The Kingdom of Faust, Part One
Friends, Forgiveness, and Magic
The Kingdom of Faust, Part One
“Let’s try this again…”
“Once upon a time in the magical land of Equestria…”
A lone figure in a cloak calmly walked through the streets of Canterlot, heading straight for the castle.
The castle grounds were sparkling clean, as always. Two pegasus guards stood by the entrance into the palace, eyeing the cloaked figure suspiciously as they raised their spears, blocking the cloaked stranger.
“Princesses Celestia and Luna aren’t seeing guests right now,” the guard on the left said.
“And why are you wearing that cloak anyway?” the guard on the right growled suspiciously.
The cloaked figure paused in front of the two guards. Then a soft chuckle made its way out from under her cloak.
“Is she friend or is she foe, the ponies wonder…I can assure you that I am no friend.”
Her wings unfurled to their full length, causing the cloak to flutter away before it vanished into tiny flashes of blue light. Before the two guards stood an alicorn with a pale, goldish gray coat and a dark red mane and tail. Her eyes and her horn both glowed with icy blue light. On her flank was a cutie mark of a quill dipped into an inkwell. The strange thing about her cutie mark was that it faded and flickered in and out of existence, like a broken lightbulb.
“I am Lady Faust.”
The guards’ eyes widened, and they bowed before her. “Another princess? A thousand apologies that we didn’t recognize you, your highness,” the guard on the right said.
“Forgive us for not hearing about you before. Are you a new alicorn, like Princess Twilight was? Are you here in Canterlot to organize your coronation?” the guard on the left said.
Lady Faust glared at the two guards in annoyance. “Ignorant as always. It amazes me how people are still blinded by…ugh. I don’t have time for this,” she grumbled as her horn glowed brighter.
The guards blinked in surprise and quickly stood back up. “B-beg your pardon, your highness?”
“I said I am not your friend. And I am here to take back what is rightfully mine.”
Her blue eyes flashed and within a single second, both guards rapidly inflated with air before they popped like balloons. They fluttered down to the floor in the form of party confetti and remained still.
Lady Faust frowned at the piles of confetti. “Do stop whining. You’re not dead.” She sighed and walked into the castle.
As Lady Faust walked through the palace, guards and staff members all stared at her in shock and awe. But before anyone could speak even a single word, the alicorn’s horn sent out a pulse of power. The shockwave of magic traveled very slowly, but the results of said shockwave were tremendous. Ponies were pushed off the floor and up against the castle walls before they were all transformed and incapacitated. Guards, guests, and caretakers were turned into glass statues that shattered when they touched the floor, piles of sparkles, piles of ash, and piles of paper. Lady Faust kept to her calm walking pace until at last she reached the doors to the throne room.
She glared for a moment at the hearts carved onto the bright blue doors before she walked right through them as if they didn’t exist. She calmly trotted towards Princess Celestia and Princess Luna as the royal sisters stood up from their thrones.
“Another alicorn? Celestia, what is the meaning of this?” Luna asked.
“I’m afraid I’m as lost as you are. Hello there!” Celestia called out, with a nervous but hopeful smile. “You’ve caught us quite by surprise, my friend. Who might you be? How can we help you?”
The alicorn stopped in front of them and gave them a tiny sad smile as her horn glowed a little brighter. “I suppose I should thank you for not confusing me with your mother or anything ridiculous like that. You have no idea how annoying that can be.” Her eyes sharpened into a glare as she addressed them, “However…did you really think I would just let you get away with what you’ve both done?”
“Pardon?” Luna asked, her eyes narrowing a little.
“Your actions have saved thousands of ponies. But they have also doomed billions of lives.” Lady Faust squeezed her eyes shut. “Doomed to suffer a pain that only I can imagine.”
Both sisters looked on in concern as the pale alicorn shook as if she was holding back tears. “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I do not know what you are referring to.” Celestia said. “Could you perhaps tell us your name? Or something about why you are here?”
“Sorry? It’s too late for that now. But I suppose I have forgotten to introduce myself, haven’t I?” The pale alicorn spread out her wings. “I am the Lady Faust. Princess of Writing and the true goddess of Equestria. Some of my ‘friends’ have also referred to me as the Witch Queen, or the Alicorn of the Apocalypse.”
Celestia’s eyes widened in shock. Luna frowned as her horn started to glow with power. “Alicorn of the what?!”
“Oh, that is amusing. Judgement from the usurper who started it all.” Lady Faust glared at Luna. “Have you already forgotten what the ponies called Nightmare Moon? The mare who betrayed her sister? The mare who eats children when she doesn’t get enough candy?”
Luna’s ears flattened, and she looked down at the ground in shame. But Celestia was quick to defend her sister. “That is enough! I do not know why you have come here to antagonize us, but Princess Luna is not Nightmare Moon anymore! She has changed for the better!”
“And who are you to decide what is better? Because trust me Celestia, you have done much greater harm that Luna has.”
“E…excuse me?!” Celestia asked, an angry and bewildered frown on her face.
“Is this some form of joke?!” an equally furious and confused Luna asked. “My sister has never hurt anyone!”
“I disagree. You hurt Twilight Sparkle. You hurt her in ways you can’t even comprehend. You hurt her so much that even with all my power I doubt I can still save save her. I’m afraid it’s too late…to save any of you.” Lady Faust threatened ominously.
“That is absurd. Princess Twilight Sparkle is uninjured and in no danger. In fact, she is thriving. She has surpassed my expectations of her and she has accomplished so much for her friends and for all of Equestria,” Celestia said with pride in her voice.
Lady Faust mumbled something, too quiet for the others to hear. She glared at them and said, “I don’t know why I’m wasting my time trying to have a conversation with you. You’ve already labeled me as the enemy. You won’t listen to me. You won’t consider a new thought, or a new idea. Destroying your universe is the only way to capture your attention.”
“Destroying our what?!” Luna exclaimed.
The sisters glared at her as they pointed their glowing horns at her. “You are dangerously unstable and hopelessly overconfident in yourself. But since you have so foolishly wasted time gloating, we can nip this problem in the bud now,” Celestia declared.
“Where did that expression come from anyway?” Lady Faust pondered to herself as she examined the glass windows of the throne room with a frown.
Luna scowled at her. “You would be wise to pay attention to our battle, and wiser still to surrender!”
Lady Faust turned back to them with an unimpressed glare. “Oh, put those things away before you hurt yourselves.” She smirked at them. “We all know what’s going to happen. You’ll fire some magic at me and it’s not even going to leave a scratch. Then you’ll probably try to fly away before I knock you both out and imprison you in some form. And once Twilight Sparkle saves you, everything will be back to normal until about…the next season finale. And then, the same thing will just happen ALL over again. At least…that’s how it used to be…”
“Enough words! This ends now!” Luna shouted as both she and Celestia fired beams of magic at Lady Faust.
Their jaws dropped as she realized that Lady Faust hadn’t moved an inch from where she was standing. Both beams were pushing against her chest, but she wasn’t reacting to their power at all. She stared at the two sisters with a blank expression and yawned. “Are we fighting, or are you shining some flashlights on me?”
“We must increase our power! Push harder, Luna!” Celestia shouted as they increased the force behind their magic. But the only thing Lady Faust did was extend her wings and turn around so that her back was facing the sisters.
“Can you get this little itch behind my wings?” When the princesses couldn’t answer her, Lady Faust folded her wings up again and turned around and frowned. “Come on girls, this is embarrassing,” she scolded the sisters as she glared at them without blinking, even though the beams of magic were hitting her eyes.
Their strength giving way to exhaustion, both sisters let their spells go and gasped. “Our magic has no effect on her!” Celestia exclaimed.
“Not even a scratch…just as she predicted!” Luna cried.
“You’re going to fly away and warn Twilight now, aren’t you?” Lady Faust asked.
Both sisters unfurled their wings. “Quickly, Luna! Perhaps if I distract her, you can fly to Ponyville and warn-”
But before another word could be said, Lady Faust’s horn glowed even brighter as twin beams of magic launched out of her horn and struck the two sisters faster than lightning, completely engulfing Celestia and Luna in an angry flash of raw power.
When the light faded away after several seconds, Lady Faust calmly walked over to where the sisters had been standing. In their place were two tiny, inanimate, plush toy versions of the princesses. She levitated the toys up to her face and smiled at them. She glanced over at the glass window featuring Discord on it and sighed. “Might as well.”
A blast of magic struck the glass window and the real version of the Equestrian Discord came tumbling out. “Now that was quite unpleasant,” he grumbled as he floated back onto his feet. “What in the world am I doing here?” His gaze darted all over the room before he turned to scoff at Lady Faust. “Another alicorn?” He rolled his eyes. “Do I hear seven? Or wait…is little Flurry Heart old enough to count?”
Lady Faust smirked. “Did you know that little Nightmare Moon here was supposed to have your name?” she asked as she levitated the Luna plushie and waved it in the air.
Discord’s eyes widened. “Is that actually…well, no matter.” He snapped his fingers, but his smirk quickly faded as the Luna plushie let out a blue pulse and remained in the same shape. He stared at Lady Faust and poked her muzzle with his talon. He quickly withdrew his claw as a spark of electricity leapt out of her unamused face. “Wait, didn’t my Everfree counterpart warn me about you?”
Without any further warning, the alicorn’s horn glowed as bright and blinding as a miniature sun before she fired a colossal beam of magic that completely engulfed Discord.
When the light faded away, Lady Faust’s calmly walked over to where the transformed Discord was resting. “I’m really sorry about that sneak attack, little Longma. But you’re a much slipperier character than the princesses are. If I had given you too much of a warning, you might have been able to escape.”
She chuckled a little and levitated the princesses and the five-piece connectable plastic toy of Discord. She smiled at the three toys in her grasp before her smile faded. Her eyes narrowed, and her gaze turned to the ground. She held her head with a hoof and grit her teeth in discomfort. “Focus. Focus. Focus…”
Her head snapped up as a horrified castle maid dropped the tea tray she had been carrying with a loud crash. She let out a terrified scream as her eyes fell on the toys in Lady Faust’s grip.
Lady Faust sighed in frustration. “Why am I even making a big deal out of this?” With several flashes of light, the princess plushies and the Discord toy vanished. Lady Faust grabbed the maid in her telekinesis and pulled her towards her, keeping the maid’s mouth shut. As the poor little pony was dragged across the floor, her body rapidly shrunk and transformed until she was in the shape of a little jade statue.
Another loud shriek echoed through the room, causing Lady Faust to wince in annoyance as she dropped the jade statue. A young earth pony stallion was standing by the doorway, his horrified gaze taking in all the damage the alicorn had done.
“You…you monster! You won’t get away with this! I’ll…I’ll tell Princess Twilight and her friends what happened! You’ll be sorry for this!” the terrified and enraged stallion swore at Lady Faust before he galloped down the hall and as far away from the alicorn as he could get.
He did not get far. Lady Faust stared at the pony, her vision following his retreat no matter how much distance passed or how many walls stood in between them. With a tilt of her head, the stallion collapsed onto the ground in the middle of Canterlot as he feel into a deep sleep. She stood silently in the throne room for several seconds before she sighed. “What other choice do I have?” She turned her head and stared at the thrones of the two sisters, her eyes glowing with blue light.
“At the base of the thrones, there formed a miniature, magical black hole. This overwhelming gravitational force would soon swallow all of Canterlot. Every building and every creature within the city would be sucked into oblivion. For any citizen fast enough and lucky enough to escape, the survivors will look upon the ruins of their home; the knowledge that their princesses failed them filling their hearts with utter despair. Once Canterlot has been destroyed, the black hole will stop growing, yet remain as a constant reminder of My power. And as for the ponies who don’t get out in time…”
Lady Faust’s eyes dimmed back to normal as the black hole formed. She walked away as the room behind her slowly crumbled and vanished into nothingness. She maintained her calm stroll through the hallways as other staff members and guests at the castle all ran screaming for their lives. Once she left the castle, a checklist appeared before her.
“That’s the royal sisters and Discord taken care of. Maybe Cadance and the Crystal Empire just to make sure. But after that…” she smiled as she trailed off. Then her smile faded.
“Stop it.”
The checklist vanished and Lady Faust frowned. “Stop it. Focus.”
She brought one forehoof up to her head, then the other one. She hovered in place as she held her head, shut her eyes, and grit her teeth. “Stop it. Focus. Focus…” she whispered to herself as her horn glowed brighter.
“The big, scary Fausticorn, I presume?”
With a flash of pink light, all of Canterlot Castle was wrapped up in a huge pink jelly mold, preventing the black hole inside from swallowing up any more of the city. Lady Faust opened her eyes and rested her hooves back on the ground as Pinkie Pie suddenly bounced into her vision, watching her with a calm but very alert smile.
Lady Faust examined Pinkie before her gaze darted to the jelly mold. She sighed in relief and chuckled. “Oh. You’re the Pinkie from Everfree. You had me worried there for a second.”
Pinkie blinked in confusion. “…Really? You’re more scared of normal me than chaos me?”
Lady Faust glared at her. She rolled her head a little, causing her horn to draw a little circle in the air. As the tiny circle was completed, time stopped all around them. She pointed at the frozen expressions of fear on the faces of the ponies across the street from them. “Why would I be afraid of you when I can do this?”
Pinkie giggled. “Well for starters, I can do this!” She formed some fingers in her hoof and snapped them. But her excited grin faded when she saw that Lady Faust was still standing there, her horn still glowing with power.
Lady Faust was chillingly silent as her head tilted to the side and her eyes glowed. Pinkie gasped as she saw their surroundings flicker, like a TV with fuzzy reception. Lady Faust’s eyes returned to normal and the world stopped fading as she glared at Pinkie sternly.
“You did borrow a lot of power from Discord’s family, didn’t you? You’re strong. But I can erase Equestria with a sentence. I can destroy this world and everyone in it as easily as flipping a light switch. This isn’t a joke, Pink One. It is simply the end of life’s cruelest joke.”
Pinkie’s eyes widened as Lady Faust took a step forward. Not so much from her advance, but from the fact that when her hoof touched the ground, a house-sized chunk of the earth broke off from the ground and hovered in the air before disintegrating into dust.
Pinkie flashed her a sheepish smile. “Heh…easy there. Destroying the world? That’s a bit extreme, don’t ya think? I mean, I know I went into the whole crazy, mad villain deal too, but I never went that far. I...I’m sure if we just sit down and talk about what’s bothering you we can...uh...”
Lady Faust glared at Pinkie but didn’t take any other action. She stood completely still. The only movement from her were a series of sparks that leapt over, across, and around her horn. The intense glare was starting to creep Pinkie out…
“I don’t want to talk to you anymore,” Lady Faust decided. Her eyes began to glow again.
“And so, the infamous Pinkamania lost all her chaotic powers. She fell to the ground and stared up in horror as all the magic within her floated towards Me.”
Pinkie let out as a gasp as her gaze darted to the left and right of the ground she was sitting on before focusing back on Lady Faust and the ball of rainbow-coloured chaos magic floating next to her. “Wait, how’d I fall down that quickly? What just happened?!”
“That’s what happens when I use my magic at full power. No buildup or flashy light show. Not unless I want to. Instead, I get results instantly. Leaving you no time at all to react to what I’ve done.”
Lady Faust glared at the very nervous earth pony. “You’re not the original Pinkie Pie but you’re still too annoying.” Her glowing horn lowered to point at Pinkie’s head. “I think I’ll-”
“Wait! What’s that behind you!” Pinkie shrieked as she pointed behind the all powerful alicorn.
“I’m not going to fall for-”
POP!
Lady Faust spun around in alarm to face whatever made that sudden noise. Blue fire started to crackle in her eyes as she glared at the remains of a popped balloon. She spun around to vaporize the annoying chatterbox, only to find a pink tail disappearing into a hole in reality. The rainbow coloured ball of chaos magic had vanished long before Pinkie Pie did.
“Clever Pinkie, but not clever enough.” Lady Faust growled as a bright blue hand with red veins formed out of her horn. The magical arm dove into the tear in time and space and didn’t rest until it grabbed something.
She smirked as she pulled up Pinkie Pie. She didn’t bother saying another word as the blue hand began to squeeze the life out of the pink pony.
“F-fun!” The pink pony choked out. “Fun…fun…f-fun…”
Lady Faust’s eyes narrowed as she loosened her grip on Pinkie. A glowing blue finger poked the pony in her belly, eliciting a giggle. “You’re a mirror clone, aren’t you?”
The Pinkie clone opened her mouth to respond but instead her eyes widened, and her cheeks bulged out. She found that the rest of her body was ahead of her. Her limbs retracted into her body as her belly filled up with air. Within a few seconds, Lady Faust had turned the mirror clone into a pink balloon, with a thin earth pony tail sticking out as the string. She let the balloon float up in the air, then turned around to fire a beam of magic at the jelly mold. The jelly disappeared and the black hole resumed its progress as Lady Faust unfroze time with another wave of her horn. She turned away from Canterlot and kept walking.
Meanwhile in Everfree, Nightmare Moon, Sunset Shimmer, Trixie, Smog, Duchess Celestia, Duchess Luna, Applejack, and Fluttershy were all still waiting at the edge of Tambelon.
“Oh my gosh! Hurry up!” Trixie shouted in irritation at the barrier.
“Silence,” Nightmare hissed quietly. “Do you want that crazy human to find us?”
“Why do you think the Anxious and Powerfully Impatient Trixie is acting so cranky? How long can it take for King Sombra to just grab the Elements and send them to us?” Trixie groaned.
Nightmare raised an eyebrow as she spotted a cloud of smoke swirling around the barrier before zooming in towards them. “Apparently not that long.”
King Sombra emerged from the cloud of smoke and stepped onto the ground. Lord Tirek appeared next to him in a flash of red light. Tirek placed his hand on the barrier, opening up a hole in it for himself and Sombra to step through. “Are you uninjured Princess Nightmare Moon?” the centaur asked. “Who else is still with us?”
“Everyone ya see here, and not much else, Ah reckon,” Applejack said. “Megan and her brainwashed army are behind us and we ain’t been dumb enough to come outta hiding to see what she’s cooking up, not at the risk of getting mind zapped by her fancy dark rainbow.” She raised an eyebrow at them. “Ah reckon yer both caught up?”
“Blasted lock, why did we make this so complicated?” King Sombra grumbled as his magic worked to undo the enchanted locks around the jeweled box he was levitating. He spared a quick smile at Nightmare. “We read your letter and we’re concerned about the human and this mysterious queen she keeps mentioning. So, we thought to bring ourselves as well as the Elements of Redemption to help you defeat this newest threat. Just need to…” he grumbled as he fiddled with the last lock.
Tirek nodded. “Indeed. Your letter informed us that the human girl I’ve been searching for has been masquerading as a pony, she just killed one of my old rivals, and -”
“Hold on, you’ve been searching for her? What history do you have with Megan Williams?” Nightmare asked with narrowed eyes.
Tirek sighed. “A misunderstanding between my family and hers. Scorpan and I caught sight of the human mage Megan and her younger siblings…whose names escape my memory,” Tirek admitted. “They were world jumpers as I recall because she mistook me for a much more aggressive Tirek. Possibly the one from Equestria.”
“Ugh,” Trixie groaned. “Even if there are some nice people from Equestria, that mirror dimension is becoming a pain in Trixie’s flank.”
“Would you like some help, Sombra?” Celestia asked as she stepped up to the king’s side and lit up her horn to undo some of the other enchantments.
Tirek shrugged and wrapped up his story. “Her younger siblings convinced her to stand down but Scorpan has often told me ‘that girl had a bad look in her eye’. We haven’t seen her in years but we have both been trying to track her down because of, well…” He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “An ancient prophecy we found told us that she has something to do with the Queen of Destruction.”
“Who’s the Queen of Destruction? You don’t think that’s the queen Megan keeps mentioning, do you?” Sunset asked.
“For all our sakes, let’s hope not,” Luna said with a little shudder. “We do not speak of the Alicorn of the Apocalypse.”
Smog’s eyes widened. “Alicorn of what?!”
“Let’s focus on the current enemy for now,” King Sombra said with a triumphant smile as he and Celestia finished unlocking the box and retrieved the Elements of Redemption. He levitated the Elements of Power, Knowledge, and Nobility towards Nightmare, Sunset, and Trixie.
“Uh, no, can we go back to this 'queen of destruction'? That just stinks of a future mess that we’ll have to clean up,” Smog pointed out.
“Rest easy, young dragon. The prophecy is merely a mystery, not a concern. The queen has been imprisoned for over five thousand years,” Tirek said reassuringly.
“Which means she’s due to break out any day now. Seriously, how many bad guys did you lock up just so they can break out again years later?” Smog asked, shooting looks at Sombra, Tirek, Celestia, and Luna.
Luna rolled her eyes. “We’re not that bad when it comes to…” She trailed off at the eyebrows that Nightmare, Smog, Sunset, Trixie, Applejack, and even Fluttershy raised. “Come now, my sister and I weren’t even alive when the Witch Queen was imprisoned. If she could break out she would have done it thousands of years ago.”
Celestia nodded and folded her wings up. “Indeed. Let us focus our attention on today’s problems, shall we? If we spend too much time gazing into the future, we can miss what’s occurring right in front of our eyes.
“Um, but how will you use the Elements?” Fluttershy asked. “I mean, I could try to use the Element of Love, um if that’s okay with you. Could one of you use the Zeal or Freedom Elements?” she asked, looking at Sombra, Celestia, and Luna.
Sombra shook his head. “Too risky. The Elements work best with their chosen bearers. If anyone other than Gilda, Chrysalis, and Discord use the Elements along with you three, the outcome would be completely unpredictable,” he said to Nightmare.
“Which is why we need to work on freeing our friends first, or at the very least their minds,” Nightmare declared. “Once our friends’ memories are restored that should be enough to convince them to use the Elements and restore Megan’s transformed victims. And if that doesn’t work, we go with plan B.”
“And plan B is…?” Smog asked.
Nightmare’s fanged mouth twisted into a cold smirk. “Beat her into a bloody pulp.”
“Trixie likes this plan!” the showmare declared, while Sombra, Smog, and Tirek nodded in approval. The other ponies looked like they wanted to object to this plan. But then…
“Hello new friends!” an oddly coloured filly with a squeaky lisp said as she bounced over to their hiding spot. “Miss Megan, Miss Megan! I founds them!”
“Ah, dang it!” Smog growled. “Looks like our luck at staying hidden just rang out!”
“Couldn’t have picked a better time,” Nightmare declared as she shot a blast of magic at the filly and knocked her into a wall.
“D-don’t you think that was too harsh?!” Fluttershy cried.
“WAH! The black meanie gave me an owie!” the squeaky filly cried.
“She’s fine, Fluttershy,” Sunset reassured their friend as they all ran back towards the town center. “Probably supposed to be a minotaur or a dragon so I’m sure-”
“Incoming!” Smog shouted as more fillies started playfully charging towards them.
Nightmare conjured up a shield around them and threw her magic into expanding it, pushing the brainwashed fillies away from them. “Lord Tirek, we should be safe if Megan has a soft spot for ponies and Smog.”
Tirek nodded in understanding. “But I am quite vulnerable to the Rainbow’s dark magic. I shall stay behind and intercept Miss Williams if she somehow slips from your grasp. Good luck Princess Nightmare”
“Fluttershy and Ah won’t be much help in a magic duel, so Ah reckon we’ll circle around other parts of the barrier and catch any runners by surprise,” Applejack suggested, which Fluttershy happily agreed to.
Nightmare heard King Sombra offering his help to them too, but her attention was soon grabbed by another swarm of incoming fillies. “Push them back everyone!” Nightmare ordered as she collapsed the circular shield and formed a smaller but much stronger shield just a foot away from her. Sunset, Trixie, Celestia, and Luna formed similar telekinetic shields and followed her as they charged right through the filly army, knocking them all aside.
As Smog ran after his friends, he shouted back “Sorry!” at the hundreds of transformed fillies sobbing over their bruises and boo-boos.
It wasn’t long before they reached the cathedral and Megan marched out the front door to see what the huge commotion was. “So, the nightmare queen returns to do battle once more.” She scowled at the alicorn and her friends. “How can you justify calling yourself a hero when you just attacked a group of innocent fillies?”
“How can you justify calling yourself a hero when you were hiding behind said group of innocent creatures?!” Nightmare growled back at her.
Megan glared at her and held up the Rainbow of Darkness. “Everypony, grab Nightmare Moon and her minions. I’m not gonna miss this shot.”
As Megan’s filly army marched towards Nightmare’s friends with adorably determined glares on their sparkly faces, Trixie eyed the ponies in concern. “So what’s the plan? Fight? Don’t fight? It’s not like it’s their fault.” Sunset nodded in agreement. Pushing some fillies away when they were being obstacles was fair, but they didn’t want to seriously hurt anyone when these creatures couldn’t control their actions.
Nightmare glared hard at the filly army as she analyzed their situation. Megan’s dangerous dark rainbow and her unpredictable magic. The transformed citizens of Tambelon and their slavish devotion to Megan. Their faces twisted with frightened determination. Their wobbly knees…
A solution came to Nightmare Moon as she grinned widely at the fillies, showing off her fangs. “Heh, heh, heh. Aha, ha, ha! MWA, HA, HA!”
The other ponies’ eyes widened as the fillies began to freeze up while Sunset and Trixie caught on quickly to their friend’s idea. Shooting an evil smile at a nearby filly, Sunset launched a fireball at a house and chuckled as it caught fire. Trixie smirked at another filly and threw two smoke bombs on the ground. As the smoke clouded her audience’s vision, Trixie cast a colour-changing spell on Sunset’s fire, turning the flames a dark purple. Meanwhile, Nightmare’s mane swirled with magic and lightning as the clouds over Tambelon began to darken and rumble. Sunset and Trixie levitated the clouds closer together, accelerating the storms creation. Smog helped out too, drooling fire and smoke out of his mouth and eyeing the fillies hungrily.
It cast quite a horrifying picture to the fillies and within seconds they were all running and hiding behind Megan with shouts of, “Save me Merry!” “Miss Merry, they’re too scary!” “I want my mommy!” “Waaah!
Megan’s jaw dropped in angered disbelief as the fillies began grabbing at her coat and quickly brushed them aside. She growled at Nightmare and her friends as her entire army cowered a good ten feet behind her. “That was a dirty trick.”
“Quite a dazzling performance if you were to ask me,” Luna said as she used her magic to extinguish the fires created by Sunset and Smog. “You should try that again during Twilight Night, dear Moony.”
Nightmare shot her mom an appreciative smile. “One thing at a time, Loony.”
Megan held up the Rainbow of Darkness and tightened her grip on it. “No more games,” she growled.
Nightmare brows narrowed as she got ready for battle, laying her wings on Sunset and Trixie as she prepared to teleport or fly away from the blast. Hopefully Megan couldn’t hit a moving target and hopefully her mom and her aunt could…
But before she could react, a beam of raw dark magic shot out of the Rainbow faster than she could predict it would. Just as the beam was about to collide with her though…
“What a fancy little trinket you’ve acquired. How do you like mine?” Celestia asked with a smirk as she shielded her niece from the dark magic, the Rainbow of Light wrapped in her telekinesis and held out in front of her.
“Sister! What are you doing with that accursed thing?!” Luna shouted.
Celestia shot a quick smirk at her as her mane caught fire. “Weren’t you curious as to why Sombra was having such trouble unlocking the chest containing the Elements of…oh dear…”
Her whole body began to heat up and glow before it erupted in a flash of flames. Nightmare, Luna, and their friends teleported on top of a nearby roof to escape the explosion, while Megan was knocked back into the cathedral from the force of the blast. The ponies all looked down at the battlefield in shock as they saw Celestia transform into Daybreaker.
“Oh my…I’d forgotten how good this power feels,” Daybreaker purred to herself.
“Sister, no! You must fight the Rainbow’s influence!” Luna cried. “You must…”
Luna trailed off as Nightmare held out a wing to stop her mother’s advance and scrutinized Daybreaker. “Aunt Celestia? Are you still in control?”
Even though Daybreaker’s eyes glowed with fire, they softened with a much kinder warmth as she gazed at her family. “Worry not dear niece and sister. Even though the urge to bring about eternal day once more fills me, I am still in control.”
Nightmare nodded in determination. “I can work with this. Keep the human distracted while we find the other Elements.”
Daybreaker smiled proudly as Nightmare, Luna, Sunset, and Trixie galloped off, before turning around to face Megan as she emerged from the cathedral.
“The Rainbow of Light belongs to me! You stole what was rightfully mine!” Megan growled as she fired another blast of magic from the Rainbow of Darkness.
Celestia deflected the blast from her own Rainbow, her eyes glowing red. “And your corrupted trinket stole me from my family.” Megan threw herself behind cover as Daybreaker shot a stream of flames in her direction. “Come now my little human, there’s no escaping your punishment. Step into the light.”
As Daybreaker and Megan flung different flavours of dark magic at each other, Nightmare turned to her friends. “Trixie, on my signal throw out as many smoke bombs and distracting magic tricks you can afford to use.”
Trixie raised an eyebrow at the sight of Megan slicing a fireball in half with a dark magic sword. “Trixie doubts she can be more distracting than that.”
“I’m sorry, who doubts she can grab a crowd’s attention?” Nightmare asked with a smirk.
Trixie chuckled. “Okay, you got me. The Great and Powerful Trixie shall make the clouds spew smoke and the ground breathe fireworks!”
“Excellent,” Nightmare nodded as Trixie and Smog began digging into her bag of tricks. “Now Sunset, with my aunt and Trixie keeping the heat off of us-”
“Ironic,” Trixie mumbled as she shot a firework at one of the fireballs Daybreaker had launched at Megan, sending the human into an even louder screaming fit.
“-you, Smog, and I will start searching for our friends,” Nightmare finished.
“Got it. Actually I have an idea of how to get our search started,” Sunset said as her horn began to glow. “See, Megan wants the creatures of Tambelon, especially the more 'macho' races like minotaurs and dragons, to act like really girly fillies. So, if we appeal to something that is the opposite of what they normally do…”
Sunset’s horn stopped glowing as she summoned a delicious salad, hovering above their heads. “Gilded Rosie! Who wants to eat her leafy greens?!” Sunset announced cheerily.
Gilded Rosie, the transformed Gilda, broke free from the crowd of fillies who were hiding from the main battle and hesitantly flew over to them. “Um…I’d like to haz salad, miss unicorn.”
“Good girl! Here you go,” Sunset said as she set the salad down in front of her. As Gilded Rosie daintily nibbled her meal, Nightmare levitated the Element of Zeal around Gilded Rosie’s neck.
“Now girls! Channel the Elements and focus on every good memory you have of Gilda!” Nightmare shouted. Trixie quickly rejoined her friends and soon the Elements of Power, Knowledge, Nobility, and Zeal were all glowing.
Daybreaker glanced over her shoulder at her niece and the other Elements. She held up the Rainbow of Light and directed a small portion of its power towards them. She then turned back to Megan and summoned up a wall of fire to continue distracting her foe.
The magic and support of her friends was more than enough to engulf Gilded Rosie and transform her body and mind back into Gilda the Griffon with a wave of colourful light. As soon as she was a griffon again, Gilda spat out the salad and hovered in midair, clenching her claws in fury. “Argh! I’ll kill that girl!”
Trixie and her friends grinned. “Gilda you’re back!”
“Yeah, yeah, let’s save the reunion for later. We need the rest of our friends to set that human on forgiving fire, right?” Gilda narrowed her eyes and rubbed her temples in concentration. “Let’s see if I can use that dumb filly brain before I knock it outta my head entirely…and…got them!”
Gilda launched herself into the air and scanned the crowd of fillies for their friends, using her eagle eyes and the rapidly vanishing memories of Gilded Rosie to find them. “Aha! Gotcha!” She swooped down and picked up Dizzy Daisy and Crystal Lily from the crowd of transformed creatures and dropped them both in front of her other friends.
“AH! P-please miss griffon, don’t eat us!” the fillies wailed.
“Can it, cream puffs!” Gilda snapped at them while Nightmare levitated the Elements of Freedom and Love onto Dizzy Daisy and Crystal Lily. “Give us back our friends!”
With another wave of magic, the Elements of Redemption washed over the two fillies and transformed them back into Discord and Queen Chrysalis.
“Thank heavens! So good to be back in my own skin,” Discord sighed happily. He frowned at Megan and waggled his finger at her. “Young lady, nobody forces me into a body I’m not comfortable with and gets away with it.”
“Everything he said and more,” Chrysalis hissed in agreement.
“Hey sweet, the Elements are still on!” Gilda remarked, pointing at her still glowing necklace.
“Perfect!” Celestia shouted before she teleported behind the outraged Megan and grabbed her in a full nelson, using her wings and magic to hold Megan back. “Now Nightmare! Use the Elements on us both!” Daybreaker grinned evilly at the human. “Before I really turn up the heat…”
“NO! I can’t fail my Lady!” Megan cried. Her eyes widened in fear as a rainbow of magic formed between the Elements. “You won’t send me back to the humans! I won’t go back to Earth! P-Please my Queen! L-Lady Faust! I beseech you to save your humble AAGHH!”
Megan screamed in pain as the Elements of Redemption washed over her. The Rainbows of Darkness and Light fell off their bearers. The corrupted Daybreaker was peeled back until only Duchess Celestia remained. Throughout the entire Kingdom of Tambelon, the Elements undid the transformation caused by the Rainbow of Darkness, giving every citizen of Tambelon their true bodies and minds. The Elements even went above and beyond as they repaired most of the damaged buildings that filled Tambelon’s streets.
“Princess Nightmare! We saw the Elements!” King Sombra came flying down to them in shadow form before turning corporeal. Lord Tirek, Applejack, and Fluttershy weren’t far behind them. “Once again you and your friends have saved Everfree from total…Celestia? What is that?”
Celestia released her hold on Megan and sheepishly chuckled. “Ahem, yes. I’ll…just put these somewhere safe.” She summoned the box that had previously contained the Elements to her side. She examined the box for a moment before she used her magic to duplicate the box, then proceeded to place the Rainbow of Light and the Rainbow of Darkness in separate chests. With a flash of light, she teleported the two boxes to the royal vault inside the Crystal Empire.
“Whelp, looks like everything worked out in the end,” Applejack said. She hesitated and pointed at Megan. “But uh…what do y’all wanna do with her?”
“Maybe you should turn her into something demeaning,” Thorax angrily suggested as he and his brother walked over to stand beside their queen.
“No, we’re supposed to be better than that…although that is tempting,” Chrysalis said to him.
“Hold the phone, girls,” Discord said as he created a red, toy telephone in his his eagle claw and used it to point at a swirling portal forming behind Megan. “It appears the Elements will be taking care of this problem too.”
“No, no, no. No, no, NO!” Megan groaned as she tried to crawl away from the portal; the Elements having sapped most of her strength.
“Wait, is that…it’s her! Molly, it’s her! Megan!”
From the other side of the portal, two more humans stepped out. One was a red-headed young man wearing a blue cloak. The other was a younger looking woman with blonde hair tied into pigtails and wearing a pink cloak.
Megan froze as she stared at the humans. “M-Molly? Danny?”
“Quick, grab her!” Molly shouted as she and her brother reached out to their sister, their hands glowing with magic as they levitated her into the air and began pulling her towards the portal.
“NO! I don’t want to be a human! Let me go!” Megan screamed as she tried to escape from them, futilely swimming through the air.
“Megan, stop it! You’re embarrassing yourself,” Molly sighed.
Danny noticed the ponies and other creatures watching the spectacle. “Um, hi there!” He waved and smiled awkwardly. “Listen, I don’t know what my sister has been doing in this universe but-”
“We’ll fill them in later!” Molly shouted. “We need to bring her home! I’m not losing her again!”
“Sorry. Um, to be continued!” Danny shouted. The two humans pulled their sister all the way through the portal, which then closed itself and disappeared.
“Okay…well that happened,” Smog said. He turned to the others and asked, “Did anyone else hear that part about the queen she was 'beseeching'? Who’s Lady Faust?”
Lord Tirek’s eyes widened in fear. “Oh no…”
Lady Faust frowned as she stared at the space above her. “So, they sent Merry back to Earth. That’s disappointing.”
“Ugh…y-you’ll never get away with this!”
Lady Faust blinked in surprise and turned back to her opponents. “Pardon?” she asked. In front of her, Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor of the Crystal Empire were trapped within huge, towering crystals of ice. The only parts of them that hadn’t been frozen were their faces. The rest of the Crystal Empire was in a similar condition. Royal guards, crystal ponies, and visiting changelings were all frozen to the sides of ruined buildings or the scorched streets. The Crystal Heart lay before them, shattered into a million pieces. Outside the empire, a blizzard was slowly closing in on them.
Everything that could go wrong in the Crystal Empire, had gone wrong. And the craziest part, was that even Lady Faust had trouble remembering what happened.
“Sorry, where were we?” Lady Faust asked politely.
“I said you won’t get away with this!” Shining shouted.
“Please, we don’t know why you attacked us, but can’t we try and talk this out?!” Cadance pleaded.
Lady Faust sighed, sending a small glare at Cadance. “I’ve tried talking. I tried talking to ponies like you for thousands of years. Nothing ever changed.”
“What are you trying to change?” Cadance asked, trying to keep the fear out of her voice.
“Everything,” Lady Faust answered with a growl.
“Your Majesties! Is anypony there?!” Lady Faust’s eyes and ears turned toward a stallion’s voice as her vision zoomed in, and through the walls of the castle to focus on an orange stallion carrying an alicorn infant on his head. “W-what happened?!” he asked as he tried to help free a royal guard who was trapped in ice. “I-I saw a m-meteor! U-up in the sky, this ball of light just dropped down in the middle of the Empire, a-and there were earthquakes, and now me and Flurry Heart are the only ones who haven’t been frozen in crystal, a-and I can’t find Princess Cadance or Prince Shining Armor in the castle, and…”
Lady Faust grumbled. With a twitch of her ear, Sunburst and Flurry Heart appeared before them in a flash of light. The ice crystals on the ground spread and engulfed Sunburst’s legs before he realized where he had been teleported to. “W-what?! Y-your Majesties, what’s going on?! Who’s…”
The three other ponies cried out in alarm as Flurry Heart was teleported out of Sunburst’s grasp and reappeared floating right in front of Lady Faust’s face.
“Stop! Let her go!” Cadance cried. “Right now!” she added as anger mixed with the fear already present in her voice.
Shining growled at Lady Faust. “If you hurt my daughter, I swear I’ll-”
“You’ll what? Wait for your sister to come save you?” Lady Faust interrupted with a bored glare at him.
“Give us our daughter back and let us go, or I’ll break you in two!” Cadance threatened her. The Princess of Love’s horn began to flicker with power, despite the icy curse that Lady Faust had placed on their magic.
Lady Faust ignored Cadance and focused on Flurry Heart. The baby was waving her hooves at her parents, trying to swim through the air to them but unable to move because of the far more powerful alicorn’s magic.
“Muh-muh! Dah-dah!” Flurry Heart cried.
Lady Faust gently touched her horn to Flurry Heart’s head. A wave of black energy passed through the baby’s whole body. When it finished, Flurry Heart was no longer crying. She looked bored, and a little bit sleepy. She turned her head to Lady Faust and mumbled in confusion.
Lady Faust’s voice was surprisingly gentle as she spoke. “From the moment you were born, bronies called you an abomination. The show writers treated you like a villain. Even your own family is afraid of you.”
“What? No, we’re not!” Cadance and Shining denied, but Lady Faust ignored them.
She reached out with a hoof and gently held Flurry Heart’s own hoof. “Don’t let others define who you are. Don’t let others break your spirit.” Her eyes hardened a little as she added coldly. “Above all else, don’t let others into your heart.” Lady Faust then mumbled something under her breath, too quiet for the others to hear.
Lady Faust floated the baby over to Sunburst and placed her on his head. A flash of light caused the ice trapping his hooves to disappear. “Take her and leave the Crystal Empire.”
“W-what?” Sunburst asked. “You’re letting us go?”
“What did you do to our daughter?” Cadance asked, glaring at Lady Faust.
The pale alicorn glanced at her. “I removed her ability to feel. She won’t be hurt as she and Sunburst walk through the frozen north, and onward to Ponyville. Actually, I might as well give that to him too.”
Another wave of black energy passed through Sunburst. When it was over, the unicorn blinked a couple of times before he announced, “That was weird.” His voice was flatter than Maud Pie’s.
“Sunburst? What did she do to you and Flurry Heart?” Shining asked. “How do you feel?”
“I do not.” Sunburst stated. He then turned around and walked away from them, calmly leaving the Crystal Empire and paying no attention to the citizens who were still trapped in ice and crystals all over the place.
“What do you mean you took their ability to feel?” Cadance asked.
Lady Faust shrugged. “They won’t feel pain. Or loneliness or sadness. Anger, hatred, and fear will never dwell in their hearts. They are both numb to the world.”
Lady Faust sighed when she saw their angry glares. “Trust me. For some people, it’s the only way to survive.”
“I don’t know what kind of sick game you’re playing, but Princess Twilight will beat you. You may be powerful, but my sister and her friends carry within them the most powerful magic of all!” Shining declared, both him and his wife grinning in triumphant determination.
Lady Faust gave them a small, calculating smile in return. One that caused their own grins to fade. “Ah, yes. The magic of friendship. Funny thing about friends…”
The queen trailed off and her smile faded away. Eyes widening, she turned around as she heard another pony approaching them.
“Sir, you need to get out of here! Find Princess Twilight, get help!” Shining shouted at the stallion.
But the orange earth stallion with the blonde mane and tail didn’t respond to him. He just sneered at Shining and Cadance with open disgust. He then stared Lady Faust in the eye and said,
“You should kill yourself.”
Shining and Cadance were shocked at what the stallion said, but they were even more stunned at the reaction this caused in Lady Faust. Her glowing blue eyes burned with immeasurable fury as she rushed toward the stallion with blinding speed and smashed her hoof into his skull and out his jawbone. But instead of exploding into a bloody mess, the stallion simply vanished. The pony was nothing but an illusion, but the growling alicorn in front of them was still very real.
Lady Faust glared murderously at the royal couple. But rather than roar at them, as they thought she would, Lady Faust turned away from them again. Her magic evaporated her tears and she mumbled something under her breath again, too quiet for them to hear.
With a burst of impossible speed, Lady Faust flapped her wings and blurred all the way out of the Crystal Empire until it was just a speck in the distance to her. She cast one glance back at the empire.
“With the Crystal Heart shattered, the crystal ponies found their own hearts turning to ice.”
When her eyes returned to normal, she could see that one gigantic ice crystal had completely encased the entire empire. Everybody inside the crystal was no longer a problem to her.
Lady Faust hung her head and stared down at the snow-covered hill. After several seconds of silence, she grimaced and clutched her head as her horn glowed even brighter. “Oh goodness…focus. Focus!.”
Her gaze sharpened and she glared at the sky. “Megan blurted my name out to Princess Nightmare and her Redemption buddies. I need to keep them occupied.”
She dipped her horn to the snow and then raised her head. Three blood red, pony-sized crystals burst out from the ground. Another wave of her horn, and the three crystals changed colour. One bright pink, one baby blue, and one light green crystal. Three tiny swords formed out of her horn and floated over the crystals, tapping each crystal as if the floating swords were knighting someone.
The three crystals broke apart like eggs and from out of their shells emerged three shadowy figures.
“My Queen. My Lady,” her servants said as one as they bowed to her.
“Go to Everfree,” Lady Faust ordered them. “You know what to do from there.”
“Your happiness is all that matters,” the creatures spoke in unison again.
Lady Faust turned away from them, her tail cutting through the fabric of time and space as she moved. The three alicorn fillies dove into the portal that formed, which promptly closed itself as Lady Faust walked away from the fallen empire.
Meanwhile, in another part of Everfree, Diamond Tiara was shaking hooves with another filly. “Congratulations Cozy Glow! How does it feel to be a free blank flank?”
Cozy Glow, a pale pink pegasus filly, smiled bashfully and toyed with the bow in her light blue mane. “Aw, shucks. I don’t really feel that different than I did before. Although…I guess I feel like a weight has been lifted off my back. Not a very big weight, but I guess it feels nice.” She grinned and gave Diamond a quick hug. “But what feels even nicer is finally getting to meet my favourite pen pal! Golly, you don’t know how happy I am to finally meet you face to face!”
“Well I’m glad my advice was able to help you lose your cutie mark. Now if only I could get rid of mine,” Diamond said, frowning at her flank.
“Maybe if you stopped thinking about your mark so much, it’d disappear faster,” Silver Spoon said as she approached the two. “Are you enjoying the party so far, Cozy?” she asked with a polite smile.
Cozy nodded. “Oh yes! Thank you so, so much for buying us passes to Glimmering Stars!”
“I don’t get it,” Snails said as he and Snips walked over to the girls. “You just lost your cutie mark and you come to the one place in Everfree where you can get another one?”
“Snails, the marks are temporary,” Snips pointed out as he balanced a toy ball on his head. “Besides, there’s other stuff to do here too.”
“You don’t say? We’re here looking for stuff to do too.” The Cutie Mark Destroyers and Cozy turned around to see three alicorn fillies approaching them. The alicorn in the middle of the group had a pale pink coat and a vivid orange mane and tail, with a big bow just like Apple Bloom’s tied into her mane. The alicorn on the left had a baby blue coat, with her blonde mane tied into pigtails. The alicorn on the right had a light green coat with a short black mane and tail.
Snips eyes widened. “Holy cow. Three new alicorns at once?! And you’re our age?!”
Snails whispered to him, “Do you think Discord’s playing a joke on us again?”
Cozy eyed the three fillies and hurried over to Diamond’s side, whispering in her ear. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Bad feeling about what? Whatcha whispering about?” the blue alicorn asked with a sweet smile.
Diamond and Cozy exchanged concerned looks, but Diamond quickly smiled at the newcomers. “Don’t mind my friend, she’s had a long day. So um, it’s nice to meet you. I’m China Crown…”
“We know who you are, Diamond Tiara,” the pink alicorn answered. “I don’t know why you think you can get away with lying to us though. Maybe we should introduce ourselves first. I’m Apple Blossom.”
“I’m Bubble Berry!” the blue alicorn giggled.
“Name’s Buttercup, because I’m not gonna ‘ponify’ my name,” the green alicorn said with a grouchy frown. “And it should be obvious who we’re ripping off,” she growled.
“Don’t be rude Buttercup,” Apple Blossom scolded her.
“And together, we’re the Power Ponies!” Bubble Berry cheered. Before she frowned and cried, “Shoot! That name is taken!”
“Yeah, well so are Apocalypse Ponies and Powerpuffs!” Buttercup grumbled.
Apple Blossom hung her head and sighed. “There’s nothing original anymore.”
Cozy cleared her throat and stepped up to the three alicorns, smiling sheepishly. “You’ll have to forgive me. I’m awfully sorry about that ‘bad feeling’ comment I made earlier. I lost my cutie mark because I finally learned to trust other people, but I guess old habits are hard to break free from. I’m Cozy Glow, and I’m just delighted to meet you all! What brings you here?”
Apple Blossom raised an eyebrow. “Why should we tell you?”
“Depending on what you’re here for, maybe we can help you?” Cozy suggested.
The alicorns slowly smirked. “Maybe pint size here is right,” Buttercup said. “Alright short stuff-”
Cozy let out a huff. “I’m the same size as you.”
“Ha!” Buttercup laughed. “Alright then. You wanna explain it to her?”
“Happy to,” Apple Blossom answered. “Our blessed creator gave us new life and new purpose. In exchange for the superhero powers we have been granted, our tasks are quite simple.”
Bubble Berry smiled. “Distract Princess Nightmare Moon and all of her friends. Unleash your powers on every city, town, and village that gets in your way. Do not kill anyone…unless they give you no choice,” she said with a creepy giggle.
“What?!” the Cutie Mark Destroyers exclaimed, all four of them taking a step back.
“Golly! That sounds awfully serious. Although, I’m glad you’re not planning to kill anyone!” Cozy said. “That’s awfully nice of your creator though. Um, who is-”
“Fishing for information, huh?” Buttercup said. Without any further warning, she grabbed Cozy with one hoof and flew into the air, raising her other hoof to smash through the ceiling.
“COZY!” the Cutie Mark Destroyers cried.
Berry Bubble glared at them. Bright red lasers shout out of her eyes, cutting through the air and popping the ball that Snips had been carrying.
The four friends froze as Apple Blossom popped up into the air and hovered above them. “Now there’s no need to panic. We’re supposed to avoid killing and I’d like to keep it that way.”
Buttercup floated back down with a whimpering Cozy. “Of course, we’re also supposed to be distracting so…feel free to panic.”
Apple Blossom took a deep breath and blew a sheet of ice onto one of the building’s support structures before smashing it. Buttercup flew outside and up into the air again before she shot out another line of heat vision that sliced through a building across the street. Berry Bubble smashed through the wall, flew up into the air and let out an ear-bleeding, glass-shattering sonic scream.
“GUYS! MY BAG! GET THE CRYSTAL!” Diamond shouted over the noise.
Before Silver, Snips, or Snails could rush over to Diamond’s saddle bag, Berry Bubble stopped screaming and smashed back down into the building. She snatched up a crystal from Diamond’s bag and asked, “So what’s this thing do? Huh?”
Apple Blossom and Buttercup were floating next to her in a flash. Buttercup grabbed the crystal and held it up for Apple Blossom to examine. “If our Lady’s information is correct – and it always is – that’s probably a communication crystal. Sunset Shimmer gave that to you in case of emergencies, didn’t she?”
Buttercup smirked at the Destroyers. “Feel free to use it, chumps. The Elements are who we’re trying to distract.”
“Oh, fun fact though!” Berry Bubble giggled. “Our creator placed a special spell around us, for dealing with the Elements of Redemption. See, they can work on us…but they have to hit ALL of us at once.”
“So, um…” Cozy said as she struggled in Buttercup’s grasp. “If you three split up, then…the Elements can’t beat you?”
Buttercup smirked at her. “You catch on quick kid.”
“But you’re not here to kill them, just distract them, right? Because it seems to me that destroying a luxury resort wouldn’t grab their attention,” Cozy said.
The other ponies blinked at her. “What are you getting at?” Apple Blossom asked.
“Well it seems to me that flying to Tambelon – that’s where they are right now, by the way – and showing them that you have a hostage would get their attention a lot faster than destroying this town. And golly, since you sort of have me at your mercy already…”
The three alicorns shared an evil grin before they blasted off into the sky with Cozy.
The Destroyers stared at the pink, blue, and green rainbow as they left. “So, Cozy did that on purpose, right?” Snails asked.
“Right. If there’s one thing I learned from her letters it’s that she’s pretty talented at manipulating a conversation,” Diamond said as she retrieved her communication crystal from underneath an overturned bowl.
“She’s quick with her hooves too. I didn’t even see her swipe that from Buttercup,” Silver commented.
“So, you’re gonna call the Elements, right? They’ll save Cozy?” Snips asked.
“Yeah. But we gotta warn the Elements about taking them all at once. We’ve really got to be careful with this everyone,” Diamond told her friends. She looked up at the darkening sky and gulped. “They said they almost picked the name Apocalypse Ponies. Something tells me we’re literally gonna be in for the fight of our lives...”
Meanwhile in Equestria, Rarity was relaxing on a lawn chair by the lake. She adjusted the sunglasses on her face and turned the page of the book she was reading. “Ah…” she sighed happily.
She glanced over at the School of Friendship and chuckled to herself. “I still can’t believe they actually did it…”
“Rarity! There you are! We’ve been looking all over the place for you!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she and Guidance Counsellor Starlight Glimmer made their way over to her chair.
Rarity sighed. “And I’m dreadfully sorry about that. However, I’ve scheduled a bit of ‘me time’ for myself now. Whatever the problem is, I’m sure it can wait.”
“I’m afraid not Rarity,” Starlight said. “We don’t know everything that’s going on but what we do know…is bad.”
“Like, really bad!” Rainbow shouted.
“Very well,” Rarity sighed as she grabbed her book and got off her chair. “Just give me a moment to…”
She trailed off as Starlight teleported the three of them to the main hall of the School of Friendship. Rarity sighed and quickly joined the rest of the Elements of Harmony at the front of the assembly.
“Hello everyone. Thank you all for coming to this emergency meeting,” Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship and Principal of the School of Friendship said. She braced herself and tried to suppress her nerves. “I’m afraid I have terrible news. Earlier this morning, a completely unknown threat arrived in Canterlot and sent the entire city plummeting into a magical black hole. Princesses Celestia and Luna haven’t been seen at this time, and it appears that nopony was able to escape from Canterlot’s destruction. A photo taken of the black hole where Canterlot once resided was the most information we had on this developing emergency.”
“Um, I haven’t heard anything from Discord either,” Fluttershy added quietly.
Twilight pointed at Sunburst and Flurry Heart, who were standing off to the side. “That was, until our friend Sunburst arrived from the Crystal Empire. He says that an incredibly powerful and dangerous alicorn princess smashed into the Crystal Empire like a meteor and froze the entire empire and everypony within it. Sunburst and my niece, Princess Flurry Heart are the only ones who escaped the empire’s destruction.”
“Not entirely unscathed though,” Sunburst said with a yawn. “I do not know the alicorn’s name, but it is clear we only escaped because she let us. If you think I sound like I am not taking this seriously, then I should inform you that I do not care what you think.” He paused as the other ponies and creatures stared at him in stunned silence. “Oh. The alicorn took away my emotions.” He suddenly smiled and added, “Good news is, I can still feel happiness!”
“Yay!” Flurry Heart cheered.
Sunburst’s smiled faded back into a blank expression. “Then again, I do not have much to be happy about. It is kind of a hollow victory.” Flurry Heart yawned and went back to sleep on his head.
Twilight gulped and addressed her students again. “This unknown alicorn has attacked four princesses and everyone in their kingdoms. Given what we know, it is likely that she will be coming to attack me too.” She glanced back at her friends and said, “That’s why I think it would be best if we…temporarily closed the school and sent you all home.”
“What?!” several students cried in protest.
“Headmare Twilight, you don’t need to close the school! We can help you!” a pony named Sandbar pleaded.
“Yeah! We helped stop Cozy Glow from stealing all our magic, didn’t we?!” an orange dragoness named Smolder said.
“Students, students! Everyone please, settle down!” Twilight shouted over them. “I wish you could help with this threat, but even based on what little information we’ve gotten from Sunburst, this mysterious alicorn is one of the most ruthless enemies Equestria has ever faced.”
Sunburst nodded. “Oh yeah. She could crush Tirek and the Storm King like bugs.”
“You’re saying she’s stronger than the S-Storm King?!” a hippogriff named Silverstream cried.
“Yeah. We’re all gonna die,” Sunburst stated bluntly.
Starlight winced as the students started to panic. “H-He didn’t mean that everyone! His emotions are still being tampered with by the mean, old alicorn behind this!” She turned to Sunburst and hissed at him, “Can’t you be a little more positive?!”
Sunburst shrugged. “What’s the point? We are all fish floating down a river. None of us are prepared for her storm.”
Pinkie Pie hummed to herself. “I can’t tell if that was poetry or not. Maybe if Maud was here…”
“Everyone, please calm down!” Twilight shouted, lighting up her horn to draw their attention. Once everyone was quiet again, she continued. “I know things look bleak right now, but this is just a precaution.”
“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash declared as she flew over their heads. “With our friendship, we’ve beaten back all the bad guys in the past! We saved Equestria before and we’ll do it again today!” Together she, Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Starlight, and Spike all put their claw, and hooves together.
“Rainbow Dash is right! No matter how powerful this alicorn is, she will never be as powerful as the magic of friend…ship…”
Twilight trailed off as she noticed that Rarity was staring at the students. “Um, Rarity?”
“Hey, come on Rarity! Get in on this, you’re ruining the moment!” Rainbow said.
“Friendship…friendship…friendship. That’s all you have talked about for years,” Rarity sighed. “It’s inescapable. Unrelenting. But that changes today.”
“Rarity? What’s wrong?” Twilight asked, a shiver of dread running up her spine.
Rarity pulled off her sunglasses, revealing her glowing blue eyes. “I don’t know what’s worse. Your naivety or your arrogance.”
Sunburst, recognizing what was going on, announced. “We’re doomed.”
Rarity smirked at him. “That’s a given.” With a tilt of her head, Sunburst and Flurry Heart vanished in a flash of blue fire. Before Starlight or Twilight could cry out for their friend and niece, Rarity swept her hoof across the room. The blue fire washed over the students like a wave, teleporting them all far away from the School of Friendship.
“It’s you, isn’t it?!” Twilight glared at her. “What did you do to Rarity?! What did you do to our students?!”
“And Sunburst and Flurry Heart?!” Starlight cried.
“Unbelievable,” Rarity grumbled. She turned to the others and smiled sadly at them. “I’m sorry about this Twilight. Still, it was fun while it lasted.”
“FUN?!” Twilight growled. “You attacked our home, our friends, for no reason and you think this is fun?!”
Rarity sighed. “Well no, I guess not. Fun isn’t something one considers when correcting the mistakes of the Omniverse…”
With a flash of light, they were all teleported outside the School of Friendship to an empty, grassy field. Storm clouds formed rapidly overhead as swirling blue light traveled out of Rarity’s eyes and into the middle of the field. Rarity shook herself awake, only to cry out in alarm at the figure hovering in the air.
Lady Faust, greatest of the alicorns and goddess of Equestria, towered over them.
“But this…does put a smile on my face.”
“To be Continued...”
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............................ this is some Avengers: Infinity War shit going on here.
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Not as much as it seems at first glance. Still, I'm afraid I can't tell if you think that's a good thing or not.
9222820
Extremely good.
2014
I forgot how fucked up this got and the mood killer with the human and Faust. The 4th wall breaking reminds me of eerie Deadpool kills the Marvel universe. Unsettling and reserved for the darker side of the fandom.
9223556
The stakes are a bit higher than usual, but it's not that dark, is it? This is just part one.
I hope there will be at least some explanation for why Faust wants to destroy the world and is extremely OP. I did remove this from my favourites because I'm not sure about that any more.
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Fausticorn may be extremly OP, as in great amount of fanons she is Creator-Goddess of MLP universe. And why she may want to destroy canon world? Maybe she is tired of these all f***ing bronies harrasing her?
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9223775
You haven't figured it out yet? Unless you want to hear spoilers, all I can really tell you is to look closer at the story. Sorry if things are a little unclear now, but you'll understand why Lady Faust is doing all this in later chapters.
I was sure the Queen was Majesty, so whoops. Love the powerpuff expies.
A great chapter, building on the previous and throwing up new questions while solving a few of the old.
I'm looking forward to seeing Megan's siblings again. I remember linking her brother in the few episodes I've seen him in in the original cartoon.
Also nice to see Daybreaker and Cozy Glow appear here. Cozy was deliciously manipulative, as in canon, though on the side of our heroes this time around.
Huh. Can she hear other's thoughts? Or just communication in every form?
Or she is simply going nuts. That could be it, too.
There is that time gap when the non-pony Elements vanished and reappeared transformed as fillies. Since Lady Faust "worries" about Discord the most, Everfree Discord might have been able to get that message out then?
Boy, if that isn't a lesson Tia learned the hard way.
And while Solar Flare was Celestia's fear and paranoia grown out of control, Daybreaker is the slightly more controlled version, and might stem more from anger this time around. She was quite ready to unload the same sentiment on Megan, who somewhat had part in the corruption of the Rainbow of Light and therefore Celestia, in a way. Though now you can argue again that if there hadn't been something to amplify or feed of, would the artifact have resonated with Celestia at all? Chicken? Egg? Eh..?
That. Whole. Scene.
Brilliant.
A filly army is a dirty trick first. But do two dirty tricks a clean one make?
Mhm, it must be awful for habitual shapeshifters to be stuck in a body they have not selected themselves, albeit in brainwashed state.
Stares above when she looks into the multiverse, stares down and chants her mantra to concentrate on the reality she is in. I do assume she has to keep herself under control to not have all kinds of story strings rushing through her head at once.
Yeah, at that point I had finally gotten who they were a reference too.
This homage promises a very intersting fight later on.
We all learned from Inside Out that all emotions have their place. Fear keeps us safe, we get angry at injustice and so on. So no, removing all emotions, be it except for joy or including it, is not a good thing, Queenie.
Though one does wonder if she wishes that for herself, but doesn't allow it for herself, because she has referred to herself as the only one who cares. Removing her emotions would take that away, and in her mind, she is the only answer.
Yup. The Queen is getting scarier and scarier. She marches in the Palace, disintegrating the guards and staff, but complains that Celestia and Luna have "marked her as a villain already". She bemoans things being the same and not being listend to, yet I do have to wonder how often she has tried doing things differently herself. A long life can set one in one's tracks.
There is definetly the theme of the purity of the creation emerging. It does bring to mind the works of Ayn Rand, of men whose creations have been tampered with and thus, destroy them themselves. She seems to bemoan Twilicorn (or at least, the reaction it faced), the routine of the show, an there is her monologue to Flurry Heart...
Effect?
Apple Blossom?
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Although, you made a typo yourself this time:
Thanks again for pointing out those two typos. Fixed now.
Liking her brother?
What are your thoughts on Lady Faust, so far? One person said they removed this story from their favourites just because she was "too OP", even though villains are usually at an equal level or more powerful than the heroes to help create conflict in the story.
I'm also surprised that nobody has picked up on some of her foreshadowing...
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Too OP? Naah. Not in my opinion, at least. She is the "Endgame", the final boss. Of course she will be powerful beyond belief. Especially since there have been real powerhouses and puppeteers as villains before her. Of course she must top them all in one way or another.
And it's not like she doesn't need to do anything to shape the world around her, she has to use her ability, things just don't happen without her doing the deed, meaning there is a silver lining, plus her concentration issues.
9222871
Well, if it were just extra dislikes, there's a good probability it wasn't from someone who even read the most recent chapter, but someone who looked at the early chapters and didn't care for it. However, the loss of a like indicates that an actual fan found something objectionable.
Obviously, I can't speak for them, but I suppose I might as well say some of the concerns I've had. Now, to be fair, a lot of these could feasibly be fixed in subsequent chapters, which is why I wasn't planning to mention these yet, but I might as well in the interests of (possibly) answering your question.
The story as of late has felt a bit... scattered, I suppose? We have Grogar as the apparent antagonist, then all of a sudden Megan comes in mostly out of nowhere to defeat him to become the new antagonist, then before I feel we really get to know that much about her (most of the focus on her seemed to be on her weird crush on Applejack, a trait I didn't find interesting and could've done without), she gets defeated and then promptly shunted aside to focus on yet another new antagonist who I don't really understand much about. And then there's also the still really confusing preceding chapter.
And then we get to some of the specific problems with Lady Faust. I know a number of fans really dislike Lauren Faust references in in-universe fanfics, particularly as some form of a deity, and to be honest I'm not too fond of it either. It'd be one thing if the name seemed to be nothing more than a cute reference, but it seems to be going beyond that, particularly with the fourth wall breaking. It's a little weird that the preceding cases of fourth wall breaking (particularly with Pinkie) didn't bother me that much but these did, but the difference to me is that, from what I remember, previous fourth wall breaks were (1) alone asides to the reader that weren't done in the story proper, and (2) general references to a vague reader rather than showing real-world knowledge. That's a notable contrast from:
That's beyond anything I remember before; that's breaking the fourth wall in the plot itself and also showing knowledge of the real world rather than just a general medium awareness. And it doesn't seem to really fit with the rest of the story.
The overpoweredness of her character is also a bit concerning. It's entirely possible some weakness or limitation will be revealed that will balance things better, but she risks having the same problem as Yhwach from Bleach: Having a power so completely broken that it's not really possible to come up with a way to defeat them that doesn't end up feeling contrived.
On a more personal note, I haven't been too much a fan of the crossovers between the canon universe and this one--the first big one was acceptable, but the more it's done the harder, particularly with huge events like this, the harder it is to buy the idea that there's also this inter-universe travel going on with so many characters without anyone ever mentioning it in the show proper.
There's a number of ways most of these various issues could be resolved in succeeding chapters, which is why I normally wouldn't think it proper to criticize them yet; but, those may have been factors that drove that particular reader off. Or maybe it was something else, I can't mindread them, I can only share my own thoughts.
Also, while it didn't affect me personally because I already knew, dropping a spoiler without warning about an episode before it officially airs in the United States seemed like it could be annoying to some. Might have been better to wait to publish this chapter a few days so it would go up after the episode aired. Though I suppose at the time of this comment, this is a bit of a moot point given that School Raze has aired now.
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Let me see if I can address some of your concerns.
Grogar and Megan were both used as pawns by Lady Faust. Grogar was an independent villain but Lady Faust set everything up so that he would have one drawn out battle and nothing more. She teleported Discord, Chrysalis, and Gilda over to Megan so that they could be transformed by the Rainbow of Darkness and so that they couldn't just use the Elements on him straight away. The bell was taken away too. Removing those two weaknesses would have made Grogar unstoppable in Equestria. However, the people of Everfree have much stronger magic than what Grogar is used to, which would have made it a fair fight if Grogar hadn't been fighting an entire kingdom all by himself. Megan went in to fight him when she saw that Grogar was taking things too far and could have sent Tambelon into another dimension so he could trap and battle Nightmare Moon. But Megan lost her mind a bit when Grogar turned her back into a human, so she diverted from her Lady's plan. I hope that explains why things felt scattered: three powerful but unstable people accidentally crashed their evil plans into each other.
Now onto Lady Faust. Minor spoilers ahead: It actually is just a reference. She is NOT the same person as Lauren Faust. She's not really even a deity, but someone who stumbled onto a LOT of power all at once.
Miss Appolonia knows this already, but I guess I didn't tell anyone else yet. Lady Faust is going to be the last villain before I complete this story. She's the final boss, and that's part of what makes her seem so powerful. Lady Faust also has a pretty big weakness that takes away some of her power, but for now you can only see it in subtext.
As for the crossover, I think I explained it in a previous chapter: they're not actually traveling into the canon show. Everfree was created when Twilight Sparkle cast a spell on the magic mirror portal that knocked a shard loose from it that created a mirror universe. I know that sounds insane, but Equestria in this story is not the actual canon universe. It's basically a fanfic all on its own, where the only noticeable difference from the canon show is its connection to Everfree. When they're not doing stuff from the new episodes, Equestria Twilight actually spends a lot of time talking with her friends about the correspondence she's received from Princess Nightmare and the rest of Everfree, but it's nothing very noteworthy.
As for any spoilers related to School Raze, I honestly didn't know anything about that. I don't live in the United States, so I guess I just saw the episode before it aired in the US and was unaware of the problem. Sorry.
I hope that explains a few things. If you have any other questions, please let me know. Thanks for reading, and I hope you'll all stick around until the end at least.
Power puff girls?