Even In Other Worlds

by Rytex

Nathan Samuel

Nathan Samuel blinked.

For some reason, this blink was different from the other million and a half times he had done this in his life.  I mean, let’s face it.  You probably don’t remember anywhere near a thousandth of a percent of the blinks you do.  You’re probably more aware of your blinking right now.  Why should one blink make all the difference?

And yet it did.  And he didn’t know why.  It puzzled him to no end.  To Nathan, it kind of seemed like he came out of a haze.  Like he had been barely paying attention before he had blinked, and now he was fully doing so after.

Dismissing the thought just like that, he brought a hand up to his face, rubbed his bright blue eyes, and sighed heavily.

Fucking homework, he thought as he looked down at the array of papers and books in front of him.  Where do I even start?

Under normal circumstances, it would have been easy for him to pick.  Professor Hoffman’s work was always easy, and couple that with a bit of a soft spot toward the son of one of his friends, the Professor had a favorite student, even if he’d like to think he didn’t.

But he really didn’t want to do this homework.  He was tired, unable to focus, and he couldn’t stop thinking about the most random things.  I mean, what normal person would randomly start thinking about being a unicorn and running into a random ruin in the middle of a forest?

Not to mention pretty purple princess ponies, he thought snidely to himself, smirking at his own joke.  Natalie would probably love to hear about this little story.

His smirk turned into a small smile as he thought about his girlfriend, Natalie Verano.  Her dark red hair, her brown eyes, that absolutely gorgeous rack across her chest that he would love to--

He blushed slightly as that particular thought came to him and he shook it off and continued looking over the massive amount of university work sent his way.

Why did everything have to be due on the same fucking day? he cursed to himself.  Do they do this on purpose!?

Well, the obvious answer was probably not, but Nathan had to wonder…  Hell, those people that actually liked this stuff were probably already done with it.  Thank goodness it wasn’t due for another couple of days.  Knowing Strong, she was probably already done with it.  Hell, she had probably finished it in class, dotted all of her I’s with hearts, and turned it in as soon as class was over.

He snarled at the thought.  Nat never really liked her.  Claimed she was always showing her up, or something like that.  Nathan never knew; he was never actually around to see any of this, but he trusted his girlfriend.  Why would she lie?

Frankly, she wasn’t a liar.  She was a pretty honest person.  Even more than Ashleigh Appleby was at times, which was saying something.  That girl was blunter than a mace most of the time.

Oh, who was he kidding?  Only most of the time?  Try all the time!

Nathan sighed, slamming shut some of his books and stacking everything neatly.  It was too late for this.  Might as well go to bed and start on it again tomorrow.  Besides, at least tomorrow he would see Natalie, and maybe then they might work on it together.  That would certainly alleviate some of the annoyances he was facing.  Or maybe he could get Alex to help, if he wasn’t too busy flirting with his egotistical not-girlfriend.

As Nathan fell onto his bed, not bothering with the covers, he groaned and brushed his blue hair away.  That was one of the many quirks he liked about himself.  He had blue hair, and he’d had it for as long as he could remember.  He wasn’t sure if it was dyed or not, considering he had no knowledge on how to tell, but considering it hadn’t washed out yet, even after all this time, he had a feeling it was natural.

He was far from the only one with quirky hair color.  Penelope Poppentop’s was pink and incredibly poofy, Rachel Dillon’s was streaks of different colors to form a rainbow, Regina Mills’ was purple, and Felicity Sanders’ was a longer, straighter, softer pink style than Penelope’s.

And that’s not forgetting Strong.  She had dark hair with a streak of magenta in it.  Her eyes, however, were probably the strangest part about her.  A deep purple in color, they always had this effect of making Nathan feel like his soul was being looked into.  This was compounded by her rather pale skin.

Trying not to think too much about how Natalie would react if she found out he had been thinking of another girl, he shut his eyes and let himself fall peacefully to sleep.

Nathan slouched back in his chair.  Algebra could be so boring sometimes.  It was made even more boring by the fact that Natalie didn’t have this class with him, and the fact that the teacher had barred anyone from using any sort of laptop.

Well, he had thought on day one, there goes all that time-wasting on 4Chan I was planning on doing.

He had already gone over this lesson.  Why did they have to go over it again?  It was just a waste of time.  Nathan was tempted to play hooky after using some bullshit excuse to leave class, except he knew Hoffman was good friends with this guy, and would probably not be expecting him next class in that case, which would lead to awkward conversations following the lecture time.

Annoyingly enough, they were forced to share a table with someone else.  This room doubled as a science classroom, which meant that in that particular class, lab partners were used, so they got tables for those pairings.  Normally he wouldn’t mind sitting next to anyone else.  They’d just make a good conversation partner.

However, he just had to end up sitting next to the one person in the entire class who eagerly listened to Doc Bernard instead of generally not paying attention like everyone else.  Nathan knew her quite well, since she was a primary target for his pranks.  Sometimes it was a pulled chair from under her, sometimes it was the rearranging of her notes page, once he even tripped her in the hallway, but that time was an accident that everyone thought he did on purpose.

And as usual, she had her pen and notebook in her lap and her laptop on her desk, taking notes just as quickly as Doctor Bernard wrote them down.  Nathan seriously wondered why Natalie didn’t like her.  Not really like Strong could do anything to hurt Nat’s reputation or anything.  Nat just seemed to have a deep-seated dislike for her for some reason.  Maybe because Nat was openly going for Head of Class, and Strong stood in her way.  Nathan just couldn’t see anything about the “threatening” girl in the black, grey, and white sweatervest, lavender-colored undershirt, and black skirt.

Nathan always thought the outfit made her look something like a Catholic schoolgirl.

Strong really didn’t like Nathan or Natalie that much either. She didn’t really like anyone, for that matter.  She usually spent all her time alone, sitting off in some corner, reading a book.  If not that or working on her homework, she was at the town library working there, or at her home with that kid of her’s.  He wasn’t exactly her kid, though.  Something like a foster-brother.

“...and we will continue with this on Wednesday.  Homework assignment twelve is due at the beginning of class, and remember that Finals are coming up.  It is in your best interest to start looking over the exams for review.  Have a good day.”

There came the usual scraping of seats against the ground as everyone packed their stuff up and started walking out.  Nathan and Strong both put their things away, pushed in their chairs, and started heading for Professor Hoffman’s class.

And three… two… one…

Strong sped up to get several feet in front of him before resuming her normal pace.  Nathan rolled his eyes.  Sure, he had played a few harmless pranks on her in the past, but that didn’t warrant her inability to tolerate walking even close to him in the hallway.

“Hey Nathan!” called a gruff-sounding cockney-accented voice behind him, and he stopped.  His friend Alex was hurrying up to him, carrying with him a small book with star-charts inside.  Oh, right.  Today was astronomy day.  He had forgotten.

Alex stopped next to him for a moment, leaning down and grabbing at a stitch in his side as his black hair fell in front of his face.  After a moment, he looked up at the ceiling and took a deep breath.

“I hate carrying a load of books to every class,” he said.  “Stupid ROTC, having to get us in shape like that.”

“I wouldn’t know,” said Nathan, turning around and continuing toward Hoffman’s room.

“How was math?” Alex asked, starting to walk with Nathan as they made their way to another room in the science building of the campus.

“Eh, boring as usual,” Nathan said dully.  “Covered a lesson we covered last class, and he wants to continue it Wednesday.”

“I told you what I thought about taking him for math,” Alex said.  “I show all my work.  All of it, on every assignment.  I get all the right answers.  What grade do I get?  Fucking fifties.  Tells me I’m not doing them right.  Then, when I take the exams, I do everything the same way.  The exact same way!  What do I get then?  B’s and A’s.”

“Could be worse,” said Nathan shrugging.  “You could have those reversed.”

“But the homework was the sole reason my average in his class was a 79, and he refused to round up.  Worst.  Math teacher.  Ever.”

“Nathan?” came a feminine voice behind him.  Nathan turned to see none other than his girlfriend behind him.  Her long red hair was done into a ponytail this time.  Nathan liked the effect.  It made her brown eyes seem brighter somehow.  Alex rolled his eyes next to him.

The two of them hugged for a moment, before continuing toward class.

“Good morning, Alex,” Natalie said, as they continued.  “Any luck with Trisha?”

“I wish,” said Alex, shaking his head in disappointment.  “I don’t know what the hell she wants, but she refuses to accept the fact that we’re dating.  As she puts it, she’s just using me for free food and moral support.”

“Joke’s on her,” said Nathan, smirking.  “When the two of you get married, it’ll be the other way around.  I can see it now.  You’ll come home from work, she’ll start snarking as usual, and you’ll tell at her to get back in the kitchen and make you a sandwich.  And she will.”

“Aside from that being incredibly sexist,” Alex said, “she’d probably refuse just to spite me, and then go and do it while brushing it off as being because she didn’t want her free food and moral support source to leave.”

“I say go for it,” said Nathan, shrugging.  “Then you can press the matter and force a confession out.”

“If it’s all the same to you,” Alex replied coldly, “I’d rather not force anything in this relationship.  I notice the less forced things are, the better they turn out to be, and I like Trisha too much to push it.”

“Aww, how sweet,” said Nathan, rolling his eyes to emphasize the sarcasm.  “But seriously, I wouldn’t be dating Nat if she hadn’t wrung it out of me that I was interested--”

“Oh, that’s how the two of you got together?” Alex replied, cocking an eyebrow.  “And here I thought you two engaged in a shouting match that devolved into angry sex.”

“A-Alex!” sputtered Nathan, going red.  Natalie, however, took it in stride and smiled sweetly at him.

“Who’s to say we didn’t?” she asked, her voice getting low and husky, which intensified Nathan’s blush.

“Not helping things, Nat!” Nathan protested indignantly.  Alex and Natalie both just chuckled, leaving Nathan to fume under his intense blush.

“Nah,” Natalie said, patting Nathan atop his head, “he’s still a little virgin.  Pity no one calls him on it.  That might trigger the two of us having a night together sooner.”

“We’ve gone over this, Nat,” Nathan said, inwardly groaning that Natalie was being so open about it with Alex.  “I don’t think it’s a good idea to rush into something like this.”

“Now you’re starting to think like me,” said Alex, elbowing Nathan.

“Great,” Nathan said, fake-groaning.  “Just what I needed.  Now all I gotta do is start following Sherlock and Doctor Who religiously, and you and I’ll be even.”

“And ditch Arsenal for the Tottenham Hotspur master race,” reminded Alex, which only made Nathan facepalm.

“Never in a million years.”

“Natalie rolled her eyes.  “Boys and their football,” she said to herself.  “Well, I need to get going.  Doc Johnson isn’t in the best mood today, so I’m told, and the last thing I want to do is give her a reason to yell at us.”

She grimaced.

“I’ll see you after this two hour long session that violates the Geneva Convention’s ban on collective punishment.”

“If they start waterboarding, we’ll come and rescue you,” Alex deadpanned, “but right now, Nathan and I have astronomy with Hoffman.  Been waiting all day for this.  He always finds a way to make class interesting.”

“Well, have a good time,” said Natalie, turning around, waving, and walking off.

“Right, then,” said Alex, turning back around and heading on up toward the Star Projection Auditorium, “we might want to get moving.  We both know he hates latecomers.”

“He hates anyone but me being a latecomer, you mean,” corrected Nathan.

For the next few moments, they walked through the halls of the square science building in silence.  Nathan didn’t mind.  He always liked quiet moments in the middle of busy days; they helped him shrug off the distractions he wanted to avoid.

“Nathan, d’you mind if I ask a question that seems very out of nowhere?” Alex asked in a low voice.

“Um, sure,” said Nathan, bracing himself.

Alex looked through one of the displays into a geology exhibit featuring different rocks, with a slightly forlorn expression on his face.  “Do you ever think there’s more than this?”

“Um, sorry?” Nathan asked, confused.

“I mean this,” Alex clarified, waving his hands vaguely around him.  “School, class, homework, exams.  Do you think there’s more to it than this?”

“More to what?”

“I dunno,” Alex shrugged.  “Life, I suppose.”

“When did you get all existentialist on me?” Nathan asked, bemused by this sudden question.

“Don’t know that, either,” Alex answered.  “Just sort of came to me.  It just feels like this isn’t what life is for me.  It feels like I’m supposed to be doing something else.”

“What, a life purpose?  A special talent of some kind?” Nathan asked.

“Yeah, like those,” Alex said with a nod.  “Doesn’t it just sort of feel like there’s more than this?”

“Now that you mention it,” said Nathan, thinking back to the moment where he’d had that strangely-important blink, “things are starting to seem rather weird, lately.”

“Oh?” Alex asked, giving him a look out of the corner of his eye.  “What do you mean by that?”

“Last night, for example,” Nathan said, choosing to share his thoughts.  “I was trying to figure out what I was going to do first for homework, when all of a sudden, I blinked.”

“You… blinked,” repeated Alex, giving him a weird look.

“Yeah.”

“What, so you don’t normally do that?  You don’t blink at any other point in the day?”

“Hey, quit being a smartass,” Nathan said, smacking Alex on the arm.  “I’m being serious.  I had this weird little feeling after I blinked.  Like I came out of a haze, or something.”

“What were you smoking last night, and where can I get some?” Alex asked, clearly thinking Nathan was losing it.

“Ugh, Alex, seriously!  I’m telling the truth!”

“I’m just messing with you, mate,” Alex said, clapping Nathan on the back of his shoulder.  “Look, I know the semester’s been hard on you.  I mean, you’re taking Macroeconomics, Astronomy, College Algebra, and so on.  You’re so caught up studying and doing all this homework, you don’t ever have any fun.  So I think you really need to take a night off and just have fun around the town.”

“You’re not just using this as an excuse to go have a drinking night, are you?” Nathan asked, raising an eyebrow.  “If you are, I can just invite you to the Council of Gentlemen.  No need for all of this.”

“Aside from the fact that tonight seems like a really good night to go drinking,” Alex responded, “no, this is not an excuse.  This is for you.  You need a break night.  I dunno, take Natalie out for a movie date, or something.  Just don’t study or do anything school-related.”

Nathan looked up at the ceiling and interlaced his fingers behind his head.

“Yeah, I think I could use a night off.”

He suddenly unlaced his fingers and wiped his forehead, which Alex noticed was slightly shiny.

“Nathan, are you okay?” he asked, concernedly.

“Yeah, I feel fine.  Why?”

“You’re sweating up a storm, and you look paler than usual,” Alex pointed out, noticing that Nathan’s normally-pale skin was almost white.  “You don’t look so good, dude.”

“I’m fine,” repeated Nathan firmly.  “Really.”

“Well, if you say so,” Alex said, shrugging his shoulders.  “If you puke in class, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“I won’t,” Nathan assured him, though that didn’t even slightly quell the suspicion that Nathan wasn’t 100%, but he let it slide.

They managed to make it into Professor Hoffman’s class shortly after it had begun.  The large room in which the stars were projected onto the ceiling was round and dome-shaped, and it was currently dark.

“Now now, boys, you’re late,” Professor Hoffman said disapprovingly, glancing at Nathan in particular.  Even though he didn’t really like late people, he knew Nathan usually had a good reason to be late whenever he was.

“Now Mr. Samuel, care to tell us why you were late?  And you, Mr. Steele?” he asked them both.

Alex shrugged.

“I didn’t think Nathan looked good enough to come to class, so I asked him about it.  That’s all.  My bad on us being late.”

“Yes, well,” said the professor, inspecting both of them, “I do appreciate your honesty, but please try to do that while you’re walking next time.  I’m sure you both know how to multi-task.  If not, you should ask the nearest junior high girl.  I’m sure they could teach you how to walk and talk at the same time.”

The class collectively chuckled.  Alex and Nathan both dipped their heads in acknowledgement.

“Right, well, please get to your seats.  Oh, and do either of you happen to know where Ms. Strong is?  She appears to be absent today.”

Nathan glanced around the room, but there appeared to be no sign of her.  The magenta in her hair usually stood out pretty well in darkness.

“I don’t know,” said Nathan.  “She was in front of me for a few moments, but then she sped up and vanished.  Don’t ask me why,”

“I see,” said Hoffman, writing something down behind his podium.  “Well, take your seats and we’ll begin.”

Nathan and Alex moved around the room in the darkness carefully, found empty seats, and sat in them in time for the professor to begin the lecture.

Discord sat in his seat at the long table, playing with his top hat while he waited (im)patiently for the other “City Council” members to show up.  He didn’t really like this form he was stuck in.  Sure, it was still mostly like his normal chaotic self, what with the two hands, two feet, handsome face, and so on, but it was just so… monkey-like.

I mean for Chaos’ sake, he was an ape!  A hairless monkey!  Whoever’s idea it had been to bring all of them to this stupid human world was definitely the worst prison planner ever.

Oh wait, there had been that one time he’d tried to lock Pinkie Pie in a cotton candy cage...

Correction, whoever’s idea it had been to bring all of them to this stupid human world was definitely the second-worst prison planner ever.

The door at the foot of the table opened, and in stepped a tall, dark-skinned woman in a very sharp police uniform.  She had long, greyish-green colored hair, bright green eyes, and Discord would be damned if her canines weren’t a little longer than the average human’s.

“You’re early,” she said, in a voice that echoed, as if a few others were speaking at the same time.

“I’m always early to dates, Chryssie,” Discord replied, smiling sweetly at her.  Chrysalis scowled at him.

“I would never lower myself to consent to a date with you,” she replied venomously.

“Ah, but I never said it was with you, did I Chryssie?”

“And don’t call me that!” she snapped at him, her eyes glowing even brighter and her hand reflexively clenching.  Discord thought he saw it give off the faintest aura of changeling magic, too.  But he wasn’t afraid.  His chaos magic still worked like a charm.

“Whyever not?” Discord asked, cocking an eyebrow, but with a slightly devilish grin.

Chrysalis mumbled something furiously, but Discord definitely caught the phrase, “brings back bad memories.”  But maybe he didn’t hear that right, so he reached into his ear and pulling out an entire cloud of cotton candy, which definitely cleared up his hearing perfectly.

“Will you stop using your magic so openly?” Chrysalis hissed at him, still giving him the most murderous of glares.

“Why?” Discord asked, brushing his two curtains of shoulder-length grey hair out of his face.  “What’s the point?  ‘Snot like any ponies are going to find their way in here.  Not while your changelings are the police and keeping this place off-limits.”

The door opened again, and in stepped the large, muscular mayor of Random Town, Anywhere.  They didn’t really have a name.  It was just the town, or something like that.

“Good to see you again, Mayor Sombra, sir!” Discord exclaimed, bounding out of his seat to shake the Dark King’s hands.  “My, you look positively murderous today.  What’s your secret?  Rubbing some kind of incurable poison into those luscious locks of yours?  Oh!  Maybe it was you smoothing those lamb chops of yours with the blood of your enemies!”

“Shut up, Discord,” Sombra growled at him, rubbing one of said bushy black sideburns, which came only a half-inch from his mouth.  Discord didn’t know how he did it, but his very long black hair still seemed to have a slightly smoky quality to it, just like his old pony form had.  “Is Moony here yet?”

“She’s inside the Department,” Chrysalis replied.  “My children informed me of her arrival with the hive mind.”

“You guys are soooo boring,” Discord said, pulling a violin out of his sleeves and proceeding to play something overtly sad and tragic.  Sombra responded by incinerating it in his hands.  So Discord just played the ashes and still got the same result.

“You imbeciles,” came a smooth, regal voice from the doorway once again, as a woman wearing a very expensive-looking black and silver dress stepped into the room.

Nightmare Moon glared at all of them with her sparkling icy-blue eyes, a truly scary look when you factored in the cat-like irises.  Otherwise, however, he really couldn’t look past how she still looked like Loony had those three seconds where she was human like them.

Long, shimmering blue hair fell to the small of her back and moved independently of any wind, her skin was pale, flawless, and smooth, and her cheeks were hollow.  The small tiara on her head amplified the regal quality she carried herself with.

Even Discord couldn’t deny that her form was beautiful, even for a monkey.  Of course, he had to take ten points off because she was possessed by one of the more psychotic alternate personalities that don’t exist in Batmane comics.

“Hello Moony,” Discord said with a wave.  Chrysalis’ hat turned pink.  She wasn’t amused.

“Discord, as I’m sure our two associates have already said,” said Nightmare Moon in a lot more polite of a voice than either Cheese-Legs or Sombrero had used, “please stop fooling around so we can get to the point of this meeting.”

“Well, since you asked nicely,” he responded, snapping his fingers.  The violin ashes vanished, the cotton candy cloud disappeared, and Chrysalis’ hat returned to its normal color.  “But must I turn her hat back?  It looked so good on her when it was pink.”

If looks could kill, Chrysalis would have committed mass genocide on the whole town at that moment.

“Enough, Discord.  We have important matters to discuss,” Nightmare Moon said, daring him to challenge her.  Discord just shrugged and leaned back in his seat.

“Go ahead,” he said, waving his hand at her to continue, before reaching down and starting to stroke his short white beard.

“Thank-you,” Nightmare Moon replied.  “This is simply a precautionary meeting.  I couldn’t help but notice a shift in the spellwork placed over the town last night.”

“I didn’t do it,” said Discord automatically, raising both of his hands in an “I surrender” pose.  Alternatively called the Prench National Greeting gesture.

“We never said you did,” Nightmare Moon replied coolly, “but since you seem to have a guilty conscience about it--”

“I’m being serious for once,” Discord said.  “I felt it too.  I just figured you all would be liable to suspect me.  After all, I do what I want, when I want, and for how much fun I want.”

“You were summoned here by our benefactor,” Sombra said, rolling his eyes.  “It’s not like you can openly rebel against what you were called for.”

“Ah, but my dear Sombrero,” said Discord with a smug smile, “in case you aren’t aware, my task is simply to be at the ready just in case the ponies rise up.  That’s all I’m here for is backup if the changeling cops fail their jobs.  Which means I have a remarkable amount of freedom in how I go about doing that.”

“A little too much freedom,” remarked Chrysalis.  “Why oh why didn’t our benefactor take his magic from him?”

“Because she can’t,” Discord simply.  “If chaos followed the whim of anypony but the being of chaos, then it wouldn’t be very chaotic, now, would it?”

“‘She?’” Sombra asked with a raised eyebrow.  “How do you know it’s a ‘she’?”

“Because look who all’s here, and look who’s in charge,” Discord said, gesturing at Nightmare Moon, who only looked very satisfied with Discord’s logic.  “With the four of us Equestria-haters here, we’re missing a certain shadowy friend of yours, Nightmare Moon.  A certain shadowy friend who would put her own creation in charge of all of us.”

Nightmare Moon just smiled at him.

“So it’s Envy, then?” asked Chrysalis.  “Last I heard, she had the Everfree Vaults demolished on top of her little Soul Jar, or so my spies told me.  How would she have escaped?”

“Mother is powerful enough to escape Soul Jars with ease,” Nightmare Moon said.  “According to her, there was an amulet that was supposed to prevent her from transforming, but it was destroyed in the collapsing of that old building.  She simply made her way out  of the ruins as a shadow and waited for the perfect day to strike when nopony was looking.”

“Using every bit of the dramatic flair she wasn’t born with,” Discord remarked.  At Nightmare Moon’s glare, Discord shrugged.  “What?  It was a fitting day.  I’m not complaining about the style, but the timing on the day was just poor.  She did it too soon.  She should have put it off until later.”

“Regardless,” Nightmare Moon said, dismissing the topic, “here we are.  Now, Mother wanted me to remind all of you of your duties.”

“I know my job,” Discord whined.  “Why did I have to come?”

“You know,” Sombra said, smirking, “it was worth bringing him along just for this.  I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t amusing.”

Discord turned his beard into cotton candy for that.  Surprisingly, Sombra actually pulled a bit out and ate it.

“Your pranks are actually quite entertaining, if your victim can take a joke,” Sombra said, pulling out another tuft.  “But as pink doesn’t exactly go with my darkness, I’m going to have to ask you to change it back.”

“See?” Discord asked the other two occupants of the room.  “All you have to do is ask nicely.”

He snapped his fingers, and Sombra’s beard regrew back to where it had been, and it turned back into facial hair.  Sombra felt it for a moment.

“Is this… blood I feel in it?” he asked, curiously, removing his hand and examining a red liquid on his fingers.

“The blood of your enemies,” Discord responded, nodding his head.

“I didn’t style it with the blood of my enemies.”

“Oh?  Did you use L’Oreal?” Discord asked.  “Because you are so worth it.”

Nightmare Moon smiled.  In fact, only Chrysalis seemed unamused by their antics.  Discord inwardly fist-pumped.  He just knew he’d be able to get at least Sombra to laugh, with enough effort.

“Alright you two, time to get to business,” Moony said, dropping the smile and assuming a business-like manner.

“What business?” scoffed Discord.  “We know our jobs.  What is the point of this meeting?”

“Because some of you need reminding not to go outside your jurisdiction,” Nightmare Moon said calmly, though she glared at Chrysalis.  “Need I remind you, Your Majesty, that the Elements of Harmony, their relatives, and their close ones are mine to watch, and no one else’s.  Your jurisdiction is over the rest of the ponies, to make sure none of them cause any trouble for us.”

“So let’s see,” said Discord, starting to count, “obviously, that’s Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie, right?  Add their family, and that includes their siblings, like the Macintosh, Applebloom, Spike the Dragon, Sweetie Belle, and that orange chicken-looking pony, but what about Shining Armor and Cadance?”

“Those two are left to Chrysalis,” Nightmare Moon replied.  “She has been given permission to take her revenge, though I doubt she’ll spill blood.  Mi Amore Cadenza is nowhere near as strong as Celestia or Luna, and so the possibility of her escaping the curse is low.”

“You also said their close ones,” added Discord.  “Am I to take that to mean you have your eye on Nova Shine as well?”

“I do,” said Nightmare Moon.  “I will be honest, I do believe he is the most dangerous of the lot.  If he breaks out, Mother knows for a fact that he will stop at nothing to restore Twilight Sparkle’s memory, even at the cost of his own life.  None of the other Elements can awaken on their own, and none of their relatives are strong enough in magic to break out on their own.”

“But he’s under the influence of the curse, and so he can’t remember who he is,” said Chrysalis.  “How could he possibly escape?”

“His spirit,” Nightmare Moon said.  “Nova Shine is the only pony I have ever encountered to be a master of magic who is also a Wind Elemental and a lover of a princess, much less an Element of Harmony.”.

“A Wind Elemental?” asked Chrysalis, arching an eyebrow.

“A certain personality type, most closely aligned with the element of wind,” Sombra explained.  “Usually these ponies are free-spirited, spontaneous, and in general, their mannerisms would remind you of wind itself.”

“Yes,” Nightmare Moon said, nodding.  “Nova’s very spirit would fight against the confines of the curse placed on him.  I don’t think it will hold him for long, but I will be there when he breaks out, to put him back under it.”

“Well, this chat has been fun, but Mister Mayor and I have a tee-time in thirty minutes,” said Discord, getting to his feet, donning his top hat, adjusting his suit, and picking up his cane, which had been leaning against the wall behind him.

“Do you even use that?” asked Chrysalis, indicating the cane.  Discord answered by pointing it at her.  Immediately, her police badge turned from gold to platinum.

Sombra stood up and followed him out the door.

“I hope you don’t mind walking all the way there,” he said as they left the meeting room, where Discord was sure even now that Moony had to be lecturing Cheese-Legs about the importance of The Plan, even when it was obvious it was going to unravel quite easily.

“I don’t,” Discord responded.  “Why?”

“Let’s just say I have an investment of mine to check up on,” Sombra said.  “That being said, we’re taking the scenic route to the country club today.”

Nathan was taking deep breaths and constantly wiping sweat off of his forehead.  Something was wrong, and even he couldn’t deny it, but he really didn’t want to leave.

“...which brings us to the different types of stars,” Hoffman continued, indicating several different white dots on the shadowed ceiling.  “You are all, of course, familiar with the basic types.  superdwarves to hypergiants, and from red to purple, yes?  Well, today we are going to be exploring some of the subtypes of these stars.”

He indicated a white star in a constellation labelled “Delphinus” with a laser pointer.

“For example, this star right here.  I won’t tell you the name, because that will spoil it, but I will give you the designation.”

He pulled out a small card of paper and scrutinized it closely, trying to make out what was written in the dark.

“The designation is PNV J20233073+2046041.  Don’t ask me why it’s so long.  Now, who can tell me what is so special about this star?”

He looked around the room and noticed the lack of raised hands.  Even Strong didn’t have her hand raised, but that may be because she was glancing at him in concern.  She had to have heard his labored breathing and seen the constant wiping of sweat. She had come in late, having been running a small errand for one of the other professors, and had come in just in time to see Nathan start to really feel like something was wrong.

“Nathan, can you tell me what’s so special about it?” the professor asked, pointing at the star with his laser.

“I-it’s a nova, sir,” Nathan answered.

“Correct.  And can you tell me what a nova is?”

“Some kind of explosion inside a white dwarf star.”

“Correct again,” said the professor, giving him an approving nod.  “In actuality, it’s a cataclysmic nuclear explosion.  This is what makes the nova shine as brightly as it does.  It’s brightness increases for a few days, and then it will subside over… Nathan, are you alright?”

Nathan’s apparent sickness had just amplified suddenly, with no warnings whatsoever.  He had collapsed onto his desk, breathing all the harder.

“No, no you are not alright,” the professor said firmly, grabbing him under the shoulder and pulling him to his feet.  “You need to visit the Wellness Center right now, no buts.  Miss Strong?”

She stood up close by.

“I’m assuming you already have today’s notes, yes?”

She nodded.

“Good.  Take him to the Wellness Center, and make sure he gets there, then come on back.  Hurry on, now,” he commanded, gesturing at the door.  Nathan didn’t need telling twice.  He followed Strong, feeling quite woozy while he did so.

The two of them exited the classroom and started heading through the halls toward the exit of the Science Building.

“Do you mind telling me your symptoms?” Strong asked, giving him a concerned look through her purple eyes.  Nathan just shuffled along, the wooziness increasing.

“N-not really in the mood to talk about how good I’m not feeling,” Nathan said, stopping and leaning against a wall.  Everything was starting to spin around him, now.

“Dizziness,” noted Strong, coming close and looping one of his arms around her shoulders and holding onto his arm to keep him steady.  When she had gotten him into a manageable position, she started helping him along.

“Thanks,” Nathan said, struggling to take steady steps even with her helping.

“You’re welcome,” she said, looking away.  Nathan wanted to think it was because she was being bashful, but somehow, he had a feeling it wasn’t the case.

“Would you mind telling me what I did wrong?”

:I beg your pardon?” Strong asked, turning and giving him a strange look.

“You know,” said Nathan, wiping his head again, “what did I do that makes you so nervous around me?”

“Oh.  That,” she said, and to Nathan, it sounded like she really didn’t want to broach the topic..

“What did I do to you to make you like this around me?” he asked, feeling that directness was probably the way to go.

She mumbled something unintelligible.  Nathan had a sudden feeling, like this was completely unlike how she was normally.  Upon thinking that, he wondered exactly why he thought that.  He and Strong hadn’t exactly had the most meaningful of conversations with each other in the past.  The few times they ever did exchange words were usually short.  The one time they did exchange more than a couple of seconds’ worth was…

Well now, that can’t be right.

When did she and him ever have a conversation about his collection of Harry Potter books?

“Forgive me for asking,” he said, suddenly remembering an important detail, “but is your first name Tara?”

“Huh?  Oh, no.  It’s Tracy,” she said.

“Ah,” said Nathan, smiling despite another tremor in his body.  “You just sort of sound like a Tara Strong.”

She giggled a little, a sound that almost completely did away with Nathan’s sick feeling.  What was it about her laugh…?

“To answer your first question,” she said, bringing him back to the much-less happy topic he was hoping to resolve, “it’s nothing you did.”

“I-- what?” he asked, confused.  “But my pranking--!”

“I won’t deny, some of your pranks didn’t… well, they weren’t nice,” she said, looking away.

That’s putting it mildly.

“But I still think you’re a good guy,” she added somewhat hastily.  “It’s just... it’s Natalie.”

Realization flooded through Nathan.  Natalie was pretty clingy and jealous at times.  She always seemed to be more agitated than anyone else would have been if she saw him with another girl.  Once, she’d engaged in a near-shouting match with the blonde girl with ocular misalignment, bust because she had given him a quick thank-you hug for helping her pick up fallen items.  Alex had stood up to her, but Nathan, not exactly doing what he thought was right, defended his girlfriend.

Punches were thrown, but in the end, after being kept in the town police’s jail for a night, Alex and Nathan became best friends.  Alex still had nothing nice to say about Natalie, but at least he tolerated her presence now.  If anything, she seemed to be growing on him, because while they often exchanged snide remarks, they started to get along better than most did with her.

“You don’t have to say anything more,” Nathan said, nodding.  “She does that.  Do you remember the time Alex and I got in a fight over poor Deborah a couple of months ago?”  She nodded.  “Yeah, she kind of triggered it.  I stood up for her when Alex called her out, and we got to punching.”

“At least the two of you are friends now,” she remarked, pushing open the door for him.

“Eh, you do that if you’re forced to sleep in the same prison cell for a night,” Nathan shrugged.

“You went to prison!?” Tracy gasped, turning and staring at him incredulously.  He nodded.

“Yeah, minor punishment for assault and battery,” he said.  “I threw the first punch.”

His gut lurched again, and he doubled over, grabbing at his stomach with his hands.  Unfortunately, he also almost dragged Tracy with him, but she managed to pull free just in time.

“Oh my gosh!  Are you alright?” she asked, kneeling down to try to help him up.

There came the sound of heavy footsteps.  Nathan paid them no mind at first, but a strong hand grabbed his arm and quite literally pulled him to his feet.  Nathan looked up to see a large, muscular black-haired-and-bearded man wearing a long red overcoat.  The man set him down on his feet and helped keep him up while the queasiness vanished.

“Mister Sire?  Mayor Oscurit?” Tracy asked, surprised.  Nathan looked past the burly man to see an older, thinner man, with shoulder-length white hair and beard, long, bushy white eyebrows, and yellowed eyes with red irises.

However, what got his attention best were the man’s clothes.  He was wearing a sort of patchy-looking grey coat, fittingly enough with leather elbow patches.  His pants were brown, and they too looked patchy for someone as rich as he was supposed to be.  He was also carrying a mahogany cane and wearing a top hat.

“Are you alright, young man?” asked the burly man in a deep voice, leaning down to look Nathan in the eyes.

“No, he’s most certainly not alright,” Tracy huffed before he could answer.  “I’m supposed to see him to the Wellness Center.”

“I think I will handle that,” the muscular man said again, turning to meet Tracy’s.  “Or rather, may I ask you to take him to his house, Quincy?”

Mr. Sire’s eyes narrowed as he scrutinized Nathan.  Nathan met them unflinchingly.  The man appeared… surprised?  What about him would surprise this man?

“Yes, I do believe I can take him,” Mr. Sire said, after a long moment.  His voice made Nathan think of internet trolls almost immediately.  The powerful, playful quality it carried instantly made him very wary.

“Thank-you,” said the mayor.  “Take what time you need,” he added, waving and marching off.  Tracy and Nathan stared after him for a moment, but Mr. Sire pulled on Nathan’s arm.

“Come on, you,” he said firmly.  “We need to get you home.”

“But the Wellness Center--!” protested Tracy, but Mr. Sire was having none of it.

“He needs rest, Miss Sparkle, not medicine,” the older man said.  “Now please Nova, come along.”

“His name’s Nathan,” Tracy corrected.  “And my last name is Strong, not Sparkle.”

Nathan clutched at his head as a wave of pain shot through it.

“My mistake,” said Mr. Sire, “but even so, let us be moving.  The loner we’re out here, the more likely it becomes you’re going to puke all over this coat, and I’m quite fond of it.  Back to class with you, Miss Strong,” he added, pointing his cane to the front door.

Tracy gave Nathan one last concerned glance, but did as she was asked.  Why were those purple eyes of her’s so breathtakingly gorgeous all of a sudden?

“Don’t make me carry you,” Mr. Sire warned.

“I-I’m coming,” Nathan said, struggling to stand upright.

“Good.  Let’s get moving.”

Progress was slow, and the town was quite large.  Frankly, the size of their town was closer to a city.  Nathan’s apartment was a good couple of miles away, which he chose to walk.

Or rather, parkour.  He climbed and ran across the rooftops, since that cut down on his travel time significantly.  Even when carrying a heavy backpack, he had bought a bunch of wooden planks and arranged them between the rooftops so that he didn’t have to go jumping if he felt it was a bad idea to, such as on wintery days like today.

It took almost half-an-hour, but Mr. Sire safely escorted Nathan to the apartment complex he lived in.  Nathan had to direct him up the outside stairs to one of the top floor rooms.  Climbing four flights of stairs, two between each floor, proved to be easier than Mr. Sire expected.  Nathan managed to cooperate pretty well, and in short order, Mr. Sire was fishing Nathan’s keys out of his jacket to unlock the door.

The door opened, and Mr. Sire helped escort Nathan through his living room back toward his main bedroom.

“Th-thanks,” Nathan gasped as he fell onto his bed.

“Don’t mention it,” said Mr. Sire.  He glanced around surreptitiously, then added, “When you get them back, you need to ask for Princess Celestia.”

“What?” Nathan asked, completely bewildered.

“You’ll see,” said Mr. Sire cryptically, before starting to walk out of the apartment.  “In the meantime, rest and wait for them to come back.”

“W-wait for what to--” Nathan tried to ask, but Mr. Sire was already gone, leaving Nathan to groan and wait for whatever illness this was to just leave.

With a sigh, he burrowed under the covers.  Maybe some sleep would help it pass.

“The Night Apprentice, as our personal student, is accorded the privileges of minor nobility, is given the chance to learn powerful magicks directly from us, will receive an education of the night, astronomy, and many other fields of science and magic to rival that of a graduate school student, and will receive a fancy title to include on resumes for job applications.”

“Stop right there, criminal scum.”

“So Nova, how does it feel to be the first coltfriend Twilight’s ever brought home?”

“That’s actually the one we don’t want.  It’s the design of King Sombra’s Legion’s old armor, and since he was a bit of a slavemaster, I’m sure it wouldn’t do us any favors in the eyes of our subjects to invoke the old regime.  However, his armor did its job when he attempted to invade Equestria, and the reason it’s here is so we can pick up design cues from it.”

“Trixie knows you’re lying, because Trixie didn’t have a nightmare last night.  These nightmares have been affecting us at the same time, so the fact that they hadn’t affected me means that you are lying.  I must say, Twilight, I’m not judging; it seems you’ve finally become a mare--”

“You look upon a very dear old friend of mine from ages past.  This is Clover the Clever, the second unicorn in the six ponies that scouted out Equestria for the three races.  She served as an aide to Princess Platinum, who, as you know, is one of the Three Patriarchs.”

“I got him a job as an assistant to the janitor of my building,.  I figured that, for the time being, he could sharpen his magic by listening in on classes from time to time, as well as by practicing it.  However, he did even better than I had hoped.  By the time he left Manehattan, I was considering just taking him on as my protege right then and there, but sadly, fate was not so kind.”

“Ah know you wouldn’t do somethin’ like that till yeh both were hitched.  Nova’s too honorable fer somethin’ like that.  An’ Ah’ll be honest, Twahlahght, Ah doubt you think yer Princess would approve of fernication, and Ah know just how much y’all would hate to disappoint her.”

Nathan tossed and turned as various voices echoed through his head.  What the hell was going on?  Who was this Nova?  What about Twilight?  Why was this happening to him?

“Oh, Nova, I guess you do know a thing about romance after all.”

“Son, I am going to be completely honest with you here.  You may be one of the smartest, most powerful unicorns I know, but you’re an imbecile.”

“He still broke Twilight’s heart!  I mean, have you even seen her?  She’s crying her eyes out on her bed!  And it’s all your fault!”

“You see, in a desperate attempt to establish a financial income for my near-bankrupt accounts, I turned my eyes to the black market.  Everypony knows about the rumor that I had become head of a crime family and all, and they were all true.  I did, as a matter of fact, become the head of a crime family.  I managed to get in good with their bosses by proposing a successful money-making operation, so they granted me some control over their group, so long as I kept the cash coming in.”

“Let me modify that deal, Nova Shine.  You help us get everything done today on time, as well as whatever else we can get done before sundown, and I will stop asking you questions you obviously don’t want to answer, and I’ll even point you in the right direction to Everfree.”

“Well, for starters, dear Clover, I would ask him if the situation called for such a celebration.”

“And I am King Metamorphosis, King of the Changelings, known to outsiders as the Grey Monarch.  You, however, are friend of the changelings, and you earn the privilege of knowing my real name.”

“Take care of her.”

“Nova, please.  Just... give me tonight.”

“Congratulations, Night Master Nova Shine.”

“WAKE UP, NOVA!  WAKE UP TWILIGHT!  IT’S HEARTH’S WARMING!”

“Wait, only four of us?  Because you already said you didn’t want Ray coming.”

“Whatever’s going to come will come in its own time.  We’ll just have to be ready for it when it does.”

Nathan contorted his face in his sleep.  What the hell was all of this!?  What was going on!?  Why was he starting to see things, too?  Visions of a white horse with a blue mane and tail.  And a horn that can cast magic.  Who was this mysterious horse?

Not a horse, he realized, but a pony.

Wait a minute, why was he thinking all of this in his sleep?

He suddenly bolted upright.  He was sweating profusely from almost every pore in his body, his head pounded painfully with every pump of blood, and this was not helped by all of these visions pouring into his mind.

He glanced around the room and his eyes fell on a long, dark blue coat he liked to wear on days where he was feeling particularly flashy.

More specifically, his eyes fell upon the brooch that held the two sides together at the neck.

A polished sapphire, with a diamond crescent moon set in the center.

The Night Master badge.

The pounding in his head increased suddenly.  He yelped and clutched at his head desperately.

Please, whatever sweet merciful deity is causing this, make it stop!

With a jolt, he suddenly realized that all of this had started when Professor Hoffman had said the two words “nova shine.”  There was also a name of one of those ponies that had the name Nova Shine.  Was this a coincidence?

No, it can’t be, he thought in a short moment of clarity.  If these are all about him, then why am i getting them?

Unless…

The pain stopped.  Suddenly, mercifully, it stopped, and he suddenly started seeing things pass through his mind.

These aren’t visions, he realized, noticing that all of these things he saw seemed to be through the eyes of a pony..  They’re memories!  But memories of whom?

But he already knew the answer to that.

Of course.  They’re Nova Shine’s memories.  So why am I getting them?

“Rest and wait for them to come back,” Mr. Sire had said.  Were these memories them?  And what did he mean “come back?”

Wait…

If he was talking about the memories, and he was talking about them coming back, then that would imply that all of this happened to me.  But then that would mean--

And then the reality hit him in on shining moment.  In one moment of crystal clarity, Nathan suddenly knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt.

“I am Nova Shine!”