//------------------------------// // Faith // Story: Faith and Doubt // by defender2222 //------------------------------// "Your story may not have such a happy beginning... but that doesn't make you who you are. It is the rest of your story... who you chose to be. So... who are you?" -The Soothsayer, Kung Fu Panda 2 The first thought that went through her head was if everything had been a dream and she woke up in her bed to find herself still an unicorn, her brother not dating Princess Cadence and changelings being nothing but fantasy… she was going to be pissed. The second thought was that her wings hurt. That one made her smile. “She’s awake!” Spike called out, leaping off the bed and hurrying to the door. “She’s awake!” The baby dragon was halfway down the stairs before he came racing back in, giving Twilight a hug. “I’m glad you’re ok.” He flashed her a smile before darting back down the stairs to deliver the good news. Twilight let out a sigh, though she couldn’t help but smile at Spike’s antics. Slipping out of bed, the mare trotted around her room, surprised to find it looked the same. Of course, she hadn’t expected it to be different… ‘I just expected it to be smaller…’ Twilight realized, her eyes growing wide. She raced over to her mirror and gasped. She was a blend of her old unicorn self and her alicorn form. She was only a few inches taller than she had been before the wedding, her legs a touch longer and her body having lost a bit of the softness she’d once held. Her wings fluttered slightly, now just slightly bigger than Rainbow Dash’s. Her mane was purple again but still moved and swirled about like it were made of energy, just like Luna and Celestia’s. Her horn was smaller but with a crackle of energy she confirmed she still had her dark magic, though she could also feel the white magic flowing through her veins as well. She was an alicorn… but a small one. Smaller than Cadence for sure; Twilight wagered she was roughly the same size Princess Luna had been after the elements had reverted her from her Nightmare Moon form. “How badly would thou hurt me if I said you were ‘cute’?” Twilight turned, shooting a sour look Luna’s way. “I blasted you once before.” “And I am thankful for that,” Luna said, trotting into the room. It felt strange to be looking up at the lunar princess again, after having spent much of the last day looking down on everypony. “You seem surprised.” “I am surprised. What happened?” “The same thing that happened to me: you used up all your magic. In my case, it was in a vain attempt to fight of the Elements of Harmony. For you… it was resurrecting Faith. Don’t worry, you’ll grow larger over time. It is a slow process but as your magic returns you will revert to a more stately size. It may take a few hundred years to rival Celestia… but we’ll just have to find a way to bring her down a few dress sizes.” Luna smiled slightly when she saw that Twilight’s eyes had become unfocused. “But… you aren’t worried about how big you are now, are you?” “Doubt? Is he-“ “You mean Faith. And yes... he is alive and well and waiting for you outside.” Luna shook her head as Twilight stumbled to get out of her bedroom and down the stairs. The alicorn, who could no longer be rightly called ‘dark’, nearly bowled into a startled Fluttershy, offering her apologizes as she hurried towards the front door. “Where is he?” Twilight gasped, trying to catch her breath. “Outside, Twilight,” Applejack stated. “That fella ain’t hardly moved since you two came out of that magic storm thing ya conjured up. He woke up about 10 minutes after it was all over, trotted outside and just… began lookin’ at the sky.” The farmpony shook her head in amusement. “Never seen somepony smile that long...” Twilight emerged from her library and looked about, trying to find Doubt. It took her several moments to realize her folly; she could not find Doubt because he was no longer Doubt. He was Faith and with his name restored so too was his body remade. “They called me the Alicorn of Mirrors.” Twilight turned towards the speaker, marveling at the sight. “It might still work, I suppose…” “Doubt…” Twilight whispered. “Or… or is it Faith?” The stallion smirked slightly, not bothering to get up from where he lay in the grass. “Both. I am Faith as he would have been… and Doubt as he SHOULD have been.” As Doubt he had preached about life being shades of gray. As Faith he was the embodiment of such beliefs. His coat was now gray and when the sun struck it just so it seemed to shimmer as if made of metallic threads. His hair had gone black save for one a streak of white that hung down near his ear. His tail still looked like it was made of shards but now there was form to them instead of chaos and lines of gray joined the black and white hair. Where once there had been a mirror shard driven through his skull there was now a proper horn. Twilght could feel the swirl of black and white magic running through its link. Of course that wasn't surprising; she'd pumped nearly half of her magical reserves into him in order to heal his body and recreate his form. 'No wonder I'm smaller now,' Twilight thought to herself. If she had to guess she'd say she had roughly twice the power she'd had in the nightclub... nothing to sneeze at but diminished from what she had held in her dark alicorn form. Not that she minded, of course; Luna was proof that such power could return over time.... and the end result was worth it. The most startling of Doubt's changes was his wings. What once had been broken was now restored to true glory. Two great structures of silver glass arose from his back, fanned out so they might catch the sunlight. Each feather looked like it had been cut by an expert jeweler and she had to admit she was envious of the plumage. It was surprising to find that he wore armor now. A breastplate of pure black encircled his chest and his wings were lined with the same black metal, as were his hooves. It was startling and yet befitting. "Luna's idea," Faith stated when he noticed where her eyes had lingered to. "She felt that for my service to Equestria I should be treated like some popinjay." He rolled his eyes in good humored annoyance. "I am to be knighted, apparently." "That is a high honor." "Too high for the likes of me," Faith stated. He waved her off when she opened her mouth to refute his claim. "I have done as much for the side of darkness as I have for the light. Knights are suppose to be shiny little ponies that never leer at a mare and floss between meals. I am no such thing and I do not want to be." "Maybe Equestria needs a few black knights." "Gray," Faith told her. "I have heard from Cadence that your friends tried to find a title to describe me. The mirror alicorn is what they apparently settled on." Twilight grimaced. "Yes, I am not fond of it either, and not just for my aversion to having others name me. Seems I got a bit of your literary tastes while I was rattling around in your head." "Better than my paranoia about being tardy," Twilight stated, walking around the sunbathing stallion. "That name wouldn't work anymore... you don't have your mirror wings." Faith nodded. "Your friend Rainbow Dash suggested the iron alicorn, but Rarity began to throw a fit about iron being 'so unbefitting a regal creature' such as myself." Faith pursed his lips. "Your friends did hate me a day ago, correct? I did not dream that? They seem much too comfortable in my presence." Twilight chuckled before finally settling down in front of Faith. It was weird to see him at this size; they had been eye to eye a day ago but now Twilight was barely bigger than her unicorn form and Faith just taller than Luna. It would take some getting use to. "By and by, what do you suppose this represents?" Faith said, smiling like a colt with a new toy. He shifted his wing and gestured towards his flank. Before his mark had been Twilight's own, only reversed in color. Now it had been altered and Twilight found it utterly fitting: her own star was enclosed by two dark crescent moons and around them were the rays of the sun. Celestia, Luna and Twilight; each represented, joining together to create something new. "The best of all those you have served," Twilight finally answered. She pondered her next words carefully. "How do you feel?" "Like I am breathing for the first time," Faith stated. "I am a blind man who has regained his sight. I was deaf and now I hear symphonies." He leaned back his had, basking in the sun. "I'd forgotten not only my name and purpose but what existing without pain could be like." "It was that bad?" "Worse. But that is life and I am not bitter about it, if that is your concern." "How much of you... is still you?" Twilight asked. "You seem... different than you were." "As I said, I am Doubt as he should have been. I am Doubt and I am Faith. I am both and yet neither." "I see you still like to talk in riddles," Twilight joked. Faith snorted in good humor. "Why stop when it is so much fun?" His wings twitched and he leaned down to smell the grass, letting the odor swirl through his lungs. He'd been doing it all morning, marveling at the wilds all about him and what they had to offer. As an abstract he had paid little notice to those things that could not hear his whispers. Now he found himself enthralled by nature. "I have not changed greatly... you must understand that. I could not go back to being simply Faith even if I wanted to." "Why wouldn't you?" Twilight asked. "I thought that is what you wanted." "I wanted to remember... but I didn't want to go back. Tell me, you remember what it was like to be a child, do you not? Imagine yourself at the age of 5. Would you want to go back to that? Not to that moment in time, mind you... just the age. The rest of the world would remain the same but you would physically be 5 again." "...no," Twilight murmured. "Just like I wouldn't want to go back to being a unicorn." "What if I told you I could make you feel just as you had before the wedding." Doubt's horn began to glow. "You'd forget all the pain and the suffering... sounds wonderful, correct?" Faith's eyes twinkled slightly. "But you'd also lose all the growth. A sword is made by beating and folding the metal to remove imperfections. The same is true for all living things: suffering, when it doesn't break us, makes us stronger. Would you undo that?" "No," Twilight said without hesitation. "I'll mourn what I loss but I would not give up who I am now just to get it back." A bit of her darkness sparked through. "I will never be Celestia's faithful student or Shining's unquestioning sister ever again." "You have lived and have grown. It is a blessing and you should be glad for it. The same is true for me. It was painful but I would not lose a moment because it has made me stronger. I will be a better Faith for having been Doubt. All that is different now is that I remember my past." He paused, clicking his teeth together. "And my mind is a bit more sane." "I guess that makes sense," Twilight said. "Just like I'm not as stressed as I was before all this. I don't think I'll be burning the candle at both ends as much or worrying what others think about me." "Not at first," Faith stated, "but life has a funny way of bringing you back to your true self. Embrace that." "You have to admit though that all of this is really strange." "Twilight... look at me. I am in a completely different body. I get that it is strange." "Right," Twilight said softly. "Faith... what I am?" "I thought the wings and horn-" "You've gotten sarcastic," Twilight stated. "Yes, I have noticed that. I remember being playful as Faith... we'll see if it sticks this time." He rolled his shoulders, glancing up at the clouds. "As for what you are... the type of alicorn you are will be revealed in time. Your talent is magic so some part of that will be the key, I think." Twilight accepted that. "Guess I've got alot of learning ahead of me." "The day we stop learning we die." Faith paused, tongue darting out to wet his lips. "You need to talk to Celestia and Shining." "Where the hay did that come from?" Twilight demanded. "I've been thinking about it for several hours. Finally found the right moment to broach the topic." "Why would you want me to talk to either one of them?" "Because you know it is the right thing to do." Twilight scoffed. "I'll never forgive them." "Never?" Faith pressed. "Never has such finality. I prefer 'most likely'. Leaves room for..." "Change?" "Doubt," Faith said with a smirk. He rose up, stretching his body much as a cat would. "You don't have to forgive them but you owe them a few minutes to try and make right." "And if I don't want to?" "Then you are no better than they are," Faith stated. "Now... Pinkie invited me to sample my first piece of pie, so I will take my leave." "I think I liked you better when you were telling me to blow stuff up." Faith merely laughed, wings spreading out. "Silver!" Twilight called out as Faith took off. "Silver?" he called out, circling above her head. "Your new title: the silver alicorn, lord of the gray!" Faith dipped for a moment. "I like it.... but you still have to talk to Celestia and Shining Armor." "...all of my hate," Twilight grumbled weakly as Faith zoomed away.