The Lost Prince

“Nova Nova Nova wake up wake up WAKE UP!!!”

Groaning, Nova tried to shake off the pony rattling him awake. “What?” he grumbled from under the sheets.

“It’s half past 4!” Derpy said cheerfully.

“In the morning?”

“Yup!”

“And?”

“Surely you must have heard of the Summer Sun celebration?” Derpy asked, shocked. “We’ll be late if we don’t hurry! Now come on!”

“So what’s this celebration?” Nova asked, still sleepy and unable to fully open his weary eyes. He tried to step out of bed, but his legs collapsed beneath him and he fell to the floor. Derpy pushed up against him and lifted him back onto his hooves.

“Oh, it’s where Princess Celestia raises the sun for the longest day of the year!” Derpy explained. “We did once host the celebration before, but that didn’t go too well…”

“What happened?” Nova asked.

“Well, Princess Luna came back after being locked away for something like 1000 years trapped in the moon, but as her evil self, Nightmare Moon.” Derpy shuddered. “It was kinda scary, her trying to shroud the world in eternal night.”

“An eclipse,” Nova muttered. “Well, Luna’s certainly improved in her magical ability to be able to counter-act my gravitational spells…”

“Er, what?” Derpy said.

“Nothing.” Nova hurried down to the front door. “Anyway, I can’t wait to meet my sister after so long, so I’d like to get there as quickly as possible!”

Derpy giggled. “Finally,” she remarked, flying after Nova’s receding form, already charging far into the distance.

* * * * *

Nova wasn’t the only one who was reluctant about getting up. Spike the Dragon, self-proclaimed Number 1 Assistant of Twilight Sparkle, was snoring louder than a timberwolf as the princess tried to stop him from faking sleep and get him out of his basket. “Spike, come on!” she pleaded. “The Summer Sun celebration is going to start soon, and we have to be there to greet Celestia!”

“Uh huh,” Spike mumbled, still trying to return to his dreams. “No thanks, I think I’ll stay here and – “

Twilight yanked him out from under his blanket by his tail and threw him unceremoniously on the ground. “Strange to think that last time the Summer Sun celebration was held in Ponyville you were partying downstairs having the time of your life!” Twilight pointed out angrily. “Now come on!”

Spike groaned and muttered a few curses as he pulled himself back up to his feet and up onto Twilight’s back. “Fine…” he said, “but don’t blame me when I fall off you halfway through the ceremony.” And then he burped, and a letter reassembled itself from the green flames that followed it.

“A letter?” Twilight said to herself, picking it up with her magic and studying the wax seal. “From Luna?”

Spike snatched the letter from Twilight’s levitation spell and unravelled it. “Ahem,” he coughed. “I am sorry to tell you this, Twilight, but my sister is unable to attend the Summer Sun celebration?!”

“What?!” Twilight grabbed the letter from Spike and read the words herself.

“I hadn’t finished,” Spike grumbled as Twilight began to hyperventilate.

“Why can’t Princess Celestia come to the Summer Sun celebration?!” Twilight gasped, astounded. “That’s just unthinkable! What do you think, happened to her, Spike? Do you think she got in a fight with the changeling queen? Or maybe she – “

Spike again took the scroll back. “I hadn’t finished,” he repeated, straightening the crumpled paper and clearing his throat once more. “She is at this very moment trapped in a never-ending nightmare – “

“How dare Luna do that!” Twilight suddenly yelled to the night sky. “How dare you, Luna!”

“TWILIGHT!” Spike shouted at her. “You continue to interrupt me and so I can’t tell you the whole story! Just let me finish!”

“Sorry…” Twilight sheepishly sat back on her haunches. “Carry on.”

“Thank you. As I was saying, she is at this very moment trapped in a never-ending nightmare which I am unable to control,” Spike continued. “As the celebration cannot go ahead, I want you and your friends to come to Canterlot and use the Elements of Harmony on Celestia, to see if that is powerful enough magic to free my sister. Yours sincerely, Luna.”

“So who will raise the sun?” Twilight asked, exasperated.

“Umm… hold on, there’s a PS!” Spike noticed. “I will raise both the sun and the moon until Celestia can return to her normal duties.”

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. “No eternal night this time,” she said happily. “But enough about that! We’ve got to get the others!”

Spike groaned. “You’ve got to get the others,” he said, sliding off Twilight and crawling back into bed. “I’m staying here.”

“Fine.” Twilight rolled her eyes and used her levitation to put Spike on her back. “Sleep there.” And so she rushed out of the library towards Fluttershy’s cottage – although she never got far, as a blue-grey lump smashed right into her side and sent her flying.

“Oops!” Sorry Twilight!” Derpy apologised, quickly trotting over to help the mare to her hooves. “I didn’t see you there.”

“What are you doing, Derpy?” Twilight asked angrily. “It’s half past four!”

“Yeah, but it’s the Summer Sun celebration! Everybody’s up at half past four!” Derpy pointed out.

Twilight cursed herself for forgetting so soon after reading about the tragedy associated with it. She opened her mouth to tell Derpy what had happened, but then shut it quickly as she thought about the consequences. Being the bearer of bad news wasn’t the greatest job in Equestria.

“Morning, Twilight.”

“Hello, Nova,” Twilight groaned as the white pony flew in behind Derpy. “What sees you up and early?”

“Actually, this is later than usual, but today I thought I might get away with a little more rest,” Nova said matter-of-factly, folding in his wings as he landed next to his grey-blue escort. “Turns out there’s a ‘Summer Sun Celebration’ which my sister Celestia’s a large part of, and Derpy here told me to rush over to the town hall early in the morning.”

“Yeah, about that…” Twilight trailed off as she remembered Derpy was present as well. But Nova simply gave a knowing smile and nodded.

“You can give me the whole story later,” he said. “I’ve got a pegasus to teach the Double Rainboom to. Derpy, how about you go make some muffins for the celebration?”

“Muffins…?” Derpy’s face shone like the fast-approaching sun. “Yippee! I love muffins! They are just my favourite treat in the world, you know?”

“I sure do,” Nova grinned. “You named to me every single type of muffin in your cupboard. Why would one do that if they didn’t have a unique obsession over them?”

Derpy smiled back and took off back to her house. “I’ll see you later, okay?” she shouted to him.

“Sure thing!” Nova replied as the pegasus hurtled into the distance. He turned back to Twilight, whose face was a complete mess of emotions. Surprise, anger, and maybe a touch of wonder all flickered over Twilight’s features before she regained her composure. “I’ll tell you the whole story now, inside,” she said calmly. “Follow me.”

“I have a feeling this concerns your friends as well,” Nova said. “Shouldn’t we go and get them?”

Twilight stopped just before the door back into the library. “Actually, that’s a good idea,” she agreed. “Why don’t you fetch them with your ‘awesome’ speed?”

Nova pretended not to pick up on the intended sarcasm. “Sure,” he said, preparing to take off.

“I don’t think you know where my friends live!” Twilight told him.

“I think I do,” Nova responded. “I’ll be back in a few minutes, maybe less.” And with that he flew off towards Rarity’s Carousel Boutique. Twilight shook her head in confusion as she tried to think how he could know things he had never been told. Giving up for the moment, she went back inside and sat down in front of her reading desk. “Five more chapters to go,” she muttered, continuing her studies of the book, ‘What Came Before Equestria’.

There was a knock at the door. Back already? Twilight thought incredulously as she warily approached the handle. Quickly pulling it open, she found a muddy Spike dripping muck all over her recently polished floor.

“Don’t leave me outside again,” Spike warned, “or you’ll be sorry.”

* * * * *

“This emergency session has been called to order to discuss the matter of a letter sent directly to me from His Royal Highness Prince Nova, having travelled through time from the future.”

There was a bemused muttering from all corners of the High Council of Magic. Most couldn’t believe that Nova had survived – defying a prophecy had never been successfully carried out, and so some members were suspicious.

“How do we know this letter was from Nova?” a golden unicorn with jet black hair objected. His blue eyes darted quickly around the room, daring anyone to challenge. Even though his gaze only settled on each pony for a few milliseconds, most were intimidated to not answer. His horn glowed slightly as he added magic to his intimidation.

Silver Vortex noticed and chided the unicorn. “Do not use any spell within the Council Room’s walls except low-level levitation, Bright Spyre,” he said. “We know this letter was from Nova since it carried his seal and his magical print. Surely you were taught about a nobleman’s seal in Novice?”

Bright Spyre winced inwardly at harsh memories associated with the youngest form of magic school, but hid it from his peers. “And the fact that it was from the future? It could just have well been sent from the past, as if it was His Royal Highness’ will.”

Silver Vortex sighed at Bright Spyre’s obvious questions, which held obvious answers, but Bright was a rather ‘unhinged’ pony that required particular care when dealing with him – one wrong move and he could have you locked in a magical duel within seconds. “I tracked the magical footprint and identified it as a time spell,” Silver explained. “I then looked closer and saw the magic was a reverse time spell. Had it been more… forward, the letter would have been from the past. And no, it does not contain any will of any sort.”

“May we hear the letter?” Starlight Dew asked from across the room.

“A good notion, Starlight,” Silver agreed. He brought out the scroll of parchment from behind his chair. “Although addressed to me, it will do no harm for others to hear what our prince has to say.” Silver cleared his throat.

“I trust you thought me dead,” Silver read. “Of course, with the appearance of this letter and your certain curiosity on how it arrived there, you will have realised that you were wrong. I am alive and well in the future Ponyville, which you will know as one of the many towns across Marelon. Equestria does indeed exist – I have witnessed the result of the slow transformation of what is now in your time a rugged landscape of stone into a shining world of grass, plants and civilisation. You have no doubt tracked down how far I am into the future through my magical footprint, and that is why I am writing to you – I have no idea how far I am into the future, and I wish for you to send a reply to me telling me ‘when’ I am, and how what was previously Marelon is doing. As always, your proudest mentor, Nova.”

“Is that it?” Bright questioned angrily. “All he can say about Equestria is ‘a shining world of grass, plants, and civilisation’?”

“One must be careful when writing a letter to be sent through time,” Starlight explained calmly. “If you meddle with too much, it can have disastrous consequences.”

“Meddle with what, may I ask?” Bright retorted. “I highly doubt any damaging information could come from the future.”

“You never know, Bright,” Silver said. “Some things can hide themselves from us until it’s too late. Taking the risk is far too dangerous.”

Bright scowled and leant back into his chair. He had finished his protest. Silver cleared his throat.

“I will study this letter to find when and where it was sent from. As soon as I have done this, I will call up a small group of unicorns from this Council and a few soldiers from the Marelon Army to travel to the point in time and space at which Nova is.”

“Pardon me for interrupting, Archmage, but didn’t you just lecture me about meddling with time?” Bright snapped. He didn’t say Starlight had a part in it, but he gave her an angry look.

“Travelling forwards in time is different to travelling backwards,” Silver said. “Fewer mistakes are made – in fact, it is difficult to make mistakes in the future at all. Our journey will be safe, so long as we return just after when we left.”

Bright grumbled under his breath, but was slightly relieved that it wasn’t another lecture.

“So, for now, the High Council of Magic is dismissed.” Silver waved his hoof and signalled for the mages to leave. They bowed and followed in single file up the staircase to the courtyard.

Silver grabbed the letter under his levitation spell and hurried towards his wrecked quarters. Spreading it out on the flattest surface he could find, he readied his magic. “You wouldn’t hide anything from me, Nova,” Silver muttered. “Would you?”

* * * * *

“The Summer Sun Celebration is cancelled.”

The faces of most of the ponies in the room were extremely similar – all of their jaws had dropped and their ears were trying to process the words they had just heard. “W – why?!” Rainbow Dash asked. “What happened?”

“According to this letter I just received this morning from Princess Luna, Celestia is trapped in some sort of uncontrollable nightmare,” Twilight explained. “Because of this, she is unable to attend, and if she is unable to attend, what is the point in hosting the Summer Sun celebration?”

“Uh, Twilight?” Applejack said.

“What?”

“Who’s the alicorn?”

“…Oh, Nova!” Twilight said, waving a hoof in the stallion’s direction. “From a land called Marelon in the past.”

“Oh. Right,” Applejack said, not understanding at all.

“He travelled through time to get here,” Rainbow Dash added helpfully. “But he’s not sure how far he went.”

“Rarity, are you listening?” Twilight enquired to the oblivious unicorn. Rarity sighed happily and continued to stare at Nova with wide eyes.

“Rarity?”

The white-coated pony ignored her again.

“Rarity?” Nova asked her.

“Y – yes, Your Royal Highness?” Rarity said, trying not to swoon as he said her name.

“Twilight would like your attention.”

Having been told by the pony she was mooning over, Rarity snapped back to reality. “I’m all ears, darling,” she said to the frowning Twilight. “What was the problem?”

Twilight groaned and repeated herself. “The Summer Sun Celebration is cancelled.”

“Cancelled?!” Rarity gasped. “But that simply cannot be!”

“Princess Celestia is under the influence of an uncontrollable nightmare,” Twilight said, “and Princess Luna wants us to try and use the Elements of Harmony on her to see if our magic is powerful enough.”

“The Elements of Harmony?!” Nova explained. “You managed to revive them?”

“What – is that hard?” Twilight said, puzzled. “I found them in the broken down castle in the Everfree Forest with the ponies you see before me. We’re the only ones who can use the Elements.”

“You must tell me everything about how you managed to come across them and use them,” Nova said, looking very excited and sitting down.

“Not now,” Twilight said. “We have a bigger problem than how we six can use the Elements of Harmony. We need to go to Canterlot at once.”

“But what about everyone here in Ponyville, and the ponies coming to visit the celebrations?” Fluttershy asked. “Won’t they be upset that it’s not on?”

“We’ll leave a short note with the mayor,” Twilight suggested, not taking any more questions. “Now, to the train station!”

“Actually, I’d prefer to fly,” Nova said. “I’ll see you on the other side.” And just like that, he was out of the door and in the sky, already hurtling towards the mountainside city.

Twilight groaned once more. Then, using her levitation, she retrieved a chest and the Elements of Harmony, storing the precious magical items in the padded interior. Locking the chest with a secure magical code, she opened the door. “Come on, girls!” she said determinedly. “We’ve got to try and save Celestia!”

Twilight turned back to the door and saw that Nova had felt like returning and was now standing back in the library. “I need to make a letter,” he said, not tired at all from his short flight.

“Quills and ink at the back, parchment on your left,” Twilight told him. “We’ll see you when you get to Canterlot.” And so, packing their saddlebags for the trip, they hurried to the station.

Nova closed the door behind them with his magic and chuckled. “I’d better let Silver know what’s happened,” he said to himself, taking up the quill with his magic and beginning to write.

* * * * *

Although knowledge of Princess Celestia’s affliction had been contained within the palace walls so far, eventually word would get out, and Princess Luna knew it. Even so, she tried to keep anyone she saw at least 50 metres away from her sister’s chambers. That was how a royal guard found her, eyes darting from corridor to corridor. Quickly pressing his back against a wall to avoid being seen, he strained his ears to hear if she was saying anything. Eventually, he noted her receding footsteps and the closing of her sister’s door.

Returning to the middle of the corridor, the guard warily approached the chamber. He had some idea of the castle layout, but that mental map had since faded, and there were unknown patches dotted about. One could never be too careful – one false step and you could be in view of a guard rather suspicious of what you had been doing.

The guard shuddered as he relived that fateful day, when his hunger had been oversaturated by the pure energy which kept his soul alive. Blasted back to the Outlands, scattered across Equestria, hated just for their way of survival. Not long after, the queen had died of her injuries, and her son took her place on the throne. Maybe he was not the most careful leader they had had, but his risks had paid off so far, and the clan was happy to accept him. Now he was sending spies across the globe, to keep tabs on anything that might be of interest. And the guard had found something.

Exposing his horn, the guard opened the door as quietly as he could, the green aura of his magic wavering slightly under his nervousness. He was in the bedroom of one of the most powerful ponies in the world. He peered into the darkness and saw a shape huddled under the covers of the bed. It could only be Princess Celestia, under the nightmare she was plagued with.

Chortling under his breath, the guard walked up to the bed and pulled the covers back – to find nopony there. Glowering, the guard’s eyes scanned the room until he noticed a hump in the rug. Obviously Celestia was in a worse state than he had thought. He activated a small light on his horn and stepped towards the hump.

The guard’s job was to study what was going on with Celestia and then report back to the young king residing in the Outlands. A rather simple task for one that had been so highly ranked in the army that had been chosen to take part in the attack on Canterlot, but a task all the same, and so it was his duty. Of course, the guard would need a close look at Celestia, to find any abnormalities. He dragged the rug off the hump.

And there she was – Princess Celestia, joint ruler of the land of Equestria, now reduced to a whimpering filly. The guard knelt down and studied Celestia’s features intently. He leant in close, smelling that juicy meal that was only just out of his reach – though what from, he did not know.

Then suddenly, her eyes opened. And they were filled to the brim with black.

The guard jerked backwards as if stung, but a shadowy cloud came up behind him and pinned him to the ground. Celestia rose, laughing. But not her normal laugh – it was malevolent, spine-tingling, and horrible to listen to. The guard struggled, but the shadow held on to him with unrivalled strength. Celestia spoke to him, but not in her voice. It was a deep, rumbling noise, steaming with evil. The guard was immediately shocked into conceding.

“I was wondering when you would come,” Celestia said. “Because I have a little message for your leader, Kalidan.”

The guard gulped. Celestia knowing their leader’s name was not a good omen.

“Tell him that in three weeks he must have an army ready to attack Canterlot. It must be as big as he can make it. Meet on the plains before the castle with my own army. You will recognise them when you see them.”

“H – how will we recognise them?” The guard stuttered.

“Consumed by my power, and hungry for revenge,” Celestia chuckled manically. “It will be obvious. Together you shall destroy what others have worked hard to build, and in return I will spare your race.”

The guard shouted out in protest, but the shadow holding him down crushed his chest inward and he gasped for breath. “I know who and what you are, Kataal Changeling,” Celestia warned. “You will do as I command.”

The guard cried out in pain as the shadow seemed to enter his body. He tried to reject what felt like dark magic, but it simply ignoring his attempts and began to rip off his disguise one piece at a time, finally revealing his true, black form. Kataal’s beady green eyes now stared with a look of anger at Celestia, who simply smiled slightly and edged off the shadow’s pressure.

Celestia knelt down to Kataal’s level and whispered in his ear. “As soon as I am out of this body, you must kill the white alicorn and bring me his horn. Do this, and you will be greatly rewarded.” Straightening up, Celestia released the shadow’s grip on the changeling. Kataal shakily pulled himself back on to his feet.

“W – who are you?” He stammered, breathing deeply.

“You may call me The Shadow,” Celestia grinned. “And you may tell your leader that if he refuses, his entire world will crumble around him, and he will powerless to stop it.” And then the black faded from Celestia’s eyes, and she fell back down to the floor, limp.

Kataal, shaken from the encounter, hurried out of the chamber and shut the door behind him, galloping for the nearest exit. This was urgent news.