//------------------------------// // The caves and the secrets. // Story: Supernova Shadow // by professor space n time //------------------------------// Spike POV. I got up a little earlier than usual, but the truth is that I had slept well, I immediately went to the kitchen to see what Supernova had cooked but I didn't find anything, not a trace, there were no dirty dishes or the pan , not even the old lettuce stalks or the cucumber and lemon peels that should be in the trash were nowhere to be found. Somehow she had gotten rid of everything, if I had not seen her cooking last night I would never have found out, I went to her room and slowly opened the door on the table there were several folders with documents, a stack of books and a cooler(?), I saw that a cooler had disappeared in the kitchen but I didn't know she had it. I quietly entered the room and I approached the documents I took a look at them but they were written in italics and I could not understand anything then I checked the books, they were simple science fiction books and old Equestria newspapers, there were markers in some of them disappearance cases and unsolved murders, I decided to continue to approach the cooler and something sounded behind me. "You know it's a bit rude not to knock on the door" Supernova looked at me silently from the bed "What are you doing here?" Supernova sat on the bed like Lyra would and began to stretch. "We-well, I just came to check that everything was okay, heh heh" Spike started to laugh nervously. “I know you came to spy, as you can see I have nothing here, what is in the cooler is the food I got so please don't open the cooler. Come I'll make you breakfast, then we can get ready to go to the caves ”without wasting time she left the room and went to the kitchen. I followed her and closed the door of the room, I entered the kitchen, she was preparing some pancakes "Do you like chocolate syrup? I love it but only the homemade one, the one in the stores is very cloying for me" "Yes, I do like chocolate syrup" I saw how she crushed some gems with his hands and added them to the mixture "hey, where did you get that from?" “I found them in one of your secret hiding places, it is not so difficult to realize that one of the drawers has a double bottom. Don't worry, I know you will love these ”she started to make the pancakes one by one in the pan and served a little fresh milk, little by little the stack of pancakes got bigger, then she added a little chocolate in between each pancake and then covered it all with honey and a piece of butter "Bon appetit!" We sat down and I decided to try my pancakes "this is delicious!" I couldn't believe that with so few ingredients you could make such good pancakes, I had tried the ones that Celestia made, but those were unmatched, they were sweet a little spicy, with peanut butter bits and my favorite gems, not to mention the chocolate, syrup and butter. "It's good that you like them, it's my personal recipe, the secret to the spicy touch is freshly ground black pepper and a little salt to balance it with the sweet" we both ate in silence and enjoyed our food, after she finished, washed her dishes, fixed the kitchen and left. "I'm going to take a bath and then we can go to the caves" she left, I finished my breakfast and left the dishes in the sink. After getting ready, we took a carriage to the outskirts and walked a bit until we reached the caves "wouldn't it be better to go to the mines over there?" I pointed to the small cave to my right. "No, those mines have been emptied for decades, we would have to go very deep to find high value gems, it is better to go to the caves, they have not excavated much there and we have a better chance of finding something" she said eloquently. "Well, you're right, what do you think of over there?" point to a dark cave not far from us. "Sounds good to me" we both went into the cave and lit our flashlights, I tied the end of a ball of wool to a stone at the entrance so as not to get lost. Going deeper we find empty walls "aw, horsefeathers!, I thought we could find something here" I turned to go. Wait, these walls are made of the same type of stones as the geodes, there must be jewels behind it, I just have to find a hollow cavity" Supernova put his ear to the wall and tapped the wall until a void sounded "there it is!" shee picked up a stone, with her claws and hit the wall, it cracked and began to creak, suddenly a layer of stone crumbled and revealed gems of all kinds. "WOW! Rubies!" I yelled excited when I saw the red stones on the wall. "Emeralds" Supernova said, walking the wall from side to side. "Diamonds!" I yelled happily, I felt like a foal in a candy store. "Musgravite..." said Supernova looking at a wall covered with purple gems. "What is Musgravite?" I told her looking at that part of the wall "I had never seen a gem like this" "The fifth gem more expensive and rare than diamonds, it is supposed to only be found in areas with snow and ice, we just found a Musgravite mine, you let me mine a kilo and I will have 350,000 bits, I promised you could take what you want, so take all the gems you want ”she did not waste time, began to work and took out the gems with her bare claws just as I had seen the dragons in the dragonlands do it. I turned to see the wall behind me and licked my lips when I saw the gemstone wall, 'if this is a dream and someone wakes me up, I swear I'll kill him.' ~ The hours passed quickly and Spike completely forgot what he had talked about with Twilight, he had already filled two sacks completely with gems of all kinds, when he thought it was enough he stopped and sat down to rest, tore pieces of gems from the walls and ate them, when he was about to fall asleep Supernova spoke "I think we can go now" Spike was alerted and looked at the bag full of purple crystals that Supernova was carrying. "Okay" they put their things away and prepared to leave the cave, Supernova helped Spike to guide himself through the dark areas and they saw the sunlight once more. Spike looked at one of the stones at the entrance and saw that the wool was broken, they had left there without the path as a guide "what in tartarus?" "oh..., that, yeah, I realized that the wool had broken, I memorized the path we took, this is how I guided you to leave, now we have to go sell these jewels and we can go home" Spike looked at her impressed, they walked back to the road and took another carriage into town. "You know, you're not as bad as, I thought" Supernova looked at Spike indifferently, Spike got nervous "n-not that I think you're evil, it's just..." "Spike I know very well what Twilight was doing last night" A drop of cold sweat ran down his back and he looked at Supernova shaking to the bone. "H-how-?" Spike was more than scared, Supernova sighed frustrated. "The dust ..., I checked the library and realized that they had moved the dust from the shelves, this showed me which books were moved, mental magic about control over emotions, knowing Twilight she surely told you, which It was obvious from how you received me last night, in the kitchen I told you that I had no problem not having emotions and I told you that I am not going to hurt anyone, so ask what you want about me if with that you trust what I say" Supernova looked calm but also a little... sad... "o-okay, how come you have no emotions?" Spike was still scared but his curiosity couldn't resist. "It's difficult to explain, I'm a sociopath, I don't feel guilt or remorse, I lack empathy, I have a knack for manipulating the emotions of others, I lie frequently and I'm a bit arrogant, but that's not what made me like this." she looked Spike in silence for a moment "I know what you think 'a sociopath that explains everything', no, it does not explain anything, a pony can be a sociopath and have a normal life, maybe be a bit grumpy, manipulative and lonely, but normal after all, I am not like that" Supernova was silent for a moment she breathed sadly and stopped making eye contact "I'm not supposed to talk about myself until we go to Canterlot, so I'm not going to give details, but you can't tell anyone, ok?" Spike shook his head in approval "when I was young I lived in a town in the middle of nowhere, everyone there knew well who I was, at that time I was not how I am now I was more friendly, sociable and emotional..., I helped in the Village jobs, I was a good student, extremely intelligent, but my mind was empty, without knowledge, so when I finished school I dedicated myself to learning to fill my mind with useful knowledge to solve crimes, what I love the most is a good mystery, After years I had trained my mind to be able to deduce almost anything, but I still had my emotions, I cared about others, I wanted to help others. People become like me for only one reason, they hurt you, they hurt you where it hurts the most. As you can see I am not what would be considered a 'normal' pony, in the town where I lived many were afraid of me, others disgusted and others just hated me for looking like a monster, but as they needed all the possible help and how I had been Living there for so long they got used to my presence, I still had fights and a few called names on the street or spoke behind my back, I never cared much, maybe I made myself sad sometimes or I just walked away for a while, but everything changed when I completed my studies, when I learned to deduce people began to hate me more, on the one hand they believed that it was not good for an amateur to dedicate herself to solving cases that the police officers could not and on the other hand they believed that it was not good for a 'mare' like me could know everything about a pony just by observing it, the hatred increased and the people who knew me insulted me, yelled and sometimes threw things at me, the new people who arrived did not believe that I was capable of doing all that so when they found me on the street they asked me to deduce about them, once I did they were so furious that they usually slapped me, and then they left, but again I stayed with my head up and went on with my life, that's when the time had passed Celestia and Luna were already in power of the town, when it all ended, I don't want to say the circumstances, but after saving them from an uncontrollable threat, they could not bear that I was the heroine of history, so they conspired against me, I should have realized it, but I was so happy for the victory at that moment that I didn't see it coming, they waited for me to be alone and..." Supernova started crying and sobbing "they attacked me, they tried to kill me, they insulted, they yelled, and they laughed they-they, after everything I did for them..." Supernova began to cry uncontrollably clutching her chest tightly, Spike was going to approach to comfort her when suddenly she regained her composure and lack of emotions, the tears kept running but her face and body did not show any expression “My happiness did not allow me to reason correctly, after the attack I felt even worse, I no longer wanted to feel sadness, or fear, or pain, I did not want to feel anything, I did not want to know anything about anyone and I did not want to be wrong in my deductions or reasoning again. I helped them, I saved them and I solved their ‘mysteries’, and they never recognized me in the slightest, it was not that I cared about the recognition but that they were able to do that to me opened my eyes. People stopped being important to me it was not difficult, I never paid much attention to others except when they were interesting to deduct or when they needed my help and my deductions had shown me many times how people were interested, lustful, and only cared about their ambitions, so I focused on mine and people became simple things that I didn't care about unless they brought me a benefit or entertainment. I became cold I took my lack of empathy to the maximum, it was not difficult to erase my emotions, the truth is that I was never too emotional just enough to seem normal, I just kept using logic as a way of living and little by little emotions stopped being part of me, I don't remember my life when I had emotions and I don't want to know it, I'm happy this way, I don't have to worry about what I feel, or what others say and feel, or who they are or how they are, I do not care until something catches my attention and I will not be wrong in my reasoning again and that is the only thing that matters to me. It seems that we have already reached the city" Supernova got out of the carriage, Spike was silent for a moment and then he got out of the carriage, Supernova passed a few bits to the driver and he ripped the bits out of her hands and looked at her "you should thank me for bringing you freak” the same was said by the driver of the other carriage when he saw her. They continued on their way, Spike was dumbfounded, the blow of a feather could have knocked him to the ground after walking a while they reached their destination "Crystal Mint Pawn Shop and Jewelry" They entered the store, it was a well-maintained and beautiful place, with antiques in display cases and carefully hung on the walls, the most exposed display cases had beautiful jewels and gold pieces such as watches, medallions and chains “good afternoon, is there anyone here? " Supernova tried to find the manager and tapped a counter. "in a second!" answered an old voice in a room with a sign that said "cleaning area" an elderly but well preserved stallion came out with a recently cleaned diamond necklace and placed it with care and affection in a display case, he turned to see his client and put on the glasses "AAIEEEE!" he yelled scared. "Take it easy! Take it easy… I'm just coming to sell some jewelry, sorry to scare you, I know my appearance is a bit scary" Supernova spoke kindly and understandingly... a performance as always. "No, no, I'm the one who should apologize, I'm constantly scared at work thinking I'm going to be robbed, it's just an old paranoia, tell me, what do you want to sell me?" Crystal spoke in a friendly and loving way, just like a grandfather would. "Musgravite" Supernova placed the jewelry bag on the table, Crystal was surprised, smiled and took one of the jewelry to check it with a magnifying glass. "Yes... it's raw Musgravite, where did you get it?" He said admiring the gem on his hooves. "Let's say I found a place full of these beauties. How much can you give me for them?" Supernova acted calm and cheerful, she did not look like the mare that was inside the carriage a few minutes ago. "I'll give you 350,000 bits for them," Crystal said in an eloquent voice. "I did not expect less, you have a deal" the two shook hoof and claw. "I'll take these back there and bring your money" the stallion picked up the bag and went to the back of the store, Supernova and Spike waited in silence, Crystal came back with a big bag of bits and put it on the counter when five Diamond Dogs came through the door and approached the counter. "This is an assault!" Shouted the leader of the group, he was slim extremely tall and with white fur, Crystal seemed scared. "I-I think we have to go," Spike said terrified. "You think? We haven't finished our sale," Supernova said calmly. The Diamond Dogs came closer and looked at Crystal "You better do what we will tell you or see" said the fattest with a foreign accent. "Uh, excuse me guys, today I had a very emotional day for my liking, whatever theft plan you have and surely you have your reasons, I would appreciate it if you would leave us alone, until we finish our transaction" Supernova said with a kind voice and a adorable face. "You should go long face or you will end up hurt" said the leader impressed and annoyed. Supernova looked at Crystal with compassion and a gesture of forgiveness, took the receipt and began to walk with Spike to the exit "Excuse me" the leader let her pass with an exaggerated gesture with his hands. Supernova and Spike walked towards the exit calmly when the fat one spoke "If you are looking for the circus of retarded freaks they are in Waves Street" the other Diamond Dogs began to laugh. Supernova stayed in place for just over a second, got up on its two hind legs and continued on its way, approached the door, pushed Spike away. "Don't judge ..." she closed the first padlock and the Diamond Dogs turned to look at it "... a book for its cover." she closed the second padlock and locked the door, the Diamond Dogs walked towards her slowly, Supernova was still back, Spike cornered and closed his eyes knowing what was going to happen "you know what it means?" The Diamond Dogs looked at each other confused. "I'll show you" Supernova wagged her tail and threw a small glass sculpture towards the leader's face, this fell unconscious to the floor with blood and crystals on his face, Spike looked at Supernova in surprise and the Diamond Dogs turned to see her dumbfounded Supernova approached and the Diamond Dogs surrounded her from the front “are you going to keep looking at me like stupids? Or are we going to fight and start with the fun? " The one on his left pushed his partner with a blue jacket throwing him to the ground and threw himself to hit her with a mitten, Supernova quickly dodged him and the fist was deflected towards the fat one who was on his right breaking his jaw, knocking him to the ground. he pushed his partner with the necklace and then fell unconscious., the one with the mitten tried to hit her again but she held him back, gave him two forceful blows to the face, knocking him to the ground, the one with the collar got up, quickly grabbed her from behind, with his left arm grabbing her neck and another holding his arms tightly, she released his right arm and hit him with her elbow on the muzzle splitting his nose, then grabbed his leg with her tail and made him lose his balance, she quickly grabbed him from behind and threw him hard against the one with the blue jacket, the four of them approached again, The one with the collar tried to stab her on the neck from the right with a butterfly knife, Supernova hit him in the stomach with force then she took a cane and blew it in his head then she nailed the splintered end in his throat dripping blood like a fountain and threw him with a kick to the ground, from his left the one with the mitten approached, she grabbed his hand tightly and hit him on the temples, the blood splashed and he was stunned, suddenly the one with the jacket threw himself with a dagger trying to stab her, supernova nimbly used the one with the mitten as a shield and the dagger was nailed in the shoulder of the Diamond Dog, his partner without thinking took out the dagger with a downward movement, shattering the stomach of his partner, filling the floor with guts and blood, Supernova threw the corpse at him and quickly took a diamond ring from a counter, put it on and began to hit the one with the jacket on the floor smashing his head with the diamond, she saw how the fat one got up with a knife, he launched himself to stab her but she disarmed him using her tail like a whip, with a strong punch she completely ripped off his lower jaw, his tongue hung covered in blood, Supernova threw him against a piece of furniture, he got up again with a centerpiece in his hand, quickly Supernova created a chain with magic and caught it in place, then tightened the chains to death, suddenly the leader got up and took out a Laumarenn gun, he yelled furious and terrified as he emptied the weapon but Supernova defended herself with a crimson energy shield, suddenly the rim of her eyes began to glow green and purple mist appeared around her eyes, her horn coated with purple energy, lightning struck the leader's head and it flew into a thousand pieces. "It means that no one calls me a freak" Supernova wiped the little blood from her face, her eyes were still glowing green and surrounded by purple mist, she approached Crystal "Are you okay?" The old stallion got up shaking and looked at Supernova, scared, he hugged her and started to cry. Supernova pushed him away and looked at him coldly "I hope that the money you earn from selling the Musgravite is enough to pay the damages" Supernova approached the corner where Spike was hiding and looked at him with a mocking smile "you can open your eyes , just don't look at the corpses for a long time " Spike slowly opened his eyes and saw the glint in Supernova's eyes 'dark magic ..' was the first thing he thought but that thought was interrupted when he saw the massacre behind her "By Celestia! We have to call the policecolts!" Supernova approached the door and removed the bolts "good idea" Supernova came out for a moment, threw a bolt of crimson magic into the air creating a big explosion and went back inside. "Why did you do that?!" "It's a faster way to call the police, they'll be here in a minute." Supernova relaxed and sat down to wait. ~ Twilight was in her living room resting just as Spike had told her before leaving, solving the mystery of who and how Supernova worked could wait, suddenly somepony knocked on the door "I'm coming!" Twilight walked slowly to the door and opened it. Two mares with their hair up and a police uniform were at the door they looked at Twilight, then they looked at each other and then they looked at Twilight again "Princess Twilight, we need you to accompany us" ~a few hours later~ Twilight entered the castle pale and trembling, she went to the library and upon entering two chairs were Spike and ... Supernova "What are you doing here!" Twilight prepared to shoot Supernova with a bolt of magenta energy "Wait!" Spike got in the way to protect Supernova, she didn't flinch and continued to rest on the couch with a warm cloth on her head. "Get away, Spike! Get away from that assassin!" Twilight pushed Spike aside and approached Supernova and prepared to shoot him when she saw her, she was perplexed, the mare was sitting calmly as Lyra would with her head up and a hot cloth on her forehead, she seemed to give small moans of pain occasionally. Supernova turned her head slowly and looked at her in pain "oh... it's you... from what I see the police already told you everything" she turned again and continued sighing in pain. "Of course they told me everything! How could you kill them?!" Twilight still kept the spell ready to attack. “A bit of fighting, a few accurate blows, stabs, magic, one of them killed his own partner and- oh… it wasn't literally right? I had to do it, I wasn't going to let them assault that poor stallion, It was not my intention to kill them but once everything got very violent, I had to do it, and I don't feel remorse except for certain isolated cases and they don't deserve my remorse, I just did the right thing whether you want it or not. And no, I didn't traumatized Spike if you are going to ask, I am good at creating suggestions, that mixed with stimulating Spike's mind with some games and riddles resulted in his mind recording the situation in his subconscious and not in his conscious mind so the memory is just an addition that his mind registers as something normal and unimportant he will not have any trauma, don't thank me" "Do you dare to say that after what you did ?! I don't even understand how the police let you go free!" shouted Twilight losing her patience. Supernova let out a scream that made Twilight's hair stand on end "ARGH! Please keep your voice down! I got the police to let me go by giving them hard evidence that I did it in self-defense and that Spike had nothing to do with the deaths, when checking his alibi of being in a corner thanks to the traces of dust from the caves that he left on the ground, of course the policecolt's when they saw me and the interior of the store, they thought I was a monster or a crazy killer so they shot me with a nervous electroshock, that's why I'm here, because that electroshock left me with this big migraine and I lost the strength in my body so I can't move alone, Spike helped me walk and sit here, then he brought me this cloth and the medicines that the police recommended to me to recover, although due to the power of the spell my deductions tell me that I will be in this state until the three and twenty-five minutes of tomorrow afternoon, so please be quiet or I will have another migraine atack-OW, OW, OW!, AH!, ARGH! " Supernova kept screaming in pain until Spike gave her a pain reliever, aspirin, and a sleeping pill, helped her back to her room and laid her on the bed. Spike closed the door once he fell asleep and looked at Twilight with compassion and frustration "Twilight, we have to talk about yesterday and I need you to listen to me, but first let's make lunch because this is going to take time" Twilight reluctantly nodded and walked with him into the kitchen. Spike started making a daisies salad for Twilight. "I don't know how you can be on her side! Didn't you see what she did?!" "Twilight, I know it sounds crazy, I know it's horrible but believe me she is not a murderer, they drew weapons, they were going to kill her and if she had not intervened I don't know what they would have done to me or to that poor stallion, maybe they wouldn't have killed him but knowing the Diamond Dogs they would surely have emptied the whole store and no, I'm not crazy with shock, when everything returned to calm in the store I was terrified she sat with me and started bombarding me with questions, games and riddles, when I asked her why she told me about all that suggestion things and that the questions and the games were to trick my mind so that I did not have traumas and the riddles were so that my mind focused on something else, at that moment I did not I wanted to believe nothing but she was right with her suggestion things, I don't feel so bad, I'm still a little nervous but I'm fine and I appreciate that she has helped me" Twilight was silent for a moment when she heard the police explain everything to her, she did not think about Supernova's reasons for doing it, but at that moment after listening to Supernova and Spike in addition to seeing her suffer like this, she made her reconsider some things 'she killed those people... but on the other hand they were criminals and they could have hurt Spike or worse... she took care of Spike and avoided trauma... maybe she's not so bad after all ... what was I thinking?! She is a friend of the princesses and I was going to shoot her!... maybe she is like Luna, maybe if I know her better I can understand her.... But there's still something about her and her lack of emotions that I don't like…' "I think… I think you're right… she… she did it to protect you and I, I have been a bit rude to her… it's just that there is something that doesn't make me feel good about her… did you get any information from her?" Spike looked at Twilight with doubt and nervousness in his eyes "I promised her that I would not tell because she said that she is not supposed to talk about anything until we go to Canterlot but I think you should know, when we were in the carriage on the way to the store I told her that she was not that bad I was nervous but she told me that she already knew that we had talked yesterday I don't know how she knows she said some things about deduction and all that, the point is that I asked her why she had no emotions, she told me she was a sociopath, as I understood her, a sociopath is a pony that shows no guilt or remorse, they lack empathy, they are manipulative, liars and arrogant, I know you think that explains everything but it doesn't, I thought the same , she told me that any sociopath could have a normal life, but to her... something happened... she did not give me many details, but as I understood when she was young she was judged by her appearance and they judged her even more when she learned to deduce, but she never gave up, she wanted to help no matter how many times they rejected her, but... one day she saved them from 'an uncontrollable threat' apparently they could not bear that a monster was a hero and they attacked her I don't know how but apparently they tried to kill her and she did not see it coming for supposedly 'being too happy for the victory and not being able to reason correctly' since then the others stopped being important to her and she got rid of her emotions now she only thinks using logic and reason... Twilight she does not want feel nothing so as not to be wrong, it is not because of the pain, it is not because of the guilt, she just does not want to reason incorrectly " "Wow ..." was the only thing Twilight could say while processing what she had just heard "Are you sure? You want to tell me that it was not the attack that changed her but not seeing it coming because she was 'too happy' to see it, that makes no sense! It would make sense if the trauma from the attack made her that way, or the betrayal or the pain, but no ...! Are you telling me that the only reason that mare got rid of every one of her emotions, the only reason the rest of the world doesn't care for her, the only reason to be herself is not that they tried to kill her is not it that they judged her all her life or that they didn't value anything she did for them, is it that she was wrong only once?!" Spike nodded calmly "I know it sounds crazy but she thinks so and wants to live like this" Twilight smiled and gave a little laugh “well… who am I to judge her? And what about magic? I know she used it in the store. How was her magic?" Spike bit his lip hard and looked at Twilight nervous and worried "well at first it was normal with a crimson color but then it changed to purple and-" Twilight breathed a sigh of reassurance. "Good! Crimson magic is a bit strange but I've seen it before and I'm sure some ancient spells could change the color of magic and if she's friends with princesses, her spells will be out of date, I could teach her-" Twilight stayed on. Silence when she saw that she had been immersed in her thoughts "oh, sorry about that Spike, continue please" Twilight blushed slightly. Spike took a deep breath and looked at Twilight "when her magic turned purple her eyes were like... like King Sombra's..." Twilight turned pale in a second, a cold tremor quickly ran through her back, she began to tremble, she felt how the strength in her legs was fading she felt like she was about to pass out "A-ar-are yo-you su-sure?" "Twilight I know what I saw, she was using dark magic... but it's not as bad as it sounds!" Spike was nervous VERY nervous. "Isn't it as bad as it sounds?!!, Isn't it as bad as it sounds?!!, Did you lose your mind, Spike?!!, She is using dark magic!!, How on equestria can't that be so bad!!" Twilight was hysterical and scared, though mostly hysterical. Spike looked at Twilight nervously "Ok, I know it looks bad, but she doesn't seem like that kind of pony, she's not evil, although I admit that her coldness scares me a little, she doesn't seem to be a villain, I think it's just a spell, you used dark magic in the crystal empire and according to what the girls told me you also used it when the princesses disappeared and Celestia was the one who taught you that spell, maybe it's the same with her, maybe Celestia taught her too” Spike's voice trembled with nervousness. Twilight opened the goose to speak but… she had nothing to say “maybe you're right…” Twilight looked in the direction of Supernova's door and was thoughtful for a moment “Ok, you're right, but I'll take care of her tomorrow, I think I owe it to her and maybe I can get more information about her or about her magic" "It's okay Twilight, she's all yours, now let's have lunch" Spike brought their food to the table, set some silverware, the two of them began to eat quietly leaving their current dilemma behind and enjoying the food.