded as the fastest ship in the equestrian navy with the top speed that could keep up with an average pegasus in full sprint. Luna never liked a chariot like Celestia and usually hates making other pegasi pull her around. She liked her own vehicle. But for the time being it was lended to her student and friends. There was one problem though, it was completely upside down. Nova stared at it, and back at the fellow engineer ponies. “I honestly don't know what went wrong.” Location: Ponyville Time: 9:34 AM Pinkie Pie was with Twilight who was going to the carousel boutique. They both trotted silently until pinkie pie suddenly fell on the floor, bounced back up, and defied gravity once again for a full 12 seconds. Once she finished the defying process she fell back on the hard earth with a thud. Twilight looked at her with her jaw to the floor and asked the dreaded question. "What on Equestria is that all about?" “I think somepony broke physics and it wasn’t me.” Pinkie calmly explained with a huge grin. Twilight started shaking in fear. “You mean someone OTHER than you broke the laws of physics?” Pinkie put a hoof up to her chin in thought. “Uh, yes,” she calmly said. “Twilight?” “Huh. I guess it must be her nap time!” Location : Canterlot Mountain : Airship field : Section 14 Time: 11:23 "How the hell did you...what does...how does one simply make an airship perfectly upside down in the parking space and take until NOW to notice it. And what's worst is that NOTHING is falling out of it." Asked Hammerheart who had her saddlebags on along with some light barding. "Yeah, Hammerheart is right. How the buck did you do this Nova?" Lance asked as he stood next to Hammerheart whom where both grilling Nova in front of them. They were all standing in front of the S.S. Nocturne along with other engineer and work ponies. Nova took a couple of steps back in fear. "Really. I honestly don't know." "Well dont just stand there. Your a bucking unicorn. Fix it." Lance deadpanned. The injury to his forearm must have still been putting him in a bad mood. "Okay, okay, hold your horses!" "What the hell does that even mean!?" He yelled. Nova made his horn glow and a purplish hue engulfed the interceptor class airship. The ship slowly turned and rotated until it was rightside up. Nova panted from the sheer exertion of magic and sat on his haunches when he was done. Hammerheart came up to him and pat him on his helmet. "That'll do. That’ll do nova." "Yay, now we can go and capture Strife. I don't want this to get worst than it already is." Nova mumbled dejectedly. Lance who now was wearing a hoof brace, made by hammerheart, came up to him and looked him in the eyes. Novas mood changed, whatever he saw in lance's eyes meant he knew that Lance knew that it was not good. Strife had to be stopped. And soon. Hammerheart went up the ramp on the side of the ship and turned around to face the ponies below. "Nova, go start up the gem capacitors. You know that this ship needs 89 gigajoules to work. Fire it up with some magic!" Hammerheart demanded. "Yes sir. I mean ma’am, I mean master, I mean princess." "GO!” Hammer shoved Nova towards the boarding ramp. She then turned her attention to the injured sharpshooter. “Lance, your wing braces are in the back of the cargo hold waiting for you with those upgrades you wanted. Put them on and turn on the ships primary weapon and prime the ammo as you see fit. We don't know what to expect.” “Finally!" Lance gleefully spread his wings and bolted inside the ship. “And you three!” Hammerheart yelled at three engineer ponies just staring at the ship. “I want this ship ready in five minutes for take off. All necessary supplies and ammo. Got it!?" "Yeah, sure Hammerheart." One replied. "No. Captain! Captain Hammerheart to you!" The earth pony yelled from on top of the ship. “Too bad I lost that amazing airship captain’s hat...” Everyone started frantically setting the ship up. The engineers checked the engines, some external flaps and other primary components to make sure they're in working order. Nova was charging the capacitor of the ship with magic for the trip. Even though most ships are steam powered this one was special. A recent upgrade from Fancy Industries made this the first experimental Gem powered airship, with the gem acting as a capacitor and power supply. It greatly improved speed, maneuverability, and made the ship a lot lighter. Lance was inside the bow of the ship where the single bolt cannon was located. It was awesome weapon with a self reloading crossbow bolt the size of a hoof. The pegasus loaded a large black bolt onto the side slot and jammed it in. "Should provide a nice surprise when we fire this thing." He almost squee’d in delight. Hammerheart busied herself in the control room. A hell of a lot of dials, gauges, and even some techno magic displays were laid out everywhere. She pressed a series of buttons and the ship rocked and came to life with the external power. She grabbed a microphone and spoke into it. "Ship is about ready to take off. T minus 10 minutes. Boys you better do everything right, you don't want to blow up all over the launchpad like last time." From the bottom of the deck a yell was heard, but was muffled. "That was an accident. Let it go Hammer!" Another voice rang out from below deck. “That’s what she said!” Around the ship the engineer ponies took a step back from tending to the ship. They still can't believe how awesome and how powerful it was. For such a small size it was fully armed with every piece of technology Equestria could offer. Suddenly off in front of the ship a white glow of light erupted and expanded. "POOF" There, right in front of the ship appeared Luna with her two guards, Pepperstone and Darkshade. Even Thunder Dust was with them. Her mane flowed and she held her head up high. She must have just won a team deathmatch online for her to be in a good mood at this hour or something. Though the other ponies with her seemed to be utterly scared from her and shuffled slightly away. The night princess looked up at her ship and gave a smug smile. She walked up onto the deck along with her entourage and called out. "Wheres my student?" In that instant the ship erupted and the engines spurred out flames. Everypony was shaken violently until Nova literally appeared from a teleport right in front of Luna, startling her. "Ohhh, sorry Luna, I uh, Panicked when I heard your voice." Nova apologetically said. "Nova! You nearly gave me a royal heart attack." "I know I'm sorry. Just so you know where kinda in the middle of going after Strife right now..." Nova trailed off. He himself really wanted to get this over with, not just for Luna but maybe to save Sonata herself before shes beyond saving. "Worry not my student. Thats why I’m here. Do you know exactly where she was spotted?" Luna asked. Nova tilted his head in his classic confusion expression and shook his head slowly. "I thought so." Hammerheart came out from the cockpit and waved a hoof at Luna but instantly sneered angrily at Thunder Dust who was standing next to her. Thunder actually backed away a bit and stood behind the princess. "Princess! About time you got here. I need those coordinates." "Hammerheart. Thunder Dust here was actually the scout that found Strife. He will give you the coordinates." Luna calmly said. Thunder Dust came forward, wiggled his eyebrows and laughed a bit causing Hammerheart to take a few steps back from him now. Lance came up onto the main deck and found everyone here. Thunder spotted him in his wing brace and gave out a hearty laugh. "Nice leg you got there." "Nice wings, I hope they break." "Woah, what's wrong with you? A little sour at this time are we not?" "I hadn't had booze in 23 hours." Lance replied. He was dirty from all the soot and dirt that he accumulated from the dirty firing mechanisms he worked on. “Here buddy, I brought some Alicorn Ale with me, usually helps me on the long flights.” Thunder said as he pulled out a bottle with glass wings and a cap that resembled a horn. Lances mouth started watering and he stared at intensely. “Give it now!” Lance glomped Thunder and they started a fight cloud with them after the booze. As Lance and Thunder scuffled more, Hammerheart ignored them and talked to Luna's guards while Nova spoke to the princess. "Luna, forgive me." This took Luna by surprise. "What on Equestria for?" "For not going after her sooner. I let things get really bad." Luna walked up and wrapped a wing around Nova like a caring mother, making sure not to touch the axe on his back. "That's alright. You did what you had to do, from defending yourself and your friends. Your a good pony Nova. You need to remember that." Nova only nodded. “Also, take note. Your friends are there to help you, and you have been taught many things, things that would make other warriors and students jealous, all to help you.” He knew he had a mission to accomplish and he would not let anything go wrong this time. “Just stay safe. I don't want another student failure....like that stupid show mare.” Luna raised a hoof up in frustration leaving Nova partially invigorated and slightly more confused on what the heck Luna was talking about. Some time passed and Luna bid farewell to her student and his friends. As she and her guards left to go back to the castle, a pegasi in the day guard armor came from above really fast and landed right in front of her. “Forgive me your highness, but princess Celestia is looking for you and asks that you meet her in the Royal Archives immediately.” “Uh...Did she find out already?” “What?” Before anything further could be said, Luna's horn glowed and she vanished in a teleport. “I hate it when she does that.” Said PepperStone. Darkshade snorted in response. “Does she not realize that we are with her at all times, and purposely forgets we exist!?” “I believe so, Dark, I believe so.” “Fuuuuuu......” Location: Airship Field : Section 14 Time : 11:34 AM Hammerheart punched in the coordinates that Thunder Dust gave her into the ships techno magic navigation system which was nothing more than a magic powered compass strapped to a chart. The display lit up and showed them as a little ship symbol with a large x on the other side of the chart. “Okay then. Now to make sure everything is ready.” A press of another switch lit up another display which showed the ships vital stats and various levels of power, magic, ammo, etc. She smiled at her handy work before stopping in thought. “Oh I almost forgot I can do this.” The earth pony went up to her saddlebags in the back of the cockpit and took out her Experimental Arcane Device and attached it to her leg. She came back to the controls and press a blue button that said ‘Bluechop Connection Dongle’ which lit up and the controls with all various technical information was transferred to her leg. “Everything is better with Bluechop. Now I can see everything that goes on the ship without having to run it from the cockpit. Sweeeet.” She grabbed a radio and pressed a button. "This is S.S. Nocturne, requesting permission for take off. Over" *Static* "This is General Airshock, your clear to takeoff, all traffic has been cleared for approximately 20 minutes, so take off within that time. Over. "Ten four. Over and out." Meanwhile, Lance and Nova were talking amongst themselves on the main deck after Nova finished charging the ship up to the proper levels of magic. Lance though took off his brace on his leg and wrapped it with some bandages. “So, you can't do a shield spell properly anymore? Then how the heck did you do it when I attacked you and when Strife took off back at the Plot O Rama?” Lance asked as he flexed his wings in a wing shrug. Nova, stood there pondering in thought for a moment before responding. “I don't Know, It seems though I can do just as well with my axe spinning around me then just relying on my magic for temporary defense." The unicorn turned around towards his axe on his back. "What?" He paused. "No, YOU did that?" "Did what?" "This bastard, took some of my magic without permission!" "Wut? What the heck are you talking about." Lance asked. Clearly it was too early for Nova to have problems. "As you know my axe acts as some sort of battery, and I can store almost the equivalent of my max power into the axe along with my own reserves. Its like having 2 unicorns in terms of total magic power." "Which means in plain equine?" "It means my axe choked some of my magic. Isn't that right limb?" Nova clearly didn't know why his axe did that. "What you mean, my life was not in danger at that time? I still could've handled it with-" Nova gasped loudly. "Oh you better not give me the silent treatment. Limb? Did you just hang up on me? How in Tartarus did he do that?" "Your axe has problems." "I want a refund from Luna. Never should've gotten this thing." *static* "Boys everything is ready on my end. Take off in t-minus. 10 seconds." Hammerheart sounded through the loudspeaker. "Wait what?" "7" "Crap, Wings down." Lance said as he hunkered down using his wings as external supports. "5" "Wait I'm not ready hammer!" Yelled Nova as he frantically tried to grab something. "4... Ah screw it, FIRING AFTERBURNERS!" It was too late, Hammerheart punched the big red button. The four engines swiveled to face aft and fired a horrifying bright purple blast of pure energy. The ship rocketed out of the hanger at great speed while inadvertently blowing away everything that was unfortunate enough to be with within a few hundred feet of the thing. In the control tower, Sargent Airshock and others just watched in awe at the purple light in the distance taking off. Everyone gasped in unison with a resounding "Daaaaaaaamn." Nova yelled but couldn't be heard from the roar of the engines as the ship gained more speed. He lost some grip from the railing he was grabbing on too. “Oh Luna rape with the mo....” *slip* Nova careened into the back of the ship as the engines swiveled forward. With a crash he went right through the door and landed in the rear observation room. The ship gained even more momentum going forward before eventually reaching its cruising speed. Hammerheart burst open the door leading to the deck. "Hows that for zero to subsonic in less than 10 seconds flat." She looked around and saw Lance pick himself up as even he himself toppled over and fell along with Nova. The student of the night was nowhere to be seen on deck except a large skidmark leading to the rear side. "Okay then...we should be to Ghastly Gorge in about 1 hour to 45 minutes at this speed and wind currents." The wind was strong as the ship speed through the air making it a bit cold. Though for Lance this was nothing compared to the harsh conditions of upper atmosphere flying. "Hammer, remind me to do kick your flank for doing that." “Oh lighten up Lance, I Haven't driven this thing since back in Zebraria and It has been upgraded lately. Thank Fancy for that." "Yeah, but you nearly sent Nova flying off the ship. He didn't even have a chance to brace himself with magic. Ya better apologise to him." "But Its not my-" "Hammer!" "Fine, fine." Hammerheart pressed a button on the EAC on her forearm which set the ship on autopilot. She went down the stairs and turned towards the rear of the ship. Inside she found one side of the wall cracked completely but was put back together. Odd. Didn't Nova just crash through not too long ago? That question left her when she opened the door, looked inside and gasped. There Nova was actively attacking his axe and his axe attacking back with its own magic. Nova quickly looked at Hammer. "Nows, NOT the-," *Smack* the axe hit the unicorn with another attack. "-Time! Leave!" He turned back to the weapon and summoned a bucket filled with water. "Time to learn a lesson you ungrateful piece of metal." The axe started to spin on its axis. He lunged at the weapon. Hammerheart slowly closed the door. As soon as it clicked shut she heard a muffled explosion and a large yell. But she didn't turn around to look, no she was a bad ass mare. Once she returned to the deck she was greeted by Lance. "Well. Is he okay?" "Don’t ask. I really don't know." "Something happen?" "Lets just say." Hammerheart pulled up some goggles and put them on. "Hes having a bad day. Yeah. Lets go with that." "Alrighty then." Lance rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Thanks for caring for me again at the hospital. You nearly healed my leg overnight." He shuffled and hit the deck with the leg wrapped in bandages to punctuate his point. "Hey, what are friends for?" "Benefits. They are there for benefits." Lance said without hesitation. "Ugh, you disgust me sometimes. Sometimes." Hammerheart said with an added wink. *Tink* Lances wing sprung straight up causing Hammerheart to giggle a bit. "You really need to get that under control." "Okay one. I need more alcohol and two.This is not the time Hammer. If Nova saw us get close...I mean, I don't think he knows why I was pissed at him before and I don’t think I could take him now." Hammer just laughed. “Oh please you couldn't take him in the first place.” "Hey! If magic wasn't a factor and Nova didn't have that psycho axe I’d beat his flank from her to VanHoover and back." Lance paused and got back on track to what he was saying before. “But I'm being honest Hammer. This is the last thing we really need on our minds now.” "I see." Hammerheart ears deflated when Lance practically shot her down. Even though it was the perfect chance she couldn't risk the mission or Luna forbid, Nova just for Lance. Even though she had feelings for Nova, it was wrong to get mixed up in a mess. Her mare problems had to wait. They were all on a mission, a mission to save Equestria. Time: 12 PM Location: enroute to Ghastly Gorge. Heading : SW The ship cruised onwards for quite a while with the sun high above the sky. It was a clear day, not a cloud in sight. Though to Lance that was a bad thing. Clouds provide cover for him during his sniping and it allows him to shuffle clouds around. Not the best conditions in his opinion to engage the enemy or provide support, especially today. Hammerheart was piloting the ship from the front making sure everything is okay with the energy levels and engines. Lance came through the door and then shuffled to the side looking at some instruments. "Hey, how far are we from our current destination?" Hammer only press a button which showed a map and the ship from above. "Hmm, It seems we are about maybe 30 or so minutes away from the coordinates but we are above the beginning of the gorge itself. We could get there faster, in 5 minutes if we put full afterburners on. But those only last for 60 seconds before shorting out." Lance raised an eyebrow. "Really? Well I might as well start looking out for any signs of trouble. Have you seen or heard from Nova in the past hour or so?" "No I haven't. Actually he has been really quiet. I don't like it when its quiet, especially when its him we are talking about." Lance opened his mouth to say something but closed it. He only nodded. "Lets go check on him." "Sure, Let me transfer controls real quick." Hammer pressed a button and again all of the control of the ship transferred to the device on her leg. Lance followed her out and to the rear level where Nova was. They paused before the door. "Okay so. On the count of three. We slowly open the door." Lance said while putting a hoof up. "Gotcha." "One, Two...three." Lance nudged the door open while hammer peered inside. The sight they saw was not really surprising to them but to anypony else it would be, uh, interesting. Inside Nova was surrounded in magic and floating. His axe slowly rotating around him. Three books were also in front of him all open and slowly being read by Nova whose eyes was emitting a large streak of purple energy. He almost looked like Sombra for a second but with a strange smile on his face. "Nova!" Nova startled from Lances rude interruption dropped himself, the axe and the books. He thumped on the floor and banged his head. "What the Buck was that for!?" The unicorn yelled. The books disappeared in white flash while the axe automatically went back to his back. "We are about 30 minutes from the coordinates near Ghastly Gorge. You ready?" "Yeah. I'm ready." Nova said as he shifted his armor back into position. "What the heck were you doing?" Hammerheart asked as she tilted her head in confusion. "You better not be doing anything stupid again." Nova put hoof up to stop her. "No, I was studying on shield spells and how to make my axe behave." The axe shifted and shook on his back. "I know I have been mean to you, I said I was sorry Limb, Its you who won't listen though." The axe shook again and then glowed a bit yellow. "Whatever." "Well come on. You should be on the lookout for-" *BOOM* The ship shook violently and started to angle down taking everyone by surprise. "The hell is happening!?" Nova yelled as he struggled to get up. Hammerheart looked at her screen on her foreleg. "Crap. The ship has been hit. There is a huge air leakage on the right side. We’re losing about 100 cubic feet of air by the second and I don’t think the repair spells can handle it!" Hammerheart said as she looked at her device. Red marks flashed all over the little overview map of the ship. "Everyone out, come see what the hell is going on!" Lance ordered as the two followed him. Hammerheart went straight to the cockpit while the others went to the main deck. She pressed a lot of buttons on her way there to make the ship steady but controls that a hoof can pull or push was better at the moment amidst all the shaking. Nova took out his axe and made sure to keep a lookout. Lance though readied his wing braces and clicked in some ammo. He took off right away while Nova looked frantically around to the sides and front to see what hit them. The ship had a gash the size of a boulder named Tom and was losing altitude fast. Smoke billowed from the airframe but the engines were unharmed for the most part. Hammerheart was clicked and pulled a lot of levers in a quick fashion. The altitude was dropping rapidly and the engines were already pointed down more than usual to keep the ship up. It was a struggle between gravity and forward momentum. "Crap, I have to use the afterburners to keep aloft." She punched the button and the ship exploded with purple energy out of the engines pulling the ship to a stable flight but still descending. Nova out of the corner of his eye spotted a flash and then looked over to the horizon. There in the distance was a clearing and within that clearing was a pony with, what appeared to be, Manticores all around the said pony. "Lance to your left! Mark your target!" Nova commanded. From the distance a beam of light was collapsing and shot towards the ship. Nova literally threw his axe off to try to block it from hitting the ship but missed. The beam impacted the ship causing one of the engines to burst out and explode. Lance in the meantime saw where the beam shot from and circled back to the ship to inform Hammer. He barely came back in time and stumbled through the door. "Hammer, Head northeast 13 clicks, 54 degree bank turn. I know the ship is doomed but I need to at least a get a shot at her." "Wait, what? You know who is attacking us!? Why that specific turn too? Thats almost a crash landing." "Exactly Strife is attacking and she has some help of some Manticores." "What the buck!? Seriously? Does Nova know?" "Now is not the time hammer to question how far a pegasus can see, do what I say and point the ship at her with the information I just gave you! I will tell Nova to help you with energy but I think we might need to abandon ship right after I fire the bolt cannon." The ship rocked and swayed causing Hammerheart to slip and fall. Lance immediately helped her up while she continued working the controls. "Thanks, now go man the cannon if we are gonna do this. Nova better hurry on the energy recharge, I have about 24 seconds of afterburners left and we are descending at a rate of 100 ft per second, lets get a move on!" She commanded and quickly reached for her saddlebag and put on her power hooves faster than lightning while discarding her device on her foreleg. Lance saluted and flew out of the cockpit and went straight to Nova who at this time saw where the attacks were coming from. "Nova! Strife is attacking us, I'm telling Hammer to angle the ship so I can fire a shot at her with the cannon. Come with me and power charge the engines." "But, shes constantly throwing energy blasts at us, with goddam thermal damage! Who the hell is gonna block her attacks?!" "Theres no time Nova. Come on. If I get a good shot at her then her attacks will stop." "Alrighty then..." Nova took his axe back and followed lance below deck. The ship swayed and jittered a lot in its slow descent making the two bump into the walls as they traveled down. Lance immediately went to the back of the cannon and activated the controls. A small screen popped up showing a scope and a target marker. Nova on the other hoof went to the energy crystal capacitor and got ready to charge it. Lance aimed the cannon just slightly up about 4 degrees and primed the weapon. The large black bolt slid into place automatically and then cocked in. "Nova, start charging it. The ship is using all the power for the afterburners, so once I fire this, There will be no power left. We got to teleport out of here as soon as I fire. Understood?" "Yes sir, charging capacitor." Novas horn glowed his classic purple and energy was shot into the spinning ruby gem. Lance saw on an auxiliary screen the power go up and hold to a certain point. *SMASH!* Another blast of energy hit the ship, this time to the side throwing Nova and Lance around. The ship suddenly lunged forward and into a steep dive making nearly impossible to get up from the forces exerted. *”Hang on boys, Strife shot us again but I think I can get up.”* Hammerheart called out through the intercom. "I'm not gonna fail this time, No way!" Nova called out in a victory cry. He grabbed the nearest object and pulled himself up. Once again his horn glowed and energies started flowing back into the capacitor. Lance, inspired by Novas dedication, got up as well and started to take aim while looking at the screen. He saw Strife there in the distance surrounded by at least 20 manticores all in a clearing not too far from the cliff face of Ghastly Gorge. Thoughts on why and how Strife was doing all this baffled him. But now was not the time to care. He focused on zooming in and marking his trajectory. Meanwhile, Hammerheart was doing a hell of a job keeping the ship steady with Novas energy replenishment. The pegasus squinted his eyes and took aim. He pulled the trigger. "Firing Main Cannon." A female voice called out. A streak of black shot out from the ship heading straight towards strife. Partway between her it split into more than a hundred bolts and rockets all going in seemingly random directions. Strife though did nothing immediate but eventually her horn glowed and she with her manticore buddies vanished and reappeared some distance away. The impact destroyed that section of the land which crumbled and fell into the bottom of the gorge. "Crap we missed. Nova, a teleport would be nice now!" Lance said with urgency. Nova stopped charging the capacitor and activated another spell. He and Lance vanished into thin air and reappeared in the cockpit almost causing Hammerheart to die of near heart attack with them suddenly appearing. "Ahhh! What the bucked are you two doing?! And how the hell did you miss Lance!?" "Dammit. Nova how close can you get us?" Lance asked ignoring hammerheart. Nova saw in the distance another glow of energy coalescing where Strife is standing. "Right on top of her." He seethed, his axe glowed purple and his amour even seeped with some magic. “Okay that works.” Lance saluted. "Wait, what!?" Hammerheart pressed a button to put the ship on autopilot right before they vanished into thin air. Location: Ghastly Gorge Time :12:48 PM "Take this!" Strifes made some energy coalesce into a small ball, once it got to a certain point it shot a steady red beam into the airship far off to the distance. It impacted the side of the ship making a nice hole in the hull. Strife was standing amongst some Manticores. They all looked like they were afraid of her but couldnt leave for some reason. She watched the sky above as a purple airship exploded again and fell from the sky. "Those fools think they could find me so easily." She then turned to the manticores and then took out a magic whip. *Smack!* "All of you front and center. I want 2 manticores up front, two on the back, and the rest on the sides. As soon as you see anypony, attack. Understand!?" She threw the whip which again smacked the ground and in that instant the manticores shuffled positions. On her flank was another cutie mark along with the others, that of a whip on top of a paw, which glowed when she used her magical whip. "Come on Nova, you want to capture me and stop me from reaching my goal? Lets see you try." She said to herself. She peered up at the sky and saw the ship finally descend below the horizon. Nova and company were nowhere to be seen. Strife at this point almost considered whether or not that it was the right ship in the first place to attack. Well it had to be. It did have a lunar crest on the outside. And at least it was not as annoying as that stupid pegasus that got away. A hundred or so feet above her a white glow of light erupted and in that instant Nova and the gang came out of a teleport. Though this time nopony screamed or made a sound. Lance immediately grabbed Hammerheart and hovered, holding his position. Nova on the other hoof took out his axe and placed it under his hooves and air surfed to the ground. A manticore looked up and roared causing the others, including strife, to see what the commotion was all about. Nova came in full speed, but didn't say anything, not a single war cry but kept going straight down. His axe glowed and a lot of electricity formed on the bottom side of the axe. Strife saw him and erected a shield while one of the manticores stood directly below him, hoping to stop him. "This is gonna be interesting." Lance said as he continued hovering and slowly moved to the side of the crowd of manticores, looking for a save spot to put down Hammer. Nova impacted the unfortunate manticore with his axe cutting him straight down his side in a long swipe. The manticore didnt have a chance, he fell straight down with blood pouring out of him. The unicorn landed on the ground in a thud causing sparks and rocks flying in all directions, hitting Strifes shield and other manticores. Once the dust cleared of his initial impact he grabbed his axe, now slightly bloody and put it front of him pointing it at Strife. "This ends...now." "Ah, yes! You have fallen into my trap! I was expecting you to co-" *BANG, BANG, BANG* Shots of purple hit multiple manticores causing them to fall over unconscious while sending others in a near panic. Lance was circling above and shot more manticores with expert precision in the chest and wings. Some dodged and some attacked him back by taking off after him. Strife was now down to 16 manticores under her control and couldn't believe how Nova literally wounded one without hesitation. "Nova, I thought you, of all ponies, wouldn't hurt other creatures," she cooed in her soothing, evil voice. The armoured unicorn said nothing for a moment before taking the axe closer to him, smiling to himself, and then looking back at Strife. "I know limb, calm down. Focus on the former friend and now great threat to Equestria." "What on Equestria are you talking about?" Strife asked being quite irritated. She still kept her distance from Nova and at the same time Hammer and Lance kept the Manticores busy. Hammer though with her power hooves started literally decimating her opposition, even though these beasts are 5 times a ponys size, she took down 3 of them with ease already. Lance too was firing bolt after bolt into the half lion half winged things. Strife looked and saw that she was down to already 10 manticores. Her face turned to a horrified expression. She looked at the student of the night and how he was so calm, composed, and above all, not acting like an idiot. "Forget them! Attack Ponyville instead!" Strife yelled at her manticore minions. She wanted them to be a distraction for the three so she can recharge her magic and run away. The remaining manticores all turned and heading into the surrounding woods towards the town. Though to Strifes surprise, once the manticores all turned around and fled, all three warriors under Luna, instead surrounded Strife on all sides. "Buck. I thought you would save the town." "Not a chance, I have a mission to stop YOU, not to save a town. Besides, I think the elements of harmony can handle it." "Oh? How do you plan to stop me from getting revenge on this totaterlaion society?" Strife asked. Her eyes gazed to her left and right where both Lance and hammerheart were standing. She was surrounded by three strong warriors. This was different than the other encounters. There was no hesitation in their teamwork, no stupid shenanigans from Nova. Though she did catch a look at Lance. Lance though tried to not make any eye contact. Strife saw this and guessed that Hammer might be jealous. She could use this to her advantage! But how? "Strife, I'm gonna ask you this. How on earth did you get another cutie mark!? Thats four as of now." Nova asked while his axe slowly revolved around him subconsciously. "Oh this?" She showed her flank more prominently and made sure to make it more known to Lance while Hammerheart's eye violently twitched. Lance raised a hoof up from behind the other two. "For the record... I'd still tap that." "Ummm wow... Anyway... I got this paw and whip from a fellow in near Los Pegasus. He was a manticore circus trainer and I thought that with powers like those, I could have an army of savage beasts that could kill a pony in one swipe under my control." She put a hoof up in dismissal. “But I didn't expect you to be so good in taking them down." "Okay then, seems legit. So are you gonna come quietly. Or are we gonna have to drag you to the hospital to see the damage you done or what?" Nova explained. His voice was calm and his armor actually glowing at the seams and edges. Hammerheart though stomped her hoof down. "Nova, How the buck did you know what's happening at the hospitals?" Hammer asked. "One of the guards told me. And I know the full scope of the situation, the damage she has caused, and the fact that Strife might be the cure for putting the cutie marks back." Nova stopped his axe and then pointed it at Lance. "You ready?" "You know it." "Oh, wait a minute..You're that pegasus... And for the record... I'd let you tap that that!" Strife immediately called out looking at Lance ending with a suggestive wink. This was followed with a very angry earth pony charging full speed at Strife screaming like a psychopath. The multi cutie mark unicorn in return blasted the earth pony with a magic energy bolt, throwing Hammerheart back. "Lance, you and Hammer know what to do." Nova called out. His horn glowed and he got in the most serious stances he ever been in. "Oh? Are you really gonna hit a mare? You know I can block your magic attacks right? I am stron-" Strife herself didn't finish her sentence. Nova charged at her with his hooves in the full armor glowing a fiery red and his axe too the same color. She erected a force field, which was the term for a stronger shield meant solely for blocking. Nova impacted the shield with a huge burst of light ensuing. Hammerheart was helped up by Lance and cursed the ground. "I'll beat that whorse into a puddle if its the last thing I do." She seethed and shook the dirt off her power hooves. Lance put a hoof on her shoulder with a firm shake of his head. "Stop. Hammer. Nows not the time for your feelings." Lance said as he put in more ammo in the crossbows. "Nova needs us, He can't do the final attack unless we do it for him. You know his rule, He can't kill or harm anyone that was his former friend. Those manticores on the other hoof...well you saw what he just did." "I know, I know. I'm just pissed is all." "Then be pissed at Strife. She is the enemy. And any enemy of my friends deserves to be put down." He extended his wings and pointed up. "Yeah, yeah. Just don't pull a bolt in my flank. Its my best quality." "No promises. But I think your flank is second." The pegasus chuckled and shot up into the sky. Nova crashed right through the shield making Strife do a mini teleport away. The armoured unicorn looked downright scary when he wanted to be. His axe was in front of him spinning and doing mini swipes. "Strife, I'm telling you to stop and come with us. You're being irrational." He said as the axe jittered up and down along with his words. "Never!" She summoned up some coals, and lit them on fire. In a sweeping throw she tossed a multitude of fiery heaps at her opponent. Nova in quick succession swiped the axe in a multiple directions deflecting or crushing the projectiles. Suddenly, a shot of green shot near strife causing her to stumble back. But another bolt hit the ground as well, shooting a green sprouts of emerald crystals at her. Lance was doing all this from far above making him invaluable for fire support. With Lance controlling where Strife was heading, Nova lunged at her legs with his weapon, making sure to use the blunt side. Strife though blasted him head on with a water spell pushing Nova back, preventing him from going further. Hammerheart took this opportunity to get the upper hoof on her. She bounced high into the air and aimed for Strife. Her hooves could be quite deadly, not from the initial impact but from the electricity that it emanated. Strife, nearly overwhelmed from the sudden influx of multiple attacks dropped everything and made another shield. Everyones attacks bounced off except Hammerhearts. She literally stood on top of Strife shield and started pounding away at the top, making small cracks with every hit of her power hooves. Almost like a zerg rush. "I will end you right here and now!" Hammerheart yelled. "Well, lets see how you like this." Strife said as she suddenly dropped the shield, turned around and bucked hammer in her free fall from above. The earth pony flew off and again landed in a skid. But Strife should've paid attention to her surroundings. *Bonk!* The multi cutie mark unicorn was hit from Novas axe right to the side throwing her to the ground. Hammer took this opportunity to get up and assist Nova. The student of the night stopped her with a hoof. "Hammer wait." "But we have to capture her!" "Somethings not right..." In that moment strife, who was still on the ground stood back up quickly. A magic seal appeared under her and a large wind picked up coming from her. The magic pressure was almost too much for Nova. "Die!" Strife threw up another force field, and then summoned hot coals again. But she covered them with water. Purple water. Nova saw this and was baffled. What could she be thinking? But there was no time to ponder on that. She threw a multitude of hot gooey coals at Nova and Hammerheart. Nova stood their and got his weapon ready to defend. "Nova! Don't let them touch your axe!" Lance screamed out from above. He unleashed a heavy salvo of black bolts which hit each coal coming straight at nova. The shots hit the coals midair but on impact, exploded in a huge firework like explosion. One of the coals hit Nova though. One that Lance missed and it stuck to his armor like glue. "Crap." Nova literally exploded and rocketed back in a huge arc. If it was not for his armor he would have been seriously injured. "Nova! No!" Hammerheart jumped higher than usual due to her adrenaline to come to her fallen friend. Nova groaned. His armor on his right foreleg and his back was chipped. Some parts were cracked and started to fall. "Here Nova let me help you. Lance! Keep her busy!" Lance didn't need to be told what to do in this kind of situation. He most certainly had the upper hoof in this battle. Its not like Strife can attack him with anything substantial. Right? Strife on the other hoof saw what she did. She herself didn't expect to do that. "Huh, It seems that when I combine certain cutie marks in attacks, I can almost triple or quadruple the damage." She looked up and saw lance ready another dive bomb of bolts. “Oh this will not do. Not do at all." She looked at Nova and Hammer and saw that Novas axe was on the ground. He must have took a huge hit. But how to get rid of that pesky pegasus? Ah, yes she didn't steal that manticore trainer cutie mark for nothing. She turned towards the woods and whistled the classic dog whistle. Lance didn't think of anything of it and went right for her. A black blur shot out of the neighboring woods taking Lance by surprise. A black coated manticore came to Strife. He was at least twice as tall as the other manticores and actually wore some kind of makeshift armor on his body. Lance actually Landed on the ground due to sheer shock. He looked at the opponent then back towards his friends. "Uh, guys. A little help here we might have a problem." "What are you tal-" Hammerheart turned around after bandaging up Nova. "Oh. Well that's not shocking. I've seen bigger." "What!?" "What!?” Both Strife and Lance yelled out. Lance was even more skeptical on Hammers judgement in battle now. He flapped his wings and got close to her and Nova. Nova grumbled but eventually got up. His belly was wrapped in large bandage he groaned a bit in pain. All three of the students of the night just stared at Strife and the large black manticore. "Oh, I didn't see this. The student of the night and his friends being held back from my power?" Strife said as she stroked her mane. "Ha ha ha! Taking over the Equestrian government is gonna be a snitch. I will start by taking Luna down first. Since she means so much to you, Novatic Blade." "What!?" Nova quickly turned to his axe and picked up. "Any bright Ideas limb?" He heard nothing but looked back at Strife. "Guys, I'm going to be very serious. Can you take that large manticore out?" "Yeah. Hopefully." Lance replied as he clicked in more ammo. Though he himself was running low he was really depending on Hammer this time. Hammer herself was somehow really confident in herself. "Oh, the gang thinks this gonna be easy?" Strife taunted the group. She magicked once more her whip and smacked it against the ground. "Pride leader Kimba, Attack!" Lance and Hammerheart took off to face off there new opponent while Nova used a quick teleport to charge Strife. The battle has only just begun. Location: Royal Archives - Top floor Time : 1:23 PM "Sister, what is the meaning of this? Why have you brought me here?" Luna said in the most unpleasant voices. She hated being summoned from her sister and most importantly hated not being told why she was being summoned. Celestia stood with her in the middle of the archive room. "It has come to my attention that something is missing." "Like what?" “Let me show you." Celestia turned to a wall that held only pictures and a pretty standard bookcase. She pressed in one of the lower books with her hoof and the bookcase started to move over revealing a hidden passageway. Torches lit up the way and it seemed to go on forever into the abyss. "Ah, the ancient archives. But what about them?" "Something in here was taken, but no pony can move it, not even me." "What are you saying sister?" Luna shared her sister concern now while Celestial stayed composed. But Luna had a pretty good idea on what her sister was already referring too. "I'm saying, the thing I fear the most is missing." "Why are you really doing this Sonata? Why!" Nova yelled as his axe smashed and clanged against Strifes own magic weapon that she summoned up. "I don't have to tell you anything. Just stay out of my way." She seethed. A furious exchange of weapon against weapon. Sparks erupted every time the weapons met. And each pony was not letting up in their attacks. Nova was surprised how she, a complete amateur in swordplay, was keeping up with him, an highly trained student in terms of speed and technique. This only served to make Nova more frustrated. Though off to the side a large crash and a yell sounded. Nova took a quick look to see Hammerheart being thrown back and Lance firing every bolt he had at the pride leader. "Ha! An opening!" Strife took the chance now that Nova was distracted and hit him with a large energy blast that had flames coming out of it. "Horse apples." Nova took the full front of the blast to his front chest piece, scalding it and making it turn black. The blast pushed him back, skidding him across the ground but he maintained his balance. He looked down at his chest piece and then looked back at Strife. A smug smile erupted from her face. Nova hated when his enemy's looked down upon him. And he hated it more when ponies damaged his armor. But limb had a point. Needless rage would cause unnecessary waste of time and magic power. Luna's armor could wait to be repaired. "Let's try this. Illusionary magic." Strife announced making the star and wand swipe cutie mark glow. "Illusionary what?" Nova watched in horror as Strife disappeared before his eyes. She didn't teleport but visual contact was lost. Novas head turned around in each way, not sure on where she would attack next. "Take this!" Strife yelled suddenly appearing from directly above Nova with more flaming coals right at him. He couldn't block in time with his axe. Each hot coal hit him and his armour, pelting the buck out of him. Nova instantly retaliated by swinging his axe in a long arc at her. But before long Strife disappeared again before Nova could hit her. “Stop relying on cheap tactics!" Nova called out hoping that she would speak while cloaked to give Nova something to tell her position. She remained silent forcing Nova to go back on the defensive. He swung his axe around him in a long arc hoping to hit her when invisible. "You're gonna have to do better than that." She uncloaked and to Novas surprised she appeared right in front of him with her hind legs outstretched. She bucked Nova square in the face with her legs sending him once again flying up and landing on his back. His helmet flew right off from the impact was dented all over. "Nova!" Lance this time called out. "Yikes!" The pegasi dodged a swift swing of Kimbas paw. "Forget him Lance, he will be fine! Just ready another salvo!" Hammerheart yelled as she jumped high hoping to get the Manticores head full of lightning from her power hooves. Though the beast turned around and smacked Hammerheart out of the air. "Oowww!" Strife approached the downed Unicorn with caution. Nova groaned and struggled to get up. "Ohhh, my head." I swear to Luna, she is getting on my nerves. I really don't want to use deadly force on her still, but at this point I might have to. Novas axe rose up glowing red and rotated around Nova making his signature shield. "Oh, I see what the problem is. You will not attack me cause I'm your former friend. A pony you know and used to trust." Strife cooed. "I hope that I'm not causing you internal conflict right now. 'Oh, should I attack her or defend and capture her somehow.' A noble cause but nothing you do will work." Strife said as she came closer. She approached the student of the night and charged up her horn. A magic circle that looked just like her cutie mark erupted around her again. "Time to get your cutie mark Nova, I always wanted to take it, But you always covered it. Now why is tha-" Nova teleported away from his spot and appeared not to far from Strife. He was panting and he struggled to keep his balance. "Oh gonna run away? Hold still while this magic will bind you against your will." "Limb. Release inner reserves." Nova said out loud. In that moment his axe stopped spinning around him and planted back on his back. The weapon glowed a bright blue and purple causing Novas horn to do the same. Energy erupted from the axe now and transferred to Nova, healing instantly his wounds, and also repairing his armor. Strife stumbled back a bit before continuing her attack until she herself realised that Nova was healing himself. With that she charged forward with intentions to kill or to take his cutie mark. Whichever came first. Nova this time shot a beam of energy at strife forcing her to dodge. But she came charging forward with the arcane circle following her. Nova knew that if he got caught in that circle, it would be the end of him. He threw his axe at Strife like a boomerang and simultaneously shot a simple magic attack from his horn. Strife pulled up a shield making that axe and the attack bounce off. The axe though started cutting a circle on top of her shield like a glass cutter cutting through glass. This took strife by surprise as she now had to deal with an axe that was actively trying to get to her by itself. Nova took this distraction and teleported. "Where the heck did y-" Nova literally appeared inches from her and he headbutted her in the face all before touching the ground. He twirled around and then bucked her in the side sending her flying while simultaneously canceling her active spells. She flew across in an arc but Nova once again teleported to the point in Which she was heading. He took his axe and like a baseball bat he punted her back across the field. "Ahhhhhhh!" Strife yelled in pain. Nova was not giving a single buck but was completely serious. Strife rolled and skidded to a halt, brushed and battered from Nova hit. Never did she expect him to do that. Actually she was sort of grateful he used the blunt end of the weapon. "Strife. Stop this you need fix all the damage you have done." Nova reasoned. Strife though didn't want to hear another word. "Rawwwr!" Kimba the manticore roared. He crashed back to where Strife and Nova were battling and landed between the two. Lance though can from above and was carrying hammer on his back. Hammer jumped off his back and aimed for the black coated manticore below. "Booooody slam!" Nova, Strife and even Lance stared in awe as Hammer sent full power to her hooves and landed directly on the manticores belly sending hundreds of volts of electricity through him. The creature spazzed and kicked but immediately fell unconscious. "Finally! Nova what the hell you're looking at!? Capture her already!" Hammerheart called. "I know, I know but that was so co-" *BOOM* Rockets and fireworks exploded around him throwing Nova around like a rag doll. "Ouch, that's gotta hurt." Lance said as he went to Hammerheart side. "You took down Kimba!? That's impossible!" Strife shocked expression was utterly priceless. Her jaw hit the floor when her wild card failed. Lance landed on the ground next to Nova helping him up with one of his wings. 'You okay? Buddy?" "Limb, what are you saying? No that's not a good idea. Limb?" Nova paid no heed to Lance but only looked at his axe with pleading eyes. "Nova what the heck is going on?" The unicorn teleported but not to strife but to his axe which was slowly floating up to strife by itself. 'Limb, no. Bad weapon of lunar heritage. Bad!" At this point Lance, Hammer, and even Strife just stared at nova. He grabbed the weapon in his hooves and brought it to the ground. "Fine, just this once. One fourth okay? That's all I will allow!" “What the safety?" Asked Lance. "Yeah." Nova confirmed. His weapon had a mind of its own and responded to Novas feelings about taking down strife. And the only way to get to Nova was through direct conflict with his wishes. He grabbed his axe and made a defensive stance before Strife. Lance came to his left and Hammer to his right. They all looked at each other and nodded in an unseen agreement. Strife looked at all three expressionless. "Fine y'all want to attack me three verses one? Fine. Let's see you get through this combo spell I was working on." Strife laid a magic circle around her and threw up a force field, then inlaying the shield with fire based properties making it very hot to the touch. The circle beneath her erupted in a large light and she waited for her attackers to make contact. Novas horn glowed and his hooves glowed. With great to surprise to Strife, Nova quick stepped right to her and swiped her shield and kept going despite the heat it was putting out. Strife though kept shots of coals firing at him while turning her attention to Hammerheart and Lance. The earth pony jumped up and aimed for Strifes head. The cutie mark stealer under her shield aimed another spell at her through a small opening she mad and hit hammer. Hammer though didn't fall back, but instead took the brunt of it, much to Strifes surprise, and hit her shield taking it down. Lance swooped in low and aimed his crossbows in a steady flight mere inches from the ground. He fired not directly at her but at her feet but at least for the shot to be near it. A blue streak shot across making strife dodge but she didn't expect the bolts to hit where she dodged to. Lance was good at firing a single bolt to distract his opponent. Strife was startled when the ground shot up blocks of ice that grabbed her feet. Immobilized she had nowhere to run to. "Oh, you think this can hold me? Think again!" Her horn glowed and she teleported out, but failed to realized that the blocks of ice that held her hooves went with her. Lances bolts were inlaid with magic talismans and jewels that have been enchanted for this sort of thing. Too bad she didn't realise it sooner. She came out not to far from where she initially was and toppled over. Strife was like a turtle now and couldn't help herself up, but again she summoned up a spell forming burning coals and melted the magic ice blocks off her hooves. As she did that, Nova came in lighting quick and hit Strife square into the side with his axe. His face cringed every time he did it, but he went more calm as time went on. "Ouch, I wouldn't want to be you right now strife." Lance said as he went back to hammer to get reloaded. Nova watched as the pitiful powerful Strife Striker was now on the floor in a heap. He came closer and again without warning hit her again with his weapon, making her skid across the floor. She cried out in pain. "Nova! What the hell are you doing?! Give her a chance to get back up. I have not seen you do this since the gryphon kingdoms when that stupid gryphon took your sweet roll. Stop it!" Hammerheart yelled, and she went to tackle Nova. They both made contact and nova, including his axe got a hoof full of electricity running through his body. "OWW! Okay, okay I get it Hammer. My bad. Just let me make sure she is down. And get off me!" He threw hammer off, shook off the inlaid electricity running through him and mini teleported right to Strife. Lance also went next to him to make sure she was down. She could be faking it for all Lance was concerned. He poked the limp body with his axe and turned to lance. 'Uh, wait a minute. I smell magic residue...which means. DUCK LANCE!" 'What!?" Lance dropped to the floor as Nova swung his axe right over him. *Clang* The real Strife decloaked making the dummy disappear in a mist and held a magic sword against his weapon. "Oh, you saw threw my little ruse? Ha, what where you gonna do to me after I was down." "This." Once again a sparring match began as Nova and Strife battled. His axe swung low and high, hoping to best her in her armed combat. But as soon as he started to get even more serious something about his weapon was off. Why the hell was it unlocking the seal by itself? "Limb what the hell are you doing!?" Nova called out while still striking against Strife. He was controlling his weapon but his safety was increasingly coming off causing larger and larger sparks to fly when the weapons met. Lance meanwhile tippy toed out of there and went back to Hammer. "I almost died. Damn this better than sleeping with mares. Sometimes. Hammer feel my heart. Pun intended." "Your an idiot. Just get ready another shot while I move in to look for an opening." "Roger roger." In the next instant everything changed for the worst for Nova. Strife sped up her attacks and Nova missed in blocking one of them. "Ahh!" He yelled. He got hit square in the shoulder and was thrown back. Blood seeped through his armor and traveled down his leg. He wanted to stop and put pressure on his wound to stop it from getting worst but instead resumed the attack. "Nova!" Hammerheart yelled from not too far away. With the fury of swiped and blows that the two ponies were in, she couldn't get near. Even Lance had trouble to get a clear shot at her again since they were fighting so close to each other. Nova struggled through the pain and still couldn't believe how powerless he was against her even with the safety at 1/4th off. "Why can you just leave me alone!" Strife yelled in a battle cry. She stopped attacking and tackled Nova head on, throwing herself on top of him and pinning him to the ground. "Ooph!" Nova laid his eyes on the distraught unicorn gazing down upon him. She shared a look at him and smiled for a second before having a deep scowl. "You're too late." She breathed into his face real close making it look like they were making out from Hammerhearts standpoint. "I'm leaving to get my fifth cutie mark and with that, total victory." She quickly teleported off Nova and back to where she was standing. In that instant 5 bolts shot around her and which formed a magic link. Arcs of energy formed around her linking the bolts together. "You're not going anywhere. Anti teleport magic circle, Bolt style." Lance announced from above as he shoved not to far. "Nova, holy sweet celestial your bleeding a lot, let me heal you." Hammerheart quickly went over to the student of the night who was on the ground. Nova struggled to get back up but when he did he saw Strife within lances circle. "This won't hold me. I finally recharged enough to leave. Nothing will stop me." Strife called out while turned around and looking at the circle that surrounded her. Lance flew above and readied more shots in case she decides to take out the bolts. "Holy crud Nova, you have to stop and-" "And what Hammer!? Let her get away?! No, I *twitch* made a promise to Luna. I Intend to keep it." Nova shot up and did a quick teleport. He exited just outside the circle of lances and brought his axe in front of him. He swiped it with his hoof and uttered the words, "Seal." At the same time Strife horn glowed with preparations of another spell. The sky darkened and storm clouds started to form and converge onto their location. Strife was activating the grand vortex spell once again. Nova though was not about to let her leave. He knew one sure fire way to stop her. Her horn. If he hit hard enough it will paralyze her magic for a good while. He aimed his axe at her and strife looked at him with focused eyes. She was about to leave and Nova was gonna be too late. Or so she thought, Nova put his weapon in his mouth and leaped into the air right for her. "Foomm Lunammm!" He mouthed as he came forward, went right in front of her and swung his body and weapon in a wide sweep in front of her. Nova went for her horn to stun the mare, but just a split second before his attack hit. A terrifying thing happened, Nova wasn’t using any magic for his attack, but his axe flared up with immense magic all on its own. And it was too late. *SLICE* The battlefield seemed to be silenced for a second at the act that just took place. A tip of a horn flew in the air and landed on the ground. The silence was cut off abruptly by a wail of pain from the now de-horned Strife. Lance’s jaw dropped and for once the pegasus was speechless while Hammerheart winced at the brutal outcome. "Holy buck, I did NOT mean to do that. It was just supposed to be a tap. I swear!" Nova yelled in pure surprise to what he just did. He looked at his own weapon with fire in his eyes. "What the BUCK did you do LIMB!?" Nova was pissed at his axe but there was no response, no glow no anything at all coming from the weapon. “NOVA BLADE!” Strife was seething mad and looked downright hellish with blood dripping down her face but the more shocking part was the magic sparking and leaking from her half cleaved horn. “I. WILL. END. YOU.” "What the heck." Nova said with his mouth wide open. "You can't be serious." Strife was serious, she was activating the same spell with only half a horn. Lightning flashed and multiple shots flashed around her as the magic in the air bounced around randomly from the instability. "Nova! Get out of there!" Lance yelled as he swooped in and grabbed nova, dragging him away from strife as she became increasingly engulfed in lighting. A large magic cloud surrounded her and with that a light shined, bright and brighter before erupting in a flash, brighter than the sun. Nova and company both put down their hoofs and opened there eyes only to see a large crater to where strife was standing, smoking on the ground. "Did she. Uh. Did she just escape with half a horn chopped off?" Hammerheart asked. Lance turned to her as he put down Nova on the ground next to her. "Yeah, and what's worst that it was probably near uncontrollable for her.” Nova’s gaze was directed up towards the dark magic filled clouds in the sky. "Nova, are you okay? Let me heal you one second." Hammerheart said but the unicorn pushed past her. Lance spoke up. “I saw what you did Nova.” “I DIDN’T MEAN TO...” Nova’s yelling was cut off by a smack from one of Lance’s wing. “I saw you vent your magic before you attack her. That shouldn’t have happened...” Lance stated. “That is beside the point though. Strife got away.” Nova glanced back at the sky and had his horn glow with magic. “I do know this. Unstable magic from a broken horn is possible but leaves a very noticeable trail of decaying energy.” Hammer walked up and inspected Nova’s wounds. “So she left us breadcrumbs to follow right?” “Every Time she uses magic it’ll leave behind a good clump of magic in the general area and a broken horn will leak magic even when not in use so yes...” Lance adjusted his crossbows and hovered off the ground a few feet. “What if she teleports?” Nova shook his head. “She could but it’d be too risky and could put inside the ground, a tree, a few hundred feet up in the air.” His attention went back to the axe laying on the ground in front of him. When Nova went to pick it up however nothing happened. “What the...” Hammer tapped the axe with a power hoof and a spark of magic shot out. “Hey. Your axe just drained like 10% of my power hoof's energy.” The unicorn sighed and reached down picking Limb up in his teeth and throwing it on his back. “I can’t sense anything from him now. It’s like he’s dead.” “A talking axe is one thing but a talking axe that’s DEAD?” Lance shook his head and gestured towards the weapon. “I swear Nova maybe that thing is defective.” “Regardless... Strife’s hurting now so we got the advantage and I’m not gonna rest till she’s ours.” Hammerheart snorted. “She’s right Nova.” Lance landed next to his friend and put a hoof over Nova’s back. “Come on we gotta find her before some more crazy manure happens.” “All right.” However unbeknownst to each other they were all thinking the same thing. “What the buck really will happen next?” ======================================================== Reader has gained +10 Strength 5 Jealousy +20 Regret +50 Feels New Perk Unlocked: Unbridle Rage When user’s loved ones are in danger. Speed & Attack is doubled but Defenses are halved. New Perk Unlocked: Love Polygon The user now has mixed feelings about 2 or more Party Members. When not in battle confusion has increased chances and may cause infighting amongst the group. However Strength is increased in battle when alongside group members. Author's Note For the love of god, I still have no idea what im doing. This ends the Lunar arc. Sorry about the delays, but stuff happened and I just dont know what went wrong. Thanks to shadowxrazor for actually not beling a lazy bum and actually helped me greatly on this chapter. Thanks buddy!
