//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: What the Nis? // Story: Faust'ish // by Sanguine Eyes //------------------------------// Celestia's mind churned as she double checked to see if Luna was there. The last time this happened Luna did not shut up about it for a week. Standing tall prim and proper she waited looking back and forth before she was satisfied that her sister was not present then dove head first into the giant cake. It was one of her favorite dreams but her sister always teased her for her as she called it 'cake thighs' teasing her 'what kind of a princess dreams about nothing but cake?' Though as she told her last time and the time before. A princess's dreams should be sacred and not to be just barged into when you are not invited. She shoved all negativity into the back of her mind. This was HER dream and Luna was not here to ruin it. It was made all the better knowing that dream cake had no calories. "SISTER!" Celestia reeled back at Luna's voice. Clearing her self of frosting and ducking out into a hiding spot she nervously got ready hoping she could pull off the 'oh hai! I just got here' bit and feign ignorance about the giant cake she had already been frolicking through. Though when the voice sounded again it drew a little bit of concern. "Tia! Wake up!" Her eyes narrowed. Luna was not in her dream, she was outside of it. Her eyes finally opened and she sat up with a yawn. Rubbing her eyes with a hoof she looked back at the clock. She had gone to sleep only a mere two hours ago. She REALLY hoped this was a prank, very rarely did Luna Wake her up for anything. Her eyes caught site of something that drastically dashed her hopes. There were guards present. Luna had used her nickname even in front of the guards. Whatever it was had to be important, drastically so. "What is it?.." Luna stood up fully gathering magical strength to bolster her energy in the face of her fatigued state. "You must come, somepony is here to talk to us, I was going to send them to the dungeon for daring show their faces here. But something is very wrong, very VERY wrong. Please come...." Celestia was now a little more worried though with the way Luna presented it, the situation would be much easier to see than to hear explained. It took mere moments to be presentable and to make her way down into the throne room where even more guards stood. Though standing in the center of all the guards were a small handful of undisguised Changelings. What made it even more strange was that they were battered and wounded, young and old. The one in the center looked to be far too young to rule but was clearly a queen. Her eyes were puffy and drenched with tears. "YOU!.... how DARE YOU..." The changeling spat. Despite her rage she sounded utterly defeated. The only Changeling that looked untouched was very tall and muscular, it touched her gently shaking its head as if to tell her to calm down. Which surprisingly she did. Still visually weeping she stopped and bowed her head, kneeling before the Princess of the sun. "... We surrender... We don't know what we did to deserve this, but congratulations... you win.... we surrender I only ask that you spare the few of us left...I hope it was worth it" Her mouth was full of disgust when addressing Celestia. "Luna... what is going on?...." She looked back at Luna who shrugged. "They came right in right away surrendered and begged for parley. Already another dozen Changelings have come forward from the populace to surrender unconditionally. There are reports in various other cities that Changelings have appeared there too in small numbers and simply surrendered. So far there is no explanation...." "EXPLANATION? DON'T PLAY COY MURDERER.... THIS GENOCIDE IS ON YOUR HEAD...." She winced breaking back down not even able to stand. "Thousands..... tens of thousands... you murdered them all...they are all dead.... you won... call off your monster... I hope you are happy with yourself murder..." Celestia came forward looking down at the pathetic creature so damaged that she could not even present herself. "Changeling... I swear to you... I know not of what you speak... what happened?" She looked up but simply stopped. The young queen lay her head down and wept as the solder at her side stepped forward. "Your killer....or rather... killers. The two Unicorns... they found their way to the hive... Crysaliss naturally ordered their deaths but the two effortlessly defeated her. casting her to the ground they tortured her. As every one of us charged them these two unicorns tore us to pieces. Once our soldiers were dead they moved on, killing the children and the elders. We tried to flee but our exits simply stopped existing, blocked by our own walls like they never existed. Then... they slaughtered us all. Sparing none save for the few you see here." Even the hardened obviously elite soldier seemed shaken and chilled to his bones. "He rounded up everyone you see here and told us that Equestria has won. Pony kind won't fall victim to us anymore. He then left with the younger one in tow. We left immediately to surrender.... we don't know where you got somepony that strong, nor do we care. You won... you made your point. We will not fight you ever again, we only want to survive...." He bowed again. "We are at your complete mercy...we only ask that you not turn that monster on us again...." Celestia did not know what to say. Whatever this was it did not make any sense. She had basically completely forgotten about the Changelings, they had not even been brought to her attention for months. She was not surprised to hear that they had a presence in all the cities, but this mass surrender and apparent genocide was something she knew nothing about in any sense of the word. It was all wrong, the most elite of Changeling soldiers were born special. They were incapable of various forms of emotion, this kept them from fleeing a battlefield and made them relentless terrors. Celestia eyed him closely, this Changeling may not have originally capable of fear but he was soaked in it. It broke him and now he was willingly surrendering to the thing his kind considered food. "Sister!.... gather up the guardsmen and find out what happened to the Changelings, this group any any further Changelings will be kept in a holding area, be sure to keep a lot of guards and prevent them from transforming but treat all their wounds." She moved closer gently touching the young queen's face. "I swear to you, I did not do this, I would NEVER allow something like this happen even to my worst of enemies. You are welcome here for now. Don't cause any trouble and you will be allowed to live in peace when this is done..." Celestia stood firm before turning about. "Luna... stay here and make sure nothing happens to Canterlot. I have a feeling this is not over, something very wrong is happening and blame is being laid right at our hooves...Now, there is a very distant possibility... I do not want to speak of it... but I have to check to be sure..." Luna looked unsure but nodded. "Send me a signal if you need help I will be there with all the speed in the world..." "Good... now sister... be ready with your armor... its been a millennia but we may need it.." She turned about and started off towards the royal armory. --------------------------------------------------------- "This is her?" Twilight coughed looking up from her meal, Fluttershy had just stopped off and they had decided on a quick meal before they left to the cottage for the rest of the night. Owlowicious had been sick for a while and was just recovering at Fluttershy's. However, this did not explain why this pitch black adult unicorn without a cutie mark was staring down at her calmly. "Um... can I help you?" "Yes... that is her...Twilight Sparkle... Princess Twilight sparkle..." Twilight's eyes widened in question as her mouth opened forming the word. "Trixie?...goodness I haven't seen you in forever... how have you been?" The other unicorn smiled interrupted. "Oh she is fine I took her on as my personal student. I do hope I am not bothering you too much... she just spoke so much about you and your power. I was hoping I could trouble you for a test. You faced off against her before, just a quick game to see how much she progressed..." Twilight did not quite know what to say. "Trixie?... you have a teacher?" "Yes Twilight, the very best of teachers...." Her smile was vague, it lacked her usual bravado and confidence. Twilight could not help but shiver. Something was wrong. This was obviously Trixie but something was very odd. It was like she was constantly drawing power to perform a spell. It warranted investigation but she wanted to be sure that Trixie was not harmed in any way. Though the more Twilight stared into Trixie's seemingly vacant eyes the more she worried. Very worried, but she did not want to jump to any conclusions. In her time she had seen plenty of weird things this was just one more thing to add to the pile, she needed only to find out if it was bad or just weird. "Go ahead now... don't worry, I'm not asking for straight up violence. I just want to see how much she has improved..." The strange Unicorn smiled happily though it seemed almost sinister. "Very well... I know you were already pretty good at magic Trixie..." She figured it would not harm much to give it a shot. Test the waters and see what was going on. "go ahead.. see how easily you block this" She forced a smile as she gathered up her magical power. Leveling her horn she let off a low powered blast which made its way along the chosen path rather slowly. Though the second it got within two meters of Trixie the air rippled and a perfect bubble formed around her. The magical burst shattered and its energy sizzled until it was no more. "What the hay?....Trixie... that is not a normal level of power in a shield..." "Probably because she did not raise one...." Twilight's eyes went back to the black unicorn as he smiled and continued. "Your blast just touched her streams... you know where the latent magical field is drawn in and it appears as an aura... I taught her a few tricks... your spell was so low powered that it simply could not handle existing in a field of that frequency and power.... but... lets continue the game...Trixie dear... show me that power you have....oh I just love these games" Trixie leveled her horn and there was an audible hum. Trixie's eyes fluttered once and Twilight could sense this was all kinds of wrong. Quickly she poured a mass of her power into an extensive shield. At this point everypony in town's eyes were on them. Trixie's horn flashed and a bolt of dark energy shot forward and smashed clean through Twilight's shield. She had just barely had enough wiggle room to dodge. "WHAT?!?... TRIXIE!..." Twilight stared at the unicorn who did not respond right away. Flinching she shook her head and her eyes widened a little. "Trixie! what is going on...." "...Power... so much power... I have more than you... Twilight...I... I don't know what... what to..." A tear spilled from her eyes as she looked down at Twilight. "Im... scared..." The black unicorn flashed over by her side and her eyes zoned out again. "Oh calm down... I'm right here... don't you worry one bit... you are my number one pupil after all...you did well." "STOP THIS!" Twilight glared at the Unicorn, her power raising. in the soft night air. "Who are you and what did you do to Trixie!" She was done prodding and trying to figure it out. Whatever it was this was wrong and harmful, and she would not stand for it. He smirked and shook his head. "well aren't you just rude...I am Nis... a very very old friend of a very prestigious Princess named Celestia..." He flashed over to Twilight slinging a foreleg over her shoulders like an old friend. Though her instant reaction was teleporting away. "Goodness Ponies today are just rude...and for your information... I didn't DO anything to her... She asked for my help and I let her help herself to all the power she wanted..." Twilight's eyes narrowed and she flared up her magic quickly highlighting the latent magical field throughout the entire town. Though something became very clear quite suddenly.The field appeared to be retreating from Nis as his energy flared like the sun itself. He was not feeding off the field, it was as if he was his own field. A field of obviously dark and evil black magic. Though the most disturbing part was that Trixie's aura was feeding purely off of Nis's power. "Well?... what do you think?..." He grinned stepping closer. "I personally have a renewed hope in all pony kind...THAT! was a clever move...I did not expect that from you...even if you ARE an alicorn." Trixie shivered and shook silently starting to tear up again. Nis quickly responded with a stamp of his hoof and her shivers stopped. "STOP THAT!... cant you see shes in pain?...this is not natural... that is black magic... its evil... please stop" "Pain?...oh you silly she could not be happier....psst.. smile you dork I'm making a point!" Trixie's mouth turned to a smile though her eyes remained vacant. Many of the smarter ponies had already ran for cover or decided to leave entirely at this point but a few who did not know better stayed to watch. "She has everything she ever wanted and more... all that power...and soon fame..." He grinned staring at Twilight who turned to look him in the eyes. "Stop this right now. You have to be blind to think she wants this and what could you possibly give her that she would be willing to let you do this?" "Oh she asked I am so happy... girl.. you got it.. now flaunt it.. behold the new great and certainly more powerful Trixie..." Trixie as if waiting for his command kicked back and her starry cloak flipped off in a sudden motion of two powerful wings extending from her back. "Oop... new great and more powerful PRINCESS Trixie... " He grinned happily and Trixie stood just staring vacantly into space. Twilight's eyes were wider than dinner plates, this mysterious pony had literally gone and created an alicorn then even seemed to be dominating its mind. "NO!... I don't care what you think you are doing for her this stops now" "Oh silly child... you really don't want to do that... but hey... I'll tell you what lets play a game... you win I'll give you back my star pupil...no strings attached...honest" He grinned wide. "I may not be the most likable type but I assure you I don't lie." Twilight grumbled lightly before nodding. She was about to speak when Nis cut her off again. "Though mind you, I cant just give you something for nothing, its not fair to just let you take no real risks... so... how is this..." Black flames rose up from his aura and a long piece of paper formed from them. "By magical contract I swear that if I admit defeat in this game then I shall return Trixie to you free of my influence, though if you admit defeat in our game then I get something precious to you..." Twilight stared at him with eyes jam packed full of skepticism. "Oh come on... Ill even add it to the contract. No pony will die, not a single drop of pony blood will touch the ground here or the deal is off and the contract is meaningless..." He grinned hooking his foreleg over Trixie's neck playfully tugging at her and laughing as she simply bobbed about near lifelessly in his grasp. "...Fine..." Twilight stepped forward flaring up her power. "But nopony else here will be involved in this game...Only me and you and it cannot be a fight." She did not dare go horn to horn with something that powerful. He smiled and nodded. "Agreed just me and you... no blood and no death, contract is complete..." The paper caught fire and burst in a mass of magical power. He trotted forward until he was just a few feet from him. He rose a single hoof and pushed it into the dirt dragging it back and forth horizontally then back and forth vertically. "And the game is set... you can go first if you like." Twilight stared in confusion. "Tic tac toe? The trial you chose is tic tac toe?" "You did not say I could not choose whatever I liked did you? now lets play this game..." He smirked and she put on her best game face. Though a wave of worry and regret rolled over her. She was so eager to stop this pony from using Trixie that she just jumped into the fray without thinking. It didn't seem like her, she was normally so much more careful than this. Her eyes readjusted and she shook off the worry. She would figure all that out later, for now she needed to focus. Tic tac toe was very simple and easy to get a draw on. Her mind was ablaze with though on why he would choose this. Left to right top to bottom she looked at the nine squares. Quickly her magic flared and she put an X on space five, dead center. He chose space three to put his circle. Quickly Twilight filled in spot two. He slowly moved and filled in spot six leaving the obvious victory within her hooves. She tilted her head in question but did not waste time. She took up space eight with a smile. "Ha! Got you!" "Nope... you lose..." He smiled happily looking at her with a calm relaxed gaze. "I lose?... what?" She looked down and circles had won. "HEY!... that is cheating you cant cheat!" He laughed loudly leaning in and staring Twilight in the eyes. "I didn't cheat at our game.... but you just lost..." "What are you talking about you totally cheated plain as day!" "At tic tac toe yes I totally cheated but at our game... I just won..." "What?" Twilight's mind went a flurry and she tried to figure out what he could possibly be talking about. But then it clicked. "Wait... no.. you can't be serious...." "Eeeeeeyups!... As I said and as the contract was bound... By magical contract I swear that if I admit defeat in this game then I shall return Trixie to you free of my influence, though if you admit defeat in our game then I get something precious to you.... word for word star butt!... I never said if you win against me at tic tac toe, I said if you admit defeat... in other words if you say and I quote..." He grinned opening his mouth and in Twilight's voice he spoke. "I lose" Twilight's face showed her confusion and fright. Though her mind chewed on the details. According to the magic he was using she actually lost. He used a technicality and a word game to beat her. "HEY! that is not fair mister!" They both stopped and looked at Fluttershy who stood up glaring at him. "It is perfectly fair, I challenged her, the rules were set and I did not break any of the rules... I literally can't break those rules which effected her exactly the same as it did me...so it could not be anything BUT fair..." Fluttershy growled a little glaring at him but he just smiled and focused back on Twilight. "Oh... that is right.. Winning... I get to have something precious to you...so long as nopony dies or bleeds... that is easy" He turned about and his eyes leveled on Fluttershy. She was about to speak when her eyes went wide and Fluttershy's voice shot up into a scream. What looked like white magical mist began to stream out of her as she fell to the ground screaming in pain. "What?... STOP... YOU SAID NOPONY WOULD GET HURT!" "No... I said nopony would die or bleed... Ripping off years of her life is not killing her or making her bleed ... well not killing her so long as I don't take the last year of her life...and I do say that your friends are something precious to you... so don't try whining about that... She is mine...you lost her fair and square..." He pressed his hoof onto Fluttershy's head firmly making her wince further as he had stopped draining her life. "According to the contract which is bound by magical law I am allowed to do ANYTHING to her so long as nopony bleeds or dies at this time... you can thank yourself for that one..." He grinned as his magic began to flare up again and her screams returned. Twilight's wings flared out and her magic rose to its highest point as she prepared to attack, though her rage was cut short with an odd distraction. The sun shot up in reverse hitting its high point in the sky as if it were noon. Everypony present had less than a second to look up in wonder and confusion before the mass of fire and power blasted through the air at Nis. A golden glaive pierced Nis at his chest. Striking so hard and so fast that his body was torn asunder. His hind legs toppled end over end as his torso and up blasted into the ground. Celestia's eyes were molten white hot with rage as her power was lit up like the heart of the sun. Her lips parted and the booming Godlike voice pierced the heavens themselves. "FOOL!... YOU WERE SEALED AWAY FOR A REASON...YOU SHOULD HAVE LEARNED YOUR LESSON AND LEFT EQUESTRIA ALONE!" Near instantly Fluttershy gasped in relief but still stayed put, so shocked and pained nothing but terror rushed through her. With Nis no longer present Trixie too fell to her knees gasping and weeping. "T...Twilight!...m... make it stop... I can hear him whispering in my head... please... make it stop make it stop!..." Nothing but tears streaked out from her eyes as she broke down shivering in pain and fear. "...I...I'm scared...." There was a chill in the air that managed to get past Celestia's burning livid hate. The chill reached out from the decimated remains at the end of her weapon. "Heh... good to see you too Sunbutt. Though you should know better by now...." His head tilted up. There was a sudden explosion that Celestia almost did not escape. Her power still revved up high, flames from her eyes and seemed to replace her mane and wings. Adorned with golden armor now singed and dented she stared with anger filled eyes at the mangled body before her. Slurping up back together like a crudely stitched up puppet, Nis became one again. "Ahhhhhh... not bad... not bad at all but was it wise to attack?... you know the rules.... and speaking of rules..." He looked past Celestia and the white mist began to rise up from Fluttershy again sparking the torturous pains. "Taking another year will be fun..." Twilight's mind flashed back and poured over the events in desperation. This being just tanked Celestia at her fullest power and at least appeared unharmed. From what she could see his physical and magical power was on par with a God's. Though one other thing caught her attention. He kept talking about rules, rules, contracts and his incapability to do certain things. An idea shot into her mind and in desperation she jumped onto it. Throwing her foreleg into her own horn she winced at the pain but watched as a soft dribble of blood flowed from the open wound and then onto the ground. Instantly the white mist stopped and Fluttershy gasped at the release from the pain. "Oh you clever little bitch...." Nis growled as he stood up firmly. "Play time is over...Student!.." Instantly Trixie's eyes glazed over and she teleported to his side. "Yes Mr. Nis?" "That is fine assed master Nis thank you..." He chuckled to himself before looking back at Twilight. "...Kill Starbutt..." His hoof pointed firmly at Twilight. Trixie flinched and shivered but Nis did not waste time. His power surged and her shivering stopped. "Yes Master..." Darkness poured out of her and she leaped forward only to be countered by Celestia. Not wanting to kill one of her ponies Celestia did all she could not not harm Trixie but she needed to act and could not recklessly. The flat end of her polearm smashed Trixie over the head sending her into the ground. As predicted the power absorbed most of the blow but it still left the mare dazed even with the massive level of mind control magic flooding her. Celestia turned to let loose a blast of her highest level of magics. Though as she panned her horn she could not see Nis. "Slow as usual Sunbutt... too much cake methinks...." Celestia's eyes shot wide and she let out a wet cough accompanied with a fine spray of blood from her mouth. A spear with an obsidian head pierced her through the ribs. She held in the pain as she looked to her left seeing him and his calm happy smirk of which she promptly wiped off his face as her blazing wing smashed into him sending him through a few buildings and into the side of a hill. "Princess Celestia!" Twilight rushed forward but something quickly countered her. A blast of heat and force knocked her off her hooves. Before Twilight even landed Trixie was over her, a suspended crystal shard quickly dropping right at Twilight's left eye. Thankfully somepony a whole lot less careful came along just then. Luna's horn released a mass of energy which blasted Trixie literally beyond the horizon. "SISTER!" Luna rushed up to Celestia slashing a dark purple sword through the spear shattering it and withdrawing the tip from the solar matriarch and layering up some healing spells. "I am fine Luna...I have suffered worse... Twilight!... quickly take your friends and leave as fast as you can... this thing is NOT a pony and its not anything close to safe...Just run and and let us take care of him. "But Celestia.. I can help..." Twilight started forward again but Celestia raised her hoof firmly. "NO.... this is something Equestria almost did not survive last time. Just go, if we fail you NEED to be safe...Go find Discord and tell him Nis has returned. We will hold him off and try to contain him. Don't worry Twilight I have faith tha-" She froze. Not out of shock or fear but literally froze. Her pure white coat had turned to dull gray. She had been completely turned to stone. "Jeeeze! Sunbutt still likes to talk... where is my pet?..." Nis trotted up happily despite his head hanging loose from an obviously broken neck. "Oop!... Just a second" He clopped his hooves over his head and twisted firmly cracking and popping the bones until his head was on straight. Luna's tearing eyes strained at the sight of what just happened to her sister. Her eyes strained at Nis with his calm happy smile. Quickly her gaze shot back at Twilight and Fluttershy who were still close enough together. Twilight's eyes saw only a harsh blast of light coming off of Luna's horn before darkness then the musty smell of books, a very familiar smell. The royal Canterlot library.