Nova yawns as she slowly wakes up. The early morning sun shines in through the window to the guest room Fluttershy had lent her. Nothing special about the room, it has a dresser, bedside tables, a closet off to the side. The only thing that’s off about it is the few medical supplies on the tables.
The cool morning air cause Nova to shiver and bury herself further into the blankets on the bed. Stupid winter… It’s too damn cold and early to get up. She shifts around a bit more. She yelps when she accidently puts some weight on her wing resulting in a sharp pain shooting through her shoulder and back.
“Dammit!” she shouts throwing the blankets off of her and quickly rolling onto her stomach. “Ow…” She cranes her neck to look at the cast that covers her wing. With a huff she lies her head back down onto the pillow. “I hate everything.”
Her ears flick back toward the door when she hears a gentle knocking come from it. “Excuse me, Nova, are you okay?” Fluttershy asks from the door. “I, uh, I heard you yelling…”
Nova groans and turns around to find Fluttershy already coming into the room with a tray of food with her. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just put a bit of weight on my wing.” Fluttershy sets the tray down at the foot of the bed and goes closer to her to inspect the wing. “What’s with the tray?” Nova asks already suspecting an answer. On the tray is a plate of toast, orange juice, and a couple of fruits.
“I didn’t think it would be good for you to be walking around so I prepared a breakfast for you,” Fluttershy says as she goes over the other injuries that cover Nova. She goes about changing some of the bandages while Nova just lies there looking down at the tray. Though she does it carefully, it doesn’t take Fluttershy long to change the bandages. “Is something the matter?” she asks noticing Nova hasn’t anything.
“Uh, yeah. It’s just that, why would you… nevermind, it’s fine. Thank you.” Fluttershy creases her eyebrows and gives Nova a concerned look.
“You don’t--”
“No, Fluttershy, I don’t plan on trying to leave, until I can walk that is.”
Fluttershy smiles at her and heads for the door. “Well, just stay there and rest up. I’ll be downstairs, Angel hasn’t had his breakfast yet and he’ll become grumpy if he doesn’t get it soon. I’ll be back soon to see if you need anything,” she says heading out into the hall.
Nova sighs and grabs an apple off of the tray. Why does everyone want to help me? I get that Fluttershy is kind, clearly. But, why me? She take a bite of the apple and makes herself comfortable again. It’s not long after that there’s somepony knocking at the front door. Nova looks out the window, though she can’t see the doorway, mainly she’s figuring out the time. Who in their right mind would be outside in this cold and this early in the morning?
A moment later the door opens and I can hear a conversation downstairs, but it’s too muffled to make out. Twilight’s probably here… Nova groans when she hears someone coming back up the stairs. “Nova, someone’s here to see you,” Fluttershy says from the door.
“Who is it?” Nova asks putting her back to the door and taking another bite of her apple.
“An old friend,” Lore says carefully stepping around Fluttershy and coming into the room. Nova whips around, wincing as she stretches her sore muscles.
Fluttershy takes a few steps back and paws at the ground a few times. “Well, I’m j-just going to let you two be. Don’t be afraid to call me if either of you need anything,” she says starting down the hall.
Lore smiles at her. “Thank you.” He turns back to Nova, drops his saddlebags on the floor, and takes a seat at the foot of the bed. “So--”
“I don’t want to hear it,” Nova interrupts before Lore can really begin. She turns her back to him.
“Don’t want to hear what?”
“How I shouldn’t be doing this. How all this is doing is hurting me, physically and mentally. I don’t want to be patronized right now.”
He smirks and takes some toast from the tray, earning him a quick glare from Nova. “Wasn’t going to. In case you forgot, I told you to deal with it however you want, so long as it makes you feel better. What I was going to ask was how you were doing.”
Nova sighs and rolls back over to face him. “I’m tired, sore, cold, sad, and angry,” she says bluntly taking the toast away from him.
“Not even a little happy to see me?”
A small grin crosses Nova’s face. “A little.” Lore gives a satisfied nod and leans back putting his head against the wall. “How did you know I was here?” Nova asks suddenly curious why he’s here. “I only got here yesterday night, and it’s… how early in the morning is it?”
Lore looks over his shoulder out the window. “Pretty early, I’d say sevenish.” He looks back at Nova who raises an eyebrow at him waiting for an actual answer. “Twilight told me, uh, well she wrote me actually. She sent me a letter saying what happened, when I got it I came right back.”
“But weren’t you in the Snowbound Republic for family reasons?” Nova asks making herself comfortable again.
He shrugs and takes a fruit from the tray. “Yeah, but you’re hurt, and you’re family, Sol understands. Either way, I didn’t go to the Republic for anything big, just a get together with my brother.”
She smiles at him. Carefully she scoots closer to him so they’re sitting next to each other, and gives him a hug. “Thanks.” The hug doesn’t last long and with her too tired to bother moving back just sits there. “So, how was your trip?”
“It was great, recently Sol finished his training, and he told me how that went. I told him about my travels, places I went to, things I saw. We debated philosophy, politics, religion, talked about some of our favorite books. But, it was just great to see him again.”
“Sounds like Twilight would have a blast with you guys,” Nova says elbowing in the ribs.
“Is that supposed to mean something?”
“Oh, no, not at all,” she says sarcastically. They both chuckle a little.
“That’s right,” Lore says seemingly remembering something he gets up and goes to his saddlebags. After a moment of searching he digs out a book and tosses it over to her. “If you’re going to be stuck here for the next while, you might as well have something to read.”
Nova rolls her eyes and throws it onto one of the bed tables. “Yeah, me read, like that’s gonna happen.” But I am going to be here for a while, she thinks looking out the window. A thin layer of snow covers the ground, making her shudder slightly. I’m going to be here at least until I’m better, but even then… “Lore?”
The stallion lifts himself back onto the bed and leans back against the wall. “Yeah?”
“Could you… could you check up on Scarlet, and let her know I’m doing fine. I would go visit, but I am going to be stuck here for some time, at least until Hearth’s Warming... “ Her words trail off and she looks down at the floor suddenly feeling more homesick than the past few weeks.
Lore reaches over and pulls her into a hug, being careful to avoid her obvious injuries. “Don’t worry, I’ll tell them. I’ll even bring them a present from you if you want.” She hesitates slightly, but leans into the hug.
“I think that would be nice.”
Lore pokes her in the side getting a little yelp from her. “Not starting to go soft on me, are you?”
Nova huffs as she settles back down using Lore as a pillow. “Please, I could take you even in this condition.”
“Guess that means you’re too much of a badass for hot chocolate?” Lore asks with a grin. Nova quickly looks up at him with wide expectant eyes, causing him to laugh. He rolls off the bed and goes over to the tray. “I’ll bring this down while I go get you something to drink.” He slips the tray onto his back and heads out into the hall. Nova listens to his hoofsteps as they head down the hall and goes downstairs.
She sighs and lies back down resting her head on the pillow. Sorry Scarlet, not going to be home for some time… Her eyes fall onto the book Lore had given her. The cover features an image of three soldiers standing on a cliff looking down on the badlands. An army of changelings can be seen coming over the horizon. Guess I will need something to do…
With that she reaches over, ignoring the pain in her shoulder and foreleg, and grabs the book. “Holding Tide,” she reads the title out loud, though still quiet enough to make sure Lore won’t hear from downstairs. She puts the book back down onto the end table and continues looking around for something to do. No sense in giving him the satisfaction of seeing me read, she thinks with a little smirk.
Aftera moment she realizes Lore left his bags on the ground. Peering over the edge of the bed she finds it on the floor. It’s rather hard to anything anything specific in it asides from a book or two. But, she thinks she sees a chessboard lying inside. The sound of hoofsteps on the floor catch her attention and she sits up again.
Lore walks back in with the same tray on his back, though this time it has two steaming mugs of hot chocolate. He sets the tray on the end table and gives her a mug. “Here you go, but be careful, it’s hot.”
Nova snorts and takes a quick drink. “You’re real funny.” Lore chuckles and grabs his own mug as he heads back to the bed. “Uh, actually, do you wanna play some chess?” Nova asks pointing down at Lore’s bags.
“Sure.” He sets his mug on the windowsill and set the board between them. “Always happy to play a quick game against someone,” he says setting the pieces up. “Which color do you want?”
“Black,” Nova says, never wanting to start first.
“So, I take it you haven’t talked to Twilight yet?” Lore asks setting up the last few pieces. Nova huffs out a stream of smoke and takes another drink from her mug. “I take that as no?”
“She knocked me out and brought me to a hospital! Can you imagine how bad that could have turned out?”
Lore shrugs and makes the first move. “Yeah, but you couldn’t have possibly expected her to know what could happen.”
“But, she knocked me out.”
“Yeah, but you choked her once as well.”
Nova goes to reply but stops, thinking back to when Twilight saw her having a breakdown. Her shoulders slack and she rubs her temples with her good hoof. “I have to forgive her, don’t I?”
“No, not yet. You can still be angry at her, but you do have to forgive her at some point,” he says as Nova moves one of her pawns.
“Well, in that case, I’m gonna stay angry a little longer,” Nova says with a smirk. They both laugh before silence settles on the two as they try to outsmart each other. Though, it becomes quickly apparent that Nova will win. Even still, Lore stands up as a good challenge, managing to take out Nova’s queen, rooks, and a bishop.
As Lore starts packing up Nova finds herself, pretty happy given the situation. However, a new thought comes the her as she reflects on Lore’s visit. “Lore, do you think I’ll be able to repay it all? Do you think that I can make up for what I did?” she asks as Lore throws his bags back onto his back.
He stops and looks up at her, a little surprised and a little amused. He sits down at the foot of the bed as he thinks it over for a moment. “Nova, you’re one of the most stubborn and determined ponies I know. That combination means there’s nothing that’ll stop you once you put your mind to something. But, honestly, I don’t think there’s a way to fully make up for what you’ve done. If there is, you’ll find it, but until then, you’ll just have to keep trying.” With that, he pulls Nova into another hug before he goes. Leaving Nova to think about what to do next.