Web of Intrigue

Web of Intrigue

Chapter 3: Sweet Dreams

A week had past in Equestria since Nova’s return to Ponyville, and things were going well, though she had yet to work up the courage to directly face the bearers of the elements yet. Much of her time was spent in sleep and melancholy, though Retina and the incorrigible prankster spirit of Flavor did lighten her mood.

During the past week, Nova had gotten out some, usually just for a walk, and she had seen some of the bearers of the elements around. Thinking about it, it was a miracle none of the bearers had recognized her yet, especially Pinkie Pie, though from what she’d seen in her cautious exploration of the town, it was impossible to understand that pink whirlwind. She’d learned a lot about the mares, but even so she couldn’t find it in her to talk to them... not yet. She knew she couldn’t put it off forever, but she just felt... like it wasn’t time.

But for now, Nova rested on her bed in the small guest room, staring at the ceiling as all these thoughts ran through her head. However, it was once again time to sleep. Her eyes grew heavy as her thought processes slowed, and soon, her consciousness fell into oblivion.

Nova Ignis, formerly Lieutenant of her Majesty’s Royal Guard, lay curled in a fetal position as she slept on the ground. At first glance, she seemed to be resting peacefully, but a glance at her face would show it to be running through all manner of expressions. She did not dream of peace.

How long this went on she would not know, but the snap of a twig nearby broke her slumber like glass. Awakened by her military training, she bolted into an upright sitting position, panting heavily as cold sweat formed. The fire mage glanced around, taking in the surroundings. It was forest, one that was very familiar. Calm fires burned on some of the trees and shrubs, providing some manner of light and warmth in the area. But that wasn’t all. Around her, were the corpses of ponies, clad in armor. She quickly stumbled onto her hooves in a confused daze. "What...?" she choked out weakly.

Her eyes scanned the bodies, a lot of them missing limbs, almost as if... “Wait, are these...?” Nova slowly walked towards the nearest corpse, inspecting it closely. “Corporal Streak? Then that means...”

It was her platoon.

“Oh Celestia... please, is anypony alive!?” she cried, frantically looking around at the bodies. Her form bolted up, racing from corpse to corpse, hoping to find one of them that was still alive. Nova eventually finished with shaking Private Bolt Wing’s body. Tears began rushing down her cheeks as she keeled over, slamming a hoof into the ground. "No! They're all dead..."

Then, a thought suddenly hit her. Or rather, memories.

Memories of Equestria from 100 years into the apparent future. Flavor, Retina, the wielders of the Elements of Harmony, she remembered them all. And yet, she couldn't help but wonder. "Was that all just a dream...?"

Nova’s head sank as she sat on her haunches. "It all seemed so real," she spoke solemnly. Nova felt conflicted. Perhaps it wasn't a dream? What if this was a dream? The fire mage couldn't tell anymore.

Nova glanced back up, sniffling a little, only to notice a mysterious shed a small distance away. “I don't remember that shed being there...” Her eyes carefully scanned the wooden shed, taking in its rather bleak details. It was only a basic wooden shed, after all.

Broken only by the crackling of fire, silence slowly took over the night. The sky, or what little of it was visible in the thick foliage, offered no hints as to what time was.

The silence was broken by the sound of hooves clopping over the forest floor. The source of the noise drifted into Nova's sight only after a few minutes passed, and he was not the standard pony. There was no hint of abnormality until his eyes were visible. Instead of eyes, he had strange, dark blue clouds in his eyes, highlighted only by a strange dancing light-blue line and a black pit where his pupil should have been.

As Nova watched, the pony drifted into the center of the clearing. When he stopped, he looked around for several seconds before looking at the body at his feet. The stallion cocked his head, then started poking it. At first, it was a gentle poke, but it quickly escalated into violent strikes. "You’re dead!" the strange stallion screamed, now assaulting the corpse with both front legs. Stopping suddenly, he started wandering away from the corpse, this time stopping to eye a tree. When he passed by Nova, he didn't seem to see her despite her having been in plain site.

He stopped in front of another body, this time shaking it. The pony muttered something before leaning down and biting into the body. The reaction was instant: he lurched upwards, spitting several times. Turning, he bolted, slamming head-first into a tree hard enough his horn got stuck. It took several seconds to free it, and when he did, he looked Nova in the eyes. Again, though, he didn't seem to see her. The strange stallion started for a different corpse.

Nova watched in morbid curiosity at the sight, her red eyes intimately locked onto stallion who arrived. She could not be more confused as to what was going on. Just who was this pony? Where did he even come from? Nova decided she would speak up. The mare stood onto all four hooves. "Hey!" she shouted. "Just who in the hay are you?!"

The stallion's ears didn't twitch as her voice rang out; he hadn't heard her. "You look funny," the stallion commented, passing over a body. As he headed for a different body, he spun around and faced the one he'd spoken to. Dropping down into an offensive stance, he started screaming nonsense at it, slowly approaching it as he did. Stopping as randomly as he'd started, he faced the shed and sat down, his eyes continuing their odd pulsing and twitching.

Nova scowled and pointed a hoof towards the strange stallion. "Hey, I'm talking to you, pal!" she shouted angrily. The mare could only wonder what the deal with the bizarre pony was.

Still ignoring Nova, the stallion returned to the body it'd pummeled. After close to a minute of staring at it without moving or breathing, the stallion turned and looked Nova in the eyes... or at least he may have been looking her in the eyes. It wasn't clear where he was really looking.

Staring back at him, Nova’s brow furrowed in anger. "Who in the hay are you, and what are you doing here!?"

The pony slowly approached her, stopping with his nose just inches from hers.

Nova narrowed her eyes in anticipation, continuing to stare into the eyes of the stallion that approached her.

Seemingly unaware of her reaction, he started circling her. He finally stopped in front of her, then with one hoof, pushed her over.

Nova fell back, but reflexively rolled over and back onto her hooves in one swift motion. "Hey!" she yelled, staring back at the stallion after recovering. Nova's horn flared to life, encompassed by a searing hot orange aura. "Just what in the hay was that for!? You looking to die!?"

His hooves were on her shoulders before her brain could process it. "You're alive!" he yelled, shaking her. His face was alight with joy. "You're actually alive!" Setting Nova back onto her hooves, he sat on his rump, smiling. The smile faded suddenly. "Wait... you are alive, right?" Cocking his head, he pushed her over again.

Nova flopped onto her back, having been flustered by being shaken. “Sweet Celestia, he's fast...” she muttered to herself, climbing back onto her hooves. “Of course I'm alive. How else would I be talking?" she replied, shooting a glare at strange pony. "Now, I order you to tell me who you are!"

The stallion continued to eye for her several seconds before turning his attention to the corpse he'd beaten. He flipped around, quickly getting back into an offensive position. "Stop looking at me!" the stallion screamed, the volume of his voice easily matching that of the Royal Canterlot voice.

Nova was steaming red at this point, her horn flaring to life once more. She intended to really get his attention this time. Nova reared her head before snapping it forward, releasing a powerful torrent of flames to engulf him.

When the flames made contact, the stallion froze. He slowly looked her in the eyes, the expression on his face a carbon copy of what a surprised cat looked like. As the flames died out, he cocked his head. "Nooooooooooo," he finally said.

Nova stared in amazement at the pony. All that did was just surprise him? Impossible... he should have been turned to ashes, and yet he merely shrugged it off?

The bizarre stallion trotted over to her, lowering himself as if he were kneeling or bowing, though his eyes stayed locked on hers...probably. "You’re lost, aren't you?"

Nova continued looking back at the stallion, narrowing her eyes. "What I want to know is who you are right now," the mare replied.

"You too?" he asked, drifting to an undisturbed body. "I don't know where we- STOP TALKING!" the stallion suddenly yelled, swinging around and kicking the corpse with his back hooves. He turned his attention to Nova immediately after. "So, this is your dream, eh? It's a bit morbid if you ask me."

Nova calmed her expression a little, looking down at the ground. “Only a dream...” she whispered to herself. "Yeah... this is the scene of my last mission with the Royal Guard.” She raised her head, looking towards the stallion, her features betraying feelings of sorrow.

"It's well done. This is what I do, and it fooled me." He gave her a strange look that was somewhere between amused and confused. "You're lost," he said, bringing it up for the second time.

Nova’s mind ran through many thoughts for a moment, bringing a hoof to her chin as she stared off into space. “Lost?” The fiery mare returned her attention back to clearly insane stallion. "Wait, what do you-"

"Silence!" the stallion screamed, giving her a hostile look.

Nova recoiled in shock from his sudden outburst.

Starting to twitch, he turned the twitching into hopping in place, then hopping from side to side. "You..." he started, excitement in his voice. It all faded when he came back to a standstill. "You're the reason they died, not that it'd have mattered. Dreams are fun like that. The only thing that matters is that you're alive."

She let out a quick gasp before averting her gaze. Nova went back to thinking again. She could feel her heart ache with guilt. He was right about one thing though, about how it’s her fault her platoon is dead. She led them straight into an ambush, and failed to protect them. However, she also felt curious, prompting her to look back up to him. "It... matters that I'm alive? What makes me so important?"

"Because somepony wanted you alive." He drifted over to the shed, then turned around and bucked it. Afterwards, he sat down in front of it, staring at it like it held the answers to all the mysteries of the world.

Nova looked away, staring into space. It was a lot to take in for Nova, all of what happened. The mare looked back over to the strange stallion again. "So, you never did tell me who you are."

"You are really out of sync," the stallion commented, slowly rocking back and forth. Letting out a very fake-sounding laugh, he turned to look at her. "Looks like things are about to get fun for you. Plenty of stupidity to follow."

Nova gave an unamused scowl. "What the hay is that supposed to mean? And I want you to tell me who you are!” she barked in frustration. A part of her felt like a moron for arguing with an apparent dream, yet something about this was suspiciously, vividly real.

"Just to make things interesting, I'll go with no.” The stallion again kicked the shed, then trotted over to her. "If you see the slow Princess, tell her that Dream Weaver says 'hello.' I hope you can-" The stallion froze as the sound of a cluck reached his eyes. His eyes went very wide, and his head rotated slowly towards the source of the sound. It was disturbing to watch, as the angle was at least 120 degrees... the stallion practically looked like an owl. Off in the distance, a single chicken was pecking away at the roots of a tree.

Dream Weaver suddenly let out a blood-curling scream. Taking off with enough force that his hooves kicked dirt into the air, the unicorn charged towards the chicken. The bird fluttered his wings, moving out of the way, causing him to miss. He rolled and got back to his hooves quickly, still charging towards the bird and screaming. The two quickly disappeared off into the distance, and shortly after, his screaming faded into nothingness.

Nova stared blankly at the direction Dream Weaver had taken off, only for her expression to turn deadpan after several moments of silence. Without even saying anything, she sat on her haunches, and merely waited. “This is stupid...”

"Nova? Nooooooovaaaaa...”

The mare’s ears perked, her body spinning around. There was nothing behind her. Who spoke just now?

“Nova, are you okay? Oh, please wake up..."

“Wake up?” she parroted, glancing around. Then, it hit her, what this ‘Dream Weaver’ had said to her. She really was in a dream, despite it feeling so real...

Nova’s eyes suddenly opened groggily. She was staring at a wall, laying in a soft bed.

Retina sighed, continuing to gently prod her fellow unicorn with her stick. "Nova? Are you awake?"

The body of the mare in question rolled over to look curiously at her tormenter. "Retina?"

"Oh, good! You're awake." Retina smiled, slowly levitating her stick back to her. "You were making some odd noises in your sleep. It sounded like you were mad at somepony. I wanted to make sure you were okay." She lowered her head a little. "Sorry for waking you."

Nova rubbed her eyes with her hooves. "It's okay... had weird dream, though," she commented. The tired mare sat up onto her haunches, yawning.

"Alright, then," the blind unicorn replied, smiling at the wall. "I don't have any idea what time it is, so I'm going to head back up to the roof and lay down until Flavor gets me up. Try and rest, or maybe go for a walk."

Nova smiled back at Retina. "Heh, thanks.” Her eyes shifted towards the window, seeing the dark, yet starry night sky outside. “I guess I’ll try to get back to sleep for now, or something.”

Retina gave Nova a warm smile and a curt nod. “Alright, then. Sleep well.” With that, the blind mare turned and left the room, tapping her stick in front of her.

Nova lowered her head onto a pillow, shutting her eyes. Thoughts of her dream invaded her mind, Dream Weaver and how real it all felt being the two most prominent things. She silently hoped she wouldn’t have another dream with him in it. Nova was unnerved by it, inwardly questioning the experience and whether it was just a dream or something more. However, her thoughts began slowing down, sleepiness beginning to overtake her.

And with that, the unicorn drifted into the realm of unconsciousness.

In the depths of Everfree, the rain had finally lightened around Zecora’s hut, and the sun was just beginning to rise. Two ponies, one a zebra and the other a familiar, if strange, russet unicorn stallion, stood outside. The unicorn’s cloak shrouded his body, and his satchel rested against his left side. The air was fresh and clean, with that smell of nature and water that you find just after a rain permeating it like a sponge dripping with water. The two of them were silent for a long time, just enjoying the smell and the air after so long inside, before Zecora spoke.  “A beautiful day is it not? Such a clear open sky surely cannot be bought.”

“You’d think I’d have learned how to make sense of that rhyming of yours by now” the stallion sighed before flicking his ear. “Yes. It is a nice day. I have stayed in one place far too long... now I need to continue my journey. Thank you for hosting me this long time Zecora, and for teaching me the basics of your language.”

“Your thanks I receive. Your presence was welcomed, though I know you must leave. As for my gift of the spoken word, you need not thank me for it was nice to be heard.”

“The same is true for me. I admit, I am surprised you did not ask my name.”

“Your name you desire to keep secret. I cannot truly blame you, though I’d prefer something to call you I would not regret.”

The stallion turned to leave, then paused and cracked a smile. “Call me Duumessa.”

Zecora paused for a moment as she considered it. In her tongue, that meant “Cloud.” It was a sad name. The name of one cursed to travel forever and never touch the earth again. Why chose such a name? What would lead such a young stallion... a being so full of life, to pick a name of such sorrow? Why would he willingly pick such a name? ‘Such suffering his name entails, What could he have gone through t-’‘

At that moment, everything made sense. She recalled his stories, adventures of sorrow and travail. Individually, they were but threads, but now all the pieces fell into place, and in an instant Zecora understood. The unicorn before her had not merely made those stories up, as exotic as they were. Neigh, they were his stories. Such a life... it was a tapestry of sorrow.

The Zebra half staggered as if from a physical blow, but caught herself before the stallion could realize the extent of her epiphany. She swallowed, and offered her hoof. “Duumessa, then. Good luck on your travel. I hope good things your future will unravel.”

“Then this is goodbye. Nagaan turi, Zecora.”

“Nagaan turi, Duumessa.”

They shook hooves, and with those words the stallion departed into Everfree. Zecora stayed there in the glade for a long moment, looking after him. It was so much to comprehend. In the half-light of the glade, she spoke out loud. “Duumessa, your heart I may not truly understand, but I glimpse I have caught, and action does it strongly demand. Your heart is a cup, overflowing with sorrow... so much you hurt to think of the morrow. May your fates change, outcast son. If you bear it alone, you will become undone.”

Some time later, the shrouded unicorn crested a hill and looked down over the town of Ponyville before him. He was caked in mud but it didn't seem to bother him, and indeed much of it faded into his tawny-brown coat. Keeping his hood up, he simply walked down the streets, before pausing at the sight of a large tree down a sideroad.

"Hmmm... a tree repurposed as a building? It seems unwise to turn a growing organism into a home... I wonder what they were thinking," he muttered, turning to examine this unusual building instead of just continuing on.

When he arrived at the tree, the tawny unicorn examined the sign. A cursory glance was all it took to  " ‘The Books and Branches’...? Of course, it would be the library. Touche' causality." He snorted. “Well, since I’m already here, I may as well take a look at their selection. Information doesn’t take much room in the satchel.” With that on his mind, he headed inside.

Retina let out a yawn from having recently awoken, feeling her way down the flight of stairs with her stick towards the main room of the Bucket. "Nova? Flavor? Anypony here?"

Nova perked up and turned towards Retina. "I'm here," she called out nonchalantly.

"Thank goodness somepony is. I think Flavor left again. Do you see anything written in braille-hoof? I know he got a little punch-thingy so he could leave me notes." Retina stepped off the onto the main floor.

Nova glanced around the counter before spotting the note. "Uh, yeah. Here it is," she said, picking it up in her telekinetic grasp.

Retina received it and sat it on the floor, carefully gliding her front-left hoof across it. "Retina...went...to the...Zebra...Homelands. Stop. Will be back...in...two...days. Stop. Have...fun by...yourself." Retina scowled, and then stomped on the note. Using her stick, she started feeling around in front of herself before starting towards the little room where she kept her saddlebags. "That jerk! This is the fifth time in two months he's randomly bolted to go on some crazy jaunt for new things to ruin in the kitchen!"

The fire mage simply shrugged in her seat, not knowing what to actually say. “Meh...”

"Feel like helping me pin him down and trimming his flight feathers when he gets back?" Retina asked. A second later, a loud crash followed by a scream came from the closet. "That jerk! That freaking flankhole!"

Nova cringed a little, her head turning towards the commotion. "You okay in there?"

"He put iced water buckets and tripwires up! Again!" The now soaking-wet unicorn backed out of the closet, an evil look on her face. "If I ever get the bits to hire a hitman..."

Nova smirked a little. As messed up as that was, it was kind of funny. "Need me to warm you up?" she asked.

"That would be wonderful. I'll need you to get in there and find my saddlebags for me. Last time he did this, I ended up getting soaked twelve times before I made it outside. There's no telling what other traps he's set up." The blind unicorn shook her head. "My books should be here today, and I really don't want to get them wet."

Getting off her seat and onto her hooves, Nova trotted up to Retina, her horn shimmering with orange. A constant, sustained wave of heat was emitted from the calm aura enveloping her horn, allowing it to bathe Retina in its warmth.

Once the blind unicorn was dry, she gave Nova a smile. "That's useful. I wish I could use fire magic. Would you mind looking in there for my bags?"

Nova shrugged, followed be a nod. "Sure," she answered, walking into the closet. After a few moments of rummaging, Nova emerged with a saddle bag and levitated it onto Retina's back. "So, you going somewhere?"

"Actually, I was hoping you'd take me to the library," came the sheepish reply. "I don't know where it is."

Nova bit her bottom lip, staring a Retina. Mentioning going to the library reminded the mare that she still needed to actually go talk with Twilight. As awkward as it felt, Retina still needed somepony to take her to the library. "Well... alright.” Nova grinned nervously.

Retina smiled. "If you don't mind, stay close by. I don't' want to have you hold onto your tail with magic. I'm not very good at levitating more than one thing. The last time I tried, I burned Flavor pretty good... not that he didn't have it coming."

“Okay. I'll walk right next to you. Is that good?" inquired Nova.

"Thanks," Retina replied. "Keep an eye out for tripwires. I'll bet anything that the door is rigged in at least three different ways."

Nova trotted over to the main doors, and spun around. With a simple buck, the doors flung open, the mare curious about what traps, if any, awaited Retina and her.

As soon as the doors opened, four buckets of water fell, several small cannons filled with confetti and streamers exploded, and several heavy pots fell and hit the floor. It was loud enough Retina jumped backwards, landing on a table and consequently flipping it over onto herself.

Nova, meanwhile, stumbled outside once the buckets of water landed on her, one of them landing over her head, effectively blinding her. She immediately yelled off a number of angry swears, all of them muffled by the aluminum container stuck on her head. Once she felt one of her hooves trip something, more little confetti cannons that had been buried in the ground went off, blasting the fire mage in the bucket-covered face. From the second story window, several catapults sent water balloons flying in Nova's general direction.

She angrily continued to stumble around, only to feel herself pelted with water balloons. "Gah!" Nova cried, falling down with a thud. The bucket over her head suddenly exploded in a fiery blaze, revealing her anger-contorted face. With the bucket finally removed, the mare mumbled many expletives under her breath as she got up before making her way back inside to see Retina trapped under a table. Nova's horn flared to life once more, shrouding the table in her aura. The table was lifted off Retina, and set itself down normally several feet away.

"I'm gonna kill him!" the blind mare cried, flopping around on the floor like a fish out of water. "I swear to Luna that I'm gonna freaking kill him! That freaking flankhole!"

Nova couldn’t help but crack a grin. "When he gets back, I’m gonna sear is fur off.”

Ten minutes later, the unicorns were on the way to the library, strolling down one of the sunlit streets of Ponyville.

"He does this stuff all the freaking time," Retina groaned. "I remember a party we were holding for some member of the Royal Guard that had just had his first kid and gotten some major promotion at the same time. This was right after Flavor and I had met, so he couldn't have been out of the Guard for more than a couple of months. This was still in Canterlot, by the way

“Anyway, he offered to host the party for free. Who would say no to a free dinner, you know? He didn't do anything stupid that night, but he offered to host another party in a couple of months. The food had been great, so everypony decided to come back and bring friends. Worst idea ever.

“Flavor spent the next two months rigging every inch of the place. He literally paid to have every floor tile in the building turned into a pressure plate. I didn't really know for sure what was going on, but I had a really bad feeling about. I'd set off a couple of the traps while trying to find my way around the place. Never did figure it out...

“Anyway, on the night of the party, a bunch of Canterlot nobility showed up with the Guard for some reason. It was chaos. Streamers, cannons, stink bombs... you name it, he probably had it. This was like, maybe a week before the Grand Galloping Gala, so everypony was sort of practicing for it. Flavor?" Retina sighed.

"The freaking place ended up getting burnt to the ground. Heck, a bunch of Canterlot ended up on fire that night. I still don't know why he didn't get blamed for it. It was apparently an accident a few blocks away, but the timing couldn't have been worse. No one got seriously hurt other than a guard member who ate way too much; he had to have his stomach pumped and spent a few days in the hospital due to dehydration. Not sure how that happened either." Retina looked towards where she assumed Nova was walking.

"Flavor has got to be the luckiest pony in Equestria. I've heard from several ponies that he's pranked the Princesses more than once and somehow never gotten in much trouble for it. Somepony told me that he's really likeable, but I think that pony was out of their mind."

"Seriously? Well, back in my day, pranks like that on guards and nobles would have gotten his flank court-martialed so fast, his head would spin," she replied, chuckling lightly.

"I'm pretty sure he did end up in front of Princess Celestia at least once. I remember him getting arrested while we were in the market. The Guard members that picked him didn't even bother getting forceful with him. They just went 'Hey, Flavor. Princess wants to see you about that little stunt you pulled last night.' He was offended! 'Little!?' he yelled." The blind unicorn let out a long sigh. "He actually asked the guards if he could borrow a couple of buckets as he went with them. I don't understand why he's still on good terms with the world."

Nova arched a brow. "Sounds like he gets off easy doing whatever he wants."

"He talks like he's on good terms with most of the ponies in Canterlot, the Princesses included.” Retina let out a sigh. “Are we close to the library? I think I hear other ponies..." Retina's head dropped just a hair. She had nothing to fear and she knew it, but it didn't change the fact that she was no longer in her element.

Nova gave a curt nod, not that Retina could see it. "Yeah, I think we're almost there. You alright, though?" she asked, noticing Retina's head droop slightly.

"I'll be okay. Most of the ponies here are really nice." She let out a somewhat uneasy laugh. "Truth be told, the Bucket and my parent's home in Canterlot are the only places I've ever really been comfortable. I know both pretty well. Even when I was working with Flavor in Canterlot, I lived at home. Dad insisted," she admitted, somewhat embarrassed.

"I'm not a little filly anymore, but he still worries about me being blind. He's always been protective. I've never even had a coltfriend. Trying to explain my relationship with Flavor was a nightmare. To this day, I think Dad's still waiting for a wedding invitation."

Nova smirked lightly. "Well, I guess it just means your dad loves you. And don't worry, if you ever need an escort or something, just ask. It's the least I can do..." said Nova. The fire mage had to admit, Retina was a good friend. In her time of need, she was there. In return, in Retina's time of need, Nova would be there.

"Dad's almost as crazy as Flavor," Retina replied with a groan. "He's been rich his entire life, but he doesn't seem to understand social protocol at all. Mom doesn't let him in most of the house." Retina's stick tapped against something hard. She raised it higher into the air, deciding it was some sort of wall. "Are we here?"

"Yeah, we're here," answered Nova, approaching the door to Twilight’s library, and stopping in front of it with Retina in tow. She stared at it apprehensively for a moment, only to be interrupted by Retina.

“Well, let’s go inside, then!” Retina prodded Nova with her walking stick.

Nova perked up before placing a hoof on the library door. “Right,” she responded sheepishly.

And with that, Nova knocked on the door.