Re-earning Your Cutie Mark

by Ractrin

Arch-Unicorn

Oz sat up in the bed he was in and winced in pain. The skin on his hips burned as the bandages pulled tight. It was just another reminder that yesterday had really happened. He yawned and opened his wings. He bit his lip as his left wing shot with pain. He looked over his shoulder at it and saw a splint there. “I must have broken it when I crashed into the ground after passing out.” he thought. Glancing outside he could see the silhouette of Nova sitting outside. “Has he been out there all night?” Oz pondered. He hopped off the bed and walked as carefully as he could. Each step with his hind legs shot pain up his spine. He managed to walk outside and stand in front of the sleeping Alicorn. Nova was in a lumped sitting position, his mouth hung slightly ajar, and drool hanging precariously from his lower lip. Oz looked the scarred pony all over. “By Celestia, how did he get all screwed up?” Oz was examining the navy blue pony’s scarred flank when the snoring stopped. Oz shot up and looked Nova in the eye. The Alicorn just stared at him with a scowl.
“What d’you want?” Nova spat.
“I-…Sorry…Uh…” Oz stuttered as he rubbed the back of his head with his hoof. “Thanks for taking care of me.” Nova stood and huffed.
“You shouldn’t have been on the ground at that time of night. You have wings dumb ass.” Nova scolded.
“I had already flown a long way, I was giving them a break.” Oz barked back.
“Oh? And where’s this so important place you gotta be so bad?”
Oz pointed at the nearby mountain, on top could be seen Canterlot and spoke, “Canterlot, Equestria’s capital city.” Nova followed the out stretched arm before him and stared at the stunning castle with waterfalls flowing from under it.
“So that’s Canterlot?” Nova asked to nopony specifically.
“Yes, that’s where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna live. I’m sure you know who they are.”
“Of course, they raise the same sun and moon that I live under.” Nova growled as he shot Oz a scornful glare. “Why were you going there anyway?”
“I’ve got something I need to warn the Princesses about.” Oz looked at his bandaged flanks and continued, “And now to see the most powerful Unicorn in the world.” this peeked Nova’s interest.
While trying to not sound to curious; Nova asked, “Who’s that?”
“Twilight Sparkle. She’s the Element of Magic. I’m sure she can restore my Cutie Marks.” Oz said, his anger softening.
“You think she could…?” Nova looked over his shoulder and under his wing at his scarred hip.
“I’m sure she could help you too.” Oz looked along the path and sighed. Without being able to fly it was going to take a long time for him to get to Canterlot, especially since his hips hurt so bad. Nova noticed his long face and grunted.
“Fine, I guess I’ll accompany you to this…Twilight Sparkle…” he said reluctantly.
“I’m glad to hear that…could you…yah know…carry me? Maybe?” Oz asked with an innocent grin. Nova just glared at him. “Okay never mind.” he started limping away. Nova looked at the tent and wrapped his magic around it. He folded it up and put the roll on his back. With it secured in its satchel, he then lifted up and caught up to Oz. As he flew over the injured Pegasus, he looked at the Everfree Forest.
“It’s not that scary” Nova said to himself in a huff. “How long till we get there?” Now directing his speech to the injured Pegasus.
“With me walking like this, probably a few days.” Oz responded, looking up at the Alicorn. Nova just sighed. “If you’d carry-”
“Forget it”
“Okay, fine.”

Oz and Nova sat along the dirt path that led to Canterlot, the tent set up behind them. Oz pawed at a bandage on his hip and sighed. “Are you feeling any better?” Nova asked bluntly, his eye never leaving the forest below. They were now hundreds of feet up the mountain and would be in Canterlot by mid day tomorrow. Oz looked at him.
“Yeah I’m doing better and these bandages don’t hurt as much as they used to.” Oz looked down the mountain side and then back at the Alicorn. “Thank you for doing this. For taking care of me.” Nova stood with a low huff and went inside the tent without a word. Oz stared at the entry way for a moment completely perplexed. Nova hadn’t said much over the past few days that they had been traveling. Only distant, and silent. Nova always traveled flying above Oz, and never walked with him on the ground. Oz was appreciative of what seemed like having a guardian, but…he still would like to know more about this mystery pony. He knew that Alicorns were powerful, but this one seemed…normal. It was almost as if somepony had sapped the power right out of him. Course, he’d never really know, because Nova was the first Alicorn he had ever met. He looked out over the Everfree Forest below and watched as the shadow of the sun’s lowering started to slide across it. He almost thought for a second he could see lights in the midst of the deep dark wood, but upon second glancing, there was nothing. “It’s just the Everfree Forest Oz, nothing to scary…except for a ghastly Unicorn.” he closed his eyes and thought back to the evening where he was attacked. It shook him. The words the pony had cited, it made him wonder what it had intended to do to him had he not knocked it out. He shuddered at the thought and placed a hoof over his hip.

Nova had been watching the young Pegasus from the door way. He sighed and went to lay on the floor. There was only one bed, and Nova was NOT sharing it with another MALE pony. He laid his hooves over one another and plopped his head on top of them. Before he knew it he was sound asleep. Visions of dragons and griffons danced through his head. One image in particular stuck. He stood in the halls of Arch-Unicorn Nahimana chambers, looking at a wooden door and surrounded in dilapidated castle walls. He pressed his hoof against the feeble blockade and it swung open with ease. Taking in the room around him, he saw the degraded walls lined with book shelves. Most were overgrown with nature, much like the rest of the castle, but the far right corner was well light and devoid of any plant life. Inside this area the aged Unicorn laid on her back, her hooves curved carelessly over her, with a book hovering by magic beyond them. When she noticed Nova enter, she put the book down and hurried to stand. “What do you want, young Alicorn?” she asked in contempt of his presence.
“I came seeking more magic, ma’am” Nova stated nervously.
“More magic?” she looked at him suspiciously. “That’s not why you’re here.” her horn began to glow. Nova looked away for a moment and then sighed. His gaze went back to her.
“No. I’m here because-”
“You’ve seen it haven’t you?” he frowned and nodded. “I thought you would. That talent of yours is remarkable.”
“You must be stopped Nahimana. Bringing destruction to this land is pointless!”
“Much like this endless war?” her retort made his face contort into a subtle sneer. “I’m bringing an end to this war, the only way it can be done! By destroying both sides!”
“You can’t be serious! How can you think that destroying this WHOLE LAND will save it?”
“I’ll drop as many meteors on this world as it takes to stop this war.” she said as she lowered her head, pointing her already lit horn at him. He also pointed his horn at her.
“What of the other lands on this planet!? Equestria, Zebracore!?”
“Mere unfortunate casualties. Neither land has faced the death we have! They will witness-” before she could finish Nova let loose a blast from his horn. He had heard enough. She quickly put up a barrier that took the hit. She then fired her own spell at him. Upon realizing she didn’t get hit by his attack, he jumped sideways to avoid her returning magic. He used his wings to spin mid air and upon landing fired another magical blast. She dove out of the way and watched as his attack destroyed one of her shelves. She growled at him as she began to charge up another attack. What she was planning to do, was far beyond what anypony could have imagined. Nova watched with horrid interest as sparks began to flow from her horn. Her eyes began to glow solid white. “I will erase you Nova! Your special talent will be gone!” she yelled. The air in the room began to swirl around her, picking up dust and leaves.
“That’s impossible!” he shouted back at her.
“Watch me!” her horn leveled with his Cutie Mark. His perspective did not allow him to see this as he powered up his own magical spell.
“I have to stop you Nahimana! I’m sorry…teacher…” he released his magic and a dark blue beam could be seen launching across the room. As his went to her, her bright orange magic flew at him and split in two separate balls. Nova had spent so much energy to cast his spell that he still hadn’t recovered enough to move. The spheres of magic splashed across his hips and ripped themselves through his Cutie Marks. He flew backwards from the impact and landed in a heap on his stomach. He coughed and looked up, but couldn’t see anything through the dust that had been generated. He stood, ignoring all the pain in his hind quarters, and walked over to the now lifeless Nahimana. Her torso was torn in two as her chest cavity laid on the bed she had just gotten off of and her hips were against the nearby book shelf. He looked her over, making sure that her intestines being splayed out on the floor indicated death. He huffed and began to walk away. With his adrenalin dwindling at every hoof step, the pain in his skin began to become unbearable. He finally stopped at the door and looked at his hips. There he saw it, both hips were seared and his Cutie Marks were completely removed. He felt faint, as if his magic was being drained out of him like a plug pulled from a bath. He tried to see the vision he had seen that brought him to this castle, but it was no use. He could not see it. Nor could he project his mind into the future at all. His talent of seeing future astrological events was gone with his marks. He fell to the ground and whimpered. What was he to do now?
“Nova!” said a distant voice. He looked up.
“Dad?” he asked.
“I’m not your dad! It’s Oz, wake up!”

Nova’s eye shot open, and he felt the scar under his eye patch pull. He looked up to see Oz standing over him. “It’s morning, we should get going.” Nova looked out the door of the tent and saw Celestia’s sun rising over the horizon. He looked at Oz irritated and then stood.
“How much did I speak?” Nova quarried with a grunt.
“Huh? Nothin’ other than calling me your dad.”
“Good” Nova shoved past the Pegasus and exited the tent. Oz had lied. Most of the night Oz kept being awoken to the Alicorn yelling at somepony in his dreams. He felt sorry for the pony. “Are you coming? I can’t pack the tent up with you inside moron.” growled Nova.
“Oh…yeah! Sorry.” Oz hurried out as Nova put his magic around the tent once more. He closed it up and put it on his back. Nova held out his wings to lift off when Oz spoke up. “You mind walkin’? I uh…was wanting to talk…” Nova glared at him for a moment.
“Fine. It is possible you could answer a few of my questions anyway.” Nova folded his wings over the rolled up tent to better secure it and walked next to Oz. They began walking towards Canterlot.
“You actually have questions for me?” Oz asked with a hint of “feeling special” in his tone.
“Is that odd?” Nova was completely confused. Why was it him having questions would be weird to Oz?
“Only because you’re an Alicorn. I woulda thought you’d be…I dunno…all knowing or something.”
“You haven’t met many Alicorns have you?”
“You’re the first. I’ve never been to Canterlot, so I’ve not personally met any of the Princesses.”
“Are there no other Alicorns?” Nova looked over to Oz with sincere curiosity.
“No. Princess Celestia and Luna are the only ones here. They didn’t used to be, but Princess Cadence went to the Crystal Kingdom a long time ago.
“My land is full of all four races. Less Alicorns than the rest of course, but…” he trailed off, and Oz wasn’t about to try and have him repeat himself.
“So…were both your parents Alicorns?”
“No, my mother was a Unicorn.”
“Ah…both mine were Pegasi…” the paced next to each other in an awkward silence for a few moments. Neither could remember what they had wanted to ask the other. Nova finally thought of something.
“You said the Unicorn we’re visiting is named…uh…Twilight Sparkle?”
“Yeah. She’s Canterlot’s Arch-Unicorn.” Nova stopped walking, which caused Oz to look at him confused.
“I’ve never met a friendly Arch-Unicorn.” Nova grunted.
“I’m sure she’s fine. After all she saved Luna from herself and stopped Discord. Well, her and her friends. The Bearers of Harmony as they’ve become known as.”
“Harmony? No wonder this land has not seen war.” Nova began walking again, with Oz keeping pace. “Are sure we can trust her?”
“I’m positive!”

As they rounded the mountain side Canterlot came into view and they stopped to take it all in..
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a city in such good condition” Nova remarked.
“Why’s that?” Oz asked without looking at him
“My land has been torn asunder by war, nothing still stands from the time before.” they continued walking, neither taking their eyes off the magical castle.
“How long have you guys been fighting?” Oz’s voice had a hint of remorse.
“To long. Nopony remembers why we’re fighting…least, none of the soldiers do.”
“Oh yeah, you’ve prolly been alive for a long time huh?”
“No, I’m actually about the same age as you.”
“Wow, you must be a baby-” Nova slammed his forehead into Oz’s and glared into his eye.
“I’m not a baby ass hole!” with that Nova launched into the air and stayed there. Oz rubbed his head for a moment and then looked up.
“Geeze.”

Comments

[stardust flare]

Interesting story i like it just plz fix the text wallstatic.fimfiction.net/images/emoticons/derpytongue2.png