• Published 16th Nov 2012
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The Apprentice, the Student, and the Charlatan - Rytex



Twilight Sparkle meets a pony by the name of Nova Shine who occupies a position as Princess Luna's Night Apprentice. While fighting a shadowy enemy that wants them both dead, they also have to deal with something much worse than that: each other.

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Time Flies

The Apprentice, the Student, and the Charlatan
Chapter 16 - Time Flies

Nova stared down at the board, carefully considering his next move. His opponent sat opposite him, smiling in the way she always did when she wanted to come off as unreadable. It wasn’t quite the perfected Queenly Mask she would wear in over a thousand years, but Princess Celestia was still very good at hiding her intentions behind a grin.

He had an array of pawns, none advanced beyond the third row, both of his rooks, a single knight, a single bishop, his queen, and his king castled. Princess Celestia, meanwhile, was playing a far more offensive game. Her own queen was advanced far up the left side of the board, diagonally adjacent to his dark-squared bishop, threatening his king. She had fewer pawns and no knights, but she still had both bishops and both rooks, while her king sat safely in the far row behind a pair of pawns.

“We don’t believe you have many options left,” Princess Celestia observed, gripping her queen in her magic and sliding it one space sideways, taking one of his pawns. “You’re quite penned in, as it stands.”

“I was never one for chess,” Nova replied, taking her queen with a diagonally-adjacent pawn, “but I’m pretty sure trading a queen for a single pawn is something more favorable for me.”

The Royal Lounge, a recently-completed room by the castle construction crew, was a room available to precisely four ponies: Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Nova Shine, and Clover the Clever. Any others would only be allowed in at their personal request. There were several bookcases, each filled with tome upon tome, an eating table, reclining couches, a hearth, and a gaming table, which he and the princess were making use of.

“Oh, We weren’t talking about the game, although you’re quite penned in there as well. You just don’t know it yet.” Princess Celestia observed, using her white-space bishop to take his remaining knight. Her grin turned into a smirk. “We laid a trap, and by merely engaging, you have taken the bait. Thus begins the end for you, Our dear Night Apprentice.” He could see a gleam of smug satisfaction in her eyes as he frowned down at the board. “As We understand it, you have several mares vying for your affections now. We wonder, Sir Nova Shine,” she fixed him with a knowing look, “how long do you intend to dance around them all, avoiding their pursuits and remaining tantalizingly single? Check.”

Nova’s frown deepened as he surveyed the board. His king was now thoroughly in danger, he could see it now. By leaping at her queen, he had opened up his flank. He picked up his king and moved it diagonally around his dark-spaced bishop, out of the path of her white-spaced bishop that had an opening.

“You too, huh?” he arched an eyebrow at her.

“Us too, what?” Princess Celestia shifted her head, still smirking at him in that devilish way like she was clearly planning something. Nova couldn’t tell if it was in the game, or in this conversation. Clearly, she was playing him in both.

“Trying to pry into my love life,” he grunted. “Lord Star Swirl did it a while back when I was helping with the ghast in his tower. Now you’re doing it. Any particular reason?”

“Because you are quite the attractive commodity,” she replied matter-of-factly, moving one of her rooks from staring down his own castled rook to now putting his king in check again. “Intelligent, powerful, skilled, you do not neglect your physical exercise, and you are quite attractive. We have no doubt that if you were to attempt to court any mare in Equestria, they would accept immediately. Yet you do not. Why? Check.”

Nova moved his dark-space bishop to block her rook.

“I have my reasons. Though, if there’s one thing I’ve learned from you,” he glanced up from the board to give her a pointed look, “you are always deliberate in the way you word things.”

Princess Celestia’s smile widened for half an instant.

“So, when you say I could attempt to court any mare in Equestria and they would throw themselves at me immediately,” he rested his elbows on the edge of the table, pressed his hooves together, and rested his chin on them, giving Celestia what he hoped was an equally-unreadable expression, “are you trying to pair me with someone in particular? Because I notice you didn’t rule out your sister.”

Princess Celestia’s smile widened for a full instant this time. She looked down at the board, picked up her dark-space bishop, and took the bishop he had just blocked her rook with.

“Does it surprise you?” she asked, now not meeting his eye. “You were the first pony since Lord Star Swirl to show her proper attention. You were honest and pure with your intentions, and of course, you offered her the companionship she so desperately craved. She makes a great effort not to show it when she is teaching you, We have seen it firsthoof, but she is quite fond of you.”

Nova frowned at that. He knew it was a possibility. Clover herself had wondered this exact same thing back in the crystal caves, after all. It was only natural that Luna would develop a crush on him for providing exactly the emotional support she needed. The problem was, he was trying not to attract this kind of attention from any other mares.

Especially ones he was close to in his own time. It was going to make things awkward.

Nova moved his castled rook forward a few spaces, deliberately putting it in the firing line of her own advanced rook and her white-square bishop.

“What about you?” he asked, feeling a little on the mischievous side. “You did say any mare, and you didn’t disclude yourself. Princess Celestia,” he placed a hoof on his breast, with a faux-shocked and embarrassed expression, “are you trying to ask me to ask you if I can court you?”

Princess Celestia tittered, but thankfully, she took the bait.

“Ah, see, this is why We like you, Nova Shine.” She took his rook with her own. “You don’t shy away from Our teasing. In fact, you engage it. Hmm…” she tilted her head to one side, and then the other, staring at the board in front of them. “Very well. No, Nova Shine. We are not attempting to manipulate you into asking to court Us.”

Well, I suppose that’s a load off my shoulders.

“However, if you were to ask Us, We would quite happily accept.”

Dammit.

Nova took her rook with his pawn. His defenses were gone. It wouldn’t be long before she had him mated.

“Truthfully,” she stared down at the board now, no doubt letting the anticipation of her impending victory hang, “the only reason We have not pounced on you Ourselves is because it is plain as day that you are interested in other mares. We have Our flaws, Nova Shine, but We are not selfish enough to try and sabotage romance for Our own gain. That being said,” her smirk turned downright predatory, “were you immortal, as We and Our sister are, We would have openly pursued you, regardless of whom it was you had eyes for, even if they were for Our own sister.”

She moved her white-space bishop one row further forward, putting it level with the king and cutting off any backdoor escape.

“That sounds like you are selfish enough to interfere in romance,” Nova moved his queen diagonally forward to the right by two spaces. “Check.”

Princess Celestia moved her king into the far corner, out of harm’s way. “You are mortal, Nova. You deserve to spend your life happily with whomever you choose. But if you were immortal, such as Us, well… We too deserve a happy life, with whomever We choose. If you did not choose Us in return, then…” she gestured at the game board, “as you can see, We like long games, and courtship is, if nothing else, one long game.”

It was Mate in 1. There were only so many moves Nova had left, but they would all be equally futile. He took one of Princess Celestia’s pawns with his queen, a small consolation prize, but if Celestia made a colossal blunder here, he would win on the next move. Perhaps, if she were feeling merciful, she would not make the decisive move, letting him take the victory instead.

“And on the topic of courtship,” her smirk lowered to a stern, meaningful gaze, “We advise that you had best choose your preferred mare soon, Nova Shine. Between Summer, and Clover, less likely Luna or Ourself, and far less likely Shimmer, you have three mares openly vying for you, and another two quietly waiting for their opportunity. The sooner you make your choice, the sooner this potential problem goes away.”

“You know,” Nova grinned as he waited for her to end the game with the move they both knew was coming, “I’ve just noticed, you haven’t been calling me by ‘Thou’, ‘Thee’, and ‘Thy’ this whole time.”

“Why yes,” Princess Celestia’s look changed to a satisfied smile, without a hint of mischief or smugness. “You see, Nova Shine, those pronouns are used for addressing inferiors and subordinates, not equals.”

She moved her dark-space bishop from the left side of the board down to the bottom row, his backline. His king was exposed to her rook again, and all avenues of escape were cut off by her bishops.

“Discover check,” she said with a satisfied manner of finality. “And incidentally…” she reached forward and toppled his king with a flick, “Mate.

She stood up off of her cushion and began to trot toward the room’s entry, off to resume her duties after this fun little distraction.

“Except I’m your sister’s personal apprentice,” Nova frowned, turning to stare after her, as the king piece rolled off the board and clattered to the ground. “I’m pretty sure that’s the textbook definition of subordinate.”

“In public? Perhaps,” she conceded, “but in private? We have considered you an equal since the day Luna appointed you as her student. Not in rank, this is true, but in Our opinion. Which, if We do say so Ourself, is far more valuable.”

She trotted out of the room, turning just momentarily to give him a wink, before she was out of view. Nova stared after her for several moments, before shaking his head and grinning to himself.

That mare… he thought, with a small smile to himself. Still, she had a point. Perhaps it was getting close to time to just put all of the romantic escapades to bed.

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

“Another spot comes up empty.”

Nova groaned as he crossed off another place on his makeshift map. Time was swiftly running low, and he was nowhere closer to finding the Mirror Pool than he had been when he’d first arrived in Everfree… how long ago was it? It had to be nearly half a year, right? Luna from his time has said he would be gone no longer than two, which meant his time was rapidly dwindling, perhaps as much as a third.

Today, he’d been investigating a hilly region not too far from the road south toward his little grove, where Ponyville would be built eventually. No development just yet, but no underground caves with hidden brooks in them that cloned a pony either.

In a thousand and a quarter years, this forest, so peaceful and serene, would become the tangled, overgrown jungle that it was in his own time. Based on what little he knew about the natural evolution of landscapes, that didn’t seem like nearly enough time for it to go that bad, which made Nova wonder if perhaps the forest grew magically after Nightfall? And if so, did the Mirror Pool come into being because of it?

“What are you doing?”

Nova jumped. How had Clover snuck up on him like this? As he turned, he found her sitting in a tree, of all places, staring down at him with the smallest of smirks.

“Not so all-seeing, are you?” she asked, her eyes glinting with mischief. Why was it that she had suddenly begun to have a miscreant streak as of late? Lying to Lord Star Swirl, sneaking after him to find his hiding place, now hiding in plain sight to startle him…

“Who are you, and what have you done with the cold and hyper-professional Faithful Student I regularly spend time with?” Nova countered, cocking an eyebrow, and reaching back and stowing the map inside of the small saddlebags he had bound underneath his cloak.

“Princess Celestia has been making a rather concerted effort to get me to, as she said, ‘lighten up’.” The smirk faded. “Princess Platinum concurred.”

“So you’re out here sneaking up on me and following me around because you’re learning how to have a little fun for once in your life?” Nova pressed, before sighing. “Why not go bother the Captain, or fleece a bunch of stupid rich old fogeys at chess in the lounge? Celestia’s already taken my bits on that one…” he added half-bitterly.

“Ever since you showed me your little training grove, you have failed to be there whenever I have gone to it,” she answered, her look turning a mite accusatory. “Are you avoiding me, Sir Night Apprentice?”

“Honest answer? Yes. And no.”

“Are you incapable of giving me a straight answer?” She narrowed her eyes.

“I’m looking for something, and I’m on a time limit,” Nova continued, choosing to ignore that one. “And I’m no closer to finding it now than I was when I first started looking. I know it exists, I’ve seen it with my own eyes, but it’s... not where I thought it would be, or anywhere around it.”

“A disappearing place? Or is it a disappearing object?”

She slid herself out of the tree, though unlike when Trixie did it in his own time, it was clear that Clover needed to work on her acrobatics. The moment her hooves touched down, she buckled and fell. Nova at first thought she might have hurt herself, but she stood up, looking no worse for the wear, and seemingly not embarrassed by her blunder.

“So what were you doing up there?” he asked, trotting over.

“I shall answer that question if you enlighten me with just what it is you were looking for,” she replied, dusting herself off. Her horn glimmered pale pink, and with a flash of light, a white cape settled onto her back, fastened at her neck with a brooch, golden with a sun-shaped topaz set in the center, inside of which was etched a scroll, much like Nova’s own. Her Faithful Student cloak to mirror his Night Apprentice one.

“Alright then,” Nova shrugged. “I’m looking for a pool of water that has been enchanted with the power to clone anyone who says a specific phrase and steps into it.”

Clover blinked, her expression blank. Nova almost laughed, and he took a little bit of pride in the knowledge that she didn’t know how to react to this information.

“Why?” she asked, a note of deliberation in her voice.

“Oh, you know,” Nova shrugged again, putting on an airy facade, “when you have five mares chasing after you, you want a peaceful resolution to the love heptagon I’ve got going on. I figure making more of me will make everyone happy. And the best thing about being me is that there’ll be so many ‘me’s!”

It wasn’t technically a lie…

Clover stared at him, though Nova noticed there was a certain softness to her eyes, unlike the usual flinty coldness she had. Though considering this was Clover, was she about to decide that trying to pry into the chaotic mind of Nova Shine wasn’t worth it and just walk away, or was it going to pique her interest just enough to keep her around for a bit?

“A heptagon has seven sides, so you imply there are six mares?” she finally asked, seeming unimpressed.

“I was including Captain Steelshod,” Nova clarified, before pausing. “Then again, I was also including Shimmer Silvermane, and I don’t think she gets a clone of me. Maybe if I make a foal version of myself, I can replace her with Princess Chrysalis…”

“Who are the other…?” she asked, before suddenly snorting. “You must think ever so highly of yourself if you think Princess Luna and Princess Celestia also have feelings for you.”

“Hey, she said it, not me,” Nova rolled his eyes. “But even though I’m quite fond of both of them, I, unfortunately, have no intention of pursuing either of them.”

“And let me guess,” Clover replied with the tiniest scowl, “you have no intention of pursuing myself or Summer Blossom either?” Before Nova could answer, she pressed onward. “Nova Shine, I do apologize for lying to Lord Star Swirl about the nature of our relationship. However…” she frowned for a moment, her eyes growing distant, before she affixed him with an oddly nervous look. “Nova Shine… may I be honest with you?”

“I encourage it,” Nova dipped his head. What’s eating her?

“I have been… feeling conflicted ever since your visit to Unicornia some time ago,” she admitted, averting her gaze as her voice grew soft. “I used to believe that romance was nothing more than a distraction and a waste of time, as I told you. But… ever since our encounter with the young changeling, and the fact that you had her transform into me so that you could allow her to feed off of your Love Energy, I have felt... drawn to you.”

“Ohh, drawn to me, is it?” Nova asked, giving her a knowing look. “Is that what you want to call it, and not something a little more accurate?”

Clover let out a sharp breath and, to Nova’s shock, she stamped her hoof in frustration.

“Are you incapable of being serious for even a moment!?” she snapped, fixing him with a fierce scowl, her eyes blazing with a strange fire he had come to expect from Twilight whenever she was particularly enraged, and once more Nova was reminded of the similarities between the two of them more than their differences.

“Sorry,” Nova replied sincerely, bowing his head a little. “Look, if you’re gonna chase after me, then you’ve gotta get used to this whole goofy side of me.”

“I am not chasing you.” She said the word so distastefully. “I simply find you intriguing.”

“Mm-hmm,” Nova dipped his head, “yeah, whatever comforts you. If you want my personal insights on the whole thing, though…” he smirked, “I used to refuse to accept the idea that I was attracted to someone as well. Believed I was sick. Repressed it because how could I let myself fall in love? It, ahh...”

Memories flashed through his head of all of that inner turmoil he’d had from those days. He couldn’t help but briefly imagine how much happier and more stable he and Twilight would have been had he just been open with her from the start. But when you’ve closed yourself off for so long, opening up even a little bit is a surprisingly monumental task. It was a wonder he’d opened up as much as he’d had thanks to his dad’s prodding.

Then the other memories came back. The conflict, the miscommunication, him screaming at her for her continuing to pry. The smirk slid off of his face entirely as he remembered in particular what had happened on the night of their first date.

“...didn’t go so well.”

Clover was quiet for a long moment. Nova began to feel a little self-conscious after several seconds of doing nothing but letting the wind rustle the leaves, but after another long moment, she finally looked away, and her cheeks started to color ever so slightly.

“Very well, then. Let us say, purely for academic purposes, that I am… attracted to you.” Nova bit back a snicker at just how disgusted she sounded with herself for using that word. “It is no secret that Summer Blossom also finds herself quite enamored with you. And…” she looked up with a meaningful gaze, “I have not forgotten what happened in the Crystal Caves.”

“I never thought you would,” Nova nodded.

“What… are we? What are you and Summer? You have mares who desire to be with you. I would wager that you also carry feelings for them as well, at least in part. Why do you not pursue us?”

A very apt question, and one he himself hadn’t spent much time thinking about.

“Okay,” he turned to face her fully now. “Hypothetically. Let’s assume for a moment that yeah, I like you and Summer--”

“Oh please,” she scowled and rolled her eyes. “The changeling nymph in the mines quite literally fed off of the love energy you gave it from her impersonating me. As far as I am concerned, you cannot even pretend this is hypothetical at this point.”

“Please don’t interrupt,” Nova shook his head. “Okay, fine, yes, I would love nothing more than to pursue you and Summer.”

Clover’s brow twitched. Internally, Nova knew it was a lie because there was one pony indeed that he loved more than the thought of pursuing the ones in this time.

Or… was it really? Why had it been so easy to say if it were false?

But no, that was impossible. He hadn’t pursued them thus far because he loved Twilight and wanted to remain faithful.

But he wouldn’t, in the end, would he? He was destined-- or perhaps doomed-- to fall in love with Clover. And while he could confidently say he wasn’t at the moment, every passing day made that more and more difficult as he saw the same things in her as he saw in Twilight.

“Sir Nova Shine?”

Nova blinked, returning his attention to the real world. Clover had stepped in front of him now and was looking into his eyes with an unreadable expression. Nova, for some odd reason, felt his fight-or-flight instincts kick in, out of all things. Despite this, he fought them and won, managing to stay where he was while Clover searched for whatever it was she was looking for.

“...I see,” she finally said softly. “So you and I both are unsure.”

“What makes you say that?” he asked, grateful for at the very least an opportunity to see what she was seeing in him.

“Is it not blindingly obvious to one such as you?” she asked, giving him a critical look. “You clearly have romantic inclinations toward myself, and toward Summer Blossom. Summer Blossom has suggested that she reciprocates those feelings, and I…” she went pink and broke off the eye contact, “I… wish to spend more time with you as well.”

He supposed that was as close as he would ever get to an admission from her.

“And yet,” she scuffed the ground with her hoof, “despite what happened in the Crystal Caves, despite seeing you willingly bestow love on the changeling nymph in my form, it feels as though you have been pulling away.”

“Isn’t that what you wanted?” he asked, looking down at his map, finding a new destination, and starting to trot along. He figured they could walk and talk, and sure enough, she began to follow close behind. “As you said, you’re not chasing me, you just find me interesting. Doesn’t this preserve the mystique?” he added, giving her a sly smile.

“No, it is not!” she stamped a hoof in frustration. “Perhaps before it was, but… not now. Not anymore,” she added softly, now glancing away from him. “Is it too much to ask to spend time with you?”

“We already spend time together. Or does our training with the princesses not count?”

“I mean,” she huffed, “I wish to spend time with you personally. As you and Summer do.”

“You do know Summer and I are just friends, right? I know you’ve mentioned it.”

The poor mare… He wasn’t intentionally needling her, but the sooner she just came out and said what she felt, the sooner she would probably feel less unsure and confused.

Rather like myself, eh?

“That is not the point,” she practically spat the last word.

“Then what is?” Nova asked her, a cool edge to his voice.

Clover met his gaze defiantly, working her jaw, while she attempted to formulate the perfect response to him. However, instead, she surprised him.

With a defeated sigh, she averted her gaze once again and a heavy blush spread across her face.

“Very well. I am attracted to you. I wish to spend time with you because… because I wish to deepen our relationship beyond mere colleagues.”

Nova let it hang in the air for several long moments. The breeze rustled the trees, birds chirped in the air, and the foliage emanated a delightfully grassy scent. It was such a strange corner of the Everfree Forest, and yet, it was such a beautiful place. He hoped Clover was paying attention as well. It was truly amazing how liberating paying attention to oneself and surroundings could be. Hopefully, she was experiencing that same feeling now.

After a long moment, she finally dared to glance back at him, her omnipresent frown once again there, although he could detect a small bit of nervousness behind it. She was afraid this was the part where he turned her down.

“Feels good, doesn’t it,” he asked softly. “To get something you’ve been repressing off your chest.”

She smiled somewhat sheepishly. It was a small thing, but it was all the more important because of that.

“I suppose it does.”

“I think I’m not opposed to spending more time with you,” he answered somewhat airily. “Hope you know I still do plan on having quality time with Summer. I make time for my friends, you know,” he added as her small smile flickered for just a moment. “Just don’t want you getting jealous. Let’s try being friends first, and we’ll see where things go, alright?”

“Very well,” she nodded, and now Nova could tell she was struggling to contain her smile at this point. “I… think I am amenable to that.”

“Always so formal,” Nova shook his head and suppressed a laugh. “You and Summer are complete opposites like that. Maybe I should court both of you.”

Clover blinked. “B-both of us?”

“I checked the laws,” Nova replied, casually turning away and beginning to trot back into the city as he prepared to drop this particular nugget on her. “Celestia hasn’t changed the herding laws yet. Whaddya say, Clover?” he asked, turning back and giving her an eyebrow waggle.

Clover’s face was slack, her mouth had fallen open, her eyes had gone wide and glazed over, and a deep blush had colored her cheeks and it was only getting darker. Nova couldn’t help it this time and began to chortle as Clover began to sputter.

“Y-you utter cad!

He only had a moment to act, and with a quick leap forward, he began to run toward the city with her following close behind, both of them laughing the whole way. As they dashed past several surprised ponies, Nova couldn’t help but feel pleased that they were already getting closer. She had learned how to take one of his jokes, at long last.

And yet, later on that evening as he lay in bed, small feelings of guilt would creep in when he remembered the other lilac mare in his life, waiting for him a few centuries later.

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

“One order of true home-brewed Maneich Stout!” called the barkeep.

Nova raised a hoof to get Rich Brew’s attention, the amber-colored Germane earth pony giving him a friendly smile as he set the mug down in front of him before filling another mug for one of the other many customers occupying The Sun And Moon that evening to spend their bits on alcohol. Another day’s work learning and practicing, another weekly stipend from the princesses, another night in the town pub.

Nova hadn’t had this particular drink before despite his many appearances here in the weeks since it had opened. He could smell the malts, he could almost taste the grains used in it and… was that coffee?

A great gulp of the beer in question confirmed that, yes, there were certainly some coffee grounds used in the production of this stout. Huh. He hadn’t had anything like that before. Gonna have to get this one more often.

“Hey there, stranger.”

Nova set the mug down to see that Summer Blossom had taken up a stool next to him and was currently flagging down Rich Brew. “What you got there?” she added, giving his beer a sniff. “It smells amazing.”

“Maneich Stout. Bit darker than the one I had last time.”

“You had me at ‘Stout’.” She caught Rich Brew’s attention and gestured to his pint. Rich Brew nodded and went to get Summer her drink as Nova began to take another gulp of his. “So, Clover tells me you want a menage-a-trois.”

Shortly thereafter, half of Nova’s beer had drenched Summer, having been expelled from his mouth at full blast.

“A–” he coughed, “a what!?

Was it possible to drown while drinking beer? He might have accidentally inhaled some.

Summer, meanwhile, had collapsed over the bar, howling with laughter and even pounding her hoof against the wood. Rich Brew threw him a dirty look as he dropped off her drink and went to retrieve a rag to clean up.

“Oh, I’m gonna cherish that one forever,” she squeaked, fighting off another fit of giggles. “Celly can’t get you to react with her best ones, but I make one comment and have you sputtering! Oh, what a feeling!”

Nova watched her as she really made a show of milking the moment for all it was worth. Really rolled around on the bar top, laughing her lungs out. After several seconds of this, even Rich Brew was giving her an odd look.

“Are you done?” he asked as Summer’s wheezing started to die down. “Or do you want to keep laughing for another half an hour?”

“Just had to get it all out of my system,” she smirked at him from her position, cheek resting on the bar. “Ain’t every day somepony can fluster you with a double-entendre.”

“I wasn’t flustered,” Nova huffed. “You caught me with beer in my throat is all.”

“Suuuuuuuure,” Summer’s smirk deepened. Nova took another drink. “You know, I was actually all for the idea. What do you think Nova? Want to marry two mares at once?”

One of the most well-known facts is that you can’t surprise someone immediately after you’ve surprised them once already. Their guard is up, and their reflexes and instincts are now preparing them for the inevitable next several attempts at catching them unawares.

Summer should have known this. Nova decided to humor her this time. This time, he sold it almost as hard as she did.

His pint went flying out of his hoof as he let out a massive, dramatic gasp.

“Whaaaaaaat!?” he fixed Summer with the most over-the-top surprised expression he could think of, drawing on half-forgotten memories of a Manehattan actor’s performance as Bottom in Flankspeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the entire sets worth of scenery he gleefully chowed down on. “Why, Summer! I can scarce believe you would ask that of me!”

“Okay, see, there’s what I was doing, and then there’s what you’re doing,” she gave him an unimpressed once-over.

Other bar patrons were starting to watch their little show now. Nova, however, was only just now becoming aware of an unwelcome presence deciding to make its way toward them.

The merriment died and he turned toward the door to see Shimmer Silvermane trotting toward them both, the thrown tankard caught in her magic, but her mane completely drenched, droplets of Maneich Stout dripped from different parts of her face, her teeth were clenched, and her eyes were bulging.

For whatever reason, Summer decided now was the perfect time to antagonize her even more, letting an outright guffaw at her state. Shimmer turned her blood-curdling gaze onto the everpresent thorn in her side, all while Summer made sure to put a little extra oomph into her laughter.

Now, Nova loved to watch ponies eat shit as much as the next pony. Unfortunately, he just didn’t think this was a good time. Shimmer looked like she meant business today.

“I see the rabble are so easily entertained,” she hissed.

“I see the hussies are so easily provoked,” Summer retorted, making no effort at all to hide the smuggest of smug looks on her face. “What’s the matter, Silverbitch? You afraid to get wet?”

“What are you doing here, Shimmer?” Nova stepped between them with the intent to make it quite clear she wasn’t welcome here.

It wasn’t his bar, but Rich Brew behind the counter didn’t seem to make any objections. At this point, most of the pub was aware of who had stepped in, and while most of the earth ponies or pegasi probably just saw a pretty mare, every single unicorn in the building wasn’t making even a tiny attempt to hide their contempt for her, and this feeling of dislike was spreading.

She was well-known and well-disliked.

Shimmer Silvermane did not answer him, instead looking daggers at Summer, who was living it up.

“I know one thing,” Summer commented loudly, leaning back and taking a great swig of her flagon. “I’m not drunk enough to hear whatever nonsense she’s peddling.”

“Shimmer, why are you here?” Nova pressed.

“To ruin your evening, obviously,” Shimmer replied, tossing her mane back with a sneer. “I hear your old coltfriends are in town, Summer.”

Summer rolled her eyes with the sourest expression on her face. “Yeah. I kicked one of them in the face. What’s your point? You want my permission to shag one of them? Be my guest.”

“As if I would let myself be bedded by your sloppy seconds.”

Summer snorted.

My sloppy seconds? Shimmasham, lest we forget, you seduced three of them. Right in front of me, too. And you know what?” she asked, with a faux-sweet tone. “I’m over them. They’re nothing compared to him,” she patted Nova on the shoulder.

Nova tried to keep a straight face, but internally, he winced. No, they were not an item. Why were Clover and Summer both lying to others that they were?

“And ya know what else, Silverbitch?” Summer leaned forward with a smug sneer of her own, “he’s mine, and you can’t take him from me.”

Unfortunately for Summer, she had shown too much, and Shimmer was ready to latch onto this thread the moment it left Summer’s mouth.

Shimmer laughed, that obnoxious noblewoman’s laugh that had always gotten on Nova’s nerves in his own time at high society galas and such when he had been far younger. Summer’s smugness vanished, replaced by slight confusion.

Rich Brew determined that now was the right time to intervene and stepped out from behind the bar.

“Ma’am, I’m afraid I must ask you to leave,” he said in a flat voice, but Nova could hear the beginnings of a growl in it. He meant business if she refused.

“Whatever for? I am simply enjoying conversation with this mare,” Shimmer answered innocently.

“You’re disturbing the other patrons,” Rich Brew answered, starting to scowl. “Leave, now. I’ll call the guards if you don’t.”

Every eye in the bar was on them now. Nova didn’t like this. The center of attention for a confrontation like this was surely to spread via gossip, and Nova didn’t want to be involved in it. Especially if the guards were going to get involved.

Shimmer collected herself, and affixed Summer with one last triumphant smirk.

“I don’t have to take him from you, Summer,” she said softly. “He’ll leave you all by himself.”

Nova felt a prickle at the nape of his neck, and had the uncomfortable sensation of ice sliding down his spine. She was right. Too right. What does she know?

The confusion on Summer’s face vanished instantly, replaced by fury. In a flash, she had jumped out of her seat and was stomping toward Shimmer with fire in her eyes. Nova and Rich Brew immediately moved to intercept, but she pushed past them. Shimmer stood her ground, looking quite satisfied at her handiwork.

Say that again,” Summer hissed, stopping mere inches away.

“Why?” Shimmer asked scathingly. “You heard it the first time.”

Nova was thinking quickly. This was going to get ugly soon. Something needed to happen to cause confusion so he could get Summer out of here and away from Shimmer as soon as possible.

Nova picked out the biggest, burliest earth pony he could find, a massive teal specimen, and with a subtle yank of his magic, he tipped the pony sideways, sending him on a collision course with the unfortunate stallion next to him. The larger stallion hit him with a loud “Oomph” and a loud splash could be heard.

“Hey, what the hell!?” the smaller pony yelled, jumping to his hooves and dripping from mane to tail.

While Summer’s and Shimmer’s attention never left each other, eyes turned toward the two other ponies.

“I didn’t do nuthin’!” protested the big one. “Slipped sideways, di’n’t I?”

“Liar,” Nova called, “I watched the whole thing!”

Another flick of his magic. Another pony slipped sideways into another victim. They too began to squabble. Summer and Shimmer began to trade insults at the top of their lungs to shout over the squabbling ponies, and Nova braced himself for his endgame.

Then he stumbled sideways into Rich Brew, spilling a third pony’s beer onto the ground who just happened to be a bit too close.

“‘EY! That was on purpose!” the third pony shouted, pointing a hoof accusingly at him. Nova batted it aside aggressively, so the pony in question reared back and punched him square in the cheek.

Nova hated the sensation of being punched. There’s the initial instant of cold hoof hitting sensitive skin but then comes that hot feeling followed by the pain mere instants later. The world spun, and he stumbled back and into yet another bargoer, and thus a chain reaction was started.

In no time at all, a full bar fight had erupted. Nova nursed his bruised cheek but weaved his way in and out of fighting ponies as he tried to make his way back toward where Shimmer and Summer were screaming at each other. He dodged the massive teal earth pony from before as he chased after the fleeing first victim, just missed Rich Brew trying to wrestle a picture from a pony who had plucked it off the wall, slipped past a pink pegasus carrying a stool toward a soon-to-be poor soul, and finally made it to where Summer and Shimmer moments away from coming to blows.

Turns out he was also moments too late.

No sooner had he arrived at their spot than Summer reared back and slammed a hoof into Shimmer’s face. Shimmer was sent sideways, barely keeping on her hooves. Before she could retaliate, and before Summer could press her advantage, Nova used his magic one more time.

A quick flick, and Shimmer Silvermane’s shimmering silver mane was yanked back, carrying her with it into the depths fighting mob with a pained yelp.

Before Summer could chase after her, however, Nova bodily threw himself against her and began to shove her out of the bar and into the street.

“Gerroff me!” Summer tried to fight her way free of his grasp but he wouldn’t have it.

“No!” He pushed even harder.

"Fucking...!" she grunted, still trying to push past him, but he wouldn't budge, eventually managing to push her out the door.

It took a few minutes of fighting, and he even had to just pick her up in his magic and carry her away the same way as he did Trixie and Twilight months ago, but eventually, he had gotten her out of this part of the city entirely before the guards could come looking.

She struggled for several minutes as he made his way along roads, trying to dodge as many eyewitnesses to him abducting a struggling mare as he could. He was in enough hot water as it was, he sure didn’t need to add this to the things he’d need to talk his way out of. After some time of trotting and Summer struggling, they were down on the south side of the city, near the road to his training clearing, and toward the future site of Ponyville.

Summer eventually gave up as he carried her along, seeming to tire herself out. Nova figured their homes and the castle weren’t the safest places just yet, but they did have a place they could hunker down not too far away. As they got closer and closer to the destination, Summer seemed to curl in on herself, looking more and more troubled.

“I’m sorry,” she finally grunted as he carried her down an avenue and drew odd looks from the streetgoers.

“For what?”

“For reacting that way.”

“Summer…”

“She just–!” Summer shook her head and threw up her hooves. “Why? Why did she have to go there?”

They were almost to the grove he’d found her in, and Luna had found him in. Now seemed like a good time to let her down, since they were a good distance away from the squabble he had started and she seemed to be calming down. The magic slowly vanished as she let herself be lowered to the ground and began to plod alongside him.

“She knew your insecurities and weak spots,” Nova said gently. “She knew what she was doing. It’s not your fault that she went there.”

“I just–!”

She dragged a hoof down her face, and Nova was startled to see that she was holding back as much as she could from crying.

“S-seven! Seven coltfriends, Nova!”

Nova stopped in the middle of the otherwise-quiet sidestreet as Summer fell to her haunches and buried her face in her hooves, still trying desperately not to sob.

“Every single one of those bastards wasn’t worth my time, and yet I let myself fall for them anyway!”

She sniffled, and that was all Nova needed. He stepped next to her and sat down in the middle of the street, brushing up alongside her to let her know he was there. Unlike before, there were no streetgoers to gawk, so they had at least some privacy.

Not that Summer seemed to care.

“We don’t control who we fall for, do we,” he observed, looking up toward the sky as he let his mind go toward the mares he cared about.

All three of them.

“Y-yeah,” she nodded. Then she leaned into him. Nova stiffened slightly, and he knew she noticed. “I know you’re not… comfortable with it. I know you and Clover are dancing around each other. I know you spend a lot of time with Luna. And I know there’s a reason you won’t tell any of us yes or no, even when we offer to share, but…”

She suddenly started to laugh, a raucous, giddy laugh completely at odds with the situation.

“But what am I supposed to do? Just sit here and not fall in love with you?”

Nova said nothing as she slowly died down. Truthfully, he felt the same way. About Clover, about her… He wasn’t supposed to. He was going to return to his own time, to Twilight. To be with the mare he loved and who loved him. And yet here he was, spending time with Clover and Summer, and he couldn’t help but feel nothing but deep affection for them both.

“You literally pop in out of nowhere, you rescue my job for a little bit, you expose Silverbitch for who she is, you get me an even better job here, and then you go off on some daring do for ponies you’ve never met, and that’s on top of you being Princess Luna’s personal apprentice and… and…”

She laughed again, throwing her head back and just howling to the heavens.

“You’re so far out of my league you may as well be up in Unicornia compared to where I’m at!”

“That’s not true,” he shook his head.

“Is it really?” she gave him a skeptical look with a sad smile. “You’re ten times the stallion any of them ever were. Head and shoulders above them. And I know you’d never abandon me like they did. Use me like some tool,” she slammed a hoof into the cobblestones. “You’re not like them. I know you. And I love you for it.”

Before he could do anything else, she darted forward and placed a brief kiss on his lips.

It wasn’t even long enough for him to properly react or even reciprocate or not, and as quickly as it had happened, she drew back and lay her head on his shoulder.

“Nova, don’t ever change. You’re one stallion in a million.”

Had she not pulled away, she may have seen the intense guilt cross his face as she said those words.

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

Neighton, at the moment known as Ponyville, formerly known as Earthponyville, was a town that Nova was hoping he would be able to visit at some point during his time here. He was eager to see how much had changed between this time in the past, and the present day. Outside of knowing that Chancellor Puddinghead’s manor was what would go on to be his own home, he knew next to nothing about how the town was going to be.

However, as he exited the confines of the Everfree Forest on this snowy day, along with a contingent of laborers and a number of ponies pulling wagons with trade goods and raw materials that couldn’t help but remind him of the fateful day and way he’d met Twilight, the flat countrysides of Canterhorn Valley looked not all that different to his own time (though considerably more wintery than the present). Although the land was mostly untamed and there was no direct path yet made between the two towns, the similarities were there.

As they approached Ponyville, the first building they saw was Chancellor Puddinghead’s manor. Nova grinned at the sight of it. There were a few differences at first glance, he noticed. At the moment, there didn’t seem to be a round window in the center of the roof that he would later have in his own house, and of course there was no path outside. Not to mention, the building looked brand new. There weren’t the slight bits of wear and tear that would be expected quite yet, particularly some of the worn-out stone and brick after over a thousand years of wind and rain.

On top of that, there were no buildings anywhere near it. There was a collection of buildings off in the near distance, along with what was unmistakably an in-progress clocktower that was missing the arrows on its face, but it seemed that Neighton had filled in the space between Puddinghead’s Manor and the town proper over the following centuries. Off in the distance, around and beyond the collection of buildings in the center, he could see the low stone fences that indicated farming plots, as well as a few houses around them as well.

“What a strange town,” one of his laborer companions observed, a pegasus mare with a bright pink coat and a lime-green mane, long and flowing along her back, and a tail that was neatly kept. “Who’s the idiot who built their house all the way out here, without any farming plots nearby?”

“That would be Chancellor Puddinghead,” Nova answered, pointing to a pair of earth pony guards standing on either side of the front door, still wearing the same motley uniforms they had several months back during the trade summit. “Had the manor constructed before the townsponies built their residences. They, on the other hoof, built their town closer to their farms, so now the chancellor lives all the way out here on his own.”

“Who would want to live all alone away from civilization?”

“It’s not too far away, and besides, you’d be surprised,” Nova shrugged. “Getting away from the bustle of the city isn’t always a bad idea.”

“Except the Chancellor is supposed to be running the city,” his companion pointed out. “I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure it’s easier to do that when you’re in the middle of it.”

“But that’s just what they were expecting me to do!” exclaimed a familiar shrill voice. Nova could hear his fellow workers react with shock and surprise, but having spent more than a few days around Pinkie Pie, a little bit of spontaneous appearance was just an average Tuesday, especially after the time Pinkie had jumped out of Twilight’s bathtub shortly before he stepped in after one particularly grueling odd-job day.

“So you built your manor half-a-mile away from the rest of the city, because it would be the unexpected thing to do?” he turned and gave the Chancellor, who was currently sitting atop one of the wagons as casually as though she had not just scared the lives out of the workers carting everything.

“Well duuuuuuh,” Puddinghead rolled her eyes, with a rather haughty flip of the bright pink cape she’d added to the rest of her ensemble. “How else am I supposed to make sure my caricatures are working if I show up when they expect it?”

“Caricatures?” Nova arched an eyebrow.

“Caricatures?” Puddinghead rubbed at her chin thoughtfully. “Choreographs? Chamomiles? Chemicals? I wish Cookie was here,” she huffed, prancing off of the wagon. “She’d know the word I’m looking for.”

“Do you mean ‘constituents’, or perhaps, ‘citizens’?” Nova offered.

Puddinghead rubbed all the harder at her chin, determinedly trying to puzzle out this most puzzling puzzle with as little outside help from expert puzzle solvers like Nova. Puzzle.

Nova felt a familiar aura enter his range of awareness, and he turned to look further down the path in time to see Smart Cookie dashing toward them, a three-legged sprint that was made all the more awkward by the fact that her remaining hoof was trying to hold her hat onto her head, and floating along behind her, completely divested of armor and looking almost amused at her pace, was Pansy.

“Saaaaaay,” Puddinghead suddenly appeared in his field of view, glaring at him intensely. “How come you weren’t surprised by me popping out of your wagon?”

“Oh, I expected you all along,” Nova shrugged. Puddinghead’s eye twitched, and he suppressed the urge to snicker. “There’s a point where all of your attempts to become unpredictable cross a line into predictability, Chancellor. You have to learn to be a little predictable every now and again, or else everyone will always see your random zany unpredictability coming a mile away. One of life’s little ironies,” he observed, as Chancellor Puddinghead appeared to be going through a crisis of existence right in front of him.

“Sorry *pant* about *pant* that *pant*” gasped Cookie, sliding to a stop next to them with a spray of snowy powder right into Nova’s face, while Pansy just rolled his eyes and lightly landed next to his marefriend, who was busy brushing herself off as Nova’s companions did the same around them.

“Cookie! Just in time!” Puddinghead immediately seemed to get over her existential crisis and turned her attention to her beleaguered assistant. “Quick, what’s the word I picked? The one about the things?”

“Uhh… wasn’t it ‘bearclaws’?”

“No, it started with a C,” Puddinghead sat down, folded her front hooves, and set to tapping on her noggin. “Think, think, think…”

“Right,” Cookie brushed back her sweaty mane, before holding out a hoof to Pansy, who wordlessly handed her a scroll of parchment. “One moment, I’m gonna go over all the goods ya brought. We’ll unload them when we get to the market, then we’ll reload the Principality’s goods when we get done with the morning’s work.”

Cookie set to her task, running down the list of things on her scroll while the many cart-pullers took their time to rest. Puddinghead, in the meantime, was following her around, jabbering away about some new political advancement she’d read about called “surfdom”, where the working ponies all spent time riding waves on the ocean. Nova couldn’t help but pity the poor mare as she tried to dutifully listen to her chancellor while also trying to get her work done, all while Pansy just lazily floated along helping her out with other carts.

“Oh! Cupcakes!” Puddinghead finally exclaimed happily. “That was the word I was looking for.”

Everyone stared at her.

“Whaaaaat? I always call my lawful constituents provided for by the Accords of Hamsterdam in 862 D.S. as my cupcakes.”

“She called us her ‘pastry cakes’ last week,” Cookie sighed. “Then she got annoyed because the name was redundant.”

“Just like half the workforce!” Puddinghead chirped. “But what do you expect when these peasants want their wages bumped up to a half-bit per hour instead of a quarter-bit per hour?”

Nova could feel himself sprout a gray hair that very moment.

“Welp, time’s a-wastin’!” Puddinghead began to pronk her way off toward the buildings in the distance. “The big old bwong-tock won’t get done all by itself, you know!”

“It’s called a clock tower!” Cookie called after her, but it was to no avail. She slumped the moment the chancellor was gone a moment later. “One of these days, she’s gonna run me so ragged, I won’t be able to fix any more of her mistakes.”

“Is she not democratically elected? She is a chancellor, after all.”

“She is,” Cookie nodded, “but the rule is that when someone wants to challenge her, the election is a two-parter. The first question is if the chancellor should keep office, and the second is who should replace them.”

“Following you so far,” Nova nodded.

“If the current chancellor has more than 50% vote yes, then the second question don’t matter one bit,” Cookie sighed. “It’s happened twice already. People give Puddinghead all the credit for the stuff I get done in her name.”

“So if more than 50% vote no, then how’s the second question work?”

“Straight run-off,” Cookie shook her head. “Even if someone has less than 50% of the vote, long as they beat everyone else, they win. Puddinghead ran with 6 other ponies. She finished with 32%. No one else got any more than 20%. Two thirds o’ ponies didn’t want her to win. She won.”

Nova grimaced. “Yeah, that sounds like a bad voting system.”

“Ah well, when we’re good and fully incorporated into your little principality, I guess it won’t matter will it?” Cookie smiled wryly.

“Who said anything about incorporation?” Nova asked, frowning.

“You didn’t need to, sugarcube,” Cookie patted him on the foreleg with a knowing smile. “I know what this here trade agreement was for. I think everyone except Puddinghead did. Even Hurricane.”

“Can confirm,” Pansy nodded. “The Commander sniffed it out not long after it was signed, but the thing about pegasus culture is, we tend to follow the best and strongest leaders. And who is a better and stronger leader than an alicorn?”

“They’re still young,” Nova pointed out. “They’ll grow and gain in strength, but I think your generals have the experience factor in their favor.”

The caravan began to push forward again toward the town off in the distance. Nova hastily scrawled a note for the chancellor to add a study to the upstairs with a glass dome. He also quickly marked his initials in the stone when he was sure no one was looking.

“I’m pretty sure Hurricane has already factored that in,” Pansy looked upward, toward the distant collection of clouds where Pegasopolis was. “He’s no civic leader or politician, but he does know his battlefields. He’s well aware that everyone has different specialties. And between you and me,” his voice grew conspiratorial, “I think he wants to make sure Pegasus military culture lives on in your Equestrian forces. I have a feeling he wants to teach them how to be effective military leaders the same way Star Swirl taught them magic.”

“Well, we don’t exactly have a standing military,” Nova admitted. “Pegasi soldiers and leadership would go a long way.”

“Mutually beneficial trade deals like this make it a lot easier for everyone to get along, too,” said Cookie. “We’ve needed that lumber for several days now. Ol’ Corncob’s crops have been getting munched on by the local livestock despite his best efforts for months. Need fencing for both of them.”

“And with the city growing as it is and winter upon us, we need the food,” Nova replied. They were entering town now, heading toward market stalls at the center where a number of Earth Pony workers were waiting with massive boxes and barrels of foodstuffs to be hauled back. The moment the caravan arrived in the center of town, the earth ponies immediately began unloading and loading.

“Be right back,” Nova said, heading toward the clock tower, visible even several hundred meters away. One face of it, the one facing Everfree, had been completed, but the others still appeared to be under construction. As he wove through the buildings, he drew up the hood of his cloak, and the invisibility spell activated. Even if he was welcome here, he didn’t exactly want to be seen doing this. How would he explain his little self-given mission?

Hiding his hoofprints in the snow proved to be trivial enough, since all he had to do was unsmush the snow he stepped on in question, but eventually, he ran into the many tracks of the workers on the clock tower and decided it was too much work to smooth those out.

No one was guarding the service entrance to the tower, so he found it easy to slip in. Dodging the workers inside was considerably harder, seeing as they had the working mechanism within and space was cramped. There were only four mechanics within, tinkering with the higher-level mechanisms to prepare them to handle the other three clock faces’ arrows, but he needed to avoid them all the same.

He climbed up toward the very top, finally making it to the ceiling of the tower, behind the “IIX” of the completed clock face. Having heard from hearsay that Puddinghead had insisted on wooden letters fitted into the face rather than glass, Nova had come up with a plan. Fortunately, the X in the Roaman numeral was perfectly sized for what he wanted. With his magic, he cut out a large chunk of the painted black wood, hollowing out the number to suit his ends. Once complete, he withdrew a simple pendant, nothing more than a polished painted blue wooden disc on a strip of ribbon, and stashed it in the hole he had created.

There was nothing particularly special about that pendant itself, but it had a particularly special spell attached to it that Nova knew would come in handy down the line against a particularly special shadowy enemy, whenever it was she chose to reveal herself.

With it safely stashed, Nova enchanted the letters of the clock to ward off wear and tear, the better to explain why he made an impromptu visit to the inside of the tower in case he was found on the way back (and to ensure his pendant was protected), seamlessly filled in the stash so that it was hidden once more, and with his business concluded, made a hasty exit from the clock tower.

Yes, these trade deals did lead to increased cooperation between the different tribes, but they also afforded him an excellent opportunity to put things into place to deal with his troubles in his own era.

Now all he and Twilight needed was the right moment to use it…

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

A blast of fire shot over his head, and Nova only just managed to duck down in time to avoid singing any fur. The fire hit the edge of the arena and then disappeared in a puff of smoke as the magical boundaries nullified the spell before it could go beyond and do any lasting damage.

“Getting good at that,” Nova observed, feeling at the nape of his neck, where the head from the blast had washed over him for those precious instants.

Across from him, Captain Steelshod grinned, and cockily blew on his horn to clear the smoke from it. “Practice makes perfect,” he said modestly. “And when we’re out here as often as we are, and I’m practicing against you, I get damn good damn quickly.”

“True, true,” Nova smiled back. “Try this one on for size.”

His horn glowed, and all around Steelshod, spikes of ice coalesced in mere moments, before slamming inward. Nova saw another flash of fire shortly before the ice impacted, which was followed by a quiet splashing sound. When the fire and resultant steam cleared, Steelshod stood there unharmed, but utterly sopping wet and glaring at him.

“You seem to like using fire today,” Nova remarked, little droplets of water forming out of the air and coagulating into much larger water bubbles that drifted lazily around him. “Just as a precaution, you understand.”

“Yeah, well, when you’re out here throwing ice around, it does feel like the obvious counter,” Steel conceded. His horn glowed, and a wave of fire washed over him, flash-drying him and leaving him looking as though he hadn’t just gotten doused.

“I think our daily duels are making us both better.” Nova fired a Dizzification Jinx Steel’s way, but Steelshod dodged it. “I’m getting better at thinking on my hooves and training against a Captain of the Guard. You get to toss spells at me all you want. I call that a win-win!”

“It would be if you let me get a hit in from time to time,” Steel grunted, sending a spray of stars streaming from his horn.

Nova jumped back, wary of the little white blips of light, knowing the effect they could have if he wasn’t careful. “When did you pick up Starfall? Never seen you practicing it.”

“Got some help from Lord Star Swirl,” Steel smiled mischievously. “He showed me how to actually read spell matrices, and I went and simplified it a bit. When Druidas invented that spell, he wasn’t the most efficient when it came to mana expenditure. I figured springing a little surprise on you would be loads of fun. Even made a special little additive to it.” He gestured at the little stars, most of which were fizzling out. “Try touching one of them.”

Nova trotted over to one of the last ones, fading away as the magic sustaining them flickered out, and tentatively touched his hoof to it. At once, he felt the strength leave his legs, and he began to wobble and struggle to maintain balance. As he fought to stay upright, Steelshod chortled.

“I didn’t actually think you’d be dumb enough to do it!”

“Very impressive, Steel!” Nova cheered, still struggling to maintain balance. “Refining an infamously complex spell and making it so that you can add your own effects. But I’d really appreciate it if you anti-jinxed me already.”

“It’s a Jelly-Legs Jinx, Nova,” Steel replied, infuriatingly not anti-jinxing him.“It’s nothing major, just a little wobble in the walk. You can get over it. Just walk it off, right?”

“I’ve put a lot of work into these legs,” Nova whined. “I would much appreciate it if you let me keep that work instead of letting me deal with this.”

“Mmm…” Steel rubbed his chin with a hoof, seeming to consider the situation. “Nah. Just seems like too much work, you know?”

“You are really taking way too much pleasure in this. Is this about that night with the sheepdog, the barrel of mustard, and the pianoforte? I told you I was sorry!”

He was always just teetering on the edge of balance, and it’s not like there was anything for him to lean onto for balance at the moment. If he tried to hold onto the walls of their practice arena, the magic would jolt him, and he wasn’t exactly looking to suffer just to stay upright.

“Alright, alright, fine,” Steelshod sighed in a mockingly longsuffering manner. “A big wimp, you are. Can’t stand a little shake of the legs. Unjellify”

Steelshod’s horn flashed, and Nova felt strength and coordination return to his wayward limbs once more, and not a moment too soon. He had been about to just give up and fall over by that point. It had felt worse than the time he had overexerted his legs in sprinting all the way back to Ponyville from Neighton, since at least then he’d had a little bit of pain to explain things.

“Was the ‘unjellify’ really necessary?” Nova asked.

“It’s an important part of the counter-jinx,” Steel replied defensively. “Don’t get mad at me for following the directions!”

“Unbelievable,” Nova shook his head. “Still, not a bad workout today.”

“Held my own rather well, I’d say,” Steel grinned. “Thanks for training with me. We’re both getting better and better doing stuff like this.”

“Yeah, good practice, aside from that,” Nova grumbled. “Wanna call it a day?”

“What, this early?” Steel laughed. “What would Clover say if she saw you calling it quits only a few spells after coming out here?”

“She’d probably recognize a waste of time when she saw one.”

Steelshod guffawed at that one. “She played one piece of music over 500 times in a row! No way would she recognize a waste of time if the instructions said otherwise.”

“Yeah, fair enough,” Nova grinned. “Sure thing, a few more rounds–”

Nova blinked. Wait a minute. He had known about this. Celestia had confided in her amusement to him a few days after the fact, but she also mentioned she hadn’t told anyone else except Luna because she didn’t want to embarrass the poor mare. And it’s not like Clover had been playing in a public place.

“How did you find out about that?”

Steelshod shrugged. “I’m her guard. I keep watch over her at all times. Perhaps not directly, but I make sure there is someone close enough to respond in case of trouble.”

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Nova frowned, a suspicion arising in the back of his mind. “How did you find out?”

“I was there when she did it,” Steel replied as if it were the most obvious thing. “Not in the room, but outside the chapel.”

He wasn’t lying, Nova had to give him that, but there was currently only one way into the chapel. If Celestia had come in and out without seeing him…

“And she knew about this?” Nova arched an eyebrow. “Because Celestia doesn’t seem to be aware you were there.”

“Come on,” Steel replied defensively. “You know what she’s like.”

“Steel…” Nova’s frown deepened into a scowl.

“She doesn’t want guards,” Steelshod looked askance at him. “She needs us and yet she tries to push us away at every turn! I’m just doing my job!”

Nova let out an angry snort. “Do you ever think that maybe the reason she pushes you away is that you won’t stop chasing after her?” he demanded. “Do you ever consider that maybe she’s not forgoing guards, she’s trying to forgo you?”

“Yeah, this was before she let me hear it when I tailed you both here several weeks ago,” Steel answered, rolling his eyes. Nova felt a brief spike of anger at just how casually he was taking this. “You don’t need to tell me twice, Night Apprentice. I know she doesn’t want me around. I’ve even had to talk with her about it and we’ve come up with a compromise of sorts.”

.He wasn’t lying, so at least that was something. But Nova wasn’t satisfied.

“Steelshod, you’re not doing this just because it’s your job, are you.”

“Yeah, I am!” Steel snapped. There was nothing casual about him anymore, and Nova wasn’t sure whether that was a good thing. Steelshod stomped over toward him and jabbed a hoof right into Nova’s breast. “You don’t know what it’s like, do you!? To be the youngest ever captain of the Princess’ Guard just because you were one of the only guards not to freeze to death? To have this much responsibility on your shoulders and to have to live up to it!? To have ponies you care about and to have seen what happens the moment you look away!?”

Nova stepped back as Steel continued to glare at him. “Steel, I–”

“You don’t know!” Steel continued, snarling. “Platinum only picked me to come along because I was one of the few guards who hadn’t starved to death or frozen in the snowstorms. I met Clover again for the first time since we were foals, but everything changed when we made it to this land. We finally found a land we could settle and thrive in again! But then the Windigoes followed us and the freezing started all over again. LOOK, NOVA SHINE! LOOK WHAT I SUFFERED!

Steel turned sideways and with a flicker of his magic, his fur turned transparent, giving Nova an unfiltered view of the skin under his coat. Nova felt his insides twist at the sight of the scarring on his skin from where it had been frozen and eaten away by the cold, massive and splotchy white stretches of scar tissue that lined his extremities and lower half.

“We huddled in a cave,” Steel continued, his countenance darkening, the transparency of his coat fading, and his eyes glazing over as Steel was transported a million miles away, back to the horrific times not all that long ago. “The last few colonizers. Me, Platinum, Clover, and a few others. The pegasi and Earth ponies came in too. We all huddled together, trying desperately to keep warm. But it wasn’t enough.”

He wasn’t advancing on Nova anymore. Steelshod instead fell to his haunches and was staring right through the ground, his breath growing shallow.

“The ice crept in. But Platinum, Hurricane, and Puddinghead didn’t notice. They were airing grievances with each other while our fire died as Cookie, Clover, and Pansy tried desperately to ignite it again. I and the other surviving guards were trying to fight off these ghostly horses from Hell itself, and my own comrades froze to death around me. And then…” he broke off, choking back a sob, “a-and th-then…”

Nova crept up and sat next to him, letting the captain lean against him, assuring him he was there. Whatever fear Nova had felt before had given way to pity and the desire to help.

“They froze me too,” Steel continued dully. “And the patriarchs. The only ones left were Clover, Pansy, and Cookie. And then…”

Steelshod sighed, and he finally broke into the smallest yet most relieved smile Nova had ever seen on a pony in his life.

“And then this bright magical fire burst forth from them. It obliterated the Windigoes, thawed all of us, and banished the ice that had nearly doomed us all. I couldn’t see when it happened, it was just too bright, but when the light faded, all I could see was… was her.

Nova’s mind flashed back to that night in Trottingham, to Twilight under the great Hearth’s Warming tree, the halo of white light all around her, the rapturous joy on her face, and the first tingles of attraction he had ever felt. Then he thought back to the day in the infirmary in Unicornia, to Clover in front of the blazing sunset, where her mane almost seemed to be fire itself, and the first real smile he had ever seen from her.

Nova knew what the captain had seen. He understood now. This wasn’t merely the captain being infatuated, or not seeing Clover for who she was. The captain truly did love her, and he really did believe he was doing what he felt was necessary and right.

“She is every bit as powerful as she believes she is,” Steel continued, his eyes misting over, but no longer so very far away. Now it appeared as if he couldn’t bear to look at Nova. “You’re even stronger. I trust you with her, don’t misunderstand. But… what about when you aren’t there?

He stood up and finally turned to face Nova again, and Nova was startled to see that his gaze wasn’t stony or accusatory, but pleading.

“You run from her, Nova Shine. You love her like I do, I know you do, but you don’t pursue her, and it feels like you pull away whenever she attempts to chase after you. Who will be there if you run away?” he asked harshly. “What would have happened had she gone down into the Crystal Caves alone to face Silas Silverblood? I believe she would have outclassed him at first, but would she have been prepared to defend against his use of Dark Magic? Would she have stopped Silverblood from destroying the caves and everyone in them?”

“Steel…”

“Nova Shine, had I lost her, I don’t know what I would have done,” he said, bowing his head and falling back down onto his haunches again. “I don’t care if she returns what I have, I swore I would do everything in my power to protect her with my life. You, however, can’t just protect her, but you can make her happy. You’re the one pony in the world that she seems to enjoy being around, and you run away from her.

He had nothing to say to that. He was, but how could he just come out and say “Yeah, I’m doing it because I’m from over a thousand years ahead of now” and not sound like he was joking?

“Do you know what I would give to be in your position?” Steel asked, giving him that same pleading look.

He could imagine. It was difficult to imagine what he wouldn’t give to be able to pursue Clover. And Summer too. He was happy here, he realized. More than happy, he was thriving here. He was around friends he loved, platonically and otherwise. He was learning magic. He was free to live a normal life while also pursuing his interests.

What wouldn’t he give to continue this idyllic existence? To be able to enjoy it fully?

Twilight.

He wouldn’t give up Twilight.

“More than you know,” Nova muttered, just loudly enough for Steel to hear. “I wish I could tell you, all of you, why I don’t pursue them. But…”

“So there is a reason,” Steel said, nodding slowly to himself. “I knew there had to be something. I knew you wouldn’t do this to toy with her, or to taunt me. And why can’t you tell us?”

Nova offered Steelshod a hoof and helped him to his hooves. Their practice session had long since ended, but there was something about this grove that made it peaceful to just spend time in all the same, and neither of them was in too much of a hurry to leave.

“I wish I could,” Nova shook his head.

“You are going to have to, eventually,” Steelshod warned. “Whatever the reason is, you’re going to have to tell them why, and the longer you wait, the worse it will be for all of you. And my feelings completely aside, Nova, Clover and Summer both deserve to know.”

“Your feelings?” Nova asked, giving him a cool look. “You want me to open the door for you sooner, is that it?”

“Damn it, that’s not what I meant at all!” Steel snapped, snarling. “I warned you, if you hurt her, I would ruin you. And I can’t, Nova! I know. I get it. You don’t want to hurt her. But at some point, you have to.”

Nova sighed, looking up above at the sky. Distantly, he could see teams of pegasi from Pegasopolis pushing stormclouds toward Earthponyville and Everfree for the night’s scheduled rain, and he could distract himself from admitting to himself that the captain was right.

At some point, the truth would come out.

Why could he not just tell them the truth and be done with it? Why did he allow them to keep coming closer and closer? The closer they got, the harder it would be to leave them.

Because I do love them, he realized, feeling the same tingly butterflies in his stomach as he always did when he thought of Twilight. And I don’t want to let them go.

“I know,” he whispered. “And I’m dreading the day that I will.”

If Steelshod heard what he said, he didn’t react. Instead, all he could give Nova was a slightly pitying look, before beginning the long trot back toward Everfree. Nova let Steel get ahead of him a few paces before plodding along after him, wanting to give himself some space to think and come to terms with these realizations.

And it’s been nearly a year, he thought. How many more months do I have to go?

How many months did he have left before he could return to his own time? Or, more accurately…

How many more months did he have to cherish before they were gone?

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

“Now, pay attention, Our Night Apprentice,” instructed Luna, using magic to arrange a particularly intricate set of runes into a spell matrix she was putting together on the ground. Nova was learning the fundamentals of transmutation today, a subject he had been extremely loath to work on given his failings with alchemy in his own time.

It wasn’t often that Nova Shine had lessons that were completely theoretical. Oftentimes, Luna insisted on a mixture of theory and demonstration before moving on to practical applications. She was extremely hooves-on, something he noticed from his own time.

Nevertheless, today they were in the Royal Study, a magnificent room adjacent to the Royal Library, just down the hall from the Royal Lounge, which was next to the Royal Loo, and of course the Royal Walk-In Closets and the Royal Linens Racks were only a little bit further down.

Nova had never seen fit to use dedicated study equipment when his own modest study and Twilight’s library contained everything they needed for magical education. However, in a room such as this, he could certainly see the benefits. It was at least two stories high, with long tables that had all manner of scientific instruments placed on top of them at different intervals, one end of the room had a few students’ desks and a blackboard, there were diagrams and charts of all subjects, and of course, a dedicated doorway that was currently held open giving access to the library just beyond.

There were a few other unicorns in the room working on things, but they were giving the two of them ample space to go about their business. Some of them were familiar faces Nova had seen around here a few times. The guards had been particularly thorough in making sure that only ponies who were there to study or work on things were allowed in, else Nova was sure he’d be surrounded by many more familiar faces, and he would most likely get a lot less work done.

The only thing that Nova hated about this room was all of the magic being used, which practically blinded him to anything else going on except in his immediate vicinity. It was like entering a room where he had to close one eye for as long as he was in it.

Ahem, we said ‘Pay attention, Our Night Apprentice.’”

“Oh!” Nova jolted back to what he was supposed to be focusing on, the glowing script on the nondescript stone floor in front of him. “Sorry, won’t happen again.”

“Honestly, thou art almost too curious about what everypony else here is working on sometimes,” Luna observed, shaking her head. “Thou must remember, it is their business, not thine.”

“Well this is a public collaboration space,” Nova shrugged. “Maybe there’s things here we can help with.”

“Perhaps, but like We told thee many moons ago, never assume…”

“...And never demand,” Nova finished, nodding. “Yeah, gotcha. Sorry, it’s just,” he grimaced, “I never did get the hang of alchemy and transmutation the first time 'round. Guess I’m just trying to distract myself.”

Luna gave him an encouraging smile and patted him on the shoulder. “That is quite alright. We all struggle with certain fields. Our responsibility is to find a way to make it easier for thee to learn. Shall We demonstrate? We know thou canst be a visual learner.”

“I’ve seen it plenty of times,” Nova shook his head. “I just don’t… I guess I just don’t get it.”

Luna smiled sympathetically and nudged him back away from the spell nexus on the ground as she took up a position to activate it.

“Well, as thou knowest, the first and most important rule of Alchemy and Transmutation is the Law of Equivalent Exchange, and thou wouldst not be the first pony to struggle with the concept. It requires a completely different mindset to…” She frowned, suddenly looking past him. “Lord Star Swirl?”

Nova turned behind him to see that yes, the bearded stallion had entered the room clad in his bell-less cape and hat and was looking around, appearing to be both curious and impressed. What was he doing here?

At the mention of his name, Lord Star Swirl looked in their direction. As his eyes found Luna, he lifted a hoof in greeting and trotted over. The other ponies in the room had all stopped and were now staring at the wizard with varying expressions of reverence, though once he made his way to them, they all went back to their tasks.

“Ah, good afternoon Luna, Sir Nova Shine,” he inclined his head to each of them. “How goes the learning this fine day?”

“It goes well, Lord Star Swirl!” Luna beamed. “We were about to demonstrate basic transmutation for Our Night Apprentice.”

“Aah,” Star Swirl nodded his head understandingly. “Alchemy, a notoriously tricky subject. Well, I suppose you are wondering why I’m here.”

“It had crossed Our Mind,” admitted Luna dryly. “You very rarely leave your tower, much less come up to the castle for a visit.”

Thou, Luna,” Star Swirl corrected. “I know I was your teacher in days past, but those days are gone, and I’m simply another subject now, so it would not do to show such familiarity in public.”

Luna opened her mouth to make an argument against it. Perhaps it simply felt wrong to address someone who had once been her teacher now as her subordinate. But after getting a slightly stern look from said subordinate, Luna relented. “Very well. So, to what do We owe the pleasure?”

“I’m actually here at your sister’s request,” he said, his horn flashing white and a scroll and quill appearing before him. “She asked me to sit in and observe a session between her and Clover, with the idea being for me to record my insights and share any advice and critique on how she’s doing as a teacher. She suggested also doing the same for you, so,” he shrugged, “here I am.” He paused, before giving her an inquisitive look. “Do you want that? Or would you prefer if I didn’t?”

“Oh no, We don’t mind at all!” Luna beamed. “Nova is, after all, Our first student. He’s learned a lot from Us, but we always appreciate hearing if there’s anything We can do to improve.”

“And what about you?” Lord Star Swirl cast his gaze to Nova. “She may not mind, but do you care if you have an audience?”

“Not at all!” Nova shook his head, thinking back to when he and Twilight would practice in the Western Orchard with Applejack or Rarity there to observe. “Just…” he grimaced, “have low expectations, considering the subject.”

Lord Star Swirl nodded, retreated to a nearby seat, and prepared the scroll and quill. “Very well. Proceed.”

Luna nodded, returning her attention to Nova and the glowing spell nexus on the ground. “As We were saying, Alchemy is a very different school of magic to normal spellcasting and requires a different mindset entirely, so it is understandable that thou wouldst struggle. Normal magic, of course, involves using thy mana to manipulate matter and reality directly, and the ways that thou can do so are often intuitive and direct.”

She punctuated her statement by conjuring a hoofful of dirt that plopped right onto the middle of the spell nexus with a flash of blue light.

“There is a science to things,” she continued, “but magic is just as much an expressive art as it is a science. Alchemy, however…”

Her horn didn’t glow blue this time, yet the spell nexus began to glow and the dirt began to change before Nova’s eyes, compressing, shifting, and moulding, until the dirt had become a stone not even a tenth the size of the small pile of soil.

“Transmutation involves manipulating the very atomic elements themselves, changing or bending them to one’s whim. Rather than manipulate reality directly, thou art still abiding by the laws of nature, most importantly, the Conservation of Mass. The mass of the object thou art changing and the mass of the object thou art changing it into will be the exact same on either side of the transmutation, hence the Law of Equivalent Exchange.”

“Yeah,” Nova nodded. “I remember that.”

“Thou art not conjuring matter out of thin air using energy, as thou dost with traditional spellcasting. Thou art repurposing reality using its own rules and a touch of magical energy to direct things. Alchemy thus requires intimate knowledge of the atomic elements, their relationships with each other, densities, and so on. It is, perhaps, the single most scientific school of magic there is, which is why it is such a break from traditional spellcasting, which is far more expressive and less rigid.”

Nova knew all of this. He had studied the theory for days before he’d ever tried his hoof at it back in his own time. Now sure, he was a far more experienced spellcaster now than he was back then, courtesy of time with Twilight and Luna, but… it wasn’t like it was going to magically click in his head and work perfectly after several months’ worth of time sitting on it.

“Now try it thyself,” she said, stepping back and indicating the spell nexus. “Start with destruction, simply break down the stone into smaller components. Destruction is typically easier to do than construction.”

Nova took a deep breath and nodded. Welp, time to fuck up in front of Lord Star Swirl, he thought morbidly as he took his place.

The pebble sat in the midst of the spell circle, not even bigger than the frog of his hoof. Yet Nova stared down at it as if it were the most intimidating thing he’d ever encountered. He’d faced Sombra and one of Sombra’s lackeys, yet this stone was the obstacle he needed to surmount.

“Alright, here goes.”

He placed his hoof on the edge of the spell circle, channeled his energy through his hoof as he had learned to do before, and pictured the stone separating itself into the many minerals that composed it within his mind.

The stone did not move.

Nova focused harder, pushing more energy into the spell circle. Memories played back in his mind of prior failures at this exact step in his own time, of trying in vain to just break a stone down into its individual components, but he was stronger and wiser now. He pushed even harder, just to make sure, gritting his teeth.

The stone still didn’t move.

Dammit, just do it already!

The stone did not heed his inner demands and continued to be the stoniest stone that ever stoned, not even slightly twitching.

Luna watched him, paying close attention to everything he was doing. “Relax, Nova. Thou art more tense than a stretched rope.”

“I’ll relax when I can break this damn stone apart,” Nova growled, glaring at the rock.

“Nova Shine, take a deep breath. Thou canst not properly transmute the way thou art going about it.”

“I’m trying to do it the same way you did!” Nova protested, channeling even more energy into the circle. This time, the stone wobbled, but it did nothing else. Somehow this made Nova even more frustrated.

“WHY CAN’T YOU JUST BREAK APART LIKE YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO!?” Nova yelled at the rock. Honestly, failing at this shouldn’t have made him as frustrated as it had, but it brought back memories of his previous failures with alchemy from months back, except now they were exacerbated because the magic wasn’t doing what it was supposed to, and he was sitting here making a fool of himself in front of one of his idols.

The rock, of course, did not answer him. It just sat there in stone-cold silence, taunting him even further.

“Nova Shine, please,” Luna stepped between him and the rock, looking directly into his eyes with her own. Nova was aware that everyone in the room was now watching him after his outburst, and he threw his hooves up.

“I don’t get it!” he groused. “I know I’m doing it right! I’ve read about it, I’ve listened to you about it, I’m doing what I know is the right way of doing it! But it’s not working!”

“PEACE, OUR APPRENTICE!”

Nova begrudgingly backed down as Luna drew herself up to her fullest height, spreading her wings and assuming the same unyieldingly hard look that he would come to dread seeing in his own time whenever he had truly screwed up.

After a moment spent intimidating him, she drew her wings back in and placed a comforting hoof on his shoulder. “Nova, thy frustration is understandable. But yelling at the rock and losing thy temper won’t fix the problem.”

“I know!” Nova snapped, before wincing. The last thing he wanted to do was shout down his teacher. It wasn’t her fault that alchemy was just his weak subject. “I know. I’m sorry.”

“If I may…”

Nova and Luna looked over. Lord Star Swirl was approaching them, having set his quill and scroll down from his spot.

“I don’t mean to tread on Luna’s position here,” he said, giving her a small apologetic look, “but it would seem that either she or your first teacher failed to communicate one of the most important parts of transmutation that often trips up many first-time alchemists.”

Ironic, Nova thought. She was his first teacher.

“And what would that be?” Nova asked grumpily.

“When you transmute something, you’re not making the world bend to your will. You’re politely asking it to, with the energy you give it. As Luna said, you are allowing the laws of nature and your own intentions to guide it in reforming.”

Was that really it? Was the answer to his problems simply that he was essentially demanding that alchemy work rather than saying pretty please with sugar on top?

“The way I watched you approach the transmutation was that, as you said, you did everything like you were supposed to,” Lord Star Swirl nodded. “You gave it the necessary energy. You provided it with the intent. But the operative phrase here, the error in your approach, is you did everything. You tried to be the single actor in transmutation, when in transmutation, you are only part of the equation.”

He gave Nova an encouraging smile and a clap on the shoulder.

“Try it again. This time…”

“Never assume, and never demand,” Nova sighed with a shake of his head.

“Exactly.”

Luna smiled at him and brushed back his mane. “Thou canst do this, Our Night Apprentice. Have faith in thyself. We are here to help thee, not humiliate thee. Trust us.”

Have faith in myself, hah, he thought bitterly. Maybe if I can actually fucking do it.

Still, Nova nodded. One more try, at least. Luna’s smile broadened, and she and Lord Star Swirl stepped back once more. And as they took up positions around him, Nova was dismayed to see that they weren’t the only ones watching him now. All of the other ponies in the room were looking over, no doubt wanting to see what had caused the disturbance of Luna using the Royal Canterlot Voice.

An audience. Brilliant, he shook his head. Fine, let’s get this over with.

Nova placed his hoof on the spell nexus and brought forth the energy, focusing on the small stone decomposing itself into its various minerals yet again. Yet again, despite his best efforts, the stone simply sat there motionless, not separating itself like it should.

Nova grit his teeth in frustration once more as he prepared to push even more energy into the spell. Why was he wasting so much energy on what should be a simple task? Spellcasting was about energy efficiency, and if this was the reason why transmutation was so difficult, the sheer amount of energy required to use basic spells, then no wonder hardly anypony used–

Wait.

Wait a moment.

Push.

“Never assume, and never demand.

The flow of energy from his hooves cut off instantly and he repositioned himself. Had he glanced over in the direction of Luna or Lord Star Swirl, he might have seen proud, knowing looks pass between them.

Once more he focused on the stone separating itself. Once more he positioned his hoof. This time, however, he simply held the energy at the ready, neither holding onto it nor expelling it, but rather offering it to the earth.

It felt as if someone were gently taking something out of his hoof. One moment the energy was there, the next it was gone. But before Nova’s eyes, the spell nexus flashed. As Nova watched, the small stone began to shift and separate itself into numerous smaller piles of minerals, until after only a few seconds, he had small piles of powder, no larger than the tip of a quill sitting there.

Nova let out a deep breath, just in time for Luna to squeal and snag him in a glomp.

“Thou didst it!” she cried directly into his ear. Nova winced, but he was thankful she wasn’t breaking into the Royal Canterlot Voice. Lord Star Swirl was beaming. The others in the room were sounding their approval through soft cheers or stomps on the ground, or short claps, but even though it wasn’t exactly the most demanding spell in the world, nor the greatest feat of transmutation, Nova felt a great well of giddiness well up in him.

He had done it. He had finally, at long last, overcome this obstacle.

Despite the sudden rush of adrenaline, he felt his legs give way, forcing Luna to hold him up as he began to laugh tiredly. “Fucking finally,” he giggled into Luna’s ear.

Language, Our Apprentice,” she whapped him with a wing, but she couldn’t hide the amusement in her voice. “Thou hast overcome a great obstacle, and thou insists on profanities.”

“I prefer the term ‘language enhancers’, personally,” Nova shrugged, finding his hoofing again and standing on his own. “Goodness, I thought I’d never manage it.”

“It’s amazing what a little paradigm shift will do, isn’t it, Nova Shine?” asked Lord Star Swirl with a broad smile. “Very well done! You’re an alchemist now!”

“All I’ve done is deconstruct a rock.”

“True,” Lord Star Swirl tilted his head in acknowledgment, “but transmuting at all is the first step, and is a step so many stumble at. You have succeeded. Now? You have all of alchemy available to you, and your own imagination to chart the course. How far do you want to go?”

“Far as I can,” Nova stretched, feeling his joints satisfyingly pop as he shook away some of the fatigue from the excess of energy he had expended. “Who the hell knows how far that is, but one thing’s for certain. I couldn’t have gotten past it without you two, so…”

He gave Star Swirl a thankful look, before giving Luna another big hug, pulling her in and practically crushing her.

Luna squawked, blushed, and looked away as he stepped back, while Star Swirl smiled right back, giving him a modest bow of the head. “I think you would surprise yourself, Nova. Luna was already well on the way to helping you overcome that block. I simply… accelerated the process.”

“Even so, thank you. Both of you.”

“Thou art m-most welcome, Our Night Apprentice,” Luna mumbled, still blushing furiously as she tried to hide behind her mane. “Sh-shall we continue with the lesson?”

“Yeah,” Nova grinned, feeling invigorated from finally making it over this hurdle that had taunted him for months. “Let’s see how far I can go.”

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

Quantum Bit blinked confusedly at his desk, quill hovering above the parchment. Wait a minute, I’m not supposed to be in this chapter. Then he remembered that it was because it was getting close to the story’s 10th anniversary, and he realized it had taken him forever to actually get this one out.

“Sorry about that,” Q-bit whispered to the readers, backing out of the chapter, but just before he went out of frame so that the next scene could begin, he added, “Thanks for reading for the last ten years!”

And then he was gone, most likely to continue not working on chapter updates.

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

“Not bad!” exclaimed Nova as he ducked under a blast of magic from Clover. They were in the same little grove that would eventually become Sweet Apple Acres, and Nova and Clover were having a little duel.

He had the clear advantage, but Clover’s tenacity and what she had learned from Lord Star Swirl were making it quite tough for Nova to really trap. Every time he seemed like he had a commanding grip on the duel, she would find some way to upset his tactics and force him to recalculate.

“Nice one, Clover!” called Steelshod, pumping his hoof from his spot on the sidelines.

“Try this one on for size,” Nova smirked, before his horn shone and let loose a stream of stars in Clover’s direction. But instead of shooting right at her, they went around her, cutting her off before she could make a move to get out of the way.

But to Nova’s surprise, she stayed rooted to the spot, simply staring confidently at him, even as the explosive stars shot around her and detonated, blowing her mane about but otherwise not coming close to her.

“Your choice of spells was obvious,” she commented, before rearing back and slamming her hooves into the ground, from which a wave in the dirt erupted, throwing Nova into the air before he could react.

As Nova tumbled, by instinct, he tapped into his Source and a ball of winds coalesced beneath him. The winds stopped his fall just enough above the ground to let him flip over onto his hooves and had felt as though he were landing on the softest imaginable pillow. Once he was safe, he immediately ducked sideways before a water whip could smash into him.

“Nice thinking, Nova!” called Steel.

“Whose side are you on!?” Nova yelled back, catching the water whip around a hoof and blasting it away with a firebolt.

“I’m here to pick up good ideas,” Steel shrugged from his spot by a tree.

A pure blue shield erupted out of Nova’s horn and blocked another spell from Clover, a musical peal sounding from the spot of impact, before Nova blasted the shield outward like a shockwave, catching Clover completely off-guard and sending her careening into a tree, where to Nova’s horror, a sharp-looking branch caught her right in the side of the head.

“Whoa!” yelled out Steel, but Nova was quicker off the mark. He dashed to Clover’s side, where she lay whimpering and quivering, and saw a very long, deep gash near her temple, and blood poured from the wound, matting her fur and spattering the ground around her.

“Oh buck.”

She curled up, eyes clenched and trying to pressure the wound to staunch any bleeding, but Nova pulled it away to keep the gash clear. Before even pausing to consider the consequences, he tapped into his Source and began casting a healing spell, one that wasn’t supposed to be invented for another four hundred years, and one that would be used to save his own life several hundred years after that.

Steelshod watched in amazement as the flesh knitted itself back together, along with the more minuscule blood vessels and such underneath, even to the point where her fur grew back. It took some time, but after several moments, it was as though she hadn’t hit the tree at all. The gash, mercifully, had been mostly shallow, but it had still been mere millimeters away from being fatal.

All the while, Steelshod just stared at him in amazement as he saved Clover’s life. Clover was completely still, letting him work, though he knew she would undoubtedly have many questions about the spell.

“What… what was that?” she asked, breathlessly, slowly getting to her hooves as he fell away from her, exhausted. "I have never heard of any spell like that before, that can so effectively close up wounds."

“Healing spell,” Nova answered, taking a deep breath as the expected yet sudden wave of fatigue washed over him. He fell onto his back and gulped in the pleasant autumn air. “Man, that took a lot out of me.”

“Where did you learn that?” Steelshod asked in amazement. “I don't think even our best Healers know that spell.”

“I… can’t say,” Nova answered breathlessly. He knew he was treading on dangerous ground here. Steel might just deal with that stonewall, but Clover? Never.

“Why can you not say?” she asked, walking over to him and staring down directly into his eyes. “That is knowledge that would benefit ponykind immensely! Why hoard it? Is there a reason?”

“There is, but it’s complicated.”

A flicker of fury crossed her face at those words. He wouldn’t give her a straight answer as to why he wasn’t openly pursuing herself and Summer, and now he wouldn’t share the spells he knew,

“You and Master Star Swirl both just cannot confide anything in me, can you?” she demanded, glaring at him, before stomping off. Nova swung himself into a sitting position and started getting to his hooves.

“It’s the truth, though,” Nova defended. “I’m not exactly allowed to talk about it

“But why!?” she pressed. “What is so important, so confidential that you cannot tell anyone about it? Because you are honest when you say you cannot tell anyone about these things, but not even Princess Celestia and Princess Luna gave you such an order! You are not working for any foreign entity that I am aware of, so what, then, is the explana...tion…?”

She trailed off, and a look of understanding, horror, and pain slowly spread across her face, breaking through her forced stoicism. The bottom dropped out of Nova’s stomach as he beheld this sudden change. What had she just figured out?

“Clover?” he asked, moving toward her.

“What’s up?” Steel also started inching closer.

Clover said nothing, but her knees seemed to weaken, and she placed a hoof over her heart as her breath started coming in heaves.

But what got Nova’s attention most was the sudden glimmer of tears in her eyes.

“Clover, what's wrong?” he asked again, reaching a hoof out.

She whirled around, smacking it away, and dashed back off to Everfree, leaving in her wake a stunned Steelshod and a completely perplexed Nova alone in the hidden grove with nothing but the blood on the ground left behind.

For a moment, they sat there, staring after her, before something collided with his face.

“OW! Steel, what the hell!?” he asked, whirling around. He hadn’t hit him hard, just enough to leave a bruise, but he had still hit him squarely on the cheek.

“What the buck did you do!?” Steelshod demanded, glaring at him with that same ruinous gaze Nova remembered seeing back in Unicornia.

“I don’t know, honest,” he waved his hooves in front of him hastily. “She just… lost it and freaked out. I dunno what set her off, I really don’t,” he groaned, falling on his haunches.

“What the buck do you think you’re doing!?” Steel demanded angrily. “Get the buck up and go after her.”

“I don’t even know what I did!” protested Nova, hastily getting to his hooves before Steel could hit him again.

“Whatever you did, it’s hurt her badly, so you have to go fix it,” he declared.

“How is it my fault!?” Nova asked.

“It had something to do with things you’re not telling her,” Steelshod countered, giving him an exasperated roll of his eyes. “How does that not have something to do with you.”

“Why can’t you go after her, if you care about her so much!?” he demanded.

As the words left his mouth, for the briefest of moments, he could see a look of longing in Steelshod’s eyes, and his head seemed to even twitch in that direction but it was gone as quickly as it had come.

“Because she chose you,” Steel answered, a pained edge behind the answer. “Please, Nova, for her sake, go help her.”

Nova looked away, toward the city for a long moment. Was it really the right thing to do? Steel had been pursuing her for who knows how long and she had rebuffed him, and she seemed to take issue with being chased. But eventually, he nodded.

“See you later, then,” he said, before getting up and trotting into the city.

It took him a short time to find her. She had gone to his grove, where she sat beside the Everfree River, staring despondently into its waters. Clover never cried. It was something he admired bout her. But when she was inconsolable, such as now, it was obvious. Stoic she may have been, but if there was an emotional fracture, it was a deep fracture.

Unlike Twilight, who often required a slightly more active approach, Nova took a deep breath and tried something different. He stepped up quietly next to where she sat, loud enough for her to hear but quietly enough to be reassuring, and sat beside her, laying a forehoof on her shoulder.

“Hey,” he said softly. “What’s wrong?”

She continued staring, but it seemed to soften at his words, and she lay her head on his shoulder.

“It is nothing,” she whispered. He didn’t even need his energy sensing to tell that was a lie, obvious as it was, but he let it pass.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” he asked, resting his head on hers.

“You are already doing it,” she sighed, leaning into him.

And together they silently sat by the river, as Luna flew forth from the castle to bring forth her beautiful night.

Author's Note:

Took me long enough! Two years of writing, and now I can finally move on to other chapters without worrying about a deadline!

But yeah, for real, thanks for reading this story for the last ten years. Gotten much better than I was back then, and still looking to get even better on top of that. Thanks, everyone! Hope you all enjoyed it.

Rytex out. Have a good day!