The Lost Prince

“Are your nightmares still troubling you, sister?”

Princess Luna looked upon the shuddering form of Princess Celestia with sympathy obvious in her eyes. “I do apologise, but can do nothing about it. Your dreams have a mind of its own – a mind I cannot control.”

Her sister was trapped – enclosed in a never-ending nightmare that haunted her from dawn to dusk to dawn, forever a cycle of misery. Luna squeezed her eyes shut and turned away for a moment as Celestia began to convulse on the floor, rolling around, her limbs spazzing in a flurry of white, eyes wide and filled with pure terror, but she did not wake. Luna had seen this phase come round many times. She covered her ears with her front hooves as Celestia began to moan in pain.

It was possibly the most torturous moment of Luna’s long life, to see her own sister consumed by what she had thought she could control. It was all she could do to stay by Celestia’s side and hope she would rise from the dark pit she had fallen into. It could take days – possibly weeks – for her sister to pull out, but Luna was prepared to remain for as long as it took to purge the foul dream from her mind.

“THE SHADOW!!!” Celestia suddenly screamed, frightening Luna so much she leapt back and bashed herself on her bed. “It’s coming…” Celestia began to whimper, curling into a ball and shivering. Luna picked up the duvet from the bed and draped it over her sister’s body.

“Rest, sister,” Luna murmured to herself, tears welling in her eyes. “It will be over soon.” But deep down, Luna knew she could not believe her own words. If she couldn’t free her sister, nopony could.

* * * * *

Lyra yawned and stretched in her bed as her weary eyes opened to a golden dawn. Beautiful, she smiled to herself as she pulled herself out of bed and onto her hooves. Taking it slowly down the stairs, she knocked on the door of the lounge. “Nova, it’s morning!” she called, as cheerfully as she could with her sleepy voice while stifling another yawn. “I’m taking you to see Princess Twilight today!”

There was no answer. Lyra put her ear to the door, but could hear no snoring. Confused, she opened the door and found the sofa empty, the blanket abandoned. “How DARE he!” Lyra shouted to nopony in particular. “He may have been a prince, but that doesn’t mean he can just take off without a simple ‘thank you’ or anything! Why did I trust him? I shouldn’t have trusted him! I should have just left him in the road when I – “

Lyra’s rant was interrupted by Nova bursting through her front door, breathing heavily. “Good morning,” he panted, desperately trying to stay on his hooves.

“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!” Lyra yelled at him, running towards him. “You disappeared without telling me!”

“I left a note,” Nova said with an innocent smile. “Check the sofa.”

Lyra grumpily stalked back to the lounge and immediately caught sight of a sheet of white paper lying on the crumpled blanket. Nova walked up to stand next to her. “Your eyes must have passed over it, you were so tired.”

“True, I feel a little groggy…” Lyra said. “I was up past midnight last night, worrying. I had a feeling that something incredible was going to happen. Come to think of it, that feeling’s gone now…”

Nova grinned and gave a small cough, still a little exhausted from doing whatever he had been doing just before charging inside. “Interesting,” he said. “Anyway, you said you were going to take me to meet this Princess Twilight?”

“Sure!” Lyra said, back to her cheerful self. “Although she’d probably be having breakfast at this moment.”

“Maybe we should follow her example.” Nova turned towards the kitchen. “What do you feel like today?”

“Breakfast?” Lyra said. “Umm… well, I guess some salad wouldn’t hurt today.”

“Hayseed?” Nova asked.

“Sure – “ Lyra began. Nova, quick as a flash, rushed into the kitchen and started to prepare the meal for two. And in just over 30 seconds, it was ready. Lyra’s mouth dropped open in disbelief. “How did you do that so quickly?” she marvelled.

“It was a popular dish when Marelon was around,” Nova answered. “Everypony requested it at least twice a day.”

“You mean you cooked for the citizens?” Lyra said. “But – but you’re a prince!”

“Does it matter?” Nova replied. “Whatever class in society you are, it’s nice to do something nice every so often.”

“True,” Lyra said, settling down in her chair and pulling it up to the kitchen table. Nova placed her dish in front of her and sat down opposite with his own. Then, both using their magic to levitate a spoonful of the food into the air, they took a bite.

“Mmm…” Lyra took another bite. “Delicious.”

“It’s certainly better than others I’ve made,” Nova remarked. “I guess the texture’s a little crispier than usual.”

Lyra let loose a quick giggle and finished her bowl off. “So, I’ll take you to see the princess of Ponyville now then,” she smiled.

“Of course,” Nova grinned. “I can’t wait.”

After both had put their dirty bowls into the sink to wash later, they left Lyra’s house and began to walk to the library. However, Lyra turned to look to the central square of Ponyville and found a large crowd huddled around something. “I wonder what they’re doing over there,” Lyra wondered out loud.

“Hopefully sharing out the gems I collected from the mine,” Nova answered without looking himself. “I guess that explains why I was panting when I returned to your house.”

“You went and collected gems from the mine?” Lyra gasped. The mine’s been closed for Celestia knows how many generations!”

“Back in the time of Marelon is was just starting to be hewn,” Nova said. “I helped out with the digging.”

“Woah, okay. Let me get this straight,” Lyra said. “You cook for the town, and you helped out with digging away at the ground? What sort of a prince are you?”

“One who involves himself with the tasks of everyday life, I suppose,” Nova said. “It’s eye-opening to see how the lives of normal ponies are.”

“How many gems did you collect?” Lyra asked, curious.

“Well, I didn’t count, but I’d estimate about 500,” Nova said. “Not bad for an hour’s searching.”

“500?!” Lyra exclaimed. “Ten miners couldn’t do that in a week! How did you do it?”

“Magical secret,” Nova chuckled, tapping the side of his nose. “It’s an old spell. Anyway, we were going to see the princess?”

“Oh, right,” Lyra said. “It’s just that you’re so… mysterious, I have so many questions! We’ve both got a lot to learn from each other.”

“That we do,” Nova smiled.

* * * * *

“HOW MANY GEMS?!”

“Enough for the whole town, it looked like. Beats me how they got there.”

“Oh Celestia,” Twilight groaned as Rainbow Dash watched on. “Do you think this is the incredible thing we’ve been looking for?”

“Around 500 gems is a pretty large number,” Rainbow Dash said. “I think that’s pretty impressive.”

Twilight sighed. “Rainbow, incredible things have happened around us many times,” she said. “Some were good, some were bad, some were just plain weird – “

“Like Flutterguy,” Rainbow Dash giggled. “Man, I’ll never forget that moment.”

“Yes, like Flutterguy,” Twilight said impatiently, “and also like Rainbow Crash.” That caused Rainbow to shut up. “Anyway, what I’m saying is that I don’t think we should be looking at things that… dull. I think that compared to what the princess is expecting us to find, that measly pile of gems could just be a speck of dust in an old garden shed. We need to look for something much more spectacular if it is to be incredible.”

“…I guess you’re right,” Rainbow said. “I’ll go tell the others.” But just as she was about to open the door, a knock came from the other side.

“Who could that be…?” Twilight muttered as Spike rushed to open the door for the visitors. Standing behind it was a mare Twilight had never noticed before – a light aquamarine pony with a pale greyish cyan mane.

“Your Highness,” the pony said, bowing low as the custom decreed.

“Good morning,” Twilight responded. “What brings you here… umm…”

“Lyra, Your Highness,” the pony told her. “Lyra Heartstrings.”

“Lyra,” Twilight finished, relieved.

“Well, there’s someone here who wants to meet you,” Lyra said.

“But there’s no-one accompanying you?” Twilight pointed out, the space behind Lyra empty. Lyra turned around and snorted in discontent.

“He’s run off again…” Lyra muttered.

“Who’s ‘he’?” Twilight queried.

“Oh, ‘he’ is Nova, apparently the former Prince of a land called Marelon,” Lyra answered. “He appeared last night in the middle of the road.”

Rainbow Dash and Twilight both took one look at each other and knew that they should follow this lead. Who knows, Twilight thought, this could be the thing we’re looking for.

“So where has this ‘Nova’ gone?” Twilight asked.

“No idea, Lyra grumbled. “He disappeared this morning to go and collect some gems which he then left in the central square – “

“One pony did that?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “How?!”

“That’s exactly what I asked him,” Lyra said. “Apparently he used some form of old magic.”

“Old magic?” Twilight said. “How old is this magic?”

“I guess it was before Equestria existed.”

“Oh, right. Marelon. Erm, where is Marelon exactly?”

“Oh, I think he says it was right here, in this very same place as Equestria. And Ponyville was also a town back then.”

“Well, task complete,” Rainbow quipped. “We can report back to Celestia now, Twilight. Twilight?”

“Lyra,” Twilight whispered.

“What?” Lyra said.

“There’s someone behind you…” Twilight looked straight into the light blue eyes of a bright white alicorn stallion.

Lyra turned and sighed. “Where did you go this time?” she asked, annoyed.

“There were a few clouds about, and I got the feeling it wasn’t supposed to rain,” the stallion replied, smiling. Twilight was slightly taken aback by his powerful, yet kind and wise voice, a touch of nobility obvious in its tone.

“Oh… right,” Lyra said sheepishly. “Umm… Your Highness, I have the honour of introducing you to Prince Nova of Marelon.”

Lyra stepped out of the way to let the alicorn in. Nova walked inside and gestured for Lyra to follow.

“Oh, no, I couldn’t,” Lyra protested. “I have some rehearsals to do with Octavia for a lyre and cello duet. I’ll see you in an hour, I guess.”

“Sure,” Nova replied. Lyra shut the door and left Rainbow Dash, Nova and Twilight alone – except, of course, for Spike, who rushed around dusting up the books on the shelves as quick as the small dragon could without tripping over, grumbling all the time.

There was an awkward silence as the three ponies present tried to decide what to say to each other. Nova began to rifle through some books lying around. “What are you looking for?” Twilight enquired.

“Something on the history of Marelon,” Nova replied. “I want to find out how long I’ve been gone for.”

“I know almost all of these books inside out,” Twilight told him, “and none of them contain information on this ‘Marelon’ you come from.”

“Ah.” Nova stopped searching and looked back to the two ponies, Rainbow Dash giving him the ultimate quizzical stare.

“So…” Rainbow Dash said. “What’s Marelon like?”

“Well, it had quite a rocky terrain, but the topography is very similar to Equestria here,” Nova said, “and I recognised Canterlot Mountain. It still is Canterlot Mountain, right?”

“I… guess so,” Twilight said. “So Canterlot existed in Marelon as well?”

“It sure did,” Nova responded. “I lived there with my family until I was old enough to travel by myself.”

“And who was your family?” Twilight asked.

“Well, I had two sisters, who Lyra told me are both alive and well, ruling Equestria at this moment, and – “

“You’re related to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “Huh. I guess it’s true you learn something new every day.”

Nova continued. “My parents are called Queen Galaxia and King Cosmos, although I have no idea where they are.”

“Well, those are two ponies I’ve never heard of before,” Twilight remarked. “I don’t think we’ve ever had a king and queen.”

“So how come you just turned up last night in the middle of the road?” Rainbow Dash questioned.

“Lyra said something about me descending in a ball of white light,” Nova said. “Oh, and by the way, are you Rainbow Dash?”

“Ha! Obviously!” Rainbow confirmed. “The only pony in the history of Equestria to execute a Sonic Rainboom!”

“Well, it’s good to meet you, Rainbow,” Nova said, walking up to her and shaking her hoof. “I was friends with somepony who looked almost exactly like you.”

“Really?” Rainbow said. “Wow…”

“Yeah, Flowing Spectrum was her name,” Nova said. “I think the only difference I can see is your coat is a little darker than hers.”

“Could she do the Sonic Rainboom?” Rainbow asked smugly.

“I taught her how,” Nova replied, grinning back at Rainbow’s now astonished face.

“You – you can’t just teach somepony to do a Sonic Rainboom!” Rainbow protested. “It took me months to learn it myself! How many times did she do it?”

“I lost count,” Nova said. “She reached the right speed many times, but it was the second stage she couldn’t quite get past.”

“Second stage?” Rainbow said.

“The Double Rainboom,” Nova explained. “It happens when you fly at twice the speed you require for the normal Sonic Rainboom.”

“The Double Rainboom…” Rainbow’s voice was full of wonder. “You mean, you can teach that too?”

“What, are you interested?” Nova winked.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Rainbow Dash laughed, stretching her wings and giving a quick flap so she hovered in the air. “We should start right away!”

“Rainbow…” Twilight growled. “We haven’t quite finished yet. After this you can head outside and do your super-fast stuff.”

“Fine,” Rainbow agreed grumpily, falling back to the floor and sitting down, pouting.

“So, where were we?” Twilight thought out loud. “Ah, yes. What was life like back in Marelon?”

“Quite busy,” Nova admitted. “Because the land was covered in rocks, progress in the agricultural department was slow, but eventually, we managed to populate the land with trees and rivers, hills and towns – whatever you’d care to name.”

“So everything turned out alright then!” Twilight said cheerfully.

“No, it didn’t,” Nova said. “Not at all.” His ears fell and he stared down at the floor, a painful look in his eyes.

“…What happened?” Twilight asked.

“A monster,” Nova said, his voice hoarse as tears began to form. “A shadow from another world. Everything was destroyed. Everything, including Canterlot Palace, where my family were. I had been in Ponyville when he suddenly attacked them. I thought they were dead…” Nova choked on his words as his tears began to soak the wooden floor below him.

“I alone stood up to him. The rest of the ponies in Marelon were consumed by his power and turned into his evil slaves. And when I eventually defeated him, I used a spell with my last dredges of magic, just before I could die. I sent myself forward in time. I wouldn’t have had the strength to see if my family was all right if I had stayed. I couldn’t have coped with seeing the destruction all around me. All of our hard work was gone, and the land had been turned back into its old rocky self.

“Well, now I know my sisters are alive. At least all was not lost.” Nova sniffed and wiped away the water still collecting in his eyes. He looked back up at the two ponies who had listened to his story. “All I can guess is that another group of ponies came and cultivated the land, turning it into what it is today.” He smiled faintly.

“So… Flowing Spectrum died?” Rainbow asked.

“I would have to assume so.”

“That’s terrible…” Rainbow sidled up to Nova and put a hoof around him. “But hey, you can just imagine me as Flowing Spectrum if I look almost exactly like her!”

Nova’s smile returned to its full beam. He chuckled. “That I would love,” he said, returning the hug. “So, is that it, Twilight?”

“I guess so,” Twilight said. “I don’t have any more questions, so feel free to go outside and do your flying practice with Rainbow while I read up on a few things.”

Rainbow Dash grinned at Nova. “Let’s see how fast you really are, then!” she challenged, flapping her wings and zooming out of the door. Nova quickly followed.

Twilight sighed and began to study the bookshelves. “Flowing Spectrum, eh?” she muttered to herself. “I’m sure I’ve read that name somewhere before… hold on a moment. Was that alicorn missing a cutie mark?”

* * * * *

“Right!” Rainbow Dash said as she flew slow circles around Nova. “I usually do this with Twilight, but now it looks like I have a challenge on my hands, so this should be fun!” She rubbed her forehooves together with glee. “It’s who can clear the most clouds!”

Nova looked up at the clear sky, void of clouds. “Well, maybe we should go somewhere where there are clouds,” he pointed out.

Rainbow laughed. “Right… yeah, we should probably collect some clouds first,” she said. “Umm…”

“How about over there?” Nova suggested, pointing to the Everfree Forest.

“Are you crazy?!” Rainbow exclaimed. “That’s the Everfree Forest! Nopony should venture in there without some reasonable excuse!”

“The Everfree Forest, huh,” Nova said. “I see nothing wrong with it. It’s just a little dark and spooky, that’s all. We can move the clouds back here if you feel like it.”

Rainbow gulped. “One flyby, and then I’m not going back to collect more clouds. Got it?”

“Sure,” Nova grinned, pushing down with his wings and speeding off towards the forest. Rainbow gulped again and followed.

From just one flyby, they managed to gather roughly 100 clouds in one massive ball. Rainbow split them up and distributed them over Ponyville. “Ready?” Rainbow said.

“Start the countdown,” Nova said.

“All right then,” Rainbow grinned. “3, 2, 1, GO!”

The pegasus and the alicorn both set off at the same speed, breaking off in opposite directions. Rainbow went left, busting a cloud almost immediately. She smiled triumphantly and turned around to see Nova smash through 3 more. “Come on, Rainbow!” Nova shouted, smiling from ear to ear. “Concentrate!”

Rainbow frowned and flew off again, this time with more vigour. She ignored what Nova was doing and just concentrated on the clouds on her side. Before Nova came charging through and busted them for her. He destroyed about 5 clouds a second, compared to Rainbow’s 3. It was obvious who was going to win.

The crowd that had been surrounding the pile of gems now watched the skies, awestruck, as their fastest flyer was bested by a new pony they had never seen before. Not just any pony – it was an alicorn! The crowd began to cheer for Rainbow, hoping it would spur her on to win. Pegasi began to bring in new clouds from everywhere, trying to help Rainbow get her score level with the alicorn’s, but Rainbow knew she couldn’t do it. Her opponent was much faster than her – and if he could teach someone how to fly at twice her top speed, she had no chance.

Rainbow grunted, and then remembered that Nova was an alicorn. He must be using magic to help him win! Rainbow thought. What a cheater! As Nova flew past, she stared angrily at him.

“STOP CHEATING!” she yelled. “QUIT USING YOUR MAGIC!”

Nova sped back to face her and paused for a moment, pointing to his horn, which was just sitting there on his head like it had in the library. “No glow, no magic,” Nova explained. “Nopony can bypass that; it’s just the nature of our kind.”

“Right… sorry,” Rainbow apologised. “But we’re still on!” And she flew off and busted another cloud, while Nova suddenly destroyed every other cloud in the sky above Ponyville. Rainbow Dash turned for her next cloud and noticed it wasn’t there. She looked for Nova and found him breathing heavily, but grinning wide. Rainbow Dash’s jaw dropped.

Nova gave a few flaps of his wings and came level with Rainbow Dash, offering his hoof. “Well done,” he said, in between his gasps for air. “Even though Flowing Spectrum could fly fast, she didn’t have that kind of agility you possess.”

Rainbow took the hoof and shook it. She was equally exhausted from all of that flying. They both touched down on the ground and smiled at each other.

“Wow,” Rainbow said. “That was impressive.”

“Thanks,” Nova panted. “It requires strong yet quick flapping of the wings. It tires you out like the end of a full day of running.”

“You have to teach me how to do that,” Rainbow pleaded.

“I can teach you all that and more,” Nova chuckled, placing a steadying hoof on Rainbow Dash as she wobbled slightly. “But I think we need to rest now. And maybe get a bit of food.”

* * * * *

“You called me over, dear?” Rarity said, stepping through the door.

“Yes,” Twilight said, “as well as the others, who don’t seem to be here on time. Anyway, Rainbow and I think we’ve found the incredible ‘thing’ Celestia tasked us to look for.”

“And where is Rainbow Dash?” Rarity asked.

“With the incredible ‘thing’,” Twilight grumbled, “which turned out to be an ancient alicorn prince with no cutie mark and also the brother of Celestia and Luna.”

“Rainbow Dash is with a PRINCE?!” Rarity screeched. “I’M SO JEALOUS I COULD JUST – “

“Calm down, Rarity,” Twilight scolded. “The thing I’m worried about is why this prince has no cutie mark – “

“What’s his name?!” Rarity interrupted.

“Uh, Nova – “ Twilight began, trying to continue.

“Nova! Such a noble name!” Rarity swooned. “I would really love to meet this prince and see what he’s like; who knows, maybe he will be my Prince – “

“Rarity, quiet!” Twilight shouted, continuing the chain of interruptions. “As I was saying, Nova has no cutie mark, and I find that suspicious.”

“Oh, Twilight, he’s the brother of the princess!” Rarity said. “Have you ever been suspicious of royalty before?”

“Rarity, just listen,” Twilight groaned. “I just want to make sure Rainbow Dash is safe and that Nova isn’t some kind of mutated changeling or whatever. I’ve had quite enough of changelings since my brother’s disastrous first wedding.”

“Well, don’t jump to conclusions too quickly,” Rarity warned. “You don’t want to offend a prince.”

Twilight sighed. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine,” she promised. “Tell the others if you see them.”

“I will do so, you can count on that!” Rarity giggled, blushing and leaving. Twilight rolled her eyes. Rarity and her romantic fantasies, she thought, returning to a book. Whatever next.