• 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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Backfire

Nova paces along the cave floors, smoke and a few flames wisp up from under her hooves with every step. The ceiling of the cave is covered by a cloud of smoke as the wisps gather. She shakes her head trying to rid herself the images, the memories, the voices of the past. I don’t want to hurt anyone, I never meant to hurt anyone. But, everyone just gets too close… I get too close to them… A brief image of Aura flashes through her head.

She huffs out a stream of smoke which float up into the cloud of black smoke on the cave’s ceiling. It’s all my fault, every burn, every death, the entire path of destruction I’ve left in my wake. I could have ended it all, stopped it before it began.

‘Do you need help?’ The question comes as little more than a whisper, but it’s more than loud enough in the silent cave. Nova turns to the corner it came from, but nothing’s there just the darkness. Just the ghosts…

And that’s supposed to be comforting?

Who said that it was supposed to be comforting?

‘What’s your name?’ The voice comes from another empty corner of the cave. They were all so nice to me, and yet I just burnt them all. Nova’s ears flatten against the back of her head, once again guilt and anger eating at her. She turns and start pacing again trying to draw her mind away from her memories. Trying to lose the image in the darkness of her cave, and trying to drown out the voice with the sound of her hooves on the stone.

And yet, the voices grow louder, the images cut through the dark, and the memories press to the front of her mind. The memories of fire and smoke, of ponies trying to help and burning because of it.

‘I thought I was your friend.’ Nova freezes, a cold shiver runs down her back. That familiar voice, that oh so painfully familiar voice. Slowly she turns to where the voice came from.

A shape stands at the far side of the cave. It is too dark to make out anything save for the eyes. The eyes which cut through the dark, which scream of betrayal and anger, which glare at Nova. Eyes which used to be so happy.

Keeping her eyes on the phantom, the memory, Nova starts backing toward the exit. I have to get out of here. She quickly breaks eye contact to find the way out, a little ways to the left. She doesn’t bother looking back and sprints out of the cave.

She skids to a stop outside panting heavily. Her ears pivot around to listen to anything behind her, however she hears nothing but the birds in the trees and the wind blowing through the branches. She turns around fully expecting to see the figure following, instead she finds the darkness of the cave. Nothing had followed her, not the voices, not the images, not the memories. She breathes a heavy sigh taking in the fresh air and trying to calm her nerves.

“Aura, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what I did, and I’m trying to make up for what I did, but please--”

‘Don’t forget me.’

*****

Celestia takes a half step back, eyes growing a slight bit wider at the name. The reaction alone is enough of an answer for Twilight, so they do know each other. However, it only lasts for a moment before Celestia collects herself. “Yes, I know her. Have you met her, do you know where she is?”

“She’s been staying in Ponyville for a few months, she made me promise not to tell you. Celestia, who is she?”

“Can you take me to her?” Celestia asks seemingly unaware of Twilight’s own question.

“Celestia please, I want to know who she is. She won’t tell me anything and you’re the only pony I really know you seems to know her. I need to know who she is because I’m afraid she might be becoming more dangerous.”

This makes Celestia pause for a moment. “Dangerous… I see. Very well, it’s best if you know, though I don’t know much myself.” She takes a deep breath before continuing. “She’s the daughter of a friend, Faith Hearthfire. Faith was a talented mage, she was a royal guard until we decided her talents were best used as a court mage. She married the Captain of the Guard, Blitz Ironguard, the stallion who held the post before your brother. Nova was their daughter.”

Celestia shakes her head trying to push the memories to the side. “Her mother would often bring her to the palace. There’s not much to say about her early years, she was loved and well cared for. However, when she was barely two she just disappeared. We never found out what happened to her. Her parents were crushed, but they continued on searching for her. It was a few years later when they finally found who had taken her.”

“They found her being held by a group of fanatics. And, her rescue was unfortunately a bloody one, as the captors simply wouldn’t surrender. But, eventually Nova was freed and was reunited with her parents. However, Faith had been injured rescue… and passed away soon after. What’s more, when we got Nova back it was apparent that the group had done… something to her, as she now had her unusual abilities.”

“You mean how she can use fire magic? What did they do?” Twilight asks.

“Yes, I am referring to how she is able to conjure fire. Unfortunately, I don’t know what happened that allows her to do so. When we arrived they had burnt all their notes, and the deed had already been done. Blitz tried his best to look after her, but Nova’s power quickly grew more and more unstable. One day she just broke down, and a guard got too close and died. With that, she ran away, and I haven’t seen her since.”

“She killed someone?” Once again Twilight’s hoof absent-mindedly rubs her throat. And she’s in Ponyville.

“Yes… though I believe it was an… accident. She had no control over her power and the guard was too close.”

They both sit in silence for some time thinks of what to ask. While she now has a few answers, she’s still far from knowing what’s really going on. “Is that it? You don’t know what causes her magic, how she got it? Do you know where she ran off to?”

Another sigh escapes Celestia as a look of frustration crosses her face. “Not really, the only way I had to track her were reports of fires. As for her magic we knew it was closely connected with her emotions, if she was angry or sad her magic was particularly volatile. And while we didn’t know the cause, we thought it had to with some sort of… entity inside her.”

“Entity, what do you mean?” Twilight asks.

“When she was still in Canterlot she talked about a voice she heard. As I said, I’m afraid I don’t know more than that.”

A voice, a voice gives her magic? Well, at least it’s not entirely a dead end.

“You said she’s dangerous?” Celestia asks breaking Twilight from her thoughts. “If I may, what exactly happened?”

“As you said, she just seems… unstable, and she doesn’t seem to be getting better. She almost hurt Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy today.”

Celestia stay silent for a moment as she thinks. “It may have something to do with today being her birthday, as it is also the day she ran away. Could you bring me to her, perhaps if I talk to her? I would like to say that we were close, however that was several years ago and she was always rather distant.”

“I don’t know,” Twilight says. She thinks back to when she first mentioned Celestia to Nova, the fear and anger that had burned in her eyes. “She specifically said not to talk to you, maybe if you talk to her it would just make things worse. But, something has to be done or she will hurt--”

Before she can finish her though a wisp of smoke flies in through in the window. The smoke makes its way to Twilight before coalescing into a rolled-up parchment. Her magic quickly surrounds the parchment and unrolls it.

“Is something the matter?” Celestia asks as Twilight finishes the letter.

“They want me back at the library, you should come too.”

Rainbow paces the library floor impatiently. Standing next to the window is Applejack as she looks out at a column of smoke rising into the air. Over at the table Fluttershy and Spike sit watching Rainbow. “P-please calm down, I’m sure Twilight will be back soon,” Fluttershy says.

Before Rainbow can reply a bright flash fills the library an instant later Twilight and Celestia are standing in the middle of the room. Everypony’s attention quickly snap to the two princesses.

Rainbow sputters for a moment, but quickly manages to compose herself. “Celestia, what are you doing here?” she asks bowing.

“Twilight thought it would be best if I came to help deal with Nova. I have a bit of history with her.”

“What happened?” Twilight asks taking a step forward.

Applejack motions to the window taking a step to the side. “Take a look fer yerself. Ah was out in the orchard when Ah saw the smoke. Don’t know what’s wrong with her, but it seems close to mah farm.”

Twilight walks over to the window, in the distance is a column of black smoke. It is coming up from a spot in the forest pretty close to the apple orchards. Quite a few ponies are standing on the street looking out toward the forest. She turns back to look at Rainbow and Fluttershy. “Do either of you know what happened?”

“I’ve only seen her do something like that once before. So, no, I have no idea what happened to her,” Rainbow says.

“I only saw her like that once when she got angry, but it wasn’t as bad as that,” Fluttershy says pointing out the window toward the smoke.

Rainbow glances at Celestia then back to Twilight. She walks over to the lavender alicorn dropping her voice to a whisper. “I thought we weren’t supposed to tell Celestia.”

“Nova didn’t leave me with any other options. She’s growing further unstable and I needed answers,” Twilight replies, though she doesn’t bother whispering.

“Did you find out anything helpful?”

Twilight looks back out at the plume of smoke then turns to the rest of the ponies. “I’ll explain on the way. Come on, we have to stop her before she causes more damage, or hurts somepony.” With nods and murmurs of agreement from everypony around the room Twilight charges the spell, and in a flash of light they disappear.

With a flash the five ponies, and one dragon, reappear at the base of the mountain, the entrance of a cave nearby. A shiver runs down Twilight’s spine, a sense of unease already gripping at her throat. She glances over at Celestia and it’s clear she feels it too. The scent of smoke blows in the wind. Checking the sky quickly confirms that the blaze is further into the forest off to one side of the mountain. Taking the lead Twilight starts making her way to the fire. While they walk Twilight recounts her meeting with Celestia and the bits of information she had uncovered.

“She lost her parents, huh? Ah know the feeling of not havin’ parents there for ya, but that can’t be all there is to it. Her anger can’t come from just that, can it?” Applejack says. She quickly glances at the forest around them. There’s a haze in the air, and the scent of smoke is far more pungent.

“To be honest, I don’t know,” Celestia says. “I haven’t known her for over a decade, I haven’t the slightest idea as to what happened during those years.”

“I sure hope no animals were hurt,” Fluttershy say looking at billowing cloud of smoke. The smoke is coming for a far larger area than she originally thought. “Oh, I should head back home and get some supplies in case any animals got hurt.”

“Fluttershy, Ah don’t really think there’s time to head back. ‘Sides Ah’m sure they got away before it got bad,” Applejack says.

Rainbow flies overhead, circling them before coming down to land next to Twilight. “I can’t see anything through the smoke.”

Every-so-often the group spots a pony sneaking through the forest trying to catch a glimpse of what’s causing the fire. She won’t be able to keep this a secret, Twilight thinks seeing the mix of confusion and concern on most of their faces.

Through the trees they can see the orange glow of fire and a few flames, though not nearly as much as they though. Eventually they see a clearing through the trees. A few of the tree around the edge of the clearing still burn, though the flames don’t seem to be spreading. Rainbow motions to one of the bushes still intact enough to hide them, and far enough away from the fires to stay out of danger.

Thick black smoke billows up into the sky, ash hangs on the air. The ground is a patchwork of black and dark greys. The burnt husks of trees dot the area, on some of them fires still burn though they are little more than dying flames now. Ash and charcoal cover the ground all that remains of several of the trees. And through the smoke, lying in the center of the fire-blasted area is Nova as she watches a few of the fires burn through what remains of their fuel.

“Oh my!” Fluttershy gasps looking out over the charred ground.

Twilight looks over at Celestia, and it’s clear she wasn’t expecting this either. She stares out wide eyed, mouth slightly agape.

“Well, it looks like whatever was going on is done now,” Rainbow says pointing out toward Nova.

She doesn’t look angry, it looks like she barely has any energy left. Nothing but a dull sorrow now lies behind her eyes. Even the fires around the area are dimming as they run out of energy. “Guess she burnt through all she had.”

“Well, that still doesn’t mean there’s nothing for us to do. We still need to figure what happens next. We can’t just let her stay, she could burn down a third of Ponyville,” Twilight says. But, she still doesn’t want to hurt anyone, she went out of her way to go further away from town. She sighs and turn to Celestia. The princess is still sitting there staring wide-eyed the crimson mare. “Celestia, are you okay?”

“That’s… that is Nova… My how she has grown.” She takes a deep breath quickly composing herself. She looks at the scorched area, the few remaining flames burning around the edges where the area meets the forest surrounding it. Fortunately, the fires don’t seem to be spreading to the rest of the forest too quickly. “And clearly her power has grown as well. It’s hard to imagine this is the sweet Nova I used to know.”

After a few moments of silence Celestia stands up and starts heading onto the scorched ground when she suddenly freezes. However, the feeling of unease she’s been feeling for the past several minutes morphs into one of danger.

Nova jumps to her hooves, a sudden rage burning in her eyes. The fires around the area burst back to life with renewed energy. The embers under her burn brighter, a few flames coming up from them. “Don’t! Don’t say that, don’t remind me of her, just shut up!” she shouts at the air around her.

There’s no reason to be mad, just saying Aura--

“Shut up!” she shouts again.

“What the buck was that about?” Rainbow asks. “Who is she talking to?”

Nova’s ears perk up and turn towards the bushes.

Sounds like someone’s here.

“Who’s there?” Nova shouts as she whips around toward the sound, her golden eyes immediately find Celestia and freeze. The remaining fires falter, blinking out for a moment before continuing to burn. For a moment a silence hangs in the air the only sounds coming from the crackling of the fire, even the voices seem to be quiet. “Celestia?” Nova finally manages after what feels like an hour of silence. But then, like everything else, the silence silence goes up in flames.

A face flashes before her eyes, a young stallion with flames ripping away at flesh. It’s a face from a memory, an old one, but still far too vivid. His scream cuts through the roar of the fire joining with the voices and screams in her head. Her ears pin back against her head and she jams eyes shut vainly trying to block out the noise and visions. Why is she here, who brought her? No, Nova don’t think of that, stay calm.

Oh, I remember her, now this’ll be interesting.

“Nova, calm down, it’s me,” Celestia says.

But, her voice only makes all the screams, shouts, whispers just grow louder. No, please, please just be quiet, just make it all stop! She opens her eyes, quickly focusing back on Celestia. At some point Twilight, Rainbow, Applejack and Fluttershy had joined the princess and now stand beside her. Nova’s eyes pause on Twilight for a moment before going back to Celestia.

She told Celestia, I told you you couldn’t trust her.

“Are you okay?” Fluttershy asks taking a step forward.

Nova huffs out a stream of smoke and turns her back to them. “Leave me alone.” She starts making her way to the far edge of the clearing. The crackle of fire grows louder as the fires around the area burn brighter, stronger.

‘It’s no fun to be alone,’ one of the plethora of voices says. Nova doesn’t bother trying to pick out where it came from, or who’s voice it is, she just pins her ears back again trying to keep it out.

Guess they don’t want to listen to you.

It was to everyone, that includes you! A spark of anger burns in her chest, she quickly pushes it away, trying to smother it under everything else. Stay calm, don’t hurt anypony else, just leave.

Celestia steps forward, though her voice carries easily over the sounds of the fires. “Nova wait, if this is about what you did, about the guard, I don’t hold--”

Before Celestia can finish, Nova turns around and faces them, an orange glow seeping into her eyes. “It has nothing to do with that.” Even as she says it though, the memory pushes to the front of her mind. The screams of the guard as he was engulfed in flames, her horror as she couldn’t stop it. “Can you just leave? I want to be alone.”

“We can’t do that Nova, not this time,” Twilight says. She motions to the burnt trees and to the ash covered ground. “Look around you, you’re too dangerous to be just ‘left alone’, you need help.”

Once again faces flash before her eyes, the faces of those that came before, of those who had tried to help once upon a time. The charcoal under her hooves smolder and begin to glow red. “I don’t need help.”

“I want to help you. Nova, you’re hurt and I can’t stand to see you like this,” Fluttershy says trying to keep pace. She ignores the heat radiating off Nova.

Ah, that’s sweet, she wants to help you no--

Shut up! Just shut up. She takes a deep breath trying to center herself. He’s just trying to get to you. “Stop following me and leave me alone.” Irritation is starting to make its way into her voice. As she says that she feels something tug on her tail holding her back. Swinging around she finds a familiar white aura surrounding her tail. She quickly focuses on Celestia and her glowing horn.

Celestia releases the magic once Nova turns to her. “Please Nova, calm down. I just wish to talk.” She looks at Twilight and her friends then back at Nova. “We won’t follow, we’ll stay over here, but can you at the very least talk to me?”

Nova stands glaring at them for a moment. The embers under her hooves still glow red. With a huff of smoke she takes a few steps back, but stops soon. “Fine, I’ll talk, just leave me alone afterwards.”

You remember what happened last time you talked with her, right?

The image of the guard, fire ripping away at his flesh, flashes before her again. His screams still echoing in her ears. She quickly shove the memory to the back of her mind with all the other whispers and screams. Don’t start with me!

I’m not starting anything, I just want to watch you end it.

For a while the two stand and stare at eachother. Celestia’s soft and caring gaze meeting Nova’s sharp and angry glare. “Why did you come back, where did you go once you left Canterlot?” Celestia asks after a few seconds of silence.

“Paying off old debts.”

Maybe we should take this moment to repay Celestia.

She feels the flames burning around her hooves grow hotter. Shut up, she thinks as she pushes the anger down.

Once again silence settles over them as Celestia waits for more of an answer. When it becomes apparent Nova doesn’t plan on explaining she speaks up. “What part of these debts involves burning down a forest and putting lives in danger?”

Nova flicks her ears back when the voices start coming back. “I… I’m having a bad day…”

And you keep saying you’re not a monster. You have a bad day so you go on a rampage, that’s a monster.

Shut up! If it wasn’t for you I could be normal, I could be happy! I’m a monster only because--

“Nova, what’s wrong?” Fluttershy’s voice cuts through her thoughts snapping her back. She finds herself surrounded by a ring of fire with flames as tall as her. Celestia, Twilight and the rest have backed up a fair bit, each with a varying amount of concern on their face. With a deep breath Nova tries to suppress her anger, the flames fade and diminish but still burn around her.

“I’m fine,” she says starting to pace. There’s something oddly calming about walking over the ash and charcoal covering the ground.

Celestia gives her some time to calm down a little further. “What are these debts you have to pay off?” she eventually asks.

Nova comes to a stop and turns to face her again. There’s a moment of hesitation before she replies. “I’ve hurt a lot of ponies, I burnt down homes, sent ponies to the hospital, killed some… None of them deserved it, they tried helping me and I burnt them, killed them, left them with nightmares. I need to find a way to pay them back, to make it right. All they wanted to do was help me and I burnt them…”

Just like Aura, huh?

Once again rage sparks in her eyes as they burn with a golden-orange hue. Shut up! Don’t you dare use her name! She looks around, focusing particularly on the growing fires. I’m done here, she thinks turning and starting off toward the far edge of the clearing.

“You can’t blame yourself for what happened. You have--”

She huffs out a breath of fire smoke and swings around to face them. “Then who is? If I’m not to blame, who is? We can’t exactly blame it on some voice in my head, you can’t throw the voice in prison, it has to be someone’s fault. You can’t make a voice in my head pay for everything that’s happened, for everything I did!”

So, you finally admit that it’s your fault Aura died?

Celestia eyes the dark smoke billowing up from around the pegasus. It’s been so many years and yet her anger is as easy to read as ever. “Please calm--” In a flash the air around Nova catches fire. The blast wave washes over them as it carries the hot dry air which stings at their eyes and lungs.

“Shut up!” Nova shouts at Ty. She sees Celestia say something but can’t make it out over the roar around her. Her ears pin back against her head as she looks at the fire around her. Nova, stop this before somepony gets hurt, a small part of her pleads, but it too is drowned out by the fire.

Why? Aura died at your hooves, you wanted her dead.

“SHUT UP!” Nova shouts bringing her hoof down on the ground as she lets her anger loose. Fire erupts from her, easily completely engulfing the pegasus, a moment later there is the thunderous boom of an explosion as a blastwave radiates out from her.

Acting on instinct Celestia, creates a forcefield between them and Nova. In an instant a white wall of energy separates Nova from the group. The blastwave slams into the walls with a shuddering impact with a shuddering impact, throwing smoke and ash into the air.

In a moment all Nova knows is the blinding light of the blaze around her and the roar of the flames. The same flames that have taken so many things before. And yet, through it all the voices keep talking, whispering, screaming. “She was my friend, I never wanted to hurt her! If it wasn’t for you she’d still be alive!” Nova shouts into the fire.

True, but you can’t forget that if it wasn’t for you she’d be alive as well.

A wave of energy radiates out from her feeding the fire and kicking up more ash and dirt. “Shut up already! You’ve ruined my life enough, just let me be!”

Or what? You’ll burn me, beat me, crush me? I’d like--

“Why don’t you just shut up!” she shouts with a stomp of her hoof. Red cracks form out from her hoof and spread across the ground around her. Another wave of energy blasts out from her though she no longer cares.

Because I want to watch the world burn. And you do a great job of lighting the spark.

“Nova!” The voice cuts clear through the crackle and roar of the fire around her. It’s a familiar voice, quiet and gentle, it sends a shiver down her spine and causes the flames to falter for a moment. She turns to the voice only to find smoke and fire. But the voice is still familiar… Fluttershy’s voice.

“Oh no,” she whispers to herself as the realization of what she’s done dawns on her. Where is she? Where’s everyone else? Did she get caught in the blast? How many did I hurt? She starts walking backwards as panic fills her. “No, no, no, I-I didn’t mean to… I never…”

Would you look at that, the second pony you’ve murdered in front of the princess.

“I-I didn’t want to… I… She was a friend.” She glances at the fire around her, the roar of the fire being the only thing she can hear once again. Her wings slowly spread open, the flames catching on them and dancing through her feathers. I have to leave, I need to get out of here.

She continues to back up for a moment, keeping her eyes in the direction where Fluttershy and the group were, hoping to see some form of life. “I’m so sorry…” With a flap of her wings and a quick blast of magic she takes of at a breakneck speed into the sky leaving a trail of smoke in her wake.

*****

Twilight watches silently as the pegasi work putting clouds into place to rain down on the remaining fire. It has been about an hour since Nova left in a literal cloud of smoke, and after she had left the fires had quickly burnt themselves out. Still, she had simply ran away, and it doesn’t sit well with Twilight. Fortunately no one has been seriously hurt, though Nova did leave a sizable portion of the forest burnt down.

How could I have let her stay for so long? She thinks looking at the destruction. What if this had happened in the middle of town?

“How are ya holdin’ up?” Applejack asks walking up to her.

“I’m alright, I was just thinking.”

“‘Bout what?”

“I was so wrapped up in figuring out her past, and trying to find out how she could use magic that I ignored the danger she posed,” Twilight says with a sigh. Her eyes drift over to Fluttershy who is at the edge of the clearing helping tend to animals. “I put so many ponies in danger for the sake of my own curiosity.”

“Yeah well, it wasn’t like she was willin’ to talk to start with,” Applejack says putting a reassuring hoof on her friend’s shoulder.

Rainbow flies down from the clouds, with the fire under control rest the of the pegasi can hald the rest. She lands next to her friends, her hooves crunching on the charcoal covered ground. “I still think we should have went after her.”

“How? Nopony would have been able to follow her through all the smoke.” She looks up at the dark, now overcast, sky. “Besides, I doubt that’s the last of her we’re going see.”

Author's Note:

Again, sorry for the delay. I've been quite heavily procrastinating this one. So, in total you all got a less than stellar late chapter. Still, got it finished, and I'm almost back into the swing of writing. Anyways, sorry. I'll try to get chapters out faster from here on out. However, on that note, this'll be the last chapter of Crimson Mare for some time as I'll be trying to work on other projects. Anyways, thank you all who have read this far, and stuck around this long. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and the story. Until next time,
-Sphinx

Comments ( 2 )

Why was this cancelled?

9173427 Technically, I never did. I just kinda stopped working on it. As I got out of college and properly into work I just couldn't find the time to work on it. Eventually it fell out of my daily routine. I have done a fair bit of progess toward the next chapter but I keep finding myself unhappy with it. So, not cancelled, I'm just a very bad writer with a very bad case of writer's block.

Until next time,
-Sphinx

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