//------------------------------//
// Force of  Nature 
// Story: Light 'em Up 
// by Ssendam the Masked 
//------------------------------//

I walked through the old forest, distracted with plans to leave in Equestria while I was left. The main problem that I had at this juncture was the fact that I only knew a couple of Teridax Prime's plans. 

I suppose I should explain; I am not the original Teridax, but rather one of his infinitely possible selves. Teridax Prime was an awe-inspiring being. Just because he was completely evil doesn't mean that he did not do great things. For want of a better term, I suppose I would be considered one of his 'good' alternate selves. Nothing is constant, after all. If everything in the multiverse was the same, it would drive me mad from boredom. And every other traveller I suppose. 

I watch as a rabbit runs through the clearing, pursued by a wolf. I can feel the fear of the rabbit, and the excitement and hunger of the wolf. I let them pass. It's not my place to interfere with nature. Should I be concerned over the fate of one rabbit? Besides, the wolf is hungry. If it does not eat the rabbit, it will likely starve. Carnivores are not evil; it is simply in their nature. 

Teridax, on the other hand, was evil. Not evil in a childish sense, but simply so ruthless and uncaring that he swept all in his path away. A corruptor and schemer who wanted nothing more than to rule the multiverse. I resume the walk back, watching as the sky overhead transitions back to ordinary day. If I had not intervened... well, I had observed other realities of this time frame, and I knew there would only be problems if I did not stop Nightmare Moon. 

But at the same time, I had to work on Teridax's known plans. When Teridax had called on all of our minds and communicated with us, it had been, I will not deny, an exhilarating experience. To feel the mind of somebody who was your main timeline, and to feel every other mind that you could have been was an experience that still sent shivers through me when I thought about it. But at the same time, I had known that Teridax was barely sharing any plans with his good alternate selves while sharing the lion's share with those Teridaxes that shared his views more closely. He even told us the exact number- 108.

Of course, Teridax, and by extension us, knew full well that revealing every single one of your plans to the enemy was the height of stupidity. I mean honestly, an intelligence that transcends any mortal without multiversal travel is not going to share his plans beyond the bare minimum with his good alternate selves. If I was in his situation, I would do the exact same thing. 

Still, I only really knew of three plans: the first one, which I called Chaos, was quite simple: if Teridax Prime died, then we would all start rioting across the multiverse and trying to activate one of his plans. Simple but brilliant. A literal infinity of Teridaxes would either find one of his old plans and enact it or start their own. Of course, we could be shut down by the admins with ridiculous ease, but as long as we did not seek to break all of reality we would be fine. 

The second was simply called 'Will;' that's all Teridax said to his good selves. I honestly wish I knew more about that one. The fact that Teridax even said that to me implied confidence that I would not foil it. 

The third plan was called 'Meme;' That's enough to put me on edge. If Teridax somehow created something with a memetic effect great enough to be considered a multiversal conquerer, then any idiot with that in their hands was a threat. Still, that left slightly over a hundred plans that I did not know anything about, but my other selves did. 

And the thought that Teridax had other plans that he did not list in his official tally was one I had to keep in mind. 

I walked into my castle and strode in, the doors opening with a simple hand wave. Thanks to my foresight, I was watching other universes to find out whether I would need to interfere again with this world. I walked into my castle and strode in, the doors opening with a simple hand wave. Thanks to my foresight, I was watching other universes to find out whether I would need to interfere again with this world. So many threats I had already seen- Tirek returning, Discord returning, the mad king Sombra coming  back after a thousand years... so many problems that I was going to have to solve. Oh, and new Elements of Harmony to find, but there would be some candidates getting chosen at the appropriate time. 





Faust observed the heavily glitched mess that had been Teridax's universe and sighed. This was going to be a massive headache to sort out. First of all, Teridax had destroyed time so completely she was getting a minor migraine just looking at all the damage it had caused. Time loops, time acceleration/deceleration, areas where time had stopped completely, time periods being mashed together with no rhyme or reason... still barely salvageable, fortunately. 

She grabbed a mass of the code and hauled it out, the voidstuff flowing and trying to scurry away. With a deft use of magic, she started repairing the damage to time that Teridax had wrought. It was a difficult job- the code seemed to fight every attempt to fix it, but this tiny suture would help her to ascertain the cause of this time destruction.  Stabilisation before deletion, if at all possible.

Time was meaningless in the void, but Faust was still exhausted when she had finally sutured the timeline enough so that she could fix the source of the damage. She peered in, and looked at the fragments of broken orange mask, shadow code clinging to it. Her face hardened. 

"Umbra, you have a lot of explaining to do." 





4,000 years ago.



These were the first thoughts of the man who would become Teridax as he woke up on Equis. Thus, I record. 





In Teridax Prime's universe

Celestia and Luna watched the scene in Ponyville with grim expressions. Time had warped in such an unpredictable fashion that-

They felt the teleport before they heard the all-too familiar voice. "Hello Luna. Good to see you."

Luna quickly spun around, but Teridax swung his hand onto her neck and squeezed. Blood oozed around the wound and he twisted. Luna's head came clean off, red ichor staining the ground beneath them. Teridax had killed her before she could even retaliate. 

Celestia turned and stared at him. He kicked the body away, blood still spurting from the wound. He wore something bright orange on his head- a mask of some sort. Around them, time was coherent. It was so obvious that he had caused it now, especially with him right in front of her. "Hello Celestia. It's been a while."

Celestia almost collapsed, just looking at Teridax with nothing but hate and despair. "You... why..." 

Teridax just stared at her in disgust. "Don't tell me that you're not going to retaliate. After all..." He pulled out an all-too familiar pony from behind him. Twilight struggled in an iron grip, horn smashed and wings torn from her body. Her breath came in ragged gasps.

Celestia gasped. "TWILIGHT!" She glared at Teridax. "If you harm her... I'll... I'll..." Magical energy surged around her. 

Teridax appeared unconcerned. "If you try to kill me, she'll get in the crossfire. I know this intimately." There was the appearance of a smile in his stance. "But I'll let her live if you do one thing for me." He tightened his grip around her throat and Twilight gasped for air.

Celestia stared at him. Unfortunately, he spoke the truth. Teridax had changed from the tiny being he had originally been- now a giant made of steel. No heart in him at all. She knew that he would move her student into position in order . "What do you want?" 

Teridax waved his other hand. "Just you saying that you couldn't ever beat me, that's all." His eyes glowed brighter as he continued. "That you were no match. That you deserve to be at my feet for all eternity. Just say that, and she'll be left alive and... whole." When she didn't respond, his voice turned mocking. "I give you my word, Celestia. Would I lie?"

Celestia glared at him, and his hand started moving closer and closer. Finally, she sighed. "You... I could never beat you, Teridax." 

Teridax seemed to smile. "Good girl." Then, his hand turned into snaking tendrils, and he lashed out, quicker than the eye could see. Celestia's legs were sliced open, and she fell with a cry. Her horn was smashed a second later. He seemed to leer at her as she struggled to move, to do anything to stop what he intended. "The only pleasure I'm going to get out of this is seeing the look in your eyes as I do this."

He let up the pressure on Twilight's throat, enough for her to cry out. "Celes...tia? What's... what's..." 

Teridax leered at her. "Tell her that she's going to be okay, Celestia. That she's not going to die."

Celestia tried to smile, in spite of the pain. "T-twilight... it's going to be okay-" 

Teridax ripped Twilight's head off, and Celestia stopped thinking. 

As she fell to the ground, Teridax dropped Twilight's headless corpse next to her. "Pathetic. It took me a long time, but I finally have my gratification." He kicked Celestia, but she had stopped moving. He looked in her eyes, clicked his fingers next to her ears. No response. 

Teridax seemed to smile. "I was planning to do worse to her... but seeing you now, that would have just been overkill on my part. Use as much pain as necessary, that's my philosophy." He was about to walk off, but paused. "Four thousand years to break you, but I did it. Goodbye Celestia. It was enjoyable showing you your place in the world."

And he vanished. 





Faust nearly vomited at the sight of the act. With a heavy sigh, she removed that piece of the code from existence. Not that it mattered- Teridax was dead and gone. He would face retribution in whatever hell he had been thrust into. But his appearance in that part of the timeline contradicted with the knowledge that Teridax had been in Umbra's universe at the exact moment that had happened. 

The possibility that Teridax had somehow outmanouvered a Sys Admin was unsettling. How had he been in two universes at once? Faust reviewed the piece of code. Teridax had appeared, then he had disappeared as soon as he'd done the act. She had the result; now it was time to find out the means.





I had laid plans far ahead in advance. My Equestria would be safe. Thanks to Luna being present and not on the moon, I had good projections ahead in order to make society a much better place. Already, my machinations were making a better world. The Nightmare Force was gone, and would be gone for a long time. I was working on finding them with the help of Princess Luna, who wanted revenge on those beings who had tried to corrupt her. 

I was still keeping a close eye on her. Didn't want her to relapse. With ponies coming to tell her how much they appreciated the rest her night gave them, there would be no need to worry. Except for Discord.

Discord... the name still bubbled up inside me like a well of hatred. I hated that creature so much my non-existant blood started boiling. My plans would go much smoother if he wasn't around. I'd already gone to the Tree and dug up those accursed Plunderseeds he'd slipped in there, like he thought nobody would notice. Everything about Discord repulsed me. 

I paused. Why, exactly, did I hate Discord? I had not really given the matter thought; it had been a dark time for me back then. The answer came to me: he was a literal, physical embodiment of chaos. Chaos that overturned my delicately laid plans to keep this universe safe from the various beasts that existed outside. Plans that were put in place to keep the barriers of this world secure. An element of the unpredictable would ruin every single carefully laid plan and I could not have that. 

The mortals had to keep their noses out of my business. I would deal with them on sufferance, but that was the limit of my tolerance. AS a former mortal, now ascended, I was all too aware of how... disgustingly sloppy mortals were. Raving on about eternity and empires that would last a thousand years. They needed a strong hand to guide them down the right path. To an immortal with Understanding, they were like children. Soft-minded and easily influenced, I had seen time and time again that mortals could not be trusted with their own safety. 

I would protect them, if only because they couldn't be trusted with the job.