• Published 25th Nov 2013
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Even In Other Worlds - Rytex



Nathan Samuel is a normal student, living a normal life. After some sickness, he remembers that he's from Equestria, and that everypony is trapped in this other world. Now it's up to him to restore the Elements of Harmony once again in or

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Bodies in the Cellar

Even In Other Worlds

Chapter 15 - Bodies In The Cellar

While Tracy knew of his magic, Sam did not. And so just as a little treat for Sam in the early morning, Nova took the time to open up a hose in the street, getting a nice, even sheet of water on the road before his magical touch froze it at the merest thought. Neither Sam nor Tracy were there to watch it happen, and yet that didn’t stop them from enjoying the effects.

*PIFF*

Nova slipped and fell right on his ass as a thrown snowball from Sam hit him right in the face.

“GOT YA!” shouted the adolescent triumphantly from a pile of snow next to Tracy’s flat. It had heavily snowed that night after they had gotten inside and away from the cold, though the sun was out and it was likely that the snow would melt by the afternoon, and that it would warm up to be a beautiful day shortly after.

“Ow,” Nova muttered, rubbing at his tailbone from his spot on the ice.

He wasn’t terribly good with skates in Equestria, and that seemed to carry over here to Earth. He had conjured a few skates in just the perfect sizes when Sam wasn’t looking, and they had attempted a little skate-around.

Except Nova kept falling on his ass. And just when he had started getting the hang of it, Sam thought a snowball was a good idea, which only led to even more of Nova falling on his ass.

For some reason, both Sam and Tracy thought this was hilarious.

“What’s so funny about this!?” demanded Nova from his spot on the ground.

“It’s just,” Tracy stifled a giggle, “watching you keep struggling gets funny after a while. You’re so stubborn about wanting to skate.”

“I like the feeling of it,” Nova said, crossing his arms and huffing. “It feels like flying.”

“I didn’t know you liked flying,” noted Tracy, tilting her head. “Why? What’s so special about it?”

“I dunno,” shrugged Nova. “I guess I always associated it with freedom. Nothing holding you back or down, just able to go as high, as fast, and as far as you want.”

Tracy’s mouth parted for a moment, before she smiled. “That’s a rather deep thought, don’t you think?”

“I skate because it’s fun,” huffed Sam, crossing his arms. “You know, like what we’re supposed to be having right now?”

“You can have your fun, Sam,” said Tracy, giving him an unamused look. “Let Nathan and I have our moment.”

Sam rolled his eyes and made a gagging sort of gesture with his hands, but skated away.

“Speaking of moments,” Nova said, noting the perfect time for a segue, “when we’re done, we need to take Sam by my parents’ place for the morning.”

“All the way up there?” asked Twilight, confused. “Don’t they live up by Mr. Sire?”

“Yeah, same neighborhood,” said Nova, drawing his cloak up around himself a bit tighter.

After he and Sam had finished with their morning Super Smash Brothers, Nova had taken the trip to his apartment to change out of his suit and into something more comfortable, before returning to Tracy’s place for their morning fun.

“Why do we need to take him up there?” Tracy asked, tilting her head.

“Because I want to investigate,” answered Nova in a low voice. “Why was Natalie at our date? Why has she been seemingly everywhere I’ve been these last couple of weeks? ‘Something is rotten in the state of Denmark,’ methinks.”

“How do you intend to investigate? Just head over to her house, break in, and start snooping around?” she asked conspiratorially.

“Actually,” said Nova grinning, “that’s exactly the idea. With a little help from my… talents, we can be in and out before she’s any the wiser.”

“Doesn’t that make you no different from her, though?” asked Twilight. “Do you even know where she lives?”

“I do,” he answered. “She’s not all that far from the university. As for if it makes me any different, I’m taking the moral high ground here,” he stated, almost daring her to challenge it. “I didn’t try to throw you out into the rain that night a couple of months ago.”

She opened her mouth to reply, but apparently thought better of it and just shrugged.

“Why not just talk to her civilly?” she asked.

“After how she tried to throw you out? After the stalking? You want to talk civilly to her after that?” demanded Nova.

“Yes,” Tracy answered bluntly. “Are you that determined to carry your grudge?”

:Oh, if only you knew even half of the things she’s responsible for...” retorted Nova, “but I see your point.”

He reached his hand up and used his fingers to massage his forehead, around where his horn normally was in his pony self.

“I’ll see if I can get ahold of her. We’ll try to talk this out. If negotiations break down, we do it my way.”

Tracy opened her mouth, but closed it.

“Fine. Only if we can’t get in contact with her first.”

{E} {I} {O} {W}

Nova had every intention of staying true to his word. He still had Natalie’s phone number sitting somewhere in his contacts archive on his cell phone, another something he’d miss when they got back to Equestria. Sure enough, he found it sitting near the bottom of the list, and brought up the number after they had dropped Sam off at his parents’ house for the morning.

Nova figured she would let it ring out when he attempted to call, and sure enough, that it did. He even tried his hand at texting her to get a response, but nothing came of it.

And so, in the thirty minutes it took to get over to Natalie’s house, a small little ordinary building not that far from the university campus, Nova even attempted to text her to get her attention. And again, it was to no effect.

Upon arrival, Nova couldn’t sense her anywhere nearby.

“She’s not here,” he said as they started to walk around the house, perhaps hoping to find her doing something out of sight.

“How do you know?” asked Tracy.

“Energy sensing,” he replied. “Everything gives off an aura of energy, and I can pick up on it. There’s no one home.”

“Really?” asked Tracy skeptically. “How do I know you’re not just copping out of trying to talk to her?”

“Figured you wouldn’t believe me,” Nova shrugged. “Fine. Break a window or something and go inside. She isn’t here, Tracy.”

“Let’s keep looking,” she suggested, and Nova had no objections.

They continued around, eventually stumbling on a set of wooden doors set into the ground on the side of the house. The doors had simple metal handles that were chained together and locked with a padlock.

But the most suspicious thing about it was what Nova detected on the other side. Nothing at all. Literally, there was absolutely nothing down in the cellar that he could detect, which was suspicious enough, especially in such a city where electricity was everywhere, the fact that there was absolutely nothing giving off even the faintest of energy readings was concerning.

“What are you doing?”

Nova blinked. Without realizing it, he had knelt down, attempting to make out what was behind the door. Once he had come to, he shook his head and stood back up.

“There’s got to be something magical on the other side of these cellar doors.”

“Magical how?” asked Tracy, glancing down at them.

“I… don’t know,” he admitted, kneeling back down. “But I don’t like it one bit.”

He reached out a hand toward the lock, conjured a small pick with a thought, twiddled it into the lock, and…

“What the hell are you two doing here?”

Nova started at Natalie’s voice. What the… how did she sneak up on us!?

He stood back up, looking over at Natalie, who stood at the corner of her house, arms crossed and looking quite displeased with the situation.

“Do you ever answer your phone?” asked Nova casually, as though he had not just tried to break into her cellar.

“I changed the number a month ago,” she replied coolly, leaning against the corner. “Didn’t want you giving my number away for people to spam.”

Her brown eyes shifted onto Tracy.

“And what about you? Was it his idea or your idea to break into my cellar?”

Tracy almost immediately pointed a finger at him, leading Nova to roll his eyes. Natalie snickered.

“Boy, you sure know how to pick the loyal ones,” she observed, grinning cattily at them.

“What are you even doing here?” Nova asked suspiciously.

“I live here,” she answered flatly. “Why are you trying to break into my cellar?”

She reached a hand back and brushed some of her red hair out of her face.

“You tell me, Nat,” Nova shot back. “What’s down there that I would want to break in to find?”

Natalie snorted and shrugged.

“How the fuck should I know? I’ve never been down there. It was like that when I got the house.”

Nova’s cool expression fell a bit, replaced by surprise. Mostly because she was telling the truth, as far as he was aware. She really didn’t know.

“You… don’t know?” he asked. “You’re serious?”

“If I did know, why would I tell you?” she asked, scowling. “My cheek still hurts, you know, no thanks to you. And I’m certainly not telling her anything,” she tossed an arm in Tracy’s direction.

“If I may, what did I ever do to you?” Tracy asked. “Why is it that you hated me so?”

“Well you stole my boyfriend, so there is that,” growled Natalie. Nova felt strangely flattered at the prospect of two women fighting over him.

“Before that, though,” Tracy clarified. “What set this all off? Why did you hate me so much?”

“You mean you don’t remember?” guffawed Natalie, momentarily smirking. “She knows what she did.”

“Do you?” retorted Tracy, and suddenly, Natalie stopped dead in her tracks.

“I… of course I do!” she replied, but Nova noticed her hesitation and the flare in her energy.

“You really don’t, do you?” asked Nova, and he was surprised to hear the kindness in his own voice. “You hate her only because it’s all you’ve ever known.”

“Stop it with that psych student bullshit,” commanded Natalie, scowling at him. “You know nothing about me!”

“Natalie Dahlia Verano,” he said calmly, and her scowl fell to disbelief, “I thought you knew me better than that.”

“Wha… what do you mean?” she asked.

“Have you not seen what I’ve been doing these last few weeks?” he asked. “Rachel, Regina, Penelope, Ashleigh, Felicity, and Tracy all used to hate each other almost as much as you hated her, and I came and built the bridges between them. Why keep hating when you don’t even know why? Why not let me extend that same courtesy to you?”

Even though I already know why…

“Because… because… I hate her!” Natalie screeched, pointing a shaking finger at Tracy, who flinched.

“Stop,” Nova commanded, countenance darkening ever so slightly.

Natalie’s hand dropped immediately.

“Believe it or not, Natalie,” Nova cracked his neck and knelt back down by the locked cellar doors, “there’s a good reason that you don’t remember.”

“Do tell,” she growled, still looking daggers at Tracy.

“The answer you seek could be in the cellar, which is exactly why I happen to be trying to break into it.” He smiled. “Tell me, do you believe in magic?”

“What kind of stupid question is that?” Natalie scowled. “What the hell does that have to do with--”

Nova didn’t let her finish, instead tossing a harmless bit of magic at her that exploded into blue lights around her. Natalie flinched with a satisfying shriek, causing Tracy to giggle at her expense.

“As you can obviously see,” he tossed one at Tracy, who had a similar reaction, “magic is real, and what I’m expecting to find in your cellar is an arcane cause to our little problem.”

“What, are you expecting me to keep magical crystals underneath, or something?” Natalie asked, noticeably pale from the sudden reveal that there existed things she didn’t think possible, and that her ex-boyfriend was a practitioner of said formerly-impossible things.

“You’re taking this revelation rather well, now I think about it,” Nova noted, studying her and not failing to miss the slight twitch of the eye.

“I can freak out later,” she said, just a little higher-pitched than usual, “after I’ve found out why you’re trying to break and enter on my property.”

“Well, bluntly,” Nova shrugged, “yes. Given what I know about curses and such, I am expecting to find a magical crystal underneath.”

He shook his head.

“Look, Nat, I’m going in there with or without your permission,” he knelt back down by the cellar door again, “and if I don’t find anything I’ll just close it up and leave. Simple as that.”

“Why do you even think it’s under my house?” she asked, scowling.

“Do you want the honest answer?” he kept staring at the lock, not wanting to see how she’d react if he did channel Applejack.

“I want the truth,” she growled.

“You can’t handle the truth,” Nova spat, gritting his teeth. “You would probably think I was making it up, that I hate you that much, and all it would do is get in the way of what I’m actually trying to do.”

“Tell. Me. The. Truth,” he saw her clench a fist down by her side.

“Fine,” replied Nova coolly, tossing his hair back and giving her a flat stare. “The honest answer is because you have been following me over the last few weeks, and I think that might be a subconscious habit left in your head by a vengeful being who wants to stick a knife in mine and her’s backs,” he gestured at Tracy, “and you can’t remember because of this curse affecting your memory. the source of which I think could be down here in this little cellar you don’t seem to have the key to.”

He paused as Natalie soaked that information up. If there really is a crystal containing a curse down there, why can’t I sense it?

“That… was a bit harsh, don’t you think?” Twilight sounded cautious as she watched Natalie for a reaction. Natalie seemed to be a combination of dumbstruck, furious, and hurt all at once, shaking with suppressed all three of those feelings.

“She wanted the truth, and the truth hurts,” Nova answered. coldly.

“You… you think I want to fucking kill you?” Natalie’s fist was clenched so hard her palm was bleeding. “Did you never think for a moment that it might be because I still fucking care about you!?”

Her hands almost instantly made to cover her mouth. Natalie looked shocked, and Nova suddenly felt like the scum of the earth, because her aura betrayed no lie; Natalie, it seemed, did genuinely still care about him.

Even if she does turn out to be Envy, he thought bitterly, I just accused her of being a serial killer despite the fact that she couldn’t possibly remember.

Before Tracy or Natalie could continue, Nova just grunted, created a lockpick with magic, and set to attempting to break open the cellar.

“You know,” he heard from Tracy behind him, “maybe if you were a lot less bitchy, he might still like you as a person.”

Natalie didn’t seem to have a response to that, to which Nova was grateful. He already felt terrible, and the last thing he needed was to feel worse about himself.

To his surprise, however, the lock he was attempting to pick clicked open with barely a movement of his hand.

“What the…” he muttered as it fell away, carrying the chains binding the door handles together down with it.

“What?” asked Tracy and Natalie at the same time.

“It’s… that lock was way too easy. It didn’t feel like there were any tumblers in it.”

Almost like a key wasn’t made for it… as if magic would be needed to open the lock…

His confidence that he was going to find something suddenly surged back into him, but with it was a sudden wariness. If Envy had planted this for him to find, what was he going to find inside?

He slowly pulled open the cellar doors, prepared for any traps or spells that might fly out at him, but once he had them pulled all the way open, nothing happened. And all that could be seen inside of the cellar was a thick wall of unnatural darkness.

“There’s no way it’s that dark naturally,” Tracy furrowed her brow. “Not with the sunlight filtering in.”

“This isn’t your average, everyday darkness,” Nova commented wryly. “This is advanced darkness.”

Natalie snorted. “Of all the things to say, a Spongebob reference?”

Nova smirked. “Couldn’t resist,” he held up his hands as if surrendering. “But why can’t I…”

And then the answer hit him.

“Of course!” He smacked his forehead. “Mystique’s Masking Mist!”

“Alliterative appeal what now?” asked Tracy.

“There was a showmare by the name of Mystique a while back,” Nova explained, smiling with satisfaction now that he knew what to do about this darkness. “She was convinced people were trying to steal her different props, and so to hide it, she created this special mist that sucks away all light and masks any magical energy inside it.”

He started climbing down into the cellar, hand glowing blue to provide a faint light.

“I’ll be able to see when I’m inside the mist. Do not follow me,” he instructed giving them both a look that just dared the two of them to challenge him. “My little enemy here might have left me a few surprises that, thanks to this mist, I can’t sense. For both of you’s safety, stay out here and wait.”

Without waiting for a response, he stepped into the black mist. At once, all light around him vanished, save for the faint light of the aura in his palm. There wasn’t any way to disperse the fog unless he was the caster, but with him now within the boundaries of it, he could see the insides of the cellar, still muted by the very thick fog, yet he still couldn’t sense any auras.

He took a cautious step forward, feeling along the ground for any traps, before slowly inching himself forward. And he took another, and another.

On the fourth step, he felt a split-second of imbalance in the air and he dove out of the way as an explosion of lightning erupted from the ground where he had been standing.

“Fuck you too,” he muttered in an undertone as he glanced around again.

What’s down here? Just traps? Is this all just a dead end?

A faint light appeared ahead of him after a couple more cautious steps forward. Nova smiled slightly at the sight of it.

Well, at least it would appear something is down here after all.

Were Nova not so wary of traps, it would have only taken him a second or two at most to charge down to the colored dot at the end of the cellar, but he kept his same cautious pace up. It allowed him to study the light and see if he could make anything of it.

It looked quite red through the darkness. but a bit… off. Nova didn’t think too much about it, since he was sure he’d have a better chance to study it the closer he got.

And then he stepped one more time, felt the split-second imbalance of having triggered a trap, and dove out of the way. However, instead of a lightning blast, everything around Nova went white.


He was standing on top of the glass pillar in his subconscious again, the darkness surrounding him offering no clues as to how he was called here. He looked around wildly, perhaps hoping to catch a glimpse of the reason he had been brought here, but saw only the light of his pillar and the darkness surrounding it.

“I’m right in front of you, dumbass,” came a sultry sneer that could only belong to one being.

Nova’s eyes snapped to the source of the voice, where right in front of him was a green-coated unicorn mare with a maroon mane, her red eyes smugly fixed on his own blue eyes, and the unmistakable smirk of a cat who finally had her mouse right where she wanted it.

“Took you long enough, you know that?”

Nova pawed at the ground, barely registering the fact that he was his pony self and delving into his Source.

Envy rolled her eyes at his actions.

“I’m not even here, really. I’ve just left behind a little echo of myself to be the first to greet you and congratulate you on unraveling the plan.”

Nova only scowled all the more.

“This isn’t it and you know it,” he growled. “Where is the source of the curse!? How do we get back to Equestria!?” he demanded, his horn shining blue as he prepared to coerce her into talking.

“Not telling,” she said in a singsong voice, her smile broadening. “You’re a smart colt. You figure it out. Why, you’re only about fifteen feet away from the real plot twist to this little game we’ve been playing.”

Her smile turned malevolent.

“Just wait till you release me. Then the real fun begins.”

As if to emphasize her point, her silver knife appeared in the air, spinning next to her horn.

“As if I would,” Nova countered.

“Oh, you will,” Envy assured him. “You’ll see. Like I said, fifteen feet away.”

The knife flew at him faster than he could react. He threw up a hoof to desperately block it--


He had both his arms in front of his face as if to deflect an oncoming attack, but nothing came. The room was still dark, the mist still hung benignly in the air, and there certainly wasn’t a silver knife flying at him at a high speed.

Nova hesitantly put his hands down to his sidc, still glancing around the room.

What was that?

His hand shone blue again, a pitiful light in the smothering darkness, as he started to edge closer to the reddish light again.

As he neared it, he noticed there was a certain pink hue to the light, and that the darkness was what was making it appear red. It almost looked magenta.

But what is it?

Before he could properly investigate what it was, something else caught his attention. A shadowy shape huddled in a corner of the room diverted his attention from the pink light. What made Nova the most wary was that it looked almost humanoid. In fact, the position the shape was in could easily pass for a human in the fetal position.

Pass for one? This… this is definitely a human, he thought, wondering why the human was down here, and why it wasn’t moving.

He reached a hand out toward its face, hoping to get a better view, as the darkness seemed to dampen the light even further than usual as he tried to get a good view of it.

His hand touched hair first, and he slid some between his fingers and pulled it over. To give him a more clear view, his blue light turned white, illuminating slightly curled strands of red and gold between his fingers.

Wait a minute… I’ve seen this hair before…

A vague memory of Twilight in a high school, of human versions of her friends, of a demon, of three sirens attempting to feed off of disharmony…

His hand slid down to the human’s torso, where he felt the unmistakable texture of a leather jacket, and the monogram of a red and yellow sun on the left breast of a young woman.

Almost as if to finally allow him to confirm his suspicion, the darkness thinned, allowing Nova his first glance at the human.

It really is her!

Sunset Shimmer lay huddled against the wall, eyes shut and head lolling to the side.

Nova felt his hand immediately grab something to his right as he struggled to hold himself up.

What the… what the actual… what is she doing down here?

He glanced down at what his hand was holding and noticed the corner of a table, presumably on which was the source of the pink light just beyond his visible range in the darkness, before looking back at Summer.

Her hair remained frozen in its place where he had pulled it.

Wait a minute…

He swiped at the ground, picking up a pinch of dirt and tossing it at her, where the dirt froze in midair as it came close to her body.

Time stasis!

He wanted to immediately just scoop her out of the time stasis field, but the abundance of traps in the room made him reconsider that. He would have to get her out, and even if he didn’t have to, he wanted to. Sunset was Twilight’s friend, and that by proxy made her someone he needed to help.

But just how do I help her?

He couldn’t shake the feeling that the light source was probably something involved, so he inched his way along the table until he was able to make the pinkish light’s source come into view.;

It was a crystal, glowing magenta, and pulsing faintly in the darkness.

Well now, what are you? he wondered, his hand being illuminated for a brief moment before a rubber glove appeared on it.

Just in case it had traps of its own on it, he was prepared to avoid bare skin contact. And yet even that didn’t allay his fears. Slowly, inch by inch, he extended a hand toward the crystal, noting that the energy surrounding it seemed to be… pointing somewhere? With the mist, he wasn’t completely sure, but it felt as though the energy the crystal was emanating was being directed someplace, and that someplace was definitely not in Sunset Shimmer’s direction.

When he finally closed his fingers around it, nothing happened, and nothing happened when he picked it up, leading to him breathing out a sigh of relief.

So, what is this?

He shifted it around in his gloved hand a bit, feeling the edges of the crystal and attempting to find any obvious signs of any traps or such on it, but to no avail.

And so finally, warily, he placed the crystal into the palm of his uncovered hand--

“--LP! PLEASE HELP! I CAN’T SEE, IT’S DARK, I CAN’T MOVE--”

--and promptly dropped it in shock as a voice, loud and afraid, rang in his head.

That voice… there’s no way…

He picked up the crystal in his bare hand again.

“--AND IT FEELS LIKE I’M TRAPPED ! SOMEONE, PLEASE!”

“Twilight!” he gasped. That voice could only have belonged to two mares, and one of them was unmistakably already gone.

“Nova?”

“Twilight, it’s me! It’s Nova!”

“Nova! Nova, thank Celestia! You have to help! Envy cast this spell on me and now I can’t see or feel or--”

Nova felt a chill go up his spine as the mist around him dissipated, leaving the cellar completely visible. On top of that, he had his magic sense again, and it was almost immediately overwhelmed by the powerful energy nexuses around him, leading to him dropping the crystal again.

At once, Twilight’s voice vanished.

He wanted to pick up the crystal again, to talk with his wife-to-be, to assure her everything was going to be fine. He wanted nothing more than to hold her in his hooves again and never let go, but with the mist suddenly gone, he had to prepare for an attack of some kind.

“Nathan?” he heard Natalie call from outside the cellar. “Are you alright?”

“We heard you shout something, and the mist is vanishing!” Tracy called after her.

“I’m… I’m fine,” he lied. “Don’t come in. There’s something down here that I don’t think either of you are ready to see.”

As his magic sense slowly adjusted and gave him his hidden sight back, he was able to detect several traps around the room that needed to be dismantled, which he promptly did. And the Time Stasis nexus didn’t seem to have any traps affixed to it, so he was thankful for that.

But why is only the Time Stasis nexus there? Why can’t I sense Sunset Shimmer inside of it?

Time Stasis could freeze time within its area, but all energy within should still be sense-able… right? The only pony he could ask was in the afterlife.

Or perhaps…

He reached down and touched Twilight’s crystal again.

“--anything, and it feels like I’m trapped in a room with no way out,and there’s no room to move around me!”

Wait a minute… she just picked up where she left off. Pitch, tone, and everything.

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked, sounding confused. “What do you mean I picked up where I left off?”

Wait, that should have been obvious, since the voice is in my head,

“Nova, just what the hell is going on!? I’m scared!”

Twilight, it will be okay. I promise. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m looking into this. I’ve got a crystal in my hands that’s glowing with your aura color, and whenever I touch it with my bare hands, I can hear you. But I don’t know why you’re… I dunno, pausing in what you say while I take my hands off.

“But… but I’m not pausing.”

Nova blinked. Not pausing? Just what the hell was going on?

Twilight, this may seem completely out of the blue, but could you recite the first line of Homer’s Odyssey, the edition from your library for me? I’ll recite it as you do.

He heard nothing for the briefest of moments, before Twilight’s voice responded, “Okay, but why?”

Because something just doesn’t make sense, and I’m testing that theory.

“Well, okay then. Sing, goddess, the anger of Peleus’--”

Nova recited it within his mind along with her, before abruptly placing the crystal onto the table and continuing to recite more lines of it.

“--son Achilleus and its devastation,--”

Once ahead a few words more, he again reached down and took the crystal.

--which put pains thousandfold upon the Achaeans,

“--son Achilleus and its devastation, which put pains-- hang on. Nova, you skipped a part.”

And that confirmed Nova’s theory. At any point where Twilight wasn’t in contact with anyone, she was frozen. Unable to notice time passing or some such. If she had been in that crystal for a long time… it may have been cruel, but Nova knew it was decidedly less cruel than to force them to sense time’s passage, never knowing when they would be free.

Twilight, whenever someone isn’t touching this crystal, you are being frozen.

“I… I’m what?” The panic in her voice had just intensified. “Wait. You said that you found this crystal with my aura? And if you touch it, you can speak with me? Nova… Nova I think…” he could hear emotion threatening to break through the dam, “Nova, I think I’ve been trapped inside a Soul Gem!”

Nova knew he had heard the term somewhere before. If a Soul Jar was meant to trap intangible beings and such, what was the purpose of a Soul Gem?

“Soul Gems involve pulling the soul of a being outside of their body, trapping it inside a crystal or gem of some sort.”

Nova felt the metaphorical bottom drop out of his heart. It almost felt like his insides were plummeting all the way down… down…

So… So Envy pulled your soul out of your body and trapped you here. And she enchanted the gem so that you wouldn’t notice any passage of time unless someone was talking with you.

But far from what he had expected, Twilight’s voice suddenly seemed to calm quite a bit.

“Nova, I’m scared out of my mind, but as long as you’re here, I know you’ll keep me safe. The way to free a captured soul is to shatter it in the presence of its body. So if you can find where my body is, you should be able to free me! Do you have my body with you?”

I… do, but there’s a bit of a complication.

“A complication? How so?”

Your body appears to have developed memories of its own. Or, perhaps the curse Envy cast on everyone gave your body the memories in question. I dunno, it feels like another being is currently inside you.

“But… that’s impossible. A soulless body literally cannot act at all. It can’t just grow a soul. It would just be a... a husk. Empty and void.”

Nova’s eyes alighted on Sunset Shimmer’s body, still huddled and trapped within Time Stasis.

She wouldn’t… would she?

“Who wouldn’t? Envy? Wouldn’t what?”

Twilight, there’s another person’s body here.

“Person? Are we on the human world?”

Not the same one you went to, no. A different one, with no latent magic. But… Envy appears to have dragged Sunset Shimmer into this.

“SUNSET!? Is she alright!?”

I don’t… I don’t know. She’s lying in a fetal position inside of a Time Stasis spell. Twilight, I’m going to set the crystal down. I need to pull her out. I just… I don’t have a good feeling about all of this.

“Please hurry,” he heard her whisper within his mind, before he took his hand off the crystal. With his gloved hand, he moved it to a corner of the table, clearing a space.

Here goes nothing, he thought, kneeling down beside Sunset’s body, sliding one arm under her knees and the other cradling her back, before lifting her out of the nexus of energy and quickly placing her face up on the table.

Sunset remained motionless, but upon feeling her neck, Nova could confirm a pulse. In fact, her body appeared to still be working perfectly, except… Nova couldn’t sense any kind of energy from her, outside of the purely physical.

Twilight? he said, once again picking up the Soul Gem, She’s here. she’s alive and in good health, but she feels… empty.

“Empty how?”

Like there’s no energy to sense outside of the purely physical. Almost as if… as if...

Nova dropped the crystal in shock.

No. There was no way. Envy may have been evil, but Nova was sure she wasn’t completely twisted. And yet with this, it was hard to deny. Sunset lacked a soul. Twilight’s soul was within a Soul Gem. If he freed Twilight, Twilight’s soul would return to her own body, likely forcing out the soul currently within it.

But that alone was too easily dismantled, too predictable. No, Envy was far too clever for that.

Tracy’s magic! I thought it was redder than I had remembered!

And then it occurred to him that, perhaps, he had been right all along. Natalie was Envy. Or at least, Natalie was Envy’s body. If Nova freed Twilight, it would force the soul within Twilight’s body to return to its own.

Which had to have been Envy.

It made sense! It would force Nova to free Envy and let her loose if he wanted to rescue his fianceé, thus allowing her to openly obstruct his plans. And because Envy had no element, if Nova never caught on and continued trying to awaken the Spirit of Magic within Tracy, a spirit which never existed in the first place, keeping him stuck forever at this stage.

And in order to deflect suspicion, Envy had overwritten Sunset’s memories with ones from when she had been a bully, and cast Sunset’s soul within her own body to serve to attract his ire.

Nova felt his breath hitch as the last piece of the puzzle finally fell into place.

Very… very well-played, Envy, he admitted grudgingly, gritting his teeth. You may be a twisted, evil bitch, but you’re a twisted, evil, fucking clever bitch.

It was all set up. If Nova wanted to awaken the final Spirit, he would have to free Envy, thus putting her in the position to jeopardize everything he had worked for. And if he wanted to do a little bit of soul manipulation to make sure Envy’s was the one stuck in the Soul Gem while Twilight and Sunset got their bodies back, he was going to have to be prepared to use some of the darkest of dark magicks.

“T-Tracy, Natalie,” he said, his voice shaking. “Come on down.”

He heard the two of them clamber on down into the cellar behind him, heard a pair of running footsteps, and then heard them both come to a screeching halt.

“Is that…” Tracy breathed, a sudden note of fear in her voice.

“This,” Nova said, fighting back a retch and reaching down to pick her up the way a groom would his bride, “is Sunset Shimmer.”

Tracy had a hand to her mouth in horror, but Natalie looked white as a sheet.

“Natalie…” Nova started, but she cut him off.

“I didn’t do this! I swear, Nathan, I didn’t!”

He saw a glimmer of tears in her eyes as she took an instinctive step back. Nova bowed his head.

“How could I think you did something you don’t even understand?” he asked, breath hitching as he tried to contain another retch. “She’s alive, but some very dark magic has ripped her soul from her body and cast it away somewhere.”

“Do you know where?” Tracy asked, tilting her head.

Nova tried to meet her gaze, but under the current circumstances, he just couldn’t. “I have my suspicions,” he admitted. It wasn’t a lie, per se, but the last thing he needed was to set Tracy against him when he needed her on his side for just a few hours more.

“Natalie,” Nova turned to the pale, shaking young woman, “this wasn’t your doing. The one who did this is, bar none, evil, Nat. I mean, you might have your moments where you make us angry, but you’re not bad deep down. The one responsible for this,” he hiked up Sunset’s body and inclined his head toward Twilight’s Soul Gem sitting on the ground below, “had to use some of the darkest magic in existence, magic that can twist and warp the caster. This was not you.

She nodded, still trying not to be sick, though based on the sheen of sweat on her brow and how laborious her breathing appeared, it appeared to be a tough task.

“Are you going to get her soul back?” Tracy asked.

“At the moment, I can’t do it,” Nova shook his head, “but I know someone who can help me.”

“Is it… is it Ms. Selene?” Tracy queried.

“Who?” Natalie asked, looking over at Tracy in confusion.

“Nathan’s magic teacher. He saved me and her from the Hellsings that one day.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” Nova nodded, “it’s her. Tracy, Natalie, I understand that this is asking a lot given recent history, but please, I need the two of you to put the hatchet down for today.”

“Hatchet?” Natalie asked, with a slight scoff.

“We have been getting along for the last few minutes, if you haven’t noticed,” Tracy crossed her arms and gave him a challenging look, “and you want us to last the whole day?”

“Bluntly, yes,” Nova nodded. “There’s more at stake here than a petty little feud between the two of you. I need to go back to my apartment, and I need someone to keep an eye on Sunset while I visit my teacher, and you two are the only others that know anything about her.”

“I’ll do it,” Natalie noded, wiping her hair back..

“I will, too,” Tracy had a determined look about her.

“Thank-you. Natalie, can you carry Sunset for me?”

“Sure,” Natalie held out her arms, and Nova deposited Sunset’s unconscious body into them, before kneeling down and grabbing the crystal in his gloved hand and storing it in a pouch on the inside of his cloak.

“We need to move quickly. The faster we get to my apartment, the better,” Nova instructed. “Let’s go.”

They climbed out of the cellar and began their walk through the frozen city, just as the city began to buzz with life. It was early enough in the day that Nova didn’t think he’d have to worry about any cops being on the road to his house, but that didn’t stop him from having them duck into alleys.

All the while, he was explaining his findings to Twilight in his head.

“So, you’re saying that Envy has been posing as me, under one of Sombra’s memory curses, to keep you from using the Spirits of Harmony to transport us all back?”

About sums it up, Nova answered. I’m taking Tracy and Natalie, your’s and Envy’s bodies with Envy’s and Sunset Shimmer’s souls inside respectively, to my apartment to watch over Sunset’s body while I go to see Princess Luna. I get the feeling that today’s the day we all return home.

“The sooner I’m out of this crystal, the better. Nova, I can handle it as long as you’re here with me, but please, don’t let go without warning. I don’t want to suddenly wake up three months later when I had you right here!”

Twilight, I have you with me now. Nothing’s going to take you from me again.

“What is that crystal, anyway? How come you still have a hand on it, when it’s already in your cloak?” Tracy asked as they passed a random brick apartment building.

“Something personal,” Nova shook his head. “Magical and tough to describe, but personal all the same. And it’s very valuable to me.”

Is there a way to let your teacher know you’re coming?” Natalie asked. “Maybe if she knew in advance, she might be able to get everything she needs ready while you made your way to her.”

Nova nodded. “No, she doesn’t, but thanks for reminding me.”

He held out his gloved hand.

“Philomena!” he called. At once, the air above his outstretched hand ignited in flame, and the beautiful red phoenix clenched its talons around his wrist. Natalie and Tracy both, unprepared for this, had accidentally jumped into each other. Nova paid them no mind, focused instead on the phoenix on his arm.

Philomena gave a musical chirp and nuzzled Nova’s cheek with her head, but Nova was forced to push it away.

“None of that right now, this is serious,” he said firmly. “I need you to deliver a couple of messages for me, can you do that?”

The phoenix nodded, and Nova dipped his head in acknowledgement. “Good. First, take this,” he waved his glowing hand, and a length of parchment appeared, ink forming on the page to write out his intended message, before curling up tightly and shrinking down to a size that would fit around the phoenix’s leg, “to Princess Luna. She needs this as soon as possible. Second, take this,” another length of parchment appeared and shrank, “to my mother and father. They need to be prepared to take more than a few ponies into their home to stay away from the fighting that I’m sure is going to happen today. Third, and finally,” one last length of parchment appeared, “take this to Shining Armor. Whoever he is in this world. Wait for Luna to break him out, like the first letter says. When he’s out and he’s read this, lead him back to my apartment, alright?”

The phoenix chirped and nipped his ear.

“Good,” he said, before curling the little parchments around the phoenix’s legs. “Hurry, Philomena! Time is of the essence!”

The phoenix took off of his hand, and in another flash of fire, she was gone. As soon as the last wisp of flame vanished, Nova took stock of his surroundings and noticed that they were close to his apartment.

“Almost there,” he breathed to himself.

It wasn’t much longer before they arrived at the building in question. Nova helped get Tracy and Natalie inside, helped Natalie lay Sunset onto his couch, and then walked out, but not before placing a few enchantments to keep any changelings away from his apartment.

And with all of that accomplished, he set out for Princess Luna’s cottage near Applejack’s farm. It wasn’t a long journey, but it felt like it took an eternity. Every moment spent worrying about Twilight, trapped in the crystal, only intensified that.

He found Princess Luna waiting outside the cottage for him, flanked by Nightmare Frigoris on one side, the blue hair and the yellow sunglasses setting him apart from his counterpart, and Nightmare Tranquillitatis, the larger, dark-skinned burly one. Both of them looked none too pleased with the situation, but they relaxed when Nova came walking up.

“I received your missive,” Luna preempted, holding up the scrap of parchment he had sent to her with Philomena. “Shining Armor has been restored, and he is awaiting Philomena’s arrival, as far as I am aware.”

“Good,” Nova nodded.

“What did you find?” she asked, snarling. “Your letter said that you had discovered something of paramount importance.”

“I have, Princess,” he said.

Twilight, I have to let go for now.

“Not for very long, please?”

Nova fought back tears in his eyes from the panic in her voice.

Twilight, I love you. I won’t let go any longer than I have to. I promise.

“O-okay. Please, be quick!”

And with that, he pulled Twilight’s crystal out of his cloak and placed it in his gloved hand. At once, Luna’s and the Nightmares’ eyes lit up with shock.

“Is that…” breathed Frigoris.

“That’s not what… that’s not who I think it is, is it?” Luna asked. Nova could hear a note of fury behind the shock.

“If you think it’s Twilight Sparkle, then I’m afraid it is who you think it is,” Nova bowed his head so she couldn’t see him scowl. “And I’m pretty sure we know exactly who is behind it.”

Luna placed a hand on her heaving chest, over her heart. “This… we sorely underestimated Envy if she is indeed responsible for this. We knew she was capable of murder, but of soul manipulation magicks…”

She paused, before backing into the cottage. “You had better come inside.”

“Mistress, should we--” Frigoris started, but Luna cut him off.

“We assure thee, Nova’s and our energy sensing should be sufficient to detect a threat, and thou had best hear this thyself, for something tells us thou wilt be called to action before the day is done.”

“By thy command,” Frigoris bowed, and he and Tranquillitatis stepped into the cottage.

Nova first noticed the other three Nightmares lounging around and apparently in good health since the last time he had seen them. Crisium appeared to be relaxing in a chair, and Starstep and Imbrium were eating a fruit-based breakfast over at the small dining table.

“Night Master,” Crisium glanced up at him from the chair and gave him a polite nod. “My brothers and sisters never had the opportunity to thank you for helping our Mistress rescue us from the Wraith’s prison.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Nova held up his hands. “She did the rescuing. I just saved her. Though, do we know where your other brothers and sisters are?”

“I received a letter from my sister,” answered Luna, taking her seat in the same chair she always sat in when Nova came to visit, “confirming that they are where they were last assigned back in Equestria,” Luna nodded. “Two are continuing to observe the activities of Starlight Glimmer, and the other six are on a diplomatic mission to the ancestral home of the Thestrals, far to the north of the Crystal Empire, near the border with Yakyakistan.”

“How far did the transportation spell reach?” he asked.

“To our best estimates,” answered Frigoris, arms crossed and staring at the floor from his spot by the front door, “the epicenter of the spell was within the Everfree Forest, and it enveloped in a circular field around it, with a radius extending no further than Hollow Shades. Affected towns include Canterlot, Ponyville, Dodge Junction, Appleloosa, Hollow Shades, Cloudsdale, and a rock farm to the southwest of Ponyville. No major cities outside of Canterlot were affected, which is why there is a noticeable lack of any significant portion of Crystal Ponies.”

“Back to the topic at hoof,” Princess Luna took control immediately after Frigoris’ statement ended, “your recent troubling discovery of this Soul Gem. Obviously, this affects your intended plan of attempting to awaken the Spirits of Harmony, what now? Do you have a plan on where to proceed?”

“I do believe I can be of assistance,” came an all-too-familiar voice as the door swung open and in strode Discord, though he was not alone.

Immediately behind him, smirking at the group despite their scowls and even the Nightmares’ sudden shifts into fighting stances, strode Sombra.

“Discord,” Luna growled through grit teeth as she got to her feet. Discord merely held up a hand to forestall Luna’s tirade.

“Loony, I’m afraid that current circumstances have forced our hand on this one,” he shrugged. “I didn’t want to bring along Mr. Grumpy Pants here,” he pinched Sombra’s cheek before being batted away, “but he has something a bit necessary if you want to make it out of this town.”

“And why should we trust him?” spat Frigoris. “The one who enslaved his own race, the fallen Prince Luxius!?”

“Because, Nightmare,” Sombra didn’t seem to even try to hold his distaste back even for the sake of civility, glaring at Frigoris through his shadow-streaming red eyes, “circumstances now find the both of our little factions in a precarious position. You cannot proceed without what I have to offer, and my own ends, and the plans of Princess Celestia, rest on the fate of this day.”

“Why this day?” Luna glared straight back. “What do you even have to offer?”

“Information, and something more.”

“Take it from me, Luna,” Discord fell backwards onto an invisible hammock, “we can’t move forward without what he’s got.”

“What is it you have to offer?” Nova asked, standing up and letting his voice carry.

All of the Nightmares, Discord, and Princess Luna all just stared at him. Sombra, however, smiled.

“You cannot be considering this!” Luna almost screamed at him. “Nova, if I need remind you, your wife destroyed this stallion. If you do not think he will be out for revenge--”

Luna.

Nova did not look at his teacher, and part of him regretted going against her.

“What other choice do we have?” he asked, locking his eyes with Sombra. “If the information and… other thing he brings are valid, and Discord vouches for him, then we are lost without him.”

“That reminds me!” Luna rounded on Discord. “You! I trusted you, despite your station with Envy! And here I find you advocating for a being who tried to enslave Equestria!”

Nova held out his hand to Sombra.

“What do you bring?” he asked. “Show me.”

Sombra nodded, and withdrew from the black coat he was wearing a crystal, red with the energy contained within.

“Behold, the very source of the curse you are trying to lift. Unfortunately,” he grimaced, “it is shielded by something else, preventing it from being shattered here. Something that, dare I say, you have in your possession now.”

Even as he said this, Nova turned his attention to his own crystal, and felt the energy from Twilight’s Soul Gem, flowing in the direction of the crystal in Sombra’s hands.

“But why?” he asked. “Why would I want to break the curse? That would just cause a mob of ponies remembering who they really were to suddenly start a riot against the changelings in the city.”

“That is, as a matter of fact, the entire aim,” Sombra’s grimace turned serious. “Your old friend Killik has used your ‘murder’ of Molossus as a catalyst to spur the changelings into instituting martial law tomorrow. Today, the forces are entering the city and organizing. Because of the disorganization, today is the best, and perhaps only. window of opportunity we will have in some time.”

Nova felt anger well up inside of him at Killik’s name. How sweet it will be to repay the favor, he thought grimly. Pay him back all the pain he put me through.

“Shattering this crystal today will cause the very riot you spoke of, a battle against disorganized changelings, creating enough confusion for you to scuttle around the city, unite the Bearers of Harmony, and send everyone back to Equestria, where I am sure Princess Celestia would be more than happy to end the fighting.”

“Well, alright then. If what you say is true, and based on some of the things I’ve seen in town this morning, I bet it is, the question now is, ‘what do you want?’” Nova asked.

“I beg your pardon?” Sombra arched an eyebrow.

“What is it that you want in exchange for the crystal?” Nova clarified. “Because I hardly think you’re giving it away for free.”

“Because of current circumstances, Night Master,” Sombra’s grit his teeth, “I am forced to simply hand over the items you require. You are the one on whom this venture rests.”

“So, you’re just giving it to me out of the kindness of your heart?” Nova asked skeptically. “Hell, what are you even going to do during this battle? You’re Envy’s thrall. You were summoned by her! How am I supposed to trust that you won’t interfere?”

“The short answer is, you won’t have to,” Sombra placed the crystal back in his coat and crossed his arms. “I will put myself into a situation that will prevent me from coming to her aid. As is the case with Discord, though, master of chaos and loopholes that he is, I doubt he will have half as difficult a time as I will.”

Now it was Nova’s turn to cross his arms. “I don’t believe you,” he said flatly.

“Believe what you wish, Night Master, that does not change reality.”

“No,” he conceded, “it doesn’t. But you were brought here for the specific purpose of maintaining and defending that curse.”

He stepped in Sombra’s direction, glaring up into the once-King’s eyes.

“How can I possibly just trust you to not attack when Envy needs it? What is more, as Frigoris and Luna have both said, you are an enemy of Equestria. Temporary alliance or not, I am the Night Master, and I am sworn to her defense.”

“What madness is this?” Sombra’s slight scowl turned flummoxed.

“Nova, I must agree with Sombra,” Luna said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Think carefully before making an irrational decision. Considering Sombra’s words, perhaps it would be best to take this trade.”

“Fight him now, or later?” he asked. “If he truly is Envy’s cohort at this point, my only question is whether I battle him now, when I am full of energy and not tired by the coming events, or later in the midst of battle, when I am exhausted?”

“Nova, for the literal sake of Equestria, stop what you are doing and think!” Discord practically shouted at him. “If this goes wrong, everything will be lost!”

“Your friends and teachers speak wisdom, Night Master,” Sombra scowled at him. “Do not make me do what I must.”

“If you’re an Echo,” Nova asked, “and you’re counting on the real you to return, wouldn’t you not even care if I managed to kill this body of yours?”

It seemed that, even though it were not an insult, Nova had finally pushed Sombra’s last button.

“Fine, whelp, if you must be so foolish, I will beat into you some sense!”

“You will not lay a touch upon him!” declared Luna, hand brimming with magic as the five Nightmares prepared to attack. Discord seemed shocked at the turn of events, unsure of what to do.

“I will not hurt the boy,” Sombra growled. “At least, not permanently. If he is so insistent on attack, then I will do what I must.”

“You will--”

Before Luna could finish, Sombra’s hand, brimming with crackling red energy, fired a blast in her direction, striking her and sending her to the floor. Nova cried out and leapt at Sombra, his own hand shining blue.

Sombra grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back.

“Since you are so insistent on being a fool, then we will do this on my terms,” he growled into Nova’s ear.

Nova felt a flare of energy from somewhere behind him. The world around him went white, and then everything around him was gone.

Author's Note:

Let me know how I did in the comments below.

Rytex out. Have a good day!