• Published 1st Jan 2015
  • 1,930 Views, 72 Comments

Crimson Mare - Sphinx_Herald



After years of self exile, Nova Hearthfire decides that it's time to pay off a few debts. Though it involves going back to Equestria

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New Mare in Town

She opens her eyes, there is a slight ringing in her ears. Flames climb the walls and block the door. Thick black smoke collects in the room threatening to choke the life out of anyone inside. Even through the smoke there is one scent she picks up that makes her sick. Flesh, the scent of burning flesh hangs in the air. She can hear the screams of many through the roar of the fire.

She scrunches up her nose and folds back her ears trying to block them out. However, the agony of the dead denies to be ignored. The screams grow louder and the scent more pungent. The flames begin to shift and warp. They transform into the tattered remains of one of the many unfortunate souls stuck in the fire.

Fur and skin burnt away leaving charred, black chunks of flesh. It’s ribcage is visible through the flame. It’s face is frozen with an expression of pure agony. It takes a step toward her and the screams stop. She stares in terror as it begins to limp it’s way toward her. As it gets closer it begins to whisper to her.

“Why?” it asks.

In a corner of the room a section of the ceiling falls to the floor. Flames erupt from where it crashes and soon another abomination staggers out.

“You did this,” it whispers to her.

“The pain,” whispers the other.

She takes a few steps back. Another section of ceiling falls to the floor. Soon a third abomination comes from the flames and makes it’s way toward her.

“Killer.”

“Monster.”

“Demon.”

“This is who you are,” they whisper in unison.

The sound of breaking wood comes from above her. She looks up in time to see the rest of the ceiling crush her.


She jolts awake, her golden eyes darting everywhere. No fire, no building, and no creatures. She looks through the trees that surround her as she calms herself. Her ears flick toward the soft crackle of fire. She narrows her eyes on the campfire she had made for the night. She gets up and with an angered scream she knocks the logs into the river. She walks up to the river looking down at the dying embers.

Her reflection stares back at her with sharp golden eyes. Her dark red mane comes down to her shoulders. Her coat is crimson reminding her far too much of the abominations of her dream. She scoffs at her cutie mark, a black magic circle. Killer, monster, demon, this is who you are. She jams her eyes shut in a vain attempt to rid her of the voices of the abominations. She sighs and looks up to the sky; the sun barely poking over the horizon. With another sigh she walks to her bags, throws them over her back and flies off.

The sun is high above the horizon when she finally spots Ponyville. She hovers in the air a few seconds examining the town. Looks nice... a bit too much pink trim though. She turns around and looks at Canterlot sitting on it mountainside perch. Let’s hope she doesn’t find out for a while.

A cold autumn wind blows past her sending a shiver down her spine. She staggers a bit, but manages to keep flying. Maybe I should have waited till summer… No, I’ve put this off for long enough already. It has to be done.

She tucks in her wings and drops into a dive. With a grin she watches the ground rush at her. She spreads her wings to slow her descent and land. She comes to a landing harder than what she wanted just outside Ponyville. “Oh well,” she says as she rubs her foreleg. She looks up at the town and her grin drops.

Balloons and streamers hang from roofs. She can hear music playing from somewhere inside the town. A large banner is attached to two roofs with the words, ‘Happy birthday Berry Punch!’ painted on it. Congratulations Nova, you’ve come in the middle of a party.

“Bucking wonderful,” she mutters to herself. She begins to walk along the path to the town. Soon she begins to hear music. A few ponies are milling about on the street, but the majority are most likely at the party. Eventually she spots a small stage with a large crowd gathered around it. More decorations hang from tree branches. A large table is set up in the middle of the clearing with mountains of food on it. A small growl from her stomach catches her attention. Nope, not eating there.

“Sounds like somepony’s hungry!” shouts somepony from beside her. Nova screams and jumps a few hooves away. She turns on the spot with wings flared to face the pony. A pink pony with a ridiculously puffy mane spotted with confetti stand next to her. A smile spreads from one side of her face to the other. She is bouncing for on her spot as if she has more energy than she knows what to do with. She has a party hat sticking out through the mane.

“Where did you come from?” Nova asks.

“Well, my mommy and daddy loved each other very--” Nova quickly shoves her hoof into the pony mouth.

“I don’t want a life history. I just want to know where you came from” The pink pony points to the party. “Okay… Can you point me in the direction of food?” The pink pony points at the party once again. “Right, point me in the direction of food that is not at the party.” The pony spits out a mess of sounds as she tries to speak around Nova’s hoof. Nova raises an eyebrow at her. The pony points to somewhere further down the road. “Thank you.” Nova takes her hoof out of the pony’s mouth and begins walking away.

“You don’t like parties?” asks the pony.

“No,” Nova says rather forcefully.

“Who doesn’t like parties?”

“I don’t.”

“Wait, I don’t recognize you, are you new here?” Nova continues to walk not bothering to answer the pony. “Oh, I should throw you a party--” She is cut off as Nova shoots her a glare. There is an audible gulp from the pink pony.

“I’m not in the mood to talk. So, can you please just let me be? I’ve had a rough day and I want to find something to eat.” Nova continues walking away from the pony. She begins scanning the buildings for something that looks like a restaurant.

Why did I come here, again? she thinks.

To watch it burn?

She stops and stomps her hoof on the ground. Shut up! This is all your fault anyways! If it weren’t for you I wouldn’t be in this mess!

Ha ha ha. She growls as the voice laughs. You should take credit for some of it as well. After all Trottingham wasn’t all--

“Shut up!” she screams.

“Excuse me?” say an elegant voice from further down the road.

Nova opens her eyes and sees a white unicorn with a flawless purple mane. “Sorry, I… I wasn’t talking to you,” Nova says hanging her head.

“Well, I certainly hope you weren’t,” she replies. She continues walking towards Nova. As she gets closer she starts looking around as though she's looking for someone.

“Again, I’m sorry. I’m just having a bad day.”

“Not much of an excuse to make somepony else’s day bad.”

“Yeah… Well, I hope I didn’t ruin your day,” Nova says. She starts walking again, looking back she finds the unicorn giving her a suspicious glare. Try not to talk out loud, Nova. She breathes a sigh of relief when she hears no response.

Looking around she spots a building with several tables out front. The building looks the same as pretty well every other building in the town. She enters the building and sits at a table in the corner of the restaurant. The inside is decorated by dark red wall with a cream colored line running along the bottom. A few paintings hang from the walls, mainly paintings of the sea. A bar sits in the middle of the room. The building is almost empty save for her and two other patrons sitting at a table. She lays her head on the table with a loud yawn. She shakes her head as a few memories of the nightmare come back. Can’t you let me have a good night of sleep?

“Hello,” says a waiter as he places a menu next to her on the table. “Would you like something to drink?”

“No thanks.” She flips open the menu and starts scanning over the pages. The waiter gives her a nod and trots off to tend to the other clients.

Not my fault if you have a conscience.

She closes the menu a little forcefully. You could at least try to sound a little concerned. No response. Yeah, I don’t care about you either.

The waiter is soon back with a smile on his face. “May I take your order?”

“Daisy sandwich and a fruitsalade, nothing to drink.”

“Right away, madame. Is there anything else?”

“No.” She watches him trot back to the kitchen. Looks like nopony here knows me. Good, the longer I stay hidden the more time I have. She looks around the restaurant. One of the other partons, a mint green unicorn is turned around in her seat looking at Nova. Nova huffs and looks away from the unicorn. A minute later the waiter returns balancing a tray on his back. Nova gives him a quick smile and starts eating the sandwich. She is vaguely aware that the unicorn is still staring at her and confirms it with a quick glance. She goes back to her sandwich.

She hears the door open followed by the frantic clopping of the waiter’s hooves against the floor. “Princess, what an honor it is for you to come eat here,” the waiter says. Nova’s wings tense up. She slowly turns around to look at the door.

A lavender alicorn stands by the door. Her mane is purple with a pink streak going through it. She’s not as tall as Celestia and she doesn’t wear a crown. Nova quickly turns back to the table as her wings relax slightly. Good job, you forgot there were four princesses. What’s her name? Gah, there are too many bucking princesses in Equestria.

We can make it three again.

Shut up, I’m not going to kill Twilight. Oh hey, I remember her name! Right, she’s one of the elements of harmony. Wonder if those things could get rid of you.

“Hi.”

Nova blinks a couple of times. Her eyes quickly focus on the alicorn she had been thinking of. She quickly looks around the restaurant. The unicorn is gone and Twilight is standing in front of her. “Uh, hey. Can I… can I help you?”

“Oh sorry, I’m Twilight Sparkle.”

“I know that, element of harmony and all that. Not to sound rude, but why are you trying to chat with me?”

Twilight is taken aback by the hostility. “Well, it looked like you’re new to town and you seemed to be in a bit of a sour mood. I didn’t know you wanted to be left alone.”

Nova sighs and brings the bowl of fruitsalade closer to her. “Sorry, I’m just having a rough day today. How obvious is it that I’m new?”

“No one recognises you, it’s pretty obvious.”

“So it’s that type of town,” Nova mutters. Twilight shifts her weight from hoof to hoof and looks around nervously. “Waiting for someone?” Nova asks.

“No, it’s just that I have this feeling… So, what about you?”

“Huh?”

“What’s your name, seems kinda unfair that you know mine but I don’t know yours.”

“Actually, it is fair since I heard about you from the news. My name’s Nova Hearthfire.”

“Hearthfire? That name sounds familiar.”

“Hearth’s Warming Eve special? Don’t worry I’ve heard plenty of jokes.” Nova finishes the fruitsalade and flips open her saddlebag. She pushes a photo album out of the way and pulls out a small bag of bits. She dumps the bag onto the table and starts counting the bits. Looks like I’ll need a job while I’m here. She drops the empty pouch into her bag and gets up from the table. “Well, it was nice chatting with you and all, but I’m gonna go find a place to sleep for tonight.”

“It’s barely noon.”

“Again, I’ve had a bad day.”

“Oh, how long are you staying in town?”

“No clue.”

“Hope to see you around some time.”

Nova spreads her wings and takes off out the door and into the air. She heads for the mountains to the west of Ponyville. No point in staying in the town. Safer for everyone if I just find a place to camp out.

She looks down at the countless trees of red, orange and yellow. She spots a large orchard some ways off from where she’s heading. She flies to a lower altitude and begins circling the mountain. Spotting a cave entrance at the base she descends and comes to a landing just outside.

The entrance quickly gives into a large chamber. Nova walks into the cave quite happy the only sound she hears is that of her hooves clopping against the cold surface. Content that nothing else is in there she walks into the middle of the chamber. It is all relatively smooth, a cave made by water rather than moving earth. She notices a small outcrop over to one side. Looks like a nice bed. She throws her bag to a corner of the cave and jumps onto the outcrop. She lays down, draping her forelegs over the side. “Back at the beginning,” she mumbles.

Goodnight.

Noon.

Whatever.

Author's Note:

What's this, a new story? Let's just say that this is a little one year birthday present for my account. My other story will still be getting regular updates. No, this story won't have any type of update schedule until that other story is done. Since I'm still busy trying to figure out my writing style the format of the chapter might change, though I'll try to keep it to only one format. Anyways, hope you guys don't mind the extra reading material. Have a great year everybody. Until next time,
-Sphinx