Even In Other Worlds

by Rytex

To Fight Shadows...

It had taken Nova a little over a week, but he had finally managed to train his concentration to the point where, even with Discord distracting him, he could create almost anything Discord wanted him to create, and hold it on the canvas for thirty seconds, complete with details.

“Nova, the Pony Lisa doesn’t have a mustache.”

Most of the time.

“You made me think of it,” accused Nova indignantly.  “If you hadn’t sprouted that handlebar, I wouldn’t have screwed this up!”

“What, this old thing?” Discord asked, stroking and admiring his new handlebar moustache that had most certainly not been there five seconds before.  “Hmm, you should get your sight checked.  This was here the whole time.”

Nova rolled his eyes and cleared the easel of any of his thoughts.

“I must say, you made much faster progress than I expected,” Discord said.  “I figured it’d be at least two weeks before you could make it past ten seconds.  It takes most beings around a month to make it as far as you.”

Nova grinned and scratched behind his head in a bashful sort of way.

“Don’t get cocky, Rodeo,” Discord said.  “I said ‘most,’ not ‘all.’”

“Can you blame me?” Nova asked.  “I have plenty of motivation.”

Which was perfectly true.  Nova was giving his all at mastering Chaos magic.  The sooner he could undo the curse on Twilight and the other Bearers, the sooner they could all return to Equestria, and the sooner he could once again be with Twilight.  Though this time without any potential end-of-Equestria threats.

“It’s good to have a driving force behind your studies, Nova,” said Discord, “but sacrificing this time of ours to work on Chaos magic so you can go and play with your friends?  That’s not motivation.”

“Playing?” Nova asked, shaking his head.  “If I want to blend in here, I have to show up to those classes.  Otherwise, Nightmare Moon will know something’s wrong and hunt me down to put the curse on me again.  Or are you still sore about the time Dash came over?”

Only a couple of days ago, Rainbow Dash had once again ended up in Nova’s apartment, though this time Nova didn’t have to beat senseless the Shadowbolts.  She actually seemed genuinely thankful he had helped her out, and was keen to repay the favor, despite Nova’s insistence there was no debt to be paid.  Still, he enjoyed the company when watching sports.  Discord, however, was irritated because this cut into practice time.

Nova thought the trade was worth it, though.  Rainbow Dash was already good friends with him, which meant he needed a good segue to getting her to interact with the others.  Unfortunately, Dash had kept quiet about Nova’s encounter with the “Hellsings.”  Nova thought the increased spike in attention would have been just what he needed to get in good with at least Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity, and possibly even Fluttershy.

Twilight, however, was proving to be a chore.  Every time he went anywhere near her, even for class, who would turn up but Natalie.  Given the fact that he would quite like to avoid causing any scenes for Nightmare Moon to show up in, he figured it was best that he avoided causing Natalie to go berserk.  But at the same time, he needed to get closer to Twilight.  Not just for himself, but for Equestria.  How would Twilight get any friends if there wasn’t someone there to show her any?

Especially when none of the other five liked her.  If Envy had gone an rearranged everypony’s memories, then it was conceivable that Envy had given Twilight and the others memories of something awful happening between them when they all were younger, which had caused them all to split apart.

Not unlike a certain scenario Twilight had told him about which had happened in a human world very much like this one.

Complete with being that wanted to destroy Equestria.  Possibly.  Sunset Shimmer’s plan never really was that clear, except that she wanted power.

“I’m not sore about the time Rainbow Dash came over,” Discord said, shaking his head.  “I am sore that you chose to spend all that time watching football instead of doing something productive.  Like perhaps introducing her to any of the other Bearers.”

“I think you’re just jealous that I have girls that want me,” said Nova, leaping over the back of the couch and landing in a perfect napping position.  “At least two, considering how Dash decided to give me a little reward for saving her ass.”

Discord snapped his fingers, and with a flash of white light, no less than eight beautiful women, all wearing nothing more than bikinis, appeared around him.  All of them were making sultry sounds and rubbing up against him in lewd ways.  Nova wasn’t watching, but the sounds they were making said enough.

“Discord eight, Nova two,” Discord said.  With another snap of his fingers, all the women vanished.

Nova groaned and reached for the remote, before finding it and grabbing it--

Nova bolted upright, glancing between the remote and the table it had been sitting on, over four feet away.  They had pushed it back before the lessons started, which meant that it wasn’t in arm’s reach of the couch.  Nova had just called the remote to his hand with magic, completely unconsciously.

“Not bad, Nova,” Discord said, smiling.  “You seem to have rediscovered your magical ability.  Now all you gotta do is break it in a little.”

Nova instantly held out his hand toward his refrigerator.

Nothing happened.

“Well, something tells me your magic doesn’t want to give you any alcohol today,” Discord said, adjusting his coat and hat.  “Try this instead,” he added, conjuring a soda can and tossing it to Nova.

“What, no chocolate milk?” Nova teased.

“Not in the winter, no,” Discord said, picking up his cane from where it had been leaning against the counter, and ignoring the harmless jab.  “I need to be off.  I have an appointment with the Mayor.”

“You and Sombra sure do spend a lot of time together,” Nova observed.  “If I didn’t know better--”

“You don’t,” Discord said, cutting him off.  “I have to maintain appearances.  And since Sombra is nothing more than a conjured echo, he answers directly to Envy.  And we can’t give her any indication that anything is out of the ordinary.  And let’s not forget Moony.”

“I still find it hard to believe she hasn’t noticed you and I interacting a lot more than usual.  Wouldn’t she jump at this sort of thing?” Nova asked.

“Yes,” Discord said, stroking his beard, “it is troubling that she hasn’t noticed.  Though I think she has actually noticed.  Though what could be stopping her from making her move is completely beyond me.”

He shrugged.

“Anyway, keep practicing.  And work on that new ability of yours you just re-learned.  When I return next Monday, I want you to be lifting X-Wings out of swamps.”

“When did you get into the fantasy genre?” Nova asked, quite perplexed by Discord’s sudden fanboyism.

“I told you and Celly that I started watching this show on this wonderful human invention called Netflix,” Discord said, shrugging.  “Figured I’d watch other things, too.  Not much to do when all you’re here for is backup.  A chaotic draconequus has to kill the time somehow, you know.”

And with that, he threw open Nova’s door against the resistance of a freezing gale outside, letting in the sound of howling wind and flurries of snow.  With hindered steps, he walked on out into the blizzard that had struck their town for the past few days, shut the door behind him, and vanished into the cold.

As soon as he was gone, Nova smiled and held out his hand toward the refrigerator again.  At once, the door opened and a small bottle of alcoholic cider flew out toward his hand while his can of soda flew back into the refrigerator, settling itself neatly in one of the shelves on the inside of the door, which closed gently.

Obviously, he had already been practicing his magic.  He had already started casting spells.  Hell, his progress was astonishing for a week being out of the curse.  After he had been able to produce the glow in his hands before attacking the Shadowbolts, he had snowballed to being able to lift things up that night.  The next day, it became rudimentary spells.  Now, a full week later, he could call forth his five orbs of light that he usually kept with him in fights.

He figured they would prove even more valuable here, when he wasn’t in full control of his magic.  The ability to have extensions of his being that could cast spells for him would prove invaluable when he couldn’t cast as powerful of spells as he was used to.

With a slight hissing noise, Nova flicked off the bottle cap with magic.  Magic was so useful, and in ways he was only just beginning to realize.  Why did those companies have to use the small caps with the hard-to-grip edges?  A little magic, and you would no longer need a bottle opener.

The sweet, slightly burning taste of the alcoholic cider flowed down his esophagus.  Nova hadn’t quite been expecting the cider taste to be that strong compared to the alcohol, and he sputtered for a moment.

“Aww,” he lamented, before letting out another cough, “I was expecting it to be a bit more booze-y.  Still,” he added, before taking a great swig, “Dash would kill me if I let such good cider go to waste.”

So he spent the next few minutes watching football and drinking his cider.  The only difference between his old life in Equestria and this current situation was his lack of a pony body.  This realization was not lost on him.

Seems just like old times, he thought to himself sadly.  Before I met Twilight again.  Just staying up and watching hoofball, going and doing odd jobs… I don’t even have those anymore.

Suddenly, all desire to continue in this old ritual of his just left him.  Nova sighed and threw his head back, now ignoring the television as he stared blankly at the ceiling.  Really, why did he have to go and think that?  His Friday evening was now wasted.

He moved his head back to its normal place and glanced down at the bottle in his hand.

Well, not entirely wasted, at least.  With another sigh, he lifted the bottle past eye level in a mock toast.

“To life lost,” he said, taking a quick gulp, “and life regained,” he added, taking another quick gulp.

“You know, Chryssie,” Discord drawled as he continued to stare through Nova’s window at him while he made his mock toasts, “I enjoy a stargazing night as much as the next pony, but do all our dates have to be out here?”

Chrysalis gave him the merest of glares; she had almost gotten used to him by now.

“Why does he leave his curtains open?” she asked.  “He was using magic.”

“Yes,” Discord said, “that he was.”

“Which means that he’s recovered his memory,” Chrysalis said, turning and staring at Discord.

“Probably,” Discord said.  “I’ve seen weirder things.”

“Which means one of us needs to report it to Nightmare Moon, don’t you think?” Chrysalis asked.

“Maybe,” Discord said, shrugging, “but let’s face it; it would be a lot more fun to let him run rampant, don’t you think?  And,” he added, slipping an arm around Chrysalis’ shoulders (which she instantly tried to slide out of), “we both want something to come of him remembering.”

“W-what do you--?” Chrysalis started, but Discord cut her off.

“I mean,” he said sharply, “let’s face it.  You haven’t been your usual self since we came to this other world.  You’ve been moody and temperamental and have given me death threats every six seconds instead of every five, like it had been when I came to your rescue in that one place with the living Pinkie Pie costume.”

Chrysalis made a sound that seemed like half-snicker, half-snarl, but otherwise, she kept her peace.

“If I didn’t know better, Chryssie,” Discord said, snaking his way around to just behind her other ear, “I’d think you actually wanted him to win.”

“My loyalties haven’t changed, Discord,” she said coolly.  This only made Discord smirk.

“Oh, and you think that I, the Master of Chaos, can’t see that little loophole?  Really, Your Highness, did you think that would work on me?”

She shook her head, nearly bopping him on the nose in the process.  “Discord, you should know my answer,” she said.  “I want nothing more than Celestia and that damned unicorn Twilight Sparkle to pay for ruining my plans at the wedding.”

“Well,” said Discord, leaning back and stretching a little, “for one, she’s an alicorn now, so there’s that, and for two, if you really wanted them all to pay for foiling your invasion, why haven’t you done anything yet?”

Chrysalis said nothing.  She just stared at Nova, who appeared to be appraising his cloak and practicing spellwork on it.

“It’s him, isn’t it?” Discord said, indicating Nova.  “You think he’s the same one?”

“No,” said Chrysalis, head drooping.  “It’s impossible.  My Nova Shine died.  His grave is even in Everfree’s ruins.”

“How would you know that?”

She gave a coy smile, the first he had seen since he met her.  “Shapeshifting has its uses.  Even when the entire country wants your head on a plate.”

“Haven’t they invented spells that undo your illusion?”

“When you keep your head down and give no cause for alarm, they have nothing to suspect.  Or so I believe,” she added.  “I only visited Everfree once after the failed invasion of Canterlot.  I walked right by that whorse’s house, and I couldn’t do anything about it to avoid arousing suspicion,” she snarled angrily, before taking a breath and calming herself before continuing.  “I walked right through Ponyville, cast an invisibility spell on myself, went into Everfree, spent my time there, and left the same way I got in.  Nopony was any the wiser.”

“If you were so good at getting yourself in and out of Equestria undetected, why didn’t you just smuggle all of your Changelings into Canterlot?” Discord asked, genuinely curious.  “I mean, it is a popular tourist destination.  Nopony would bat an eyelash at the large numbers of ponies wandering the streets.”

“That was the original plan,” Chrysalis said, sighing.  “Scheherazade suggested that as a course of action.  He’s my best advisor, but Killik suggested his own strategy of a frontal assault by infiltrating the city, setting off its defenses to analyze their weaknesses, and then neutralize them to allow my children to invade.”

“A plan which would have worked, if you had properly acted like Mi Amore Cadenza,” Discord said.

“I only acted on the best intel we had at the time. I didn’t know he had a sister,” she spat, “much less that I was to disguise myself as her foalsitter.  If I had, I probably would have done better, but when you only factor in one pony who should know everything, brainwashing seems to be the best modus operandi to use.”

“And, like I said, it did work, even until Twilight Sparkle freed Cadenza.”

Chrysalis didn’t respond.  She just continued to gloomily stare at Nova.

“You know,” said Discord, starting to munch on some hot, buttery popcorn he just conjured, “what irony this is for you, Chryssie.  You hate Twilight Sparkle to the point of attempting to drain her magic and murder her under the influence of the Secretariat Comet not even a full two years ago.  Now, here you are, staring all deathly, darkly, and drearily at young Nova Shine over there, and Twilight Sparkle just happens to be his fiancée.”

“I’m aware,” she mumbled.

“Do you… like him?” Discord asked, his mouth curving into a devilish grin.

She made a sort of grunt, which Discord took to mean “yes,” but then she decided to explain herself and ruin the multiple scenarios running through Discord’s mind on the romantic irony.

“I always had feelings for the Nova Shine that rescued me from Lord Silverblood, all those years ago,” she said softly.  “It’s one of the reasons I still have no mate.  I just didn’t want a changeling who wasn’t like him.  Strong, kind, smart, funny…” she sighed dreamily, “and let’s not forget handsome.”

“My my, Chryssie, this is quite a change of character for you,” Discord noted.  “I definitely prefer old Chryssie though.  Please stop being a lovestruck filly and go back to being your normal self.”

“I’m a Changeling, Discord,” Chrysalis said, giving him a smug grin.  “Lovestruck is what we’re supposed to be, to.fool the pony we’re looking to feed on.  To pretend to be lovestruck, sometimes you have to know how it feels.”

“Yes, well, still--”

“As I was saying,” said Chrysalis, cutting him off, “yes, I had feelings for my rescuer.  I suppose I dampened them when I heard he was dead, but if I didn’t then, I definitely did after Father died at their hooves.  I thought I was getting my revenge when I bested Celestia at the wedding.”

“As I understand it, you saw him there, too,” Discord said, gesturing at Nova.

“Yes, I did,” Chrysalis sighed, head once again drooping.  “My children dragged him to me, because he had been fighting them off.  He looked younger than my Nova had, but it still brought up bad memories.  So I told them to keep him bound and kept somewhere secure away from the Chapel.  I didn’t want reminding about him, not when victory was so close at hoof.”

“You know,” Discord said, conjuring a hammock and leaping backwards onto it, “for a queen who’s supposed to be an effective leader for her ponies, you really have boy issues.”

“Queen Elizabeak I did too, and she’s remembered as the greatest Griffin Queen in their history,” countered Chrysalis.

Discord opened his mouth and raised an index finger in the perfect pose to tell her why that was bullshit, opened his mouth, blinked stupidly as he realized she was right, then put down his hand.  “Point taken.”

“And before you tell me I’m not a griffin,” she added, grinning as a beak suddenly sprouting from her face, “I can be if I want to be.”

Discord openly laughed.

“That’s more like it, Chryssie!  Always so morose, it’s good that I can finally get you cracking jokes like the rest of us.”

“Please don’t call me Chryssie, though,” she said, rolling her eyes.  “It’s something only Father and Nova Shine did, and I kind of want to keep it that way.”

“Fair enough,” Discord said.  “Since you asked nicely.  Should I just call you ‘Chrys’ from now on, or something?”

“Long as it’s not Chryssie, I think I can handle it,” she answered.

“Alright then, Queen Cheeselegs.”

It took Discord an hour to untie himself from the human knot he had been left in.

Nova and Discord had agreed to take the weekends off from attempting to teach Nova control over Chaos magic.  Not really because either of them had wanted to, but they both knew that taking at least one day of the week off as a break was more beneficial than not taking one at all.  Nova also suggested taking another day to work by himself.

Both ideas seemed to be working wonders, but not exactly on the intended branch of magic.  And so, one fine Saturday over a week later, Nova was relaxing at his house.  His television was tuned in to the English Premier League, and he was quite enjoying himself.  Nova’s natural magic was about as potent as it had been the day he had met Twilight for the second time, although his focus was stronger.  His body just wasn’t quite used to manipulating a force it was never intended to manipulate.  This would not go well in fights with strong enemies.

To remedy this, and in lieu of battling entirely with magic and with the aid of Princess Celestia, Nova and Discord had (re)discovered a solution that balanced his recent incomplete training in mundane combat with his magical proficiency:  Spellblade.

Metal was an excellent conductor of both heat and electricity, which made it the ideal material for arcanologists to use when conducting magic from a distance.  During the period shortly after Nightfall, the Equestrian military began experimenting with the practice of imbuing the metal blades of pikes, spears, and the like with spells, so as to not have pegasi or earth ponies be disadvantaged when dealing with a rogue unicorn (or the return of a vengeful alicorn imprisoned in the moon).

This eventually led to the enchanting of armor, but not before one particularly brilliant unicorn made his name as a warrior by fighting with an actual sword, which he would channel his magic through.  His sword gave him an edge in close range combat that he normally wouldn’t have, whereas his magic gave him a long range attacking medium.  Due to advances in armor enchanting, the practice was rendered outdated due to the First Fundamental Law of Magic, but because of the fact that Nova was probably not going to encounter an enemy using magic-enhanced armor, Celestia, Discord, and Nova decided that it would be his best option while on this world.

The next few Chaos magic lessons revolved around Nova actually trying to conjure something, with almost no success.  “Something” being a weapon with a metal end.  “Almost” meaning Nova did manage to conjure up an unrelated thing.  Only yesterday, as a matter of fact.  He managed to conjure up a fountain of beer from the drain of his sink completely by accident.

Of course, that didn’t stop him from indulging in his alcoholic conjuration, using the logic that beer was there to help him celebrate that he had actually conjured something.  Discord only rolled his eyes, but joined in the “festivities.”  He even conjured a mariachi band again.

However, that was the extent of his conjuring achievements.  Every other time he tried only resulted in either smoke or flashes of light with nothing else coming of it.  Despite his successive failures, he was far from disheartened.  It was always like this for him.  It had taken him years to really become proficient with magic, starting with when he and Twilight had met for the second time and culminating near the end of his two-year trip into the past.  This being said, the rate he was picking up Chaos magic was rather standard for him.

As far as striking up a friendship with the rest of the Elements, Nova had made no progress.  He and Rainbow were getting more friendly, that much was true, and so were him and Twilight, but other than that, he hadn’t gone anywhere near the other four.  There just hadn’t been a good enough window of opportunity for him to use, like there had been with Rainbow.

So, this fine Saturday, Nova was bored out of his mind.  He was bored with the human hoofball, he was bored with practicing magic, he was bored sitting around and thinking of windows of opportunity, and he was definitely bored of just Rainbow and Twilight, despite never getting them to speak to each other.

He had mentioned the idea to both of them, but Rainbow had made some hasty excuse about needed to go and practice, and Twilight had insisted that she had studying to do.  He would have pursued the matter with Rainbow Dash, but the (un)timely arrivals of Alex and Natalie prevented that.

Nova sank in his chair until his back was in the seat and his head was the only part of his body resting on the back, leaving his legs sticking a whole foot and a half out from where they would if he was sitting up.  He desperately needed something to do.

When he needed something to do, he would usually just head on out to the roof of his apartment, hoping something would present itself.  Well, considering it had served him well in the past…

He heaved himself out of his chair, turned off his television, and with flick of his finger and a blue spark, every light switch clicked off and his coat materialized around him.  As he adjusted it around himself, he grinned.  It had taken some time, but he was getting quite used to casting magic in this human body.

With everything in his house off, he exited, locked the door, and then walked down to an alley beside his building, where he climbed up a fire escape to get to the rooftop.  From there, it was a short walk over to his usual sitting place, in the corner of the roof where the edge barriers met.

For whatever reason, on this particular building, the barriers were a lot higher than the other ones.  Probably just to make the building look taller.  However, Nova had put a comfy chair in that little corner.  It was one of the most effective wind-guards ever.

And now, with nothing better to do, Nova plopped himself down into the chair.

It was then that Nova made a startling realization:  when you’re bored out of your mind, and you think sitting outside will help you think of something, it doesn’t actually help you think of something.

He groaned and slumped down in his chair again, rubbing his eyes tiredly.  Why can’t there be something important happening!?  It would be better than this.

A terrified scream shattered the otherwise-quiet soundscape.  Nova bolted to his feet.  I didn’t mean that literally!

He took off in the direction he heard it, which was, ominously enough, the same direction as the alley he’d saved Rainbow Dash from the Shadowbolts in.  He clambered over one of his board bridges, sprinted over another rooftop, and leapt over a relatively narrow gap between two more buildings.  As he got closer, he felt something distinctly wrong with the auras coming from it.

One of them was Twilight’s.

He redoubled his sprinting and skidded to a halt just before the stone barrier keeping him from falling to the alley below.  Quietly, hoping to not blow his cover, he peeked over the edge, and what he saw made his heart freeze.

Twilight was backing up in terror as three Shadowbolts advanced on her, all three men leering at her sickeningly.  The two women appeared to be keeping an eye on things in the street, making sure no one was coming.

“So you just happen to walk right by us, huh?” Nightshade said, stepping slightly ahead of his comrades.  “You think you can just intrude on our turf without our permission, is that it?”

“N-no.” Twilight desperately tried to explain, “I was just--”

“Aww, shut it!” Nightshade said, cutting her off.  “I don’t wanna hear it.  I’d rather listen to the sound of you screaming.”

With that, he pulled out a knife and advanced.

Without even thinking, Nova leapt over the barrier and fell toward the trio of Shadowbolts.  As he got closer to the ground, he kicked his feet under him, crushing Marauder under him as he landed.

“What--” Nightshade tried to say, but Nova punched him hard across the jaw, sending him reeling sideways.

Only now were the other three reacting, but Nova was in a frenzy.  He tackled Corsair to the ground and with three quick strikes, he knocked the Shadowbolt unconscious, before getting up in time to fight the two ladies.

Starry Night had grabbed the pipe by one of the dumpsters and she swung it at him, but it was too heavy for her, and Nova evaded the clumsy blow.  He responded with a quick kick to her midsection, sending her back a few feet, and giving Nova some space against Black Widow, who was swinging a chain she had grabbed threateningly.

Before Nova could do anything else, she lashed out with it in an overhand swing.  Instead of trying to avoid it, which would have been the smart thing, Nova held up his arm.  The chain hit it painfully, but it wrapped around his arm.  Nova seized the chain between them and yanked, dragging Black Widow with it.  He punched out as she got near, hitting her straight in the solar plexus and sending her to the ground, quivering in pain.

Nova sensed a sudden rush of energy behind him and ducked.  Nightshade’s fist swung over his head.  Seeing as how Nova needed him conscious, he just swiped behind himself with his feet, tripping Nightshade and knocking him down before going over to finish off Starry Night.

As he passed by Black Widow’s doubled-over form, he kicked her quickly to knock her unconscious.  Starry chose that opportunity to swing the pipe at him again, but he again dodged it.  This time, however, he reacted with the same quick three punches to stun, floor, and then incapacitate her, which did take her out.

With four of the five Shadowbolts dispatched and unconscious, and Nova rounding on the fifth, Nightshade took an instinctive step back out of fear as Nova advanced on him.

Right in Twilight’s direction.

She hadn’t had an opportunity to escape, with the fight blocking the exit from the alley, and was backed against the brick wall of the building behind her.  Nova needed to distract Nightshade so she could escape.  Without thinking, he charged.  Nightshade stumbled back even faster, but Nova slid himself in between Nightshade and Twilight, arms outstretched.

“Nathan!” cried Twilight behind him, but Nova ignored her, preferring instead to glare at Nightshade, who took a moment to calm himself down and assume a fighting stance with his knife.

“Well, I’ll admit it, kid,” Nightshade said, smirking at Nova.  “You took down all four of me mates.  I’m impressed.”

He took a step forward, pointing past Nova at Twilight.

“All this for some girl,” he said, shaking his head.  “Either you’re quite the knight in shining armor for her, or chivalry ain’t dead after all.”

His smirk widened.

“Or maybe you got the hots for her, or somethin’?”

Nova said nothing.  Instead, he continued glaring at Nightshade, who stared back from behind his golden goggles.

“Not much of a talker, are you,” he said.  “Well, you had me by surprise earlier, and I gotta say, that was the best chance you had.  ‘Cause now you ain’t got no chance, now I’m ready!”

Nova inhaled a deep breath, held it in for a moment, then slowly let it out through his mouth.  This was going to be messy.

Nightshade charged, stabbing downward with his knife.  Nova dove sideways, grabbing the pipe Starry Night had been using.  Instantly, he wished there had been a better weapon.  The piece of metal was dense, heavy, and awkward.  But it would have to do.

Nightshade charged again, but Nova swung the pipe right at Nightshade’s knife hand.  There was a loud ping!, and a clatter as something metal hit pavement.  Meanwhile, Nightshade howled in pain, and the momentum of Nova’s swing carried him a little too far, which made him stumble slightly.

But he was up, and Nightshade had lost his knife.  Nova threw the knife down and charged Nightshade, who was clutching a swollen right hand in pain.  Nightshade didn’t even seem to see him coming.  Nova tackled him against a wall and held him there.

“Go!” he barked at Twilight as he kept Nightshade pressed against the wall.

“But Nathan, you’re--” she tried to protest, but he cut him off.

“I said GO!  Don’t worry about me!” he ordered, much more forcefully.  With the sheer intensity of the glare he was giving her, she seemed to relent, and she took off, running out of the alley and away from the scene.

As soon as she was gone, Nova grabbed Nightshade by the throat and lifted him as high onto the wall as he could.  Admittedly, it was only a few inches, and it strained his arm, but the intimidation factor seemed to amplify the terror in Nightshade’s eyes behind his goggles.

“W-who the hell are you?” Nightshade asked, gagging against Nova’s chokehold.

Nova said nothing, but he punched Nightshade hard in the solar plexus and dropped him.  Nightshade doubled over on the ground, wheezing painfully and coughing up blood.  Nova took the opportunity to kick the knife on the ground further out of Nightshade’s reach, before dragging the four unconscious Shadowbolts together and binding them with Starry Night’s chain.  It was a flimsy binding, but it would have to do.

After that was taken care of, Nova picked up the knife, then advanced on Nightshade again.  Nightshade hadn’t moved from his spot.  Nova grabbed him again, slammed him against the wall, and pressed the knife against his throat.

“I’m only going to request this once, Nightshade,” Nova growled, “so I expect a good showing.”

He took a deep breath.  With the carnage he had wreaked in this alley, there was no going back.  If Nightmare Moon came calling, she would know what had happened, and she would know that someone had broken out.  Nova wasn’t able to alter memories like Discord had done, which meant that he had to succeed now, or he would forfeit his only chance of defeating Nightmare Moon later.  It was “do or be placed under the curse again” time.

“Call her,” he growled.

“Call-- call who?” Nightshade asked stupidly.  Nova clucked his tongue.

“Wrong thing to say,” he said, so he slashed Nightshade’s left arm at the tricep area.  Nightshade howled again.

“I’m going to say it again.  Call her!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” he growled, struggling against the pain and his twitching left arm.

“Do you?” Nova asked, slowly cutting a little lower on Nightshade’s arm, causing him to cry out.  “Why don’t you think of it this way?  You’re obviously in a spot of trouble, and you can’t get out of this alone, so why not go ahead and call your mother to come save you, and save yourself a lot more pain?”

“B-bastard,” Nightshade, spat, before groaning.  “Y-you think I’d j-just do something like this?”

“What do you have to lose?” Nova asked, shrugging.  “I mean, don’t you have confidence she can beat me?  Oh, and I’ll give you a little tip as to why it would be in your best interest to call her.”

His hands started to emit a blue glow as he channeled magic through them.  Nightshade’s eyes bulged.

“Y-you broke out!” he cried incredulously.  “H-how!?”

“Mmm,” Nova said, cocking his head.  “I’m not telling.  Maybe Nightmare Moon would know.  She was supposed to be watching me.”

There was the soft sound of someone walking up to his left, by the alley’s entrance.  Nova chanced a glance, and he instinctively clenched his hand on the knife.  A beautiful woman with long blue hair, icy blue eyes, and a black tiara upon her head stood at the entrance, surveying the scene.

“Speak of the devil, and she shall appear,” Nova noted, dropping the knife and hitting Nightshade with his elbow to put him out of his misery and knock him out.

“What have you done to our children?” she asked calmly, but the undertone of her voice betraying her murderous intent.

“Eh, just knocked them out,” Nova said, shrugging.  “They were trying to assault a very dear friend of mine.  I would have been a poor friend to come to her aid.  Besides,” he added, cracking his knuckles leisurely, “I figured it would get your attention.”

Her eyes narrowed dangerously.

“How dare you touch our children?  We will make you suffer greatly for it!”

“Oh, I don’t know if Envy would want that,” Nova said, shaking his head.

Nightmare Moon’s eyes widened slightly.  Nova decided to press his advantage.

“What?” he taunted.  “Surprised I know about her?  Think about what that would imply, Moony.”  He smirked.  “I broke out of the curse.”

“Then you’re a fool for revealing yourself to us,” Nightmare Moon said, glaring at him.  “Did you not think this plan of yours through?  Do you not know how powerful we are?”

“Oh, I know just how powerful you are, Nightmare,” Nova said, inclining his head.  “It would appear that you’ve forgotten.”

“Forgotten what?” she asked, cocking her head.

“I was there, at Nightfall,” Nova answered.  “I was there, alongside Celestia and Comet Novus.  I took up the Elements of Loyalty and Magic, and I helped to banish you to your millennium-long imprisonment.  I am well aware of how powerful you are.”

Her eyes narrowed as she scrutinized him.  Nova just shook his head.

“You’re supposed to be keeping an eye on the Elements of Harmony, yes?  And me as well, I think.  What a job you’ve done,” he said, giving her an ironic slow clap.  “Clearly Envy trusted the right pony for the job.”

“You mock me?” she asked, eyes sparkling dangerously.  “You would dare to mock me!?  You would mock the Mistress of the Night, the Lady of Dreams!?”

“I would mock any pretender,” Nova said simply.

“You would dare to call me a pretender!?” she thundered.  Nova shifted into a stance where he could be prepared to cast magic.  He was getting her close to losing her temper.

“You are not the real Mistress of the Night,” Nova said, shaking his head.  “Nor are you the Lady of Dreams.  The real Mistress of the Night is Princess Luna, not some pretender like you..”

His hands began to glow a bright, vivid blue as he magically lifted the Shadowbolts onto the roof..

“And because I am her Night Master, in the name of Princess Luna, I am going to destroy you.”

Her hands began to glow an icy blue color, and a pair of ethereal wings appeared behind her.

“Do you think this wise, boy?” she asked.  “Attacking me?  You should have kept your head down, if you wanted to keep your memories.”

“This was going to happen sooner or later,” Nova said.  “But when your Shadowbolts decided to try to attack Twilight Sparkle, you forced my hand.  Now I guess it’s time to see how well I’ve learned from the real Mistress of the Night.”

Nightmare Moon snarled.  With a flick of her wrist and a shimmering in the air, she made the first move.  Nova saw its effects immediately.  It was only an illusion spell, designed to give the appearance and sounds of something else.  She obviously didn’t want this magic duel attracting any unwanted attention from cursed ponies, and so she had cloaked the alleyway.

Which gave Nova plenty of time to make the opening attack.  Two beams of brilliant blue burst from his hands as he thrust them in her direction.  Nightmare Moon was quick enough to create a shield between Nova’s beams and her, though, and with a bright flash of light, Nova’s beams collided with Nightmare Moon’s shield.

Using his magic to grip some of the detritus of the alley, Nova then flung it at her.  Nightmare Moon caught a flying tire and the lid of a trash can, before disintegrating them.

“You think flinging ordinary objects at me will help you win?” she asked, before blasting at Nova with a ball of fire, which Nova countered with a deluge of water.

“No,” Nova answered, before freezing the water and sending the icicles flying at Nightmare Moon, who battered them into the surrounding walls with a quick motion of her hand.  “I’m simply doing what my teacher told me to do in times like this.”

“What, times where you’re facing an enemy with no chance of victory?” she asked, sending a beam of energy at him, which he blocked with a swish of his cloak.

“No, duelling an unknown entity with magic,” he said.  “Do you remember what she told me?  Because I’m sure the real Princess Luna would.”

She snarled and flicked her wrist at him.  A fiery whip lashed down towards his cheek, but a simple raised hand blocked it with a shield of ice.

“No?” Nova asked, blocking another lash of the whip toward his opposite leg.  “Well, then allow me to educate you.  When dealing with an unknown adversary, study the environment, study the situation, and above all else, study the opponent.  How they choose to fight, their preferred method of attack and defense, and definitely any limits or weaknesses.”

“Interesting though your dated magic lessons are sure to be, how exactly will this help you win?” she asked, arching an eyebrow and rearing back the flame whip.

“Simple,” Nova said, finally countering by catching the whip in an icy glove and disabling it.  “You don’t want anything to get past you and alert possible passers-by to the magic duel going on in here.  Even if you have it cloaked, they will still see any spells that go beyond the confines of the illusion spell you cast.  You’re also attacking any time you get the chance and defending only when necessary.  Your main method of attack appears to be straightforward uses of the Four Elements, primarily fire, and pure magic itself.”

“Congratulations,” said Nightmare Moon, rearing her hands back to blast another beam at him.  “You can pay attention in the middle of a fight.  What a superb skill.”

“Oh, trust me Nightmare,” Nova said, preparing to block the impending beam, “you’re only playing right into my hands.”

Nightmare Moon lowered her hands and glared at Nova suspiciously.

“Oh, do go on then,” she said.  “How am I playing into your hands?”

Nova shrugged.  “Does a showmage reveal his secrets to everypony?  Why should I let you in on my plans?”

“Because you’re just dying to,” Nightmare Moon said.  “I can just see it on your face.”

Nova chuckled, and nodded.  “Oh, you do know me after all.  Fine, I’ll enlighten you.”

He dropped most of the magic in his hands, but he had a feeling Nightmare Moon was waiting for him to drop his guard in the middle of his monologue.  Fortune favors the prepared, so he kept some magic in his hands, waiting for the opportunity to fire off a defensive spell.

“You seem to think that power behind a spellcaster holds any sway in a magic duel such as this,” he explained.  “In a way, you’re quite true.  Power can hold sway in a duel, particularly if someone inexperienced misses blocking a normal magical energy beam.  That could either do little, or do a lot depending on how powerful the caster is behind the spell.

“But you’re either ignoring or just have no idea about the First Fundamental Law of Magic,” Nova continued.  “‘Magic cannot go through other magic, no matter how powerful either source is compared to the other.’  You’re putting a decent amount of power behind your spells, but I’m using the simplest of counterspells and shields to disable them.  Basically, you’re wasting your strength in trying to overpower me, when it’s just impossible to overpower someone with magic.

“Now, you’re probably wondering, why would I tell you this?  Wouldn’t this remove my advantage from the battle?” Nova queried her, as Nightmare Moon had narrowed her eyes upon him telling her she was wasting her strength.  “Well, the truth is, not really.  Sure, I might remove a small advantage now, but now that you know you’ll just be wasting space, you’ll cut back on your spell power, which means I won’t have to block some of these myself.  If anything, I’ve put you in a difficult position.  You’d either cut back on power, whereupon I can turn up my offensive, or you keep wasting strength as I just wear you down and take you out myself.”

He smirked.  “Well?  Which will it be?  Make it easier for me to attack?  Or just wear yourself out, and then, you know, make it easier for me to attack anyway?”

Nightmare Moon, who had kept her gaze on him the entire time, snarled even deeper.  Nova knew she now had to consider that he knew what he was doing, even if he had rushed into the battle.  This would make her a lot more cautious toward the fight.  The Nightmares were always an overconfident bunch, if Twilight’s story about Rarity was anything to go by, and so he figured that the more he could undermine their confidence, the better chance he had of gaining the advantage in the physical battle and proceeding to make it to the part where he invaded her mind to free his mentor.

With a roar of rage, she thrust her hand out at him.  A roaring fireball erupted from her hand and flew towards him.  Instead of nullify it with water, Nova threw his hands outward, as if he were forcefully pushing aside members of a crowd.  The fireball separated and flew around him.  Nova then clapped his hands together and the fireball converged back on Nightmare Moon.  The Nightmare reacted in surprise as the inferno surrounded her.

Nova knew immediately it hadn’t worked.  He could feel the shield as it prevented the magical fire from harming her.

A sudden spike of energy shot through the ground in his direction.  Nova quickly batted the hidden bolt with a small shield just as it erupted from the asphalt.  Several more spikes lanced toward him, hidden from his sight.  Nova rolled his eyes.  Might as well be time to break out all his tricks.

He blocked all of the beams with a shield underground to prevent them from coming at him.  Meanwhile, Nightmare Moon had warded off the reversed fire, but she looked quite startled that Nova wasn’t defeated by her sneak attack.

“How did you--” she started, but Nova cut her off as he started to kick off one of his shoes.

“Energy sensing,” he answered.  He managed to pry off one of his socks and immediately, he stamped his bare foot down.  He winced slightly as the cold and the rough pavement immediately made their presence known, but he endured.  He tested this new method by channeling magic toward his feet, shuddering slightly as the strange, cold sensation did not mix well with the freezing concrete.

Three blue lances of magic struck in unison, shooting out of the ground at Nightmare Moon.  The Nightmare didn’t even bother blocking them, however.  She simply sidestepped where they had been shooting toward.  Nova didn;t mind.  That had only been a test to see if that would work after all, and it had.  Without delaying, he kicked off his other shoe and sock.

Nova knew he was toying with a dangerous foe.  While it was true that the Nightmare was holding back here and now, and that he might get lucky enough to force the fight into her mind, he was going to have to bring his A-game if he wanted to stand a chance of freeing Princess Luna and surviving this fight without being put back under the curse.  And this meant that he had to hold back a little as well.  If he showed his entire hand to the Nightmare now, he would have nothing in his bag of tricks to pull out when he needed to fight with his all.

And the longer this battle in the streets went on, the less likely he would be able to keep his abilities hidden.  He needed to end this quickly.

“You know,” Nova noted, “neither of us have really moved at all this fight.  What poor duelling form, to sit still and tank your way through every spell that comes your way.”

“I have no need for form,” Nightmare Moon hissed.

“Really?” Nova said.  He snapped his fingers, and in a flash of blue light, he vanished.  Nightmare Moon whirled around just in time for Nova to whip his hand at her face to slap her.  She caught it, however.

Nova then blasted her sideways with a point-blank magical explosion.  Nightmare Moon yelped in pain as she crumpled to the ground, having flown straight into the side of the building.  Nova smiled.  In one of their play duels, Twilight had finally taught him how to teleport without the use of his cloak.  He had responded by actually aiming a blow at her that she blocked, then subverting it with the same contained magical explosion.

It did no damage in and of itself, but the terrain could prove quite hazardous in tandem with the force the victim would hit an obstacle with.

Nova leapt right at Nightmare Moon, who was still down from the force of the blow, and in a second, arranged and triggered a small trap spell to keep her arms and legs held down.  She twisted and tried to pry herself loose, but Nova had her held down good and tight.

“Congratulations,” she spat.  “You’ve got me nice and bound here.  Now what are you going to do?  Leave me here so the changelings can come and free me?”

“You don’t think I have a plan?” Nova asked, arching an eyebrow.  “I’m wounded, Nightmare.  Sure, you’ve only seen me once before, but surely you must know that a master spellcaster always has something planned for a duel he’s in.  I’ve known what I was going to do for a while, now.  I’ve known what I needed to do in this duel since before I even started learning magic.”

He held out his hands toward Nightmare Moon’s neck, binding it and keeping her head in place.

“I can’t compete with you on my own, and we both know you’re only holding back because Envy doesn’t want you to kill me.  But at the same time, you and I both know that you won’t hold back if I actually prove to be a threat, which is what I have to be if I want to get out of here with my memory.”

She glared at him.

“So,” Nova said, using the magic to pull her towards the wall and hold her there, “the only way for me to win this battle is for me to free Princess Luna from your prison.  And the only way to free Princess Luna,” he added, placing his hand over her eyes, “is by breaking into your mind.”

With that, he thrust his being at the pool of energy he felt behind his hand, and everything around him vanished.

Nova was aware that he was suddenly standing on something.  Immediately, he looked down.  The first thing he noticed was that he was on a blue platform not unlike the one in his mind.  There were circles with bats lining the outside, moons at the top of the image, and Princess Luna’s form etched into the center.

The second thing he noticed was that he was still human.

“Figures,” he said, irritated.  He had hoped otherwise, but he had expected this.  He had forced his way in, after all.  This wasn’t his mind.  He wouldn’t be his true self after externally penetrating someone else’s mind in this form.

Third, and most importantly, he found her.  She was trapped a swirling vortex of black energy, but Princess Luna was definitely there.  And she was still a pony.

“Princess Luna!” Nova exclaimed, before running over to her prison, placed directly at the top of her mental platform thingy (Nova really needed a new name for them).  Princess Luna, who had been apparently unconscious, stirred.  She opened a bleary eye, but upon seeing him standing there, she froze.

“Who art thou!?” she thundered, leaping to her hooves and pointing an accusing hoof at him.  “Who art thou, and how hast thou entered this mind of mine!?”

Nova smiled at her.

“Don’t recognize me?” he asked.  At the sound of his voice, her eyes widened, her pupils shrunk, and her mouth fell open.

“N-Nova Shine!?  Is that you!?”

Nova nodded.

“I don’t know how much time I have,” he said, forestalling a response, “but I’ve broken into Nightmare Moon’s head in an attempt to free you.  It’s the only way I can win this battle, because I’ve managed to beat her quite handily when she was holding back, and I have a feeling she’s about to let loose.”

“You foolish colt,” she said, watching him.  “If you succeed, we will have words for you when we are through.”

“Need to get you out, first,” Nova reminded her.  “How do I break this?”

“It is a magical shield that can prevent all but the strongest spells from penetrating it,” she said.  “I am prevented from casting magic inside.  You need magic beyond your current ability.”

“Aww, that’s just too bad,” came an echoing voice.  Nova whirled around.  In her winged form, Nightmare Moon stood on the part of the pedestal depicting Princess Luna’s cutie mark, advancing on him with a manic glint in her eyes.

“You did all this work, but you come up short because you were simply not powerful enough,” she taunted him, a cruel smile twisting across her face.  “But it ends here.  For you see,” the very darkness around Nova began to twist and turn, “in here, I have all the power.”

“You think it ends here?” Nova asked, staring at her.  “I’ve been doing some work of my own while I prepared for this inevitable fight of ours.”

Nova plunged his being into his Source.  At once, five bright blue orbs of light appeared around him, the first time he had put them to use in months.  He held out his hand, and one of the orbs flew right into it.  With a bright flash of blue light, it transformed into a blade.

It was a simple sword, with no decorations and only a basic guard and pommel, but it was weightless, and Nova could channel magic through it like nothing else, given that it was crafted from an extension of his own Source.

Princess Luna gasped behind him.

“You’ve learned Spellblade?” she asked.  “Who could have taught you--”

“Only the basics, Princess,” he said, “but in the hands of a master spellcaster, the basics are all you need.”

“Then prove to me you are a stallion worthy of the title Night Master, Nova,” she said.

Nova assumed a stance he had been seen in many a book and movie.  He grabbed his sword with both hands and kept it at a ready position, blade pointing at Nightmare Moon.

For seconds, they stared at each other, each waiting for the other to make the first move.

Nova took a deep, steadying breath to calm the anxiety and fear inside of him.  It was time.

And with a yell, he charged.