Bonus: The Past pt.1
Dream Valley was once a verdant and green land. It teemed with life and it was filled with the love of its people. Many know the tale of how it fell thanks to the machinations of a few shortsighted ponies. How the land was corrupted, how the flutterponies were left all but extinct, and how pony kind's bonds were shattered. But there is also a tale from that time that few know. The story of the banishment of the ponies from Dream Valley. The day where Faust was first left alone in her tower, and the tale of what she did afterwards. For though it may sound simplistic, cut and dry even, the truth is that it was anything but...
Faust decided she didn't like hunting undead. They were smelly, they were annoying, and it hurt her to see her ponies reduced to such a sorry state. It certainly didn't help this kept her from her ponies that were still alive. She hated being away from them, mostly because she feared what else might attack in their weakened state. While she and her friends had formed alliances with a few races in the past, they had recently encountered new ones. Those new ones weren't always as willing to be friends, the Griffons for instance had been particularly rude to them at first...
But that was beside the point.
She supposed she was just a little homesick more than anything else. It had been more than a year since she'd been back home after all. She reached a hoof to brush a tear from her eye as she looked at a vast river on the farthest edge of her kingdom. The waters of that river now teemed with the undead. She'd been forced to collect the bodies and put them there herself. It had taken her months just to get that done. It was unfortunately the only way she could find to truly stop them. Silver could hurt the undead, but it was tedious to try and use it against them in such amassed numbers.
So instead she'd looked for a way to, if not destroy them, then contain them. It had taken a lot of experimentation before she'd finally figured out a way to do just that. Ultimately it was a simple mater of casting an enchantment on a river that essentially bathed the undead in healing magic. Because they were dead the healing energy naturally canceled out the necrotic magic that animated them. Unfortunately it didn't completely destroy necrotic magic, merely placed it into stasis. So while they couldn't move while in the water, they were still effectively 'undead' enough to get back up if they weren't submerged.
Now instead of walking, they slumbered, still and lifeless as they should be.
'Now if only they truly were lifeless,' she thought to herself. But no, these poor ponies were not allowed to rest. But she didn't allow herself to dwell on such thoughts, instead she flapped her wings and shot into the air. She was dressed in familiar bronze armor, with a hooded cloak and saddlebags, silver wing blades, and an iron chain wrapped around a familiar sinister book. The chains looped around her barrel to hold the book to her, which she'd done on purpose. She wasn't going to let the bucking book out of her sights if she could help it! She'd much rather destroy the thing, but she wanted to free the souls held within it first.
She would free those ponies someday, she promised herself that much at least.
She turned from such thoughts and began to fly back home. It had been so long since last she'd seen her little ponies. She worried that they might've gotten into trouble since she'd been gone. After all, it seemed like whenever she was gone things turned for the worst. 'Then again, they can take care of themselves,' she admitted to herself. But with a look down she felt sad once more. The land was tainted with necrotic magic. The magic caused most things to rot. Mortis had used far too much of it, enough to essentially poison the land and turn it bleak and barren.
'Fixing this will take time,' Faust admitted to herself. She didn't dare think of a possibility that it couldn't be fixed. She'd seen and done so much that she was certain something could repair the broken land. She paused her thoughts as she looked at the terrain. Places that Mortis' army hadn't reached looked... tainted somehow. The land was twisted and it felt as if there was barely any magic in the air at all. It also felt like it was taking more and more effort just to keep herself aloft. As if the background magic she and pegasi used to fly was growing weaker and weaker the closer she got to home.
She knew something was wrong, but then she saw it. The land was horribly scarred, the soil turned grey, and the mountains and valley were bereft of trees. But that wasn't what most disturbed her, no. It was because this looked to be close to Flutter Valley, home of the Flutter Ponies, and she knew the Undead hadn't gone there. The Flutter Ponies had natural purifying powder that came off of their wings, even Mortis couldn't figure out a workaround to deal with that in large numbers. He'd avoided the Flutter Ponies for that reason, and the timid ponies had avoided him as well.
'So what happened here?' she wondered to herself. A frown crossed her lips as she looked at the ruined landscape. Unlike what she'd seen thus far, this looked different. It wasn't necrotic magic that was causing everything to rot and be left to ruin. No, something else had happened here, and it was recent. Something that had caused the magic to wither and fade. Her frown deepened and she shot into the sky to get a better vantage on it. Then she looked up and her eyes widened in horror. A storm raged across the horizon as bolts of magical lightning slammed into the ground.
"Oh no! The Flutter Ponies!" she cried in alarm and shot in that direction. The land was decimated, once verdant and green, despite the undead swarm, it was now less than ruins. Charred remains of what had once been a beautiful land were all that was left. However she soon felt the magic in the air become nearly non-existent so quickly flew down to land. She skidded on the dirt and stone and looked around for survivors. She yelped however as a purple bolt of lightning slammed into the ground in front of her. She fell back and then quickly rushed out of the way of more bolts of lightning.
'What is with this lightning?' she wondered to herself as the lightning followed her. She then gathered magic at her horn and teleported away from the lightning. Only to lunge to the side as a larger bolt of lightning slammed down where she had appeared. She looked to the spot with wide eyes as rock and stone were torn from the ground. She then looked up and began to gape. 'A spell storm,' she thought to herself. The appearance of which shocked and terrified her. Magic turned into a storm that was continuously recasting itself. Magic itself absorbed into and then set against anything beneath it... who would do this?
However she then felt worry for her own ponies. If Flutter Valley looked like this, what must her tower look like!?
However despite her worries she quickly calmed her mind and flapped her wings. With a gust of wind she shot high into the sky. The spell-storm raged around her as she flew higher and higher into the air. She then flew towards the outskirts of the horrible storm and narrowed her eyes. Thus far she had only dealt with small Spell Storms. However, they always had to be dealt with the same way. A Spell Storm would recast itself so long as it had enough magic to do so. It would absorb the magic in the air around it in order to recast itself and continue its pace. Thankfully, Faust had ways to stop this.
She beat her wings a few more times to stay aloft. The lack of background magic in the air made sense now. It meant that she'd have to use twice as much to keep herself in the air as she was. But with a quick inhale she shot forward and began to circle the spell storm. She beat her wings faster and faster as she concentrated and her horn began to glow with crimson light. She used her horn as a foci in order to start gathering the stolen magic out of the Spell-Storm. She let out a breath of exertion and then shot forward. A crimson trail followed her as she spiraled around the storm.
She cut through the near deadened magic with all her might and slowly the storm began to shrink. The storm that once had completely covered Dream Valley was left smaller and smaller. She saw ruined towns and settlements beneath her as she flew. She saw the remains of paths and roads as she flew. She saw the remains of everything she had come to care for beneath her as she flew. All of it was gone, ruined by the spell storm, torn apart and left to rot. But she still held out hope that it could be repaired. Perhaps not in a hundred years, but eventually...
She yelped as a bolt of lightning struck her from the air. She swerved and turned in midair before she landed against the ground. The power she had collected thus far nearly pulled away from her, but she held firm. She slammed into the ground and landed with a bang. The earth beneath her gave way easily and cratered. Faust groaned in pain and then slowly sat up, a hoof raised to the side of her head. She looked up and saw that while she'd managed to diminish the Spell-Storm, the central most portion remained and bombarded the valley with lightning. It hovered there ominously, it cast an inky shadow and let no light from the sun shine upon the land.
She splayed back her ears and then looked down to the vile magic she'd collected. She took a quick breath and closed her eyes as she focused on it. She began to force the magic she collected from the storm down into a single point. Her crimson magic surrounded and compressed it down until an ugly crimson stone was all that remained. The stone fell from her magic's grasp to the ground with a clatter. She looked down on it with narrowed eyes and picked it back up. It wasn't a perfect solution to the Spell Storm, but at least it was contained for the moment. She glanced back at the storm only once, then turned away.
She quickly teleported out from under the remains of the storm and appeared in a vast forest. However she felt tears sting at her eyes as she beheld the ruin that was the trees. Something had turned the bark deep grey like ash, their leaves had turned pitch black, and as she looked up she couldn't see the sky anymore. The deep darkness within this forest carried with it not a lack of magic, but an unsettling corruption of the natural magic of the land. She slowly stepped hoof into the forest and began to make her way to her tower. Though changed she could still recognize her home... no matter how much she wished she couldn't.
She didn't want to see her home look this way.
She paused when she heard a sound. She looked around for a moment, then spotted something beneath one of the trees. She slowly approached and widened her eyes. A thing in white, vaguely resembling a very little pony, but made from wood and completely faceless rested there. A few black branches sprouted from its back like eerie spider legs and curled around its tiny body protectively. She blinked and the thing looked up towards her. Well its head did. She tilted her her for a moment and slowly approached the wooden thing. Her horn began to glow with scarlet energy as she lowered herself towards it and placed her horn lightly against its head.
It shivered and twitched and she looked at it softly. "You poor thing," she whispered. The thing didn't seem to understand, it tilted its head and then its head jerked to the other side with an unnatural crack. She shivered slightly and then slowly wrapped the creature in her magic. It looked up sharply but she smiled softly. "Lets me help you," she whispered. The thing twitched for a moment but allowed her to lift it up. She placed it onto her back and wrapped her cape around it. It shifted for a moment and then settled onto her back while the mare looked around a moment longer.
"This is wrong," she whispered. She closed her eyes and hurried to her tower with the little thing on her back. It nuzzled into her neck and she smiled softly then breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her tower. She quickly approached it and found no guards at the gates. 'Not too surprising,' she admitted to herself. Given what had become of the land she could blame no pony for avoiding being outside of the tower. She quickly focused her magic on the tower as she placed a hoof upon the door. It opened for her and she hurriedly trotted inside. Within a pair of guards turned only to look at her in surprise.
"Milady!" one cried in glee. Both guards wore armor, though unlike later guards, theirs was a bit more diverse. The one who spoke was a unicorn who wore what had been dubbed 'Mage-Armor' in that it was a light half-plate armor with a sturdy material added onto it. Though His most recognizable trait being that he wore a pair of green shades along with it. The second one was an earth pony who wore bright red full plate male armor that covered him from hoof to mane and left only his eyes visible. Upon fully recognizing her the one who spoke then bowed to her while she looked around for anything to be amiss.
"Ma'am, where have you been?" the earth pony guard questioned her worriedly. Faust took only a moment longer to ensure that nothing had happened inside the tower before she turned to the guards. She recognized them both. But then again she was the one who had appointed her guards. She'd appointed them because she could trust them, not for their skills. Although no pony would ever say her personal guard were weak, they weren't exactly... conventional.
"Spark, Tuck, I'm so glad you're both okay!" Faust declared cheerfully. Both guards merely chuckled in response, the unicorn rising to his hooves. "So where is every one else?" she questioned quickly, "Are they okay?" she further questioned. Spark, the unicorn, rubbed at the back of his neck. Tuck, the earth pony, coughed into his hoof and looked away.
"There all fine ma'am," Tuck replied. He also looked to Spark who adjusted his shades for a moment.
"Every pony has convened in the library for the moment," Spark explained, then leaned towards her with his hoof drawn towards his mouth, "of course given it was the largest room in the tower that they could reliably find, that should've been expected," he admitted a bit shiftily. Faust rolled her eyes. This particular guard was a bit of a character if she was perfectly honest. Although to be fair, most of her guards were quite the characters.
"Good, I'm glad every pony is okay," she stated with a breath of relief. She didn't think she could stand to see anymore death right now. There had been more than enough of that from Mortis. However that still begged the question of who had unleashed the Spell Storm on the valley. So she looked to Tuck and Spark for answers. "So then who attacked us?" she questioned. Spark and Tuck glanced at one another and then back to her.
"Attacked?" Spark questioned in confusion as he scratched his mane. Tuck nodded his head and looked at her in confusion.
"Ma'am, no one has attacked since you left," he admitted. Faust looked at him just as confused and then pointed outside.
"Then what happened to the valley?" she demanded. The guards turned to look and then openly gaped at the side.
"Ho boy! What the buck is this?!" Spark demanded as he galloped out of the tower. He then started to run all around just to see what had happened. However as he did Tuck merely babbled and then looked at what had happened outside sadly.
"So that's what happened," he muttered. However he then yelped as Faust looked at him curiously.
"What's that mean?" she questioned. Tuck seemed to get very quiet and she fixed him with a look. Tuck gulped and drew his eyes up so he wouldn't look at her. However she focused her magic and forced him to face her. "Tuck, what happened?" she questioned sternly. The earth pony gulped and chuckled nervously.
"Now before I say anything else, I just have to say this was totally not my fault," he stated. Faust arched a brow and knew she wasn't going to like what she was about to hear. Tuck only deflected blame like that if it was the worst kind of blame. True, it likely didn't have anything to do with him or the rest of her personal guard, but it was the fact he took the time to deflect the blame that made her suspicious. Her guard didn't obey anyone other than herself, but that was because the other tribes hadn't put together their own militias to help deal with the Undead Scourge when it swarmed them.
So if it wasn't her guards fault, then it was the Militias and their leaders fault.
"Tuck," she stated sternly. The earth pony was very brave, she knew this to be fact. She also knew he was creative and a bit unorthodox in how he did things. He was also fiercely loyal to her above all else, as where his friends, her other guards. He would naturally be able to hide things from ponies, other ponies really, because she needed ponies she could trust with secrets. However when faced by the mare he served with a look like that aimed at him, it was no wonder that Tuck caved instantly.
"General Storm Wing and Lord Blood Stone had a meeting a few months ago!" Tuck exclaimed. Faust frowned deeply at the 'general' comment. 'Storm Wing?' she questioned internally for a moment. It took her a minute to realize that the 'general' was probably the leader of the pegasus militia that had helped stem the tide of the undead and lead ponies to safety. Lord Blood Stone however was a pony she was more well acquainted with. He was a brilliant unicorn mage, the same one who had created the spell that allowed them to summon back their forces before they could be turned by the undead.
"I see," she murmured. However that still begged the question, "what does this meeting have to do with what happened to the valley?" she questioned. Tuck whimpered while Spark trotted back into the tower with a look of horror on his face.
"It's all corrupted and tainted and gross and..." he muttered. However Faust raised a hoof to silence him. Spark blinked then shut his mouth as she nodded her head and looked back to Tuck expectantly.
"Look," the earth pony guard began, "to be honest I don't know what they were talking about when they had that meeting. Chancellor Sieve was busy keeping every pony fed and we just kept every pony away from the heart and the rest of the important rooms like you wanted. But after it happened the pegasi and unicorn militias up and left for a while. When they got back they looked like they went through Tartarus and back," Tuck explained. Faust frowned deeply and a dark glower covered her face. Chancellor Sieve was the Earth Pony representative. He was basically just the pony that all the other settlements used to go too when they needed food.
With that in mind it made sense he wasn't included in these talks if it was militia based. The Earth Ponies had been kept off of the front lines for the fact they didn't have an 'easy out' against the Undead. Unicorns had shields or magic spells. Pegasi had the weather magic they recently started to form. Earth Ponies were kind of unlucky in that their abilities typically didn't allow them to effectively fight large hordes of the undead. Faust could say from experience that getting up close and personal wasn't fun and was entirely too dangerous for any one that wasn't nigh immortal.
"I see," she stated tersely and began to shake. Had she been paying attention, she might've noticed the crimson stone she'd formed start to pulse with energy. The horrible forces she'd collected from that spell storm struggled to break back out. But they were still contained within that crystal. Her magic was powerful as well after all. "Where are they now?" she questioned. Tuck glanced to Spark for help and the unicorn idly adjusted his shades once more.
"Last I saw of them they were using the throne room to discuss some stuff," he replied. Tuck gave him a look like, you are an idiot, while Faust hummed. She tapped her chin and then looked at the bundle on her back. She removed her cloak and handed it and the bundle within to Spark. The unicorn saw the wooden pony and looked back to her with a raised brow.
"I think this was made out in that mess," she admitted. Spark looked down at the bundle with a soft frown and then looked back up to Faust and raised a hoof.
"I'll make sure it's kept safe milady," Spark stated resolutely. Faust smiled and nodded her head. She knew Spark would do what he said. He was a good pony who kept his word if nothing else... well, most of the time anyways. Even with all the pranks he'd try pull on you, he was honestly a great friend to have. Especially since his friends tended to prank back... actually she kind of missed their antics in her time away. 'It'll be nice when things finally go back to normal,' she thought to herself. She blew a breath into her bangs and allowed a tired look to pass over her features. 'Maybe then I can finally get a decent nights rest,' she inwardly hoped.
"Ma'am, do you want me to come with?" Tuck questioned. Faust looked to the other guard and then shook her head.
"No, I'll be fine," she replied then frowned, "I want you to find Void, Fox, and the rest of my guards. I have a feeling things are about to get ugly," she stated. However Tuck uttered a low sound.
"For who exactly?" he questioned. Faust snorted and narrowed her eyes.
"It bucking depends on how stupid Blood Stone and Storm Wing are," she replied darkly, "they should know that its dangerous to mix high level unicorn and pegasus magic," she stated and then frowned, "Especially with weather magic, it's only started coming out in pegasi recently and its impossible to tell their upper limits with it. Storm calling is less predictable but its also safer as we know what were dealing with with it. Arabus' magic residue on pegasi however," she reminded and left hanging. Tuck chuckled nervously and looked at Spark. The unicorn only frowned and nodded his head.
"Trust me Tuck, if you could feel how bad it is out there like us, you'd be pretty angry too," the pony stated. Tuck however slapped his armored face in annoyance.
"Spark, I'm an Earth Pony! Of course I can feel how bad it is!" he shouted at his friend. Spark blinked and then scratched at his mane.
"Oh... I thought you being a Blood Mage would," he began only for Tuck to interupt him.
"Hey! Blood Magic so doesn't interfere with my natural Earth Pony abilities... and anyways it's my special talent!" he shouted. Faust ignored her guards with a roll of her eyes. She smiled as she turned and trotted into the towers depths. She moved quickly and used several shortcuts to swiftly reach the throne room. However rather than simply barge in she paused and leaned her ear against the door to listen in on the two inside.
"- been too long, we need to end the storm now!" one stated. Faust checked her memories and managed to link it to Storm Wing.
"Ending the storm isn't possible, at least not for my unicorns. We tried that a month ago and half of them lost their magic to the storm in the attempt. They're in intensive care as it is for severe magic depletion," a second voice reported calmly. 'That's definitely Blood Stone,' Faust thought to herself. She then narrowed her eyes as they continued their discussion.
"You never said the storm would rage across the entire kingdom! It was supposed to be a quick strike, one that wouldn't affect our own forces! Instead we got a bucking storm that's tearing our home apart and we can't do anything about it!" Storm Wing snarled. Faust paused and her eyes widened. 'What?' she wondered disbelievingly.
"I never anticipated it would grow so fast!" Blood Stone replied. "We made it as small as we could, but the ambient magic from Mortis Necromancy must have interfered with it somehow. It was never supposed to leave Flutter Valley," he stated with a sigh. 'Why would they want to make a spell storm over Flutter Valley?' she internally questioned. She had thought they had made the storm by accident. Maybe they had been trying to study the limits of what the Pegasi's new 'weather magic' could do and things had gotten out of hoof. An accidental spell storm was bad, yes, but she could forgive them for that.
Sure she was angry, but if it was an honest mistake... but from the sounds of it, it wasn't... this was accidental, but only so far as the land in the kingdom being poisoned. They had still intentionally created a Spell-Storm over Flutter Valley. They had wanted a Spell Storm over Flutter Valley. A Spell Storm that was bombarding the valley with lightning and was leaving nothing there left alive. All those ponies who she was friends with there were... She took a breath to steady her nerves and then slammed the doors to the throne room open. Storm Wing and Blood Stone started and then calmed as she trotted into the room, her entire body tense.
"Milady, it is good to see you are well," Storm Wing stated honestly. Faust merely glanced at him then turned to regard Blood Stone. If she weren't so completely furious with the both of them, she might've noticed how haggard they appeared. Neither looked like they had slept much for the passed couple of months. They had deep hanging bags under their eyes. But she wasn't in the frame of mind to wonder if they were stressed and tired because of what they caused, or if they caused it because they were tired and stressed.
"Were you successful in stemming the tide of undead?" the unicorn questioned. Faust stiffly nodded as she entered the room and trotted along the red carpet towards her throne. But as she passed the two ponies, it felt as if something boiled in the depths of her chest. It clawed and roared to be let out but she didn't want too.
"I did, and I stopped the Spell Storm on my way back," she stated bluntly. She passed the two ponies swiftly and turned as she all but fell into her throne. She sat limply, her head lowered and wings limp on the rests at her sides. Her eyes were shadowed by her bangs and she dared not look up at either of the ponies as tears formed at the corners of her eyes.
"What of the valley? Is there anything left?" Storm Wing questioned. Faust's head snapped up, with a literal crack and she eyed him darkly. Whatever was within her chest suddenly snarled, incredulous voices in her head demanded to know how he could possibly ask that after what he had done. After the storm he'd helped to unleash had torn across the land like a plague and decimated everything that had been left after Mortis' attack!
"No," she replied tersely. Blood Stone sighed and brought a hoof over his face.
"That is unfortunate," the unicorn stated. Faust snorted and bit her lower lip to keep from growling at him. Had she taken the time to look at her flank at that moment, she would see that ink was somehow spilling out of her symbol and crawling over her previously pure white coat to slowly turn it deepest black. However she didn't notice this, instead she focused on the two ponies before her and let out a shaky breathe. It took all her concentration to keep herself calm as she lowered her head slightly.
"So, where did that Spell Storm come from?" she questioned tersely. Storm Wing and Blood Stone flinched and splayed their ears back.
"I..." Storm Wing began, but Blood Stone continued.
"We may have taken preemptive measures against a possible threat in the form of the Flutter Ponies. Unfortunately the Spell Storm we created raged out of control far faster than we could have ever anticipated upon creating it," the unicorn lord replied. Faust felt herself start to shake with anger. She took a breath to try and calm down while her wings shook at her sides, slowly rising up.
"What possible threat could you believe the Flutter Ponies posed to us?" she demanded, "further, how did they possibly warrant the use of a Spell Storm, which I might add I banned for a bucking reason?!" she demanded hotly her wings flared at her sides. "Not only do Spell Storms cast random magical effects on anything they hit but they also absorb all ambient magic in an area, deadening it entirely or poisoning it! It's a bucking cataclysm on par with the bucking Smooze!" she briefly ranted. The two ponies before her took quick steps back and looked to one another worriedly, then turned back to the alicorn.
Faust took a deep inhale and narrowed her eyes dangerously.
"So tell me, what in the suns name were you feather brains thinking when you made one to attack the Flutter Ponies of all things?!" she snarled. Storm Wing gulped for a moment and then slowly stepped forward. He shook slightly before he exhaled a breath and stood tall. Faust narrowed her eyes while black ink started to crawl all along her body.
"Ma'am we're at an extremely vulnerable position at the moment. Past dealings with the Flutter Ponies have been... less than stellar from my recollection. From my readings in the library they almost always remain isolated from other ponies. Further, though they did assist with the Smooze, they have barely offered us aide in other dire situations, and barely wanted to help us against the Smooze to begin with. In fact more often than not we've been forced to help them instead!" he explained. Faust snorted a breath and narrowed her eyes on the 'general' into a dark glare.
"They are half our size, weight, and can only hover for the most part," she replied darkly. Storm Wing nodded his head in agreement. As he did, Blood Stone arched a brow as he saw something glowing a bright crimson red in Faust's saddlebags.
"True enough, but their Utter Flutter can be used to devastating effect, especially against us Pegasi. Further, if their acclaimed purifying dust is as useful as the stories claim, why didn't they try to use it against the undead horde to at least slow them down," Storm Wing replied. Faust brought a hoof to her face and growled low in her throat.
"They've helped us when we needed it," she remarked. Storm Wing scoffed in response.
"Yes, I'm aware of their help against the Smooze. But from what is recorded they barely tried to help us and if not for a little coaxing would have left all of us to our fate so long as they were safe," he replied. "I hardly consider such an isolationist tribe a viable ally in the long run," he added. "Although to be fair," he began with a sigh, "we only really meant to scare them away from the Spell Storm, it just got out of our control," he admitted. Faust started to paw at the ground and clenched her jaw. Blood Stone backed up towards the doors to the throne room, his eyes wide as he saw an eerie shadow rise over the mare.
"And that is supposed to make it okay?" she questioned, "You think trying to run those ponies out of their home was perfectly fine?" she questioned. She then stood up, the black ink traveled alongside her and swirled around her body. "You think that it's okay that your stupidity probably killed all those poor ponies, or possibly did something even worse to them!?" she demanded. Storm Wing backed away as she stalked forward with narrowed eyes trained on him.
"Milady please calm down, you're not thinking rationally," Blood Stone cried. Faust's attention snapped to the unicorn who took a step back as she glared at him.
"Calm down?" she demanded furiously. "You destroyed and poisoned my home, you've hurt my friends, and you expect me to calm down?!" she demanded incredulously. She hissed and narrowed her eyes onto him dangerously. "All I've ever done was try to protect you ponies. I tried to teach you the difference between right and wrong. I thought I showed you ponies better than to do something like this to any one," she growled then chuckled bitterly, "but apparently not," she murmured quietly. She paused and raised her hooves to her eyes. "But you hurt so many ponies and for such petty reasons," she mumbled to herself.
"Milady please listen to me," Blood Stone began. "You're clearly hysterical and something," he began only for Faust's eyes to snap open.
"Would you just shut up?!" she roared at him. A wave of crimson magic roaring from her to knock both ponies back. They grunted and then looked up as Faust took slow steady breaths to try and calm down. Storm Wing and Blood Stone looked on fearfully as pulses of crimson magic began to roll off of her body. The ink from her symbol slowly consuming her. "I just... I can't take anymore of this," she mumbled and closed her eyes tightly, "All my friends are gone, my home is lost, and yet I'm still here, I'm always still here," she murmured with a half sob and covered her face with her hooves.
"M-milady," Blood Stone whispered. "I'm... how can I say," he began only for her to silence him with her magic. She panted heavily and leveled teary eyes on both of the ponies.
"I hate being alone," she mumbled brokenly, "I was all alone in the beginning, no pony ever wanted me around," she continued. She slowly trudged forward, her wings lowered and eyes downcast. "It wasn't until I came here, found Majesty, that I was ever accepted by other ponies, even as broken as I used to be and I was happy," she continued. She then stopped, and glared at the two ponies before her heatedly. "But now... now I think I'd rather just be alone again," she stated and then flared her wings, "I'd rather be all alone," she declared and then glared at the two ponies. The crimson stone in her saddlebags pulsed with power and vial intent, but she ignored it.
She ignored its call for blood and violence. She wanted no part of these ponies. She wanted nothing from them.
"I want you and all your ponies to get out of my tower," she growled as her eyes turned crimson, "get out of my valley," she continued as she stalked forward and her coat turned fully black, "get out of my kingdom," she continued as her symbol appeared to have an empty inkwell, "and never return!" she finished with a snarl. Her mane and tail both turned a deep blue black and slowly lengthened until it pooled below and around her and looked like spilled ink. "That's all I want from any of you," she whispered eerily, "just go away, and leave me ALONE!" she screamed...
"Faust are you alright?" Twilight suddenly questioned. The sound of her voice broke the ancient mare from her worried thoughts and troubled memories. The clop of hooves echoed in the tower as they continued on their trek. Faust felt the memories and then felt her eyes darken. 'Don't think about it,' she told herself. 'Don't ever think about it,' she thought sternly. She would much rather never deal with those memories ever again. She would honestly rather that those memories didn't even exist. She shook her head of such thoughts and glanced at Twilight from the corner of her eye.
"I'm fine," she stated softly. Even she knew she didn't sound fine. But she hoped that they would drop it all the same. 'Don't think about it,' she told herself once more, "don't ever think about it," she continued. She lowered her head enough for her bangs to shadow her eyes as she continued down into the depths of the Tower. A slow trail of tears fell as she splayed her ears back. 'Just don't think about it, and forget, just like last time, just forget,' her thoughts continued to command her... but unfortunately for her, some memories couldn't be escaped, or ever be forgotten.
TBC...
Stats
Page generated in 0.032 seconds
Total duration
1,110 users online
1,692,656 hits today, 1,822,946 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
To the past...
That was a good chapter
thanks for the update!!
;_; Oh...Faust...
More?
6687603 Indeed...
6688029 No problem, I feel like I should try to update more often.
6688029 Not all of her stories are happy.
6688936 More will come soon enough. I hope.
6689441 Can't tell if sarcastic or not. But in either case, note that there is 'adventure' in tags.
Wonderful past story! I hope in the end the land gets healed and ponies come back to live in again.
Yes more past chapters please!
I don't think she needed an evil stone to kick out a BUNCH OF CRAZY FANATIC PONIES THAT ATACKED WITHOUT PROVOCATION AND EXTERMINATED A WHOLE RACE OR WORSE!
THEY ALSO DISOBEYED HER ORDERS AND USED FORBIDEN MAGIC!
And this is why preemptive strikes are bad, m'kay?
6693864 At least when you lack very crucial information it is, or when you assume its an enemy, never assume, it always leads to bad things.
I find the mental image of Faust wearing battle armor really cool. She is potentially more powerful then Celestia and it would be really cool to see her exercise it more.
6696145 She's been wearing the same Brass Armor since they dealt with the Necronomicon, she just usually tends to refer to it as 'regalia' because it's light armor. Her guards, most of whom were seen and / or mentioned in this chapter, were the ones who actually had it forged for her.
6696145 Wait, I think I meant her armor was bronze... meh, I sometimes confuse the two.
While banishing all of them was a bit rash, I can't blame her. They attacked an innocent people for spotty reasons using forbidden methods. 'They didn't offer to help use enough'. And they promptly lost control of said methods... *groans* It's just... if she was less rash and emotional (again, for totally understandable reasons) she could have cleaned house rather than clear house.
Nice work.
Oh God, the idea of a Nightmare Faust is absolutely terrifying. How is one even supposed to stop her?
6712547
Didn't they also poison the valley as well making it unlivable for other ponies, she did say that storm spell was on par with the smooze also the did kinda genocide the flutter ponies a bit.