Lyra Heartstrings (Mirrior) - 23rd of Megan, 17 EoHLyra Heartstrings (Mirrior) - 23rd of Megan, 17 EoH
Heart Spire Outskirts - Crystal Empire
Road trips are nice, but we all know that it’s the end of the road which matters. Three days of driving, random chitchat, and putting up with Faust and Rarity babbling back and forth about designing a super dress or some such nonsense. All while driving over some of the most samey landscapes ever. That’s all a road trip really was.
I mean, I knew that from the get go. They are fun, but it’s the destination at the end that’s important. The whole point behind coming here was finally within view.
The city of Heartspire, home to the Crystal Spire, where Sunset lived.
It was fucking awesome! The whole city and a good chunk of the surrounding area had blooming flowers, green grass, and towering trees. A fact which wouldn’t be remarkable if we hadn’t driven for the last day through sub zero arctic-like conditions, plowing through meter high snow drifts the entire way.
You can’t get much cooler than ‘City in a bubble of eternal spring’. Not without also making it totally out of crystal!
The huge towering walls around the city looked like a jagged formation of amethyst and rose quartz that just grew into a wall shape. The towering buildings behind the walls looked like inside out geode which, while roundish and kind of bulbous, still looked like intentional architectural choices. You could tell the glittering city which glowed beneath the sun wasn’t natural, but at the same time so much care had been put into making it feel natural that it transcended the concept of ‘constructed’.
I didn’t know of a word to describe that sort of naturally occurring man-made structure. Paradoxical came to mind.
The only clearly artificial building within the entire city was the huge spire within the center of the heart shaped wall. The white, diamond-like gemstone building reminded me of the Eiffel Tower, only with two smaller towers on either side of the central one. And flipping huge! Burj Khalifa huge!
My only complaint was I couldn’t properly see the building because of the pink shield dome which covered the entire city, tinting everything slightly off color. You kinda had to wonder why they had a physical wall when they could put a shield over the city.
I mean, the Enterprise didn’t have a robotic arm on it with a kite shield.
Of course, that shield was a bit more of a problem then ‘ruins the view’. As Rarity observed, you don’t raise the shields unless there’s a problem. Specifically an ‘external threat’ problem. And here we were. A dragon, a goddess disguised as a filly, a satyr, and me, a… Werepony?
What do I classify me as? Human form, pony form, hybrid form… Yeah, Werepony will do for now.
I’d also made a fairly interesting discovery. My full pony form was not a quadrupedal version of the anthro form, but instead a direct translation of my old self into a pony body. Minty green and white rather than black fur and hair, gold eyes. I liked it! Maybe one day I’d change out the anthro form to match...
At any rate, when we’d reached the gate, we’d ran into a major roadblock. Literally. The gates were covered in more shield, as well as big shimmery silver metal portcullises, complete with a group of soldiers guarding them.
The squad wasn’t about to just wave through quote ‘A group of unknown people with no ID in what I can only describe as an ugly-as-sin, alien carriage’. We weren't exactly going to just be waved through. At least I had the forethought to go full pony before we’d pulled up to the gate. Otherwise it could have been way worse.
As it was, the lime green pegasus mare who was in charge of this gate was not being remotely reasonable with us. I get that she had a job to do, but I’d produced a letter of invitation signed by a resident of the city! Did that do anything? Nope!
The sargent’s pink and white mock-crystal armor shimmered as she hovered at my truck’s window height.
“Right,” she said, ears laying back in annoyance. “I’m going to have to ask you to go now.”
“I’m telling you, we have an invitation!” I protested again, huffing with enough indignation to actually snort like a horse.
The sargent rolled her eyes, her wings flapping faster seemingly in irritation. “Oh yeah, a letter without any seal, written in faded ink showing it to be YEARS old, signed by a pony with a super common name. That’s soooo and official invitation,” she mocked.
A common name?!
“Oh come on!” I exploded, ears laying back. “I really am friends with Princess Cadence’s Chambermaid!”
“Um, Sage,” a glossy white pony which I swore was ether covered in body glitter or made of crystal said loudly. “That’s Si-”
“Don’t interrupt, Pearl,” The Sargent rebuked, tail twitching as her head snapped back to face me. Now, ma’am, maybe you are, but a letter signed with half a name, which lacks any kind of seal, and is either very old or weather damaged, is NOT a credible source of information. You don’t even have an ID I could show her to confirm whether or not Sunset knows you. I have no reason to believe you.”
“What’s that matter?” Rarity asked, masking her own irritation with a polite calmness as she, leaned down slightly to try and look into the sergeant's eyes. “I could see you being this firm on keeping us out of the palace itself, but this is a city, is it not? Surely there is no real reason to keep us out of the city.”
The Sergeant nodded to herself slowly. “Okay, tell you what, since you’re more polite than your friend, I’ll give you an honest answer,” she decided. “Let’s say this was a normal day. A pony and a dragon come to the gates with a third adultish looking person of an unknown species, and they are traveling with a filly.
“Only two of you would be allowed in, and one would HAVE to remain outside with your filly. Heart Spire is a city for adults, not families. This is a specifically tailored community, and it’s the only one of its kind in Equestria or any of its territories. As such, if you all wanted to enter the city, you still couldn’t get through this gate. The foal friendly district is only accessible through the eastern gate.”
“Oh! So we just need to drive around to the other side?” I asked with an exacerbated sigh.
Why the fuck didn’t she just say so five minutes ago!?
“For the record, I’m not a filly,” Faust said from her position on the dashboard. “This is a form I assumed.”
“Sarge, you should really ask for her name,” the crystal pony from before insisted, gesturing to me with one hoof.
My name? But why?
The Sergeant facehooved. “Not now, Pearl! Okay, so, changeling, no offence ment to your lifestyle, but if by some stroke of luck you do get inside today, you’ll need to return to your natural form, go to any law enforcement office, and get an ID charm so you’re not mistaken for an actual filly before you can return to that shape. It’s fine if you prefer a younger form, but we can’t have guards thinking some filly is running around what’s essentially a city wide red light district…
“As for you, miss super impatient-”
“SARGE! You’re talking to Sir Lyra Heartstrings!” Pearl snapped.
“Maybe I am, but I doubt it, because if she was, and was missing her ID she’d still understand that she’d need to present some form of identification because, and this is the part which proves she’s NOT Princess Luna’s agent, SHE WOULD KNOW THAT ALL CITIES ARE UNDER LOCKDOWN BECAUSE WE ARE AT WAR!” The Sargent exploded, her own frustration finally reaching critical mass.
War? Well Fuck. Okay, yeah. That would complicate things. But on the other hand-
“When the heck did war happen!?” Pinkie exclaimed in shock, asking the question for me.
“Three days ago,” The Sergeant snapped. “Frankly, I should have had my ponies open fire on you long before now, but you seem more like ignorant travelers than spies. So again, you need to turn around and go back to your city of origin. I’m assuming that’s a changeling hive someplace.
“Oh, and by the way, impersonating a noble without their permission is a jailable offence during peacetime. I’m going to assume that Sir Heartstrings licensed her image to you through the proper channels. But thing is, with a war on, you could be shot as a spy for using that body! I recommend you stop looking like a national hero. Right now!”
OHHHHH FUCK! I didn’t even think about that! I hadn’t even remembered that Sunset’s letter mentioned this world’s version of me was a military member.
“She’s not a changeling, that’s how she looks normally,” Pinkie said, vouching for me.
“That’s unfortunate. Dye your main, or something,” the Sergeant said, reaching up to rub her temples despite the fact that her greek-ish helmet covered them. “Look, you need to leave. You should be let back into your own city. If you had ID, we’d still have to turn you away because Equestria and her territories, protectorates, and colonies are under full wartime laws.
“Civilian travel is currently prohibited. You’d need your ID and a sealed letter from a government agent explaining why you were coming in order to be let in. This policy is to prevent espionage, as well as make infiltration by commandos more difficult. There can be NO exceptions.
“You were on the road when war was declared. Your home city should let you back in, if ponies there there can vouch for your identities. But you are NOT getting into this city, the home of one of the Princesses, with no ID, no orders to come here, during wartime. Understand?”
I sighed, sitting back in my seat, then nodding slowly.
“Yeah, I understand. I guess we’ll have to go back to Ponyville,” I said to myself.
“Oh,” The Sergeant said, wincing immediately.
Along with every other pony in the squad.
“Uh… About that… Ponyville’s been hit. First spot of the war. It’s been wiped out,” the Sergeant said with more empathy than I’d heard anyone ever use in my life. “I um… Pearl! Go see if we can take in refugees.”
Before I could explain that was simply where we had last been and not our home, Faust closed her eyes and took a single long breath.
“This is dumb. Very dumb. Girls, may I please resolve this dispute so we can get on with things?” Faust asked, looking at the three of us.
“Please!” I replied.
Faust nodded and stood up, simply passing through the windshield as it it went there.
“Hello,” she said, addressing the soldiers calmly while they raised their weapons in response to her, you know, phasing through solid matter.
For a second, I worried they would shoot. I figured the truck could take magic just fine, but those crossbows looked like they had real bolts… And also magazines. Implying they fired at rifle speeds. One of those could definitely go right through the windshield and hit me!
Faust’s body transformed into bright gold light, resolving in a heartbeat into a towering alicorn, her appearance kept the same in terms of general shapes and colors, but with every last detail emphasized in such a way as to make her the single most elegant thing you'd ever set eyes on.
“I am Deus-Architectus Faust Vitae,” Faust said, allowing her gold aura to shimmer brightly. “You may remember me from the last time you swore, stained glass windows in ancient temples, or that one role playing game where for some reason my NPC is romanceable.
“I understand what kind of city this is, and I do not disapprove. You should be free to do as you desire. As proof of my divinity, please accept this gift and also my apologies for having read your minds. I can see each of your greatest fantasies, and I have ensured you will experience them with none of the negative side effects they would impart.
“Yes, Pearl, even you. I mention you specifically because your particular desire intrigues me. Please find a shrine to me later and use it so we can talk. Those of you who wished for physical alterations, please check your person so you can confirm that I have done something.”
The soldiers stood still, staring at Faust in honest shock for several long moments.
“Please?” Faust asked hopefully.
“Uh… I um… Mares, did you experience anything? Because uh… I can’t check if I can… You know. Cuz I’m on duty,” the Sergeant asked, blushing a bright red.
The soldiers awkwardly talked amongst themselves for a few minutes, clearly nopony there wanting to do anything like that sort in front of a goddess. I had to agree with them. Seeing her like that, here simple appearance making you feel what she actually was… It was something special. Something you shouldn’t sully.
The crystal pony, Pearl, took a few steps backwards, then ran into a guard post, vanishing from sight for a moment before leaning her head out, grinning from ear to ear. “Yep! She did the thing!” The mare called excitedly. “Thank you, ma’am! Uh… W-what do you call, um, well, you?”
“My name. There’s no need for silly titles,” Faust answered with a kind smile.
The Sergeant cleared her throat. “Well! I um… I uh, I still can’t let you in. Because… Orders. I, c-could you please not smite me? Couldn’t you just ignore the shield, or something?”
“I could simply pass through your shield, yes,” Faust agreed. “However, these girls kindly showed me where this city is, and they have friends here they wish to see. I would like them to have their visit. It’s only fair after the help they have given me. Would it be alright if I spoke to your manager? Or whichever of your department’s executives possess the authority to authorise their entry?”
The Sergeant nodded rapidly. “I um, yes! I- I’ll just go get her,” she exclaimed tapping her hooves together nervously. “You’ll wait here, right? N-no funny buisness? I mean,the rumor is we’re at war with actual demons so um… Yeah… I want to believe this is not a trick, I really do, but-”
Faust smiled and shook her head. “You’re so beautiful. My husband would love you. You have my word we won't cause any trouble, and I apologize for not introducing myself first. I thought my friends wouldn’t be hindered entering the city.”
The Sergeant nodded and flew off, neglecting giving her troops any orders as she flew up over the wall, passing through the shield with a cool water-ripple effect as she slid through the pink bubble.
As she vanished, Faust laid down on my truck’s hood, shimmying until she found the spot she had claimed to be super comfortable. I was about to ask her why she didn’t do that sooner when her face contorted slightly, concord flashing across her eyes for just a second as she turned and leaned her head through the windshield to quietly address Rarity.
“It may be inappropriate of me to tell someone else this,” Faust began apprehensively. “But it’s for her sake. Rarity, you know the younger guard pony, Pearl? She rather fancies dragons. I had to resort to her second greatest fantasy as I will not force a sapient being to do something. She seems to be rather sweet, and I feel bad that I couldn’t fulfill her personal dream. Would you mind taking her out on a date, Rarity? I think you two could work well together, given what I’ve seen of both your minds.”
I blinked in confusion. “Um, but Rares is straight,” I protested, holding up one finger in confusion.
Rarity cleared her throat, her wings shuffling a little nervously. “I um… I sort of asked Faust if she could change that,” she said awkwardly. “I figured that w-well you know, orientation is a thing which you can’t change. If I suddenly liked other things, that would be very good proof of her power and well… Yeah.”
Pinkie and I stared at her in surprise for several seconds.
“So, you like girls now?” Pinkie asked with a confused frown.
“No. I asked to like everything. Not just any sexes which exist, but also all sapient species. I um- I was also worried that I wouldn’t find any stallion attractive because of the species differences. I- Um, well, I think it’s perfectly reasonable to state that previously I was attracted exclusively to human males. Which meant that I’d likely have lived my entire life here alone, single, unable to find anyone to love. Then I worried that because we can’t expect behavioral psychology to be consistent across species I’d be more compatible with a mare in terms of personality and behavior and, well, the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone arrose.
“It’s complicated, okay? I-I’m making a new identity for myself here entirely. All I wanted to do was further solidify this, turning point,” she admitted with a strained smile. “Um, anyways, yes, Faust. I guess I could ask her out. I do like how she looks like she’s made of living crystal.”
“Excellent!” Faust said happily, conjuring a piece of paper in her hoof and extending it to Rarity. “Contact information.”
I sat back in my seat, doing my best to think clearly. Rarity actually had brought up a good point. I had expected to just settle in here. What if I couldn’t? Lots of things WOULD be different, and while I thought that was a good thing. Was it?
Was I being some kind of idealist? In a bad way I mean. Maybe I should think about-
A flash of cyan light caught my attention as a blue cloaked pony teleported in front of the truck, their cloak fluttering literally like something out of an anime. The motions looped and rippled in a smooth pattern which definitely meant the cloak had to be animated by magic, and made me immediately want one. Especially since the hood did that cool face-hiding thing, and went well with the pastel purple and pearl colored fur and hair I could see beneath it.
In general if it went well with blues, it went well with greens.
Faust stood back up as the mage appeared and seemed to analize her for a moment.
“Hello, can you make the necessary decisions to allow my friends entry?” She asked immediately.
“No. I’m just checking for traps,” the mage said in a super familiar female voice. “Can you prove your identity again? I hate to ask but we need more than the word of a single guard before letting an entity of Discord’s power into the city at the moment. Especially since if you wanted to be inside and could do so yourself, you would be inside.”
Faust rolled her eyes and vanished without any flair at all, jump cutting herself behind the shield and waving at us from behind the gatehouse. “I can get inside just fine,” Faust called loudly enough for everyone to hear.
The blue cloaked mage turned, spotting her behind the shield just before Faust returned to the hood of my truck to continue speaking. “Your shield is no obstacle to me. I could easily transport myself and my friends inside. But, your guards would object to that and while your weapons could not harm me, they could be injured. Hence, the need to ask permission.
“I assure you, I’m no threat. If I wanted this city gone, now that I know where it is, I could simply scatter its atoms to the winds. I don’t. Far from it in fact. Discord is my relative, he’s been disabled by the forces attacking your nation. I wish to help and I require access to the artifact known as the Crystal Heart. I don’t even need to take it, I merely need to touch it.”
The mage nodded to herself. “Okay, I did just see you teleport without the use of magic. That’s fairly impressive, but I’ve personally used aura masking artifacts which could produce similar effects,” she countered. “On the other hoof, I don’t know of anyone other than Discord who would come riding up on the hood of an 89 Toyota.”
Faust blushed lightly. “Have you ever tried laying on one of these? It’s exceptionally comfortable!” She admitted bashfully.
“No, I never owned that model,” she replied shaking her head. “Could you do something? Not what you did for our Sargent. Something simple. Say… Conjure one cubic decimeter of Osmium two-two-two?”
Faust shook her head. “No, I couldn’t. Because that’s not an isotope of Osmium. That many additional neutrons would be impossible to bind into the center of the nucleus due to insufficient protons. In order to make it, I would need to add protons, which would make the material into a different element.
“I may be what you would consider a deity, but this universe MUST operate under its established rules. I can add new rules so long as they do not conflict with existing rules, but I can’t break the rules.”
The mage nodded twice. “Good answer. I can believe that. Can you create a stable quantity of normal Osmium from nothing?”
Faust nodded and dipped her horn, a pale gold aura shining as a large cube of silvery gray metal appeared at the mage’s forehooves. “There you are. Can you actually verify what it is?” Faust asked hopefully.
The mage’s horn lit up for a few seconds before she nodded in satisfaction and dismissed her spell. “Well, that’s Osmium. Which is too atomically dense to create with conjuration magic. So you ARE using something beyond the scope of ponykind. Another point in your favor. Let me check one last thing. If it’s correct, I’ll vouch for you.”
Faust nodded politely, and the mage trotted up to the driver side window, rearing up to look inside, staring critically at my face for a few moments.
“Uh… Hi?” I asked slowly.
“Mister Constant’s third period math class always put you to sleep,” the mage said matter of factly.
I blinked. “How the fuck do you kn-” I stopped talking as my own brain slapped me with the obvious fact, my eyes instant lighting up with surprise. “Sunset! Oh thank god! You’re the Princess’s assistant, right? You can totally let us in. I um, I know there’s a war on now but we could still get lunch and catch up or something, right?”
Sunset shook her head. Now that I’d realized who she was, I could see that her eyes were the same. I can’t believe I’d forgotten that she’d used illusion spells all the time! I’d been looking for a red and yellow maned pony. Like a dumbass!
Rarity leaned down to look out the window the moment I identified Sunset, flashing her a toothy smile. “Good to see you, darling! I’m a dragon at the moment. Probably not what you were expecting.”
Sunset shook her head slowly then laughed. “I expected you three years ago. And as full ponies. I can talk to you for a little while in just a minute. I’m afraid I’m busy right now,” she said turning back to face Faust. “Well, I’ve got this cloak pin which protects me from mind reading spells. You couldn’t have just pulled their personalities from my brain to go with an illusion. I’ve certainly had a few weirder days than this. I’ll be back in just one minute.”
Sunset shimmered, her magic flaring brightly as she teleported away again, instantly making me jealous that I couldn’t do that myself. I was SO going to learn how to do that!
“She seems rather bright,” Faust mused to herself, sitting down on my truck’s hood.
“Sun’s always been a genius,” Rarity replied. “You know, if she lets you read her mind, I’ve always wanted to know if she just has a really good memory or if it’s actually photographic like she says it is.”
“I’ll be certain to let you know if she does allow me to-” Faust answered, stopping as three separate bursts of magic announced the arrival of three more lucky bastards who could teleport.
Sunset was back, naturally, along with a tall pink alicorn, who I knew from Lemon’s letters was Princess Cadence. I’d sort of expected the third to be her husband, but instead it was a random pony clad from nose to tail in pink and white painted plate armor which had a sadly modern techy look to it.
Disappointing, given the cool fantasy-medieval city aesthetic.
I expected Princess Cadence to ask questions, confirm Faust’s identity for herself. Instead, the moment she saw her, the Princess's ears perked, and she smiled as if seeing an old friend. “I never expected to see a heart like yours, much less that I could read anything from an entity I can tell isn’t anything like myself,” Cadence said dipping her head politely. “Welcome to my city, I-I’m afraid that if the legends surrounding you are true, that you will not like my city or my family very much. But if you need access to anything here, you may have it… So long as you won't punish anypony for being who they are.”
Faust blinked, genuine offense pulling her lips into a steep frown. “What exactly do those legends say?”
Cadence cleared her throat. “Well, for starters, they say you only approve of monogamous relationships and-”
“Until a few days ago, I didn’t think your species was any more intelligent than any other animals on any other planet in the universe,” Faust grumbled. “Why would I care how many mates you took? That opinion isn’t changing now that I know you’re as sapient as we are… S-sorry for assuming that, by the way. Um, you see, when you’re job is creating cosmic scale objects focusing on the itty bitty things on those objects isn’t something you really do much…”
The armored pony cleared their throat. “How couldn’t you tell? Look at everything we’ve built in this one city over here,” he insisted.
“Lots of mortal creatures construct homes, tools, and change their environment,” Faust objected. “Bees make hives, ant colonies can be remarkably intricate and elaborate, beavers dam rivers, most ape species will fashion tools from sticks, birds nests can be exceptionally elaborate and… And I should stop defending myself.
“I made a grave mistake. I did not properly safeguard your kind because I failed to correctly understand you eons ago. I’m here to begin to make amends for that. I’d like to start by offering each of you a personalized gift as an apology, and after I check on what I came here to see, I can see about getting my husband to take care of this little war you’re having. He might enjoy a quick break.”
“What are you here to do, exactly?” Cadence asked curiously. “And what do you mean by a personalized gift?”
“I mean I can give you something you desire. A lesser wish of sorts,” Faust elaborated. “Like what I did for your gate guards. I intend to do the same for as many as possible until I can repair much of the damage done to your kind… The overseer I created for you is… Well, best case he’s incompetent and will be given a different position. Very few of his decisions make any sense now that I’ve checked in… Blame that one on me. I assumed that I’d created the right tool for the job.”
Cadence nodded to herself. “I see… You’re exceptionally upset about this. I imagine I would be too. Normally I’d offer anyone comfort and help working through their problems, but I’m afraid I do not have too much time. The enemy is marching on Canterlot as we speak. I should be teleporting there now to aid in the defense. What do you need here, do you need my help to get it?”
Faust laughed. “Sorry! I- I’ve never made a mistake this bad before,” she explained nervously. “All I need to do here is ensure my friends get to visit their old friend, Sunset, the mare to your left. I didn’t know where this city was, and they brought me here.
“As for what I need from your city, I need to use the Crystal Heart. It’s an artifact I made a long time ago. I won't harm it, nor take it from you. I gave it away freely as a gift. However, it will allow me to locate the person responsible for the death of my daughter Dusk and-”
Faust stopped talking immediately, her eyes widening in sudden realization. “There’s a war on… And there’s no Death at the moment. Oh sweet, bucking Order the entire soul system is going to get completely backed up!”
“And this is bad because… Why?” Cadence asked worriedly. “Pretend I know nothing about you, your kind, or what you do.”
“It’s not your concern. It’s just my job as the department head for the third dimension. This is bad. I have to fix this, as soon as possible! I thought I’d have more time to finish grieving and find a proper replacement for Death but-” Faust stopped talking, and rubbed her head with her hooves wearily. “I need to finish here quickly so I can get to work. Would you please lead me to the heart?”
Cadence nodded. “Yes. I can do that. I’ll also house your friends here for a while. If I teleport, can you follow me?” She asked hopefully.
Faust nodded. “Easily, yes.”
“Good! I’m sorry, but I really am pressed for time. This is a bit personal. Last time Canterlot was attacked I had to sit most of it out, and Luna is MIA…” Cadence said wearily as she looked over towards the group of guards ponies, scanning over them until her eyes fell on the crystal pony. “Pearl! Would you please escort these three to the palace and get them some guest rooms near each other? I’m assigning you to them as a personal guard. Feel free to pick three others to help you as well.”
“Yes, ma’am!” Pearl exclaimed happily, snapping a salute a little too hard and smacking herself in the eye. “Ow…”
I winced sympathetically, missing Cadence’s motion as she turned towards us thanks to trying to work out how a pony made of crystal would be hurt by impact.
“As for you three, welcome to Heart Spire, you’re currently staying as my guests because I don't have time to file any sort of paperwork. As such, I’m afraid you’ll be limited to the palace,” Princess Cadence said to the three of us. “You will have an escort. Please do not stray from Pearl’s sight. You’re not under arrest, it’s just that I’d rather someone keeps an eye on you until I can be certain you’ll fit in well in my city. Please don’t take offense, everyone living here may as well be my family and their comfort is of my utmost concern.
“That said, please, enjoy your stay. And assuming you’re the friends Sunset talks about from time to time, after this war we’ll see about getting you homes here if you like… I-I’m afraid that with Ponyville gone, your only way home is gone as well. I’m also afraid that I can't stay any longer. Have as nice of a day as you can.
“As for you, your worship-”
“Please, just call me Faust,” Faust pleaded.
Cadence nodded politely. “In that case, Faust, please follow me,” Cadence said, vanishing in a flash of light.
Faust simply vanished. Teleporting away with her usual no-frills jumpcut.
Sunset quickly trotted over to the truck window and gave the three of us an apologetic frown. “I- I’m sorry you showed up now. I won't be able to be with you guys for a while. At least until after Canterlot is safe. With Luna missing, well… I’m kind of needed there. For reasons.
“I promise I’ll visit you the moment I get back. In the meantime, the palace baker, Moon Dust, she’s my marefriend. If you want to talk to somepony she knows who you three are. Just go say hello! I um… I’ll see you all as soon as I can. Bye.”
With that, Sunset vanished in a flash of cyan light. I’d come all this way to actually hang out with her and hadn’t even gotten in more than a sentence. Man I felt fucking cheated!
But hey, at least I’d be sleeping in a palace tonight. That beat the heck out of a grassy field.
Heart Spire - Crystal Empire
23rd of Megan, 17 EoH
Princess Cadence appeared in the courtyard beneath the Crystal Spire in a flash of light, immediately joined by the slightly taller Faust who arrived with her usual lack of flair. The Alicorn and the goddess shared remarkably similar expressions as they arrived. Each one focused on the task which lay ahead with the utmost seriousness.
The crystal heart floated in its shrine beneath the soaring arches of the Crystal Spire, eternally revolving around it’s own axis, suspended between the stalagmite and stalactite-like crystals which formed the Spire’s central pillar.
“There it is… Do you mind if I stay and watch? If only to make sure everything is okay?” Cadence asked, a little voice in the back of her mind demanding she be absolutely certain the goddess meant her ponies no harm.
Faust nodded and trotted up to the floating heart. “Of course,” she said as she stopped just in front of the heart. “It won't take long. I only need to touch it, and use it’s power to pierce through a protective perception filter.”
Cadence nodded. “Alright.”
Faust raised her left hoof. The crystal stopped spinning, immediately rotating backwards to present a flat side for her to press her hoof against. Faust extended her left hoof and pressed it against the side the crystal had presented. A bright white light immediately began to shine from within the Crystal Heart , the rays scattering aimlessly for several moments before resolving into a flat image hovering just above the crystal for all to see.
An image of a massive army of foul creatures marching upon Canterlot. The image flickered, zooming in on a stallion being carried on a litter by six large daemons. The stallion appeared at first to be gray, and rather ordinary looking but a confused humm from Faust, along with a quick pulse of energy from her horn and the stallion faded away, revealing another stallion where he had been. This one a jet black earth pony, with blazing red eyes.
“I didn’t want to believe it…” Faust said morosely. “But there he is. Manipulating an army of creatures to kill the mortals I created him to safeguard…”
“Wait, the enemy's commander is a GOD!?” Cadence asked, ears standing up in alarm.
Faust nodded. “Yes. But he’s the weakest one of us. So long as he doesn't come into physical contact with any of you, he can’t use his unique powers on you. I imagine a few Alicorns could hold him off for a while too.”
“Are you going to help us? You could fight him, couldn't you?” Cadence asked worriedly, her tail swishing fearfully behind her.
Faust nodded. “I can. I possess the power to take his divinity from him. Our kind refers to this as ‘deconstruction’, it would render him a mere mortal. Which I could then vaporize.”
“Are you doing that now?” Cadence asked hopefully, her ears perking.
Faust paused, considering that option. She twisted her hoof, the image twisting with it. Flashing rapidly through a thousand different images, presenting a full history of Dawn’s activities over the last age.
Faust closed her eyes, doing her best not to cry as she took in this new information, and shook her head. “No. Not now. I may not know mortals very well, nor have I known the full truth of Dawn until now… But I do know a little of how he thinks. Attacking him now would be a bad idea.
“Assuming he’s this much of a monster. Well, it’s likely that his fear of being destroyed is why he’s using this army rather than just willing the city to burn.
“In other words, he’s using a means we wont notice to torment you. He WILL feel it if I start to deconstruct him, and it takes several seconds for me to accomplish the feat. He would most definitely use the last moment of power he had to annihilate as much life as he possibly could. Which could potentially be everything on this planet.”
“Is there anything you can do to help? Put some sort of super protection on Canterlot? Make all ponykind invulnerable for a year so he can't hurt anypony?” Cadence asked, doing her best to quickly think of options.
Faust laughed darkly, letting the Crystal’s image vanish as her hoof slid down to touch the ground, her head hanging in shame. “Oh no, you misunderstand. Dawn is a monster and needs to go down. I created pure evil, I will atone for this. You have my word.
“The Crystal showed me that Dawn exchanged some of his power for greater free will long ago. Mortals CAN hurt him. Here is the plan; You go to Canterlot, and do your best to do as much damage to him as you possibly can. The more power he has to use, and the more injured he is, the less energy he will have for any sort of retaliatory strike when I take action.
“Meanwhile, I’ll be collecting the most powerful warriors on your planet and delivering them directly to your side. We’ll throw everything mortal kind can offer at him, and when he’s been worn down to the point of exhaustion, then I’ll come in and correct my mistake.”
Cadence paused, thinking the plan over for a moment then shook her head. “I don't like it. We can't use the people of Canterlot as bait. They’ve done nothing to deserve that,” she objected.
“You don’t think you can defend the city for an hour or two while I fetch reinforcements?” Faust asked in surprise. “That’s almost less than no time!”
“Against an army of demons led by an evil god? No,” Cadence admitted honestly.
“Well… Is there any other nation on this planet who would help you?” Faust asked, biting her lip in thought. “Perhaps they wouldn’t mind safeguarding the people living in Canterlot, or sending soldiers to help. I’d be willing to move them for you due to the need to be quick.”
Cadence’s eyes lit up. “Prance!”
“Beg pardon?” Faust asked, tilting her head.
“How about this, you move the people of Canterlot to the family district of my city, and then go to Prance, and tell Emperor Prance that Cadie really needs his help, show that army, and help him get soldiers here. Then we will likely be able to hold out long enough to wear him down… Assuming we really could do it in a few hours like you said,” Cadence proposed.
Faust nodded. “I like this plan! But there’s a problem with it,” she admitted, giving Cadence a sheepish grin.
“What? You can’t teleport a whole city someplace else?” Cadence asked. “Could you do it in groups?”
Faust shook her head and blushed with embarrassment. “No, it’s much simpler than that… I don’t know what part of this planet you refer to when you say ‘Prance’. It’s why I couldn’t just teleport straight here. I don’t know what your places are named… Heh heh.”
Cadence bit her lip to keep herself from laughing, then reached into her breastplate to pull out her messenger gem, and activated it. “Celestia: Celestia, it’s Cadence. I’ll be a bit late. I’ve found a way to get reinforcements and evacuate the civilians,” Cadence announced.
“You have? Excellent! Which Guard Regiment is on the way? Will they make it in time?” Celestia's stressed voice asked immediately.
“Actually, I’ve got a way to get Prance involved. Be ready to accommodate Emperor Prance and whatever number of Knights he chooses to bring. Cadence out,” Cadence announced cheerfully before turning to Faust once more. “Alright, Miss Faust. We’re going to go to my war room, and I’m going to show you a map.”
“Thank you,” Faust said, eyes narrowing with anger. “Let's go stop the monster I created.”