Evil Gods 2
The most frustrating part was always Sunset’s need to hide her power level. She wanted as few ponies as possible knowing she was a witch and those that did to underestimate just how strong she was.
So even though she could have ended this in a second, she had to hold back and merely draw things out for now. If Twilight was a master witch, that would be more than enough for her to handle things. Sunset might only have one or two truly critical fights ahead of her and any chance to make one of them underestimate her would be worth it.
So she matched the power and intensity of her flames to be only moderately above what Spitfire was producing. She pulled her hoof back, swirling blue fire around it, just the same as an incoming Spitfire did some distance off.
As the two of them drew near, their hooves ready to clash, Sunset felt a different sort of magic envelope her. She knew exactly who this was and what spell they were about to cast. She could have easily countered it but decided to let it go through to keep up her charade.
Sunset and Spitfire moved straight through one another, their punches flying forward to swing hard at the air. Flames covered the surrounding area, but neither hit with her attack.
Even that fire began to dissolve, drawn into a pocket dimension where the vacuum snuffed them out, Sunset already knew.
She turned and tried to act surprised at the neatly groomed, blue-haired unicorn looking down at them from atop the roof of the school.
Void Walker.
The fighting quickly died down as nopony wanted to make a move until they knew which way this third faction would swing. Void’s concentration was fixed upon the portal positioned just next to the fire, draining it all away.
Once that was taken care of, he dismissed his pocket dimension and called out to the ponies gathered.
“This situation has been resolved and the subject in question captured.” Void Walker made a point to look down at them. “By orders of the president, you’re all to stand down. The president’s personal team will deal with cleanup.”
From the murmurings, there was some confusion about whether Starlight or ‘Silverstorm’ had taken down the target. Likely all according to Starlight’s plan. The public would never hear the whole truth of what happened, but it would be ever so slightly implied Starlight succeeded where Silverstorm failed, Sunset was sure.
Sunset turned to find Spitfire shaken by the revelation that Scootaloo had been captured alive without significant damage to the surrounding. She could capitalize on that much, at least.
“Do you understand now? You almost killed a filly, the only one of her kind, for no reason other than your paranoid pessimism.” Sunset turned away to call out to whoever could hear her, Spitfire most of all. “Anypony who tried to help her should be ashamed of themselves.”
Sadly, it seemed barely any besides Spitfire were. Spitfire met her gaze for a second but could manage no more than that before turning away. Unwilling to face any more scorn, the older mare took off just like that, some of her underlings taking her lead to disperse.
Raven and Void Walker remained perfectly still, staring one another down. The two of them had avoided the other as much as possible until now. It may have been a truly long time since they’d last spoken.
“I’m more concerned with the fact that she sent you, personally, to break up this fight.” Raven kept her head down as she watched Void Walker. “Why did she feel that was necessary?
“Oh, there’s no need to flatter yourselves as such.” Void smiled, flashing his teeth. “President Starlight merely wishes to ensure no further destruction occurs. It seems we’re the only ones capable of such a feat.”
Sunset frowned, turning only her eyes to Void. She knew exactly what Raven was getting at. If Void was here, so was Starlight. And Starlight was the one who told Dash to get the element of laughter for her… which she more or less did.
Damnit! Was she going to destroy the element of laughter? Well, on second thought Sunset couldn’t decide if that was good or bad. It’d become more trouble than it was worth these days.
This wasn’t a coincidence. There was no way this attack just happened while Starlight was around and Dash was asking her about the element. The only question was to what extent Starlight orchestrated everything.
Void Walker was here to stall them, though her real problem was merely not knowing where Starlight was. She had little doubt she could overpower at least him if it came down to it.
Starlight trotted to the cliff and looked out to the frozen city below. A few fires emitted smoke that ceased to rise.
“Six hundred years ago,” she said. “I was so close to bringing true peace and security to the world. I could have fixed all these broken ponies. All the terror and misfortune in the world, I could have prevented it all. Every bad thing that’s ever happened in your life, none of it ever had to be. But too few believed in me back then and that witch, Cadence, ruined everything.”
Cadence! Dash remembered that name. That all but confirmed their theory! Starlight’s element was created by that other master witch she fought! Dash didn’t entirely remember his name just then, but it was him!
“Have you guessed the truth?” Starlight turned back to smile at them, pointing down at Scootaloo’s necklace. “I see you’ve already seen one like it. I was once one of the eight feathers given by the Queen of Light, forged by the master witch Sombra into an element, not unlike that disgraceful one. Though unlike her, I managed to grow up.”
Starlight shot a look that would have quieted anypony else but the still laughing Pyrite Feather.
Dash braced herself! If Starlight knew they had one of the few white alicorn feathers left, then! Would she be able to deduce they must have gotten it from Twilight? Did she have any reason to know Twilight had one of them in the first place?!
Starlight smiled seeing them tense up, and merely laughed at their concern.
“I won’t ask where you got yours.” Starlight waved a hoof. “It hardly matters to me. Do whatever you like with it. But be careful.”
“Then,” Twilight pushed her story further. “Sombra created you? For what purpose?”
“My purpose was to give back what had been taken from ponies and to bring the world to its proper place. To bring us from the broken creatures we are now to truly completed beings. That’s what Sombra wanted for himself. But my serene vision for the world was… delayed when Cadence murdered my creator and then trapped both of us in the outer realm. It took me centuries to find a pony capable of wielding my power after that.”
“Hold up. I’m a bit confused here.” Dash shook her head trying to get this straight. “Am I talking to Starlight Glimmer now? Or did you take over her body or–”
“The two of us have become one.” Starlight pulled back her mane. Then, they could finally see it. What must have been the element! There was a hole on the top of her skull, blocked up by a glint of purple gemstone. “Not too dissimilar to what happened to Scootaloo. There is no distinction between Starlight and the element of harmony created by Sombra at this point. It’s both correct to say I was born thirty-two years ago and created six centuries back. You’re beginning to understand what I mean?”
Starlight turned to Scootaloo, expecting her to know.
“Kind of?” Scootaloo scratched her head. “I feel like, I’m heading in that direction, but I feel like Guardian is part of me, but not… well I wouldn’t say we’re just one person. Like, naming it calmed it down but–”
“You aren’t one yet.” Starlight smiled sweetly at her. “You’re still a child. But unlike certain disgraces, you’ll mature eventually.”
“I don’t do it with little foals!” Pyrite stuck her tongue out at Starlight.
“Don’t phrase it like that.” Starlight could only sigh. “You’ll give the wrong impression.”
“Oh, no. I’m giving exactly the right impression!” Pyrite flew to Dash’s side. She grabbed her head and turned it to Scootaloo. “Starlight was the same age as that filly right there at the time. And this weirdo wasn’t like a baby element at the time, either, but a full-grown adult… rock… thing. You don’t seriously think that’s okay, do you?!”
Dash opened her mouth but didn’t want to say a word in recognition of this conversation.
“I was the twelve-year-old in this scenario,” said Starlight. “I decided to insert the element into my brain to obtain its power. I specifically went out looking for it without its influence. Are you saying I took advantage of myself?”
“Yes! And it’s gross!”
“Well, I never expected you to change your mind about anything.” Starlight merely turned a hoof up, letting it go. “Without a pony, an element is also incomplete, stuck with a sort of hyper-tunnel vision. It’s the rest of you I hope to convince.”
“So it’s true then?” Twilight stepped forward. “You’re saying that you, Starlight Glimmer, have become fully attuned to an element of harmony.”
“Yes, that’s mostly correct.” Starlight nodded. “’Cosmos’ was the name I used while I was overcome by the chaos of the outer realm until my pony half freed me with the help of my servant, Void Walker. Some in this world already knew me by ‘Cosmos’ so I kept that name. But I suppose you want my true name, given to me by my creator? Very well. You’ve proven yourselves worthy of it. Let me show you.”
Starlight spread her forehooves out and the world changed, much as it had when the element of laughter brought Dash to her throne. Perhaps this one was Starlight’s.
The weather changed first, not to something overly sunny, but to a terrible storm. Ponytown behind Starlight became an endless ocean filled with vicious waves, the kind that would tear a battleship to shreds in a second, as lightning ripped through the sky.
As predicted, a throne did appear beneath Starlight, one made of dark green, nearly black, stone. Its ornate back rose far too tall until it reached an absurdly high ceiling that a small skyscraper could fit under.
Pillars of the same stone appeared to support the roof, though they seemed too thin and tall to support their own weight, let alone such a massive roof.
The structure only got worse as the walls and floor appeared, both made of stained glass depicting all manner of designs Dash was unfamiliar with. Though some of them she could make out. Depictions Starlight, gemstones, alicorns, and unfamiliar ponies covered surrounded them.
Dash had to double-check that the floor was indeed made entirely of glass. An image of Starlight asleep in a circle depicted across the wide floor was the only image depicted there. The stone ceiling was too heavy to be supported by such a ridiculous structure and the glass around them had left heavy cracks throughout. Parts of it were even distended as though ready to give in.
Instinct took over. Dash grabbed Scootaloo and hovered slightly in the air to avoid putting any faith in such a thing by standing on it.
Through the cracked glass floor, Dash could still see the crashing waves beneath. She thought this cathedral floated in the air for a moment, before realizing that it rested, balanced upon a tall, thin stone jutting far out from the sea. Though it appeared as though the whole structure could tumble into the ocean at any moment, it held firm and unshaken. Somehow it protected them from the storm outside.
“I am the Element of Faith.”
Starlight jumped with absolute confidence onto the cracking glass floor, something Dash wouldn’t have done even knowing this to be a mere illusion. Dash winced as Starlight landed on something sure to shatter, but it held firm instead.
“No one puts any faith in the sturdy road beneath their hooves or in a loved one they have no reason to doubt.” Starlight ran her hoof along a crack. “Faith is the domain of bridges made of rotted, crumbling wood and trust given to strange thieves and gods beyond your sight. Nine times out of ten, the bridge will collapse beneath you, the thief will steal your money, you will choose the wrong god, and you will die. Faith is a blindingly dark and perilous path. That is. Unless.”
Starlight lifted her hoof and stomped down on the floor hard as if intending to shatter it. Dash braced herself for the noise, but none came. Instead, the cracks miraculously repaired themselves though they should have broken. The ground looked reasonably solid now. Even that rock somehow looked a stable foundation. The whole structure looked nearly safe.
“You give your faith to me,” said Starlight. “I am far beyond a mere paragon of faith. I am the one who makes faith a virtue! In me, it shall never fail! I am what you say I am. I can do what others believe I can do. I can make sure their faith never goes unrewarded.”
The element of faith. Every element had some insane power and this one? The power to do anything other ponies believed you could do? The power of their faith.
The implications of that began to sink into Dash. Was that–? Did she really start a religion to worship her for that?!
She couldn’t contain her outburst as she understood what had happened!
“That’s why you started a cult, then?!” Dash shouted at her. “Because that’s where your power comes from?”
Twilight followed the logic, catching up only a second later. She was even more livid at Starlight.
“Is that true?” Twilight only managed to hold in her outburst a little better. “That’s why you started your religion? You brainwashed and manipulated all those ponies so they’d put their ‘faith’ in you and believe you were some kind of god? Even Night Glider?”
“Clever. And for the most part, yes.” Starlight closed her eyes and nodded. “I’ll trust you with this knowledge, that my strength comes from those who put their faith in me. Even you believe I’m capable of greatness on some level, so I am. And I know it will be difficult for you to trust me, so I won’t ask for your own faith. You can see for yourself, can’t you?”
Starlight turned to Pyrite Feather, now giggling at a stained glass depiction of some tentacle thing, somehow managing to find humor in it. She snapped back to attention upon feeling Dash’s gaze.
“You like my house better, right?” Pyrite Feather came trotting to Dash’s side. “This place is so cold and dark. Bleh! An element of harmony’s house should be bright and happy. Makes you wonder.”
“You promised to let me use your sight one more time,” Dash reminded her, finally getting the upper hoof on that ‘deal’.
“Hey, yeah. Sure. But I’ll need another metaphor since we’re not in my throne room.” Pyrite tore a chunk of glass off the ground, quickly converting it into a seeing stone to hand to Rainbow Dash. “And yeah, you do need something to use.”
Dash and Twilight both crowded around the seeing stone, which Pyrite immediately took offense to.
“Not you!” Pyrite butted her head against Twilight’s, pushing her back. “You’re not good enough to even touch my magic!”
“What? Why?” Twilight asked.
“Oh, gee! Why wouldn’t I like the pony who sulked non-stop for hundreds of years because her boyfriend was mean to her?” Pyrite mocked. “Look, I have a type! Overpowered is not it. I only like underdogs and right now that ain’t you!”
Twilight bristled and was about to fight back, but Dash patted her and assured her it wasn’t worth getting into an argument. At least, not with this thing.
“Then go ahead and look.” Starlight held her forelegs wide. “You can feel my name with your sight.”
Yeah. That was a good way to put it. Though Dash was looking at her, the name came as a feeling.
Faith. The power of faith. It was exactly as Starlight described it.
No matter how impossible something was if enough ponies believed Starlight could do it… then she could. The power would only reach omnipotence if everypony on the planet put their faith in her. But with a worldwide cult trained to believe she was the greatest pony alive, Dash could feel the tingle of her power already. Their faith in her pushed her towards the strength they believed she had. Only the doubt of those outside the cult held Starlight back. Yet even those ponies contributed to her strength in some way, merely by believing she was strong.
The question now was why would Starlight tell her this?
At first, it seemed like this knowledge would make it easy to defeat her. The obvious ‘solution’ of getting everypony to lose faith in Starlight came to mind. But it wouldn’t be that easy. Her followers were fanatical. Dash could scarcely imagine convincing Nightglider that Starlight’s eyes were purple if the cult leader said they were green.
It wouldn’t change nearly enough minds if she simply announced what Starlight had just said publicly.
Would Dash even be able to convince herself that Starlight was powerless if she tried? It seemed unlikely.
“She’s telling the truth.” Dash nodded. “About that.”
“So that’s it then?” Twilight asked. “You are that cynical? Night Glider loves you and you just brainwashed her to the point she can’t even think for herself? She cares so much about you and she’s just some– some ‘faith’ better to you?”
“Night Glider knows everything already?” Starlight smiled softly at Twilight’s anger. “It’s not like I took anything from her. She’s perfectly happy and I love her back.”
“As if we’d believe that last part,” Dash murmured.
“Right! I can’t talk to Night Glider and say ‘you haven’t taken anything from her!’” Twilight complained.
“Again. You’re making assumptions. I specifically chose her because–” Starlight sighed. “Oh, alright. Though I’ll defend that, I won’t pretend that what I did was moral. But more importantly, it was necessary. I needed this power to save the world. Even what I have now isn’t enough. That is the second of the three things I needed you to see for yourself. If you’ve used this before, have you seen what awaits us? The easiest view is that of Crater Cemetery.”
Starlight held her hoof out, expecting Dash to use her viewing stone to look at that monster a second time. Dash merely shook her head, not wanting to get strangled again.
“I see.” Starlight settled into her throne. “So you already saw the insurmountable strength of that horrible thing? And do you understand what we’re up against? Desperate action is warranted against such horror as that.”
“Crater Cemetery? You mean that ghost?” Twilight asked Dash. “Did it really look that strong?”
Dash didn’t want to answer just yet.
They were going to indirectly encounter this ‘ghost’ or whatever it may be soon enough. Dash shuddered to think what it would mean if it really was stronger than Twilight. But then again, nothing had managed to rise to the level of a master witch just yet.
“Now hold on!” Dash stepped forward. “We haven’t even tried fighting against the ghost of Crater Cemetery yet. We still might be strong enough to beat it without starting a cult or brainwashing anypony. So don’t go talking like that just yet. You might have done all of these horrible things for nothing!”
“Perhaps you are stronger than even I am.” Starlight bowed her head. “Alright. Let’s pretend you have the power to overcome it. Do you think the world would be safe yet?”
“Yes?” Dash shifted her eyes. “I mean, it’s starting to sound like we might have to fight you, too but–”
“You still don’t understand,” said Starlight. “The world is out of balance, Rainbow Dash. Can you feel it? Can you see it in your current state? Look out towards the stars.”
The stars?
Dash didn’t know where this was going. True, she hadn’t thought to look up of all places before, merely down at the planet where all the things were.
She never really expected anything to be out there, with it commonly accept this was the only planet with life on it. She heard once that eventually, life could exist on other planets, some of them were bound to be near-habitable.
Biological evolution existed even on their planet. Some ponies theorized that simple molecules could slowly evolve into increasingly complex lifeforms all on their own, without any divine intervention at all, though that would take millions or even billions of years and the universe simply was too young for that to have happened yet.
Dash found nothing.
“It seems strange that the gods would create all these planets and then just leave without doing anything with them, doesn’t it?” Starlight asked. “Look out further, beyond the stars themselves.”
Beyond? Dash squinted trying to focus as far away as she could. There was so much empty space past the galaxy and the scores of stray stars outside it. The void went on and on, to the point Dash was about to give up.
But then she found an end to it… a point she couldn’t look past. It wasn’t a barrier or anything, just an end to the nothingness. If that made sense.
It was a good thing Twilight lectured her on nothing so many times or she wouldn’t have been able to understand what she was looking out for.
“I think I remember what this is?” Dash glanced at Twilight. “Like, there’s different levels of nothingness? And out there is more nothing than the nothing in the uh…”
Though she almost understood the concept, it was still hard to articulate.
“Yes.” Twilight nodded, looking proud of her Dash all of a sudden. “According to my understanding, I would predict the universe is a galaxy nested in a bubble ‘spatial void’, basically a vacuum, and outside that would be ‘non-spatial void’ which is devoid of spacetime. It’s essentially nowhere on top of nothing. But even that’s not true void because causality, as well as physical and logical laws, still exist in it.”
“Well this is an interesting physics lesson,” said Dash. “But is there a reason I’m looking at this?”
“Is non-spatial void not the type of nothingness used to generate portals to the outer realm?” Starlight asked Twilight more than Dash. “You can see the surface of the outer realm imprinted on the edge of the universe, like ripples on the surface of a pond.”
Ripples along the intersection of nowhere and nothing?! How the heck was Dash supposed to–?!
Her ears twitched. She actually did find it. Or, rather she found something in that approximate area. Something that made her shiver, the kind of chill that let you know you were about to get sick. Something horrible was there… and it was similar to that feeling she got when she’d looked at Crater Cemetery. Just thankfully further away.
“I do see something!” Dash turned back, not wanting to look at the stuff any longer. “It’s – is it similar to the ghost of Crater Cemetry? It feels like it’s the same thing.”
“That is the true chaos that has been pushed into the outer realm,” said Starlight Glimmer. “It is free from all rules and boundaries, including causality itself. The Queen of Light, the ultimate avatar of order, banished the last of it so she could create a world in her own image, create us in her image. She knew ponies couldn’t exist in the same world as that. But she made a mistake and the world began to drift too far in the direction of order.”
“Too much… order?” Dash struggled to think why that was bad.
“Ponies often conflate order with complexity, but that isn’t the case at all. Life can only exist when a very specific amount of entropy is present. With too much order, there is not enough difference for there to be complexity.” Starlight frowned, seeing Dash not really following. “Well, being the very definition and inventor of order herself she left this world to try and keep things in balance. But perhaps her calculations were off slightly. We’re still tilting too far to one side. And that’s causing a sort of leak.”
“Let me see if I get this straight,” said Twilight. “You’re claiming that the world is destabilizing allowing true chaos to exist in the real world again? Actually, that might make sense if logistical consistency were to–”
Twilight considered it, doing some kind of insane math in her head, but concluded against it.
“No, no! If true chaos existed in this world, it’d either evaporate instantly or destroy the entire universe as we know it in a second. Obviously, the former since–”
Twilight didn’t finish, but Dash knew what she meant. Twilight’s ‘true void’ decomposed into ‘true chaos’ which then ceased to exist because the laws of physics that the Queen of Light created obliterated it instantly. Or something like that.
“Not the true chaos itself, but the shadow of it, something it emits. And all of it despises the creations of The Queen of Light, ponies most of all. The living embodiment of nightmares that eventually became the ‘ghost of Crater Cemetery’ was merely the first drop to leak out some thousands of years ago. But it has only been getting worse, the world slowly filling with horror from its influence until now, where we are surrounded by an infinite assortment of monsters.”
Starlight began back towards her throne.
“And a flood of it will be coming sometime in the next two hundred years. We will not survive it if nothing is done.”
“And you know all this how?” Dash asked.
“I was in the outer realm for six hundred years, remember?” Starlight asked. “I learned all manner of things while I was there. But it’s fine if you don’t believe me on that count. All you need to know is that more of the nightmare is pooling up out there. And you’ve seen that yourself.”
Dash had to nod.
There was so much of it. If the one here was half as strong as Twilight… well there was a dozen times that much out there already! This would be terrible if Starlight wasn’t screwing with them. If.
But she still couldn’t confirm if Starlight’s interpretation of this was true. Dash still had one lifeline left. Sort of.
“So is any of this true?” Rainbow Dash asked the element of laughter.
Pyrite looked left and right, then pointed at herself.
“How should I know?” Pyrite asked.
“How wouldn’t you know?! Isn’t this like, your thing?” Dash asked.
“Hey, I’ve never been to the outer realm! That place is gross.” Pyrite stuck her tongue out. “I don’t know what’s going on over there and I’m not willing to learn. But yeah. Looks like the universe sprung a leak. You saw it yourself. What do you want me to say?”
Maybe Dash had expected too much from her.
“And the stuff about Sombra making an element of faith?” Dash asked.
“Yeah, that makes a chronological kind of sense. It all happened back then.”
Dash turned back to Starlight. It probably wouldn’t be that easy to catch her in a lie.
“Okay, okay. So what’s your plan?” Dash asked. “Get everypony to worship you and–”
“Please.” Starlight waved it off. “I never intended such a thing. If you listen to my religion, my goal was never to be the sole god of this world, but to raise the rest of you to my level. Just like your friend has begun to.”
Scootaloo, still exhausted to near collapse, backed up to be closer to Rainbow Dash.
“You’ve achieved near completion. Ponies, all of us, are incomplete images of our alicorn creators. But by regaining our alicorn magic, by fusing with it and eventually ascending into demi-alicorns ourselves can we become what we should have been all along.”
Starlight turned to one of the stained glass images that made up the chaotic mosaic of a wall. This one was a simple depiction of an alicorn, with far tinier earth, unicorn, and pegasus ponies just below it.
“Can’t you see it just by looking at the pony races? The alicorns gave each of us only a third of what we should have been. They wanted us to be weak and broken creatures who could do nothing but worship and rely on them. But now, in their absence, we cannot possibly survive in such a state. We must evolve into truly superior beings which no monster could challenge. Can you imagine what it would be like if all of us had alicorn magic? If our cutie marks were not mere representations of who we were, but marked each of us as a demi-god of our own destiny?”
Dash shook her head, not buying that for a second.
“And let me guess. You’re going first? And we just have to ‘have faith’ you won’t go back on your word to help the rest of us ‘ascend’ once you have infinite power?”
“No.” Starlight smirked. “Or, rather that was the plan until you appeared. This would be a lot easier if you were helping me. So you can go first.”
Starlight smiled and held her hoof out as if making an offering. Dash and Twilight shared a look. What she meant was at once obvious and confusing. To bridge the gap, Starlight pointed at the seeing stone.
“The last thing I wanted you to see,” said Starlight. “You should count exactly two hundred thirty-five sleeping feathers, plus two that are awake. These are Lillymoon and Scootaloo. This way you’ll also know I haven’t performed this procedure on any of my ponies yet and that I’m not hiding any from you.”
Dash gave her a suspicious look, before turning to the seeing stone. Dash counted and recounted them carefully. As promised, the only other black feather like Scootaloo was in Area 5X.
Though she expected this to be some sort of charade, Dash honestly couldn’t find any.
She gave Twilight a nod.
“So here’s my promise, I’ll give you all of them,” said Starlight. “You can have all two hundred thirty-five of them. Well, I’ll implant one of them into Night Glider’s brain to show you it can be safely done, then give you the rest. As for the transformation into a demi-alicorn. I’ll allow you to choose who transforms first. I plan to give you total transparency.”
The other ponies in the room recoiled from the shock of such an offer.
That deal was too good to be true! Hell, it was too easy to take advantage of! Starlight wouldn’t seriously stick her neck out that far, would she?
“And what’s stopping us from taking them and running away just to screw over your plans?” Dash asked.
“The fact that you desire power,” said Starlight. “The fact that our species needs to get stronger to survive. You may not believe it now, and that’s fine, but I know you will soon, when Crater Cemetery begins to move. And that’s why I’m willing to put my faith in you first.”
“So,” Dash scoffed, “you expect me to believe that after years of screwing other ponies over to make yourself stronger by your own admission, now you’re suddenly going to be okay with other ponies taking over?!”
“I have no neurotic need to be the one to save the world myself.” Starlight gave Pyrite a sharp look. “You can ascend only ponies who are loyal to you if you want. With two hundred demi-alicorns loyal to you, I wouldn’t stand a chance against you if we fought. I’m not asking for much trust here.”
Nopony answered her. ‘Not much’ was too much still.
“I understand. It was a terrible path I walked to get here. But that’s why I’m willing to give you such control. I really won’t hustle you or force you to make a decision. All I wanted was for you to know this was an option. I trust you’ll see the wisdom in this soon enough, once you realize the trouble we’re in. But beyond that. Isn’t that the sort of world you want to create?”
“What do you mean?” Dash asked.
“For now, most ponies struggle to survive. Our lives are beset with tragedy and disaster. The weak can only scurry and hide while the strong dominate. Only those with power can survive in this world and even the mightiest of us can never rest easy knowing our weak brethren are in constant danger… but you think that’s unfair, don’t you? But if all ponies were strong the world would not be so unfair. Those now weak wouldn’t have to struggle. Those of us at the top wouldn’t have to live in constant fear for our weaker sisters at the bottom.”
Twilight opened her mouth to say something but glanced briefly at Dash instead before looking away.
Was she seriously tempted by this?! Twilight had way too much power already!
Dash’s skeptical mind was desperately trying to poke holes in this. Her first instinct was always to break anything that was presented to her and this was no exception.
“How is ‘everypony’ going to become a demi-alicorn if we only have a couple hundred of these?” Dash asked.
“Once one of us has ascended, I believe they’ll be able to ‘donate’ a few feathers to the next ponies. All I ask is that you accept the power to save the world.”
There had to be more to the plan than what she was saying now. Starlight was being too reasonable. She just admitted to manipulating her followers! Dash knew this had to be no good.
Even still, it was hard to find a reason to turn this down completely. Why not take them away from her?! Was Starlight that confident?
“Shouldn’t we at least take the feathers from her?” Twilight asked.
“Not yet!” Dash stopped her. “Not until I’ve had time to think about why this is bunk!”
“Again, you don’t have to decide today.” Starlight closed her eyes. “There’s still some time left. Take all the time you want to try and find a hole in my story and to see the truth in what I’ve said.”
Dang it! It was starting to annoy Dash. If Starlight had tried to press them into making a decision right now then at least Dash would know for a hundred percent sure she was lying. But as it stood she was only at ninety-nine percent and that wasn’t nearly enough.
“So that’s it for today.” Starlight closed her eyes and hummed to herself. “Oh! There was one other thing I wanted to do.”
Starlight lunged at Dash too quickly for her to react. Twilight had no such problem, appearing behind Starlight to pull her back, keeping Dash just out of reach.
It proved largely unnecessary, though, as Starlight’s target was never Dash in the first place. Instead, she grabbed onto the necklace around her neck, ripping it off.
Catching Twilight off guard, Starlight used the brief moment to throw the element of laughter into the air. A swirl of rainbows surrounded Starlight’s forehoof before the colors scoured into the purest, hyperbolic white Dash had ever seen.
“Oh no!” Pyrite Feather covered her mouth, but Dash could see a huge smile beneath those hooves.
“Stop this!” Twilight moved to shove Starlight aside to protect the element, but it was the element of laughter that stopped her.
A beam of rainbow energy pushed Twilight back just an inch or two. Enough to leave her stunned in confusion.
“As if I want your help Ms. Pity Party!” Pyrite stuck her tongue out at a baffled Twilight.
Then Starlight struck. She punched the element hard as it came down, the white ribbon of magic spiraling into a drill that attempted to shatter it.
The magic forced the element of laughter to at last reveal its true form to Dash. She saw a golden chain with a huge, black gemstone inserted into the middle. It was clearly supposed to be a cutie mark, but Dash had some trouble making it out. Fireworks, maybe?
“You’re not even trying to stop me?!” Starlight grit her teeth as her pure white ribbon drilled through the rainbows and onto the gemstone.
“Bwahaha!” Pyrite feather only laughed at the attempt. “How new are you? I thought everypony knows you can’t destroy an element of harmony just like that. I can instantly rematerialize next time Pinkie does something cool. Heck, that’s probably what I’m planning to do.”
“I’m not trying to destroy you completely.” Starlight narrowed her eyes as her drilling light put a crack in the gemstone. “I just need you out of my way long enough to destroy Crater Cemetery.”
“Well good luck with that.”
Pyrite looked to Dash next.
“Anyway, I’m going to explode for a little while now.” Pyrite waved to Dash, the crystal cracked badly. Dash had no idea if she should try to help. It almost seemed like the element of laughter wanted to shatter ‘for now’. “Remember! You promised to tell Pinkie Pie that I’m hilarious and not annoying at all.”
“I did not agree to that second part!” Dash protested but it was too late.
Not just the element but all the glass in the cathedral shattered. Yet, before anypony could so much as fall, they were back on the mountainside.
Starlight’s punch carried forward, sending the white ribbon sailing off into the air, streaming over Ponytown.
“Was it really that easy to break?” Starlight looked down at the shards, disgusted. “It must have been starved without any–”
“Did you just murder that thing?” Dash asked. “It was annoying, but it was also trying to help us!”
“Oh don’t be so dramatic,” said Starlight. “You heard her yourself. I hardly killed it. Just got rid of it for a little while. She wasn’t ‘helping’ us, I assure you. She’s been preventing me from destroying Crater Cemetery for some time now, but with that taken care of–”
A fireball landed on the mountainside, interrupting their discussion with a burst of fire. From the flames, Sunset Shimmer got onto her feet. A raven perched on her back flew to the side and reformed into Moonlight Raven.
“Don’t listen to her!” Sunset ran to Dash’s side as if to protect her. “Whatever she’s telling you isn’t the whole truth! And whatever plan she tried to convince you of isn’t the only way forward.”
“Oh?” Starlight gave her a bemused look. “You don’t think the balance of order and chaos has been disrupted? I thought we agreed on that part.”
Sunset paused for a moment.
“Okay. She was telling the truth about that.” Sunset straightened up. “But her plan isn’t going to work! Don’t let her make you think what she’s doing is the only way to fix things!”
“Oh, yes.” Starlight could only smile at Sunset. “You wanted to resurrect some ancient god to force their rule over us, didn’t you? Because that’s always been such a good idea in the past. She did tell you about Golden Feather, didn’t she?”
“I didn’t have time to tell them the whole truth, but–”
“Then isn’t that exactly what you feared I would do?” Starlight ignored Sunset completely to turn to Twilight. “An immortal ruler from whom there’s no escape imposing her will on us. And you wouldn’t even have the comfort of seeing her but once before handing over all of our lives to this mystery god.”
“Not entirely true,” said Moonlight Raven. “I’ve met her.”
Dash had to look at her sideways after that.
“Wouldn’t that have been–”
“Eight thousand years ago.” Moonlight nodded without much weight.
“How old are you?!”
“A complicated question,” said Moonlight. “Queen Golden Feather set up several guards to keep us safe while she was away. One of them was thirteen of the most elite unicorns alive at the time. We agreed to have a time compression spell cast on us so that the ponies of the future could summon us for aid if the need arose. I estimate that was about eight thousand years ago. I’m the last of the thirteen, whom Sunset Shimmer summoned.”
“Yes, and how are those shields Golden Feather set up going?” Starlight asked. “Did the royal families protect us? The elements? You? The witches? All of these were either ineffective or unmitigated disasters. You queen failed, now it’s my turn.”
“Not yet she hasn’t.” Moonlight’s ear flicked slightly in a rare display of emotion. “She planned ‘only’ for five thousand years. And it seems our species has lasted three thousand beyond that. I’d say she was successful in that. Once I bring her back, she’ll be able to fix everything that broke.”
“Then what was Golden Feather like?” Dash asked.
“You felt a piece of her, didn’t you?” Moonlight asked Dash. “You know what it’s like. She was the wisest and kindest pony who ever lived. She is our rightful ruler and would be able to reunite all the ponies of the world in harmony. The only pony who could claim to rival her right to rule is her sister. The time of her rule was one of unprecedented peace and safety. I hardly recognize the world as it is today. How… rough the ponies of your time have become.”
Dash remembered the ‘trick’ the element of laughter played on her. The feeling was so sweet and serene like Golden Feather really was her mother. Would ponies want to stand up to somepony like that?
The thought of a pony like that in the world was both terrifying and tempting at once.
A deep voice snapped Dash out of her thought.
“Oh, but if everypony was happy how do you explain me?”
She turned to find Void Walker trotting in behind Starlight as though he’d been there all along.
“I too am from that same time period,” said Void Walker. “I sent myself to this distant future in hopes of freeing us from that eternal tyrant! Look at this world that was created without her! It has finally surpassed the ancient world and will only continue its rise! Can you say ponies could have grown this strong under the smothering influence of our mother? She never wanted us to grow on our own. Merely remain children for all eternity.”
Moonlight Raven let out a huff of hot air through her muzzle.
“Are you really saying it’s worth it?” Moonlight’s voice had some edge to it now. “All the tragedy that best the world just so you could be ‘stronger’? The ponies of our time didn’t need to be jaded.”
“Of course one of her dogs will tell you such things. What Moonlight Raven forgot to mention was that she was a spoiled noble, sheltered from all the excesses and cruelties of the world, giving her the chance to learn that ridiculous dodeca-wielding fighting technique. Is it any wonder a pony like her wants to go back to the system where she’s a literal princess?”
“I’m at the top of this new system as well, so it hardly matters to me either way. You, however, stand to gain personally. Void Walker was a criminal, what you’d call a terrorist today. He has killed thousands of innocent ponies. And for what? How many are you willing to sacrifice for your brutal philosophy?”
“The only difference between a terrorist and a revolutionary is whether they win and that still remains to be decided. I fought for freedom from a tyrant and that same tyrant sent me to her dungeon. Does that make me a criminal?”
“You don’t need to take my word for the sort of pony he is. Just look at the companions he kept. Tell the truth… Bloodstorm came from.”
“Hm.” Void Walker cocked a smile. “Yes, he was one of the ponies I wanted to bring to the future with me.”
“Wait. Bloodstorm?” Dash stopped looking between the two to interrupt their conversation. “Like… the Bloodstorm Cartel Bloodstorm? Screwball and– and Silverstorm’s dad?”
“I’m not aware of any other,” said Void Walker. “Though I called him Stratus back then. Needless to say, he betrayed me. He tried to come back before I did and establish himself as a ruler. I suppose he became a king, but not a god. Not without me. He was a traitor who got the death he deserved.”
“Don’t pretend like he wasn’t some pawn you were using,” said Moonlight.
“Oh, and will you stop pretending that Golden Feather wasn’t a tyrant who sent anypony who disagreed with her to prison? Because she thought she was too glorious to be wrong?”
“Okay, now you’re just making things up.”
“Am I? How would one as privileged as yourself possibly know?”
“Okay, okay!” Dash interrupted them. “Look, we’re in a hurry. Can we debate this later?”
Void Walker and Moonlight stopped their bickering
“What hurry?” Void Walker asked.
“Derpy got abducted by some mercenary thugs. We need to make sure she’s alright,” said Dash.
“Rainbow Dash!” Starlight practically scolded her. “We’re talking about the fate of the universe and you’re worried about your secretary?”
“Yes.”
Starlight couldn’t understand. She could only watch Dash with an indignant, but restrained frown.
“You said you weren’t going to force us to make a decision now, right?” Dash reminded her.
“No.” Starlight sighed.
“What about you?” Twilight asked Sunset and Moonlight Raven.
Sunset struggled with her own answer, leaving Moonlight to take the chance.
“It’s fine if you don’t want to help us. I can’t say you’re doing the wrong thing. But my mission was to bring her back were I ever summoned and I intend to do that. I’ll only consider you my enemy if you try to stop us.”
“Well then we’ll talk to you more after we’ve finished thinking about all this,” said Twilight.
“Very well. Void Walker? Will you help them ‘rescue’ Derpy Hooves?” Starlight looked at him. He bowed and Starlight continued forward, trotting away.
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Dash has her priorities straight. Or rather gay.
“We’re talking about the fate of the universe and you’re worried about your secretary?”
“Yes.”
This is such a perfectly Rainbow Dash thing to say, I love it.
Hmmm
Suddenly, Twilight wasn't the only ancient pony around here anymore.
I'm sure Starlight only has everyone's best interests in mind!
Uh, or maybe not.
Most of what Starlight has said is probably true to some extent. The real sticking point that makes her allegedly altruistic intentions bunk is Night Glider. We already saw her get started on the "completion" a few chapters before this but she's claiming she's done no such thing? I smell a rat.
Golden Feather is all but confirmed to be Celestia with that sister bit and that would make Crater Cemetery Luna. . . or more accurately Nightmare Moon. I'm betting Laughter knows they'll need all seven elements to properly restore her which is why she's kept Starlight from trying. Any element made by Sombra can't be a true element. Calling that now.
Also: I totally called it that Starlight wouldn't be able to destroy an Element of Harmony! Was it obvious? Probably. But I'm still going to gloat.
Nice
I like how Dash completely misinterpreted why Twilight was tempted by Starlight there.
To bring up Babylon 5, one gets the impression that the argument between Starlight/The Element of Faith and Sunset/ Golden Feather is the same argument between the Shadows and the Vorlons. Chaos vs Order.
Golden Feather does care about her children in a motherly way, but she demands unquestioned obedience. When her son the Dark One gave mortals shadows and the ability to lie, she locked him away because it went against her perfect world.
Starlight seems to want to make all mortals ascend their limitations and become god like beings in their own right, but it's clear from the way that he seemed confused by the fact that Rainbow cared more about the well being of Derpy over this discussion of the 'fate of the universe' that she is acting in the interests of a theatrical ponykind rather then actual individuals.
11447154
I think you mixed up Golden Feather and the Queen of Light.
11447154
I think you misunderstood the family tree a bit. The Darklord is Golden Feather's uncle. It was Golden Feather's grandmother and his brother who sealed him away. Here's a crude family tree:
i.ibb.co/fC6LBws/tree.png
I cant believe all this happened in the span of a single day
11447171
So where do unicorns for under and Earthponies of course where do they come from
11447242
Both evolved from pegasi. I might write up more of the mythology later.
It takes a special kind of ultimate badassery to not entirely derail thousands a years old bad blood politics feuds but also to make them to act in her interest
I am endlessly amused at Rainbow's capacity to manipulate powers infinitely above her weight class
Darn, I was hoping that this was Sombra's alicorn amulet in this universe, but that gemstone is red.
Cosmos is ten pounds in a five pound bag. Having already done these things, and supposedly not concerned about being the primary component in defeating the chaos, it would be easiest to simply evolve the ponies in the cult who would already agree to such things and easily convince the vast majority of other ponies. Clearly, reason why this has not happened yet is simply because Cosmos wants to be the new god without others being able to be opposition.
Can't save the universe if you let it die out in the meantime, bad Cosmos, bad, secretaries are ponies too.
11447171
If the Radiant Champion is so important, why is his representative such a loser?
11446868
The protoypical shonen thing to say.
Rainbow Dash is slowly cultivating the most powerful power of all.
SHONEN!
Beware of talk no jutsu
All schemes are useless before one dreamy-eyed dreamer talking about dreams.
11447272
Don'y you mean a 'fighting dreamer'?
(This comment contains my personal opinions and current understanding of characters, don't take any of this as fact)
...you've already done that though
No, you just want to prove that you're way of "saving the world" is right
Why, Pyrite would in all likelihood help them, since there is no way the Element of Laughter would find it funny if the world was overrun by Nightmares
You weren't listening to it at all were you
I somehow doubt that, especially since you also previously said that it was used by Bloodstorm
Well obviously
One should also remember that, despite everything that's been said and showed, that Starlight could simply be wrong.
She did get that B in school after all
But also, Faith, is neither good, bad or true.
) which is very different from actually being right 
It's belief, and Starlight has always seemed to belive that she is right, (which she isn't, she got that B after all
No thank you, to that one
Glad to see that Rainbow still keeps her priorities straight despite all this talk about "saving the world"
Damn, Starlight playing her cards openly, or so it seems. But I still don't trust her... She must have some angle or agenda here. Or maybe I am just being paranoid.
Also, did Starlight not hear what Laughter said? She dropped a lot of clues about Twilight...
Also yes, rescue Derpy!
As they say the brighter the light, the deeper the shadows. Truth can be so blinding as to hide a lie.
Alondro listens to the OP pones blathering on and on about their convoluted plans and schemes. "Ugh, it's all so BORING! What we need is a little... chaos."
He raises his fingers and SNAPS! "Discord, Dismay, Despair, Destruction, Desire, Devour, and Devil. My children, COME!"
ALONDRO WAS THE DARK GOD OF THE DRACONEQUUSES ALL ALONG!!! (And he was also Dio...) "YES, PONY JOESTAR!! IT WAS ME, DIO, ALL ALONG!!"
11447303 Blind belief backed by the inability to even consider one is wrong is called something else: DELUSION.
And like all the 'D' things... IT MEANS STARLIGHT IS POSSESSED BY THE DRACONEQUUS OF INSANITY!!! OH NOES!!!
Clearly we need to stab her lots!
Very good chapter! Quite dense lol. Lotta lore geez
And there's the crack in Starlight's facade. She talks a big game about the grand destiny of equinity... but she just can't understand what makes ponies people. She may claim to care for her supplicants, but she doesn't really understand what caring is. The fusion of a hyperfocused embodiment of belief and a child so petty she shoved a rock into her brain rather than accept her own fallibility doesn't yield a great deal of actual empathy.
Granted, I can understand her being more concerned about the eldritch chaos from outside space and time threatening to consume reality. There are some big issues here, but as Dash noted, they can wait for a bit. Derpy's situation is a lot more time-sensitive. Time to resolve it.
Also, possible deep cut from the comics with the Element of Faith. Nice one.
I was following until all the tertiary characters were suddenly thousands of years old.
Something tells me that when they finally get around to what the Dark Lord asked of them, they'll find Discord a little more powerful than Twilight expected.
11447261
well that much was obvious from starlights talk with night glider. The thing that keeps me picking at the plot thread is why starlight glimmer gives a solitary shit about rainbowdash's opinions here. Like, shes genuinely got the power of twilight on her side, which is nothing to sneeze at, and I'm not certain if starlight knows it or not, but why put rd in the driver seet at all? Sure to "build trust" but why does she need that trust?
Well, that was a lot of exposition, suddenly there are more factions, and the fate of the universe is in the balence, and yet Dash has the ability to cut through narrative fluff and get back to what is important in the moment, IE, kidnapped childhood friend/secretary.
Also I see Starlight seems subscribes to the 'God emperor of man' Philosphy for the future of her species: "Sure I'm fucking fantastic, but with enough effort you can be as fantastic as me."
Better keep an eye on any children she might have, otherwise she could get throned.
Although like serveral other people, I am wondering why she cares about Rainbow Dashes opinion, Rainbow is the smallest of Small fry who punches above her weight out of pure moxxy. Does Rainbow Dash carry some sort of cosmic significance that she isn't being told?
... I mean, yeah, she is the element of loyalty technically, but I'm not sure this holds significance in this story or not.
Cant help think of the ori drin stargate theit worshipers made them more powerful without dharibc any of the power.
I kind of have to agree that a smothering mother figure would be pretty bad. Bot allows to grow but forever kept as a “ child “. I’m sure there’s a fine medium somewhere
Small typos.
Order and chaos, lies and truth, Crater Cemetery and the outer void, white feathers and black feathers all seem to be part of the yin and yang themes in the story that is building up to some big insight later on.
Personally I feel like there is a logic to how Dash can pivot the superpowers that exists within her own reach, and one of the superpowers is Twi. Twi then must learn from Dash so that she too can pivot and extrapolate her influence to TAKEOVER OF THE ENTIRE WORLD! (Just like she originally planned) After achieving Alicorn status, saving the world and bonking a few baddies on the head (not necessarily in that order), the gang can go back to being a strange and overpowered bunch with regular adventures that continues to endanger and save the world all over again. (with intermittent tea times ofc.)
11453584
Rainbow Dash is the key to controlling Twilight Sparkle. Her being the Element of Loyalty will undoubtedly be significant later but right now that element doesn't seem to exist.
Twilight Sparkle is the most powerful witch alive and arguably the most powerful mortal period. There's every chance she could take Starlight in a straight fight even with all the power she's amassed through her cult. Literally the only person whose opinion she truly cares about is Dash.
Where Dash goes, Twilight's sure to follow.
Way to blow Twilight's cover there Pyrite! Starlight can't have missed that.
Wow, I love how Dash doesn't understand here.
I don't know how Moonlight knows about this.
If I had to guess, she's talking about Lemon Zest here.
Speaking of Bloodstorm, Starlight should probably already know this given her association with Void Walker, and should also know how someone shouldn't just be able to "lose" the element of laughter, given her knowledge on Scootaloo and her own element., just like Twilight knew in that one chapter. The question now is whether or not that entire lie was just for the various reveals in this chapter or if there's more too it.
Also, by now, with how many times Twilight has revealed her knowledge and with Pyrite's various comments, there should be no way Starlight doesn't know that Silverstorm is really Twilight.