Consumed by guilt that the death of Adam Smith, and fearful of Wonderland's fate after she's gone, Lauren has fallen into depression. One night, she is called back to where she once considered a refuge, to find it has been Corrupted by an old foe.
Armed with those still on her side and several weapons that resembled childhood toys, can Lauren save her Wonderland, and herself?
Lauren was having yet another dream, having tea with the Mane Six. It was a cold winter night, but to them, it was always sunny.
“More tea, darling Lauren?” Rarity asked as she lifted the teapot with magic.
“I guess” Lauren said.
“Ooh! Did you know that Freaks could actually visit the other dimensions, Lauren?” Twilight asked as she read from the book.
“You’re such an egghead, Twilight. Everypony knows that” Rainbow smirked.
“Um, would that explain how I met Fluttershout?” Fluttershy asked.
Applejack’s ears perked up as she sniffed the air. “Do any of ya’ll smell that?”
Pinkie smiled. “Oh, that’s just a Brony dying”
“A Brony dying?!”
“Oh no! Quickly! We must save them and Lauren! We have to wake her up!” Twilight cried frantically.
“Wake up, Lauren!” the Mane Six yelled altogether.
Lauren woke up with a jolt. She shook at what her friends-slash-creations said a while back in her dream. A brony dying? That had to be a lie. She was fully aware that Bronies and Pegasisters were the fans of her creation, “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic”. Bronies were boys while Pegasisters were girls. To hear a fan of her creation was dying was somewhat horrifying. She was even more worried if they were even a child.
Later on that day, she found out that a Brony had just committed suicide by getting run over by a train. His name was Adam Smith, and was only 16 years old. The reason why was because he was accused of plagiary. And even though he apologized, he was being scoffed at and every other fan hated him. He wanted to put up a café, but now that would never happen. Lauren felt upset about a young person just ending it all.
After a year had passed, Lauren had almost forgotten about the whole incident. She later on met with the rest of the fans in her Wonderland, learning from them that the story lived on. She was getting worried about Queen Faust in case she returned and the fact that she was like a dictator, and that the rest of them were living in fear of her.
Lauren later on found out that Hazel and Hester were once kidnapped by Antis due to something called “Hidebrit”. She learned information about Hester’s secret status as a Hidebrit, and that Hidebrits were able to make a weapon that could defeat Anti-Bronies and Anti-Pegasisters. Hazel also explained that Adam Smith was the supposed Hidebrit, but because he’s dead, the Gene went into Hester.
After a year since that happened, Lauren still visited her Wonderland and fans but felt something was wrong. She was lying in bed that night, a Twilight doll in her arms, and was staring at the ceiling.
“It’s alright, dear. It’s all a dream” Craig whispered as he gave Lauren a kiss. “Maybe that little Twilight doll will help”
As Craig drifted off to sleep, Lauren held the doll closer to her. As she held it closer, the doll turned to face her. What it said scared Lauren.
“SAVE US, LAUREN FAUST!”
Lauren screamed as she felt down the dark hole to her dreams in Wonderland. When she finally reached the ground, what she found had made her confused. Her Wonderland looked different than normal. It was completely dark. The sunny weather was gone and it was cloudy. The sky was a blood red color. It was cold and unsettling. Lauren looked up to see a familiar face standing a few feet away from her.
“Come now, Lauren. We’re very late indeed” Twilight said. She looked like herself, but was now wearing a coat with a regal collar sticking out. Though it looked very formal, its theme was really apocalyptic. Twilight said nothing else as she ran off.
Right then, Hazel and Hester appeared out of nowhere. They looked the same, save for the fact that they looked rather drained. Nonetheless, they still had their grin. The duo ran directly to Lauren as she realized she was in her Equestria Girl form.
“You’ve grown quite mangy, Hazel and Hester” Lauren remarked when the duo finally were infront of her. “But your grins are a comfort”
“How nice to see you again after such a long time, Lauren” Hazel said.
“Atleast at the times we need you most” Hester added.
“Spare me the greeting now. Wonderland’s grown quite strange. Any idea what happened? And why is Twilight in apocalyptic attire?”
“Trouble’s brewing again, Lauren” Hester said.
“Trouble? What kind? Don’t tell me your mother tried to gag you both again”
“Much worse really than our abuse, Lauren” Hazel crossed her arms.
“Apparently, while you got upset about my predecessor, Queen Faust has returned and had a little fun in your absence” Hester said.
Lauren reeled back in shock. “How did she come back?! And what has she done now?! Is she the reason Wonderland is looking apocalyptic?!”
“Things have gone awry since you last visit Lauren” Hester spoke up. “The Queen has been worse than ever. Some things have changed since your last visit, but some stayed the same. For instance, Twilight still knows a thing or two and me and Hazel ourselves don’t need a wind vane to show which way the wind blows. We can’t aid you in fight, but we can assist you in your next move and your weaponry. Let your need guide your behavior, suppress your instinct to lead”
“So what do you suggest?” Lauren asked.
Hazel picked up Hester and had the final word before disappearing. “Pursue Twilight, Lauren”
Lauren stole a smile. “Those two, one minute here, the next gone”
Lauren looked around her to see what had become of her Wonderland. She knew Queen Faust could be a dictator and all, but she never expected this much cruelty and destruction. She could barely even recognize her beautiful world. This was much more than just a place to relax in; it was a part of her. Her Creations were her children, as her Fans were her friends. Queen Faust may have gotten Wonderland this corrupt, but Lauren won’t give it up without a fight.
Taking her next steps forward, the rightful Queen began her journey.
Lauren walked through the first steps of the area, which she recognized as the Village of Doom. She walked across the steady wooden flooring, taking notice about the lamps on each side. She then found a familiar face, a young crystal pony. It was a mare that looked drained and had a huge burden on its back.
“Our land is destroyed, our spirit crushed” the mare said weakly.
“You poor thing, is there no more joy here? Who did this to you?” Lauren looked at the mare eye-to-eye.
“Slavery and happiness don’t dwell in the same house” the mare said before running off.
Hazel and Hester then appeared at the base of a plank that led to a blowing gas. “When things get problematical, consider the leap of faith” Hester said.
“Ride the wind” Hazel explained as they both disappeared again.
Lauren always thought riding on air was dangerous, but a weak mare just made her feel obligated. She ran to the plank and jumped, she expected to fall, but the wind miraculously carried her. She pushed herself forward as she landed at the other side. Upon reaching, she was greeted by a weak stallion.
“Stir up no trouble, Lauren” he said. “Queen Faust’s agents are ruthless”
“I’m not afraid of her, or any of her minions. I never was, really. I made her then I can unmake her. You should stand up to them to regain your freedom” Lauren declared.
“Defiance is futile. After she took over, only death was able to release us from this misery”
“I thought you were able to heal after”
“She did something to make it permanent and she bound it to her life. As long as she lives, whoever was killed remains in Limbo”
“Maybe her death will stop it all”
“Meter Essence, including health and sanity is the life force that all of her here are using” Hazel’s voice rang out. “That of your enemies is very potent”
Hester’s then rang out. “But you will find your weapons were once your toys of childhood. Even so, they will drain your our Meter Essence as you use them”
“Collect what you can, and use them wisely” Hazel concluded.
Watching the stallion go on his way, Lauren took the duo’s advice and went to look around for something to defend herself with. She walked for a bit from where she heard Hazel and Hester, and found something: a sharp knife that had markings that resembled that of a quill’s. She recognized it from her first trip to Wonderland: the Quillete Blade. It didn’t have the mind-controlling gem from when it did in the past, but a mahogany gem with her cutie mark on it. Wasting no time, she grabbed the knife as Hazel and Hester reappeared.
“Your knife is necessary but not sufficient” Hazel remarked.
“Collect only what’s useful, reject only ignorance, and you may survive” Hester added.
“And you’ll need to if you want this madness to end” Hazel said before disappearing with Hester again.
Turning her attention away from where the duo disappeared, Lauren looked to the side to see something. It was Twilight, and she was holding a small violet vial. She knew it was the Drink Me potion. When she drank it down, she began to shrink until she was about the size of a mouse. Without a word, she ran into a small hole in the wall. Lauren sighed now that she needed help to find the Alicorn. She ran up the stairs to meet with another crystal pony, a foal.
“Everypony seems all despaired, like the life was drained right out of them. Have things really gone that bad after how I’ve been away for only one day?”
“The truth would sometimes hurt, but yes. Are you really Lauren Faust, the Champion Twilight and her friends had been talking about? The one who made us all?”
“I guess, but I’m just Lauren, and I don’t know if I’m really that much of a Champion. But, yes, I did make you all. And right now, I need to get very small, no bigger than a mouse”
“You need serious help with that. You’ll need to go to the side, not forward. If I knew how, I’d do that myself”
“Not twisted, just small. About this big” Lauren demonstrated with a hand.
“Well, I was told that if anypony wanted to get that small, the Fortress of Doors holds the secret. But, it takes more than wishes and favors to get inside now that some of the Queen’s minions are guarding it”
Hazel and Hester reappeared. “Doors have locks; locks need keys which you don’t have. Let’s hope that those doors are open” Hester said.
“And if not, there may be more than one way to separate a Familiar from their Partner” Lauren joked, but it just caused Hazel to flinch and Hester to twitch in fear. “Sorry, please pardon the expression. It was just a joke”
Hazel shot a small glare. “Most unpleasant metaphor, try to avoid it in future use”
Holding her Familiar close, Hazel disappeared again. Lauren could clearly see they were offended by her joke. Hester was clingy to her Partner and she always hated separation. The last time it happened, she looked like she was dying, and was rather unstable if she didn’t take her meds. Lauren went on her walk to keep up with her journey. She took a few steps from the foal and went on. She across another path, but she was surprised with what she found.
There, running amok was a Changeling. But it looked like the Original form before Thorax came into the picture. It looked like it was decaying. There was heavy armor all over it, with a red bottle of ink on the centerpiece. It had a spear in one hoof, ready to fight.
“You must kill it, Lauren” Hazel’s voice rang out as she and Hester reappeared. The Pegasister was holding her Familiar close to her like a toddler with a teddy bear. “It’s one of her minions. It’s aiding in the destruction and Corruption of Wonderland”
“Must I really?” the woman asked. She didn’t have the heart to kill it. It was still her Creation.
The Changeling roared when it saw her and nearly hit her with the spear. She was saved by when the Pegasister used a Shield spell.
“Lauren, now!” Hazel yelled. “Yes, it’s your Creation, but it’s Corrupted!”
Hester nodded, using a burst of her own magic to send it flying. “There’s a new rule now: Kill or Be Killed!”
She was surprised at this new side of the duo. They were never one to go for violence, in fact they feared it. But now, this whole scene had showed that they had to change their point of view and behavior to adapt to this new environment.
As much as she didn’t want to kill something she made, she had to do it. The symbol just proved it so; it was Queen Faust’s symbol afterall. And if she didn’t, then the duo might. Taking her knife, she came up close to the Changeling, and stabbed it. It didn’t die at first, but when she sliced through it, it just collapsed.
Going on, Lauren took the Meter Essence that came out of the body to keep her from alive. It was reddish-blue glowing orb of life. She felt the pang of guilt enter her. She now had blood on her hands. Her Creation’s blood, to be worse. She tried to compose herself while she walked to a plank platform. As she was about to go across it, Hazel and Hester appeared.
Hazel and her Bipolar Disorder, atleast she’s not so offended anymore. Lauren thought.
“Only a few find the way, some don’t recognize it when they do, others don’t ever want to” Hester said as Hazel held her and vanished again.
Then again, maybe not.
Lauren then walked across the plank and found another mare on the other side. When the mare saw her, her eyes seemed to be filled with hope.
“Twilight told us a Champion would come to save us, are you that Champion?” she asked, her tone hopeful.
Lauren didn’t know for sure, but she didn’t want to disappoint the poor thing. “I suppose, but now I need help. Can you get me into the Fortress of Doors?”
The mare’s smile became fearful. “Oh no, I wouldn’t dare. As much as I want to, I can’t risk being killed and put into a painful state. But, make your way to the mines, and make sure it’s the deepest pit. There’s one called Sunburst who’s’ wiser and braver and more daring that us all. Best part of it all, he still is free”
Lauren took the mare’s advice. Atleast there are some who could still smile. She kept walking up the planks, and heard the familiar sound of Hazel’s voice.
“Every adventure requires a first step. Hard to believe, but true, even here”
Lauren looked around until she found the duo on a platform below her. She hopped down and walked on. When she reached the other side, things were a bit different. Apart from the familiar plank platforms, there were now vines hanging above pools of water. It looked rather deep and murky. It was like if you fall in, you would sink like quicksand.
“Hanging ropes are as good as step ladders for those who know how to climb them” Hazel’s voice rang out.
Lauren jumped down the platform, then another, trying her best to avoid falling in as much as possible. When she took a third jump, she grabbed onto the rope and began to climb. When she was within range, she jumped from the rope and landed on the ground. She saw somepony familiar infront of her. She knew it immediately, and she ran over to him.
“Lauren?” Sunburst was shocked upon seeing his Maker before him. He was wearing black leather now instead of his normal cape. From the looks of it, even he wanted to make sure he blended in for this apocalyptic warfare. “Why did you pursue to find me into this land?”
“To benefit from what you know, Sunburst. I know you were wise enough to save the Crystal Empire when it needed it most”
“Even Flurry Heart herself had grown up to become able to defend herself and others. If I were clever, would I be hiding away from them and everypony else, as far as they are now? This is just like Starlight all over again. I’m not really wise, Lauren, I just know some things”
Lauren knew that for fact, but she is persistent. “I wish to get very small, no bigger than a mouse. Do you know how I could do that?”
Sunburst seemed relieved. “Only that? Well, I do know about that. For you, I could do, for a price”
Lauren looked down. “I don’t think I have anything valuable”
“You have bravery and nerve, mine are almost gone. I’ve seen too much suffering, and I hide to live, you see”
“What must I do?”
Sunburst looked to the side. “In the Changeling’s Compound, a particularly rare gem hold the key, retrieve it and I’ll gladly return the favor”
Lauren settled on to continue the journey as she ran to the direction Sunburst meant. She quickly found a cart infront of some mine tracks. She carefully stood on it, and then did her best to maintain her balance as it rose like a platform. When it reached the top, she sat down as the cart began to move through the mines. All the way throughout the ride, she saw some Changeling Guards and some more crystal ponies. When she caught sight of something up ahead, she jumped off the cart before it plunged down to the bottom of the pit.
When she turned around, she saw a Changeling Guard was about to attack her. But before she could raise her knife to attack it, when a sharp card cut through it and it collapsed. Lauren looked up to see it was Hazel and Hester infront of her, a deck of cards in Hazel’s hands. The cards were white completely, but they had a capital L in the center, painted red and black. More Changeling Guards arrived, but Hazel began to attack them with the cards.
Lauren was astounded to see what small cards could do to angry Changelings. I’ll never look at that game the same way ever again.
Hester than began to explain as Hazel showed how to use the weapon.
“52 Pick-Up is a game of staple humor” she said as Hazel showed how to slice. “But when the deck slices and dices…” Hazel then made the cards scatter all together, cutting all the Guards up and the deck returned to normal. “…it’s no laughing matter”
Lauren knew what that meant, and 52 Pick-Up was once her childhood’s game. Atleast she knew what it meant when Hester said that “childhood toys have become weapons for adults”. When Hazel finally regained enough sanity to keep herself conscious, she gave Lauren the deck of cards before disappearing with Hester.
Walking on, Lauren opened two doors and found the room where they were keeping the key Sunburst wanted. She used the cards and saw that they were now able to slice the Changeling in half. She got them all back as she realized that they really were now weapons. Taking the key on the desk, she continued to find Sunburst.
She walked up the nearby staircase and found a portal similar to the one from Equestria Girls. She ran through it and found a new passageway. She saw, from a distance, Sunburst standing next to another portal and going through it. When Lauren stepped out, she was surprised by a Changeling Guard, but she killed it by slicing its neck. She then used her Deck of Cards on the other two before continuing.
Walking through the path, she climbed another vine and killed another Changeling. All of them done for, she went through the portal. Upon reaching the other side, she saw Sunburst at a hot air balloon.
He smiled upon seeing her with the key. “You have retrieved the key! Thank you! Twilight’s confidence was not misplaced.”
“I certainly hope it’s not”
“Well, get inside, I’ll drive”
Lauren did as told as Sunburst started up the balloon. “Use the key to free us all from the oppression and inability to be resurrected within seconds. Any fight against the Queen is a good fight, no matter how small or little. They’ve all suffered too mu…”
“I know, Sunburst. I feel really sorry for all of them. You’re all like children to me and I hate to see their pain. But what about me getting small?”
Sunburst didn’t seem to answer at first so Lauren looked out the balloon to see the destruction in her one beautiful creation. It looked really damaged, and something made her think things were getting worse. It was Karateloo, one of the Pony Freaks, but she seemed more crazy than normal. She had a bunch of scars on various parts of her body and she was dancing like crazy. Her eyes were that of an insane lunatic as it seemed like the smile on her face was literally carved. As the air balloon passed by her, she jumped in an attempt to catch it, but missed.
“Karateloo, no!” Lauren called out as she thought one of her friends was going to die. But she was relieved to see that the filly actually flied, though she seemed to be like Derpy.
The Corruption has made the Freaks even more crazy than usual, even though she could fly now; I hope Karateloo can get to a safe landing before getting hurt.
Sunburst finally spoke when Lauren was calm. “There’s a Lab inside the fortress with the items you’ll need to make the potion for getting small”
“What items, exactly?”
“You’ll know them when you see them. Speaking of which, we better do our best not to get seen by the Changelings’ notice and…hang on!” Sunburst yanked the control to move the balloon as he panicked when the Changelings spotted them and began to use their slime balls to attack. “Too late, we’ve been seen”
Sunburst made the balloon speed up as he did his best to avoid the attacks of the guards. They finally made it to the Fortress of Doors, and Sunburst only had to tell Lauren one last thing, “Eventually, you’ll be able to break through such walls, but for now, jump!”
Lauren did so, landing on her feet as the air balloon went away. She ran to find a Changeling guard, and killed it easily. When she went inside, she found something that gave her a shock: a Siren in her Spirit form.
It looked a lot like Adagio Dazzle, but like the rest of Faust’s minions, she was brainwashed. Her eyes were pure black, as though they were pulled out of their sockets. Blood streamed down like tears on her face. She looked like she hasn’t been eating in a long time, very pale and thin. Behind her was what looked like Aria Blaze in her Siren form, suffering from the same fate as well. She looked on their chests to see that they had the same mark on the Changeling Guards: a red bottle of ink.
Lauren’s heart felt like it was gonna break at the sight. Sure, she made them evil once in the show, but still, she couldn’t bear to see that Queen Faust had brainwashed her Creation-Children. This was way too cruel to see. She then noticed it was only just Adagio and Aria who were present, but Sonata Dusk was nowhere to be seen. She could only hope that she is somewhere safe and alive.
Without warning, the corrupted Adagio unleashed a scream of ear-piercing melody. Lauren covered her ears so as to avoid it, but it hurt so much. Aria began to do the same. As much as Lauren hated it, she had to do it. She used the Cards she got earlier from Hazel and Hester and used the Throw Method that was demonstrated. She threw them many times and even used the Knife at the two brainwashed Sirens. When they were finally defeated, she watched as they screamed and burned into ash.
Lauren shed a tear for the two fallen Sirens. She killed them. She killed her Creation-Children. Why did they have to take them too? The Changelings were bad enough. This wasn’t their fault. Faust made them do it. Lauren just wanted them back. As much as they were evil before, they didn’t deserve to be mind-controlled and killed.
“Lauren” Hazel’s voice rang out.
Lauren looked up to see the young Pegasister, standing infront of her. Her eyes were filled with pity when she noticed the situation.
“I killed them” Lauren chocked through the sobs. “They’re dead”
Hazel shook her head. “Those aren’t Adagio and Aria”
“What?”
“Those are clones of them, scattered everywhere in Wonderland. Faust made them to patrol this world”
“But where are? And how did you?”
“The real ones are with Faust, weak but alive. Me and Hester knew about it since the rest of the Bronies saved Sonata from the same fate. We tried to get them back, but she made the clones chase us away”
“Sonata’s alive?” Lauren wiped a tear as her eyes began to be filled with hope.
Hazel nodded. “She’s being guarded very well at Fandom Central, along with the few others who were able help. They’re a bit weak, but whole and alive. They’re counting on you to ease their pain”
Lauren nodded. “Thank you”
Hazel gave Lauren a hug “They’re counting on you”
“We all are” Hester added before they disappeared again.
Lauren walked on when she noticed that the floor was beginning to split up literally. She ran up the nearby staircase. She ran up and down the platforms as the entire building looked like it was falling apart. Finally safe on a stable area, she ran to the next portal she found.
Having reached the other side of the area, she found that she was in another enclosed space. Walking on, she found a group of Changeling Guards and found out that she was surrounded. She ran past the Guard and found a medium sized red box, floating in midair. It had a triangle-shaped spray tip on the top. Almost on cue, Hazel and Hester appeared beside it, gesturing her to come there quickly. Lauren ran as fast as she could, narrowly escaping the Changeling’s spears.
“Time to raise some havoc!” Hester whispered to Lauren as she pounced on the spray tip and made it hit Lauren in the face.
“The dogs of war are loose!” Hazel whispered as Lauren fell on her knees from the spray.
Lauren breathed heavily from the pain as Hazel gave her a pat on the back. When the Pegasister and her Familiar noticed the spray taking effect, they backed away and disappeared. Lauren’s skin began to turn deep red. Her fingers began to turn long and bony as two demonic; bony ran horns sprouted from her head. Lauren felt the rage of losing one of her fans take over. Her anger boiled at the memory of what happened to her Creations. She let the rage overtake her as she took a deep breath and roared like a wild animal. She stood up, and her eyes shone with blood red and fury.
She turned to the Guards. They were frightened from the effect it had on her, but stood their ground. She showed no mercy as she vented her anger on them. Using her new claws, she tore them apart with their bare hands. Their bodies stood still from her slash for a second before they dropped down, showing that they were dead. She threw her knife at the Guard that was on the wall, and it collapsed dead upon impact.
Lauren took as moment to gain back her sanity as the effects of the spray lifted. She slowly felt herself going back to the way she was, and before long, she was in her Standard Equestria Girl form. Once it was gone, she took a deep breath before carrying on. She still couldn’t believe how that thing suddenly made her so unstoppable but only for a moment. She found out that it may have something to do with letting out all her anger.
She heard the familiar sound of a certain duo reappear. “What was that thing you did me?”
“Sorry that it stings at the first time” Hazel apologized.
“Doesn’t matter. What is that thing?” Lauren turned around to face the two
“We call it Rage Box. It has quite a nasty but somehow sufficient way to help somepony vent out their anger, but only shortly” Hester said.
“The least you could’ve done was give me a warning that you were gonna spray it in my eyes” Lauren indicated her now-blue-again eyes.
“If we did, you’d be defeated by the time I hopped on it”
“Hester” Hazel reprimanded her Familiar.
“Okay, fine. I’ll give you heads up next time”
“Next time?!” Lauren asked, her tone rising.
“There are more of them throughout Wonderland but they only respond to you now” Hazel said.
“Hopefully they won’t be so painful” Lauren crossed her arms.
“The first time is always the most painful” Hester said before she and Hazel disappeared again.
Lauren sighed as she walked on. She opened a door she found, which led to another door, and then another, and then another, and finally reached the other side. She found that she was in another area. This seemed to look a lot like a vortex that if you fell off, who knows where you’d go. Lauren saw than the other side was very far away and she couldn’t just jump to get there. But then she noticed some pieces of flooring coming to where she was. They reached her side and began to form a way. She went up to where they were and the floorings seem stable enough to walk on. She walked steadily on them, and had to even jump on some platforms at a few points. She finally reached her destination on the other side and went through the portal.
Hopefully, I’m not going through another thing like this again. She thought.
Her eyes went wide open when she found out that the portal led to another one like this area. This time, it had Changeling Guards with it, and clones of a brainwashed Siren Adagio and Aria.
Lauren had no trouble beating the clone Sirens and even killing them was easier this time since she knew the real ones were somewhere else, and the third one was safe. She then threw her Knife twice as the Changeling Guard before she moved on to the lever. She was about to pull it, but then she heard a psst. She looked to see that Hester was floating, and pointing to down. Lauren saw that below, there were three other levers and Hazel was just down there too. Lauren jumped down to meet with the girl as Hester floated to her Partner’s side.
“The proper order of things is often a mystery to me, you too?” Hester asked before the duo disappeared again.
Lauren went to the levers as soon as she could. She tried to guess the order but this seemed hard. She tried to look for a way to tell, and she did. There were cutie marks on the levers. Each had a cutie mark of the Sirens on them. Lauren thought for a bit, and considered that the order may be youngest to eldest.
She then pulled on the one on the right, which had a picture of Sonata’s cutie mark, and it gave out a small soft melody. Lauren then pulled on the left with Aria’s, and it made the same. Finally, she pulled on the one in the middle, which had Adagio’s mark, and it gave the same one.
She then went back up by the staircase nearby and crossed to the other side. She killed the Changeling Guard and carried on. She had been surprised when another one was just guarding the portal and almost got her. She just used the Deck of Cards easily. She just went immediately for the portal.
Lauren reached the other side and saw what looked like a normal floor at first, but the middle tipped over and formed a huge and elaborate staircase. Lauren looked up to see that there was another portal up to where the pieces were leading, so she began to jump. She had to watch herself since the pieces went up and down at different angles. She landed and went through the portal easily as pie.
Where it leads was about to make Lauren began to feel a little bored since she can already guess that there’s another portal infront of her and a new platform. She looked up to see more brainwashed clones of Sirens. She easily beat them with the Deck of Cards. She went up to the door, but it closed with a wooden door and floated up. It went to three different sections, making three other doors with portals as well. Lauren just went for the one she was infront of.
Lauren was relieved that it was finally a change of where the portals lead. She was finally on solid ground, quite like a bridge really. She noticed the Changeling Guard who was infront of her. She immediately used the Cards as soon as it began to run up to her. All clear, she walked on to where the bridge lead. She looked to her side to see that the Lab was right there. Looking up, she realized that the Siren clones were there again.
She really made a lot; this is even just one area of Wonderland. Lauren thought as she used her Deck of Cards on the fakes.
Lauren walked on to see what looked like the door that lead inside the Lab. She was about to try and go there, but as she closed in, it looked like it was only a wall. Right upon she was surprised by the familiar sound of Hazel and Hester’s sudden appearance.
“Entering the Lab requires a real leap of logic” Hester spoke before disappearing with Hazel.
Hester and her cryptic lines.
Lauren saw that the window was open and that she had to jump to get there. When the time was ripe, she jumped and landed through the window. When she got in, what she found made her surprised and filled with pity.
There, right infront of her, was Rarifruit. She didn’t look like her normal greedy self. Her mane was all in a mess. She looked like she hadn’t eaten in days. There was a muzzle strapped to her, and her eyes were nothing more than a blank stare. From the smears of her make-up, she looked like she cried. She only walked in one direction, in circles around the whole room. This was truly painful to see.
“Rarifruit, what’s wrong? Who did this to you?” Lauren asked as she approached the Freak.
She didn’t answer; she just kept walking in circles.
“Rarifruit?” Lauren tried again. When she got no answer, she held back a tear as she called out. “HAZEL AND HESTER, I KNOW YOU”RE BOTH HERE! COME AND TELL ME WHY SHE’S NOT TALKING!”
“We were hoping that you wouldn’t find her; this is painful to say” Hazel said as the duo appeared.
“I cried myself when I first saw this happen” Hester mused.
“What’s wrong with her? Why is she acting like this? How long has she been this way?”
“The corruption around here has taken a devastating effect on some of the residents who live and go here. But it’s sad to say that it was the Freaks that have taken it the hardest. The corruption was too much for even their own crazed minds can handle”
“But, I thought Freaks could handle any type of power, the Hosts inside them gave them so much and yet they were still able to stand”
“Inside, they were slowly breaking from the huge amount of power inside them” Hazel said. “And I’m afraid with this much corruption, it finally caused them to break down to complete insanity. Some like Rarifruit and Karateloo have become like those you would find in an asylum. Others who were still strong and sturdier managed to survive, just having their mind a bit in shambles”
Lauren looked at Rarifruit again before asking, “How did everyone else take it?”
“Some were locked up for their own protection. Others managed to flee and now roam Wonderland with abandon, performing their crazed acts. They only do one thing and that’s it. Rarifruit now only walks in circles; they put a muzzle on her so as to avoid her ramblings. And you’ve seen Karateloo”
Lauren looked down as she held back her tears.
“Lauren, we know it’s hard” Hester said. “We’re not so normal because of problems. We know their pain, just wished that it didn’t go this far. But there’s a way to get them back to normal”
“How?”
“Hester thinks that since it was the corruption that made them insane than ever, if you defeat Queen Faust, this may also return them back to their more controlled state”
“Then I will do it for them. Even though they were chaotic, atleast they still were their own pony”
“Great, see you around, Lauren. And don’t let the others around here get you so upset” Hester said before the duo ran down the hallway.
Lauren stole Rarifruit one last look before continuing to the door ahead. Don’t worry, Fruity. I’ll save you; I’ll save all of you.
Lauren opened the door and fought the Changeling Guards that were all over the place. She had to use a combination of the Cards and the knife. She went up the staircase and went to one area to see that there was another door. But something caught her eye: there was a glow coming from a weapon nearby. She went over to the other side to see something that, other than Hazel and Hester waiting, looked rather familiar.
It was a croquet mallet, with the head shaped like that of a griffin. The griffin is dark in color, mostly consisting of sickly greens, and has raging red, yellow and orange eyes. And it had a small red handling area. It was one of the Croquet mallets from the game she played with Queen Faust.
Lauren nearly got hit by the Guard again before it was shot with an electrified Croquet ball. She turned around to see Hazel was showing how to use it. She threw a dispensed Croquet ball in the air before it shocked the Guard. When one Guard came behind her for a surprise attack, she whacked him on the head, electrocuting him.
As Lauren watched, Hester smirked. “How did she learn to fight?”
“She’s Lieutenant in the Army right now” the Familiar then went cryptic. “Here’s a riddle: When is a croquet mallet like a Billy club?”
Hazel then whispered in Lauren’s ear as she gave her the weapon after killing all the Guards and gaining enough Essence. “I’ll tell you: Whenever you want it to be”
As Lauren descended and the duo vanished again, she looked to a side to see a door nearby. She heard a sound coming from it. Curiosity got the better of her and she opened it.
The inside was what looked like a small theatre. There were two rows of wooden pews. The carpet was red, like the rest of the building. Infront of the pews and infront of the stage was Sunburst. He looked sad as he pressed a button the remote he held with magic. He and Lauren looked up to see that four areas in the stage opened. What she saw made her bite a lip.
On one area was Pinkis Cupcake, but she looked sick; thin like Rarifruit and eyes blank. She was on all fours, howling like a dog. Her mane was all messed up, but the straight lining was visible. She had tacks on the sides of her mouth that forced her to smile.
Creepy Belle was on the other side of where her niece was, and fared no better. She had lobotomizing headgear on her, tacks on her mouth’s sides. She looked like she was suffering from severe Bipolar Disorder. She was crying and sobbing one minute and then laughing hysterically the next.
Behind Pinkis was Chrysalis Cupcake, and she was just like them. Lauren didn’t know if her mane was messed up too or was always like that. She was swatting away bugs that were either imaginary or real. When she looked like she stopped a bit, she twitched uncontrollably.
Orion was dancing with abandon in one place, and he had tacks stuck to his head. How they got there must’ve been by when she banged himself on a table of tacks and they got stuck. Lauren hoped that when this was over, she could be able to get those off him.
“How can you stand to watch this?” Lauren asked Sunburst as she approached.
“I don’t. I just check on them every now and then to see if they’re doing better. I guess not” Sunburst looked down.
“How long have you kept them here? For a show?”
“Since they went quite unstable, and we tried everything just to help them return to normal, but nothing is working”
“If Queen Faust is defeated, maybe they’ll go back to normal”
“I hope; right now, I really miss Pinkis eating everything in sight”
Both stole a look at the sight of the four Freaks for bit.
“There’s a bit more to do than you suggested, don’t you think?” Lauren asked Sunburst in an effort to stop thinking about the Freaks infront of her.
“No need for sarcasm. I admit, it’s been a while since I set foot in here because of the chaos occurring, save for when I check on the Freaks who now retreat here, but I’m here now. I’ll try to amend what I can do for now. The Library inside contains a recipe for the potion you need. Find the Book of Bizarre Potions” his’ ears perked up at the sound of Changeling Guards coming inside. He lit up his horn and said one last thing before teleporting away. “Oh no! RUN, LAUREN!”
Lauren easily defeated the Changeling Guards as she tested her new Croquet Mallet. It electrocuted them when they came in contact with the balls that were hurled at them. Lauren stole one last look at the Freaks before leaving the room.
She ran up the staircase again and opened the door. She killed the Guards inside with her Mallet. She went through the next door ahead and saw that it must be a part of the Library. She heard noises in one corner. She looked behind one of the shelves to see Magic Mare acting like a dog. She was pale and sick. Her cape was half-opened and she lost her hat. Tacks forced her to smile. Her mane was all in a mess.
Lauren looked away as continued on. She had to kill more Guard as she advanced. The Croquet Mallet was very helpful now. Especially since she killed four Guards this time. Man, Queen Faust really wants her dead. She looked up to see the book was high above. She could figure out how to get there later, but now she had to find higher ground as she killed another Guard. Lauren looked behind the defeated Guard to see a huge book floating in mid-air. It was black and the aura surrounding it was purple. She tapped it with one hand and it immediately began to move up. Lauren watched it go until it went up near the area where the book she was.
So that’s what I need to do. Find more books to make a platform.
Lauren approached the pillar with what looked like railings going up. She saw a platform behind it and stepped on it. It immediately turned on and took her up to higher ground.
Upon setting foot on the floor, she heard Hazel and Hester as they appeared. They were standing beside one of the shelves, a smirk on both faces.
“Steps to enlightenment brighten the way; but the steps are steep” Hester said as she and Hazel pushed the self to the side until it formed a staircase.
“Take them one at a time” Hazel said before vanishing with Hester.
Lauren looked around and found another book and tapped it before going off to face the Guards. She went up the shelf staircase that was made by the duo and tapped the next book she found. She found an elevator nearby and went it. When she got to the next floor, she was greeted by a Changeling Guard who looked like he was just waiting to kill her. Luckily, she killed it with her Croquet Mallet. Tapping the final book, she began to hop on the bridge made by the four glowing books.
She hopped off the final book, and got to the one she needed that contained the potions recipes. She tried to push on it, but it wouldn’t budge. Just then, Hazel and Hester reappeared.
“There’s no lock, but it won’t open. It’s stuck” she complained.
“Treat it like a Chinese box or stubborn lid” Hester said. “A tap in the right spot might do the trick”
Lauren tilted her head. She knew that meant she had to push it to the floor below. Although it was bigger than her, she was able to push the book off the shelf. It landed with a loud thud and broke the spine that held it closed.
“You call that a tap?!” Hester asked, wide-eyed.
“Fortunate that you didn’t suggest force or she may have pulverized it” Hazel reprimanded her Familiar.
With a groan, Hester made the pages flip to the one which had the potion’s recipe. Lauren got down to the book easily. The Familiar-Partner duo already left again, so she read aloud.
“Magic of Canon, part of OC, burst of Hidebrit, all with life
All those things are very nice
When combined the proper mixture
Creates a getting-small elixir”
“Hmm. It’s a good thing then that all three are currently alive” Lauren mused to herself.
Right then, Lauren caught a glimpse of a certain Familiar gesturing her to follow her. She did so. When she opened the door that was pointed to, she saw that Hester had once again disappeared. She looked up and saw another Siren-zombie Adagio and killed it with her Croquet Mallet by electrocution. She stepped forward and saw that there were also Changeling Guards above. She easily avoided their notice by stealth. She found another door, and killed the Guard inside it before proceeding. There were two ways: left and right. She took the left one.
There, she opened the door that it lead to. She was slightly disturbed by the sounds of children in agony. She had to ignore it to continue. Going up the stage nearby, she opened the door to find a lever inside. She pulled on it, and the wall beside the door because a flight of stairs. She had to go up, and leap on a beam nearby. She kept her balance as she went up. She jumped to another beam. There, she avoided the hanging pendulums and went up to Sunburst, who was in a corner.
When she was infront of him, he spoke up. “The Gymnasium should be safe. Those Guards and Siren-Zombies never really exercise. They are already too thin for it”
“Well, I wasn’t really that well at sports for school. Do I have to put on a uniform too?” Lauren tried to ignore the fact that she had just rhymed like Hester
Sunburst shook his head, “No, that wouldn’t suit you. I was able to remember one of the ingredients, a little of Twilight’s magic” he said while holding a vial up. His ears then perked up, “What’s that?”
They looked down to see that two Siren zombies, one Adagio and the other Aria, were already flying up towards them. Sunburst teleported away, leaving Lauren to fight. She immediately ran and kept her balance as she ran to the beams. She spotted another Rage box. As much as the pain would hurt, she had to go for it.
As she ran up to it, the Adagio zombie tried to scream at her, but it was deflected by a forcefield made by Hazel. Hester then appeared and jumped on the spray and let it hit Lauren in the eyes.
Hazel spoke up while Lauren hissed in pain. “How fine you look when dressed in Rage. Your enemies are fortunate that your condition’s not permanent. And you’re lucky too; red eyes suit so few”
Lauren growled again like before. She then jumped down from the beam as the duo disappeared. The Siren-zombies followed her. When they got to her, she killed them all with a single hit with the Croquet Mallet. She then ventured forth and began to go to the door from earlier. As she got in the hallway, she was disappointed that the effects wore off. She then just killed the Siren-zombies normally with her Croquet Mallet. She also had to kill of the Changelings who were present.
That done, she opened the other door nearby. When she did, she flinched a bit when she heard what sounded like a scream of agony. The entire area around her was terribly disfigured. There were platforms everywhere made of wood. Looking down, there were giant books all down there. She spotted on a narrow corner, a giant pip of dice. It was black with white spots. Lauren jumped to it and took it with her.
Hazel and Hester appeared. When they saw the weapon, both looked shocked at first.
“Ah, the Demon’s Dice” Hazel gaped.
“A word of caution: Never use them when you’re alone” Hester warned. “The Demons are only loyal to she would made them, Hazel’s mother. When she had it, they would harm anypony she commanded them to. Should you use the weapon when alone, the demons will attack you instead”
Both disappeared as Lauren had to face the Siren-Zombies and Changeling Guards again. She had to be quick with her reflexes as they were using teamwork to stop her. Luckily, she killed the Sirens and decided to use the Demon’s Dice on the Changeling Guards. They looked at it with curiosity, then it opened and a demonic-looking Pegasus flew out. It immediately began to attack them by spewing lightning out of its mouth. It killed two of the Guards, but the third one killed it. Lauren had to kill the last one herself.
Finishing them all off, she went up the flight of stairs to the Gym. She opened a nearby door when she heard a fight ensuing. She saw two Changeling Guards were fighting Sunburst, and he kept shooting magic at them to defend himself. Lauren killed them both just in time to save her Creation.
“You’re fortunate I heard them” Lauren said as she helped him up.
He dusted himself. “Indeed. Look, I’ve found the last ingredient: Snowdrop’s Snowy Drops” he said as she showed the ingredient.
“Whenever we meet up, I noticed that more trouble grows about and chaotic it gets”
“There’s a bit in that flask on the sideboard” he opened it to show. “We’re set. Bring back some Poppy Blooms, let Hester Hide use her Hidebrit magic on them, and we’ll mix up that potion”
He disappeared again, and Lauren began to think.
I hope we can save Wonderland before things go from bad to worse
It was no easy task for Lauren when she had to get the Poppy Blossoms. She took the flask and ran off to go and fetch what was needed. She had to kill several Guards and Sirens just to move on. When she reached the Gardening room, she poured some of the mix of the flak onto the unripe blossoms, causing them to be fully grown. She then took as much as needed before heading back. Along the way, she called for Hazel and Hester. The Familiar then used the Hidebrit Gene’s magic on the blossoms before disappearing again to who-knows-where.
She reached the room again and gave the blossoms to Sunburst. He then smiled at them before adding them into the condenser.
“This Condenser can mix the potion up. It’s been an honor to be of service to you, Mother Lauren” Sunburst smiled.
Lauren gave a faint smile that spoke, “You’re welcome” before the mix was finally finished and ready. It looked just like the Drink Me potion if it was the one brewed by the participants themselves. Sunburst then took a vial, put it to the mix, and took enough to fill it. He then used his magic to grab a star-shaped key and handed both objects of Lauren.
“Here, be careful along your journey. I feel you have a long way to go. There’s another exit just nearby in the Observatory. If you type in Twilight’s name in the Search Box, it will take you to the area she’s in. This star is for your stellar performance, and it may open some doors for you”
Lauren gave her thanks before the Unicorn used a teleportation spell to go and hide. She guessed he went back to where she found him to keep hiding and wait out the storm. She then began her way to the Observatory. Snowdrop once showed her around the Fortress before and so she knew the way.
She made her way throughout the place, killing enemies as she went. She soon found the Observatory. It was a giant machine that Twilight herself used to keep track of all in the Fandom side whenever Snowdrop was in need of a breather.
It was a screen attached to a button panel and later attached to a portal. To activate, you must press the buttons the will type out the name of the one you’re looking for. The screen will then close in on the target, and the portal shall activate and allow you to go where they are.
She went over to the Search Box and typed in ‘Twilight Sparkle’. The screen showed that the mare was now in the Vale of Tears. She sure got around fast. Where did that hole lead to? She heard the portal activate and drank down the vial when she was infront of it. Only when she shrunk down to the size of a mouse did she step forward to continue her journey.
When she got out to the other side, she suddenly found herself in the Vale of Tears, but from an insect’s perspective. The Vale was once a beautiful garden. Now, it was all foggy and eerie. A waterfall was just up ahead. Some insects pretending to be stones scurried about every now and then. They were the only things that were harmless around. Twilight was seen just up ahead, going up to the waterfall.
With a sigh, Lauren got up and continued to pursue Twilight.
There were several new enemies met along the way. Some were like the ones she met, but others were new and suited the environment she was in.
There were vampire ponies in armor. Some were in blue uniforms and wield bayoneted muskets. They will fire their long-ranged attacks at Lauren when she is within range. But when she got too close, they either bit her or used their weapons to stab her.
The threstals in green uniform carried a saber instead of a musket. They also threw grenades for their long-ranged attacks. Like the blue ones, they bit Lauren when she got too close. Good thing they didn’t wield a musket.
In terms of air forces, there were vampire fruit bats flying directly above Lauren. They carried a giant apple in their claws. When they fired, they sucked the apple and began to spat seeds at Lauren. These seeds were like hailstorm when fired.
There were also roses that looked normal at first, but once Lauren got close to them, they grew to twice her size and shot thorns. Their stalks were also covered in thorns. Luckily, they were like plants so it was easy to slice through them.
There were also mushrooms that appeared normal as well, but gained an angry face when approached. They had decaying yellow teeth that would stab anyone who was under them when they folded down like an umbrella.
Lauren walked on the water puddles. To her, they were lakes. But to a normal-sized person, they were puddles. She was walking on to her next destination when she heard crying in the corner. Who could be weeping in this time? She followed the sound, and found a familiar face.
It was Princess Luna. She was now dressed in the battle armor that was seen from the video of ‘The Fall of the Crystal Empire’, but her helmet was by her side. She held her hooves up to her face as she continued to weep into her hooves.
Lauren went over immediately to help her. She hated to see one of her most valuable Characters so sad. Luna heard her when she went over and looked at her.
“Mother?”
Lauren nodded, giving her a kind smile. She went over and the Princess of the Night flung herself over to get a comforting hug. Lauren did her best to comfort her. She caressed her mane to calm her while whispering comforting words to her. Only when the Night Princess calmed down did she pull away.
“What happened, and who did it?” Lauren asked gently.
Luna looked down. “It’s Gari…my most loved Child of the Night…Pinkamena was Corrupted and she took her…she tried to take me as well so she could turn us into her lunch…Gari used teleportation to save me…”
“I’m very sorry to hear that, Luna”
“I don’t want Gari to die…I’m so scared…but…now that you’re here, you could set this right, yes?” she looked at her hopefully.
“I’ll try and see what I can do, but I’m quite pressed for time. Have you, by any chance, seen Twilight Sparkle come here?”
“Well, I don’t really know, but Discord might. He’s been watching everything in a Third Person’s point of view since all this began. He must know where she is”
“And where is he nowadays?”
“Since this corruption began, he’s been in hiding. Only my sister and I know where he is. Snowdrop can’t tell because she has just been kidnapped recently, and Hazel and Hester are being low on their profiles while hiding in refuges only they themselves know. I cannot divulge the secret. I cannot risk telling”
Lauren sighed. “What if I help you get back Gari?”
Luna thought for a bit before agreeing. “Very well then, his whereabouts for Gari. Pinkamena will not part with my Child willingly”
“Then she must do it unwillingly. I’ll be sure to teach her and her cannibalism some manners”
Luna put her helmet on. “You are brave, Mother! But I must warn you: She treats anything as prey”
Luna turned around and gestured for Lauren to get on her back, which she did. She held onto the mare for liftoff. Luna then spread her wings and took to the air.
Who and why they did ever create that Cupcakes story in the first place?
Soon enough, Luna landed over to Berry Punch’s house. She knew it was the drunken pony’s house. Why did Luna bring her here? Isn’t Pinkamena living in a basement at Sugarcube Corner? Suddenly, a small figure came out from the bushes nearby. She knew her anywhere. Berry Punch, but she was now dressed in make-shift armor made from books. Her weapon was a broken glass.
“Yup, still drunk” Lauren mused while covering her nose from the smell.
“Berry Punch, Mother Lauren, at your service. Call me Berry, or not” the mare greeted once she came to meet them. “Got any brandy?”
“I’ve only my wits” she bit her tongue when she almost spoke about her weapons.
“Then you have nothing!” the half-drunk mare spoke. “Wits are useless in this landscape, as everything went downside-up!”
“I must see Pinkamena”
“Impossible. She only sees those who don’t wish to see her since this began”
“That’s not right”
“On the contrary, it’s perfect. She’s hiding from Queen Faust, who wants her dead”
“Her head?”
“That too. She forced me out of my home because they knew where her lair was. She’s making a major mess in there. She’s mad as the cannibal she’s been Corrupted into. Oh well, we’ll all die soon enough. Are you sure you don’t have any brandy?”
Lauren brushed aside the question for alcohol again. “I’m here to save Gari, Luna’s Child of the Night. I won’t leave without her”
“Mother Lauren, you were always either so tall, or so small. Very well then, I have a vendetta against the cannibal myself. This way, please”
Luna stayed in one of the bushes nearby for her own safety. It was Lauren’s request to keep her safe as well. The Equestria Girl then walked up to the porch, following Berry Punch close by. As they approached the house, the doors began to shake. Berry looked frightened before she ran away screaming. Lauren tried to run as well, but the doors just sucked her inside.
When Lauren regained consciousness, she woke to find herself in the house of Berry Punch. This was the front doorway, and it was already a mess. She found a modified vacuum beside her. It was so strong that if you put your hand infront, it would practically get torn off. She found the plug as she went to the living room and turned the device off. Looking up, she spotted another weapon.
It looked like a Jack-in-the-box object. It highly resembled the old one she once had as a toddler. The doll inside was smiling eerily with a grin that highly resembled Hester’s. She smiled at it before putting it with her other weapons.
“Jack’s a friend, but his personality is explosive. Best you let him play by himself” Hester’s voice rang out.
“Chimney, and watch out” Hazel warned before they were heard disappearing again.
Lauren turned around to see the chimney was starting to shake. Before long, Pinkamena came down from it. Shaking the dust off, she was seen wearing her Cupcakes dress. Her mane was flat like the story. Her eyes had the demented look of the victims of the Corruption. She had several bombs-shaped like cupcakes on her side. It was visible that her knife was in her mane. She held a large Pepper Grinder in hoof.
She let out a sneeze before she grinned at Lauren. “Come here, Mother Lauren” she licked her lips. “Properly seasoned and baked, you’d make a delicious treat!”
Lauren flinched, but stood her ground. “I’m not edible”
“Not a full meal, but you’d make a light snack!
Whimpering was heard as a small lump fell from the chimney. It was Gari, and she was gaged and bound. She was whimpering and scared. Her horn had a Magic Constriction ring.
The look of the frightened mare made her angry. “I’ll have Child of the Night, Gari freed right now, you corrupted cannibal!”
Pinkamena growled. “Over my dead body!”
Lauren crossed her arms. “I’ll try to accommodate you”
It was no easy task trying to defeat Pinkamena. Being an insane cannibalistic serial killer, she was very skillful and would not go down without a fight. She had to be careful with selecting her next weapon as well as dodging the cannibal’s own arsenal.
Lauren dodged the cupcake bomb that was thrown by Pinkamena. It landed and caused a massive explosion. Luckily, she wasn’t in its range. Pinkamena then used her new weapon: The Pepper Grinder. It fired flaming hot pepper pieces at Lauren. Lauren then wound up her Exploding Jack and threw him at Pinkamena, the same time as she used her Pepper Grinder on her. It was a double hit on each of them.
There was a major dust cloud, blocking their ability to see. When it finally settled down, Lauren couldn’t see Pinkamena. It was only when she got a blow from behind did she realize what happened. The pepper didn’t just serve as a weapon, but a teleporter. That cannibal’s a genius.
Lauren had to dodge and regain some Meter Essence before she could attack again. It was no easy task with a cannibal teleporting everywhere. Finally, she gained enough to make her next attack. She had to time it just right. When Pinkamena fired up her Pepper Grinder again, Lauren threw Jack right to the pepper and held her breath as she fell into a fetal position. The cannibal had no time to react as the bomb set her pepper off into a cloud. It went into her eyes and nose.
Pinkamena started to sneeze uncontrollably as tears came out. She tried to get the pepper out before it went off, but it was all in vain as one final sneeze caused her head to explode.
Lauren calmed down, regaining enough Meter Essence to keep herself awake. She had set Gari free and the mare was already starting to recover from the trauma. A second later, she heard the door open. It was Luna and Berry. Gari immediately ran to Luna for comfort, which she provided happily. Berry tried her best not to vomit at the sight of the dead body.
“I’ll have some leeches clean up the mess” the half-drunk mare spoke, shielding her eyes from the scene.
“I’m just happy now that my most loved Child of the Night is alright” Luna smiled while holding Gari. “Thank you, Mother Lauren”
Lauren nodded with a warm smile.
Luna gave Gari a kiss on the forehead before opening up a portal which the young mare went through. No doubt it was one that would lead to a refuge to wait out the storm. She then opened up another portal on the floor. This one looked like it was underwater.
Lauren looked down, unsure. “I can swim really well, but I can’t hold my breath for so long”
“It’s the fastest way to Discord’s area, stay close to me”
Luna’s horn lit up before two air bubbles appeared on their heads. She then jumped in first, before the Equestria Girl followed. Luckily, the air bubble provided air. She just had to follow the mare ahead of her.
Lauren swam with Luna down the watery area of Wonderland. Along the way, she was met by a new enemy. They were called Water Snarks. They looked like a fish, but they had then, chicken-like legs used for swimming. They were bluish-green with green eyes. When they were within range, they would bite.
They didn’t stay underwater for too long, thankfully. They soon surfaced up, leaving the danger of Snarks behind.
Luna shook the water off her after surfacing. Lauren took a walk right out, distressing about her wet dress. That was when the Night Princess made a night wind sweep across them. It was strong enough to dry them both to normal. Lauren dusted herself off while Luna fixed her armor.
“Discord is just up ahead. I sense Twilight is nearby. Be careful, Mother. You’re basically like a visitor, but we have to live here”
“I’m not on holiday” Lauren fixed her skirt.
“And I’m not ungrateful” Luna then lit up her horn before a blue glow enveloped Lauren and disappeared. “There, now you can stay underwater for longer periods of time. This spell allows you to breathe underwater”
“Thank you, Luna. I’ll be sure to make all this end”
“Be careful. I’m going to go and keep watch on my Children”
Lauren nodded, sharing a final hug of farewell. Luna then put on another air bubble before going into the water. Lauren went on and began to go and find Twilight.
And that task didn’t take too long.
Lauren swung on the vine tightly. Wherever it would take her, it was surely very high above sea level. Or in this case, puddle level. She was getting tired now from the long time of hanging and strain used on her hands and arms. She then saw something just ahead. It was Twilight, and she looked like she was waiting for her. Flinging herself forward with the vine, she safely landed on the other side.
“You’ve taken your sweet time” Twilight mused while the Equestria Girl got her bearings back.
“What do you mean? You’re the one who didn’t wait, I have my reasons…”
Twilight sighed. “Forget reasons, they’re useless in the apocalyptic scene. Besides, Discord is waiting”
Lauren caught her breath. “I remember him all too well. But he’s annoying at times, and always the mischievous type of villain rather than truly mad. Why do we need to see him in this doomsday look?”
“He’s been watching everything closely. Yes, he’s annoying to no end, but he may be the only one who knows what you must do to save us. Now, follow me closely. The way is treacherous. We have so much ground to go and so little time to get there”
Twilight looked behind the rock and went back down to Lauren. “It’s eerily quiet here. I don’t like it. Discord is just beyond the clearing. Let’s sacrifice stealth for speed, Mother”
Without any more waiting, Twilight made a run for it. Lauren knew one should never try to sacrifice stealth for speed in the apocalypse, especially with soldier literally in the air. She guessed the hot fumes around was now messing with the brain chemistry.
She was about to go and call Twilight back, but then she heard rumbling. The ground shook for both of them. They both looked up before seeing what it was: a normal sized Anastasia. From the looks of her, she was now dressed in attire which was both stylish but fit for war. She now wore a lavender top hat with a plum ribbon. On her hooves were plum boots with gemstones. In her eyes were the sign of Corruption.
Twilight made a run for it when she saw the feature. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her. Unfortunately, owing it to her small size, she had the stride of an ant. Ana saw the opportunity before she raised a booted hoof and squished her.
Lauren watched on the whole event. She saw the look in Twilight’s eyes before she made contact with the boot. It was fear and a feeling that she had failed. She heard her bones crunch under the weight of the boot. She saw the blood come out.
Ana only looked like she was smirking. She raised her hoof and gave a sneer at the blood spot on it. She only said it was another cleaning duty before raising her snout up and walking away.
Lauren ran over to Twilight to see how badly it was. The poor mare entirely crushed. Her blood was all over the soil around her. She was flat as a pancake.
Lauren broke down when she saw it. Twilight Sparkle, her firstborn of the whole My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic series, was now dead. She was dead and gone. She was the first she made, and the first loved one that just died before her eyes. She was smart, strong, powerful, and a born leader. Now…This was even permanent. There’s no bringing her back.
“Lauren” she heard a familiar voice call her.
She looked to her side to see Hazel and Hester, looking at her with empathy. They saw it as well. They were also upset. Hazel spread her arms to her, offering her a hug, hiding away her and Hester’s own sadness.
She lunged forward and hugged the living stuffing out of the little girl. She felt her pat her back to soothe her as she cried on her. Hester was fixing her hair to help out. She felt shaking from them as well, trying to hide their own crying. Even then, she vented it all out. She could handle a few minors, but Twilight was a major.
“Everyone around me dies violently!” she sobbed. “Unnatural! I’m cursed! Why go on?! I’ll just hurt others!”
She cried it all out on the child she held. Hazel was listening to her heart to keep herself from crying as well. Hester felt the sadness and mourning just radiate. Twilight was even one of those who were participants in holing the barrier together with her spell. Luckily, it still was connected to Lauren, Snowdrop, and the duo so it would still hold. Twilight was a close friend to everyone, and now she was gone. This was a major event.
Only when she felt that Lauren was calm enough did Hazel speak gently. “It’s not your fault, Lauren. You’re not to blame for Twilight’s death”
Hester agreed gently. “Twilight did what she had to do, even if it cost her own life”
“We know how sad you are about her. We all are too. Everyone will the moment they hear about her death. She was a friend to all of us, a mother to some, and a daughter to you. But rest assured, she did not die in vain. She led you near to where Discord is”
“Avenge her death when you stop this madness. It’s what she would’ve wanted. For her sake, press on. If you don’t several others will die as well. Stay strong, Lauren Faust, for her, for you, for all of us”
Lauren looked down at the corpse of the dead mare. A small glow of Essence came from the mare, in the shape of a six-point star. No doubt, it was Twilight’s own Essence and the type that also held her magic and powers. Lauren could only look on as the glow entered into her heart and she absorbed a piece of the dead mare’s magic.
Press on for me, Mother
She flinched when she heard the mare’s voice in her head. Twilight was still with her in a way. She won’t let her down. She can’t.
Wiping her tears away, she nodded to Hazel and Hester as the duo disappeared again. She gave Twilight one last look before she fought the Bomb-Sprites.
Lauren screamed as she ran away from the giant dung ball. She was walking around when she fell into a hole, and the next thing she knew, a Bomb-sprite dropped a dung ball and was now going after her. She had not time to think as she ran to avoid being crushed. She was beginning to lose it when she came to a cliff. It had a mushroom-trampoline up ahead, but she would have to jump far just to get there.
Hazel and Hester then appeared beside the mushroom. “Go with the flow. Whatever floats will do” Hester grinned before they disappeared again.
She knew what that meant: Jump. She had no choice; otherwise, she’d be dead manure. She ran back a bit before running ahead and jumping with all her strength. She safely landed on the mushroom, which sent her flying to the other side. She then pressed on to avoid the dung ball.
She soon reached a wintery area of Wonderland. There was a frozen pond up ahead, and she did her best not to slip. She felt her lungs beginning to burn, her legs tiring out, but she had to keep going. She spotted a high ground that the dung ball couldn’t follow her up on. She immediately made a jump for it.
She took deep breaths to get her breathing to normal. She sat down for better chance at resting. Things were really getting out of hand now. As if being shrunk to the size of an ant lion wasn’t enough, now she had to run from manure from a bug. She was really exhausted now, and sweating.
She suddenly felt a cold breeze come to her. She relaxed at it before it stopped. She turned around to see Hazel and Hester had appeared again. This time, Hazel held another weapon. It was metal on the handle, and the blade was made of ice. It had snowflakes dripping down it.
“Feeling better?” the Bipolar girl asked.
She nodded. “Much, thank you”
“Sorry we didn’t teleport you out of there” Hazel apologized. “We had to find the EOI before they got themselves hurt”
“It’s fine, did you find them?”
“Almost all of them. Fluttershout, she’s still missing and nearly unstable”
Lauren nodded. Hazel then handed her the weapon. Lauren felt a cold breeze sweep across her, but pulled away to avoid being frozen solid.
“It’s called the Ice Wand. Snowdrop made it herself one time during the war before the barrier was put. She hid it here for until the right time. She told us about where it was in case you needed it when you found where it was. Good thing you sat right a few feet from it”
“Withering cold incapacitates an enemy more than deep wounds, but winter does not last forever” Hester spoke.
Lauren stood up and added the weapon to her inventory. She was able to hold her weapon by turning them into cards with their pictures on it. They all went to her pocket when not in use. They just appeared in her hand when she needed them.
“Follow us, Discord’s hideout is nearby” Hazel spoke as Hester floated to her shoulder height.
“I thought you couldn’t intervene” Lauren was confused as the girl lead the way ahead.
“We can’t in fight, but we can lead your next move. Besides, it’s the least we could do considering how we almost let you turn into a pancake”
Lauren sighed as she followed the duo. They managed to evade the monsters for now. They soon got out of the icy area and found themselves standing infront of a door with a scanner. It had an ever changing color going on. Hester went up to the door and screamed with her Hidebrit Gene. It opened easily. They all went inside.
They found Discord sitting on a cloud made of cotton candy that was raining with chocolate milk. Around him was an endless oblivion of stars and floating objects, including a mailman. He was just knitting with the black plant that once invaded Ponyville.
Hazel smiled as Hester went to her shoulder. “This is far as we go for now. Discord is just up ahead”
Lauren nodded. “Thank you”
“You’re welcome”
“By the way, how did that door open?”
“Discord programmed it into only opening if it was triggered by any of these things: His magic, Twilight’s magic, Snowdrop’s power, or Hester’s Hidebrit Gene”
Lauren nodded. “Stay safe”
“You too”
When the duo disappeared, the sound was enough to draw Discord’s attention. He dropped his knitting and smiled when he saw Lauren. “Mother! You’re alright, and you’re here!” he then wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug.
Lauren smiled as she returned the hug. It was nice to see her cartoon Son. Atleast he was safe here, and it looked like he was having fun.
Discord then stiffened a bit before looking at her suspiciously. “You are you, aren’t you?”
Lauren smiled and giggled as he inspected her thoroughly. “Yes, Discord”
He then smiled again. “Oh, it is you. How did you get in here? More importantly, how did you find me?”
“Hazel and Hester showed me the way and Hester opened the door. They had to leave because they were called again”
“I see” he then made a table and tea set appear as they both sat down in the chairs. “Tea?”
She sighed before nodding with a teacup.
He poured her a cup before speaking. “It’s so nice to see you’ve returned”
“But Twilight never told me why, and…now she’s gone” she looked down as the image of the dead mare played in her head.
Discord looked upset after a sip of tea. “Twilight’s…dead?”
Lauren nodded.
“How tragic” He looked down before going to the topic at hand. “Oh, and about coming down here again, haven’t you seen what had been going on? Wonderland is severely impaired. Many are dying, some get Corrupted, everyone is wearing apocalyptic gear, it’s all a mess. You must fix it all, that’s why”
“How did this happen? And how did Queen Faust come back?”
“Having guilt for the death of several fans, and doubting your heir to take on the throne, you nearly wiped us out. And with that guilt, that Bloody Red Imposter came back from the dead. But now, you’ve begun to rebuild. Your task, and pain, are not over yet though”
Lauren sighed after her drink of tea and put the cup down. “Why must you all suffer for what I had done? None of you deserve this”
“Because your mind is fragile and Wonderland depends on you to survive when you came in. When you became aware of that, it made you question whether or not she would be able to rule over us just as you were able to. And with the guilt that some fans died for the show, you, and Wonderland with it, broke down”
“What must I do?”
“Destroy that Queen Faust. With her dead, Wonderland will restore to its friendly form and you, become whole again” the draconequeous then walked over to her and led her to his cloud seat, where he began to look in the cloud with a claw.
“I need to rest now and continue my hiding here. You need to regain your human size. Grow up, Mother. Embrace the truth. Travel to the Vampire Colony, and nibble from the Mushroom of Life. Be careful; Flutterbat lives and rules there and she jealously guards and rules over what you require. Please end this whole madness soon. Corruption on my best friend is not a good look for her”
Lauren nodded as she let all of it sink in. Discord then beamed before taking a bottle of green out of the cloud. He took out the cork, and gave a tentative whiff. His face scrunched up a bit in disgust. He then poured a drop out of the bottle, and a portal opened up.
Lauren nodded and gave him a kind smile before leaving.
Lauren struggled with the vampires as they crowded around her. She was ambushed by them upon nearing the Colony. She heard Flutterbat’s shrieking voice boom throughout the Colony.
“Bring the intruder to my chamber!” she commanded. “I will punish her insolence and dispose of her!”
Lauren didn’t have any time to react and couldn’t fight from how she was bound by the vampires. They then put her infront of the hole that lead to where Flutterbat’s voice was ringing out. They then swung her backward before letting go as they threw her in. She screamed as she slid inside to where the tunnel took her. Soon enough, she got to the end. An exploding seed hit her upon her entrance. She fell to the ground.
With a groan, she picked herself up and looked at who she was dealing with. She flew down from her post beside the Mushroom of Life before revealing herself. Flutterbat looked just as how she made her during the “Bats!” episode. The only difference was that she wore the black dress from Nightmare Night, and a crown rested on her head. It was made from twigs, but it had a bat-shaped gemstone on the center. She then hissed as she stomped on the ground.
Lauren didn’t want to fight Flutterbat, but she had no choice. Everything down here is not what they used to be. She tuned up her Jack Bomb and threw it in the vampire’s direction. She was quick to the dodge, but the explosion got to her, sending her to the wall. She was quick to get up. With a hiss, several bats came to her side and headed straight for Lauren.
Lauren used her Cards on the bats, slicing them up as she absorbed their Meta Essence. She then looked up to see that the vampire had regained her footing. She grabbed an apple from a tree nearby and sucked all the juice out. She then spat the seeds and used them as pellets. Lauren had to dodge as she wound up the Jack Bomb again. She didn’t have time to react as a bat clung onto her and started to shriek loudly in her ear. In her confusion, she threw the Bomb as she fought to get the thing off her.
She finally got it off by stabbing it with her knife, absorbing the essence and also killing off the rest. She looked up to see that Flutterbat was struggling to get off the ground. She fluttered for a bit before a snapping sound was heard. It looks like she now had a broken wing.
“I don’t need to fly to fight!” she hissed out before summoning more bats. One came with a basket of apples. She took one and started to spit seeds out like a gun.
Lauren had a hard time just dealing with the situation. She then used her Ice Wand on the bats, freezing them. But as she threw her Jack Bomb on Flutterbat, she found that she was out of ammunition. Bad timing; more bats! She looked around frantically for any source. Her search rested on Hazel, who was beckoning for her to come while peeping from a rock level below. She ran as fast as she could to where the child was.
“I’m out…of ammo…bats…” she panted when she got to safety.
“Drink this” Hazel handed her an unusual teapot. It looked like a grasshopper, but it was shaped into a teapot. “It’s Grasshopper Tea. It will help”
Lauren looked at it warily. “What will it do?”
“You remember the Rage Box? It will be the same thing, but you’ll be getting grasshopper features instead”
Lauren looked at the pot again before sighing with her head back. She then took the pot and drank down the contents. Hazel watched, rather confused. “I was gonna get a cup, but, oh well”
She heard the grinning in Hester’s voice. “Those who say there’s nothing like a nice cup of tea for calming the nerves never had real tea. It’s like a syringe of adrenaline straight to the heart!”
Lauren groaned as she put the pot back down. It tasted nasty, but she soon felt adrenaline course through her veins. She then reeled her head back as the transformation proceeded. She gained a bug-like appearance with green skin, black eyes, and wings on her back.
She then sprinted out of the hiding spot and attacked all the bats now that she was on full ammo and speed. They didn’t have time to react as she was quick to absorb all their Meta Essence. Flutterbat herself couldn’t react fast enough before she was hit again by another Jack Bomb. Lauren kept aiming until she got tired as the tea wore off and she turned back to normal.
Flutterbat then recovered herself before she used the apple seed bullets again. Lauren had to deflect them off with her knife. But she didn’t notice as Flutterbat charged at her, ramming her into a wall before retreating. Lauren knew she was already tired and on her last leg. She made the final blow by throwing her knife at her.
Flutterbat fell down in hysterics, screaming around as she tried to get the knife out of her side. Her screams were loud enough to rattle the stalagmites above her. They soon fell down and killed her. Several others fell as well, forming a staircase from the ground to where the Mushroom of Life was. Lauren glanced one last time at the dead Flutterbat before climbing up.
“Hester and I never really trusted toadstools, but I guess some of them have their good points” Hazel spoke as she looked at the growing mushroom with uncertainty.
Lauren sighed. “I wish I were hallucinating. What a terrible choice: Eat a toadstool, or remain food for insects?”
She made her decision when she picked at the right side of the mushroom, and ate the piece. Soon after, she was beginning to grow again. As she grew, she looked down at the duo who was just watching.
Hazel’s polite side kicked in. “You know, they say it’s rude to eat and run. But in some cases like this, it’s unavoidable”
Lauren kept on growing and growing, scaring away the tiny vampires around to go flee, and prompted the duo to vanish again. Why they were used in this shrunken part rather than insects were not known. Then again, this was Wonderland. Nothing made sense when Corruption comes about.
Lauren took a while, but she was finally back to her normal size. When that happened, she looked at her surroundings and was surprised at where she was now. It was the Dragon Lands. Stone structures and passages spread about. Molten lava surrounded platforms. There were so many ways to go.
Hazel’s voice rang out. “The dimensions of this desolate track are unknown to all but the inhabitants. But only one path shall being you to the end game”
Lauren nodded at the advice. She went on to where her next destination would lead her to.
Though she was glad to be rid of the vampire and bat enemies, she found the new ones here not as easy to deal with. Though, the appearance of the enemies always depended on where she was.
There were Fire Dragons with eyes filled with Corruption. They were around half Lauren’s size, but were muscular. They wielded spears and would stab Lauren when she within range. They couldn’t breathe fire since their mouths were shut by muzzles. They couldn’t fly since their wings were seemingly cut off from how there were bloody stumps on where they should be.
There were Fire Snarks that roamed the lava pools. They were similar in form to their water counterparts, but they were a flame red and had magenta eyes to go with the territory.
There were creatures called Lava Men that were large and lava-infused and hard the upper part of a human figure. They were in the lava pools and kept giving surprise attacks. Though, they turn to stone if they stay out of lava for so long.
Then there were those things called Phantasmagorias made up of several skeletal ghosts. They reminded her of the Sirens quite a bit, but they also were bigger and more decaying. When they opened their cloak, they had a trail of ice that they spat at Lauren. Upon attack, she found the cloaks were transparent while their insides were solid. She had a hard time just aiming for their insides.
Lauren went up and defeated the Fire Dragon on the top of the hill point. She then heard a familiar whimpering nearby. She looked to her side and saw a familiar face.
“Bunita Katsuma?”
Yes, it was Bunita Katsuma. She was bruised a little, but okay. She was frightened alright. She was trapped inside a cage that seemed to have deemed her OC powers useless.
Right soon, Hazel and Hester appeared. “Bunny! There you are!”
Both hurried over the cage and tried to unlock it, but to no avail. Lauren made them stand back before she used her Ice Wand on the lock and broke it. The young OC then jumped out and hugged her Makers.
“Sweetheart!” Hester cried as she pet her fur.
“Oh, Nita, are you okay?” Hazel hugged her tightly.
“Mom, Mother, I was so scared!” the young OC whimpered in fear.
“Shhh, it’s alright now, sweetie” they cooed. “Mom and Mother are here now”
Lauren watched as the duo comforted their creation. This was their first one afterall. How the OC got trapped here, she’ll never know. Atleast she was guarded by a weak enemy. She watched the sight, remembering how it felt like to be a mother. It was nice to see that the darkness here still had some light.
Soon after, Bunny calmed down and thanked Lauren for freeing her. She also informed her that her Sisters, Brazy, Bunochius, and Bunster were also kidnapped, each one with a more difficult enemy.
“I don’t know who has them, but I can feel they are very far apart from each other. I think Brazy is somewhere in the palm Realms, Bunochius is in Anastasia’s lair, and Bunster is somewhere in Tirek’s lair”
“We’ll find them” Lauren promised.
“Wait! I wish to help you!”
Lauren was stunned. The young OC then looked to her side back to her makers, who nodded. She then closed her eyes before turning into a green staff. It had a point at the top that was meant for holding something.
Lauren then took the staff to add. She couldn’t seem to use it at first, it’s like it was missing a few things.
“The Hidebrit’s OC Staff is extremely powerful. We created four main OCs to represent each of the main groups of the Fandom: Original, Alternate, Freak, and FNAP, in case the need arises” Hazel explained.
Lauren nodded. “Don’t worry about your OCs, I’ll find them all”
Both smiled before disappearing. “Take care, Lauren”
As Lauren passed by a cave uphill, she heard a loud voice boom from within.
To destroy the turret, full of hatred
Is the daring work of noble Lauren
An endgame with Queen Faust is possible
Only after you crush her sentinel
The siphon Tirek the terrible
Without the staff of OCs born of the Hidebrit Gene
Destroying him is harder than it will ever be
Lauren thought it was an oracle because of how it was talking to her. She managed to understand what those words meant from all her experience with a cryptic Familiar. She spoke up to it. “I have one of the Hidebrit’s OCs, the one from the Original version, where are the others?”
“Scattered throughout Wonderland” the oracle spoke. “When you have them all in hand, checkmate is possible. The Crystal Empire may be of use”
Lauren flinched a bit before moving on. “Comparison of this war to chess is fine, but it’s quite troubling that anonymous oracles seem to know more of my business than I do”
Lauren had officially thought she was in a chess match. Though they weren’t really like chess pieces, it made her think about the game a lot. The ground was now checkered like the board. Three new enemies appeared, and the ranking among them made her really think Queen Faust is aiming for checkmate. They were Crystal Ponies, but were controlled by the Corruption.
The foals resembled pawns in their armor. They were small, but they would jump and stomp on Lauren when she got too close.
Mares took the place of rook. They wielded spears and would stab Lauren when she was within their range. They had a helmet that highly resembled that of a rook on chess.
The stallions took the knight position. They wore the same armor as the mares, except for the rook-type helmet. They had a sword and shield and to go with it.
All three were wearing the same armor, but they were custom-made to suit each position. They looked like the ones from the time of how it could’ve been if King Sombra took over the Crystal Empire. The only difference was that the armor was all red, and had Queen Faust’s symbol on the chest plates.
Lauren ran over the Hazel and Hester as the effects of the Invisible Looking Glass wore off. This was like the same one that Hazel gave her to use when she first met them and saved Hester from Deceptive Beauty. The Partner and Familiar were frightened at first, but it was payback for the many times they did that to her.
“Since you know the moves, best play with the whites; they go first” Hester adjusted her hat.
“Such order in the midst of chaos is suddenly making me feel sick” Lauren held her urge to puke.
“The regularity of the chess board disguises the predatory menace of certain pieces” were the Familiar’s last words before vanishing again.
Lauren walked up to the Crystal Empire. She spotted Cadence get taken away by Queen Faust’s Pawns, but she couldn’t do anything about it since there was another group of enemies that ambushed her. By the time she fought them off, Cadence was gone. She soon found the Castle and went in.
Shining Armor smiled at the sudden appearance of Lauren. He ran up and hugged her tightly. “Mother!”
Lauren smiled while hugging back. She then let go after. “It’s good to see you too, Shining”
“I need your help, Mother Lauren. Queen Faust’s forces are getting stronger and they show no mercy. They just captured Cadence, and she’s in terrible danger”
“I saw her being dragged away by them to their castle, I’m sorry about that” she sympathized with him.
Shining looked down, but had to stay strong infront of the others. “Without her leadership, Queen Faust wins”
“I’m sorry about that. I will try my best to stop this madness, but you can be of help for that. Have you seen OCs Brazy, Bunochius, or Bunster? I need to them to create the Hidebrit’s OC Staff to kill Tirek and also Queen Faust”
He thought for a bit. “As a matter of fact, I think I have seen one of them. Looks a bit like a Katsuma, but has black irises, deep blue eyes, wears a collar made of unicorn horns, has several stitches on her body?”
Lauren nodded. “Yep, sounds like Brazy. Where is she?”
“I think I saw her in the Castle, trapped in a cage”
“Then that’s where I’m going. Don’t worry, I’ll find Cadence along the way and set her free”
“You are brave, Mother. But I must warn you: it’s dangerous to go in there. There are deadly traps and fierce oppositions on the way. But you won’t face the enemy alone. Take Flurry Heart with you, she’ll be very helpful”
He then turned and called his daughter out. She ran down to him. She looked all grown up, just like Sunburst described. She then ran over and turned into a card for Lauren to carry around.
“She sure has grown up” she mused.
“Yes, the Corruption allowed her to do so. Now, go and be careful. The knights know the way out”
Lauren was too late. Cadence was beheaded by the enemy forces. Still, there had to be a way to bring her back. She just had to get in. She soon did. It took some time and effort, but she finally got in. She just had to get Flurry Heart over to where they killed Cadence and the filly could bring her back. Once she got to the area, the drawbridge she walked on closed up.
“Lauren, look out!” Hazel and Hester cried before pushing the woman out of the way of a red beam. “Are you okay?”
She nodded as she was helped up. “Yeah, what was that?”
Hester flinched a bit with Hazel. “She’s here. Brazy’s here”
All turned around to see Knighty suddenly came in. He was Corrupted from the look in his eyes. He wore a red robe lined with gemstones. He had Queen Faust’s symbol on his chest. One eye had become mechanical, which they guessed was what allowed him to use the laser attack.
“Ah, Lauren Faust, what a pleasure to see you” Knighty grinned, the Corruption in his eyes glowing.
“It had to be you, Knighty” Lauren glared at him, her Ice Wand in hand.
“Where’s Brazy?!” Hester yelled while Hazel brought out a dagger.
“What did you do to her?!”
He grinned before lighting his horn up and bringing out a familiar OC in a cage.
“Mom! Mother! Lauren! Help me!” Brazy cried out.
“Brazy!” Hazel cried.
“Let her go!” Hester growled.
“Oh look at you two” he smirked. “I guess it’s right about what they say: When people create a character, it’s like their child. And to the Creation, their Maker is their parent. Now that I think about it, are you both lesbians?”
That was enough to make Hazel lose her temper, and her lack of meds for her Bipolar Disorder wasn’t helping. “HOW DARE YOU, YOU HOMOPHOBIC CORRUPTION!”
The young Pegasister charged at him angrily, her Familiar beside her. She was about to hit him with her dagger when he sent her flying with a red beam. Both hit the wall hard, knocking them out cold.
“Hazel! Hester!” Lauren cried out.
“Now that those two are out for the count” Knighty then placed Brazy aside, on a chain wall as she tried to get out and back to her Makers. “It’s me against you”
Lauren glared at him. Her Ice Wand glowed, ready for attack.
They then charged at each other, Lauren got the first assault. She fired up her Ice Wand and it began to shoot at Knighty. He counter-attacked with a fire attack. He then used his laser attack on her. She threw her knife, aiming perfectly at him.
He kept on hitting her with his laser attack, until she countered it with her Ice Wand. He tried to hit her with his staff, but she was quick to dodge. She used her knife again. As he used the laser on her, she knifed him. She then threw her Demon Dice, trying to summon her help, but he was quick to destroy the dice.
They then just aimed at each other with their long ranges, attacks until she final landed a perfect shot at him with her knife.
Hazel and Hester soon stirred and awoke. They ran over to Brazy and set her free. Lauren watched happily now that two of them were now free and safe. Brazy then thanked her before turning into her part of the OC Staff. She became a red collar with white spikes that was put on the Staff Bunny was, right on the top which needed a holder.
The duo thanked her for helping them while Flurry came out, and resurrected her mother. As the duo disappeared, Lauren suddenly felt a presence behind her back. She had no time to react before something hit her on the head and knocked her out unconscious.
Lauren soon awoke to find she was on a table. The straps that were meant to hold her down were just broken by Hester, who chewed on them with her fangs until they snapped.
“Are you alright?” she asked when she finally got her free.
Lauren nodded slightly as she got up. A slight pain in her head showed up. Hazel gave her an ice pack, to which she accepted. “Oh, what happened?”
“Anastasia” Hester spoke up.
“She knocked you out when you defeated Knighty” Hazel continued as she handed Lauren some water in a water bottle she must’ve kept all along.
“Oh great. Where are we?” Lauren looked around herself with the duo as they took in the surroundings.
It area was a spring green, but nearly a sickening color. There were gears and springs keeping several things going on. There were pipes fixed on wall. Steams vents were on the ceiling.
“Judging from the looks of this place, I’d say we’re in Anastasia’s lair” Hazel spoke.
“Well, I hope this place isn’t as bad as the others. I mean, this is Anastasia, daughter of Trixie and Rarity. What’s the worst that could happen?”
Right promptly after saying that, a foal dropped from the ceiling and onto the floor. It landed with a hard slap. Blood came out and pooled around its dead body. The colt had an orange coat and a mane that resembled Twilight’s. Upon further investigation, Lauren recognized it: It was one of Twilight and Flash’s OC Shipping Children. He had tacks on his mouth that forced him to smile. In his eyes was a deranged look of insanity.
Lauren thought it was disturbing to see that just happen. She looked to her side to see how Hazel and Hester would react. She knew that Hester had a tendency to hyperventilate when frightened or scared, and Hazel would scream uncontrollably. She was surprised to see them just standing normally.
“Meh, I never liked that Ship anyway” Hazel looked deadpanned.
“No fair! I wanted to see him suffer!” Hester whined like a spoiled child.
She sighed in relief, but still confused at their reaction. That was when she remembered: they hated the Flashlight Ship. Well, atleast it wasn’t the worrying reaction. The duo then helped Lauren off the table before they got ready to disappear.
Hester grinned. “Look straight ahead, but be skeptic. Whichever way you choose, always look in a straight direction”
Lauren nodded as they vanished again. She held the urge to puke as she walked past the dead body and over to the Rage Box nearby.
Lauren just let the demon attack the giant mirror. It was relentless even though she tried to get it to stop. She then flinched as a group of giant Jackstones suddenly appeared and began to circle around the mirror and attack it. Soon enough, the mirror broke down, revealing a passage inside. The demon died and the Jackstones all went to a small ball that bounced in the same place before going behind her. She turned to her side to see a familiar duo.
“The simple game can turn indistinctly nasty” Hazel commented as she handed her the Jackstones and ball.
“Don’t ever play alone” Hester gave her cryptic words before leaving again with her Partner.
Lauren thought she was going barf any second now if this continued. It was too disturbing even in Anastasia’s lair. The passage led to what looked like an asylum, but worse than the one she saw here during her first visit. The doors were not locked, but the ones inside were too mad to even know it anyway.
She saw all types of things going on in each room. In one room, two foals were being terrified to death by their worst fears. In the next room, two others were being electrocuted. The next one had a duo being cut open and salt was literally rubbed into their wounds. The one after that had a pair being impaled on spikes as thin as needles. Preceding one had a couple that was choking on insects. The following couple was being slowly burnt alive. Next one was being suffocated repeatedly. The one after that had them being drowned. Preceding one had their eyes pulled out slowly, bit by bit and after that, their intestines were pulled out just as slowly.
She noticed a pattern with the victims: they were all from the Flashlight, Flutterdash, FlutterMac, Twidash, or Fluttercord Shipping Verses. Various ones from each ship. They were being tortured mercilessly. They were all shifting around in the restraints holding them, desperately trying to break free. It was no use.
Lauren couldn’t save them. She had to ignore it to keep on moving. She destroyed the mini-clocks in each cell to try and see if anything would happen. When she destroyed the last one, a huge door was revealed. She went to it and saw two familiar faces.
She flinched when she saw the state the Flim-Flam Brothers were in. They looked quite the same, but their eyes had the insanity of the Corruption. They had dog collars on each of their necks. There was blood on their clothes and dripping from their mouths. They both looked rather fat. They had saddlebags carrying several fire bombs.
“Look, brother” Flim spoke up, gaining his brother’s attention. “It’s goody-two-shoes-mommy from reality, so-called Champion with a duo of lunatics for guidance”
The twin glared at her when he saw her. “Oh yeah, thin and mad, isn’t she? Who let her pick the cryptic ones out of the asylum? They’ll blame us, most likely”
“With her time spent around mad people, she must be influenced to be like them. She’ll need medicine, strong medicine”
“She got anything to eat since she fell into depression and doubt?”
“Doubt it, she never ate much since the news” he then sneered. “If she had any meat on her, she’d make a delectable dish”
Lauren fumed at those words. She could take some Corrupted Creations for so long, but if they began to speak of her weaknesses, she had it. It was unable to tell whether or not it was her rage that suddenly summoned the duo to her side.
“Despicable, grotesque, cheating louts, I’ll fill your bellies alright” the woman glared.
Hester grinned. “The bigger they are, the harder they fall”
She got tired of the cryptic advice. “Spare me your riddles for now. Hazel, do you have any useful advice to translate?”
“Use their size against them” was the Pegasister’s words before the duo disappeared again.
Lauren had to run up on a ramp nearby to get away from the brothers as they pulled out swords from their jackets. That didn’t help as the twins sprouted propellers from their heads, and flew directly above her. She barely had any time to react as Flim fell with a belly flop while Flam fell with a stomp.
She loaded up the Jack Bomb and threw it down at Flim. It hit him good. But then something really annoying happened. The brothers somehow managed to split themselves and create clones. The only difference was that the eyes were completely white.
Lauren dodged the attacks of the clones as she tried to focus on the original Flam. She hit him repeatedly before he finally gave way and died. The clones also disappeared. She ran to him and collected his Meta Essence.
“Flam, dear brother, you will be avenged!” Flim yelled before relentlessly hitting Lauren with grenades.
She had to dodge his attacks as much as possible. It was more challenging when he summoned his clones again. She had to defeat just him. Finally, she threw a final Jack Bomb and that ended him. He fell down and she absorbed his Meta Essence, restoring her full health and ammunition.
Suddenly, the door infront of her opened and Anastasia came out.
The young mare sighed when she saw the carnage. “Oh, give me break! I just hired those two to keep track of all those freaks of Shipping nature! Guards like that are hard to find nowadays in this apocalypse! Oh well. Come with me, Grandmother Lauren, you’re just in time for tea”
Lauren remembered how this mare’s Corruption was the reason Twilight was flattened down to a pancake. “I only take mine with friends”
“Count me to be among them. That’s the truth” she then dropped her smile. “Oh wait! I forgot! You and the truth are not on familiar terms right now”
“And you should the truth is you killed your Aunt!”
“Ant-y Aunt, if I may” she stifled her giggling. “But the truth is always bitter to those who fear it”
“I fear nothing”
“Fear was what got you here, because you have so much of it. With doubts about your heir and the guilt of Smith, you started to lose your mind. Longer in that and we’ll all end up in an institution. Of course, it may be all avoided”
Lauren tilted her head from that. “What do you mean?”
She didn’t have time to react as the Pegasus stomped on the ground infront of her, causing the ground below Lauren to shake and break apart. She screamed as she fell down to where the floor would take her.
Lauren stared at the mirror on the wall. She noticed how she seemed to be getting well now. She had begun to rebuild both physically and mentally. Soon enough, she would stop the madness of the Corruption in Wonderland, everything will be back to normal, and she herself would be better in the real world.
She didn’t have time to react when Hazel and Hester appeared on a platform behind her. “A reflection sometimes exposes more beauty than the object it echoes”
The sudden surprise caused her to fall into the water with a scream. Luckily, it was shallow. She spit out some that got in her mouth while parting her now-wet hair.
The duo giggled at it, Hester doing backflips in the air while laughing. “Sorry, Lauren!”
Lauren had faced some deadly enemies that suited where Anastasia was in. They were practically robotic in a sense.
There were Nightmare Spiders with four legs made from curling iron and connected to a white doll face. Its face was really chubby and had Queen Faust’s symbol on its forehead. They would bite Lauren and make her vision blurry for a bit.
There were also Automatons. They looked like robotic fillies and colts and out of metal and brass. Their outer shells were extremely decayed and constantly released steam through their head and torso. When that happened, it would signal an attack. They would run forward and stab anyone with their spiked armor or spurt lava.
Lauren walked into room, watching where the machine was taking the insane foal. The poor thing was beating itself up repeatedly. She then watched as a machine grabbed it by the neck and dropped it onto a platform. It was just meowing like crazy, unaware it could escape now. She could only look on as the thing was brought into the machine it was led to. She saw several parts used to make the Automatons fall into the crate with the foal, followed by several mechanical sounds. She knew that meant only one thing: Anastasia was turning them into Automatons for her patrols in Wonderland.
Behind her, she heard a faint groan. “Sunny! Wake up! Someone’s come to release us!” she recognized Clementine’s voice anywhere.
There was a soft, sleepy voice with him. “It’s Lauren…I hope…she knows…what to do…”
“Please free us! Undo us from these contraptions!”
“Or you could give us tea if you prefer…”
Lauren knew that sometimes Anastasia would often do some ‘punishment’ if either of her tea party friends misbehaved at the table. She assumed it was just that, and nothing serious was going on. She was still watching out to see what was happening to the foal, so she didn’t see how they were doing.
“Were you impolite at table? Or slurp your tea? Or talk while chewing? Confess your crimes” she spoke.
“We’ve done nothing of the kind! It’s my sister! She’s gone mad, if I do say so myself. Speaking of which, how is Queen Faust not like a typhoon?” yep, good old Clementine Jr. with the riddles.
“Both are powerful, destructive, and infinitely cruel…” Lauren then thought and found the only thing that separated the two. “…but the typhoon doesn’t mean to be”
“Good answer, good!”
She then turned around saw why they were so afraid. It was more horrific than what she saw back with those foals and the torture. Clementine was cut open, with several mechanical parts put onto his body. Half of his head was exposed a bit. He lost one hind leg. His eyes were forced open. He was also missing his left front hoof. He was tied to an experimental table that regularly dunked him into a pool of green liquid below and then shocked repeatedly by two Tesla volts.
Sunny Shores was not faring better. She was strapped to a dissection table, her gastrointestinal tract exposed. Both her hind legs were gone and replaced with robotic parts. She was shocked repeatedly in order to be kept awake.
“Oh my goodness!” she fretted over to them as she ran over to Sunny. “You’re both in real danger! Who did this to you? Where is Anastasia?”
Sunny was barely able to stay up. “Real danger…are we really? Tine, I want to go home”
Well, atleast she could ignore the pain a little. Lauren then walked over the Clementine, who was just brought out of being dunked and shocked. “Ana will be here at six on the dot!” he yelled before he got dunked down again.
“Misses no opportunity to deny us of our tea, most cruel! And her medicines make me tried…” Sunny yawned before being shocked again.
Lauren assured them that she would get them both out as soon as possible. She spotted a lever nearby and pulled on it, changing the time of the clock in the room. Before, it was just 4:00, now it was 6:00.
Hazel and Hester appeared again when she went into the hallway. “She’s quick as the Corruption, and mad from it, among other things here” Hester spoke.
“She is obsessed with time” Hazel commented while looking at her normal-timed watch. “Find her or your own time will be short”
Lauren sighed after she saw Snowdrop. The Pegasus was still the same as she first met, but she was now in a brown coat similar to her debut. She had a crown on her head that slightly resembled the Alicorn Amulet, but it was blue on the gemstone and not very frightened. Under her coat was some battle armor. She was whole and alright, but trapped in a cage.
“Clementine Jr. and Anastasia seem to barely comprehend their situation” she spoke to the Pegasus.
“They’re being pressured and tortured by Anastasia” Snowdrop explained. “But they are right about how she comes at 6:00 on the dot”
“For her tea?”
“No, to check on her cruel experiments. This Corruption made her use the mechanicals as her way to control her part of Wonderland. She always hated any Twidash, FlutterMac, Flutterdash, Flashlight Verse Child. She began to use several ways of torture on them to vent out her hate towards them. Should they survive, she turns them into Automatons. And with each Flashlight Child dying, Flash Sentry himself also suffers by feeling their death due to a spell she had put there”
“That’s awful!”
“Meh, a lot of people hated Flash anyway so they wouldn’t mind if he died permanently”
Lauren held the urge to puke from the thought of all the deaths being felt. “Six on the dot, you say?”
“Yes, six precisely, by that clock”
Lauren looked down at it. She had a grin on her face that rivaled the one Hester always gave her when she went cryptic. She had a plan for it. If Ana only came out at one appointed time punctually, then she knew how to ambush her.
It took a while, but she finally did it. Lauren managed to change all the clocks’ time. They were now all set to six on the dot. She was sent up to where Anastasia would enter so she could confront her there headfirst. There was a faint whimper from up ahead. She ran up to see what it was.
She sighed in relief when she found an unguarded Bunochius in a cage on the center of the battlefield. The young OC was scared and miserable. She was bruised up a bit, but whole nonetheless. Among all of the mechanical objects in this place, she seemed to be one of the very few who was still normal and natural.
When she saw Lauren, she perked up. “Lauren?”
“It’s alright, Bunochius, I’m getting you out of here” she assured her before using her Ice Wand again and breaking the lock on the cage. “Hazel, Hester, I found Bunochius!”
Right then, the duo reappeared. Bunochius immediately jumped into their open arms as they shared a happy reunion. Lauren looked on, happily. Compared to the others, she was the easier one to free. It was just too easy. She knew what that meant: She got her out of the cage, but she must make it out of the Domain alive.
Bunochius then came over and thanked her. “Thank you for freeing me, miss Lauren. For this, I shall aid you in battle!”
She then turned into her part of the OC Staff: a huge gemstone, which fitted perfectly into the holding part of the Staff. It was almost complete now; it just needed something to hold all pieces together.
“The only one who’s missing now is Bunster. She holds a small, but vital role. Her part holds the whole weapon together. We last heard she was being used as an eye for Tirek. He thought that if she was a part of him, he would soon gain her power. Though he gained none, she is just hurt. Though he still has his other normal eye, I understand he’s grown quite fond of both” Hester spoke.
“I doubt time shall change his mind” Hazel spoke.
“Speaking of which, where is Anastasia?” were the Familiar’s last words before disappearing again.
Lauren looked up to see that a glow appeared infront of a giant grand clock. It then enlarged before becoming Anastasia. She grinned at Lauren. Lauren readied her Jackstones.
Lauren threw the Jacks as Anastasia neared her. It annoyed the mare as she tried to swat them off like flies as they dealt a lot of damage. The mare then flew up and summoned two Automatons.
Lauren had no choice but she fought them off. Only after she killed them and absorbed their Meta Essence did Ana fly back down. Bombs shaped like teacups came out of her hat. Missiles also fired from her sleeves.
Lauren did her best to dodge them, but she got hit by the missiles. They didn’t hurt so much, but she was quick to find out why. The missiles were laced with venom from the Nightmare Spiders, so now she was having clouded eyesight. She tried to get it off her and see again, but she couldn’t until it wore off normally. Ana then flew up to her and smacked her in the head with her hoof.
Lauren then ran back as Ana prepared for another swipe and threw the Jacks at her. It dealt some serious damage as the mare fought to make them go away. Only when she flew up did the automatons appear again. Lauren then killed them off and refueled on ammunition.
She then looked up and learned from her past experience with Flutterbat. She threw the Jack Bomb at Ana while she was still in the air. It did the trick: The mare had broken a wing and could no longer fly. Lauren then threw the Jacks at her. Ana didn’t stand a chance against them. She couldn’t flee anymore to summon the Automatons.
She had no time to react as the final blow from one more Jackstone got her.
Flash screamed in pain as the death of another Flashlight child was felt. He had a spell cast on him that would make him feel the death of each Flashlight child, as well as their tortures. When that wasn’t happening, he was in his own personal torture.
He was burned, boiled in oil, intestines removed slowly, and repeatedly blown up. He was also spelled to come back to life as each child died. This was a never-ending cycle of torture for him. He wanted it to stop. But the end would never come.
And now, there was another torture just infront of him. A few feet away, in proximity deemed safe but good enough to watch, a familiar duo was watching him get tortured. They were both sitting on folding chairs, wearing 3D glasses and eating popcorn and sipping energy drinks. Once in a while, they seemed to get bored and read two books on a table in the middle of where they sat. One was called “Twin Desires: the Tale of Two Ponies who Want Twilight” while another was called “Flash Sentry Will Pay”
“You know, Storm would’ve loved to see this” Hazel spoke up before grabbing another hand of popcorn.
“Good thing we’re recording this on tape” Hester smiled while lifting a camera after drinking.
Flash screamed in pain. “For once…can you both…put the hate aside…and help…me out?”
“See, Flash, that’s the thing: We hate you”
“To the very core”
“If we had to choose who would live between you and Prince Blueblood, we’d choose that snob”
“In a heartbeat!”
“Please! I’ll do anything! Just make it stop!”
Hazel sat up and looked at Hester. “Hmm, what do you think, Hest?”
“Well, love, say ours at the same time?”
Hazel nodded. “1…2…3…”
“NO WAY!” they both yelled at once before laughing.
“… Sadists…” Flash groaned.
“Yeah, we get that a lot when we’re not weak” Hazel smiled as she munched on popcorn.
“You’re never weak to me, love” Hester smiled.
“Hest, stop”
Right then, Hazel felt a vibration on her wristwatch. She looked at it before sighing. “Lauren needs us”
“Oh, fine” Hester then went and shot Flash in the head with a gun nearby. She then got up from her chair with her Partner before perching on her shoulder.
“I love the way your little foul side works” Hazel smirked.
When Lauren delivered the final blow, Anastasia suddenly froze in place. She then began to shake and shudder as electrical sparks began to fly out of her body. Soon after, she short-circuited and her head exploded, sending her hat flying a few feet away.
Lauren then saw Hazel and Hester reappear beside the hat. They beckoned her to follow them, which she did. They then picked up Anastasia’s hat and made their way over to the opened portal. Hazel then reached into the hat, and took out a rather peculiar clock.
It looked like a pocketwatch, but it was slightly altered. The arms were shaped into swords. A rainbow gemstone was its centerpiece. The numbers looked like they were carved by a knife.
Hazel pushed its setting button, and everything else around them stopped. It all froze in place. Then, she pressed it again and everything went back to moving.
“This unique watch, called the Dead Time Watch, stops time for a time” the Pegasister explained as she gave it to Lauren.
“Unlike death, time moves on. Those who stood still with time move on also, unless they are dead” Hester grinned before the duo disappeared again.
Lauren then spotted a huge piece of Meter Essence and went for it. She then went through the portal.
Snowdrop stretched her wings as the cage holding her broke down. She sighed happily now that she was free once more. Lauren smiled at her as she flew to her.
“With gratitude, I offer you my services” she smiled.
“I need to free one more person before the real deal is settled. To do it, I must defeat Tirek. I am destined to battle Queen Faust, but the outcome is uncertain”
“You won’t fight alone. I will serve as your commander and muster the forces of those who are loyal to you for all you have done”
Lauren sighed. “Thank you, Snowdrop. But how do we prepare for battle?”
“An assault on the Queen depends on breaking the gates to her part of Wonderland. Only the Hidebrit’s OC Staff can pry them open. And you know the Hidebrit. If you can open the gates, I’ll lead the troops to victory. Let us right the wrongs of this realm together”
Lauren smiled as she shook hand, and hooves, with Snowdrop. The mare then gestured for Lauren to get on her back, which she did. She clung on for dear life as Snowdrop spread her wings. The blue Pegasus then took to the air and went to the glass dome covering the room she was in.
She let out a tear and wiped it, before blowing on it to create some icy breath. She blew long enough until the whole dome was covered in ice. Only then did she break through the glass.
Lauren watched from down below to see the destruction going on. The Corruption had polluted everything in its wake, but was now losing its advantage against her. With each defeated Corrupted character, each part in Wonderland was starting to heal. If Queen Faust dies, everything will go back to normal. But if she didn’t, what would happen?
She turned her attention back to where snowdrop was now landing. It was the Dragon Lands again. When the Pegasus was on the ground, Lauren got off.
“Recruit whatever allies and forces you can, Lauren. We’ll need them all. I’ll return with reinforcements. Take heart” Snowdrop spoke up before taking to the air again.
“Good thing you both managed to help me for that” Lauren sighed as she walked with Hazel and Hester by her side. The duo had appeared a short while after when she was nearing the Crystal Empire. They helped her recruit some friends from the Crystal Empire via teleporting around.
“Least we could do for all that you’ve been able to do” Hazel spoke to her.
Suddenly, a loud voice boomed when they neared a cave. Both looked up hear what the oracle had to say.
The time for action has arrived
You should not waste a day
No lame excuses do you contrive
Nor tolerate delay
Lauren got annoyed with it. It sounded like it was jeering at her. “It talks to me as if I’m on holiday, Hazer” she used the combined nickname she gave to the duo. “As if I’m wandering around or having any fun at the moment. This oracle’s annoying”
“Confront whatever frightens or offends you” Hazel spoke, readying her dagger.
“Reckless or insulting talk should never go unchallenged” Hester grinned, her fangs glistening.
Lauren nodded before Hester sent up a glowing ball to reveal who was talking to Lauren. It was quite a surprise to them all when they saw who it was. It was Discord, and he was just giving a playful smirk.
“Typical” Hester groaned while Hazel sighed.
“Discord! I thought you were in hiding!” Lauren cried.
“Well, I decided to tarry around for a little while to see how things were doing. I’d say it’s doing perfectly well though from all I’m seeing. You’ve gained a whole lot of weaponry for yourself, even the Hidebrit’s OC Staff, and now an army is at your command! I must say, well done!” he summoned several clone Discords who began to clap with him.
Lauren sighed in exhaustion. Hazel didn’t say anything, but Hester popped one of their medication pills, which was being saved, in each of their mouths. Yep, that was Lauren Faust’s Discord, always making jokes and having fun, even in the middle of a disaster.
“Well, what are we waiting for?” the draconequeous asked suddenly. “Blow open those gates and confront that poser!”
“I don’t have the fourth OC Bunster, from the FNAF side. With her trapped with someone as powerful as Tirek, how can it be done?”
“Wait, what?!” the creature then grabbed the card of the Hidebrit’s OC Staff, finding out that it was still incomplete. “Oh, come on!” he then appeared back up in the cave. “I don’t know, but you must do it. This is getting out of hand, and that’s all coming from me”
“You don’t even remember how you met that thing?! He nearly destroyed all of Equestria by siphoning off every bit of magic there was! Why did you think I put him in Tartarus in the first place?! I’m supposed to attack this beast! But, I tend to doubt if I’m even fighting a good fight”
Hazel then looked at her. “Why would you say that?”
“This is no one else’s fight, Mother” Discord agreed. “Only you could save yourself”
Lauren tilted her head from that. “Save myself? From what?”
The question made her companions suddenly turn pale. Hazel began to hum a lullaby while Hester was breathing heavily into her paws. Discord literally turned pale.
“From the looks of all of you, I guess you don’t want to tell me”
All nodded. Discord then snapped out of it. “We won’t tell you that, but we will tell you this: You withdrew from your world after the deaths and fears because you could not bear your loss. When you answered twilight’s call, you began to emerge from the dark. Stay on this path, Mother. Save yourself, and you will save Wonderland. You will restore us all”
“You’re beginning to sound like a poet, Discord” Lauren mused. “But I get it now. I broke this world, and now only I can repair it”
“Indeed” Discord smiled. “Go, Mother. Tirek awaits, give him a good one for what he did. With Snowdrop as your commander for the army, you have a reason to hope for success. She’s the strongest general in this war”
Lauren stood frightened when she saw how the place where Tirek now resided looked. It looked like a train station, but battered up. She never liked trains or the train stations since it would remind her of Adam Smith, and how he died. She knew he died by running himself over with a train.
Tirek himself looked very much like a cyborg now. His chest area was now mechanical. His arms were half-organic and half-robot. One of his hind legs, and front legs were robotic. One of his eyes was also mechanical, but Lauren spotted someone inside it. No doubt, it was Bunster.
“You’ve kept me waiting, Lauren” he grinned when he noticed her. “Have you never learned from your friends that punctuality’s a virtue?”
“You and Twilight when she was in Lesson Zero have a lot in common”
“You are habitually late, aren’t you? Between your creating new episodes for the show and spending time with your family, the hours just fly by. There’s barely time for anything else”
“Atleast I’m using my time well”
“Adam was expecting for you to atleast know about him before he died, didn’t he? He thought you would atleast see his repentance to those viewers, being the one who made the Fandom come to life. But he just suffered scorn form the others, and did himself in to escape it all”
Lauren felt her sorrow creep up on her back again. She tried to shake it off. “I was unaware of the situation, I…”
“You selfish, misbegotten, unnatural woman! You were warned beforehand, but you were in dreamland, taking tea with your Creations before the discovery of this world! You were living happy and free, but he and several others died due to the scorn they got just for loving your work!”
She bit her lip. “Noooooooooo!”
She felt all the pain creep up on her. But she couldn’t let it break her down as the creature ran up to fight her. She got her Jacks and threw them at him. He couldn’t even get away from them as they kept aiming at him. While he was distracted, several small dragons came up and tried to attack Lauren.
She turned her attention to them and attacked. She used her Ice Wand on them. They fought by trying to stomp her down or bite her, but the Ice soon froze them. She then absorbed their Meta Essence.
She then turned her attention back to Tirek. The Jacks were already gone. He then charged at her, a shower of fire came out from between his horns and fired at her. She barely dodged it. An energy beam also fired after locking on her. She threw the Jacks at him again. This time, she also fired her Ice Wand for extra damage.
The dragons appeared again. With a groan, she attacked with her Ice Wand. It took time and effort and running around, but she finally got them frozen and dead. Having absorbed enough for ammo again, she faced up against Tirek.
Lauren was knocked down to the floor as Tirek neared her. He had knocked her down with a swipe of his hand. She expected it to be over now as he was about to siphon off her power, but she was saved. Snowdrop suddenly broke the glass and knocked Tirek off. She delivered a massive punch to his face, making him lose the Bunster eye, which landed infront of Lauren. Tirek shrieked in pain before retreating.
Snowdrop checked Lauren as Hazel and Hester appeared to comfort their OC. When she was assured she was alright, she sighed in relief. “Hurry, Lauren. The Staff if yours. The troops are gathered. Everything is set in place. I’ll deal with Tirek. You are our Champion. Lead us to victory in Queensland”
Snowdrop then took to the air. Lauren then reverted back to the duo. Bunster thanked her for freeing her before she turned into the final piece of the Staff. She was a series of streamers. When it connected to the rest of the Staff, it held all pieces together.
“Here, as token of gratitude” Hazel spoke as Hester opened up a portal leading back to the Dragonlands.
She smiled before she followed the duo as they jumped into the portal.
Lauren went up to the gates, finding a hidden room inside. She saw another weapon. This once resembled a gun a bit and it had the head of a flamingo. She went up and took it. Right then, Hazel and Hester appeared.
“The Blunderbuss in the hands of a blockhead is a catastrophe waiting to happen” Hester warned.
“You’re not an idiot, but exercise great care” Hazel added before they disappeared again.
Lauren looked at the weapon with uncertainty. As she exited where it was hidden, she was confronted by a Lava Man. She used the Blunderbuss, and was literally blown off her feet. It took out all her ammunition, but atleast the Lava Man was dead. Well, that settled it. One hit KO for all her ammunition.
It took a while and some exhaustion to get past the guards, but she managed to get through them. Lauren was now in a mechanical area of the Castle nearing where Queen Faust was.
She looked down at the bottom. She knew if she fell, who knows how far she will plummet. There was only one thing around to help her move on the next platforms: Thermal drafts like the ones from where she fell. They were all in position to carry anyone from one place to another safely. She was quite scared, and about to try and find another way but…
“Ride the thermals drafts like a gyrfalcon” Hester’s voice rang out.
She sighed. That settled it. Taking a deep breath, she made her way over to the first thermal draft and began to move from one to the other.
Well, now she was getting rather stuck.
Lauren looked down at the water below. There were no drafts to help her this time. The platforms were too far away. She knew how to swim, but the water was also teeming with Snarks. If she got attacked, she might let go of her breath and drown.
“Luna’s spell comes in handy in times like this” Hester’s voice rang out.
She knew what that meant: Luna left a spell on her that would allow her to breathe underwater. That was a relief. Taking a deep breath, she jumped in the water.
Man, Queen Faust really didn’t want her to get near. Lauren looked around at the spinning gizzards everywhere in this part of the Castle. She was getting dizzy just by looking at them. She heard Hazel and Hester appear again, on the other side of the room. Hester was holding onto a pole nearby while Hazel was covering her eyes.
“Time to jump in…time to jump through…time…” Hester struggled to say when she saw the spinning.
Hazel held the urge to vomit. “I’m dizzy”
Lauren giggled at that while the duo vanished. No doubt it was to get away from it. Still, she had to get pass this whole level on her own. Taking a deep breath, she did her best to avoid the dizziness as she went through.
“Wait!” a small voice cried out.
Lauren turned to see who it was. She had entered the Labyrinth. It was similar to the one she made during Discord’s debut in Return of Harmony. But it lacked statues and had red roses. It was also filled with several guards and enemies. She had to find the portal that would lead her to where Snowdrop was. Now, she was surprised to hear a small voice that sounded normal.
“Who’s there?” she called.
From a turn in the Labyrinth, she saw a familiar face. It was Fluttershout, and she was still herself. She looked a little bruised and tired, but she was still alright. Lauren couldn’t believe it was her. She thought she was dead, or kidnapped, in refuge, or gone mad like the rest of the EOI. But no, here she was. How she got there was not known, but this was the farthest any member of the EOI had made.
“Mother, thank goodness” she spoke weakly.
Lauren ran up and hugged her tightly. It was so comforting to see a friendly face. Fluttershout hugged back. She was shaking from fear. Lauren could feel how thin she was now. She saw the eye bags and knew she was tired as well.
“Oh, Fluttershout, it’s you. How long have you been here? Are you hurt? You’re so thin” she fretted over her.
“It’s fine. I’m just tired. I can’t believe it’s you”
“Same here”
“Brutalight and I knew you would come to save us”
“Of course” she then thought. “Where is Brutalight?”
Fluttershout looked down before biting her lip.
“Oh, I’m so sorry”
“It’s fine. So, where are you heading?”
“I’m off to find a portal in here that would take me to where Snowdrop is. She’s out fighting Tirek and I have to be there in case she needs back-up”
“The portal? I know where it is!”
“Really?”
She nodded. “I’ve been in this Labyrinth long enough to know it as much as I know Brutalight is not to be messed with!”
“Great! Can you show the way?”
Fluttershout nodded. She took a few steps ahead, but she was starting to collapse. Her pace was also slow now. No doubt, she was already tired. Lauren picked her up and carried her.
“Mother, you don’t…”
“Fluttershout, you’re weak and tired. Just tell me which way to go”
The mare sighed, but let it be. She couldn’t even fight anymore. And the warmth from Lauren’s body was calming her cold skin. Lauren shifted between carrying Fluttershout to battling the enemies. But the young mare was losing her own sanity. She followed the directions as they went. Finally, they arrived at where the portal was. Fluttershout then got off her and went to a nearby platform and stood on it, opening the gate holding the portal.
“Go on without me” she told Lauren.
“But, Shouty, you’re…”
“I’ll be fine. Just stop that poser”
Lauren bit her lip, but the tired smirk on Fluttershout’s face told her to go on. She had no choice. The sooner she got rid of Queen Faust, the sooner everything will be back to normal. As she stepped through the portal, she heard Fluttershout just scream.
“DOWN WITH THE BLOODY RED IMPOSTER!”
Well, after such a long time to get past those obstacles, Lauren finally reached the battlefield. She was just in time to witness the fight between Alicorn Snowdrop and Tirek. She stood at the front of the bridge after crossing, should she be needed for help.
Snowdrop and Tirek stood, facing each other. Tirek looked pretty mad about his lost eye while Snowdrop smirked. She then took to the air. Tirek fired a beam of light at her, but she dodged quickly. She let out a tear and blew her icy breath. He narrowly dodged her. They fought on and on, but Snowdrop was already losing. Tirek soon got her right where he wanted her and fired at her. She fell to the ground with a loud thud. Blood leaked out of her head as her fur singed from the beam.
Lauren stood, horrified at what happened. Tirek smirked down at her. He then fired another beam. She dodged down to the ground. But he aimed at the bridge instead, locking her with him.
Tirek grinned. “How typical. How foolish you were to think you could overcome your guilt”
Lauren switched her cards to the Blunderbuss and it hit Tirek. That was a major hit with everything she got, literally. He stumbled back from the impact. She then went and collected some Meta Essence before going to fire at him again, this time with the OC Staff. She hit him repeatedly with the OC Staff. She was so angry about Snowdrop that she didn’t realize she was running out of ammo. It was only when her Staff stopped did she know.
Tirek smirked as he threw down a beam of fire on her. She barely dodged as she grabbed the Meta Essence crystals. She then hid behind Snowdrop for protection. She felt faint breathing, meaning she was barely alive. She had to switch between hitting him with the Staff and hiding behind Snowdrop.
She soon had to run out and grab more Meta Essence. She barely dodged his swipes and was caught by his levitation.
She groaned, “Why did I put that in his abilities?”
She then was brought up to face him. He smirked at her as she flailed around.
He threw his head back and laughed. “You’re supposed to be their Champion, but you can’t even fight with so much guilt on your plate! I wonder, if this is how you react to one death, how if it were…”
He didn’t get to finish his sentence as Lauren threw her Jacks into his gloating mouth. She smirked as they spurn got action inside him. He threw her away to the ground, but she was quick to regain her footing right before falling off the arena. It was quite a sight to watch as he struggled with several spikes jumping around in him like a ball in a pinball machine.
She loaded up the OC Staff. She only had one shot at this now that he was vulnerable. With it at full power, she hit him with everything she had. He didn’t stand a chance. All those attacks at once were too much for him to handle.
She jumped down to the ground and collected enough Meta Essence to fully refuel as her Jackstones returned to her. She looked up to see something rather amusing. Tirek froze in place, his jaw dropped to the ground as the Jacks came out. He then began to short-circuit like Anastasia did. But he looked like he was doing a Mexican dance along with Egyptian poses before he finally exploded.
Lauren bent down to the near-dead Snowdrop. All of the sudden, the mare suddenly shrunk back into the form she had in her debut story. She was blind again and back into a filly. She smiled softly as Lauren gently rested her head on her lap. She wanted to make her clam and peaceful before she left for the great beyond.
“You defeated her Champion, Lauren…and avenged my death…” the dying filly croaked out. “…enter into the ultimate battle”
“Must I go on?” Lauren tried to bite back her tears as they surfaced, she tried to be strong, but the water in her eyes weren’t helping. “Can’t Queen Faust be persuaded to surrender?”
“…she is still strong…and many have died at her will…they want revenge…which we call justice…” she then weakly reached up to her crown, and took it off, before handing it to Lauren. “…you must lead our troops to victory…”
Lauren was surprised at it. She was trying to stay strong. She put the crown down gently. “I’m not sure I know how to lead”
Snowdrop felt her last breath nearing. “Do your best, Lauren…do your best…I have faith…in you…Auntie” Snowdrop smiled softly before her eyes went dead and she fell limp.
Lauren was crushed to see another death of one of her closest friends as she sobbed for her. First Twilight, and now Snowdrop. Who was next? No, she couldn’t have another death on her hands. This was becoming a train to sadness. She lost two of those she loved the most. They were gone. She couldn’t bring them back. She was strong, and brave, and never let her disability get her down. She had a touching story.
She felt Hazel and Hester suddenly appear again as a hand began to pat her back while a paw was combing her hair. She looked to the side to see it was indeed the duo. She sobbed before she flung forward and hugged the Pegasister. Both the Partner and Familiar did their bests to comfort her. Only when she was finally calmed down did they pull away.
A loud cry was heard before Hazel noticed the Essence exit Snowdrop’s body. It was in the shape of an icy blue snowflake. Taking a deep breath, she accepted the essence into her. She looked up to see that the duo was staring at the Castle ahead. When she went over to them, Hazel brought out the crown Snowdrop left and put it on her.
“Without Snowdrop, our troops are leaderless, and the battle has begun” she said as she fixed it.
“Deliver us all from this evil or let us perish” Hester added before they disappeared again.
Lauren looked up ahead as a guard suddenly fell down dead. As she absorbed the Meta Essence, she felt Snowdrop’s last words echo in her head.
I have faith…in you…Auntie
Auntie, it was the title she was given by all OCs, but Snowdrop used it more often than the others. She wouldn’t let her go quietly.
Lauren went up to the lever infront. Below was a pointer statue in the middle of three paintings. She wondered what that meant.
Hazel and Hester then appeared. “Only a few find the way. Some don’t recognize it when they do. Others don’t ever want to” the Familiar spoke before they left again.
Lauren took a guess, but decided there was a pattern here. She pulled on the lever and pointer statue below moved to one painting. She ran downstairs to where it was. It was pointing at a painting of Flim.
It was very exhausting work. It required a lot of memory and backtracking, but it was soon worth it. It turns out; she had to match the painting with the one in the room nearby. She had to throw her knife at each painting once they were pointed at. The pattern was: Flim, Anastasia, and Tirek. It was even more exhausting with the Changeling Guards and Automatons around.
Lauren finished shooting at the paintings and had arrived back to where the lever was. The duo then reappeared again.
“The Queen, the Queen, my lower incisors” Hester mumbled while looking around.
“Where is that wretched creature?” Hazel groaned before they vanished.
“The Queen…she’s too strong” Lauren panted after she suffered a hard blow from a tentacle that strayed out of the Queen’s throne room. She could’ve been scooped up and killed if a certain Familiar hadn’t come and bit the tentacle as hard as they could. It retracted and then left back to the throne room. Hazel then gave Lauren enough Meta Essence to heal fully again, along with sealing the door for a bit.
“I believe she is the strongest enemy you will ever encounter. She’s at her worse” Hazel spoke up.
“What do I do?” Lauren looked down.
They thought for a bit before Hester suddenly perked up and went over to Hazel. She whispered something in her ear. At first, it was a conversation between just the two of them. It looked really serious. Finally, the Pegasister agreed.
“There is still a way for us to ensure your victory” Hazel spoke up. She then picked up Hester as the duo gave a warm smile rather than their more common grin.
“The Hidebrit Gene in my Essence, combined with a Partner will aid you in this battle” the Familiar spoke.
Lauren thought about what that meant, but it was soon made clear when the duo stepped infront of the door that lead to the throne room. Hazel’s hand was beginning to let the spell holding the door closed fall. She remembered the Hidebrit Gene could only be passed on if the bearer dies. That meant one thing…
“No!” she shook her head. “You can’t do this! You’ll both…”
“If we don’t, others will” Hazel had no fear in her tone.
“No! There has to be another way! I’m not gonna let the two of you just…”
“You’ll be okay. We’ll be fine” Hazel assured.
“Sometimes peace is all we can give. And sometimes peace is just enough” Hester agreed.
“Please…don’t do this…” Lauren was crying now. She tried to run forward and get them away, but Hazel gently blew her back. “I’ve lost Twilight…and Snowdrop…I can’t lose you both too! It’s already bad enough they’re gone!”
“There is no time”
“Please…I can’t…I can’t lose you both too…” she let the tears rise, trying to close her eyes and get it out of her head.
“Lauren…” they called her, making her look up. “Just give her one for us all” they spoke together.
Lauren looked at the duo straight in the eye. They had to do it. They couldn’t just sit idly by when they could do something. They could do something, but it would cost them their lives. Being two parts of a whole, the Gene in Hester would only be strongest if the Partner was involved. She had no choice.
Taking a deep breath, she nodded while shutting her eyes to avoid watching them die.
They nodded before speaking to her as Hazel dropped the spell. She held her Familiar tightly to herself as the little one held onto her. They closed their eyes as the tentacles neared them. “You and Queen Faust cannot both survive. You’re two parts of the same…”
She never got to finish her words as the tentacle Hester bit suddenly came on them and beheaded both of them in a quick slash before going back in. Their heads fell on the floor, a look of death in both. Hester’s Essence, shaped like a star, contained a glow in the center. No doubt it was the Hidebrit Gene. Hazel’s own Essence was a small heart. Both then combined as one before they entered Lauren.
One more time. We’ll be fine. Sometimes peace is just enough.
She felt their voices ring together in her head as that phrase played. She had lost her first Creation, and her loved Niece, and now the duo that were by her side all this time. Hazel and Hester were the duo that stuck by her side and guided her throughout her journeys in Wonderland. They were a bit annoying at times due to the cryptic suggestions and comments, but they were still helping her in their own ways. They were unstable, but that didn’t help her from helping them in their first meeting. They were always by her side. Thick and thin, better or worse, good or bad. They helped her in any way they can, no matter what. Now they helped her by giving up their lives.
She took it all in as she collapsed to her knees and cried. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Lauren walked up to Queen Faust after she had put Hazel and Hester’s bodies aside. They did their parts. It was all up to her now. She took the OC Staff before she made face to face contact with the Queen.
The Queen sat on her throne. She was attached to a tentacle for some strange reason. She guessed it was to keep herself close to the throne at all times. She had Lauren’s crown on her head. She had a long dress going all the way down to the end of her throne.
Lauren spoke softly. “Who am I?”
The Queen grimaced at her before taking to the air. “Off with her head!”
Lauren threw her Jackstones at Queen Faust as the Queen’s horn lit with a bluish aura. When Lauren’s attack got to her, the blue aura enveloped her and slammed her against a wall. She was quick to recover, but Queen Faust sure wasn’t with all the Jackstones surrounding her. Lauren then fired up the OC Staff and aimed at the Queen, hitting her perfectly for double damage.
Queen Faust didn’t seem too distracted by the Jacks as her aura on the horn suddenly gained a yellowish tinge instead. It enveloped around Lauren and she was suddenly found in a deadly hug, sharing in the pain with the Jackstones.
She was dropped to the floor and hit with a tentacle like a tennis ball. Luckily, she managed to stop herself from getting slammed into the wall. She had to move constantly to avoid both the aura attacks. She collected some crystals for ammunition before firing with the Jacks and OC Staff again.
Queen Faust then dropped and hung listlessly from her tentacle. Lauren thought for a bit before the Alicorn sprung up again. She knew that she was just playing dead that time. This time, the Queen fired a giant snowball at Lauren. It would’ve frozen her if she didn’t use her Ice Wand to counter it and send it to the other direction.
Lauren had to hide behind the columns around the Throne room to evade the Queen’s sight. It sometimes didn’t help with the tentacles going everywhere. She had to dodge her attacks and hide form the aura spells before she could fire her Jackstones at the Queen. With her distracted by the Jacks, she charged up to the OC Staff and aimed. She saved a last bit of ammo for the Jacks before she retreated to go and find the Meta Essence crystals.
She kept on repeating this whole process until finally, the Queen suddenly squirmed about and flailed around. She looked like she was losing control of the tentacle.
Lauren jumped forward from her platform and to the throne area. The Queen then pulled back her head before a giant head appeared, causing Lauren to fall back a bit. She stood her ground and prevented from falling to the darkness below her. The giant head tilted for a bit before it retracted back to the throne. It then opened its mouth, revealing a head that looked like Anastasia. In Ana’s mouth was a head that looked just like Lauren herself.
It was in that moment did Lauren suddenly realize what Hazel was trying to say. She and Queen Faust were one in all the same whole. They were two parts of a whole, two sides of a coin.
“I rule Wonderland alone” the Queen growled. “Your interference here will not be tolerated. This realm is for survivors, raw, well-ordered, ruthless, and careening on the edge of reality. Self-pitying dreamers are not wanted her. They cannot survive her. You fear the truth. You fear the truth, you live in shadows. Your pathetic attempts to reclaim your sanity have failed. Retreat into the sterile safety of your delusion, or risk inevitable annihilation. If you destroy me, you’ll destroy yourself. Leave now and some hollow part of you may survive. Stay and I will break you down. You will lose yourself FOREVER!”
The head then left the room to the other room inside. Lauren looked down for a bit, unsure of what to do. But she knew she must press on. The voices of all her four fallen friends rang in her head, sending all their power, and love, to help her.
You can do it, Mother!
You got this, Auntie!
We’re rooting for you, Lauren!
We’re here for you!
Taking a deep breath, she went to fight the Queen one last time.
The room they were in was dark, but lit enough for them both to see. It was a circle of rock islands for Lauren to stand on. She watched as Queen Faust revealed her true, inner self. It was a monstrous, tentacled abomination with two stiff, metal appendages protruding from her back holding a row of smoking spikes over her head, forming her crown. Two of these tentacles took the form of the Flutterbat and Tirek’s heads and the Queen's puppet body. Inside the monster's mouth was Anastasia’s head and inside Ana’s mouth was Lauren’s head.
As Lauren fought the Queen, she became aware of how she had the abilities of all the enemies she came across. They all congregated into one gigantic form. Sometimes, she would dive down to change position from where she was facing, but it also left her vulnerable.
She waited until the monster dived out of sight. When she reemerged, she let her have it with the Blunderbuss. She then leapt to the stones nearby and absorbed the large Meta Essence crystal. She continued to jump until she got to the larger corner platform.
She was sent nearly flying off by the Siren scream sent her way. She only clung on by the ledge with her hands.
Let go.
She flinched with Hester’s voice in her head. “What?”
I said let go!
“Why?”
Bravery and my Partner are not really on intimate terms, but sometimes to be brave, you need to take a risk.
Lauren always hated it with the cryptic comments that Familiar gave, but she guessed there was no other option. She shut her eyes tightly as she let go. She expected to be falling down, but was surprised at what she was standing on. She landed on a safe ledge and fully healed with extra ammunition.
“Thanks, Hester”
She then ran up and fired the Blunderbuss right into the Queen’s belly. She shook violently form the impact. Lauren then ran around the arena and gathered enough Meta Essence before firing again. She dodged the attacks and kept going on firing with the Blunderbuss until she saw the next act.
Queen Faust shook violently. She kept on convulsing and screaming before her crown fell from her head. She then fell down to the ground below.
Finally, Queen Faust has died. She was gone, defeated, nothing more than a bad dream that evaporated like morning dew in the sun. Lauren glared down at the remains as they turned into ash. Finally, she was done and freed everyone from this beast.
She suddenly felt something come out of her. She looked down and the Essences of her four fallen friends came out of her. They hovered all around her before they went to the front. They stood atleast five feet away from each other, as they all gained a mist that resembled their color. Before Lauren knew what was going on, they took the shape of her friends, and then became them. They were back.
“Oh…my…everything…” Twilight groaned in pain from the memory of getting squished.
“Oh…is that sunburn?” Snowdrop looked down at where she was burned by Tirek. Atleast she was back in the Alicorn form she used.
“My neck…” Hazel rubbed her neck.
“You said it…” Hester cringed from the pain on hers.
All of them took a moment to breathe before they realized that they were all alive again. They all cheered happily. Lauren couldn’t take it anymore as she dove headfirst and hugged them all. They, in turn, hugged back. They all were crying of joy and laughing happily.
“You’re all here!” she let happy tears fall. “You’re alive!”
“Queen Faust died, now the whole ‘come back to life’ thing in Wonderland has returned” Snowdrop explained after she let them go.
“That means…” Lauren started.
Twilight nodded. “All the damage caused by the Corruption and Queen Faust has been undone. Those who died are now coming back to life. Any who were mad from Corruption are being cured and returned to their normal selves again. All of Wonderland is being restored as we speak”
Lauren smiled when she heard that. All the pain and fighting was worth it. She got her friends back. Everything was going back to the peaceful state she saw it in. She snapped back to reality when she realized one person was missing from the group, or rather two.
She turned around to see that Hazel and Hester, in their Hysteria form, had just come up from the giant pit where Queen Faust finally died. She flew to the platform the rest of the group stood on before landing. In her mouth was a familiar object: Lauren’s crown. She took it out before she split back into the duo. Hazel held the crown in her hands while Hester rode on her head. The Bipolar girl then walked over to Lauren with the crown in hand.
“This Wonderland belongs to you again” Hazel spoke as she put the crown back on Lauren’s head.
She smiled at the duo as they smiled back. Twilight then opened up a portal leading outside to Fandom Central. They all went through and were amazed at what they all saw. All of Wonderland had been restored to its peaceful form. Everything was back to normal. Everyone from each side of the Fandom had all gathered.
The Crystal ponies were all in their healthier state with crystal coats again, no longer carrying burdens. Sunburst was standing beside Shining Armor and Cadence, who was now holding a one-again-infant Flurry Heart. The EOI were all present, their madness levels back to regular and all were healthy again, even Fluttershout. Pinkamena waved shyly beside Luna, Gari, and Berry Punch. Thorax came with the Changelings being to their ‘cuter’ selves once more. Flutterbat was also seen, accompanied by several vampires and bats, but the Corruption was now gone from her eyes. Anastasia waved, accompanied by Sunny Shores and Clementine, who were now fixed as though the torture never happened. Discord floated right in the air, several other Discords behind him, all waving ‘Our Hero, Lauren!’ banners.
Lauren smiled at all that. Everything was back. Everyone was back. She felt her own self regain its strength and build back up. The sadness and hurt she felt were all gone. She was healed herself now. She looked at Twilight and Snowdrop as they nodded to approve. She looked at Hazel and Hester, who smiled.
“Well, Lauren, you did it” Hazel spoke.
Hester couldn’t agree more. “You’ve saved us”
A few weeks later…
Lauren had come back to her normal self. She managed to get back on track. Everyone kept on joking that she came back from the dead for quite some time. She was able to keep up with her work as Hasbro, and her boss was happy to see she was fine now. Her family was very happy to see she was back on her feet. She felt her Wonderland was going be alright now. She didn’t let some sadness get her down for too long as she came to accept she was forgiven and loved.
Lauren saved Wonderland. And with it, she saved herself.