Death?

"Come home!"

"Tear..."

"You have to come home! You have to! I'll be waiting... always."

"I will. I promise... I'll come home."

Tear turned away and began walking to join the others as they escaped the crumbling fortress of Eldrant, a mobile fomicry facility that was attempting to recreate Hod. Just a few steps apart from Luke, she paused to say her final words to him.

"Luke... I love you."

Luke had heard what she said. He didn't show it, but he was relieved inside. He attempted to say those very words to her before the night before the attack. He stopped himself then, because he realized it would only hurt her when he finally disappeared. As his final act, he promised he would free Lorelei, the embodiment of the seventh fonon, thereby saving Auldrant from being destroyed by the process of replicating the planet. Luke took the Key of Lorelei, a weapon that was capable of freeing the embodiment of the seventh fonon, and stabbed it into the ground to begin the process. A large fonic glyph appeared beneath him, surrounding him in a shield and lowering into the core of Eldrant. As the city above him collapsed, Luke saw Asch, the true Luke fon Fabre that he was replicated from, fall into the shield. As Asch slipped through, Luke caught his body and held it in his arms. Luke could feel all of the coldness of Asch's seemingly lifeless body and the three wounds from where he was stabbed by three oracle knight replicas. Just then, Lorelei appeared before both of them, it's form resembling a mass of flames that shaped into a somewhat human silhouette.

"So the world did not vanish. To think, the future I saw would be rewritten. You have done admirably."

Lorelei then shot up into the air and escaped into the sky above. With his mission complete Luke allowed himself a moment to relax, unaware that Asch's finger just twitched. In that same instant, Luke and Asch began glowing and their bodies appeared to explode into a large ball of fonic energy.

"So this is it..." Luke thought to himself.

--------

"Unh... Where am I?"

Luke slowly opened his eyes as he began regaining his senses. He appeared to be in some form of forest in the middle of the night.

"I'm... alive?"

Luke was completely astounded by the fact that he was still there. After using his hyperresonance he was certain that it would cause his fonons to separate shortly afterward. He scooped up the Key of Lorelei and took a better look at his surroundings.

"Must be in the Cheagle Woods. Doesn't look like any part of the forest I've been to though. If I can find a way out, I should be able to make my way to Engeve."

Luke began walking when he remembered something.

"Wait! Asch was with me when Lorelei was freed! Maybe he's around here somewhere."

Luke took a quick look around the clearing, but found no trace of Asch. He began hearing noises around him, which only encouraged him to search for an exit.

"I'd better get out of here before any monsters show up. That battle with Master Van left me pretty tired."

Luke began his search through the woods, but was hopelessly lost. He couldn't find any of the landmarks from his previous ventures into the woods. Suddenly, Luke noticed a faint light in the distance.

"A lantern? Great! I'll just see who it is and ask them to take me to Engeve."

Luke began running towards the source of this mysterious light, but thought if best to announce himself so they didn't think he was a monster.

"Hey there! I got lost in the woods and I need your help! If you could lead me back to Engeve that would be grea-"

Luke stopped mid sentence once he saw the source of the light was actually caused by some strange little creature. It was lavender and resembled a horse, except for the horn coming out of its head. The light emanating from its horn was clearly what must have been what he saw.

"Never seen a monster like this before. Great... now I'm probably even more lost."

"Just who are you calling a monster?"

Luke felt a chill run down his spine. This strange creature had just talked to him. The only creature that had ever talked to him was Mieu, and that was only because he was wearing the sorcerer's ring. He did a quick inspection, but found no such accessory on the creature before him.

"You just... talked!"

"So did you. Wait! What are you!?"

"What are you?!"

*Howl!*

"We'd better discuss this later. Right now, we need to get out of the forest. Come with me and-"

"Whoa whoa whoa! I'm not following some weird creature I've never even seen before! How do I know you're not just leading me into a trap?"

"Fine then. Stay in the forest and try and find your own way out."

"W-wait! Okay okay, I'll follow you."

"Don't worry, we're not that far from town. Also, I wasn't really going to abandon you there. I just figured it would be the fastest way to convince you."

"Thanks I guess. Just take me to Engeve. I need to get a ride back to Baticul."

"Engeve? Baticul? Just where are you from? I've never heard of any place in Equestria with either of those names."

"Equestria? That's not on Auldrant."

That's when it hit Luke. He might not even be on Auldrant anymore.

"Tear... Guy... Natalia... Anise... Jade... I might not see any of them again..."

"Oh dear... Come with me to my house. I'm sure once we introduce ourselves and figure out the situation, we might be able to fix whatever is wrong."

"O-okay."

Luke didn't exactly know what this creature was, but it seemed like he had no other choice, but to follow her advice if he wanted to get back to Auldrant. As the pair walked together, they shortly reached the edge of the forest, and came in sight of a town.

"So if this isn't Engeve, then what is this town?"

"This is the town of Ponyville."

--------

Luke followed the strange creature through the small town known as Ponyville. Eventually, they both reached the creature's home.

"A giant tree?"

"This is the town Library. It also happens to be my home."

The creature stepped forward and opened the door through some glowing force. Luke followed her inside and was directed to sit down with her in the kitchen.

"I suppose we should properly introduce ourselves now. I'm Twilight Sparkle."

"Twilight Sparkle? What kind of name is that?"

"H-hey! It's a wonderful name! So what's yours?"

"I'm Luke fon Fabre. Son of Duke Fabre and the Duchess Suzanne Fabre."

"And you thought my name was strange..."

"Oh, shut up you... thing!"

"Thing?! I helped you out of the forest and you have the nerve to call me a 'thing'?!"

Twilight certainly was a little intimidating while she was angry. Luke felt a little bad for what he said. He was just so stressed with the recent turn of events that it just sort of popped out.

"I-I'm sorry. That was uncalled for. Thanks for helping me out of the forest earlier."

"I suppose it's alright. So what were you doing in the forest?"

"I just woke up there after that bright flash. I had just freed Lorelei when there was this huge explosion of light. Almost felt like a hyperresonance."

Twilight tilted her head in confusion.

"Lorelei? Hyperresonance? None of what you're saying is making sense to me."

"I can probably help explain this stuff later. What were you doing in the forest Twilight?"

"I was just getting some of my favorite tea from Zecora."

Twilight magically lifted the bags of herbal tea out from her saddle bag to show her guest.

"How are you doing that stuff? I've never seen fonic artes like those."

"It's just magic. So you have it in your world too?"

"It's a bit different from that, but yeah."

Twilight's eyes lit up when she heard this.

"That's fantastic! You're going to have to tell me everything about it."

"Well, can that wait until tomorrow? I'm kinda tired."

"Oh, of course. I should have a spare bed for you to use. Just follow me upstairs."

Luke followed her and got a look at his bed.

"I never thought I'd be able to say this, but the Inn in Daath is looking pretty comfortable right about now."

"Why? What's wrong with it?"

"It's way too small for me."

"Oh, I guess you're right. Let me just fix that."

Twilight's horn began glowing with magic energy, and the bed suddenly stretched itself to accommodate it's tall occupant.

"Whoa! Magic can do that?"

"Of course! There's plenty of things I can do with magic. I'll tell you more about it in the morning."

"Alright. I guess I'll head to bed then."

Luke eased himself into his bed, and began reflecting the days events.

"This is just too crazy. I need to get home or who knows what will happen!"

First Impressions

View Online

Luke woke up from what was probably one of the best nights of sleep he had ever had. Defeating Van had really helped clear his mind, even if he was stuck in a whole different world and living with some weird talking lavender thing. The only real worry Luke had was getting back home, which compared to the pressure of saving the world and nearly dying, wasn't really so bad.

"*Sniff* I smell... food!"

Once Luke caught that scent, he quickly remembered just how hungry he was. Fighting a battle to decide the fate of the world really takes it out of you. Luke swung his legs out of bed and walked downstairs to investigate. Once he entered the kitchen he could see Twilight busily levitating ingredients and manipulating the frying pan.

"Oh man, that smells pretty good!"

"Oh, you're awake. Did you sleep well?" The lavender pony asked.

"The bed was pretty comfy. But I-"

Luke was interrupted by the loud gurgling of his stomach.

"*giggle* Sounds like you came down just in time. I'm almost done with breakfast."

"Great. I'm starving."

Luke sat down at the table, and tried to find comfort in the abnormally short chair. Twilight evenly emptied the contents of the frying pan onto two plates and hovered them over to the table. He wasn't quite familiar with the dish sitting in front of him, but he was hungry and it smelled good. He took his fork and dug right in, but stopped abruptly after a few bites.

"Bleh! What is this stuff?"

"Scrambled hay with grass garnish." Twilight simply explained.

"Oh yuck! Where's the grocer? I'll just cook my own meals if this is what you eat."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know you didn't eat hay."

"You know, I don't think you ever told me what you are. Are you some kind of baby uniceros?"

"I'm a unicorn. Not whatever you just said."

"I guess your right. Uniceros' are way bigger than you."

"Well what are you?"

"I'm a human."

"I've never heard of a creature like that."

"Hey, don't call me a creature. I'm a person."

"Well, I suppose we should try and figure out what it was that sent you here in the first place. But before we do that, we should probably introduce you to the town. I don't want people to start panicking by thinking your some kind of monster."

"And why would they think that?!"

"Well you certainly have the attitude of a monster."

Luke stopped himself from continuing any further. He was really beginning to act like his old arrogant self. This whole situation was just so annoying. He didn't know anything about this world, he would have to cook his own meals, and to make matters worse he would have to try and figure out a way home. The problem with the last one was that he had no idea how long something like that could take. he could be stuck here for months or even years!

"Sorry about that. I won't be so rude again. I promised somebody anyway..."

"You promised somebody?"

"I-it's nothing. So do you have any rice or noodles maybe?"

"I think I might have some in the pantry."

Twilight trotted over to the shelves and searched for the ingredients he asked for.

"Ah ha! I found a fresh bag of rice here." Twilight said as she floated the bag over to her guest.

"Thanks. I'll just make myself some rice balls."

Luke may not have been the best cook, but he certainly did get some experience during his adventures.

"Wow! I didn't figure you could cook."

"I didn't think you could either." Luke retorted.

"Hey, Twilight do we still have any gemstones? I'm hun-"

The new visitor to the kitchen stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the mysterious figure standing at the stove.

"Uh, Twilight? Who or what is that?" The new visitor asked.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce you. Spike, this is Luke fon Fabre. He's going to be staying with us for a bit."

"Uh, hi there." Spike attempted to communicate.

"Oh, hello. So what are you?"

"Can't you tell by looking? I'm a dragon."

"D-D-D-D-dragon?!"

"Calm down Luke. Spike is only a baby dragon. Wait, you have dragons where you come from?"

"I've met one..."

Luke was very loathe to bring up the subject. He had to fight a very powerful dragon inside Mt. Zaleho when they were trying to rescue Fon Master Ion from Grand Maestro Mohs. Unfortunately, they weren't able to stop Mohs from making Ion read the Planet Score, and Ion died. It seemed that Ion did this intentionally, so he could assist Luke by giving him his score, and so he could absorb the miasma from within Tear's body. Luke finally finished preparing his breakfast, and sat down at the table.

"So you said you wanted to introduce me to the people around here?"

"I said I wanted to introduce you to the ponies."

"So the whole town is populated by unicorns?"

"Oh not just unicorns. There are also pegasi and earth ponies, but I figure we should just start by introducing you to my friends so we can work on your skills at making first impressions."

"I said I was sorry..."

"I guess we should start with Applejack, she's always really kind to other ponies."

"Yeah but I'm not a pony."

"Oh you know what I mean."

--------

After finishing up their breakfast the pair made their way out onto a path that Twilight said led to Sweet Apple Acres.

"So who is this Applejack?"

"She's one of my friends. She works the orchard down at Sweet Apple Acres by bucking the apples out of the trees, baking treats from them, and selling the products."

"So she's a farmer huh?"

"Exactly! She takes great pride in her work and is a very dependable pony. I'm sure she'll be happy to meet you."

The two had finally entered the orchards of Sweet Apple Acres. Luke was taking in the fantastic sight as they walked further towards the buildings. Twilight trotted ahead to talk to her friend before introducing her to Luke.

"Well, howdy there Twilight! What brings you down to the farm this early?" The orange pony asked.

"I've met someone that I want to introduce to you. He's... from out of town, and I figured before I introduce him to anypony else, I should start with my friends." Twilight explained.

"Well shucks, Ah'm flattered! So where is this pony-"

*Much!*

"Oh man! This apple is delicious!" Luke exclaimed.

"Hey! You there!" Applejack yelled.

"Who me?"

"Ah don't know what you are but y'all had better be paying for that apple!"

"Oh sorry about that. It just looked so tasty. Don't worry I should still have some in here... Ah ha! Here it's five gald."

Applejack inspected the currency, but her scowl quickly returned.

"Just what the hay am Ah supposed to do with this?!"

"What are you talking about? Five gald should cover that easily."

"An apple is two bits ya dang idjiot!"

"Bits?"

"Ah ha ha ha... Applejack, this is the friend I was telling you about. Luke, meet Applejack. Applejack, this is Luke." Twilight quickly interrupted.

"So this is the friend y'all were telling me about?"

"Yep." Twilight nodded.

"The one that just tried to pass this... junk off as money?"

"Er..."

"Look I'm sorry! I had no idea you used a different currency!"

"Ohhhhh Ah get it. Y'all must be from some other country. Guess that explains the weird look and get up."

"Weird get up?!"

"Luke... we talked about this."

"I-I know..."

"I guess I can let it slide. It ain't his fault for being poor."

"P-poor?! I'll have you know I'm the nephew of King Ingobert!"

"(And Ah suppose a mite crazy.)" She carefully whispered to Twilight.

"L-look, I'll make it up to you. How about I help you with a chore or something."

"Ah suppose that'll be fine. How about you help me get the apples out of those four trees over there." Applejack nodded in the direction of said trees.

"Alright. Just get me a ladder and I'll pick them out."

"Nah. That'll take way too long. All you gotta do is..." Applejack positioned herself in front of a tree. "Buck 'em!" She said as she uncoiled her powerful legs to kick the tree.

All of the apples fell out of the tree easily enough, leaving Luke fairly stunned.

"She's pretty strong!" He thought to himself.

Luke sized up his first tree and positioned himself in front of it. He quickly let loose a powerful kick... which did absolutely nothing.

"Uh, y'all are gonna have to try harder than that."

"Okay, time to bring out the big guns."

Luke changed his stance so his right arm was behind him, positioned for a palm strike. As he thrust his arm forward, he stopped just shy of the tree trunk. Just as Applejack was about to ask what he was doing, Luke's palm focused a small red ball of energy.

"Raging Blast!"

The sphere intensified with energy and burst, sending out a shock wave that shook the apples out of the tree just as easily as one of Applejack's bucks.

"Yeehaw! Now that's what Ah'm talkin' about!"

"Heh, too easy."

"Alright then pardner. How about you knock the apples out of the last three trees."

"No problem."

Luke continued to knock the apples out of the next two trees easily. When he approached the fourth and final one, he was feeling pretty confident.

"You see? This is like second nature to-"

*Crack!*

Apparently this last tree was much weaker than the first three. Luke's arte actually splintered the trunk and caused the rest of the tree to collapse. Applejack and Twilight stood there with their mouths agape. After a moment, Applejack's eye began twitching as her scowl returned.

"Twilight. Y'all had better get your friend out of here... now."

Twilight galloped over to Luke.

"We should get going!" She quickly said.

The two of them began running out of the orchard as Applejack fumed about the loss of one of their precious trees.

"How did you even do that?!" Twilight finally asked once they were at a safe distance.

"It's a strike arte. I learned it from Master Van."

"Well next time be more careful about using something like that!"

"How was I supposed to know that last tree was going to be so much weaker?!"

"Look, let's just move on."

"Fine. So who are we going to see next?"

"Pinkie Pie. If I don't introduce you to her soon, she'll probably just throw a party at my house when she hears it from Applejack."

--------

The two were now standing outside of a building that looked like it was made out of nothing but sugary sweets.

"What is this place?" Luke asked as he inspected the strange structure.

"This is Sugarcube Corner. My friend Pinkie Pie works here as a baker."

"Well, let's go inside."

"Wait. I should probably tell you about her. She can be... strange."

"I'm sure she's not stranger than anything I've seen."

Luke was corrected very quickly when he entered the building. Inside the first room, a pink pony was dancing around with a small alligator clamping it's jaw onto her tail. Twilight looked at Luke who had an astonished look plastered on his face.

"Okay, so maybe she's stranger than anything I've seen."

"Oh, hi there Twilight! Gummy and I were just practicing our new dance routine! *Gasp!* Who's that?! I've never seen him in Ponyville before! Come to think of it, I've never seen anything like him before. What's his name? What's his favorite kind of cake? Is he nice? Does he- mmph mmmmph mph!"

"Pinkie, this is Luke." Twilight removed her hoof from Pinkie's mouth in order to point to the human.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Pinkie Pie: Party Thrower Extraordinaire!"

"Uh, nice to meet you too." Luke slowly reached out to shake Pinkie's hoof.

"Oh, wait right here! I have to go grab something!"

Pinkie Pie darted off upstairs to collect whatever it was she felt she needed. On her way up, Luke caught a glimpse at an image on her rear. They looked almost like balloons.

"Hey Twilight, I've been seeing these symbols on you ponies all day. Just what are they?"

"Oh, you mean our cutie marks? These are symbols that appear when a pony discovers his or her special talent. My symbol stands for my affinity for magic." Twilight said as she pointed to the stars on her flank.

"So Applejack's was working on the apple orchard and Pinkie's is for throwing parties?"

"Now you're getting it."

"Hey guys, you might want to back away from the stair case." Pinkie called down.

"Why-"

*Crash!*

A large cart began rolling down the stairs before Luke could finish asking. Luke and Twilight barely dodged the cart before it reached the bottom.

"Pinkie! Just what were you thinking?!" Twilight scolded.

"Well I was thinking 'why do they call it experience grinding when your not actually grinding anything', but-"

"No! What were you thinking storing your welcome wagon upstairs?!"

"Well, where else would I keep it? The Cakes always don't have a shed Twilight."

"Man, she's a harder read than Jade." Luke thought to himself.

"Well, I have to start this thing up for Luke."

Pinkie was about to press the large button on the side, when Twilight levitated her away.

"Oh no, you are not starting that thing up in front of me again. It took me a week to get that cake mix out of my mane. I think a simple welcome will suffice."

"Awwwwww!" Pinkie uttered as she made the biggest puppy dog eyes imaginable.

"(Is she always like this?)" Luke whispered.

"(Trust me. You haven't seen how strange it gets.)" Twilight whispered back.

Luke shuddered at the thought that this little pink pony could actually be even more random.

"Well anyway, welcome to Ponyville! I can't wait until we become the bestest of friends!"

"Uh, sure."

"Well, we need to get going Pinkie. We'll catch up later, okay?" Twilight said to her friend.

"Okey dokey lokey!"

Twilight and Luke exited Sugarcube Corner in order to begin heading to their next introduction.

"All in all, I think that went rather well." Twilight cheerfully said.

"Well?! We nearly got crushed by that wagon!"

"True, but you did present yourself well to her, although Pinkie's friends with everypony."

"So who's up next?"

"Carousel Boutique isn't too far from here, so we're going to meet Rarity."

--------

Carousel Boutique sure lived up to its name. Out of all the buildings in Ponyville, it was probably the most beautiful of them all. Twilight led Luke inside, where they were greeted to fabric and ribbons floating everywhere.

"Working on a commission Rarity?" Twilight asked her friend.

The flying fabric halted and parted in the air to reveal a well groomed white unicorn with a dark violet mane.

"Oh no darling. I just had a stroke of inspiration as it were." The stylish unicorn answered.

"Well, I'd like to introduce you to my new friend, Luke fon Fabre."

"My what a positively fabulous name! So where is he?"

"Uh, behind this blue sheet here." The human responded.

Rarity moved the appendage of fabric that was blocking her view of Luke. Once she got a glimpse of the tall young man, she reflexively let out her shock.

"Oh my Celestia!"

"Wh-what's wrong?" Luke asked in his startled state.

"Th-that outfit!"

"What about it?"

"It's so magnificent!"

"Come again?"

"Oh this silk must be truly expensive! And the design! So simple yet regal! Turn around for me."

Luke did as instructed and turned a full three hundred and sixty degrees.

"That design on the back! It just screams: 'I may be noble, but I am fierce!'! Those pants are functional yet stylish. Oh, and your hair! It's simply beautiful! Oh, it tells me: 'I am going to change! I have to change!'!"

"You picked all of that up just by looking at me?"

"Oh, but of course! Fashion is my bread and butter! I can't wait until we get more acquainted! *Gasp* Ideaaaaa! You've just given me the inspiration for a new line of designs! But what to call it... Ah ha! As I am replicating your own looks, I shall call this line: Replica Model!"

"R-replica?"

"Is there something wrong?"

"N-no. Nothing's wrong."

"Well then, I simply must get started on this new line. Thank you ever so much for introducing me to him Twilight."

"Not a problem Rarity. We'll see ourselves out." The lavender unicorn responded.

The two friends left Rarity to her work and began walking to their next destination.

"You did excellent in there Luke!"

"I barely said or did anything."

"Rarity can be like that if she gets inspired or meets somepony with an excellent sense in fashion."

"So how many more of your friends are we meeting?"

"Just two more. Next up is Rainbow Dash."

--------

"So where is Rainbow Dash's house?" Luke asked.

"The sky." Twilight bluntly answered.

"What?!"

"She lives in a home on the clouds. She's one of my pegasus friends."

"Well, where does she work?"

"The sky." She answered once more.

"What?!"

"She's the town's weather manager. She's in charge of maintaining the weather schedule by moving the clouds."

"Well, then how are we supposed to find her if we can't get to her?"

"It's alright, she usually takes a nap in her favorite tree around this time."

Luke and Twilight approached a tall tree in the middle of a park. Looking up, one could make out what appeared to be a rainbow colored tail hanging over one of the branches.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash!" Twilight called to her friend.

"*Yawn* What's going on Twilight? I was just in the middle of my nap." The colorful pegasus asked.

"I'd like to introduce you to my new friend here. His name is Luke fon Fabre."

"Oh, hey there." She swiftly greeted the human.

"So you're Rainbow Dash, huh?" Luke asked.

"The one and only!"

Rainbow took off from her spot on the branch and swooped down to greet Luke.

"Nice threads. You look pretty cool in my book."

"Gee, thanks. So you actually control the weather?"

"Of course! How else would it rain?"

"An excess of water fonons in the atmosphere."

"What the hay are you talking about? Fo- whatevers in the atmosphere? That's the weirdest thing I've ever heard."

"And I'm talking to a rainbow colored pegasus on a different world. Now that's the weirdest thing you've ever heard."

"Hey Rainbow, isn't that one of the storm clouds from this morning's thunder storm?" Twilight pointed to a gray cloud.

"Aw shoot! It must have drifted back here. Don't worry, I'll take care of this in a jiffy."

Rainbow darted off towards this rouge raincloud at high speed.

"Wait, Rainbow! Don't go towards it so fast or it might-" Twilight tried to warn.

*Krzzpow!*

The force from Rainbow colliding with the cloud caused it to expel a lightning bolt that was now headed straight for Luke. There was no chance to dodge, so Luke did the only thing he could think of at the time.

"HRAAAAAAA!"

Luke unleashed a maelstrom of energy around him, dissipating the lightning bolt before it could make contact.

"Whoa! That was truly awesome! What was that?" Rainbow Dash admired.

"Yeah Luke. I've never seen anything like that." Twilight asked as well.

"It was a second order hyperresonance. It can neutralize any fonon, including the ones in that lightning bolt." Luke explained.

"I still don't buy all this fonon mumbo jumbo, but that was seriously cool."

"I only had to do it because you nearly fried me..." Luke muttered.

"Yeah... sorry about that. I'll make it up to you by making you one of my friends. You're lucky to get such a position."

"And I thought I was arrogant before." Luke thought to himself.

"Well this was certainly interesting. We've got one last stop, so we'll see you later." Twilight said farewell to her friend.

"Later Twilight! Later Luke!"

"Okay so who's last?" The human asked.

"I saved the hardest one for last: Fluttershy."

--------

"So remind me again, why is Fluttershy the hardest one to introduce me to?"

"She's very shy. When I first tried to talk to her she could barely even tell me her name."

"Sheesh! That sounds bad."

"Oh not at all. She's actually really kind once she warms up to you. Plus she cares for all of the animals in Ponyville that aren't already owned as pets."

"Sounds like she would have loved Mieu."

"Who's that?"

"This little cheagle who got banished from his home and was ordered to serve me for a year."

"The poor thing."

"He actually enjoyed it. He was a real big help in stopping Master Van too."

"I thought Van was your teacher?"

"He was, but... I'll explain it later."

"Right. Well, we're here."

The pair were now standing outside of a cottage that had birdhouses and burrows as far as the eye could see.

"This is where she lives?!"

"Tear would be the happiest girl in the world if she saw this place!" Luke thought to himself.

"I told you she took care of all of the animals. Look there she is over there."

Over where Twilight was pointing a cream yellow pegasus with a long pink mane, was tending to the animals in the yard.

"I'll go talk to her first and get her warmed up."

"Alright."

Twilight trotted over to her friend in order to mentally prepare her for an introduction with Luke.

"Hey there Fluttershy. How are you doing today?"

"Oh I'm doing wonderful. All of the animals are happy and healthy, and the day is beautiful." The pink maned pony answered in a soft voice.

"Well that's good to hear. Listen, I have a friend I want to introduce you to, but I wanted to prepare you for meeting him."

"Why? H-he's not sc-scary is he?"

"Well he's a little bit strange, but he's a real nice guy."

"Well than it should be just fine Twilight. You really need to have more faith in me. I'm not as shy as I used to be. So where is he?"

"Looks like he probably went to the front yard. Let's go see him."

"Okay then."

Fluttershy and Twilight trotted over to the front lawn of the cottage to meet with Luke. As soon as they rounded the corner Fluttershy darted behind Twilight once she caught a glimpse of that strange bipedal creature that was towering over her. Okay well maybe it wasn't towering over her, but in her fear it seemed so much bigger!

"W-W-W-what is t-t-t-t-that?!"

"That's the friend I was telling you about. This is Luke fon Fabre."

Fluttershy was beginning to feel a little faint. She was supposed to try and communicate with this strange thing?! She probably could have made it inside, but she didn't want to risk going anywhere near that creature.

"So this is your friend Twilight?" Luke asked.

"Yes, this is Fluttershy."

"It talks?!" The quivering pony gasped.

"Of course I do!"

"Eeep!" FLuttershy uttered as she sunk further behind her friend.

"Luke! You need to be more gentle when talking to her!" Twilight scolded.

"Sorry. Hi there, my name is Luke."

Luke's outstretched hand was looking deadlier and deadlier each second to Fluttershy.

"I-I-I... M-M-M-M-my n-n-n-name is F-F-F-Fluttershy."

"Are you feeling alright?" Luke asked.

"Y-yes! I-I mean no! I-I don't know!" the shy pegasus panicked.

"Maybe we should come back another time Twilight."

"Wait, I know! Show her a picture of Mieu." The unicorn suggested.

"I think I might have one with him in it somewhere in here... Ah ha! Found it!"

Luke produced a group photo of himself and the others from when they had lowered the Outer Lands into the Qliphoth. Mieu was happily on his master's shoulder during the photo, so it might actually help convince Fluttershy of his kind character.

"Have a look at this, Fluttershy." Luke said as he held out the photo.

"Awwww! Look at that cute little thing! He's just so fuzzy and he has those long ears! He's just so cute!" Fluttershy beamed.

"You like him huh? His name's Mieu. He traveled around with me for a while. No matter what he always looked up to me and thought I was the best master in the world."

"If this cute little guy liked you, then I guess you aren't so scary after all. Sorry about all of that."

"It's alright. It's nice to meet you though."

"I'm glad to see you were able to smooth things over Luke." Twilight said, relieved.

"I'm glad to have met you, but I really need to get back to feeding the chickens. If you don't mind that is..."

"It's fine Fluttershy. We actually should be getting back to the library. We have a bit to discuss." Twilight assured.

"Okay then. I'll see you tomorrow Twilight. Good-bye Luke."

"See ya Fluttershy." Luke waved.

Fluttershy trotted back around to the yard to feed the chickens, so Twilight and Luke began heading back to the library.

"Well, all in all I'd say that went very well." Twilight said with glee.

"I just hope Applejack won't be too mad about that tree."

"I'm sure she's forgotten about that already!" Twilight lied.

So what do you want to talk about once we get to the library?" The human asked.

"I want to know more about your world. All that's come up today has only fed my curiosity."

This was fairly ironic to Luke as he was usually the one being taught about the workings of Auldrant.

"I guess I can try and fill you in on what I know. It's going to take a while though."

"Don't worry. I'm all ears."

Understanding

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Luke and Twilight traveled back to the library so that the former could explain more about Auldrant. Twilight was very impatient, as something that she didn't know about tended to annoy her. The two took a seat inside the main room of the library, so Twilight could be close to any reference materials she needed.

"So what do you want me to start with?" Luke asked.

"Well, you've been mentioning hyperresonance and fonons the whole time today, so I guess you could start there."

"Okay. Everything is made up of seven different kinds of particles, called fonons. The first fonon is shadow, the second fonon is earth, the third is wind, the fourth is water, the fifth is fire, and the sixth is light, or rem."

"Then what's the seventh fonon?" Twilight asked.

"The seventh fonon is the fonon of sound."

"Fascinating... Sound being made up of particles. I've never thought of anything like that."

"Right, well hyperresonance is usually what happens when two seventh fonists, people who can use the seventh fonon, use their powers together."

"But, I saw you do one all by yourself!" Twilight blurted.

"Yeah, I can cause my own hyperresonance."

"Incredible!"

Twilight was now scribbling down notes on their entire conversation, and wearing her study glasses.

"So, what else do you want to know?" The Swordsman of Lorelei asked.

"Well, you did mention that you have friends, and I have been studying the magic of friendship..."

"Studying friendship? That sounds lame."

If the look Twilight gave Luke could kill, Luke wouldn't have been able to be brought back even by a life bottle.

"S-sorry. Hang on a sec."

Luke fished around in his belongings for the picture that he had shown Fluttershy earlier.

"Here it is. Let's see... Let's start with Guy."

Luke pointed to a tall young man carrying a katana on his waist. His blond hair and cool demeanor spoke volumes about his noble nature.

"Oh wow! He looks amazing!"

"Yeah, Guy was always there to help me in a pinch. The two of us were best friends. Even when everyone else had abandoned me, he was the first to come back."

"He sounds like a true friend. I'd really like to meet him someday."

"Heh, I wonder if he's afraid of talking pony girls." Luke pondered to himself.

"Huh?"

"Ah, it's nothing. Moving on. This girl over here is Anise."

The girl on the very end next to Guy, was striking a cute pose and winking to the camera. She had her brown hair done up into pigtails, and was holding a strange looking doll in her arm.

"She seems nice."

"Yeah, at first she seems like that, but then she tries to get to your money. Then again, she was only doing it to try and help her parents."

"What was wrong?"

"Her father got himself into a huge amount of debt, but Grand Maestro Mohs payed for it, on the condition they work at the church for next to nothing."

"Oh my! That sounds horrible!"

"It gets worse. Mohs forced Anise to act as a spy for months, by blackmailing her with her own parents."

"Well this 'Mohs' certainly sounds like a monster."

"You have no idea... Well, in the end, Anise became devoted to reforming the Order of Lorelei so that people wouldn't be dependent on the Score."

"What's the Score?"

"It was all of these predictions made by Yulia that pretty much came true. Everyone became so obsessed with the Score, they wouldn't know what to do for dinner without it. The rest of us saw things a different way; that the Score was just one of countless possibilities."

"Well that makes sense. I'm not sure I would want to be able to see everything that happens in the future."

"So who's next... This one here is Natalia. She's my cousin and Princess of the nation of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear."

The young woman Luke was pointing at now had short golden hair and an air of nobility about her. She was actually a year older than Luke. Her blue outfit seemed to be made of the finest of fabrics, confirming her place in society. She stood with her bow at her side and her quiver slung across her back.

"You're related to a princess?!"

"I told you I was the nephew of King Ingobert. Anyway, she was always thinking about the country and her duty to the people. She did so much for the people of Kimlasca, that they aided her in her escape when they attempted to arrest her because she wasn't actually of royal blood."

"She sounds like she must be truly wonderful."

"She was. I just hope she's able to stay strong so she can help lead Kimlasca."

"She sounds like she would be just fine, so don't worry."

"Thanks. Next up is Jade." The man standing behind the others had long brown hair and a military officers uniform. Even though he had what appeared to be a genuine smile on his face, it felt like it was there to hide something. His pose was simply him adjusting his glasses with one hand while smiling towards the camera. "Now where to start with him... He was a colonel in the Malkuth Imperial forces, and was an accomplished fonist. He was also known as 'The Father of Fomicry'."

"What's Fomicry?" Twilight peeked up from her notes.

"It's the science of replicating things. You could even replicate something living, even a human."

"That sounds amazing!"

"It had many costs though. Sometimes the original would die from the replication process, and replicas could be... unstable."

"I see..."

"Jade himself wanted them to stop fomicry research, but they kept going at it. It led to all sorts of problems. And..."

"And?"

"Never mind. Anyway, back to Jade. He was always kinda sadistic, sarcastic, and just plain strange."

"The way you put it, he doesn't exactly sound like a friend."

"Well, he was a bit of a jerk sometimes, but deep down he did care about us."

"So who's this last one here? She looks beautiful."

Luke paused for a moment as he looked at the familiar face. This woman had long brown hair that covered her right eye, and was wearing an intricate and beautiful uniform for seventh fonists in the Order of Lorelei. She had a nervous smile in the picture, perhaps hiding some inner pain she was feeling. Tear was the one he truly missed the most. While he felt happy at the thought of their memories together, he was saddened by the thought he may never see her again.

"Her name is Tear. She was the reason any of this happened. It all began on that one day..."

"I've finally found you, Vandesdelca! ...Prepare to die, traitor!" The woman called out.

"Tear! I knew it!" The man known as Vandesdelca shouted.

"Who the hell are you?!" Luke asked in astonishment, raising his sword to attack the intruder and defend his master.

"No! Stop!" Van cried.

*Clang!*

Resound...! The will of Lorelei shall reach you... and open the way! A strange voice spoke.

"Hello? Twilight to Luke!"

"Huh? Oh sorry, I must have spaced out there."

"You were telling me about Tear?"

"Right. She was the whole reason any of my adventures happened. She taught me a lot about the way the world worked since I was so naive back then. She was one of the reasons I wanted to change from the person I was."

"What do you mean?"

"I was raised in the manor my whole life. I hated being cooped up in there, but I was still just a spoiled brat on the outside too. One day, something terrible happened, and it was because I was such a selfish idiot. Everyone hated me. Even Tear said she couldn't believe she saw some good in me. I became so depressed. But then, I resolved to change. I wanted to make up for my mistake, and become a better person."

"I had no idea..."

"It's alright. Tear was- is very important to me. I just want to see her again."

Twilight was sorry to see Luke depressed, but was finally beginning to understand him.

"Don't worry. I'm the personal student to Princess Celestia. I'm sure that if we figure out what sent you here, we can get you back no problem!"

"Thanks Twilight. I was wondering, do you think you could tell me more about your world?"

"I suppose it's only fair. Ask me anything you like."

Luke wasn't exactly sure where to start. This whole world was all topsey turvey, and he's barely been here for a day.

"Well, how about you tell me who Princess Celestia is?"

"Princess Celestia is the ruler of our nation, and one of the most amazing ponies ever. She raises the sun each morning, while her sister, Princess Luna, raises the moon at night."

"This whole world just gets stranger and stranger."

"Celestia is an alicorn; she has the qualities of all three kinds of pony. She has the horn of a unicorn and incredible magic, the wings of a pegasus to let her fly, and the strength and endurance of an earth pony."

"She sounds really strong!"

"Don't worry, she's actually very kind and caring for all of her subjects. She actually sounds a bit like Natalia."

"I guess that's a relief. So who's the king around here? Maybe we could have an audience-"

"Actually, there is no king or queen. Princess Celestia is the highest authority in all of Equestria."

"That's a little strange. So I guess if anyone we would have an audience with her."

"Right, but a trip to Canterlot might not be in the cards right now. We still have to let the town know who you are and that you aren't dangerous. I can send a letter to the Princess so she can help get the wheel rolling for a town assembly, maybe she'll even show up herself."

"Sounds like a plan. Send one as soon as you can."

"I'll send it now. Spike!"

"What's up Twilight?" The purple dragon asked as he entered the room.

"Spike, take a letter."

Spike quickly grabbed a quill and some parchment and prepared to write down Twilight's words verbatim.

"Dear Princess Celestia, I have met an amazing new friend yesterday. His name is Luke fon Fabre, and he comes from another world. Due to the fact he is the first human ever in Equestria, I think it necessary for a town meeting so the citizens of Ponyville can get to know him. If you could assist in setting up the meeting I would very much appreciate it. It also seems that Luke seeks to have an audience with you, so perhaps you could come visit during the meeting. I await your reply. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."

Spike, now finished with the letter, coiled it into a scroll to be sent off to the princess. However, rather than take it to the post office, Spike blew flames on the scroll, sending the ashes flying out the window.

"Why would you do that?!" Luke blurted angrily.

"Whoa, calm down dude. I have magic fire breath. I can send and receive letters directly with the princess."

"That sounds useful."

"So was there anything else you wanted to ask about?" Twilight asked.

"So how does magic work?"

"Unicorns naturally have the ability to use magic, but what kind of spells they can use depends on their special talent. Since my talent is magic, I can use all sorts of spells."

"So only unicorns can use magic?"

"Yes, that's correct."

"So it's kinda like how only certain humans can use the seventh fonon."

"Really? What happens if someone tries to use the seventh fonon when they aren't a seventh fonist?"

Luke's mind raced back to what Jade had told him before. When he was a child, Jade attempted an experiment by attempting to use the seventh fonon. The end result was the death of his teacher, Professor Gelda Nebilim. Jade and his now former friend, Saphir, also known as Dist the Reaper, attempted to create a replica of Nebilim using fonic artes. While the result was the first human replica, she lacked fonons of Rem and Shadow. In order to make up for this, she killed an entire batallion of fonists to try and absorb their fonons, and could only be sealed away inside of a cavern later known as Nebilim's Crag. Luke and the others fought this powerful replica when they attempted to use the six catalyst weapons to activate the planetary fonic arte. Nebilim was far superior to any opponent they had ever faced, but was ultimately destroyed by using a portion of the planetary fonic arte.

"Just trust me when I say: it's bad."

"A-alright then."

Twilight was visibly disappointed, she clearly wanted to try out the seventh fonon.

"*Yawn* I'm starting to get a little tired. All of this new world stuff takes it out of you." Luke admitted.

"That's alright. I need to start working on your speech anyway."

"Oh uh, I forgot to ask this before, but do you have a journal and something to write with?"

"Of course! I always keep five in reserve, and there are plenty of quills and ink, but why do you ask?"

"Well... I sorta keep a diary. I originally did it because the doctors told me to do it in case I lost my memory again."

"Lost you memory again?"

"I'll tell you about that another time. Anyway, I've been keeping it ever since so I could get my thoughts down. It kinda helped me get through some rough spots."

"It's perfectly alright. It's not like I would have judged you. In fact, Rarity keeps a diary herself."

"I bet the worst thing in there is about her getting a stain on one of her dresses." Luke thought.

Twilight levitated a blank journal along with a quill and ink to Luke. Luke walked upstairs to his bed, and began writing down all of the events that had transpired since he defeated Van. After he finally caught up with where he was now, he set himself down for the night's rest.

Not Alone

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"Now, Luke, go down to that fon machine--the passage ring--and neutralize the miasma." Van instructed.

"What are you talking about? Is that even possible?" Ion asked.

"It is for me. I'm a chosen hero." Luke confirmed.

Luke's hair was a much longer length than it currently was. He was reliving an event from his past in a dream. He was standing inside a large chamber containing a massive fon machine called the passage ring. The passage ring was a device used to control the Sephiroth, which were trees of memory particles that kept the Outer Lands suspended above the Qliphoth. Luke followed his master's instructions and traveled down to the base of the passage ring and began focusing a hyperresonance.

"Good, concentrate just like that."

"..." Luke merely grunted in return.

"Now... 'Foolish replica Luke' unleash your power!"

"Wh-what the hell?! Something's coming out of me..." Luke said in astonishment.

Luke was surging with power he could not control. Before he could make sense of what was going on, he forced out a massive hyperresonance, and began to pass out. The last thing he could remember was being carried off by Guy, and everything crumbling around him.

--------

"Luke. Luke it's time to wake up." Twilight instructed.

"Huh? What's going on?" Luke asked groggily.

"I just got a response from Princess Celestia this morning. She said that she's finished making preparations, and that we should be ready to present you today."

"What?! She expects you to have everything ready in just a few hours?!"

"Don't worry. I'm a very organized pony, and the princess knows me very well; she knows that I'm up to the task."

"That may be fine for you, but what about me? What am I supposed to say?"

"I've taken the liberty of writing up some note cards for you. Just read what I've written down and you'll do just fine."

"If you say so..."

--------

Luke and Twilight were now in town hall, where ponies were beginning to form outside as they each got word of an important meeting.

"There's so many of them! What if I mess up? What if I get them all mad at me? I don't think I can stop lightning bolts and magic all day!" Luke's mind began to race.

"Are you feeling alright Luke? You look a bit pale." Twilight asked.

"I'm just... a little nervous. What if they don't like me?"

"Don't worry, I'm sure everypony will like you. Just be yourself."

Twilight paused for a moment to think.

"Well, just be your polite self."

"I told you I was sorry about that. I was really stressed out then."

"Ahem. Twilight, are you and your friend here ready?"

Both of them turned to see a mare with a light tan coat and graying hair (although if one looked closely at the roots, you could see her natural hair color was a bright pink) who seemed to be slightly nervous herself.

"Oh, hello there Mayor. We're just about ready to present." Twilight confidently answered.

"Good. Just be careful Twilight. This town has already gotten a bit of a reputation." The Mayor warned.

"Reputation? What are you both talking about?" Luke was confused.

"I forgot to mention this to you Luke. Sometimes things get a little crazy around here. While Ponyville isn't exactly the only place strange things happen, it happens enough here that other ponies have started calling it unlucky, or even cursed."

"It seems peaceful enough to me. What's the worst thing that could happen in a place like this? One of you ponies misplace your bag or something?"

"It can get bad, trust me on that."

"Okay, okay."

"If you two are ready, everypony has arrived." The Mayor reminded them.

"Wait a second Mayor. I did a role count earlier, and Derpy Hooves isn't here."

"We know that, but considering her... past experience at Town Hall, and her ditzy personality, we figured it best to go along with this now rather than wait for her. It's better we not keep the Princesses waiting."

"Princesses? I thought there was just your teacher Twilight."

"She must have brought her sister, Princess Luna along. This might actually help out. Luna might be a little sympathetic towards you since both of you are still adjusting to this world."

"What do you mean? Is she from another world too?"

"More like another time. It's a little complicated."

"Fillies and gentlecolts! I thank you all for coming to this meeting on such short notice. I received a missive from Princess Celestia earlier this morning telling me that Twilight Sparkle had a new friend that she needed to introduce to the town." The Mayor began.

"Looks like she didn't want to wait. You still have those note cards right?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah, I've got them right here."

"Good. Let's head out to the stage then."

Twilight trotted out on stage without the slightest bit of hesitation while Luke nervously followed her. As soon as the ponies got a glimpse of him, they each fell silent. The Mayor couldn't help but stop her speech once she felt the awkwardness in the air. Luke began to feel all of the eyes out there staring at him.

"Yes... Well..." The Mayor tried to continue.

Twilight quickly got up to the podium to try and help the situation.

"Thank you Mayor. I think I can take it from here."

Twilight surveyed the guests and could make out the familiar figure of her teacher sitting on a special seat near the back. Her pure white coat, celestial rainbow mane, and sun cutie mark were sure identifiers of the alicorn that controlled the very sun. It wasn't exactly hard to miss her considering she was at least three times the size of a normal pony and had on her lavish gold regalia. Sitting next to her, was a navy blue alicorn of slightly smaller stature. She had a mane that appeared to be made of pure space dust and stars, and a black cutie mark with a white crescent moon inside. While she also had her own regalia on, it was made of a metal of the deepest black, with horseshoes made of a bluish silver.

"Whoa... I can practically feel their power from here! It's incredible! I doubt even Nebilim could ever be this strong!" Luke admired in his thoughts.

"This is Luke fon Fabre. He comes from another world called Auldrant, a planet populated by humans like him. I believe he would like to say a few words himself."

Twilight stepped down from the podium and motioned for Luke to begin speaking. Luke complied and got his note cards ready for what he thought would be his greatest trial in this world.

"H-hi there every... pony? (So I wasn't just hearing it wrong; they really use different pronouns) My name is Luke fon Fabre, Nephew of King Ingobert VI. As Twilight said, I'm from the world of Auldrant where we believe in particles called fonons. ('Believe in them?' Just what was she thinking when she wrote this?!)"

Luke began sifting through the note cards for anything that was accurate to what he told Twilight the other day. Eventually he gave up and just set the cards down.

"Look, in my world everything is made up of particles called fonons, there aren't any talking ponies, and things like night and day happen on their own."

Everypony fell dead silent as they tried to process this new information. None of them could really fathom how such a world could work. The only two ponies that seemed to have different expressions from the crowd, were the princesses; both of them seemed intrigued rather than confused or afraid.

"I'm not sure why I'm here or how far I really am from home, but I just want your help so I can get back to my friends... and... Tear..."

Celestia stood up from her royal seat in the back, and hovered over to the stage. Even though Luke was nervous before, something about the princess felt... comforting. There was a warm aura about her that said 'I'm here to help. You can trust me as a friend.'

"You truly come from a strange world, and surely you must be confused yourself by ours. I commend you for finding trust in creatures you have never seen before, and having such devotion to returning to your friends." The Princess of the Sun complemented.

"I... Thank you."

Celestia turned to face her faithful student.

"And as for you Twilight, you truly have learned much from your friends. The kindness and generosity you showed this young man shows that much."

"Thank you Celestia!"

"Although, it seems you might still have a bit to learn from Applejack." Celestia snickered as she floated the note cards back to her student.

"Well, I uh... I wasn't sure how the other ponies would react to everything Luke told me. Even I found it a little hard to comprehend."

"Well, the cat's out of the bag now, but we should welcome him openly, not reject him like some sort of beast."

Everypony in the crowd began to warm up to the idea of a human staying in their world. If Princess Celestia could accept him, then they could too.

"I believe that should suffice my loyal subjects. You may go about your business again."

All of the ponies in the crowd bowed before they all left to go back to their daily routine. Princess Luna left her spot on the royal seat, and hovered over to the stage herself.

"What a fascinating creature. Your world sounds like an amazing place." The Princess of the Moon began as she inspected Luke.

"Equestria has certainly been full of surprises too. Ponies controlling the weather, sun, and moon? It's a bit to take in."

Luke's conversation was cut short as an aura began glowing around him. He could faintly hear a voice in his head, and as the aura intensified, so did the volume.

"I already told you I'm fine! Now let me go!"

"No way mister! You still have those big wounds in you! You need rest and food to help. I'll go get you some more muffins."

"How annoying..."

Luke recognized the voice anywhere. It was his original, Asch! He wasn't sure who the other voice was, but all that mattered right now was that Asch was alive.

"Asch! You're alive!"

"What the? Replica? Where are you?"

"I'm in front of the town hall."

"Idiot! I mean what world are you on? Are you on Auldrant?"

"I'm on some world called Equestria. What about you?"

"Damn it! It looks like we're both stuck here. How infuriating..."

"Luke, who are you talking to?" Twilight finally asked.

"Someone I know. His name is Asch. It looks like he's somewhere in Equestria too."

"So that mare was right. There are more talking ponies around here. Strange..."

"What mare? Who are you with?"

"Some strange pegasus called 'Derpy Hooves'. A befitting name if there ever was one. She reminds me of you back when you were still nothing more than useless dreck."

"Gee, thanks."

"Look, as much as I hate to say it, we need to figure this out so we can find a way back to Auldrant. Come and find me so we can try and piece this together."

"Alright. I'll be there as soon as I can."

With those final words, the aura surrounding Luke began to fade, and the mental connection between both him and Asch was severed for the time being.

"What happened? What did he say?" Twilight asked once more.

"He says he wants to meet with me so we can try and figure out how to get back to Auldrant."

"Well, where is he?" Twilight asked again, with a hint of annoyance.

"He said something about a pegasus named Derpy Hooves."

Twilight's eyes shot open when she heard the name.

"We need to find him now!"

"Twilight, I think you may be overreacting just a bit." Celestia tried to calm.

"Did you see what she did to Town Hall?! Luke's friend could be in danger!"

"I do not understand. Just who is this Ms. Hooves?" Luna asked.

"She is one of our pegasus subjects, sister. She has gained a bit of a reputation for being ditzy, but I doubt Luke's friend is really in harms way."

"Well, do you know where she lives Twilight? Asch sounded like he was still injured."

"Sure. Just follow the smell of muffins."

--------

Luke, Twilight, and the princesses arrived outside of a house on the east end of Ponyville.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's just go inside." Luke suggested.

"Wait. I should warn you Luke, Derpy has a bit of an eye problem." Twilight halted the human.

"What is she blind?"

"No... Just try not to call attention to it okay?"

"I'll try."

Luke knocked on the door and waited for this pegasus to open it. Slowly the door opened to reveal a gray coated mare with a blonde mane and...

"HOLY CRAP!"

"Luke!"

This pony's eyes were both facing in opposite directions. It was almost mesmerizing, but at the same time disturbing.

"What's wrong?" The mare asked.

"Eye, I mean, I... think you look awesome?"

"Well thanks! You know it's not everyday I get visitors."

"Phew! Dodged a bullet there..." Luke thought with relief.

"Hi there Derpy. I-"

"Hey Twilight! I haven't seen you in forever!"

"You saw me three days ago when you delivered my mail..."

"Well, it feels like forever to me! How about a hug?"

Before Twilight could answer, Derpy began walking on her hind legs with her forelegs outstretched to give her a hug, when she tripped over a stray rock. Derpy failed to recover and ended up falling on Twilight, leaving the two mares in a heap on the ground.

"*Giggle* It's always good to see you making new friends Twilight." Celestia slyly commented.

"Not... funny."

"Oh, hey there princesses!" Derpy said as she looked up from her position on the ground.

"Shes acting pretty nonchalant for meeting royalty." Luke observed.

"That's one of the reasons I like her. She's not constantly panicking like I'm going to have her imprisoned for bumping into me." Celestia explained.

"She is certainly a happy pony." Luna added.

"Wait a sec! You look just like Aschy!" Derpy said as she got a better look at Luke.

Twilight, who had by now gotten back on her hooves after levitating Derpy off of her, was intrigued by this last comment.

"What does she mean Luke? Are you both brothers or something?"

"Sort of... I'll explain while we talk to him."

"So you're all here to see Aschy? I can show him to you, but he can be a bit of a sourpuss."

"You don't know the half of it..." Luke muttered under his breath.

The group followed Derpy inside and up to the second floor where the master and guest bedrooms were.

"Hey Aschy! I'm back!"

"I assume there is another human with you?" A male voice asked.

"How'd you know?"

"Lucky guess." he responded somewhat coldly.

Sitting upright in the guest bed, Asch had his signature cold scowl on his face. His chest was covered extensively with bandages, but his head had not a single hair out of place.

"How are you feeling Asch?" Luke asked.

"I'm fine. Something I wish this mare here would see."

"You've still got those huge holes in you! You're not leaving until they're healed." Derpy chastised.

"Are all humans like this?" Luna asked.

"You must be Princess Luna. And if I'm not mistaken, that's Princess Celestia right there."

Luna raised an eyebrow at Asch's words.

"Yes, you are correct. But how did you know that?" The dark alicorn asked.

"My host here has been very informative."

"How did you wind up here Asch?" Luke asked.

"I woke up outside this house about two days ago. I was still weak then; it took all of my strength just to drag myself up to the door and knock. You can piece the rest together."

"I certainly am glad that you are alright. You should be proud of yourself Derpy." Celestia said.

"Gee thanks!"

"So replica, what happened? I wasn't awake when we got sent here."

"Wait a second. Replica? You're a replica?!" Twilight blurted in astonishment.

"Yeah... That's what I am..." Luke sighed.

"Then... who is Asch?" Twilight asked full of confusion.

"Isn't it obvious?! I'm the original! Luke here took everything from me! My family, my name, my whole life!"

"I never chose to do that! Besides, we both agreed that we're two different people!"

"I know that! You're right... I should be hating Van! I assume since you're here alive you killed him."

"What?!" Twilight blurted.

"*Sigh* I guess it's time I told you everything."

Luke told all of the ponies there about his adventures. How Van created him to overturn the Score, all the way to the final confrontation at Eldrant.

"So... I had no choice; I had to kill him."

"Luke..." Twilight began.

"You have been through so much. You truly must be strong in both body and mind to have made it through such turmoil." Celestia warmly said.

"It certainly wasn't easy..."

"So Replica, what happened when you wound up here? What did it feel like when you crossed over?"

"I don't really know. It felt kinda like a hyperresonance."

"Hmph. As I expected. It must have happened from the buildup of seventh fonons when you freed Lorelei."

"But then how are we still here? A hyperresonance like that should have separated our fonons completely. You remember what happened at the tower of Rem."

"Exactly. I don't know what it is, but there's some kind of force that seems to be holding our fonons together. But now we have a clear course of action. We can use the sword of Lorelei to gather up any seventh fonons on this planet. Once we have enough, we can attempt another hyperresonance to send us back to Auldrant."

"Good idea. I just hope we can actually wind up back there. Otherwise-"

*CRASH!*

"What was that?!" Derpy cried.

"I don't know, but it can't be anything good." Luke responded.

Revelations

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Luke sprinted out of the house in order to investigate the loud crash, with all of the ponies following him. Luke spotted one of the nearby houses had a gaping whole in it's side, with a massive beast being the obvious cause. As it turned around to get a look at its newly arrived prey, it's full form could be made out. This large creature had the body of a lion, wings of a bat, and the tail of a scorpion, with eyes filled with a desire to kill.

"What's a manticor doing way out here?" Twilight questioned.

"You know what it is?" Luke asked.

"I ran into one before, but I can't think of a reason one would leave the Everfree Forest, let alone come all the way to Ponyville."

"*ROAR!*"

"Looks like we don't have time to find out."

Without another word, Luke drew the Sword of Lorelei from its horizontal position on his lower back, and charged straight towards the formidable beast. The manticor bellowed once again in anger and began swiping its sharp claws at his attacker. Luke's experience in battle allowed him to effortlessly dodge the telegraphed attacks from his claws, but he forgot about another ability the beast had. The manticor quickly spun itself around, whipping its massive tail into Luke. The Swordsman of Lorelei was launched through the air and into the wall of a nearby house.

"Unh! Dammit! This thing's even stronger than it looks."

As Luke was still recovering from the attack, he could see the manticor looming over him with claws poised to kill. Just as the finishing blow was about to be dealt, the manticor howled in pain as a purple blast smacked into him. Luke turned to the origin of the blast to see Twilight huffing as her horn glowed with energy. Twilight's expression quickly turned to one of fear as the manticor began to get up and growled at his newest assailant. The manticor used its powerful legs to reach a full speed charge towards the petrified lavender mare.

"Wh-what do I do? I-I'm too scared to move!"

The manticor leaped high into the air to pounce his now helpless prey, but Luke had positioned himself in front of Twilight. As the manticor was just moments from tearing Luke to shreds, he focused his energy for the finishing move.

"HRRRAAAAAAAA!"

Luke unleashed his hyperresonance in a tempest around him, sending the beast off his intended course and back into the air. He then focused the energy into his palms as the beast descended in front of him, subjecting him to a powerful barrage of energy in the form of a hyperresonance sphere.

"Now... die!"

Luke separated his palms, releasing the focus on the energy and creating a powerful blast that sent the manticor flying in the opposite direction.

"*Pant* Are you alright?" Luke asked the still terrified Twilight.

"I-I think so... But you just... you just killed it!"

"Well yeah, it was about to kill you. I had to stop it."

*Phssssshh*

Both Luke and Twilight turned to see the manticor begin to fade into nothingness. The only remaining evidence of its existence was the property damage it had inflicted.

"What the! That's..." Luke began.

"Fonon seperation."

Everyone turned to see Asch leaning against the door frame with a pained expression on his face. He was now wearing his black God General uniform, which complemented his dark red hair. Some of the red designs on the uniform were still stained with his blood from when he was stabbed by oracle knight replicas.

"But how could his fonons have separated? Unless he was..." Luke trailed off.

"A replica." Asch answered.

"But that's impossible! We don't have fomicry around here!" Twilight insisted.

"Maybe, but it is still possible to create a replica through fonic artes. The drawback is that the replica is usually deficient in certain fonons, which will eventually result in death." Luke explained.

"You're not suggesting one of my subjects could have created this, are you?" Celestia asked.

"How could they? They would have had to have known about fomicry. This means it has to have been someone from our world. More specifically, someone who was at Eldrant and could have created a hyperresonance." Asch concluded.

"No... There's just no way!" Luke realized.

"What's wrong Luke?" Twilight asked.

"Asch... There were only six seventh fonists at Eldrant. Tear escaped, you and I are here, and out of the others only one knows enough about fomicry to have created a replica here."

"You know the answer as much as I do, but you just don't want to admit it either."

"Who is it Luke? Who are you talking about?" Twilight couldn't stand not knowing.

"Master Van..." Luke answered.

Everypony there gave an audible gasp.

"But that's impossible! You told us yourself that you killed him!" Luna said.

"And I got stabbed to death by oracle knights. There's some kind of force in this world that's holding our fonons together, and has kept us alive. It was even keeping that manticor alive up until Luke's second order hyperresonance neutralized it." Asch explained.

"So it's some kind of new fonon?" Luke asked.

"Not a bad observation, replica. That actually does make sense; a new fonon could fill the gap between our separated ones, holding us together."

"And that could have worked on Master Van..."

"If that bastard Van is making replicas around here, then it means we can't just head home so soon. If he had his way, he might actually be capable of creating a replica world. I'm going to investigate, so I'm not staying here any longer."

"But Aschy! You're still really hurt!" Derpy tried to convince.

"It's nothing! It doesn't matter what you say. I'm leaving and I'm going to kill Van. He won't escape me this time!"

Without another word, Asch took his sword and began walking towards an unknown destination. Derpy hovered there for a moment, unsure of what to do. Finally she took off after Asch out of her concern for his safety.

"We should head back to Canterlot. We will alert the guards to be on the lookout for this 'Van Grants'. If he is threatening the safety of our subjects, he must be stopped." Celestia proclaimed.

With that, the royal sisters took off and began flying back to the mountains.

"What should we do now? How can we find your master?" Twilight asked.

"If he's making replicas, he would need a secluded location full of subjects he could replicate, with facilities to build up his forces."

"I think I know where he might have gone, but we're going to need help if we're going after him."

"Yo, Twilight! If you need help, just ask the best flier in Equestria!" A familiar voice called out.

Rainbow Dash swooped down from the skies above and landed stylishly in front of the pair.

"Oh it's you again. Rainbow Dash, right?" Luke asked to confirm her name.

"You did good to remember my name, because it's going to be on every billboard soon enough."

"How long have you been here Rainbow?" Twilight asked.

"I saw the whole fight! I've done some crazy stuff, but what Luke did was completely off the charts insane!"

"Well then, maybe you'd be willing to help us out. We're going to stop the guy that made that thing." Luke said as he saw his opportunity.

"If it means watching more awesome fights like that, I'm in!"

"Well, that's one element down, four to go." Twilight said.

--------

"It seems our replicas our working excellently. Even though they are made through fonic artes, the appear to be more powerful than the ones at Eldrant." A blonde woman stated.

"Yes Legretta, these replicas will prove themselves useful. With the power of this world, we can finally overturn the Score by creating a replica world." A tall man added.

"And all of these worthless creatures will die too. They'll all know the pain of being thrown away." A masked boy said.

"Hold your tongue Sync. We will not simply destroy the inhabitants of this world. We will use the power here to free every world from the Score. Once we are done here, no longer will any creature have to live their life shackled to the Score! *Cough!*"

"Commandant you must not strain yourself yet. Almost all of your fonons were rebound by this world's unique one."

"Yes I know. Once I have recovered, nothing will be able to stand in my way."

--------

"So let me get this straight. Y'all are telling me some manticor 'replica' trashed up the place, and that you want to go to the Everfree Forest to look for where the thing was made?" Applejack asked.

"That's right Applejack. Luke and I need the help of everypony we can get." Twilight confirmed.

"And you're alright with this Rainbow Dash?" Applejack turned to her friendly rival.

"Duh! Luke's totally awesome! He's got moves that, if he could fly, would get him into the Wonderbolts for sure!"

"Look, I'm really sorry about what happened to that tree before, but Twilight says that we need your help, so you have to believe me when I say: we need to stop Master Van." Luke tried to convince the farm pony.

Applejack squinted her eyes and took a good look at Luke, rubbing her chin as she pondered on what Luke had just told her.

"Alright then partner, Ah suppose I can leave the work to Big Mac while Ah'm gone."

"You actually believe me? I mean, I know I told you to, but I didn't think you would so easily."

"Well, I can tell ya ain't lyin'. As the element of honesty, I know a yer tellin' me the truth."

"Hey, didn't you mention something about elements when we convinced Rainbow to tag along, Twilight?"

"Yes I did. You see, my friends and I are the wielders of a powerful magic called the Elements of Harmony. Rainbow Dash represents loyalty, Applejack is honesty as she already told you, and I represent the element of magic."

"Well, if you say we need it I guess it can't hurt to get them to tag along. Who should we go for next?"

"Easy. Let's go have a word with generosity."

--------

The first half of the element bearers and the Swordsman of Lorelei made their way back to Carousel Boutique. Luke opened the door to see Rarity busily carrying around an assortment of black fabrics.

"Hey Rarity. What's with all of the black? You usually design things to be more colorful." Twilight said.

"Oh, I just had a stroke of genius thanks to Luke here. Strange... wasn't your hair longer when you showed up today?"

"You must mean Asch. What was he doing here?" Luke asked.

"Well, I saw him walking down the street with Derpy Hooves, and I couldn't help but admire that dark outfit he had on. Oh, it was simply ravishing! But when I got a closer look at it, there were these three gaping holes in it and some red stains! I simply couldn't let him walk about with his attire in such a horrid condition, so I fixed and cleaned it free of charge. Although, now that I look back, I probably should have noticed the difference considering he was carrying his sword in his right hand, while yours is positioned to be unsheathed by the left."

"Pretty observant..."

"That's Rarity for you. She's always goin' on about her fancy clothes and what have you, but it has given her a mighty keen eye." Applejack explained.

"Oh, Applejack and Rainbow Dash are with you too. So what brings you all here? I know it can't be about placing an order if those two are here."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Rainbow Dash asked angrily.

"Ahem! Rarity, Luke and the rest of us need your help. Luke's old master is apparently in Equestria and is planning to wreak havoc by creating an army of replicas." Twilight got back on task.

"Oh my! That sounds simply horrendous!"

"So you'll help us out?" Luke asked.

"But of course! Let me just go upstairs and pack some necessities."

Rarity trotted up the stairs leaving the others to await her return. About half an hour later...

"What in tarnation is taking that pony so long?"

"That's it! I'm heading up there and-" Rainbow Dash was interrupted.

*Thump!*

A massive trunk was set down near the base of the steps.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting. It took quite a bit of effort to get everything to fit."

"Rarity... what did you pack in there?" Twilight asked with a clear hint of annoyance in her voice.

"Well, I packed in my makeup, robes, sleeping mask, toothbrush, toothpaste, my best wilderness outfits-"

"I thought you said you were only packing a few essentials?" Luke spoke up.

"Oh but of course! It's absolutely essential that I look fabulous!"

Everypony besides Rarity face hoofed.

"Okay... just bring it along..." Twilight said with her hoof still pressed against her face.

"You sure about having her bring all of that?" Luke asked.

"Do you want to wait and hear her whine while she tries to justify everything she packed?"

"Point taken. So I guess we'll go and see Pinkie pie next?"

"Yes I-"

"Ah ha! I knew you'd be here!"

Standing at the door was a pink mare with her saddlebags already packed.

"Well that was convenient. Pinkie Pie, Twilight says that-" Luke began.

"Oh I already know that silly!"

"You do?"

"Yeah! My tongue swelled up, my eye got itchy, and I sneezed three times."

"And that means?" Luke asked incredulously.

"It's probably her Pinkie sense." Twilight deduced.

"Yep! It means that there's going to be a super duper adventure! I got everything packed and started looking around for you as soon as I could."

"So I guess that just leaves Fluttershy?" Luke figured.

"Yeah, she lives just outside of the Everfree forest, so naturally she should be the last one." Twilight confirmed.

--------

"No! Go away!"

Fluttershy was holed up inside her house with the door locked.

"But Fluttershy, we need your help on this one!" Twilight begged.

"No way! The forest is scary enough, but you want me to help stop some super scary human?!"

"Can't we just force the door open and bring her with us?" Luke suggested.

"Uh... when Fluttershy doesn't want to go somewhere, she can be pretty... convincing." Rainbow nervously answered.

"Fluttershy, if Master Van isn't stopped, he'll make replicas of all the animals and force them to serve him. The originals could die!" Luke exclaimed.

*WHAM!*

The door slammed open with enough force to create cracks in the wall. Fluttershy was fuming with rage filling her eyes.

"He... will... PAY!!!"

"Whoa! This can't be the same pony from the other day!"

"I-I guess that means she's coming." Twilight concluded.

Monsters

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Luke and his new friends had been walking in the forest for just a few minutes, but Luke could still sense the danger. Tataroo Valley seemed to be dwarfed by the massive size of the forest, meaning it was likely more dangerous than even the area near the Sephiroth. Luke's thoughts were interrupted when he spotted a new creature come forth from the bushes.

"What's that thing, Twilight?" He asked as he gripped his sword.

"That's just a wallaroo. Don't worry they're harmless." The lavender mare assured.

The group continued on their trek once more, until another creature caught Luke's attention.

"And what's that?"

"That's just a toucan. Also harmless." Twilight said somewhat annoyed.

*GRRRR!*

A pair of large wolves made out of branches and twigs jumped out from the bushes. Their piercing yellow eyes instilled fear into the hearts of the travelers.

"A-and those?"

"Timber wolves! Not harmless!" Twilight shouted in a panicked state.

"I'll take care of them!" Luke said as he regained his confidence.

"Wait! You can't kill them!"

"Why not? They're just monsters."

"Look, this world is a lot less violent than yours. It's for the best that you avoid killing things when you can. Not to mention Fluttershy is here. Do you have any idea what seeing something like that could do to her?"

Luke thought it over for a moment. He wasn't particularly happy with killing monsters in his world, but over time he got used to it. It truly hurt him when he had to kill humans, and since the ponies and other animals were just as smart, he could understand the request.

"Fine. I'll try and avoid killing whenever I can, but if I have to kill, I'm sorry."

Luke removed his hand from the hilt of his sword as he charged at the first of the timber wolves. The wolf snarled as it lashed out at Luke. Luke jumped above the wolf's reach, and twisted himself in midair, bringing his leg downward in an axe kick on the wolf's head.

"Havoc Strike!"

The timber wolf's head slammed to the ground, knocking it out instantly. The second one took this opportunity to attempt to pounce Luke.

"Raging Havoc!" Luke called as he performed the axe kick of Havoc Strike, followed by the energy explosion of Raging Blast.

The second timber wolf was sent flying backwards into a nearby tree. Once it hit the ground, it attempted to get up, but lost its remaining strength and fell unconscious with its pack-mate.

"Phew. Looks like they're okay."

Luke turned to face his new friends, who all had their mouths agape, apart from Fluttershy who was now hyperventilating.

"A-are you all okay? I didn't kill them."

"I-it's just-" Twilight began, but was interrupted by her cyan friend.

"THAT WAS TOTALLY SICK!" Rainbow paused when she realized how loud her outburst was. "What I mean is, you took out those two timber wolves without even breaking a sweat!"

"I guess so. They weren't really all that tough..."

"Heh. Look at this fella bein' modest. Timber wolves are some of the nastiest varments in the Everfree Forest." Applejack explained.

"Really? This might be easier than I thought if those are one of the toughest things here." Luke turned his attention to the cream pegasus that was still in shock. "Uh Fluttershy? Are you going to be fine?"

Fluttershy immediately responded by falling flat on her back unconscious.

"Hey! Nopony told me we got nap breaks!" Pinkie Pie blurted angrily.

"Oh man! I'm sorry!" Luke apologized.

"Don't worry. She can get upset rather easily. We just need to give her time to rest and she'll be back to her lovable old self." Rarity assured.

Luke felt bad about being one of the reasons Fluttershy fainted, so he slung her over his shoulder and carried her as they continued along the path.

--------

Asch had managed to find enough leads to point him to the Everfree Forest since he finally got away from that annoying unicorn, although he was a little glad to have his uniform in peak condition again. One thing still bothered him however...

"How long do you plan on following me?" He asked the gray pony trotting behind him.

"Oh, well..."

"Go home. This is none of your business."

"But you're still hurt! I'm not leaving!"

"Tch. This whole situation keeps proving itself to be more irksome every minute."

"Why do you have to be so mean to me? I'm only trying to help."

"I don't need your help."

"Well, why didn't you just work with your brother Luke?"

Derpy's comment definitely struck a nerve. He stopped dead in his tracks and turned to face his pesky caretaker.

"We are not brothers! Don't you ever act like we are! He's nothing more than a copy of me!"

"But why do you hate him? You may be different, but you're practically family. Besides, he seemed like he wanted to be your friend."

It was true that Asch may have accepted that he and Luke were two different people and gained some respect for him at Eldrant, but he still held some resentment towards him for stealing his life.

"You wouldn't understand..."

--------

Fluttershy went into her kitchen to fetch Angel his usual lunch of carrot cake from Sugar Cube Corner. She didn't exactly like doing this since he was spoiled as it is, not to mention she could barely resist having a nibble herself. As she set the plate down on the table, Angel hopped up to speak, er, pantomime to her.

"Oh, what is it?"

Angel began to pantomime out his message.

"You're saying you think I should have it since I work so hard?"

Angel nodded to confirm.

"Oh that's so sweet Angel. Thank you so much."

Fluttershy proceeded to take a dainty and adorable nibble of the carrot cake.

"Hey! Quit nibbling my ear!" A voice called out.

Fluttershy stopped moving her teeth, but kept them pressed against the cake. She looked down to Angel, who was the only one in the room.

"Okay, you stopped. Now can you please take your teeth off my ear?" Angel spoke.

"Angel!? You can talk?!"

"Of course I can talk! And my name is Luke!"

Angel's face began to morph into that of the red haired human. Fluttershy blinked several times in shock, clearing her vision back to reality. She saw that she was slung over the human's shoulder and was still nibbling on his ear (perhaps one of the cutest sights in all of Equestrian history). The other girls in their group were suppressing giggles, except for Rainbow Dash who was rolling on the ground in laughter.

"O-oh my! I-I'm sorry! I must have been dreaming." Fluttershy apologized as her cheeks turned red.

"I-it's fine. Are you feeling okay though? You fainted back there after I beat those timber wolves."

"Oh well... I'm not really used to violence, so I guess I just blacked out there. That and..."

"And?"

"Well... it's a little scary to think how strong you are."

"I uh... I'm sorry that I scared you then."

"It's alright. Oh uh, you can put me down now. I should be okay to walk."

Luke gently placed Fluttershy down on her hooves and proceeded to look at the sky through the tree line.

"It's starting to get a little dark. Do you think we should camp for the night?"

"That's probably for the best. I can set up a fire with my magic. Applejack should have food, and Pinkie said she had some tents." Twilight started to list off provisions.

"It's a portable party house! Tent just sounds so boring." Pinkie corrected.

"Ahem, well while this is all well and good, I simply need to start unpacking my provisions. I can't go a night skipping my beautifying routine." Rarity interrupted.

"Sheesh. Rarity the snobbish." Rainbow Dash muttered.

"I thought I told you not to make those kinds of remarks behind my back. If you insist on calling me a nickname, make it something befitting of me, like 'Rarity the Gem'."

"Sounds like you and Dist the Reaper might have a bit in common." Luke smirked.

"Ugh. With a name like that I shan't even consider such a thing."

"The snob kept insisting that we call him 'Dist the Rose'. He was totally annoying, but now he's locked up where a wacko like him belongs."

--------

Elsewhere...

"Achoo! *Sniff* Drat! It feels like someone is talking about me behind my back. Probably that traitorous wretch Jade! I'll get back at him for doing this to me! I swear it!"

A pink haired man was yelling at the heavens inside of his jail cell. He wore a black suit with a lavish plume that looked like pink petals surrounding him, and lavender pants to match. His glasses had a glare that hid the eyes beneath them, giving him the look of a rather maniacal individual.

"Oh? I don't think that could possibly be me. I can't be talking behind your back if I'm right here."

"W-what?! Jade?! I-I was just kidding! I- Hey what are you doing with that?! STOOOOOOP! I'M GOING TO DIE!!!"

Author's note: Updates may start getting a bit harder to pump out as my senior year starts in a week. I promise to get this updated as I can, but your patience will be appreciated. Also I love having fun at Dist's expense XD

Nightmares

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Asch had reluctantly setup a camp in a clearing of the forest. While every ounce of his being lusted for the opportunity to strike Van down, he knew that it would be impossible to navigate the forest in this dark. He stayed awake long into the night, his years of training teaching him to draw upon his inner strength. As the fire crackled beside him, he looked over to the gray pegasus that had followed him on his quest for revenge. She was sleeping soundly by now, completely oblivious of the dangers that would be faced on this journey.

"Why do I continue to put up with this annoying dreck?" He asked himself

"Because you can't just leave her alone in this forest."

He shook off the suggestion from his thoughts.

"Ridiculous! Why should I worry about what happens to some fool that followed me in here?"

"Because she holds you in high regard. She cares about you just like Luke and Natalia."

Asch thought back to his childhood. Back before he was kidnapped by Van, he and Natalia made a promise to change their nation for the better when they were older.

"Some day, when we're grown up, let's change this country." Asch began. "Change it so that no one has to be poor. Change it so that war never happens."

"Let's work to change our country. For the rest of our lives. Together." Natalia finished.

"I have to destroy Van... or I may never be able to keep that promise."

*Rustle*

Asch drew his sword and turned to face the direction of the noise.

"Who's there? Show yourself!"

Slowly, a figure walked from the bushes and into the light shed by the fire. Asch's body froze when he recognized the person standing before him.

"Impossible! How can it be you?!"

--------

After the camp was set and dinner was served, each of the travelers took shifts keeping watch for any creatures that might attack them in the night. Once Luke had completed his shift, Fluttershy nervously took a seat near the fire to begin her shift. Luke crawled into his tent and slowly drifted into a slumber. A dream began to form in Luke's mind. He was standing aboard the deck of a large ship in a sea of mud and a purple fluid. He recognized that he was on the Tartarus, a Malkuth military landship, when it fell into the Qliphoth shortly after the destruction of Akzeriuth. The purple liquid around them was the liquid form of miasma, a deadly poison gas. All of his friends, including Fon Master Ion, were standing on the deck with him. He was visiting the past once more.

"It looks like it will still run." Jade reported as he returned from the bridge.

"There's a place called Yulia City here in the Qliphoth. It should be to the west. Let's try heading there." Tear suggested

"You seem to know a lot about this place. I'd like to hear an explanation once we're safe."

The Tartarus then sailed through the sea of Miasma for what felt like hours.

"No matter how far we go, there's nothing in sight. ...Are we really underground?" Guy asked.

"...In a way. The place you live is known down here as the 'Outer Lands'-- the world's outer shell. It's a floating land supported by pillars called 'Sephiroth Trees' that extend from the Qliphoth." Tear explained.

"I don't understand." Natalia stated.

"Long ago, the Outer Lands were here in the Qliphoth."

"Unbelievable..." Anise said in her astonishment.

"Two thousand years ago, the miasma enveloped Auldrant and infected the land. That is when Yulia read the seven-part Score, finding a way to escape destruction and bring prosperity."

"Based on the Score, Yulia proposed a plan to raise the planet's crust using the Sephiroth." Ion finished.

"And that was the beginning of the Outer Lands, huh... That's quite a story." Guy concluded.

"Yes. Only maestros and above in the Order of Lorelei know. As do those born in the Qliphoth." Ion explained

"Then, you're from the Qliphoth, Tear...?" Anise asked.

Tear did not answer, so Ion continued speaking.

"At any rate, we've fallen down here. We were saved thanks to Tear's fonic hymn."

Jade began to see the problem with all of this information.

"How did this happen? You said Akzeriuth was supported by a pillar, correct?" He asked Ion.

"Yes, but... that pillar disintegrated."

"How?" Anise asked the Fon Master.

Tear turned to face Luke, who had been silent ever since they boarded the Tartarus. The others in the group followed suit.

"...I-I don't know anything about it! I was just trying to neutralize the miasma!" He quickly explained. "He told me if I caused a hyperresonance there, the miasma would disappear...!"

"My brother deceived you. And you destroyed the pillar that supported Akzeriuth."

Luke couldn't come to grips with this truth.

"No! That can't be..."

"Van ordered you to stand next to the passage ring. Those passage rings are what produce the pillars... Tear is probably right." Ion deduced. "I was careless. I never dreamed that Van would make Luke do such a thing..."

Jade was not convinced Luke was entirely the victim.

"I wish Luke had at least discussed it with us beforehand. Neutralizing the miasma could have waited until the residents were evacuated. ...Of course there is little point in saying that now."

Natalia, who cared so deeply for her country, understood Jade's position.

"Yes... Akzeriuth is gone. Thousands of lives, lost in an instant..."

Luke was shocked by the direction of the conversation.

"A-are you saying it's my fault...?"

Everyone simply stared back at him, none of them willing to answer him, as it was obvious. Luke couldn't handle accepting any fault for what happened, and desperately tried to convince them he was not to blame.

"It's not... it's not my fault! Master Van said... Yeah! Master Van told me to do it! I had no idea this would happen! No one told me! It's not my fault! It's not my fault!"

Luke was clearly becoming emotionally distressed. He feared the hatred and loss of trust from his companions and friends. Jade began to walk away from where he was standing. Tear turned to address him.

"...Colonel?"

"I'm returning to the bridge. If I stay here, I'll just be irritated by some ridiculous ranting." Jade said coldly.

Luke was infuriated with his statement.

"What's your problem?! I tried to save Akzeriuth!"

Natalia approached Luke while he was still facing Jade.

"Ever since you lost your memory, you're like a completely different person..." She said, then followed Jade off the deck.

Luke began to get angry at all the accusations.

"Y-you all couldn't do anything to stop it, either! Don't just blame me!"

Ion began to feel a bit of guilt well up in him, along with pity for Luke.

"You're right. I'm powerless. But still..."

"Ion! Don't even bother talking to him! He's not worth it!" Anise interrupted, taking Ion with her as she left.

Luke grew more desperate than ever. He turned to his best friend Guy. Surely he would believe him.

"I-it's Master Van's fault! Not mine! Right, Guy?!"

"Luke... Don't make me think even less of you..."

This nearly shattered Luke. Not even his best friend was willing to side with him.

"I was stupid for starting to think you had some good in you..." Tear said as she took her leave.

Luke was utterly destroyed. The only one left on the deck with him was Mieu.

"Wh-why?! Why are you all blaming me?!"

"Master... cheer up." The cheagle tried to comfort.

"Sh-shut up! What do you know?!" Luke lashed out.

"A lot of my people died because of me. So... I can understand what you're feeling, Master."

"Don't compare me to YOU! Don't compare me to... Aah..."

Luke knelt down on his hands and knees and began to break down, sobbing without anyone but Mieu to console him.

Time passed, and eventually the Tartarus docked at Yulia City. It was a large and advanced city using Dawn Age technology. All the others in the group went into the city to find Teodoro, Tear's grandfather and the mayor of the city. Luke stayed dormant on the platform as the others left, leaving Tear to stay with him.

"...How long are you going to stand there? Everyone's gone to the mayor's house."

"All they'll do is keep accusing me of stuff. I don't want to go."

"You're even more pathetic than I thought, reject!"

Asch the Bloody, one of the six God Generals, insulted Luke as he walked into Yulia City.

"...You!"

Luke confronted Asch filled with anger at him. By this time, they were still enemies in Luke's eyes.

"What are you doing here?! Where's Master Van?!"

"Hah! You still call him 'Master' after he's betrayed you?!"

The truth finally began to sink in. Luke could deny his master's true goals no longer.

"...Betrayed me? Then, Master Van really did want me to destroy Akzeriuth?"

"Damn it! If I had realized what Van was planning sooner, none of this would have happened!" Asch cursed his inability to stop him. Asch then turned back to Luke. "And you! Why didn't you think before using your hyperresonance?!"

Luke was infuriated.

"S-so you're saying it's my fault too?!"

"Of course it's your fault! Don't even try to deny it!"

"It's not my fault! It's not my fault! It's not..."

"Are all replica brains this defective?!"

"'Replica?' Master Van used the word 'replica,' too..."

"...You STILL haven't figured it out?! Is this someone's idea of a joke?!"

"Wh-what?! What the hell are you talking about?!"

"I'll tell you, Luke."

"Asch, stop!" Tear tried to intervene, but Asch simply dismissed her outburst.

"Why do you think you and I have the same face?"

"...H-how should I know?"

"I'm a noble who was born in Baticul. Seven years ago, I was kidnapped by a villain named Van."

The truth dawned upon Luke.

"You can't mean..."

"That's right! You're a second-rate copy of me! A mere replica!"

"You're lying... It's not true! It's not true!"

Luke was enraged with Asch. He drew his sword to fight, as it was the only thing he wanted to do: shut up Asch.

"...So you want to fight, replica?"

"Stop lying!"

Luke fought against Asch with all his might. Their blades constantly parrying each others attacks. Even their Artes were the same! Both warriors were reaching their limits, but Luke had one final trump card. Just as Asch was about to deliver the final blow, Luke used his Mystic Arte: Radiant Howl, in order to secure victory.

"I can't believe I lost to this trash... It's no wonder I lost my family, my home, everything... I'm pathetic!"

An aura of light began to surround Luke, blurring his vision and making him weak.

"It's a lie... I..."

Luke's vision became nothing more than a pure white, and he fell unconscious.

--------

Luke rose up in his tent in a cold sweat. Even after everything that's happened, even when he's in another world, he couldn't find peace from his past. This was not the first time he was awoken by nightmares of Akzeriuth. Jade was perhaps the only one who knew about the traumatizing nightmares he had to endure. But then Luke realized: none of his friends are here to comfort him anymore. Luke let out a deep breath. There was no way he would be able to get back to sleep, so he opened his tent to try and get some fresh air.

"AAAAAAH! STAY BACK!" A feminine voice cried.

Luke saw that it was Fluttershy, who by now was cowering behind a log.

"It's just me..." He said unenthusiastically.

Fluttershy peeked over her wood sanctuary, and confirmed that it was Luke.

"Oh thank goodness! I thought you were a scary monster." Fluttershy sighed with relief. Miraculously, her shouting failed to wake anypony else.

"A monster..."

Luke pondered on the word. He probably could have been considered a monster for what he did in Akzeriuth. Thousands of people were killed because of him. His only motivation was to be free of having to live stuck in that manor, and everyone in Akzeriuth died. Luke sighed and took a seat near the fire. His eyes were focused at the ground, dull and devoid of any life. Fluttershy saw this in him, and couldn't help but wonder what was wrong.

"Um... are you alright?"

"I just had a bad dream..."

Fluttershy wasn't convinced, and nothing got her more serious than someone who was sad.

"What's wrong? You can tell me." Fluttershy said now in a more comforting and confident tone.

Luke glanced over to her. He felt that he could confide in Fluttershy, even though he barely knew her. There was just something... there that told him she could help.

"I had a nightmare about something I did... Something unforgivable."

"What was it?" Fluttershy asked, intrigued.

"There was a city... called Akzeriuth. Miasma leaked out and so we went to help evacuate the people. But Master Van, the one we're after, he told me if I used a hyperresonance on the passage ring beneath the city, it would get rid of the miasma. I didn't even think about what I was doing, I just wanted to become a hero so I could be free from the manor. The hyperresonance destroyed the sephiroth pillar that was keeping Akzeriuth suspended above the Qliphoth. Because of me... everyone in Akzeriuth died!"

"Oh my..." Fluttershy gasped.

"Everyone blamed me for what happened. They were right, but I couldn't accept it then. They all lost their trust in me and left me. And then Asch... he told me I was a replica of him, that I wasn't the real Luke."

"But then what happened? You don't seem like that kind of person at all."

"Well..."

--------

Luke woke up in a bed in Yulia City after seeing the world through Asch. Since the two of them had the same fonon frequency, they could communicate telepathically. Luke now fully accepted his responsibility for what happened in Akzeriuth, and wanted to make up for it. He needed to get back to the Outer Lands so he could stop Van and he would need Tear's help to do it. He spotted her in a garden at the back of building. Luke went up to her in order to apologize, to convince her to help.

"Luke... You're awake."

"Is this a flower garden?"

"They're selenias. The only flowers that grow in the Qliphoth. They bloom at night... The Outer Lands cover the sky so hardly any sunlight gets through... Anyway, you look like you were worried about something."

"Oh! Right! I want to go back to the Outer Lands!"

"You'll be able to go back at some point. But for right now..."

"No, I have to go back right now! Asch said St. Binah's going to fall!"

"But... you've been asleep this whole time..."

"I could hear! He and I are connected!"

"Even if that's true, how do you plan to prevent St. Binah from falling?"

"W-well..."

"You don't understand a thing... You base all your actions on what others say and never try to understand things for yourself. That's no different than how you acted at Akzeriuth."

"...Heh heh. You're right. 'Master Van said so...' 'Asch said so...' That's all I ever say... It's no wonder everyone got sick of me and left me behind."

"You knew? That they went back to the Outer Lands?"

"I told you, Asch and I are connected. I saw it through him. ...I really am his replica.

"Luke..."

"Up till now, all I ever paid attention to was myself... And I'm not even sure I saw myself clearly...

"...Yeah."

"I want to change. I HAVE to change."

"If you really mean that, then perhaps you can. But even if you change, that won't bring back Akzeriuth. ...And it won't erase the fact that thousands died. With the weight of all that on your shoulders, how do you plan to change?"

"I don't know... Heh, that's all I know how to say. I'm pathetic... If I could make up for Akzeriuth by apologizing, I'd apologize as much as it took. If my dying could bring back Akzeriuth, then... I'd be scared... but I'd die. But that's not how things are. Even if I tried to make up for it, I'd never be able to. So I'm going to start with what I can do. I don't know what that is yet, but I'm serious. I want to change."

"I still don't think you really understand. Not while you can talk about dying so easily."

"I won't ask you to trust me right away. ...Tear, you carry knives on you, right?"

"Yes, why?"

"Let me borrow one for a minute."

Luke took the knife from Tear and placed it behind his head. Luke grabbed his long hair and began cutting into it.

"Luke!"

After cutting off the large portion he held, he turned to Tear.

"With this, I say goodbye to who I've been."

Luke released his hair into the flowing wind, filled with the resolve to change.

--------

"Ever since then, I've worked to change into a better person, but as you can see... I still can't get past what I did."

Fluttershy had a genuine smile on her face as she looked at Luke. After everything that happened, he resolved to change so he could make up for his mistakes. It saddened her to see him full of guilt, so she did what she did best.

"Luke, you may not be able to bring back those people or that city, but you can keep living and becoming a better person so you can help others and never make that mistake again."

Fluttershy trotted over to Luke and wrapped her forelegs around him to hug him.

"You already showed me that you're a nice person. You helped protect all of us from those timber wolves and yet avoided killing them, and you even carried me when I was just a burden."

The tears welling up in Luke's eyes were no longer tears of guilt, but now tears of happiness.

"*Sniff* Thanks Fluttershy. It's really great to know I've still got friends here."

*Click*

Off in the distance, there was an audible metallic click. At first neither one of them had a clue as to what it was, but then Luke's eyes widened in horror as he recognized the noise.

"Get down!" He yelled to Fluttershy as he unsheathed his sword.

*BA-BANG!*

Luke placed himself in front of Fluttershy to protect her from the two incoming projectiles.

*Pa-Ping!*

Using the Sword of Lorelei to block, both of the high velocity projectiles were deflected. One ricocheted into a nearby tree, while the other snapped one of the burning logs in half, sending it flying towards the origin of the noise.

"Wh-what was that?!" Fluttershy panicked.

"Trouble..." Luke muttered.

The burning log landed several feet away, revealing a blond woman clad in a black, yellow, and red dress, adorned by a shawl that resembled large white feathers. She had two smoking fontech guns in her hands, one looked like a glock, while the other looked like an over under double barrel pistol.

"You were fast. Tear could learn a thing or two from you." She said.

"Legretta! How are you here?!"

"I woke here and soon found the commandant. With the power of this world, we will finally overturn the Score."

"So Master Van really is alive? Why is he still obsessed with the Score? We saved Auldrant!"

"What in tarnation is goin' on 'round here?"

Applejack got stirred from her sleep along with the other ponies. Clearly the gunshots would have been able to wake anyone up.

*Bang!*

A large hole suddenly appeared right in front of Applejack's hooves.

"Leave them alone! This is between you and me!"

"So now you're going to face me alone? Fine then!"

Luke prepared himself for a difficult fight. Not only would he have to beat Legretta, but he had to make sure none of the ponies got hurt.

Unwanted Reunions

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Luke charged forward at Legretta without a second thought. Bullets flew past him as he artfully dodged the attacks of his adversary. The loud clang of steel against steel could be heard as Luke struck at Legretta, only to be denied by the powerful frames of her guns. Legretta quickly delivered a kick to the Swordsman of Lorelei, not as much to deal damage as it was to give him a wide berth. The battle between the two warriors from another world had begun. All the ponies could do was watch as these veterans of combat clashed, lest they risk an untimely demise.

Rainbow Dash was the least happy with this arrangement. "This totally stinks!" the multi-colored mare exclaimed.

Twilight was rather confused by Rainbow's outburst. "What are you talking about Rainbow? I thought you said you wanted to see Luke fight."

Rainbow Dash huffed in response. "I know I said that. The problem is that this chick is totally deserving of a beatdown, and all I can do is watch!"

Twilight paused a moment. She felt the exact same way as Rainbow Dash, even if she wasn't quite as vocal about it. She trotted over to her hovering friend and placed a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. "I know you're not happy with just watching this, Rainbow, and I want to help too, but we don't even have a plan to fight this woman. Those weapons of hers are more powerful than anything I've seen the royal guards carry."

Applejack nodded in agreement to Twilight. "Ah hear ya Twilight; that doohickey nearly put me in an early retirement!" Applejack exclaimed while looking at her still shaking hooves. The farm pony was more grateful than ever for her fast reflexes, otherwise she could have lost the appendages.

Rarity was the next to voice her opinion. "I really must agree with you girls. However fashionable this lady may be, one does not get away with nearly defacing a pony's hooves!" She cried, raising her fist(?) to the air. Rarity was met with incredulous glances from her friends. "What? She just got a hooficure a week ago during our last visit to the spa!"

Pinkie Pie, meanwhile, was busy trying to coax Fluttershy out of her near coma state. The shock from nearly being shot, coupled with the chaos of the fight, took its toll on the gentle little pony. Twilight looked on to the clash Luke was engaged in, knowing that he could face any obstacle in his path. "Don't worry girls, I'm sure Luke can win. All we have to do is believe in him." The lavender mare reassured.

--------

Asch the Bloody stood shocked at the sight of his intruder. However, he quickly gathered his senses and returned to his cold, determined glare. He already knew that Van Grants was somehow still alive, that much he managed to stomach, but standing before him was the tactical commander of the Six God Generals: Sync the Tempest. While he appeared to simply be a young boy, Sync was one of the most powerful of the God Generals. He currently wore the white coat and black pants he had at Eldrant, though his coattails were now tattered with holes. His green hair was still styled forward as usual, but the most prominent feature of this young boy, was the fact he had the same face as Fon Master Ion.

Asch felt his blood begin to boil. "What are you doing here?" He asked coldly.

A sadistic grin spread across Sync's lips. "So I wasn't mistaken after all. You really were thrown into this dump too."

"Answer me!"

"If you must know, I was ordered by Van to do some scouting around here. Looks like he knew that you were coming."

"So you're still following orders from Van... What's he planning."

Sync's expression became serious and anger fueled his words at the question. "We're going to finally destroy the Score. Nothing can stop us this time."

Asch grunted in anger at Van. Even after his defeat at Eldrant, he was still fixated on the Score. "Why would he even bother thinking about the Score now? We're stuck on this world, and Luke already stopped the Score of Destruction. I guess he's gone crazy after all."

"You think it's really over? Luke may have stopped Van, but that hardly means that the Score has lost it's grip on the world."

Asch couldn't believe what he was hearing. None of Sync's reasoning made any sense. The Score was no more. What could possibly be more clear than that?

"Are you really this dense?! It's ALL OVER! The Score, Van's plans, everything! What the hell makes you want to follow him if he's clearly lost his mind?!"

Sync was irritated by Asch's dismissal of his beliefs, but he found a sick pleasure in toying with him. "I should think you would understand why I want to destroy the Score 'Ashes of the Sacred Flame'. And don't think it's all over yet; you've hardly even seen the surface of how powerful the Score is."

Asch forgot trying to speak of the Score, but was infuriated by what Sync called him. "What did you call me?!"

"What's wrong? Don't like accepting that you're nothing more than trash? Get used to it. It's the cold truth of the world. Every life is meaningless; you can be discarded and replaced just as soon as you are born." Sync's tone grew angrier as he addressed Asch with his next words. "At least you had some meaning in your life. You actually got replaced. I was only born because the original Ion was predicted to die in the Score. And him... the seventh Ion was nothing more than a bumbling fool! Yet he was chosen to replace the original, and I was disposed of." Sync paused for a moment before he continued so that he could collect his thoughts. "And so, I don't care how it happens, or who does it, I want the Score, the seventh fonon... I want that miserable world destroyed!"

Sync then took note of the gray eavesdropper. Derpy had woken up about halfway through their conversation, and now with Sync eying her like an insect, she began to tremble in fear.

"So now you're starting to find company with these ignorant idiots? You're really starting to disgust me." Sync muttered.

Terrified as she was, Derpy was not one who would stand for insults about her intellect, but more than that, she cared deeply for any of her friends. "Hey! You leave Aschy and me alone!"

Derpy's courage faded almost instantly when Sync took a step closer to her. "These things even sound annoying. I should just kill it right now."

Sync began taking another step closer to his quarry, but jumped back when he caught the distinctive blur of a blade heading his way.

Asch returned his stance and pointed his sword at Sync. "The only one dying here tonight is you! This time you're going to be sent to hell by me!"

Sync couldn't help but smirk in superiority. "You really think you can beat me? I have all the powers of a Fon Master! Even you will have trouble trying to keep up with me."

Asch wasn't a fool. He knew that fighting Sync would be difficult, but trying to flee him even without Derpy would only delay the encounter. "I refuse to lose to a lowlife wretch like you! So come on!"

--------

*Clang!*

Another bullet was deflected by the Sword of Lorelei, yet its surface barely registered a scratch. Luke and Legretta were both powerful fighters in their own right, but something still felt off to Luke.

"This doesn't make any sense! She feels like she's gotten stronger since the fight at Eldrant, but could she really have improved in just a few days?"

Luke dismissed the questions that were clouding his focus. Right now his priority was to defeat Legretta, and she would exploit any falter on his part. Luke charged Legretta once again, but rather than resort to her guns, Legretta began utilizing her specialty: Rem Fonic Artes. A large glowing fonic glyph appeared beneath Legretta's feet as she focused the energy of light fonons in the surrounding area.

Once the energy around her reached its zenith, Legretta shouted the name of the Arte. "Holy Lance!"

A second glyph appeared on the ground where Luke stepped just as soon as the one beneath the God General disappeared. Suspended in the air above the glyph, five large spears of light appeared, angling themselves to aim at the center of the glyph. Luke barely had time to react as, one by one, each spear launched into the ground at high speed and in quick succession. The Swordsman of Lorelei avoided most of the impact, but still received glancing blows from the projectiles, which was still enough to tip the scales. Luke stumbled from his injuries, an opportunity that Legretta would not pass up.

The Major of the Oracle Knights began charging in to finish off Luke. "This is the end!"

Luke smirked as he took notice of Legretta doing exactly what he wanted. All fonic artes leave a concentration of fonons in the area they were cast and of the fonons the spell was comprised of. These Fields of Fonons, or FOFs, can be harnessed to alter certain artes into powerful element based techniques, known as FOF Changes. A certain minimum of fonons is required in a FOF to be used in an FOF Change, the number of fonons left in a field being higher based on the strength of the arte that placed them. Right now there was a high concentration of Rem fonons left from Holy Lance, and Rem fonons could be used to power FOFs of several elements, such as fire and wind.

Luke positioned himself for his do-or-die counter. "Feel the pain!"

Luke dashed past Legretta, slashing her as he passed. Pivoting on his foot, he turned to knock her into the air with a flurry of strikes, crying out the name of his arte as he did so. "Shadow Fury!"

Both combatants crashed to the ground, each of their breaths labored from the exhaustion of the fight.

"Damn! I got careless..." Legretta cursed.

Luke may have been worn out, but he wasn't about to leave the fight half finished. "This ends now Legretta! You and Master Van aren't getting away with-"

Luke's thoughts were interrupted when he heard the commotion behind him.

"Rainbow Dash, come back!" Twilight cried.

Rainbow's voice grew louder as she sped in their direction. "Forget it! I'm not sitting on the sidelines for another second!"

Luke turned to warn the ponies to stay back, giving Legretta the distraction she needed. Focusing Rem fonons in front of her, she created a blinding flash which she could use to escape.

"Don't think you've won! The commandant can't be stopped this time!" She declared as her parting words.

Once the flash subsided, Rainbow darted in to hover beside Luke. "That's right! Run away you wimp!" She hollered in Legretta's direction.

Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack galloped up to Luke to check on his injuries.

"Are you alright?" The lavender mare asked.

Luke took a look at his wounds. Some of them were dripping with blood, while a few of them were already beginning to coagulate. "She managed to get a couple hits in, but I've had worse."

Applejack shook her head and narrowed her eyes at Luke. "Partner, Ah've been apple buckin' and rodeo'n for years, and Ah've seen mah fair share of scrapes. Ah think ya should get those patched up, pronto."

Rarity nodded in agreement herself. "Applejack is quite right, darling. It won't do any good to leave those wounds open. Not only could you get in a worse state than now, but you might get blood on that wonderful ensemble of yours."

Applejack audibly face hoofed. "Rarity, why do ya keep makin' fashion and makeovers sound more important than life and limb?"

"Oh darling, you misunderstand. I am concerned for everypony's safety, I just want to make sure they also look fabulous. At any rate, I think I might have just the thing to help with Luke's injuries back in my saddlebag."

The group began to head back to the camp, although Rainbow Dash reluctantly followed them while muttering ill will towards Legretta. Once they arrived at the camp site, they found Fluttershy sipping hot cocoa(that is, what didn't spill from her constant shaking), as Pinkie Pie assured her everything was going to be fine. Rarity trotted to her tent and levitated some rolls of fabric from her bag. Taking great care in measuring out perfect lengths for each strip, Rarity fashioned the white cloth into makeshift bandages.

Luke winced as the last bandage was tightened on the cut on his right arm. "Thanks again, Rarity. But wasn't that one of your spools of silk?"

"Oh it's no trouble at all, darling. I wasn't really using that silk anyway." The unicorn assured.

Rainbow Dash was on edge from not being able to help, and was still annoyed with the insistence that she shouldn't fight at all. "See, Twilight? Luke's already injured and we still haven't even found his master! We need to step up to the plate and help him kick some flank! Otherwise, he's going to be too run down to fight!"

The logic of her argument placed a small bit of doubt in Twilight. "I know you want to help Rainbow, but what can we do? These humans have powers that I'm not sure if I can counter, not to mention their weapons. Besides, that Legretta woman referred to Van as their leader. Could you imagine how strong he must be to have her under his command?"

Pinkie Pie took this time to put in her two bits. "Totally, Twilight! I bet he has eyebrows that shoot laser beams! Oh, and a beard that can control minds!" After noticing the dumbfounded looks of her friends, she explained her outburst. "What? I was just putting out ideas. What I'm trying to say is, Twilight's right, we have no clue how strong this Meanie McMeanerpants is."

"Look, I don't want any of you getting hurt on my account." Luke spoke. "These wounds aren't too bad anyway. I should be fine after I get some re-"

*SHOOM!*

A loud mystical energy rang through the air, accompanied by a bright white-purple light.

Fluttershy jumped in fright, but for the first time during the trip, didn't faint. "Wh-what was that?"

Luke's mind began racing as he recognized the sound and energy from this latest phenomena. "Oh no...!"

Luke began sprinting to the source of the light, drawing his sword to prepare for another fight. His injuries caused him to wince, but he dared not break his stride. Within a few moments, Luke came upon a small clearing in the woods, where a fire was burning... and Asch was collapsed and bleeding profusely.

Hidden Truths

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A few moments earlier...

Sync darted straight towards Asch, his movements swift and calculated.

Sync brought his arm back for a palm strike. "Reaper's Toll!"

Asch spotted the movements in Sync's shoulder and countered with his own attack. "Raging Blast!"

The two strikes collided, the resulting force sending both fighters skidding back. Asch seized the opportunity of the now wide distance between them and called upon his Fonic Artes.

"Thunder Blade!"

A massive blade of pure electric energy appeared above Asch, and just as soon charged toward Sync. Even with his amazing speed, Sync could see that dodging would likely be a fruitless effort, so he countered with his own Arcane Arte.

"Stone Dragon Ascent!" Sync exclaimed as he unleashed a flurry of stones around him as he spiraled in an uppercut.

Once again the two attacks collided and the force resulted in an explosion of energy. Though his counter saved him from most of the damage, Sync was not unscathed.

"Damn! Even with his wounds, he's still managing to keep up with me!" Sync angrily thought to himself. "I could still beat him, but I don't want to take chances. I need something to throw him off..."

Sync then took notice of the gray mare that was still cowering by the sidelines. A devilish grin spread across his lips as he formulated his plan. While Legretta was not above using sneak attacks and similar tactics, Sync was outright ruthless, going so far as to implement psychological warfare. Sync charged directly towards Asch, who responded by entering a defensive stance. Just as the distance was about to be closed, Sync called upon another Arcane Arte.

"Cyclone Blaze!"

Sync shot diagonally into the air in a tempest of flames. Asch shielded himself against the heat the whipped against him, giving Sync the distraction he needed to proceed with his plan. Asch turned to face Sync, only to catch him making a beeline for Derpy. A wave of fear crashed over Asch as he began to fear for the mare's life.

Asch had difficulty processing this new line of thought. "What the hell's wrong with me?! Why am I so concerned for her?!"

Asch's conscience butted in again with a response. You can't keep hiding behind that uncaring facade of yours. Now it's time for you to choose: let the pony die and kill Sync? Or fight to protect the ones you care about.

Sync was only a few strides away from the trembling mare. He coiled back his arm, pointing his fingers straight with the intent to gore into his victim with his bare hands.

Derpy's mind was filled with frantic thoughts of her impending doom. "No... No please! I can't die here! What's going to happen to my little muffin when she gets back from camp?" Derpy saw the harbinger of her death was only mere seconds from silencing her breaths permanently. She shut her eyes tightly in fear, pressing her hooves tightly to her head as though her rampaging thoughts would burst from her skull. "Dinky...! I... Be strong for mommy! I love you my little muffin..." she cried out in the hopes that her child would somehow hear her final farewell.

*Splutch!*

The sickening sound of flesh being penetrated rang out through the clearing... yet Derpy felt no pain. Slowly the blonde mare found the courage to open her eyes. Standing mere inches in front of her was Asch the Bloody. Asch's body began to tremble, and a crimson liquid began to pool at his feet.

Sync got exactly what he wanted. "You sentimental idiot. You actually threw both your lives away just to be the hero. Now I get the pleasure of killing you both!" The God-General sadistically laughed.

Asch's trembling ceased at that instant, and he grabbed the arm that was lodged in his chest.

To Sync's audible surprise, Asch pulled the arm further into the wound. "Wh-what?!"

Asch's words were labored much like his breaths. "I already... had my life... stolen from me... I won't have... another suffer the same fate!!!" Asch turned his head to glance at Derpy. "Get out of here now!"

Derpy raised her hoof to protest, but then she felt an overwhelming energy surge through the air. Realizing what Asch had planned, she flew into the thicket with tears streaming from her eyes. Asch gave a weak smile when he saw that Derpy was now at a safe distance. Asch raised his sword up, releasing his own hyperresonance. But something felt different to Asch. His hyperresonance seemed much more powerful than it had ever been. The answer hit him like a sack of bricks, causing him to grin in triumph.

"The weak should stay back!" Asch cried as he directed his sword back to the ground. Filling his strike with the power of his seventh fonons, he stabbed into the ground and unleashed a wave of energy in a wide radius. "Rending Saber!"

The shockwave from the energy sent Sync flying backwards. With his wound now completely open, Asch began to bleed out. With the last of his strength, Asch saw Sync limp away into the thicket, but then noticed that the replica of Ion was starting to fade.

Sync managed to limp to the relative safety of the nearby thicket, slumping against a tree as his body began to give out.

"Dammit! How the hell did he use a second-order hyperresonance?!" He looked down to his arm to see it began to flicker into transparency. "Just my luck... I need to get out of here so these new fonons can assimilate."

Sync attempted to get up, but his limbs were not yet ready for the task. Begrudgingly, he accepted the need to rest. "I should be fine anyway. There's no way he's going to live past this."

--------

Luke trembled in horror at the sight of Asch. He rushed over to him and flipped him over onto his back. "Asch!"

Asch slowly opened his eyes. As he recognized the voice, he weakly spoke to Luke. "Replica...? Heh... I guess I had a little trouble once more. It seems you're the only one that can have the right to destroy Van..."

Luke angrily shook his head as tears welled up in his eyes. "You idiot! Don't say things like that! You promised me before that you'd come back, you're not breaking that promise now!"

Twilight and the others rushed into the clearing. Each of them gasped in horror when they saw Asch's wounds.

Twilight managed to regain control over her voice, and addressed Luke. "Luke... a-are you going to be alright?"

Luke quickly spun his head to look at Twilight. His eyes were now pleading. "Twilight, please! You have to help him!"

Twilight lowered her ears in sadness when she saw the look in Luke's eyes. "I'm sorry Luke... we don't have the medical supplies to help him... and besides... he's too far gone."

Luke began frantically searching his mind for a solution. There was now way any of the gel's he had could help Asch, and Life Bottles can't treat wounds this grievous. "If only Tear were here... She could probably help him with a fonic hymn..."

That's when the idea struck him. It was a long shot, but it was the best chance of saving Asch. "Twilight, use your magic to heal him."

Twilight was flabbergasted at the suggestion. "Are you nuts?! Healing spells are some of the most intricate and delicate magics there are! If I mess up-"

"It's not like he's going to get any worse! Please Twilight, you have to try!"

Twilight was now backed into a corner. It wasn't Asch she was concerned about. If the healing spell was performed incorrectly, it could cause a magic feedback that could give her an aneurism, and that was the best case scenario. She looked again at Luke, and felt the need to at least try.

"*Sigh* Here goes... well, everything."

Twilight's horn began to glow furiously with energy as she attempted to heal Asch's mortal wound. A violet aura began to focus itself around Asch's wound, slowly healing it from the outer radius into the center.

Luke became exhilarated the progress. "It's working! Just a little more, Twilight!"

Twilight's hooves began to dig into the dirt from the strain of her magic. With a final grunt, she forced the last of her magic energy into the spell. There was a bright flash, and when the light subsided, Asch's wound was closed completely.

*Thump*

Twilight fell to the ground limp and her friends rushed over to make sure she was okay.

"Darling are you alright??" Rarity asked as she tried to rouse her with her own magic.

Fluttershy quickly felt at her front right leg for a pulse. "She's still breathing and her pulse is fine. She must have just passed out from exhaustion."

Applejack sighed with relief. "That sure as sunshine makes me feel better. For a second there, Ah thought she might've kicked the bucket."

Asch slowly began to regain his senses. "What the... How am I...?"

"You can thank Twilight for that. Are you alright to move?"

Asch slowly attempted to lift himself. He grunted in pain and returned to his position laying down. "The wound's closed, but there's still some pain. Do you have any gel's on you?"

Luke shuffled through his belongings and produced a small red gummy medicine. "This apple gel should do the trick."

Asch gladly took the gelatinous medicine, and ingested it, sending a soothing sensation across his body. Asch looked past Luke and noticed that the pink pony of the group had a disgusted look on her face. "What's with you?" He asked.

Pinkie Pie ceased her facial contortions and answered Asch. "It's just that I really hate gels. I mean, they taste so bland, and I'd rather have ponies enjoying my cooking."

"A-Aschy...?"

The entire group turned to see the disbelieving face of Derpy Hooves. Seeing that Asch was alive and well, Derpy sprinted forward and tackled him in a hug before he could protest. "Aschy! I *sniff* I'm so glad you're alright!"

Asch's cheeks flushed as he felt the eyes of the group on him. "I-it was nothing! I... wouldn't have had to do it anyway if you had just ran from him."

Luke rolled his eyes at how Asch was so quickly drawn back to his usual attitude. But then Asch followed up with these words. "I'm glad you're alright too. It would have been terrible for your daughter to have become an orphan."

While Luke wanted to know what could make Asch act so openly compassionate, he had to see how Twilight was doing. "How's she doing Fluttershy?"

The cream pegasus gave a comforting smile to Luke. "She's just resting right now; you don't have to worry about a thing."

Luke sighed with relief, but suddenly reeled back in pain when Twilight sprung up and accidentally headbutted him.

"What happened?! Is my horn still here?!" She paused and took notice of Luke clutching his forehead in pain. "Oh no! Did I give him a hemorrhage?! Somepony tell me what-"

Twilight was silenced when a white hoof was stuffed into her mouth. "Darling, everything is just fine. As for Luke... you may have injured him when you sprung up like that." Rarity explained.

"OhmygoshI'msorry!"

Luke sat up while rubbing his temples. "It's fine. Thanks again for helping Asch." Luke then turned to face his original. "By the way, what was that power I felt? It was like a-"

"Second-order hyperresonance?" Asch finished. "I'm still a little surprised myself. I just remember wanting to save Derpy and-"

*Snap*

The splitting of a nearby twig caught the attention of the group. In the thicket on the other side of the clearing, a boy clad in white could be seen stumbling away.

Asch rose up furiously. "That bastard is still alive?! He won't escape me!"

Luke tried to talk him out of it. "Asch wait-"

"Not a chance!"

Rainbow Dash clopped her hooves together in anticipation. "I'm with you! No way am I letting one of these creeps slip through my hooves again!"

The duo sprinted off to chase the injured God-General, while the others called out, but were forced to give chase as well.

The Invisible Controller

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Asch continued to stagger through the trees in his pursuit of the fleeing God-General. He began to curse at his legs for still being so weak from his close shave with death, and it didn't help that he could now hear the sound of galloping getting closer behind him. Without stopping he turned to consult the mare that had charged into the fray with him.

"So what's your name? I don't think I caught it back there." Asch asked while keeping his eyes forward to follow Sync's footprints.

"The name's Rainbow Dash, Best Young Flier in Equestria!" Rainbow beamed with pride.

"Hmmm. That seems like it will be very useful for what we're going against. Are you experienced in fighting?"

Rainbow simply chortled at the question. "Does a black belt sound experienced enough for you?"

Asch nodded in silent approval, all the while forcing his legs to pick up the pace. The beams of the moonlight began to come into view and soon a clearing was reached. Asch and Rainbow stopped dead in their tracks when they saw the decrepit castle looming over them.

"He must have ran inside." Asch surmised.

Rainbow Dash's eyes shrank in her head. "*Gulp* I-I think we should wait for the others. Y-you know, because it might be a... an ambush!"

Asch could see the logic behind that, but he couldn't stop from noticing the complete 180 in Rainbow Dash's tone. "So what's with you all-of-a-sudden? You seemed rather confident just a moment ago."

"Let's just say this place doesn't exactly bring up the feeling of sunshine and butterflies..."

Asch simply shrugged and awaited the group that was mere moments behind them.

--------

The night sky was in full splendor at the midnight hour in Canterlot. Princess Luna was softly smiling while staring up at her work. The return to her duties still managed to lift her spirits even two years after her cleansing from the dark powers of Nightmare Moon. She quickly collected her thoughts and returned to her desk. While Princess Celestia usually handled public affairs and was the face of the government, Luna was perfectly content with her position as an overseer of the wheels of progress. She began to look over some of the documents that were organized on her desk. There was a bill proposing new drainage gutters be added to the side streets of Manehatten, some mild disturbances in Baltimare, and reports of a trio of thieves. This last one caught Luna's eye. Apparently there was a group of three pegasi that were reported to have committed several robberies in the past few weeks. Their names were known, but there was little on their background. The group apparently called themselves "The Dark Wings". Luna put the other two items on the back-burner as she began formulating how to deal with these ruffians. If there was one thing Luna couldn't stand, it was anypony that caused unrest in Equestria. She was beginning to look for a pattern in the sightings, when a sudden wave of energy caught her attention.

"What in mother's name was that?" Luna asked to nopony in particular as she trotted to the window. Luna focused her connection to magic in order to identify this sudden anomaly. This energy was certainly a foreign one, but it was one she had felt mere hours ago. "This is that 'hyperresonance' that Luke mentioned before." Luna was certainly intrigued that such a destructive power was felt by her again, but as she focused harder, she could feel something different. Very few ponies know this, but alicorns are capable of doing more than just identifying a magic with their immense power, they were also capable of feeling the emotions and desires felt within the aura of the user. Right now, Luna could feel an intense loneliness, coupled by the desire to protect another, and a desire for revenge that bordered on blood-lust. When she had felt this power from Luke, she had felt the same desire to protect, but there were no such feelings of anger or hatred, and the loneliness was instead replaced by an intense bond with his friends. Luna then remembered that Asch was capable of hyperresonance as well, but her thoughts were interrupted by a bright golden flash behind her.

"Luna, did you feel that?" Celestia asked with a hint of concern in her voice.

"Yes I did. Sister... just what was that feeling of friendlessness? It felt so... full of despair."

Celestia shook her head. "I do not know sister, but something tells me that the Element Bearers, as well as those two humans, are in great danger."

Luna could tell where Celestia's concerns stemmed from. "I am sure that Twilight Sparkle and her friends are just fine. They have been through much in their short time, and these humans seem to be capable fighters."

"I know, but there is something that I cannot shake. I could feel this power coming from the Everfree Forest, and while I was searching for more information from the magic, I felt something else."

Luna raised an eyebrow at this new bit of information. "Something else, Tia?"

"I could feel... an intense hatred, but it was not the same one from that surge. This one felt like it was simply resting; gathering power and calculating it's actions. This power, Luna... it... frightens me."

Luna was visibly shocked at her sister's rendition of this power. There were very few things that could make Celestia feel true fear, such as the fear of loosing her loved ones. But this feeling of terror that Celestia emanated was not just fear for her student, but fear for her own safety as well. Luna tried to find the words to comfort her. "Tia, I'm sure that everything will be fine. However, we should probably send a deployment of troops in order to investigate."

"No." Celestia responded resolutely.

"No?" Luna echoed.

"Whatever this power is, it is beyond the magic that any soldier could ever hope to defeat. This is a matter that I must attend to. Even if fear claws away at me, I must hold onto my courage for the sake of my student and my kingdom."

Luna was torn with what to do. She felt truly nervous about whatever this power was that Celestia felt, but she couldn't bare the thought of losing her sister. "Wait, Tia. Twilight is a friend to me as well, and this kingdom is ours. I will not stand idly by while you leap into the fray. Whatever we face, we face together."

Celestia offered a warm smile and nodded to her younger sister. "Thank you, Luna. Let us depart immediately."

Both alicorns charged their magic, and warped themselves to the skies above Canterlot. As gravity began to tug at them, they both unfurled their wings and took flight.

"So Tia, where did you sense this power?"

Celestia kept her determined gaze focused forward, offering only one word in response. "Home."

--------

Luke and the others finally made it to the clearing, all of them relieved to find Asch and Rainbow Dash unharmed.

"Asch, why did you run off like that?!" Luke yelled at his original.

"Calm down, Replica. Sync must have ran into this castle, so I've been waiting for you to get here so we can attack together." Asch calmly responded.

Luke looked intently at the castle. Its walls were becoming overgrown with the local fauna and the roof was collapsed in a few places. "Something doesn't feel right about this, Asch. It seems like Sync knew where to go."

Asch placed a hand to his chin as he considered this. "You may be right. This forest doesn't exactly have many landmarks to follow. Perhaps this is their base of operations."

Twilight came to a quick deduction. "So if this is their base, then it must also be where their using fomicry."

Fluttershy's eye began to twitch as she processed this information. As some of you may know, unicorns entered a state called a "rage shift" when their anger reached a boiling point, such as when Twilight's mane burst into flames during the Pinkie Sense incident. Fluttershy had a similar quality when she was pushed to her very, very high limits, which her friends appropriately named "Flutter Rage". Fluttershy's eye was still twitching, but her voice was an almost emotionless calm. "So what your saying is, this is where they've been hurting all those poor little animals...?"

Luke was too frozen from his earlier experience with Flutter Rage to give a response, but Asch put it bluntly. "Yes. They've been capturing animals and replicating them. Most of the originals have probably perished."

This was the final push for Fluttershy. With a face of pure rage that could make Nebilim cower in fear, she flew at a blinding speed through the door while roaring in pure rage. The others could only stand there in silent shock for a few moments.

"Sh-should we go after her?" Rarity asked.

"Y-yeah. I'm worried what will happen to her if she runs into Sync." Luke answered.

"Ah reckon she's not the one we should be worried about if that hoedown gets started." Applejack remarked.

With that, the entire group made their way inside the castle, following the fresh hoof prints to find Fluttershy. The trail took them up a large stone staircase to a pair of large wooden doors that kept them from progressing any further. Pounding on the doors with thundering force, was the pegasus that until a few minutes ago was passing out from simply witnessing a fight.

"RRRRRAAAAAAHHH!!! OPEN... UP... THIS... DOOR!!!" Fluttershy shouted with enough anger to send a chill down the collective spines of the group.

"F-Fluttershy, you need to calm down!" Derpy advised.

"S-scary..." Asch muttered.

"You can say that again." Luke whispered.

Fluttershy sighed to calm herself, but her anger was not so quickly extinguished. "I-I'm sorry everypony. I just can't let them get away with hurting these innocent little animals. I followed that green haired one up here, but before I could get in, that Legretta woman closed the door."

"So that merciless woman is here too..." Rarity said.

"Well, at least we know where they're hiding. Oh! Maybe they're keeping us out to throw a surprise party! Like that time that you all threw one for me on my birthday in Applejack's barn!" Pinkie exclaimed.

Everyone else in the group was silent, save for a few facepalms/hoofs. Asch recollected his demeanor and moved to the door. "At any rate, both of them are injured and hiding. We should break in and finish them both off."

Fluttershy twittled her hooves nervously. "Um... Actually, I got a glimpse at another person in there."

"Reckon Ah didn't see that comin'. What did the fella look like?" Applejack asked.

"Well, he had this long brown hair, and he had a beard... and I think I saw a big white, gold, and black sword at his side."

Asch froze halfway through striking the door. "This man... was he addressed by the others in any way?"

"I think I heard Legretta call him 'commandant'."

Asch trembled for a moment, laughing hysterically at his good fortune. "Perfect... I can end him and the God-Generals in one swoop! Van will finally know my vengeance!"

Twilight's legs began to shake once she heard his name. "L-Luke? Does he mean...? Is that really...?"

Luke's demeanor turned into one of serious determination. "It has to be... Master Van is here."

Everypony gasped at this revelation. They would soon come face to face with the leader of the two humans that attacked them. Luke wasted no time joining Asch at the door.

"On three." Luke commanded.

"One..." Asch began to count.

"Two..."Luke continued.

"Three!" They shouted in unison. Drawing back their swords for a powerful stab. "Sonic thrust!" Both humans shouted."

*Crack!*

The combined force of the attacks splintered the door outward, allowing them to enter. The room was a decaying hall that resembled a throne room. Inside, both Sync and Legretta winced in annoyance that they had managed to break through.

"Commandant! We must leave at once!" Legretta shouted at a robed figure sitting at the throne, just barely obscured by the shadows.

"No Legretta. They are our honored guests, and must be properly greeted." A deep and scholarly voice responded.

"That voice..." Luke muttered. "So it's really you..."

The figure at the throne stood up and stepped into the moonlight, revealing a tanned face with long brown hair.

"Master Van!"

Van responded with a soft smile. "So it seems that you were sent to this place as well. And your inferior original has joined you."

Asch growled in anger. "How dare you call me inferior!"

Van ignored the outburst. "At any rate, why have you come here? Do you intend to interfere with my plans again?"

Luke's voice became saddened. "Why? Why are you still trying to create a replica world? We stopped the Score of Final Judgement!"

"Fool. Do you really think you accomplished anything at Eldrant?"

"W-what?"

"Yulia's Score may not have been fulfilled. but there is another Score..."

Luke was now frustrated. "What are you talking about?! The other Scores never talked about any of this!"

Van chuckled lightly. "Maybe the ones on Auldrant, but that does not account for the Score of Equestria."

It was now Twilight's turn to be stunned at what Van said. "B-but that's impossible! There aren't any Scores in Equestria!"

Van looked down on the unicorn with a mixture of loathing and pity. "Your kind has been living in ignorance for generations. The Score has been controlling your lives and you never even noticed it."

*SHHPOMF!*

Two large figures suddenly teleported into the center of the room. The royal pony sisters eyed down the man at the throne cautiously, but still angrily. Celestia then spoke to the mysterious human. "What nonsense are you speaking about? Our lives have been our own."

A smile returned to Van's face. "Ah... So you must be the Child of the Sun that it spoke of." He paused while turning to Luna. "And you must be the sister, the Daughter of the Moon that allowed her jealousy to turn her into a beast of shadow."

Luna trembled at his knowledge of her past. "H-how do you know this...?"

"Luna! Don't listen to him!" Celestia begged.

Van returned to his position of looking down upon the ponies. "The truth is quite simple. I read of everything that has occurred on this world, and all that will be."

"L-lies!" Luna blurted.

"So you still deny my words? Fine then." Van then pulled a lever that parted the walls behind him, revealing a large stone with letters that were impossible for anyone to decipher by simply looking at them. "This stone holds the written version of the Planet's memory."

"Impossible..." Celestia murmured.

"Perhaps an example will help you understand." Van turned to the stone and held up his hands to it's surface. As his hands glowed with a bright light, he began reciting the events recorded on it. "N.D 2020, The One who would seize glory shall fall from grace, waking in a world of peace and harmony. The Light of the Sacred Flame shall enter this world, finding it as his final resting place. N.D 2021, The One who would seize glory shall bring about calamity to the world of harmony, bringing about the end of the Planet's memory. Don't you see? This world shall be liberated in but a year's time."

Celestia struggled to find words to challenge Van. "Who... Who is 'One who would seize glory'?"

"That would be me, Vandesdelca Musto Fende."

Twilight turned to Luke in confusion. "I don't understand. You said his name was Van Grants."

Luke's voice was trembling from the premonition of the Score. "It... it's Ancient Ispanian. It translates to 'The One who would seize glory'."

"And 'The Light of the Sacred Flame'?"

"Is me..." Luke answered solemnly.

Van looked upon his former student with sadness. "It pains me that such vile things were spoken of in this Score, Luke. Join me, and together we can bring about an end to the Planet's memory without the need for such sacrifice."

Luke regained his composure once more. "No. The Score is just a prediction, one of thousands of possibilities. I choose to fight for this world, and any that you want to destroy!"

"As do I." Asch joined.

Van chuckled at their sentimentality. "It seems I cannot dissuade you. However, I do not have time for such trivial fighting. Legretta, Sync, we take our leave."

Celestia hovered in the air and charged her horn with magic. "You will not leave to threaten the lives of my subjects!"

Celestia unleashed the magic in her horn in the form of a sphere of energy that flew directly at Van. But rather than attempt to dodge or block, Van simply began singing. "Croa riou ze tue riou rei neu riou ze." Just before the sphere collided, a dome like shield appeared around Van and the God-Generals. The two forces met, and a cloud of dust filled the area around them. Moments passed, and the dust cleared to reveal the intended targets of Celestia's wrath were unharmed.

"An impressive display, but we have places to be. Legretta!" Van ordered.

"Yes, commandant." She replied.

Just as Celestia began approaching them, a bright flash of light blinded the group, giving Van and the God-Generals the opportunity to escape.

"Over my dead body!" Celestia shouted.

"Tia... You're actually really angry." Luna nervously commented.

"I'm sorry. I lost control, but I'm fine now." Celestia assured.

"So what do we do now?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Luke calmly stepped towards the fonstone, the stone that Van read from, and turned to face the others. "Now... we fight for our future!"

Things to Come

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To say that the ponies of the group were nervous would be a greater understatement than saying Guy only jumped a little when he was approached by women. They had just learned a terrible truth about Equestria, their very world was now threatened, and they just witnessed Van easily defend himself from Celestia. Each of them were rather confused at how Luke and Asch were not as disheartened as them. After a few moments of silence, Luna finally spoke up.

"Luke, I understand that you defeated him once before, but surely even you must acknowledge the power he just wielded."

Luke paused for a moment. It was true that Van was incredibly powerful during their previous battle, and that he no longer had the power of Lorelei, but he still exhibited an amazing control over the power of the Fonic Hymns. It made matters worse knowing that the rest of his friends would have no way of helping him, but he had to defeat Van. "I know he's powerful, but we can still defeat him. I can't just let him try and destroy another world."

"Then how do you propose we defeat him?" Luna asked.

"We need to track him down before he can create an army with Fomicry. Asch and I can defeat him once we track him down."

"I'm sorry, Luke. I'm going to search after him on my own." Asch sincerely apologized.

Luke was stunned by Ach's choice. "Asch, we need to stick together. you almost died earlier!"

"You don't have to remind me of that, idiot. You need to think of the bigger picture: Van has ran off to who-knows-where. This world is vast and strange to us, meaning if we split up, we have abetter chance of finding him. You know as well as I do that time is of the essence."

Luke was still holding to any shreds of an argument to convince Asch not to go. "You can't just go off on your own. What if-"

"Heh. When did I ever say I was going alone?" Asch turned and pointed to Derpy. "This one seems rather fond of me already."

Derpy blinked in surprise and pointed a hoof to herself. "You want me to go with you?"

Asch offered a nod to confirm. "I'm not really familiar with this world. I'll need a guide if I ever have any hope of knowing where to look."

This conformation perked Derpy up right away. "Th-This is amazing! I get to go on an adventure with you! Oh, but I'll need to pack supplies. I'll need some muffins, blankets, some bits..."

"What is with this pony and muffins?" Luke thought to himself.

"(I'm not quite sure myself.)" Asch whispered to him.

"Nah! (Next time tell me when you start poking around in my head!)" Luke angrily whispered back.

"What are you two talking about?" Derpy asked.

"N-nothing!" Both Fabre's answered in unison.

"(These two seem a bit... off.)" Applejack whispered to Rainbow Dash.

The prismatic pegasus nodded. "(They are a little weird, but in a cool way.)"

Princess Celestia cleared her throat to draw the group's attention. "I hate to interrupt, but we should stay focused on the current issue. Luke, Asch, what do you think Van is going to do?"

Luke started off explaining. "Well, he's planning to replicate the planet, so he would need materials and power to build a massive Fomicry facility."

Asch continued with his thoughts. "He would also need an army and personnel. He'll likely continue replicating wild creatures until he can build a Fomicry machine. He wouldn't want any intelligent creatures replicated into mindless beasts."

Celestia closed her eyes in thought. This was troubling news indeed. She had to contain this threat quickly if she was to protect her subjects. "If he's going to gather materials, he might try one of the more industrial cities, like Manehatten or Trottingham. As for power, he could easily enslave unicorns for a source of magic energy."

"W-what?!" Twilight blurted in shock. "How could they do that to innocent ponies! And I'm not sure I would like the position of 'living battery'."

Rarity nodded in agreement. "How horrid! To subjugate them into slavery. And for such a vile purpose! They must be stopped!"

"I understand your being upset, but this is the harsh truth of the situation." Celestia answered. "I myself am torn simply thinking of it..." She finished with a small shudder.

"Sister, to replicate an entire planet... do you think that the enslavement of the unicorns could possibly be enough?"

Celestia raised a brow. "Are you suggesting they would attempt to attack one of us?"

"Yes. It may be foolhardy, but it seems like the only logical way for them to attain such power."

This only added to Celestia's unease. This human already displayed enough power to defend himself against her magic, so the threat he posed to her was very real. "He is indeed powerful, but I am certain I can protect myself. You must be on guard too, Luna. If he means to target an alicorn for a source of power, I may not be his only target."

Luna gulped, but nodded reassuringly to her sister. "I understand. He will not take either one of us without a fight."

Celestia then turned her attention back to the two humans. "The two of you should make haste to the cities. I will inform my guards that you are on official business, and to inform you of any new occurrences. I hope you will forgive me, but I hope to avoid sending them to attack these 'God-Generals'. I fear that such an attempt would only result in their deaths, or bolster the numbers of our enemy."

"That may be wise." Asch reassured. "I'll head for this 'Trottingham'. That leaves Manehatten to you, Luke."

"Alright. I'll see what I can find there. We should contact each other if we find anything."

"Right. Also, you had better stay focused on your half of the operation. I don't want this turning into another Spinoza incident." Asch chided.

"H-hey! Everything worked out, didn't it?" Luke defended.

"Tch. Whatever. We need to get our supplies and rest before we attempt this." Asch added.

Rainbow groaned in annoyance. "It's already so dark! And I can't get a birds-eye-view through that canopy!"

"I believe I can make this easier for you." Celestia said. With her horn aglow, she looked into the recent memories of the travelers to find their campsites. Once she pinpointed them, she passed the location of Asch's camp to Luna. "I will bring you back to your camp, Twilight. Luna will escort Ms. Hooves and Asch back to theirs. Once you have gathered up your things, we will bring you back to Ponyville so you can rest."

"Of course Princess. We won't fail you!" Twilight assured.

Without another word, the two alicorns teleported the two groups to their respective camps. Luke felt slightly disoriented, but quickly shook it off.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that..." He muttered.

"You've teleported before?" Pinkie asked.

"Kind of... it happened when I met Tear. Our fonons reacted and we get whisked into Tataroo Valley." Luke explained.

"Your fonons reacted? Was it because you two were in love?" Pinkie asked innocently.

"W-what?!" Luke exclaimed in shock. "We were just friends at the time. W-wait! I-I mean..."

Pinkie beamed at Luke's words. "Luke has a girlfriend! Luke has a girlfriend!" Pinkie exclaimed as she bounced about in a circle.

"Sh-shut up!" Luke retorted in frustration.

"Ahem." Twilight interrupted. "We're finished gathering our things. Celestia, are you ready?"

"Of course my faithful student." The Princess of the Sun replied. Her horn glowed bright once again, and the group was teleported back to Ponyville.

Applejack had trouble stifling her yawns. "Well, Ah'm plum tuckered out. Ah'll see y'all tomorrow." The orange mare then trotted off towards her home.

"Yeah, I'll be sure to catch up with you guys after I crash for a bit." Rainbow said as she darted off for her home in the clouds.

The others began saying their goodbyes before heading off to their homes. Celestia waited until everypony but Twilight and Luke were out of earshot. "Both of you... I leave the fate of Equestria in your care. I trust that you and your friends will face many triumphs... and trials. But you must not lose faith. I believe that you have what it takes to protect Equestria. All of you."

Twilight offered a reassuring smile to her mentor. "Don't worry Princess. We haven't failed you before, and we certainly won't start here."

Luke nodded in agreement. "I've gone through enough to protect my own world, and I'm not about to quit when Master Van is still a threat. Even if it costs me everything, I won't stop until he's defeated!"

Celestia could see the determination in both of their eyes, the power of which allowed a small smile to spread across her lips. "Thank you. I will depart for Canterlot, but I will watch over all the way." With that, Celestia took her leave. Luke and Twilight made their way back to the library so they could rest as well. Luke waited until Twilight had drifted off before he began writing in his diary.

Things have gotten worse here. Master Van is alive for certain... and he still plans to create a replica Auldrant. I wish that was all, but he now plans to replicate every wold there is. He thinks that the Score has control over every world in existence. I... I wish I could say for certain that he's wrong... but what about that Fonstone he found? Is it possible that for once he's right? No. I can't just accept that. I need to believe that he's wrong. Otherwise what have I learned from my journey? I'll keep holding onto hope. I'm sure that my friends are still out there, and I won't let them down.

Luke set down his diary and his quill. He glanced at Twilight's sleeping form. She looked so peaceful and cute. He then allowed himself to drift off, knowing that he had friends to fight for here.

--------

Asch felt unease as he laid in his bed. The road to come would certainly not be an easy one. He thought of everything that had led to this. He continued to dwell on what Van had taken from him. Because of him, he didn't have a family, a home, or anyone to go back to.

You're wrong. The voice in his head told him again. You have Luke, and Natalia, and your parents. You have more than you think, but only if you believe that yourself.

Asch thought about what the voice told him for a moment. Perhaps he had been thinking about this all wrong. He really did have people that cared about him. He had even found a companion in Derpy. He couldn't make an exact conclusion on these new thoughts swirling in his head, so for now he settled for resting for the journey to come.

The Journey Begins

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The sun rose slowly but surely over the horizon, bringing with it the beginning of a new day. Most ponies were groggily lying in their beds, blissfully unaware of the danger that was beginning to engulf their world. But others knew of this threat and were rising with renewed vigor, ready to face it head on. Luke had woken up bright and early that day. He gathered his still packed belongings as quietly as he could, unwilling to rudely awake Twilight and Spike just yet. He went downstairs and began to prepare breakfast for himself again, increasing the portion so that he could serve Twilight today. He began searching around for some ingredients, and found that he had just what he needed to make some pizza. Luke began throwing together ingredients, rather haphazardly, and prepared the dish as best he could. The sound of trotting made him lose focus for a moment causing the crust to get slightly overcooked. Twilight yawned quietly and paused to rub her eyes as she was greeted to the sight. "You're up early." She said once she saw Luke manning the stove.

Luke shut off the heat and placed two slices on plates for them. "I figured I should cook breakfast since you've been housing me."

Twilight blushed slightly in response. "Oh, it's fine." She said waving her hoof dismissively. "With everything that's going on, it's the least I can do." Twilight trotted over to her seat at the table and began eagerly sniffing at the dish before her. "Mmmm~. This pizza smells good."

Luke set down his own plate and began eating his own slice. "Yeah *munch* Ish really good. I picked thish up in Daath."

Twilight paused from taking the first bite of her pizza, shifting the levitating slice away. "That's one of the cities on Auldrant, right?"

Luke nodded in reply, his mouth full of bread and cheese.

"You'll have to tell us all about it on the train ride to Manehatten. It's going to be a long one, and it always helps to have a conversation to make it go by quicker."
Without any further hesitation, Twilight levitated the slice of pizza to her lips and began to take her first bite. At first, her expression was one of pleasant contentment, but soon it soured and her bites became longer and more labored. Luke took notice of this and felt he should address it. "Uh, are you okay."

"Y-yeah... I'm just... fine." Twilight lied.

Luke could see right through the lavender mare's words. "Okay, what's wrong?"

Twilight nervously shifted in her seat, clearly unwilling to answer. "W-well... This pizza tastes kinda bad."

"Tastes bad?" Luke asked to be sure.

"Yeah... It's a little overcooked, and all the ingredients are cut all big. Plus it looks like you just kinda threw it together." Twilight gasped when she realized how rude that last statement sounded, and braced herself for Luke's retaliation. To her surprise, he simply giggled as though he was experiencing a fond memory.

"Heh, yeah. Everyone else said that about the way Tear and I cooked. I guess it has to do with my lack of experience. We just had a personal chef make everything back at the manor, and when it came to cooking, I doubt anyone could have beat Anise."

Twilight lowered her guard and began nervously laughing along with Luke. "Phew! Crisis averted." She thought in relief. The rest of the morning went by smoothly for the pair. Both of them shared a few small stories, and soon enough they got their supplies ready for the trip ahead.

"We should head straight for the train station and wait for the others." Twilight suggested. "We can purchase our tickets there and-"

Luke suddenly realized a major flaw in her plan."Uh, Twilight? Unless you're footing the bill for this, I'm not going to be able to ride that train."

Twilight sat on her haunches and rubbed her chin. "You're right... I can't believe I forgot about that. Well, maybe we can-"

*Crash!*

The sound of something crashing from the sky caught their attention. Upon exiting the library, the found a familiar wall eyed mare laying on the ground with her limbs spread out in exhaustion. "Derpy?" Twilight asked.

The pegasus quickly shot her head up and smiled. "Hi there Twilight! Sorry if I woke you up. I just got this important package sent to me. This is for Luke; Asch already got one just like it." Derpy fumbled around with the large package in her satchel, trying to get it to come out of the opening that was just a tad too small.

"Here, let me help." Luke said as he reached in and pulled out the package. Inside, he found a letter with the seal of Celestia's cutie mark, and a lavishly decorated red lock-box. Luke opened the letter and read it aloud.

"Dear Luke,

Though I have only known you for a short time, your words have compelled me to trust you with my very life. That said, I have taken thought into the journey you are about to embark on. It will no doubt be a long and difficult one, but I believe that you can overcome any challenge with the assistance of my student and her friends. Inside this lock-box you will find a sum of 10,000 Bits, and a royal passport should you need to enter the other kingdoms. I wish you all luck on your quest, and I hope to see each of you to personally give you thanks.

Warmest regards,

Princess Celestia

P.S Please thank Ms. Hooves for the delivery. No doubt the excessive weight of the Bits have taken their toll.

Luke folded the letter away in his pocket, and was about to thank Derpy as instructed, but was met with wide eyed stares from both of the mares.

Twilight was mumbling nonsensical gibberish, but finally managed to stammer something out. "T-t-t-t-ten th-thousand..."

"Bits...?" Derpy finished.

Luke was unsure how to respond. He assumed this was a very large sum of money in this world, but he wasn't certain given how much Gald he spent during his journey. He took the key from under the box and opened it, immediately emitting a golden glow from the coins that were stuffed inside. Upon further inspection, he found that several of the coins varied in size and the number engraved on them, signifying their increased value. Luke wouldn't get much of a chance to continue admiring it, as the lock-box was yanked from him by Twilight's magic.

"Oh my Celestia! This is insane!" The unicorn shouted in astonishment.

Derpy scooted alongside her and was utterly mesmerized. Her surprise was so great, her eyes actually corrected themselves, earning her a dropped jaw from Luke. "Ohhh~ The muffins I could buy with this!" She began thinking aloud.

Twilight nodded in agreement, but never let her eyes stray from the mass of money. "And all the books and research materials I could get! I might finally be able to uncover the lost spells of Starswirl the Bearded!"

Luke had had enough of their gawking and he quickly retrieved the box. As the two mares fumed over how rude that was, Luke looked inside a small pouch sown on the inner side. Upon opening it, he found a passport and other documents with the royal seal placed to show his connection with the royal sisters. After seeing that everything was in order, Luke put everything back in the box and locked it. "Thanks again Derpy. Tell Asch I said good luck."

Derpy nodded and flew off to meet up with Asch. Luke gathered up all of his things and both he and Twilight made for the train station.

--------

The boarding platform was relatively uncrowded that day, making it much easier for Twilight and Luke to keep an eye out for the others. Twilight told Luke to keep watch while she went to get the tickets, prompting him to take a seat at a nearby bench. Luke managed to spot a familiar white unicorn within the first minute. "Hey, Rarity! Over here!" He called and waved at her.

Rarity trotted up to Luke with a happy grin on her face. "Good to see you, darling. I've got everything I need for the trip and-" Rarity paused mid-sentence when she noticed the lock-box. "Oh, what a lovely little case there. I don't think I saw you with it before, though."

"Actually, Derpy delivered it this morning. It was sent to me by Princess Celestia." Luke explained.

"Oh, marvelous! A gift from the Princess! Might I ask what's inside?"

Luke was worried about her reaction should he specify, so he thought it best to keep it vague. "Just some passports and travel money..."

"It must be quite the sum for such a case. How much did she send?" The fashionista asked with a hint of excitement at the question.

"Crap" Luke thought to himself. "It's uh... ten..."

"Ten?" Rarity repeated.

"*Sigh* She sent me ten thousand Bits."

There was a brief moment in time where everything was silent. Rarity had a blank expression as her brain attempted to process this variable. "Oh ho! Silly me! For a second I thought you said you received ten thousand Bits."

"Uh, actually..." Luke began.

"Y-you were serious?" Rarity asked. Luke could only nod in reply.

"HOLY BUCKING DIAMONDS!!!" Rarity blurted in utter shock. Everypony at the station stopped whatever they were doing to stare at the unladylike behavior of the white unicorn before them. "Ah ha ha... Sorry, everypony..." She meekly said as her cheeks turned an almost crimson red.

"What in tarnation was that about?" A familiar earth pony asked as she and the remaining element bearers arrived.

"Ha ha ha! Oh man, that was priceless! I wish I could have taken a picture of your face, Rarity! It was just... BAH HA HA!" Rainbow Dash chortled.

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy simply shrugged at the odd display. Rarity was now far too embarrassed to form a proper response to any of this. She felt like a school filly that just got an answer horribly wrong, prompting the other foals to laugh and tease.

Luke could see the shame in Rarity's face. It was enough to tear anyone in two, so he decided to cover for her. "It was my fault. I told her about all the money the Princess sent me, and she reacted about as well as anypony would have."

Rainbow Dash raised a brow at the mention of money. "Really... How much are we talking here?"

"Ten thousand bits." Luke calmly responded.

Everypony froze just as Rarity did to process this. Rainbow was the first to regain control, squeeing with utter delight at the prospect of traveling with someone who was completely loaded. "Hey Luke, did I ever mention how awesome I think you are?" Rainbow asked as she batted her eyelashes.

Luke's expression soured at her demeanor. "If it didn't work for Anise, you can sure as hell bet it isn't going to work for you."

"Stupid *mumble mumble*" Rainbow cursed at his rejection.

"Hoowie! Y'all better keep that case nice and close. Anypony that hears about that's going to be all over that like flies on manure." Applejack warned.

"Thanks for the tip." Luke said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Pretty cool gift there, Luke" Pinkie praised. "*Gasp* You didn't tell me today was your birthday! I need to get your cake ready! Oh, and the presents, and guests and-"

"N-no Pinkie, it's not my birthday. It's in a couple of months though..." Luke explained.

"Phew! That gives me plenty of time to plan out a super-duper-fantabulous party!"

Everypony then noticed that Fluttershy was still silent... and unmoving...

"Uh, Fluttershy?" Luke asked as he poked her side.

The yellow pegasus shook her head to clear her senses. "Huh? Oh, I'm sorry. That's wonderful, Luke."

"Well that was a little anti-climactic. I was expecting a big freakout or something." Luke complained in his mind.

Twilight had returned by now, levitating two tickets for the next train with her. "Alright Luke, I've got our tickets and- Oh hey everypony."

"Howdy, sugar cube." Applejack greeted. "Ah guess we should get along and get our tickets too."

"Yes you should. The train leaves in twenty minutes, so we should get them now and grab some seats together." Twilight agreed.

Everypony began trotting off towards the ticket booth, but as Luke began following them, his attention was grabbed by the still blushing Rarity. "Um... Luke?"

"Yeah?" He asked.

"Thanks for clearing things up for me. I don't think I could have handled any more embarrassment."

"Aw, it was nothing. Let's go get you your ticket now."

Rarity smiled warmly and levitated her things as she trotted alongside Luke. "Yes, let's."

--------

The train car was rather nice for a "common car". The seats were wooden with soft cushions built into them, inviting many travelers to drift off to sleep within the first few minutes of boarding the train. The announced dishes were of a common palate, but due to the long distance of the trip, there was no charge for food. Luke placed his things on the overhead shelf, not wanting them to be out of his sight. Everypony began to settle in as the train whistles blared, alerting them that it was now departing. The element bearers began sharing light-hearted jokes and stories to help pass the time. Luke, however had his mind elsewhere. "Tear... I wonder how all of you are doing..."

The Lonely Girl

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Emptiness. That was the only real feeling that Tear Grants could feel right now. The victory at Eldrant was an empty one to her. While they managed to save the planet, Tear lost both her brother, and the man she had fallen in love with. She still knew that Luke promised to come back, but the uncertainty as to when he would, or if he would at all ate her up on the inside. It had been a few days since those events, but the hollow feeling she first felt then was still there, causing greater pain with each passing moment. She sat in the back of the Albiore, a flying Fon Machine that served as their transport for much of their journey. The other members of the group were on board, along with Noelle, their pilot. The others began to hush their conversation as they took notice of how silent Tear was.

"Tear, are you feeling alright?" Guy asked as he turned in his seat to face her.

Tear raised her head after a moment. "I-I'm fine..."

The others had seen the way Tear tried to hide her pain and stay strong. It had nearly cost her her life when they used the Passage Rings. Each use brought more miasma into her body, slowly killing her on the inside.

"Are you sure? We'll be arriving in Grand Chokmah soon."

Anise groaned at the mention. "I still don't see why we have to go to this diplomatic meeting..."

Jade chose this time to pipe in. "We still need to straighten out a few reports to help clarify what happened at Eldrant. It also provides an opportunity for Kimlasca and Malkuth to negotiate further unification."

"But it just seems so boring..."

Jade spread his trademark grin as he replied. "I suppose we could get you a boat ride back to Daath. Still, it will be a shame to tell all the aristocrats that the new Fon Master won't be there to collect their donations..."

Anise immediately brightened up at the thought of all the potential patrons. "Your right Colonel. It's our civic duty to see this through. And it's my duty as Fon Master to collect all those donations!♥"

Natalia cheerfully added in to the conversation. "It will be great to arrive there. I hope to see that the people of Grand Chokmah are rejoicing just as the citizens back in Baticul were."

"Unfortunately there's one man in Grand Chokmah who won't be so happy, Natalia." Jade sadistically added.

"That's right. What happened with Dist?" Guy asked.

"He's still pending trial, though I did pay him a visit..." Jade answered with a hint of sadistic satisfaction at the end.

"I don't think I want to know..." Guy said in disgust.

"Oh I assure you, he's still alive."

"That's what worries me..."

--------

The inside of Grand Chokmah Palace was more magnificent than the rest of the city. The lush throne room was open to several arches in the rear, allowing a view of the waterfall situated in the back. Seated at the throne, was a man with long blonde hair and a casual demeanor, Emperor Peony XI. Jade approached the throne first, bowing before the Emperor.

"My Emperor." He said as he bowed in respect.

"Aw, c'mon Jade. What have I told you about treating me like that?" Peony laughed.

"My apologies." Jade said as he rose.

"Well, if anything I should be bowing to all of you. You did a great job stopping Van and the God-Generals. Everyone here owes you a great debt."

Guy rubbed his neck in embarrassment. "We did what anyone else would have. Just don't make me have to hear your thanks every time the House of Lords convenes."

"Speaking of convening, let's move to the conference room. King Ingobert and the other delegates are waiting." Peony said.

With that, the group followed Peony to the conference chambers within the palace. Sitting at one end of the table was a man with dark red hair, along with several other delegates from across Auldrant.

"Thank you all for coming. I'm glad to hear that each of you could make it, and agreed that we convene her while the Order of Lorelei discusses the recent events with Teodoro in Yulia City." Peony thanked.

"I believe now that we have lowered our arms against each other, such actions should not be surprising." Ingobert heartily said. "Ah, there you are Natalia. How has the recovery been in Chesedonia?"

"Very well, father. Thanks to the aid from Malkuth and Kimlasca, their food supplies have been replenished, and the refugees from Engeve have all returned home." Natalia answered.

"That's good to hear. Shall we proceed, Peony?" Ingobert asked.

"Of course. On behalf of the empire of Malkuth, I would like to thank each of you for your daring actions, and undying conviction. Without you, we all surely would have perished." Peony spoke.

"The same goes for the Kingdom of Kimlasca. You each came from different origins and creeds, but you stood united against the true threat we were all so blind too. While we were out fighting a fool's war, you fought to bring us together against our true foe. You have made me a proud King, and an even prouder father." Ingobert proclaimed.

"Thank you both. We couldn't have done it without your aid at Eldrant." Guy thanked.

"Regarding that... What news is there of Luke?" Ingobert asked, with a hint of sadness in his voice.

"W-well... I..." Anise began.

Jade stepped in and spoke clearly for all of them. "Luke stayed behind to free Lorelei, while we made our escape. I do not know of his current condition, but I hope that he is alive, and that he will return home."

"Jade... You know our teams found no sign of him at the ruins. I think it's time all of us accepted it, so we can mourn him properly." Peony sadly said.

"Indeed. Suzanne will be heart broken to hear this..." Ingobert began.

*Slam!*

Tear angrily pounded her hand against the conference table. "How can you all say that?!" She yelled.

"Tear, we are simply trying to move on. We need to focus on-"

"Move on?!" Tear yelled with tears in her eyes. "Move on from what?! He isn't dead! I know he's out there! He'll come home... he promised."

Natalia cautiously placed a hand on Tear's shoulder. "Tear, you must calm down. We have all lost something because of Van. We understand."

Tear sadly shook her head. "You might, Natalia..." She pointed her finger to the Delegates. "But none of you ever will!"

Tear then ran out of the conference room in sorrow, leaving everyone shocked.

"Tear, wait!" Guy called as he began after her, only to be stopped by Jade.

"Jade!" He yelled in anger.

"This is something she needs to deal with on her own. She's kept her emotions to herself for so long, she must be the one to sort them out now." He said solemnly.

--------

Tear finally stopped running once she reached the port. She leaned over a railing and let her tears flow out, not caring who saw at the moment.

"*Sob* Why can't they understand? He's going to come back... He wouldn't leave me alone after that, would he?"

Her thoughts drifted back to her final exchange of words with him at Eldrant.

"Come home!" She cried.

"Tear..." Luke simply said.

"You have to come home! You have to! I'll be waiting... always."

Luke nodded his head to her. "I will. I promise... I'll come home.

With that they turned from each other. Tear's emotions were boiling inside her. She couldn't contain her true feelings any longer, and she had to tell Luke this while she could.

"Luke... I love you."

"He will come home. He wouldn't lie to me... He promised he would change."

Tear wiped away some of the water in her eyes. She looked to the sky and smiled as she said. "I'll never stop waiting for you... and I'll welcome you back with open arms."

With her head level once more, She began walking back to the palace, though she did not wish to hear any more lies about Luke being dead.

The City of Business: Manehatten

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"Hey Luke, you've been awful quiet." Rainbow Dash noticed.

"Huh? Oh sorry, Rainbow Dash... I was just thinking about my friends." Luke sadly told her.

Rainbow's ears drooped a little when she heard how sad he seemed to be when he thought about his friends. Twilight rubbed her chin for a moment, then got an idea to lift everypony's spirits.

"Hey Luke, how about you tell all of us some stories about your friends. We've all heard a bit about what they were like, but you've never told us any stories about them."

Luke paused in thought for a moment, but a small smile forced it's way across his lips. "I think I might have a few good stories here. Okay, there was this one time we were trying to get information on Mt. Roneal, when we found Dist the Reaper...

--------

Everypony was now laughing hysterically. Luke himself was caught in the laughter of his tale.

"So then he tells us all to- ha ha- to beg so we can get the sword. First he made me and Guy beg him, then Anise, Tear, and Natalia were next."

"HA HA! This Emperor Peony of yours sounds pretty cool!" Rainbow chuckled.

"It gets better. So then, after the girls finished begging, he agreed to give us the sword, but Jade said he should beg too. Peony just started to get disgusted and told him to stop."

Everypony began chuckling again.

"So then he keeps begging, and Peony tells him to just take it before he throws up!"

Everypony now began slapping knees, rolling in seats, and Rainbow actually began flying down the aisle in an uncontrollable fit of laughter. Rainbow couldn't see where she was going, and she crashed headlong into one of the ticket takers.

"Ahem." He cleared his throat in annoyance.

"Eh he... Sorry." Rainbow apologized as she rubbed the back of her neck.

"We're about to arrive in Manehatten. Please retrieve your belongings and be ready to depart once we arrive." The ticket taker announced to the car. He then turned around and went back to his post.

Luke began gathering his belongings, with the ponies following in suit. After Luke was certain he had all of his things, the whistle blew indicating that the train had arrived. Luke stood up and walked out as the mane 6 followed in line.

"Whoa... So this is Manehatten?" Luke asked in surprise.

The sight before him was one of several tall buildings blocking out most of the horizon. The streets were all busy with activity, and everypony seemed like they had a place to be. Some smoke stacks could be made out in between and looming over some of the buildings, setting a clear goal for the group.

"Oh my Applejack, you never told me how wonderful Manehatten was!" Rarity said as she took in the sights.

"Yeah, because it's about as wonderful as biting into a worm infested apple." Applejack said with annoyance.

As Applejack began taking the first steps down the platform, Luke couldn't help but wonder what caused her reaction. "What's her problem?" He whispered to Twilight.

Twilight shook her head. "I'm not quite sure. I heard she stayed in Manehatten before, but she never went into specifics with me."

Rainbow Dash hovered between the two. "I think I have the answer to that."

Both Luke and Twilight recoiled at Rainbow's sudden interruption. "Rainbow! Don't eavesdrop on us like that!" Twilight scolded.

Rainbow simply waved a dismissing hoof. "Lighten up Twilight. I know why Applejack is acting like such a sourpuss."

Luke raised a brow. "Really?"

"Yeah, Scootaloo told me all about it a couple days after she and her friends went around asking each of us how we got our cutie marks. She said that Applejack lived with her snobby relatives in Manehatten, and that she got embarrassed by the whole 'prim and proper' society of the city. She was actually really homesick, and she couldn't stand how different it was."

"I guess that would make sense, but she seems like she has something greater troubling her." Twilight added.

"Hey, c'mon you slow pokes! We're going to miss all the fun this city has if you keep sitting on your rumps!" Pinkie called up to the trio.

"I guess we can worry about it later. Right now we should try and check into a hotel. I've read that they fill up rather quickly here." Twilight suggested.

"Sounds good. We can check in, set our belongings in our rooms, then investigate the factories." Luke agreed.

The group then departed to search for a hotel where they might be able to rest once the daylight left them.

--------

The group eventually settled upon a large hotel that looked as though it was built to house a king. Luke led the group to the counter and rang the bell for service. An earth pony with a slate grey coat and brown mane approached them.

"May I help you... sir?" He said, confused as to Luke's gender or species.

"We'd like to rent out four rooms for the night." Luke simply answered.

"Very well. Each room is 200 bits per night."

"Hey Pinkie, can you get the lock box Celestia gave me out of my bag?" Luke asked the party pony.

Without a word, Pinkie began rummaging through the bag Luke brought, leaving the group oblivious to the look of pure shock on the hotel owner's face.

"Somepony who knows Celestia personally?! If I show them a good time, it might help with my Hotel's image! Word does travel fast in Canterlot." The stallion whispered to himself.

Pinkie finally retrieved the lock box, and Luke counted out the 800 bits he would need to cover the fee.

"Here you go. This should cover the rooms."

"Oh no, I can't have such a large group renting such simple rooms! Especially not when they are all so clearly important! Here, take the penthouse suite for three days. And don't worry, there is no additional cost." The stallion said, finishing it all off with a toothy grin.

Luke and the others stood there completely stunned, except for Rarity, who quickly grabbed the penthouse key with her magic and bolted to the elevator.

"Come on! It's a penthouse!" She urged to the others, waving them frantically over to the elevator.

Shaking the surprise from himself, Luke grabbed his things and found himself running for the elevator too. After spending so much time away from his comfy bed in the manor, he was excited to see what luxuries this penthouse had to offer.

"I wonder if it will be as nice as the hotel in Keterburg..." He thought to himself, bringing up several memories of the soft beds and relaxing spa.

Once the whole group was inside the elevator, Rarity hit the button for the penthouse at least four times. Once the elevator doors parted at the top floor, the entire group audibly expressed their astonishment.

"This is just so... I just... Words cannot describe..." Rarity began mumbling.

"It's like a whole room of the palace with enough room for all of my friends!" Twilight said like an excited schoolgirl.

"I wonder if the Wonderbolts ever stayed here... I could be sleeping in the same bed a Wonderbolt stayed in! This is awesome!" Rainbow cheered as she began zipping around the room.

"This is super-duper amazing! We need to throw a penthouse party!" Pinkie blurted as she produced a blue cannon from behind her.

"It's... nice." Fluttershy happily said.

Applejack seemed to be the only one that was unimpressed. "Just because you polish a pig's leavings, that don't mean it's a diamond."

Everypony else looked at her like she was insane, earning them a "Humph!" from Applejack as she trotted into one of the bedrooms.

"Something's starting to tell me she's not acting like this because of her relatives..." Luke said, breaking the silence.

"I've never seen her like this... We should talk to her." Twilight said.

"Alright, I guess the rest of you should claim your rooms, while Twilight and I handle this."

The other four ponies nodded and began moving in pairs to the bedrooms. Luke and Twilight approached Applejack, who was busy unpacking her belongings.

"Applejack, Luke and I have been thinking, and we wanted to know if there was anything you wanted to talk about." The lavender unicorn asked.

"Nope." The orange pony responded, never shifting her gaze from her work.

"Are you sure?" Twilight pressed with a nervous grin.

"Eeyup."

"Well... uh..." Twilight was now drawing a total blank. She had never seen Applejack this upset or angry.

Luke stepped forward and placed a hand on Applejack's shoulder. The farm pony quickly turned to face Luke, wearing an expression of bitter resentment.

"Ah, don't need y'all to keep prying into my business!" She yelled at the pair.

"Applejack, it's okay. I've done a lot of things I'm not proud of, dealt with the most horrifying situations. You need to talk about it, and I'm here to listen to you. I'm not sure what it is that's making you act like this, but I can tell that you need to get it off your chest." Luke explained to her.

Applejack's expression softened and she lowered her head in defeat. "Ah... Ah guess you're right. Ah am the element of honesty after all; Ah can't go keepin' this a secret any more. It all happened when Ah went to Manehatten to visit Aunt and Uncle Orange..."

--------

The Manheatten streets were as busy as ever, something that the young orange filly walking the streets was not used to just yet. Even with hundreds of ponies walking the streets, she felt so lonely in the concrete jungle. The filly stopped and pulled out a small picture from her tail. It was a family photo of her, Big Macintosh, and Granny Smith.

"Ah miss y'all, but Ah gotta try and find my cutie mark here." She said to the photograph.

Just then, a small gust of wind blew the picture from her grip and the filly gave chase immediately. She followed the rogue photo into an alley, where it settled down on the floor. A relieved small spread across the filly's lips, and she slowly approached the precious portrait. A large hoof stomped down on the photo, startling the little filly out of her wits.

"Well well well, looks like this little bumpkin is lost." A condescending male voice said.

Applejack traced her eyes up the large hoof to take in its entire form. Standing before her was a black coated unicorn with a green mane and a black trilby on his head. He had a pleasant smile on his face with his eyes closed.

"Well, ya see, Ah was just chasing after that picture there, but I appreciate ya holdin' it down for me." Applejack said as she was quaking in her nonexistent boots.

"My, what a darling little picture we have here. You know, I might be willing to give it back if you did a tiny little favor for me."

Applejack was quite puzzled. "But... that's my photo."

"Oh come on, one little favor won't hurt now will it? Besides, it might just help you get your cutie mark." The stranger said as he took note of her blank flank.

"Well, Ah suppose it couldn't hurt."

"Wonderful! Now, you see that pony skulking around over there?"

Applejack looked in the direction the stranger motioned. "You mean that angry looking one?"

"Yeah. See that little slip of paper he has poking out of his tail? I need you to take that from him while I talk to him."

"But, isn't that stealing?"

"Oh, don't you worry your pretty little head." The stranger said as he rubbed Applejack on the noggin. "I loaned that to him a couple of days ago, but he keeps saying that he's not giving it back. I just so happen to need it for an assignment at the Royal Intelligence Department. Consider this helping me get back what's mine."

Applejack was quite trusting, so she agreed without any further hesitation. The unicorn walked up to the pony he mentioned earlier, a white pegasus with the athletic build of a guard.

"Hey there, Cleave! How has the city been treating you?" The unicorn asked.

Cleave furrowed his brow at the black unicorn. "Look Hazama, for the last time: I'm not giving it to you."

"Oh, I didn't come to ask about that. I was just in the neighborhood and thought I might check up on a former colleague."

While Cleave was busy speaking to Hazama, Applejack cautiously crept to his side. Slowly she grabbed the paper from Cleave's tail, and casually walked away.

Hazama caught a glimpse of Applejack's success, and decided to wrap things up. "Well, I'd better be going. I need to go verify some intel. We'll be sure to talk later, Cleave."

"Yeah, whatever."

Hazama trotted over to another alley with Applejack. After making sure that there were no eavesdroppers, Hazama got right down to business.

"Alright, let me have a look at that paper."

Applejack handed the slip into Hazama's magic grip. The unicorn began reading through the contents of the paper, a devilish grin growing with each line he read.

"He he he he he.... HA HA HA HA HA! You did very well, sweetie."

"So that's the paper you loaned your friend?"

"Oh man, you fell for it hook, line, and sinker! This was never a paper I loaned that buffoon! This was the document he was supposed to guard! Now that I have this, I can blackmail that overgrown chicken into doing anything I want!"

Applejack was now horrified as to what she had done. She had just helped this creep ruin another pony's life! "Gimme that back!" She yelled as she frantically tried to grab the paper from his magic grip.

Hazama extended the power of his magic to hold Applejack against the wall of the alley. "Can't have you doing that, now can I?"

"H-how could you?"

"How could I?" Hazama's grin spread even wider and he finally opened his eyes, revealing their eire golden color and cat like iris'. "Let me tell you something real simple: this is how the real world is. Friends? Honesty? Kindness? Those don't mean jack out here. The only thing you can really count on is yourself."

Hazama levitated the document under his hat, and replaced it with Applejack's photo. As soon as Applejack's eyes locked on the picture, it burst into flames.

"No!"

Hazama released his magic grip and let her slump to the ground, crying and defeated.

"You've been real entertaining, but now i must bid you farewell."

Hazama trotted away while laughing to himself, leaving behind a crying and shamed little filly.

--------

"Ah guess comin' back here just reminded me of the whole thing."

Twilight couldn't bear it any longer. She trotted over to her friend and embraced her in a tight hug. "Applejack, it's alright now. There's one thing you have that that terrible unicorn will never have."

"What's that?" Applejack asked as the tears pooled in her eyes.

"Wonderful friends and a loving family."

Applejack let the tears roll from her eyes in Manehatten once again, not because she was sad or lonely, but because she had never been happier in her life.

The Industrialist Breeding Ground: Trottingham

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The train rolled along the tracks, clickity clacking away the miles towards Trottingham. Many of the cars were lively with old friends traveling together, businessmen proposing exchanges, and the fresh faces that could change others lives. But one car in particular was eerily quiet. The ponies inside were all terrified of something inside the car with them. Each of them sat in their seats with their eyes shifting towards a single point, yet they were too scared to look directly at it. One pony found that she had to get up to use the facilities, but she would have to walk past that strange thing in the car. She slowly left her seat and trotted down the aisle, keeping her eyes forward as sweat poured down her neck.

Just a few more steps... She thought to herself.

"Hey, you!" A male voice called to her.

The mare froze in her place. She was so close to reaching her goal, only to be stopped by the very thing she dreaded. Slowly she forced herself to turn around. Facing the aisle she had just crossed, she quickly flinched and forced her eyes shut at a sudden movement directed at her. She began cowering on the floor, but when she felt no pain, she slowly forced an eye open. A strange appendage covered in a black cloth reached out to her, holding a white ticket.

"H-huh?" She gasped in confusion.

"You dropped this." The voice told her again.

She traced the hand to the arm it was connected to, all the way up to a scowling face, framed by long red hair.

"I-I... Th-th-thanks..." She stuttered as she cautiously retrieved the ticket.

Asch turned and walked back to his seat. Derpy was giving him a deadpanned look once he sat down.

"What's with that look?" Asch asked with a raised brow.

"We really need to work on your people skills." Derpy replied.

"Tch. So it's my fault that they're all looking at me like I'm some kind of beast?"

"Well, you aren't exactly being the most friendly guy..."

"We don't have time for such frivolity. We have only one thing to focus on right now, and that's stopping Van."

Derpy shook her head in annoyance. "You don't have to keep focusing on that all the time, though. Everypony needs a break now and then."

Asch sighed. "I'll think about it for now, just leave me be."

Derpy smiled at her small, but certain progress. The train began to slow down as it reached the next stop.

"We are now arriving at Trottingham. Please gather your things and depart the train." One of the staff members informed the car.

Asch got up and grabbed his lock box from the overhead compartment. As soon as he stepped into the aisle, everypony moved out of the way for his advance. Asch snorted in contempt, but continued moving forward. Derpy however was somewhat nervous about how things would be when everypony was jumping out of their skin at the sight of her companion.

Once they left the door-frame of the train, they came face to face with their destination. A city filled with culture, industry, and mystery.

"Trottingham..." Asch muttered.

"You sound like it's bad to be here." Derpy noticed.

"I'm just thinking about how Van could very well be in this city." Asch explained.

Derpy was at her wits end. "Oh for the love of Celestia! You need to stop being such a downer!" She chastised Asch.

Asch could only respond with a humorously shocked face.

"I uh... What I mean is, why not enjoy the time we have here instead of only focusing on all the bad things?" Derpy meekly explained.

"R-right... I suppose it could be worth a try." Asch finally compromised.

Derpy beamed at the prospect. "Really?! Because I know this great place that sells fries, they call them chips here, but they're so delicious! A-and then we have to go and see that clock-tower, Big Branco!" Derpy fired off at a mile a minute.

"Just slow down for a second! You've been here before?"

Derpy nodded happily. "Yep! I came here a while ago on my vacation. Everything was just kinda normal, but then I met... him." Derpy practically swooned at the last word.

"Him?" Asch asked, his curiosity piqued.

"If we're lucky, we might actually meet him. He's called the Doctor."

"Doctor Who?"

Derpy winked at the question. "Just the Doctor."

Asch shrugged, but continued with his other questions as they walked along the street. "You said things were normal before you met him. How did things change just by meeting-"

"EXTERMINATE!" A loud robotic noise exclaimed.

Derpy's ears perked at the voice, and without a word she galloped towards the source.

"H-hey, wait!" Asch called out to her.

Asch gave chase to Derpy, brandishing his sword as he did so. After rounding the corner into an alley, Derpy was nowhere to be seen.

"Dammit! Where did she go?" Asch asked to himself.

Not a moment later, Derpy galloped back down the alley, along with a brown earthpony stallion wearing a green tie. Both ponies seemed to be terrified of something.

"What are you-"

The stallion stopped and turned to Asch. "Run!"

Confused as the two ponies continued their frantic escape, Asch turned to the direction they had just come from. A large metallic creature rounded the corner they had come from. It had what could only be described as an "eye stalk" and two appendages. One was something akin to a small plunger, while the other seemed to be a barrel for some type of weapon or other purpose. The bronze metal thing continued moving towards Asch.

"EXTERMINATE!" It exclaimed again.

The barrel appendage on the creature adjusted its position, and released a blue beam of energy towards Asch. The beam missed its mark, but it demolished the brick of the wall it impacted.

"Bastard!" Asch muttered in anger.

Asch began gathering fire fonons to strike against this new opponent. After a sufficient level was ready for him, he unleashed a massive ball of flame directly above the creature. The flames fell directly atop the creature, creating a massive explosion at the epicenter. Once the smoke cleared, the creature appeared to be nothing more than a few scattered parts and some green splotches.

"Oh, now that was brilliant!" A male, British voice complemented.

Turning around, Asch saw it to be the stallion from earlier. Derpy was not far behind the newcomer, and she seemed to be shocked at his triumph as well.

"Y-you just... You killed a Dalek that easily?!" Derpy blurted in amazement.

"So that's what it was called? It was a pathetic enemy." Asch concluded.

"Oh, they can be very dangerous, but based on what I see, you must have used some kind of high energy weapon to bypass its shields." The stallion surmised.

"High energy? Yes. Weapon? No. I used a Fonic Arte to destroy it with fire fonons." Asch explained.

"Fonons? Now there's something new. Glad to see you took care of that Dalek, though. These things have been the bane of my existence for centuries."

"Centuries? Just who are you?" Asch asked.

A smile spread across the stallion's lips. "Me? I'm the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord, I'm 903 years old, and this little muffin is a companion of mine." He said, pointing to Derpy as he finished.

Derpy perked up at the mention of her name. "Speaking of that, Doctor, I think we could use your help on this adventure of ours."

"Sounds brilliant! We can chat as we go, I suppose. Where were you off to?"

"We're going to search any of the local factories that have the capability to produce a fomicry machine." Asch answered.

"Not sure what that is, but I know some of the factories around here." The Doctor added.

"Excellent. Show us the way, Doctor."

"Allons-y!" The Doctor cheered as he led them to their destination.

This will certainly be interesting...

--------

Author's Note: That's right, the on and only Doctor has joined the party. I can assure you that things won't get overly stupid and outrageous, but there may be a few instances of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff. How will a Time Lord assist in stopping Van and his evil schemes? Find out as the series continues!

Inspection Day

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It was a day the same as any other. The sun was shining in the sky, birds were chirping happily, and the guards dutifully manned the battlements of Canterlot Castle. Every now and again a rookie would complain about the lack of action in his duties, but the senior officers would scold them for complaining. Shining Armor was absent from the ranks of the guards as he was still on his honeymoon. Filling in for the position was his direct subordinate, Briggs Wall. She was one of the few female officers of the guard, but nopony would mistake that for weakness. She was an expert in tactical combat and swordsmanship, skills that have earned her more commendations than most would have at her age. Her blonde mane waved in the wind as she stood unmoving from the tallest point of the battlements.

Most officers would simply keep to themselves and check in every so often to stay professional. Briggs was far different. She preferred to watch over her men directly, leading them alongside the battlefield instead of from the safety of a command post. While she was often critical to her men when they made mistakes, they had faith in her just as she had faith in them.

Briggs had her mind set on her earlier briefing with Princess Celestia.

--------

"M'am, I must request you tell me what was so important that I had to be torn from my morning inspection."

Celestia let out a deep sigh as she halted her pacing and faced Captain Briggs. No, as she faced Captain of the Guard Briggs. "Straight to the point. That is why I chose you to be second in command for Shining Armor." Celestia motioned for Briggs to follow her as they began pacing the halls of the castle. "You know how dearly I value the safety of the kingdom, correct?"

Briggs did not even require a moment to think of her response. "You care for your subjects with all of your heart and would do anything to protect them. That kind of conviction is the entire reason I enlisted in the guard."

Celestia felt a weak smile tug against her lips as she felt just a little more relaxed. "That is very good to hear. You understand what is at stake. As much as it pains me to say it, Equestria is facing a threat greater than any we have known before."

"What kind of threat are we talking about?" Briggs asked as her interest was piqued.

"A threat from another world entirely. Our current knowledge suggests that there are only three of them, but make no mistake, the power of their leader alone could very well defeat me."

Briggs was dumbfounded by the very idea of a being that could possess such power. She shook away her doubts and looked to her princess with a determined fire in her eyes. "M'am, simply give me my orders and I will carry them out. I would fight to the last breathe if only to keep the kingdom safe."

"You must prepare yourself to face a foe we know next to nothing about. You must be willing to do anything in your power to protect the order of our land. And above all else, you must be ready to make the decisions that others cannot. Are you prepared for such a task?" Celestia asked with the most serious tone she had ever mustered.

Briggs unsheathed the sword from her belt and stood with her forehooves gripping it as it stood by the blade. "I swear upon my family sword that I will never surrender. I will be willing to go to any lengths to protect Equestria. Your enemies are my enemies. Your will is my will. I will follow you into the depths of Tartarus without hesitation."

Celestia nodded in approval. She knew that Briggs was willing, but could any of them truly be ready to face this new foe?

--------

Luke and the others had finished getting sorted together in the hotel,and were ready to hit the streets. As soon as they hit the pavement, Luke began taking a path that headed straight for the smokestacks he saw earlier. The ponies trotted behind him, all keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary.

Luke was not going to wait another minute to begin the search. Master Van had to be stopped. The factory was only a few blocks away at this point, but they felt like miles with the anticipation setting in. Luke continued walking with the ponies by his side, when something moved in his way.

"Why, hello there you handsome thing." A sultry female voice cooed.

Luke shut his eyes and hung his head low. "I know that voice... Please just let it not be them!"

Luke slowly opened his eyes and looked forward. Puzzled as to why there was no one at his eye level, he looked down to see a suspiciously familiar looking pegasus mare. She had a dark pink mane and wore a black pirate hat with a pink trim. Her coat was a vanilla cream color. She looked up at Luke with a face that screamed 'Seduction'.

"Would you be able to help out a beautiful young mare?" She asked, batting her eyelashes for added effect.

Luke just frowned and said. "Why are the only things that remind me of home bad?"

Twilight was polite enough to scoot between the two and offer a response. "I'm so sorry, miss. We're on an important errand and we need to be going."

The pegasus was not easily dissuaded. "Surely he can spare a moment for little ol' me?"She asked as she began pacing around the human.

Before anypony could react, Luke reached out his hand and grabbed the pegasus' wing.

"Luke! What are you-?" Twilight began asking.

Luke lifted up the wing of the pegasus to reveal a coin purse. "Nice try, lady. I fell for this trick once, I'm sure as hell not falling for it again."

The pegasus snorted angrily and dropped the purse to rip herself free of the human's grip. She quickly took to the air and landed on a nearby building. Two more pegasi stepped forward to her side. One was a short and portly pegasus with a brown beard and a green top hat with a playing card stuck into it as though it were stabbed into the side. The other was a pegasus slightly taller than the mare and was rather slender, aside from his disproportionate stomach. he wore an eyepatch over one eye, had a pirate hat of his own, and had on a linen collar.

The slender stallion spoke up. "You're gonna regret this! Nobody crosses the Dark Wings!"

After shouting their vendetta, the three pegasi took flight.

Twilight was severely confused. "What... just happened?"

Luke sighed in annoyance. "They even have the same name. This day just gets better and better." Luke turned to face the group. "Let's just all forget that we ever saw them."

Fluttershy raised a hoof to gain Luke's attention. "B-but what about how they said they would get revenge?"

"Trust me. That's not gonna happen. Now start forgetting them." Luke assured the meek pegasus.

Shrugging to each other, the ponies agreed to simply forget about the strange trio, and continued on their way to the factory.

--------

The factory floor was quite lively as workers manned their stations and parts were carted off to different areas. Luke was impressed by the level of technology ponies had. A rather aged stallion began trotting over to the group. He had a slate grey coat and a snow white mane and mustache.

"I'm gonna have to ask all of you to leave. Unless you're on official business, the factory is off limits to non employees." He told the group.

Twilight stepped forward and levitated a letter to the stallion. "We're on official business for Princess Celestia herself. We need to inspect the factory and ask a few questions.

The stallion quickly read the letter and gulped when he saw the royal seal."N-not a problem! I-I can escort you through the facility. My name is Black Furnace." He began telling them as he directed them through the factory.

The group walked along the catwalks for the duration of their tour. The many processes for preparing the steel, testing engines, and forging cogs was shown and explained to the travelers. Twilight found herself scribbling down notes on all of the intricacies of the factory, occasionally narrowing her eyes when she found a lack of organization. Once Black Furnace finished his tour, Luke found himself both relieved and disappointed.

"There isn't a single thing missing from here. I wonder how Asch's end of the search is going."

As if on cue, an aura enveloped Luke and he could hear his original's voice in his head.

"Can you hear me, replica?" Asch asked.

"Yeah. There's no sign of Van in Baltimare." Luke sadly admitted. "How's your end of the search going?"

"We found nothing in our factory." Asch said in his constantly serious tone.

Luke's shoulders slumped in defeat. "Great. Now we don't have any leads as to where Van is. What are we supposed to do-?"

"No, you don't understand. There's nothing in the factory." Asch repeated.

The Wheels Begin Turning

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Asch wasn't sure what to think of this "Doctor" pony. He had a peculiar way about him, like something that was beyond believing, but it simply felt true. During their whole walk he kept talking about these strange adventures when he was a still a "Biped Time Lord", involving Daleks, Weeping Angels, and all manner of strange creatures.

"So then I told the Beast 'There's your freedom! Free to die! You're going into that black hole and I'm riding with you!'" The Doctor heartily said as they continued their walk to the local factory.

"So you threw the entire planet into the black hole?" Asch asked, his curiosity piqued.

"Oh yes, but the funny thing is: the seismic activity from the planet caused part of the cell roof to collapse. And wouldn't you know it, there's the TARDIS!" The Doctor finished with a laugh. "So I used it to escape with Ida, and grabbed the rocket before it could go falling into the black hole. I traded Ida for Rose, and we went back to Earth..." He trailed off.

Something about him seemed off. His usual chipper attitude was replaced by a solemn silence as he reflected on the memories of the past.

Derpy seemed hesitant to speak, though she asked anyway. "You still miss her, don't you?"

The Doctor let out a sad sigh. "It's my curse. Danger and death follow me everywhere, and even though I know that... the pain is always there. No matter how many I save or what good I do, I can never head back to that one moment and change it for myself." He paused and a smile spread across his face. "But there's always new experiences around the corner. New planets to see, new species to befriend. It's all just brilliant! And I know she's still out there looking up to the stars, wondering what new adventures could be waiting. Plus, there's always new friends to meet, like Miss Hooves, here."

Derpy blushed. "Aww, you're just saying that."

"Oh don't be so modest. You've been a brilliant assistant. And I trust your friend, Asch. So as long as I'm here, I'm going to do everything in my power to help stop this 'Van' character. Because if he's threatening innocent lives, then I'm going to be there to stop him. I'm the Doctor, and I'm going to help you stop this man!" He triumphantly bellowed.

There was something that was bugging Asch ever since he had met the Doctor. "So where is it?"

"What?"

"Where's this 'TARDIS' you keep mentioning?"

"Ohhh. Right. Funny story about that, I was landing the TARDIS just a few days ago and I was just a bit off on my positioning. Well, about 3 kilometers and 2 days off, but the point is: I accidentally landed it in Princess Celestia's water closet."

Derpy blushed at the thought. "W-what?!"

"Oh don't worry, she wasn't using the toilet, just having a bath. Anyway, she confiscated the TARDIS for a month as punishment."

Asch gave a small chuckle. "So after all those stories, you've had your vehicle taken from you in such a humiliating way?"

"Oi! I don't really want to get on Celestia's bad side. Last time I got on a female monarch's bad side, she had her guards chase me out of the Globe Theater." The Doctor flashed a confident grin. "But don't worry, the TARDIS has activated security subroutine: Banana."

Asch gave him a deadpanned look. "Banana? Really?"

"Hey, banana's are good. High in potassium. I always bring one to a party. And since Celestia has a bit of a fondness for them, I named the subroutine for her taking the TARDIS: Banana. The TARDIS is currently burrowing it's way out of the magic field she trapped it in, and back into the Time Vortex. Once it's in there, it will lock onto the coordinates of my Sonic Screwdriver. Glad she didn't take that."

As they were making their way to the factory, Asch heard a small voice in his head. It felt like a telepathic thought whose remark seemed to anger Asch.

Derpy and the Doctor stopped once they noticed Asch had paused in the street.

"What's wrong?" Derpy asked.

"I'm not sure, but... I feel the urge to punch Luke." He responded.

"Oh, well that's no good. And the factory is here by the way." The Doctor piped in.

Asch got back into his stride and pulled at the front gate.

"Damn, locked." He muttered.

Asch backed up and readied himself to kick down the door. The Doctor dashed in front of him and waved his hooves frantically.

"Wait! Now, let's just think about this for a moment. There's a city guard patrolling the street just over there, and I don't think he'd listen to our explanation for too long. Not to mention this is a very nice gate and it would be a shame to break it."

"Then how do you propose we get in?" Asch huffed in annoyance.

The Doctor reached into his collar and pulled out a silver device with a blue light at the tip. Placing it in his mouth, it began emitting a strange noise as the light turned on. He pointed it at the lock of the gate and soon there was a metallic click.

"There we are. Nobody had to have their door kicked in today." The Doctor happily said.

With a small huff, Asch opened the gate and entered the factory.

"This... This can't be!" He blurted.

Derpy and the Doctor rushed inside to see what was the matter.

"What's wrong?" Derpy asked.

"There's absolutely nothing here! How the hell could this have happened?!" He cursed, his voice echoing off the walls of the empty factory.

The Doctor began inspecting the room curiously. "No signs of struggle, no residual energy from a matter transfer, so it's not Cyber-Ponies..." The Doctor began sniffing the air. "Oh, that smell! I feel like I'm going to vomit!"

Derpy began sniffing the air herself. "I don't smell anything."

"Are you sure you aren't just losing what little sanity you have left?" Ash added.

"Time Lord nose. Much different than either of yours. I can smell all sorts of strange things, like magic, smells fruity fresh. But this is fowl! There's only two scents in the whole universe that make my stomach turn like this: pears, and changelings."

Derpy gasped in horror. "Changelings?! What are they doing here?!"

"Changelings?" Asch asked incredulously.

"They're really evil bug ponies from the Badlands. They can look like anypony else and feed off of love." Derpy explained

"But the thing is, their transformation is only physical. They still have access to their magic and flight, but they also have difficulty masking their personalities. And the worst thing is that stench!" The Doctor added.

"So the changelings are working with Van... Just what are they planning...?" Asch wondered. "I'd better tell Luke. We need to plan our next move."

A light enveloped Asch as he reached out to contact his replica.

"Can you hear me, replica?"

"Yeah. There's no sign of Van in Baltimare." Luke answered.

"We found nothing in our factory."

"Great. Now we don't have any leads as to where Van is. What are we supposed to do-?"

"No, you don't understand. We found nothing in our factory."

Luke went silent for a moment. "Do you have any idea where he took the parts?"

"No signs of a struggle. It's almost like they were taken willingly."

The Doctor smacked his forehead. "Of course! The changelings must have taken a from to trick the workers into taking the parts wherever they wanted!"

"Well, we know that Van would need a massive power supply if he wanted to replicate the planet." Asch reasoned.

"Like magic from unicorns. And the most powerful magic we've seen came from..." Luke trailed off.

Asch tensed up in a rage. "We need to get to Canterlot, now! That bastard isn't getting away with this!"

The Battle for Canterlot

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Private Thunder Crash. He was a fresh recruit in the Royal Guards, only being in service for about a month. His armor didn't have any of the wear and tear brought on by the skirmishes the more experienced members of the guard had faced. His station at the front gates of Canterlot gave him a good view of the valley, but that was one of the only redeeming values of his current employment.

"This sucks... I thought the guards were supposed to have exciting lives of adventure!" He complained as he fiddled with his spear.

He was a pegasus stallion with a slate grey coat and a white mane. His golden armor glinted as a cloud drifted in the breeze that the weather team had orchestrated. Not a single inch of it's journey was of it's own accord; it was merely following the whims of it's creators.

"Maybe working with pop at the weather factory would have been more exciting. At least there you get an opportunity to stretch your wings. And this stupid armor is so uncomfortable." He continued on as he gazed at the clouds, envious of their current mobility. "I just wish something would happen around here. Maybe a petty thief to catch at the least."

As he continued to daydream about how boring his job was, Thunder Crash began hearing the sound of hooves clopping against the dirt. His eyes lazily drifted to the road that stretched around a bend in the mountain. A grey pegasus with a green mane began trotting up the road, her every step as graceful as the wind. Thunder Crash began tracing his eyes along her body, finding himself unable to resist her perfect physique. She stopped just in front of his guard station.

Timidly she looked around with uncertainty. "Um, excuse me? I-I'm looking for a friend of mine. Her name is Blossom Breeze. She said she was going to meet me here at noon to show me around the city."

Thunder Crash shook his head to regain focus. "I don't remember seeing anypony that went by that name." He glanced at his pocket watch on the nearby table. "I think it might be because you're about two hours late."

The other pegasus seemed startled by this new information. "W-what?! Oh no! My stupid watch must be slowing down again!" She prattled on, her eyes making it clear she was on the verge of tears.

"D-don't worry. I'm sure I can help you out. I bet I could even show you around town if you can't find your friend." Thunder Crash assured.

"Y-you'd do that for me? That's so sweet." She responded with a blush.

Thunder Crash found himself mesmerized by her eyes. Something about them made him want to do anything for her.

"I'd have to have you go through a security check, though. Something about 'humens' or something."

She took a step closer to him while batting her eyelashes. "Oh, I'm sure there's no need for that... You can just open the gate for me and my... friends."

Thunder Crash's vision began to blur as his mind was infected by a dark force. Any thoughts in his mind stopped and all that mattered were the orders of this pegasus. "Of course... I'll go and open the gate..."

His hoofsteps clumsy and unbalanced, Thunder Crash went about activating the machinery to open the massive city gate. As he tended to his work, the other pegasus erupted in a burst of green flames, her fur singed away to reveal a black chitinous body. Her body elongated to a height comparable with Princess Celestia, and her green mane changed into a sickly aquamarine length of hair with several holes in it. Her legs were also riddled with holes, a trait shared by her now insectoid wings and crooked horn.

Queen Chrysalis sighed in annoyance. "You can come out now."

A two legged figure stepped around the bend and joined her.

"You sound annoyed." Van noted.

"I don't see why I have to lower myself to doing such simple and foolish tasks. If you want me to fool somepony, make it more of a challenge next time. This idiot was hardly worth my time."

"But isn't the prize you seek worth such simple troubles?" Van asked.

Chrysalis began chuckling with delight. "You've assured me the entire kingdom once you've replicated the world. Finally, my children will be able to feed to their heart's content!"

"Speaking of your offspring, are they in position?" Van asked, not even bothering to look at Chrysalis as he gazed upon the valley below.

"Our main force is waiting to fly in over the peak of the mountain, but they won't attack until I give them the signal. There are others, the most elite changelings in my service, who are waiting in disguise to sabotage key points of the city's defenses."

"Excellent. Legretta and Sync will lead our force of replicas to assault from the mines you informed me of. With our combined efforts, the power I seek shall be within my grasp before the day is done. With it, I will free this world, and all other worlds from the tyranny of the Score!"

Just as Van had finished his ranting, the gates to Canterlot swung wide open for him to enter. Chrysalis bared her teeth as she grinned in anticipation of her bright future. As Van began to take casual strides into the city, Chrysalis spoke up.

"What should we do about him?" She asked as she pointed a hoof to the guard.

"Leave him. By the time he regains his senses, it will be far too late."

--------

Luke Fon Fabre and the mane 6 had frantically sprinted back to the hotel as soon as they had deduced Van's plot. Each member of the group scrambled to get their belongings so they could leave for the train station.

"What is Master Van thinking?! He can't just put innocent lives at risk to get his way! It was one thing to imprison Lorelei, but to go after Celestia..." Luke angrily rambled.

Twilight turned Luke around violently with her magic. "Don't you dare say anything like that! Celestia will never let Van win! Sh-she always knows what to do..." Twilight trailed off as tears formed in her eyes.

Luke placed a reassuring hand on Twilight's shoulder. "I'm sorry. You're right though. Celestia won't give in to Van, and neither will I."

Twilight sniffled as she composed herself. "We should get moving... The sooner we get to Canterlot, the better."

Luke nodded as he scooped up his belongings. The group sprinted out of the lobby, only pausing to tell the owner that they were checking out. The group made a mad dash for the train station, making their way up to the ticket booth.

"We need a train to Canterlot, now!" Luke urgently demanded.

The mare behind the counter gave him a deadpanned look. "And I need to marry royalty, but neither of those are in the cards right now."

Twilight pushed Luke out of the way and glared death at the other mare. "We need to get to Canterlot in order to stop an invasion! I have a missive from Princess Celestia, herself!"

The mare read the letter that was levitated before her before letting out an annoyed sigh. "I need a vacation..." She then turned to look at her train schedule. "I can have the train to Ponyville diverted to get you there, but you'd better tell Celestia I'm not getting fired for this."

"Thank you." Twilight huffed before leading the group to their newly acquired train.

"I hope we're not too late..." Luke muttered.

--------

Asch was furious at the slow pace of his train, despite the fact it was going full speed.

"Dammit, this thing is too slow! We'll never catch Van at this rate!"

Derpy cautiously hovered beside Asch. "You need to calm down. I'm sure we'll be able to make it there soon."

The Doctor had busied himself running his Sonic Screwdriver over the machinery in the engine room.

"You know, I understand the urgency, but did you really have to knock out the conductor?" He asked through the gritted teeth that held his tool.

"It worked didn't it? And what good is using that thing on the engine? There aren't exactly any doors or locks to ope-"

Asch was interrupted mid-sentence as the train lurched forward with speed. The Doctor tucked away the Sonic Screwdriver and turned to Asch with a smug grin.

"I'm sorry, did you say something? I was busy being brilliant."

Asch grunted as he righted himself. "I'll retract my statement..."

--------

Vandesdelca Musto Fende was an expert in the Albert Style of swordsmanship, a fact that none could argue against. As the first few guards took notice to the target they were informed of by Princess Celestia's briefing, they had charged to defeat the human and ensure that peace could reign in Equestria. One by one, guards began falling as they foolishly challenged their superior opponent. Chaos began to erupt in the streets as civilians began to run and hide from the fighting.

"Their attention is focused on us. Prepare to signal the attack." Van ordered to Chrysalis.

"Gladly." She replied with a sinister grin.

Soon her horn began to glow with a green energy that she fired high into the air, acting as a signal flare. The attack on Canterlot had officially begun.

--------

The train that Twilight had "convinced" the booth mare to give them was now speeding along the tracks that circled around the mountain that Canterlot was built into. The lack of any visible signs of chaos allowed Twilight to relax slightly.

Only slightly.

"Sugarcube, are you alright?" Applejack asked in concern.

Twilight was staring out the window, lost in her thoughts.

What if we're too late? Can the Princess really defend herself against that human?

Twilight snapped out of her stupor when she felt a nudging at her shoulder. She turned around to see Applejack, concern clear on her face.

"Twi, you've been quiet this whole time. Are you feelin' okay?"

Twilight paused to collect her thoughts. "I-I'm fine."

Applejack frowned at her friend. "Twi, don't try to lie to me."

Twilight sighed, realizing she couldn't lie to the Element of Honesty. "You're right... I'm not fine at all. I'm terrified that we're too late. You've seen what Luke's teacher was capable of. He was able to deflect Celestia's magic so easily..."

Applejack playfully put her stetson on Twilight, who fidgeted as the hat ruffled her mane.

"There's no sense in losing your marbles over it. We're gonna put a stop to that Van fella, just you wait and see!"

Twilight began to relax, but suddenly a familiar feeling caught her attention. It was a magical aura, and a unique one at that. It felt like an energy that was deprived of love or empathy had just cried out for anything sensitive to magic to hear. Realizing the direction it was coming from, Twilight looked out the window and scanned the sky.

"Oh no..." She muttered.

Luke noticed the horror on her face and decided to investigate. "What's wrong?"

"The changelings are there..."

--------

Briggs clenched her teeth in rage. This human was swatting away her soldiers with hardly any effort. As much as it pained her, she had to stay at her position in order to defend the castle, and the Princesses by extension. One of her couriers glided down from above to deliver a report.

"Ma'am, the human has made his way into the town square. We've begun the evacuation procedure, but our soldiers can't hold him off. We've got reports of casualties..." He paused and turned his head in sorrow. "Almost half of them are fatalities..."

Briggs seethed at the thought of her men dying against a foe such as this without even making a dent.

"Order our soldiers to retreat to the castle. We'll fortify our position against him."

Briggs' horn began to glow as she unsheathed her sword.

"He'll soon know why I'm called the 'Ice Queen'."

Suddenly a bright green light burst in the air. Everypony on guard halted as they watched in awe as the sickly light reached it's pinnacle, exploding in a haze of green fog.

"Send that order now! We need to regroup before they arrive!"

The pegasus courier didn't bother to ask who "They" were. He saluted before flying out at break neck speed to give the order to regroup at the castle. He began barking out the order, but soon heard a buzzing in his ear. Thinking it to be a horsefly, he pressed on without giving it another thought. Soon the buzzing grew louder, and more sources were heard.

"What in the-?"

A swarm of black equine's began flying through the green fog, ambushing everypony they could find. Soon the courier was tackled by two of the black creatures and began tumbling towards the ground.

--------

Luke's train screeched to a halt at the station in Canterlot. Soon the human and his pony companions rushed out of the vehicle, Luke brandishing his weapon.

"What are those things?" Luke asked as he spotted several black dots swarming from above the fog.

"They're changelings, creatures who can disguise themselves as ponies and feed on the emotions of love. They attacked Canterlot before and their numbers are fewer, but with Van here..." Twilight explained before trailing off.

"Look out!" Rarity shouted.

A changeling made a beeline straight for Twilight...

*Splutch!*

Only to be cut down by Luke...

Twilight fought the urge to vomit, but was grateful for Luke's intervention.

"*urp* Th-thanks..."

Luke began rushing towards another group of the insectoid fiends. "Don't thank me just yet. We have a siege to stop!"

With that, the Elements of Harmony joined the fray, and the Battle for Canterlot began.

Ghosts of the Past

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The wind whipping Asch's face was completely ignored as he took notice of the scene at Canterlot. Their train was now spiraling up the base of the mountain, but he could make out the hundreds of black insect ponies. As he recalled the description given to him by the Doctor and Derpy, he noted that they were changelings, which made him clutch the window frame in rage. The very thought that Van was at Canterlot before him made his blood boil, but he was slightly relieved to sense that Luke was inside the city as well.

"Here's the plan. You two will help me break through the changelings until we reach Van. Once we get there, he's mine." Asch instructed his companions.

The Doctor seemed flabbergasted. "Are you mad?! I'm no stranger to a flying army attacking a city, but back then I had more help, and technology I could manipulate. Unless you can find an army of Cybermen that I can trick into helping us, I doubt we'll last long against them."

Derpy nodded her head in agreement. "I'm not much for fighting at all, really. I'm just a mailmare."

Asch grunted in annoyance. "Well, unless we stop Van, none of that will matter!"

Derpy looked down in shame. "I-I guess that's true..."

The Doctor piped up. "Well, I guess we'll all have to do our part in about thirty seconds. We're about to enter the station."

Asch nodded in approval. "Excellent. We'll just have to slow down before we enter."

The Doctor shuddered. "That... may be a problem."

"How?" Asch asked, fear beginning to worm into him.

"When I made the train go faster, I did it by altering the strength of the furnace. That adjustment isn't exactly reversible." He meekly admitted.

Asch was now beginning to panic. "Well then, deploy the brakes!"

"I can't! When we took this from that maintenance depot, they had removed the lever!"

"Then use your Sonic Screwdriver!" Asch yelled.

"The main component of the brakes is made of wood!"

"So?"

"It doesn't work on wood!" The Doctor shouted.

Asch looked to see the station closing in.

"You complete idi-!"

*Crash!*

The train smashed into the concrete platform, causing the tremendous vehicle to screech over it and crash into a wall. The remaining scrap of the vehicle was quickly engulfed in flames from the engine exploding. This would have been catastrophic for our heroes, had The Doctor not used his Screwdriver to open the engine room door, and tackled both Asch and Derpy out into an abandoned hay cart.

The Doctor burst from the hay to be greeted by the faces of his companions.

"You see, this is how I've stayed alive all these years. I always stay near doors." He chuckled.

Asch gave him an icy glare. "I hate you..."

The trio quickly vaulted out of the cart and dusted themselves off. The chaos taking place before them was horrifying. Changelings ambushed guards at every turn, trapping the ones who could not fight back in a sickly green slime. Several others took to the skies and dive bombed pegasi into the rooftops.

"This is horrible..." Derpy murmured.

Asch payed little mind to the chaos around him, instead intent on finding Van. He charged headlong into the fray, slashing at any changeling between him and his goal. The Doctor and Derpy quickly followed Asch as he carved a path caked in green blood. The guards were baffled by the strange creature coming to their aid, but were forced to remain on the defensive.

"Asch! Wait up!" Derpy called.

Asch didn't even acknowledge Derpy as he thrust his blade through the chitinous exoskeleton of another changeling. It hissed with rage as it squirmed on the blade, the last of its life draining from it. Quickly swinging his blade to the side, Asch removed the corpse of the vile creature. He continued his sprint through the streets of Canterlot until he made his way to a plaza in the market.

"These pathetic insects are just wearing my patience thin. Where is their Queen? Surely she'll be with Van." Asch thought to himself.

Derpy and The Doctor finally caught up to Asch. The Doctor growled as he was becoming annoyed with Asch's recent behavior.

"Just what has gotten into you? I understand the need to stop Van, but you're just plain obsessed!"

Asch faced The Doctor with an intense scowl. "In case you forgot, Van is planning to destroy this entire world and replace it with nothing but a cheap replica! Forgive me if I seem a bit too focused on the task at hand."

"Even so, you completely forgot about us back there. It's fortunate that you made a path that we managed to gallop through, but you're only thinking about your own petty revenge."

The Doctor had struck a nerve with Asch, and he was just about to receive a furious series of shouts before another voice cut in.

"Blazing Talon!"

A flame coated blade swung out in a large circle towards Asch. Quick on his feet, he pushed The Doctor out of the way and parried the blow. Asch's eyes went wide in shock. He had been seeing faces that should have been dead, but the one he saw should not have been here at all.

"Largo??" He asked the man before him.

The owner of the massive axe that Asch had parried wore faded red armor that covered his chest, arms, and the upper half of his head. The rest of his body was adorned in black and tan cloth. He had the build of a giant, with muscles that complemented his height, and a black beard was visible on his face.

"You must be the one my master told me of. Asch the Bloody." Largo responded, his axe resting on his shoulder. "My master told me about how you betrayed him, and denied him his righteous destiny to free the world of The Score. All who would dare oppose Van Grants shall fall before Largo the Black Lion!"

--------

Luke and the others were sprinting through the upper districts of Canterlot, battling changelings as they went. Rainbow Dash used her martial arts to pummel any changeling that got in her airspace. Applejack used her lasso to pull changelings and buck them senseless. Rarity used her fabrics and illusion spells to confuse her opponents, before quickly and gracefully attacking them. Twilight used her amazing prowess in magic to blast any changeling that got past Pinkie's Party Cannon. Fluttershy used 'The Stare' to paralyze changelings with fear, and used her knowledge in first aid to help her friends whenever they got hurt.

Luke turned to Twilight after knocking back a trio of changelings with his Guardian Field arte. "How far until we reach the castle?"

Twilight swatted a changeling with a hardened mana fly swatter. "We just need to make it through this district, then we can take the main road to the gates."

"Alright, let's-"

"Oh hammer of light. Limited!" A girl's voice cried.

Luke saw a fonic glyph glow beneath him and jumped back just before a beam of light fonons blasted the ground where he had just stood. When he got a look at his assailant, he gasped in shock.

"Arietta?"

Twilight stepped next to Luke, her poise defensive. "Isn't she the one you said could control monsters?"

As if on cue, a manticore and cockatrice glided down from above to join Arietta. The girl had long pink hair and wore a white and black dress. She had a sad expression on her face, which was intensified by the gloomy doll she hugged to her chest. Despite her young appearance, she was actually sixteen years old.

"You... You're the one Van told me about. He told me that you killed my mommy! My friends and I will kill you all!" She yelled.

"Van told you? You mean you don't remember?" Luke asked.

Suddenly it all clicked together for Rarity. "Darling, couldn't she be one of those replicas?"

Luke slapped his forehead in realization. "Of course! That explains her lack of memories, and the fact that she's even alive."

"Don't ignore me! You hurt my friends back in the forest, didn't you? When they came back to me their bark was fractured, and their leaves were tattered." Arietta angrily inquired.

"So what if Luke beat the snot out of those timber wolves? They tried to kill us!" Rainbow retorted.

"You... I'll kill all of you!" Arietta cried.

The monsters at her side growled in anticipation. Luke knew he couldn't handle this fight on his own. He just hoped that the ponies could stand their own against a God-General.

The Former Guardian

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Luke broke into a sprint to close the distance between himself and the Manticore. The beast leaped into the air, assisted by a beat from its bat wings. Luke prepared to either dodge or parry the attack, but the Cockatrice wrapped its tail around his leg, pulling it to throw him off balance. Luke glanced up to see the Manticore dive bombing with his claws poised to rend his flesh.

"Kyaaahhh!"

Rainbow Dash used her superior speed to propel herself at the beast with a flying kick, successfully deflecting the attack.

"AJ! Bring him around!" Rainbow called out.

"Already on it." The earth pony replied between gritted teeth.

Applejack twirled her lasso around one final time before letting it loose towards the Manticore. The rope landed true around the beast's leg. With a quick movement, Applejack tied the other end around an abandoned tea cart, giving it a strong buck once the rope was secure. Unable to fight the momentum, the Manticore was pulled along the ground, growling with fury and pain.

"Get ready for my Gale Punch!" Rainbow taunted as she squared herself up for the incoming mass of fur.

Luke turned to Rainbow as the Cockatrice was removed from him by a solid blast from Twilight's horn. "Don't forget about Arietta!"

"Pfft! What's that little girl gonna do now that we've got her buddies on the ropes?" She chuckled to herself.

Rainbow failed to notice the Fonic Glyph glowing beneath Arietta.

"O twisted door, open wide! Negative Gate!" Arietta cried.

A dark sphere of shadow energy appeared exactly where Rainbow was, pelting her with the fluctuations of the malevolent force.

"Ow!"

With her focus lost, the Manticore found the opportunity to right itself, cutting the rope and swiping Rainbow Dash with its tail.

"Gyaaahh!" She screamed.

"Rainbow!" Fluttershy yelled, flying at bullet speed to catch her friend.

Fluttershy successfully caught her fellow pegasus, and began to treat her. "It looks like you only got grazed by the claws, and that spell battered you a bit, but you look okay." She said as she began quickly bandaging any wounds and massaging her sore muscles.

"Nothing's hurting more than my pride right now..." She muttered in distaste.

Luke was now blocking a bite from the Cockatrice's beak with his blade, looking for an opportunity to throw it off.

Rarity began chanting a magic spell, a tactic only used by unicorns to use advanced spells. "O dazzling light! Refraction Blast!"

Three small gems of light shot forward and impacted the Cockatrice, knocking him away so Luke could counter. The Rem fonons left by Rarity's attack were perfect for Luke to use for another FOF change.

"Piercing Flash!" He shouted.

Luke swung his sword around in a circle, gathering up the Rem fonons into his blade.

"Light Blast!" He shouted as he stabbed the sword diagonally up to the Cockatrice, releasing a blast of light fonons.

The Cockatrice cawed in pain as it flew backwards from the blast. Meanwhile, Twilight and Applejack were contending with the enraged Manticore. Applejack was sweating bullets as she barely managed to dodge swipe after swipe of the razor sharp claws.

"Whoa! And to- Ah! Think that just a few days ago mah biggest worry was breaking mah apple buckin' record." She complained as she looked for her opening.

Twilight began charging her magic, adding an incantation to give it the power she needed.

"Spread thy alluring snare and deliver my enemies unto me! Tractor Beam!"

A large beam of energy appeared around the Manticore, pulling it upwards and damaging it. As he began to fall back to the ground, Pinkie Pie leaped into the fray to help her friends. She pulled out a large toy hammer from her tail, as impossible as it seemed.

"Pow Hammer Smash!" She cried with glee as she smashed the Manticore over the head, causing it to surprisingly become dazed from the impact.

Arietta was furious with Pinkie's action. "Feel the hammer of light! Limited!"

A small beam of light energy fell from above Pinkie Pie, about to impact her dead on the head.

"Barrier!" Twilight shouted as she created a hardened mana shield above her friend.

The blast shattered the quickly made shield, but protected the occupant.

"Thanks, Twilight!" Pinkie cheerfully thanked.

The two beasts now began to team up by converging on Luke. The replica thought quickly as the beasts closed in.

"Rainbow! I need water fonons!" He shouted.

The prismatic mare tilted her head in bewilderment. "Water fonons?"

She then remembered when she first met Luke.

"How else is it supposed to rain?"

"An excess of water fonons in the atmosphere."

Rainbow darted into the sky, quickly grabbing a rain cloud before any Changelings could spot her. She brought it above Luke and began dumping out the contents.

"Chill!" Luke shouted.

He drew a circle in the ground around him with his blade as the beasts began to pounce. As he thrust his sword into the ground, large spikes of ice sprang up to defend him.

"Guardian Frost!"

The two monsters were knocked back from the burst of the ice shattering. As they both impacted a wall, they slumped to the ground unconscious.

"Don't think you've won just yet!" Arietta cursed.

A massive image of a galaxy appeared on the ground beneath the group. Luke gasped and braced himself for what would follow.

"Fall! Big Bang!" Arietta shouted.

The center of the galaxy erupted in a massive explosion of light, hurting Luke and his companions from the blast.

Luke fell to his knees and panted for breath.

"Damn... Didn't expect her to use that..."

"What... What kind of power was that...?" Twilight asked through pained grunts.

Arietta began to charge up another spell while her foes were helpless. "Now I'll end you-!"

Arietta suddenly found herself pinned to the ground by a mass of pink and yellow fur.

"No more! No more fighting!" Fluttershy said through labored breaths.

Arietta was shocked that this pony had managed to pin her after one of her Mystic Artes. She turned to her monster allies.

"Please! If you can get up, help me!" She called.

The Cockatrice and Manticore slowly managed to rise to their feet and began to creep over to Fluttershy.

"Fluttershy! Get out of there!" Rainbow shouted.

Fluttershy calmly looked to the monsters. "No!" She shouted in a disciplinary manner.

Both monsters flinched and looked to each other in confusion, unsure of whose command to follow.

"You can speak to my friends too?" Arietta asked in confusion.

"Well, yes. It's my special talent." Fluttershy answered.

Arietta shook away her doubts. "I don't care if we have that talent in common! I'll destroy them for killing my mommy! Van told me about how they killed her in cold blood!"

*Smack!*

Arietta recoiled in shock as she felt her left cheek stinging in pain. Fluttershy was now beginning to cry, her tears landing on Arietta's face.

"You're not the only one who's lost their mommy..."

"What?" Arietta asked in surprise.

"My mom died when I was just a little filly. She was always so loving and made me feel confident... But then she died, and I lost the confidence I had."

"I..." Arietta tried to retort, but found her words had no merit.

"Everypony in school teased me and called me names, and I could only sit there and cry."

"Fluttershy..." Rainbow began, memories of such events returning to her.

"I just wanted it all to go away. I wanted all of those mean colts and fillies to just disappear, but I realized it wouldn't be right to hate them."

Arietta found herself chocked up. She couldn't find the will to simply use an arte to kill this pony who stood in her way.

"Is it really right to kill them just because of what I was told? I... My mommy..."

Arietta sighed as she wiped away her own tears.

"I'll withdraw for now, but when next we meet.... I won't hold back."

Arietta climbed on the back of the Manticore, riding her monstrous ally away from the battlefield with the Cockatrice following closely behind.

Luke and the others began to rise to their feet. Luke reached into his bag and pulled out a bottled medicine.

"Everyone have a sip. This Specific should help get you back up to strength." He instructed after taking a sip of the liquid.

Everypony took their share and began moaning with relief as their sore muscles and wounds healed, even if not completely.

Rainbow Dash looked to Fluttershy with sadness in her eyes. "Fluttershy... Are you going to be okay?"

Fluttershy wiped a final tear away. "I'll be fine, Rainbow. I just felt so bad for Arietta, having such a similar circumstance and all."

"Just who was that Gloomietta, anyway?" Pinkie asked.

"She's even calling Arietta that nickname... I have to be sure she and Anise never meet." Luke thought to himself.

"She used to be a Fon Master Guardian, one of Fon Master Ion's personal guard. When the original Ion died, she was relieved of her duty so she would never know that the new Ion was a replica. She really cared for the original Ion, so they knew if she found out, she may have killed herself."

"How sad..." Twilight said, barely in a whisper.

"Is it true that y'all... Y'know...?" Applejack hesitantly asked.

"When she was young, she used to live on the island of Hod. When it was destroyed, she survived, but she was orphaned. The Liger Queen found her and raised her as one of her own, which is how she learned to communicate with monsters. Tear, Jade and I were forced to kill the Liger Queen in order to help protect Engeve and the Cheagles, because if we didn't, her eggs would have hatched and her young would have wiped out the humans to feed."

"So that's why." Applejack nodded. "Y'all did the right thing, but Ah doubt Arietta will see that."

"Maybe... But this isn't really Arietta. This replica is a new person, so she'll have a different outlook on things."

Luke cleared his throat finally. "Anyway, we need to keep moving. We don't have much time to waste."

"Right! Let's go save Canterlot!" Twilight shouted confidently.

The Black Lion

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Asch quickly dodged to the side as Largo brought down his axe again, splitting the cobblestone on impact and sending debris flying. Asch already knew the immense strength that Largo wielded, and while he got lucky earlier by parrying his blow, he couldn't risk attempting it again. Seeing an opening in Largo's movements, Asch went on the offensive.

"Sonic Thrust!" He shouted as he stabbed his blade straight at Largo.

The attack certainly made Largo wince in pain, but he had survived a far worse wound inflicted by Jade Curtis. Largo squared up for his own attack.

"Beast!" He shouted as he swung his axe outwards, projecting the image of a lion head.

The spectral lion managed to catch Asch off guard as he was only dodging out of the range of the axe itself.

"Augh!" He cried as he was knocked onto his back.

Largo saw his opportunity and jumped into the air, ready to bring down his axe on the former ally of his original.

"Time to end this!"

*Krakrow!*

A small bolt of lightning zapped Largo, throwing him to the side just enough for the blade of his axe to miss by an inch.

"What?!"

Standing with an angry look on his face was Private Thunder Crash. He tossed aside the small storm cloud he had managed to swipe, and bared his teeth at the towering human.

"You guys aren't getting away with this!" He took a taunting stance with his spear readied. "So bring it on!"

Largo removed his axe from the cobblestone as Asch rolled away and took a defensive stance.

"Annoying pest..." He muttered as he began to bare down on Thunder Crash.

The Private soon began to quake in his horseshoes.

"W-what's going on? Why won't me legs move? T-this never happened in training!"

"Move, dammit!" Asch shouted.

Thunder Crash broke out of his stupor and moved out of the way of what would have been a lethal strike.

"Holy bucking Celestia!" He cried as he realized how closely he and death had brushed.

Asch used a Raging Blast to knock Largo back, though the God-General kept his balance.

"If you want to live, follow my lead!" Asch ordered.

Thunder Crash trembled, but nodded all the same. "O-of course!"

"So now you're getting help, eh? This fight might be interesting after all!" Largo taunted.

Thunder Crash kept darting his eyes to Asch, waiting for some kind of instruction as Largo began to make his way closer to them.

Largo prepared to swing his axe in a wide arc, intending to hit them both with a single strike. The blade began to get closer and closer in slow motion, and Thunder Crash was beginning to sweat.

"Now!" Asch ordered.

Thunder Crash took flight just before the blade could connect, while Asch used the flat of the axe as a vault to propel himself higher above Largo.

"Together!" Asch commanded the Private.

Both warriors dove down and stabbed Largo in the arm and chest. The God-General stumbled backwards in pain, but his eyes seethed with anger.

"Enough! I won't be made a fool of any longer!"

Fighting through the pain, he swung the axe in a wide arc, with the blade coated in flames.

"Rise from the flames of Hell! Brimstone Tempest!"

The second swing managed to connect with Asch, but the truly devastating part was when Largo brought his axe up in an uppercut strike that released a geyser of flame. He managed to land on his feet, but he collapsed to his knees from the immediate pain. Quickly he began chanting the arte First Aid.

Thunder Crash began to truly panic as his only ally was temporarily out of commission.

"And now to deal with the annoying beast." Largo muttered as he turned to face the pegasus.

"No way... I'm gonna die... I'm gonna freaking die...!"

Suddenly Thunder Crash's spear began to crackle with electricity as he entered a fight or flight state.

"I won't die now!" He shouted as thunder began to strike in a circle around Largo.

He continued by smacking Largo with the lower end of his spear and launching him into the air. Aiming carefully he prepared to throw the spear at his airborne foe.

"Crying Thunder!" He shouted as he tossed the spear. Largo was hit dead center and fell to the ground after being shocked by electricity.

"D-damn... I got... careless..." Largo muttered as he clutched at his wound.

Thunder Crash was staring at his spear in amazement.

"How the hell did I do that...?"

"Heh heh... Ha ha ha ha ha!" Largo began madly laughing.

Asch, who had finished healing himself with his arte, was entirely confused.

"Why are you laughing when you are so clearly defeated?"

"I've finally got a challenge out of one of these pathetic creatures! And I didn't come unprepared for a difficult battle..." Largo said as he fished around in his pockets.

Soon he produced a small red gel, an apple gel to be precise, and quickly consumed the medicine. The God General stood himself up, ready for another round with is opponents.

"I'm through playing games with you, Largo. Your original is probably rolling in his grave as we speak." Asch taunted.

"Whether I'm the original or not is irrelevant. I will end you, here and now!"

The two humans clashed once more, while Thunder Crash was left in confusion.

"Just what is going on?! Humans, originals, these powers... I wish I had never said I was bored today!"

"Fiery Beast!" Largo shouted as he used a variation of Beast that let loose a burst of flames.

Asch used Guardian to absorb the brunt of the impact, but could still feel the damage. He took advantage of the fire fonons that were left over from Largo's attack.

"Out of my way! Burning Havoc!" He shouted as he used a Havoc Strike that released a blast of flames.

Largo was barely managing to stay on his feet at this point, but his determination managed to keep him upright.

"I'm... not finished..."

"Largo!" A young female voice yelled.

Thunder Crash looked up to the sky where he heard the voice, and suddenly felt his jaw hit the floor.

"She's flying on a Manticore!" He blurted as he saw the young pink haired girl land near the other Human on the back of the large beast.

"Arietta? You're here too?" Asch asked in confusion.

Arietta ignored the question, instead turning her attention to Largo. "We need to get you out of here. We've already bought enough time, so let's go!"

Largo glared at Asch one last time. "You may have won this time, but don't think it will be so easy when next we meet."

Before Asch could intervene, Largo got on the back of the Manticore as it flew off into the distance.

"What did they mean 'We've bought enough time'?" Thunder Crash asked.

"It's likely that this Largo was merely a diversion the entire time." The Doctor surmised as he and Derpy came out from hiding.

"And where have you been?!" Asch asked.

"Fighting isn't my specialty, it's being clever. And unfortunately, I don't have hands anymore so it's kind of hard to use my wits to best a monster of a man that uses a giant scythe and fire."

"...Fair enough." Asch admitted. "Right now we have to make it to the castle. Something tells me that Van's plot was to keep us from interfering with him there."

"W-wait! Let me come with you!" Thunder Crash pleaded. "I want to help out too, no matter how crazy all of this stuff is."

Asch sighed in slight annoyance. "Fine, but don't become a burden in battle, understand?"

"Y-yes, sir!" Thunder Crash saluted.

With the new addition to the party, Asch returned to the task of making his way to the castle, eager to finally bring an end to the the chaos brought about by Van Grants.

Meanwhile...

A peculiar statue began in the Canterlot gardens began to crack by an unseen force.

"Ohh this is some delicious chaos! Grade-A stuff!"

Tales of the Abyss: Hymns of Equestria

by Genis94

Death?

First Impressions

Understanding

Not Alone

Revelations

Monsters

Nightmares

Unwanted Reunions

Hidden Truths

The Invisible Controller

Things to Come

The Journey Begins

The Lonely Girl

The City of Business: Manehatten

The Industrialist Breeding Ground: Trottingham

Inspection Day

The Wheels Begin Turning

The Battle for Canterlot

Ghosts of the Past

The Former Guardian

The Black Lion