It has been one year since the liberation of Ponyville from Queen Chrysalis and her Changeling swarm. When the town started to rebuild paranoia and hatred slowly crawled through the streets creating distrust among the citizens, the link between the Elements of Harmony and Twilight and her friends has been broken and the entire kingdom is now suffering. Civil unrest prowls the outer cities and enemies of Equestria are threatening to take over. Now in an act of desperation Princess Celestia has called upon a former exile for help. His mission is simple, go to his former home planet, retrieve the Creator and return to restore the balance of Harmony. The whole fate of Equestria rests on these two humans, but will they be tolerated among the Equestrians?
Authors note: I recommend that you read Agent Of Chaos and HMMPAB first, this story contains various plot elements and is a continuing story line for both stories. Also there are a lot more characters that are going to be featured in this story but I'm unable to add the tags for them because of limitations.
"Oh cruel fate, why did this happen?" Celestia thought as she sat on her throne and awaited the arrival of the prisoner, "It's been over a year since I last saw him. Will he remember me? More importantly, will he help me after what I did to him?"
The fact that she had several armed guards sitting at the foot of her throne and about twenty more standing to attention on the far sides of the room didn't calm her nerves. She had heard the story of what the prisoner did at his trial, not only did he destroy the Elements of Harmony but he also managed to rebuild them after he killed Discord. Discord...the mere thought of his name sent shivers down Celesita's spine. He was dead but his ghost still stalked around the castle, eager for revenge against the stallion who killed him. Much to the princess's dismay Discord's ghost was still trying to restore his powers but he had no luck. Celestia put that out of her mind and tried to focus on the more important matter, the collapse of Equestria.
One year had passed, one year had passed since Queen Chrysalis had been expelled from Ponyville along with her Swarm, but her brave soldiers weren't the ones who got rid of the Changelings; It was a human, one who had worked for Chrysalis and then for unknown reasons changed sides. Or so it seemed until he hit Shining Armor in the face and escaped the town, no trace was left of the human. He had become a thing of nightmares after what he did in Ponyville. He single handedly destroyed half of the town with explosives, led the Changeling charge and injured more than twenty ponies. The only troubling thing about the human was that Celestia forgot his name and what he looked like, worst of all was that he was still out there and many ponies had moved out of Ponyville for their safety, leaving the population just under a hundred compared to the several hundred of before. Celestia loved the town of Ponyville but now she had to avert her eyes from it, the town was still damaged and now in a state of neglect. It was troubling knowing that the town where the Holders of the Elements first met was now crumbling under the weight of distrust, paranoia, and neglect. Celestia wept softly for the town but stopped when two guards opened up the door and six more entered, in the center of the guards was a steel gray stallion.
The stallion saw Celestia and cowered for a second but he regained his posture and kept pace with the guards escorting him. Celestia saw the chains that were clamped to his legs, neck and around his body and couldn't help but feel sorry for him. He had saved Equestria and now because of her arrogance he had been banished to the moon. The stallion's swept back black and silver mane looked rather messy along with his spiky tail of the same color, what made this stallion stand out from the rest was his piercing blue eyes and the strange burn mark on his right foreleg. Celestia heard how he acquired the scars and she thought best if she didn't ask for the story. As the guards and their prisoner neared the throne the guards in front of the princess aimed their spears at the stallion, they weren't nervous of him doing anything, they were just making sure that Celestia would be safe.
"Your Highness," the guard captain said, "We have brought the prisoner as you asked."
"Thank you," Celestia said. The stallion looked up at her, he didn't seem angry or irritated with Celestia. He looked very calm and collective, as if he knew why he was here instead of his crater on the moon. The six escorts stepped aside and allowed the stallion to take a step closer. He didn't greet the princess as she expected, she cleared her throat and decided to break the silence.
"Hello," Celestia said.
The stallion just gave a nod of reply.
"This could be harder than I thought," Celestia thought, she then spoke up, "Are you going to say anything during our little meeting?"
The stallion shook his head and gave a 'You're the one talking, tell me why I'm here' gesture to Celestia. He then smiled a little which eased her mind.
"I just want to say that I'm sorry first. It's been on my mind for a while, I am sorry that I banished you to the moon. It was a little extreme but I know that you'll say that it was justified."
The stallion nodded in agreement.
"I'm glad you understand, but that's not why you are here. I need your help and I'm asking you because you have something that none of my ponies have. We are in a time of crisis and I am not sure if I can deal with it for much longer. You see, after the Changeling liberation Equestria has slowly started to crumble and the Balance of Harmony is at stake. If we do not restore it then we will be thrown into a thousand years of disharmony."
The stallion gave a 'So what's the current situation like?' look and Celestia continued.
"It's not looking good for Equestria. Ponyville is on the verge of becoming a ghost town, this is because of the threat that many ponies believe is still lurking around the forest. Stalliongrad, Saddle Arabia and Hayti are all planning to secede from the kingdom and if they do they will be destroyed by the dragons that are slowly taking our territory. If they get close enough then they will incinerate Ponyville, Cloudsdale and Canterlot, we cannot allow that but even with out new allies we are powerless to stop them. I've also received word that King Sombra has returned and he has taken over the Crystal Empire once more. All of the Crystal ponies who were freed from his rule are now his slaves again, I cannot do anything to stop him. What is the most heartbreaking news is that all of your friends that you know and love, they are...they are no longer themselves. They have become withdrawn and because of that, the connection between them and the Elements of Harmony has been broken. If we are to restore the Balance of Harmony then we need to get them back to who they once were."
The Stallion looked away for a second then returned his view to Celestia, he gave a 'Go on' gesture.
"I need you to do something of utmost importance," Celestia said, "We have a plan to rebuild Equestria but resorting the Elements will not be enough. I know the place where you come from, and I know that if the stories are true, our Creator will be there."
The Stallion gave a quizzical look. Celestia continued, hoping to explain everything.
"There are stories of the one who created our world, I'm sure that you've never heard of them. I didn't think that our Creator was real, but after our last trans-dimensional visitors came here I now believe the tales as well. There's something about this creature that might just save us all, if our Creator is real then our Creator can save us. Getting the Creator here however is going to be a problem, but that's where you come in."
The stallion's expression shifted from curious to confused in an instant. He stepped closer, eager to hear more from Celestia.
"I need you to do this; Go back to the place where you once lived, find our Creator and return safely. Only then once our Creator is here can we restore Harmony. Now I ask you this, can you do this? Can you find our Creator and help restore Harmony?"
The Stallion's eyes darted around, looking in several directions before he returned them to Celestia. He smiled and nodded.
"Aye your Highness," the Stallion said in a thick and almost alien accent, "I'll do what you've tasked me with, just point me in the right direction."
Celestia smiled back as she descended from the throne to stand in front of the Stallion. Her horn glowed for a second and the chains on the Stallion fell off him, he rubbed the spots where the chains were and grinned.
"I knew that I could trust you, Scott," Celestia said, "Even after I banish you and leave you alone for over a year you still forgive me."
"It's just who I am. It's Scott Websly in case you forgot, Princess."
Celestia chuckled and placed a hoof over the small red stone on Scott's chest.
"You are the only pony who has the ability to wield the Element of Chaos. Use it to no end, just get our Creator here safe and sound. Now, go back to the Room of the Elements and wait for me there, I'll transport you to Earth."
Scott nodded and turned to leave, still being followed by a few guards. Before he left he stopped and turned to face Celestia, he needed to ask one more question.
"I almost forgot to ask, what is the name of the person I'm looking for?"
Celestia tapped her chin then looked at Scott with a condescending smile.
"Look I don't care what they are saying on the news and on the internet, the show's not coming back!"
"Those fans are really annoyed at you for your decision, some of them have started burning show merchandise. Well, the levelheaded ones are. Listen, if you don't bring the show back then you're going to destroy the company."
"It's the company who got me into this mess. Tell those 'broines' or whatever the scum call themselves that My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic isn't going to be aired anymore. I don't care what they they'll think of me afterwards. I still blame Tara, if she didn't leave then we might be making season four."
"I'll try to quell the fans, but for now we need to get you out of Florida and upstate for the next press conference."
"When will my driver be here?"
"In about fifteen minutes."
"Okay, if you don't mind can you ask him to arrive sooner?"
"I'll see what I can do. Goodbye Lauren."
"Yeah, bye."
Lauren hung up the phone and sat on the chair that overlooked the window. For a four star hotel, it sure had an awful view. All she could see was the back of a building and a small slice of the beach, Lauren came up with the theory that the manager was a brony and he wanted revenge for the cancellation of MLP. Only a week after the end of season three Tara Strong decided to leave and be a voice actor in another kids TV show say that 'This isn't what she had in mind', especially when it came to the fanbase. Even Faust questioned the MLP fanbase, was it really made up of twentysome year old guys? She did find it funny when she found out that some of these people were better at animation and story elements than some of the show's best writers. Ironic considering that she was eventually going end up hiring the best of the animators and writers to see if they can make some descent episodes for season four but sadly the show got cancelled because of some of the staff going to other shows. After the announcement that the show had been pulled the MLP community went into a frenzy, attacking Hasbro, attacking the people who left and worst of all, attacking Lauren. Some of the fanfics that she read have taken a very dark twist involving her. Luckily after the MLP convention in Tampa she managed to explain that she didn't pull the plug on the show and that she thanks each and every one of the fans for their support, this did sooth the community but it didn't stop the cyberattacks on the people who left the show. Over time Lauren became frustrated and refused to go out into the streets alone in case she got mobbed by angry men dressed as the show's characters, she now spent most of her time in the hotel under the watchful eyes of the security team.
Not wanting to be cooped up in her room for the next fifteen minutes, Lauren decided to go to the little coffeeshop that was in the hotel lobby. She could use something to take her mind off of the upcoming press conference, and the crazy fans who had been massing in the streets for the past two days. Lauren didn't know if they wanted to kill her or just pester her to try and restart the show again, most likely they would try and beg for the latter, you couldn't restart a show with a dead producer. As she made her way to the elevators a bellboy pulling a luggage cart passed her and stopped.
"Ah Miss. Faust, I was send up here to retrieve your bags and take them to the car."
"Is it here?" Lauren asked.
"Why yes, it arrived a few minutes ago."
"Great, now I can get out of here."
"I'll have your bags down soon," the bellboy said as he opened the door to Lauren's room, "Your car is the black Aston."
"Aston, as in Aston Martin?" Lauren thought as she pulled her handbag over her shoulder. An Aston Martin was her taxi to the airport, very unusual since most of her limos were either huge Lincolns or sleek Audis. She hit the call button for the elevator and tried to picture who her driver was, she imagined that it would be some posh English man who hadn't heard of My Little Pony and ended every sentence with "M'lady".
"Pip, pip cheerio," Lauren said quietly. She let out a small chuckle as the elevator doors opened. She hit the lobby floor button and waited as the doors closed and the elevator descended to the ground floor. The signature ding rang out and the elevator doors slid open, Lauren braced herself for the following onslaught of camera flashes and people crowding around her trying to ask questions about the show's cancellation but nothing showed up. She looked around the lobby as she exited the elevator, there was almost no-one here. Aside from hotel employees and a few patrons in the coffeeshop, the place was deserted. She kept her head down as she strided over to the exit. There was indeed a black, four door Aston Martin Vantage sitting outside the hotel. The bellboy from earlier was shutting the trunk just as Lauren walked over.
"Your bags are all packed in the trunk," he said. Lauren was both impressed and confused, she had only just seen the bellboy a few minutes ago.
"How did you get down here so fast?"
"That's a secret that I'm not allowed to share, Miss Faust."
Lauren laughed a little and handed the bellboy a twenty dollar bill. The bellboy held the bill up to the sun and then slipped it into his pocket.
"Thank you," he said as a doorman opened the car door for Lauren, "By the way, you'll like your driver. He's rather pleasant."
Lauren slipped into the seat behind the driver and belted herself into the seat. She set her bag down on the adjacent seat and looked up, the driver was looking at her in the rear view mirror and by the way the creases on his face she could tell that he was smiling.
"To the airport please, driver," Lauren said.
"Aye," the driver's reply came. The car started with a loud roar from the V8 engine and then rolled through the parking lot and out into the street.
Lauren sat back in her seat and relaxed, she had done it, another MLP convention done and now she was on her way to a press conference, best of all, she was in an Aston Martin and a very well maintained one if that. The driver kept his eyes forward but he would occasionally glance back at Lauren and out of the windows whenever they stopped. Lauren wondered what the driver's name was and why the bellboy at the hotel said that he was friendly.
"So then," Lauren said finally, the driver looked up in the mirror. Most of his face wasn't reflected in the mirror but Lauren could tell that he was bored and wanted to talk, "What's your name?"
"Scott Websly," the driver said.
"Where are you from?"
"Take a guess," Scott said with a smile.
"Scotland?"
"Exactly."
Lauren sat back and watched as they entered the bustle of the city where the roads were crammed with cars. Scott sighed heavily and shook his head, he took off his hat and wiped the sweat off his brow. Lauren didn't mind sitting in traffic, she was early and her flight didn't leave for another few hours. She could at least talk to Scott to pass the time.
"How long have you been a limo driver?"
"Not long, this is only my second time driving someone," Scott said as he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel.
"Who did you have last?"
"Royalty. Three princesses and a prince, but that was long ago."
"Wow, royalty?" Lauren asked, "I bet you feel like you've been downgraded from royalty to a producer for a cancelled TV show."
"I don't think that, you seem to be considered a god in the eyes of some people."
"I know," Lauren said with a shudder, "Now they think of me as evil or something."
"They're just a bit upset is all," Scott said with reassurance, he then suddenly stopped and looked forward, "Got a clear run."
"What?"
Scott pressed the accelerator pedal and the car shot forwards through an opening in the traffic, the roar of the engine echoed off the buildings. Lauren pulled on her seatbelt and looked at Scott in the mirror, he seemed to be laughing.
"I did that with the royals," he said, "They loved it."
"Is that allowed in your company?" Lauren asked.
"Oh, I don't work for a company."
Before Lauren could ask the sound of sirens emerged from behind them and the mirror filled with flashing red and blue lights.
"I think that it's the cops," Faust said as she turned around in her seat to see a police car creeping up on them.
"Piss," Scott said under his breath as he pulled over.
Scott and Lauren waited as the cops approached the car from both sides. Scott tapped the center console, Lauren looked closer at his hand and saw what looked like black marks that ran up his hand like his veins had discolored and were popping out of his hand.
"How did you get that?" she asked.
"What?" Scott replied as he looked out the mirrors.
"Those marks on your hand, how did you get that?"
"Can I tell you later? Got a bigger problem to deal with."
The two cops walked over to the front doors and looked inside.
"Licence and registration," the cop next to Scott said. Scott shook his left hand and a licence appeared in between his fingers. The cop took it and examined it closely, "You know why I stopped you?"
"Was it me showing off?" Scott asked cheekily.
"Yeah, you know that it's illegal to do that speed in a crowded street?" the other cop asked.
"I'm just trying to get evaluated," Scott said, "You know, it's for my company."
"What company?" the first cop asked. Scott handed the cop a business card, the cop took it and stared at it with a puzzled look.
"Something up?" his partner asked.
"Strangest name for a company I've ever heard of."
"What is it called? I can get R&I on the horn."
"Busturbals Limos, ever heard of them?"
Without warning the two front doors shot open and hit both of the cops in the groin, sending them both to the ground. Scott watched them writhe in pain and then he stomped on the accelerator pedal and shot off down the street.
"That was too easy," he said as he raised the windows.
"What was that?" Lauren asked.
"What was what?"
"That back there, you made the doors open without touching them."
"I thought you'd be asking why I had the doors smash the testes of the cops," Scott said as he opened up the center console.
"But why, what are you doing?"
Scott sighed and stopped at a set of red lights. He tightened his grip on the wheel and looked in the mirror to Lauren.
"Look, this may sound strange but I'm in a bit of a situation and I'm going to need you to help me out. I was sent here to extract you and bring you to my superiors, the place where I come from is dying and we know that you're the only one who is able to save it, after all, you created the place."
"What are you talking about?" Lauren asked. Before Scott could answer a shout came from his left.
"It's her!" one shout said.
"Lets get them!" another said.
Scott and Lauren both snapped their attention to their left and saw a car with six full grown men in strange costumes. Scott and Lauren looked closer at the costumes and saw that each of them was dressed as the Mane Six.
"What the fuck," Scott said, "Seriously, what the actual fuck am I looking at?"
"Bronies," Lauren said. Scott watched as they pulled out bats and clubs from the back of the car and opened the doors. Scott, knowing that these guys didn't want Lauren's autograph, flicked at the air as if he was swatting a fly on the window and the car with the bronies still inside flew over the road and smashed into a building. Scott looked into the rear view mirror and saw Lauren staring at him, mouth agape.
"Well my cover's blown," Scott said. He slammed down on the accelerator pedal and drove into the streets, knowing well and full that he'd have to explain everything sooner or later.
"WHAT WAS THAT?" Lauren screamed as Scott skidded into another junction. Scott looked around then into the mirror.
"Gravity fluctuation, a little noticeable but I managed to get rid of those nutters."
"You killed them?" Lauren asked.
"I have no idea, so I'm not going to think about it."
The traffic had lessened but it was still a challenge to weave between the cars and keep up speed. Scott looked around and slowed down. He leaned back and then turned around in his seat to face Lauren.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"The person who just saved your life," Scott said, "Any other limo would have been smashed and you would have been dragged through the streets by your fans. But because of me, you are safe for now."
No, I refuse to be here any longer with you. You're insane."
Lauren reached over to grab her bag but an invisible barrier stopped her from taking her bag, the same barrier stopped her from leaning over the front seat and opening the door. Scott sat back in his seat and followed the traffic.
"No point in trying to escape, I'm making sure I complete my job."
"What manner of madness is this?" Lauren asked.
"It's a protective shield, I'm making sure that you're safe and you wont do anything stupid."
"Safe?" Lauren said with a laugh, "Safe from what exactly?"
Scott was about to reply when a thundering crack and the sound of shattering glass, Scott jerked to the side and slumped to the right, Lauren cupped her hands over her mouth to stop herself from screaming. There was no mistaking it, Scott had been shot. She sat there frozen until the body stirred, one hand reached for the steering wheel and Scott pulled himself up, he felt his head and then picked up his hat. Scott looked at the gaping hold in it and looked at the shooter.
"You shot my hat off you bastard!"
Lauren watched as the shooter stared in amazement as Scott sat up, he then pressed a button on the steering wheel and several loud shots rang out. The shooter staggered backwards and then crumpled on the ground, Lauren stared at the dead shooter and then to Scott.
"Okay, now I'm compromised."
He then aimed the car toward an opening in the traffic and screamed through the parked cars, he tore past cars and pedestrians, making sure that he didn't hit either. The roads slowly started to expand and Scott was able to unleash the full power of the Aston's V8, sadly it attracted some attention. Several sets of flashing lights and the sound of wailing sirens started up behind the car. Scott looked in the mirror and cursed under his breath.
"Great, more pursuers."
"I don't think that it's just the police that are after you," Lauren said. Scott looked in the mirror again and saw a mix of random cars among the police interceptors, it looked as if vigilantes had joined forces with the police and were all chasing Scott.
"Attention driver of the black Aston, pull over and surrender yourself and let Lauren Faust go."
Scott looked into the sky and saw a police helicopter flying overhead, gunners leaned out of the sides of the helicopter. There were a few news choppers that circled overhead as well. Scott opened up the center console and started feeling around inside of it.
"What are you doing?" Lauren asked.
"Looking for a deterrent," Scott replied, his finger brushed a large silver button. "Ah, here we go."
Scott pressed it and the center console opened up and a panel of button, switches and knobs rose up from under the bottom of the console. Lauren watched as he fumbled around for a second and then placed his finger over a red button.
"What, you think you're James Bond now?"
"Some people say I sound like Shaun Connery," Scott said, "Anyway, I'm only going to use this if they get too close or go too far."
"What do you mean by too far?"
"I'm only going to use these if they try to harm us in anyway possible."
"Why don't you stop?"
"Because the Princess needs you."
Lauren cocked her head to one side questioningly, what did Scott mean by what he just said? Before she could ask Scott her cellphone rang. She reached over to her bag and picked it up but froze when she saw Scott look at her.
"Go on, answer it."
Lauren slowly brought the phone up to her ear.
"Hello?" she said shakily.
"Miss Faust?" a deep voice asked.
"Greg? Oh thank God, what's going on, who is this driver?"
"We don't know, only that he was the person sent to pick you up. We didn't think much of his company name until we did a background check on it."
"When did you check it?"
"About a half hour after he was sent to get you," Greg said grimly, "Listen, you need to get him to stop, we don't know why he kidnapped you or what he wants with you."
Scott sent the car into a power slide as he avoided a roadblock.
"Who's that?" he asked as he flicked a few switches and twisted a knob on the console panel.
"Greg, my security adviser," Lauren said, "He want you to stop and let me go."
Scott snapped his fingers and held one arm back.
"Gimme that phone, I'll talk to him."
Lauren handed Scott her phone and he switched it to speaker mode and held it in one hand as he steered with the other.
"Yello, who's this?" he said.
"Are you the driver of the Aston?" Greg asked.
"Might be me," Scott said.
"You listen here, you stop now and we can all walk away from this. We won't press too many charges."
"I have a name, sir," Scott said with defiance, "It's Weblsy, Scott Weblsy."
"Okay then, Scott," Greg said with irritation, "I'm not going to give you another verbal warning, surrender now or you will face the consequences."
"Uh-huh, and where might you be to enforce that?"
"I'm in the police chopper and I am armed. Give up while you can, I've got the whole police force and over a hundred angry bronies after you and we will use lethal force if necessary."
Scott cringed but kept a grip on the wheel. He didn't like the sound of lethal force being used.
"Look, tell them to back off. People are going to get hurt if you keep this up and you might hit Faust as well."
"I don't care," Greg said, "So long as she's back and you are either dead or rotting in a cell."
"I'm not stopping."
"Scott Websly, I am ordering you to surrender now!"
"The fate of Equestria lies on Lauren Faust!" Scott yelled into the phone. There was a minute of silence, the only sounds heard was the sound of choppers, car engines and sirens.
"Take this joker out," Greg said. He then hung up and Scott heard the helicopter move closer.
"If only I had kept a low profile," he sighed. Rattling gunfire then shocked the two and sound of bullets hitting the car followed. Lauren screamed and covered herself with her arms, Scott weaved from side to side and watched the helicopter fly overhead and circle for another pass.
"What the hell?! You're supposed to help her not kill her!"
Scott looked at the buttons and pressed a green one marked "Stinger: Surface to Air". A few beeps followed ending with a continuous tone, Scott pressed a button on the steering wheel and a missile shot out from under the car and streaked towards the chopper. The chopper tried to evade but received a direct hit, it exploded into a fireball and plummeted towards the ground exploding again as it landed in the road.
"You okay Miss Faust?" Scott asked as he fiddled with a switch on the radio, Lauren could only gibber and cover her face. "Don't worry, I'll make sure that they don't try that again."
"All units," a voice came over the radio, "The car and driver are now hostile, terminate at your digression."
"What does that mean?" Lauren asked. Scott frowned as he watched the police cars and bronies converge on them.
"They're going to blow up the car, whether we're in it or not."
"But-but that means that they'll kill me too."
"I know," Scott said softly, his tone then hardened. "But I'm not going to let that happen, not now, not ever."
Scott then started flicking more switches and pressing buttons. A second barrier of liquid raised over the windows and froze, solidifying the bullet hole in the drivers side window. As two cop cars neared them Scott hit a button marked "Sidewinders: Rear Fire". He pressed the trigger button on the steering wheel and two smaller missiles shot out from under the doors and blew apart the front of the police cruisers, the cars skidded and crashed causing a few more cars to pile up. Scott saw that a few cars were packed together and he pressed a button marked "Mortars", as he did the truck popped open and several loud bangs shook the Aston. The trunk shut and several explosions followed coupled with the sound of screeching tires and smoldering metal smashing into each other, Scott then flicked a switch with "7.62mm Machineguns" labeled above it. Two pairs of machineguns popped out of the hood and swiveled from left to right before locking onto a brony car that had sneaked up on Scott. He pressed the trigger and the guns tore apart the tires and the engine of the hostile car, sending it careening into a mezzanine. Scott checked on Lauren and saw that she was still trying to hide herself, he shook his head and turned a knob marked "Tire Thickness" just before he ran over a spike strip. He ran over it unscathed but the cars that followed ended up getting their tires slashed. He then hit a button with "Caltrops" marked above it and several massive caltrops dropped out of the back of the Aston and tore apart the pursuing cars, as he skidded around a corner Scott saw that he had lost his pursuers and he flicked a switch labeled "Identity Evasion". Withing a few seconds the windows were fixed, the weapons hidden and the paint and licence plate of the car had changed entirely. Scott relaxed as he entered the tunnel, he slowed down and looked back to Lauren, she had stopped trying to hide and was now looking at Scott with wide eyes.
"What was all that about?" she asked.
"I was told that I could use all assets in extracting you safely," Scott said, "I'm sorry that you had to got through all that but I have to get you out of here."
"But earlier, you said that the fate of Equestria lies with me, what did you mean?"
Scott sighed and adjusted his seat. He didn't want to explain what was going on, not yet.
"Just sit back and relax, I'll tell you when we get there."
Lauren sat back and stayed quiet. Scott had been driving for almost three hours and she had no idea where he was taking her. Scott had told her to trust him and that he would explain everything on the way to Equestria, but that was the very thing that scared her. Equestria, what was Scott talking about? Equestria was a fictional world that she had created and according to her Scottish driver it existed and it was in trouble. Lauren couldn't contain her silence anymore.
"Scott," she said, Scott looked up in the mirror. "You said that you'll tell me what's going on while we're going to Equestria."
"Yes, is there a problem?"
"Well yes, there is. You know about enough about Equestria to know that it's a make believe world right?"
Scott snorted and stretched in his seat.
"I thought that too when I first arrived there, well, after I recovered from my psycho stage. But I persevered and I managed to adapt, got myself a few new friends as well."
"What do you mean by 'when I first arrived there'?" Lauren asked as she leaned forward, "Does it actually exist?"
"Oh yeah, I mean I didn't believe it at first but after Discord told me what I was going to be used for I started to accept what was going on. Then once he took over he..."
Scott stopped when he saw Lauren right behind him, breathing down his neck.
"Yes?" she asked.
"I've said too much," Scott said.
"Just as well, I'm not buying any of this."
"You should. After all, you created the damn place."
"What do you mean?"
"Like I said before, I'll explain on the way there."
As Scott drove Lauren knew that he was taking a different route to the airport. She didn't say anything however, Scott so far was level headed and he did save her life but she was afraid that he was secretly repressing something much more violent and anything she said about wanting to leave would set him off. After some time Lauren noticed that the roads were too rural to lead to an international airport.
"Um, where are we going?" she asked.
"Airport," Scott replied as he hid his face from a pair of police cars that sped past them.
"But this isn't the way."
"I know, we're going to a smaller one."
"A smaller airport?"
"Yeah, I've got to take you to Equestria and we both know that there are no domestic flights that go there."
"So, why are we going to a smaller airport then?" Lauren asked, "I thought that you said that there were no flight that went there."
"I said no domestic flights went there," Scott said, "However, if we can get a plane, I can fly us there."
"Can you fly a plane?"
"I'll figure it out, it's like riding a bike; I'll pick it up."
"God help me," Lauren thought.
Scott pulled onto another freeway and looked in his mirror as a helicopter passed by behind them. Lauren sat back and decided to keep quiet and not attract any attention or escape until she knew that it was possible, she knew that she could get away from Scott because he wasn't armed. Scott pulled onto an exit and followed the road until he drove up to a small airport, the kind that was usually filled with Cessnas and other smaller planes and helicopters, Scott drove past the hangars and stopped behind a smaller building. He opened the door got out and opened the door for Lauren, being more curious than scared of the outcome of what was going to happen. As she walked over to the building Scott took out a small control pad from his pocket and pressed a few buttons, the Aston changed color once more and then drove away all by itself. Lauren watched as the car drove away and disappeared around a hangar.
"In case you're wondering it's going back to where I got it from."
"Where did you get it?" Lauren asked.
"I just found it outside a nightclub," Scott said with a mischievous smile. He looked around and motioned Lauren forward. "Come on, let's get some wings."
Scott led the way with Faust in front of him, she knew that Scott would plan ahead and keep her in his sight but he was pleasant and she cooperated with him in full until she had her chance to escape. Scott pointed her through a few hangars and each plane they came across Scott would shake his had no and continue to the other planes parked outside. They made their way past several small prop planes and a few jets.
"Why not those?" Lauren asked as they passed a large private jet.
"Too big and slow," Scott replied, "Also the police are going to be looking for us and I think that a large jet will be an ideal suspect getaway vehicle, we need something a bit more incognito."
Scott led Lauren on and they continued their search. As they passed a pair hangars next to the taxiway Scott looked in between them and saw a few small jets sitting there. Scott stopped and looked closer at them, the jets that sat there shimmered in the sunlight, as he took a step closer he knew what they were.
"MiGs."
"What?" Lauren said as she looked at the jets with Scott.
"MiGs, they're all soviet old MiGs."
"Why are you so fascinated by those old planes?"
"Because Miss Faust," Scott said as she ushered her forward, "I've found our ticket to Equestria."
"What?!" Lauren asked as she neared the old fighter jets.
"It's too perfect, old MiG-15s. Will anyone suspect us in one of those?"
"And a passenger jet isn't suspicious?"
"No, I just don't want to be caught inside a slow moving target."
"Is the Air Force going to come after us?"
"I hope not," Scott said grimly, "Okay, this one should do."
He pointed to a MiG-15 with two seats, it looked like the others aside from the two extra drop tanks on the wings, there were holes in the front of the plane for the cannons and the jet's canopy was open slightly.
"I can't get in one of those," Lauren said.
"Sure you can," Scott said cheerily, "If I can get into the pilots seat then I think you can fit in the back."
"I'm not getting in that," Lauren said defiantly, "If you got me shot at on the ground then we'll be shot in the air as well."
"Oh come on, you know that's not going to happen."
"I'm not getting in that thing."
"Yes, you are."
"No."
Scott opened up his hand and a silver object materialized in his hand, slowly taking the form of a strange and futuristic revolver. The gun then took shape and Scott held it at hip level and pointed it at Lauren.
"Get in, now," he said.
"What is that?" Lauren asked.
"The Chimera revolver," Scott said with a cold, emotionless stare. He held the gun up higher this time at shoulder level and pulled the hammer back. "Get in the MiG."
"No," Lauren said, even though she was staring down the barrel of a large magnum she still didn't want to go anywhere with Scott.
"Get in the MiG!" Scott said a bit more directly, "Seriously, I don't want to shoot you."
Lauren stood there and looked Scott directly in his eyes.
"Will you shoot me though?"
"Only if you force me to, but if I did shoot with this then we'll both die."
"Why, is it a magic gun?"
"No it's a-"
"There they are!" a loud shout said. Scott span around and saw a large car with six people leaning out of it and one in the sunroof aiming a rifle at them.
"They found us," Lauren whispered in fear.
The car accelerated towards them, Scott aimed the Chimera at the car and pulled the trigger. The bullet struck the engine block and the car exploded in a fireball, the people who were on the outside flew in several directions. Scott then turned back to Lauren.
"And that's why I don't want to shoot you."
"Exploding bullets?" Lauren asked.
"Just get in the jet and let me escort you to Equestria, I'll tell you everything once we're on our way there I promise."
Lauren gave up and let Scott help her into the rear seat of the MiG, after what she was the Chimera could do she didn't want to resist anymore. Being killed wasn't something that Scott wanted and he did protect her when they were being shot at in the city, even though he had a gun she trusted Scott, he wasn't a madman nor did he show any intention of harming her. She was a little confused about the gun however, how did it just form in his open hand.
"Here, put this on," Scott said as he handed her a helmet.
"Why do I need to wear this?" Lauren asked as she slid it on.
"You don't want to be shot? You don't get seen," Scott said as he hopped into the pilots seat, "One more thing, don't touch anything."
Scott, after flicking several switches, managed to get the plane started. He fiddled with the controls for a minute and then pulled his seat belt on, Lauren followed suit.
"So will this work?" she asked. Scott strapped on his helmet and plugged it in.
"It was made by the USSR for their air force, anything military that's made by communists is guaranteed to work. Okay, now let's get this thing moving."
The MiG slowly rolled forward as Scott increased the throttle and released the brakes. In a strange feeling of awe, Lauren sat back and let Scott pilot them out from between the hangars.
"Goddamn it," Scott said as they swung around towards the runway, "Can't these buggers leave us alone?"
Lauren looked up and saw a blockade of police cars sitting in front of them, armed cops stood behind the cars aiming their weapons at the jet. Scott shook his head and turned his head towards Lauren.
"Looks like this is where it ends," she said.
"They haven't shot at us yet," Scott said as he pointed the plane towards the runway.
"They will if we run."
'We're not running, we're flying." Scott had turned the jet around and pushed the throttle to max, he looked back and saw the cops dive for cover as the back blast of the engine slammed into the cars. Scott chuckled a little and then rolled towards the runway, as he got himself into position he checked the fuel supply.
"Okay, we've got a full fuel tank and two full drop tanks. So the person who owns this filled it up or this Element might be the culprit."
"What element?" Lauren asked.
"The Element of Chaos," Scott said as he held the stone up for Lauren, "Discord gave it to me so I could help him take over."
"You helped Discord?"
"For a while yes, then I killed him."
"You killed him?"
"Can we get off the ground first?" Scott asked.
Lauren didn't say anything as Scott aimed the jet down the runway, the cops were already on them, charging from the other side of the runway. Scott pushed the throttle to max and pulled back on the stick, the MiG slowly started to soar into the sky. The police cars stopped and formed a barrier but Scott pulled back harder and the jet rocketed overhead, the wheels caught one of the lights a car and Scott felt the plane lurch a little but he kept control and ascended into the sky. He looked back and saw there were some cops running to planes or leaving the airport. Scott relaxed and turned on the helmet communication.
"You okay Miss Faust?"
"This is the first time I've been in a jet, and I hope it'll be my last."
"Don't worry, it will once we land."
The first half hour of the flight passed smoothly, the only conversation going on between Lauren and Scott was about why Scott was here and what Lauren was needed for. It then shifted to Scott's life once he told her about the time he helped Discord.
"So was it nice there?" Lauren asked Scott. He sighed and looked at the instruments.
"Yeah, it was nice back in Scotland. Shame I can't go back."
"Why, is there something wrong?"
Before Scott could answer a small prop plane shot overhead and then slowed next to them.
"Bloody hell, what's his game?" Scott said.
"I dunno but it looked like he tried to ram us," Lauren said. Scott looked at the pilots of the plane and saw that they were staring at him in annoyance. A voice then was heard on the radio.
"Pilot of the unidentified MiG, by order of the civil air patrol you are instructed to land now!"
"By what charge?" Scott asked.
"You are flying an illegal jet, land at the nearest airbase and hand over the aircraft."
"Look matey, I need to get somewhere fast and this jet just happened to be nearby."
"You will get no other warning, land now or you will be shot down."
"Keep up that attitude and I'll shoot you down."
The other pilot didn't respond, he slowed down and started to fly behind the MiG. Lauren watched as it drifted from side to side, avoiding the slipstream of the jet's engine.
"What are they doing?" Lauren asked.
"They're going to shoot at us," Scott said, he then flicked on the radio. "I'm warning you two, back off before you get hurt."
A hail of tracers flew over the jet in reply. Scott tightened his grip on the stick and put his finger over the trigger.
"Okay you pillocks, you asked for it. Miss Faust, I recommend you hold on"
Scott pulled back on the stick and the MiG shot up higher into the sky, he then turned sharply and ended up behind the prop plane which was now trying to evade him. Scott pulled the trigger and a storm of cannon rounds flew at the smaller plane, hitting it several times and causing it to smolder. Scott watched as the plane slowly fell, the two pilots jumped clear of the plane and deployed their parachutes. Scott smiled, knowing that they were safe. He then ascended higher into the sky and aimed towards the ocean.
"You know you're going to get the whole army on you now," Lauren said.
"Yeah, but they'll never follow us to where we're heading," Scott said. Lauren leaned forwards.
"Bermuda Triangle," Lauren thought, "Okay, I'll just roll with it."
Scott was humming merrily to himself as he piloted the MiG, he was happy and content with his new plaything. Scott did like his old Interceptor but after it was destroyed the MiG instantly took over. As he flew over the coast Scott did receive some transmissions from the air force but Scott ignored them and headed towards the Triangle. There wasn't much going on inside the MiG, all that could be heard was the rumble of the jet's engine and the sound of the instruments beeping. Scott didn't like the silence so he decided to break the ice.
"So why did you cancel the show?"
Lauren sighed and adjusted her seat belt.
"I normally wouldn't tell you but since we won't be going anywhere for a while we may as well kill time."
"Go on then."
Lauren sighed and leaned forward over the instruments so the she could talk to Scott.
"It's kind of a long story but I guess I can make it a little shorter for you if you want."
"Go ahead," Scott said, "We won't be doing much for the next hour or so."
"Well it started after the end of season three, our fan base had expanded and the show had become extremely popular. We were making a lot of money and the merchandise had been selling really well, as we were in the process of making season four something happened, something that crippled our show and the entire fate of the show. One of our voice actors ended up leaving, I'm sure you know who the voice actor for Twilight is."
"Yeah. Tara isn't it?" Scott said.
"She left after the last convention after the season ended, she didn't like how the fanbase expanded. She wanted to do kids shows and have a fanbase centered around what the show was going for. Soon after she left several of our writers and animators left as well, soon we started to lose money and we had to cancel the show. Much to the rest of our dismay the fanbase turned against us, they developed a burning hatred for both me and the rest of the cast of the show. I watched as the enraged fans tore apart pony shirts, plushies and burned the toys in the streets. It's sad really because they at first loved us and now they they want to kill us, but I managed to ease the tension and say what happened but they still don't forgive me. I'm now wishing that I had persuaded Tara to stay."
"It's not your fault," Scott said comfortingly. He then sighed and adjusted the jet as they passed over a small island. "When did you cancel the show."
"April 12th," Lauren said.
"And the year?" Scott asked. Lauren looked at him, confused. Did he know the date?
"2013."
Scott didn't say anything after that, all Lauren heard was tense and disturbing breathing that picked up over time.
"So the Apocalypse didn't happen?" Scott asked with a voice that sounded like it was breaking. Lauren was starting to get concerned.
"No, it never happened. Are you okay?"
"No, no I'm not. How? How could this happen?" Scott had calmed down but his free hand was over his eyes. Lauren leaned forward again.
"Are you okay?"
"I-I don't want to talk about it. Not up here."
"Sure, I won't say anything else."
"Thanks," Scott said softly. He let out a small breath and wiped his eyes off, he slid the visor on his helmet down and voices started shouting in his ear.
"Unidentified MiG, you are leaving US airspace."
"What?" Scott thought, he then replied to the call, "Pilot? Isn't it good thing that I'm leaving?"
"Negative, you are required to return into US airspace and land. You are wanted for shooting down a plane, land and surrender."
"If I'm an unidentified plane then how do you know it was me who shot down the plane?"
A long loud breath rattled Scott and Lauren's ears.
"Okay, you got us there," the pilot said, "We're not here for you, we're here for her."
"Who do you mean by her?" Scott asked.
"The passenger in the back."
Scott looked back to Lauren and saw her cower in fear as she watched a heavily armed F-16 fly closer to the MiG. Scott looked outside and saw more F-16 converge on them, at least two squadrons worth. He knew that an air battle was inevitable and he really didn't want to end up as a missile's new target.
"What do you want with her?" Scott asked.
"We want her to re-start the show," the pilot replied darkly.
"I've already said that it's impossible," Lauren said.
"We're dead," Scott thought. The pilot laughed a little.
"Ah Miss Faust, so glad you could join us. Now that we can talk I was wondering when My Little Pony is coming back."
Why does his voice sound familiar to me?" Scott thought.
"It isn't, I've already said that."
"Don't make me angry Faust," the pilot said, "I'm telling you now, make your pilot land and we will take you back to the US so you can start up the show."
"Listen here you," Scott said, "She's going where I take her and you're not going to stop me."
"You're going to land, Scott, or else."
Scott almost froze, he sat there petrified. He knew who's voice that was.
"Discord?" he said in a hoarse whisper.
"So you do remember me," Discord said.
"Wait, what?" Lauren asked, "Scott, tell me that I'm not hearing what I heard."
"I could only wish," Scott said. Discord spoke up.
"I'm warning you Scott, stop what you are doing and I won't kill you both, only one of you."
"I'm not stopping, Discord. Celestia wants my help and I'm going to do what she told me."
"How did Discord get here?" Lauren asked, "More importantly is that really Discord?"
"Yeah it is," Scott said.
The pursuing jets all gathered up behind Scott, he looked back and saw them all ready to attack. Scott tightened his grip on the stick and increased the throttle.
"Don't try and run Scott," Discord said. Scott ignored him and flew towards a large cloud covering, he hoped to lose Discord and his buddies in the storm that was forming over the sea.
"They're still behind us," Lauren said. Scott glanced at the fuel gauge and saw that the drop tanks were now empty but the jet's fuel tank was now full.
"I know."
"Let's see if you can outrun this," Discord said. A warning beep chimed in Scott's helmet and he looked back, a missile was streaking towards them. Scott pulled sharply to the left and the missile flew wide. Scott watched as each the jets fired their missiles. Scott increased the throttle to max and headed for the storm clouds.
"Hold onto your spleen."
Scott pulled back on the stick and sent the MiG into a barrel roll, a few missiles missed and exploded behind him. The pursuing F-16s caught up and started firing their guns, tracers lit up behind Scott and flew overhead him. Scott dove into a small cloud and span around. He wasn't going to be killed by Discord, he was going to kill him, again.
"Come on Discord where are you," Scott said as he left the cloud and looked for the jets.
"Ever wonder how I got here?" Discord said, he continued without Scott answering, "I managed to get enough strength and I followed you here, after I tracked you to the airport I took over these jets and followed you to where you are now. I was going to shoot you both down to stop you but I decided to let Faust live, but after your defiance I've come to the conclusion that neither of you can live, not if you're going to Equestria to save it."
"Sorry to disappoint Discord, but we're both going and you're not stopping me."
Discord snorted.
"Sorry to disappoint Scott, but you're both dying here."
A single jet flew into Scott's sights and he chased it down and fired. The cannon rounds tore the back of the hostile jet apart, the engine flickered and smoke pored from the holes caused by the rounds. The F-16 then dropped out of the sky like a stone, Scott watched it until it fell out of his sight, he didn't see anyone jump out of the jet so he assumed that the jets were possessed. Another F-16 flew past and Scott opened fire, this jet also received a hail of rounds and exploded, Scott rolled the MiG and looked for Discord's jet. He knew that Discord's jet would have some sort of identification on it to show that it was him flying. One jet swung around and flew behind Scott and fired, tracers streaked past the MiG, barely hitting it. Scott pulled up, dumped the throttle and let the jet pass underneath him. Scott then pushed the throttle to max and pursued the jet, firing the cannons as he chased the jet. Two other jets behind him crashed into each other and exploded, Scott shook his head and kept firing. The rounds finally hit home and the F-16 smoldered and slowly started to drop from the sky.
"No!" Discord yelled, "No! I'm not letting you kill me here!"
"Too bad," Scott said, "I killed you once, and now I'm going to finish the job."
Scott pulled the trigger again and the rounds splattered the back of the jet, a few managed to hit the ordinance on the wings and the jet exploded in a flurry of fire and metal, a long, loud scream let Scott know that his deed was done and Discord was now well and truly dead.
"Is he dead?" Lauren asked.
"I don't think he'll bother us anymore," Scott said cheerily.
"So where do we go now?"
"Equestria."
Scott leveled out and let the jet fly towards the storm. As they neared the turbulence picked up, Scott and Lauren were shook about. Lauren started groaning and hunched over.
"You okay?" Scott asked.
"No," Lauren wheezed. Scott groaned and held up the Element Of Chaos.
"Hey, can you touch the Element? You'll feel better."
Lauren didn't question Scott, she reached up and lightly brushed the Element. Withing an instant she started to feel better, she sat up and leaned back.
"Can that Element do more?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'll show you more but for now I don't want you getting sick in my jet."
"Your jet?"
"It's mine now," Scott said with a comical sneer.
Lauren laughed a little and sat back, the bumpiness of the flight had eased off but the cloud cover was still obscuring Scott vision. He weaved left and right so he could keep in any clearing that he could find.
"So how are we going to get to Equestria?" Lauren asked.
"I was told that there would be a portal of sorts around here, we just have to find it first," Scott replied.
"But how are we going to find it in this weather?"
"The more screwy the electronics get the closer we are."
"So how close are we?"
Scott looked at the instruments and saw the compass spinning wildly.
"Very."
Scott finally reached a breaking in the clouds and sitting in the center of what looked like a massive hurricane was a large green portal. Scott lessened his speed and flew higher.
"We're not going through that are we?" Lauren asked.
"I'll be honest, I didn't expect it to be this big," Scott said, he sighed and rolled the MiG upside down, "Here we go!"
He dropped the jet sharply and aimed for the center of the portal. The jet shook violently and Scott fought to keep control, as the portal loomed near Scott turned back to Lauren.
"If we die now I just want to say sorry for dragging you into this," he said.
"And if we live?" Lauren asked. Scott shrugged.
"Then we save Equestria and then I'll apologize to you."
The jet then was slowly consumed by the portal, for a few minutes all that could be seen outside was what green lines flying past like they were jumping to lightspeed. Lauren and Scott marveled at the sight but it was cut short when the portal ended and the jet was thrown into a massive cloud layer, the winds buffeted the jet causing Scott to go into a panic.
"No no no! I hate clouds!"
He speared left and right looking for a way out, an opening in the clouds broke open and Scott rocketed towards it. Scott breached the clouds and was greeted by sunlight.
"Ahh, finally."
"Something tells me you hate flying in clouds," Lauren said slyly as she leaned forwards.
"I was always paranoid as a kid," Scott replied, "I was afraid that we would fly too high and end up in space."
"What about ending up in a portal?"
"I never thought about that until now."
The two chuckled and focused forwards. They didn't know if they were in Equestria but what they did know was that they weren't in Florida anymore. The sky was too clear and the earth too fresh and undisturbed, as they continued flying Lauren saw what looked like a town over to the right.
"Scott, I can see something, it looks like a village."
Scott looked to where she was pointing and saw the town as well, he had seen the layout before and he knew what town it was.
"Ponyville."
"Are those smoke plumes rising out of the town?" Lauren asked. Scott looked closer and saw that she was right, the smoke wasn't thick but he could now distinctly see a mix of smoke and ruined buildings.
Scott and Lauren watched the town as the MiG circled it, even though they were five thousand feet about the town Scott was able to use the Element of Chaos to enhance their vision. Scott looked in the streets, desperately looking for any signs of life. Lauren was too mesmerized about how accurate the town was to her show, aside from the several wrecked houses she could pick out Sugarcube Corner, Sweet Apple Acres and Twilight's Library.
"What happened here?" Scott said.
"It's all real isn't it?" Lauren asked, not paying attention to Scott, "Is this all happening?"
"Yes, this is Ponyville," Scott said, "You can have your revelation once we land. I need to figure out what happened to this place."
Lauren kept staring out of the canopy.
"It looks so peaceful."
"Yeah, but the farm's apple trees are all dead and it looks like the town hall has been smashed," Scott said. Lauren didn't break her view with the town but she addressed Scott.
"It does look a little different from what I imagined."
"A little different? Half the bloody town has been destroyed."
"So what can we do?"
"Find out what happened, first we need to land."
Scott circled around the town a few times until he found a large flat field outside the Everfree forest, he lessened the throttle and created a landing pattern after circling the pattern a few times he landed on a patchy section of grass. The jet shuddered and shook as it rolled across the grass, Scott deployed the air brakes and slowed the MiG down. As the jet came to a steady stop Scott pulled it into a cluster of trees and switched off the engine. He undid his seat belt and took off his helmet.
"There we go. Miss Faust, welcome to Equestria."
The canopy slid open and Scott jumped out, he tossed his helmet on the pilots seat and helped Lauren out of the jet. As set her helmet on her seat and let Scott help her down, he then jumped back up on the wing and closed the canopy.
"So where do we go now?" Lauren asked.
"Ponyville of course," Scott said as he jumped down next to her, "But I need to do something first, you go ahead and wait for me outside this grove."
Lauren didn't object, she knew that now there was no chance of escape and she didn't really care too much anymore. Scott had said that he was going to take her to Ponyville and she knew what the place would look like, even if it was half destroyed. Not wanting to wander off Lauren waited under a tree, in a place she had created, there might have been something that she didn't take into consideration and she needed someone like Scott to show her the way.
"Right I'm ready," Scott said from behind her. Lauren turned around and was stunned ridged, walking over to her was a steel gray pony. It's mane was exactly the same as Scott's, black and silver colored with a swept back appearance. It also had the same burned arm or foreleg and Lauren could see the stallion's blue eyes and a small red stone around his neck.
"Okay, let's get going," the pony said, he also sounded like Scott.
"S-Scott?" Lauren said. The stallion nodded.
"You okay? You might want to hold onto something."
Lauren lost her balance, shocked by the sight. She staggered and then fainted. For a few minutes all she could see was darkness but she could hear some sort of distorted voice.
"Hey. Miss Faust? Can you hear me?"
"Where am I?" Lauren asked.
"Just relax," the voice said, "Look, I'm sorry that I didn't warn you."
Lauren felt herself being propped up against something, her vision was returning and just as earlier there was the pony. He was sitting beside her rubbing the back of his head. Lauren sat up and rubbed her eyes.
"Let me get this straight, are you Scott Websly?"
The stallion nodded and conjured up a full water bottle from the air.
"I'm sorry about shocking you," Scott said as he handed the water to Lauren, "There's a few things I failed to tell you and I promise you that I'll tell you what to expect from now on as we make our way to the town."
"How did you make the water?" she asked.
"The Element of Chaos can do a lot more than just this. It's okay, trust me."
Lauren drank the water and handed the empty bottle to Scott, who took it and crushed it between his hooves. There was no evidence of the bottle when Scott brushed his hooves off on the grass.
"So, Scott," Lauren said. Scott looked up as she stood back up, his head only came up to her elbow. "When are we going to Ponyville?"
"Now, just stick by my side and I'll show you the way."
Scott and Lauren made their way to Ponyville, as they did Scott explained the Element Of Chaos to Lauren. She was quite interested to hear about what he was able to do with the powers that Discord gave him, Scott even explained how he got the burns on his arm. The time where he save the Cutie Mark Crusaders from a Manticore in the Everfree forest and how a bond between the fillies and him formed after he saved them from the abusive Chaos Guardians after Discord took over.
"So you took care of them until Discord was killed?" Lauren asked.
"I did what I had to in order to stop them from suffering a painful death," Scott said. Lauren sighed and looked down at Scott.
"What was Discord like?"
"He was okay at first, a little strange and rather polite. But after I killed the Maticore which he sent he punished me for my disobedience, after I learned my lesson I was sent to Canterlot for Luna's birthday, Discord told me that once I get there I was to destroy the Elements of Harmony so he could take over. After I was compromised I managed to escape and then find the Elements, once they were destroyed Discord took over and then he...changed. He became corrupt and I discovered that he was a true psychopath, ponies that were imprisoned were beaten and tortured by the corrupt guards. I was horrified by the atrocities committed and I swore to end it, I formulated a plan and soon I managed to confront Discord and kill him. After that, I got banished to the moon by Celestia and then, well I'm here with you now."
"But the jet," Lauren said quietly, "That was Discord, wasn't it?"
"He's the God of Chaos," Scott said, "Even now I don't think that he's dead."
"Let's just hope that he is."
Several minutes of walking later the two came to the bridge that led to Ponyville. Before they crossed Scott stopped dead. He looked around and cocked his head to one side.
"Something doesn't feel right," he said.
"What do you mean?" Lauren asked. Scott turned around and looked at Lauren.
"Look, it's been a year since the last humans were here and I don't know what their policy is towards our kind is. It's best if you leave the talking to me until they warm up to you, I've got a funny feeling that something has gone badly wrong."
"Did you not get that feeling when you saw the smoke?" Lauren asked.
"I did, but now that we're here the feeling is mutual and much stronger."
"Do you think that there's anyone who can help us?"
"I can think of one pony, one who will sound very familiar to you."
Scott took the lead and Lauren followed, both of them looking around for any signs of life. Lauren was trying to take in as much of the town as she possibly could knowing that this could not be real, not until it was proven real. Scott however was looking around, a mix of confusion and uncertainty on his face. He could see some staring eyes and shadows in the windows of houses and in alleys, Scott slowed down next to Faust and told her to stick close to him. He soon led her to the library where Twilight lived, Scott shook off his nervousness and stepped up to the door. Lauren watched as he rapped on the door and stood back.
"Stay close," Scott said to Lauren.
Scott knocked again and an irritated voice answered.
"Alright, alright! I'm coming."
"That sounds exactly like Tara," Lauren said. Scott stood back and a purple unicorn opened the door, she looked irritated it first and then shocked. Scott just smiled at the unicorn.
"Hi Twilight."
Twilight stood rooted to the spot, a stunned look plastered on her face.
"Scott?" she breathed.
"Did you miss me?"
Twilight didn't reply, she rushed forward and hugged Scott who embraced the welcome. Scott held her head and felt tears of joy trickling down his neck.
"I did miss you, I missed you so much," Twilight said.
"I'm just as happy to see you," Scott said, "So what's been going on?"
Twilight loosened her grip around Scott's neck and saw Lauren behind him, she let go and pulled him behind her.
"Stay back monster!" Twilight exclaimed, Lauren backed up as she watched Twilight's horn glow purple.
"Amazing," she said. Scott jumped up and stood between Twilight and Lauren.
"It's okay, she's not going to hurt you."
"How can I trust your former kind after what they did to us?" Twilight said.
"Look, I'll explain everything later but we really need to get inside."
Twilight looked at Lauren and then to Scott.
"How can I trust the human?"
"Because if I didn't trust her then she wouldn't be here," Scott said. Twilight stood back and let Scott and Lauren in, she looked unsure when Lauren entered her library but she went with it since Scott had said that he trusted her. Lauren looked around, agape at the new environment.
"What's up with her?" Twilight asked Scott.
"It's just like the show," Lauren said, "Everything is here, the books, the desks, everything."
"Almost everything," Twilight said sadly as her ears drooped. Scott placed a hoof on her shoulder.
"Something up?"
"Spike walked out on me."
"What?" Lauren asked as she walked over, "How could he do that?"
Twilight shifted her view from Lauren to Scott, she didn't want to lay eyes on the human until she could trust her.
"Spike left here three days after the Changelings were expelled, he said that he didn't want to live with weak ponies and that he had gone back to the dragons."
"That's not the only thing that's troubling you," Scott said, Twilight looked up at him. Scott sat down next to Twilight. "Come on, tell me everything."
Twilight took a deep breath and then listed what had happened.
"It all started after the Changelings left. A lot of the ponies who had been freed weren't the same, they became bitter and unfriendly. I had arrived in Ponyville shortly after the town was deemed safe and I asked my brother what had happened, he explained everything and once he told me that the culprit had escaped I got mad at him because I knew that Chrysalis had taken his mind and I wanted to help him, we soon fell out and he said that he didn't want too see me ever again. After that it got worse here, the town had been half destroyed and the ponies who were rebuilding gave up thinking that it was too hard and the culprit of the attacks on the town was nearby living in the forest. Pretty soon the town started to fall apart, both structurally and socially. Homes started to crumble and ponies started to become paranoid of each other leading to distrust and hate, this even managed to spread to my friends. All of us haven't seen each other for almost eleven months, I know that the link between us and the Elements of Harmony has been broken."
"What happened to your friends?" Scott asked Twilight. Lauren leaned closer to hear.
"Rainbow Dash was the first to change. During the attack her wing had been badly damaged and she hasn't been able to fly ever since, she became really hostile and she didn't want to see any of us again. I haven't seen her flying or trying to fly ever since. Rarity was the next one to leave us, she didn't say much but the last time I saw her she was slumped over a table weeping. When I asked her what was wrong she said that she had lost all inspiration and creativity, she also tells me that Sweetie Belle has become malevolent and rude, refusing to see or do anything with Rarity. Applejack disappeared a day after what happened to Rarity. She went back to her farm and every few days I would see her bucking trees by herself, I went to ask her why her brother and sister weren't helping her, Applejack said that she could do it herself and she didn't say another word after that. I'm sure that you passed the farm and saw how many apple trees are left alive, because after a month almost all of them are dead. Now because of that we're suffering a famine and a lot of ponies moved out of town. But the famine was overshadowed by Pinkie, our beloved party pony has now become antisocial and depressed, almost like what happened when we didn't show up for her party but worse. I remember when Rainbow Dash told me that she had made friends out of inanimate objects but this time she just says in her room and stares out of the window. Ponyville has never been the same since Pinkie changed. As for Fluttershy, her own animal friends betrayed her and now they either moved away or have staked out and wreaked her home. This has happened so many times that Fluttershy has stayed here a few times because she's afraid of her own pet rabbit, I only saw her a week ago and I'm really worried. As for the rest of Equestria, I don't know if you heard what happened."
Scott placed a hoof on Twilight's cheek and he made her look at him.
"I heard what happened, Twilight, and I'm going to help fix it."
Twilight smiled a little but when she saw Lauren it dropped.
"Is she going to mess things up like the last human?"
"Who was the last human?" Lauren asked. Twilight sighed and stood up.
"His name was Douglas O'Riley, he was the one who was affected by Chrysalis' mind changing spell. She managed to get Douglas to work for her until he got rid of the Changelings, even though he did that he hit my brother in the face and made some sort of gesture at him before he vanished in the forest. At lot of ponies believe that he's waiting to attack again."
Scott sighed and walked over to the door.
"We can worry about Douglas later, but for now, let's get our five friends back."
Scott, letting the morale of the town take over led the way to Sweet Apple Acres. He wanted to see if he could end the famine first then restore Applejack's friendship. Lauren ignored Twilight's protests of being brought along and stuck next to Scott, she wasn't expecting Twilight to be unfriendly when they first met but she put her fate in Scott hoping that he could get her to persuade the Mane Six to like her and accept her as a friend. As they made their way through the outskirts of the town, which looked worse than the center of Ponyville due to the charred buildings, the three walked side by side, Scott in the middle of Twilight and Lauren. Wondering why she was here, Lauren decided to ask Twilight what was going on in the world that she created from her imagination.
"Twilight, do you mind if I can ask what's going on in Equestria?"
Twilight looked at Lauren and then to Scott.
"Go on, she's not going to make anything worse."
"Equestria's on the verge of collapse," Twilight said, "From what Princess Celestia told me we are under the threat of attack from the dragons and that a few places in the kingdom are going to secede from Equestria. King Sombra has also made a return and he's taken over the Crystal Empire again. The Crystal ponies became his slaves again and Celestia is powerless to stop him, even with our new allies we can't fix everything."
"Who are the new allies?" Scott asked.
"I don't know," Twilight said, "All I do know is that they're suffering the same problems as us."
"Good thing that some of you are sticking together rather that fighting each other," Lauren said.
"Okay, Scott I wasn't going to say anything before but I really want to know why the human is here."
Scott stopped and walked backwards so he could face Twilight.
"Because my dear Twilight, she's here to help me save Equestria. Aren't you, Miss Faust?"
Twilight stopped dead and her jaw dropped.
"Faust?" she said, "You mean the Faust? Our Creator?"
All Scott did was nod and Twilight dropped to the dirt and cowered under her hooves.
"I'm so sorry great Creator," she whimpered, "Please don't erase me for my hostilities."
Lauren crouched down next to Twilight and placed a hand on her head.
"It's okay Twilight, you said sorry and that's all that matters."
Twilight removed her forelegs from her face and looked up at Lauren, she relaxed when she saw that she was smiling, Twilight sat up and let Lauren take her hooves in her hands.
"I've never dreamed of psychical contact with our Creator," Twilight said as she stared at Lauren's hands.
"I never dreamed of being in the very world that I created," Lauren said. Twilight looked up at her.
"Can we put what happened between you and me behind us? Can we be friends?"
"Sure, I'd be honored to be your friend," Lauren said. She pulled Twilight closer and held her in a hug, Twilight was a little confused at first but she hugged back. Scott was standing back, smiling and looking very pleased.
"One down, five to go," he thought.
After Lauren forgave Twilight, Scott ushered them on. This time Twilight stood between Lauren and Scott talking with both, eager to find out how Scott had brought Equestria's creator to the world that she made. Lauren and Scott were more than happy to entertain Twilight with how Scott managed to get back to Earth and how he acquired the Aston Martin and when he managed to pose as a limo driver and then rescue Lauren from the police and angry fans. It then went to when Scott found the MiG and engaged in an air battle with Discord and his possessed jets and the flight through the Bermuda Triangle. Lauren then ended with her reaction to seeing Scott as a pony and what she thought of Ponyville, Twilight laughed a little and smiled.
"I'm really glad that you're doing this, Scott," Twilight said.
"I did this under order from Celestia," Scott replied, "I'm also doing this because I've been watching over you and your friends. I know that you're all upset and suffering from troubles, I can't sleep knowing that you cry for your friends and for the status of Equestria."
Twilight's ears sagged again and Lauren put her hand on Twilight's head.
"It's okay, we'll help set everything right."
Twilight smiled and ran to catch up to Scott. They passed an empty field then they came across a dead tree, the leaves had rotted and turned brown, the trunk was cracked and a gray color rather than brown and hanging from a branch was a half rotted, fly infested apple.
"Looks like we're here," Scott said as he batted the apple, it fell off the branch and landed with a splat. Twilight and Lauren followed him but then Twilight took the lead saying that it would be best if she explained what was going on to Applejack, even though they hadn't seen each other for a while. Twilight led Scott and Lauren up the path to the house and stopped for a second.
"Something wrong?" Lauren asked. Twilight looked back at her.
"I don't know if Applejack'll want to talk if she sees you, Douglas had her in a Changeling cocoon when the Changelings took over."
"I'll tell her who it is," Scott said, "She'll trust me."
Twilight relaxed and walked over to the door, just like the rest of Ponyville the house was in a state of neglect, faded paint was peeling off the sides of the house. The state of the front porch was shameful, it looked as if was about to fall on top of Twilight so Scott formed a barrier with the Element to hold it up in case it did. Lauren and Scott stepped closer as the sound of someone approaching the door grew louder.
"Who in tarnation is it?" a disgruntled southern voice asked. Scott looked up at Lauren and gave her a sly smile.
"Sound like someone else you know?"
"It's all too familiar."
Twilight leaned closer to the door.
"Applejack, it's me Twilight."
"Oh, what d'you want?" Applejack asked, still sounding grumpy and stressed.
"I've brought a friend who wants to see you."
"And who's that then?"
"Why don't you come out and see?"
The sound of a lock unlatching and then sliding was heard, followed by the rattle of the door knob. The door then opened and standing in the doorway was a haggard and messy looking Applejack, her mane and tail was messy, her normally orange coat was coated in patches of mud and she wasn't wearing her rancher hat. Applejack blinked a few times in the light and when she saw Scott she rubbed her eyes and took a step closer.
"Scott? Is that you?"
"You okay Applejack? You don't look too good," Scott said.
"Ah've been busy lately," Applejack replied. She stretched her back and then saw Lauren.
"Whoa nelly. Get back monster!"
"Applejack, I'm not here to hurt you," Lauren said, but this made Applejack more afraid as she backed up into her house.
"Ho-how do you know mah name?"
"I...uh."
"She's the one who made you Applejack," Scott said as he held the door open with the Element's telekinetic powers. "She is your god."
"Ah don't believe that for a second," Applejack said as she tried to push the door shut.
"Applejack, I'm here to help you," Lauren said, "It's the honest truth."
Applejack stopped pushing the door and looked at Lauren, she was unsure about trusting the human but she needed all the help she could get.
"I also know what's been keeping you occupied," Scott said as he held the door open, "It's your sister isn't it?"
Applejack looked away but Scott could see the tears forming in her eyes, he walked up to her and Applejack hugged him and started to sob.
"Ah don't know if she's gonna make it."
"It's okay," Scott said as she patted her on the back, "Let's go and see her. I might be able to do something."
Applejack let go of Scott and led him, Twilight and Lauren through the house and upstairs. A lot of the house's interior was in the same condition as the outside, wallpaper was peeling, furniture looked like it hadn't been dusted in weeks and the smell of mildew was hanging in the air. Twilight and Scott nervously glanced at each other and followed Applejack into a room, inside the room Applejack's older brother Big Macintosh was sitting on a stool next to a bed while Applejack's grandmother, Granny Smith tended to something that was lying in the bed. Big Mac looked back to Applejack but when he saw Lauren he jumped up and shielded the bed, baring his teeth and pawing the floor. Scott dove between him and Lauren.
"It's okay, she's not going to hurt you guys."
"Promise?" Big Mac asked.
"I promise that I'm not going to hurt you or your family," Lauren said. Scott stepped back and Big Mac sat back on the stool.
"They only want to see Apple Bloom," Applejack said with a hint of sadness. Big Mac let Scott pass but he had Lauren stand back, he didn't fully trust her yet. Scott approached the bed and saw a pink bow sticking out of a pile of covers.
"Apple Bloom?" Scott said softly, the mass stirred and moved.
"Scott?" Apple Bloom said weakly, "Scott, it that you?"
Apple Bloom rolled over and sat up, Scott was shocked on how she looked but he kept it hidden. Apple Bloom's cheeks had gone green and she looked pale and sweaty, she coughed a few times and it sounded heavy and raspy. Granny Smith gave her some water and she drank it but cringed in disgust a second later. Scott sat down on the floor and stroked her cheek.
"What happened to you?"
"She ate a poisoned apple," Applejack said, "It had something in it and we didn't know until Apple Bloom showed us."
"How long ago was this?"
"More than seven months ago."
"I have some books on medicine if you want them," Twilight said, "Oh Applejack, why didn't you bring her to me or Zecora when she got sick?"
"Ah didn't want to leave her side, and don't you remember? Zecora left the forest just after the Changelings attacked."
"Can you guys think of some way to sure her?" Lauren asked.
"There are a few remedies that Granny Smith made but they're not working."
"Applejack," Apple Bloom said.
"Yeah Apple Bloom?"
"Ah'm not gonna make it to tomorrow am ah?"
Applejack started to tear up again as Big Mac and Granny Smith put their forelegs around each other. Scott shook his head and leaned on the bed next to the sick filly's head.
"Have you heard from Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo?" he asked.
"No, we disbanded the Cutie Mark Crusaders after the Changelings left, our treehouse got destroyed by Douglas and were we going to rebuild it when he led the attack on Ponyville."
Apple Bloom coughed again and sighed, she leaned back on the headboard and sniffed as tears ran down her face.
"Ah don't wanna die yet."
Scott wiped a tear off himself and sat up, he knew what to do in order to help Apple Bloom. After all, Discord and the Elements of Harmony had given him a few new abilities.
"It's okay Apple Bloom," he said as he placed a hoof on her stomach, "Sometimes things happen and we can't change the outcome, but sometimes a little bit of Chaos can come and change everything."
And with that a jolt of electricity ran from the Element of Chaos, down Scott's foreleg and into Apple Bloom's stomach. Apple Bloom jerked and sat up, clutching her stomach and groaning. She shakily got off the bed and stumbled around until she stopped in the middle of the room, she started shaking and heaving.
"What did you do to her?!" Applejack asked.
"Give it a second," Scott said as he held up a hoof. Apple Bloom sunk down on the floor and started hacking up what sounded like a hairball. She spat something out and pushed herself away from what looked like a small green ball of mucus with tentacles.
"Ew, what is that?" Twilight asked.
"Don't know and don't care," Scott said as he stomped on it repeatedly, the slime ball was reduced to nothing more than a green splat as Scott removed his hoof from the spot where the parasite was.
"Was that inside me?" Apple Bloom asked. Scott turned around was saw that her color had returned and she didn't look green anymore.
"It must have been, looks like it was feeding off of you. But it's okay now, you're cured."
The mush on the floor and on Scott's hoof went up in small fire that lasted a second, when it went out there was no evidence of the squashed parasite on either. Applejack walked over to Apple Bloom and examined her, she then picked up the filly and hugged her. She held Apple Bloom and looked up at Scott.
"Thanks Scott."
"How did you do that?" Lauren asked as she walked over, Apple Bloom saw the human and cowered in her sister's hooves.
"The Element of Chaos," Scott said as he stroked Apple Bloom's mane, "After the Elements of Harmony were absorbed by it I gained a few extra powers along with the ones that Discord gave me. Hey, it's okay, she want hurt you."
Apple Bloom looked up and Lauren and let go of Applejack, she walked over to Lauren, ears flat against her head. Lauren reached out a hand to the filly and she put her hoof in it, Apple Bloom looked up at Lauren and bit her lip.
"You're not gonna hurt us like the last human here?" she asked Lauren. Lauren smiled and nodded
"I could never harm something as innocent as you."
Apple Bloom smiled and leaned into Lauren, who hugged her. Apple Bloom giggled and hugged back. Scott was touched but the matter of the farm being dead still loomed overhead.
"So Applejack, want to go and restore the trees?"
"Can you make them grow again?" Applejack asked.
"I'll think of something," Scott said.
Applejack led the way outside and showed Scott a small cluster of apple trees, the trees were on the verge of dying but there were a few bright red apples and green leaves. Scott plucked an apple and split it in half, it was clean and fresh, he took a bite out of one half and tossed the other half to Lauren who had followed the two outside. She eyed the fruit nervously but she got over her fear and ate the apple.
"Is it good?" Applejack asked. Lauren nodded.
"I didn't know that something I helped create could be so good."
"What?" Applejack asked, Scott nudged her.
"Are these your last living apple trees?"
"Yeah, but we don't have enough apples to supply the town. There's barely enough to keep mah family going."
Scott looked up into the sky and saw a small cloud hovering over the farm, he grinned and nodded as an idea formed and he had the Chimera materialize in his hoof. He turned the cylinder until he found a particular chamber in the cylinder.
"What's that you have there?" Applejack asked.
"Just a little something that might revive the trees," Scott said as he aimed the Chimera up at the cloud. He fired and the bullet blasted the cloud and erupted in a flash of lightning, the cloud then settled and a small rainstorm formed from the cloud and the rain soaked the trees and made the dusty ground turn to mud. Applejack stared in amazement as the rain fell.
"Rain, actual rain."
"Now those trees should grow within a few days," Scott said as the Chimera disappeared in a small haze of metallic dust, "But if we can get a bigger storm cloud then we can revitalize the entire farm."
"We need to get Rainbow Dash back," Twilight said as she watched Apple Bloom and Applejack play in the rain.
"She's on the list but I seriously think that the next pony who we should get back is our party pony," Scott said.
"Pinkie Pie?" Lauren asked. Scott nodded and got the attention of Applejack, she walked over and shook off the rain that had washed the dirt out of her mane, tail and coat.
"Now then, who wants to help me get Pinkie back to her usual self?"
"I'll go with you," Twilight said.
"And me," Applejack added.
"I'm coming anyway aren't I?" Lauren asked. Scott nodded and turned to Twilight.
"Lead the way Twilight, we've got a party to start up."
Twilight nodded and motioned the group to follow, Scott followed close behind her hoping that Pinkie would remember him from when he helped her after Discord took over.
The trip through the town this time was a little less lonely but the feeling of hostility still loomed overhead. There were a few other ponies who came out of their homes and wandered around the streets, they stared at Lauren with suspicion but when they saw the ponies around her they went back to wandering aimlessly about the town. They viewed Lauren's interaction with Scott, Twilight and Applejack as strange but they stayed away from the four. When they managed to get deeper into the town Scott walked over to a pony who was tending to a small patch of dead roses.
"Hi," Scott said, "Which way to Sugarcube Corner?"
The pony didn't give Scott a second glace, she just tended to the flowers and shook her hoof to the left.
"It's over there," she said, her voice devoid of emotion. Scott looked at the dead roses and placed his hoof over the Element around his neck and felt a warmth run through his body which then went icy cold. The pony looked at him with confusion as he stepped closer to the roses.
"What are you doing?"
Scott snorted and spat out a glob of saliva into the soil, the pony stared in disgust and watched as the phlegm was absorbed by the soil and the roses started to quiver. Scott and the pony watched as the roses slowly started to turn green and blossom, within a few seconds the roses bloomed and grew twice their original size.
"Wow," the pony said, "Did you do that?"
"Yeah," Scott said as he put one hoof around the pony's neck, "Makes the place seem so much brighter."
"Three months of trying to get these things to live and you manage to do it in less than a minute."
"Just keep them alive, I'm sure that you'll have all of your orchard alive by the end of the week."
Scott left the pony to her garden work and joined Twilight, Applejack and Lauren. Twilight nodded in approval and led the way to Sugarcube Corner.
"What did you do?" Lauren asked.
"I just made the town a little brighter," Scott replied, "So, where's my former place of occupation?"
"Just over here," Twilight said. She led the three to a half wrecked building in the shape of a cake, Scott inhaled deeply and sighed.
"Ah, memories. Come on, let's go and see if the Cakes remember me."
Scott took point as they entered the store. The interior was a wreck, chairs and tables were scattered across the room trash and half eaten stale cakes littered the floor, the signs of a family trying to get on in tough times were visible. Scott shook his head in disbelief as he walked deeper into the store.
"Scott," Twilight said. Scott cut her off before she could say another word.
"Hello? Mr and Mrs Cake? Are you here?"
Lauren walked into the kitchen and looked at the mess on the worktables.
"How could they leave the kitchen in such a state?" she asked.
"They haven't been in Ponyville for a long time," Applejack said, "The Cakes left a few days after the town famine started."
"Wait, when did the famine hit?" Scott asked.
"Over nine months ago," Twilight said, "It started in Stalliongrad and then moved around the kingdom until it stopped here."
"Was Canterlot affected?"
"No, they managed to find a way to stop it at their gates, but they're trying to distribute as much spare food as they can to the other towns."
"This is terrible," Lauren said, "I didn't know that something like this could happen here, this was meant to be a stable and peaceful world."
"Why are you concerned?" Applejack asked.
"Because I made this world."
Applejack sank to the floor and bowed before Lauren.
"Ah'm sorry your Greatness, if ah had known that you were the Creator then ah would have given you a better greeting."
"It's okay Applejack, meeting you alone was enough."
"Aw, thanks sugarcube," Applejack said as she rose.
"No-one's ever called me sugarcube before."
"She's renowned for saying that word, aren't ya Applejack?" Scott said as he ascended the stairs, he stopped halfway up and fabricated a small pair of two-way radios, he gave one to Applejack and mounted the other on his back. "We need to stay in contact of each other in case we find Pinkie. This place is bigger than it looks."
"Ah don't know how to use these," Applejack said as she fiddled with the palm sized device, Lauren took it from her and clipped it to her front shirt pocket.
"I can use this, it's easy enough for someone like me to use."
"Good, now you stick with Applejack, Twilight, with me. We'll take a look around upstairs while you search the basement," Scott said as he and Twilight went up the stairs.
"I have to ask, why do we need these when I can just teleport to them every so often?" Twilight asked as she opened up a door to the left, which was an empty bathroom.
"Because I've got nasty feeling in the back of my mind and I don't want us to get separated."
"What, do you think that Pinkie's in her murderous Pinkimina stage?" Lauren's voice crackled over the radio, Scott chuckled and pressed the transmit button.
"Nah, I know that she's in her killer mood," Scott said in a very dark tone, "Stay away from the shadows."
Scott and Twilight searched all of the bedrooms upstairs and they both ended with the same result: Nothing. Scott called Applejack and Lauren and they too hadn't found Pinkie. Frustration taking over his mind, Scott started to look for attic hatches and secret doors hoping to find something that might help. He did find an attic hatch in the hallway and he called Applejack and Lauren upstairs.
"You think Pinkie's up there?" Lauren asked once she arrived. Scott nodded.
"Hopefully, Twilight, bring the ladder down."
Twilight brought the ladder down with her magic and ascended the stairs. In the darkness of the attic Twilight was unable to see but a small window let in some sunlight which cut a bright line across the wood floor and ending at a tinge of pink on the floor.
"Pinkie?" Twilight shakily asked. She was greeted by a pair of blue eyes staring at her. "Um, Pinkie, are you going to come downstairs and meet the new townsfolk?"
The eyes continued to stare, Twilight shifted from one hood to the other.
"Well, um, the new ponies who moved here. They have heard about you and they want to meet you."
The eyes moved, tilting to one side and then the lower eyelids moved upwards slightly and a set of pearl white teeth glowed in the sunlight.
"Sure Twilight," a disturbing voice said, "I'd love to meet the new folks."
"Okay then," Twilight said uneasily, "Let me just light the way for you."
Her horn glowed and Pinkimina Diane Pie walked over to her and stopped next to the attic hatch. Twilight left the attic first and Pinkie followed, what worried Twilight the most was how Pinkie would react to Lauren. Her fears were confirmed, once Pinkie saw Lauren her creepy smile dropped and she lunged at her without warning, but before she could get close an unseen force slammed her into the ceiling and then the floor.
"I-MUST-KILL-THE-MONSTER!" Pinkie yelled as she struggled against the force that was holding her down.
"You're not killing anyone Pinkie. Do I need to hit you on the nose again?"
Pinkie stopped squirming and she looked up at the stallion with the glowing stone around his neck.
"Scott?" Pinkie said in a breath. Scott sat down next to the prone Pinkie and stroked her mane.
"What happened to the lovable pony that gave me a job here? Where did all that random kindness go?"
Pinkie smiled as tears streamed down her face. Scott released the field holding her and she dove on top of him, the two tumbled a few times before Scott slammed the back of his head into a wall, Pinkie was hugging him tightly around his neck, crying and laughing.
"You're back, you're really back," she said through tears.
"I missed you as well," Scott said as he pressed his head against Pinkie's flattened mane, "You've changed in the year I was gone."
"A lot's been happening."
"I know."
Pinkie nuzzled Scott's neck making him laugh a little and tighten his grip around Pinkie.
"Is somepony ticklish?" Pinkie taunted.
"Don't get any funny ideas," Scott said, he saw Lauren crouched down next to Twilight and nodded to them. "Pinkie, do you want to say hi to my new friend?"
Pinkie let go of Scott and slowly walked over to Lauren, her head almost touching the floor in fear.
"I'm really sorry I tried to attack you," Pinkie said, "I've been through a lot but I didn't mean it."
"It's okay Pinkie," Lauren said, "You said sorry and I forgive you. Also, where's your trademark mane and tail?"
"Huh?" Pinkie asked. Scott stood next to Pinkie and put his hoof on her shoulder.
"She means the usual fuzzy look that you had. I think I know a way to get it back to it's original form."
Scott poked her in the ribs and a small shock ran through Pinkie, making her giggle and causing her mane and tail to fluff up. She felt the fuzziness of her mane and smiled.
"Thanks Scott."
"Well I wouldn't be able to do it if somepony wasn't ticklish," Scott said jokingly. Pinkie punched him playfully on the foreleg.
"I'm really glad that you're back to your old self," Twilight said.
"Me too," Pinkie said, "I don't know how I sat up there for so long without getting bored."
"You say some strange stuff Pinkie," Applejack said.
Pinkie grinned and looked at Lauren.
"So who are you?"
Lauren got down to head height with Pinkie and pulled the pony closer to her.
"Pinkie," she said softly, "This might seem a little bit unusual and it might be hard to believe but I need to tell you something, something of utmost importance."
Pinkie shuffled closer and stared at Lauren.
"Yes?"
"Pinkie, I am your god."
"What?" Pinkie said with a laugh, "Everypony knows that those are old mares tales right? I bet it's a joke you made with Scott, you know, because he's a human like you."
"You still remember that?" Scott asked.
"No, I'm not joking with you Pinkie," Lauren said, "I know you, I helped create you. Pinkie Pie, you have to believe me."
"I don't know if I can right away, but I will if you prove it."
"Is it me or has Pinkie, changed?" Scott asked Twilight. Twilight nodded and continued to watch the human god and the party pony.
"I can prove it Pinkie, I know all about your life and how you got your Cutie Mark."
"How could you know? We've never met until now."
Lauren took hold of Pinkie's head and stared her directly into her eyes.
"You once lived on a rock farm with your parents and your sisters. It was a boring life for you, nothing ever happened and you longed for some color in your life. One day you saw a rainbow and it made you smile, and because of that good feeling you vowed to make your family happy as well and you succeeded. You threw a party for your family and they loved it, henceforth you got your cutie mark."
Pinkie's jaw crashed to the floor, she sat there frozen. A whole three minutes passed before anyone said anything.
"If she's not your god then how does she know so much about you?" Scott asked. Pinkie's lower jaw retracted and she sighed.
"I guess you're right, Scott," Pinkie said softly. She then switched to her normal high pitched voice and held out her hoof, "Nice to meet you, whoever you are."
"It's Lauren, Lauren Faust."
"Ohhh, so you are the Creator. Why didn't you tell me your name?"
"It didn't cross my mind."
"Ooh! Ooh! Wait here for a second."
Pinkie shot off like a bullet, leaving only a cloud of her form that dissipated in a second. Lauren and Scott looked at each other questioningly and Pinkie returned, a box on her back.
"Oh my god, she's got a cake," Scott thought.
"Here you go," Pinkie said to Lauren as she handed her the cake. Lauren opened the box with shaking fingers as Scott leaned closer to see what kind of cake it was. Twilight and Applejack leaned over Scott to see as well. The four looked at the cake, it was a chocolate cake with white icing. Written on the cake were the words, "Welcome Great Creator". Scott sniggered and shifted his amused stare to Pinkie.
"You've got a cake for every kind of situation haven't you?"
"Yep, I'm always ready for any cake related greeting."
No more than a second had passed when an ear splitting shriek rang through the building. Lauren and Twilight jumped up as Scott and Applejack ran to the stairs.
"What the bloody hell was that?"
"Ah don't know but whoever it was they sounded scared or something."
"Let's go and help them then," Lauren said. Twilight and Scott started at her like she was mad.
"What? But Creator," Twilight started to say but Lauren cut her off.
"I was brought here to help fix Equestria, I'm not letting Scott here take all of the glory."
"I have to agree there, no point in bringing you here if you're not doing anything."
The scream rang out again and Scott ran down the stairs.
"Come on! We need to find out who that is."
Twilight, Lauren, Pinkie and Applejack bolted down the stairs as well and followed Scott as he ran into the shop but he backed up against the wall just as quickly and made the others stop.
"What is it?" Twilight asked Scott glanced around the corner and shuffled closer to Twilight.
"Bears," he whispered, "And a lot of them."
Pinkie leaned around the corner and saw six full-grown brown bears in the store. She frowned and skulked back towards Scott.
"They're eating my cakes," she hissed.
"What are they doing here anyway?" Lauren asked.
"Ah've never seen bears do this before," Applejack said as she peered around the corner and saw the bears eating the cakes, "Hey, ah see something in that cupboard."
Scott leaned around the corner and looked toward a small cupboard in the corner of the shop, he squinted and was just able to see a small pink tinge sticking out of the bottom of the door.
"Fluttershy?" he said to himself.
The bears stopped eating and rummaging and started sniffing the air which made the cupboard shake violently. Scott watched as one of them pointed out the pink sticking out of the door and they advanced on it, growling and baring their teeth. Faint whimpering drifted from the wooden box and the bears surrounded it, they started pushing it back and two between themselves before the one behind it slammed it to the floor. Screams of terror followed by crying filled the room, it was Fluttershy.
"We need to do something," Twilight said.
"We need to scare them off," Applejack suggested. The sound of wood being broken and torn apart started up and they looked again to see the bears ripping the cupboard open.
"No! Please don't hurt me!" Fluttershy's panicked voice rang out of the box. Lauren's blood started to boil, she wasn't going to stand by and let the most friendly and timid pony get hurt by animals that she once cared for. She stepped out from behind the wall and faced the bears.
"Hey! You leave her alone!"
The bears stopped attacking the cupboard and looked at Lauren, Twilight, Applejack and Pinkie had jumped behind her as well. They too weren't going to let Fluttershy get hurt but they didn't want to fight the bears. The bears dropped to all fours and stalked over to the four, a few licking around their mouths, the others growling.
"It's okay, there's five of us and six of them," Pinkie said, she then looked behind her, "Hey, where's Scott gone?"
Twilight looked around and saw nothing, only a strange black mucus like substance where he was standing. She backed up as the bears advanced on them, suddenly a black slime started to bubble up from the floor next to the bears, they stopped and stared at it as the slime made a foul smelling puddle and from it a black and slime covered hoof emerged. The bears backed up as a pony slowly rose up from the puddle, it stood before them coated in the slime and staring with white and red eyes. It walked forward and each step had a distorted rumble to it, the bears started to back away more quickly but the slime stallion kept pace, it managed to reach one bear and it grabbed it and pulled it into the floor instantly. The remaining bears gave cries of terror and ran out of the bakery. Twilight ran over to the cupboard and pulled out a very shaken Fluttershy who grabbed Twilight and started shaking.
"Thank goodness you were here to stop them," she said, "I don't know why they tried to attack me."
"It's okay, you're safe now."
Suddenly the slime started to form on a part of the ceiling and it dripped onto the floor next to Fluttershy. The slime gained in diameter and something started to fall out of it, Twilight and Fluttershy moved in time because the slime coated carcass of the bear fell out of the slime and crashed to the floor. Pinkie, Lauren and Applejack walked over to them, each covering their noses and leaning over the dead bear.
"What was that thing?" Applejack asked.
"I think I've seen something like that before," Lauren said as she pulled her shirt over her face.
"Great, now I've got all this to clean as well," Pinkie said irritably.
"Don't fret, I'll help you," a voice from above them said. The four looked up and saw Scott, halfway out of the slime puddle on the ceiling. He was also coated in slime and he was pulling himself out of the ceiling, he managed to pull himself out and he landed on top of the bear's body. He rolled onto the floor and shook off the slime.
"What did you do?" Twilight asked.
"I got the idea from a game I played a long time ago," Scott said, "Did you like my slime monster appearance?"
"I know I've seen that thing you did somewhere before," Lauren said.
"When you came through the floor and took the bear, what did you do with it?" Applejack asked.
"I dragged it into a pocket dimension that I created during my banishment," Scott said.
"You made a pocket dimension?" Twilight asked.
"Three hundred and eighty three days alone with the powers of a god does make you do some pretty neat things. Any of you have any dreams about a large, black metallic bird that sounded like thunder?"
"Is the bear okay?" Fluttershy asked nervously. Pinkie lightly kicked the bears head and it flopped to the left, Fluttershy covered her mouth with her hoof and Lauren stared at the body in shock. Scott shrugged and pulled the corpse into the slime puddle and the goop swallowed the body and dissolved it.
"What did you do to it?" Pinkie asked.
"I finished something that Fluttershy started," Scott said.
"You broke it's neck," Pinkie said.
"I know."
Lauren watched as the two slime puddles get sucked back into the ceiling.
"So who do we find next?"
"I say Rarity," Twilight said, "I need to see if she's doing okay."
"We'll do that once the animals have been expelled from Fluttershy's residence," Scott said as he helped the shaking pegasus up. Fluttershy looked at Scott, thinking that he was a ghost.
"Is it really you, Scott?" she asked.
"Aye, it is me."
Fluttershy hugged him gently around his neck and let go, her cheeks going pink.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"It's okay Fluttershy, I've been gone for a while and you just wanted to show that you missed me."
Fluttershy smiled and hugged Scott again but she saw Lauren behind him and she let go. Fluttershy backed away and sank down to the floor.
"Hello," Lauren said softly.
"Um...hi," Fluttershy said with a fearful squeak.
"So are you Fluttershy?"
Fluttershy nodded as Lauren sat on the floor in front of her.
"Why are you scared of me?" she asked, "I'm not going to hurt you."
"You won't, but the last one did," Fluttershy said.
"You mean the last human who was here? What about Scott? He's a human and you don't seem afraid."
"I know, but Scott is...different, in a good way."
"Aw thanks, I'm blushing," Scott said.
"You're welcome," Fluttershy said. Scott pulled her closer and whispered in her ear.
"Shall we solve your animal problem now?"
Fluttershy jumped up and started to hyperventilate.
"Oh no, Angel!"
"You mean your pet rabbit?" Lauren asked. Fluttershy nodded and pressed herself against the nearest window.
"He's being held captive by the evil animals, they want to take over my cottage."
"Well then," Scott said as he stood up, "Looks like we've got a rescue mission. Who's in?"
"I am," Lauren said.
"Same here," Twilight said.
"Ah'll join ya'll," Applejack quipped.
"Sure! Let's kick some booty!" Pinkie said.
"Not so fast Pinkie," Scott said, "We're not going to hurt Fluttershy's animals, we're just going to rescue Angel. Nothing more."
"Okay," Pinkie said reluctantly, "But I was hoping to help save Angel with you."
"You can but leave the hostile animals to me, I'll take care of them."
"Will you hurt them?" Fluttershy asked.
"I'll give them a fright, nothing more."
"So are we going to save Angel?" Fluttershy asked.
The group looked at each other and nods.
"Let's go," Lauren said. Scott eyed her suspiciously.
"That's a little bit unlike you, I wasn't expecting such an adventurous spirit."
"I created this world, Scott. I might as well roll with whatever's going on."
"Okay then, let's go and help Angel," Twilight said with a hint of uneasiness.
Fluttershy led the group to her cottage, as they passed more staring ponies Scott materialized the Chimera, he held it with a telekinetic field and checked the cylinder. Twilight got closer and studied the revolver.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Something I made a while ago when I was bored," Scott replied as he span the cylinder a few times, "I call it the Chimera revolver. It's basically a .357 magnum that has a few special functions."
"Like what?"
"Each chamber holds a elemental bullet, making six in all. There's fire, explosive, lightning, acid, poison, and my personal favorite; the repercussion pulse round."
"What does the last one do?"
"It creates a small pulse field that it capable of disabling electronics, frying circuitry, jamming transmissions and disrupting electrical patterns in the brain."
"So will that round damage anypony's brain if they are in the field?"
"It depends all on how much of the field has surrounded them. At best they'll be a little confused but if they're in too deep then they will die from the destruction of brain cells."
"It'll kill them?" Twilight asked with surprise.
"Well it is a weapon I created to bridge the gap between Earth and Equestrian weapons," Scott said as he lined the chamber marked "Acid" with the barrel, "It's a mix of magic and gunpowder, best of all is that once I use all the elemental shots it'll fire conventional rounds indefinitely until I reload the elemental rounds."
"So how many of the elemental rounds do you have?"
"Enough to take on the Chinese and Indian armies."
Pinkie bounced in front of Twilight and Scott and walked backwards.
"I meant to ask Scott," she said, "Back in the bakery when you said something about a 'Big, black metal bird that sounded like thunder', I meant to ask you if you knew what it was."
"Sure I do," Scott said happily, "I thought that you might like it."
"What was it?" Lauren asked.
"Just let me say this first," Scott said as he ran to the front of the group and walked backwards like Pinkie. He cleared his throat and kept up his jog. "When I was on the moon I was told in a letter from Princess Celestia that I was allowed to use the Element Of Chaos to keep myself sane and happy. So that's what I did, I made some neat armor, built a few weapons and created the pocket dimension. Soon however I started to get bored with the Element and I managed to pull a few things from my home world, soon after I learned that I was able to walk freely among the ashes of my destroyed home planet and loot as much as I like. During one trip, I came across a library and I went inside. I found a ton of books that interested me and I brought them back to my room in my crater and I created a little library for my entertainment."
"You did a lot of stuff while you were banished," Applejack said.
"Thank you, but I will ask if you wait until I'm done. Now where was I? Oh yes, when I was skimming thought the books I nabbed I came across one about military aircraft. I looked through it and found a couple of interesting jets that operated during the same decade. Now one of which Miss Faust knows about."
"You mean that MiG?" she asked.
"Exactly," Scott said smugly, "But that's not the plane which I've started to like the most. What I can tell you is that the plane in question is both massive and very impractical here, and I also couldn't find one."
"So what was it?" Pinkie asked.
"A B-52 Stratofortress."
"You mean one of those huge bombers used in the Vietnam war?" Lauren asked. Scott nodded.
"The very plane. Sadly I don't have the life energy to create one for use here and I don't really think it'll be useful."
"You didn't have the life energy?" Twilight asked with disbelief, "How come you were able to create a pocket dimension then?"
"Because the pocket dimension counts as a dream," Scott said with irritation, "Making a pocket dimension takes the same life energy as making a Dreamscape. If I wanted to fabricate and fully functional long range bomber it would probably kill me."
"So you make it in dreams so that you don't die from the loss of energy?" Lauren asked.
"Precisely. I'm amazed you got it Miss Faust."
"What is life energy anyway?" Twilight asked. Scott sighed, a little tired of explaining everything about what he had done but he had to tell them soon.
"Life energy is basically what I use to create anything with the Element Of Chaos. Think of it as a rechargeable battery that keeps me alive and allows me to use the Element, it's sort of hard to explain but I can tell you that since my life energy acts like a battery there is the possibility of it draining if I use the Element too often or if I try and create something massive it could kill me. Last time this happened was when I managed to use the Chaos blast for the first time to kill the Manticore."
"How did it almost kill you?" Lauren asked.
"It just drained my life energy to dangerously low levels, nothing more."
Lauren saw Scott rub his burnt foreleg, she wondered if he was able to heal it but she decided to keep quiet. After all, they were nearing the cottage.
"Here's my cottage," Fluttershy said as they arrived at the foot of the walkway that led to the front door. Out of all the ruined or decaying buildings in Ponyville, Fluttershy's cottage was the worst looking. The front door looked like it was just hastily repaired by someone who was in a hurry, the windows were all smashed and the outside of the house had been soiled upon several times. Scott stared in amazement.
"How did you cope with all this?" Lauren asked.
"It was really hard to," Fluttershy mumbled.
"So where's Angel?" Scott asked.
"He's upstairs somewhere," Fluttershy said as she backed away, "I-I can't go in there. Not with all those mean animals."
"How many are in there?" Twilight asked.
"About fifteen, but that's all I can see," Scott said as he peeked through a broken window, "Looks like there might be more upstairs."
"Why would they be holding Angel hostage?" Applejack asked Fluttershy.
"I don't know."
"So does anyone have a plan?" Lauren asked.
"I do," Scott said as he sneaked over to the door, "I'll go inside and clear the front room out, then you guys go in and wait for me as I go upstairs and rescue Angel. Once I have him I'll get downstairs and we make a run for it to Twilight's library."
"Why my place?" Twilight asked.
"Because it's the last place they'll look," Scott said. He peered through a crack in the door and backed up. The five watched as Scott held his burnt hoof out and a swirling cloud of black dust formed around it, their expressions changed from curious to dumbfounded as a large black box with a long silver blade appeared in Scott's outstretched hoof.
"Any of you seen 'The Shining'?" he asked.
"I've heard of it," Lauren said, "But why do you have a chainsaw?"
"There's a very famous scene in it that makes me laugh every time I think of it, I've waited over four years to do my own version."
"What did you call that thing that Scott has?" Twilight said to Lauren as Scott started pulling on the ripcord to make it start.
"A chainsaw, it's used for cutting down trees."
"So why does Scott have one? I don't see any trees that need to be cut down."
Lauren was about to reply when the roar of the chainsaw's motor started up and Scott revved it a couple of times. He then slammed the saw into the door and sliced upwards, leaving a gaping hole in the top of the ruined door. Scott held the saw behind him and stuck his head through the opening.
"Hereeeeee's Scotty!"
A series of frightened squeaks and roars came from the inside of the cottage as Scott started hacking away the door, he managed to get inside but just as Twilight and Lauren were about to follow a wall rose from the floor and blocked them from entering.
"Why did he do that?" Lauren asked.
"He's blocked the windows off as well," Pinkie said.
"So what do we do now?" Applejack asked.
"I guess we wait here," Twilight said as she sat down opposite the door. Lauren leaned against the fence and stared off into the distance.
"How did this place become so bad?"
"Didn't you hear about the evil human who helped the Changelings?" Pinkie asked.
"I'm sure that you'll be able to fill me in, Pinkie."
Pinkie stood next to Lauren and told her all about the human named Douglas, Pinkie didn't miss a single detail. From how she met Douglas' parents to the time she and him blew up the CMC clubhouse with the party cannon. She then moved onto the day when Fluttershy told them that Douglas had been kidnapped by the Changelings and how he ended up helping them take over Ponyville, Pinkie's mood shifted when she told Lauren about the celebration and how Douglas stole and drank Applejack's secret cider stash. Lauren laughed when Pinkie told her on how drunk Douglas had gotten on the cider, but stopped when she heard that Douglas managed to get rid of the Changelings then escape after hitting Shining Armor in the face.
"So where is he?" Lauren asked.
"We don't know, last we heard of something that looked like him was over in the gem quarry but that was seven months ago," Twilight said.
"I hope Scott's doing okay," Fluttershy said.
"He's been on the moon for a year," Applejack said as she placed a hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder, "Ah think he'll be able to handle a few varmints."
A gunshot suddenly rang out and the five jumped up. They looked around and Pinkie then pointed out something forming on the side of Fluttershy's cottage. It looked like a bunch of green bubbles, they looked closer and heard hissing coming from the bubbles and watched as the wall slowly started to open up. Once the opening was wide enough they saw Scott standing on the other side, chainsaw around his neck dripping in blood.
"Right-o, I did a little more than I meant to," he said as he stepped through the hole, "I recommend that you don't touch the wall, it's still got a little bit of sulfuric acid on it."
"Acid?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah, sorry about your wall, Fluttershy."
"Did you get Angel?" Fluttershy asked. Scott turned sideways and a small white rabbit was clung to his back but he jumped off and ran over to Fluttershy once he saw her. Fluttershy stooped down and hugged the rabbit. She looked up at Scott with tears in her eyes. "Thank you, Scott."
"No problem, you take him back to Twilight's library and hide there. We're going to try and see if we can find Rarity and Rainbow Dash."
"I say we find Rarity first," Twilight said, "If we all go to see Rainbow Dash then she might not be as hostile as she usually is."
"You know what I don't understand about you Scott," Lauren said as she, Scott, Twilight, Applejack and Pinkie ventured to Carousel Boutique, "How come when you were bringing me here you didn't use the Element Of Chaos more often?"
"I was using it," Scott said, "Didn't you remember the Aston that I drove?"
"Oh yeah," Lauren said.
"What's an Aston?" Pinkie asked.
"It's the vehicle that Scott used to bring me here, well, one of them."
"It's upsetting that we couldn't bring it here with us," Scott said.
"Why don't you make one then?" Applejack asked.
"Because I don't want to drain myself over another four wheeled bomb, you remember my old Interceptor and Discord."
"What about Discord?" Lauren asked. Scott sighed and hung his head.
"When Discord took me he somehow managed to bring my second hand Police Interceptor with me and I used it as a distraction so I could fight him. But it was more of a sacrifice, I lost the car and since I was to be banished, I had no need for it. Shame really, I use it in my Dreamscapes but not in reality."
"I'm still not understanding you," Lauren said.
"That's okay, I have trouble understanding myself sometimes."
As they made their way to Rarity's shop Scott saw a filly sitting on a tree stump sniffling and wiping her face off. Even though he knew that he might be against time, Scott decided to see what was wrong with the young pony. He told the others to wait for him at Carousel Boutique while he went to talk with the filly.
"Hey there," Scott said as he walked over to the filly.
"Yeah, hi," the filly said rudely. The filly was a pink tinge with a curly mane and tail with a tiara cutie mark. She turned around slightly but she then span around when she saw Scott behind her. "Hey, you're the pony who I saw in my dreams."
"Yeah, that's me."
"What are you doing here? Am I dreaming still?"
"No, I'm actually here."
The filly rubbed her foreleg and sighed.
"I'm sorry for sounding rude mister, it's just that I've been kind of upset and I have nopony else to talk to."
"I'm here, you can talk to me. What's your name?"
"Diamond Tiara."
"Ah yes, I remember you now. You're the one who used to wear that tiara all the time, what happened to it?"
"That monster Douglas broke it," Diamond sighed, "He crushed it and told me that my dad had tricked me because the diamonds were fake."
"Interesting," Scott said as he dug a small hole with his hoof, "Do you know what diamonds are made from?"
"No, why? Do you know?"
Scott nodded as he pulled a small black rock from the ground, it was dusty, hard and had a very strange smell to it.
"Diamonds are created when coal, such as this, is compressed under intense heat and pressure. After that it cools and sits underground for a while until it gets mined."
"So why do you have that rock?" Diamond asked. The Element around Scott's neck glowed as the lump of coal caught fire and Scott crushed it between his hooves, he twisted the mineral and removed his hoof. Shining in the sun was a diamond the size of a tennis ball, Diamond stared in amazement as Scott once again crushed it and twisted the diamond a few more times. This time instead of a crushed diamond or some other element Scott reveled to her a diamond tiara, exactly like her old one but the diamonds shone and glittered in the sun. Scott placed the new tiara on Diamond's head and smiled as she felt it.
"I-I-I don't know what to say," the ecstatic filly said.
"A thank-you is fine with me," Scott said.
"First you get rid of my nightmares and then you give me a new tiara. Why?"
Scott shrugged and stood up.
"I'm just a really nice guy, I'll help anypony no matter who they once were. Just return my kindness to others who need it, can you do that?"
Diamond Tiara nodded and ran off with a new and happy spring in her step. Scott laughed a little and ran to join Twilight and Lauren at Rarity's shop.
"What took you so long?" Pinkie asked as Scott ran over to her.
"I was just helping somepony," Scott said, "So then, are we going to get Rarity back to her old self?"
"We can but I think it'll be harder than Pinkie," Twilight said.
"Why's that?" Lauren asked. Twilight sighed and slowly walked over to the door.
"Rarity's a emotional wreck, last time I saw her she was making these awful looking dresses and she didn't say anything the whole time I was there."
"Sounds rough," Applejack said.
"That's not the worst of it," Twilight said, "Sweetie Belle, Rarity's own little sister, has changed. She's become very rude and self centered. I think that she's also got something to with Rarity's constant silence, she might be controlling her or something."
"Let's get in there then," Scott said, "I'll have a little chat with Sweetie Belle, you guys just get Rarity to normal."
Twilight nodded and led the six inside, for a pony who was suffering from some sort of mental breakdown the place was in good condition. A few dresses and fabric pieces littered the floor but the tables were covered in drawing, unfinished designs, ribbons, gems and a pile of sewing equipment. The group walked in and started to search among the clutter covered tables for the white unicorn, they knew that she would be hiding in one of the piles.
"Rarity? Rarity, where are you?" Twilight said.
"I can't find her anywhere," Pinkie said.
"She's under here," Scott said, pointing to a pile of discarded fabric on the floor. Sticking out of the fabric was a purple, frazzled and curly tail. Twilight walked over to the tail and pulled it out, lying in the fetal position was none other than Rarity. She as shaking and looked as if she hadn't slept in several days.
"Are you okay sugarcube?" Applejack said to the shivering unicorn. Rarity shook her head.
"Are you going to say hi to me or not?" Scott said as he leaned down in her eyesight. Rarity looked up and slowly stood up, her mouth was open in amazement. She licked her lips and shakily spoke.
"S-S-Scott, is that you?"
"None other," Scott replied. Rarity rushed forward and hugged Scott. He sighed in relief and put his burnt foreleg around Rarity's neck, he could feel the soft sobs and tears coming from her.
"I knew that you would be back," Rarity said.
"It's going to take more than a banishment to keep me from my friends," Scott replied.
"How was it?"
"Boring and gray, much like England when I was living there."
Rarity laughed a little as she loosened her grip around Scott's neck. He kept his head hidden behind hers which was handy because a certain little filly had just entered and Scott knew who it was.
"Uhggg, does Rarity have a new coltfriend again?" a small and squeaky voice said.
"Um, hello Sweetie Belle you remember-?" Rarity said but was cut off by Sweetie Belle.
"Yeah yeah yeah, whatever. Where's the food at?"
She stopped dead when she saw Lauren standing among the ponies.
"Who is this?" she asked.
"Are you Sweetie Belle?" Lauren asked.
"Yeah, why do you care?"
"I was just wondering if it really is you, because the Sweetie Belle I've heard of isn't rude and sullen like you."
"Well guess what, I'm no longer that little frail filly. I've changed and there's nothing you can do about it."
"They won't, but I sure as hell will," a voice from behind Sweetie Belle said. Sweetie Belle turned around and saw a very irritated Scott looking down at her.
"Oh, you're back," Sweetie Belle said with almost no kindness or care.
"Yeah I'm bloody well back and I don't like how you've been acting throughout the year," Scott said. Sweetie Belle snorted.
"So what if I got a little harsh with Rarity, I've been perfectly fine without her or you."
"You remember how I got this?" Scott asked as he held up his burnt hoof. He didn't even wait for Sweetie Belle to reply before he continued. "I know that you remember how I got this and saved your life along with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo."
"You got lucky."
"And if I recall correctly I managed to keep you safe from Discord when he was ruling the place."
"I was able to take care of myself, even if he was still ruling I'd be okay. I'm tougher than you think. I can easily got on without Rarity. Now changing the subject a little, can the human leave? It's starting to get me nervous, it might break something or allow the Changelings to take over again."
"Okay that's it," Scott said as he grabbed Sweetie Belle around her chest. Sweetie struggled for a second but she then froze when she saw black slime bubble up from the floor and slowly engulf Scott.
"W-w-what's that?"
"Your worst nightmare."
Sweetie Belle watched in horror as the slime slowly oozed up Scott's legs and over his body, she tried to kick the slime away but it was still crawling up her legs and engulfing her stomach.
"You're not going to hurt her are you?" Lauren asked. Scott shook his head just as the goop took over his flesh, Sweetie Belle looked up and saw that Scott's appearance had changed, she tried to scream but the slime made it up to her mouth, she saw Rarity and the others standing back and watch as the slime slid over her eyes and made everything go dark.
For the next few minutes all Sweetie Belle could feel is herself breathing, she slowly opened her eyes and saw nothing but darkness. She sat up and looked around, she was sitting on an island in a black void, other islands were floating around too, each one with some sort of gray haze swirling around on it. Sweetie Belle stood up and walked over to the edge of the island and looked down, all that she could see was never-ending darkness, she backed up and looked around.
"H-hello?" she called out, "Anypony there?"
"Oh good, you've woken up."
"Scott? Scott where am I?"
"You, my little friend, are in my pocket dimension," Scott's voice said, a slightly evil cackle to his voice. Sweetie Belle started to grow afraid, she hadn't heard this side of Scott.
"Uh, Scott. I'm sorry for what I said. I didn't mean it, honestly."
"Only if you would have said that earlier, maybe then I wouldn't have dragged you here."
"I wanna leave," Sweetie Belle whined.
"You will, you will," Scott's voice said, "Before you do I want you to see something first. Why don't you have a seat?"
"Um, okay," Sweetie Belle said as she backed away into the middle of the island. A few clicks started up around her and she looked around, there wasn't a chair or stool on the island, she opened her mouth to say something when a sudden force hit her from under her hooves and she found herself sitting in a cold metal chair. Before Sweetie Belle could react clamps locked over her hooves and legs, preventing any escape.
"Hey!" she yelped, "Let me go!"
"Remind you of something?" Scott asked. Sweetie Belle tugged on her restraints.
"No, let me go, Scott."
"You don't remember being a prisoner of Discord? But I managed to save you from that horrible fate. How can you not remember?"
"I try not to think about it."
Sweetie Belle felt something tap her horn and she looked up to see the human form of Scott smiling down at her, he was dressed in a black metal vest, shin guards and a black helmet with a blood red stone in the center of the forehead. She relaxed when she saw that Scott's smile was kind and understanding rather than psychotic or evil, he walked over to the front of the metal chair and sat down on a stool that materialized out of the air.
"Do you ever wonder what would have happened if hadn't been there to help you when you were in the castle?" Scott said, his tone and expression darkening.
"N-n-n-no," Sweetie Belle stuttered. Scott sighed and leaned closer to the filly, so close their noses almost touched.
"Care to see the nightmare you would have lived in?" Scott asked. Sweetie Belle shook her head. "Too bad, you are."
"No, Scott, wait!"
"You need to learn a lesson kiddo, I've been watching you for the past year now and I know what you've been doing to Rarity. I'm not happy about that and I'm going to show you what your life would have been like if I had been snuffed out by Discord."
Sweetie Belle struggled in the chair as Scott conjured up a mist cloud, she tried to look away but a clamp closed over her forehead and locked her view forwards. She was forced to watch as a scene formed in the mist cloud. It showed her, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo in chains and in the Canterlot dungeon, all of them cowering against the wall in fear. The cell door opened and a Chaos Guardian, one of Discord's possessed servants, entered and threw a badly damaged and charred helmet towards the Crusaders.
"There's your hero, or what's left of him," the Guardian said with an evil laugh. He then turned and left, laughing and slamming the cell door. Scootaloo picked up the helmet and sighed.
"What do we do now?" she asked.
"Ah don't know," Apple Bloom said.
"Shouldn't we try and escape?" Sweetie Belle said. The real Sweetie Belle knew that it wasn't her speaking in the vision, she started to say something but Scott shushed her and told her to watch.
"What's the point?" Scootaloo said as she threw the helmet down, "Scott's dead, our friends and family have been taken from us and who knows what might happen to us."
"Ah don't want to die here," Apple Bloom said as tears ran down her cheeks.
"I want to see Rarity," Sweetie Belle said.
The cell door opened up again and this time six Guardians entered followed by none other than Discord himself. He had an amused smile and he walked over to the three fillies, they backed up against the wall and cowered.
"So then, now that you've been down here, are you going to tell me how you got here and why you were helping Scott in my downfall?" Discord said.
"W-w-w-we're not saying anything!" Sweetie Belle piped up.
"Let us go!" Scootaloo said.
"Let me see mah sister!" Apple Bloom demanded.
Discord shook his head and walked away.
"I gave you a second chance and you ruined it. Guardians! Take each one to a torture room and find out what they know, after that put them in the Hole, if they survive that is."
Two Guardians grabbed Scootaloo and dragged her by her tail out of the cell, she was screaming and shouting for Rainbow Dash and her friends to help her but the other four had grabbed and restrained Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. The two squirmed to get out of the Guardians' grip but to no avail. Apple Bloom managed to land a hoof on one Guardian's nose and he dropped her, the other Guardian pulled out his club and started to beat the filly, she screamed and cried but Sweetie Belle could do nothing for her friends, she tried to escape but the Guardians had her in a tight grip. Sweetie Belle watched cell doors and hopeless looking ponies pass by, eventually she was taken into a dark room and thrown onto the floor. She squealed in pain and rolled onto her back, around her were various instruments and devices made to torture ponies.
"Got another one for you," one Guardian said.
"Another filly?" a second Guardian leaning over a table said, "Will this one scream as loud as the last few?"
"I don't know, does it look like I care?"
Sweetie Belle tried to get up and run but the chains around her legs were being pinned by a third Guardian. The Guardian picked her up and carried her over to a small bench with straps, Sweetie Belle froze and didn't resist as the Guardians took her shackles off and strapped her to the table. As this was going one the real Sweetie Belle felt the chair that she was clamped to slam back and turn into a table, she still couldn't move but she could no longer see the mist vision, instead all that she could see was the endless void of darkness coupled with floating islands. Scott leaned over her from the head of the table, he rolled up the sleeve on his right arm and showed her the burns.
"You remember how I got this?" he asked.
"Yes," Sweetie Belle meekly said.
"You know that if I had died in that fight you would've been eaten."
"B-b-but what would have happened to my sister?"
Scott snapped his fingers and the clamp around Sweetie Belle's head released and she was able to look around. Scott took her head and turned it to the right where another mist cloud was starting to form.
"No," Sweetie Belle said in a whisper.
This vision was now being set in the center of Ponyville, Discord was standing on a pedestal as Chaos Guardians kept a massive crowd back with spears and other mean looking weapons. Next to Discord was a wooden structure, it looked like a raised platform with a rectangle of wooden beams protruding out of it. Standing under the beam were six badly beaten ponies, each one with a rope around her neck. Sweetie Belle looked closer and saw one white pony and knew who she was.
"Rarity!" she said, "Scott, what are they doing to her?"
"I really didn't want to show you this but I need you to know what would have happened to your sister if I had died."
Sweetie Belle was transfixed by the vision, she wanted to look away but Scott kept a firm hold on her head.
"Subjects of my rule!" Discord shouted, "I present to you six ponies accused of treason and plans to rebel against me. For these acts I hereby sentence them to death!"
Sweetie Belle stared in horror as Discord nodded to a Guardian and the Guardian took hold of a lever.
"No last words allowed," Discord said with evil snicker. The Guardian pulled on the lever and the six dropped a few feet and stopped suddenly.
"No! Rarityyyy!"
Scott let go of Sweetie Belle as she started crying.
"Now do you understand?" he asked.
"I-don't-wanna-remember-this!" Sweetie Belle said through raking sobs. Scott tapped her nose and made her look up at him.
"I don't want you to either but you've acted like a real brat for the year and Rarity's too soft and scared of you. I'm appointing myself as judge, jury and executioner but I'm going to have those visions locked in your mind until tomorrow. After then you won't remember them."
Sweetie Belle felt the clamps unlock and she curled up into a ball and cried some more, Scott placed a hand on her head and stroked her mane.
"I'm gonna take you back to reality, when I do I expect you to run over to your sister and ask for forgiveness okay?"
"Okay," Sweetie Belle said, she shut her eyes and hoped that when she opened them again she would be back home.
"Sweetie Belle? Are you okay?" a voice said. Sweetie Belle's eyes shot open and she looked up, Rarity was standing over her looking worried.
"Rarity!" she squeaked in joy. She jumped up and hugged her older sister around her neck and started crying. Rarity looked up at Scott questioningly.
"Where did you take her?" she asked. Scott sniffed and rubbed his burn foreleg.
"Come on Dash, don't be like this," Scootaloo said as she stood at Rainbow Dash's door, a few cakes and candies inside her saddlebags.
"I told you to go away," Rainbow Dash said sternly. The famed pegasus looked very haggard and messy, her left wing was wrapped in bandages and she looked like she had tried to take them off a few times. Her face was streaked in tears and scars, evidence that she was on the verge of a breakdown.
"But I only want to see if you're better and if you want anypony to hang out with you," Scootaloo said as she showed Rainbow Dash the cakes and candies. Rainbow Dash took the saddlebag from Scootaloo, who was grinning at her, looked inside, and then tossed them off the cloud.
"Hey, why did you do that?" Scootaloo asked. Rainbow Dash pulled the filly over to her and stared daggers into her eyes.
"Don't you get it squirt?" she asked, "I'm sick to death of seeing you here every single day, all you do and say is 'Get better' and give me the same cakes and candies. I can't sleep because your annoying little voice keeps clawing inside my head, you always want to hang out with me and you never get the message that I can no longer fly. You are not helping with that Scootaloo, go away...now."
Rainbow Dash turned away and was about to slam the door when Scootaloo spoke up.
"What do you mean by that?"
Rainbow Dash looked back and saw Scootaloo was still standing in the doorway, tears running down her face.
"You know what I mean you flightless failure."
"Dash, why are you being so mean to me?" Scootaloo said as she teared up even more, "I only want you to get better, all I want is somepony to look up to and you're like a sist-."
"GET OUT OF MY LIFE!" Rainbow Dash yelled to the filly, "Don't you get it Scootaloo? I don't want you here anymore, you'll never be as great as I was. How can I get on in my miserable life without you constantly butting in and wanting to fly, you'll never fly Scootaloo, give up and get out of my life."
Rainbow dash slammed the door in Scootaloo's face, leaving the emotionally damaged filly on the doorstep. Scootaloo turned and ran away, tears running down her face. She couldn't live with what Rainbow Dash had said to her, she wanted to show that she was the best, better than Rainbow Dash and she was going to prove that even though she knew that she couldn't fly very well.
Scott trotted happily with the group, now with Rarity added to their ranks, and told them what life was like on the moon.
"So you spent an entire week trying to see if you could walk on the sides of the crater?" Twilight asked.
"When you get bored you get weird ideas," Scott said, "No matter how dumb they sound you're just desperate to try and get a bit of excitement in your life."
The group laughed a little, Rarity stopped suddenly and looked behind her. Scott saw her nervous look and knew what was troubling her.
"I'm sorry about what I did to Sweetie Belle."
"It's okay, I'm just a little worried that she won't forget the visions that you showed her."
"It's okay, by the time we get back she'll have forgotten about them."
"But I thought that you were going to erase her memory tonight," Twilight said.
"I was going to but after what I saw I decided to remotely erase the visions from Sweetie's mind," Scott said, "I didn't want her to suffer from what I showed her."
"Where did you take her?" Lauren asked.
"My pocket dimension, I'll show you tonight if I don't have anymore nightmares to purge."
"Nightmares? Purge?"
"It's a little something that I do at night," Scott said proudly, "When I was banished to the moon Luna visited me and gave me the power to enter the dreams of others, reason why she did this was because she didn't want me to be all alone. I ended up entering the dreams of my friends and the ponies who I helped when I planned to kill Discord, soon I used this power to help the fillies and colts who were having nightmares about Discord's wrath. What I'd do was go into their dreams and kill their nightmare monsters. It wasn't too bad, I formed a lot of trusting friendships with the kids and I also helped them whenever they got upset. After the Changeling attack the number of nightmares I had to purge soared and the kids had no idea what was going on and since they tell me what's happening I had no clue why they were dreaming what they were dreaming. Luckily one of my friends managed to tell me that it was Douglas and the Changelings that had taken over the town and were holding all the townsfolk inside cocoons of some sort. I had a helluva job trying to calm the fillies and colts down that were inside the damn things."
"Did you manage to help the kids?" Lauren asked. Scott nodded.
"I did but I still had to keep a close eye on them, at least I know what the culprit looks like."
"You saw Douglas?" Twilight asked.
"I dragged him into my pocket dimension while he slept. I tried to convince him to go back to his parents and let his memory get restored to it's rightful state. Sadly he refused and thought I was a dream brought on by his drinking. After that I vowed to find him and set things right."
"So what are you going to do if you find him?" Pinkie asked.
"I know a way to reverse the Changeling spell and, if Celestia will let me, take him home to his family," Scott said, "If this is not possible then I will have to terminate him."
"You'll kill him?" Applejack asked with shock.
"Only as a last resort," Scott said quickly and sternly.
A few minutes of walking and Scott spotted something coming over the horizon. He wasn't sure what it was but he knew that it was too small to be a threat.
"What is that?" Twilight asked.
"Dunno but it's running at a good clip," Scott said.
"It looks like a foal," Lauren said, "Maybe it's one of the little kids you helped get rid of their nightmares."
Scott allowed himself a smile as he saw the foal run over the hill and towards them.
"Hey!" Pinkie cried out, "It's Scootaloo!"
"Wow, really?" Scott said, "I haven't seen her in months."
"Hold on a second, why is she runnin' away from Dash's house?" Applejack asked.
"We'll find out soon enough," Twilight said as the filly ran closer to them.
"She isn't looking where she's going," Fluttershy said meekly, "Something is wrong."
Scootaloo kept running until she ran headlong into Scott's burned foreleg, she stumbled and fell backwards into Twilight. The filly looked up and Scott could clearly see that there was something wrong, tears were running down her face and her ears where flat against her head, Scootaloo was also sniffling quite a lot.
"Hey Scoot, something up?"
"You don't look too good." Pinkie said.
"Where's Rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked.
Scootaloo didn't reply but instead she started crying and then ran off before anyone else could say another word. Lauren was the first to break the silence.
"Yeah, there's something wrong with Scootaloo."
"What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked.
"First off was that you said that she was running with her head down, second was that she looked like she had been crying for almost an hour, third was after Twilight asked about Rainbow Dash. Didn't you see her cry and run off? But that's not what I find to be proof that something's upsetting her."
"What is then?" Twilight asked.
"She didn't even look at me," Lauren said, "Every pony who've I met has looked at me funny or acted like I was the second-coming of Hitler or something."
"Saddam's already got that title," Scott muttered.
"We've got to see Rainbow Dash," Twilight said, "If Scootaloo was running away from Rainbow Dash and crying then Dash has really taken a turn for the worse."
The six ran towards Rainbow Dash's house, each having a different fear. Scott didn't let it distract him as he charged up the Element of Chaos and teleported both him and the rest of the group outside Rainbow Dash's house. Scott tripped up and collapsed, panting heavily he managed to lift his head up to see the could-home floating above him.
"I-really-shouldn't-do-that-when-running," he said between heavy breaths.
"Are you okay?" Fluttershy asked as she helped him sit up.
"No, but I will be in a minute or two."
"Now I can see what you mean about the draining of your life energy," Twilight said. Scott smiled sheepishly.
"So are we all going up there?" Lauren asked.
"No, I do know a spell that'll allow earth ponies and unicorns to walk on clouds but I don't know if it'll work on humans."
"I've got the Element of Chaos so I'll be okay," Scott said.
"I say that me, you, Fluttershy and Pinkie all go up there," Twilight said, "All of us together might make Rainbow Dash angry, especially if she sees Lauren."
"Good point," Scott said, he turned to Lauren, Applejack and Rarity, "Miss Faust, Rarity, Applejack. I hope you guys don't mind staying on the ground until we can get Rainbow Dash into a docile state."
"If it's for my safety then I'll stay," Lauren said, "Just make sure that I get to meet Rainbow Dash afterwards."
"Sure thing," Scott said, "Okay Twilight, take us up."
Twilight's horn glowed purple and when Scott blinked he found himself standing on a cloud in front of Rainbow Dash's house. He made a little notch in the white and fluffy surface and watched as it self repaired. Pinkie stared at him in wonder.
"I though you'd be a little more stunned that you are standing on a cloud," she said.
"I've experienced it a few times in dreams. It got boring after the seventh time."
Scott joined Twilight and Fluttershy at the door. Twilight took a deep breath and stared at the door.
"Is everypony ready?"
"Do it," Scott said.
Twilight rose a hoof and knocked lightly on the door.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT NOW?!" Rainbow Dash's voice boomed. Down on the ground Lauren, Applejack and Rarity looked up at the house.
"She has changed hasn't she?" Lauren said.
"She never used to be like that," Applejack said.
"I hope they can get her back to her usual self," Rarity said. Back up on the cloud Scott pressed his ear to the door and heard Rainbow Dash walk over to the door, he backed up and stood tall hoping that Rainbow Dash would remember him. The door literally flew open and Rainbow Dash's angry face stared back at them. Fluttershy dived behind Pinkie who looked absolutely stunned, only Scott and Twilight were able to keep blank faces.
"Oh great, now you guys are here to annoy me," Rainbow Dash said, "Just make it quick."
"Dash, you okay?" Scott said, "What the hell happened to your wing?"
"Why do you want to know?" Rainbow Dash asked harshly, "Why do you care about what happened to me? It was your kind that did this to me. I still know what you once were, Scott, and believe me I'd throw you off the cloud right now if the others weren't here."
"What's up with the unprovoked hostility?"
"You, that's whats causing it. It's you and your whole stinking race."
Scott kept his mind straight and held a hoof out to Rainbow Dash.
"Let me see your wing, I'll see if I can fix it."
"No," Rainbow Dash said as she backed up, "You'll just break my other wing and then laugh at me."
"I would not!" Scott said.
"You were a human once and you betrayed me once, I'm not going to trust you."
"Dash please, don't you remember what happened in the dungeon?"
Rainbow Dash hesitated for a moment but after she saw the trusting look in Scott's eyes she allowed him to take a look at her damaged wing. Scott took the bandages off and saw her shredded wing, blood caked her sides and her feathers had holes riddled through them.
"Bloody hell, what happened?"
"I got taken out of the sky by Douglas," Rainbow Dash said, "He used some sort of weapon and it brought me down."
"What was it?" Scott asked with great interest. Rainbow Dash sighed and her ears drooped.
"I don't remember."
"I remember!" Pinkie said suddenly that it startled everyone, "It was something called an AR-15 I think. He also had a piece of sharp metal."
"An assault rifle?" Scott asked, "How did he get that?"
"He brought it with him," Fluttershy said.
"Chrysalis enchanted the weapon so that it was more powerful," Twilight added, "It's now really dangerous."
"I don't think that it'll hold a candle to my Chimera," Scott said as he probed Dash's wing.
"Can you fix it?" she asked. Scott nodded.
"Hold still."
The Element of Chaos glowed several different colors as Scott took Dash's crippled wing in his hooves, slowly the flesh started to bubble and the tissue started to reform on her wings. Dash watched as her feathers started to grow back, much stronger than before and much thicker. Scott smiled as he stood back to admire his handiwork, withing seconds all of Rainbow Dash's wing had been repaired and the other wing had been fixed up as well, the only evidence of there ever being any problem was the blood and bandages. Her face was also healed of the scars.
"You did it," Rainbow Dash said quietly.
"I knew that I could," Scot replied. Rainbow Dash hugged Scott, he held her and felt her tears run down the side of his face. "Come on, there's someone who I want you to meet."
Scott took Rainbow Dash outside and to where Rarity, Applejack and Lauren were all waiting for them, the second Dash saw Lauren she grabbed Scott's foreleg and held on. Scott pulled her closer and told her that everything was okay. Apllejack trotted over and saw that Rainbow Dash's wing was healed.
"Whoa, Dash. Ah didn't know that your wing had healed."
"I did that," Scott said, "I used the Element of Chaos to repair and rebuild her tissue and feathers. She's able to fly now."
"I didn't know that you were able to do that," Lauren said.
"I managed to gain several new powers after I assimilated the Elements of Harmony," Scott said as he let go of Rainbow Dash.
"How did you do that?"
"I destroyed them, but I managed to fix them up after I took out Discord. The strain almost killed me."
Lauren looked impressed with Scott, she didn't know how much he had done and she was eager to find out more. She then turned to Rainbow Dash who was staring back in mild suspicion and fear.
"So you're the famous Rainbow Dash," Lauren said.
"Yeah, and who are you?"
"My name is Lauren Faust," Lauren said as she knelt down in front of Rainbow Dash, "I know a lot about you."
"I'm guessing that Scott told you," Rainbow Dash said. Lauren smirked.
"No, I knew way before I met him."
"Oh really, how?"
Scott stifled a laugh and walked up next to Rainbow Dash.
"Dash, she's the one who created you."
"What?" Rainbow Dash said with disbelief, "She's the Creator? No way that it's true, the stories of the Creator are just old mares tales."
"I know they are, because I made them up," Lauren said.
"You're all just messing with me now," Rainbow Dash said with a hint of annoyance.
"She knows all about us, Dash," Twilight said, "I can guarantee that she'll tell you something about your past."
Rainbow Dash stood firm and stared at Lauren in the eye.
"Okay then, tell me something. Something that I know that the others didn't tell you."
Lauren pulled Rainbow Dash closer to her and whispered something in her ear. Rainbow Dash's eyes grew wide and Scott could see tears forming, Lauren sighed and pulled her closer.
"I didn't want to remember that," Rainbow Dash said quietly.
"You wanted to hear something that the others didn't know about," Lauren replied, "Don't worry, we'll keep this between us."
Rainbow Dash smiled a little but it turned to a look of horror, she ran to the open road and looked in the direction where Scootaloo had ran. Cold sweat beaded on her head.
"Oh no."
"Something up Rainbow Dash?" Scott asked.
"It's Scootaloo, I think that she might have gotten into trouble."
"And how can you possibly know that?" Twilight asked.
"Because-because I kind of snapped at her and well, you know what she's like."
Scott's pupils narrowed and the color drained from his face.
"We've got to save her, now!"
"What?" Lauren asked as she walked over to Scott. Scott span around to face Rainbow Dash.
"What did you say to her?"
"I...uh."
"What did you bloody well say to her?!"
Rainbow Dash sighed and lowered her head in shame.
"I said that she'd never fly like me."
Scott shook his head in disappointment and looked to Twilight.
"Are there any cliffs around here?" he asked.
"There is one I know of, why?" Twilight replied, confused.
"Just lead the way, and make it quick."
Twilight sighed and ran towards a forest, Scott, Lauren and the other ponies followed, running to keep up.
Scootaloo stood on the edge of the Ghastly Gorge and looked down into it's depths. She let out a few nervous breaths and stood back.
"I can do this," she thought, "I can fly. I don't need Rainbow Dash to tell me that I can't fly, I can do anything that I set my mind to. Why did she say all those mean things to me? I just wanted her to get better and she tells me that I'll never fly, no more Rainbow Dash, I'll show you.
Scootaloo spread her wings and stepped closer to the edge of the cliff, she looked out to the horizon and got ready to jump, this was now her moment, it was now or never. She had to fly.
"Scootaloo!" a distant yell said. Scootaloo stopped and turned around, she could see Scott and Lauren running towards her followed by Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy. Scootaloo turned back to the cliff and shut her eyes, ready to jump.
"Don't do it, kid," Scott said as he ran up to her. Scootaloo span around to face the group.
"I'm gonna fly and you can't stop me!"
"Scootaloo listen to me," Lauren said, "Don't jump, you're not going to make it."
"I am going to make it! I can fly if I want to!" Scootaloo yelled to Lauren. Scott sighed and tried to reason with the upset filly.
"Look Scoot, I know that Rainbow Dash yelled at you but you can't do this. What you're doing is suicide."
"So are you now going to tell me that I can't fly?" Scootaloo said with a few cracks in her voice. "I used to look up to you, Scott. Now I can't even look at you, good-bye guys. I'm going to fly away."
Scootaloo span around and ran towards the cliff, Scott raced after her hoping to catch the pegasus before she threw herself off the cliff. Scott was no more than a foot away when Scootaloo jumped and plummeted off the cliff.
"Scootaloo!"
Scootaloo focused on the task of flying she knew that she hadn't flown properly but she wanted to show up her former hero and prove that she was capable of doing anything that she wanted to. As Scootaloo sped towards the ground she opened up her wings and shut her eyes and waited for the moment when she would either fly or fall. As the wind whipped through Scootaloo's mane and tail she gritted her teeth and started to flap her wings, she opened up her eyes and saw the jagged rocks were no more than ten feet away and she was still falling.
"I'm gonna die!" she yelped. Just as she was about to become splattered on the rocks an unknown force grabbed Scootaloo and she shot off to the right and up over the edge of the cliff. Scootaloo was then dropped in front of the group. Scootaloo cowered and watched as another pegasus stepped into the sunlight.
"What the hay was that you were doing?" a familiar voice asked. Scootaloo looked up and saw Rainbow Dash standing in front of her looking angry and disappointed.
"I-I-I-I don't know," Scootaloo stammered.
"You could have killed yourself," Rainbow Dash said, "You know that you haven't got the wing strength to fly properly. Why did you jump off the cliff?"
"I-I wanted to fly," Scootaloo said, she then started to cry. "I just wanted to help you and you said all that mean stuff to me, why Rainbow Dash? Why did you say all that?"
Rainbow Dash sat in front of the tear streaked filly and made her look up again.
"I'm really, really sorry I said all that. I was just a little stressed and upset that I hadn't flown because of my injured wing. I know that all you were trying to do was make me feel better but I was too focused on what had happened to me but that's all behind me now, my wing is okay now. See?"
Rainbow Dash spread her wings and Scootaloo saw that they were both fixed up and looked as if nothing had happened. Scootaloo turned away and Rainbow Dash made Scootaloo face her again.
"I'm really sorry for what I said to you Scoot, can-can you forgive me?"
Rainbow Dash's eyes filled with tears of joy as she held Scootaloo. The peacefulness of the moment was then interrupted by Pinkie Pie.
"Group hug!" she yelled as she dove onto the two pegasi. Fluttershy followed along with the other three ponies, Lauren shrugged and join in. Scott was the only one who abstained, Pinkie looked up at him.
"Aren't you joining in?" she asked. Scott sniffed and brushed himself off.
"I'm not like you guys, I don't get into group hugs. But I think I can make an acception just this once."
Pinkie pulled Scott with the others, he accepted the embracement and then spoke up.
The group all sat where they were, not moving, not letting go of each other. Each of them had another in a tight hug and they each looked at one another dumbfounded. They had been sitting in the same spot for almost five minutes. After a few seconds, Scootaloo spoke up.
"I'd-I'd best get home. Get some sleep."
"Yeah, you do that," Scott said as he patted her on the back.
"Let me come with you," Rainbow Dash said, "I don't want my number one fan getting hurt."
Scootaloo smiled and hugged Rainbow Dash again before they set off trotting down the road. Lauren let out a heavy and satisfied sigh.
"Ahh friendship."
"Yeah, it's a beautiful thing isn't it?" Scott said as they watched the two pegasi walk away until they were over the hill and out of sight.
"I'd best get back to the farm," Applejack said, "Ah've got apples to buck."
"I've gotta clean up the bakery now because of those stupid bears," Pinkie said in irritation.
"I should go back to my shop," Rarity said, "I've got a lot to clean up and see if Sweetie Belle is okay."
"Can-can I go with you?" Fluttershy asked, "I'm...uh, still afraid to go back to my house in case the animals come back."
Scott grimaced but hid the look when Twilight turned to face him.
"God I hope Fluttershy never goes back to her cottage."
"So then," Twilight said, "Shall we go back to the library?"
"We might as well," Scott replied.
"Once we get there I'll tell you all about the place where I came from," Lauren added. Twilight grinned and watched as the group dispersed. She then motioned for Scott and Lauren to follow. The two exchanged glaces and followed Twilight.
As the three walked through town they noticed a little bit of life had been restored and there were more ponies out and about than earlier. Scott smiled knowing that soon, the entire town would be restored and the whole kingdom would be fixed. The ponies who were outside did stop and stare at Lauren but then went straight back to what they were doing once she looked at them.
"This is the most activity I've ever seen in the town," Twilight said as they passed by a few shops.
"Yeah, but the towns got to be fixed up at some point," Scott added as they walked past a ruined building. Even to Lauren it was clear that a bomb had exploded next to it and blown the front half of it off, leaving nothing but a pile of rubble. Scott sighed and kept up pace with Lauren and Twilight. So much had been destroyed in a matter of minutes and he was unable to do anything to help. He did have the Element of Chaos but he knew that fixing the entire town with it could cost him his life. There was too much to fix and not enough life energy.
"Wonder how the other towns are getting on?" he asked himself as he trotted behind Twilight. Twilight didn't hear, she was too busy talking to Lauren.
"I can't believe that all that happened," Lauren said. Twilight let out a deep sigh.
"I know, I was lucky enough to escape during the attack."
"So what happened in Canterlot?"
"Can we get back to my place? I don't like how everypony is staring at us."
Lauren leaned down and whispered to Scott.
"So they do say everypony here."
"Yeah, you'll get used to it after a while," Scott said, "Just don't use it until they trust you."
"Well how come you can use it?" Lauren asked.
"Well that's because I came here as a pony, not a human."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I don't mean any offence. I'm just saying that the recent turn of events had led to a lot of distrust around here, it'd be best if you kept your head down."
Lauren grunted and focused on walking. Scott sighed and walked closer to Lauren.
"Look, I'm sorry if I meant anything insulting. I'm only here to keep you safe." he said, "We both know what's been going on around here and I'm not too sure if the townsfolk have retained their peacefulness."
"It's okay, I understand," Lauren said as she pulled Scott's head closer to her. Scott smiled a little and kept pace with Twilight.
Soon they made it to Twilight's library. Twilight knocked on the door and waited for a few seconds, she then sighed in irritation and opened the door herself.
"I keep forgetting that Spike isn't here."
"You really miss him don't you?" Lauren asked. Twilight nodded.
"Don't worry, we'll get him back," Scott said.
"I hope we do."
Over the next few hours Twilight and Lauren talked to each other and exchanged information. Scott on the other hand was too busy keeping guard, he knew that Lauren was the only hope for Equestria and he had to keep her safe at all times. There would be no telling if the townsfolk decided to get rid of her or even worse, Douglas would make his return. Scott had his Chimera revolver at his side and he paced between windows, occasionally eavesdropping on Twilight and Lauren. A few times the conversation had been rather lackluster so Scott started to search the bookshelves for something to read. He found one book, pulled it off the shelf and read the cover.
"Daring Do and the Legend of the Golden Corral. That'll do."
As Scott sat down to read he shuffled closer to the two and tried to listen in on what Lauren and Twilight were talking about. He smiled in amusement as he heard what the two were talking about.
"So do you like it here in Ponyville?" Lauren asked Twilight.
"Yeah, it's one of the greatest places to live," Twilight replied, "Even if the kingdom is falling apart and the town got attacked I wouldn't want to be anywhere else."
"I knew that I had done a good idea when I thought of Ponyville. Shame what happened here all those months ago, What happened after you escaped?"
"I managed to get to Canterlot with Douglas' parents. We hid there and I told Princess Celestia about what had happened and she sent my brother and some solders to Ponyville to get rid of the Changelings for good. But after they left Douglas' parents feared for their son's life. They wanted him back alive and well so that we could change his memories back."
"How did his memories change?"
"Queen Chrysalis altered them after she captured Douglas."
"How did she do that?" Lauren asked with great interest. Twilight shrugged.
"I'm not entirely sure, all I do know is that Chrysalis erased Douglas' memories and she changed them after he was captured. I'm still looking into how Chrysalis did it."
"It's amazing that humanity has found this place. I didn't know that it existed."
"Humanity didn't find Equestria, Equestria found humanity." Scott said. Lauren and Twilight looked up.
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.
"Well when I was first brought here I was taken by Discord. I didn't want to come here, I had no idea what the hell was going on but I accepted it over time."
"But what about Douglas?" Lauren asked.
"From what I can remember his car was hit by lightning and he ended up in Applejack's farm. After a little bit of studying I managed to find out that Chrysalis used a dimension tearing spell and she found Douglas and then brought him here."
"But why would she do that?" Scott asked, not looking up from the book.
"I'll never know."
Within the corse of an hour Scott had gone through two more book and had tuned out the babbling of Lauren and Twilight. He was rather submersed in the books and in order to get the full feeling he used the Element of Chaos to transport his mind into the stories themselves and watch as it unfolded much like a movie. He became so engaged that it took Twilight a very powerful spell to break his concentration.
"Scott!" she yelled as a massive bang rang through his ears.
"Bleedin' hell!" Scott yelped as he was sent rocketing onto a light fixture. He hung there for a few seconds and then dropped to the floor next to Twilight. "What the hell was all that about?"
"We've got a problem," Twilight said. Scott rubbed the back of his head from where the light had hit him.
"What kind of problem?"
Twilight didn't have the chance to reply because a rather loud and egocentric shouted through the door.
"Twilight Sparkle! I know you're in there. Come out!"
"Who's that?" Scott asked as he walked over to the window.
"I know who it is," Lauren said.
"Who is it then?" Scott asked while he tried to see who was at the front door. The voice one again boomed through the library.
"Twilight, The Great and Powerful Trixie demands that you come outside."
Scott's expression went from curious to confused in a second. He turned back and saw Lauren standing behind him with her arms folded in disappointment.
"I knew it," she said.
"Who the hell is 'The Great and Powerful Trixie'?" Scott asked. Twilight grunted and stomped over to the door with her head down low and ears flat against her head in irritation.
"Trixie is a unicorn who came to Ponyville a long time ago as a sort of one pony show. She would show off a lot and constantly brag about all of her adventures but really, I think that she made them all up."
"She's got one massive ego," Scott said with a chuckle. Lauren smiled a little and Twilight was halfway to the door when a tight pain enclosed around Scott's chest where the Element of Chaos was resting. Something flashed in his mind, a funny looking necklace in the shape of what was a unicorns head with two wings sprouting out from either side. In the middle of the necklace was a small, red, diamond shaped gem. Scott started to get a bad feeling in his mind and he knew that it was right outside the door.
"Twilight. Wait, it could be a trap."
But it was too late, the second Twilight opened the door an unseen force grabbed her and threw her outside. Scott and Lauren watched in horror as they saw the shadow of a unicorn mare loom on the door. Scott span around and face Lauren.
"Hide."
"What? Where?" Lauren asked in confusion.
"Just go upstairs and don't come down till I give the all clear."
"Scott I've got to see what's happened to Twilight."
"Just get upstairs and hide. I've got a nasty feeling about Trixie here, like something she has could spell disaster."
"How bad is it?"
"Bad enough to make my heart almost stop," Scott said as he looked to the door. Lauren didn't question him because he had backed into the black slime that was on the wall, after the slime dissipated she ran upstairs and looked for a window. She didn't want to miss anything.
Meanwhile outside, Twilight was picking herself up and dusting herself off.
"What was that for?" she asked, almost yelling at Trixie.
"You weren't fast enough," Trixie replied.
"Yeah, well that doesn't justify dragging someone out of their own house."
"The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn't wait for anypony," a small and slightly shrill voice said. Twilight looked to her left and saw two unicorn colts standing a few feet next to Trixie.
"Oh no, not again," Twilight thought as she shook her head. She turned to Trixie. "What do you want this time?"
"Nothing much, only to restore my former reputation."
"And how do you intend to do that?"
"Simple, by challenging you to a magic duel."
Trixie's irises flashed red for a split second but Twilight thought that it was only a trick of the light.
"Okay then?" Twilight said, "What do you have in mind?"
"Just a few basic spells," Trixie stated as she paced back and to, "Simple stuff that both of us know. Then we'll move onto the harder spells. Just to make this duel more interesting we'll have a little bet along with it."
"Like what?"
"Well if you win I leave Ponyville and never come back. But if I win then you are forbidden to ever return here."
By now a large crowd had formed around the two. Twilight looked behind her and saw her friends and instantly felt braver. She did notice that Scott and Lauren weren't with the others, but then she remembered that Scott would be protecting Lauren and thought that it would be for the best.
"Okay Trixie, I accept."
Trixie grinned and tossed her hat to the colts.
"Snips, Snails. Keep that safe for me."
"Sure thing Trixie," Snails said as the two stood in front of the hat like guardsmen. Trixie's irises flashed red again as she took up an attack stance. "First spell shall be levitation. Let's see how much you can lift."
"You can do it Twilight!" Pinkie yelled. Twilight's heart skipped a beat but her confidence soared, she knew that beating Trixie was going to be easy. All she had to do was use the newest spells, but as she was starting to do a spell on a large apple cart a whisper entered her head.
"Twilight, after this, brace yourself."
Twilight shook off the voice and picked up the cart. She knew what was at stake, she had to win. Without any more hesitation she tossed the contents of the cart into the air and caught them all in the cart before setting it down. Twilight gave a wry smile and saw that Trixie was unfazed by her performance.
"Is that it?" she asked in an almost uncaring tone. Twilight straitened her stance and looked at Trixie quizzically as she walked over to her Library. Twilight watched as Trixie stood in front of the library and stared at it. The building quivered and then shook violently, suddenly the whole house was uprooted and dropped back into the hole, the library sat in it asque. Trixie then turned to Twilight and grinned. "Can you do better?"
Twilight and the crowd stood dumbfounded at Trixie and stared at her as she walked over to Snips and Snails.
"Stay still you two."
Snips and Snails stood proudly in front of their idol.
"Yes O great one?"
Trixie stood over the two colts and picked them up with a levitation spell. The two looked at each other confused but then instantly consumed in a bright white ball of light. Once the light dissipated the two colts, were no longer colts. Snips had become a newborn foal whilst Snails was now an eighty year old stallion. Twilight and the crowd stared in amazement at the two former colts.
"B-b-b-but how?" Twilight stammered, "Age spells are incredibly powerful and advanced. How did you do that?"
Trixie snorted in amusement.
"I'm not saying anything until you can change them back."
Twilight gritted her teeth and focused her magic. Her horn glowed purple and Snips and Snails were levitated by a purple aura, the magic field gave off energy as the two span in a weightless state as they floated in the aura. Twilight concentrated and a loud boom followed, but when she opened her eyes the two were still the same. Trixie started laughing triumphantly as Twilight hung her head in shame.
"Ha! I knew that you were no match for the Great and Powerful Trixie, and now I have shamed you, Twilight Sparkle. You are nothing compared to me. Now, since you have lost I hereby banish you from Ponyville so that I may install a new rule! As for your friends, they shall be my servants." Trixie then turned to the crowd, "If anypony is willing to step forward and defend Twilight and her friends then say so now."
Nothing but silence followed. Trixie gave an evil grin and faced Twilight and her friends.
"Looks like they know that you've been beaten."
"Oh I wouldn't say that just yet!"
Trixie span around and saw the crowd look behind them and slowly part. She watched as some stared in amazement and others bow their heads. As the crowd fully parted she saw a steel gray stallion wearing black armor and a black helmet stride over to her. Trixie was not only confused, but also slightly afraid of this newcomer but she didn't show her emotions, instead she kept her face as blank as possible. As the stallion walked over to her she stood taller and stared down the stallion but she dropped her gaze when she saw that he was sneering.
"Oh how I've looked forward to meeting you," the stallion said.
"Who are you?" Trixie asked. The stallion didn't reply, he looked down and saw the necklace that Trixie was wearing and he took it in his hoof. Trixie saw the strange burn marks that ran up his leg.
"Hmm, I wonder what this is you have here."
"It's a little something I got a while ago," Trixie said as she stepped back, "What is your name?"
"My name," the stallion said as he inched closer, "Is Scott Websly."
Some whispering broke out in the crowd and Trixie shifted uneasily.
"Mind telling me what that is around your neck?" Scott said. Trixie looked down and tapped the gem.
"This," she said in a cocky attitude, "Is the Alicorn Amulet."
"Alicorn Amulet?" Twilight said under her breath, "I've got to get a book."
"Here Twilight," Pinkie said almost a second later. Twilight smiled at Pinkie's abnormal abilities and started flipping through the pages. As she did Scott and Trixie kept up their confrontation.
"So, a fancy little charm is what's giving you all those powers?" Scott said after Trixie explained what the amulet was.
"Yes, and it's going to overpower whatever you have."
"I can already see that the power is going to your head." Scott said as he paced back and to in front of Trixie, "You might want to take that off while you can."
"I've spent months earning the money to get this, I'm not giving it up."
"Alright then," Scott said as he got right up next to Trixie's face, "Then lets have a little showdown."
Trixie suddenly became more interested.
"Go on."
Scott smiled and stepped back.
"Glad I have your attention. Now then here's the bet, if you win Twilight leaves and I end up serving you. But if I win then you have to hand the amulet over and give yourself up. But to make this a much better confrontation I get to pick where we have it."
"Go ahead, make your choice. Where do you want to battle?"
Scott loomed closer to Trixie and grinned.
"My Pocket Dimension."
Trixie stood with her head tilted to one side.
"Pocket Dimension?" she asked with confusion. Scott nodded and then looked at Trixie's hooves.
"And you're about to see it."
Trixie tried to move her hoof to scratch her head but it was frozen in place, she looked down and saw a black slime slowly ooze it's way up her legs and onto the rest of her body.
"Don't worry," Scott said with a hint of amusement, "The crowd's coming as well."
A series of terrified screams followed as Trixie looked up and saw the same slime consume the crowd. She gave Scott one last fearful look as the slime covered her eyes and blacked out her vision.
"Hey! Wake up."
"Huh? What?" Trixie said as she was helped up by a pony. Trixie then turned to the pony and said only three words. "Where are we?"
The pony shook her head and Trixie walked away, she found Snips and Snails back as their original selves looking around the bleak void.
"What are to to gawping at?" Trixie said.
"I-I feel as if I've been here before," Snips said.
"Yeah, it's just as dark as I remember," Snails added. Trixie shook her head in annoyance and walked into the center of the floating island.
"Scott Weblsy! What is the meaning of this?"
Suddenly the island started to shake and the center of the island that Trixie was standing on broke away and descended leaving the rest of the island to shift and shape into what looked like stands in the Circus Maximus. Trixie stared in amazement and the looked around the stands for Scott.
"Where are you?" she thought.
"LADIES AND GENTLECOLTS!" A voice that was unmistakably Scott's boomed through the void, "HAVE WE GOT A SHOW FOR YOU TODAY! TRIXIE, THE HOLDER OF THE ALICORN AMULET IS ABOUT TO GO HEAD TO HEAD WITH SCOTT WEBSLY, KEEPER OF THE ELEMENT OF CHAOS!"
A sort of fake crowd cheering rang out, making Trixie cover her ears. It died out then Scott spoke up, but this time he was a little quieter.
"Now we shall see who has the greater mind and the greater powers, but there are two different outcomes for who wins. If Trixie wins then Twilight shall be banished from the town and her friends will become her personal slaves, but if Scott wins then Trixie is to give up the amulet to him."
Trixie snorted a little then stood up.
"Just the amulet he wants? Well I don't think that he'll get it from me."
Just as she finished her thought an armorless Scott materialized in front of her, around his neck was the Element of Chaos and it was glowing crimson.
"Ready?" he asked. Trixie nodded and Scott smiled. "You get first pick."
Trixie stared him down and charged up an elemental attack. She though that Scott would be expecting something like a small spell to show off what she can do, but the look in his eyes unsettled her. She decided to hit Scott with a powerful blast of energy and send him flying off the island. She let out a large bolt of magic and sneered, Scott merely swatted at the bolt and it bounced off his hoof with the sound of a ricocheting bullet before striking the ceiling of the stands. Scott shook his head in disapproval.
"A magic attack? Okay then, if it's a magic duel you want then a magic duel you'll get."
Scott took up a stance and the element glowed an even darker crimson. As Trixie stared at the the Element she felt the Amulet close around her neck, she gagged and tried to pull it off but Scott had her up in the air. Trixie struggled and Scott dropped her where she landed painfully on the floor in front of him.
"You didn't try to do anything, come on I want a challenge," Scott said with a sneer. Trixie jumped up and fired several bolts at him, Scott dodged or blocked each one before firing a Chaos Blast at Trixie, Trixie managed to dive out of the way but it still scorched her hat.
"You will pay for that!" Trixie said. Trixie charged up the amulet and let out a ball of lightning that shot towards Scott, Scott had no time to react as the ball of light consumed him. Trixie smiled as she panted with exhaustion from her spell. She grinned as she thought of the outcome of the spell, Scott would be reduced to ashes and she would take over Ponyville. As the ball of lightning dissipated her smile dropped when something slowly appeared out of the ball of light. Once the light vanished all that was there was a strange creature, crouched down on the floor. It slowly looked up and stared at Trixie. Trixie walked backwards slowly as the creature rose to a bipedal state.
"Hi," it said. Trixie could only stammer as the creature rose up. "I see that you failed to take in the amount of power you would need to kill me."
"Wh-what are you?"
"I? I am a monument to all your sins."
The creature outstretched an arm and pointed to Trixie with one of the appendages that were on the end of it's arm.
"What are you doing?" Trixie asked fearfully.
"I'm going to purge you, Trixie. Unless you give me the Amulet."
Trixie didn't know what purge meant but she knew that it wasn't good, she took off the Amulet and tossed it to the creature. The creature reached down and picked up the Amulet.
"Thank you, but do you know what this means?" he asked.
"No, what does it mean?"
"You lose."
The creature made a snapping noise and Trixie felt the slime creep up on her again. Only this time it was much faster, she looked around and only saw the creature smiling and twirling the Amulet, then the slime covered her eyes and once again she was in darkness.
Just Because I Defeated You Doesn't Mean We Can't Be Friends
Trixie kept her eyes shut and gritted her teeth. She could feel something that felt like the wind but she hunkered down on the ground and waited. She had no idea if the ordeal was over but she did know that whatever that creature was, it was terrifying. Whatever that thing was it was guaranteed that she would be seeing it in her nightmares. The wind picked up and vibrations slightly shook her, the sound of hoofs on gravel picked up and Trixie covered her ears and cringed. But a calm voice caused her to relax a little.
"Hey, Trixie? You okay?"
Trixie slowly opened her eyes and picked her head up from the ground. She looked up and saw Twilight standing over her, a small smile on her face. Trixie swallowed nervously and took her hooves off her head. Twilight held out one hoof for her and Trixie took it, hesitating at first but taking Twilight's hoof and then getting helped up.
"Thank you," Trixie said. She licked her lips and saw Scott behind her fiddling with the Alicorn Amulet.
"How do you get the bloody stone out of this?"
Trixie backed up a little as Scott looked up at her.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm trying to get the bloody gem out of this amulet. I don't know what I'll do with it afterwards."
As Trixie watched Scott struggle with the amulet Twilight stepped into her view.
"Look I know that you've got a lot of questions about what happened to you and I promise that you'll know everything."
"But, how? And why?" Trixie asked shakily.
"It's okay," Pinkie said as she bounded over, "We all had the same reaction when we were first brought into Scott's pocket dimension."
"You've all been there too?" Trixe said as she looked over to the six. Each of them nodded. Trixie rubbed the back of her head and sighed.
"I-uh, I don't know what to say now aside from sorry Twilight."
Twilight cocked her head to one side.
"Are you apologizing from earlier?"
Trixie nodded.
"After what just happened I feel as if is a sort of punishment, I don't want to leave without setting things right."
Twilight smiled and placed a hoof on Trixie, who looked up and returned with a quivering grin that soon faded. Twilight saw this and tried to make eye contact.
"Something wrong?" she asked. Trixie sniffed and looked up, Twilight was surprised to see tears forming in her eyes.
"I-I-I don't have anywhere to go. I've sold everything to get the amulet and now I've lost everything."
"You mean that you gave away all of your stuff to get the amulet?" Rainbow Dash asked. Trixie nodded.
"The only thing I have now are the clothes on my back."
Scott overheard what Trixie said and he walked over and placed a hoof on her shoulder.
"It's okay, I know what it feels like to give up everything in order to get what your heart desires."
Trixie sniffled and sat on the ground, covering her face with her hooves. Scott could feel her racking sobs, muffled slightly by her hooves. Scott pulled her closer and held her head in his forelegs, Pinkie and Fluttershy followed suit along with the others. Trixie stopped crying as Rainbow Dash joined in the hug, she smiled and placed a hoof over Scott's.
"Thank you," she whispered. She groaned a little as her stomach rumbled, it had been a while since she last ate and the recent turn of events had made her hunger emerge, luckily Pinkie heard it too.
"Are you hungry?" she asked.
"Why yes, The Great and Powerful Trixie humbly requests some food."
Scott laughed a little.
"Come on," he said as he let go of Trixie and led her to Twilight's library, "I'm sure that Pinkie'll get some food for you, in the meantime, there's someone who I want you to meet."
Trixie took a deep ad shaky breath and followed Scott and Twilight into Twilight's library. She glanced behind her and saw that the crowd has dispersed, she hoped that they had left before she lost control of her emotions, even if Twilight and her friends had seen her break down and cry, she couldn't live if the entire crowd saw her.
"So um, who is this you want me to meet?" Trixie asked Scott.
"Just wait, you'll meet her very soon."
Trixie shifted uneasily but followed Scott regardless. She walked inside and saw the books that littered the floor, Twilight saw the mess and sighed. As she started to pick up the books with her magic Trixie saw her struggling and walked over to help.
"Thanks," Twilight said.
"It's okay, it's my fault that you're place is a mess," Trixie said softly. Scott grunted with irritation and stomped on the floor, making all the books shoot up into the air and then fly into the shelves in order. Twilight and Trixie looked at him in amazement as he shut the door with his back leg.
"Now can we please get back to the task at hand?"
"Yeahhhh, are you sure you want to do this?" Twilight asked as Scott went upstairs.
"Sure I am, if we're going to save this place then the ponies should at least know who the one saving them is."
Scott walked up that stairs and into Twilight's bedroom, he looked around and then saw Faust leaning by the window. He walked over to her but she spoke before he opened his mouth.
"You know you didn't have to drag me into that Pocket Dimension of yours."
"I'm sorry Miss Faust, I just wanted to make sure you didn't get hurt, I had a feeling that Trixie was going to do something like uprooting the house."
"Well I do thank you for helping me, but next time will you tell me instead of sneaking up on me like what you did?"
"Sure thing Miss Faust."
Lauren sighed and stretched out the stiffness in her joints before turning to Scott.
"You came up here for a reason, what is it?"
"Well there's somepony who I'd like you to meet," Scott said, "Don't worry, she's not going to hurt you."
"Are you sure?" Lauren asked. Scott could sense the uneasiness in her voice, he pulled the Alicorn Amulet from behind his back and waved it in front of her face.
"Yeah, I'm sure."
Lauren relaxed but let Scott go ahead of her, she didn't entirely trust Scott as of yet but she knew that he had beaten Trixie and would protect her if Trixie tries anything. She followed Scott down the stairs and stopped as he peered around the corner. Scott could see Twilight and Trixie talking with each other, he quietly stepped into the room and motioned for Lauren to follow.
"So you were stuck on a rock farm trying to earn money for the amulet?" Twilight asked Trixie.
"Yes, I was desperate for something to help me gain my reputation. I didn't know about the powers of the amulet until now when you told me."
"Well I can say now that everything is okay," Scott said as he trotted over to Trixie. He put his foreleg around her neck and span her to face Lauren. Trixie froze up and went deathly white when she saw the human. "Trixie, I'd like you to meet Lauren Faust. Also known as the Creator."
"Hello Trixie," Lauren said, Scott could tell that she was a little nervous but not nearly as bad as Trixie who had just started shivering. Scott sighed deeply and loosened his grip on the stunned unicorn.
"This could take some time."
Trixie tried to escape Scott's grip but she was powerless while he had both the Element of Chaos and the Alicorn Amulet, both of which he didn't know were effecting him. As Lauren slowly walked over to Trixie she burst into tears, Lauren backed away and stared at Trixie as she once again started crying. Scott sighed and managed to coax Trixie out of her wailing.
"Please don't kill me!" Trixie blurted out to Lauren, she dove out of Scott's loosened grip and landed flat at Lauren's feet where she started to plead for her life. "I-I didn't mean anything, oh great Creator. I was just eager to get my former reputation back, please, oh please don't banish me to the sun!"
Lauren crouched down as Trixie covered herself with her hooves and wept once more. She gently placed her hand on Trixie's mane which made her calm down a little.
"Trixie, it's okay. I'm holding nothing against you. You're a fine unicorn with a troubled past but you've got a bright future ahead of you, I know that what you did was to make yourself famous and to fill that empty feeling that has plagued you since you were a filly. But you need to move on from that and try to make ends meet."
"But how am I to do that?" Trixie asked as she looked up from behind her hooves.
"A good and simple start would be to forget your past and start anew in Ponyville, I'm sure that you'll work out the rest."
Trixie shakily stood up and looked back to Twilight and Scott who were smiling at her, she grinned at the two then faced Lauren. She coughed and held out a hoof.
"Great Creator? Could you forgive a foolish mare for trying to cover her past and allow her to change her life for the best?"
"You are forgiven," Lauren said. Trixie's grin grew wider and tears formed in her eyes again, but this time is was tears of joy. Trixie rushed forward toward Lauren and the two embraced each other in tight hugs.
"Anyway," Scott said so loudly that it startled the others, they had forgotten that the stallion was there. He held up the Alicorn Amulet and span it on his foreleg. "What do we do with this?"
The other three looked at each other and then the Amulet. Lauren looked up and then gave Scott a stern look.
"Destroy it."
Scott stood confused for a second before Trixie snapped him out of his trance.
"No, you can't. I spent all of my life's savings on that."
"It's better this way, Trixie," Twilight said, "The Alicorn Amulet is very powerful and unstable, not to mention that it corrupts the user the longer they use it."
Trixie sniffled and reached out for the Amulet but Lauren pushed her hoof down.
"It's okay Trixie, let it go."
Trixie lowered her hoof and watched as Scott fumbled around with the necklace.
"How the bloody hell do you get this thing out?" he grunted as he tugged at the stone.
"Why don't you try using the Element of Chaos?" Twilight asked.
Scott stopped and took hold of the Element around his neck, it was still the same transparent stone that Discord had given him over a year ago. Scott remembered the day when he went to Canterlot for Luna's birthday and ended up trashing the party, destroying the Elements of Harmony and then watching as Discord took over the land. He hated every last memory of it but he kept it locked in his mind to remind him that he was banished for a reason. Scott sat on the floor as he recalled how he destroyed the Elements of Harmony, all he did once he found them was touch the Element of Chaos to the Elements of Harmony and they shattered and then were absorbed by the Element of Chaos. Scott gently brought the Amulet closer to the Element and proceeded to touch them together when he felt a continuous current of electricity run through his body, Scott let go of the Amulet and tried to back away only to find himself frozen in place. Scott grunted in pain but at the same time could feel some sort of energy running through his entire body. The Element of Chaos levitated as the Amulet span in midair, it started to spin slowly but gained in speed as Scott tried to focus on escaping the current that held him in place. Eventually the amulet started to throw tiny bolts of red lightning as it span at an ungodly speed. Suddenly a rather large bolt hit the Element of Chaos and send Scott flying backwards into the wall, knocking him unconscious.
"Scott, Scott are you okay?"
Scott grunted as his vision slowly started to return, he felt something rubbing the back of his head and he rolled over to see who it was. It was Lauren, standing next to her was Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Trixie surrounding him.
"Are you okay?" Twilight asked.
"Nope," Scott said groggily.
"You took quite a hit on the wall," Lauren said as Scott was helped up by Fluttershy and Twilight, "I seriously thought that you died."
"Yeah, as if I've had enough brushes with death. Oh don't worry Miss Faust, I've almost been killed several times and believe me each bloody time I've just managed to escape with my life. You have no idea what kind of shit I've been through before I got banished, do you?! I almost died at the hands of that beast Discord and now he's trying to kill me again!"
By now everyone had stepped back as Scott seethed, he calmed down enough to smell the distinct scent of electricity forming around him. Something that looked like red lightning bolts slowly arced out of him and then dissipated. Scott saw the terrified and confused looks and managed to get a hold of himself so that he could find out what had happened.
"What?"
"Did you see yourself?" Pinkie asked.
"No, why?"
"You were steaming and sending out lightning bolts," Twilight said, "I've never seen anything like that before."
Scott exhaled deeply and collapsed forward.
"Ugh, I feel terrible."
"Well you don't look to good if you don't mind me saying," Trixie said with a smile.
"Thanks," Scott said with a smirk. He got a sudden feeling as if something was lifting him up off the ground, Scott looked up and saw Pinkie's fuzzy face right next to his.
"Hungry?" she asked
"Yeah, starving."
Pinkie brought Scott outside with the others where there was a large picnic table sitting outside the Library, Scott was seated on the end and was amazed to see that the table was stocked with food. A whole Ponyville style banquet was set up on the table.
"So?" Pinkie said, "Who's hungry?"
Scott rose his hoof with a sheepish grin, earning a few laughs from the others. Twilight sat down and spoke up.
"Come on everypony, lets eat while the sun's still out."
Scott, Lauren, Trixie, Twilight and her friends all enjoyed eating out in the warmth and the sun, laughing and joking with each other. Scott on occasion would slump forward and start snoring, only to be poked in the ribs by Pinkie until he woke up. It was amusing for the others to listen to Scott as he told the stories of what he did while he was on the moon and inside dreams helping out the fillies and colts of ponyville. Soon as Scott started to drift off Pinkie said something that startled him awake.
"Hey Scott. The element around your neck, it looks different."
Scott looked down at the Element of Chaos and took hold of it. He held it up for everyone to see and was amazed at what happened. The Element had changed entirely in appearance, instead of being a small pea sized spherical stone, it was now a flat one inch big disk that looked like Scott's cutie mark. Scott stared at it for a few minutes before he let it drop against his chest.
"How did that happen?" he said.
"It might have been the Alicorn Amulet," Twilight suggested, "Maybe the powers of the amulet were assimilated like the Elements of Harmony were when you destroyed them."
"Maybe," Scott said slowly, he shook his head and got up. "I'm gonna get some sleep now, you have no idea how tired I feel after all that."
"Okay then," Lauren said.
"See ya later, Scott," Pinkie said. The others followed suit, wishing Scott good dreams as he walked inside. About two minutes passed when Scott called for them from inside.
"Hey, um, guys. Can I get some help please?"
The seven looked at each other and went inside. As they did they looked around until a voice was heard directly above them, Twilight looked up and saw who it was.
"Scott? What are you doing up there?"
"Does it look like I care? Get me down from here."
Lauren sat outside on the picnic table that only two hours ago held an entire banquet of food. She smiled as she though back to the memory that now seemed distant. Lauren had only been in Equestria for a day and she was already loving it, an entire world created in her imagination was actually real. But her first day in Ponyville was slowly coming to a close, day had turned to dusk and the heat from earlier had now settled to a comfortable warm summer breeze that rustled the leaves on the Library. The sound of the door opening caught Lauren's attention, she looked back and saw Twilight walking over to her.
"How is he?" Lauren asked.
"Scott? He's okay, Great Creator," Twilight said as she sat down next to Lauren.
"Call me Lauren, or at least Miss Faust," Lauren said with a sigh, "I know that you want to show me respect but I prefer to have casual conversations."
Twilight nodded and smiled.
"Sure thing Creator, I mean, Lauren."
Lauren allowed a chuckle to escape before staring out towards the setting sun. The two sat in silence for a while until Twilight cleared her throat and spoke.
"It was really nice of Pinkie to give Trixie both a job and a place to stay."
"She needed it," Lauren said, "Didn't Scott used to work for the Cakes?"
"Yes, but only for a few days. The Element of Chaos actually helped him out with the job."
"Oh, how?"
Twilight sighed and leaned back in her seat.
"Well it's strange how it worked, the Element of Chaos altered out perception and minds forcing us what Scott wants us to see but the thing is that Scott claimed that he saw what we saw which was a perfect cake. But during Princess Luna's birthday party something happened after Princess Luna kissed Scott, the powers of the Element stopped working for a split second just as everypony was eating the cake that Scott made, turned out to be a horrible tasting mess. After that Scott was about to be arrested but he shouted something and a bright white flash blinded us so he could escape."
"Interesting," Lauren said as she leaned her head on her fist, "Do tell me more."
Twilight cringed but relaxed and retold Scott's story of how Fluttershy found him out near the Everfree forest, when he went crazy and almost attacked Pinkie. Twilight didn't miss out a single detail between the day after he recovered to the trail and banishment of Scott to the moon. Lauren almost shed a tear when Twilight told her about the little filly that spoke up for Scott because he helped her when she was inside the dungeons. She then went on to tell Lauren that Scott had visited her in her dreams the night after he was banished saying that he was going to return one day as Luna told him. After this Lauren sighed and shuffled closer to Twilight.
"Do you still think of him as a friend even though he is truly human?" she asked.
"He saved my life," Twilight said quietly, "It's going to take a lot more than him being a former human for me to hate him along with his entire race.
"What about me though?"
"You're the Creator, I don't want to do anything because I know that you'll erase me if I do anything to harm you, not to mention that Scott'll kill me first."
Lauren and Twilight chuckled a little. Lauren stood up and stretched the stiffness from her back before following Twilight into the library. Twilight led Lauren upstairs and past a seprate room that cointained a bed with Scott sleeping in it.
"So where am I staying for the night?" Lauren asked as she watched Scott grunt and roll over under the covers.
"Oh, I've got another room for you to stay in. I've prepared it just for you, Lauren," Twilight said as she opened up a door at the end of the hall. Lauren entered after Twilight stood aside, she looked around inside. It seemed as if it was once never used but now it was spotless and very tidy. Lauren nodded in approval and face Twilight, who was grinning widely.
"You've pleased the Creator. I thank you."
Twilight stood aghast but looked incredibly pleased. She took a deep breath and bowed respectfully.
"Thank you Miss Faust. Sleep well."
Lauren stood in front of her door as she watch Twilight happily skip down the hall to her room. Lauren retreated to her bed for the night, Twilight heard the door shut and she smiled happy with the fact that she was housing the Creator and that she had pleased her. Twilight trotted over to the bed and saw the empty basket by the side of her bed that once would've held a sleeping dragon, a tear formed in her eye and slowly fell off her cheek. Twilight wiped it away as she climbed into her bed. She sighed and stared at the ceiling for a few minutes before rolling over and looking out the window, Twilight once again let out a baited breath and remembered who else was staying in her house. She nodded at the thought in her head and curled up under the blankets.
"Scott'll get Spike back," she thought, "He'll do whatever it takes to make everything all better."
Twilight then relaxed and let sleep take over her tired body and happy mind.
Scott rolled over in his bed and felt the sun shine through his eyelids, he groaned and sat up knowing that he couldn't block them out. He had to get up eventually and now seemed like a good time, his instincts told him that it was about nine thirty, a perfect time to get up. He slid out of the bed and coughed up some black mucus, Scott ran over to the window and spat it out into the tree. He guessed that the mucus was from last nights practice run with the new and improved Element of Chaos, Scott tapped the disc on his chest and smiled as he trotted out of the room. So far with these new powers taken from the Alicorn Amulet Scott was now able to produce more complex and large objects from thin air and better still, it didn't drain his Life Energy as fast. He did push himself to the limit to see how much he could do before he passed out or died and now that he knew his limits he decided to not go too far unless he needed to. Scott walked around the library and was a little confused when he didn't find Lauren or Twilight until he went outside, the two were out there along with Pinkie, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash. Trixie was absent from the scene which did surprise Scott a little. Pinkie was the first to see Scott emerge into the daylight.
"Morning Scott," she said in her usual cheerful mood, "Hungry?"
"Good morning to the rest of you as well," Scott said with a smile.
"Sleep well?" Twilight asked. Scott's smile grew wider as he sat between Twilight and Lauren.
"You have no idea."
The others laughed and pushed some food towards Scott, as they ate Lauren spoke up.
"So where's Trixie?"
"She's still at Sugarcube corner," Pinkie said as she swallowed a mouthful of cake and apple juice, "She's looking after the shop in return for offering her a job and a place to stay."
"Have a feeling of Deja Vu yet?" Scott said jokingly.
"Yep," Pinkie giggled. Applejack shifted nervously in her seat and looked over her shoulder towards the bakery.
"Pinkie, ah hope ya'll don't mind me sayin' this but can we trust her in the shop? What if she tries to do something to the place."
"Don't you worry Applejack, me and Trixie had an agreement. She promises to behave and be good if Lauren helps her out and we become her friends," Twilight said.
"Sounds good to me," Scott said as he started to eat his breakfast. Just as he was about to bite down on a small bun a puff of flame and smoke appeared over Twilight, the flame and smoke then dropped a letter on top of Twilight's plate where she stared at it for a few minutes before picking it up and unrolling it, everyone at the table leaned closer as Twilight scanned the letter.
"Who's it from?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Princess Celestia," Twilight said in a hushed whisper, "It's from Princess Celestia."
Everyone stared at Twilight in amazement except for Scott, who was too focused on using the Element of Chaos to levitate a bottle of apple juice up to his mouth so he could drink it.
"Wh-what?" Rarity stammered.
"Princess Celestia sent you a letter?" Applejack asked, "But ya'll haven't talked to each other for over a year."
"I know, but it's not that. The Princess knows that Lauren is here," Twilight said, the ponies looked at each other, Lauren then back to Twilight. "I didn't even send her a letter about her arrival yesterday."
"Yeah, I think I did that," Scott said.
"What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked.
"Well, when I crossed the portal to get here I ended up in some clouds and panicked a little, I'm sure Miss Faust remembered that."
"Yes I do," Lauren said.
"Well when I ended up in the clouds I pushed the MiG's throttle to max and shot out of the cloud as fast as I could, but there was a side effect of the speed."
"Which was what?" Pinkie asked.
"I broke the sound barrier."
"So that's what the loud boom was I heard yesterday morning," Rainbow Dash said.
"Yeah, also I flew over Canterlot when I broke the barrier. That might have something to do with it."
"How?" Twilight asked Scott.
"Well a big silver machine flying over the capital of Equestria that produces a loud noise might attract some attention."
"Scott, can I ask something?" Pinkie said.
"Fire away," Scott said as he cleaned the Element of Chaos of some juice that spilled on it.
"What's a MiG?"
Scott slammed his head against the table and looked up, a few crumbs of cake stuck to his face. He sighed and wiped them off.
"You want to see it?" Scott asked. The ponies nodded eagerly, they clearly wanted to see what Scott had brought with him.
"Come one you lot, it's just over this hill," Scott said as he led the group. He at first didn't want to show the MiG but then remembered the party with his old Interceptor. He'd made an amazing entrance with that and now that he had an old fighter jet he was anticipating using it to make an even greater appearance. Scott giggled to himself as he thought about it, the only problem this time was that when they transported the Interceptor, they used the train, this time Scott may have to fly to Canterlot.
"Is that it?" Twilight asked as she pointed out a glint of silver. Scott looked to where she was pointing and saw the nose of his MiG poking out from between the trees.
"There she is," he whispered. He walked over to it as the others stood back, they watched him go behind the bushes and saw him walk around the jet, he suddenly stopped near the nose and stared aghast at the side.
"Okay, who the hell defaced my jet?"
The group looked at each other and went over to Scott. He was standing by the side of the jet where he was was biting his lower lip in rage. Lauren looked at what Scott was pointing at with a shaking hoof. She saw something spray painted on the side of the plane, it appeared to be a dark green Celtic knot sprayed on an angle.
"What is that?" Lauren asked.
"I don't care!" Scott bellowed as he leapt at the graffiti and tried to scrape it off. Lauren shook her head and looked behind her and saw the six ponies cowering behind a bush.
"Something wrong?"
"T-t-t-t-that's the symbol of Douglas," Twilight stammered in fear.
"What?"
"That's the symbol that's been popping up around the town for the past year," Applejack said, "When ponies see that we think that it means that Douglas is going to attack the town. It hasn't happened yet but more of those keep popping up and we're getting scared."
"Why bother is nothing's happening?" Scott asked as he scraped off the last of the paint.
"Because of what he did to us," Pinkie said, her voice cracking somewhat. Scott stopped and turned around to see the fearful ponies. His mood darkened when he saw the ponies huddled up around each other, he noticed that each of them were shaking and on the verge of crying. Scott walked over to the six and sat down next to Fluttershy.
"What did he do?" Scott whispered gently.
"He captured us when Queen Chrysalis was in control of Ponyville, he had us stuck in cocoons and tormented us."
Scott took hold of Fluttershy's hooves and hugged her.
"Don't you worry, I'll make him pay for what he did to you."
Scott let go of Fluttershy and then decided to lead them back to the town, he wasn't one for superstition but if a symbol could cause so much fear in his friends, he had to get them away in case Douglas did show up. Scott knew that he could fight him but he didn't want to have any of his friends get hurt and especially not Lauren. Scott coaxed the six to leave but not before materializing several ropes and yokes. He tossed them to the six and opened up the cockpit, he tied the ropes to the top of the jet and looked around.
"Scott, what are these?" Twilight asked.
"Just put them on and pull the jet out of the trees," Scott said as he reached down into the cockpit.
"Why?" Rainbow Dash asked irritably.
"Just do it!" Scott yelled as he pulled a machine gun out of the cockpit, "Miss Faust, get in the back and keep your head down."
Something in Scott's voice made the six ponies ignore the yokes and run to the back of the jet and start pushing, Scott was about to protest but he stopped when he saw something move in the bushes. He span around and aimed the weapon towards the quivering branches, his steady aim was interrupted when he felt Lauren jump into the back seat of the jet.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Nothing good," Scott muttered.
The six managed to push the jet out int the clearing where Scott told them to run to the safety of the town. As they did Scott pulled the canopy shut and started the jet's engine, he then released the brakes and let the jet roll forwards, Scott looked behind him and pushed the throttle to max and then steered the plane so that all the bushes and trees were blasted apart by the slipstream of the engine. He relaxed when he saw nothing but woodland creatures scatter from the vegetation.
"Did you think that Douglas was there?" Lauren asked.
"No, I knew that he was there, watching us. Good thing he had the idea to run."
"Do you think he'll attack?"
"No, he's a sly one. He could've easily taken us out if I was distracted, but he didn't. That leads me to believe that he's just going to watch us."
"I heard what happened to him," Lauren said as she shuddered, "I created this place and it broke him, I feel so awful."
"It's not your fault," Scott said comfortingly, "It was his fault that he didn't trust Twilight. But then again he didn't know the consequences of abstaining from her help."
"But I still can't shake the feeling of guilt."
"It's okay, if we can get him alive I'll try to get his mind fixed so that he can go home to his family."
"You promise?" Lauren said as she leaned forward.
"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," Scott said with a smile. Lauren laughed and hugged Scott around the neck.
"So what do we do now?"
"Well if I had to guess, we're gonna go to Canterlot. I hope that you're ready to meet the rulers of Equestria, because they'll be ready for you."
Twilight and her friends had just made it to the library when they heard the distant roar of the jet engine, she wondered what had spooked Scott but she didn't want to hang around for it. She opened up the door to the library and let all her friends in before shutting the door and falling over with exhaustion. She sat up and leaned against the wall.
"Remind me-" she coughed, "Remind me to never, ever, let Scott order us around again."
"Agreed," the others all chimed.
"Anypony want a drink?" Pinkie said. Each one of the ponies nodded and waited as Pinkie pulled several bottles of cider out from behind a bookshelf and handed them around. Twilight popped the top off her cider bottle and took a big swallow out of it before looked out the window to see Scott's MiG cross the bridge with some difficulty but manage to clear the bridge and roll down the streets towards Twilight's library. Twilight shook her head and watched as the townsfolk come out of their homes and watch the massive silver machine slow down and quiet as Scott parked and turned off the engine. The canopy slid open and Scott jumped out before helping Lauren out too. Twilight opened up the door and scowled as Scott trotted over to her. Scott saw this and cringed but he kept up his pace.
"Yeah I know what you're mad about," he said.
"Don't ever do that again unless there's a good reason," Twilight said flatly.
"Oh there was a good reason Twilight, a very good reason."
"Oh yeah? Like what?"
Scott looked behind him to see several ponies gathered up around the MiG and took Twilight aside.
"Listen, you know when I was looking at the bushes? Well I think that our friend was hiding in the bushes, scoping us out."
"Wait, you mean Douglas?"
Scott nodded grimly and walked over to Lauren and the MiG, there also was several ponies gathered around Lauren. The ponies were either staring at Lauren or slowly approaching her with their heads down and ears flat against their heads in nervousness.
"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you," Lauren said to a filly that was slowly walking over to her. The filly was a light gray unicorn with a sandy colored mane.
"You-you promise?" the filly said shakily. Lauren nodded and the filly waled over to her, her head a little higher. Lauren reached out to stroke the filly when a voice iconic to Lauren rang out.
"Dinky! Get away from that thing!"
Lauren froze for a second but she looked up just in time to see a pegasus swoop down and pluck the filly from in front of her, she looked up and saw none other than Derpy floating above her. Lauren would've smiled but the look on Derpy's face as she held Dinky was a look of pure anger.
"You stay away from my little girl!" Derpy yelled at Lauren. Lauren backed away as Scott took up position in front of the MiG, Derpy's angry expression lessened as he smiled up at her.
"Hey there Dinky, how's it going?"
Derpy cocked her head to one side while Dinky's eyes grew wider, Derpy flew a little closer to the ground but still kept a distance from Scott.
"How do you know her name?"
"Simple, when's the last time your daughter had any nightmares?"
"Mommy, can you please let me down?" Dinky said, "I wanna know if it really is him."
Derpy held the filly closer to her and scowled at Scott.
"Who are you?" she asked harshly.
"My name, is Scott Weblsy."
Several of the ponies gasped and whispers broke out in the crowd. Derpy landed and let go of Dinky.
"But, you were banished," she said. Scott smiled and gave a slight nod.
"Yep, but now I'm back, and better than ever."
"It is you!" Dinky said joyfully. Scott sat down in front of the filly.
"You been having any more bad dreams?"
"Nope! Thanks to you, they're all gone."
"Wait a second," Derpy said, "Are you the Nightmare Purger that everypony keep talking about?"
"Took you that long to figure out who I am?" Scott said with a grin.
Derpy landed in front of him and let go of Dinky who stood by her mothers side.
"Geez, I'm sorry. If I had known..."
"It's okay Derpy," Scott said, "I knew that you wouldn't recognize me at first. It's been a very long time since you last saw me."
"When was that?"
"The last nightmare you had, you remember it right? The one about the carnivorous muffins."
Derpy's jaw crashed to the floor after Scott said this, it was a few seconds before she spoke.
"How-how do you remember that?" she asked.
"Simple, I was searching for ideas to add to my personal DreamScape and I came across your nightmare. I knew that you needed help so I crossed over into your dream and killed the muffin monsters, don't you remember the minesweeper I used to grind them up?"
"Not really."
"Ah well, never mind. So anyway," Scott said as he lowered down to Dinky's eye level, "Any bad dreams lately, Dinky?"
"Nope!" Dinky said happily. Without warning Dinky rushed forward and hugged Scott which triggered some 'awws' from the crowd. "Thank you Scott, you're my best friend."
"Can I ask something?" Derpy said.
"Fire away," Scott replied.
"Who's the human?"
Scott looked at Lauren and nodded towards the crowd. Lauren picked up on what Scott wanted, she stepped forward and addressed herself.
"My name, is Lauren Faust."
Derpy, backed away and pulled Dinky behind her.
"You-you mean you're the Creator?" Derpy stammered.
"Yes," Lauren said. Dinky came out from behind her mother and approached Lauren.
"Are you going to hurt us like the last human who was here?"
"No, I'm here to help you."
"You promise?"
"I promise."
Dinky smiled and her ears perked up. Lauren too smiled just as Scott walked over to her.
"Okay then, now are you going to introduce yourself to the remainder of the town or are we going to get ready to head to Equestria?"
"Yeah, let's go, I've met everyone who I want," Lauren said. Scott stepped back and allowed Lauren to pass, she gave the crowd a wave as they departed and grinned as they waved back and left. Scott led Lauren into the Library where Twilight was waiting for them. Twilight was pacing as she read a letter from Princess Celestia, as Lauren and Scott entered she stopped and looked up.
"Oh hello," Twilight said, "Have you finished introduced Lauren to Ponyville's mailmare?"
"Yeah, Derpy's really nice," Lauren replied.
"I'm sure that after all this you'll get to know her better," Twilight said. Lauren looked at her quizzically.
"Oh, what do you mean about that?"
"Don't you remember? We're going to Canterlot."
"Oh yes, when do we go?"
"We leave later tonight, we just need to get ourselves ready."
"Get ourselves ready how?" Scott asked. Twilight walked over to Scott and stood next to him with the letter.
"Well, everypony had gone to pack for the trip, as for us, I think you should hear this."
"Go ahead."
Twilight cleared her throat and read Scott and Lauren the letter.
"Dear Twilight,
Sorry that it's been a while since we last spoke but I've been preoccupied lately with both the coming arrival of our Creator and another ally for our consul. Now you know from the last letter our allies for the Equestrian Consul are the Zebras, the Buffalo Tribes, the Equestrian military, our new allies and the humans. Lauren and Scott specifically. Now in terms of our Great Creator I was wondering if there was anything Rarity could do for her in terms of stunning clothing. From what I've read in your last letter, you say that she is wearing "normal clothes" and we need her to look like our Creator. I hope that she doesn't take offence to this. As for Scott, I know that he was once human but prefers to stay a pony because he feel as if he fits into our world. But if he is coming I want him to become a human once more so that the Consul knows that he is a part of the alliance.
"Wait, what?" Scott said, "I'm confused. Why does Princess Celestia want me a human?"
"Maybe so that I won't stand out as much as I have been doing," Lauren suggested.
"Could be, or that Celestia wants the population to trust us."
"Um, can I get back to the letter?" Twilight asked. Scott nodded and walked into an other room.
"You can read the rest to Lauren, I need to think."
Scott wandered around the upper floor of the library, he would occasionally glance out of the window that looked towards Canterlot and sigh. He knew that he'd have to change at some point but it had been a long time since he'd been in human form in the real world, most of the time he was in a Dreamscape or in his pocket dimension but this time he'd be on real soil. He shook his head and slumped down on a couch and rubbed his temples, hoping to overcome his nervousness.
"Scott?" Lauren's voice drifted through the crack of the door, "Scott, are you coming? Everyone else is here."
"Yeah, you guys go on. I'll meet you outside."
Lauren nodded and shut the door behind her, she knew that it had been a long time since Scott was a real human but then again she knew that he'd change form once more.
"I hope he doesn't strain himself," she muttered. Lauren walked downstairs and outside where the others were waiting. She brushed off her shirt and was instantly set upon by Rarity.
"I heard what the Princess wanted so I made this for you."
Rarity reached into her saddle bag and then produced out a large box. Lauren took it from Rarity's magic aura and slowly opened it up. Inside was a white and silver blouse, decorated with diamonds and other precious jewels. When Lauren shifted the box the blouse shimmered in the sunlight.
"Oh Rarity, it's beautiful."
"Thank you, I worked all night on it."
"So where's Scott?" Pinkie asked.
"He's still inside," Lauren said.
"Still?" Twilight said, "I thought he'd change form by now."
"He's a little uneasy about it."
"Oh, okay."
"So anypony know when we're going?" Applejack asked.
Before anyone could answer a scooter pulling a red wagon skidded in front of the library. The CMC jumped off the scooter and wagon and tossed their helmets into the wagon and then grabbed their saddlebags.
"Can we come too?" Apple Bloom asked.
"What?" Twilight asked.
"We heard that you were going to Canterlot and we wanted to come too," Scootaloo said.
"Yeah, we wanna go on another adventure!" Sweetie Belle chirped.
"Girls, I don't think it's a good idea," Twilight said, "We're going to meet the Princess and figure out how we're gonna save Equestria."
"Doesn't mean we can't tag along," Scootaloo said.
"No, no you can't come," Rainbow Dash said.
"It's too dangerous," Rarity added.
"You go home right now Apple Bloom," Applejack ordered. The Crusaders all dropped their heads and sulked. Applejack sighed and sat down in front of them.
"Look, ah know you want to come with us but this is important."
"Yes, we don't want you getting hurt," Fluttershy said.
"But we're scared of here," Sweetie Belle whimpered. Rarity placed a hoof on her little sister's shoulder and pulled her closer.
"I know that you're scared of staying here after everything that happened but we seriously don't want you to end up getting hurt."
"Oh for god's sake. If they want to come then let them," a voice rang out from the dark recesses of the library. The group looked up and saw the door slowly open up. As the sunlight advanced across the floor it then climbed up a shiny, black, metallic object. Standing in the doorway was the silhouette of another human. But it was obvious who it was.
"Scott?" Twilight asked.
"Yep, it's me."
Scott took two steps outside and let the sun shine off him, he had truly changed form but what he was wearing stunned the group. He had on what looked like the Helm of Chaos but this time it had a strange pattern on the metal breastplate, he also had metal shin guards and the same helmet that Discord had given him but also with the same pattern.
"Wow, you look great," Pinkie said.
"Never felt better," Scott replied, "A little tricky to walk on two legs but I'm getting the hang of it again."
"Alright! Go Scott!" Scootaloo said.
"Thanks Scoot. So yeah, as I was saying; if the kids want to come then let them. They haven't seen me for a year so they might as well hear everything that I've done."
"Cool, so when do we get to hear your stories?" Apple Bloom asked.
"When we got on the train," Scott said. He looked around and then stopped when he saw his MiG. "Yeahhh, how are we gonna got this thing to the station?"