//------------------------------//
// Fire and Rainbows 
// Story: Crimson Mare 
// by Sphinx_Herald 
//------------------------------//

	Nova picks another branch off the ground and brings it back over to the mouth of the cave. The beginnings of a very rough wall covers a small section of the entrance. The wall is made of branches she picked off of the forest floor and is mainly held together by sap and string. I’m going to need some actual tools, she thinks. She drops the branch into a pile. That’s enough I think.
Part of the wall crumbles to the ground. I’m going to need someone who actually knows how to build this. With a groan she turns around and heads for the creek. She hesitates at the edge of the water, afraid she’ll see the image of her injured friend again. Peering over the water, her own reflection greets her, the dark  bags under her eyes are reduced, though they’re still there. She is as much of a mess as usual, covered in dirt and sap.
She shakes off her momentary fear and slips into the water. She surfaces and pulls herself onto the bank of the creek just letting her hooves dangle in the water.
Lying back, she watches the clouds drift lazily across the sky as it slowly turn from blue to orange. Rainbow, I hope I can trust you.
Maybe we should kill her, just to be safe.
“Or maybe I can just trust her because she’s the element of Loyalty,” Nova she with a snort. She rolls back onto her hooves, flames ripple along her wings quickly drying them off.
Yes, but who do you think she’s loyal to, you or her princess?
“You don’t have to ask who I think she’s loyal to, you already know what I think. However, I do trust her to keep her word.”
*****

“I want you to race me, and mean race. I want to see what you’re capable of,” Rainbow says after a moment of thought.
Nova blinks a few times then narrows her eyes at the other pegasus. “Why?”
“Because you’re fast, and you beat me to Twilight’s. I want to see how fast you really are.”
“No, I mean why should I, and what would it prove?”
Rainbow steps back and thinks for a moment. “How about this? If you race me, I promise I won’t tell anyone about what you can do. No matter who wins I won’t tell anyone.”
“Okay, but what would this prove?”
“If you’re a good guy.”
Nova stares at her working the idea over in her head a few times. If I race her she won’t tell anyone, but on the other hoof she’ll be up against me… “No,” she says shaking her head.
“What, why?”
Afraid to lose, are we?
“No, I’m not afraid to lose!” Nova shouts.
Rainbow takes a couple steps back, not want to be near her after seeing what she can do when angry. “What?”
Nova blinks and looks at her. “I wasn’t talking to-- Ugh! I don’t want to race you because I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Oh please, I’ve fought the god of chaos. I think I can live through I race against you,” Rainbow says waving her hoof dismissively.
She’s right, she went head to head with a god and she’s still fine. There’s not much you can probably do to her. In fact, you shouldn’t race her, I mean she fought a god, want are the chances of you beating her?
A quick wave of anger pulses through her. As if, she’d stand no chance against me… Wait, I don’t need to win, I just need to race her.
Well, if you’re as fast as you think you are, then it would be rather hard for her to get hurt with you so far ahead of her.
She feels something rush through her, something along the lines of excitement. “Alright then, I’ll race you. Just promise you won’t tell anyone.”
Rainbow smiles and heads for the entrance. “Alright then, let’s go!”
“Tomorrow, I need to get some rest after today.” Rainbow nods and heads outside.
*****

Some resting you’ve done.
“Hey, I still need to get ready for winter. You hate the cold as much as me, so you can’t complain. Anyways, this whole race is your fault.”
You were the one who listened to me. Nova groans and jumps up onto the outcropping in her cave. Besides, I want something interesting to happen. It’s boring waiting for you to visit the next pony you pissed off.
“Good night.”
*****

Nova stands next to Rainbow looking up at the blue sky. A course made out of clouds is laid out in the sky. She looks down at a white line just before her hooves. She paws at it a few times, getting a small cloud of white dust to wisp up out of the grass.
“Trying to cheat, now?” Rainbow taunts giving her a poke in the side and quickly backing off to make sure she didn’t anger the red pegasus.
“Bah, don’t need to. I’ll be leaving you in my dust.” A flame ripples over her back going from the back of her neck down to her flank.
“That so?” Rainbow says with a chuckle. “Let’s see how well you can back it up.” She spreads her wings and crouches lower to the ground, ready to take off at a moment’s notice. Nova glances down at her then does the same.
“Alright then, ready?” Nova asks. 
“Set.”
“Go!” the two say in unison. Rainbow and Nova take off at breakneck speeds, sending a cloud of dust behind them. Nova takes an early lead, staying just ahead of Rainbow. Through the sound of the rushing air she can still hear the rhythmic beating of Rainbow’s wings not far behind.
Soon she sees the cyan pegasus out of the corner of her eye. She focuses ahead again and starts gaining altitude so she can fly above the coming trees. Below her a rainbow streak shoots in between the trees with ease. Nova watches in amazement as Rainbow takes the lead even as she twists and spins around the trees.
Nova snaps out of her stupor when Rainbow makes a sharp turn and rockets further into the sky. She snorts out a stream of smoke looking up at the cloud ring Rainbow is heading for. Enough gawking, let’s show her real power. 
A grin cracks her face as she feels the energy pulsing through her. The familiar crackle of fire catches her ears a flames fully cover her wings. Her golden eyes take on an orange hue.
An explosion blasts through the air just as Rainbow passes through the first ring. She flares her wings coming to a complete stop almost instantly. She turns and lets out a surprised gasp. A growing circle of black smoke churns in the air, entire cloud of smoke glows a dark red. Nova completely surrounded in fire bursts out of the cloud.
A wave of heat quickly washes over Rainbow as Nova approaches. Rainbow goes to start flying again, but Nova blasts past bringing a fresh wave of heat and a trail of fire and smoke in her wake. Flames roar in her ears and raw energy burns in her veins, all so familiar and exhilarating. But, a horrified scream from behind brings her out of her adrenaline rush.
She turns around in time to watch burnt body of Rainbow plummet from the sky and down into a burning forest. Nova unleashes an explosion of fiery energy and she drops into a dive to try and catch her. The fire surrounding her dies out once she catches up, she quickly wraps her hooves around her and tries to pull out of the dive. However, with her already poor ability to turn and the extra weight she plunges straight into the black, billowing smoking.
While the smoke doesn’t sting at her eyes or burn her throat it still stops her from seeing too far. Soon, she finds herself soaring past branches as they scratch at her wings. I’ve got to get out of this, she thinks as she still tries to pull up. But, before she can start gaining altitude a tree emerges from the black smoke.
There is a loud crack as she rams into the tree at speed. They fall out of the smoke cloud and crash down at the base of the burning tree.
*****

Nova jolts awake, breathing quickly and shallowly. Her eyes dart around her surroundings making sure she’s not in the burning forest. She freezes for a moment when she sees the cloud of black smoke looming above her and the orange glow of fire shines from over to the side. But, she calms down once she sees that she’s still in her cave with a few fires dotting the area.
She closes her eye and takes a few deep breaths to collect her thoughts. When she opens them again they shine with an orange hue. “Damn it!” she shouts and gives the wall a punch. Red glowing cracks spiderweb up the wall, steam and smoke pouring out of them.

Are you ever going to let me sleep? I mean a full, proper night of sleep. Ever plan on letting me have that, just once even? Nova thinks.
I keep telling you, I’m not making the nightmares! I’m not the one afraid for her life, or with a sense of conscience.
Nova lets out an annoyed snort. As if, the day I believe that is the day I can punch you.
“Is something the matter?” Derpy asks from her side. Nova blinks a few times and looks over at her. The two are sitting behind the counter at the post office. No one else is there except for the two of them.
She shakes her head to clear her thoughts. “Huh? Oh, uh no, nothing’s wrong. Why do you ask?”
“Well, your shift ended five minutes ago. You just seem… a little distracted and tired.”
“Oh… sorry, guess I am pretty distracted. Just another bad night of sleep.”
A concerned look crosses the grey mare’s face. She places a hoof on Nova’s shoulder. “Do you need any help? Because you’re tired pretty often.”
“Nah, just… getting used to Ponyville.” She yawns and gets up onto her hooves. After a quick stretch she head for the door. “Anyways, thank for snapping me outta my little daze. Guess I’ll be heading home now. Have a nice day.”
“Have a nice day.”
Nova smiles at her and goes outside. Once she’s out the door she spreads her wings and starts flying back to the cave. She flies well above the houses to give her some time to think. I’m supposed to race Rainbow today… What was I thinking when I made that deal?
I doubt you were thinking. Odd, given how noisy you make this place.
Clearly… I can’t race her! I can’t possibly risk hurting her. I can live with her not trusting me, she still might even keep my secret from Celestia. If I put her in the hospital, or more likely in the ground however… 
Oh come on, she fought a god. Do you really think she’s at much of a risk from you?
Don’t play innocent! We both know she’s never faced anything like… us.
Don’t worry about it, I’m sure she’ll be fine.
Nova sighs tired of arguing with him. Looking down she sees that she’s flying over the forest between the town and the mountain, though her cave is still a little distance off. She decides to watch the trees as she soars above them. Most of the leaves are off of the trees by now, leaving them barren and dead. Getting too close to winter.
After another minute of flying she finally arrives at the base of the mountain. She soars down to the ground skidding to a stop a bit past the entrance. As she stops she hears a yelp come from the cave. She quickly turns around and gallops to the cave.
Rainbow gives her a nervous smile as she stands in front of half of the way she had spent the better part of the morning building. The other half of the wall lays in rubble around the cyan pegasus. Nova raises an eyebrow at her. “I swear it broke on it’s own!” Rainbow defends.
“Well, I didn’t exactly expect it to hold up until I got back,” Nova says with a shrug.
“Oh… than why did you even make it?”
“I had nothing to do this morning, and I was hoping it would still be in one piece.”
Rainbow looks back at the ‘wall’ and scratches the back of her head. “Well, I’m sorry for breaking it than.” Nova simply shrugs. They stand in silence for a few moments, each waiting for the other to speak first. Finally, Rainbow clears her throat and speaks, “So, you ready to race? ‘Cause I’ve got the--”
“I’m not going to race.”
“What? But, yesterday you--”
“Yes, I did agree to it, but since then I’ve rethought my decision,” Nova says walking past Rainbow and into the cave. 
“What happened? What changed?”
“I realized it would be stupid to risk hurting you to earn your trust.”
“What, I thought we went over this, I’ve fought Nightmare Moon, Discord, and a changeling queen. What is a race compared to any of that?”
Nova stomps her hoof onto the rocky floor of the cave. “True, but you don’t know what I am or what I’m capable of. And trust me, you haven’t went up against anything like me!” Rainbow backs up as the air starts to heat up.
“That’s why I wanted to race you, to see what you can do.”
“Well tough! Quite frankly, I could care less about whether I have your trust or not, but I’m not willing to hurt anyone else! I’ve hurt enough ponies I didn’t want to, and I’ve had enough of it. Go ahead, tell Celestia about me, ‘cause I ain’t going to risk hurt someone.” Nova glares at Rainbow for a few moments before turning and heading further into the cave.
The cyan pegasus watches her walk away. “She’s as stubborn as AJ,” she mumbles under her breath. She sighs and heads inside, finding Nova over by her bags taking some stuff out and throwing other things in. Rainbow spots Nova pull out a photo album and pause for a moment before putting it to the side. “Fine, I’ll trust you for now. But, you owe me, and expect some answers as soon as you start giving them to Twilight.”
Nova glares at her again, but it softens quickly. “Alright, that’s more than fair. This time, I promise I’ll give you answers.” With that she goes back to the bag.
Rainbow shifts uneasily, not sure what to do now. “Uh… well since I don’t have any plans now, do you want to go hang out?”
“No, I’m… going on a trip tomorrow.”
“Oh, well have a nice trip. I’m gonna hang out with one of my friends than.”