//------------------------------// // Finale VI: Virtue // Story: Sometimes They Call Me Super // by KorenCZ11 //------------------------------// Applejack             “Well. I suppose a fighter you are not, Mister Blood,” Celestia said as we exited the simulation. It’d been a while since we trained, and today was a good day fer that. It was Wednesday, October 16th, and nopony wanted ta talk about anythin’ ta anypony. No discussion of mirrors, no plans fer the future, and… well, no tellin’ anypony about the new family members growin’ inside me.             Everypony could tell Ah was thinkin’ about it. This was part of why Ah didn’t wanna know. Ah’m even more hesitant now than Ah was before. More careful ta protect my midsection, ponies are more careful around me, ponies try ta keep me from gettin’ hit more than they were because now it’s out in the air. And, unlike the rest of us, Uncle Blood’s powers don’t help him much in a fight.             The older stallion sat up from our little circle and rubbed his back. “I’m no colt anymore, that’s for sure. Sitting at a desk in front of a computer for a couple decades doesn’t exactly build muscle either.”             “I mean, I coulda told ya that. Dude wasn’t big, but his brother was a damn brick house back in the day. Blood’s like… half his size at best,” Brightness added.             This mare was somethin’, alright. She looks like Star, physically, even has a similar upstate Manehattan accent like he does, but… It’s almost like she got all the ‘nasty’ qualities Star doesn’t have that ya’d expect him to.             Celestia eyed the blind mare. “As much as I appreciate your assistance, I don’t appreciate that tongue of yours, miss Brightness.”             A cocky smile on her lips, the white pegasus bowed. “Oh, pardon me, ya highness. Street rats like me ain’t used ta bein’ in the presence of ‘royalty’ an’ all that. I hope my speakin’ freely doesn’t offend your royal ears too bad.”             The princess rolled her eyes. “Ah, I see. Tell me again, what exactly did you do to your brother last you saw him? And that was… how many years ago?”             The smile fell and the younger mare turned away. Celestia tilted her head and batted her eyes. “Oh? Cat got your tongue? Surely you remember? Or did you take that memory away too?”             Brightness let out a breath and crossed her forelegs. “Alright, I get it. Geez.”             “See to it that you get it faster in the future, hmm?” Celestia said with her own snarky smile. She turned back ta the rest of and said, “While I expected a decline in our fighting strength for… obvious reasons, this was a far more drastic drop off than I was hoping for. Despite Mister Blood’s performance, the rest of you were in less than top form today.”             “W-well, what do you expect? I-it’s all broken. W-we have less ponies on the front line and even more poines t-to worry about keeping safe,” Fluttershy said.             “Yeah, not to mention you’re walking funny today,” Rainbow accused.             Shy groaned. “I-I am not!”             Rainbow waived a hoof. “Whatever. Look, I can’t be his replacement either. I’ve always been more of a glass cannon than anything, my defense is garbage compared to the kinda shit he could take. I mean.” Her eyes lowered and her cheeks looked a little closer ta violet than they did before. “If they were… ya know, him complaining about having a sore back all the time makes a lot more sense now.” At this moment, Ah found it very convenient that my hooves were close enough ta my face ta hide under. “This was the guy that single hoofedly held off Sahaquiel. Even Applejack broke fighting him, so how could we even being to fill in the gap?”             Pinkie crossed her forelegs. “I don’t know, maybe if we had something that could… give us some extra power just lying around we could probably do something about it.”             Rarity clicked her tongue. “Pinkie, please. Now is not the time—”             “Then when is the time!? When we’re staring down a wall we can’t see the top of and we have no other choice! If we at least tried it now, then we’d know if we have a shot or not in the first place!”             Celestia’s feather’s ruffled. “Drop. The subject.”             And that was an order. Fer a second, Pinkie almost dared challenge it. Almost. She backed down just as quickly and nopony said a word more about it. Ah don’t think she’s right ta just ignore the possibility of what’s in front of us, but… that’s just it. It’s a possibility. A possibility that we gain power, and a possibility we lose another pony. We can’t lose another pony. We just can’t.             Eventually, Celestia breathed the tension away. She stood, made her way over, and put a wing on Pinkie’s shoulder. “I understand your feelings. I understand your position. But as it is, I find it hard to risk all of you in the first place. Perhaps it was… foolish of me to allow myself to grow as close to you as I have, but the past is the past. You’re all precious to me and I couldn’t stand the thought of losing any more of you. One was… bad enough as it is.” She shook her head. “Luna is hard at work analyzing the mirrors now as quickly as she can with the best ponies she could find all for this task. Should she…” Celestia hesitated, “… learn something concrete, then maybe…” she let out a breath. “Three days remain. It is very limited, but we still have time to prepare before the final day arrives. Until then, we will continue to work under the assumption that no conditions on our side will change. We shall adjust as… developments take place, alright?” Pinkie’s lip quivered. She tried her best ta hold it in, but she couldn’t. She wrapped herself around Celestia and buried her face in her side. “If I’d only been stronger back then, he…” “Shh… the past is the past. It is set in stone. The future, however, it yet unwritten. If things are to change for the better, then you must remain alive to write it yourself. Patience… is a virtue.” “Well?” Uncle Blood asked as the elevator started ta move. “Well, what?” Ah shot back, knowin’ full ‘well’ what he wanted. “Applejack…” “Ah know, damn it!” He didn’t have ta say anythin’. Ah was the one that needed ta say somethin’, but this was even worse than when Ah brought Goose home fer the first time. Why is it that all of this has ta be so embarrassin’? Mac likes ta brag about it when he does it, but every time somepony talks about it around me, Ah just get all flustered and shy. We were married, damn it! Of course we were… we were… Gah! My hooves found my eyes. “Wh-why can’t y’all tell ‘em?” “Oh, don’t you give me that. I told everypony my secrets. Just… think of this as your punishment for breaking your promise to me. ‘Ah promise, Uncle Blood.’ That’s what you said when I told you to be safe. Not only did you lie to me, but you also slept with the first stallion you ever had feelings for. You might not be a skirt chaser like he is, but perhaps you and your brother have more in common than you thought.” Ah couldn’t scowl at him any harder than Ah was, but Ah could swear he was enjoyin’ this. He continued, “Maybe I will tell them. They didn’t exactly know Goose’s backstory like I do now, perhaps they’ll be interested to learn about the… ‘family business’?” Ah froze. “Ya will not!” Uncle Blood shrugged. “Will I? Who knows? It might just… slip out in conversation. It would be fun to say, wouldn’t it? Pregnant with a mob bosses’ heirs. It’s not often one gets to use those words together, you know.” Ah let a breath out my snout and felt my shoulders sink. They need ta know, Ah should be the one ta tell ‘em, and bein’… embarrassed about it ain’t gonna fix anythin’. Besides, Uncle Blood keeps his promises. “Fine.” “Good. I suppose it won’t matter much if nothing changes between now and Sunday, but everypony else knows, so you might as well tell your family too.” “Yeah…” The elevator dinged once we hit the tenth floor. Over dinner would… probably be the best time ta put it out there. “So, uh…” Ah began. We’d just gotten the takeout up ta the apartment and Ah figured now that everypony was in one place, it would be the time. “Is this gonna be long? Food’s gonna get cold, and Ah’ve got places ta be later,” Mac said. “Yeah, not ta rush ya or anythin’, but we were gonna meet up with Scootaloo fer the first time since her apartment got destroyed a while back, just the three of us. Er, Ah guess we all went ta the weddin’ but uh… Ah don’t think any of us really remembered much from that night.” Applebloom added. Ah swallowed. “Well, Ah mean, maybe it can wait if y’all are busy or whatever…” Mac stopped reachin’ fer food all at once, sat back in his chair, and crossed his forelegs. “No, no. My plans can wait. Please, continue.” Ah clicked my tongue. “Changed yer tune pretty damn quick.” Mac nodded. “Ya clearly don’t wanna say whatever it is ya have ta tell me, so now Ah’m interested. Go on.” “Typical.” Applebloom tilted her head. “Is… somethin’ wrong? Well, more than usual, Ah mean.” She set her cheek on her hoof. “What ain’t wrong right now? Everythin’s all fucked up. Is this good news or bad news?” Ah licked my lips. “Yes.” Mac squinted. “What’d ya mean, ‘yes?’” Ah scratched at my ear. “Ah mean, dependin’ on how ya wanna look at it, it could be both.” Applebloom blinked. “Well… what is it?” Ah sighed and sat up straight. “Now, this might be strange ta hear, but uh… Ah’m… pregnant.” There was silence at the dinner table fer a minute there. After a while, Mac cleaned one of his ears out with a hoof and asked. “Did… did Ah hear that right? Applebloom, what did she just say?” She just stared at me with the most open-mouthed blank confusion Ah’ve ever seen. “Like… like… Ah mean, we all thought ya…” she shook her head. “You’re havin’ a baby?” “W-well…” Mac deflated. “Seriously? Is this really happenin’? Ah mean… we talked about this, but Ah thought it’d at least take a couple months or somethin’…” He rested his head on his hoof. “When did we fall inta the soap opera? Can we not go a single week without hearin’ some life changin’ news?” Mac narrowed his eyes at Applebloom. “Ya ain’t fuckin’ that kid ya were hangin’ out with last month, are ya?” Applebloom reared back. “Wha- no! Taps is… he ain’t…” she scratched at her mane. “Ah ain’t like y’all, Ah’m not about ta lose myself in a moment and get down with the first pony Ah meet. Geez.” She crossed her forelegs and huffed. “Ah want my first time ta be special. If Ah’m gonna bring a family inta the world, then Ah want a whole family, not somethin’ like the broken mess we are. Unless somepony real special comes along, Ah ain’t doin’ nothin’ with nopony till Ah get married.” Ah threw my hooves up in exasperation. “Ah was married! It’s not like Ah… wanted that ta stop.” A long pause. “Well… you’re at least gonna keep it, right?” Mac asked. Ah coughed inta my hoof. “Them.” He blinked. “Them?” “Twins.” “Twins?” Applebloom asked. Ah nodded. “Yes… and, there ain’t no way Ah’d ever give ‘em up. It’d be like spittin’ on his grave if Ah…” Ah sighed. “Ah’m gonna… try ta get this right. Pa and… even Uncle Blood tried ta get it right playin’ against a stacked deck and Ah’m not about ta give up just because Ah know the game is rigged. Ah’ve always been playin’ with a bad hoof. This… ain’t really any different, all things considered.” Mac scratched at his mane. “And you’re… Ya’ve still gotta fight on Sunday, don’t’cha?” Ah swallowed. “Yes.” My brother chewed on his lip. He looked at me, looked at his hooves, and flexed ‘em. “What, uh…” Then, it occurred ta me what he was thinkin’. “My powers—” “No.” Ah shook my head, reached across the table and took hold of his hoof. “Ah didn’t want this. Ah didn’t want any of y’all involved in any of this. That was what Ah said when Ah got inta this business three years ago, and ain’t nothin’ about it has changed.” Ah let his hoof go and sat back down. “It… means a lot ta me that ya would even offer, but… stay out of this, alright?” We stared each other down fer a long time. We fight. We call each other names, we rag on each other, we play games with each other. He’s my big brother, that’s the way it’s always been. But, just as much as he wants ta, he can’t fight fer me. He can’t take my place, he can’t protect me. This is my fight. Maybe if things were different, maybe if… there was more time… He let out a breath and raised his hooves. “Okay.” he closed his eyes and crossed his forelegs. “Ah get it. Some… instinct is makin’ me abandon my sense, thinkin’ Ah could even keep up with the heroine of Manehattan. Just…” he stuck a hoof out. “Promise me you’ll survive all this, alright? All three of ya.” “I’m sorry. I couldn’t keep our promise.” My body locked up. My heart froze. My face heated and my eyes started ta leak. Hidden under hooves and forelegs against the table, a simple, snivelin’ reply squeaked out of me. “Ah can’t.” Blood Orange Last night, plans were cancelled. Dinner was miserable, ponies cried, and I thought to myself, for the first time in a very long time, ‘Why is it that I survived, instead of him?’ This wasn’t the usual, bitter, sad, self-loathing coming out, but a genuine question of purpose. I’ve never felt as if things happen without a reason. The heart’s cruelty, some karmic justice, some… unseen Goddess exacting her retribution upon us. Those are all… easy answers. ‘It was nopony’s fault, we’re all to blame.’ Garbage like that is simple and useless. Sure, simple answers can be true at times, but this isn’t a question with a ‘simple’ answer. From the day I was born, I have survived near death experiences over and over again, as if everything that was supposed to end my time here in the mortal realm was just short of managing to finish the job. A war, a dying world, lost in an unfamiliar place, rescued from insanity, resuscitated from drowning in sorrow. Why? I am no one. I was never anypony special, I didn’t even have powers until they were forced on me, and even now, the powers I do have are next to useless. Yet… I still feel like there’s something I am here to do. I can’t understand it. Macintosh was always a quiet child when he was young. As he got older, his body did that thing that apple stallions do and grew and bulked out to become the mare-killer he is today, but that quiet boy I raised is still there. Thinking, considerate, more willing to suffer in silence than impose on somepony else. Sure, he knows Applejack can take care of herself, but the moment he hears she’s vulnerable, he… Did it miss me? That… courage that they all seem to have. The ability to rise to the occasion no matter what stands before them, the will to summon up the strength necessary to say what needs to be said and do what needs to be done. I’ve… run away so many times now, I wonder if it’s just a gene I didn’t inherit. Or perhaps it’s something they learned over time? From father to son and daughter from one generation to the next. Ponies who grew into those with strong hearts and iron wills. Roots that hold tight and weather the most violent storms to see another day and grow ever stronger. Where did they get it? Why is it that I lack it? Am I such a failure to my blood that I simply can’t be what they are? I dreamt that night. It was… the first dream I’d had in a long time. In some green place, in some warm home, there was a family. A strange family. But… not a broken one. Five foals that could’ve been siblings but a few of them weren’t quite close enough for that. A pair of mothers that looked like good friends, a single stallion that played father to them all. What kind of life is that? A life that… feels normal, a life that I can only see in my dreams. Is it one I was meant for? One I was meant to be a part of? Or… one I can pave the way for? It would make the most sense if the last option were true, but how could I bring something like that to life? A thought at the back of my mind told me what I’d felt a few days ago. In the depths of my heart, I know why I’m still here. What it is that I’m supposed to do. Who I need to be. The legacy I need to live up to. The blood I need to carry on. I was never meant to be the hero. I was never good enough to be a hero. My father, my brother, my niece. That was all their destinies. My job was always the simple answer.  I was meant to be their reflection. “Princess, if I may…” I began. I could feel their eyes on me, through me. Seeing inside without so much as trying, looking straight past this pathetic imitation of a stallion. She nodded. An invitation. “Yes?” I took a careful look around the table. The faces, the names, they were familiar, but not well known to me. Even Brightness has more of a connection to the ponies here than I do. I am simply here to serve out my raison d’etre, my beloved niece. “With your permission, I would like to try on a mirror.” Ponies blinked. Brightness balked. Applejack gasped. But Celestia remained still. Much like myself, there are only so many ponies she truly cares for here. I am not one of them. “What!? Ya know the answer, why would ya—” Applejack started to protest, but Celestia silenced her. “State your reasoning.” Despite the look of horror on Applejack’s face, I continued. “I was, up until recently, a wanted violent terrorist. I took the lives of sixty-one ponies, including my own brother, not to mention the destruction of the trade center and everything that followed thereafter. As it stands, I should’ve been caught and executed by the state years ago. “Instead, in all that time, I… had to learn how to start over. I had to be a father to ponies who weren’t mine, I had to bury my brother and hide and hope nopony ever found his body or figured out who I was, all while struggling to keep us fed. I wasn’t very good at it, but I managed. It even got easier over time. But the guilt of everything always gnawed away at the back of my mind. It should be him, not me. I should’ve died, I should’ve been the one to fall, my big brother was… the hero. But that’s just not how things went. I had a job to do, and even if I never believed I could do it, the ponies that depended on me did.” I took a deep breath and stood to be at eye level with the Princess. “My job is over. The kids are grown, they’re all self-sufficient, and they can all take care of themselves. But I can’t sit here with a hoof up my ass while I watch all these young ponies gamble everything when I’m the only one with nothing left to lose. “So I ask you to allow me to pay for everything, right here and now. If I survive, then the game has changed. If I don’t, then my sentence has simply been carried out.” She held eye contact with me but remained silent. “Wha— nothin’ ta lose!? The hell are ya on about! Ya can’t just… just… we— Ah still need ya! Ya have ta be there!” I shook my head. “When you were with Goose, did I ever cross your mind?” She flinched. “W-well…” “Hold on just a damn minute!” Brightness added, “Who said killin’ yourself was payment? I ain’t done with you yet! Ya… ya took him from me. My… Mister Red Hooves. Who said ya could just walk out on me like that, huh?” Some ponies seem to be allergic to honesty, I swear. “And what more would you have of me? What is it that you need of me?” She gritted her teeth. “Look, I just ain’t done with you yet, alright!? Ya can’t just go… just go off yourself like that!” I stared her down. “And if I truly did decide to go find some hole to die in, how could a filly like you stop me?” The angry mare stomped her hooves far louder than she had any right to. “Ya would not! You ain’t that kinda guy! Ya wouldn’t just up and abandon…” she gritted her teeth and sat back down. “Fuck you. Do whatever you want.” I… wasn’t proud of the relationship I had with Brightness. She’s old enough to be my daughter. But, in more ways than one, I was always my brother’s mirror. And she truly loved him. She could never let him go and to her, this probably like watching him walk away again for the last time. Rainbow coughed into her hoof. “Are you… sure you wanna do this?” “If things are to change, you all need another pony on the front lines. I’ve watched you in simulation after simulation struggle where a position you expect to be filled simply isn’t there anymore. I… have a good idea of what I might be granted if this works, and I do believe it will.” She lowered her bows. “What makes you think that? I mean, I get it. How you feel, and all. Wanting to pay off the guilt. It kinda… doesn’t go away, really. Sure, it loses its edge over time, but it always comes back to haunt you when you least expect it. It’s hard to get over it. But… I don’t know, it just doesn’t feel right, ya know? Ya did what ya did, we all did what we did, but we get clean slates here. You never really struck me as a bad guy, so…” she scratched at her mane. “I don’t know, maybe I don’t get it.” I chuckled. “It’s nothing more than a feeling, really. I was… always trying to emulate somepony. Be the brave stallion my father was, be the hero my brother was. I was never anything more than a mirror, I was only ever as good as the ponies around me. Perhaps… being in the company of ponies I can really call heroes is giving me that thing I’ve always been missing.” Finally, the mare in question spoke. “And… this feeling of yours… you’re satisfied with gambling on this? No matter the results?” “Wait! You’re not serious are ya?” Applejack interjected. I nodded. “I am.” “No ya aren’t!” Celestia stood. “Very well then. Normally, a pony who has committed the crimes you have would be sentenced to death. You’ve lived in shackles after all this time, shown your repentance, and are now ready to step onto the gallows. With this, you can give your life to the service of the greater good, whether it’s a swift death or a lifetime of fighting under my banner for whatever I deem fit until the day you die. For the murder of sixty vigilantes, for fratricide, and for aiding a terrorist, I sentence you, the former villain, ‘The Mirror,’ to trying on the counterfeit mirror.” Once Applejack had been restrained, Princess Celestia summoned her sister. Of what little progress she’d made, there was one mirror among the three that had a remotely similar signature to what little record of the original she had. A one percent match. Persona had finally come close enough to see the top of the mountain he wanted to scale just as he was standing at death’s door. Given the time to perfect it, there was a chance he could have. Just like us, he too, was betting on hope and gambling with bad odds. And that was how it should be. We were at the center of it all when we made this mess. The pony who made the first mistake would be there to slay me if I went rouge, and if I don’t, it will be up to me to clean it all up. Stannum, Silicon, Brightness, Rainbow, Mac, Applejack, Applebloom, Citrus… and Dew. As I held the imitation mirror in my hooves, their names all swirled around in my head. From the muffled screams of my niece watching above, to the angry curses from the mare whose heart I may very well break all over again, I pressed the mirror to my chest. Immediately, I felt it stab into me. Rending skin and flesh from my body beneath, digging new veins and arteries inside like icy needles looking for blood. My heart stopped. The mirror siphoned blood from every direction and rerouted it back, starting me up again and taking over. Light flooded out from the mirror, then the blood vessels just underneath my skin. Spreading up and through me, the bright orange illuminated everything until I couldn’t see. My breath ceased. Despair started to fill me as I couldn’t feel anything anymore. I failed, didn’t I? I was never up to this, was I? How could I feel good about this? This was never going to work. I am no one. I am not special. I was always a background character in somepony else’s story, and this is how I finally die. Lost in light, unconnected to anything, I waited for whatever comes next. Would I see Citrus? Dew? Father, Mother, the son I never got to meet? Or… is this the part where I fall? Where a claw of some kind drags me down into the flames of eternity. Perhaps… this is it? Floating in an endless void of white with no sense of time or space. Forever lost until my sanity degrades itself to the point that I am no more. And all at once, it was over. I blinked, and my vision returned. My body had stopped glowing, feeling had returned to me, and though it was cold, I could tell that the mirror was now a part of me. Living and breathing with me. Returning me… an old feeling I never thought I’d feel again. I fell to my chest and buried my head under my hooves. I did it, Citrus. “Well? How do you feel?” Princess Luna asked. I laughed. “Horrible, really. On top of the pain of having this thing cut me up and reroute my blood vessels, I feel the same way I did twelve years ago when I first put one of these on.” I laughed harder in an effort to keep from crying. “I feel like I could go kill a bunch of vigilantes.” The girls who would’ve been hurt the most practically slammed into me before I knew it, and soon the rest had surrounded me. “Ah can’t believe ya would just… just…! Goddess damn it, don’t scare me like that!” “You fucking piece of garbage, how dare you! How fucking dare you! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you! You’re not allowed to leave me!” As I held them both in my forelegs, I breathed a sigh of relief. For the moment, there was hope. For the moment, things were okay. For the moment, I’d kept their hearts whole. Another miracle had happened. The game has changed, and even the power I once knew, I understood better now. A thought given life and I could see the world the way Brightness sees it. A turn and I could feel all the strength and magic Applejack commands. Full control of the blood in my veins, a monster buried deep within just on the verge of coming out, speed unparalleled, magic I… couldn’t understand, a hunger for energy to be taken and stored away. Even a touch that could give life to something broken. It wasn’t that I could just copy one at a time either. I could feel them all at once. If I so desired it, I could be fast and strong. A bloody monster, a hungry healer, a… hero unlike any other. I sat up, and once she realized she was in mixed company, Brightness removed herself of me and pouted with her eyes turned away. Applejack, however, never did let go. I patted her mane and said, “I’m alright. I’m still here.” “Thank the Goddess. Ah can’t take another hit like that, Uncle. Don’t make me do it, okay?” She held me tighter and buried her teary eyes in my chest. “I won’t.” Celestia approached me. “So? What is it you’ve gained?” Applejack finally let go of me and I stood for the Princess. “Exactly what I’d lost, I think. I can feel every power in the vicinity. I wouldn’t be able to give you a range on how close somepony needs to be for me to copy it, but at least the nine powers here, I could—” Nine? Nine? Why did I say nine? That doesn’t make any sense. I know I can’t copy my own powers. Celestia tilted her head. “Did you say… nine?” Luna raised a brow. “Nine powers? Celestia, is there something you have not told me?” The larger mare rolled her eyes. “No, and you should know better. Mister Blood, what do you mean, ‘nine’ powers? Unless, can you—” “No, I can’t. I don’t understand it either. One moment, please.” Nine powers. I can tell there are nine other powers here. But why? There shouldn’t be. The Princesses don’t come up in my detection, or even in Brightness’s scan. What is it that I’m feeling? I closed my eyes and put all my energy into my own powers and felt for the extra one. By process of elimination, I started with Applejack. Strength… and magic? Was it always like that? Fortification. Something beyond physical that lets her use her all. She might as well be a manifestation of her own will at this point. Rainbow Dash. Hemokenetic, full control of the liquid in her veins. So long as there is a place for it to go, she can shape it, move it, twist it, harden it, even restructure it on a cellular level to make use of everything her body can offer. Scootaloo. A… mender. The power to fix what’s broken, even on a cellular level. But, only what’s broken. A natural process that forces change without destruction is beyond her reach. Perhaps that’s why she couldn’t fix Twilight’s horn? It wasn’t just that it had been shattered, but the pieces she tried to put back together were no longer the same pieces that were broken. Speaking of; the eater. Not just nullification, but absorption. She takes and stores magical energy, and this power doesn’t just manifest itself there, it shows up in her bodily function. To consume power, to consume information, she can take it all in and keep it forever. A normal pony with a power like this might burn themselves out. Somepony like her could one day even surpass the likes of her mother. Fluttershy. The beast, the truth of what she is deep inside. A wolf in sheep’s clothing. Once activated by the blood of prey, she can take her true form and begin the hunt. Her outer shell simply looks like a pony, however… a piece is missing. Not just the leg she lost, but something about the power itself has been lost. A… domesticated animal. The wild creature inside has died. Rarity. The rule breaker, a magic foreign to the rules of nature that only she has the power to use. It isn’t simply the ability to halt time, but to cheat space too. Of all the powers here, even with my own ability to see it, I can’t understand it. It’s… almost like she’s been granted the powers of the Goddess herself. Something… beyond understanding. Pinkie. The asymptote, a pony who can race against time, but never quite touch it. I can’t tell if this power is even related to her body. She should burn to death with the friction she creates when she runs as fast as she can, but it’s almost like the physics of her power don’t apply to her. Brightness. The seer, a pony whose sight goes beyond herself and into the realm above and below. From the highest heights, to the hearts of ponies, there’s little that can hide. There is a range to it, but that’s only limited to how much information her brain can process. The less information the rest of her body can take in, the more her brain can process outside of her. Not just her sight, but all her senses are sacrificed in an effort to attain more information. It’s a miracle she can force it back down into her body. Had she less control, she wouldn’t be much more than a spirit floating in a jar. And finally… I gasped aloud. “What did you find?” Celestia asked. I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. How could I have forgotten? They told me where this was, and it just never… “Twilight, you said there was once… a cabin here, right?” She and Celestia looked to each other. “W-well… it was destroyed when I lost control of my magic.” I nodded. “And from there, the castle grew out of the ground because you’d triggered something, right?” I walked over to where I could feel number nine the strongest and stood at the center of the training room. It was deep. Deep, deep below this place, directly at the epicenter of where I could feel it all around me. Celestia took a few steps toward me. “Yes… but we never did figure out—” She realized what I had. Who number nine was. “It’s right there, isn’t it?” “It is. Twilight, would you bring…” I bit into my leg so it would bleed, then used Rainbow’s powers to cut a square area into the floor around me. “this area here up to the surface?” I stepped aside and let her take over. Her horn, then her whole body, set alight with a violet aura and the castle shook. A solid rectangle of crystal rose and rose and rose up into the training room. Inside it, one could see ‘roots’ of concentrated magic that flowed in and around it, little veins that truly made this place alive like some kind of creature symbiotic with her. At the very bottom of it was… the true Root of this castle. What I’d buried here twelve years ago. He’d been… ‘petrified,’ in a way. Preserved as he was before he’d died in the very same crystal that made up this castle. And just above his crossed forelegs were the remains of a magic that had moved on. Little shiny pieces that all reflected far more than they rightfully should. As I approached him, I could still feel that power I’d stolen. The power I wanted to seal away all those years ago. The power that gave life to this miraculous magical thing. “My dear brother. You always did live up to your names.”