//------------------------------//
// Chapter 30- A Truly Brutal Life Lesson 
// Story: The Thestral With The Golden Halo 
// by DougtheLoremaster 
//------------------------------//

Starshine shivered as she watched the scene shift from Pinkie being healed to Faust’s Realm. It was a room of infinite length, with hundreds of thousands of millions of books lining bookshelves cast from light. The young princess watched in absolute shock as the magic emanating from her mother had struck the Book of Pinkie Pie. The book flew off the shelf and began to tear apart as the pages changed. That’s when the ripple began; anypony or creature Pinkie had, or would meet, had their books altered as well as those that knew them. Book after book flew off the shelves and they broke apart. And amongst the chaos with truly the most chilling glare Starshine had ever seen, stood Faust; enraged. Her scream shook the very cosmos itself. “HAZEL!”

***

A swirling vortex through which stepped a sinister-looking Thestral who was not happy, appeared. “Yes sister, what is it? I am having a situation in Tartarus so this better be...”
Her words died in her throat as she looked around. Her tone dropped to an enraged whisper. “You too…”
Faust stared at Hazel in dismay. “What do you mean… ‘Me too’?”
Hazel smashed her hoof down in anger. “The books of sin in Tartarus are going crazy! The pages are getting rewritten and while I do enjoy chaos...I’m going to completely obliterate whoever ruined all my careful filing!”
“The books are...What about the inmates?”
“New ones arriving unannounced claiming to be from your realm and old ones set free. Do you know what is causing this?”
“I thought maybe it was you.”
Eyes narrowing as her form grew black with the sheen of obsidian. “No. It wasn’t me. How dare you even think I would do anything as the likes of this nonsense?”
Faust eyed her incredulously. “You can stand there and honestly say that, after you once reorganized my works of life starting with name and time deceased?”
Hazel laughed. “Fair enough.”
Her eyes narrowed in absolute rage. “This however was not my doing, dear sister.”
Faust looked confused momentarily. “Then who- oh no…”
Staring at her sister, Hazel questioned her. “What do you mean ‘oh no’? Do you know who did this sister?”
Faust spoke just one word as she pointed a hoof towards a window into Equestria. “Twilight.”
“And who in my nine circles, is Twilight?”
Faust looked down for a moment. “No...No one.”
Hazel lifted her sisters muzzle with her hoof, until the two were eye to eye. “Faust, who is Twilight?”
Faust whimpered as Hazel glared into her eyes. “Tell me. NOW.”
“My daughter!”
The Thestral looked stunned; confused even. “Your- What?”
Faust stamped her hooves in embarrassment. “Shouldn’t we focus on-”
Hazel laughed, shaking with a fit of hysterics.“ Wait a minute, hold up! My little sis gave into her temptations? Had a daughter? That’s rich! Little Miss Purity committed a celestial sin; of her own decree, no less?”
“Hazel if we could just-”
Grinning wickedly Hazel refused to let it go. “That can wait. This is far too juicy.  I want details, Miss Perfection. Now, how was it? Everything you thought it would be?”
Knowing her sister would not let it go, Faust began explaining. “Well first we…”

 ***

“Um mom, I think your spell is broke-”
Starshine watched with widening eyes as Faust and Hazel suddenly began to move in rapid succession. As Faust bent over flank in the air, leading to the assumed demonstration of several hundred positions, many of which Starshine recognized as her having done with Hazel; several of them illegal in Equestria. Starshine heard Twilight mutter beside her. “Not what we are here for.”
Whirling through what could only have been hours of explanation later the scene, finally, once more slowed to a steady pace; Faust and Hazel were angrily standing in front of Twilight and her five friends in Ponyville. Time for all those around them had been frozen. 

 ***

“TWILIGHT SPARKLE!”
The voice was one Starshine recognized all too well; an angry mother. Twilight looked up to find Faust looking down on her, a glare on her face. “You are in-”
As she spoke, she was interrupted by Applejack. “Beg yore pardon but who are ya and why are you yelling at Twi like that?”
Hazel looked at her in shock as the others joined in as well. “Yes Dah-ling and what is with that walking nightmare as well?”
“N-not to be rude but...That was a horrible first impression you made.”
“This is so not awesome.”
Hazel held up a hoof to decline a cupcake Pinkie decided to offer the newcomers. “You can see us? Wait, why aren’t you frozen in time? Faust...You did cast the spell right?”
“Faust? THE Faust?”
Faust looked just as confused, as she ignored the influx of ‘no ways’ from the young mares. “I don’t get it, Hazel. Why would the spell fail?”
A light went off in the Thestral’s mind. “I’ll be right back.”
And with that, Hazel vanished from sight once more.  Once she was gone Starshine watched as Twilight’s friends began questioning Faust. “Are you really Faust? How do you know Twilight?”
Applejack however had quietly pulled Twilight to the side and was holding a whispered conversation. “Twi what’s goin on here?”
Twilight leaned close and whispered in AJ’s ear. “Don’t freak out, but that’s my...Well, she’s my mom, Applejack.”
Gulping from shock, Applejack blurted out in disbelief. “YOUR MOM?
Twilight face-hoofed as all her friends turned to stare at them. Just then the sky grew blood red and the ground shook. Starshine stared on in disbelief, as the ground cracked and split revealing an enraged Hazel, staring daggers into Twilight. Her voice seemed to cause the very air to explode with fury. And the worst part was, she wasn’t even shouting. “I’m going to kill you, Daughter of Faust, I’m going to rend your flesh from your bones, I’m going to-”
Starshine’s eyes went wide as time sped up once more and what could only have been several minutes of nightmarish threats and imagery passed before her eyes before stopping once more with Hazel roaring; her mane alight with the fire of Tartarus itself: “-With your own damned horn, you Cloven-hooved Serpent!”
“Hazel…”
“And after that-”
“HAZEL.”
“She Destroyed my Filing! She-”
“Sister.”
The word was barely whispered by Faust, but Starshine felt as if some incomprehensible doom had just presented itself. The soft whisper thundered throughout her mind as she stood there quaking, uncontrollably. Sweat dripped from her muzzle as she stared at the image of the past. 
It was only a replication of what had occurred and yet, the fire in Faust’s eyes as the same soft smile graced Faust’s maw, terrified her. The Creator’s rage was evident, and turning to face her mom; Starshine was shocked to see the normally composed Twilight doing everything she could to stand upright as she too, quaked in fear. Faust spoke in the same warm tone as always, as she continued her words. “That is enough, big sister. I will handle this.”
The Twilight in the past was trembling and barely able to stand. The rest of her friends lay unconscious nearby; their faces twisted in fear. Faust slowly walked over to her daughter, and leaning down, gave her a hug. As Hazel behind her stood frozen in place from shock, Faust finished her thoughts turning towards the watchers, as though she could see them; her eyes lit with a fire Tartarus could never produce. “Though I’m sure you’ll have wished Hazel had disciplined you instead, when this is over, my daughter.”

 ***

“History repeats itself, lest we learn from it, my daughter. Watch and learn from those who came before.”
Starshine watched as Faust led Twilight away from the others; waiting for them to wake up and talked to her directly. She observed as Faust asked the young form her mother about the difference in types of magic. It was then it hit her. Wait, this seems familiar. 
The Twilight from the past stood there, quaking and timid. She tried to make very familiar excuses. “It was an accident mom! I didn’t know-”
Faust nodded in agreement. “You’re right, you didn’t know it would happen.”
“Then why should I-”
Young Twilight stopped mid-sentence as her mother’s horn glowed brightly. As she watched, a skeleton appeared. The skeleton quickly filled in with organs and muscles; ligaments and marrow, veins and arteries. Soon a skin appeared on the skeleton as it crept up and wrapped around the strange display. Feathers grew upon the figure and finally with a loving kiss from Faust, the eyes of the creature opened. It was a bird. Starshine stared on in confusion as the bird hopped around, happily. What is this? Faust spoke softly. “Tell me what you see my daughter.”
“A-A bird, mom?”
Faust nodded with a slight smile on her maw. Starshine noticed a slight magenta tinge to her eyes as she cheerfully replied. “That’s right! This is a bird. A living creature, newly created, it has no knowledge of the world it has arrived in. The only thing the poor darling knows is it is hungry. Hmm, do me a favor. We’ll get back to your lesson in a moment. Be a dear and feed the little birdy for me, Twilight.”
“Feed it?”
In front of Twilight different piles of meat, berries, and seeds appeared. Her mother nodded and said. “Yes please. Pick one of these piles, feed the lovely bird.”
She looks as confused as I feel right now. Starshine watched the scene as the Twilight in the image chose some seeds. “I heard from Fluttershy birds like seeds. Here you go.”
The little bird gladly pecked at the seeds, cracking and swallowing them. It gave a happy chirp and Twilight smiled. That smile quickly vanished as she watched the tiny bird begin to twitch and cough, as though it was choking. Seconds later, the tiny bird fell over dead, unmoving and still. Faust watched the scene as her daughter began to cry. “Tell me, did you know that would happen?”
“No- I-”
Nodding, the Alicorn’s horn glowed and the corpse of the unfortunate bird vanished. “Exactly. You had the best intentions for feeding the bird. You even had everything you needed to succeed in feeding it as well. You made a choice and as a result, your choice killed the bird.”
Realization dawned in both Starshine’s and the young Twilight’s eyes as the Celestial Creator continued. “You didn’t know the bird would be unable to eat that particular seed type, yet the consequence of your choice still occurred.”
Gently nuzzling her daughter, the image of Faust spoke in a loving tone but her words sent chills down Starshine’s spine. This time the Alicorn was staring directly into her eyes, not her daughter’s. “Understand now? Mistake or not, you cast the spell, no one else. The freedom to choose does not mean the freedom to avoid the consequences of your actions. Your choice, though well intentioned was poorly thought out. Now daughter of my flesh, you will atone for what you have done.”

 ***

The scene faded away as Twilight stared into her daughter’s eyes. Like Faust, her words were loving, but still conveyed the seriousness of her thoughts. “Starshine, my friends and I paid a price for my use of Miracles. I was cursed, forced to rebuild the world as it had been, starting over every time it veered off track. My friends sent to other realities. They grew corrupted within Those realities. I gathered them, one by one, making them remember who they were. Still they are not as they were and never will be again. Each now possesses a side to them they never had.”
Twilight’s horn glowed as an image of her friends with Cozy Glow appeared. “I built this realm to allow them to be themselves, in this realm anything goes, and in this realm we have been rebuilding Equestria. Even now we have been at this for countless eons of time. We cannot die, we cannot live; we no longer exist on the bookcases of Life or Sin. Tell me. Was it really true that as long as Pinkie was saved, it didn’t matter the result?”
“I-I guess not.”
A new image appeared. Tirek, Sombra and Chrysalis sat drunk at a table in front of the sobbing creatures lay a revolver. Twilight’s voice seemed to take on a silky tone. “The answer is no. My choice brought pain and heartache to everypony and myself. Your mistake was nowhere near as shattering as mine was. However, if you truly are a mare, Starshine and not a filly, as you claim; you will fix your mistake.”
Starshine understood. Her eyes blazed with a deep amethyst, her mind clearer than it had been in a while. Her voice no longer carried that bratty whine, no, she spoke in a slightly deeper voice. “Mom-”
Her horn began to glow as she smiled at her mother. The illusion of her purely alicorn form faded. She proudly showed both sides of her. Her draconic wing sprouted forth, the obsidian design of her Thestral form came forward. Her other half displayed the Alicorn form; her hooves on the right took on a golden shine and her feathery wing unfolded. She stood there, hiding nothing as her magenta and amethyst eyes shined brightly. On her head rested a tarnished circular object; it shined with a dingy gold.   “Thank you, I can’t believe I’ve been so foolish.I have some business I need to take care of as the Princess of Redemption.”
As the glow flashed brightly, Starshine vanished from sight. Twilight nodded, a rare, genuine smile gracing her muzzle. That stance, that conviction. She finally understands. She has finally accepted her throne. Standing there alone once more, Twilight felt something she had not felt in many eons. She felt pride as she watched Starshine appear amidst the three former villains: “Let’s work together to find a way to rebuild your lives.”
Giving a little sniffle, the Ruler of Equestria grinned. “My little filly has finally grown up.”