Answers
Nova looks up at the paintings and pictures that hang on the wall. One of her ears is pointed to the radio that sits on a table in the corner of the living room. Calming classical music plays from one of its various stations. She eventually takes her eyes off of a painting of a steep rocky mountain surrounded by a snow-covered forest, and takes in the rest of the room.
A coffee tables sits in the middle of the room, a couch to one side of it and a comfy looking chair to the other. The table is littered with books and scrolls. A large bookcase dominates the wall opposite to the door. About half the bookcase is being used to hold masks, pictures, charms, and other various souvenirs.
Her ears perk-up when a high pitched whistle cuts through the music. She turns to the kitchen door as Lore walks out with a tray holding a teacup and two cups balanced on his back. He nudges his head to the couch.
Nova gives him a friendly smile and curls up onto the couch, she shifts her position to keep the weight off her wing. Lore puts the tray onto the table and sits down on the chair with a content sigh. “I would say good morning, but I doubt that’s the case for you.”
She sighs and takes a sip from her cup, enjoying the sweet taste. Last night had been a sleepless one for her, having replayed the memory of attacking Twilight. “No, been having nightmares lately…” her sentence trails off as she takes another sip.
“I kinda figured, you didn’t look as bad when I saw you last, and you didn’t look too good then. The tea should help, recipe from the zebra homelands. Originally a sleeping potion, but I prefer tea.”
“Of course it is,” she says taking another sip.
“Might also help if you stopped burying your emotions. Not too healthy to just keep all that inside.”
“What makes you think I am?” Nova snaps back a more harshly than she intended.
“That. You out of anyone should have a lot of hate or sadness festering away inside you. Keeping all that inside might be one of the reasons you’re having nightmares, actually.”
“And how do I do anything about that without the princesses knowing?”
“I hear there’s a dragon cave at the top of the mountain,” he says. Nova snorts at him, a small stream of smoke flaring out of her nostrils. “Anyways, you plan on telling a princess today.” Lore smiles at her and leans back into his chair. “Actually I have a question about that, why talk to Twilight here? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a problem with it, I’m happy you actually plan on coming clean, but why here?”
Happy for the change of subject Nova goes to answer, but memories of last night come back. “I… I just needed a friend at the time.”
“That’s fine. You don’t have to depend on yourself for everything, after all.” He quickly empties his cup and starts filling it again. Looking up he sees her sour mood. Maybe a we should talk about something a little more cheery, he thinks. He puts the teapot down and leans back down into the chair with his cup in his hooves. “I guess that means you don’t know where Talon is if I was your first choice for a friend.”
Nova immediately perks up and looks at him with hopeful eyes. “You know where he is?”
“Canterlot, or wherever the heck he is. I met him when I came back from the Griffon Empire. He was coming back from an expedition there and we ended up taking the same airship back. When we got to Canterlot we stopped at Doughnut Joe’s and chatted for a while.”
“How is he?” she asks.
Lore chuckles happy to she her with a little life in her. “He’s fine, though I think he misses you. The last time you two met was in… the Griffon Empire, correct?”
“He came to visit me in Foalland not too long ago.”
“Hm… Well, I guess I’ll invite him over sometime in that case. Though I highly doubt he’d help you with that sleeping issue of yours.” Much to Lore’s amusement Nova blushes and starts looking at the images that adorn the wall.
She chooses to focus on a picture a lush looking jungle. Colorful birds fly in the air or are perched on the branches of the trees. A path cuts through the undergrowth, though is hard to see because of the thick vines draping across it. Further down the path, hidden behind the leaves, is what seems to be a temple of sorts.
“Where’s that?” She nudges her head toward the photo.
“Hm? Oh, that's from an island in the Carriagebean. It was an expedition where Daring Do was trying to get the Serpent’s Crown.” Nova raises an eyebrow at him. “What? Daring is a friend of mine.”
“Not questioning that, honestly at this point I’m used to you having basically every connection possible. What I would like to know is what the crown is.”
“Oh, it’s supposed to give the wearer control over mighty beasts from the depths of the ocean. It was made by ‘King’ Stormbreaker, a rogue griffon who went against the empire and Equestria during the war. Oddly, we never actually found the crown, only the temple. I assume that the sea-ponies took it given how it should belong to them in the first place.”
Nova gives him an unimpressed shrug. “Oh yes, how useful that must have been given that both Equestria and the Griffon Empire are both inland.”
“Yes, but it is useful against coastal cities. And, that’s kinda what mattered to him.”
Nova chuckles and continues to look at the pictures. “Never realized exactly how much you travel,” she says looking at a picture of a grassy savanna. Three zebras stand in the middle of the image, a child, a mother, and a father.
“You’re one to talk.”
“Yeah, but you just do it for fun, I’m busy trying to fix my mistakes.” She shifts her weight slightly to make her wing a little more comfortable.
“Trust me, you’re not the only one with mistakes, you’re just one of the few going out of their way to fix them. And you must have had some good times, I mean there was Prance.”
She laughs at the memories. “That was the most annoying thing…”
“But, it was hilarious to watch.”
Nova smiles at the comment, far more than used to hearing him speak his mind. She moves on the the next picture. A dark forest, the floor and branches are covered in fresh white snow. A few beams of light shine down through the leaves making the forest seem magical. A little distance away is a white tiger looking straight at the camera.
“Lore,” she says after a few seconds of silence. “Do you think I’m doing the right thing?”
“Of course, telling Twilight is a great thing to--”
“Not what I mean, I’m talking about the debts. Do you think it’s right of me to come back here and open their old wounds. They might have put it all behind them, and then I come bringing the past with me.”
“This have anything to do with yesterday?” Lore asks.
Nova takes a calming breath as she recalls the memories. “When they saw me, all their anger and pain came back. I saw it in their eyes, all the pain… I just don’t want to hurt them anymore…”
Lore gives a supportive smile. “You’re still hurt by everything you did, right?” Nova glares at him, but nods wanting to see where he’s going with it. “Well, you’re still hurt, your wounds never closed. You at least deserve to be able to move on.”
“But, I don’t deserve anything!”
“Don’t say that. The one thing you don’t deserve is to take all the blame for what happened. All three of us know you’re not the only one in there,” he says pointing at her head. “Either way, they need to hear what you have to say, even if they don’t want to at the time.”
“But--”
“What’s the point of asking for me advise if you’re not even going to consider it?”
She stares at him. “Thanks,” she says after a little while. A knock at the door catches both their attentions. Guess Twilight’s here.
“Come in!” Lore shouts, clearly too comfy in his chair to move. The door is surrounded in a purple aura and it swings open. The lavender alicorn trots into the home smiling at the Lore, she looks at Nova and her smile dies, but she still tries to look friendly. Lore notices Nova wincing at the bandages wrapped around the alicorn’s neck. “You alright?”
“In fine,” Twilight says, her throat still very sore and raw. “Just, uh, tripped…”
Lore turns to Nova. “So, what did she say?”
Nova looks at the ground, avoid both their gazes. “She walked in while I was… crying. Said we should go see Celestia and I kinda…”
“I get it,” Lore says nodding. Twilight quickly shakes of the shock that came from him being able to get a straight answer. He gets up from his seat and heads back to the kitchen. “Doubt you want hot tea with your throat like that.”
With that he leaves Nova and Twilight. An awkward silence quickly fills the air. Twilight scuffs her hoof against the floor trying to think of how to begin. How to start? The wrong word and she completely shuts everyone out. This was so much easier on paper. “I’m sorry,” Nova says breaking the silence, she is finally looking at Twilight.
“It not your fault,” Twilight says with a reassuring smile.
“Yes, it is, I’m the one who tried choking you, I’m the one who burnt you, it is my fault.”
Twilight takes a step back. “I’m sure you didn’t mean it.”
Nova glares at her, Twilight takes another step back. A few wisps of smoke rise from the couch. “Didn’t mean it? I was about to--” Lore come back and dumps a pitcher of water on Nova’s head.
“Don’t burn down my house, and stop hating yourself. You and him are two different ponies,” he says. He ignores the glare from Nova and puts a glass of water on the table for Twilight. He sits back down into his chair. “She likes to take responsibility for anything that involves her.”
Steam rises from the pegasus. “Sorry.”
Lore shrugs and waves a hoof dismissively. “No trouble, I’m barely here anyways.” He looks at Twilight who is still standing and gives her a shrug as well. “Which is why I have almost nothing to sit on.”
“That’s fine,” she says. “So, uh, how are you, Nova?”
“I’m fine… Actually no, that’s a lie. I’m tired, sore, angry, and sad. I need sleep and to find someplace where I can’t hurt anyone… Guess you want to start asking the questions now?”
“Uh, if you don’t--”
“I said I would.”
Twilight goes to argue some more, but Lore shakes his head. Using her magic a notepad and pencil appear before her. “Alright then.” She flips it open and goes to the first question on the list. “How can you make fire?”
“I don’t know, I think it’s some type of magic, but I can’t tell you since I’m not a unicorn.”
Twilight makes a quick note in the pad. “Okay, so how come you have this power?”
“No clue.”
“You said you’d answer everything,” Twilight says.
“I said I would answer what I can, and I can’t answer that.” They hear a huff from Lore.
With a sigh Twilight move on to the next point. “How long have you been able to do it?” she asks hoping it doesn’t pry too far into the pegasus’ past.
Nova doesn’t say anything right away, rather she seems the questions over. “Ever since I’ve had my cutie mark,” she finally answers. Twilight takes a moment to look at Nova’s mark, and does a rough sketch of the black lines.
“Okay, so how do you control it?”
“I don’t. I can only stop it from burning everything down, and even that is a challenge sometimes. Why do you think I’m living out in a cave? That breakdown yesterday was relatively sedate compared to what I can do.”
Twilight makes a quick note not to make her angry… again. “Where were you before you came to Equestria?”
There are a few seconds of silence as she waits for the answer. “Neighpon.”
Twilight nods and pauses before the next set of questions. Right, time for the bigger ones. “Alright… Do your nightmares have anything to do with your power?”
Again, another long pause. Finally Nova takes a deep breath. “Yes.”
For a moment Twilight goes back to the image of a burning Canterlot. While she had not seen it herself, Luna had given a good enough description to have an idea as to how bad it was. She swallows a nervous lump and marks it down on the notepad. Does she plan on attacking Canterlot? “Does your power have anything to do with the debts you talked about?”
Nova looks down at the ground, seemingly trapped in thought. Twilight thinks of passing the question, but Nova eventually talks. “Yes.”
Twilight quickly notes it down, also make a note that Nova is now only answering in one word. “What are these debts about?” She looks up from her notes to find Lore quickly shaking his head.
Nova’s expression changes from one of impassiveness to one of sorrow and anger. She blow a stream of black smoke out of her nostrils, and starts studying the picture again. “Can’t answer.”
What? But, she said it has to do with her power. She spent yesterday ‘paying’ it off and then comes back beaten and broken. She knows, she just doesn’t want to tell me. “Nova…”
“I can’t tell you!” Nova snaps. She blinks her eyes a few times in either surprise or shock then turns away again. Twilight refers back to her note and decides not to anger her further.
“Uh… why--”
“I’m tired,” Nova says jumping off the couch. “I’m going to go get some rest.”
“But--”
“I’m going to rest.” She walks past Twilight and out the door. “Good evening,” she says over her shoulder. Twilight goes to follow but a hoof on her shoulder stop her. She finds Lore smiling at her. Once Nova is gone he goes back to the table and starts picking up the cups.
“Don’t bother, you’re not going to get any further today,” he says.
Twilight shakes her head and looks back at him. “But she--”
“Promised to answer what she can, but she didn’t? Well, she couldn’t answer some of them for they’re either too painful for her or too dangerous.”
“And you know what she’s keeping?”
“Yeah,” he replies with a simple shrug. Sliding the tray onto his back he heads into the kitchen.
“Can’t you tell me?”
“No, it’s up to her. And before you ask, she’ll tell you. Not anytime soon, but she’ll tell you.” There’s a clatter as he puts the cups into the sink. “Sorry, but I can’t help you, no one can really.”
“What? Why can’t anyone help me?” Twilight asked shocked and annoyed at him.
“Because you can’t tell anyone. There’s no telling how everyone will react or how fast the news would spread. And before you start saying she’ll be accepted, she’s a freak of nature. She’s a pegasus that can use magic as powerful as what a destruction mage would have, but she can’t control it. You can’t tell anyone or you risk her disappearing.”
Twilight sighs and heads for the door herself. All this did was raise more questions than actual answers. How bad can these debts be? “Goodnight,” Lore says.
A new array of books are piled on the table. Most of them try to track magic outside of the unicorn race. Twilight is pouring over one of the books when Spike walks in. “Hey Twi, how was your day?”
“I can’t get anything from her! Everytime I try to ask her anything she just closes herself off and becomes more distant.”
Spike gives her a confused look, but that leaves quickly. “Twilight, stop obsessing over this, I’m sure it’s nothing wrong just someone wanting privacy.”
“But she can--” Twilight slams her hooves over her mouth remembering Lore’s warning. It’s only been a few hours and I almost gave it up. She notices Spikes quizzical look. “Uh… she can’t be hiding anything that bad. You’re right, it can’t be that bad.” She gives him a hug, ignoring her book for now.
There is a knock at the door and before either of them can answer Rainbow flies into the room. “Hey Twi, have a question.”
Twilight gives her friend a quick glare for barging in. “Yes?”
“Was there any volcanic activity in Ponyville recently?”
Twilight does a double take. “What do you mean?” Rainbow only points out the door. Looking outside she sees a large column of black smoke pouring out of the top of a mountain. Nova’s voice rings through her head. My breakdown yesterday was relatively sedate compared to what I can do. And she’s suddenly very glad she didn’t follow her.
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Yeas, very glad indeed.
5962085 Good to hear it. More chapter should be on the way, but I can't give any specific date. Until next time,
-Sphinx
Unneeded 's' after "sip"?
Smoke? Or do you mean steam? Usually ponies don't breathe smoke, but I suppose being who she is...
Unneeded 's' at the end of "path"?
Missing a " 's " at the end of "that"?
Unneeded 's' at the end of "lump"?
Finally got some answers, and interesting answers those were.
Also, funny/worrying ending. Wonder what Nova is doing up there..?
6578940 Thanks for catching those. And yes, I do mean smoke, she's not exactly normal after all.
You know, if I was Celestia I would be incredibly hurt and disappointed in both Luna and Twilight when I found out they were keeping secrets like an insanely dangerous mentally unstable pony on the verge of snapping from me just because it would hurt said ponies feelings if they acted reasonable and got her help. People get committed to mental wards when they are a danger to society regardless of if they don't want it and Nova is clearly a danger. It is insanely irresponsible of Luna and Twilight to put Nova's feelings above the safety of everypony.
The least Luna could do when she found about Nova having psychotic dreams of death and destruction and a foreign voice in her head is SOMETHING instead of literally nothing.
Ok it's at this point I'm getting annoyed at this story. I normally expect at least a little bit given and something more revealed or can be speculated on but I'm reaching my limit. It feels less like a mystery and more like purposeful obfuscation. The plot doesn't feel likes it has advanced at all and the mystery has stalled. I find it ironic that the chapter entitled answers gives none of even hints that weren't already there.
A rogue griffon
8248809
Thank you very much.