Friends, Forgiveness, and Magic
The Kingdom of Faust, Part Two
On a planet called Earth, Megan Williams sat alone in her old bedroom. Glowing runes had been placed on her door to prevent her brother or her sister from entering without her permission. Megan was quite grateful that she still had some magic left in her, even if she was still unable to turn herself back into Merry Weather.
At that moment, Megan was doing something that she knew was a bad idea. She kept telling herself in her mind that she should really stop, but some part of her refused to put the newspaper down. Eventually she folded the newspaper up and almost gagged at the sight of the front page. She ripped the newspaper into pieces and threw it into a recycling bin, where the tattered remains of dozens of other newspapers lay.
She heard a knock at her door. “Megan? I brought lunch. Can I come in?” her brother Danny said.
“No,” Megan said. She sat back down on her bed and crossed her arms. “And I prefer Merry Weather.”
Danny sighed, but didn’t push the issue. A patch on the wall began to glow with power as a plate of food was pushed through the wall and gently flew over to Megan’s side. “Okay Megan. Seriously though, me and Molly are here for you. We’ll stay and listen to whatever you have to say. You know that, right?”
Megan wrinkled her nose in disgust at the chicken on her plate. “Danny, I’m a vegetarian!”
Danny sighed again. “Okay, fine. Just push the chicken to the side and I’ll eat it later.”
Megan took the fork provided with the plate and began picking through her food. The patch on the wall stopped glowing, and she couldn’t help glancing up at it. “When did you and Molly learn magic?”
“Same way as you did, I imagine. We picked a few spells up while we were searching through all those pony worlds, looking for you. We…we really missed you Megan.”
Megan stared down at her lunch. “Why?”
“Why?! Because we care about you Megan!”
“See, that’s the difference between you and the rest of humanity.”
“Oh brother…are you reading the news again?!”
“Well, you won’t let me use the Internet anymore…”
“That’s not what Molly meant! You can use the Internet, she just…the way you’re thinking right now, Molly said it’s best if you don’t, ya know…read the comments. I mean, if you can find some games on there…”
Megan sighed. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but…leave me alone.”
“Megan…”
“Leave. Me. Alone,” Megan growled at the door.
As soon as she could hear Danny leaving, Megan grabbed her pillow and pressed her face into it, hoping to block out the world.
“Merry Weather? Can we talk?”
Megan bolted up out of bed to discover Stygian stepping out of a shadowy portal and into her bedroom. “Stygian! Oh, thank our Lady you’re here!” She rushed forward and gave him a hug.
Stygian shuddered a little and turned into a living shadow, slipping out of her grasp before he turned back into himself about two feet away from her. “Merry, you know I don’t like hugs.”
“S-sorry. I’m just so glad to see another pony again,” Megan sheepishly smiled. “Even if you did argue with our Lady too much.”
Stygian sighed. “I argued with Lady Faust for a good reason. What she’s doing is too much.”
Megan curled her hands into fists. “We fooled all those other idiots into thinking our queen wants to destroy a world, but you and I know what’s really happening! Our cause is noble! How could you betray our Lady?!”
“I’m not…I understand what Lady Faust is trying to say, okay?” Stygian said. “I know how important her message is. But she is going about it the wrong way; hurting people isn’t going to solve anything. And after Tambelon, how can you argue that everything you did was noble? You transformed and brainwashed an entire kingdom, Merry.”
Megan uncurled her fists and brought her hands together in a plea. She crouched down to Stygian’s level and begged. “I know it was foolish. A leftover influence of the human I used to be. Please, I promise I’ll be better. It was stupid of me, and I am so sorry.”
“Really? So, you don’t hate dragons anymore?” Stygian asked. “Minotaurs? Griffons, changelings? You don’t hate ANY of them anymore?”
Megan blushed. “I know that irrational fears can be hard to get rid of. But I promise you, I will give every creature I meet a fair chance. I’ll make an honest effort to befriend everyone, no matter what they look like.”
“Even humans?”
Megan smiled dropped into a scowl. “They don’t count.”
Stygian groaned. “Merry, you’re being cruel.”
“You…don’t know…what those humans have done,” Megan growled.
“Merry Weather…Megan,” Stygian said, ignoring the glare she sent him. “Why do you hate humans so much?”
Megan growled and retrieved a book from underneath her bed. She threw the book at his hooves and pointed at the title, A History of War.
“Megan…”
“Look through that book,” Megan insisted. “I guarantee you, you’ll find a reason to hate humanity too.”
Stygian pushed the book away. “You know that ponies have had wars in the past too, right?”
“Not serious wars. A pony war usually amounts to a big playground tussle. Besides, ponies don’t fight over stupid things the way humans do.”
“Megan, I don’t know anything about humans, but I do know that you can’t judge a group of people based only on the negative actions of a few members. I’m positive that there are more good humans than bad.”
“Well you’re wrong,” Megan grumbled, crossing her arms.
“I’m serious! Maybe you just haven’t met that many humans. I mean…what about you? What about your siblings?”
“Molly, Danny, and I were lucky enough to be taken to a beautiful world of kind and loving ponies. Our vile human nature was washed away with the magic of their friendship.” Megan sighed. “Why am I explaining this to you? It doesn’t matter what non-believers like you think. My Lady will be victorious. She WILL get what she wants.”
Stygian sighed again. “Now that I know what her plan is, I can no longer be a part of it. But I also know that I’m powerless against her. Which is why I’m here to fulfill the final orders she gave me. A reward and an apology.”
Megan’s anger faded away as Stygian conjured up a small cloud of shadows and retrieved a glowing potion from it. “Drink this potion and you will permanently gain the ability to switch back and forth between your human and pony forms.”
Megan immediately grabbed the potion and drank it down greedily as Stygian kept explaining. “Tap your knuckles together to turn into Merry Weather. Clap your hooves three times to turn back into Megan. Or just concentrate really hard in the event you’re handcuffed or something...”
“Why would I ever want to be human?” Megan asked as she smashed her fists together and grinned as they turned into hooves.
Stygian shrugged. “It’s nice to have options, let’s leave it at that for now.”
“Okay, I’m ready to go,” Merry said as she hopped off the bed and gave him an expectant smile.
“I’m not taking you back to Everfree or Equestria.”
Merry frowned. “If you’re trying to stand between me and my Lady…”
“Actually, this is one of Lady Faust’s orders. You’ve been a loyal servant to her for years, and she said all that’s left is her apology.”
“W…what?”
Stygian sighed. “Lady Faust told you many things, including falsehoods that were meant to misdirect potential eavesdroppers rather than her actual orders. Lady Faust is concerned that you do not see her plan the same way she does. But most of all, Lady Faust wanted to say…she’s sorry for the way she treated you.”
Merry fidgeted. “But...she never mistreated me. She helped me when nobody else would. She came into my life, she said ‘I’m here for you’ and she proved it. I…I thought that made us friends…”
Stygian sighed. “Sooner or later, Lady Faust will make her lesson clear. Even if she doesn’t destroy Equestria, she’ll get what she wants. I only hope the world will benefit from all this.”
Merry gave him a dreamy smile, her mind filling with lovely visions of her Lady’s desires. “The world WILL become a better place. You’ll see, Stygian.”
Stygian eyed her carefully as he opened another shadowy portal. “Listen very carefully to this last piece of advice, Megan Williams. You should talk to your family or somebody who can help you. Attacking humans won’t give you peace.”
Merry frowned as the portal closed behind Stygian. “I can’t see anything else that will.”
Lord Tirek lead the Elements of Redemption and their friends deeper into King Sombra’s private study in the Crystal Empire. “Keep up everyone, we don’t have any time left to waste!”
Princess Nightmare Moon, Sunset Shimmer, Smog, Trixie, Queen Chrysalis, Gilda, Duchess Celestia, and Duchess Luna all stepped out of the portal that Discord had created with varying expressions of unease on all their faces. While they hurried after Tirek, Applejack and Fluttershy lingered near the portal.
“Are y’all sure that Tambelon is going to be okay? First Grogar, then Megan, and then we just up and left ’em all like a full branch of apples swinging in a storm.”
Tirek dismissed Applejack’s question. “Gregory can take care of his people. But if we do not confront Lady Faust, he won’t have a people! None of us will!” He levitated a few books out from the corners of the dustier shelves and skimmed through them. When he couldn’t find what he was looking for, he rubbed his forehead in irritation. “I do not mean to insult you or Miss Fluttershy but unless she can convince the Smooze to devour a world-destroying goddess, then I’m afraid neither of you will be much help to us.”
“W-w…world destroying?!” Fluttershy stammered.
“She…she ain’t that powerful, is she?” a wide-eyed Applejack asked.
Discord closed the portal that was still tied to Tambelon and opened two new ones. “Fluttershy, could you please do me a favor and check in on Polaris? It feels like it’s been years since I’ve given him any love. Mostly because he eats its opposite, but if I can’t be here for him now, somebody should. Please?”
“Um, okay Discord. I don’t know much about Windigo care, but I’ll do my best,” Fluttershy said before she flew into the portal leading to the Chaos Corner.
“And Applejack, perhaps you should go visit your family. It’s been ages since you’ve spoken to Apple Bloom, Big Mac, or Granny.” An apple pie appeared in Discord’s eagle claw and he handed it to her.
Applejack gave the pie a suspicious glare. “This one don’t have confetti-spewing worms, does it?”
“Now…isn’t really the time for jokes.”
Applejack’s eyes widened and she gulped at Discord’s sad smile. “This is serious, ain’t it?”
“I suppose now’s a good time as any to tell you this…Pinkie Pie and I sort of got an advance warning on Lady Faust. That time-stopping party we threw before? We did that on purpose, to try and hold her and her followers back. And it was working so wonderfully until that whack-a-doodle Princess Skystar showed up.”
Nightmare shot him a glare. “Okay, we’ll discuss that later. Applejack, you really should be with your family if this is as serious as it feels.”
Applejack grimly nodded and leapt into the portal to Sweet Apple Acres. Discord zipped the portal closed and turned his attention to Nightmare and Smog. The little dragon huffed impatiently.
“So, is anyone going to tell us just how serious this Lady Faust is?” Smog asked.
Tirek finally found the book he was looking for and brought it over to them. “Here. The ancient prophecy and every piece of information we have on Lady Faust, all contained within this book.” He sighed and flipped the book open to a random page. “Not that it means anything to a pony whose special talent lets her rewrite anything.”
The other people in the room examined the page he pointed at to see that all the sentences were crossing themselves out with bright blue ink to the point of illegibility.
“Okay, why are we staring at this book if you knew this’d happen?” Gilda asked impatiently.
Tirek shrugged. “Wishful thinking perhaps? I thought Lady Faust wouldn’t remember this book. I assure you, it had useful information the last time I read it. However, I worry Lady Faust may already be erasing those memories from my mind.”
“What, like right now?” Trixie asked.
Discord grimaced and stroked his beard. “Indeed. Pinkie and I spent some time debating this issue. I imagine that she’s gone to investigate the matter, which is why she wasn’t around to help us with Grogar and 'merry' Megan. The last time we spoke, Pinkie said Lady Faust would start her rampage in Equestria. I’d say that’s happening right now, but our realities are so tied together that Faust’s power can reach into our world with little effort.”
“Exactly how powerful is this Lady Faust?” Nightmare asked. “You’re all making this sound worse than the second time we fought Pinkie Pie, and she was draining magic from other universes.”
A portal popped open next to them and Pinkie came flying out. “Gangway!” she shouted before she grabbed the portal and slammed it shut.
“Speak of the Pink One, and she’ll appear,” Tirek remarked.
“Pinkie Pie! Thank the night you’re here, we could really use your help right now!” Nightmare said as she and her friends crowded around Pinkie.
“Oh, hey everyone,” the chaotic mare waved at them half-heartedly before she collapsed onto the floors. “Good grief, first that glowing hand and then that meanie Skystar chased me through 36 different worlds! I think I lost her in a time loop somewhere but…ughhhh, I’m beat.”
“Are you okay, Pinkie? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this exhausted since…ever,” Chrysalis said as she helped Pinkie back onto her hooves.
“Honestly, I’m not feeling too hot right now, Chrysie,” Pinkie said as some strawberry ice cream formed on her back, which she licked off with her super stretchy tongue to help her feel better. “I’m all about giggling at the ghosties, but no ghost has ever been this scary.”
“We should probably tell them,” Discord said.
“No arguments here,” Pinkie said. “Okay guys, here’s what you need to know. A while back, me and Discord heard about this super-duper, ultra-grumpy alicorn named Lady Faust, mostly because of her fourth wall breaking.”
“I think you meant, dimensional traveling,” Discord said.
“That too, that too,” Pinkie nodded in agreement. “Discord and I tried to stop her by throwing-”
“I already told them we threw the time-stopping party on purpose,” Discord said.
“Okay, I guess we’re talking about this now. WHY did you stop time and why didn’t you tell us about this sooner?!” Nightmare asked, flapping her wings a bit in agitation.
“Stopping time was the only thing we could think of to slow her down, and she gets really mad the more people know about her existence,” Pinkie said.
Trixie frowned and turned to Tirek. “You called this Lady Faust a world-destroying goddess earlier. But the Courageous and Triumphant Trixie and her friends battled Pinkie when she was at her worst. Surely, there must be some way to defeat Faust?”
Pinkie shook her head. “I’m really, really sorry to tell you all this, but even though I took the cake when it came to powerful baddies, Lady Faust takes every cake factory in the world. She’s SO strong, she could destroy Equestria in seconds, hop over to our universe without us realizing it, and destroy our world too.”
Sunset groaned. “Pinkie, I know you like to exaggerate for comedy’s sake but we need you to be serious.”
“I am being serious, Sunset,” Pinkie said with haunted wide eyes. “She really is that powerful.”
Trixie sat down and threw her forelegs up. “Whelp, we’re dead. Might as well make the best of our remaining time. Discord, could you please summon up a manticore for me? The Death-Defying Trixie has a bucket list she needs to attend to.”
“Okay, everyone just stop!” Sunset shouted to get their attention. She frowned at Discord until he sheepishly lowered his unsnapped talon and said, “We can’t give up now. Not after all we’ve been through.” She pointed at Tirek and Pinkie. “You’re making Lady Faust out to be this unstoppable, all-powerful threat that we could never defeat, HOWEVER…you’re forgetting one important fact.”
Smog picked up on the point Sunset was making and gestured to the empire outside the window. “If Lady Faust can destroy us all so easily, it begs the question…why hasn’t she already done it?”
“Hey, yeah! What’s stopping her?” Gilda asked the room.
“I…may have an idea,” Sombra said. “Nightmare Moon, you and your friends have used a certain potion created by Zecora in the past to relive memories, correct?”
“A good idea Sombra, but we would need Lady Faust to drink said potion in order to learn about her past,” Celestia said.
“Perhaps, but I remember a story that my mother once told me. I’m curious to see just how far back Zecora’s potion can take my mind…” Sombra pondered out loud.
Discord snapped his fingers and summoned a vial. “One flashback potion, hot and ready. Would you like strawberry or vanilla flavour?”
Before Sombra could reach for the potion, Tirek used his magic to blast the potion out of the air in annoyance. “You wish to know about Lady Faust’s past? I can tell you plenty. When I was just a young prince in my homeland, I happened to bump into the dreaded alicorn queen. She most likely wiped my memories clean off how this meeting occurred but what I do remember is a lesson I will never forget. I was foolish and ambitious in my youth, and I fed off of Lady Faust’s magic for just a single second. Just one bite of her magic was enough to accelerate my body’s growth beyond reason. I skipped over childhood and became an adult in seconds. All that magic made me grow as large as a mountain. Just the tiniest drop of Lady Faust’s magic overwhelmed me with power to the point I almost died. By the time my transformation was over, Lady Faust had disappeared and for an entire month I could not eat, drink, sleep, or even sit still. My days were spent donating that magic to people who needed it more, creatures who needed it less than others, or simply burning it all off. More years have flown by than I can count and yet I’m almost certain I still have some of her power left in me.”
Tirek fixed his audience with a glare. “This is the kind of enemy we are facing. I know you enjoy learning about your enemies so that you may more easily forgive them, Princess Nightmare, but Lady Faust isn’t like them. She is not a person, she IS power. Raw, indiscriminate, unforgiving power. We don’t have time to look at her past, we must destroy her now or else we won’t have a future.”
Luna snorted at him. “There was once a time when you thought Pinkie Pie couldn’t be reasoned with either, but Moony proved you wrong.” She smiled at her daughter. “If you wish to see Sombra’s memories, I’m sure we can spare some time. It is your choice though.”
Nightmare pondered her decision for a few seconds before she nodded. “Our methods have worked well for us in the past. And no offense Lord Tirek, but I trust my mentor and my mom more than you in this matter. Discord, get Sombra another potion.”
Discord conjured up another potion and floated it over to the king. “You know, one of these days I should really pay Zecora back for all these potions of hers I keep taking.” He stroked his beard for a second before he shrugged and snapped his fingers, creating a pony-sized bag of gold. “Well no good time like the possible impending destruction of two worlds.” He waved his paw and teleported the gold to Zecora’s house.
As for the king of the crystal empire, Sombra inhaled the potion and exhaled his vision.
The vision began in the middle of a howling blizzard. A pony was climbing up what looked like the road of a snow-covered mountain. Crawling up the mountain would have been a more accurate term as the snow had piled up so high, her tail and all four of her legs were sunk deep into the snow. It looked more like she was dragging her belly across a frigid white blanket as she tried to wrap her cloak tighter around her and the little baby colt she was carrying on her back.
As the pony climbed the mountain, her path began to clear. She stumbled upon the single patch of grass on the entire mountain and her squinted eyes widened in surprise and joyful relief as she saw that the patch of grass was right outside a cave.
“I told you we’d make it, Sombra!” the mare said to the weakly crying baby on her back. “We’ll be warm again once we get inside and I make a fire!”
The mare crawled her way through the rest of the snow until she could feel the hooves touch solid earth again, at which point she galloped into the cave. As soon as she stepped inside and away from the howling, freezing cold winds, the pony pulled her hood back. She was a dark purple unicorn with a light, grayish blue mane and tail. She smiled and gently lowered the baby – whose cries had softened as he felt warmth again – off her back. “Wow, it’s really warm in here, isn’t it Sombra? Almost feels like we don’t need a fire. But a campfire would still be nice, wouldn’t it? Now, we’re going to try and find some twigs and kindling, and then we’ll be nice and…”
“Leave me alone.”
The mare gasped and levitated the baby colt towards her, wrapping a hoof protectively around him. “Is…is someone there? Please, we didn’t know there was anyone here. We don’t want any trouble, we just need a place to stay until this blizzard goes away.”
The cave illuminated with a warm, cozy light, even though the unicorn could detect no fire or lantern. In the middle of the cave was a huge, pale white dragoness with red scales. The dragoness turned her head and glared at the pony.
“Go away.”
The pony gulped. “P…please miss dragon, I never meant to intrude upon your home. But I’m afraid we can’t leave. We’ll freeze to death out there.”
“I might eat you if you stay here,” the dragoness threatened. However, she didn’t look like she was getting up off the floor any time soon.
The pony could see how uncomfortable the dragoness was with the idea and softly chuckled. “Between freezing to death in a blizzard or getting eaten by a dragon, I’m sure you would make a much better story to tell in the afterlife. Maybe its’ the cold speaking, but the thought of slowly being digested in that nice, warm dragon belly of yours sounds relaxing.”
The dragoness adjusted her head so she could see the pony better. “You’re not scared of me?”
The pony shrugged. “Not really. I can tell you weren’t serious about eating us. You’re not a killer.”
“But I’m a…dragon. I’m a monster.”
“Oh no…” the pony whispered softly. “Did someone say that to you? Miss dragon, you’re not a monster.” The unicorn slowly inched herself closer to the dragoness and laid a gentle hoof on her side. “You-”
“DON’T TOUCH ME!” the dragoness growled, shuffling backwards into the cave.
The pony immediately retracted her hoof and took a few steps back. “I am so sorry, Miss Dragon!”
The baby colt cried louder again, and the mare began to gently rock him while keeping an eye on the dragoness.
The dark blue fire in the dragon’s eyes extinguished themselves as she looked down at the colt. “You have a baby with you?”
A very faint blue light seemed to wash over the colt and his cries softened again. “Oh, well that’s better. Poor guy hasn’t gotten any rest all night.” The pony smiled and brought the baby a little closer for the dragon to see, while still rocking the baby. “This little guy is Sombra.”
The dragoness eyed the pony. “And who are you?”
“Me? Oh, my name is Radiant Hope.”
“But…you’re not the same age…” the dragoness trailed off, her glaze flickering to Sombra then back up to Radiant. “What is your…relation to him?”
“I’m his mother,” Radiant answered.
“Aren’t you a little young to be anyone’s mom?”
“Oh well, goodness yes,” Radiant lightly giggled. “I’m his mother by adoption.” For the first time during the vision, Radiant frowned. “The poor guy was all alone out in the snow. Not even a letter explaining what happened or a blanket to give him warmth.” She smiled and tucked the baby tighter into the bundle she had him wrapped up in. “But he’s such a smart guy, yes you are. He’s said the word ‘Sombra’ more than a few times, even though most babies can’t talk at this age. He recognizes things too.” Her smile faded and her frown returned. “Which is why it’s such a tragedy. Why would his parents leave him like that? If he was sent to an orphanage, I could almost understand. Not every family has the money to give food, clothes, and toys to a newborn child. Parenting can be a stressful job, I know that. But they just left him to freeze to death in the cold! I would never wish that they had perished in some terrible accident, but at least it could explain why anyone could be so cruel to a newborn.”
“His family abandoned him…but you took him in?” Radiant nodded as she gazed down happily at Sombra. The dragoness was quiet for a few moments before she spoke again. “You can stay here until tomorrow morning. The blizzard will be gone by then.”
“Really? Oh bless you, thank you so much Miss Dragon!” Radiant took a step closer to offer a hug to the dragoness but flinched away. “Right. No touching.” She looked around the cave. “Um, since you don’t want us anywhere near your belly, do you have any twigs or stones I could use to make a fire? You wouldn’t even need to light it, I can…”
“There’s a fire over there.”
Radiant turned around to see a perfect campfire was sitting in a corner of the cave. “Oh wow, this is great! I didn’t even notice that fire was there before!” She hurried over to the campfire and crouched down to it, keeping Sombra close to her as they warmed up.
“I promise you, we won’t abuse your hospitality. We’ll sleep here until morning and won’t make a peep. I can find us some water and food and um, if I see any gemstones while I’m out tomorrow I can get you some,” Radiant said, smiling at the dragoness. Their host did not respond. Radiant sighed and gently rubbed Sombra’s back. “I wish I had a story I could read him.”
The dragoness looked over at her. “You like stories?”
“Sure. I love a good book,” Radiant answered.
The dragoness scratched a little circle into the floor with her claw. “You know, you could…borrow one of my books and read to him.”
Radiant’s eyes widened as she looked down at the huge pile of books that the dragoness was lying on. A part of her mind wondered if those books had been there before, but she focused on levitating some books over to her and expressing her gratitude to the dragoness. “This is amazing! Thank you so much, I promise I’ll give them right back and keep them in…wow, this is in great condition!” Radiant exclaimed as she flipped open the book and saw how clean it was. “I’m surprised Miss Dragon, I thought dragons only kept jewels and gold in their hoard.
The dragoness smiled as if she was remembering something. “Not all treasure is silver and gold, mate.”
“You have plenty of great picture books. I wish I could use one of them but at this point Sombra will fall asleep any second. I’ll borrow one of your novels then. They say if you play music or read to babies when they’re sleeping it helps them to grow smarter. Do you play any instruments, Miss Dragon?”
The dragoness lightly shook her head no, and Radiant softly gasped as she realized something. “I’m so sorry, you know our names but I’ve just been calling you Miss Dragon this whole time. What’s your name?”
The dragoness growled. “I don’t have one anymore.”
Radiant smiled gently at her. “You seem really upset about something. I don’t know what it is, but maybe I can help you-”
“New rule. If you want to stay here, you can’t talk anymore,” the dragoness said before she laid her head back down and turned away from Radiant.
“I…okay. Sorry,” Radiant said before she fell silent.
…
…
“…If you want to read aloud, that would be fine.”
Radiant smiled again and opened one of the novels as she held Sombra closer to her. “Once upon a time, there was a brother and sister, cast out from their village for…”
The vision sped up until night had passed. Radiant and Sombra woke up from their slumber and Radiant grinned when she saw that the blizzard had passed. She walked outside of the cave to see that most of the snow had melted overnight. The path leading back down the mountain was clear as crystal. The only snow left formed in piles along the pathway, the snowbanks sparkling like diamonds under the sunny, slightly cloudy sky.
“Oh, it’s beautiful!” Radiant said, placing a hoof over her heart. She turned back to the cave and walked back inside. “Thank you so much for allowing us to spend the night, Miss Dragon.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Is there anything I can do to repay you for your kindness?” The dragoness remained silent. “Please? It breaks my heart to see a good person look so sad.”
The dragon turned her gaze to Radiant. “Are you…sure you’re a pony?”
Radiant blinked in confusion. “Well, yes. Don’t I look like one?” she giggled.
“You don’t sound like one.”
“Would you…like to come with us? See the world outside this cave?”
The dragoness growled and turned away from her. “I want to be left alone.”
Radiant sighed sadly. “Okay. I’ll leave you alone. But…one last question, please?”
“Okay.”
“If you just want to be left alone, why did you let us spend the night?”
“Helping you…made me feel happy.”
For the first time in the vision, the dragoness stood up. Her body glowed with power as she shrunk down to a slightly smaller, but still towering creature.
“And my happiness is the only thing that matters anymore,” Lady Faust said.
She glared down at Radiant as if she was expecting something. But instead, Radiant Hope stared back at Lady Faust, her eyes watering with grief. “Oh my goodness…I am so, so sorry for what they did to you. They were wrong. You can be a good person.”
Lady Faust tensed, flared her wings, and took a step back. “What?” she asked, her voice strained by anger and fear.
“I can see it in your eyes, and they were wrong about you! I won’t hurt you like they did, please don’t run! Let me help you!” Radiant cried as she reached out to the alicorn.
Lady Faust’s filled with burning tears before she teleported away in a flash of black and blue fire. The cave’s lighting, the campfire, and all the books vanished. Radiant stared sadly at the spot Lady Faust had disappeared from. A drop of snow fell on her muzzle, causing her to glance up at the darkening sky.
“We should go.” She bundled up Sombra a little more and galloped down the mountain in search of civilization.
The vision ended after that. Pinkie Pie blinked a little bit to clear her eyes before she floated over to King Sombra. “So…Radiant Hope was your adoptive mommy?”
“Ah, yes. You never met her, did you?” Luna said. “Yes, Radiant Hope raised Sombra as her own. She was not a wealthy mare, but she worked hard and supported herself and her son for many years. When Sombra discovered his talent for magic, Celestia and I offered him an apprenticeship, along with Starswirl and Sparkle. With Sombra and his mother living in the castle with us, money was no longer a concern for Radiant. But rather than relax in a life of luxury, Radiant Hope continued to work. She volunteered at hospitals and schools. She donated to and even created several charities.”
Twilight Sparkle smiled sadly and wiped a tear away from her eye. “Other than Sombra’s unknown biological family, she never had a bad thing to say about anyone. There’s a whole chapter about her in one of my favourite books, A History of Generosity: The World’s Kindest Creatures. I cry every time I read that book.”
“Gosh, she sounds really nice. How come I’ve never heard of her before?” Pinkie asked.
Sombra sighed. “The various branches of magic that I studied, plus my new duties as the prince of the Crystal Empire showed me how to extend my own lifespan. But by the time I became king, my mother was a very old mare. She turned down my offer to extend her lifespan and died peacefully, with me by her bedside.”
“Aww! Poor Somby!” Pinkie cried as she flew over to give him a hug.
Sombra allowed her to hug him for a little while before he slipped out of her grasp. “My mother is at peace now, Pinkie. She has been for many years.”
He turned to Tirek and said, “But this proves my point. Radiant Hope was one of the kindest, wisest, most forgiving mares I ever knew. And if she could see something good inside of Lady Faust, then she can still be reformed. It’s what Princess Nightmare and her friends have done against all their foes before and it has served them well.”
Tirek facepalmed and growled before he threw his hands up. “Fine! Princess Nightmare, you and the Element Bearers can deal with Lady Faust using any method you wish! But you had better do it now! The rest of us will stay here in Everfree, in the event Lady Faust tries to ambush the Crystal Empire while you’re gone. NOW GO!”
“Alright, alright already! Sheesh, more like Lord Impatient,” Discord huffed before he snapped his fingers and teleported himself, the other Element Bearers, and Smog to the room where the mirror portal to Equestria was kept.
“Wait…where’s the portal?!” Chrysalis exclaimed.
“Looking for these?” The Element Bearers turned around to see three brightly coloured alicorn fillies floating towards them. Buttercup and Apple Blossom grinned nastily at them as they dropped shards of the broken mirror at their hooves. Berry Bubble tried to appear menacing too but she was having trouble restraining her hostage, Cozy Glow.
Buttercup glared at Cozy. “You said they would be at Tambelon.” Cozy smiled sheepishly and shrugged before she glanced over at the Elements and started pointing at her own neck.
Smog - who was just so done with the number of villains they had been forced to battle that day - grunted, “Okay, now who are you three idiots?”
“I’m Apple Blossom,” the pink filly said. “These are my sisters, Berry Bubble and Buttercup.”
“Stop that,” Berry Bubble grumbled as she pinned Cozy’s hooves back, preventing her from making any more subtle gestures for the Element bearers to hurry up and use their magic necklaces already.
“Whassup?” Buttercup waved. “We’re still trying to come up with a team name for ourselves, ‘cause most of the good ones are already taken.”
“And since Megan is out of the way, are the three of you Lady Faust’s newest hench-girls?” Sunset guessed.
Apple Blossom smirked. “Ooh, I can see why you got the Element of Knowledge. Yeah, we’re here to make sure you don’t interfere with our creator’s plan. Now, nobody needs to get hurt…”
“Unless ya really want to,” Buttercup said with a smirk.
Apple Blossom glared at her before she smiled back at the Elements. “However, since we destroyed the mirror portal, the seven of you can’t enter Equestria anyway. So there’s no need to blow this situation out of proportion.”
“I believe you three are forgetting someone,” Nightmare said with a smirk as she pointed at Discord.
Apple Blossom nodded. “Ah yes, you have a point there. But Lady Faust is a fast learner. Your Pinkie Pie may have snuck up on her before, but now she has a spell in place to…redirect any portals that get opened by your chaos-wielding friends. Discord can’t get you to Equestria this time, princess.”
“Ow! Hey!” Berry Bubble cried as Cozy bit her.
“Use the Elements! Use them now!” Cozy shouted.
“Quiet!” the three fillies growled at Cozy.
The Elements on the other hand could recognize that Cozy probably had a good point. Wasting no more time talking, Nightmare and her friends grabbed their Elements and powered them up.
“Run!” Apple Blossom ordered. She and Buttercup smashed through the wall and rocketed far away from the vault.
“Hey! Don’t leave me!” Berry Bubble called after her sisters. Her eyes began to glow red as she threw Cozy aside and flew at the Elements with a hoof aimed right for Nightmare’s face. The power of the Elements of Redemption hit Berry Bubble before she could get too close. She was blasted back and pushed up against the wall as a heavy blue aura began to emit from her body.
As the glow from the Elements faded away, Smog hesitantly approached Berry Bubble. “Did it work? She doesn’t look any different.”
Sunset helped Cozy Glow get back up. Cozy quickly informed them, “Their leader, this Lady Faust or whoever, created her and her sisters with some special magic. Your Elements of Redemption will only work if you hit all three of them with it. I tried to warn you to use the Elements right away, but then two of them flew off already.” She blushed and added, “Also, my name is Cozy Glow. I’m a friend of Diamond Tiara’s and I’m a really big fan.”
“Oh. Well it’s always nice to meet you,” Sunset said as she gave Cozy a friendly hoofshake.
Trixie nodded. “As does Trixie. She only wishes it was under better circumstances.”
“Oh my gosh, same,” Cozy said with a nervous laugh. “Um, I don’t suppose I could ask you all for autographs or whatever…after you save the day again, of course.”
“Owie…what happened?” Berry Bubble asked as she rubbed her head.
“Oh no you don’t!” Gilda pushed Berry Bubble back up against the wall. “Smog, melt her face off while I’ve still got her pinned!”
“Whoa, wait! I’m me again!” Berry Bubble cried. “I’m Sonata!”
“Stop!” Chrysalis cried as she hurried over, telekinetically aiming Smog’s smoking mouth away from the alicorn filly. “Sonata? From the Dazzlings?”
“Uh, hey guys! Sorry for breaking the portal and all that junk,” Sonata said with a sheepish shrug.
“What’s going on? What happened to you?” Sunset asked.
“Okay so, you know like, how Everfree has kind of a low-key trade deal with Equestria? And how like, Princess Nightmare Moon gave me and the other Dazzlings permission to go on a world-tour in like, another world? Oh, thanks for that Princess Nightie! You rock!”
“You’re welcome,” Nightmare said, motioning for Sonata to continue.
“Right. So me and Adagio and Aria had just finished singing to this super classy restaurant over in like, I think it’s called Manehatten instead of the Big Apple, but like we were back on the road heading to our next show. And we meet this really pale alicorn. And I said we should stop and help her.”
Smog frowned. “Why?”
“Because she was hitting herself in the face with a hammer.”
“Um…I’m sorry, she was what?!” Nightmare asked.
“She was magic-ing this sledgehammer and hitting herself in the face with it. She seemed really sad about something even though her face wasn’t hurt. So Adagio agreed that she was probably like, super messed up in the head and we should try to help her, right? But then she used this crazy magic to rewrite our bodies and our minds! And now it’s like, me and Adagio, and Aria are superhero fillies, except we have to do what Lady Faust says to.”
“Ugh. Megan already tried this stunt, I shouldn’t be surprised that her master would try the same thing,” Nightmare sighed. “Sonata, I’m so sorry that you and the Dazzlings are suffering through this.”
Sonata smiled. “Oh, don’t worry about me. I’m cool.”
“How are you ‘cool’ with this?” Chrysalis asked incredulously. “You were trapped within your own transformed body before the Elements cured you.”
“Well, I’m sorry about being forced to break your magic mirror, and kidnap Cozy here, and wrecking all those buildings. Not being able to enjoy these new superpowers is a bummer too. But most of the stuff we broke could probably be fixed by Discord doing his snappy magic, right? And even though I’m trapped in my own head, my brain is super awesome!” Sonata grinned. “I’ve got the comfiest bedroom, with a computer I can listen to music on and watch cartoons all day! I’ve got a kitchen where I just talk to my fridge and I get any food I want! I’ve eaten the cheesiest nachos, the tastiest tacos, and the fudgiest ice cream ever!”
“Hmm. That’s interesting,” Cozy pondered out-loud. “You were captured, transformed, and brainwashed into doing her dirty work, but she’s using you as simple distractions. Outside of kidnapping me, all you’ve done is damage several buildings. All of which can be rebuilt by magic, although I’m not sure about this mirror portal. You haven’t permanently hurt anybody yet. And she goes through the trouble of making sure that your mind is comfortable, rather than just keep you as a silently screaming prisoner in your own head.”
Sonata shrugged in agreement as Cozy glanced over at Sunset. “Miss Shimmer, did you get Diamond Tiara’s call yet? I was with her and her friends at Glimmering Stars when I got kidnapped, and I’m pretty sure I threw the emergency communication crystal back to her.”
“The emergency…how did you know about that? Wait, hold on,” Sunset mumbled as her horn flashed and a clear crystal appeared before her. Noticing the blue aura surrounding the crystal, she growled in annoyance. “Is Faust blocking my calls?! I know she’s supposed to be some kind of crazy death goddess, but she’s not omniscient, is she?!”
“Pinkie and I believe she has to put effort into looking through dimensions,” Discord remarked. “Her power has some limits even if we don’t know what they are and she can’t pay attention to us ALL the time, otherwise she might have zapped you on the spot.”
“Uh, guys? My brain is feeling fuzzy again,” Sonata said as the blue aura around her grew brighter.
“Wait! If your alter egos just fly away, how are we supposed to free you and the other Dazzlings?!” Nightmare asked, grabbing Sonata by her shoulders.
“I don’t…I don’t…” Sonata whispered as she shut her eyes tight. She trembled a little bit before she suddenly started to sing:
“Rainbows will never light up my sky
Because it always rains
And every apple I touch is filled with worms.
How can I feel laughter
When all I’ve known is pain?
It’s a lesson that a pony could never learn!”
Berry Bubble’s gaze glowed red as she regained control and shot heat vision out of her eyes. Sunset jumped in front of Cozy and conjured up a shield, Trixie did the same for Smog, and Nightmare, Chrysalis, Gilda, and Discord all dodged out of the way. Gilda flew back down and landed two good punches into Berry Bubble’s face before the super-strong filly hit her in the stomach with a powerful uppercut.
Berry Bubble launched herself in the air and hovered over them. “Stay away from our queen!” She squeezed her eyes tight and muttered, “You don’t know what she’s been through.” She then turned around and smashed through the wall, flying off in the same direction as the other Dazzlings.
Cozy stared after their retreating foe, before she turned to face the Elements. “So, I only understand half of what is going on here? Why do they want to distract you? Who’s Lady Faust?”
“An alicorn with immeasurable power and mysterious origins. She is currently over in Equestria, an alternate universe tied to our own universe. She’s threatening to kill everyone over there and if they die, we probably won’t be far behind,” Chrysalis said, bringing Cozy up to speed. “We’re trying to get over there and stop her, but she keeps throwing distractions, bad guys, and road blocks to prevent us reaching Equestria in time.”
“We can’t waste too much time here, we need to stop Lady Faust. But we can’t just let the Dazzlings stay trapped in those forms,” Sunset said. “What’s the plan, Nightmare?”
“Cozy Glow, you said you were with Diamond Tiara and the Cutie Mark Destroyers when you were kidnapped?” Nightmare asked.
“Yes. Diamond was supposed to call Sunset Shimmer and warn her about those three, but I guess this Lady Faust is blocking the crystal’s magic. But if I know Diamond Tiara, she’s already putting a plan together to help you!” Cozy said with a confident smile.
“Well, that could be really good OR really bad. Alright, here’s what we do. Gilda and I will chase after the transformed Dazzlings. We’re the fastest fliers and the toughest fighters,” Nightmare ordered.
Discord chuckled at some joke only he seemed to get as Nightmare continued. “Discord, you will teleport Smog and Sunset over to King Sombra, Loony, Aunt Celestia, Princess Twilight, and Tirek. You two will explain that the mirror portal is broken and that Lady Faust is stopping Discord from creating his own portal to Equestria. Maybe they can come up with an alternative way to get to Equestria.”
“I can try and put the mirror back together,” Smog suggested as he picked up a few glass shards. “Then again…the Dazzlings might have hidden a few pieces…”
“Do whatever gets us to Equestria faster. Discord, you’ll also teleport Chrysalis, Trixie, and Cozy Glow to where the Cutie Mark Destroyers are. If they have a good idea, you three help them out. If they have a bad idea…help put out the fires.”
“And lastly Discord, try to keep in contact with all of us if something else comes up. Also, see if you can work with Pinkie Pie and combine your chaos powers. Maybe together you two can push past Lady Faust’s magic and open a portal to Equestria.”
“I’ve got something that can work!” Discord grinned and touched the Element of Freedom around his neck. The other Elements glowed brightly before the glow settled down. Discord explained, “There we go, superhero movie style communicators! Just touch your Element of Redemption and we’ll ALL be able to hear you!”
“How come you’ve never done this before?” Nightmare asked, touching the Element of Power on her head.
“Well, sometimes when I’m taking a chocolate sauce and strawberry spaghetti shower, I like to sing showtunes that can be…”
“Respecting privacy, got it,” Trixie said, looking a little sick.
“Okay, that’s enough chit-chat! Let’s go save the world!” Gilda declared.
The seven friends nodded to each other. With two snaps of his fingers, Chrysalis, Trixie, and Cozy were sent to Glimmering Stars, while Sunset and Smog were sent back to the Crystal Empire. Nightmare and Gilda shot up in the air and through the holes the Dazzlings had created, chasing after them.
Discord created a little alligator and rang it like a bell. A pink bubble appeared in the room and Pinkie Pie floated out of it, chewing the bubble as she touched down on the ground and waved her hoof over the mirror shards. “Yup. Pieces are missing.”
Discord floated over to her and crossed his arms. “How much of the Dazzlings’ current predicament were you aware of?”
“Wait, the Dazzlings? Gosh, I haven’t heard much from them in a while.”
“So, you didn’t know that Lady Faust transformed and brainwashed them into PowerPuff ponies?”
“She did what?!” Pinkie gasped. “When did that happen?”
“Weren’t you eavesdropping on us just now?”
“Dissy, I just got here. I’m teleporting back and forth to Twilight, to you guys, to random spots to make sure Faust doesn’t catch up with me…what are we doing again?”
Discord sighed. “I know, it can be a lot to process, even for such superior party animals like us. Our other friends are dealing with the Dazzlings for now, and we need a way to get to Equestria.”
Pinkie shrugged. “I’ve tried going back to Equestria, but Faust is blocking my chaos magic.”
“Well perhaps Nightmare is onto something. Let’s combine our chaotic power and see what we can cook up together,” Discord said, offering his hand to her.
“Ooh, I like the sound of that!” Pinkie took his hand and with a crackle of power the two reality warpers conjured up a portal in front of them.
“Yippee!” Pinkie cheered and poked her head into the portal. “Whoa…either a recycling plant exploded or this ain’t Equestria. What a dump.”
Discord poked his head into the portal and his eyes widened in horror. “Oh dear. Chrysalis is going to cry when she sees this…”
While all that was happening in Everfree, Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria was staring up at Lady Faust.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment…for quite a few years now,” Lady Faust said.
“What did you do to our students?!” Rainbow Dash growled at her.
Lady Faust shrugged and smiled. “Nothing. They’re fine. See?” She waved her hoof and Smolder, Yona, Silverstream, Sandbar, Gallus, and Ocellus appeared on the field in between Twilight and her friends.
The six students tried to run towards their professors but with another wave of Lady Faust’s hoof they teleported away again. “I’ll be honest, I don’t really know what their story is. I’ve only seen bits and pieces of the newer seasons,” Lady Faust said, mostly to herself.
“Where did you send them to?” Starlight Glimmer asked.
Lady Faust shrugged again. “Manehatten? Appaloosa? One of the two, I don’t remember. The point is, ALL of your students are far enough away that they’d need to take a train to reach you.” She glared at Twilight. “And I’ve spent a lot of time removing such distractions. I wanted to speak with you alone.”
Twilight scowled at her. “Why did you attack Canterlot and the Crystal Empire? What have you done to Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Cadance?”
Lady Faust watched Twilight carefully. “…That’s it? You’re not concerned about the citizens of those two kingdoms? Or your brother?”
“Of course I’m-”
But Lady Faust interrupted Twilight. “Never mind. Princess of Friendship. Forgot who I was talking to for a millisecond.”
“Alright, I’ve had enough of you!” Rainbow shouted. Before Applejack or anyone else could stop her, Rainbow rocketed towards Lady Faust, hooves raised to smack in the face with a super fast double-punch. But instead Rainbow flew right through her, as if Lady Faust was made of mist. “What the hay?!”
“I see that violence is still your first approach,” Lady Faust remarked.
“Why you…” Rainbow growled. She flew back up to Lady Faust, turned around, and bucked Lady Faust in the muzzle…
CRACK
“OW!” Rainbow cried out in pain as she pulled her hoof back. She examined her hoof to see that a massive bruise was already forming on it. “What the hay?!” She glared at Lady Faust and punched her with her right front hoof…before she cried again and pulled back her freshly injured hoof. “What is this?!”
“It’s called pain, Rainbow Dash. An old friend of mine I thought I’d introduce you to,” Lady Faust said, her eyes drifting up to the sky. She furrowed her brow at something.
“Rainbow Dash, over here!” Fluttershy called. Rainbow weakly flapped over to her and Fluttershy gently held her hooves. “You just wait right here, and I’ll handle that big bully.” Fluttershy turned away Rainbow’s damaged hooves and glared at Lady Faust. “How dare you…”
Lady Faust rolled her eyes. “Let’s get this over with.”
“HOW DARE YOU!” Fluttershy flew over to Lady Faust and scolded her. “Listen here missy-”
But instead of listening to Fluttershy, Lady Faust took a different approach. She tilted her glowing horn so that it was pointed at Fluttershy’s pink mane, which rapidly grew much longer.
“Just because…” Fluttershy stopped to brush her mane out of her eyes. “Just because…pff! Pft! Pff!” She spat her mane out as it grew so long it fell into her mouth and down her chin.
“Now see, if I was actually evil I could have done something much worse. Just saying.” Lady Faust’s eyes narrowed in annoyance. She looked down and saw Applejack and Spike either bucking or biting her legs. She flexed a leg muscle and the farmer and dragon were both knocked back by a mini-shockwave.
“Stand back everypony!” Pinkie called out to her friends as she aimed her party cannon. “This one’s gonna be a real-”
But her declaration was cut off as Pinkie found herself floating up in the air and stuffed inside her own cannon. The cannon swiveled around and fired its pink pony projectile at the outside wall of Sugar Cube Corner. “Ouch! I’m okay!”
Rarity shook her head as her dizzy and dazed friends all tried to stumble back to her side. “Twilight, what are we going to do? We’re throwing everything we can at this mad mare and she isn’t even putting forth effort to shrug off our attacks!”
“Stand back everypony!” Twilight said as she and Starlight Glimmer finished powering up their horns. The two talented spellcasters fired twin beams of magic at Lady Faust. Their magic spiraled around each other, combining into one gigantic purple and blue blast of power. With their spell fired they looked up from their handiwork to see a long smoking crater where Lady Faust had been standing…and the alicorn herself just a few feet to the left of their attack.
“What? You think I’m just gonna stand there and take it?” Lady Faust sighed. With a wave of her horn, Rainbow’s and Pinkie’s injuries healed themselves and Fluttershy’s mane shortened to its normal length. The seven ponies and single dragon were teleported away from their previous spots on the battlefield and reappeared forming a semi-circle around Lady Faust.
“I was hoping to do this peacefully, but so far all you ponies have done is charge recklessly at me like you always do. I came all this way to ask you something Twilight Sparkle, and I will get my answer.”
Twilight frowned at her. “If you came all this way just to talk, then why did you attack Canterlot and the Crystal Empire?! Why did you possess Rarity and attack our school?! Why are you doing this?!” she cried. Her expression softened as she said, “You’re a pony! Just like us.”
“A pony just like you?” Lady Faust’s eyes lit up with blue fire as she glared at Twilight. “A pony just like you?!” she growled. “Arrogant and naïve!”
While the other ponies flinched at the blue fire, Rainbow shouted, “Hey! Twilight isn’t arrogant or naïve!”
“Oh yes she is!” With a flash of light, Lady Faust transformed into a pony that Twilight was a little more familiar with. A dark purple unicorn with a scar over her eye and a broken horn. Lady Faust growled as her broken horn sparked with an alarming amount of electricity. “That trick didn’t work on Tempest! What makes you think that just because we’re both ponies I have to agree with everything you say?!”
Twilight raised a hoof and tried to say something but Lady Faust resumed her normal form and cut her off. “Actually, let’s call her up! Let’s see what she has to say for herself!”
Before Twilight could ask what she was doing, a large force field formed around Lady Faust. Twilight tried to teleport inside the force field, but found she was unable to. Her friends tried to push against the shield and Spike and Pinkie both tried to dig underground to get underneath the shield. But nobody could stop Lady Faust from summoning the unicorn she wanted to talk to.
“Tempest!” Twilight cried.
“Fizzlepop!” Pinkie said, cheerfully waving hello.
“What the…where am I? Release me!” Tempest Shadow shouted as Lady Faust pinned the unicorn’s limbs to her sides and levitated her up in the air.
“You said that if you depend on others, you’ll never find your place.” Lady Faust pulled Tempest closer to her, and Tempest flinched at the growing anger in the alicorn’s eyes. “And yet you depended on the Storm King for everything! Why, Tempest?! Why did you do it?!”
Tempest tried to struggle out of Lady Faust’s magical hold, narrowing her eyes and trying to assess the threat. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. But if you release me, perhaps we can discuss this like civilized-”
Tempest vanished as Lady Faust teleported her away. Fluttershy flinched at the electricity that sparked along Lady Faust’s horn and body. “Um…you seem tense? Do you want to talk about what’s bothering you?”
Lady Faust didn’t answer her. Blue fire and smoke poured out of her eyes, reminding Twilight of King Sombra’s dark magic. Lady Faust pressed her hooves to her head and shut her eyes tight as she mumbled to herself. She reopened her eyes and waved her hoof, causing two princess plush toys and two crystalized ponies to appear inside her force field. They returned to normal and all took a gasp of fresh air.
“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Cadance, Shining!” Twilight cried joyfully.
“It’s not worth bringing up,” Lady Faust mumbled to herself as she dragged Celestia over to her with her telekinesis.
“Stop! Let her go!” Cadance cried as she, Luna, and Shining all fired beams of magic at Lady Faust.
But the pale alicorn ignored their attacks as once again they did nothing to hurt her. She looked Celestia in the eye and recited, “My dearest, most faithful student Twilight. You know that I value your diligence and that I trust you completely…but you simply must stop reading those dusty old books. My dear Twilight, there is more to a young pony's life than studying, so I'm sending you to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration in this year's location: Ponyville. And, I have an even more essential task for you to complete: make some friends…”
Celestia’s ears folded back as Lady Faust grit her teeth, sensing that she was angry about something but unable to figure out what it was. “How do you know what-”
“I listen. More importantly, I read.” Lady Faust titled her head a bit and a journal appeared next to her. “Recognize this, Twilight? It’s the Friendship Journal. The one you and your friends copied and distributed to a whole bunch of ponies in Equestria. I used my magic to add in Celestia’s letters to help complete it.”
“Oh brother, are you like those other ponies who got the wrong idea from our friendship lessons?” Rainbow grumbled.
A long, jagged bolt of electricity sparked along Lady Faust’s entire frame. She opened her mouth to say something, but then the light around her horn grew brighter and she shut her mouth tight. “If I say anything…anything at all…you’ll just attack me.” She looked at Twilight and gave her an unsettling smile. “You’re the Princess of Friendship, after all.” She turned to Celestia as her icy eyes glowed blue. “And it’s your fault.”
Before Celestia could ask what she meant, Lady Faust jabbed her hoof into Celestia’s stomach. “She stabbed us all in the back, because of you! She left us all to DIE, because of you!”
Luna stared at Lady Faust incredulously and asked, “What are you talking about?! Twilight Sparkle has never betrayed anypony!”
Lady Faust dropped Celestia and began to pace around inside her shield. She hovered in the air and scrunched her face up in pain. She pressed her hooves against her temples so hard, it looked like she was trying to crush her own head. A chunk of earth ripped itself out of the ground and floated up to her. Lady Faust grabbed the lump of rock and smashed it into her own head, crying as the earth fell apart while her body remained undamaged. “GRAH!”
The other ponies and dragon backed up at the sight of her. “What’s…what’s wrong with her?!” Fluttershy cried out in uncertainty and concern.
Lady Faust’s eyes snapped open, still glowing blue. She swept her hoof and Celestia, Luna, Shining, and Cadance all turned into plush toys. She conjured up a box and slammed them all inside it. The box was pushed outside of the force field and into Spike’s claws. Twilight let out a single sigh of relief as she saw that at least the princesses and her brother were in safe claws, even if they were still trapped as plush toys.
Lady Faust made a noise somewhere between a grunt and a gasp, as her horn continued to glow brighter than ever. She conjured up a plastic bottle and focused all her attention on it. An incredibly thick red cloud, with sparks of black lightning crackling around began to drain out of Lady Faust’s glowing horn and into the bottle.
“What’s she doing?” Applejack asked.
“She’s…literally bottling up her anger,” Starlight answered. “Please stop, you shouldn’t be doing that!”
“Gonna tell me I shouldn’t use magic to solve my problems?” Lady Faust mumbled as she focused on draining her anger. The electricity crackling around her began to fade. “Heh. I really am your opposite, aren’t I?” she said, directing another glare at Twilight.
She capped the full bottle and then created a second bottle. Another cloud of anger drained out of her horn and into the bottle, but red wasn’t the only colour within the smoke. Sickly green, icy blue, and dark purple also flowed into the bottle. Starlight didn’t know what kinds of emotions Lady Faust was pulling out of her head, but that line of questioning disappeared as Lady Faust created a portal behind her and threw the two bottles inside it.
Starlight stepped a little to the side to get a peek at what was on the other side of the portal…and let out a scream. “SWEET CELESTIA!”
Lady Faust immediately closed the portal and dropped her shield. The light around her horn returned to its normal glow as she growled, “You weren’t supposed to see that.”
Starlight took a step back. “Twilight, I wouldn’t normally suggest this but the Elements of Harmony are the only thing we have that could stop her, but they’re all the way back with the Tree of Harmony!”
“There’s no need for that. Twilight, you always pretend that you’re willing to talk to your enemies to resolve the problem. Everything I’ve done so far has been getting rid of distractions,” Lady Faust said, stepping closer to them. “Grogar, Merry Weather, my followers, the Dazzlings back in Everfree…”
“You’re from Everfree?” Twilight asked.
“I’m…from before Everfree. Before Equestria.” Lady Faust shook her head and continued. “Me attacking Canterlot and the Crystal Empire…just distractions I was taking care of. My true goal was coming here and asking you a simple question that requires a simple answer. If you do that, I might let all your friends go free.”
“Wait, really? You’ll free the princesses, and Canterlot, and the Crystal Empire?” Pinkie asked. Lady Faust nodded and Twilight hesitantly stepped closer to her.
“Twilight, don’t! It’s a trick!” Rainbow cried.
“What kind of question is worth all the trouble you’ve caused?” Twilight asked the pale queen.
Lady Faust sighed. “Princess Twilight Sparkle. You’ve been doing a lot of winning lately, haven’t you? All those times you’ve saved the day. All the little promotions you’ve made for yourself. You’ve never really experienced loss, have you? Maybe you think you’ve had stumbles and setbacks. Maybe you lost a competition you didn’t really care about, or pretend that you failed at some test which one of your friends passed for you. But that’s not real loss. You’ve never experienced true defeat.
“I have. I know what it’s like to lose. To feel so desperately that I’m right…yet to fail nonetheless. It’s terrifying. Turns my legs to jelly. And to what end?” She coldly smirked at Twilight. “Well you’re going to learn what that feeling is like. After all, you never answered the question that your beloved mentor asked you.”
“What are you talking about?” Twilight asked hesitantly.
“Princess Celestia asked you a question, a long time ago. And you didn’t answer her. You refused to even acknowledge she asked you that question. How disappointing,” Lady Faust said, pointing at the Celestia plush toy inside the box in Spike’s claws.
“It’s time you answered her question, Twilight.” Lady Faust sat down on her haunches. “Pop quiz, princess. I will ask you that one question. You can try and ask your friends for advice. You can give me as many wrong answers as you like, and nothing bad will happen. Because there are TWO answers that I will accept. If you give me the answer I HOPE you give me, then I’ll let everyone go. Celestia, Shining, Luna, and Cadance will all be restored. Sunburst and Flurry will get their emotions back. I’ll pull Canterlot out of the black hole, free its citizens, unfreeze the Crystal Empire, and completely reverse all the damage I’ve done since coming here.”
Twilight and her friends smiled at this. “Really? Well that’s great to hear! Now what’s…”
“However…if you give me the answer I EXPECT you to give me, then I’ll destroy Equestria and everyone in it. Believe me, I can do it. Of course, I might not even need to. Maybe the Tree will do that for me. The question is scary enough for it.”
Twilight blinked in shock at Lady Faust. “How…how can a question destroy Equestria?”
“Because of its nature. Because you dread it. You’ve run from it. And now the question is here.”
Twilight shook her head. “You’re crazy! I can’t risk Equestria and all my friends on a question! You’ll probably claim I answered incorrectly no matter what I say!”
“Are you sure? It is a friendship question. From a very important friendship lesson,” Lady Faust said, a smug smirk forming on her face.
“Heh, then you don’t stand a chance!” Spike said confidently. “Twilight, come on! You’re the Princess of Friendship! You run a whole School of Friendship! You’ve got this test in the bag. Time to show this mare who’s the boss!”
Behind her, all her friends gave enthusiastic and confident smiles. Starlight smiled too but thinking about what was behind Lady Faust’s portal made her smile shrink a little.
With her confidence boosted, Twilight turned to face Lady Faust. “I’m ready for your test. What’s my question?”
…
…
“What is the princess of friendship without her friends?”
…
…
“To be Continued...”