The Apprentice, the Student, and the Charlatan

by Rytex

Of Professors, the Past, Panic, and Parents

The Apprentice, the Student, and the Charlatan
Chapter 07 - Of Professors, the Past, Panic, and Parents

The palatial, cathedral-esque structure that housed Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns was situated on the very edge of Upper Canterlot. Only three other buildings could hope to match its magnificence. One, of course, was Celestia’s actual home itself, Canterlot Castle. Another, Novus Manor. The final was the Lulamoon estate, which was well-known for its own opulence, though Nova had never been there. And of the four buildings, Nova only had happy memories of one.

This was not that one.

While there was an annex for the school located within the city itself, one whose roof sported a nice patch from when Spike’s head had stuck out of it, that location was reserved mostly for those students who were staying at home. Twilight had attended that particular one, and it would have been the location Nova had attended if he had desired to stay at Novus Manor as he studied. But he had wanted to come to this location, and so it was here that he had taken his examination.

The path out of Upper Canterlot and into the premises of the school went down a gentle hill, giving Nova a view of the whole ridge the school was situated on, beyond which he could see the green forest of Everfree, as well as Ponyville and Neighton. If he really squinted, Nova also thought he could make out Trottingham, even on this cloudy day. No doubt later on, when it rained, nothing past the mountain would be visible, so it was important to enjoy the view now. But he only paid attention to what was behind the school for a moment, before turning his attention to the building which held so much heartbreak for him..

Six statues adorned the front gardens. Two of which were Celestia and Luna, one was Star Swirl the Bearded, another was Marelin, the mythical spellcaster of old, and another was of Marelin’s sister Morgan le Bray.

But the sixth statue was the one that drew Nova’s gaze. The marble statue stared toward the Everfree, his stone gaze fierce, and a cape swirling on his back. His mane was frozen, billowing around his horn as he cast a nameless spell The statue had no plaque, nor did any of the others, but like the others, it was obvious who this statue belonged to.

The sun vanished behind the statue as Nova trotted up to its plinth, leaving him standing in the shadow of his namesake, Nova Shine I.

Ten years ago I stood in your shadow, hoping I could become even half the mage you were, he thought, staring into the lifeless marble eyes. And now I stand in your shadow a student of magic, probably with no hope of even coming near half.

He stepped back and looked toward the side of the cathedral of a building, seeing the exact spot he had appeared on ten years before, desperate to escape from his father, whom he knew had to have discovered what had happened.

Full circle it is, he thought glumly. Welp, let’s not keep the Good Doc waiting.

The large front doors swung open gently before Nova could lift a hoof to touch them, giving Nova his first view of the inside since that fateful day. It looked almost the same as his old home’s entry hall did. A mezzanine bridging the upper levels of the dormitory wing and the Hall of Learning were at the far end of the room, with two staircases leading up to the two sides of it. A larger third door in the middle of the overlook led to the upper level of the Great Hall, in which was the dining room, and beyond which were the administrative offices.

Or so Princess Luna had told him. Nova had never needed to go .The only room he had ever been in was the examination room, which was in the Hall of Learning.

“Do you ever stop to look around?” came a familiar voice from behind him.

Nova jumped. So lost was he in his thoughts that he had failed to notice Twilight trot up behind him as he entered.

Scratch that, as he had apparently absent-mindedly been walking toward and staring at the door to the Great Hall.

“Sorry,” he shook his head. “This isn’t exactly the happiest place for me. I just want to get in and get out if I can help it.”

Nova felt her lay her hoof on his left shoulder, and he glanced back at her.

“Nova, don’t be in such a hurry. You accidentally left me back at Cantering Cross and Wisteria Way back in the city.”

“I did?” he asked. Strange, he hadn’t noticed.

“You did,” she bumped him with her shoulder as she passed. “I stopped to get a morning coffee at that place on the corner.” She took a sip from her red cup and then tipped it in his direction, a teasing toast.

“Didn’t know you were a coffee drinker,” Nova replied, following her as she climbed the steps and started heading toward the door to the Great Hall. “Any particular favorite variety?”

“Cappuccino,” Twilight shrugged. “It’s the popular choice for a reason. What about you? Do you like coffee?”

“I don’t drink it for fun,” admitted Nova. “I had to learn to drink it during my terms in university so I could study.”

“But if you had to choose?”

“Black,” Nova grunted. “Like my soul.”

Twilight snorted.

“Just kidding. Cream and two sugars,” Nova amended, smirking. “Like my soul.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and pushed open the doors to the Great Hall, giving Nova his first view of the room he would have spend a good chunk of his adolescence in had everything been right.

Eight tables were arranged around the room, filled with unicorn students, with a higher table on a raised dais at the far end, though there was only one staff member there, and when he noticed the two of them, he ducked out of the room, no doubt to go and retrieve Doctor Hoofman. The happy chatter of the room died down a little bit as the young ponies stopped to see who had just entered the room. Nova stared back at them, before glancing up at the door behind the high table, behind which he knew the administrative offices were.

“That’s Twilight Sparkle! She’s Princess Celestia’s student!” he heard someone whisper.

“Who’s the white stallion?” asked another.

“Whoever it is, he’s cute,” answered a third. Nova chanced a glance at Twilight to see that her mouth had become a thin line on her face at that last statement.

Then one colt stood up from his table. He was a younger student, with a grey coat and a softer black of a mane, a short stubby little horn, and very bright grey eyes.

“Are you the Princess’ student?” he asked aloud.

The whispers died immediately. Now that attention was firmly fixed on them, Nova noticed Twilight’s cheeks grow a shade darker.

“Yes, I am,” Twilight answered, dipping her head. “I’m Twili--”

“I know who you are,” the colt cut her off, though not unkindly. “Princess Celestia talks about you all the time. I mean you,” he pointed at Nova. “Princess Luna told my class about you. A white colt with a blue mane and cutie mark with a moon and stars.”

Nova could feel every eye on him as his mouth suddenly went dry. He coughed as he tried to form words, which only added to the awkwardness.

“Err, yeah, I am,” he nodded hesitantly.

“You’re Mr. Nova Shiny?” the colt asked, his eyes widening with awe.

“It’s not Nova Shiny, you idiot,” his friend elbowed him. “It’s ‘Nova Shining. Like Prince Armor.”

“It’s just Shine,” corrected Nova, snorting. “Sounds like a couple of ponies weren’t listening to my teacher when she was talking.”

The children in the room giggled as the two colts flushed. A third young pony stood up, this time a young pink filly with a bright gold mane.

“Headmaster Hoofman didn’t say anyone was coming to talk to us today,” she said suspiciously. “You’re not here to give us a test, are you?” she narrowed her eyes.

“Welp,” Nova sighed, “you caught me.”

“What are you talking about?” Twilight asked, giving him a bemused look.

“They found us out, Twilight,” Nova shrugged. “No sense hiding it anymore. They uncovered our evil plot to give them a really hard test and then tell our teachers on them about how they’re all not good at magic.”

Nova had to try really hard not to break character as some of the colts and fillies panicked. Twilight, however, looked utterly lost.

“Right, it’s a practical exam,” Nova announced, his horn shining blue and suddenly, he vanished. “First person to touch me gets full marks.”

For a moment, no one moved, not even Twilight, who just stared at the spot where Nova had vanished in complete confusion. Beneath his invisibility spell, Nova almost laughed at the look on her face.

But then there was suddenly a mad scramble as what seemed like every colt and filly leapt out of their chairs and started moving around trying to find him, waving their forelegs blindly, as if hoping to nick him.

“Come on, use those brains of yours!” he encouraged, dancing away from a pair of colts who had almost got him. He caught a glimpse of Twilight, watching the proceedings with amusement, though she didn’t help.

SPLAT!

Nova leapt away from a pile of mashed potatoes that had been thrown a couple of inches to his left.

“Guys! Throw food! It’ll stick to him and we’ll be able to see him!” a nameless filly shouted.

This elicited a roar of approval from the army of foals, who proceeded to turn their game of hide and seek into a full-blown food fight.

“Aah!” yelped Twilight, as her coffee cup was knocked away by a wayward roll. Her earlier amusement had apparently turned to mortification, but Nova wasn’t giving it much thought as he ducked under a barrage of peas, which splattered against the wall behind him.

“What’s going on in here!?” came a soft, yet unmistakably authoritative, voice.

The madness ended instantly. Everyone stopped, the last bits off food hitting the walls or floor, and Nova popping into existence, having taken cover on a window sill.

The professor hadn’t changed in the four years since Nova had last seen him. His white-silver mane and beard were still neatly groomed, the half-moon spectacles sat just under the bridge of his muzzle, and his stern brown eyes surveyed the room. His tan coat seemed to have flecks of grey in it as well, though it wasn’t anything like his mane. Atop his head sat a black hexagonal cap, the mark of a Ph.D., something he hadn’t had back at MIM.

“She did it,” Nova accused, pointing at a random foal.

“I’m a colt!” protested the foal in question.

“She did it,” insisted Nova, eliciting a few giggles from the children. Twilight’s mortification had almost given way to exasperation. Either she didn’t know whether to be horrified that Nova had caused all this trouble, or be fed up with him shifting the blame, even when it was obvious it wasn’t serious.

“Oh, you did it, did you?” the professor turned his gaze down to the foal in question.

“N-no, headmaster, sir, he’s lying,” the colt gulped nervously, yellow eyes shifting around the room as he tried to find a place to run. Or hide. Or hide in the place he ran to.

“I’ve known Night Apprentice Nova Shine for many years now,” the professor’s eyes twinkled slightly, despite the stern look on his face. “And he’s never given me cause to doubt him.”

“Actually, Bright Gleam threw the potatoes first,” admitted the colt, shoulders slumping.

“Did she?” Hoofman’s eyes found the young filly, the same one who had accused him of being there to give them a test. “Why?”

“The food would stick to him,” she crossed her arms. “And we’d be able to see him.”

“Why do you need to see him?” Hoofman asked, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly.

“He said he was here to give us a really hard exam,” the filly huffed, evidently frustrated that Hoofman wasn’t quite getting it. “The first pony to touch him would get full marks.”

“Really?” Hoofman’s eyebrows rose.

“Oh!” the filly exclaimed, suddenly struck by some sort of revelation. Before anyone could stop her, she dashed over to the window sill on which Nova was sitting and tapped him on the thigh.

“Got ya!” she chirped.

Nova grinned and swept her up with his magic as he dropped to the floor, setting her on his back.

“Why yes, yes you did,” he gently bucked, causing her to bounce. “I guess you get full marks on our really important test.”

Hoofman chuckled. “I’ll make sure to mention it to Professor Witty. A clever idea, young filly,” he praised. “But lunch time is over. It’s time to clean up and head back to class.”

As one, the entire room sans Nova, Hoofman, and Twilight all chorused “Aaaawwwwwww,” before starting to clean up their mess.

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Nova stepped forward, his horn shining blue, “I got this.”

It didn’t take long at all. In short order, every tray was clean and neatly stacked by the washing pile, all of the food had been placed in the rubbish bins, and the room looked pristine.

“Whoa!” some of the foals had said, watching Nova’s rather showy demonstration with rapt attention.

“Hey, I can cast the spell better than that,” pointed out Bright Gleam, noticing a waver in Nova’s magic, before huffing and crossing her forehooves from her spot. “I thought you were powerful!”

Ah, childish innocence, Nova thought, Bright Gleam floating off of his back in his blue aura and being gently placed back in line. “If I were powerful, would I need a teacher like Princess Luna?”

“Uhh,” Bright Gleam didn’t seem to have an answer, but another colt came to her rescue.

“Yeah! Princess Luna would teach powerful unicorns how to be powerfuller!”

“That’s not a word!” another foal shouted.

“The truth is,” Nova continued, speaking over the small argument that had broken out between them, “I have a lot to learn. I never said I was powerful. That’s not why Luna’s teaching me. She’s teaching me because she thinks I could use a teacher. I may not be as good as some of you. After all, I’m not the one attending Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns,” he tried to keep the bitter edge out of his voice, “but with her help, maybe I can be as strong as Star Swirl the Bearded when I grow up. I’m proud to be her student, even if I’m not the best spellcaster in the world.”

For a moment, the room was silent, leading Nova to fear he had spoken too much.

“I wanna be like him when I grow up,” breathed Bright Gleam, pure unadulterated admiration behind her gaze. So much so that Nova had a feeling Twilight might get a bit jealous..

“If you knew me a bit more,” Nova shrugged, “you’d be quite happy you are who you are.”

“Time to say goodbye, everyone,” announced Hoofman, stepping over to open the door to the entry hall. “Everyone say goodbye to Mr. Nova Shine.”

“Bye Mr. Nova Shine,” parroted all the kids. Nova smiled and waved at them as they all left, after which Hoofman let the door shut, leaving them alone in the Great Hall.

“Ever the troublemaker, aren’t you?” Hoofman observed, before smiling. “Seems like every time you come to this school, you raise a ruckus.”

“Some less permanent than others,” replied Nova, before making his way toward the administrative offices door.

“Are you going to introduce me?” asked the professor, indicating Twilight, who had been content to listen to them.

“Oh, this is Twilight Sparkle, Professor. She’s my marefriend,” Nova felt strange saying that, “and she wanted to come with me today. Twilight, this is Professor Thomas Hoofman.”

“A pleasure to meet Princess Celestia’s Faithful Student,” Hoofman took Twilight’s outstretched hoof and gave it a little shake.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you as well, sir,” Twilight dipped her head.

“You know, given your way with the foals, I wouldn’t mind having either of you come and lecture the upper classponies someday,” Hoofman opened the door and held it open. “I’ve no doubt your insight would prove very valuable to them.”

“Someday, maybe,” Nova glanced out a window, where the expanse of Equestria stretched out beyond the ridge. “Ironic, don’t you think? Return for one day to teach at the place I was cheated out of learning from?”

“I am inclined to agree,” the professor gestured inside the room, “but as you said, someday. Today, we have something else to address.”

“No time for catching up?” asked Twilight, stepping in behind Nova, where a short hallway with several small offices were placed on either side of it.

“I’ve known Nova for a collective two years, but they were two very close years, so to speak,” Hoofman nodded at his secretary, a pale-brown-coated unicorn mare with a tan coat and thick glasses that magnified her dark eyes almost twice their size, and stepped past the door to the right of her desk. “This is not a pleasant topic, and knowing Nova, he’ll want to just get straight to the point and get it over with. Am I correct in that assessment?” he glanced back at Nova, who nodded.

“I don’t want to talk about this any longer than I have to,” affirmed Nova. “We can play catch-up later.”

The office looked almost exactly like his office in Manehattan had. A mahogany desk sat in the center, on which a picture of his wife and two grown sons stood. Behind the desk was a window that gave a stunning view of the Ponyville-Neighton plain hills, and a chintz chair that Hoofman was making his way toward, leaving Nova to continue surveying the room. A couple of bookshelves, one on each wall. were almost literally jam-packed with different books for different subjects, and Nova was surprised to see a hardback red published copy of the doctor’s own thesis and research, which appeared to be on the possibilities of portals.

“I didn’t know you got your doctorate, much less a Ph.D.,” Nova glanced at the doctor’s framed certification hanging behind his desk. “When did you get it?”

“I was working on it when I personally apprenticed you,” Hoofman took his seat. “I acquired my Ph.D. not a week before I was offered this position.”

“What happened to old Nocturnal Glow?” asked Twilight, conjuring a pair of poufs for herself and Nova. “Why did he retire?”

“Got tired with some of the responsibilities that came with the job,” Hoofman shrugged. “Headmaster Glow enjoyed teaching as much as anyone, and the salary at this position is a comfortable one, but he didn’t seem to enjoy dealing with the House of Nobles every few months, and he definitely did not enjoy some of the less-scrupulous fathers and mothers attempting to bribe him into giving preferential treatment to their foals.”

He leaned back, meeting Nova’s eye.

“Your scandal, Nova, has left quite a mess that is being cleaned up to this day.”

“And yet I had nothing to do with it,” Nova rolled his eyes. “Well, nothing incriminating me, at least. How did you get the recommendation to become Headmaster?”

“The incident we are here to discuss, as a matter of fact,” Hoofman said gravely, as he leaned back in his chair. “Nova, does she know yet?”

“Know what?” asked Twilight, glancing at Nova.

“His history,” answered Hoofman, leaning forward again and resting his elbows on the desk. “Not necessarily the incident, mind, but at least a general awareness of what the colt’s been up to?”

“You mean how he moves from place to place all the time?” Twilight asked.

Hoofman nodded. “Well, all the time until he finally seemed to settle down in Neighton.”

“Princess Luna’s orders,” Nova shrugged. “Told me I needed a permanent place to study.

“Well, have you ever wondered why someone so young would be out and so well-traveled so early in his life?” Hoofman asked. “I heard about the ruckus in the market square a few months back, courtesy of Princess Celestia herself. Has he ever told you who would send bounty hunters after him and why?”

“I did manage to figure out that his father did,” Twilight gave Nova a surreptitious glance, nervous that he might blow up like he did on the train to Trottingham, but her fears were unfounded. Nova seemed to be keeping himself as expressionless as possible.

“What kind of father would send a bounty hunter after his own child?” Hoofman asked, giving her a significant look.

To that, Twilight couldn’t answer.

“You call her your marefriend, but you won’t trust her with your past?” Hoofman was giving Nova a very stern look.

“I don’t think I need to remind you what happened last time I did,” Nova retorted coldly, giving the professor a frozen look of his own. “We only got together last night. Today was going to be the day she was going to hear about it.”

Hoofman said nothing, and Nova seemed to have nothing to add. The silence dragged on for a moment, before Hoofman cleared his throat.

“You came to learn about the full report of the incident,” Hoofman inclined his head at him, “and she came to hear as well, and to be with you. If she is going to hear about this, you might as well,” he said, now giving Nova his own turn at the ‘significant look.’

“Yeah,” Nova dipped his head, “I agree. I think it’s high time I told you about me.”

He reached a hoof up and started rubbing the skin around his horn, trying to think of the best way to begin.

“My story, I guess you could call it, starts a little more than ten years ago.” He was staring resolutely at a spot on Hoofman’s desk, intentionally avoiding eye contact with either of them so that they wouldn’t be able to see when he was starting to break down.

“I was only twelve years old,” he continued. “I had just finished Magic Primary, though I hadn’t yet earned my cutie mark, and my father had applied for me to take the entrance exam for Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.”

He took a deep breath, and blinked back the tears that were already starting to form at the memories.

“My parents were not good parents,” he growled. “My father never spent time with me, my mother always seemed very hesitant to speak to me, there was one memorable week where they didn’t even visit me in the hospital when I had Star Swirl Sickness,” Nova saw Twilight cover her mouth in shock, “and they seemed to want nothing to do with me.”

He looked away.

“I know what I was,” he whispered, just loudly enough for them to hear. “I was a failure. A blank-flank out of Magic Primary? From such an influential and highborn clan as the Novus clan? Unheard of. I was just a disappointment to the family. I thought that maybe if I went to Celestia’s school, I could prove that I wasn’t a disappointment to them.”

He shook his head, still looking away from both of them, and raised his voice.

“The day of the entrance exam, I remember walking alone to this building,” he continued, his eyes glossing over as he started to recall the events of that day. “I got lost on the way here, since I hadn’t been here before, and was almost late. When I found the place, I ran right into the testing room when my name was called, and they were asking me to enchant runes using a spell matrix on a couple of sheets of paper.”

He returned to staring back at the spot on the desk. No doubt Twilight was thinking about just how easy it was to enchant runes.

“I hadn’t ever really gotten the hang of reading spell matrices before, so I was this close to panicking. I thought I was gonna fail the test,” he looked up and started shifting his gaze between Twilight and Hoofman. “Right before I was about to cast the spell, there was this loud bang, and this rainbow circle thing started shooting across the sky.”

“Rainbow circle thing?” Twilight asked, mouth parting.

“I don’t know what it was about that rainbow,” Nova returned to staring at the desk, leaving Twilight to think about whatever that rainbow was, though little did he know, she was way ahead of him in that regard. “While I stared at it, it just… clicked. I just got it, in that instant.”

“Got what?”

“Magic,” Nova started to smile as he recalled the feeling. “I looked back down at the page while the proctors all were talking about the rainbow, and it was like I had suddenly learned a second language. The matrix was easy to decipher, and the spell seemed to just happen, and before I knew it, I had enchanted not just the minimum of four runes, I had done all ten. And what’s more,” he indicated his flank, “I earned my cutie mark.”

“Only the fourth student ever to enchant every rock in the Runecrafting test, might I add,” Hoofman pointed out, smiling at Nova. “While granted, the Runecrafting test is only twenty-four years old, the fact that a novice like him was able to enchant all of them was quite the feat. By all accounts, he should have been a shoo-in to the school.”

“Wow,” breathed Twilight, a slight glint of admiration in her eye. :My test was hatching Spike’s egg. That same rainbow, which, might I add was Rainbow Dash doing the Sonic Rainboom as a filly, was what made me accidentally supergrow Spike, turn my parents into plants, and trap the proctors in a bubble of floating energy,” she grinned sheepishly.

“That’s when Princess Celestia found you, right?” Nova asked.

“Yes,” Twilight nodded. “She took me on as her student to teach me to control all the magic I unleashed by accident.”

Nova snorted. “At least you had the Princess backing you.”

“Yes, and that is where the problems lie,” Hoofman’s look grew severe. “Tantalus Lulamoon’s daughter Trixie had also taken the exam, and while she had talent, she did not quite fulfill the expectations necessary in the entrance test. But not by far,” Hoofman added. “Perhaps in another year, she might have scraped through legitimately.”

“What does Trixie have to do with this?” Twilight asked, looking over at Nova.

“Everything,” he growled. “It wasn’t her fault, though, so I don’t blame her. It was her father.”

“Twilight, what do you know of the Lulamoon family and the Novus family?” Professor Hoofman asked, leaning back again.

“I know they’re both descended from very influential names in the field of magic.”

“Was there any sort of rivalry or feud between the houses?” Hoofman pressed.

Twilight tapped her chin with a hoof as she thought. “Not… that I can remember.”

“This may come as news to you, but in the public eye, many believe there is a longstanding rivalry between the families,” Nova said, his already sour expression growing a bit softer. “There wasn’t really a rivalry, even though Trixie and I had a small one in Magic Primary. But it’s that non-rivalry that’s the problem.”

“Yes,” Hoofman sighed. “Tantalus was informed that his daughter did not quite make the cut, so he offered a small sum to get her in. We will learn more in the final report on the inquiry, but one of the proctors took that to mean ‘Replace Nova with Trixie.’ Whatever Tantalus Lulamoon actually meant is unknown, though I do believe I know the motive.”

Twilight’s hooves clapped to her mouth in shock and she jerked her head toward Nova, and was startled even more to see tears glimmering in his eyes.

“I didn’t know,” he said glumly. “I ran home that night to tell my dad, and it was the first time I ever remember seeing him happy. I thought I had finally started to turn things around. And then when we went in that next morning to see the results…”

He broke off the end of the sentence, turning away from Twilight, but not before she saw his body shake as he suppressed a sob.

“Think about it, Twilight,” Hoofman said quietly. “He earned his cutie mark that day. He had discovered his special talent. He had done what precious few had ever done in that test. Under normal circumstances, he was destined for a future possibly as an Archmage, or a career as influential as his own namesake. And any pony in history who has had a cutie mark in magic has been rated as a beta+ or better in raw magical power. Nova was destined for greatness, and in an instant, all of that was torn away. He was cheated out of his own future.”

“That’s…” Twilight couldn’t even finish the sentence, feeling just as bad as Nova had to be feeling. “That’s horrible!”

“There’s more to it than that,” Hoofman said, but he waved a hoof. “Nova, are you able to finish the story, so we can go and peruse the records?”

“Y-yes,” Nova nodded. For a moment, Twilight had to wonder if he actually would, since he seemed to be taking deep shuddering breaths to steady himself Her concern lasted only a moment, though, because he did continue.

“I ran away that day. I teleported out of the school before Dad could find me, I ran back home, I gathered as many things as I could, and I ran. Stowed away on a train to Manehattan.”

“And here is where I enter the story,” the professor said, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table. “I found Nova wandering the halls of the MIM Spellstudies faculty section the next day, asking the professors to teach him. I thought it quite strange, seeing a little colt just wandering about one random day, but something seemed strangely different about him.”

“He directed me to admissions, to apply to be educated,” Nova picked up, “and so I went and applied.” He grinned humorlessly. “I think the admissions committee were trying to let me down gently, but the didn’t have the opportunity, because before they could tell me no, in came none other than Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.”

“Cadance?” Twilight asked, eyes widening. “You know Cadance?”

“I do and up until quite recently, I hated her guts,” Nova admitted, smirking despite himself. “She came bearing a letter with the royal seal, which she handed to the committee, and they promptly let me in. Then she took me and got me set up with an apartment close to the school, and the crown would pay for both my education, my home, and a small allowance, so long as I was still in school, but on the condition that I had to get a job.”

“Princess Cadance came and spoke to me personally,” Hoofman said. “She asked if I would keep an eye on the colt myself. I don’t know why me, but I did as asked. Nova was enrolled in basic and intermediate magic classes, one each term, and I had him doing clerical work for me while I helped him study and refine his talent, as well as paid him. He was always very secretive, never seemed to want to talk about his family, and he was always interested in some of the strangest things, like energy sensing.”

“So for a year, I took my classes, aced both of them, though only by the skin of my teeth in Intermediate magic, and was about to tell the doctor the good news when--”

“When I betrayed him,” Hoofman cut him off, giving Nova a knowing look. “No sense in sugar-coating it, I stabbed you in the back, even if I didn’t understand the depth of it at the time.”

“You… you what?” asked Twilight, staring at the professor with the same look Nova remembered he wore that day.

Your marefriend actually feels for you, his inner self pointed out. Maybe this wasn’t a bad choice.

“When I found out who he was, and that he was and why he was a runaway, I called his parents,” Hoofman admitted, bowing his head. “They were there to take him back.. The school had expelled Trixie for failing grades, and by then the scandal had become public knowledge. The school faculty were looking to give Nova a spot on the roster again, and his parents had come to take him back. That energy sensing he had studied earlier? He was coming to my office to tell me the good news about his final grades, and he sensed them in the room with me.”

He sadly shook his head.

“I didn’t sell him out intentionally, but he trusted me, and I still called his mother and father,” he said quietly. “Ultimately, I began a professional relationship with your father and served as an outside correspondent during the last few days of the full inquiry, and at your father’s own recommendation, I was offered the title of Headmaster only a few months ago.”

Nova’s expression soured for the briefest of moments, but he relented after a moment.

“But after that, I ran again,” he shook his head sadly. “You want to know why it took me this long to let you in, Twi? That’s why. The last time I had opened up to someone, namely him,” he indicated the professor, “I was stabbed in the back. So I ran. I ran to all the different places I lived. I worked as a magical mercenary, saving up money for myself, and moving from place to place. Eventually, I did return to Manehattan and was properly apprenticed by him again--”

“Though he was in no way the same colt whom I had helped study,” Hoofman interjected.

“--and when that was finished, I moved to Neighton. After that? Well,” he tossed a hoof somewhat lamely, “you know the rest.”

“So I do,” Twilight nodded.

“So now that you know my whole story,” Nova stood up and started heading back toward the door, “can we go to the records now? I could really use some closure on the worst day of my life.”

“Yes, I think we can,” the professor opened a drawer in his desk and withdrew a set of keys. “Follow me,” he said, taking the lead and trotting back through the Great Hall, out into the entry hall, to the left, and into the Hall of Learning.

What would have it been like if I’d had everything taken from me like that? wondered Twilight as they went, keeping her eyes on Nova concernedly. Not being able to use magic again, or see my friends, or even having Nova taken from me...

She wasn’t paying too much attention to where they were going, and so it was a bit of a surprise to her when the professor led them inside the library and over to a restricted section. The librarian, a middle-aged creme-coated red-headed unicorn mare, gave them the briefest of glances from behind her desk, but otherwise didn’t acknowledge their presence. Once there, he separated the right key from the wrong ones and used it to open a set of filing cabinets shunted over in a corner of the large room.

“I… I…” he muttered to himself as he flipped through the many manila folders. “Here we are,” he fished out a relatively small folder and passed it to Nova. “Inquiry Report on Incident Involving Tantalus Lulamoon and Nova Shine Novus.”

“Catchy name,” Nova remarked, before he opened the folder and started scanning the contents. It wasn’t long before his eyes bulged and the folder started shaking.

“NO PUNISHMENT!?” he roared, slamming the folder down on the ground.

“SHHH!” the librarian whispered/shouted somehow (Twilight would have to ask her her secret) from all the way over at her desk, several meters away.

“No one got fired!?” Nova fumed. “No one!?”

“There was no one to fire,” Hoofman sniffed. “If you’ll read a little further in…”

Nova snatched the folder off of the floor and started reading a little slower, before a small slip detached itself from the envelope and floated up in front of Nova’s eyes, and it started shaking just as bad as the folder had, as Nova’s eyes filled with rage once again.

“What’s that?” Twilight asked, taking the small slip of paper in her own magic and bringing it over to see.

It was a small photograph of an elderly unicorn mare. She had pale, pasty blue skin, with a beauty mark underneath her left eye and a very dark purple mane, styled into a sort of elitist-looking severe combover manecut. She had half-moon spectacles and half-lidded eyes that gave her a very cross appearance, and pearl earrings dangling down.

“Disgraced professor Abacus Cinch,” Hoofman recited, a sad-yet-knowing look in his eye. “Ambitious, self-centered, always looking to advance, no matter who she had to throw under the carriage. She wanted a powerful ally, someone who could potentially sponsor her for the Headmaster position after Nocturnal Glow retired. And so, when she overheard Tantalus Lulamoon talking about it, she took him up on the offer. And because she believed he wanted his ‘rival,’ Ray Novus to be the loser, she scratched you from the list of accepted students and replaced you with Trixie.”

“Then why was she not fired!?” Nova demanded.

“Because she had already left!” Hoofman replied. “When news broke of the incident, she placed in a request to transfer to the Vanhoover Magic Academy, which was granted. By the time word got out, there was nothing Nocturnal Glow could do about it. But when the EEA heard about it, however, Chancellor Neighsay put out the order for her to be fired the moment the full inquiry was released to the public eye. She has been unable to take a respectable teaching position ever since.”

A look of savage satisfaction crossed Nova’s face. “That bitch deserved it,” he whispered contemptuously.

“Tantalus Lulamoon also paid for his mistake, if you’ll look,” the professor pointed to the bottom of the page. “The school could not expel Trixie, as she had already been expelled due to poor academic performance. As such, he was punished by Princess Celestia herself, being banished from her presence, and nearly losing his lordship over the Lulamoon family, which then would have automatically been passed down to Trixie, despite her age.”

Nova’s look of satisfaction grew.

“I wonder what’ll happen next time I see him,” Nova thought aloud, and Twilight could still hear the rage and pain behind his voice. “I wonder what he’d do if he saw me now.”

“A question I myself wondered,” came a smooth voice from behind Nova and Twilight, causing them both to jump and turn around. Twilight couldn’t help but wonder why, with his energy sensing, did Nova not sense this unknown pony?

The voice’s owner was a middle-aged stallion, with a hard, angular face and permanently-stern eyes. His mane was black, with a few streaks of grey in it, and adorning his flank, similar to a certain showmare’s, was a star wand.

If Twilight had to guess, based on the cutie mark and the fact that Nova’s face had somehow contorted to portray even more fury than his previous outbursts had communicated, this was Tantalus Lulamoon.

While she wasn’t expecting some kind of monster, Twilight had been expecting someone a lot less, well… good in appearance. As though he just had a bit to him that made him obviously evil.

“I thought we agreed to have this conversation together, Headmaster,” Tantalus looked right past the both of them and locked eyes with Hoofman, who met his gaze quite calmly.

“We were going to,” Hoofman assured him, “but Nova showed up unannounced.”

To Twilight’s surprise, Tantalus seemed to ignore Nova, and instead turned to look at her, causing her to go just a bit pink. She met his gaze, though, and she had to admit, he seemed like a pleasant pony at first appearance.

“You must be Twilight Sparkle,” the stallion held out a hoof, which Twilight took, but not before giving Nova a nervous glance. If looks could kill, Nova would have disintegrated Tantalus by sheer will alone.

If this is how much he hates him, she thought, what must his hate for his father be like?

It was a troubling thought, to be sure.

“It is a pleasure to meet you,” Tantalus shook her hoof for only a fleeting moment before letting it drop. “As you no doubt have guessed, I am Tantalus Lulamoon.”

A twitch of the eye was all Twilight needed to see. Before Nova could leap onto the elder pony, she had dashed around and grabbed his tail in her mouth, yanking him back before he could jump on Tantalus and most likely hit the elder until his hooves bled.

“You son of a bitch!” Nova yelled, before falling on his face and trying to scramble back up. “Let go of me, damn it!”

“No!” Twilight yelled back through a mouthful of tail hair. “Stop it!”

“Twilight Sparkle, let him go,” Tantalus said quietly, meeting Nova’s eye for the first time.

“But--”

“No ‘buts,’” Tantalus interrupted. “It’s no less than I deserve.”

That got Nova’s attention, and his struggling to free himself from Twilight’s bite ceased. Twilight wasn’t buying it, though, and only kept her hold on Nova’s tail all the tighter.

“”You’re damn right, you’d deserve it,” Nova whispered, with all the venom he could muster. “After everything you put me through--”

“Twilight Sparkle, I’ll say again,” Tantalus turned his gaze to her. “Let him go.”

Twilight stared into his eyes for a moment. She could see sincerity, shame, and a certain penitence in them, but she couldn’t say the same for her coltfriend.

Still, if Tantalus wanted his face caved in…

“...If you say so,” she relented and slowly released her hold on Nova’s tail as Tantalus turned to meet Nova’s eye again.

Nova, for his part, opted to continue glaring at Tantalus, no doubt wondering exactly what Tantalus’ game was.

Then without warning, he reared back and slammed a hoof into Tantalus’ face.

Twilight jumped in front of Nova and immediately started pushing him back, but Nova didn’t seem to be fighting. She wanted to scream at him, but she couldn’t find the words to yell into his ears.

Tantalus, in stark contrast to the struggling Twilight, wiped some blood from his mouth, but didn’t seem even slightly angry.

“I deserved that,” he grunted, before wiping his mouth again to clear a bit more away.

“No shit,” Nova replied coolly. “Why are you here, then?”

“Ahem!”

Nova, thoroughly annoyed by this latest interruption, turned to see the elderly librarian glaring at the three of them, waving the wooden end of a feather duster threateningly in their direction. Professor Hoofman, it appeared, had gone to fetch her.

“Nova, Tantalus, Twilight,” he said as delicately and diplomatically as possible, “perhaps it would be best if we continued these affairs in my office.”

“I have a better idea,” Nova scowled at Tantalus. “Mind if I lead the way?”

“Nova, I don’t think--” Twilight began, but Tantalus cut her off.

“If it’s what I think it is, then yes, please, lead on,” he said evenly.

Nova glared at him, no doubt trying to figure out if there were some ulterior motive, but decided to go forward with his plan anyway.

They were led back into the Hall of Learning, down a hall, up a flight of stairs… Twilight was surprised by his familiarity with the building, but then she reasoned he had to have very clear memories of this place if it were that painful.

Eventually, they stopped outside a lecture hall that, when Twilight peeked inside through the window above the door, was devoid of ponies.

“In,” ordered Nova, shoving open the door.

Tantalus wordlessly complied, as did Professor Hoofman, but as Twilight passed, she bumped him a bit harder than the playful one she had given him earlier.

“You’re acting like a child!” she hissed.

Nova didn’t have a chance to respond as she passed him by, but that didn’t stop him from glaring after her.

The room was a typical lecture hall, only a few rows high, with about twenty spots on each one for sitting. Down at the floor, there was a whiteboard and a lectern, as well as a furled up projection screen hanging above the whiteboard.

“You know what room this is?” Nova asked, turning his glare from Twilight to Tantalus.

“I can hazard a guess,” replied Tantalus calmly, looking around. “This must be where you took your entrance test.”

“It is,” Nova grunted. “This is where I earned a spot on that list. This is where I earned my cutie mark in magic. This is where I stopped seeing myself as a failure and a letdown for the first time in my life!”

His glare intensified.

“Because of you, all of that was undone,” he growled.

“So you have said and so I have had to remember many times,” Tantalus nodded. “Should I allow you to turn me into a punching bag? I daresay I don’t think that will resolve this problem of ours.”

Twilight could clearly see a throbbing vein bulging in Nova’s temple. This was going to get ugly unless something happened to defuse the situation. Tantalus may not have been antagonizing Nova intentionally, but he was still getting angrier and angrier anyway.

“Enough,” Professor Hoofman intervened, stepping between them. “Nova, allow him to say his part. We will go nowhere with this meeting unless you sit and listen.”

Nova opened his mouth to retort, but Twilight was having none of it. Her horn shimmered, and Nova’s mouth was smushed shut by the force of her magic. He gave her a very unamused look, and she responded with a cool “You know I had to do this,” kind of look.

“Let’s start with the consequences of my action, shall we?” Tantalus fell onto his haunches, gesturing for them all to do the same, which they did. “Because of what happened, the Lulamoon family became disgraced, I was banished from the presence of Princess Celestia, and as you know, my daughter would have been expelled had she not already flunked out.”

Twilight could see grim satisfaction in Nova’s eyes, but that only made her even more annoyed at him.

It’s like he’s not even trying! she mentally screamed.

“But closer to home,” his voice grew quieter, “your father disowned me as his best friend and attacked me. One of our mutual friends had to end his friendship with the both of us to avoid getting caught in the middle. I lost everything because of my shortsightedness, Nova,” he stared into Nova’s death glare with a sincere calm.

“Not everything,” spat Nova, managing to fight through Twilight’s spell long enough to snarl at Tantalus.

“Truly, I did,” Tantalus bowed his head. “You must have heard the rumors, how I had to take control of one of the crime families in the black market. All of them are true, though for reasons to be discussed later, as you can see, I’m out of prison and not in trouble with the law.”

Nova’s breathing was slowing as he calmed himself more and more.

“I wanted to see my darling filly do well,” Tantalus bowed his head even lower. “I didn’t want anyone kicked out! I just thought I could use Twilight Sparkle’s selection as the Faithful Student to Trixie’s advantage!”

He shook his head.

“I should have just accepted the loss and moved on, but I didn’t,” Twilight could see tears glimmering in his eyes, hidden slightly by his hanging mane. “Instead, I tried to press my luck. It resulted in my best friend’s son becoming a runaway, myself losing the only friends and family I had after Bellatrix--”

He choked on the end of that sentence. A silent sob racked his body. Twilight knew. Bellatrix Lulamoon, Trixie’s mother, had died giving birth, and Tantalus had been one of the few nobles who had opted to marry for love instead of for political reasons, the same of which could be said for Ray Novus, Nova’s father.

“I’m not asking you to forget, Nova,” he mumbled, still keeping his gaze downward. “Neither of us will ever forget what I put you through, and what I’ve done. But I am asking you for more than I deserve. I’m asking you to please, let go of your grudge with me, so you can save yours, Twilight’s, and Trixie’s lives.”

That seemed to get Nova’s attention. Twilight could see the twitch in his ears at the mention of her’s and Trixie’s names. It gave her a warm feeling, knowing he cared for her enough to show even the slightest bit of emotion at the thought of being in danger. The look on his face, though… it almost seemed as if he was actually affected by Tantalus’ emotion. With that in mind, Twilight let down the spell keeping his mouth shut.

“Tantalus,” Hoofman laid a gentle hoof on his shoulder, “let’s go retrieve the letter.”

Nova’s ear twitched. “‘The letter?’ What letter?”

“I... I wrote you a letter,” said Tantalus, glancing at the door to the room, where Professor Hoofman was on his way up. “Something I left with Headmaster Glow, in case you did ever end up at the school again. Thomas still has it in his office. May I?” he added, gesturing toward Professor Hoofman.

“Sure,” Nova nodded. “Knock yourself out.”

Tantalus nodded, and proceeded to turn around and follow the professor out of the room, closing the door behind him with an echoing click.

“I don’t believe you,” Twilight glared at him.

“Do what now?” Nova asked warily.

“I just don’t believe you,” Twilight repeated, marching right up into his face. “You know exactly what’s at stake here. You know we need those books if we want to beat Envy! And you won’t do what you need to to get them because you don’t want to stop being mad at him!?”

“Do you know what he did to me!?” Nova fired back, meeting her glare with a furious gaze of his own.

“Yes, I do now,” Twilight tossed her mane back furiously, “and you have no excuse! Nova, your life is at stake here! Mine and Trixie’s too!”

“Who I choose to hate and like is none of your business,” Nova growled through grit teeth. “You, Cadance, Luna, all of you are just the same, trying to tell me how to live my own damn life, and I’m really getting sick of it!”

“We care about you!” Twilight cried, doing her best to hide how much his accusation had stung. “I care about you! It hurts me to see you like this! You hurt, and we both know it, but you won’t do anything to help yourself, and if you keep this up, ‘your life to live’ is going to end very--”

She choked off the end of that sentence. The last thing she wanted to do was imagine Nova dead at Envy’s hooves.

“Why do you care so much?” Nova asked, his anger abating for the moment.

“Nova, what a stupid question,” Twilight gave him a bemused look. “I’m your marefriend, for Celestia’s sake.”

“You only care about me because you’re my marefriend?” Nova deadpanned. “Are you serious?”

“No, I-- well, sort of,” she admitted sheepishly.

“Well go on, then,” he motioned with a hoof. “Why?”

“Because…” she started to say, but nerves failed her at the last moment.

“Because…?”

“Because I…”

Nova’s anger and irritation were slowly being replaced by confusion. “You don’t have to say it if you don’t want to,” he assured her.

“No, I…” she took a deep breath. “Nova, I care about you so much it hurts.”

“So I’ve gathered,” Nova nodded. “But I still don’t get why you feel the need to lecture me on letting go.”

“Because I love you, damn it!”

Nova’s confusion faded into blankness. It only took Twilight a moment to realize, he literally had no idea how to react to this, but she didn’t dwell on it.

“I just…” she turned her face away from him. “I love you, and I care about you so much, it… it’s hurting me to see you do this to yourself.”

“How…” croaked Nova. She could hear him swallow before he tried again. “How lo--”

“A few weeks now,” she answered, her mind already casting back to that wonderful moment. “You knew exactly what to say to unbreak my heart after what Trixie-- sorry, Envy said. And now, with you like this, I have no idea what to do or what to say to help you.”

She fell onto her haunches and stared at the floor.

“If I could just… just hug you until it all went away, I would do it in a heartbeat.”

“Y-you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Nova asked, in a very overt, and frankly very pathetic, attempt at humor. Twilight glanced at him to see that he seemed pale, even for someone with a white coat, and there was a slight quiver in his legs.

“Are you alright?” she asked, turning around to watch him with some concern.

“I’m f-fine,” Nova lied, his pupils shrinking to the size of pinpricks and his voice becoming shriller with each passing second. “I’ve just discovered that my marefriend of one night has feelings much deeper than just a little crush, despite my best efforts, and now I’m trapped in the very situation I’ve been trying to avoid, but everything’s just peachy!”

With that, he collapsed onto his haunches, and Twilight was startled to see that he was starting to hyperventilate. Quick off the mark, she sprang to her hooves and slid to a stop next to him, before reaching up and twinging his horn like he had done to her those times she had found herself in far less serious moments of overthinking.

He gasped and started, before he seemed to reset himself, his breathing slowing down and his eyes were returning to normal size.

“Th-thanks,” he gasped, catching his breath as he buried his face in his hooves. “I’m-- I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright,” Twilight scootched herself behind him and wrapped her arms around his midsection, just hugging him until he calmed down. “I’m here. Just relax.”

“This is not helping,” his voice got slightly shrill again. She just squeezed a bit and he very nearly seemed to just melt in her embrace. Every bit of tenseness just seemed to vanish and he just relaxed into the hug.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked quietly, resting her head on his shoulder.

“No,” he admitted, before shaking his head and nearly smacking her on the muzzle in the process. “Not right now at least. Later. When we’ve solved this friendship problem we’re stuck in.”

The back doors opened, and in strode Tantalus and Hoofman, with Tantalus carrying a piece of parchment in his aura.

“Oh, forgive us,” Hoofman stuck out an arm to stop Tantalus. “Have we come at a bad time?”

“No, perfect timing,” said Nova, extricating himself from Twilight’s hug and getting to his hooves. “Lets me get my mind off of… stuff.”

Nova didn’t notice the wince that crossed Twilight’s face.

“So this letter of your’s,” Nova sat down again and crossed his forehooves. “Let’s hear it.”

Tantalus nodded, before the parchment unfurled. It didn’t seem too long, but it surely had to carry some weight. After a moment, in which he cleared his throat, he began to read.

“‘Nova Shine, I will not lie and pretend that I know what you must be feeling right now. To have something so important to you be within your grasp and to see it snatched away by some outside force is nothing that I have had to go through. Whatever your father has told you about this incident is probably true. I did pay Professor Cinch, and she did take your name off of the list of qualifying ponies as a result. The exam proctors have assured me that they are trying to rectify the situation, but I will not lie, I don’t think they will. The decision appears to be final, and nothing I say or do can change that.

“‘However, I want you to know that I did not pay to have you specifically removed from the list. Yes, I paid Cinch, and yes, you were removed, but allow me to tell you the full story. You see, my daughter Trixie missed the list by one position. I had learned that the top spot, belonging to a late entry, a filly named Twilight Sparkle, would be vacated and everyone would be bumped up a spot. I thought that this meant that Trixie would be able to make the cut, but she did not, for they reduced the number of students the school would take on, as well. Instead of the usual 32 ponies, they cut it down to 31. I asked Cinch to open up that extra spot again, but she refused. She said it was impossible, because the decision was out of her hooves, and in the hooves of the school governors. I went to them, but they wouldn’t do it either. It was then that I committed my sin. She approached me with a deal that if the position for Headmaster ever opened up, she would accept my payment if I sponsored her for said position. To my great shame, I accepted the offer. Finding the list of qualifying unicorns, she removed your name in particular because she, like everypony else, believed this non-existent feud between the Novus family and the Lulamoon family to be real. I did not know she did this until very recently. Last I heard, she has been removed from her post in Vanhoover.

“‘Perhaps you will never read nor hear this letter. I do not care. At the very least, I need to write this for myself. I ask your forgiveness, not your forgetfulness. I have done wrong, and I admit it, and I know admitting can only go so far. I have explained to you the full circumstances of this entire fiasco. If there is anything, anything at all, that I can do to fix this situation, please tell me and I will do whatever I can. Sincerely, Tantalus Lulamoon.’”

The scroll furled itself up, and Twilight was startled to notice that tears had formed in Nova’s eyes as he had listened.

“Ten years,” Nova whispered, just loud enough for them to hear. “Ten years, I blamed you and Trixie for everything.”

He paused to take a deep breath and wipe his eyes, and Twilight noticed his hoof quivering. Without even thinking, she reached over and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

You can do it! she cheered him on in her head.

“I hated you,” he admitted. “I hated your name, I hated your reputation, I hated Trixie by proxy until we finally met again a few weeks back. I said it before, if it weren’t for you, I could have been something special.”

He wiped his eyes again.

“But when me and Twilight were alone, it got me thinking,” he shook his head slightly. “I already am something special.” He smiled slightly. “I’m Princess Luna’s Night Apprentice, the first one in a thousand years.”

He looked out the door, perhaps searching for wherever Canterlot Castle was relative to them.

“I have friends despite all of this.”

He glanced back at Twilight, and she could see tears welling up again.

.”And I have Twilight.”

Twilight’s heart skipped at least three beats.

“If it weren’t for you, I don’t know exactly how it would have turned out, but I don’t think I would be anywhere close to being in my horseshoes today.”

He took the opportunity to return the squeeze she had given him.

“Because of all that, and knowing you really didn’t mean it, I just....” his body quaked suddenly as he suppressed a sob, “I just can’t do it anymore.”

He stood up, marched over to Tantalus, and held out a hoof.

“I f-f-forgive you, Mr. Lulamoon. Please,” he added, a few tears already sliding down his cheek. “please accept it.”

Tantalus stared at the offered hoof with disbelief, before raising a shaking hoof and taking it. There was a moment of pause, before the grown stallion and the younger one embraced, as though long-lost friends were reuniting.

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

In the Canterlot Castle Watchtower, Princess Luna beamed as she watched him from her scrying ball. Her heart swelled with pride at her pupil as the proceedings played out before her.

“Oh, if only you knew how proud of you I am, Nova,” she said to herself, before glancing at the test results she had left in her room. Their examination results had come in, as had the full test of Nova’s magic level. Her smile widened as she noted the “Alpha+” written near the bottom of the full report. “You are going to make a fine Night Master.”

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

“You have no idea what this means to me,” Tantalus said as they let go. :”I promise, I won’t ever--”

“You don’t need to promise me anything, sir,” Nova said, his voice suddenly quite warm and… dare Twilight say it, liberated? “I know you won’t. But what about the journals?”

“Ah,” said Tantalus, an immensely apologetic look crossing his face for only a moment. “May I preempt this by saying something?”

“Sure,” Nova nodded.

“The rumors you have heard of my family,” he began, trotting over to one of the chairs behind the long desks and sitting down in it, “you’ve no doubt heard them. That I am working with the black market and such, you know?”

“I never took those seriously,” Nova assured him, but Tantalus waved him off.

“They’re all true,” Tantalus admitted. “I did take over a black market syndicate. Namely, the Silverblood family, an organized crime syndicate that’s been around since Everfree that had fallen on hard times.”

“You… you’re a crime lord?” Twilight gaped at him.

Tantalus snorted and shook his head. “Hardly. Though I have had to do some very morally-grey things to cement my status with them. I will say nothing of what I do for them in here. But know this, Nova, Twilight: I have hidden the journals in a high-security vault located in the headquarters for the Silverblood Family. A high-security vault that requires two specific unicorns to open. One of them, of course is myself. The other...”

He stared at Nova seriously, and Twilight could almost feel the icy feeling that must have been running down his neck..

“...is your father, Ray Novus.”

Nova just stared at Tantalus for a long moment. Twilight would later admit that she was afraid he was going to explode right there, but to her great shock, he simply blew a slow, deep breath out.

“If you want to have access to those journals, Nova,” Tantalus said with a sort of grave finality in his voice, “you are going to have to make amends with your father as well.”

“Joy,” said Nova in a very flat voice. “You know, it was quite the task, getting over what you did to me. What’s it going to take for me to get over all twelve years worth of problems with him?”

“Nova, I cannot ever deny what you went through,” Tantalus interjected hastily. “I cannot pretend that he did not neglect you, and I can’t even explain why because I don’t know myself, but you must know this. I haven’t spoken to him in ten years, and those brief moments where we were in the same room, he has been a completely different pony. Nova,” he gave Nova a very serious look, “when you ran away, it changed him. And if the gossip about a bounty hunter is true, I can only assume he desperately wants to see you again.”

“I’ll bet he does,” growled Nova. “He sent a bounty hunter after me! I was never worth anything to him as a foal, but now that I’m the Night Apprentice--”

“That’s enough, Nova.”

This interruption came not from Tantalus, or Professor Hoofman, but from Twilight. She had removed her hoof from his, and she was now staring at him with some disappointment. Nova stopped talking and looked at her, waiting to hear what she had to say. He felt as if his body had been plunged into a bucket of ice, much as he had when Princess Luna had expressed her disappointment in him the day before.

“Two years ago,” she said, speaking to both him and to the room at large, “a pony came to Ponyville, and she started to show off her magical talent by humiliating other ponies. In doing so, she earned herself more than a few ponies who disliked her, myself included.”

Nova could already see where this was going, and who she was talking about.

“I ended up defeating her in a magical challenge, which humiliated her in return. Two years later, she returned to Ponyville with a grudge against me. She banished me from the town, tormented my friends, and even now, what both she and I have done is causing both of us, and you, to suffer.”

Nova was aware that Tantalus knew exactly whom Twilight was speaking of.

“I defeated her by relying on my friends for help. Nova, she was sorry for what she had done when she took that amulet off. She had hurt me deeply, but I forgave her. Even after, when she stayed with me while you were in the Crystal Empire, and she and I got into the most stupid arguments, I was still willing to forgive her.”

She seemed to be avoiding the reaction she’d had yesterday, when she had blamed herself for Trixie’s current predicament.

“Nova, I know this is asking a lot. You’ve forgiven someone who caused you a lot of pain in the past, and now he wants you to forgive someone else,” said Professor Hoofman. “The decision is yours, but I don’t think, and correct me if I’m wrong Tantalus, that he won’t let you have the diaries until you at the very least speak to your father in a cordial manner, if just for this one instance.”

Tantalus nodded.

“If there were another way, I would tell you in an instant,” Tantalus promised, “but the magical lock on my vault is keyed precisely to myself and Ray. There is no other way, but by going to him.”

Nova, please, thought Twilight, watching Nova with no small amount of trepidation. I know you can do it! Please, at least try!

Nova remained silent, merely reaching up and rubbing the skin around his horn as he thought harder than ever on some way around this.

Please...

Nova finally gave a defeated sigh.

“Fine,” he said in a low voice. “I’ll speak to them.”

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

The night was extra-beautiful, it seemed, as Nova and Twilight walked back to the Sparkles’ home after dinner. Luna must have gone all-out that evening.

All the while, the day’s events just continued to play over and over in Nova’s head. Not the least of which was Twilight’s confession, which was still causing that strange little quiver in his gut every time he thought about it.

“We’re gonna have a nice little chat on the train tomorrow,” he blurted out, having been silent for the past several minutes.

“We always do on these kinds of train rides,” Twilight replied wryly.

“We will definitely need to talk about… us. More than we did last night, I mean,” he amended, before Twilight could respond with some kind of cheek about the previous night’s conversations.

“Want to hear me say it again?” she asked, giving him a sly look. “Is that the only reason? Because I mean it, I’ll say it again.”

“No, I don’t--”

“I’ll sing it from the top of the tallest tower in Canterlot Castle, if you want,” she sidled up to him and gave him a very affectionate nuzzle.

“Stop, please,” Nova pushed her away. “It’s only been a week since my episode in Trottingham, and I had another panic attack in there because I keep getting hit with bombshells I’m not prepared for. Baby steps, Twilight.”

“You mean,” she gave him a thoroughly bemused look, “you mean you couldn’t tell? You had no idea I love you? Not even when we kissed under the tree?”

Nova grimaced. “No, I just thought it was still a crush.”

Twilight’s bemusement fell. ”Nova, I said it before and I’ll say it again. Don’t feel pressured to rush into this. And don’t lie to me or yourself. I love you-- Celestia it feels so good to say that!-- but I will understand if you don’t ever feel the same way. I know it’ll hurt for a while, but I would rather take that than living a lie of a relationship.”

Nova grunted, but nodded. “Got it. When I realize I don’t actually like you, make a scene about it, or something.”

She glared at him, though the working jaw clued Nova in to the playfulness behind it.

“Still,” he said, his gut fluttering slightly at the thought, “for what it’s worth,...”

He quickly reached a hoof over, pulled her face toward him, and kissed her lightly just under the horn. When he pulled back, her cheeks had gone beet-red and she was rubbing her mane bashfully.

“Aww.... you didn’t…” she stuttered, before grinning like a schoolfilly and nuzzling him again. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I did,” said Nova as he returned the nuzzle. “If it weren’t for you dropping that on me, I don’t think I ever would have gotten my head out of my own ass to let go of my anger. Made me realize it wasn’t just me I was selfishly condemning to death.”

“Happy to help,” mumbled Twilight. Nova could almost see the cartoon hearts flying out of her head and popping.

“Are you going to do that adorkable thing every time I hug you?” Nova asked, more than a little amused at Twilight’s display.

“Maybe…”

Nova snorted. “Never change, Twilight.”

She simply hummed to herself in response. For some reason, it sounded familiar, like a theme song to a television show or something.

A thought struck Nova as they continued their walk, something that did need to be addressed.

“Say Twilight?”

“Hm?”

“I’m sorry about how I reacted.”

“Reacted to what?” Twilight tilted her head.

“Your confession. When you said that you lo…” he trailed off, feeling a slight chill at the words. “Okay, that’s gonna take some getting used to.”

“When I told you I love you?” she asked.

Nova nodded. He glanced up at Luna’s stars and smiled wryly.

“I know I’m moving slower than Tank without coffee, but I need time.” He shook his head. “I’m kind of trying to overcome ten-plus years of baggage. Be patient with me, alright?”

“I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t,” Twilight patted him on the shoulder. “Take all the time you need; I’m not going anywhere.”

It wasn’t much longer before they reached the fork in the road. Nova knew he could easily follow Twilight home, just skip this whole thing, go straight back to Ponyville. Or Neighton. They’d have to figure that out when on the train ride back.

But on the other side of the fork, a few turns down the road, was Novus Manor. They needed those diaries. The previous Night Apprentices and Faithful Students knew how to defend against, and defeat, Envy. They had nothing.

Nova could easily choose to follow Twilight, but he’d be dooming them both. Or he could go and confront the two ponies he so thoroughly wished he could never see again, and ironically, it was that path that was the path of life.

“You’ll be fine,” Twilight assured him, laying her hoof on his shoulder. “You can do it.”

Nova just shook his head, awful memories of the times before he ran away surfacing in his mind.

Twilight hugged him, jolting him out of his recalling.

“Very physical with the shows of affection, aren’t we?” he noted.

“Don’t pretend you don’t enjoy it,” she purred, before poking him where his heart was. “I heard your heart speed up.”

Nova groaned to himself, but let Twilight have her moment. She was only trying to make him feel better, after all.

Feel better, right before we gotta go talk to them. his thoughts reminded him.

And dare Nova say it, but Twilight was right. He was enjoying the hug. If for no other reason than because it kept him from going to Novus Manor for just that much longer.

But all too soon, it ended, and she let him go, before stepping back and looking him in the eye.

“You can do it,” she repeated, placing her hoof back on his shoulder. “If you can let go of your past with Tantalus, you can do it with your parents too.”

“I certainly hope so,” Nova replied, doing his best to hide the sizable nerves he was already starting to feel in his gut.

They were a lot like the ones he felt when he was around Twilight, but unlike the ones around Twilight, these were far from pleasant.

“Hey,” she said softly, to calm him down. “I’ll be waiting for you at home, alright?”

“Yeah,” said Nova flatly, staring down the road that led to Novus Manor. “See you tonight, then?”

She nodded, and then leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.

“For luck,” she said, before lifting her hoof off his shoulder and stepping back. “You can do this Nova.”

Nova nodded at her, and he was pleased at how confident it had to have seemed when it didn’t feel anything like he really felt. They kept eye contact as she backed away, but then, all too soon, she was swallowed by the crowd of ponies walking up and down the streets.

He was alone.

He was alone, and he had shit to do.

Taking a breath to steel himself, he set off, down the road to the manor. In no time at all, it seemed, he was there. It had felt like a dream, where he glided on his hooves, a dream that ended all too quickly as he found himself outside the gates, the wrought-iron crafted into a split shape of the Novus clan’s coat of arms, but also with the clan’s words underneath.

Nova’s eyes lingered on the words, Ex stellae, magicae. Ex magicae, lux.

From stars, magic. From magic, light. My family’s pretty damn pretentious, aren’t they?

And you wonder where you get it from.

Quiet, Snark. No one invited you.

A hesitant hoof reached out and pushed open the gate. Nova was startled to discover it was him that had done it. His body was on autopilot, it seemed.

He walked through the gardens, listening to the familiar whirring of his father’s contraptions, delivering water and fertilizer in measured doses to the plants that needed them. He could smell the many flowers he kept on the other side of one of these ivy-covered walls, separating the courtyard’s walkway from its gardens.

He snarled as a memory of his seven-year-old self nomming on a carnation surfaced, only to get yelled at by his “loving” father.

No, it’s in the past. Deep breath. Let it go.

Following his inner self’s thoughts, he did indeed take a deep breath and let it out, and with it went the memory.

As confident as he would ever be, he strode up to the double doors of the house, raised a hoof, and knocked four times.

Due to the inherent complex and powerful spellwork laid into the foundation of the house itself, Nova was blind to his energy senses, so it came as a surprise to him to see the red-coated, dark-maned pegasus bounty hunter answer the door.

“Nova Shine!” exclaimed the pegasus, mouth parting.

“I’m here to see my parents,” Nova declared, with no desire to stay longer than he had to.

“Ah,” the pegasus nodded. “They’re in the living room. Still know your way around the place?”

“Of course,” Nova dipped his head, before pushing his way past the pegasus brusquely.

“Follow me, then,” the pegasus said, taking the lead and passing under the mezzanine.

“You know, I never got your name,” Nova pointed out.

“Sharp Eye,” the pegasus grunted.

“Nice to meet you under less-hostile circumstances.”

“Likewise,” the pegasus inclined his head. “Right this way…”

He was led past the smaller, more casual dining room that he often had eaten in, past a smaller kitchen, and then emerged into a sitting room, where poufs littered the ground, bookshelves were placed every so often on each wall, and two ponies sat on a sofa.

One of them Nova was a bit pleased to see. Her silver mane spilled off of her shoulders, her equally-silver eyes followed words on a page of a book she was reading, and her pale blue coat seemed to shine in the firelight.

The other, how ever, made him redouble his efforts to keep the past out of his mind. The tan coat hadn’t changed a bit, the cold grey eyes were hidden behind his eyelids, the brown mane appeared to have a few stray grey hairs around it, and he appeared quite peaceful, almost as though he were napping.

“Mom?” he said, quietly. “Dad?”

His father’s eyes snapped open, and the book dropped from his mother’s grip. Their eyes instantly locked onto his, blue eyes meeting grey and silver.

“It… it can’t be…” breathed his mother, rising to her hooves and approaching him. “Nova? Nova, is that really you?”

Nova nodded, looking past her at his dad, who seemed to be in complete disbelief that he had shown up.

“Oh, after all th-these years, you’ve c-c-come home!” his mother suddenly sobbed, embracing him and starting to cry into his shoulder. Nova couldn’t help but wonder just what it was about mares crying into his shoulder over the last couple of days.

“Hey D-=” he tried to say, but his throat seemed to have jumped. He swallowed, trying to alleviate it, but that didn’t seem to solve the problem.

His father said nothing, still staring at him in shock. His mother, however, let go of him and started examining him from head to tail, a wondrous look in her eyes.

“Y-you’ve grown so much,” she breathed.

“Mm-hmm,” Nova dipped his head, his gaze taking on a cool edge as he continued to wait on his father to say or do something. “I had to grow up quickly, if I wanted to live on my own.”

He felt a slight bit of savage delight at the way his father winced, but then he remembered he was supposed to be making amends.

“How… how have you been?” Ray Novus finally asked, his voice every bit as hesitant as his body language communicated.

“Oh, you know,” Nova waved a hoof through the air, “studied magic, started dating a mare, currently engaged in a life-or-death struggle between myself and an evil shadow that wants me and Twi dead…”

Shimmer gave a strange noise that seemed like half-a-laugh and half-a-sob. Ray gave the ghost of a smile, but otherwise showed no reaction.

“‘Twi?’” Shimmer asked. “As in, Twilight Sparkle?”

Nova nodded. “One and the same.”

“That’s Night Light’s daughter, isn’t it?” Shimmer glanced back at Ray, who nodded tensely.

“Celestia’s student,” Ray added.

Nova couldn’t stop himself. His eyebrows twitched as he fought to keep himself from really glowering. That’s the first thing his mind goes to!?

“And you’re Luna’s student too, right?” Ray asked, if anything even more hesitant than before, as though he had noticed.

“Apprentice,” Nova corrected automatically. “Yes, I am.”

“How… how is that?” Ray asked, not doing anything to ease the sudden tension in the room.

Nova almost didn’t notice himself take a sharp breath into his nose. But it was too late. The wrong buttons had been pushed.

“You know,” he said in a deathly quiet voice, “for a minute there, I actually believed Tantalus.”

“I don’t…” Shimmer trailed off in confusion, looking back to Ray for help.

“He said you had changed. you know?” Nova’s voice had gained a harsh edge. “But here we are, and nothing has changed.”

“What are you--”

“You know very well what the hell I’m talking about!” Nova snapped at Ray, snarling at him. “I come back with my cutie mark, and it’s the first time you ever show interest in me! Before that, I was nothing! NOTHING! AND NOW I COME BACK, AND THE FIRST THING YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT IS HOW I’M THE NIGHT APPRENTICE AND AM DATING THE FAITHFUL STUDENT!” He jabbed a hoof at Ray. “ALL YOU CARE ABOUT IS WHAT I AM, NOT WHO I AM!”

Shimmer sank to her knees, tears already brimming in her eyes. Ray just stared at Nova, a pained look in his face, but he had no other reaction.

“Nova, that’s--” Shimmer tried to say, but she was cut off.

“YOU CAN’T ASK ME ABOUT ANY OF THE OTHER THINGS I MIGHT HAVE DONE! NOTHING ABOUT DOCTOR HOOFMAN, OR ALL THE PLACES I’VE GONE! NO, JUST ME AND MY STUPID, FUCKING POSITION!”

“No, Nova, that’s not true!” cried Shimmer, losing all control as the tears started to flow freely from her eyes.

“Is it!? IS IT!?” roared Nova, his mane starting to blow around as though an invisible wind were ruffling it. He his hoof at his father again. “ASK HIM! HE’S THE ONE WHO NEVER EVEN WANTED TO GIVE ME THE TIME OF DAY!”

“No, we loved you, Nova!” protested Shimmer, gazing pleadingly at him. “W-we wanted the bes-st for you! We wanted to see you sh-shine!”

“THEN YOU HAD A F-FUNNY WAY OF SHOWING IT!” Emotion was starting to flood his voice. “IT WAS ONLY AFTER THAT FUCKING ENTRANCE EXAM THAT HE EVER SHOWED ANY KIND OF INTEREST IN ME! FOR CELESTIA’S SAKE, HE SENT A BOUNTY HUNTER AFTER HIS OWN SON!”

“With all due respect, all I was contracted for was to keep an eye on you,” Sharp Eye interjected, but Nova cut him off.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP,” he yelled, the blowing of his mane intensifying “YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP AND STAY OUT OF THIS!”

Sharp Eye flinched, but complied, wordlessly backing up and refraining from commenting any further.

All through his tirade, he kept his eyes on Ray, whose gaze had gone from hesitant to teary and now to openly crying.

“You’re… you’re right,” Ray sighed, lifting his glasses up and wiping his eyes. “We were not good parents. We did not show you the attention and appreciation you deserved. But Shimmer is right. We did love you, Nova.”

“DON’T LIE TO ME!” Nova yelled, though what little energy sensing capability he did have was telling him that Ray definitely was not lying.

“It’s not a lie,” Ray continued, quiet as ever. “You know--”

“I DON’T BELIEVE A SINGLE WORD COMING OUT OF YOUR LYING MOUTH!”

He had hit fever pitch. With a wordless scream, the magic that had slowly been building inside of him blasted out of his horn, doing no damage to anything in the room itself, but startling everyone inside.

With it out of his system, Nova felt himself sink to his knees as he took measured breaths, stewing in the last few moments of fury. No one seemed to want to do anything.

But then Nova finally stood up.

“You know what?” he asked the room in general. “Fine. I meant so little to you when I wasn’t the Night Apprentice, why don’t we just go ahead and make it official?”

Shimmer’s eyes narrowed in confusion, but Ray reacted as though he had been punched in the gut.

“After all,” Nova said, giving them one last contemptuous glare, “I’d rather be a bastard than be your son.”

And he turned right around and marched away, leaving his mother and father behind, even passing Sharp Eye without so much as a glance.

“Nova, wait!” He could hear his mother sprinting after him, but he put up a wall of blue magic to prevent her from going any further.

“Goodbye, progenitors,” he spat with no small amount of distaste. “I hope I never have to come to your wretched home ever again.”

And he left.

He marched right out of the house, before any of them could chase, though he was sure they were simply frozen in place, watching him go. Out of the manor, out of the courtyard, where the day’s clouds were beginning to let loose their rain.

He felt his eyes well up as he started to realize the gravity of what he had just done. By his own words, he was no longer a Novus. He had disowned his own parents.

He had followed the long path, but had chosen to cling to his anger all the same.

The droplets started coming down more and more, hiding the tears streaming down his cheeks as he continued to plod toward the Sparkles’.

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

Four knocks sounded at the door. Tantalus could only wonder who was visiting him so late at night as he rose from his dinner table and went to greet his guest. He opened the door to see the forecasted storm outside in full swing, but even more pressing was his visitor.

There, sopping wet and tears openly streaming from his eyes, was Ray Novus.

“Ray!” exclaimed Tantalus, taking a hesitant step back.

“Tantalus,” whispered Ray, wiping his eyes with his arm. “It’s… it’s been too long…”

“It… has,” he conceded.

“I’ve been a fool,” Ray moaned. “Please, may I come inside?”

Tantalus could only stare down at his friend, broken beyond any state he had ever seen the poor stallion in, and he backed up.

“Of course, old friend,” he said, opening his home to Ray. “You have always been welcome here.”

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

Four knocks sounded at the door. Twilight leapt off her bed, hoping it was Nova coming back with good news about his meeting with his parents.

It had been very quick. Perhaps he was just on a roll with letting go of grudges.

But when she opened the door, she was not greeted by her cheerful, newly-free-from-his-anger Nova, but a wet, miserable, sobbing Nova.

“Nova?” she asked, before trying to pull him inside and sit him on the bed. “What’s wrong? Come inside!”

“I’ve failed,” Nova moaned. “I… I…”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” she took his hoof in hers. “Just… what’s wrong?”

“I…” he started to say. But then, without warning, he just collapsed onto her bed, crying.

For one moment of panic, Twilight had no idea what to do, no inkling on how to handle this situation. But then something sprang to her mind, and she followed its command. The candles were put out, the lights turned off, and she simply slipped them both under her covers.

“It’s going to be alright, Nova,” she crooned, “it’s going to be alright. I’m right here.”

And she continued to hold him and comfort him as he cried himself to sleep.

Author's Note:

It took me one day to write this originally, but now it took me a few months to write the rewrite. Work is gonna be the death of me.

Also, new chapter name!

Let me know what you think of the new one.

Rytex out. Have a good day!

Comments

[CrimsonEyedPrince]

wow. just...just wow! This rewrite is so much better than the original chapter. It's fleshed out more and we even have more insight into Nova's past. I know I have been quite the skeptic for so long on these chapter rewrites, but this one has finally pulled me over into truly liking them. I love the way you have fleshed out Nova Shine in this one. All those little details that you added make this story so much better. I honestly felt so much more emotion this time around. Well done, Rytex, well done indeed.

[LostArchivist]

That was... a bit offputting for me.

I can see his reasoning behind that, but despite the fact that it was explained to him that the perpetrators didn't do it on purpose (except for Cinch), he's still upset with Tantalus or whoever Trixie's dad is. (Sorry, the names are hard to remember for me.) I would have thought that he would forgive him a bit easier.

But, I'm still not sure why he's so upset with his family...? That part felt contrived when T. arranged the safe. Really, he is going to hinge the safety of the world on forcing a person who's rightfully upset with you into making up with other people he's upset at?!
Also, we don't really know enough about what they did yet to really see why he'd explode at them that badly when they seemingly have done less than Tantalus in this whole thing, so it seems a bit odd for him to do that. This combined with the "quest" style railroading by T, and the chapter feels off. Interesting to see what happened finally, although there was enough to pretty much guess by this point.

[Twinzoopony15]

“Nova?” she asked, before trying to pull him inside and sit him on the bet. “What’s wrong? Come inside!”

bed