//------------------------------// // Act 2 CH 4 New Beginnings: Nova // Story: Twilight's Nightmare // by Nightsclaw //------------------------------// Thoughts more complex than she was used to played through Nova's mind as she stood in the wreck of the library. It was wrong that everything was so still, so silent that it was almost peaceful. She had not been able to stop the evil Sunmare. All she had been able to do was buy time so others could save her. It should have been a joy to be here, to be the place where all her family gathered and where the delicious food was created. She should have been able to hug Patchwork and thank her for everything she shared. She should have been able to really sit at the table and enjoy the treats the good monster made as she sang her songs. Instead of what should have been, nopony was here. She followed her burnt hoof prints back to what had been her cage for so long. Her hoof falls sounded like hollow thunder in the empty soundscape. The legacy of years of solitude pressed in with each step she looked closer. If it was not for the fleeting moments of passion or rage from Patchwork, she would not have even known anything existed outside her confinement. That first startlingly clear vision of the Pink one was the first time she truly realised the other glimpses were not just wishful thinking. Something shifted down below, a soft sound, then a scraping noise. "Hello?" Nova asked, her voice frail. "Your back." The high-pitched voice of Smarty Pants' cry of joy only just preceded the pounding of soft little hooves climbing up stairs too large for them. The little plush pony emerged, and Nova practically pounced, wrapping her companion up in a hug as they rolled to a stop. Even with her expanded mind, it was the softness crushed to her chest and the familiar scent that returned her strength, not any reason or logic. "Where is everypony?" Nova asked. "The not-so-bad monster went to help the Moonmare, Grey is looking after Little Star, and Good Monster went upstairs somewhere." As each pony was named, memories and context aligned like clockwork in Nova's mind. She was not just a foal or beast. Her mind was clear, and with each second, more and more understanding came to her. She lifted her gaze to where the table had been, and it was almost as if she could see them all sat there. She could almost hear the banter as the tea was poured. The extra honey the good monster added just for her made both the drink and its memory all the sweeter. The Bad Monster, Night, the former Nightmare, the often mean but always loyal defender of Patchwork and Little Star. She was always smug, and her words often hurt even when she was being nice. She was sometimes selfish, greedy, and evil until Patchwork changed her. There had been a fight. Night had done something mean to Patchwork, and Nova had charged to her defence. All that she could remember was the hot rage and rapid motion. Sometime after that, things started to change. Night even started to show up for tea times. She was still mean, but like Patchwork, she was family. Grey was, well, Grey. Cold and unfeeling but always there to offer help if it was really needed. She was the big sister who resented being the responsible one, even as they took pride in what they could do. She never had a chance to sit at the table, but the Good Monster always made sure to float treats over to her and include her in the conversations. Not that Grey talked, well, not until those few barked comments earlier. Sweet Dreams, the Good Monster, the music mare, the maker of snacks, the mother of Smarty Pants. Her voice had been the only source of comfort for so long. She loved Patchwork so very much. She smiled so happily whenever she got to play hostess, whenever anypony, even the guests, liked her cooking. Her mind flitted over the guests she could remember. Cadance, the best foal sitter, even just the thought of her brought an urge to gallop to her and hid in the embrace of the mare that should have been larger than life even though she was small these days. Night had been inviting her over for a few words before taking her away for some sort of lesson. It was a little mean. Night did not ask if Smarty Pants wanted to go when she really liked learning. Applejack, the well-built earthpony, and one of Patchwork's closest friends, had visited. A strange bug pony had visited, too. She seemed scared and confused. During one of those two visits, Night got into a play fight with Patchwork as Dreams protected both the guest and the food with her magic. It had looked like fun, but she had still been caged. Nova glanced at the breached remains of the thick golden door that led to her basement. She recoiled and averted her eyes. Even going to the remembering spot was not worth heading down there again. The ghosts and memories were loud enough from up here. She latched on to the memory of the song, the one that the Good Monster song most often, and the first time it had been sung just for her. That was enough to drown out the bad memories and enough to keep thinking. Another pony that had visited added themselves to the imaginary tea party. Insight, the unicorn with a pretty horn, was not suddenly a better-looking Gift. No, she was Gift's twin sister and had been upset and tired. Gift had been hurt… Nova closed her eyes as the memories came forward and played out. The first time she had burnt her had been a small thing. Nova had been greedy, she had been selfish, and Gift had paid for it. Gift had left then, and Nova had been alone again. But things worked out. In a Dark place only lit by her flames, Gift had called for her, invited her and welcomed her as she willingly… Nova shook her head. Now's not the time to think about that. She growled and slapped herself. As the pleasant memories were pushed aside, worse ones replaced them. The pony that was to kill her daughter had stood before her. The fire inside her surged as she lunged. Annihilating this puny pony that would dare hurt her daughter was all that mattered. Then confusion hit, deep, cold and somehow more terrifying than the Sunmare before her, ready for battle. Nova had looked down in horror at the thing that had been a pony. It was not the evil pony that had been reduced to cooked meat. No, it was her Gift. "Candice," she half whispered and half sobbed. "I am not a feral beast." She snarled as she forced her mind back into order. Candice was not a Gift. She was a pony in her own right, and no matter how willing she was, she was far more than just something to be used. Even as she gathered her thoughts, she could still remember it. What it had been like to just be that animal, want, need, passion and instinct. Given just a little sentience by the memories of early foalhood and a deep burning rage. She brought her hoof to her chest as she breathed in. With her eyes closed, she pushed her hoof away and exhaled. Her mind shifted to when the best foal sitter had taught her this most secret of calming techniques. She opened her eyes and took a few more deep breaths. The pleasant scent of burnt wood helped calm her even as the implications of what it meant tried to undo it. The soft little nuzzle brought a smile to her face. Smarty Pants smiled up at her, and that made things a little more bearable. "So what are we going to do now?" Smarty Pants asked, unusually seriously. It was a good question. They were safe. They were on a very big train heading to the best foalsitter's house past the cold white place… The Crystal Empire and the Frozen North, respectively, her newly agile mind provided. It was a new sensation, like remembering she knew something, but just had momentarily forgotten it. With a few moments of thought, even the biggest of big words made sense now. She winced. She should have thought about her expanded vocabulary, not now understanding the biggest of big words. She sighed softly and looked back to where the table had been. The mental image of how happy everyone had been at the table returned. The tasty snacks, the sandwiches and the sweet-scented tea always brought a smile to everypony. Just like that, she knew what to do. She glanced down at Smarty Pants. "Do you know how to make tea?" "Sure." Smarty Pants chirped as she nodded. Nova pushed herself back to her hooves, purpose granting her limbs the strength that despair had robbed from her. "Then I'll tidy up, and you get the stuff for tea and sandwiches." "Alright." Smarty Pants cheered and rushed off. The sheer joy in the little pony brought a smile to Nova's face even as her eyes burnt with tears her fiery mane would never let be seen. Nova was not Patchwork. Patchwork would have done everything with magic. She would have lit her horn and had everything done with two shakes of her tail. Nova, on the other hoof, did everything she could by hoof and with brute strength. Every time she absolutely needed a spell and could find no way around the problem, in the thirty seconds her patience lasted, she would sit back on her haunches and hit her head until she remembered it. Using her hoof was not as effective as using the remembering spot, but it got the answers in the end. Using the magic felt strange. It was like her horn was a musical instrument, and she was trying to use it to put funny voices on. If she got the impression right and said the right things with it, the magic worked. If she did not… well, that was why there were just a few more burnt things that needed to be tidied up. As she gathered the ruined items and piled up the remains of the golden seals, her fires spread. These were not the hot, angry flames that thrashed with rage. No, these flames were warm, soft and gentle. Where they touched, the wood did not burn. Well, it did not burn the right way. Nova paused and watched as the charred living world burnt backwards. Instead of the flames devouring the wood, it consumed the damaged sections, leaving new intact material instead of ash. It made no sense, but that did nothing to dampen the joy at seeing her flames doing something other than destroying things. She held her hoof up and watched the slow, lazy fire dance upon it. She tried petting it to reward it for being good but just managed to wave her other hoof through it. Would this work on ponies? With this new tool in her housework arsenal, she shrugged, and then the cleaning became much more fun. She thundered around the room, jumping between the damaged sections, rings of friendly fire erupting from her hooves with each landing. A part of her told her this made no sense, that magic did not work this way, but she ignored that part. Clearly, this was happening, so this was obviously how magic worked. She danced and played with her flames as she pranced, leapt and played chase with the backwards fire. It took her an embarrassingly long time to realise that there was nothing else that needed fixing. A part of her wanted to be meek, shy, and apologetic, but that was not the mare she was, so she stood on her hind legs and let out a playful roar. With a slow two-legged turn, she took in the space around her. The almost forgotten wings on her back tickled her back as they shifted to maintain her balance. The space had changed. There were three new doorways. As soon as she saw the embossed marks, she knew who they belonged to. "Sisters," she breathed out as the enormity of what Patchwork had done hit her. There was Rule Breaker's Star made of mind-bending triangles, Dancer's pair of spiralling stars shedding sparks and musical notes in their wakes and Sun Chaser's simple crystal sun. "Thank you…" she whispered, and only the timely deployment of a hug from Smarty Pants held away the tears. The Nova of yesterday would have only known that Patchwork was gone, killed by the Sunmare, and her sisters were back. She would have been vengeful, angry, happy and possibly confused. Or, more likely too simple-minded to realise she should have been confused. The Nova of today could see more clearly. With that clarity, she could see Celestia had attacked Patchwork, had tried to assassinate her as she saved her friends. At that moment, Patchwork had made a choice. She chose to save her friends, to restore Nova's sisters, knowing it would cost her own life. It hurt to think about her emotions. It was easier just to act. To let them drive her actions and live in the moment. Patchwork's final gift to her stole that simplicity, and as painful as it was, Nova could not be more grateful for it. She hated Celestia more than even the Darkmage. She mourned Patchwork and wanted to be able to say thank you to her. She wanted to hug her sisters. It had been so long since she had seen them. Why can't we have the good without the bad? She nuzzled Smarty Pants and looked to the one area she avoided cleaning, an intact area that looked a little bit like a nest with three large woven eggs. The three large eggs made more sense to the Nova of today, and they would certainly not be turned into omelettes even if she kinda wanted one now. She slipped her little companion onto her back and walked over to the eggs. "Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity. Get well soon." She laid a hoof carefully on each as she spoke their names. The warmth that radiated out from them said they would be alright, even if it would be days or weeks before they hatched. She looked around the room another time. Her eyes settled on the small door. Sister said one part of her as another said, daughter. She tilted her head sideways, and the emotions still did not resolve, so she shrugged and moved on. She put away the boxes of golden slag, hung the decorative curtains and even painted two plaques. The first, she painted a staff with a crystal star crackling with magic. That one so hung over Grey's section. The next was her own star wrapped in flames. With a satisfied smile, she nodded. Smarty Pants offered a hoof, and with a clack, the hood bump was shared. Next, they moved the table to where it seemed to fit best. It did not need to be right next to the basement doorway anymore. A fresh tablecloth, clean cups, plates and a teapot made for an inviting sight. She tapped her hoof on the floor. Now, how do I invite them? She thought as her hoof tapped it out in hoof code. Smarty Pants' little hoof tapped its answer on Nova's back. Well, The Good Monster is still upstairs.     Nova crained her head back. There was a lot of upstairs to check. With a shrug, she lowered her muzzle to the ground and started sniffing for the most recent scent. The greet tree had a lot of rooms and even more books. More books than anypony could ever have use for. If there was a space that was not being used for something else, it had bookshelves. Even some of the spaces that were clearly meant for other things had books. Nova could not help but truly consider the idea. It was only the structural support provided by the books themselves that kept the Grand Golden Oaks standing. So many things she passed brought fragments of memories. A toy Shiny had gotten her. A tattered storybook she could just recall chewing when it seemed the size of a table. There were so many half images. Faces and places that were missing important bits or mixed up. She pushed through the haze of Patchwork's memories and kept following Dreams' scent. The library was so vast it may as well have been a palace, but that did not matter. She had her trail to follow, so it was only a matter of time. Dreams' voice slowly resolved from just a hint that played with her ears to recognisable words. "... Even with her wing broken, Daring Do jumped…" Story time? Nova thought and her hooves picked up speed on their own. She liked stories. A smile formed, then slowly died as more and more clarity resolved. This was a sad bit of the story, where everything seemed lost and then, at the last minute, Daring Do saved the day. Dreams' voice was clear and easy to listen to even when she did the silly voices for the bad guys. Yet under it all was a tremble. Even without seeing her, it was clear the Good Monster was crying. This time, it did not sound like Dreams' believed anything could be alright in the end. All the times Nova had nothing, when she curled up alone, hungry and even hating herself, the Good Monster had been there for her, with a song or a story. In the end, she had even introduced her to Smarty Pants. Nova’s lope became a full-on gallop. The Good Monster was hurting, and it was her time to be there for her.