> The Lady in Lavender
>  by Via
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> [1] Misconceptions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------








The only thing wrong with immortality is that it tends to go on forever.




There lies a nation known as Zebriawae. It is a landlocked country in the far east of Aezilan, deep within the sandy borders of Utan. A populous nation of strange people - remnants of the Once Great Deer, their tongues cut out at birth by tradition, and zebrican shamans speak in tongues - buffalo priests, minotaur industrialists. Zebriawae is a nation of blended culture and lifestyle. 

It was not always.

In the past, there was a King - a King of the Once Great Deer. He was an ancient warrior lord, clad in spell and sorcery with a rule of steel. His cruelty was unimaginable, his greed and vanity unmatched - yet, it was not for these reasons that he was deemed so hated, so loathsome as to have his name struck from the world. On this day, more than ten thousand years ago - his words were stuck into the side of Utan like a butcher's knife. The nation was gutted and bled as he ordered the execution of every prophet - no matter their age.

Thousands died that day as the Judicators tore their path of carnage through Utan. Mothers and fathers used their bodies like shields - but it was for naught, as the magic of the deer had no equal. The soils of Utan were drenched with liquid life, the crimson color sinking so deep into the ground itself that the soil was forever tainted. Bodies, mutilated and hauled, were laid haphazardly in what could only be called a mass grave.

Something new was born there. Fragile, mystic minerals, clumps of stone forming in the recently spilled blood of the innocent. In the presence of so much carnage - reality melted and twisted - and the damage only grew greater as the Lord of Chaos stepped onto Aezilan.

Beneath the whole moon, there is a corpse lying in the far east. Skin and muscle are strewn over its grisly frame. The tongueless corpse wore a formless crown of Steel on its head, as it spoke in a voice that was not its own, moved by a mind that was not its own, gifted clarity that was not its own. 

Its words were long and eldritch, as it recited a poem in a thousand different tongues into the void. Fingers curled around a shard of purest iron that had been formed in the carnage wrought by the Once Great King, blood dripping from a growing wound. The blood was sickly, twisted, grim, gruesome. It should not have existed but was brought into this world forcefully- screaming and kicking all the while.

A heavy tongue of steel and bone spoke in a rolling motion in the tongue of a thousand dead gods, spoke the words of a thousand dead prophets -

A hue of rainbow tore through the sky. A sound like the mountains themselves beginning to crumble and fall echoed through all of Aezilan as they looked up at the sky.

The sky was a facsimile. Most of the brave folk who could call themselves Royal Astronomers or the rulers of the world knew this - but none knew this better than Celestia. There was a time, where the chimaeric tyrant had torn the fake sky from the world to let all bear witness to it - and with it, it brought madness. The Outer Beyond was not something meant for the untrained eye. It was a starless, starry void of death - the rotting, putrid carcass of a dead, oxymoronic God more imperfect and perfect, more terrible and more beautiful than any could comprehend.

The Sun and the Moon are constructs. Representations of pure magic, conduits connected to the much larger - and much more impossible to move True Bodies. And so, as a hue of rainbow light tore through the sky with echoing booms louder than any thundercrack could dream of being - the people looked up at the whole moon, the whole sun.

Few saw the lavender lightning. Shredding through the surface in a horrific pattern that lingered at the edge of conscious thought, that moved with such speed and ferocity that it reminded the Deity of the Sun of the Primordia that she had bound in Adamantia, oh-so-long ago.

Yet only two gazed weeping upon the wreckage of the shattered True Moon - as the corpse spoke its last words before its otherworldly presence faded from it.

"Fear the Lady in Lavender."

For in Canterlot, Twilight Sparkle has just been born.



There were a handful of rather popular misconceptions about Celestia. Ones that she had debunked and denied time and time again - but yet they persisted. She never found herself offended by any of them - or, well, some of them, and even still, she did not fault the misconceptions for spreading. While she was humble, she did not believe in false modesty. Her beauty was striking, her power moreso:

So it was not unreasonable that the first misconception about her would be that she was a Goddess. This was the one that angered her the most - but anger directed at something different than the offending pony who had asked, most usually. The times of her youth were long past; and thanks to her own work, the hierarchy of divinity was something that was far from common knowledge. 

No. She was not a goddess; she would never be a goddess - and most definitely, she would never come in contact with a god. Oh, yes, she was close. Like her, she had met friends and foes that carried within them a Shard. To call her divine would be more accurate, or a deity - but she was not a goddess, and would always deny being as such. She wasn't even close.

She hoped that it would remain that way. She had met three creatures, all one step removed from the Last True God. To say it had been - humbling would be an understatement to say the least. Her greatest failures, her greatest fears, and her greatest source of humility all came from these Not-Quite-Gods. The Children, as they called themselves.

There was no true name for her or those like her. They convened once a year under the broken ruins of Asgard as equals, where Celestia's father had once ruled - but they had never settled on a proper or definite name. Embodiments. Spirits. Aspects, all interchangeable. Celestia, herself, was quite partial to the name Aspects - for she found a sort of irony in it. She was the Aspect of the Sun - yet she was cold, peaceful, calm. Her sister, the Aspect of the Moon - was quite the opposite. 

The others, too, were much like that. Lord Zarrat of the Earth was flexible and ever shifting, while Lord Hermes of the Air was stubborn and adamant. Despite her sheer bulk and appearance, The Fire Queen, Lady Beollyssurth always looked for peace first, war second - while Lady Thaola of the Water was a borderline warmonger.

Despite their faults, though - they were essentially family. The closest you could come to family without being blood related. The news of Luna's - fall, to the Terrors Beyond had been equally devastating to them as it had been to her.

Celestia sometimes wondered if she could have borne that burden alone.

The other misconception was that Celestia was immortal. No, Celestia was not immortal. She was not even sure she was ageless - as far as she knew, all Aspects, much like the dragons, only grew stronger with age. But all Aspects of the past had their lives struck tragically short - be it by spell or blade. It was difficult to kill them - almost impossible, and Celestia herself had before shrugged off decapitation (although, admittedly, it was at the height of her power in her own domain.)

But she was not immortal. As far as she knew - even the enigmatic Children were not immortal. While no weapon she or her sister had utilized had been capable of so much as scratching their greatest foe - it was not to say that they had never seen him wounded. Indeed, in a battle with his eldest sister - the scars he suffered were grievous, and Celestia often wondered if he had ever truly recovered from such a conflict.

There was only one immortal she had met. Their meeting had been brief - and every day, she thanked the Queen that it had been blessedly so.

He was unspectacular, at first, save his size. A wolf - a rather reclusive species that lay deep in the North, past the Tyrant's Empire. But not unheard of - although, he did tower a head taller than even Celestia. It was rare that she had to look up. She sensed no great power from him - while he was stronger than any mortal she had ever met, he still paled in comparison to her and her kin.

Then, she saw him fight. He had been terrible - a force of nature. He fought with reckless abandon, with no care for his own harm as he was mutilated and torn apart. He moved with speed that could be compared to the fastest creatures in the land, struck with strength and precision that others would be envious of - every part of his body a weapon, his magic used masterfully: and by the end of the battle that she had witnessed, he was little more than a wolven skeleton. White sinew growing on rotten, warped bone as he snarled and hissed.

Her friend-turned-foe had once claimed that it was through his immortality that he had earned the moniker of the most dangerous creature in the universe. No physical weapon or mystic spell could do little more than slow him - and his energy seemed as infinite and eternal as he was. He won his battles through a war of attrition, which he had always won. The 'quus had claimed that he had never lost a fight to anyone, but his mother - and Celestia was inclined to believe him.

It sickened Celestia that a creature could be like that. With such a lust for blood, such a lack of care for their own pain and suffering. It did not surprise her - considering his mother was the ferocious entity who had brought even the trickster god down to his knees.

She thanked the Queen that she was not immortal - just close. 

Considering how durable Celestia was, it wasn't surprising to hear that her ponies believed her to be immortal. Few had seen her wounded, and those who had only had a deeper belief in her immortality as she pulled a blade out of her heart and cleaned it off of blood while her guards dealt with the assassin. The only times she had ever come close to death was when she was mismatched in terms of weight class - she was certain that if Discord ever felt the interest in striking her down, he would be able to do as such. Fortunately, he claimed that his passion for blood and violence had worn off long before Celestia had been born.

Celestia believed him. For he had never killed a pony - injured, sure. Driven to insanity - yes. Maybe that was a fate worse than death - but regardless, he was not a killer: and Celestia was thankful for that. She was certain that otherwise, the world would be nothing but dust.

There were other times that she had come close to death. Some had been out of youthful arrogance, out of the belief that she was immortal - that fate willed it so. Her sister had fought against a fearsome dragon before Lady Beollyssurth came to reign. Her sister's wings had been torn off in a bloody display like an instinct - and Celestia herself had more than half her body sheared off. She was certain that, if it was not for it being high noon - at the peak of her power, that she would have perished.

Sometimes, the other embodiments asked her about her guard. They were less durable than her - and any threat that could truly harm her - it would be like throwing a foal into the mouth of a den of ravenous dragons. It was true - but the guard's role was two-fold. 

Firstly, they were for the affairs of mortals. A deeper still, a surface-level police force, and a standing army was a deeply spread surveillance organization that kept her entire nation safe. Secondly - they were a display. A display to the world that she was not immortal, not a god, not divine. If she ever needed to go somewhere where she was truly in danger - she would travel without them.

Tonight, mere hours after the True Moon had shattered - and Celestia, much to her relief, was thankful that her corrupted sister had been imprisoned in the False Moon - this was one such occasion.

This was at the edge of her city. It was a place she rarely tended to visit - not for any disdain or sense of superiority, but because there was little business for her there. She had long intended to - for lack of a better term, clean it up. It was a mess of slums, drug dens, crime lords that only floated along because it was easier to control them than it was to cut them out entirely. It was the underbelly of the city, sickly and rotting.

The sheer amount of magic oozed from this building made rot quite literal. As the oldest (active) creature on the planet, Celestia had a rather heavy experience with magic, to put it lightly. She had studied under Starswirl the Bearded, cast spells that wove the very fabric of the world into what it was today - ascended a shard of divinity within herself through sheer magical skill, met the two most powerful entities in all the realms-

And yet, she had never felt magic like this. 

Magic had many forms - the solid form, ley, an organic-crystalline construct that formed naturally within the biology of those who used active magic - with a tendency to find itself within keratin cages. The liquid form, known as vis - a fuel that was absurdly difficult to distill and even more so to refine, but a few drops of it could fuel a train for a month. And lastly - there was æther. Not quite gaseous, not quite a plasma - rather, its own state of matter entirely.

The best description of it was a web. Reality was a metal sheet, with this web of æther over it. The lines of the web were leylines - greater leylines that travelled the great expanse through the Outer Beyond, lesser leylines that curled around planets and concentrated in its thaumosphere and magical core. This was the magic used by creatures simply existing - without æther, life as they knew it would be simply unable to exist.

There was a problem, though. The æther was, unstable, to put it lightly. It hated being near each other - and it constantly fought to expand. Yet, when in high enough density - it pulled it together, creating a rather lethal effect known as magical radiation. There were attempts to harness magical radiation for a source of clean power - but Celestia had cut them short. Magical radiation was such a threat that in sufficient quantities - it could kill even her.

There was another type of magical phenomenon, known as magical pressure. The disparity between two creatures caused a sort of physical pressure to weigh down on the weaker one. It was why many felt awed and cowed in Celestia's presence - and why some ponies found themselves utterly paralyzed by Discord. In fact, in the brief time that the Eldest Daughter had walked among Aezilan - some mortals found themselves simply rotting away into dust in her mere presence.

The walls dripped with vis. Fluids had been frozen into ley, the magical radiation so great that Celestia - even with her additional protection due to her sheer power, would have mere minutes at most once she was deeper into the field. The magical pressure - it felt as if she was standing in the presence of the Eldest Daughter.

She passed by corpses that looked familiar. Skeletal ponies, their flesh sloughed off into liquid - blood mixed with sickly shades of brown and yellow in the disgusting clumps of dirt. The hotel was rotting and abandoned - as if it had been so for centuries. In truth, it was merely the presence of something within this building that had been causing such damage. 

Celestia walked past the gore. She dared not to light her horn to guide her steps; instead, content walking through the darkness. The backlash that she would receive from summoning up her magic in a place so mystically dense - it would, at the very least, blow her horn off. 

Likely, half of the Canterhorn with it.

She came to the center of it. Her legs trembled a bit as she felt her nose grow wet. A quick tap of her hoof and an inspection - showed that it was her blood. Pink blood, which had not been shown to the world since ages long past - since her sister. A small part of her felt proud - for any other creature would have succumbed to the pressure and radiation. But she was no mere creature.

She was the Sol Invictus.  Celestia powered past - until her legs carried her to a door. The door handle was rusted and locked, but the wood itself was brittle and rotten. The lightest of taps sent it cascading down into dust, along with a pillar of wood - one that Celestia quickly sidestepped as it smashed down where she was moments later. The wood splattered, and Celestia couldn't help but cringe at the strange and unearthly sound.

Within this room - the lounge was the most gruesome sight she had ever seen. Bits of pony were strewn about all over the wall - entrails hanging in ritualistic patterns reminiscent of the ruins of the Once Great Deer. There was the skeletal corpse of a wolf by the very center of it - as well as a pony. Her matted fur was an ailing shade of velvet, her eyes seemingly gouged out of her head - until Celestia's eyes fell to her stomach, and she repressed a gag.

Something had eaten its way out from her insides. Celestia's mouth felt dry as she recognized the marking of pony teeth gouging into pony flesh. From her stomach, a trail of sickly fluids trailed down past her pelvis - which had been fractured, her body covered in scars, down the couch - over to the corner of the room.

Celestia let out a soft gasp. There was a filly - her coat marred and bloody, her hooves black as night - her fledgling horn a piercing spear drenched in blood. She had the fur of a pegasus instead of the expected hair of a unicorn - and her teeth were slightly pointed, much like a dragon's. The foal lay there sleeping - her breath shallow as she was drenched in her mother's own blood.

Her breath shallow, as more magic than Celestia had ever seen in her life, oozed out of her.

"Oh, dear child." She whispered. The filly merely twitched in her sleep. Celestia stepped over and placed a hoof on her forehead - channeling her earth pony magic through her hooves. Her foreleg splintered under the magical pressure as she did so, causing her to wince - but it worked, as the blood left the foal's lungs - and slowly, the magical pressure began to recede.

As for the magical radiation - there was only one true way to deal with such a threat.

The logical thing to do was to kill the filly. She was young, defenceless - and with such power...her actions would shape the very world itself. To take her power away from her would be to neuter her - and the effort would undoubtedly destroy the entirety of Canterhorn and take Celestia out in the process to do as such. Something capable of spraying out this much magical radiation, this much pressure - it was an abomination. Surely.

Celestia glanced down at the sleeping foal - and found that she was not a logical mare.

Celestia's mighty wings spread as she curled her hooves around the foal wordlessly - one beat of them sending them cascading into the sky. Her horn lit with a tremendous effort, as a great spout of sunfire tore itself from its tip - illuminating the night as the hotel was burnt to cinders. The fire would not spread, so great was its heat - it would consume the hotel and nothing else. 

Celestia soared towards Canterlot castle as she held the lavender filly tightly in her grasp. 

She didn't notice that the stars shifted ever so lightly.

She didn't notice that over the nation - six fillies had been born at the exact same time.

She didn't notice that the Adamantia had begun to chip away and fade.

And she didn't notice the twitching corpse of the wolf in the burning wreckage of the Sunfire.




The Lady in Lavender


A story by Via




> [2] Facade
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






“I always am in a role, lovely – for you, for them – even for myself. Even when I’m alone, I am still in a role – and I myself am the most exacting audience I have ever had.”





The people of Neighpon have a saying. That there are three faces - the face you show to the world, the face you show to your close friends, and the face you show to yourself. The truest reflection of who you are. Celestia, usually, found herself inclined to agree.

Today, as she gazed upon Twilight Sparkle's dead, empty eyes, she did not. 

---

Over six thousand long years ago - far after the fall of the Once Great Deer, not quite so long after the Shattering of Asgard - a handful of years after the creature known as Discord stepped claw on this world for the second time...there was a stallion.

His name was Starswirl the Bearded. To say he was merely magnificent would be a disservice. To say he was intelligent would be an insult. To say he was powerful - would be an insult to his name. These things were an understatement to the glory of her mentor, Celestia, often thought to herself. 

He was cold. He could be cruel - he was not perfect, he was not infallible. But - he had the power to grind mountains into dust, boil oceans, but he chose instead to bandage wounds and boil soup for the needy. He was the first librarian - before and after Discord's grand betrayal.

He had a thousand titles, and he had earned all of them. It was he who had refined the vilest and darkest of magics - the magic of blood into the amniomorphic spell, the basis of all modern healing magic. It was he and he alone who mastered the most dangerous magic of all, the magic of Time itself. It was he who, with the aid of the Regal Sisters and the Shepherd of Magic that had locked away Grogar's nothingness away in Tambelon. He was great - the greatest, strongest mortal mage alive. Or dead.

Many claimed to be the greatest mage since Starswirl the Bearded. There was a reason that none claimed to be greater than him - for it would be a lie. There had been none greater, and Celestia had doubted that she would ever meet someone who surpassed him in raw potential.

She was being proven wrong a lot recently, it seemed. 

"Ma'am." One of the ponies in Equestria with a list of titles that could rival Celestia's, Master Commander of the Standing Army of Equestria, Commander Shysteel, had entered the room stealthily. It was one of the many reasons that she had chosen Shysteel for the role of Master-Commander, even when there were many more - politically appealing candidates.

Oftentimes, though, games of realpolitik had to be pushed for the safety of Equestria and her people.

Celestia glanced up at the Master-Commander. "I thought you would be on maternity leave, Commander." She arched an eyebrow.
"Maternity leave." She scoffed. "Forgive me if I find the concept to be novel."
"Mm." Celestia remarked dryly. "Ivory Chaser?"
"Sir Ivory Chaser is currently informing the Head Judicator of the situation, ma'am."
"Ah." Celestia glanced down at her papers.
"...Is it true, ma'am?" 
"It's true, Steelshy, that if you call me ma'am again - I will drop you off the side of the Canterhorn." Her voice was almost bored, but it contained a hint of playfulness. Master-Commander Steelshy was one of the few ponies Celestia considered a friend despite her sometimes abrasive personality. 

"Is that a permission to speak freely, ma'am?" 
Celestia's horn lit with a dangerous glow. Steelshy was a pegasus - and a rather quick one at that. But she wouldn't actually do it. Probably.
"I'll take that as a yes. Ivory Chaser said- that she's as strong as you. Is - is it true?" Steelshy stepped forward, an almost panicked glint in her eyes. "A unicorn? A foal?"

Celestia thought for a few moments. Then, finally, she stood up, setting the papers that Ivory Chaser had brought her down on her desk. "Walk with me," she ordered as she began walking off towards the single most secure room in Canterlot Castle.

Five ponies and six non-ponies knew about the Black Vault. At the very centre of the Canterhorn, shaped out of haphazardly chained together nullstones gifted by Lord Zarrat, enchanted by Lady Thaola, shaped and moulded by Lady Beollyssurth, and completely airtight thanks to Lord Hermes - it wasn't just the safest room in the Canterlot Castle. In all likelihood, it was the safest vault in all of Aezilan.

The Black Vault was large enough to contain Beollyssurth's titanic mass - the dragon had made sure of it. It was in equal parts a jail cell for the Aspects as it was a container for the most dangerous magical artefacts that any of the Aspects had the misfortune of coming into contact with. There were weapons of true ingenuity in there - things that could, if misused, result in the death of millions - or worse, the seals that locked away the two Children on Aezilan being broken.

All five aspects knew about the vault. Discord, in Celestia's monthly conversations with her - had mentioned it in passing. Celestia indeed did have her moments of foolish naivety - but she was not nearly so foolish as to speak to the Eldest Daughter, who Discord claimed could talk the sanest of creatures into killing themselves for her own amusement - but if Discord knew, it was safe to assume that she knew, as well.

The other four ponies who knew about the vault - were the heads of the Equestrian state. 
Master-Commander of the Standing Army of Equestria, Commander Steelshy Blade.
Master-Judicator of the Royal Guard of Equestria, Head Judicator Goldspur.
Master-Researcher of the Intelligence Operations of Equestria, Sir Ivory Chaser.
And, of course, her darling niece - Master-Speaker of the Nobility of Equestria, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.

Once, they had asked her why Discord - or the Elements of Harmony weren't locked away in the Black Vault. It seemed logical, surely: but the Children, and by extension - the Elements, were not things of logic. It was far safer for Discord, a creature of change and disharmony - to be in the most static, harmonious place possible. A garden, at the centre of Equestria, tended to exclusively by Celestia - and Celestia alone.

Compared to the Black Vault - where there was metal, magic, wards - things that could erode, fade, change- her garden was a far more effective cage for Discord than the Vault could ever hope to be. As for the Elements of Harmony - the Everfree was a cesspool of raging, dark magic that only the Terrors could unleash - and only the Elements or Discord himself had managed to combat that magic before. Their presence kept the world docile - the land more bountiful, the weather tameable...and more importantly, it kept the magic of the Terrors at bay.

Celestia stood at a specific spot, at a specific moment - before her horn lit. The world blurred, and Commander Steelshy found herself stumbling as she stood five thousand feet underground in an instant. Long-range teleportation was never pleasant - especially into the Black Vault, with all its oppressive warding. Steelshy suppressed the urge to share her lunch with the floor.

"Warning, would be nice." She hissed through gritted teeth.
"I thought you were supposed to be prepared for anything." Celestia teased. Regardless, she quickly lit her horn - and threw a brute force wave of magic at Steelshy. Celestia had shifted the magic to be a little less - hostile, so it quickly absorbed Steelshy. The glow of her coat faded, her cutie mark glittering lightly as she straightened up - her momentary discomfort quickly passed.

"If I'm ever against anything that could teleport me like that, I don't think there was anything I could do to be prepare."
"Have you considered prayer?" Celestia tilted her head to the side. "Goldspur claims that it helps him."
"Prayer to you?" Steelshy arched an eyebrow. "It might be a little hard to pray to the mare who I saw step on a ladybug and cry for an hour."
Celestia turned her head up. "It was not an hour." There was a slight tint to her cheeks. 
"Mhm. I guess it wasn't an hour, considering you control the clocks." The pegasus rolled her teal eyes. Her expression shifted suddenly, and the grey mare stepped forward - placing a hoof on Celestia's side. Celestia turned to look at her.

"...Is - she really this dangerous?" The Commander spoke softly.
"What do you know of Fate, Commander?" Celestia spoke as she promptly brushed away from her touch. She walked down the halls of the Black Vault, colossal doors with a runic shielding opening up in her mere presence. The walls were lined with bubbles that contained hundreds of weapons, rings, books - all of them pulsing with power.

"The concept?" Steelshy arched an eyebrow.
"The doe." Celestia thought for a moment. "The mare," she incorrectly corrected.
Steelshy thought for a moment. "About as much as the Head Judicator knows. He mentioned you met with her, once."
"I did," Celestia spoke softly. "I was arrogant once, Steelshy. A conqueror, almost - much like the Lady Thaola. Equestria was not always as big as it once was. Before my sister and I wrested much of our land from the Dread-Emperor Berzerkiel, there was a time where the entirety of Equestria was a single mountain, and nothing more."

"It was not time that changed me. It was not Discord, or Starswirl - or any other foe you have heard of. No. It was - a meeting. Five minutes with the Lady Fate - the Youngest Daughter. She told me things, that day. She has the gift of prophecy - you know. True, genuine, prophecy. The words she speaks is fact."

"I cannot say what she told me that day. I do not remember much of it, myself - through compulsion. My memories blur and fog as I think about it. But, an inkling of herself has been - grafted, to me, I say. You've heard of my prophetic dreams."
Steelshy nodded, a slight expression of awe on her face.

They came to a halt at the very end of the vault. There was a set of double doors - heavier and larger than anything Steelshy had seen before, covered in ornate gold writing - and filled with two vials. Of course, these vials would have to be filled with liquid vis to open the door.

It was here where the girl had been quarantined. Steelshy quickly glanced at the objects that had been relocated so that she would be alone - the Hammer of the Moon, the Glaive of the Sun - and the single most dangerous artefact in the world, The Conqueror's Penance.

It was unassuming. Compared to the gigantic silver hammer, the ornate gold weapon that radiated with the heat of the sun - you wouldn't expect it to be the most dangerous thing in the vault. Until the bed of scales, it was bound in shifted - until the flesh it was written on pulsed, until the eye on its cover blinked.

Celestia had never had the misfortune to read its pages. However, Luna did - and to this day, she believed that it was one of the contributing factors in her mind opening up to the horror of the Terrors. It was unfathomably old - Discord himself seemed to be uncomfortable when she broached the subject of the book, and no magic that Celestia or the other Aspects had utilized had so much as chipped it. Worse, still - this was one of seven volumes.

Yet, Celestia deemed this filly - this foal, so dangerous - that she left it out in the "open" of the Black Vault instead of where it had remained comfortably locked.

Steelshy gulped.

"I had a dream. A week, after the True Moon fell. I dreamt of a corpse - whispering such horrible things. It whispered of iron, of the end of life itself - and it whispered of a Lady in Lavender. I woke that night, screaming."

Steelshy opened her mouth. Celestia interrupted her, seemingly reading her mind. "I could not kill her. Not for lack of ability - she is still young. It might be the only time I could kill her. But I merely could not bring myself to, Commander. When I look at her - I..." She trailed off. She turned her head to the side and ran her hoof over her stomach.

"I understand." Steelshy whispered. 
Celestia's horn lit with a glimmering, golden glow. The doors slowly filled with her magic - and after what felt like an æternity, the doors began to shake - tremble, and slowly - painfully slowly open.

The most dangerous mare in the world was unassuming. She was a tiny thing - just the size of Steelshy's own daughter, born on the same day. She was immobile as she lay against the side of the wall - her horn slightly curved, pointed like a spear...her coat, the most brilliant shade of lavender. Her hooves were as black as the nullstone floor; the Black Vault was carved into, and her eyes were tightly shut - as she twitched in her sleep, her lip curling slightly and moving ever so slightly.

But without the heavy doors of warded nullstone between them - Steelshy could feel her aura in full. She was brought down to her knees in an instant - the weight of a thousand stars pressing down on her. A small trail of blood oozed from her nose, her eyes widening as she let out a choked gasp - a magical pressure, unlike anything she had ever felt before crushing her, killing her-

Celestia cleared her throat. "Enough, Twilight." And immediately, the pressure lifted. The unicorn - was she a unicorn?- didn't think so much as twitch. Steelshy wiped the blood from her nose. She didn't say a word - as she observed the Alicorn of the Sun walk over and kneel beside Twilight. 

Celestia reached down and gently stroked her wing over Twilight's back. The tips of her primaries brushed over her fur, her hoof reaching down and tussling her mane - dark blue, with a streak of brilliant Fuschia curling throughout it. She shut her eyes as she sat there, content at the moment - stroking the unicorn back and forth, back and forth...

Master-Commander of the Standing Equestrian Army, Master-Commander Steelshy Blade - looked at this filly. She looked at this filly, and she saw the world - burning underneath her hooves. Grass turning into glass, dirt splashing like waves as death and fire rained from her horn. She looked at this filly, and she saw the skies - the hands and hooves of a thousand creatures reaching towards the Outer Beyond - for, with her guidance, anything was in reach. She saw a thousand things, a thousand possibilities -

"Master-Commander Steelshy," Celestia whispered. "Do you still find the concept of maternity leave novel?"



"I knew House Twilight, Auntie."
"I would expect you to, Master-Speaker." Celestia tilted her head to the side. 
"They were good. Good people. The Matron - Velvet. She was a lovely mare. She asked one of my Facades to babysit the girl. I accepted, you know."

Facades. It was a term that the Aspects used for their characters. With quick shapeshifting spells, they assumed the shape of mortals - there were a hundred of Luna's paintings that she had published under one of her Facades, while Cadence kept a dozen or so. The name was amusing to Celestia. Her Facades were more of a reflection of her true self - of the mortal daughter of King Odin - than Celestia ever was, or could hope to be.  

"Hm. I wonder, how differently things would've turned out, had she not..." She trailed off.
"...Do you know what happened?" Cadence whispered. The alicorn shifted her position as her hoof met Celestia's, her teacup raising to her lips.

"Ivory Chaser has been able to gleam some information from the-" Celestia grimaced, "autopsy. Matron Velvet died before the child was birthed. Her horn carved bloody scratches into her inside. I am pleased, that she did not have to experience the girl eating her way out of her stomach." Cadence paled slightly. "Her soul instinctively cried out for sustenance. It drained the life dry out of every creature around - out of the very building itself. I am fairly certain, my dear niece - that if I am truly not ageless, then my lifespan has been halved."

"I - how could - she...a unicorn-"
"She is not a unicorn." Celestia shook her head. "She is more reminiscent of the Children. She takes the form of a unicorn - but she is more than one. The details of her conception, of her birth, her - creation, I hope, will be revealed in time."
"You plan to raise her."
"I do." Celestia nodded. "I could not bring myself to harm her, directly or indirectly. And there is no other that could possibly take up such a task."
"Celestia. Be careful."
"She will not harm me, Cadence. I'm certain of that."
"No," Cadence shook her head. "She wouldn't. You said - she hasn't said a word. Hasn't waken up?"
"She has not." Celestia confirmed.
"She loves you, Celestia. There is so much love in her - that I think that if I were to have that much love, even Discord would take pause." Celestia's expression hardened slightly. "That much love - it can be dangerous. Obsessive."
"Thank you, Cadence. I will take your consideration to heart." She nodded and smiled warmly.

It wasn't until years later that Cadence would recall that it was not Celestia who had bore the Element of Honesty.



"Kill her."
The words were abrupt. Straightforward and to the point - something which Discord never was. Celestia took pause. It did not take long to figure out who Discord was referring to - while blind and deaf, he was far from unaware of the world's happenings.
"Hello, Discord."
"I mean it, Celestia. Kill her."
"You're rather forward today, aren't you?"
"I sensed her. If you had come a few days earlier, I would've warned you. She came into this world - screaming and kicking as she dragged bits of my mother's corpse in with her. She's familiar, Celestia - and that should scare you."
"It does," Celestia said truthfully. "She terrifies me. I look at her - and I see such potential."
"Then you're a fool, if you see anything less than a threat. She would make my sister's work look paltry in comparison as she grinds this world down to dust. She's a rolling sea of disharmony - a daughter of rape, a creature of hatred. You met her father once, you know."
"Did I?" Celestia whispered. 
"You did." Discord whispered, almost sadly. Celestia's eyes shut.
"Will he come for her?"
"I doubt it. I'd be surprised if the old bastard - and I do mean old had enough sense to realize that she survived. Or, what he's done."
"What he's done?" Celestia tilted her head to the side. "I don't follow.
"She was brought into this world by a force beyond my knowledge, Celestia. There is very little beyond my knowledge. He's always been a fool, but I never expected him to be - so stupid."
"Could she..." She trailed off. "Kill him?"
"She reminds me of my sister, Celestia. That is as good an answer as you will get. So - kill her."
"I could not," Celestia whispered - so softly.
"Oh, you could. It would be easy. Punt her into the sun. Vaporize her with sunfire. Pop my cage open - let me wring her neck, then put me back in the slammer." 
"You've never killed before. You're lying," Celestia spoke - but she knew her words were hollow.
"I've killed plenty before, Celestia. I've killed more than your feeble mind could possibly comprehend. Never on Aezilan, though - never intentionally. I would make an exception."
"I can't kill her, Discord. I- she-"
"Then I have nothing more to say to you, Celestia."



"Hello, Twilight."
There was no response. Merely a prickling on her back - as Celestia felt something watching her. She suppressed a shudder.
"I brought you some food." Celestia set down the plate. Lord Hermes had given it to her himself before he zipped off as per usual - a plate of steak. There was no unicorn or pegasus in the world that was quite as vegetarian as they claimed - but something so macabre as a steak in lieu of fish...it was unheard of, in Equestria. She slid the plate down over by the unicorn's mouth.

"I talked to an old friend today." Celestia shut her eyes. "I'm not sure if we're still friends. Maybe we were, once. Certainly not anymore. We - hurt each other."

Twilight, obviously, was silent.

"I saw some of the other foals today, as well. They were born the same time as you, my little star." Celestia slowly stroked Twilight's barrel, her hoof trailing up to her withers. "There was Steelshy's daughter - the smallest pegasus I've ever seen. Goldspur's was a hardy one. It's no surprise, considering how large the stallion is." Celestia remarked dryly.

Twilight's ear twitched - more movement than she had shown in the weeks she'd been here. Celestia didn't notice.

The two sat there for a long while. Celestia, stroking the filly's mane back and forth - as Celestia rattled on about her day. About the foals she had met, the mundanity of day court - as well as her rather stressful meeting with Discord and Cadance in a bit more detail. The foal wasn't truly all there - but some part of her was conscious. She could feel the presence land on her every time she entered the room.

Eventually - it came time to set the sun. Celestia stood up. "Sleep well, my little star." As Celestia's horn lit to open the doors - there was a noise.

It was ravenous. The sound of soft grunting, hissing, snarling - as the child used her hooves to tear the steak into bloody chunks. She ate like a gluttonous pig, spraying bits of haemoglobin all over the floor and walls, shreds of meat staining the plate that she spent her time licking clean. She shifted forward before the foal lay there panting - covered in haemoglobin, her chest heaving and her midnight hooves trembling.

The Unconquered Sun - the Bane of Berzerkiel, Daughter of Odin, Breaker of Chains, Mare of Conquest - suddenly found herself at a loss for words. After what felt like minutes - but must have been seconds at least, Celestia whispered-

"Good morning, Twilight."
Her voice hurt to listen to. It was an ugly rasp, purple mist leaking from her bottom jaw - mixed with her eyes, the sclera tinted black and the iris a blazing lavender -
"morn...ingg..." Twilight wheezed out.  
The Unconquered Sun - the Bane of Berzerkiel, Daughter of Odin, Breaker of Chains, Mare of Conquest - suddenly found that her heart had skipped a beat.

The people of Neighpon have a saying. That there are three faces - the face you show to the world, the face you show to your close friends, and the face you show to yourself. The truest reflection of who you are. Celestia, usually, found herself inclined to agree.

Today, as she gazed upon Twilight Sparkle's dead, empty eyes, she did not. 

Celestia had hoped that she would never meet a god. She had hoped that she would never meet another immortal, either. 

Celestia hoped for a lot of things. And as she gazed deeper into the filly's eyes - and saw nothing but pure, unadulterated - magic, she noted that they often did not come true.



Across the world, a giant stood in a library.

Not the species. No, a title - for the wolf was gigantic. Truly, the tallest bipedal or quadrupedal creature that wasn't a dragon that nearly anyone would see in their life. An equally immense broadsword, the size of him was on his back - and he was surrounded by corpses.

One corpse had been split right down the middle. Another had its blood frozen - its hair long and white, skin a pale blue and lips an even deeper shade. There was only one pony still alive - mutilated, crippled, but alive - and it sat there, trembling, whimpering at him.

"Shut up." He hissed. "Shut the FUCK up." He slammed his fist into the table - but his rage wasn't directed at the pony. His gaze was far off. Slowly, he turned his gaze back to the bat pony.

"Heh. Sorry about that. Voices in the head." He rolled his eyes. "Yknow how it is." He leaned in. "Anyways, what was I saying? Oh, right." He nodded.

"That hurt, didn't it? Of course it did." He scoffed. "Christ. You - ugh. Fucking Aezilans." He shut his eyes. "Right. Right. Gotta stay on track. One mind. One goal. Fuck." His claws dug into the wood.

"Tell me everything you know about it." He whispered. "Now."
"I - can't. I would - never betray my people-"
"No, you don't understand." The wolf stepped forward. "If you don't tell me everything you know - and I do mean everything, I will tear it out of your screaming, moaning body - and then I will kill you. I will kill you, I will kill everyone that you have ever known, everyone that you have ever crossed by in the street - and they will know exactly why."

"So let me repeat again, batpony." The wolf scoffed as he stepped forward, gripping tightly onto the other wing of the thestral - his brilliant blue eyes shifting and glowing a sickly green.

"Tell me everything you know about the Mare in the Moon."

-

> [3] Monster
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






“Oh, monsters are scared. That's why they're monsters.”





A monster stalked the halls of Canterlot Castle.

There are three types of fear. The first fear is rational. An immediate, present threat: hurtling towards the ground at Mach speed, a madpony lunging towards you with a knife as it hissed and snarled. The second type is primal fear - the fear that you feel deep within your bones as the earth rattles with the roar of a dragon. The fear that you're covered in spiders when you read about them or feel something crawling across your back -

Then, there is the third type of fear. The fear of the unknown. The irrational. 

This is the fear that those who walk across the ruins of the Once Great Deer feel. The fear that those that have the misfortune to gaze upon the statue of the last 'quus feel. The fear of those near the Umberfoal mountains and smell the sulfuric air of Tartarus, the fear of those who sail across the ocean - not knowing that the Eldest Daughter lies dormant beneath them, locked beneath them the waves by fledgling divinity.

There is a fourth type of fear, and it stalks the halls of Canterlot.

Her name is Twilight Sparkle. She doesn't walk alone - she walks with the princess, the only one who can stomach her presence for more than a few minutes. She stands barely at two feet - her frame, gaunt, like skin and muscle stretched tightly over her bones. Her horn is something that belongs to no foal - as long as her foreleg, curved with a strange spiral pattern around it - and sharpened to a point. The weight is awkward, uncomfortable: and so her head droops to the side slightly as she walks on trembling legs. It drags against the wall - long, thin scratches that wear at the chiselled marble halls of the castle marking her path.

She's a secret, for the time being. Celestia hasn't quite managed to broach the topic of discussion to the Embodiments, let alone to the castle staff at large. Usually - she's confined to Celestia's private study, where the princess can keep an eye on her. But, ultimately - no matter how strange she is, she is a foal, so Celestia lets her wander within the gardens, or the castle - with supervision.

The animals hate her. They hiss and snarl at her. Celestia had been slow to intervene as a hawk slashed at her face - only for the claws to graze over her fur pathetically and Twilight to bare her teeth.

When Twilight was done eating, there weren't even bones left. 

The staff fear her. They're right to. Being in her presence feels as if there is a pressure weighing down on their shoulders - their souls, their very being threatening to burst, to pop - as the dead-eyed filly stares through them. She never says a word, never leaves the princesses side - and there is something deeply, deeply unsettling about her. About her fur, so brightly coloured - in contrast to her hooves and eyes, so dark...

It's fear. The fear that gnaws at the inside of your chest, that eats through your stomach and fills your veins with icy sludge. The fear that runs through your mind like a wildfire - its fear leads good men to make cruel decisions, foolish rationalisations.

It's fear, that leads Private Wind Burst to where he lays in wait - poised to strike, with a dagger of poison and a heart filled with fear.

---

"Twi...lighttt..." The girl rasped. "Twi...light. Twi-light. Twilight." She spoke slowly, cautiously - her voice filled with so much pain, but each word coming out in an unsettling monotone.
"Very good, Twilight." Celestia beamed. In months, the filly had made excellent progress. While Celestia was reluctant to begin her on any magical instruction - teaching her to walk, as well as combatting her difficulties with speech had been going stunningly well.

"Twilight...Spar...kle. Twi...light. Spar-kle. Twilight. Sparkle. Twilight, Sparkle." The girl hissed out - her tongue flitting out for a moment as she did so before she shifted her position as she buried her face into her mother's chest. 

She hadn't left her side for a moment, Celestia noted. Maybe this was what Cadence meant - that the love that Twilight felt for her could grow twisted. Grow dangerous, turn obsessive. Maybe, Celestia thought - and it felt like tearing off an arm to even think as such - that a bit of distance could do them some good.

Such thoughts were rather promptly quashed by Twilight rolling her entire body over - her stomach left exposed to the world, her tongue flopping out of her mouth as her horn scratched against Celestia's fur. The foal nuzzled against her silently, her eyes blinking slowly - and Celestia felt that she would rather set the nation aflame than do something as cruel as part herself with the filly, even for a moment.

"You know, Twilight..." Celestia trailed off for a second. "With a belly that cute - you're just begging to get tickled." Celestia rather promptly launched into a fit of tickles on the poor filly's unsuspecting stomach. Her hooves danced expertly - running their tip in circles over spots that usually resulted in the most vocal results. While the girl was stoic - borderline emotionless at times - tickles were one of the few things Celestia could consistently do to make her laugh. The foal tilted her head up as she giggled and giggled - her horn scratching against the floor and rubbing side to side. 

Celestia's chest filled with warmth. Some part of her found it amusing - she had heard that expression before but never truly understood it.

Her chest filled with more warmth. And more. And more, and more, and more - until she let out a soft gasp and promptly stopped her ticklish assault. She stumbled backwards - letting out a soft cough as pink fluid trailed down her mouth in a thin stream.

Celestia let out a pained sigh. "T-Twilight." She coughed up more of her own blood, wiping it clean from her mouth on the side of her hoof. "Did you - melt my heart?"
"Sor...rryy...Celestia..." The filly rasped.
Celestia smiled a bloody smile as her heart slowly reformed. "It's quite alright," she nodded.

She tried to pretend that she wasn't disturbed by the fact that Twilight had managed to penetrate her natural magical defences as well as her warding. She failed.

---

Private Wind Burst felt his heart pound within his chest as he heard the light clopping of hooves.

She was an angel. Her voice a crystalline choir - yet, too kind for her own good. She couldn't do what she had to do. What needed to be done.
"Good night, Twilight. Would you like the light on, or off?" 
"O-off..." The monster that wore a foal's skin hissed. Her voice was a grating reminder of what the Private was here to do - and so, he clutched the dagger ever tighter.

He would have to commit a cardinal sin to die a martyr - the ultimate sacrifice. He did not do this for martyrdom, though - no. He did this, for it was what had to be done. 

He waited. He waited until he could hear nothing but the heart pounding in his ears - and only then did he dare so much as to peak into the foal's room from his hiding spot in the closet. The curtains and drapes were drawn - the lights turned off, the door shut. He was lucky that the monster enjoyed the darkness.

He slowly pushed the closet door open - only for it to ring out with a lout creak, and he cursed to himself. He waited, so still that he felt as if he had died - not daring so much to breathe, and only when a minute of silence had passed did he feel brave enough to move.

He stepped forward, slowly. His steps were slow, cautious - measured - until he stood, directly over the demon.  Wind Burst gripped the dagger with both his hooves as he stood on his hind legs. He positioned the dagger directly above her heart -

Her eyes snapped open. Disturbingly, her eyes didn't move to lock onto him - as if they had been looking at him before her eyes had opened. Her head tilted to the side; her mouth fell open - "hel...loo...." She wheezed.

Wind Burst let out a bloody scream as he brought the dagger crashing down into her heart - only for it to sink into a white membrane. There was a sudden, sharp impact - and when Wind Burst's ears stopped ringing, Celestia stood over him. Blood matted her right wing, and Wind Burst was suddenly very acutely aware of how multiple of his ribs were broken.

Celestia's horn lit. Her face was as cold as ice.
"Treason." She whispered. Her voice was the Sun.
"No - no, my princ- gah! No!" Wind Burst had shifted into a pleading position on all fours, kneeling and pressing his hooves together above his head as he grovelled below the alicorn. However, it did mean that he was pressing down into his ribs - causing a sharp flare of pain.

"I meant to rid the monster from the world. Not you, my princess. I promise, I swear it - I swear. I know - I know that you are kind, and that you cannot strike the monster down. Please - please, oh great Celestia - allow me."
"You - are you-" Celestia stepped back. Her ice-cold expression shifted into one of pure, unadulterated rage. "You-"

There were several things Celestia was planning. Some part of her wanted to vaporize him on the spot. One part wanted to shatter all four of his legs before sentencing him to a trial. Another part, still - wanted to throw him off the Canterhorn with broken wings. But Celestia was not cruel. Quite promptly, she decided - she would lock him in chains and cast him into the royal dungeons.

She didn't have the chance to even form the teleport spell in her mind before he promptly melted in front of her. 

She could see magic. That was part of what made it so grisly - she could see magic swarm into his body even as it was pulled out. She could see his cells beginning to burst as they sloughed off his skeleton in a puddle - gallons of molten pony staining Celestia's floor. The rancid puddle that was once Private Wind Burst stained Celestia's hooves, and she could do little more than stare in abject horror at a level of grim efficiency that she hadn't seen since the time of the Once Great Deer, or even the Sister.

She slowly turned towards Twilight. The unicorn's horn was alight with a pure lavender glow. She locked her eyes on the pony puddle.

"You killed him," Celestia whispered dumbly.
"He...hurt...you."

Celestia stared at Twilight for a long while - and those earlier thoughts came to her, much easier this time.



"Repeat it. Again."
"B..but-"
"Twilight Indomita Sparkle." Celestia spoke sternly. "You will repeat it again."

Twilight tilted her head down. "I didn't - I - I'm - sorry." She whispered.
Celestia's heart melted. Not truly, this time - but it melted with pain. Oh, Twilight - how she wanted to scoop her up in her hooves and say that she knew she was sorry - and that it was okay, that everything would be okay.

But she couldn't. Not now.

"I know you are, Twilight. That doesn't mean I don't want you to repeat it again."

"...It...s...hard." She whined. She scratched her hoof at the marble floor. Celestia was thankful that it was marble, not carpet - getting liquid pony out of the floor was hard enough as it was.

"I know that it is hard, Twilight. Sometimes - I will ask you to do things that are hard. I am not strong because I am able to do many things - I am able to do many things because I am strong enough to try again when I fail. And I am certain, that you are, too. Repeat it - one last time, and I will be sated."

It was light text, but it still took Twilight the lions share of a half-hour to read through it - but Celestia was patient. Eventually, she had managed to read it in its entirety.

I, Twilight Indomita Sparkle, do solemnly swear that I will never take the life of a pony unless explicitly ordered to by  Celestia Astrella Indomita. However, I recognize that such a prerogative may be changed according to the will of Celestia Astrella Indomita.

I, Twilight Indomita Sparke, do solemnly swear that this evening, I will not intentionally harm Fluttershy Blade in any shape or form, be it physically or mentally. Furthermore, I swear that I will not intentionally upset her to avoid making a friend. 

Twilight sat there, panting. Finally, Celestia reached out a hoof and slowly ran it through her mane.
"I'm proud of you, Twilight." She whispered. In that moment - Twilight felt as if she could do anything.

---

The Royal Gardens of Canterlot - tended to exclusively by Her Royal Majesty Celestia herself, was a sight that few go to witness. So it was no surprise that the daughters of the two of the most important mares in Equestria were allowed access. And considering Twilight's sheer dependence on Celestia, as well as Fluttershy's sheer timidity - the two mothers thought that it would be good for their children to interact with one another.

Twilight stared blankly at Fluttershy as she tried to see if she could disappear behind her mane. The butter-yellow pegasus shifted lightly. 

The daughters of the two most powerful mares in Equestria sat and stared at each other blankly. Fluttershy tried to disappear behind her mane. Twilight stared at her, and Fluttershy felt as if her gaze was digging into her soul. Something was strange about the child - her mere presence made Fluttershy feel almost - heavier. Like it was somehow harder to breathe.

She was used to feeling that way, though.
"..do...you like...animals?" Fluttershy suggested weakly. She batted her hoof at the ground, digging a trench with its tip.
"N-no." The unicorn rasped.  "They - don't - l-like me." 
"oh, um. sorry. D-does - it hurt you to talk?" Fluttershy frowned and shifted closer.
"N-no." Twilight shook her head. "J-just...hard. Mind - fast. Mouth - slow."
Fluttershy nodded. "O-oh, that's alright. I'm sorry. Um - is there - anything I can do?"
"...are...you - s-scared of me?" Twilight whispered. Her voice was weak - oh, so weak. It reminded Fluttershy of a wounded bird that she and her mother had nursed back to health.
Fluttershy nodded slowly. "oh, um. a little bit. y-yes." Fluttershy glanced down.
Twilight's expression fell. She turned her head to the side.
"I-I mean, I'm - um. I'm afraid - of - everyone. People are just - oh, um. I don't - I don't want to be, a bother - and, I don't really - um. Understand people. Not - really."

Twilight turned to look at her. She didn't say anything - but Fluttershy felt as if she wanted her to continue.

"I - oh, I - well. I know you said you don't like animals, but they're just - so...adorable, and friendly - and so interesting...did you know that hawks can dive faster than most pegasi?"
There was a glimmer of something in her eyes. Twilight tilted her head to the side.

And so, they sat for a while there as Fluttershy rambled on and on about animals - about birds of prey, about snails, about creatures as enigmatic as the World-Tortoises that walked at the bottoms of the oceans - or as beautiful as the phoenix. Creatures that were reborn from ash - immortal.

Twilight was particularly fascinated by the story of the phoenix. So fascinated - that she almost didn't hear the whispers at the corner of her mind. Almost.

"-ld bag of bones is still kicking." The first voice was masculine - deep, yet smooth as velvet - it wrapped around Twilight's mind, and she found herself lost in it. 
"Why did you choose the name Discord?" The second voice was feminine - high pitched with a soft sultry purr in it...but an undertone of utter hatred in it.
"Hm. Somewhat random. Are you saying it isn't fitting?"
"Far from it. Your very presence brings Discord to my peace of mind."
"How polite, as ever. I did not choose the name, you know - it was given to me."
"You know - you remind me of my son."
"I'm offended."
"You should be. It was meant to be an insult."
"Hm."
"You chose the name, because you ask to be called it. Are you so daft that the concept of  choice flies above your mind? I thought you were meant to be the aspect of change."
"I take offence to being diminished to merely an  aspect, sister dear. I am the Shepherd of Magic itself, you know."
"And yet, I can still beat you in a fight with a hand tied behind my back."
"Oh, you know what they say. With age comes experience and all - and you are quite old, aren't you - Eldest?"
"I chose a name, recently."
"Truly? How very much unlike you."
"Unlike you - I am capable of change."
"You don't understand how deliciously ironic that is, from where I sit."
"I thought you were in more of a standing position."
"Hmph."
"Kesmera is the name I've chosen. It was the name of the first girl who I ever spared. The only one, in fact."
"Spared? I didn't know that you spared anyone."
"There is much you don't know about me, brother. Much you don't know about this world. About all worlds."

"Kesmera is a pretty name," Twilight Sparkle said - although she couldn't quite tell the difference between physical speech and mental speech. It came out more fluid than any other sentence she had said - and stopped three people in three very different locations right in their tracks.

"No." Horror.
"And who is this gem?" Curiosity.
"Um - sorry?" Confusion.

Twilight thought for a moment. Most normal ponies didn't have voices in their head. It would probably scare Fluttershy if she said that she did - and that would upset Celestia. And to upset Celestia -

"N-nothing." Twilight wheezed. Fluttershy gave her a strange look but continued rattling on.

There was a noise that rang out in Twilight's head. It was the noise of a thousand creatures crying out in agony simultaneously - and suddenly, she felt her mind was much heavier than normal. She pressed a hoof against her head and shut her eyes.

"You're something new," a voice whispered in her ears. "Hmm. A bit of my blood in you - one of his children. Oh, how I don't envy you. If it makes you feel better - when he was young, I made sure to beat him within an inch of his life quite frequently." There was a growing pressure in her head. Twilight's eyes watered.
"w-who..." Twilight rasped out.
"Ah! Isn't it fascinating how a single phrase can give so much information? You don't know who I am - which means that you aren't being trained against me as a weapon. How fortunate for me. You're quite the beauty, aren't you? Magically - of course. A burning beacon of mystic energy - hm. How was it I didn't sense you earlier - ahh. There it is." Twilight felt exposed all of a sudden. She was cowering now, underneath her hooves - Fluttershy was there, she looked upset, but Twilight's head hurt.

"How pesky. It means - hm. Oh! You can hear this, can't you? Every single word I'm thinking. How fascinating. How would you handle - this?" And then - there was hatred.

Twilight's world began to spin as she repressed the urge to vomit. Every inch of her was filled with hatred, her hooves trembling with rage - oh, how she hated. How she wanted to grind the world to a pulp underneath her hooves - how she wanted to feast, to kill, to eat - for such was her purpose, was it not? For why else would she have such power? For why else would she have such ravenous teeth?

"That certainly broke you. Oh - yes. I can see through you, now. Hmm. The yellow horse. Kill her," the voice spoke lazily. Twilight glanced up at Fluttershy - and she saw her throat and how pretty it was. She wondered what it tasted like. She hated Fluttershy - and so, killing her was within her right. She hated everything-

Strong hooves curled around her. Her world was hidden away under a shield of white feathers - and suddenly, all the hatred was gone.

There was a stunned silence in her head.
"My my, Twilight Sparkle. You're interesting." 

As Twilight lost consciousness - there was blessed silence.

-

> [4] Hatred
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






It was poisonous hate, something so ancient, so vile.





Twilight Sparkle was a good filly. 

She thought she was, at least. She was certainly unique at the very least - as most other fillies didn't have voices in their head. Voices older than the dirt below their hooves whispering obscenities into their ear. Spewing vile vitriol - words that seeped and dripped with hatred and disgust older than time. Her mind spun, her vision blurred - and only glimmers of consciousness made itself evident to her.

They floated around her. The grey shape - Fluttershy's mother, she vaguely recalled. She was larger, but there was so little in her - there was a thread, slowly spinning out - but the spool was reaching an end - 
"cut the thread, eat her heart-"
Please stop that, Twilight thought. It didn't, and Twilight wondered if a pony tasted as good as meat.

There were two more, like the grey shape. One was its same size - but it seemed so much more. It was white, with speckles of violet - and it had a pretty soul. Then, finally, there was one that was much, much larger - and there were more connections there than Twilight had ever seen in any pony.
"Souls taste as good as meat, you know."
Please stop that, Twilight thought. It didn't, and Twilight wondered how full their souls would make her.

There was the girl - Fluttershy. She was yellow and burning - she was small, but there was so much in her.
"tear her head from her body-"
Please stop that, Twilight thought. It didn't, and Twilight wondered what Fluttershy's insides would look like if they were on the outside.

And then there was - her.
Twilight's world faded into a singularity.
"-kill her-"
No,  Twilight Sparkle thought - and the voice screamed out in agony before it fell short.

Her soul was beautiful. It was so large - so vibrant. It burned with a thousand flames, spun with a thousand threads - oh, yes - her Celestia was beautiful. Perfect. Beautiful and perfect, infallible and lovely - so many things. Twilight Sparkle was a monster that wore a filly's skin, but she would be a good monster for Celestia - and good monsters don't kill people.

She faded back into unconsciousness.

---

Twilight woke a day later. When she woke - the voice was still there. It was softer, but still there - lingering at the corners of her mind. A running commentary. She batted at it, pushed at it - but the voice remained resolute. Finally, Twilight let out a soft whine.

"don't...want...to hurt..." She whimpered.
"um- um- Princess!" A small, frail voice called from her feet. "She's awake!" 
Twilight glanced down at the side of her bed as she slowly took in her surroundings. She was in the castle - in a bed with something she didn't recognize by her side - a pole with a strange bag of fluid on it. 
"It's called an IV drip."
Twilight mentally thanked the voice. There were no windows here - and by her side sat Fluttershy. She had a small plate of snacks with her that she was gnawing on, as well as a glass of water - but there was something fierce about her as she called for help. Twilight tilted her head to the side and let out a soft groan.
"Ugh. Disgusting. It's people like her that are almost as bad as your father. For the opposite reason, that is. Pacifism." Kesmera scoffed. "Disgusting."

"Flutter...shy?"
"How are you feeling, Twilight?" Her voice was hard. Her words came with no hesitation, her gaze locked on Twilight's eyes. 
"...bad..."
"You've been asleep for a few days. The - Princess-" Twilight perked up lightly, "-tried to give you fluids. But - she couldn't break your skin without hurting you."
"So that's the lie they chose. Hm." Twilight mentally shushed Kesmera.

"You should - really drink some water." Fluttershy whispered - yet her voice was steel. With once-trembling, now-steady hooves, Fluttershy held up a glass of water to Twilight's mouth. Twilight stared at the filly awkwardly before she slowly drank the entire cup. She didn't quite realize how thirsty she was until she started drinking - and found that she couldn't stop, even as thin streams of drool and water ran down her chin in messy streams.

Twilight coughed a few times and wiped her mouth with a hoof. "Why - are you - here?" She managed out. 

"oh, um." Fluttershy's voice shifted back to her usual timbre. "I - I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you - I know the princess said it wasn't my fault, but um - I must have hurt you with my animal facts-"

Kesmera's grating laughter in Twilight's head was deafening. Twilight winced lightly but shook her head. "N-no...not- not your fault."
"um. I - well. are you - sure?" Fluttershy whispered. There was a hint of almost pleading in her tone. Twilight just nodded.

At that moment, Celestia promptly came sprinting into the room. She bolted past the door in a flail of limbs - causing Fluttershy to let out a soft eep, before strong forearms and even stronger wings curled around the small filly. Twilight found Celestia burying her face into the side of her neck.

Warmth swelled within Twilight's chest as she basked in Celestia's touch. The embodiment of the sun was beyond warm - she was nearly scalding, but Twilight rather enjoyed the heat - the ever so slight sizzle of her flesh and fur as she pressed up against the princess.
"Really, Twilight? This is the one you're rejecting your true nature for? Oh, how pathetic. At least Luna was amusing - Celestia is just sad." Kesmera scoffed.
"l-una...?" Twilight whispered confusedly.

The room dropped a thousand degrees in an instant. Celestia physically recoiled from Twilight, staring at her with a strange - unreadable expression. Twilight whimpered and tapped at her head as if desperate to show the cause of her pain.

"Fluttershy," Celestia spoke. Her voice was warm and motherly - but there was an undercurrent of icy steel that Twilight picked up on. She shivered. "I thank you for your presence here. I'm sure Twilight appreciated it. I'm going to return you to your mother, now."

Fluttershy opened her mouth - but there was a sudden golden pop, and she was gone. On the surface, at least - Twilight watched with a fascination as threads of golden energy sunk into space around Fluttershy - only for her to disappear, entirely. Oh. She's dead, she thought.
"Look deeper."
Twilight did so - until she found a thread. Her mind followed that thread - until she was far away and found Fluttershy's presence there - certainly not dead.

"Twilight." Celestia's voice broke Twilight from her small tangent. "Can the Eldest Daughter hear me?" Celestia spoke coldly.
"Unfortunately."
Twilight whimpered but nodded.

Celestia thought for a long while. Then, slowly, she placed both her hooves on the side of her daughter's head - gripping her securely - before she used the magic of the Once Great Deer. 

Science and magic are not as opposed as you might like. Magic and science blend together - for science is the study of the world, and magic is a part of the world. However, magic and physics - tend to mix like water and oil. The most basic principle of magic, coined by Gilgamesh the Great - one of the few Once Great Deer whose name wasn't stricken from history in the Fall - is the Principle of Reality Distortion. 

Reality Distortion = Space/Magic. The more magic there is in a confined space, the less the rules of physics apply. This is how pegasi fly when their wings are too small to lift them off the body. This is how spells and magic can move faster than light. Often, Reality Distortion was a low-level effect: confined to a spell, to a person. 

But sometimes - it was more than that. In the presence of a truly tremendous amount of magic - reality itself begins to ripple, melt, and distort. It looks like the air itself is rolling, the light simultaneously too dim and too bright. 

Magic that the world had not seen in millennia - since the Shattering of Asgard itself - was cast. The room that the two mares were in distorted - rippled, moved like liquid. Power, unfathomable power - the power to turn mountains and oceans to rubble and ash was channelled into a confined space-

Celestia pulled away, panting. Her eyelids fluttered shut. In Twilight's mind - there was blessed silence. Celestia buried her face into the small patch of fur on Twilight's chest, letting out a soft sigh.

"...Cele...stia?" Twilight tilted her head to the side. "C-can yo...u...teach - me ma-gic?"
Celestia looked down at her daughter for a moment. Something unreadable flitted over her face - before a slight smile graced her features. 

"Of course, my little star."



"It worked."
"Of course it worked." The draconequus' tone was different than usual - almost pained. "The deer were almost as good at dealing with as the dragons."
"Almost?" Celestia tilted her head to the side.
Discord snorted. "There is a reason, Celestia, that the dragons are not the apex predators of the world. You have never seen my sister angry - amused at best, irritated at worst. The dragons, on the other hand - bring out her rage. I hope, Celestia, that you never have to see such a thing."
"I -" Celestia trailed off. "...Lady Beollyssurth never mentioned such a thing."
"The remnants of the dragons here have had little encounters with her. There is more to the Beyond than Aezilan, Celestia. I thought you knew that by now. Regardless - even Berzerkiel would know her as little more than a myth. The Demon Queen, if I recall correctly. And I do."

There was a beat of silence.

"Do you still plan on letting the abomination live? Even when my sister has taken an interest in her?"
"I do." Celestia nodded. "I am confident that she will not fall victim to the Eldest Daughter. She resisted her hate before. I am no draconequus, or even no Aspect of Love - but I could feel the hatred bubbling off her."
"And you'll always be there for her? What about when you die, Celestia? And all that anger bubbles up within her? She'll burn this world to the ground."
"Hm. I suppose, then, that I will have to avoid dying." Celestia shrugged.
"You're treating this like a joke. This is no joke."
"How the tables turn, Discord." Celestia grinned slightly.
Discord couldn't help but snort.



There are three types of magic casters. First, active magic users - like unicorns, deer, and rams. Second, passive magic users - like the minotaurs and zebras. And lastly, primal magic users - like the dragons, the Once Great Deer, and all Aspects.

Passive magic is a rather broad category. It's defined in two separate ways - the use of external magical tools like the Zebra - Zebrican shadow potions and the rather aptly named Cursehexes, and internal magic flow to achieve an effect. Every single creature is gifted with some form of passive magic - although creatures like earthponies and minotaurs use it to a greater degree to increase their strength.

Passive magic also can be channelled. Earthpony doctors or farmers can focus magic through their hooves to heal or grow, respectively - and minotaur smiths can, momentarily, render themselves fireproof. Unfortunately, passive magic is difficult to teach - it's done passively, through instinct - and describing it to someone who doesn't have it would be like describing color to the blind.

Active magic users are what most people think when they think of magic. Glowing horns, channelling mystic energy through ley - telekinesis, teleportation, et cetera. This is the magic that can be taught - manipulating the threads of ley, the infusion and draining of energy. It's much broader than passive magic - but also much more difficult, as the dangers of miscasts and the mental strain that spells that aren't telekinesis take on the average mortal.

There's a misconception about telekinesis. Some believe that a single unicorn could kill anyone they walk by in the street simply by snapping their neck telekinetically. Fortunately, it's incorrect - as every creature with the remotest amount of magic has what is known as a hold. A natural barrier of magical defence that protects their innards from direct manipulation. Notably, it's their innards - the hold doesn't protect from teleporting someone. The hold is also absurdly difficult to overpower - even Celestia herself could only overpower the hold of, say, a dozen full-grown unicorns before she would pass out.

Lastly, there's primal magic. Primal magic is more like - asking the world to do your magic for you. It's something that can't be learned or taught - you can either do it, or you can't. It's primal magic that lead to the fall of the Once Great Deer. It's primal magic that has the Children sealed away beneath rock and ocean.

---

The sun hangs high in the sky. Celestia specifically waited until the peak of her power before beginning tutoring - but even she can't help but feel uncomfortably hot as the pair stand in an empty field.

"Do you know how to light your horn, Twilight?"
Twilight shook her head.
Celestia dropped down to her haunches and placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder, her other hoof prodding lightly into her chest. "There's - an energy within you. It should feel a bit like a pool, almost. Can you look for that pool?"

Twilight shut her eyes - and searched deep within herself. Her mind followed along a thread of invisible magic - until she stood on top of an infinite sea. The water was a rich lavender, the same shade as her coat - but there were blots of orange, yellow, violet, and pink that bubbled up to the surface before popping. 

"You've found it." Celestia whispered. Strands of Twilight's hair began to lift into the air as the air thrummed with power. Twilight nodded.

"It's dangerous. You cannot touch the pool with your hooves - you have to guide it with your mind. If you let too much of it flow - it could hurt you, or others. The most basic spell is telekinesis. Other spells require a deeper understanding of the nature of the world, so we'll start with telekinesis."

Celestia stepped backwards and tapped her hoof to the ground. There was a surge of earthpony magic and three rocks - one the size of Celestia, one the size of Twilight, and one the size of a pebble formed stacked on each other.

"You take the flow of energy. You run it through your body - you have to let it flow upwards; otherwise, it'll touch your heart. Flow upwards, through your throat - until it reaches your brain. And when it hits your brain - your horn will light."

Twilight's horn lit with a brilliant glow. The glow was intense - so bright that it hurt even Celestia's eyes to look at. "Now quickly, Twilight! You cannot hold the energy in your horn for long - or it will erupt. You must let it flow out - open your eyes, Twilight." Twilight's eyes opened - her pupils landing on the rocks. "Direct the flow of energy - let it wrap around the rocks like a hand. And then -"

Celestia's wings beat once as she threw herself backwards, only narrowing avoiding the boulder that went sailing into the distance. One of the many pillars of rock in the badlands was struck by it - the boulder carving a clean path through it. Celestia promptly glanced back - only to see that the other two rocks were a pile of dust.

Celestia smiled slightly, even as her heart skipped a beat. 

It would be a long day, it seemed.



There is a theory - that dragons are the favoured creatures of the universe. Their size, speed, and strength remain utterly unmatched - to call them apex predators would be a disservice to how objectively superior they are. Even the weakest dragon could take down a hundred mortals - with their ravenous hunger, their burning flames and their sharpened claws.

Whether or not the theory is true - the dragons are not the greatest creatures that walked the mortal planes of Aezilan. That title belongs to the enigmatic Once Great Deer. Their name is accurate - for truly, they were Once Great. Their power was so great that even the Aspects of the time bowed down to them. They carved cities of flesh, leaf and crystal - they invented reason, magic, philosophy- 

Until a tragedy befell them, the details of their fall are lost to the winds of time - but their ruins still dot the world. Most have been crushed, destroyed by the Aspects that seem so desperate to erase every trace of their existence. But in the far east - past the borders of Equestria, past the reach of even Lord Hermes and Lady Beollyssurth - past the remnants of Tambelon itself, lays the last, untouched ruins of the deer.

The city's name is lost to most. However, the wolf that walks among its city remembers it and remembers it well - he would never forget the name of Eos. While not the capital of the Once Great Deer's territory - which spanned the entire world, at its peak - in the eyes of the giant wolf, it was by far the greatest of them.

There was a time, where the towers of crystal and bone scraped at the sky. A time where he wandered these streets as Gilgamesh, the Archmage - but such times were long past. No: he had come here looking for something, something that he had long since left here.

To say it was perilous was an understatement. Any creature that wasn't him would have died a thousand deaths on the journey to the bowels of Eos - past traps that spat hellfire, spells that would drive any lesser, younger creature mad - and still, the journey took him days. Or maybe hours, or maybe weeks - maybe even years. There was no way to tell how long it took - for even his regeneration was pushed to its limit as he pulled himself back from the brink of utter annihilation. 

"Shut the fuck up." He snapped his teeth at mid-air, his face twitching as he let out a soft snarl. "I didn't - let her die. I tried. I TRIED!" He slammed his bony fist into the wall, his broadsword shining with a silver light as he dragged it behind him.

The world was wrong, here. The air was too heavy; no amount of light could pierce the everpresent darkness - and yet, even the blind would find themselves able to see the cracks in reality that were painted in the floor. It was here that she had been born - it was here that the most depraved of acts had to be committed to bring the one thing that could hurt Her into the world.

And at the centre of a ritual - at the centre of where the child of rape had been born - there was an egg.



There lies a nation known as Zebriawae. It is a landlocked country in the far east of Aezilan, deep within the sandy borders of Utan. A populous nation of strange people - remnants of the Once Great Deer, their tongues cut out at birth by tradition, and zebrican shamans speak in tongues - buffalo priests, minotaur industrialists. Zebriawae is a nation of blended culture and lifestyle.

But there is something new in Zebriawae. Something strange that walks the earth - that leaves ragged patches of ash and dirt in her path. 

She enters the bar. Those who gaze upon her vomit. Her matted fur was an ailing shade of velvet - her horn broken and jagged. She smelled of death itself - and her eyes, gouged out of her skull, made her look the part.

Worse, yet, was her stomach. There was a gaping hole where it should've been - jagged flesh and organs spilling out behind her as she trudged closer to the bar. No one so dared as much to move in her presence.

The hateful corpse that was once Twilight Velvet sat down at the bar and smiled warmly at the bartender. 

-

> [5] Asgard
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






Asgard has fallen. The gods are dead. The old oaths have been broken.





Aezilan was not the first world that crawled out of the putrid carcass of the last true God. And while certainly not the last - it was among the most important. Remnants of the dragons from the scattered cosmos - shards of divinity and life formed the Once Great Deer, a miasmic soup of proteins mixing to form legends: She-Who-Ruled, Starswirl the Bearded, and the legendary King Bor himself to name a few.

Aezilan was not the first world - but it was the very first world to have a city - a Great City. A city of such magnificence and splendour that it attracted even the Children's attention brought the wandering gazes of the Fledgling Divine. Under the guidance of She-Who-Ruled - splendid, living cities of flesh and bone that breathed and hungered dotted the world - stretching from the Far East to the Far West. There was nothing beyond the reach of the deer - until tragedy. And there were no more great cities - not for millennia.

The first Great City that rose after the fall of the Once Great Deer was called Asgard. It was the pinnacle of the world - carved from the Last True Clouds at the order of King Bor himself, shaped by all those who had toiled under the Deer as slaves. It was like no city that the deer had ever made - it was not organic, but entirely artifical. The Adamantia of the world itself was used to chain the clouds to the remnants of the Deer city of Olympus - intended to be an insult to those who had come before. 

All were welcome on Olympus - Bor had decreed as such. While Bor's work was essential in breaking the shattered remnants of the Once Great Deer, it was Odin who made Asgard into a true Great City. It was a city without peer and has remained as such - only pale facsimiles of it exist in today's world, the city of Cloudsdale and Canterlot both modeled after Asgard.

Unfortunately, though - Odin was not without rival. And so, a long and bloody war that left the entire world bleeding and ravaged - the Asgardians fighting tooth and nail against the self-proclaimed Vanir. During the Fall of Asgard, the world truly changed - for that was when Discord emerged on Aezilan, when Grogar and Starswirl had their climactic battle at the base of Tambelon - when Celestia and Luna were born between King Odin and Queen Freya.

And it was from the Shattering of Asgard - Dread-Emperor Berzerkiel the Black took flight.

---

"Hnf."

"You realize, Twilight - that you're only making this more difficult for yourself. If you were to stay still...'

"Is- hard." She grunted.

"It's easier that I do it, instead of Ivory Chaser."

"Whats...he - like?"

Celestia thought for a few moments as she ran the brush through Twilight's knotted mane. "He's a good friend, a better man - and one of the smartest people I've ever known."

"Didn't - answer." Twilight huffed. She always got annoyed when Celestia did that - danced around the question, half-answering it.

"How perceptive as ever." Celestia found a slight grin gracing her features. "...A bit vain, honestly. Sometimes a bit thin-skinned. He'll rattle on at you about his studies in history or magic for hours - honestly, considering how much of a glutton you are - you might like that about him, my little star."

"You - don't?"

Celestia shook her head. "I never meant to imply that. I do find his discoveries interesting." She was silent for a moment. "And between you and me - I do get a small form of amusement out of watching him squirm when I mention that I was there."

"Right. You're - old." Twilight said bluntly. 

Celestia snorted as her eyes widened, a hoof holding up to her mouth. "Twilight Indomita Sparkle." She scolded, but couldn't keep the mirth out of her voice.

"Sorry. Did - I - d-do it...again?" Twilight looked down.

"You did. It was your first time this week though. You've certainly gotten better at being a little less - blunt." Celestia giggled. She leaned in and pressed her muzzle against the side of Twilight's head, slowly running her hoof through her mane. 

"I don't - get it. Why - can't I say - what I t-think?"

"People are complicated. Sometimes, when you're being honest, or curious - they can take offense to it. Not everypony is as forgiving as I."

"Do - I have to do - this?" Twilight gestured at her mane. "I - thought...they're - friends. Like - Flut-ter-shy."

"I didn't realize you considered Fluttershy a friend." Celestia said softly as she felt a swelling of warmth in her chest. She quickly, panickedly glanced down at her chest - making sure that Twilight was not melting her heart. She pet her chest a few times and found that, yes, her heart was certainly still intact.

"She's - nice. Talks. Not - scared of - me. I'm not - monster - to her."

Celestia's expression hardened. "You are not a monster, Twilight. Don't listen to anyone who ever tells you that." She curled her hooves around her.

"It's - okay, Celestia." Twilight smiled weakly at her. "I'm - your - monster. A - good monster." Celestia stared at her intently for a few moments with a grimace - before she shut her eyes and turned her head to the side.

"Even for friends, Twilight - presentation is important. They've never met anyone like you before. No one has, my little star. You're - unique. They might be - afraid." Celestia's voice went very, very soft.

"I thought - you said...not - to - listen - to that."

"I did." Celestia nodded. "And I'll continue to stand by that. But these are very important people - people who...matter, a lot, I suppose." Celestia glanced at the side. To so much as imply that somehow, ponies mattered less than her felt - wrong. She could stomach the wrongness for the time being, though. "I'm done with your mane now, Twilight."

Twilight promptly wriggled free from her mother's grasp, shaking her head side to side as she felt her mane tussle over her neck. Celestia let out a soft, amused sigh, but was rather unsurprised.

"Rea-dy, Celestia." Twilight beamed up at her - her smile showing far too many teeth for any pony to have, her horn a wicked, curved blade - but her fur and mane were orderly. Somewhat. All-in-all, not too bad for only an hour of working with the filly.

Celestia stood up and used a small bit of telekinesis to guide the filly towards the balcony. Celestia opened up the balcony doors, standing on the small marble platform that she liked to raise the sun from - before tapping her hooves four times in four specific positions. A brilliant golden circle lit on the balcony - intricately carved in over months of hard work. Celestia curled a wing around Twilight and pulled the filly close by her side.

There was a brilliant surge of magic-

Snow fell on Twilight's nose, and she promptly recoiled. The transition had been so smooth and sudden that the filly hadn't even noticed - the sudden swarm of frigid air that coiled and curled around them, the whipping blizzard in the distance - crackling thunder and lightning - and -

Asgard.

Twilight had only heard of it today - when Celestia announced that they would be visiting her "extended family" there.  But there was no mistaking that the swarm of clouds that floated, half-broken chains coiled around them and weighing them down: the wreckage of gigantic dragon corpses the size of the Canterhorn littering the veritable graveyard around them. Mount Olympus stood by the base of Asgard's ruins - and while Twilight wasn't sure what it looked like in its heyday, she was certain that it was far greater than the shadow she saw before her. It was more like a plateau - a pile of jagged rubble, haphazardly laid on top of each other.

As the two approached, and the blizzard cleared from their vision - they were able to see them.

It was by the base of the once-mountain that they stood. Beollyssurth's gigantic mass was far too large to fit within view - so her body was coiled around the base of the plateau, only her head resting by the others, her scales were a deep, glittering red - her eyes the color of amber. 

The two could only be Zarrat and Hermes arguing with each other - Zarrat, a gigantic and scarred minotaur that looked like he could bench-press Celestia, while Hermes was a short, green griffin with a beak tipped with steel and a strange circlet of feathers on his head. The last two - by trial of elimination, were Lady Thaola and Lady Cadence. Cadence was a pink alicorn mare - apparently, Celestia's niece.

Asides from Beollyssurth, none of them were imposing to Twilight. Celestia was more beautiful than Cadence in her eyes, more intimidating than Zarrat - and Hermes wasn't all too much to look at. 

And then, there was Lady Thaola. Every bit as tall as Celestia - with a crest of antlers above her head that curled and gnarled up towards the sky. A genuine, real - deer.

Celestia stepped forward. Twilight only noticed now that none of them were wearing a crown, save Hermes' circlet - but that was hardly a crown. Celestia cleared her throat - and eyes slowly turned to her. Cadence let out a soft sigh of relief.

"And finally, the Prodigal Sun graces us with her presence." Beollyssurth flitted her tongue out. Her words were loud - Twilight's ears going flat against her head as she felt the mountains grind into dust.

"Bah! About time. This - headstrong fool - won't recognize the legitimacy of-" Zarrat began.

"Legitimacy?" Hermes stepped forward. "What legitimacy is there in a band of raiders? There are raiders everywhere. Can't you - crush them with a rock, or whatever it is you do-" His voice had a slightly jovial, yet simultaneously arrogant undercurrent to it.

"Normal raiders, don't pillage the Ruins of the Deerfolk!" Zarrat roared. His voice was deep and gravelly, making Twilight feel warm to listen to. "Times are changing, and we have to change with them."

Thaola tapped her hoof down on the floor. She made a series of strange gestures that Twilight didn't understand - but everyone's eyes locked on Thaola. Twilight tilted her head to the side but didn't get any clarification.

Celestia cleared her throat yet again. "Ahem. I thought - we were equals, are we not? Surely - we could settle this in a more, civilized, organized manner."

"Bah! To the Umberfoal with your - organization, Celestia! There is pressing business that must be addressed-"

"Are you alive, Zarrat?" Beollyssurth tilted her head to the side. "You are? Then the world is peaceful enough - that we may talk as friends, and not as foes."

Zarrat grumbled and sat down in a throne of rock that hadn't been there a moment before. Eyes slowly turned towards Celestia.

"As the first order of business - I'd like to officially welcome Cadence into our little circle." Celestia gestured at Cadence - who sheepishly waved there. 

"H-hello, everyone. I'm - uh. Cadence. Embodiment of Love." She shifted around in her spot. "I - ascended earlier this year."

"How rude of us, Little Love." Beollyssurth shifted, bits of the plateau rolling down as she did so. "You must think lowly of us - bickering like the drakes we are." She snorted, a plume of smoke rising into the air. At that moment, Twilight noticed that there was no snow around Beollyssurth - the air was rippling around her, as waves of heat pulsed off of her. Partially due to her element, but also in thanks to her sheer size.

"Mmph. Right. We have - new members. Have to look formal for them." Hermes rolled his eyes, but there was a hint of playfulness in his tone. "I guess no orgy this time?"

Celestia smiled slightly, but it was not a warm smile. In the sky above, the sun shined a little bit brighter. Hermes held his hand up. "it was a joke." He meeped softly.

"Celestia." Zarrat said suddenly. "You - um. Appear to - have something. Right there." He gestured at Twilight.

"That, Zarrat, would be the second order of business." Celestia glanced down at Twilight. "This - is Twilight Indomita Sparkle. My - mortal-" She thought for a second. "-My maybe mortal daughter."

There was a long beat of silence. Twilight didn't care so much as wave.

"I thought ponies got pregnant for a year."

"They lay eggs, Beolly." Zarrat rolled his eyes. "Uh. You - do, right?"

"I thought you were barren." Hermes said bluntly. He then winced. "Sorry."

"She's adopted." Celestia clarified. "The short of it is that her mother died during childbirth - and considering her - circumstances,"

"Circumstances?"

Celestia arched an eyebrow - then made a soft o noise. "Right. The Blizzard. Just - a moment." Celestia shut her eyes - and her horn lit with a brilliant golden glow. 

Mana took many forms - but the simplest form of mana was heated, which was part of why the North was so dangerous - the leylines below dove down deeper into the core, and drained magic from those nearby - hence why it was so cold. It also interfered with many other things - teleportation, flight, magic senses...

Celestia's magic was cast out in a thin field around themselves, repelling the blizzard. And now - not weakened by the cold, Twilight's aura ran free. Her magic was essentially surging out of her with seemingly no limit within the Spirit's senses. Beollyssurth recoiled. Hermes blurred, suddenly held wine - drank the wine, then did a spit-take - Zarrat just stared, while Thaola held her hooves to her mouth and let out a soft noise.

Celestia let the blizzard resume as Thaola clopped her hooves together and patted at the ground before pointing at herself and then at Twilight.

"The Lady in Lavender." Zarrat arched an eyebrow. "Prophecies." He scoffed.

"I'm surprised that you don't believe in them." Hermes rolled his eyes.

"Oh, I believe in them. Doesn't mean I don't hate them." Zarrat spat. "Things of Fate are always tricky, and even worse when the Deer are involved. Uh - sorry, Thaola. No - offense." Thaola just glared at him.

"Allow me to sum up the circumstances-" Celestia began before Beollyssurth interrupted.

"How old is she, Celestia? Are you sure it was wise to bring her here, instead of merely informing us of her existence?"

Celestia shook her head. "My daughter is intelligent beyond her years. Maybe a little bit lacking in the wisdom department," she prodded lightly at Twilight's side - causing the filly to jolt and giggle, the only bit of emotion she had demonstrated the entire time - Cadence winced.

"-but everything I have to speak of, I have informed her of. I - try not to keep secrets from her, recently."

"Some of you might recognize her father. Frost, the Immortal." Immediately, even through the blizzard - you could hear a pin drop. "He -" She trailed off. She glanced at Twilight. "...likely, does not know that she survived her birth. It was - catastrophic, to say the least. It was reminiscent of the days that the Eldest Daughter walked the planes of Aezilan." She shut her eyes.

Thaola pointed at Twilight - and dragged the tip of her hoof across her throat, slowly. There were sudden gasps, Beollyssurth's eyes narrowed, and smoke flared from her nostrils - but Celestia held a hoof up.

"Discord suggested much the same thing." Celestia said weakly. "She is my daughter, and I love her. I am not a fool, Thaola. And neither is she." She sat down on her haunches and turned towards Twilight. 

"You can all see it, can't you? It's like - an axle. The world hinges on her. There's so much potential in her - she could be so, cruel. But there is so much good - and I am confident in you, Twilight. I believe in you, my little star. You can be good."

"Y-yes...Celestia." She spoke her first words since arriving in the Far North. Thaola stepped backwards and covered her ears, while everyone else just looked mildly unnerved by her raspy, stuttery manner of speech.

"With the elephants out of the way," Celestia smiled as she placed a hoof on Twilight's back. "I believe - that the floor should be open up to discussion. Unless there is more to say?"

"I see the mark of the Conqueror in her, Celestia." Beollyssurth growled. Celestia paled, ever so slightly - and found herself thankful for her alabaster coat. "You say that there is equal potential for good and evil, but I disagree. She smells of my older kin - and that is not a good thing."

Beollyssurth shifted to look at Twilight, directly, now. "I am not so rude as my counterparts, though, that I would deign to suggest your death - or continue to speak about you indirectly to your face, Little One. If Celestia believes in you - then so shall I. Be gentle, and strong. Kind, yet fierce. Flexible, but stalwart. If you do these things - you will bring honor to us all. Of that, I am certain, Little One."

Zarrat nodded - a staff of stone appearing in his hand. "Hear-hear!" He cried out.

Hermes said nothing, while Thaola glared at Celestia - before letting out a soft hmph, and turning her head to the side.

Cadence stepped over and placed a hoof on Celestia's shoulder - before kneeling and staring right into Twilight's eyes. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm sorry that we haven't met sooner - but maybe we can talk a bit after this."

Twilight just blinked, and there was a long beat of silence. Celestia placed a hoof on her back and glanced at her, her mouth opening - but then, Zarrat, blessedly, broke the silence.

"What you interrupted, Celestia - was a topic of discussion. There are a new band of raiders - they run around calling themselves the Skypirates." He snorted. "All of them are winged. They've been growing bold, Celestia. Raiding deer lands - like Thaola said, even Eos was breached. The damage they could do with that technology-"

"They're raiders. Armed with the weapons of the deerfolk, they're raiders nonetheless. Find them, and crush them." Hermes rolled his eyes.

"Underestimating them will be your doom." Zarrat snarled.

"Is - that a threat, Zarrat?"

"Maker forbid!" He roared. "T'were they to approach on your lands - you would find the full might of Minos at your aid."

"It was not they, that breached Eos. It was Frost." Beollyssurth rolled over onto her back. Gazes turned to her.

"How - do you know?" Hermes tilted his head to the side. "I thought I was the nigh-omnipresent one."

"I have met Frost, before. He is a friend to the Dragons. I cannot speak entirely on his nature, or what I know of him - I am beholden by ancient oaths. He is a good man, if - highly misguided, at times. Rather singleminded, honestly. This is not to say that he is not a threat - if he were given the possibility, I am certain that he would strike anyone here down in a heartbeat. He's rather - opposed - to the idea of any form of government."

"Great." Hermes rolled his eyes. "An immortal anarchist who raided a deer temple. You didn't answer the question."

"He was not named after the concept, Hermes. The concept was named after him - after his original name, lost to all but a precious few. Where he walks - the world bleeds as he drains its heat. He's constantly on the move - but momentarily, I can sense him - flaring up. I have felt him in Equestria, in Eos, in Zebriawae - yes, even in the long-forgotten lands of Tambelon, the jungles of Panthera and the Desolate Wilds of the South. He moves fast. My scouts are attempting to keep an eye on him - with variable degrees of success."

"He's interested in the moon, you know." He turned to look at Celestia. Celestia paled slightly. 

"Speaking of the moon - how are the repair efforts going?" Hermes turned to Zarrat. 

Zarrat shrugged. "Rock is rock. But it's taking time. A lot of it. Maybe in the next decade I'll piece it back together. Still - I'm not sure what destroyed the moon."

"That would be the excess of energy released from my daughter's birth," Celestia glanced at Twilight. Twilight was intently staring at Beollyssurth.

There was a long beat of silence, again.

"So, let's summarize. We have a moon destroying demon child - no offence," Hermes began - Celestia glared, but the bird powered on, "- an immortal, anarchist wolf that would kill us all and is interested in the moon, a band of raiders stealing deer-tech: are there any other bomb-shells that you would like to drop on us, today?"

Celestia thought for a few moments. "My sister will return in sixteen years." 

Thaola and Beollyssurth were the eldest of the Embodiments, aside Celestia - and so, they were not surprised. Everyone else, though, was rather shocked.

"YOU HAVE A SISTER!?" Hermes yelled.

"I am standing right here, Lord Hermes. There's no need to yell."

"THERE IS MOST CERTAINLY A NEED TO YELL! YOU HAVE A SISTER?!"

"I have always referred to Equestria as a diarchy, after all."

"I THOUGHT YOU MEANT IN A CONCEPTUAL WAY! LIKE THE PEOPLE WERE YOUR CO-RULERS!" Hermes squawked. Zarrat snorted.

"I - you - why haven't you mentioned her, before?" Cadence tilted her head to the side.

"It's a bit of a sore spot for me, my dear niece." She shut her eyes. "She's banished. To the False Moon, after one of She-Who-Rules' Terrors warped her mind. The Elements of Harmony - I told you, I did not wield them alone."

"Okay - I mean it. Anything else you want to bomb onto us?" Hermes stepped forward towards Celestia. 

Celestia thought for a minute before she shrugged. "There is nothing else that has prompted my attention." Twilight opened her mouth, but Celestia quickly nudged her - Beollyssurth arched an eyebrow, but didn't comment on it, while no one else seemed to notice.

"Now. If we could move onto a more fruitful part of our discussion, rather than a summary - with how to deal with these issues. First, I propose..."



"Is it true, Archmagus?" The Archmagus-in-Training spoke as she followed closely behind the Archmagus.

"It certainly is." She nodded slowly. "Whatever you've heard about him - double it. There is a reason our lady has ordered us to such efforts to contain one man."

"But - even our lady is not immortal. If - if she could not be, then how-"

"A word of advice, Trixie." The Archmagus arched an eyebrow as she turned to look at her. "Lose the zeal. Our lady is not infallible, and there are forces in this world that are beyond even her reach. I can assure you - the Wolf is every bit as immortal as the legends proclaim, if not more. He has come back from less than dust. If Our Lady and the Betrayer combined could not kill him - then he is most assuredly immortal."

"...Then - how did we capture him?" Trixie tilted her head to the side.

The Archmagus shook her head. "Barely. We ambushed him as he made his way into Panthera - but it took over a hundred good mages to slow him down enough. Spells of fire make him slower - slow enough that we could clasp restraints around him." The two of them began to descend on the magi-tech elevator, deep, deep into the bowels of the earth.

"...Are you afraid of him?"

"Are you?"

"Yes." Trixie answered immediately.

"Good." The Archmagus snorted as she pushed a lock of purple hair out of her gaze. "You'll make a good Archmagus then. I'm terrified of him. Some small part of me thinks he let himself get captured - like he wanted to be here. I don't trust him, Trixie - and neither should you."

"Archmagus-"

"Trixie. If you don't say my name, I'm going to lock you up in the same room as him."

"U-um. Apologies, Starlight. D...Do - you know why our Lady asked for his capture?"

Starlight Glimmer shut her eyes. "He knows things. He knows many things. And in all his time on Aezilan - he has not slept once. He has not allowed the Lady access to his mind."

The Archmagus and Archmagus-in-Training came to a stop - exiting out into a large catwalk, linked to an egg-shaped nullstone that the Wolf was chained to with heated chains - his wrist burnt down to the bone, blood trailing down his arms and ankles. He was stripped bare and had dozens of lances speared into him from all sides. His eyes were shut - but Trixie could tell he wasn't sleeping.

"So, Trixie." Starlight Glimmer stepped forward. She turned to flash a grin at the Archmagus-in-Training. "Let's see if we can change that."

One of Frost's eyes snapped open - and in the bowels of the Dragonlands,  an ancient egg twitched.

-

> [6] Faulyn
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






The mortal girl only had a single word to ask.
"Why?"





In a time before, the Deerfolk roamed the world as its explorers. In an era before, the Deer were the masters of the world. In the age of today - the Once Great Deer truly live up to their title. Shattered remnants of the greatest empire that blessed - or was it cursed? - the planes of Aezilan lay dotted throughout the world. Ruins of strange, esoteric technology - wriggling flesh and bone constantly seeking to expand, held back by slowly-failing drones.

No two deer are alike. There are deer that are warriors - berserkers, that fight until their death - and even past then, as their spells reanimate their corpse for a second wind, turning on friend and foe alike. Some deers are scholars, explorers - there are deer that are Prophets, particularly ironic considering the King of Utan's crusade against prophecy. 

Their numbers are thin. While few know exactly what the Fall of the Once Great Deer entailed - the deer remember. Most take a vow of celibacy so that their race might die out within the coming generations. 

But there is one thing that all deer have in common - from the refugees and workers in Utan to those who worship the Eldest Daughter and perform the most profane acts in a futile effort to gain her favor, to those who live under the rule of Lady Thaola in the woods to the west. From the youngest to the oldest - the cruelest to the kindest - no deer can speak. Their tongues are cut out at birth, their vocal cords carved up and burned - before sealed with Cruel Magic of the Once Great Deer so that they may never heal.

Aezilan has attracted attention. The Children are drawn from all corners of the universe - the Demon Queen, the Eldest Child - sealed underneath the churning waves. The Youngest Child, locked in a cage of stone - and the Immortal, not quite a child - but close. They move slowly towards it - and two have recently arrived.

Celestia sleeps peacefully in Castle Canterlot. She is unaware of the creatures which lurk in the gardens below - she is unaware of the true scale of damage that the creature wrapped in a bundle of limbs with her is capable of. For the time being - she is young, infantile. She hasn't realized the true scope of her potential - the true role that she has to play in nature. Those who her soul touched remain scattered - two in the castle, two in the Jungles of Panthera - and another, in possession of the most dangerous being in the universe.

So, for the time being - the two are not here for her. 

The first creature is strange. He is skeletal and stands on two legs - taller than any mortal, even taller than the gigantic wolf-once-deer. He stands draped in a cloak, and upon his head, there is a set of antlers - great, ornate things that reach towards the sky like clawing hands and gnashing limbs. Green embers dance along their length, a deep glow within the black pits where his eyes would have been if he were to have had flesh. 

Yet, if you were to ask the two which was stranger - both would agree that the other was. She was beautiful - a truly striking deer with a coat the color of wheat and eyes the color of grass. Her antlers are beautiful - and decorated with golden threads that curl between their ever-stretching branches. Their colors shift, depending from which angle you look at her from - they are every color that Is and every color that is Not. One of her antlers is malignant though - a cancerous growth of pulsing black void grows along with its mass, slowly consuming the bone.

The strangest thing about the deer, though - is her mouth. A fang juts from her lip, long and curled - and her tongue is left unmarred and whole.

"He truly is bound." The Deer speaks. Her voice is beautiful and strange - it thrums with power, and yet the world weeps.

"It would explain much. The deities truly don't understand what they are doing, do they?" Her companion speaks. He is the Watcher - his voice soft like velvet, intoxicating to listen to.

"You forget yourself, Watcher Nekrasis. You are still a child yourself. To the universe, a thousand years is nothing." The Deer rolled her eyes.

"I may be a child, but I have Watched where you can not, my Lady Faulyn. I am not so uneducated as to deem any random millennia worth note. This millennia, in particular..." Nekrasis shrugged.

"The millennia of the past are not the millennia of the future." Faulyn tilted her head to the side.

"Yet - with his involvement, perhaps this whole mess could've been resolved, ahead of time." Nekrasis offered.

Faulyn's eyes flashed for a moment, and she shook her head sadly. "I have seen that path, and it leads to ruin."

"Truly? Worse than what is to come?"

"The world would rot and putrefy. It would grow stagnant under anarchy, and so it would not temper the steel of our blade."

Nekrasis shut his eyes. The equivalent of shutting his eyes was the orbs that floated in his skull "turning off," so to speak. "How regrettable."

"Fret not, Watcher Nekrasis. My vision is blurred. The outcome may not be so grim as it seems. Regardless, I believe we've dallied enough. How long do I have?"

Nekrasis tilted his head to the side as his orbs re-lit. They flashed a deep shade of blue. "Within three minutes, an earthquake will kill us both. Be swift."

"Three minutes is plenty," Faulyn spoke as she trotted off into the gardens.

"Hello, brother."

"Are you here to gloat at m- Fate?"

"Hello, little brother. My time is short - but I would be beside myself if I were not to stop by you, if only for a passing moment."

"You're - alive? I thought-"

"I am not dead, Discord, if only just. There are fates worse than death, and truly - this is one of them. Yet, I am confined to my role, and so I must respect that."

"That felt almost like a jab at me."

"Good. My ability to use sarcasm has not faded with my death."

"You're here for the child, aren't you?"

"No, Discord. As always - in the absence of our Mother, it falls to me to baby-sit our Eldest Sister. I am here to prevent her from Ruination."

"Ruination? Truly? She'd go that far?"

"She'd go further, Discord. She is dark, and twisted - beyond any conceivable repair."

"...It should've been me."

"Yes, little brother. It should have. And yet - you denied your Fate."

"I would not make the same mistake again."

"You would, little brother - and it is no fault of yours."

Then, Faulyn chose to turn to her companion. She nodded - and the two creatures left, narrowly dodging their fate.


---

Of all the Children on Aezilan, Void was perhaps the most alike to Faulyn. 

Unlike Discord and the Eldest Daughter, he was not a creature that had cast off his chains to assume a new role. No - the Void felt nothing for his part. He knew the purpose he served, and he would serve it. He would act as he had to when he had to - and not a moment before. 

Thousands of feet below him, his son was being tortured within an inch of his life. It was most assuredly excruciating - but the Void did not so much as blink. 

A few feet behind him, Faulyn stood. She stood by her lonesome - the two locked in a single instance of time, with no Watcher to listen to their conversation. Their conversation would be short and to the point - for their conversation had to be short and to the point. They were two actors on a grand stage - reading, reciting their lines with a gun held to their head.

Faulyn was a very good actor. Void was better.

"I greet you," Faulyn spoke.

The Void nodded as he glanced at her. "I greet you. You are here to inquire about my progress and the result of my search beyond your sight."

"I am. The picture illuminates itself, even as it grows muddier. I request the information."

"My son and the Terror-Touched deity are on the path to meet. They will interact - and there will be blood. The remnants of your work walk this world in the form of the Lady in Lavender's mother. They wear her skin like a sick puppet - and she will bring out the worst in her, or the best in her."

"And what of the cultists?"

"The cultists that worship the Eldest are being kept in check. Their efforts will remain stagnant for as long as necessary. I have made liberal use of my talents to ensure the capture of my son to the Moon. Their meeting is essential."

"Indeed. You have a new assignment."

"Do I?" The Void stood up. He looked much like his son - save for being a head shorter and pure black instead of a soft snow white. 

"You will attempt to use your abilities to hinder the effort of the Iampex." Faulyn stated.

The Void nodded. "Then I shall do as such. Will my efforts bear fruit?"

Faulyn shook her head. "No, cousin. They will not. But you will buy precious time - and hopefully, the other machinations that I have put into play will come to fruition."

"I will depart. I greet you luck, Lady."

"There is no such thing as luck, Void." And she was gone.

---


A little over five thousand years ago - the Eldest Daughter walked on Aezilan. 

The ruins where she touched are known as The Desolate Wilds. They are in the far south - and since her arrival there, no creature - mortal or divine has walked there since. In a single day, she reduced a country to little more than ash - and it was only through the near-death of the Youngest Child, the sacrifice of the Greatest Mortal Mage alive, and two hundred dragons that the world narrowly managed to escape annihilation.

Her cage was chosen precisely. The dragons are her oldest foe - and so, they know how to deal with her. In the far north - isolated from any reach of society, her cage is locked beneath the churning waves and hissing sea. A plateau of ice to keep her docile - no wandering minds for her to whisper her sweet nothings into for her entertainment or a chance at freedom. A creature known as the Cracken, created by Discord once he had recovered, guarded its entrance - tearing apart any ships that come close.

The reason it's called the Cracken is that it is not the Kraken, but rather - a facsimile, made out of ice, that makes a rather amusing cracking noise whenever it surfaces.

The Watcher and his Lady touch down above the ice. Faulyn doesn't waste a moment.

"Hello, the creature that wears my sister's flesh."

"It's Kesmera now, actually."

"Ah. Not Viola?"

"I do not wear Viola's flesh anymore, and so I do not don her name. I wear the flesh of the being who called Me into existence."

"You do not wear the flesh of our mother."

"I'm not talking about that stupid rotting corpse. I'm talking about the creature who truly personified destruction. Oh, my beautiful Kesmera - her spells were so - beautiful."

"I see the spells you are talking of," Faulyn thought as visions flashed through her head. There were visions of destruction, of hellfire - of flesh that continued to grow no matter how much fire it was exposed to, of the shadows themselves being weaponized..."Beautiful, they are not."

"I suppose there is a reason that I am Destruction, and you are Fate."

"You were not always destruction, Slate-Cleaner. Once - you were Renewal."

"I am not beholden to that name anymore. I recognize it only as the chains that I have long cast off. And soon - my dear sister, I will help her cast her chains off."

"You speak of the girl in riddles."

"I do. Isn't she beautiful? Such capability for destruction. And it's in her nature - as she grows, she'll only lust for blood more. Her chains are strong - but they are not the Adamantia of the World."

"Ruination, Arlanarlia!" Faulyn cried, and her voice was terrible. "You will bring it about in your hubris, your arrogance - your actions the downfall of us all! I should kill you now, crush your mind to a pulp under mine!"

"And yet, you will not, sister! For as much as I hate the filth you have cultivated and allowed to fester in our mother's beautiful tapestry, for as much as I hate this world, for as much as I hate YOU! You love me!" Kesmera cried with a hint of smug victory in her tone.

"I do," Faulyn whispered. "And for that - I hate myself."

Faulyn turned to the watcher with a resigned expression on her face. And the two were gone - and Aezilan was a little lighter.

-

> [7] Cidercloth
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.






Despite what many would have you believe - or truly do believe themselves, Celestia is not a fool.

She is naive. She can be foalish, cruel, borderline inequine at times - She is fallible. Some claim that Celestia is the best of them, and she is - but she is also the worst of them. Celestia is many things - all of them oxymoronic in their contradictions, but one thing that she is not - is a fool.

She knows of the happenings in her world. She is well aware that her nation - the Shining Jewel of Aezilan, as it's sometimes called in a mocking and genuine way  - is rotten. A cancerous growth forms along its underbelly, a tumor that's spread deep into the heart of the nation - and to cut it out would be to gut the nation itself. The work would be grisly and long - and by the time she was done, the bleeding guts of Equestria would be out in the open, left bare for the world to see - and to pick and feed on like birds of carrion.

It does not, however, stop her from cutting away what she can. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza's golden, honeyed words placate those who lust and greed for power. Threats to her ponies are stamped out under the skilled tact of Master-COmmander Steelshy Blade, while the threats from within are found by Head Researcher Ivory Chaser and burned away by Judicator Goldspur. While the four heads of state and the Diarch remain - friendly, there is a certain closeness between the Judicator and the Head Researcher.

The Head Judicator is something of a legend. Nearly as tall as Celestia, with a rippling set of muscles to match - while Celestia remains unrivaled in raw power and unicorn magic, Goldspur has proven to be her equal time and time again - if not her superior. Some claim him to be immortal - his strength absurd, his durability doubly so. Yet, very few have seen him underneath his impressive set of armor - a clinking, clanking tank as the plates of heavy steel seem almost fused to his flesh. Only those closest to him have caught glimpses of his brilliant red mane or his soft, butter-colored coat. 

He carries no weapons. He is the weapon.

Of the two, the Head Researcher is the less physically imposing. He is a stallion - a beautiful stallion. His coat is a brilliant white, his mane a silky dark red that runs down his head in cascading curls. He is slightly effeminate and a full three hands shorter than his compatriot. He is, in fact - slightly above average in terms of height. His eyes are a deep sea-green and show a glimmer of his curious nature - reflected by the book on his flank. He enters the room and takes a seat.

They are good ponies. Stallions with strong wills and even stronger morals - even where they disagree, they can respect their differences. 

"Why does the honeybug lie?" Ivory queried as he lifted a book in his telekinetic grasp, flicking through the pages. His voice was melodic, the voice of a singer.

"Because it is in their nature to do so." His voice was gravel - much like Zarrat's, but there was a twinge of something in there. A slight accent - his words a bit thick.

Ivory leveled a dangerous look at the stallion. The corona around his horn began to glow more intensely.

"Ah’m not going to say it," Goldspur grumbled.

Ivory smiled sweetly. "Say what?" 

Goldspur turned his head to the side. "...Because - the honey tastes - amazeballs." He grimaced slightly and was thankful for his full-head helmet.

Ivory slammed the book shut with a clap. "You're aware of the necessity."

"Of course ah am," Goldspur grunted. "Doesn't mean ah have to like it. Not even remotely. Just - amazeballs?"

"It's something that you would never say. No honeybug would think of it." Ivory shrugged.

"We've never discussed the possibility of you being one of them, y'know." Goldspur's eyes narrowed slightly under his helmet. The movement would be imperceptible to any but Ivory.

Ivory chuckled. "If they were able to fool you, then there would be no hope for Equestria. Surely, we would all be doomed."

The Judicator snorted as he stood up, trotting over to the window with slow, heavy hoofsteps. "The topic of discussion."

"You lay it as a question, but say it as a statement." Ivory noted.

"Your point being?"

"My point is that you are aware of the topic of discussion. You merely want me to broach it first. Truly - does the girl unnerve you?"

The Judicator turned his head to the side. "...Ah'm loyal. Ah - am. Doesn't mean ah don't question if Celestia's got her head on straight, sometimes." He grunted. "She gave us everythin', y'know. Our land over in Ponyville - the deed down south in Appleloosa. The Apples have always been loyal to the princess. And as far as ah see it, we always will be. T'wouldn't be right if it was any other way."

"But," Ivory started.

"But," Goldspur agreed. "That girl ain't right. Steel's daughter - the way she described her. The way that the staff speak 'bout her in - riddles. Like she's something out of legend. There's somethin' wrong with her. You ever meet Wind Burst?"

"No, darling. I did not have the pleasure to meet anyone by that name." A shake of the head.

"Displeasure." Goldspur corrected. Ivory made a soft oh. "He was a good colt. 'Mean it. Strong, fast - there was a captain in the making in him. Loyal to a fault, too. If Celestia asked him to jump, he wouldn't ask how high - he'd jump as hard as he possibly could. Y'know what happened to him?"

"I do not," Ivory lied. Goldspur flashed him a look. 

"So you know, then. That the girl melted him. Overpowered his hold, turned him into a molten pony that Celestia herself had to scoop up and dispose of. T'aint right." He shook his head. 

"And what did you tell his kin?" Ivory placed a hoof on Goldspur's shoulder. The Judicator flinched.

"...The truth, 'course. Your type of truth. One of those - lies of omission. Hate it. Hated it with all my heart. But - ah couldn't bring myself to let them know. Ah told them - that he died doing what he thought was right."

"You're stronger than I am, Goldspur." Ivory whispered. He curled his forearms around him and locked the stallion in a tight hug. The two friends stood like that for a while until Ivory parted.

"Yer not as smart as y'might think, Ive." Goldspur's accent came on a bit more thickly layered - even with all his time in Canterlot; it came down a little harder in times of stress. "T'aint like yer' the princess. Ah can see straight through ye." he grunted. "Yer here to deal with her. Behind her back."

"Hardly anything so barbaric as you seem to be implying, Head Judicator." Ivory Chaser arched an eyebrow. "Tell me - do you think that Lady Celestia is moral?"

"Course," Goldspur responded instantly. Not a moment of hesitation.

"Again, please. With a bit less of the zeal."

"...She does her best. But she's - still equine. Makes mistakes. Yeah, though. Ah'd say she's damn well moral."

"In the days when Berzerkiel's corpse still burned, did you know - that she, along with her sister, and Lady Beollyssurth, broke the wings of every dragon that was involved with Berzerkiel? Crippled them, so that they might never rise up against her."

"Yer lying."

"You know I'm not." Ivory shut his eyes.

"...Didn't." Goldspur shook his head. He stared out the window.

"It was moral, for the time. She's ageless, eternal - she's not like us. She's - greater, in a sense. Yet - she stays grounded. Fluid. She changes with the times, she shifts, she morphs. How, do you think?"

Goldspur glanced at Ivory - who had a glint in his eyes. A dangerous glint, sometimes referred to as the Ivory Sheen- when he had an idea. Goldspur gulped and shook his head.

"She has friends." Ivory Chaser said with a wide grin on his face.



The Odari jungles of Panthera are rather aptly named - for where else would a Panther make its home, other than Panthera? A race of enigmatic creatures - once slaves to the Deerfolk, but now reclusive from the rest of the world. They remain sealed off, isolated from the world - locked to the more tribal and brutalist ways of the past. Despite this, Panthera is a strange place that makes its home to a rather diverse spread of cultures - most notably, the thestrals that worship the Eldest Daughter.

In the precious few days that Kesmera, or - Viola, at the time, walked the world, she tore the False Sky down. All those who gazed upon the Starless Beyond were driven mad - and the nocturnal pegasi subspecies of thestrals, active solely at night, were driven to insanity beyond repair. They speak in ancient tongues as they cut open their young, feeding their entrails to the Panthers who tentatively allow the thestrals their home in the Jungles.

They're not the only cult there, amusingly enough. The Church of the Nightmare lay there - for a while, the Terror-Touched Embodiment lays dead, dormant in the False Moon - her consciousness wanders, dreaming. Those who receive the privilege, or perhaps the curse of brushing up against her mind, travel to the continent of Odari - and often lose their lives in the arduous quest to the jungles. Ponies, minotaur, sphinxes, Abyssinians - creatures of all breeds with no history of madness throw away what little they have to worship the Glory of the Nightmare.

At a broad level, their politics are complicated. There are vying factions, zealots, and militants. Yet, if you were to examine those in positions of power - you'd find them more like-minded, agreeable. They lack the zeal they had as they carved their way through their small city to get to where they are today.

General Shadow Sprint is an imposing mare. A pegasus mare, allegedly raised by griffins, wolves, panthers, or dragons, depending on who you ask - but she adopts traits from all of them. For example, she solely eats meat because she enjoys the taste and the message it sends. Her feathery wings are lined with steel, and she keeps her hooves capped with blades at all times. She's tall, scarred, muscular - her blue coat so dark it looks black in most lights. A streak of Fuschia runs through her white mane, matching the color of her eyes.

Archmagus Starlight Glimmer is significantly less imposing. The same height as the other mare, yet never seen without her flowing navy cloak and hood - and only rarely seen without her shadow following in her footsteps. Yet, power flows from her - she has earned the title Archmagus and earned it well. 

They are proud mares, yet both bow to the Grand Zealot as they give their report.

"The Skypirates have proved to be - negotiable, for the time being. Our efforts have forced them out of Equestria and Panthera, and they proclaim that - until the dust settles, and our Lady rises from the ashes, they will stay out."

"Truly? Honor, amongst pirates?" The Grand Zealot inspected his yellow-ochre hoof. "'Tis uncommon."

"Their leader was-" She turned her head to the side. "-she owed me a favor. I saved her daughter, once." Shadow Sprint said flatly.

"Hm. Speak of the Wolf, Archmagus."

"He's proven - resilient. Our spells seem to slide off of him. But he is wearing down, bit by bit. With more time-"

"Time, Archmagus." The Grand Zealot spoke very, very softly. "Is something we cannot afford. You will break him - and you will break him tonight." The muscled stallion slowly turned in his chair before plunging a dagger into the desk.

The stone desk.

Starlight Glimmer nodded slowly. "Yes, Grand Zealot. I shall."

---

Until earlier this year, Starlight Glimmer was the most powerful unicorn since Starswirl the Bearded - she thought. In truth, she was the second most powerful unicorn since Starswirl the Bearded: but considering that Sunset Shimmer was very, very dead, she wasn't something to take into consideration.

She had earned the title of Archmagus. It was claimed that one of her spells had blown the head off of a grown, elder dragon - in truth, it was a sea serpent, but the entire thing was rendered to ash: not just the head. 

And yet, this - wolf, was proving to meet her match. A torrential stream of energy came gushing from her horn with such vigor that she felt as if it might shatter if she mishandled the energy - casting the most powerful sleep spell that had been cast in centuries.

Frost tilted his head back and let out an exaggerated yawn. "At this rate, you might manage to knock me out in a few years." He grinned smugly - despite being bound, his flesh at the wrists and ankles burnt off to the bone, and dozens of lances sticking into his body painfully. He barely seemed to register the pain.

"Do you feel pain?" Starlight stepped forward towards him, a few lengths away from him.

"What fucking kind of question is that? Of course I feel pain, dumbass." His face contorted, half of it beginning to twitch violently as he snapped at the air. His eyes had turned green for a moment, Starlight noted.

"How needlessly vulgar."

"Your mom is needlessly vulgar." Frost grinned wolfishly at her. Starlight didn't so much as arch an eyebrow.

"Everyone describes you as the most dangerous being in the universe. And yet - in all your time here, you've done little more than cuss and snap at the air like a feral dog. I expected more." 

Frost snorted and tilted his head back. "Life is full of disappointments, isn't it?"

"Were you always like this? Always this - insane? You speak words that have no meaning, talk to yourself - and act like an adolescent child with the width of your vocabulary. It's almost embarrassing."

Frost's eyes narrowed slightly. His mouth opened up.

"Is this the part where you swear at me, or come at me with some childish insult?"

"No, Starlight Glimmer," Frost spoke in a much deeper, much different tone. His eyes were green again - and Starlight realized that she had never told him her name before. She stepped backward instinctively. "This is the part where I educate you."

"I am old. Oh, so old. I have seen things - that you could not possibly comprehend." The catwalk began to tremble as it was enveloped in a deep blue glow. His chains began to tremble as he strained against them - his flesh beginning to regenerate as blue sludge oozed from within his bones rapidly. 

"I stood by the side of She-Who-Ruled as your ancestors crawled out of the cosmic sludge that I spat there. I have killed more and saved more than you could ever know in a thousand lifetimes, I have been the Conqueror-Lord and God-Hero." His voice was a low snarl. His chains were slowly covered in a thick coating of ice.

"I have seen beasts that could devour whole galaxies. Creatures so large that they would shatter your puny comprehension. I have fought against the Sultan of the Sun. It is I and I alone who was deemed worthy of wielding the First Blade, and it was I who plunged a spear through the heart of the Scourge." His voice was twisted now - something strange, and old - beyond nature. Starlight's eyes were wide.

"I have committed atrocities that you could not possibly comprehend in the name of goodness! I have prevented the Ruination time and time again, I have lived through the Flesh-Engines consumption of the very planes itself!" It was at this moment that the wolf tore free from his chains and began lumbering towards Starlight.

"I am FRAEZEN! Fraezen Frost Arcados, World-Soul of She-Who-Ruled and Son of the Eldest Daughter! I am greater than you can possibly comprehend, and I-"

And while Frost was monologuing, Starlight's sleep spell tore from her horn and struck him square in the jaw. He stumbled backward, his eyes wide.

"...am easy to distract." Starlight Glimmer finished softly.

Frost's eyes narrowed - before they shut, and he fell to unconsciousness.



Frost's dream world was a barren wasteland. The world was ash underneath him as he sat there, cleaning blood from his sword as his lucidity slowly came to him.

Hooves touched down behind him. He barely heard them impact the ash.

"Nightmare Moon, I presume." Frost spoke dryly. He glanced over his shoulder - finding a midnight blue alicorn with teal eyes and a flowing, ethereal mane.

"Please, grandfather. Call me Luna." The Alicorn of the Night smiled warmly.

Frost stared at her for a few long moments.
"...huh," he spoke dumbly.



Celestia didn't believe in coincidences. So it was certainly no coincidence that four fillies had been born on the same day - the same day that Twilight Sparkle broke the moon.

Fluttershy was truly a sweet darling. The maid staff adored her and doted on her - even if she found their attention - uncomfortable, at times. Celestia had, on more than one occasion - caught her sneaking out into her gardens, dangerously close to Discord's statue - but she seemed far too at peace with the animals, that Celestia couldn't bring herself to reprimand her. On top of that, Twilight seemed to like her - as much as the filly had liked anything other than Celestia.

Rarity Chaser-Belle, on the other hand, was truly a seamstress in the making. While she didn't have the burning curiosity that drove her every action like her father, she did have his sense for fashion - and her mother's skill with telekinesis. Ivory showed off the blankets that she had knitted - and Celestia had to admit that they were quite soft. 

Applejack was much like her father. Quiet - large, for a filly her age. A bit of an accent - not quite as bad as her father and his improper pronunciation of self-pronouns, but getting there. Honest - honest to a fault, actually. She was one of the few, along with Twilight - who had accidentally insulted Celestia straight to her face. Not that Celestia had acted out against it - fillies were more than welcome to insult her, especially if their parents were friends.

Still, though. Thoughts of Applejack made Celestia sad. That young, exposed to such tragedy - she couldn't imagine...

---

Led along by her mother, Fluttershy entered the private section of the Royal Gardens. She had only been here once before, for her brief meeting with Twilight a little more than a month ago. It was slightly traumatic, as such - and she hid behind her mother's form...but couldn't help but stare in wonder at the beautiful fauna and flora that decorated the gardens. She caught glimmers of animals just at the corner of her vision - but she couldn't truly admire them, for they were always gone when she turned.

The flora, on the other hand - her mother had to grip onto her tightly and drag her away from. She couldn't help but oo and aa over the beautiful shades mixed in such delightful patterns - flowers that she had never seen or only heard of in books. Eventually, though, her mother dragged her to their destination.

There were two other girls there. A white unicorn filly sitting down on a rather plump pillow instead of the grass - her hair, violet curls that went down her neck. There was a rather large, wheat-colored earthpony with beautiful green eyes chewing on a piece of wheat - a tan stetson sitting on her head.

"Good-afternoon, Mrs. Blade." The unicorn stood up and bowed, while the earthpony just nodded at Steelshy.

Steelshy rolled her eyes. "Fluttershy, meet Rarity -" she gestured at the unicorn, "and Applejack. Your parents ditched you so soon, huh?"

"Mm." Applejack nodded. Steelshy winced slightly. 

"Said we should get to know each other better." Rarity rolled her eyes. "Applejack hasn't exactly been the most talkative of company - but I'm fairly certain we're on the same page."

"That you would rather do anything else?" Steelshy grinned. "Good, Flutters. You'll fit right in." She winked at the pegasus filly. Fluttershy blushed slightly and pawed at the ground. Steelshy kneeled and pressed her head against her daughter's. "Be good, kid. Make some friends." She poked at her ribs lightly, causing Fluttershy to recoil backward and let out a high-pitched whine - but Steelshy promptly left with a few flaps of her wings.

"Fluttershy, is it? A pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am - Rarity Chaser-Bell-"

"Rarity." Applejack turned to look at her.

"Yes, darling?"

"I ain't yer' darling. Can't y'treat the filly like - a filly, instead of one of yer' fathers - friends?"

Rarity tilted her head up and let out a soft hmph. "Father has always taught me to carry myself with some form of grace. Unlike you."

"Mhm." Applejack nodded and shut her eyes. She let out a long, deep sigh before glancing up at Fluttershy. "Sorry. Our dads leave us together all the time. They don't get that we-"

"Have absolutely nothing in common with one another." Rarity finished with a soft smile. 

"Really? I was gonna say hate each other, but ... I guess that works." 

"That was more or less what I said." Rarity arched an eyebrow.

"Yeesh. Just different languages, I guess. Noble-ese, I call it."

"um...do you - two...also not have any friends?" Fluttershy spoke very, very softly. A strong gust of wind would've overpowered her words.

Rarity opened her mouth, but Applejack interrupted. "Nah. I like being by m'self. Rarity has a whole buncha - friends, but she hates all of them."

"I do not hate all of them!" Rarity crossed her hooves and leaned back in her pillow.

"Really, then? Name one that you don't."

Rarity was silent for a second. "It's important to be social - even with those you don't like-"

"Ye' hate all of them." Applejack rolled her eyes. "Jeez. I don't get how you and y'dad deal with all that - noble-ese. Sayin' what you want to say with a thousand words instead of getting t'the point. Don't make no sense."

"It doesn't make sense." Rarity corrected. "What you said was a double-negative."

"A double-whatsit?"

"Um. It's - when you say something negative, but you describe it with a negative term. Like - he didn't say nothing. Ponies say it instead of he didn't say anything, but it actually means he did say something."

"Huh." Applejack said dryly. "So. Fluttershy. Yer' a lot calmer than I thought you'd be."

"Um. sorry?"

Applejack snorted while Rarity laughed lightly. Fluttershy pawed at the ground. "What I think Applejack is trying to say, darling - is that you're a bit more - timid, than we'd expect from you. Considering your mother, and all."

"Oh. yeah. I guess." Fluttershy nodded. "sorry."

"Y'don't have to apologize. Just the way you are." Applejack shrugged. "Whaddya like?"

"Um. I like - animals. Nature, I guess. I hope - I hope I get a mark for one of those." She smiled lightly. It really was a light smile - bringing brightness into the world. 

"Nature, huh? I like that. Nature's - strong, y'know. Honest. What you see, what you get." Applejack nodded. "M'dad has a mark in Justice. Scales. I'm hopin' for the same. But if not - nature t'wouldn't be so bad."

"Ah! Common ground." Rarity smiled warmly at Applejack. "While I'm not too big on the whole - dirt and filth aspect of it - there are sights in nature that I would give anything to see. Oh, such vibrant shades of - ochre, vermillion, chartreuse-"

"Ogre? Vermin-lion? What - yer' just makin' noises." Applejack squinted.

Rarity rolled her eyes. Fluttershy quickly explained. "they're - um. fancy names, for shades of colors. Ochre is - orange, kind of. Vermillion is red, and chartreuse is green."

"At least one of you has some form of class." Rarity smiled at Applejack. 

It was at this moment that Celestia and Twilight appeared with a pop of golden energy, causing Fluttershy to flinch while Rarity and Applejack stumbled backward at the surprise.

"Apologies, that we were so late - my little ponies." Celestia smiled warmly at the three fillies. "We ran into a small bit of a snag. Twilight forgot to eat breakfast." Celestia repressed a shudder as the memories of the filly eating a piece of raw dragon steak more than twice her size in a few minutes resurfaced. She promptly pushed them back down. "Be good, my little star." She scratched behind Twilight's ears - and then promptly disappeared.

There was a beat of silence.

"O-oh. um - h-hi, Twilight."

"Flut...ter...shy." Twilight said slowly. She turned to look at her. She smiled, but it didn't meet her eyes.

"Huh. Why y'talkin all funny like that?" Applejack tilted her head to the side. 

Rarity let out a soft gasp. "Applejack!" She smacked the earthponies' arm with her hoof. "You can't just - say that!"

"Whaddidido!?" Applejack grumbled out as she rubbed her arm.

"Fine. Talk-ing...hard. Mind, fast. Words - aren't."

"She has a bit of trouble speaking." Fluttershy explained, a small amount of steel entering her voice. "Her mind moves faster than her mouth can keep up, so she has to focus to get her words out." The pegasus mare stood up and walked over by Twilight's side. 

"Oh. Um. Sorry. Didn't mean t'affend." 

Twilight shrugged. "Is - fine. Don't get why - ponies don't say - what they mean."

"Someone's speakin' my language." Applejack rolled her eyes.

"Hmph. Still - it's rude to ask that to someone. Well, hello - Twilight, is it? You're - um." Rarity glanced at her. "Certainly - something. I'm Rarity, this is Applejack - and you seem to have met Fluttershy before."

"M-hmm." She slowly turned to look at Fluttershy. "Friends." She said slowly. Fluttershy's eyes widened - before an inkling of a smile spread over her face.

Twilight's eyes wandered over Rarity - whose own eyes were locked on Twilight's strange, black eyes, and her equally dark hooves. Her father had mentioned in passing that one of the fillies she would be meeting with was - unique, but she hadn't quite expected that. Twilight slowly turned to Applejack - and then sniffed a few times.

"You...smell - like dead." Twilight tilted her head to the side. Rarity and Fluttershy paled. Applejack snorted.

"Like dead?"

"Y'watched...someone - die." Twilight whispered.

Applejack nodded. "Mhm. M'mom died a few weeks after I was born. Messed up my dad, and everyone treats me like I'm fragile 'bout it. Long as y'aint rude about it."

"My - mom - died...too." Twilight stepped forward. 

"I thought yer mom was the princess." Applejack arched an eyebrow.

Twilight shook her head. "N-no. She - found me. When I was - born. Mom - died."

It was at that moment that something struck the ground by Twilight. She was sent flying into a tree - Applejack hurtling backward into Rarity, the two colliding with a sick thud. Fluttershy's vision blurred as her ears began to ring - the flora were beginning to burn, and the animals were screaming-

A dark laugh filled the air. It was wheezing, it was grating - it sounded similar to Twilight's voice, but more - sickly, almost. Twisted. The air seemed to bubble and darken, pop and roll in waves- the unicorns felt the Wrongness first, with Applejack and Fluttershy feeling it only a few moments later. 

The ground continued to shake and tremble as more of those things that had struck by them initially in the distance - bombarding against the castle, into the city. Fluttershy could smell and see the smoke from the gardens.

A mare with a matted velvet coat stepped out of the brambles. She was covered in thin lacerations but oozed more of a pus than actual blood. Her eyes were gouged out of her skull - and there was a constant dribble of black fluid coming from the gaping hole in her stomach.

"N-no, m-monster. I didn't die. You k-killed me." Twilight Velvet's corpse smiled. 

There was a lurch in the air as her horn darkened with sickly red energy. "Let me r-repay y-your ‘gift’." 

Red energy tore from her horn - and two separate, bloody halves of Twilight Sparkle fell to the floor.



-



> [8] Iampex
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------






To describe my mother would be to write about a hurricane in its perfect power. Or the climbing, falling colors of a rainbow.






Not all active magic is the same.

The magic of the Unicorns is - mathematical. It brings the churning chaos of mana into a clear and concise pattern that can be easily understood with the right knowledge - it describes the world as variables to be accounted for, everything has to be taken in account and manipulated precisely to achieve your result - your exact result, and nothing less and nothing more. 

The magic of the Once Great deer is - musical. It’s melodic, old, primal, crystalline - they sing the very world itself into shape. Their magic lends itself easily to creation, and it was through their songs that they carved the Great Cities of Aezilan.


The magic of the Rams is cruel. Most call it dark magic, in today's age - but it's true name is War Magic. Their spells are meant to destroy and their sole purpose is to destroy: they serve no other purpose, have no other use. They are ugly spells that must be cast with intent to achieve their effect - no Warspell can be cast without the desire to destroy present in the caster's heart. The aura is indicative of the soul - but the magic of the Rams twists the soul of its user, making its magic come out in ugly, gnashing waves of deep red and hungry black.

Warspells rained from the sky. Something powerful was behind them - an old force, one that Discord vaguely remembered. It tickled at the back of his consciousness with a slight twinge of - familiarity.  In his cage - he was blind and deaf - but recently, his cage had been - weakened. While before, he had been unable to gather so much as a droplet of chaotic energy from the civil unrest of the world: after the breaking of the moon, he was able to feed on scraps. In a year or so - he might even be able to break out.

He cast his senses out around himself, slowly spreading them - until he felt it. 

There were two souls that he did not recognize. One that had brushed up at the edge of his radius before - Kindness, some part of him recognized. Then, there was the Abomination's soul - a burning caldera of lavender energy -, and then there was It's soul.

"N-no, m-monster. I didn't die. You k-killed me." The creature that wore Twilight Velvet's corpse smiled. 

There was a lurch in the air as her horn darkened with sickly red energy. "Let me r-repay your ‘gift’." 

Red energy tore itself out from her horn - and two separate, bloody halves of Twilight Sparkle fell to the floor.

The spell was efficient and deadly. In a time long past - it was known merely as Cleave. It was an ugly spell - one that ignored unenchanted armor and carved through flesh as easily as butter. The filly didn't stand a chance - a soft gurgle coming from her throat as a spray of white blood tore out of her. Rarity started screaming and Applejack stepped backward - but it was Fluttershy who noticed how strange Twilight's innards were. 

There were no organs. It was as if there was a layer of fur around her flesh - and her flesh had tubes around it, curling and coiling around as they connected to something - a small, spherical thing in the center of her chest that had been split down the middle. Her blood wasn't actually blood - it looked more like sap, and smelled the part, too. It was sickeningly sweet and disgustingly viscous - drooping and oozing down to the ground like sludge. Twilight didn't seem - dead, either, even as she gurgled and coughed. She was still twitching, and there were strange, fleshy tendrils beginning to connect her two halves.

Twilight Velvet's horn lit again. This glow was more intense - and you could see the rippling of the air around her horn as aether was forced into a small, compact space.

"Good," Discord thought to himself. "Kill her. Do my job for me."

A rippling bolt of energy tore from her horn. It was a work of art - a spell that hadn't been used since Grogar the Godless had fought against his old rival. It swirled with ultimate lethality, unstoppable by any natural force -

Fluttershy threw herself in the way of the bolt.


---

As the Warspells struck - there was a rage that Celestia felt. A rage that she had not felt in a very long time. They dare? She thought to herself. They dare to attack my ponies in my city? They dare?

Armor that the world had not seen for centuries formed on her with a flash. The Glaive of the Sun formed by her side - even deep down in the Black Vault below, no wards could keep Her weapon from her. She spun it in a fan experimentally before, with a beat of her wings, she tore from her balcony and surveyed the damage to her city.

Down at the base of the Canterhorn, there was a squadron of - Things. Celestia truly had no word to describe them - they had far too many teeth and mouths, wriggling and snarling - horns that pulsed with red ley that sent warspells flying up towards the city. They were far too dark and far too bright in splotches - they burned with the light of the True Sun...but a twisted mockery, instead of the genuine solar might that Celestia herself channeled.

It disgusted her. Almost as much as the waves of chaos magic that she felt rolling from the gardens - and immediately, her heart sank. No, she pleaded. He couldn’t have escaped. 

Celestia moved fast - the air beginning to burn in her presence, a trail of flame painting her path behind her. Her wings and lungs burned with exertion as she broke the sound barrier from a standstill - and moved faster, faster, faster- until she crashed into thin-air and was sent springing backward by a thin plastic firmament.

"No. No. Twilight - no!" Celestia's horn began to glow as she started pulling every ounce of magic she could into herself - 

"Defend your people, Celestia." Discord's sickly voice rang out from within her mind. "I won't kill your daughter. At least not today."

Discord was many things - and one of those things was indeed a liar. But there was a twinge of something in his tone - something that she hadn't heard since he was merely Discord, and not the Betrayer.

Celestia let loose a fraction of the magic within herself - and Sunfire began to rain at the base of the Canterhorn.

---

The three and a half fillies dropped down in a twisting, gnarling pit. The walls were a dark green of evershifting bramble - and all three and a half of them could feel something wrong. Rarity's horn stung, Applejack couldn't feel the ground like normal, Fluttershy's wings felt frozen - and the half of Twilight Sparkle that Discord had managed to teleport was twitching randomly.

Rarity was still screaming, so Applejack promptly pushed her hoof into her mouth. "Scream later." She growled. "That...thing could still be here."

Rarity stared at Applejack with wide, trembling eyes - before she slowly nodded.

"If I pull m'hoof out, are ye' gonna start screaming?"

Rarity shook her head slowly. Applejack slowly pulled her hoof out of her mouth - and Rarity let out a soft whimper.

"Oh, Twilight-"

"She isn't dead." Fluttershy shook her head. "L-look at her." She pointed at her. The one half of Twilight had fleshy tendrils slowly growing out of it - wrapping around each other and slowly forming the vein-like tubes that ran around the inside of her body. "She's - not -"

"T'aint normal." Applejack shook her head. "W-we can't...leave her."

Two sets of eyes slowly turned to Applejack. The large earth-pony filly rather promptly gulped - before she hefted Twilight over her shoulder and awkwardly saddled her over her back. Applejack blinked a few times. "What in tarnation - she's lighter than a feather!"

Rarity grimaced as she placed a hoof in her own mouth. She pulled it out after a few moments when she was certain she wouldn't scream - but very notably, kept her gaze averted from Twilight's general direction.

"W-w-where a-are w-we?" Rarity stammered out. The trio slowly inspected their surroundings - thick brambles that seemed to be constantly shifting, just the barest amount of light shining through. 

"R-rarity." Applejack shifted over and lightly prodded the filly. The filly all but jumped, moving a hoof over her heart. "Can you - light yer' horn?"

Rarity shut her eyes. She took in a deep breath - and pushed her magic out past the stinging chaotic magic that disrupted it. A dim glow came from her tip, faintly illuminating whatever she was looking at.

"Rares. Yer - gonna have to lead the way." She said softly.

"W-what?" She hissed. "No! Absolutely not! I am not wandering head-first into a twisting labyrinth where, since the air is wrong, I can barely use my magic!"

"We don't got much of a choice, Rares." Applejack said with a hint of steel in her voice. "Promise. We'll be right by yer' side." 

Rarity turned her head to the side. She shut her eyes. "...could - we hold hooves? I don't - I don't want to be by myself."

"Can't really - walk like that, Rares. But we can be right next to each other. Promise. Right." Applejack shifted over to the side, pressing her shoulder against Rarity's. Fluttershy tenderly extended her wing, brushing it against Rarity's back lightly.

The three slowly began to venture deeper into the shifting hedge maze. Turns and twists seemed to appear randomly - but it seemed centered around them, somehow. The ground underneath them felt strangely stable and firm compared to the rest of the maze. Rarity's horn-light was essential: there was absolutely no visibility without her. 

Applejack slowly turned towards Rarity. "Y-yknow, I don't hate you, right?" She said softly.

"That's r-rather sudden, darling."

"Ain't yer' darling." Applejack said reflexively. "Er - sorry. Habit. It's just - I'm thinking." Applejack slowly turned her head to the side.

"...are you both scared?" Fluttershy said softly.

"Terrified." Rarity said immediately.

"Yeah." Applejack nodded. "M'dad always told me that if I pretend to be brave, then eventually I'll start feelin' brave. Well - I'm pretending. But I'm still scared."

"...same." Fluttershy nodded. "I - I just want - my mom." She whispered. Tears slowly brimmed in her eyes.

"And you'll see her again." Applejack said resolutely. "Cus we're gonna get ourselves out of here, find the Princess - and everything will be okay. I promise."

The trio walked in silence for a moment - until they heard something. A faint rustling behind them. Applejack quickly jabbed Rarity in the ribs and pointed at her horn - and her horn-light quickly went out. Fluttershy buried her face into Rarity's side as the three went completely still and completely silent.

Applejack glanced over her shoulder. She wished she hadn't.

The thing that was slowly trotting along behind her was - horrifying. It was out of place with the very world itself - too smooth and too rough, too jagged and too clean. It curved and bent in ways that shouldn't have been possible. There were gnashing teeth and pulsating eyes that continued to grow and grow - it was as large as Applejack could comprehend and as small at the same time. 

The worst part, though, was the stomach. There was no trace of equinity in any aspect of the creature - but the stomach... 

Where before, there had been tears in the flesh - there were gnashing teeth. The constant trail of black pus was still there, but there was something strange - an almost tongue-like, fleshy appendage with sharpened teeth and glowing eyes. It slowly peeked its way out of her stomach, looking side to side -

Its head was shaped like Applejack's dead mother. She screamed. 

"I HEAR YOU!" The abomination shrieked, gibbered, and cackled simultaneously with its thousands of mouths and its thousand eyes - and began hurtling after them on all its many limbs. Rarity and Fluttershy let out their own shrieks as they began diving down deeper into the maze, Applejack right behind them - the sight still seared into her brain.

Quite simply though - the Creature was faster. It moved fast, and in moments - the teeth of its stomach and its thousands of faces bit and snapped. It screamed, and the color began to fade out of the world itself as Applejack felt something dig down into her leg - and then-

Her vision blurred. Her ears rang. Blood oozed up underneath her - her own blood, Applejack faintly realized. Her chest burned as she watched in horror as the creature greedily snapped up her leg. Some small part of Applejack spoke out in fear - but the world felt numb, and so colorless - but there was color, wasn't there?

Her mother's eyes flashed and glimmered a thousand colors as black saliva dripped from her gaping maw. Come to me, she spoke - not with words, but with her very mind. Come to me, my darling daughter - my beautiful Applejack. Come to me, and we can dance in the heavens.

Rarity was screaming. She was weeping. Fluttershy was saying something, but Applejack couldn't hear - and so she started crawling closer to her mother. From an external perspective, it was a grisly sight - a filly with one of her limbs messily torn off, crawling towards her captor as her lips echoed mother wordlessly.

She reached up a hoof towards the mouth. The creature that was once Twilight Velvet opened it up -

CEASE THIS LIE, a radiant voice cried out from the heavens, pulled out from Applejack's throat - a brilliant spear of light piercing through the bubble of chaos magic that prevented outside interference...

A flaming sword carved through Velvet's tongue as the Head Judicator dropped down in front of Applejack. It hissed and reeled away from the presence of flames, the gigantic earth pony stallion planting his hooves and snarling.

Ivory Chaser appeared with a pop - grabbing onto Fluttershy and Rarity and disappearing wordlessly. He returned moments later, doing much the same for Applejack. Steelshy came hurtling from the sky - and despite her last name, plunged a spear into Velvet's back. 

"Go." Steelshy beat her wings once and sent herself sprawling backward from the reeling, gnashing monster. "Canterlot needs you!"

"But-"

"Chaser!" Steelshy roared as she gripped onto thin air, pulling another blade out of seemingly thin air. She spun it around in her hooves. "Get him out of here!"

Ivory Chaser's hooves curled around the Head Judicator - and the two promptly disappeared again. 

"What in Tartarus are you?" Steelshy's eyes narrowed.

DEATH, Velvet gurgled.

"Then call me life." Steelshy snarled as she lunged into the deep.

---

The Thing at the base of the Canterhorn was simultaneously many and one - it felt for every swath of flesh that Celestia burned with Sunfire, double its mass grew back. So Celestia could not unleash her full power - not for fear of leaving more destruction than the Thing could manage. But she could release enough of it for her purposes.

Celestia had not used war magic since she and her sister had done battle over the Everfree, she realized. And yet - it came to her like an old friend. The black-colored war magic bubbled at the tip of her horn before it came bursting out of her - a single bolt, like a ballista, tearing from its tip. Micro-fractures ran along its length - they would heal in time, but the ley contained within Celestia's keratin horn began to sting. 

The war spell was an ugly thing. It was one of the many things that Grogar had created from his study of the deer ruins - a spell known as Disintegrate. It struck the bulk of the Thing, fractures of ash running along its length - until the horror at the base of the mountain shattered, more than half of its mass being consumed by the corrosive ash.

Before it could begin regrowth, Celestia dropped down from the sky - sending her glaive hurtling along its length. It spun and twirled in her telekinetic grasp, curling through the air in wide arcs to cause as much damage to the Thing as possible. Celestia poured more and more magic into the Glaive of the Sun, causing it to grow hotter and hotter-

A tendril slapped against her horn. 

Pain tore through Celestia's mind as she shrieked - the microfractures becoming deeper, wider until her ley was exposed to the air itself - shining with the light of the sun. Celestia threw herself backward with a beat of her wings, but the pain threw her off-balance - hurtling her to the ground, kicking up a spray of dust and rock in the process.

She glanced up at her horn. Thin trails of pink blood ran down her mane. It would heal - but it would take time. Time that she didn't have. To use magic in such a state would risk a miscast - one that could potentially take out the Canterhorn. Without her weapon, either - her lethality was significantly reduced. So she would only use her earthpony and pegasus magic to stall the Thing and hope that the Judicators managed to get there soon enough.

Celestia spread her stance as she put the pain in the back of her mind. Her eyes began to glow - before she burst from the ground like a bullet, the air turning to plasma in her path as she hurtled into the heart of the Terror.

---

Rarity sobbed into her father's chest while Fluttershy shook like a leaf. Applejack was on the bed - the wound caustic, corrosive- her blood sickly and black. It was increasingly looking like amputation was going to be the only option - which meant that Applejack wouldn't be able to regain the leg.

Which meant that she would forever be neutered - part of her essential magic, her earthpony magic lost to her.

"T-Twilight. Twilight," Applejack managed to whisper out. She reached towards her back - and it was only then that Ivory Chaser realized that he had only brought three fillies with him.

"Rarity." Ivory placed a hoof on his daughter's cheek. "You must get a nurse. Inform them of the situation immediately. Fluttershy - place pressure on the wound. Do you know what that means?" A nod. "Good. I'll be back momentarily." His horn lit-

NOT AGAIN, UNICORN. A voice tore through his mind.

He was sent flying backward into a wall - and promptly crumpled into an unconscious heap.



Steelshy Blade was the Master-Commander of the Standing Army of Equestria. She had earned this title - while she was not the fastest pegasi, she was by far the most skilled with a blade - and possessed a remarkable ability that even the Princess couldn't fully comprehend. The Mark of Conquest, she had called it.

Steelshy ducked underneath a tendril and jumped underneath the grotesque musculature of a lashing arm. She flung herself backward, throwing her hoof into the air - dozens of blades beginning to form before they were hurtled into Velvet. The abomination hissed and tore itself free from where her blades pinned it down, but more weapons - spears, chains, maces, continued to form and tear into it.

It was a tug-of-war, and the two were almost equally matched. For every blade that Steelshy summoned, Velvet possessed the ability to regrow from anything she could inflict - but she had the advantage. She cared not for pain, while Steelshy could be maimed. Steelshy couldn't afford to get hit once - while Velvet could fight with no regard for her own safety.

"The girl," a voice whispered in the back of her head. Her eyes flitted around - until she saw Twilight. Her body was strange, malformed - twisted and was slowly pulsing as it regrew. Her blood ran cold.

Velvet's eyes followed Steelshy's. It let out a hissing snarl as it suddenly lurched towards her, its mouth snapping open and threatening to consume her whole - 

Steelshy swooped in and grabbed Twilight in one fluid motion - but the creature reached up and pulled. It's tendril curled around her wing, around the base of her wing - and with a horrible sound like a tree being torn from the ground, a grisly crack and a gruesome feeling of unbalance - Steelshy hurtled to the ground, her head smashing against the stone base of Discord's statue.

The pain only struck once Steelshy saw Velvet begin to consume her wing. Her head tilted up as she dangled the severed appendage over one of her many mouths - and let it drop. She could see chunks of her own meat, her own feathers in all of her mouths in her eyes that had begun to grow - and she mutated, growing larger, and larger-

The scent of blood filled the air, and with it followed a lavender glow.

---

Celestia was strong. Strong enough that she could shatter a boulder with a single kick - fast enough that she could break the sound barrier from a standstill if so pressured. She was the eldest of the Aspects, the first among equals - and she would not allow some beast to bring harm to her ponies.

"Name yourself, beast!" She roared. Her ethereal mane grew fiery, the grass being scorched underneath her hooves as she struck with her great wings - using them as a weapon, each beat displacing enough air at such speed that it could kill a pony. "Name yourself!" She cried - even as she slowly made her path towards where the Glaive of the Sun had been hurtled to.

I AM DEATH, the great beast cried - and Celestia knew that it lied. 

She tore pillars of rock from the ground, shards of the Canterhorn itself to pin down and bisect the horrible creature. "You lie!" She cried, even as a tendril wormed its way past her guard and slashed across her face. Her blood oozed down her cheek.

I AM YOUR DEATH, INDOMITA. Celestia blanched as it used her name given by birth.

"I have fought greater foes than you, Beast!" Celestia slammed her hooves into the ground - the dirt and rock splashing like water as a torrential wave of it formed a divide between the two. She spread her wings and took off the ground, hurtling towards the Glaive of the Sun.

She slammed into a wall of darkness.

NO, the beast spoke. The wall grew curved - shifted, morphed, until it wrapped around her from all directions - until it blotted out the sky above and the ground below.

YOU HAVE NOT, it hissed - and it began to consume.

---

The smell of blood woke Twilight Sparkle from her daze. The air felt foggy- but some instinctive part of her recognized the blood. Recognized the scent.

There was darkness all around her, save the blood. So Twilight leaned forward - and she lapped at the blood. She lapped hungrily, desperately - until strength filled her bones, and there was nothing but darkness and a soft buzz in the back of her ears.

The darkness blurred, and in came the light. It was fading, even as the darkness grew - but there was a beast. A beast that looked like her mother - and tears ran down Twilight Sparkles' cheeks. She did not make a noise.

"Iampex," a voice that was not hers whispered in the back of her head. "Oh, how you've grown."

Twilight inspected the beast - and decided that she did not like it.

MONSTER, Iampex cried out. 
"Yes," Kesmera agreed. "A monster! Be a monster then, Twilight Sparkle! Feast on her flesh, tear at her soul - destroy her!"

There was a faint thought - one that buzzed in the back of the filly's broken mind. Celestia's words - her instructions.

"You worry about her still? I will show you her - I will show you, your Celestia!"

Twilight's senses expanded. She could hear, see - everything. She could see the minutiae on Velvet's maws - the hairs that curled and moved away from the light. She could see magic - the web of the aether itself, threads tangled, gnarled, and curled in such strange patterns - but they made so much sense.

She could hear something. In the back of her head - a faint pounding. Like a drum - but more beautiful. Yet with each beat - it faded. 

"You are a monster, Twilight Sparkle! A tamed monster, but a monster nonetheless. So - be a good monster! Feast!" Twilight thought for a moment.

The cobblestones broke underneath her footstep. The grass burned, waves of mana so violent oozing off of her that the air was tinted lavender. The corona of her horn grew deeper, richer - wider, longer, until it was an all-consuming spear of light.

Ethereal wings of mana spread along her back - and for a moment, Twilight Sparkle was lost. The thing that stood in her place was Infinite, Endless - yet finite, small. It was circular and cubic, it was a creature of pure Light in a putrid realm of Darkness, and vice versa. Thousands of eyes and mouths opened up simultaneously -

And the Darkness screamed as it remembered that the light can burn.

-

> [9] Light
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------










She-Who-Ruled looked upon the world, and she spoke a Word - and the world learned that the light can burn.







Aezilan. Throughout the entirety of the starless void of the Outer Beyond - mortals look up at the sky, and they see it. Shining with a burning lavender light, carving through time and space itself - as Twilight Sparkle reminds the world of the lesson that She-Who-Ruled taught to it so long ago. 

At the edge of thought, at the very brink of consciousness and madness itself - at the furthest reaches of the twitching, putrid corpse of the universe itself, there is a Thing. It is a thing of a thousand names, of a thousand faces - it is the greatest of its kind and the smallest altogether. 

There is a word. A word, so terrible - that its mere utterance damages time and space. 

The word is Usaglorsiaca, and it has taken notice of Aezilan.



Steelshy opened her eyes - and looked upon the thing that stood in Twilight Sparkle’s place.

It was only very faintly equine. It stood as tall as Celestia, with wings of flaming mana arcing from its back. Its coat was a shade of lavender so rich and pure that it hurt to look at - and that was only the surface of its horror. 

The air rolled as lavender-tinted waves of pure mystical might oozed off it. The surface of its coat was unmarred and whole - but at the same time, it was broken and battered - filled with holes that had gnashing teeth and blinking eyes. There were thousands of eyes all over it - growing, wriggling tendrils of lavender flesh that bit at the air. There were too many limbs and too many wings that it seemed evershifting and stationary simultaneously.

Its head was strange. It looked - disjointed from the rest of its body. Its flesh did not pulse or grow; it did not curl or writhe. It was the head of a dragon, wrapped in the flesh of a pony instead of expected scales - with four sets of unblinking, pure lavender eyes. The horn of an alicorn, not a unicorn, adorned its head - a spearlike appendage that reached towards the sky and pulsed with power. The horn was in-between a pair of ornate, deer-like antlers like grasping hands, slowly curling and writhing as they shrank and grew. It was not the pain of her putrefying wing stump that caused Steelshy to let out a soft whimper. Rather, its mouth. There were far too many teeth, and the deeper that Steelshy looked, the more teeth and void she saw.
ABOMINATION, the Iampex cried out. Its voice was terrible, its bulk continuing to grow unfettered as it feasted on the ambient magic of the air - feeding off of Twilight’s own power, with no end in sight. The gardens began to rot, and the Adamantia that bound Discord began to weaken. 

Twilight Sparkle paid no heed to the Iampex. She felt the world underneath her - inspected the atoms beneath her hooves that she could reach out and bat away with a swipe. She felt the air rush and curl around her; she could hear the sap running in her own veins and the heartbeat of every creature within a mile. She could see the Iampex shying away from her light even as it pulsed with more darkness - and she deemed it unworthy of her prolonged attention.

ABOMINATION! MONSTER! The Iampex cried out with more vigor - but it couldn’t hide the slight hint of fear in its tone. It struck - hundreds of lances of utter darkness, tearing through the light and striking into Twilight. They burned up against her aura or crushed themselves against her skin - only one penetrating through her, straight through her heart.

“Yes,” Twilight Sparkle agreed.

The air was magic - it always had been, and it always would be. There would always be - magic. And now - she was magic. 

“Let me in.” 
No, Twilight Sparkle thought. The Iampex was a creature - a small, middling thing that was barely worthy of the attention she had already given it. She was an infant god - she knew no combat spells, no warspells, no spells to call up fire or summon the elements. She could cut space and curve it - but nothing else.

It was a good thing that she didn’t need anything else.

“Let me in.”
No, Twilight Sparkle thought. She cast her senses out, gathering the world itself in around her - absorbing the information even as she took it into her shining, searing Light. She could feel Steelshy behind her - a bubbling cauldron of fading magic that felt - old, much older than the rest of her pegasus magic. To her side, there was a seemingly endless pool of chaos - thinking about it hurt her head, so Twilight disregarded the information. 

She had the light and heat in the air, the magic of a dying pony,  and nothing else to work with.

“Let me in.”
No, Twilight Sparkle thought. And so - within her magic, she held onto every drop of heat and light that she could. The Iampex was afraid of both these things, so Twilight pulled them together in her magical grasp and mixed them together into one. A searing point of Light formed a meter from her chest. The air shrieked as it boiled and popped, the atoms melting away into a soup of searing cosmic Light. The orb shot forward through space, carving through the bulk of the Iampex - where it struck, the darkness and absence of the abomination were destroyed. The sheer amount of magic compacted into a single space broke reality as Gilgamesh the Great’s principle was pushed to its very limit - reality distorting to such a degree that crack-like veins of rainbow spread through space - pulsing and flashing a thousand different colors.

The shard of the Iampex didn’t stand a chance, as it - along with half the gardens, were consumed in one horrible flash of Light. 

She stood there for a moment, basking in her work - a slight smile spreading over her face. There was something - beautiful about it. Where her spell, little more than pure telekinesis, struck - the world had been sliced down with near-atomic precision. Yet, aside from the lingering reality fracture, there was no trace of anything caught in her blast.

The Infant God glanced down at the dying mare behind her. There was a chunk of growing absence on her wing - slowly spreading like a corrosive virus, threatening to consume her. She could see through the thin barrier of flesh - she could see Steelshy’s heartbeat beginning to fade even as she could hear it.

“Let me in.”
No, Twilight Sparkle thought. She knew as little of healing as she did of warfare - so she reached out with her telekinesis, and the Infant God pulled the absence out from the dying mare with ease. There was a bloody rip, a scream - and blood. The good monster found herself acutely aware of how lovely that blood smelled - and wondered if it would be so bad if she was a bad monster for just a moment.

“Let me in.”
Twilight Sparkle did not say no - her mouth fell open, lavender-colored spittle oozing from her gaping maw. Her teeth grew longer, sharper - more jagged, and she opened her mouth to say a word-

And then she could hear the drum-beat of Celestia’s heart, and it was fading.

The gardens shattered underneath her. Ethereal wings spread as she took flight for the first time - moving as a blinding blur towards the base of the Canterhorn. The entire mountain floor was consumed, drowning in a sea of wriggling void - while Twilight had destroyed a section of the Iampex with ease, this was the beast in its entirety. Gluttoned on the magic of a divine - of her divine.

Twilight smelled Celestia’s blood, oozing from her wounds. She could hear her bones begin to crack, a scream tear itself from her lungs - 

the world
became
fire.

Nature began to scream as she dropped down at the center of its absence like a bullet. Her telekinesis rolled out haphazardly, messily - like an enraged infant or a wild animal, lashing out at the world. She gripped and tore the Iampex into shreds; she crushed and ground it underneath her - but the Iampex grew and grew more as it consumed her magic greedily.

That - wasn’t possible. It shouldn’t have been possible. Twilight was magic - she was magic. And yet, the Iampex was feeding on her magic, taking it from her - feeding on her. How was it doing that?

DIE, the Iampex stated. 

There was a thread, a thread of - something, connected up to the sky - a wriggling black line that pushed past the False Sky, curled past the True Bodies, and into the spiraling starless void of the Outer Beyond - and then it looped back around. Twilight found it, even as the darkness began to roll over her in crashing waves - even as Celestia’s ribs began to crack and shatter. It was connected to her. It was feeding - off her.

Twilight gripped onto it with her telekinesis - but she found that she could not. Her efforts were met with a wall - she had the power of an Infant God, the power to destroy, and the power to bend the world to her will - but she didn’t know enough. The thread resisted her, and she couldn’t break it.

“let me in.”




The Iampex screamed a million screams - its thousands of mouths crying out in agony as the shadows grew longer and bit, and the light grew harsh and began to burn. The True Sun wept as spears of sunlight were wrought from the beyond, crackling bolts of lightning that blew apart huge chunks of flesh - waves of fire, biting darkness, Hellfire called up from the depths of the Umberfoal, Skyfire wrought down from the very Heavens themselves. The magic of the Children, the magic of utter destruction - 

“Twilight?” Celestia whispered. The Infant God did not hear her, even as she brought forth her rolling destruction. In the wake of her vicious magic, there wasn’t so much as an atom left.

Celestia spoke more words that Twilight did not hear. The Iampex was a sniveling, weeping thing - it tried to cry out in a sound beyond words but found that it could not - for the monster that wore Twilight’s flesh had stripped its voice away. Her magic pushed deeper, deeper - until it was a drop, the smallest drop in an ocean of light - globs of the divinity that it had grown fat on rising out into the air, shards of the Sun itself and of the endless Void-

Celestia’s wings curled around the monster.

The world broke. Flesh cracked and tore as eyes fused shut, mouths snapping close - and weeping in Celestia’s trembling hooves, there was Twilight.



There are two types of royal guards. First, they serve underneath the Captain of the Royal Guard - the mare or stallion appointed directly by the Head Judicator themselves, and then there are the Judicators.

It was the Judicators who saved the lives of hundreds of thousands as they, with the help of the Royal Guard - erected barriers to protect against the Iampex’s devastating warspells. It was they who guarded Canterlot with their very lives - keeping a death count that would’ve been in the six digits down to the mere double digits. 

Despite this - they are all punished, for the death of one is the death of too many. The punishment seems unfair - but the Judicators accept it with open arms. The Head Judicator himself is not spared - in fact, it is he who receives the harshest punishment of all.

Their training regimen is known to none save Celestia and Goldspur. It’s rigorous - and they constantly train against the most significant threats that Equestria could possibly face. They stand as the last line of defense, training for fights they hope will never come. They train for every conceivable scenario - from the return of Discord and Nightmare Moon to something more apocalyptic such as the Eldest Daughter breaking free or the return of Grogar the Great or She-Who-Ruled. 

For the last three weeks, they have trained against a foe whose arrival seems ever more likely. A guarantee rather than a possibility. He is the Wolf, the Immortal, the General - a thousand names, a thousand titles. They train, knowing that they will do little more than slow him down - that with the deaths of all their ranks, they would do as little more than take precious minutes from him.

They know how he fights. He fights as a feral berserker, with no regard to his safety - for there is none. The destruction of his brain does little more than give him momentary pause - and his regeneration is never consistent. A limb may regenerate in an hour or seconds - or so fast that it was hardly even destroyed in the first place. They know that his blade - Cryogenesis, can carve through their armor as if it was hardly there. They know that he can freeze magic, crush them underneath the weight of a thousand stars with his mind alone - 

The militants of the Church of the Nightmare knew none of this. Maybe, if they had - then they would have known that it was futile.

Entrails decorated the floor as he dragged Archmagus Starlight Glimmer by her horn. The keratin had been stripped off, the ley exposed to the open air - arguably more painful than if it had been cleanly snapped off, for the air and his grip rubbing against the ley was utter agony. The ground was soaked with blood, ice, water - driblets of piss and shit that had been torn free from the intestines that Cryogenesis had loosed itself into.

“Do you want to know the funny part of this, Archmagus?” The wolf’s grin was predatory as he pulled her through the corpses of foals, of ponies that she had known - in her writhing, thrashing, and feral pain - she managed to catch a glimpse of Trixie’s half-crushed skull.

“Monster.” Starlight whimpered out. Frost nodded as his claws dug tighter into her ley. 

“Aren’t I?”

He twitched and sent her body crashing into a wall. Her spine shattered, her legs growing numb - and her ribs slowly poking out of her flesh. By all rights - with the degloving of her horn and the sheer amount of trauma that she had endured, she should’ve passed out and died. But magic - sickly green vines curled into her and kept her conscious, kept her alive to survive.

“The funny part of this, Archmagus - apart from how sickeningly undeserving of my fucking title you are,” he stood at the highest peak of their encampment - even as it burned and rotted around him. “Is that I didn’t want to do this.” 

“W-why? Why?” Starlight whispered. Her eyes watered as she reached up a hoof towards him. He gripped onto her carpus and squeezed - crushing the bones and ligaments down to dust before he tore the limb off with a messy rip. Starlight screamed.

“Your goddess asked me to. Isn’t that funny, Starlight?” He gripped onto her horn with both his hands. He squeezed tighter and tighter - and only when Starlight felt as if it might shatter, he tore.

Starlight’s horn tore from her head with a section of her brain. Her cries were deafening as her body twitched, Frost’s sickly, cruel magic forcing her to endure throughout it. He held her horn up towards the sky.

“The Stars will aid in her escape. You know - I thought that sounded a little dumb. Stars are just - little balls of plasma floating in the Beyond. Sure - they spew out magic like nobody’s business, but they can’t do anything by themselves. I think that whoever wrote that prophecy forgot a phrase.”

“I think that the full thing,” the wolf continued, “is that - the Starlight will aid in her escape. Heh - get it? Cause - yeah.” He nodded. “You get it.” He held her horn up towards the sky. It flashed with a bright green light - the magic that held Starlight’s life within her body being torn out of her in a thin green stream as it was sucked into her horn. 

Starlight’s corpse fell to the ground as Frost crushed her horn into a thin powder in his paws. He dusted himself off quickly before he glanced at the message he had scrawled in some poor soul’s blood on his forearm. 

He sniffed a few times, tilting his head up into the air - before his tail began to wag. He moved with unnatural speed, bounding through the ankle-thick pools of blood - until he found his prey.

Feathery wings, lined with steel - hooves capped with blades, a dark blue coat, and a streak of Fuschia through her white mane. Her legs were crushed into bloody pulps, one of her wings bent at a jagged angle, and the other messily torn from her back.

Frost kneeled down and gripped tightly onto General Shadow Sprint’s head. He tilted her chin up - her eyes blurry as life was beginning to fade from them, her face contorted into an equal look of horror, fear, and hatred.

Frost held her for a few moments like that - until he caught a glimmer of something moving in the darkness. Something - prismatic.

“Celestia sends her regards,” Frost smiled warmly at her. He shifted his angle so the filly would get a full view of it - grabbing onto her head with both hands before he slammed her head down into the ground. Her skull erupted as her brain was sent flying in a pasty mess, chunks of gore and viscera seeping out into the floor. He rolled his eyes as he heard a stifled whimper that he pretended to ignore.

He left, then - but the filly didn’t step out of her hiding spot until far later. Underneath the broken corpse of her father, her coat made red from how blood-stained it was - her mane messy and matted - she slowly crawled out to see the corpse of her dead mother.

She wept. She wept for what felt like hours, tears flowing freely down her face. She cried until she could not cry anymore - and it was only then that she felt a strong hoof place down on her shoulder.

“Stand, Rainbow Dash.” The alicorn’s rich voice cut through the darkness.

“There is much work to be done.” Nightmare Moon smiled.

-

> [10] Clemency
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------










“Mercy, mercy!” The Prophet pleaded.


The Eldest Daughter had none.







“If I didn’t know better, Celestia - I might think that you had the hots for me.”

Celestia circled Discord’s statue slowly, inspecting it heavily. Her eyes wandered over his every inch, her horn beginning to glow with the outline of a golden border.

“For the being that you once were, I am often more lenient with you. For the fact that you did not harm my daughter-”

“What need would I have? She certainly did the job hers-”

”Silence.” Celestia’s voice was the Sun, and even Discord took a momentary pause. “For the fact that you did not harm my daughter, I have not condemned you to a worse fate. I am not a cruel pony, my old enemy. I am not a fool.”

“You know, Celestia - we Children rather avoid having family reunions. It usually ends up in a needless amount of destruction. There’s a certain pecking order to things - we stay out of each other’s way, and everyone stays out of my Eldest Sister’s path.”

“I have little patience for your games, Discord. Get to the point, quickly.”

“I fought against her, Celestia - for you. I fought so viciously, so hard against a foe greater than myself - the only foe greater than myself.”

“And for that, I am thankful - but you have repaid your debt with your share of madness.”

“It is within my nature to change. So I abandoned my post at the Edge of the Beyond, far before the Deerfolk first stepped out on Aezilan. If any of my kin had stood in the same place as I - they would have left, and let her destroy you.”

“Your. Point.” Celestia hissed.

“Hm. You truly did not feel them, did you? Well - Celestia. Allow me to cut to the point. Of the eight children - five of them are on Aezilan.”
Celestia’s eyes widened. 

“Why do you think that is? Why is it, do you think - that six fillies were born at the same time? Why is it, do you think - that five of the Children, as well as the lowest and most base of all the creatures I fought at my post have come here? Why?”

“...Twilight,” Celestia spoke softly. Six, she noted in the back of her head.

“So you’re not a fool - just slow.”

“Who? Who, of the Children, are here?”

“Why, moi - of course. My Eldest Sister. Fate stepped hoof here, for a moment. Just a moment. Conquest’s rotting carcass has been here for a long time - one of your ponies just happened to step hoof in it.”

“His carcass. So - he is dead?”

“He might wish that he was. He attempted to betray my sister, you know. She was not very pleased with that. Void came here, a bit before Fate - he’s still here. Faint, after his little scrap with the Iampex - but still here. And lastly - Soleil’s attention has been drawn here. I can feel her approaching by the minute - and believe me, Celestia. She is far less kind than I.”

“The Iampex. I have - never encountered anything like it.” There was a hint of fear in Celestia’s voice.

“The smallest of the Things at the edge of the universe. A small scrap, barely a child! Comparing it to the rest of its kin would be like comparing you to me - there is no comparison to be made at all. It is incapable of death - yes, my sister has no power over it.” Discord was silent for a moment. “I am sorry that you had to encounter it. I would not wish the Things upon my worst enemy - and you are my worst enemy, Celestia.”

“...Thank you, Discord.” She said softly. “You - saved my daughter. Maybe even all of Equestria. There is goodness within you - and I hope, one day, that I may call you a friend again.”

“I didn’t do it for you.” Discord snarled.

“Then for who?”

There was no response.








“Wake up, Twilight.”
Twilight’s eyes slowly fluttered open. She let out a soft whimper as the world in its entirety came rushing over her - a hundred whispering voices, the screams of those in the streets being slaughtered, the ground underneath her beginning to chip away and rot - atoms were swirling around in her gaze, the world overwhelming -

“You don’t need your eyes to look, Twilight. You never have. Don’t lie to yourself.”
Twilight shut her eyes, and when they opened - she saw the world as it indeed was. It was beautiful - a fragile thing of stardust and aether, held together by Will and Blood. She saw the souls of the nurses that dotted around her, whispering words that she couldn’t focus on above the din of information her ears were receiving. She looked at them, seeing the threads that made them up - how they connected, how everything connected with such vibrancy.

“Find her. Focus on her.”
Twilight’s senses wandered - until she found her. She was approaching her steadily - ba-dump, ba-dump. The soft pounding of Celestia’s heart - she focused on that, on solely that - and slowly, the world came into order.

“Leave us,” a voice rang out. Twilight’s gaze snapped up as she saw a gray soul with a white brand seared into its side. Her soul filled her body - spreading out from her center into the rest of her. There was a splotch on her back, though. An ugly spot of absence where her wing had once been.

“It’s rude to stare.” 

“Sor-ry.” Twilight whimpered.

Steelshy shook her head. “Sorry - I was just...teasing. But I shouldn’t. No, you’ve been through a lot.” Steelshy sat down by her bed. 

“What - hap-pened? Flutter-shy? Apple-jack? Rar-ity? Celestia?” Twilight whispered.

“...My kid’s a trooper. I like to think she gets it from me. All the rest she got from her dad.” She shrugged. “Fluttershy is fine. Scared out of her mind - but fine. She’s sleeping right now. Same with Rarity.”

“She didn’t mention the other one.”

“Apple-jack?” 

Steelshy turned her head to the side. “...Applejack - was hurt.” 

That hung in the air for a few heavy moments.

Twilight’s soft weeping turned Steelshy’s gaze back to her. Steelshy’s eyes went wide as the child wheezed, hiccuped, and whimpered - tears slowly falling down her cheeks. “My fault...my fault,” she whispered. She was a bad monster - she had hurt ponies, and Celestia hadn’t told her to.

“It’s not your fault,”  Steelshy spoke - but her words were echoed by Kesmera, with a soft hint of gentleness in her voice.

“You didn’t hurt Applejack. You didn’t hurt me, either. Tartarus - if it wasn’t for you, everyone would be hurt a lot worse. Some ponies might be mad at you - but don’t listen to them, okay kid?” Steelshy reached out and scratched between Twilight’s ears.

A radiant voice that stilled Twilight’s heart rang out from the doorway. Her soul was beautiful - where most souls filled the body, hers pushed out at its very edges. She was a piece of the True Sun itself, and her voice brought with it all the melodic splendor that you’d expect. But it was slightly more challenging than usual. “Steelshy.”

“Celestia.” Steelshy stood up and saluted. She quickly brushed past the mare, leaving the mother and daughter alone.

Celestia promptly sat down on her haunches by Twilight’s side, raising a hoof up and running it through her hair. “My little star,” she whispered. “Are you alright?”

“Of course you’re alright.” Kesmera scoffed. 

Twilight nodded slowly.

“Did - Master-Commander Steelshy say anything? I am aware that she may be an abrasive mare at times. If she hurt you-” the temperature of the room raised slightly. 

Twilight shook her head. “N-no. She’s - nice. Good.”

Celestia let out a soft sigh of relief, pushing her muzzle into Twilight’s neck and nuzzling her. 

The two sat like that for a long, long while - until the day turned to night. 



In the Iampex’s bombardment of Canterlot - only eighty-six had died, sixteen of them being among the ranks of the Royal Guards and the Judicators. 

The official story was planted on a somewhat troublesome group of miscreants that had been giving the Royal Guard a bit of trouble, as of late. As the gang had called themselves, the Butchers were framed to have planted explosives all around Canterlot - including a chaos magic explosive device at the base of Canterlot, which had resulted in an abomination that Celestia had promptly destroyed.

The true story was that Steelshy would be lucky if she was to ever fly again - and that Applejack had lost her back right leg. Celestia, who had suffered the most grievous wounds, was blessed with a divine form of regeneration - letting them heal before the absence of the Iampex had been able to set in. 

For Steelshy and Applejack, the absence had spread like a cancerous growth - and it was only through Twilight’s sheer magical power that Steelshy had a chance of flying. Applejack’s leg had to be amputated - which meant that no healing magic would be able to restore it.

Steelshy was coping with the situation. Her daughter was fine - and she was still holding out hope that she would be healed, eventually. But she was a battle-hardened veteran.

Applejack - a filly, on the other hand, was significantly less prepared to deal with the news that she would be forever neutered. The loss of a limb meant the loss of a very part of your soul, and with that - a very part of your magic.

She wept for hours in her father’s hooves.


---

“Can’t - you...come - with me?”

“No, Twilight.” Celestia shook her head. “You have to do this by yourself.”

“What a stupid reason. Hmph. I’ll be here if you want. You always have the option to finally give in and kill everyone, after all.” Kesmera’s eye roll was audible.

“No thank you,” Twilight turned down Kesmera politely, as Celestia taught. She hadn’t informed Celestia of her presence in her head again - not that she wanted to keep anything from Celestia, but Kesmera’s voice in the back of her head was - soothing, almost. 

Twilight nodded, let out a soft sigh - and opened up the door.

Applejack was lying down in the bed on her side. Rarity was peacefully asleep by her chair, and Applejack looked like she was just beginning to barely doze off herself. Twilight’s presence caused her to shift slightly as she closed the door behind her.

“I don’t blame you.” Applejack said, and a weight lifted off Twilight’s shoulders.

“Don’t mean I’m really happy right now. I lost a part of me. That - I’m gonna need - time, by myself. My daddy is - well, he’s furious at you. He thinks it’s your fault. But that don’t matter because I know it wasn’t yer fault. Sure - she came after you. But you didn’t know that. Did you?”

Twilight shook her head.

“Good. Then I ain’t mad at you.”

Twilight shut her eyes and let out a soft sigh. “...thank...you…”

“Look. Yer - kinda weird. Yah’ speak funny, and I could tell that my daddy was spitting a whole lotta hooey when he was telling me the “official story.”” She held up her hooves and rolled her wrists to simulate air quotes. “But - yer’ honest. So maybe - once I get my...prosthe...my leg, we could be - friends?” Applejack extended a hoof out towards her.

“You don’t need her. You don’t need anyone.” Kesmera hissed.

“I know,” Twilight agreed. “But I want them.” And the Eldest Daughter had no retort.

“Friends.” Twilight extended her hoof.



There were few unicorns alive who could duel against the fraction of Celestia’s unicorn power that she could wield in public. There was none in existence that could wield against a fraction of all three of her aspects of power.

Twilight Sparkle was not a unicorn.

In the months since the Iampex, she had grown much. Her mind aged much faster than her body, and her body aged faster than her peers - while still a lanky, gaunt creature, she was almost as tall as Applejack. Considering the danger that the Iampex presented - how Twilight had to tap into some primal part of herself to combat it, Twilight’s training ramped up.

“Fire,” Celestia’s voice called from above. Twilight’s ear raised as she pin-pointed Celestia’s position - listening to the beat of her heart, the air filling and leaving her lungs as the words left her mouth.

The rules of the game were simple. Twilight had to negate or defend against everything Celestia threw at her and then manage to reach her without teleporting. So Twilight considered fire.

To counteract the Sunfire that Celestia preferred, she had a wide variety of tools. Fire was heat, heat was energy, and energy was magic. She could create a shield to defend against it - but she wasn’t confident she could hold up against Celestia’s might. While Twilight had much, much more raw magic - she couldn’t use all of it without entering her more “monstrous” state.

She decided not to take anything out of her own pool. She created an aura around herself and threw all the magic from the field into the space surrounding her. The temperature spiked dramatically - but it achieved her desired effect. The Sunfire smacked down into the mana-drained field, where it was quickly pulled apart by the hungry thaumosphere - desperate to refill the gap in its consistency.

Twilight sprinted towards the base of the pillar as Celestia cried out - “Earth.”

Celestia always opened with fire - but she rarely followed it up with earth. The earth was the aspect that Twilight had the most difficulty with - the one that she had received the most bruises from. 

“So break the earth,” Kesmera suggested.

“How?”

“Brute strength.”

Twilight braced herself as she saw a lance of rock jutting towards her muzzle at a breakneck speed. She threw a wave of brute telekinetic force at it, causing the stone to be ground into a powder as the lavender-colored wave carved through it.

She glanced up at the pillar Celestia was on. She couldn’t teleport - if she was to climb it, her ability would be significantly diminished. So she settled on the third option - instead of going to Celestia, she would bring it to her. She threw another wave of telekinetic force from her horn, causing the pillar to crack and shatter as it fell to the ground in a barrage of shards.

Twilight reached towards her, almost able to touch her - but Celestia, this time, gave no warning as she summoned up the air. A wave of air sent Twilight batting to the side, throwing her down to the ground rather roughly - or, almost.

Celestia promptly teleported and caught her daughter in a tangle of limbs, curling her wings and arms around her as she slid to a stop.

“Are you alright?” She whispered softly.

“Of course you are. You’re not fragile like a mortal or a deity.” The disgust in Kesmera’s voice was audible.
Twilight nodded.

“Good.” Celestia smiled. “Again?”

Twilight, again, nodded - and the two took their positions.



An immortal lay in Aezilan, dead, dreaming.

He had a thousand names, but that was the most universal of them all. In the Dragonlands of the west, his broken and shattered temporary corpse lay, his parts scattered haphazardly within the hoard of a gigantic wyrm. His body had been thrown at the wall at such a speed that he was more stain than wolf. While he was immortal, he was not indestructible - and he was able to be knocked unconscious.

His state of consciousness tended to regenerate with the rest of him. As his brain pulled itself back together, most often - his eyes opened, and he woke once more. Things were a little bit different as the Deity of the Night pulled him into an ever-deeper dream.

“Grandfather,” Luna greeted.

“Took you long enough to come and congratulate me. If you’re here to ask me for another favor - fuck off. You got the one. That was it.”

“I did not come solely to congratulate you.” The Diarch of the Night arched an eyebrow as she slowly trotted around him. “Although - I must confess, your grim efficiency leaves little to be desired.”

“Little.” Frost’s eyes narrowed at the subtle insult.

“You did an admirable job at cutting their numbers down to my exact specifications. But I told you to take her mother’s head off and to stick it on a pike, after preferably violating the corpse.” She arched an eyebrow. “Crushing her head with a paw is certainly not that.”

“Jesus, you are my granddaughter. First off, I think I would rather die than fuck a horse? Especially a dead one?”

“And what of Twilight Velvet?”

Frost glanced to the side. “That was - necessary. Please. I’m a mass-murderer by choice, not a rapist.”

“Hm. Regardless, I came here bringing news.”

“Can you get to the fucking point? I was in the middle of doing something violent, or badass.” Frost growled and stood up.

“Your daughter is alive.”

-

> [11] Tyrannis
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------








Thus always to Tyrants.





The Fall of Asgard left behind a new world. The dragons tried to claim it, to create a new World of the Dragons. But yet, they were unsuccessful. Though, it was only through trial and tribulation that the Regal Sisters and Discord managed to wrest control of the world from Berzerkiel. Both sisters nearly lost their lives to slay their great foe - and if it weren’t for Discord’s intervention, the remnants of his army most assuredly would have killed the sisters.

An empire rose from the smoldering cadaver of the Dread-Emperor. Beollyssurth, one of their staunch few allies in the barbarous terrene of Aezilan, rose - proclaiming herself Fire-Queen, many moons before she would light the shard of divinity within herself.

There were other threats and foes from the afterbirth of the Dread-Emperor. Even as his scales were pulverized by spell and blade, his might met with equal force in the form of mysticism - forces that sought to claim the wreckage of the ruined world began their mobilization. Before the rise of the Good Lord Hermes, tyranny rose from the debris of the griffon empire. 

His name was Blackwing - for he donned one of the scales of the Dread-Emperor. He was a cruel griffon that feasted upon the flesh of ponies, and would see to it that the entire world fell under his rule.

During a summit to discuss the terms of a treaty between fledgling nations, Celestia glanced at her sister - and it was Celestia who broke the tyranny with four words. 

“He looks tired, no?”

Later, the news that the griffon empire had fallen would reach Celestia. Famously, upon hearing it - she would turn to her allies and say in the old tongue of Asgard -

“Thus always, to tyrants.”





“Unicorn,” the Nightmare stated.

The skies erupted as projectiles showered from the heavens. The crag that the two stood on was torn apart by sheer telekinetic might. The filly dodged and weaved to the best of her ability, even as her mouth moved on instinct.

“Target the horn. Break the ley,” Rainbow Dash answered.



“Lightning,” Celestia warned.

The skies erupted as arcing energy tore itself from the gates of heavens, striking down in a barrage towards the filly. Twilight cut space and teleported between the bolts, exiting out of her teleport by Celestia’s side. 

“Excellent, Twilight,” her mother smiled.



“Earthpony.”

The barrage of rock didn’t end from the sky - now, erupting from the floor below. Pillars of stone moved on a course to impact the filly, but she curved and bounced from post to post - throwing all of herself into her movement. 

“Aerial mobility makes them useless against a pegasus. Aim for the head.”



Celestia cried out no warning - but Twilight could feel it coming. She could see the bubbling at the tip of her horn, sickly black energy being called up from the depths of the ground as it curled around her horn in a swirling pattern - convening at her tip in a small orb.

The swirling nothingness that Celestia called forth from the bowels of the world was an ugly thing. It consumed and ate - it was the darkest magic that Twilight had ever seen Celestia summon. She could hear Celestia pant with exhaustion after calling it forth; she could listen to her heart quicken.

To Twilight, it was a challenge. She would not let Celestia down - she would not. So she reached into herself - she took hold of her magic, and she summoned forth - light.

Celestia stood there on slightly shaking hooves when the light faded, but Twilight was there to push against her, keeping her upright.

“Are...you-”

“I am alright, Twilight.” She spoke softly. “My magic does not lend itself easily to darkness.” Celestia smiled softly at her daughter. “Your concern, however, is much appreciated.” 



“Pegasus.”

Rainbow Dash snorted with a hint of arrogance as she felt the air shift. The Nightmare was moving heat in and out of the air around her. She was creating deadly fields of death that surrounded her - and it was only through sheer skill that she was able to weave in-between them with ease. 

An ugly shard of forced fulmination whizzed past her, ever-so-slightly grazing her wings. The light brush caused her to wince.

“Target the wings.” She said curtly.

“Noted,” the Nightmare said. Rainbow Dash blinked, but knew better than to question her.



“Light,” Celestia spoke - and the element she named tore from her horn with torrential force. It split the ground, seared her eyes, singed her coat, and pushed her backward - and Twilight felt herself begin to break within the stream of light.

“Split it,” Kesmera spoke - but Twilight couldn’t focus long enough to do so. Slowly, the light faded.

Celestia teleported behind Twilight and curled her wings around her, squeezing her tightly. 

“Stars.” She whispered. “Twilight, I - I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have - I-”


“Fine.” Twilight groaned out as she blinked the dots out of her vision. She hadn’t been prepared for the sheer force behind Celestia’s attack. “A-gain?”

“No, Twilight.” Celestia shook her head to the side. “I have been - reluctant, about training you in combat as is. You are a filly, and a filly needs a break.”

Twilight was silent for a second. Then, Celestia craned her head down so that her head was upside down at the edge of Twilight’s vision - a pleasant reprieve from the mundanity of the Badlands.

“How about a steak, and we can go back to teaching you to read?”

Twilight started salivating at the idea before nodding vigorously - before rubbing her side up against her mother.



“Alicorn,” the Nightmare spoke softly. Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed as she opened her mouth to respond - but it had been a moment too late.

She stifled a cry as a lance of power tore through her wing. It pierced the skin and muscle underneath the feathers, pushing her down into the ground. Another shard of energy tore down from another angle, embedding itself into her stomach. There was a twist, and a veritable soup of blood and gore seeped from her stomach.

“Pathetic.” The nightmare sneered. “Is this how you would defend your mother if Celestia were to descend?”

Rainbow Dash just let out a soft whimper. The Nightmare let her projectiles dissipate before a wave of healing magic pulled the filly back together. The pain was unimaginable - the pegasus girl’s innards writhing as they were forced and snapped back into their proper position. Finally, she stood up on trembling legs.

“Again,” the Nightmare ordered.

“Y-yes, Nightmother.” Rainbow Dash whispered.





The Royal Medic of Canterlot - Doctor Needle Heart, was a rather feared stallion. 

He was an unimposing unicorn doctor with a gray coat and a red mane. One of his eyes was a fleshy mass of scar tissue. However, his physical appearance was not why he was feared - no, it was his actions that spoke much louder than his appearance.

He was a modern-day master of the amniomorphic spell - the spell created by Starswirl the Bearded to restore blood in a time where blood transfusions weren’t fully understood - to the point where he could allegedly manipulate the blood within a pony’s body through their hold. 

It was claimed that he had earned his cutie mark - a needle through a heart - by performing open-heart surgery on a dragon at the age of six. And there were rumors that he had even brought the recently deceased back from the grave.

In reality, only one of those things was true. Not that the good doctor would ever say which.

But, in reality, he was a rather affable stallion—kind, gentle, great with foals - and damn well the best at his job.

This was why Steelshy’s heart sunk into her stomach as she heard a light emission of air through his teeth.

The Master-Commander had been in his office many times before - he was part of the reason why she wasn’t a hulking mass of scar tissue. Now though - she was splayed out on her stomach on a table, prepped for surgery - her daughter in the other room, waiting with bated breath for the results as machines whizzed and beeped around her.

“That bad?” Steelshy joked lightly.

“Hm. Good news or the bad news first, Master-Commander?”

“I think I need a little bit of good news in my life.”

“In the absolute worst-case scenario: you’re going to be able to fly again. Prosthetics have developed quite significantly. Not nearly as fast as before, but you’ll be able to fly.” The doctor slowly circled her, inspecting her slightly blackened wing stump intensely.

“It’s a messy cut. Looks like something was embedded into you, then yanked out of you. It was corrosive, right?” A nod. “Hm. Good. It was done messily, but in time. A little bit longer, and I’d have to amputate.“

Steelshy let out a soft sigh. “Okay. That’s - a good worst case. Best case?”

“I’m reasonably confident that I can repair the damage. It’ll sting just a little, but I can guarantee I can get you most of your wing back. Which would be good - means the prosthetic has less work to do.”

Steelshy nodded. “Will it hurt?”

The doctor smiled weakly at her. “The bad news is that you’re going to have to bite down on this.” He slowly pulled out a towel from his rack of tools.

Steelshy gulped.

---

Fluttershy was shaking like a leaf as she sat outside in the Royal Infirmary’s lounge. Despite her mother’s insistence that she didn’t want her to come - Fluttershy had all but demanded to come, showing one of her rare moments of assertion.

It didn’t make the situation much more manageable, though. Fluttershy wanted to be there for her mother when she came out - but the wait was by far the worst part. Her mind was racing through every possible outcome -

“Flut-ter-shy?” Twilight’s raspy voice caused Fluttershy to snap out of her downward spiral.

“Guh!” Fluttershy jolted as she held a hoof to her chest. She took in a deep breath before slowly turning to look at the filly. “O-oh. Hi, Twilight.” She pawed lightly at her chair. “I didn’t - hear you.”

There was a slight hint of smugness in Twilight’s expression as she nodded. “Sneaky.” She agreed.

“Are...um.” Fluttershy glanced around. “Why - are you here? A-are you okay?” 

“Fine,” Twilight smiled with far too many teeth. While most people shuddered, Fluttershy and Twilight were friends, and she had gotten used to some of the girl’s more aberrant traits over the year she had known her. Tenuously, but genuinely. It mainly consisted of the two sitting in the gardens while Fluttershy talked at Twilight about animals, but Twilight seemed genuinely interested in Fluttershy’s dialogue.

“Here - for you,” Twilight wheezed. “Friend. Stressed. Heard your - heart. I was - worried.” Twilight awkwardly shambled over to Fluttershy’s side, placing her hoof on her hoof. While most were warm - Twilight’s hoof was instead startlingly frigid. The pegasus jolted ever so slightly.

Fluttershy was ever so slightly perturbed at the thought that Twilight could hear her heartbeat, but she appreciated the gesture. She smiled warmly at the filly, who met it with one of her slightly unsettling smiles that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

Twilight sat down in the chair by Fluttershy and turned to look at her. 

“How’s - um...your - magic training, going?” Fluttershy offered, tentatively, as she fiddled with her mane.

“Flut-ter-shy. We - can just - sit.” Twilight tilted her head to the side. Fluttershy let out a soft sigh of relief and nodded in thanks.

So Fluttershy and Twilight did precisely that. They sat down in their chairs, Twilight’s hoof on top of Fluttershy’s reassuringly - the constant presence of her hoof reminding her that there was someone with her. 

Then the minutes began to drag on into hours, and the two didn’t exchange a single word. Until eventually - Fluttershy sniffled.

Twilight’s gaze snapped to the side, breaking from her thoughts of magic that she was idly discussing with the disembodied voice in her head - suppressing the surge of irritation that came with it. Instead, she examined Fluttershy - and saw that her hoof was trembling, one of her legs was drumming up and down and her eyes were slightly wet.

“... I’m scared,” Fluttershy murmured. 

Twilight didn’t know what to say as her mouth fell open - words slowly trying to make their way out - until finally, she thought of what Celestia would say.

“It’s okay to be scared.” She shifted over, leaning over and wrapping her hooves around her neck. Fluttershy moved her face towards Twilight’s neck, letting out a soft whimper as she did so.

It was, honestly, mildly uncomfortable. The two sat like that for a long time - for a little over three hours, Fluttershy’s occasional soft sniffles breaking the silence as Twilight’s eyes looked starry and far-off. 

Neither of them heard the good doctor until he cleared his throat. Only Fluttershy noticed that time - quickly uncoiling from their embrace as Twilight briefly slumped over before sitting up straight in her seat. 

“As a doctor, I am entitled to say that most assuredly, it is not healthy to sit down in a seat for four hours without food. Which is why I brought candy.” Doctor Needle Heart promptly pulled out a lollipop that he tossed towards the two of them. Twilight didn’t catch it, letting it smack against her face and fall to the ground without so much as flinching - while Fluttershy caught onto it with a small flail.

Needle Heart sat on his haunches and scratched behind Fluttershy’s head. “Still, though. I’m sure your mother will appreciate it. She’s a tough one, you know! I’ve patched her up before. And this wasn’t any different.”

Fluttershy’s eyes were wide. “Is - is her wing-”

“Yeah.” Needle Heart let out a soft exhale. “Her wing is going to be fine.”

“C-can I see her?” Fluttershy stumbled up to her hooves, tenderly setting the lollipop down on her seat. 

“Of course you can.” Needle Heart smiled warmly at her. “Family only though. Sorry, uh-” He paused for a moment as he glanced at Twilight and her unblinking stare.

As Fluttershy quickly brushed past the doctor, she only faintly caught Twilight rasping out - “How?”, before she was in the same room as her mother.

Steelshy was lying down in a bed, her eyes half-lidded as she took in slow, deep breaths. The bridle had been stuffed down her throat, and her wing was currently stretched out awkwardly - a splint locked around it, keeping it from so much as twitching.

“Flutters,” Steelshy mumbled out.

“M-mom. Are - are you-”

“I’m gonna be - fine, trooper.” She shut her eyes. “I just - need to sleep.”

“...but...I don’t want to leave you.” Fluttershy pawed at the ground.

“What. Too old to sleep with your mother?” Steelshy snorted and tilted her head up. “Cmon, kid.”

Fluttershy didn’t waste a moment crawling into her lap, resting her head on her chest - and promptly letting her exhaustion take over her.





Eyes that weren’t eyes opened.


The mare with a grizzled soul stood bare in a silver grotto of silver blades, silver trees, silver leaves.


“Why?” The warrior asked,


And Conquest spoke in his horrible tone of his silver-clad sister.


And eyes that weren’t eyes closed, for the last time.



The filly with a kind soul stood bare in a golden void of golden conquest, golden victory.


“Where?” The pacifist asked.


And Conquest spoke in his horrible tone of his flame-hearted brother.


And a heart that could not harm was given the greatest blade of them all.








There was a misconception among tribalists that there was a hierarchy of ponies. Thus, for example, unicorns stood at the peak among unicorn tribalists, pegasi below, and earth ponies at the lowest - for they had no active magic to speak of.

Among the more educated folk of the rest of the world, who understood the difference between active and passive magic - all races were equals. The Unicorns shaped the world’s reality as they summoned forth magic and power, the Pegasi commanded the world’s forces of lightning and wind as they took to the skies - but the earthponies controlled the world itself.

The alicorns, who had it in an extremity, could present it so powerfully that it was essentially geokinesis. Some earthponies could mimic this feat, but in most, it presented itself through other means. As one might say, a green hoof is particularly common among earthponies - as their natural flow of magic lends to the creation of life itself. In addition, some earthponies can heal with a mere touch, communicate with animals - or, if enough work together, can even perform an act so great as an earthquake.

The most combative asset an earthpony had, though, was their regeneration. Although it hadn’t been seen since the times before Asgard, there were myths, legends. Earth ponies, pulling spears out of their hearts without so much as a flinch. Raging on with absurd strength that could crack the scales of dragons or the antlers of deer - only the destruction of their brains could keep them down permanently.

Yet - their regeneration was not perfect. If the wound was cauterized, or if Cruel or dark magic was used, or a particularly deadly warspell devised by the rams - it would be unsalvageable. And considering how closely related their hooves were - it would be like a unicorn, forever losing a section of their horn.

Still - Applejack would manage. Celestia herself had been involved in the creation of the prosthetic that she would be getting, providing metals directly from the armory - enchanting and preparing the limb so that it would be, for all intents and purposes, practically identical to the leg she had lost - one that would even grow with her, feel with her, and could be wrapped in synthetic skin. The bleeding edge of techno-magic.

The attachment process had taken an entire day - even with the work of three doctors, including Needle Heart himself. After that, it would need to lay dormant for a few hours before she could finally activate it and walk - and that time was happening now. 

Her father was there - along with Ivory Chaser, Rarity, Celestia - and much to the Head Judicator’s distaste, Twilight was also there. It had been Applejack who had insisted that she come, which was the only reason that the Head Judicator hadn’t put up a bigger fight about it.

“Are you ready, Applejack?” Ivory Chaser said softly.

“Y-yes, yes’sir.” She mumbled out. She slowly reached out both her hooves - gripping onto Rarity’s, who hadn’t left her side since the Iampex, as well as her father’s.

Ivory Chaser’s horn began to glow - and for a few minutes, the room was silent save for the scant few noises of whirrs and clicking as servos and technology were locked into place, slowly activating. Then, after three minutes had passed, and the unicorn stepped back with sweat dripping from his brow - Applejack’s hoof began to thrum.

“Can you move it around?”

The leg twitched once. Applejack’s eyes widened as it jerked a few more times - before it sluggishly started to move back and forth. Rarity let out a soft gasp while Goldspur placed both his hooves on his daughter’s hoof.

“Okay. Try standing up now. Be careful - test your weight on it. Leave her, sweetie.” Ivory lightly flicked his daughter’s horn.

Applejack was helped out of her bed by Goldspur, who supported most of her weight as she tenderly tapped her hoof against the floor. She stumbled but quickly caught herself on her father. She eventually stood, still resting some of her weight on her father.

“Feels - funny. Like I’m moving it through water.” 

“It’ll get more natural as time comes. Okay - now here’s the big one. Try taking a step forward without Gold’s help.”

“Ive,” Goldspur began,

“Sir Ivory Chaser,” the head researcher corrected with a slightly arched eyebrow. “She has to, sooner or later. You’re a fast stallion. You can catch her if she stumbles.”

“Which she won’t.” Rarity quickly added. “Applejack is far too stubborn to let something so mundane keep her down.” 

“...was that supposed to be a compliment?” Applejack snorted. Rarity upturned her nose and let out a slightly undignified huff. 

Slowly, Applejack examined everyone in the room. Ivory Chaser and Rarity were staring at her with an expression of respective curiosity and hope, while her father’s gaze was more - worried, behind his mask. Celestia’s expression was unreadable, her flowing ethereal mane the only movement from her -

And Twilight, who looked at Applejack with a face that only she could read - a face that spoke three words.

“Please forgive me.”

Applejack just smiled slightly at Twilight - and promptly took her first step.

---

Few would argue with the Head Judicator. Ivory Chaser was one of them - although he tended to phrase his words in such a manner that Goldspur would either come to his desired conclusion himself. Likewise, Steelshy and Goldspur rarely argued, but she would stand her ground against the imposing stallion - and Celestia felt no threat from the stallion whatsoever.

And, of course, his daughter.

It was a dark night within their home within the castle. It was a far cry from their real home - the good farm of Sweet Apple Acres, down from Ponyville - but after the fire, the Head Judicator took Applejack back within his care.

“That filly ain’t right, Applejack.” Goldspur growled softly. “Ah don’t want to see you talking to her. She brings danger with her - brought it right to our damned doorstep!”

“She didn’t mean to!”

“Says who?”

“Says she!”

“Damn it, Applejack - can’t you see that the monster is lying?” He slammed his hoof into the wall. The wood cracked slightly. “Ah see her, and ah see damnation! Ah see the pits of hell burning, the same fires that consumed your momma!”

Applejack reeled backward. “...daddy. You’re scaring me.” She said softly.

Goldspur took in a deep breath and let out a slow exhale. “...I’m sorry, Sugarcube. But that filly - she ain’t a filly. She’s a monster.”

“Monster,” Twilight repeated. The two slowly turned to face her.

“She’s a monster.”

They both said something. Their words came simultaneously, and Twilight’s senses were overwhelmed - she could hear every individual beating heart in Castle Canterlot, she could hear the air leaving and entering the lungs of the nobles and commoners below - she could hear ponies being beaten to death for the sheer sin that they were born alone. She could hear everything - but one thing came into focus.

“She’s a monster.”

Goldspur’s words echoed within her skull. They rattled and bounced around, each pass through her neurons making it grow louder and louder - and louder until it was screaming.

“SHE’S A MONSTER.”

“He wants a monster?” Kesmera’s voice within her head was a deep, feral snarl - the hiss of the Personification of Destruction herself. “Then we shall give him a monster. Shall we wrest his heart from his body, shatter his bones? Or cripple him, pull his legs off and enchant him so that he may never know my sister’s sweet release?”

A word.

“Yes, I like that idea. Allow him to regenerate forever unfettered, so that even as the world burns underneath your “monstrous” hooves, his putrid, gargling cadaver will dance cavort through the vacant void of the atramentous Beyond!”

A word.

“Bend reality! Breathe death and bask in his blood! Break the day and night - devour flesh, bring forth entropy and an age of endless flame! Force him to seek reprieve in our light even as it boils and burns his undying form!”

A word - 

“No,” Twilight Sparkle spoke, and she was gone.

---

Twilight loved Celestia. Celestia loved Twilight - her little star. What Twilight loved most about Celestia, though, was her teaching.

Celestia’s overarching curriculum was rather loose. She allowed Twilight to express an interest in something and provided all the tools she could use to teach herself about it, as well as direct instruction. Her instructions tended to be more practical than anything else - especially when Twilight had seemed to get somewhat perturbed at some of the more theory-based lessons Celestia had - as Kesmera corrected Celestia on many misconceptions that she had about magic.

After expressing interest in elemental magic and combat training, she had shown an interest in history. Celestia was delighted to teach that particular subject - especially when it was history that she lived through.

For the time being, though - as she stuck to times before the deer, she had to stick to the book. And now, she was telling her darling filly the story of Hearth’s Warming, even as snow began to fall on the edges of Canterlot.

“Monsters, called the Windigo, that fed on hatred and disharmony-”

“Monsters?” Twilight asked in a whisper.

Celestia arched an eyebrow, inviting Twilight to continue.

“...but...they’re just...eating. Feeding.” She whimpered. “Am - am I a monster?”

Celestia’s eyes widened slightly. “Heavens above, my little star. You are not a monster.”

“But - I eat - things. Meat. Other ponies - don’t. They don’t - want to kill. Drink, blood.”

Celestia paled ever so slightly. “Do you want to kill ponies, Twilight?”

“...I - need to.” Twilight whimpered. “I get - angry. But I don’t. I - I’m a good monster. A good monster.” Her eyes watered. “A good monster,” she repeated a third time.

Celestia curled her wings around the filly tightly as she pulled her close. “You are a good filly, my little star. You are not a monster. You would only be a monster if you gave into those thoughts, Twilight.” She whispered, slowly stroking her hoof through her hair.

“...Goldspur - thinks...I’m a monster.”

The temperature of the room rose a few sharp degrees. Celestia’s face pulled into a sneer, and she was thankful that Twilight had her face buried in her chest. Her tone didn’t deviate in the slightest, though.

“Goldspur is wrong. I will have a talk with him. He is a reasonable stallion. I am certain that he will realize that you are not.”

“...you’re - lying.” Twilight slowly glanced up at her. “You’re speaking - longer. Only when you’re - angry.”

A slight smile graced Celestia’s features, but it didn’t meet her eyes. “As per usual, Twilight, you see right through me. Please. Push those thoughts to the side.”

“Don’t...do...something. To him. I’m - monster. You aren’t.”

“Twilight, you are not-”

“N-no! It’s - fine. I - want to be - a monster. Your monster. A good monster.”

Celestia shut her eyes. “We will talk more about this later.”

There was a quick beat of silence.

“...whatever you are, Twilight -” and how Celestia truly meant that, even as she imagined the filly tearing her heart out with her teeth - “you are my daughter.”

“...Love - you.”

“I love you too, my little star.” Celestia whispered as she shifted around her, pulling Twilight deeper into her bulk.


---


There was a yearly meeting under the Ruins of Asgard, but each Embodiment, in times of great crisis, possessed the ability to call forth a forum at any time. So far, in all the millennia that the Aspects had ruled, there had only been four occasions in which circumstances dictated the necessity.

The first was the growing madness of Discord - until Thaola suggested using the magic of the Once Great Deer present within Equestria, the Elements of Harmony, to seal him away in stone. 

The second had been when a sect of dragons rediscovered mind magic, resulting in hazardous artifacts - including the Dragonstone Scepter that Beollyssurth kept within her personal vault. 

The third had been Tirek - who, after he desolated his homeland, arrived within Equestria. His threat was so imperative, that the embodiments at the time - all but Zarrat and Hermes, summoned Starswirl from before his death using chronomancy so that he may aid them for one final time.

The fourth had been the banishment of her sister - nearly a millennium ago. A time during which both Lord Zarrat and Lord Hermes had joined their ranks.

Considering the sheer scale of the events that hurried meetings were ever called for - Celestia quickly scrambled to her hooves as she felt the soft tug of an ancient enchantment at the nape of her neck. She didn’t waste a moment activating the magic contained within the balcony, finding herself underneath the wreckage of Asgard.

Beollyssurth and Thaola looked comfortable - and so Celestia determined it was they who called the meeting. Zarrat, and lastly Hermes - fashionably late as ever. It was always Hermes who was late, despite being the fastest among them.

“How urgent is this?” Celestia quickly asked.

“Fairly, but not immediate. Incoming, I would say. Rest yourselves - there will be no battle today, thankfully.”

Celestia let out a soft sigh. Hermes and Zarrat followed while Thaola remained impassive.

“What of the Little Love?” Zarrat tilted his head to the side.

Hermes thought for a second. “We didn’t add her to the enchantments.” He sighed.

“How fortunate, then - for a youngling should not have to see this.”

Thaola’s horns began to glow as they lit with magic - deer magic. Zarrat and Hermes shied back, while Celestia and Beollyssurth remained adamant. 

A projection of the past was called forth - a projection of carnage. The trees were burning, there were corpses everywhere - and there was a filly. Cradling her mother’s dead corpse, even as -

Even as Nightmare Moon pressed down on her shoulder.

“Luna,” Celestia whispered out softly.

“I believe, Celestia - that it is time for you to tell us exactly what happened to Luna.”






“Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria - there were two regal sisters that ruled the land.”



“The eldest was INDOMITA, and she was the Day. The younger one was ASTRELLA, and she was the Night.”



“The Regal Sisters ruled as equals, their words of equal weight and their rank of equal value.”


“Yet, as time went on - INDOMITA became burdened with the affairs of state, while ASTRELLA took the mantle of Equestria’s sword.”



“She protected Equestria from those who would do her ponies harm - but her greatest burden was the protection of the night itself. It was she, and she alone who stood between the Things at the edge of the universe and the errant consciousness of her ponies.”



“ASTRELLA stood stalwart, but even she began to crack underneath the weight - until the Things that the Deer had brought onto the world began to whisper to her mind.”



“The alicorn sought counsel from her elder sister, but INDOMITA had no time for her. She did not understand the scale of the threat that ASTRELLA faced, and did not give it weight - even as her sister pleaded.”



“ASTRELLA succumbed to her madness and sought to save the world by casting it into a state of utter oblivion. The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the Things at the edge of the universe had corrupted her into a wicked mare of darkness: Nightmare Moon.”



“It was with a heavy heart that INDOMITA was able to use the magic of the greatest foes of Ponykind to banish her sister to the moon for an æternity.”






As the snow fell ever deeper -

There was one statue that had always struck Twilight as strange. Celestia visited it without fail, once at the end of each month - and stood there within a soundproof barrier for no more than five minutes before leaving.

Celestia had always deftly avoided the question as it was brought up, much to Twilight’s annoyance. And Kesmera - who had been nothing but brutally honest and straightforward with Twilight, to the point where she wondered if she truly was that bad - merely responded with disdain or disgust at the mention of the statue.

Twilight stood at the base of the statue as she inspected it fervently. It was a strange, mismatched thing that seemed to pulse at the edge of her vision - there was a font of chaos magic contained within, but there was something - else. A frail spark of red. 

She inspected it, and it seemed - pure. So much more pristine than anything she had seen before - it was as if everything was distilled or watered down, and this was the only untainted source left. She reached out to touch it -

“It’s rude to touch people without permission, monster.” A deep voice echoed from within her mind. She stumbled backward and fell down to her haunches.

“W...who…”

“Hello, brother.” Kesmera’s disgust was evident.

“Ah! Sister. Settle a bet that Void and I have going - was that Conquest kicking the bucket, or War? My bet was on Conquest. His bet was on neither.”

“It was neither. I suspect that Conquest might wish he may die, but I will ensure that he cannot. How is our darling brother doing? Still - ravishing?”

“Gross! Gross gross gross gross gross.”

Twilight’s voice rang out. But, unlike the low rasp of her physical voice, the tone of her mind was perfectly flat, even - each word delivered clearly, yet with a strange, otherworldly style. 

 “Who are you?” There was a soft thrum of power in it that gave Kesmera and Discord both pause.

“Ah. So the monster speaks.”

“If you call her a monster again Discord, I will ensure that even Conquest will pity you.”

“But sister dear - I only call it as I see it, so to speak. And she is indeed a monster. You know, Fate spoke of the Ruination that you would bring.”

“She mentioned much the same to me. She’s spoken of it ever since you burst out from Mother’s beating heart.”

”The Ruination?”

“Hah! How amusing, monster, that you don’t recognize what my sister would have you bring. The Ruination is the end of all things, and I see it written upon your heart that it will be you who calls it forth. And yet, Celestia refuses to kill you.”

”She does?”

“Oh yes - darling, perfect Celestia. She’s fine with casting the Shepherd of Magic itself into stone for an eternity, but when it comes to killing the being responsible for the snapping of Fate's loom - she can’t bring herself to lift a feather. What an outstanding moral compass.” 

Then, Discord’s voice dropped a few octaves as he whispered in a low tone. "Asides Fate herself, l know the Queen better than anyone who was or will be. And yet, Twilight Sparkle - my sister guides you down a dark path, while Celestia shields you with her body even at this very moment. I see you, Twilight Sparkle - and I name you a monster, The Lady in Lavender who will bring Ruination!”

“At...this - very moment?” Twilight glanced up towards Celestia’s bedroom.

Only then did she realize she couldn’t hear her heartbeat - and it was only then that a bolt of lightning struck her.

---

Celestia loved tea.

There were rumors that she did not love tea and simply drank it because she was expected to drink it. No - Celestia most assuredly loved tea. Strawberry cake and chamomile tea mixed rather deliciously within her stomach - and for the last six thousand years, every night - she drank tea before she retired for the night.

Today was no different. She quickly brewed herself a quick cup of tea within her personal kitchen in her rather lavish room. Of course, it was more of a penthouse than an actual room - but considering the sheer amount of stress she had on her shoulders, it was one of her guilty pleasures to spend a little bit on her personal accouterments.

Especially now that Twilight shared them. She had plans for a room of Twilight’s own design - or maybe a pocket dimension might suit the filly better. Assuming that she could even fit her soul into such a space - that was one of the reasons why Discord avoided pocket dimensions, after all. The sheer scale of his soul meant it would burst around him and damage his very soul itself.

Not that Celestia or Luna had ever been able to weaponize a pocket dimension against him - not for lack of trying. There were times where he simply seemed to ignore conventional rules of magic altogether.

Celestia let out a soft sigh as she raised her tea to her lips. She languished in the taste before she turned around - and promptly let her favored teacup, a gift from Thaola herself, smash against the floor and splinter into shards.

“Hello, sister.” Nightmare Moon inspected the Hammer of the Moon placed on the table in front of her before her gaze rose to Celestia.

“We have much to discuss, do we not?”

Seconds turned into moments, which turned into eternity as the two stared at each other. Then, finally, Celestia’s horn lit, but the Nightmare held her hoof up.

“As predictable as ever, Celestia. I would advise against wasting your magic - the magebane I slipped into your tea would make it rather - painful.” 

“Nightmare.” She whispered as the corona around her horn faded.

“No, sister. I am still Luna. Although - I suppose to you, I am your nightmare. A being out of your control, whose morals do not align with your own. And we all know what you do with those.” She gestured at Discord, locked in stone. A bolt of lightning whizzed past the window, and Celestia rushed over.

“Twilight.” She gasped. Her wings spread.

“There is no need to worry, Celestia. My pupil will distract your student until our grandfather may claim her.”

“Grandfather?” Celestia turned her head to the side. 

“You truly know little of the world you’ve stumbled into, Celestia.” She sighed blissfully. “I genuinely wish that things did not have to turn out this way. Be it through my continued ignorance of the end of all things - or a world where you did not stumble like a blind tyrant foal through the night. Through my night.”

The Warhammer slammed down through the table as the Nightmare pulled herself up to her hooves, her slitted pupils beginning to ooze out black smoke as sickly magic bubbled at the tip of her horn. “So, Celestia!” She cried out. “Fight me. Fight me, die, and break underneath my hooves - and know that your fate is the fate that will befall all tyrants.”

Celestia’s eyes shut.

Her horn lit with magic as her mane etherealized into a burning mass of flames. Moments later, her armor formed on her with a surge of energy that shattered all of her windows. The Glaive of the Sun entered her magical grasp, spinning around as it glimmered with a silver sheen - eager to test its might against the Warhammer of the Moon, as it did ages past.

“I see one tyrant here, Nightmare Moon, and it is not me.”

Her eyes opened, and she was the Sun. 

“Know, that as I wrest my sister back from the clutches of your insanity - as your broken body falls to the Worlds, that it will be a mercy.”

The two forces collided.

---

There was something unique about pegasus lightning. It was used to synthesize artificial magebane - because it had the rather unique effect of draining the magic pool from which a unicorn worked. The stronger the pegasus, the stronger the lightning they summoned drained the mana of a unicorn - or really, any active magic user.

As the bolt struck Twilight, it drained more magic than most magic casters could dream of using in a single spell. Yet, Twilight didn’t notice so much as a dip in her magical capacity.

Twilight teleported behind Discord’s statue. Her face was blank and impassive as Kesmera helped guide the flow of her magic - tearing the three lightning bolts that were aimed to strike her into their component parts. There were strings of magic that curled around them - and simply unraveling them broke the spell.

Twilight glanced up at the pegasus on the roof. She could see her soul - it burned blue, with a spark of something red and angry at its center. 

“Break her. Tear her to shreds. Rend her to dust,” Kesmera cried.

“Yes, monster. Give in to your instincts. Show Celestia what a beast you are.” Discord hissed viciously within the back of her head.

”No,” she thought.

She teleported by her side with a flash. The blue, prismatic maned pegasus sent a quick jab towards her horn - angled strangely, right towards its center, where it was most fragile. 

Her blow struck - and there was a ringing within Twilight’s head. She stumbled backward as a horrible mass of writhing darkness tore from the fracture in her horn - quickly pulling it shut. The pegasus filly stumbled backward, her mouth gaping open as Twilight and she stood a scant few feet apart.

The two were sent into freefall as Celestia and Nightmare Moon erupted from the sky. The two hurtled into the black sky with a speed that only an alicorn could hope to have - barely registering as blurs at the very edge of her vision.

Twilight tried to teleport - but found that a sharp lance of pain tore through her head. She fell towards the ground at an angle, one that would most assuredly snap her neck - 

Until she felt her head a little lighter and found herself standing on all four of her hooves, peacefully on the ground.

“She - what?” Discord sounded - shocked. “She’s never - she’s…” He trailed off.

Only when the projectile impacted the back of her head did Twilight realize just what had happened. She had been teleported - but not by herself.

Kesmera wasn’t in Twilight’s head anymore.

---

The Hammer of the Moon crashed against Celestia’s rotating shield as the two hurtled through the blizzard that raged above the sky of Canterlot Castle. The Glaive of the Sun quickly passed through her own shield, the two weapons meeting with a blazing flash that sent both weapons hurtling out of their telekinetic grasp.

The two mares entered a grapple - the Nightmare throwing a sloppy punch towards Celestia’s face even as she batted her with her wings. Finally, Celestia resorted to more childish tactics - grabbing onto her sister’s hair, biting her, and pushing at her leg with her hind leg to crack it.

The two hurtled through the Tower of the Archmage. Celestia heard Nightmare Moon’s leg snap with a bloody crack. She heard a pony be pulverized as the sheer speed they were traveling at ground him into dust, and she wept.

The two smashed down into the royal courtyard. Their weapons reformed in their telekinetic grasp simultaneously - and the two met each other again with steel. A violent shockwave formed between the two - and she could hear the cracking of bones and the screams begin.

“Leave them out of this,” Celestia pleaded.

“They are this,” the Nightmare hissed.

Nightmare Moon teleported into a horde of escaping ponies. She pulled the Warhammer from its spot by Celestia and swung it in a wide arc - with such a speed that the ponies that it impacted were utterly destroyed. Their eyes and teeth sprayed out of them before the rest of their organs did - a mushy paste of brain and tongue, their necks beginning to sear from friction 

“NO!” Celestia screamed, and she tackled the Nightmare with all her speed. The ground erupted as a shower of flame painted the air. A coronal eruption followed them as a single blow, infused with all of Celestia’s earthpony strength - shattered ribs, pushed bones into lungs, and sent the Nightmare hurtling back up the length of the mountain.

---

Without Kesmera - Twilight was having a lot more difficulty than she’d like to admit.

While she was managing to block the lion’s share of projectiles that the pegasus was throwing at her - from shingles of the shattered roof, shards of glass, bolts of lightning, or even quick jabs towards her face - she couldn’t really go on the offensive. Ponies were just too fragile - and Celestia hadn’t told her to kill this pony.

A small part of her wanted to. No, a large part of her wanted to. She was the only thing that stood between herself and her Celestia. It would be so easy to tear the wings from her back, to let her bones shatter -

But that would make her a bad monster. And she was most assuredly not a bad monster.

The pegasus mare quickly closed the distance between them, tackling the filly up the mountain and flying above the castle. Twilight curled her hooves around her even as the pegasus pounded on her back.

Twilight was hungry. She hadn’t eaten her midnight snack. Surely - a little bit of blood wouldn’t hurt?

Her teeth sunk into the pegasus’ wing. She let out a startled cry as she tore her wing from Twilight’s mouth, along with a chunk of flesh - and as Twilight chewed and swallowed, she found that pony meat tasted - nice.

“MONSTER!” The filly shrieked.


Twilight nodded. “Yes,” she agreed - and the two began to hurtle down towards the ground.

The two smashed into the throne room - the pegasus falling down with a sickly crunch as one of her wings snapped. Twilight seemed rather - undisturbed by the whole thing, instead blankly staring up at the roof as she realized just how much she missed Kesmera’s presence in her head.

They were not alone in the throne room for long. Despite Celestia being the aggressor, it was Nightmare Moon who managed to roll around and pin Celestia into the throne - or more accurately, the throne into Celestia. Celestia’s guts were sent spilling out onto the floor with a spray of pink blood as her throne tore through her skin, the Hammer of the Moon striking against her ribs as it sent her front half - and only her front half, as both of her back legs were torn off with a messy rip, splattering against the wall. I

Twilight stared at Celestia for a moment with wide eyes. Then, she glanced at the Nightmare. Twilight’s eyes began to open, and open, and open-

“NO!” Celestia cried. “My little star, don’t!” She whimpered, even as she gurgled on her own blood.

And Twilight’s eyes snapped shut, and the girl stumbled backward. The Nightmare regarded her with a cool glance, as well as one directed at the whimpering pegasus filly on the ground - before her attention snapped to Celestia.

“How pitiful, Celestia. For all of your machinations, your history and skill - it was furniture and poison that ended up destroying you.” She snorted. She dragged the Hammer behind her, letting it scrape against the ground before she stood over Celestia.

“Goodbye, Celestia. I hope to join you in oblivion, once the Great Work is done.”

She brought the hammer down, and there was a spray of pink blood. It splattered all over Twilight, all over Celestia’s body, all over the Nightmare’s pupil-

But mostly, all over the silver broadsword that had torn through the midsection of the Nightmare.

“Sic Semper Tyrannis,” he whispered in the tongue of the Asgardian. He wrenched the blade upwards with a bloody tear, slicing through the Nightmare’s spine and rendering her back legs useless, tearing a heaping chunk of flesh from her back.

The Nightmare’s horn lit as she teleported over to the broken heap of a filly on the ground. She curled her wings around her as it lit again - and the two disappeared with a much more violent pop.

He snorted as he let his blade drop to the ground. Slowly, he glanced between the two remaining ponies.

“Hello, Astaroth. Daddy’s home.” Frost grinned wolfishly.

-

> [12] Fraezen
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------









A story should have a beginning, a middle, and an end, but not necessarily in that order.




Celestia’s armor was battered and broken. Her horn stung like hell as the magebane sapped her ability to use active unicorn magic. Her organs twitched and throbbed as they spilled out of the top half of her body, her earthpony magic the only thing keeping her alive, and the throne was covered in her blood.

The gigantic green-eyed wolf towered taller than any non-dragon the two had ever seen. He stood a few precious inches taller than Discord on his hind legs, and the enormous silver broadsword that he had just embedded through Nightmare Moon was the same size as him. 

He basked in the silence for a few moments, his eyes moving between the twitching and pulsing body of Celestia as she gurgled weakly on her blood and the shocked and reeling Twilight.

“Hello, Astaroth. Daddy’s home.” Frost grinned wolfishly.

“Frost.” Celestia murmured with a hint of fear in her voice - until her eyes slowly shut. Twilight rushed over to her side.

“C-celestia?” Twilight whispered. She prodded at her chest with a hoof.

Celestia didn’t so much as twitch. Twilight stepped forward again and prodded at her again a little more forcefully. “Wake up,” she pleaded. “Please, mom, wake up.”

“It’s okay, Twilight.” Celestia whispered.

Twilight stared at her for a few seconds. She stared past the thin membrane of fur and flesh, examining Celestia’s beautiful heart that was slowly beginning to slow down. She saw the immortal blood within her veins move sluggishly as it came out of her in a thick, viscous stream - she saw her cells begin to die.

And for one moment - for a single moment, the bedrock of reality began to tremble.

Frost kneeled and put a paw on her head. Her blood turned into a blue sludge that began rapidly reconstructing - first into bone, then into blood, muscle, organs, and flesh. In moments, Celestia quickly was whole. 

Twilight stumbled backward as she looked up at Frost.

“You didn’t heal her.” Frost tilted his head to the side. “I mean, if you want to kill her - I don’t give two shits. She’d just make the whole thing more convenient.” He shrugged.

Twilight stared at Frost impassively for a few moments. His soul was - unique. It seemed more like it was an aggregation of souls mixed in one tight package rather than one individual soul - swirling around, pushing at him and slowly leaking from him in a thin, barely perceptible aura.

“Come, Astaroth.” Frost stretched his paw down. “We have a lot of work ahead of us.”

“Astaroth?” Twilight tilted her head to the side. The word came naturally unnaturally to her, resting on her tongue with a strange weight yet rolling off it with ease simultaneously. 


Frost stared at her for a long while before he shut his eyes. “You’re broken, aren’t you?” His paws were trembling ever so slightly. “You can’t heal her. You’re not Astaroth. The deer - they failed.”

He tilted his head back and laughed. It started as a deep-bellied laugh with a hint of pain within it - but slowly became more and more manic. Finally, his laughter grew more violent until bits of blue sludge began to ooze from his muzzle, nose, and even past his eyelids.

Then his eyes snapped open, blazing a brilliant blue.

“You’re fucking useless.” He hissed. He stepped forward and slapped Twilight across the face, sending her sprawling down to the ground with a spray of blood as his claws grazed her. He shifted forward and stomped down on one of her front legs, crushing it underneath him as he pinned her down.

“A FUCKING MISTAKE!” He roared. Cryogenesis tore from where it was embedded into the ground into his hand, and he moved to bury it directly into Twilight’s skull.

He’s not a pony, Twilight realized - and her eyes opened. 

The blade sunk into her skull. Then it pushed deeper, sliding smoothly into the ground as Twilight’s head shifted - becoming a swirling mass of lavender-colored mana. 

It moved and swirled like the shadows, yet shined with the brightness of the sun. Eventually, her mouth opened up, and she flashed all her teeth at him as her eyes opened. Blood and spittle oozed from her dripping maw - and a lavender shaft of energy burst from her horn.

Frost’s corpse slumped over as it struck the ground. He was utterly vaporized by the bolt of energy from his head to his waist and his blood - a deep red shade, much darker than pony blood painted her chest and face. Twilight dragged her tongue over her lips to lick it up - then grimaced as she found that it tasted like ash. She crawled over onto her front and hacked up the blood, wiping her draconic lips against her hoof even as her head morphed back to its default state.

Frost let out a soft, “huh.” Twilight flinched as she pulled away from him - his skeleton already regenerated, bits of blue sludge oozing off of him as it reknit flesh and muscle. The wolf pushed himself up into a standing position and wiped a trail of black ichor from his nose that had started leaking after his regeneration.

“What the fuck are you?” He squinted. “Jesus. Maybe you really can take the bitch down once and for all.” He wiped more of the black ichor from his nose.

Twilight didn’t respond to him as she shifted over towards Celestia, keeping one cautious eye on the wolf as she ran a hoof through her mother’s mane.

“Did you - fucking imprint on her or something? Why are you so obsessed with her? Ugh. Fine. Maybe she’ll make this a little easier.” Frost held a paw out. His hand was enveloped with a soft blue glow - and a gallon of ice water promptly dumped down onto Celestia. The deity of the sun unceremoniously flared her wings and flailed her hoofs as she sat up, gulping air down into her lungs as the fur on her legs back rapidly regrew.

Celestia beat her wings once, a great gust of air throwing her backward, grabbing onto Twilight as she sailed through the air. The Glaive of the Sun shot over to her side - but Frost lazily reached a paw out and gripped onto its shaft.

“Chill out, Celestia.” He paused for a moment. “Get it - cause -”

Celestia’s horn lit with a violent triple corona, the force of the sun entering the world through her horn. The air started to bubble, twist, and warp. Frost was strong, but magically - he was inferior to any of the Aspects. And Celestia was the greatest of the deities. 

Yet still, his left arm began to glow - and power filled the air, a power that would certainly destroy the Canterhorn itself if it was allowed release- so the three found themselves in Asgard.

Long-range teleportation was tricky. It required a unique spell that sent you through the primordial plane of magic itself, rather than the usual bending of space used for conventional teleportation. The reason you couldn’t use the traditional spell of teleportation was that - at a certain distance, you ran into the problem of Merlin’s Measure.

Every meter that teleportation or telekinesis travels, the power that the spell demanded goes up exponentially. While it means that theoretically, there’s nothing stopping someone from teleporting between two of the Worlds themselves using the default method of teleportation - the power demands of such a spell would scale so dramatically that it would take more mana than any creature save the Children could manage.

And while Twilight did, in theory, have the power to teleport from anywhere to anywhere with how much raw power she had - since she was still young, her body couldn’t handle the stress of using her full magic. Her soul was only partially inside of her body, and so she could only access a fragment of her mana at a time.

However, the visage that Twilight had taken on when she had banished the Iampex didn’t quite have that restriction - although the state of mind she had to be in to access that form wasn’t something she could do at will.

The short of it was that Twilight used much more magic than her body could handle - and so her horn promptly exploded, causing her to pass out.

Celestia gasped and let the power around her horn dissipate with a soft hiss of burning air. She lunged forward and wrapped her hooves around Twilight, cradling her head and wrapping a wing around her.

Frost slowly let the energy building in his arm dissipate. Then, he flicked his wrist and made a small chair made out of ice by Celestia that he promptly sat down on. “She’ll be fine. And you’ll be fine too, assuming you don’t fucking attack me again.”

Celestia glanced up at him. “...Apologies. I wasn’t, quite exactly in the best state of mind. Considering…” She glanced at Twilight.

“Everything about the little slice of hell. Yeah.” Frost shrugged.

“Little slice of hell,” Celestia repeated, a rather unamused expression painting her face. “I will ask that you refrain from insulting my daughter again.”

“Your - daughter? For one, she’s my fucking daughter. And two - I was being literal. Fucking hell, Luna was right. You really know jack shit about everything you’ve stumbled into. I pity you.”

“I am growing tired of creatures informing me of my foolishness, yet doing nothing to educate me on it.”

“Pft. Yeah, you’re right, it’s annoying as hell isn’t it,” Frost rolled his eyes. “Then I’ll stop jerking off around the bush and get to the point. Give you the whole slice of pizza, so to speak.”

“I am certain that neither of those are the expression you’re looking for.”

“Close enough.” Frost shrugged. He then leaned in right next to Celestia. “So what do you want to know?”

“...I think, that it is best to start from the beginning. What - is, Twilight? Why are so many of the Children coming to Aezilan? How did my sister get freed earlier? Why are you here? What are the Elements of Harmony?”

Frost thought for a long, long time. Then, finally, he found the words to speak.

“Tell me, Celestia. What do you know about the Fall of the Deer?”






The Outer Beyond has always been filled with war.

From the second the Queen had found herself aware of these creatures through Fate’s loom, the war had begun - and it would never end. 

They made their assault at the fringes of actuality - creeping tendrils and gnashing whispers that slowly entered the Beyond and the Worlds within. They possessed thousands of names and an equal number of horrible titles - they were the Terrors, the Horrors, the Things, the Stains - 

Yet the truest of all their agnomen was the Empty Lords, for they were empty spots in the canvas stitching that the Queen had woven. They were ugly spots of missing dread, too big, too small, too thin, too wide, too many, too numerous, too few. They were the bleeding gaps of reality that sought to consume and feed and would see to it that everything joined them in their ever-present emptiness.

They were Primordia incarnate. An agglomerate of foes to even the Queen herself - fragile, individually, but together they were unstoppable. They were beyond contest - stalled, delayed, slowed - but ultimately, inevitable.

At the brink of the Beyond and the Vast Void beyond, there was an infinite amount of white nothing. There was no light; there was no absence, no magic - no time, no space.

Few heard the noise - even fewer from the native time of the Primordia. It came as a faint whistle, growing louder and louder - until it sounded with the crack of a whip, and a brilliant golden chariot came forth from the edge of space and time.

The deer towered above all his kin - his splendid silver antlers ornate and beautiful, his white fur clad in gold, his eyes a brilliant blue. The First Blade swirled within his telekinetic grasp, a colossal silver broadsword nearly his size. He leaped from the chariot into the swirling Nothing, and with a fearsome battle cry - he began to destroy. Each swipe of the First Blade brought away vast swaths of nothing, and the Empty Lords began to screech.

His brother soon followed after him - his antlers made of bone and wrapped in flaming green, his fur black and his eyes a gangrenous green. But, where his brother was a whirlwind of sword and steel, it was he who called forth the First Flame. An infernal green flame tore from his antlers and bit into the nothing, ensuring that the First Blade’s damage would stay lasting.

Their purpose, however, was not to win this impossible battle. They were simply the distractions. They were ill-equipped to deal with even the smallest of the Lords, and slowly the creeping void inched ever closer.

“Fraezen!” The green deer cried.

“Steadfast, Nazareth!” Fraezen threw himself backward and curled a hoof around his brother - before a glow came from his heart, as the First Shield - the Aegis itself formed around them. It was not a thing of physical strength or even mystical strength - that would prove itself ineffective against the Lords. Rather, the Lady of the Heavens had bound a piece of the First Crown to his very heart - so that his will may serve as the strength the Aegis drew from.

It was strong. So strong that it delayed even the attacks of the Empty Lords - their smashing tentacles, stabbing tendrils, and fractures in reality itself rebounding off the Aegis.

But even Fraezen’s will was not unbreakable. And the Aegis began to crack -

The Archons rode forth. The great black stallion of Void grabbed his sons within his grasp as he charged through the dark emptiness of the Lords, exiting out with mystic steam curling off his bodies. 

The flame-hearted War and the metal-plated Conquest stallions summoned forth a wave of the Undying and a veritable storm of spears and blades that sunk deeper into the absence, shining with a victorious light. It was the greatest of them, the first among equals who rose last from the crack in the reality wall itself. 

Death herself brought the power of the Queen’s flesh. Her demonic horns bubbled with corruptive energy as she loosed forth a blast with a Terrible Word, the first Cruel Magic that the universe would ever know. The Empty Lords could not feel pain, but even they seemed to whimper momentarily.

The Archons were merely an omen of the greatest of them. Where the Horsemen came, she followed - and while the Empty Lords did not have intelligence, it was always she who they attacked first.

The Great Dragon of Renewal tore from the world-wall. Her scales were a glistening violet as she breathed death, bringing her aspect with her in her entirety. She tore through the center of the cloud of Absence, everything in her path obliterated. Yet, she was only somewhat physical, seeming more ephemeral than natural. She created and warped Space that destroyed the Empty Lords where it touched - until her rival sister came following moments later.

The Great Wyrm of Justice followed through the crack in reality. She shined with a brilliant light that counteracted the nipping darkness of the Empty Lords. She could not take away their absence, for only one of them had that ability - but they fell to dust in her path.

The Wyrm and the Dragon were the strongest of the gathered children - but even they could not oppose the Lords for long. Maybe if they were to work together, they could destroy a few thousand - but a hundred thousand more would take their place. And slowly, slowly but surely, they were being beaten.

“The battle is beyond us now,” Void gazed upon the raging dragons as they fought the swarm of the Lords. “A retreat would be wise.”

“A retreat?” War snarled. “They have never been this emboldened before! I will not abandon our Sisters!”

“Think of it this way, brother,” Conquest grunted. “We shall live to fight another day. They will die an honorable death.”

“No,” Death spoke in her chilling tone. “They will not die. They will be Unmade, Conquest. Are you truly so traitorous in your greed that you would deem Renewal’s life before our own?”

“Mother goes not by that name.” Fraezen shook his head. “She claims the title Arlanarlia now, in honor of the Qui that tore their world apart.”

“An arbitrary correction,” Death tilted her head to the side. “She is greater than all of us put together.”

“We still have a role to play.” Void turned to his sister. “Our task is not over yet. Let them-”

It was their youngest sibling who entered as a herald. 

Fate’s voice rang out through the battlefield -

And then a scream of horror rang out from the Empty Lords collectively. Multi-layered screaming, like a million beasts and a million species all crying out at the same time. The battlefield was still.

The truth of the Lords was that they were not intelligent. They were not coherent - their sole goal was to consume, and everything would be destroyed before them eventually. They could not feel desire; they only had their purpose and nothing else.

They did, however, feel fear for one thing and one thing only.

Their youngest sibling entered as a herald to their fear. 

”The Queen is here.”

A pillar of red light tore the absence apart, shining with such a searing brightness that even the Empty Lords were pushed back. The magic barrier itself was shattered as three glowing red fragments of her crown were torn from her head, each erupting into bubbling supernovae of mystic energies that had done more damage than the rest of the Children had done combined.

She spoke her words and brought reality itself into existence - calling upon the fires of the stars that burned within her and the cast-away fires of hell. Her advance was continuous, destroying more of the sickly Absence with each step as she shaped the nothing into something, weapons of delirium and desolation as she continued her extirpation of the Empty Lords. 

Within moments of her arrival, more than half of the lords’ sickly absence brought with their mere presence had been destroyed. The white void was beginning to heal within their departure - the rainbow fractures in reality and the blots of star-colored mass that served as the blood underlaid the Vast Void. 

The Queen formed wordlessly in-front of her Children. She stood taller than any of them - a fearsome crown of Pure Iron decorating her skull, her antlers reaching up towards infinity. The edges of her wings melted into fire, entropy, ice, and ether. She had no flesh, fur, or skin - there was a faint outline of red energy that served as a “casing” to the nothing that she was made up of, a swirling ephemeral soup of stars and the cosmos themselves. 

The stars within her form were not a representation of the cosmos. They were the cosmos. 

She tilted her head to the side as she examined her gathered children. Then, she spoke in a voice more horrible than anything that the Lords could dream up. 

”I am not amused.” 

-

> [13] Frost
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------










Somewhere ages and ages hence:


Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—


I took the one less traveled by,


And that has made all the difference.






A question drives the universe.

It is not driven by the soul engines that regurgitate matter with perfect efficiency, recycling the universe through an endless cycle of birth and unbirth. Nor by the destruction the Demon Queen brings with her. It is not even pushed forward by the ebb and flow of magic itself. Instead, a single question has continued to push the universe and everything within and without endlessly forward.

A question asked before a mortal girl, by a mortal girl, and after a mortal girl. A word - the single most important word in the universe, arguably.

Why?

Why is the world? Asked the Dragons, who thought in such a manner that it was they who called forth mortal magic for the first time.

Why are we? Asked the Qui, until all but one of them destroyed themselves in their hubris.

Why are you? Asked the Vulcines, who challenged divinity itself - until they left the universe scarred, bleeding in its wake.

In time, the ponies will ask their question. 

The deer have already asked -

Why is magic?





There were legends about her - that she could kill a dragon with a single spell. That it was she who single-handedly pushed back the remnants of the Otherworlds away from the bleeding reality that Those Who Had Come Before left. That she wore the bones of her enemies in a grotesque necklace around herself, collecting their blood to bathe herself in so that she might grow in power. 

All of them could not be more true; all of them could not be less true. There was a semblance of honesty within each of them - a nugget, a misinterpretation that spread. But the truth of the matter - was that She-Who-Ruled was far from what the myths suggested.

She was not a cruel warmonger. She would not spill blood without hesitation - she would always seek peace and peace first. She was a humble doe - she did not rule from the great city of Valerîon, built by the enslaved masses, but rather her home city of origin, Eos.

And she was the greatest woman that her son had ever known. Armed with a brilliant intellect, constantly pushing at the edges of what the universe had thought only conceptually possible - and going even beyond that. 

The cities that had been woven out of crystal and glass were made because of her. The fleshy tumors adorned with fibrous veins that decorated the tectonic plates of their planet, spraying out their readings and fueling their cities with electric lifeblood, were there because of her. There was nothing off limits from them - the moon, the skies themselves, decorated with the corpses and ruins of the fledgling civilizations that had come before - these were possible to explore because of her. 

“Mother.” His voice was deep - yet with a hint of youthful curiosity within it, a burning desire for knowledge that was only met by hers.

“Archmage.” Her voice was otherworldly. The bedrock of reality itself rumbled as her tones brought with them the full authority of her knowledge and power. “I greet you,” she didn’t spare him so much as a glance as the great glass shards of the Library floated around her. Within them, there was knowledge - in the form of digital light that danced from one edge to another, slowly eroding the glass that was only kept together by magical power.

“I greet you,” the great white deer teleported up to her side with a flash of brilliant blue magic. “We’ve made progress.”

“Have we,” she asked, but she did not phrase it as a question. Her eyes glimmered with the stars themselves within them in stark contrast to her lavender coat - looking as if bits of the Beyond itself had been crammed into her skull. Shards of glass shattered around her, forming thin rods and even smaller fragments that she continued to arrange in ritualistic patterns.

“It seems that even the Children are not infallible. Deep within the ruins of the Qui, fragments of the Vulcines are beginning to be unearthed.” 

She didn’t respond.

“I believe that what they found can help with the Embroachment.”

For a moment, her work paused. Only a moment - and then the entire room lit again with the buzz of telekinesis, the manipulation of thousands of microscopic objects simultaneously. “I thought that you had abandoned that project.”

“I did, until recently.”

“Speak more of the Vulcines, then. My curiosity is -” a pause in the telekinetic buzz of the room. “Piqued.”

“There are rituals, mother. Strange, cruel rituals that carve into the fabric of reality itself. They reach far past the grasp of any normal spell - they pull the very edge of the universe into its center. The Bleeding that you have detected-”

“I told you not to speak of the Bleeding-”

“Regardless, you’ve detected it. It was caused by these rituals.”

“You are not a fool. I would not raise a fool. You would not further the damage done.” 

“Of course not. I seek to make use of the damage already done.”

“Elaborate.”

“The underlying aether dimension - the bleeding that they describe, could be used to stabilize a bit of it - create a pseudo-core,”

“Which we could in turn, practice methods of the Embroachment on.” She-Who-Ruled finished. “I have gone down this path. Creating a pseudo-core would be impossible.”

“Impossible - until now. The Vulcines provide the key.”

The shards of glass shifted down into their final resting positions. An ethereal luminescence ran over the edges of the fragments until they fused into one, continuous mass. Her antlers began to glow. The queen turned to look at her son.

“Send word to your daughter, Gilgamesh. We will have much to do.”





The Ghol was a sight few had seen. The great hall underneath the bowels of the Queen’s Library was only ever accessible by those working directly under her - and even then, her direct supervision was required. It felt almost blasphemous that Freya stood here with her father - but her feelings of blasphemy were quickly overcome by a sense of awe and wonder.

“
“By the stars above.” Freya whispered as the ivory doe slowly circled the six floating orbs. “What did she describe them as?”

“I would be lying,” Gilgamesh tapped one with his hoof, “-if I were to say I fully understood her description of them.”

“She’s brilliant.”

The Archmage snorted. “Don’t sell your grandmother so short. She’s beyond brilliant. I daresay that she has the skill, if not the power, of the Children - if not surpassing them.”

“A rather bold claim.” Freya arched an eyebrow.

“The ponies,” Gilgamesh began.

“Those middling servants? What of them?” Freya tilted her head to the side.

Gilgamesh grinned slightly. “One of them was exposed to the…” He paused for a moment as he searched for the word, “-artifact. He can speak now.”

“Truly?” Freya let out a soft gasp.

“Mother has kept him a secret for the time being. He calls himself Buri. Beyond mere speech - he’s as intelligent as any buck or doe that I’ve ever met. Brilliant, honestly.”

“How - did she make them?” 

“What do you know about the Bleeding?” The Archmage continued to circle the glimmering gems.

“More than most. I know that it is a phenomenon present throughout the Worlds. Beyond that, nothing more.”

“You are not to speak of this to anyone outside of this room. Or else, mother will order me to kill you - and for every bit that I love you, daughter dear, I would have to comply.” His tone was darker, more serious - without his usual sharp intelligence behind his every word. Freya recoiled slightly, then promptly nodded.

“Magic, as we use it, is not a natural part of this world. Of any world. The Dragons - not the starwaste that lay on Aezilan with us, but the true dragons of the Stars, and the Children use magic that draws from a pool separate from the rest of the universe. Our predecessors - the Vulcines, capitalized on the destruction that the Qui wrought on themselves. They took a hammer to the universe and struck it - the Bleeding. A web-like series of cracks, running through the cosmos.”

Freya thought for a moment about how that sounded familiar - until her eyes widened. “You’re saying…” 

“The Aether, as we call it, is not a natural construct. It is a bloody tear in reality - and mother estimates that with every spell cast, the damage grows ever-greater.”

“To what end?” 

“Mother could explain better than I. Ultimately, she estimates the end of the universe within the next few hundred thousand years.”

“That’s - a lot.” Freya whispered. She glanced down at the floor before her eyes turned up to the six floating gems. “And-”

The clearing of her throat caused both of them to pale lightly, even though they were in no danger from her. The Great Deer Queen walked up past them, lightly brushing her sides against both her son and her granddaughter before she stood in front of the artifacts.

“They will allow me -'' She thought for a moment. “Us, to draw directly from the fundamental pool of magic that the Children do. Yet, accessing the pool of magic itself does nothing. This gem,” she lightly tapped the star-shaped gem with the tip of her hoof, “draws directly from the underlying aetheric dimension. I know not from what source it draws from, but drawing from it with Primal Magic has proved to be - nondestructive to the universe at large.”

“So...the gems-” Freya began.

“Will allow me - us, to use magic as the Children do. The Embroachment, my kin, is possible.”

“To use magic as the Children do…” Gilgamesh scratched at his stubble. “The - applications of such a thing…”

”Art even greater than thou couldst comprehend.” A pressure weighted down on them as the sibilant tone of the new arrival rang out. Her voice thrummed with the undercurrent of power that only the strongest of Deer had - but there was some otherworldly quality to it that suggested something even greater. 

Three sets of eyes rapidly landed upon the newcomer. She stood a head taller than even the towering Queen, mirroring the height of Gilgamesh himself. Threads decorated her horns, a single ugly fang jutting out of her lip and marring her otherwise pristine form.

Gilgamesh and Freya could not have bowed faster even if the gravity of the True Sun weighed directly on them. Their muzzles brushed against the floor, their antlers scraping against the marble tiling underneath them. She-Who-Ruled did not bow, instead choosing to dip her head.
”We will not dally in our purpose. Know that thy fate has only been bestilled by Our kind hoof. Know, that ‘tis only because We consider thou the greatest of the great, that We have not seen it fit to throw you to the gnawing claws of mine brethren. This folly will end. Thou will destroy these - abominations.”Fate gestured a hoof towards the floating gems. ”The Embroachment, as thou hast deemed it - will bring about Ruination.”

The pressure faded with a sudden hiss. The archmagus and his daughter stood there, trembling slightly as they stared into the spot where Fate herself had stood mere moments ago.

She-Who-Ruled turned to look at the two.

“We will begin the Embroachment within the coming moon.”





“It was not unexpected, you know.” She-Who-Ruled spoke idly as she continued shifting the tower into place. One of them circled around her, while the other five circled around her son - a monstrous beast underneath his heavy war armor.

“I know.” The world trembled and burned. Gilgamesh could feel the flesh that had built their bedrock being torn out from underneath them - for what the Asgardians lacked in strength, they made up for in numbers. “But it does not mitigate the pain.”

“Were you aware that there was a fairly high probability that you would join her?” The glass shards fractured underneath a stream of seemingly unlimited power, the Library being reshaped and refashioned into something eldritch and ritualistic - more reminiscent of a Qui altar than anything that a Deer would build.

“No, but I am not surprised.” Gilgamesh sighed lightly and glanced down at the ground. 

“Without this conversation - you likely would’ve backstabbed me at the ideal moment. The only moment that I could possibly be vulnerable.”

“Ah. Your warding?”

“Stripped off, by the sheer font of magical power.”

“And this conversation changes it?”

“Because if I die, the blast would destroy the entirety of Eos. And you would not allow your daughter to die, willingly.”

“Unsurprising, again. She has always been my weakness.” He shut his eyes.

“As you, mine, my son. I am not - like other mothers, I am sure. I do, however, truly love you. If that means anything.”

The air smelt of brimstone. The once pristine glass towers had been shattered by the rampages of the dragons, the armor-clad earthponies, and the traitorous deer that had joined his daughter in her rebellion. It indeed was the end of the world.

“It means the world to me.”

“Good, my son - for we shall begin.” The gems and shards of glass suddenly snapped into place. Gilgamesh quickly shifted himself into a standing position, focusing his senses as he felt the font of magical power begin to flow through the gems. “Focus your intent through the Elements of Harmony. As long as our intent is - harmonious, then the Embroachment shall succeed. Fail this - and there will be Ruination. Do you understand?”

Gilgamesh quickly nodded. He shut his eyes and let out a deep breath, pushing his hooves deeper into the ground.

Minutes passed. Or maybe hours - maybe even days, as the rebels grew ever closer. Gilgamesh could not even begin to suggest a guess - for the experience was unlike anything that the deer had felt or would feel for decades to come.

He felt the earth, lending him strength. The air, filling his lungs. The water and fire that fueled his very life itself - the magic that thickly permeated the air. He felt all of these things - and instead of forcing his will into the world, shaping it to his desires - he simply allowed it to flow through him. To be given the power instead of taking it.

The spiraling stone towers of the Ghol reached up towards a single point - the shards of glass that were filled with the accumulated knowledge of the Deer spinning more and more rapidly around a sparking bleeding hole in reality itself. The glass fragments and the tips of the tower were connected by brilliant arcing lightning as more power began to flow into the room - Gilgamesh’s armor beginning to melt as he was lifted into the air. 

The gem in front of She-Who-Ruled was glowing with a lavender light, unlike anything Gilgamesh had ever seen. Every throb and pulse of magic that pushed through the crystal caused the corona around it to grow ever brighter, and slowly - rainbow-hued threads began to travel from one Element to another.

There was a possibility that it would’ve worked.

That the core of magic itself would be broached. That the Deer would transcend past their corporeal forms as they entered a new age of nirvanic ascension that could only be described in the abstract. Perhaps, they would be described as fledgling gods and worshipped by those who came after them - there was a potential that such a thing could’ve happened.
The downfall of the Deer Empire began with a single word - yet it was sealed in stone by that same word, uttered with a tone of horror as daughter looked upon father.

“Why?” Freya whispered, and the deer broke with Gilgamesh’s concentration.

Time snapped like a rubber band as space was constricted into a single point. Rainbow, red, and lavender fractures in reality tore in arcing ritualistic patterns through space itself - appearing as if the air itself had been shattered like glass. 

A thousand screaming voices entered the archmage’s mind as power, unlike anything, tore the world itself apart. The air rippled with heat, the ground splashed like water - his mother was pulled into a boiling stream of organs.

Gilgamesh barely managed to pull up a brilliant blue shield over himself and his daughter, wrapping his body around her. The shield shattered, waves of flame washing over him - his skin beginning to burn and hiss as his blood was boiled out of his body. 

F̷̘̊R̸̺̚E̵͎̅E̴̛̞ ̸̨͌Ù̸̗S̸̺͝, a gurgling cacophony of voices shrieked. The archmage felt his mind splinter and fracture - even as blue sludge began oozing out of his nose and mouth. His eyes fluttered shut -

And the last thing he saw was a skeletal deer standing by a shrieking mess of void.





The deer snorted as he tore the blade from his skull. His eyeball dropped out of his face with a spurt of blood and sludge - causing him to wince slightly, for he was not painless, merely deathless. 

“Seriously.” He let out a soft sigh as a green glow tore the attacking deer from the inside out. “If the Scourge couldn’t beat me - then what chance would any of you FUCKS HAVE!?” Gilgamesh roared as he stomped his hooves down with such force that they splintered underneath his enhanced strength - the ground erupting into a spray of dirt and ash.

“Father.” Freya pressed a hoof into his side lightly. “Are you-”

“They’re getting louder, Freya.” He hissed lightly. “Bor’s fucking - mud magic, isn’t working.”

“Good thing then, that I bring Elements.” The accented pony grinned as he dangled five jewels in front of Gilgamesh.

---

They had sacrificed everything to come to this point.

His self-proclaimed immortality had been tested thousands of times as he tore himself apart in order to protect his daughter. Even still, one of her horns was missing - the other, shattered halfway through. The pain must have been unbearable - but yet, she persisted. Bor himself had suffered equally grievous wounds - one of the Demon’s stray spells had left him bedridden for a week as his magic pulled his rotting body back together.

The corpses of thousands surrounded them. As ever, the Demon seemed - uninterested. More focused on pushing her spells to their limits as she continued upon her great work than the conflict that raged around her. The only times that she had ever turned her attention from the pulsing monstrosity of growing flesh that she had cultivated was when the dragons had taken to the battlefield - and within moments, their viscera had been added to the collection.

“Freya. Bor.” The Demon spoke. She turned her head for a fraction of a second. “Fraezen,” she quickly turned back to her whirring screens and floating glass.

“Don’t - FUCKING CALL ME THAT!” Gilgamesh snarled as he tore at his face with his hoof. His antlers began to glow. “You’re a fucking monster. You’ve - killed everyone.”

“And yet, my darling son, I have killed less than a fraction of the lives you have claimed in your lifetime. Isn’t that interesting? It’s a shame that you could not feed them to the maw. She hungers, you know.”

“Who’s hungry? What the fuck are you on about?” Gilgamesh hissed.

“Enough talk.” Bor stomped his hoof down into the ground. “End this. Now.” He grunted as he glanced between the scarred deer and the slobbering madman.

“Agreed.” Freya glanced up at her father. “We end this.”

“Unfortunately,” She-Who-Ruled sighed as she warped space between herself and Freya. “I cannot allow such a thing to pass.”

Her antlers lit.

The battle that ensued was horrible. It was a slaughter - the world itself torn apart under her unending onslaught. Were the three any average mortal - they would’ve perished a thousand times, as Gilgamesh felt his head be torn from his neck even as Bor’s limbs were pushed back into his body. Freya’s were seemingly pulled out of harm’s way - impossible events happening as flames passed through her or not a single shard of rock struck her fur. Even so, the wounds she suffered were grievous - and by the end of it, she was more of a matted mess of scar tissue than a natural deer.

The culmination of it came as Gilgamesh tore from the ground like a bolt of lightning, while Freya and Bor struck the great Deer Queen from both sides. Her hooves moved to block, her antlers lighting to repel the three with a lethal wave of telekinetic force - but Freya’s broken antler flashed. Her antler erupted with a shower of keratin and ley directly into She-Who-Ruled’s face even as her tiara jostled ever so slightly.

That was all Gilgamesh needed to tackle it off her head and place it upon his.

She stood as still as a statue. Slowly, she turned to look at the three - as three pairs of gems began to rotate around them rapidly.

For a second time, the world broke as blood asked blood - “why?”

This time, the world of the deer was shattered in a spray of rainbow-hued energy. 

---

There was not a trace of She-Who-Ruled left. Her work, her forces, her corpse had all disappeared - along with her archmage. It certainly made the Asgardian’s job much easier - to utterly destroy all traces of the deer.

The deer that did not follow her still felt the weight of the sin of their brethren. Their mind hissed and whispered with the horrible things that She-Who-Ruled had summoned, the pulsing fractures in reality that she had torn in order to pull such horrible darkness out from the void itself.

The mark that the Deer Queen had left on the world would never heal. Freya was certain of it - but at the very least, no one would remember Kesmera Arcados, the Queen of the Deer - only the monster she had become in her last years.

And in the stars above - a snarling wolf, mind filled with a million voices that weren’t his, jibbered incoherently - as his claws grasped at a book carved from the flesh of a long-dead god.

The side of the book had a word on it. A single word - one of the most important words in the universe.

Astaroth.

-

> [14] Father
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------








You may delay, but time will not.






Hours.


Someone less perceptive would’ve been easily distracted by his flavor of speaking.

There were three needles within a haystack of half-truths, lies of omission, and missing details. Any useful information was then further diluted by almost intentionally archaic or foolish wording, an unrelated tangent about something utterly inane, or a loosely strung together stream of slurred insults and crude vulgarity. 

A less perceptive person would’ve thought it to be genuine. Be it foolishness or stubbornness - but in truth, it was an act. A jester’s mask that he held over his face to obfuscate his true intentions - so while a less perceptive person would say in response to his story, “You’ve told me nothing,” they would be right - but they would be asking the wrong question.

No. There was one question that needed to be asked.

“Why?”

Frost arched an eyebrow. “Why?” His stance shifted. Paw on his hip, eyes slightly narrowed, lips curled back into a snarl.

“You’re telling me this. Why? The relevance of your tale aside, your motives aren’t just vague - they’re seemingly nonexistent.”

Frost snorted. “You’ll find that my motives are consistent. Consistent to a fault, even.” And then there was a blur, and Frost’s fingers curled around Celestia’s throat - claw digging lightly into her chin. She winced and reared back instinctively, but Frost squeezed tighter.

“There is only one thing that I want, Celestia. And I will kill you, and everyone who you have ever known or has known you if that means it will become a reality. I want my mother dead.”

“Your - tale. She was already-” Celestia grunted, then very promptly teleported herself out of Frost’s grip. Frost growled and crossed his arms as he sat down on a tree-stump formed of ice. “-dead.”

Frost rolled his eyes. “That was Gilgamesh’s mother. She was a toy that danced to the whims of things she couldn’t comprehend, and paid the price for it. Those little excerpts I told you - those were the equivalent of throwing rocks and sticks at each other after she burned up all of her horrors. That - thing that followed you. The Iampex - she created it. And there are bigger fish that she had.”

Celestia placed that in the back of her mind, and tried to steel herself as she imagined facing off against something larger than that. “Bigger fish.” she weakly asked - although it came off more like a statement.

“Like the Scourge - no. That’s not the point. The point is, that I have one mother, and I want her dead. She is the antithesis to everything. Where there is anything, she stands as its opposite - and to me, there is nothing more disgusting. Whatever you want to call her - her truest face is the face of desolation, and it is putrid.”

“And Twilight?” Celestia whispered as she slowly dragged her hoof through her filly’s mane, pretending as if the sheer vitriol in Frost’s tone didn’t unnerve her - and pretending as if there might be less of a distinction between Frost and his mother as he might like to think.

“A weapon. Ponies dick around with spells, the Deer dicked around with magic - but the Vulcines and the Qui dicked around with the universe. The Vulcines finished what the Qui started oh-so-long ago, so long ago that I barely remember it. The Qui made the universe bleed, while the Vulcines started shaping it. That’s what Twilight is - a little slice of that. Of hell.”

Celestia shut her eyes and let out a long, deep sigh as she pretended as if he hadn’t provided more useful information in the span of a few minutes than he had in the entirety of his rant.

“And the relevance of the story about the Deer?”

“Perspective.”

“On?” Celestia tilted her head to the side.

“Your sister.” He arched an eyebrow.

Celestia said nothing as the temperature rose.

Frost grinned slightly. “Or are you still lying to yourself, and saying that she’s possessed?”

“Don’t you dare. She wouldn’t-”

“She would. You have no idea what someone can be pushed to. Your sister saw them for the briefest of moments - She-Who-Ruled served them for years. My mother fought the Things at the Edge for an æternity.”
“Please,” Celestia murmured weakly as she felt the centuries weigh down more heavily on her than usual, “the point.”

“The point is - that fixing your sister might make for good practice before killing my mother.”

And lo, there was a moment of silence broken only by the whirling of the arctic wind around them - a veritable storm of powdered snow and frost. Not even a breath or a heartbeat was taken during this silence, a silence that lasted the briefest of instants but dragged on for a thousand and one nights in Celestia’s mind.

“I have terms,” she whispered.

“Of course you do,” he grinned wolfishly.






Days.

There was a common misconception that teleportation was instant. The truth was that it was just sort of instant.

The time between entering and exiting a teleport was so infinitesimal that it could hardly be said to exist at all. Teleporting over a greater distance leads the fibers of teleportation to be subjected to a greater degree of external interference, resulting in up to seconds or even a minute between entry and exit.

It was part of what made unicorns, and other ley-casters so dangerous. Teleportation was impossible to predict visually, and relied solely on probability or psychoanalytic skill to respond to it. While teleports could be dispelled before the entry, the only creatures that possessed the ability to actually interfere with the spell while it was ongoing were the Children.

And yet, as Celestia exited her teleport, she found Frost’s blade already sailing towards her neck.

It wasn’t the first time that he had done this, and it undoubtedly wouldn’t be the last. She couldn’t tell if he possessed either a great deal of luck or knowledge of her psyche - a thought that made her shudder - or was just simply that fast. 

There were few creatures that Celestia truly detested, and while Frost was among the highest on that list - a monster in his own right - she had to give credit where credit was due. He was skilled. 

Worryingly so. With every nick of his blade against her fur, every time he threw her onto her rump, every time he proclaimed “dead” as he held her in what would be a fatal position if that had been a true fight - she was less certain of her own capability to dispose of him that had given her confidence before.

Flying was less of an advantage than one might have thought. Despite his name, only a fraction of the magic he used was actually ice magic - most of it was actually more under the school of gravity magic. He changed density and the gravitational constant almost every second - making his opponents sluggish and unable to so much as flap their wings, forcing them to either die - or rely on teleportation, if they were so capable.

Then, there was the advantage that he fought without any regard for his safety. While a regular combatant would be debilitated by a stab through the stomach or a lost limb, Frost had no such restriction.

Regardless, it wasn’t as if Celestia possessed the capability to fight here with her full power. Their agreed sparring matches were purely skill-based - under more favorable circumstances - all of Frost’s skill wouldn’t quite matter in the face of the heat of the sun. Even he couldn’t move without muscle, as far as Celestia had seen - and from there it was just a matter of...tossing him in the ocean, or a volcano. Probably a volcano.

Celestia exited another teleport, but this time had left the Glaive of the Sun behind. The blade whipped across Frost’s face - but he leaned into the blade as he spun around and held his greatsword right to Celestia’s throat.

“Dead.”

Celestia grunted and stepped backwards even as her wounds began slowly stitching themselves together. She winced as she heard a rapid series of clicks, watching Frost’s grotesquely contorted body snap back into full health.

“Again,” Frost grunted.

Celestia hadn’t really hid her distaste from Frost. She was working with him out of necessity - he had knowledge and skill, and while they were tumultuous allies, the terms of their agreement left him essentially leashed. 

No killing ponies without Celestia’s express, verbal permission while she was of sane mind. No one on one contact with Twilight - the idea of him poisoning her little star’s mind was as terrifying as the idea of Discord getting loose. 

In exchange, Frost would provide knowledge, martial training for Celestia, and a rather heavy influence on Twilight’s curriculum. It was something that Celestia wasn’t exactly fond of - but while she held most of the cards, he still held a few. He knew the finer details of the Nightmare’s plans, knew magic that Celestia herself could barely comprehend, knew details about the universe, about Twilight…

The short of it was that for the time being, they were in a mutually beneficial alliance. And neither of them had to like the other for it to continue.

---

“So, Celestia - I’ve been thinking. When do we get to my terms of service? I mean, if you’re giving them out that is - considering someone as volatile as Frost got one, I’m certain you and I could work something out. I punt the monster into orbit, act as your butler for a few hundred years, then go off into the vast cosmos and never see you again?”

“Hello, Discord. I see you’ve kept yourself up to date.”

“Oh, how could I not? If you ignore the volatile mass-murderer sociopath part, then Frost is the creature most deserving the title of Spirit of Chaos other than moi. He’s a constant boiling cauldron of disharmony - I’m practically glutted out. I must confess though, I never saw the two of you coming.”

Celestia looked to the side, but didn’t say anything.

“Hm. I haven’t felt that flavor from you since - me...aah! That explains it. You’re - afraid, aren’t you, hmm? Afraid that you couldn’t control him if you weren’t working with him? Adorable.”

“There are many things I fear, Discord. You will find no source of shame from this.”

“Are you afraid of the helion, Celestia?” 

There was silence for a minute.

“Hm? Draconequus got your tongue?”

“Are you afraid of her, Discord?”

She could practically hear the draconequus reeling backwards. “...I’m sorry, did you ask me if I was afraid?”

“Are you?”

“I’m a god, Celestia. I can count the number of things I’m afraid of on a single claw, and-”

“She was made to kill your sister. The Eldest. And if she could do that, then she could kill you. Is your frantic need to state your desire to see my daughter dead based off fear?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” His voice was a low snarl. Celestia might’ve been afraid, if it wasn’t for his stone cage.

“You’re afraid of her. And yet - you saved her. You said it wasn’t for me, it most certainly wasn’t for her - so who was it? There were only three other fillies there.”

“Shut up.”

“Have I struck a nerve, Discord? Was it - Fluttershy?”

“I said shut up.”

Another beat of silence.

“...I’m sorry. That wasn't fair of me. I shouldn’t...take out my frustrations on you.”

More silence.

“...Goodnight, Discord.”

“Goodnight, Celestia.” 






Weeks.

Alicorns were ponies.

They were deities, sure. A literal piece of their soul had ascended and granted them agelessness, an impossible degree of power, and the capability to hold both that power and knowledge.

And yet - on a fundamental level, they were ponies. Their diet and their instinct remained the same, changed through divinity only by the virtue of experiencing more. And so, even with as much as Celestia had experienced - there was still a little jolt of fear she felt within her heart as she woke up to see Twilight’s cavernous, toothy mouth slightly parted as she stared at her in her sleep.

It wasn’t the first time this had happened, and undoubtedly not the last. Occasionally, no matter what bed Celestia put Twilight in - she always woke up to the filly right by her side, usually staring at her. With the faint ebb of Frost’s presence in her life - even though most of his time was spent in restricted, closed-off caverns - it had only become more frequent.

Celestia let out a soft sigh and collected herself, before resting her head right into her filly’s neck - pulling a wing up and curling it around her. 

“Good morning, Twilight.”

“Good...morn-ing, Celestia.” She whispered.

“Did you sleep?”

Twilight shook her head.

Celestia frowned lightly. “Why not?”

Twilight shrugged. “Like - watching...you - breathe.”

Celestia paused for a moment, before deciding to internally dictate that it was cute instead of mildly unnerving, if only for the sake of her own sanity. “Did you eat?”

Twilight nodded and gestured with a hoof. Celestia glanced over, and felt her heart skip a beat as she saw a pile of half-eaten dead birds unceremoniously deposited by her bed.

“...Twilight?”

“Yes - Celestia?” The filly nuzzled up closer to her.

“May I ask - why are they in my room?’

Twilight stared at Celestia, as if it was obvious. “Because...I love - you?”

Celestia smiled weakly, even as she prepared an incineration spell. “I love you too, my little star.”

---

When Celestia and Luna were young - or, relatively young, they often theorized on the nature of the Canterhorn.

It stood as a giant peak, arguably in the center of the nation. While the mountain sloped down, it was unaccompanied by the presence of other slightly mountainous structures that you might expect - and it towered nearly as tall as Olympus did.

It’s true nature was discovered as excavations began. Rich deposits of menrillium, or colloquially, mithril that would later serve as the foundations for the city of Canterlot - coupled with vibrant crystals that served as arcane semiconductors lead to a heavy allure to mining for the sisters.

And as the excavations continued under their directions, caverns being mapped - Luna noticed patterns - patterns consistent with the vascular system of a dragon.

The ensuing panic quickly ended as the two verified that the dragon was very dead. 

They never found out how it got there. The Canterhorn was just the skull of the petrified dragon, the rest of its body having molded so perfectly into the ground that for all intents and purposes, it was indistinguishable from the ground below. 

Now, though, the caves lay abandoned. The majority of their resources had been excavated, and were only used by people with something to hide.

Celestia stepped hoof into one particular cavern and cleared her throat. There was a grunt before Frost’s form rose up from the small “enclosure” he had been given, per their deal. The walls were covered in a thick sheet of ice, the floor heavy with snow so dense that Celestia didn’t even sink into it - serving more like a carpet than actual snow, and a pile of...things.

“How do you kill a god, Celestia?” Frost squatted down before pouncing, much like a cat, into his pile of things. He dove in and began shoveling heaping handfuls of weapons, coins, papers, and books out.

Celestia tilted her head to the side. “Is that a rhetorical question?”

“No. It’s a trick question. The answer depends on which word you place emphasis on. I’ll spare you the tripe - you have no idea how many times I’ve gone through this cycle, Celestia. My mother escapes, then destroys things. Thousands die to lock her away for the blink of an eye - she escapes, destroys more things.

Everything you can think of, I’ve tried. You can’t beat her with brute force, you can’t beat her with skill, you can’t beat her with trickery. She’s stronger and faster than you, smarter than you, and it doesn’t matter how well you pull one over on her - she’ll notice, then she’ll kill you and your entire planet.”

“And she’s gone through the whole thing so many times it’s like routine for her. She’s indifferent - barely raises a hand and still kills everyone in the room waiting to throw her back in the slammer and makes me watch. There are three times she’s been anything other than indifferent, Celestia.”

“One time, she was betrayed by one of her archons. She very much didn’t like that, Celestia. She made sure the betrayer liked it even less. Another time, she was locked in a single instance of time by a mage. And when she inevitably broke out - well...somewhere out in the universe, there’s a screaming, weeping, deathless puddle of flesh that was once called The Prophet of Arcadia.” Frost paused for a moment.

“You’re drawing emphasis on the third time.”

“Good. You caught it. The third time - and the only time I’ve ever seen her angry, Celestia,” and Frost pulled out a book from his pile of things. A book that Celestia recognized - clad in white scales -

Frost held up The Conqueror’s Penance. “Was when it involved dragons.”

---

“Do you know where magic comes from, Twilight?”

It was cold here. The world was laid bare before them - swirling ice and snow, an aurora of colored shafts - variegation of impossible shades - pulled over the sky like a curtain. It would be cruel to bring a filly here even with protection from the elements - yet Twilight didn’t seem the least bit phased, as was much expected from some of Frost’s descriptions of her expected capabilities.

While Frost had been stingy with the details of exactly how Twilight had been created - it involved an absurd amount of magic. While magic was nearly impossible to measure in exact terms, especially in subcosmic quantities - Frost’s rather lurid descriptors implied that the equivalent of over twenty of her manapools were channeled simultaneously to create her.

Or, as another way of looking at it - one of her mana pools for every primary element, two more for the two fundamental elements, plus an additional six for both of the major elements.

If it had been perfectly balanced - as Frost intended - then, in all likelihood, the true moon wouldn’t have shattered. Instead - there was a slight imbalance - a little bit too much magic in two categories that Frost hadn’t yet narrowed down, making Twilight - well, Twilight.

The short of it was that Frost had some idea of what Twilight could maybe be capable of - regeneration, resistance to harm, immunity to most external conditions, absurd magical capacity and senses, et cetera.

Twilight whined and scratched at the floor with her hoof. “Does...it - matter?”

Celestia frowned lightly. “I understand you don’t like theoretical lessons, Twilight - but I think that practical lessons are..holding you back. You have an instinctive grasp on magic to such a degree greater than mine - than any - that it would be better for me to teach you the very fundamental, abstract basics - and for you to go find more practical applications from there.”

Twilight was silent for a moment before she blushed very lightly at the praise. She tilted her head and seemingly thought for a moment, before she answered. “From - this.” She prodded her own hoof against the center of her chest. 

Celestia tilted her head to the side. “Do you mean that it comes from within?”

Twilight thought for a second as she searched for the word. “Your - soul.”

Celestia smiled warmly. “You’re partially correct, Twilight. Your soul does store magic - but do you know where it pulls magic from?”

Twilight made a wide sweeping gesture. “Everything.”

Celestia nodded. “That’s mostly correct, again. It comes from the Thaumosphere, which encompasses everything.”

“Encomp...asses.” Twilight slowly nodded.

“The Sun produces raw mana. That mana travels on what we call solar wind.” She gestured a hoof out and towards the Northern Lights that were faintly visible as they shimmered behind Twilight. “Those lights - here, the solar wind hits the hardest, which is why it’s visible. It strikes against the Thaumosphere, and is pulled down by the Pull of the leylines. Do you know what that is?”

Twilight looked around. “Not...al-ways...visible?” 

“...Are you always able to see it, my little star?”

Twilight nodded. 

Celestia let out a soft noise that was somewhere between a gasp of shock and a huh, as the more analytical half of her raced towards all the practical applications of being able to see magic - while the more motherly part of her began thinking about how overwhelming it must be. Celestia slowly shifted down and pressed her primary feathers against the nape of Twilight’s neck.

“Does it overwhelm you at times?” She whispered very, very softly.

Twilight looked down for a minute. “...did. Didn’t. Did. Didn’t. Does.”

Celestia frowned and rested her head against hers for a few long moments. “Is there anything that I can do to help you, my love? Do you want me to use less magic around you?”

Twilight shook her head vehemently. “N-no. Please. Your - magic...is warm. Nice.”

The two sat like that for a moment - Celestia cradling her filly tightly in her forelegs, before with a few insistent affirmations from Twilight the lesson continued.

“There are two major leylines, the Vis Maguae and the Vis Minuae.

From the Outer Beyond, greater leylines travel across stars like electrodes - where the stars then emit out a spray of solar wind, often striking nearby planets.

There are a massive subset of smaller leylines, called capillary leylines - that provide magic to the world at large, but all branch off from the two major leylines. The Polar North is where the core of magic at the center of the planet juts out the furthest, and it's where the Minuae travels down to the Southeast. The Minuae has a higher amount of capillary leylines, and connects back around to the planet's magical core - bringing along the recycled mana that beings release as they die.

The Minuae is the major participating conduit in the magic cycle. Stars produce mana, travel along greater leylines, strike the Minuae - which keeps it almost perfectly recycled through its journey around the world.

The Maguae rises up at the polar south, where the greater leylines strike the world - bringing in new magic, keeping the magical core at full capacity.

Right now, we’re at the Polar North, where the Minuae dives down towards the core below.”

Celestia stepped backwards. “So. That’s your lesson.” Twilight looked up at Celestia. “I want you to make a physical manifestation of that model. Take as much time as you want.”

Twilight nodded slowly.

“..and - as a gift -” Celestia was silent for a second as she turned her head to the side - before she let out a soft sigh, and pulled a book - clad in white scales, adorned by a blinking, reptilian eye...

“I’ll give you this book.” 

She held The Conqueror’s Penance Volume I: Soul in her telekinetic grasp. Twilight licked her lips.

---

“Um. Twilight? How much - longer do I have to stay still?”

“More.” Twilight grunted as she precariously balanced yet another plank of wood on Fluttershy’s back. 

“...it’s - longer. Not more. Um. Grammatically.” Fluttershy said very, very softly.

Twilight flashed her a look. “Need - model. But it doesn’t...make - sense.”

Fluttershy let out a soft whine. “Twilight, um. My - back is starting to hurt. C-can...can we please stop?”

Twilight frowned deeply.

“Please?”

Twilight let out a soft noise before unceremoniously pulling the apparatus from Fluttershy’s back - a connection of layered planks with rocks and string dangling from their edges, representing a crude astrological model - using magically frozen string to represent the mostly static greater leylines.

Fluttershy eeped before fluttering slightly off the ground and down onto a stump. She was silent for a little bit as she watched Twilight fume and pace in silence.

“...um. Maybe...if you - explained to me what was wrong...then I could...help?”

Twilight was silent for a second. She then let out a deep sigh, rolling over onto her back and placing her head against Fluttershy’s lap. 

“Model - easy. Leylines - easy. Problem - where...it comes - from. Problem t-two - where it goes.”

“What do you mean?” Fluttershy blinked and looked down at her.

“String has to start somewhere and end somewhere. Can’t figure it out.”

“Oh.” Fluttershy looked down. “Um...so - you’re...saying...you don’t know where magic comes from...and where it ends? D-does magic end?”

Twilight proceeded to give a fairly aggressive shrug. “Ponies - don’t know.”

“Well...if ponies don’t know, then that means Celestia doesn’t know. So you don’t have to put it on the model?”

Twilight shook her head. “Not - the problem. I want to know.”

“Oh. So - you’re just...curious?”

Twilight nodded aggressively before rolling over and burying her face into Fluttershy’s side.

“...well...maybe...it doesn’t end? It just...loops back around, infinitely.”

“Then - starts?”

“Um. The...same?”

Twilight shook her head and waved a hoof. “Can’t - work. Merlin’s Measure. Would mean - no magic.”

Fluttershy smiled as she pretended to know what that was before nodding. “Oh. Yes. Right.” She slowly hid behind a tuft of her hair. “...um...maybe…you don’t know when it starts...because you can’t see where it starts?”

Twilight looked up at Fluttershy slowly.

“Um...like…” She fell silent. “...you’re right. That wouldn’t work. Um. Merlin’s...Measure.”

Twilight grinned widely.

---

“Sorry, sugarcube. Run that by me one more time?”

“Down - to the crystals. Need - rocks.”

“Um. Flutters?”

Fluttershy leaned her head up slightly, poking out of her mane much like a turtle. “She wants to go to the crystal caves to get metal.”

“Really, Twi? T’princess said to go all the way down there?”

Twilight turned her head to the side.

Applejack arched an eyebrow. “Tell me what’cha need the metal for.”

“...project. Need - to make...model. Impress Celestia.”

“Y’could’ve just said that. We’re not going to those caves. That’s a surefire way to get us killed. Well, um.” She thought for a second. “To get me killed. Cause - y’know.” She gestured generally at Twilight.

Twilight blinked unevenly, one eye before the other.

“...right. Cmon. Rares’ dad is in charge of the Royal Blast Furnace. I’m sure he can help you with what’cha need.”

“No. No - adults. Need...secret.” In a slightly clumsy display to make a sh motion, Twilight slapped a hoof against her face. 

Applejack rolled her eyes.

---

“I’m sorry darling, you want - what?” Rarity glanced up from her book as she lounged within her room rather elegantly.

Twilight frantically gestured at Fluttershy, who promptly cleared her throat and stepped forward. “S-she...wants you to convince your dad,” she gestured at Rarity, “to let her use the...um…”

“Blast Furnace.” Applejack piped up.

“...yes. That.” Fluttershy agreed, and found her interest in a spot on the floor.

Rarity arched an eyebrow. “And - for whatever reason would you want that?”

“The short of it is that she wants to make some project. Needs a lotta metal for that. And the Royal Blast Furnace has a lot of it, right?”

Rarity huffed lightly. “Well - I suppose so. But I’m honestly not sure why you’re asking me, and not my father.”

“Twilight wants to surprise the Princess. Doesn’t want to tell her her...plan. Hasn’t even told us her plan, outside’a needing metal.”

“And - you.” She pointed at Rarity. “To make - it...pretty. Like - you.”

Rarity blushed lightly and threw her mane over her shoulder. “...Well...I suppose I could lend a hoof or two. As long as it’s not too much metal - I don’t want to mess up anything my dad is working on. And we’re not taking it straight from the Blast Furnace - that’ll make it useless, and will most certainly cause issues. We can just take it from one of their caches.” She crossed her forelegs and rolled her eyes.

---

“Good luck Twilight.” Rarity smiled and gently placed a hoof on her back, shivering lightly as she felt her fur to be freezing cold.

“Yeah. The princess will find this...um...Thingamajig impressive. I. Um. Think?” Applejack then grunted as Rarity prodded her side.

Fluttershy slowly poked her head up. “Um. I don’t - think any of us really understand what it is...but...it certainly looks impressive. I...I would say - good luck...but...you don’t - need it.” She smiled warmly. “...but...good luck. Still. Just in case.”

“...thank you...Rarity. Applejack. Fluttershy.” Twilight was silent for a moment. “Friends.”

---

“Twilight?”

“Y-yes...Celestia?”

Celestia slowly circled the - thing with an unreadable expression.

Twilight’s issue came from one major source. She was trying to represent a scale of the magic cycle on a third dimensional model. Something commonly done - but to Twilight, who had the ability to see magic...it didn’t match up with observation.

There was a bombardment of charged magical particles that a purely third-dimensional model simply didn’t explain. With a third dimensional model, such particles should only be found at the north and south - no, it could only really be accurately represented on a higher dimensional model.

Curved plates of ornate, inlaid metal - made painstakingly with Rarity and Fluttershy’s direction and the marelabor of Twilight and Applejack - spinning around an anchored point of stabilized magic focused through a crystal that somewhat crudely represented the sun. The plates of metal represented the seven known planets - although Twilight rather promptly found that the model worked better with eight rather than seven.

That was only the third dimensional aspect of the model. The fourth-dimensional aspect - visible mostly only to Twilight, but Celestia was able to catch glimpses of it with her magical sight - was the magic side of it. The leylines were less of a string, travelling from the sun from one planet to another - and more of a crack.

And the sun was on the center of that crack. 

To put it another way - the sun didn’t transmit magic. The sun was made because of a magical presence - the magical presence wasn’t here because of the sun. Which lead to a small amount of the crack entering the Thaumosphere - leading to a consistent bombardment of magical particles, which in turn allowed magic to be existent in areas without a leyline.

Celestia had many words. A thousand, thousand different combinations of words - but all with the same overarching message. And as her mind raced, she narrowed those words down to just four.

“You’re a brilliant filly.”

The Conqueror’s Penance popped into existence with a flash of energy.






Years.

Her eyes shut, and there was blood.

Blood trickled down the stone steps slowly. Each rivulet drip, drip dripping like a rainfall - a beautiful shade of pink instead of the harsh red of most equine blood. It came down in thick, heavy streams that pooled up at the hooves of a blur of colors - a somber dulled pink, a burnt and mutilated orange, a regretful white, a horribly vindicated blue - 

And Lavender.

His blade dug deeper into her heart as its beats slowed. The Deity stood with a battalion of Chosen - a devil, a deer, a drake, a demon, a duplicate.

And every inch of his blade drove into her heart, pushing down into the cold stone - as she gasped her last.

“Please.”

And then her eyes closed yet again.






Eternities.

The universe was dead.

Worlds had been burned away by flames or ground against each other for some form of sick amusement. Arcing streams of lightning tore through the universe in an attempt to draw out the last survivors - the last people who she was hunting in her effort to punish a universe she considered to be utterly truthful. 

She is a monster. Her truest nature is that - a monster.

They reasoned that they were immortal, even as their sisters’ dying laughs echoed in their ears. They reasoned that their physical forms might be vulnerable - but they were *beyond* that. And surely, if push came to shove - their coupled power would be enough to eradicate her.

That's what they said. In reality - it was fear and cowardice. They wondered if it was the truth - she had defied expectation and logic before, and they didn't want to test if she could do it again.

And then she ate Death.

Void was next - hunted and gutted inside of his own realm. Conquest was pulled into a string of his component atoms that she drank up greedily, pulling War limb from screaming limb.

Ever the brave one, Justice took a stand, only for her wings to be pulled from her back as her body was cast into the center of a black hole.

And then there was one. A thousand names - he was Chaos, she was Eris, they were Yog-Sabbath, the Screaming Chaos, and every other title under the stars. He was Discord.

But he was tired. An entire year of fleeing, running, hiding while he waited for the inevitable. He regularly performed the impossible - curving space and creating wormholes, folding reality and creating a million simultaneous illusions and pocket dimensions. Shaping and curving time, time dilating her to distract her - it was something that no other mage would have been able to do. None had the power, none had the skill.

And yet, She tore through these like butter. He’d spend an hour to give her a minute’s pause - the Shepherd of the flow of magic, a primordial force that was born from the beating heart of the Queen itself...and yet, she was something else entirely. In a league far beyond his own. Carved from that same scrap of Primordia that the Queen herself was forged from. 

But he was done running. He was dying, regardless - the universe was a dead, rotting black wasteland. He was done hiding. He wasn't able to take her head-on. He wasn't able to run from her. So he might as well go out with a bang - and piss her off as much as possible with that bang.

Discord touched down to the surface of the planet he was near. He panted, kneeling and dropping onto all fours. He shut his eyes, basking in the blissful, blissful silence. No doubt the last time there would be silence for him.

And then his world erupted. For the first time in a long while, primal fear tore itself into Discord’s heart, icy shards digging into his chest. He threw himself backwards - but it was too late. The spell impacted a few feet in front of him. It erupted with a tremendous force, throwing rock shrapnel and dust into the air. Discord barely clung onto his life, his body mangled and almost completely broken from a single spell alone. This wasn't what surprised Discord, let alone made him afraid - what had done that was the fact that she had been able to do this without so much as entering his magical detection.

She cleared the distance in an instant, slamming down into the ground and spreading her tremendous lavender wings. She stood up, and he saw her.

She was beautiful. Her eyes were pure white beacons of magic - her hair short and flat, every single strand in order. Her horn was an immaculate spear that pierced the heavens - but she was terrible. Her thousand eyes were unblinking, her shifting and writhing mass impossible to comprehend. Dried blood decorated her face, her coat. There was no faint humanity or curiosity within her eyes - no desire for peace, for relaxation, for warmth, for love. There was only one thing - and it was Truth.

Discord looked up at her as he reformed. His tongue wiggled around experimentally before he grinned. "Hello, Monst-"

She gave him no refuge. Discord was only able to glimpse the spell she wove. It removed the air molecules in between them - removing the effect of the atmosphere and allowing her to break the light barrier. She was in-front of him, her claws swinging towards his face. Discord masked his fear with his magic and caught onto her claws with two of his own, keeping it trapped in a magical hold. She imbued her claw with more force, throwing Discord backwards a little bit. He kept tight hold onto her claw though - feeling the bones crack and reform repeatedly.

"Rude." He murmured. "But you've always been a rude one, I suppose."

She didn't take too kindly to his taunt. Discord’s chest felt warm. His heart pounded as he realized it had taken her less than twenty seconds to find a way past his defenses. He quickly threw his magic into canceling the imminent explosion inside of his chest - before he blinked. There was no explosion spell inside of his chest, despite how the warmth had signified that. His eyes widened as he realized it had merely been a distraction, and held up one of his paws in frontof his face just in time to catch her sword. It plunged through his hand and pressed into his skull slightly. If it pierced the brain - it was game over.

"Pretending to be anything but a monster."
 
Discord threw himself backwards and created an explosion of force between them. She slid backwards among the ground, spreading her wings and beating them once, twice to cause the force to dissipate. She teleported a distance behind him so fast that he felt reminded of his sister, for a moment.

Her eyes opened. Portals opened up in them, and four bolts of magic were launched at Discord. Discord caught one with his mouth and crushed it as it turned into a jawbreaker. He caught two with his hands, which turned into snowballs that he threw back at her with violent force. The last one impacted a good distance behind him. He could feel the heat of the explosion wash over him. 

“You played it well. I never believed you. But Celestia did, didn’t she?”

She blinked. That was the only response she had given him so far. Then her eyes opened - and the stars began to glow, before the stars opened. Oceans of blood began pouring from the now bleeding stars - hurtling towards the planet as they froze in the dead of space, creating an unfathomable amount of projectiles. Discord’s eyes widened. He couldn't leave the planet without her canceling the teleport and leaving himself open for an attack. He couldn't dodge the fragments without being at risk of shrapnel. Discord snapped his fingers and let out a small gasp as he felt almost half of his magical reserves disappear. The shrapnel was replaced by billions upon billions upon billions upon billions of butterflies in huge clusters, which rapidly died due to the lack of oxygen.

She created an explosion in-front of Discord. Discord froze the explosion and created an ice-cream scoop,  scooping up the explosion and turning it into an ice-cream. He took a bite out of the ice cream. She blitzed towards him again, only to be met with his tail whacking into her face. Her jaw snapped open and she bit down into his tail and spun him around, slamming him into the ground. She appeared on-top of him and planted a hoof on his throat.

Discord let out a small gasp. He gripped onto her wrist and squeezed. Her sword appeared in her telekinetic grasp.

“Only a monster would kill their friends and family in a hissy-fit. Only a monster would destroy all life because they don’t get what they want. So logically,”

She looked down at him. Her hoof pressed deeper. The shadows began to scream. 

“You are a monster.” He grinned triumphantly. “And you always will be.”

“I know.” Twilight’s voice was jagged and broken, raspy from disuse. “...so I might as well embrace it.”

The Lady in Lavender opened her mouth. Her throat bulged as a white wisp leaked out from it - her teeth beginning to rotate as an otherworldly glow came from deep within her maw.

His screams echoed through the dead of space.

A skeletal hand planted itself on her shoulder. She jolted - her eyes still shut yet wide open, her small form trembling -

“Sh.” The red-eyed skeletal wolf winked at her, holding a claw to his lips.

Her eyes opened.






Weeks.

She woke up screaming. Lightning coursed off of her, striking and webbing across the ground in wide arcs before curving back up and striking her, her skin beginning to burn. 

Nightmare Moon arched an eyebrow. Strong hooves promptly gripped onto her shoulder. The Grand Zealot leaned in close - whispering to the screaming filly.

“Well? What did you see?” Grand Zealot Igneous whispered.

Pinkamena gripped onto his wrists, and wept -

“Desolation!”

-

> [15] Millitant
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------








“Be happy. You-”




Crack.

The bat impacted against the front of her chest, and she felt the air lose itself from her body as she was thrown roughly to the ground.

A hoof struck against the side of her face. Her vision blurring as she stumbled, a splattering of blood being loosed from her mouth as she felt one of her teeth go loose. She pushed herself up, only to be met with a buck to the side of her ribs. She shifted at just the right moment to prevent the shattered rib from piercing something vital - but the pain still sent her floored, sprawling to the ground and coughing up blood.

“Fucking whore.” A clawed hand planted itself down on the back of her head, pushing down and pinning one of her ears down at an awkward angle. 

“What’s so special about you, huh?” Another hoof kicked itself into her side. “Why the fuck did she choose you?” And it kicked again - until the skin ripped, and more blood began to pool up underneath her. 

Her vision was bleary, but she was still able to make out the general shapes of her assaulters. Two earth ponies - one gray, one black, one abyssinian - the one that had smacked her with the bat.

Some small part of her would wonder if this was how she would die. Not with a bang - but with a whimper, taken off her guard. 

“D-dude. Chill out a little bit.” The gray earthpony wrung his hooves. 

“I’m sorry - what did you say?” The abyssinian’s eyes narrowed as he shifted over towards the earthpony.

“Look - if we kill her, it’s our heads next. Don’t you get that?” 

The cat-creature grinned and glanced at the black earthpony - before swinging the bat into the side of the gray one’s legs as hard as he could. There was a crack as his knee bent in a strange angle - and with a yell of pain, he fell down to the ground.

“And if we don’t kill her, then it’s our heads next. If we kill her - no one knows who did it, dipshit.” He hissed.

The black earthpony got in between the abyssinian and the gray earthpony. His mouth opened, his face contorted into rage -

Dark spears of inky shadow tore through all three of them. They didn’t have the chance to even bleed before their bodies were consumed, burning away like flashpaper.

The pain that came next was far worse than the breaking of her bones. Her insides began writhing and wriggling as they were telekinetically forced back together and sewn together messily - the process could’ve been painless, but the pain was to prove a point. And so, she screamed.

Nightmare Moon stared down at the filly disinterestedly. Her form was nearly perfect and immaculate - but it was marred by an ugly scar right in the center of her body.

“Pick yourself up.” She was gone.

“...yes, Nightmother.” Rainbow Dash whispered out.

---

They had been able to recover a fair amount of their resources from the Wolf’s attack. It seemed he was more intent on crippling their personnel as opposed to their actual resources - having missed the large contingent of soldiers that the Grand Zealot had managed to heroically evacuate.

Sometimes, she wept for the fact that her mother had decided to stay and fight. The Zealot assured her that such a sacrifice saved hundreds - but she doubted she would ever be able to get the visage of her shattered skull out of her eyes. 

She still saw it, whenever she shut her eyes.

That was, of course, if she didn’t see the Monsters. The snarling wolf with his horrible greatsword - and that horrifying toothed demon that wore a filly’s flesh. 

And so, that was what she focused on. She knew the Nightmare wasn’t a god - she had watched her fail, seen her bleed. And she was cruel - but miles less cruel than Celestia. And if she had the chance to hurt the people that had hurt her so badly…she rubbed her wing, where teeth had once marked her flesh.

Regardless - they hadn’t been set back entirely. They had been recovering crates of armor and weapons - and they had been able to contain Pinkamena once again. 

Rainbow walked through an endless maze of catwalks - of plated steel, rusted iron and pulsing glass and crystal lights that were filled with molten mithril. Energy crackled throughout this place - and she promptly adjusted the straps on her armoring in an effort to make herself feel more secure.

Time here was - strange. She wasn’t quite sure how long she walked for - maybe seconds, minutes, hours, or even a day. It blurred together as she moved by instinct, a strange magic compelling her body to move without the full awareness of her thoughts. 

Until she came towards a glass wall. Energy crackled here intensely - some stray sparks striking down just by Rainbow’s hooves. The air seemed to swirl, as if there was a great form of heat here - but no, there was only one thing here.

Rainbow sat down against the glass and pulled out her sandwich. 

“..hey, Pinkie.” She spoke hoarsely. Her voice felt strange to her own ears.

Pinkie didn’t say anything. The void spirit was pulsing - moving in multiple directions simultaneously, her form blurring as she seemed to flicker between two spots at the same time.

Rainbow snorted. It was almost like a cruel joke that Pinkie was the closest thing she had to a friend here.

And so, the two were quiet for a while. Pinkie flickering around, murmuring inanely to herself as she scratched at the walls - Dash sitting in silence as she lightly pecked at her tuna sandwich.

And then Pinkamena screamed. Dash shot up, her eyes wide.

“Nightmare. Nightmare. Nightmare. Nightmare.” Pinkie started chanting to herself as she started circling around in her room, her entire body beginning to twitch and spasm as the surges of energy grew more intense - one of them striking Dash in the chest.

Dash looked down, and was surprised to see the floor instead of her legs. She looked to the side, and saw the lower half of her body crumple to the ground.

Her vision blurred.





“It’s impossible.”

The single light bulb flickered as it barely illuminated the small, worn down room in the very slums of canterlot. Shadows obscuring one side of them, the other fully illuminated - there were two griffins. One with a black set of feathers and a slightly blue white head of fur, the other a soft grey with almost “salt-and-pepper” fur.

“-it’s a crazy job. Meant for the suicidal. That’s why it pays so much, dipshit. You think they have that kind of cash?” The griffin huffed as he leaned backwards and ran his talons through his slicked back feathers.

“Oh, shove a stick in it. They have to prove to the Nightmare if they have that kind of cash, dipshit. It’s all legitimate.” The other griffin in the room grunted as she fiddled with a rather heavy briefcase.

“You’re going to get yourself fucking killed, Borea.” He snarled. “For fucking what?”

“For the chance to live like an Empress. No, like a goddess. Look - I put a bullet through the bitch, make my getaway, get my cash, buy my own island and live eating grapes from one of my servants. Isn’t that the dream, Tony?”

“It’s a dream, Borea! It’s not the fucking - it’s not the goal.” Tony slammed his fist into the wall and growled from deep within his throat. “The goal is that you kill some rich and jerkoff  nobodies, get some cash - then retire and live a boring, mundane life like everyone else. That’s the fucking goal. And you’re lucky if that’s the case. This is a suicide mission, and you know it.”

“Well, maybe thats the FUCKING point, Tony!” She hissed and knocked over the table as she lunged towards him, grabbing him by the scruff of his fur and slamming him to the wall. “Maybe - get this - I want to go out with a fucking bang! Take the bitch out, get my name recorded. Fucking hell, don’t you understand how - shitty this all is?”

“The bitch has gone insane and is pairing up with a crazy murderer for some reason - the dragons are starting to fight each other, and Gale’s Skypirates or whatever she’s calling them are all hopped up on deer technology thanks to that crazy doctor - it’s going to shit. The world’s about to fucking end, and this way I go out with a BANG!” Borea grunted as she threw Tony to the ground, roughly.

Tony stared up at her in silence. Borea stood, panting for a few moments - before she hissed, and tore her way out through the window.

---

“Quite frankly, Celestia - it doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. And that’s the end of the story.” The old, gray unicorn with brilliant gold eyes grunted as he circled the model, his horn glowing a matching shade.

“I’ve found nothing to suggest anything of the sort.” Celestia spoke sagely as she sat on her throne at the peak of the courtroom - for once, feeling the weight behind the eyes of the nondescript masses.

“Well, quite frankly - I have. There’s things that this model just, quite frankly-”

It was after the second “quite frankly” that Celestia cut the stallion off. “Please, professor. Take a moment to calm yourself. Form the words, let them leave.” 

“...My apologies, Princess.” He let out a deep sigh. “There are things that it just - doesn’t account for. It explains one phenomenon, but it ignores another - one that we have evidence to suggest is accurate. One that we have predicted. We can see stars where they should be under a Greater Leyline model-”

Crack-bang. The window shattered as a spray of bullets tore through - one impacting Celestia in the jaw, two others embedding itself into her chest with a spray of pink blood. Screams immediately began tearing out through the air, even as Celestia righted herself - grunting as she pulled the bullets out with a soft hm.

A quarter of a mile away, Borea grinned to herself. “Sic semper tyrannis, bitch.” She whispered - before tenderly setting the heavy gun-rig down, flicking a claw over it. She turned around - only to jolt backwards in surprise as she found herself face to face with a filly.

“Holy fuck, kid! What the - what the hell are you doing here?”

The filly didn’t respond, as she blinked one eye at a time.

“...Look, kid. I’m not gonna tell you this twice. Scram. You don’t want to be here soo-” Borea let out a scream as a brilliant burst of shadows tore from the filly’s horn, consuming her right wing. Borea stumbled backwards as she drew her claws out, slashing it towards the lavender filly and digging into her throat - only to find that her claws sank into her like it was dough.

A cacophony of gurgling voices erupted from the inside of the filly’s throat as her form began to shift, warp and distort. She was larger than the inside of the room - she stood as a lavender-tinted void in reality, a towering alicorn a hundred times taller than Celestia. The edges of her form blurred into an indecipherable mass of writhing, screaming shadows that were being burned away by a light emanating from within them - their eyes and mouths illuminated as they turned to smoke and reformed endlessly. Her face had no eyes - instead, there were an untold number of eyes that curled all around her body, each of them staring at Borea and Borea alone. Her wings spread - and as the two lavender appendages spread, their tips of their feathers melting into shadows...the world shattered, curved, and broke as thousands of screaming shadows began tearing out of her.

”The stars whisper secrets to me,”  she spoke in a voice that broke reality. ”Would you like to hear one?” 

Borea screamed as the thing spoke.

Hours later - they would find her corpse. A forensic investigation would show that she gruesomely slit her own throat with her claw. 

---

Master-Speaker Mi Amore Cadenza was a deity in full.

A very part of her soul had been imbued with so much magic that it had been partially freed from her physical form. Her body was nearly indestructible - her powers unmatched by any mortal.

She was stronger than any earthpony, faster and more perceptive than any pegasus, more powerful than any unicorn. She could, and had faced down dragons before without so much as blinking. Stare down a hellhound without her heart so much as skipping a beat, lose half her body and wake up fine the next day.

She was the youngest of the deities, sure, but she was the one with the most potential, according to Celestia. There was only so much power to be drawn from the sun, or from the elements - a finite amount of a physical concept. But love - is an abstract concept. Certainly one with a chemical, molecular basis - but ultimately, an abstract concept. And there was no limit to how much love one could feel.

And while certainly not her forte - there was a misconception that she was the weakest combatant of all the deities. 

Most didn’t really make the connection that there wasn’t much stopping her from convincing someone to find the inside of a volcano very sexually appealing all of a sudden.

And yet, as she approached Canterlot castle - she still found her legs shaking slightly. Her heartbeat quickening, her breath catching within her throat - even as the sources of her fear served to empower her.

The first source was the most worrying. Cadence was inherently an empath - she could sense love, hate, as well as emotions in general...and she had never felt hate as strong as what radiated from the castle. From afar, it was almost sickening to her very stomach. To imagine feeling that much hate made Cadence almost weep.

The other source was the most dangerous. Hate was a powerful, strong emotion - but there was no emotion stronger or more dangerous than twisted, unconditional love. And for as much hate as one entity felt - another felt just as much love.

Cadence gulped.

Oh, Celestia. What have you gotten yourself into?

---

There was a knock at Celestia’s door - before rather promptly, a white pegasus mare with a streak of black through her mane entered. Celestia didn’t even turn her head.

“I heard about the assassination attempt. Are you-”

“My warmest greetings, Master-Speaker of the Nobility of Equestria, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.” Celestia said warmly. “It would take a lot more bullets to inconvenience me.” 

The disguised Cadence grabbed the nearest pillow and tossed it towards Celestia’s head. Celestia let it impact with a soft hmph, watching as it flopped to the ground unceremoniously.

“If you use my full title again auntie, it’ll be a chair. We’ll see if that’s better than a bullet.” Cadence deadpanned.

Celestia gave an exiguous snort, before stretching her wings out and sitting down. “How are your responsibilities treating you?”

“I’d rather not beat around the bush, honestly. I’ve been nervous all day and prolonging it will make it worse.” Cadence sat down and let out a long huff as she dispelled her illusion. 

“My apologies. If it weren’t necessary…”

“I know, Celestia.” Cadence smiled weakly. “It’s not you that I blame. I don’t even blame her. It’s just -” She glanced out, overlooking the gardens from Celestia’s room. The filly in question was currently attempting to eat a squirrel, while two others watched in horror as another tried pulling her back. “...she’s a lot.” Cadence finished.

Celestia couldn’t help but let a wry smile spread across her face. “Professor Dawnhorn. Have you ever heard of him?”

Cadence shook her head.

“Brilliant stallion. He does amazing work on theoretical magic - in a few hundred years, they’ll talk about him the same way they talk about Starswirl the Bearded.”

“Twilight disproved his model.”

“Oh.”

Celestia stood up and circled around, placing a hoof on Cadence’s back. “I am well aware that she can be a lot. But regardless of whatever her - “true nature” may be - if she is truly a monster, or a weapon, or a demon or any other insult - she is my daughter, and she is a filly. She is young. She craves friendship, she craves knowledge. And most importantly, she craves love. Treat her no differently than you would treat any other filly, and you will get along just fine.” 

“Spit it out!” A filly yelled, even as Twilight found herself in the middle of swallowing the rather terrified live squirrel whole.

“...Maybe a little different.”

---

Hooves curled tightly around Celestia’s leg, weighing her down as she stood at the edge of her balcony - equipped with little more than a saddlebag draped over her side.

“Twilight.”

Grunt.

“Please let go.”


“N-no.”

“Twilight. If you don’t let go, I’m going to have to remove you.”

“You - couldn’t.”

Celestia arched an eyebrow as her face shifted into a slight expression of disappointment - then of mischief. “...even if I tickled you?”

Twilight promptly fell onto her back as she wriggled in an attempt to get away from Celestia preemptively. Celestia leaned down and gently placed a hoof on her chest, keeping her pinned to the ground.

“I won’t be gone long. I have to take care of something with a friend, and then I’ll be back. Quick, and easy. No longer than a week at most. Okay?”

“...okay.” Twilight slowly turned and glanced towards Cadence.

“Cadence will be taking care of you. Do you remember her?” Twilight promptly nodded. “And you promise you’ll be good for her?” Another nod.

“Good. I love you, my little star.” Celestia slowly crouched down and pressed her head against Twilight’s - before she took flight, sailing off from the balcony.

---

There were few noises more fearsome than the sound of a fully armored Judicator breaking into a full sprint - and there were few noises quite so terrifying as a scream erupting from the room of the semi-immortal god princess.

The Head Judicator Goldspur burst through the door - only to see Twilight wriggling around on the ground as Cadence tickled her. The room was in a state of upheaval - furniture knocked over, bubbles spraying out of the bath and staining the floor while there were long marks of paint on the wall. Cadence’s hair was in a ridiculous getup, while Twilight was painted a bright shade of pink.

The two of them stared at the stunned Head Judicator - before he let out a soft, resigned sigh, and closed the door behind him as he left.

Cadence and Twilight immediately burst into a fit of giggles.

---

“...two...one - ready or not, here I come!” Cadence called out.

She opened her eyes, and found herself face to face with Twilight. She frowned slightly, then reached out towards her. “Twilight, you’re supposed to hid-” The illusion of Twilight promptly shattered into glass shards with a touch.

Cadence let out a deep sigh. 

---

“No. You’re lying.” Cadence gasped overdramatically and held a hoof to her mouth as she pecked at her sandwich - noticeably making an effort to avoid looking at Twilight as she ravenously tore into a section of some rather nondescript chunk of meat.

“N-not!” Twilight whined and ground her hoof into the floor. “Flutter...shy - told...me. Shhh!” She slapped her own face with her hoof a few times before making a sh motion properly.

“She does? I always thought that her coat looked...strange - but she dyes it? Do you know why?”

“C...cause...makes her - look - cooler.”

Cadence leaned back and scratched the underside of her chin. “I suppose Steelshy does look cool…”

Twilight just shrugged, and swallowed the rest of her dinner whole before turning to look up at Cadence.

“Come on, Twilight. Let’s put you to-” 

“Sup.”

Her ears twitched, and she flinched as she stood up and immediately erected a pink barrier around herself and Twilight - as a tall white wolf leaned in the doorway of Celestia’s bedroom.





Rainbow Dash’s breathing was heavy as she came to. Her eyes slowly fluttered open - and she immediately felt a burning within her chest. She looked around, side to side - finding herself strapped down to a surgical table, wires and tubing embedded into her strangely lanky form.

And as she examined her form - she found how parts of her body were plated in metal, and how she couldn’t feel any of her legs.

Her immediate reaction was to scream.

She screamed, pulled, tug and tore - attempting to tear the surgical table in half. She wasn’t quite sure how long she screamed for - until very, very calmly, two mares entered the room - Nightmare Moon, accompanied by another cloaked figure.

The Nightmare didn’t say anything as she stared down at the panting, heaving Dash with a cold, disinterested expression. Dash shut her eyes for a moment before she coughed, feeling how her throat burned as if it was torn open on the inside.

“What - did you do to me?” She whimpered.

The Nightmare snorted. “You did this to yourself, I’m afraid. You’re an investment that I’m not willing to lose. Getting yourself killed on the Void Spirit’s lightning? How pathetic of a way to die. Your mother would be ashamed.”

Rainbow Dash screamed as she tried bursting from the surgical table towards the Nightmare - but found the restraints held tight. The other mare laughed a dry laugh.

“What the fuck DID YOU DO TO ME!?” Rainbow Dash shrieked.

“It’s pretty simple if you take it in stride.” The smaller unicorn mare shrugged as she started circling Rainbow Dash. “Your body was destroyed - void lightning is really something, and so I replaced it. Covered your bleeding innards up in metal and steel. Unfortunately, it would kill a regular filly - so we had to change that.” The unicorn mare slowly brought a mirror up into Dash’s view.

Dash was met with the view of a full grown mare - body more metal than organic, eyes faintly reptilian to match the Nightmare’s, crystals and mithril blended into her form intricately - but meshing cruelly disjointedly where the flesh and metal met, showing undercurrents of a darkened pinkish muscle.

Dash stared in horror.

“You wanted to kill the monsters, Rainbow Dash.”

The mare tossed her hood down - red and orange locks falling down over her yellow-ochre coat, her cyan eyes piercing into Dash’s very soul. 

“What better way than becoming one?” Sunset Shimmer tilted her head to the side.





“You’re - him.” Cadence whispered. She felt a churning in her stomach, a burning in her chest - her eyes wide as dinner plates.

Frost took a momentary pause as he tilted his head into the side. 

“You’re - the hate.” Cadence whimpered. The barrier dropped as she walked towards him - reaching a hoof up and slowly placing it on his shoulder. For once, Frost didn’t flinch away. “You-”

Frost rolled his eyes and grabbed onto Cadence’s face with a hand. There was a pulse, and she crumpled to the floor in an unconscious heap. He kneeled down by Twilight’s side.

“Hey, kiddo.” He held a hand out for her.

Twilight blinked at him unevenly, one eye at a time. 

“Look. I’ll cut the crap, cut to the chase. We’re on a time limit here - we have before your mommy gets back to do this. So tell me - do you want to see something cool, or not?”

Twilight stared at him for a very long time - before slowly, slowly nodding.

Frost grinned more widely than he had in months - as he fished a small scrap of paper out of seemingly thin-air, before placing it down on the ground and sliding it over towards Twilight. Twilight leaned down - inspecting the paper. There was a diagram of an egg on there - a dark purple, with mottled, even darker spots.

Frost scooped up Cadence in his arms, unceremoniously tossing her over his shoulder. “So. Are we going, or what?”

Twilight inspected the note further. There was a note on the edge - scrawled in on crayon - most of it crossed out, except for one word, underlined. 

Balance??? Dragonlands. ((EXCESS!!)) Egg of the Conqueror. How long has it been here???

Spykoran.

She nodded.

-

> [16] Conqueror
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------








Kill millions, you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a god.





“The Trotting Temperates.” 

Frost let out a long, exaggerated groan before his torso sagged over limply, letting his free arm droop by his side. “Seriously. Do you ever fucking get sick of the horse puns? Not everything has to be a fucking horse pun. We get it. You have hooves. You gallop. And - fucking - Ponyville? If my child ever told me they lived in Ponyville of all places, I would execute them on the spot. Seriously. That is the worst name, for anything, ever.” 

Neither Cadence or Twilight responded - considering one was very unconscious, while the other was very uninterested.

“Look, fuckass. If you’re coming along - you might as well engage a little bit. Fucking, I don't know. Toss some barbs at me. Spend some time with your old man!”

Twilight looked up towards him. 

“...you’re not...my father.” She rasped out. 

Frost’s eyes narrowed. “Then who the fuck is?”

Twilight shrugged. “Not...you.”

Frost barely suppressed a snarl - before he felt a twitch on his back. He held a hand up to stop Twilight, and with surprising tenderness set Cadence down on the ground.

Frost turned to Twilight. “Hungry?”

Twilight nodded.

“Okay. Go - fucking...I don’t know. Eat something. Come back here when you’re done. Don’t get lost, but if you do just burn down the forest.” He shrugged.

Twilight nodded yet again - before slinking into the shadows.

Moments later, Frost turned his head to the side. His face was immediately illuminated with a soft, pink glow.

“Tell me where I am right now, and maybe I won’t turn you into dust.” Cadence whispered. Her voice was steel, and even Frost arched an eyebrow.

“You - know I’m immortal, right? And that I could kill you like, in thirty different ways before you could even realize you were dead?” 

The corona around her horn became more intense.

“Jesus, you have balls.” He whistled. “Look - if you’re worried that I’m here to - what, fucking...rape you, one - ew, two - ew. I just knocked you out, kidnapped you and a child and I’m bringing you towards where I laid an egg.” He shrugged.

“You’re doing that intentionally. This isn’t a joke.” Cadence hissed as she stood up and looked around. “Where - are we?”

“...Yeah. You’re right.” Frost looked down. “Uh. Sorry. Or whatever I guess. Look. We’re in the - ugh. I’m not calling it the Trotting Temperates. We’re in the Berth of Valerîon.”

Cadence was silent for a second. “Why?” 

“We’re here for Twilight. There’s something here - it’s...an egg. And it’s an excess. Like - an eggcess.” 

There was a beat of silence.

“Get it. Like - eggcess. Egg, and excess.”

“I got it.”

“Okay. Good. I was just making sure.”

“Can you get to the point?” The corona intensified.

“Fine! Jesus. Chill out a little bit.” 

Another beat of silence.

“Get it. Like - chill. And my name is Fros-”

The corona erupted into a blast of brilliant pink energy. The tree Frost struck was reduced to cinders - along with half of his face and a few of his ribs. Frost crumpled into an unceremonious pile before he picked himself up, almost already fully regenerated - his face twisting as muscle fibers knitted themselves together.

“I am not joking, Frost. And I hope that proves it to you. You’ve kidnapped me, kidnapped a foal, and brought us into the middle of nowhere. I want explanations, now. I don’t want any of the crap you’re shovelling. Do you understand?”

Frost grinned slightly. “Yeah. You’re way better than Celestia. I understand.” 

This time, there was another blast towards him - but Frost effortlessly sidestepped out of the way. Without missing a beat, Frost continued. “The helion was made with an excess. It’s a magical concept - are you familiar at all with it?” A head shake. “Ugh. Okay. So - an excess is like...an artifact that you use, to channel an excess of magical energy into a ritual so it doesn’t randomly fizzle because the leylines were a bit thirsty that day. That excess - magic can’t be created or destroyed. There was this - thing, I used for the physical excess - and I think that the excess was connected to the imbalance that she was made with. Did Celestia tell you about that?”

Cadence nodded.

“Okay. So - that’s the short of it. Basically - we’re looking for a part of her magic, imbued into a physical form. And I have a really good feeling that it’s here. This is where I performed the first half of the ritual.” Frost crossed his arms.

“...the first half?” Cadence tilted her head to the side.

“Yes.” Frost said. His tone was completely different - a cold flat whisper. Cadence shifted back uncomfortably before falling silent.

“How - important is this to her?”

“Imagine a unicorn that only has their magic, not their horn. Or vice versa. This is - a part of her. Fundamentally. She - needs it.”

Cadence glared. “And you’re not lying to me? You’re not actually doing this for your own gain?”

Frost shrugged. “Of course I’m doing it for my own gain. But I’m not lying to you. But if I was lying to you, I wouldn’t admit it to you. So. Don’t trust me and make your own inferences.”

Cadence stood up and glared even more intensely at Frost. “You’re making no sense. You’re acting nothing like the abrasive - well, ass, that Celestia described you as.”

“Do you want me to?”

“Of course not. I don’t get - why, though. And you’re still being as - stingy with information as she described. Seriously. Squeezing water from a stone. All of three minutes, and you’ve told me two things that you could've said in a sentence.”

“What’s your fucking point, Cadence?” His eyes narrowed.

Cadence stepped backwards. “My point is - just -” She paused for a second. “You feel such a strong hate, that it poisons me. Coming into Canterlot - I threw up three times because of your hatred. How - how can you feel like that, and then be…” She searched for the word. “...somewhat bearable? It - it doesn’t make sense.” Cadence turned her head to the side.

Frost didn’t respond, and the two sat in silence.





The air was displaced with each heavy flap of wings. A deep growl began forming within Beollyssurth’s throat as she dove down towards a set of five, strangely - almost shifting - mountains - the Pentaghast Peaks.

“Tell me about it.”

Celestia shut her eyes. 

“It was the day. We had the misfortune of being caught off guard, within the Terrains. It was supposed to be a simple execution of a dragonlord - not…him.

He tore from the mountains. That ravine down there," Celestia gestured, "wasn't always there. His mouth began bellowing black fire, and he nearly consumed my sister whole. We fled as fast as we could - and only barely managed to take it to the Badlands, where I could use my full power without fear of hurting anyone. And even then - even with all of my sister's skill, all of my power - we barely won. His corpse sagged to the ground. It was a shot to the back of his skull - Luna's hammer shattered his scales. She performed the blow with brute strength, not telekinesis - magic resistance, and all."

“What of his armor?” Beollyssurth tilted her head to the side.

"He wore none. Barely any of our attacks scratched him to begin with - his scales were harder than any substance I have encountered, save the Glaive and the Hammer. I believe you know the story from there - Discord dealt with the rest of his army, and then...” She trailed off.

They dove down, landing perfectly down in a cave as far as their flight could take them - Beollyssurth shifting into a smaller form.

“Do you remember those days?”

Celestia nodded as her horn lit the path of the tunnels the two precariously navigated through. It would be awkward, with Beollyssurth’s sheer bulk - but Celestia was one of the few who the Fire-Queen would let see in anything other than her true bulk.

“Not fondly. But I remember them.” She let out a soft sigh.

“One of them was still alive. A self-professed rival. His wings - they were torn apart and burned, and the embers never faded. That was dark, evil magic that you used Celestia.”

Celestia’s smile didn’t match her cold tone of voice. “Please, Beo. Get to your point.”

“Every day since the moon broke, I can feel that magic echoing, Celestia. And speak, knowing that you are among friends in response to this - are you certain that she is good? I smell the Conqueror on her, Celestia. I smell - I smell the same thing that Berzerkiel had on him.”

Celestia opened her mouth.

“Think on this, Celestia. I will ask you again - and only then will I heed your answer. Think on this.”






The Jungles of Panthera were usually quiet. Today, they were ablaze.

A colossal army of creatures tore their path through the jungles as they wielded fire and steel - tearing through the underbrush of the thicket, chanting their cries in a mixture of the common and antheric tongues. Some were specific to their species, to their small sect within the loosely organized army - but there were three words that you could hear no matter where you stood.

“Sic semper tyrannis!”

---

Overlooking the restless army was a small room - with a mare and a stallion currently engaged in conversation. The mare was wearing a set of ornate, religious robes - while the stallion was wearing the bastardized armor of a Judicator.

“And was she always like that? You’re avoiding the question. Painting it in layers of dogma and faith. How can you have faith in a false goddess?” Sunset arched an eyebrow.

“Watch your tone, harlot.” Igneous growled and pushed a hoof deeper into the table.

“I’m not saying she isn’t a deity. That's an objective fact. But you really believe the shit you’re selling? Pedalling? Hm. What is the expression you ponies use nowadays?” She arched an eyebrow.

The Grand Zealot turned his head to the side. “She is the only deity who sees the truth. It’s the simple fact of it. The Lords - they can’t be stopped. They’re endlessly approaching. You should know this, witch.” He hissed.

“So - tell me. Was it your daughter that converted you?” Sunset leaned in dangerously close. “Little girl gets infused with a helping heaping of transtime energy, kills your whole family - and you come to the conclusion that the only solution is omnicide?”

Igneous was silent. The table shattered.

“How hilarious.” Sunset rolled her eyes. “Well - it would be if it wasn’t so sad. All of this - all of your faith, all of your actions...because you’re sad that the universe doesn’t give two shits about things like you.”

His voice was a soft, hateful whisper. 

“I was blessed. My Pinkamena - I saw the truth because of her. A void spirit from the blessed tongue of Primordia, spoken unto me. I do not worship Luna. I worship the sweet Oblivion that she will bring us towards - that my daughter will bring us towards. Don’t you understand?” He slowly pulled himself up to his full height. “Why are you here, if you do not understand!?” He hissed.

Sunset didn’t seem remotely phased.

The door opened up as the Nightmare strode in. By her side - a twitching, wide-eyed Rainbow Dash. Every time she blinked, she winced - and there was blood leaking from her eyes and ears as she trembled where she stood. The artificially aged filly was a monstrous sight - a grisly amalgamate of flesh and metal...as well as the long hours Sunset had poured into her, tearing out every ounce of her fight...and, at the Nightmare’s request, carving the visage of her dead mother into her own eyelids.

All because of one failure. Sunset almost felt bad. Almost.

“Celestia has left. Just as the Illusionist said - she and the Fire-Queen are - indisposed. The time to attack is now.” 

Igneous let out a grunt before he turned to the Nightmare. “And if they return to Canterlot together? Even our forces-”

“The dragon has got her own issues to deal with.” Sunset leaned back - flashing a look at the Nightmare. “You’re welcome, by the way.”

“And as for Frost?” Igneous sat down.

“...a wild card. Unpredictable. Equal parts as likely to be in Canterlot, or without it. And if worst comes to worse-”

“Then I can handle him, as we agreed.” Sunset leaned in. “It’s been far too long since I’ve had a crack at him.”

“Then it is decided. We leave Panthera tonight - we arrive in Equestria within the week. And then - we attack.” The Nightmare shut her eyes.

Rainbow Dash whimpered as blood leaked from her lips.

---

The night fell. Sunset Shimmer let out a soft sigh as she walked through the jungle rather aimlessly, her eyes glowing slightly with magic as they illuminated her path.

Slowly, she came to a stop. She turned her head with a small noise - as she observed an absence.

It was shaped like a dark, dark purple wolf - so dark it was almost black - but the edges of his form seemed to blur into reality itself. As always, he wore a rather ridiculous looking trenchcoat and bowler hat - and his eyes, a bright purple contrasted sharply from the rest of his appearance. Sunset froze for a moment, before speaking.

“...Hello, Void.” 

“Hello, granddaughter.”





Beollyssurth placed a claw over the slightly marred ground, deep, deep within the cavern. She raked her claws over the dirt - tearing up a small spray of it before she sniffed it.

“Your answer, Celestia.”

“She is not evil. I am certain of that. But - she is not all good.” Celestia turned her head to the side.Maybe, it's one part her nature. There are those who claim that her nature is - well, monstrous. No - her nature is that of a predator. She is not a pony - she’s…” She trailed off. “...something else. I’m not quite sure what to call her, regardless of her physical form. I’ve seen - I’ve seen what lies underneath that flesh. And quite frankly?”

Celestia thought for a moment - a thousand eyes, a thousand mouths, screaming shadows…

“...It terrified me more than anything Berzerkiel, Grogar, or Discord could ever have done. There is so much - potential in her. There are those that would use her as a weapon, or a tool - there are those that would see her become a monster...but I don’t want to see her become any of that. In a sense - I want her...to become herself.”

“I was talking to Cadence, before I left. She is a child. Not a filly - but a child. She is utterly unique, unfathomably brilliant - but ultimately...she still deserves the joy of her youth. She deserves friends, she deserves curiosity - she deserves all these things and more. But as for her - nature, her morality…” She was silent for a second.

“She is young, Beo. Fillies that age are just getting their cutie marks. They're figuring out what they're passionate about. Twilight is much the same - she is figuring out her morality. I’ve seen her kill a stallion for harming me, with no regard for the harm he inflicted on her - and I’ve seen her be so gentle, and so kind to those she calls her friends. I think - I think that she is not all good. I think that there is not evil, but - a darkness within her. But there is good. Her actions - she wants...peace. The best for everyone. Potentially in inherent conflict with her nature.”

“...She is not evil - but there is darkness within her. She is not all good, but there is so much light within her. She has potential for both - and I only hope that I can steer her in the right direction.”

Beollyssurth was silent for a second.

“You are as wise as ever, Celestia.” Her voice was a hoarse, raspy whisper. “I have words on that - but there is a more pressing issue.”

Beollyssurth stepped to the side. Celestia’s eyes widened.

Berzerkiel’s grave was empty.





“Are you trying to get us killed?” Cadence hissed.

The trio had journeyed for the better part of a day - the sky had slowly darkened, they had long since passed the bulk of the thicket...and entered a land of twisted flesh, spiralling marble and pillars of broken stone.

Eos.

“Look. These deer cities are crazy dangerous, yes. BUT, I’ve already been here. I already disarmed all the traps. See?” Frost stepped forward.

Three bolts of crackling energy tore through his head, stomach, and chest. His corpse fell down to the ground with a spray of blood. Cadence stumbled backwards with a soft gasp as she instinctively shielded the unphased Twilight’s eyes.

Frost stood up a few moments later as the hole in his head healed. “...Okay. I guess not all of them.”

“Are you alright?” Cadence whispered - then realized just who she was talking to, and grimaced. “Don’t - do that! You’re - ugh. You’re a madman.”

“Holy shit. Did you just say madman instead of madstallion? Or - madmare? Or madpony? There might be hope for you yet.” Frost grinned and winked at Cadence. “Look. I’m serious. Most traps are disarmed - just let me go first, and we can deal with them one at a time. I wouldn’t bring you here if there was something that could kill you.” Shrug.

Frost then thought for a moment. “Okay, actually, a lot of the things here could kill you. Just - don’t be really dumb, okay?”

Cadence stopped for a second. “Wait - how did we even get here? This is - it’s a continent away.” 

Frost shrugged. “Took a shortcut.”

“And you can’t take a shortcut deeper in because...why?”

“Because the magical radiation here will fucking kill us.” He huffed. “I mean, I’d be fine. So if you want me to just dip out…”

“Might be nice.” Cadence grumbled. Frost snorted.

Cadence shut her eyes and let out a long, long sigh. “The - second - that we get the egg, Frost. I am going to throw you into the ocean.”

Frost snorted. “Oh, hush up Master-Speaker. This is probably more excitement than you’ve gotten in your whole career as a deity. Save that whole dragon thing.”

Cadence paused for a second. “How...do you know-”

Frost groaned loudly. “What, you think I didn’t read up on everything that could possibly help me kill my mom? Jeez. You have a bad impression of me.”

“Yes!” Cadence yelled. “A - very bad impression! You - kidnapped me! The only reason I’m not angrier about this is because I’m doing this for Twilight, and so-help-me stars if you’re lying to me…”

Frost grinned. “You didn’t deny that this was more fun than your boring Master-Speaker job.” And with that, he began lightly jogging through the ruins again. Cadence opened her mouth to refute - before slowly letting out a hff of air and looking down at Twilight.

“How are you doing, sweetheart?” Cadence lightly scratched behind Twilight’s ears. “We could take a break, if you’re scared or anything. I just want to make sure you’re alright.”

Twilight shrugged. “J-just...curious. M’fine.” 

Cadence ran her hoof through her mane back and forth - before the two followed behind the wolf.

---

The damage during the battle between Gilgamesh, Freya, Buri and She-Who-Ruled had utterly ruined the city of Eos. The shattered organic technology that lay in ruins around them was testament to that - and the library was so densely packed with lingering magic, that the magical pressure was actually fatal.

The only safe way into the ritual site - the Ghol, as Frost called it, was through one of the shattered towers that lay half-embedded within a once large, ornate building. It looked almost like a cathedral - although Frost revealed it had once been a library.

The three walked - Cadence’s horn glowing with a bright light that served as their sole source of illumination - since Twilight couldn’t cast within such conditions, and Frost’s magic didn’t really have anything in the way of lighting.

And so the trio journeyed deeper towards the Ghol. Frost looked a bit somber as Cadence turned her head, inspecting the ruined rooms that they passed by - most everything save the barest of architecture had been stripped away, but at a certain point there were still scraps of paint forming murals on the wall.

One mural, in particular, showed a great white deer with an even greater lavender doe. Cadence dragged her hoof along the wall. 

Cadence glanced at Twilight, before quickly erecting a soundproof, slightly shimmering wall of air in-front of them. 

“...Okay. I’ll bite. That’s a semi-soundproofing spell. Footsteps and screams go through, words don’t. Why?”

Frost arched an eyebrow. “Uh. Because that’s how the spell works?”

Cadence shook her head. “I meant - why? Why are you - being nice to me? Is it just nostalgia? You were - a deer once, right?”

Frost’s eyes narrowed. “Why are you still fucking on this? Am I not allowed to be nice?”

“That’s not what I’m saying, and you know that’s not what I’m saying. That’s one of the things you’re do - you swear, get angry - you deflect from the subject.”

“I don’t need you to fucking psychoanalyze me. Better people than you have tried and failed.”

“Then how about this. Tell me - why? Why are you nice to me, but not to Celestia?”

Frost turned his head. He was silent for the better part of a minute - before he turned back to Cadence. His expression was - different. He seemed older - and for a second, Cadence saw who she was talking to. An immortal creature - older than the very planet that they were on.

“You remind me of someone I knew.”

“Who?”

And he was silent.






Fluttershy enjoyed nature.

Once, Twilight had talked to her about a philosophy that said that there were two facets to nature. The Garden was a perfect example of the first, gentle kind - the Facet of Florage.

As the night fell, it was illuminated only by the cold glow of magelight, and the vaguely bioluminescent flora that curled around the path and danced around the maze. There were small little nooks and crannies that Fluttershy liked to dig herself into - hearing the soft dripping of water making its way down off of a leaf.

It was truly beautiful within the gardens. There were also the fauna - so adorable, and also so fascinating. There were - exotic forms of avians, flowers that specifically bloom when activated with magic, creatures of minor myth - she swore once that she had seen a phoenix land on a branch before flapping off. 

She felt that the gardens were woefully unappreciated - and she was determined to fix that. Rarity and Applejack were reluctant to come, but she had managed to get them sometimes. As for Twilight - usually, Twilight would sit with her so she’d have someone to talk to - but she hadn’t seen her all day.

While looking for her, Fluttershy had wandered into the gardens - past the slightly glowing maze...until she came upon the visage of one rather strange statue. Fluttershy slowly dragged her hoof over the statue. Its parts looked as if it was in conflict with itself, - a claw pointed back that connected to a far too large part of its coat, some sort of paw that was far too large compared to the rest of its body - strange legs that looked almost dragon-like...

“It’s rude to touch without asking.”

She yelped and recoiled as the voice sounded in her head. Her eyes were wide as she looked around.

“...you - heard that? My, my, my.” The voice sounded almost shocked. 

Fluttershy immediately started trembling. “U-um. Y-yes. I’m sorry. Was...was I not supposed to?”

Immediately, the voice guffawed. “Stars above. And you’re related to the one who Conquest chose?”

“I...i’m sorry...I didn’t realize that - um. I...I should leave.” Fluttershy didn’t waste another moment before she turned tail and began sprinting back towards the castle.

Discord was silent for a long time before he sighed and mused to himself -

Why did I save her?





At the center of a city that had been woven from flesh, muscle, blood - crystal, glass, and electricity - there was a Library that three creatures entered.

The first of these creatures was a man who believed he was a hero, just as much as he believed he was a monster. He stood tall as his blade - a fragment of the First Blade - glimmered in a space just beyond his back.

The second of them was a deity. She stood as a beacon of magical potential as she walked through - the aforementioned monstrous hero leading her safely through the traps as she inspected the floor with a look of horror.

The third of them - was something beyond either of the two. Not a man - not a deity. And she realized what that thing was as she looked around the floor - covered in runic circles carved with blood, rich gems and rare ingredients, braziers still burning with magical flame that were chained towards one central focus - the excess...and as she saw the dark purple egg, and felt it call back to her, she knew what she was.

She was magic. 

---

Twilight kept the egg tightly gripped within her magical grasp as she marveled at it - having not said a word since she saw it. Cadence was beginning to get worried - but for now, was more focused on leaving the Berth of Valerîon rather than anything else.

And as they reached the surface - exiting out of the tower from the Ghol, Cadence’s heart immediately skipped a beat as she saw the sun was blotted out by a colossal dragon - and underneath that dragon, the Sun.

Celestia and Beollyssurth dropped to the ground. Celestia’s eyes were glowing with a brilliant light, while Beollyssurth looked just a little bit annoyed. Celestia broke her fall by spreading her wings, catching a breeze as she landed down rather gracefully in-front of the trio.

“Celestia!” Cadence exclaimed. She stepped forward - only to pause momentarily as Celestia held a hoof up. 

“Explain. Immediately.”

“I was getting Twilight a gift.” Frost shrugged and gestured to the egg. Celestia blanched.

“You broke the contract.” Celestia whispered. “You aren’t allowed to be with Twilight. We said that. What - is that?”

“Uh, no?” Frost arched an eyebrow. “It’s no one-on-one contact. I brought Cadence with me.” He grinned. “And that - is a part of her magic.”

Celestia stepped forward. “No. No. I will - I will not tolerate this.” Celestia’s eyes narrowed. “You are a cruel, hateful monster. To bend the rules of our agreement - to leave Canterlot, with my daughter, without my permission - and bringing Cadence into this? No.”

Cadence opened her mouth to say something. Frost instead stepped forward and snarled. “I’m doing my fucking job. That egg - that is a part of her. Do you want me to just fucking - fucking neuter her? Then she’s useless to both of us. And I fucking kidnapped Cadence so leave her out of this.”

Celestia blanched. “You - think that makes it better? No, Frost. You know that is not what I am implying.” Celestia whispered, but her voice seemed to shake the world itself. She stepped forward, her wings flaring - until Frost and Celestia were face to face. Cadence just truly realized how tall Frost was now, as even Celestia had to look up towards him. “You could’ve come to me. Informed me of such a subject - not…”

“Gotten the fucking job done? Do you want to save your sister or not?”

There was a single moment. Frost’s hand slowly reached towards his back - Celestia’s horn began to glow with the faintest shimmer of a corona - and Twilight found herself far too enraptured by the egg to even comment on such a thing…

Cadence’s voice broke through. “Please.” Choked, pleading. “The past is in the past. The future will be better. The egg - it’s important for Twilight. It is, Celestia. Just - look at it. And you can tell. Please - both of you. Just...take a step back.”

Frost’s eyes narrowed. He glanced up at Beollyssurth - the two exchanging a rather knowing look, before with a snarl he turned around. “Fucking - fine. Find your own way back to fucking Canterlot. Fucking - children. Of course this is what I get for being helpful for once in my fucking life.” Frost turned his head - and with a shimmer of air, he was gone.

Celestia let out a deep sigh. She glanced at Cadance - who was regarding her with a rather strange expression.

“...you don’t know, Cadence.” She whispered. “I saw what he did. If you saw…” Celestia looked down at the floor for a long while.

Twilight blinked a few times as she set the egg down - and walked over towards Celestia, curling her hooves around one of her forelegs. Celestia tilted her head down and regarded Twilight, who looked up at her with a rather stoic expression.

“I love you.” Twilight spoke, so - so softly...but without the slightest bit of hesitation between her words, as per usual.

Celestia shut her eyes. After a few moments, she slowly stroked a hoof through Twilight’s hair as the weakest of smiles returned to her face. “Come, Twilight. Beo - if you’d be so kind in helping us return home?”

Beollyssurth nodded slowly. She glanced at Cadence with a strange look - before her antlers began to glow as she lent her power towards Celestia. Celestia’s horn lit with a brilliant Corona as she hugged the egg, Twilight, and Cadence close to her form - and with a sharp pop, they were on Celestia’s balcony.

Celestia let out a long, deep sigh. “It has been - a tiring day. Know that my anger is not directed at either of you - just...many other things. Come on, Twilight - let us-”

And it was at that very moment that the first warspell struck the side of the castle, tearing Celestia’s room into rubble - 

For the Nightmares had arrived.

-

> [17] Penance
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------








The night will last forever!





Eighteen years ago - a red-maned, butter-furred earthpony left his family with no guidance. And as he stumbled upon a glade long-forgotten - his life changed with a single sentence.

Seventeen years ago - a red-maned, white unicorn was beaten half to death for the crime alone of being born. And as the light hit his swollen eyes - his life changed with a single sentence.

Fifteen years ago - a pink-maned, yellow-furred pegasus tried to kill the sun. And as the blade pierced through her heart - her life changed with a single sentence.

“May I help you?”

---

In a battle of this scale - the side that controlled the skies would control the battlefield, and in turn - they controlled the outcome. And as a blade the length of an ursa minor appeared from thin air and pierced through one of the bat-winged thestrals - there was no doubt as to which side controlled the skies.

Ballista were being constructed even as the Master-Commander continued on with her grisly work. She was a terror as she kept herself low to the ground - only engaging with the more mobile pegasi. She leapt from one vantage point to another, sending out fans of blades and spears to utterly eviscerate those who had the misfortune to land within her sights - with a deadly accuracy.

Even with such an advantage - it only leveled the field. The Church of the Nightmares - or the Nightmares as the collected forces had taken to calling them - had appeared out of thin air. They teleported onto the mountain from over a mile away with a display of magic that should be impossible - and immediately began to set the city ablaze. Their warspells struck the castle, destroying more than half of it - and within the first minute of the battle, the death toll was in the tens of thousands.

There was one, single unifying thought between the survivors. From the rigorously trained Judicators with their custom-made weapons - to the royal guard as they readied their spears and donned their armor for what might have been the last time...to the average ponies who began setting up barricades and preparing for a fight. Just one.

Defend.


It was the idea of defence that a pegasus named Thundercrash clung onto even as his body was torn off the ground - left to rot on a spear embedded within the cobblestone as a warning of those to come. He bled out as he prayed to his goddess, who did not hear his plea.

It was the idea of defence that led to a stallion nicknamed Donut Joe to kill three of the abyssinians who were invading - only to die from a stray crossbow bolt that struck him in the throat. He bled out as he cradled his son.

And it was the idea of ponies like those two that the Master-Judicator of the Royal Guard clung to as he ground a minotaur’s chest to a pulp under his hooves.

Steelshy touched down by his side, calmly wiping the blood off one of her preferred swords on her own fur. “Status.” She ducked under the swinging tail of an abyssinian before slicing her attacker in two. 

Goldspur grunted and headbutted the nearest attacker - splitting their head in two with his sharpened armor and cutting down to their chest. “Ives is in the courtyard, taking care of the wounded. Yer’ kid is with Ivory.”

Steelshy formed a circle of blades around herself and the Judicator - and began extending the blades tentatively as they spun more rapidly - careful not to hit any of their allies. The blades turned the two of them into a meat blender that tore up minotaurs, abyssinians, the rare thestral, and opposing ponies. “The heavy hitters?”

“Celestia, in the castle. Cadence, with Ives.”

Steelshy let out a grunt. “The kid? Breaking.”

Goldspur hoofed at the ground as he prepared a charge. “The Vault!” He roared as Steelshy broke the circle of blades - and Goldspur tore through a pony so fast that they were turned into paste.

Steelshy tore up into the sky. First, she glanced down below her - gazing over the streets below. It was the thick of the conflict, deep within the city of Canterlot - where the Nightmares had managed to push their way to. For the time being, Canterlot was on the defensive - barely able to gain so much as an inch of ground in one location without losing two inches in another.

They had managed to begin construction on some of their heavier weapons such as cannons or sniper stations - but it seemed the Nightmares were countering with their own. There was some form of pink crystal that they had brought out - lightning beginning to tear from it as it chained from soldier to soldier. It seemed somewhat random at first - until Steelshy noticed three things that caught her eye, two of them related to the crystal.

First, there was a filly within the crystal. Her form was blurred and seemed shadowy - but she recognized the shape regardless. Second - there was a black-armored judicator pointing and directing the flow of lightning...and there was a rather short looking soldier with a familiar orange coat.

Steelshy swore underneath her breath. Very quickly, she glanced down towards the castle. She grimaced slightly as she saw flashes of lightning coupled with pulses of gold and black. Blades began to form around her - until she was impacted three times in rapid succession in the head. She grunted as her vision spun, cursing herself for being caught off guard.

She grabbed onto her attackers - wincing as she managed to throw one of the pegasi off of her. The other two seemed more focused on grounding her than actually pressing their advantage - and she quickly punished that as two spears tore through their chest, sending their hearts flying into the atmosphere…

Only for a third pegasus to come out of nowhere, and buck her in the chest midair. She gasped as she felt one of her ribs crack, even through her armor - and she hurtled down to the ground onto a cannon. She slammed into the side of it, knocking the thing over and feeling another rib crack as some blood leaked out of her lips. She looked up with blurry vision - and only barely managed to duck underneath the fierce haymaker from the attacking pony.

Steelshy stumbled backwards and tore a huge spearhead out of the ground to create a distance between the two of them - but unrelenting, the pegasus she was being assaulted by tore up the side of the spearhead before throwing a bolt of lightning towards Steelshy, which she promptly blocked on her blade.

Steelshy shook her head rapidly to regain her awareness. Her eyes narrowed as she observed a pony - blue furred, prismatic mane...yet more machine than mare, with blood leaking out of her eyes and ears as she trembled with rage. 

She let out a horrifying, gurgling cry. Steelshy’s eyes narrowed as she wordlessly raised her blade - and the two lunged towards each other.

Across the battlefield - the two dominant forces were earthponies. Both of them were armed in the armor of the Judicators, a weapon in its own right - spiked helmets, heavy metal studs to break bone and tear flesh...they were unstoppable. Spells licked over the two of them - flames dancing off the sides of their armor from both friendly and hostile spellcasters alike. They tore through the crowd as if they were butter - until the two stood merely a foot away from each other, surrounded by a swarming horde of fighters.

Goldspur let out a deep snarl as he saw the bastardized, black armor of a Judicator. “Y’aint fit to wear that armor.” He hissed. “You’re a monster. How many foals have you killed today?”

“Less than those who will be killed by the folly of your actions. I am the tongue of the prop-” 

The Apple Clan were famous for their earthpony magic. Their strongest members were the strongest earthponies - with only one exception...the Pie clan.

“Igneous?” Goldspur gasped. “Is that-”

Igneous was silent for a fraction of a second. It was then, at that moment - that he grabbed the nearest pony, a mare from the Church of the Nightmare - and threw her so hard at Goldspur that she turned into paste against his armor, her small intestine splattering out like a rope and wrapping around the stallion - and before Goldspur’s vision cleared of entrails, Igneous had launched himself towards him.

Goldspur ducked underneath the oncoming stallion and grabbed onto him with two hooves - curling them around before leaping up into the air and attempting to suplex him. The two grappled midair - Goldspur pushing his forehoof at the underside of Igneous’ jaw in an attempt to tear his head clean off, as Igneous wrapped his hooves around Goldspur’s hindlegs in an attempt to snap the thing in two. 

The two fell down to the ground on their sides, still grappling and wrestling with each other - as Igneous spun around and slammed his hoof down where Goldspur’s head had been just a moment ago. Goldspur slammed his head into Igneous - both of their helmets cracking slightly as the two stumbled away from each other.

Goldspur shook his head side to side rapidly. Igneous hooved at the ground - and charged once more.

---

Within the courtyard of Canterlot Castle were two ponies. Their names were Ivory Chaser and Obsidian Knife - both belonging to conflicting sides of the ongoing battle. But they had come to an agreement - wounded were wounded, and they would be treated by anyone. The courtyard would be a spot of safety in a realm of battle.

Rarity and Fluttershy were both here - one working on gathering supplies to deal with the wounded, and Fluttershy dealing with those who were less gravely wounded whenever she could. She had little experience outside of animals, and was only a filly - but their resources were stretched thin. 

Within a tent - at the entrance to the courtyard, Ivory Chaser and Cadence stood. Ivory Chaser had a few scratches on his side, his usually pristine coat marred - while Cadence had only freshly regenerated from the initial warspell that the Nightmare had cast for Celestia.

It happened so quickly. The spell struck - Celestia thrust Twilight into her hooves and demanded that she bring her to the Black Vault…

Cadence let out a soft sigh as she turned to Ivory. “We can’t just sit here. We need to do-”

“I will drop my usual pretense, Cadence - where I lead you to the conclusion I want you to find. You don’t know healing magic, I don’t know how to heal. We would do more harm than good. The best we can do is keep morale together. You’re the Master-Speaker. How about you speak?” Ivory arched an eyebrow.

Cadence looked down and sighed. “If - Frost was here...maybe -”

“I’m sorry - you want the murderwolf to be here? Do you need medical attention? Did you hit your head?”

Cadence grunted - partially from his comment and partially as she steadied herself, as a particularly powerful spell caused the ground to rumble.

Ivory looked up. “That was close.” His eyes narrowed. His horn lit as he strode out of the tent, puffing his chest up - as he inspected one sole figure. 

The gates behind her had been turned to molten slag. Where once had been two squadrons of soldiers - both of the Nightmare and of Celestia, there were now clusters - bonfires - of burning skeletons that were slowly being reduced to ash. Her hood fell down to show her red and orange locks - and her horn, crackling with flame.

“S-Sunset?” Cadence whispered. Sunset tilted her head to the side and regarded the two of them coolly.

“So you’re the one he’s fond of. While you burn to death - please make sure to scream extra loud. I’d really appreciate it.”

“What?” Cadence blanched. Her horn lit with a corona of rose energy.

“Burn.” A brilliant jet of magical flames - not just white with heat, but so hot that they were identical in color to Sunset’s corona - tore from the tip of her horn. The cobblestones underneath them began turning into lava as Ivory Chaser threw himself to the side - watching in abject horror as the flames danced over the side of Cadence’s half-bubble shield. Cadence stumbled backwards as the sheer force of the flames made cracks spread along the length of her shield.

A deity, being challenged by a mortal - and the mortal seemed as if she was going to win. Ivory stared at the scene for another second, taking it in its entirety...before his horn lit, and he teleported himself a few dozen feet behind himself. Another teleport spell - and Cadence appeared a few feet by Sunset Shimmer’s side.

Cadence didn’t wait for even a moment as she shifted the bubble shield spell into a bolt of energy - striking it directly in the side of Sunset’s face. Sunset stumbled to the side as steam rose up from her face - and flashed the two of them a glare even as her face knit back together in an alarmingly familiar way.

“Then we do this the hard way.” She hissed.





The two of them had been battling for the better part of ten minutes. They were surrounded by corpses within a small circle - both friend and foe alike, for any who had dared to come near within their conflict ended up inevitably being used as a weapon.

The two of them had their armor cracked, covered in blood that mostly wasn’t their own - and panted even as they powered on through their fight.

Igneous let out a fearsome roar as he slammed his front hooves into the ground so hard that a section of the earth was torn up - and in one fluid motion, spun around and kicked the wall of earth straight into Goldspur. Goldspur braced himself with his magic as he charged through the wall of ground, slamming his head into Igneous’ side before following it up with a flailing uppercut. 

Igneous grabbed onto Goldspur’s head as the apple stallion started pounding the side of his black armor with his hooves - then threw Goldspur down to the ground aggressively, trailing his hoof down along with his face with a flurry of punches - his helmet shattering. Igneous’ hoof grinded into Goldspur’s face, keeping him pinned down to the ground - until Goldspur grabbed onto his one hoof with two of his arms, and snapped it to the side.

Igneous stumbled backwards with a stunned expression as he examined his broken foreleg dangle at a strangle angle. He hissed and slammed the limb down into the ground as he sent a spike of earthpony magic through it, causing it to snap back into place with an echoing crack.

Goldspur grabbed onto what was left of his helmet and tore it off with a grunt. He shook his head from side to side and wiped a bit of blood from his nose, before glaring at Igneous - and charging. 

Igneous charged at him, head-first - his helmet aimed to slice into Goldspur’s brain...and Goldspur wove to the side with surprising agility as he struck three times in rapid succession. One blow was an uppercut delivered to the underside of his chest, another was a flailing haymaker towards his face - and the last was Goldspur pushing himself off the ground and landing on Igneous back.  

Each blow was punctuated with a large impact, and an even larger crack of bones - ribs, jaw, and spine respectively. Igneous crumpled to the ground, where Goldspur pinned him down under his hooves. The two stallions struggled for a moment as Igneous blocked the brunt of Goldspur’s blows with his now-bruising hooves - until Igneous managed to get a bit of leeway and shove Goldspur off to the side and limp into the crowd.

Goldspur hissed as he prepared to follow him. “Coward!” And then was immediately struck in the side by a bolt of pink lightning.

There was a moment between the impact and the pain he felt. There was a moment where his skin burst, leg shattered, and his heart threatened to slough off of his body along with layers of melting skin.

Goldspur fell down to the ground as he coughed and choked, his armor embedded into his partially caved chest. He didn’t waste a second as he started tearing the armor off of himself - looking around with a blurry, unfocused gaze...and he saw Igneous, his hoof glowing with a soft pink energy - pointing at him.

Goldspur spat out a tooth and glared at him as the lightning struck once again - only for Goldspur to be yanked out of the way by another pony.

A rather small pony - with a familiar orange coat.

Goldspur’s eyes went wide. “A-Applejack?” He hissed. “No - no, you shouldn’t - you shouldn’t-”

“W-well, ah am! Talk later - c’mon!” And the filly tugged Goldspur more to the side as another bolt of lightning followed up - only for Igneous to charge towards his daughter.

His daughter.

He didn’t stand a chance. Goldspur spun around with such speed, such ferocity - that he broke the sound barrier with the sound of his punch, even as it shattered his own foreleg. Igneous felt his skull crack as his head whipped back, his head threatening to tear off from the force of his punch - even as Goldspur followed it up with a headbutt as the two stallions grappled each other to the ground.

There was a brief moment of tension. The only noise that permeated the battlefield was the sound of blade on blade, steel on steel - grunting, panting, struggling.

And then Goldspur straddled on-top of Igneous, and punched towards his face.  Then he punched again - and again, and again - more teeth, more blood being torn loose from Igneous - his face beginning to welt up and bruise even as it healed due to his earthpony magic...until Goldspur grabbed onto the sides of his head with his hooves, and began to squeeze them together.

Igneous screamed as one of his eyes began to bulge out of his head - and Goldspur squeezed tighter, and tighter, until it popped out of his head and hung loosely by a cord. Igneous weakly pointed a hoof - 

A bolt of lightning tore itself out from the pink crystal - towards Applejack. Goldspur didn’t waste a moment as he tore himself off from Igneous, throwing himself in the way of the lightning - screaming as his entire bottom half was taken off, two of his legs flying into the crowd as he fell limp down by the ground. Applejack covered her mouth as tears welled up within her eyes.

Igneous stumbled over towards Goldspur and pinned down his torso. Goldspur threw two weak punches at him, but Igneous slapped his hooves to the side. Applejack charged towards Igneous - but he simply backhanded her across the face, sending her sprawling down to the ground. 

The small space around them was silent, save for the crack of Igneous’ hoof against Goldspur’s face. Again, and again, and again - until the cheek caved in, until the eye swelled shut - until it was more swollen flesh and blood, flesh a sickly shade - chin split, lower jaw broken, teeth loose - yet within the back of his throat rather than being spit out. 

And he didn’t stop. He punched again - and again, and again, grunting with each punch. Applejack threw herself against him, grabbing onto his foreleg to try and make him stop - screaming as her father was beaten to death before her very eyes.

Igneous reared his hoof back. He was covered in blood, his chest heaving with the effort of battle - before he let out a roar-

Pink lightning tore through Igneous’ skull.

---

Rainbow Dash was annoyingly fast. Fast enough that Steelshy’s magic had to be used sparingly - even she did have her limits with it, after all.

Steelshy rolled over to the side, a long blade forming in her hoof that she immediately stabbed towards Rainbow Dash’s leg. Rainbow jumped onto the blade, running along its length and delivering a powerful kick straight to Steelshy’s face. Steelshy grabbed onto her hind-leg with both of her hooves and slammed her down to the ground - leaping onto her advantage and forming a blade that she tried to dig through her heart.

Rainbow countered with a bolt of lightning that Steelshy only narrowly avoided, striking past her face and temporarily blinding her. Steelshy didn’t want to give up her advantage - so she threw a fan of blades out in a circle around her, slashing wildly. She could feel one of them brush against something - but then immediately felt the ground fade from underneath her hooves just as her vision cleared.

The two hurtled through the air before Steelshy tore herself free from Rainbow, throwing a spear straight towards her chest. Rainbow deflected it with the back of one of her metal hooves with a grunt, landing on a rooftop roughly enough to send some of the shingles sliding down to the ground. She picked one up that she threw towards Steelshy - that was promptly turned to dust on a spear that tore from the ground. Leaping from the tip of that spear with the ability of an expert acrobat...instead of using her magic, she lunged towards Steelshy with her mouth open - and bit down into her wing.

Steelshy’s eyes went wide as she swore a string of expletives even as Rainbow Dash grabbed onto her head and tilted her chin up while she brought her flying down to the ground - aimed towards a bed of spears with corpses impaled on them.

Steelshy adjusted their course and sent both of them smashing through a window. Neither of them wasted a moment - Rainbow kicked a table towards the Master-Commander, who tore through the table as if she was an earthpony and sent a fan of daggers towards her chest.

Rainbow threw herself to the side, smashing through a shelf with plates on it - porcelain shards cutting her flesh and one of the daggers embedding into her chest, but she didn’t seem the least bit phased. She gurgled something out inanely as she lunged towards Steelshy, spreading her hooves out and smashing them down on the Master-Commander’s ears. Disorienting by default - almost crippling to a pegasus.

Steelshy threw a wild, flailing punch towards Rainbow’s face that was promptly deflected. Rainbow stepped forward and slapped her wings down over her ears, causing Steelshy to stumble back and clutch at her now-bleeding ears. Rainbow quickly grabbed onto the nearest shard of porcelain - and stabbed it right towards Steelshy’s throat. A sloppy dodge made it strike the side, grazing against her rib but not hitting any organs - yet still causing Steelshy to fall to the ground.

Rainbow stepped forward and kicked the Master-Commander in the face. Two teeth went loose before she grabbed onto the mare and began dragging her towards the kitchen of the house they were in - smashing her face into the marbling of the floor.

Steelshy planted both her hooves on the ground - spat out a tooth - and then roared as a colossal spear tore its way out of the ground. Rainbow threw herself backwards with a shriek as the spear tore a chunk out of one of her wings, a hiss of pain as a part of the Master-Commander’s leg was torn off. Powering through the pain, Steelshy pushed herself up and planted two hooves on the spear.

She spoke a word - and there was a moment of silence before the house exploded in an eruption of hellfire. Rainbow Dash was sent hurtling backwards, one of her wings crippled with a chunk of it torn out - while Steelshy rode the explosion even as it covered her in horrible burns.

Steelshy held her blade out that she dragged behind her weakly. Rainbow Dash slowly pushed herself up on trembling legs - blood leaking from her every orifice as she let out a wet gurgle.

She threw herself towards the Master-Commander in a feral manner. Steelshy simply stepped to the side, and with a flick of her blade, Rainbow Dash tumbled to the ground - now unbalanced by one of her wings falling down to the ground with a bloody rip.

Steelshy steadied herself as she lurched forward and stomped a hoof down into the center of Rainbow Dash’s chest. She held her blade up - and brought it down right where her hoof was, twisting and tearing the blade out to the side with a tear - only to watch as blood dripped down onto Rainbow’s chest.

Steelshy glanced down with a soft noise. Rainbow held a jagged piece of wood in her hoof - one that had now found itself embedded within Steelshy’s heart.

---

Ivory Chaser was not a very powerful mage.

He was certainly skilled, and highly skilled at that. Skilled as any theoretical magician could be - his use wasn’t practical work in the field, but rather the more - subtle, behind the scenes job. And so - constantly teleporting both himself and Cadence around was straining.

He teleported up onto a spot that Sunset couldn’t see, letting out heavy wheezing breaths as the breath burned within his lungs. Cadence was forced to be on the defensive most of the fight - only able to get a few precious shots in, and even then - Sunset seemed to regenerate from anything they threw at her.

Sunset didn’t teleport, but rather simply appeared behind Cadence - delivering a flaming punch to the back of her neck. Ivory teleported Cadence a few feet behind Sunset.

Sunset huffed and turned to look at Cadence. “Are you aware of how utterly disappointing this is? Fighting against a deity - sure, the weakest one - but a deity. Do something interesting! Shatter the ground! Rend my soul from my body! Tear my emotions apart!”

Cadence responded with a bolt of energy that tore from her horn with such force that the air rippled around it as the sound barrier shattered. Sunset powered through it even as more than half of her face was sheared off by it, sloughing off and dripping onto the ground.

Sunset let out a soft sigh. “Of course. Deities are always disappointing. We could make this so much easier, Cadence! Sit down and I’ll make it easy for you. Tear off a wing - send you on your way. Otherwise, I’m going to have to stop playing nice.”

“What happened to you, Sunset?” Cadence whispered. “I knew you. You were-”

Sunset rolled her eyes as a bolt of brilliant flame shot up - not towards Cadence, but this time towards Ivory. Ivory stumbled backwards and batted at his face as he screamed in an attempt to douse the magical flames - managing to do so, just before he fell unconscious, blood pooling underneath him. Cadence gasped and spread her wings - only for a bolt of energy to strike Cadence square in the chest. She hurtled through the tent, smashing through the makeshift desk and into the outer walls of the castle with a grisly crack.

Sunset slowly made her way over towards Cadence. Cadence pushed herself up, whimpering and suppressing some tears as her bones snapped back uncomfortably into place.

Sunset slammed a hoof down and placed it onto Cadence’s horn. “Hard way, or easy way, Cadence?”

Cadence glared at Sunset. Her mouth opened and her horn lit - and Sunset rather promptly snapped her horn off. Cadence let out a scream that faded into a soft groan of pain overloading Cadence’s senses.

Sunset huffed and glanced around - only to wince as she felt her head become much more lightweight - before she was sent flying across the arena with a powerful backhand.

Frost spun Cryogenesis in hand as he dragged it behind him. “Cadence. Take the fucker,” he gestured at Ivory, “and get him out of here.”

Cadence didn’t wait for a second as she powered through the pain and flew up into the air - grabbing onto Ivory’s unconscious form and flying off.

“Finally.” Sunset let out a long sigh. “Hello, granddaddy.” 

“Ceresze.” Frost spun Cryogenesis in his hand.





A royal red carpet leads up to a beautiful golden throne. It is lonely in its architecture - standing in a mostly unfurnished, undecorated room - the only characteristic being the tall marble pillars that served as more for style than any form of stabilization. 

The walls were lined with intricate stained glass windows that showed a falsehood - a lie. It showed only the briefest glimpse of the true history of Equestria - and with a pulse of blue magic, the Nightmare dispelled it.

“You kept it.” She spoke in a whisper as her eyes inspected the truth. The monstrous visage of Berzerkiel, Grogar, Discord - of the unfathomable Eldest in all her many-limbed greatness. Of Beollyssurth, of Thaola - of Zarrat, and Hermes. But the Nightmare’s eyes were pulled towards one window, and one alone - 	two sisters at the heart of the world, standing against an unstoppable threat.

Celestia said nothing. The Nightmare threw a look over her shoulder - watching as plates of golden armor formed on Celestia even as her glaive formed from seemingly nothingness.

“You still believe that I’m not Luna, Celestia?” The Nightmare arched an eyebrow. “That this is - possession?”

“I don’t believe it. I know it - I know it in my heart of hearts to be true. Same body. Same soul. A different mind.”

The Nightmare was silent for a second. “We don’t have to do this, Celly.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“I mean it.” The Nightmare spun around, even as her armor flashed onto her - the warhammer being dragged behind her in her telekinetic grasp. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You don’t?” Celestia narrowed her eyes. “You threw me through a chair - you slaughter my ponies -”

“I seek to free them! The Lords are coming, sister! And there is no force that could possibly stop them - and I have seen what failure is. And the only reprieve is annihilation, Celestia. To save reality - Aezilan must die.”

Celestia shut her eyes.

“...So yes, sister - we do not have to do this. Please - lay down your arms. And I will make it painless.” The Nightmare - Luna - pleaded.

”I disagree.” And from a standstill, she broke the sound barrier with a beat of her wings - lunging towards the Nightmare and headbutting her even as she buffeted her with her wings and drove her glaive towards her chest. 

Luna’s horn lit with a horrible unlight, draining the surrounding photons in - a sickly absence in reality. A horrible screech filled the air even as her bones broke - and Celestia narrowly threw herself out of the way of the eldritch blast of energy.

The glaive spun telekinetically towards the Nightmare’s horn - only for Luna to counteract as she brought her hammer up. The two weapons of myth met - the thinnest of cracks spreading along their length. Celestia’s horn lit as she cast ten spells in the span of a second and a half.

Every spell was interspaced by a teleport to a random one of ten points centered on the Nightmare. The first spell was a beam of brilliant light that tore towards her - the second spell was sheer force that she would have to counteract. The third were all focused on stripping her of her defenses - crippling her regeneration, her mobility, and her sight. 

Ultimately though - Luna was somewhere inside of the Nightmare, and so Celestia had to hold back. Luna herself had no such prerogative. She spun her hammer around in a circle, deflecting the physical spells - and simply shattered the more dangerous spells with her mind. She closed the distance with a teleport and backhoofed Celestia before bringing her hammer down onto her horn in an attempt to snap it clean off.

Celestia grabbed up onto the Nightmare’s hammer and grunted as she pushed against it with all of her earthpony strength. Luna’s horn lit - and Celestia let out a groan as a spray of icy spears began to lacerate her body, shredding across the sides of her fur and just cutting deep enough to bleed, but not to kill.

Celestia teleported behind the Nightmare. “ENOUGH!” She cried - and her horn began to glow with a double, triple - quadruple corona. The air began bubbling as sheer heat entered the world - and the heat of the sun itself tore from the tip of her horn. The windows shattered from thermal shock and the throne was reduced to molten slag as the carpet was lit ablaze. 

Luna called up a shield of moonlight - the sunfire splashing around her, droplets of it causing fourth degree burns and sections of her fur to be burnt off. Her ethereal mane was lit ablaze as the sunfire greedily slurped up the magic - even as Celestia’s mane grew more and more intense. As her shield shattered - Luna brought up the Hammer of the Moon to shield the bulk of herself - letting out a scream as her skin was lit ablaze and the hammer was reduced into molten slag.

After a moment, the sunfire faded and Celestia stumbled backwards panting - as she observed the Nightmare. Her mane a short, soft blue instead of the ethereal energy it had been moments ago.

”My turn.” Luna whispered in a sickening gurgle as her eyes slowly faded into two black pits. Her horn lit with an equal shade. Lightning crackled out from her horn, dancing all over the walls and the floor even as the tip of her horn grew darker and darker - until a spear of energy spiralled out right towards Celestia’s heart with lethal intent. Celestia held up the Glaive of the Sun in an attempt to split the beam down the middle. There was a horrible crack as the Glaive of the Sun shattered with an explosion - sending both of them flying backwards into pillars. 

Celestia was hurtled through two before being slammed against the wall against her wing, the wing cracking with a grisly sound. Luna simply smacked into the side of one before quickly recovering - and even without her weapon, tore through the air and aimed her horn like a spear directly towards Celestia’s heart.

Celestia threw herself to the side and grabbed onto the Nightmare, using her momentum to carry her further into the wall. There was a crack as the tip of the Nightmare’s horn chipped off, only for Celestia to grab onto her tail with her teeth - and with a great amount of effort, send her crashing into a pillar. She immediately followed up by leaping off the ground and aiming a punch towards her face - one which Luna quickly caught on her hooves.

Luna spat out a glob of blood into Celestia’s eyes. Celestia crudely began stomping down on where the Nightmare’s chest was before Luna dodged - the marble cracking underneath her as she flapped her one wing to throw herself backwards.

Celestia and Luna stood a few feet from each other. Their armor was holding up - their weapons broken - the bulk of Luna’s magical supply drained from the first few moments of their battle…

And neither of them waited a second before they charged towards each other. Celestia ducked low and curled her arms around Luna’s neck as she threw her down to the floor, curling her wing around her and beginning to squeeze in an attempt to choke the consciousness out from her. Luna began biting and snapping at Celestia’s neck - pony teeth digging into pony flesh as she tore chunks out with each motion. Her horn lit as the shadows themselves began to tear into Celestia’s back, scratching and lacerating at her. 

Celestia responded by shifting her hind legs against the back of the Nightmare’s foreleg. She pushed as hard as she could - eliciting a scream as the Nightmare’s leg was all but torn off. Celestia slammed down with two more punches where the Nightmare’s head had been before she writhed out of the way, before tilting her horn down and letting out a burst of unadulterated solar energy that blinded both of them.

Celestia pulled herself up and rubbed her eyes - only to open them just in time to dodge from Luna’s horn piercing into her brain. Instead, it slashed through her - tearing out a gouge of flesh from her forehead to her cheek, piercing through the eye and causing it to tear itself free from Celestia’s skull. 

Celestia’s horn lit with a radiant light - and the ceiling above was torn open. It glowed, and it glowed and it glowed with a corona that wrapped around five times - Celestia’s horn beginning to break from the sheer effort…

The sun moved behind the moon - casting the world in a grisly red light signature to a forced eclipse. And with one burst of magical effort more intense than anything she had done in centuries...Celestia cast a spell that had once been called the Sunspear.

Travelling at three times the speed of light - imbued with so much magic that physics simply didn’t apply. It was massless, yet contained the force of the sun itself - and as it accelerated faster and faster, it struck in-between the two of them - and two things happened at the same time.

The first was that Canterlot Castle was reduced to rubble. Debris was sent flying up into the air, long streams of lava generated from the sheer heat of the Sunspear approaching the mountain. The windows that hadn’t been blown out earlier were destroyed - rocks beginning to tumble down the mountain as the garden was lit ablaze. Had anyone save for Celestia and Luna been within the castle - they would’ve died. 

As for the sisters themselves - Luna’s flaming, barely conscious form was sent hurtling down three floors of the castle, down into the wine cellars below as the wine was lit ablaze. Celestia received much the same treatment - save for a piece of her chair shattering and piercing through her stomach and pinning her to the wall.

The second thing - was that the Black Vault was struck by the Sunspear. And within the Black Vault - placed there for not just her own safety, not the safety of everypony or everyone - but of everything - and as a young filly looked up at the eclipse, holding an egg - and could now hear the heartbeat of her mother weaken…

The egg within her grasp began to crack, and shadows consumed the entirety of the Black Vault.

Celestia pushed herself up on trembling legs as she drew every inch of magic within herself - her mane slowly losing its ethereal nature as her bones and flesh began to knit back together. She glanced over at the Nightmare worriedly - letting out a soft, strange noise when she saw that she was still breathing. Luna pushed herself up as she grabbed onto a support beam - only to lose her balance immediately as a horrible roar broke the skies.

There was a single flap - and then a shadow that blotted out the eclipse. Both sisters looked up in unison - letting out a soft noise as they saw the largest dragon they had ever seen.

It was a shade of a dark, sickly purple. A shade so dark it was much closer to black than purple. Its spines that lined its back violet, yet tipped with green flame as heat rolled off of it in waves - its eyes two piercing orbs of lavender light that looked like stars. And as it gazed down on the city of Canterlot - 

Gurgling voices. Screaming shadows, infinite eyes and millions of limbs - and wings that seemed to distort light itself. A lavender tinted void looked down with its eyes - and it saw one thing.

Prey.

The sky began to fill with open, bleeding eyes. The blood trickled down the sky as spears of light and shadow began to impact the ground around Canterlot. Violet flames crackled within the back of its throat. The heat - the energy was so intense that it’s throat began to glow, and the shadows the creature was partially composed of began to burn as spears of light leaked out from them - like the sun peaking out from behind a cloud. And the dragon began to descend. 

Violet flames began licking over the side of Canterlot. Where they struck - there was ash. Evacuation processes had been mostly complete - but immediately the death toll skyrocketed as both soldiers of the Nightmare and of Celestia were, for lack of a better term - consumed. Where the flames struck, the thing that stood on the dragon’s head only seemed to grow larger - its wings beginning to drain more light…until its wings flapped, and it began hurtling down towards the ground.

“Twilight.” Celestia whispered in abject horror as her wings spread.

She glanced down at the Nightmare - and failed to dodge her sloppy tackle. Luna pinned Celestia down to the ground in her moment of distraction, slamming one hoof down onto her face as she struggled for a piece of stray glass - ending up grabbing a stained glass shard that bore her own visage. Luna leaned in close and brought the blade down towards Celestia’s chest - inching closer, closer…

Celestia looked up towards the sky even as she struggled. She whispered - “Twilight,” but the words came out weak and raspy. She stared at Luna with wide, pleading eyes.

“Please.”

Luna brought the dagger down closer, and closer towards her heart.

It was not fast. It was awkward and long - two mares with the strength to crush worlds both pushing against each other with the entirety of their force. The blade began digging in deeper and deeper, threatening to draw blood but not quite. Celestia let out a small, wheezing gasp - a pleading whimper...

And then there was silence.




...Squeak!
“No.”
Pop!
“No.” Luna whispered.
Flllpp. The squeaky-toy that stood in Celestia’s place slowly, slowly deflated.

Celestia stood on trembling legs as she looked wildly around the room - until she heard a rich, velvety chuckle that made her skin crawl - and realized…

In the corner of the room - there was a chair. It had not been there when they entered, it had appeared posthumously. And sitting within the chair - a book within his grasp, form half illuminated by the firelight as his shadow stretched out monstrously over the room…

Discord grinned widely.

“I think we have some catching up to do, hmm?”

-

> [18] Penumbra
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------








The stars whisper secrets to me.


Sometimes, so does the darkness. 





In the darkness, Canterlot was a shining beacon of light. The cold glow of magelight that illuminated the street, or the soft flicker of firelight and gas-lanterns that were widespread within the city. Yet tonight, it was cast in a titian shade - illuminated by the fires that had spread through most of the city, the lava that trickled down the side of the mountain that had once been a castle, the eclipse that burned within the sky…

Across the world, millions gestured. They pointed towards the sky with their hooves, paws, claws, hands, tails, minds and a thousand other appendages - and as they looked at the sky-

The stars blinked back at them.

---

Canterlot was ablaze.

Colored magefire as well as natural fire intermixed together as smoke rose up into the air. Violet flame was the most prevalent throughout the battlefield - for even as it consumed its fuel, it continued to spread along the battlefield. It was a ruinous, burning hellscape where the two sides continued their futile clash - the corpses of thousands littered throughout the streets of Canterlot.

After the dragon - the fighting had diminished mostly. There were those who were beginning to flee, making a mad sprint towards the edge of the city - only to find themselves impacting a shimmering violet barrier. Only to hear a soft growl behind their ears.

And then - there was the center of the city. Utter chaos as the most devoted of the two sides stood in an endless faceoff as the nondescript masses attacked like a hydra - three replacing every two that fell. 

And then arrived the Lady in Lavender.

The amorphous mass of shadows that had latched onto the side of the mountain shifted, and its throat began to glow - the mountain was bathed in a lavender light as flames tickled the lips of the colossal shadow-dragon for a second time - and then there was a loud crack as a pacifier formed within its mouth, the flames spiralling out in sheets and blankets that splashed over the dragon. 

---

“I think we have some catching up to do, hmm?”

Discord’s face was cast in shadow and flame. The right side of his face was illuminated solely by the flaming wine below them - and yet droplets of it seemed to gravitate towards him, rising up from the air and collecting in a wine glass that he held between two of his claws. The left side of his face was a shadowy, coiled mass that stretched out over the side of the room - giving him a monstrous visage.

He oozed power. He drank the wine glass even as he shifted it into a molotov cocktail, slurping the cloth wick up like a strand of spaghetti. He tossed it over into the corner of the room - not looking back as it exploded with violent force that caused both alicorn’s teeth to chatter. 

He coiled and swirled through the air until he came to a perfectly still stop. “Love what you’ve done with the place,” he remarked dryly.

The Nightmare’s horn bubbled with sickly black energy faster than Celestia had ever seen. The tip of her horn chipped slightly as she threw caution to the wind in an attempt to gather more magic more quickly - immediately preparing to throw a fatal ray of energy through Discord’s skull. The power was intense, world-shaking -

Discord blew it out like a candle with a puff of air and flicked Luna’s horn. “Oh, please. We don’t have to do this tired old charade. There are much bigger things at stake rather than your - fragile egos.” He leaned in very, very close to Luna. “And you’ve been a naughty girl, Lulu. You almost broke the camel’s back.” He reached out and brushed a claw over a small spot on Celestia’s chest where the glass shard had initially dug in.

“Ruinous serpent.” Luna whispered. “You’ll ruin everything. You have to-” There was a snap, and Luna’s mouth was glued shut.

Discord coiled around Celestia. Celestia’s muscles tensed and her eyes shut as his warm breath tickled the back of her ear with a growling whisper. “Are you proud of me, Celestia?”

Celestia didn’t respond, save for a slight shudder going down her neck.

Discord smiled and craned his head so that he could look Celestia eye-to-eye. “I saved your ponies. From your monster.”

“What’s your game, Discord?” Celestia summoned up every ounce of confidence she could - but found that she had next to none.

Neither Luna or Celestia were in good condition. Luna had burned through most of her unicorn magic, defending against Celestia’s heavier attacks - while Celestia’s use of the Sunspear had drained her entire unicorn reserves. While she could draw on more power - doing so would be destructive, and not something she would want to risk doing while both Discord and the Nightmare were still a threat.

And then there was Discord. They had seen Discord move mountains and continents around simply because he felt like it - but even he was still bound to the laws of magic. The aura that radiated off of him was - lesser, somehow. Celestia surmised that it was likely due to his binding - most of the power that he would be able to gather from latent chaos would’ve been blocked off due to his petrification.

But nonetheless - there was still an order of magnitude between them.

“My game, Celestia?” Discord threw himself backwards into the air - his arms spreading out wide. “My game is my job! Uh, hello - Shepherd of Magic, ring-a-ding-ding?” He turned and shot a glance towards the shadow dragon - snarling as it smashed its head into the side of the mountain in an attempt to remove the pacifier...and the lavender void moving towards Canterlot.

“That is an affront to everything I stand for. No chaos - utter order. Stagnation. Desolation. I won’t stand for it. Or hover for it, either. So allow me to illuminate exactly what’s going to happen.” Discord leaned in close.

“So let’s get this over with, hm? We all know where this is going to go. I’ll prattle on, you’ll prattle on - we’ll all go through our rhetoric...and then we’ll fight.” 

Discord shifted into Celestia. “Mortals are in need of guidance and protection from divine threats!”
Discord shifted into Luna. “The only viable means of surviving the Lords is the destruction of Aezilan!”

And as Discord turned back into himself - he whispered,
“Divinities are an affront to the natural order of magic, and the ultimate form of stagnation.” Energy crackled around his claws as reality began to twist and warp. 

“So go on, then. Hit me with your best shot. Team up against a mutual enemy - before I get bored of you two and...hm. Maybe I’ll throw you in the ocean. We’ll see.” Discord shrugged as he leaned back - a target forming on his chest.

Luna planted her hooves down. Her horn began to glow with that same level of energy before - only for Celestia to spin around and buck the Nightmare’s horn, shattering it with an echoing crack. Luna stumbled down to the ground as she let out a strangled gasp of pain and shock - and even Discord looked somewhat surprised.

Luna slammed her hoof down into the ground and pushed herself up as she snarled. Discord promptly dispelled the effect keeping her mouth shut as Luna hissed - “Celestia - what are you doing!?”

Celestia shook her head. “One of you seeks to end the world - the other seeks to end my world. There are no mutual enemies here - just enemies.” Celestia’s wings flared. Strands of her mane began to lift up as they turned into ether - swirling around as the temperature began to rise as she pushed herself up where she stood.

“Know this. I am Celestia Astrella Indomita, the Sol Invictus. I will tear my sister from your clutches, Nightmare. Then me - and Luna - will throw your body to the Worlds, Discord - and then we will talk..”

Discord grinned widely and raised his eagle talon. 

“Then let’s begin.”

Snap.





A pink shield surrounded the courtyard of Canterlot as Cadence devoted the entirety of her effort towards maintaining it. The only things allowed through the shield were bodies that were being dragged in - pulled towards both their encampments. 

She could hear the screams and smell the bodies burning. It was an awful sight - one that she tried to push out of her mind. But with every burn victim that was pulled in - she couldn’t. It was a matter of life and death now - and all hooves were on deck to tend to as many wounded as possible. 

Less than six minutes ago, Cadence had flown into the courtyard like a bat out of hell, clutching three bodies within her gasp - one burnt beyond recognition, one more blood and bruise than stallion - and the last was Applejack, covered in scratches and bruises.

The courtyard had been divided into two sections. The medics for the soldiers of Canterlot, to the west - while the medics for the soldiers of the Nightmare in the east. In the middle, there was a neutral zone - one for ponies who’s bodies weren’t recognized by either side. By choice - Fluttershy was working there, suppressing whimpering and crying as she forced herself to stay strong as she did all that she could. Cleaning, bandaging wounds - preparing fresh gauze for burn victims so that they might stay clean - using what little of her pegasus magic she could to keep everyone cool despite the sweltering heat that was washing over them even through the shield.

There was a tremble as a great flash of something came within the ruins past the courtyard. The Sunspear hadn’t affected the courtyard too much - angled at a degree so it mostly melted the castle and sheared off a section of mountain rather than hurt any innocents. Yet, the burning caldera where there had once been a castle was still an echoing beacon of magical activity - surges and flashes, the ground shaking occasionally…

It felt like the end of the world. And all Fluttershy had to deal with it was gauze strips and alcohol as she moved from one body to the next.

One of the most wounded patients - who just Fluttershy was tending to - a mixture of all species - was a mare who had arrived on the brink of death. Some of her limbs were more metal than flesh - and it looked as if the limbs had been attached at an angle made to make the most visual conflict as well as inflict the most pain from simply breathing. There was heavy internal bleeding, most of her bones broken, scarring on the inside of her eyes - a constant trickle of blood from her ears and mouth…and a wing missing.

Yet with only some cleaning of her wounds and bandages, she looked like she was going to make a full recovery, save the wing. It was almost like what she had seen with Twilight - if Fluttershy really squinted, she could see bits of flesh knit themselves back together in a grotesque manner.

She dabbed some small flecks of blood off of her face with a swab of cotton - only to let out a strained scream as the mare’s hoof shot up and grabbed onto her throat. The mare’s eyes were wide and bloodshot - her pupils trembling with rage as she squeezed, and squeezed.

“Where?”

Fluttershy squeezed at the hoof and whimpered - opening her mouth to say something -  but finding the words dead within her throat. Rainbow stared at her for a few more moments before letting her body drop to the ground and immediately began walking towards the barrier. Immediately, ponies began flooding into the scene - helping Fluttershy up and throwing strange looks towards her assaulter.

Fluttershy gasped for air, only to push herself up. “W-wait! You’re - hurt.”

Rainbow Dash slowly turned to look at her. She flashed her a glare over her shoulder - and found Fluttershy looking back at her with equal intensity even as she rubbed the bruise on her throat. The mare began rapidly approaching Fluttershy - only for two more fillies to come stumbling into the scene. 

“Applejack, I insist-”

Applejack powered past Rarity’s attention to her relatively minor scrapes and bruises before standing between Fluttershy and Rainbow. Applejack was tall - standing to the barrel of the full grown mare despite just entering the equivalent of her teens. 

“Y’dont want to do this.” Applejack spoke more honestly then she knew.  “T’aint a violent place. You’re safe here. Safer then out there,” she gestured towards the smoking caldera, “or out there.” She gestured out past towards the thing laying siege to Canterlot - as well as the flashes of blue and green light of unknown origin from the edge of the courtyard.

Rainbow Dash leaned in closer. Applejack stood her ground, shifting her prosthetic leg slightly as the faintest bit of gold light seemed to leak from the joints. The two stood like that for a long moment - before Rainbow Dash turned towards the shield...and leapt through it.

Fluttershy let out a cry. “W-wait!” Before immediately throwing herself after her. Applejack didn’t wait for a moment as she barrelled after Fluttershy. 

“Applejack! You - oh, screw it.” And Rarity promptly chased her through the barrier.





“Why her?”

A brilliant spout of magefire tore from Ceresze’s mouth. Frost stomped his foot as a curved ramp of permafrost formed from the moisture in the air almost instantaneously - sprinting up it and bringing his blade down towards the base of her skull. Ceresze teleported to the side - and Frost was already on her, his blade slashing towards her face. She leaned backwards as it slashed above her forehead ever so slightly. Frost lunged forward and grabbed towards her throat - only for her to teleport onto a ledge behind him, her eyes glowing brightly.

“So silent!” Ceresze grinned. “Did I strike a nerve or something? You’re usually a lot more rabid than this. A lot more effective. I haven’t seen you dodge in - how long?”

Frost blurred as he suddenly appeared by Ceresze. He grabbed onto her hair and tore backwards, throwing her off the tower and throwing his blade down into her stomach. The blade pierced through her stomach - and she shattered into glass as dozens of her illusions circled him.

“You know - Isaliena misses you.”

Frost threw his blade down into the ground and let out a rabid howl as he tore across the battlefield instantaneously - grabbing onto the true Ceresze’s throat and slamming her into the wall. He didn’t wait for a second as he began tearing into her - squeezing her throat tighter and tighter as his free paw was dedicated to carving up her face, slashing out at her face and reducing one of her eyes into a bloody mass of scar tissue. He grabbed onto her mouth and began pulling, in an attempt to crack her jaw open. 

Ceresze teleported out of his grasp as her form shifted - becoming a great brown doe with gigantic horns, her eyes a brilliant gold as she cracked her neck. She looked over her shoulder and smiled before leaves began tearing out of the trees, aimed towards Frost’s heart. Cryogenesis flew up into Frost’s hand as he whirled around - hacking and slashing the sharpened leaves apart into their component pieces as he moved closer towards her.

Ceresze’s eyes turned green as a vine tore out of the ground, slashing deeply from Frost’s groin towards his chest - before it slashed up and found itself stuck within the center of his chest. The blow would’ve killed anyone but Frost - who just tore himself free with a spray of gore, viscera and fluids splashing out onto the ground like a popped water balloon.

Frost threw his blade towards Ceresze’s chest - who simply shrugged as the blade tore through her shoulder and took one of her limbs off. She remained standing, her balance not even affected. A disc of blue energy spread out around her feet - gravity being amplified on her and bringing her down towards the ground just as icy shackles tore their way out of nothingness and curled around her wrists. 

Ceresze’s eyes flashed - and two sticks on the ground suddenly shifted. Two gantic creatures took form in the courtyard - one of them with a skull much like a crocodile, the other with one much like a dragon as their long serpentine bodies dragged behind them - equipped with a set of chitinous, spider-like legs. One tore into his left leg, the other biting into his chest and cracking his shoulder blades with sheer bite force.

Frost fell down to the ground as he started flailing towards them. Ceresze grunted as she snapped her dislocated jaw into place, shaking her head side to side. She waved her hoof to the side and his wrists were enveloped with vines pulled taut - stretching him out wide as the monstrous animals began to devour him.

“Why the FUCK ARE YOU HERE!?” Frost hissed.

“Because I wanted to see you. Because I wanted to mock you, and hurt you, because you hurt me. And because I wanted to see my sister.” Ceresze’s head slowly shifted to the side - watching in awe as a swarm of violet tendrils and tentacles tore its way out of the ground. Rabid, consuming - conquering.

“You are not my daughter. You will never be my daughter.”


Ceresze looked over her shoulder. And then her form began to crack and shift - and then she stood as a female wolf the size of Celestia, her tail dragging behind her as she batted her eyelids.

“I could be.” She whispered.

Frost howled as with a sudden burst of energy he tore free from his bindings. He grabbed onto the animal to the right side of him and squeezed, claws digging in and splitting its belly as he supplexed it into the one to his left. He flailed along the floor as he smashed his fist down into their lined up heads, tearing through their brains as he lunged forward and grabbed onto Ceresze’s throat tightly.

“I die - she dies.”

Frost went still.

“Is that why it’s her? Does she remind you of Winter? How utterly pathetic. A sociopathic mass-murderer who thinks he deserves pity - deserves anything less than pain because he misses his daughter. You disgust me.”

“I am a monster. There is no redemption for me. I will kill my mother - then I will kill you, and your sister, and I will tear Grogar’s fucking heart out and throw it into the void.”

Ceresze leaned in. “And yet if you kill me - she dies. And you’re too pathetic to let that happen, aren’t you?”

Frost’s arm began to glow a soft blue. He tilted his head to the side. 

“Try me.”

The two stared at each other for a long, long moment - before Ceresze tilted her head up and teleported behind Frost.

“We leave until a victor is decided.”

“We?”

“We. I don’t want you to influence the outcome.”

“Then what?” Frost hissed.

Ceresze shrugged. “You get what you want. Train the girl. Kill your mother - and then it’s my turn to get a go at her. Some - family bonding time, in a sense.”

Frost’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah. Good fucking luck.”

Ceresze flashed a smile over her shoulder - her eyes glowing a swirling green, gold and blue. “Thank you.”

There was a pop, then a shimmer, and the courtyard fell still.





The Lady in Lavender stood at the center of the courtyard. If you were to look at her from the corner of your eye - you'd see a strange looking alicorn. But any direct contact - and you'd see the monstrosity that she was.

When she had apparated to Borea - she looked like a heavily mutated pony. But now there was no mistake about what she was - a monster. Her form was a flickering mass of screaming shadows that curled around her fur, light tearing out from the shadows even as the edges of her form seemed to blur into the rest of reality - as if she was a different artstyle, messily stitched on to the canvas of reality - surrealism taped onto photorealism. There were eyes all around her body, constantly shifting and both disappearing and appearing as they blinked and opened their eyes.

Then - there were her non-pony parts. Her wings were gigantic lavender things that were tipped in black - violet flames dancing off the tips of her feathers and along her wings. Her legs and tail shifted into the appropriate draconic appendage - save the keratin of her claws was a pitch black, and her tail seemed to be made of fire. Her skull wasn’t a pony skull, and was instead the skull of a dragon with two gigantic antlers with a horn in the middle, piercing towards the sky. The antlers were slightly mismatched, and one was marred with a dark spot of pulsing shadow that was slowly spreading.

But most terrifying of all was not her appearance. Most terrifying of all was the thing that echoed over the courtyard - that caused brains to leak from the noses of those who heard, blood dripping from ears and ponies to whimper and cry out for a deity that would never come - her mind.

Hungry, she thought. Six of the eyes on her body opened as spears of shadowy blood tore out of them, striking through the nearest ponies. It pierced through into their hearts - and in a fraction of a section it began corrupting them. Their flesh began sloughing off even as their muscles darkened, blackened blood beginning to spray from them as they lunged towards the nearest pony and began to feast.

She walked forward slowly, dragging her hoof along the cobblestone even as those began to scream around her. Some fractured part of her mind continued its rabid feast. Her spells weren’t visibly offensive - She twisted and warped reality, breaking it into jagged fractures that turned ponies into paste. From the sky above - shards of darkness and light began to crash down towards the floor, shattering into homing shards of absence that sunk into flesh and ate away until there was nothing. 

She looked at a minotaur, and saw the fundamental threads that made her. She reached out and pulled at one, and watched as it fell slack. And with another - it melted into an amorphous sludge of magic. She smiled and licked her lips as she inhaled deeply - feeling all the food that was left within the battlefield.

Her mouth opened wide. A thousand, thousand teeth were illuminated in a deathly white glow. White was often seen as a color of purity - but those who looked her in the mouth knew that it was anything but as she began to consume. Her head snapped down on the closest abyssinian as she tore the cat's head off, its spine trailing behind it as she snapped it up - her tongue lapping out and swallowing its soul. And the shadows grew darker, the light grew brighter.

More, the Lady in Lavender whispered.

More, the Lord in Violet agreed.

Fire. Look at how fragile they are.

We were meant for this.

We were meant for this, she agreed.

And so flame crackled within the back of his throat - but it was just as much hers as it was his. So the Lady opened her mouth, and from that mouth she breathed death.

---

The mare and the three fillies came to anarchy. The remnants of both sides - reduced to a fraction, maybe a tenth of what there was initially - were all focused on one creature. Bolts, ballistas, cannons tearing towards her - spears digging into her side as she stood stoic and unmoving while blades sunk harmlessly into her flesh.

Rainbow Dash spread her wings and took flight. Or - she tried to. She ended up sort of jumping off the ground and landing - before glancing back at her stump of a wing and letting out a soft noise. And it was only then that Fluttershy was able to race by her side, grabbing onto her side.

“Y-you - you have to-” She was silent for a second. She slowly turned and glanced towards the abominable thing within the center of the battlefield - and recognized it.

Applejack grabbed onto Fluttershy’s tail and didn’t wait for a second before she began sprinting backwards, Rarity following closely behind.. “What were you think-” 

“Twilight?” Fluttershy whispered. Applejack turned - only to follow Fluttershy’s eye level and stumble backwards as she saw - her. 

A voice rang out in her head - one that had rung out many times throughout the course of the battle. 

Courage, Applejack. And gold light began to shine from her prosthetic.

Rarity let out a soft gasp as her hooves moved to her mouth - her eyes straining as she tried not to stare at the carnage.

Rainbow Dash let out a gurgling cry before she sprinted towards the city-center. Fluttershy jerked to move, but Applejack moved backwards and shook her head. “N-no.”

“B-but - it’s Twilight! We have to-” 

Applejack grabbed onto Fluttershy’s head and craned it awkwardly to look towards the carnage. “Look at that! T’aint a game, Flutters - this is life, or death - and that’s death!”

Fluttershy looked Applejack in the eye. “Then let us be life. We can calm her down, talk her down - I know we can.”

“...but - what if we can’t?”

“But what if we could - but we didn’t?” Rarity suggested. The two slowly turned to look at her.

There was a loud crack as a body flung over their heads. Rainbow was sent smashing into a wall - her spine audibly shattering, her ribs breaking...and she slowly pushed herself up, even as they broke through the thin layer of flesh. She shook her head side to side as she began sprinting back towards the charge.

The Lady in Lavender tilted her head to the side. Her mouth opened - and her tongue shot out like a spear, aimed straight towards Rainbow’s skull. Rainbow began moving out of the way - but she was frankly too slow.

“TWILIGHT!” Fluttershy yelled - and as she whipped her head to the side, the tongue simply lashed across Rainbow’s forehead, throwing her form down to the ground.

The Lady in Lavender slowly began approaching her. Her mouth fell open, her teeth beginning to rotate as more shards of darkness and light began to rain from the sky. And some part of Fluttershy knew she should be terrified - but it was the gold glow of energy that washed over her from Applejack’s limb that filled her with the courage to stand more resolute than she had in years.

“T-Twilight? Are - are you...okay?”

The Lady in Lavender tilted her head to the side. Her many, many eyes shifted onto Fluttershy - and blinked all at varying rates. Behind her, those who were still alive - hiding under bodies - began to make a mad dash towards the city gates. The Lady’s ear flicked - and the dragon in the skies shifted as the two quickly exchanged some words.

Escaping.
Hunting.
Curiosity.

“...do - do you remember - um...when - when we met?” Fluttershy whispered.

The Lady was silent.

“There…uhm. W-we were in the gardens. And I was talking to you about...um...animal facts. And then - you got really upset at something...and Celestia came-” the Lady blinked - “and she curled her wings around you...and you fell asleep - and then you woke up a few days later and it wasn’t because of my animal facts…”

The Lady leaned in. Her mouth fell open. The light shined out. 

“...B-but that’s - that’s not - the point. T-the point is…” She was silent for a second. “You’re...really nice, Twilight. You’re - weird. But you’re nice. And you - you talk to me about animals - well, you listen to me talk to animals...and you sit with me...and I know that if I ask for anything, you won’t just help me - you’ll help me.”

The Lady turned her head to the side.

“...I think there couldn’t have been a worse first meeting for us, darling.” Rarity stepped forward. “You dropped out of the sky - then you were split in half and we had to pull a half of your body out of a maze. It was certainly - something, one that I...still have nightmares about,” Rarity hoofed at the ground - before she fell silent. “...but I don’t have much more to say on that.” 

There was an awkward beat of silence. Applejack shot a glance towards her.

Rarity shook her head. “Not because there’s not much to say about you. There is. You’re the smartest filly I’ve ever met - but there’s nothing more I could say, or that Applejack could say that Fluttershy hasn’t. You’re our friend, Twilight Sparkle. Brilliant, wonderful, and kind.”

The Lady in Lavender slowly walked towards them. She tilted her head to the side - before Applejack piped up.

“...y-you...uh. Smell like...dead.” Applejack scratched at the back of her neck.

The Lady tilted her head to the side. Her mouth fell open, her tongue lolling out - until Applejack spoke up again.

“T-twilight.” She whispered. “I think - I think we really need you. Things are - they’re bad, Twi. And - yer’ making them worse. I don’t know if - if you’re in there, or if that’s you - but...the Princess-”

She tilted her head to the side.

“She’s hurt. She’s hurt bad - no way she couldn’t be, after something like that. Those flashes - t’aint right. T’aint natural. So - p-please, Twi. Help us out. Help - the princess out. Please?”

There was a long beat of silence.

The Lady’s antlers began to glow, her horn quickly following suite. She cast out her mind - stretching it over the veil, wrapping it around the sun and the moon - and then there was a tug,

And then, there was darkness.

The thing that was at the center of the city screamed. It’s pulsing flesh wriggled and writhed, its eyes blinking before they split open and gnashed their snapping teeth. Tongues and tendrils tore out of the thing and began reaching towards the sky - while the thing began snapping its mouth to one side even as it seemed to try to pull away from itself. Its claws began digging into its chest, tearing out large chunks of flesh and shadow that sprayed down to the ground with a sound akin to a blood-splatter.

In the skies above, there was a horrible beast. It struck and lacerated flesh with tail and claw - only bit down and drew blood, only to cringe as the blood it drew was its own. It screamed and lashed out, for it bubbled with rage and hatred but had no target of which to Conquer -

And in one unified voice, both the Thing and the Beast cried -

HUNGER

Around the Thing writhing down below - five fillies watched in horror - before there was a twist of something within their hearts, and they knew what to do.

There was a filly with the heart of the Merciful- and she murmured a word, and it was Generous.
There was a filly with the heart of the Warrior- and she spoke a word, and it was Kindness.
There was a filly with the heart of the Conqueror- and she dreamt a word, and it was Loyalty. 
There was a filly with the heart of the Just- and she spoke a word, and it was Honesty.
There was a filly with the heart of the Oracle- and she saw the words, and it was Desolation.

And so, she cried with a tongue that wasn't her own -


Born from hate!


Watched by eight - a weapon of destruction's end,


Of dark and light a blend. 


Little girl, thrust into power -


Made mortal by a fragile flower.



The Void Touched God,


The Beast Clawed,



Journeys to the In-Between,


and stands against the Demon Queen.



Tainted by the Eternal Red,


Tested by the Endless Dead,


Defied the Immortal Lord,


Denied the Winged Horde.



And when the stars bleed, and break -


And the ancients stir, and wake -



Fear the Lady in Lavender! Lo, her terrible might -


Cloaked in endless dark - and eternal light.


And so, she spoke in ninety words what others spoke in one - one single word. A word that was funny, and stoic. Kind and cruel, loyal and treacherous, honest and deceptive, generous and greedy - a thousand contradictions, a thousand things - a single word!


Twilight.

Her eyes opened.





Discord’s laugh was maddening. It cast itself through the Caldera as he weaved fluidly between spells - distorting his body as he formed holes in it, shrinking and shapeshifting - only to be struck!

And shatter into glass, as three more Discords cackled while circling the two sisters. As it stood - the dynamic of the battle was an ebb and flow between Celestia and Luna, an undulating serpent - for as one gained some advantage, they lost some other. 

But it was only with her current skill and age that she was able to realize just how Discord was so mobile. His reaction time was absurd - but he always teleported to a location out of danger. And as Celestia cast her enhanced senses out...she could feel Discord’s attention, divided between a few dozen spots. It clicked in Celestia’s head as she realized he had an escape plan prepared preemptively, rather than reacting to it on the fly.

Celestia threw herself to the side out of a simple bolt of energy before she pushed her Will into the ground. Pillars of stone began rising up, which Celestia promptly shattered into over a hundred shards with a heavy beat of her wings. The shards of stone began to glow as they were made sharpened and unified into equal-sized points - each one about two inches wide and six long. 

The slivers were then enchanted. Celestia didn’t have the magical reserves to enchant each one individually, less so the time. Instead - she wove zones and focuses. She arbitrarily divided the spikes into six uneven groups, choosing one shard as a primary that all the others were spatially linked to - essentially following it wherever it would go. From the focuses, large “zones” of heat resistant magic were applied to prevent the rocks from burning into slag - and then let them loose.

One set shot towards the Nightmare, each one erupting from its fixated point as it shattered the sound barrier. The other five seemed to move at random - but instead were moving towards places where Celestia could sense a slight concentration in chaos magic. She shot a bolt of energy towards Discord - and much to the confirmation of her suspicions, there was a loud boom as dust filled the caldera. 

Luna beat her wings once, twice to clear the dust. 

The eclipse had broken - the world bathed in the soft glow of Twilight. Discord was missing - but Luna…

Her form was ruined - half of her face hanging limply off her face, large sections of her fur and skin missing as the muscle was peeled back and still-burning. Her wings looked almost rotten - a host of feathers having fallen down to the ground below, sections of the limbs missing.

The two stood there, panting, heaving for a few moments before they pulled their will into themselves. Luna’s mane began to ripple with moonlight. “You’ve gotten stronger, Celestia. It’s almost admirable.”

Celestia’s eyes narrowed. “I - am just getting started.” She whispered.

Celestia broke the sound barrier three times over as she tore from the ground with such force that her hind legs shattered. Her wings beat as she carried herself further - tackling the Nightmare off of the mountain...before adjusting course and beginning to plummet down towards the ground. 


The Nightmare slammed her forehooves into her chest, breaking away from her in the air - her wings snapping open...but Celestia spun around and headbutt her, blood spraying from both of them as their muzzles shattered. 

“I want my sister back,” Celestia whispered more intensely than any war cry she could give - and with a mixture of her pegasus magic, her earth pony magic, her unicorn magic - pushing past into her wellspring of divinity…

Her ethereal mane - soft shades of green and blue shifted as it became a swirling mass of coronal flame. Her eyes darkened, the pupils becoming slitted as her form was enveloped in fire - and the Sol Invictus promptly punched the Nightmare up the side of the mountain, hurtling up into the sky - 

The rainbow struck.

A horrible cacophony of screams tore itself from the Nightmare’s lips. Her head tilted back as something forced its way into the world, screaming all the while -

Only to shatter. 

And as Luna’s body fell down towards the caldera, hurtling through the air - as Celestia could feel the rainbow growing more intense as it poured down on them...in the moment before the consciousness faded from her -

Celestia wondered just where Discord had gone.

The Canterhorn was shattered in rainbow.









Rainbow Dash opened her eyes - and did not scream.

There was no pain that tore her mind and body apart. There was no strangeness she felt bubbling up within her no longer unnatural, uneven limbs, no hatred that was so intense that she felt as if she might burst from simply containing it.

The warm light of the sky burned her eyes. There was no smell of blood or fluid - no looming weight on her shoulders.

And so, she rested her head and shut her eyes - and much like the red-eyed skeleton that stood by her bed, she wondered what tomorrow would hold.

-

> [19] Postpocalypse
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------








More than most, I know the pain of surviving.





One year ago, the world died.

Two hundred thousand dead, in the span of a night. A tragedy to such a degree that I can not speak on it adequately. No amount of platitudes or words I have could still the grief of the world, and for good reason. I think that actions speak louder than words - and so - here stands the memorial to those dead.

The world has forged these walls. These heavy things of marble, inlaid with ornate materials torn from the sky and the ground - transported by those willing, smithed and enchanted by the world itself. And every brick - personally inscribed with the names of those who we will never, ever forget. 

But the time for mourning - is over. As the rainbow struck, the world has been irrevocably changed. And that is why I say that the world died - and something new followed in its wake. 

This new world - this new Aezilan, cannot be braved by one nation. The rifts in the force of magic itself - we cannot address them alone. I speak not just for the nation of Equestria, but for the Dragonlands, the Lands of Griffonstone, of Panthera, of Istanbull - of all of Aezilan. We - cannot - do this - alone. We must - we must stand together.

I know that there are those of you that hear my words - and while you might agree with the message, there is a rage you feel. A rage that I have acted too slow - that I should’ve been quicker. And to that - I say you are right. It has been too long that Equestria has stood on its own - when it could serve as the base for something greater, the focal point of the whole world - a single united front against the bleedbeasts.

I will repeat that, but more concisely. Know these words - and know that I mean them with every bit of my heart.

Aezilan first.

There is much to be dealt with. Forces, encampments to be amassed - the creatures of the bleed to be dealt with, reparations towards those wounded, both Equestrian and Pantherian in nationality and all those in-between. There is much to do, and not as much time to do it as any of us would like. Now is the time for action.

Hear my words, those of the world. Tonight - the Concord of Concordia shall be signed, and the gates of the City Concordia and the Castle Concordia will be open to the entire world. We will embrace you - rulers, tired, poor, the huddled masses and all those beyond and between. 

Tonight, we shall stand together. Not as a city, not as a nation - but as a world.

Aezilan first.





What was once an ephemeral mass of shifting hues - pink and green and blue, swirling like fire, water, magic...now lay as short, pale pink strands that hung down just to her neck. While her ear was a little less close to the ground than she would’ve liked - considering how Ivory Chaser was still recovering - she had heard whispers that the populace of Concordia, of Equestria, believed it to be an act of mourning.

In truth, Celestia had no choice in the matter. It was one of the many wounds she suffered from -

her world shattered with the mountain
		there was a rainbow 
	and she screamed.

...one of the many wounds from The Fall of Canterlot.

To say that Equestria had been crippled would be flat-out deceitful. Celestia’s mane hung limply down to her neck as her eyes shined with a little bit less luster - and each day she awoke with barely enough strength to move the sun. It was as if the sun was somehow wounded, and withholding its strength from Celestia. It was barely within her capability to go through an entire day - and so she lavished in every possible moment of rest.

And yet, Celestia’s wounds still paled in comparison to some. Goldspur hadn’t woken up from his coma yet - while Ivory looked to be more bandages than pony. Steelshy’s body hadn’t been located - and Celestia couldn’t help but weep as she added her name to each and every brick that lined the walls of Concordia.

Of the six fillies - there were variable amounts of progress. Applejack had stayed within Appleloosa while the Concordia Project began - but the second that there was a room for her to stay, she hadn’t left her father’s side for longer than a minute. For the first four months, she didn’t have too much contact with anypony save Celestia and Rarity - until Twilight and Fluttershy joined that list.

Rarity was helping Ivory Chaser with his day-to-day, and even changed his bandages in some of the spots where he was less burnt. Cadence often came by to stay with her for a night, making sure Ivory was alright while she slept. 

Fluttershy was quiet. Far, far more quiet than she usually was. While Celestia had offered to take her in - she seemed to prefer staying in her mother’s room, often spending her time alternating between checking up on Rainbow Dash or sitting with Twilight.

Rainbow Dash was still broken. Deeply, deeply so - wounded in a way that Celestia wondered if it could ever be repaired. The sheer amount of physical trauma inflicted to her at such a young age - and while harmony had restored her body to full form, undoing some of transformation the Nightmare had forced her through...it didn’t have the same effect on her mind. With nowhere to go - and considering her history, she was granted a room within the castle under minimal supervision from Celestia.

It was often Rainbow Dash who Luna wept about the most, Celestia noted. 

Pinkamena, as Celestia had been able to glean - was kept within Twilight’s room, dormant. She required no food, no air, no water - instead, the girl seemed to be imprisoned in a crystal, crackling with energy as it flickered and blurred in a way slightly reminiscent of Discord’s own movement.

As for Discord - he, along with Frost - seemingly both...disappeared during the Fall. And research into this - Ceresze had been rather fruitless, especially with their limited resources. So far - they had only turned up a name - Cereliaesenea.

And as Celestia walked through the halls of the Castle Concordia, no crown upon her head - musing upon the aftermath of the Fall - there was the filly at the center of it all.

Twilight Indomita Sparkle. 

She had initially been thought dead. Her body was limp by the base of Pinkamena’s crystal, next to the other shallowly breathing fillies. There had been a few attempts from the Judicators to retrieve her body - but her vicious protector warded them off after their initial inspection. It had only been Celestia - fur and skin missing in splotches, one of her wings broken - limping, bleeding, and panting - who had been able to cradle her daughter in her forelegs.

Twilight lay dormant for the first two months after the fall. No pulse, no breathing - but Celestia knew that those things were more of a...luxury, rather than a necessity for Twilight. She had been kept in Celestia’s room with only the rarest bits of company. The fillies had all visited, save Rainbow Dash and Pinkamena - while Fluttershy had spent most of her time here. None were allowed past a certain point save Celestia.

Celestia walked into her room, letting out a slight sigh as she inspected the spartan nature of it. While Celestia wasn’t one for excessive decadence...she still did enjoy a bit of luxury. But most of the bubbling cocktail of emotions she felt rise within her were - longing, almost. Once, her room was decorated with artifacts of her accomplishments, her failures - her sister, her friends, her lovers, her family. 

She had managed to recover a few of the more durable artifacts, as well as cram a few into her somewhat limited subspace dimension. Unlike Luna, she never really had the talent for such a spell -

But a wistful smile came to her lips as a dragon leapt down from the top of her canopy bed and bit down towards her neck.

Celestia glanced down, rather unamused. She picked up the dragon by his tail - no larger than a house cat. His scales were a shade of perfect violet, only a smidge darker than Twilight’s own coat. A row of slightly brighter spines lined his back, the tips of them shifting into a green shade - but unlike most drakes, he was already fully quadrupedal, his head shaped like an ancient dragon...and had two sets of eyes.

“Hello, Spike.”

Spike responded by gnawing on Celestia’s neck toothlessly, before Celestia tugged just a little bit more and pulled him free. He grinned widely, his four eyes blinking unevenly.

“Are you going to take me to Twilight, now?” 

Spike wriggled around before dropping down onto the ground, and rolling onto his back - presenting it up towards the princess almost arrogantly.

“I can assure you that I will rub your belly, once you show me where your sister is.”

Eager at the thought of belly-rubs, Spike crawled along the floor towards a seemingly arbitrary spot of the wall. He stuck his nose down to where the wall met the floor - and squeezed himself flat before he morphed into shadows that slid through the wall.

Celestia pressed her hoof against the wall - and pressed a little harder, before the wall was enveloped in a lavender glow. There was a bright flash - and there, stood Twilight. 

The walls were made of dark iron, while the floor was a circle of dark moonstone - then lined with gold, with a central plate of glass underneath Twilight. The filly - or, through the sheer matter of technicality, the teen - was circling the plate of glass as she dragged her hoof along it. There were small fragments of obsidian floating around her as she telekinetically manipulated them with enviable precision to carve away at the object of her attention. 

Twilight herself stood about as tall as Applejack had, prior to the fall. She stood in the center of the room - a far cry from the small filly she had once been. The edges of her form seemed to blur, and her coat was impossibly perfect - but her midnight black hooves were speckled with dots of violet light that moved as she moved, and her horn was a curled weapon reminiscent of lich-kings of the past.

“Must you move your room every day, Twilight?” Celestia stepped into the room and kneeled down, absentmindedly rubbing a writhing Spike’s belly. “It would be nice if I always knew how to reach you.”

Twilight didn’t look back at Celestia. 

“Y-you could always just say my n-name.” She murmured. Her voice was monotonous - sounding slightly disinterested, almost. Yet, Celestia could feel the majority of Twilight’s attention resting on her. “I could come to you,” she shrugged.

Celestia tutted. “I would like to be able to visit my daughter.” 

Twilight turned her head to the side. “...yes. I’ll - r-r...rem...remed…” She shut her eyes. “Remedy the s-situation, soon enough.” 

“You’ve made a lot of progress.” Celestia stood and placed a hoof on her back. 

“Fluttershy - is...helpful. Words come easier, now. Still - strange, sometimes. Certain words.”

Celestia’s gaze slowly landed on the smooth black orb that Twilight was working on - grooves lined with silvery-blue mithril and small flecks of precious stones spread throughout its surface. 

“It’s - the rifts. They’re - annoying me.”

“Are, you by chance, referring to the bleeding force of magic itself as the subject of your annoyance?”

“Yes.” Twilight nodded fervently. “It’s - it’s...dumb. And - stupid.”

“I know you well enough to know that you have a rant beginning.” Celestia whisked a cushion from her bed into the room, sitting down as she pulled Spike into her lap. Spike began gumming on Celestia’s chest.

Twilight inhaled deeply. Her horn lit - and it was only then that Celestia realized that the shards had been levitating without Twilight’s magical glow - and her workings began to speed up as she circled the orb.

“The entire universe is founded on a single idea of an arbitrary defined concept that we call magic. A very long time ago, and some indeterminate amount of time, an entity beyond death was killed. But they can't be killed - because they're beyond death. It's a contradiction, an oxymoron - a living paradox that cannot sustain itself. The crude language that the writings of the Deer -"

"You’ve read the writings of the Deer?” Celestia perked up with a hint of worry. Twilight flashed her a look. Celestia held her hooves up apologetically.

“...the crude language that the writings of the Deer use is organic in nature. They describe known reality as a “rotting corpse,” using the idea of leylines like veins and arteries. They look at a single, fixed and determined fact and run wild with it - when it could be replaced with any concept. Like - salt. If I was to say that salt was the product of a dead god, such a claim would be insane. Salt is something produced by natural processes - basic chemistry, undeniable and immutable laws of science. The conventional leyline theory uses magic in lieu of salt - but magic is...it’s more like...chains. Binding magic is most often represented as chains, when chains are hardly the most efficient way of binding something.” 

“Conventional logic suggests that locking something in a sealed, indestructible box would be far more efficient than chaining it - but magical chains that curl and snap around prove themselves, time and time and time again to be more effective. The reason - is consciousness. Belief. The reason why chains work is because people believe it will works, and magic bends to fit that. If consciousness at large believed that fire was the best way to heal something, then it would - it’s just how magic works. Magic is consciousness - and there’s no difference between the two. But conventional magic - it’s...ordered, and rigid when consciousness is unrestricted and everfluid. Leyline theory suggests that rigid magic is natural - while...rift theory, I suppose, suggests that rigid magic is an unnatural aberration that exists much in the same way as chains do - consciousness - and that this behavior is expected from such a degree of magically induced harmony.”

And with that, Twilight let out a long exhale.

Celestia stared at Twilight. “...Twilight?”

Twilight stared at Celestia. “Celestia.”

Spike gummed on Celestia. “I have no idea what you just said.”

Twilight shrugged. “I know. It’s just nice to have someone to talk to.” 

Celestia smiled slightly. “It would be nice to have a slightly -” She paused. “...dumbed down, explanation, another time. For the time being - you, my little star, need to get dressed.”

“B-but-” Twilight haplessly gestured towards her orb. Celestia just looked at her, until Twilight huffed. “...fine.”

“Good filly.” Celestia leaned in and planted a soft kiss on her head.

---

“You took it from me.” A mutter.

Thud. Thud. 

“My mother.” A murmur.

Thud. THUD.

“My childhood.” A whisper.

THUD. THUD.

“My - fucking life!” A choked whimper.

An echoing snarl rattled around in the inside of a marble room as Rainbow Dash tore open yet another punching bag with a furious punch. It was sent hurtling towards the wall, where it smacked against the marble - cracking the wall and sending a spray of sand out onto the floor.

It wasn’t the first bag. And with little to occupy her mind and her body - no family, no friends - with constant supervision due to her history of violence...it wouldn’t be the last. Rainbow slammed her hooves down into the ground, panting and heaving - wiping a bit of sweat from her forehead even as she started hanging up another one.

Fluttershy cleared her throat.

Rainbow whirled around as her wings snapped open. Her eyes narrowed - before she let out a soft grunt, her wings slowly closing. 

“Knock.” Rainbow hissed out.

“I did.” Fluttershy spoke very quietly as she tip-toed her way in, making care not to disturb the sand before she sat down a few feet from Rainbow. “For two minutes.”

“Oh.” She spoke disinterestedly, not waiting a moment before she started stretching - and immediately began pounding into the punching bag.

“Do you mind if I sit here?”

“Yes.”

“You know I’m still going to do it anyways.”

“Yes.” Rainbow whispered.

“Do you want to talk, today?” Fluttershy tilted her head to the side. Maybe the hundred and eighty first time would be different.

“No.” Rainbow spun around and bucked the punching bag. It disintegrated from the force of her blow - a spray of sand staining the windows, the two halves of the bag slapping against the accumulated pile of rubble that Rainbow had made.

“Then I’m going to sit here, and I’ll be here if you want to.” Fluttershy whispered. She shut her eyes.

There was a bright flash - and Rainbow Dash whipped her head to the side. Fluttershy wasn’t there - and there was a familiar prickling at the back of her neck. Rainbow’s eyes narrowed slightly - before she let out a huff. 

“Good,” she lied.

---

The room here was cold, and Applejack hated that.

It was the cutting edge of medicine. Sterile and clinical, white and pure - floors of cold marble with the ever-omnipresent scent of antiseptic and other miscellaneous chemicals. Hanging lamps and fixtures of magelight, casting their cold white glow over the halls. To leave here, you would leave with a part of that - sickly cleanliness - grafted to you, sticking to you, staining you.

Worse, yet, was the noise. The faint hum of the magelight everpresent, only interrupted by the occasional chiming of the vitallium crystals. Affixed to a torchère made of gold, the red crystal thrummed as it pulsed out data beyond Applejack’s comprehension. She knew some of the lines that danced along the crystal represented her father’s heartbeat - yet, that was about it.

“I brought you food.”

Applejack jolted. She craned her head around, letting out a soft hff as she saw Rarity, levitating two plates of burgers and fries.

“I thought you don’t like burgers.”

“I’m not entirely partial.” Rarity tutted as she took a seat by Applejack’s side. “But I don’t know how to cook, and you like burgers.” 

“Two birds, one stone.” Applejack grunted as she took the plate from the air. 

“Have you ever noticed how - barbaric an expression that is? However you look at it, it seems to imply that you’re crushing two birds with a single stone.” 

Applejack opened her mouth mid-bite - then with a look from Rarity, promptly swallowed first. “Just a saying. Y’don’t read into them too much.”

“Well, yes - I understand it’s just a saying. But sayings have their origin, and the origins of that one seem rather - cruel.”

“Yeah.” Applejack looked down. “...I guess.”

Rarity turned to look towards the stallion. Goldspur was laying down on his side - looking almost peaceful. It was a far cry from the beaten, bloodied wreck of a stallion that had entered the bed initially.

“Any news?”

“Nope.” Applejack shook her head. “...You?”

Rarity smiled weakly. “Father isn’t going to need the bandages in a few more months. But the scarring - it’s…” She turned to look to the side.

Applejack looked down.

“A-at least, I won’t need to change the bandages anymore. Truly dreadful - all slick with -”

Applejack reached out and placed her hoof on Rarity’s hoof. “They’re gonna get better.” She whispered. 

There was silence, for a few moments - before Rarity cleared her throat and stood up.

“Well - come on, then.” Rarity gestured towards the door. “Let’s get on it.”

Applejack looked up at her. “Um...huh?” 

“It’s the speech today. Now, I know you don’t like dresses - but I got you a burger, so you have to wear a dress.” Rarity leaned over and grabbed Applejack’s hoof, and began hurrying her out of the room.

“What - n- I didn’t agree to tha-” Applejack stammered.

“Hush!”  

---

“-just a matter of finding the right location - on a global scale there’s bound to be at least one thinpoint - thinpoint? Thickpoint? Contradictory, yet meaning the same thing in this scenario - which should we settle on?”

“Um. Twilight.” Fluttershy murmured.

Spike crawled up Fluttershy’s back, resting on her head. He meowed - an unsettling noise coming from a dragon.

“Oh. I like that - yes, bleed. So, regardless - there has to be a point of bleed somewhere strong enough for - for her.” Twilight wildly gestured towards the floating pink crystal in the center of the room. “It’s-”

“Twilight.” Fluttershy spoke sternly. 

Twilight blinked. She slowly turned to look at Fluttershy. “...Oh. You’re here. Y-yes, I wanted to - show you something.”

Fluttershy crossed her arms and didn’t respond.

Twilight looked to the side. “...S-sorry.”

“For?”

“...teleporting you...without asking.” Twilight ground her hoof into the floor.

“I was having a conversation, you know.”

“B-but -”

“No buts, missy.” 

Twilight continued pawing at the floor. Spike growled lightly at Fluttershy - but was promptly sated as she picked him up and hugged him, where he then nuzzled into her neck.

“...Okay. You can show me what you want to show me.” Fluttershy said after a moment.

Twilight perked up at the same time Spike did - the only difference being that Spike started gumming on Fluttershy’s neck while Twilight began levitating shards of glass around the room.

“Tell me w-what you remember about the r-rainbow.” Twilight began circling Pinkie’s crystal.

“...um - there were - the three of us, and we were talking to you…”

“Exactly!” Twilight raised a hoof. “Three fillies, one madmare, one monster-”

“You’re not a monster-”

“-besides the point. And the results - a change on the geographical scale - so much concentrated so-called harmonic energy - broken stars with clipped wings, fleeing gods and a screaming shout towards the heavens. Hello, universe! It’s Aezilan.” Twilight was pacing around the room in a series of grooves she had carved for herself even as her tone got progressively more - manic for lack of a better term.

“T-twilight. Um - you’re - doing that thing…” Fluttershy pawed nervously at the ground. She was much better at dealing with Twilight than most other ponies - really, it wasn’t too different from a slightly problematic animal...but even still, her rants were still a bit unnerving.

“Yes. I am doing that thing. We’re - all doing that thing. And she - she’s the connection.” Twilight pointed, then - for lack of a better term - unpointed and pointed again at the crystal, fixated in the center of the room. “It’s - the six of us. Connected by one unifying magical force, hinged on her - on you, on them, on me. And she’s here, flickering back and forth through time - pained, tortured.”

“Twilight. You’re scaring me.” Fluttershy whispered. Spike nuzzled closer to her.

Twilight shook her head. “Fluttershy -” She walked over and placed a hoof on her shoulder. 

“We can fix her.”






The first voice was small. A weak, pale reflection of the brave warrior she once was - the syllables trembling in tandem with her shaking limbs, even as she slowly fixed her sister’s hair. “Are you ready?” 

The second voice was fake. A thin porcelain mask riddled with cracks - hair limp by her shoulders, every inch of her power used to keep herself from falling apart. “No.”

---

The mountain stood every bit as proud as Olympus once had. It was not the Canterhorn - for the Canterhorn had been utterly obliterated in the wake of the rainbow. The sheer presence of harmonic magic shooting straight into the land hadn’t been without any effect though.

The land itself had changed. The borders of the Everfree were pushed back, allowing bits of Ponyville to be reclaimed from the once ever-creeping forest. A new mountain had torn itself out of the ground - surrounded by a small “crown” of mountains - earning it the name the Cantercrown.

And in the wake of the death of 200,000 - of which half had been Equestrian - so came the Concord of Concordia. 

Celestia’s wings spread as she descended from the castle, nested into the side of the Cantercrown. The sun was high in the sky, the rays seeming to strike her as her shadow cast itself over the amassed crowd - hundreds of thousands of faceless beings, not Equestrians - but Aezilians. An entire dragonflight perched on the side of the mountain and on its walls - overlooking like stone gargoyles. The carriages of the deer - the personal guard of the griffons, the technologically enhanced chariot of the Minotaurs - all expected. 

The closest thing she had to a family was already at her destination. Lady Beollyssurth’s gargantuan form was perched on the side of the mountain, claws digging into its side and her head poking out around to rest by its front. The Lady Thaola stood by Lord Hermes and Lord Zarart - talking softly with the others.

The enigmatic panthers had sent a sleek albino panther that held herself low to the ground and bare of possessions, as if she was ready to pounce at a moment's notice. The moose had sent perhaps the largest equine that Celestia had ever seen - towering a head taller than even the gargantuan Frost, making all others look small in comparison to him. Ornately decorated, yet notably unaccompanied.

It had been a long time since Celestia had the pleasure - or displeasure, depending on the conversation - to speak with the Lord Utan. The zebra lord was a truly beautiful mare, beautifully adorned with piercings and tattoos that curled around her body. Yet, the dark stripes on her fur seemed so dark - that perhaps if you were to only see the Lord Utan, you would surely say that zebras are black with white stripes. And Celestia knew why those stripes were so dark.

There was one that Celestia was very surprised to see. The clouds seemingly swirling around him, crackling and rumbling with thunder as he inspected a storm-cloud that was dancing around in the center of his hand - the Speaker of the Quetzalcoatl, Kadir. 

His long body coiled around itself, his draconic head shifting into a body of feathers - four arms and two small legs...yes, the Quetzalcoatl were a dead race - hunted to nigh-extinction by the paranoid in the wake of the Discordian era, as all quetzal bare more than a passing resemblance to him.

Celestia shut her eyes and let out a deep sigh as she steeled herself. 

It was little surprise that most of the rulers she had extended an invitation to hadn’t arrived - the Seaponies, Bugbears, Wolves, Yaks, Rams, Hippogriff, Naga, Changelings, Abyssinians, the Fae…

But even still - she was sure the next words that came from her lips would reach their ears. And so - she would have to choose them carefully.

She cleared her throat yet again as her horn lit - and her voice was cast over the mountain over the Cantercrown - 

“One year ago, the world died.”





“Aezilan first,” Twilight murmured to herself as she helped Celestia take off her regalia. 

“Are you saying you disagree?”

“No.” She shrugged. “I just thought it was a nice line.”

“...Thank you. You know, Luna helped me with it.” Celestia let out a soft hum as she stood up, slowly tossing her mane back.

Twilight was still.

“She is my sister, Twilight. And I love her more than I love the stars themselves - I love her every bit as much as I love you.”

“She hurt you.” 

“Yes, I suppose she did. When driven mad by forces beyond her comprehension.”

“It’s still - her. Within her ability. Her capability.”

Celestia nodded. “You know, Beollyssurth said the very same thing about you.”

Twilight tilted her head to the side.

“That I should kill you. That you could destroy the world - that such a thing is within your capability.”

“Oh. I suppose it is.” Twilight looked down. Across the room, Spike let out a low growl - then fell silent as Twilight flashed him a look.

“I believe that most people, when pushed to an extreme - have an equally extreme capability. To judge them off what they could do would be an inaccuracy. And I just know you love accuracy.”

“...well, in a scientific sense, but that’s not really-”

Celestia let out a rather mirthful giggle. “It was a joke, my little star.”

Twilight blinked. “Oh. That - makes sense.”

“The point is - that you cannot avoid Luna forever. She is your aunt - my sister, my best friend. Would you visit her - for me?”

Twilight turned her head to the side. “You’re playing the for me card.”

Celestia nodded. “I am. Have you any retaliation? I should warn you, I’ve been practicing against puppy-eyes.” She glanced at Spike - who was currently gnawing on his own tail while rolling around over Celestia’s bed.

“...only if I get to speak to Be...Beolly-”

“You can call her Beo, Twilight.” Celestia scratched behind her ears. “She’s your godmother, after all.”

“I thought that was Cadence.”

“You can have two.” Celestia shrugged. “Those terms are agreeable - but can I ask why?”

Twilight shrugged. “Spike wanted to.”

Celestia nodded slowly - and after a moment, decided it was better not to ask.

“Goodnight, Twilight.” Celestia leaned in and planted a soft kiss underneath her horn.

“Goodnight, Celestia-” And even as the words left her lips, she could feel the world shifting underneath her as Celestia faded away into nothingness. The world faded away into nothing - and Twilight stood in an abyss. Alone - not even Spike’s presence gnawing at the back of her skull, or the faint tug she could feel towards those other fillies.

And as Twilight looked around - she could see nothing. No magic, no bleed, no - anything. And for the first time in Twilight’s life - her heart raced with fear. 

A voice as sickeningly smooth as velvet crawled up her neck and washed into her ears.

“Hello, Twilight Sparkle.”

The creature that stood behind her was evershifting. A deer, a minotaur, a pony and a thousand other creatures all at the same time - and Twilight found herself transfixed as she watched its very soul shift shape in tandem with its form - until it settled on a wolf.

And so, the red-eyed skeleton extended a paw towards her.

“My name is Antaicus. Would you like to have a conversation?”

-

> [20] Illusions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------








The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.




There once was a thing of Burden and Fate,
Whom countered a word far too late.
And so this thing cast out its Heart,
Who laughed as he tore her apart.

There once was a man of Anger and Hate,
Whom lived a life of pain and a life that was great.
And so this man looked at his Heart,
And wept as the hungry waves tore her apart.

Then, there was I, who died a lie.
A work of art to hide from Her eye.
Then, there was I, risen from below.
An illusionist, come to say hello.





Two creatures evershifting lay still within the void. 

The first creature was red. He was not a deep shade of wine, or rich crimson - but a dull, pale thing of something middling. His form was diminutive. Evershifiting, yes - but small in both physical and magical stature. 

The second creature was lavender - yet a lavender purer than any that came before. It was as if someone had distilled every single aspect of the color itself, and concentrated it into a single, impossible shade - a shade that boggles the mind itself and couldn’t be conveyed with mere words alone. Her form was Catastrophe. A flickering mass of tinted shade, screaming and conflicting with the nature of reality itself. A being transcendent, an Infant God and Divinity Made Real, with all her many eyes.

And her world was broken.

Her vision, a blurry mess. It might’ve been from an inability to focus - or, more likely, it was from the tears running down her face as she frantically pawed at the floor with one hoof. The other scratched at her own throat desperately, poking into it and scratching away at the fur and the strange flesh below. 

“Can’t. Can’t.” 

She felt like she was dying - and worse, she felt like she was dying alone. Around her, there was nothing, nothing - no magic, no air, no light, no void, no dark - nothing, nothing. There was just her mind - her infinite mind, endless and endless and stretching on and out and on and out and-

“Breathe, Twilight Sparkle.” A hand slowly placed itself on the back of her neck. Her instinct was to whip around, draconic sets of teeth snapping down towards a wrist - yet as her teeth locked down around bone, the skeletal creature didn’t flinch.

“You are safe,” Antaicus spoke very softly. “You are not alone. Breathe in, breathe out. Take your time.” 

Twilight’s jaw clamped down harder around the bone. Antaicus still didn’t react, instead placing his other hand very gently on her back and steadying her. Some instinctual part of Twilight demanded her to bite down more, to crush the bone and devour this thing - 

“My little star.”

Twilight took in a deep, wheezing breath. Immediately, she began coughing as she let go of the bone, her jaw unhinging at an unnatural angle as she inhaled frantically.

“Exhale, Twilight.”

A deep, wheezing exhale. Her coughing was now something that sounded like sickly, wet sputters - and strange black ichor began to drip down from her tongue and splatter onto the void below. 

The situation stayed stagnant for a while. Antaicus, repeatedly reminding Twilight to exhale or inhale - and Twilight, slowly, slowly collecting herself. Eventually, the filly pulled away from Antaicus’ touch and pulled herself up to her hooves on shaking legs.

The skeletal wolf tilted his head to the side, not getting up from his kneeling position. “Are you done?” His tone was flat and cold - but in a strange way, it made it that much warmer. Utterly unjudging of Twilight - utterly neutral.

Twilight slowly nodded as she wiped black ichor from her lips.

“Good. And now what are you going to do?”

Twilight blinked a few times unevenly as she finished collecting herself. Her legs slowly stopped trembling, and her breathing finally relaxed. She let out a final, shuddering sigh - before asking, “where?”

Antaicus righted his head, but didn’t comment audibly.

He wants me to figure it out.

Twilight shut her eyes and let out a soft hum as she started to piece information together. As it stood, the facts presented to her were this. 


The creature in front of her is the cause of this.

The creature is named Antaicus.

Antaicus doesn’t seem to be hostile. He wants to have a conversation.

As far as she could tell, there is nothing around Twilight - not even magic, or leylines. A disturbing amount of nothing.

Twilight?

Twilight’s eyes snapped open wide. Her head whipped around wildly - until the two pieces snapped together quickly. Spike - was - her. And she was Spike. The two weren’t just inseparable, they were two parts of the same thing. And nothing could break them apart.

Twilight snapped open parts of her mind and greedily grabbed onto the psychic thread - wrapping her dragon in a psychic embrace.
Spike. Where are you?
It’s dark. There’s nothing.
Come, Twilight asked. And Spike simply appeared by her side with a burst of violet flame. Antaicus crossed his arms - and Twilight could swear that he was smirking, despite having no face.

Twilight hated this. She enjoyed puzzles - but not when puzzles were like - this. There was nothing that made sense about this place, and it already hurt her head. There was nothing. There shouldn’t be, there couldn’t be nothing. Even in dreams, even in sleep - Twilight could still feel the thrum of magic. And before her, there was none. No leylines, no mana, nothing to draw from. It felt wrong. Twilight’s mouth felt dry.

It’s okay. Spike curled himself tightly around Twilight’s neck, nuzzling his face deeper into her fur. Twilight swallowed the copper-tasting saliva in her mouth and slowly started to pace around in circles.

This isn’t possible.
Explain why it isn’t.
It’s not.
Twilight. You can-
Right. Cast my senses out. 

Twilight planted her hooves down into the ground as she started tentatively expanding her senses past her body. She was racked by a series of spasms quickly - as her additional senses pushed past Spike’s burning hot soul, and rubbed up against Antaicus’ soul.

If Twilight was water, Antaicus was oil. It physically pulled away from her senses - yet brushed up and slithered over it. It was responding to mere observation - not physical interaction. Though, in a sense, observation was physical interaction, Twilight supposed.

Twilight.
Right. Twilight shook her head side to side rapidly, pulling herself away from her tangent. Twilight rapidly pushed her senses out even further - as far as they could go…and found nothing.

That doesn’t make sense.
So interact.

Twilight paused for a moment, before internally grunting at herself. Considering that Spike was just an extension of her - the thought was clearly somewhere within her conscious. Nonetheless, it still felt like she hadn’t thought of something - and that annoyed her.

Twilight’s horn lit, and she started pulling magic into herself. Or…trying to. Even with her horn lit, her magical reserves fully open and inviting all stray magic in - Twilight felt nothing. She couldn’t feel any magic to draw from. So it wasn’t just a trick of the senses.

Couldn’t it be?
But I can’t feel any magic entering my reserves.
You can’t see any magic either.

Twilight’s brow furrowed slightly. She concentrated a non-insignificant portion of her available reserves into a single point at the tip of her horn, readying up an energy blast…

Antaicus shook his head slightly. Twilight paused - and instead, just let the magic dissipate into thin air. Her vision flitted up - and the thinnest of smirks spread across her face as she didn’t see lingering magic in the air.

That much magic couldn’t disappear that quickly. So there was magic. But it was just being - hidden from her. 

On one hoof, it was reassuring that she wasn’t transported instantly into a realm without magic.  
On the other hoof, it was terrifying that someone was able to hide - magic - from her.

“You’re tricking me.” Twilight mumbled. Antaicus slowly pushed himself up into a standing position.

“You’re smart.”

“Yes.” Twilight agreed. Antaicus let out a dry chuckle before walking towards her slowly. Spike crawled up onto Twilight’s forehead - squatting down a little bit before he hissed towards the skeleton, flickers of embers echoing in the back of his mouth.

Don’t trust him.

“I’ll repeat my introduction. My name is Antaicus. Would you like to have a conversation with me, Twilight Sparkle?” He kneeled down right in front of Twilight, to be eye level with the filly.

Twilight slowly nodded.

Antaicus shifted his position so that he was sitting cross-legged. “Good. I have two conditions, Twilight Sparkle.”

“Why are you s…s-s…saying,” Twilight forced out, “my full - name?”

“It, along with our location, is a show of intimidation. Judging from your initial reaction, it worked.”

Twilight grimaced. “Conditions.”

“The first condition is that I will never lie to you. I will dance around words. I will leave out details. I will never, however, flat-out tell you anything that is not truthful. I do not expect you to do the same, but the courtesy would be appreciated. The second condition is…tangentially related. After this conversation, you will ask me one question - and I will speak the utter truth. Then, I will ask you one question, and you will speak the utter truth. ” 

“And - if I…refuse?”

“Then we don’t have a conversation.” Antaicus tilted his head to the side. “I thought that would be self explanatory.”

Don’t trust him.
Of course not. But I’ll bite.

“...Deal.”

“I’ll start. Do our surroundings make you uncomfortable, Twilight Sparkle?”

“Yes.” Twilight nodded with a grimace. “Hate it.”  

Antaicus nodded and waved his hand to the side. There was a rush of energy - and the black void blended away into a scene of idyllic greenery and rolling hills in a location that Twilight didn’t recognize. She still couldn’t feel the magic in the air - but she could feel the air on her skin, see the light and glance up to peer at the False Sky and just beyond. It was still - unnerving, but it wasn’t enough to push her to another panic attack.

“Is this better?”

“Slightly.”

Antaicus nodded. “It’s the magic, isn’t it?”

Twilight nodded.

“I’m sorry. There’s not much I can do about that. It would give away the secret.” Antaicus winked.

“Who are you?”

“Like I said. My name is Antaicus.”

“I didn’t ask that. I asked who are you, n-not what your name is.”

“Perceptive. Keep that up.” Antaicus winked - which took the appearance of one of the floating red orbs in his skull disappearing for a second.

“Still didn’t answer.” Twilight couldn’t help but slip a hint of annoyance into her tone.

“My name is Antaicus. I died while living a lie. I am not from Aezilan, and I am very old.”

“You won’t tell me more?”

“No.” Antaicus shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

“How are you tricking me?”

“That’s something you’re going to have to find out. Do you feel like people hate you, Twilight Sparkle?”

Twilight grunted. “No. Stop saying t-that. Just - Twilight.”

Antaicus held a hand up slightly defensively. “Of course. My apologies, Twilight. You don’t think people hate you?”

“No.” Twilight tilted her head to the side. “People don’t hate monsters. They fear them.”

“So you think you’re a monster, then?”

“Yes.” Twilight answered very quickly. Antaicus slowly nodded. 

“Do you think Celestia is afraid of you?”

Twilight paused for a moment. “...Yes.”

“And that makes you sad.”

“Yes.”

“Do you think I’m afraid of you?”

Twilight glanced up towards him - making eye contact for a fraction of a second. “No.”

Antaicus leaned in slightly. “Are you afraid of me?”

Twilight’s mouth opened to respond-
Don’t answer that.
Twilight tilted her head to the side. “Are you?”

Antaicus couldn’t smile, but Twilight knew he was. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“Perceptive,” Twilight mumbled. “Keep that up.” She pawed at the ground.

Antaicus tilted his head back and let out a hearty chuckle, slapping a hand onto his ribcage. 

Twilight’s brow furrowed. “How do you - speak? Without lungs?”

Antaicus shrugged. “I’ve learned not to question it. The short of it is magic.”

“What kind of magic?” Twilight probed further, hoping to get some sort of hint towards his nature.

“The powerful kind,” Antaicus shrugged. He tilted his head to the side. “What about you, Twilight? What kind of magic do you like?”

Twilight frowned slightly. “All magic.”

Antaicus nodded. “Hm. So why haven’t you read the Conqueror’s Penance?”

Twilight’s blood ran cold. “How - do you know?”

Antaicus didn’t respond, his orbs just locking onto her. Twilight cringed slightly underneath his gaze.

I hate this.
You could kill him. You could grind him to a pulp. You could crush his soul in your teeth and slurp up his magic. Nothing could stop you. No one could stop you.
No.
Why not? It's what we're mean to do.
My little star.
I wont, Twilight insisted - and Spike knew that it was final.

Twilight glanced up towards Antaicus. “Do you know my fake-father?”

“Fake-father?”

“Frost.”

Antaicus hesitated for a fraction of a second, Twilight noted. “I suppose I do. Why is he your fake-father?”

“Because I don’t want him to be my real-father.”

“Is that how it works?”

“Sure. Why not?”

Antaicus nodded slowly. “The right attitude for a Conqueror.”

“I’m not a Conqueror.”

Antaicus shrugged. “You’re right. You could be a Martyr. Die, for the sins of those who came before you. Or lord over them as the deity of magic you were born for. Do you know what you are, Twilight?”

Twilight was silent.

“There isn’t much more to say, Twilight. So how about this. You’re going to ask me a question, and I’ll answer honestly. Then, I’m going to ask that question again, and you’re going to answer honestly. And then, I’ll tell you something. Do you agree?”

Twilight pawed more at the ground - staying silent for an uncomfortable period of time before reluctantly nodding.
“Then ask away.”

Her mouth opened. Her first instinct was to ask - how? How was something like this - possible? It shouldn’t be possible to strip Twilight of her senses. Of her ability to see, to receive - anything. To cripple her. If Antaicus had wanted to, he could’ve brought her into this world and left her alone - leaving her crippled, broken, shattered. It was the most terrifying thought that Twilight had ever had, aside from the visage of her Celestia’s broken body.

But it was magic.

It had to be magic. Only magic could do something on that scale. And Twilight - was very, very good at magic. Magic made sense to her. It made more sense than people did. So really - there was only one thing she could’ve ever asked.

“...Why did you help me?” Twilight whispered. Her gaze met Antaicus’ for a few seconds.

Antaicus tilted his head to the side. “What do you mean?”

“The - panic attack. When you brought me here. You - helped me. Why?”

Antaicus didn’t respond at first. He paused for a long enough period of time that Twilight wondered if he had heard her at all - but soon, a long hm interrupted her from asking again.

“You, Twilight, are the single most important person in the universe. And though I know you will never truly trust me - I don’t want to see you hurt, when you don’t need to be.” Antaicus leaned in very close, very quickly - Twilight flinching away as his tone dropped multiple octaves. “And if anyone was to dare to hurt you without my permission - I would throw their screaming and gibbering corpses into the Outer Beyond to rot for all eternity.”

“Do you know what you are, Twilight Sparkle?”

We know, Spike hissed right in her ear. Her body shuddered as saliva oozed from her mouth at the recollection of what pony tasted like. Of what souls tasted like. Of the world, broken underneath her hooves and ashen before her maw. We’re a monster. Spike whispered softly, almost seductively in her ear.

My little star.

“I’m going to tell you something now, Twilight.”
Twilight’s gaze snapped up to meet Antaicus. This time, she didn’t flinch.

“Many people want many different things for you. Your instincts want you to be a monster, Twilight. Your mother, deep down, thinks that you could lead the world to a utopia. Your false father wants to use you as a weapon. Your grandmother wants you to burn the world simply because you can. You can do all these things, Twilight Sparkle.” Antaicus stepped forward - and extended a hand towards her.

“But what do you want to do? What do you want to be? What are you, Twilight Sparkle?”

“A good filly.”

The world shattered.





The edges of her wings melted into fire, entropy, ice, and ether. She had no flesh, fur, or skin - there was a faint outline of red energy that served as a “casing” to the nothing that she was made up of, a swirling ephemeral soup of stars and the cosmos themselves.

The stars within her form were not a representation of the cosmos. They were the cosmos.

And yet, her form was ruptured. One wing, rotten as feathers fell from its grasp - her chest, torn open and starry ichor oozing from it. 

She stood before a pane of crystal, her eyes flitting back and forth rapidly. To her side - a slightly more diminutive figure, a mare in a bloodied violet dress, with eight eyes in evershifting positions.

“Your Agent is ever-surprising.” The mare in the dress spoke.

“Yes.” The creature of infinity nodded. “He has his own agenda.”

“Does he think that we are unaware?”

“No.” The infinity shook her head. “He knows that we are.”

“Do you deign to act on it?”

“No. His actions are of trivial consequence. He will stick to our instructions.”

“Yes.” The mare nodded.

“And the game will continue unimpeded,” spoke the Queen. 

“Yes,” agreed the Lady in Lavender.

-

> [21] Bleed
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------








There is no glory in battle worth the blood it costs.




There is a planet of black ash. Its surface is covered in red cracks that thrum with energy,  as the core of the world itself is exposed. Lava bubbles up, spluttering and bursting along the surface of the dead world.

Three creatures stand on this dead world. One of them - a skeletal wolf with antlers, green embers dancing along their length. The second - a beautiful deer with a wheat-colored coat and grass-colored eyes. Her beautiful antlers, evershifting in their color and decorated with spools of golden thread - are marred, and made caustic. A pulsing black void grows along its mass. 

The third creature is shattered. His form is mismatched - and along all the lengths of clashing contrasting flesh, lavender cracks spread across his body. His breath is shallow, and he bleeds for the first time in years.

”He won’t remember?” Faulyn docks her head to the side.

Nekrasis shook his head. “No. I’ve ensured it. His last memory is the rainbow.”

”Good.” She nods, glancing back towards her brother with a somber expression.

“How uncharacteristic. You’re usually not this emotional.”

”I have always had a soft spot for my little brother. He should’ve been the best of us.”

“And yet, it’s because of him that we’re in this mess to begin with.”

”No.” Faulyn shook her head. ”That would be my mother’s fault.”

“He’s going to begin to stir, now.”

Faulyn let out a sigh as she turned around, trotting over towards Discord. She kneeled down slowly and planted a chaste kiss on his forehead - before she and Nekrasis disappeared with a burst of green flame.

Moments later, Discord’s eyes snapped open - and then immediately shut as he groaned, rolling over to look away from the searing gold light that entered his vision. That promptly proved ineffectual - so Discord then covered his eyes, and slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position. He glanced down at himself - blood trailing from his lips still, cracks running across his body…

Wow. 

Discord paled. His vision flitted up - before a massive creature slammed down in-front of him, her impact kicking up a swirl of dust. She stood as a deer made out of solid marble, with brilliant feathered wings - and the head of a dragon, complete with intense golden eyes.

The Great Wyrm of Justice arched a scaled brow. 

“You look like shit.”



There is a gray earthpony who walks within the Bone Dry Desert. He cringes at how soft the ground is underneath his feet. There is a call that all earthponies can feel underneath them, some sort of tug that reminds them of the presence of magic beneath them. Of the world beneath them - of the anima below them.

He finds it uncomfortably lacking, here. Perhaps, if he was to focus for a few seconds - he could call up a spurt of sand. 

He would like to be able to call up much more than a spurt of sand, if the situation called for it.

“This feels dangerous.”

“Of course it is, Skips,” the pegasus walking ahead of him responds. She knows better to fly in the desert - here, the magic itself is hot. An oversimplification of a much more complicated subject, that neither of the two are intelligent enough to grasp the idiosyncrasies of…but in short, if she was to fly - she would burn up. “That’s half of what makes it fun.”

“Sure.” Skips shrugs. “But - the world has changed, Jules. Usually, our sightseeing doesn’t happen after a shadow dragon ate a mountain-”

“It didn’t eat the mountain.” Jules shot a look over her shoulder. “It ate everypony on the mountain. Then, the Princess blew up the mountain.”

“Jules. Two hundred thousand ponies died. That’s not something you can just - be so light about.”

Jules gave a noncommittal shrug. “Sure. But we didn’t die, did we? There’s nothing we can do about that. The past is set, and is set forever. And it should change how we live - but it shouldn’t stop us from having some fun, y’know?”

Skips paused for a second, before letting out a soft sigh. “Sometimes I hate that I love you so much.”

“I love you too, dummy.” Jules smiled softly towards him. She glanced further up ahead - gesturing with her hoof towards a light in the distance with some soft smoke coming up from it. “I think that’s them.”

“So - really. The whole cave is made of gold?”

“That’s what they say. They think it’s some old dragon’s lair.”

“What if it comes back?”

“Better not take anything, in that case.”

A beat of silence.

“...Aren’t you - worried about Bleedbeasts?”

“I mean.” The pegasus paused for a second. “A little? But like, not anymore than I'm worried about a coyote or something. The Rifts are up in the Badlands and over the ocean - this far south, at worst we'd find a stray one. And we can take one.”

“I’m not sure we can.”

They were close to the camp, now. There was the faint smell of smoke - though, there was an undercurrent of…something. Skips’ brow furrowed slightly.

“I think we could. You’re strong, right?”

Something wet splattered across Skips’ face. His head whirled towards the source.

There was another spurt of fluid across Skips’ face. He stumbled backwards as he saw Jules collapse to a heap in the floor - the top of her head taken messily off, her jaw and throat exposed while blood gushed out from where the top had been torn off. 

The chittering creature that stood hunched over her side was a thing of nightmares. Its head was wholly bone - and it had two rows of dozens of teeth, all pushed out at strange angles. Its entire body was sinew and muscle, connecting to a somewhat vulpine form. Starting from the chest, the stomach was left gaping open - a constant trickle of dark tinted fluid gushing from the wound.

Strangely, despite the organic nature of the beast, its claws were metallic and overgrown. They stretched out a half meter from their paws, then curled down another six inches. They were sharpened to a point - and the Bleedbeast that stood over Jules’ corpse had its claw stained with blood.

“Jules?” Skips whispered.

The Bleedbeast glanced down towards Skips for only a second - before its jaw unhinged with an audible cracking noise. Its head snapped down as its jaws clamped down around Jules’ body, tearing out a chunk of the pegasus and tossing it up into the air - then swallowing the flesh audibly mid-air, as if it was a dog catching a treat.

Skips ran. He ran as far and as fast as he possibly could - the sand kicking up underneath him, feeling the call of the earth itself as he pleaded for any possible ounce of speed. He ran, screaming all the way -

His head was bitten off in one clean crunch.



There is a ship called the Spitfire. 

Construction on it began in semi-secrecy after the Fall of Canterlot. At the time - Equestria had been a hair’s breadth from utter annihilation. Canterlot was simultaneously the seat of power, and the concentration of military might within the nation. And while the Canterhorn was considered nearly unbreachable - that nearly had recently become a cause for concern.

In the span of a few precious years, already - twice, the Canterhorn itself had been threatened. Once, a minor incident by the Iampex - and then a second time by the Nightmares. Considering the fact that Frost and Discord both seemed to imply that bigger fish were coming…

The Spitfire was a work of art. It was the equivalent of the Concordia…just, instead of a city - it was a six hundred meter long ship, armed with state of the art arcanotech that could monitor a tenth of the continent at the time for any magical disturbances.

And, if it was also an airship - currently twenty six thousand feet in the air, just below where the True Clouds would have been.

---

Captain L’iamour of the New Concordian Elite was an impressive creature. He stood only a few inches shorter than Celestia - but was significantly more muscular, to put it lightly. The massive moose was muscle on muscle on muscle. Celestia’s office was one of the few rooms he could fit in wholly comfortably.

“Report, Captain. What’s the situation on the Spitfire?”

His voice was the most surprising thing about him. Rippling muscle, as tall as a deity - and yet he was extremely softspoken - almost as if he was constantly whispering.

“It’s a bit of a mess right now, Miss Celestia.”

Celestia arched an eyebrow.

“Sorry. Do you prefer a different title, or…” L’iamour scratched behind his head.

“Being called Miss Celestia is a first, I’ll say. But it’s not unpleasant. My questioning look is more a question at the nature of - how, is it a mess?”

“Well, at it’s core - this is a fight on a whole lotta fronts. The Spitfire is monitoring everything going on in the Badlands, and the Desert - but monitoring isn’t doing anything. And some of the Concord wants results. Wants action.”

Celestia’s eyes shut.

“What’s worse, are the Skypirates. Now, they ain’t stupid. They aren’t stealing anything that cripples us. But they’re taking food, they’re taking resources, they’re taking supplies - at this rate, they’re practically going to have their own Spitfire in a few months.”

“Have you managed to make contact with them?”

“We’ve captured a few of them, caught stealing. But we haven’t gotten anything from them. All just - noise. They’re giving us dead ends that we have to waste time tracking down. But the biggest issue - is the Bleedbeasts. They’re getting worse, Miss Celestia. They’re straying down deep into the Desert, and we can’t monitor all of them. There’s more Rifts, and the few we manage to set up camp around get overwhelmed. Like, there’s something on the other side - and it knows which ones to target.”

Celestia tilted her head to the side. “Are you suggesting that the Rifts are somehow intelligent?” Her hoof started fiddling with her hair.

“Seems like it, Miss Celestia. End of the day, though - there’s a lot of angry people, all in one place, all pissed off that nothing is getting done. I know - I know it’s not really helpful, but…we need something, ma’am. Something to show. Something to remind the people that this isn’t a losing fight.”

Celestia leaned back slightly in her chair. She let out a soft hm.

“Thank you, Captain. My apologies that you had to come all this way for such a brief conversation. Were things a little less tenuous here, I would’ve come to the Spitfire myself first.” She slowly pushed herself into a standing position.

“Please send word to the Spitfire that I will be returning with you, along with some guests,” Celestia finished.

L’iamour arched his eyebrow and looked up towards Celestia. “Guests?”

“Between the two of us - dealing with raiders and pirates has never been my forte. So I am thankful, that my sister is returned to us.”

L’iamour shifted around slightly. “Are - are y’sure that’s the right idea? I’m not the type to suggest she’s the Nightmare, but…”

Celestia’s eyes narrowed.

“-other people do think that. It might…” L’iamour scratched behind his head.

Celestia nodded slowly. “Your concern is noted, Captain. You are dismissed.”

The moose saluted, before promptly leaving the office. 

Celestia let out a soft sigh as soon as the door was shut. “I need a vacation.”

---

“You know what’s funny?”

Rainbow Dash’s hooves struck the punching bag with such force that it sounded like a whip crack.

Fluttershy winced slightly, but perked up that Rainbow Dash had spoken. “What’s funny?”

“That I still hate Celestia.” She laughed dryly. It wasn’t a happy laugh.

“And why is that funny to you?”

“Because my life was a fucking lie. My false god hated me and my mother. She tore me up and stitched me into this fucking - abomination,” the filly-forced-mare gestured towards her still slightly mismatched form. While harmony’s effect had healed some of the more extreme trauma done to her body - the carvings on the inside of her eyelids, the exposed flesh between the clashing metal, restoring one of her wings…she was still something unnatural. 

“And I still listen to her. I still can’t help but think Celestia and everything she stands for is a lie. I can’t help but want to stab a fork into her eyes then throw myself on her horn. Isn’t that funny?”

Fluttershy didn’t respond.

Rainbow Dash grunted as she smacked the punching bag three times in rapid succession. “I hate the Nightmare more, though. I don’t think I need to explain why. But even after everything she’s done - she thinks she can call herself Luna, and everything is just peachy. It’s not - fair. She took my fucking life from me. MY Life! And now I’m a fucking - monster. And I hate it.”

Fluttershy tilted her head down.

Rainbow Dash’s punches were getting harder and harder. Her hooves were beginning to crack and bleed. The bag had already torn open at some point.

“But at least she isn’t - the Monster.”

Fluttershy’s eyes flitted up towards Rainbow Dash.

“It’s because of her. All of this. She’s why my mother had to die. She’s why everything has gone to shit. She’s why - she’s why the world is all fucked up. And no one - FUCKING SEES IT!” Rainbow Dash’s tone shifted from a broken whisper to a cry of anguish as she tackled the punching bag, and started slamming down into it until it was crushed into a pulp - sand spraying all across the floor. Her hooves were bloody as she continued punching and pounding into the marble.

“I HATE HER! I HATE HER, I HATE HER, I HATE HER-” the pegasus was sobbing now as she threw her hooves down against the floor. 

She wasn’t sure when she stopped.

She wasn’t sure when Fluttershy wrapped her hooves around her.

She wasn’t sure when she stopped crying - weeping, cradled in Fluttershy’s hooves.

---

Walls of dark iron, floor lovely moonstone. Lined with gold, plated with glass. Twilight circled through carved out grooves as she inspected the pink crystal locked in the center of the room, her horn alight as instruments of glassy obsidian prodded and poked at points on the crystal.

“It’s really annoying. Who would make a system like that?”

The crystal did not respond.

"And I don't understand why Celestia doesn't understand. Or, Fluttershy. I'm not stupid. I know I'm smarter than them. Is that egotistical to say?"

The drake that sat on top of the crystal meowed. Twilight nodded in agreement.

“That’s what I’m saying. It’s not - egotistical. It’s truthful.”

The crystal didn’t respond.

“I don’t want to say that Greater Leyline is without its merits. I still haven’t figured out why stars would be over where leylines are. I mean, I guess - unless leylines are rifts? But that - ugh. It doesn’t make sense. Rift theory should make sense. Maybe I should scrap it. Make a third model.”

The crystal didn’t respond.

“Oh. Right. Celestia, Fluttershy. They’re smart.” Pause. “Celestia is smart.”

The drake tilted his head to the side.

“Fluttershy isn’t that kind of smart. S-she’s…smart with - ponies. And I like her. She’s my f-friend. But - I dumb it down a lot. And they don’t understand.”

The crystal didn’t respond.

“But I’ve dumbed it down a lot. Leyline theory suggests that these rifts are aberrations. Rift theory - heh - suggests that it’s r-rigid magic that’s an aberration. But…that doesn’t - f-feel right. Otherwise, why wouldn’t there be r-rifts before?”

“Perhaps,” a new voice rang out, “there were.”

Twilight blinked a few times as she cast her magical senses out towards the newcomer, while continuing her pacing. Internally, she was a little bit annoyed that she didn’t hear someone coming. What if she had been ranting about one of her secret projects? Or Antaicus? Twilight still didn’t want to tell Celestia about Antaicus - yet, at least.

Twilight frowned as her senses squeezed down a bit more on the creature who just entered her room. Their soul was cold, and vast - and something about it seemed sad. Twilight’s gaze flitted up - and her expression hardened as she observed a small alicorn, tears still marking her face - legs, slightly trembling as if standing was the hardest thing she had ever done.

“Oh. It’s you.” Twilight didn’t bother hiding the distaste in her voice. She’d rather be honest. “How long were you here?”

“After the dragon meowed.” Luna’s eyes flitted towards him. “Does he often do that?” Twilight shrugged. 

“Perhaps, there were already rifts.” Luna tilted her head to the side. “Is there a reason there wouldn’t be?”

Twilight paused for a moment, as her intense distaste (to put it mildly,) for Luna was momentarily outweighed by her desire for conversation. “They can be observed. Monitored.”

“If you’re looking for them.”

“...Sure.” Twilight relented. “There’d be sightings though. They’re big.”

“Temporary,” Luna countered. “May I sit?” She gestured down at a small corner with a pillow on it. Twilight shrugged, and Luna slowly eased herself down with a soft grunt.

“There’d still be sightings.” Twilight pushed. 

“They disappear quickly, no?” 

Twilight nodded.

“Then, easily dismissed. Considering the heat - mirages, or ramblings of those suffering - what do you call it…heat stroke?”

Twilight shrugged. “Fine. Two out of three points. Bleedbeasts.”

Luna grimaced slightly. “I am unfamiliar with their nature.”

“So am I.” Twilight sighed. “Celestia won’t let me eat one.”

Luna opened her mouth to respond - then decided it was probably better not to ask.

“But they seem related.”

“It could be a new phenomenon. Perhaps, something exploiting the nature of the Rifts - whatever it may be. Not something inherent.”

Twilight frowned. “You’re smart.”

“Was I supposed to not be?”

“Well, your plan didn’t seem smart. You were going to kill everyone, so that they couldn’t be killed.”

Luna winced and averted her eyes from Twilight’s gaze. “...In essence, yes. I was - not exactly - sane, at the time.”

“I guess.” Twilight pawed at the ground. “Sometimes I consider killing everyone. It would make having a control group a lot easier.”

Luna stared at Twilight.

Twilight’s head snapped up towards her. “I mean. I wouldn’t.”

Luna pretended as if that was reassuring, and simply nodded.

“I guess - you’re not awful. I expected you to be awful.” Twilight stepped up from her pacing grooves and sat in-front of Luna.

“Most do.” The alicorn was noticeably more curt than before.

“Most people think I’m awful. They think I’m scary. Do you think I’m scary?” Twilight tilted her head to the side.

“Terrifying,” Luna nodded.

“Oh. I guess we’re even then.”

Luna couldn’t help but snort despite herself.

Twilight was silent for a few moments, before Spike slithered down the crystal and up onto her head.

“I still don’t forgive you for hurting Celestia, though.”

Luna winced again, turning her head to the side as if she had been slapped. “Neither do I, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight nodded. “Good. Do you promise not to, again?”

Luna found that eye contact came slightly easier this time. She nodded without hesitation.

“Okay. If you do, I won’t kill you, but you’ll wish you’ll be dead.” Twilight stated it so matter-of-factly, that Luna felt a cold chill go down her back.

“...I will - hold you to it.” Luna mumbled, reaching a hoof up and scratching behind her head.

There was a long beat of silence - as Luna shifted around uncomfortably, while Twilight simply stared at her.

“...do you want to talk more about magic?”

Luna didn’t meet Twilight’s gaze at first. When she did, she shivered slightly - before slowly nodding. “It would be nice to have someone to talk to,” she mumbled.

“It would.” Twilight agreed - before promptly sitting down on her lap. Luna recoiled at first, but Twilight began powering on into a rant. “The entire universe is founded on a single idea of an arbitrary defined concept that we call magic…”

---

Two broken deities, a dragon, and an infant god all got into a chariot. 

This was not the setup for a strange joke - but rather a surprisingly accurate summation of what had happened three hours ago.

Celestia lounged out over her seat while Twilight and Spike slept pressed up into her side. Luna was trying to melt into her seat in the corner.

“I am not sure that this is necessary, sister.”

“Nonsense, Luna. We have to leave the castle at some point. And what better way to reintroduce you into the world by showcasing your military genius?”

Luna frowned. “My military genius was showcased to the world, sister. It killed 200,000 people.”

Celestia’s eyes narrowed. “We both know that wasn’t you.”

“It was within-”

“If you finish that sentence, I am going to throw you out of this carriage.”

Luna turned her head to the side. “That’s another point. Concordia is safe. We’re going into an active warzone. What if our - predicament - is showcased?”

“What if this is permanent, Lulu? What if we’re mortal now? We can’t just sit in Concordia, hoping no one figures that out. We have to act.”

Luna shut her eyes. “...you, have a point, sister.” She mumbled.

“...So. You and Twilight.” Celestia shifted around to face her sister fully. “How did that little meeting go? She didn’t express anger at being notified of your presence on this trip. I imagine that is a good sign.”

Luna looked out the window. “Your daughter is the most terrifying thing I have ever encountered. She compared my plans-”

Celestia cleared her throat,

“-the Nightmare’s plans of omnicide,” Luna relented, “to her casual thoughts of genocide for the sake of science.”

Celestia nodded. “She does that.”

Luna shot a glance over her shoulder. “Am I insane, sister, that I find it somewhat endearing?”

“It seems madness is genetic.” Celestia ran a hoof through Twilight’s hair.

“I enjoyed our conversation. She seemed to as well. ”

“What did you talk about?”

“She had some theories that I mostly understood.” Luna shrugged. “Some of it went over my head. I don’t believe I am as up to date on magical theory as you.”

“Ah. Was it the salt theory?”

Luna nodded. “It was.”

“A normal conversation with her, then. I’ve had to keep myself even more up to date than usual, because of her.”

“At least somepony keeps you on your hooves.” Luna smirked slightly. “You need the exercise.”

Celestia blanched. “Ex-cuse me?”

Luna tilted her head up and let out a small hm. 

From his position nestled up against Twilight - one of Spike’s eyes opened, and a slow rasping laugh escaped him. 

The trip carried on without much excitement - save the soft bickering of the two sisters, broken up by moments of a heavy guilt that lingered over Luna’s head like the Sword of Ramocles. Ultimately, though - a chariot could only get so far…and there were no pegasi in existence who could fly over twenty thousand feet in the air.

No - their destination was in the Aezil Jungles that wrapped around the edges of the Badlands. There, a small yet heavily fortified dock contained the only entrance to the Spitfire - a teleportation sigil.

Luna was thankful that the chariot pulled straight into the teleportation sigil room. The less interaction she could do today - the better, in her eyes.

The lurch of teleportation was slightly disconcerting to all four creatures within the chariot - along with the quarter of guards that kept it aloft. Even the trained guards stumbled for a moment - while Luna and Celestia, in their weakened state, couldn’t help but pause before standing up.

Twilight, on the other hand, burst into shadows while Spike leapt up into the air, flames licking from his mouth. Twilight reformed behind Celestia, while Spike skittered up her leg and landed on her neck.

Celestia held a hoof up to still Twilight.

“Your best behavior please, Twilight.” Celestia whispered. She planted a hoof on her head. She waited for Twilight to nod - albeit, slowly - before opening the chariot doors.

Greeted with rows of saluting soldiers - a blend of mostly ponies, with a few griffins present as active guards. She could see a few dozen minotaurs, a handful of moose - and even a panther and a dragon on deck, all managing the smaller airships that were attached to the sides of the Spitfire.

And there, standing at the end of the row of soldiers - was the mare herself. The titular captain of the Spitfire, the once-second in command to Steelshy Blade and Captain of the Wonderbolts -

Master-Commander of the Standing Army of Equestria, Commander-General Spitfire Sprint. 

Celestia didn’t have time to open her mouth before Luna stepped out.

“GREETINGS AND SALUTATIONS, MASTER-COMMANDER SPITFIRE!”

Celestia let out a deep sigh, as she recalled just then that she hadn’t informed Luna about every change in culture.

---

“Permission to speak freely, ma’am?” Spitfire led the two deities through the innards of the Spitfire. Celestia noted that simply being called ma’am sent a pang of loss through her heart, and that Spitfire was sending more than the occasional glance back - towards Twilight, instead of Luna - who was trying to melt into Celestia’s shadow.

“Granted.” 

“I’m not sure this is wholly necessary. This isn’t an issue on two fronts, like Captain L’iamour suggested. This is an issue on one front. The Skypirates are an annoyance - we just can’t deal with that annoyance until the Bleedbeasts are dealt with.”

“Is that not, inherently, an issue on two fronts?” Luna tilted her head to the side.

Spitfire shook her head. “I think it’s a matter of semantics, then. The point is that one of those is a serious issue, and the other - is just an annoyance.”

“I will take that into consideration, then.” Celestia nodded. “But I wouldn’t be so hasty as to disregard the pirates as just an annoyance. If they are bold enough to steal directly from the ship…”

Spitfire let out a soft huff. “We’re almost at the Cortex. Magus Moondancer handles the research into the Rifts. She’ll debrief you on what we’ve figured out so far, and then we can discuss on how best to act after that.”

“The Cortex,” Twilight mumbled to herself. Spitfire repressed a shiver at her strange, slightly raspy voice.

Spitfire took them towards a sealed airlock. She promptly placed her hoof down against a panel - where after a soft beep, the doors slid open smoothly. Leading them a bit forward, the quintet (including Spike) stepped out onto a metal catwalk and railing that overlooked a massive room filled to the brim with instruments, arcanotech instruments that were whizzing around in a multicolored array of telekinetic blurs, scrolling text on massive crystals that crackled with electricity - and a massive curved glass wall, overlooking the blurry desert below. At the center of it all, there was a mare with frazzled red hair in a lab coat frantically circling a map of South Equestria.

The room was busy enough that it didn’t even grind to a halt once the princesses entered, like most workplaces tended to.

“Moondancer!” Spitfire called from over railing. The mare shot a glaring glance back towards Spitfire - before whirling around at the realization that not one, but two princesses were there before her.

“P-Princess! Es! Princesses.” She cleared her throat. “Princesses.” Moondancer scratched behind her ear. “What - um. What can I - help you - with?” She cringed, even as she said the words.

Celestia leaned over to whisper into Luna’s ear. “You’re not the only one who’s socially awkward.”

Luna glared, then just shot a look towards Twilight. Celestia repressed a snort as the duo began walking down the catwalk and towards Moondancer. Most of the room had slowed down by now - busy either staring, or bowing - or simply just slowing their frantic workings down a smidgen in response to the presence of royalty.

“At ease, Magus Moondancer. Master-Commander Spitfire has informed me you’re the Head Researcher on the Rifts.”

“Oh. U-um. Yes. I suppose I am.” Moondancer straightened up a little bit and cleared her throat again. “A-apologies, princess. I wasn’t - expecting a visit.”

Twilight - who stood a head shorter than Moondancer, though her horn curled upwards towards Moondancer’s eye level - leaned awkwardly around Celestia and glanced at the map. Her brow furrowed.

“Would you mind informing us of what you’ve learned so far, my little pony?”

Moondancer’s eyes widened before she frantically nodded. “O-oh, yes. Of course. Um. Where to start - okay, here.” Moondancer circled around the table in the center of the Cortex, before planting her hoof down on the map.

“At first, most of our efforts went into mapping the Rift. We were trying to figure out if there was some sort of pattern to them. That didn’t prove fruitful - but we’re still maintaining that, just in the off-chance that we spot something. So far, we’ve noticed two things about the Rifts, though. They tend to form in more desolate, isolated areas - and they haven’t been spotted in the same place twice.”

“They tend to last a variable amount of time. Sometimes its hours, sometimes its days, sometimes its weeks. Generally - the bigger they are, the shorter they last. But size doesn’t correlate to threat. The current theory is that the Rifts are somehow connected by some - rudimentary consciousness. Any and all of our efforts at containing Rifts are met with a huge swarm of Bleedbeasts, specifically at any fortified locations.”

“Captain L’iamour informed me of that much.” Celestia nodded, her eyes slowly running over the map. 

Luna stepped forward. Moondancer flinched slightly. “Speak more on the Bleedbeasts. What have you been able to discern about their nature?”

“U-um…well, very little, honestly. They’re mostly organic. And they’re not - biologically possible. They don’t have enough organs or,  really, anything to keep them alive. They vary dramatically in appearance - some are like foxes or wolves, some are like small dragons…the one thing we can say for certain is that they’re highly aggressive. We’ve been tracking their motions and sightings - you  can see all those red dots there.” She gestured at the map.

Spitfire, at this point, stepped forward besides Moondancer. “They’re like rabid animals. They tear themselves apart trying to eat things. They have no fear, and they’re strong enough to tear a royal guard in two. I’ve seen it.” 

Twilight leaned over next to Luna and nudged her with her shoulder. She gestured towards something with her eyes. Moondancer arched an eyebrow, then opened her mouth to comment on it - before Celestia interrupted.

“Speak freely, Moondancer. How best do you believe this issue should be tackled?”

Moondancer flinched slightly. “W-well…princess. That’s - the thing. I have no idea how to go about fixing this. We can’t move fast enough to get any measuring instruments to where a Rift is, so we have practically no data on them. I guess if we were able to close them, that might be a start? But we couldn’t possibly close them all.”

Twilight nudged Luna a bit more aggressively.

Luna cleared her throat. “Magus Moondancer. To clarify - the Bleedbeasts come out from the Rifts, yes?”

Moondancer nodded. “U-um. Yes.”

“What do the Rifts look like?”

“They’re, jagged. Sort of - fixated in points in space. They hurt when you look at them, and they’re filled with stars.”

“Have you tried - going through the Rifts?”

“W-well, we sent some teams in - and some measuring equipment. Their directive was just to get in, then to get out. They didn’t return.”

Twilight nodded. “All of them are dead.”

Moondancer, Spitfire, Celestia, and Luna turned to stare at Twilight - with horror, mild anger, mild dread, and interest respectively.

Twilight turned to Celestia. “D…do you trust me?”

“I do,” Celestia spoke without hesitation.

“I need everyone to leave the room. Except you two,” she gestured to Moondancer and Luna. “I need every book on magical radiation there is.” Twilight slowly began to pace around the map. She then paused - as if for dramatic effect - before her head whirled around, resting at an unnatural angle as she stared at Celestia. Moondancer visibly recoiled.

“And a lot of salt.”



Cadence wasn't sure if she would ever get used to Concordia.

It wasn't that it was beautiful. Beautiful marble, inscribed in the honor of the dead and fashioned by the finest craftsman of not just Equestria, but Aezilan. Beautiful in what it stood for - a new Aezilan, all races - ponies, panthers, dragons, parrots, moose, and everything else beyond and between could stand together.

But she couldn’t quite help but feel as if the foundations weren’t quite stable. A foundation of bones can only last for so long.

Regardless, for the time being - she had made herself as comfortable as one could be considering the circumstances of - well, everything. The Concord had definitely been a step in the right direction - but she couldn't help but feel restless considering the high tensions between practically every nation towards Equestria, the news of the Bleedbeasts and the growing presence of Rifts in magic itself.

Lost in thought, wandering through the halls of the Castle Concordia aimlessly, almost blankly…the love-deity grunted as she walked head-first into the Lord Utan.

Cadence gasped and stepped backwards. “O-oh! Excuse me, I’m - beyond sorry, I-” 

The beautiful zebra mare held up a gold-plated hoof. Cadence’s mildly panicked stammerings came to a stop.

“Ease yourself, Master-Speaker.” The Lord Utan tilted her head to the side. “A fortunate meeting. You saved me time as a seeker.”

Cadence arched an eyebrow. “I- apologies. I don’t - follow?”

“Allow me to provide some clarity. A mutual friend of ours - Frost - has asked for your charity.”

Cadence’s eyes widened. Before she could say so much as a woord, the Lord Utan stepped forward and placed a hoof on Cadence’s shoulder.

“You should come to Zebriawae some time.” The Lord Utan pat Cadence’s shoulder a few times, before walking past her as if nothing had happened.

Stunned into silence - Cadence noted that she hadn’t even finished the rhyme.

-

> [22] Fear
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------








Fear is a reaction. Courage is a decision.




Discord’s first reaction to seeing his sister was to run.

Discord certainly wasn’t popular among the Children - though, few of the Children were anything more than neutral to one another. Void, Death, and Fate were neutral towards him - while Destruction, War, Conquest and Justice all hated him. The only one of the Children more widely despised than Discord was perhaps Destruction herself.

His relationship with Justice - or Soleil, as she enjoyed being called - was especially complicated. The Lady of the Heavens gave Discord’s involvement in both the fates of Destruction, Fate, and their blessed mother no small amount of weight - and at times, Soleil had even attempted to simply kill him.

The last time they had met was a little bit before the rise of the Deer, in the stagnant universe after the fall of the Vulcines.

Discord was reminded once again of why Soleil was considered the second strongest of the Children, after she destroyed an entire solar system in an attempt to flush her out. It was only thanks to a healthy amount of preparation and illusion that Discord was able to barely evade her - which also used quite a hefty amount of his mana supply.

As it stood - now - Discord was on his last legs. Wounded - his last memories of harmonic energy washing over him - burning him away from the world - lavender cracks spreading across his flesh…

It wasn’t a good matchup, to put it concisely. So, his first reaction was to run.

First, he had to escape the planet. He was Discord - and he could bend the rules quite a bit…but even he was inherently limited to some of the rules of reality, especially when weighed down by a heavy thaumosphere.

The first teleport brought him up into orbit. There - he wielded chaos magic with the precision of a scalpel, if the scalpel was flaming and also a chainsaw. He cast out a wide net, saturating points of the atmosphere with an intense concentration of his mana. Hopefully, it would provide some small measure of distraction.

Thankfully, they were within distance of a star. Discord didn’t want to risk another teleport - having only chanced the first one to create some distance between them. Even Soleil couldn’t outspeed instant travel, as far as he knew. So he would have to rely on natural speed.

At the least, he wasn’t in an atmosphere anymore. At any given time, Discord was the fastest natural creature on Aezilan - sort of. He hadn’t actually ever seen the Eldest Daughter sprint after something, tending to use teleportation instead - so he wasn't counting that. But Hermes - the Spirit of Air - would never be able to catch up to Discord in a race. He outclassed him by an order of magnitude.

And Discord was only faster when not restricted by a planet. He could concentrate his magic deeper into himself - carry himself along solar wind - and not just exceed the speed of light…but dwarf it by an unfathomable degree. Discord was fast.

In an instant, he could feel the solar wind of the sun against his back. It wasn’t really wind - but it carried magic along with it. He gathered up not just every ounce of his magic, but every ounce of magic that he could pull from his surroundings. He channeled enough magic that he could feel some of his cells begin to burst - though, that same magic also fueled his regeneration. He chose an arbitrary direction, and hoped it was away - and began sailing towards that direction, accelerating to the speed of light in a matter of seconds.

He came to a crashing halt immediately. The momentum was drained out of his body as he impacted a hoof, the wind getting knocked out of him. Soleil stood - stood, in space, ignoring the zero gravity environment - right in-front of him, keeping her hoof gently planted on his chest.

Soleil’s head very slowly tilted to the side. “Hello.”

Discord’s mouth felt dry. He hadn’t pushed himself like that in a millennium - and Soleil looked utterly unimpressed. Had this been how it felt against the Eldest? Was this how Celestia felt against him?

Flight wasn’t effective. In that case - it was time to try to fight.

Discord slammed his hands together right in-front of Soleil’s face - using a trivial amount of magic to summon the nearest physical object he could within his grasp. A small chunk of slightly glossy rock formed in his hand, and was then promptly infused with pure chaotic energy.

Matter, given an intense amount of energy in a very short amount of time - and then excited through fundamental chaos - is what the layperson would call an explosion. It wasn’t an eruption of flame - more of an intense burst of mostly magical energy directly in Soleil’s face as a roiling cloud of dust, glitter, butterflies, acid, and other generally chaotic substances…coupled with enough force to shatter a city behind it.

Discord threw himself back away from Soleil even as he created the explosion. It rolled out over a massive stretch of empty void - the edge of it encompassing bits of the asteroid belt a little over a mile away.

Discord shut his eyes and began inhaling very deeply. There wasn’t actually any oxygen entering his lungs - but he was instead inhaling raw mana, fueling and filling his cells with power. The explosion still pushed outwards - its expansion slowly beginning to calm down, leaving behind a massive swirl of dust in its wake.

Soleil crossed hundreds of miles in the span of a blink. Discord could feel the impact of her hoof against his chest before he could even see or hear her coming - a rush of brilliant golden energy trailing behind her as Discord was sent sailing towards the nearest celestial body. Soleil’s wings flapped once, covering an impossible amount of distance - before with a soft grunt, she punched her hoof into his chest again.

Soleil pushed forward again, slamming all four of her hooves down into his chest - adding to his force as she smashed Discord into the side of an asteroid, roughly the size of Castle Canterlot - that promptly shattered on impact. Soleil still pushed him down further, until their momentum suddenly instantly stopped - Discord’s broken body pinned down on a small scrap of rock while an impossible amount of rubble floated around them.

Discord weakly groaned as he felt some of his ribs move around. Blood - a thick, golden ichor - dribbled from his mouth, and he was positive that he had punctured a lung.

Soleil’s face was completely stoic. She tilted her head to the side. “Are we really doing this?”

Discord’s paw and claw shot out, grabbing onto the edges of their little disc of rock and squeezing down. Vegetation began to curl and grow around the rock -  until six or so small green plants rose up at least two feet off the ground. 

A rapid spray of what looked like watermelon seeds began to pepper into Soleil’s side. Soleil shut her eyes - and then the seeds began to explode on impact.

Discord teleported away the second the first explosion struck. Unlike the explosion beforehand - these were meant to be lethal, instead of a panicked eruption of chaotic energy. The seedspitters began to fire faster and faster - until Discord could feel his teeth chatter from the sheer force that washed over him-

Soleil’s wings flapped once - and the vegetation melted away. Soleil’s fur looked as if it was slightly charred - but as she stepped forward, and it melted off her, Discord noted it had just been some soot from the explosion.

“Are we really doing this?” Soleil repeated. This time, there was a glimmer of annoyance within her eyes.

Annoyance.

Discord was weakened, admittedly. On his last legs - but he had still thrown a handful of attacks against her that could level whole towns. And here, Soleil looked utterly unphased. Mildly annoyed, at best - and it was at this point that Discord really realized how outclassed he was.

Embodiments could destroy cities if they so wanted.
Most of the Children could raze whole countries.
Discord could shatter whole continents.

But Soleil? The Eldest? They were in a class all on their own - so infinitely far beyond Discord - that they could shatter worlds.

The reason that the universe wasn’t a smoldering crater - an infinitely sized warzone between those two indomitable forces had to do with their inherent nature. Soleil was a creature of Justice - focused wholly on the persecution of the sinners and sacrosanctity of the saintly souls of Heaven. The Eldest was a creature of pure and simple destruction - released to wipe the slate clean, then sealed away by the magical McGuffin of the century. 

They weren’t meant to be defeated. They weren’t meant to be fought.

But some credit must be given to Discord’s sheer courage, for conjuring up a train moving at a quarter of the speed of light that slammed into Soleil’s side. It was the first impact that seemed to do anything more than wash over her - sending her hurtling through space even as the magical construct crumpled up around her. She came to a sudden stop - righting herself in a moment, before letting out a barely perceptible sigh.

“Okay.”

Her first punch broke three ribs, and sent Discord through two asteroids. The first was roughly the size of the Canterhorn - the second the size of Ponyville. He would’ve screamed if there was still air in his lungs.

Discord noticed how she trailed behind him while he was mid-knockback, only to cross a ridiculous distance to deliver a second punch. One hoof grabbed onto the back of Discord’s head - tilting it up so it was face-first as they crashed into the surface of a small dwarf planet. Soleil’s wings began to flap as she built up more and more energy, slamming Discord through the core of the planet - and rocketing out its other side while carrying his broken, bleeding  and battered body, arcing gold flame behind her.

“You’re stubborn, brother. So allow me to illustrate the point more clearly.”

Their course suddenly changed - taking a complete 90 degree left turn as they started sailing  through space, arcing globs of lava and flame behind them…directly towards the nearest star.

Discord’s blood ran cold. He had never tested the limits of his durability - he wasn’t exactly the best at handling pain, to be quite honest - and the only time he had really been damaged was something more magical in nature. Something that he could understand. 

To put it another way - Discord was fairly certain that being pushed into the surface of a star would kill him. So he began to flail - trying to bite down on his sister, tearing and slashing towards her…

And yet - Soleil’s wings flapped once - and an eruption of golden flame tore from their point in the air. Their speed doubled, then tripled, then octupled - and in a fraction of a second, Soleil didn’t just slam Discord into the surface of a star - but all the way through the star.

It was, actually, the speed that saved Discord. For a moment, they were traveling so fast through the void of space, that Discord’s skin simply began sloughing off his body instead of his entire body being turned to ash.

But when something that magically dense traveled that fast through an object-

Discord’s vision was blurry as they impacted the surface of an ashen, cracked planet. Almost every bone in his body was broken - his skin was melting off his flesh, lavender cracks spreading across them - his magic reserves were all but spent…but even still, he couldn’t help but feel his jaw go slack as he saw the supernovae ripple out over the solar system - waves of fire rapidly beginning to expand in their direction.

Soleil let out a small huff - and Discord felt a surge of mana bubble up within the tips of her horns.

Discord tilted his head back. “Make -” Discord coughed, gurgling on his own blood before he spat splatters of it out. “Make it quick.” His eyes shut.

…

Discord’s eyes opened up. He winced, immediately, as he saw a swarm of mana in the air. He then stared up at Soleil’s expression - shifting up slightly from his spot on the ground as he saw genuine confusion on her face.

“What?”

Discord blinked a few times. His mouth opened, then closed, then opened again as he felt no words come to mind. Eventually, he settled on - “Aren’t- you- kill - me?” 

Genuine confusion shifted into genuine shock. Soleil stepped backwards. “What? Clean yourself up.” She gestured a hoof towards the mana floating in the air. Discord’s eyes flitted up - and he didn’t waste a second before he began greedily pulling the mana into his soul. 

The grotesque details of Discord’s body regenerating were slightly unnerving to him, as always. What was more unnerving, was the fact that Discord was now at his full mana capacity. After punching him through a castle, a mountain, a city, a planet, and a fucking star - not only did she have enough mana to spare to bring Discord up to full power, she still didn’t seem even remotely winded.

“You’re - not - going to kill me.” Discord repeated.

Soleil’s eyes locked with Discord. Discord immediately broke eye contact, slowly shifting out from underneath him.

“Of course not. Don’t be stupid.” Soleil rolled her eyes.

“You punched me through a star,” the draconequus said dumbly.

“You blew up a rock in my face.” Soleil shrugged. “You were the one who wanted to play-fight.”

“Play-fight.” Discord nodded. His entire body felt numb.

“Why would I kill you?”

“Because - I accidentally killed two of our sisters?”

Soleil paused. She then shrugged. “Hm.”

“Hm.” Discord slowly brought himself up. “You try to murder me, blow up a solar system trying to, we don’t see each other for hundreds of thousands of years, then you punch me through a star and you say hm? Hm?”

Soleil stepped forward. “Enough of this.” Her tone shifted into something much harsher than before. “It’s starting to get boring. I’ll cut to the chase, Entropy.”

“Discord,” the chaos-spirit corrected.

“Brother.” Soleil settled. She stepped forward again - placing a hoof down on his chest. Discord found himself fully aware that it would take a trivial amount of effort for it to push through his chest and kill him.

“Let’s talk about Aezilan.”



The Spitfire was a truly massive ship. It was a refreshing change of pace, from most military bases - considering this one had been built with multiraciality in mind, it was considerably less cramped than a lot of other locations Celestia had been to. Here, she could walk through the metal halls aimlessly - only getting the occasional passing stare or salute on the way.

It was relaxing - to be able to just wander with no real direction. To not know where she was going.

Perhaps, she mused, that says something more about me than I might like to admit.

She paused for a fraction of a second. She bumped into a large panther on patrol. Her body was on autopilot as they profusely apologized, while Celestia gave idle reassurances.

Celestia found herself wondering what Twilight and Luna were up to.

Celestia found herself surprised at the pang of jealousy that spiked through her.

Hm. 

---

For the last thirty minutes, Twilight Sparkle had not said a single word.

The last thing she had said was a request for books on magical radiation, and salt. Since then, she started pacing around in circles around the center of the room - occasionally pausing to glance at the map.

Crawling around on her back was Spike - who occasionally sat on her head, meowed, and prompted Twilight to nod.

Sitting in the corner of the room - slowly making their way through some of the delivered, requested books - were two ponies.

The first of these ponies was a prodigy. A mare in her early youth, tutored by Professor Dawnhorn - an expert on the cutting edge of magical study and theory. While she was humble - she wasn’t stupid, and knew that she was sort of a big deal. She wasn’t a celebrity, but she was definitely impressive.

Across from her, was the goddess of the moon, who also kind of murdered 200,000 people. She had brought coffee.

It was hard to not feel a bit overshadowed, in the moment.

“So - um. Does she do this a lot?” Moondancer scratched the back of her head.

Luna gave a noncommittal shrug. “The first time she spoke to me was two days ago. She went into a rant about magical theory. Take that how you will.”

Moondancer’s eyes flitted up from her coffee. “Oh. Um - what did she rant about?” Moondancer shifted, leaning over the table and fiddling with her mane.

Luna paused for a moment. “It was a little bit of a mess. She went on and on about how this - Leyline Theory, suggests that these rifts are aberrant, while Rift Theory suggests that these Rifts are expected. There was also some tangent about consciousness influencing magic, and salt.”

Moondancer slowly nodded. “Rift Theory. My tutor, actually, is the - u-um, what’s the word…” Moondancer paused for a second. “Theorizer? Of Leyline Theory. Rift Theory is the one that suggests the True Sun was made because of a magical presence that bleeds over onto Aezilan, right?

Luna nodded. “Yes.” She paused for a second, before adding - “she came up with it.”

“Oh.”

Luna glanced towards Twilight. “Do you feel disrespected, Magus?”

Moondancer blinked a few times. “What do you mean, your majesty?”

“A filly- a teen, I suppose - barges into your workplace, and demands everyone leaves. She did not ask for your permission. Do you feel disrespected?”

Moondancer shifted around a little bit. She didn’t answer.

Luna turned her gaze towards her. “You may speak freely, in my presence. Have no need to bite your tongue.”

Moondancer’s eyes were glued to the floor as she nodded. “A - little.”

Luna nodded. “Good. Then you aren’t foolish enough to lack pride in your own abilities.” 

Moondancer’s eyes flitted up. “Oh. Um. Thanks?”

“But it was not an insult towards you.” Luna leaned in, placing her hoof underneath Moondancer’s chin and tilting her head up. Moondancer flinched slightly, Luna noted.

“The filly is intelligent.” Luna shrugged, as she sipped from her coffee. “But she doesn’t consider the obvious. She needs other ponies - other, intelligent ponies to bounce ideas off of.”

Moondancer’s shoulders felt heavy. “Sure. But this is - my - lab. I worked hard to get here. It still feels like she undercut me.”

Luna tilted her head to the side. “A little,” she mimicked.

Moondancer flinched. “Sorry.”

Luna nodded. “Yes. Apologize for not being honest.” Luna leaned forward and poked her chest.

Moondancer tilted her head to the side. “U…um. Your majesty. You were…” She fell silent for a second. “On the moon, for a while.”

Luna paused. Her next words came slowly. “I suppose.”

“...So - are you-” Luna braced for the inevitable question about the Nightmare, “up to date on magical theory?” 

Luna blinked. “Well.” She turned her head to the side. “I have started brushing up. So that I might make conversation.”

“Oh.” Moondancer shifted up slightly in her seat, a little bit of light entering her eyes. “If you - ever need some advice - or, I mean…guidance? Clarification.”

Luna nodded. “Then I am happy that I know where to find you, Magus.”

“You can call me Moondancer, you know.”

“You said the Rifts form in isolated, desolated areas.”

Neither of them saw Twilight enter their peripheral vision. Moondancer flinched as her somewhat otherworldly voice rang out - then slowly nodded.

Twilight turned towards Luna. “Rifts are expected behavior, not aberrant. Formed in areas where magic isn’t regularly consumed.”

Moondancer’s brow furrowed as she tried to figure out if that was a statement or a question. Her mouth opened, only for her confusion to deepen more as the two powered on.

“Hence, why they have not been spotted before.”

Twilight nodded. “That’s one phenomenon. Keep going.”

“Hence, the irregularity in their formation. There’s no pattern behind it, just as there’s no pattern to the consistent bombardment of mana particles like your model suggests.”

“I’m - sorry.” Moondancer interrupted. “Are these - facts? Statements? Or-”

Twilight shot a slight glare towards Moondancer, but turned fully towards her. 

“What would happen if a creature walked through a supercharged collection of magical particles?”

Moondancer shifted around, about to express her confusion more - until she noticed Luna giving her a slightly encouraging glance. She let out a soft grunt, before making eye contact with Twilight.

“Their bodies would absorb as much as they could.”

“And if there was more than they could?”

“They’d get mana sickness.”

“Symptoms.”

Moondancer was slowly starting to piece together how exactly a conversation with Twilight worked. She posited a question as a statement - and it was their job to follow along the logic of that statement.

“In ponies - a brightened coat, increased capability at the domain of their cutie-mark.”

“It’s sickness.”

“A dramatically shortened lifespan, too. Sometimes they-” Moondancer’s mouth felt dry as she paused for a second. “Melt.”

Luna’s eyes shut as memories of ponies turning to ash flitted through her brain.

Twilight grunted and pushed Spike off the top of her head as he meowed. “I’m getting to that.” She mumbled. Moondancer’s entire body shivered at the sight of the unnatural, four eyed dragon.

Twilight started to pace around their table. “Rifts are natural, and not aberrant. Their formation is a result of unused magic clumping up together. But you say they walk into the Rifts.”

Moondancer nodded slowly. “They do. As if it’s a portal. Then they don’t walk out.”

Twilight paused. “That doesn’t make sense.” Twilight huffed and sat down. 

Luna tilted her head to the side. “Could - potentially - these rifts be connected, somehow?”

Twilight tilted her head to the side. “A high density pocket of spatial magic could teleport someone to another pocket of spatial magic.”

Moondancer shook her head. “It’s impossible. We’ve found hundreds of Rifts, all across the desert. We’ve clarified that they’re only forming in this region, too - so it’s not like there’s Rifts in another continent. Someone would’ve turned up by now.”

“...What about the underground?”

Moondancer paused. “...w-well. There’s not a lot of magic underground, to begin with. So if we’re assuming they’re formed by unused magic-”

“Deep underground.” Twilight clarified. “There are leylines.”

Moondancer fell silent for a long few seconds.

“...Huh.”



In the far west of the Dragonlands, there is an island known as the Throne Isle. 

A massive volcano, shattered down the middle by an impossible amount of force - collecting pools of lava and boiling water in the center of its massive caldera. Every year, thousands of dragons travel to the Throne Isle - and drop a token of tribute to the Fire Queen.

Cadence wasn’t exactly a dragon. But she did have a token of tribute.	

She stood at the edge of the volcano, watching the gurgling mass of lava down below pop and sizzle - wincing slightly as she felt sulphuric gasses begin to burn her insides up. She was fairly certain if she wasn’t a deity, she’d already be dead. There were a handful of dragons scattered around the edge of the caldera, all dropping their tokens of tribute - large gems or gold that fell towards the lava…

Cadence grunted as she hefted up a crystal the size of a building over her head in a telekinetic grasp, then cast it down into the lava below. There, it splashed against the lava - sinking for a moment, before the dense liquid rock pushed the crystal up towards its surface. There, it floated amongst a pile of gold and treasure - before the waves began to shift.

Few could truly comprehend the size of Beollyssurth. The Fire Queen was evershifting, much like her element - chaotic and prone to flights of fancy. While she kept many of her characteristics the same, she had mastered the ability of greed-shifting. Only a few dragons had the capability to grow in proportionality to their greed, and even fewer could truly control how their own emotions to change their size at will - but Beollyssurth was a master at such a thing. 

Often, she kept herself roughly the size of a building.
At times, she was as large as a small hill - generally when meeting with other deities.

Here, in her domain - underneath the lava of the Throne Isle…the red wyrm rose, and rose, and rose - lava gushing off her scales as the mile tall dragon rose from underneath the waves, the heat oozing off her enough to cause the water that poured into her lair to begin to boil and bubble.

Two massive claws gripped onto the edge of the volcano - which stood a little bit more than twice her size - and began to pull up. A massive amount of rock and dust was displaced as the massive dragoness awkwardly shifted herself up, and rested her head down in-front of Cadence - the top of her snout at Cadence’s hoof-level, almost serving as a bridge to her truly massive eyes that took up Cadence’s entire view.

Her voice was Death. It was a rolling flame and blazing inferno - the sound of a dragon who could shatter a mountain.

”Little Love.”

Cadence’s ears went flat against her head. Her pony instincts told her to run, to hide from this predator - but her divinity filled her with courage.

“Your majesty-”

”Please. We are equals in all but age and size, Little Love. You may call me Beollyssurth. Why do you come here, Little Love?”

Cadence was pretty sure her ears were bleeding. They certainly felt wet. She also couldn’t help but step backwards as her entire body vibrated from the sheer force of Beollyssurth’s voice alone. Some part of her filled with fear - Celestia was always celebrated as the first among equals in Spirits. Was she more powerful than Beollyssurth? Yet neither of them were stronger than Discord.

And Twilight and the Children seemed to dwarf them both.

Her eyes shut. “...I - Celestia mentioned…that you know Frost. Or, knew him.”

A beat of silence. ”Yes.” Her serpentine tongue flitted out, tasting the air as she lingered on the S for a moment. ”Many have forgotten him. But never the Starwaste. We remember what he did for us.”

Cadence blinked. “What - he did for you?”

”His mother sought to raze All worlds. Our ancestors opposed her, with him at their side. They were all slaughtered - save a precious few, through Frost’s intervention.”

Cadence ground her hoof down into the ground silently.

”Does the news of my species' salvation trouble you so?” Beollyssurth arched a scaled eyebrow.

Cadence’s eyes widened as she looked up. “Oh - heavens, no! I - sorry. It’s just - everything I hear about him is…conflicting. Celestia tells me he’s cruel, and then he’s - surprisingly likable. Not that he’s nice, but he didn’t seem…cruel. Nothing about his history makes sense, nothing about his power makes sense - nothing he says makes sense. And then he disappears, and I learn he’s in Zebriawae and needs my help, and…” Cadence let out a long, deep sigh. “I - I just think…that I need some guidance.” She shifted around slightly. “From someone who isn’t Celestia.”

”Guidance. On?” 

“Maybe guidance is the wrong word. More like - clarification. I just want to know - why is he…like - that? Why is he so hateful? 

”...The question is more complex than that, Little Love. More complex than I can answer. I am beholden by ancient oaths.” 

“Right.” Cadence sighed. “Sorry. I - I feel kind of stupid, coming all the way to the Volcano just to…rant about Frost.”

Beollyssurth shifted around - as if restless in her volcano. There was a sudden lurch - as if space itself was distorting as Beollyssurth shrunk down to a fraction of her size in a fraction of an instant, landing down next to Cadence as she stood just a few heads taller than Celestia would be. Cadence stumbled backwards.

“You flew halfway across the planet, to rant, Little Love. Please.” She rolled her eyes. “Let us head to Zebriawae, then. And we shall continue from there.”



Within the span of hours, Moondancer managed to convince Spitfire to mobilize dozens of teams across the Bone Dry Desert. Their efforts were focused at prodding around for entrances into caves - then at the bottom of caves, attempting to hopefully drill into a deeper layer of underground caverns.

Luna stood with Twilight within a small, slightly uncomfortable room meant for the sleeping reserves on the Spitfire. At the moment, Celestia was overseeing the deployment of those aforementioned teams, while also communicating with other members of the Concord to alert them of their findings. For the time, it was just Luna and Twilight.

Twilight was playing with Spike, down on the ground. Spike was rolling around and growling while presenting his belly towards Twilight - simultaneously clawing viciously at her hooves whenever she poked or prodded at him. Twilight seemed to have no issue with his claws digging into her flesh, leaving deep, bloodless cuts.

Luna glanced down towards Twilight.

“You embarrassed her.”

Twilight docked her head slightly.

“Miss Moondancer. You barged into her room, and overrode the command she had garnered. That was rude.”

Twilight shot a look up towards Luna.

“They would’ve gotten in the way.”

“Perhaps.” Luna shrugged. “But it was not your decision to make.”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “You can’t argue with the results.”

“Am I?” Luna docked her head to the side. “I’m arguing with the methods, Twilight. You are smart. But trampling over ponies - over people - to achieve results, is not a sustainable path.”

Twilight’s head tilted down. “I guess. But people don’t get me like you do. Like Celestia does. Like Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity do. I’m not - stupid. I know I’m different. I know I’m weird. I know that I’m a monster.” 

Twilight paused for the inevitable denial of her monstrous nature.

Luna, instead, nodded.

“Yes.” She agreed. “You are a monster. And few will ever truly understand that. Fewer will truly ever understand you. You say I - get you - and perhaps, I do.” Luna leaned in slightly. 

“I know you would burn worlds for my sister, Twilight Sparkle. And I know that beyond that - you want to. You would leap at the opportunity to be used as a weapon, because there is something in you, something monstrous that must be sated. My sister turns a blind eye. Perhaps, on purpose. But I know you as a monster.”

Twilight just stared at Luna.

“Perhaps, it is because I know myself as a monster.” Luna shrugged. “I saw deep into the Terrors of the True Stars. I saw gnashing teeth and hungry eyes that looked back - and in my heart, I was certain that the death of all life would be a more peaceful fate than the oblivion that those Things at the edge of reality would bring. But that was not what made me a monster.

I hungered for battle in my youth. I craved the sting of fang and blade just as much as I craved bloodlust. I wanted to be Equestria’s sword - to slay our enemies. And so I did, and I did viciously - until so came peace. I am not my sister. Peace has never - befit - me. A thousand years ago, ponies saw me as a wolf in sheep’s clothing - and today, they see me as a monster. They look at me with fear, or hate in their eyes, and they have every right to - because a monster is a thing of fear, and a thing of hate.”

Throughout her monologue, Luna’s tone grew more and more intense - the shadows in the room becoming darker and longer, seeming to swirl around her - and for a second her eyes even appeared slitted.

There was a heavy, heavy beat of silence.

“So. As one monster to another,” Luna placed a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Be better than me.”

Twilight tilted her head to the side as Luna’s words cut through a darker mood that her speech had painted.

“I am Equestria’s sword, yet I am loathed by the hoof that wields it. My continued existence is a result of half the problems that the Concord face. My actions have resulted in countless deaths, and countless harm - harm that I will never be able to atone for, regardless of the words of my sister. I gave into the monster, and I let it feed, and for that - I am weak.”

Luna put both her hooves on Twilight’s cheek. “So be better. Be reviled by your enemies. Feared. A whisper in the night. Be celebrated by your allies. Reverent, and adored. Be better.”

Twilight nodded. “I will.”
Yes. Spike hissed. We will. 
Yes, a third voice that neither heard agreed, you will.



Two deities stepped hoof within Zebriawae.

The land has a dozen names - though, perhaps the most evocative of them is "The Land of the Prophets Once Dead." It is said that the Day of Butchering, over ten thousand years ago, irrevocably changed the land. That the blood spilled that day was what led the zebrican people to develop their strange, shamanistic magic - magic that delved into death itself.

The few who knew of her identity wondered about the longevity of the Lord Utan. The zebra had been alive for over a thousand years, without a droplet of divinity to her essence. The truth was a grisly thing - one that had almost brought Zebriawae to war with Equestria.

The Lord Utan was a lich.

Her soul, torn out of her body, and suffused into some object that was further suffused with the souls that she sacrificed to keep herself immortal. An act that could only be done through a deed of unimaginable cruelty - which, for the Lord Utan, had been the slaughter of her entire home village.

The Lord Utan was not a kind mare. A beautiful one. A regal one - a wise one, a cunning one. But never kind.

Cadence knew this. Beollyssurth knew this. And so, it was with a grain of caution their flight took them towards The Primgin Qabri - the beautiful palace that had been built over the mass grave within the zebrican nation. It was grisly by nature, but the beautiful sandstone and marble structure was something from legend - with sections of it floating adrift in circles around the main palace.

There were other reasons for their caution. The Lord Utan, by their own nature, was an accomplished necromancer. It wouldn’t be unheard of for her to be capable of, if they so desired, harming the deities in some manner. But ultimately - while immortal through proxy, they still held the capabilities of a mortal. Merely the ingenuity of someone much more than mortal. And Beollyssurth was a dragon - and among deities, second before equals.

Nor did any either of them truly expect any actual incident. The zebrican lord would be a fool to violate the Concord so early in its existence - incurring not just the wrath of Equestria, but the dragons and every other signing party.

It was a very odd sight, however. A pink princess walking into a castle with a small red dragon - whom the floor grew red hot underneath. 

They were led by two unsettlingly similar zebrican mares - both of whom were beautifully adorned with almost runic swirls and arabian silks. Taken through the regal halls of the Primgin Qabri, towards the throne room of the Lord herself.

The throne room - unlike the one in Castle Canterlot, or the Castle Concordia, was not the initial entrance to the castle. Instead, it was up a convoluted path of stairways and turns that Cadence wasn’t sure she’d be able to mimic if the need arose. There, they came across a set of black wooden doors, opening to black carpet that led towards where the Zebrican lord sat.

Her throne was a grisly thing. It was made of onyx, then decorated with bone - and judging from its coloration, aged, real bone. The Lord Utan sat while pulling on the leash of what was likely one of her concubines - with a hoof hooked underneath their chin, their eyes locked as she whispered to them in zebrican.

As the two large black wooden doors opened, the Lord’s attention shifted immediately towards the two deities. A hint of surprise entered her expression - and after mumbling a word to some of her attendees, the throne room quickly began to clear. Within seconds, only the Lord Utan and the two deities were left within the throne.

“Your majesty, Cadence. Your Splendor, Beollyssurth.” The Lord Utan entered a deep bow. "My servants did not note your arrival - perhaps I should consider their worth.

“Our arrival was mere moments ago.” Beollyssurth snorted, steam rising from her nostrils. “You have nothing to apologize for.”

“Ah. Let us be to business then, I’ll refrain from being coy. Might I ask - to what do I have the joy?”

“You said Frost was here. That he asked for my aid.”

“Indeed I did. And might I say - of him, I will be glad to be rid.” The Lord rolled her eyes as she started walking towards the two deities. “He came to my door, wounded, and sickly. And even with our aid - he has not healed quickly.”

“Wounded?” Beollyssurth’s eyes narrowed. “By who?”

“It was a name most bizzare. I believe it was - Grogar?"



Upon a planet bare and ashen, underneath a shattered sky, beyond a mountain of the dead - stood three creatures, united by a fourth.

The first of these creatures was a dragon. His gargantuan mass was as black as the night, and of equal size and splendor - his metallic scales gleaming underneath the light of a black sun, having an almost iridescent quality to them. He was a thing of coiled muscle and dozens of scars - though his head was a thing of bone and muscle.

Two of those scars were especially grisly. One - a long series of stitching along the back of his scaleless head. The second - stretching across his chest, a jagged zig-zag that looked as if it was filled with stars.

The second of these creatures was a rat. He was an impossibly tall, thin, wiry thing - with a tail, long and coiled - his fur matted with filth and a visible lack of care, his claws seeming to ooze off a mixture of searing light and blinding shadow, his eyes two points of pure red. He was draped in linens and red cloth, just as filthy as he was.

The third of these creatures was a ram. A shock of hair that went down his head was the color of death - bone, left in the sun to bleach, empty and darker than black. His left eye was similar to that of Discord, his sclera yellow and his iris a searing red, while his dark eye was a mass of gurgling abyss. Two long teeth curled up from the underside of his mouth, pointed towards his nose - and dangling from his neck, was a shattered bell.

These three creatures were monstrous in their own right. Deserving of fear, of terrified respect. And yet - they were inherently creatures of selfish intent. Things that sought to rule the world under their own vision, with no room for each other in an ideal world.

So what force could unite them?

Few would expect it to be the fourth creature. A skeletal wolf with red eyes, who stood in a well-pressed red suit as he adjusted a flower on his lapel.

“What color do you think suits this?” Antaicus shot a glance over his shoulder. “Should I keep with the dark red, or perhaps a brighter color? Maybe darker?”

There was no response. 

“I think brighter. It works with the contrast.” Antaicus nodded.

”I have better things to do, than to be your fashion advisor, Illusionist.” The black dragon growled - his voice a shattering world as he started to circle the mountain the three others were on.

“Yesssss.” The Rat hissed, it’s forked, black tongue flitting out and tasting the air. “The Bleedbeasts grow hungry. I still must tend to them.”

“As do I.” The ram’s voice was raspy from disuse. “The Spirits are falling for my bait as expected. The Immortal has already fallen. I would much rather prefer to be overseeing the Lord Utan than - dealing as a fashion advisor.”

Antaicus shot a glance over his shoulder.

The Rat dropped down onto all fours, crawling up towards Antaicus’ side - muscles tensed as if it was about to pounce.

“You are - not thissss…vain. Why - did you call ussss here, Antaicussss~?” The Rat’s hissing tone filled the air of the dead planet.

”I loathe to agree with the Rodent, and yet - I do. Get to your point.” 

Antaicus let out a soft sigh.

“We are here to negotiate.” Antaicus crossed his arms over his chest. 

”I don’t - negotiate.” 

There was a sound like a whip crack. A terrible tear in space itself. Three sets of eyes turned towards the growing rift - where a single, violet eye made itself visible.

A head tore its way out as the Rift began to crack further. A thousand eyes opened along the mass of utter absence cloaked in shadow - thousands of arms and limbs coming off the creature, black fluid beginning to leak from its gaping maw.

The voice was almost as bad as the form. A hissing, gurgling thing of a thousand whispers - a hideous atrocity that would have drove the weak-willed to madness immediately, gouging out their eyes and pulling their tongues out, disembowelling themselves or throwing themselves on the nearest sharp object. 

Even the three creatures - strong willed in their own right - were dazed for a few seconds, dropping to their knees or stumbling backwards as a voice spoke in their mind.

”Good. I don’t either.”

And as the sky rained abyssal black -

Kesmera stepped foot within Tambelon.

-