//------------------------------// // Chapter 1- Memories // Story: Hangmare // by Facade //------------------------------// Novaglow stood over Rainbow Dash as she lay chained to the table, asleep. "Kidnapping an Element of Harmony," he mumbled to himself, "How did we get to this point?" He stood there, silently contemplating just where along the road had his best friend since foalhood had finally snapped. He thought back to when they had first met, that fateful day... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Novaglow was new to Cloudsdale, recently moving there from Las Pegasus. It was lunchtime, and he was looking for a place to sit, he saw little groups of friends sitting at each table, talking and laughing as they ate. As he scanned the lunchroom, he saw a table with no one sitting at it except for a rather built black colt with a neon red and blue mane and tail. As he walked to the near-vacant table, he noticed the entire lunchroom had gone silent. Weird, he thought. As he drew closer the silence was soon broken by a lone whisper "Is he crazy?" which was soon followed by many others. "He must be if he wants to sit next to..." "Shhhhhhhh! Don't let him hear you!" "What would make him think that's a good idea?" It made him feel uncomfortable. Once he finally reached the table, the entire lunchroom had gone silent again. "Uh... hello?" he cautiously said to the lone colt. "My name's-" he was cut off by the colt promptly rising to his hooves, "Name's Facade." He said, then walked away as if nothing had happened. The rest of the day passed by in a blur. Everypony was excited to hear everything about what had happened in the lunchroom. It's almost as if they weren't there... Nova thought to himself with an amused smirk. What he didn't know was that far away from the crowd stood a lone, black colt, with a neon colored man and tail, wishing him good luck with a sad smile on his face. Days later, after getting a taste of the popular life, Nova decided that it wasn't for him. That day, he decided to keep walking once he reached his normal table with all his "friends" sitting at it. It's not like they'll miss me, he thought to himself, To them I'm just a story teller. No, he kept walking till he reached the lone black colt with the neon mane and tail. "Hey, Facade." He said with a cheerful smile. No response. "Hey, Facade, it's me. Novaglow?" He asked quizzically. Still no response. Whatever, he thought. He sat down opposite his "old friend" and they ate in silence. Later that day, his "friends" decided they weren't very happy with his choice of seating at lunchtime. As he was leaving school, they stopped him. "Hey buddy," one of them, said, he took a good look at the young pegasi, he was a dark gray, with a navy blue mane and tail, must be my replacement, he thought with an amused grin, "missed you at lunch today." They started advancing towards him. "when we saw you walking towards us we were ready and welcoming, but you didn't stop, you left us hangin', left us for that... that FREAK!" He spat out the last word like it was an ancient Romari curse. "He's not a freak!" Shouted Nova in reply, amazed by his quickness to defend the colt that so callously brushed him off. "Hmph." was all the colt said in response. After a tense silence, the colt broke the silence, "So, that's how it's gonna be... Wish I could say I regret doing this, but Mom said to never lie." He finished that sentence with a wicked grin, as him and his troop started increasing their speed as they walked towards him. "I guess it is." Nova said quietly with a grin. As the first pegasi charged him he calmly span around him, delivering a buck to the back of the colt, sending him sprawling. Another came, this one being a better fighter, and began throwing hooves. Nova blocked every single one with surprising speed and grace and returned the favor, slowly driving the young colt back as he delivered blow after blow. He was caught off-guard as another pegasi slammed into his side, knocking him to the floor and slightly dazing him. He raised his hooves in a way that covered his face along with some of his body and waited for the hits that never came. Confused, he shook off the dizziness and got back up, quickly scanning the scene to find two colts laying on the ground and a large black mass fighting back the others. "You!" the dark gray colt yelled. The black colt didn't reply as he continued fighting. Nova noted his unique style, whenever he was up against a single pegasi he took to the skies, using his rather large wingspan to pick up speed and deliver devastating blows that none of the young pegasi could shake off, yet when he was fighting multiple enemies he seemed to zone out, simply singling out a target and focusing on him while delivering powerful strikes to anypony who dared close the distance to try to interfere. it wasn't long before Nova was back on his feet and teaching his own class at the school of pain. The fight lasted about five minutes, but seemed to be over in an instant. He couldn't tell what his savior was thinking, but he knew it was the best fight he had had in ages. As he caught his breath the black pegasi turned around and extended his hoof in a sign of friendship. "Nice fighting Nova," he said with a smirk, "almost as good as mine." He said, clearly joking. "Yeah," replied Nova, also with a smirk, "well we'll just have to go at it ourselves." The black colt erupted in laughter "HAHAHAHAHA, oh my Celestia! I think we're gonna get along just fine." "I sure hope so, Facade" The colt looked shocked to hear his name spoken. "But-" "I never forget the name of a friend." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Nova smiled, as he thought back to all the crazy antics they had been through together. That wasn't it... thought Nova, He was perfectly fine when we first met... so what was it? When did his friend break? He slowly thought through all the time they spent, inseparable since that fateful day. His blood ran cold as he stumbled upon the answer. No, he thought to himself, sweet Celestia I hope I'm wrong. But he knew he wasn't... It was long after the accident... Nova and Facade had been testing the new technology for several months. Some were successful, others were not, and so they both continued working until they made all of them a success. Nova was testing electricity on a machine designed by Facade by using a storm cloud the size of a pillow. Facade was busy sleeping on a nearby couch, exhausted from working all night, and giving a small snore occasionally. Nova ignored him; he was busy trying to shock the machine with lightning to see if it would start working. Nova pounded on the top of the cloud with his hoof to see if anything would happen, but received no results. He punched the cloud straight forward, again getting nothing out of it. What’s the matter with this thing? He thought. Nova gave the cloud a couple of more punches in various locations of the small cloud, each time nothing came out. Why isn't this thing working?! Nova thought, slightly enraged. Nova raised his front hooves above his head and brought them downward onto the cloud, knocking it out of its suspension in midair and onto the machine. The cloud suddenly gave a few sparks as it enshrouded the machine, powering it up. The machine grew to life as many lights and sounds came off of it, making a marvelous light show right in front of Novaglow’s eyes.“Facade!” He said excitedly, dashing over to the couch and shaking his friend back and forth. “Facade! Wake up! You’ll never believe this! I got your machine working!” Facade yawned and rubbed his eyes with his hooves, and Nova ceased shaking his friend immediately. “What? What’s going on?” Facade said as he sat up, looking around for the source of the commotion. “I got your machine working!” Novaglow repeated. Facade’s eyes widened. “You really did?!” He said with excitement in his no-longer-tired voice. Nova nodded with a smile. “Look behind you,” he said, pointing over Facade’s shoulder. Facade obeyed and spun around, gasping at the sight of the noisy, glowing machine Facade was so excited to finally have some progress, "We have to tell somepony!" He exclaimed. "But who?" countered Nova. "Hmmmmmmmmmmm..." said Facade, clearly in deep thought. "I got it!" he announced. "Who?" asked Nova. "Just follow me." And follow he did. All the way to Canterlot. "Oh, I see..." Said Nova, "You want to get some of the wealthier people to invest in us, smart." "Not exactly," replied Facade, his smile growing wider and wider. After a short flight they landed on the princess' balcony. "Whoa wait!" Exclaimed Nova, who quickly lowered his voice. "What the hay are we doing on the princess' balcony!?!" "It's okay, it's okay," said Facade, "I got us audience with them." He explained in a calm tone. "Just... let me do the talking okay?" He continued, obviously suppressing a laugh. They walked in to the throne room, each taking a generous bow. "Ah, Facade!" Said Celestia, "And how was your journey?" "Nothing we couldn't handle" he replied, never showing a hint of stress in his voice. Wow, thought Novaglow, I never realized how fitting his name was... "So..." continued Facade, "Where's princess Luna?" "Please, no need for the formalities. We can't thank you enough for everything you've done." "It's always a pleasure." "So, you said you had a 'breakthrough' to show me?" "Yes mam, right here as a matter of fact..." He took the small machine from his saddlebag, followed by a small storm cloud, which he referred to as a "charger". He place the machine on the floor and asked that the drapes be closed, as to block out any light. The princess was more than happy to oblige. Careful, as to make sure he was, in fact, aiming for the machine, Facade carefully placed a single strike on the storm cloud, which cause a bolt of lightning to flash, striking the object and causing it to illuminate for a few minutes before dying out. The princess watched in awe as the drapes were opened and Facade explained that what she had seen was a "Light Orb" as he called it... "...And that's the basic structure and function of the Light Orb." He finished. The princess looked solemn as she thought carefully about his words. "Facade..." she began. "Yes princess?"He replied, his eyes betraying the storm of emotions brewing behind that hopeful smile. "This is a remarkable invention of yours..." "Yes?" "And I could see how it would help life in Equestria..." "Yes?" His eyes showing more and more... "But, I'm afraid that Equestria is not quite ready for such a step forward..." For a second, Facade's eyes showed a sad mixture of pain, regret, guilt, and what scared Nova the most, anger. It was gone as quickly as it appeared, but Nova knew his friend for a long time, and learned to see past the.. well, the facade that his friend constantly had. "Ok, that's perfectly understandable.... thank you for your time." He bowed briefly and quickly gathered up the cloud and his orb, then quickly trotted to the balcony. "Wait! Are you sure you don't want anything before you go?" Asked the princess. "No, it's fine. Come along Nova." he said before quickly taking off, his metal wings propelling him forward faster than Nova had ever seen. What he didn't hear, what nopony heard was the message of hurt and betrayal Facade muttered under his breath. When Nova finally caught up, he quickly tried to get his friend to console in his feelings. "Just you wait," He heard his friend murmur, unsure if the message was meant for him, "I'll go up against the wrath of Celestia herself if it means keeping my promise..." Then he was gone, zooming far ahead, trying to get to his home as fast as possible... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Nova." He heard a familiar voice from behind him. he turned and saw his old friend walking up to him. "I want you to have this," he said, laying his mask on the floor in front of Nova. "For good luck." He didn't know what to say, his friend was parting with one of the most sentimental things they had created. "Thanks." Was all he could muster. "It's almost time to start, ready the troops." Said Facade. Nova nodded and picked up the mask, then exited the room. "And remember!" He heard Facade's voice ring down the hall, "I'm gonna be keeping an eye on everything that happens! I'll make sure you come back! Even if I have to face the wrath of Celestia herself!" Nova shuddered as his friend spoke those last words