Blah blah

1. Nova will be generally cooperative.

2. Nova desires to assess the party's trustworthiness as part of a future working relationship, which she envisions as her being "princess" in the classical sense and the party being the EoH. But this is her long term plan. She doesn't want to be princess forever - she is hoping for someone else to come along.

Nova's vision:

• No. I don't want take over the world. I certainly don't want to conquer it. But neither would I see Equus riven by war between squabbling factions, or ruled by brutal overlords who exploit the less powerful. I would prefer this to be achieved through peaceful means, and in that respect I believe the Elements of Harmony can do much. But at the end of the day, I understand that this will not always be possible, and that we must be willing and able to resort to force.

Being princess:

• We must have a strong leader. That leader doesn't have to be me, and in some ways I'd really rather it wasn't. But I've come to terms with the situation into which I've been placed. An alicorn princess revives the hopes of the common pony and recalls the old legends of the Golden Age. I believe that as time goes on and the conditions of the Golden Age are restored, there will be less and less of a need for a monarch in the practical sense, and the powers of the princess can be devolved on individuals selected democratically.

(None of this is really a lie, but she believes that there will always be problems that (she thinks) it is best to have an alicorn princess in charge to deal with)

Remember to ask Emerald about her Element.

On relationship with the Elements:

• In the short term, with Risen Bones out of the way and the Elements gathered and purified, I think that the bearers of the Elements - including you, assuming that our expectations need to address the problem of the expansion crystal forest. Unfortunately, even after extensive discussions with the precatastrophic synthetic intelligences, we know relatively little of what "using" the Elements entails. There are... serious concerns. The Elements have a will of their own, but lack either the ability or inclination to communicate directly with ponies, even their bearers, about their intentions. For all the work of theologians, we cannot even be sure of exactly how they define the personal qualities that are foundational to Equine morality. For example, the Elements apparently tolerated centuries of changeling domination during the Golden Age. Who is to say that a naive attempt to apply the Elements to the crystal forest will not release untold millions of entrapped changelings to control us like livestock once again? And of course, we do not know how localized the effect will be if you just walk up to the crystal forest and do whatever comes naturally to you with the Elements. Will it set off a world-wide reaction of some sort, or will you spend the next twenty years of your life traveling to the far reaches of Equus purging the crystal forest?

Don't get me wrong - I fully believe that the Elements could restore the ecological balance of our world - to fill our oceans and drive back the Everfree, and restore the vast deserts - but I am gravely concerned about the possible effects of applying them to the crystal forest in particular.

Do you know why we expended so much effort getting aboard the _Harmony_? That ship was made as an engine of creation, of rebirth - an instrument to remake a marginally inhabitable world suitable for our kind. Just as that it would have been enough to justify spending ten times more than we did, or a hundred... but... when I went aboard, do you know what I found?

I found a ship built around an enormous crystal ball. It’s utterly dominated by its scrying mechanism. I’ve studied old books and plans - even in the age of the aetherial impeller, spacecraft were generally dominated by their drive mechanisms. But this, this ship is dominated by a huge crystal ball, orders of magnitude larger and more perfect than the best ever made on Equus, and that with magical amplifiers of unmatched power. They told the public that it was for scouting out distant worlds before approaching -- but this vastly too far on the wrong side of the break-even point for a greater investment in propulsion instead. No, it is not a sensor array - it is the definitive instrument by which one may effect one’s will on reality through retrodivination.

Retrodivination is the ultimate power the civilization of the Golden Age once forswore, as being too dangerously uncontrollable, beyond the capabilities of any pony. But harnessed here, in the Harmony, as a completely new paradigm in transportation -- put simply, the scryer foresees the safe arrival of the ship at the destination at some definite time in the future, and there it is! The universe bends and perforates itself as needed in service to that irrevocable Destiny. But because of the generality of this drive mechanism, our kind has arrived in a position far superior to its appearances.

What, do you suppose, is the greatest threat to Equus, to the continuation of our species?

Yes, the ecological devastation does represent an existential threat to us.

What are her plans?

Put simply, we want to put our world right. To make it lush and green again, abundant and pleasant as it once was. And there is more to be done than renewing the ecological devastation the Catastrophe. We would restore a global, harmonious and free social organization - through peaceful means as far as possible, but I have no illusions about what it may take in some cases. I do not believe that this restoration of our world can be complete without the Elements of Harmony. In the spaceship Harmony - built as a tool for remaking a world for Equine habitability - we believe we have a means to initiate the ecological renewal of Equus. At one time, we thought that the Harmony, equipped with weapons vastly beyond the capabilities of any power today, would also be instrumental in bringing peace to the world. But I've come to realize that it making force the first resort would doom our effort from the start. No state can reign by fear forever, and no state that rules by fear could possibly be in keeping with the spirit of Harmony. And I think that's where the Elements will really come in - not so much zapping problems with Rainbows, but as a symbol for the harmonious peoples of the world to rally around. It is a long, difficult path, with many challenges, I'm sure. But it will bring about a stable, lasting peace - a new Golden Age. Without the Elements, I fear we would have to settle for something less. We could bring about a cessation of violence, perhaps, but is it true peace if the opponents lay down their arms only out of fear of utter destruction? I have come to the conclusion that it isn't. There will be no new Golden Age without the Elements - or rather without their Bearers, to win the hearts and minds of the diverse peoples of this world for Harmony.