//------------------------------// // THE SMOOZE Pt.4 // Story: The Overworked Alicorn // by BreakDown //------------------------------// THE SMOOZE Part 4: The halls of Faust's tower were almost universally uniform in nature. The flooring was tiled in a simple black and white checkerboard pattern with a well-worn red carpet down the center with the occasional golden embroidery, large sturdy marble pillars lined the halls, the walls were made of a dark wood with the occasional painting, door, vase, potted plant, banner, carving, crest, or suit of armor to break up the monotony of the otherwise unnervingly similar halls. With how similar each hall was, it was nearly impossible for any pony to truly navigate these hallways. The halls were also notoriously long and labyrinthine in nature... or at least many assumed them to be. The truth was, that the Tower moved many of its 'halls' around so as to give the illusion that they went on forever. This method was one of many defenses that had been built into the tower to protect it, and any inhabitants, from invasion. Additionally there were wards built into the tower to protect it, with only one mare keyed into them at any given time. Faust was this mare, and as such she could, in theory, command the tower so as to produce the best path to her destination. In practice the tower seemed to enjoy making things difficult for her, as the ancient mare had constantly found herself wandering through the ever changing halls every day of her life for the passed several millennia. She honestly attributed it to the Tower having developed a 'playful' personality over the years, but also knew for a fact that it was up to something. Gathering Tree-Mane to do its bidding and resurrecting a new War-Helm told her that much at the very least. What the tower's end goal was, she didn't know, but she did know that she didn't like it taking things into it's non-existent hooves... "Ugh, does anyone else feel like we've been walking for months on end?" Rainbow dash suddenly questioned. Faust idly glanced back as she heard several murmurs of agreement from the other elements. Realm didn't seem to care one way or another, though part of being a painting pony was that she didn't have to give a buck about much. The other Alicorns didn't bother to comment, instead they focused on their own conversations. Clockwork was speaking with Celestia about something, Luna was eagerly speaking with Riptide, and both War-Helm and Tree-Mane were silent as they remained behind them. Faust ignored them and flicked her ears back to focus on what Luna was talking to Riptide about. "And that twas how Equestria was founded," the lunar mare finished. Faust frowned at that while Riptide, AKA Queen Aquaria, frowned deeply. "Alright, so before they all made nice you had a bunch of unicorns who bullied the earth ponies into feeding them or they wouldn't raise the sun or moon, and the pegasi pretty much did the same by threatening to hit them with torrential storms?" the seapony queen remarked. Luna grimaced at the gross oversimplification of the... actually, now that she stopped to think about it, that was pretty accurate. While it was true that the Earth Ponies hadn't exactly been 'nice' to either of the other tribes back then, it was also true that they had had it worse than either other tribe before the unification. "Perhaps that isn't the best subject to talk about," Twilight wisely suggested with her ears splayed back. Faust agreed with the little unicorn, she doubted that the sea pony mare would like hearing of some of the worst hate crimes that had come about prior to the founding of Equestria. Faust idly paused that thought and arrested her movements, eyes wide when she saw a long stretch of hall, bits of blank ink staining the walls and floors and creating eerie symbols all over the place. "Whoa, what happened here?" Pinkie Pie questioned. Faust was silent for a moment as she felt a flash of memory, her anger sending her into a blind rage as she chased the ponies out of her tower. She could recall literally seeing red, she could recall their fear, and she could recall how empty she'd felt when all was said and done... She shook her head and brought a hoof to her temple, a few stray tears at the edges of her eyes. "This seems new," Celestia murmured. Faust knew that wasn't true, Celestia and Luna had run into this part of the tower before, but that was back when they were still living with her. She'd been able to hide it from them prior to them stumbling upon it by random chance nearing the end of their stay with her. She also recalled being particularly annoyed when Celestia went looking for the hall, curious about the symbols and what they were. Faust had had to be very very explicit when she told the filly that in no uncertain terms she was not ever allowed to go looking for this place ever again... "What are these symbols?" Twilight questioned as she looked around. Luna hummed in response while Riptide grimaced. "Looks like the written variant of old Equish," Realm idly commented casually. Being one of very few ponies who still knew said language it wasn't too out of the realm of possibility for her to know something like that. Faust merely wished she hadn't mentioned it as she really didn't need them knowing what all this was. Though if he were perfectly honest, she was the one who didn't want to remember what this was and what those symbols meant. "Really?" Twilight asked curiously. The painted pony idly nodded her head and squinted her eyes in concentration. "Yeah... but it's really weird how it repeats the same phrases over and over," the painted pony noted aloud. She then felt something on her back and looked up at a shadow, only to see Pinkie Pie had hopped on her back and looked down at her with a wide grin on her face. "Ooh, what does it say?" Pinkie Pie questioned cheerfully. Realm yelped and looked at the pink pony warily as she suddenly appeared in front of her. She still wasn't sure what she made of the strange pony quite yet. But regardless she shifted in place and looked at all the different symbols with a frown. As she did Faust also looked at the symbols, flashes of the past dancing in her vision. Flashes of her own inky black hooves carrying her across this floor and leaving the symbols in her wake as she went, while her wings had been flared and dragged ink across the walls, leaving those symbols there. "I think it mostly says... 'Get out'?" she admitted with a raised brow. She then paused at another set of symbols and shivered, "Oh and 'leave me alone' too," she added. She didn't notice one of Faust's wings twitch or how her eyes were shadowed by her bangs. "Jeez, did someone vandalize the place while I was away or what?" the painted pony questioned with a look to Faust. The ancient mare mutely looked at Realm, her eyes decidedly dull and listless, before she continued on her way without comment. "Okay," Realm murmured while Twilight hurried to the ancient mare's side with a concerned look at the much older mare. "Are you alright?" she questioned. The elder pony didn't respond beyond a quiet nod as she continued forward. Twilight paused and looked to Celestia with clear concern on her face. The off-pink alicorn frowned and trotted ahead to the elder alicorn's side. "Faust you seem tense are you sure you're," she began only for Faust to abruptly stop. "We're here," she stated suddenly. Celestia blinked and turned to look ahead, only to see a plain wall in front of them. "What, but there's nothin' 'ere?" Applejack noted with a confused frown. Realm idly rolled her eyes and fixed the orange apple mare with an amused look. "You do remember that Faust can make runes and the like, right?" she questioned and got a nod from the apple pony in reply, "well among many other things that includes runes that'll create illusions and the like," she explained. Clockwork idly nodded his head in understanding and clicked his tongue. "Makes sense given how well known she is for them," he mumbled mostly to himself. Faust herself ignored the lot of them as she put her hoof down on a specific tile. Instantly a number of runes started to appear on the wall, before they vanished and a large iron door appeared before them. "Whoa, that thing is huge!" Rainbow remarked and received several nods of agreement from her friends. Rarity on the other hoof softly hummed and rubbed her chin as she looked at the strange door. It was large, made of iron, and aside from that was relatively bland and boring in her opinion. "Bit drab though," she noted. She got looks from some of her friends while Faust walked forward and placed her hoof against the door and sighed. A second later there was a shimmer of magic as another series of runes were washed away and a hole appeared in the center of the door. Faust stepped back from the doorway a moment later and then narrowed her eyes on what she knew was the keyhole to the tower heart's chamber. "Really hate having to summon the key," she murmured as her horn lit with crimson magic. A moment later there was a flash as an oddly intricate clockwork device appeared floating before her. "I hope Breakdown didn't need to walk anywhere for a bit," she mumbled under her breath as she pulled the key to herself and placed her hoofs on the sides of it. She then turned one side until their was a click and let go of the odd device. It started to shift and change out of her hooves, taking on a new shape and dimension as she reached out to pluck it from the air once more. "What's that?" Twilight asked curiously. Faust glanced at her and then turned her eyes back to the device as she turned one of the segments on it and it began to shift and change on its own. Twilight watched it with clear interest as it continued to change, until finally the mechanics of the key halted and Faust hummed as she turned it around with her magic. "Key to the Heart Chamber," she replied shortly as she continued to fiddle with the key. "Huh, is it me or is that key too small for all those transformations," Clockwork remarked as he trotted over to the mare with clear interest alight in his eyes. Faust glanced at him only once and then turned the center most segment of the key and caused a large spike to shoot out of one end while a pair of handles opened at the other end. "Done," Faust murmured as she lifted the key with her magic and then put it into the keyhole on the door. She then turned the key and their was a sudden sound of turning tumblers while the key turned on its own and sank inside of the keyhole where it vanished from sight. A moment later the iron door started to open, plates and segments shifting about before revealing a large open chamber. It was wide open with a red carpet leading within, the walls seemed to pulse with blue energy while large marble pillars lined the room alongside six statues of ponies and what appeared to be a glowing number of crystals on the center of the ceiling and floor. "Oooh pretty!" Pinikie stated as she hopped passed Faust. "It is quite lovely," Rarity noted then focused on the statues around the room. "Though pardon my curiosity Darling, but whom are these statues depicting?" she questioned. Faust glanced at them and sighed tiredly. "My friends," she whispered as she trotted to one. "This was Firefly, the best flyer and stunt pony in all of Dream Valley," she stated with a soft smile. Rainbow flew over and grinned when she saw the confident looking pegasi in question. "Sweet, this is that pony who made that one trick right?" she asked. However Faust had already turned and teleported to another statue, and giggled when she saw her. "Here's Surprise, literally the most surprising pony any pony could meet," she began then sighed, "Spike had the biggest crush on her," she noted with a shake of her head. Pinkie bounced over and looked at the mare, only to rub her jaw with a frown. "Huh... she actually doesn't look that much like the wonder-bolt named Surprise," the pink party pony noted to herself. As she did Faust vanished in another crimson flash and smiled warmly as she looked at the next statue. "Applejack, or Jackie as we called her, was the first of the Apple family, a bit clumsy at times but an honest and true friend all the same," she noted. Applejack, of the present, walked over and looked at her ancestor and smiled. "Heh, looks like 'ah might get mah looks from 'er," she noted as she saw a great deal of similarities between them. Aside from their manes and tails, they did look nearly identical. Although the 'original' Applejack had a different cutie mark. Faust smiled softly for a moment and then flashed to the next of the statues. "Posey, the local gardener and schoolteacher, the kindest pony I knew back then," Faust noted and Fluttershy flew over. She paused when she saw Posey, who oddly enough looked like herself if she'd been born an Earth Pony. Fluttershy actually smiled at that. "She looks nice," she remarked and Faust idly nodded her head. "She was, and patient too, she was actually a lot like that Cheerilee mare in Ponyville," the ancient alicorn admitted. Fluttershy blinked at that and then slowly nodded her head. She could kind of see that, although mostly just because Faust had called the other mare a 'school teacher'. A moment later Faust turned and flashed to the next statue, this one she looked at with a strange look on her face. "Twilight the Wish Granter, who gave up her wish so that others would come true," she stated. Rarity approached this statue and paused at the sight of the other mare. When she'd first heard the story of this particular mare she'd actually imagined Twilight herself, or perhaps even her mother, yet Twilight the Wish Granter looked like neither. Her mane was wavy and messy, much like many of the other 'original elements' actually, and her cutie-mark featured a much greater number of stars than Sparkle and Velvet. Still, it was clear to Rarity that the mare in question was quite lovely, not to mention she had a more... mature charm to her than Twilight Sparkle did. "My my, she seems a bit older than the others," Rarity noted aloud and Faust nodded her head. "Aside from Majesty she was probably the oldest of us. She was the one who had to try and keep every pony else from doing reckless or stupid things, not to mention all the times we abused her wish granting ability," Faust remarked with a sigh as she rubbed at her temples with her hooves. Truth be told it'd been Glory, Firefly, and Spike who'd abused that ability far too much for her liking. After the first time they found out her magic tended to mess with selfish wishes one would think ponies would learn not to make silly selfish wishes but nooooo... "Wait you did what!?" Rarity all but demanded. Faust sighed in response and nodded. "Yeah, turns out if you make a 'selfish' wish around Twilight it would be granted but there would be a horrible consequence to it," she explained and Twilight popped over beside them. "So it's like the story of the Monkeys Paw?" she questioned curiously. Faust frowned in thought for a moment and then nodded her head. "Huh... is that the actual origin of that saying, 'be careful what you wish for'?" Twilight questioned curiously. Faust idly nodded her head and then turned around to face the crystals in the center of the room and anywhere but at the last of the statues. "Yes, but for now we have more important matters to attend too," she stated. As she did she flapped her wings and flew to the center of the room and looked over the crystal structure. Meanwhile Twilight frowned then turned from Rarity and instead focused on the last of the statues around the room. She didn't know why Faust seemed to have ignored it but the little lavender mare was curious who it was and so approached it. As she got closer she could see that it was a tall willowy mare with a cutie-mark which resembled sparks of some kind. Twilight didn't know why, but something about the mare seemed almost... familiar to her. "Princess Majesty," Celestia noted from behind Twilight. The lavender mare gave a start and then turned to see her mentor offer a gentle smile, "Faust's mentor and the original element of Magic," Celestia explained. Twilight blinked and then turned back to the statue with a grimace. 'Oh wow, I... don't really seem like much when compared to her,' she thought with her ears folded back. While she was far from ugly, Majesty was quite simply gorgeous. She was just as tall and willowy as Luna and had a long horn as if she were an alicorn as well, on top of that there was an almost regal look to her despite lacking any regalia aside from the crown on her head. "Celestia, Twilight!" Faust called out. The two turned and the ancient alicorn bade them come to her with a wave of her hoof. Teacher and Student stepped away from the statue and made their way over to Faust as she raised a hoof and flicked it above the crystal on the floor. Instantly there was a beam of light was sent up into the other crystal formation, between the two of them another holographic model of The Tower appeared, but to the side was a number of rooms seemingly turned into a perfect circle with four rooms coming off of them. "Looks like the tower took a few preventative measures," Faust murmured softly. "Really?" Luna questioned curiously. Faust idly nodded her head. "It's taken all of the places The Smooze has already infected and separated them from the main body of the tower to prevent it from infecting more," she explained and then clicked her tongue. "So moving the Smooze is possible, but we'll still have to push it out of those rooms," she remarked. Clockwork hummed and tapped his chin as he looked over the map. "Or we could just delete them and let it fall into the leyline the towers keyed into," he remarked. However Faust scowled in response. "So you're telling me you actually want to find out what happens to the Smooze when it infects a Leyline?" she questioned snarkily. Clockwork grimaced and then shook his head in response. "No no, I'm just worried you and the sisters won't be enough to move all this," he replied. Faust snorted and then narrowed her eyes. "Celestia and Luna will focus on the Coliseum and armory, I'll handle the Smooze in the Simulacrum Chamber, Twilight will have to take the Smooze in the Storm Chamber," she responded. Twilight blinked and looked askance at the ancient mare. "M-Me?!" she all but demanded. Faust idly nodded her head as she focused on the map. "B-But I've never done anything like this before!" she called out with clear concern. Faust fixed the little lavender mare with a flat expression. "You moved an Ursa Minor on your own," she reminded her. Twilight felt her eye twitched violently in response. "The Ursa was nothing like this!" she responded. "It was sleeping at the time! I didn't have to fight it to push it like I will to move something like the Smooze! Not to mention the fact it's endlessly expanding which could therefore overpower my with sheer mass if it wanted!" she exclaimed as she started to hyperventilate. Faust mutely flew down and then looked Twilight in the eye. "Twilight you're going to be fine," she assured her. The lavender mare scoffed. "How can you," she began only for Faust to quickly interrupt her. "Because I have faith in you," the ancient alicorn stated. "You've been through too much for me to think you can't do this," she responded with a soft smile. She then looked to Celestia with a pointed look, "I mean you and the others have been through more than enough to inspire a great deal of confidence, I mean c'mon look at your track record!" she stated and tapped her hooves together to count. "There's taking on Discord, Nightmare Moon, a Dragon, Sombra, the alicorn amulet, the changelings and the changeling queen," she listed with a slight smirk. Celestia groaned as she did and brought her hoof to her face. "I think we get it already," the solar alicorn grumbled. The levity of the moment was short lived however as Clockwork cleared his throat to draw their attention. Faust glanced at the stallion with a raised brow and he pointed to the map and made an observation. "Uh, Miss Faust, if you're pushing the Smooze then who will be controlling the tower?" the clockwork stallion questioned. He glanced at the transparent representation with a frown and Faust flew up to it. "Its simple enough to work while in this room, all you have to do is move the map pieces to move the actual sections of the tower," the ancient alicorn remarked as she did just that. To give a demonstration she literally reached out and removed the hall from outside of the heart chamber. Instantly the door to the chamber shimmered and a glowing field appeared to block their path out of the room. Faust then reached to the side and grasped one hall, specifically one that lead to the Gallery, and placed it to the chamber. Upon doing so they saw the field of magic at the entrance to the room vanish and the interior of the gallery appear beyond it. Upon seeing this Rainbow Dash surged to the door and then reached out through the doorway with a hoof. She blinked as it passed through and then hopped into the gallery. She took a moment to trot around and then grinned widely. "Okay I gotta' admit, that's kind of awesome," she declared as she trotted back into the room with a wide grin. Faust rolled her eyes in response while Realm walked to her friend and sighed. "With that door there," she mumbled and then looked up, "Faust I'm heading back to my painting," she stated. Faust glanced down at her, but it was Pinkie who shot to her side with a concerned look. "What! But why?!" the pink pony questioned. Realm idly opened a wing and then sighed. If one looked close enough at her wings one might notice how they were starting to discolor and crack. Realm could notice it, she could feel it happening to her and so inhaled a breath through her nose and turned back to Pinkie. "Cause I can't be out of my painting for too long or I dry out," she responded. She then folded her wing against her barrel and looked at Faust curiously. "You going to be alright?" she questioned worriedly. The Ancient Alicorn silently looked at her friend and gave a singular nod. "Good," Realm stated and trotted to the door. She paused at the doorway to turn back to the other ponies and gave a wide grin. "It was a blast meeting you all, hope we can see each other again real soon!" the painted pony exclaimed as she then hurried into the gallery and vanished into the distance. As soon as she was gone the field reappeared at the door and Faust quickly switched it to a different hall. "Aquaria," she whispered and glanced at her 'niece' of sorts. "Would you happen to have any rings I could borrow?" she questioned. However before the sea-pony could reply Clockwork held up five rings with an amused grin. Faust blinked in surprise at that and then frowned deeply. "Spoiler?" she questioned. However Clockwork gave a slight salute with his hoof and she rolled her eyes. "Right then, every pony else will stay behind," she murmured as she started to enchant the rings. "What! But I can," Rainbow began only for Faust to fix her with a deadpan stare. "Do absolutely buck against the Smooze since you can't so much as touch it," the ancient mare told her bluntly. "Jackie and Pinkie are in the same boat, Rarity doesn't have the power or constitution to help, and Fluttershy needs to look after those flutter-pony eggs," the mare remarked as she hummed. "War-Helm, I want you Aquaria and Tree-Mane to keep the little ponies safe for us while we're working on getting rid of the Smooze," she explained as she finished enchanting the rings and then sent a few of them over to Twilight, Luna, Celestia, and Clockwork. "What are these?" Twilight questioned. Luna hummed as she looked over her ring and clicked her tongue. "If we are not mistaken then there seems to be some form of binding enchantment upon these bands," she murmured and turned the ring all around. Her eyes squinted as she tried to make heads or tails of the few runes on the rings. Her sister however, who was very well versed in runes hummed softly. "Indeed," Celestia noted. "I believe it's a combination of a binding enchantment, speech rune, and mind rune," the alicorn remarked and then made a soft nose. "I see, so it's a way to communicate with each other then," she realized. Both Luna and Twilight looked from Celestia up to Faust who placed her ring around her horn and nodded. "Yep, back in my era my guards came up with the idea," the ancient alicorn drawled out and smiled. "Being around me as often as they were they were some of the most creative ponies in my entire kingdom so they came up with a lot of crazy ideas. This version of one of them was used by unicorns obviously, while the earth ponies and pegasi used earrings. Essentially these rings are linked together and allow us to project our speech to one another over a relatively great distance," she explained. She then tapped at her chin after a brief moment of thought, "though to be fair they're useless outside of a mile or so," she admitted. "Okay," Twilight mumbled and then frowned, "why don't the Equestrian Royal Guard have something like this?" she questioned. Celestia shrugged in response. "We've simply never had a situation where they might be useful," she admitted. "Given the relatively short distance in which this kind of artifact is actually functional it's safe to say they could only be used within... well the limits of a single village or a section of a decently sized city," she remarked. Canterlot, Manehatten, Cloudsdale, Los Pegasus, and even Ponyville itself were all fairly big so even then it wouldn't be that useful or even practical to outfit all of the guards in all those cities with them. "Not to mention the cost of making them," she added after a moment of thought. "But," Twilight began only for Clockwork to put a hoof to her mouth. "Now miss Sparkle while I'm sure you can think of quite a few ways this could be used to the betterment of the royal guard, we do have to keep our priorities straight," he reminded the little lavender mare. She frowned for a moment then nodded her head in agreement. That said Clockwork removed his hoof from Twilight's mouth and turned to Faust. "So, given you gave me a ring as well I'll hazard a guess that I'm helping in some way?" Clockwork questioned as he took one of the rings. Faust mutely looked at him with a frown. "You knew to bring the rings, so you have to at least have an idea of what is happening," she reminded him and he held up a hoof. "Not entirely true. You see Spoiler told me to keep the rings on me but not exactly what they were for," he began then grinned cheekily, "The git has a nasty habit of only giving me some of the story some of the time," he admitted. Faust raised a brow at that, then shook her head with a sigh. 'Of course Clockwork would find a way to annoy himself,' she thought to herself. However with a shake of her head she focused on the map of the tower and brought a secret passage to the Coliseum portion of the tower to the doorway. The magical field at the doorway vanished as she did and a dark tunnel appeared beyond it. "Celestia," Faust began with a look at the off-pink mare, "this passage leads to the coliseum. I know its a bit of a tall order but I'm confident that you can clear it out on your own," the ancient alicorn stated seriously. Celestia blinked at the off-hoofed compliment and then nodded her head. She looked to Twilight with a smile and then hurried off into the passage. As soon as Celestia was gone Faust moved the rooms once more, this time bringing up a passage that would lead to the armory. "Luna, this one's to the Armory," the ivory alicorn stated. The lunar mare nodded and ducked down for a moment before she then launched herself into the passageway. Once Luna was gone Faust reached out and moved the halls once more, this time bringing up one that was linked to the Storm Chamber. "Twilight you'll have the Storm Chamber," Faust began and then sighed softly, "Out of all the rooms that the Smooze covered thus far, this one is by far the smallest, I'll also be able to contact you with that ring if you happen to need me at anytime while dealing with it down there," she explained. The little pony nodded her head and Faust smiled softly, "With all that said I'm confident you'll be fine," she stated. Twilight looked pensively at the mare for a moment only to look to the side as Rainbow patted her withers. "C'mon Twilight chill, if Faust believes in you then you know we've got your back," the prismatic pegasus declared with a grin. Twilight looked from the rainbow maned pegasus to the rest of her friends. "Y-you really think I can do it?" she questioned softly and Rarity scoffed. "Of course darling," she stated and smiled, "of all the unicorns I've had the privilege to meet in my life, I can say with confidence that you are by far and away the most powerful," she replied. Twilight smiled softly and Pinkie and Applejack both came over to the mare. "Can't say I know many unicorns, but I do know you and I know you'll give it your all sugar cube," AJ stated and Pinkie bounced around her friend with a wide grin. "Yep yep yep! If anypony has the potential to do something like this it would have to be you Twilight!" Pinkie exclaimed while Fluttershy nodded her head. "You did manage to fix that one bridge when it was breaking, and this can't be too dissimilar," Fluttershy remarked. The admission caused Twilight to blink as she'd forgotten about that. Then again she'd also tried not to think too much about that whole Mare Do Well incident anymore. Regardless she smiled brightly and brought all of her friends in close for a hug. As the elements hugged, Faust tiredly turned to Clockwork and waved him over. She needed to show him how to change the magical signature to match that of the Flutter Dust if only temporarily so that the Smooze wouldn't stick. Of course that was only one reason she choose to focus on the situation at hoof. Another was her memories, they were coming back and she wasn't able to stop them. The more her memories returned, the worse she felt. She could recall her actions and how poorly she had handled them, and she could recall all the ponies she'd hurt. Worse still that... thing... she'd become hadn't been idle after the ponies were banished. It was still there for well over a hundred years and she could recall every last moment of it. Every last moment of the seething burning blinding hatred that'd been her life for hundreds of years. She wondered, if only briefly, when that hatred had fizzled out and she'd returned to being just Faust. Yet as she did her eyes were left shadowed by her mane, hiding the fact they had started to turn a familiar burning crimson from the little ponies around her. As she worked a sudden stray thought hit her, and it filled her with a sense of worry and dread. A thought about that hatred from back then, and all the anger she'd felt towards ponies in general... 'Did it ever really go away?' she considered with a sigh... The Crystal Empire was beautiful, albeit in Breakdown's opinion it was a bit too opulent. All the crystals kind of gave him a headache and he was of the opinion that less was more. Perhaps it was due to his... unique nature... or maybe just because he didn't need much to be comfortable or happy. Whatever it was, he didn't often visit the empire if he could help it and much preferred to stick to the main territories of Equestria. It didn't hurt that his mental map of the empire was decidedly lacking and in his line of business that could be a very bad thing indeed. Thankfully, the 'crystal palace' was easily visible even from a distance, so he didn't need a mental map of the empire to find where he was going. He flapped his larger than average wings to get a burst of speed as he approached the palace. He got the occasional look from the crystal ponies as he went by. Despite being open to equestria and commerce, only a rare few pegasi had migrated to the empire, partially due to the fact the empire was always sunny and clear. What little variation in whether they did have was primarily controlled by the magic of the crystal heart. As a result the only pegasi seen in the empire lacked a weather based cutie-mark and trended heavily to guard work instead. Breakdown hummed as he considered how the crystal ponies felt about the 'war-ponies' as they were often known in the empire. The name was due to a number of reasons, but the major one was just them assuming that pegasi hadn't changed since they vanished a thousand years ago. In ancient times the pegasi had been at war with the Griffons on and off for centuries, and some of the traditions from that era had stayed with the tribe up until the reunification during the Wendigo incident a thousand years before. As such it wasn't too difficult to see why the crystal-ponies thought of pegasi in such a way. It also explained the looks he was getting when he stopped to think about it for a moment. He was a very lightly armored pegasi riding around on a cloud for seemingly no reason. They must've thought the sight was beyond strange and wondered what he was doing. If it were any other time he'd simply hop off of his cloud and trot to the palace, unfortunately he had a bit of a problem. It seemed that Faust had decided to abscond with some part of his indoskeleton, so now he couldn't move his back legs even the tiniest bit. Granted she probably needed whatever she took but it was certainly a major inconvenience for the messenger pony. Sometimes he wondered if keeping an eye on Celestia and Luna for Faust, not to mention maintaining all the runic arrays she used to monitor the writings in the kingdom, was worth the hassle she put him through. When he wondered about it, he reminded himself that he technically owed her his life, not to mention his continued existence, and so sucked it up and continued on anyways. Sure she was a bit of a taskmaster at times, but she was better than some ponies he'd known over the years. Plus he only really had to check on the arrays once a decade, and the princesses were thankfully very sedentary so keeping an eye on them wasn't too difficult either. The biggest hassle of it all was... He paused his thoughts as he approached the palace, he lowered himself till he hovered a foot off of the ground and came to a halt at the front gates to the palace. Two pegasi guards stood across from him, Shield Breaker and Lance Striker if he wasn't mistaken. The two raised their brows as the brown stallion lazily raised a hoof in salute. "Package for Captain Armor," he drawled out. Shield Breaker frowned and narrowed his eyes. "Proof of identity," he stated. Breakdown internally groaned and then turned his head to pull a bit of paperwork from his saddlebags before hoofing them over to the guard. The stoic gaurd looked at the papers for a moment before he nodded his head and then seemed to relax. "Everything seems to be in order," he noted while he hoofed the papers back to the brown stallion. Breakdown stowed his papers away while the other guard looked at him strangely. "The buck are you doing on a cloud like that?" he questioned. Breakdown glanced at him lazily and sighed. He couldn't say that his 'real boss' stole some part of his body for some reason without any warning, not only would that get him thrown in jail for treason he wasn't sure what they'd make of his boss pulling something out of him... Instead he decided that the simplest explanation was also one that put him in a decidedly... lazy light... meh, he was already considered a procrastinating lazy bum anyways, it wasn't like reinforcing that stereotype would hurt his rep any. "My back legs fell asleep," he replied. Both guards shot him a look and he cleared his throat. "So would one of ya mind getting Shining, I figure he'll want this before the sun sets," the brown stallion questioned as he tapped the package. Lance nodded and turned to enter the palace. As he left Breakdown looked to Breaker and hummed quietly, idly kicking his fore-hooves back and forth. "So... anything new happening up here?" he questioned. Breaker looked at him then snorted. "I am not at liberty to talk of such things," he replied bluntly. Breakdown's ears folded back against his head and he muttered to himself in a language the other stallion couldn't understand. "What was that?" he questioned. Breakdown mutely rolled his eyes and smirked. "Griffish," he replied crisply and then looked down at his fore-hooves. He began to murmur to himself in 'griffish' as he considered how things had gone thus far. He'd been given a package to deliver as was his duty as Royal Courier, he'd had a talk with Mort before he'd set off, ran into those crazy Bomb pirates again, managed to escape them, lost some part of his body that Faust had likely needed for some reason, and now he was waiting for Shining to get his package. Of all of that, the wait was by far the worst part. He didn't mind being busy, it was when he was bored that he became really annoyed. He paused those thoughts as Lance returned with Shining armor on his tail. The blue maned, white stallion spotted Breakdown and smirked. "Downs, how's it going bud?" the stallion questioned. Breakdown scowled at the use of the nickname, he honestly and truly hated that stupid name! He'd prefer iron-hoof or something, at least then he could think he was tough! "Fine, just don't call me that," the brown pony replied crisply. "This is for you," he stated as he hoofed the stallions package to him and held out a clipboard with a pen. "Sign here," he stated while pointing to a line, Shining grasped the pen and did as bade only for Breakdown to flip the page over, "and here," he continued. Shining frowned and rolled his eye as he signed the papers once more, only to narrow his eyes as Breakdown flipped the page over once more, "and initial here," he finished. Shining grunted and did as bade before he put the pen back in its place and Breakdown slipped the clipboard into his saddlebags. "So," Breakdown began after a beat, "what's in the box?" he asked curiously. Shining looked at him and shook his head. "I like you Downs, but I do have to keep my kingdoms security in mind," he told the brown stallion plainly. He then patted the pegasi on his withers and grinned. "But how 'bout you hang around and we can chat, I've kind of been curious whats happening down in Equestria," he admitted. Breakdown frowned, then glanced back to where his hind-legs remained motionless. He considered leaving for only a moment before he through the idea away. "Sure, I should wait for my legs to wake up before I head back home anyways," he admitted. Shining raises a brow at that then rolled his eyes. "Whatever Downs, c'mon," he stated and trotted into the palace. Breakdown followed on his cloud, ignoring the looks he got from the guards as he followed after Shining Armor. However as he did he suddenly halted and a cold shiver raced up the length of his spine. Given his unusual physiology this was decidedly not normal. The brown stallion idly glanced back as the doors to the outside closed, a pit formed in his stomach and a shudder rocked his body. 'Something bad is coming,' he realized, his eyes narrowed before he hurried after the captain... Twilight was a smart pony, she knew this and always attributed it to how well read she was. Despite this she did not believe herself to be a genius, she merely believed that, again, she was incredibly well read. She could dictate near anything she had read from nearly any book she'd seen from Starswirl the Bearded's magical theories to Haycart's treatise on ponies. She'd used this ever expansive knowledge to help herself make sense of the world around, to help her keep calm in the face of any possible situation... Unfortunately she consistently found herself falling into more and more ludicrous situations as of late. 'Between an ancient possessed alicorn mare, monsters from the everfree forest, a changeling invasion, a chaos spirit, one of my friends being possessed, more changelings, and a crazy adventure that feels like something straight out of an Oubliettes and Ogres campaign I think I've cornered the market on ludicrous situations,' the mare thought to herself. She paused at that thought, only to giggle then smile to herself. 'I bet Faust would love to play O and O,' she considered. Given that her sphere of influence was 'creativity', and her extensive knowledge of monsters and beasts, the lavender mare just bet that Faust would be an absolute monster of a GM at her favorite RPG. Still she was already on a crazy mission and she didn't need the distraction of considering what an O and O campaign in Faust's tower would be like. 'Though that does still sound kind of awesome,' she admitted to herself. She shook her head of the thought and continued through a secret tunnel into the room she was to clear of the Smooze. She was still a little nervous on whether she could do it or not, given how the Smooze had completely wrecked the Elements of Harmony and one could forgive her lack of confidence. This was an entity that'd shrugged off the most powerful magical weapons Equestria had known, fear and worry were allowed. [Twilight, it's Clockwork can you hear me?] a voice came through the 'mind-rings' Faust had enchanted. Twilight gave a sudden start and then sighed as she calmed. The rings were impressive, and Twilight still didn't understand why the Royal Guard didn't have something similar that they could use to keep in touch. At the very least they could be used by the field commanders to keep in touch with his or her troops while they were out and about on missions. [Uh, Twilight?] Clockwork questioned. The said lavender pony shook her head and sighed. "Sorry, I got a little lost in thought for a moment," she finally replied. [Its no trouble, happens to the best of us after all,] Clockwork replied. "So what'd you need?" the lavender pony questioned. [I needed to tell you that Celestia and Luna 'ave already reached their destination,] Clockwork responded briefly, [Also Faust seems to be taking her time... no idea what 'at's about,] he admitted. Twilight paused and looked up with concern. "Is she okay?" she questioned and heard a soft click. [I'd say she is... she's just taking a bit long to get to the Simulacrum Chamber,] he replied. Twilight raised a brow at that and wondered what was wrong with the ancient pony. She'd been in such a hurry before, why slow down now? [In any case you should get a move on so we can finally get rid of this purple sludge,] Clockwork added. Twilight nodded her head in agreement and quickly hurried down the passage to the chamber she'd been 'assigned' to clear out. She hurried forward and then paused at a large circular grate on the floor. 'This must be it,' she internally decided and focused her magic on the grate. It was with a great deal of effort that the pony managed to lift and shove the grate to the side. She gave a soft exhale when she did and looked down into the 'storm chamber' which was supposed to house Arabus in a jar as well as all the old 'storm calling' instruments used by Pegasi in ancient times. 'I really need to ask if Faust has a book on that old custom when this is all over,' Twilight decided. 'If for no other reason then to document something that had otherwise been lost to time,' she noted with a firm nod. A few other things like Pictomancy, Glyph use, and who knew what else also came to mind on that front. 'Ugh... so much lost knowledge so little time,' Twilight thought as she rubbed at her temple with a hoof. If she thought about the sheer amount of lost knowledge that was stored in the tower, she was sure she'd go a little nuts. Most likely she stage a coup with the sole purpose being spreading the knowledge of the tower back to the ponies of equestria or something. She snorted at the thought and shook her head, 'It'd be funny... but I'm not that crazy,' she decided. She then exhaled a breath and leaped down into the storm-chamber. She caught herself in a magenta glow of her magic and then gulped. "Alright Clockwork, I'm in the storm chamber," Twilight reported. [Excellent, Faust has reached the Simulacrum chamber as well, I'll change the tower halls to match the flutter dust now,] the stallion replied swiftly. Twilight internally hoped that he hurried, while she could float with her magic she wasn't sure just how long she could sustain it for. 'My last test showed I could stay aloft for approximately twenty minutes before I tired out and had to sit down,' she reminded herself. She was thus thankful when the walls started to glow with golden light only a moment later. Unfortunately that thankfulness was short lived when she saw the 'Smooze' start to twitch and move as a result. "Um Clockwork I think the Smooze noticed!" Twilight said with concern. [Aye, Celestia and Luna reported the same, but Faust still isn't talking,] the stallion replied. [Unfortunately there's nothing for it, Twilight. Just do your best to make yourself a place to set down,] he responded. The lavender pony internally agreed and with a sudden deep breath she then focused her magic. She concentrated on the far part of the room, away from the door where the Smooze was coming from. She then pushed with all her might and gritted her teeth as the Smooze fought back against her. She grit her teeth and then pushed with all her might and saw a small space open up. 'It's risky to set myself down there... but I can't stay in the air and push this at the same time!' she thought through gritted teeth. As such she shot to the open ground and pushed back against the Smooze with as much magical force as she was able. However the sheer mass and size of the Smooze allowed it to give just as much effort and caused her to struggle just to keep it back from the small area she'd already cleared out. "Ugh... there's too much! I can't..." she gritted out as she pushed against the Smooze with all of her magical might. Still the Smooze pushed back against her and she was forced into a stalemate. [Twilight,] the voice of Faust came, she was quiet but also her voice lacked the usual levity that Twilight had come to associate with her. Instead she was stone serious and spoke in a measured tone. [Remember when I taught you to feel the magic?] she questioned. Twilight internally nodded but was concentrating too hard to respond. [Don't speak, just listen,] the alicorn ordered. Twilight was more than happy to do so. [I need you to feel the magic around you again, concentrate on it,] Faust ordered, the lavender pony did as bade, feeling the surging currents of magic around her aside from her own caused her a momentary distraction. The Smooze took it and pushed forward, Twilight gave a yelp as she pushed back with double the force and gritted her teeth. [You feel it right? Now I need you to grab hold of it,] Faust ordered. However Twilight huffed and gritted her teeth. "I-I can't! There's j-just t-too much of the Smooze!" she grit out, "If I don't keep it back it'll get me!" she stated urgently. Faust sighed in response and told her calmly. [Then make a shield,] she responded. "What!?" the lavender mare demanded. [Make a shield around yourself,] Faust responded once more. "B-But what about...?" she began only for the ancient alicorn to interrupt her. [Don't argue,] she ordered. Twilight gulped and licked her dry lips before she pulled her magic inwards and formed a shell around herself and the ground below her. The Smooze instantly surged forward and swirled around her. The purple-grey goo twisted and mocked her with numerous temporary eyes staring down at her in clear amusement. [Now Twilight I need you to trust me,] she heard the voice of the ancient alicorn, [do you trust me?] she questioned. "I-I do but," she began only for Faust to interrupt her once more. [Don't, just don't... stay calm, just listen and you'll be fine,] Faust replied with an unnerving amount of calm. 'Is she struggling at all?' Twilight had to wonder. Though granted Faust was an Alicorn, there was a certain amount of power involved with being one, added to that was Faust's sheer age, she'd likely learned more than Twilight would ever know... [Now keep your shield up, but block out all other distractions,] Faust began and Twilight did as bade. She folded her ears back and closed her eyes to keep the sights and sounds of being in a bubble of... 'Don't think about that!' Twilight ordered her mind. [Now, remember what I taught you at your library, feel for the magic around you, find it and hold onto that feeling as tightly as you're able,] Faust began. Twilight did as told, feeling the surge of magic rush into her once more, but focused at her hooves where it was the strongest. "I-I feel it," she responded softly. [Good, now you know the feel of your magic,] she began. "I do," Twilight responded. [Alright, then change the feel of your magic to match that of the magic around you,] the ancient mare ordered. Twilight frowned at the request, unsure of what that meant. "But... how?" she tried to question and Faust sighed. [Relax, but concentrate, you need to feel the way that your magic shifts and moves within you,] the ancient alicorn began. [Then feel how it moves all around you,] she continued and Twilight inhaled a breath. [Finally, control the flow of your magic, from your horn to your hooves, and manipulate it to move like the magic around you,] she finished and then all went silent. Twilight exhaled a breath as she slowly lowered herself to her haunches and, eyes still closed, she felt the arcane energies all around her. She first focused on herself, and finding what the magic within her felt like. It took some time, a minute or more which felt more like an eternity, but eventually she managed to get a grasp on what it was that the ancient alicorn had been trying to explain. Her magic did have a certain way it moved, a way that it swayed and bent, it was actually a funny feeling, almost like dancing. She felt her body relax as, slowly, she became to the feel of her magic, no where near as intense as it was when Faust first showed her how to feel it. While in no way used to the feeling, she could definitely see herself growing to like it if given time to study it. Though her eyes remained closed, Twilight began to see. The world around her became dark, yet not entirely unwelcoming. She briefly noticed that she seemed to be glowing, but paid it little thought beyond that. The air was free and endless and she felt herself move about it almost as if she were swimming. She had to move against current which seemed to come from the ground, pushing up and against her. She focused on the currents, followed them into the depths of this strange world, and there she saw it, a glowing sea of pure ethereal color. Twilight marveled at the side of it for only a moment, before she touched her hooves against the ethereal sea. She had no words to truly describe it, though vast seemed very fitting, she had nothing that she could actually call it. Then she felt something prickle at her mind, like a stray thought but different all the same. 'Aether,' a word suddenly appeared in her mind. She paused and looked all around herself, 'Aether' the word was oddly fitting somehow. Twilight didn't know why and didn't question where the word came from. Instead she inhaled a breath and sat down once more. Her eyes closed and she focused on matching the feel of her magic to that of the 'Aether' surrounding her. She sat there silent, she ignored everything around her. She ignored the soft whispers in her mind, all of them telling her the secrets of the arcane and so much more. While curious of what exactly was going on, the urgency of the Smooze made her decide better of trying to understand... for now. Instead she felt the aether as it twisted and moved beneath her hooves and focused on the magic within herself. First she calmed the torrential sea within herself, and then she focused on stirring and guiding it along the same currents as the world around her. As she did her horn began to glow and her eyes, now a brilliant luminescent white, began to open... As this happened within the aether, Twilight's physical body began to relax. Glowing white marks began to form and spread across the length of her body. They formed into delicate swirls and twisting curls that began to dominate her lavender coat beneath her armor. They formed into what could only be the unique shape of wings at her withers, and trailed down her back before terminating at her flanks. Slowly both her horn and the shield around her body began to turn a brilliant white. Only then did Twilight open her eyes, no long the violet they normally were, instead the pupils and iris of her eyes had turned a stark brilliant white in color. But unlike when she had used the Elements of Harmony, this time they were focused and clear. Her eyes narrowed as her horn began to glow brighter still and a sudden pulse of magic was emitted by her body. The pulse knocked the Smooze back a short way, and as it recovered, Twilight stood up on all four hooves. She watched as the Smooze gave a sudden warble and surged towards her, however she shot into the air and flicked her horn. A white barrier formed between her and the Smooze and the purple-grey sludge slammed into it yet was unable to move the barrier at all. Twilight felt something twitch at her sides as the glowing white marks on her back suddenly spread out, forming into an ethereal pair of wings. They gave a single beat while the white magic began to twist around her and she pushed it all forward and towards the door. The Smooze gave a shudder as the little lavender mare managed to push it back. She landed on the ground, ethereal wings flared as she marched forward with silent grim determination. She put one hoof before the other while her magic wall pushed the Smooze back, farther and farther before it shoved it out of the storm chamber and into the halls of the tower. Twilight continued to march forward, and as she did she took note of the golden and midnight colored magic which contained the Smooze and continued to push it back. She paid it little heed as she gave a sudden shove with all the arcane might she could muster and sent the Smooze surging back. She exhaled a breath as she walked out of the room, ethereal wings still flared and marks glowing brighter and brighter. She walked into the hall and spotted Celestia and Luna, but how could she not with how brilliantly their magic was glowing, even within a place like the Tower. "T-Twilight?" her mentor questioned, the shock and surprise visible in her voice. "Sweet Moon above," Luna whispered as the lavender mare walked forward. "Faust wouldn't," Celestia breathed as she approached her student. Twilight was silent as she continued to march forward, the pale-pink alicorn waved a hoof in front of her face only to groan. "She did," she muttered and brought a hoof to her face. "I can't believe her! She knows how dangerous learning to do this can be for a pony!" she growled. Luna grunted as the Smooze pushed back on their magic, with Celestia distracted only she and Twilight were putting their full effort forward. Despite Twilight's sudden boost in power it was not enough for the two of them to hold the Smooze back on their own without losing ground. "Tia! You can complain about Mother later, focus on the Smooze now!" the midnight mare ordered. Celestia inhaled through her nose and nodded in ascent. She then turned to face the Smooze and focused her magic to push it back. With the other alicorn's help they slowly began to push and shove the Smooze back farther and father, closer to the room at the end of the hall. As they went Luna stole a few glances at Twilight and noticed her body seemed to literally be cracking. Cracks of glowing white were forming at her hooves and along the length of her horn and sparking erratically as they continued to push the Smooze back. As much as she would like to say otherwise, Celestia was right about one thing. Faust had definitely made a mistake in teaching this to Twilight. Pulling magic out of the Aether was already hard enough, but actually using it? If that weren't bad enough Twilight was pulling magic out of the Aether and using it to push the Smooze back. Unfortunately her body wasn't ready for the kind of power she was channeling, and she could clearly tell that she was straining to contain all that power. While her spell was using a tremendous amount of magic, the rest was physically tearing Twilight's body apart in an attempt to escape her. 'Mother, what were you thinking teaching a pony still so young something like this?' Luna wondered to herself, then focused on getting rid of the Smooze, so that Twilight could rest... preferably before her body gave up and she became a part of the Aether herself. Though on the subject of her mother, she had to wonder where she was. While the Smooze had been shoved out of the Simulacrum chamber some time ago, the doors had closed and they hadn't heard from Faust at all. Luna desperately hoped that the elder alicorn was alright, but inhaled and focused on the Smooze all the same. Priorities after all, the Smooze was the biggest threat in the tower. Though if she or Celestia had bothered to look back at the Simulacrum chamber, the sight of black ink slowly seeping out from beneath its door might've convinced them otherwise... TBC...