The Apprentice, the Student, and the Charlatan

by Rytex

Forward to the Past

The Apprentice, the Student, and the Charlatan
Chapter 12
Part II - Forward to the Past

It didn’t escape either Twilight or Shining on the way back to the Sparkles’ residence that Nova seemed distracted, to say the least. They had left the Canterlot Underground with nary a single word from anyone else, except for Tantalus to tell Stalwart to shut the passage behind them, and for Nova to be so silent was unsettling.

Not to mention, he didn’t seem to be paying attention. He had run into the wall in the tunnel a few times, and twice since leaving the Lulamoon Estate, he nearly bumped into other street-goers, and didn’t seem to pay even the slightest bit of attention to them as they yelled at him to watch where he was going.

The fourth time this happened, Twilight and Shining shared a look.

Shining’s expression was a knowing concern, very obviously aware of the fact that whatever glimpse of Nova Shine I’s diary Nova had seen, it had affected him.

I know, Twilight’s own expression said back.

The fifth time it happened, Twilight had finally had enough.

“Alright, eyes front, mister,” she ordered, using the magical leash spell to yank him forward and get his attention, which was difficult to do, as even the pony screaming obscenities at him hadn’t gotten that.

“Whoa!” Nova yelped, jolted out of his thoughts, just in time to dodge the sixth pony he would have run into.

“You can spend your time thinking when we get back to my parents house, Nova,” Twilight berated, though even as she said it, she couldn’t help but wonder exactly what was eating him up this much.

“Noted,” Nova replied. Shining gave him a concerned look, which he ignored, and just let him stumble along.

To his credit, Nova did seem to take the suggestion to heart, as he didn’t have another incident.

The moment they got back to the house, Nova went straight up to her room, shut himself away, and got to work doing… something. Twilight didn’t think much of it-- he clearly had seen something in Tantalus’ vault-- but it did cause concern.

Dinner, however, would prove to be just as awkward an affair as the trot home. Nova staggered in five minutes late, being dragged by his ear asTwilight had been forced to bring him. Yet even as they all ate, Nova’s body was at the table, but his mind was clearly someplace else. Four times, Twilight caught him just staring at the table, oblivious to the foodless fork he was trying to stick into his cheek.

Cadance, Shining, Night Light, and Velvet all tried to talk around him, sometimes even making comments that he normally would have responded to, and he did reply with a few curt answers, but beyond that, he was completely, utterly gone.

What did he see that’s got him like this?

And yet it continued for the rest of the evening. Twilight chatted with her mother and father, Shining and Cadance, and Spike. But Nova wasn't in the sitting room with them. No, every time Twilight went to check on him, he was still slaving away over that diary.

“Alright buster,” she finally said, snatching it away from him and putting it away, “you’ve been ignoring us for the last six hours since we got back. Come on down, everyone wants to talk to you.”

“Can’t,” Nova sighed, pawing at his eyes. “Busy.”

“You can come back to the diary later,” Twilight promised, “but right now, let’s go down stairs so you can talk.”

Nova just gave her an askance look, but complied, standing up and following her out toward the sounds of conversation below.

“What are you working on?” she asked, looking back and trying to get a glimpse of what was on his pages that were scattered all over her desk. “What did you find?”

“Tomorrow,” Nova grunted. “Not sure yet, but it’s… something.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” Twilight said.

Yet even after joining them for some conversation, he seemed restless.and distracted. He only spoke when spoken to, and even then, his responses were short and to the point. It was almost to the point of him being an entire killjoy.

When they turned in for the night, Twilight came back from freshening up in the bathroom, only to find that Nova had once again gotten right back to work doing whatever it was he was doing.

“Are you going to work on that all night?” she asked, half in amusement, half in exasperation.

“Long as it takes,” Nova grunted.

“As long as it takes to what?”

“To know,” he replied, scowling down at the pages.

“Nova, you heard your dad down there,” Twilight sighed in frustration. This was one of the things she loved and hated about Nova. He recognized when he didn’t know something. But he could never recognize when it was a hopeless search. “Equestrian cryptanalysts have been trying to puzzle out the diary for decades and haven’t come anywhere close to breaking it. And you think you can?”

Nova didn’t answer. with that, Twilight supposed she wasn’t going to get through to him tonight. Perhaps she would have Luna snap him out of it when it got to be too much.

“Fine,” she finally said, pinching her nose. “Fine, just… just don’t forget to actually get some sleep, won’t you?”

“I won’t,” he promised.

“I’ll see you in the morning then, I guess,” she added, climbing into her old bed and sliding under the covers. with one last concerned look in his direction, she blew out her candle, leaving the faint light of Nova’s and the sounds of his shuffling and the scratching of his quill as white noise.

Whatever he thinks he’s found, I sure hope it isn’t anything dangerous...

---

Twilight didn’t know what woke her, but she shifted in her bed, roused to alertness by some unknown feeling. Was it one of those strange dreams where you wake up after something happens in it? Why did the bed feel odd?

She looked around, only to realize that there was a distinct lack of Nova Shine on either side of her, despite the darkness of the room around her. She had gotten used to the both of them sharing a bed, and his absence felt off. Nevertheless, despite the darkness of the room, she could feel him not far away, still sitting in her chair.

Silly stallion, she mentally groaned, lifting her head just a fraction to see if he was still bent over those journals in the dead of night.

To her surprise, he was. Though, perhaps the word “slumped” was a better way to describe it, as he had fallen over her desk and was peacefully sleeping, with an extinguished candle next to him.

“You really are a silly stallion,” she couldn’t help but smile just a little bit, slipping out of bed and levitating him out of her desk chair and into the bed she had just vacated. With all of the tender love and care in the world, she made sure to tuck him in nice and snug, but before she could crawl in after him, she was struck by curiosity.

“What were you even working on?” she wondered aloud as he at once seemed to relax into the bed while she watched. “What’s got you into this secretive mood of yours?”

Almost as if to answer her question, the diary on her desk drew her attention. To her surprise, there were now a simple roll of parchment and a single sheet of paper there as well, and there were several pencil marks she could barely see without candlelight.

What she could see was a square of letters and numbers, a series of dots, dashes, and tiny triangles that resembled those in the diary, and scrawlings that looked illegible in the darkness.

“I suppose you’ll tell me tomorrow, won’t you,” she mused, shaking her head. “After we get on the train.”

Slipping back into the bed, with Nova peacefully snoozing behind her, she slid one of his forehooves around her barrel, smiling even wider as it seemed to reflexively tighten, holding her closer to him.

“See you tomorrow, Nova,” she whispered, before the oblivion of sleep took her.

{T} {A} {T} {S} {A} {T} {C}

The next morning, as expected, Nova seemed completely out of it. There were severe bags under his eyes, despite the sleep he got, and he only seemed to be barely paying attention. Not even Velvet’s haybacon was enough to get his attention, which really was saying something, considering Nova never failed to order things with haybacon.

Spike, however, thought everything was hilarious.

“So, Twilight,” he said, failing to contain a snigger as they packed their bags, “when we get back to the library, where will your pet zombie be sleeping?”

Twilight, to her credit, just gave the drake an annoyed look, though she couldn’t help but giggle just a bit when Nova accidentally ran into the frame of the bathroom door.

“You okay?” she asked as he massaged his shoulder where he’d hit it.

“‘m fine,” he mumbled, pawing at his eyes. “Jus’ tired.”

“You were up pretty late last night,” she noted, glancing over at her writing desk, where the diary and notebook were both gone. “What did you find?”

“Later,” Nova shook his head. “On th’ train.”

“Okay,” she replied, feeling a bit worried.

Nova just seemed to drift all that morning. Twice, Twilight found him staring blankly at a wall, his eyes unfocused and glossy, and she’d have to jolt him out of it to get him packing again. They had plenty of time before their train left, but Nova was taking his sweet time in packing up.

Just what is it that he found out?

When everything was finally ready to go, they took their bags, said their farewells (Twilight receiving meaningful looks from all family members when it came to Nova seeming to not acknowledge anyone), and headed off to the train station.

After some time, they finally got into their compartment, with Nova exhaustedly slumping against the wall the moment he sat down, leaving Twilight and Spike to put the bags away.

“So why were you up so late last night?” Twilight asked, without even bothering to wait or build up to it. “What did you find in that diary?”

Nova just shook his head, before groaning and sitting up.

“Right,” he said, his voice barely above a croak. “So, did I ever tell you about how Aegis and I used to write secret letters to each other all the time?”

“Don’t think you ever did, no,” Twilight racked her brain, but couldn’t recall any time he had ever shared this information.

“What do you mean ’secret letters?’” Spike asked. “Like a spy?”

“Sort of,” Nova shrugged. “I didn’t want Dad finding out where I was by reading my letters to Aegis, so one time when we ran into each other in Trottingham--”

“You ran into him in Trottingham once!?” Twilight gaped. “By coincidence!?”

“It wasn’t by coincidence, his family always goes there on holiday. Or went, anyway, before he joined the guard and they moved up to Manechester. But that’s beside the point,” he shook his head, and rubbed at his eyes. “The point is, we figured out a nice little way to write letters to each other, and to make it hard to read for anyone but us, and that’s because we learned how to encipher and encrypt our letters.”

“Aren’t those the same thing?” Spike asked.

“No, Spike,” Twilight answered. “To encipher something is to put it through a text cipher, which usually rearranges letters or something similar. Encrypting it means to substitute the letters with symbols and other characters so that it isn’t legible. And since I know you’re about to ask me about encoding,” she couldn’t help but smile at bit as Spike closed his mouth as she brought it up, “encoding is swapping words out for different words. For instance, if Princess Celestia were referred to as a phoenix, and Canterlot Castle were referred to as her nest, then the phrase ‘The phoenix has left her nest’ would mean…?” she raised her eyebrows at her ward.

“That Princess Celestia left the castle?”

“Bingo!” Twilight beamed.

“Right, well,” Nova held out the diary, which Twilight took. “Thing is, we used a Playfair Cipher to encipher our letters. I’m sure if you want to learn how that works, there’s a book at the library, but what’s important is that Playfair Ciphers are usually a five-by-five table of squares, where each square has one letter in it, with the letters I and J being kept in the same square. You do some stuff that involves replacing two letters with two different letters, and you get a mess of gibberish at the end. And the letters in the Playfair Grid are arranged based on a key word or phrase that usually does not recycle any letters.

“But we changed the rules. We used a keyword, but we used a six-by-six table, with each character getting its own square and adding the ten digits. But even with all of that, it was still Equish, so we added an encryption on top of it. Unfortunately, we needed one that only we would know about, so I invented one.”

There was a flash of blue light and a single sheet of paper, with thirty-six arrangements of dots, dashes, and triangles appeared. It was clearly an alphabet, plus numbers. But what was more astonishing was that the symbols on that page matched the symbols in the diary, hoofwriting style and all!

“Wait,” Twilight’s gaze flicked between the diary and the page. “Wait, this can’t be right! This would mean--”

“--that the supposed unbreakable encryption that Nova Shine the First used in his diary was actually something I invented?” Nova finished, before grinning. “That’s exactly what it means. When I found the encryption in Clover’s diary, I knew what it was immediately. And Aegis did too. You remember how he seemed just as flabbergasted as I did? But I had to confirm, so I got ahold of Nova Shine I’s diary, and sure enough...”

Twilight just stared at him, as the implications ran through her head at a frightening rate. If this encryption was the exact same one Nova invented, the probability of the first Nova Shine just inventing an encryption that happened to be the exact same one as Nova from the future would invent, when present Nova wouldn’t have access to his diary, was astronomically low!

But that meant…

“So yeah, one-in-a-trillion chance of that possibility of the two of us happening to invent the same encryption, but I had to confirm,” Nova continued, taking the diary back from Twilight, flipping back to the beginning, and handing it back to her. Then he conjured a roll of parchment, which he offered to her. Twilight took it and unfurled it to reveal that he had copied down the first page’s text and had set to decrypting it. the first thing he had done was convert it to Equish and that resulted in a large block of gibberish.

I1IGNVJQKECFXBJPCNFIFQPJLVRPTUBCCJEKHVVK211Y2CHCQBDURCPJHAUKHCVNRTEKQIKUGRPJHAQDX3XHGWQKLRVDXHJPLRTQZBWMBACNOXD0GRKEF1QLCBIGKGPAFCRLVKLGIAMJKWJNOWVOCGEPXGVRME4QQJOVERXDVWPJLVEPUXJCNADXXJHCJOG2KQABRSOSABQKFINCHCWGFK4AWUNCIFOPAZVXWGLCBGQKWNDQLRORTUQITQQLDRVOQIIFIFTQQJERGBKEBVVCFBEVJWJRI4QJFIXHVDQANCKWJPXOVKDLWGXHGWRADREPGIHKRCVQTQQJEKU1JQAICJJWXO1UGWUT

Then he had broken it up into pairs of letters, and had scrawled down a 6x6 Playfair grid underneath

I1 IG NV JQ KE CF XB JP CN FI FQ PJ LV RP TU BC CJ EK HV VK 21 1Y 2C HC QB DU RC PJ HA UK HC VN RT EK QI KU GR PJ HA QD X3 XH GW QK LR VD XH JP LR TQ ZB WM BA CN OX D0 GR KE F1 QL CB IG KG PA FC RL VK LG IA MJ KW JN OW VO CG EP XG VR ME 4Q QJ OV ER XD VW PJ LV EP UX JC NA DX XJ HC JO G2 KQ AB RS OS AB QK FI NC HC WG FK 4A WU NC IF OP AZ VX WG LC BG QK WN DQ LR OR TU QI TQ QL DR VO QI IF IF TQ QJ ER GB KE BV VC FB EV JW JR I4 QJ FI XH VD QA NC KW JP XO VK DL WG XH GW RA DR EP GI HK RC VQ TQ QJ EK U1 JQ AI CJ JW XO 1U GW UT

C L O V E R
A B D F G H
I J K M N P
Q S T U W X
Y Z 0 1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9

And from there, it appeared he had done it line by line, deciphering the text, until he had deciphered pairs of characters.

MY NA ME IS NO VA SH IN EI AM AU NI CO RN ST AL LI ON FR OM 10 03 YE AR SA FT ER NI GH TM AR EM OX ON IA MT HE NI GH TA PX PR EN TI CE OF PR IN CE SX SL UN AH EI RT OT HE NO VU SC LA NA ND IH AV EC OM EB AC KI NT IM ET OL EA RN WH OE NV YI SI LO VE TH EU NI CO RN TW IL IG HT SP AR KL EW IT HA LX LT HA TI AM IE AR NE DM YC UT IE MA RK BY RU NE CR AF TI NG AT CE LE ST IA SX SC HO OL IA MA MA SX SI VE FA NO FL OR DA VO NS PL AY SI AM PR OF IC IE NT IN TR OM BO NE PR EN CH HO RN AN DP ER CU SX SI ON MU SI CA LI NS TR UM EN TS

And with that, he had simply converted it into a proper paragraph, though she noted a number of Xs had been removed.

My name is Nova Shine. I am a unicorn stallion from 1003 years after Nightmare Moon. I am the Night Apprentice of Princess Luna, heir to the Novus clan, and I have come back in time to learn who Envy is. I love the unicorn Twilight Sparkle with all that I am. I earned my cutie mark by runecrafting at Celestia's School. I am a massive fan of Lord Avon's plays. I am proficient in trombone, Prench Horn, and percussion musical instruments.

As soon as she had finished reading, Twilight dropped both the diary and parchment in total shock.

“You…” she breathed, scarcely believing what she had just discovered.

“He what?” Spike asked, glancing between them.

“Nova Shine the First, the unicorn I grew up idolizing, the second-greatest spellcaster in all of Equestrian history, is me,” Nova stated.

Were it not for the train’s noises as it chugged along, you could hear a pin drop in the compartment. Twilight could only gape at him, Spike looked like he couldn’t believe his ears, and Nova just sat there, tired as ever.

“How… how is that possible?” Twilight finally managed, as her magic lifted the diary and parchment again.

“Time travel,” answered Nova simply. “I managed to decipher a bit more if you look,” she scrolled a bit down the page, “and according to the diary, you will send me back one thousand two hundred fifty eight years into the past. About four years after Hearth’s Warming, when each of the Three Tribes was building the cities we know today as Canterlot, Cloudsdale, and Neighton, and shortly after Celestia and Luna took their place as the rulers in the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters.”

“Wait!”

Twilight looked up from the paper, a mixture of pain and horror on her face. “This… this can’t be right.”

Nova shook his head. “It is. Completely.”

“But…” Twilight let the parchment slide out of her magical grip. “But… tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow what?” Spike asked, looking over at Nova in confusion. “What’s wrong with tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow is the day Twilight sends me back.”

It broke her heart how dead that sounded.

When Spike didn’t seem to understand, he pressed on, sounding just as hurt as she felt. “You weren’t with us that day, but after we went with Trixie to the Vaults, we had to get up to Canterlot at top speed. That’s where Twilight and I first agreed to start dating, remember? Well, Celestia and Luna told us the story of the first Nova Sh-- of me,” he shook his head slightly as he corrected himself, “and the story ends with me disappearing for a while, and then reappearing to live out the rest of my days in peace.”

“I still don’t--”

“Spike,” Twilight interrupted, in a very small voice, “he’s… he’s not coming back.”

Spike blinked.

“Not coming back? What do you mean not coming back? He has to come back!”

“History is quite clear on what happens to my an-- to me,” Nova shook his head. “I’m sorry, Spike, but I--”

Before he could finish, there was a bright flash of blue light. Nova squawked and covered his eyes at the brightness, Twilight let out a yelp as she scrambled away from the source, and Spike just let out a loud “Whoa!” as he fell over in his seat.

But when the light subsided, the three of them found themselves staring at Princess Luna, who was straightening herself up and adjusting her tiara, apparently oblivious to the two cowering ponies and one startled dragon sitting in the cart.

“Princess Luna?” Twilight blinked. “What… what are you doing here?”

“Our apologies,” Luna preempted, her soft voice somehow carrying over the train’s noises. “Teleportation onto a moving object is something We haven’t been quite able to nail down since Our return.”

She leaned down and gave her student an affectionate nuzzle, and then answered, “We have been watching--”

“Old Equish,” Nova interrupted suddenly.

“Nova!” Twilight snapped. “Be polite.”

“No no, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna rolled her eyes at her own slip, “It is something I asked of him some time ago, to catch me if I slipped into it. Help me break the habit and all. In any case,” she shook her head, “I have been observing the two of you from my scrying orb as you broke the news, and I have come to put your minds at ease, given you do not have a full understanding just yet.”

“Put our minds at ease?” Nova tilted his head, before letting out a yawn.

Luna responded by leaning over and giving him a jolt of energy, which seemed to wake him right up. While he still physically appeared exhausted, he seemed much more awake all of a sudden.

“What was that?” Nova asked, rubbing at his eyes to clear the sleep from them.

“A temporary energizing spell. While it may energize a pony after a restless night or a lack of sleep, it is no long-term substitute for a good night’s rest, but it should suffice for today.”

Note to self, learn that spell for all-night study sessions, Twilight mentally instructed herself.

“Continuing,” Luna drew back, “yes. I am here to put your minds at ease.”

“How exactly does knowing I’m going to go back in time and live out the rest of my days there put our minds at ease?” Nova asked, a slightly bitter edge to his voice.

“Simple,” Luna smiled. “You won’t be living out the rest of your days in the past.”

Nova’s mouth parted.

“Wait,” he frowned. “You told us that day a few months ago that Nova Shine the First vanished after Envy was created, then reappeared, got married, had kids and died peacefully.”

“Never did we specify that it was Nova Shine the First who reappeared,” Luna met his disbelieving gaze with a firm one. “I believe the exact wording was that Nova Shine appeared once again shortly after Clover was married. You shall find out what that means, in time, but in short, you do return. I have met your future self several times over the last few months. And the resolution to that particular bit of shading by exact words-- that Nova Shine does return-- well,” she grinned, “it’s rather extraordinary when you figure out how there is no incongruence.”

“So he’s not going to go back and--” Spike started, but Luna interrupted him.

“No, Spike” Luna interrupted, “Nova will be going back in time, but he will not be staying as long as he believed.”

There was a loud and sudden sigh, which caused Twilight’s attention to turn immediately over to her coltfriend. He appeared as though he could hardly believe his ears, yet he appeared to be enormously relieved at the same time. The way his shoulders just seemed to slacken, and the half-smile that was slowly creeping across his muzzle…

“It’s… it’s not forever.”

“Neigh,” Luna shook her head. “You return, whole and unharmed. In fact, I can inform you that your foray into the past will last no longer than two years.”

Nova and Twilight both stared at her.

“Two… years?” Nova mouthed, the palpable relief starting to become rather obvious by this point, based on the fact that his smile was growing wider and wider with every passing moment.

“Are you sure it’s okay to tell him this?” Twilight asked, glancing over at her coltfriend, who was still smiling stupidly at his sudden stroke of fortune.

“Nova deserved to have this burden lifted before he left tomorrow,” answered Luna. “As his teacher, and also as one of his closest authority figures, it hurts me to see him mentally torment himself with this knowledge over the last several hours. I know better than most what self-tormenting can do to a pony,” her expression darkened, “and I would never allow that kind of pain to be inflicted on anypony else.”

“And how did you know he was telling us this?” Twilight asked.

“I mentioned I’d been listening via scrying,” Luna replied simply. “You, of course, know that any reflective surface is an effective surface to scry from. I did not need sight, I needed to hear, so it was a simple enough modification to the spell.”

“...huh.” Twilight started rubbing her chin thoughtfully. “I never knew you could modify the scrying spell to listen in on things…”

“It is rather advanced, but perhaps I’ll ask Tia to teach you how,” promised Luna. “In any case, yes, I felt Nova deserved to have this burden lifted before he went back in time. And I knew a part of him would not accept it unless he heard it directly from my mouth, and could sense my own aura with his sensing.” she glanced over at her pupil, who appeared to be in a daze from the revelation. “To that end, I felt it would be prudent to speak to the both of you personally.”

Now, she looked over at Twilight. “You need not fear that you are permanently losing your beloved, Twilight Sparkle. I came here to set both your hearts at ease.”

“I’m here too!” Spike protested from his seat.

“All three of your hearts,” Luna corrected, sheepishly. “My apologies, Spike. Yes, you will not be losing your surrogate older brother. I daresay, his older self should actually arrive moments after you teleport our current Night Apprentice into the past, Twilight Sparkle,” she added. “At least, that appears to be his intention. After all, you do know Nova Shine and his dramatic entrances…”

Spike snickered. Even Nova had to chuckle at that one, though he still had a dreamy expression on his face. Twilight couldn’t help but feel relieved all the more. It had bothered her for that brief moment when she believed he would go for good, but Nova had known this for many hours longer. To him, this must have been nothing short of liberating.

“In any case, I apologize for how brief this visit was,” Luna drew herself up to her full height once again and moved to gain some space between her and the three of them, “but when you’re an immortal alicorn with magical ability completely off of the rating scale, teleportations over long distance are rather trivial.”

“If that’s the case, why not just teleport us up to Canterlot whenever you want a visit?” Nova asked, arching an eyebrow. “You’ve teleported me to your room before.”

“Indeed,” Luna dipped her head, “but teleporting oneself and teleporting another are two very different matters. And then there’s the logical extension of teleporting yourself with others… but I digress.”

Her horn began to glow teal.

“We hope that we have been of assistance today."

And with that, she disappeared in a flash of light,leaving them to stare at the spot she vanished from for several seconds.

“...Nova?” Twilight finally said.

“Yeah?” he looked over.

“Your mentor’s weird.”

“Yeah, but I love her for it,” Nova replied with a fond grin directed up toward Canterlot Castle.

“I mean, her solution to telling us the answer to your problem was to teleport in here for all of a minute and teleport away.” Twilight was entering lecture mode,

“Sounds efficient, if you ask me,” Nova replied with a shrug. “Beats the Equestrian Mail Service. I sent a letter through them a few weeks back, and it somehow ended up getting routed to Mozebrique, when it was only meant to be sent up to Manechester.”

He had a distant smile on his face as he recalled recent memory.

“Got a really nice letter back from some zebra living over there. Still got it in my house in Neighton.”

“So, I do have a little bit of a concern about this idea of you going back in time,” Twilight steered the conversation back to the elephant in the room about tomorrow’s big day.

“What kind of concern?” Nova asked.

“How you’re going to make sure the timeline doesn’t fall apart when you return to the here and now,” Twilight really had gone into full lecture mode now. Nova let out a quiet sigh, but was going to let her have her moment. “After all, if you’re not there in the past to meet your future wife, you can’t sire the Novus clan. And if you can’t do that, then the Novus family doesn’t exist, meaning there’s a good possibility we all disappear, meaning you never go back in time, and then all of time and space fall to pieces--”

“Reality isn’t like that Back to the Future movie we saw a couple of nights ago on our date, Twilight,” Nova interrupted, hoping to curtail this particular apocalyptic scenario before it started to get really out of hoof.. “Somehow I highly doubt we’ll just disappear from existence.”

“Wait, you two went and saw Back to the Future without me?” Spike asked, sounding dismayed.

“It was date night, Spike,” Nova answered. “We tried to go on a lunch date that day, but Shining and Cadance had other plans, so we had to go that evening."

“Why do you two always want to go alone?” Spike grumbled.

“When you get a fillyfriend, you’ll understand,” Twilight assured him.

“Did you want to see it, or something?” Nova asked. It was going to be the last night he got to spend with Spike and Twilight for some time, so he wanted to make it count.

“Nah, Rarity’s parents took me and Sweetie Belle to see it in Ponyville. I just wanted to see it again with you guys.”

“Wait,” Nova blinked. “When did Hondo and Cookie--”

“Last week,” Twilight answered. “When you were in a bar and I was barricaded in the library.”

“Oh,” Nova said.

“But, like, Twilight’s already gone back in time and tried to change things, right?” Spike continued. “And it turned out that she’d always gone back in time, so nothing broke. What if when you go back in time,” he pointed to Nova, “it’s the same way? Like, you always went back in time, so it all works out?”

“That’s… a good point,” Twilight conceded, before giving him an approving nod. “Good thinking, Spike. I believe it’s that way in Harry Trotter and the Prisoner of Azcoltban.”

“Yeah, the whole Time-Turner sequence,” Spike added eagerly. “Everything they did had already happened, they just didn’t know it at the time!”

“But even so, I don’t want to take that chance that it doesn’t work that way,” Twilight replied, getting back to her original point. “You need to be prepared for the Butterfly Effect, Nova. You can’t count on everything all working out on its own. I think you need to be prepared to make everything work out.”

“Sounds like you’ve given this some thought,” Nova observed. “Personally, I feel like this whole predestination outcome is the one that’s going to work out. It’s not like I’m changing anything, right? I’m just playing my part.”

“Well, I tried to alter it, and it all ended up playing out like how I tried to avoid.” Twilight tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Maybe there’s some weight to the whole predetermination thing…”

“Wait, you tried to alter time?” Nova asked, incredulously. The mare that was presently going on about how he had to protect the timeline had attempted to change the way things were done!?

I… may or may not have some experience attempting to change the space-time continuum, yes.”

“Oh, right,” Nova couldn’t help but snicker as he remembered the story. “The epic pony war of Next Tuesday. Spike told me about that. Not gonna lie, you in a spy catsuit is something I wouldn’t mind seeing.”

“But even so, it never hurts to be prepared,” Twilight once again returned to the original point. She must have had something she really wanted to say about this.

“Twilight,” Nova facehoofed, “this is gonna turn into the suitcase debate again, isn’t it? I trust my teacher when she says it all works out.”

“But what if it all works out because you take my advice?” Twilight countered. “Sure, we didn’t need the suitcases and you were right, but it never hurts to be prepared. Personally, I’d rather have something but not need it than need it and not have it.”

“True enough,” Nova admitted. “Okay, then, let’s hear it,” he leaned back in his seat expectantly. “What do you suggest?”

“A magical clone.”

“A clone?” Nova repeated, sounding bemused. “Do we really have to do something so… complex? I feel like there’s a much more mundane way for things to work out...”

“I mean, think about it,” Twilight continued. “If you’re able to create a magical clone of yourself, it would allow you to return to the modern day, and it wouldn’t disrupt any timeline dependent on you staying. You’d get the best of both worlds. The problem is, magical clones aren’t easy to make under any stretch of the term. They require a lot of energy to create a fully-functioning equine form, and to imbue it with life. But,” she suddenly sounded just a little too proud of herself now, as if confirming Nova’s suspicions that she had a point she really wanted to make, “it just so happens that I have an easy solution.”

“What kind of solution?” Nova asked. “How can there be an easy way for me to make a clone of myself if it’s as difficult as you’re saying?”

“Nova,” Twilight grinned, “did I ever tell you about the time a hundred Pinkie Pies invaded Ponyville?”

{T} {A} {T} {S} {A} {T} {C}

“How did you even find out about this pool’s existence?” Nova wondered as Twilight magically prised the boulder out of its hole in the ground. Why oh why did they have to fight their way through so many brambles just to get here?

“Pinkie Pie found it first,” Twilight sighed, before facehoofing. “Didn’t want to split her time with her friends, so she… ugh, cloned herself a hundred times.”

Nova shuddered at the mere thought of it.

“Anyway, after we solved that problem, she showed me the pool and I covered up the entrance, but I didn’t destroy the pool or dispel its magic. After all, who knows when you would need another version of you for some reason.”

“Fair enough,” Nova conceded as they trotted down the incline of earth to where a perfectly-still pool of water sat, perfectly reflecting everything around it. “Wow, it’s beautiful!”

“So,” a book appeared in front of Twilight’s muzzle as she flipped to the correct page, “according to this book, you need to approach the pool.”

“Okay,” Nova said, stepping forward and staring down at his reflection.

“Stare deeply into the eyes of the reflection.”

“Hello beautiful,” Nova smiled down at his mirrored self.

“Wait, there’s a note here,” Twilight suddenly paused. “‘If the subject displays narcissistic or vain tendencies, for the good of all of Equestria, do not allow them within fifty meters of the pool’.”

“Oh ha-ha,” Nova rolled his eyes. “I’m staring into my reflection’s eyes. Now what?”

“Now, you need to focus on why it is you are cloning yourself,” Twilight continued, before pausing, “That’s probably why Pinkie’s clones were all obsessed with fun! It’s what she created them to have! So yeah, focus on exactly why you want to create a clone of yourself, and say these words.”

“Okay,” Nova nodded, ready to repeat after her.

“There’s actually two versions of this,” Twilight pointed out. “One for mares, and one for stallions, so you’ll want the stallion version…”

“What happens if you repeat the opposite gender version?” Nova asked.

“According to this, it creates a clone of that gender.”

“Oh!” Nova immediately dashed over to Twilight. “Do the mare one! Tell me the mare one!”

“Why?” Twilight glanced up at him.

“I’ve always wondered something,” he said, before dashing back to the pool surface. “Ready when you are!”

“Fine,” Twilight sighed. “And into her own reflection she stared…”

“And into her own reflection she stared…”

“...yearning for one whose reflection she shared…”

“...yearning for one whose reflection she shared…”

“...and solemnly sweared not to be scared…”

“...and solemnly sweared not to be scared….”

“...at the prospect of being doubly mared.”

“...at the prospect of being doubly mared.”

No sooner had he finished than a mare walked up out of the pool and stood in front of both of them, and as expected, she looked exactly like Nova Shine, only more feminine. Her muzzle was rounded rather than squared, her body was leaner, her horn was slightly shorter, and her tail was marginally neater and longer, but otherwise, the two of them were identical. The same shade of blue in their manes, tails, eyes, and cutie marks, the same confidence they radiated, and the same flirty looks the both of them were sending Twilight’s way.

“...what?” Twilight asked, now finding herself blushing somewhat at the looks she was receiving.

“So you’re the mare version of Dusky?” mare!Nova said, trotting toward her. It had that same playful edge to it that Nova always did. “You’re cute.”

“Wh-what?”

“See what I like about her?” stallion!Nova asked, stepping next to his mare counterpart, who licked her lips.

“Oh yes, I do.”

Twilight’s mind capitulated, and she fell right over, legs stiff and eyes shrunken as millions of images of two Novas ran through her head. Meanwhile, Nova Shine and… whatever mare!Nova’s name was just started chortling and exchanged a quick high-five.

“Good to know other universe me isn’t a bore!” the mare said, brushing back her mane. “Wait,” she frowned. “What’s your name?”

“Nova Shine.”

“Ah,” the mare dipped her head. “Makes sense. I’m Nova Gleam. And while this has been fun,” she stretched, before she waded back into the pool, “I’m gonna leave you to your lecture on how to clone yourself for when you go back in time.”

“How did you--”

“I’m you, remember?” Gleam winked at him. “I’ve kind of got a lecture about the same subject from Dusky that I’m in for. Anyway, later, other me!”

And with that, she dipped below the surface, which shone bright for the briefest of moments and was gone. Nova smiled to himself as she went. He’d really have to summon his other alternate universe selves sometime, if for no other reason than it’d be fun to get a rise out of Twilight again.

Speaking of, she seemed to be recovering. As she got to her feet, her cheeks still very bright red even in the dim atmosphere of this little cave, she took one look at him and just shook her head.

“Of all the stallions in the word, I had to fall for one who goes out of his way to rile me up,” she sighed.

“You love it,” Nova fired back.

“I do,” she admitted, with a slightly embarrassed grin. “Alright, so now that you’ve had your fun, ready to try and create a real clone this time?”

“Sure,” Nova cracked his neck. “What’s the incantation for a male clone?”

“And into his own reflection he stared, yearning for one whose reflection he shared, and solemnly sweared not to be scared at the prospect of being doubly paired.”

“Oh,” Nova nodded understandingly. “Just swapping out the gender-specific wording, then.”

“Pretty much,” Twilight shut the book. “Need me to write it down?”

“Would be nice,” Nova trotted back over to the pool. “I can keep it nice and stored away for when I need it in the past. But for now…”

He took a deep breath and stared down into the water again.

“And into his own reflection he stared, yearning for one whose reflection he shared, and solemnly sweared not to be scared at the prospect of being doubly paired.”

At once, another Nova trotted out of the pool. Unlike Nova Gleam from before, this Nova was obviously a stallion, and both Nova’s were 100% identical, at least at first glance.

No doubt they would be identical down to their recollections of different events and such. For all intents and purposes, there were two Nova Shines in the world now, completely and totally indistinguishable.

“Excellent!” Twilight clapped her hooves appreciatively. “Princess Luna must have taught you really good mental control to be able to do it on your first try like that.”

“Well, she is a pretty good teacher,” Nova replied modestly, before turning to inspect his clone, who puffed out his chest and stood quite tall. “Not often you get a chance to look at the parts of your own body that are out of view.”

“FUN!”

The grin on Twilight’s face disappeared instantly.

“FUN! FUN!”

The Nova clone was now chanting “FUN!” at the top of his lungs, even as it stood stock still while the real Nova continued his inspection.

“Nova, really?” Twilight glared over at her coltfriend, who was still inspecting his clone, no doubt using it as an excuse to hide the devilish smile he was probably sporting. “You can’t be serious about this for even ten seconds?”

“This one wasn’t me,” the real Nova protested. “Seriously, I tried to create a full copy of me, not a mindless fun-seeking drone.”

Twilight turned her annoyed gaze to the clone; her coltfriend had been telling the truth, which meant the clone, much like the real Nova would, was doing this on purpose. The clone met her gaze, and stopped.

“Sorry, couldn’t resist,” he said.

Twilight just facehoofed. “Even your clones don’t know how to take anything seriously,” her hoof dug into her temple. “Alright, stand back, I’m gonna send him home.”

The other Nova saluted. “Later!”

With a quick blast of Twilight’s magic, the clone was dispelled into a stream of energy, that floated back into the pool with a gentle burst of light.

“So that’s that,” Twilight said, trotting over toward the ramp that led out of the hole in the ground. “If you create a total clone of yourself, your clone can live out the rest of your days in the past while you return to the present.”

“You know,” Nova beamed down at the pool, “this might actually work. I can’t believe one of your little friendship problems actually helped me out like this!”

Twilight just rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t resist a little chuckle. “Ready to head back?”

“Yeah,” Nova nodded. “One last day to spend with you before I’m off on a trip into the past for a while, right?”

“Well then, I’m all ears for date ideas,” Twilight extended her hoof, taking Nova’s into it as he strode toward her.

“Honestly, after the excitement of our first date, I could go for something quiet tonight.”

"Don't you mean, our first 'casual event where two best friends can hang out in a completely platonic manner?'" Twilight asked, sliding in place with her barrel pressed up against his own.

"That one was rather quiet, though," Nova nuzzled her as they started making their way out of the pool's hole in the ground.. "Nothing particularly exciting apart from our first kiss and my major breakdown."

They worked their way out of the underground cavern, and once within the Everfree Forest once again, they set back off toward Ponyville.

"You know, I just had a thought," Nova suddenly said.

"You? A thought? Be serious, Nova."

"Never," Nova vowed, smirking. "The thought certainly wasn't."

"What was it?"

"Well, I'm my own idol, right?" he queried. "I found out I'm actually Nova Shine I?"

"To your simultaneous despair and delight," replied Twilight.

"Does that mean I wanted to be myself when I grew up?"

Twilight facehoofed. "You always did know the right questions to ask."

"I know, and you love me for it," he replied, leaning down and giving her a quick kiss to the head.

"I adore you for it," she corrected, feeling her face grow warm yet again from Nova's public display of affection.

The night ended too quickly for the both of them.

{T} {A} {T} {S} {A} {T} {C}

Despite the conversation on the train, despite knowing there was possibly a solution in mind, and despite the assurance that all would be well, Nova could not sleep that night. With the knowledge of what was coming in just a few short hours, the best he could do was toss and turn, all while Twilight slept peacefully beside him. seemingly oblivious to the fact that Nova long since removed his hooves from being around her.

It had felt like he’d been there for hours, trying in vain to get to bed, but on a quick glance outside, he could see the evening weather crews just finishing up their work of arranging the clouds, meaning it still had to be on the early side of midnight, and they had gone to bed around ten.

With an annoyed sigh, he slipped out of bed, being careful not to disturb Twilight, and slunk out onto the balcony. What he was going to do out there, not even he knew, but the nights did always make him feel better at ease.

Little wonder he was chosen to be the Night Apprentice.

Well, that, and the fact that he and Nova Shine I were the same pony might have also had something to do with it.

But even as he sat out there, feeling the bitter cold in the air and thinking about everything that would be waiting for him in the past-- his growth, the knowledge of who Envy was, and a romance with Clover the Clever-- he was completely oblivious to the light touch of hooves on the wood behind him, until something warm draped itself around him.

Nova blinked and returned to focus to see a blue wing covering his back, providing excellent protection from the cold, and found Princess Luna looking down at him with a little bit concern.

“It has been quite some time since I have seen you in such a state,” she noted, giving him a once-over. “I take it that, despite everything I revealed to you on the train, you are still ill at ease?”

“What gave it away?” Nova muttered, just barely loud enough for her to hear.

“Well, you don’t normally sit outside navel-gazing in freezing temperatures devoid of winter clothing like you are now,” Luna answered, a wry smile on your face. “Last time I found you out here like this, you were so let down at your inability to grasp alchemy magic that you were convinced I was about to dismiss you as my apprentice and you just went into a trance. I see that this reaction to particularly stressful developments has not changed,” she added.

“Yeah, but that time, I wasn’t faced with the prospect of leaving my marefriend for two years or so,” Nova scowled.

“I see,” Luna frowned, turning her gaze out toward the Everfree on the horizon, toward where they both knew Neighton was, and the older Nova who had to be sleeping there even now. “So that is why you are troubled. You are loath to leave Twilight.”

“Not just that,” Nova shook his head. “I love her. That won’t change. But… well, Twilight gets jealous easily, right?”

“Yes,” Luna dipped her head. “A trait Envy played to turn her against you for a brief time.”

“Well, now I’m going to go back in time and fall in love with a mare who looks exactly like her,” Nova continued, his gaze flicking over to the sleeping mare inside, “and I’m gonna come back. And like it or not, I just know Clover’s going to leave an impact on me, and I’m not sure how Twilight will take it.”

“This is something you both will contribute to,” Luna said, now directing her gaze at Twilight herself. “Yes, your time with Clover will leave an impact on you, and yes said impact will give Twilight Sparkle good cause to be a little jealous, but this is where the two of you will have to make an effort for each other.” She paused for a minute, apparently to collect her thoughts and properly word the details. “You will have to make an effort to reiterate to her that she is the most important pony in your life, something easier said than done but not impossible by any stretch, and she will have to be patient with you, which I think should not be a problem. Given recent happenings, I would be very surprised if she does not attempt to hear you out and see things from your side.”

Nova had nothing to say to that; he figured he wouldn’t really have much to go off of until he was back and waiting to reunite with Twilight. Still, the point about Twilight forcing herself to trust him more was both blessing and curse. Blessing, in that having been vindicated by his experience, it meant she would be less likely to plug her ears when it was something serious. Curse, because it hadn’t been painless, and he had a feeling she might harbor a little resentment regarding what had happened.

It wasn’t something he couldn’t empathize with, not by any stretch of the term. He knew it was often harder to forgive someone for being right than being wrong. It was just… he wanted her to know that he didn’t hold it against her. However long it took, he was determined to make sure she knew that.

“Change is coming, Nova,” Luna suddenly said.

“Hm?”

Luna was now staring up at the castle.

“The coming months will be a time of great change,” Luna clarified, “centered around Twilight Sparkle.”

Nova didn’t know how to respond, so he simply kept silent.

“There is a lot of growth Twilight will need to go through if she is to be ready. And you as well,” she added, her wing squeezing him just a bit. “In the next several months, it is my hope that you will be able to stand beside her after all is said and done.”

“What sort of change?” he asked a bit warily.

Luna worked her mouth for a moment, before shaking her head. “Unfortunately, there is not much we are at liberty to say. However, I just wanted you to be aware. There is much growth that you will need to go through, maturing and strengthening on your part, and it will not be an entirely-pleasant process.”

“Way to make the future sound fun, Luna,” Nova replied, earning a small grin from his teacher.

“The point, Nova,” she turned her gaze back down to him, “is that whatever happens in the past, however you grow and change,” she gestured with a hoof into the library were Twilight still lay on her bed, “it is all for her. It is our hope that you will have grown and matured enough to be ready when it comes around. And I believe you will be, but the path of growth is not normally a pleasant one.”

Nova wasn’t really sure how to respond to that, but Luna simply seemed content to let her statement hang in the air.

“Just a warning,” she finally said. “You will understand more in the future when you return.”

“If you say so,” Nova shook his head dismissively. The far future wasn’t really on his radar, even if Twilight was involved.

“Do you believe you are ready?” Luna asked, with a much softer tone to her voice.

“No,” Nova shook his head and glanced back at Twilight, still sleeping inside. “We finally get together, and I’m already being forced to leave.”

“It’s not forever.”

“It’s still too damn long.”

“Maybe,” Luna placed a comforting hoof on his shoulder, “but trust me when I say, your future self loves Twilight no less than you do now. Perhaps even more so.”

There was a rather pregnant pause after she said this, but then she seemed to think of something else.

“Say, would you like to meet your future self?”

“Do what?” Nova glanced over at her. Surely she had to be joking. She knew how the laws of time travel worked, right? Never encounter another version of yourself or the universe implodes.

...except for that one time Twilight met her future self, but even so.

“Future you appears to be awake right now,” Luna gazed out over the land, in the direction of Neighton. “No doubt he is nervous about his reunion tomorrow. Would you like to talk with him?”

Nova looked out toward Neighton as well, wondering if, perhaps, future Nova was looking right back at him all that way away.

“...no.” he finally said. “No, I don’t want that temptation.”

Luna simply smiled at that and tightened her wing and drew him closer.

“Understandable. Anything you’d like me to say? Any comfort or parting words?”

“I think you’ve done more than enough just by coming out,” Nova leaned into his teacher. “Thanks, Princess.”

“Nova…” she said, a warning edge to her voice. “Remember what I made you promise, never call me ‘princess’ when it’s just the two of us.”

“Fine, fine,” Nova smirked. "Just had to mess with you a bit, Luna.”

Luna just hummed at that, smirking right back at him.

And together, they observed the passing night.

{T} {A} {T} {S} {A} {T} {C}

The morning found Nova in a quiet mood. He didn’t seem to want to say much, even as he ate a light breakfast. Nor again as he took a stroll around the library, no doubt taking one good long look before it was time to go.

“It’s alright, you know,” Twilight patted him on the shoulder, startling him as he stared at a bookshelf rather morosely. “You’ll be back in no time at all, and I’ll be waiting!”

“Doesn’t ease it much,” Nova muttered.

“When…” she swallowed, thinking back to the last time she had cast this spell, back in Canterlot, “when do you want--”

“I’m ready to go,” Nova said, but she could hear the slight shakiness behind it. He was definitely not ready, but she knew Nova well enough to know that if he didn’t go now, he never would. “Let’s… let’s do this.”

“Alright,” Twilight took a deep breath, “Stand in that clearing, would you?”

Nova did, stepping into an empty space and seeming to stand up to his tallest height.

“Remember,” Twilight reminded him, “find the Mirror Pool. Make sure it works. You wrote down the phrase you have to say, right?” she checked.

“Yeah,” Nova held up a scrap of paper that had the phrase scrawled down on it, before it vanished in a flash of blue light.

“Is there anything else you need to do?”

“Say my goodbyes,” he said, before reaching over and giving Spike a quick hug.

“H-hey, what are you--”

“Behave yourself for the next few hours, alright?” Nova stared down at him.

“Yeah yeah,” Spike rolled his eyes.

Nova let him go, then locked eyes with Twilight, and for a long moment they stared at each other, until Nova stepped forward and gave her one last kiss that ended all too soon, before stepping back into his open space.

“Good luck,” Twilight said, willing the magic within her to do its work.

As the magic wove its way around Nova, she could see the nervousness in his eyes as he watched it, but right at the critical moment, when the magic reached its casting point, they locked eyes one last time.

“I love y--” he tried to say, but it was too late.

But in a flash of magenta light, he was gone, leaving nothing but charred residue on the ground where he had stood.

For several seconds, Twilight didn’t move. She found herself simply staring at the place where Nova had vanished, her mind half-convinced he was going to just pop into existence moments later, as if he had never been gone at all.

This appeared to be a sentiment that Spike shared, because he, too, was staring at the spot on the ground, with the faint scorch marks from the magic, with a very pensive frown on his face.

“So is that it?” he asked after what felt like an hour.

“I guess so,” Twilight replied, still staring at the char marks on the ground. “All that we do now is wait for future Nova to show up.”

“Do you think he’s going to look like future-you did a while back?” Spike asked, before seeming to hype himself up from the idea. “Will he have an eyepatch? A cool scar that goes under it? Maybe he’ll have a scar that goes over the eyepatch! And a black trenchcoat, too!”

“Spike, I really don’t think future-Nova’s going to show up like I did,” Twilight sighed, recalling quite clearly the time she had warped herself to the past from “next Tuesday morning.” “Though I will admit,” her cheeks went a bit pink as she thought of Nova wearing a skintight catsuit, “I don’t think I’d mind him dressing the part.”

Thankfully, Spike seemed to miss her reaction, as he was too busy going on and on about what sort of stuff Nova must have gotten up to in the past, including taking on five hundred ninjas, hanging out with Flash Magnus and Rockhoof, fighting Nightmare Moon on Nightfall, and other such impossibilities.

Twilight let him entertain his fantasies for a while, but since they didn’t know when future Nova would arrive, she finally figured it was time to just get on with their daily routines.

“Alright, Spike, I need you to clean up the burn mark,” she finally said, as Spike waxed eloquent about Nova personally leading the Germane armies to victory over the Roamans in the Battle of Teutoberg Forest.

“Aww,” Spike sighed as he went to retrieve the mop and bucket.

“And besides,” Twilight immediately set to resorting the bookshelves, if for no other reason than to pass the time, “Princess Luna said he was already here in our time, living in Nova’s house in Neighton. So it stands to reason that he’ll probably just knock on our door instead of barging in. And it’s a short trot to Ponyville from Neighton,” she added, “so I really don’t think there’ll be any trouble.”

And of course, no sooner had she said that than the door burst open with a loud BANG! and Rainbow Dash flew in at top speed, skidding to a halt on the library floor as library books went flying out of Twilight’s magical grip.

“Twilight! We’ve got trouble! Like, REALLY BAD trouble!” she shouted, looking every which way around her, while Twilight snatched up the books and tried to shelve them again before they got dirty.

“Trouble? What kind?” Twilight asked, stopping suddenly, books frozen in mid-air.

“It’s Nova!” Rainbow exclaimed, shoving several things out of the way to prepare a spot on the ground. “Fluttershy found him with a knife in his back, bleeding out on the road to Neighton!”

The books dropped at once.

“Nova’s hurt!?” Twilight ran right over to Rainbow and shook her vigorously. “Where is he!?”

“MAKE ROOM!” came a loud call from outside, before Sharp Eye and Fluttershy both trotted into the room, a stretcher being carried between them, and lying on that stretcher was none other than Nova Shine.

Twilight felt all the blood drain from her face at the sight of him. He was lashed belly-down to the makeshift stretcher that both Sharp Eye and Fluttershy were using, and an improvised bandage that appeared to be made from clothing was tied around Nova’s midriff, trying to stem the blood flow from a massive and rapidly-spreading red splotch on Nova’s back His eyes were clenched shut and he was grimacing in his unconsciousness, shifting in pain ever so slightly, but the lashings held firm.

“We would have taken him to the hospital, but your place was closer,” Sharp Eye explained, and Twilight was never more thankful to hear his calm Neigh Zealand baritone despite the situation. “Flutters found him on the road to Neighton with a knife in his back and got me immediately. Bandaged him up as best I could with what little I had,” he gestured at the cloth, “and got him here. Are you able to care for him, or do we need to get to the hospital?”

“I think I can do it,” Twilight answered, her voice miraculously less shaky than she felt, even as the love of her life bled out before her eyes. “Rainbow Dash.”

“What do you need?” Rainbow snapped to attention.

“Get to the hospital,” she instructed, “get me a roll of proper bandages, some disinfectant, and some stitching needle and thread. Tell them it’s an emergency and for them to send someone over here pronto, and tell them I’ll pay them as soon as I have a chance. Go now!”

“On it!” Dash nodded, and with a burst of speed, she was gone.

“Fluttershy,” Twilight asked, reaching a hand out to steady the mare, who was shaking and looked as pale as Twilight felt. “Are you alright?”

“I’m f-fine, Twilight,” Fluttershy answered most unconvincingly, “b-but, what about you? And N-Nova?”

“I can do this,” Twilight reaffirmed, already thinking back to the lessons on pony anatomy and Restoration magic Princess Celestia had taught her so long ago. “I may not be able to completely heal the wound, but I can stabilize him.”

She turned to Sharp Eye.

“You said he had a knife in his back?”

“Yeah,” Sharp Eye said, before reaching into a vest pocket and pulling out a silver dagger, the blade of which was stained red with blood.

Nova’s blood…

“Alright. Let’s get the bandages off,” Twilight said, taking a deep breath.

“What can I do?” Spike asked. He had been watching everything very closely, but was now staring at Nova looking terrified. “Can I do anything to help?”

“Keep everything as clean as you can,” Twilight ordered. “If blood spills, wipe it up. If I need you to fetch something, do it without question. We don’t have time to ask why, alright?”

“Alright,” Spike nodded.

“Good,” she said, before using her magic to delicately start to unravel the bandages. It was a very slow process, but eventually, she pulled it all free, revealing the very ugly wound underneath. The knife wound was thin, but a very quick magical probing spell determined that it ran deep, and…

And it missed every vital organ.

Letting out a shaky breath she didn’t know she had been holding, Twilight wiped her head in relief. Nova was still in danger, but it wasn’t critical. She had plenty of time to work with.

But she still couldn’t help but shake the cold feeling that had arisen in her as she thought of the implication.

This… this was intended. This stab wound didn’t miss every vital organ. It avoided every vital organ.

This wasn’t haphazard; this was surgery!

“Twilight? Are you okay?”

“Fine, fine,” Twilight shook herself out of her thoughts. Save Nova now, think later. “Give me a second, I’m going to start repairing what I can.”

Sharp Eye nodded and stepped back, allowing Twilight to gather her strength, will the magic within her, and finally, reach out and slowly start to mend Nova’s wound.

It was a very slow and taxing process. She magically restitched as many of the more vital arteries and veins as she could first, which was already a very difficult task, and then she moved on to the musculature and other damaged sections.

The seconds ticked by as she worked, the sweat trickled down her head before dripping onto the floor, and the blood slowly continued to pour, despite her best efforts, but she was gratified to see that, ever so slightly, the blood flow was lessening.

And under it, millimeter by precious millimeter, Nova’s skin was magically being coaxed into stitching itself back together. Seconds felt like minutes, minutes felt like hours, and her progress was taxing in the extreme, but it was certainly apparent. The wound was closing, a little at a time, and each precious bit meant all the world.

After an eternity of work, she felt her magic start to slip away,

It was a monumental relief when the door burst open and Rainbow Dash flew in, leading Doctor Horse and Nurse Redheart with her, and they were carrying everything she had asked for. Twilight felt the magic slip from her grasp just as they did. If she had to guess, roughly 50% of the healing work had been done. It wouldn’t be enough on its own, though, as he had lost too much blood and was still bleeding profusely, but he was in far less immediate danger, especially now that trained professionals had arrived.

No sooner did they see what was happening than they jumped right to work. Twilight felt herself be gently pulled away by Spike, devoid of strength to fight him, and the two medical ponies set up shop, while Sharp Eye, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Twilight just sat there, watching and helping when asked, while Spike dutifully kept everything as clean and sterile as possible in the area.

After at least another hour, Dr. Horse finally cut the thread he had been stitching with, secured it, and started to rebandage everything. Everything was done. Nova’s shifting had ceased, and now he appeared to be peacefully sleeping. And when all was finally said and done, and the bandages affixed to him nice and snugly, the two doctors led his stretcher upstairs and set him down in Twilight’s bed.

“Thank-you, thank-you so much,” Twilight told the both of them as they started to trot out.

“Your restorative work probably saved his life, Twilight Sparkle,” Doctor Horse smiled at her. “Truthfully, you did the majority of what needed to be done, we simply handled the finishing touches. Your teacher would be proud.”

“Thank-you,” she sighed, still exhausted from her work.

“We’ll prepare some medication for him up at the hospital,” Redheart said as Dr. Horse trotted out. “I’ll bring it out as soon as I can. In the meantime, let him rest. If he’s feeling up for it, he can walk around, but he really needs to take it easy over the next few days. And if you feel up for it,” she added, glancing back at the sleeping stallion, “You can do some more restorative magic. It should accelerate his recovery.”

“Will do,” Twilight promised. She was going to take every opportunity she could to heal him up. “Again, thank-you, Nurse Redheart. How much do I owe you?”

“We’ll work that out later,” Redheart placed a hoof on her shoulder. “For now, rest up, and make sure he does too.”

“‘Kay,” Twilight mumbled sleepily, the exhaustion of the past two hours really starting to catch up to her.

“Is there anything else, any other information, anything along those lines you can provide? We can see about getting the Peacekeepers involved,” Redheart said as they trotted back out down to the ground floor, where Fluttershy and Sharp Eye still waited.

“Well, I’ve got this,” Sharp Eye held out the silver knife, with Nova’s blood now dried on it. “Didn’t look like there was a poison of any kind on it, but it’s still probably not sterile or anything.”

“Yes, here,” the nurse withdrew a hazardous object bag from the collection of supplies she had brought, “we can make sure it wasn’t carrying any harmful disease. Thank-you, your aid has been very helpful today.”

“I’m just glad my friend’s gonna be alright,” Sharp Eye rubbed at his face tiredly. “It’s lucky I flew back a couple’a days ago, innit?”

“You have no idea,” Twilight did her absolute best not to explore the implications of what could have been had he and Fluttershy not found him.

“If you would please," Redheart said, now politely trying to usher the two of them out with her, “she needs rest, as does Nova Shine. You can check up on them later. For now, leave them be.”

“Tell us if he improves, would you?” Fluttershy asked, still very pale, but noticeably calmer now that everything seemed to be clearing up.

“Will do, ‘Shy,” Twilight said, before yawning. “For now, I think I could just use a nice… sleep.”

Fluttershy nodded at that, and like that, they all left, leaving Twilight and Spike alone.

“Close up the library,” she said, feeling the exhaustion crash upon her. “I’m heading to bed.”

“Alright,” Spike saluted. “Is Nova gonna be alright?”

“Should be,” Twilight nodded tiredly. “I’ll be there to make sure of it.”

---

Her nap wasn’t as long as she thought it would be. In fact, it was only a few short hours later in the early afternoon when she awoke, nestled between Nova’s arms.

Smiling despite the situation, she shifted to inspect him. He felt rather different than his past self had felt over the night. He seemed taller, by a few inches or so. And on further inspection, his mane and tail were slightly longer too, and as untidy as ever, and she felt that he seemed more muscled than his past self had. By no stretch of the term could she call him chiseled, or beefy, but he now seemed to have the same lean physique as Rainbow Dash did.

“You didn’t go and get all muscly for me, did you?” she asked softly, idly tracing his arm. It didn’t feel significantly bigger. Instead, it felt toned, as if he had given some due time to working it out. Perhaps he had taken up regular running in the past?

“Y..’d like that, w...dn’t you?”

Twilight jumped, which caused Nova to be jostled ever so slightly, something he voiced his displeasure with.

“Ngh,” he grunted, his grip tightening reflexively.

“Sorry, sorry!” she scrambled out of bed, trying not to cause any more damage.

“‘Salright,” Nova whispered, still laying there, eyes shut and taking deep, deliberate breaths. “‘Not your fault.”

“How… how are you feeling?” she asked, gently prodding the skin near the stitched wound. “Does it hurt?”

“Not… as much as you’d think,” he sighed, grimacing.

With a great effort, he slid himself out of bed, standing up and stretching, though he still kept his eyes shut as he did so.

“What’s with keeping your eyes shut?” she asked, feeling slightly amused. Knowing Nova, this was about to be something incredibly profound, dorky, sappy, or some combination of all of them.

“Well,” Nova shrugged, “I woke up in your bed after you saved my life, and it’s given me quite an opportunity. So, I figured the first thing I want to see is you.”

“Aww,” Twilight smiled, more than a little touched by it. “You’re such a sap,” she teased, trotting to stand right in front of him.

“I know,” Nova dipped his head. “But I’m your sap.”

“Well, go ahead, Nova. Open your eyes.”

He did, and the moment they caught each other’s gaze, his face fell slack. Blue eyes stared into purple for a long moment, until Twilight felt a trembling hoof touch her cheek..

“You’re really…” he breathed.

“Right here,” Twilight nodded.

In an instant, Nova darted forward and kissed her. In that one act alone, Twilight could practically feel two years of absence and longing finally quashed, despite it only being a few hours for her.

As he pulled away a moment later, he blushed, and she giggled. “Looks like you’re more than a little happy to be home,” she said, as he smiled stupidly.

“You have no idea,” Nova sighed, not even making an effort to hide the trickle of tears from his eyes. “Two years without you guys was… well, it had an effect.”

“Two years, huh?” Twilight asked, leading him down to the ground floor of the library, and not missing the light winces as he walked. “What all happened since I sent you back?”

“Well, it’s a very long story,” Nova replied, leaning back and stretching just a bit, though he winced when it jostled the wound in his back. “Ow… how long is that going to be there?”

“I’ll put some more energy into closing the wound as soon as I don’t feel like I might completely lose consciousness,” Twilight rubbed at her head. “Just closing it that much was… well, I never really appreciated how much energy the equine body uses when it knits skin back together.”

“A few days, then?”

“No,” Twilight shook her head. “If all goes well and energy recovery isn’t an issue, then probably tomorrow morning at the latest. Maybe even tonight, before bed.”

“Should I just go and fetch every Elixir of Energy you’ve got in storage now?” Spike asked, stepping into the room. At the sight of Nova, awake and standing, he instantly dashed over and jumped into his chest in a massive hug. Though Nova winced again from the jostling of his back, he still returned Spike’s little hug just as eagerly.

“You got taller!” Spike pointed out as he stepped back to give Big Bro an inspection.

“Yep,” Nova nodded. “Taller, leaner, stronger… did quite a bit over my last two years.”

“You gonna tell us about it?” Spike asked expectantly.

“It’s a long story,” Nova answered, starting to trot toward the stairs that led down to the library’s lower levels. “Might take the rest of the afternoon. Sure hope you’ve closed up the library.”

“Did that a while ago,” Twilight ran a hoof through her mane wearily. “When your coltfriend gets brought in with a knife wound in his back, you don’t really want many interruptions by ponies who want to check out books…”

“Oh yeah, who was it that brought me in?” Nova asked, seeming remarkably conversational about his near-death experience. “Last thing I remember was getting stabbed and then bleeding out in the grass--”

“Please don’t,” Twilight clenched her eyes shut. “I don’t want to think about it.”

“But still, who was it?”

“Sharp Eye and Fluttershy,” Twilight sighed, feeling an overwhelming wave of thankfulness wash over her.

“I’m gonna buy that stallion a beer every day for the rest of my life,” Nova resolved. “Really fortunate they happened to be nearby.”

“So!” Twilight wasn’t going to let the matter dwell on his rescue, “in the name of changing the topic of conversation, how about you tell Spike and I what all you’ve been up to?”

“Yeah!” Spike exclaimed, plopping right down and gazing up at him expectantly. “Whaddja do? Did you fight Nightmare Moon? I bet you fought Nightmare Moon!”

“Spike, that’s completely the wrong time period I sent him to,” Twilight said patiently. “If he fought anyone, it would most likely be Tirek and Scorpan, or Sombra, since he rose to power not long before the Three Tribes migrated over. And that’s even assuming he fought anyone at all.”

“Believe it or not,” Nova grinned, “I actually did fight Nightmare Moon.”

Spike gave Twilight the smuggest look he could muster. Twilight just shook her head and let him have his moment.

“And also Sombra, though indirectly.”

Now it was Twilight’s turn to give Spike an “I told you so” look of her own.

“But before I tell you, I need Spike to send this letter,” his horn glowed blue and a small roll of parchment appeared, pre-written, “to Princess Celestia. There’s… a serious problem.”

“What sort of problem?” Spike asked, frowning. “If you can fight Nightmare Moon and Sombra, nothing should be a problem for you, right?”

“I’m not Star Swirl, Spike,” Nova smiled humorlessly, “though I did get to meet him.” Twilight knew he couldn’t possibly have missed the envious look that crossed her face as he said it. “As evidenced by… by this morning, I’m not invincible. And unfortunately, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and you,” he stared directly into her eyes, “need to know.”

“What’s that?” Twilight asked.

Nova took a deep breath.

“Envy has recovered the Alicorn Amulet from Zecora.”

It felt as though a heavy lump settled in Twilight’s stomach as he said that.

She… she has THAT!?

“I think,” he continued slowly, “that today’s little encounter was, if nothing else, a show of force. She didn’t ambush me or anything, she just showed up and took the time to show it off to me when I was coming over here, before sticking that knife in my b--”

“STOP!” Twilight snapped, giving him a furious look. “I don’t want to think about that! You’re here now, you’re safe, I don’t want to spend time thinking about what would have happened if Fluttershy hadn’t found you!”

Nova stared at her for a long moment. He seemed very uncomfortable, and definitely apologetic, but at the same time, she could see… something else in his eyes. Hesitance, perhaps?

Nova took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry,” he said in a low voice. “I just… some first meeting back. Would rather talk about… about the encounter than about what I did in the past.”

“Why?” Spike asked, tilting his head. “What would make you want to talk about that rather than all the cool stuff you did way back then?”

Nova clenched his eyes shut, and he swallowed, and Twilight could actually see him shaking.

“Because…” he swallowed again, “because I’m the reason Envy exists in the first place.”

Author's Note:

Ten months of effort, and I have two whole chapters to show for it.

What do you guys think? Was it worth the wait? Let me know in the comments, please. I always appreciate your feedback.

But now, I have the arc in the past to do! Rytex out. Have a good day!

Comments

[CrimsonEyedPrince]

claps ominously from the shadows Well done, my old friend. Very well done indeed. I look forward to seeing what new changes you bring to the rest of the story. (Yeah, I'm still alive and kicking and you haven't scared me off. Just had to take a break from this fandom for a bit and focus on another one.)