Since Karl had returned to normal, summer was wrapping up and making way for fall. In that time the couple had finally decided on a venue for the wedding: the backyard of Karl’s parents house. Given the large backyard and the foliage around, it would allow for a ceremony while also keeping it private.
Which was good for Karyn’s family. As it turned out adding a human to their family had attracted family from outside Equestria she claimed, and even the current Matriarch wanted to attend.
Still, even though the weather had dropped only a little, Karl still had that ice tingle with him still. He couldn’t let go of what he experienced, but even after what he heard from Karyn and Wave that would make it impossible, he still had doubts. So that chill only spread further up his spine, and at this point it started to feel physical instead of just in his head.
Speaking of his head, that alarm he was forgetting something was also still going. That only reinforced that something wasn’t right about what happened. The puzzle was there, but the pieces had been taken away through his panic most likely.
Fuck, why do these things happen to me? he stammered in his head. Why for once just can’t things happened normally? It’s high school all over again. He sighed as he stared at the blank document program in front of him. He was supposed to be making that long awaited Bambi 4 review – which was somehow even worse than he could have imagined – but his worry had prevented him from doing so.
Instead he minimized the program and moved to boot up League of Ancients, but he couldn’t even do that. So instead he pushed his computer away and decided to have his head meet his desk, though not at a high velocity.
I’d probably have the devil use me for a scheme before I have normal problems again. I hope maybe Karyn and I can settle normally sometime in the future. He picked himself up, giving his neck a crack, anything to try and get his mind going.
That’s when he heard hoofsteps start to come toward the room. “Karl?” he heard Karyn call. “Are you working?”
“I’m in the bedroom!” he called back. A moment later, he saw her walk in, and she did not look well. Normally she had an upbeat attitude around the house, but her face looked like she was worried the world was going to end. “What’s wrong?”
“I…” she hung her head, “I don’t know how to say this, Karl.” She walked over to the bed, sitting herself down.
“Karyn?”
“I’ve been feeling odd the past week,” she started. “I thought it was… well, I thought it was because I just got off my… my– fuck it, off my time of the month. However it was more than that though.” She wrapped her forelegs around herself. “I looked into what was happening, and I wanted to think it was some sickness, but Alter-Earth species can only really get a flu or a common cold or whatever on Human-Earth. So I looked into more what was happening and…” she shuddered as she continued, “Well as a pony, these symptoms show quite early compared to humans. Nausea, headaches…”
Karl could only stare as she went silent. When she didn’t continue, he spoke, “Karyn... whatcha—”
“Karl I’m pregnant!” she yelled, forehooves going to the top of her head as she curled up into a ball.
Suddenly the chill in his spine was accompanied back a familiar arctic cold that frequently blew over him over the span of his life. "WHAT?!” he articulated as his lungs emptied, his throat going sore instantly.
“I DON’T KNOW HOW!” Karyn cried. “I PROMISE YOU I DIDN’T CHEAT! BUT I DON’T KNOW HOW IT HAPPENED!” Her hooves moved to her face, and she choked on breath as she began to sob.
Karl’s hands were twitching, the rest of him was shaking. His jaw was hung open, mouth trying to change shape from wide shock but failing to do so. “N-n-n—”
“Please, Karl…” she pleaded, looking up, eyes already red. “I don’t know what to do.”
“N-n-n-n-” he continued to stutter.
“Karl? What’s—”
His mouth clamped shut and then opened, hands snapped into hard fists, eyes suddenly riveted closed. “NOOOOO!” he yelled out, the room being devoid of all sound afterword. Karyn only sat still, watching as Karl was suddenly the hysterical one in the room. The only sound was his breath choking as he struggled to breath in, before he let out another scream, “I CAN’T BE A FATHER!” His hands audibly smacked against his face, and fingers began to claw as well. “I DON’T WANT CHILDREN!”
Each word out of his mouth felt like a wrecking ball to Karyn, as she cringed further and further, and her vision became less and less clear as more tears formed. She struggled to invoke his name, but nothing came. She tried to move, but nothing responded. All she could do was watch as her body continued to make her break down.
Karl stood, hands still clawing at his face, and stumbled past Karyn toward the door. Before she could react, he was already through the door and running down the hall. If the dam was cracked before, it broke open as she collapsed onto the bed, burying her head down into the sheets and under her forelegs.
“Why?” was all she could whimper.
Meanwhile Karl nearly broke the bathroom door off its handles as he fumbled in, nearly hitting his head on the sink as he kneeled down and started the water flow. The floor and a good deal of him, not just on his face, became soaked as he shoveled as much as he could onto himself. Soon though he pried himself upward and managed to look at the mess he was.
It wasn’t just his eyes red, his face was marked red as well as scratched up. Defeated, destroyed, distraught, and more didn’t describe him even if they were all combined together. This was his nightmare, his biggest fear, and somehow it had happened. Considering he knew she wasn’t being unfaithful… How? How? “HOW?” he wailed. “This isn’t fucking happening!”
Yet it was. He kept trying to convince himself it was another nightmare. Being turned into a pony suddenly was like a walk in the park. This was his life though crumbling down. He knew he didn’t want this, he knew he couldn’t do it. He knew Karyn wanted to be a mother, but certainly not like this! Especially after he told—
The muscles in his face threatened to tear open as he snapped his eyes open wider than what should have been possible. “...I never told her…” he realized. The support in his legs gave out as that reality hit him, falling back onto his rear. “In that freaking out… I forgot to tell her…” Which means… I dumped that onto her just now… now when she’s— He choked as he realize the mortal sin he just performed: leaving his fiancé alone to grief when she needed him most. “I’m a monster…” he breathed out. He made a thousand-mile stare toward the sky, soaking in his grief. “What kind of person am I?” He almost made a laugh, one of abject insanity as he was too spent to continue going crazy out loud.
His life was over. The only one he loved he just stabbed in the heart. It might as well have been physical for how much she must be in pain. At least since it wasn’t physical she could keep living, perhaps. He let out another empty laugh. He’d never been this deep in the hole of misery. Each time though, he’d wish he could just take something, anything, and ball it up into his fist, and throw it right into the universe’s face.
He jumped and almost yelled out again as all of the sudden the wall and sink in front of him suddenly exploded, and he covered his head with his arms to block the raining debris. WHAT THE FUCKING SHIT?! He peeked out behind his arms, seeing the mess in front of him. The hole was surrounded by ash, and water was leaking onto the floor from the destroyed pipes. He quickly got to his feet, backing away, a second wind of adrenaline carrying him. “What the fuck is—” he stopped as he heard a familiar twinkle of magic. He darted his head back and forth to try and find the source, and quickly found it… on his own hand.
Reaching it out as far away from him as possible as if it was on fire, he saw it glow silver… that same silver from his nightmare. He wanted to think it was his eyes messing with him, maybe it was just him going insane and he had fallen into a coma.
Then that glow on his hand started to engulf him like a miasma, as he tried to brush and claw it off, that chill in his spine also creeping up his back. This time though, he could definitely feel it, especially as it touched his skull and made him shiver.
He didn’t have time to try and run and get help as he felt hit body tense involuntarily. His muscles twitched, and suddenly followed by a burning pain all over. “AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!”
On the other side of the house, Karyn jumped as she heard the scream. When she heard that bang from earlier, it was enough to knock her out of her grieving. She almost didn’t pay it any mind, wondering what Karl was doing… or even if she should acknowledge him.
Yet that scream… that didn’t sound like him upset, she already knew that tone. No, this one sounded like pure, unbridled pain. “Karl?” she whispered, her body going into autopilot as she realized she was already half-galloping to where she heard it. As she got closer though, more cries and shouts were occurring, all in Karl’s voice. She wondered what could be happening, but the knocking and thumping made her freeze right outside the bathroom door.
“FUUUUCK! OH FUCK! MAKE IT STOP!” Karl pleaded. Karyn gasped as suddenly she found Karl crawling himself out of the bathroom. Though not as a human, but a pony instead. Neither had time to acknowledge the other as a crack came, one that sounded like of bones. “NYEEAAHH!” he cried again. He looked too weak to do anything, and Karyn watched in horror as suddenly from his head a horn grew- or more like sprouted and cracked- out if it. Karl breathed heavily, his eyes seal shut. After a moment he rolled onto his back, moaning and lying limp.
“Karl!” Karyn shouted, almost leaping to him as she got to her knees to look him over. She looked over and saw the mess in the bathroom, and the flooding water also starting to pour out.
“Unnnn, hnn?” His eyes cracked open, looking up to her. “K-Karyn?”
“Don’t talk, I’m going to get an ambulance!” she ordered. She quickly rose back onto her feet, turning to run back to their room.
Only to stop as she found a blonde haired woman standing there, arms crossed and also with a crossed expression. “Well, well, well. This is interesting,” she spoke.
“Who the fuck are you?!” Karyn yelled.
“Not important,” the woman answered back. “Well, only important in the sense I’m here to clean up a mess, and apparently that other pony is the mess.”
Karyn blinked, taken aback. The way she talked… something about it seemed ominous, not helping was how nonchalant it sounded. She shook her head before speaking again, “I don’t know who the fuck you are, but you’d better get the fuck out of here before—”
“Listen, you do not want to get in my way.” She looked away from the floor and Karl and all the way up from Karyn. “You may have me in physical weight class, but don’t even try me in the magic class.”
Karyn fumed, all semblance of keeping calm suddenly draining. She felt her horn spark, and her teeth were clenched. “The FUCK did you just—”
The woman snapped her fingers, and Karyn jumped as suddenly there was a forest green flash that filled the room and she was gone. “Like I said,” her voice came, and Karyn almost jumped again as she realized it was behind her. She turned and found that woman kneeling over Karl, inspecting him. “You don’t want to try me in the magic class,” she finished. Karyn’s jaw hung open, not contemplating what she was seeing. “Let’s see here, blown up room, and a pony reeking of all kinds of wrong magic.”
Karyn watched as she snapped her fingers again, and observed how the water on the floor was gone, as well as it stopped flooding out of the pipe. She almost lost the last of her self-control as she yelled, “Who the fuck are you and what’s going on here?!”
“Listen,” she started, craning her head up to look at Karyn again. “You really don’t want to get involved. Right now you’re just going to get your memory wiped of this, but if you tick me off enough you’re gonna get your head wiped off. So back off.”
A cold foreboding came over Karyn. Was that a death threat? She took a step back, suddenly afraid of this woman. The magic was one thing, but her threat however set Karyn’s alarm off. Yet she took another look at Karl, seeing him still trying to recover from that pain, but also seeing the man she loved. “No,” she stated. “That’s my…” she gave a pause, the previous events coming into her mind. “That’s my fiancé, and I’m not going to just let you push me around, or touch him!” With that, she ignited her horn again, and actually managed to grab the woman with her telekinesis and lift her up into the air.
A sudden look of surprise came over her face, before she went back to her stone-cold stare. “Well I really didn’t want to do this, but,” she raised her arm up and suddenly Karyn felt her world shift as she felt the one being levitated and then slammed against the wall. She lost her concentration on her magic and she found the floor closing in on her.
Then it stopped getting closer, and she quickly realized she was being suspended in the air with a white glow. “Whoa there, no need to get violent now,” a new voice spoke. Karyn looked up and forward, realizing there was a red haired woman there suddenly with her hand glowing white. The first woman was also wrapped in a white glow.
“Faust? What are you doing here?” she barked.
Faust? Karyn noted.
“Well I know this is usually your thing, but even I felt this and thought I would help look into it too, Emmé. Good thing too since I think things were going to escalate out of control.” Her hand stopped glowing, and the glow on both Karyn and Emmé ceased, Karyn herself touching down onto the floor. Faust stepped around Emmé, leaning down to look at Karl. “And oh my, this is a curious one. Human magic is apparent, but on a pony? In a lot of pain it looks like too.” She reached out her hand, a white glow appearing which washed over Karl, who seemed to relax.
Karyn was slack jawed, her mind jumping all over the place. “Excuse ME,” she began, rising to her feet. “Can someone fucking tell me already what the FUCK IS GOING ON?!” she bellowed.
Both of them looked up to her, Faust looking calm while Emmé seemed annoyed. “Oh, sorry there,” Faust spoke. “Well, we’re trying to figure that out honestly.”
“There’s nothing to figure out here, Faust,” Emmé butted in. “It’s open and shut. There’s human magic here, it’s coming from this guy, and I was about to fix the problem.”
“Oh so you were going to help him?” Faust asked, which received silence from Emmé. “Honestly, I don’t know why you’re so tense when it comes to situations like this.”
“Why are you not?!” Emmé shouted back. “You know how dangerous this stuff is! Plus when you got Alter-Earth around now, it’s kinda more important than ever to keep it hidden!”
“That still doesn’t mean that we should just shoot first and ask questions never.” Faust stepped around Karl, walking up to Karyn. “Sorry about her, she means well but… well, she can be a bit abrasive.”
Karyn shook her head, a hoof also going up and massaging it. “So who are you and what do you fucking want with us already?! My head is rattled enough as is from seeing humans use magic here, and you did say ‘human’ magic.”
“Ergh, osti de marde,” Emmé grumbled. “Well, if you have to know, this toton here apparently found himself some human magic. Yes, humans can have magic, but it’s supposed to stay secret for a reason. If you’re lucky you just go insane as it corrupts your mind, if you’re not… well, you don’t want to know.”
“Trust me,” Fause added. “Look I’m sorry you have to find out this way, but I need you to calm down so we can—”
“Oh like that’s gonna be easy,” Karyn snarked. “As if my life wasn’t being suddenly stepped on enough. I mean fiancé’s in colossal pain and possibly dying, you two show up and rock my world and tell me he’s discovered some dark secret of the universe, and… and I don’t even know how I’m still sane here.” She clutched her head, dropping down to the floor and landing on her haunches.
Faust sighed, looking back to Emmé. “Can you just make sure he’s okay? And don’t try anything behind my back now.”
“Fine, fine,” Emmé conceded. “Just make it quick, I’d prefer if we don’t let this fester any more than it needs to.”
Faust turned back to Karyn, crouching down to be at eye level with her. “Listen, I know this is a lot to take in. However we need to take care of this before things go from bad to worse, and if you can calm down and maybe explain some things to us maybe we can find a solution even faster.”
Karyn lifted her head back up, looking over to Karl. “I… I don’t know where to start.”
Faust put a finger to her lips in thought. “Well… perhaps your names? That could help start things off,” she suggested. “I’m Faust, and that’s Emmé. Though you’ve probably gathered that already.”
Why does she have to be named Faust of all things? Karyn took a deep breath. “My name’s Karyn, or at least now it is, Karyn Miles. My fiancé is Karl… Karl O'Donnell” She took another breath, visibly relaxing her form. Keep talking, keep your head together. “I… I don’t know what’s happening to him to be honest. I just heard him screaming. I don’t know what happened beforehand, but when I came over to him, I just found him—”
“YAAAAAAAAAHHH!” Karl screamed outward, causing all of them to flinch and back away from him.
“Marde, my ears!” Emmé complained.
“IT’S– OH FUCK IT HURTS!” He curled into a ball, body shaking and shuddering.
Faust stepped back over to Emmé. “Get him somewhere far away from here, we need to make sure in case something bad happens it’s away from civilization. I’m going to look over here to see if there’s anything that can tell us more.”
Emmé nodded, before glancing back to Karyn. “What about her though?” she asked.
Faust turned back around, a sympathetic look in her eyes as she said, “We need information, and right now she’s the one who can inform us the most.”
“Are you sure about that, Faust? Don’t we want to keep her away as well from—”
“I’m not leaving him,” Karyn stated. She picked herself up off the floor, standing back onto her feet. “He was there for me when I was at my lowest. Now it’s my turn to be there for him.”
Emmé stared for a moment, before giving a conceding nod. “Alright, hold onto your butts.” Faust stepped back as Emmé’s hand glowed, and then a flash filled the room which left Faust alone.
“Right then… this is actually kind of worrisome,” she muttered to herself. She clapped her hands, and then spread them wide releasing a white mist across the room. “Let’s see if we can find anything out of the ordinary here, aside from the obvious traces I’ll find.” The environment around her changed color. The walls and ceiling turning to a gray, while wisps of differing colors were also revealed.
She saw emerald green, a forest green, and also a dull silver. The first two she deduce were from Karyn and Emmé respectively. The third belonged then to Karl, but something seemed off about it given the way it was presented.
She looked to the bathroom, seeing the wall scarred with that same silver. She walked up to it, putting her hand close to it but not touching it. Something’s not right… I could have sworn that was human magic I felt on him, but this feels… off. She brushed a finger along the burnt wall, trying to get a feel for the origin. A moment later, she yanked her hand back, a sudden pain shooting through it. “Ah! Oh, ow!” She shook her hand, it felt like it was burning. “Oh my, oh my oh my.” A magical residue shouldn’t have caused harm like that, but there was something more to this magic. “This just isn’t human magic at work, but some kind of… violent mutation of it.” And Emmé’s right next to it, along with an innocent bystander.
Faust blinked into existence where she felt Emmé’s essence, and looked around at the setting. It looked like they were in a spacious metal cube, most likely conjured up by Emmé.
“Faust… something's not right here,” she heard Emmé call to her. Faust looked over toward the center, seeing her, Karyn, and Karl in the center on an examination table.
Seeing Karl caused Faust to pause. Gone was the pony she saw before, instead a human was in his place… perhaps. “What happened to him?” Faust asked, quickly walking up to them.
“A really, really, painful transformation,” Emmé summarized. She gave a tilt of her head over toward Karyn, “According to her, this guy is actually human. I thought something was off about his clothes before, but we got some confirmation. Just in case I made this place kinda spacious in case… something happens.”
Karyn spoke up, “Like I told her. I heard him screaming… and then I found him turned into a pony. Actually I caught him finishing his transformation, and it was that same… painful transition.”
Faust shuddered. A transformation without the luxury of magical reconstruction? She stepped up to Karl, who looked like he was straining against more pain. “Can you hear me?” she asked.
He cracked his eyes open, turning to look at Faust. “You… you did that… healing thing before?”
“Yeah.” She brought her hands up, washing Karl with her magic again, who relaxed again. “Can you tell us what happened? Do you have any idea what’s happening to you?”
“I was hoping you could tell me.” He gave a fake laugh, along with an empty smile. “Fucking… humans using magic. I’m fucking dying, and humans apparently have magic.”
“You’re not dying,” Faust declared. “You’re… well, if my assumption is correct: you’ve somehow awakened your human magic, which is also coinciding with this transformation problem.”
“Wait, wait,” Karyn spoke up. “‘Awakened’ his magic? The last time I checked, humans– or, Karl, never had it.”
“Well now he does somehow,” Emmé chimed in. “Humans regularly did have magic once upon a time, but they evolved beyond having it. Think of it like a human appendix: it’s there, but they don’t need it. And also if it acts up, it should be removed.”
“So… can you?”
Faust looked back to Karl. “I’m going to try and suppress it, but if we knew more it could be easier to stop.” She placed her hands over Karl, magic going from them to him. “Like why is it I found a combination of human and pony magic from him?”
“Pony magic?” Karl questioned. “From me?” Faust gave a nod in response. “Holy shit that wasn’t a nightmare then,” he gasped.
“Nightmare?”
“A few weeks ago,” he started. “There was a spell accident. I got turned into a pony, but not actually a pony. One night I was having trouble sleeping, I got up to get a drink. I thawt it was me dreaming, but I managed to do telekinesis and teleportation.” He brought his hand to his forehead. “I thawt it was my stress playing tricks on me… but I was turned into a pony for real?”
“You didn’t tell me about that,” Karyn said.
Karl winced. “I… I know. But I didn’t… I thawt I was just crazy or something.”
“This spell,” Faust jumped in. “What was it?” she asked, turning her head to Karyn.
“An amniomorphic, or rather a genetic amniomorphic. It was supposed to turn me into a genetic human,” Karyn explained.
“Wait, that wouldn’t happen to be that new spell used by The Lost Foal to conceive a child?”
Karyn nodded. “Y-yeah, I was just trying it. But it was made for—” Karyn choked, her hooves going to her stomach. “Allowing a pony and human to have a child together…” She looked down at herself, and then back to Karl. “Oh my goodness, that’s how it happened…”
“How what?” Emmé spoke up, walking in front of her.
“If Karl was a genetic pony… then that means… he’s the father…” Karyn murmured.
“Wait, ‘father’?!” Emmé brought her hand up, a glow washing over Karyn.
“Emmé, I don’t think that’s important right now!” Faust called over. “If this is all true, then right now we have a problem with genetic scrambling, and it involves human magic so that could cause something really bad to happen!” She grunted, trying to focus on Karl. “Like right now I can’t get anywhere here because his magic is too rampant and wild!”
“Of course it’s important!” Emmé shot back. “If he’s having magic trouble, and she’s having a kid with him, then that means she could have a problem!”
Karyn popped out of her worry, a crossed look appearing on her face as she looked down to Emmé. “‘A problem’? My… our, child, is our personal problem. But why the fuck are you concerned about that when he’s FUCKING DYING?!”
“Cause with what you’re telling me, it’s telling me that this situation can easily happen again. Plus look at him over there: do you want to have this same magic inside you too?” Emmé dropped her magic, turning and walking up to Faust and Karl. “Aren’t you thinking of the implications here? If he’s messed up, what’s to say that anyone else doing this isn’t in danger?”
“Emmé, slow down there,” Faust ordered. “This is about him at the moment, and we don’t need to get ahead of ourselves and—”
“Okay, then what about him?” She stomped around to the other side Karl. “Are we any closer to stopping what’s going on with him? Because at this rate I don’t think he’s going to be a lucky one.”
“I…” Faust went silent, and gave a slow shake of her head. “No, I… I don’t think I can stop it. Whatever is happening is going to happen, and—”
“And that means we should stop it here and now!” Emmé barked.
Faust was aghast, her hands pulling away from Karl like she’d be slapped. “Emmé, listen to you! You’ve never yelled at me!”
Karl weakly tried to put his hands up, trying to put something between him and Emmé. “W-wait, do you actually mean… off me?! When I’m already like this?! I didn’t do anything!”
“Get. The. Fuck. Away, from, him.” Karyn marched up to them, practically pushing Faust aside as she stared Emmé down.
“Easy now….” Faust urged, but she watched as the two looked like they were about to kill each other. Which was extremely worrying in the case of Emmé.
“I don’t care who the fuck you are, you’re not going to lay a fucking hand on him,” Karyn warned as her horn flared with magic. She paced around Karl, slowly making it so there was nothing between her and Emmé.
“Ladies….” Faust tried again.
“Back off,” Emmé threatened. “Don’t do something you won’t be able to regret.”
“I just said I don’t care who you are. I don’t care if you’re the next Nightmare fucking Moon, I’m not just going to let you hurt him.” She could feel herself shaking, especially as she focused her magic. “I’m not about to just let some stuck up bitch just literally pop into my life, and do what she wants with him.”
“Have you not grasped the situation, at all?” Emmé asked, splaying her arms out.
“How could I not?!” Karyn gave a fake laugh. “Humans with magic, a magic that’s apparently an evil force, and that force is killing my future husband!” She felt tears threaten to break, but she kept them back as she continued. “All my life I’ve been beaten around by things out of my control, and all I could do was just try and get through them. If the fucking universe wants to keep sending more shit my way, well….” The magic on her horn flared bright. “I’LL FIGHT BACK THEN!”
Her magic exploded, filling the whole room with emerald light. Faust only briefly watched Emmé have to throw up her arms to shield her eyes as she did herself. In the next moment, she heard something hit hard against the conjured metal wall, along with a pained yell.
“HOLY… SHIT!” Karl yelled out. Faust’s focus went to him, and he was looking at something… but Faust didn’t need to look hard to see what it was.
Or who in this case, as it was hard to miss Karyn suddenly standing five times her size.
Karyn yelled out as she brought her hoof back and slammed it back into the wall, and Faust looked and saw that Emmé was grabbed in that hoof. As she was hit again into the wall, she let out another yell of pain.
After that though, it was Karyn who yelped and she pulled her hoof back. Emmé was radiating her own magic, and just as quickly as it appeared it condensed and suddenly shot out to Karyn. Faust went still as she watch Karyn start to fall back… and she was going to land on Karl.
As Karyn twisted around on an apparent instinct when falling, she seemed to realize what was happening. With a panicked look, her magic flared again, which washed over her. A moment later and also a pop, she was back to normal.
Though instead of possibly crushing Karl, instead she landed not-so-gracefully on him, laying over the table barely supported by her hind hooves.
Faust couldn’t breath a sigh of relief however, as Emmé blinked right next to both of them, standing at Karl’s head. Both of them looked up fearfully at her.
“You may not care about who am I, but you should.” She raised her hand up, a sphere of crackling magic forming. “History has called me Cavatina, Titania, or simply Queen of Sorceresses. I’ve dedicated my life to making sure that this corruption dies out, and I’ll do whatever it takes!” She raised her hand up, ready to bring it down.
Both Karl and Karyn screamed.
Faust’s eyes closed. “Enough.”
The couple had each other in a vice grip as they waited for their end. After nothing happened though, Karl dared poke his eyes open.
“Oh my… yaur God…” he whispered.
His words brought Karyn out of her panic slightly, and she opened her eyes as well. “Karl?”
“It’s… it’s the God of ponies…”
She started to look up. “God of—” her voice was lost as she looked at the new scene.
To Karl it was a familiar sight… with the exception of a white alicorn in place of Karyn.
No… NO! Karyn’s mouth hung open as she processed what she was seeing. It’s her! She is that Faust! Her head felt light, as if a hole finally broke into the bunker that was holding off all the insanity.
Karl seemed to take notice. “Karyn?”
“Everything… everything is a lie at this point,” she muttered. “My life is nothing but a play for gods.” She felt something on her cheek, and she realized it was Karl’s hand trying to comfort her. He didn’t even need to speak as she looked into his eyes, eyes that still seemed to be fighting back against pain.
Away from those two, Faust and Emmé were having a different kind of close encounter. The former was given a hard stare at the latter, who could only stare back as she was wrapped in magical bindings.
“In all our years together, Emmé, I haven’t ever seen you like this,” Faust stated. “Even though I haven’t been able to fully read you yet, acting this much on impulse is something I know isn’t you.” She turned her head slightly towards Karl and Karyn. “Nearly killing innocents? Let alone two who clearly aren’t using what you despise on purpose?” She turned back, looking downcast. “This isn’t the Emeraude I became friends with.”
Emmé was only staring, but it looked like she desperately wanted to speak.
“I know how dangerous human magic is,” Faust continued. “You’ve told me about all these ancient civilizations, some of which this world thinks are fiction now: all gone because of its corrupting influence. And do I need to mention Kuzu’s sister?” Emmé turned away only slightly, but it was enough to know that mentioning their other friend’s sister got to her. “But it doesn’t all have to end badly.” A smile creased ever slightly on Faust’s muzzle. “I mean, Kuzu herself, me, and those others who keep hounding us like you said are all fine in that regard.”
“Okay, okay!” Emmé relented, hanging her head. “I get it! I get it!” Faust relaxed as Emmé physically looked like she was untangling her stress. “I… just put me down, let me at least get my head clear.”
“Don’t move until I say you can come over,” Faust said, lowering Emmé to the ground, dispelling the bindings on her.
“I swear on our friendship I won’t move from this spot,” Emmé added, as she put a hand to her head and her whole body against the wall.
Faust gave a nod, turning back to the situation she should be paying attention to. She saw Karl and Karyn together, though the latter was sitting on the floor, caressing the former’s hand as he stroked her cheek. Karyn looked empty, the only life emanating from her being the reaction to Karl’s actions.
Soon enough though, both looked to her – up to her. Oh, oops. A quick flash from her horn, and Faust was standing back in her human form. Both stared blankly as she walked up to them. As she stopped in front, she herself was quiet, not sure what to say. I never know what to say. And this is the first time I’ve done it to one of my own ponies.
“Queen Faust,” Karyn started, still keeping a blank stare. “That’s… who you are? Celestia and Luna’s mother?”
Faust gave a slow nod. “Yeah… that’s me. Queen though? Not anymore.”
“As if that matters,” Karyn murmured.
“Karyn... stop with that,” Karl chided.
“I’m not a god,” Faust stated. “I know for you especially, Karyn, that seeing me may make you question reality. I may be powerful in the sense I have a lot of magical power, but a god I’m not.”
“I just… is a normal life even possible for us anymore?” Karyn wondered. “I mean, I thought having this mark and standing over everyone made it hard enough, but you’re… you.” She gave a slow tilt of her head to Karl. “And that’s just if… if we get out of this.”
“Stop,” Faust said in a firm, commanding tone. “That’s not going to fix this.”
“Well can you fix it?!” Karyn cried back, her eyes going misty. “I mean, what am I supposed to do? Have hope or some crap like that?! Cause at this point, what’s there to do?! What can I do?!” Her eyes, tears being squeezed out as she did so. “I don’t want to lose him! But all I can do is just sit here!” Faust tried to speak, but she found her thoughts derailed suddenly from Karyn’s words. “But…” Karyn continued. “If having hope is all I can do, I might as well try. Just… is there anything you can do?”
Faust crouched down, looking Karyn in the eyes. “I’ll be perfectly honest: I can’t do anything in his current state. That doesn’t mean I can’t do anything at all, but right now all we can do is wait until something happens that allows me to step in. And if you want to try and have hope, then perhaps I'll make a promise myself I'll try everything I can.”
“Why can’t you do anything though?”
“This magic of his… it’s too wild and unstable. What needs to happen I think is allow it to do what it’s doing and have it settle down.” She crossed her arms as she said, “But to be honest, it’s very possible he’ll be killed by what happens based on how much he’s suffering now.”
“So I’m gonna get ripped apart The Fly style?” Both of them looked to Karl. His hand was removed from Karyn, and it looked like he was seeing an eldritch horror based on the horrified expression on his face.
“You really shouldn’t be thinking like that,” Faust criticized.
“What else am I supposed to think at this point?” He laid back down, looking at the ceiling. “I’m gonna freaking die, and—”
“Stop.” Karl stopped at Karyn’s voice. He was still as she stood up and looked over him. “I don’t want to hear that….” she paused a moment, “and if I shouldn’t, you shouldn’t.” She took a hand into her hooves. “Please,” she pleaded looking into his eyes.
“I…” He gave a slow nod.
Faust meanwhile observed the two in silence, a smile forming. Those two are going to be happy together. She looked over to Emmé, who was watching from afar, still in the same spot from before. She gave a nod over to her, and she began to walk toward them.
Karyn took notice of this almost immediately. “What does she—”
“Relax,” Emmé interrupted, her hands held up. “Look, I admit it. I was a bitch.” She huffed, looking away. “And…”
“You were about to kill us,” Karyn continued, scowling.
“Yes, yes! I know!” Emmé growled, hands going to her face. “Look, I’m trying to help! I’m not going to do anything until Faust there gives me the word, I promise! Je jure de Fauser!”
Karyn didn’t speak, she looked to Faust, who gave a quick nod. “Okay,” Karyn said.
“Hnnnn!” Karl whined, body curling. Everyone immediately turned their attention to him. “Oh! Oh God not again!”
“Get back,” Emmé said, trying to step between him and Karyn.
“No, I’m not just going to stand by while he suffers!” Karyn yelled back.
“I’m telling you for your own sake! He’s fine now, but he could go insane at any moment and want to rip your guts out!” Karyn’s bared teeth disappeared behind a worried frown as Emmé’s words were processed. She looked at Karl, and also his hand she was holding.
If Karl doesn’t die from this, would he really try to kill us? Karyn thought with a new kind of worry.
“I agree; we need to not be next to him,” Faust advised.
“Aaargh!” Karl grunted, as he looked over to Faust. “You… you’re royal part of the Equestrian Royal Family, right?” He asked through sharp breaths and gritted teeth.
Faust blinked. “Um, yeah? I mean, technically yes. I don’t have a title anymore, but—”
“Marry us.”
For a brief moment sound was devoid from the room. Even as everyone processed in utter bewilderment to varying degrees at what he just said, no one spoke up.
Faust finally was able to bring herself back and simply asked, “What?”
“Marry us,” Karl repeated.
“Karl?” Karyn inquired.
He looked to her, his other hand she wasn’t holding going onto her hooves. “Karyn, no matter what happens, no matter what I’ve done to hurt you, I still love you.”
“This is not the time for this!” Emmé complained, a frustrated hand going to her temple.
Karl glared at Emmé. “Listen up ya asshole,” he growled. He took a sharp breath before he kept going, “Whether I’m about to die here, or if I live, we said we were going to marry each other. I’m still hanging on here, and if nothing else: I want her to know I love her.”
Karyn’s eyes darted back and forth, before settling onto Faust. “Can you marry us?” she asked.
Faust gave a slow nod, with a worried frown. “Yes, but—”
“Then do it,” Karyn ordered. “While he’s still here.” She went silent, but her face was restrained as it looked like her heart wanted to explode.
“Faust!” Emmé shouted, walking up to her. “You can’t possibly—”
Faust’s hand was held up to Emmé’s face. “Emmé, you’re the witness.” Faust didn’t say any more as she stepped up to the duo. She placed her own hands on top of theirs. Karl on her left, Karyn on her right. “In holy matrimony these two souls are here to be joined,” she began, as if rehearsed. “They both have consented to this union, and now we are gathered at this ceremony to finalized in the face of the world and its selected inhabitants.
Despite Karl’s groans and Karyn’s rapid breathing, Faust continued. “May they always be devoted towards each other, holding integrity pure to one another. Through the compassion and charity before that brought them together; let us and them continue to hold the optimism to keep this harmony to each other through time. But let us not forget, that their own magic wants to make this union complete.
“Let us judge this union before the inhabitants: what is their judgment? Do any speak out? Or shall their silence let this time not be interrupted?” Emmé remained frozen, her mouth hung open at the display. Karyn looked back to Karl, a sad smile forcing its way onto her. “The inhabitants have judged, no deterrence presented.
“The judgment of the world, rests with the souls to face. I call upon their names: Karl O'Donnell, and Karyn Miles. Two souls to be joined, and now for them to echo their wish to the heavens.” Faust looked toward Karl. “Karl O'Donnell, do you take Karyn Miles, to be your wife henceforth? To love, to protect, to care for her? To be at her side where and whence needed? To let her harmony be a part of yours?”
He strained himself as he rasped out, “I do.”
Faust looked to Karyn, whose resolve broke and tears were going down her cheeks. “Karyn Miles, do you take Karl O’Donnell, to be your husband henceforth? To love, to protect, to care for him? To be at his side where and whence needed? To let his harmony be a part of yours?”
“I… do,” she answered, forcing a smile on her face.
Faust looked upward, bringing her hands up. “Then by their decree, and through the power vested in me, let it be so. By my crown of Equus, as Queen Sovereign, I declare these two: husband and wife.”
She stepped away, and the moment she was clear, Karyn dove onto Karl and locked her lips with his. The act was enough to make Faust put on her own smile.
“I cannot believe you just did that despite me seeing that with my own eyes,” Emmé whispered to her as she walked up.
Faust turned her smile to her. “I seem to recall you saying those exact words when Greg and I got formally married.”
“Maybe, but listen up, A’licorne.”
Faust’s smile dropped. She never uses that name of mine unless she’s dead serious.
“I said I would give them a chance, and I’ll go through with what you want to do.” She crossed her arms, leaning in to stare Faust in the eye. “If at any point I think you’re in danger, as in going to be hurt danger, I’m going to do what I have to do. Vous comprenez?”
Faust looked over to Karl and Karyn, and then back to Emmé. Reluctantly, she replied, “I understand.”
A sickening crack made everyone’s heart freeze. They looked to the couple, Karyn backing away, while Karl had his back arched. A feeble croak escaped from his throat as the silver glow returned to him, his eyes rolling back.
“Back, now!” Emmé yelled. Karyn didn’t have time to respond as Faust’s magic grabbed her and pulled her back.
Hands clutched to his head, Karl writhed. Fleeting breaths were trying to make noise, but they were overshadowed by the creaks and cracks coming from his body.
I would not wish that on anyone. Faust thought, a hand going to her mouth as she tried to stay calm. She looked to Karyn, who was looking away and even had her hooves over her ears. As she looked back to the scene in front of them, she visibly grimaced as she watched the glow spread.
She had seen many types of magic, and how it reflected that nature. For ponies it twinkled freely, the dark variant bubbled and sparked like a living miasma.
Human magic though? It didn't give any theatrics. It showed itself as pure, unbridled energy like magic was. This was no different, at least from what she could see.
At his head, his ears ripped open and morphed, given way to a pointed pony ear still at each side. Navy blue fur appeared on each, sprouting through his skin. A stripe of white was bleached into his hair, fading from its natural black like one turning a deathly pale. Another rip sounded, and a tail with the same colorations of his hair made itself known, snaking out from under him.
Karl himself slowly fell limp, arms to his side and head lazily looking upward with any attempts of reacting slowing down. The glow of magic soon faded as well, and the only sound left was the trio’s breathing.
Emmé and Faust looked to each other, both giving a silent nod. The two cautiously but swiftly approached Karl, looking him over.
“That… I did not expect,” Emmé commented.
“It’s as if his transformation problem from before stopped halfway,” Faust replied. “Or perhaps it’s finished and this is what it was going for?” Faust stopped at Karl’s left, studying his new pony parts.
“You said there was human and pony magic from him?” Emmé asked, placing herself at Karl’s right. “Maybe this is what happens.”
“Is… is he alive?” Karyn called, not moving from her spot away from them.
“I don’t want to get in close, but—” she stopped as Karl’s body convulsed. Emmé and Faust both backed away as his head twitched, the sound of flesh and bone breaking each time. Both shielded themselves with their arms as suddenly a navy blue horn sprouted from his forehead, a spray of blood flying out. “Crisse de calice de tabarnak d'osti de sacrament!” she snapped, as she recoiled back.
“Oh my word,” Faust gasped.
“What the heck is going on here?” Emmé asked, holding her hand above Karl. She looked over to Faust, “You’re the conjuration expert, do you have— Hnnn!” she yelped. Both jumped as another hand was grabbed onto Emmé’s, and they stared in horror as it was Karl’s.
Emmé tried to force his hand off, especially as his limp body from before started to rise, angrily staring at her. A guttural growl came out of him as the silver glow returned to him, lighting up his eyes and surrounding him in an aura.
“Maudit!”
Faust shot her hand forward, white chains appeared on the table reaching upward and wrapping themselves around Karl’s wrists and ankles. He gave animalistic yell as he released Emmé and they retracted to the table, bringing him down.
Emmé gave a sigh of relief, massaging her hand. “The guy’s got a grip, I’ll give him that.”
“Are you alright?” Faust asked.
“Nothing out of place, but I don’t like to be caught off guard.” She looked to Karl, who was struggling against his restraints. “But… what about him? Do you have a plan?”
Faust slowly stepped back toward him, reaching out toward his aura. At first she felt nothing, but then a sudden cold washed over her. She felt a fatigue come on, and then a burning sensation on her hand, which she pulled back. “I was afraid of this, that magic is potent. Don’t get close to him.” As she pulled back, she felt her fatigue leave. Some kind of anti-magic?
Meanwhile away from them, Karyn was watching with hollow eyes. Despite those eyes showing her reality in front of her, she couldn’t accept it. She just wanted this nightmare to end, but the exhaustion taxing her from all the stress she had built up over the evening reminded her she was already awake.
Why is this happening to us? she wondered. Karl… please still be with me after this. I want to— A yell from the not-so-human in question made her shudder and snap to attention as she watched Emmé and Faust back away.
His teeth gritted, he gave a pull with one arm and the chain on it broke off. He quickly pulled at the other ones on the other limbs, each snapping and fading into the air.
“What happened?!” Emmé yelled.
“He broke my spell!” Faust yelled back.
“Well do it again!” There was no hesitation as Faust’s hands each came forward with her spell. More ethereal chains appeared and started to lasso around Karl.
As they pulled taught though, Karl barely registered them as he pulled his legs inwards and jumped onto two feet, hunched over.
It’s not working? Faust thought. She watched as Emmé sent out her own spell, attempting to do the same binding. The chains though did a repeat of the last set, breaking as they tried to tie Karl up.
Both of them backed away as he stood up, a snarl on his face as he looked down on them. The kind of look of one ready to kill. He took a step forward, but stopped as a rattling was heard. He looked down, seeing the table he was standing on shaking. A second later it exploded into green sparkles.
“Raaah!” he yelled outward, as he fell to the floor flat onto his stomach. For a moment he was still before he let out a low growl as he began to push himself up.
Emmé took the opportunity to fire out a spell, and he was encased in a green field of magic. His movement ceased, only his face twitching and straining. “Faust, get her out of here!”
Faust knew who she was talking about, and turned to Karyn who looked like she was about to break. She quickly ran up to her, kneeling down. “I promise, we'll do all we can,” she whispered. She placed her hand on Karyn’s shoulder, and in a flash of white she was gone.
“I’m still waiting on that plan, Faust!” Emmé called back. “Plus maybe some idea of what’s happening?!”
“Trying to process that!” Faust returned, with a wipe of her forehead. Right. Think, think, think. She spun herself around, seeing Emmé already backing up to meet her. “Well for one, that’s not just harmful magic around him. It felt like it was sapping my own.”
“You mean a cold feeling?” Emmé asked back, with Faust answering with a nod. “Explains what I felt, and why that table just up and poofed.” She focused, her hand glowing brighter. “Well as long as I keep the spell fed, he’s not— sacramento…” she gasped.
Both of them watched as Karl seemed to realign with the current flow of time. Slowly he was moving, visibly straining as he continued his action of pushing himself up off the ground.
“Faust, he’s moving. Why is he moving?!” She put out both of her hands, both flashing magic toward Karl. However despite the display, it didn’t seem to have any effect. “Are you—” she grunted, stepping back, but stopped as she bumped into the wall of the conjured room. “Faust?” she asked.
“Whatever you do, don’t let him grab you again!” she yelled as Emmé’s magic around Karl disappeared in a pop as he broke out into a sprint toward them. Faust flinched as it was faster than what a normal human should be, and that observation almost made her miss seeing his hand glowing.
Both of them snapped their fingers, blinking out of the way before he rammed into the wall, his hand punching straight through the metal. Karl himself gave a confused grunt, looking back and forth seeing the two quite a distance away on either side. He stopped on Emmé, trying to step toward her, only to be stopped by his arm not coming out of the wall. With a snarl, he pulled hard, freeing himself with visible scratches along his arm that quickly began to have blood drip.
He took one step toward Emmé, but stop as the creaking and groaning of metal began to sound. His scowl lessened as he looked toward the hole in the wall as the metal around it began to buckle and shake. He looked up toward the ceiling, and took a step back. As the creaking began to sound across the whole conjured room, he yelled and threw both of his arms up as if to shield himself.
That’s not going to work, what are you thinking?! Faust thought as she began to reach out with her magic. As she moved to throw a shield around him, she stopped as suddenly his magic began to shoot around him. She barely had time to take it in as the wall next to him cracked, the conjuration losing stability.
Faust and Emmé blinked out, both appearing next to each other. They looked toward Emmé’s conjuration, seeing it crack and break more, with pieces of it already dissipating back into air. Faust looked around, seeing that they were in a forest of some kind.
“Emmé, where are we?” Faust asked.
“Some woods next to a highway nearby. Figured it would be a good place on short notice. Just in case though I placed a warding spell so anyone wanting to come near will be compelled to flee,” Emmé responded.
“Good to know,” Faust said, as she watched the rest of the conjuration fall and subsequently cease to exist. “Though I hope no one from a distance saw that,” she added.
“That’s not what I’m worried about, Hornhead.” Emmé shuffled toward a nearby tree, putting it between herself and the site in front of them. Faust followed suit, standing behind her. “That stasis spell is the same one I used on Arthur, King bâtard Arthur, and our chimera problem there just broke out of without that much of a struggle. Plus also he's somehow able to cast spells without invocation or any incantation. What in the nine spheres of hell is going on?!”
Faust was silent, still looking out toward where they just were. She managed to make out Karl in the distance, the dust clear and his arms dropped. From inside he looked around, probably looking for them... or any other unfortunate soul.
She focused in on his bleeding arm, and went wide eyed as along the cuts they glowed silver before disappearing like they weren’t there.
“Faust? You got that look again,” Emmé said, bringing her out of her observation.
“Emmé, what would you consider to be humanity’s defining trait?” Faust asked.
“What are you— are you gonna do that cryptic crap again?”
“Adaptation,” Faust answered, looking to Emmé. “Evolving from cavemen, surviving the ice age, growing out of magic, modern history, all that: adapting and enduring. That’s human nature, and that’s exactly what’s happening to him.” She pointed out toward him. “But he doesn’t have just human magic, that’s also pony. Pony magic is about emotion and thought, so easy to conjure and why he’s been able to use that magic at all.
“By all means even with his magic he shouldn’t overpower you or I, but instead he adapted. Perhaps he's in a constant state of metamorphosis, which could explain why his injuries are gone and why all other magic near him is going haywire and just failing. Not just that, but you have that human magic just bursting forward so uncontrolled so anything new introduced to it, it's evolving past that.” She turned away, staring off into the distance. “It’s almost poetic in a way, the potency of human magic with the ease of pony magic, with him acting off instinct—”
“Faust!” Emmé shouted, breaking her friend’s train of thought. “I know you like to learn and observe, and in my opinion you do too much of that, but if what you say is true we got a real problem here… again!”
Faust gave a shake of her head, refocusing herself. “Sorry, but there’s your answer for what’s going on.” She glanced back over to Karl, who was stalking back and forth. Perhaps he was looking for them? Or perhaps just anything nearby?
The way his stance was caused Faust to choke a little. The silver coloring of his magic, it didn’t just seem like foreboding. The insanity human magic caused, for some it turned them malevolent. Others into complete murderous monster. This dullness though... this was something else.
The way he was hunched over, the strain on his face, and taking into account the lack of attention to when he injured himself… was he in a constant pain? How much of the original Karl was still there in the moment?
“If what you’re saying is correct, Faust,” Emmé spoke, “Then are you sure we can even save this guy, still?”
Faust shot a look of disgust to her. “What do you mean?”
“Faust, you've told me some things that have freaked me out from human fiction. Except, that’s not fiction, it’s right in front of us potentially.” She splayed her arm out, bringing Faust’s attention back to Karl.
And immediately jumped as she saw him charging right for them.
They both leaped away from each other, the tree not putting up much of a fight as it splintered as Karl ran right through it. They each looked agape at the damage, and they both backed away.
Karl whipped back and forth looking between the two, like unsure which of his prey to leap onto.
Faust kept trying to observe the details of the situation. Acting purely on instinct, able to cast spells to cause destruction such as this, and even enhance himself… She watched as he stopped looking between the two, settling once again on Emmé as he started to chase after her. Doesn’t live completely in the moment perhaps. But how do we save him without killing him?
She watched as Emmé kept jumping away from Karl as he tried to catch her, but one magically enhanced dodge was met a similarly enhanced leap. As the seconds passed, the distance between the two seemed to be getting shorter. And how he is able to keep up? He was just an average human and—
An idea clicked in Faust’s mind. Recalling her magic scan spell, she watched the world shift color again. Emmé and Karl’s glows were the main highlights, along with trails of their magic from where they were. Yet as the moments passed, Emmé's glow seemed to be dimming, while his stayed the same. He's not keeping up, we're slowing down!
Faust quickly teleported, putting herself in Emmé’s path. As she saw Karl come close, she raised her hand up with a glow. Before he could completely close the distance, he slammed into a newly formed barrier in front of them. The barrier itself shuddered, and he stumbled back clutching his head.
“Faust, you sure that’s a good idea?” Emmé asked.
“I need to see something,” she said back. "There has to be some method to this. Plus, we really cannot be near him." She watched Karl compose himself, almost kneeling down to the ground before he stood back up and quickly took a spat.
“Oh maudine, that knocked some of his teeth out,” Emmé commented. Faust though took that and examined him close near the area of damage. The magic rushed to his jaw, shining brighter than the rest of him for the moment as he gave another spat. When it died down, she saw the rest of his aura fade down.
“He doesn’t have much magic to work with!” Faust realized with a smile, deactivating her scan spell.
“Pardon?”
“He may have this magic, but he’s still just a human who hasn’t had a chance to nurture his magic reserves! All we need to do is—” she stopped as she heard a crack of her barrier in front of them and both of them stumbled back as Karl tried swiping at them both. With another snap of their fingers they each blinked away, leaving him alone.
Faust had to catch her breath, leaning against another tree she appeared next to. She was just near for a moment but she still felt the strain of his aura on her.
“Raaarrgh!” she heard him bellow outward, like a hunter frustrated his game got away.
“Faust,” came Emmé’s voice, and she saw her walk up to her, also looking like she had a bit of fatigue. “I don’t suppose you have Preacher’s Iron on you, do you?” she asked.
“On me?” she said back. “If I did I wouldn’t be able to teleport. You know Preacher’s Iron stops all active magic. Just carrying some disrupts—”
“I know that!” Emmé snapped, her face looking crossed. “But I know where you’re going with what I heard from you, but how do you expect us to be able to drain him of magic when just being near him is enough to do this to us?!” She shook her head. “And anything we do can backfire hard! Should I snap that horn off his head to maybe knock him out long enough?”
“Don’t you dare think about that,” Faust said back with a pointed finger. “That kills a unicorn, it could just as easily kill him.”
“Probably would be the merciful thing at this point,” Emmé added. “It’s not like we can force him to drain himself dry.”
Faust’s eyes popped wide in realization. “Drain himself…” she whispered. Emmé looked at her in confusion, and Faust made to speak.
But flinched as an explosion happened near them. Both of them immediately snapped to as another went off on the other side, realizing it was caused by silver bolts of magic. They looked into the distance, seeing Karl making his way toward them, one hand outstretched and glowing.
“Faust, we’re seriously going to get ourselves killed here if we keep standing around!” Emmé screamed. “So give me a solution, NOW!”
Faust gulped as she forced out, “A praecantavitus spell.” Emmé’s hardened face was actually shattered, mouth agape in confusion which told Faust that she didn’t like the idea.
“Faust, you cannot be serious right now and— incoming!” Emmé threw up her own barrier, but a single bolt went through it like it was nothing. Emmé yelped and ducked out of the way.
“We force him to burn out his magic reserves! The spell will eat at his magic on a cellular level and this can stop! Humans can live and recover through their magic burning out completely!” Faust yelled back as another bolt struck near her, this one causing some of the foliage to start catching fire which she quickly put out with her own spell. But to do it, we’d have to push him to his limit and see if maybe he can cast one. She stopped as Karl ceased his barrage, staring at them with his arm still outstretched. And pushing his limit is the last thing we want to do now.
Emmé stepped up to Faust’s side again, her own arm raised at the ready. “A’licorne, how much are you willing to risk to save this one guy?” She asked with a monotone.
“You know full well I never give up on anyone as long as I can try and do something,” Faust declared. “I did it with Kuzu, with The Gray Man, Karl right in front of us, and even… the Nightmare.”
That got Emmé’s attention for a moment, and she managed a silent nod. Both of them then darted their heads back to Karl as he raised his hand above his head, and sharpened bolts like arrowheads materialized.
His hand was swung forward, and the bolts sailed outward. Faust and Emmé both ducked down almost to the ground, having them sail over their heads. Quickly getting back to their feet, Emmé spoke, “He’s learning, I’ll give him that.”
They watched him pull back his hand, “What do you think he’s going to do—”
Both of them yelled as they were pulled forward, which was a direction they didn’t want to go. They both looked down and saw that he had grabbed them in his own telekinesis as his aura was around them. As they crashed to the ground, they heard Karl prowling toward them again, each step causing both to feel the fatigue setting in again.
Faust managed to focus herself, seeing him go for Emmé first but she once again managed to teleport away. The distance away though left a lot to be desired.
Karl snarled in frustration as he leapt right toward Faust. She could practically see his normal eyes behind the glow in them before she managed to teleport to Emmé. Both catching their breath, they picked themselves off the ground and quickly got their footing. Grabbing Emmé's hand, she quickly mustered another teleport for the sake of putting distance between them and him. Landing in small grove of trees, Faust turned her head back in the direction she left. Far away she could make out that cloak of his, though it seemed like it wasn't moving.
“Faust, now or never,” Emmé gasped.
“I’m realizing that,” she replied. “What we first need to do is—” she stopped as she felt like something was pulling at her. “What’s—” was all she managed to say as the feeling of teleporting came over her, and then that feeling turned into an action. She saw Emmé reach out to her, before her world shifted and she was gone. The first thing Faust felt was what felt like two hands violently grabbing her by the neck, and then she saw she was staring directly at Karl as he yelled straight into her face. He pulled me back through my teleport?! She tried to muster a spell, but the effect of his magic was already taking place. She couldn’t focus properly, not helping was the choking he was doing and also the burning pain that was starting to arise. Suddenly she felt more like the human she was disguised as instead of an immortal alicorn once-queen.
“FAUST!” she heard Emmé bellow. That managed to turn Karl’s head, and a moment later Emmé’s own magically charged fist met it. Faust and Karl fell to the ground, the former rolling away while the latter groggily got back to his feet.
Emmé though wasn’t having it. She let out her own bolts of magic, which slammed into him, knocking him back down and burning holes into his already tattered clothes. Bolt after bolt she threw, pushing him down to the ground.
“Emmé, stop!” Faust pled, trying to get up, but stumbled as she still felt drained. She heard Emmé start yelling incantations, watching his skin sear but also quickly put itself back together. The fact he wasn’t outright disintegrated told her that Emmé was probably drained already. Soon enough Karl didn’t seem to be pushed back by the barrage, even with the glow around him dimmer than before probably from trying to ward off the attacks.
As he managed to push to his knees, Emmé took a step back. Karl’s head snapped up to look at her, and he vanished in a flash of light. There was no time for Emmé to react as he appeared right in front of her, his fist connected with her face. There was a scream from Emmé as she flew to the ground toward Faust. Karl wasn’t going to give her a moment of respite though, as he dove down to her.
But caught nothing as Emmé teleported again, but this time directly behind him, and her arms went around his neck and forced him to his knees. “This can’t go on anymore!” she yelled. Karl’s hands tried to grab and claw at Emmé’s grip, but she held on tight. However she didn’t seem to be maintaining that grip for long.
Faust could see Emmé was fighting back against rising pain, while she managed to get back to her own feet. One of Emmé’s hands let go from her grip, and then clamped around Karl’s horn, glowing bright green. Faust tried to protest, tried to speak, tried to act.
But there was nothing but a snap as for a moment the two were still. Then another moment the glow in Karl's eyes faded out. The next moment he started to go limp, blood dripping out of where his horn used to be. A weak whimper sounded from him as Emmé let him go, and he fell forward to the ground, motionless.
Emmé was panting heavily, nursing her jaw with one hand and taking lethargic steps around Karl and toward Faust. “I’m…” she started, “I’m… sorry, Faust,” she whispered.
Faust’s head hung down, “We… tried…” Did we though? Or did we just prolong his suffering by running around? “I made a promise that—”
“You can’t keep every promise, Faust,” Emmé stated. Faust craned her head back up, seeing Emmé stare at Karl’s horn in her hand, before she tossed it away. “You can’t save everyone.”
“But I have to try, and I made a promise that I would try, not that I would – or even could – save him!” Faust crossed her arms, letting her eyes drift to the ground again. “I still would have taken that chance even for him, even if it was slim.”
“It was none if you ask me.”
The two stood in silence, Faust’s mind all over the place. So many questions of what could have been, what they could have done, but also if it could be done considering Emmé’s observation. Faust however was trying to find an inkling of an idea of how to break this to Karyn, who must have been suffering this whole time and then some.
It was true that they couldn’t save everyone. Emmé and herself may be powerful, but they were still not gods. Immortal – or perhaps rather ageless – they were, but they were still fallible and could make mistakes like any normal person whether it was human or non-human.
Faust knew though that it hurt every time. Whenever they let someone down, and that question of whether they could have done more... especially given who they were. Maybe a spell they should have created by now, or maybe—
“AAH!” Emmé screamed, shocking Faust out of her thoughts. She watched Emmé fall to the ground, and slide backward.
But dragged was the more appropriate term as they saw someone’s hand clamped around her ankle.
“How is he alive?!” Emmé yelled outward, trying to shake him off. Her hands moved to cast a spell, but then she was unceremoniously swung upward and then back painfully to the ground. Faust broke into a sprint, hand outstretched toward the tangled up duo.
There was a twitch from Karl’s ear, and he turned and glared Faust down. She hesitated for a moment as he looked at her with those silver infused eyes, and bloodied face. It was enough for her not to notice until too late that he unleashed a blast from his hand that connected squarely with her and the ground was then a departing guest for her.
Emmé tried to struggle against his grip, and desperately called for any of her magic. Yet it was in vane as she realized she couldn’t help herself especially as he dove back onto her and put her neck into a vice grip with one hand.
It felt like she was thrown up into the air again, but it was only her being held up by her neck as he stood upward. She clawed at his hand, hoping to still maybe find a way out. Even as she tried to even kick and shake out, there wasn’t any semblance of breaking free, the only feedback she was getting was pain and rapidly rising fatigue.
So she could only stare at him as he stared toward her. She wanted to say something, but the grip he was giving her prevented even that. He growled as his other hand was brought upward, but then he flinched and grunted, that hand brought to his head. A glow appeared on his forehead, and Emmé watched as it formed into a new horn on his head with the sounds of bones being tampered with sounding. Aside from the blood on his skin around it, it looked completely new.
As he recovered from that though, he immediately looked back to Emmé. Emmé watched in trepidation as he looked at her, just wondering what kind of monster had been unleashed. Suddenly his grip tightened around her neck, and she felt pain down near her stomach. Her arms fell downward, not able to hold them up anymore. In what felt like a long time, Emmé felt truly afraid.
She gave a weak cough as he tightened his grip further, her eyes closed in surrender.
But they forced open again as a white flash filled her vision despite those closed eyes and she was sent flying again. Though the flying didn’t last long as she felt herself grabbed in magic and set onto the ground. When the light disappeared she found Faust in her true form, holding Karl aloft in her telekinesis as the two left her vision and away from her as she flew off in the distance.
She weakly clung to her chest, trying to force the pain down. “Please Faust…” she begged, “End it.” Her head fell backward, teeth gritted as she hissed outward.
Faust meanwhile focused on Karl, who was thrashing around in her telekinetic grip which she could feel was slipping at each moment. If there’s ever a time now to drain him, it’s this, she decided. With a quick look at her surroundings, finding a small clearing with a ring of trees that would allow enough room for her alicorn body to move around enough. Diving downward, she took a sharp breath as she released her grip. She tried not to wince as Karl yelled outward and plummeted to the ground, it wouldn’t be enough to kill him, but it would still hurt. This may be torture, but… she shook the thought from her mind. She had to focus on making sure she could make this work.
Landing on the opposite end of the clearing, she focused on her opponent. Ignoring all the emotions she wanted to feel at the sight of him getting up in a pained stance, even hearing bones snap back together, she ignited her horn again. Light illuminated across the clearing, and she got another scream as she watched him try to shield his eyes. She had to branch out her magic to shield the environment around him as she funneled more into her spell, turning the whole area blindingly bright and hot.
In Faust’s eyes though, she watched through her magic scan. In the sea of her magic, she found his silver breakthrough eventually. Yet it was barely a spark at this point. She stopped her spell, and then called upon her magic again. Karl didn’t have time to even lower his arms as suddenly the area around him was encased in ice. His eyes still glowed through, but he was unmoving.
Faust stayed alert as she watched. Unlike before there was no reaction right away. Though she could still see that magic of his inside, sparking out feebly to all directions it could. A minute later, the ice began to crack. Splinters soon followed, and after what felt like another minute it finally burst open enough for him to limply pull part of himself out of.
As he slowly managed to pull free and fall to the ground, there was no scream or even growl of frustration. Not even some kind of auditory pain to least convey energy. Karl instead was still, even from this distance Faust could hear his heaving breaths. Without her magic scan, Faust couldn’t even see the glow in his eyes. There was barely a trace. There were traces of burns and ice though on him, not going away.
This is it, she concluded. Human instinct. It’s human nature to fight to the end. That flight or fight, that adrenaline. Do it with your magic! She didn’t relax even as he slid closer and closer to the ground, unable to hold himself up with his own arms and legs. Focused only on that tiny sliver inside him, his remaining reserve.
Then had to hold back a gasp as it ignited into a fire. The fire spreading to his whole body again. The sign of a praecantavitus spell being cast.
Faust flapped her wings, already taking to the air. He’s going to burn himself out fast, but I still need to stay away. Down below, she heard him yell to the skies as his silver cloak flared upward and even over the trees for a moment. She scanned around, taking a quick note of her possible routes she could take. She turned to dive away, and felt pain dig into her back shortly after. She cried out, turning to see that Karl had dug some kind of claws of his magic into her.
She felt her wings go heavy, with each flap becoming harder and harder to keep her airborne. Panic began to come over her, if she was magic fatigued in her true form she wouldn’t be able to even stand. Faust rolled, trying to shake him off. Each second counted, and she forgoed restraint as she whipped around.
Karl however would not let go, and that familiar feeling of emptiness was coming over her. She looked to the ground, still far away, but coming closer. The pain starting to burn, she forced a spell to come outward.
In a flash, Faust felt herself in her human form again as she started to plummet to the ground. Trying to ignore the pain, she concentrated on making sure she could land without much injury. Orientating herself, she let out a yell as found herself face to face with Karl as he was diving toward her.
Thinking quickly, Faust wrapped herself in her own telekinesis, slowing her fall. Yet it wasn’t enough to completely get away from him, as she felt him cut into her legs. She cried out again as it seared into her, and she dropped her telekinesis. She braced herself as much as she could as she fell the rest of the way to the ground, but with her drained magic she felt the pain of impact in almost full force. Tumbling a good distance, she could feel her own adrenaline at work as she forced herself to get up.
Using a nearby tree to help her stand, she began to limp as it was just about creating distance. Even though she couldn’t see him, she could feel him though, as her magic wasn’t coming back despite apparently not being close.
Everything slowed to a crawl as she felt the wind shift. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the color of silver. With no time to try and magic herself out of there, Faust could only dive to the ground. She watched as his claws swiped where she was, and a nearby tree became collateral damage as they sliced right through. The trunk splitting into multiple pieces and careening down.
Before Faust could try to move again, his hand was already clamped around her throat, even feeling his claws dig into her back, with the other hand primed to swing at her. Faust could only look on in horror at him; his clothes were now almost burned away, so he truly looked like an animalistic predator.
She shut her eyes, preparing for the worst. I’m sorry Celly and Lulu.
…
…
“Agh…” Faust dared to open her eyes, hearing that come from Karl’s mouth. The silver cloak had vanished, and once again she was looking into his normal eyes… eyes that were open wide in shock. She felt him shaking, and he was the one who gasped as he lurched up.
She quickly braced herself up to look at what was happening. Karl's legs buckled under him and he fell to his knees, and he was groaning in pain as he clutched his head. Groans turned to pale wheezes quickly as he collapsed to the ground on his side next to her, arms no longer at his head and instead falling limp to gravity.
Faust watched with held breath as he was still, his only movement being his attempts at breathing. His eyes looked like they were glazed over, like consciousness was about to leave him.
Then she watched as his horn began to blacken and shrivel, his pony ears doing the same and the added stripe in his hair fading away. Faust knew this well: Magical decay. Once a magical being’s magic was drained at the cellular level, their body would undergo rapid decomposition due to the loss of energy and the damage to other cells from the draining.
WIth the exception of humans, evident by how none of his seemingly normal human parts of him were untouched. For now though she managed to take a sigh of relief. The most important thing was that he was still alive, and now with his magic gone they could give him the help he needed without interference. It would take some healing, but he would be able to have his normal body—
Faust had to cover her face as suddenly silver motes of magic exploded outward from Karl. They stung like embers as they passed over, but as quickly as they came they floated into the air and just evaporated. She glanced over at Karl, and was shocked to find his rotted pony mutations gone.
She hesitantly got to her knees, feeling her strength and magic come back to her, and reach over to feel for magic on him. Not wanting to risk using magic since that was partly what started this, she opted for just simply trying to sense any aura of his.
When she found none, she almost wanted to just collapse on the ground in relief, but she held off that desire as she got to her feet. There wasn’t time to relax just yet, she had a friend to attend to and also one of her ponies that she hoped hadn’t gone insane in her time alone.
Emmé was finding the ground unusually comfortable. Maybe it was her adrenaline wearing off, or perhaps it was just her trying to not move much from the pain still stinging her. Despite her best efforts they still hurt, but she wasn’t bleeding at least. Right now though she didn’t dare to move unless she had to, but that meant leaving Faust all alone to fend for herself.
She gave a frustrated sigh. For all her talent, being in a position such as this was what she always wanted to avoid. She may have made history, but compared even to Faust she was still an infant in terms of living amongst “mortal beings.”
A flap of wings brought her out of her delirium, and she turn to find Faust in her true form – albeit sized down – land near her. Faust looked tired, but not completely out of it, which was a sign for Emmé that could start to move again.
“Are you okay?” Emmé asked, trying to hold back her desire to curse at the pain still bothering her as she stood up.
“I’m fine,” Faust said. “Nothing that can’t be fixed. What about you though?”
“I’ll live, but this is going to hurt for a while.” Emmé tried to muster a smile, but forced it down as she noticed something on Faust’s back. That something turned out to be Karl. “So… you did it, huh?”
Faust gave a nod. “I did. He’s alive.”
“Well, glad that’s over— wait, he’s still alive?!” she quickly leaned herself over to glance at Karl again, but regretted that as she felt the pain surface back up. Through a strained face, she asked, “How though?”
Faust shook her head. “Honestly Emmé, you were right when you said I try to learn and observe too much. So you know what? I’m just going to not question it for once.”
“Well not me this time,” Emmé said back. “When we can, I’m giving him a lookover.”
“Do what you want, but we still have a distressed unicorn to tend to.” Faust lowered her head slightly, her horn lighting up with magic. As it become brighter, she started to strain slightly. “I think I’ll need help with this.”
Emmé walked up to her, hand placed on her withers. Both of them focused, and in a flash they were gone.