//------------------------------// // Saints Row IV: Diplomacy Edition // Story: Saints and Sparkles // by Etriax //------------------------------// In the time since they had left without the Boss, Kinzie had seen fit to speak to no one. She personally didn't see any point, as she was just the President's Press Secretary. And the alabaster white and midnight blue alicorns hardly seemed interested in asking her questions. Just as well; she had a job to do. One that she had little time to do. From what the occasional message from Zinyak's number two had told her, not all Zin were behind their new human rulers. Pockets of resistance were already popping up on outlying Zin controlled planets, violently making themselves known. As for the aptly named planet Zin, such rebels were already being exterminated. They'd have to make their business on Equus brief. Kinzie shook her head at the idea, ignoring the questioning gaze she earned from the blue alicorn. It wasn't as much about making their time on Twilight's homeworld short as it was about getting the Boss to leave. Still, at least with CID still on the ship, she had a way of getting shit done. --- Celestia regarded the remaining humans with her usual, neutral expression, all of them sitting around the dominating table of the castle's banquet hall. Some were voraciously devouring the offered fruit and pastries while a few others did not eat. One of them, an apparent female, was busily fiddling with some black object, paying none of them any mind. Another female was just sitting with her "arms" crossed, glaring at her. They mostly focused on their meals, with the exception of the one called Keith David. He munched on an apple occasionally, but otherwise continued to spin a seemingly impossible tale of an alien invasion, nightmarish virtual worlds, and their quest for vengeance against the late Zinyak. What struck her and her sister most, however, was the story of their home planet's destruction. When pressed further, Keith David had explained that Zinyak had made their "Earth" explode in response to their leader's escape from her "Simulation." The way he had explained this, however, told her a liiiiittle more... "You blame your leader," she stated flatly, sipping at her tea after she said such and earning a sigh from the darkly skinned human. "... I do," came his resigned reply. "Nothing I can do about it now." Keith David subsequently averted his gaze, finding the similarly colored, fedora wearing male next to him more interesting. Celestia allowed him time to think whatever he needed to think, glancing at her sister in the meantime. Luna's eyes were firmly locked upon the other sunglasses wearing human, watching him almost without blinking. The object of her intrigue would occasionally glance up at her, whereupon Luna would look to his rapidly dwindling food or to the weapon he had on the table beside it. "What does he make you feel, Lulu?" the Sun Princess quietly asked in a half-teasing, half-serious tone, earning her sister's attention and a sigh. "Unease. Hostility. Curiosity," the Mare of the Night whispered back tersely, narrowing her eyes. "It is dangerous. Extremely dangerous." "The most dangerous!" the human in question declared with a snarky smirk before biting into a nearly finished apple. "S' don' do anyhin' shupid." Luna glared at him. "You will speak to me with respect, creature." "I'm just sayin'," he replied nonchalantly, putting his hands up briefly as he tossed an apple core over his shoulder and continued eating. Celestia sighed and shook her head, looking towards Keith David who seemed to be lost in thought. "Mister David," she addressed, getting his attention. "Would you care to continue your tale?" The man paused briefly, looking off to the side at the busy female before answering. "Not yet. The President is almost here," he replied politely with a smile just as polite and forced. "She did most of it, so she can tell you more." Celestia eyed him for a few seconds before just nodding and waiting. --- Roughly ten minutes later, all equines gathered in the banquet hall turned their attention towards the door back to the main corridors, the sounds of loud and boisterous conversation penetrating into the room. Oddly enough, the gathered humans didn't seem to notice the sound. Perhaps they had inferior hearing, Celestia mused as the voices grew closer. And then the door was shoved open forcefully, startling several of the unaware bipeds. "I am the GREATEST!" came a triumphant shout, courtesy of the Empress. She strode confidently into the room with an irritated looking Rainbow Dash in tow. "How late are we?" she subsequently queried as Rainbow Dash flew over to their sides and stood at attention obediently. Celestia shook her head and put on a polite smile. "Not very. I was hoping you would continue where your Vice President left off." The Empress didn't respond right away, taking a seat with her comrades and casually propping her feet up on the table. She then eyed the Sun Princess for a short while, snickering and grabbing an apple from the table. "... You're a lot easier on the eyes when we're not killing each other." Celestia and Luna didn't really know how to take that comment, the former raising an eyebrow and letting her sculpted smile turn to a bewildered frown. Her sister was unfortunately sipping tea at the time, and hearing the armor clad human spout such nonsense left her sputtering and coughing, tea spraying onto the table and slightly wetting a light skinned, black haired human male. "... Excuse me?" Celestia managed after a few seconds. "Yep. Keith, where'd you stop?" "After Zinyak blew up Earth." The confident biped nodded and bit into her fruit, taking her time with it before speaking. "Well, first I had to break my crew out of their Simulations..." --- When Twilight Sparkle first became aware, she groaned weakly at what felt like a broken nose. Her eyes remained shut, however, her ears perked to listen. She could hear a chorus of different, predominantly feminine sounding voices around her, probably those of either her friends or the Boss' female allies. Am I home, she asked herself, taking note of what she could feel around her. Particularly what she could not feel. The weight of her power armor was gone, as was the moderate comfort of the jumpsuit the Saints had given her. Instead, she was lying in a bed, under a blanket, with somep- Scales. Spike? Twilight allowed her eyes to finally begin to open, her vision blurry in the apparently dim room. A single second later, she saw a familiar purple head pop into her line of sight, wide green reptilian eyes boring into her own. "Twilight!!" Spike yelled, embracing the unicorn tightly and smiling ridiculously widely as he openly wept. The mare grunted softly as he squeezed her barrel, slowly moving her forelegs to return the hug. The entire time, the newest Saint wore an expression of incredulous, weary, unfocused confusion, her mouth slightly agape and her half-opened eyes staring straight ahead at the opposite wall. "S... Spike..." she managed mindlessly, blinking several times to try and clear her vision. As she did, four colorful blobs began to take form in the corners of her vision; white, orange, yellow, and pink. "... Girls?" As her blurry eyesight slowly improved, she noticed just how colorful the room was, with Pinkie Pie's obvious work strewn about the room; balloons, streamers, a banner that probably welcomed her home... "G-Good afternoon, Twilight..." Fluttershy's unmistakeable mumble sounded from her right. "How are you feeling, Darling?" came Rarity's sophisticated tone from the left. Twilight paused, tears forming in her eyes. "This... This is really happening... I-It's really you, isn't it...?" she slowly, deliriously uttered, as if she hadn't seen them all at the landing. "Of course it's us, silly~!" Pinkie cheerily chimed, trotting over and eagerly throwing her front legs onto the bed to embrace the lavender pony. "Why wouldn't we be?" Twilight Sparkle cringed - both at the tightness of the hug and at the innocently biting question. Do I really want to tell them, she asked herself, closing her eyes as her eyelids forced tears out. How could they possibly take the fact that "they" had been murdering her repeatedly inside her Simulation. ... Could they take that fact at all? "Somethin' wrong there, Sugahcube?" Applejack's accented, concerned voice pressed, getting her to look at the farmer mare and to begin stalling. "Ummmm... where's Rainbow Dash? Is she okay?" she dodged, though with good reason. "Rainbow? Well, she ain't happy with ya, but she's fine," AJ replied, frowning. "Now what in the hay was ya'll running off about?" The equine Saint visibly winced at that query, looking down at her barrel and at the enamored drake attached to it. "... Uhhh... It's a long, long story..." she began, feebly trying to stall despite herself. "... Why is she a guardspony?" It was their turn to recoil at her dodging reply, looking nervously between one another in a sort of "oh, right, she doesn't know" way. Twilight didn't need to feel 100% to figure that there was a story behind their hesitation. "... Girls... what happened?" she asked, gulping as she began to dread the answer. The four ponies looked at each other some more before Rarity sighed and offered an apologetic smile. "Maybe I should go fetch Rainbow Dash first," she began, her forced smile growing slightly in size. "She was larger part of it than we were." The spellcaster appraised the dressmaker carefully for a few seconds before wordlessly nodding her head. --- Retrieving the speedy flier was simple; Rarity's errand barely took more than a few minutes. The two entered Twilight's room and Rainbow Dash's gaze immediately snapped to the bedbound pony. Barely a second later, Rainbow Dash was in her face. "You wanna tell me what the hay that was for?!" she yelled, her anger resurfacing and startling the violet mare. "I-I-I'm sorry..." the unicorn answered quietly, actually hiding a little in her covers and earning Rainbow a surprisingly hostile glare from Spike. The reaction gave the normally hot-headed pegasus pause, getting her to back away a little (much to Rarity's and Applejack's relief). That was a response she would expect from Fluttershy, not Twilight Sparkle. The Twilight she knew would be apologetic and awkward, or would stand her ground. Rainbow was silent for a moment, then sighed, rubbing her snout with a hoof before removing her dirty helmet. "Sorry... I just... Ughh... I gotta clean this..." came her excuse to exit the awkward silence she'd created. --- Twilight watched her friend walking away, hearing her grabbing a cloth and water to begin polishing the dirt off of her golden helmet. The rest of her friends gave Rainbow Dash their attention briefly before, again, glancing between each other nervously. Eventually, Applejack spoke up. "Well, sugarcube, ya didn't miss a lot, but... what ya'll did miss was pretty big..." Rarity cleared her throat while Pinkie Pie walked to the window to just stare out of it. "Seven months ago, a centaur calling himself Lord Tirek escaped from Tartarus," the dressmaker began. "To make a long, dreadful story short, he started stealing everypony's magic. Everypony!" "The Princesses, too..." Fluttershy quietly added, taking a quick look at a busy, irate looking Rainbow Dash before looking away. Twilight continued to listen. "He banished the Princesses to Tartarus and made himself king of Equestria!" Rarity resumed, unable to keep her flair for drama out of her tone. "That big brute enslaved everypony and made the five of us find anypony he had missed... He told us that if we refused, he..." The mare stopped, her expression turning grim and her eyes darting between the other gathered ponies as if looking for help. "... He... He what...?" Twilight pressed, dreading the necessary answer. The wet splat of a damp cloth being tossed into the room's sink got everypony's attention, courtesy of a forlorn Rainbow Dash. She put her helmet back on and slowly walked back to Twilight's bedside. Spike began to glare at the flier once more, but the purple unicorn noticed and nudged him to prompt him to stop. "He killed my mom and dad." The room was quiet, the bedridden Saint staring at the speaker as pity moved her expression. Despite the headgear, Rainbow Dash appeared as though she was still coping with the loss, if the depressed look in her eyes was any indication. Twilight was about to give her condolences, but RD deeply and heatedly inhaled through her nose to continue. "When I told him that I wouldn't do it, he found my mom and dad..." Rainbow Dash's tone became angrier with every word. "... They showed up right in front of me. I tried to break them out of the bubble he put them in, but I couldn't move." The guardspony then lifted her head, staring deep into Twilight's violet eyes. The unicorn couldn't help but feel as though Rainbow Dash blamed her. "He filled their bubble with water and... and he made me watch them drown." Rainbow grit her teeth and looked away, obviously trying to keep herself from crying. "... Rainbow Dash..." Twilight managed, shifting on the bed so that she could lie on her stomach, her legs tucked under her. "... I'm... I..." "Save it," Rainbow harshly spat, taking the spellcaster aback. "... I don't want your pity." "Rainbow Dash, please, be reasonable," Rarity interjected, approaching the cyan pegasus. "I am being reasonable, Rarity," came RD's immediate response. "If we'd had Twilight, we could've used the Elements. None of this would've happened." A pause, during which a successful Rainbow looked up at Twilight. "I know it's... not your fault... I just..." "It's... It's alright, Rainbow Dash... I get it." Silence again. Rainbow Dash glanced back at Pinkie Pie, still watching out the window and barely moving. "He did the same thing to Pinkie Pie... But she convinced him not to... She made him Pinkie promise, too." An insensitive part of Twilight wanted to ask how the fuck she got him to do that, but she kept her mouth shut. "But he's gone now, right? What happened?" Twilight asked instead. "Rainbow Dash got away," Applejack chimed in, smiling at the mare in question. "She found this centaur, uhhh... Scorpion-" "Scorpan," peanut gallery Rarity corrected. "... Scorpan. She got out of Equestria an' found Scorpan." Rainbow Dash let out a short snicker. "You ever try to talk a centaur into going to war?" she queried, allowing her pride to return to her voice. "I had to. Scorpan didn't really want to try to kill his brother, but I convinced him to convince their king to do it." Then Rainbow Dash looked annoyed. "Then I had to go to the Griffons to talk them into it, then I had to be snuck into Zebrica to get the Zebras to fight back, then we all had to free the Diamond Dogs from slavery and get them to fight back... All without my magic, too! It sucked!" Twilight regarded her friend with surprise. "... So what you're saying is that you single-hoofedly started a rebellion and created an army to oppose Tirek." Rainbow Dash snickered again, spreading her wings and beginning to hover off of the floor with a grin on her muzzle. "Heck yeah I did! We kicked his sorry butt right back to Tartarus!" Twilight eyed the proud pegasus silently for a few seconds before asking a question that she didn't even bother to consider not asking. "You didn't kill him?" Everypony gathered stared at Twilight with varying expressions. Pinkie Pie and Rarity looked legitimately offended that their long lost friend would even think about that. Rainbow Dash seemed regretful. Applejack stared hard at her, as if wondering how she reached that point of thought. And Fluttershy... Oh, Fluttershy... she was slowly backing away from the lavender mare, her eyes already wet with previous tears and now creating more. "... How could you say that...?" she quietly, sorrowfully asked, her gaze boring into Twilight's eyes and making her feel incredibly guilty. Spike made her feel the worst, however. He hadn't let go of his caretaker at all, but the baby dragon regarded her with a nervous, worried expression. Twilight recalled the letter she had sent just before their mission to kill Zinyak. "I..." "No..." Rainbow Dash answered at last. "We got him to lose his magic with some kind of magic poison... potion... thing... And then the Princesses all put him back in Tartarus. Weren't you listening?" Twilight awkwardly looked down at the bed for several seconds. "... Oh... Magic poison?" "Yeah, the Zebras made a lot of it so we could put it on crossbows, spears, the Griffons' claws, everything. I think they said... uhhh... 'drench your bolts and let them loose, and the tyrant's magic will be no use' or something..." A very long, awkward silence followed before Rainbow spoke up again with a preceding throat clearing. "Aaaanyways... we got our magic back and I got a parade." A pause. Rainbow Dash then gained a huge grin. "Oh yeah! I got my own parade! It was so awesome!" The others rolled their eyes, clearly sick of hearing about it. "And I got a medal, too~" "... So, why are you a guardspony now?" Twilight quipped, tilting her head. Rainbow Dash landed again, rubbing the back of her head with a slightly embarrassed smile. "Well uh... I got an offer from the Princesses and I thought, ya know... I wanna protect everypony I can. Losing mom and dad, starting the resistance, fighting Tirek... It changed things... So I said yes." "W-Well, uh... congratulations," the violet mare offered, smiling gently at the guardspony. "Hehe... thanks, egghead... Holy buck, when's the last time I said that?" Another bout of silence, during which Pinkie Pie wandered back over and sat on her haunches, her eyes wandering restlessly. "What about the rest of you?" Twilight asked, glancing to the rest of her friends. They all cringed at the question. Their eyes refused to meet Twilight's. "Ah think," Applejack replied after several uncomfortable seconds. "... It's best if ya'll don't ask..." Her tone was low, quiet, somber... It made the spellcaster wonder at just what Tirek had done to them... or made them do. "... So uh... You wanna tell me why you tried to bury me?" the war heroine queried, now much calmer and very eager to change the subject. Twilight deeply sighed and nodded. "It's... It's a long story..." "So tell it, sugarcube," AJ pressed, smiling a friendly smile in spite of the conversation they had been having just a moment ago. "... It's not... Alright... I was studying one night at home... and next thing I know, I'm in this Simulation of Ponyville..." And so Twilight Sparkle began to finally share her story, urging herself to be completely and totally honest in every single thing she told them. --- The Boss was enjoying herself quite a bit. Normally, she wouldn't have bothered with playing Miss Exposition, but just watching the two ponies on their thrones reacting to all the spectacular shit the Saints had done was absolutely fucking hilarious. Even some of the darker stuff got amusing results. For example: This time, both Princesses spat out their tea, coughing and sputtering in response to the Empress' words. "S-Seven billion?!" Since then, the leader of the Third Street Saints had continued to tell their tale, savoring every single stunned look they gave her. She had been speaking for nearly a half hour as well, and the matriarchs' reactions to their various bullshit hadn't gotten old yet. Still... "Forgive my interruption," the one with the moon on her ass interjected, gaining the Boss' gaze and a raise of the brow. "But where does Twilight Sparkle come in?" The Boss eyed Princess Luna impatiently. "She showed up after we finished the key," the leader replied, grabbing another apple and taking a bite. "I was probably gonna start attacking Zinyak's ship in... what... an hour? if Kinzie hadn't found Twilight first." "... As much as I enjoy your company, I ask that you get to that part," the Night Princess requested. The Empress sighed and nodded, telling the story of how they had rescued the violet unicorn and what had happened since. She told of the Ponyville Simulation, of how she understood such, of how she fought and killed a false Princess Celestia. She told of Twilight's contributions to their fight against the Zin. She told of Twilight's... transgressions... And the Boss spoke very highly of the mare's power. She recounted with a smile how eager to play and good at Professor Genki's Mind Over Murder she was, how she had annihilated an entire army of Zin herself and then killed another false Celestia, how she laid waste to the Zin during their attack on Zinyak's ship... --- Princess Celestia didn't want to believe what she was hearing. Though her sculpted expression kept it hidden, she was seething inside. The concept of Twilight Sparkle committing such atrocities was one that the Princess' mind didn't want to process. And yet... It made sense. It would explain how dark Twilight's magic had felt earlier... The Princess of the Sun stopped listening briefly to focus on the bed ridden mare's magic... It felt darker still... She wondered why. She wondered how... She wondered if she really could take the powerful unicorn back under her wing... The Princess turned her gaze back to the humans' leader, whom was now looking at her expectantly. It seemed that she had finished her story and was waiting for a reaction. Celestia breathed deeply through her nose and stood, offering a polite smile. "Thank you for sharing your tale. I am going to see my student," she stated, earning a shrug from the Empress as she kicked back in her chair. Celestia began to leave the throne room, glancing at her sister and receiving an understanding nod in return. "... Twilight..." --- The Boss watched as Princess Sunbutt left, shrugging again once she was gone as she glanced at Kinzie. "Kinshie," she called through a mouthful of apple. "Howsh ih goin'?" "Almost done, Boss. Your little storytime bought us plenty of time," the hacker replied plainly, either oblivious to or not giving a fuck about the very suspicious glare that Luna was giving them both. "Awesome," the armor clad Saint chuckled, shooting Luna a cocky smile behind her sunglasses. "Is there a problem, your Highness~?" the Boss then teased/taunted, taking another bite of her apple as she did so. "What are you all playing at?" That query got all the gathered humans to look at the Night Princess, some curious, some letting their hands drift towards their pistols. The Boss snickered in response, shrugging at her. "Just leavin' Twilight a little farewell present," came her casual answer, seeing anger filtering into the royal's expression. "Is that so wrong?" Luna narrowed her eyes at the leader of the Saints, speaking through clenched teeth. "One wrong move and none of you will live to regret it, alien." "Wooooow," the Boss emitted, crossing her arms and feigning offense as she turned to glance at the other Saints. "Ungrateful much?" "Silence!" Luna bellowed, nostrils flared and horn glowing a deep blue. There was, indeed, silence for all of four seconds before the armor clad female started laughing. "You're hilarious!" "I. SAID! SILEN-" Luna started to scream before she found her mouth had mysteriously become a zipper. "MMMPH! MIPHMOOOORPH!" "Must you be so rude to our guests, Luna?" The Saints all scanned the room for the source of this new voice while the Boss put a hand to her chin... just before some weird mutant snake/dog/bird/plane/whateverthefuck thing just showed up in front of her. "I do apologize for my colleague's disposition. I'm Discord, and it's delightful to finally meet you." The Boss merely stared at the creature for several seconds before shaking her head and giving him a pitying look. "Oh, John, what did Zinyak do to you?" Discord raised an eyebrow. "... Who?" --- As it turned out, once Twilight started to tell her story, she had a difficult time stopping. She went on and on, pausing only occasionally to breathe or to answer the even more occasional question. It felt good to say everything that she was saying... even if she could tell that nopony liked hearing it. The expressions of her friends had started out sorrowful and horrified, but as the story progressed, they became worried, grim, wary... even fearful, in Fluttershy's case. By the time the unicorn had finished, the room was silent and tears streamed freely from her eyes. "... A-A-And now I'm here..." With those last words, she panted softly, sniveling and wiping her eyes with a hoof. Then she glanced between the five gathered mares, noting their gazes and then turning her own to the bed. "... I expected as much. I'll understand if..." The spellcaster grimaced at the thought. "... if you don't want to be my friends anymore. I'm a psychopath." "Are you kidding?" "Huh?" Pinkie Pie stepped forward, smiling. "I'm just happy to see ya home, Twilight~ It's all over now anyways, right~?" she said, hugging Twilight. "... P-Pinkie's right, darling. We couldn't turn our backs on you for your mistakes. I'm still your friend, and I always will be," Rarity added, also hugging the mare on the bed. "Good t' have ya back, Sugarcube," AJ chimed in, adding herself to the growing group hug. Spike said nothing, but embraced the pony who hatched him even tighter. "We're here for you, Twilight," Fluttershy softly added, cautiously wrapping her legs around her violent friend. "And don't you forget it, Egghead." With Rainbow Dash's entrance to the seven-way hug, Twilight Sparkle broke down again, smiling and crying as she began quietly, repeatedly thanking them between sobs. Before long, her friends had joined her in weeping. And then she walked in. "I am glad to see you awake, Twilight," a familiar voice intoned, eliciting a cringe from the spellcaster as everypony (and dragon) turned their gaze to the source. --- Princess Celestia regarded her little ponies with a smile. She had, in truth, been slightly nervous about the state she might find Twilight and her friends in, but to see them embracing in such a way put her at ease. Slightly. "How are you feeling?" The other ponies let go of her violet student, bowing to their leader as Twilight... just stared at her. "P-Princess Celestia..." the unicorn uttered softly, her voice uncertain, anxious. It only stung at the solar diarch more... She must know, Celestia thought. "... I would like to speak to Twilight now... privately," she continued, still trying to sound happy. "That includes you, Spike." Her guardspony saluted and sighed. "You heard her girls. Let's go," her guard uttered, turning towards the bookworm. "Talk to ya later, egghead." With Rarity lifting Spike off of his hatcher, the other Element Bearers filtered slowly out of the room. Celestia magically closed and sealed the door behind them, closing her eyes and inhaling deeply through her nostrils. Twilight radiated anxiety. She seemed determined to avoid eye contact, and she was shaking a bit, evidenced by the slight quivering of her tail. "What is it, Princess...?" she asked, her tone cautious and laden with dread. The alabaster alicorn took a few seconds before answering, slowly approaching Twilight and taking a seat at her bedside. "I understand that you've probably just done so for your friends, but-" The Princess paused, reevaluating her choice of words. Twilight cut in. "-Tell you everything?" the violet one offered. Celestia nodded, prompting a sigh out of the magically adept mare. The Princess guessed that Twilight was dreading such, and the constant darting of her eyes all but confirmed it. "I am here to listen, Twilight," she began, her voice reassuring. "I have already heard your... leader's story. I'd like to hear yours." The pony's gaze fell to the floor for a moment before she spoke. "... Can I have some tea, please?" the purple pony asked. "Of course, Twilight." --- Twilight Sparkle sat on the bed with her cup of tea for a long while, making a constant effort to look at the cup and only the cup. With the overpoweringly emotional telling of her tale already out of her system (which Twilight was quietly grateful for), she was able to focus and put a little more thought into what she was saying and how exactly she said it. The newest Saint felt as though she needed to. Celestia was watching her very closely, still sipping at her tea and maintaining a slight smile. But with the brief glimpses she got at the alicorn during failures appreciate the fine piece of tableware she magically clutched, she could practically feel those magenta orbs boring into her very soul. It was rather disquieting. It was enough to make Twilight exceptionally averse to including certain events. Twilight told her of how the Boss had rescued her, of her interactions with the other Saints, of their final assault on the Zin mothership, but made last minute decisions to alter certain events. Twilight skipped over her participation in Professor Genki's Mind Over Murder. She turned her near murder of the Boss into a mental breakdown that left her wailing for hours. Her brutal, bloodthirsty release of rage against the virtual Celestia and her army was skewed in the Boss' favor, told as though Twilight had merely been keeping the human alive. And her participation in Zinyak's demise was left out entirely. By the time she finished, the Princess' expression had actually changed. And that really made Twilight nervous. "... A-And that's it!" she emitted, hoping against all hope that her mentor would buy her story. Seconds ticked by like hours as the magical prodigy watched her idol... Celestia sat there and finished her tea calmly, gently placing her cup down on the tray that it had been brought in on. Then she looked back at the smaller equine, a soft smile on her muzzle. That smile did not last the way it should have... Princess Celestia shook her head once, her visage betraying disappointment, in spite of her smile. Oh no. "Twilight, why do you bother lying? You're terrible at it," the alicorn replied, her tone a cross between humored and irate. The pony immediately opened her mouth without thinking, but was silenced by a held-up hoof from the Princess before she could try to defend her lies or apologize. "I told you: I have already spoken with your leader." Celestia stood up, turning away from the pony in the infirmary bed as she slowly, majestically walked to the window. "You were quite excited to replay that strange game." Twilight winced. "Well-" "'The Boss' was nearly strangled to death, and only survived thanks to the interference of another Saint." "Wait, I-" Princess Celestia's voice gained some volume as she reached the window. "You slaughtered an entire army of invading Zin, killed a virtual copy of me, and then admitted to enjoying the experience." The diarch didn't allow the interrogated mare time to fumble out a partial response, whirling around to face her with a surprising, terrifying fury in her eyes. "And you did, in your Boss' words 'fly around the room, shooting fire at everyone and laughing like a maniac.'" Twilight now thoroughly regretted acting on that foolish impulse. She just wanted to curl up and vanish, already having backed away from her teacher until she reached the end of the bed. Despite it being the truth, Celestia's words cut deep, drawing even more tears out of the scarred pony. By the time she had finished quoting the Boss, Twilight was balled up on the edge of the bed, her eyes wide, bloodshot, and quivering as they focused on the angry alicorn. "I... I..." she pathetically, quietly whimpered, watching as Celestia withdrew her rage and made an effort to compose herself. The spellcaster went as far as to hastily channel her magic into a barrier, fearing that the Princess of the Sun was about to smite her. --- Celestia breathed deeply, her eyes shut as she quelled her fire. Twilight Sparkle was curled up like a freezing foal and staring at her as if she were a hungry ursa major. Upon opening her eyes and seeing the shield... the age old ruler felt regret flooding in to war with her anger and disgust. The little lavender pony flinched when her eyes opened, and Celestia could feel that shield gaining considerable strength. "I-I'm sorry, Princess Celestia!" came the mare's panicked plea, shutting her eyes as her voice became clouded by her tears. "'m so sooooorry! I'm a monster an' I deserve to be banished! Or executed! Or banished AND executed! B-B-B-Buh please! Have mercyyyyyy!" Her bawling stopped Celestia from continuing, instead coaxing a few tears out of the alicorn princess. But instead of allowing herself to break down as well, she slowly approached the howling mare with her wings spread and her expression soft. Preparing a shield spell of her own in case of an attack, she touched her long white horn to the shield and broke it. Twilight, of course, began to freak out, trying to scramble away from the object of her terror, but Celestia stopped her. Holding her back in her magic, the ruler perched herself on the bed and drew Twilight Sparkle close, embracing her tightly. "There's nothing to be afraid of, Twilight," she tried, allowing more tears to break through her façade. "I couldn't bring myself to punish you like that, even if I had to..." The only evidence that Twilight was listening was the way she slowly ceased her struggling and began to calm down. --- Twilight took a long time before she was able to calm herself enough to stop holding her face against her mentor's barrel, sniveling and wiping her eyes as she hesitantly gazed up at said mentor. The appearance of tears on the alicorn's face did put her slightly more at ease, but there was a question that kept her from really stopping. "... Then... wh-what... are you going to do?" she emitted, earning the attention of her ruler. Princess Celestia breathed deeply once more and drew the mare closer, swallowing audibly several times to regain her composure. "I can no longer teach you." Twilight's ears twitched. She had heard that correctly, as much as she hated to believe it. The Sun Princess released her from the embrace and slowly stood up from the bed before sitting down beside it with another sigh. "I'm sure that the other Bearers have told you about Tirek." Twilight nodded slowly, knowing where this conversation was going, but continuing to listen. "Without you, Equestria was taken over. Put in jeopardy. Every one of my little ponies was endangered and enslaved." Her voice gained a great amount of steel and passion, as did her expression. "... Rainbow Dash did save us all, yes... But can it happen again? Will she be able to save Equestria again if a new evil seeks to take it? ... I cannot be sure. But I refuse to allow the security of Equestria be compromised again..." She looked Twilight in the eye and allowed her visage to relax slightly. "Your magic is tainted... The... atrocities that you have committed have changed you, Twilight. There is a darkness in your magic, in your very soul." The bookish pony followed her tea-... former teacher's strand of logic to its conclusion. "Therefore... I'm a threat to Equestria." "... Unfortunately, yes." Twilight took a deep breath and wiped her eyes with a foreleg once more, facing her... former mentor. "... I... I understand..." Celestia smiled slightly and nodded. "... You will not be punished for attacking Rainbow Dash. You may move back to Ponyville and resume life as normal... But I will no longer be your guide. I'm sorry." The spellcaster nodded, beginning to stand. "I'm... I'm just glad to be home, Princess." --- The Boss watched as the Ship's boarding ramp drew shut with a tinge of disappointment. A part of her wanted to stay and take the place over. A part of her wanted to try and take Twilight with them. A not-small part of her wanted to try and make a sort of summer home out of Equus or something. The ramp closed with a loud metallic ruckus, prompting the power armored woman to turn around and stride back to the bridge. "CID, you get everything done alright?" she asked, holding her earpiece ear. "Yes. It was all moved as you specified," came the unit's monotonous response. "Good," she stated as she reached the bridge, the ship beginning to lift off. "Let's go fuck up some rebels~" the puckish rogue emitted with a smile, pulling the bolt on her AK to punctuate it as their fleet began to speed towards Epilizin II. --- Several days had passed since the Third Street Saints had left the planet, and Twilight Sparkle was finally returning to the Golden Oaks Library, a soft smile on her muzzle as she walked inside one evening. Spike leaped off of her back and smiled as he walked further in, gesturing towards the still intact study space that its user had left behind. "Everything's just like you left it, Twilight!" the dragon exclaimed, making his caretaker smile a little more. "... Y-You did that for me?" she said softly, approaching the table and looking over the stacks of books. The unicorn eyed the open tome, observing the text about enchantments and beginning to vaguely remember what she had been doing pre-abduction. "... Thank you, Spike..." She lit her horn and pulled the baby drake in for a hug, which he warmly returned in kind. "Awww, don't mention it!" he said, wandering off to the kitchen. "I'm gonna go make us some dinner!" Twilight watched as he walked away, her smile growing slightly larger as she returned to her chair and began to review her notes. A few moments later, she realized just how... bored she actually was. And that saddened her. It reminded her of how little... purpose there was to studying magic... She could still do it, but without Princess Celestia, what was the point? She closed the tome and got off of the chair, starting to walk towards the kitchen to join the baby dragon. On the way there, though, something shiny caught her eye. She noticed the basement door was open, and light was coming from such. "... Huh...?" she muttered as she approached the door, poking her head through such. A sharp gasp left her mouth as she saw what laid at the bottom of those stairs. Guns. Loads and loads of guns, looking all shiny and new. Ammo as far as the eye could see. And propped up in the center of the room was the most... attractive sight of them all: her power armor. Twilight Sparkle couldn't help the grin that began to curve her equine muzzle. --- Starlight Glimmer was in pain. A world of pain. And the cacophony of screaming and flames didn't help. Her village was burning and her followers were dying all around her. She couldn't do anything about it; that... thing had broken all four of her legs. A burning, crispy Double Diamond tripped over his leader's prone form, making the injured mare panic. "Get away from me, you moron!" she cried, lighting her horn and forcing the white earth pony away before he could set her on fire with those... strange purple flames. Before she could ponder the nature of her predicament, the mare was lifted by magic. Not before the culprit very kindly knocked her ruined legs against the ground, though. "GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHH!" Starlight shrieked, suppressing the need to vomit as she suddenly found herself face to face with the cause of such. The pony in grey armor. It seemingly watched her for several seconds before it did anything. It laughed. "I gotta thank you, Starlight Glimmer~" it chimed in a feminine and disturbingly cheerful tone. "I haven't had this much fun in weeks." "What... Ghaanhaah... What do you want from me...?" the battered cult leader managed, her voice weak and faint. "Not a thing~" it replied, drawing an infuriated growl from Starlight Glimmer. It's horn began to glow. "You'll do juuuuust fine~" The last thing Starlight Glimmer ever felt was her burning flesh and the impact of her head against the still-burning remains of her house.