A Royal Getaway

by IronStories

Chapter 6: Healing Old Wounds

"Novo!"

"Queen Novo!"

"Queen Novo! Where are you?!"

Celestia, with some help from Applejack, Tempest Shadow, and Grubber, has been trying to look for Novo for what seemed like hours. While they were at the marketplace in Ponyville, Novo ran into Tempest. This triggered traumatic flashbacks to the Storm King's invasion of Mount Aris, causing Novo to panic. A comment from Grubber was the straw that broke the camel's back, and Novo stormed out of the market, completely upset. Now the four have been trying to find her all across Ponyville, while trying not to fear the worst, or that she might have already left.

"Any luck finding her?" Celestia said. "I'm starting to worry."

"I checked Sugarcube Corner." Applejack said. "Pinkie Pie told me she wasn't there."

"You told us to check the spa," Tempest added, "but the ponies who worked there said she didn't drop by after you all went."

"Well then, my best bet is that she went back to Twilight's castle." Celestia theorized. "I hope that she's there. Let's go!"

They all soon headed for Twilight's castle. Surely if Novo is there, or at least was there, then at least Twilight, Spike, or Starlight would have seen her. After a long walk, they made it to the castle.

"Twilight! Twilight, are you there?" Applejack called.

"Hi Applejack!" Twilight said. She then noticed Celestia, Tempest, and Grubber. "What's going on?"

"Twilight, we were wondering if Novo stopped by here at all." Celestia asked.

"No. Why would she be here? Isn't she exploring Ponyville."

"We were," Celestia explained, "but some complications arose."

"Oh dear." Twilight then saw Tempest. "I think I know what you mean."

"I tried to explain things to her," Tempest pleaded, "but she had that fight-or-flight reaction."

Twilight knew that the group was getting real nervous. They needed to find Novo and make sure she was okay.

"Maybe I can help you all find her. You look like you can certainly use it. I'm certain she couldn't have gone too far."

"We appreciate it, Twilight." Celestia replied. "Perhaps with more eyes in the sky, it'll make this little search all the more easier."

"Anything to reunite friends." Twilight said. "Let's go hippogriff hunting!"

"That sounds a little morbid." Grubber commented. Soon enough, the group began to search far and wide for Novo.

Meanwhile, the Queen herself was still incredibly upset. Seeing Tempest after so long stated to trigger bad memories, but being reminded of that faithful day in a public space was just too much. She continued to fly, tears still running down her eyes until she caught sight of a small cottage. She landed and laid down in the ground and continued to cry.

Suddenly a bunny started hopping along and noticed Novo. He looked at her for a second, and she looked back before covering her face again.

"Angel? Is that you making all that noise?"

Out of the cottage stepped Fluttershy. She heard the crying outside and thought it might have been her bunny Angel or any of the other animals that frequent her cottage. She then saw Novo weeping.

"Oh my goodness!" She ran to see what was wrong. "Are you okay?"

Novo tried to regain composure. She looked at Fluttershy, still with tears in her eyes.

"Queen Novo?" Fluttershy was in bewilderment. "I heard you would be visiting. But weren't you accompanied by Princess Celestia? Did the two of you get separated, or did you both have a big fight? What happened?"

Novo finally got up and wiped her tears away. It seems like she was finally regaining some composure.

"It's a long story." She finally said. "I don't know if I want to discuss it in detail."

"Maybe if you did, you might feel a little better." Fluttershy replied. "I mean, if you really want to."

Novo looked at Fluttershy. The small yellow Pegasus was always willing to help any creature, even if she herself was a tad on the quiet side. But she was also very understanding. And Novo wanted someone to talk to, even if she felt a bit uncomfortable about it.

"Well.... okay." Novo finally decided to talk about her problem. "I'll talk about it."

"Great!" Fluttershy beamed. "Come on inside, I'll go make us some tea, and maybe I can help you a little with whatever is on your mind."

Back in Ponyville, the search was heating up. With Twilight joining them, Celestia, Applejack, Tempest, and Grubber were able to cover a bit more ground, but unfortunately, they still had no such luck.

"Still nothing?" Celestia grew worried.

"We looked everywhere. Twice even." Applejack said, sounding fairly exhausted.

"I'm afraid we may have to accept the fact that Novo might have left Ponyville..." Twilight lamented.

"No, she couldn't have!" Celestia became very upset. "She was having the most wonderful time here. I don't want one incident to ruin the whole thing for her."

"I'm sure she'll turn up." Tempest said. "Is there anywhere we haven't checked?"

The ponies began to think. They've pretty much checked every single square inch of Ponyville. They've asked almost everypony if they saw a hippogriff come through, only for them to give the same answer of either no or yes, but they didn't know which direction she was heading.

"Have we looked at the edge of the Everfree Forest?" Applejack asked.

"No, but I certainly hope Novo didn't go there." Celestia replied. "The forest is a strange and mysterious place. If something were to happen to her, I wouldn't forgive myself."

"I doubt she would even think about going there." Twilight said. She was thinking for a moment until an idea struck. "We haven't talked to Fluttershy yet. Maybe she knows where Novo is!"

"Great thinking, Twilight!" Celestia said, feeling a little better. "Maybe Novo is with her, too!"

The ponies then made their way to Fluttershy's cottage. What Celestia didn't actually know was that Novo was, in fact, already there.

"I didn't mean to run off like that. It was just an awful gut feeling I had. My emotions got the better of me..."

Back at the cottage, Novo was telling Fluttershy about her vacation, along with the incident that happened at the market. They were also having some tea as well.

"It's just, Tempest was there when Mount Aris originally fell, and when my husband died at the hands of the Storm King. She was part of the team that tried to catch me when I escaped to reunite with the others. I know Celestia and Twilight told me not to let my past affect me, but it's really hard to let go, especially on that day. It's just too painful for me to not forget."

"I didn't know you went through such a traumatic experience." Fluttershy said, taking a sip of some tea. "But it was all in the past now. You seemed to have changed, and Tempest has changed too."

"Are you sure?" Novo asked. "I mean, how do we know she isn't keeping some sort of dangerous weapon underneath that trenchcoat she's wearing?"

Fluttershy giggled. "She just wears that now, it's kind of her new thing. Maybe if you tried talking to her, you could make amends with each other. I mean, that's what you and Twilight did after the Friendship Festival, and it worked out alright."

"I don't know, honey." Novo sipped some tea. "Twilight was very understanding and easy to talk to. I'm not so sure about Tempest."

"You wouldn't know if you didn't try." Fluttershy said softly. Novo still felt a tad unsure, but she gave a reassuring smile. She then noticed a little green bird on top of one of the birdhouses.

"Is that a ringneck parakeet?" Novo asked. "They're common across Mount Aris."

"Oh, yes it is." Fluttershy replied "You want to see him?"

"I'd love to." Novo said. Fluttershy called the parakeet over, and it flew to her. It then flew onto Novo's finger, and she started to whistle at it. The parakeet responded with a cheerful chirp. Fluttershy was in awe.

"You can talk to birds?" Fluttershy said in amazement.

"Yes, it's a trait hippogriffs have."

"That's amazing!" Fluttershy beamed. She took Novo out to her backyard. "You have to see my new birdhouses. I'm sure you'll love to meet who lives in them."

Novo saw the lot of birdhouses and was in amazement. The bird selection wasn't as vast as it was at the Equestria Avian Society, but the level of care that was put in was just as good. Novo had fun talking to all the songbirds, parakeets, and even the chickens. It seems that she was happy again. Fluttershy was also happy, mainly to see that Novo was feeling better. She decided to head back in and leave Novo in peace with the birds.

When she finally got in, she heard a knock at the door. She was confused, as she wasn't expecting visitors. Then again, she also wasn't expecting to find the Queen of the hippogriffs crying near her front porch.

"Hello?" She opened the door, and saw Twilight, Celestia, Applejack, Tempest, and Grubber.

"Hi Fluttershy, sorry to arrive so sudden." Twilight tried to explain. "We're looking for Queen Novo, and we thought she might be here. Have you seen her?

"I have," Fluttershy replied, "she's actually in the back talking to the birds. You can go see her. Well, if she's comfortable about it."

They all headed to the backyard, where they saw Novo with the birds. She looked completely different from how they saw her at the market. She was fearful and incredibly upset, but now she seemed much calmer. One thing to know about Novo was that, despite her tempers flaring every now and then, she was very quick to cool down.

"Novo!" Celestia was overjoyed, mainly because she was so worried that her friend may have already left, or worse. She trotted towards Novo.

"Celestia?" Novo was surprised, even more so when Celestia came in and gave her a massive hug. So much so that it caused a few of the birds to fly off back to the trees and into their birdhouses.

"I was so worried about you!" Celestia said, with tears in her eyes, hugging Novo tight. "We were looking everywhere for you! I thought you might have left, but thank goodness you are okay!" Novo was a little unsure of how to make of all this, and Celestia realized she was kind of making herself look a bit silly. "Well, anyway, are you alright? That's the most important question here."

"I'm fine now, Celie." Novo replied. "Fluttershy and I talked about it. I shouldn't have let my emotions get the better of me. But I'm feeling much better."

"That's great to hear!" Twilight said. "Because we brought someone who would really like to talk to you!"

"Who?" Novo asked.

Twilight and Applejack backed up to reveal Tempest and Grubber. Novo immediately got another fight-or-flight reaction, and Celestia began to worry. As Tempest moved closer, Novo started to back away slowly. But then Novo remembered what Fluttershy told her, and she let Tempest approach her.

"Queen Novo, I just wanted to say how truly sorry I am for the role I played in your kingdom's fall all those years ago. I wanted to approach you when you were at the Friendship Festival, but I was worried about how you might have reacted. I just want you to know that I am no longer aligned with the Storm King. That was probably one of the worst decisions I ever made. But I've changed. I'm trying to rectify all of the bad deeds I have done over the years and change for the better. None of the pain and suffering I caused is worth the restoration of something I have lost. It is something that I simply must live with. Can you ever forgive me?"

The Queen stared at the dark purple mare. Everypony was watching and wondering how Novo would react to this apology. It was a rather tense moment.

"Tempest Shadow," Novo finally said, "I can never forget what happened that day, as much as I want to. Watching my world fall apart before my very eyes, losing the griff I loved so much to an irredeemable monster, being forced to hide underwater to avoid the same thing from happening again! But, if there's one thing I have learned, something that I have been taught lately, is that you never let your past define you. I didn't mean to act the way I did when I saw you at the market. I think it's time we both let the past go." She then have Tempest a hug.

Celestia, Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy were very proud of what they saw. Novo was able to overcome the demons that haunted her that day and make amends with somepony who worked with the one responsible for causing her so much grief.

"Thank you, Queen Novo," Tempest said, "I promise to make things right."

"You already have, my dear." Novo replied.

"Oh! Before I forget," Tempest added, looking at Grubber, "don't we have something to say, Grubber?"

Grubber looked at Tempest, seeming like he was purposefully dodging the question. Tempest, however, was not fooling around.

"DON'T WE HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY, GRUBBER?!"

"EEP!" Grubber was frightened and he ran up to Novo, hugging her leg. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry I'm sorry! I didn't mean to upset you, bird lady! If I didn't apologize to you, Tempest would have thrown me off a ledge, I swear! Can you please forgive me so she doesn't clobber me?!"

"Don't worry, all is forgiven." Novo chuckled, as she picked up the little hedgehog-like creature and hugged him. Everypony was relieved, and they all headed to Sugarcube Corner, where Novo had to pick up a special cupcake for Skystar. Little does she know that a surprise was waiting for her.

Dusk was slowly approaching, and the nightlife in Ponyville was starting to pop up. As the triage of ponies and hippogriff were heading for Sugarcube Corner, Novo and Tempest were trading stories.

"You mean he's still alive?" Tempest gasped as Novo was telling the story of her and Celestia's little adventure where they were forced to fight in the Storm King's gladiatorial arena. "And you fought him by yourself?!"

"Yup." Novo said. "I was determined to finish him off then and there for everything he's done. But Celestia convinced me that Waverider wouldn't have wanted it this way. So I left three big scars on his face! Think that got the message across."

"Was he as pompous and air-headed as I remember?" Tempest chimed in. "You know, he was just the absolute worst to work for. He was all 'Destroy this kingdom', 'Conquer that species', 'Why does that storm cloud look weird, you better fix it before I feed you to the ThunderWraiths!'"

The two laughed it up. Celestia and Twilight were watching them and felt very happy.

"Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever seen a sight like this." Celestia said.

"I know." Twilight added. "It feels really good to see that Novo is healing some old wounds."

They all finally made it to Sugarcube Corner, and what would happen next was completely unexpected.

"SURPRISE!!!"

The sounds of cheering ponies and the sight of confetti and other party decorations littered the air. Novo jumped a bit.

"We were hoping you would come by sooner or later!" Pinkie Pie beamed with glee. She had thrown a party to celebrate Novo's arrival in Ponyville.

"I was worried that you wouldn't come by after what happened at the market, but then I thought you couldn't leave without giving Skystar her special cupcake I made just for her! But now you're here and I am super relived that you decided to stay after all!"

Novo looked around a bit. It looked like every single pony in town was here.

"What's the matter?" Pinkie asked, looking worried. "Don't you like the party I set up?"

"Oh, everything's fine, sweetie," Novo said, "I just wasn't expecting a full house."

"Pinkie likes to outdo herself." Applejack chuckled.

"Well, in that case," Novo declared, "let's get this party started!"

The party was as lively as ever. There were games, conversations, stories, and Novo was the center of it all. What really made her feel good was the warm reception that the ponies gave her. For a long time, she was worried that the ponies would be resentful of her after the incident in Seaquestria, but if Twilight has taught her anything, it was that forgiveness was a powerful tool. All the party guests welcomed Novo with open hooves, some even saying they would love to visit Seaquestria and Mount Aris. She had never felt so accepted by others like this.

As time went on, and the night began to settle in, the party winded down. And as such, Celestia and Novo's vacation was too. As fun as it was, even with mishaps, it was time to head back home. As the guests started to head out, things calmed down, which was good for Novo, who was staring to get antsy.

"Make sure Skystar gets this." Pinkie told Novo, handing her the special cupcake she made for the Queen's daughter. "Pinkie promise!"

"Don't worry, Pinkie Pie. I'll give it to her. She'll love it." Novo replied. She took the cupcake with her, and she and Celestia left Sugarcube Corner and headed back to Twilight's castle to gather their luggage. Afterwards, they headed to the train station, accompanied by Twilight, Spike, and Tempest.

"Thank you for having us here in Ponyville, Twilight"." Celestia said. "I only wish we could stay longer."

"You both are welcome. It was nice seeing you again!" Twilight replied. "You know, in a casual way and not when there's some big threat to Equestria."

They both shared a chuckle. Twilight then turned to Novo. "Did you enjoy your visit to Ponyville? I hope what happened at the market didn't affect your trip."

"I had a lovely time here, Twilight." Novo replied. "I'm not gonna let one incident bother me. Besides, I feel like I've been away for too long, and I'm worried that Skystar bit off more than she can chew."

"I'm sure she'll be fine. She always had that spunk in her." Spike chipped in.

They gave their hugs to Twilight and Spike, and Novo turned to Tempest. "I hope I wasn't too much of a damper on your trip." The dark purple unicorn said.

"Nonsense!" Novo replied. "Like we discussed before, it's that you never let your past define who you are. I think we all could stand by that."

She then gave Tempest a big hug. It would seem that amends have finally been made.

"I would love to revisit your kingdom again. This time on my own merits, and not under the orders of some egotistical maniac."

"I'll see if we can make an arrangement." Novo said, with her talon on Tempest's shoulder.

"ALL ABOARD!!!"

The conductor made the final boarding call to Canterlot. From there, Celestia would escort Novo back home to Mount Aris. As the remaining passengers boarded, Celestia and Novo waved to their guests and boarded the train. The engine gave a loud whistle before departing the station. While Novo's first ever trip to Ponyville may not have gone as expected, she was still very happy she got to experience a day in the cozy town. But now, it was time for her to get back to her duties as Queen, and she wanted to see her daughter again.