With the plunderseed vines dispatched by the Tree of Harmony, thus releasing Celestia and Luna from their grasp, Twilight Sparkle hurried over to them and drew both into a hug while her friends looked on, glad that they were safe.
"We know how difficult it must have been for you to give up the Elements," said Celestia to Twilight Sparkle. "It took great—"
"What's with all the racket?" An unknown, female voice interjected.
Everyone looked around for the mystery speaker. Twilight Sparkle was the first to spot her as a pony stepped out of the Tree of Harmony, as if she or it were immaterial. They were large, somewhere around Celestia's size, with a white coat, red hair and blue eyes. What really stood out as she paused to cover her mouth and yawn, however, was the fact that she was an alicorn.
There were several gasps at the sight of her, and a few stunned comments. Celestial was the first to recover enough to speak, who turned to face the unknown alicorn with an expression of awe. "Are you... Faust?"
The name brought another round of shock, and prompted Twilight Sparkle to say, "But isn't she just a myth? Hippological evidence has proven that we're a product of evolution, not creation."
"If that's what you want to call me," the alicorn unconcernedly replied, before turning her attention to Twilight Sparkle. "And if you think you're a product of evolution, then you've probably fallen for one of John's pranks."
"Wha...?" Came Twilight Sparkle's baffled reply.
At the same time, Rainbow Dash flew over to "Faust" and demanded, "What do you mean, 'if that's what you want to call me?' Are you Faust or aren't you?"
The pony being questioned regarded Rainbow Dash and evenly responded, "Well, if it really matters to you, you can call me 'Ranma.' But it's fine if you use 'Faust', 'cause that's what everyone kept calling me after I transformed them into ponies."
Rainbow Dash looked at her with disbelief, and she wasn't the only one, but it was Applejack who stepped forward and remarked, "You can't expect us to believe that you created ponies."
Ranma shrugged her shoulders. "I don't care whether you do or not. I'd rather know why you're here."
Pinkie Pie decided to unhelpfully insert herself into the conversation. "Don't you mean 'we?'" She suddenly gasped in an exaggerated fashion. "Or does that mean you figured out why you're here!?"
"Pinkie, dear," Rarity began, as she leveled a flat stare toward her friend, "it wasn't an existential question."
For the sake of advancing to a subject of greater interest, without being rude, Twilight Sparkle cleared her throat before answering Ranma's question. "There were these vines that had abducted the princesses," she gestured to each one in turn, "Celestia and Luna, and had overrun Ponyville from the Everfree Forest. I drank a potion to gain more insight into what was happening, which is how I learned about the Tree of Harmony." She pointed at said tree. "And it destroyed the vines when we returned the Elements of Harmony to it."
Ranma looked at the tree behind her, as if noticing it for the first time, and absently said, "I think I remember seeing this in a dream..." She proceeded to remove one of the "fruits" from the Tree of Harmony, which happened to be the element of generosity, and looked it over out of curiosity before taking a bite out of it.
Rarity fainted on the spot while everyone else watched in stunned, open-mouthed disbelief and horror, to the extent that Spike didn't have the presence of mind to catch Rarity, or immediately go to her side after her collapse. If not for the fact that the Elements of Harmony had once been restored despite being utterly shattered, they probably would have panicked or gotten a lot more angry.
Noticing their reaction, Ranma paused to swallow before asking, "What?"
Twilight Sparkle opened and closed her mouth several times before anything came out of it. "You... You... You just took a bite out of the element of generosity!"
Ranma straightened out her mane, because it had been blown back by the force of Twilight Sparkle's shout. "Generosity?" She looked at the other "fruit" on the tree and took note of their number. "Hold on... Are the others kindness, loyalty, cheer, honesty and friendship?"
Since Twilight Sparkle was still catching her breath, Celestia decided to answer and keep things civil, finding something curious about the situation. "There are a few discrepancies, but yes: those are the Elements of Harmony."
Turning about to face the tree, Ranma looked over it carefully, as vague, fleeting moments from memories bubbled to the surface of her mind. "I think I had a dream about this, too..."
Celestia and Luna shared a look, before the latter asked, "Did you create the Tree of Harmony, perchance?"
"...It's possible," Ranma eventually conceded, her gaze still on the tree as she set the element of generosity down. "One of the requirements that I expected of the people, who willingly agreed to become ponies, was to live by the six tenets of harmony — the Elements of Harmony, as you call them."
"There is no known record of that occurring," Celestia informed her. "What I know for certain is the name, "Faust", and her appearance, which has been consistent among all creatures. Beyond that, ponies tend to favor the idea that Faust created ponykind, while other creatures mostly believe that she was an evil that had been defeated and cast into a place like Tartarus."
Ranma snorted at that last part and turned away from the Tree of Harmony. "Yeah, they wish." She shook her head and changed the subject. "Well, I'm awake, so I might as well see how the world's doing. Hopefully things have improved since I went to sleep however-long-ago."
"Before you do," Luna spoke up, "would you be opposed to concealing either your horn or wings? I don't know if your appearance is more than superficial, but it has been the trend for alicorns to become royalty, and adding another one to that number — especially so soon — is bound to create some... issues."
"Particularly if you really are Faust," Celestia added.
Staring at them blankly, Ranma inquired, "What's an alicorn?"
"That's what you are, silly!" Pinkie Pie announced after she appeared beside Ranma out of nowhere, who wasn't affected by said appearance. She proceeded to lift up one of her forelegs by the hoof and said, "Alicorns have the traits of an Earth Pony," she pulled out a wing and ran a hoof through the feathers like they were harp strings, "Pegasus," then hopped onto the back of her head and reached around the horn to part the mane in front of it, "and Unicorn!"
Ranma reached up, grabbed Pinkie Pie by the scruff of her neck, then set her on the ground and gave her a few pats on the head, a bit amused by her antics. "So," she began, addressing the three alicorns before her, "you guys are royalty, huh? And two of you are princesses, right?"
"Hey!" Rainbow Dash interjected, in defense of her friend. "Twilight's a princess, too!"
"You're all princesses, then," Ranma acknowledged, not sparing the pegasus a glance. "Is the government a monarchy, then? Do ponies like being ruled by kings and queens now?"
Realizing that the tree-borne alicorn might have actually been asleep for a very long time, and likely under the sway of outdated notions as a result, Twilight Sparkle decided to take the questions seriously and see how she reacted to the answers. "Actually, kings and queens have been stigmatized as far back as our history has been documented. Whenever somepony claims such a title, they usually try to rule by force and don't care about those that they intend to rule over."
"Nice to know that hasn't changed," Ranma muttered.
Twilight Sparkle took a second to gather her thoughts, and to not allow herself to be distracted by Ranma's comment. "As for our government... We still use the term 'kingdom' to describe Equestria, but now nopony thinks of a king when it's used. Ever since Celestia and Luna became alicorns over a thousand years ago, who were given rule of the kingdom by the nobility shortly thereafter, there hasn't been any inheritance of power through blood, or transference by way of election or contest. As it stands right now, while you could technically call our government a diarchy, because the princesses hold most of the power, during the past few hundred years Princess Celestia has been ceding a lot of domestic control to representatives who are elected to serve the needs and interests of the commonpony."
After mulling over all of that information, Ranma determined to herself aloud, "I guess I won't know if that's a good thing or not until I've looked into it myself."
Twilight Sparkle opened her mouth to argue, but Celestia placed a calming hoof upon her shoulder and shook her head when she looked up at her.
"That said," Ranma went on, her eyes narrowing as they scrutinized the princesses, "I'll hide the fact that I'm an alicorn for now, but I have a lot of questions and I'm going to expect your cooperation in general." Seeing the beginnings of several objections, though none from the princesses, she added, "This is nothing against you personally. I've had the misfortune of dealing with a lot of world leaders — and their underlings — in the past, and they tended to be snakes, so..."
"We understand," Celestia spoke for the three princesses. "I have no issue if your concern lies with the well-being of everypony, as that's my concern as well."
Ranma regarded Celestia with a critical eye for a moment, then relaxed her expression before lighting up her horn. Her body began to glow soon after, and brightened until she was a silhouette of light, which quickly shifted into a smaller, hornless form. When the light faded away, she looked like an average adult mare in size; whether or not she was an average pegasus, though, remained to be seen.
"It's been a while since I've been this small," she said to no one in particular as she looked herself over, before she returned her attention to the princesses. "Before we go, let me limber up first. I'm feeling rather stiff after sleeping for... at least a thousand years, it sounds like."
Celestia nodded her assent.
"Oh," Ranma voiced, as she turned to face the Tree of Harmony again, "and before I forget..."
She extended a glowing wing toward the element of generosity, which was surrounded by a matching glow as it was guided back into the tree. Along the way, much to the relief of those who paid more attention to it than the wing that was being used like a horn, the element became whole again when the missing portion appeared to grow back in.
"There," she said, with a measure of satisfaction.
"How did you do that?" Asked Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash with the same intensity, while an interested Fluttershy, Celestia and Luna looked on intently.
Ranma looked at them questioningly. "Do what?"
"Use your wing to levitate something!" Came Rainbow Dash's impatient reply.
Confused, Ranma regarded the expression of each pony who had a pair of wings before inquiring, "None of you can do that?" When all of them answered in the negative, either verbally or with a shake of the head, she frowned. "Let me check something..."
The whole of her eyes lit up with mystical energy, which enhanced her perception of magic, and then she proceeded to shift her gaze from one pony to the next. With each successive peer into a pony's magical condition, her frown faded, although it wasn't replaced by anything that could be considered positive. Of them all, her gaze had remained on Pinkie Pie the longest, which was when her mouth had quirked into a small, short-lived smile.
"Well," she began, making her disappointment apparent in her voice and expression, "as far as I can tell, there's nothing preventing any of you from projecting the magic from your wings to levitate objects. It's simply a skill that none of you have attained through training."
She was met with blank stares and disbelief. This included the usually-more-composed among the ponies, Celestia and Luna, who had much more experience and knowledge than the others in their group combined, because even they had no idea that such a thing was possible — outside of a dream, at any rate.
"One of you has reached an acceptable level of skill with their respective abilities, though," she went on, as her attention fell upon the pony who was closest to her. "What's your name, anyway?"
"I'm Pinkie Pie!" Said pony animatedly responded, as she excitedly hopped in place.
Ranma cocked her head. "That sounds like a pony name. Are they popular now?"
"Of course, silly!" Came Pinkie Pie's amused reply.
Everyone else, sans Spike and Rarity, because the former was preoccupied with the other's recovery, exchanged confused glances. It was Applejack who finally asked, "Aren't all names we use pony names?"
"Interesting," was Ranma's response to that, which seemed like a non sequitur to all but the princesses, who were of a mind to closely examine all of the information from a pony who might actually be from the distant past and responsible for the existence of ponykind. "Now, I don't know about any of you guys, but I think I've been in here long enough."
With that said, she began to walk toward the cave's exit, intent on getting some sunlight and having more space for her workout. The others were slow to follow after she passed them by, because varying things weighed on their minds, but Twilight Sparkle set her jaw and made the first move, determined — unable to help herself, really — to find out everything that she could and whether or not it was the truth.
Before Twilight Sparkle could ask her first question, she heard Ranma calmly inquire, "Why is the sky divided between night and day," while staring up at the sun and moon.
"I'm not sure how that happened," Celestia answered, whose longer strides had allowed her to catch up with Twilight Sparkle, "but we shall correct it." She came to a stop and regarded her sister, who reached her side a second later. "Are you ready, sister?"
Luna simply nodded her head in reply, and with that they both closed their eyes and lit up their horns. Seconds later, the moon was below the horizon while the sun was a bit above it, indicating that it was early in the morning.
"Huh," Ranma voiced after the display, before turning her attention to the two sisters. "So, is this a geocentric solar system instead of a heliocentric one now?"
Celestia nodded her head. "It began a few generations before my sister and I were born. One day the sun and moon ceased to behave in the same, predictable way, until the world stopped rotating entirely. Efforts to get it moving again failed, so most adult unicorns had to reserve their magic solely for the task of controlling the sun and moon each day, before we were able to handle the responsibility ourselves. There have been attempts to automate the system again, but they have all failed."
Ranma said nothing, expression thoughtful as she took a moment to consider the details of what she had learned. "And how did that affect the unicorns, once only a portion of them were free to use their magic as they wished?"
The three princesses, who happened to be the only ones who had any knowledge of that not-well-documented time in history, looked between each other, trying to recall anything notable that had happened to the unicorns as a consequence of there being so many of them needed to control the sun and moon. Eventually, Luna asked the other two, "Wasn't that about the time when the earth and pegasus ponies won their freedom from the unicorns?"
Twilight Sparkle's face lit up as she recalled that historical event herself. "That's right! Because there weren't enough unicorns to," she paused, her enthusiasm snuffed out when she realized what she was about to say, "manage all of their slaves, many earth and pegasus ponies escaped, then rallied and fought to free the rest."
Satisfied by what she heard, Ranma remarked, "Sounds like it was a good thing that the sun and moon needed to be moved manually."
As she began to do her warm-up stretches, both the princesses and the group of ponies standing in front of the cave's mouth were in silent agreement. Only Luna and Celestia shared a look, catching the hint that what had stopped the planet's rotation may have been engineered by someone, for the sake of the earth and pegasus ponies.
Seeing her opportunity in the ensuing lull, Twilight Sparkle asked, "Can I ask you questions about yourself and the past? Because if you're really Faust... I mean, do you realize how significant that would be?"
"Sure; go ahead," Ranma replied unconcernedly, clearly not sharing the idea that it was a big deal.
The lack of care threw Twilight Sparkle off for a second. "Okay, um... Why did ponies call you Faust if your birth name is Ranma?"
"To put it simply," Ranma began, as she flexed her wings, "it was because many thought they would be making a deal with the devil if they agreed to follow my ways and become ponies, which I had advertised as being better than the alternative." Seeing the question coming, she added, "A deal with the devil is also known as a Faustian bargain, which refers to a story where a guy with the last name of Faust gives his soul to the devil in exchange for selfish desires."
That raised a couple of questions, and it took a few seconds for Twilight Sparkle to decide on the one that might also answer another. "What was the alternative to becoming ponies?"
"All kinds of things," Ranma replied, who had finished her stretching and prepared for one of her usual morning routines. "I didn't handle that part personally, but I made sure that the other creatures wouldn't be a punishment or chosen out of meanness; they just wouldn't be as special as ponies. I thought a lot of them were cool, personally."
Although Twilight Sparkle was relieved to know that Ranma hadn't been cruel, if she really had created at least some of the other sapient creatures that she knew about, what she had learned inspired even more questions than last time. Before she could choose one to ask, however, Rainbow Dash flew over her head and stopped near Ranma, who had begun to fight imaginary opponents after she had finished talking.
"Why are you shadow boxing?" Rainbow Dash asked, displaying a mixture of confusion, curiosity and annoyance. "I thought you were just going to stretch."
"It's a kata, actually," Ranma corrected, who continued to perform said kata. "And this is how I usually get my day started, if I don't have a sparring partner."
Rainbow Dash perked up at that. "Watching a conversation is boring, so can we spar?"
"Do you know any martial arts?" Ranma queried without stopping or glancing at the pegasus.
With forelegs akimbo, Rainbow Dash confidently declared, "I might know a thing or two."
"Alright," Ranma allowed, with a slight smile. "Dive in when you're ready, and do your best to lay a hoof on me."
"Uh..." Twilight Sparkle voiced at this turn of events, not knowing what to say about having her questioning derailed, and seeing the rest of her friends joining them for an unobstructed view of the upcoming show.
"You have any more questions, princess?" Ranma asked her, having noticed her reaction. "I can chat and spar at the same time."
Rainbow Dash appeared to be affronted by that a bit, so she attacked suddenly, hoping to either win quickly and prove that she shouldn't have been underestimated, or impress upon her that she was good enough to be taken seriously. Unfortunately, her initial strike missed by a few millimeters, but it was close enough to give her hope of an eventual victory.
Twilight Sparkle waited for a few seconds, unsure if she should divide Ranma's attention because of Rainbow Dash's concerted effort to make physical contact, before deciding to pick up where she had left off. "So... What creatures did you transform, and why did you transform them?"
Ranma didn't reply immediately, and Twilight Sparkle couldn't tell if it was due to the question or from paying attention to her sparring partner. When she did, her voice was measured and betrayed no emotion. "I transformed humans." There was a pause. "All seven billion of them." There were some gasps and expressions of disbelief at the number. "It wasn't a part of my plan, originally. After I got more acquainted with the state of the world and how it worked, however, I realized that I would need to do something more drastic to achieve the changes that I wanted..."
"What did the humans do to you or other ponies, for you to transform them all?" Twilight Sparkle pressed onward, seeing as Ranma had showed no trouble talking while avoiding Rainbow Dash.
After a brief chuckle, Ranma corrected, "There weren't any ponies aside from me, at the time. The only sapient species on the planet were humans."
Even Rainbow Dash, who had become laser-focused on her goal, had to pause after hearing such a claim. With her forelegs crossed, she responded to it before anyone else could. "Hold on. Are you saying you're responsible for the existence of every intelligent creature?"
"And what about yourself?" Rarity tacked on, who felt a little vindictive after what had happened earlier. "How did you come to be the only pony on the planet, much less one capable of transforming so many creatures permanently?"
There were a number of reactions that were imagined by those present, to questions that were blatantly skeptical, but none expected Ranma to become deathly somber. "That's a bit of a story... One I better start at the beginning of."
At Celestia's suggestion, the group began their trek to Ponyville while Ranma related her story.
"To give you guys some context," Ranma began, who walked alongside the princesses at the center of their procession, "there were around two hundred countries before I changed everything, and many more divisions among the people themselves. Human history was fraught with conflict, which inevitably led to the development of a powerful weapon that could instantly kill millions of people if it was used on a major city, then more in the fallout."
There were several horrified gasps, and Twilight Sparkle regarded her with wide eyes as she whispered, "M-millions?"
Ranma nodded her head, her expression inscrutable while her attention remained on the forest path ahead, looking beyond the ponies leading the group. "These weapons were proliferated, largely between two countries, but only two were ever used against people. They were so powerful that people worried about what would happen if these weapons were exchanged in a war in general, and there was also the risk that it would lead to mutually-assured destruction if such an exchange were to happen, but there were various reasons for why a country would want them."
"There was always the fear that these weapons would be used against people again," she continued, "and there were efforts to keep them out of the hands of real or perceived threats. Unfortunately..." Her eyes closed, and the two older princesses could easily imagine that she was recalling memories behind her eyelids. "The day came when the third weapon was used to kill people. It was used against one of the largest cities in the world, the one where I lived. Millions died. I lost my family and friends, mostly in the aftermath. I almost didn't make it, myself."
She stopped when she felt a hoof rest on her withers, then looked up at Celestia, whose expression conveyed that she didn't need to continue if it was too painful. Looking around, she saw that the others had stopped as well, and seemed to be giving her the benefit of the doubt regarding such a terrible experience, which wasn't something that any decent person would lie about. She also noticed that Pinkie Pie's mane and tail had gone straight and limp instead of curly and bouncy.
"Don't worry about me," she assured them. "It was a long time ago."
"Anyway," she picked up where she left off, once they were moving again, "as you can imagine, it was very traumatic. There was death and destruction all around us, and it wasn't long before we knew that our own days were numbered. I was a mess, watching the people I cared about die, wondering why it happened, and what I should do about it."
She raised her head and looked up at the canopy. "It wasn't until the passing of my fiancée that my attention turned outward, and my thoughts darker — I wanted revenge. Of course, my first obstacle was surviving long enough to get it. I'd already learned that modern medicine couldn't save me, and I knew that my constitution did more to ignore my deteriorating health than prolong my life, so I looked for a magical solution."
"I didn't have time to learn about — and hunt down — something that may or may not be located where it's said to be," she went on, recalling that fateful decision, "and hope that they did what they claimed to do, so I sought a source of magic that I knew the location of and what it did, even if I didn't know if it could help me: a place called Jusenkyo."
She paused, in case someone wanted to ask the question that she planned to answer anyway, but her audience remained silent and solemn. "For a long time, I thought it was just a place where people got cursed to turn into things with cold water if they fell into a spring, but it was more complex than that. It wasn't even water, like I had first thought: rather, it was an immense reservoir of condensed magic that — somehow — acquired a transformative nature. I think it was even capable of some form of manipulation, able to get at least some people to fall into springs that were appropriate for them, although I don't think it was intelligent. Maybe the fact that it had once been used as a training ground had something to do with it."
"Regardless," she said, getting herself back on track, "I went there for the sake of transformation: not just for the purpose of trying to save my life, but so I could change the world afterward. Unexpectedly, the magic of Jusenkyo responded to my strong desire to accept and impose change. It was more a feeling than anything, overwhelming and primal, yet — on some level — I understood it. I... embraced it."
She looked about herself, to gauge everyone's reaction as she stated, "That was when I became an alicorn, as you call it."
There was a moment of silence before Twilight Sparkle said, "That's—"
"Totally unbelievable?" Rainbow Dash interjected, which earned her a glare from the pony she interrupted.
"Like I said before," Ranma addressed the pegasus, "I don't care if you believe me or not. All that matters to me is the state of the world and its inhabitants, and whether I'll have to do anything drastic to them again."
Twilight Sparkle, with an undercurrent of unease, curiously asked, "Drastic... how?"
"I'll get to that," Ranma evenly informed her. "Now, between the new body and powers, I couldn't rush off to get my revenge. I had to relearn how to walk, figure out how my wings and horn worked, and come to terms with being a pony. By the time I had all that sorted out, I'd had plenty of time to think and cool down... Not so much that I didn't want revenge, but enough to be more prudent and constructive about it."
"You see," she began to explain, "the country that carried out the attack was ruled by a dictator who cared more about his power and military than his people. I'll spare you the details on their well-being and how they were treated, but it was pretty bad for millions of people. On top of that, a number of countries couldn't act to resolve what had happened because another country might get involved in defense of this country, which would likely escalate the situation." A bit of anger slipped into her voice when she added, "And it didn't help when they claimed that the launch of the weapon, which was supposedly a test, had been meant to land in the ocean far away — that it was an accident."
She took a few seconds to reel her anger back in before she went on. "To make a long story short: I transformed the leader and his followers into harmless creatures, along with the portion of the military that retaliated and all those running the internment camps, then transformed every weapon I could find, and other things that weren't important, into food for the people, until someone more capable got there and took care of things." She shook her head. "Things got complicated after the situation there was stabilized. I had to fend off a couple attacks, partially stemming from the assumption that the language I spoke meant that I had acted on behalf of my country, and the world leaders didn't care much for the alluded, unspecified threat should my demands not be met."
"What kind of demands did you levy?" Luna inquired, before someone else could say something rash. "And what were you threatening to do?"
"I just wanted very specific components of that weapon to be transformed into something else," Ranma answered, making it sound like it was simple and sensible, "so it couldn't be made anymore. And I wanted everyone to resolve their differences and stop killing each other." She looked up at the canopy, which had thinned out since the last time she had looked, before casually adding, "Then I might have said that they'd be better off if they listened to my demands."
With the exception of Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, the former pronking along and the latter being her usual reserved self, everyone regarded her as if she'd done something monumentally stupid. Celestia found her words first, who diplomatically observed, "Perhaps not the wisest course of action."
"Well, yeah," Ranma easily agreed. "I know that now. But I was only seventeen at the time, had no experience with politics, and tended to settle matters with martial arts. Despite that, I tried to reason with the world leaders, but most either had something against me and wouldn't talk about anything of real substance, played games, or were just outright hostile." She sighed wearily, as if just thinking about it was a drain on her energy. "Eventually, I got tired of it all. The world was a mess, lacking in virtues and rife with greed and self-serving behavior. So, I decided that we needed to start over."
"And that's when ya transformed that one species into a bunch o' others?" Applejack questioned, her brow furrowed.
Ranma shook her head. "Not right away. I recognized that I wasn't knowledgeable enough about certain things to accomplish everything that I wanted to do on my own, but I didn't know who to go to for help. So, I figured out how to use my magic to perform divination, in order to find someone dependable and trustworthy. That's how I met John, who I had to transform for the job."
"You've mentioned that individual before..." Twilight Sparkle thoughtfully noted. "Who is that?"
"John?" Came Ranma's rhetorical response, her attention turning a bit inward. "I can sense that he's nearby, so you can meet him and find out for yourself if you want."
Rarity skeptically asked, "Really? What does this John look like?"
If the skepticism bothered her, Ranma didn't show it as she replied, "Kind of like a Chinese dragon, except all of his limbs are from different animals, same as with his wings and horns, and he has the neck of a donkey and the head of a goat." When everyone stopped walking and most stared at her with a mixture of disbelief and apprehension, she quizzically prompted, "What?"
"Um," Fluttershy quietly, hesitantly began, "do you mean... Discord?"
Ranma looked at her, confused. "Who?"
"Me!" A familiar voice exclaimed.
A pair of nearby trees were moved aside from root to crown, revealing a toilet with rays of sunlight streaming out from behind it in a grand display. Discord proceeded to slowly rise out of the bowl, spinning around as if he were being flushed, until the toilet gurgled and he was spat out. He spun, flipped, got flashed by a camera bulb as he did a cheesecake pose, ran upside down, did the Cossack dance, performed a layback spin, filed his taxes, hopped through a spinning lasso both ways, mimed being stuck behind a wall, hit a home run, appraised a gem with a loupe, tap-danced on conga drums, flossed—
"Oh, hell no," Ranma suddenly objected, because of that final move. "Disqualified!"
Discord screeched to a halt, literally, and looked dismayed. "But flossing is an important part of diving hygiene!"
Seeing this exchange, and the familiarity between the two involved, rendered most of the audience silent as they contemplated the possibility that this was evidence of Ranma telling the truth, while Pinkie Pie booed and hissed at the "judge's" call. Of course, between her curiosity and the significance of Faust possibly being real, Twilight Sparkle couldn't help asking, "You two know each other?"
With an actual Cheshire Cat grin on his face, Discord was only too delighted to say, "Oh, Faust and I go waaaaaay back."
While most of everyone else was too stunned to speak, Ranma glanced up at Discord with a cocked eyebrow. "You're going by 'Discord', huh?"
Discord shrugged his shoulders. "Well, 'John' wasn't exactly a fitting name for what I do. And I didn't want to be confused with my throne, or vice versa."
"Right," Ranma simply accepted.
Twilight Sparkle, who was both excited and afraid of what she would learn, stepped toward them and tried to keep her voice steady as she asked, "This isn't some kind of elaborate prank, is it?"
"I just woke up," replied Ranma, not knowing exactly what "this" was referring to. She returned her gaze to Discord. "So, is it?"
Discord stroked his beard as he hummed and feigned a thoughtful expression. "An elaborate plot, perhaps."
Curious, Ranma prompted him to continue by voicing, "Oh?"
"Well," Discord somberly began, as he snapped a wing chair into existence, which he reclined upon, along with a bubble-blowing pipe, velvet smoking jacket, fuzzy slippers, and an ottoman to prop his feet on, "I'm sad to report that your plan failed. The diamond dogs, dragons, yaks, griffons and portions of other species — that they could convince to help them — warred against the ponies about three decades after you went to sleep." He paused to blow some bubbles. "Between that and bad apple syndrome taking hold, in addition to some ambitious ponies convincing the unhappy population that you abandoned them and were thus the one to blame for their woes, it only took a few generations for them to devolve back to their old ways, then worse as tyranny and racial supremacy became prominent."
Expression sorrowful and eyes downcast, Ranma quietly said, "I see..."
"Hold up," Applejack spoke up, who appeared ready to be angry as she scrutinized the two, "if that really happened, then why didn't you stop it?"
With a weary sigh, Ranma explained, "Because I wasn't willing to go that far to control them. Humankind had thousands of years to figure out how to live peacefully, and I wasn't going to achieve the dream of who knows how many no-good people by becoming the absolute ruler of everyone, governing their thoughts and actions to suit my own vision of how things should be."
"I'm also not a leader, deity or mother figure," she went on, her steely gaze sweeping over her audience. "So, the best alternative that I could think of was to change things up, more or less give them a fresh start, offer the option to follow my value system, then let them decide their fate. Should that turn out poorly, I gave this guy," she gestured to Discord, who waved at everyone excitedly, "permission to figure out where the harmony was between our weaknesses and strengths and try to influence events to achieve it."
Most stared at Discord incredulously, unable to imagine him doing anything for the sake of harmony, much less before his supposed reformation. Twilight Sparkle spoke for most present when she uncertainly said, "That can't be true... Can it?"
The doubters were surprised when Celestia answered instead of Discord or Ranma, while she and Luna both regarded the latter with strange expressions. "It is true... And I'm convinced that this is — indeed — Faust."
"What do you mean?" Came Twilight Sparkle's confused response, who was looking a bit lost. "How...?"
Celestia and Luna shared a look, wondering how best to phrase what needed to be said, but Discord didn't have the same compunction to speak prudently, who suddenly appeared next Twilight Sparkle and looped an arm over her withers. "I've been in cahoots with dear ol' Celestia and Luna since the time before they were princesses. Why, I practically raised them!"
That elicited many exclamations of, "What," and, "No way!"
Luna gave Discord a half-lidded stare and scoffed, "Hardly. You give yourself far more credit than you deserve. By my measure you were little better than Star Swirl the Bearded."
"...You were raised by Star Swirl the Bearded, too?" Twilight Sparkle muttered absently, a faraway look on her face as she swayed on her hooves.
With a huff, Discord stood up straight and set his arms akimbo. "Excuse me? I've never heard any complaints from you two about how you turned out."
Sighing, Celestia pointed out, "That's because you weren't the one who—"
Discord snapped his fingers and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared, the draconequus was replaced by a grey and white-mottled unicorn mare, one whom Ranma noticed bore a familiar candy bar on her flank, who smirked and exclaimed, "Surprise!"
Initially shocked to see the nanny from their youth, who had taken care of them in nearly all ways outside of their magical studies, until they were on the cusp of becoming mares, Celestia and Luna had to rein in a great many emotions that her appearance evoked in them, being that she had practically been a mother to them until her disappearance. Eventually, with a stomp of her hoof, Luna unhappily declared, "Jest not about our beloved Milky Way!"
"Yes," Celestia agreed with a frown. "It isn't funny."
Seeing Discord's ears and face fall, Ranma spoke up to get the discussion back on track and head off any potential drama. "So, what did you do to get things on the right track, aside from making the unicorns redirect most of their magic resources to move the sun and moon?"
With another poof of smoke Discord returned to his usual appearance, although he wasn't as animated as before. "Oh, a little nudge here, a little nudge there... Got the right ponies close to the ruling class, hoping that they would influence the leaders enough to ward away the wendigos, thus showing the importance of friendship and unity from the top down — which was a close thing. Then I made sure that the flag of the new nation would feature two alicorns, so the symbolism would lead them to accepting Celestia and Luna with open arms once they made an appearance and ol' Swirly suggested that they should rule Equestria."
"...So when you took over Equestria, it was just so they could defeat you and cement their worthiness after everypony else failed," Twilight Sparkle hollowly deduced, who had collapsed upon her haunches while staring into the middle distance.
Luna nodded her head. "It is as you say."
"And you've been the rulers of this Equestria for at least a thousand years," Ranma noted, then returned her attention to Discord and inquired, "Should I take that to mean your plan was a success, then?"
Discord shook his head before pointedly casting his gaze toward Twilight Sparkle. "Those two helped to pave the way for the pony that will bring harmony to the world for a period of time that's too long for me to divine the span of, lest I drive myself mad." Catching Ranma's look, he shrugged his shoulders and revised what he said. "Well, more mad."
Putting two and two together, Rarity overcame her stun-induced silence and asked, "Are you talking about Twilight?"
"Huh?" Twilight Sparkle responded to her name, as she shook herself out of her stupor.
"Hold on," Rainbow Dash spoke up, an edge to her voice as she caught on to the suggestion that was potentially being made, "you guys aren't saying that you've been manipulating Twilight, are you?"
Ranma regarded the alicorns of the sun and moon with narrowed eyes. "You better not have."
"I would never!" Luna vehemently denied, her head reared back.
In contrast to her sister's response, Celestia cast her eyes downward and softly said, "If I have, it was never my intention."
"What do you mean?" Twilight Sparkle entreated, who was clearly ready to excuse whatever her former mentor might have done.
Discord leaned over and placed a pair of lenseless glasses onto her face, ones which functioned as blinders. "She's probably referring to that blind spot of yours."
Annoyed, Twilight Sparkle tossed the eyewear aside and asked, "What blind spot?"
With a sigh, Celestia decided that it would be best if she heard the answer from herself. "You hold me in such high regard that I have to be careful with what I say, because of how it might influence you."
Luna added, "My sister has tried to lower your opinion of her to a healthier level, but it has proven to be difficult to accomplish. After the events of the royal wedding, we were unsure if there was anything more she could do without going too far."
Twilight Sparkle was so embarrassed and conflicted that she couldn't find any words when she opened her mouth, so Ranma opted to spare her being the center of attention by getting more information from the older princesses and Discord. "If you three haven't been molding her into the pony that will bring harmony to the world for a very long time, then what have you been doing?"
Celestia and Luna shared a glance before the former said, "Giving her tests to gauge her competence or character, providing opportunities to build a reputation better and greater than ours, and establishing a foundation for her destiny so there's evidence that anyone can see without divination."
"Like that crystal tree?" Ranma surmised, considering how the mark on Twilight Sparkle's flank was its main feature.
They both nodded, with Luna saying, "That's not to say that we weren't tempted to do more than set examples. We were quite worried about how antisocial Twilight Sparkle was while growing up, and how little she valued friendship. We had to delay her first test so that we could figure out how to alter it, because we had initially planned for her to face Nightmare Moon's trials alone."
Twilight Sparkle's eyes widened and mouth dropped open while her friends expressed their own shock. Her mouth moved a few times before she got out, "That... That was a test?"
With a solemn nod of her head, Celestia replied, "Yes. Each challenge was designed to elicit a quality that matched with an element of harmony, in order for you to witness it and puzzle out the solution, with the hope that you'd realize the value of friendship and be accepted by the final element when you faced your own challenge."
None affected by those words seemed to know what to say in response to that, so Ranma broke the silence by asking Discord, "So, the tree: I vaguely recall a dream about it."
Discord gave her an uneasy smile. "Ah, yes... I didn't want to wake you up, so I discussed my ideas with you in a dream, both to get your approval and work out any changes you deemed necessary."
"Was that all you did while I was dreaming?" Ranma pressed, her brow furrowed with suspicion. Ever since Discord had damaged his mind trying to take in more information than he could handle while making an unambiguous divination, for the sake of finding a path to a brighter future, she'd had to be mindful that he was no longer as predictable or judicious as he used to be.
Sweat began to appear on Discord's brow, which grew legs and ran down his face. "I asked if I could use your DNA to create the alicorns needed for the plan, which you approved."
Ranma stared fiercely into Discord's eyes. "We can't create something from nothing, so you must have used transformation magic... Right?" When Discord began to cower instead of answer, horror began to dawn upon her. "You... You didn't..."
Spike was the first to voice what everyone now realized. "Wait, Faust is actually their mother!?"
Silence followed Spike's exclamation, with Ranma sitting on her haunches, her blank gaze fixated on her belly, and Luna and Celestia staring at their supposed mother with mixed emotions. Most of the others were overwhelmed by what they had learned thus far, while Twilight Sparkle was that and looking back on various recent events, where she began to spot the obvious details that she had failed to notice or scrutinize as part of constructed tests and challenges.
Eventually, Discord cleared his throat and weakly said, "Well, I think I've overstayed my welcome, so-oooo..."
With a snap of his talons, he was gone. Seeing this inspired Twilight Sparkle to seek some time alone, so she could think over everything and figure out how to feel about it all. Before she voiced her intentions, however, she noticed the state that Ranma was in and felt a pang of empathy, since she wasn't the only one who had been affected by someone else's machinations. And while she couldn't begin to understand how it would feel to have children without realizing it, she was willing to bet that Ranma would benefit from having a place where she could recover.
So thinking, she walked over to Ranma and announced, "I'll see you guys later," before teleporting them both to the living space of her home.
Ranma blinked her eyes and looked up, unconcerned but curious. "Where's this?"
"My home," Twilight Sparkle replied, as she stepped out of Ranma's personal space. "It must have been shocking to learn that you have children, and I thought you might like some time and space to yourself..."
Ranma stared for a moment in contemplation before nodding. "Thanks."
With that settled, Twilight Sparkle went downstairs and wrote a note for the front door, saying that she wanted to have some time for herself. Afterward, she sat at the table and sprawled her upper body over it with a sigh.
While she was a bit troubled by the thought of situations being designed with her in mind, what bothered her far more was how blind she had been to them. Only now did she notice how obvious things were, and how they worked out so well that they had to be more than coincidence. The timing and the placement of key items, like the books when Nightmare Moon was an issue, the friendship letters when Discord was making a mess of things, the very relevant potion that Zecora just happened to have, which had very specific requirements for its use that she just happened to meet, and revealed a scene where nopony else was present to witness it or be affected by it beyond the morning being interrupted by night for a few minutes, or Star Swirl the Bearded's supposed book, with the unfinished spell's effect and the result of the finished product. Of course, she couldn't forget the shield that had been used to protect the whole of Canterlot, which was a drastic measure for a seemingly-unknown threat. Even the timing of the Crystal Empire’s reappearance was too convenient to be a coincidence.
Her thoughts were interrupted by her stomach growling ferociously, reminding her that the situation she had woken up to had made her forget about breakfast. Getting up, she took a few steps toward the kitchen before pausing, remembering that she had a guest who might be hungry. Feeling that it would be polite to ask, she redirected herself to the stairs and went back up to her room.
Upon entering, she spared a few seconds to regard Ranma reading one of her books in front of a bookshelf before saying, "Ranma?" When said pony gave her attention, she asked, "Would you like something to eat?"
Ranma shook her head. "I don't need to eat, so you don't have to bother."
"Oh, okay..." Twilight Sparkle replied, finding herself eager to ask questions once again but not wanting to bother her right after offering a place where she wouldn't be bothered.
Seeing her standing there awkwardly, Ranma closed the book and returned it to the shelf. "Did you want to ask anything else? Honestly, I'd rather distract myself from thinking about... You know."
That made Twilight Sparkle curious about her aversion to the subject, but she was just happy to have the opportunity to ask questions of the pony who more-than-likely created ponykind. "Are you kidding? I haven't even scratched the surface of what I want to know!"
So they agreed to sit at the table downstairs, where Twilight Sparkle could eat and drink while she asked her questions, and seated themselves roughly ninety degrees apart from each other so the pony bust wouldn't come between them.
After taking a few bites out of her sandwich, then a sip of orange juice to wash it down, Twilight Sparkle started with, "Okay, so why three types of ponies instead of alicorns?"
"Well," Ranma began, her forelegs crossed on the tabletop, "I did it that way for a couple of reasons. One of them was based on what I knew, which was martial arts, and I came from a school that had two branches: one that specialized in ground-based combat, and another that specialized in mid-air combat. So, I started with the Earth and Pegasus ponies, who were specialized and more or less on opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of what they could do. Then there was the Unicorn, which I envisioned being a jack-of-all-trades but master of none, who could use their imagination to be more flexible and excel in ways that the other two types couldn't."
"Another reason," she continued, "was because I wanted ponies to be interdependent, to discourage them from fighting each other, even though I designed their abilities so they would have effective defenses against each other. Unfortunately," she released a heavy-hearted sigh, "by the sound of it, at some point Earth and Pegasus ponies were no longer reaching the upper limits of their potential, and that was enough for Unicorns to capitalize on the power imbalance."
She paused for a second before admitting, "Lastly, I was worried that I could be overwhelmed if there were enough alicorns banding together. That's not to say that I thought I was perfect and knew how things should be, or that I was the ultimate authority figure, but I wanted the ability to intervene if circumstances clearly got bad enough to require it."
Twilight Sparkle had her head propped up on her hooves while she used a quill to jot down what she was learning onto a scroll nearby, already so absorbed by what she was learning that she had forgotten her meal. "I think I understand." Once she was finished writing, she asked a follow-up question. "So, how did cutie marks factor into that framework?"
"Cutie mark?" Ranma questioned, confused.
"You know," Twilight Sparkle said, sharing in the confusion as she gestured toward her flank, "this?"
Ranma cocked her head and furrowed her brow. "Talent symbols are called cutie marks now?"
"...I guess?" Came Twilight Sparkle's uncertain response. "I mean, you're responsible for them, right?"
"Yeah," Ranma confirmed. "Humans didn't have those. The idea behind it was to have skills available to everyone, so there wouldn't be people unemployed because they weren't qualified for the jobs that are available. All someone has to do is consciously want it, and they'll have access to the skills from the cloud — not the kind you're likely thinking of, based on the look you're giving me — that I put together with magic. The symbol shows which one is being accessed, and what they look like is unique to complement the user."
Intrigued, Twilight Sparkle leaned forward while her quill moved at a noisy pace. "Really? There's no record of cutie marks ever working like that." She blinked her eyes as a stray thought came to mind, because of a recent incident, and she stroked her chin thoughtfully. "Although... That might explain the affect of cutie pox. Nopony could figure out how it could endow ponies with skills they never had."
"Huh," was all that Ranma voiced to express how she felt about the matter. "I guess John felt the need to change it for some reason."
"Cutie marks represent our uniqueness and what we love to do most," Twilight Sparkle informed her, "and it's strongly associated with coming into our own as adults."
Ranma nodded her head thoughtfully. "Makes enough sense, and should work with a small enough population."
"Now," Twilight Sparkle went on, a glint in her eyes, "what was that 'cloud' that you mentioned? It sounds like some kind of repository."
"I suppose that's what it is," Ranma agreed, before leaning back and resting her crossed forelegs over her breast. "More specifically... Well, I don't know if there's enough context for me to explain it with your current level of technology, because the cloud was new to me at the time and I had no idea of how it worked. I just used magic to copy what it did, more or less."
Disappointed, Twilight Sparkle said, "I guess you can try to explain it at another time." Quickly rebounding and perking up, she asked, "So, given that cutie marks worked differently originally, why did you choose that one?"
Ranma glanced down at her flank for a second, which bore the image of a quill and inkwell, then looked Twilight Sparkle square in the eyes. "This one I made manifest independent from the cloud, and offers no special power or skill. It assumed its own shape to reflect a promise I made to myself... and to serve as a reminder."
Unsure if she should pry into that, Twilight Sparkle looked down at her own cutie mark, wondering what it would be like to have a cutie mark that served the same, weighty purpose as Ranma's. Then, between the subject of cutie marks and reminders, she was reminded of something important, which the events and discoveries in the past few hours had pushed to a far corner of her mind. Dropping her quill and scroll, she shot up in her chair, with her forehooves slamming down on the tabletop, causing her plate to bounce and drink rattle, as she shouted, "Oh no! I still have to learn how to fly better, for my performance at the Summer Sun Celebration tomorrow!"
Tilting her head at the sudden outburst, Ranma calmly asked, "Are there aerial maneuvers you're having trouble with?"
"Ah, no," Twilight Sparkle replied as she clamped down on her panic, calming down and feeling sheepish. "I just don't have much flying experience." She looked to either side of herself and gave one of her wings a flap in turn. "On account of not having these several days ago."
Nodding her head, Ranma offered, "I can help with that. Before now I would have simply suggested changing your talent, but I know another way of teaching someone how to use their wings."
"If it's not too much trouble," Twilight Sparkle accepted, who wanted the entirety of the performance to be a success, not wanting to let anyone down.
After stepping away from the table, Ranma lit up her wings with magic and connected them to Twilight Sparkle's, making them glow in kind, so she could control them as if they were her own wings. Through this method Twilight Sparkle spent a few hours feeling how her wings moved to perform basic tasks, thus learning how to fly competently through experiencing the right way of doing things.
When Ranma judged her good enough to no longer require practice, Twilight Sparkle landed without issue before hugging her and cheering, "Thank you so much! That was amazing!"
Ranma weathered the friendly contact until Twilight Sparkle's stomach complained quite loudly about being fed so little, which made her embarrassed and pull away with a sheepish smile. "...I better take care of that."
While Twilight Sparkle tackled a big lunch, Ranma seized on the opportunity to browse the library's selection, still wanting to get some idea of where ponies were at in their development before venturing into their society. She was aware of the purple alicorn's gaze the whole time, but didn't comment on it since she had become accustomed to being the center of attention ever since she had made an appearance to the world as an alicorn.
By the time Twilight Sparkle finished the last bite of her meal, she had been able to think of a burning question. "How did you erase the humans from history so thoroughly?"
"Not easily," Ranma replied, as she turned her head away from the books and gave her undivided attention. "Between the time John and I transformed humanity into other creatures and going to sleep, I spent most of the time doing exactly that: converting settlements and infrastructure into natural environments, removing pollution from the land, air and water, transforming the shape and size of continents, dealing with everything that could be found in lower earth orbit and beyond — among other things. Once their physical presence was dealt with, I had John monitor and manipulate what was passed down orally and through literature afterward. There were some exceptions to what I would effectively destroy, though, and I transferred those into pocket dimensions to preserve them."
Twilight Sparkle's ears perked up with keen interest upon hearing that there were exceptions. "What did you save?"
Not seeing any reason to withhold that information, Ranma replied, "A ton of art, stuff of cultural significance, ancient monuments, engineering achievements, books—"
In a flash, Twilight Sparkle teleported over to Ranma, with her face nearly touching hers and gaze intense, hungry for knowledge. "You saved books? May I read them!?"
Ranma jerked her head back, more unsettled by her fervor than surprised by her sudden appearance. "Uh..."
"Pleeeease!" Twilight Sparkle begged, with wide, expressive eyes that seemed ready to cry the very moment that she was denied.
Unable to resist the earnest and cute pony before her, and not wanting to make them sad, Ranma looked away and mumbled, "I guess..."
Twilight Sparkle threw her forelegs into the air and cheered, "Yes," before prancing giddily in place, unable to contain her excitement at the prospect of learning about an ancient species that most — if not all — sapient life had been derived from. Her destiny and what certain individuals had done to ensure it were completely forgotten. "Can I read some of them right now?" She settled down and blushed when she realized how she was behaving. "Er, if it's not too much to ask?"
"...Sure," Ranma acquiesced, who summoned a key onto an upraised hoof and had it snatched away long before she could finish extending it toward Twilight Sparkle. "Just jab the blade with the intent of opening a portal," directions which were quickly followed, "and it'll open one to the pocket dimension where I stored all of the books. They're all frozen in time to preserve them, but if you touch one then a copy in pristine condition will appear on the podium — only one at," the portal closed behind the purple alicorn, and she sighed while she finished saying, "a time, though."
Shaking her head, she turned her attention back to the bookcase, simply glad that she didn't have a cute pony being adorable and getting too close for comfort. Well, just finding ponies cute made her uncomfortable, because she still self-identified as a human at her core, but she had gotten accustomed to it for the most part. She didn't know why she found ponies attractive, since her tastes in general hadn't hinted at it being possible, but it had made itself apparent the very first time that she had seen her reflection.
At least she came out really attractive to her own eyes, so she supposed that there was some consolation to becoming a pony.
A couple hours later, while she was reading at the table, she heard the door opening. She looked up to watch the little, purple dragon from earlier enter, who stopped just beyond the threshold and casually said, "Oh, hey. Does Twilight still want to be alone?"
"I honestly couldn't tell you," Ranma replied.
"Guess I'll go ask her," he said, before closing the door and making his way up to the second floor.
A minute later he returned, and when he reached the bottom of the stairs he asked, "Is Twilight in the basement?"
"She's looking at books in a pocket dimension," responded Ranma, without looking up from what she was reading.
"What's a pocket dimension?" Spike inquired.
Placing a hoof down on the page to make it easier to find her place, Ranma looked over her shoulder and answered, "Well, it's kind of like a bedroom in a house, separated from the public spaces by a door, but the house is the universe."
Spike didn't quite get it, so he moved on to another question to avoid an awkward situation. "Uh, okay... What kind of books?"
"The ones I saved from humanity," Ranma informed him.
Brow furrowed, Spike prodded, "You mean, the creatures who were so bad that you decided to transform them into something else?"
Ranma nodded her head and unconcernedly said, "Yup."
Spike stared for a few seconds before shrugging his shoulders and leaving the building, to update Twilight Sparkle's friends on the situation.
Ranma spent the rest of the afternoon browsing the library's books and reading a bit from some of them. By evening, she felt that she had done enough on that front and decided to take a look around the town. By Equestria's own standards Ponyville wasn't all that modern, from what she'd read about some of its cities, but it had the kind of rural charm that she could appreciate, and there were interesting oddities regarding some of the architectural choices. The inhabitants of the town, for the most part, were welcoming and friendly. She also encountered a couple of Twilight Sparkle's friends, and nothing of note happened with them aside from getting a strong feeling that Pinkie Pie had something planned for her soon.
She made it back to Twilight Sparkle's house before nightfall, where she opted to spend some time on the balcony and think about what she had learned about the world so far. Equestria looked promising, as far as she'd read, but she hadn't read many good things about the rest of the world. Actually, she couldn't find much information about the rest of the world in general, including recent information, and that alone made her concerned about what she would find. Unless there was a reason for why a library wouldn't bother stocking much in the way of books about anything outside of Equestria.
Shortly after the sun was lowered below the horizon and the moon was raised into view, there was a pair of flashing lights in the air before her, heralding the arrival of Celestia and Luna. She backed up and gave them room to land on the balcony, an accommodation that they gratefully accepted.
Once they alighted, Luna got straight to business and stated, "We wish to discuss certain matters that are of great importance to us."
Ranma nodded her head, having expected as much. "Alright. Let's take this inside." As she led them into Twilight Sparkle's loft, she added, "Shall I give us some privacy?"
"We would appreciate it," Celestia replied.
Once the center of the room was between them and her, Ranma shifted back to her natural form, thinking it appropriate considering at least one of the topics that she assumed they would broach, then used her horn to cast a spell over the room, so that no one outside of it would be able to hear or see them.
With that done, she asked, "What did you want to talk about?"
Celestia and Luna shared a look before the former asked, "What if you found a minority of the world acceptable, but the rest unacceptable? Would you pass your judgement on everyone?"
"That sounds like a real concern," Ranma noted, causing Luna to grimace slightly. "Let me ask you this first, then: why is so much of the world, outside of Equestria, in such a poor state?"
"It isn't from a lack of trying," Luna groused.
"We've tried to improve other parts of the world for a very long time," Celestia began to elaborate, looking weary. "Forming peace treaties, spreading our ideas through trade, extending various forms of aid to show our goodwill..." She released a sigh. "In too many cases, the best that we've been able to do is avoid personal conflict, for the most part, and significantly decrease conflicts occurring between other creatures within our sphere of influence. I know not how much of the distant past is responsible for the divide that has persisted since before our own time, but there are a multitude of issues and differences that make it difficult to attain a meaningful and long-lasting relationship with most creatures."
Ranma closed her eyes and released a sigh of her own. "So that hasn't changed much, then." After taking a moment to think about it, she reopened her eyes and addressed the two princesses' fears. "Well, if Equestria is anything like I've read, or the little I've experienced, you won't have anything to worry about. And I've got all the time in the world to wait and see if things can be improved further before resorting to anything drastic."
Both Celestia and Luna were relieved to hear that, and Ranma gave them a moment to enjoy it before asking, "Was there anything else you needed to talk to me about?"
"Indeed," Luna replied, who drew herself up. "We discussed the fact that you're our mother at length."
"Yeah?" Ranma said, dreading what would be said next.
Luna and Celestia proceeded to bow and lower their heads, with the latter entreating, "Please raise us from foals, until we reach adulthood."
The request was enough of a surprise that it took a moment for Ranma to voice a nonplussed, "What?"
Raising her head, along with her sister, Celestia explained, "Our father was barely that, spending most his time as our magic teacher when he was actually available. Our nanny, Milky Way, while nice, usually held us at foreleg's length. We were kept a secret and knew no others our own age until we became Equestria's rulers, and we spent most of our time being groomed to rule Equestria and didn't have many opportunities to have fun."
"Hardly any fun was had," Luna unhappily muttered.
"So," Celestia continued, as she looked up at Ranma imploringly, "we desire to have our memories suppressed and be raised as normal foals by a proper parent... to have a childhood."
Ranma wanted to deny them outright, but she was struck by pangs of both sympathy and empathy.
Sure, she might have been able to interact and play with kids her own age while growing up, even if sporadically, but traveling around Japan had left her little opportunity to make friends, much less any lasting ones. Her father had also groomed her for her own future, acting far more as a teacher than a parent, and had missed out on a lot of experiences that were normal for other children.
In the face of that, and their plight, she could only mount a pitiful defense. "Why me?" Upon seeing Luna's cocked eyebrow, she added, "Besides the fact that I'm your," she paused, uncomfortable with having to say it herself, "biological mother."
"Because you have more time and opportunity than anypony else we know," Celestia pointed out. "And you can also provide us a normal, low-profile life: we won't be alicorns, or be treated special because we live in a castle or associate with important individuals."
Despite Ranma's doubtful look, Luna asserted, "And we believe that this is an experience that you need."
Ranma regarded both alicorns with an incredulous expression. "...Say what?"
Celestia nodded her head in agreement. "You said that you were young when you became an alicorn, and it wasn't long after that when you set us on the path that we're on now. As well-meaning as your decisions may have been, we would feel more reassured if someone in your position were more than a martial artist, which is the only definitive thing that we know about your background."
While that was understandable, and she couldn't really describe herself as being anything more than a martial artist with any confidence, she still countered, "But why a mother?"
"Aside from our own reason?" Celestia rhetorically began. "We believe that taking on the role of a mother, and raising two children, can give you the experience — in addition to teaching you many skills — that will be beneficial to you on your endeavor, as well as do much to put our minds at ease. With the amount of power that you possess, I hope you can understand why we would have reservations, when we know so little about you, and your qualifications are still in question."
"We want to believe that you care for every pony as we do," Luna followed up, "because it would be a great relief to us, but we can't be confident that they are all in good hooves until you've proven that you can take care of two."
Seeing that Ranma was probably going to protest, Celestia quickly added, "Ranma, you can't expect things to always work out without your personal input. There will come a day, regardless of how far in the future it will be, where there won't be someone to produce the results you desire, either by chance or design. It will come down to you, and it may not be a martial artist's touch that is needed."
Ranma closed her mouth, and silently regarded the two alicorns who continued to kneel before her, unable to mount an argument. They were right to have concerns, after all, because she was pretty much winging it outside of taking action if the worldwide situation was bad enough. However, even then, she hadn't decided exactly what she would do to try to rectify the situation, since it probably wouldn't make sense to do the exact same thing again if it failed before. Aside from that, she knew well enough that she was only so skilled and knowledgeable in certain areas, and that she was generally lacking in many of the ones that had become most relevant in her life since becoming an alicorn.
The only real objection that she had came from a personal place, because she still strongly identified as male. While she had come to terms with her body, becoming female in mind as well just wasn't her. She knew that there was a grey area between the genders, and that being accepted as manly despite her curse, in addition to knowing others who behaved more like the opposite sex, meant that the mind didn't have to reflect the body, but so much of her identity had been tied up in her upbringing to be manly. That, and being manly was what her parents wanted, and that felt like the way for her to honor their memory.
Still, aside from the whole mother aspect, which was deep in the realm of femininity as far as she was concerned, everything else was worthy of consideration. She'd long since learned — the hard way — to take the time to think about something if the opportunity presented itself, and she wanted to address their concerns without assuming the role of a mother, so she finally broke the silence that had dominated the room and asked, "Can I think about it?"
"You may," Luna readily replied, having expected that answer. "We will approach you again, on this matter, once Twilight Sparkle has succeeded us."
Celestia seemed to realize something just then, who rose to her full height and looked about the room. "Speaking of whom... Where is she?"
"I gave her access to all of the human books that I had saved," Ranma replied. Upon seeing their expressions, which seemed to ask if she were being serious, she obliviously prompted, "What?"
Ranma sat upon a cushion in front of the fireplace, which was the living room's sole source of illumination, meditating. It had been a taxing day, thanks to using a normal pegasus body instead of her inexhaustible alicorn one, but good nonetheless, and she liked to relax her body and mind before going to bed. Although meditation hadn't been unusual for her as a martial artist, she had gotten into the habit of doing it for reasons outside of that a few years ago, thanks to Twilight Sparkle.
As if summoned by the thought of her, she received the magical equivalent of a door knock and gave her permission to enter in kind. A second later there was a flash of light from a teleport, that she could see through her closed eyes, and Twilight Sparkle was standing behind her, a few feet away.
Her clandestine visitor walked over to her and asked, "How was your day?"
"Same old," Ranma evenly replied, before opening her eyes and looking over her shoulder. Seeing that Twilight Sparkle was still wearing her regalia, there was a good chance that she wouldn't be staying for long. "How about yours?"
Twilight Sparkle sighed wearily. "It was one of those days."
Turning her body to face the alicorn, Ranma smirked and cheekily said, "At this rate you're sure to convince me to rule Equestria, when you retire after who knows how many millennia."
Rolling her eyes, Twilight Sparkle replied, "I wouldn't put you in charge of a rock garden, much less a country." Her gaze becoming more pointed and eager, she changed the topic. "Now, are they asleep?"
After nodding her head, Ranma stood up and led Twilight Sparkle upstairs. Along the way, she once again wished that she could spend more time with her best friend, but the work of Equestria's ruler was rarely exhausted before the day was. It was hard to accept sometimes, but her own responsibilities were a decent enough distraction and were fulfilling in their own way.
She hadn't realized that she needed a friend until she had one, but Twilight Sparkle had seen it early on and had decided to be that friend. There had been a barrier that she had to break through first, and she had accomplished that after figuring out she had once been male, which had opened up a personal avenue to their interactions. She had gained her trust from keeping that a secret, leading to more dialogue that wasn't strictly to sate her curiosity or intellectual pursuits, building on that trust, and one thing had simply led to another.
"It had led to this, too," she thought, as she stopped in front of a bedroom door and quietly opened it.
They both peered into the room from the hallway, toward the bed, with Twilight Sparkle leaning her head into the room for a closer look. The gloom was gently held back by a nightlight, making it possible to see the two sleeping fillies that were huddled together at its head, comfortably tucked in. Within view of them, on the night stand, was a book that contained bedtime stories.
If not for Twilight Sparkle helping her with some gender issues, she never would have accepted the two princesses' request to raise them. It had been rough to raise two foals in the beginning, but she had endured the challenges, and by now she was glad that she had been talked into being a mother for a while. Upon reflection she wasn't really surprised, though, because she'd always had a penchant for helping those in need, whether they were perfect strangers or offered nothing in return — even when they were perverted or exasperating.
Recently she had begun to wonder if she had been fated to be a mother. Back before she had even known that she had a mother, she'd never once given her a thought. Then, when it appeared that she would enter her life, she couldn't understand why Akane and her sisters thought it was such a big deal. However, when she saw her, and realized she was the lady that she had encountered in the canal earlier, something in her mind had clicked. Her smile, the gentle touches, the friendly gestures, and how much she cared about her: she needed to have her in her life. Perhaps, subconsciously, that was what she had wanted to be herself?
Twilight Sparkle pulled her head back, quietly closed the door, then collected herself before whispering, "It's so hard to resist rushing in there and hugging them for hours."
"Yeah," Ranma unabashedly sighed her agreement. "Too bad they'll grow up."
Giving Ranma a meaningful look, Twilight Sparkle quietly said, "We all do. Usually it's a good thing."
Knowing that she was referring to her own growth over the past few years, Ranma nodded her head in agreement before returning a similar look as she remembered the growing up that Twilight Sparkle had to do before she was ready to rule Equestria. "Hopefully."
They fell into a companionable silence until Twilight Sparkle indicated that she wanted to go somewhere, so she followed her back down to the living room. Once there, she adopted a serious expression and asked, "Have you decided whether or not you want to become my adopted daughter after Celestia and Luna are old enough to regain their memories? I've given you a year to think about it."
Ranma kept her embarrassment off of her face because she hadn't really thought about it like she should have. However, she realized that she didn't really have to now. If she had learned anything from being a mother thus far, she could benefit from the experience of being raised as a filly and evolving more as a person. Plus, considering how long she would live, she had been convinced that it would be a good idea to get a taste of what it was like to be a leader, to learn the ins and outs of it, before dismissing the possibility of ever becoming one in the future if the circumstances called for it.
It was going to be strange to have a life and memories of her best friend being her mother, but... "You know what? Sure. Just so long as you don't skimp out on the ice cream."
Twilight Sparkle answered that stipulation with a flat stare.