> A Creator's Gambit
>  by KaBar42
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> My Name Is...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Creator's Gambit
Chapter 1

I stared down at the meandering creatures. Just wandering around the planet, their lives, so mortal, so fragile, so pathetic. I could kill them all with one thought if I wanted.

So, then, why was I so bored?

For thousands of years, I kept my eye on them . Helping them when they needed it, and watching their adventures.

But it was so peaceful. Not that it's a bad thing, of course. I don't want to see my wonderful creatures die. But that's how life goes.

But, here, on Anima, the ponies controlled the weather. Nature stayed within specific confines and the majority of times if someone died from a wild animal, it was completely their own fault.

I'd been to Earth several times, sometimes even going down there and interacting with the Humans. It was just so much more interesting there than it was here.

Especially Eire, although, I may have made a few of them think I was their Goddess by accident...

I mean, I am a Goddess, but not their Goddess.

In fact, there was this one incident where I met a handsome Gaelic village chief... I'm just going to not continue that. Let's just say that's where Gaelic red heads come from.

It has been a while since I was there. Last I was there, I was in a city called Boston, and a group was protesting about a tax on tea...

I made up my mind, I shall go back there.

I check the world one more time. The lands of Anima flash past me instantaneously, I can not see any imminent threat, Anima will be fine if I leave it alone for a day.

With one thought, Earth appears before me.

I smile.





The biped glanced up from his position on the ground, his body prone and his face having previously been in the… well, it seemed like a nonexistent ground, but it was definitely there.

“Whoo! Well, that was a close one! Wasn't it?” He looked to red-haired beauty that was speaking, the same red-haired beauty that had gotten him into this mess.

“You!” He shouted, springing from his prone position and pointing an accusatory finger at her.

“It’s your fault this happened! Stay away from me!” He finished.

The Redhead took it in stride, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

“Oh, pish-posh. Sure I may have… damaged your physical body a bit. A lot.” She paused mulling over her options. Her hand lifting to her face. A bright light emanated from her body, blinding the biped as he brought both arms up to cover his eyes.

When the light dissipated, he removed his arms, only to see that instead of the beautiful redhead, there was now a redheaded unicorn/pegasus, horse/dog thingy standing in front of him.

“Ah, always feels better to be in this form.” She said.

“Holy shit!” The biped exclaimed as he backpedaled and tripped over his own feet, landing on his ass. “A talking horse!”

“Pony, thank you very much.” the “pony” responded.

“I don’t care!” The biped responded back.

“Any way, none of this matters. What does matter is that I accidentally broke your body, a bit.” the pony began.

“ A lot!” The biped yelled, standing up to his full height, which was only about a foot more than the pony, staring her in the eye.

She nonchalantly continued her sentence. 

“As I broke your body I have a proposition for you. Oh! Yes, I nearly forgot,” She held her hoof out. “My name is Faust.”

The biped stared at her hoof suspiciously. However, he reluctantly put his hand out and met her hoof.

“My name is-” He was cut off by Faust.

“Yes, I know who you are. Now allow me to continue.”

“Well, fuck you as well.”

“Now, my proposition is this, seeing as I broke your body, I will allow you use of my body on my planet.”

Silence reigned as the biped soaked in the information.

“What?” He questioned.

“Simple, my dear Human.” Faust explained. “I will put you in my body for one month, in that time, your body should have healed with my help. During that one month you will be in my body and I will be watching you, just in case.”

“Absolutely not.” The biped sternly said, crossing his arms across his chest, closing his eyes. 

“Oh? So I suppose the gold I was going to give you as recompense.” The biped opened one eye, but his face remained stern.

“Still, no.”

“So not even twenty gold bars, and forty gold bars for your brother, who I happen to know is fighting a very large legal battle for custodial rights for his daughter, who was granted to his ex-wife? The very same one who is also accusing him of rape?”

“How did you…?”

“ I know everything, and I also know that your brother’s innocent. And since I know I’m right and would have the moral grounds to do it, I may also be able to whip up some… video proof that he’s innocent.” 

The biped mulled over this. His brain going over the pros and cons of this.

“Fuck me. Alright! I’ll take your offer. So I guess go ahead and send me to whatever planet you come from.”

“Not yet, my dear child,” Faust began walking around the seemingly nonexistent room. “As there are a few… conditions to this proposition.”

The biped groaned, covering his face.
“Oh god, what now?” he asked.

“You see, I’m bored. And this wouldn’t be interesting or fun for either of us if I just sent you down there with past knowledge. So, you will be an amnesiac.”

“What!”

“You will be an amnesiac, but, you will have my powers and my abilities, and you will know the basic, how to walk, how to talk. And this shall begin immediately!”

The biped had no time to respond as a hole of light opened below him, sucking him through, yelling all the way.

“Good Luck, my child!” Was the last thing he heard as his vision went black.





I woke, slowly, my vision turning from a solid black. Intense light flickered in as I blinked, attempting to clear my eyes.

I rolled over onto my belly, having previously been laying on my side, I stretched out a wing.

Wait, wing? I looked back, and sure enough there was a wing. Two wings, actually. I experimentally stretched the other wing. I was a bit clumsy in stretching it out, and it was a bit difficult to hold it, but I eventually managed to hold it out.

I clamber to my hooves, hooves? I look down. These don’t seem right. I feel like I’m missing something. 

I look around, a clearing in a forest, did I fall asleep here, I certainly don’t remember falling asleep here. 

Actually, for that matter, I don’t remember my name. What was it?

“Fiona?” I say out loud to myself. No, it didn’t sound right. I knew it began with an F. “Francine? Felicia? Fleur? Faith?” No, none of those sound right.

“Faustinne?” I question. Yes. That one sounds better, but it still doesn’t sound right.

“...Faust?” Yes! That had to be it, it sounded right.

So, my name is Faust. That’s… all I know. 

Oh well! I suppose, at least, it’s a start. I look to the treeline, and decide to go in a south-western, hopefully the right way.

This was going to be a long trek. 





I stumbled out of the bush, kicking a loose tree branch off my leg. That wasn’t… too eventful, I suppose.

Somehow, my long mane of red hair stayed straight and clear of debris.

I looked ahead of me, clearly a town and where I was, devoid of people.

I would have to wander into town, not that far of a walk, as I walked between two small buildings. 

Ah! There. Two female ponies, one cream colored and the other a turquoise blue, talking to each other. They were quite a bit smaller than I was. Maybe they could tell me where I am. They weren’t paying attention to me. 

“Excuse me? Ma’am?” I yelled.

“Uh, yes, how can I-” She stopped as she turned around and caught sight of me. As her eyes expanded in shock.

She quickly prostrated herself in front of me, her friend doing the same as soon as saw me.

“Q-queen Faust! T-thank you for gracing us with your presence, your Majesty!” The cream one said, struggling to complete the sentence.

I could only stare in shock.

“Uh, if you could tell me what town I am in, that would be lovely.” I said.

“O-of course, Your Majesty. You’re in the humble town of Hollow Shades. We thank you for gracing this humble small village with your Divine Presence, Your Majesty.”

“Right, well, I guess I’ll be on my way then.” 

“Your Majesty, please wait.” The Blue one spoke up as I turned to leave. I turned my head to face them.

“Yes?”

“Please, allow us to take you the Mayor so we may have a feast in your honor.”

“ But I’m not ev-” I was cut off as my stomach growled.

“Well, I suppose I am hungry.”

The turquoise pony hopped up, her face gleeful.

“Please, then. Your Majesty. Follow me.” She said as she began walking in the opposite direction.

The two mares and I weren’t very far from the heart of the town, and there were, progressively more and more ponies. All of them bowing as I walked and they caught sight of me. As we reached the town square, it seemed as though everyone caught sight of me instantly. And it made the town square look live a massive wave of multicolored ponies.

Making our way through the square and to a rather humble and to a building that looked a like a large size, not a government building. The turquoise pony knocked on the door.

“Mr. Mayor! Mr. Mayor! Please come immediately, there’s royalty here!” She shouted. Royalty? What did she mean?

I heard a few knocks and slams, a few crashes as well.

“Royalty! Who is it? Celestia? Luna? Will they finally grace their presence around here so I can complain about funding to this town?” I heard through the door. 

The door opened inwards. as an old looking pony stared out, not seeing me at first. He was a green color, with gray hair and a beard. He was holding a cane and wearing glasses. “Has one of them finally decided to grace this town with their pre-”

His jaw dropped upon noticing me.

“My, my Queen!” He spoke as he attempted to bow, his back cracking as he attempted to lower himself to the ground. I voiced my concerns.

“Please don’t hurt yourself for me.”

“Nonsense, if I can bow for your daughters, then I can bow for you.” Daughters? Doesn’t matter right now. Save it for later.

I knew that there was nothing I would be able to say that would stop him.

“Okay, just be careful.”

We all waited for him to finish the bowing motions. After about  a minute of resting in the bowing position, he pulled himself back up.

“Now! Onto celebrations! Turquoise, go tell the farmers! Tell the cooks! Tell everyone!”

The turquoise pony, named turquoise,  how original. And I was led off by a crowd of cheering ponies.





The mayor turned to a pegasus standing beside him, wearing a small mail satchel on his side.

“Go, Feather, go and tell the Princesses that their mother is back.” The mayor said.

Feather prepared to take off, before the mayor stopped him.

“Also, find out when my piano is going to be delivered.” Feather nodded and took off. 


> Of Hospital Beds and Strange Times 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Creator's Gambit
Chapter 2

Sitting in the elevated hospital bed, the young man who was covered in bandages as though he was a living mummy stared at the TV. He watched the screen intently, as it showed a creature that looked like a parody of a horse with white fur and a red mane and tail, along with a horn and wings. Said creature was conversing with a significantly smaller creature who was, although of similar shape, was a different color, and had neither wings nor a horn. 

The young man repositioned himself in the hospital bed, letting out a sigh, as he laid his head down. With a groan, he stated:

“He is taking way too long… let’s speed this up.” The man grabbed the remote that had been lying near his left leg and raised it up to the TV. He pressed the fast forward button as the images sped up on the screen. 





It was just another day in the Equestrian Court System. Celestia sat on her throne, sneaking a bite of cake as she listened to the noble, of whom she could not even remember his name, drone on about a law that would require all tea to be mixed with pink food dye. 

Celestia didn't particularly understand his reasoning, nor did she really want to hear it. She had already decided that she was going to deny the petition, but it was professional courtesy to allow the speaker to finish. Of course, if he went on for too long, there was always the Lord of the Floor to stop him. 

However, the Princess knew that the noble still had five minutes left before the Lord of the Floor would stop him. And already, she was bored by his argument. However, this was soon to change. 

A commotion was heard on the other side of the great doors of the throne room. Several shouts were heard from guards, but Celestia heard one that stood out. It was not the voice of any of her normal guards, but a stranger’s voice. 

“Sorry! I can’t stop! I literally can’t slow down! I don’t know why!” As this sentence was finished, the great doors burst open. As a pegasus crashed into the crowd of organized desks that were on the main floor. The pegasus tumbled as she attempted to stop herself.





“Ah, here we go!” The bandaged man said to himself with joy evident in his voice. He pressed the pause button and then hit the play button. 





The pegasus came to a rest at the foot of the throne, her back facing Celestia. Replacing the previously speaking noble who had dove for cover after the doors had burst open. Resting on her haunches, the pegasus was still for a moment, as the courtroom was silent. The little pony slowly looked over her shoulder, realizing where she was. 

She shot up and repositioned herself so that she was bowing to Princess Celestia. 

“Your majesty!” She squeaked out. She attempted to level her voice, and went on. “I apologize for the rude interruption and hope you’ll forgive me. But I come bearing urgent news from the town of Hollow-Shades. Queen Faust has blessed us with her presence.” 

At the mention of the Queen, the entire courtroom shot to attention. Including the previously slouched and very bored Princess Celestia. 

“Continue.” Celestia spoke, doing her best to hide whatever excitement was building up in her. 

“The Queen graced our humble town with her appearance, asking for its name. The mayor ordered a feast in her honor and tasked me with informing the Royal Sisters of their Mother’s return.”

That was proof enough for Celestia, as she disregarded all royal procedure and shot out of the throne room. As she was making her way to her sister’s room, the excitement of seeing her mother again began to take hold. But there was a small question in the back of her mind.

“Why would her mother ask for the town’s name?” However, the excitement quickly pushed this thought out of her mind. 





“I really must insist, Mr. Mayor, that all of these preparations are not necessary. A dinner would have just been fine.”

The Mayor waved his hoof.

“Nonsense!” He said. “You are the Queen and we must prepare festivities that are fit for a Royal of your standing. As such, a stage for the royal table must be present!”

Faust lowered her voice, as she mumbled out a statement to herself.

“I still don’t know what you’re on about. I’m not a royal.”

Or, at least, she thought it was to herself. 

“Oh! Always so humble, my Queen!” The mayor stated, his head held high. However, he quickly turned around and yelled to the workers who were constructing the stage. 

“Hurry up! The Royal Sisters will be here soon! I want that stage constructed before they arrive!” At the Mayor’s prompting, the ponies sped up the construction. 



 

“Luna, I know you’re excited, but you must slow down! If not for my sake, then for the sakes of poor guards!” Celestia shouted at her sister, in an effort to slow her down. 

And indeed, several hundred meters behind them, the two groups of guard, Solar and Lunar, struggled to keep up with the Alicorn siblings.

“Why would we slow down? Mother has finally come back and the guards can catch up to us. It’s not like we need their help anyway. Besides, we’re just a few minutes from the town now! We can’t slow down!” Luna yelled back to her sister. 

“Luna, if we’re going to fly this fast, then you need to pay attention to where you’re going!”





Faust stood upon the newly constructed stage, hesitantly hoofing the wood, unsure of its structural integrity. After all, it had been made in about an hour. She might not have been an expert in stage making, but that just didn’t sit right with her. 

“Are you… are you certain this stage is safe?” She asked the Mayor. 

“Of course! I wouldn’t dare put the Queen on something I didn’t trust my life to! Now, if you would, a podium has been placed right there, please feel free to practice your speech as we wait for your daughters to arrive.” 

Faust raised her head, her eyes widening. 

“Speech! What speech?” She questioned. 

“Why! The Royal Speech! It is tradition for visiting royals to give a speech to their gathered subjects as a way to open the feast. By tradition, it is the oldest royal present who gives the speech. And since you are the oldest of anyone, there is no one to outrank you!” 

“Did you just call me old, Mr. Mayor?” 

“A wise pony once said that it is the greatest honor of all to have grey hair. I mean... obviously you can’t have grey hair, but the point is still there. And the pony kind of… died before he had grey hair… ” 

“Damn this charismatic mayor.” Faust thought to herself. She began to move to the podium where she would improvise her unprepared speech and hope it worked out. 

However, luckily, or perhaps unluckily for Faust, a shout came from above.

“Incoming! Look out below!” As a blue streak came plummeting from the sky. She landed on the stage, where the abnormally sized planks that are big enough for an alicorn to set all four legs down on at the same time, combined with shoddy construction equalled sending one surprised Faust who had no intention of flying, flying. 

Luna popped her head up from under the stage, as she looked around confused, while Celestia landed gracefully on the stage.

“Where’s mom?” Luna questioned, as she continued to pivot her head in search of her mother. 

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” A scream sounded, but quickly died down.

“What was that?” Luna asked, her face the very picture of innocence.





“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH” Faust screamed as she floundered through the air, with the grace of a whale attempting to do ballet. Her hooves flailing around in the air, fruitlessly attempting to grab something to halt her fall. Of course, as this is the sky, there was nothing for her to grab. 

Despite the fact that she had been gaining altitude, she realized that she was now losing it and falling. As she flipped several more times, she realized she was going to land in a field. 

A field, which oddly enough, happened to have a brick wall built exactly where she was about to land. 

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME!” Faust yelled, as she impacted the wall at high speed. The wall itself crumbling, and covering her in bricks. 



 

This time, Luna landed much more gracefully in the field that she had accidentally catapulted her mother into. She noticed a pile of bricks, but could not see her mother anywhere. 
Behind her, a light flashed as Celestia teleported the crowd of ponies who had been at the stage and herself to the scene. 

“Luna! Where’s mother?” Celestia asked her younger sister, who was looking around, once again, in search of their lost mother. 

“I don’t know!” She replied. “I landed here and all that was here was this pile of bricks. But I’m absolutely certain this is where mother landed.” 

Before anyone else could reply, the pile of bricks began to move, as a large figure removed itself from the mess. 

Faust stepped down from the pile, evidently shaken as she attempted to find her footing. She stumbled several times. And when she finally found her balance, she yelled:

“I’m fine! I’m fine!” As the crowd of ponies looked on in amazement. 

However, as she finished her sentence, another shout was heard. 

“Look out below! Incoming!” It wasn't even a second after this sentence had been spoken that a piano fell directly on top of Faust’s head, bringing her down to ground, cold. And smashing the piano into hundreds of pieces. The pile once again covered Faust, with nothing but a horn and a twitching hoof sticking from it.

“My piano! My piano!” The mayor cried, as the crowd of ponies, and the Royal Sisters, unanimously turned to him and gave him a dirty eye. 

The mayor nervously cleared his throat, as he realized all eyes were on him. 

“Ahem, I mean… My Queen! My Queen!”

Before anyone else could say anything, another cry was heard. 

“My wall! My wall!” An orange earth pony, with a comb-over blond mane in a black suit with a tie wailed over his destroyed wall. The crowd of ponies, the Royal Sisters and the Mayor turned to this pony and stared angrily at him. 

A young mare from the crowd called out: 

“Will you stop building those stupid walls everywhere? It’s not like they do anything! I can just walk around them!




The bandaged man repositioned himself once again. 

“Well, that was interesting, but he’ll be out for a while. So let’s see what’s going on with Earth right now.”

He flipped the channel to a new channel. Where a man standing at a podium with a blond comb-over, wearing a black suit and tie was speaking. 

“I will build a great wall -- and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me -- and I'll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words."

A nurse poked her head in at the sound of hearty laughter. She realized what was happening when she saw the young man who quickly stopped laughing and grabbed his chest in pain.

“Oh, fuck, that hurt.” 

> Feathered Mistakes, A Maze Of Terror
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Creator’s Gambit

Chapter 3

The mummified patient continued his daily routine of doing nothing besides laying in his bed and watching TV. He would occasionally flip through channels to ameliorate his boredom. Of course, this patient wasn’t normal… considering the fact that he was actually a she as well as an omnipotent horse goddess with wings and a horn who had gotten so bored with her planet that she came to Earth and then proceeded to cause an undisclosed accident which left the body she was currently possessing utterly maimed, with the exception of two fingers on its right hand. Which she was currently using to manipulate the buttons on the remote to the room’s TV to flip through channels.

The channel she was currently watching was a TV series about a marine being stranded on an alien planet after he was nearly killed in Afghanistan.

She watched as the scene in the show unfurled. The marine had just meandered his way into a cave full of the planet’s natives that had been enslaved by other natives. And, of course, since the show had been made by an overly patriotic American, the marine then proceeded to utterly massacre the slavers. Because it went against his morals. After he had killed the slavers and released the slaves, the scene switched to one of the slaves he had released, a father with his newborn son. A son the marine had to resuscitate. The newly freed former slave watched as the alien dropped the injured ring leader of the slave ring down from a precipice to a waiting crowd of the slaves he had abused as well as the planet’s version of law enforcement. Without saying a word, the marine then turned around and walked off to make his escape from the natives, pausing only to slowly look back. As the freed natives looked at him in awe.

The mummified patient paused the TV as the nurse walked in.

“How are you enjoying the show, Mr. -” As the nurse said the patient’s name, a maintenance worker stopped his cart too abruptly in front of the patient’s door to his room. Which caused an unbalanced piece of equipment to fall over and slam on the ground, obscuring the sound the nurse had made that was the patient’s name.

“Sorry!” The maintenance worked apologized to no one in particular.

The nurse looked back to the door and raised her eyebrow. But decided there was nothing she could do about it so she turned back to the patient and saw the show he had been watching.

“Oh!” The nurse’s face lit up. “I remember this show when it first came on in 2014! It was really popular for two seasons! People really wanted it to continue, but the produce just up and left! He left a lot of people disappointed!”

“Ah! Man! How disappointing, I was really looking forward to the next episode! Eh, guess I’ll just have to find something else to watch.”

The patient flipped the channel, he had reached a new channel. They were discussing the president. The news anchor began leading into the story about him.

“The Secret Service is currently investigating odd emails sent directly to the president’s secure email. Through leaked documents, it is revealed that the emails sent to him is coming from someone who claims to be the queen, formerly princess, of an unknown nation and demands, multiple times, for the president to cede control of the world over to her. Sometimes even threatening him and his family with extreme violence. For some odd reason, the president plays along, explaining to the unknown person that he does not have the authority to cede control of anything over to her, much less the world. At one point, she offers to allow him to keep control of California in return for everything else. The President then sent an email insulting California. He states: “And even if I could, why would I? No one wants California, I hate that state!” California politicians are up in arms in regards to the statement. In other news, the eighteen year old marine who went missing in Afghanistan in 2014 following a mortar attack on his position has been found alive. More on that at eight.”

By this time the nurse had left. The patient took this opportunity to check up on his new toy. Oh, yeah, when the omnipotent horse goddess possessed this body, she had also put the original soul into her body and put her body with the Human soul now in it. on her planet, with her powers but with no memories beyond the basic stuff like walking… as a horse.

The patient flipped the channel and observed a pure white mare, with a beautifully red mane and tail, white wings and a white horn, laying in bed on her side.




Faust lifted her neck and glanced around the room. It wasn’t completely dark, as some sun shone through the drawn curtains. The room itself was surprisingly plain with just a full sized mirror, a desk cut for ponies larger than average, a large window covered by curtains, as well as the bed she was currently occupying.

A bed that was insanely comfortable. Fit for a queen.

Faust moved her head around, taking in the surroundings.

“Wow. It feels like I’ve been asleep for two years.” Faust mumbled to herself. She looked down at the bed she was laying in. “And this bed is amazing, I wonder what it’s made of…”

Her monologue trailed off as a knock on the door sounded.

“Your Majesty, is everything alright in there, I heard you speaking. May I enter?” The person who knocked asked.

Faust looked around once more, then to her blanket covered body.

“Yes, you may.” Faust answered. The door gingerly and slowly opened, as a male pony in armor entered. He was lacking both wings and horn. His mane and tail were a deep blue, almost black. The hair on the rest of his body was red.

Upon entering the room, he bent his front legs and lowered his head and spoke.

“My Queen, it is an honor to be in your presence. I am Lieutenant Cannon. If there is anything I can do for you, please do not hesitate to inform me.” The Earth stallion stated, resolutely.

Faust slipped out of the bed she was in, with the blanket falling to the ground. She looked around once more and then looked at the bed.

She paused, seeming to consider something.

“Actually, Lieutenant, there is something you can do for me.” Faust stated.

“Yes, Your Majesty!” Cannon answered, the excitement obvious in his voice.

Faust raised an eyebrow at the excitement in his voice.

“What is the filling in this bed made of?”

The stallion answered proudly. “Pegasus feathers!”

Faust blanched, however, her white fur hid the paleness extremely well.

“P-pegasus feathers!” Faust asked in shock.

The stallion beamed, not realizing he had spooked the Queen. He had believe he had been of help to her and was proud of it.

“Yes! Only the finest and softest specimens are fit for a bed that is being used by the Queen! As such, we collect them from pegasi who have not yet begun their first preening.”

Faust’s muzzle began taking a green tinge to it, as horrid and gore filled thought swirled in her mind. The stallion did not realize the discomfort the Queen was in and continued.

“We collect them and put them in a machine that mixes them together and then sorts them by color. The parents can sometimes be a bit hesitant to volunteer their children, though.”

The green tinge only grew darker on Faust’s muzzle.

“Children?”

The stallion beamed even brighter. “Oh yes! Pegasi who have not yet begun their first preening have the softest feathers in order to keep warm. The process can sometimes be a bit painful for them, but there’s no price too high for the Queen’s comfort!”

The last sentence was far too much for Faust, as she decided she’d rather jump through a window then be in the castle with child murdering, homicidal lunatics… although her first choice would have been a door, the psychopathic guard was standing in the doorway. So she took the only open path she had…

Through the window.

The curtain that was drawn over the window initially caught her upon running into it, but with the weight of the full grown alicorn queen, it was quickly ripped from the wall, as she smashed through the flimsy glass as well.

The curtain prevented her from unfurling her wings and flying, not that it mattered much, since she couldn’t fly to begin with. She could only pray she was not at the very top of a tower.

In a slight change of luck, she was not at the top of the tower, but rather on the second floor. But the curtain she was tangled in prevented her from knowing this until she hit the ground with a solid thud.

She could feel the pain in her left wing and ribs, as she had landed on her side. She gave a groan, as the air had been knocked from her lungs. She scrambled to her hooves and without paying attention to where she was going, sprinted off into the distance. Whatever it took to put as much ground between these psychos and her.

The guardstallion was left to stare at the now broken window in shock. Was it something he said?

“Your Majesty! Wait!” Cannon sprinted to the window, but could only watch as the Queen sprinted off, all while yelling in apparent terror.

Cannon let his stoicness drop, as he dreamily looked upon the fleeing alicorn. He sighed. Even when she was running in terror, she was impossibly graceful.





The Two Sisters sat in their respective thrones. Normally at this time, Luna would be asleep with her sister having sole occupation of the court room, but she was so excited at the idea of seeing their mother… That and she felt guilty for causing her injuries. They were holding off on announcing that their mother was back, hopeful that she would wake up soon. They did not want to leave her in such an exposed state. But the nobles in the court knew something was up due to the presence of both sisters.

But, court still had to carry on, and as such that meant cases presented to them.
The current case was a noble who was bringing a petition to court. He had been denied a permit to keep an Ursa Major as a pet. And he was now seeking the approval of the Royal Court. Of course, both Celestia and Luna subtly cocked their eyebrows at each other when they heard the noble’s initial petition. And both planned to immediately deny it as soon the noble was done giving his speech. That they both considered dumb and boring.

However, as the noble was droning on, the doors to the courtroom burst open as a guard entered, forgetting the etiquette guards are supposed to follow when speaking with royalty.

“You Majesties! Captain Cannon Fodder sent me with the utmost urgency! Your mother has run away!”

The entire court gasped at the mention the mother of the Two Sisters. And without a word, the Two Sisters shot out of their own throne room, leaving everyone in it behind.

The noble who had been petition for a pet permit for an Ursa Major looked around the courtroom that was now lacking any figure of any authority.

“Uh… so does this mean my permit is accepted?” The noble questioned to no one in particular.





The bandaged patient chuckled.

“I remember Colonel Cannon Fodder, poor boy had the most unfortunate name.”





Faust ran. She ran and ran. Anything that put distance between her and that psycho, Private Cannon. However, she soon came to realize that she was in a maze. A hedge maze. What is with royals and mazes, anyways?

She stopped. If she was lost, she was probably safe from the Private, so she could afford to slow down. Take her time. She looked around, taking in all the options she had. She stretched her wings out, as she looked back at them.
Flying wasn’t an option, for some odd reason, she remembered how to walk, talk and run. But she couldn’t remember how to fly.

She looked upwards, gazing at her horn. For another matter, she also couldn’t remember how to use magic. She knew for a fact that she used to be able to do both of these. She couldn’t remember ever using either, but she could feel it deep inside that she had. She had used them both before.

Since she couldn’t do anything that would help her get out of this maze, she did the only other thing she could do.

She walked.

She walked, as the sun beat down on her mercilessly. She had to have been walking for the better part of the day, yet the sun still beat down on her with no forgiveness.

Sweating bullets, she looked towards the sun with anger in her eyes!

“It’s so hot out here! Why can’t it be night time already! Please!”

Almost as though the sun heard her plea, it travelled to the right and disappeared over the horizon in a mere second, the moon now occupying the spot it had formerly sat in.

Faust jumped back in shock.

“Holy!” She yelled in terror! She was appreciative of the reprieve from the heat of the sun, but that wasn’t natural. Could this day get any worse? First she was taken to a castle that thinks it’s acceptable to grind foals up to collect their feathers for her mattress and now the sun moves unnaturally!

“This day… er, night can’t get any worse!” Faust declared in anger.

“Mother! I found you!”

No.

Faust turned in terror. A pony, only slightly smaller than her, rocketed towards her. But this wasn’t any regular pony…
This was the blue menace that had launched her into the air from the stage the other day.

In a burst of speed she didn’t realize she was capable of, Faust sidestepped the incoming pony-missile, who rocketed straight past her former position and slammed into the wall of the hedge maze.

“Why did I open my big mouth!” Faust screamed as she once again took off in a run. First the psycho Private now this night terror! She began making as many turns as she could, hoping to confuse the terror that was now chasing her.

Faust realized she had to get out of this maze, and quickly. She had busted through the glass window earlier with extreme ease. As such, she had assumed the grass wall in this hedge maze would not pose much of an obstacle.

She ran faster then she had ever run before, at full gallop, she crashed head first into the wall of the maze…

And stopped.

Her front hooves were touching the other side, but her back hooves were suspended in the air.

Faust blanched once more. Her hooves weren’t suspended! She was stuck in the wall of the maze!

She began kicking her back hooves and attempting to pull forward with her front. But anyone with hooves knows this one simple fact. Hooves aren’t very good for pulling yourself forward.

But despite this, she continued struggling, her rear kicking and her front pulling. But the maze held tight.





“General Cannon!” The young private ran up the guardstallion.

“Sir! I realize that you are currently helping in the search for the Queen, but there are reports of three drunken noblestallions wondering the castle grounds and harassing the female staff!

Cannon sighed, rolling his eyes. They were always having problems with nobles getting drunk and harassing staff.

“Where were they last seen?” Cannon asked.

“Sir, they were last seen heading towards the maze!”





This was it. Faust accepted her fate. She was, without a doubt, undeniably, stuck.

She scrunched up her muzzle. She could occasionally see the night terror fly over her, but miss her. This happened several times. Perhaps it was because she was stuck between two sides of a wall, so the wall obscured most of her from the sky.

Whatever it was, she prayed her luck kept up. She had no desire to deal with the night terror. But she was still in a conundrum. She was stuck. She couldn’t call out for help, otherwise the loony Lieutenant or the night terror may find her. But she couldn’t stay stuck, otherwise she would starve to death. But she was also in a vulnerable position.

Her buttocks were unprotected, and should any rapscallions come along, there was nothing she could do to protect herself.
She needed to find a way to unstick herself, and fast. So once again, she began her futile effort of kicking her rear hooves and pulling forward with her front hooves.

As she was busy doing this, however, she heard laughing. Panicked, her ears swivelled, trying to find the source of the laughter. Was it coming from her front? The side? The air?

No… it was behind her.

She felt something touch her rear, as she unconsciously squeaked and her muzzle became a deep red color. As more laughter resounded.

Faust hated her life.





The bandaged patient somehow managed to sit up even straighter in his bed. The real Faust, possessing his body, was seething with rage. Sure, she had given the Human her body to use until his was healed up, and sure she had wanted something interesting to happen. But the audacity of those stallions to assault her! After they had been harassing other mares, no less! And what was taking Sergeant Cannon so long to catch up with them, she could only wonder what was slowing that idiot down so much.

She would show them. Although, she may no longer have been in that world, and she may have been in the body of the crippled Human, her magic was no less powerful.

Those stallions would regret the day they decided today was a good day to go drinking.





“Hey, Straight Arrow, look there!” The stallion slurred his words as he spoke, obviously drunk.

The stallion named Straight Arrow looked at the wall his friend pointed at.

“By the grace of Faust, Midnight, is that what I think it is.”





The patient’s stomach curled at the mention of her name by the stallion.





Luna had been flying over the maze for hours. She had found mother once, but she dodged her hug and then disappeared into the maze. And despite her superb night vision, Luna had been unable to find her mother.

She stopped and hovered in mid-air. Wondering if she should check in with Commander Cannon to see if he had seen any trace of her mother.

As she was about fly away from the maze to find the commander, something hit her in the head.

Catching it with her magic as it bounced off her head, she inspected it.

Not that it needed much inspection, as it was a flashing neon sign that simply said, “Look down.”

Always one to trust signs that randomly fall out of the sky and hit her on the head, Luna looked down.

Her eyes took in the scene.

Her snout furrowed in anger, as her normally flat teeth morphed into monstrous fangs. Her pupils narrowed into slits, not unlike a cat’s eyes.





The patient grinned, although his mouth wasn’t visible under the bandages. Faust sometimes amazed even herself with her genius.





“Man, Onyx. Look at this.” Midnight whispered, somehow, despite being drunk. The three drunk stallions slowly creeped up on the rear of mare. It was obvious she had gotten stuck. And her rear seemed oddly larger than normal. But in their drunken state, the three stallions didn’t even consider the fact that the pony was about the right size for an alicorn.

They did notice the cutie-mark. A full inkwell with a quill dipped in it.

“What do you think her job is? A scribe?” The stallion named Onyx questioned his companions. Of course, had any of them been a little bit more sober, they would have realized that was the cutie-mark of Faust.

Before any of them could answer the trapped mare began kicking her rear hooves, in an apparent attempt to free herself. For some odd reason, as is often the case with drunk people, the three stallions found this hilarious and burst out laughing. The mare soon stopped her kicking. As Arrow giggled and spoke.

“I’mma touch it.” He slurred. And true to his word, he did. And when he did, a squeak sounded from the other side of the wall. The three stallions once again burst out laughing.

Slurring his words, the stallion identified as Onyx spoke.

“Let me.” He shoved his friend to the side and reared on his rear hooves. Taking the mare’s rear in between his hooves, he squeezed.

This had the unintended side effect of the trapped mare kicking him. Because while her front half was trapped, her legs were free.

The stallion went flying, contrary to the laws of physics, where as the mare stayed stuck.

The two companions were slow to react due to their drunkenness, btu they watched as their friend, Onyx, rose from where he had hit the wall.

Slowly sauntering over to where he had previously been, he and Midnight began jeering at the trapped mare.

“Oh, you’re gonna pay for that you… a-ass” Onyx slurred, even more than normal due to the pain he was in. They began advancing on the mare, but Arrow stayed behind. Normally, he would have joined them, but something was stopping him. The hairs on the back of his neck were at full attention, as a freezing wind cut through him. It was odd, it was the middle of the summer, there shouldn’t be any freezing wind.

He could feel eyes, staring into his very soul.

His eyes constricting in primordial fear, his heart beating at a thousand miles an hour. His companions seemed to also get the feeling.

All three of them slowly turned around, and were met with the most terrifying sight they had ever seen.

An ethereal mane whipped in the freezing wind, as the stallion’s souls were torn apart with the eyes of a snake.

“Tell me, Geldlings,” The voice ripped through their very minds, as images of their deepest and darkest fears flashed before their eyes. “Would you prefer for me to kill you slowly and painfully, or would you prefer I eat you and damn your souls to eternal torment?”

The three stallions screamed in innate terror.





“Captain Cannon!” The very same private that had informed him of the three drunk noblestallions once more landed in front of him.

Once again, Cannon rolled his eyes.

“What is it now?” He asked the private. The private saluted and spoke.

“Sir, I know you’re currently looking for the Queen and those three drunk stallions, but staff have also complained about hearing a few little girls screaming in the maze!”
> Making Amends
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Creator’s Gambit

Chapter 4

The three stallions who had been previously sexually harassing the currently trapped Queen were curled up in a fetal position. The weather above the area having become monstrously thunderous as lightning struck the ground seemingly every other second. Rain pouring down as through the Faust herself was crying. The horrendous form of the fabled Mare in the Moon stood tall and powerful above the terrified trio as they silently prayed to the Great Creator for their lives. They would never harass another mare in their lives, they swore in their minds, if she would just grant them this one pity.

As Nightmare Moon lowered her head towards one of the stallions, a sinister smile upon her face. She opened her maw, her gleaming white fangs glistening in the roaring storm.

“These teeth with will look so much better stained red, don’t you think so, Geldling.” Nightmare Moon spat, the question not so much a question and more a statement of intent. That much, the crying stallion could tell from his position.

Before Nightmare Moon could consume the stallion, a thud sounded from where Faust had been trapped. Revealing a now unstuck and dazed white alicorn mare.

“I’m okay, I think. Whoo, that position cuts off a lot of blood.” Faust stated, as she brought a hoof to her forehead to rub it.

Nightmare Moon stared at Faust for a second, her head having risen from trying to consume the stallion. She shrugged and moved back to devour the stallion. After all, he had assaulted her mother, and that could not stand.

Faust shook her head to get some of her awareness back, as she noticed the… well, it wasn’t the blue menace. But it looked similar to the blue menace Faust knew.

What was far more disconcerting, however, was what she was obviously about to do the pony in front of her. Faust’s eyes widened. Sure, they had assaulted her, but they didn’t deserve to be killed for that, or even eaten for that matter.

In a panic, she found her words.

“Stop!” Nightmare Moon was forced to dig her hooves into the ground, as a powerful shockwave hit her. The shockwave sent the three curled stallions flying into a bush wall. They would have most certainly gone farther, had the wall not been in the way.

Nightmare Moon, despite her immense strength, was pushed back through the dirt, as she dug in even harder. As piles of dirt and mud began to form around the back of her hooves due to her movement. Her once free-flowing mane and tail now both feeling as though they were about to be torn off. Her eyes shut tight and mouth grimaced as she tried to protect herself from flying debris.

The storm scattered, as the clouds parted like a sea. The rain that had been falling was thrown, far away. The shockwave continued through the the world, seemingly bothered by nothing. As beings on the other side of the world  would later report hearing the word “stop”. All of the described it the same. A regal, somehow calming voice but holding terrifying and undeniable tone of authority.

The stallions lifted their heads, having been sobered up due to primordial fear, thanking whatever had saved them. Until they realized just what had saved them.

There, right in front of the area that had held the mare they had been harassing stood the Queen. Faust! Their eyes widened in realization at just who they had been assaulting.

Straight Arrow’s already white fur seemed to take an even whiter deathly tone, as Midnight buried his face in his hooves and Onyx looked away in shame.

Faust looked surprised at the power of her shout, as she looked around. The sun was beginning to rise after it had lowered at her request, and the once cloudy and dreary skies were now clear, with no clouds in sight.

She brought her forehoof up to her mouth and cleared.

Speaking in a regal tone filled with motherly warmth that not even Faust realized she was capable of, she rebuked the monstrous alicorn.

“I can not permit you to eat those stallions,” She paused, as she remembered her previous conversations and hoped she was getting her facts right. She also hoped this creature was the Luna she had been informed of and not something else. “I can not permit you as queen as I must enforce our laws, and I can not allow you as your mother because… uh... S...s-tallions are not a good source of nutrition and they would go straight to your hips, little one.”

Nightmare Moon frowned and talked back.

“But mooom!” The once deep, booming and terrifying voice of the Mare of nightmares was now replaced with a voice more akin to a whiny teenager, as Faust struggled to hold back a giggle at the ridiculousness of the voice when looking at its owner. She had to admit, however, the sudden change was an adorable one.

“No buts, young lady.” At this point, Faust realized she was winging everything and merely praying to… someone… something… anything, that it went right.

“But mom, they were assaulting you and that can’t go unpunished! They must taste justice! They were also harassing mares in the castle staff!” Luna tried to reason with Faust.

One of the now trapped stallions shouted from his bush, the terror evident in his voice.

“My Queen! We’re so sorry, we didn’t realize it was you! Please don’t kill us.” Faust rolled her eyes at his statement.

“First,” Faust began. “Whether you realized it was me or not does not change the fact that you were assaulting someone. Second, had I wanted you dead, I would have allowed Luna to eat you.” At the mention of Luna, all three stallions gulped.

“Third,” Faust turned and looked Luna in the eyes. “I agree, they must be punished. However, death is a little extreme.” She walked towards the transformed mare, standing by her side, Faust towered over the transformed Luna in the same way that Celestia towered over the normal one.

Faust tapped the transformed Luna in the chest. “Also, please do transform back” Faust requested.

The Dark mare sighed, as a flash of light shone, then disappeared. Revealing a normal looking Luna, who now barely came up to Faust’s shoulders.

Before Luna could protest being forced to change into her smaller form, a white alicorn landed in front of the group, her face serious, anger evident upon it.

Faust sucked air in through her teeth. Attempting to keep her stoic face but internally panicking. She knew she could handle one of them, but could she handle another, significantly larger than the first one though still smaller than Faust herself, one?

Faust steeled herself. She had to try, at the very least. Preparing to do another bout of yelling to get her point across, she soon found out she didn’t have to.

The serious and angry face the white alicorn had been wearing seemingly melting upon seeing Faust, as she called out.

“Mom!” Her voice sounding like a teenager’s, just a slightly less whiny teenager in comparison to Luna’s. She rushed forward to the Queen, as Faust barely managed to stop herself from stepping back in fright. The white alicorn nuzzled her head into Faust’s neck. Causing the Queen to freeze up.

“We missed you so much, Mom! Where have you been?” The white alicorn mare asked her mother, in the same way that a small child asks a parent who just got back from a business trip. Her wings flaring out from her sides.

Luna, however, protested at the action.

“Hey, not fair Celestia, save some snuggles for me!” Faust found herself with an alicorn on both sides of her nuzzling her neck… well, Celestia was nuzzling her neck, Luna was trying but failing to do so. So instead she settled on nuzzling her side.

The Queen was at a loss of what to do. She had thought the blue one to be a menace who was only intent on harming her by hitting her in the head, whether directly or indirectly, but both of them appeared to be lovebugs.

Suddenly, however, Luna stopped, her face becoming serious and her voice no longer sounding like a whining teenagers.

“As much as I love the reunion, we also have a trio of troublemakers to deal with.” Luna stated as she pointed her hoof to the three still trapped stallions. All three gulped in unison. But, they thought, perhaps Celestia may be more forgiving then Luna. She was, after all, known for her motherly attitude towards ponies.

The three nobles silently prayed, directing them towards the physical manifestation of the Creator, hoping Celestia would just let them go.

“What did they do?” Celestia questioned her sister, wondering what they could have done that was so horrendous it required cutting the snuggle session short.
“I do not wish to speak it aloud.” Luna stated. “But I will whisper it to you.” With that, Luna beckoned her sister to bend down, as Luna put her mouth near Celestia’s ear and raised a hoof in front of her mouth, to shield it from any possible spying lip-readers.

As Luna began her explanation, Celestia’s face remained unchanged. But slowly and subtly, her look of calmness shifted into a look of utter rage.

“I see.” Celestia stated through gritted teeth as Luna finished her eyes up. The Sovereign of the Sun began walking towards the trapped nobles.

“Tell me,” Celestia began, as her mane shifted from the normal flowing rainbow mane and tail violently transformed into a mane and tail of fire. “What makes you peons dare believe you can assault mares, no less my own beloved mother, and get away with?” Celestia’s normal gold regalia took an orange tint, as the jewel in her chest piece morphed into the insignia of her sun. Celestia began laughing much in the same way a villain who was about to deliver an agonizingly long monologue.

The three nobles began crying, as they realized Princess Celestia was far worse than her sister. The now transformed Celestia lowered her head and bared her fangs in a wicked smile. “You three will make a suitable appetizer.”

Faust sighed and rolled her eyes, realizing she would now have to stop another insane alicorn from killing the three stallions. She trotted up to the transformed Celestia, still towering over even her, and lightly hit her in the back of the head with her forehoof.

“Ow!”

“I already told your sister,” Faust scolded Celestia, “No eating stallions. A.) Because we have no laws allowing that. And B.) Because they’re not nutritious and will go straight to your hips.”

“But Thorax’s mom lets him eat ponies!” Celestia whined. Faust rolled her eyes at the childish behavior once more. Leaning in, Faust looked Celestia straight in the eyes.

“Well I’m not Thorax’s mother, now am I, young lady? And are you backtalking me, miss?”

Celestia’s face faltered, as her eyes darted to the ground and she lowered her head.

“No ma’am.” Celestia muttered, all confidence in her voice gone.

“Good, now get out of that silly looking form and wait for me over by your sister.” Faust intently eyed the mare.

“Yes ma’am.” The fire died down as her form returned to normal, Celestia trotted over to her younger sister and sat her rump down.

Faust turned her attention back to the three stallions.

“As for you three…” The three stallions quivered, fearing what was to come. If Celestia and Luna were that angry, just how angry would the Queen be?





Governor Cannon looked on, a surprised look in his face. Three stallions stopping every mare in the castle and profusely apologizing and begging for forgiveness, tears streaming down their eyes. Cannon recognized them as the three nobles who had been reported as drunk and harrassing mares in the castle.

He cocked his eye to the Queen standing next to him, smiling on and watching the three grovel for forgiveness. Her two daughters joining her by her side.

“Just… just what was the punishment you gave them?” The Governor asked. Faust held her smile.

“This is it.” She cheerfully smiled. “I told them they could be sent to the dungeons and locked up and have their family names ruined, or they could get forgiveness from every mare on castle grounds.”

Faust had to hand it to herself. She still didn’t remember being a queen or a mother, but she felt as though she was doing a pretty darn good job at both.





The patient, although you could not tell due to the bandages covering entire body, was fuming. In fact he had been fuming for a while. The alicorn turned Human was still angry at those three stallions and could not believe that the Human turned alicorn had not blasted them to nothingness for their transgressions.

‘Perhaps he has more self control then I thought he did.’ She thought. ‘He certainly didn’t seem to have any the night we met.’

But then the patient realized something.

‘Of course he didn’t blast them into nothingness! Uh dur! He doesn’t know how. I only gave him the knowledge to walk and talk, not fly and use magic!”






Faust turned to President Cannon.

“In any case, we have some serious matters to discuss. First topic on hand. By royal decree I am banning the creation of pegasi feather beds and making possession of them illegal. Get rid of the one in my room.”

“What, but why?” Luna questioned, Celestia apparently still subdued by her mother from the maze incident. “They’re the most comfortable beds in existence!” Faust grimaced at thought.

“I have no desire to see any innocent pegasi foals killed for me.”

Celestia cocked an eyebrow. “Who told you we kill pegasi to make beds?”

“President Cannon,” Faust pointed her hoof at the earth pony. “Informed me of it.” Cannon’s eyes darted around. As he sank underneath the gazes of the Two Sisters.

“Just what have you been telling our mother, Cannon Fodder?”Luna interrogated the stallion.

His head bowed, and his body shaking. “N-nothing, your majesties. She asked me what the bed was made of and I told her pegasi feathers…”

“Why would you think we killed pegasi to make the beds? We just collect their feathers when they preen.” Luna informed her mother.

“Well can you blame her? She’s hit her head twice, once hard enough to knock her out cold.” Celestia responded to Luna, the midnight blue alicorn cringing at the memory.

“So… wait, the beds are not made from ground up pegasus foals?” Faust asked for clarification.

“Oh, heavens no, your majesty!” Canon responded.

Faust brought her forehoof up to her mouth and hummed. “In that case,” She declared, as her eyes took on a sheen. “By royal decree, I declare my last royal decree null and void. You may continue on with your pegasus beds!”

“Well, in any case,” Celestia began walking. “I will need to get a welcome home party started. Luna would you please entertain Mother while I get some-” Celestia stopped speaking, as the walls and floor began moving.

“Ooh, did someone say… a welcome home party?” A voice seemingly laced with chaos cut through the air. Faust and Cannon stood on the path that was now moving although not moving them with their legs spread apart for balance.

Celestia rolled her eyes as she croaked one last sentence.

“Oh, great, not him.” Celestia muttered under her breather as a flash burst in the middle of the room.

This was going to be fun to deal with.
> Dark Hallways, Dark Days
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Creator’s Gambit

Chapter 5

The nurse who had been attending to the mummified patient walked down the hall to her charge’s room. He was an enigma. The night he came in, no one was quite able to explain how he had been injured. Many witnesses have vague memories of a woman who had been accompanying him, but that was as descriptive as they ever got. No one seemed to know how he got injured, just that one second he was fine and the next second he was on the ground injured.

And another thing that shocked the nurses and doctors that attended to him was that whenever they had attempted to speak his name aloud, something would happen to drown the out the sound. Be it a food cart being stopped too quickly, a computer monitor falling from the table, a phone call. As a result, the hospital staff had just taken to calling the patient, Patient X.

And here she was, about to walk into the strange patient’s room, but something seemed off. The entire hall was deserted, and the lights seemed dimmer then normal. As she approached closer, she could feel something, it felt like a build up of static electricity. Her hair began floating. Most people would have noped out right then and there, but she had a duty to check on this patient who was proving to be one of her more amicable patients. She continued to approach the closed door, but as she got closer, she started to hear a chanting.

Now, her accent was a dead giveaway to people that she was an Irish immigrant to the States, but most people didn’t know that she was also fluent in Irish Gaelic. And she swore that was what she was hearing now, except instead of making any sense it sounded like someone was taking a bunch of Irish words and mixing them together. The sentences had no structure, no context and no meaning. It was like someone saying “potato car death life curse red mountain green blue glue” to an English speaker and then expecting them to understand.

A light exploded to the left of the nurse as she flinched, half of her mind was telling her to run away as far as she could as fast as she could and the other half was drawing her towards the source of the chanting… Patient X’s room.

As she neared closer to the door, the entire hospital shook, as though an earthquake was tearing through it. Blue light seemed to emanate from below the patient’s door. More light’s exploded near the nurse as demonic screams began emanating from behind her, pushing her forward in fear. The lights illuminating the long hallway began to pop, one by one, as though an evil darkness was slowly encroaching upon her. She had no idea what was going on in that room, but for some odd reason, something in her brain was telling her that whatever was behind it was safe.

So she did what any self respecting Human would do, she charged towards the door. She was knocked to the ground as once more a quake shook the hospital, opening up the ground, threatening to swallow her. She caught a glimpse into the chasm and saw nothing, a void stared back at her. Never ending. She steeled herself and made a charge for the safety of Patient X’s room once more, as the darkness from the lights being destroyed closed in on the door, soon threatening to overtake the section of hallway the door was in.

She made it to the door and grasped the handle, but it refused to turn, the darkness was nearing towards her, only five lights separated her and whatever was hiding in the darkness. She could feel her heart racing the chanting of Irish gibberish grew even stronger.

Four lights remained.

She began slamming her shoulder against the door, begging for it to open, to protect her from the darkness.

Three lights remained.

With her free hand, she began beating against the door, as the hand grasping the knob shook it violently. Primordial instincts were yelling at her. Telling her to get inside the room, that safety was to be found there.

Two lights remained.

She could feel tears beginning to flow down her face, as Humanity’s inherent fear of the unknown and death began to take hold. Her mind conjuring imaginations of what was inside the darkness. She shook the handle even more violently, begging, praying for any deity to take mercy on her and open the door.

One light remained.

The nurse could swear she heard movement in the darkness that was right next to her, as she glanced in fear at the light above her.

It went out.

As the door to the room opened and she stumbled in. The room itself was perfectly normal, the patient was sitting there, looking at the TV, his white bandages covering his entire body.

The patient looked to the nurse and smiled. “Are you alright, ma’am?” The nurse looked outside the door, expecting to see the demonic darkness, but was instead greeted by the sight of other nurses and patients walking down the hall, the chasm she had seen was no longer there and the lights that had been destroyed were fine. None of the other people in the hallway seemed to have noticed her outburst.

She cleared her throat, and wiped her eyes with upper arms. “Um, yes. Just allergies.” She sniffled a few times as she cleared her throat once more. “Are you doing alright, sir?”

“Oh, I feel like a god.” He chuckled, a smug smirk appearing on his lips, though the nurse could see no malice behind it.

The nurse smiled. “Well that’s good to hear, dinner should be coming around shortly. Please, don’t hesitate to let one of us know if you know anything.”

“Will do!” The patient replied, his voice chipper. The nurse turned around to exit the room, closing the door behind her. She leaned against it and sighed. She decided she needed a cigarette and went off to head to the smoking area on the ground floor.

Back in the room, the patient was mentally kicking himself.

‘Stupid, stupid, stupid. Faust, you know better then that. The mother tongue carries way too much magic in it for Humans to safely bear.”

Indeed, she had taken a glance into the nurse’s memories and saw what she had just witnessed. Very real hallucinations caused by Faust’s angered cursing at the appearance of Discord.

This was a new problem that she’d have to deal with, but. She decided to see how the Human she had sent in her place would handle it. After all, where’s the fun in intervening at every dangerous situation. Of course Faust wouldn’t allow the Human to be hurt… in her world, at least. But she couldn’t just Deus Ex Machina him out of every opposition he came into contact with.

So, against her better judgement, she decided to wait and see how he handled the manifestation of Chaos.





“Discord!” Celestia yelled, charging up her horn. “You’re supposed to still be in stone! The Elements defeated you!”

“Oh, my dear, dear Celly.” The ground spoke, as Faust looked down, wondering just how in the heck ground could move and speak. “The return of your dear mother released me from my prison.” The ground began moving to one point, forming up into a solid, standing mass. As it solidified into a creature Faust had never seen before. A creature seemingly with the head of a goat, the body of a snake but covered in hair, it’s left foreleg that of an eagle, the right foreleg a lion’s paw. The left leg a pony’s and the right a dragon’s.

“In any case, my dear princesses,” The bizarre hybrid creature spoke. “You’ve had your time with the Queen, so I get to have mine.”

A bright flash drowned out the vision of everyone in the room. Celestia stumbled around in shock, as she shook her head, trying to regain vision. As soon as she did, her heart stopped.

Faust and Discord were gone.





Faust landed on the ground, rump first. Losing all balance, her entire body crumpled to the ground. She struggled to her hooves once more and rubbed her rump in pain, hissing. “Ow.”

She looked up to meet the eyes of the hybrid who had kidnapped her, as she quickly scooted back.

“I’m warning you! Don’t come any closer or… or… I’ll, uh, I’ll scream at you!” Faust stated.

Discord’s neck twisted as he moved his face came close to Faust’s contrary to her orders.

“Hmm… You have the body of Faust… but you aren’t her. If I may ask, dear, who are you?” Discord’s eyes narrowed, as he eyed the white alicorn.

To say Faust was terrified would be an understatement. And she herself didn’t know the answer to that question, as she had been certain she was Faust. If she wasn’t Faust, then just who was she?

“I… I am Faust!” She shouted back, whatever confidence that was in her voice was a thin wall, a thin wall Discord could see right through.

“Please, Lulu and Celly were never very intelligent nor clever. They were tricked because of their naivety and wishes to make friends with everyone. Their minds are clouded with the hopes that Mother’s once again come home. I don’t have that problem.” He popped off  his eyes and held them in front of Faust, meeting her eyes. He let go of the eyes and they floated in the air, staring at her. “You may have the body of Faust, but you’re blundering around Equestria, acting a fool! Lulu had to save you, you were thrown into the air and didn’t take flight. You were knocked out by a piano, got stuck in a hedge bush and then thought they made beds out of the corpses of baby pegasi. And you’re still trying to pass yourself off as Faust?” A tuxedo appeared on Discord’s body, his eyes reappearing in their proper place. A monocle resting over his left eye. He took the monocle off, breathing on it and then wiping it off on his jacket.

“My dear, I am not tricked like the little ponies. You are not Faust, so who are you.”

Faust looked up at Discord. She stood up and turned around to face away from Discord. She stopped a few paces from him, turned her head slightly to look at him.

“I don’t know.” She began walking away. Discord not following, not out of mercy or sympathy, but because she was of no use to him. He disappeared in a flash of light.





“Captain, send a pegasus guard to Ponyville immediately, collect the Elements and bring them here.” Celestia shouted at the captain of the Day Guard, as dozens of royal guards, both night and day, dashed around her. Dozens of castle staff had been put into action, as they also dashed madly around her.

Celestia pointed at a pegasus. “Lieutenant, send word to every pegasus squadron on duty, I want them scouring every inch of Equestrian soil for either Discord or Mother.”

Luna was also busy, directing military personnel into action. The castle was alive with the panicking of princesses, staff and soldiers, alike. All of them working towards one common goal. Finding their Queen. Who had been foalnapped by the god of chaos.

Now that Luna was thinking about, it did seem a bit odd that mother would just allow herself to be spirited off like that. Maybe she had a plan and had intended for this to happen.

But something odd was still niggling in the back of her mind.

“Sister?” Celestia nudged the blue alicorn, who looked over a shoulder, slightly shocked, not expecting the presence of her older sister.

“Uh, yes? Did something come up?” She questioned.

“Nothing so far, but we have pegasi squadrons canvassing the country. Although who knows where Discord went, he could have gone to Griffinstone or even Abyssinia.”

“This is troubling indeed. Abyssinia is full of… well, I hate ot say it, but very odd creatures. Something about their proportions and physical features just seem… alien.”





“Oh, yeah, Abyssinia. That country was a complete coincidence.”

The patient nodded, being caught in a memory from his, or rather, her past.

Indeed, it was a complete alignment of stars that Faust had even been inspired to create Abyssinia. It had started when she came to Earth, staying a pony but appearing as a unicorn. Mainly so she could mess with people by showing herself to them and then disappearing… because she was bored, again, as usual. She was in an area between the two states known as Massachusetts and Connecticut, the Gregorian year of 1962. She was just wondering around the countryside, grazing on grass and snickering to herself as tourists tried to snap pictures of her with their rather large cameras only to later find no traces of the unicorn on the film. But she had come across one particular Human who was just sitting down writing, by himself. She knew he had spotted her, but made no move to produce a camera or move closer. In fact, he just continued writing, occasionally stopping and looking back up at her, seemingly looking for inspiration.

So she had two options. Just disappear… or approach the seemingly unfazed Human.

Of course, she was bored so she figured she might as well approach him and see what was going on.

So she stepped out of the tree line she had been using for cover and slowly made her way over to the man who was sitting in the middle of the field. She approached lazily, with no fear in her eyes. After all, she had nothing to fear from him. Should he have tried anything, she could have turned him into mere ash with a single blink.

She trotted lazily up to the man’s side, who still had continued writing. She looked into the notebook he was writing in and noticed that pages filled with paragraphs. And it appeared to be an outline for a story about… a unicorn. Apparently it was supposed to be lost in the modern world, encountering highways and cameras.

Faust felt a small pride swell in her heart. She had inspired someone. So why couldn’t she inspire them some more? She allowed her legs to fold under her so that she could lay down, and rested her head in his lap.

Almost instinctively, the man seemed to bring his left hand over to her head and began rubbing it, while continuing to write.

And for the rest of the day, the odd pair stayed like that. The man rubbing Faust’s head and Faust quietly napping in the sun, with the warmth of the man’s body comforting her.

Faust had no hesitation to say it was one of her favorite memories in the Human world.

A few years later, she decided to go back to the Human world, this time she had gone to 1982, twenty years had passed for the man she had inspired. And as she was walking around the town in her Human form, she spotted a movie theater, she had seen them before and had even seen a few movies. But this one was advertising a movie title that very much caught her attention.

The Last Unicorn

Faust was fully well aware of the fact that her little ponies were considered to be nothing more then mythological beasts in this world, but something about this film seemed to be calling her. Which was odd, because usually she was the one sending the divine messages to the gut.





A large bearded man clothed in a white tunic was laying down on a cloud in the sky, his hands grasping onto the very edge of the cloud and his eyes peeking over the side to look down at the red haired woman looking at the movie theater.

“Yes, yes. Go in there, Faust. Go.” He whispered to himself.





So she did. And she found out that it was based off a book. However, she had fallen in love with the idea of the animations, so she decided to find more movies in a similar vein. Which is what led her to Disney.

And then Disney is what led her to create Abyssinia with the large amounts of anthropomorphic inhabitants, in comparison to the more disconnected inhabitants of Equestria and the surrounding areas.

She still enjoyed Abyssinia, though, she made a mental note to deal with that errant Storm King once she was out of the hospital. And his pony commander, Fizzlepop Berrytwist. Annoying mare, that one was. Angsting and brooding and moaning about her horn and even being naive enough to believe that someone like the Storm King would, or even could fix it for her.

Annoying little brat.

Still, she would have to wait to deal with her later, once the patient was fully healed.





I continued to trek through the forest, my mind stewing with all the things the creature Celestia had identified as Discord had said to me.

I was certain that I was Faust. At least, I was certain that was my name. But the farthest back I could even remember was waking up in the clearing just a few days ago. Before that… nothing. My mind was completely blank. I couldn’t remember flying, yet my mind told her I had done it before, and I couldn’t remember using magic yet once more my mind was saying I had done it before.

I absentmindedly looked down the ground, watching my front hooves land on the ground and then lift back up again. I stared at this for a while, the dirt giving way under my hooves.

Who knew how far out I was. I could be anywhere… and I didn’t even know what the planet looked like! I don’t remember seeing a map of this place, though I know one exists.

Why or even how I know is still a mystery. Nothing was making sense. People keep calling me a queen, I apparently have two daughters and now this… child of an orgy involving half of a forest and apparently a dragon has dumped me in the middle of… god knows where!

I sat down on my rump, scuffing some dirt with my hoof.
“This sucks. I didn’t want anything to do with all this craziness. I just wanted to find out who I was and why I can’t remember anything before waking up.” I stretched a wing out rubbing it with a hoof. “I have wings but they’re useless.” I reached up to my forehead and rubbed my horn with my foreleg. “I have a horn but I have no idea how to use magic.”

I laid down, crossing my forelegs and resting my head in them. “The only thing I know I have for sure is my name.” That was a lie, I wasn’t even sure if it was my name. If what Discord said is right, or even partially correct, then I’m not Faust.

I am remiss to admit that I started crying. I had no idea why, most people would have just shoved his ranting off as nothing more than a crazed man screaming about. But for some odd reason, they hit me hard.





“Luna, any word on mother or Discord?” Celestia panickedly begged her sister. The blue alicorn merely shook her head.

“No, and Recruit Cannon has informed me that there’s a massive squall coming in from the Everfree Forest.”

“And why haven’t the weather teams intercepted it?” Celestia questioned.

“They were ordered to participate in the search for mother.”

Celestia cursed to herself. “Okay, so we need to make the decision of whether or not the squall is worth losing the stallion power the weather teams afford us.”





I felt something wet hit my head.

And then something else.

Before I knew it, the skies were pouring down with rain. Soaking me. My mane and tail soon hung from the weight of the water.

I looked up to the heavens.

“Yeah, yeah, I get the message. You hate me, want to make my life even more miserable?”

Of course, as soon as I said that, something about the weather changed. The rain water became brown, soaking and staining my white coat brown.

I brought my forehoof to my nose and sniffed.

Chocolate.

“Really?” I asked as I looked back up to the heavens. “Really, of all things, why would you pelt me with chocolate milk?”

I needed to get out of the chocolate milk rain, so I did all that I could do.

I began walking. Maybe if I was lucky I would find a cave I could curl up in and sleep.





To say that Dinky was having a bad day would be an understatement. The majority of her bad day was coming from the monstrosity she was hiding from. He had been her before, not long ago. He had brought chaos and strife to Ponyville, changing the world to how he saw fit. Even controlling the minds of ponies. Or changing them into something else entirely.

Which is why Dinky was currently hiding under a building, soaked in mud and chocolate milk from the rain. Praying to the great Faust that he wouldn’t see her and that the Princesses would arrive in time to save the day.

She watched the scene play out before her. The Draconequus, riding on the back of a pony while holding a net, chasing a dog with a cutie mark down the center of town on a checkerboarded road. Dinky shuddered, terrified of what could become of her should she be caught. She struggled to keep her shakes under control, she looked at the ground and took a deep breath, then looked back out.

Discord was nowhere to be seen.

“And what do we have here.” A voice from behind her spooked her, shrieking as she quickly dug her hooves into the ground and pushed herself free from under the house. She stood to her full height, which was very small to begin with and looked behind her. She watched in horror as Discord snaked his way through the foal sized hole she had been hiding in.

“Ah, one of you ponies managed to hide from me.” In a flash, Discord was in Dinky’s face, staring her in the eyes. She scooted back in an attempt to get away, but he retreat was quickly halted by a building. Her entire body was shaking.

“And what should I do with you? Turn you into a dog, hmm…” Discord raised a claw to his chin, rubbing it. “No, I’ve already done that… A cat… hmm… no… a fly perhaps. You’ll never be found and fixed.”

Dinky shrunk back further against the wall then she thought possible, still absolutely shaking.

Discord grinned a mischievous grin. “Ah, yes. A fly, wonderful idea.” Discord raised his griffin claw to snap, and transform the poor Dinky Doo into a fly. But something prevented him from doing so.

A voice spoke, full of confidence and authority.

“Stop right there, Discord.”





I wandered, and wandered and wandered. This forest seemed endless. No caves, the trees barely did anything to slow down the rain.

I didn’t even know what I had done to deserve such treatment. Did I commit a serious crime before I woke up and whatever deity this world has decided to punish me for it?

It’s not like it matters right now. My only goal is getting out of this… chocolate milk rain.

So I continue to walk… or trot? I keep moving forward. I’m soaked in mud, my mane is covered in both mud and chocolate milk. The skies are overcast.

But I see it, eventually my persistence pays off as I spot a light in the distance. I start galloping to it full speed. I enter the outskirts of a village. But something was definitely very off about this town.

First, the road. It was made of soap. As in there was water coating it and then honest to god soap piles scattered about. Buildings were, well floating in the sky. Everything just seemed to be chaotic.
My ears picked up a shriek, as I increased my pace to the source. The road turning from soap into a blue checkerboard pattern. I turned onto this road and continued following to what sounded like someone speaking.

I slowly peeked my head around a building, my ears picking up the last bit of a conversation.

“A fly, wonderful idea.” There was that smorgasboard of animals, Discord. Standing over a cowering purple foal with a blonde mane and tail.

He raised his claws, preparing to snap. I had no idea what he was planning to do, but if he was the cause of the mess of this town, it couldn’t be good.

So I did the only thing that made sense. I walked around the corner.

“Stop right there, Discord.” Wow. My voice sounded a lot more confident that I thought it was going to. I was expecting it to crack, given the fact that I was pretty terrified right now.

I know I can handle both Celestia and Luna, but this Discord seemed to have reality warping powers. I had absolutely no idea what he could do to me.

But still, I couldn’t let him hurt a child, that wouldn’t have ever sat right with me.

I stopped a few paces away from the glaring monstrosity, slamming my right hoof into the somehow muddy checkerboard, splattering blue ink all over myself.

“I can not and will not allow you to harm a child.”

The hybrid continued staring at me for a few moments. Before letting out a hearty laugh.

He laughed for a good half a minute as I looked at him in confusion. He was bent over and twisting his body in unnatural ways. Until he straightened up, his laughing dying down as he wiped away an exaggerated tear from one of his eyes.

“And just what,” He slinked his body over towards me. “Are you going to do to stop me, Miss Copycat?”

I frowned. “I know who I am. My name is Faust.”

“You know the name that you think is yours.” He tapped me in the front of the chest. “But you don’t know who you are. Tell me, do you even know who Faust is in this world?” He raised both of his arms, as though shouting to the entire planet.

“I’m…” I grumbled the last bit out. For some odd reason, it didn’t feel right to be saying it.

Discord smirked.

“I’m sorry,” He put it his ear next to my mouth, as the ear doubled in size. “I didn’t quite catch that.”

“I’m… the… I’m…” I shoved the hybrid away with my left foreleg. “What relevance does any of this have with anything?”

His body seperated in two as the surrounded me, swirling around me.

“It matters, copycat, because Faust is not only the Queen of Equestria, but this entire planet. She’s the creator of everything. Her power omnipotent, a level that even moi could not hope to ever reach. Princess Celestia and Luna, her creations. The Elements of Harmony, her creations. Magic, it comes from her. No one would dare oppose her. But! My dear fake, you are not her.”

The half of his body with his face came to an abrupt stop in front of mine, his face shoved against mine.

“So if it’s all the same to you, I have chaos to spread.”

The two halves reconnected and Discord began making his way back to the still trembling child.

I took a deep breath, and steeled my resolve.

“Discord.”

He turned to look at me. “What is it this time, fake?”

Our eyes locked, as I stared straight into the sickly yellow eyes, his blood red pupils different sizes.

I snorted, scuffing the checkerboard ground. “I will not allow you. If you want to hurt that foal, you’ll have to get through me first.”
I could see his eyes narrow, as I lowered my horn, snorting more.

“If you want to fight, fine. Just, understand,” He held out a teacup, as a pitcher appeared, floating in the air. It poured tea into the cup, finishing as Discord brought it to his mouth, then tossed it behind him before taking a sip, the sound of glass shattering. “Fighting isn’t my cup of tea, chaos is no fun if the ponies you can spread it to are dead.”

I charged forward, intent on impaling the arrogant hybrid on my horn. Sure, I may not be able to fly or use magic, but that horn was still pointed bone that could surely penetrate flesh.

Unfortunately, my charge was stopped as a strong force impacted my chest. Ripping me from my hooves and throwing me into the air. Once again, my wings flapped uselessly as I saw myself falling towards a building, on an impact course for the roof.

And then darkness.
> Coups, Theophanies and Interrupted Vacations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Creator’s Gambit

Chapter 6

“Well…” Discord looked to the demolished building he had whipped the fake Faust into with his tail. “That was surprisingly easy. Honestly, even with her being a fake, I was expecting a bit more of a fight.” He turned to the foal he had been terrorizing just moments before the fake had intervened.

“Now, little one, about that fly thing,” Discord grinned, as he brought the thumb of his lion paw and middle claw together to snap.

But before he could do so, he was interrupted once more.

“Stop.” Discord growled at the sound of the voice, knowing who it was. He turned to the destroyed house as he watched a pile of rubble sift, disturbed by movement.

Emerging from the destruction, Faust stood, her once pure white coat now stained with blood and debris. The feathers of her wings ruffled, as she flared them out, making her appear larger then she already was.

“That frill-necked lizard thing you’re doing might work on ponies, fake, but it won’t work on me.” Discord stated, as Faust snorted, lowering her head and pawing the ground with her hoof. She lowered her head once more, brandishing her horn.

“I have told you Discord, I will not allow you to harm that child.” She stated, Discord narrowing his eyes to impossible amounts.

“You have more fight in you then I initially thought. Go, on then.”

Faust needed no more goading, she took off at a gallop that would have made the fastest pony in Equestria look like a sloth.





“Come on girls, we need to get the Elements and get back to Ponyville!” Twilight shouted as she galloped through the halls, ignoring the crowds of guards that flowed around them.

Four of the Elements raced behind her with Rainbow Dash flying ahead of the pack.

The rainbow maned pegasus paused mid-air, as she sucked in a breath, and then sneezed. Snot dripping out of her nose, she wiped it off with a hoof.

“S’cuse me.”





The charging alicorn continued gaining speed, but she soon found herself once more picked off the ground and slammed into a building.

“Do you want to try again?” She could hear the smug voice, as she gritted her teeth in anger, more cuts having appeared on her body, staining her once white coat even redder with dust and dirt sticking to the blood, causing her coat to appear to be a red-brown-white mix.

She once again righted herself, pulling her body from the rubble. She gave her body a shake. She lowered her head to angle her horn. She locked eyes with the manifestation of pure chaos.

“Until I die.” She spat.





Patient X sat in his room, undisturbed by the staff of the hospital. Staring at the TV. Had he been in his proper body, his snout would furrowed and he’d be shaking in anger. Well… more like vibrating at a million times a second, but close enough. He had to settle for shaking.

A white coated doctor walked in, a clipboard held in his hands while he looked at it. “Alrighty, sir, I’m here for a checku-” The doctor stopped at the sound of metal rattling, as he tore his gaze to observe his patient, he jumped back slightly, as he saw the bed his patient was in was shaking, though the body of the patient seemingly unmoving. He was about to call for some nurses to come and help, until the patient started speaking.

What language it was, the doctor had no idea, but something in his very soul told him he needed to get away.

So, he did the only reasonable thing…

“Oh… fuck this.” He muttered and with that, he twirled on his heels and raced out of the room, screaming.

Two nurses at a station watched in confusion as the young doctor sprinted down the hall, coming to an intersection as someone was pushing a patient-laden gurney across. Not stopping at all, the doctor dove over it and rolled on the floor, quickly getting back to his feet and screaming the entire time as he seemingly raced for his life to a stairwell, slamming past the door and out of the sight of the staff who were watching the doctor have what appeared to be a mental break-down.

“The fuck was that about?” One of the nurses asked her fellow, her Irish accent heavy.

“I’ve got no idea, I think he was supposed to check up on Mr. A-” The nurse stopped herself, as she caught a glass that had somehow magicked its way to the edge of the desk and had begun to fall as she began the patient’s name. “I mean, Patient X.”

Although her exterior demeanor didn’t show it, the Irish nurse blanched as she heard the patient’s name. She was still perturbed over the incident that had occurred the other day.

“I’ll uh, I’ll go check on him, then. Make sure the doctor didn’t do anything weird to him.” She stated, though if she was going to be honest with herself, if anyone was doing anything to anyone else, she was certain it was going to be the patient doing something to the doctor.

She walked the short distance to the patient’s room and knocked on the closed door. “Come in.” The voice she knew all too well sounded. She edged the door open and peered in.

“Is everything alright, sir? The doctor just…” The nurse cringed at the memory. “Stopped by real quick while rushing out of the building for some important business and let us know he wasn’t able to check up on you.”

The patient smiled. “I’m perfectly alright. Thanks for checking.” The nurse nodded and closed the door, hurrying away, thankful to be away from the weird patient.

The real Faust, though not in her proper body looked back to the TV, as she watched the replacement Faust battle Discord.

Well… “battle” is such a strong word… more like aid Discord in training by being his punching bag.

She had to admit, it was a pretty pathetic display of his ability to fight but she had to admire his spirit!

Not that spirit was going to help him much. She watched as he was thrown into a building once more, but unlike the last times, he didn’t immediately get back up.

Seconds passed, then minutes. Faust frowned.





Celestia and Luna shot through the air like a pair of bullets. The Elements trailing behind them on pegasi pulled carriages. They knew Discord was in Ponyville, why he chose there of all places to start, they had no idea. But the fact that he was in Ponyville was the only information the Diarchy had received. The report contained nothing about seeing their mother.

“Don’t worry, Luna. She’s more than capable of handling Discord by herself!” Celestia shouted to her sister.

“If she is, then why is Discord loose in Ponyville?”

Celestia bit her lower lip. “A test, she wants to make sure we’re still capable of protecting our ponies.”

“Then we’re not doing a very good job of it, are we?” She shot back.

Celestia stopped talking, as they continued to race towards Ponyville. As they reached it, they circled around, surveying. They saw several demolished buildings, no idea what had caused them, even the Mayor’s office was a pile of rubble.

And there, Discord sat in the middle of the town, in a throne. A bad parody of the general shape of his body, unnaturally long with gems imitating eyes at the top of the back of the seat.

The two sisters landed in front of him, noting the blue checkerboard road that collapsed under their hoofs, exactly like mud, staining their coats and hooves blue and black.

“Discord!” Luna roared, rearing up on her rear hooves.

“Ah, hello Luna. It’s very nice to see you once more. How long has it been? A thousand years, I seem to explicitly not remember seeing you the last time I escaped.”

“We do not have time for your games, where is mother!” She shouted.

“You mean that fake?” Discord gestured to various piles of destroyed buildings. “She’s in one of those, I’m not sure which one. I stopped paying attention after the seventieth time I swatted her away. But now, oh, happy joy! You all are here! And you’re much more fun to play with then someone like her!”

“Discord.” Celestia cut her enraged sister off, moving closer to the spirit of chaos. “We do not have time for your games. The Elements are nearly here and we’re here to stop you from wreaking anymore havoc.”

Discord guffawed at the implication. “My dear Celestia! I am Discord! You will find that Havoc is a very distant relative of mine who’s currently trapped in a Human’s brain! He’s a complete amateur, a new-born! He’s not even a year old, yet!”

Luna cocked an eyebrow. “What is a Human?”

“It doesn’t matter what is and isn’t a Human, my dear Luna! But what does matter is th- Ooh! Look, the Elements are here!” Discord cheered as he watched the chariot carrying the six mare set down, Luna and Celestia twisting their heads to watch.

Twilight was the first to jump from the carriage, racing to be by her mentor’s side.

“Princess, we’ve got the Elements. Come on, girls!” She shouted as she watched the others line up beside her, ready to blast Discord once more into stone. Discord snapped his claws, turning the chariot into a pumpkin and the pegasi who were carrying it into rodents of very unusual size. The former pegasi became spooked and raced off with the pumpkin in tow.

All of the Elements had lined up next to Twilight, all except one. The cerulean pegasus known as Rainbow Dash shot to Discord, pushing her face against Discord’s and locking eyes with him. The hybrid merely had a smug grin on his face.

“Yeah, and we’re gonna beat your sorry flank like we did last time! I ho- Hey! Put me down!” She shouted, as Discord picked her up by foreleg, easily holding on as she attempted to escape by flapping her wings harder. “Your mind control won’t work on us this time, Discord! You can’t stop us.”

The draconequus merely laughed. “Right you are! My dear pegasus, I can’t manipulate you any longer. However!” He raised his lion’s paw, a claw extending from it as Rainbow’s eyes narrowed. “You’ll work just fine.” He stated with an evil grin.

He swiped, tearing a hole into the fabric of space and time. Without hesitation, he deposited the pegasus into the tear. A needle and thread appeared, stitching the tear closed.

“One of the greatest weaknesses of the Elements,” He spoke. “Is the fact that you need all six bearers to utilize them. They’re like a chain. And as soon as you break one link, what happens to the chain?”

He glared the shocked group. “The chain is useless.”

He clapped his hands, still seated on his throne. “What, you thought you could beat me three times using the same trick? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” He held his paw to his chest. “But fool me three times and I might as well not be a villain at all!”

He snapped his paw, as chocolate rain began to pour down harder, Discord slipped on a pair of sunglasses and pushed an earpiece into his ear. “Now, I do believe you said you all were here to stop me? Well, let’s begin.”

Luna was first to move, a brilliant blue beam shooting from her horn, Discord, never moved, a hole merely forming in his chest where the beam was going to hit, harmlessly passing through him.

A white button up shirt paired with a black tie with a silver tie clip, a black jacket covering the ensemble appeared on Discord’s torso.

“Let’s fight then.” With that Discord disappeared, By this time, Luna and Celestia both had their horns alit, scanning the area for any sign of Discord.

“Twilight, get the others out of here.” Celestia stated, Twilight gasping.

“But Princess Celestia, what about Rainb-”

“We’ll deal with her later, young Twilight.” Luna shot. “Just get the others out of here and to safety. We’ll deal with Discord.”

“But the Elem-”

“We’ll figure something out, Twilight, now go!” Celestia shouted, as the purple unicorn nodded, a bright light flashed as the teleported herself and the remaining Elements to safety.

However, as Twilight disappeared, Discord appeared, wrapping his arms around Luna’s barrel and lifting her into the air, causing her horn to discharge and her to let off a shout.

He threw her into a building, as Celestia let loose her magical charge, dodging it.

He reappeared to the newly destroyed building. “Wew! Alicorns make great bowling balls.”

Luna shot out of the pile of debris, letting loose a volley of magic, all of which Discord sidestepped.

Celestia ripped up the patch of earth he was standing on with her magic and immediately threw it, Discord merely popping out of existence and then reappearing once more on the ground.

“Oh come now. This is what you all call fighting? This is almost more pathetic then what that fake was doing, at least she was giving it her all.”

Another shot was loosed by Celestia, as Discord teleported, reappearing wrapped around Celestia’s barrel, as he rest his elbows on non-existent pillows. He looked Celestia in the eyes.

“The goddess of the sun!”

He disappeared as Celestia slammed herself into a building in an attempt to hit him.

Reappearing, grasping onto the Luna’s shoulders. “The goddess of the moon!”

He disappeared as Luna snapped at him, leaving a statue of sand in his place. Luna quickly spat it out, hacking the sand out.

He reappeared floating in mid-air. “Truly, if you two and that fake are all that Equestria has to defend itself, it’s a miracle you have lasted this long!”

He raised his arms into the air.

“Now! Smooze! To me!”

A green blob appeared out of thin air, and before the two sister’s could react, tentacle of slime wrapped around their barrel, pulling them to the mass of slime, and pulling them into the main body.

“It is good fortune for you two, as well as that rainbow one, that the author of this story has decided to keep it from requiring a mature tag!” Discord shouted. “In any case Equestria is now mine! And there is nothing that can stop me!”





By this point, the Faust currently in the patient’s body was seething mad.

Where was he. He had her body, he had her abilities. But he seemed unwilling to realize them.

And now Discord had captured her two daughters and one of the Elements.

She was going to have to deal with this personally.





Underneath a pile of rubble lay the body of Faust. Her once pure-white coat now almost entirely a brownish color due to the dried blood and dust. Her mane a tangled mess.

Blood leaked steadily out of her nose. The last time she had been flung, her head had directly impacted a support beam. While she may have won the fight against the support beam, her victory was pyrrhic, resulting in her being knocked unconscious.

Her chest rose and fell steadily as the sounds of battle had raged beyond her cage of debris, her eyes closed shut as her body desperately recuperated.

A clap of thunder roared, as lightning struck the ground near her, setting some of the debris on fire.

The closed eyes snapped open, revealing a pair of light blue eyes, raging with the fury of a god.





Discord had continued to laugh evilly for a good minute while the two sisters watched from their gooey prison, neither of them entirely sure how they were able to breath but thankful nonetheless for the good fortune.

However, a godly clap of thunder interrupted him, as lightning struck the ground.

“Hmm, odd. I don’t remember summoning any thunderstorms.” He stated, as he watched the roiling skies, clouds forming and overtaking his chocolate milk rainclouds.

He snapped his claws, willing the storm to go away. But it didn’t.

Frowning he did it once more. And again. And again. And again. But the storm refused to bow to his magic.

A pillar of pure white light shot from the pile of rubble that used to be the Mayor’s office.

“Discord.” A voice that made Discord quiver sounded. Speaking with a tone that seemed to chill and heat at the same time the very space Discord occupied.

He slowly turned around to face the pillar of light, now reaching the heavens, blanching as a pony form descended from it.

Faust, despite being dirtied, battered and bruised, her coat stained brown in contrast to its natural pure white color, landed gracefully in front of the Smooze and Discord. Standing tall and proud, wings unfurled to their full glory.

For a moment, Discord looked worried, but he shook his head.

“You think I’m falling for this, Fake? I know you’re trying to bluff your way out of this.” He bellowed, and whipped his tail out to send Faust flying once more.

But this was not to be, as his tail was caught in an aura of blue magic. And before the god of chaos could react, he soon found himself being dragged through the dirt and towards the very enraged alicorn.

She held up him by his tail, upside down, and locked her blue eyes with his red.

“You.” She growled through clenched teeth.

A sphere of blue magic was suspended through the air, as a tearing sound was heard and Faust opened the fabric of space and time. A quivering blue coated, rainbow-maned pegasus drenched in slime was pulled from the tear, enveloped in a blue aura, and gently deposited on the ground as the tear was instantly repaired.

“You and I have a lot to talk about.” She stated, as both she and Discord disappeared in a flash of light.

The Smooze also disappeared as the two sisters fell gracelessly to the ground with a synchronized “oomph”.

“Sister,” Luna spoke. “What just happened?”

Celestia merely shook her head. “Pity Discord, Luna. Pity him”

The two sisters watched as a blue wave of magic washed over the world, repairing the damage done by Discord and returning those transformed back into their proper forms.





Discord dropped to what appeared to be the ground in a white void, grunting.

Faust, meanwhile, dropped softly.

“Oh, ma’am! You’re back, it’s so nice to see you!” Discord nervously mumbled, as he tried to avoid the glare being shot his way by the discolored alicorn.

“You threaten my planet with never ending chaos.” She began.

“Ah, yes, well you see abo-” Discord’s explanation was cut off.

“You send one of my daughters to a pocket dimension inhabited by nothing more than a giant slime monster.” She closed the gap on the hybrid, pushing her face into his, her horn dangerously close to goring his skull.

“Then you have another slime monster capture my eldest daughters.” She shoved her hoof into his chest. “First of all, what is it with you and slime monsters.”


Before Discord could defend himself, she cut him off. “And then you go and ruin my vacation!” She snapped, pouting petulantly.

“Whu?” Was all Discord could manage.

“Yes, Discord, that “fake” you were tossing around wasn’t a fake… for the most part. The body was most certainly mine.” She gestured waving a hoof over her discolored coat. “But the person inhabiting was a local from another planet, a local I… may or may not have accidentally mutilated.”

She looked at the shocked look on Discord’s face. “Yes, Discord, I have been watching this entire time and I have seen everything.”

“That’s not fair!” Discord cried, pointing at her. “You’re a literal Deus Ex Machina!”

Faust raised a hoof. “I was hoping he would defeat you for himself, I only intervened when I realized you were going to interfere with my entertainment.”

“Your entertainment?”

“Yes, my entertainment. I gave him my body to run around in while I heal his body. I put some… restrictions on it to make it more entertaining.”

“So, what are you going to do now?”

Faust rubbed her chin with her hoof. “If you’re asking if I’m going to punish you, the answer is yes.” Before Discord could protest she raised her hoof once more. “By ordering you to return to Equestria and play nice.”

Discord crossed his arms. “And how do you know I won’t just spill your secrets to your daughters when I get back?”

Faust fixed him with a stare that only a god could muster. “Because, Discord, if you ruin my fun I will repossess this body and deal with you myself. Have you ever heard of a Human myth about a being called Prometheus?”

Discord shook his head.

“He was an immortal Titan who stole fire from the gods and gave it to man. As punishment for this, the gods chained him to the side of a mountain where every day an eagle would come and feast on his liver, forcing him to live in eternal torment.”

Faust’s face became like stone. “If you betray my secret, Discord, I will make Prometheus’ punishment look like utter bliss in comparison. Understand?”

Discord merely nodded.

“Good, now, we must be going. I have spent far too much time away from our friend’s body as is and I need to get him back into mine!”





Luna and Celestia were comforting the traumatized Rainbow Dash, their wings securely enveloping her.

“And then, the slime just… felt so gross! It doesn’t feel right in your mane or in your tail or in your coat, it’s horrible! And it gets everywhere! Everywhere!” Rainbow bawled out, as the two sister’s merely nodded in understanding.

A flash of light lit up the day, as Discord and Faust appeared.

“Discord!” The Two Sister shouted, raising and forming a protective wall in front of the still sobbing pegasus, theirs horns glowing with magic

“Mother!” Luna shouted, as she noticed the very discolored alicorn standing next to the draconequus.

The alicorn raised a hoof, causing the two sisters to look at her oddly, but clear the magic in their horns.

“Discord,” The queen spoke. “Don’t you have something to say to them?” Discord grumbled something, as Faust gave him a light push with a hind leg and stated. “Prometheus.”

Discord rubbed his paw, looking away from the two sisters. “I’m sorry for trying to overthrow you and take over the world and convert it into nothing but chaos, Lulu, Tia.”

“I believe you also have something to say to Rainbow Dash, dear.” Faust stated, as she gestured with her hoof for the two sisters to move aside, revealing the terrified pegasus.

“I’m sorry for sending you to a pocket dimension inhabited solely by a slime monster,” Faust gave him a light nudge at his pause. “Rainbow Dash.”

“Very good, now return to Canterlot and wait where I told you to wait. I’ll deal with you in just a little while.”

Without needing more prompting, Discord disappeared with a snap of his claws. Faust took a look around, looked at her daughters. Then her eyes closed as she fell forward.

“Mother!” Celestia shouted, as both she and Luna caught the collapsing queen in their magic. The two raced to her and were relieved upon seeing her chest rising and falling steadily.

“She’s okay.” Celestia spoke. “She just fainted. We need to get her back to Canterlot.

“Princess Celestia!” The Sovereign of the Sun looked to the skies to the skies, spotting a chariot carrying her student.

“Princess Celestia!” The unicorn shouted as the chariot landed once more. She jumped off it. “I brought reinforcements!” Indeed, several squads of pegasi landed right behind her.

“But, for some odd reason,” Twilight looked at the bloodied alicorn being held up by both Luna and Celestia. “I don’t think you’ll need them.”

“Guards, come! Help us put mother on the chariot! We need to get her back to Canterlot for rest.” Luna spoke, and several guards quickly moved to the assist the delicate operating of moving the unconscious queen.

It was going to be a long flight home.