//------------------------------// // Interlude: In Faust we trust // Story: Era of Harmony // by Gambling_Sam //------------------------------// ???/no POV Space, an empty cold abyss of death and and discovery. Ponykind has always known it as where the princess of night's stars are placed, where her moon shines from. But little to none, even Luna herself, ever contemplate traveling the empty area between these stars. That is...almost empty. In the near center of this abyss of darkness lies a large flat circle of a diamond like substance. In the center of this circle is a globe, and if one peered close enough they could make out all the major landmarks of Equestria and its neighboring kingdoms. From Griffonia all the way to the land of the dragons, every area and every being that currently lived there could be spied upon without anyone ever being aware. Standing vigil over this globe of Equiis was an alicorn, one much older and stronger than the ones living in Canterlot. Bearing a body of pure gold and a mark of a balancing scale on her flank, this alicorn stands watch over the whole planet, ensuring that everything stays balanced...no matter the cost or the lives lost to do so. A flash of light interrupts the golden mares eyes as she looks up to see a human about eight feet tall walking towards her. Tired golden eyes drift to the approaching figure as he stops and raises an eyebrow at her. "I did what you asked, Faust. Now answer my questions." The inquisitive man asked as he stroked his beard. He was burly, with body armor made of red dragon scales (leftovers from the last dragon that attempted to escape tartarus.) that matched his red hair, while he also wore sandels that seemed to be strapped with ponified leather. Faust sighed. "Very well. You have two questions." The man put his hands on his hips and frowned. "First, why did I have to go and cause that accident in that small town? You know those kids are vital to your pathetic balance." Faust scoffed. "Fate called for the situation to arise. The children were in good hooves and due to the involvement of the boy and his brother stopping the three fillies from attempting to mess with the visitor from Manehatten, I had to compensate." The man groaned. "Does every event in that town that seems SLIGHTLY interesting have to have some sort of life-endangering situation in it?" Before Faust could speak he continued. "And I swear on my name if you say balance I will rip that horn off your head and puncture your ass with it!" Faust chuckled slightly. "Now Tarus, there is no need for threats. Especially since you already puncture my flank just fine without the need of any tools. But I find near death situations...appealing to watch." Tarus looked away, hiding his red face, and chuckled. "Fair enough, Fausty. As for my second question. What are we going to do when the boy starts to realize what type of magic he weilds?" At this, Faust turned away and took a deep breath. "When he begins to hone his powers is when the final Era begins." Taurus blinked in suprise and clenched his fists. "Era? We haven't activated an Era in eons! The last one we did created that stupid chaos 'god' Discord!" Faust looked to him with a souless gaze, no mercy would be found in her eyes. "The planet of Equiis has grown lax and have forgotten the ancient ways of life, especially the ponies. We believed having a tyrannical ruler like Discord would toughen them up, but the two Alicorns stepped in and stopped the plan. A new Era is absolutely necessary to rectify this mistake." Tarus groaned. Causing an Era was soooo much work and would send soooo many souls to Tartarus (his namesake land). He turned and opened a portal before looking back. "If so, then I better make room down here. There's gonna be a looot of conpany in a couple of weeks." With that, he was gone, leaving Faust alone in the empty abyss. Faust turned and summoned a wall to appear in front of her. On this wall were many pictures, some of her and Tarus (several of these were quite...exotic). Some were of her late husband chronos and her two daughters before she faked her death. And the last one was... That one was special. It showed a small yellow unicorn filly holding a flower in her hoof, not yet knowing the vile path fate would put her on. Not yet knowing thag she would be forced to watch over all of reality and protect it from destruction. She sighed and made the wall disappear. Everything has its place in the world, made of light or darkness. For every villian that steps up, a hero must be made to face it. And the winner of said bout would decide how the balance would be affected. And far too many times has light won these recent bouts, and now with not only the princesses and the six elements of harmony being children of light, but the three humans (for now) following that path as well was really not helping the balance issue, making the use of an Era all the more necessary. Faust frowned. Tarus had made a decent point though. Using an Era meant extreme unpredictability. Accounting for everything they could do was impossible, even for her. All she knew was that they balanced the scale, whether it created a hero to fight the dark. Or it wiped all traces of light from the planet and let the night last forever. The effects were limitless. She sighed again and looked back to the globe. Oh well, that would have to wait until the boy started learning how to use his not so normal powers. She spawned up a rather large scale next to her and looked at the symbols on it. The scale had two sides, one was pure black and the other was white. There was a odd grey square in between but nopony had been on that in years. "Might as well check in with the those 'heroes' of Equestria." She muttered to herself as she looked carefully. The elements of Loyalty, Honesty, Magic, Kindness and Generosity were all on the white scale alongside...The moon? "Why is the Luna on the light side? Even if she isn't Nightmare Moon she should still be born of dark origin. And where is Laughter?" She looked to the black side and her eyes widened. There was a crown symbol that had to resemble the changeling queen, but that was to be expected. What suprised her was that the sun symbol was on the black scale. "And why is Celestia on the right side? Daybreaker shouldn't come out for a year or two!" Faust growled as she turned to the grey. There, on the grey, was the Element of laughter and some random nurse pony's cross symbol. In the three corners of the grey area were a sword symbol, a headphone symbol, and chef hat with fire on its top. "Why is laughter in the middle? And why is this Nurse on the scale at all?! Shes no hero!" Faust turned away and bucked the scale into oblivion. She glared at the globe as she circled it. "Those humans are changing everything. This is why I am reactivating Era. I MUST restore balance to Equestria and its necessary timeline for it to survive!" She stated quite madly as she resumed her watch over the globe, though now she was more motivated to do so. If only to keep an eye on the threats to the good of the world.