All My Tears

The year had come to an end. Nova was too anxious to sit still. She paced around her mother’s grave until the grass was almost gone. Finally she sat down. She was seventeen now.

“Mom, it feels wrong to be saying this, but… I’m glad you’re not here…to see what’s happened to Equestria. It’s horrible-It’s horrible living in uncertainty, wondering when doomsday will come, what she’ll do… I miss you, everypony does.”

She sighed.

“Ponies, they think of me as Nightmare Moon. I guess it’s true. I remind them of what happened, what always happens. Nopony’s sympathetic anymore. I know how and why…just not why me. I don’t think they hate me. I don’t want them too. I know this sounds foalish. I’m sorry.”

There was a slight puff of wind that brushed past her. Next minute, Abendigo stood with his wing around her.

“Your mother would be proud to see how far you’ve come.”

“I don’t think that there’s much to be proud of. Look at how much panic this has caused Equestria. If only I had been born like my father, a pegasus, none of this would’ve happened.”

“You can’t be sure of that.”

“Of course I can! If I was a pegasus, Celestia wouldn’t have taken me under her wing and made me a princess. If I wasn’t a princess, then I wouldn’t be considered a threat. I might be a freak, but it wouldn’t be as bad as this.”

Abendigo was struck dumb.

“Well, I’ll give you this: You can state your point very well.”

Nova chuckled quietly.

They stood and watched the sunset together. Only, it wasn’t the sunset. The sun was slowly being blocked by a shadow. The moon.

There was a bright flash, then…nothing seemed to happen.

“Hm hm hm, what a touching moment.”

Nova and Abendigo turned around in one movement.

“Solar Flare!”

“Quite right. Now, Abendigo, you’ve caused me much trouble. Say bye-bye to your friend here. It’s the last thing you’ll ever see.”

“NO!!”

Nova’s screams were followed by a flying spell. She closed her eyes as she heard the dull thud of a body hitting the ground.

“YOU MONSTER!!! CELESTIA NEVER WOULD HAVE DONE THAT! HOW COULD YOU?!”

“Don’t say that name! Be quiet dear, I’m tired of your crying.”

Nova opened her great, black wings and lit her horn.

“And to think I ever loved you…”

Solar Flare felt something twinge in her chest. It brought a lump to her throat, but she fought it back down.

“You were always a v-very bad girl. Now, be gone!”

All she saw next was a flash of golden light.

                                                             *

Cadence paced nervously at the door. Her hoofsteps echoed through the hall in the Crystal Palace.  The elements are on their way. It won’t be too long now, she thought. Sure enough, she heard the clopping of hooves coming her way.

She looked at them and smiled thankfully.

“I’m glad you were able to come. I thinks she’s starting to wake up.”

Twilight bore a look of relief on her face. They all stepped into the room quietly. Twilight walked over to were a great beam of magic was holding an alicorn suspended in midair.

“She’s so tall! I knew Celestia told me about alicorn growth spurts but… this.”

Rarity joined Twilight.

“I know what you mean, darling. She seems at least ten inches taller. Her wings and horn have grown, too.”

“Yes. It helps that she is surrounded by magic, but that was necessary to heal her.”

The voices eventually made their way to Nova ears. She slowly opened her eyes. Her vision was fuzzy for a moment, but then she saw them all smiling at her. Cadence performed a spell that made all the magic surrounding her cease to be. She landed gently on the floor.

“Where am I?”

“Yer in the Crystal Palace. Do ya feel alrigh’, sugarcube?”

“I guess so,” Suddenly she remembered, “Where’s Abendigo?!”

“H-He’s…dead. I’m so sorry.”

Rainbow Dash struggled to get the word out of her mouth. She had not known Abendigo, but knew that Nova loved him like a father.

Nova sunk to the ground. Tears started to leak from her closed eyes.

“Solar Flare has control of Equestria. We tried to stop her, but she and her followers outnumbered and beat us. The Elements are hidden safely away, but it’s close to impossible to strike.

“How l-long have I been unconscious?”

Nova dreaded the answer to her question.

Fluttershy cleared her throat and said softly, “A year.”

She stood up. She found that she towered over the Elements and slightly over even Cadence. She walked to the window and stared out at all the crystal ponies going about their business, apparently oblivious to what was happened in their sister country.

“How many still will follow you?”

“I don’t know, most of Ponyville, Appleloosa, any place that doesn’t have the Helios Corps occupying it. Why do you ask?”

“Well Twilight, if we can gather as many ponies as possible, then we could escape to Cavalia. I remember my mother showing me it’s location on a map when I was a child. Solar Flare knows it exists, but doesn’t know the spell to find it. I do.”

With a plan in their minds, all eight mares talked over how to best smuggle the civilians over the border and how to get supplies.

As soon as morning came, the Elements and Princess Nova set about the business of freeing Equestria.