"What the heck!?" Rainbow Dash kicked a cloud they were on as Silverwind was looking around making sure they weren't being followed. "I thought princess Nova was a good princess!"
"Didn't you hear that old guy? A change on the throne...I'd say princess Nova would be lucky to be alive right now." Silverwind said trying to keep his cool.
"How can you be so calm? All of my friends were taken by those jerks!" Rainbow Dash said angry.
"Keep your voice down!" Silverwind said angry as well but trying to be quiet. "How do you think I feel!? I failed the princess twice!"
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "Your right…so what can we do?"
"Their all magic users...we have to fight magic with magic." Silverwind said.
"Hate to break it to you. But we're not unicrons." Rainbow Dash pointed out.
"Do you know any powerful unicorns?" Silverwind asked.
"Not that weren't taken just now." Rainbow Dash admitted.
"Great..." Silverwind stood up on the cloud. "Okay...we need to handle this ourselves then."
"But if they have the magic….what do we have?" Rainbow Dash said. She was worried about her friends and didn't know how to save them.
"Need I remind you Rainbow Dash, you are one of the elements of harmony. You saved the world time and time again. This time I won't fail and we're going to get to the bottom of this." Silverwind explained. "Come on."
Silverwind then moved the cloud they were on getting closer to the castle. He figured there was something dark in this place. It seemed a little too prefect.
Silverwind moved the cloud over the castle and watched the ground. The guards were all over the place and they saw Twilight and the others being taken into the castle. Celestia struggled a bit. "Where is Nova? Why would she want this!?"
The guards didn't say anything, Twilight looked around the castle and noticed Nova wasn't even there. "Wait...where is princess Nova?"
"You'll see her soon enough." A guard said before opening the wall to the dungeon.
Silverwind and Rainbow Dash saw their friends get taken down into the dungeon and Rainbow Dash felt ready to fight. "So their being held in a secret dungeon? This is just wrong."
"Hmm..." Silverwind got deep into thought. Back in his training days.
*Flashback.*
"Ahh!" Silverwind hit the ground hard. His teacher just sighed at this.
"You can't defend against a simple attack? You are nothing! You are wasting my time!" His teacher said annoyed.
"I'm not weak!" Silverwind said getting up. "I can do it!"
"I have seen you fend off earth ponies. Pegasi. Even attacks from dragons and other such monsters. But magic you are like a new born foal!" His teacher said before he stomped his hoof.
"How do you defend against something like that!?" Silverwind asked. "I mean it's something you can't see, it's faster then any living being. No one can fight against magic!"
"You fool!" His teacher smacked him to the ground again. "Have I taught you nothing!?"
Silverwind got up again. "What do you mean?"
"Watch...and learn." His teacher said and motioned some unicorns to come up. The unicorns came up and readied their magic. "Attack me with everything you have."
The unicorns then tried to grab him with their magic, but the master easily moved around the magic and kicked one unicorn. The others attacked again using beams this time. However the master moved like water and hit each of the unicorns knocking them out in one hit.
"But...how?" Silverwind watched in awe.
"It is simple. Most believe magic is unstoppable. But magic can be felt. Can be touched. If you can feel it. You can avoid it." His teacher said.
Silverwind nodded. "Yes sir."
"Now we try again." His teacher said.
*End*
"Silver?" Rainbow Dash tapped his shoulder.
"Huh? Oh sorry. I was just remembering something my old teacher taught me." Silverwind said.
"Can it help save my friends?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Yes. But there are a lot of of guards. I'll need you to lure some guards away." Silverwind pointed out. "Don't worry. I have your back."
"Okay. I can do that." Rainbow Dash said.
Rainbow Dash flew down out into the open. "Hey chumps!"
The guards looked over at Rainbow Dash and quickly went after her. Rainbow Dash dashed around the corner of the castle and as soon as they turned the corner after her Silverwind was right behind them and hit each of the guards out cold.
"Wow Silver. You have some moves." Rainbow Dash smiled at him. "For a guy anyway."
Silverwind didn't really know if that was a complement or not. It mainly got him worried. How useless were Celestia's guards normally? He just shook it off and smiled back. "Let's go save the princesses and the others."
Rainbow Dash nodded and they went into the castle. Luckily Burn out had the guards in the castle's meeting room. Probably to talk about the new laws or something. Rainbow Dash however still believed Nova had something to do with all this.
"Let's see." Silverwind felt around the wall to find the secret doorway. "Hmm..."
In the dungeon just beyond the wall There was three guards there making sure they couldn't do anything. Twilight noticed that Nova was in a cell and looked like she had been crying for awhile. Her cheeks red from the tears.
"Nova? What happened?" Twilight asked trying to get her to talk.
"What does it look like?" Nova said still choking on her tears. "The ones closest to me...betrayed me...you were right about me Celestia...you always were.."
Celestia's ears flopped down from her words. Twilight looked at her cellmate with concern. "Celestia?"
"It was a long time ago." Celestia admitted. "When I was selected to go to the new kingdom of Equestria. She told me she would be a better princess and gain the love of the everyone in the kingdom she made."
A guard who was listening just laughed at this. "Such a childish dream. The real world doesn't work like that."
Another guard nodded. "That old guy Burn out had the right idea. Use a gullible princess that trusts why to much and then use her to get the greatest kingdom in the world."
"What does he mean by that?" Shining Star asked.
"I got the deed….to Equestria..." Nova admitted.
"What!?" The girls all gasped in shock.
"It's not surprising really." Luna pointed out. She was the only one not shocked. After all. The counsel of princesses didn't like any kind of failure. Celestia was sort of full of them. "After all the mistakes that Celestia tried to sweep under the rug, can you blame them for wanting to make a change to the throne?"
"It doesn't matter now...Burn out won...our kingdoms are his now…." Nova said in a flat tone.
"Are you really just going to give up?" Twilight asked.
"Okay, that's enough talking from you mares." The last guard said hitting the bars with a spear.
Silverwind finally opened the door and Rainbow Dash dashed right in. "Hey you jerks!"
"Rainbow!" Silverwind called out as she kicked a guard in the face.
"Whoa! It's that rainbow chick!" One of the guards said trying to stop her but Silverwind suddenly came up and knocked the other two guards out by slamming their heads together.
"You seem like you can handle yourself after all." Silverwind smiled and got the keys off the guard.
"Rainbow Dash! Silverwind! You came for us." Twilight said happily.
"I could never abandon my princesses." Silverwind said as he unlocked all the cells.
"Now we can deal with that Burn out guy." Rainbow Dash said.
"What can you do, friendship beam him?" Nova said getting out of her cell sounding almost bitter.
"We….can't actually." Twilight said. "And will never be able to."
"What do you mean?" Silverwind asked. "Isn't that your go to finisher?"
"Well we used the elements of harmony for that. We lost the elements awhile back, but gained something much better." Twilight said before smiling at Shining and Dusk.
Silverwind didn't really understand but it was fine. "If you can't fight. I suggest you leave the castle."
"Don't worry. I will keep everyone safe." Rainbow Dash said. "Twilight. You and the princesses need to take out that Burn out creep."
"Okay. Then let's go." Twilight said before the princesses and Silverwind ran off. The rest went with Rainbow Dash away from the castle. Nova didn't know what to do. But she knew she had to stop Burn out. She quickly followed after the princesses.
"We still don't have our magic back. Can we do this?" Luna asked trying to get the ring off her horn.
"Their locked on our horns tightly. We will have to take them off later. Right now we need to do all we can to stop Burn out." Celestia said.
Silverwind went on ahead to make sure it was safe. In the meeting room the guards were all listening to Burn out talk about how he would change the world into his image and other villain lines. They didn't really care as long as they got all the bits they were promised.
Silverwind didn't waste anytime busting the door down. Burn out saw him and the princesses. "What is this!?"
"Burn out. It's time you give up!" Twilight said annoyed. "Before this goes any further!"
"You must be kidding. I didn't get this far to let you alicorns stop me." Burn out said. "Guards. Take care of them!"
The guards then tried to use their magic on the princesses but Silverwind quickly knocked one of them down. Burn out backed up from this. "How dare you!"
"Shut it old man!" Silverwind then punched Burn out with his front hoof.
"Silverwind, don't hurt them!" Twilight tried to talk him down.
Luna however stopped her. "Let him."
"But Luna, it's wrong to do things by force." Twilight said.
"It's the only thing these thugs understand. Silverwind is a royal guard. He is doing his job." Luna pointed out.
Silverwind noticed a guard about to attack him so he quickly kicked another guard into the guard and hit them into the wall. He then grabbed the captain by his neck. "Release their magic or else!"
"Never!" The captain said.
"Do it!" Silverwind said tightening his grip.
"Tch..." The captain used his magic and the rings fell off of them giving them use of their magic again. "Now let me go."
Silverwind let him go. "Sure."
He then knocked him out and all the princesses cornered Burn out. Celestia glared at him. "Give me the deed...NOW."
"H-here!" Burn out gave her the deed but then smiled. "You might have beaten me. But when I get out of jail. I'll make sure you pay."
"We're giving you a chance to come peacefully." Twilight said. "Use it."
"That is the problem with you alicorns. I'll just come back. Every time you throw me in jail I'll come back to do something far worse then the last! Haha. You alicorns are weak!" Burn out said laughing a bit before something grabbed him around the neck and he was lifted into the air. "Gah!"
The girls all turned to see Nova and her horn glowing. "You….I trusted you. I believed everything you told me. I was nothing but a tool to you!"
"Nova stop, we won!" Twilight getting in front of her. "The danger is over!"
"Over!? Didn't you hear him? He will just keep coming back if we let him. I won't be played a fool any longer!" Nova said keeping him in the air by his neck.
"Let me go!" Burn out begged.
"Nova. I understand your angry. But this isn't the way." Celestia pointed out.
"Please listen Nova. This-" Luna tried to speak but they all heard a sickening snap behind them and Silverwind looked away. Twilight looked back and saw Burn out with a broken neck still in the air. Nova then tossed the body on the floor.
"Nova….how could you..." Celestia looked at her shocked.
"I won't be used again." Nova said coldly as she went over to the body and took the deed from him. "Just take your deed and go. The repairs to your kingdom should be done when you get back."
"Nova..." Luna didn't really know what to say.
"Get out! I want everyone out of my castle NOW!" Nova shouted not looking at them.
They all quickly left the room and out of the castle. Twilight was the most affected by this. Twilight knew what it was like to be a tool. To be betrayed by someone close to you. Nova was in the same boat. But she didn't have anyone to fall back on. Twilight had her friends and family. But Nova...she was alone.
They came out and saw everyone else waiting for them. Rainbow Dash waved them over. "Hey!"
Twilight came over to them looking sad. "Hey girls..."
"Did you stop that guy?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Well...Nova did...she….killed Burn out." Twilight said. "Her face….she's closed off her heart..."
"That's not good." Rarity said. "Can we do anything?"
"Not for awhile I'm afraid." Celestia said. "This has done more damage to her then anyone. We can only give her time to heal this sort of wound."
"As if you know how to heal betray sister." Luna said. "Come. We're all going into town for awhile. We have a few more weeks before everything is fixed."
Nobody knew what to say or do at this point. All they could do was wait until it was okay to go back to Equestria. Nova had locked herself in her castle bedroom and refused anyone. The word got out of what had happened and the people of Maretopia tried their best to talk to their princess. But she wouldn't have it.
About a little over a month had passed. Rarity and the others had gone to their homes, they couldn't stay of course. Celestia on the other hoof did. Silverwind and Luna stayed with her to make sure she would be okay. Twilight also stayed wanting to make sure Nova was alright.
"I sure hope the others are doing okay...this whole mess has gotten to everyone." Twilight said before drinking some tea.
"It's funny isn't is?" Silverwind pointed out. "All these problems from mainly alicorn issues."
"Well your not wrong Silver." Twilight nodded. "It seems like everything we do has another mess in the middle of it."
"I feel bad for princess Nova. She was so kind and caring. She did so much for everyone. And that Burn out guy took advantage of her." Silverwind continued.
"We also found out that Burn out had been stealing the kingdom's money and made Nova feel like it was her charity that caused the lack of funds. He was a monster." Twilight said.
"No offense...but killing him was the right thing to do." Silverwind explained. "He was evil."
"There are many evils Silverwind. We can't kill them all. Look at Discord, he changed." Twilight countered.
"But he still tries to mess with your friendships and even your family. I wasn't there for a lot of the evils you faced. But I know that there are some monsters in this world that can't be saved." Silverwind said.
"I wish I could say you were wrong..." Twilight said.
"Princess!?" Twilight and Silverwind heard a mare say. They turned to the voice and saw Nova. She was at the bakery looking at the goods.
"It's been awhile since you came down...are you alright?" Simmer Glaze asked. "After everything that happened..."
Nova didn't say anything. She gave her some bits and took a muffin and walked out of the store. A crowd was watching her not sure of what to do or say. Some were even afraid of her now. Nova slowly walked towards the castle and Celestia came up to her. "Nova!"
Nova ignored her and kept walking but then Celestia blocked her path. "Enough of this."
"Move..." Nova said coldly.
"Nova look at yourself!" Celestia put a mirror in front of her. Nova saw that her mane and tail were a mess. Her fur coat was dirty. Her eyes were bloodshot and her face was a mess from all the crying. "Is this how you want your people to see you? If you keep this up. You'll become a tyrant like Burn out."
"Why do you care?" Nova asked. "I was the only one that could hold a candle to your kingdom...but now we're broke. Broken…you won, I don't want to be a princess anymore."
"So that's it then? You became a princess just to be my rival at something? So then you never cared about anyone but yourself? If you were that selfish do you really think we would still be here?" Celestia pointed out. "I made mistakes in the past. And I have to live with them everyday. But I'm trying to fix them now. Don't be like me and wait for someone else to fix them…your better then me."
"Celestia…" Nova looked at her shocked. She teared up and then hugged Celestia crying loudly.
Glaze smiled at this. She was glad her princess was finally opening up again. Twilight smiled as well. "Celestia. She's really looking like the princess I grew up believing in."
Celestia hugged her back and wiped away her tears. "It's okay to cry, but you need to get back on your feet. Learn from your mistakes and fix what you can."
Nova nodded. "Thank you...I'm sorry I always tried to start fights with you...I'm sorry I tried to hurt you...the truth is...I was jealous. You have so many people who believe in you and love you...even after all the mistakes."
"Nova. I realize being betrayed like that hurts. But look." Celestia pointed out all the ponies around looking at them concerned. "What you did for all these ponies wasn't a mistake. They all look up to you."
Nova let out a sigh. She realized it was true. But wounds like these didn't just close up and forgotten about. "I understand. Maybe someday things will be back to normal. But for right now I need to work on everything Burn out did behind my back. But just so you know, I don't regret what I did to him."
"Oh that reminds me. Twilight? I need to give you something." Nova said before she walked.
Twilight looked at her and then get up and followed her. She didn't know what Nova wanted to give her but she wanted to help Nova feel better. "Hey Nova?"
"Yes?" Nova asked not even looking at her.
"Are you going to be okay?" Twilight asked. "Like Burn out, Celestia betrayed me. It hurts, but I think it all works out."
"True. Once you take them out of the picture anyway." Nova agreed.
"I know Burn out was a monster….I wouldn't have...killed him. But unlike him Celestia can change." Twilight said.
"That's what people love about you Twilight. From what I hear about you, it's your kind heart and your willingness to save even those who don't deserve it." Nova said.
"Well I believe everyone deserves a second chance. Even if they did something horrible." Twilight said. "After all. Nobody is pure evil."
"You live in some dream world Twilight." Nova pointed out. "The world isn't as colorful as you like to believe."
"What do you mean?" Twilight looked at her confused.
"It's like Burn out said. If I just put him in jail or banished him. He would just continue to hurt others. Coming back to do more damage and cause suffering." Nova continued. "I found his notes and documents. Did you know he had not only been stealing from me but he was blackmailing innocent ponies, he didn't care who he would hurt. If he wanted something he would take it in secret. He even sexually assaulted mares. He was scum, and scum need to be put down."
"Wow...I agree that he needed to be stopped...but killing...it's just wrong." Twilight admitted.
"What about Sombra?" Nova suddenly brought up.
"Sombra?" Twilight asked.
"He murdered. Enslaved. Most likely raped all sorts of ponies. All for what?" Nova brought up. I once had a visitor named Hope that told me all about Sombra. The good points and the bad. He was a monster for no real reason. Yet Hope believed he could be saved and betrayed everyone she knew and cared about. Friends, family. All she cared about was Sombra, she believed what you do. She's in fact a like you."
Twilight remembered Hope and sighed. Somehow that was always brought up in these kinds of talks. "Yeah...I know that I'm too nice...I trust people to much. But now Sombra isn't that bad. He changed...last second sure...but still."
"And what about those who were hurt by him?" Nova exclaimed.
"What?" Twilight stopped in her tracks. "Those hurt by him?"
"Those ponies he enslaved. Tortured, killed. Those mares who were raped. What about them? One thousand years is nothing to just ignore. Those victims will never recover. Never see justice. Some might even have become mothers. Forced to look at their child in fear that he might return." Nova explained.
Twilight didn't know what to think, she couldn't argue Nova's points. They all made sense. Sure she helped Hope with Sombra. But everyone he hurt. Killed or worse had to just live with what Twilight decided. She never even thought about those he hurt. How they felt about Sombra running around free. It would be like a nightmare you couldn't wake up from.
"Am I wrong?" Nova asked.
"No...you are absolutely right. I thought I was helping people, but all I did was make people fear for their lives on a daily basis." Twilight admitted. "I guess I'm not really a good princess huh?"
"Decisions like that are always hard Twilight. Is it as easy as right and wrong? Of course not. But you tend to pick the side of the few. As I picked the side of the many with killing Burn out." Nova explained.
"Is being a princess ever easy?" Twilight asked.
"From what I've learned...no." Nova said as they finally got to a large building. "Here we are."
"What's this place?" Twilight looked around.
"This is where we raise young dragons." Nova and Twilight went inside and Twilight noticed they were in a lobby. Nova went over to a stallion behind the counter. "The love egg please."
"Love egg?" Twilight asked as the stallion went into the back.
"It's my gift to you for helping me. I was betrayed and hurt. But I never forget a debt owed. I'm giving everyone of your friends something." Nova said as the stallion came back with a pink dragon egg and gave it to her. "Ah here we go."
"What's with the egg?" Twilight kept up her questions.
"This is a love dragon egg. It's mother left it about a year or so ago. I want you to have it." Nova said giving her the egg. "It's my way of saying thank you for what you have done."
"Wow...are you sure?" Twilight looked at the egg. It felt warm in her hoof, she could even feel something moving slightly inside. "I mean I already have a dragon friend."
"The princess of friendship has to many friends?" Nova smiled at this.
Twilight giggled from that. "Okay you have me there. Thank you Nova, I'll raise him well."
"I know you have a few kids already, but trust me. A love dragon is very special." Nova said. "Well I'm going to go back to the castle, tell Celestia the city is done and everyone can go home."
"Thank you princess Nova. You've been a great help." Twilight said before leaving.
Nova smiled as she left. She knew Twilight had a big heart. But would that save anyone in the future? She hoped so. She didn't want to see Twilight go down a dark path.
Twilight went to the castle and saw the other princesses waiting for her. Celestia had gotten the news and everyone was going home finally. Luna waved her over and saw she was holding a dragon egg. "I see Nova has given you a gift."
"She called it a love dragon egg. So is everyone finally able to go home?" Twilight said looking at all the people.
"Yes. Everything looks just like before the attack from Serenity and Paradise." Celestia answered. "This little adventure is finally over. It's been trying huh?"
"I'll say. I'm stressed out enough as it is." Twilight said.
"I can tell." Luna pointed out. "That white in your mane says it all."
"What white in my mane?" Twilight asked confused.
Luna used her magic to bring up a mirror and Twilight had a white streak in her mane now. "It's not a bad look, it adds character."
"Oh no! My mane..." Twilight touched her mane. "I have to relax more, this is awful."
"Don't worry. A little magic mane care and it'll be back to normal in no time." Luna pointed out. "Now how about we go home?"
"That sounds like a plan." Twilight said as they all headed through the portal to Equestria.
