Under Lunar Wings

by JP HACK

Chapter 07: Understanding

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 axe and 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!