Midnight and the others soon arrived at Canterlot, searching for Luna. They searched her private chambers, the dining hall, even the Canterlot gardens. Yet she seemed nowhere to be found.

"This is ridiculous..." Midnight grumbled as he and Twilight walked through a hall in the deeper part of the castle. "Time is running out and the one pony who could give me useful information seems to delight in making us play hide & seek!"

She was about to say something to calm her stallion when Twilight saw a nearby guard, standing vigil in front of a door. Seeing nopony else, she shrugged and decided to ask a him.

“Excuse me, sir, could you tell me where Princess Luna is, please? It’s an emergency.”

“Of course, Your Majesty. She’s in a meeting with a guest and has asked us not to disturb them,” the guard explained as he gestured with his head towards the door behind him.

“And who is this "guest" of hers?” Midnight asked with a raised brow.

“I believe it was somepony named Skyress,” the guard replied but Midnight for his part didn’t care and just pushed the guard aside and entered the room.

It was a quaint parlor, luxurious yet humble in decor. In the middle of the room, sitting on cushions with a small table between them were Princess Luna and a mare, discussing something. Or perhaps someone.

“I still can’t believe he’s back after so long.” Luna commented with a nostalgic look.

“It’s only been..." the mare started when she noticed their guests. "Oh well hello there, you must be…”

Ignoring the mare, Midnight gave Luna hard look, "Luna! We need to talk..."

“Well whatever it is you can say it to us. We're all friends here are we not?” Luna with a casual smile.

“As far as even your sister knows, you are the only pony I know that has any knowledge of Nova Flame so I’d start talking were I you-” Midnight said as his eyes began to glow an intense white, only to get wing-slapped by Twilight, surprising everyone.

“MIDNIGHT!!! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO TALK THAT WAY LUNA!!!! What’s wrong with you?!” She yelled in rage, making Midnight flinch at her.

He couldn’t believe his Twilight had just slapped him. With her wing no less, as wing-slaps hurt the slapper as much as the slappee.

“Um... sorry?” Midnight said lamely.

“Sorry doesn’t begin to cover it!!!” Twilight scolded only to have Skyress raise her wings, saying, "Whoa, whoa! I think we all need to calm down here."

"What's going on here?"

Everypony looked to see Celestia and Sombra enter the room, Celestia smiling at the sight of her sister and her guest.

"Sister, I did not realize you had company."

"Oh I was just catching up," Luna shrugged, "when Twilight and Midnight came in, asking to know about Nova Flame. You see, we became good friends after I went to meet him.”

“What can you tell us of this Nova Flame?” Sombra asked.

“Yes I believe he’s gone out to attack Midnight and has harmed his friends in the process," Celestia added in worry. "It would be most helpful, Luna, if you and your friend would tell us everything.”

“Well from what Nova has told me," the mare said in a smart-alecky way, "Midnight's friends attacked him and he only acted in self defense. After all it is more than a test for you Midnight Blaze. Not only that Nova, me and You are alike in a lot of ways then you realize.”

“H..How so?” Midnight said as he cowed behind Sombra as Twilight gave him a death glare.

“Much like you- Or, your past self, I guess, we were brought here from the human world.”

“WHAT!!!” All of them yelled, surprised that she was once a human like Midnight was in the past.

“That can’t be, it's impossible! I was or my past self was the only human to have come to Equestria.” Midnight was in total disbelief.

“True, but this world is a lot larger than you believe. I will tell you this, Midnight, you aren’t the first human to come here transformed into a pony or griffon and so on.” Skyress stated in a as-a-matter-of-fact tone.

“Fine, but you and Luna have to tell us everything you know about Nova.” Midnight demanded with furrowed brows.

“Midnight...” Twilight warned with a such a stern look it sent chills running down her stallion's spin.

“Please with...a...cherry on top?” he said lamely, prompting his marefriend to giggle.

"I understand you've issues with Nova," Skyress said placidly, "but once you hear of his history you might not think so ill of him."

“I doubt that.”

Ignoring Midnight's snide remark, Skyress began.

“Nova was not always the way he is. Once, he was kind, brave, and could make all around him laugh in good cheer. Whenever somepony needed help, he was always there to lend a helping hoof. When he first came to this world he was only fifteen. I didn’t meet him then, but a friend of mine did. She told me that at first he was a real klutz! Yet charming in his own way….”

“Okay but what does that have to do with anything?” Twilight asked, secretly curious of this pony who once was human like her Midnight's past self.

“Well, he appeared in the land of Helios, the dragon country, just over eighteen years ago. But in his early years in this world he was known by a different name.” Skyress recounted.

"Nor was he even a guardian of fire. Back then, he was known simply as Flare, and much like you, Midnight he didn’t have a cutie-mark either, same with me. He became the apprentice of a blacksmith named Iron hooves. Iron Hooves took him into his family, and treated him like a son. But one day, an old legend returned from the past. A white monstrous dragon named Albino returned. He was the former Guardian of Fire, and had returned to claim all of Helios for himself. At his side were his two sons who claimed they wanted to bring peace and prosperity to all of Helios. One of them was Nova’s friend, Darkus, a smooth fork-tongued lizard who gained a high-standing in the Helios economy. Flare idolized him so that he asked to train under him. I don’t know what happened between them but there was some conflict of interests that Darkus chose to sever all ties with Flare.”

“And I take it that’s where it went all down-hill?” Midnight asked.

“Yes. Albino and his sons soon revealed their true colors and instigated a civil war, forming the Insurrectionists to usurp the dragon king, and threatening Equestria, with the intention of enslaving ponykind and reaping Equestria's resources. Flare and I were on the defensive and were tasked to watch the capital in case any invading forces arrived.”

“I don’t mean to interrupt but you said at the beginning of the story that something happened to him. What was it?” Celestia asked.

“I agree we need to know what happened in order to help your… friend so that we may settle this dispute amicably and prevent further conflict.” Sombra added.

“It’s difficult for me to say….but….”

“But WHAT!!!” Midnight snapped. He just wanted to know how to beat Nova and put an end to this but he was not prepared for her answer.

“He lost his family...” Skyress answered with a heavy heart, making Midnight flinch.

“...What?”

“Yes, Albino sent his forces to invade the capital, and even sent his sons to insure the task was done.” Luna added.

“Luna how do you know this?” Celestia asked in astonishment.

“He told me his life story as well, and some….other things….like how I was beautiful.” She recounted as she whispered those last few words as she blushed a bit.

“Ever since he lost his family in the invasion his powers were unlocked by the Angel. She also gave him a new name and Nova has ever since sought to find Albino and his sons ...and kill them.

"During the last years of the war he confronted Albino in a realm beyond the living world. The Dark realm.”

Everypony just gasped after hearing her say that. “But despite its name, it’s actually very much a paradise. I was there when he confronted him and Albino was by far the most powerful foe we ever faced. In the middle of battle Albino killed our friend, a pegasus named Steel Cutter.”

“I think I heard of him before, wasn’t he part of the royal guard?” Midnight brought up.

“Yes he was and was by far the bravest stallion I have ever met.” Skyress sadly confirmed.

“What happened next.” Twilight asked.

“In rage of losing his friend Nova transformed.”

End of Chapter. Next Chapter: Nova's Origins Part Two Estimated time remaining: 49 Minutes