Together...
The Apprentice, the Student, and the Charlatan
Chapter 22: Together
The moment Twilight felt earth beneath her hooves, she was shoved sideways.
"I didn't expect you to fall for my trap that easily," came an amused voice from somewhere behind her. Twilight leapt to her hooves, but something cold and metal instantly pressed itself against her throat.
"Got you," Envy whispered triumphantly into her ear. "Magically suppressed by that spell, too. Probably won't casting any spells for the next couple of hours, unless you want to risk hurting your health. Just like your friend over there."
Twilight looked over at the cave wall opposite where she currently stood to see Trixie, the Alicorn Amulet glinting as it hung around her neck, gagged with a strip of cloth and restrained by manacles nailed to the stone behind her. Despite her predicament, she was still struggling against the enchanted metal.
"Now then, let's get a few things clear," Envy continued, pressing the knife a little harder into her neck. "You make any attempt to escape, I kill her. You make any attempt to communicate with Nova I don't like, I kill her. Basically, you do anything I don't like, I'm going to kill her."
"But she's your host," Twilight retorted. "If you kill her, you die too."
"Won't I, Twilight?" asked Envy, a gloating tone in her voice. "Won't I? Like I said, you make any attempt to communicate with Nova I don't like, I kill her."
The knife pressed just a bit harder to her neck, and she felt Envy's hoof start to pull her back. Given her current situation, she had no choice but to comply, feeling as she was led back to the opposite end of the room.
"Now that everyone's in place," Envy said smugly, "let's watch the show."
{T} {A} {T} {S} {A} {T} {C}
Nova appeared behind the group of townsponies in a flash of blue light. The moment he felt coordinated enough from the teleportation, he took off as fast as he could into the Vaults. Once he began to run towards the opening in the ground, he slid to a stop.
The townsponies of Neighton inside were positioned just on the edge of the pit.
“That’s right, Nova Shine,” Envy’s voice taunted from one of the ponies closest to him. “You’re going to do this my way, or I’ll just have all of these ponies that that one bad step.”
Nova ground his teeth in frustration. So he was just going to have to cooperate, then? Well, if it saved the lives of the townsponies, so be it.
“Fine,” he growled. “We’ll do it your way.”
For a moment, Envy remained silent. The only noise was the fighting outside. Suddenly, however, she started laughing. A high, cold noise that gave Nova chills.
“You’re just going to roll over and do as I say? Just like that?” she asked, sounding amused and incredulous. “Well, in that case, let’s kick the dog!”
Five ponies stepped off the edge.
Before Nova could think about what he was going to do, he darted forward, his horn already shimmering. A magical net caught them, but before he could bring them back up, three more stepped off. However, this time Nova was more prepared. A second net appeared, as well as a couple of walls. The second net caught the trio of controlled ponies, while the wall flew in front of the next few, preventing them from going forward.
As fast as he could, Nova brought the five ponies up, but the moment their hooves touched the ground, they attacked him. Nova didn’t have too much time to react, but he figured this would happen, so what time he did have was enough. Five orbs of light appeared, and instantly flew over and bashed each pony in the head, knocking them unconscious.
“Party pooper,” said Envy. “You’re just incapacitating them. Props for thinking of that, but--”
Nova didn’t give her time to answer. He knew how deep these vaults went, and he knew he could maintain a wall around the entire pit as long as he needed. He had done it once before, in the past just because he could, and to annoy the employees there. Now, however, he could put it to productive use.
His horn shimmered, and the blue wall that blocked some of the other ponies from steppin forward instantly completed a full circle around the hole,and then extended all the way to Vault 1000 below.
“That’s just cheating,” remarked Envy. “Why didn’t you just do that in the first place when I threatened you with having them jump?”
“Needed to get you distracted somehow,” Nova responded to the voice. “If I had tried, you’d just let them go before I could finish the spell.”
“You’re right I would have,” she said. “Well then, since you can’t just dive down here now, looks like you’ll have to run the entire way, with all of these ponies in your path. Might want to get started. I fear for Miss Sparkle’s chances of living, if you’re not fast enough.”
The voice paused.
“And just to add to the pressure, why not throw Miss Lulamoon’s life into the mix, too?”
But Nova was already galloping down the ramp. Perhaps he was being stupid, just taking Envy’s claim at face value, but he was sure of one thing. He was not going to let any harm come to Twilight Sparkle if it was the last thing he did.
“Oho? Such an eager pony…” mused Envy. “I wonder if you would have been this quick to rush to her defense if it had been Clover instead of Twilight. I wonder, does she know about you and her?”
“SHUT UP!” he shouted, suddenly snapping.
“Am I to take it that she doesn’t?” Envy gasped in mock surprise. “Tut tut, Nova Shine, I thought couples were supposed to trust each other.”
“She knows,” growled Nova, as he pawed the ground and stared at some of the ponies in front of him. He was going to have to be careful here. One of them was one of the town’s Councilponies.
“Then why the spectacular reaction? Unless…”
She fake-gasped again.
“No!” she said in a near-perfect imitation of Rarity when confronted with a particularly-unbelievable bit of gossip, “You don’t still have feelings for Clover, do you!?”
“SHUT! UP!” he roared, charging at the crowd of ponies and immediately knocking out the councilpony simply by using a sleeping spell.
“You do!” she exclaimed with glee. “Oh, this is so rich! She’s gone and you know it, but you still have feelings for her!”
Nova punched one of the ponies he was trying to incapacitate a little too hard, and he felt the jawbone break under the ferocity of his blow.
“Careful, now,” admonished Envy. “I thought you wanted to save these ponies. Not do them harm.”
Nova dispatched the last of this little clump of targets, then paused. She had a point. He was letting her goad him, and he wasn’t doing anything to stay calm.
Using a short breathing technique Twilight said Cadance had taught her in the Crystal Empire, he brought a forehoof up to his sternum while inhaling deeply, and then he pushed it out while he exhaled. Almost instantly, he felt calmer.
Don’t let her get to you, he told himself. She’s trying to get to you. Don’t let her.
He galloped down to the next clump of possessed ponies. Envy continued to try to goad him, but he managed to ignore her as he quickly knocked out everypony in the group. He continued moving further and further down the Vaults, but he did so slowly. He may have been a fit stallion, but he wasn’t a particularly good fighter hoof-to-hoof. He was doing his best not to use magic; the last thing he needed was to run out of what he was best at before facing Envy.
Finally, he noticed the groups of townsponies were getting fewer and fewer in number. He had lost track of what vault he was at, but that would be easily checked when he finished with the next group.
Once he managed to subdue the last one, he wiped the sweat from his mane and trotted over to the nearest vault. His heart sank. He was still only in the low one-hundreds.
But wait! He suddenly had an idea. Twilight had told him about their first trip to the Crystal Empire. She had utilized a reversal of gravity to slide up the ramp above the stairs to shorten the trip by lots. Well, he wouldn’t be reversing gravity, but he would be stealing a leaf from her book.
A small sled-shape made of magic appeared, which Nova hopped on. With a push, the sled started moving forward, his cloak flapping behind him, and his pendant with Twilight’s resonance trailing behind as well. Within seconds, the sled had accelerated to a frightening speed. Nova kept up the walls around the pit, both in case there were more ponies waiting, and in case he lost control of the sled.
Even at the speed he was going, it was a long descent. But Nova wasn’t complaining too much. While he was anxious to make sure Twilight and Trixie would be okay, the gap in combat allowed him to rest and regain some energy.
However, he was pretty on edge because of the control he had to keep on the sled. As long as he kept the sled tilted at a certain angle, he would be okay. There were shaky moments, but Nova was able to regain control almost as quickly as it wavered.
As impatient as he was, he refrained from stopping to see what vault he was at. He would get there when he got there. The spinning, though, was going to mess with him.
He could sense he was getting close to the bottom. These vaults were deep into the ground, but he had never been so far down before. The lowest he had gone was in the 700s, but he’d descended and ascended via magical platform. Now, when he couldn’t, he had no choice but to wait it out.
Finally, when he couldn’t take it anymore, he slowed to a stop, curled up into a ball, and clenched his eyes shut, waiting for the world to stop spinning around him. He needed to be ready to fight Envy, and if he was this dizzy, he wouldn’t stand a chance.
It took more than a minute. Envy had been surprisingly quiet for the last few, but Nova had a feeling it was because her mouthpieces were dwindling in number. Which meant Aegis and Sharp Eye had to be doing their jobs well up at the entrance.
When Nova felt better, he looked up to see a small slightly-brighter space a long way in the distance. He had to be almost half-a-mile underground by this point. And considering he was only in the 600s even after that lengthy slide, according to the nearby vaults, he still had a ways to go. Still, at least he was more than half-way there. Struck by a sudden thought, he returned his cloak to his Source. The last thing he needed was a choking hazard.
He leapt onto his sled again and pushed off. A few seconds later, he was zooming at the same high speed.
With every second, Nova got more and more nervous about what lay ahead of him. How would Envy choose to fight him? Would she even fight at all? She had two ponies held hostage, one of them he cared about deeply. Would she use them as meat shields to prevent him from attacking? Or would--
*WHAM*
Nova’s head connected with somepony’s hoof, knocking him backwards and breaking the spell on the walls. With a crystalline sound, they shattered and vanished into the air. Nova, however, was sent flying off of his sled, and he started falling down the stone ramp.
Had this been the same stone of the past, when it was polished and smooth, the worse he would have had to worry about was a burn from the stone friction. After over a millennium of erosion, however, the ground was uneven. He hit the wall several times, skinned himself, bashed or fell on his legs, and generally did great damage to his body.
And then, before he could stop himself, he was flung off the ramp and into the pit. It was so dark he couldn’t see, but he still thrust out the magi-gun and attempted to fire off a grappling grip spell.
It didn’t work, and he plummeted downward, flailing as he did so. Out of desperation, he deactivated the gun and attempted to create a magic slide to ease the fall ever so gently, but it was met with limited success.
Just before the slide evened out, the ground came into view. Nova desperately flipped himself to back-hooves-first to protect himself.
Nova crashed into the ground with a sickening thud, undoubtedly breaking several bones. He lay there for several seconds, whimpering in pain as his ribs felt like they had just been hit with a sledge. His legs felt like they would break apart if he tried to support himself, and the scratches and cuts all over his body only made everything worse.
Nevertheless, he tried. He managed to slide his hooves under his body, and he pushed with all his might. Every bone and muscle in his legs ignited in pain, and his legs spasmed, almost causing them to fall out from under him, but he managed to push himself into a standing position.
A lantern lit up the featureless wall in front of him. He turned, trying to stay standing, until he found Twilight. She was watching him with wide eyes, breathing heavily, and looking terrified. A glint of light shone under her muzzle, and Nova looked down to see the blade of a knife being held to her neck.
And behind her stood a green pony with a maroon mane, holding the knife to her throat.
“Hello, Nova Shine,” greeted Envy rather cheerfully. “You look like shit.”
Nova’s legs gave out. He collapsed to the ground and did not move.
{T} {A} {T} {S} {A} {T} {C}
Ray Novus sat in the living room of Novus Manor, reading a short book.
That is to say, trying to read a book.
He couldn’t ignore the fact that his son was fighting for the lives of every townspony of Neighton, as well as his own, Aegis’, Sharp Eye’s, Trixie’s, and of course, Twilight Sparkle’s. When Tantalus had heard, he had wanted to rush off to their aid with him, but Ray had been forced to put his hoof down. Nova had explicitly stated he didn’t want anypony else’s help. Tantalus had protested, but Ray refused to let him go. And besides, how were they going to get there? The only train in Canterlot had left that morning, carrying with it the four ponies going to fight.
Doctor Hoofman had also wanted to go, as he’d had an appointment with Ray, and he had found out from Tantalus. Yet again, Ray had been forced to decline. Both of them were out and trying to find a way, but Ray was sitting in his home, trying to take his mind off of his son.
He’ll be fine, he tried to convince himself. I know he will.
He heard the manor’s doors open in the distance, and figured his wife was probably entertaining guests. The surprised gasp he heard told him otherwise. When he heard it, he set the book down and trotted to the entry hall.
Anything to take my mind off what’s happening, he thought. It’s bloody unbearable, just having to sit here and wait.
He stopped when he saw, standing in his door, both Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna. Both of them looked none too pleased with him. Luna especially gave him a particularly cold glare.
“Why did you not accompany your son to the Everfree Vaults?” she asked immediately, advancing on him. Instinctively, he took a step back. “You’re his father, and you’re supposed to be there to help him! WHY ARE YOU NOT BY HIS SIDE!?”
“Luna!” admonished Princess Celestia. Luna turned back, sighed, and returned to her sister’s side.
“Tantalus and Thomas came to alert me to the situation the moment they said you refused to go after Nova, Twilight, Aegis, and Sharp Eye,” Princess Celestia began. “Normally, Tantalus and Thomas both would be facing a hefty fine and imprisonment for appearing before me unannounced, especially considering Tantalus’ banishment. However, they tell me you will not go after them.”
“Nova didn’t want my help, Princess,” said Ray. “He said the fewer unicorns the better. All it took was one bad spell, and it could result in death.”
Princess Celestia shook her head.
“Ray, I have known you from the time you were born,” she said. “I’ve watched you grow. I’ve watched you struggle. I’ve watched you transform from a colt who could barely perform any kind of magic at all into one of the most accomplished magical scientists in this day and age. Why, then, did you allow your son, Twilight Sparkle, and their little group to go off alone after Envy?”
“It’s not like I didn’t offer to go with them!” protested Ray. “I asked Nova three times if he was sure going they would be alright on their own. Three times he told me yes. I mean,” he kicked at the ground awkwardly, “it’s not like he said he didn’t want me to go. He told me in any other circumstance that he would be want me along. But...” he trailed off.
“But what?” asked Luna.
“They went to the Everfree Vaults,” he said. “I’ve been there before. I know why Envy picked that place. I know why Nova doesn’t want too many unicorns along. All it takes is on desperate spell--”
“And you believe that you will lose control like that?” demanded Luna.
“Well, yes!” admitted Ray, feeling aggravated that they continued pressuring him to answer. Celestia knew he was never any good at actual magic! Why didn’t Luna know!?
“You sell yourself too short, Ray,” sighed Princess Celestia, shaking her head. “You’re not the stallion you were while your father was alive. You may not have the magical talent of your son, but you are anything but helpless.”
“It’s not that I’m helpless, highness,” he said, his head drooping. “It’s that I lack control. You know that. I’ve never been able to control spells the way better unicorns can. I’d hurt more townsponies than I’d help.”
The princesses stared at him for a long moment. Luna’s glare was harsh, and Ray couldn’t help but feel slightly jealous of her. She’d had the relationship with his son he never had. Quite frankly, she was probably more of a mother to him than Shimmer had been. Celestia’s gaze, however, was pitying, and he knew it. She pitied him, because in a long line of prodigies and virtuosos of magic, he had been the one who had drawn the short straw.
He had been the one who’d inherited almost no magical talent from his parents. All he had was his mind. All he could do was study magic, but never cast it the way a true mage could.
The way his son could.
It didn’t help that Nova had seemingly inherited every bit of talent he hadn’t. From the day Nova was born, Ray had always known he was destined for greatness. Perhaps this was why he hadn’t loved the boy like a good father would have. He was so wrapped up in his jealousy toward his own son that he ignored him and left him to fend for himself.
His head bowed in shame as the thought hit him like a hundred-pound weight.
“Ray Novus,” said Princess Celestia, “you are to accompany me this very instant, and that is an order.”
“What?” Ray asked, looking up at the Princesses. Celestia’s eye was twinkling, and Luna appeared to be relieved.
“Follow us,” Celestia said, motioning with a hoof.
Ray complied, and he was led out to the courtyard. Princess Luna motioned for Tantalus and Doctor Hoofman to follow as well, and they did. The trio was led to the golden carriage that was Princess Celestia’s, but Ray stopped, noticing there were no pegasi hooked up to it.
“I don’t mean to sound overly pessimistic,” he said, “but it takes a little over an hour to fly to the Everfree Forest. Princesses, I know you’re fast, but are you there fast enough to get there in much less of time?”
Luna and Celestia met each others’ eyes, and shared a smile.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” said Luna, hooking herself up as Celestia did too. “In the meantime, we suggest you hold on while we navigate out of Canterlot.”
Ray, Dustin, and Tantalus all climbed in and held on to the straps sewn into the seat of the carriage. Celestia and Luna flew them out over the city and away from the mountain several meters.
“If I were you,” said Celestia, looking back at them, “I would hold on all the tighter.”
Ray barely had time to process. With three powerful flaps of their mighty wings, the princesses propelled carriage faster than Ray thought possible, and they were only getting faster
Even as they heard the sounds of three frightened ponies struggling to hang on tight, the princesses smiled at each other, and then accelerated even faster as they flew as fast as their wings would carry them towards the clearing in the Everfree Forest they knew contained the Vaults.
{T} {A} {T} {S} {A} {T} {C}
Aegis backflipped to avoid a blast from one of the unicorns in the crowd. So far, he had only counted two. A peach-colored mare with a long blonde mane and an aqua mare, also with a long blonde mane. The two of them were attacking in flawless coordination, spamming spells to keep the two of them on the tips of their hooves as they flew around to dodge. Anytime they flew at either of them, the other would shield the target.
“Damn,” growled Aegis as he and Sharp Eye found themselves back to back again, having sustained a few shots from the various ponies surrounding them. “Have to give Envy credit. She’s keeping us nice and distracted trying to fight off the unicorns.”
“I think this means we should just switch targets,” said Sharp Eye. “We can’t hit the unicorns, so let’s take ownership of the skies.”
Aegis smiled.
“Noted. There aren’t many. Just be careful, and prioritize dodging the magic over going for submission.”
“Got it.”
They charged away from each other again, this time taking flight. The pegasi in the crowd took off and charged after them. The earth ponies were left to just watch and wait, while the unicorns sent spells after them and the pegasi engaged them directly.
However, this had removed the majority of the townsponies from the battle for the time being. They had more room to maneuver now, and fewer ponies to worry about. Really, why hadn’t they done this sooner?
“Watch out, one on your six!” Sharp Eye shouted at him. Aegis smiled, and just halted in midair. The unlucky pony behind him hit Aegis head on. Or more specifically, he hit Aegis’ armor, literally head on. The pony fell down toward the ground, where Aegis chased after him and let him down gently.
“Mind the old ones!” he called back to Sharp Eye. “Take them out as gently as possible!”
“Got it,” Sharp Eye responded, catching one such elder mid-flight, and choking him into submission, before lowering him back down to the ground as well.
Little by little, they took the skies. It was a long process, and not without its dangers, but after several minutes spend dodging spells and thinking of gentle ways to incapacitate the elderly, there were no other pegasi. The only ponies they had to worry about from their heights were the unicorns, which were easy to dodge when their spell choices were limited.
“Which one?” asked Sharp Eye, flying over and starting to circle Aegis while they discussed their next targets.
“Tan mare first," said Aegis, quickly assessing the situation. "She's not as strong with her spellcasting as the blue one. Once she's down, we can double up on the blue one."
“Got it,” said Sharp Eye, nodding. “How do you intend to take out their shields?”
“By ramming it over and over again,” Aegis said. “Remember the Royal Wedding? That’s how the Changelings pierced Shining Armor’s defenses. They just hit it till it broke.”
“Got it. Alternate hits?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll go first.”
Sharp Eye dove straight at the aqua mare, but a very light tan shield blocked his progress and he bounced off. However, just as he regained his bearings and flew back up, Aegis shot down at the shield and collided with it too. They took turns, smashing at the shield. With the tan mare protecting him, the aqua stallion couldn’t fire anything at either of them.
It was tiring work, but Aegis soon saw small cracks appearing in the spellwork.
“It’s working!” he called as Sharp Eye dove and hit it again. “Stop, let me finish this off!”
Aegis flew a couple of feet into the air, and started to utilize a military technique he had been dying to put to use ever since he mastered it. He began separating the energies in the air around his dominant hoof. That, coupled with a bit of manipulation of his own magic, caused the air around his hoof to start sparkling with white light. As the energies started to converge on each other to balance out, the sparkles changed. No longer were they bits of light, they were bolts of lightning.
With a cry, he dove, hoof reared back to punch. Just before he hit the shield, he thrust the lightning-riddled hoof forward, hitting the shield directly.
A great thundering boom sounded. Aegis was thrown back several meters, but the lightning punch had done its job. The shield was shattered. Without hesitation, Sharp Eye dove and pummeled the aqua pony with four quick strikes, successfully knocking her out. Aegis, however, dove straight at the other mare, who appeared disoriented from the voiding of her magic. All it took was two quick hits, and she collapsed, unconscious, to the ground.
“Well done!” shouted Sharp Eye, even as he took off to avoid the earth pony crowd bearing down on him.
“We own the skies, and they can’t touch us now,” breathed Aegis, winded from the power of the attack he had just used.
“Nice move, by the way,” added Sharp Eye. “Where’d you learn something like that?”
“Military,” Aegis said simply. “Not really supposed to use it except in dire situations, but I’d say, with all these townsponies needing to knocked out, this is a dire situation.”
“Take your time,” said Sharp Eye. “With all the unicorns subdued, we’ve got some time to rest before we take on the horde of earth ponies.”
“I’m going to need… quite a few moments,” panted Aegis. “The lightning punch took a lot out of me. It’s not easy, wielding something like that.”
“It didn’t look--”
The air behind Sharp Eye exploded, throwing him into Aegis, and throwing both of them toward the ground in surprise. When they hit, Aegis was thrown an extra meter or so toward the crowd of now-advancing earth ponies. Sharp Eye, however, hit the ground and did not move.
“Sharp Eye!” Aegis called, struggling to get back t his hooves. He scrambled away from the crowd and made it to Sharp Eye’s side. First thing’s first, Aegis checked for a pulse. It was still strong, which meant Sharp Eye was just dazed or unconscious. Hopefully the former.
“Come on, man, wake up!” he growled, shaking Sharp Eye, but the stallion remained still.
“Damn it all!” Aegis cursed, whirling around to face the oncoming crowd of earth ponies. A tan unicorn with a tidy brown mane stood at the front of them. Like everypony else, his eyes were glowing red.
“Looks like you didn’t defeat all the unicorns,” noted Envy through the unicorn’s mouth. “And here I thought a pegasus bounty hunter and a pegasus Guardspony would be more than a match for a crowd of earth ponies.”
Aegis threw a hoof toward the unicorn’s face, but magic shackles threw him back down to the ground and bound him in place, preventing him from acting at all.
“Now then, the less you squirm, the less this will hurt,” Envy said. The unicorn smiled in such an eerie way it gave Aegis the chills.
“Well, we will be sure to give Nova Shine your last regards,” said Envy, as a knife was conjured in midair. “Farewell, Aegis of Canterlot,” she said as she thrust the knife toward his heart.
{T} {A} {T} {S} {A} {T} {C}
Every little movement hurt. Every breath he took irritated his hurt, probably-broken ribs. Every shuffling movement ignited his injured hooves and legs. And every tiny shifting at all just aggravated the numerous cuts and scratches on his body.
Nova whimpered to himself in his awkward position on the ground. Everything was badly hurt. How could he hope to fight Envy when he was in this state!?
“Nova? Can you hear me?” whispered a frightened voice by his ear. It twitched out of reflex, having not been expecting to hear Twilight’s voice.
He grunted, not really able to do much else.
“Please,” begged Twilight into his ear. “Get up! She’s got me, and she’s got Trixie! You have to fight her, or she’s going to kill us all--”
“That’s enough, Twilight Sparkle,” said Envy’s voice harshly. Nova heard a zapping sound and heard Twilight’s gasp of pain. That alone did wonders to help him stand.
“How dare you touch her!?” he growled, feeling his adrenaline start to kick in. With the added energy, he staggered back to his hooves, spitting out blood as he did so.
Envy once again had Twilight at knifepoint, and she didn’t seem even remotely concerned with his anger toward her for hurting Twilight. On the contrary, she seemed to be scrutinizing her knife, rather than pay attention to him.
“Let. Her. Go,” Nova growled through gritted teeth again, feeling a wave of pain hit his ribs.
“Or what, Nova Shine?” asked Envy idly. “What will you do? Will you attack me? You’ll have to go through her,” she elbowed Twilight hard in the wither. “What can you do to me?”
“I’ll… I’ll…” Nova searched for something he could do, but in his current, painful and befuddled state, nothing came to mind. Envy’s cold red eyes met his furious blue ones as a knowing smile worked its way onto her face.
“You’re in no position to be making demands, Nova,” she said. “I have Twilight here at knifepoint, and I also have another hostage as well. One I’m pretty sure you came with the intention of saving.”
She gestured behind Nova, and he turned to see Trixie, bound to a wall with metal shackles and gagged with a strip of cloth, the Alicorn Amulet glowing faintly in the darkness. Nova's first thought was that it was probably how Envy was able to kidnap and control every townspony from Neighton.
Trixie was desperately trying to communicate with Nova, but all she could get out were muffled cries.
“You’re doing such a fine job of rescuing these ponies, Nova Shine,” taunted Envy. “I don’t think I could have made this situation any worse for yourself than it already is. As we speak, my puppets upstairs have defeated your friends, and one of them is about to kill the Guardspony. However, I’m staying his hoof.”
Nova resisted the temptation to clap a hoof over his heart as another wave of pain hit his ribs, but that didn’t stop him from groaning in pain.
“And it would appear that you’re in no condition to stay here for very long. So, since I am such a generous pony, Nova Shine, I’m going to let you take the first shot.”
Nova blinked. What?
“I’m going to just stand here and let you fire the first spell. Make it count,” she added, smiling sweetly at him. “Of course, you’re probably wondering what the catch is. Well, in truth, there is none. I am going to just stand here and let you shoot that magical thing attached to your hoof at me.”
She held up a hoof, as if forestalling a response.
“Oh, wait, there is a catch. See, there’s only two places you could shoot for this to be an effective use of a spell. Obviously, you could shoot at me. But if you did, you’d have to shoot right through Twilight Sparkle to get at me. Or, you could shoot my host. I’m still not quite able to survive with her dead, so you’d be killing me if you shot Trixie. Of course, there’s still that possibility that I might survive. That I might be lying about not being able to survive without her.”
Her eyes narrowed, and her sweet smile turned malevolent.
“Well, Nova Shine? What will it be? Will you shoot right at me, and kill the love of your life, and be guaranteed to kill me? Or will you shoot the lesser pony? The host? The one with only a chance to kill me? Oh, and if you try to tell him which decision to make, Twilight Sparkle, I kill all three of you, and the two ponies up there, and I escape. No one wins but me.”
She elbowed Twilight again, making her grunt in pain.
“Well Nova? Make your decision. I’ll give you sixty seconds.”
Nova stood frozen to the spot. What did he do? How was he going to get out of this one?
Was he going to shoot Twilight? Of course not! But he didn’t want to shoot Trixie, either. But he had to shoot somepony!
He raised the gun and pointed it at Trixie, whose eyes widened, and she struggled all the harder to escape from her bindings.
“Hmm, interesting choice,” remarked Envy. “Sacrifice a pony to save your beloved. How… selfless. The princesses would be proud.”
Nova was shaking from head to hoof. He desperately didn’t want to fire the spell! But what other choice did he have!?
He turned the gun around and pointed it at Twilight, whose eyes widened a fraction, but she otherwise remained still. Envy’s eyebrows rose.
“Oh? Saving Trixie and going straight for me instead? But what about Twilight Sparkle? She’ll die if you shoot at me.”
She suddenly stopped.
“What is that?” she asked, thrusting her free hoof at his chest. Her magic lit up and yanked a metal pendent off of his neck. It was the pendent containing Twilight’s resonance. After looking at it for a moment, she looked over Twilight and found her’s.
After yanking them both off, she looked at them for a moment, before crushing them with magic and tossing them away.
“Such meaningless trinkets,” she said dismissively. “Well, the good news for you is that I’m resetting your countdown. Make your choice, Nova Shine.”
Seeing those pendents had exactly the opposite effect Nova wanted. Now they just brought up how much he didn’t want to shoot Twilight again. Like a slave to his desires, he obeyed this feeling.
He swung the gun around and pointed it at Trixie.
Everything grew still and silent around him as he pointed it at her. Envy’s voice rang out over the deafening silence.
“What a paragon of righteousness, you are,” she taunted. “Sacrificing a normal pony you barely know to save the life of your beloved. You make me proud, Nova Shine.”
The gun was shaking more and more with each passing second. He had to fire! If he didn’t, she would kill all of them! He had to shoot! SHOOT, DAMN IT!
But he didn’t. Tears were streaming from his eyes as he tried to make this impossible decision.
“You make me proud, Nova Shine.”
He swung the gun around and pointed it at Envy and Twilight. Envy’s eyes glimmered in the light as he aimed it at her.
“Ten seconds, Nova Shine,” she said. “Take your time. I’m in no hurry.”
Nova continued to hold the gun in their direction. His hoof was shaking badly. Was it because he was losing his strength? Or was it because he couldn’t do it?
Envy’s smile vanished.
“Five seconds.”
Nova suddenly grew still as a statue. Something about Twilight had stopped him. There was something under her hoof…
The amulet!
“Get out of the way,” he said immediately in a low voice.
Instantly, Twilight elbowed Envy hard in the gut before she could react. Envy, not suspecting the attack, took it with surprise as Twilight galloped away from her. In desperation, she threw the knife in Twilight’s direction, but a beam of magic, focused to a point smaller than he had ever done before, shot from Nova’s horn and blasted it into the wall.
“Don’t move,” he said, aiming the gun at Envy, who looked startled at this turn of events. She clenched her eyes shut, attempting to turn into shadow again. When she couldn’t, she gasped and started looking every which way for what was preventing her escape.
And her eyes fell on the amulet.
“No,” she breathed, staring at it. “It can’t be!”
“But it is,” said Nova. “I’m sure you remember that amulet. Kept you from transforming back during Nightmare Moon’s rampage. And now, it keeps you nice and still so I can destroy you.”
He smirked.
"Did you really think Twilight would just blunder into your trap, now that she can sense energy?" he taunted. "We had this planned the entire time. We knew you were going to try to capture her, and we came up with a plan to exploit it. You set the trap for us, we turned it right back on you."
Nova's horn shimmered again, and a blue barrier appeared above the four of them. The only way out now was to attack Nova, but he had her at gunpoint.
"We got you, you little bitch," he said with finality.
Envy’s eyes flicked every direction, looking for a way out, but it would appear that there wasn’t one for her.
“No,” she growled. “No! This can’t be! I’ve waited for too long for this! YOU’RE NOT NOT LEAVING HERE ALIVE, DAMN IT!”
Before Nova could do anything, Envy’s horn lit up. Nova cast a shield over himself, Twilight, and Trixie to protect them, but she didn’t fire at them. Instead, she was arranging a trap spell in the ground. Nova had sacrificed precious time to conjure the shield, and thus was unable to stop her from creating the spell. He dropped the shield and fired a desperate beam at the hoof that was being thrown at the spot on the ground, but he was too late.
There was an ear-splitting crunching noise, and the entire building began to rumble. The ground split open right where she had arranged the trap. The fissure split fast, but it gave Nova plenty of time to react. The split has heading straight for Twilight, but just before the ground split open, he managed to push her out of the way, but he fell into the hole. He grabbed onto the edge and clung on desperately, even as Twilight ran over to help.
The amulet had been one of the first things that fell into the chasm. Envy, however, had remained safely off to the side of the crevice that continued to advance along the ground. But when she saw Nova about to fall and Twilight trying to save him, she galloped over to them and slammed into Twilight with all her might.
Twilight stumbled around, but another shield from Nova prevented her from falling in. She charged right back at Envy and slammed back into her, causing Envy to stumble backward before colliding with a rock wall. The two charged again at each other and began to throw hoof after hoof at their foe, all the while growing closer and closer to the edge of the ever-growing chasm.
Nova felt his hooves slip slightly, and he clung on even tighter.
Twilight and Envy continued fighting each other, but neither could gain an advantage. Every spell Envy sent Twilight's way was knocked aside with her cloak in a masterclass of Twilight's dexterity, and every one of the few spells Nova sent Envy's way from his predicament was dodged.
But then, just when it seemed they had the upper hoof, bad luck struck. Twilight and Envy continued to pummel each other to the best of their ability, but Twilight stumbled into a small branch of the fissure, causing her to fall. Sensing her advantage, Envy kicked her backwards, sending her toward the edge of the chasm. Twilight fell into it, but just like Nova, she clung on desperately to the edge.
“HAH! After all these years, Clover, I finally get to kill you!” she shrieked triumphantly, stepping hard on her hooves. “And right in front of him, too,” she added, sliding Twilight’s hooves toward the edge.
There was a flash of pale purple light, and Envy shrieked. Nova, having been caught up in trying to keep an eye on the action, had not noticed, but Trixie had fired a spell at Envy, and her aim had been true. She had hit Envy, her spell's power bolstered by the Alicorn Amulet. Envy staggered backwards, unprepared for the attack. But as Trixie had been magically suppressed by the enchanted chains binding her, she collapsed, hanging limply in her manacles.
Envy was thrown straight at Nova, who couldn’t move avoid her as he hung from the fissure's edge. She hit him as she fell over the edge, knocking him loose from his grip, and they both started to fall into the depths of the chasm.
“NOVA!” screamed Twilight, scrambling up onto the safety of the ground and over to where he had been.
Demonstrating the skill befitting the Night Master, Nova aimed the active magi-gun right at the edge and fired a grappling grip spell. The blue ball of light flew from the gun toward the edge and stuck just below the edge. Nova’s body swung sideways into the wall, knocking the wind out of him. It was then, however, that he noticed he had extra weight.
Envy was clinging to one of his hind hooves. When he looked down, she had started to climb up his body. He tried to struggle, to throw her off, but she hung on tightly, only getting higher and higher.
She stepped on his shoulders and clung on to the magic chain and continued to climb higher, growing ever closer to Twilight--
“NO!” Nova roared, jerking the magi-gun as hard as he could away from the chasm wall. That, and a well-timed kick from Twilight, were enough to cause Envy to lose her grip and fall back down as he re-aimed the grappling grip.
*CR-CRACK*
Nova screamed. He screamed louder and harder than he ever had in his life. The shoulder with the magi-gun felt like it had been wrenched out of socket, and so did his opposite back leg. Envy had caught his hind hoof on the way down. The jerking of the weight downward had probably dislocated both of them and torn some of the muscle, cartilage, and tendons inside.
Trying to blink back tears, he looked down. Envy was still clinging to his limp leg, but she seemed to be losing it little by little.
“G-go to hell,” he growled out painfully, aiming a kick at her face.
He connected.
Her grip was broken, and she was sent plunging into the black depths of the chasm she had created, screaming with terror as she plummeted to her doom.
Nova had no time to watch. He willed the magic to drag him back up toward the edge as quickly as it could. The chasm was going to destroy the Vaults, and he, Twilight, and Trixie needed to get out as quickly as they could. The gun pulled him up, but it was a slow and painful process, as it pulled him up by his hurt shoulder.
He finally made it to the edge, where Twilight reached out a hoof to pull him up, but another crunching sound caught their attention. Nova looked over in time to see one of the lower vaults’ walls break open. Its contents started to spill into the chasm. They were all glass vials of some kind. Some were large, some small, some glowing some not…
Soul Jars! Empty ones!
Instantly, a magical shield blocked the Soul Jars from falling out of the Vault. If any empty ones fell down there, Envy could survive. There’s no telling how far down the amulet had fallen. If she had shifted back into shadow form, she might find a way to survive the encounter if she trapped herself in a Soul Jar.
“Nova, let it go! We need to get out of here!” Twilight yelled at him over the loud sounds of splitting earth.
“No!” Nova shouted back. “If any of those fall, she survives! I can’t let that happen!”
“Nova, please! Let it go and let me help! I can't cast magic, she suppressed me!” she pleaded, trying to pull him up, but he couldn’t let her. If there was any chance that monster could still walk the earth and he could have prevented it, it was unacceptable.
“HELP!” Twilight screamed up at the small light above them. “SOMEPONY PLEASE HELP US!”
{T} {A} {T} {S} {A} {T} {C}
Aegis couldn’t stop himself. He was trembling from head to hoof, waiting for the moment when the unicorn would plunge the knife downward and end this. He had been sitting there for the last minute, or so, waiting for something.
“What are you waiting for?” Aegis asked.
“Nova Shine has to make a choice,” Envy said. “He has to choose whether or not he’s going to kill Trixie, and in that case maybe kill me once and for all, or he has to kill me by shooting through Twilight Sparkle. If he doesn’t decide to kill anyone in a minute, well…”
The unicorn drew his free hoof across his throat. Aegis gulped.
“How-- how much time is left?” he asked.
“Hmm, not so stoic for a Royal Guard, are you?” Envy asked.
“Hard to be stoic and in control of the situation when there’s a knife intentionally positioned just above a gap in your armor,” he responded.
“Why oh why did we have to be on different sides?” Envy wondered aloud. “You’re fun to talk to. Shame I have to gut you like a fish.”
“I’m flattered you think that,” Aegis replied. “You’ll forgive me if the whole ‘enemy to Equestria’ thing scares me off, though.”
“Well, to answer your original question, he’s down to ten seconds,” Envy said. “If I were you, I’d suggest making your peace.”
Far from what he had thought, Aegis felt his body start to calm down. Maybe it was the sheer simplicity of the moment. He was about to die. That was that, no sugarcoating. He was going to go down trying to save the townsponies of Neighton, and Sharp Eye was going to die too.
“Five seconds. Sorry about this… sort of,” she said. raising the knife higher.
And then, quite suddenly, the unicorn was blasted aside with magic. Aegis blinked.
:Well, that was anticlimactic,” he said dryly. He jumped up to his hooves in time to see three unicorns charging the group of earth ponies and mass-casting spells that knocked large numbers of the ponies unconscious. And what’s more, the earth ponies didn’t seem to be doing anything! They just stood there and took the attacks!
He turned to see Sharp Eye, to find that Princess Celestia herself was tending to the unconscious pegasus. A couple of spells later, and Sharp Eye was waking up.
“What’s going on?” Aegis asked dumbly, not really taking in that the princesses themselves, with no accompanying guards, had brought along Ray, Tantalus, and Doctor Hoofman to help clean up after their partial success.
“Looks like we arrived in the nick of time,” noted Princess Celestia, looking down at the groggy Sharp Eye.
“But… I thought Nova and Twilight--”
“--were supposed to do this alone?” Princess Celestia asked him. When he nodded, she smiled. “They never really had to, but they insisted. We were always going to make sure things never got out of hoof. But considering what I can sense of Twilight and Nova, they appear to be doing quite well--”
The ground began rumbling, and the sound of splitting rock met their ears.
“What in Equus?” wondered Aegis. Tantalus, Doctor Hoofman, and Ray had finished defeating all of the earth ponies and were trotting over.
“Someone’s gone and activated a fissure-forming spell,” Ray said, before noticing Sharp Eye and cantering over. “Sharp Eye, are you alright?” he asked.
Sharp Eye nodded weakly. Ray knelt down and helped him get to his hooves.
“You both did well, judging by the defeated pegasi and unicorns before we got here,” noted Tantalus. “I wonder, though, what’s going on in there? Who’s casting that spell and why?”
A scream of pain sounded from deep within the Vaults. One that scared Ray, Aegis, Doctor Hoofman, and Princess Luna to the very core.
“Nova’s in trouble!” shouted Ray, already galloping forward, but a wall of golden magic stopped him.
“Ray, you’d only be too slow!” explained Princess Celestia when he glared at her and continued to struggle against the magic. “Need I remind you that there are two competent pegasi here who can go to his aid?”
“Sharp Eye, Aegis, go after them!” he shouted without hesitation, and they were both off without a second thought, flying straight into the depths of the Vaults.
{T} {A} {T} {S} {A} {T} {C}
“HELP! SOMEPONY PLEASE HELP US!” Twilight screamed desperately to the air above her, hoping the cry for help would make it out of the Vaults. They were very deep down, but she had a feeling the slight funnel-shape would let her voice carry at full volume.
The continued shaking of the ground jostled the lantern loose, and it shattered against the ground, plunging them all into darkness, save for the glow of Nova’s spells as he held to the chasm face and kept the Soul Jars from falling below.
“Someone call for a pickup?” came a familiar Braytish accent from above. Twilight looked up in time to see a flash of golden armor as Aegis landed in front of them, followed by Sharp Eye.
“Y-you took your t-time,” Nova grunted out.
Aegis opened his mouth to retort, but as soon as he saw Nova, he shot forward.
“No!” Nova bellowed. “Get them out of here first! Come back for me later!”
Aegis stared at him, but nodded.
“If you say so. Will you be alright?”
“Don’t worry about me,” he said. Twilight attempted to protest, but Nova would have none of it.
“Take her and get out of here! She's magically suppressed, so she can't teleport on her own right now! I have to keep these Soul Jars from falling as long as possible! When you’ve gotten them both out of here, come back for me! I’ll be alright!”
Twilight stared at him, desperately wanting to help him, but he was gazing at her with a fierce sort of determination. No matter how hard she fought, she wouldn’t win this fight with him. Not to mention, fighting would let the Soul Jars fall.
“I’ll take her,” Aegis said, gesturing at the groggy Trixie. “I’ll need to free her, so hurry up and get Twilight out of here.”
Aegis flew over to Trixie as Sharp Eye picked up Twilight in his hooves and took off, flying as fast as he could toward the entrance. Once Aegis landed before her, the first thing he did was untie the gag around her mouth.
“Miss Trixie, I apologize in advance. This is going to hurt,” he warned, even as the strip of cloth came off.
“What’s going to GAH!” she screeched as he shattered the metal chains around her forehooves with a lighter lightning punch, before moving to her lower legs before she could protest any further. As soon as both sets were shattered, he picked her up in his hooves and took off as well, even as Trixie began to protest and squirm in the forehooves of a stranger. The sight made Nova chuckle to himself, but the continued rumbling of the ground ended the humor quickly.
He was alone, and it would take some time for the two of them to return.
{T} {A} {T} {S} {A} {T} {C}
As soon as Sharp Eye touched the ground, Twilight squirmed free of him and turned around to watch the Everfree Vaults. Nova was still inside, and he was clinging for dear life. Aegis came through the entrance carrying Trixie a moment later. The two of them seemed to be engaged in an argument.
“Put Trixie down, you stupid oaf!” she yelled at him, which Aegis was only too happy to oblige, dropping her on her rump where he stood.
“OW! You did that on purpose, didn’t you!?”
“Trixie!”
Tantalus darted forward and embraced his daughter, who welcomed it. Ray, however, looked between the two of them.
“Where’s Nova?” he asked.
“Still inside! He's clinging to the edge!” said Twilight, and that was all he needed to hear. Galloping forward, and ignoring everyone’s shouts to stop, he darted inside the Vaults and leapt off the edge and dove into the pit.
{T} {A} {T} {S} {A} {T} {C}
I’m sorry, Twilight, Nova thought, a tear falling from his eyes. His concentration was failing, and he would only be able to keep one spell up. I don’t think I’m getting out of here. If I have to give my life to destroy Envy, so be it.
He clung on as long as he could, focusing desperately on keeping both spells working, but as his energy waned, he was losing his ability to keep either of them up. He could feel his control over the grappling grip start to fail, and he smiled grimly.
So this is how it ends, he thought bitterly. The Night Master can’t control one of his own spells. How ironic.
The magi-gun’s spell vanished. He had lost control. He felt himself accelerate almost instantly--
A pair of hooves grabbed his damaged foreleg, jerking it even more and causing him to let out a cry of pain. Blinking back tears, he looked up to see who it was, and he was surprised to see his father.
“Dad?” he asked dumbly. Ray was gritting his teeth and pulling on his arm with all his might, but he couldn’t pull Nova up. His grip was slipping the harder he pulled.
“Nova,” he said, holding on tightly, “give me your other hoof! I can’t hold on much longer!”
“Dad, I can’t!” Nova said, struggling to keep the spell working through the pain in his shoulder. “I have to keep the Soul Jars from falling! If any of the empty ones fall, she could survive! Knowing her, she’s fighting against the power of the amulet until she can save herself!”
“Son, look at me.”
In the midst of all the noise, Nova had not expected to hear the calm, soothing voice that he knew belonged to his dad. He turned to meet his grey-eyed gaze. Ray was watching him with the same expression Nova knew he had seen once before.
“Let go of the spell.”
“But dad--!”
“Do it,” his father said, still in that same calm voice. “Don’t give your life in a situation like this, where giving it would mean nothing. If you fall, you’ll lose control of the spell and the Soul Jars will fall anyway. Your sacrifice here would be pointless. Live, son. Live to fight another day.”
“But Envy--!”
“But nothing,” said his father. “What will come will come, and we’ll just have to be ready to meet it when it does. Now, give me your other hoof.”
Nova stared at his father, waiting for him to throw him his other hoof.
And he turned to look at the wavering spell keeping the Soul Jars from falling.
“Damn it,” he grunted.
Nova dropped the spell and swung his free hoof to grab his fathers’. Even as the glass jars began to rain into the chasm below, Nova pulled with all his might to climb up onto the edge, as his father pulled him up with all of his strength. Finally, Ray managed to pull Nova up onto the edge with a triumphant yell.
And in the nick of time, Aegis and Sharp Eye had arrived at the ground again.
“Aegis, take Nova, Sharp Eye, take me,” Ray instructed. “Be careful with him. He looks in pretty bad shape, but this temple's about to come down around us, so get us out quickly.”
Sharp Eye and Aegis picked the two of them up and took off, just as the bottom of the Vaults started to collapse under the weakening floor.
They flew as fast as they could, and just in time, they shot out of the entrance of the Vaults as the building fell, crumbling into dust and rocks behind them.
“Nova! Thank goodness!” Twilight exclaimed in relief when she saw he was safe. She galloped up to him and embraced him, even as he fell out of Aegis’ grip and onto the forest floor.
“Are you alright?” she asked him, already looking for some way to help. Her horn lit up and Nova felt some of the minor cuts start to close up.
“Does it look like I’m alright?” he asked, gasping as his ribs lit up again. "What about you? How are you already casting spells again?"
“I’m just trying to be nice,” she said defensively. "Doctor Hoofman siphoned all the suppressant energy out of my horn after I was out."
Nova, however, just smiled and kissed her on the forehead.
“You were brilliant in there,” he crowed. “Absolutely brilliant. I knew we made the right choice in springing the trap on purpose. But how did you hide the amulet? I remember you stuck it in your Source back on the train.”
Twilight suddenly grinned mischievously.
“I bound it to the pendent,” she said. “I used my magic to bind the amulet to the back of my pendent. I had a feeling Envy would try to kick us both around psychologically, so I rigged the spell to wear off when she broke the chain. When it did, the amulet fell and I stepped on it to keep it hidden.”
“But when did you put the enchantment on it?” he asked, bewildered. He doubted Envy wouldn’t have noticed magic use while she had Twilight at knifepoint.
“When you weren’t looking on the train. I have to give you credit, though,” she said, nuzzling him affectionately. “You didn’t even know what I was doing and yet you saw the amulet under my hooves.”
“Tw-Twilight, watch the ribs,” he said painfully, coughing up some blood. “They’re kind of… broken.”
“Oh, sorry!” she exclaimed apologetically. A blue hoof touched her shoulder, and she stopped to see Princess Luna watching her with some amusement.
“I’m sure Nova appreciates your concern, Twilight.” she said, a twinkle in her eye, “but please, let an experienced healer like my sister tend to him.”
“But before we do that, there’s something that needs to be done,” said Celestia. “A formality to be observed, if you will. Twilight, please don your Faithful Student cloak again.”
Twilight stepped back from Nova and did as Princess Celestia asked. Nova hadn't even noticed she had taken it off after she had gotten out. But at the princess' request, there was a flash of light, and her cloak appeared around her shoulders. Princess Celestia strode forward as soon as this was done.
“We’re not doing anything really ceremonial, like we did with Nova, but I don’t think you’ll mind the simplicity of it, given the circumstances” she said. Twilight’s eyes widened with the realization. Celestia smiled at her when her eyes lit up. “Yes, I think you know.”
“Know what?” asked Trixie from behind the Princess. Nova had almost forgotten she was there.
“She knows that the time has come for her to graduate from her apprenticeship to me,” answered Princess Celestia. “She has demonstrated exactly what I was waiting for, exactly what Nova had shown me many centuries ago.”
Her horn shimmered, surrounding Twilight’s brooch in a golden light.
“Before these many witnesses, you demonstrated that you are ready for this rank, and so, Twilight Sparkle, I hereby release you from your apprenticeship to me and confer upon you the rank of Prime Magus.”
The light vanished, but the cloak remained golden. In place of the original brooch was a polished diamond, with a sun made of topaz set into it. Nova beamed up at her from his spot on the ground, trying not to make it look too much like a pained grimace.
“Hey, so we’re equal again, eh?”
“Congratulations, Twilight,” said Tantalus.
“Trixie’s still greater and more powerfuller,” Trixie responded, throwing her nose up into the air, but Nova noticed a small upturn in the corners of her mouth. Even she couldn't not enjoy the moment.
“Congratulations Twilight, but now that this battle is done, should we awaken the townsponies now?” asked Sharp Eye.
“Yes, I think now is the right time,” said Luna. "It would be easier to transport them home that way."
“Allow me to tend to Nova,” said Princess Celestia. “You go ahead.”
Nova bolted upright, ignoring his body's painful protests suddenly realizing something important.
“There were ponies in the Vaults!” he exclaimed.
“We know,” assured Princess Celestia. “When the fissure spell was activated, and Sharp Eye and Aegis went in to rescue Twilight and Trixie, we got them out safely. We wouldn’t interfere with your business with Envy because this was something you insisted the two of you had to do, but that wasn’t to say we wouldn’t help at all. Rest assured, every townspony is safe and accounted for.”
Nova fell back against the ground, relief coursing through his veins, even as his shoulder and ribs throbbed with pain yet again.
"One last question," he said as he felt Celestia's magic start healing his broken body. "Why couldn't you heal me before promoting Twilight?"
"You were in no danger," Celestia assured him as she popped one of his joints back in place (to his immense discomfort), "and I won't be able to heal all of these wounds; most of them will simply have to let time take care of them, and it did its job of taking your mind off of your pain for just a moment."
"Fair enough," said Nova, gently lying back down.
The next half-hour or so was a bit of a blur for all of them, except for Nova. His two remaining dislocated joints were put back into place, which hurt almost as much as their initial dislocation had. But after the relocation, Princess Celestia only healed the cuts and bruises. When Nova asked about why not the broken bones, she repeated, “Some things are better when left for time to heal. If I healed your bones, they wouldn’t be as strong as they would be if I let them heal naturally.”
Nova had to sit out and watch as the Princesses, Twilight, Tantalus, Professor Hoofman, and his father woke and tended to every one of the unconscious ponies. Trixie, however, trotted over to keep him company, after handing over the Alicorn Amulet to Celestia and Luna for safekeeping.
“Are you feeling alright?” she asked. Nova’s mouth twitched.
“Is that… concern, I hear?”
“Nothing of the sort,” Trixie said flatly, sticking her nose into the air again. “Trixie just wanted to make sure that her rescuer is still healthy in case she needs more rescuing.” She paused. “That’s not to imply that she will need more, mind you. But just in case…”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” he said, leaning over and giving her a quick hug of affection.
“And…” she added in a small voice, “for what it’s worth…”
She kissed his cheek briefly.
“Thanks,” she said breathlessly, and going very red. Immediately, she got up and trotted over to help the others.
Nova felt very touched at the gesture, but the moment was ruined when laughed to himself as he saw Twilight cast her an irritated glance.
Finally, when everypony was awake again, many of whom insisted on thanking Nova Shine and everyone else through promises of gifts and the like for rescuing them, they left the destroyed Vaults. Nova, due to Princess Celestia telling him to take it easy on his legs, was draped over Twilight’s back as she carried him out. Aegis had offered, but Twilight had volunteered. No doubt staking her claim on him in front of Trixie.
Nova, however, thought there was no need. Trixie seemed to be sending an awful lot of furtive glances Aegis’ way.
Well, it would seem we’re both being claimed by powerful unicorns, he thought with a smile.
At the train station, as they were travelling through separate means, Nova said goodbye to his father, thanking him for saving his life. Trixie, deciding to stay at his home for the time being, followed Tantalis, Ray, and Professor Hoofman into the princesses’ carriage, as did Sharp Eye and Aegis.
Finally, the time came for them all to leave. Nova, Twilight, and the townsponies of Neighton all boarded the Friendship Express, which began to head toward Neighton the moment everypony was aboard. Twilight sought out their usual compartment and, once she had claimed it, helped to position Nova as comfortably as possible. Once he was seated, Nova looked out the window immediately, just in time to see the carriage fly overhead, toward Canterlot Mountain in the far distance.
“I’m glad that’s all behind us now,” Twilight said, leaning her head on his good shoulder.
“It’s not,” Nova said.
“Why not?” asked Twilight.
“She probably survived. I had to let the Soul Jars drop in the end,” he sighed. “We’ll probably have to fight her again, given that she seems to like us the most.”
“And somehow,” remarked Twilight, “I feel like we can handle it.”
Nova smiled.
“Well, I guess my old man’s got a point, then.”
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.
“Down in the Vaults, when he convinced me to let go of the spell, he told me, ‘What will come will come, and we’ll just have to be ready to meet it when it does.’ Well, he’s right. Whatever’s going to come will come in its own time, and we will be ready for it when it does.”
Twilight sighed contentedly from his shoulder and responded by nuzzling him. Nova felt his smile grow even wider. Despite the broken bones, he felt like the most powerful unicorn in the world.
Let Envy come again! With Twilight by his side, he wasn’t scared of what the future would hold! They would meet it head-on, without fear!
And they would overcome it together.
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A feather fall enchantment on one of his pieces of Gear would work well enough.
Although it's not likely, maybe the princesses helped him while they were saving the townspeople, but that would be boring.... But would make slight sense considering it says Ray isn't skilled in performing magic...
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I have in my head what I thought he would do, but I forgot to put it. Then I decided, "Well Imma let the readers think about it for themselves. That way they can make him as big a badass as they want."
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I do have quite the imagination. I have over 4 ways he could have landed safely.
Ya no, now that I think about it, I feel sorry for summer blossom. She seemed like a great pony, well she always was until that incident and a huge misunderstanding.
If it makes you feel better Summer Blossom, I still think you're a great pony.... If you're not trying to threaten or kill anyone, I'd totally date you if I were a pony! :)
This chapter really, really irritated me. You turned Twilight Sparkle into a damsel in distress. The beginning of the story was rough, and had the relationship happen in abrupt spurts, and far too quickly, and I was irritated that he fell for Clover like that too, but most of the story was pretty good, especially the writing in the latter half. I was all set to upvote and fave this, but this chapter made me want to downvote instead. I'm so annoyed! I mean, obviously Twilight should have teleported away from Envy and the knife. OBVIOUSLY. You never mentioned any magical restraints on her. Furthermore, she and Nova both ought to have been sensing magic and detected the trap. Even after the pathetic scene with helpless Twilight, you continued to make her helpless. Why couldn't SHE levitate the soul jars, hmm? Or teleport them away? Why couldn't she simply levitate Nova out of the fissure? This chapter you made her a wimpy female for Nova to rescue. That's a terrible way to handle writing Twilight Sparkle.
at first i was a bit worried about the writing when it felt like twilight was caught too easily, i understand trixie, since she was under envy's control, but i was so worried u would do the whole damsel in distress trope, which is cliche and would make many readers mad, especially females(not saying no female or male can be weak, but twilight being established as a strong female in the show, not so good to do that to, there has to be a reason the one caught can't fight or outsmart the catcher), but luckily, you surprised me w/ the trick they planned, so i have to say THANK YOU FOR NOT WEAKENING THE FEMALE PROTAGONIST!!!!!!!!!!!XD so many times this story took me by surprise, cutting through many cliches, just like the show:) some of the magigun talk and practice took me out of the direness of the situation a bit, but it was a necessary evil to explain how it worked for future scenes):) ps.-love the possible shipping of trixie and aegis, can definitely see itXD well, onto the epilogueXD
Ray just told Gravity 'No."
Ray is a leopard gecko and climbed down the walls on sticky hooves.
He became a real Ray of Sunshine for a moment.
Ray crossed the streams.
Ray simply wasn't aware of the gravity of his situation.
Since Ray couldn't be observed in the shaft of the Vaults, he simultaneously existed and didn't exist. He is Schrodinger's Pony.
Ray landed on one of Pinkie's emergency stashes. This one held a trampoline, beach balls, marshmallow pillows and a perfect replica of Adagio's hair.
Nice Doctor Who (The End Of Time, Pt. 2) reference!