Chapter 2, Ragnorak
Nova coughs and sputtered as the smoke from the fires rose up to him. It was unpleasant but it was not alien to him. He recognizes the strange odor but merely letting a small whiff past through his nose "Gunpowder…" he remembers by smelling the burnt powder.
It was the time when his group was sent to fight against the Changelings.
He was aware that this was dream as he watches soldiers running through him like an apparition. The dreams, or nightmares to some other ponies, have been bothering him every night. It wasn't like any other normal dreams; it's more like exploring the past events. But the only event that appears into his mind is the battles he fought.
A stallion like him was never meant to be pulled into war or any battles but he did train with the best. His skills were undeniable for him not to join the fray. During those times it was before he lost his sanity.
After hearing the scheduled explosion he looks up at the building with a pony staring down at the destruction laughing like a maniac. He noticed the Air Force pegasi flew towards the city they're in carrying a large package.
Nova knew what the outcome is but the insane colt thought otherwise. It replied with insane laughter and shouted "It's about time! Wait till this city gets a load of my latest creation!" the insane stallion laughed after hearing the Air Force dropping his experiment.
After the package landed, it was devastating. The explosion erupted into a sea of flames incinerating everything in sight. The heat was so intense that a pony from a mile away would have blisters just standing there. Of course that wasn't planned; the colt was too mentally unstable to even calculate the radius and degree of the burns to be concerned. The insane bomb maker blocked himself as the flames engulfs him.
Red stares at himself suffering in such incredible pain that it made him nauseous until he spotted something falling from the sky… marshmallows?
Suddenly a snow of white, puffy treats fell from the sky into the fire roasting to near perfection. All the marshmallows clouded Nova's vision changing from white to darkness. It felt different now, like he's more aware of his surroundings like in real life. It was pitch black, darker than the night without the moon.
"Is anyone there?"
Nova heard a voice, it was faint and weak. As if somepony is under a boulder and tries to breathe. "Whose there?" Nova shouted.
"You can hear me? Thank goodness… Listen I don't have much time left. The darkness is eating me alive, you need to find the Redeemer… It's hard to remember her name but I know who she is… look for a lavender unicorn with stars as her cutie mark… Only you can help me… Please tell her, that I love…"
There was silence. Nova raises an eyebrow and shouted into the darkness "Love what?! Who are you?! What's going on?!"
"I see you."
Nova turns around and spotted a large dragon being carrying a black scythe. He raises it above him then descends like lightning to his head.
Nova jumps straight up in his bed panting heavily feeling like he's about to have a stroke. He laid back down trying to clear his mind. He felt too groggy to think as he rolled over his bed then unexpectedly bumped into something. Nova flinches as he slowly moves back away from something in front of him.
Whatever it was, it sounded like its snoring, it smells like candy, it feels incredibly soft, and it's pink. Nova doesn't want to get to the taste part but rather focus himself staring at Pinkie Pie's face with their nose touching each other and their lips a few inches away.
Mortified, Nova slowly climbs out of his bed and backs away from his room and ran downstairs quietly. He would expect a large chore waiting for him but surprisingly the only mess there is, is Death lying on the couch with a bucket filled with vile liquid next to him. He rolls his eyes then went to check the mail. As usual it's all junk advertisements and offers except for one he'd been expecting.
A letter from his sister, Shooting Star.
He opens the scroll then begins reading word to word.
Dear Nova,
How's it going big brother!? It's so great here in Hoofington but to be honest there isn't much pegasi here. But they do have a lot of job openings for nurses like me! I have a really nice roommate who always likes to party late in nights. Of course that's something I wouldn't find you doing anymore but it's alright! I like the Mr. I'm-Stubborn-And-Buttheaded-About-Everything attitude, I find it very mature of you. Anyways have you got the ailment I bought for your wings?
Nova look up from the letter at the box filled with a lifetime supply of burn medicine. Each one has increase with different brands to expensive and rare ones she expected him to already use but he doesn't want these wings to heal. Not after what happened. It seems like he's wasting her money but if he didn't dispose them then that don't really counts as pouring her bits down the drain does it?
Nova continues reading the letter from his sister.
Well be sure to apply gently and replace your bandages thoroughly. I don't want to be a worrywart but you really scared the hooves off of me when I got a call about you being moved from the hospital to the asylum! I don't want to see you suffer anymore.
Speaking of suffer though, have you met that special somepony who you want to marry and raise a family yet? I haven't either but I do attract some colts' eyes and knowing you being my brother you got at least to have some mares waiting outside of your house. Well I gotta run! Being a nurse is real hard work, tell Despair I said hi!
Love, Shooting Star (a.k.a Best sister)
Nova smiles at his sister's typical signature. He does notices the supplies of healing ointments piling up. He needs to find a way to get rid of them just in case if she ever might do one of her surprise visits. Nova decides to write a letter back to her as Despair stirs from his sleep with a heavy groan. "I ate too many cakes…" he moans in pain of his stomach then caught whiff of what use to be in his stomach then grunted in disgust.
"How about a salad? My treat." Nova suggested. That got Despair feeling better as he eagerly jumps up and headed towards the door but he stops after passing by a window and stares in confusion. "Hey Nova? Do we owe any mares money?" he asked oddly.
"What? No of course not, why you ask?" Nova questions with concern about his friend hoping his mind is poisoned by the sugar overload. "Well there's like four mares standing outside… okay one of them notices me and is now throwing rocks at the window." he says as a rain of pebbles flies towards the glass. Nova growls and opens the door to face the rude mares. "What's your problem?" he shouted.
All four of them stopped, well three actually. The fourth one, a yellow pegasus was cowering in fear as he scowls at them for their actions. A white unicorn, an orange earth pony, and a cyan pegasus glares back at him. "Where's Pinkie?" shouted the orange one with an apple cutie mark.
It's her friends. Of course it's her friends Nova thought to himself. He opens his mouth to explain something but a voice was called out from the second floor window wishing he wasn't there at the moment. "Hey girls!" cried Pinkie Pie as she waves them from above.
All four of them looks up and stares at her up at the window. The white unicorn blushes and tries to conceal it under her hair but Nova could easily spot it thanks to her hide. What a shame that she isn't red like him. "Pinkie, darling? Please tell me you're not in a… stranger's bedroom?" she asked in fear.
"Okay, I wasn't."
"Oh thank goodness-"
"I'm in the bathroom!"
"Well did you do anything besides partying last night?"
"Nope! Although I was sleeping next to Nova. You know the red pegasus down below?"
Despair gave him a 'Run now, run fast' look as the mares gave him threatening glares. Nova immediately slams the door shut as a large wave of rocks pelted the house. Despair blocks the door to prevent them from entering but the orange pony kicks it down without breaking a sweat then allowed themselves to enter.
"What is wrong with you!?" the rainbow-colored mane pegasus shouted. "To allow a mare sleeping with a stallion is such an unlawful nature! How dare you do something so disgusting?" the unicorn spoke in a Canterlot accent. "They're here too?" Nova thought now thinking about Hoofington being the next area to move. "I got several bones to pick with you…" said the apple pony as readies herself for a beatdown.
"Ladies…" Despair tried to calm the situation but it was futile as the cyan pegasus slapped him across the face. "I'm dead…" Nova mutters wishing he had time to send his sister his will in the letter. But luckily Pinkie Pie appears (Out of nowhere) in front of them "Wait!" she shouted halting the murderous advance of their friends.
"It's not his fault! He went to bed early last night and I went up to say goodnight to him but I noticed he was thrashing in his sleep. So I thought maybe I could help him by replacing his couch with gingerbread but that didn't work at all."
Nova and Despair slowly turn their heads at the couch and immediately notice the marshmallow cushions and the gumdrop pillows on the dark brown pastry couch.
"So I thought maybe if I sleep next to him he would feel better and it turns out I was right!" Pinkie exclaims making everyone in the room drop their jaws about what she did. When the girls were exchanging glances and smiles that's when Nova's anger finally kicks in.
"GET OUT!" he shouted tossing all of them out of his house. The cyan pegasus was pissed off and flew up in his face "Hey you could've just let us apologize first!" she protested but Nova doesn't want any apologies. Simple words like sorry will never undo the things that are already done.
He shoves his face into the mare staring down at her "First you start throwing rocks at me, break into my house, hurt my friend, replace my furniture with something I'm allergic to, and have that weirdo sleeping with me! What petty words of showing desperation of forgiveness can do to make me feel better!?" he shouted with rage in his voice.
This pegasus obviously doesn't want to show defeat but he can see the fear in her eyes. She blew a raspberry at him then walks away muttering. "C'mon Pinkie we're leaving." she said as she grabs her friend and drags her away. Despair walks up to watch them leave then frowns "Strange, why do I get a déjà vu feeling?" he asked Nova.
Red didn't understand what he meant but he was surely glad that they were gone. "I'll go get us something to eat while you throw that couch away." Nova said as he walks away leaving Despair alone in the house. Never in his life had Nova seen such strange mares, especially one like Pinkie Pie. But he was surprise however about the dream, his doctors told him that he suffers a dream hallucination where he is force to relive the past in his dreams because of the traumatizing event.
But the dream after that one, the voice sounded too real for it to be a dream. He didn't feel like talking to Despair about it now especially after that annoying visit from the Elements.
In all the years of sleeping, for the first time that dream when he was sleeping with Pinkie Pie was actually calm and pleasant. He found himself blushing remembering how soft Pinkie Pie's nose felt and their lips…
"Excuse me!" exclaims a unicorn as she ran pasts him. Nova irks an eyebrow at the lavender unicorn then recognizes her from the papers earlier. Twilight Sparkle, a student of Princess Celestia. He heard that she moved to Ponyville but the thought of her easily slipped out of his mind during the time he was in the asylum. Right away he notice her cutie mark with stars on it, he remembered exactly what the voice had told him. But what if it's actually just a dumb dream or a hallucination?
For some odd reason he found himself following the unicorn noticing how dismay she looks. He heard her voice calling out a name but he could barely make it out.
"…cord…"
"…is…cord…"
"DISCORD!" she screamed in an ear shattering screech. Nova held his nose and blows to pop his ears. His brain then registers the name after the shock from his memory archive. "Discord…? The monster that attacked Equestria before? Why a student of Princess Celestia would talk to that being?" he whispered watching the unicorn frantically looking around.
As if on cue, the creature made a fake cough on top of a roof building to grab the young mare's attention. "Morning Twilight, come to celebrate the end of our days?" Discord jokingly asked in a dark tone.
Twilight glares at the draconequus but she remain calm and focused. "Discord… you know about what happen to Sin and your uncle-"
"Pfft!" Discord rudely interrupted. "Yes I'm aware that my Uncle Death got his plot kicked by a dark god and Sin became Ragnorak's puppet. Blah, blah, blah."
Twilight clenched her teeth with seething rage. "At least he actually stood up to him! You don't know what it's probably like to have such terrible evil tainting your mind! Sin struggled with it ever since he was young!" she shouted with anger.
Nova was taken back, whoever this stallion Sin is; he must've been really close to her.
Discord chuckles lightly at her anger provoking the fire in her eyes. "You should read your own words, Twi. Last I check you don't have the incarnation of darkness living inside your mind. And even if he wanted too he can't because you're the 'Redeemer'" the draconequus coldly pointed out.
Twilight's eyes widened and looked away. It was true that Twilight couldn't place herself in Sin's hooves. She remembers the time they were on the rooftops of her home embracing each other. Sin admitted the past mistakes he made to her and nearly had that kiss she wished had happened.
Nova could see the pain on the expression of her face. He felt sympathy for her but he was gravely confused by the conversation. Death, Ragnorak, and the Redeemer. How are they connected? And who is this Sin character?
"Then tell me… how can I save him?" Twilight cried out. Discord put on a pair of shades and sips his glass of chocolate milk through a bendy straw seemingly uninterested in her questions. Nova was angered but the dragon thing then spoke up.
"Well… if it's possible, you could try to expel Ragnorak from Sin's body. But that requires a pony who mastered the limits of their mind. It's obvious Sin won't be able to learn how to, considering it takes years after years of training, so you need to create an Empathy Link." Discord explains.
"Empathy link? Didn't Sin have one with Kirin?" Twilight asked. The dragon nodded "Correct, which is how they defeated Ira, but Ragnorak is much more powerful than him so Kirin could never stop him even if he was… here…"
Nova looks down knowing what the draconequus meant by that. He had been to enough funerals to know the simple "I'm sorry for your lost" things. The draconequus continues explaining. "And if you think that's hard wait till I get to the 'defeating Ragnorak' part." he said amusingly but the lavender unicorn just glares at him.
"Well that's easy, we have all the Seven Virtues but we are lacking one wielder…" Twilight explains.
"Ah yes, I guess then everything will run smoothly if you ever find like ONE pony out of a bunch of a million ponies in the total population of the world."
"You don't have to put it that way…"
Discord sighs irritably as he facepalms himself. "Well I apologize but it wasn't simple to me when I had to stop him myself. Because Ira had tossed the last Seventh Virtue into the ground, I had to sacrifice my godly powers to cast him into a slumber." he exclaimed.
"Wait, you sacrifice a lot of power to put him to sleep? How much did you have?" Twilight asked wondering about how his abilities of creating mayhem would be like if it wasn't subtracted.
"Well since my father is a god of war and destruction, my powers would easily take down Princess Celestia and Luna but Ragnorak was such a great threat that I had no choice but to use it. Sadly I could only put him to naptime and send Sin to this time period so nothing could be in my way! Well except for you girls of course." Discord added with disgust.
"You're the only one who knows about Ragnorak right? Please, tell me about what you know of him!" Twilight cried. Nova listened close to the conversation, deeply interested about what's going on. It sounded like the whole fate of Equestria is in danger. This must be the reason why the voice wanted him to find Twilight.
Discord sighs wearily and took off his shades. "Well I guess it's time for you to know about the truth behind the Destroyer."
Author's note: Guess who's back? That's right, I finally got this story together and I will do my best as a writer to make this one a great story! Although I completely have no faith in my skills and I have very little inspiration but my love and loyalty for MLP has never been changed! Thank you all for your patience! Please review!
