The Archmage's Last Bow

by Rytex

Getting Over It

The Archmage’s Last Bow
Chapter 09 - Getting Over It

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“You know, I’ve never gotten a chance to see you work up close.”

Ars Arcanum grinned as he playfully shoved the Crown Prince of the Alicorn Empire back to keep him from blocking the light over his workstation. He was in the middle of crafting a rather important piece of arcanery for an important client. It was, after all, hard to get more important than an order from Aedile Praesul. Although he wanted nothing more than to take a break for the day and bandy words with the philosophical alicorn prince trying to peer over his shoulder, he wanted to earn his keep, and his dreams of being the greatest arcanosmith in all of history wouldn’t pursue themselves.

“You know, I’ve never been able to do that work when you block the light source, Peri.”

“I thought you wanted to be the best, Ars! Surely the best arcanosmith could work in a little bit of shadow?” Imperius chortled as he deliberately took a place blocking the light of the workshop now, casting an Imperius’-head-shaped shade over the magnacrystal containment band that he was crafting. Ars rolled his eyes and simply conjured a werelight that hovered a short distance away, perfectly illuminating his cluttered workspace and revealing more of the surrounding workplace than the focused light source did. All manner of tools hung from the walls, a collection of spellbooks and magical tomes were stored away in a large bookcase that stretched from floor to ceiling, boxes and bins full of materials lay neatly pushed against the walls between all of the space. A box for orichalcum ingots, a box for arcanostone, boxes for different varieties of crystals…

“See, if you could do that this whole time, why did you get on to me about blocking your light?”

“I wanted an excuse to shove the soon-to-be King of the Alicorns before I legally wasn’t allowed to,” Ars replied with a straight face as he picked up a runecarving chisel and began to delicately work the necessary symbols around the band of orichalcum that lay before him. The metal glimmered under his white light with a faint pale green tint and the faintest of glows, seeming to shimmer and wave as the manatic energy he had personally siphoned out of the Wellspring and woven into it undulated and moved within the simple band.

After a few short moments, during which Imperius patiently waited for him to finish his job, the runic carvings were complete. There was still some work to be done and tests to be run to make sure it could properly contain and focus the energy it was meant to, but for now, his current project was finished. No doubt Master Artifex would be pleased. It was he, after all, who had seen the talent that lay deep within him at a young age, and it was he who pushed and challenged Ars to be better. And now here Ars was, trying to surpass the stallion who had taught him everything.

“Beautiful,” Imperius whispered as Ars picked up the rather hefty band of metal, light as a feather despite being large enough around to that it could encircle him from head to tail, and turned it over to have a look around to make sure everything looked as it should. “You’ve outdone yourself.”

“Eh, I make these all the time,” Ars Arcanum shrugged modestly. “Old Praesul’s got me constantly replacing these things in the paling towers and the crystals that go with them. First time making one this big though. I’m guessing he wants me to repair one of the Convergence Towers. Don’t understand why,” he added with a roll of his eyes. “Harmonic Convergence isn’t for another few years.”

“I asked him to,” Imperius replied.

Ars blinked, then set the metal ring down on the table and gave his friend an odd look. Prince Imperius looked every bit the princely young stallion one would expect. A proud face, a pure white coat, bright blue hair in his mane and tail, brilliant blue eyes, sleek wings that belied strength, a horn that was more than capable of enforcing his will, and a silver circlet on his head that he wore gracefully. Ars had always wondered how Imperius, with a mane as messy as that, could wear such a crown and look so regal despite it. Perhaps it was the way he carried himself, proud, bordering on haughty, but not overbearingly so.

“Ars, before you say anything–” Imperius began, already launching into the defenses that Ars knew too well.

“You’ve been worrying about that damn prophecy again, haven’t you?” Ars stated, knowing the answer was yes. When was Imperius ever not worrying about that stupid scroll? The thing was so vague it could have referred to anyone, but for some Heraldforsaken reason, Imperius had never allowed himself to let it go and let things be.

I haven’t actually,” Imperius snarled. raising his voice just enough to make Ars back down. Imperius never brought out his King Voice around him unless it was important. “I… thought it would make a good segue into my own personal request for you.”

Ars stared at him in disbelief and amusement. “You… you asked Aedile Praesul to order a large-sized containment ring so you could have a segue in a conversation?”

“We are gonna need the ring,” Imperius gestured vaguely out at the city outside of this sparse workshop, “but… well…” he grew sheepish. “...yeah. I did.”

Ars stared at him for a few long seconds before suddenly bursting out in a fit of laughter, slapping Imperius’ back warmly.

“Peri, my friend, you know all you need to do is come talk to me, right? No segues, nothing like that? You know I’ll listen to anything you’d say!”

“Well,” Imperius tilted his head back and forth as he considered his words, “I also wanted a visual aid, you see.”

He picked up the ring that Ars had placed on the workbench and looked it over with his own eyes.

“What do you know of the three Gems of Being, Ars?”

“Same as everyone else, I’d wager,” Ars shrugged. “Magic gems, extremely powerful, extremely dangerous…”

“Extremely dangerous if the pony attempting to use them doesn’t know what they’re doing,” Imperius corrected, examining a bit of script along the inside of the ring. “They’ve been found to be perfectly safe and stable, and even manipulable under the right circumstances by our foremost arcanologists. It’s difficult to change their nature, but it’s possible.”

“What do you mean, change their nature?” Ars asked, frowning. something about this conversation seemed to shift as he asked this.

“Right now, they’re just raw and extremely concentrated ingots of energy. What if they could be harnessed?”

“Imperius…” Ars suddenly seemed to have an idea of what his prince was asking. “You said you weren’t worrying about the prophecy.”

“And I’m not,” replied Imperius evenly, putting the ring back on the workbench. “This is for the Empire, Ars. And this is for me and whoever comes after me as the King of the Alicorns.”

He stepped toward the exit of the shop, before turning and gesturing for Ars to follow him.

“I have something to show you.”

Ars followed him uneasily. Imperius led him out into Elysium, seeming to ignore all of the ponies who turned and gave him a polite bow. Ars always felt it entirely strange how these ponies, or rather, how their entire culture seemed to be centered around a never-ending quest for the pursuit of power, yet they would so quickly turn and defer to a pony far younger than they.

Their civilization’s eternal advancement had its quirks, that was certain.

Ars never tired of looking upon the streets of Elysium, so full of life and always with fellow alicorns doing interesting things. His favorite bakery wasn’t too far from here, and no doubt they’d be putting that special heat moderation crystal he’d crafted for them to good use. The merchants hawked their wares. There was even a jeweler nearby whom he had helped craft some special cutting tools for. Ars wondered how well those were working for them.

However, if Harmonia were with them, no doubt she would be talking about the lack of Subservients in this city. Ars and Imperius both loved her to death, but her constant lectures about them could grow extremely tiresome. Ars didn’t know what had come over her, but she’d suddenly become very outspoken against the status of the Subservients lately. It was bad enough that King Dominus was letting them waltz off to form their own country, now Harmonia would have them profane this city with their unworthy hooves! No, worse than that, call this city their home!

Ars was trying, he really was, to persuade Harmonia to tone it down. Speaking heresy such as this would only turn her into a pariah. It was the alicorns who ventured north of the Maw. It was the alicorns who mastered this place. It was they, and they alone, who built Elysium here, at the very edge of the Wellspring itself. This was a city for alicorns, and for them alone. It wasn’t that the Subservients weren’t able to stand in the shadows of their majesty– there was quite literally a city surrounding the city where the Subservients lived–, but rather, this was the way of things.

The Alicorns were those who had risen above all others. It was they who had ascended. It was they who had seized immortality. It was they who had forged the very Gems of Being Imperius was referring to. They were the masters of the world. There existed places that only they could tread, and this city was built to be one such place.

Imperius led him to the Great Spire, past two magnificent statues of King Magnus and his mother Queen Verita flanking the entry, through the passages and corridors of his home. But as he led Ars through the familiar halls, he was being led to an unfamiliar destination. Rather than lead Ars up into the Royal Quarters, or to any of their familiar haunts from the days of their youth, Imperius began to lead Ars down, down below the surface of the earth.

They trotted down into these twisting passages for moments that stretched on and on, speaking not a word to each other or to any that passed. Ars watched Imperius uneasily as they went. Peri was normally a rather lax stallion, even when he was on official duty. Never afraid to joke, never afraid to treat his friends as his friends. This Imperius however… Shoulders tight, steps tense, eyes fixed firmly forward.

Eventually, they stopped halfway down a hall deep below the surface of the city. Ars blinked dumbly as they came to a halt in this otherwise-nondescript place.

“Why did we stop?”

Imperius, however, paid him no mind. He surveyed the perfectly smooth deep green stone wall, searching for something best known to him, before finally reaching up with a hoof, pushing against the wall, and casting some kind of spell, his horn glowing blue. Two sparks of magic erupted from his hoof and seemed to trace the outline of a doorway on the wall before meeting the ground and vanishing. The moment the sparks disappeared, so too did the shape they outlined, revealing a doorway hidden in the wall.

“Lovely, a hidden chamber in the bowels of the tunnels beneath your grand old spire,” Ars observed, with a wry smile. “How ominous.”

Imperius didn’t respond. Ars was starting to grow unnerved by this. Where was the friend he had laughed and joked with only a few moments earlier?

Instead, Imperius led him into this doorway, and as Ars stepped around the corner, he gasped.

A great crystal shining with white light occupied the room, It hovered only just above the ground, reaching up high above the both of them to nearly scrape the ceiling, which was so high that this room alone could contain the statues of Magnus and Verita flanking the spire’s entryway, and those were at least five times his height! Little sparks of light danced within the crystal, creating a strange effect on the walls as though individual sparkles of light were moving about, causing small shadows to change shape on the floor, like the sun shining through the wavy surface of water.

Ars had seen it so many times, but he had no idea this was where it was kept when it wasn’t Crystalling Day.

“So this is where you keep the Crystal of Eternity,” he grinned, simply basking in the crystal’s magnificence. He had always wondered where this artifact was kept.

Imperius didn’t respond yet again. Instead, he approached the base of the crystal, placed his hoof on a specific spot on the floor, and once again caused two blue sparks to trace a shape on the ground. Where those sparks traced, the ground disappeared, and up from below the floor rose three small pedestals, and on each one sat a glowing star.

Ars’ mouth fell open as he approached each one. Each gem glowed brighter than the Crystal of Eternity on its own, and each one radiated such power that he was awed just to be in the same room as them! The holy glow of red, blue, and green washed over him, and he could feel his legs grow weak at the sight of them.

“The Gems of Being…” he whispered. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. What did Imperius want him to do? He had been granted the sight of two of their most sacred artifacts! Well, one collection of them. But still!

Imperius didn’t seem to want him to do anything, however. He simply stood there, staring at the gems before them both, an unreadable expression on his face.

“My father is planning on retiring soon,” Imperius finally said.

Ars blinked. What? King Dominus, retiring?

“Not for a few years, but it will be soon,” Imperius continued. He was staring at the gems, their three lights shining in his eyes as he stared directly at the center gem, the blue one. “He believes that with Harmonic Convergence approaching, he wants to mark the occasion with a new king to lead alicornkind forward into a brave new epoch.”

“You… you don’t sound happy about it,” he noticed. Imperius was speaking slowly, deliberately. A far cry from how he had sounded back at the workshop.

“The moment I take power, there will be challengers to my rule,” Imperius clenched his teeth together. “Do you know how many times I walk the streets and hear the whispers behind my back about my father’s doings? How he allowed so many Subservients to just leave? How he lately has seemed to be asking our historians to completely rethink the way we look at the Herald and the Great Lady? Our subjects aren’t happy, Ars.”

Ars had been wondering that himself. Why had King Dominus allowed the Subservients to just go? Were they not the masters of this world? Was it not right for they who had not both wings and horn to serve they that did? It was, after all, better to serve in Heaven than to reign in Hell was it not? Why should the Subservients look to leave when they were clearly ill-equipped?

“The moment my father crowns me king, the Empire will be thrown into turmoil.”

“Don’t be so melodramatic, Peri. You’ve been groomed for this for years! Surely you don’t think you aren’t capable!”

“I am more than capable,” Imperius replied, giving him a look that did not inspire much confidence in Ars that he believed it. “But I do not wish to be forced to reunite us all through bloodshed. I wish to have the wisdom needed to rule, I wish to be able to inspire the others to follow me without challenge. I desire the strength to defend the Empire and the will to make the necessary difficult decisions.”

He finally turned to face Ars, a look of resolve on his face, but it seemed to be at war with the nervousness in his eyes.

“Ars, we have been able to harness the three Gems of Being. Their power is overwhelming, but we have found ways of containing and focusing their power when needed. However, never have we been able to harness more than one at a time.”

Ars began to connect the dots.

Imperius turned to stare at the gems once more.

“My grandfather had the gems created. My father had the gems hidden away. I seek to use them the way they were always intended. I want to use them as king. As tools for defense, as a way to guide us forward into the eternal golden age Father wishes me to. But I know so very few who I can trust with what I am asking…”

“You can always trust me!” Ars protested, stepping forward to lay a hoof on Peri’s shoulder.

“I know,” Imperius nodded. “And that’s why I’ve brought you down here, Ars. I’m not asking this as Prince Imperius. I’m not asking this as your client. I am asking you as a friend if you could do me a favor.”

“Anything,” Ars responded immediately. “But you know that if I have misgivings, I will inform you.”

“I wouldn’t ask you if you wouldn’t be honest,” Imperius smiled. “I need someone I can trust, not someone who always agrees with me.”

“What are you asking for?”

“Ars, I have seen something in you that I hope your master Artifex has seen in you as well,” Peri turned to give him a glowing look. “Your efforts earlier on that containment ring were nothing short of artful, Ars! The delicate script that you etched, the passion you showed, everything. I have seen so few arcanosmiths with a spark of brilliance in you like that.”

“I’m… well-practiced,” Ars replied, feeling a little overwhelmed at the praise.

“Yes, but you are also gifted with arcanosmithing,” Imperius tapped him firmly on the shoulder, drilling it into his head. “I’m not saying this to flatter you, Ars. I’m saying this to show you that I have every confidence in you.”

“For what, exactly?” Ars eyed him warily. He was acting so unlike himself today.

Imperius took a deep breath.

“I am asking you to see if it is possible to craft an object that can wield all three Gems of Being at once.”

Ars’ mouth fell open.

“A-all three at once!? Peri, not even your grandfather’s arcanosmiths were capable of harnessing more than one! And what do you even need them for?”

“If I wield the Gems together, then no one would be able to stand against me, Ars,” Imperius replied. “None of my challengers would dare stand against me knowing I could use these gems. They are exactly what could be key in holding the Empire together when Father abdicates.”

“Peri, you don’t even know if anyone will challenge you!”

“I know,” Imperius admitted with a bow of his head, “but I want to be prepared, just in case.”

Ars could see what Imperius wanted. He trusted his friend to do the right thing with this kind of power, but he was asking for so much! He was asking for Ars to advance the science of arcanosmithing forward by… by centuries, at least, just to craft one thing!

Another thought occurred to Ars as well. Imperius denied it, but he knew his friend better than anyone. Imperius had been consumed by Verita’s final prophecy not long after he’d first read it. Now he seemed to have grown past it, but there were always moments where he couldn’t be sure…

“I’m not forcing you to, Ars,” Imperius said, snapping Ars out of his thoughts, and Ars realized he was now staring at the gems himself. “If you wish to say no, then by all means, refuse me. If you can’t make any progress, then so be it. All I am asking is that you try. The Empire itself may very well depend on it.”

Ars clenched his eyes shut, feeling a strange prickle of dread well up in him. Why did this simple conversation feel like it meant so much more? Harmonia always asked him to trust what his heart was telling him, and his heart was telling him that this was an idea that could go oh so very wrong oh so quickly. But Master Artifex always tried to drill into his head that trusting one’s head was more important. Was the Herald trying to tell him something?

What did he do?

Nevertheless, Ars wasn’t so religious that he put the Herald’s words before his friends. It seemed so very counter to the Herald’s own wisdom about being there for your companions. He took a deep breath.

“I… I will do what I can,” Ars promised, despite his misgivings.

Imperius nodded gratefully, giving him a warm smile and firmly clapped him on the shoulder, as they had done to each other a thousand times before. “That’s all I can ask for.”

Ten thousand years later, Ars Arcanum would look back on this moment with both nostalgia and shame. This moment, a simple favor for a friend, would be the moment that began a sequence of events that would doom them all.

---

“Oh my goodness I love it!” Bright Gleam squealed.

“Yeah, I thought you might,” Nova Shine smiled as he watched his young and excitable apprentice pull a magnificent green cloak out of a gift-wrapped box, swinging it around and trying to fasten it around her neck, only to find that she was having a little bit of trouble with the brooch. “It’s inside out again.”

Gleam giggled sheepishly, before turning the cloak the right way and fastening the cloak around her neck.

Nova had originally wanted to simply tailor his old cloak to fit her a little better, considering it was meant for someone his size and Gleam was a bit shorter and more gangly than him at the moment, but Rarity had been having none of it and had instead discreetly gotten ahold of some information from Sassy up in Canterlot about Gleam’s measurements from a dress she’d gotten some time ago after her last growth spurt.

As a result, Bright Gleam now stood in front of him wearing an emerald green linen cape, complete with a hood, that was joined just above her breast with a brooch decorated with a shining emerald that had small golden pieces set into it in the shape of her cutie mark. And thanks to Rarity’s special touch, there had been the tiniest fragments of crystals and gemstones that had been worked into the fabric that allowed it to catch the early morning light and glitter beautifully. And on top of the fashionable element, they provided practical function as well, allowing magic to be more efficiently impregnated into the cloak, which meant that any enchantments Gleam decided to use would be stronger and easier to maintain than Nova’s Archmage cloak, which was just pure cloth.

“I like it,” Sharp Eye said, nodding approvingly as they walked out toward his and Nova’s usual spot for some morning exercise. “Not so long that you’re tripping over it anymore, looks lightweight, and that brooch looks like it’s meant to break away if too much force is used to pull on it. May I?” he added, reaching out.

“Uhh… sure,” Gleam nodded, pausing so he could do what he wished. Sharp Eye gave a sharp tug at her cape, and sure enough, the brooch unfastened itself automatically to allow the cloak to come free without strangling her. Gleam winced at the tug on her neck, but a little pain was better than a great lack of air.

“Rarity’s outdone herself,” Sharp Eye observed, holding the cloak back toward Gleam, who eagerly put it back on. “If I may make a recommendation, since you’re so eager to work with us today, try training with the cloak on so you can get a feel for how it catches the wind and flutters.”

“I’ll try,” Gleam promised, before smiling in some embarrassment. “I, uhh… I was never good at P.E. back in Magic Primary.”

“Not to worry, we all start somewhere.” Sharp Eye patted her on the shoulders reassuringly before gesturing at Nova. “This idiot was completely hopeless when I first started making him run agility exercises, but he’s gotten much better. Every day you improve a little, and these incremental gains eventually blossom into the athletics expected of a mage, but it’s hard when you’re just getting started. Your body’s not accustomed to being worked like this, but the important thing is that you get used to it.”

The streets of Ponyville were eerily quiet at this time of the morning, even as Celestia brought the sun to fully crest the horizon and begin its day-long arc over the sky. The mists and the bitter chill they brought wafted around them, but Sharp Eye and Nova were more than used to it by now, while Gleam now had a nice cloak to keep her warm. For that matter, Sharp Eye’s backpack seemed to be keeping him warm as well as he brought the day’s training implements with him.

“You don’t have to do this, you know,” Nova said as they exited the outskirts of the town and made their way toward a small field where the earth had been well-trampled over the last few years.

“I want to though,” Gleam replied. She sounded nervous but determined as she said it. “I…” she looked down, and Nova could glimpse a brief flicker of fear cross her face. “I need to get better.”

“Is my Nightmare Ward not working?” Nova asked, looking her up and down with concern.

“It is,” Gleam nodded, but she still looked troubled. “But… I still… I can’t stop thinking about that mare.”

“Ah,” Sharp Eye said softly. “You’ve had an encounter with Envy, haven’t you?”

“Envy nearly killed her,” Nova whispered, hopefully low enough that Gleam couldn’t hear. “Twice. She’s been terrified ever since we went to the Empire.”

“I’m not scared anymore,” she protested, perhaps a little bit too strongly. Internally, Nova winced. He didn’t want to sound like he was pitying her, even though he was. “B-but I can’t…”

“You want to be able to defend yourself,” Sharp Eye said for her, not unkindly. “You want to not be helpless.”

Gleam nodded, looking relieved that she didn’t have to say it herself. “Y-yeah. I just… I don’t want to freeze up if that ever happens again. I can’t always count on Harmonia to save me.”

“I would disagree with that,” Nova countered with a shake of his head. “It sounds like Harmonia has a vested interest in keeping you alive, and there’s not much we can do about it. But I respect that you don’t want to have to rely on her.”

“I think…” Gleam worked her jaw and rubbed around her horn for a moment. “I think she wants me to learn for myself as well. Like, she’ll protect me if she must, but she wants me to be able to protect myself so that she doesn’t have to. So that I’m not relying on her.”

“A good outlook to have,” Sharp Eye nodded approvingly. “At the end of the day, you’ll always have others to count on, but you should still be able to handle yourself. Here we are,” he added as they emerged from the outskirts of the town into the outlying lands where grassy fields and knolls stretched all the way to the base of Mt. Canterhorn off in the distance.

They strode toward a particularly flat section that had a well-trodden path worn into the ground, the telltale sign of where Nova and Sharp Eye had done their training in years past. Sharp Eye swung the small knapsack off of his back and began pulling out small flags, which Nova promptly stuck into the ground at the usual places.

“Today’s aim is agility,” Sharp Eye explained as Nova took his place at the flag he usually started at, near a square shape. “Fighting is all well and good, but dodging is just as important. If conserving magic is the aim, sometimes you simply want to avoid a spell rather than deflect it. So this numbskull does a drill here to work on basic movement. Demonstrate for us, Nova.”

Nova nodded. He braced himself for a split second, then turned around, backpedaling until the first flag was in the corner of his eye. At this, he began to shuffle sideways till he was past the next flag, then he sprinted forward to the third, and then shuffled back to the starting cone, all facing the same direction.

“Good. Not too difficult, just a nice little warm-up. Give it a try, Gleam.”

Nova rubbed some of the excess sleep from his eyes as Gleam took a position. Her attempt was… well, it was only slightly better than expected. She somehow managed to make it all the way to the first cone before she stepped on the hem of the cape and fell over. Nova had been expecting her to stumble backward almost immediately, but she had made it a few steps before her lack of practice showed.

“That’s alright, that’s alright. Get up and keep going,” encouraged Sharp Eye as Gleam staggered to her hooves and continued. The side shuffles were better, the sprint was perfect, although her transition needed some work, and then her closing shuffle saw her trip herself once more.

“That could have gone better,” Gleam grumbled from her spot on the ground.

“You’re learning,” Nova held a hoof down to help her up. “Eventually, this will all be muscle memory.”

“Lady Bright Gleam!”

The trio all looked over toward the source of the stern shout in time to see Captain Cinnabar cantering toward them looking thoroughly annoyed. “I must insist that, in the future, you do not leave without informing me of your whereabouts.”

Gleam let out a beleaguered sigh.

“Yes, Captain Cinnabar,” she moaned, not unlike as though she were receiving an earful from a parent or teacher.

“What are you doing out here?” Cinnabar asked, eyeing the two of her chaperones suspiciously.

“Training,” Sharp Eye replied with a grin. “You’re welcome to join us, Captain. I’d love to see how you handle some agility drills.”

Cinnabar turned her gaze toward the square arrangement of flags and wrinkled her nose, but did not object. Nova meanwhile performed another lap around the flags, and this time he took a tiny bit of extra care to make it obvious how he was maneuvering his cloak to keep it out of the way, exaggerating his head movements to take the cape out of the path of his hooves so that its hem didn’t trip him up as it did Gleam.

Following Nova shuffling back past the starting flag, Gleam took up her position and went again. This time, she fared a lot better. Mimicking Nova’s movements, she successfully kept the cape out of her way and was able to make it entirely around the square without tripping herself up. She did stumble and struggle to stop, but that was more because her body wasn’t used to the exercise yet.

“Not bad,” Cinnabar dipped her head, a tense movement that made Nova wonder if she truly did believe it wasn’t bad or whether she was just trying to be nice.

“Want to give it a go, Captain?” Sharp Eye offered.

“I shall pass this time, but I appreciate the offer,” Captain Cinnabar replied curtly. She most certainly did not seem to appreciate the offer.

They performed another few laps, then moved on to a different agility drill involving high-stepping. Gleam found this one much easier, though she did look like she felt self-conscious about how she was taking such high steps. There was another drill involving sharp cuts and angles that Gleam struggled with as well, her body not used to reactive stopping and starting again.

Nova watched her carefully, and all he could feel was dread. Not because he didn’t believe Gleam was incapable of growth and becoming athletic. Far from it.

He dreaded the path she was now set on, the path Harmonia clearly wanted her to walk.

Cinnabar sat next to him, her expression unreadable as ever as both of them watched Sharp Eye run Gleam through beginner drills.

“You fear for her,” she said in a low voice, her eyes following the young mare as she tripped over her new cape and fell again.

“Like you wouldn’t believe,” Nova replied softly.

Gleam staggered to her hooves and pressed on, her expression one of tired determination, her sweaty mane undone and trailing behind her. Nova had rarely seen her with her mane down before. It made her look wild and free.

“I think she will surprise you, my lord,” Cinnabar said, a strange assertive edge to her voice that he was unaccustomed to hearing. “Even without Harmonia, I am certain that she will unlock her full potential under your tutelage.”

“Yeah,” Nova smiled humorlessly. “I can help her achieve greatness in only a few months. Before I go pop.”

Cinnabar turned and surveyed him for several seconds. Nova felt strange under her gaze. It was not unlike the way Celestia would analyze him, an effect only magnified by the eyepatch.

“Have you so little faith in your own student?” she finally asked.

“No,” Nova shook his head. He didn’t know why he was confiding this in her. He barely knew her. And yet….

He trusted her with Gleam. If he could trust her with Gleam, he felt it was wise to prepare her for his own troubles.

“I have so little faith in me.”

Cinnabar nodded understandingly at that. “In that case, my lord, I think you will surprise yourself.”

Nova let out a quiet snort. Why were all these ponies so blatantly giving him such undeserved praise and encouragement?

If Cinnabar heard it, she did not comment. Instead, she returned her attention to the field, where Celestia was lifting the sun over the horizon in the far distance. Gleam seemed to be getting the hang of things now, and was working on simple jumps and leaps to different spots on the ground. Cinnabar could already see the tiny little improvements she had made in such a short time. This Sharp Eye seemed to be quite experienced when it came to training. Perhaps working with him wouldn’t be so bad.

Now if only the Archmage could see…

---

The winds gusted from behind them both as the atomized particles of the Alicorn Amulet once more were pulled back to themselves by whatever unseen force just popped into existence at the point of destruction. Twilight watched with fascination as all of the energy that had been released by their destruction of the gem was drawn back inward, recomposing itself into a completely untouched amulet once more, sitting benignly on a short pillar of stone that had also been reduced to atoms by the force of the explosion only moments before.

“How many more times do you want to blow it up?” asked her fiancee from her right.

Twilight shook her head and wiped sweat from her mane. Even with the two of them combining shields like Star Swirl had said, it was still exhausting work to contain an explosion of energy that massive. Even with her expanded alicorn reserves! Of course, they had already shattered it a few times that day, and they were no closer to figuring out the source of the conjured energy than they were when they started.

Now, Twilight considered herself the very model of an arcane expert general. She had information practical and also theoretical. She knew the feats of magic and could quote the dates historical from Druidas to Star Swirl in order categorical. She was very well-acquainted too with matters evocatigal and understood equations both the simple and the magical. About evocative theorems she was teeming with a lot of news--

"Lot of news." Hmm...

Wait, got it.

--with many cheerful facts about the way that spells can manafuse. She was very good at arcanic and evocative calculus, she knew the scientific names of beings manaticulous.

In short, in matters practical and also theoretical, she was the very model of an arcane expert general.

And yet despite that, all of her knowledge on the field of the arcane was failing her. Logic, the laws of physics, the laws of thermodynamics, the laws of magic, all of the laws were telling her that it was impossible for magical energy to just pop into existence like that.

Nova, meanwhile, was doing his usual thing of pacing around the stone plinth, massaging around his horn and muttering to himself.

Sometimes, all Twilight could do was smile and watch him go. When he was in his element, he was something to behold, but based on what he was muttering, he was getting about as far as she had been getting with her many thoughts on things in her off time.

“The First Law of Thermodynamics clearly states that the amount of energy in an isolated system is constant, and thus energy cannot be created nor destroyed, which of course implies that this energy had to come from somewhere, but there should be an energy trail leading to the source of it, and yet there isn’t. If it were traveling through time from a previous or future version of itself, it would have left an energy trail in the past leading to that exact spot, and we would be able to follow it in the future–”

“So do you want to break it again?” she asked, watching him do his thing, his eyes utterly glued to the amulet.

“--but that violates the Third Fundamental Law of Magic since that would be the spell repairing itself–”

“Nova.”

“--so the energy has to be coming from somewhere, but it cannot possibly be in this plane or else we’d be able to follow it, but the fact that it was able to respond instantly implies that the source of the spell is close by–”

“Noooooooova,” she called in a singsong voice. She loved and hated when he got like this. To think that there truly was someone who was her equal in magic, but that he also sometimes seemed to love magic more than her…

“It couldn’t be drawing energy from an alternate dimension where energy can be created from nothing, since the implications of String Theory posits that the fundamental laws are constant between different universes…”

He fell on his haunches and glared sulkily at the amulet. The amulet glinted innocently in the sunlight.

“Alright then, keep your secrets,” he glowered, before turning back to Twilight grimacing. “I hate problems where it feels like I’m not getting anywhere.”

“They are the worst kind of problem, aren’t they?” she asked with a wry smile. “Feels like you’re walking miles and never getting any closer to the destination.”

“Yeah,” Nova frowned. “One more go? I’ve got a session with Gleam later today, and I think you have errands to run, right?”

"Mm-hmm,” she nodded. “Potions and ingredients are a little low, and Spike’s been chomping his way through the gem candy we got him. It’s a miracle he doesn’t have any tooth decay right now…”

“I’m sure Smoulder’s giving him tips on how to avoid it, but…” he glanced back in the direction of the castle, its tallest spires poking up above the treeline of this particular clearing at the edge of the Everfree. “He has been eating a lot lately.”

“Might have to go up to the Empire to get some at this point,” she joked. "He’s going to clean out Maud’s shop at this rate.”

Nova frowned, before shaking his head. “One more. I’ve got shield duty this time.”

“Beam duty it is,” Twilight sighed, beginning to channel the energy already. It was grueling work, channeling a focused blast of energy for that long. The gem was made of resilient material, no doubt the result of all the energy contained within.

Nova’s shield surrounded the amulet and a good chunk of the earth around it, and Twilight let loose, firing the beam toward his shield, where it met the bubble in a flash of white light and phased through it as though the wall weren’t there at all.

Two hearts becoming one, a bond that cannot be undone, she thought to herself, thinking back to the song she’d rehearsed a thousand times before Shiny’s wedding. Before all of this. Before Nova. Before becoming a princess. Before…

“We’ve got to stop bumping into each other like this.”

Before she could stop herself, images of Flash Sentry began to flicker through her mind, followed by the feelings that went with it. The jealousy, the guilt, the shame, and…

The white light where their spells met disappeared, and her beam reflected off of the shield and hit Nova directly in the chest before he could react. Nova let out a cry of shock as he was thrown backward, colliding with a particularly knobby tree with a crash, before sliding to the ground and groaning with pain.

“Oh my gosh! Nova, are you okay!?”

Nova staggered to his hooves, ignoring her panic and rubbing at a spot on the back of his head where he was bleeding. Twilight felt a lurch in her stomach as she noticed that he had cut the back of his head on the tree, but before her usual reflexes could kick in, the injury was gone, his flesh knitting itself back together due to his oversaturation's healing factor kicking in.

“What… what was that?” he asked, giving her an indignant look. “What the hell was that!?”

“I’m sorry,” she shook her head, fighting back the suddenly turbulent emotions that had been dug up. “I just… I had an idle thought, and it segued into… into Flash and… and all of that.”

Nova’s mouth parted, and he stared at her in total disbelief. How was he going to react today? Was he going to blow up again? Was he going to emotionally shut down? Was he going to pretend like nothing had happened as a defense mechanism?

He stared at her for an uncomfortable amount of time, and she could see the conflicting feelings in his eyes, but she held his gaze as long as she could.

Eventually, he looked away. “I see,” he said softly.

“Nova?”

Nova walked over to the amulet, picked it up off of the plinth, and stowed it away for safekeeping under the archmage’s cloak that he summoned around his shoulders. With that, he turned around and began to trot out of the clearing.

Twilight stared after him glumly. Looks like his response today is emotionally shutting off. Willpower was supposed to be the hallmark of powerful spellcasters, so how was it that she still hadn’t quite mastered that part of herself?

The easy, cop-out answer was that the mind was a complex thing that was difficult to control and that there was no shame in the train of thought going in whatever direction it wanted, but that deflected any blame when the spell de-merging was clearly something that happened on her end.

“You coming?”

Twilight blinked, returning to clarity and looking up. Nova was looking back at her expectantly.

“You’re not… mad?”

“Idle thoughts happen,” he shrugged. “I get it. And I know the spiral they can send you down all too well. So no, I’m not.”

Twilight felt like something massive and heavy just fell off of her shoulders at that very moment, and she cantered forward to join him as they began to make their way back toward the town.

I love this stallion.

“We’ve gotta talk about things, though,” he added in a low voice as they exited the perimeter of the forest. “With everything going on, there hasn’t been a good time. You said I’m not forgiven after… after that night, so I know I need time, but at some point we can’t just wait it out. Right?”

“Yeah,” she murmured. “The longer this goes…”

“I mean,” he brushed up alongside her in a way she was certain was intentional, “I still love you to death, and I know you still love me. We wouldn’t be able to merge our magic if we didn’t, right? But it feels like the longer we let this fester, the worse these little moments will get.”

“We just need time,” she sighed. “It’s going to be a long talk, isn’t it?”

“Has to be,” he nodded. “We both have a lot of things we need to say, and we need the time to say them, and to work through them.”

“Should we clear next Thursday?”

“Seems like a good idea,” Nova nodded. “I’ll be back in town after a session of the House of Nobles, so I’ll be mostly empty that day.”

“Okay, let’s plan on it.”

As they reentered the town passing by the School of Friendship as they made their way toward the castle, he brushed up against her again, a little more firmly this time. Yes, she really did love this stallion. It wasn’t always the smoothest relationship in the world, but when things went well, there was no one better.

And at last, they’d be able to put all of this behind them.

“Maybe we can get Trixie to be our mediator.”

“Absolutely not. I don’t want that nag anywhere near us during a serious moment!”

“TRIXIE HEARD THAT!”

---

For the second time that day, lights were flashing in the Western Orchard of Sweet Apple Acres. This time, the results were a lot more harmless, but a lot more unpredictable.

Bright Gleam was rooted to a spot on the ground, knees bent in anticipation, glancing every which way as five orbs of blue-white light slowly hovered around her threateningly. Every so often one of them would hover toward her threateningly, making her whirl around, hoof at the nape of her cape, but then it would hover away once more.

One of them fired a small, narrow beam of light at Gleam, who reflexively yanked her new cloak down where the beam of light was going to hit. The small beam deflected into the ground harmlessly. Gleam didn’t celebrate her small accomplishment, as she yanked her hoof free and resumed her alertness, ready for the next beam to shoot her way.

“Watch your tail,” Master Nova Shine cautioned from her right. She whirled around, backing away from an orb that was wandering a little too close for comfort.

*ZAP!*

“Wah!” Gleam yelped as she felt a sharp sting on her left flank. In her jump away from the sensation, her hoof caught the hem of her cape, and she tumbled into the ground with a loud “Oof!”

Nursing a sore butt and some wounded pride, she pushed herself back up and glared at her master, around whom the five orbs of light were spinning once more.

“You told me watch my tail!”

“I did,” Master Nova Shine nodded. “I never said an attack would come from there. Why would your attacker ever tell you which way their real strike would come from?”

She grit her teeth and let out a huff. He was right, of course. And even though it annoyed her, she knew it was for her own good. Still, she had come out here expecting to learn magic, not defense.

“I thought you took me on as your apprentice so I could learn magic, not self-defense,” she said, redundantly repeating the previous sentence almost word-for-word redundantly.

“Knowing how to protect yourself from harmful spells is part of learning about magic, Gleam,” he countered patiently. “Suppose you were researching magical golems, and you accidentally set one loose. You would need to be prepared to defend yourself against this golem’s offenses should it turn hostile toward you. And you’ll often find that the best offense is an impenetrable defense,” he added, punctuating his sentence by jumping backward, whirling his own cloak around, and blocking three quick blasts from his orbs.

But what separated these from the way Gleam had blocked them was that Master Nova Shine had used his cape in such a way as to bat the lasers back toward the orbs that had fired them. Only one of them hit, but the point was made, even if they were his own blasts that he was parrying.

“Sometimes, if you can just wear your opponent down, make them use up all of their energy, or frustrate them until they do something risky, you can minimize the amount of energy you use. Have you ever heard of ‘economy of motion’?”

She shook her head.

“You have a limited amount of energy,” he stated, starting to pace around the clearing. “Thus, you want to maximize its use, right? You would want to use it at its most efficient, so that you waste as little energy as possible. This goes both for physical energy and manatic energy. The less energy you expend to face one opponent, the more you have for the next, right?”

It was intuitive. She’d just never really heard the term before, or heard it systemized like this.

“So it makes sense that you’d want to take the least amount of energy possible to win, and a de facto win condition of a fight is to burn out your opponent. It’s a lot easier to defend than it is to attack, and naturally, it’s safer. So believe me, Gleam. I am teaching you magic. I’m teaching you an application of magic I never wanted you to learn, but that starts with you being able to protect yourself.”

“So after I can protect myself, then you’ll start teaching me how to pull meteors out of the sky?”

Master Nova Shine laughed. “Spike always wants me to summon meteors. Now you’re doing it too.”

“Is that bad?” she asked. All of her nerves were now on high alert. Did she do something wrong?

“No, just funny,” he shook his head, trotting over to lean against a tree. “That being said, I learned defense and offense at the same time with Twilight. We’ll start with the offensive basics after a short break, but nothing flashy like meteors or hellfire. Just some simple energy beams like the one you used back at the Empire.”

“Not even the elements?” Gleam asked, feeling a little disappointed. Sure, she’d get there with time, but she wanted to start throwing fireballs around.

What practical purpose did they serve? She didn’t know nor care, what mattered was fireballs.

“Not yet, although they will be some of the first things we cover,” he replied. Maybe he sensed her disappointment…? “But break first, magic later.”

Gleam nodded, grateful for the short reprieve. Considering this morning was physical training and this afternoon was magic training, she’d been doing a lot of training today. No doubt he would want her to turn it into a habit, honing herself until she was as capable as it was possible for her to be, but she knew that was a loooooooong way ahead of her.

Miss Applejack had left a pitcher of Sweet Apple Acres Cider (non-alcoholic, of course) and some mugs for them nearby. Gleam cantered over and picked one up, poured herself a generous portion, then drained it in a quick set of gulps before helping herself to another. Nothing beat cold cider on a warm day.

Even if it wasn’t really warm, seeing as how it was getting a little bit nippy out with autumn in full swing. Then again the Running of the Leaves hadn’t happened yet, so was it really autumn, or was it still on the tail end of summer? In Canterlot, the Running of the Leaves was always a subdued thing since there weren’t many trees to shake the leaves off of, but out here there were entire forests to shake down, so did autumn start earlier to account for all of that?

Focus, Gleam.

Didn’t matter, lovely day, cider tastes great, still tired from training.

“Hey, save some for me!”

“Sorry,” Gleam said, not feeling the least bit so.

“I figured you’d be buzzing with questions right about now, but I guess mine and Sharp Eye’s training regimens have you in need of some calories.” He grabbed his own mug, filled it up, then went and took a seat under one of the trees. One of the fruit bats up above opened an eye and watched him warily.

She finished her second mug, wiped her mouth, and placed it back on the tray for Miss Applejack to take back later. “I mean, not much to ask, I guess,” she admitted. “Or rather, not much I’m sure I should be asking,” she clarified.

“Don’t be afraid to ask, Gleam,” he said, giving her an encouraging smile. “I will never punish you for curiosity. If you’re stumbling on a topic you aren’t ready for, or that I don’t think you need to know, I’ll tell you, so please don’t assume I’ll ever be angry at you for asking questions.”

“Okay.” Gleam frowned. That didn’t make her job any easier. There were already so many questions she wanted to ask. Though, there had been one thing that had been bothering her…

“What happened down in that… that room? Under the Empire?”

Master Nova Shine’s frown matched her own now.

“You mean, how did Sombra come back?”

“Yeah.” Her mind went back to the moment when that black stuff had just forced itself out of him via the mouth. What had it been? Whatever it was, that moment had given her a lot of pause, and most likely would have given her several nightmares if not for his Nightmare Guard.

“One of these days, I’m going to need to give you the full story of what happened when I had a two-year trip into the past,” he said, seeming to chew on every word before saying it. Why was he so hesitant? “There was… an incident, in the city that would become Canterlot. I fought against a unicorn named Silas Silverblood, who was secretly working for Sombra. Those defensive lessons I was teaching you a minute ago?” She nodded. “That’s how I beat him. I frustrated him. I tanked his hardest hits and barely broke a sweat, before countering with my own spells. He got desperate because of it, and he cast a spell of Dark Magic.”

Gleam did not miss the distant, painful look that crossed his face for but a moment, before he covered it up.

“At the time, I thought it was just a desperation attack, even though Sombra showed up to personally inform me that it had further-reaching effects. I hurt like hell for a few days, but I was back on my hooves not long after that. Now, however, I think it’s quite clear what Silverblood did.”

His countenance darkened again.

“He used soulular magic on me. It explains why there was such a backlash back then. He forcibly implanted a portion of King Sombra’s soul onto mine.”

“Backlash?”

He nodded slowly.

“When Silas Silverblood cast that spell, his horn exploded. I had always wondered what could possibly cause something like that to happen to a unicorn, but now I realize that he was using a spell that comes at a terrible cost, and Sombra didn’t inform him of the price to be paid.”

“Is soul magic that bad?” she asked, feeling a prickling at the back of her neck. Her mind once again returned to the twisted thing she had felt with her magical probe in the Maze of Identical Hallways back at the Empire. Was this somehow even worse than that?

Master Nova Shine nodded again.

“We know precious little of soulular magic, and all we know of it was recovered from Alicorn ruins. We know they pushed the boundaries of magic in many ways, and we know that, towards the collapse of their civilization, they were dabbling in some dark stuff. This was one of the few things ponykind has recovered, and for good reason, it was locked away so that only precious few ponies could ever look on it.”

He paused, considering where next to take this train of thought.

“I’ve only seen the general overview of what they’ve been able to recover, but Twi’s seen all of it. She says they were the ones who invented magical artifices such as Horcruxes, though they called them something else in that language of theirs. The point is, they dabbled in ways to tamper with the soul, they recorded their findings, and we found some of them. And soulular magic is one of the few fields of magic that requires what we call a Blood Cost, which is to say, a physical payment from the caster. It’s not necessarily blood, though it can be. Soul Implantation in particular? It takes the horn of its caster.”

A heavy silence fell over the grove as Gleam shivered. A spell so taboo it destroyed the horn of the one who cast it…

It was one thing for the spell to exist. It was one thing for a unicorn to cast it unwittingly. It was another for there to actually be someone out there who knew what this spell could do and was willing to make others cast it for him. One who would manipulate others into delving so deep into the darkness that they emerged without the Gift of Magic.

This is what we’re up against.

Indeed. Yet fret not. Darkness may seem to be stronger at first glance, for it is willing to go where none should, but light always triumphs in due course.

“Then, you know the rest,” Master Nova Shine sighed, leaning his head back against the trunk of his tree. “I had no idea that was going to happen. Then it did.”

Gleam said nothing. So they were dealing with someone who had plans as far as over a thousand years into the future, at least from when he first had the spell cast on Master Nova Shine, and he was willing to manipulate others into casting abominable spells.

“Well, I think that’s enough of a break for now,” Master Nova Shine got to his hooves again. “This conversation has cast a pallor over our little training session. So let’s get back to it, and I can answer more questions you have on the way back to the Castle.”

She didn’t move, however. Her mind was still going crazy with all of the implications here. Just how far had Sombra planned out? What was his next move? How big of a target was on her back because of Harmonia, even if Harmonia could protect her?

“It’s just…”

How would she say this the right way?

“How can we beat him if he’s willing to do any of that? How do we face an enemy willing to be that evil?”

Master Nova Shine trotted over and held out a hoof to her. She took it and he helped her to her hooves.

“Lord Star Swirl seems to have a plan,” Master Nova Shine answered. Gleam noticed the tiniest of scoffs in his voice as he said it. “I suppose we’ll hear it after we have the Gem of Mind. But with him, the Princesses, Twi, and Cadenza on our side, I think we have him beat in sheer magical ability.”

“And you,” she pointed out. Why did he omit himself?

He did not respond to that. Instead, he simply gestured to that same spot on the ground. “Alright, back to it. Now, let’s work on beams.”

Several meters away, hovering just outside of the range that she knew the Archmage could sense, a slender silver mare spied on the master and apprentice from a spot in the trees. Despite it being her mission to ensure that the bonehead stayed on task trying to locate the Gem of Mind, she couldn’t help but eavesdrop.

How do we face an enemy that evil?

“You don’t know the half of it, kid,” she muttered, decomposing and gliding away, leaving them alone to their training.

---

Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble.

As Twilight watched Zecora work her craft over the cauldron in her home while the Zebrican masks stared threateningly down at them both, the first lines of the song of the Weird Sisters played in her head as they often did. No thanks to the Harry Trotter movies turning it into an actual song, anyway.

There was just something fantastical and whimsical seeing Zecora work the pot of whatever brew she was working on today, as though she were in a fantasy of her own rather than this harsh reality where, unfortunately, she had to deal with mundane things like doomsday artifacts, a fiancee that was quite literally too magical, and low potion stores.

“Thanks for getting everything for me, Zecora,” she said as she continued to pack the many different potion ingredients to brew more to replenish her low stock. “Feels like I was only here a few weeks ago.”

“It is no bother, my Equestrian friend,” Zecora smiled at her, even as she continued to add measures of the many things in the room to her boiling pot. “For you, some help I am always happy to lend.”

“Brewing potions wasn’t really the way I was hoping to spend my afternoon,” Twilight groused, “but I figure since Nova’s out working with Gleam and Starlight’s got the school to run, I have the Castle mostly to myself and Spike, and an extra chore to do.”

“Hmm…” Zecora cast her a critical eye. “A curious list, these herbs you acquire. Tell me, what potions do you desire?”

“Nothing dangerous, if that’s what you’re asking about,” Twilight replied defensively.

“All potions are dangerous, this is rather well-known. Be careful to reap not what you’ve unwittingly sown.”

“Your concern is appreciated, Zecora, it really is,” Twilight replied, packing some more of the offered ingredients away and helping herself to more on her list. “But it’s just my usual set of potions. Calming tonics in case of panic attacks, Pepper-Up Potion for early mornings, Elixirs of Energy for all-nighters…”

“Have you been doing well? Mentally, that is to say. With everything going on, your mind may begin to fray.”

Zecora left her pot bubbling and came to scrutinize Twilight a little more directly, as if she could sense that something was bothering her. In truth, Twilight was feeling the strain of the last several days. Everything had just imploded after the encounter with Envy at the ruined Vaults, and now things were getting worse. Nova, at least, seemed to be recovering with a new sense of purpose, but she wasn’t doing quite so well.

“No, I’m not,” she shook her head and fell onto her haunches as the exhaustion that she was pushing to the back of her mind crashed into her. “It’s just… everything, Zecora. It’s overwhelming.”

“I had a feeling that this was the case,” Zecora nodded, giving her pot a quick stir before sitting down next to her and placing a friendly hoof on her shoulder. “It cannot be easy, with him in a bad place.”

“He’s gotten better,” Twilight said, feeling at least a bit better about that part. “He seems to actually be listening to Star Swirl. Trains with Sharp Eye every morning, never misses a Council meeting, Hearty says he was watching the Arsenal game again four days ago, and he says he’s going again tonight, so it feels like he’s recovering.”

“Recovery is not instant, you know as well as I,” Zecora cautioned her. “For one like Nova to bounce back this fast, my hopes are not high.”

“Are you saying he’s faking it?” Twilight asked, giving her a nervous look. “I mean… I wouldn’t put it past him. He’s done it before. But… it just feels genuine this time. He taught me how to sense lies years ago and I haven’t been able to catch him lying about this.”

“That’s not the only way to hide this from sight,” Zecora stared up at the hanging tribal ornaments. “I would make sure that he isn’t masking his troubles, Twilight.”

“I’ve taken many precautions. Surely he would have tripped at least one of them.”

“You’ve been quite thorough, I believe that’s quite true,” Zecora’s voice grew slow, deliberate, and stern. “But when Nova Shine wants to hide, does he not think like you?”

The question hung in the air, and once again Twilight felt that crushing feeling of failure inside her once more. She’d been engaged to him for four years, and even though it was new advice, the fact that he still was able to stay a step ahead of her in things like this was frustrating.

Why did Trixie of all ponies know Nova better than she did? How did Zecora know?

That’s not true, Nova’s voice echoed in her head. You know me better than anyone else.

And yet he always found a way to hide from her time and again.

A sign of how well I know you.

Why couldn’t he just think like he should? Predictably, in ways that she could anticipate.

Because you love that about me.

Even Twilight’s mental projection of him knew him better than she did.

“He does,” she admitted. “I’ve only been able to find him one time. Every other time, he’s managed to stay hidden until someone else helps me find him. Luna, Trixie…”

“I’d keep a close eye on him, if I were you,” Zecora warned, returning to her stirring of the cauldron. “There is the chance he is hiding it from himself too.”

“Hiding it from himself?”

“The first thing I know about Nova Shine is, his greatest enemy is that mind of his.” She wasn’t wrong. “He often finds problems that are not truly there, and creates a phantom burden for himself to bear.”

Twilight nodded. Yes, Nova was often the one person in the world who could perform a task perfectly, and then find some way to ruin his own self-esteem because he didn’t do it perfectly enough.

“And in the reverse, when he tries to let go, the one he must convince is himself that it is so.”

That explained… a lot, actually. Maybe he wasn’t putting on a facade to hide things from her this time. Maybe he was putting on a facade to convince himself that he was better, hoping that at some point down the line, it actually would become better. Faking it till he made it.

“Thank you, Zecora,” she trotted over and gave the zebra a hug. Zecora shooed her away but began filling several small vials with her requested brew. “Sometimes I need another perspective to help me see things clearly. Starlight’s great, but she’s been focused on the school lately. And… well, the less we say about Trixie the better. I love her as a friend, but she drives me up the wall.”

“You are quite welcome, my alicorn friend,” Zecora smiled warmly back at her. “I am always here for you, to chat, to brew, or to mend.”

With her potions prepared, Twilight left Zecora’s hut and began the trek back toward the town with a lot to think about. One thing was for certain, Nova had a lot of things that had gone unprocessed as of late, and she knew how unhealthy that could be. The longer he kept those bottled up and unresolved, the more he was at risk of suffering another breakdown. And if he was trying to hide things from himself…

Maybe we need to have that talk sooner rather than later.

---

“He’s through on goal… and that’s a magnificent strike! Three-nil to Arsenal, surely that puts the game to bed!”

“Ha-haaaaaaa!” Nova grinned as the broadcast of the evening’s match panned away from the pitch, where several ponies wearing red and white were celebrating a goal to the crowd to show jubilant celebrations from the spectators wearing primarily red and white as well.

“See, it’s good to have this version of you back.” Aegis reached out and thumped him on his withers, briefly driving the air from his lungs. As Nova sputtered, he turned and gave Aegis an annoyed look, which Aegis met with a faux-innocent expression.

It felt strange to be out of his armor. Being part of the guard, they made you wear it so often that you often felt more comfortable in it than out of it after a while, and it seemed that after eleven years of service, he was finally hitting that point. But today wasn’t a day that called for him to wear his barding.

Today, he had forgone the armor and was wearing a lily-white hoofball kit and trying desperately not to vomit because of the red and white one that Nova was wearing. How such an intelligent pony could willingly commit their life to a shit team like Arsenal was beyond him. He supposed this was Nova’s Persian flaw.

One of them, anyway.

“You’re just mad we’re gonna finish ahead of you and challenge for the title this season.”

“Yes, we can really see how quality the Gunners are, winning three-nil to relegation battling Crystal Palace. Truly a challenging opponent,” he noted dryly.

“Remind me the last time Spurs won a trophy, Aegis?” Nova fired back, that usual smug smile he had whenever he brought up Trottenham’s woes settling into place. “Was it before or after you bottled the league to Prancester City?”

The rest of the Council of Gentlestallions’ eyes flicked between the two at lightning pace. It was always worth it when Aegis came down to join them on hoofball nights. They got wonderful banter matches like this to pass the time by. Lyra and Roseluck were observing the proceedings eagerly from a booth several spots over. Applejack and Rainbow Dash had abandoned their usual arguments in favor of covertly listening in. Elsewhere in the bar, Hearty Brew had a tub of popcorn that he was munching on, watching the two of them quite eagerly.

“Yes, as if a few HA Cups are anything prestigious,” Aegis rolled his eyes.

“I guess they would be to a team that hasn’t won anything in the last 15 years.”

“It’s so nice to have him back,” Pierce whispered to Big Mac.

“Eeyup.”

Even though it had only been a few days since Nova’s midnight run for the Poisoned Apple, things this evening seemed a lot calmer than one would expect around a unicorn as volatile as Nova Shine. While there were still a few nervous glances from many of the bar’s regular patrons, not to mention Hearty Brew himself whenever it seemed like Nova was getting just a bit too rowdy, things tonight seemed to be progressing pleasantly and normally. Aegis had heard about Nova’s moonlit scamper, so to see things going as if that hadn’t happened was both somewhat concerning and yet a relief.

“You know,” Sharp Eye observed, “all things considered, it’s nice having you both in the bar again. Been too long since we saw you two going at it.”

“Hear, hear,” Time Turner toasted them with his pint. “This is the kind of quality entertainment we come here for.”

“Really?” Aegis arched an eyebrow. “You’re not here to watch how this poor sod loses the will to live whenever Arsenal bottle Top 4?”

Nova’s smile disappeared immediately, and for the briefest of moments, Aegis saw the briefest change in his eyes and watched his irises contract until his pupils were pinpricks. But then Nova looked away and seemed to deliberately blow out a breath.

Then a moment later, he shoveled some of his hay bacon cheese fries into his mouth and followed it up with a great several gulps of beer, and Aegis realized exactly why he was here.

“Anything to avoid talking about it, eh?” asked Sharp Eye, nudging Turner. “Watching them slowly but steadily let it slip must really have done numbers on his sharp tongue.” Pierce chortled.

Thankfully, Big Mac seemed to notice it too. He’d had an easygoing smile the entire night, seeming to enjoy the night of company with everyone around, but the moment Nova’s expression had changed, that smile had vanished.

Aegis often wondered why Trixie only considered the Apple family to be nothing more than country bumpkins. In his few conversations with the stallion, Aegis had long since concluded that Big Macintosh was both much more intelligent than he let on, but also incredibly observant. Hell, he was also incredibly strong. To hear Princess Twilight tell it, he had managed to drag an entire house behind him completely unawares once. If he didn’t prefer the quiet farm life, Big Mac would have been a shoo-in for the Groundshakers.

There was a small burst of cheering as Canterlot HC managed a late goal against Cloudsdale Wanderers, and fate decided that now was a good time to play the most unfortunate coincidence.

“ARE YOU WATCHING THIS!? FROM THE VERY BRINK, CANTERLOT HC HAVE SNATCHED AN EQUALIZER AT THE DEATH!”

There was a clatter, and Nova hastily excused himself from the table and made a break for the exit, leaving in his wake half-eaten food, a half-full pint, and a perplexed Council of Gentlestallions. Aegis’ reflexes had been honed by years of guard training, and while he deliberately let Nova go, he wasn’t far behind, tailing the archmage as he pushed his way past a few ponies making their entrances and out into Ponyville Square.

Nova hurried to the stone edge of the fountain, fell into a seat on the ground next to the fountain, and started taking great gasps of the cool night air. Aegis watched him for a moment, wanting to give Nova some space as he tried to prevent himself from hyperventilating. Rushing into it when he wasn’t in his right state of mind could make things worse.

After several moments, Nova seemed to get his breathing under control, slowing his breaths down and deepening them, before letting out a great sigh and falling back against the fountain’s edge.

Aegis stepped forward, slowly but deliberately so that Nova knew he was coming, and now that he had a moment to have a proper look at Nova, he could see just how exhausted Nova looked. On the surface, everything looked fine, although he had faint bags under his eyes. Aegis could see the tension in his shoulders and arms. Above all, however, Nova could just tell from the body language that Nova Shine did not have the energy he was trying to present himself as having.

Nova met Aegis’ eyes as he approached, and Aegis watched as his face shifted to a resigned expression.

“Sorry about that,” he mumbled. Aegis admired his resolve sometimes. He could cover his fatigue with training, but Nova didn’t have such training yet still tried to pretend like he was minorly inconvenienced by this panic attack.

“What’s there to be sorry about?” Aegis asked, trotting over to his side and having a seat. It was oddly ominous, having a pony statue up above them staring down with a big smile on its face. “I said something insensitive without realizing it, the others didn’t notice your distress, and then that damned broadcast…”

Nova couldn’t resist a chuckle. “Brilliant timing, I’d say. Couldn’t have planned it better myself.”

“Nova, don’t laugh this off.”

“What else can I do?” Nova threw up his hooves. “I came out here to have some fun, dammit! And I’m not gonna let my… my issues stop that from happening.”

“I call bollocks,” Aegis shook his head dismissively. “I know you, Nova. You weren’t here to have fun. You were here to look like you were having fun. You were putting in an appearance just to put in an appearance.”

Nova opened his mouth angrily, but Aegis met his anger with a challenging look of his own. Am I wrong? Tell me I’m wrong.

Fortunately, rather than escalate, Nova let out another great sigh and just wilted under his gaze. “You’re right,” he grunted, rubbing his eyes.

“Be honest with me,” Aegis scooted just a bit closer to him and threw a scowl at Rarity, who had been lingering just a little bit too long outside the door to Sugarcube Corner and not-so-subtly craning her ears to try and pick up on some juicy new gossip.

“It’s not like I can lie, you can sense energy too,” Nova grumbled.

As Rarity gave him an offended look and stepped into the confectionary cafe, Aegis snorted. “True, but I was being courteous. Anyway, Nova, did you even want to be here tonight?”

“I…” He nodded, but it was slow, as though he didn’t quite believe it, or know whether it was true. “I… did, after a bit.”

“After a bit?”

“I didn’t want to. Not at first,” he admitted softly. “But… I was having fun there, after a while.”

“You needed it.”

“Yeah,” Nova nodded. “I really did. I’ve just been trying to do everything lately. Training Gleam, study the Alicorn Amulet, teach at Twilight’s school, do my job as a High Noble, do my job as the Archmage…”

“That’s never a good thing,” Aegis gave him a stern look. “I know it’s hard, Nova. I can’t begin to imagine what it’s like. But you can’t do everything. No one can. You’re going to have to decide what you want to do most and pursue that.”

“I just wish I had more time…”

“Don’t we all,” Aegis muttered, just loud enough for him to hear. “I think that’s part of the beauty of it though.”

“Not having enough time?” Nova asked, sounding skeptical. “How’s that a beautiful thing?” Aegis supposed he couldn’t blame Nova for feeling that way. How to put this without being patronizing…?

“No one has enough time,” Aegis shook his head. “Even when you do what you want, there’s always something else to do after, innit?”

“Celestia and Luna have enough time,” Nova spat.

“What about Twilight or Cadance?”

“Not immortal,” Nova shook his head. “Neither is Flurry Heart. They’ll get to enjoy normal lifespans, maybe longer ones than normal, but they’re as mortal as everyone else. No, only the ancient alicorns got to be immortal.”

“And look how they ended up,” Aegis added, silently thankful that they’d somehow managed to segue back to the point. “Gone like everyone else. Like I said, no one has all the time in the world. Just means the individual moments matter more.”

Nova snorted. “Did you read that off a fortune cookie?”

“No,” Aegis elbowed him, glad that Nova wasn’t serious. He must never know… “Believe it or not, there are some ways that I’m kinda jealous of you, you know?”

“Really,” Nova grumbled, rolling his eyes. “You’re jealous of someone who won’t even live to be 30. Now I know you’re just saying–”

“Shut up, for fuck’s sake, and let me finish,” Aegis snapped. Nova gave him a frosty look, but he did as asked all the same. “Look, no one knows when the end is, right? Some of us die young, others live to be a hundred fifty and decrepit. Some of us die peacefully, and others die tragically. But none of us knows when it’s coming. No one except you, by the look of things.”

“And the terminally ill, and the ponies who commit suicide, and the–”

“For the love of Harmony, stop taking my point out of context and just take it for what it is!” Aegis snarled at him. “If you want to keep feeling bad about things and jamming jade-colored glasses into your eyes, then I can’t stop you, but at least try to let us help you.”

Following that, Nova fell silent. The only sounds that they listened to were the running water of the fountain, the occasional babble from the Poisoned Apple whenever the door swung open, the clip-clop of hooves on the stone as ponies went about their nightly business, and the occasional whistle of the winds.

Nova must feel right at home. Never met a pony so attached to a bit of a breeze as him.

“I needed to hear that,” he finally admitted.

“Yeah, you did.”

“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever told you,” he smiled wryly. “You remind me of an old friend of mine.”

“That Captain, right?” Aegis asked. Yeah, Nova had told him about this. How he had the same coat and mane color. How coincidental, having grey and black. Truly a one-of-a-kind combination.

“He said things I needed to hear, too. And he also wasn’t afraid to get rough with me.”

“Can’t imagine why. Must have been your sparkling personality back then.”

Nova couldn’t help but chuckle at that one. That was good. He was finally lightening up.

“Really, though,” Nova continued softly. “I needed you and him both for different reasons at different times, and here you are, still giving me the bitter pills to swallow.”

“Cruel to be kind,” Aegis nodded. “Lord Star Swirl seems to believe you can save yourself from… your thing. I just want you to be happy, one way or the other. And I know it scares you,” he added before Nova could cut in, “but… I just want you to be able to make your curtain call feeling content, with no regrets.”

“Curtain call?” Nova asked, arching an eyebrow. “You make it sound like it’s all just some show.”

“You act like it’s all just some show.”

“Touche.”

“Now come on,” Aegis got back to his hooves and offered a hoof down to the Archmage and pulled him to his own hooves. “We’re gonna go back in, and we’re gonna enjoy the rest of the evening. You’ll take a load off, and you’ll have a good time, alright? Tomorrow’s troubles can wait until then.”

“Yeah,” Nova nodded, brushing off his kit. “Alright. Let’s go.”

They trotted back to the bar, and Aegis was pleased with how things had gone. Sure, everyone knew it was going to take a long time to get Nova back to normal, but hopefully, Nova took what he had said to heart. Not to mention, rest was an important part of anyone’s life, not just those who weren’t made into important ponies like archmages. Even if it was just for one more night, it was good that Nova could come into a place where he was always welcome, sit among friends that always loved having him around, and just enjoyed food, drink, sport, and pleasurable company.

Unfortunately for Nova, fate had one more nasty surprise for him when they stepped back inside.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE BLEW A 3-GOAL LEAD IN UNDER TEN MINUTES!?”

Also, unfortunately, Aegis too.

“HARRY MANE SENT OFF FOR THAT!? HE’S BARELY TOUCHED HIM! THAT’S BOLLOCKS!”

But still, it was the sentiment that counted.

---

Twilight did not sleep soundly that evening.

Nova had long since helped her gain mastery over her dreams, yet on days or nights when she was particularly occupied with something, things often bled through. This was, after all, how he had found out about Flash Sentry.

Tonight, however, it was… well, everything. Try as she might, she was failing to wrest control of her dream from her subconscious.

It wasn’t like she was dreaming anything specifically, either! It was just an empty place, with a strange, ominous feeling of dread pressing in from all sides. It was like her anxiety was acting up, except she knew it wasn’t her anxiety this time. Something was wrong. She didn’t know what, but it was undeniable that something, somewhere, was not as it should be.

Perhaps it was because she didn’t even know what she wanted to dream about.

In days past, she often allowed herself to dream of her future life with Nova. Of becoming a wise and celebrated ruler like Celestia, of having her friends with her every step of the way, of training an apprentice like Nova was now. Yet now, there was an ominous feeling to all of it. Some nights, everything would be the same, yet instead of wearing Celestia’s crown, she would instead find herself wearing that black orichalcum circlet, the three gems glowing brightly in their sockets.

What had changed in her fantasy about the Crown of Life? If she were honest, nothing had. All that changed were the crown on her head. Yet the mere implication of having that artifact resting on her brow turned otherwise-idyllic dreams into nightmares with its presence alone.

In her fantasy, she was loved and accepted and embraced by everyone as she was. In her nightmare, she was loved and accepted only because everyone was afraid of her.

Isn’t that something, she thought with morbid amusement. Swap out one detail in my heart’s desire and it becomes my greatest fear.

“We know the feeling.”

Twilight’s eyes clenched shut, blinding her to the nondescript surroundings she currently stewed in, just in time for a starry rift to appear in midair beside her and for Princess Luna to step through looking troubled as she landed on whatever it was that passed as a floor in this realm.

“Good evening Twilight Sparkle.”

“You are not welcome here,” she replied harshly. The dread in her dream vanished almost immediately, replaced by seething.

Princess Luna bowed her head but she did not retreat. “We know,” she replied softly.

“Then get out,” Twilight ordered, her horn glowing as she took an aggressive step toward her colleague. “What made you think coming here was a good idea, Luna? Did you think I would forgive you this easily, just because it’s been a few days?”

“We came because We care about Nova Shine too,” Luna snapped back, fixing Twilight with a snarl of her own.

Twilight let out a derisive bark of laughter at that one. “Oh, now you care about him when it was your own carelessness that’s got him in the state he’s in. That just makes everything okay then, doesn’t it?”

“Be silent for just one moment, Twilight Sparkle!” Luna thundered, though unlike Twilight, she did not tap into her magic. Twilight thought for a moment about spiting Luna and shouting right back, but she didn’t have an opportunity to act on it. “Your anger at the two of us is warranted, and we shall bear it when the time is right. But We have come because Nova Shine’s mind is not connected to the Realm of Dreams.”

Twilight blinked, but rolled her eyes.

“Oh, he doesn’t want to see you either, how surprising.”

Luna actually flinched at that one, and Twilight could see her blink back tears. Deep down, part of her felt bad about saying that, but it was drowned out by the resentment she felt toward both her and her sister over the things left unsaid until it was too late.

“N-no, I… I mean, We… He–”

“Why is this my problem?” Twilight asked, forcing herself to bring her tone back down to as neutral as it could be. It was clear Luna wasn’t going to leave until she said what she needed to, and while Twilight wanted nothing more than to shove her out of her dream at once, something about Nova’s mind not being connected to the Realm of Dreams was concerning.

“It’s… i-it’s not that he is blocking me out, Twilight. He’s not asleep at all.”

Twilight’s mouth parted. Not asleep at all? It was…

“What time is it?”

“It was approximately three hours past midnight when I entered the Realm of Dreams.”

Three in the morning!?

A sinking suspicion entered her mind. A short stock of potions she had brewed only days before. Nova being more tired than usual. Him always seeming to be out of bed even on days he wasn’t supposed to be training with Sharp Eye.

“Oh, don’t tell me,” she muttered to herself.

“Please, do what you can,” Luna stepped toward her hesitantly. “I would help him myself, but…”

“But it’s your fault he’s like this, to begin with.” Twilight let out an angry huff of air from her nostrils. “You and your sister, you just can’t resist, can you?”

“Twilight, now is not the time–”

“WHAT OTHER TIME WILL THERE BE!?”

Luna seemed to shrink before her eyes, first down to eye level, then shorter than that. Twilight felt herself grow taller and taller until she was towering over the mare she once looked up to. All the while, she could feel her mane burst into those same flames as before, a mix of purples and blacks that billowed around her and radiated unbearable heat in every direction.

Just like the night we found out.

Twilight was ready to tear into the cowering alicorn, who had once more burst into tears at her hooves, but as the memories of that awful day came to the forefront of her mind, she let out a much slower, more composed breath. Her mane returned to normal. Color returned to her white coat. A blink of her eyes later, and she was back to her normal height.

She wanted nothing more than to lay into both of the mares she had once idolized and now saw exactly why Nova was so distrustful of them. Faust above, nothing would be more cathartic than to scream at them until she could scream no longer, and then heal her throat and scream some more.

None of that would help the one who needed her most right now.

“It’s time for you to go, Luna,” Twilight said firmly, staring down at the whimpering mare. “End the dream and let me go help my fiancee.”

“Please,” Luna whispered. “Please, set this right.”

“Maybe next time you have a stallion like him, don’t make it wrong,” Twilight replied scathingly.

Luna’s head sank until she was laying it morosely on the ground. In a flash of light and a small sprinkle of blue stars, she disappeared, and the dreamscape around her vanished soon after.

Twilight opened her eyes at once. Sure enough, she couldn’t feel Nova anywhere nearby with her energy-sensing, which meant he was missing again. Though considering she had rigged alarms to go off if he attempted another midnight escape and none of them had, he had to be somewhere in the Castle.

With a heavy sigh, Twilight shook off her grogginess, slid out of their bed, and made for the door. No sooner had she approached it than she immediately felt Nova’s energy resonance on the other side of one of the walls.

In his room…

Twilight frowned. What was he doing in there at this hour? And… ah, it seemed he was actively working on something. But what could be so important that it demanded he be up this late?

She pushed her way out into the hall, strode only a few paces away, where flickering candlelight light was spilling out from under the door to the room he was in, and tapped lightly on the crystal.

“Nova?” she asked, not so loud as to wake up Spike or Starlight a few rooms away, but loud enough to hopefully get his attention.

He wasn’t moving. She couldn’t hear anything from the other side, but her energy sense told her that he was completely still. Was he trying to pretend he wasn’t there and hopefully she’d leave?

No, he has his moments, but he’s not an idiot, she thought.

She pushed the door inward, and to her surprise, it swung open smoothly. It wasn’t locked like she expected it to be.

The room was nothing like it had been a few weeks ago. Once again, Nova’s room felt lived in. The Scrying Orb was still covered up, but considering who it was meant for, Twilight figured there was little wonder why this was the case. The Arsenal banner was slightly askew, papers littered the central table and even spots on the floor, and slumped over the writing desk, next to a candle that was nearly burned all the way down, was the Archmage himself.

“What are you working on?” Twilight wondered to herself as she quickly scanned several of the scattered papers, hoping not to disturb him. It was like the time they’d found the diaries. He’d come home, shut himself away, and brute-force translated them before he was back to normal.

“...help…”

Twilight froze, her eyes snapping to the slumped body of the Archmage, head turned away from her, chest not moving.

“Nova?” she asked, feeling dread creep in. “Are you awake?”

“Help… me…” he said again, his voice a raspy whisper.

Twilight trotted over to him, grabbed his shoulder, pulled him up off of the desk, and gasped.

Nova Shine’s eyes were bloodshot and had deep bags under them, and he wasn’t blinking. His muscles were extremely tense underneath his skin, and she could feel the tremors. And to top it off, he wasn’t breathing.

“What happened?” she asked, looking down at him, horrified. “What did this?”

“I don’t… know,” he managed to grunt out. “Can’t… sleep. Can’t… move. Can’t… breathe.”

Can’t sleep, can’t move, can’t breathe.

“You didn’t,” Twilight whispered, as she knew exactly what he’d done. “Nova, tell me you didn’t.”

Nova didn’t answer, but his eyes briefly flicked over to his desk, where she could see a drawer that was slightly open. The dread was back, and her heart thumped in her chest as she slowly pulled the drawer open.

Potion bottles. Some were filled, some empty, but all of them were unmistakably bottles that contained or had contained Elixir of Energy.

“You did.”

He had overdosed on Elixir of Energy.

“Help… me…” he whispered again, the panic behind it, the pleading, all of it caused the tears to start falling.

“STARLIGHT! SPIKE!”

There was a heartstopping moment of silence, and Twilight feared she had shouted to the castle in vain, but to her relief, there were two separate crashing sounds from the other rooms, followed by a mad scramble. Moments later, pyjama-clad Spike and Starlight burst into the room, looking tired but alert. At the sight of Nova, both of them immediately dashed over, all traces of tiredness gone.

“Is everything alright?” Starlight asked, giving him a magical scan. “Holy… how is he still–?”

“Nova, Nova!” Spike poked and prodded and tried to pull at his legs to get him to move. “Come on, bro, move!”

“It’s a catastrophic energy crash,” Twilight forced out, reflexively going into encyclopedia mode as she struggled to calm herself and respond as level-headedly to the situation as she could. “His body’s almost completely out of energy. He’s only alive because his mana oversaturation is healing the damage internally, but it can’t do anything about the energy he doesn’t have. Spike, I need you to get to Ponyville General as fast as you can and inform them that Nova needs emergency energy deficit treatment now.”

Spike, who was listening intently despite the situation, nodded. He spread his wings and shot out of the room with a powerful flap, blasting himself into Twilight’s room and out into the night over the balcony.

Once he was gone, Starlight and Twilight both started moving Nova’s body, manipulating his musculature as best they could to arrange him into a suitable position for transport, which proved to be grueling work. Nova’s body had, quite literally, no energy left in it, which meant that any attempts to slacken his muscles were like swimming upstream. Progress was slow, and sometimes would just be undone.

He had been getting by on Elixirs this whole time, and without proper sleep to let his body heal or meals to regain and process calories, his body had shut down when it had hit the breaking point. Somehow, it hadn’t shut down days before, no doubt due to the mana oversaturation, but that only meant the effects would be worse once it all caught up. And now here they were, and if it weren’t for the fact that Nova’s mana oversaturation was keeping him alive, he would have been slumped dead over his desk. He wouldn’t have even had the energy to keep his heart beating.

Oh Faust, it wasn’t beating either.

After twenty heart-pounding minutes, during which they were slowly able to get him to lie flat though he remained stiff as a board, they saw Spike return with the medical transport team as well as a stretcher and cart from Nova’s window, and Starlight hurried off to guide them up here.

Twilight, however, could only bury her face into his chest as the dam burst once he was free from her care and she began to cry anew at the state of her fiancee.

“Why?” she asked, her voice cracking as she stared into his hazy, exhausted, unblinking eyes. “W-why would you do this to yourself?”

“Wanted… more… time,” he was able to grunt out.

She could hear the squeaking wheel of the cart just before the medical crew pushed into the room. Dr. Horse and Nurse Redheart immediately set to work getting Nova put onto the medical stretcher, Sweetheart fitted a hoof-pump resuscitation bag over his muzzle and began to squeeze oxygen into it to get air into his lungs, and Coldheart filled a vial with a particularly strong sedative and injected it into him to put him to sleep, followed by another vial that Twilight assumed was an emergency glucose injection or something similar, and when they noticed his lack of a heartbeat, one more presumably filled with something to jolt it into working again.

After several minutes of hectic work, the medical team wheeled Nova away with Twilight in tow, with Starlight and Spike following close behind. They weaved through and around the different hallways, eventually emerging onto the path and charging into town as quickly as they could. The word must have gotten out because several members of the town were awake and were showing up to see what was going on as the medics moved at top speed.

Everything after that was a blur. Twilight stayed by his side as long as she could, but at some point, after he had been taken into an emergency room, she’d been forced to part with him when the doctors needed space to work. She could barely remember stumbling her way back into the waiting room, she couldn’t tell how she had gotten from Nova’s room to the chair she was now sitting in, and she had no idea when Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie had all arrived. As she stared blankly at the floor, with all of them trying to hug her with Starlight and Spike, she was barely aware of anything else. But when Bright Gleam appeared, she felt every memory, every fear, every feeling return, even as Fluttershy, Applejack, Trixie, Aegis, and the others all showed up, wanting to see how he was doing.

There was just something about seeing the filly, someone who looked up to Nova with the same starry-eyed look that she had once looked up to Celestia with, that crushed Twilight’s heart. She had been struggling to cry for the last… how long had she been here? It felt like years. Nevertheless, she had run out of tears, but as Gleam gave her a pleading look as she cantered in, Twilight felt them return.

”Is he going to be alright?” Gleam asked her, and it hurt her to hear the terror in Gleam’s voice just as much as it had hurt to experience it.

“I hope so,” she whispered, pulling Gleam into a hug as well and feeling the tears start again. “I really do. But I just don’t know.”

Author's Note:

After more than a year in development, hopefully this chapter is worth the weight.

Anyway, after several months of problems, I was finally able to sit down and finish this chapter up and now I can work on the next chapter (as well as the next chapter of Apprentice) without the length of time since the last new chapter dangling over my head anymore.

Anyway, lemme know what you think.

Rytex out. Have a good day!

Comments

[Leventego]

Man I ship Imperius and Ars so hard after that first scene

[Snowdrifter]

“TRIXIE HEARD THAT!”