Land of Friendship and Magic

by Archmage Ansrit

Rating: teen
Tags: Original Character, Adventure, Shining Armor, Princess Celestia, Crossover, Sex, Human, Main 6, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Princess Luna
Length: 183869

Who would have thought that dressing up as John Egbert and attending conventions would get me into this mess.

So, I accepted an invitation from a first cousin, once removed. It seemed like a sweet deal at the time, I mean, there were these conventions I wanted to go and he so graciously offered me a place to stay! Alright, so I had to share a room with my brothers, but I had the first convention all for myself! Plenty of cash to spend, and my costume was really easy to make!

Naturally, I spent all of the money that didn't go into my costume on everything that caught my fancy.

I should have left that table alone.

Now? Now... I am not as mad at Celestia as I could have been, as I should have been, all things considered. I can't help but let it be smoke in the wind.

It's in my nature.

And she... she knew there was a chance it would happen.

I'm so sorry, Wind Whistler. It was my fault.

DJSkywalker has been contributing so much, I'm officially adding Dj as a co-author.

Published 2014-03-07 02:30:02 UTC
Last updated 2019-10-07 04:39:03 UTC

Rebirth

Present Day

It might, just might, mind you, be because I was petrified while wounded and suffering from blood-loss, but I didn't mind how quiet the gardens were nearly every day. Knowing that all I had to do was 'sleep' or concentrate hard enough helped.

See, unlike many, many others, I only allowed Celestia to think I was stuck inside the statue.

There was way too much air around me for that, and she didn't get all of me.

Discord's little stint was mildly entertaining to see from this side, but the crazy weather made me feel awful. He offered to get me out, thinking that I would have some massive beef with the sisters, a huge bone to pick - no, a whole graveyard of bones to pick... but I assured him I could get out on my own.

He did oh so helpfully point out that he could 'get rid' of my health problem; my old wound was either moments from killing me, or centuries overdue, depending on your point of view on petrification-based stasis. I merely pointed him to the 'bed' I was lying on. He didn't get it, but I convinced him all the same.

It was... nice of Celestia to take the whole thing, pillars and all, after turning me to stone. Oh, she repaired my clothes and placed my ocarina in my left hand, my brush/sword in the right -without taking off any of my things-, crossing them over my heart so that it would look like I was simply sleeping peacefully; only then she had turned my body to stone, whispering something about showing me respect that way - now that I think about it, maybe she believed I was dead already.

It was perhaps the nicest thing Celestia ever did for me.

Funny how it works. I had blacked out just as I crawled over the blue slab of rock, but then I 'regained' consciousness as a statue!

Not that she needed have bothered.

I got perhaps a couple of visitors a year, not counting any of the Wind family. I played the wind and rustled their hair a little, particularly foals. There was a plaque with my 'name' on it - Typhon - and the date of my appearance and my defeat - or perhaps my 'death'. Celestia really disliked me, perhaps even hated me at times, and I didn't make it easier by sneezing tornadoes...

It got to the point that...

'Oh, Wind Whistler, I'm so sorry... I'm sorry...'

'The anniversary of your death is getting close, isn't it? I have always thought of that date as yours more than mine.'

*****

(Celestia)

The sun princess sighed tiredly as she walked through the cemetery. She missed many of the ponies whose names graced the stones, even though most of the ones closest to her had gotten a different funeral than a burial...

Starswirl, stern and smart Starswirl... he designed many spells that, despite being considered cantrips even in their time, laid the foundations to many modern spells and spell systems. He had never been one for crowds, and was now simply a character belonging to obscure history; most ponies only knew his name because of the play of the first Hearts Warming. His last work... ended him.

'He never quite understood friendship.'

He got a funeral of stars.

Farsight The Learned, ditzy yet diligent Farsight. He gave her hope of seeing her sister again, and she considered him a friend - even if he couldn't walk down a hall without tripping over himself.

Another who got turned into lights.

Wind Whistler...

'She shouldn't have died. Not then, not like that.'

She was just in the wrong place. Why would the founder of Las Pegasus be anywhere near Typhon? She and Windstorm had the best and most important pegasus training center in the region, where they learned all about the weather. She shouldn't have been near him. She shouldn't have gotten caught in the blast. For that, she had given her a funeral of stars.

And she... Celestia was ashamed to admit it, but she had fully intended to let Typhon take the blame - after all, it was not like he would have been able to defend his case. Nopony would know of her mistake; nopony would know she was capable of making mistakes, of poor judgement, of making bad choices.

But Windstorm had been there, too, only that she never knew until the funeral. That was the last time anypony saw him; wounded, and enraged that she dared blame Typhon, lie so blatantly, deny her mistakes. He left his foal in the care of Wind Whistler's remaining family, then disappeared.

Perhaps he died from his injuries, quietly, away from Celestia, either refusing treatment or knowing it would do little good. He surely joined his beloved in the next life.

Her version of the story had been the official one for many centuries.

Curiously, each year, without fail, Celestia would find flowers on the grave. Always the same. Just like Wind Whistler's birthday and the anniversary of her wedding. It was a reminder, though whenever it was more for her or the ones who left them was hard to say.

One of those dates was coming up... perhaps she should send some flowers, too.

*****

(Typhon)

Twilight came to visit me today.

I remembered the time when she was a little filly - she kept correcting other ponies, 'I'm not purple, I'm lavender'. The miniature unicorn was really adorable, although she had the awful tendency to agree with everything Celestia said, even if she was wrong... now that I think about it, there was one day they were supposed to train spells here in the garden, but Celestia arrived an hour late - she said she had a meeting that ran longer than anticipated - and said that she would try to send word ahead of her to avoid keeping her waiting.

I think that's the closest to a real apology I've ever heard from her. And with my air powers, I could hear a lot indeed. Not that I habitually eavesdropped or anything, so there might have been something I've missed, but I tended to listen to Celly when she was in the garden.

Whatever.

Twilight's friends and the trio of fillies that had released Discord were not far behind.

"Thank yah Twilight!" The little earth filly said, smiling wide. "We didn' see all of da statues 'cuz someponies decided ta fight in da middle of da trip!"

She glared at her fellow mini-ponies, the orange one raising her hooves defensively.

"Hey! That was Discord's weird magic!"

'He still needed something to work off of, you know.'

"What's this one? It's weird!" The white minicorn cantered over to me.

"That's Typhon the Sly." I discovered that I had an epithet, don't I feel special - wait, how in the blazes of Hell did I not know this in thousand plus years? "He was a fickle being, pretending to help ponies one moment only to cause storms the next."

'Wow, Celly must have disliked me more than I thought.'

"Not much is known of him, but his powers over wind and weather were legendary." And I was holding back the good stuff! I would have smiled, but stone, so yeah.

"I'll say!" Rainbow interjected, a fierce look in her eyes. "Every weather manager worth their salt has heard about him! He could control lightning! How awesome is that?"

'Well, I know quite a bit about the science of weather, so it is not unreasonable to think I could apply it so well. Thanks for the compliment, Dash.'

"It looks like he's sleeping, though." Fluttershy commented, the butter-yellow pegasus was looking at my face with a - what kind of look is that? Concern? Compassion?

"He looks sad." Pinkie commented, pouting. I bet she was upset she couldn't make a statue smile.

'Don't worry about me, I'll get better.' I don't know if they heard me without me moving the air, but I think their mood improved a little.

"I don't know the whole story, but it had to do with his defeat and the loss of a pony because of it." Damn straight, Wind Whistler didn't deserve that; she wanted a large herd and lots of foals. "Tomorrow is supposed to be the anniversary, according to this plate."

"Let's keep going, girls. We might be guests, but there is still much to see." Then she turned around and left to somewhere else in the gardens.

Tomorrow, Wind Whistler, tomorrow I'll fulfill my promise.

I still remember the days before I met you, and how you loved to hear more about my old world. You liked to call it the day I was reborn... well, it's time to do it once more.

*****

(About a millennium and a half ago from Typhon's perspective)

Today was a good day.

A cousin of my mother had overheard me talking about conventions that I wanted to go to, but never quite managed because most were in a whole 'nother city. When he heard about the 'Cons happening right there in his own town, he invited us to stay over! It made me feel kinda bad, since I don't know much about that branch of the family...

Still, I picked my outfits for three reasons. Fast to procure, cheap to do so, and easy to carry. And that one was blue was icing on the cake.

For the first day I was dressed as the God-Tiered Heir of Breath John Egbert, from Homestuck. Yellow tennis shoes, true blue pants, azure shirt with a cyan symbol, and a blue hood that resembled a windsock for being so long. I need glasses anyways so that's that. I also had a golden Prospitian dream-self outfit, which are basically pretty yellow pajamas with a crescent moon on them.

Heck, I even had props, like cardboard captchalogue cards, strife specibus cards, and I changed my usual wallet for a brown leather wallet.

There was a whole menagerie of cosplayers and people in disguise. There was one going as Solaire of Astora from Dark Souls, Dullahan from Golden Sun, Alice in the heart dress from Alice Madness Returns... and others that weren't a specific character, like a guy with a steampunk outfit and the like.

Hm? Oh, there was one dressed as Rainbow Dash! Man, that's bold.

I snapped pictures of any costumes I really liked with my tablet; I like collecting them and showing them off.

But there was another objective...

I bought lots of stuff! A beautifully-styled fake calligraphy brush, an ocarina pendant, a life-size Ocarina of Time replica... then I saw it.

The place had no line, and everyone else seemed to ignore it, so I - being so naturally curious - gave it a visit.

There was a ring... kind of of like an abstract bird with a tiny ruby-red stone, an onyx/obsidian (it was hard to tell) turtle shell pocket watch, a tiger pin with some white stone, and a pendant of a golden dragon (eastern type, whiskers and all) coiled around a blue jade(?) marble. A steal - one hundred and fifty bucks for all.

I attached the chain of the watch and... I felt weird. Heavy. I slipped the ring and placed the pin and then it was a little hard to breathe, but nowhere near as bad as how strange it felt to move; the air felt like it was molasses, thick and sticky.

I saw that Solaire guy strike the ground with a staff and disappear, and the guy in steampunk and Dullahan vanished too. My brain felt like mush, so I thought I might be imagining things, even though I had the sneaking suspicion that I wasn't.

I looked at the pendant, put it around my neck for some unfathomable reason... and saw how my hands slowly turned transparent and vanished into thin air.

*****

(Current era)

Today was the day. Everything was in place.

I knew something weird was up ever since I arrived wearing a black shirt, green jacket, dark denim pants and red shoes, instead of my blue or even yellow clothes. My suspicions were confirmed pretty much the first night, and now I am about to gamble my life on a legendary nap.

I drew the wind onto myself.

I woke up the magic of the guys... they were rather lazy, preferring to leave me to fend for myself or simply channel my powers through one of their aspects, but there were a few things that I quite simply couldn't do without them. They would help with this.

Air. It's presence, absence, everything in between.

I drank deeper from the vastness of the sky. I connected with that which wasn't encased in rock, and absorbed what floated through the air.

The stone cracked.

Immediately, I felt the pain from having had a sharp rock lodged in my chest.

Luckily, blood-loss kinda make everything black...

*****

(With Celestia)

Once more, there had been flowers on Wind Whistler's grave. They were not alone now.

Celestia was conversing with Luna about the flowers as she lowered her own.

"That is quite-" Whatever Luna was about to say was lost as a guard rushed over towards them.

"Your Highnesses! Something has happened! There is light coming from the statue garden!" He said as he bowed, quickly returning to an upright position. Both princesses nodded, then he turned around and led the way.

The source of the light, the four orbs atop each spire of Typhon's resting place, went largely unnoticed itself; the gardens had been vacated as soon as the animals scattered. There was something in the air, and even non-pegasi could feel it, even see it! Blue lines moving through the air!

Celestia and Luna remembered quite well what they meant.

They saw the lights, they saw circles rise up into the air as the blue lines gathered, creating powerful gales that threatened to tear leaves from trees and topple anything that was not safely attached to the ground.

The light coming from the garden intensified to the point anypony would be excused if they thought a star had been born, while smaller motes spread through the land.

In Cloudsdale and other cloud cities, the production of weather stopped for a moment as the strange lights appeared anywhere with a large open space - particularly in the cloud-making chambers. The ponies descended from the Wind family recognized the lights from the stories they had been told to guard.

In Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle gazed in wonder at the sheer magnitude of the phenomenon, managing to see miniature stars as far as her eyes could see.

In Canterlot, the princesses gaped at the display. Typhon's symbol, which he liked to show everywhere, was floating in the air as the winds converged upon it.

The light flared one last time before disappearing, taking the stars and winds with it. The princesses rushed to the place where Typhon had been placed only to find a pool of blood on the stone slab.

"Missed me?" A voice said from behind them.

The princesses turned around and saw him. Typhon, the human, clad in blue and floating in mid-air.

Author's Note

I was bitten by the League of Humans Acting Villainous bug that's going around spreading like wildfire and more infectious than a cold. Doesn't help that I already had some ideas like this one just sitting around - I wanted a Homestuck reference without having to actually use one of the characters.

Feel free to contact me or anything so that we may engage in jolly cooperation.

Awakening

(Typhon, Arrival era)

I-I- What the hell was that!? My knees were shaking like jelly and I couldn't so much as move.

I fell to my knees and tried to keep myself up with my arms, but they too lost strength and I fell face down on the grass.

'A-alright, I need to- I understand. That's the in-between....'

I couldn't just do nothing with what I'd seen; that way laid madness. Neither could I mess with lest I go insane...

'First of all. How does this- no, does this affect me?'

...

No, it didn't.

Another, perhaps a nihilist, would have taken it as 'confirmation' that nothing one does has any meaning. Or that they could do anything they wanted because there were other 'back-ups'.

I... I... I am aware. I understand - no, others who 'understand' have gone crazy... what would that make me? I get it?

Yeah! I get it! I get it!

It's philosophy! All you truly own is yourself and your memories, your actions. We are all simple travelers in this road of life, and everything is so much better if we help each other, instead of trying to trip each other up. Who said that Sahasrara was the hardest chakra to understand?

OK, so that means that, while I am in... somewhere, that does not mean that I can do anything I want for the hell of it. Whatever, or whoever I find will still be another traveler of life just the same as I, and deserves my respect as such. It doesn't matter if I can or cannot effect anything but my immediate surroundings, I don't need to make huge waves so long as I enjoy my personal journey and grow from it.

Basically, I ended up where I started, but the journey helped me understand and settle the load better, mostly by making me understand that it isn't a load at all. I know some things, don't know others, and yet, I can understand without knowing everything.

Also, Void-dwellers have got to be the most deluded of beings; sadly, their delusions are really freaking powerful and they have an effect on others that reinforce them.

'Whatever. Time to take stock of my surrounding- wait, why is my hand so small? And why am I wearing a green jacket?'

*****

(Celestia, Current era)

"Missed me?" The voice sent shivers down her spine, despite it being said in a conversational tone.

She turned.

Surely in front of her was a ghost, out of her past to haunt her. Same carefree smile, same brown eyes, glasses and windswept hair.

But not a ghost. He was very real.

"Villain!" Luna bellowed in the Royal Canterlot voice; a blue-tinted sphere surrounded Typhon, centered over his heart, and parted the shockwave like a rock does a river. "Thou shan't terrorize Equestria again!"

Just as Celestia was processing the scene before her, Luna threw a spell at Typhon - a bright lance of magical energy that would have gouged a hole in rock. Typhon disappeared into a mess of blue lines, reforming on the ground.

"You know, you could have said 'no'." He took one of his strange stances, one foot and one arm forward with the other leg behind the first and the other arm protecting his chest; a blue sphere formed around him, with a fainter one extending much further.

Celestia, now much more aware of her surroundings, remembered what the sphere meant, and that few were able to even see it - mostly those who could use the same technique and produced a bubble themselves. With those reminders about Wind Whistler, it was impossible not to think of Typhon himself. Perhaps Luna had forgotten, but the denser sphere used to only reach about twice the length of his arms without a weapon.

What Luna had not forgotten, however, was that there was a rather obvious weakness to his technique - it couldn't deal with opponents with superior strength. She rushed forward and jabbed with a forehoof - a buck was certainly one of the stronger hits a pony could make, but it was insanely telegraphed and everypony and their grandma would expect it.

As the princess dove into the bubble, it deformed around her. Typhon leaned away from the blow, shifting his breath and ducking under Luna's follow up hook. The bubbles shrank until his torso was barely covered by the smaller one. Luna shot another quick spell, but Typhon could read the disturbances her head made to the air as she aimed and twirled sideways to avoid it.

"Got your rhythm." He said, neutrally, devoid of any concrete emotion.

He recovered his stance, but the bubble shrank further and deformed until it was just a wrapping to his body; it gave Luna pause, since standing up to her was something he had never done before, and with (apparently) new abilities, too. Guards poured into the too small clearing, and pegasi crowded the sky.

Celestia wanted to prevent an incident before it started.

"All pegasi, retreat!" She ordered, but too late. The flying guards were visibly struggling to remain airborne, flapping their wings harder and harder, pumping for all they where worth to no avail; ultimately they landed on top of the land-bound guards.

And Typhon didn't seem to acknowledge them.

"Ruffian!" Luna roared and threw another jab, which, to her surprise, was not dodged by running away, but by diving in after moving just the bare minimum to let her hoof graze his clothes.

He used his hand to smear ink on Luna's face.

"Bye!" And then used Luna's outrage to cover when he seemingly exploded into blue lines and vanished.

Celestia did not have time to ponder much of anything, what with her sister shouting indignantly at the top of her lungs. Typhon used some kind of magical ink that needed additional magic to remove, and the guards needed assistance, and she needed to send a letter to Twilight, and- and- and...

And she was going to need something for the killer headache she was developing.

*****

(Typhon)

Just like I expected.

My powers grew quite a lot, but not to the extend they 'should'. My powers came from a 'game construct' that affected even reality, but a reality made by the construct itself... this reality was made by a different magic, which didn't fit my own all that well. There was a... I guess I could call it a 'bandwidth', or perhaps a 'tolerance' or 'compatibility', where my abilities behaved just like they should, but trying to inject more power made them fizzle.

Growing in 'levels' increased the maximum, but instead of trying to go straight for city-leveling power, I preferred to expand sideways. The 'construct' assigned me a 'class', but the world tried to make sense of it by giving me an equivalent. Using the class abilities was the easiest, and getting creative with them is just second-nature, but it's Equestria itself what allowed me to stand on clouds.

Still, going into the Tiers made me rise to a whole new order of magnitude. Using my breath powers like that, against the princesses, was something I wouldn't even dream of before - it was way too hard to sustain the normal Air-Control Sphere against a pony with pegasus powers, since they had a bit of their own instinctually, and it really wasn't supposed to be used against those with great strength. The advanced form? I don't know what was I thinking.

Well, that's not true. I was sad that Luna tried to attack me just like that... it seemed to me like she never got the memo. I don't really blame her or anything, she only ever had Celestia for quite a long time, and only got back from her own absence relatively recently. To her, I was still the guy who Celestia said I was (and I didn't do myself any favors by wrecking that wheat field, or those houses).

And I could feel a lot of her loneliness and pain. She vented her frustrations against me.

Still, now was the perfect time to get rid of my own corpse.

...

'I... I think I should find it a little morbid that I planned for my own death to the point I stored a bodybag inside my inventory for when I kicked it so that I wouldn't have to find one later.'

I kept a bodybag in my soon-to-be corpse. For convenience.

"Wow, my life got really screwed up somewhere along the line."

My ring glowed.

"Old news?! Don't make me put you in my pocket! I don't need all four all the time!" I shook my hand.

The ring's light blinked a few times.

"That's better." I nodded, and, though I couldn't see it, the pocket watch's face glowed too. "I know you like the pocket, but Suzy is more of an open spaces kind of girl."

I clapped my hands.

"I should give myself a proper funeral. Suzy, you have 'Star', right? Do you think you could do the same the princesses do for those?"

The ring glowed again.

"Perfect."

*****

(Twilight Sparkle)

Everything was a whirlwind of emotions, confusion, unanswered questions and, yes, a touch of fear.

Princess Luna had sent a letter, the urgent tone distracting her from the pile of research books she had surrounded herself with to try to understand the phenomenon she had witnessed not an hour before getting the scroll.

The letter also mentioned an inbound chariot to pick them up.

That... that was not a good sign at all. It meant that whatever it was, it could not wait...

As they stepped into the throne room it was clear that Celestia was troubled. She stood at the bottom of the steps, stern gaze not focused on anything specific until a small jerk of her head brought her eyes to their group.

The last time that had happened, Discord had escaped. The princess had been understandably upset; he was immensely powerful, dangerously cunning, and disturbingly insane.

Twilight suppressed the desire to whimper as the icy feeling of dread began to spread through her body.

"Twilight sparkle, I am so glad to see you." The princess said, the relief of meeting in person slightly dampened by the fact it had happened under stressful circumstances yet again.

The princess looked conflicted for a moment, opening her mouth for a second before drawing breath and sighing.

"Typhon has returned." She said, lowering her head slightly as she remembered the look on his face. "I do not know why or how, nor why would he wait until now, but I do know that the lights from moments ago had something to do with it."

He wasn't all that pleased with her, then again, his emotions had always been subdued... until Wind Whistler died. She shook her head.

"He is different from how I remember him. It appears that he can teleport now, and he is more powerful and confident." She paused, allowing Dash to speak up.

"No worries!" Rainbow flew up and twisted and twirled, as if in aerial combat. "He won't even know what hit 'im!"

"You are a pegasus." Celestia stated, making the others blink in confusion. "If you fly anywhere near him, he will know it. I am convinced that he can sense any other type of pony as well. Luna is currently looking for him, but I did not ask you to- never mind, my sister sent the letter."

She sighed. Luna could be so painfully direct at times... at the very least she used a scribe for her missives, who Celestia had told to 'modernize' her speech.

"I do not want you to join the effort to hunt him, but I do want you to be wary; Typhon is cunning, having managed to avoid us for years. I have no doubt that he is preparing traps for my sister and her escorts."

*****

(Typhon)

The body in front of me turned to motes of light and ascended to the skies.

I only had the four, and for them to grant me their full protection they needed to be together... yet, at the same time, my form when susceptible to magic could not be more fitting; giving it a funeral had more meaning than just an ascension into the Tiers. Kind of... like an entirely new beginning; a farewell to my old life from so long ago into a new one.

Keeping my promise to Wind Whistler.

Speaking of which, her gravestone had a second bouquet, identical to the other one. It could only have been Celestia, since anypony else wouldn't have thought to give her such a mismatched one. They were all of her favorites, and had said that she didn't care one bit that they didn't go well together in a single bouquet. It would be just like the princess to deduct the reason and copy it.

Hmm? Something was added to the grave.

Wind Whistler

?? - ? / ? / 10 Post-Harmonia

Right, Discord's little reign made keeping track of the date a little hard. It was... three years later that a Seer and a mathematician managed to match the correct date to the old calendar. Maybe it wasn't corrected out of respect?

Beloved daughter, mother, and wife.

The founder of Las Pegasus. Your guidance, knowledge and example were an inspiration in life, and your memory will forever remain alive so long the spirit of the community you started stays within our hearts.

She added Windstorm...

Windstorm

?? - ??

Beloved husband and father.

Your sharp and inquisitive mind will be sorely missed. Your sense of justice and unwavering devotion to the betterment of ponydom should be an inspiration to all.

Did Celestia... write that epitaph?

I-I... I could feel Luna closing in. I should go; I wasn't feeling in the mood for a confrontation, and maybe... maybe I needed to cry a little.

Author's Note

Sahasrara is the seventh chakra, the one on the crown of the head. It's 'blocked' by worldly things and desires.

I felt like a jerk after placing that youtube link.

Windswept

(Typhon, Arrival era)

Alright, whatever, that was an actual, honest-to-God pegasus pony watching me from the clouds.

A mare, given the shape of the muzzle; her coat was between baby blue and sky blue, with a pink mane and rose eyes.

"Hello!" I called for her, still not used to hearing my voice as a teen again. "Could you tell me where am I?!"

She flinched, wide-eyed, and I thought for a moment that she would bolt. To my relief, she didn't, and even looked like she would answer me.

After a few moments of indecision, she left her cloud and fluttered close to me. Well, if ten meters can be considered 'close to' anything.

"Greetings." She said, not taking her eyes off my face for anything, but my smile seemed to comfort her; she sounded like a teenager herself, and was smaller than I thought she was. "You are currently located seven and a half miles northwest by north of Cloudsdale."

"Thank you!" I said with a smile. "I'm afraid I'm very lost, and I have no shelter or food, would you be so kind as to tell me who can I see to help me with that?"

"I would be more than glad to render assistance to somepony in need; however, I have never ventured to any city beyond Cloudsdale; my knowledge of ponies capable of providing you with aid is rather limited." She cantered a little closer; I could see that her cutie mark was of three whistles, one magenta/red-ish pink, the other two blue.

"Hmm..." I crossed my arms. "Too bad I can't stand on clouds like you do."

My pendant glowed, and I knew it despite it being hidden by my jacket.

"I can walk on clouds." I said. "I... I don't know how I know that."

My ring began to glow.

"I... I was told." I scratched my head, looking at my ring. "These things are magical. I think... really, really magical."

She tilted her head.

"You are unsure? How did magical artifacts come to your possession, then?"

I sighed.

"It's a crazy story, with a lot of details. I'd bore you and you would not believe me if I told you." To my surprise, she merely sat on the grass, tucked her forelegs underneath her, and peered intently at me.

"Lunchtime is still far from now, and I promise to keep an open mind and reserve judgement until the very end of your tale."

"In that case, I should start with the hardest fact to process: I came from another world."

*****

(Celestia, Today)

"I called you here to help me decide what to do." Celestia said, looking at the stained glass window commemorating Discord's defeat at the hooves of Twilight and her friends. "He has a ring, a powerful magical object that protects him from most forms of magic."

"So what? We'll just use the Elements on him!" Dash said, although then she wasn't sure of how if he was able to sniff her out before coming in range.

"The Elements do not work on him so long as he draws breath and still possesses that ring." It was the reason she turned him to stone, although it seemed like he could turn it on and off at will. "He scarcely used the ring's powers, however, making its capabilities a mystery."

There were other reasons the Elements didn't work, like them being the Elements of Harmony, not the Elements of Public Opinion, but Celestia had had enough thinking about that portion of the past for now. All of those old reminders... their numbers were starting to become ridiculous.

"His physical prowess is remarkable, as well, growing in strength between each of our encounters. Combined with his abilities and the ring, he quickly became formidable." The first few encounters, he'd run away. The last few, he was reportedly battling creatures from the Everfree, dragons, or disabling scores of guards.

A piece of paper popped into existence in front of her; it fluttered down, allowing everypony to see it was a 'stick figure' vaguely in the shape of a human with strange writing on it.

"It seems he wants to speak to us." Celestia announced, more for their benefit than anything. It would not do for them to try to attack something that wasn't even there. The Bearers became very quiet as they focused their attention on the paper, each for their own reasons - fear, intrigue, curiosity, distrust, wariness and wonder. "Please do not interrupt him - he has very little patience for the impatient."

The paper twitched. Once, twice, and a faint image started to 'grow' from it; first, an unshaped blob of blue, then slowly defining itself as having arms, legs, and a head. The form became the same image Celestia had seen not long ago, with the paper man at the level of the heart.

He was facing her, and Celestia couldn't help but notice everything about his appearance.

His shoulders were slumped, arms hanging tired to his sides instead of fiddling with an instrument or object; his mouth, always smiling or attempting so despite the circumstances, was simply slack; his eyes, always bright, were bloodshot, and it was evident in his face that he had shed tears; his hair, always as if tousled by the wind, but in a fitting way, looked haggard and dirty.

An inarticulate scream of rage and pain tore through her as her ambush proved more than successful; it was a pain beyond merely the physical, reaching deep down to every part capable of sympathizing with another. She had accidentally overloaded the spell as a second voice reached her ears mid-casting.

She knew, as the scream rose in volume and the speed of the wind increased to levels capable of toppling trees, that she had caught somepony else by mistake.

Somepony important to him.

Celestia adverted her eyes.

'Does he want revenge? ... Unlikely; there were many opportunities to do something back then, even with Luna by my side, and somepony with his intelligence would have found it easy to exact vengeance by proxy.'

Typhon pulled up his hood, so much like a windsock, and sniffled. He wiped his nose with the back of his hand, and nodded.

"Princess." The voice cracked slightly, as if his throat was sore.

"Typhon; it has been a long time." She forced herself to see him to the eye.

"It has." He crossed his arms, sighing wistfully. "Thank you - for what you did at her grave, I mean."

A pang of guilt stabbed at her heart.

"It felt like the right thing to do. An... apology, if you will."

Her words made a sad smile cross his face, with humorless chuckles and a few fresh tears accompanying it.

"I surmise you were responsible for the flowers?" She asked, knowing full well the answer now.

"At minimum three times a year for the last millennium and a half." He nodded, wiping his face again.

Six very surprised ponies let out gasps. He chuckled and turned slightly - enough to tell them he acknowledged their presence, but not to let them see his unkempt state.

"She didn't get all of me, or what, forgot about my dominion of Air?" He waved a hand, making a small breeze that was felt through the throne room. He decided to keep any other information to himself, turning back to the princess as the wind died down. "With what was left outside, moving flowers is child's play."

"Then why come back now?" Celestia was wary, if Typhon was not only conscious, but was able to release himself at any time, why now?

"A promise. That, and I got a feeling I should wait, and another that told me I waited enough." He shrugged.

"A feeling." Celestia deadpanned, despite herself.

"What can I say? Time's flow is not a neat little river with a start and a finish in sight. It's convoluted, and players from the past and the future have little trouble interacting with those of today; legends of old can live along dreams not yet dreamed. The ebbs and eddies of the flow of the fabric of space and time cause all kinds of craziness. I should know, I was brought here by one, and have been beating back intruders right under your nose - and your mistakes did not make it any easier."

Celestia was about to ask more, but a lance of white magic struck the paper anchor to his spell. The girls cried out in surprise, and Celestia whipped her head around to see Luna standing at the entrance.

"Your timing is as sucky as always, Luna... but I counted on you to do that and get me out of answering things." He said as his image began to dissolve from the heart out. He blinked as he heard something... and he replied, the ghost of his ring glowing.

"I am Typhon, Heir of Breath; the presence, the absence, and everything in between. All who value and respect freedom are my friends, and all who would protect it may call me 'ally'. I shall fill the sails of those who call upon me." His words reverberated through the winds, being carried beyond.

He turned to the six Bearers, little more than a head, a hand, and his feet.

"May the Winds of Fortune be at your back!" He said, still channeling the power of his objects, and vanished completely.

The paper doll then caught fire, a pile of ash scattering to the wind of the large hall.

Author's Note

I'm trying to make short chapters to keep them coming, trying to prevent me from bogging down myself.

Cracks in masks

(Throne Room, Today)

"What?" Luna whispered, dumbfounded.

"After the last problem with a Hydra, I decided to put a stop to Typhon myself." It was clear that Celestia was keeping herself from looking away, and drew a shuddering breath. "Using all of the knowledge from the reports and personal experiences, I prepared an ambush that would sidestep his sensing ability. Had it failed, he simply would have avoided me; if I succeeded, I would be ready to hit him with a concussive spell. I was startled while charging the spell."

Luna made no movements, staring at Celestia like she didn't recognize her.

Hurricane-force winds threatened to destroy everything around the glade, but he, wounded as he was, both emotionally and physically, nonetheless contained it. Beyond the wall of blue that carved a circle into the earth, only a moderate wind could be felt. Lightning roared through the sky, and every drop of water in the clouds was sent plummeting to the ground.

The eye of the storm was still.

He turned to her. Blood leaked from his mouth, and stains of it on his face. The tears cleared a line on his cheeks.

He was cradling a pony, a blue and pink pegasus with three whistles as a cutie mark. The pony didn't move, no matter how much he tried to wake the pony in his arms.

His bloodied arms must have lost their once-prodigious strength; the pony simply slid off and fell to the ground.

Then her mind caught up with her sight.

The princess's eyes widened in shock, and her breath caught in her throat.

Five minutes ago, Celestia wanted nothing more than see Typhon driven before her, kneeling, defeated.

She had gotten her wish. His eyes were those of a crushed spirit, a defeated man.

Oh she had gotten her wish.

"I wanted him kneeling before me. Never would I have expected for it to happen because of such a deadly mistake."

"What?!" Seven voices rang out simultaneously, making the sun princess grit her teeth in shame. She held tightly to her composure all the same.

"Thou hath said- We-!" Luna felt a whirlwind of emotions, preventing her from speaking coherently. The decades after Discord's fall had been trying, ponies needed stability, which they had found in the princesses, particularly the confident older sister and her force of personality. But this...

"I... I needed to hold the country together. Wind Whistler was a figure of importance in politics, to the point of knowing what to offer us to drink; I... I couldn't allow anypony to know the truth." Celestia was visibly struggling to remain upright and dignified, her calmness eroding quickly. "I used to believe I had to be perfect, incapable of doing wrong... that everything had to be for 'the greater good'."

With a grimace, she turned away.

"Typhon himself told me how mistaken I was." She let out a hissing sigh; her self-possession wasn't going to hold much longer.

'A perfect ruler that cannot make mistakes cannot exist, cannot be allowed to exist - unless he or she is actually perfect and cannot make mistakes, that is, but we both know that's not the case. A ruler must be able to own up to their own mistakes, or they will start piling up until they crush the fool. Example: You have me inside this magic bubble, which would be a nice way to bypass most kinds of resistance, but calling this plan "flawless" is stupid when you are making so many assumptions; want to see what else my ring can do? Two words: Falcon. Punch.'

The memories were what had made her hesitate when he returned.

"He told me that there comes a point where a line is crossed, and you have to ponder and ask whether the so-called 'greater good' is worth it."

'For the what?! Are you even listening to yourself? The greater good is fine and dandy, but you're doing it wrong; if the greater good doesn't return something to you, you're doing it wrong. Oh, and that pegasus is nowhere near stealthy enough for me not to notice he's trying to box me in; Solid Snake, he ain't.'

"There is a point where the answer would be 'no', will be 'no', there always is; the 'greater good' wasn't worth any sacrifice, that... that my demeanor would alienate and hurt everypony around me."

Luna's eyes widened.

"Including my sister." With that, she turned again to face Luna, who looked slightly hurt. "He warned me. He told me that I would drive you away, and you would lash out; it may have taken nearly five hundred years, but it happened. He told me that I would come to regret my choices, that I would do something unnecessarily drastic; if I did not listen then, then I would learn the truth of his words the hard way."

She took a single step towards Luna, who flinched.

She flinched. Luna flinched. Away from her.

It hurt. It hurt, a lot. Luna, though she did not know it, was Celestia's greatest source of strength for the better part of the past thousand years. It was Luna; Luna made her endure the difficulties of her long, long life, and the thought of seeing her little sister again encouraged her and gave her the motivation to keep raising the sun and the moon - if only to count down to the date of her release.

Celestia didn't resist any more. She allowed her legs to give out from under her and her wings to sag.

"What happened?" Twilight asked. She was scared and confused, that much was obvious, and Celestia recalled the way she behaved around her.

Typhon had been right, dear goodness had he been right. Celestia hated how Twilight always danced on eggshells.

'I think not; all you're earning is distance and fear. You'll get sick of it sooner or later, mark my words. Cute fence, by the way; want to see my latest trick? Sonic boom!'

She drew breath again, the remains of her shaky composure still holding enough to prevent breaking down.

"I did not want anypony thinking I could make mistakes, so I hid them, or the Blue family took them as theirs. Over time... I stopped noticing them altogether; nopony can avoid mistakes forever, but I stopped learning from mine." At this, Luna gave small, tentative step forward.

It gave Celestia the drive to continue.

"I thought I was moving forward, but I never noticed any of the ponies trampled underhoof; so convinced of my righteousness..." So much time spent lamenting the 'necessity' of Luna's banishment, of crying out to the moon about being left without any other choices... only to discover that she had blinded herself to them.

"I'm - I'm- I..." The shards of her mask fell, making her eyes wet with tears. "I don't- I didn't..."

Why? Why was it so difficult? She just had to say it!

All she had to do was take a deep breath, look at Luna in the eye, and tell her.

"I'm sorry."

Author's Note

Celestia keeps a diary. She's thorough when she thinks it's something of importance, like, oh, I dunno, the alien with the strange powers.

Billowing breeze

(Tyhpon, Arrival era)

So, I discovered my tablet had a few additional functions.

It could run a... modified version of the 'game', and the camera and drawing apps could give me captchalogue (put in my inventory) ghost images... I explained to Wind Whistler that any single one of the last two was ridiculously useful; both were downright insane. A ghost image was basically locking the card and making it useless as an inventory space, but allowing me to get the captcha-code of the object without physically obtaining it.

With the code, I could make the object, or combine it with another.

I would still need physical cards to perform the process, and the ghost images took up a lot more memory than I'd like, but working around those things wasn't going to be very difficult.

I had no place to settle, so I had to hold off placing the devices - the machines that would allow me to make and combine the objects in my inventory. I just hoped I could get a base of operations soon, because six clean cards, while useful, were not going to be enough if I found something that I'd like to keep.

The Wallet allowed me to put something the size of a building in my inventory, without the usual caveat of being able to physically lift it or such limits. There where others with a similar capacity, yes, but the Wallet was infinitely simpler to use - it was just a wallet; you want to store something, you put it in; you want to retrieve something, you pull it out.

I shared a couple of granola bars with her - after making sure I wrote the code for each type on the Note app - and simply wandered about in the general direction of Cloudsdale.

She... her mood wasn't very... she was clearly upset about something, and after thinking about it for a bit?

"Why were you out here?" I asked.

"Excuse me?"

"Seven and a half miles, while not exactly a long distance for a pegasus, is still quite far to go without a place to go in mind."

"And what makes you believe I did not have a set destination or similar endeavor?" She asked, quite defensively I might add; her ears were pressed back and everything.

"Well, there is nothing here but wide open spaces and some shrubs, you don't have any bags with you nor are you carrying anything, and you admitted to never having traveled to another town. Finding me was a coincidence, I'll bet." I pointed out, trying to make sure she could see I was concerned for her.

She thought about it for a while - half a minute, I'd say.

She took a deep breath, but apparently lost her nerve; she took a second, and unleashed a stream of words that took all of my concentration to follow.

The gist of it was that she was a descendant of Commander Hurricane, though not one of the 'main' branch since her aunt (or somepony like that) was born first... Celestia, in all of her 'wisdom' was making breeding charts and determined that the 'best' match was a stallion named Storm Chaser, who came from a family of really good fliers - the best Hurricane had. Before she reached marriageable age in a few more years, they were to know each other so that the love between them would strengthen and flourish.

Three guesses as to their actual levels of compatibility.

He was, or so she attempted to say, too stubborn, self-centered, incapable of listening, and many other things that she simply utterly hated about him. It didn't help that he treated her just like 'another mare Celestia herself has graced me with' - oh, right, I caught mention of him having another 'appointed' herd-mate previous to her, whom Whistler also hated. Celestia was attempting to 'strengthen the ponies' (merely made me frown, since Discord's stay in power did cause a bit of a mess among the families from many unplanned and nigh-untraceable foals) but, more worryingly, 'increase the Harmony in Equestria'.

I groaned and slapped a palm to my face.

"You can't 'breed' Harmony!" I shouted; my teen-aged brain messing up my emotional control a bit. "Playing matchmaker is one thing, but you can't make a pony love another!"

Wind Whistler... she was smart, observant, and simply had a different idea of what she wanted in life. The other mare was fine with Storm, they were much more compatible, but that just made the clash with Whistler worse; Wind Whistler liked being heard when she spoke, while Storm Chaser hated the topics she talked about, a sentiment which was reciprocated; the three of them could be friends at best, but there simply was no way Whistler was going to trust Chaser enough to actually marry him.

The problem was that Celestia was seen as the next best thing to a goddess they could have, and utterly incapable of doing wrong. At the least she discouraged them from thinking she was an actual goddess...

"That is quite the mistake." I said.

"Oh, but she said..." Whistler started, but trailed off for a moment. Then her eyes widened dramatically.

She remembered what she had told me a short while ago.

"She... she said that I would not have to worry about mistakes... but, but I just said that bad ponies..." She had a world-shaking revelation, so I wasted no time in hugging her and comforting her like she had done to me.

Ponies are really small compared to humans, even in my pre-growth-spurt state; I had no trouble picking her up like a baby.

"Breathe deeply." I encouraged her. "Hold it for two seconds, then release... just like that, now, in... out... yes! Like that!"

I spoke as soothingly as I could, rocking her gently.

Eventually, she regained a normal breathing rhythm. I earned two levels, becoming a 'Breath-Saver' and gaining a little over a hundred bits, plus other things.

Her revelation earned her a level, curiously enough, reaching the 'Wide-Eyed Filly' rung in her ladder. She got fifty bits.

Only I was the official player, but everything and everyone around me could gain a level, it seemed.

Still, now I had an arranged marriage to ruin.

I was going to have so much fun!

Succor

(Throne Room, Present)

"I'm sorry." Celestia said; it was hard, very much so - lack of practice, if Typhon was to be believed.

She had rarely concerned herself with the consequences of her choices, and that only recently, simply steering away from further mistakes.

"I-I shouldn't have said what I did. Typhon never harmed Wind Whistler; given how much her death affected him, I would say he was incapable of that."

"The storm." Luna gasped.

'Princess Luna! Princess Luna!' A guard pounded on her door, waking her from her slumber.

'There is an emergency! An enormous tornado in the middle of the forest!'

Then she heard, along with all of Everfree.

The thunder.

She wasted no time in searching for the aberrant weather. It was impossible to miss; lightning danced through massive black clouds much higher above than Mount Canterhorn, the rain was a curtain of water connecting the sky to the earth, and, in the middle of it all, she could just barely see it.

Blue.

Typhon made the storm. He had to be the one responsible, but that was impossible! He had never demonstrated such great power! What could have pushed him to create a monstrosity like that?! The thought of something like that, unleashed so close to the city, chilled her to the point of letting a shiver cross through her; it was a catastrophe capable of causing tremendous damage, appearing so suddenly, that, had it happened inside city limits, would have caused untold devastation.

It was a horrible spectacle she hoped and prayed with all her soul would never repeat.

"He made that... that terrifying display... because of her?"

"I still do not know how did the two of them know each other, but he was devastated." Celestia offered in answer. "I didn't think... I never thought out my actions. I'm so sorry."

Luna was reeling.

"I... I need to ponder these... revelations." She took a steadying breath. "We shall talk later, sister."

The tone of her voice must have come out wrong, because Celestia winced as if struck, then sagged and nodded tiredly.

Luna's eyes softened, and cantered over to her sister, placing a hoof on her shoulders.

"Do not worry, sister, we shall return swiftly." She said, making eye contact for long enough to see Celestia give a sad smile.

"By your leave." She told the Elements, then turned around, horn glowing faintly with magic, making the shadows beneath her separate from the floor.

She stepped through with at a brisk, shaky trot, and vanished.

Celestia choked back a sob.

*****

(Typhon)

Oh come on! I had just left Canterlot...

Still, I felt like I went through a fan in Breath Form, and had no desire to take off the Four, so I had to stay in the place where the air was the most accustomed to my presence.

Canterlot's gardens.

I hid in the middle of the hedge maze, where Minotaurs liked to hold their events... and where I instructed Wind Runner's descendants in the fine art of Wind Shaping.

'Wind Runner... I think Wind Runner might get mad at me for mourning - I mean, Wind Runner lived a full life... good foals, helped Las Pegasus grow, kept the academy running, and over all tackled life's problems as they came.'

Wind Whistler would have been proud.

I knew I was.

Hmm? Luna appeared at the graveyard, alone. That didn't feel normal.

Let's see... she was confused, shaken, and the way she was pacing suggested she was pensive. Her breath was erratic, at least for her and...

She's visiting the gravestone.

I... I should make sure she was alright.

I mean, she was fighting a sob or two.

Ugh, I just had to be one of those guys.

*****

(Luna, Cemetery)

She gritted her teeth, her wings slowly unfurling.

"You look shaken." He said. "So much, that I doubt you'd actually attack me."

To Tartarus with that windy weirdo and his thrice-cursed insight!

Luna sighed tiredly and turned to face the gravestone.

"You look like your world just came crashing down around you." He said, walking right next to her and turning to face the grave.

"Is it true?" She asked him, looking at him out of the corner of her eyes.

Typhon looked at her, a raised eyebrow and a critical eye meeting her.

He kept quiet for a few seconds more.

"I am a man of many talents, but mind reading isn't one of them." He said with a smirk.

"It is not?" She asked with as much sarcasm as she could inject into her words, frowning and growling at the mockery; she knew, of course, but with his ability to stay one step ahead all the time...

"I know, right? I am so incredible, it is easy to forget." He spoke with a hand over his heart, gazing into the distance. "But no, in all seriousness, I can't really read minds. It's just reading the air to pick up the various clues about mood and intention; it's really close to being outright empathy, only based on muscle reading and such things."

Luna simply chose to reword her question.

"What did Wind Whistler mean to t-you?"

His smile faded slightly, and his shoulders fell.

"The first and absolute best friend I made in the world."

"That sounds familiar..." The princess pondered.

"She said something like that about Windstorm." He chuckled, fiddling with the ring on his finger.

"The flowers?"

"Her favorite, of course."

"And Windstorm?"

He once more looked at her, curious.

"Did t-you know him?" She elaborated.

"Alright, imagine me as a pony. That's it." He gave her a soft laugh, taking some entertainment out of seeing the princess of the night open her mouth in an attempt to deny his claims. She had less interaction with Typhon when compared to her sister, but the human was quite talkative.

"The similarities are uncanny." She wound up saying, making Typhon laugh again. "'Tis quite clear you knew him."

"Sure hope so, it was my idea to wreck Celestia's little Shipping charts!" He laughed a little more honestly.

"What does commerce have to do with my sister?" Luna raised an eyebrow in his direction.

"Ugh." He slapped a palm to his face. "Her tendency to make couples? Celestia was about to make a herd that was bad for Whistler."

"Ah. You interfered?"

"Yes. Several times, in fact." He nodded with a smug grin plastered on his face. "Remember Star Streak and Starswirl the fifth?"

"Starswirl the Bearded's grandfoals? How could thou ask that? They sacrificed themselves to save the farmlands from the rampaging chimera and hydra!" Luna did not use the Royal Canterlot Voice, since the cemetery was supposed to be a place of rest, but the tension in her voice was nonetheless noticeable.

"That's what we wanted you to think." He said, and, just like that, the princess went from ready to pounce, to still as a statue.

"Beg your pardon?"

"After Windstorm proved himself - thanks to my training -, Celestia more or less left the ponies alone... some of the more prominent bloodlines, though, were not so lucky. Starswirl the fourth was blessed by Lady Fortune, since he quite honestly loved Comet Shine ever since they were foals - his children? Celestia shouldn't quit her Day job, since she makes some pretty horrid match-ups."

He paused for a moment, trying to remember the names of the 'suggested' couples; drawing blanks, he simply continued.

"Wind Whistler and I helped them fake their deaths." He chuckled. "And, their parents', too; the first days were the hardest and the easiest, since they had to fake soul-crushing grief, but 'mourning' was a good reason to sequester themselves in their home for great lengths of time, which we used to set up the performance."

Luna was flabbergasted.

"The limits to the magic I use are a closely guarded secret. I just allow ponies to come to their own conclusions and neglect to correct them if they are wrong." The satisfied grin was back; Luna wanted to punch him for it.

"The line of Starswirl was not lost? Do you know of their descendants?" She asked, rage forgotten as a look of hope appeared clear on her features.

"Even though I was in stone for quite a long time, yes, I do." He snapped his fingers. "I have something for them! I almost forgot."

"Before you distract yourself, I wish to know their names."

"Easy, two of them are Captain of the Royal Guard and his sister." He shrugged. "There are others, some of which I won't know without looking at the records, and others that you won't recognize."

"Wait, the Captain is a stallion by the name of Shining Armor, brother of-"

"Twilight Sparkle, yes. They don't know, though."

"What?! Why?!"

"They are too close to Celestia, and from a young age, too. It's likely that their parents didn't want to risk them letting her know for fear of awakening her curiosity."

Luna's banishment meant that the past was rather fresh on her mind, and had to concede the point. The days of plotting the bloodlines had ended long before Nightmare Moon, but Luna remembered how Celestia wondered if it was possible to 'nudge' potential Bearers for the Elements as 'insurance'.

Truly, Celestia's paranoia had poor aim.

"You were close to Starswirl as well?" Typhon was definitely slippery; so many years, and he had much more support than she had ever suspected!

"We were looking into... something... and I tried to teach him better values, but the old goat was too stubborn; he got himself killed, despite my warnings." He ran a hand through his hair.

They stood in silence for a moment after that. Luna idly wondered if Typhon had used yet another of his tricks to distract the guards so that they would have the cemetery to themselves.

Most likely; tracking his movements was a nightmare filled with decoys and escapes that should have been impossible.

"How do you do it?" Luna asked suddenly, startling Typhon. "What is the secret of your strength?"

"You are going to have to be more specific, princess. Are you talking about my powers, my magic, physical strength, or strength of character in general?"

"The last one, although I would like to know the true limit of your powers; never before had you levitated without the assistance of a device or familiar."

"That was... recent." He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "The price tag that came with it was absurd, though, so I intend to get my dues."

"Price... tag...?"

"Only I was supposed to pay for... this." He held his long hood out to the side, towards her, shaking with anger. "This power was to be my decision, and my sacrifice alone."

He tossed it away.

"Wind Whistler."

"My powers are defective, princess; I cannot exert the force I should, but neither do I have the constrains I should. To you, they might look just like clothes, but they symbolize a gamble that should have not involved her." His fists shook. "I wasn't even sure it would work, and then the choice was taken from us."

He took deep breaths to steady himself; the wind itself imitated him, sending the trees in a dance, back and forth, as he inhaled and exhaled.

"And yet you do not seek revenge." She said, watching with curiosity as he shook his head.

"Not in my nature." He waved it away, then gestured to the grave. "Plus, she'd get mad at me. I just let it be smoke to the wind."

"What is the source of such strength?"

He crossed his arms and looked to the skies, as if pondering the question. He fished his wallet out of his pocket and took out a card; the card turned into a scroll case, which he offered to the princess.

She eyed the case with great interest, then looked at him expectantly.

He said nothing, though, and she was about to levitate the proffered scroll, but decided to take it in her hooves instead.

"That was going to be Starswirl's; you are free to look at it first, though."

"What can I expect from this?" Luna patted the lid tentatively, but decided to let Twilight and Shining Armor see it first - it was meant to be theirs, after all.

"After opening the scroll, your heart will be stronger than any mountain, you will hear laughter in every stream and a song in every breeze, your will shall turn into fire and steel, you will see the light in the deepest cave, and feel the flow of life around you."

Luna stood still for a few moments, turning back to the unassuming wooden case with her hoof so near the top.

"That's nothing compared to what would happen if you open it with your friends." He said, making Luna snap back to him. "You will discover the secret of the Elements of Harmony, you will find the greatest joys of life, and a source of strength more powerful than you can imagine."

"What manner of magic is in this scroll?"

"None whatsoever." He shrugged. "It's pretty straightforward. There is no secret message, or hidden methods, or anything that you cannot see immediately with your own eyes."

Luna said nothing.

"Whelp, Shining Armor nailed the last decoy (with a pretty nice shot I might add); I give the guards seven or ten minutes to figure out I'm here. It was a pleasure talking to you without trading spells, for once." He almost placed his hands in his pockets, but remembered his manners. He turned away and began to walk.

"I suppose we shall see each other in the future." Luna watched him go.

"Yes. Don't bother changing my status, though, just call back the hunts; the sea is going to turn stormy, just like it was back then if not worse, and it's going to be bothersome to deal with ponies that don't even know what's going on. I don't need clueless or innocent people getting tangled into my business."

"May the winds of fortune be at your back?" Luna said with a smirk, making Typhon chuckle.

"Good bye, princess Luna. Good bye, Whistler."

Author's Note

Maybe I should add the Romance tag, what with all the stuff that's going to come along.

Yes, he intended the Day job pun.

Somewhere in the Between

(Typhon, Distant Past)

It didn't take long for Whistler to calm down. I was actually kind of impressed; she went from 'Princess Celestia is perfect' to 'princess Celestia is just like us' in less than an hour, with no apparent neuroses!

Well, maybe the seed was already planted after finding out that she didn't like Storm Chaser like that. Or at all.

I had a plan, though. Presenting a better candidate! It was going to be difficult finding somepony that would convince Celestia that she was wro-... no, that approach would not work - if everyone 'knows' that she's always right, then chances are even she will believe it in some level.

No, what she needed was a better choice to replace the old one, one which just so happened to be of Wind Whistler's own choosing.

Alright; if I could control The Breeze in any capacity, then it would be possible to cheat! And that was without taking into account the Alchemiter... I bet I could use it to produce some special gear that would improve the stallion's chances. Not to mention whatever powers these accessories of mine could grant me - or somepony else.

I just hoped we could find one before societal pressure became too bad.

*****

Years in the future (but not many)

Wind Whistler made herself comfortable on her cloud, getting ready for her serenade.

Across from her, on a lump of cloud shaped vaguely like a chair, Windstorm was trying to settle down to play the guitar.

Amazing what could come out of just jabbing a keyboard with a hoof at random.

The mare just giggled at seeing her beloved fighting a cloud and an instrument - and apparently losing. He learned to manipulate air, taught her how to do so, bent the weather to his will, faced the challenges, aced all the tests, and fought society itself (with the occasional monster/intruder on the side), and he was flailing his hooves like a colt after his first crash!

She couldn't help it; she laughed, rolling onto her back and kicking at the air like an upturned tortoise on caffeine; she made Windstorm laugh, too, and the two of them simply laughed almost for a whole minute. Breath training allowed them to do things like that.

After stopping, they didn't move for another minute, simply enjoying each other's presence. She gave him a smile; he smiled back, mouthing 'I love you', and shifted one last time.

He inhaled, and sang one of her favorite songs.

They were born, and that was a good day.

Some day, they would die, and that is a shame.

But, somewhere in the between? They would enjoy themselves. Whoever complained was just bitter, although Storm Chaser wasn't upset that Windstorm had gotten the girl, merely that he had been beaten.

Inconsequential!

She wanted to ask him something actually important... she... she wanted foals.

*****

(Typhon, back at the past)

Wind Whistler had an idea to solve my shelter problem; there was this-

You have been invaded by the Nudist Invader.

The tablet was in my hands by reaction as soon as the message appeared in front of me - I used the Scan Visor on everything in the Metroid Prime games - and snapped a picture of the sword he appeared with, and his bow.

The red spirit of a man wearing nothing but a loincloth was in front of me, and I didn't care. Neither did Whistler - at least, until he drew a second bow, turned around, and ran towards a forest while slapping his rear.

She started to say 'what is that', but I was already running behind him.

Either my sudden age regression didn't negatively impact my physical performance, or those levels I gained were more powerful than I expected, since I was able to keep up with him despite his legs being longer and more muscular - although that could have been his awful running form. Despite not having training, my breathing rhythm was absolutely perfect.

My only problem was that I had no way to stop him. It was painfully obvious - even my ring noticed.

It glowed a couple of times.

I didn't protest, not that I even noticed the moment I had jumped, fist drawn back.

My hand was wreathed in flame, and I executed a textbook-perfect Falcon Punch, with giant fiery bird of death and everything, right to the back of his head. He rolled forward several times, but I knew he wouldn't be out for the count.

The problem being that I was.

My pin glowed, and I knew that doing that without acclimating my body to it, or at least trying to direct it myself, had strained me.

Yeah, see, I could feel the unholy burn and ache of my arm; I didn't need a magic talisman to know that.

"Don't let him get away!" I yelled, panting - curiously, breathing did wonders to diminish the pain.

Wind Whistler was flying overhead, and dove as soon as I spoke. She landed on all four hooves right in between his shoulder blades; the lack of armor meant that my hit and hers were enough to make him vanish. He left a large amount of different types of Grist, mainly Build, Shale, and Tar; due to her position, Wind Whistler touched one, making a message appear to tell me that my allied party member had picked up resources for me.

We both climbed our Echeladders to the Jitterbug Duetists rung, earning more bits. A Final Fantasy Five reference - would the surprises ever end?

I received a bowkind specibus card (basically the ability to wield bows) and some Humanity that was automatically captchalogued in one of my spare cards, although there was a message saying that the incompatibility of the data systems meant that it would have reduced functionality. Or so the system message claimed. I dunno, as long as I could summon white phantoms it was cool; besides, I was not an undead of any kind whatsoever and couldn't use it properly anyways.

Of course, now I had to explain to Wind Whistler what had happened. And that it would likely happen again.

I hate my life.

*****

(Twilight Sparkle, years in the future, but not many)

Her mind was numb, blank, stopped.

Princess Celestia was being so... so... so unlike herself!

The princess had always - always - been strong, confident, sure of herself! She- She...

That... that was the problem, wasn't it? It... well, Twilight didn't think it was fair to blame her; she had done her history homework (with at the least three verified sources).

Equestria a thousand- no, even just 'a few' centuries ago was a tough place to live; many... things roamed the nights, and, while the Unification of the three tribes solved some problems, it made others appear. Ponies were herd creatures; they needed a leader. The individual was smart, but the masses were frightful, prone to panic, and quite frankly more of a danger than most of the things that set them off - the situation with Zecora came to mind. Somepony had to take the metaphorical reins, and hold them tight.

But... it was hard work. Heck, directing Ponyville through Winter-Wrap-Up was hard enough. Everypony had different ideas of what 'leading' meant, or what one needed 'to lead'... why did she ever think it would be different for Equestria as a whole?

Oh, right, princess Celestia. She always looked like she was on top of the game, always sure of herself, always knew what to do, always had an answer - a solution to everything... always lent an ear to her, and soothed her.

She... Twilight learned that friendship was more than just give and take, and right now, Celestia was probably sick of giving, even if she didn't know it herself. As much as... but- no. Princess Celestia had given her so much, and Twilight had just noticed how little she had given back in turn.

Why?

Was it because she didn't feel herself worthy of being in her presence? Because she 'knew' that the princess didn't need her? Because right now princess Celestia was looking rather lonely, and needed somepony. She was always there for ponies when it was needed, but only her sister had been there for her, and, even then, it hadn't been enough. Somewhere in the between, princess Celestia had stopped being a pony in the eyes of the people, but the problem was that she was still very much a mare with needs of her own.

She didn't even notice when she had given the princess a hug.

Author's Note

The Alchemiter is a device where you place inventory cards after having the card perforated by another device called the Punch Designix. The Alchemiter then produces the item whose information is in the holes punched into the card, not the card itself, via alchemy; since the information is in the holes, it is possible to punch blank cards to avoid making an item unavailable, as punched cards are rendered unusable as inventory spaces. Combining cards is possible by inserting more than one card at a time, or punching a card more than once, allowing the player to combine the items in different ways.

And that at the end is so that people remember that Celestia is actually one of my favorite ponies, and I still love her.

Streetlight Manifesto is an awesome band with awesome rhythms, but these other versions of their songs are just... wow.

First of Five Colors

(Typhon, Canterlot Park)

Without a (reliable) supplier of dark magic, the Essence of Void ran out - well, the one fueling the Obscurity Array, since - aww man!

If I died and came back as my other self, then that meant that it was my other stomach the one that had the drinkable Essence! Yeah, that would explain why I was seeing that annoying black box again.

You have been invaded by Ruuj, the Red King of Cinquleur.

That was no joke. Unlike the first invader I ever faced, back when I met Wind Whistler, Ruuj was a huge threat; it seemed that I was going to have to jump right in to the big boys' playground for my return tour.

The semi-transparent phantom before me was an elegant female of svelte figure and supple limbs. Her chocolate-brown fur and long, rabbit ears identified her as a Viera, the People of the Woods. Her silver hair was so long it reached past her knees, but it appeared that it was held in that style by magic. She wore a wide-brimmed conical hat of an intense red, as well as an equally-red half-sleeve tunic with padded armor integrated, the dark sleeves of another tunic covering the rest of her arms right up to her clawed hands, which sported many rings inlaid with jewels; everything served to identify her as a Red Mage - I preferred to say Wizard, though. Her white shoes would look almost normal, if not for the leggings that reached halfway between her knees and her hip.

Her hand held a rapier with an intensely red blade and a purple hilt and guard; the blade appeared to have fire dancing along it in an enchanting sway. A Scarlet Rapier... a weapon that held fire magic inside of it, and taught its holder to wield it.

I swallowed, but nonetheless had my Google-Plex-i-Glasses take ghost images of everything. Mixing my tablet with my glasses and miscellaneous items was my priority once I got a base to deploy the devices.

Shoot; I was still way too close to the castle, and getting rid of her quickly would not be possible without causing much more damage than she ever would. Cinquleur fought for the thrill of battle, not for wanton destruction; anything I had that could one-shot her (or come close) would either level at the least one block, or was better left for when things really went south.

And that was not even close to being the worst part. Where there was one, the others will follow. I had to save my aces for when the Five Kings came in force, which was to say, at the same time; I had an inkling as to their abilities, while they had no idea of what I could do... they would not convene until the confrontation with all five of them, to be more 'sporting', and keeping my arsenal a secret sounded like a really good idea.

I played a quick Song of Storms on my ocarina necklace for some rain clouds, likely alerting all of the Guard as to my location (if the civilians hadn't already), but I needed the edge and the reduction of the likeliness of collateral damage - Ruuj had fire magic, after all. The rain bent around a sphere covering me, keeping me dry, while Ruuj simply stared at me with her glowing blue eyes, weapon at the ready, wisps of steam rising from the blade.

I kinda underestimated the amount of guards looking for me, because the small park was quickly surrounded, and even Luna showed up. She had the scroll case tucked under one of her wings.

"Stand back! This is between the two of us!" I raised my hand, and Luna barked an order, even extending a wing to prevent Shining Armor from getting closer. Ruuj gave me a smirk... I didn't like it; I could just tell she was going to do something that would give me hell.

"Do not be that way." She said, and drew a card with her other hand.

Oh God, a Law Card... see, the reason the Four made me pretty much immune to Equestrian magic was because they made me incompatible with most effects of magic from this world at their discretion, on top of the Principle of Consent; if I took them off, I would... change. Magic coming from other sources, like the one in front of me? I was going to be much more resistant than most, thanks to the sheer power of the Four, but getting hit was going to hurt. Law Cards, however, were incredibly potent forms of magic, and I had no way to tell what effect, if any, they would have before their activation unless I held them myself.

"If they want to fight, all the better!" She bellowed as thunder rumbled above us, a feral grin on her face that was rather out of place on a Viera. "We of Cinquleur seek battle with the strongest of warriors! Let them test themselves against me!"

She tossed the card into the air, which exploded into small particles of light. The system message that popped up told me that the Law would prevent interference from anyone that wasn't invited, so I simply closed the party and cancelled guests - the only way for anyone to hit either Ruuj or me before the fight was over would be for them to ask for a party invite, which at that point I doubted anypony would do. Luna had picked up on my wariness, and I doubt Shining would partner with Typhon the Sly willingly anyways, so that left the two of us.

Dang, I missed my old party. Starswirl didn't even use a weapon, merely content with wearing his bells and working with me to flatten everything.

Clover the Clever's Four-Leaf Clover was a specially vicious four-in-one weapon, and the Sixteen Winged Piercers (also Clover's) were not far behind. For a pacifist, an enemy that won't suffer from damage at all was the perfect excuse to be as quick and efficient as possible. Clover only ever fought against phantoms, and filling the air with fast-flying, sharpened death would help me against Cinquleur... maybe I should find somepony to succeed them.

I had plenty of accumulated weapon cards myself, but for purposes of actual fighting with credible threats, I used swords, shields, fists/gauntlets, or scissors. Yeah, it would sound laughable, if the scissors weren't the size of actual swords; I could separate them by dropping the pivot screw into my inventory, giving me two swords/rapiers. And, being such a high level player with influential friends, all of my things had special properties.

I drew the Siblings' Cooperation - Serendipitous Duo, which was among my most powerful scissors, and weapons overall. Alchemized with images of each sister's crown (and enormous amounts of Grist! It was so costly it took almost two years of fighting phantoms to collect the requisite materials), it bore their dual theme; one of the sides was rosy white with a spiral pattern on the blade, with the handle being a white wing 'sprouting' from a ruby-set gold half-crown in the place the guard would be on a sword for the first half, with the rest of the curved portion of the handle being golden with little spikes extending radially outwards, like a sun; the other side was dark blue, again with a spiral pattern on the blade, and a black wing coming from a sapphire-set silver half-crown opposite to the white one, the rest of the guard being a light gray silver with circles at random like craters on the moon. The screw holding them together had the same image as the Equestrian flag; the two princesses and their corresponding celestial bodies; it rested inside a golden horseshoe on the sun side and a silver horseshoe on the moon side. The blades only had one full edge a meter long each; after the sharp tip, the other side only had slightly over half a foot of edge.

I dropped the screw (part of the Destiny's Embrace - One Plus One Equals One set) into a card, turning the Cooperation into the Siblings' Rivalry - Twilight of Battle, separating the blades into the Spatha Alata Candida - Break of Dawn and the Spatha Alata Nigra - Fall of Night and taking a position mirroring hers with both of them ready to parry. Ruuj's eyes glowed more intensely as her grin widened, stance shifting ever so slightly - not so slight as to pass undetected by me, though.

The raindrops falling onto the sun blade sparkled with rainbows, while the ones falling on the lunar blade appeared to turn inky black. Or would, if I let the rain touch them - I already knew because I was bored one day, and wanted to see what happened. You know what? I should let the parts of the blades that poked out of the central sphere get wet; they looked nice like that.

I carefully began to circle Ruuj.

I kept my main sphere half again as long as my arms' reach, hopefully making it 'dense' enough to compensate for her speed. I had yet to get a handle of my increased combat abilities, so I had to thread carefully and hit hard and fast. I had to be careful with my spells to get the maximum effect for minimal effort, or risk messing up badly.

I should not be able to cast spells while wearing the Four, unless I used the energy of the Four themselves (they didn't like to do that, though), or found an external source. With the air so charged with my presence, however, I could draw the magic from it into my spell papers and other objects, or into the Four so as to get them to lend me an equivalent amount.

Wait a second. Equestria was very magically rich, and, while its magic was more docile than Ivalice's Mist, it was nonetheless much more abundant. Ruuj was a Viera - a Viera on a magically-saturated environment!

Her eyes were shining way too brightly for a phantom's! Then, she took a step forward.

Then the distance between us was reduced in half.

"Oh SH-!"

*****

(Luna)

It was hard to not notice Typhon's apprehension when he spoke. Whenever or not she had the wrong idea of his true character, she could not deny that Typhon was experienced in combat; that she herself had given the order to avoid getting involved with strange weather until its source had been confirmed, and, should that source be Typhon, avoided at all costs, was but one of the signs of her respect towards his abilities.

The... opponent, she would guess, was a creature unlike any she had seen before - well, appart from the physical similarities to rabbits and Typhon's shape.

The figure was also see-through. That was probably important.

"Do not be that way." The voice was definietly female, and chastising him. She held something in her clawed hands...

Now, given Typhon's ability to sense almost everything going on around him, Luna had done her best to imitate or develop her own sensorial capacities; she never stopped, even after his 'defeat', as a matter of personal pride. As such, she could feel the magic coming from the otherwise unassuming card.

It felt- well, she would describe it as Discord's opposite - a magic to enforce an order or law. Sure, chaos magic included order by necessity, but that card did so through a different nature.

"If they want to fight, all the better!" Something about her sounded off; likely, the feeling of harmlessness evoked by the image of rabbits clashed with her fierce expression. "We of Cinquleur seek battle with the strongest of warriors! Let them test themselves against me!"

The card turned to light, and she felt a wave of something pressing around her before vanishing.

Typhon waved a hand at a white shape in front of him, and another appeared in front of her.

Limit of separate parties: 2.
Guest Access disabled. Approved Party Invite required to join battle.

Clan: Cinquleur.
Leader: None.
Number of Members: 5.
Party: Red King of Cinquleur.
Number of Participants: 1.
Status: Closed (No additional members accepted).

1) Red King Ruuj (Red Mage) [Party Leader].

Clan: Pillars of Typhon.
Leader: Typhon the Sly (Heir of Breath)/***** (****).
Number of Members: ***.
Party: I can't believe my luck.
Number of Participants: 1.
Status: Closed (Aspirants Interviewed and Reviewed).

1) Typhon the Sly (Heir of Breath) [Clan Leader] [Party Leader].

So that was the purpose of the card's magic. Keeping spectators from interfering. The guards stepped back on her orders, and Shining Armor cast a barrier spell that made a wall around the park, but left the top open; perhaps he inferred that the rain would be needed, given that Ruuj's blade undeniably held fire within, possibly the very fire from which it was forged.

A green card appeared in front of Typhon, who extended his hand towards it. Out of the card came an enormous pair of scissors, the magic of which spoke of unity and Cooperation. Luna blinked, having felt something odd. Certainly not as odd as her own magic coming from the things, which she only noticed because of the sharp contrast her sister's magic offered.

With a frown, she acknowledged that he earned his epithet. Just how had he managed to craft such an object, she didn't know - and right below their noses, too.

The scissors split apart, making her feel an ache, like it wasn't supposed to happen. The blades whispered two more words, Dawn and Night. He took a stance.

They kept their distance, Typhon slowly gauging his opponent.

Then Ruuj was already halfway across him.

"Oh SH-!" He stammered and twisted his body, deflecting the sizzling rapier with the white blade, steam rising from the point of contact. Typhon was faster than Luna ever remembered, but his opponent could match him, almost outpace him, where it not for his experience and skill.

With her right-handed swing deflected to her left by Typhon's right hand, he managed to slice at her sword arm with his other. Ruuj leapt backwards, a black streak marking the wound on her arm; she clapped her hands together, and a golden light surrounded her, followed by an emerald shine. Typhon flicked a sword upwards, causing a bolt of lightning to strike her from the clouds; the emerald light flickered and some of the energy dissipated.

"Ugh, Safe and Shell." He grumbled, causing two more bolts of lightning to fall, although the second missed its mark entirely as Ruuj dashed to the side and clapped her hands again.

Two thin streams of fire struck at the place he had just been standing, like a pair of whips, leaving behind patches of steaming cooked grass.

Odd, he was dodging the magic.

He crossed his swords above his head and knelt into a crouch, the blue sphere that covered him became very visible as lines of gleaming water struck the shield and were diverted to the sides. With a start, she realized that the scissors were whole again, just in time to see a large stone materialize and attempt to fall on him, only for Cooperation to close and slice clean through the spell in a surge of power from the blades that extended them with a white and black aura.

The melancholic ache repeated itself as he charged at Ruuj, scissors separated again, while he was wreathed in that same power he used against her. Like an artist that had never seen fire attempting to draw it from descriptions, it rose in swaying ribbons instead of flickering tongues. The red mage tried to pierce him, but he leaned, moving with grace and precision to let the offending blade pass in front of his face, a tap of his far blade preventing Ruuj from simply striking from her over-reaching stance while the other swung at her, making the golden light flicker.

She tried to punch him, lightning quick, but he knew of her intentions before she had drawn back her fist. He stepped even closer, and drove his elbow into her face with another flash of gold. She retaliated with her rapier, but it was met by Dawn in a flash of white and steam. Night sliced again, and Ruuj clapped her hands to counterattack with another whip of fire and streams of shining water, the first of which was ducked under and the second deflected away from him.

A bolt of lightning missed her by inches, to which she responded by materializing two more stones; Typhon was fast, though, and kicked the ground to send himself sailing sideways. Just as she clapped her hands again, Dawn and Night struck each other above him in such a way that the mirrored half-crowns were completed, making a bright flash and thick black smoke spread through the area; two more whips of flame roared despite the interruption.

Luna regained her sight quickly, as Ruuj had apparently done; she barely twisted out of the way as Night pierced the air like an arrow, coated in blue. Ruuj did not see it, being so focused on exploiting her opponent's lack of one weapon, but the black sword curved upwards and speared through the clouds.

She was fast, very much so, but Typhon could read her movements with the ease one would a scroll, and gently deflected her arm with his, allowing her punch to miss his face. He slashed at her again, seemingly content in dealing only shallow cuts, with the occasional clash of metal and wisps of steam telling Luna that the mage could challenge him physically, although not quite match him.

He stabbed his blade on the ground, catching Ruuj's sword arm and locking it with his own, then doing the same with her other one. He leaned back, then headbutted her in the mouth, dazing her momentarily; he released her only to grab her by the wrists, kneeing her in the gut to make her double over to deliver a knee to her face, making her snap upright.

He delivered an open-palm strike to her midsection, levaing behind a strip of paper with writing on it; the paper crackled and she twitched, like she was being shocked. The green light surrounding her faded away, as did the golden one.

Typhon made a pulling motion with his arm, making Night fly back to him... impaling Ruuj from behind and pinning her to the ground, hat falling off her head. Dawn flew to his open hand, while the other took Night, twisted, and freed the sword from the ground by slicing through Ruuj, leaving a smoking black line instead of a wound.

He took both blades in a back-handed grip, made them whole again, and stabbed the ground so that the blades were at either side of her neck.

"Good job." Luna heard the compliment, just as Cooperation closed in a flash of white and black auras.

Morbid curiosity made her notice that the head wasn't separated as Typhon retrieved his weapon, held tight with one hand, but still caused the phantasmagoric opponent to fade away, laughing.

"I will most certainly tell the others about you!" She laughed again, vanishing completely and making many strange objects appear in her place, mostly red ones; some were larger than Luna herself!

The blue aura around Typhon faded away, leaving the dull drumming of raindrops as the only sound left. He stood there, soaking in the rain, with a look of shock on his face.

He chuckled. He smiled and chuckled a little more.

Then he roared in laughter, his loud guffaws making the guards tense up.

"I did it! HA HA!" He jumped into the air, free arm flailing in joy; the other pointed his over-sized scissors skyward. "Did you see that, Starswirl?! I told you that these were not over-priced Legendary Pieces of Manure! I told you!"

"H-Halt! You are under arrest!" Shining Armor barked out.

"Nopony asked your opinion, Mister I'm-too-scared-to-ask-my-girlfriend-the-big-question!" Typhon spun to face him, scissors resting on his shoulders while he pointed with his other arm.

To his credit, the captain only blushed a little; the problem being that his white coat made it stand out anyways.

"I just fought one of the Five Kings, solo, and I wiped the floor with her!" He laughed as he used his free hand to gesture wildly all around him. He pointed his scissors to the sky again. "That was for you, Clover! Your lessons really paid off!"

Luna's eye twitched. Clover the Clever too?

"You can have these!" He extended his hand, making a familiar red rapier appear, stabbed into the ground, with a large pink ribbon tied to it. "I don't need them; I have the codes already!"

"This adrenaline rush is making me dizzy!" He shouted, laughing like a fool still. "I should go, I don't want to fight another of the Five Colors in the middle of Canterlot!"

He exploded into blue lines, which danced all over the objects, making them disappear.

Luna sighed... was it too much to ask for an encounter with him that didn't end in long, confusing reports and a headache the size of a house?

Author's Note

If someone can draw a good-looking Siblings' Cooperation/Siblings' Rivalry I will love him or her forever. And don't lie to me - you, too, would experiment on the aesthetics of Legendary weapons if you were bored enough.

Curiously, I usually have a hard time coming up with names for things, but I named a bunch of equipment (and loaded with meanings) in minutes. Yes, some of the names are references to Kingdom Hearts, but you've got to admit that the recurring themes of light and darkness just mean that it's a perfect series to reference. And only two of the names have puns! Sure, one of them has like... four, but who cares about that?

Spatha Alata Candida means (bright/shining) white winged sword, while Spatha Alata Nigra means (shining/bright) black winged sword. Albus (m)/Alba (f) is dull/matte white, and āter (m)/ātra (f) would be dull/matte black.

Red Mage - A versatile spellcaster that can use both white magic to heal and support, and black magic for elemental offense. They tend to have the ability to wield swords and wear light armor and robes. This hybrid class is very flexible, but is easily outclassed by other, more dedicated classes/jobs - to offset this, sometimes they have some ability of great power... in this case (and others), they, and only they, can learn the ability Dual-Cast/Double Cast, allowing them to cast two spells during the same turn. In the game Cinquleur appeared, the Red Mage is a Viera-only class.

Cinquleur - A guild consisting of five mages, one for every color of... color magic in the game. For some reason, the two Viera are also called kings, instead of queens. Red King Ruuj (Viera), Blue King Bliu (Human), Green King Verre (Viera), Black King Nware (Moogle) and White King Blanc (Nu Mou). The secondary ability menu that each has equipped compliments their main one, and they also have support abilities and high levels/stats, making them extremely dangerous even when fighting them six-on-one. It's a dang heroic struggle to the death if you don't practically build your party with the sole purpose of neutralizing them - unless you out-level them, but that won't be possible during the two battles when the five of them fight at once, since they are capped by then. Ruuj knows how to Double Cast, which also works with Elementalism, her secondary job menu, allowing her to cause damage and inflict status ailments upon your units; as if that were not enough, her support ability cuts her MP use in half, making her spells cheap enough to use two. Every. Turn. At the least they are single target...

Law Card - An item that adds a law to the encounter. Pretty important in FFTA, where laws were restrictions in certain actions and rewards for others; using laws and anti-laws could change the course of a battle by suddenly making certain actions punishable by the game - and they were also relevant in-story, since the party needs to craft a powerful Anti-Law Card to counter a guy blessed by a special law that made him literally invincible. In the sequel (FFTA2), not so much, but a law card shows up as an important (albeit optional) item that offered protection to the party.

Expect a crossover with Golden Grace, Headless Headaches real soon.

Intermission: First night, personality changes

I liked Wind Whistler; she let me stay in this cool place! The four post bed looked weird, though.

I don't remember putting on these pajamas, though, and them being purple and yellow at the same time? I don't think they look all that good... wait, something was different with me, but I couldn't quite place it.

Was it my arms? I dunno, but I felt stronger.

These clothes, while not exactly stylish, were really comfy!

I looked out of my window, and saw a castle! I should go say hi! Wait, I should make sure I thanked Whistler first - maybe even invite her to see the castle with me! We could make lots of friends!

I separated from the floor, and again that feeling of... not wrongness... differentness? Otherness? I remembered now, I couldn't fly! But I could now...

Waaait a second, why is it night still?

Holy smokes I have a dreamself! In Equestria!

Oh my God I have a Quest Bed!!!

Well, lucid dreaming rocked! And now I could see what was different with me! I was going to have to make some tests, though.

This was a welcome development, and I would bet that it'll help me move around without causing too much trouble... I still had to find out why, though.

What was I thinking about before I fell asleep? Oh, right, finding a boyfriend for Whistler.

She was just so nice and kind, and intellectual, too. She was taking things much better than expected...

What kind of girlfriend would she be? I just hoped not one of those needy/jealous ones.

*****

(The not-so-distant future)

"Honey, I have a surprise for you."

"Oh, is that so? May I inquire as to the nature of this 'surprise'?"

"Now, now, Whistler, that would defeat the purpose. I need you to wear this blindfold."

"Very well."

"Now, it's on the other side of town, so I'll guide you; put a wing on my shoulders."

"Alright."

"..."

"..."

"Sweetie?"

"Yes, Windstorm?"

"That isn't a wing, and those aren't my shoulders."

"Oh, my apologies."

"..."

"..."

"Well?"

"What?"

"Are you going to move your hoof?"

"No."

"I think I remember saying that we have to walk across town."

"I am distinctly aware of that."

"This is revenge for what I did at the library, isn't it?"

"The recipient of revenge is not intended to smile because of it; as such, I can state with utmost certainty that this is not revenge."

"True, true, but that still leaves the matter of all the townsfolk."

"I do belive there are two words that you would employ for situations such as this. I believe them to be 'Screw them'."

"You know me too well."

"Considering what happened last spring, I know you better than anypony else."

"Getting hit with strange magic from a vengeful turtle watch doesn't count. Neither from a wise-cracking dragon pendant, prideful tiger pin or snarky bird ring."

"Everything else does."

"Fine; I still need to show you your surprise, though."

"Lead the way."

*****

(Dream-Typhon, the past)

Why did I have shivers?

Oh, it was raining on me.

Maybe I should have refined the details before trying something like this.

Well, too late to go back now! I could see Cloudsdale! I wonder what would happen if I find myself like this? What would happen if I gave myself the ring and stuff?

Ugh, my head was starting to spin. My status as a living dream was getting on a conflict with my waking mind.

Oh well, I tested some of my abilities first, and I could certainly defend myself from anything that tried to attack me during the night! Poor Luna... I doubt that I could help do something, unless I spent centuries fighting stuff. I don't know how much time I had, though, and getting invaded by phantoms would certainly make things more complicated.

Wait, I was getting distracted again. First, I had to train my dream-mind and dream-body. I could find out the happenings some other time.

Author's Note

Mini-update to keep my theme of going back and forth between times, because I dont know how will the crossover affect that part.

Second of Five Colors, and a Golden Wind

(Typhon POV, Outskirts of Cloudsdale)

You’ve been invaded by Bliu, the Blue King of Cinquleur

Seriously, world? Seriously? I haven’t reached home base yet!

Lady Fortune, sometimes I want to kiss you, but right now I just want to punch you in the face (though not to establish superiority).

Well, Bliu was a hume, or human, so no magic-fueled frenzy. He wore a blue hat similar to a bicorne with a large white feather, a blue coat with enormous white cuffs, fingerless leather gloves, a light blue tunic, and brown leather shoes. And a scarf-like thing holding his coat… I don’t know what’s it called, but it’s pretty nice.

A freaking Blue Mage, the one job that grows more powerful the more he’s knocked around.

And he had two sabres, wide and curved and very likely to do some serious damage.

I was too close to Cloudsdale, so no fancy weather tricks, and the air - although still responding as normal - was not yet accustomed to me, so I had very little magic to work with. I could use Lightning Brush, but a missed stroke would… yeah, I was not going to throw my ink around like that, it was too dangerous.

I was going to have to use… let’s go with shields. His magic could cover a wider area, and I wasn’t about to try the same tactics I used on Ruuj. Clover would have my head.

Tear Stone was an unassuming shield. A black, stone-like circle divided in fourths, surrounded by two blue half-circles almost touching each other, but it increased my sensitivity and muted sounds I made without me having to tell the Air to do so.

And Orchestra Plus, because I was feeling adventurous. A white, circular shield with two white, feather-like extensions at two-o'clock and ten-o’clock each, and two gray ones at five and seven o’clock. It used soundwaves to deflect hits, and it helped with my more exotic tricks. I just hoped that I wouldn’t need its extra features.

Yes, they were bulky, even the reduced ones I was carrying, but I had a lot of strength to get around that.

There was no audience, although a curious pegasus or two might stumble across our little battle.

Bliu didn’t seem to want to risk it, and tossed a Law Card into the air. I wasn’t sure I could handle this one as well as I did the last one; Bliu had strong abilities, even if I only knew of a few - any new spells? Yeah, that would be trouble.

“I am the Blue King Bliu of Cinquleur.” He waved his sabers in a flourish. “We seek battle with the strongest of warriors! I commend your victory over Ruuj, but I shall not fall so easily!”

Ohh boy. If he was boasting this much, it did not bode well. I would have to come up with-

What’s that whistling noise? Something seemed to be disturbing the air. Something small. And fast. And…

Was that a bit piece? Who would drop a bit piece from that high up? Reflexively, I reached out and grabbed a hold of it with the wind, and noticed the differences almost instantly. Instead of the traditional images on it, there was a see-saw with the letters Au above it on one side, and an image of an eclipse on the other. And that was when I heard the voice.

Auric Fulcrum...light...candle...those that seek balance...call on me...

Yeah, I wasn’t going to do very well going solo. I just had the magic of a sphere a meter or two across, although the air of Cloudsdale was richer than a simple plain…

I was going to have to risk it.

Send Party Invite? Y/N

Hell yes; send. I squeezed the magic, and sent it into the coin.

(3rd POV - Auric)

Darkness greeted the boy as he flitted through dimensions as naught more than a stream of golden fire.

Suddenly, he felt a tug. A greater tug on his being. It would appear that whoever this Typhon was, he had stabilized the connection with the coin. Probably by injecting some of his power into it. He rushed towards the tugging sensation, and felt himself enter another reality.

Next to the blue-clad Heir, a pillar of golden flame erupted, shrouding a bipedal form within. As it dissipated, a few things could be made out about it. For one, it was approximately six feet tall. It was also clad in what looked like very crude camouflage. The hair atop the head was primarily black, streaked with gold. And then the boy opened his eyes and revealed they were golden as well.

The boy looked between the slightly transparent mage and the one next to it before spotting the coin in the Heir’s hand. He inclined his head slightly. “I assume you are Typhon?”

“Yes, and you would be Auric?”

The boy nodded again and returned his attention to the phantom. “And would he be the reason you called for me?”

“One enemy or six, it makes no difference.” Bliu shifted his feet, calmly evaluating both possible opponents.

“That means ‘yes’.” Typhon deadpanned.

“Two questions. Who or what is he, and does he have a weakness I can hit?”

“He’d be one of the freaking kings of Cinquleur, and other than being unable to use a ribbon, I don’t know.”

Auric’s eyes widened as he heard the name Cinquleur and he looked over the magus with slight trepidation. “Which...one is he? It’s been fifteen hundred years since I touched any games, after all.”

“King of Blue magic, and user of High Magic. He uses the power of monsters-”

“Against his foes. Let’s hope he doesn’t know White Wind.”

Bliu simply smirked conspirationaly, and Auric groaned.

“Well, damn.” They both said.

“Do we wait for him, or do we rush him?”

“Don’t let him charge up for White- is he drinking an ether?”

The sound of the bottle being open and drunk by the phantom was similar to the sound of an executioner's axe for all the effect it had on the mood of the boys. But their prediction would prove to be inaccurate for all of a minute as the shade did not burst out an attack spell. Technically, anyways.

He instead focused on the Heir and said two words. “Matra Magic.”

The phantom was surrounded with a pyramid of light, and he took a knee for a moment as his physical strength was funneled into his magic. There was a bright flash as the spell completed, blinding the boys for a second as they hadn’t expected him to target himself with such a flashy spell.

Which made his next move all the more devastating, because they didn’t see it coming. They heard it, though. “Magic frenzy, Quake!”

Auric felt the rocks collide into him from all sides, and he raised his arms in an attempt to defend himself while his eyesight recovered. Meanwhile, his brain was working, trying to remember the moves from a game played lifetimes ago. Magic frenzy? Doesn’t that work by casting a spell, followed by-

His thoughts were cut off as two unwanted bits of metal introduced themselves into his lungs.

-Yeah...that.

As Blui withdrew his sabres from Auric’s body, he grinned with satisfaction as it hit the ground, barely breathing. “One down. One to go.”

Typhon could feel it; Auric was breathing, and his heartbeat didn’t seem to be slowing down. He’d need time, and he was going to have to provide it.

He swung Orchestra, keeping the shield in front at all times. The clash of metal produced a higher-pitched noise than Bliu expected, and his arm was vibrating.

Typhon didn’t relent, waving the shield as to keep Bliu from recovering his stance. Another would have been forced to look over their defense, but he could feel the air all around, including the space Bliu occupied and his breath. The blue mage tried using his other hand to slash at Typhon’s legs, but he spun in place to send him wide and kick him in the small of his back.

If simple physical prowess wasn’t enough, then he’d just have to try magic.

He put his hands together, inhaling deeply and letting loose an ear-splitting Screech. The magic-infused soundwaves neared the gray shield and split sideways with a metallic ringing.

Bliu then tried to conjure a Sandstorm, but the winds and sands just danced around a blue sphere. Fed up that none of his attacks seemed to be connecting, either by dint of the blue one’s equipment or the abilities he seemed to possess, he fell back to the technique he’d opened with.

“Matra Magic.”

Typhon tried, he really did, but his leg got caught by the pyramid of light, and he felt as if something had been ripped from him. He felt as if the air had left his lungs, and the Four yelled in protest. Just as he took a knee and Bliu walked closer, sabres raised, that’s when heard Auric speak up.

“Hey jerk.”

Bliu whipped around to see Auric standing up again, his outfit bloodied and dirty, but his body whole. One hand was raised and golden flames danced on it.

“Thanks for helping me test out the functional immortality I have. Let’s see if you have the same gifts.”

A jet of red fire erupted from his hand, crossing the distance between them rapidly.

Bliu brought his hands together, inhaling to let loose another Screech; the wall of air met the fireball and diffused it, sending small streams of fire dancing in all directions before they could reach him.

“Well well. So you have an Angel Ring, boy? That only works once, you know.”

“Don’t forget me. Heads up.” Typhon coughed out, striking his grey shield on the ground. A quick and dirty means of spreading his influence, but soon he could at least feel how the mage had shifted his footing to dodge the latest assault.

A wide, curved sword not unlike his own sabres was flying towards him. The blade was a rich crimson with a thick purple backing, and had a hilt whose guard looked like a bird’s wings. He simply stepped out of the way, but saw Typhon smiling at him.

The sword stabbed the ground close to Auric, making a sizzling sound as it slowly cooked the grass around it. Auric pulled it out and grinned. “Oooh, an enhancer for my fire. I could get used to you, Typhon.”

The boy pointed the blade at the blue mage, who merely chuckled. “You’d better have other tricks than that. I’ve already shown how I can best them.”

Auric, strangely, did not stop grinning. “Let’s me think. Fire is strong, so that means water’d be weak. But fire and earth share a relationship. Let’s see about that.”

The ground under Bliu started to quake and shift, making him feel as though he’d been caught in an Illusionist’s Earthquake. He jumped backwards just in time as a rift in the very earth opened up where he’d been standing. Bliu scowled, the one in front of him was more dangerous than he’d thought. He’d have to end this quickly, otherwise the Heir might recover.

“Matra Magic.”

The boy didn’t so much as bat an eyelash. The pyramid flashed around him, but the boy flashed as well, a bright purple. Bliu was, to say the least, perturbed.

“That took out the Heir, but not you? What are you?”

Auric lost all semblance of joviality. “Ward. Jupiter-aligned. Single cast, protection from spells. At least, how it seems to translate here. Pull that again, I dare you.”

“Golden Sun-powered? Nice.”

Auric rolled his eyes. “Wasn’t easy getting it. Dullahan’s fine and all, but I didn’t want to be him for fifteen hundred years. Still relearning my strength.”

“Tell me about it. I god-tiered today, like, six hours ago.”

Auric smiled. “Four days, here. I’ve got a few tricks, but not many. For example.”

He vanished in a swirl of golden flames, reappearing behind Bliu and prepped another fireball. The magus turned around rapidly in search of his vanishing prey before catching sight of him, and when he did, he let out another Screech to block the incoming attack. Auric let out a tsk at the successful deflection.

“Oh come on. Alex’s warping trick isn’t enough to get past you?”

“You’re not the first jumped-up windbag I’ve faced. Many bring Fairy Shoes and seem to think I can’t guard my rear. I’ve swiftly disabused them of that notion.”

“Hey!” Typhon yelled. “Come say that to my face!”

Bliu turned, a malicious grin on his face. “Oh but of course. How silly of me. Why don’t I introduce you to the Reaper as well, he’s a friend of mine.”

As Bliu began to charge up his Doom spell, ready to send them both to the afterlife by any means necessary, Typhon pulled. He took the magic of the air, and gave it to Genbu, the Black Tortoise, keeper of the mansion of the constellation of the girl.

Bliu found that there was something quite different, something pushing away his arms - something soft, and that quite should not be there. His stance was different, and his arms seemed shorted… and his hands looked wrong.

Bliu could hear the laughing of the boys before a pain blossomed in his head, staggering him. “Y’know, my parents raised me not to hit girls, but methinks you’re an exception to the rule!”

As the mage’s vision swam, a gray object entered it shortly before colliding with her forehead, making her skull reverberate like she had gotten hit with a gong. She fell back onto the earth and felt the edge of a sword on her neck. Blinking, she saw that boy, Auric, standing over her. “So, what do you do with ‘em when they’re knocked out like this?”

“The hell are you doing, finish her off! She’s a phantom!”

“Just checking.” And then fire erupted around the sword, searing through her neck in an instant.

“Agh!” Bliu began to fade into the air. “I have fallen, but others will repay you for this insult, boys!”

“It wears off, you whiner!” Typhon yelled, still not feeling up to scratch.

Then the place was filled with blue grists.

Typhon leaned back, letting his shields get back to his inventory as he laid onto the grass.

“Matra Magic hurts like hell, and basically ripped apart a couple of my senses.”

Auric shook his head. “Wouldn’t know, but I’ll keep it in mind if I run into any more blue magi.”

The sword suddenly appeared next to Typhon again, Auric had thrown it to land next to him. “Pretty sure it’s not mine to keep.”

“Fire is not really my style; I cause enough damage as it is.” He tried to sit up, but ultimately his head thumped back on the suddenly comfortable grass. “Ruuj gave me enough rubies and garnets to get three-quarters of the way again, and I have better things - for my style, at least.”

He drew the Cooperation, which, for lack of an arm to hold it, fell onto the grass.

Auric sighed and shook his head. “The only blade I’d feel comfortable wielding is my own, but Dully has it now. Ah well, live and learn.” Then Auric seemed to take notice of Typhon’s condition. “Are...that’s not a physical ailment, is it? I don’t think I can do anything for you, but I will guard you if you need to rest.”

“It’s more like being blind all of a sudden. I’m just dizzy after Ruuj and Bliu.” He took the Cooperation and used it as a cane to stand again.

Auric nodded a bit. “I get the idea, vaguely. You shoulda seen me when I arrived, screaming about not having a proper body anymore. Or a head. Still, that isn’t something you just walk off, and I’ve not a lot of practice in healing anything that isn’t a physical affliction. Seriously, take a load off.”

“Have you heard of the Will of Objects?”

Auric carefully shook his head. “Can’t say I have. Why do you ask?”

“It’s not just ‘me’; it’s the air. When I call a breeze, or make a sound, I… direct the energy, not quite command, not quite wait. Banging the shields and asking Seiryu made a ‘room’ for my influence, but after that, the air spoke to me again.”

Auric tilted his head to the side in thought. “So you’ve an allegiance to the air, or as I might call it, you’re a Jupiter Adept. Would trying to create a breeze on my end help you? My powers are different, after all.”

“If we move it in the same direction.” He cracked his neck. “Yours will carry mine further away.”

Auric nodded and began to call up what he remembered of Whirlwind, altering it slightly. “Towards you, then,” he said as the wind began to rise from behind him.

Typhon waved his hand, feeling The Breeze, the will infused into the gust. Shaping it, adding a voice to it. Indeed; he could feel Auric’s will on it, and thus allowed it to carry his own.

“I’ve explained this thing like a thousand times.” He chuckled. “Like filling a balloon, only without the rubber pushing against you.”

Auric smiled a bit. “Well I’m glad it worked. To be honest, I didn’t know what would and wouldn’t when I got here. I haven’t had a chance to experiment with all the Psynergy I once commanded. Still getting used to the strength the Sun gave me.”

“Don’t get me started on that; took me quite a while to figure out just how screwed up my powers were.” Typhon grumbled. “At least they were more flexible.”

“Yeah, but let’s look at it this way: You got to keep your body. Me, I was stuck as a spirit in a suit of armor for fifteen hundred years. Doesn’t happen every day, nor would I wish it on my worst foes.”

“True enough. It was already bad to lose the Air like that, now the sense of touch, smell and taste on top of that? It’s worse than being stone. At least I had a portion of ‘myself’ outside ‘Tia’s little ‘memorial.’” A small tremor coursed through his body. “The only thing worse than that, that I can think of, would be the Void.”

Auric’s face blanked at that, staring into nothing, but his jaw worked nonetheless. “The Void Eternal, and That Which Fills It. I asked the Question when I was alive, and saw the Answer. From the tiniest subatomic particles to the structure of the Multiverse, I saw it all, Understood it, and my Understanding broke me…”

He shook his head a few times as if to clear it and looked at Typhon with a bit more scrutiny. “You’ve seen it? How?”

“When I came here, it was… it gave me the feeling of it being slow, like a leaf being carried by a lazy Autumn breeze. I thought something akin to ‘huh, there is something else… guess that that guy that said that we’re alone was wrong. What else have we gotten wrong?’.”

He waved his hand.

“The answer is: One heck of a lot.”

Auric chuckled. “Yeah, no kidding. But at least Understanding makes Alchemy a bit easier to act out. Now all I have to do is practice more.”

“Truth is nice, too; I get to try all these magic tricks because I’m not blind to them. Like asking the air for stuff; no-one thinks to ask first.”

Auric slowly nodded. “Fair enough. I might have to practice that. After all, what use is it to have powers to alter portions of the world, if the world resents you for doing it? I think that’s how so many begin to lose their way.”

Auric turned to look at the sky. “This will probably sound cheesy, but I don’t think I should stay here too long. My dimension might need me. Still, I’d like to come by again, it was nice talking to you. And if you’ve half the powers of any Sburb player, I might have a few things to ask.”

“Yeah, I called because I wasn’t in any shape to fight. At least, not without rekindling Luna’s anger.” Typhon tugged at his collar. “Tiamat might’ve put her in traction, but she definitely went down fighting.”

Auric looked down at his clothes as though noticing their slightly dirty and bloodied condition for the first time and moaned. “Aw, and this was my favorite set of camo! I made it myself! Granted, it’s my only set, but the principle stands!” He sighed and slumped his shoulders slightly. “No helping it, gonna have to make another.”

“I have an Alchemiter, maybe we can cook up a Light suit?”

Auric turned to Typhon and tugged at his shirt. “It’d be appreciated. Might even wear it in my...well, not home, but dimension I’ve certainly spent the most time in. Where is it?”

Typhon took out his wallet.

A moment passed.

“You’re kidding. You have access to the most useful kind of inventory?”

“Nope. After getting it upgraded, I stored the whole thing here; I kept having to move. A copy was left in Starswirl’s lab, but I don’t want to expose the things there to Nightmare Moon’s corruption.”

“...You...do realize you just told me it’s in or around the Everfree Forest slash Castle, right?”

“You are free to try something, granted, the Time Essence distiller might not do anything horrible to your time.”

Typhon shrugged, and Auric shook his head. “And now that you’re talking about its defences, I’d say one of my guesses was right. Dude, I duelled verbally with my Discord before he became loco, which was kinda my fault as well. I can unravel things you don’t say, and you’re not saying that you think I intend something for that lab. Rest easy, I don’t. I’m just saying, take care with what you say to others, they might be as sharp as me.”

“Hey, no better way to know a guy than to fight side by side, back to back, and not getting stabbed.”

Auric shook his head again. “I’m pretty sure we don’t count for that rule. You’re God-Tiered, and I’ve been hit with the Golden Sun. We’re both functionally immortal unless certain conditions come to pass. It’d be more of an exercise in annoyance than anything else.”

Typhon laughed. “Immortal life makes someone’s true character come forth. Evil people get more evil, weak people go insane, and noble people become legends. Heck, even mortal life is too long to hold grudges!”

Auric nodded and looked back at the wallet. “Indeed, but we have strayed far afield from our topic of origin.”

“Clothes.” Typhon fished around for the card. “I have… a crown of Celestia, and a ghost image of my clothes, think that’ll work?”

Auric hummed to himself. “What about that golden bit I tossed through? I’d rather not it ALL be designed after Princess Sunbutt. We kinda had a...tiff for a few...okay, almost all my millennia of existing.”

Typhon raised an eyebrow. “Her things give objects the Light attribute, making my Breath clothes Light ones, though I have a picture of a guard to make Heir into Knight.”

Auric sighed. “No no, by all means, infuse it with Light. Just...no sun imagery. Add in other stuff after to change it, please. I don’t want my Cel to get the wrong ideas.” He turned away and muttered, “Especially after that bedroom incident” to himself, supposedly.

“The WHAT?!”

Auric cringed and suddenly recalled Typhon’s attunement to Air. “Eh, well, I may have been fleeing from the lifeform Twilightous Sparkleous Researchus… and I may have used my warping trick to appear in Cel’s bedchambers. . .and I may have turned into a unicorn stallion and pretended to be her lover to get the guard to leave without asking questions.”

Typhon stared at Auric for a good while.

“Wow, I don’t know whether or not that is scary or hilarious.” Typhon shook his head.

“Try scary, Cel turned it back on me in ten seconds when she realized it was me.”

Typhon began to chuckle. “Oh my God.”

He drew the card, and a large contraption full of keyboards, lenses, and what looked like a laser mounted on an arm appeared on the hill.

“Let’s see, Heir of Breath god-hoodie.” Insert blank card, type the code, receive punched card. “Coin… heads or tails?”

“The image of the eclipse, if you’d be so kind.”

“Coin, eclipse-up. OK, let’s try an OR operation.” Typhon placed the two cards into a slot in the device. A hologram of a strange, curved totem appeared on a small platform, as the central area was filled by a large holographic coin.

“Cripes, that’s expensive.” Typhon commented.

“And also not what we want, and ungainly large. Maybe if it were the size of a coin, I’d consider it.”

“Let me adj-wait a second.” Typhon inspected the coin more closely.

The coin, instead of an eclipse, displayed a cloud. Descending from the cloud, an enormous snake was winding its way to the ground. Looking more closely, after the snake’s head, its body was instead a thick tornado.

“That’s the symbol of the Pillars of Typhon, my old band.” He chuckled, turning a dial on the console that made the various lenses refocus, shrinking the hologram to a more agreeable size. Typhon punched a button on the machine, and the coin solidified.

With a flick of his hand, Typhon called the coin to him, inspecting the other side. A less-stylized tornado, circled by a band of some kind with small dots on it.

“And the symbol of the Wind Family, neat. See? These are supposed to be pegasi.” Typhon pointed at the dots.

Auric carefully took the coin and inspected it. “Huh. Though, why would that be on your token? Ah, nevermind. It’s a good memento anyways.”

“I have an idea; if you don’t mind?” Typhon extended his hand, and Auric placed the token back into it.

Typhon took the coin he had used to summon Auric out of his inventory.

“I have a favor to ask.” He said, looking at the coins. He took both in one hand, while the other took a small brush out of a green card that popped into being in front of him.

“I have no magic.” Typhon said, while he drew on the platform with the brush that never seemed to dry. “I can’t cast spells, certainly not for a good long while, and I have no idea of the kind of spell you have. I need help to copy it, but altered for me; that is the easy part, since the Principle of Association links me to my symbol.”

A small circle with spirals ‘growing’ out of it connected to four spirals that crossed into a larger one.

“Auric helped me out greatly.” Typhon’s hands began to glow a soft blue, and he placed the original coin on the circle. “It’s just good manners that I return the favor some time, should he need it. We are friends, and communication is important… what I want to ask is for you to go with him and help him contact me. It’s the right thing to do, don’t you agree?”

Typhon placed his coin on the center of the main spiral, on its side, and gave it a gentle flick to spin it.

The coin started to pick up speed as the wind made it turn faster and faster. The other coin shook until it jumped onto its side, and the winds that spun Typhon’s coin began to dance in a figure eight to make both coins turn.

“Good.” Typhon smiled, standing up again as the coins gave off a gentle light. “You do agree.”

Auric merely smiled and watched the coins rotate. “Principle of association. Gonna have to remember that, it’d make my life a little easier than blunt force. What’s the fancy light show for?”

“Well, I’m limited to the magic of the air under my control, so long as I’ve given it time to get used to me. By definition, Objects have no Will save for those with really exotic properties; with a small infusion of mine, I asked the coins to ask the environment to lend them magic, and they all agreed - making the Principle of Consent come into play. Your coin is directing mine to make a copy of its enchantment. The more spherical an object’s shape, the easier it persuades other objects, hence the spinning - turning a circle into a sphere.”

Auric nodded as he committed the details to memory. “Alchemy is half forcing one’s will on the earth, half making machines to do the previously thought impossible, all fueled by knowledge of the world and its rules and laws. These principles you’re telling me about will help. They’ll really help.”

The light died off, and both coins slowed down until gravity enforced its pull and made them come to a stop.

“Clover said it was the most passive-aggressive use of magic ever.” Typhon laughed. “Of course, sometimes you have to be more forceful, but keeping the royal library ordered had never been easier.”

Auric carefully picked up the token Typhon had made and looked at it. “Hmm. Well, try one was a bust, but still produced something of value. Would you like to try again?”

“Attempt number two. AND operation.” The ink faded into smoke as Typhon worked the console again. “Hmm… let’s add something more exotic - Cooperation in NOT card in a NOR operation.”

As the machine whirred into life, so did Auric’s mind. “Um, that sounds needlessly comp-”

“It affects the cost, even if I could simply insert the thing straight.” Typhon shrugged.

The result was an orange and yellow outfit with black and white trim, a knight’s coif for a hood, and a long cape. The chest had the eclipse insignia of his token.

“Hmm… it’s a little expensive, with unusual materials, but I can tell it’s not simple cloth.” Typhon punched a button, making the outfit. He pulled it with his wind powers, and noticed something else. “Yup, it’s got metal weaved. It’s a little heavier than normal, but if you ask it, it might hold against cutting and tearing damage, not to mention what would happen if you enchant it or cast spells on it.”

Auric carefully touched the outfit, surprised at the feel of the new outfit. “Interesting. Should we meet again, I can tell you’d have a field day with my old sword. Or the djinn. Or Dully himself. Or, well, anything I’ve picked up over the years.” Inclining his head towards the pile, he asked without saying anything if he really could take something so valuable.

“I’ve been- alright, I was ‘indisposed’ for a long time, but I was mobile for years, fighting phantoms and monsters and… miscellaneous; I stockpiled enough materials to remake nearly everything, save for the top-of-the-line stuff like Cooperation or the more exotic lab equipment.” Typhon waved his hand. “This? I made things like this all the time, out of boredom. Granted, most wound up destroyed by means of testing of their properties, but Clover and Starswirl used the info to help me learn magic.”

Auric carefully picked up the clothes and tucked them under his left arm, nodding at the Heir in thanks. “I’ll attempt to get you some Psynergy Stones when I next come by, then. Goodness only knows what you’d manage then.” Clasping his right arm over his chest, he said a simple phrase. “May the Golden Sun illuminate your path, Typhon.”

“Oh, nothing as grand as what we would manage together, that’s for sure.” Typhon extended an arm as if physically aiding his words. “May the Winds of Fortune be at your back, Auric.”

With that, the golden-eyed boy smiled and vanished in a column of golden, heatless flame, which trailed into the sky and disappeared suddenly, taking the boy back to his dimension of origin.

“Bliu was harder than I thought.” Typhon rolled his shoulders. “Then again, the next one was always of greater level than the previous one.”

He scratched his head.

“A level. Neat. I don’t think I can keep going solo, though, unless I stay in the desert or the badlands to avoid collateral.” He tapped his foot, glancing back towards the alchemical device. “I’m definitely going to have to reform the Pillars again… I’ll have to ask around. I need agents; they’ll need equipment, training...”

He snapped his fingers, then inserted a blank card in the machine.

“I’ve got all of these resources; it’d be a shame not to use them.” He started chuckling darkly. “Heck, Clover would hit me. The Pillars are going to be a little less secretive this time around.”

*****

(Luna)

The princess of the night lowered her telescope.

She had felt another one of those cards, their power being simply too distinctive to mistake for anything else, and too great for a common unicorn to be the source.

Typhon had not done anything to manipulate the weather, nor used his other tricks… he diverted his attention towards Cloudsdale more than once, with a look of worry.

“Perchance he would not risk harming the population?” She mused aloud, turning her attention to the ribbon held in her magic. “He made it a point of pride to see to it that the commonfolk escaped the troubles he found himself situated in. And that other human… what is their relationship? What connected them? What brought him, and why did he go?”

“He had friends; much greater in number than We could have suspected. There are simply too many questions.” She needed more information; Typhon had played with his cards close to his chest for so long, and she doubted he was about to change that mannerism even now. She needed to get close enough to see those cards for herself, she needed-

She needed cards of her own. She had to change her usual approach, become more involved, and find out just how he actually worked.

She still felt a bruise on her pride from the emotional wreckage he’d reduced her normally prim and composed sister to...or was that the effects of her realizing her mistakes after so long?

Mistakes pointed out ages ago by Typhon, if Tia was correct. No, there was no other choice. She needed to somehow get in his head, learn how he thought. For real this time, not the masks and fake trails they had followed before.

He was going in the direction of Ponyville… was there not a celebration soon? A… Nightmare Night? She could use the chance to reconnect with the population at large and the Bearers as well, perhaps discreetly tell them what she’d witnessed.

With any luck, maybe she could even find out how he obtained his supporters.

*****

(Canterlot, Captain’s office, a few hours later)

“Is that all?” Shining Armor asked the guard in front of him.

“Yes sir.” The stallion stood firm. “Apologies, I was unable to hear their conversation.”

“No, discretion was the right call… are you absolutely sure you were not discovered?”

“There was no indication of such. After the device was operated several times after the departure of the human with the golden magic, Typhon flew away in the direction of Ponyville.”

Shining Armor silently pondered the implications. The ‘Red King’ incident was still painfully fresh in his mind and, while he knew it would not be the last, now he was actually worried. He could have passed it off as a brawl that got out of hoof, but this ‘Blue King’ had apparently actually come close to defeating Typhon. And that’s not to mention this other human with the golden magic his soldier had seen. He wasn’t sure which of them was more dangerous.

And now Typhon was headed to Ponyville, where his L.S.B.F.F. now lived with her friends, also known as the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Trouble seemed to follow in his wake like chaos did Discord’s, and if another ‘King’ showed up while he was anywhere near there, he would never forgive him if anything happened. More importantly, he never would forgive himself for doing nothing. His talent was protecting those he cared about after all.

He took a deep breath, preparing himself to bend the standing orders Luna had issued after Typhon’s departure from Canterlot. Just slightly.

“Send a wing to Ponyville. Stress that they are there to protect the civilians, but if you get the chance, try to bring Typhon in quietly. He needs to be contained before these… ’incursions’ get too much more dangerous for those around him.”

The soldier paused for a moment, then saluted, not questioning his Captain’s orders. As he turned to leave, Shining began to think at a rapid pace. Typhon had earned his title of The Sly, and evaded his guards by making them chase an absurd amount of decoys. The reports made emphasis of the many impossible escapes he had enacted, even against common methods of containment of resistant entities.

He needed information. Typhon played with his cards close to his chest, never revealing anything until one had made a mistake. Shining needed cards of his own, and a way to see Typhon’s… hand.

Nightmare Night was fast approaching; perhaps a more direct, yet discreet approach was necessary. If he recalled correctly, the towns outside Canterlot typically held all-night festivals in ‘honor’ of this night. It wouldn’t be too difficult to obtain a significantly bulky costume, or perhaps an illusion, and attend one…

Author's Note

Here it is! Thadius0 and I worked on this - it was fun! And I didn't drive him too crazy!

Both shields come from a game called Gods Eater. more specifically, Gods Eater: Burst. It has been often said to be similar to Monster Hunter, but with faster-paced battles. Buying the game was something that simply... happened. I have a tendency to pick up obscure games that deserve a little more attention.

For those who join us without much knowledge of Homestuck, a god-tier character is functionally immortal. A god-tier can only die if their death is Heroic or Just, so trying sneak attacks or assassinations is doomed to failure unless the character is evil. There are ways to become immortal without condition, but that's another thing entirely, not to mention absurdly difficult and intrinsically tied to the Game Session.

Blue Mage - This class is an odd one. Their spells are not the regular ones you can buy in a store or find in a dungeon's chest; they use some of the special abilities that enemies use. To learn them, they must be in the battle, usually with the caveat that they must be the target and survive/be revived before the end of the fight. Bliu knows only three, one of which increases the damage the target makes, one that decreases the defenses of the target, and Quake, a moderately-powerful spell of the rather elusive Earth element; Bliu's main advantage comes from his secondary menu, High Magic, which comes with Magic Frenzy, allowing him to cast a spell and follow it up with a basic attack on every target. Bliu also has the Dual-wield support ability, allowing him to equip a sword on each hand, making him attack twice on every turn... and every use of Magic Frenzy.

Matra Magic swaps the values of HP and MP. In FFTA2, the characters start with an empty MP meter and recover 10 points each turn... there are several things you can do with that spell alone.

Windstorm

(Typhon, the past)

I should start making notes, or a journal... I didn't know if I could trust my memory with everything. Well, I should fire up the note app and start right now, before things started getting too interesting and details started getting lost.

It was a semi-quiet first week in the land of Equestria...

I found my dream-self's room and placed the devices there, quickly cooking up a new pair of glasses that were also computers, and clothes. Many changes of clothes. I used one of Whistler's feathers and a tuft of hair from her coat to make an outfit - predictably pink, but really, really soft! Like, dear God, bedding made of that would be the most popular thing in the history of forever. I used that and clouds to made a pillow and a mattress.

Pink-ness be darned, I didn't have the lies and illusions torn out of me just to conform to someone's definition of 'manly'. It's simply the best bed I've ever slept on.

The sprite... disappeared. Something about corrupted data and missing functions. It said that it would have to 'effect debugging and repairs'.

I don't think it'll be any time soon.

I also started talking to the artifacts that brought me here. They told me about what they were doing, why my dream-self was like that, and offered to help me with their knowledge. They told me about themselves as I asked... I will make notes on magic on the future. Oh, and one of them also said that there was an easy solution to the 'pink bed' dilemma, but I don't care about that.

I started trying my hand at wielding swords... and I wasn't half-bad!

OK, so that was more the work of the card than mine, but I could feel it slowly... integrating? I could feel how the movements slowly became mine mine. I was getting stronger from the levels, as evidenced by the second phantom to appear - a Foot Clan ninja, thankfully one from the bottom of the ladder. I used my blade - a simple iron sword - and dented it and his weapon, stunning him both from the surprise and the actual physical shock long enough for me to punch him into a tree.

Wind Whistler's mom... like her daughter, took everything in stride, and was helping me train as my dream-self! She took a liking to that... maybe a little too much. Then again, she was the maternal type, and found cuteness in pretty much everything.

She even helped my dream-self carry my waking-self back to the room, in the middle of the night. Well, we encountered a Ropen on the way back, but I was getting the hang of manipulating The Breeze, preventing the bat creature from using its echolocation properly. I gained a level again, either causing my ability to improve or because of it.

My general dexterity got much better, and, on top of the practice I was doing, got better at drawing. Huge help, too, since I could get some useful things out of the ghost images.

Wind Whistler tried what anyone else would when given a machine that could make just about anything with the touch of a keyboard. She closed her eyes and jabbed at the thing. Surprisingly, a guitar came out! Without having ... I dunno, an I-beam embedded on it or something. I actually knew how to play that, instead of the intense trial-and-error of my ocarina playing - although Whistler liked the ocarina! She even was better than me at it... figuring out how ponies could play the guitar and the ocarina without fingers was not worth the headache; I just chalked it to 'magic pony magic hooves' magic' and kept going.

It took me three days after arriving at Equestria, but I noticed that my eyes were still brown, instead of changing to match John's.

In my defense, dream-self training was incredibly confusing. And tiring.

And that was not the only source of excitement, either. Meadowlark was a maternal pony, as I've already said; she spoke about making an addition to the family...

*****

(Celestia's private chambers, present, after Luna's departure)

It took a while, but Celestia calmed down significantly... her hair was losing it's shine and color, however, and was starting to sag.

There was an interruption - it had started to rain suddenly, with a column of magic power similar in appearance to a dust devil at the center of the gathering clouds.

It was like throwing a switch, but getting a short circuit. The princess snapped to attention, eyes trying to focus, but betrayed by her trembling and uneven breathing. She quickly cantered out, trying to convince the Bearers that 'this is more important than me' while preventing herself from being convinced to let Luna handle it.

Celestia threw an illusion around herself; quick, dirty spellcasting, but still much better than what one would expect from somepony in her emotional state - after all, Typhon might have never been fooled by any of them, but discovering that had been excellent practice. It was a very useful skill to have, and a shame to let it rust...

Twilight tried once more to convince her, before she got to the balcony, but Celestia 'reminded' her that, as a princess, she had to be seen as strong.

To Twilight's relief - and the relief of all of the others, to tell the truth - Celestia merely conjured a telescope and sighed, saying that she could see Luna already there. She wasted no time in getting binoculars for herself and her friends.

Typhon was facing some sort of projection, which did something with a card.

"What was that?" Twilight asked, shivering, before reading the thing that had appeared in front of her.

Celestia also had one of those, and quickly read it and committed it to memory.

"I think... it is something he called a Law Card; he used them sparingly, mostly for some of his more difficult escapes. They make rules - it seems that the purpose of that particular one is to keep the audience and the fighters separate." She said, remembering the cards that made certain kinds of spells - and even mundane actions - 'against the laws'... oh, she could break through them, even the more powerful ones like this one seemed to be, but it was difficult.

"So, what, we can't do anything?" Dash asked.

"It would be futile. Attempting to interfere directly is now literally against the laws of the universe." She sighed. "Fortunately they go both ways; the worst we can expect is damage to the surroundings, and, although still possible for it to harm bystanders, the evacuation saw to it that the citizens remain safe. Breaking the magic would cause more harm than good if Typhon is involved."

Twilight watched with great interest. She wanted to know more about Typhon, trying to gleam something that might help... well, the trainwreck she was now in the middle of. Shining had said more than once that there was a lot to be known about a pony by seeing how they fought.

She didn't know what to make of it just yet, but it was clear that Typhon was no stranger to combat; from what little she had gotten out of history books and the princesses, his exploits might even have been understated. They were both fast, very much so; it was hard to follow all the blurs of metal and the punches that were thrown at great speeds. Typhon... he moved oddly; it was like he was being slow at times, but he quite clearly wasn't if he managed to stop the red sword from hurting him and retaliate successfully. It played hell on perception, and a thousand questions danced around on her head, merely from his style.

And the fact that he was using scissors that had the theme of the princesses of Equestria was just another oddity.

Just as quickly as it began, it was over. The black sword speared through the red-clad ghost and then the scissors had cut her neck.

Twilight didn't even have the time to blink, gasping, but that same shock made her realize that the ghost was unharmed... but vanishing. Laughing.

Then he was gone.

"As informative as that was, you were about to say something, princess." Twilight... pointed out.

Celestia sighed again and turned back inside, having seen how Luna was taking care of it.

"Typhon could always tell how my sister and I felt. We were completely transparent to him." She inelegantly allowed herself to fall on a cushion, one of her many diaries on the table - the very one she had been reading to refresh her memory before Twilight and the others arrived, in fact. "He spoke with such certainty, and such accuracy, that I often wondered if he could actually see the future."

"We did not know much about him, only that he most often appeared in the middle of things breaking or being destroyed. The country was unstable, and sealing Tiamat nearly brought the dragons on us were it not for..." Princess Celestia shook her head. "I am straying from the topic. Typhon may have gone out of his way to ensure that nopony got injured during his escapades, but he simply could not be allowed to roam freely, not if he was causing that many damages."

"Um, excuse me, I mean, no offense..." Fluttershy began, stopped, then inhaled deeply before continuing. "Wouldn't it have been better to, um, ask?"

Princess Celestia had a far-off look for a moment; before long, her left eye twitched, a delicate frown forming on her face.

Then she sighed and slumped back on her seat.

"He said that I was not a princess worth getting behind of; too inefficient and blind. That what he did was too important to allow himself to be impeded by such a... misguided and confused filly playing princess."

"Inefficient?"

"He said that I wasted too much time doing things that were ultimately useless." She snorted.

Twilight cringed, and it didn't escape Celestia's notice.

"Twilight... do you want to say anything?"

"Well, princess, I- I can be honest with you, right? Like, completely honest?" She asked in turn, only to wince at Celestia's expression of pain, as if the doubt had physically hurt her.

"You- you know you can come to me for anything that weights on you." The waver in her voice was noticeable, and Twilight felt rotten.

'I think not; all you're earning is distance and fear. You'll get sick of it sooner or later, mark my words.'

"Wel-well, I seem to recall your schedule... it's full of redundant meetings and issues that quite frankly should not be a-any of y-your business." Twilight swallowed, but took the princess's face of confusion as asking for an explanation. "There are meetings for business owners to talk to you about their strategies to increase profits, when usually they would not bother to tell that to the local mayor; even if we start talking about taxes, there are procedures, trade guilds... princess, you have three full days' worth of meetings every week only to get all of the relevant information at two separate hour-and-a-half meetings at the start and the end of every month."

The others stared at her with incredulity.

"I... I asked around, when I had some free time and wanted to see if you had any." She blushed sheepishly, rubbing a foreleg with the other.

"My dear Twilight, why didn't you say anything?" Celestia was... gobsmacked felt like an adequate word.

"I-... I thought that you knew what you were doing, that you had some plan or some deeper purpose. That... that you couldn't make a mistake, much less one so obvious as that."

'You'll get sick of it sooner or later, mark my words.'

"I do make them, but I never let anypony know... not even myself. I wanted to feel bad for the accident, I wanted to feel rotten for placing the blame on somepony who could not defend himself. I drowned it out, saying that... that something could happen to the country! That... that admitting my mistake would make me regret it more than Windstorm hating me."

And the worst part - the part that made it hurt the most, was that Windstorm's anger died down at the hooves of his own argument. That he knew the reason she did it, and, though he did not agree to her methods, he could not stay angry at her for her intentions.

"He didn't, however. That was what made it so bad. He wasn't enraged for long; he was disappointed."

'I cannot stay angry, that's why I'm crying.'

"He was so hurt, and all that did was make him lose faith in me." The old sting made her feel like she was sinking further into the cushion, running the risk of being smothered by it.

"The Windstorm?" Rainbow Dash asked, with much more interest than Twilight would have expected from her. "He started the first public flight school, and did all sorts of great things for weather studies... Cloudsdale wouldn't be half as awesome as it is today if it weren't for that."

Well, that explained the interest.

"Oh, I knew him very well... in fact, he was similar to Typhon in many ways." If only Typhon had been a pony... no, it was useless to think like that; that was the very way of thinking that he berated her for. Being human should have nothing to do with how she treated him, and being a pony likely wouldn't have made any difference in how he acted.

Celestia reached for the diary.

*****

One day at Day Court, back when the Everfree Castle was still the capital.

It was nearing the time to set the sun, and my sister was actually standing next to me, wondering why I hadn't yet ceased activities.

I told her it was because somepony came to see me for something concerning a colt left homeless, which calmed her down and actually made her want to witness the audience.

It was Meadowlark and her daughter, Wind Whistler.

Next to them was a pegasus colt, at first glance one could say that he was of Wind Whistler's age or at the least close to it. He had a silver coat, his wings gradually darkening towards the tips, with a white-tipped dark grey mane and tail nearing black - even his cutie mark was gray, being a cloud with a tornado.

The only color on him were his eyes; they were the most shockingly vivid blue eyes I had seen to that day. Wind Runner inherited those very eyes from him.

He bowed, just like everypony else, but, after bidding him to rise, he did what few had done - something that, to this date, remains disappointingly rare.

He looked at me, straight into my eyes.

He was not afraid, nor was he awed at seeing a goddess... he was awed at seeing me. I cannot explain properly how I knew, I simply knew; he was looking at me, admiring my appearance for its own sake, seeing me - and I still do not know how to explain the difference - as a pony to be met and not a goddess that is all but taken for granted.

I think that was why his rejection stung so badly.

He was not in the best of conditions, however. He looked tired, as if he was about to fall asleep, and had trouble standing, like his body weighted him down.

He was but a Wayward Vagabond, bereft of family and home. He never elaborated, only saying that he had been staying with a distant member of his family, but now he was... alone. This was shortly after Discord's defeat, and cases like his were sadly not uncommon; some ponies could not recuperate fully, or maybe this relative was simply old or sick from other causes.

He had nothing but what he was carrying with him when he was found. He had lost all else. He only had a drawing to show as the symbol of his family.

A tornado snaking its way to the ground from a storm cloud, with a circle around it; there were dots on the circle which were supposed to represent pegasi, but the size of the drawing did not allow much detail.

Meadolark wished to house him; he was the only pony with his skills, and did not wish for him to be left without a home.

Naturally, we inquired as to the nature of these skills - now, we merely intended to ask for an explanation, but he stepped forth to give us a demonstration.

He closed his eyes, spreading his rather large wings as he inhaled. He exhaled as he closed his wings.

He repeated this three times, much more slowly each time; instead of repeating a fourth, he began to sway, opening only one wing at a time in the direction of his body's movement.

Then he started a small sideways gait, stopping when his wing was fully extended and going back as it retracted and opened the opposite.

Back and forth, he almost seemed to dance despite the simplicity of the movement.

I was about to ask what was he doing, despite the risk of breaking his concentration, but I was stopped by the sound of rustling cloth.

The tapestries at the sides were moving! Slowly at first, and only those closest to him; understandable, after all, they had gold and silver woven into them. That just made it all the more impressive.

I was about to comment again, but was stopped as he missed a step and tripped, sending him to the floor. He grunted as the air was driven from his lungs, and he did not even open his eyes as he laid there. Meadowlark and Whistler rushed to his aid, but he was either in pain, or his exhaustion was much more severe than I had first thought.

I assisted him with the gentlest levitation I could manage, carefully setting him across Meadowlark's back. He appeared to be making an effort to remain awake.

Luna, of course, approved of her request immediately (she is quite protective of foals, and would have even if he were just like any other colt), and thus we granted her the usual compensation - they were not poor, oh no, quite the contrary, but it was the procedure we decreed.

Meadowlark was to take care of him, educate him, and provide for him to the best of her ability. I also informed the mages of the court, as this was solid proof that Starswirl the Bearded's Treatise of the Three Tribes was absolutely, undeniably correct. Starswirl and Clover studied the Wind Shaping of the Wind Family, and became close to Wind Whistler and Windstorm as a result.

Nowadays, I cannot help but look back and bemoan how blind I was.

I almost prevented them from coming together...

Yes... you are right, my dear Twilight, I did not. Not then.

In the end, however, I separated them regardless.

Author's Note

Princess Celestia having a poorly-managed schedule full of stupid things (and either not caring or not noticing) comes from one of the comics. I have no access to them, however, so do not expect to find much of them here.

I just thought that this was something I could use.

No, I could not help myself. I've been making references to everything lately.

Layered disguises

(Canterlot)

Luna quietly stepped out of her sister's chambers.

Celestia... cried.

The Bearers convinced her to be less harsh towards her own self - at least, when the country was concerned.

How had the Bearer of Generosity worded it?

"If the country expects you to kill yourself working, then maybe they don't deserve it."

Luna... she found that it made a terrifying amount of sense. Her sister's generosity was being abused, much in the same way that Luna herself had been neglected.

Ponies being unreasonable or demanding/needy beyond what is healthy.

Oh, she understood why ponies had been afraid of the night, for it was the time some of the... nastier predators ventured beyond their usual haunts. As if that were not enough, Celestia's words made it evident that Sombra's taint had repercussions that endured for centuries. That, however, was no excuse to ignore her as if she did not exist... or to expect that she could not get hurt.

"What is the pain of a princess, weighted against the pain of her people?" Celestia had tried to deflect.

"The same. It makes no difference." Fluttershy had interjected; much to her own surprise, she continued. "Pain is pain, no matter where it comes from or who suffers from it. You can get hurt just like anypony, and making your pain less will only make sure that it grows worse with time, until something bad happens. You are a princess; if we cannot let a schoolfilly bottle her pain for fear of the health of her mind, why expect us to ignore yours? That you are a princess just makes it worse! Think of all the things that could happen!"

Indeed. Not even a real goddess should ignore her pain like that; there were consequences.

Pain existed for a reason. Pain told everypony when something was wrong, when something was damaged.

Disregarding damage never ended well in engineering or magical constructs, not to mention psychology; why would it be different just because you wore jewels on your head?

The Bearers returned from whence they came, save for Twilight Sparkle.

And Shining Armor... it was evident what he was trying to do. He was bending orders in hopes of cornering Typhon, but he never appeared if something else didn't force him first. She could not fault him, however, and Typhon himself was probably expecting it; he most likely wanted everypony to stay on their guard in case something happened - wait, he outright said so. She left that loophole on purpose, although there were other ways to exploit it, and those had her worried.

She could not dwell too much on it. Shining Armor was an intelligent and cautious stallion; he would not do anything that would have the chance of endangering his sister... and she had other things to worry about.

She had a holiday to prepare for.

*****

(Celestia. The next morning)

Had they thought that she would be blind as to their intentions? Or was it simply because they did not want her to worry?

Shining Armor had sent guards to keep the citizens safe, but before he had sent them everywhere, he had sent them for Ponyville first. It was easy to see that, either they had managed to sight Typhon or predict his movements (ha!), or he was just allowing them to think that. The first and the third options were the most likely, which also explained his other requests.

Like she wouldn't find out that he wanted to find him by himself. She would not begrudge that; after all, it was his devotion, his dedication to the protection of the ponies around him what had earned him a place in the guard, and his skills his position.

She gave his stealth until he stepped into town, however. Her own ambush had been the result of trial and error, but she couldn't quite tell him to be discreet without making it evident that he had failed; at best, she could just remind him of the reports, and tell him that Typhon was notoriously difficult to fool, so he wouldn't allow himself to be surrounded unless he had an escape ready.

Well, pegasus guards had never been able to fly if he did not allow it, and those... rockets of his enabled him to fly, and now he could fly under his own power.

And he once said that 'walls are just doors waiting to happen'.

She could not fault Luna, either, and the reason she had given her was both valid and honest. If anything, Celestia thought that Luna had waited too much.

Some of what she had said... well, didn't surprise her surprise her, but nonetheless made her wonder. He was obviously close to Wind Whistler, and his comment about Windstorm proved that he was well-acquainted with him; it should not have been surprising to discover that he knew Starswirl and Clover as well.

She had been aware that they did not know much about him, or the true extent of his abilities, but having support among her ponies?

How could someone with that much destructive ability be so subtle?

*****

(Ponyville)

A new pegasus stallion trotted about town. His coat was white, his mane and tail were black, and his eyes a simple blue.

Well, a new pegasus stallion that was not part of the guard, that is. The guards were mostly inconspicuous, and kept simple patrol patterns; all in all, life for the small town had not been changed in the slightest.

Save for when the guards got on break. Sugarcube Corner and similar places enjoyed a greater influx of bits than usual.

He stopped in front of the park. It wasn't exactly where he wanted to end up, but it was actually a help. He could see it, or rather, her.

A small pale purple unicorn foal with a blond mane, accompanied by her aunt (in law), an orange-maned earth pony.

It would have to do. He didn't actually know where Ditzy lived, after all.

*****

A grey unicorn stallion with a silver mane and green eyes calmly made his way through the marketplace. He was a good deal taller than other ponies in Ponyville, save for Big Macintosh.

That was because he was actually Shining Armor in disguise.

He did not know whether to be disappointed or relieved that Twilight had stayed an additional day in Canterlot, but he had no intention of risking her finding out. She'd tell Celestia, or worse, Cadence, or even worse than both... Mom.

Still, he needed to find a good disguise for Nightmare Night - yes, there would be many ponies interacting, but if he found out something now and tracked who had which disguise, it would help tremendously.

Now, the unicorn representing Generosity, Rarity, was a dressmaker... he should pay a visit, see her wares, and if he happened to take too long, or linger about the place, well, that was it.

*****

A unicorn mare was calmly cantering through town, but from the other side. She had a light gray, almost white coat, pale cerise hair and tail, and blue eyes. She adjusted her glasses and mumbled something about a pegasus's sight before complaining about needing more energy.

Pinkie Pie emerged from a rain barrel off to the side of the road. There was no reaction.

"You must be Pinkie Pie." She smiled, and the pink pony went on a tirade about psychics and gypsies.

"I was... made aware of you." She said, and Pinkie suddenly tensed up (stopping in mid-air), tail a-twitchin'.

It wasn't the only warning the newcomer had, but she didn't have much energy to do more than attempt to shuffle as a rainbow-colored mare impacted with her and sent the both of them tumbling several meters to the side of the road. Dash bounced off, falling onto some bushes.

"Ugh! Phtoo!" Dash groaned and fought against the greenery, while Pinkie gasped.

"No worries, Pinks!" Dash called out. "I'm fine!"

"Egocentric... madmare..." The newcomer whispered, holding her sides and trying to make herself as small as possible. "Oww..."

Pinkie rushed to her aid, only that she didn't know if she should actually move her - she was whimpering, tears escaping her as her tail was firmly between her legs.

"Oh no! Dashie, I think you hurt her real bad!" Pinkie hopped nervously from side to side.

The mare's horn sparked for a few moments before lighting up properly, a gentle blue aura around it. She breathed deeply, eyes clenched shut.

'Gather the energy. Focus the Breath. Shut out the pain, stabilize the energy. Ow, ow ow... I should have waited the four hours.'

"Wh- huh? Are- are you alright?" Dash disentangled herself and tried to get a reaction of the mare.

"My... glasses?" She breathed.

"Um... oopsie?" Pinkie held the bent frames and cracked lenses.

"Great." She groaned, letting her head fall to the ground.

'Direct it; hold in stable shape.'

"Can... can I help you?" Dash asked as Pinkie helped the mare stand.

"N-no, you've done enough." She staggered away, keeping her head low and a hind leg off the ground entirely. "I- I just wanted to ask for a dress..."

"Wait, don't you wanna stay for your welcome party?" Pinkie pleaded.

"I think I have had enough 'welcomes' for today." She deadpanned. Rainbow would have said something, but the mare's light coat started showing the bruises; all over her flank and stifle - where Dash had hit her directly - and even her undercarriage and... somewhere uncomfortable. "I'm going to need a little help to get anywhere, though."

"I'm going to go that way; please, don't follow me." And she limped away, Pinkie gingerly supporting her.

Once she saw the black eye, Rainbow couldn't even try to shift the blame on her.

*****

"Excuse me, can I talk to you for a moment?" The white pegasus approached as carefully as he could. Although he was trying being friendly, the orange-haired mare - who he knew to address as Carrot Top - looked at him oddly.

"Yes?" She asked, semi-unconsciously pulling Dinky closer to her. The guards' presence had made her a little nervous, and she was simply worried about her best friend's young daughter.

"I was wondering if I could talk to Ditzy Doo; I'm... an old friend." He said, smiling warmly, although that didn't prevent Carrot from narrowing her eyes.

"You know my mommy?" Dinky asked, and she was so cute he felt like he was getting a cavity.

"Of course! You are Little Muffin, right?" He said, making her giggle.

"My name is not Muffin!" She laughed.

"Really, the way she talks about you, I thought you were called Little Muffin." He chuckled, but that didn't make Carrot warm up at all.

"Is there something I can help you, mister...?" Carrot left the question hang in the air.

"Please, nothing so formal... I am but a Windborne Kenner looking to ask a favor from a friend, although I would like to catch up as well." He said, as politely as he could. "If it would help convince you, I know the seven names she's been called."

"Prove it." She challenged him.

Dinky, too, narrowed her eyes at him, but that made her look like she had eaten a particularly sour lemon.

He contained his desire to laugh, however.

Barely.

"Well, most simply know her as Ditzy Doo or Derpy Hooves, and either as a great diver and swimmer, or simply the best poor-weather flier in the entire postal service." He started with the obvious ones. "Then there are the fancy ones known in Canterlot, Ditzianna and Derpamina, either a great stunt flier or a rather elusive member of the Wind Family that can see through the wind itself."

This made Carrot raise an eyebrow. He could be telling the truth after all... but that was not enough. He leaned closer and whispered conspiratorially.

"That guild she likes so much took to call her 'Wandering Eye'. One side of her family wanted to call her 'Bright Eyes' and the other 'Whisper Wind'."

Carrot Top's eyes nearly fell off of their sockets, and Dinky simply whooped and jumped on to hug him.

"Oh my, that's..." The first four could be known through simple legwork, but the last ones only by being close to her family and her. Only Ditzy's parents ever called her the last two.

"I know. See, things are going to get stormy, and we would all benefit from every extra pair of eyes looking out in case of trouble."

"Well, we were about to pick up Dinky's costume for Nightmare Night; we can talk some more along the way."

*****

(Carousel Boutique)

The little bell sang its sweet tones.

"Welcome to Carousel bou- goodness! What ever happened to you, dear?!" Rarity screamed in surprise at seeing the bruised mare being helped by Pinkie.

"Became an object lesson on why it is unhealthy to become a landing pad for crazy hyperactive pegasi when your magic is nearly depleted." She replied, letting herself fall inelegantly on the nearest seat, which happened to be Rarity's fainting couch.

"Rainbow Dash." Rarity sighed.

"That jet-set lifestyle of hers is going to kill her one of these days." She said, making Pinkie and Rarity wince. "Living your life to the fullest is nice and all, but if you're dragging somepony else down with you, maybe it's time to cut back on the crazy."

"Oh! I have an idea!" Pinkie chipped in. "I'm gonna bring you something to cheer you right up!"

Pinkie dashed out of the boutique, moments before Carrot and her entourage entered themselves, followed closely by the disguised Shining Arm- Silver Shine.

"Goodness! What happened to you?"

"Rainbow Dash. I just wanted to commission a dress..."

"A... a commission?" Rarity stuttered and twitched. "So close to Nightmare Night..." A couple of hairs sprung out of place.

"Now, now, calm down." The pegasus stallion, WK, trotted over to her and placed a wing reassuringly on her back. "Now, just Breathe..."

He gestured with his wing, in and out in time with the breaths.

"Can you feel it? Take in energy with your Breath, and when you exhale, let your tension drain away... yes, like that. Exhale all of your troubles, let them be carried away."

Shining Armor walked to the side in order to keep everypony in sight.

Rarity recognized the cadence of a guard's steps immediatelly; she had been hearing it all day, after all. Lunch was already over, and dinner was still a ways away, so he could have been one of the morning shift... ah, she would not bother him...

"See? No need to be stressed; she did say a dress, not a costume."

"Right." The bruised mare nodded. "I wanted to ask if it would be possible to make a dress based on this drawing."

A paper appeared in a burst of light. In the paper there was a drawing of a tall bipedal figure with rabbit ears, a pointed red hat with a wide brim, small shoes and long leggings, and a peculiar red tunic.

Shining Armor narrowed his eyes.

Rarity kept her reaction minimal, her tiny gasp and her wide eyes could easily be passed off for having been impressed by the quality of the drawing - every crease of the fabric, every ring, and even a soft smile drawn with such care that it looked almost like a picture.

"Wow, it's so pretty!" Dinky commented.

"There was something on the paper about a thing like that." Carrot looked at it closely, remembering the news about Typhon sending the guards into a tizzy. And then promptly faced a creature with that description.

The phrase 'with rabbit ears' was not one so easily forgotten.

"Do you like it?" The mare smiled, producing two more. "Here, take a look at these ones!"

One of them was Typhon, quite clearly. Blue all over with his long hood, Typhon was holding a blue ocarina to his lips while sitting on a cloud.

The other would have made Shining jump, if he hadn't been a trained guard.

The figure was a human, like Typhon. He wore a feathered hat and a blue cape, and had a sabre in a scabbard hanging from his hip. He was sitting on the crook left by the curled form of a dragon, reading a book, while a slimy creature looked at him.

"Hmm... I know what I will dress like for this Nightmare Night." WK said, eyeing the picture of Typhon.

"Excuse me, miss, who are you?" 'Silver Shine' asked.

"I am but a Windswept Questant, out on a mission to spread peace and love." She waved a hoof, holding it to her heart. "Of course, it would be easier if I didn't look like I was just in a brawl, but what can I do about it?"

"Oh you poor dear; don't worry, I will have your dress ready before Nightmare Night." Rarity said, feeling rather invigorated.

"Don't worry on my end; I have my sources." WK said.

Shining, having spotted a potential lead and an excellent chance, decided to push it.

"It seems like this one, with the dragon... looks quite good. Any chance I could get something like this?"

WK and WQ simply smiled... although WQ much more when Pinkie came back with a milkshake.

*****

(Typhon, a cave in the Everfree Forest, few hours into the future.)

I gave a quick stroke to the enormous scroll with my brush. It was not just any brush - it was a sword with a brush at the hilt.

'Lightning Brush' danced and left behind black lines both thick and thin... the wind didn't blow, and only did once I gave the signal that I was done.

"Hey. Hey Typhon? I could use some help..."

Oh? Interesting...

Well, my scaly friend was still deep in her nap, and she utterly hated it when someone woke her up. She was grumpy enough when she was a little dragon, now that she was huge? No, I shouldn't wake her up, even if it was to surprise her so pleasantly.

I didn't worry about her slumber. True, sleep was the second worst enemy of the long-lived besides insanity, but she knew better than to sleep life away. She would not go into centuries-long naps, but she was quite capable of sleeping for an entire day after a binge.

If the amount of gem dust in the air was any indication, she still had a few hours to digest... why was I bothering to keep track of the time? I was able to come back to the moment I left! Anything more was too risky, though...

Well, I had doubles at the ready, and the ponies I contacted were already in motion. Shining Armor was cute when he thought he was being secretive... I should see what Auric was up to.

I had only a tiny bit of Void left, though. Oh, sure, I got a message saying that Bliu was getting chewed out for not waiting what etiquette suggested - and got turned into a woman on their end as punishment - and they would give me time to rest as a result.

Buuuuut I was not going to let myself be exposed to the dwellers of the interdimensional void if i could help it. Just because I was both a Prospitian and a Dersite at the same time that didn't mean that I liked to listen to them.

He said he needed help, plus there were other things I'd like to do, so sleeping wasn't really an option.

Ugh, fine. I took the small vial with the blue-almost-indigo... liquid(?), took a tiny sip.

Made an awkward dance in place from the taste.

Then took a healthy swig from the two Essences I had in abundance (besides Breath).

Time and Space.

If anyone knew what it was like to become a self-contained Reality Marble, that was me. Seiryu had 'Room', which helped immensely. For the return point, there was Starswirl's lab, with its secret beacon array.

I simply tugged on the coin, using it as an anchor while its original acted as a reinforcement to the conduit, and made myself light enough to get carried away.

Author's Note

Kenner means connoisseur or expert.

Also, Ditzy appears for a few moments during 'The pony everypony should know', just besides some other high-profile ponies. As such, I'm bumping her up in the social echeladder.

You know, Dash keeps crashing into people and ponies, and no-one ever gets hurt, and no-one ever calls her out! EVER. What, shouldn't Twilight worry about her home? What if she had being doing an experiment and Dash's crash caused a huge accident? There has been like... only two stories where Dash is actually called out on it and someone demands her pay the damages.

Sure, you can make the argument that she always pays what she breaks, but... shouldn't something else be done to discourage her habit of just smashing into things without caring at all for them? Sure, sometimes she's teased about it, or lightly chided, but shouldn't she, y'know, be actually scolded at the very least?

Stay tuned for the crossover on Thadius side!

Respite

(Celestia and Twilight, teatime)

Celestia was contemplating the list Twilight had given her - containing all of her observations pertaining things she could have handled better.

It... it was way too freakishly long like oh goodness... and it seemed to be missing some things that Celestia herself admitted were wrong of her.

And having cleared her schedule felt just plain odd, almost wrong.

Like she was trying to swim through gelatin; it got everywhere - in her hair, in her feathers, in awkward places, and was just making her feel uncomfortable.

But Twilight was right. She was absolutely right. The meetings were pointless. All of the things she approved of were already approved, those she didn't were rejected, and there was no need to sit through that many meetings - with only a bran muffin and half an orange's worth of juice sitting in her stomach as a wholly-inadequate breakfast - since everything about them was already done, filed, and out of the way. And while she had some meetings to appease the nobility... she realized that she was doing just that.

Appeasing them.

Not addressing the real issue.

Letting them trot all over her just because she won't approve any of those ridiculous proposals that helped nopony but them. Just so that they would stay quiet for a time, then they would send another request that she would deny, and start the same song and dance all over again.

Well, they would have to be reminded that having a Title carried responsibilities, not just rights.

Some of which they couldn't even get right. Oh goodness why did she let it grow to that point!

Oh, right. Because she 'knew better'. Because she 'could totally take it'. Because taking it was 'easier' than making them pony up and act like their predecessors did - dang, where some of those ponies an inspiration.

No more.

Her little scene at the throne room... and at her chambers... was proof she couldn't deny.

She had too much on her plate, too much load on her shoulders - and not just speaking of her workload! Even if her schedule was packed to burst, that was remedied by removing all of the unnecessary parts.

Which... meant that now she had a full day free of 'obligations'. To spend it, as Rainbow Dash would put it, "just chillin'" with Twilight.

Twilight herself said that usually her schedule was neater, but for now, all of her hours were allotted to 'help the princess no matter what that entails', so she was fine.

Celestia grimaced; she might have given Twilight a few pointers about schedules... but if her own idea of keeping a schedule was flawed, obviously she would pass that flaw to her student.

She had too much in her mind, and she couldn't keep shelving it and leave it to gather dust.

That was what had happened to Luna. Luna had deferred her judgment to Celestia and, while Luna did try to push the issue, neither of them had considered it that important. Luna kept the nights peaceful, but ponies simply didn't feel safe. It was just 'the way things happened'.

And then Nightmare Moon 'happened'.

Why was hindsight so harsh?

Oh, that was one thing to get Twilight's help with.

"I'm sorry, Twilight." She began, and noticed it was much easier to say it than the day before. Twilight herself was startled slightly, the magic holding her cup faltering for a second.

"I wish to apologize for my behavior." Celestia set down her cup.

"Huh? But what would you have to apologize to me for?" Twilight asked, and her eyes told Celestia that she really did not know why.

"Because I never apologized." She said. "For anything but the most trivial of mistakes; a writing mistake here or a misplaced pencil there, sure, but everything else?"

"What 'everything else'? I don't understand, princess."

"All of the late, or even outright canceled, lessons; all of those times I just expected you to accept my mistakes, or provided an excuse I just assumed you would understand." Celestia watched the small ripples of her tea, or at her graying reflection - Twilight couldn't tell.

"But I did accept them, and I understood the reason-"

"No, Twilight." Celestia interrupted, looking at her student... a small spark of joy shone into existence at noting that Twilight was looking at her eyes. "I shouldn't have assumed that you would. That was wrong of me. It was your time, your expectations... the way you would jump in joy, only for me to crush it with a simple 'I'm afraid we can't X today; something came up' without even taking the effort to add three or at the least two measly words."

She held up a hoof.

"Please, forgive me."

She raised the other.

"I'm sorry."

Twilight looked at the princess; Celestia's hair still held color, but hung low, and Twilight felt... like she shouldn't be like that. It was like... a sad Pinkie; just the thought of it was alien, like it shouldn't exist. Like, those faces were meant to smile all the time, and merely trying to conceive them sad should be impossible.

There was a solution; as the princess said, 'three or at the least two measly words'.

Twilight help up a hoof.

"I forgive you."

She raised the other.

"Apology accepted."

She smiled, and Celestia mirrored the expression.

"I also feel like I should explain myself some more." Celestia said, drinking a little bit from her cup; she didn't really feel like it, but Twilight quite obviously enjoyed it, so that was one sacrifice that was worth it.

"Explain... what, exactly?"

"The reason I kept giving you all of those tasks."

"Wait, like, Discord and Nightmare Moon? But there was no other choice - you said it yourself, Discord was too dangerous and unpredictable for you to face directly without the Elements, more so with Luna still recovering her strength."

"Well, yes, and hopefully you noticed that I wouldn't have asked something like that of you if there was another exit to the situation." Celestia paused for a moment to see Twilight nod. "But I meant to say the way I did most of them, or... others."

She tapped the table for a moment, thinking how to word it correctly.

"Typhon was very talkative with us, since, even if we wanted to take him into custody, he could tell we had no intention to actually harm him - that he did not have to worry too much about our magic probably helped - and he once said something, right after the elements of Harmony didn't work."

She searched her diary for the exact words, cleared her throat, and spoke in a remarkable approximation of a younger Typhon.

"You wanted to 'make me' harmonious? Don't be ridiculous; harmony, friendship, love - they just happen. You can't force love; if you force it it will wilt - without having a beginning it will reach its end. You can help, but help is all it'll take, no more."

Celestia sighed.

"I knew, by the time you became my student, that the Elements of Harmony chose by themselves, and it would be their choice, and any friendship would have to be natural. Exactly what that entailed, that I confess I did not understand, given that friendship could be forged by fire; some of the guards met and became friends in harsh conditions, caused by outside events, and yet you would think them brothers."

Celestia coughed - daintily, of course.

"I knew that Nightmare Moon would come after me and, although I had all intentions to refuse to fight her, she would try to duel me. As you can see, I was afraid that she would try to use you as leverage. That was why I sent you to Ponyville; to keep you safe while whatever strange forces of fate and the Elements themselves gathered their Bearers. I do believe I had said that I 'knew' you had the magic in you to best her." Celestia gave her faithful student a smirk.

Twilight, once more, blushed at the compliment.

"Imagine my surprise at seeing that not a full day had passed!" Celestia laughed a little refined laugh, yet still full of relief. "You surpassed my expectations so completely that I could not help but swell with pride... that was why I asked you to evict that dragon."

"Um... I thought that it was because of the treaty; no sending guards after dragons that aren't actually attacking."

"That was a factor, and an important one, but not the most important." Celestia sighed; the treaty had helped pacify the dragons after Tiamat's sealing, although she did not know if any of them knew that she had died inside her seal from her injuries.

Injuries she had inflicted.

"So... you're proud of me?" Twilight asked, still a little nonplussed.

"Yes." Celestia answered, and Twilight could not help but feel that there was something about the way she did so, like she would attack anypony that thought the answer to be different. "Yes I am, and every time I see you you grow a little more into the mare I know you can be."

They simply remained like that, content with drinking tea.

Luna stopped by for a moment, opening the door to a slightly-more-colorful sister and her student.

"Greetings, sister, Twilight Sparkle." She nodded, and Twilight did a small bow from her position - just as Luna had asked her to, to not stand up if she was at the table. "I have something to ask of you."

Celestia, for her part, was simply glad that her sister had not decided to distance herself.

"Anything."

"Sister, what have you decided to do for the matter of these 'five kings'?"

"That... that is a difficult thing to answer. From what Shining Armor and you said, he is apprehensive of fighting them, yet it seems like he can't refuse; we don't know what they would do should they win, but we cannot afford to take the risk; he seemed elated that he could take on one of them by himself, so it's evident he will need support." She sighed, and Twilight nervously served another cup both to the princess and herself. "We can only hope the second encounter will happen with the same result as the first."

"Oh, I hath not informed thee?" Luna was surprised. "The second encounter happened mere hours after the first."

Celestia grimaced for a second, settling into a light frown as she took her tea to calm down.

Twilight was pretty much imitating her.

"Typhon summoned another human with strange new magic."

Now, Luna was expecting one of several different reactions.

Never in her wildest dreams would she have guessed that Celestia would actually spit back her tea, right on Twilight Sparkle, or that said unicorn would have the exact same response on her sister.

"Another human!?/New magic?!" They both yelled, one in shock, the other in, well, also shock, but with a spark of something in her curious purple eyes.

Well, since neither of them minded being covered in tea, she continued.

"I-indeed. This second king possessed strange magics, as well as the ability to move at high speeds after casting a spell that covered the second human in conjured stone. Strangely, although he was severely injured, he was able to rise up again and continue the fight. This blue king used some spell on Typhon, which he had previously used on himself; judging by all of their reactions, I would say that the spell is detrimental yet possesses some secondary characteristic that makes the spell useful under the right circumstances. I am still unsure as to why it was able to have an effect on Typhon."

Princess Celestia dried both Twilight's and her coat with an idle spell, leaving them slightly fluffy and smelling of tea that had been prepared wrong. She then reached for her diary.

'I think it might be because I'm not compatible with...'

"The magic of this world..." She whispered, although she was easily heard. "He said he wasn't compatible with the magic of this world."

"That... that would explain why he had exercised caution when he fought the red king; their magic might actually affect him to some degree. The other human had some form of magic which seemed to heal him, although the encounter was too brief to discern anything meaningful, like its nature. Typhon then used that strange object of his to produce an enormous contraption, which he used to fabricate various objects; among them a strange coin with an emblem, which I could only see because the device projected an illusion of exaggerated size before he corrected it."

"What kind of emblem?"

"A Serpens Tempesta, which he proceeded to fondly regard."

"A storm snake? Fitting."

"I do not know how the device operates, but it seems to be based around his cards. It produced items at his command."

Luna then remembered something.

"Ah, the mages and I have concluded our study of the Ribbon - so far as it could got without risk of damage to the object." She said, making it appear in front of her with a flash, looking at it with reverence. "It holds powerful magics of protection; it is selective, however, since We found that it was only possible to tie it to mares; We are still unsure as to the reason. The wards ingrained into the Ribbon are potent, meant to keep its bearer from non-physical harm."

"Really? How 'potent'?" Twilight asked, sparkles in her eyes, which followed the unassuming strip of cloth as Celestia took it and inspected it, as if something could be discerned by sight.

"We have concluded that, apart from finding some spell that could entirely side-step the wards, the only means of breaching the protection offered by the Ribbon are to physically destroy it, or to use such a great spell that the feedback destroys the Ribbon."

"That... that is one powerful enchantment."

"There are some protections placed upon it meant to protect itself, although none quite on the level meant to safeguard its bearer. It is possible to change some of its physical properties, as well."

Celestia smiled - slightly, if you will, but it was a smile. She turned the ribbon a soft shade of blue, and tied it to Twilight's mane, doing her hair in a bun.

"You should keep it." She sighed. "At least, until we can get some answers from Typhon."

"How did you meet?" Twilight asked, blushing faintly at the attention and the gift.

"He sneezed a small tree onto a gate." Celestia said, watching with satisfaction as Twilight's jaw dropped like, a whole foot. "He then sneezed himself over a hundred meters into the air."

Luna couldn't stop herself from laughing out loud.

Author's Note

Ribbon - One of the most coveted pieces of equipment in any Final Fantasy game (and most Square-Enix games in general). It bestows upon its bearer complete protection from any status affliction in the game, from the basic poison, sleep, and silence all the way up to protection from instant death; barring its destruction, pilfering, or some exotic spell/enemy skill that places a special status upon the target meant to bypass the Ribbon.

It's often nerfed slightly in that it offers little (if any) physical/magical defense and no stat boosts, making you chose between a helmet/hat/accessory that reduces damage taken, increases some other stat, offers some beneficial effect upon entering battle, or the ability to take a Bad Breath and sneer at the foolish enemy (dear goodness, that thing can put like five or more status ailments at once).

To prevent the player from just arming his/her party with them, not only are they rare, but they are often unable to be equipped by most classes/jobs. For example, in FF V only the Dancer and the Freelancer (who has no equipment restrictions) can actually equip it; however, the Dancer learns an ability to allow all classes to equip them at the expense of an Ability Slot - it offers decent defense, though. In the FFTA series, it's a women-only piece of equipment that occupies the head (restricting it to Viera and Gria units and preventing them from wearing a hat); in FFTA2, there are some men's jobs that can learn an ability called 'Ribbon-Bearer' to get around this (Human Seer, Moogle Tinkers, and Bangaa Tricksters).

Not to mention that in FFTA2 there are female humans (with the human job list! Do not be confused by the human girl with the Viera job list) that can equip them without that ability. This allows your Femme Fatale Paladin/Ninja/Wizard/whatever to be even deadlier by charging into battle with her Ribbon and some deadly Support Ability like Geomancy (reduces elemental resistance on the target of an action) or Dual-Wield (using two weapons at once is useful all across the board, both for battle and ability-learning).

Or Maintenance, which keeps your equipment from being stolen/destroyed.

In Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, there are a pair of Accessory-Slot items with the same function - the Safety Badge and the Safety Ring. The Safety Ring also protects from 'Mortal Blows', which means instant-death attacks (although if those that can be blocked are defended against via Timed Hit, they leave you alive with one HP left unless it was perfectly timed, which leaves you unscathed), making them miss automatically thus preventing any loss of HP from them, and nullifies some enemy attacks.

[Andrew] I'M SURE IT WILL NEVER BE RELEVANT AGAIN. [/Hussie]

Stirring the air

The day I first saw Typhon.

It was another day as usual. I was visiting the various towns surrounding the capital, reassuring the populace, making sure that any straggling creatures were... dealt with.

The individual pony is generally accepting and kind, but the herd as a whole... I think I remember a report of yours stating that 'the flower trio' kept causing wide-spread panic attacks if something so much as moves oddly.

Now, if a single pony saw him, the response might not have been too negative, if at all - he wore clothing, he was aware and mindful of his surroundings, and so, it was evident that he was intelligent. The dust left in the wake of Discord had not yet settled, and given that not all of his 'entertainment' was dangerous or even undesirable, that there was a pony that could greet him with open arms was not entirely out of the question.

Perhaps that was what happened with Wind Whistler?

The first and... oh... He said that?

You are right. That... that is going to have to wait until I can speak to him.

An individual pony might receive him cordially, even now. A whole town's worth of ponies? Back then? It would be treated like the second coming of Discord.

Wait, sorry, that was a poorly-chosen analogy.

The tree did not make anywhere as much noise as the tornado that tore it from its place, and did not do any actual damage, yet the first response was to panic. I took to the skies, the guards following me, and that sole act brought forth cries of 'look, the princess' and 'we are safe!'. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link; a single pony can make the whole situation devolve quickly, and so it was up to Us to keep the order.

Then, a second howl of wind got our attention, this time without a tree, but a small figure, the one being propelled through the air and leaving a trail of blue lines behind - albeit in a direction opposite to the town. It was not too far - I've always been a fast flier, as attested by me having performed the first Sonic Rainboom...

Yes, Twilight, I am the source of the 'old mare's tale'... for some reason, saying it that way had never bothered me until now. I suddenly feel old.

Others? Besides Dash? Well, I do not know how he did it, if it was genetic, or if his training gave such results, but Windstorm's ability with wind grew so great and his magic font became enormous in such a short time that he could - it has everything to do: The Sonic Rainboom is a Wind-shaping spell - one simple in paper, but much more difficult in execution; there are many pegasi I know that may break the sound barrier, but only by focusing all of your attention and energy in front of you as you accelerate without slowing down even one bit can the proper reactions of magic occur for the Rainboom. That, and many other small details that have to be just so, for the smallest mistake will throw it all off.

If your acceleration stops (which is quite easy, as the magic in front of you acts like a cushion and additional resistance), the magic accumulated in front of you will push back with great force - yes, my dear Twilight, just like a trampoline. Oh? Through the window? Had she aimed, it was likely she would have missed. She wasn't hurt, I take it? Yes, ponies use magic by instinct, and pegasi use it to help mitigate crashes; that Rainbow Dash has enough magic in her to perform the Rainboom and not be tired at all means that she has so much magic to spare that her 'crash resistance' might be one of the best.

Ability getting a workout- Twilight! Was that a joke?

No, I completely agree; it was funny.

Magic reacts to emotional states; it makes what you want to happen... happen. This does not have to be an entirely conscious decision, however, as many foals might tell you - I think that you said that Rarity's magic acted, upon her conscious wishes and the very nature of her soul, to help her find what she knew in her heart was missing from her designs. And then she got her cutie mark as a result. Something as simple as protection from harm? Fear of pain will make the energy spike alone a good cushion. Yes, mixing intent with shape produces the best results, which is why wind-shaping protection is better than an instinctual reaction; all that is left is turning the complex response into instinct through training to have the better defence.

My, we have strayed from the topic!

As I said, I could see a small figure wearing a black outfit with a tool belt around its waist, flying through the air.

Well, I knew it was not intentional from the way he was flailing his arms and the slight spin of his body. I was about to reach with my magic to catch him and save him, but a blue... balloon, I could say, appeared below him, stopping him for a second before popping.

Then, after two seconds of falling, another blue balloon appeared to stop him. Our group hovered for a moment as I scanned the area, but I could see nothing besides the obvious point of origin of our mystery tree. We followed his rate of Descend to land roughly at the same time.

He with a rather lack of grace; he landed on his back, apparently because of exhaustion, if the way he panted was any indication. I could see him better now; his clothes were loose-fitting for ease of movement, his sleeves were short, but he wore black gauntlets that reached behind his elbows, and his footwear was flexible.

I gestured with my wing to keep the guards at attention, but not aggressive. As I said, it was clear we were dealing with an intelligent being.

"That was unpleasant." He said, groaning and making an effort to sit up.

"Halt. Who are you and what are your intentions?" I said - normally, since that was neither a public appearance nor was I speaking to one of m-our subjects.

I'm sorry, Luna, that was but a slip of the tongue... yes, habit, but I should still do better to avoid it.

He looked at me, straight at my eyes. There was... a spark of something in his eyes, I could not recognize it then.

His intellect? Playfulness? I don't know, but those are as good guesses as mine.

"Um, you can call me Typhon, and my intention was most definitely not finding out that I can sneeze tornadoes."

I was nonplussed. Not only he had just admitted to have uprooted a plant on accident - a sneeze of all things - but he was being rather casual with me. Sure, I could tell, in his face and his deliberately-measured movements, that he held great respect for me, but he wasn't speaking to a goddess or princess, merely somepony he held respect for. Well, speaking to a princess, back then, implicated many gestures, including annoyingly avoiding our faces.

"Are you saying this was not intentional?" I gestured vaguely in the direction of town with a wing, not taking my eyes off of his. They were dark brown, smaller than a pony's, but still expressive.

"Of course not!" He actually sounded offended, scowling at me. "I would never hurt a pony on purpose, princess; they would have to be... I don't know, a huge monster for me to even consider it."

"You know of me." I stated, returning to my firm standing... and not moving much from there.

"Of course. Princess Celestia of Equestria. I think you are really pretty, as is your sister." He said with a small bow.

I... was momentarily caught off-balance by his comment.

"And what are you, exactly? I have never seen anything like you before."

Yes, Luna; I have not spoken like that in centuries, and I do not want to go back to that. As Dash would say, historical accuracy can snuff it; I was actually there, and it's not important anyways.

"I'm a human; before you ask, no, I do not know if there are more in this world." He shrugged, leaving his arms at his side.

I did not think it too strange. Discord could do weirder, like make foals out of things he found, giving them some strange powers depending on what he used besides pony hair.

I think... what was the name of that mare? Topsy Turvy? Yes, her. She has no intention of releasing Discord; she finds 'normal' ponies interesting just the way they are. That was a common theme with them; the call of the herd, of harmony, was stronger than his desire for chaos.

"Why is it that your sneezing could tear a tree from its place, or propel you through the air?" I asked, and he moved his fingers, as if trying to dig for the answer.

"It's like this, princess; I very recently gained the power to control something I call The Breeze, or the protection of The Breeze, or the capacity to have it act through me... I cannot really explain it. I feel like I have been connected in a fundamental part to Wind itself, or something to that effect."

Yes, Twilight. This Breeze, or Breath as he also calls it, is not simply magic, though it can be accessed through it. He once told us he has no magic of his own, mostly because his body rejects it.

You catch on fast, my dear student; he can cast spells, yes, because he has found methods to channel the magic through means other than his body. His artifact seems powerful enough to act through it regardless, although I would treat all speculation with great care.

It seems like he was close enough to Starswirl the Bearded and Clover the Clever so as to expect the former to follow his advice. Something notoriously difficult to achieve.

Twilight? Twilight... Oh dear.

I'm going to continue my tale, if you don't mind. You can interrogate Typhon later; I am sure he wouldn't mind talking to you, perhaps over a spot of tea like we are doing. He did always say that he found ponies too cute to resist for long.

He kept talking, even as I tried to ponder the implications of a creature with powers on the same category as a Primordial being.

"I don't know how they work completely; I'm certainly not yet strong enough to do something like that. And I would love to stay and chat some more, but I have The Thing at The Place." And he swung his hand, kicking up large clouds of dust and dirt into the air. I tried to fan a wing to disperse it, but it was no more effective than swinging a board of the same size.

We tried to fly up to see where he had gone, but we... we fell immediately and face-planted. Yes, Twilight, even me.

Now, not only do I have much magic in my body, I am also highly in-tune with it; I could feel that the air simply refused to lift me, and the way I felt the currents move told me that I would not be flying after him even if magic were not necessary for pony flight.

The Breeze protects him, even if he is not consciously directing it.

Author's Note

His glasses fell off; he had to find them again.

Peregrine Mendicant

(Everfree cave. Present)

Prosperity.

That was the name Typhon had given her.

She had been just a nameless drake, scraping by from whatever she could steal.

And then she found an object she had never seen before. Glasses, Typhon called them. And the thing he used to track them 'GPS'.

He kept lamenting that he hadn't followed her tracks, thinking that she was like other dragon babies - it never crossed his mind that she was alone, and thus he would not find a jealous dragon parent guarding a hoard.

That was OK, though. He more than made up for his so-perceived transgression. He and Clover and Whistler and... all of them.

Prosperity the dragon.

And it was not the first choice, either. Typhon had tons of names for her, with so many wondrous meanings like 'miracle', 'guardian', 'protector', 'fire', 'fairy', 'harmony', 'wind', 'air'... She almost went with 'Zephyra', but something about her new situation had called her to 'Prosperity'.

All because he saw her tracks, and decided to not get involved with dragons.

Not that she could fault him; Tiamat had been acting very unpleasant towards all, even other dragons - save for her followers, of course.

She caressed the armband that held the spell together. She was of his size now, and the arm- well, given that it displayed the symbol they had chosen for their group, she liked to think of it as an armlet. A thin strip of cloth, making a huge dragon with teeth the size of a pony remain as small as a human.

Well, not exactly; it kept the shape spell from expiring.

It was a complicated method to cast spells, but the results were undeniable.

"My little baby girl!" Typhon said, hugging her and lifting her with his freakishly strong arms. "It's been so long!"

"I'm not a baby any more!" Prosperity replied, wiggling in his grasp. "We are nearly the same age, dad!"

"Ah-ha! You still call me dad!" He laughed, tossing her high into the air, where she opened her wings and glided away; her membranes were white, as well.

The chamber was long, tall, and full of books... and jewels and gold, but that was secondary.

"It-it was a slip!" She crossed her arms, huffing as she landed just on her hind legs. "Besides, we saw each other a month ago - or what, forgot about your own dream-self in your old age?"

"You are so unfair; I couldn't be out of the Time-stop Array for long - I didn't want to know if dream-selves aged... I would have been in trouble if it weren't for Clover." He sighed, floating after her.

Prosperity grimaced.

Typhon placed a hand on her head - as a female, she didn't have a crest, and her spinal scales were curvier, more elegant (though she hated that they were still white). He smiled, kissing her forehead.

"Don't be sad, Prospit; whatever happened to Clover was Clover's own choice, we can be sure of that - Clover was simply too cautious and... well, clever to end like Starswirl." He hugged her, and she gently returned it.

"Phantasma passed away." She said solemnly.

"I know... one of her daughters told me." He calmly stroked her back. "She lives in Canterlot, but she keeps in touch."

"You're going to stay, right? You and Seiryu and the others, right?" She gripped him a little bit tighter, head against his chest, hearing his heart beat.

"I'll do my best, my little White Queen." He shifted his arms until he held her head. "If something tries to take me away from you, its going to have to try real hard."

"I'm still upset, you know... fifteen hundred years and I'm still upset." She said.

"I'm still sad, too, just... never forget; never let it rule your life."

"I know, I know; it was the way you taught me, after all, but... I still want to know she's sorry."

"She is, Prospit. We'll go see her some day, if you want."

"I... I don't know... I have nothing to wear." She swallowed, turning away.

"I still have your old clothes... and we commissioned a dress for you, too." He placed a hand on her chin; shorter, rounder than a male's.

"How?"

"My glasses are also computers; that's how I knew where you were all that time ago..." He sighed. He really lamented not having followed her tracks.

"Oh, right. You have the notes of my measurements." She blushed, the pink showing easily on her snow-white scales. She had been raised in a mixture of pony and human culture, so she felt awkward. "The spell would have been harder if you didn't, right."

"I still don't know why you're still ashamed of being white."

"It's not shame... I just want to be more colorful."

"It's getting late. Do you want to go tomorrow?"

"Sure. Can we get a ring made? I don't want to have to depend on something this frail."

"Of course, my dear Prospit."

Typhon chuckled.

"Look at us. We speak of each other so casually, and as soon as we're together, we're family."

"We were always odd... dad. I blame dream-self shenanigans."

*****

(Typhon. The past)

When I sneezed, I lost my glasses... I had to alchemise a second pair - luckily, I didn't have anything of importance in the memory, but I still didn't want some pony to find them by accident, so I popped the Map app and followed the instructions.

I noticed that they started to move.

That wasn't a good sign.

Aaaand there were footprints. Dragon footprints.

Well, if they became part of a dragon's hoard there was no chance of a pony getting them, and a baby dragon was liable to destroy them by accident anyways.

I really didn't want to find if what was implied in Dragon Quest was accurate. Mama Dragon was a serious step up from Mama Bear, so no tracking their children.

'I'd... I think I should simply let them be. Just keep in mind their location, and any activity.'

Ugh... one problem at a time! Storm Chaser dropped by the house earlier, and, although I couldn't see him by myself, Whistler fumed for a good hour.

'I just hope that we can find a good pony.'

*****

(Not far from there)

A small white dragon held a strange object in her claws.

She had found it along her route to her... shelter. It might have been a nook under a tree, but it was hers.

She couldn't stay there for too long, but, for the moment? It was hers.

She was smart - a sackcloth hood and cloak to hide her shining white scales, and a little bit of quick footwork to get under the caravans or carts, and she could get in and out of the pony settlements with ease! She had gotten a decent meal...

But she knew she couldn't keep living like that; one day, she would grow too large, and the monsters were practically waiting for her to be too large to hide, but not large enough to fight back.

Still, making her hoard felt like a decent distraction. It might be a bunch of random things she found, mostly broken pony toys, but it was hers.

The air was a little nippy, but it didn't stand a chance against her inner flame.

She just hoped that she wouldn't have to be near if a storm like the one from the other day happened again.

Author's Note

What happened? I didn't intend for their reunion to be sad, but it just happened...

Prosperity for all

(???)

Twilight walked through the garden, until she came to a stop in front of the old statue.

Typhon's eyes opened, making her yelp and rear up.

"Twilight, why are you dreaming of my old statue?" He asked, rubbing the back of his head as he sat on the border. "Stone is very uncomfortable, you know?"

"Wha- huh?! Dream?" She asked, looking all around her.

"It's useless - this place is made of your memories, so you can look all you want and it'll never have something you don't remember." He stood up, leaving his sword and instrument on the stone bed. "Well, only on this one, and only until I told you that... I know it's confusing, but not all dreams you have that I visit will be like this."

"How are you here?" Twilight asked.

"I am now a living dream; the normal boundaries do not apply to me any more." He shrugged, standing up and walking away. "I just wanted to... actually, I don't know what I wanted to do. I just want someone new to talk to, I guess."

Twilight cantered behind him, watching as the landscape became more and more abstract as the distance grew. Parts of the castle halls here, a tower from the Everfree castle there, some impossibly high structure of steel and glass in the distance, her own tree planted right next to a volcano's caldera...

"I kind of wanted to talk to you, too." Twilight said, then her eyes caught a treasure chest that made her feel an explainable desire to open it.

"Oh? About what?" He followed her as she opened the chest... and found her Smarty Pants doll.

Twilight hugged her doll close to her chest, smiling for some reason she - oh, it was a dream; her subconscious had more pull in there.

"Mostly about magic." She said, in a higher pitch than she remembered. Looking over herself made her realize that she was a filly again.

"That can wait some more... say, my more-or-less adoptive daughter is going to Ponyville tomorrow, make sure that there won't be a commotion." He smiled as he saw Filly Twily place Smarty Pants on her back and gallop after him.

"Daughter?"

"Her." He gestured with a hand to a small cabin covered by snow. They got near, and Twilight noted that the snow was barely any cold at all.

Typhon had to prop her up to reach the window.

Inside the cabin, a white dragon was trying on clothes. The speed at which her outfit changed, and the sheer variety of colors, was dizzying. She caught the important details, though. A tall, slender dragon; her sleek, gently-curving body was completely white save for her claws and her eyes, which were a bright purple.

"A dragon?"

"She's on a shape spell so that she looks like that, but yes, that's her." He placed her back down on the streets of Everfree city. "Rarity is making a dress for her, and she said that it would be ready tomorrow."

A small, lively song reached her ears.

"Oh, so that's why Rarity was so busy when I got back." She turned all around, until she spotted a stallion that matched Windstorm's description sitting on a bar, drunk.

~May the winds of fortune sail you.
May you sail a gentle sea.
May it always be the other guy
who says, ‘this drink’s on me.’~

Then he planted a big, sloppy kiss on the pink-haired mare next to him. She jumped forward, virtually tackling him to the floor and embracing him really strongly. Without separating their lips, of course.

"She's my sweet, little Prosperity. She's my little White Queen, alright? If you want to know something, you can ask her, but be gentle, understood?"

"Umm.. sure?"

"Good." He poked her forehead.

*****

(Twilight Sparkle, Ponyville)

The sunlight pouring through the window made the room bright enough to rouse her from her slumber, although she felt a little more disoriented than usual.

She ambled unevenly towards her window and opened it for some fresh air.

A piece of paper stuck to her face immediately.

Removing it and glaring at it for good measure, she noticed that there was something written on it.

That was not some odd dream. Make sure that the town doesn't flip when they see my little Prospit, alright? And don't tell them I'm involved.

May the Winds of Fortune be at your back.

Typhon.

On one hoof, she could learn more about Typhon, on the other, it was way too early.

Well, the checklist for the day was - Wake Spike, breakfast, Celestia, search for the pony in charge of the guard...

*****

Later

"Well, it's a good thing Typhon raised me, because something this awkward would bother me a lot otherwise." Prosperity quirked her brow at the sudden cessation of activity that followed her everywhere. That there were some that stopped right in the middle of reaching over from a ladder to hang decorations was a little worrying, though.

"This is a little outside the norm." Twilight pointed out, while Spike kept glancing at her from his position atop Twilight's back.

The sudden stares were not unexpected. They did have a white dragon almost as tall as Typhon himself, wearing a bright yellow dress with Juliet sleeves, a little crescent moon emblazoned on the center, walking besides them.

Prosperity didn't care, though.

"Sorry about that." Twilight said, watching how the guards followed them with their eyes.

"Meh, Typhon worries too much; I'm almost as old as he is, I'm a dragon, I'm STRONG, and I'm magic. They have no chance. That's all there is to say on the matter." Prosperity shrugged; she wasn't like other dragons, content on growing fat atop their hoards, ignorant of their own abilities... it was the reason Tiamat got killed so easily! Well, it wasn't easy at all - it was more like hell, actually; Luna spent weeks recovering even with magic, and Celestia spent so much energy that she could barely move the sun, but Celestia got out of it without a single injury.

Alright, alright, she conceded that the injuries Luna had already inflicted were a decisive factor, but the so-called goddess of dragons still got 'owned' in a brutal beat-down at the hooves of 'that ignorant sun-foal'.

"Somepony sounds confident." Twilight couldn't make up her mind about the dragoness.

"Please, do you think I spent fifteen centuries napping? Or counting gems? No." Prosperity's tail swished under her long skirt. "I was raised by that guy, who trained me because he was utterly terrified of something bad happening to me at the claws of other dragons."

"Are dragons really so territorial that they would attack a young dragon?" There was only so much information about dragons, after all. Spike shuddered when he remembered his run-in with that dragon in the cave, back when he thought he was being replaced.

"Well, not exactly; they might be very rough on those younger than them, but dragons are tough." She shrugged... then groaned. "Ugh, it's because I look so much like a white."

This gave Twilight pause.

"But you are white." Spike said.

"Yes, I am colored white, but that is because of leucism; it doesn't make me a white." She waved her claw, which Twilight noticed had a simple gold ring with some sort of engraving on it.

Prosperity swallowed, nervously adjusting her dress.

"I'm not a white." She whispered.

"What's the difference?"

"Oh look, we have arrived at our destination; we'll have to talk about this some other time." She pointed towards Carousel Boutique, which was actually still a little small in the distance.

Twilight and Spike, despite knowing that the boutique was still far, looked regardless, because anyone would feel compelled to look at what someone else is pointing.

"We're not that close." Spike said, turning back only to find an empty spot besides him.

"Where did she go?" Twilight looked around, only to see a white tail disappear through the door of the boutique.

"She's fast." Spike commented, then slumped sadly. "It looks like she doesn't wanna talk about other dragons."

"It seems like it..."

*****

(Carousel Boutique)

"Why call him by his name, dear?" Was the first thing Twilight heard as she entered Rarity's home and business.

"Habit, mostly. We only let out relationships show when we were together; I only spoke of Wind Runner like a sibling when we were in the same room." Prosperity was already wearing a red tunic with a red vest, a red skirt, and a red hat similar to a fedora with a large white feather. Rarity was making the final adjustments.

"Oh my, you must miss them." Rarity's thoughts suddenly steered to Sweetie Belle, and she felt herself slow down.

"Yeah... although Wind Runner would get mad at us if we mourned. 'Wind Runner' meant more than just a name for a pegasus - it's practically the philosophy of Runner's life itself; always move forward, never stopping, using the past to push yourself to a bright future." She smiled sadly, ignoring the poking of the needles as Rarity missed due to her growing emotions. "Typhon made darn sure that I understood what it meant 'to live' before I got hung up on coming to terms with 'not dying'."

"I'd like to know more. All the history books I've read, and princess Celestia herself, said that he just appeared when something was being destroyed." Twilight frowned; there obviously was another side, but-

"That's pretty much it." Prosperity nodded. "If he could have it his way, he wouldn't have been found even then."

"Your scales are magnificent! It's like a canvas just waiting for the right dress to give it some life!"

Prosperity flinched, then slumped slightly.

"Well, at least you like them."

"Is being a white dragon really that bad?" Spike asked, before slapping his claws over his mouth.

"Yes." She growled, and Rarity felt the hair of her neck rise. "Riddle me this, why are all of the white dragons you see younger than a thousand and a half years old, not counting the albinos and the leucistic?"

"Uh..."

"Tiamat." Prosperity growled again, and Twilight was sure that the temperature started to rise. "See, not only was she arrogant and vain; she was jealous and petty. Her white head thought herself the smartest, but she refused to accept reality... for some reason, she decided that no other white would best her in an argument... and, being a Greater Dragon - and the second most powerful, too - the amount of magic in her body was immense, even if she did not know how to use it properly."

"Psh, few dragons do" She muttered, the claw with the ring flicking idly.

"Something happened. The white dragons became feral much more easily, by their tempers or their rampant greed, losing their reason with disturbing frequency... until the dragon parents stopped bothering with 'lost causes'."

"Wait, does that mean..." Twilight's blood ran cold, and not from the sudden absence of the heat.

"Yes, Twilight; my parents tried, for a time, but were convinced that I would go like that. It might take a century or two... or maybe the afflicted wouldn't be able to manage their hoard and their greed would spiral out of control... but I am not a white - not that we could tell; only Typhon knew what leucism even was."

She snorted.

"Anyways, Tiamat is dead - good riddance to bad rubbish - and the whites are no longer devolving into animals that need to be put down for the good of all. If anything, my biological parents saved me - if a white started to show signs of rampancy, it was killed, and I had a bit of a temper as a baby before living in the wilderness took it out of me; at least this way, I met Typhon."

They remained silent for a while, until Spike decided to break the uncomfortable silence.

"I kinda noticed that you're being very open about being related to that guy; aren't you worried that the guards'll find out?"

"If the guards three hundred years ago didn't worry me, then you can be sure that these guards don't worry me." She almost shrugged, but a tug of the fabric reminded her of her situation. "Typhon has a bag of tricks longer than his hood, without counting exotic resources; he educated me, along with many others, and I have befriended a large amount of historical figures, who had their own tricks. I am an unusual dragon."

"Let them try whatever they want; even if the treaty didn't apply to me, I'll have already gotten away with it before they even notice I did anything. And that includes the stallion listening in through the door Twilight neglected to close fully."

The tell-tale sound of a teleport reached their ears, the light having faded before they turned around.

"Really, like we didn't have secrets to hide." She huffed; 'Silver Shine' needed lessons in spying... that Notice-Me-Not spell was so sloppy that Typhon nor his agents had to tell her he was there.

Author's Note

Equestria has its own climate, so Breeze deliveries are not very viable - they might get wet. Ah... so sad that the mail doesn't work like it does in LoWaS...

Also, references galore!

And, though I don't play DnD, I am aware of some of the things in it. I heard a bit about white dragons being pretty much animals, at least in one edition... or was it a module? Well, I thought about what could happen to make a 'breed' of dragons like that... ta-da?

Intermission: Writ Keeping 1

Notes on universal workings, Preface. (Draft No. 1)

Alright, I am writing down this in case... in case of many things.

There are way too many unknowns in play, and I am writing this to make them less unknown. I have gotten my information from very special sources which have to remain outside of this document for safety reasons; it isn't that important to write about them, anyways.

If you are a friend reading this, you already know about these sources, or are about to be told; if you aren't, then I'm dead, you're reading this because The Breeze placed the book's card in front of you, the fate of the world is on your ~~hands~~ shoulders, and my sources will find you. Either way, you will know the reason for the secrecy.

Before we get to the crux of the issue, I have to make sure you understand the foundation for the phenomenon of the 'Phantoms'.

There are three major components to any world, of any level, that might be present in many different levels of importance. I am talking about Matter, Magic, and Message - commonly referred to as 'information'.

Matter, the Embodiment - I was born in a world ruled by matter. The properties of objects were what they were because the matter said so.

Example: The configuration of electrons in gold make it a good conductor, and prevents those electrons from being taken by a good deal of other chemicals, granting gold the resistance to reactions that make it so popular; the atoms and their configuration grant gold's it's peculiar properties, making it so reflective of electromagnetic waves - visible light included, of course - and so many other things.

If you come from a universe ruled majorly by matter as I did, I don't have to explain much about this; matter is important even here in Equestria, so there should be little need to go into detail. Any important notes on matter (particularly any alterations) will be dealt with in the sections pertaining to the case. Go to chemistry and physics books if you need anything basic or not that specific.

Magic, the Intent - Equestria is big on magic; around as much as matter, giving magicians an enormous influence on the world so long as they know enough about materials and physics (or supply enough magic power), but making purely magical things a little more complicated to them in turn.

Spells are, no matter what system is used in your world of origin, first and foremost a declaration of intent. It does not matter if you have to calculate every variable or know the exact chemical composition of everything ~~beforehand~~ before-hoof; if you cast a spell to turn your cat pink, you are still casting a spell to turn your cat pink because you wanted to. The level of actual conscious control over this varies, from worlds were magic is a wild and dangerous thing because it acts on every little hidden impulse that one would usually suppress or ignore, to the worlds where magic is incredibly difficult because you have to know everything you want to change and all of the hows and whats. It all depends on Magic's own will and all of the things Associated with it by Message.

Yes, magic could be considered semi-aware on most worlds, given its empathy-based components. Equestria among them; that being the reason for the ease of its use, the possibility of non-conscious use of certain kinds of spells the user doesn't actually know, the sheer power of the Elements of Harmony and their varied effects, and - though this is speculation - cutie marks and their interpretation.

Ponies that understand their cutie mark beyond just the starting level of base acceptance of oneself that earned it in the first place are going to have very interesting tricks up their sleeves. The intent is key, and the interpretation of that intent and its associations was very, very important. My sources told me so, so it stands to reason that cutie marks, being magic themselves, are subject to the same principles.

For the point where magic intersects and mingles with matter: A really good pair of examples of magical materials are the materials that curiously share the name of Oricalcos (or Orichalcum), but the runes for one can be read as Sunsteel and another as Sunblood. Sunsteel is lighter than tin (I lack instruments to make a better comparison, and I only have access to an alloy weightier than the pure thing), but is tougher than steel, and shines like gold (it is a magical variant of gold, after all); the armor of high-ranking officers is made of an alloy, because it's rather rare - perhaps in the future it'll be easier to find, extract, and work, allowing more armor to be made. Sunblood deserves its own book, although there might be comments here and there regarding its application on the topic being addressed; it's beautiful like a jewel, can be worked like metal, and glows from within like fire; it converts various energies to magic (or vice versa) depending on its shape, arrangement, and the enchantments placed upon it.

Celestia's regalia is made of both Sunblood runes and circuits on an Adamantine-mesh-core Sunsteel plate enchanted out the wazoo; she, however, has expressed the desire for quieter times that allow her to wear simpler, 'mundane' things like gold so as to avoid having to parade around with a chestplate that's practically a forcefield generator (one of the few views on philosophy I happen to share with her).

Message, the Information - This is big in computer-based worlds and games. In worlds that give high importance to Message, things have the properties they have because the data assigned to them says so - it doesn't matter if it's plain grass with no magic, if the data says that you see it checkerboard patterned, then you dang well believe you're going to be able to play chess on it! This is the realm of most Reality Warpers and some kinds of abilities born from ESP (with the best examples being the kind of Espers that can alter the world through manipulating the values of the parameters that fall under their purview).

Message? That's how I control The Breeze, or even have it act through me. My trip through the Void reconfigured me to be indistinguishable from someone born in a universe ruled by a mixture of Matter and Message - more specifically, an universe created through the use of the game construct that defined my powers. Yes, I am part computer program just like the princesses are part ludicrously-potent magical phenomenon. It causes some problems with the World, though, requiring me to use my sources' help to stay free of the influence of this world's magic (though it's not entirely undesirable, nor does it have any effects that cannot be reversed).

Magic mixed with Message is just powerful. It is the basis of runes, arrays, and diagrams; amazingly stable forms of spell-casting - complicated, yes, but rewarding. I am seriously contemplating getting in contact with some of Equestria's authorities on magic to learn more - not that my sources are ignorant, but having to learn Japanese and Chinese to make use of the Advanced arts is going to take a while.

Some creatures, like Yōkai, are heavily dependent on the mixture of Matter, Message and Magic; they get more power from people's 'Fear' (could also be read as 'Respect', though), unsavory things like eating hearts and livers for their Associations, and some can be given additional powers by, or even be born out of stories that others tell! After having both of my 'selves' take sleeping potions, I 'Dream-traveled' to a world where I met a (rather powerful) monk yōkai that was born out of the stories of poor children about a 'mysterious protector with a thousand weapons under his robe' that kept them safe... chicken-or-egg scenario stuff, that one.

Fanning the flames

(Typhon)

Alright.

I... I didn't know what to do.

Yeah, I agreed to tutor Dinky and Sparkler - regardless of conditions, they were still part of the family - but I was still... lost.

Just a little.

I knew what I had to do, what I wanted to do, but that drive of mine... was feeling a little cold. When I appeared here in Equestria, I didn't have much of a direction - ironic, for a Breath player. Then Wind Whistler came in. Sure, most of the ideas, plans, and goals I had were precisely that - born of my own initiative. Heck, Wind Whistler wasn't going to fight off the idea of joining Storm Chaser's herd forever... maybe they could have found common ground, or slowly grow into each other in the sort of way those that are somewhat opposites do.

I was the guy with the plans.

But they didn't revolve around myself - they rarely did, save for the cases where said goal/plan would help me further another. I was just content with helping them, or interested in magic for its own sake, or getting the constructs from foreign realities away from the ponies... normally, in situations like this, I would mostly practice or simply study magic.

It was the easiest course of action, in theory. I had done it for centuries, so what was one more day?

I knew the answer, though. It was in the form of a quote.

"Absence diminishes little passions and increases great ones, as wind extinguishes candles and fans a fire."

Well, guess who was the wind there? I was on fire, and I was content on simply taking a rest... I couldn't let myself do that, thought. Sleep was one of the greatest enemies of the immortal - what, did anyone think that dragons took centuries-long naps because they needed them? No! When life grew tedious, they napped to dream and escape reality! I slept a lot, yes, and, once I figured out how to synchronize both of my selves, I could even use it to temporally visit other places!

Kinda what I had done with Twilight's dream.

I met so many people, found so many useful things, learned so much...

Right now, I just wanted a regular dream, letting my subconscious drift and build something out of woven memories and errant thoughts.

Instead, I should occupy myself by means of... shoot, I didn't have any ideas.

Base! I should totally make a base.

I'd love a cloud castle, but I'd pretty much have to make it entirely outside of Equestria... preferably by the sea, over that big honking leyline that - legend has it - was actually the remains of this world's equivalent of my namesake fused to/blending with/bleeding into the world's leyline system; it would allow me to make it the size of an entire country and solid to non-pegasi permanently thanks to eternally-fed runes, which sounded pretty sweet - after all, I've been talking to mayors and wizards and captains for over a thousand years, so I wasn't suffering from a lack of information and skills.

That Tiamat's own tomb (or would it be a simple grave?) wasn't that far and an additional source of free-floating magical energies (and of so many different alignments) was just a bonus.

But no. For now, an underground base would have to do. The game was really messed up, but I could still build things pretty easily... that was one need down.

I could build all by myself.

See if I could find some pony to re-make the Essence Distillers into machines, instead of using only carved runes on stones, metal and flasks. Yeah, until the Crystal Empire came back and/or I found replacements to the sources, a lot of them would be useless, but now that I didn't have to worry about messing up future events I had much more freedom.

Man, when I heard 'thousand years' I thought that it would be a little closer to Nightmare Moon's rise and fall! My plans to prevent Luna's madness fell flat (mostly) because of the gap.

And Sombra was such a nice colt, too... and also, not actually named Sombra. I still couldn't believe that he would actually kill his father for his power over darkness and do all of that. That was the biggest loop I was thrown for during the whole Crystal Empire fiasco, not counting the physical loops the ponies around me literally threw me for.

Alright. Onward!

Or... downward.

Look at that, I really could use my Breath mind-healing powers on myself after all.

*****

(Prosperity, at the Library)

"Oh, hello Ditzy!" Were the words.

'Oh, hello Ditzy'... everything ground to a screeching halt. A cog tried turning in reverse, but was knocked out of alignment, a record was scratched, a spring sprang.

"Oh, hello Prospit!" Were the words that answered the first words, taking was was left of Twilight's cognitive processes and blowing them all to hell. "I saw you walking around town, and decided to see how you were doing!"

A neuron caught fire.

"You know each other?" Spike asked, looking between the dragon - back in her yellow dress - and the grey pegasus mare.

"Yes..." Ditzy answered, a little question in her voice.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Asked Spike.

"It never came up." Ditzy shrugged.

"Yeah - I mean, it's not like we have to exhibit everything about our lives to every single new friend we make." Prosperity nodded.

"Although it's not much of a secret, I mean, I have that picture of your cave in my bedroom. You know the one; where Carrot is halfway to the ground in a dead faint."

"Right! A year or so before Dinky was born... How's your family doing?"

"Oh, just fine! Thanks for asking." Ditzy giggled. "Your dad agreed to train Dinky and Sparkler in Wind-Shaping! I wasn't sure I should ask... I mean-"

"Don't you worry about a thing." Prosperity patted her head. "They aren't the first unicorns, and Sparkler isn't the first adopted pony either; he's that kind of guy, you know the types, the ones that say 'family is family no matter how are you related'."

Just as the smithereens of Twilight's mind were blown into whatever the heck was smaller than smithereens, she shook her head.

"Oh, I should have guessed, 'Prospit'." Ditzy smiled, and Prosperity blushed a little.

"What." Twilight looked at them. "How do you know of him, Ditzy?"

"Ah! My mom introduced me to him when I was little!" She smiled.

"But he was stone until a couple of days ago!" Twilight stage-whispered, trying to keep herself from exploding from all of the conflicting information.

"Not all of him." Prosperity chuckled. "Besides, one of Breath's many, many Associations is Freedom."

"Yeah!" Ditzy cheered. "And now that he's like that, it'll be even harder to make him stay somewhere against his will."

Twilight's eye started to twitch, and a couple of hairs sprang out of place.

"Um, How do you know all of that? Is it because you are friends?" Spike asked in Twilight's behalf; he really didn't want to write a letter to Celestia apologizing for not being able to talk with 'Prosperity' any more because Twilight had a Friendship Aneurysm. "Who else knows?"

"Well, of course it's because we're friends! I remember how Carrot didn't believe that he could talk through his statue until I took her to him... Actually, I don't think there's a single member of the Wind family that doesn't know; I've told the stories to Dinky and Sparkler, and took them with me a while ago." Ditzy scratched her head. "I mean, his meddling is the reason there even is a family."

"Nu-uh, Wind Whistler also had a really big part to play." Prosperity wiggled a claw. "She made the first move."

*****

(The pair, the past)

A rosy haze covered her wing. The semi-transparent phantom in front of her, one of many attempting to wear down the borders of the world, was her target.

She swung her wing, launching the haze, and a terrible absence tore its way through the air and impacted the metallic thing across the chest. The magic scattered, and air rushed back .

A blue haze followed after hers, but this was a crushing presence that landed precisely in the same place as hers, making the armor actually buckle from the strain. The magic dissipated, and the air rushed away.

A gray blur slammed against the area of the stomach, Windstorm's flying buck forcing it to double over, just to receive Wind Whistler's buck to the head.

Another, thought smaller, blue haze hit the phantom, while the pink pegasus's wings rotated in place, the crackling of static filling the air. Windstorm once more hit the phantom in the head before a flap of his wings let him put some distance between them as a bolt of lightning, tinted pink from magic, struck.

Windstorm bucked one of the phantom's knees, while Whistler landed a hoof between what passed for its eyes. Storm struck a shoulder, as Whistler weaved and kicked its legs to keep it unbalanced. Storm tripped it, with some assistance from Whistler's kick to its head, making it fall flat on its back.

Flying above it, close to one another, the two pegasi prepared a maneuver they had rehearsed. Had Fraymotifs not been player-exclusive, they would have called it something like 'Air Aria'. Windstorm, wings open wide and angled slightly, pulled his legs close to him, as if to buck downwards. Wind Whistler, wings pulled close to her though angled slightly, prepared to kick upwards.

They kicked, Storm pushing Whistler with all of his strength. A pink-and-blue spiraling missile shot down, causing the earth to crack beneath the spectral machine.

The order of the world reasserted itself, making the construct vanish, leaving behind its reward.

Windstorm landed with a stomp of hooves, surveying the colorful objects. Panting, he trotted over to an equally-breathless Wind Whistler, watching each other in the eyes for a moment.

"That was-!" Whistler began, the adrenaline leaving her agitated. "I was cap-cap- I was able to feel what you were int-inten-trying to do!"

"I know!" Windstorm replied. "I mean, I was there, and I knew you where going to be there! An-and the way we both Breathed like that? I mean-!"

"Ind-indu- Right!" Whistler exclaimed, then laughed as the rush started to fade.

The both of them stood in silence for a moment, smiling.

Wind Whistler felt how he Breathed, and she knew he felt the same. She leaned forward.

Windstorm was far from clueless, but he was still surprised. He stood there, letting her come closer of her own accord.

She closed her eyes, touching her lips to his own; at the slightest hint of him actually starting to press back, she pushed forward even more. They held themselves like that, a strange warmth flowing through them, simultaneously prickling their skin like static.

When she pulled back, Windstorm smiled at her.

"Wow, that was- I mean..." He chuckled. "Does that mean I'm the stallion of your choice?"

She nodded, the same smile on her face.

"That... well, that was the first time I kissed... well, at all." He chuckled again, blushing slightly. "Anything before was just nuzzles."

"The same." She said, her own cheeks tinted pink.

Windstorm kicked the dirt of the small crater.

"Was... did you like it?"

Wind Whistler let out a small hum of faux-concentration.

"There is insufficient data." She grinned, leaning forward once more, her voice dropping to a whisper. "More 'samples' are required before being able to draw a conclusion."

"I guess I shou- I mean, it would not be erroneous to presume that I am to provide these 'samples' for your research?" He whispered back, grinning as well.

"Mh-Hmm."

Their first kiss as a couple turned into two, then three, and four. By the sixth kiss, Wind Whistler had arrived to the conclusion that yes, she did in fact enjoy being kissed, and should endeavor to repeat the experience in the future.

*****

(Prosperity. Today)

"I'm not sure of all of the details, since I didn't enter the scene until latter, but apparently she kissed him first." Prosperity scratched her head. "Typhon gave her unlimited access to his things, and that made her much more willing to do things outside the norm. I love him and all, but something about how he somehow found the way to be both reckless and discreet with how he meddled with events around him rubbed me the wrong way."

There was a knocking on the door.

"Royal Guard, open the door." Said a gruff voice from the other side.

"Sure took their time." Prosperity said, sighing, straightening her skirt again, and walking over to the entrance. "Most likely, they were coming up with an excuse to even show up."

She placed a claw on the door, but turned to Spike before opening it.

"Get something to take notes on; I bet he racks up a dozen violations of the dragon/pony treaty in less than ten minutes." She grinned, showing her many sharp fangs to the world. "I'll make him regret even thinking he had any power over me... I was raised by Typhon, after all."

Author's Note

Next chapter: Celestia and Blueblood! Something I needed to do before... I mean, he did appeared next to Rarity during that 'yacht' airship christening without getting horribly murderalized - or at the least publicly humiliated via cake.

There's a story there. Maybe.

Changes

(Canterlot. Present)

Prince Blueblood steadied his breath as he approached the enormous double doors leading to the throne room, where his aunt was waiting for him.

He knew- no, wait - he felt reasonably sure that it wouldn't be anything bad- anything too bad. It'll surely be something understandable, hopefully.

He strode confidently through the doorway, or so he would say if asked - he warily peeked inside the room before spotting his dear aunt (about fifty-two times removed).

She was still looking... de-saturated; gazing contemplatively at the crown - her crown - floating in front of her face. She turned to him...

And to his relief, she smiled.

He let out the breath that he would tell everypony he didn't know he was holding, and stepped in at the sight of her beckoning hoof.

"You called for me, dear aunt?" Blueblood nodded - he knew how much the princess disliked formalities when it was just the two of them.

"Hello, dear nephew." Celestia nodded. "I am in dire need of your advice; would you be willing to help me through these times?"

Blueblood blinked and, had his etiquette lessons been less ingrained into his mind, he would have shaken his head to dislodge any stray thoughts that might have caused him to misinterpret Celestia's words. As it stood, he simply patted his ear.

"Excuse me, auntie, did you say you wanted my help?" Blueblood calmly asked, to which Celestia nodded in confirmation.

"Oh." He said, blinking again. He cantered closer. "What do you need help with?"

'No, princess, it was my poor advice what resulted in this situation. That is what I will say.' A white unicorn mare with a blonde mane said. 'I may not have great magic, but I can do this for you.'

Celestia did something very un-princess-like; she conjured a small table, propped her elbow on it, and rested her head on her hoof, while the other toyed around with her crown.

"Equestria." She said, sighing. "I allowed the nobility to drift away from their functions without taking away the privileges granted by the stations they are no longer fulfilling satisfactorily. I have the beginning of a plan, but if chasing Typhon for over a decade taught me something I've actually applied, is that plans can go awry in a thousand different ways before they even leave the ground."

"I-I'm flattered." Blueblood rubbed his temple. "What kind of plans, though?"

"All of them; he was secretive of his abilities until they became relevant. I still remember that he has multiple ways to put out fire, or outright ignore its existence." Watching him laugh maniacally as he ran into the fire, chasing after the Salamander that had caused it, was unnerving - and the creepiest way to find out that his ring had power over fire. Why he hadn't used it against the ghostly mage, only he knew.

Blueblood chewed on his lip as Celestia's left ear trembled - one of her few tells while in 'business', with this one being equivalent of a shudder.

"Ah, that was... not exactly what I was referring to, auntie." He coughed into a hoof. "I meant, for Equestria."

It was Celestia's turn to blink and pause for a moment. She turned her head and coughed.

"I desire to turn around the attitude of the nobles, and, while I have ways to deal with them one by one, I was wondering if you would help me ensure they would not do something that we would all regret." She said, to which Blueblood 'oh'd and 'ah'd. "Things must get back under control - a proper one, not simply me taking in the additional workload. I am thinking of... admonishments for bad behavior, and... corrective measures."

Blueblood nodded. He knew - oh, how he knew. Celestia's reputation was squeaky-clean in part thanks to him making his... not so clean; it was something he did gladly, and his aunt always tried to talk him out of it, but he was as resolute as his father; she did her best to prevent mistakes to avoid giving him too much trouble.

As such, he was very aware of how other nobles were once the lights went out and they thought they were alone in the dark. Thankfully nothing that couldn't be stopped if it threatened to get out of hoof, and possibly nothing that Celestia herself wasn't aware of, but they had to plan things out to prevent them from throwing a very damaging tantrum.

"I intend to take control of my life, not just the country, dear nephew." Celestia said, directing her stern gaze towards the double doors. "I have 'slipped'."

"And you wish for me to help find an angle that will work?" Blueblood guessed.

"Of course. After all, it has to be fair." She turned to him.

Blueblood's mind finally caught up with his brain, and he felt a jolt travelling through his spine, from tail to the very tip of his horn.

A good one, by the way, not one of dread.

'Wait, is she...?' His mouth tried to quirk into a smile, but he controlled himself.

He had talked with Luna and Twilight in the past days, and even Shining Armor - before he went on some mission; prince Blueblood knew what had happened to Celestia, and how the gilded cage she had stuck herself in was starting to get to her.

A tiger in display, inside a cage much too small for it.

A week before, he had thought it to be... feasible. After aski-inquiring further? He praised and cursed Celestia's ability to hide her thoughts so well (apparently even from herself).

'And now, with so many things from the past coming back, mayhaps we shall witness the return of something very interesting.' He could not stop his smirk from showing. 'And those spoiled foals shall be reminded - the laws are not a cage made to restrict the tiger... and the tiger is not them.'

Celestia's quirked eyebrow made him notice that his smirk had morphed into a grin, but could not make it go down.

"May I make a suggestion as to where to start, dear aunt?" He said, at least managing to downgrade his toothy grin into a wide smile.

"Of.. course." She said, slightly apprehensive. "I value your input, dear nephew; that was the reason I summoned you."

"There is one pony, of noble birth and high station, who is spoiled to the core. He is considered the most eligible bachelor, but his arrogance and abrasive personality drive away most mares-"

"Nephew." Princess Celestia interrupted him, raising a hoof for good measure. "Why are you talking about yourself?"

Blueblood's smile turned into a grin once more.

"Well, the others need to see that you are resolute and wish for the changes to 'stick'." He chuckled. "Plus, it will be easier for others to accept if they see somepony else enduring your 'punishment', one that also likely surpasses their own; their pride will prevent them from accepting that they could be so easily bested."

Celestia's interest was piqued; from the way he spoke, he had an idea for himself that was, simultaneously, something undesirable for the nobles yet a source of merriment and excitement for him.

"First, to make it seem that whatever I did truly displeased you, a reduction of my stipend." Blueblood had other sources of income, and enough money that he didn't know what to do with it all anyways (much like most other nobles, no matter how vehemently they denied it). "Then, to ensure that I am still capable of carrying out my functions, and that I am able to work with 'the common pony', I am to lead an expedition..."

He trailed off, tapping his chin as he tried to think of a good goal.

"I heard from aunt Luna that she once called a rock from Beyond to strike at Tiamat, a 'meteor'; could she call a small one on the lands up north for me to quest for?"

Celestia let her jaw hang.

"Nephew! While I admire your desire to help while repairing your reputation, asking my sister to call upon a meteorite for that purpose seems excessive!" She said, hoof to her chest in surprise.

"Drat." Blueblood muttered with a frown, suppressing the impulse to clack the floor with a hoof (races with fingers snapped them instead), though Celestia could hear him regardless. "Then how about an expedition to a forest- oh! How about the old castle?"

Celestia considered it for a moment.

"... I shall speak to my sister about the meteor." She sighed, and yet could not help but smile upon seeing Blueblood's expression brighten.

'Come to think of it, Blueblood earned his cutie mark after guiding the gardener's colt and the cook's filly back home after the three got lost in the forest of the Blue's estate... has he been yearning for the "Great Outdoors" all this time?'

And so, they discussed a great many things... including the best way to induce 'shock and awe'.

Celestia had no particular desire to dig out her old regalia, even if it was not aesthetically different from her current one, but she could not deny that merely standing next to her while wearing it left an impression.

*****

(Ponyville Library)

"A mandatory summons from Celestia herself." Prosperity deadpanned. "On what grounds?"

The guard opened his mouth to reply, but Prosperity simply raised a claw.

"No, forget I asked - I can't even continue this farce." She sighed, pinching the bridge of her snout. "Probably would have told me something like it was undisclosed or a matter of security."

The guard had an excellent poker face, but nopony ever thought of the ears.

"I'm actually a little impressed." She added, placing some glasses on her muzzle so that she could look like a satisfied teacher. "Since I cannot be held accountable for the actions of another, I could not be arrested; since I am a dragon, in the middle of town, you are allowed to act at your discretion so long as you follow the law; since I am a dragon, in the middle of town, the treaty indicates I have to at least listen to envoys of the princesses, which include officers of the royal guard; since I am a dragon in the middle of a town, the highest-ranked guard can issue a few commands in the name of their authority - the mayor for the town guards, the name of the princess for the royal guards - which includes a summons. Problem number one being that 'irrefusable requests' can actually be refused if the grounds are considered inadequate or inappropriate - like they would most surely be if left a secret - and 'matters of security' to one not directly involved are also invalid reasons for a mandatory summons of that nature (and me being a dragon doesn't justify it, either). Only 'strongly polite' requests can be made - though there are other channels and resources that would have applied had I been a pony."

"Huh?" Dash quietly muttered, turning to Twilight. "Mandatory summons can be turned down?"

"The princess placed those rules to avoid abuses." She whispered back. "Since she was the one that placed them, she always keeps them in mind, so they never come up, and as such not many ponies know that without reading the disclaimer in the document itse- when did you get in here?"

"Even though I would prefer for Celestia to have sent me an actual summons herself, likely through Spike here present, and even though she's actually aware of my presence and relation to him and thus if she wanted to see me, she would have sent said summons... I don't actually mind going with you." Prosperity continued. "But! It has to be on my terms."

"I wanted to talk to you a little." Dash whispered.

"That's the why, not the when."

"First point! I am allowed to transport part of my hoard and demand protection for it." Prosperity leaned forward and grinned, letting her very sharp, very strong teeth show. "I want every royal guard stationed in town."

Silver Shine, eavesdropping under the excuse that everypony else was doing it, nearly slapped a hoof to his forehead - good thing he didn't, for he'd likely have done it hard enough to knock himself unconscious.

"I was already here, waiting for you." Dash whispered. "Had to use the restroom, though."

"And just so that you don't accuse me of anything." Prosperity slid a claw inside of the neck of her dress, into the puff of it, pulling out a brown wallet from it.

Pulling out cards from it, she flicked them to the floor of the library, where each of them turned into a chest. Twenty large wooden chests.

"Gems, for the road." She stated, grinning smugly at the guard's strained expression. "Now, I consider knowledge and friends part of my hoard, and I can ask for guards to leave and/or have them guard the remainder of the hoard. For my second point; I appoint Twilight Sparkle."

Prosperity snorted and sniggered a little, sticking out her tongue as her face scrunched up in an effort not to burst out laughing at the guard's face.

"She-" Prosperity made a strange, throaty sound as she almost laughed. "She has some authority thanks to her position as Celestia's pupil, other accolades, and I like her."

"For my third point, I want to travel first-class - now, I'm not a heartless monster, so you can use one of the chests to pay for everypony's tickets." She said, nodding 'sagely'. "And I simply can't be too hard to those with rose eyes. They remind me of Whistler."

The guard shook his head in surprise.

"Don't bother asking; it's a trade secret, I traded for it." She waved a claw. "Now, shall we?"

It took some maneuvering, but the chests were out and hauled in the direction of the train station.

"See you girls soon! Bye Spike!" Prosperity waved at them as she closed the door.

Ditzy giggled like Pinkie did when she was in on something nopony else got. The mailmare turned to the kitchen.

"Are you done?" She called.

"That has to be one of the greatest spells ever." Prosperity said, walking out of the kitchen. Twilight didn't even waste time having her mind boggled, unlike Dash or Spike, merely asking:

"A spell; that's the how. The motivation, I can almost understand because you're a dragon and all... but when and why did you cast that?"

"What? Do the words 'raised by Typhon' even mean anything to any of you?" She grumbled, crossing her arms. "I'm still going to make his life hell, though."

Author's Note

For some reason, I had more fun writing Blueblood than I expected.

Also, ever since I read about that story where Bluey is having a crisis of faith after the Gala and speaking to Celestia about it, I can't help but feel compelled to reference it (dude had his whole world crash down on top of him; he was actually decent, only misdirected by the other nobles' attitudes, and Rarity was precisely the wake-up call that Celestia wondered why she had never delivered herself). In case you're wondering, Celly's solution was to send Bluey as the leader of a team meant to retrieve a meteor - that she asked Luna to drop in the first place (though he obviously didn't know that).

Yes, the meteor was a hit.

Wait a second... Rainbow Dash was already here... she's so colorful... OH MY GOG! RAINBOW DASH IS LORD ENGLISH! [/old LE guessing game-slash-meme]

Intermission: The Father and the Mother of Monsters

The Serpents of the Sky and the Earth.

Notes from Twilight: The texts are old, and the story itself can be traced back to oral tradition predating any written language; as such, there are some inconsistencies between regional variations, or translation difficulties can plague the scholars. Depictions of Zacherle and Faust make no distinction between hands and hooves, with some texts describing them as having both simultaneously or interchangeably (uncertainty denoted by *), although Tirek is always depicted as having clawed hands. The word denoted by (+) can be taken to mean simply 'family', yet the relationship is better represented by the word 'herd'.

*****

Zacherle, Faust, and Tirek directed their sight to the young World.

"This is the nascent World?" Tirek asked, leaning closer to it, gaze piercing through all.

"Yes." The Apprentice replied, beckoning her Mentor to approach. "I intend to form from it a Land of Friendship and Magic, where Harmony reigns and Love and Hope are suffused into the very World."

"Admirable goal." The Dark Sentinel said, straightening as he turned to the Illustrator. "Your Apprentice has your heart."

"I need help." Faust said. "To infuse the land with Power enough to fill its inhabitants, and to make it Balanced so they can learn and grow. The World needs to be Shaped before it is properly set in motion."

The Illustrator and the Sentinel agreed.

"I have made many additions already, yet more still is required." Faust stirred the Air with a wing, and caressed the Earth with a hoof*.

"A joyful Being of the Breath itself; swift and dauntless, bringing Direction and Freedom so that all shall be free of stagnation, with the Colors and the Courage that are synonymous with Wind itself, both subtle and potent, the weather and the skies shall be his Home and Domain. Another of proud Earth; wise and patient, bringing Stability and Steadfastness so that all shall be able to grow, bringing the Kindness and the Nourishment that are so akin to Earth, both enduring and decisive in action, the soil and the stones her Home and Domain."

Zacherle and Faust took winds from the air, and a chain of mountains from the earth.

"Do not forget." Tirek pointed with his long nails to the mass of winds. "He will be moody as the clouds, and fickle as a breeze, impatient and unfocused." He turned his claws to the mountains. "And she will be stubborn as a rock, and lazy as the trees, demanding and overly proud."

"I am aware." The Apprentice said as she started to weave the winds. "That is why they shall have each other, and more to follow; for the purpose of bringing balance to each other, and love making them find it within themselves. Their children can help shape the world just as any of mine would."

The Dark Sentinel signaled his approval, and smiled at her Heart.

Only as they reached the half-way point had they realized their mistakes. The winds were too numerous and wild, and the mountains too long and coarse.

"We need your help." The Designer said. "We have made a mistake, but we do not wish to start over. His scales are so beautiful, the thought of destroying them alone fills my heart with pain, and makes me feel as though I am depriving him of dignity he deserves."

"We need your help." The Writer said. "We have made a mistake, but we do not wish to start over. Her scales are so strong, I am afraid of being unable to make them as powerful as that again, and makes me feel as though I am robbing her of strength she deserves."

The Keeper stood silent for a moment, deep in contemplation.

"I have indeed Shaped numerous creatures, but my very Touch can taint them. They may give rise to monsters, most of which shall be unable to reason and filled with the thirst of blood."

Faust and Zacherle shook their heads.

"The Light may chase away the Darkness, but the Darkness does not reject the Light. Anything that might come from this can be overcome, Love mandates so."

Persuasion accomplished, Tirek lent his aid. Under his experienced and skilled hands, he granted them Shape and strengths.

The winds became many serpents, with scales no less beautiful than the rest.

"He will be able to adapt his Form, able to resemble mine, or yours, or those of the snakes that compose him."

The sharp rocks became quills, powerful enough to pierce the very skies.

"Her I grant a similar boon, yet my contribution is in the form of these great spines to defend herself and the land."

And so, Typhon and Echidna were born, the first of their herd(+). Their love knew no bounds, and though some of Echinda's children were monsters, it did not stop them from Shaping the Lands of our fair Tellus.

*****

Notes from Twilight: Since Typhon and Echidna are beings of the world and magic, it is said that, once they either decided to rest - or the somewhat-popular theory that the world's magic field changed until it could not support their consciousness - they integrated back into it. The Major Ley line of the West is said to be Typhon's place of rest, given the way it resembles many snakes becoming one enormous entity; the Major Ley line of the Mid-way is said to be Echidna, with her quills providing countries like Saddle Arabia with its power.

Support for these theories are the numerous weather phenomenons of the Western Line, and the place the Saddle-Arabians call the Fireland, located directly where a heart would be if the Central Line was taken to be a Lamia or a Naga. Both variants are said to be related to the legend as well.

Author's Note

I do not know where this little Creation Myth came from. I just used the 'source of my namesake' thing as one of many possible explanations for a humongous continent-sized leyline, and now I'm writing about it. It just happened - like that name-drop in there.

My mind is weird.

And Equus sounds silly when there are so many other races there, but I didn't want to name it something like Gaia or Terra... it means the same thing, though.

Lines and Old Friends

(Prospit's duplicate, train to Canterlot)

"My, what a lovely dress." A tall, rosy-white unicorn mare said, a slight accent to her words.

"Indeed; the cloth is simply recherché." Her companion said; a tall, robust white unicorn with a blue mane.

"Ah, you must be sir Fancy Pants and lady Fleur de Lis." Prospit said... well, being a duplicate did not make her any less 'her'.

The pair gave her a rehearsed polite nod.

"Please, nothing so formal, dear." Fancy Pants said, voice very measured as 'refinement' mandated.

"Just 'Fleur' is more than enough." Her voice was much the same; controlled and mostly neutral.

"Thank you for the compliments, by the way; my parents made it for me." Prosperity said, just like them - which irked the guard that had been on the receiving end of her sarcasm for the last ten minutes. "My name is Prosperity, though friends and family call me 'Prospit'."

"How lovely." Fleur said.

"My adoptive father offered plenty of options, as well." Prosperity said, wiggling a single claw in the air.

If one were to pay attention, it would almost look like she was painting, or perhaps writing. She was, but not with unicorn, pegasus, or earth pony letters.

'You have my condolences.'

"Oh? Interesting." Fancy said, as Fleur 'buffed' a hoof on her coat.

'Thank you.'

"Yeah... Typhon is... quite the personage." Prosperity chuckled politely, waving her claw as if fishing for words.

'Phantasma was my friend.'

"My goodness!" Fleur gasped in 'surprise'.

'We know.'

"He caused quite the stir recently." Fancy Pants said, pretending that he was cleaning his monocle.

'Do you have news?'

"He has a talent for setting things in motion... be it metaphorically, or literally." She tapped a claw on the other in amusement.

'Your youngest sister is doing fine as of three days ago.'

"We should converse further over dinner." Fleur proposed, placing a hoof on Fancy's shoulder.

'Thank you.'

"Perhaps even something more private; I wish to know more about somepo- excuse me, someone so famous." Fancy said, chuckling behind a hoof, before extending it towards Prosperity.

'She has been worried about her sister, thank you.'

"But of course!" Prosperity took his hoof in a gentle shake. "I would love to do so, you have but to ask."

The last word was pointed, and a playful glare was leveled at the guard that started the whole mess. He almost snorted.

'She's so much like Phantasma, I have no doubt she can handle it.'

"Dear Prospit?" Fancy asked, making Prosperity turn back to him. He glanced to his hoof, making her turn and see that she 'forgot' to stop the shake.

"Sorry." She smiled warmly as she released him. "We should talk more when dinner is served."

*****

(Library)

Brief introductions done, they sat on some cushions making a circle.

"Yeah, as much as I'd like to chat, I, like... I need some advice." Rainbow Dash said.

Twilight and the others paid close attention; Dash was being... somewhat distant, muted.

"I- the thing is- ugh." Dash closed her eyes and hung her head for a moment. She then straightened up.

"Remember-? Wait, stupid question." She rubbed her eyes with a hoof. "Back when we first met, I crashed into you."

Dash sighed heavily.

"I did it again, to somepony else... I hurt her, Twilight." She said, rubbing a foreleg with the other. "I made her cry."

Prosperity tapped her arm awkwardly. Technically, she already knew about that, but it did not make being in the middle of it any less uncomfortable.

"I could tell - she wasn't calling me egocentric to be mean or anything, she was just trying to tough it out." She turned to Ditzy. "It made me think anyways - about how I treat others, I mean."

"Sure, if you need anything, I'm there. Bam. Ten seconds, tops. But that's just one side. I'm called 'reckless' all the time, but I always blew them off - I mean, nopony got hurt, right? And if I break something, I pay for it. I never had to see somepony limping away from me with a black eye from an accident."

"If you fear it's too late to apologize, don't worry." Prosperity said, placing a palm reassuringly on her back. "It is never too late, even when it looks like it is - especially if it looks like it is."

'I'm sorry, Moonshadow. I wasn't there for you.' The young dragon cried silently, the blizzard raging on around Typhon's dome.

'None of us were.' Typhon embraced her gently. 'I could not see Sombra until it was too late...'

The beautiful crystals no longer glinted softly in the light.

They were gone, leaving behind only a frozen wasteland.

Phantasma and Flitter wept openly, while Clover tried to appear strong, but was betrayed by tears.

'I will not be caught unprepared again.' Prosperity said, tightening her fists. 'When the city comes back, I will be there.'

"I'm not very good at this - not in this way." Dash said. "Would you guys help me?"

"Of course!" Ditzy chimed in. "You're a good friend, Rainbow, and you've helped me out a lot!"

"Yeah!"

"We saved the world twice already; I'm not going to leave you alone now."

"As I said already, I like you all."

Dash smiled.

Everything would be just fine.

*****

(Typhon. Past)

Equestria was filled with monsters. That was a fact.

One would simply shrug and say 'well, they do have the Everfree', but the reality was harsher.

Yes, the forest did have a large amount of dangerous creatures, but they roamed further than that. They were not completely confined.

Case in point:

THE GIGANTIC BUCKIN' CENTIPEDES WRECKING COLTON.

There were three humongous ones, with each individual section about the size of a Volkswagen, and long enough to - by my estimates - encircle a football field ('soccer', however) and leave a few segments still. There were plenty of smaller ones, too.

Something must have aggravated them, likely one of Discord's little chaotic timed 'bombs'.

I was in my little zen state, allowing me to contemplate some thoughts while I acted.

After all, I didn't feel fear any more - not in the normal sense, anyways. I... acknowledged fear. Fear was one of many illusions - the cause of some, rather. I simply allowed fear to run through without stopping; fear should not be allowed to clog your system, because that was the time when things like 'freezing up' and 'panic' attacked.

I could fear and dread without fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that kills you over and over. Without fear, I could think and act no matter how much I disliked my situation - or the scenario playing through my head.

Clover said that it was a wise way of thinking, in an insane sort of way.

After all, a sane person would not jump through the fire towards a certain sun-flanked princess that was not entirely pleased with them.

*****

(Celestia)

The princess grunted as three pairs of pincers assaulted her shield.

Behind her, the cries of colts and fillies fueled her resolve. She would not have much trouble, normally, yet the fire raging around and the sheer amount of monsters worried her.

She could hold. She would hold it, for days if necessary.

Her grunt was more of displeasure. She wanted to beat the creatures back with her own hooves, rather than leave it all in the hooves of her soldiers.

A crying filly squeezed her leg, with the foal's pregnant mother hugging the little one.

She held the monsters back. All of them were counting on her. She was their shield and castle. She was unyielding, their ruler, their Protector.

Her eyes blazed with power.

The small ones, with segments the size of a cantaloupe, caught fire upon contact.

The largest ones, too, had their heads incinerated... but the accursed beings shed the entire heads and the next segment was warped into the shape of another, before their pincers once more reformed onto the new head.

The situation was still far from being under control, but the cries grew silent withal.

A pegasus guard landed roughly, but on his hooves; he could not slow down enough, and the landing was unkind.

Celestia watched with horror as the nearest house burst into pieces from a large centipede ramming into it, the tremors being the last straw that sent the guard tumbling to the ground, right in the middle of the rain of debris.

There was blue.

The rocks and lumber entered the faint blue sphere, but, just as they touched the deeper blue sphere, a wave of a hand sent a blast of air that knocked them away.

It was... elegant; she reluctantly granted him that.

He stood over the dazed guard, arms swaying with graceful, seemingly-gentle motions that nonetheless were fast enough to swat all of the broken pieces of the former home.

His gauntlets did not have a speck of sooth on them.

A few of the small creatures jumped him from behind.

She almost snorted. That tactic had never worked.

Indeed; an arm was already swinging; no sooner had the overgrown insects attempted to enter the radius of his influence they found themselves flung into her shield by a blast of air. They burned.

His fist swung. The cracking of chitin reached her ears even through the fire.

The sphere of blue wavered and deformed as he (not-so-gently) picked the guard in his arms and threw him into the air, making him open his wings on reflex, to be sent higher by a few more blue lines.

Typhon had a sword in his hand.

Long, with a soft, elegant curve, yet the blade was rough-hewn and did not seem to be a good choice against the creatures, who could deflect arrows that were not charged with magic.

Celestia knew better than to take things at face value, though.

She could see his face; he was muttering something. The blade emitted a wan light for a moment, before he turned it on the monsters.

*****

The last centipede fell to the guards.

There were numerous wounded, though, miraculously, no deaths. Celestia had, after all, been right there when the alarm was raised.

And Typhon...

"You may wonder how such a rough-hewn blade cuts so cleanly! It is because the sword knows no such doubt!" Typhon shouted, holding the sword over his head in triumph.

He turned away, lowering into a crouch, gathering his strength, and then jumped.

He broke some shingles, and she definitely heard the creak of wood absorbing abuse.

She... might have told the guards she was going to incinerate the remains herself 'as preventive measures' just to have an excuse to see more closely the results of whatever magic he had worked.

After all, he had used his blade to slice through the remnants of a wall.

She was willing to let this incident pass. The damages were already bad enough.

...

Since when had she decided to have a threshold that made it preferable to have him involved?

At least he had saved the guards.

Author's Note

For those that lost track: 'Fleur' is Phantasma's daughter that lives in Canterlot and spoke with Typhon about her mother's passing.

Earth pony writing - Essentially, Morse code on paper. Easier and faster to write by mouth.

Unicorn writing - 'Normal' alphabet, though the others use it if they can take their time to write.

Pegasus writing - Mostly for print. Little symbols that represent syllables; developed to fit the most information in the least space, mostly to keep documents small and light.

Remembrance

(First Class car, private section, train to Canterlot, dinnertime)

Three horns glowed, blue, yellow, and white, while a violet claw held a strip of cloth that burned with green fire.

Several layers and styles of privacy wards latter, yellow and white lights washed over the occupants of the room.

"Your highness; it's an honor." Prosperity said, bowing to the figure that had shone white.

A tall, thin changeling queen with white where Chrysalis had green. Her mane was similar to Fluttershy's, though her wings were rounded like those of a dragonfly, and there were no holes on her body.

Said changeling queen slapped her forehead, although that made her look like she would fall over at any second.

"Must you do that every time?" She asked. "You'd think age would take away the habit of making jabs at everypony."

"Sorry, Flitter, you know what Typhon says - the desire to be an adult is for children, it has no place in the life of an adult." Prosperity said, lifting the lightly-built changeling with ease, and giving her a soft hug. She was, after all, only a little under a foot below Typhon himself (unless one counted her spines).

"I'm glad to see you too." Flitter smiled, returning the embrace. "Even if it's as a duplicate."

"A duplicate?" Another changeling mare, yellow instead, gasped.

"My, that is quite the surprise." Fancy Pants said.

"I didn't expect to run into any of you on the way, or else I might have come in person." Prosperity said, gently placing the frail-looking changeling back on the floor. She turned to the yellow changeling, who also had butterfly wings and lacked holes. "I got a message from your sister three days ago, asking me..."

She fell silent, but started to grin.

"To...?"

Prosperity's grin widened.

"Oh, nothing big, just when the next fashion show was going to be and if you were going to be in it." She said, making the other mare gasp.

"Don't be so surprised." Prosperity said, giving the undisguised Fleur a hug. "She's family."

"I couldn't be there for the funeral." She sniffled. "And I couldn't see my little sister get the crown..."

"Shh..." Fancy calmly stroked her back. "Don't cry, dear Silk."

"I can't wait to see you again, for real, I mean." Flitter said. "We all saw the lights, and..."

"Not you, too." Prosperity whispered. "You're going to make me cry."

"I am aware..." Fancy said, levitating some of the bottles of wine they had ordered for dinner. "... that tradition says 'before the funeral', but I say we honor the memory by holding a wake. I never had the pleasure to meet her; the most I had were Silk's stories... I would love to hear more."

The two whites chuckled darkly.

"Phantasma was very stern." Prosperity said, wiping a tear away.

"... But she hated seeing her friends sad." Flitter added, smiling sadly as the one pony of the group filled four tall glasses. "We met the same day we met Typhon."

*****

Way South of Equestria. A millennium and a half into the past.

Phantasma's mother had been causing trouble. She was getting much too paranoid even for someling in her position, and Phantasma decided to lead patrols as a way to both get away from her and her delusions, and keep her from going crazy.

Well, Prospit's right - crazier. Even if it wasn't nice to say.

She didn't live for much longer, you know - picked a fight with an adult Scorpio, alone, after having wandered into the Desert of Glass Sand thinking that one of ours had infiltrated hers to assassinate her.

I was doing patrols of my own, when, in the middle of the forest that divided our hives, there was a huge commotion.

"Come on!" Typhon yelled. "Your soldiers crashed into me!"

He then burst out of the treeline, wearing what he called his 'ninja gear'. On his hand, he held a large, yellow fan on a sword's hilt - sure, it had an edge and was pointed, but it was not meant to strike like that - the Storm Wand. He was wearing a sort of armored sleeve, with a cloud-like shoulder, a snake's head covering his hand that had a grey glove coming out of it, with scales all over the arm proper - the Storm Snake's Fanged Reach. With the two of them, his wind abilities were strengthened, and they only got stronger as he 'upgraded' them.

Hmm? Well, the full power was used when we went Scorpio-hunting - they hold Special Stardust in their bodies, and are the least intelligent of the Star Beasts; roughly, on par with a normal scorpion of Typhon's homeworld. He swung and swung, blasting 'with the force of a school bus going sixty miles an hour' - of course, by then we had tricks of our own, which was the only reason we did something like that in the first place (not to mention avoiding the adult ones).

Well, of course he had better techniques than just swinging or letting the Wand spin like a propeller; they had the unfortunate side-effect of blowing the Special Stardust all over the place, however. Examples? Sure. There is one where he makes a tornado, by itself capable of grinding through stone, but then he makes another, inside and opposite to the first and compressed by it, focusing all of its power in an area about the size of a pencil meant for humans. Oh- it's about... this much.

Yes. He said 'if it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing', and 'there is no kill like overkill, when it won't be inconvenient'. Lessons five and six.

He wasn't that good by that time, and it didn't help him that Phantasma was sharp. She figured out that trying magic wasn't going to get her anywhere, not the way it was used normally, but straight blasts could hit him some of the time.

Her best magics were centered on illusions and manipulating perception, which didn't work against Typhon's sensing ability or his resistance... that... kind of angered her, since she had been trying to get him lost in the forest to capture him.

Our little group... well, we didn't quite stay at the sidelines, and actually got ready for anything, but we didn't get involved, either.

"Look!" He said, twisting out of the way of a charging 'ling. "Can't we be just friends?"

That... surprised me; nopony- I mean, nobody had offered that to us after seeing us in our real forms. Then he flipped a changeling and threw him away - surprising me because he had been invisible for me until Typhon grabbed him.

It ended with Typhon getting Phantasma into a headlock, after fanning the Wand and sending changelings flying over and over until they were too winded to attack again. I didn't know better, so I tried magic.

"Come on!" He yelled, making Phantasma wince. "I just got done with them!"

"Not so loud." Phantasma grumbled.

"Well, excuuuuse me, princess!" He huffed. Then laughed quietly. Then got serious again. "I was just crossing the valley of neither here nor there taking it slow for a change and then I'm being hunted by three dozen changelings!"

Yes, Phantasma wound up liking it, so she named it 'Valley of Neither Here nor There', and filled the air with so much illusion it's part of the natural state of the place. If you don't know your purpose for being there and hold onto it tightly, you will start thinking about irrelevant things, you'll get lost, and wander until you stumble out of it. The forest is worse, but easier to break out of if you know what you're doing.

Before Phantasma thought of that, I didn't think it was possible to get lost in a valley like that without being named 'Ryoga Hibiki'.

That's from something Typhon showed us.

*****

(Library. Present.)

"... and that is the plan!" Pinkie chirped.

"Sounds good." Dash nodded. "Now I just have to find her again."

Prosperity burped out a fireball, which turned into a scroll; she coughed as she reached for it.

"Oh, god... why did Comet Shine have to make that spell?" Prosperity coughed some more, unfurling it.

"Oh... so it's time for Flitter to act. And that was nice of him." She sighed.

"Listen, I'm off to have a drink in memory of an old friend, see you tomorrow." She pointed to Spike. "Remember, more gems in your diet, preferably the ones that have aluminum in them; they might sound like they should be like candy, but that's for the silica-based ones. Sleep well, and make a bed of gemstones often, then eat them before two months are up. And no hoarding like crazy, alright?"

Prosperity was glad that Celestia and Luna were doing their jobs so well - it kept away the Nightmares.

A glass of wine and a yearning heart, preferably well into the night; one of the oldest spells to summon Nightmares.

Nopony knew about it, because they couldn't get through to the World... Luna never knew what she had done that night, a thousand years past.

She made herself vulnerable.

A glass of wine, and a yearning heart, so full of ache and hurt.

Author's Note

The 'good' changeling looks came from one of the covers from the comics (remember, it's the most access to them I have). In that cover, we see flipped versions of just about everypony - Chryssy is happy and cutesy with her little round glasses and hearts on her wings instead of holes (and Cadence-curls!), Applejack wears a black hat and bandanna (and we all know what black hats on a cowboy mean), and the princesses look like stereotypical goth-y supervillains (well, Cadence's disinterested look and partially-dyed-black mane make her lean more towards apathetic goth-y teenager, complete with four piercings on one ear).

The Greatest and Most Powerful lllusion of all

(Border of what will become the Forest of Illusion. Past)

"Alright, look, I didn't want to hurt any of you, but you just started hunting me!" I said, keeping the yellow changeling in a headlock. I could tell she was royalty, since she had double-ringed eyes, while the others, after dropping their magic levels, only had 'normal' slitted eyes.

And she was wearing a different style of armor, though the helmet was lost after she tried to hit me in the head with it.

"You became a danger the moment you saw through our illusions!" She hissed, her fin rising from under her mane (which is silky, probably actual silk).

"Look, I don't want to be a danger... why can't we be friends instead?" I said, while the whites looked at their leader expectantly. The yellows were scattered, but did not move.

"Ha!" The yellow scoffed, interrupting whatever the white leader (princess?) was about to say. "Why would we consider such a thing, after all that has happened today?"

"I can show you the greatest secrets of illusions; strength is meaningless against them." I said. "I will grant you that in exchange of an alliance."

I held Truth inside of me; I knew what I was talking about. I could see. Things like 'ultimate power', or 'true power' or variations of the same were just illusions, waiting for the weak to stumble upon like a mirage oasis does to the thirsty, and ensnaring the obsessed in ways far worse than any drug addiction.

I held no such delusions. I could see beyond them.

She actually stopped testing my grip at that.

"We are already great weavers of illusion." She replied, and I knew that the deal would hinge on anything I said next.

"True; many of them would have fooled even me, if it were not for The Breeze." I started with an acknowledgement; no sense in denying it or trying to put them down. "But there are greater; I know the secret behind the greatest, most sublime of all illusions - I can show you, teach it to you - all of you! If you just come to this clearing for a week, and listen to what I have to say."

*****

(Phantasma's wake. Present)

"I could tell that he was being honest." Flitter said, swirling her glass. "And said as much - not that it was necessary, since he was in contact with her, and he wasn't bothering with hiding his emotions. Since the Four were also in agreement of the plan, their emotions were aligned, so I couldn't tell they even existed."

"I heard that story." Fleur, now Glimmer Silk, said. "Mother said it was the first of many good decisions she ever made."

"Well, she still wasn't very happy when he said that he would tell two ponies to come over, although revealing that he could be in two places at once made Phantasma and her whole entourage agree anyways."

"By that time, he had already trained himself to have both of his selves awake at the same time." Prosperity added. "He said it was hard, but rewarding. He had done so soon after arriving, actually, but the overlap was really short, disorienting, and tiring."

"He had proven he could take them, but was never hostile, and actively prevented causing us harm; his offer of an alliance had come at a good time, as well... the political ambiance wasn't very nice, what with Discord's remnants making the countries work extra just to keep themselves from unraveling at the seams. It was the reason Phantasma's hive was being so wary of everything. My own mother had considered having to ally ourselves with the yellows, but through Phantasma instead, given how her mother was going crazy - needless to say, my parents gave me their blessing to meet potential allies to prevent a crisis. Of course, the standard promises of terrible vengeance that would befall him should he harm me were issued; father's sense of drama was what had attracted my mother."

"Windstorm and Wind Whistler. He introduced them as such the next day." Flitter chuckled. "The first day of training, we both arrived with spears and armor, swords and scrolls!"

Prosperity laughed quietly.

"Ah, yes; I heard their story, and I still had a hard time believing all of it." Fancy said. "Yet, this time is for other stories."

Flitter nodded.

"Phantasma was a genius when it came to handling her mother, or just about anything. She presented the deal as a way to strengthen the hive, and 'keeping an eye on potential threats'. She left out the part where she got his freakishly strong arms around her neck. She made extra emphasis on the part that said that he did not have much of a... 'positive rapport' with the princesses of Equestria."

*****

And so, the first day...

We had two ponies, both pegasi, in front of us. About six dozen changelings, two of them princesses, and the others some of the best soldiers and mages we had, and yet the ponies were just smiling as Typhon fiddled with his devices. He had made a small cabin in the woods, where they would stay for the week.

"Would you care to look at the butterflies with us?" Whistler said, prompting us whites to look around until we found out that, indeed, the clearing had plenty of flowers with butterflies in them. The yellows were already aware of them, as per the basic instructions of their teachers - illusion needs attention to detail, after all.

They, however, had not seen them seen them.

We were told to look at them, how they fluttered by without a care beyond having an easy flight on the breezes. Or how the flowers danced in the wind.

Typhon served tea to all of us, and small comments about how they were his favorite cups, or how he painted some of the teapots himself, made everyling stop and stare at theirs. Both simple and painted; tigers, dragons, birds, turtles, butterflies, and more, both in color and detail, and quick, surreal strokes of pure black ink; let us not forget the materials themselves! He had jade sets, clay, and metal pots.

We took it to be a stealth-lesson - no, not a lesson in stealth, but an activity hiding a lesson. Perhaps something about details? Or how much effort went into hoof-made things? Or that physical props were to be used whenever possible? And the first sip was taken to be a lesson in the senses.

Why? The tea was delicious, and quite soothing. The brews were varied, and abundant. Everyling kept to their groups, still wary of their surroundings, but still passed the time with fragrant tea, good wine, warm meals, and soft music.

The second day, we expected similar - disguising his lessons.

He brought plentiful outfits, of varying materials and styles; some looked like armor, others fanciful, and Windstorm and Whistler dressed each other. They complimented each other, and us, too. They showed us combs and hairpins, from fashions all over Typhon's previous world. They let us keep the ones we liked best - Phantasma chose a marvelous robe styled like a kimono, with a soft gradient of purples like those of the falling night, and a pattern of white vines and flowers with (what else) butterflies.

Whistler wore real kimonos, though with wing holes, and steadied herself with her wings and magic to prevent her sleeves from dragging on the floor, as they would if she walked on all fours. I settled for a white robe with a line of red triangles at the edges, with cat ears on the hood - A white mage's robe, fittingly enough. It was heavy, because it's meant to protect the wearer - it was even enchanted! Though I never knew until many days latter.

Come teatime, each 'ling paid more attention to the cups of the ones close to them, and one even asked for more, instead of waiting until Windstorm made the whole round back to them to offer. It was one of mine, but I still caught a wary look from Phantasma to the 'ling. She was still glad to get a cup with a bright blue butterfly on it, and 'politely asked' them to leave the pot that contained her favorite blend.

We talked to them, and had Typhon elaborate further about his encounters with the princesses of Equestria.

Tea, wine, and music.

The third day, they asked if we could sing, instead of allowing Typhon's devices to handle that. Typhon used instruments with strings, as did Windstorm, while Whistler used flutes and what I thought to be some sort of magical blue potato.

It was an ocarina, and I blushed really hard.

We sang, and Whistler coaxed the hesitant ones by saying that, even if they were not good, the trio did not want anyling to be left out. Letting go of hesitation, and just get right to it - or so we thought. Phantasma had a lovely voice, although she had to be maneuvered into singing - surely such a regal voice as hers was the envy of performers everywhere, and it would help morale, or increase the unity of the hive... dozens of excuses just to hear her sing, and, let me tell you, after hearing her, I would have come up with a dozen more if necessary.

They made tea again, and the changelings openly stared at the cups they liked, but that others had gotten instead. We sat as one group, although still divided in halves. Each changeling chatted with the one next to them, although the whites and the yellows didn't talk to the other color yet; Phantasma and I were an exception, though, talking about life, and what our respective alliances would do to benefit each other. She had managed to pick her favorite cup really early, and got served in it. I had yet to chose my favorite.

Tea, wine, food, and music.

Mother and father could tell I was in a good mood, so they took it to mean that everything was going well. Phantasma's mother drew similar conclusions, and, though her curiosity burned hotter than a volcano, she didn't pry 'for fear of compromising the operation'.

The fourth day was more of the same. The ponies were kissing and doing couple stuff, and offered free hugs. Changelings asked if they could learn to make tea like that, and they were glad to give them lessons.

We sat as one group, and Phantasma's and I's conversation from yesterday reminded them that we were meant to be a group to test the waters for an alliance, so they began to talk to members of the other hive.

After a... particularly enjoyable gesture, Whistler took Windstorm away to the cabin. He didn't complain at all, even though she was dragging him by the tail; he said that she was being cute.

Tea, wine, food, and music.

The fifth day, Phantasma asked Typhon about his ability to see through illusions. He said that he could feel the air, and even the magic within us. Changelings are almost the same as ponies, and disguising made us almost completely the same, but he could still tell.

They made us dance, and I didn't even bother to rationalize it as a disguised instruction. Whistler and Windstorm took several partners, exchanging them fluidly and creating pairs or even trios all by themselves. They knew a little of every changeling present, and, well, they didn't know the meaning of 'shame'.

That was the biggest difference, you know? One was a pony, the other a human; simple, no? Typhon, as a human, thought of things as a human with his education would. Windstorm, as a pony, thought of things as a pony with his education would. Typhon didn't think of us as anything other than 'cute' or 'pretty'; Windstorm was not afraid of kissing changelings.

We sat as a mixed group, and changelings were asking for their favorite cups. I chose mine, a simple one with colorful bands, and we were served our favorite blends straight off the bat.

Tea, wine, food, and music... and a little more.

The sixth day, we were pretty confident in this alliance business. Phantasma and some of her mages tried to convince Typhon to tell them more about illusions, but he just told them to be patient and wait the whole week.

He made flower arrangements, and taught us how to care for flowers and diverse plants. Some of mine already knew, but they had exotic breeds, and many vegetables. Typhon said that 'a friend of his' was really good with plants.

Yes, Seiryu. You know, Seiryu spends most of his time as a guy, mostly because Pros-

HMMMH!! MMPH!

HMMHMH!!! UMMMH!

UUHHMMM!

HMMMUUH!!

PROSPERITY IS DATING SEIRYU!

Huff!!! Huff! Puahh!!

There! I- I said it! Huufff!!!

Jus-just give me a minute...

Phew!!

What- do you think- happens to a 'blank' duplicate that is wearing one of the Four? Yeah, that's how. Huff. Huff.

Also, Room magic is completely broken in absurdly stupidly ludicrously powerful ways. Clover knew that.

Ignore her - she's just sulking.

Anyways, the two ponies in our midst were really affectionate.

We sat as a group, and talked about ourselves. I did not know much about Conch, not until that day, and look at that! One of my most trusted advisors came out of it.

Tea, wine, food, and music. The 'little more' was repeated.

The seventh day was a reprise of all others. We dressed, danced, and sang; we watched butterflies, birds, and took care of flowers; we made tea, food, and ate and drank it all; we allowed love to flow through our group.

It became very potent - more than what it had been when each one of us kept it to themselves.

They loved like the warm breezes of spring love you; all of those soft scents and gentle caresses are facts. They didn't chose to love you, they just did.

Well, yes, of course things turned stormy at times - that whole 'arranged marriage' debacle was the perfect example of what happened when they chose otherwise.

Tea, wine, food, music, and love.

The next day, after the week was done, Phantasma approached Typhon, asking about the secrets of illusion that he knew of.

He smiled, and poked her nose with a finger as he said 'boop'.

He got a cuff on the arm for that (neither of us was tall enough to bop his head then). The changelings gasped and stood stock still.

"Come on, surely you can hit harder." He said, chuckling.

She gave him another, slightly harder.

"Come on, are you afraid that you'll hurt me?" He laughed.

She drew back a hoof, ready to punch him. I didn't know what I was doing, but I was already about to shout before she shook. Her hoof lowered slightly, then drew back - along with my extended foreleg in warning. Then she lowered her hoof again.

I realized it, and so did she.

"Yes." She confessed, returning her hoof to the ground in sadness and shame. "I'm afraid I'll hurt you."

He smiled, pulled both of us closer into a hug, and spoke for all to hear.

"That is the grandest of illusions, and its secret. All we truly own are those things which make us what we are, and that which we are given is an illusion that none of us dare fight - after all, friends also make us what we are, even if indirectly. For all of my powers, spells, and weapons, I cannot do anything against my friends - that is the Truth of it."

Cutting deals

(Train, Present)

"Phantasma asked where had he learnt that." Flitter said.

"He said he learned those secrets from a fictional courtesan from an universe thrice removed from our own." Prosperity said. "He is a person with a really eclectic collection of pretty much anything."

"And with Typhon's machinery, ponies and changelings could learn many other things as well." Flitter emptied her glass, not bothering to count which one it had been. "Some of them didn't wait, however."

"So what happened after that?" Fancy Pants uncorked a new bottle.

"I found our missing changelings." Flitter said, having him refill her glass. "As it turns out, there was a large bathtub in the cabin, which could be used as a hot tub - with enough ink and space, you can do anything, and enchant it. Sure, large diagrams take more magic, but something that simple could use many small diagrams that a child could fill. Many of them found partners that week."

Prosperity was pressing her palms to her ears, using her tail to carefully bring her glass to her lips.

She so did not want to hear.

"Wind Whistler taught them how to use a little bit of Breath, so that they could draw in magic from the air itself and not get tired so quickly. We need less love than other hives as a result."

*****

Phantasma grew in ability

She was always so formal and humble, too. She was an anti-Starswirl, in that regard. He was easily-excitable, and somewhat arrogant, and he had the habit of assuming he was right first, then work to prove how right he was.

Phantasma was stern and gave an air of being aloof, but she was generous, and always pushed herself to be better, so that she could be guardian of all. She was the embodiment of her hive's philosphy; confuse and frustrate your enemies, hiding your family from harm. She was very afraid of making a mistake, too, that's why she trained with the others for subtlety.

Suzy's Ghost magic was like throwing gasoline at a fire. Ghost, phantom, apparition, vision, illusion - that's why.

Sadly, not long after becoming friends - not even a year - Phantasma's mother had her bout of paranoia...

We held a wake not unlike this one. Typhon's convenient machinery could make large amounts of high-quality liquor at very low costs.

We were exposed to his views on death. This is what he'd say:

"It might seem like their absence has torn something out of you, like they took something with them when they died, but that is because you are fixated on the wrong things. Remember that they have given you their time, and their love; that is a part of them that will stay with you forever." Or a variation of the sort. He never gets hung up on what he loses, because nothing gone is gone completely. Nothing lost is lost forever.

It has to do with the philosophy behind chakras. Life is hard, yes, but you should not let things cloud and poison your energies. That was the reason Clover was so unbelievably strong, and I shudder to think what would happen if Twilight Sparkle, already powerful as an emotional, somewhat easily-depressed filly, obtained the same aptitudes. There was a reason why Typhon never bothered making Wands or Needles for himself, after all - a reason that Twilight might just end up discovering.

Her heart is really soft; it's just a matter of her learning that soft does not mean weak. The way I've seen it, her social skills are abysmal, and doesn't know how to handle anything harsher than a disagreement between friends.

Regret? No... if anything, Phantasma would be the one... say, I think she didn't pass with regrets. I mean, you are safe, loved for who you are, and I know for a fact that she never missed a chance to tell you how much she loved you all. Even if she could not make it to this trip, I know she had faith in my ability to see it through.

Why, yes, your sister is going to be here; she was rather adamant in- yes. If you are sure, although it would be best if Fancy Pants stayed home, just for the meeting.

Chrysalis and her hive are not doing well, and she refuses us and our methods... if she develops more holes, I fear that she might attack after all.

*****

(Canterlot, morning)

Celestia swapped her 'old' accessories for the 'new' ones. The absence of the Sunblood-powered magic left her feeling... exposed, cold, naked, almost - it was silly, she acknowledged. Nevertheless, even after just a little bit of use they had felt like the embrace of an old friend, telling her that she was going to be safe and protected.

Those were difficult times.

Still, if what she heard was true, and this dragon was here - well, not 'here', if Twilight's letter about the duplicates was to be believed - then she did not want to be seen as needlessly aggressive. She had had enough of that after... no, she certainly changed her methods, but it wasn't until after she found out the thousand different ways she could have helped Luna, or the hundred different outcomes of her confrontation with Nightmare Moon, that she truly gave her 'sword' a rest, in favor of cleverness.

Not to say that she had let it dull or anything of the sort.

Blueblood had been dismissed already - and he had a hard time trying not to start skipping and prancing - and sent off to assemble his team and go off to have fun in the snow (though Celestia was unsure as to how he could consider being in the middle of a blizzard 'fun'). And now she just had to wait until the rumors started to spread before she started their plan; she had the time - and perfect excuse - to attend to the 'important matter of security' that the Guard had brought to her.

The dragon entered the room, wearing a golden dress and a scowl on her face.

For a moment, neither did anything. Prosperity stared at the princess, clearly upset, while Celestia gazed at the dragon apologetically.

Fierce purple eyes looked deep into tired rose eyes.

Nothing had to be said. They both knew what the other wanted to tell them.

One wanted to berate the other, perhaps give her a slap, then cry and wait for her to say those words that she so wanted to say.

The other wanted the first to let it out, to let Celestia know just how much she hurt; to assure her that, yes, she was sorry, and that she would do anything if it could help ease her pain.

A claw clenched, shaking... then released.

"That's all I can ask for." Prosperity sighed.

"I'm sorry."

"I know." Prosperity sighed again. "Even now, he'd do anything to keep the ponies safe, you know?"

"I... have considered it." Celestia said. "Just how much did he manage to hide from me?"

"Enough." Prosperity replied as she turned to the guard that had escorted her, nodding at him to let her friends pass. "I brought friends to make a partnership offer."

Three ponies entered the room. One, a snow-white unicorn of light build, with beautiful blue eyes and a golden mane reminiscent of Fluttershy's - albeit shorter -, wearing glasses, a thick white robe with red triangular designs along the edges, sleeves, and hood, which had cat-like ears sewn on top; she also wore boots, small ones on her forelegs, and long, thick ones on her hindlegs - if it were not for the plush carpet, Celestia was sure to hear the clicking of the metal horseshoes on the stone.

The second was a unicorn mare with proportions like those of Luna's back when she was restored. Black coat, yellow eyes and mane, and a cutie mark of the masks of Comedy and Tragedy.

The third was a teenager unicorn. She wore a dark green dress bordering on black, speckled with glittering stars; she also wore a round, wide-brimmed black hat with a black eight inside a white circle; she wore elegant green shoes. Her coat was also black, and her mane - short as it was - was yellow as well. Her eyes were hidden behind a red blindfold.

All three conducted themselves with... a regal presence. They bore a noble mantle, and far better than a good deal of the current generation of nobles - not unlike her dear nephew, once he dropped his exaggerated acting. The trio, notably the thin one, despite looking frail, and the young one, despite being the shortest in the room, held themselves like giants.

Celestia found herself smiling softly, and felt like it was easier to stay upright.

"If I'm going to entertain the idea of answering summons issued in your name, then I might as well do it right." Prosperity said, nodding. "I'm just the daughter and the librarian, after all."

"I am known as 'Snowmare', or the Black Queen." The young unicorn said, bowing slightly. "Following in the steps of my mother."

"I am known as the White Queen, or WQ for simplicity." The thin unicorn bowed as well.

"A thousand pardons, you highness." The last said, bowing. "I am currently lacking an appropriate pseudonym."

"You can be the elder Scourge Sister, if you- wait, there are others older than you, aren't they?" Prosperity began to mutter to herself. "How about 'Baffling Queller'? You are still better than all of them save Snowmare."

"That... might just work, although the meanings of the word are rather ominous."

"Good!" Prosperity clapped. "Now, we need complete privacy, so either we find somewhere, or they have to go."

Celestia didn't have to turn around to tell that the dragon was looking at her guards.

"There is a chamber for private audiences, follow me, if you please."

*****

The room itself was bordering on plain. It was more reminiscent of an office than anything belonging to royalty.

Which was just fine by them. Once biological and material needs were sated, it was wise to move on to something fulfilling; hobbies and such were excellent to avoid being caught in the clutches of greed and plain materialism.

The bookcase had books on law and taxes, the desk was an exercise in 'elegance through simplicity', and the most decorations were a pair of vases with flowers.

The curtains were drawn, and Prosperity brought a claw to her lips.

Celestia gave her a puzzled look, but nodded.

The youngest pony's horn started to glow, and a bubble expanded from her to sweep all over the room. Once, twice, and then a yellow sheen covered the window.

"There, now no-one can listen in - not even through the vibrations in the glass." She said.

Celestia would have pointed out that it had been something she had thought of herself, what with having been on the other side of the equation against Typhon's impressive paranoia (although it was caution, not paranoia, if there really was somepony after you), but if it helped them feel at ease - and it was truly that important...

"Princess, what do you know about changelings?" WQ asked, making Celestia understand what a good deal of the conversation would be about.

"I have the impression that you know the answer to that yourselves." If Typhon, destructive as he might be, trusted them, then it was possible that they didn't-

"Well, we do not take the place of a real pony." The larger BQ said, confirming Celesita's thoughts. "However, there is another hive that has set its sights on Equestria; they are nowhere near to accepting our principles of cohabitation."

Celestia sighed mentally. Why was it that everything decided to threaten the country now? Nightmare Moon alone was more danger in one night than what had been seen since... Nightmare Moon... huh, she really should think that kind of things in advance. The point remained; the most dangerous situation for ponies in modern times were unruly dragons and threats against Equestria's allies that asked for their aid.

"And what do you know of the countries down south?" WQ asked, smiling cordially. "Specifically, of Equestria's southern neighbor?"

"I suspect that anything I answer is going to be incorrect." The princess sighed. So there was the place Typhon holed himself up whenever he dropped out of the face of the country!

She wasn't entirely mistaken; he did spend a good deal of time there.

"Not entirely. We simply live in the 'unwanted' portions of the country, and our changelings earn their places in society just like any other. One would think it would be maddening, living under two rulers, but changeling culture is very flexible and efficient in that respect."

"It's a combination of meritocracy and capitalism. We use love instead of money for the most part, however; to acquire a good or obtain a service, we use both money and love. The more you act for the benefit of the hive, the more you are liked, the more love you get, which allows you to do more things for which others will like you; changelings don't hoard love, not on either hive, since it's counterproductive to the task of gathering more love."

"We want an alliance with Equestria - this land is filled with more love than any other in the world." Well, they had changelings living there already, but Chrysalis could not be allowed to tarnish the reputation of changelings everywhere. Besides, it was not like they were the only shapeshifting race in the world, or even the country. "We have various things to offer for said alliance, too; I am, as my robe indicates, an expert on healing spells, and more, like keeping bogeymanes from being troublesome."

"Bogeymanes?" Celestia looked at them with confusion. "You talk about them as if they were real creatures."

Prosperity idly noted that it would be a perfect moment to play the 'record scratch' sound effect.

"Princess... aren't you Luna's sister?" Snowmare asked, baffled. "How can you not know that they are real?"

"Possibly the same way Typhon didn't know he had an epithet in thousand plus years." Prosperity spoke. "It just never comes up, you know."

"I always figured that she was referring to the nightmares that caused foals to think there were monsters in their closets, or under their beds."

"Well, it is not that." Snowmare pulled her blindfold off, revealing two normal, yellow eyes. "WQ, I need your glasses."

The white mare passed the accessory with her magic, and the glasses suddenly became dark.

"You cannot see my eyes, but I'm rolling them." Snowmare deadpanned.

"What is it, sis?" BQ asked, while WQ blushed and Prosperity slapped a claw to her face.

"She's using an incredibly saccharine image of kittens and/or puppies as a background." Prosperity guessed, and WQ just blushed harder and hid behind her hood - rather like Fluttershy, Celestia noted.

Celestia could, quite clearly, see Typhon's influence in his allies.

"I suppose that is one of Typhon's artifacts." Celestia hadn't seen much besides the rockets, armors, and weapons, but she had just about given up in trying to figure him out. Rather like Twilight with Pinkie.

"Yup." Prosperity said, while Snowmare's horn started to glow.

"BQ-Actual here, turn on your camera." Snowmare said, projecting an illusion over the wall.

"Prosperity, what is that?" Spike's voice asked, while the interior of the library appeared on the 'screen'.

"Something to talk with friends over long distances." The real dragoness answered, holding the point of view on her claw. She was using a tablet, with the screen-side camera active.

"We need proof of the existence of bogeymanes." WQ said.

"On it! Spike, if Twilight comes back early, tell her I'm away on important diplomatic business!" The white dragon then saluted and darted out of the building. The camera was still on, though all they got to see was the dirt road as it swung back and forth.

A house came into the picture as she finally stopped running; she was holding the camera away from her. Prosperity knocked on the door, and a little unicorn filly answered it.

"Hello, Dinky!"

"Prospit!" The filly then squealed. "Eeeh! Princess Celestia! Yay!"

"Good morning, my little pony." If it took Discord to get her to break her polite demeanor, weird devices didn't even make the list.

"Are bogeymanes giving you trouble?" The real Prosperity asked very sweetly, to which Dinky groaned and huffed.

"Seven just this week!" Dinky waved her forelegs wildly, as if trying to convey the craziness of it all. "Mommy would have been in trouble, but Sparkler came in with Miss Sweetie and Whitey and saved us!"

"Did you catch one?"

"There's two; they apologized, said that the mood of the others got into their heads and made them do it. They are in the broom closet right now, so that it doesn't get more." She nodded, then turned around to lead the way.

The blonde mini-pony knocked on the door of the hall closet.

"Slendermane? Slendermare? Princess Celestia wants to speak with you." Dinky called, and a sound answered.

It was a collection of sounds that cobbled words together, and, thought disturbing and creepy, Celestia caught a muttered swearword or two. It, quite appropriately, sounded like the voices she heard in her own nightmares, whenever the ghosts of her mistakes talked to her. Nightmare Moon's gloating, Luna's cries or her (imagined) anger, Discord's laughter at having bested Twilight...

Celestia's ear flicked.

"Hey!" Prosperity shouted, indignation clear on her voice. "There are fillies out here, you little Tulpa!"

"Forgive me..." The chilling composite voice spoke as the door opened. "If talking to the princess of the SUN is not a prospect that fills me with joy."

The creature was pony-like, but lacked any features. It could be easily mistaken for a tailor's dummy wearing a rather dapper black suit, if not for the odd movement where it looked like he had no bones in his body - only from time to time, nothing too extreme, and quick (blink and miss). In her opinion, that just made it worse; she could almost think of him as either too different from her subjects or pony-like enough, but his mannerisms were accurate enough to draw out that sense of familiarity just for those small moments of wrongness to stamp them to pieces. That, and the voice, made Celestia's ear flick again.

Luna should be the one dealing with them. Luna was the one that loved spiders and bats and snakes and wrote disturbingly-dark poetry in that little black notebook that Celestia pretended with all of her mental power not to know about (she really shouldn't have read it).

There was another, like the first, but with... more graceful features (what little of them there were), and a long, silky black mane and tail.

"You've got a mate? Congratulations." WQ said. "If you are truly one of the better-behaved ones, we have a business proposition for you."

"It would be wrong to prosecute somepony just because they are born different." Celestia said, nodding. "Freedom is the right of all sapient beings."

Both featureless beings visibly relaxed, although the movement sent a ripple jiggling through their bodies. Another flick of the ear.

"I am going to have a busy schedule ahead of me." Celestia sighed. "Before we proceed to make a mutually-beneficial agreement, are there any more surprises you wish to spring on me today?"

"Of course." Prosperity('s duplicate) chuckled. "The true bargain chip here is in my claws."

The dragon took out a single sheet of paper, waving it.

"I am the keeper of the library of the Storm Pillars, which we call 'Star Memory'. This here in my claw is the missing page of Starswirl's last diary."

"How are you so sure it's missing?" The faceless... mare asked, the twists on the head suggesting a quirked 'eyebrow'.

"Because it was Starswirl himself who tore it out and gave it to us for safekeeping." WQ said, sighing. "He was always so impatient; he tried out his spell before Clover had a chance to talk him out of it."

Celestia thought about it for a moment.

"Why is it that Typhon does what he does? Why fight and befriend changelings and dragons?"

"Typhon knows that things will happen around him; he is a character in a story." Prosperity answered, looking forlorn. "And things happen regardless of his intentions; he can only hope to overcome them as they came. Yet, he figured that, if the villains could have vast empires, why not him? Why play by their rules? Why let narrative causality cause him difficulties?"

"Ah, so he's not that different from us." The pair of horrors in the closet said in unison. "We will be glad to help in any way we can."

Celestia, then had a horrible, evil, terrible idea.

"Say, I am going to need help from somepony knowledgeable in scaring..."

Author's Note

A tulpa, as per the original definition, is a creature that obtains corporeal reality, when it had been merely imaginary before. Most of the time, from sheer concentration of thought through discipline.

A tulpa - by a modern definition - is also a 'thoughtform'. Basically, like an imaginary friend you talk to, only that you are aware of his or her non-physical status.

The idea of bogeymanes as they are came originally from Bucking Nonsense's many stories. I noticed that they are basically the Equestrian flavor of yōkai under Nurarihyon No Mago's guidelines; yes, some are ghosts, spirits of century-old things, cryptids, or even former humans, but the core of the issue is that they are more powerful the more others 'fear' them (not limited to humans; combat between yōkai comes down to who can use the 'fear' they induce the best against the other, after all, just swinging a club with wall-shattering strength doesn't mean jack if your enemy is someone with the power to be invisible and undetectable). They are also born out of urban legends and rumors among a large number of participants, usually because of children and superstitious townsfolk. They can be made through a 'game' that is basically telling a number of ghost stories, where you define (or at the least outline) their existence. Bogeymanes as BN defined them are nightmares that grew so large through being feared that they gained sapience and the ability to become real - collective Tulpas, once you get down to it.

Star Memory is a nod to Rave Master. Chosen because Twilight's cutie mark looks like a star. Fitting, no?

Coming up, a small sample of what Celestia is doing to the nobles.

Not the time for masks

(Ponyville, present)

"Oooh~" Aloe's skilled magic touch extracted little moans from the mare, the Windswept Questant. "I had already forgiven. This is icing. Cake. Sooo goood~."

On the next table over, a white pegasus stallion groaned his agreement as Lotus gently rotated his wing. The Windborne Kenner had paid for his own treatment, though it felt so relaxing that there was no time to catch up with his partner.

"It's strange seeing a stallion with a mud mask." Rainbow said; she had woken up sore all over from flying all around town looking for the unicorn, and had been cornered into accepting, at the very least, a massage. After all, even Spitfire and Soarin' made appointments for those.

So long as they kept their hooves away from her own, there would be no problem.

"I operate under similar principles to the minotaurs' Beef-vana." He said, just as a quick jerk from Lotus made his spine creak. "Ahh~... See, it's like this: You are so secure of yourself, that you don't have to prove anything, to anypony, ever. They consider it proof that they are macho to be able to do 'girly' things while still feeling macho about it. Ohh~... Not that hard, since they have arms thicker than watermelons."

"What do you have going for you, then?"

"Rainbow, in case you weren't listening, I just said I don't have to answer that question."

This would be a memory treasured by the original.

And then Aloe started massaging around the horn to relieve stress.

If she didn't know otherwise, WQ would have been worried about the relaxation making her melt back down into the ink that composed her body. Her body was too well made for that, however, and she could only mumble indistinct 'words' of gratitude for the foresight, as it allowed her to experience such a heavenly touch.

Hmm... perhaps she could get a little extra...

*****

(Canterlot, later)

Silver Lining and his wife, Cloud Bank, were being escorted to the throne room.

They thought they were going to (finally) get their audience, which had been canceled due to that 'Typhon' guy.

They, although leaning somewhat farther than normal on the 'selfish' side (for ponies), understood, in that snooty, elitist way so common among nobles, that it was quite the dilemma. The words 'adept at breaking things' had, by the time the day was done, been used so many times to describe him that it was understandable that the princess(es) were looking for ways to stop him.

After all, it would not do for their valuable estates to be damaged by a ruffian with wind powers.

Snooty.

Of course, they might have had entirely different thoughts had they known that said 'ruffian' was contemplating making his own country, or that, through some aspects of the construct that gave him his powers, he was technically a prince twice over; he could easily break the whole gamut of classical curses that so prominently figured in fairy tales because of that. In addition, he was also preparing his own secret base, and wondering where and how would he get a forge, but that was for some other time.

They were... pretending to be calm. Usually, they would be. After all, they were important; as a part of Canterlot's aristocracy, they were a cut above the rest, and had to be respected (and treated) as such...

News of what had happened to prince Blueblood had reached their ears, though.

Apparently, princess Celestia had been increasingly frustrated with him, and decided to send him off to search for that stray meteor that landed up north as a test to keep his position.

It had caused - not an uproar, since it was part of the rumor that Blueblood had done something - a great deal of worry. Blueblood was, among the elite, the very example of a noble, unmatched in grace and style, whose nobility was an example for all!

In reality... well, it was still true, but that image was part of his cultivated reputation. And a really good thing, too, since he had managed to steer away some others away from... dark paths - surprising how much weight the words 'that is like stealing, and unbecoming of nobleponies such as ourselves' had, or how often he had said them. It helped that herd instinct kept them from being too detached from the common pony, conceding the point that, if something bad happened to the base - no matter how much they wished to be kept separate -, the rest of the pyramid would be in trouble (since most of them thought of society as a stratified pyramid).

It still did not prevent the occasional short-sighted request from being made, however; the disputes over land and certain resources being the most common of the sort.

They were in the presence of the princess of the sun; her eyes were closed and her posture... stiff? Tense? She resembled a guard during duty more than she did her usual self, and there was something odd in the air.

And then Celestia opened her eyes.

Both ponies couldn't suppress the shivers that coursed their spines from tail to ears. The rose eyes of princess Celestia were sharp and calculating, and they both felt like she was looking past their appearance, past the postures, right into something more fundamental. She was looking at something... else, and broke focus only slightly - yet very, very noticeably.

'Princess Celestia.' The unicorn bowed very slightly, wobbling on three legs, as one was incomplete halfway of the cannon below. 'The rou-rogue dragon hass- has been taken care of.'

'Silver Tongue, you fool, get medical attention first!' And so, he was whisked away by her guards, careful not to aggravate the deep cuts that marred his sides, or his injured leg.

The medical attention of the southern country was said to be the best ever seen; she would send for one of their healers once Silver was stable.

The princess's gaze was back on them, and a mild twitch told them that, whatever it had been that she was looking at inside of them, she had found... unsatisfactory.

Both of them gulped.

"Silver Lining, Cloud Bank." She said, neutrally, calmly, and nonetheless very worrying. "Do you know why are you here?"

She took a few steps towards them as they weakly shook their heads.

Once she got close, they could feel the charge of magic in the air. The princess was flooding the air with magic, and she wasn't even trying. Cloud pressed herself against Silver, who shifted himself so that he would be a little further in front of her, both of them trembling.

"I desire to know. Tell me, why do you hate me so?" She asked, and the couple almost forgot about the magic in their shock.

"Buh-"

"I have reviewed your petitions." Celestia continued, narrowing her eyes ever so slightly, and making them shrink on themselves; the jewels adorning her appeared to shine like candles. "Do you have any idea of what it was that you were requesting? Did you not think that the outrageous demands would affect other ponies?"

Sliver and Cloud lowered their heads as much as they could without breaking eye contact.

They hadn't.

A few more steps. Her gaze relented - only a touch.

"The very founding of Equestria was centered around equality. The Fair and Just treatment of all, be they young or old, rich or poor, pony or not." Paradoxically, the feeling of magic made them shiver all the same as it made them uncomfortably warm.

They hugged one another.

"I have been taking care of Equestria for centuries, embracing it's principles as best as I could; it is often said that I am both the head and the heart of Equestria, given my sister's absence... as such, things that would harm any of the residents - and I do mean any of the residents - of this country harm me."

She was virtually on top of them, towering over the couple with her coat glowing with an orange tint in her anger, rather than her usual motherly pink.

Cloud wrapped her wings around her husband, trying to seek comfort or reprieve of the harsh truth.

"Are you aware of how destructive your petitions were? Of how much work would have to be done just to stabilize the cities' economy? Of how it would affect them and, by association, me?" She frowned again, and they stuttered trying to find the answer; she leaned closer and closer. "Your requests for land would have impacted negatively on the lives of many ponies, ponies that make less in a year than you do in a month - would that be fair? They work for their bits, as did your ancestors, even at risk to themselves for their sake and mine, while you just loaf about your estates and reach with your hooves - I ask, is that fair? I have given you more opportunities to correct your behavior and accept your responsibilities than most parents give their schoolchildren, and you respond by wasting my time with your excuses, while that time could have been spent helping several ponies and preventing some next great disaster - do you think that is fair?"

Cloud and Silver were so scared they did not dare move. The air was so thick with the princess's leaked emotions, and so hot from the same, that it was getting hard to breathe. The worst part being that she was right.

"N-n-... no?" Silver ventured, whispering. He remembered; that part of him that listened to the princess despite all others being paralyzed remembered. The painting of Silver Tongue, displaying a fake hoof that nonetheless acted like the real thing, a fantastical bonding of golem-crafting and medical magic...

Necessary due to injuries sustained when he defeated a dragon.

Alone.

The guard had their hooves full with the creatures disturbed by the dragon's rage... Silver Tongue risked everything, only prevailing due to his quick wits, a stray spear stuck on the ground, and the sacrifice of his hoof in a brave, stupid, and above all desperate last strike.

"What was that? I am afraid I did not hear you." The princess said, far less harshly and - Cloud would swear - with genuine curiosity. She, however, was but inches away from their faces.

"No?" Silver repeated himself, gulping.

Princess Celestia frowned, much more deeply than before; the oppressive feeling in the air had grown to such point that they feared that a single twitch of the princess's will would send them flying clear out of the city - if the unforgiving, solid walls of the castle were not there to... stop them.

The pair broke away from those eyes, so full of anger and disappointment, closing their own, and pressed against each other like never before. Silver cradled his wife's head, covering it with his as well, as if to guard her, while Cloud's wings and hooves embraced him the tightest she had ever done, as if to cram as much affection as possible to compensate for all of the moments she hadn't given it due to their strict adherence to appearances... and to compensate for all of the moments she wouldn't be able to give it now. They muttered apologies to one another.

"Am I a bad ruler?"

The pair gasped, looking at princess Celestia in shock. They heard that despite the adrenaline from the scare making their ears buzz, although they did miss that the feeling of magic had been but a single second long... now the air was cold and somber, the lights dimmer; her coat lost its luminosity, and it was clear that her voice wavered.

"Puh-princess?" They stammered, but did not release their grasp on the other.

"It's my fault." She said, expression downcast, and the pair worked their jaws but could not make a sound. "If I were a good ruler, you wouldn't be attacking me."

They flinched.

"If I were a good ruler, Equestrian society would not be so divided, so antagonistic to each other." As she spoke, her voice grew softer and softer.

"If I were a good ruler, my officers would reflect my wishes for the betterment of the country." She sat down, looking away from them.

"N-no, that is not it at all!" Silver blurted out - bad enough that the princess was disappointed in them, her taking the blame just rubbed salt in the wound.

"Y-yes! I mean, we haven't been exactly thoughtful..." Cloud added. "We'll be more careful?"

Despite the slight squeaking, and it sounding more like a question, Celestia gave them a relieved smile. She scooped them up in a hug, both with her wings and her hooves, so fast they both yelped - quietly.

"You do not know how happy I am to hear that." She whispered into their ears, nuzzling them both tenderly, chuckling in relief.

... It was nice.

It was warm, and nice, and it was even better than what they were used to receive from her - such things included her kind words, motherly smile, and her full attention no matter how they had behaved, so that was saying something. She nuzzled their cheeks and necks, and her heartbeat was so soothing, and even the metal she wore was warm with love.

They liked it.

It was nice.

It was hardly proper, but propriety could take a hike. The princess's coat and wings felt like the sun during their honeymoon in Acapulcolt, and the nuzzles brought forth memories - memories they had buried under the thousand masks of protocol and high society.

Why the buck did they even listen to those? Some where understandable, but the princess's affection - and their love for each other - made them feel better than... well, anything material they could name.

"Care to schedule some time to meet and take some tea?" Celestia said, squeezing around their barrels just a little bit more. "We can take care of all of the details some other time."

"Ye-yes, sure."

Behind the curtains of the throne, Glimmer Silk - alias BQ or Fleur de Lis - quietly pumped a hoof in victory. Her horn, as well her sister's and Flitter's, were glowing with a little (well, not-so-little) spell that allowed others to feel the emotions of others - reduced, though, to just a smidgen, to just a tiny bit of emotional feedback. Just a little, enough to tell the trio the sincerity of their emotions, not enough to overwhelm... not that Celestia's Stare needed a boost, but everything else?

The Slenders wouldn't have to haunt this couple... although with all of the work they were already getting, Slendermare wouldn't have to worry one bit about the new addition to their family.

And, once more, Typhon's methods helped. First; keeping them unbalanced, not giving them a chance to decide they have figured one out, all so that they would not be able to hide behind their masks, all so that they would show themselves more honestly. Second; ponies, no matter how much they hid behind the pretense of being too cultured for it, were highly physical creatures; the empathy of the magic of friendship made something as simple as a hug an incredibly potent resource, one that should not be reserved or spared and, in fact, should be applied more in the higher circles.

One of Equestria's neighbors certainly did.

Author's Note

I just had to find a way to adapt Nirv-man-a to the FiM-verse. I had to.

I think it is easy to see how one would loose a limb against a dragon with the ingredients given.

If I recall correctly (though I wouldn't be surprised if I got it wrong), hugging a horse around the barrel helps them calm down.

Angry ruler -> angry goddess -> guilt-ridden mother -> sad puppy you just kicked -> happy mother giving you hugs and kisses and cookies. Tell me you wouldn't be thrown off if that happened to you, a 'better than thou' semi-indolent pony, out of the blue, and under the effects of an emotion-sharing spell no matter how watered down.

Plus, hugs from Celestia. I mean, come on, it's tied with hugs from Luna and just behind hugs from Fluttershy in sweet d'aww-ness and heart-melting adorability. Twilight has adorkability, so she's in a different scale, and Pinkie, while cute, is also on a different scale from her cheery-ness.

Question, does anyone want to read about the Doo's bogeymane troubles and see the inspiration that made me think of Dinky as an expert in the defense against them?

Preparations

(Ponyville)

"And now you are going to stuff your face with pastries." The white pegasus, WK, sighed. "I'm so jealous."

They were travelling at a sedate pace, enjoying the pleasant afterglow. The spa visit had been absolutely wonderful.

"You do know we are the same, no?" The cerise-haired unicorn, WQ, asked with a quirked eyebrow. "Once we dispel, the patterns of mental energy will be implanted onto every single remaining one, giving them our memories. You will enjoy those treats just the same as I - if you don't dispel earlier, that is, which would give us your memories."

"And what memories." He waggled his eyebrows, lightly bumping into her. "I still feel shivers from the extra treatment."

"Me too." WQ sighed contently. "Do you want another go some other time?"

WK became pensive for a moment, though without stopping - Rainbow Dash would be waiting for WQ, so time was of the essence.

"Is it weird how we, as ponies, are always like that?" He asked. "If you weren't me, I'd probably smack you for getting sidetracked with that."

"Not any weirder that having discussions with ourselves." She giggled. "And my oh my - threatening yourself. What does that say of our sanity?"

"Sanity is relative, and all of the really powerful, interesting characters have their eccentricities anyways." WK snorted, shaking his head and making his mane whip about. "Those of us that master the secrets of ubiquity have a different standard, that's all; insanity does not factor if you are a separate mind - or even a hive mind."

"And being casual with such techniques, the powers of shape-shifting, and everything in general is the reward for such mastery." WQ chuckled politely. "Having the magical equivalent of a translator rocks absolutely. Need earth pony-aligned magic, but in the shape of a unicorn spell? No need to hunt for the elusive plant-mark-bearing unicorn, or a friend of diaphanous wings with unusual aptitudes, just do it yourself. Same with turning pegasus magic into unicorn magic to apply a 'caster only' spell meant for the latter while you are the former."

"Got its own share of problems, though."

"As anything, I suppose. On better news, that visit to the spa was much better than a full night's sleep and three meals in recharging magical energy."

"No wonder why Rarity likes it so much."

*****

(Blueblood, noon)

The prince stared at the map, hard.

Really, really hard.

Any harder, and his gaze would physically manifest and make a hole on the parchment.

Bramble and Fresh Bread, the ponies that had accompanied him on the trip that earned him his cutie mark, were more than glad to join him. He beg-requested that they help him for old times' sake.

Bramble's 'playful' punch to the shoulder still hurt; it felt like that time he fell down the stairs because the dre-... the... garment he was wearing was too long and snagged one of his hooves.

Ah, to be five years old with a princess for a second mother.

Oh, yeah, Bramble and Fresh Bread. Right. They would be an immense help.

"Did you request my presence, sir?" That playfully mocking tone could only be-

"Wind Strider, what a pleasure." He chuckled, looking away from his map for the first time in minutes to face the albino mare.

"If you want to set something on fire, a match is more effective." She smirked. "Or is your memory really that bad?"

He couldn't let her know that he was currently seeing an imprint of the map on her coat from retinal fatigue - she'd never let him live it down.

Wind Strider was a pure white pegasus that wore sunglasses everywhere - her eyes were too sensitive to light, even if there was a spell to help correct and protect the eyesight of an albino. She only wore things that she liked, public opinion be darned, and she liked Carousel Boutique's designs; unfortunatelly, that meant that seeing her was a reminder of his atrocious 'goof', as they would say.

That seamstress was just too refined for her own good. Really, how was he supposed to know that she wasn't a gold-digger?!

He sighed, ignoring her little jab.

"Are Beloved and Dagger up to an adventure?" He asked with a smile - a genuine, if tired, one. Strider was one of the few non-staff who knew the real him, so there was no need to weave an intricate dance of fake politeness - she would just try to cut through to the issue, in any case.

"Of course! They might act stoic all the time, but I can tell that they are getting bored - they are still my kids." She chuckled behind her hoof.

"Good!" He clapped his hooves twice, and a maid quickly served some tea. Auntie hired good ponies; if he didn't know better, he would have sworn that the maid had appeared out of thin air and read his mind - they were like ninjas or something. "Thank you, Grace."

Graceful Touch bowed, then did that thing maids did all the time, when they seemed to vanish. He knew that she was actually behind him, if only because the tray was polished to a mirror shine.

"Do you have what I asked for?" Blueblood couldn't keep a hint of excitement from becoming known.

"Yes, dear, what did you expect? All of that money from the cinematographic industry has to be good for something. I assume that you have 'the perfect supplier' for the winter gear?" Strider gave him a knowing smile, and, though her eyes were covered, he knew she had one of those looks in them.

"Well, I thought it an appropriate start to making amends." He coughed.

"And that a certain 'Bookish Delight' lives in the same town has nothing to do with it." She grinned wider, leaning forward.

"I-I do not know what you are talking about." He stammered, looking away in indignation.

"Mm hmm. So there will be no detours to see that dreamy scholarly beauty?" She leaned even further.

"I-I still don't know what are you insinuating." He leaned back, blushing faintly. "I merely wish to visit the local library to get updated maps."

"Ah!" She stifled a gasp with a hoof. "So that was the reason you were staring at the map! You wanted an excuse!"

Suddenly, she was just about to press her muzzle against his.

He yelped and fell over backwards. She laughed, clapping her hooves.

"Bluey and Sparkle, sitting in a tree!" She couldn't keep singing from her laughter; the sight of his luminescent blush was just too funny.

"STRIIIIIDEEEER!!!"

*****

(Celestia, teatime)

"... needs the Elements and some friends, that much is obvious..." Celestia mumbled, trying to decipher the meaning of the spell.

She had thought the last entries to be separate spells, all incomplete yet unrelated; Starswirl tended to work on several projects in parallel, and so it would not surprise her.

Not quite.

The spellbook was very thorough, ridiculously so, and yet the components cancelled each other out along the way; only a few weaves became involved in the actual casting. Each component, by itself, was not complicated; any unicorn capable of using all of them, however, would be one of the talented ones, indisputably. Wildly different spell systems that, given the odds, would no doubt clash with a given unicorn's personal style more than once.

Still, it was time for a brief recess from guilt- scaring- court, and she wanted to talk some more with her... business partners.

Typhon's adoptive daughter, a senior member of his original band, and the daughters of another member.

She stored the book away to study it in more detail some other time.

She listened to the tale of their meeting with Typhon, and almost managed to get lost in thought.

If he could truly be in two places at once, that explained how he managed to do everything he had in such times. Heck, just remembering all of the things she had on her plate gave her a headache.

"Being in two places at once was the very start." Flitter, the White Queen, said. "We made spells to do that and more."

"This one..." Prosperity gestured to herself. "Is an advanced one. It appears to be easy, and it truly is uncomplicated, and does not require material components beyong the scroll I used as a channel-slash-focus; the requirements are harsh, however, and is virtually made of red flags. I would not recommend casting this without the OK of an experienced user."

"Wind Whistler worked her tail off to make sure she was able to direct it properly." Flitter commented, sighing.

"Hmm? Why would she do something like that?" Celestia found herself asking before she could reign in her mouth.

"What do you remember of her?" Prosperity looked at her in the eye... still hurt, naturally.

"I remember how hard she and Windstorm worked, and how they were joined at the hip-"

Immediately, Flitter fell to the ground, laughing her head off - at least it was a private room. Her loud guffaws betrayed her frail appearance and usually calm voice, and her thin legs struck the (carpeted) floor harder than Celestia thought she had it in her. Prosperity hid her face behind her claws.

"Oh sweet Swadhisthana! That's priceless!" She bellowed uproariously, hood thrown back and kicking her hindlegs into the air. "No more! No more! I drank too much! BWAHAHA!"

"Not. One. Night." Prosperity grumbled, barely audible from behind her claws. "Ever since their first time. Not one night."

Celestia then realized what she had said, what it could be construed as, and the benefits of having a double that for all accounts truly was you to do things in your stead.

Celestia's rosy coat turned a stronger shade of pink.

*****

(Typhon)

Nightmare Night is fast approaching.

It's a night of full moon.

See, I once heard that there are not enough miracles to go around, that the crickets have arthritis, that taking a miracle means that you are not letting someone else have it.

"Isn't that the stupidest thing you've ever heard?" I told myself. "Crickets can't get arthritis... and if there are not enough miracles... you move past the miracle-worker, and go for the miracle-maker."

I was going to get some answers, and add more information to our 'little' library.

I - my friends - we are more than simply magic users, more than 'just' spell-casters.

Each of us is a full-blown Thaumaturge, blending magic both old and new with science, dreams with reality, all to make what we want to happen, happen. The Essences of Hope and Light alone mean that there was very little we could not do, and even that can be worked around.

I was absolutely sure of it.

See, back before Equestria, before a lot of things, there were numerous creatures and phenomena that - should they be here today - would stomp anything short of Celestia, Luna or the Elements to the ground... and yet, they were defeated or overcome - sure, some thanks to the Elements, but they were not the only option, just the fastest and most powerful.

How? I can almost hear the question.

Well, I wasn't sure - not at hundred-percent certainty - but I was confident that the answer I had was accurate.

Harmonization with Magic. Capital 'M' Magic with bold, italics, underscored, in gigantic letters of fire with glitter and angelic chorus and divine light with a whole lot of black for contrast.

The original Typhon, Echidna, old, legendary wizards, the more Starswirl and I studied them the more certain we were that they didn't use magic the way others did. Can anyone imagine beating something as strong as Tiamat or Celestia with only a few years' worth of experimental techniques born from half-defined principles? At least Celestia and Luna had the age, raw power, and a lot of experience from trying to get around my own techniques and/or get them for themselves.

Not to mention all those other bonuses, but I don't feel like spending three hours explaining all I know about the sisters, immortality, the Elements, alicorn-hood, and the like.

Magic that reacts to your thoughts and wishes, with no need to control it consciously because your control is already completely and totally perfect. Just like The Breeze is for me, particularly now that I am a god-tier level player - I suspect that now I don't have to worry so much about activating powers from the wrong class at the wrong moment; it seems to do what I wanted, my will made manifest in the wind. Just like Fire is for Suzy, Wood for Seiryu, Water for Genbu, and Metal for Byakko - along with all of the powers Associated to the names of the constellations under them.

Progress enough, and I bet that two of the greatest illusions people hold would bow down and disperse. I mean, I could still use magic, in certain ways, despite it not getting along well with my human body.

Warning, just because the shape-control is perfect, that does not mean that the restraint-control is. I could just will tornadoes into existence before my Ascension with no practice needed, but I still had to measure myself; a human can control the delicate and the strong motions of his or her hands, but throwing a punch with the right technique and amount of force consistently still takes its fair share of practice.

Even yet, a heavyweight boxer can out-punch the gifted-but-young trainee no matter how much the young one's technique is better. (That's why we have diversity, by the way - to find an angle that works regardless of the apparent disadvantages).

That is the reason the Tirek from the season four finale is no threat - not here. Ponies are just a little more in-tune with their own magic, and the cores of it, their cutie marks, are slightly better understood than in a 'canon' universe; draining the magic itself, or absorbing spells themselves, only means that a particularly-determined pony would be able to pull back their magic, causing the balloon he made himself to be to pop. And it would be as gruesome as it sounds. To absorb magic itself, or spells - instead of just the magic reserves or the spell's power - requires some very special things and mentalities... for example, one of the central themes of Darkness is Acceptance (the dark might rush back when the candle is blown out, but the dark alone cannot - will not - put out the candle or extinguish its light), tainted darkness cannot accept, and thus, cannot truly hold the magic.

I read Fairy Tail, Psyren, and Negima; I know the phenomenon, and how it can be countered. That guy does not stand a chance against filly Dash, much less a teacher of Celestia's school actually worth peanuts. Also, the Tree of Harmony is a metaphor in this world.

Twilight, being not only a magic-talent, but The one chosen by the Element of Magic, could, in theory, catch up with our thousand-and-a-half years of magic research in a few decades, and that was assuming that she resisted certain required changes in mentality. Once Starswirl's spell is cast, I doubt that she will have much trouble.

As it stood, I was currently doing preparations for the chamber my... experiment was about to happen. Suzy was handling the searing of the appropriate circles and runes, leaving me with some spare time to jot down my thoughts in my journal.

If this experiment worked, then that meant that I would gain a great advantage. I would also be one step closer... well, I, as I have so many times said, hold no delusions; if things hit a dead end, then that was that, and I would not hold it against anyone, nor be depressed - it simply could not be done by the means available to me.

I can accept that.

I could wait.

There is always a way, even if it wasn't the way you wanted.

Author's Note

The movie industry in Equestria is primarily composed of changeling actors - yellows, mostly. After silent movies ran their course, the new sound studios tended to hire the actors from them - however, the dramatic, wide movements necessary to convey the feelings in the mute films were... less than ideal for the new, voiced productions.

Enter, Typhon. It was exactly the same that happened on the human movie industry, so all that he had to do was suggest that the ponies with money NOT just shunt the silent stars into the stage without training. Needless to say, the changelings could actually act decently, and follow the darn instructions in the bucking script to the friggin' letter from the get-go - no need to wait until bloated egos get crushed by throngs of ponies laughing to tears by what was supposed to be a tragic death scene because the actors were Rarities about it.

Yes, Wind Strider does know that, like, sixty percent of the actors she's got on payroll are changelings.

For a small bonus, think of the meaning of the names.

Swadhisthana is the name of one of the chakras, just so you know.

A little variation before an eclipse

(Ponyville, Dusk, Nightmare Night will be in full swing in few hours)

"You are dressed as Starswirl the Bearded! How can that not be hilarious?!" Prosperity laughed, seeing Twilight in that garb was even better Live.

"I still don't get it." Spike, dressed as a dragon, scratched his head.

"Me neither." Twilight said, her bells jingling. Prosperity had convinced her to get ready early, and help with the preparations.

Prosperity was dressed as the protagonist of a videogame, as Typhon's mild obsession with them meant that she had played a whole lot of them. The only reason it was not a full-blown obsession was that they actually got useful things out of it.

Momohime, from Muramasa: The Demon Blade. Hilariously, the name was composed of the characters for 'Peach' and 'Princess'.

Her body double, back in Canterlot, was wearing a blue dress with armor, marking her as Saber from the Fate series. The occasional noble complimented her on her bearing (Dragon meant hoard, hoard meant money, and the cherry on top was that she was Fancy Pants's guest).

Fleur was dressed as a Red Wizard, with Fancy being the Blue Wizard. Flitter kept her White Wizard robes, but the young yellow queen was dressed as a Black Wizard, using her illusion magic to make the necessary changes. It was not very hard to convince Celestia, already in the habit of sneaking around during Nightmare Night disguised like any other pony (with a size reduction to avoid suspicion), to get into a Green Wizard outfit. The Slenders went as themselves.

There were other ponies (and changelings) around in different costumes referencing things nopony else would understand, and it was hysterical.

"Oh, right, you don't know." Prosperity flicked the bell on top of the hat. "Are you familiar with the story of 'The stars that never fell'?"

"Of course!" Twilight answered, leaning back and raising a hoof to protect her bells (much like Starswirl himself did, for added hilarity). "It was my favorite story from when I was a filly. Did you know it dates back over one thousand four hundred years? I always asked my mom to- you know something I don't, don't you? You were alive when it was made."

"It's fairly transparent once you know its secret." Prosperity nodded.

*****

Twilight's mind

The story, greatly shortened, was simple.

Two stars played in the night. One star fell in love with the bonfire, while the other wanted to join the clouds and the rain and the lilies.

The sun wanted to introduce the stars to other stars, but these new ones were, to their taste, too dull and too rude.

The sun was not listening, however, and the two stars would not give up their love.

The winds (sweet Astronomical Astronomer's Almanac to All Things Astronomy, it really is transparent) and their guardians then decided to deceive the sun.

As soon as a big trouble appeared, the mist, the white snake, the clover, the shadow of the moon, a feather of iron, and a baby fire executed a plan to help the stars disappear after pretending to fall on top of the monsters that were causing the problems.

The winds helped the stars' parents to join them well outside of sight of the sun. They joined the tree and the swallow, and had more stars and birds and flowers. The two stars united with their loves, and became many in the twilight.

The stars did not need much, and joined the service of the sun, while the sun never knew that the stars never fell.

*****

"Just how good was he at sneaking around?" Twilight mumbled to herself.

"This good."

"YAAH!" She screamed, jumping into the air after having somepony whispering in her ears. Prosperity caught her without trouble, holding her belly-up like a baby.

After making sure that her heart would not jump out of her mouth and run for the hills, Twilight turned to glare at the owner of the voice.

WK, dressed in a pony-fied version of the blue outfit Typhon wore when she first saw him.

"There are so many ways to move silently, that the book written about it is as thick as one and a half Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone books." He said, holding the aforementioned item in his hooves.

Only it wasn't in his hooves, as a certain purp-lavender mare had taken it no sooner had WK said 'one and a half'.

WK sighed internally from the relief. He had dodged a bullet there - a literal magic bullet, even.

"If you want to know more..." Prosperity dropped her passenger, although in such a way that she would land on her hooves. "I suggest asking your parents what happened."

Twilight, though confused, ultimately nodded, setting down the book on a reading stand for later.

"Now, if you excuse me, I have to get going before Big Macintosh steals the spotlight forever." WK said, then flew out the nearest window at high speed, leaving a white, black, and blue contrail. It happened whenever ponies used wind-shaping in flight, like him, or if they were just that magical, like Dash back in her foalhood days before she trained.

"Did he stop by just to scare Twilight?" Spike asked, scratching his head.

"I think he just wanted to do something and took the opportunity; us Pillars have been waiting for this night since forever ago." Prosperity shrugged, then, to help disguise the true meaning of her words further, she added. "Typhon introduced us to a human holiday that is a near-equivalent of this one; Halloween. We've been getting into disguises and eating metric tons of candy each year since the first one, but this is the first time I've celebrated it in Equestria with ponies that actually know who and what I am."

"Really? Since all that time ago? What kind of things did you do? Anything memorable?"

"Well, we have this... artifact, of sorts, that can switch your gender, so the others tried out their favorite costumes without care for the gender of the source. This dress used to be Typhon's, but then there was an incident because of some lecher and some... hormonal imbalances; there was fire - lots of fire - and now he avoids being a woman during the last days of the month."

"A gender-flip artifact?! That's amazing! And you used it for costumes?!" Twilight was starting to, as Spike would say, 'nerd out', but a shudder from Prosperity interrupted them.

"Not just that. See, as I grew up I absorbed parts of the human mindset, for the most part. Ponies are much more liberal in certain aspects than humans. Everypony I was involved with was even more liberal than that."

"Huh?" Spike was confused, the meaning having sailed right over his head.

"Wait." Twilight was perceptive, and noticed that Prosperity was getting rather pink. "Did they...?"

"I still do not know what to wear." Wind Whistler shifted from side to side, trotting down the hallway. "The date by itself may not hold much cultural significance to me; however, it is still a celebration that I like to share with all of you."

"You'll find something, don't worry; there is plenty of time still." Clover placed a calming hoof on his shoulders. "Why won't we go see what 'she' is wearing? Maybe somepony gave her an idea, which you can then mirror - like that time you went as a king and she was your queen."

Whistler just laughed as Clover gave him a conspiratorial nudge to the ribs. Then they opened the door to the bedroom.

"Hello, do you like the costume I chose?" A grey pegasus mare laid on her side on top of the bed. The two by the door stared, dumbfounded.

"That's not a costume." Whistler blinked as he stated numbly. "That's lingerie."

"Dang, I guess I'll have to... take it off." Windstorm pouted cutely, then batted her eyelashes. "Can somepony lend a lady a helping hoof?"

"If you insist..."

"Yes." Prosperity said with a shudder, holding her arms close to her body. "They are still my family-analogues; just thinking about it freaks me out."

"I thought you were an adult dragon already." Twilight quirked an eyebrow.

"Do you want to think about your parents' 'extra-special nights'? Or entertain the thought of Celestia having a paramour? And then having them switch roles?" Prosperity countered, pointing with her claw - without letting go of her arms.

Predictably, Twilight shivered, to the point of trotting in place to try to shake off the thoughts.

*****

(Later)

Prosperity took a stance, one of her claws hovering over the hilt of her very real sword.

Twilight wondered just how often did she take that size for her to not be rusty as all get out. (The answer was more complicated than simply shrinking in size periodically, but it was neither here nor there).

Somepony in the audience coughed.

The claw grasped the sword, pulling it free of its scabbard in a smooth, silent motion. The blade gleamed and traced lines in the soft light of the lanterns as it moved back and forth, then, it was sheathed carefully and slowly, letting it noiselessly return to its resting place.

Click! The sword was back the way it was.

The scabbard struck the pumpkin, squeezing it slightly and making the cut sections pop out, leaving behind a crude, yet no less impressive, carved face. It was basic, with triangles for eyes and nose, and a wedge mouth. It was still carved in three seconds.

Cheers.

"How in th' hay didja make cuts like these?" Applejack asked, eyeing the strangely neat corners.

"I asked the sword to ask the pumpkin to be split more nicely, plus magic."

"You asked." Twilight deadpanned - it wasn't enough that nopony knew that she was wearing a faithful reproduction of Starswirl's cape and hat, Prosperity had to be just as infuriatingly obscure as Typhon. It made sense, really, and it was simply obvious, but she would like an explanation as a teacher would give it.

"Yeah! You would be surprised of how far some politeness can get you." Prosperity nodded sagely. "It was the reason the sword gleamed like that. I have had a lot of time to refine the process."

"I guess it's easy to forget how old you actually are."

"Age has nothing to do with anything, but I have put a lot of time and effort into things."

Magic had both its science and its art, with the art side being very heavily reliant on focus and connections. The connections were drawn by others, with meanings decided by convention; if one could chose the relevant symbolism, they could control the perception of reality of others. If she said that the blade represented a cut, then that was what everypony around her would take it for.

The Pillars knew how to define what the relevant symbolism was, and thus, they could define how others viewed... virtually anything, really. It was a power, and thus, neither scary nor awe-inspiring - those, again, where concepts applied by external observers. A rock was just a rock - it had the potential to become a weapon, a material in the construction of a castle, or a sculpture, but it was none of those things... yet.

It was yet another illusion of the mind of the imaginative.

Power was simply power. It could not corrupt - unless it was actually tainted by an external will, or it caused an actual damage to its wielder.

Power was simply power. It came with no more responsibilities attached than those one swore to uphold to obtain it - no promises made meant no responsibilities.

Now, that power in the hands - or hooves - of just any random Joe on the street? That was scary. Joe could be the one that decided to abuse that power, little by little, until Joe was a tyrant that was far removed from what it appeared he used to be. By the same token, Joe could also turn out to share Typhon's viewpoint on others - brothers and sisters sailing on the river of life, enjoying their own journey, and thus should be respected - and aided - as you would your brothers and sisters (thus taking a responsibility towards others entirely of his own volition).

Prices? Oh, those were very real. The price for the power being that she had to be very careful, lest it get turned on her, or let it get carried away and have it do something that she did not desire.

Heck, the power of illusion was control over perception, period. The reality of the illusionist became the reality of the illusion, to the point that 'real illusions' were a possibility - illusions that had an effect upon the world itself. The price? If an illusion was countered by illusion, then the caster lost control over their own perception, leaving them at the mercy of the second illusionist.

"Where did you learn to use a sword like that, though?" Spike asked, bringing her out of her daze; he had no real opinion of the older dragon, but she seemed to treat him like a little nephew - possibly because he was still considered a baby in the dragons' life cycle, while she was much older (and crazier, by her own admittance, no less).

"My... boyfriend, you could say." She rubbed her arm sheepishly. "He's this guy... well, he taught Typhon martial arts and... stuff."

*****

Elsewhere

"Seiryu, you don't have lungs in this form, so how in the name of Chlorophyll did you manage to sneeze?!"

*****

"Starswirl the Bearded is only the most important conjurer of the pre-classical era." Twilight huffed after the umpteenth erroneous comment about her costume.

"He created more than two hundred spells! He even has a shelf in the Canterlot library of magic named after him." She didn't see that Prosperity mouthed 'five hundred and eighty-seven, give or take'.

"Maybe I should start up a pony group to teach ponies about history. I bet everypony will love it!" Twilight was starting to have a dangerous gleam in her eyes... just like Starswirl himself once an idea took root in his brain.

"Yeah, his work before the unification is the most well-known, particularly his Treatise of the Three Tribes." Prosperity interrupted her. "But it was his post-restoration and post-Harmonia work what you'll find most interesting. Most of it was kept secret, you know."

*****

Back with Typhon

I was currently in a bit of a bind. I was trying to prevent a pair of enormous pincers from closing on my body, you see. Not too big of a struggle, since I did have armored gloves available, and I was powerful enough...

The problem being that this freakishly large antlion brought friends in the form of a huge worm/lamprey/leech hybrid known as the Abyss Worm and a boatload of centipedes.

I'm a heavy hitter. If I want something dead, it's dead. Problem is, so's the whole place - more often than not, since so few 'contestants' were courteous enough to NOT use area-of-effect... effects, or the common sense to not be enormous enough to warrant me using my strength and powers indiscriminately just to hold them off.

I came across a large natural cavern during my tunneling, and the centipedes had enough earth magic to shake things up - normally not much of a concern, given how localized and focused the energy was, but the cave was large and didn't give me the image of stability I wanted in my underground dwellings. I was split between holding the gym-sized cave of soft rock stable with Seiryu's magic, holding off the pincers with my hands, holding myself off the floor of the cave to avoid the periodic discharges of magic, and trying not to get cornered. I couldn't just leave, since I was almost sure that these centipedes would keep tunneling upwards.

I may be currently below the Everfree, but Ponyville was literally within spitting distance.

I can spit very far, alright?

In any case, I needed to do one more room to draw the Nightmares out for my experiment.

I had my supporters and all, but white changelings were rubbish at offense for the most part, and yellows had trouble with things that saw through vibrations like I'm almost a hundred percent sure these things did. I was not about to ask a pony - most of the ones that I would even consider to call for battle were in other cities, protecting them. I had yet to ask around...

Well, I guess I should find help among my fellow humans... hopefully someone whose powers are more focused than mine.

I have terrible luck with locations.

Author's Note

I imagine their marriage as this Gomez and Morticia Addams thing, the kind of union where they love each other to pieces, then they snuggle the pieces to bits, then they cuddle the bits to smithereens, pause to look romantically at each other, then smooch the smithereens into whatever the hell is smaller than that. They have a very visibly healthy love life - as much as it could be shown on TV, anyways - they were always talking to each other with a great deal of affection, Gomez would drop what he's doing to kiss her hand in an over-the-top fashion, and they were always happy with each other. And they are comically freaky, to the point Morticia is taken aback when someone does something that can be construed as 'pleasant'.

(Make of that what you will.)

The rod of Asclepius, the god of medicine, is a serpent-entwined staff. A white mage is a healer. White snake. Ta-da?

It's so easy to make a bad situation a thousand times worse by adding the words 'and then ___ caught fire' or 'and then there was fire' or any variation of the sort.

Tell me the truth - would you be able to resist curiosity forever and never once think about what it might be like to be R63'd? There is also the fact that some of the classes were meant to be gender-exclusive, thus giving an incentive to try out if they would work better/be easier to learn if he switched. They are, the latter, but the incident was embarrassing.

By speaking of 'real illusions' I have just given away the source of inspiration, let's see how many have the same reading habits as I do (i.e. you pick anything that even remotely tickles your fancy, when you are not doing it completely at random).

Sorry for the weak chapter - it's the problem with doing 'slightly off' versions of the episodes.

Intermission: "Look, ma! I'm a princess!"

Meanwhile, miles and miles away

A giggle bubbled from Princess Celestia's throat, then, she promptly covered her muzzle with a hoof while she blushed in embarrassment. She giggled again, swaying slightly as she simply took a sip from her... whatever drink it was; she sniffed it again, sighing with a smile.

Blessed be body doubles. She was out there, making sure that the foals had a good time (and a safe one, at that), while she was with her friends, beyond buzzed!

And another was doing the odious, detestable paperwork that so plagued her! She should banish it to Tartarus - oh! Another great idea to deal with the despicable stacks of paper!

And thanks to Prosperity's warnings, everypony knew what she was dressed as! News traveled so fast, it was like they flew! Or like magic!

Prosperity watched the giggling mare finish off yet another of those things... they were really sweet, but heavy on the alcohol. The party was - as was tradition for Nightmare Night - a garden party (the very spacious garden outside the Castle Ballroom), and technically hosted by Blueblood, even if he was off preparing to brave the elements and demonstrate his mettle; his absence was seen as him taking his task- his quest with the earnest dedication that Celestia had clearly said it should be given.

Fortunately, Celestia had not yet had any drinks by the time she heard that, and was able to retain her composure. Laughing like a madmare would have been suspicious, after all.

The reason she had been drinking so much, so early, was because her disguise's hair coloration resembled Fleur's; they were so similar that, being both 'unicorns', she had been asked if they were sisters seventeen times in the first ten minutes. Hence, she went straight for the drinks, not knowing they were alcoholic at first, then not caring because they were really good.

"And there she goes for another one. I may have made a mistake in teaching her that." Prosperity muttered as the slightly-inebriated Green King waved another waiter. She pinched the bridge of her snout with her armored claw (having scales on her face was convenient like that) - Celestia was, essentially, using the body double to drink all she wanted, get totally and utterly wasted, and dodge the hangover by dispelling the clone before the alcohol got processed fully.

And do paperwork while she's off at a party.

Clones of that variation were usually rarely worth the risk of using them for most of the ponies, given that the necessary energy for one was a concern, the required affinities not all that common, and the effort of learning to use them effectively was another unattractive point about them; yet, once the caster got past a certain level of power, control, and mental fortitude... it was possible to do that, and more, because magic is supposed to make life more convenient for those that can conquer its challenges.

And Celestia had all of that to spare. Besides, she deserved some convenience in her life, what with having had to shoulder the responsibilities over the entire nation alone for a thousand years. Karma had racked a rather hefty debt.

Flitter staggered and bumped into Prosperity, then latched a foreleg around her waist for support.

"Why so serious?" Flitter's bubbly giggles just made her pinch her face harder.

"Our fellow royal is an empathic drunk, just like you." Prosperity sighed, watching Celestia sniffling and hugging a party-goer (dressed as what she thought of as a ponified Carmen Sandiego) that had been pawing at the ground awkwardly. "Just. Like. You."

"More Empathy to spread around!" Flitter said while sweeping a hoof through the air, then using said hoof to pat her friend's stomach - because she couldn't reach the shoulders. "I'm big on that, you know? It's like... like the core philosophy of my place, you know?"

"I know, Whitey. What I want to know is why nopony is batting an eyelash at this." Prosperity glanced around aaaannnd of course. It just had to be like that.

A lot of ponies were sporting blushes, despite the crisp mountain air being a little nippy.

"Most everypony has had a touch too much to drink, Prospit." The Red King Fleur de Lis watched in amusement as Silver Lining (dressed as international stallion of mystery Con Mane) was swaying in place, next to an equally tipsy Cloud Bank (dressed as Daring Do).

"This... this... is... my wife." Silver Lining said, wrapping a hoof around the mare's shoulders and squeezing her a little bit, knocking her hat off in the process. "I love her."

Cloud Bank, for her part, tittered behind her hoof, blushing and giving Silver a peck on the cheek.

"Seriously, my friends. I love her so much." He sniffled, giving his glass a hearty swig. "And- and then, I had thought: What if I die? I'm never going to see her again."

Silver began to tear up, and even a small sob escaped him. Cloud gently butted the side of his head with hers, draped a wing over his back, then nuzzled him.

"And then I started tinking- I mean, thinking. I thought some more, and asked myself: 'Does she know I love her?'."

"I know it." Cloud's body shook as if she was laughing with no volume to it; her eyes began to water, and she gave Silver another quick kiss.

"I know now." Silver said, snatching a glass from a passing waiter and offering it to Cloud, who, rather than simply take it, pressed her lips against it and tipped it with a hoof. "But I was worried I didn't show it."

"Show it?" One of the other ponies asked - he was dressed as a general from a couple of centuries ago, including a Mustache of Command the likes of which were immortalized in song (he was rather proud of it, and petted it and groomed it as he spoke). As another victim of the powerful-yet-smooth sweet drinks, he was unable and unwilling to listen to that voice that told him that the display of affection was 'improper'; he found that the voice was annoying him and distracting him from listening to what Silver Lining had to say.

"I mean, we spend so much time of the day looking up at the sky - what's even up there, anyways? Like, are we looking for birds? I kind of understand looking up at night, what with the stars and the moon, but walking like that during the day? What if I trip or something?" He turned skyward and narrowed his eyes, frowning; he couldn't see the birds because the night was in the way. Then he remembered that the birds were probably asleep, and stayed like that looking at the stars.

Weren't there supposed to be pictures up there?

"Right." "Indeed." "Indubio- indi... in-du-bi-ta-bly." The others nodded. Inebriation put a new perspective on things, and the pair's actions and words had wormed their way through the usual filters. Not to mention that a few of them had already had their 'audience' with princess Celestia, and had their usual frames of reference... shaken, to say the least.

"It's what we are expected to do." Somepony in a flutterpony costume (with a regal dress added) said. "Like, how are others supposed to know we're Canterlot ponies?"

"Don't we already wear all of this stuff because of that?" The general said, gesturing to his period-accurate replica of an officer's parade uniform, then returning his hoof to the task of twirling his mustache. "I rather like my suits and ties, and the thought of face-planting because I wasn't looking..."

The group let out an involuntary shudder at the mental image; a mustache like that was to be preserved at all costs.

"Back to my wife - I love her, did I already say that?" Silver asked, and had his ear swatted by Cloud's.

"You said it." She gripped him with her wing a little bit tighter - and downed the rest of the glass she had been sipping from.

"So I was like 'am I showing it enough?' and then I nearly had a heart attack - I wasn't!" He gasped and tried to fan himself with a hoof, Cloud's wing having inadvertently contributed to the uncomfortable warmth. "I spent so much time worrying about what ponies I didn't even know thought that I wasn't paying attention to the ones I do know! If I die, what would the last memory of me be? Turning my nose to the air and treating Cloud like I don't even notice she's there?!"

He stood straight - well, almost - and placed the glass on a tray carried by another waiter.

He turned to Cloud, gently turned her head towards him, and pressed his lips against hers. She didn't waste any time in returning it, and even deepened it of her own initiative.

"Uh..." The general coughed.

Silver broke off the kiss, then glared at him.

"Do you mind? I'm making sure she knows that I love her!" He released Cloud, and wiggled out of her wing grip. "Come, honey, let's get away from these ponies that apparently can't accept that a stallion might want to shower his beloved mare with affection."

The pair snorted, and the other party-goers flinched at the accusation.

Prosperity watched as they just trotted besides her, herself standing next to the improvised 'bar', and snuck under the table.

She sighed, shook her head, and turned to the 'barmare'.

"What are you even doing here?" She asked the unicorn currently mixing another drink, intended for Celestia, no less.

"What does it look like? Making sure that these stiffs have a good party." The mare's mirth was evident in her bright blue eyes, levitating a small glass for herself. "Besides, what of your supposed escort?"

"I left them guarding the chests my 'hoard' is being kept in, because I didn't want them to get mixed up with the other treasures." Prosperity answered, sighed in defeat, and made her request. "I want a Rainbow, and the mundane one that's just several drinks floating on one another; I don't want any magic liquor today."

"Sure."

"Don't you know how much my poor psyche suffers whenever I see someone that changed to the gender opposite to that they were born with just 'for the lulz'? The only one not to change even once was Starswirl, and that was only because he didn't want to lose his beard."

The mare, code-named 'WQ-2', giggled as she carefully poured the ingredients. Having an inventory that didn't take up much actual physical space and could be accessed freely was, in her words, 'awesome', as she could simply carry everything she needed to open her own bar.

And yes, that included the building itself. Wallet inventories were overpowered like that.

"Get one pony doing it and most of the rest will soon follow - it's how I got so many of them drunk. That, and ponies are vulnerable to sweet things."

"Now there are ponies getting awfully affective towards their partners." Prosperity sighed, but simply took her drink. Being a dragon was convenient - alcohol was 'burned off' quickly, and only certain special brews could affect them like that.

"I want... anything, really; as long as it's hard." A unicorn mare with a lavender mane and fuchsia coat sighed.

"You look pretty down; word of advice, if you're like that, you shouldn't try to get drunk." The Questant said. "Talk to me instead."

The mare looked at her with a frown, but ultimately nodded.

"I've been looking for... somepony. I saw her at the Gala - at first I thought she was annoying, but I can't get her out of my head."

Prosperity quirked an eyebrow, thinking that the mare - the Carmen Sandiego pony - looked somewhat familiar.

(Alright, so it was the Tellurian equivalent 'Charming Supplanter', but she had been exposed to the human version much earlier than the pony version.)

"Do you have a name or a face with which to narrow it down?" Prosperity asked, the sense of familiarity starting to burn.

"She was one of the mares that defeated Discord; the pink earth pony-"

"Pinkamena Diane Pie." Both the dragon and the barmare said simultaneously.

"Oh... you know her?" The mare asked with... something that was equal parts nervousness, excitement, and indecision.

"I do not think I have to tell you that, after being around her, she becomes pretty hard to forget." WQ-2 said with a smirk, to which the mare nodded uncomfortably.

"She lives in Ponyville." Prosperity added. "The only way to miss her is for her to be in a different town, so don't worry too much about finding her."

The mare wasn't exactly cheered up, but at least she wasn't dragging her hooves.

Meanwhile, Celestia was engaging in conversation of her own.

"And you should see my nephew." She said, smiling tenderly. "Back when he was five, he used to get into my closet, put on my finery and clothes, and parade around the halls - once, he even busted into the room where I was talking to his mother, yelling 'look, ma! I'm a princess!'"

Celestia's eyes grew misty, and she breathed deeply.

"I blinked, and now he's a grown stallion." She spoke wistfully. "He's always given me his support, but I couldn't see how much he wanted to go on to do his own things. He's a happy stallion out there, seeing the sights, exploring the terrain, getting in touch with others; he's an outgoing pony."

"He sounds like a great pony; I wish I knew him." Flitter gently embraced Celestia, as the other ponies nodded - one of the mares had to wipe her eyes, even.

Prosperity wasn't very keen on the antics of drunken ponies, particularly those where they got affectionate on one another, but still let out a smile at seeing Celestia being simply 'Celestia'. Ponies should have the opportunity to just be themselves, and she had to admit that the princess was long overdue.

It wasn't quite the type of party she liked best, but she thought it was alright.

Author's Note

We need more stories about ponies with mustaches, or mustaches in general. Particularly the ones that have epics written about their bearers.

I did not write this while drunk myself, but I simply removed a couple of my usual thought-filters and allowed myself to pursue small tangents as I wrote - hence, mustache, and the intoxicated sapient miniature horse that is attached to it.

That part with the Carmen Sandiego pony from the Gala just came to me during one of those moments of no filters. I blame Joseco for that. Yes, I do have in mind things that came out years ago - age be darned, I know what I like, and I definitely know what gets stuck in my head.

Third of Five Colors, and Two Winds - Part 1 of collab

Prosperity’s cave, Artifact Storage Section

“'Pick your service with the whites', mom said.” A blue changeling (dressed like the Zorro) grumbled as she riffled through a stack of index cards. “'They have the best medical coverage', she said. ‘Their friends the yellows have the best clothes for those that enjoy being female, like us’, she said.”

Cave-sitting for a dragon was supposed to be easy. Sure, the first chamber had its rugged charm, with its craggy appearance and the bookshelves interspersed with the traditional piles of treasure, but the back was where the things were kept for real. Her supervisors, currently appraising the selection, had dragged her along to show her the procedure for emergencies.

“Why is he calling for an emergency, anyways?” She passed a card to the white changeling (dressed like Chell, complete with boots) next to her. “Isn't he like… an alicorn or something?”

“Celestia and Luna are exceptions, not the rule.” The white passed the card to a yellow (dressed like a Jedi), who proceeded to look through several security boxes. “Alicornhood and immortality are not synonymous, even if it is easier to become one if you are the other. There are several ways to extend your life indefinitely; one of the academy professors is about to turn fifty for the third time…”

“And there's a spell to turn ponies into alicorns - didn't take much to find it, either; compared to us, the place had minimal security.” Some guards and a librarian with too many work hours, making her likely to sleep on the desk - piece of cake. “It's not something that's easy to do, though.”

“Still don’t see why he’s interrupting our 'Cave-sitting NMN party'; the DJ is rather good…”

“He still needs to get used to his new powers, and the data says that he’s underground, so the rate of magical extraction he’ll get is going to be severely limited. Though your other assessment wasn't that far off the mark.” The yellow said, deciding on a box that contained a pair of gauntlets, passing them on to the white.

“Becoming an alicorn, just like being immortal, reinforces existing traits; harmonious souls become paragons, mentally healthy ponies become capable of withstanding great trauma… those that aren't…” The white trailed off as she teleported the gauntlets to Typhon's marked location.

The blue changeling shivered as the implications hit their mark.

*****

A world away…

The armored warrior waited patiently in the river, hunched over slightly to allow himself to reach down. After another moment, a fish came within his grasp and he quickly threw it out of the water, right onto the pile of thirty or so others.

Right, that’s probably enough. Don't want to destroy the local population.

He didn't think it could happen, but the eight foot tall fighter had actually gotten a bit tired of eating meat all the time. No doubt the local manticore, cragodile, and cockatrice population would be thankful for him going to make some salmon jerky instead.

“Alright then now to-” he thought aloud, only for a voice in his head to cut him off.

I am Typhon, Heir of Breath; the presence, the absence, and everything in between. And I could use a bit of assistance right now, if you don’t mind!

He sighed. “A hero’s work is never done,” he muttered before taking the fish that were still alive and putting them back in the river. The rest would be a free meal for whatever carnivore or scavenger came around.

Let’s hope he can feed me too, he thought before cutting open a rift in the air with his naginata and and jumping inside.

*****

Back to Typhon

Bugs tended to respond… negatively to fire. Hence, Typhon was wielding the sunny half of his scissors, while the other hand was occupying itself with one of the antlion's pincer jaws, with a foot on the other.

The gauntlets, recognizable as the Genji gloves from the artwork he had seen online, were rather comfortable - an odd thought to have after backhanding a flying centipede.

The larger worm, though, might have found the situation less amusing, since it was rearing like it was about to try to swallow him whole, antlion included. The good news? No more antlion. Bad news? It had the size to do so, and being eaten wasn't going to be a fun experience.

Then, a rift in the air, like it had been cut out, allowed a really peculiar figure out.

”DYNAMIC ENTRY!” he shouted, slamming both his feet into the worm’s head with enough force to smash it into the far wall. He spun as he fell and posed dramatically. “Man, that turned out better than I thought!”

“A fan of a good gag? You don’t see one of those every day.” Typhon responded, slamming the giant half-scissor on the bug holding him, producing a flash of light and a sizzling sound.

The bug backed off, releasing him at last, allowing him to punch the centipedes trying to get his back instead of just trying to scare them off with a hot blade with a bad angle.

“Gilgamesh fan, I take it? Or are you the real deal?” He asked.

“Nah, I'm just a guy who turned into his costume, but I've been trying to live up to the role as much as I can. Speaking of which, when I heard the name ‘Typhon’, you weren’t really what I was expecting. Aren't you from that one webcomic? What was it?” As he brought his finger to his chin the Abyss worm recovered and charged at him, only to be smacked away with a backhand from the warrior. “‘Homestuck’, wasn't it? I thought your character’s name was like Jack Eggbert, or something?”

“John Egbert, and I had the mixed blessing of becoming my class, I think because I was not wearing contacts to look like him.” Typhon responded, batting a centipede into a mass of them with the flat of his blade, leaving behind a sizzling mark on the projectile. “Problem is, I was supposed to have my class assign me powers, but, like almost everywhere else, a class is defined by what you can do, no viceversa. A mixed blessing, I tell you.”

“Huh, looks I was luckier than I thought. I've been able to do stuff like this,” he began, turning to face the Abyss Worm before shooting a beam of fire from his eyes that incinerated it, “Since I first arrived,” he finished.

“I have an expanded repertoire, though I can’t do the whole ‘drill through a planet with a tornado the size of Canterhorn mountain’. Even if I did have a lot of control issues whenever I tried to destroy something.” Typhon pointed his blade, then made lightning dance through the antlion's pincers, sending it into a twitching fit; he drove his blade on its head, now free to do so. “My 'personal growth/myth arc' gave me weather powers as I progressed through it, however.”

*****

Meanwhile

“Welcome!” Prosperity called out, waving at the recently-arrived princess Luna, carefully stepping around the prostrate ponies. “My name is Prosperity, and I wish to extend a warm welcome to the one night where ponies willingly embrace their instinct to panic at the slightest sign of another pony panicking!”

The way she so cheerfully exclaimed made a few ponies cringe. After all, she was absolutely right.

“The spike of adrenaline from your arrival was a great start, but why don't we do something else? Something fun! Are you with me, Twilight?”

Twilight gave a start at suddenly being addressed.

“Huh!? Well- I mean, sure! That's what friends do!” She shook it off quickly, giving her, and then the princess, a warm smile.

“Fun?” Luna questioned, repeating the word as if trying to taste it. “ What is this 'fun' thou speakest of?”

Luna hid a wince, the nervousness from having her appearance cause everypony to fear her having made her forget the 'modern speaking tips' she had been given by the Bearers a few days prior.

“How about carving pumpkins by waving swords at them?” Prosperity suggested, gleefully ignoring Shining Arm- Silver Shine and the evil eye he was so intent on giving her - she had to make an active effort, though, since he was doing an awful job at being subtle. “We can also toss stuffed spider dolls, and pull pranks!”

Luna didn't have to think too hard about the answer.

*****

Back at the cave

“Hey, can I ask you something?” Gilgamesh began, absent-mindedly cutting an Abyss Worm in half vertically. “Why did you need my help? I've met Auric Fulcrum and he described the Typhon he met as 'God-Tiered'. And now that you’re not handling this all yourself you seem to be doing pretty well.”

“Oh, sure, I'm a living dream, and can basically tell Heroic Spirits to suck it, but I have a long history of collateral damage, and this cave is being held up solely through the powers of the artifacts I carry.” He drew the second half of his weapon, and simply cut the pincers of a centipede in a flash of white and dark energy. “Plus, the Nightmares want to co-opt the mechanism; the construct that gave me my powers may not have absolute authority here, but it does have rules; they have been sending 'phantoms', though some come on their own. More than likely, I'm about to be set up for a boss more on my level. I need help with those.”

“Ah, so problems with control eh? And I'm basically the unexpected party member who shows up to take care of the latest 'Master of Evil'. OK, I can get my head around that.” He replied, stabbing another worm through the head before it spasmed and fell. “By the way, where exactly are we that you’re afraid to destroy with your power?”

“The nearest building is like two hundred meters south, some… few hundred meters above, and it's Nightmare Night, so there are foals out there.” He kicked… what looked like the exact same centipede he had burned with the flat, cracking the chitin. “And don't feel bad - if I'm right, it’s going to be a Viera with assassin abilities, and Equestria is saturated with magic.”

Typhon turned and saw that the warrior hadn't moved an inch.

“Um, are you OK?” he asked.

Gilgamesh turned around slowly, his eyes shining. Even with his face guard, he could easily tell he was smiling. “I'm sorry, but did you say 'Nightmare Night'?”

“Um… yes?”

The warrior let out what could only be called a fangirlish squeal before casting a series of buffing spells on himself. Within seconds he grabbed and threw all the monsters in a pile before unleashing a massive beam of fire, incinerating all of them. Before the other Displaced could even react the other warrior grabbed his shoulders and shook him violently.

”TAKEMETOPONYVILLEPLEASEOHPLEASETAKEMEIWANTTOGOSOBABDLYPLEASE!”

“A-a-alright! M-m-my da-daughter sho-sho- STOP SHAKING!” He dissolved into the wind to reappear outside of Gilgamesh's vice-like hands. “As I was saying! My daughter is there, probably sick to death of talking to the ponies about me, though Shining Armor is pretending he's hiding who he is. Few rules: Don't do sudden movements, Luna is there; due to my involvement, and Clover inventing the font-detecting spell millennia before it's time, tribal differences no longer exist, even in the snootiest of noble houses; due to me giving a pony access to the internet, the butterfly of doom's actions mean that you should not be surprised if you see ponies getting awfully affectionate to each other, particularly if they are drunk; if at any point during the night, you are surrounded by bubbles and hear dark whispers, you are inside Ditzy's attack range, so hit the deck if you can't get out.”

“Oh, so she's called Ditzy in this dimension? And she's actually badass?”

“She has seven names, actually; one for each bubble.” Typhon replied. “We are more prosperous, but have more monsters. Cherilee once punted - yes, punted - a wolf through a wall; Thunderlane is really good with a cloud, even if it's not a thunderhead; a good portion of the Wonderbolts can move faster than Mach One, even if they can't do the rainboom, that’s going to leave a mark… and yes, I trained Ditzy to be like Ceasar Zeppeli like she wanted - trained all of the Wind family, actually, since I'm the reason there even is a family.”

“Um… I'm sorry, but I'm having a bit of trouble keeping up with all this. The important parts I've picked up on are it's Nightmare Night, Luna's here and so is Shining Armor, don't do anything too crazy, a Viera assassin is likely gonna show up that we're going to have to deal with, and you've got supporters in town that are likely to help us out, including your daughter, who I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume is not human. I'll be honest here, I'll do my best with the third one, but once things get past the introductory stage I'm gonna want to party.”

“Party is fine, just don't break anything. And the main reason I'm… reluctant to go alone is that they are part of an actual group and tipping my hand now will just make things harder for the inevitable all-stars showdown.” Typhon looked around the cave, seeing the cracks in the walls… then just shrugging. “Seiryu's magic will hold a while. Come on, let's see if we can get there early enough to derail it even worse than Prosperity can.”

“FOR NIGHTMARE NIGHT! FOR JOY! FOR CANDY! LET US RIDE!” Gilgamesh proclaimed triumphantly.

*****

Ten minutes later

Pirate Pipsqueak fell inside of the apple-bobbing tank, only for a hand to fish him out.

“Aren't you a bit sma-” Typhon was cut out by the shrieking colt, only for him to respond by shoving a chocolate bar on his mouth. “If you don't scream for like… ten minutes, I'll give you a fun-size chocolate bar.”

Pipsqueak nodded hurriedly.

After all, if one has the advantage of coming further ahead in time, one can change one of the greatest paradoxes of candy-making. Instead of being 'bite-sized', fun-size bars refer to quarter-pound bars.

“Oh, he's just so adorable! I wish I got a chance to say hi to him in my realm!” Gilgamesh cooed. He quickly lifted the colt up into the air. “Behold! 'Tis the Dread Pirate Pipsqueak!”

Pipsqueak chewed on the chocolate, while Typhon tapped his chin in contemplation.

“We are men of action, lies do not become us.” He said, turning to the frozen crowd. “Prospit! Are you there?!”

The dragon was, of course, towering over the ponies, thus giving him a flat stare.

“Do remember to always have an adult chaperone you.” He said.

“Dad! I'm like fifteen hundred years old!” She yelled, making the ponies chuckle despite themselves.

“I'm letting you stay up until eleven.”

“Dad!”

“Fine, whenever you want, but remember to tidy your cave and do all of your homework.”

The ponies started to laugh, while Prosperity clapped a claw to her face.

“Fine! But you are getting me the dollhouse!” She shouted back, making Luna arch an eyebrow.

“Heh. So you've already got the annoying affectionate parent thing down, huh? Bet it feels nice,” Gilgamesh said with smirk. Unexpectedly he winced for a moment before muttering “I hope the two of them are getting along as well.”

“What?” Typhon asked.

“Um, nothing. Maybe I’ll tell you later,” he replied before gently setting down the pirate-clad colt. “Fair Princess Luna!” he began, walking towards the alicorn. “'Tis a pleasure to gaze upon thy splendor, no matter which realm I may see thou in!” He removed his face guard and, before anyone could process what was happening, gently grasped Luna’s foreleg before bending down to give her hoof a kiss. “'Tis an honor.”

Princess Luna hid her bewilderment behind a face of calm acceptance. Taking a few seconds to perform a quick examination of the new… human, she cleared her throat and inhaled.

“Not the voice!” Prosperity whispered with a hiss.

Luna calmly let out a bit of her breath.

“Well met… warrior of a distant… world.” She said. “For what purpose have you been brought to our land?”

It was a trick question, having already a good idea; her eyes scanned the crowd as discreetly as she could, looking for any splashes of translucent green.

Shining was choking on his spittle, but managed to keep the noise below a soft gurgling of impotent rage.

The armored human refitted his face guard before continuing. “I, Noble Princess of the Night, have been summoned to aid my fellow Displaced, Typhon, in defending thy subjects against threats to their lives and also this glorious holiday! Just moments before we had defeated a rabble a burrowing monsters that strayed far too close to this quaint village. And since thou shall no doubt ask, allow me to introduce myself!”

The warrior hopped back to a part of the town not as densely populated to allow himself room before unclipping his naginata and spinning it rapidly, switching between several stances. “GAZE UPON MY SPLENDOR, MY MAGNIFICENCE, MY MIGHT WHICH SHAKES WORLDS! I AM THE TRAVELER OF INCOMPREHENSIBLE DISTANCES WHO’S WEAPONS, FISTS, MAGICS AND ARMORS HAVE FOUGHT AND DEFEATED COUNTLESS OPPONENTS!” He threw his weapon into the air before unleashing a flurry of punches and kicks in all directions. “ALLY TO GOOD, NIGHTMARE TO EVIL, THE EVILS OF THE MULTIVERSE FALL BEFORE MY GREATNESS! BASK IN MY HOTBLOODED SPIRIT, FOR YOU HAVE THE PLEASURE OF MEETING THE ONE! THE ONLY!” he caught his weapon before striking several poses unleashing beams, lighting bolts, and even magically created missiles into the air, thankfully away from not only the residents but from any buildings as well. He unclipped his weapon before taking one final stance, thrusting it heroically into the air. ”GILGAMESH!”

Typhon snapped his fingers, and cherry blossoms started to fall - courtesy of Seiryu's plant magic.

“He’s also a huge ninny and has no inside voice.” Typhon said.

The ponies, quite a few actually scared, heard chuckles. Prosperity was laughing softly, and managed to get Ditzy to imitate her.

As expected, a few ponies started to laugh - first the ones in genuine awe, like the foals, then even the ones that were considering running.

Get one pony doing it, and most of the rest will soon follow.

“Ouch dude. Harsh. But whatever, I enjoy laughs as much as I do applause,” the armored figure replied before clipping his weapon to his back again.

“Well, I'm not the one throwing lightning bolts in the middle of a pony herd during Nightmare Night; they are in the frame of mind to be scared, you know…” He glanced around, spotting Rainbow Dash… with her face hidden behind her goggles.

Huh, so it would not be as easy to read her. Oh well, that was what powers were discovered for.

“Ah, it's going to have to be some other day, in any case.” He mumbled.

“Dad! Do you have something to give a good scare? We don't want to overuse the lightning.” Prosperity said, while suddenly remembering one of the ponies next to her.

Twilight had an odd expression, halfway between shock and confusion.

Prosperity flicked the bell on top of her hat again.

“Stop it!” Twilight shouted, holding her hat - just like Starswirl.

“Magic later, when the Green King comes.” She whispered, getting Twilight to give her a begrudging nod.

"Speaking of, you said she was a Viera assassin?" Gilgamesh asked. "Should I be expecting shadow magic and back stabs? I ask because that kinda looks like her," he finished, pointing towards town hall.

You've been invaded by Verre, the Green King of Cinquleur.

“At least I don't have to worry about being in the middle of my experiments.” Typhon mumbled.

“She's got some powerful skills, like an instant-knock-out dark-magic-power strike, and maybe an Ultima-derived attack.” Prosperity commented. “And you really should moderate your comments in front of the ponies.”

“So you are the one to thank for Bliu's situation?” Verre chuckled. “I am Green King Verre, wielder of green magicks!”

“Don't worry.” Typhon called out. “Verre is actually the up-and-personal sort, so there is nothing to fear about if you are not me.”

He let out a small groan, though only those close enough could hear it.

“Up-close-and-personal, you say? Sounds like my kind of fight!" The armored human gloated, but a hand held his shoulder as he prepared to dash.

“Whoa there!” Typhon actually strained to keep the huge guy from taking off; Gilgamesh was even stronger than what he had thought. “At least let us get to the park!”

“Stop!” Twilight shouted. “Why fight at all?!”

Verre, another viera like Ruuj, was wearing an orange tunic resembling a dress, a green belt, green knee-high boots, a green cape, and a green beret. In her hands, she had a few rings… and a large hammer that Typhon recognized as a Mjolnir model, one of the stronger ones, although it was lightning elemental.

She chuckled, allowing her foe the choice of battlefield.

“We of Cinquleur seek battle with the strongest of warriors!” She proclaimed, throwing out her arms… making a few ponies nervous at the ease with which she handled the hammer. “We of Cinquleur were drawn together by a shared love of Victory and strength in battle… Do you not know joy when victorious over your foe? That is all we seek - not reward, not fame, but victory.”

A chill made its way through Dash's spine, since that had sounded almost exactly like something she herself would have said.

“I do so to help my friends.” Typhon smiled and shrugged; he wasn't the type to take up arms, not normally, not even after centuries, yet he did so because the situation called for it. It was an odd sort of pride, but it was his. “Plus, letting a phantom run around is not a good idea.”

"Huh, guess we balance each other out then, 'cause as much as I like playing the hero I fight for fun." Gilgamesh said to Typhon. Some of the ponies grew anxious and Prosperity shot him a look but he was oblivious to all of it. "Actually," he continued, turning to Verre, "fun is pretty much my raison d'être, and fighting is just one of the ways I get it. I can understand your warrior mentality, but if all you think about is victory then we're not quite the same. I don't care if I lose so long as I have a good bout." Suddenly his eyes hardened. "Killing, however, is something I reserve for mindless beasts and those whose sole purpose is bringing others misery, so count yourself lucky in that respect." The ponies relaxed, if only slightly, still worried about the tall warrior.

They arrived to their destination; the park was larger than the one in Canterlot, although Typhon doubted that they would use that much space. A crowd of curious ponies, particularly those that had listened to Verre's proclamation, watched intently from behind trees, bushes, or even clouds; princess Luna, however, stood well within sight, with Twilight and the other Bearers behind her - it was slightly surprising to see Fluttershy 'sticking around', but it seemed like she took Luna’s presence as comfort enough.

Shining Armor stared impassively.

As Verre drew her law card, ready to forbid interruptions… Typhon allowed his awareness to seep into the air around him, but, instead of creating the spherical shields representing his territory, he wrapped it around himself as an aura. Luna was starting to piece together the way it worked, while Shining was also getting there. Typhon allowed his emotions to calm down, much the same way one would fall silent to listen better, and focused on reading his opponent.

He could tell that both guests were anticipating the fight with great gusto, even over the wave of law magic.

Prosperity had a much easier time reading the nature of a being's spirit, since she had magic of her own; she was rather conscious that the many class powers combined with the Breath aspect were nothing to sneeze at, however. Typhon combined it with his training; the ego fades into awareness, which included awareness of the rhythm of his foe...

“Beware.” He said in a rather neutral tone of voice, yet still focused. “A viera in an area this saturated with magic is much faster and stronger than normal.”

“The truth reveals itself not in chatter, but battle!”

"'You cannot truly know someone until you fight them', as the saying goes," Gilgamesh stated. "Let's get to know one another. Intimately."

He then dashed at the Viera with impressive speed, his weapon raised.

The Mage smirked and cast Tranq on herself, a golden shine covering her for a moment.

"WAIT!" Typhon shouted as she cocked her arm back, but the warrior was already too close.

At the last moment he flinched and stopped himself, sliding to a halt and unclipping his shield just in time to block the palm coated in the dark red aura. He quickly jumped back, all the way back to his fellow Displaced.

"W-What was that?" he stuttered. "I've never felt a killing intent like that before!"

“Last Breath, it will paralyze your lungs or your heart with dark energy, if it hits the right areas. The other spell, Tranq, makes it more likely it will hit a vital area. I can revive you, possibly, but It's not going to be pleasant all the same.”

The warrior simply held still before doing something no one was expecting: he laughed.

“Now this is real interesting! It’s been a long time since I've looked death in the face!” he shouted before continuing to laugh. Many of the ponies became exceptionally nervous.

“I see you're not going to make this easy, but neither am I!” he proclaimed before planting his weapon into the ground and taking a pose with his arm outstretched. “For the Mighty Gilgamesh, it’s Morphing Time!”

The warrior shone brightly, everyone shielding their eyes briefly before the light faded, only to gape at his new multi-limbed and multi-armed form. He quickly took a battle stance, his eyes practically burning with excitement.

Suddenly music started to play, initially somewhat intimidating before blaring into full on aggressive.

”HEAVEN OR HELL? LET'S ROCK!”

The warrior dashed forwards again, even faster this time. Verre's reaction was quicker, dashing forwards with her hand radiating dark magic again. Just before they collided Gilgamesh cut a rift in the air in front of him with his spear before dashing inside, the rift immediately closing behind him.

The Viera looked shocked for a moment before chuckling. "So for all his bluster, it seems he was just a cowa-!"

"TAG!" Gilgamesh shouted, appearing from another rift right behind her. Before she could even turn her head the warrior's flail slammed into her face, sending her tumbling to the side. "No tag-backs."

Verre sprung back up with an ease and speed that made ponies shiver, since most expected it to be over. She showed a feral grin that quite clearly meant she was enjoying herself.

“Phantoms are projections; hitting them destabilizes them, but, until then, the only way to keep them down is to whale on them.” Prosperity explained as Typhon danced around the blow meant for his head. “And that's without taking into account that they use their life-force to shield themselves.”

A crude explanation of how a Hit-Point-based system translated to their reality, but functional enough.

Of course, the thought made Typhon miss his mark, fist barely grazing her hair, allowing Verre to swing her hammer through what would have been a blind spot in nearly anyone else. Typhon was forced to fly out of the way, although it allowed Gilgamesh to rush in and stab at her with his claws. She dodged the blow, only to take a hit across the chest from his axe.

Although she took the hit she seemed to almost immediately recover, using Blink Counter to nail him in the chest with an electrically charged strike and stumble back a few feet. She followed up with another strike of Last Breath, only for the taller warrior’s two free hands to catch her by the wrist. Though a guard covered his lower face it was obvious his mouth was curled into a smile that would've sent any lesser fighter running.

"THAT ALL YOU GOT!?" he shouted before dispelling all his weapons in flashes of light, leaving his now six free arms to wail on her face with lightning fast punches as he held her in place. Some of the spectators actually winced at the brutal display. Soon he stopped only to point eight fists at her.

"ROCKET PUNCH!" he bellowed as eight boxing gloves appeared and struck her point-blank, only to immediately turn around and strike him. Despite the force sending him back several yards he still managed to remain standing.

"What the hell!? I didn't see reflect being cast!" He complained, summoning his weapons again.

“She's got a reflect mail equipped.” Typhon said as he placed a palm to the ground. “A special ability lets her use it, and don't bother asking why it's not visible.”

“Well that's annoying.” Gilgamesh groaned. "On the other hand, it does make this more interesting. Heh. Been a while since I had to think creatively," he chuckled.

Typhon gave Seiryu some magic, and the grass of a small patch converged onto his hand and formed a long, straight, double-edged blade. A yard and a half blade of grass was rather light for all it could be done with it.

The larger warrior dashed forward and cut another rift before entering. The Viera turned, expecting another back attack, only for him to exit from the same direction he was before, now at her back. He stabbed her in the back with his claws before lifting her in the air. He quickly withdrew them before spinning and smacking her in the stomach with the flat of his broadsword, sending her flying.

"Heads up!" He called, the phantom flying towards Typhon.

“Nothing flies without my say-so.” Typhon concentrated and, on the apex of her flight, jumped up, causing blue waves to ripple through the air, quickly slamming into her and driving his blade through her.

“For Victory.” He twisted in mid-air, kicking her off his blade and sending her crashing back down.

“Vicious…” Verre groaned as she started to fade. “Definitely entertaining.”

“And with plenty of time to spare…” Prosperity muttered as the various gem-like 'reward' constructs filled the area.

“Irony. Nice,” Gilgamesh complimented, his free right hand in a thumbs up.

“I just saw the chance; didn't get one with the other two.” Typhon said as he landed, the blade twisting and braiding itself into a bracer. He sighed, and the aura around him vanished. “I need to prepare for a very important experiment, but you are free to stay for the party.”

He tossed the bracer towards Luna, who almost did not catch it in time after witnessing the ferocity of the otherworldly human. She held it in front of her with magic, and could feel something pulsing through it.

“When you unfold that, we should go for a walk through that place.” He said, once more dissolving into the very air, sweeping over the shimmering gems, and leaving.

“WAIT, HOLD ON, I… could use a hand with something…” Gilgamesh finished weakly.

“Is something the matter?” Prosperity approached the large man, though not without first shooing away the ponies.

Save Shining Armor, who was still kind of shocked into stillness… as well as Twilight.

“Uh, well you see, I need some help locating some objects of mine in my world,” he began before pulling out a compass, one that seemed particularly familiar to the dragoness. “It worked for a while but I think there's a range problem because it's not working anymore. Auric told me about Typhon, and I kinda figured he might be able to do something to supe it up.”

“Really? Well, there is 'yours', and then there is 'Yours' - which is it?” She asked, and the emphasis was laced with a rather ticklish feeling in the air.

He stared for moment, raising his eyebrow, before it clicked. “Oh! Oh they're a part of me. That is what you meant, right?”

“Then, with a little extra something, it should be possible to track the direction that the connection between you pulls, rather than the object itself.” The comment apparently annoyed Twilight, since it was a much clearer answer than any she had gotten out of the dragon. “Technically, that has no limit, and it would take something seriously powerful to obscure.”

“Sweet! How long will that take?”

“Not too long, hopefully; mind if I see what I have to work with?” She asked, extending a claw towards him.

“Sure,” he responded simply, handing it over. “By the way, gotta say you're, like the nicest dragon I've ever met. Aside from Spike, but he's an exception. Usually they don't give me the time of day until I smack them around a bit, and then they're only nice out of a mix of respect and fear.”

“I was raised by Typhon.” She deadpanned, inspecting the compass. “We had our fair share of dragon trouble. And other craziness like dealing with Clover's really messed up gender identity, Starswirl's exuberance, and having to travels through the frozen wasteland to visit my best friends.”

Her face hardened for a moment, but even then she was not distracted enough to miss when Luna's ears perked up, even though the princess was pretending to be heading back slowly.

“I bring up the point because one of their things would go really well with this.” She sighed, withdrawing her own wallet, and a card from it.

A card with a black back. It was a material that could not be replicated… by the normal means available to them.

A small shard of crystal.

Placing the card, and the wallet, back where they came from, she pressed a claw to the side of the compass.

“So, I hate to sound pushy, but what's the time frame on this? Minutes? Hours? I ask because, well, Nightmare Night and all.”

Prosperity saw a glint in his eyes, much like the fire that burned during the fight, but noticeably lacking any form of aggression.

“I need to add an inscription around this thing, and then charge it. It shouldn't take too long, but I can always find you.” She said, the claw pressed against the metal started to glow with her fire. “You are eight feet tall; you couldn't hide here even if you could fit through our doors.”

“Who's hiding?” he asked cheekily before skipping into town, shouting “HAPPY NIGHTMARE NIGHT EVERYPONY! DRINKS ALL AROUND, CANDY TO THE UNDERAGED AND TO THOSE STILL FOALS IN THEIR HEARTS! DIRECT ME TO THE BAR!”

“If you ignore his appearance, he fits right in.” Prosperity said, turning back to her new project. Ignoring the ponies that remained, and they could see that they would not be getting much out of her if she did not offer first.

'Silver Shine' said nothing, but knew that he had to get closer still.

So did a few of the others.

*****

A very special chamber

Typhon simply allowed himself to fall on a chair. It had been made specially for him, given his proportions. That, and a simple pedestal table - similarly proportioned - were the only pieces of furniture.

He sighed, looking at the system clock displayed on his glasses.

Still rather far from midnight… but it never hurt to start early.

Who knew? Maybe beating a phantom like that had been enough.

He extracted a bottle of wine and a glass from his inventory, and poured.

He sighed again, slumping on the chair as he swirled the wine.

The runes and diagrams on the walls, ceiling, and floor lit up. Thanks to the spell, born of Seiryu’s Room magic, the chamber now existed outside of the princesses otherwise world-wide protection.

The trap was set. He would be glad, in some other set of circumstances, but the sole fact that he needed to do it at all was almost as disheartening as the event.

Author's Note

This is the first part of a collab with shinigamisparda's The Mighty Warrior of Epicness, so go check it out. Among other things, Gilgamesh is under the effect of a spell that plays out any tune he thinks of.

Green Mage - A supportive class, with spells that allow other classes to do their jobs better. There is a spell that improves movement, to help front-line units and other damage dealers get there quickly, or help your mages retreat. Verre is the least threatening of the Cinquleur because of her low attack power and lack of outright offensive spells... however, she knows Tranq, which is a green magic spell that boosts accuracy of every action, like the Concentrate ability used to do in the prequel game. This. Is. DEADLY. Her secondary job menu had a lot of dangerous abilities that are offset by their lower hit-rate - in the best of cases, they have 30% chance to hit... Tranq can easily boost them to at least sixty! Last Breath is OHKO, I think she also has petrification and sleep abilities. There are some items that prevent instant-death, and a few others that absorb or nullify the element of darkness, keeping you safe from that, at the very least.

Verre, however, is cheating, by means of an ability called Tank, which allows the character to equip heavy armors regardless of class. She has a Reflect mail, providing her with a permanent reflect status, somewhat limiting your attack options. She also has Blink Counter as her reaction ability, allowing her to follow up any offensive action taken against her with a physical attack (provided her attacker is within range of her weapon), which will knock the unit back one square barring obstacles or special circumstances.

A party and a parting of Two Winds - Part 2 of collab

With the ponies

Rarity was dressed in a black and red dress with a high collar, her hair done with a slightly darker tone, and red contacts and fake teeth completed the vampress look.

“That was… thrilling.” She commented, trying to maintain her dignified aura. It was much different, seeing it happen so close.

It could be felt through the wind, so she knew that both of Typhon’s claims were at the least honest.

She was… curious. This Gilgamesh fellow looked fierce, yet there was an elegance to it, likely because of that image of strength it conveyed. She would like to take a closer look.

What she found made her heart stop for a moment, only to quickly subside. The warrior was up on the main platform of Town Hall, battling Pipsqueak, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and her own Sweetie Belle in sword fighting. Thankfully the multi-limbed warrior had traded in his weapons for eight sticks while the three fillies wielded the same, the colt wielding his plastic sword.

The warrior's movements were quick and graceful, but were not anywhere near deadly, making a sensational performance as the foals dodged and countered his strikes.

"MWUHAHAHAHAHA! YOUR TIME HAS COME, PIPSQUEAK THE VALIANT! YOU AND YOUR CREW SHALL FINALLY MEET YOUR END AT THE END OF MY BLADES! GILGAMESH THE VILE WILL SOON RULE THE SEAS!"

"Never!" The colt cried before hurling his 'weapon' at the warrior. The warrior caught it, only to hold it under one of his arms.

"Nooooooo!" he screamed, falling to his knees. The Cutie Mark Crusaders jumped behind him and 'ran him through' with their own 'blades'. “Curse you, Pipsqueak! Curse you and your companions!” he shouted before falling forward to the ground. “And now I am the dead. Bleh.”

The young colt jumped up onto the warrior's back. “And so the seas of Equestria will never have to fear the Vile Gilgamesh ever again!”

The foals, and some of the adults, cheered. Gilgamesh quickly rose from his position on the floor, grabbing and lifting the four foals above his head. “Three cheers for these brave warriors! Hip hip!”

”Hooray! the crowd roared back.

“Hip Hip!”

”Hooray!

“Hip Hip!”

”Hooray!

“Not much more… eccentric than Pinkie, although definitely a surprising style.” Rarity muttered, her pulse back to normal at last. Sure, Nightmare Night was meant for scares, but some things…

She trotted over to them, noting that he was talking about how real courage was standing up to fear and doing what they believed was right.

It was rather deep - not that she thought him a fool, but he had the same ability Pinkie had to derail entire minds with his… exuberance felt like a proper way to describe it.

“Excuse me, mister Gilgamesh?” She called. “Would you allow me to take a closer look to your armor? The first one, please?”

“Hm? Ah, of course! How could I refuse a request from a lady, much less the esteemed wielder of Generosity herself?” he proclaimed. He put the four foals down before transforming back to his original two-armed form in a flash of light. “For what purpose, might I ask?”

“I found myself intrigued.” She replied, eyes sweeping over the metal and bright cloth. For all of his energy, he certainly knew how to talk to a lady. “Stylish, functional, and with a strong character to it.”

“Please, dear Rarity, you're making me blush looking upon me with such scrutinizing eyes.”

“I meant nothing by it, simply making an observation, dear.” She hummed. “The scarf you are wearing right now… it feels like something is missing…”

“Ah yes, well. I didn't have much time to work on it,” he explained, holding the long fabric in front of him. “I was lucky enough to get just the kind of red I wanted. Thankfully, the color hasn't dulled much over the eons. Not sure how, actually.”

A certain blue-garbed pegasus heard that one, thinking that it could very well be the same reason they had internet in their devices and the fact that they didn't seem to need batteries. But only under certain circumstances.

“Oh my.” She was startled. Sure, she knew that the princesses were ol-experienced, but the last one to so casually speak of age like that had been Discord.

Nevertheless, an incomplete ensemble would just bug her for eternity.

“I seem to recall that I have cloth of that very shade back at the boutique; if you would be so kind as to…” She was about to offer him to come in, but remembered that he wouldn't fit very well inside. “Accompany me for a moment?”

“Indeed! To Carousel Boutique, is it?”

She nodded in response, leading the way.

Meanwhile, Luna was inspecting the grass bracer. She needed something to distract her and calm down, and the events had managed to eliminate the crowd's fear towards her - the unintentional one, though, given that Twilight Sparkle had made a rather interesting proposal.

“How does this operate?” She asked out loud. She could feel the magic, she had seen it in action, but it was not responding to her. “This does not act as I command.”

“Have you tried asking nicely?” Dash said. She had hung around Luna… well, because she had many things to think about, and the princess might have answers to some of the difficult questions.

“Asking?” Princess Luna blinked. “The blade?”

“Sure, I mean, that's the answer we keep getting to, like everything weird they do.”

“Only the Super weird.” Typhon said, getting a face full of Royal Wing Slap for sneaking behind them.

“Ow. I kinda deserved that.” He rubbed his nose.

“How did you procure those injuries?” Luna noted that one of his hands was wrapped in bandages, and the faint scent of ointment reached her nostrils.

“I over-extended a metaphor and used a touch more power than intended.” He smiled that infuriating knowing smile she had seen so many times after he had plotted his escape but before her actually made a move. “But it was oh so worth it.”

“Where were you?” Twilight asked, trotting away from where she had been trying to discern Prosperity's actions.

“Getting a very reluctant informer to tell me what I wanted to know, unknowingly, but I managed to give her something she didn't know she wanted in return, so it's all good.” He nodded. “I'll tell you some time in the future, once I can actually use it.”

He scratched his head with his uninjured hand.

“I need a drink.” He didn't get to drink the wine, so he was in the mood for something harder. “If you excuse me, I’ll be in a bar, or something.”

He ambled off, trying to put some distance between them before he lost control and… possibly laughed like a loon. Again. He did, however, notice Gilgamesh off in the distance - he was too tall to miss.

“Now what is he up to?” He whispered, changing his course towards, apparently, Carousel Boutique.

“Hey.” He waved at him. “How are you holding up?”

"Oh, hey! I'm doing pretty- what the hell happened to you?"

“Let me warn you: A thaumaturge needs to keep an eye on the metaphors and definitions he's using.” Typhon waved his injured hand - the one with Suzaku's ring, obviously. “Just because you can do anything, doesn't mean that you don't have to keep an eye on the way you're doing it.”

The armored warrior just stared for a moment before shaking his head. "OK, so magic's a lot more abstract in your dimension. Noted. Anyway, the lovely lady Rarity has so generously offered, as is her nature, to complete my armored ensemble with a scarf worthy of magnificence. I owe her greatly for it."

“Not the magic of this place; thaumaturgy, but that's arguing semantics. And I thought Rarity usually spent a good portion of the day resting from the build up of work.”

“Ta-da!” Rarity trotted out. “One scarf, ready for use!”

She levitated the item towards them, allowing Gilgamesh to take it and inspect it. The scarf was the same shade of red, but it had an image of his shield's emblem embroidered in golden threads.

“I do rest from the… stress of preparing and repairing so many costumes and special orders, but I recently came across a very helpful gentlecolt with a rather interesting breathing exercise.” Rarity said.

Typhon's hand twitched, but shrugged internally.

"Truly such a fantastic piece could only be stitched by one with insurmountable passion, such as yourself, Lady Rarity. This could not have turned out any better!" The warrior threw the scarf up and began to spin in place at a blinding speed. The accessory disappeared when it met him, only to be appear worn perfectly around his neck when he stopped, his previous garment now in his hand. "One good turn deserves another. Feel free to use this fabric for another fabulous piece!" he declared as he handed it to her.

”Oh my, thank you!” She said, taking the proffered scarf.

“Say, since I'm reasonably sure that there is wind back in your dimension, I'm now declaring that it's going to billow dramatically in The Breeze no matter where you are, so long as you need it.” Typhon chuckled. “I just hope that I can pull that 'I am the sky' shtick across the dimensional divides.”

"Well, considering my attachment with the wind, I think it'll work fine. Now then," he began, putting his arm around the smaller human. "I could use a drink. Despite my exuberance I do need a few in me before I'm willing to make a complete fool of myself, and you look like just the guy to help. Would the lady like some champagne as well? Perhaps a glass of wine or a martini?" he asked the unicorn.

“So sorry, dear; I still have to take care of Sweetie after the celebration is over.” Rarity replied, simply nodding. “Thank you for the offer.”

“I do need something to drink.” Typhon said. “Though I don't know if you'll fit in the bar… I think Prosperity is carrying some alcohol with her, though.”

"Eh, probably for the best. Don't want to ruin anyone else's night just because it's too cramped. Besides, I don't like sitting in place for too long, especially when I'm buzzed."

“There's always the park, since the festivities are around the market instead.” Typhon offered. “And I've got everything, from girly drinks with flowers and umbrellas, to vodka that's called things like 'Winter’s fury' and tequila called 'La venganza del escorpión'.”

“Sounds good! I could use some brain-erasing liquor, especially since it's been ages since I've had anything alcoholic! I hope your power of Breath doesn't have the same smell as yours, because you and I are gonna get plastered! Say it with me now!” he shouted as the two walked. “ONE TEQUILA, TWO TEQUILA, THREE TEQUILA, FLOOR!”

“I'm in a celebratory mood, sure.” And oh boy, did he have good news for Prospit. “Now that I think about it, if my Prospit doesn't start screaming and hollering, she's going to drink a lot too.”

She was standing right where Gilgamesh had left her, scratching something into the sides of the compass with a claw.

“Good news!” Typhon shouted, causing Prosperity to fumble the compass as she barely managed to keep it from falling to the ground. “Moony is alive!”

That made her drop the compass, but it was caught in a blue glow, pulling it into Typhon's hands.

“He what.”

“I got offered a lot of unsolicited information, including the fact that tall, dark, and smoky is not exactly what we thought.” He flicked his wrist, and there was a bottle in it. “And it can be done! The plan is underway!”

She jumped into the air, squealing, and launched herself at him, hugging him tightly.

“I'm not sure- no, forget that, I'm god-tier, I know that I can do it.” He would have patted her in the head, but couldn't do more than move awkwardly with his hands occupied as they were. “Care to drink with us?”

“Heck yeah!” She released the hug, took the bottle in her claws, popped off the cap, and drank hearthily.

“Nothing in this sleeve…” Typhon flicked his wrist, and another bottle was taken from his inventory, presenting it to his Displaced friend. “For my next trick, some glasses, and then we'll make this liquor disappear.”

“Um… not exactly sure what we're celebrating this time, but hey, alcohol!” the warrior exclaimed.

“Tall, dark, and smoky is actually a colt- well, teenager-almost-adult, but his father is part of our group, but… well, one thing led to another, notes on magic were stolen, and I thought that Moonshadow died-”

“Who wouldn't? After all that…”

“Regardless of that, Smoky the pony is actually two, but the other one is very much alive, and I can do something about that.” Typhon served a glass for each one. “For Crystals!”

“For friends!” Prosperity exclaimed.

“For, uh… let's see… oh hey, for freedom!” the taller warrior shouted before taking the whole shot. “DAMN! What the hell is that!? Harder than any tequila I've ever had, and believe me I've been around!”

“Whew! Huff! It's called…” Typhon turned the bottle around. “'Ira de Quetzalcoatl'. Good God, you know the stuff is strong when it's compared to the mood of a sun god.”

“Wait, so… 'Quetzalcoatl's Rage?' My Spanish is a bit rusty.”

“Yup!” Prosperity giggled. “Moonshadow was the advisor for the city, and liked to drink strong things. Likes, since we can rescue him.”

“Say, is that a crystal on the needle of this thing?” Typhon inspected the compass as he poured another shot. “Ah, I see… this should work perfectly to find anything that can be thought of as 'yours', with the caveat that one of the inscriptions is pointing in the right direction. Dragon to the east, tiger to the west, etc… the symbols glow, so you know if you're pointing them right.”

“It better. Auric made it based off of Jack Sparrow's compass, so it has a lot to live up to,” Gilgamesh explained before burping. “Holy crap. Um, hey, there's one thing I've got to do tonight before I leave, and I want your opinion on something before I lose my ability to think rationally.”

“Did we ever have it?” Typhon chuckled. “I wouldn't have done half of the stuff I've done if that were the case, but go on, I'm listening.”

“Heh good point. OK, let me rephrase to 'something incredibly stupid even by our standards.' Pinkie Pie and alcohol, yes or no?”

Typhon squirmed as if something had gotten inside his clothes, and Prosperity shivered.

“Preferably not; I heard that she is one of those laughing drunks.” Prosperity said. “And ponies get touchy in general… and if you get one doing it, it will cause a chain reaction - remains of the herd instinct and all that.”

“Good point. Glad I asked,” he said before swiping the bottle and pouring himself three more shots in quick succession. He snorted and the fumes of alcohol were almost visible. “OK, definitely loose now. Excuse me, I need to find a pink earth pony and have a talk with the local DJ.”

“Uh, just what are you up to?” Prosperity asked.

“Oh, you'll see. Feel free to join in once you see it,” he answered cryptically, handing her the bottle and the glass before walking away.

“Tell Vinyl I sent you!” Typhon shouted, sitting down as he poured himself another shot. “Owes me nearly a leg and an arm!”

“That was awful and you should feel awful.” Prosperity deadpanned, punching him in the shoulder.

“Still accurate.”

“True enough.”

“For secret plans.”

“For mom.”

“Cheers.”

*****

Town Hall

Princess Luna approached the stage that had been made for the festival, along with most of the citizens of Ponyville. A blue maned unicorn known as a “deejay” informing everypony that their latest arrival was going to put on a show for them, and so a crowd had gathered. She wondered just what kind of performance this boisterous and dramatic warrior could possibly put on, and silently hoped that it wouldn't be something like his original introduction that would terrify the local populace.

The curtains began to recede, curiously enough with the sound of creaking door, before she heard the sound of floorboards creaking under hoofsteps. The stage was still dark, making the silhouette of the large warrior more intimidating. If that wasn't enough spooky sounds like the howling of canines and thunder rumbling came along with the beginning of music. As it struck a powerful chord all the lights shone, revealing the armored human, before he began to dance.

And what a dance it was, certainly not like anything she'd ever seen before. Even many of locals appeared to be confused, but no less entranced. The lyrics were terrifying by themselves, but the way they were sung certainly wasn't. In fact, it was rather fun. As the dance continued Pinkie Pie joined in as well, her avian costume looking particularly ridiculous paired with the intimidating lyrics. How she knew the dance steps, especially considering they seemed to be for a biped, she hadn't the foggiest idea, but soon Typhon and Prosperity joined in onstage. Luna couldn't help tapping her hoof to the rhythm, and several of the ponies were bobbing their heads as well. Even when the lyrics changed and a horrifying narration began she saw a look of enjoyment along with the fear growing in her subjects' eyes as the four performers began to approach the crowd, shambling like zombies.

Suddenly the lights cut out, along with the music, only to followed by classic evil laugh. After a moment wait the crowd exploded into thunderous cheers, stomping their hooves with approval.

”OOGA BOOGA BOOGA!”

Everypony stopped cheering turned around to see Gilgamesh, now behind them, waving his arms like a ghost. Nopony moved and everything was silent before he laughed.

“Gotcha good!”

The ponies all sighed, some of them laughing along with him, or at least chuckling. Luna couldn't help but think that despite his hulking appearance he truly was just a child at heart.

Speaking of which…

“Umm… Princess Luna?” The little pinto colt - ah! Pipsqueak! - approached her with a small amount of nervousness noticeable in his voice.

“Yes, little one?” She said, slightly apprehensive… until she saw him smile.

“Could you come back next year and scare us and stuff again?” He asked with a spark of light in his eyes.

“Child, art tho-” Luna cleared her throat. “Are you saying that you enjoy being scared by me?”

“It's really fun!” He chirped, then glanced to the side. “Scary, but fun!”

“It that so?”

“Nightmare Night is my favorite night of the year!” He cheerfully jumped up and down.

“Very well, then.” She smiled at his infectious happiness. “This shall be a yearly occurrence!”

She winced at having let 'The Voice' slip out back there, but Pipsqueak looked at her in wonder.

“Whoa… you are my favorite princess ever!” He exclaimed, then turned and ran towards a group of foals. “She said yes, guys!”

Luna was stunned… favorite princess? Her?

“That's right!”

Luna was caught off guard by the tall armored warrior wrapping his arm around her neck, and also from physical contact in general.

“All you need to do is get out a little more, fair Mistress of the Night! There are tons of ponies who are just waiting to become your fans! You need but introduce yourself to them!”

“Ah! Well… there has been much change since I last walked among the-”

“Citizenry.” Typhon offered, appearing behind her once again.

“Yes… I suppose that the modern pony would be more knowledgeable of the current state of affairs than mere books and periodicals.” Luna mused… besides, she would be able to keep a closer eye on Typhon himself, learning more about his motivations like… when he… was asked…

…

Princess Luna had some very unladylike thoughts.

“Well, I see you are enjoying yourself!” Typhon clapped his hands, a little too cheerful. “I'll leave you to that, bye!”

And he ran away, further into town.

“So then, would the Princess care for a drink?” Gilgamesh asked, breaking her out of her trance. “Or perhaps you need to stay sober for later in the evening?”

“We- I have to oversee the safety of the children; perhaps in another time.” She replied, scowling in the direction the other human had ran off. “I could not help but notice that you speak with great familiarity… are you from a world similar to this one? A recent… exploration of memory reminded Us of how he would often speak of Planes so similar they are indistinguishable, and W-I have reason enough to believe the population draws such parallels as well.”

“Indeed, that is the case,” he replied removing his grip from the Princess, much to her relief. “There appear to be many Equestrias across the multiverse, some very similar with but the slightest of changes, but others with greater ones, from changes in history to altered anatomies. I myself am only familiar with some of them though. And of course, the same can be said of the populace: some exactly the same, others drastically different.”

Princess Luna simply nodded.

“It might even explain some of the peculiarities of Typhon's actions.” She mused. “And the changes brought about in Clover and other ponies after... certain events.”

“I'd rather not know. I try not to interfere too much in the multiverse, especially those not my own. Now fair Luna, I bid thee a wonderful evening and Nightmare Night,” he said with a bow. “I'm gonna go get crunk.” And with that he turned to walk into town.

Luna stared for a moment. The constant switching of respectable linguistics that she was used to and much more modern ones at a moment’s notice was certainly distracting, as were the many new euphemisms. She turned to Rainbow Dash, who was still present with her as she had been since the battle with the phantom. “What does… 'crunk' mean?”

“I think he may have meant 'drunk'.” She said. She had a lot to think about… but the answers she wanted could very well be a simple question away, so she shook her head and simply went off to enjoy what remained of the night. “See you around, princess!”

*****

Main Plaza, Next Morning

“Hey big guy, you getting up?”

“Bwuh?”

Gilgamesh awoke to find Typhon smirking at him, the light giving him a bit of a headache. After groaning and standing up, he realized he was on a park bench which he had apparently slept on. Some of the decorations from last night were still up, but most were already taken down and put away.

“Wow. I think I actually have a hangover. It’s been a while since that happened. Not since I claimed twelve kegs of mead from a defeated bunch of bandits over a thousand years ago. And drank it all in one night.”

“I know my limit, so I just stopped.” Typhon shrugged, offering a hand. “I'll get properly smashed once my nebulous plan which I'm not speaking until it's already completed is… well, completed. I'm devious like that. And dragons burn off the alcohol so fast, Spike is of legal age for that, although he's not allowed near sulfurous liquids for now.”

“Huh. I may have to remember that for when I finally get in the good graces of my Equestria. But now, time for my hangover cure.” The warrior cast Shell on himself before firing a lighting bolt straight upwards. A moment later it came crashing down, striking him and causing his body to convulse momentarily. “WHOO! OK, I'm good!” he said while smoke rose from his body.

“That's creative.” Typhon said, chuckling. “Say, at what point in your timeline are you? If it hasn't been twisted too much, that is.”

“Actually I've kinda been going out of my way not to interfere too much, so things are pretty much on course for now. Last thing that happened before I came here was the Dragon Migration, so mostly I'm killing time until the wedding happens. Might be a good chance to prove I'm actually not the bad guy for once.”

“Shhhhhooot...” Typhon rubbed his forehead. “If your timeline is going in order, and is not a divergent beta line like mine, then the breakout already happened. Not good. Ask your princesses if they have any defense against magical drains, and, if they don't or if they think hiding the magic is a good idea, bop them in the head.”

“Hm? OK, um, I'll try, but we're not really on speaking terms. Honestly I'm still trying to build their trust in me by helping out and being nice to Twilight and her friends. Well, that and making myself look like an idiot. Which is quite fun, actually.”

“Well, just keep that in mind. I've had to kick a few succubi and other baddies.” Typhon sighed. Knowing the future could be so troublesome… “Do keep in mind, I'm friends with two queens, so try not to enjoy the beatings too much.”

“Well, from what I heard Auric managed to get some relations between the Changelings and the Ponies to get built, so I’m hoping it'll be possible to do the same in my realm. Oh, and I don't know if you've been keeping up with what the other Displaced are doing now, but Auric's a unicorn now. Or so I've heard.”

“I have a level of awareness. I have methods, including dream-hopping, which is kind of like dreamwalking. And unicorn? Hah! Did his contention fail or something?” He chuckled. He just knew that something was just waiting to happen, especially after he confessed to the 'incident' in the royal bedchamber.

“I really don't know the details, I just heard if from another Displaced. Speaking of, I think we should get each other up to date, which ones do you know of?”

“I've pretty much only interacted with Auric and you, but I have gotten word of others through memories and dreams from other-worlders I have visited when I was bored or stumped in my research.” Typhon tried to recall. “Well, Auric warned me of the triad of madness; dangerous, possibly unstable, and I don't want to test Truth against their artifacts… I think I saw Nemesis in a memory? Once or twice… I was there when Solaire and a steampunk inventor disappeared, and I've been trying to find a few others, but I guess the dream-hops are too convoluted for me to be able to make it without seriously putting effort on them.”

“Huh. Solaire and the inventor I don't know about, but I do know about the Triad. Met one of them actually. Pyramid Head was… well, nice, oddly enough. I think there's something screwed up with his timeline, because when I met him he hadn't met the others who told me about him. I honestly hope its not a precursor of things to come. And Nemesis is good friend of mine, he's got it really rough in his version of Equestria, what with Celestia thinking the bad guys he's trying to take down are actually the good guys. If you two meet, just tell him Gilgamesh said to trust you and it'll be fine.”

“Good to know. Fighting bad guys with good PR is a nightmare; I'm glad my Celestia doesn't have that problem, since her Elements are Kindness, Generosity, and Laughter, so she's wary of them being exploited - at least in others, according to what I've heard.” Typhon grimaced at the thought of having to go through that on top of everything else; he could do serious damage to reputations through catching and releasing whispers, since not everything he could manipulate and destroy had to be physical, but it would be much harder to move about.

Gilgamesh nodded. “Of those I know about that you don't seem to, I've been told there's a demon lord out there named Nocturne who does favors for a price and has to be summoned through a mirror. Despite the title Auric vouches for him, so I wouldn't worry. There's also a Ghost Rider going around, though I don't really know anything about him. Another is a lich mage who has the longest damn title ever whose name is Xante. Goofy guy, despite his appearance, and seems to at least be on agreeable terms with his version of the Princesses, so it's cool. His magic is more the runic stuff, wards and all that. Also, his Equus is anthropomorphic. So yeah.”

“Xante… lich, right? I once wandered in a dream- well, a nightmare, about a cadaver-grey guy proclaiming to be a Rainbow something or the other while stripping; the dreamer was babbling incoherently, so I couldn't catch everything.” Typhon scratched his head. “Maybe we should compare notes, since I use runes and diagrams very heavily… and I'll keep an eye out for any Nocturnes.”

“And finally, there's… Kat Shifter.”

Typhon was surprised to see the warrior loose his vigor so completely.

“Kat… her character is based of a game called 'Gravity Rush' and can manipulate gravity in several ways. She was student of mine in combat for a while. We got along really well, and she's friends with the Mane six, especially Fluttershy who sees her as a grandmother.” The warrior smiled sadly before returning to his somber demeanor. “Unfortunately, she's a bit emotionally damaged. She had a really rough life before she came to Equus, and it seems that Celestia and Luna were tricked into betraying her in the past after they had become friends. She's hell bent on revenge, though she doesn't seem to want to kill them. I think Auric helped with that.” He sighed again before continuing. “If you ever meet her, just… please, have a kind word for her or something. She really needs help, and I feel personally responsible having trained her before I knew of her plans. I know she's good deep down, but she's just so filled with pain and anger its blinding her.”

“I'll do what I can; my abilities are not restricted to the literal manipulation of wind, so maybe I could suggest a better Direction.” Typhon bit his lip. “I can't promise anything, especially if she's still set on her way after talking to two of you, but - maybe - I can turn her a degree further away.”

“Thanks. I understand if you can't change anything.” The warrior took another deep breath before returning to his more upbeat demeanor. “Well, I have no idea how different the flow of time is between our realms, so I better split. Thanks for the help and allowing me to party. I really needed it.” He cut a rift into the universe before turning back to the smaller human. “May the winds of freedom carry your wings.”

Typhon chuckled.

“May the Winds of Fortune be at your back.” He called back, laughing softly at the similitudes of their parting words.

The warrior chuckled before stepping into the rift, closing behind him soon afterwards.

Author's Note

The reason Typhon is secretive of his plan.

I liked this crossover. I hope you do, too.

Next, a letter.

Intermission: Correspondence

(From the desk of Twilight Sparkle)

Dear Princess Celestia:

When you first sent me to Ponyville, I didn't know anything about friendship. After meeting Princess Luna back in Canterlot, I was able to see that she had the same problem. Thanks to her, I learned that the best thing you can do with friendship is give it to others, and help them find it themselves!

The celebration was very briefly interrupted by Typhon, who had another human accompanying him. This other human was even larger than Typhon, with an intimidating visage and booming voice. His name is 'Gilgamesh', possibly a parallel with the Sumareian king of old, and I will make sure to send pictures. We all learned that, even if somepony seems a little intimidating, even scary, when you offer them your friendship, you'll discover a whole new pony underneath. Despite his boisterous persona and peculiar magical abilities of great potency, his behavior kept alternating between that of a proud warrior, an overdramatic actor, and a foal in an adult's body.

He was almost as popular with the children as Princess Luna herself. He seemed to admire her, too, given his shows of respect and formality towards her. He even expressed the same opinion I had, about there being many ponies just waiting to meet her to become friends, she just had to go out and meet them very much the same way I had to stop pushing others away from me.

The Green King Verre appeared and made another interruption. Both new arrivals were very eager to start a fight, but Typhon directed them to the park to have more breathing room. I admit to having gotten nervous, and I asked for their reasons to fight in an effort to get them to stop. Verre told us that her group was brought together by a shared wish to face and defeat strong opponents, which seems to have made an impact in Rainbow Dash, who often said how much she hated to lose and how she loved winning more than 'flying fast'; Gilgamesh was more complex in his motivations, as he has a strong sense of justice but a love for battle, although he explained that it was used simply as a means of testing oneself and their opponent, their mutual convictions, and a way of knowing somepony's true disposition - Shining Armor told me something similar once; Typhon himself simply stated that he fought to help his friends, which meant sending the 'Phantoms' back the way they came from, even if Prosperity commented that he also likes a good spar - making the distinction between a battle for fun and/or self-improvement and a battle out of necessity.

She had strange magic as well, first employing what appeared to be a heavily-modified nature-based stress-relief spell of some kind to improve her concentration and thus her accuracy; Princess Luna has speculated that the blue aura around Typhon signals a similar state with the added benefits of his sensing abilities. Then, Verre used a form of dark magic mixed with martial arts that would have disastrous effects upon the victim. It was scary, but not as much as I thought - there was something about it, and, noticing my confusion, Princess Luna has agreed on instructing me on the mysteries - and, of course, dangers - of the arts.

Curiously, facing possible death just made Gilgamesh happy. He transformed, turning into a greater and more formidable form, with more weapons and more arms to wield them. Before that, he had displayed great speed and considerable strength, to the point Typhon admitted that his own physical prowess was overshadowed in such a way that a fight between the two would require him to not hold anything back, causing the destruction of the surrounding area through their combined powers. After the change? Gilgamesh dominated, displaying frightening power, and allowing Typhon to keep his abilities secret from his opponent; he only engaged in a brief bout of hoo hand-to-hand combat, created a sword out of a patch of grass, and landed the finishing blow.

Prosperity helped Gilgamesh with some magical object, Typhon left only to come back with a small injury, and Gilgamesh made a spectacle of himself by challenging Pipsqueak and the Cutie Mark Crusaders to a mock fight. He also put on a show with music he provided - through an enchanment, apparently. Even if my Starswirl the Bearded costume didn't go over, and despite the interruptions, it was still the best Nightmare Night I ever had.

I was told that the Ribbon would protect me from most of Verre's magic, and many others, so I'm going to always have it near or on me in case of any emergencies. I know that you said to be careful when around Typhon, but I simply cannot stay idle when something important is happening right under my muzzle. I simply cannot stay ignorant of the dangers threatening my friends.

I would never be able to forgive myself if one of them got hurt just because I stood in the sidelines instead of work to prevent it.

Your Faithful student

Twilight Sparkle.

P.S.: If Cadence or my mother ask, Shining is most definitelly not in Ponyville, and certainly under no guise whatsoever. It took me a while to notice, but he still sighs like a lovesick fool when he smells Cadence's favorite anything in the market.

*****

(Shining Armor's observations, diary log entries, reports, and orders)

This is more complicated that I thought.

Now that I could get to see him in a relaxed environment, as well as during a threat to his life, I have come to the conclusion that I simply cannot stay content with mere surveillance. I need to know how deep this goes; I have established clear links between Typhon and two recent additions to the town - a mare and a stallion going by pseudonyms - and... several other ponies, who gladly answered questions when asked.

There is a reason the Wind family is so close to one another, even when the blood-relation is thin and the distances large. He's the link between them. It's him.

Given their contributions to society, it's clear that Typhon does not hold any ill-will towards ponies, and acts much like a proud grandfather if the stories are any indication. He is, in fact, doing his best to keep Equestria in good health.

Save for the parts when the opposite is needed, as it was him who trained the mare involved in the infamous 'Bubble-stream incident', which ended with an overly-aggressive bodyguard twice (perhaps thrice) her size in traction. I need to know how she did that with just a pair of bowls of punch, how could she have commanded her magic with such ease, precision, and alacrity; it's been eating at me ever since I read the report, and the horrid, obvious pun rubs me the wrong way.

The more I learn, which is already at an impossible rate, the more confused I am. I'm trying to keep an open mind, but it's hard. It's hard, being caught up in all of this. It's hard, and nopony understands.

Well, with all the times I have been told 'you just had to ask' and 'why didn't you ask?' I am certain that somepony out there is saying exactly that, and they might understand better than I thought.

He has not displayed most of the abilities the princesses reported he possessed. No production or manipulation of fire, minimal use of manipulation of weather, minimal use of air manipulation, no use of familiars, no rocket-based transportation devices, minimal evident use of magic, and discrete-if-still-impressive feats of physical prowess.

The abilities he has displayed are much more subtle. He treads very lightly, specially when in the presence of hostile intent; his every move is subtly controlled and minimalized, likely due to self-awareness born of training and experience. When calm, his movements are loose but gentle; he is in complete control of his physical strength.

The ability to summon other humans is worrying, more so since it seemed like he didn't know much about this new one.

He has regular contact with other worlds, or at least, is aware of them and the situations happening in them. It could possibly explain certain oddities that would otherwise be inconsistencies.

The orders are to remain largely unchanged. Civilian safety first; at any sign of danger, prioritize evacuation and protection of other ponies. In case of anomalous weather of larger scale than what is available to a regular pony, investigate source, abstaining from involvement should that source be Typhon. Do not engage; he is hiding the full extent of his capabilities, and just one of the reported powers he possesses are beyond the scale of most ponies, more so all of them at once. He is noticeably non-aggressive, but is willing to defend himself and his friends; any conflict that arises is to be resolved as pacifically as possible - his friends, most of which we know nothing about, are also willing to defend him if his daughter is to be believed. Discourage would-be hunters hoping for a reward - there is none, and the 'Phantoms' are fixated on him, so any hunters will get caught in the crossfire. Should another being, particularly humans, be around him, proceed with caution and determine intent, acting accordingly.

Treat the dragon with caution. She is, technically, covered by the treaty - regardless of her particular family situation - and a civilian. Movements similar to those of Typhon in parts, confirmed to be because of combat training. Proficient in the use of a sword, likely magical in addition of being magically assisted. Capable of enchantment and spellwork, likely through similar means to Typhon.

His daughter is not worried about the guard, citing that, if the guards from three centuries ago did not concern her, the current generation wouldn't, either. A harsh blow to our pride, but sadly quite accurate; I'm trying really hard to change the current... "policies" and make them train more and polish less. Night Guards have the right mentality and better combat training than Day Guards, but I have the feeling that nocturnal combat makes no difference to them.

~~Must remember parade-grade armor polish. Cadence likes it when she can see herself in my armor.~~

Prosperity, Typhon's adoptive daughter, can cast spells and enchant items. Hoards knowledge and friendship - somehow - and has done so with the works of preeminent ponies through history, casters most likely included. A complex spell was performed to reduce her size and shift her appearance; assume, as is SOP, that it can be broken at will and thus release a full-size adult dragon in the middle of a situation. Willing to use her mind and hone her skills for the sake of self-improvement and defense of her hoard; shows a degree of contempt or antipathy towards dragons that just grow fat atop their hoards. Abilities largely unknown, but clearly above those of 'regular' dragons, if our own encounter with dragons is anything to go by.

Also, she bucking knows who I am. It took me several hours to notice. She made comments about how delicious certain earrings looked, but also how perfect for a wedding proposal they were - the Bearer of Generosity mentioned that they were 'simply divine' on certain colors of coat, including pink. She keeps making subtle jabs at me like that, just like Typhon announced how I ~~chickened out~~ postponed proposing to the four winds.

Note: Find out if Typhon can send messages through the wind.

Though nopony else seems to have noticed, save Typhon. I just hope Twilight doesn't know, and she doesn't tell ~~the~~ Princess Celestia about it.

Author's Note

Rubbing the wrong way is a more serious expression in pony culture, and widely used across the whole race, too, for obvious reasons.

At this rate, ALL of Equestria is going to know Shining's secret identity. And he shall be oblivious to it all.

Brand new

The first beams of light of the day entered through the window, a warm caress soothing the sleeping mare and slowly stirring her awake.

Celestia sighed contently and smiled as she felt the touch of the sun upon her weary body.

'Wait, the su- oh...' She cringed momentarily as the implications hit home, but felt a... a twinge of tenderness at the realization that her sister would rather raise the sun herself than rouse her. She must have been really tired to oversleep like that, and Luna must have turned off her alarm; a touching gesture.

Celestia opened her eyes, the view of the dawn bringing a smile to her face. The light coming from beyond the horizon reminding her that, indeed, each night had it's dawn. Just as tedious days had their dusk, each cold night had a dawn.

She closed her eyes again as she soaked in the warmth to get energy for the day ahead of her. It was mostly clear, being the day after a festivity and, more importantly, having done all of her thrice-cursed paperwork!

Oh, and the major sources of it, the nobles, were likely at home trying to sleep off hangovers the size of their mansions.

Idly, she wondered if Silver and Cloud had even gotten home, though what she remembered pointed out that, if they had not waited until they were home then, then they were likely still at the garden.

Rolling her head and getting a series of 'unrefined' yet very relieving cracks from her neck, she ruffled her wings as she prepared to preen.

A small note got her attention first, though.

Good morning, or whatever time of day you actually find this, princess.

The headache made you sleep as soon as you laid your head down on a pillow, so Luna had to carry you back to your room. I warned you about feedback, sister. I told you about it.

No. You just had to disperse the duplicates that were doing wildly different things all at once, didn't you? Just because you can take it - and worse than that - in theory, that doesn't mean that you have the practice to just absorb the patterns of mental energy like that! Need I remind you who the masters of ubiquity are? Hint: It's not you!

There's a recipe written on the back - it's for a slow-acting magic/vitality restoration potion, with a couple of things added for vitamins and stuff. Excellent against hangovers, stress, and upset stomachs, although not exactly potent in the 'restoration' portion. It even tastes great, no need for stereotypically-hideous cures.

Well, I'm going back to Ponyville - no, even if I can last indefinitely by feeding and by absorbing external magic, I do not have to worry about personality drift, since I know the spell that sends the patterns back and forth. I'm going because I can't keep the poor guards following my steps forever, since they are technically on assignment... though if they got mysteriously recalled, that would be really helpful. I'm willing to bet that you already thought of ways to shift things around, with my best guess being 'formally' asking Twilight and the others to keep an eye out or something... it's not like Ponyville needs more eyes watching over it, certainly not from them - Shining Armor alone is already excessive.

The other two are going back, since they are still needed, but now going back and forth is much easier - just say the word to the right ears.

Trying my hardest to be friendly

Prosperity

P.S.: You'd better laugh more. Who ever heard of an Element of Laughter that is reserved with it?

Huh... well, she was feeling just fine, thank you, although she knew a pony or two that were likely going through the marvels that a hangover brought.

Fine! So she knew many of them, but she was going to keep it to herself. They needed to learn a thing or two about heavy drinking, and that if they wanted to use 'sickness' as an excuse, they should have to suffer through it at the least.

Hmm... she had gotten a few ideas of what to do with her new-found free time. Maybe skating with her sister? There was also that donut store from the Gala night... oh sweet Zacherle, those donuts! She was going to have to include them in the new changes to her life.

Thinking it more thoroughly, however, she realized that Luna might need the rest. She was still not completely recovered, returning to the state she had been found in during the day, and so it was likely that raising the sun had exhausted her. Maybe it was to rest her mind and powers? Holding her own flowy aurora mane during the night was... not a significant drain in absolute terms, but if she was to rid her life of unnecessary things she had to start from as much of a blank slate as she could. If ponies thought it weird, or if she needed to make a public appearance... she would cross that bridge when she got to it.

Perhaps she should give the book another look. Or take yet another hobby, like knitting... buuuut after sneaking another peek at that book.

Who knew what secrets were hidden behind the last spell of Starswirl?

*****

(Crafting room. Creation attempt #1)

Snap. Crack.

Dang. It figures.

Hissss.

Nope. That didn't turn out well.

This baby is being difficult~!

And Ironwing's notes are a mess, although that was to be expected from one of Discord's creations, I still want better from Byakko's significant other. One would think that a pony literally made of iron - well, kind of - would be a bit more constant, but no.

Crack. Cr-cr-crcr-crack.

Hmm... I wish I knew where did Clover wound up hiding-slash-stuck, because like hell Clover died without us knowing. If I'm going to get any of these ready for the girls, it would be better with a magic-talent pony compatible with the Element of Magic, an 'awake' sort, because Twilight is still a 'sleepwalker' and can't call on her true powers without the physical crown, even if she is The chosen one. Power alone, even power beyond Clover's own, a good base material does not make - for this.

Trixie...

Hisssss~...

Couldn't have worded it better myself. She's still got a way to go.

Snap.

Hey, if Rarity gave me a little bit of her magic, I could work the 'vision' and 'beauty' angles into the 'mirror' one, seed a large pool of ambient magic, crystallize it and... I'd have to re-work the seal and the runes to feed it in the sub-harmonic array before routing...

Crack. Hiss...

Dang. I definitely need cutie mark magic, at the least.

Power...

And finesse.

Runes. The basic language of the world. Long story short, an idea or concept put to magic put to writing (although some times the order was switched around). Each line in the drawing, letter in the word, or step in the chain creating a sentence and a circuit and a painting or sculpture all at once, turning something simple into something so much more advanced and descriptive and complex.

Everything got taken into account, from the mathematical equations of resonance to the melodious vibrations, from the medium used to the function, from the mood to the user, even the aesthetics were an important factor when creating an array. True, in a pinch, style can slide; then again, isn't simplicity just another form of elegance? Any engineer would smile upon a system that does its job, does it in a timely and consistent fashion, and has no excesses that may hinder the functionality.

A good deal of the... deal... with magic relied on connections. There were the facts, like this crystal reacts like so and so, blue and red make purple, and so on like with any other purely Material interaction. Then there were the abstractions, like feelings and imagination. Magic in Equestria is a science and an art. Magic is similar to a living being, giving in order to receive, capable of understanding mathematical approaches, chemical/alchemical reactions, and physics... and art, and emotion, and ideas.

Snap.

Magic and Message. The intent and the info. In Equestria, it's almost like interacting with someone. You still have to do it right if you want to get anywhere, but it's a lot easier to, say, accidentally turn the school's parent/teacher dinner into a more varied and nutritious version of 'Attack of the killer tomatoes', complete with killer juice box (if you are three inches tall, anyways). A spell carelessly cast is easily undone.

Us?

Crack.

... Well said.

Not so easily; our mistakes are surprisingly well-structured and solidly-built. Starswirl said that I earned my 'Father of Monsters' credentials after the marshmallows tried to eat him - took forever to get the gunk out of his beard (hehe!). Still, it was like the shikigami-style familiars didn't count in the eyes of that weird old goat. Pfft, even with that many teachers there is bound to be a few accidents - I mean, just because you are being supervised by four guardian gods -or sufficiently-god-like beings in any case - that doesn't mean that you are immune to having Discord's creations mess up your experiment.

Why Discord made Ironwing more metal than pony I don't know. At the very least, he had the decency to make Iron an earth pony with wing-like appendages (even if they have swords instead of feathers), rather than an outright pegasus. Getting hit with the wave of magic that defeated Discord had the effect of giving Ironwing a more stable body, more like the others, but it made things... interesting.

Hiss.

Mother of Chrome...

Whelp, that's that. I can't let myself get stuck with this forever. For the record: Crafting halted; cannot progress past second stage without properly-aligned magic, substitutes available, but require re-designing of the feeder and re-routing of the sub-harmonic at the very least. Time... six hours forty-three minutes and sixteen seconds; estimated time total for completion once crafting resumes, twenty hours. Estimated time for crystallization and shaping of requisite magic, further ten hours. Man am I glad I don't need sleep that much. Current time is two PM on the doooot~... now.

Materials are fine and abundant, with previous treatments and forging done prior to my Ascension - becoming friends AND research buddies with such important figures is awesome. Pity about misjudging the timing on the Crystal Empire... the preparations were incomplete. Had we known that Moonshadow's colt was like that, envious and bitter, we could have done something - give maximum priority to the defenses and leave the airship stuff for later, get the colt a danged shrink, anything. Ah... but that is the nature of those aligned with darkness akin that of the Void - to slip right through the awareness of others; it also happened to Luna and Moony and his wife, after all. Their nature conspired against us, against them, and it was thanks to Light and Hope that Luna is back, and no matter what I will help her push up her own affinities for Light and Hope, as well as do what I can for her Void, to help her.

Main reason right there. She allowed one of her affinities to overwhelm her; perhaps she felt inadequate, or overshadowed by her sister's own Light and Hope... and the remnants of Sombra's magic, and all of the dangers of the night didn't help. Soon after her banishment, however, Celestia changed... things - laws here and there to lift restrictions on nighttime activities, encourage celebrations here and there - and then we Winds could make the changes that fell through before.

Stupid timeline, so finicky about changes and stuff.

Still, that is precisely what I need about it to get my dues.

After all, once something has fulfilled its purpose, it is only polite to put it back. Or, seen in another way, if you are overcharged, you can demand a refund of the excess, or to get your payment's worth.

Geez! I'm rambling! This is a video taken for documentation purposes, not a V-Log! Well, it is, but this video was just supposed to be about the creation of this thing.

Clang.

Which doesn't even work. Yet.

Prototype or not, all adjustments will be a matter of calibration - barring some huge yet undetectable mistake, this is the final product for all intents and purposes.

Meh. See you next time. I think I'll tour the dreamscapes for a while.

Cli-

*****

(Sugarcube Corner, Ponyville, teatime)

"Yes, Dash." Prosperity answered with a raised eyebrow. "If the phantoms are going after him, and he was friends with ponies, it stands to reason that they would fight to help him - and yes, he was very involved in the training process, at least a part of it, and nearly all of mine."

"Good." Dash nodded. "That means I can get stronger, and be actually useful."

"The fastest flier in Equestria, feeling inadequate?" The words might have been considered mocking, but the tone was genuinely concerned. Prosperity set down her tea and leaned just a touch closer.

"That thing with the dragon a while back was... not my best moment." She replied, wings and ears drooping. "I was in way over my head, and my friends almost paid for it."

"Ah." Small, noncommittal sound of comprehension to draw further explanation. No movement; no distraction.

"See, there's this treat- oh." Rainbow nearly smacked her forehead, but settled for just rubbing it gently. "Right, dragon, you keep bringing it up. Anyways; we get sent 'cuz Twilight's got some authority, and sending guards or the princess-...es is a big no-no unless things are actually going bad - though Princess Celestia never took her eyes out of the cave while we were in there so that she could see if she had to jump in."

Rainbow paused, inhaling deeply.

"M-hmm." Small confirmation, softly delivered to indicate attention and patience. Small nod, then back to focusing on her.

"But I didn't know that." She sighed. "I thought that what little of the letter I actually listened to meant that the prin- that Princess Celestia believed we were awesome enough to go tackle a dragon."

Rainbow allowed her head to fall on the table, a disgruntled groan escaping her.

"To be absolutely fair, some of the most successful adventuring parties in the history of Equestria were pretty small - including yours, just so that you don't forget - heck, we kept ours small whenever we did things. That, and the current captain of the Royal Guard gives me the vibe of being able to handle a regular dragon solo." Prosperity offered, straightening her posture, slightly shifting her dress (a simple floral sundress) as one of Dash's ears flicked in her direction.

"But those guys get training, and never go without gear if they can help it." Dash said from her position on the table, remaining silent for a moment before straightening again. "I kicked that dragon so hard I had to get a healing spell to be able to feel my hooves again, and then I was on the ground, with a huge dragon about to eat us."

"Celestia would have given him a reprise of Tiamat's defeat before that ever came to pass, you know?" Prosperity said, pausing a second only to take a dainty bite out of one of the honeyed biscuits that accompanied her tea. "There would have been epics written about that, but it was simply a brutal, merciless, no-holds-barred beat-down until the foolish bag of scales was no longer able to throw around any of her powers - the sealing was when things actually got interesting."

"I already said that I didn't know that." Dash scowled, but the dragon across from her simply allowed the glare to roll off her scales. "All I knew was that we were going to be roasted snacks just because I was punching way above my weight."

Ah, right, Dash knew a thing or two about hoof-boxing, too.

"I mean, I realized that my friends were about to pay for my mistake." Dash sighed, virtually deflating. "I told them that I would take care of it, and just put them in danger in the first place."

That was a powerful conflict right there. Her loyalty towards her friends and the hit to her ego likely made her think her actions through more often.

"I take it that was why you didn't just charge in ahead of everypony else?" She just wanted to see if her deduction held any water.

"Yeah... I remember the tales, because they're so strange, you know? See, Thunderlane is great with lightning, and can even get them out of white clouds with his magic - I think one of his parents is a hot-shot Lunar Guard that shoots over miles, but that was second-hoof and might not be one-hundred-percent right." Rainbow shrugged. "Trixie could call up a small thundercloud with her magic, but that's it, small. Typhon? Every weatherpony has heard of how he could just wave and lightning would blast anything he wanted, even without clouds on the sky; I even saw it myself, a few days ago. That was one part, not repeating my mistake like with the dragon or Discord, with the other being how he talked to the p- to princess Celestia - like an old friend, but without the creepy mocking tone and zero sarcasm Discord had. So I asked myself: 'What would a smart pony like Twilight do?'"

"Research." Prosperity nodded, and yelped slightly when Twilight chose that precise moment to enter the establishment.

Said pony just walked over to the counter and asked Mrs. Cake for something to eat.

"Alright, I know that saying that word doesn't actually summon her, but that was some freaky timing, I swear." Dash said, blinking as if to make sure she wasn't seeing things.

"You were saying?" Prosperity tapped the cup.

"Oh? Ah, yeah. I learned my lesson; I knew enough to know that just jumping in was a bad idea, and I had to see just how bad. That's just part of it; I found some odd stuff, and I can't see why somepony didn't see it before."

"The books mention Luna all the time, I know; I am a librarian." Prosperity paused a second to wave at Twilight, then placed her free claw on the elbow of the arm that held the cup - lecture pose number five. "I think the Elements did something, ensorcelled her name, encouraged ponies to remember how Luna was instead of what she became, something."

Dash looked at her with curiosity.

"Remind me again how many mobs of adoring fans did you get after saving Equestria not just once, but twice?" Prosperity pointed out, while pointing with the teacup, and Dash's eyes widened. "They have something resembling a will, not quite a mind, and they help out even while they are dormant."

Dash looked down at the cup in front of her - frankly, she had forgotten about it - and simply flicked an ear in Twilight's direction as acknowledgement of her walking up to them.

"Hey, girls, what was that about the Elements?" Twilight asked, then tried to backpedal. "Not- not that I was eavesdropping or anything! But I couldn't help but hear it..."

"They have a will, not quite a mind."

"Why us?" Dash said before the other two had a chance to keep going. "Don't get me wrong, I get that we're different - hay, I can do the Sonic Rainboom, Fluttershy out-Stared a bucking cockatrice, and Twilight's the most magical unicorn in all of Equestria, maybe even the world."

"Aww... come on, Dash." Twilight blushed and shrank on herself a little. "There have been many other great unicorns that did many great things, too."

"Twilight, you were about to go into the Everfree, alone, just so nopony else would have to." Dash pointed out, and they both smiled at the memory.

"Precisely." Prosperity allowed the cup to clink against the saucer, then placed one claw over the other on her lap - pose number four. "If you are wondering if you were chosen because you were special, or you are special because you were chosen, don't. Rainbow, you would rather take a danger on yourself than let your friends go into danger, and sweep up the lost and the wandering in your intensity. Twilight, even at the peak of your antisocial behavior, you could not stomach the thought of a pony suffering, and want nothing more than letting others know how wonderful it is to have friends. Answer this: Where do you think that comes from?"

Dash sighed, apparently from relief, and Twilight's face was starting to give off appreciable heat.

"We can discuss that kind of topics some other time. You want to learn our secrets? Sure, why not? You were chosen to be the Elements of Harmony; you are good ponies looking to help out your friends." Prosperity nodded. "Clover would approve."

'And Typhon loves ponies a whole lot. You girls almost as much as them. He would offer, and I bet that he would make something to help you - not that I wouldn't help, but he's the one with the crazy ideas.'

"Learn- Dash, what is this about?"

"Dash wants to protect you using her own hooves." Prosperity answered before Dash had the opportunity to be at a loss for words and make a fool of herself.

Twilight blinked. Dash waited for a reaction.

"I- I can't say I'm surprised." Twilight wound up saying. "I want to tell you that it's too dangerous, that you don't have to do it, but then you'd tell me the exact same thing, right?"

Now Rainbow Dash blinked, then gasped as she realized what she meant.

"The more the merrier." Prosperity smiled. "I need to take care of other things first, though. Feel free to have the Heroic Boomerang argument without me, though."

"The what?"

"'No, it's too dangerous; I'll do it'. 'No, I'll do it; I'll never forgive myself if something happened to you'. 'No, I'll do it; you have so much to live for'..."

The ponies shared a look, Dash opening her mouth, Twilight giving a nod towards the dragon.

"We all know that you will decide to go together in the end." Prosperity added. "If there is one thing I consistently loved about my education, was the insane amount of stories I had access to. Don't bother arguing; I have most likely seen it enough times to know to expect you two."

"I'm too stubborn to let Twilight convince me to stay away."

"And I'd be lost without my friends; plus, we are stronger together."

'Ah, then that means this Twilight is smarter than one from a 'prime' or 'alpha' timeline. Good.'

"Great! That makes everything so much simpler! I'll get back to you in a few days. Who knows? Maybe we will have a few surprises..."

Author's Note

I swear I didn't know of the Chuckle-Lot stuff when I made Celestia a bearer of Laughter. Though I don't intend to use that in here, just so you know.

Also, Celestia and Luna skating together is one of the covers of the comics, which are available for free. They looked so dang happy in there...

Loopholes

(Celestia, Distant Past)

Celestia stared at the scene before her, with Luna standing at her side since she had a... personal investment in the issue.

The whole point of making marriageable age higher than what was considered the one of consent was to prevent the family drama that Griffons and minotaurs went through... pretty much all the time before they had an unified country. She ought to know; she was old enough to have been there. She liked to think better of ponies, but she did not want to deal with ponies getting scammed out of their inheritances or their dowries because they ran off with the first silver-tongued quick-witted mare or charismatic dashing stallion that promised the world but gave only heartache.

Ponies were also highly physical, unlike Griffons (getting one to agree to a nuzzling was difficult for non-direct-family, much less a hug). Mere words where not enough to get to know each other, even if high-brow unicorns would like to believe otherwise.

That is to say, ponies were supposed to get to know each other before involving anything that could be considered 'official'. They were free to chose their partners, free to get together or drift apart, and thus they were given the time to mature further and do so before anything that could complicate matters due to a rushed decision was able to be involved.

"Princess Celestia herself said so."

However, words could sink a relationship really, really fast. That he sounded so demanding and smug did not earn him any favors.

(She would like for talented individuals to 'get together'... but then again, if it would lead to the situation she was currently facing...)

"Wind Whistler deserves a nobler, more adequate partner." Storm Chaser said, proudly throwing out his chest.

"Wind Whistler deserves to choose what she likes, and Windstorm is not a scoundrel, he is merely less fortunate." Storm Shadow retorted, looking straight at the two sisters without so much as a glance towards Chaser; with his impassive demeanor and cold, firm voice, Chaser actually faltered. "His interests and personality are much more in tune with my daughter's, and his skills have impressed us."

Celestia knew that it was not a battle that Chaser could win, the problem was acceptance of that fact and coming to terms with it. After all, Shadow was an officer for a reason - a whole slew of reasons, and really danged good ones at that; if he approved, Windstorm really was all that and a bale of hay. She had originally... suggested that Chaser and Whistler got together because the two families were rather influential, and they were rather strong, too.

Hay, Commander Hurricane was the first pegasus that could perform the Sonic Rainboom (that she knew of), and Storm Chaser's parents were great storm wranglers - with him not so far behind. Chaser had, however... not made the best of impressions on Wind Whistler, and Windstorm, too, did not seem to like him too much; trying to make the herd larger still was not an option.

"Not as much as his drive, however." Meadowlark interjected, and Celestia could hear the nails being driven into the coffin. "He approached us out of respect towards us. We could tell, as he asked for our permission to court our eldest daughter, that they wanted our blessing, but did not need it."

The mare stood resolutely next to her husband, her growing belly not detracting from her intimidating aura one bit. Actually, it might just have made her a little scarier.

Celestia could tell that they were holding back, though.

Chaser looked at her like she was a lifeline, though she felt like she might agree with Luna in the end (Luna's thoughts were pasted all over her face, or so they were to her, at least). But what could she do?

The crackling of static coming from the two adults' wings was so surprising that she actually widened her eyes - Luna did, too.

Storm Chaser was so outclassed, it ceased being funny, went beyond that, and became hilarious once more. She knew, from Luna and Clover, that Windstorm had 'figured out' how lightning was made - probably from a brush with Typhon and his ever-growing crazy weather powers - and was learning how to manipulate his own power to duplicate it; Starswirl, his son, and Comet Shine said that they were still researching weather magic!

Windstorm might have arrived with nothing but what he had carried himself, but being in the center of a big magical discovery certainly made him popular. He, and the way he could teach what he knew, was proof that all pegasus ponies were magical, not just the legends - and from there, it was but a minor step to prove that all ponies were, too. Starswirl's involvement in the research may have been ancillary, but that was simply because he was allowing Clover to get closer to them - they became rather close friends, after all, and felt like it was more their right than his.

Now, if only Chaser hadn't decided to get her involved... she had to think of something! She had to... oh! Remember what was that she had said when she introduced Whistler to Chaser! Maybe she could find something that would prevent her from getting tangled up in what should have been a private affair in the first place.

...

Oh... oh no... it should have been private in the first place!

*****

"Reminiscing about old times?" Typhon called out, emerging from an archway that hadn't been there before.

"I am dreaming." Celestia stated, to which he nodded. "Ugh, but why that? It reminds me of the fact that I rarely made functioning couples..."

"You may have good fortune and intuition, but you could be pretty oblivious about romantic interactions." He said as the scene slowly turned into Cloudsdale in the past. "Sometimes in general; Starswirl only acted stern and dignified while inside the castle, but not his lab."

"Well, I preferred to see him like that. He was always so... focused and passionate about his discoveries." Celestia said, almost hearing him going into a spiel about his research, even if it was something simple, like color-swapping.

...

Actually, she could hear him.

She turned around, and was greeted by the inside of the old audience hall, with Luna and herself sitting at the highest seat in the hall, and the old goat himself ranting passionately about the three tribes.

After an... 'accident' with a color spell in his youth (before he even caught the attention of the unicorn courts), the magic stuck to his coat and irises, so they kept changing. Celestia thought it gave him character, although, seeing him again, 'wearing' Twilight Sparkle's color palette at the moment, made her ask herself why she never asked him to get rid of that.

Or get Clover to stop imitating it.

"Sorry." Typhon said, shrugging. "I kinda fell half-asleep for real, so we're only semi-lucid for now."

"Memories running down regular dreams?"

"Yup. Project not working the way I wanted. Tried reading. Wound up conking out on a sofa."

"What kind of project?"

"Something for protection. Mad alchemy, mad enchanting, mad metalworking, and generic magic science were involved." Typhon shook a little and patted his face, trying to prevent falling into a deeper slumber and dragging them off into a normal dream. "I remember this one time with a mad social scientist..."

"Ah... is there a discipline that does not have a practitioner with highly unorthodox methodology?" Celestia asked; starting to get more lucid herself. "It worries me that Twilight might come across one and get swept up in their... intensity."

"Good luck with that." Typhon chuckled. "Twilight's already a little off herself, and - just for starters - there's a mad botanist, a crazy artificer raver, and an alchemist candy-maker just in one section of Ponyville! The jury's still out on Pinkie, due to her casual approach, but if she starts 'improving' the ovens, or the baked goods themselves..."

"Wait, did you say 'botanist'? Like the one that made the glow-in-the-dark flower-based clock?" Celestia asked, images of Ponyville trapped under enormous black briars flashing through her mind. And the dreamscape.

"Kind of, but we have Dark Magician Luna, so the stupid black vines can't touch her." Typhon said, making Celestia look at him in mild confusion. "Alternate universe stuff."

"Where Luna is not as proficient in its use?" Celestia asked with a vague feeling of hope.

"For some odd reason despite being mistress of the night, yes. And it doesn't help any - in fact, it makes everything worse!" Typhon laughed quietly, particularly at the annoyed sneer on the face of the otherwise ladylike pony. "Couldn't fight back vines that disrupted normal magic, couldn't fight back a being that drained the magic out of a pony, and there are instances of ponies getting dangerous dark magic that she just couldn't deal with at all."

Celestia groaned and sighed and slumped on the 'ground'.

"Besides, what's the big deal? The more you understand the basic building blocks of ideas, the better! Darkness is awesome, so long as you don't get caught in any pitfalls, like thinking about 'absolute' power or 'true' power. Curiously enough, the one guy I expected to Understand that words like 'ultimate' are only useful for drama... doesn't." Typhon scratched his head, waving his hand around as the scene swirled into the interior of Sugarcube Corner. "Anyways, if I am here, it means that I was in your head before you even fell asleep. Come on, sit down and take a load off."

"There are several things on my mind lately." Celestia confessed, elegantly lowering herself at a table before taking a bite out of a dream donut. It was good, and made her smile in contentment. "However, how to get paperwork done is no longer one of them."

"The crown is heavy only if you don't wear it well." Typhon nodded. "If you don't get advantages out of something, then why do it?"

"For the benefit of the subje- oh, that would constitute as an 'advantage', wouldn't it?" Celestia's retort died at its own hooves, making her chuckle.

"See? Benefits all around. That includes stopping something worse, of course."

"Where you aware of Nightmare Moon before she came to be?" Celestia didn't take her eyes off her pastry, but could still see Typhon wincing at the edge of her vision.

"Kind of." He gestured with his hands. "It was the most likely outcome in the versions of Equestria that I have seen, but there have been others where you are the one that goes insane; some, it's both of you and it falls to Cadence, who obviously is immortal (or really, really long-lived) in that case, and existed at the time. In a few, it was even a gambit on Luna's part, pretending to desire an eternal night to get a callous version of yourself to avoid turning into a tyrant."

He paused, tapped a finger on the table, and looked towards the ceiling in contemplation.

"I still tried, though. The timeline doesn't like big changes, and let me tell you that killing Tiamat was a huge one... plus some things I did here and there... which we had to fight to keep them from getting cancelled out until they finally stuck for good. The timeline more or less tried fighting further big changes, so it was difficult to predict what would happen next or even stopping certain events. Had we succeeded in defeating Sombra before you arrived, it might have been possible to avert Nightmare Moon, though I don't know at what cost - something equally huge, at least."

The scenery started to bend and fall away, with small, polished crystals peeking from the ground, some slowly growing into the shape of buildings, with the largest, not unlike a needle, standing much, much taller. In the end, a sparkling city carved out of crystals stood in the soft morning light, the central spire was tall like a mountain, and just one of the arches holding it was enough to fit a house.

"Your best guess?"

"No Twilight Sparkle." He said, making Celestia suddenly stiffen. "And I don't know what would have happened to you; it was a big event in the development of your personality, too. Luna learned that she shouldn't get lost in her own darkness, you learned to pay more attention to your surroundings to prevent mistakes... even if you were still kind of self-deluded in that front."

"Nothing could be done, then." Celestia sighed.

"The timeline is malleable, but not that much, not with the resources we had and the mistakes we made." Typhon drummed his fingers on the table. "However, it also means that what I want to do is possible."

Celestia knew better than to ask right then, so she settled for another thing.

"What do you know of the Crystal Empire? Oh, and how often were you there?"

"I'm willing to bet 'more than its average citizen but less than Prospit' and 'almost all the time'. I started being in two places at once, you know."

"Could you have done something about the black rain?" As she spoke, a cloud started to darken and grow, blue lightning flashing from within as distressingly solid-looking black tendrils snaked about what was now an enormous storm; she noted that it was worryingly almost rivaling the size of the storm he himself had made at the time of his... rest.

"Let me guess, you had a feeling of dread wash over you, like being swallowed in a dark cave that just would not relent?" He asked as the clouds began to release an oil-black liquid that she refused to believe could have ever been water. He pointed upwards. "That, princess, is what happens when Void and Rage touch a person capable of calling rain."

Celestia's head snapped to look at him as the water started weighing down her mane, staining it and her coat.

"I had more than enough tethers to sanity and self-restraint, princess." He answered the unasked question. "I had practice, and help, and I need to remind you that there is more to darkness than fear and loathing."

Celestia gave a shaky breath, and, even if the feeling of the... liquid on her coat was making her skin crawl, and she could taste the rage of the lightning... it still smelled like rain.

Mournful, sad... almost normal, really. Fighting off something, just so that it would not go further than that.

"I saw Sombra kill and then possess my friend, Celestia." He whispered, dejected, but his voice was still carried over the sounds of lightning and rainfall. "I... got news that he is not dead, that he managed to hold on to his life, if just barely. Sombra came by surprise, and enslaved all of our friends in the city, and that was just with misaligned magic half-understood from stolen notes. If it were not for the special projects that we started precisely to counter him, I don't know how many lives would have been lost."

He stood quietly as large arch grew out of a large crystal, as if made of blue vines that snaked and coiled around one another, with another appearing further away, and another, until they reached the end of the road. The rain bent out of the way, stopped by an invisible archway connecting them.

"These are the eastern ones, and the closest ones to competition." He said. "They might have not been ready at one-hundred percent, but I wasn't going to let him get away with it. I never figured that I would have to face him directly, though, nor that he would have angered me like so... I was not about to underestimate Sombra, however, so I actually asked for this 'corruption'."

"I... see." Celestia stared at the human, trying to see if...

"No, while my body and mind wasn't exactly meant to wield powers pertaining to another Aspect, there are no lasting effects if you can go back to your previous mentality. I had help." He said, while the grim scene slowly washed away and turned into the atrium of Windstorm's mansion in Las Pegasus. Classic pegasus architecture, with everything made of clouds, with plenty of columns, space, and the occasional bust or statue of an important pony. "I know how to ignore the whispers, and, for all of the impressive Grim-dark look... it doesn't actually change a dang thing, so my 'transformation' actually sucks."

Celestia blinked. He was, after all, challenging everything she believed. Darkness was - to her - a path not worth it; too dangerous, like a tightrope in the dark, with plenty of... things trying to make one fall. It was bad enough that Twilight already wanted to learn it, nevermind Luna teaching it, now she had to deal with somepo- someone that claimed to run along the path and found it unhelpful. Something famed for being addictive and twisting hearts, yet he gave it up because it couldn't twist him. She knew some dark magic, of course, since it was only sensible to know something in the case she found herself confronted by another user, to better understand the principles and how to counter them, but this?

"Let me put it this way. Even if I wasn't as reluctant to fight or use violence as Clover, I still hate to actually hurt others if there's another way; something that doesn't change just because I am angry enough to actually strike at him." He plopped down on a couch of suspiciously the perfect length to let him rest his head and feet. "I still gained some spill-over benefits from the portions of my Aspect I ceded to those two, but the aggressiveness combined with my philosophies meant that I was a pacifist blood-knight, which is as lame as it sounds. On the other hand, mental combat means that I give eldritch horrors Sanity damage."

It wasn't his fault! Not completely, anyways. Like it was his fault that their 'vast, expanded consciousnesses' and 'incomprehensible natures' were so often vulnerable to being told 'no', or to thaumaturgic principles, or Truth, or semantics, or philosophy. Well, the deluded ones with the big overblown egos, anyways, since there were quite a few that were so... Them, and worthy of the nature, like Discord.

Still, the look on the face of that wizard! He was ranting about how it should not have been possible for 'a mere human' to look that deeply into the eyes of the local flavor of Fae royalty, only for Typhon to ask 'What about a Buddhist monk? Or someone with the right siddhis?' and see his brain fry itself over ignored possibilities. Typical, ignoring something just because it's out of view.

Of course, being a Dersite with the favor of a few horrors himself didn't do any damage. Or that he was not a 'mere' anything. Or that 'mere humans' did not exist as such.

"Save for Discord. Or you. Or your sister. Playing the game, no matter how oddly or how many loopholes you exploit, is much too different from trying to butt in and outright trash all of its rules, after all." He also grumbled something that Celestia could swear sounded like 'purged Luna is still more powerful than me'.

A lightbulb in Celestia's mind went 'ping!'

The Elements!

More specifically, Twilight and her friends!

"I have thought of something." Celestia said, the small, happy motherly smile clashing terribly against the spark of deviousness in her eyes.

"Would I be correct in assuming that I won't get a straight answer if I ask?" Typhon felt a small chill on the back of his neck.

"Would you give one?" Celestia spoke with that same smile, never allowing it to turn into a grin... which was more worrying.

"I suppose I earned that one."

*****

(Ponyville, Library, three days later)

Twilight Sparkle released the scroll, allowing it to gently flutter to the floor.

It was not voluntarily, as it had done so due to her magic fizzling out.

"The princess wants what?!" Spike shrieked a little at the end, but it would be for naught.

"The princess wants me to reform him."

Author's Note

Siddhis. Curiously enough, siddhis are like an afterthought of the universe; you gain them after enlightenment, well after the point where you are so close to enlightenment that you discover that you don't need them - mostly because they distract you from attaining it in the first place. This is what prevents gods and demons from becoming enlightened - they get their powers first, which distracts them and have them develop egos too large for their own good (or the good of anyone else in some cases). If you ever come across a philosopher god... smile and don't be a nuisance, or enter friendly debate. Who knows! Maybe he/she can help you.

Yes, there is a fanfic - whose name I forgot, unfortunately - where Luna is just pretending to be NMM. She had help from an alternate version of herself, who had to go through a... more difficult road.

As for the inverted sisterly banishment... I would like more of those, preferably not done like the Lunaverse. Instead of making Trixie more virtuous, RDD made the Mane Six more like Trixie, and that is just bad form. I don't care if the Six are... different; it would have been another issue entirely if things were swapped, but no, they were evened. Tall Poppy Syndrome pisses me off.

Yes, bullies were involved, how'd you know?

Royal Blood

(Blueblood, day before the letter)

The letters had been sent, the requests were being processed, affairs and permission were getting ordered... in but a few days, he would be in front of her doorstep, then he would be away to look for a rock freezing somewhere north of Equestria.

Granted, it was a space rock, thus inherently more interesting than an Equestrian rock, but a rock nonetheless.

On another day, he would be beside himself with joy and excitement at the prospect of of going out in an expedition such as his currently-planned enterprise.

She, however, was occupying far too much of his mind to leave enough of it available to get giddy at the call for adventure. Boy, was she mad when they met again.

He had, as Dagger Strider would so elegantly enounce it, 'royally messed up when (he) slammed that filly, bro'.

And not to forget Beloved Strider's succinct 'you've spent way too much time with those obsequious flatterers, to the point you automatically assume similar intent from everypony; it's turned you into kind of a git'.

Let it be known that the Striders were not ones to mince words, even if their choices of eyewear were strange.

He still remembered, though.

*****

(A couple of days earlier, at the door of Twilight's room in the castle)

"I'm not talking to you." Twilight's angry scowl and cutting tone wounded him more than any gossip-mongering noble's whispers at his back when they thought he could not hear them.

"Please, just listen... give me five minutes." He pleaded just as she was starting to turn around to slam the door on him. To his relief, she considered it.

"Fine, five minutes." She grumbled, but to his dismay didn't open the door any wider... he was going to have to fight an uphill battle.

"I never would have done what I did if I knew she was a friend of yours." He said, only to suspect it had been the wrong thing to say after Twilight got angrier.

"You shouldn't have done it anyways!" She yelled, and he reflexively gulped; Twilight had developed, perhaps through imitation, the same ability Celestia had to make him feel small when she was scolding him.

He pawed at the carpet and lowered his gaze - never mind that he was a full head taller and almost two whole years older.

"The Blueblood I knew would never do something like that." She said, and her disappointment made him feel uncomfortable with himself. "The Blueblood I knew would have treated her like royalty; I was happy for her because I knew that you would treat her with kindness and respect, even if you didn't return her affection. The Blueblood I knew was the perfect gentlecolt, even to ponies he didn't like. The Blueblood I knew was sweet and a little clumsy, and he was always so helpful..."

Oh, he remembered. So many ponies trying to become 'friends' with her only for her closeness to auntie Celestia had left her distant and unwilling to become friends with anypony else... he couldn't - or rather, didn't dare - to get too close for fear of stirring the hornets' nest that was Canterlot politics and upset her even more; she was enough of a hermit, all things considered.

It did not stop his own awkwardness from making her laugh every now and then... it was heart-melting-ly adorable, and it just reaffirmed his feelings.

"You used to be such a sweet colt... What happened to you?"

"..." He opened and closed his mouth, trying to say something, anything, but figured that 'anything' would sound like an excuse.

Therefore, he told her the truth.

"I... I was- am sick of all of the high-society mares just making line, approaching me one after another, fighting for my affection - when they are really going after my status." He slumped as he spoke, ears folded back. "I couldn't just speak to them - they took it as a challenge to 'melt the ice around my heart' and 'make me see the wonders of love'. And not to mention the country fillies that cannot see past my titles to the real me... I get letters from all over Equestria, and every last one of them are cookie-cutter love letters extolling virtues I know I don't have; all of them are written to some fantasy prince constructed from fairy tales and gossip."

He took a small measure of comfort in Twilight's look of indignation. That, and she was cute when she was mad (at somepony other than him).

"I started driving them away by pushing them with... abrasive behaviour." He grimaced; he was, after all, reminding her of the reason she was upset with him. "For all of their thrown stones, they live in glass houses; at the slightest hint of resistance, they give up in disgust. They have no patience, no tolerance, and no ability to compromise."

"Oh..."

"I... got used to it. I see I shouldn't have, but I was just so tired..." He drifted off, head hanging low. "She looked just like another of them, spoke like them, and even whined like them! I thought she was presenting a mask just like the others."

"I- I'm sorry, I didn't know." Twilight placed a comforting hoof on his shoulder, making him feel a tightness in his chest and a knot in his gut.

"Please, forgive me, Twilight." He whispered, somewhere between ashamed and tired, but glad that she felt concern for him. It was a good sign.

"I'm not the one you should be asking for an apology." She said, making him feel a tiny bit of anxiety at the lack of an answer.

"I- I'm going to make it right by her, obviously." He replied, trying to keep calm. "I will apologize to her; in person, too."

He gulped. He was not out of the woods yet.

"I am sorry for treating your friend like that. Please, forgive me." He tried to avoid sounding too pleading, though he honestly wished for it and his tone may have reflected it, so she could have noticed.

"Uh... why is my forgiveness so important to you?" Her question told him that she, indeed, noticed.

"Oh, well, that is..." Blueblood hesitated, and cleared his throat to stall for a few precious seconds.

'Alright, I just have to say it: I like you, and I can't stand the thought of my mistakes upsetting you.'

"The truth is..." He took a deep breath to gather courage.

'Say it, mouth, say it: I want to go out with you on a date, and I want you to know that I can change.'

"It's slightly embarrassing to admit it..." His lips twitched as if to smile - from sheer, nerve-wracking anxiousness - but he managed to school his features so that he would be taken seriously.

'Mouth, you are doing a terrible job. Say it: You are an amazing girl, I like you and would chose you over any of the ponies that have vied for my attention, and I want to know if I can still be in your good books.'

"The truth is... I admire you." He said, relieved that the words were out.

'Damn it, mouth!'

"Wait, you what?"

Unbidden, words still poured from Blueblood's mouth.

"I admire your dedication, and I am not wholly surprised that you were chosen by the Element of Magic." He pause just to inhale deeply and continue speaking the words as they came. "Ever since I have known you I could see that you loved magic far more than any wizard I have ever seen - even including Aunt Celestia, just so that you are informed and won't attempt to belittle yourself. Your passion for magic and learning is nothing short of amazing, and your skill and dedication, your hard work and raw talent inspire awe while your selflessness makes me feel like I should strive to become like that as well."

'Hmm... acceptable; proceed.'

"And you are wonderful not just in magic, but everything that is magical; it is clear for all to see as you interact with your friends. Aunt Celestia always spoke highly of your kind and noble heart, and anypony that takes the time to get to know you for who you are can see the same. You are wonderful, and amazing, and the thought of losing your respect wounds me far more deeply than any scathing remark or sarcastic comment I have ever heard."

'Did I just say all of that? That was far better than anything else I had in mind! Mouth, you have redeemed yourself.'

"Gosh... I-I don't know what to say!" Twilight blushed and looked away in embarrassment, chuckling lightly. "I didn't know you held me in such high regard."

"But of course." He said, smiling a little. "You are special, and that is why I want to know if I can have your forgiveness for my transgressions."

"Oh- well... that... if- if everything you said is true, then I guess I can give you another chance - but you have to apologize to Rarity, too."

"You have my word. I shall make reparations for my behaviour as soon as possible."

*****

Sure, he meant it, but 'soon' was getting ever-so-near and he was starting to panic!

And the stink-bomb that Spike had somehow managed to slip in his suit felt like an appropriate estimation of the levels of their... displeasure.

Most of her visit was spent going over what happened to auntie Celestia and how to get her out of it. It just didn't feel right to ask her for a walk through the gardens while his dear aunt wasn't feeling well.

However, now he had no real obstacles. The road was clear for him to take that small detour, knock on the doors of her home, and ask.

Ask the cutest, most delightfully bookish filly for a da-da-... date. Simply a question of asking a question to one of the sweetest, nicest, and loveliest of mares and find out if she would give him a chance.

In Beloved's words: 'No biggie'.

The fact that Twilight herself didn't seem to know how great she actually was made him feel a paradoxical mix of relief (she would automatically treat him as an equal) and indignation (please! She deserved to know she is most noble and brave! A paragon of harmony and that it is an honor to be able to be called her friend!)

*****

(Ponyville Library, also the day before the letter)

"Please, you deserve to know, Twilight Sparkle; you are most noble and brave, a paragon of harmony, and I am honored to be able to call you my friend." Princess Luna nuzzled a blushing Twilight as she once again tried to dismiss her courageous actions as merely doing what anypony would have done in her stead.

"Yeah, she's pretty awesome." Rainbow Dash nodded sagely from her position (hovering over the table). "Not as awesome as me, but still pretty cool."

"We are all super-duper-tacular!" Pinkie bounced in place as Twilight managed to step back from Luna's attention without the princess following her.

Princess Luna looked just like the first time they met her - taller than most mares, yes, but shorter than when they saw her during Nightmare Night; dark blue, but not quite as dark. It was because it was still daytime, so she allowed her magic to rest rather than constantly draw upon her connection to the moon to maintain her form. It itched, and not being at her full power due to the combined secondary effects from her banishment and purification did not make it any more comfortable.

"Here you are." Spike said as he brought the just-brewed tea to the table.

"Thank you." Luna nodded and accepted the cup offered to her. "Now that pleasantries have been exchanged, I am here to deliver this."

With that, princess Luna presented them with a wooden scroll case.

"It was intended to be bestowed upon... an ancestor of yours, then recently came into my possession." Luna felt like she should clarify, although that drew a look of confusion from Twilight.

"Uh... How long ago would that be? Because, depending on the span of time, we might need a few hundred copies of it." Twilight said, at first confusing Luna - before the princess managed to process the statement.

She knew just how many ponies could descend from a single one. She had seen the records. Pansy's firstborn son had been... prolific - even though only a few had a legal hold over the assets of the main family, many pegasi could claim such ancestry. Hurricane had a 'smaller' line, and many overlapped... and about a third of the line were Wind family (they didn't pay that much attention to Hurricane, though).

'Others that you won't recognize' indeed.

Luna shook her head.

"Nevertheless, I believe you should have it first. After it is appraised, We shall see to any additional measures." Luna glanced at the case as Twilight took it in her magic.

'You choose what you want to see.' Read an engraving on the lid.

"Do you know what's in it?" Rainbow Dash asked, leaning closer as Twilight gently popped the case open.

"After opening the scroll, your heart will be stronger than any mountain, you will hear laughter in every stream and a song in every breeze, your will shall turn into fire and steel, you will see the light in the deepest cave, and feel the flow of life around you." Luna recited the words that had been etched into her memory.

Twilight and the others stood still for a few moments, turning slightly to the unassuming wooden case that had just been opened.

'I wonder if my expression resembled theirs... it is highly amusing.' Luna's lips quirked into a smirk.

"That is nothing compared to what would happen if you open it with your friends." Luna continued, making everypony snap back to her in a way that almost made her laugh. "You will discover the secret of the Elements of Harmony, you will find the greatest joys of life, and a source of strength more powerful than you can imagine."

"What kind of magic is in here?" Twilight spoke with not a small amount of awe, which made what came next more enjoyable to the princess.

"None whatsoever." She shrugged, and the confused reactions of the others almost managed to get her to smile despite herself. "It is straightforward. There is no secret message, or hidden methods, or anything that you cannot see immediately with your own eyes."

They said nothing, and Luna started to gain some appreciation for Typhon's way of announcing things.

Twilight gingerly slid the scroll out of its container. It was of an intense red with golden accents in some shape, although it was hard to tell with it rolled up like that.

Feeling somewhat nervous, Twilight figured that the best approach was to gather her friends around herse- if the pressure was any indication, they were already close to her. Way close. A lock of blue hair spoke of the princess's location.

Well, no sense in delaying the moment - she, too, was curious.

The scroll, thick and sturdy, flew open.

Rainbow Dash gasped, Luna hummed thoughtfully, Twilight's eyes widened and Spike muttered 'clever'.

Pinkie, however, said "It's blank!"

There was no writing on the scroll, only a bright golden patch.

"Wait, you mean that I am getting something that confuses you?" Dash turned to look at Pinkie, incredulous. "I need to savor this moment."

Getting invited to fancy restaurants by Rarity could be a bore, but she was a good friend through it all.

"Rainbow!" Twilight frowned as she scolded the giddy mare. Pinkie pouted.

"Alright, alright!" Dash waved her hooves in front of her in a placating gesture. "I'll stop!"

Dash pressed a hoof to the scroll, directing Pinkie's gaze with the other.

"Look, it's all here. Our friends." She said, aiming her sight at Pinkie's reflection, making Pinkie realize what that meant. "Frankly, we already knew that one."

Luna nodded, smiling tenderly as she remembered the night the six ponies had saved her from her mistakes... and noticing that she was seeing herself in the reflection, not Nightmare Moon - she chose to see herself, instead of her past.

"That's nice. So that means there is no secret?" Pinkie asked, turning the scroll about.

"It looks like it's merely symbolic." Twilight nodded. "The scroll is a mirror, and mirrors are used and considered special depending on what is reflected on their surface. Whoever opens the scroll, in this case."

"Better than-" Windborne was interrupted by the wooden case smashing right in between his eyes, making him clutch his face and drop to the floor.

"Gah! Why do you keep doing that!?" Twilight shrieked from her place in Luna's hooves, as Rainbow and Pinkie giggled at their expense.

"I was reading." Windborne said as he stood back up, rubbing the spot Twilight had hit with the surprisingly-weighty box. "Then you learned that Luna was coming, went into a cleaning frenzy, commanded the 'freshest cushions' be brought out, took the one I was sitting on with your magic and threw it into the laundry room - with me still on it."

Twilight's glare turned into a sheepish avoidance of eye contact, blushing as she was deposited back on her own hooves.

"You also sprayed disinfectant air-freshener on me." He turned to his side, where a faint lavender stain was on his otherwise-bright-white right hock.

"Sorry." Twilight mumbled as she tried making herself small.

"Do not worry." He said, straightening and speaking with mock-formality. "Revenge is a concept that my teachers do not support."

"Oh, good!"

"Shame that my teachers aren't here." He added, making Twilight give him an expression of pain and betrayal. "All of the books in the library have been turned upside-down. Now, if you excuse me, I need to wash my coat."

"Wait, please." Luna called after the retreating pegasus, while Twilight looked all around herself in mute horror, with the others chuckling at her. "You are one of Typhon's allies, correct?"

"It would be weird if I wasn't." The statement didn't make much sense to Luna, but it was nonetheless an answer.

Twilight, in a spot-on imitation of Rarity, brought a hoof to her forehead, rolled her eyes, and allowed herself to fall sideways into a cushion. Spike sighed in dismay at the extra work to be done.

"Is he one of the 'teachers' you speak of?"

"I... in a sense? I was talking about the Four Guardians." He tapped his chin in contemplation. "I think the name 'Suzaku' should ring a bell or two."

'Hey, princess! Why are you so surprised? A single salamander is barely lukewarm to one wearing the ring of Suzaku.'

"Ah, shoot! This thing is gonna stain!"

Author's Note

Ugh... Sorry it took so long, but I couldn't find a way to make the words form properly! I'd think up on what I wanted to happen, and the scenes would play out in my head, but they were all... disconnected, even if they were part of the same conversation. I think it still shows, but it is nowhere near as bad as it was in my head a while ago.

Yes, it's a Kung Fu Panda reference.

A much-belated presentation

(Typhon, side room of Ponyville's town hall)

Today was overcast, with the pale grey cover that hinted at the possibility of rain having rolled in from the forest during the night. It was pleasantly chilly, and the clouds covered just enough of the light to make my shadow impossible to see on the ground.

My kind of weather.

Relaxed, with a quiet, subdued magic of its own.

It did not interfere with the normal schedule too much, and so, the weather ponies took the day off. Ponies needed more light - the source did not matter, but they usually preferred sunlight - than humans. At least, their... 'drive' did, so days like that were not as common as I'd like.

(Not that it mattered, since I could just pull clouds of whatever shape to wherever I was whenever I wanted, and wouldn't be noticed so long as I did it outside of a cloud city's weather distribution area.)

A lazy day was just fine, since Twilight had called for a meeting in front of the Town Hall; she had an announcement to make about a letter she received from Princess Celestia.

About me.

'Don't I feel special.'

After having gotten caught under-prepared twice, I had changed the standard-issue Got-tier hoodie with an enchanted lookalike made of sturdier materials, but, since I didn't have magic of my own, wearing enchanted clothes constantly got a little uncomfortable...

Alright, so it itched like Hell's ants crawling under my skin if I went too long without giving them a rest, but enchanted clothes were simply a much more reliable defense than other things, like my 'gel viscosity' stat; it was impossible to predict whenever or not my body would react 'realistically', although getting sneak-attacked from the back seems like a sure-fire way to get killed. Celestia killed me, by accident, with a stone that by all rights should have bounced off my skin (although at the price of a portion of my health nicked in the process).

That annoyed me. Even pre-Ascension I could knock down walls with my bare hands and only get a little sore after hours of doing it, and most of my gauntlets allow me to use my full strength and enhance damage output; normal people with normal weapons bother me at best, even with the heavy stuff... sure, things were different with weapons created trough special methods, but I at least knew what was happening and a pretty good idea of whenever or not it would hurt me. Not so much when super-powered or plain over-powered people were involved... seriously, a rock.

To be fair, a normal human would have offered all of the resistance of overripe produce, so there was that.

Still, wearing armor all the time made me paranoid... more paranoid, at least. The version of Equestria I called home could barely be called 'grim-light', even if there were more monster attacks than I had seen in others (Tirek's influence during the Shaping Era? Most likely); I had no need to do much, and ponies wouldn't do much, either. Not like some I have seen; I swear, it's like whoever made their world forgot it's supposed to run on the Elements of Harmony.

Or that the princesses were supposed to be attuned to them a couple of times at the least... 'course, on the ones where the Ee-oh-Aitch aren't exactly benevolent it's a different story.

I decided to wear a white dress shirt, silken with a touch of the Victorian era; I kept my vest (vibrant blue, of course) open in the front to show it off, and, like most everything of mine, it bore the Breath symbol. Pants that matched the vest, and gloves. Gloves were important.

I hated having cold hands, since forever, and that didn't change in Tellus. Sure, The Four could help, and my own training allowed me to warm or cool the air around me at will, but... letting go and just feeling the air as it was - regardless of how it was - always felt relaxing. I had long since gained resistance to temperature, as well, but it was annoying when it got outside of normal human range.

A bolo tie, with a silver and turquoise slide, completed my 'relaxed rich' look. Oh, and combing my hair so that it resembled a standard business haircut. Mostly. A little. I mean, one would have to be really close to notice...

Well, The Four constantly tried to get me to wear something more 'Easterner'. Had this been a 'darker' place, I most likely would have - I mean, the amount of things one could hide in a kimono, hakama and haori? Unbelievable - even if cleaning them is a pain. And all of that extra space in the sleeves and those pleats was perfect to hide something more magically-discreet than enchantments (and less itchy to boot); they would require direct activation, and likely have either a shorter time limit per use or higher energy requirements, but they would also be on the strong side. Plus, protection from the Four or not, clothes would be a great choice for armor in a place where everyone can wield magic to some degree - I didn't have to worry about much else, thanks to sensing and other... measures.

I was still waiting for Twilight to start, but the exact time for her announcement was still minutes away, so I took my mind off of it by talking to one of the representatives from Flitter's hive.

He had the whole White Mage getup. Tough travel boots, tunic, belts with pockets and holsters for vials, pants, and the hooded robe - sans ears, however. It could be considered their badge of office; they get better, more personalized ones as they go up in their training, until they graduate, get their medical degree, and have a whole outfit. The level of the enchantments and the wholeness of the ensemble told me he was one of the more qualified ones.

Healing magic got hard in the higher levels. I should know, I was there when Starswirl penned the first formulaic medical spell, and the first methodical procedural one, too; up until that, no pony without a specific alignment or compatibility with healing magic could cast anything meant for more than blood-clotting, pain relieving, and minor wounds - surgeries were nightmares, although a good doctor could still work wonders without specialized magic. Not that the formulae are easy, or that the procedures can't get tedious; even with benefits from instinct and alignment a caster needed a lot of power, skill, and concentration.

Currently, he was a white-coated, purple-haired earth pony stallion with green eyes - most of Flitter's changelings used white somewhere in their disguised bodies, most commonly their coats. Must have left his focus someplace else; although not that much of an impediment for a changeling, their magical strength averaged lower than that of ponies and most needed the help. Love energy could help overcome that limitation, but they were stingy with its use - and for good reason.

"How are things going over with the princesses?" I asked, thumbing the turquoise of the tie - a small, OCD-ish habit of trying to keep shiny things mark-free (and thus, shiny).

"Everything is going smoothly - if I didn't know better, I'd say too smoothly." He replied, and detecting a small shiver running through his spine told me he had at least heard stories of some of the other places out there. "Even their most pressing demands are completely reasonable, stuff we overlooked or have no reason not to grant - particularly with what we are getting in exchange."

He shifted from hoof to hoof slightly.

"It must be nerve-wracking to be waiting for a horseshoe that will never drop." I said.

"No kidding." He replied, nodding. "Still, are you sure a town this small needs a hospital that large?"

I had seen the episodes, so yes; I'd say that, if I didn't push for it, the timeline itself would make sure that a hospital would happen there. The timeline didn't follow the show too closely, since Tirek was a god-like being that helped shape this world instead of a lowly demon would-be conqueror with delusions of godhood, but I knew many of the points of divergence - those that I had not caused myself, anyways.

I shrugged.

"Pretty sure; it's going to happen anyways, to tell the truth - weird time stuff. It will help ponies from other nearby towns; Canterlot is all the way up in the mountain, Las Pegasus and Haygas are almost as far as Manehattan is; Ponyville is a nice, central, easy-access place for ponies all the way to Hollow Shades; anything further is close enough to the other hospitals to make it just as easily."

He bobbed his head as he acknowledged my point.

"What do you think? Not too fancy, is it?" I gestured to myself, wiping the turquoise once more. "I don't want to be too formal..."

"Huh? How so?" He tilted his head at my tone. "Why would that be a bad thing?"

"Well, my communication and word-based powers are utterly broken, so I have to be careful with what I do and say while serious; there are no limits to the places a speech or a song can reach, even if I have never set foot in their universe." I sighed. "I once came across a memory, floating through the Astral realm, of a discussion that used arguments I've said word for word; it was a little spiel against arranged marriages, which fall apart due to those same powers. If I were to treat the princesses like some of the sycophants do, or allow myself to be addressed the way some of my titles imply, I would cause a catastrophe. I am only that formal facetiously, and only dress that formally for disguise or due to an obligatory dress code."

"You're going to have to explain that one." He said, eyebrow raising in confusion.

"Officially, this new level of power is known as 'God Tier', so there is that right at the beginning. On top of that, the powers are even greater and more diverse than before, and they were already pretty dang varied; they are unlocked through psychological, philosophical, or spiritual means, defined through semantics, and I can learn to use them depending on how important it is for me to use them." I began, while making a small blue twister on my open palm. "My Aspect, Breath, can be 'wind', or it can be 'voice', 'hearing', 'freedom', 'direction', and many more things; wind itself is also associated with knowledge, spirituality, travelling, and deep thought. On the other hand, my motivations, plans, and growth as a person are what give me the ability to act on it."

"Advanced thaumaturgy mixed with narrative elements. I understand." He nodded.

"Princes destroy their Aspect, or destroy through the power of their Aspect; Bards invite destruction through their Aspect, or allow the Aspect to be destroyed." The right whispers spreading could sink even the greatest of empires. "Muses inspire, Thieves steal for immediate benefit, Rogues steal for the benefit of their allies... all in all, I already had incredibly powerful abilities; the tricky part was thinking them up so that they wouldn't activate accidentally, and even then there was some overlap that caused trouble."

"I take it that an attack with intent to harm would activate Prince and Bard powers, right?" He asked, to which I nodded; so many wrecked houses... "So, back to your demeanor... the more you believe, the stronger the inspiration... and the way you treat pon-people can count due to your Aspect."

"Right again. Some versions of the sisters are actual goddesses, but we are not in presence of one of them. Suppose I go further than the bowing that is merely 'polite' and meant it, like I don't believe in equality, like Celestia is superior to every non-god... it would be a disaster, the same if I started lording status around; I could easily create three different religious movements in this world alone - if I'm lucky, they'll be ones in opposition to me and not her, but I doubt I can be that lucky - few things are as irritating as a bunch of people claiming that they are doing things for your glory even though they are against your morality."

I paused, tapping my chin for a moment.

"I think Celestia once had one such group arrested; they broke some laws in quite an idiotic way, given that Celestia herself wrote some of them. Afterwards, it was simply a matter of making sure they knew she didn't see herself as a goddess."

I chuckled.

"Funny, 'cuz she'd make a better goddess than many others, flaws or no."

Then again, quite a few Celestias were like that, too, some of them actual goddesses! This one might have let the nobles walk over her to keep their tantrums contained, and sneak a proverbial cookie from the metaphorical jar to prevent them from escalating... but if they did escalate, she would not be afraid of taking their positions from under them, and letting everypony know.

A ruler is not the one who is serviced, but the one who does the service; Celestia knew that nobles were supposed to be like that, but it seems that she just let them slack off a little too much in the last couple of centuries - though she has good ponies helping her, regardless. A god is suffused into the structure, instead of sitting at the top. Celestia doesn't care much (or at least pretended to, if I'm reading the situation correctly) about what one thinks of her, but Heaven help you if hurt a pony - she will know, she will find you, and she will make you regret it. She picks good ponies that do good work, their eyes and ears reach far indeed.

A quick shake of the head from the shivers brought upon by the swift and decisive end of the war with the Minotaurs, and I was back to polishing the stone of my tie.

Then, with the 'pop' and flash of a teleport, Kenner and Questant joined us.

The disguised changeling scrunched his nose.

"I don't think you should be up and about." He said.

Disheveled mane, shaky legs, both of them signing off saying they each had found a place were to spend the night, and the scents. One didn't need to be me to know what they had been up to last night.

"If everypony thought like that, half the town would have stayed home after Nightmare Night." Questant replied.

"Our newest companion is feeling much better now, in any case." Kenner said, making me glad that my offer had been so well received; burning my hand was a small price to pay, and even that had healed without a trace by now. I ignored his smirk. "Besides, cleaning up is easy with this much magic at our disposal."

"Special ink or no, I thought you only had a tenth of the original's reserves at best." My disguised friend said, and I nodded curiously. "Sure, they were great, but I thought you were supposed to be more frugal with your magic regardless."

"Oh, there was that boost; we are full now." Questant said, perking up. I was really curious now, since it had been quite a while since they were first made (well, for most clone spells, even a single day was a long time); I mean, I knew they would have larger reserves than before, but they were made using the bare minimum requirements, so they would have to fill back up to full from mere dregs - but this much time?

"Yeah, and the tenth part of a thousand is still a hundred." Kenner added, and my eyes widened.

"So... confirmed?" I asked, voice shaking slightly. I already knew the answer, though, but hearing it would do me good.

"Yep, we're at the old hundred-percent, which means we're combat-worthy!" Questant cheered. The normal method for the ink clone was decent in combat but insufficient for our plans, while the enhanced one was ill-suited for a fighting role - took too much time and preparation by comparison for a marginal increase in abilities - unless the end-result's reserves were large enough to comfortably face the enemy... which they were now, apparently. Huh, I guess that taking the time to make the better clones was worth it twice over. "Needless to say, the same goes for everything else."

Yeah, well, the old ten percent was enough for a few soldiers, or bandits, but this was a serious level-up! Before, they would be better suited for support, or as magical batteries for some uses of familiars and similar spells that didn't rely too much on the caster's raw magic power - oh, sure, despite the extra preparations they were still frailer than a flesh and blood pony, but that was the reason I had the up-close-and-personal approach to fighting.

The opponent was usually too occupied trying to keep their heads attached to their shoulders to even think of bothering my friends, after all. Risky tactics and clones were a fine combination, but they were the kind that usually produced collateral damage, which I didn't need any further help to make.

Sibling's Cooperation was not the only piece of equipment based on the sisters, or the only legend-class equipment I had, after all. Punching dragonskin was easier when you used gauntlets with a golden horseshoe and a silver one covering your knuckles. Not elemental gold and silver, though - stuff bends like tinfoil on impact.

"Still, I don't think-"

A knock on the door told us it was showtime.

*****

(Twilight Sparkle, Town Hall)

Twilight, mane in a bun while wearing her Ribbon, eyed the human standing behind and to the side of the podium - though he was so tall he couldn't even use it as a lectern - and the pair of ponies standing beside him.

The mare, Questant, was wearing simple green robes and a cloth Alice band. She also had earrings and a golden band on a hoof.

The stallion, Kenner, wore a simple collar and a blue cravat, with a blue vest not dissimilar from Typhon's.

Her focus, however, was on the cats both ponies carried on their backs. Small and short-haired, one was white like fresh snow, snuggling between Kenner's wings, while the other was blacker than coal and was lazily curled between Questant's shoulders. Occasionally, she would be able to see stylized, almost-feathery swirls on each one, and various markings as well as a thickening and thinning of an inky black outline around them reminiscent of the strokes of a brush; flickering, almost not entirely there, and partially concealed by the magic that rolled off the pair of ponies, but she could still tell that the cats were magical themselves.

Familiars, according to some of the descriptions.

The markings on the white cat were red, while the black cat's were yellow; they were likely not immediately visible for most, since they drew no reaction from most ponies save her friends and few others.

She cleared her throat and prepared Celestia's letter.

"Welcome, everypony!" She began with a cheerful smile. "I have called you here today to introduce you..."

'Even though most of us already know him.' The thought ran through her head, as well as that of her friends.

"... to Typhon. Princess Celestia has entrusted me watch over him while he gets accustomed to living in the modern era."

He, for his part, was mentally slamming his head against an imaginary desk. Celestia had a weird sense of humor to go along her political mind.

"I still can't believe he's supposed to be that dragon's father, adopted or not." A distinctive and fairly irritating voice said, not too loudly, but Typhon still heard Diamond Tiara loud and clear. "I mean, dragons are rich; he's so poor he uses a string as a tie."

Typhon wanted to grin at the opportunity, but outwardly showed a slight frown.

"For your information, little girl, this is an authentic tie from the native buffalo tribes, and is worth more than half of my villa on my private island off the shore of Las Pegasus." He spoke with a soft twinge of annoyance, as if his pride had been slighted. Internally, he was laughing.

Diamond Tiara made a little 'oh' face, and her reaction allowed everypony to see it had been her who he had responded to. Normally, she sought attention, but being put on the spot like that actually made her shrink back a little.

"Really?" Twilight whispered to him.

"Yes. I mean, I merely come from a technologically-advanced world, with the advantage in knowledge that implies, centuries of head-start, careful planning, peculiar resources, strange foreign magic, and the backing of several figures of importance." He shrugged, his flat delivery making Twilight's eye twitch. "Nothing much, but certainly one of those might explain why I have some money available."

"Setting up that kind of things, then letting them be perpetuated through 'grandfather clauses' and figureheads is not that difficult in a place where each country has a few native immortals." Kenner said, and Twilight could have sworn that the cat nesting on his wings was grinning as it purred.

She simply shook her head.

"Anyways - Princess Celestia is counting on us to get him settled in, so, if anypony has a job-"

"Whoa! Whoa whoa... a job?!" He interrupted, leaning over to read the letter. "Seriously? Huh, I think she didn't expect me to be independently wealthy."

Something clicked inside Twilight's head. He had just admitted to having money, and even lands, plus she suspected he was involved ins some of the stranger investments during the history of Equestria (why else would a mostly-pegasus family invest in mines if not through the suggestions of someone else?). She had gotten a little caught up with the princess's letter to remember that, indeed, if Prosperity could produce large chests heavy with treasure, it was not outside the realm of possibility that he would have some bits himself.

"What kind of things did you introduce to Equestria?" She asked.

"Well... I assume everypony here has at least seen a canned drink, no?" He asked, and murmurs and nods rippled through the crowd. "It's very likely that the can was made of aluminium, which comes largely from bauxite, which requires special preparations to get the metal; without my intervention, it's possible that aluminium would be more valuable than gold. Happened back on my homeworld - kings and emperors saved aluminium cutlery for their most important guests, while everyone else 'had to do' with 'mere' gold and silverware. Who knows? It wasn't that hard in this world - alchemy, you see."

"Oh."

"Since I'm expected to be a contributing member of society, however, I should start by making a donation to the town." A bit bag appeared on his hands, then was allowed to rest upon the podium with the sound of the heavy coins jingling.

Then, Twilight could have sworn she was hearing a cash register printing a long receipt, as the sound of hooves on wood got closer and-

"Oof!" She was shoved to the side by an excited Mayor, having to hold on to the podium to avoid slipping right off. The mayor was squeeing like a little filly, the bit signs of her eyes never leaving the actual bits inside the bag - high-value, authentic gold ones, not the decorative brass of the single bit piece.

The mayor twirled and clapped her hooves.

"I would love to extent the most warm of welcomes to our humble town." She cheered as she hugged his waist, prompting him to scratch behind her ears.

"Well, I can do very little against The Face." He said, rubbing his eyes.

"Huh?" Twilight scratched her head, having recovered her place upon the podium.

"Pinkie, if you could do the honors..." He sighed, cuing Pinkie to jump up into the stage from the crowd - even though Twilight distinctly remembered Pinkie being off to the side.

Pinkie cleared her throat, coughing into her hoof, then made The Face.

Her eyes got wide and watery, her ears fell back and drooped as low as they could go, and her lower lip was trembling and pointing outwards.

Many ponies, particularly those with foals of their own, winced.

"That's The Face, and it's power." Typhon also mumbled something like 'seriously, sad pony is worst pony'.

"Anyways, I'll be around. Yes, I am over a thousand, and yes, I am my own brand of kooky." Typhon said, making some of the ponies chuckle.

"Wait, will there be more humans popping up? How do you call them, anyways?" Rainbow asked, making the others focus on Typhon.

"As for your second question, you just take an object that symbolizes you..." He took out a coin, identical to the one he gave Auric. "And recite an arietta or introduction - preferably dramatic."

"Like back at the castle?"

"I am Typhon, Heir of Breath; the presence, the absence, and everything in between. All who value and respect freedom are my friends, and all who would protect it may call me 'ally'. I shall fill the sails of those who call upon me."

"That works, and I don't have to say it again!" He said, much to the confusion of the ponies - save for the mayor, who was too busy gawking at the money with her muzzle almost inside the bag. "Then, you find a way to toss it into the Void."

He flipped the coin high into the air, took out his scissors, and pointed at it, letting loose a bolt of energy in all colors of the rainbow, in all hues and shades, speckled with black and white.

*Plink*

"It will then multiply and find its way to those that need it, who can then channel a bit of their own powers to act as a beacon or - in powerful bursts - actually open a gate. The owner-slash-maker will have to provide his or her own way through the Void if that's not the case. I have no problem; I am an experienced Void-walker, and can go anywhere I please, although my means of travel are not safe for any non-infant, or those without a particularly-open mind, or are highly-self-suggestible with a lack of focus, or lack an accepting nature, or those that over-think too easily... let's just say that that list is long."

"Why infants, though?"

"Because they are easy to distract." Typhon shrugged. "And for the first question - I don't know. I have some ideas, plus, I am going to toss the heavier part of my arsenal once it's time for the final showdown, and I managed to get some assistance to... well, long story short, they cannot come in for now, giving me some time to prepare."

The gathering got uncomfortable at that point. Verre had been worrisome, as she had been a little too eager to use lethal force, specially on someone that wasn't as protected from such things as her.

And the dossier said the last two would hold even less back, and their magics were even more dangerous.

Author's Note

The bit about cloth being better armor against magic comes from how often robes and 'light' armors offering better magic resistance than most 'heavy' armors (with exceptions). I know it's for balance reasons - magi cannot wear plate mail (in most games), so their robes offer better protection against magic so that you would have a good reason to use at least one wizard when the dungeon full of magi turn each battle into a spell-fest - but it can be explained in many different ways...

The familiars... think 'Okami' when reading. Instead of the normal, even outlines of MLP or Homestuck, it's more like they were drawn with a brush. It's a very interesting, aura-like effect; it can only be seen where there is enough of the figure lying along the viewer's sightline, most commonly the outline, obviously, but also certain lines that define their overall shape like pronounced musculature and joints.

Also, Medabots reference.

Working on a crossover! Stay tuned.

Matters of Gravity 1

Author's Note

This is a crossover with DJSkywalker's fic: Gravity of the Situation.

What started as character interaction spiraled out of our control and turned into something that neither of us quite expected.

Matters of Gravity 1

(Outskirts of Ponyville, day after the letter)

“How is your ‘information gathering’ going?” Prosperity asked, turning around to face her adoptive father, wiping gem dust from her face.

“It’s informative, but kind of worrying.” Typhon said, sitting down on the grass. “I don’t know where anyone else is, yet, but I came across some echos of events that I wasn't expecting.”

“Like what?”

“Gilgamesh is fraying at the edges, it seems, and the girl he asked me about is in a bad place, mentally and emotionally.”

“Maybe you could call her here.” She suggested, laying down on the grass to sun. “What is her callsign? Or object?”

“Kat Shifter, and she uses a black diamond.” He replied, producing one from a pocket. “She does need a way to decompress; most of the problems she seems to get into are made worse from just bottling everything in.”

“Bottling things in isn't always bad, just ask Cherry Pepper.” Prosperity grinned.

“Cherry Pepper is an animated soda bottle in the shape of a pony, Doctor Pepper Cherry flavored, and thus her opinion is invalid… plus, she’s a foal.”

“Perspective, dad; you always say something like that.”

He grumbled - semantics was supposed to be his shtick. Still, he scoffed, looking at the artificial gemstone… smooth, but dark, perhaps too dark? Had it been conscious? Or just the only type of diamond she could make?

He collected ambient energy into his ring, then fed it into the gem.

“Kat Shifter. I have witnessed your plights, and sensed your solitude; no soul deserves loneliness, and no spirit can carry such burdens on its own. I extend an offer of ears that listen, and shoulders that bear. Do you wish to talk?”

A portal opened just a ways from them, depositing out a golden mare with blonde hair. "Oof!! Ah, satané. I really need to learn Void travel one of these days."

“Oh… Uh...” Typhon scratched his head, before stepping forward to help her up. “I should have mentioned that humans don’t exist in this place. You ‘go native’ unless you push back… though I was expecting you to turn into a gryphon - military girl and all."

"Huh? What?" She asked, rubbing her head. "What do you..." Kat caught sight of hoof and just stared at it for a good thirty seconds. Then her left eye began to twitch fiercely.

“Dad, I don’t think she can push back.” Prosperity deadpanned as Typhon stood there, awkwardly reaching towards the frozen mare.

“There is one solution.” He snapped his fingers, and a chilly breeze touched Kat all along her spine.

Yet still Kat just sat there, staring at nothing as her eye spasmed. Until, "DIOS PUTAIN MERDE!!!!!"

“Well, she’s talking alright.” Prosperity smirked, as Typhon rubbed his eyes with a sigh.

“You are complaining too much for someone that is now a pony; seeing one swear like that is like seeing a kitten trying to be gangster.” He said, sitting down to be more near her level.

Kat glared deathly at him. "Look buster, I just spent five years, five putain years, as a pony. I've only been human for seven months and now this! It's not fair, satané!"

“If you are complaining about the diet, just check your teeth; ponies are omnivores of opportunity, being ovolactovegetarian out of choice.” Prosperity interjected. “If you miss your thumbs… well, other than somehow managing to turn into something else then you’re out of luck.”

“Sweetie, that doesn't help.” Typhon said, looking at her with disapproval. “Even I had at least one body as a human, and there is all those explorations of the Astral realm and dreamworlds.”

"I feel very exposed," Kat commented, her jacket being the only thing she had on. She sat down, bringing her tail between her legs for cover. “I do not like being a pony.”

“I have the feeling that suggesting going to Ponyville for clothes wouldn't be that good an idea.” Typhon fished around for his wallet. “I have some generic things in here.”

“Those better not be the ones mom wore about the house.” Prosperity warned. “I don't think I can see them without pasting ‘bedroom eyes’ on whoever wears them.”

“Nah, adventuring stuff. Wait, pants, or not?” He stopped for a second; some ponies couldn't stand them, and in most cases were an acquired preference.

“Two questions,” Kat said, lifting up a forehoof. “One: why can't we go to Ponyville? Two: why are you looking through your wallet like it's bigger on the inside?”

“First: Because the girls are there, and I kind of saw an echo in the Void where your Fluttershy was sort of disintegrated in front of your face, even if it worked out in the end.” Typhon took out a card from his wallet. “And it's not only bigger on the inside, what I put in shrinks to fit.”

Appearing in front of him was a tailor's dummy wearing a long coat of a striking red color, with a wide-brimmed hat that matched.

Kat looked at it with a turn of her head. “Am I supposed to wear that? What do I look like, Carmen San Diego? Won't I stand out wearing something like that?”

“You are safety yellow, the only thing that stands out more than you is me.” Prosperity said, gesturing to her bright white scales. “But she’s got you there, dad.”

“Fine, what about… a brown duster Fallout-style?” He said, producing the item.

“Hmm,” Kat said as she inspected it with a keen eye. “It’s nice I’ll give it that. But, no thank you. It’s very considerate, but while I may feel a little… indecent, I don’t want to stand out any more than I feel I do. I was able to be one for five years, I suppose one little visit more couldn't hurt. And thank you for being considerate about Fluttershy and the girls, but you don’t have to keep me from your versions. I've met several different varieties already. In fact, I like meeting them. I feel as if it helps me get to know my friends back home just a tiny bit more.”

“If you say so.” He shrugged. “Prospit, are you coming?”

“I need some more sun, dad.” She replied.

“Alright… Rarity should be out and about. Is that OK for a first stop?” He turned to the former human.

“Sounds like a plan,” Kat agreed. “Who are you, by the way?” she asked as they headed towards Ponyville. “And how do you know who I am?”

“I’m Typhon, or that’s what I go by, at least.” He said, offering a small bow. “I know about you - first, from Gilgamesh, then, from wandering around in the Void until I came across the remnants of events that happened. When I sleep, my consciousness is shunted into a not-entirely-physical existence, being more of a psychic imprint, leaving me pretty much free to go anywhere.”

“Woah, that’s freaky,” Kat said with a hint of wonder. “Also kinda cool. What do you do around here? Ya don’t seem like a much of a fighter, then again neither did I, so no offense if you are.”

“I know, right? I’m more of a thinker, a researcher, but I have enhanced strength and what is basically Primordial-level power over wind and everything related to it, both physically and metaphorically. Essentially, I fight because I can take it, even though I’d rather design golems and familiars.” He answered as they left behind the wide open spaces and started getting close enough to actually see the faces of flying pegasi. “I tend to break stuff when I fight, however.”

“I know them feels, bro,” Kat said with a giggle. “Property damage expert, right here. Um, just wondering, but what did Gilgamesh tell you about me?” she asked nervously.

“That you were hung up on revenge and didn't seem to think the consequences of your actions.” Typhon scratched the back of his head; it was awkward, but needed to be said. “Saw the results of that one, and I thought you needed someone to help you decompress, as it were.”

“Pssh, me? Decompress? Nah, I’m at the top of my game!” she waved off. “Too much to do, a lot of time to do it. Just gotta live in the moment, ya know?”

“Eyuup, and I am twelve feet tall and fart thunderbolts.” He replied with a chuckle. “I might not be able to outright read anything that isn't being broadcast, but I can tell the ‘direction’ of things, and that lie was more lost than the plotline of LOST. Heart rate, nervous ticks, all are an open book, and that is without getting into the reactions of the environmental magic to your inner one.”

Kat looked away from him, finding the sky very intriguing. She narrowed her eyes, actually being intrigued by something. “Is it just me, or is that rainbow blur getting closer?”

“I might have let it slip that she needed to work on her wind-control, and she certainly heard how no thing that flies through wings can get to me if I don’t want it.” He moved a hand towards the blur, then snapped it upwards, sending it into a spiraling ascent. “Ready for the first Bearer of this world? She might actually pull out of that one.”

“Here’s hoping,” Kat said as she sat and watched the acrobatic pegasus. “Don’t know if you saw it, but I kissed RD in another world. It’s weird that she actually does taste like skittles.”

“Depends on the magic and their lunch; this one gives off an aura of stormy weather and ozone.” He watched as Rainbow snapped her wings closed as she peaked, then carefully repositioned her body to control her spin. “This one doesn't swing that way, though; guys only.”

With a dry thud, Rainbow Dash landed not ten meters in front of the pair, swaying slightly from side to side. “Not cool.”

“You’re the one that wanted to out-do the Royal Guards, Dash.” Typhon smirked as he shrugged. “It’s not my fault that a sudden redirection of the Empyrean Currents of energy makes your sense of balance get shot to hell.”

“Yeah well, you’re… a heinie.” Dash offered, taking a deep breath and swallowing. “Who’s your friend? Another of your philosophical buddies, or something more exotic, like a mage or ninja?”

“You tried pranking Windborne again, didn't you?” Typhon deadpanned.

“Hey, dodging a bucket of water is one thing, but dropping it on me?” She even sounded offended. “That ain’t gonna fly in this town!”

“This is Kat Shifter, another human, although she doesn't have something to protect her Morphic Resonance Field from the magic of Tellus.” He gestured towards his ring, even though it wasn't the only thing, nor was it wise to put that much of a load on the ring’s consciousness. “The world gets confused, too, you know?”

“Hi,” Kat waved. “Nice to meet you. And trust me, I am no philosopher. I prefer to kick cul and take names!”

“Aw yeah!” Dash cheered, pumping a hoof high into the air with a jump. “Another mare that speaks my language!”

“I can fly too,” Kat added with a smile.

Dash looked at her up and down, then leaned to the sides. “Like this guy over here?”

Typhon opened his mouth to reply, but stopped, then frowned.

“Kind of? It’s more of high-speed alteration of position, with some gravity-altering dream-slash-psychic power, but she has out-right gravity powers.” He finally replied. “I can’t make myself fall sideways, though.”

“Sideways, up, down, diagonally, faster than the speed of light, I can do it all! Took a lot of practice for that last one… and it burns.” Kat rubbed her arms, remembering the practice sessions. “Bet I’m faster than you!”

“Light, huh?” Dash narrowed her eyes.

“That’s either a wormhole that punches through the space between start and destination, or you managed to replicate the warp drive from Star Trek.” Typhon eyed her warily. “I suggest you refrain from doing it anywhere near town - need I remind you, Dash, of the number of complaints you got from detonating a Rainboom the one time?”

The mare grumbled and crossed her forelegs, flapping until she reached his eye level.

“You cannot out-stare me, Dash, I can simply shut down everything, leave my eyes open, and wait until the weather team calls you.” He grinned mischievously. “Mu isn't just the sound cows make.”

“I vote Dash wins,” Kat commented, raising her hoof.

“Ha! In your face!” Dash poked him in the nose, knocking his glasses off-center.

“Well, we were going to Rarity’s.” He huffed, looking away. “She’s not very comfortable being near-naked.”

“Hey! You don’t have to flat out say it!” Kat whined as Typhon started walking off with a small smile. Rainbow chuckled, but soon stopped as Kat glared at her. “Hey wait up!” she yelled after him. “Not cool, man. Not cool.”

“Bah! These ponies are really touchy-feely, they’ll find out five minutes into the conversation.” He turned around, floating backwards at walking pace - not like he needed to see. “Wait ‘till you get to Rarity; she’ll become a personal-space-invader of Pinkie-level once she learns you have seen outfits from other worlds.”

“Oh goody,” Kat replied, her voice stinging with sarcasm. “Well, that’s gonna be a bust for her. Fashion is sooo not my thing.”

"Yeah, like that is gonna stop her." Rainbow rolled her eyes, thinking that, in Rarity's horseshoes, she wouldn't be discouraged.

"I know it won't. Can't blame a girl for trying, though. My Rarity tried to get the same out of me, but to no avail. Who cares about fashion when there's cul that needs kicking?"

“Your- wait, is that one of those ‘alternative universe’ things Princess Luna told us about?” Dash lifted an eyebrow in confusion.

“Oh yeah.” Typhon nodded, crossing his arms. “I've seen and visited some - though none with another Displaced until Auric came into the picture - he’s the one that helped me with the Blue King.”

Rainbow Dash winced. “The Black one is next, right? Why are they even involved in this?”

“They want a good fight; honestly, I also like a good spar, since it makes it so easy to look into the heart of someone else.” He replied. “It’s not their fault they are being used, though that plan has more holes than a sieve.”

“I feel like I’m around the Doctor again,” Kat said, not understanding a single thing they were talking about.

“I have that effect.” Typhon admitted. “Basically, right now I’m kind of a dream manifested in reality, not dissimilar to you-know-who. And others want in on that, throwing people with delusions of conquest or looking for a fight at me, even though I don’t exactly play by their rules.”

“I still don’t know how can somepony stay that calm knowing there are things out there trying to kill them.” Dash muttered.

“If I can’t change it, why worry? If I can change it, why worry?”

“Know them feels too,” Kat commented.

“Oh yeah; if people had a little more courage to accept things as they are, and respected the rights of their neighbours, a lot of Earth's troubles wouldn't even exist. Tellus is a lot better in that regard.” Typhon was ‘laying down’ in mid-air, both arms behind his back. “I could do without the cragodiles and timberwolves, though.”

Kat looked at the floating man with a pout. “Hey, that’s my thing. I’m the one that’s supposed to float lazily in the air.”

“I’m a dream now, and this is one of the perks.” Typhon smiled at the grumpy mare. “Well, meditation to unlock the mysteries of existence also helps. I can help if you’d like.”

She gave him a weird look. “Uh… no? I dunno. I really don’t get all that philosophical mumbo jumbo. I prefer to punch things.”

“If you aren't at peace with yourself, you’ll find out that there aren't enough things in the world to punch.” He was solemn, looking off into the sky. “The darkness and the shadows are accepting and forgiving, but even them have limits; you can’t just punch everything you don't like, or are lead to think you don’t like.”

Dash lowered her head, remembering when she gave Twilight the stink eye just for being a newcomer with ‘suspicious’ behavior.

Kat thought on that for a moment. “So… ask questions first, then shoot, right?” His deadpan made her giggle. “I’m just foolin'. Ya gotta lighten up. ...oh great, now I sound like the Doctor. Satané him and his good nature. Anyways, are we almost there yet? Rarity’s gonna take a while and I want to get to Pinkie’s before lunch.”

“It’s not far, just across the market.” Rainbow said, flaring open her wings. “I’d rather not get stuffed into another corset; even if you’re more likely to be her victim, I’d rather not take chances.”

With that, she shot off straight up, only for a mysterious current to send her flying to the other side of town.

“She’ll pull out of that one, too.”

Matters of Gravity 2

(Carousel Boutique)

The little bell announced a new customer.

“Welcome to Carousel Boutique; I will be with you in just one itsy bitsy.” Rarity called out, pinning another purple accent to the red dress on the dummy next to her, while taking her tape measure to the green cape Fluttershy was currently modeling for her.

“I have another friend you could meet.” Typhon announced. “And she’s from another world.”

“Oh!” Rarity whirled around on the spot. “You simply must tell me all about it, dear! Any particular fashions from beyond our fair Tellus?”

True to form, Rarity was standing right in front of the extra-Tellurian Earth pony, close enough for her to see the stars in the eyes of the dressmaker.

“Hi,” Kat said, slightly uncomfortable. Thankfully the Doctors constant invasion of her privacy had taught her how to become more accustomed to such things. “Name’s Kat. And you really don’t want to know my fashion sense.”

“Not even color combinations, or the fabrics that are ‘in’?” Rarity pleaded, managing to get even closer without touching Kat, somehow.

“I honestly wouldn't know. I haven’t been home in almost six years,” Kat admitted.

“Oh dear.” Fluttershy exclaimed - as much as it could be said so of her - but it was drowned out by Rarity’s own gasp.

“Whatever for, darling? Are you lost?” Rarity asked, while Fluttershy peeked around her friend at Kat.

“I’m in exile, actually,” Kat said with a slight bit of sorrow. “I can’t go home.”

The mare’s mood reflected Kat’s own, and encouraged Fluttershy to step forward a few paces more.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure everything will work out for the best.” She offered a tiny smile, which Rarity mirrored.

“Well, if what the Doctor said is true, I can’t go home for at least fifty years. Which means I won’t be able to see my granddaughter anytime soon. Even when I’m looking right at her,” Kat said, looking directly at Fluttershy.

“Huh?”

“She’s saying she has adopted another version of you, ‘Shy.” Typhon offered, making the mare blush and advert her gaze. “And are those fifty years are the same from both sides?” Kat nodded silently.

“You must have shared a very close bond indeed.” Rarity added morosely. “It must be hard for both of you.”

“While I think you gave up too easily, your own personality didn’t seem like the kind that could make the direct approach work.” Typhon sighed. “I haven’t seen anything of your past five years, but I can see you still seem too.. aggressive.”

“Traveling through time and space with a crazy time pony, a loveable pegasus, and a neurotic unicorn in a police box doesn’t usually help with psychological problems. You’d be scarred for life too if you saw your own granddaughter destroyed, atom by atom, only to have to do the same to your own sister the very next day.”

The mares gasped, and Fluttershy in particular paled and started breathing faster.

“You aren’t giving me enough… no, wait, I can see why you would think that. I am not that kind of person, though; I am at peace with myself, my past, and my hardships… that does not mean I will simply take things lying down, however, and not even time can tell me I cannot keep the happiness I worked for.” Typhon walked over to put a reassuring hand upon Fluttershy’s witters, along with Rarity. “I just have to be smart about it.”

Kat sighed, trying to force her sadness back. “Sorry for springing that on you all. It’s just… always seeing Fluttershy… I always think back to that day. She showed no fear and was so brave. She had faith that I would save everyone even until the bitter end. That day made me realize what I had truly been to her: I had been her hero. Not just her grandmother but the person she looked up to. And I failed her.” Tears started stinging her eyes. “Merde! No, I don’t want to cry anymore! I’m sick and tired of crying all the satané time! I’m sick of it!”

Fluttershy gulped down her nervousness to give the suffering mare a hug, petting her mane.

“T-that you still cry means you haven’t cried enough. I-I mean, you can be strong, but you can’t be strong forever.” She whispered.

“Even steel breaks, Kat.” Typhon said.

“You’re holding it back, and it’s hurting you; let it flow.” Fluttershy said, more confident.

“You’re holding onto your pain; let it flow, allow the love of your foster family to take its place.” Typhon whispered, sighing. “Don’t let pain cloud your spirit; it never helps, just look at Luna, and I’m sure Celestia has had her moments.”

Kat started to sniffle a little, letting a few tears loose. “No, no merde, no more crying! I’m not weak! I’m a military general! I’m the queen of gravity, merde! I won’t be weak!”

“The harder you clamp down, the greater the cracks become.” Typhon crossed his arms. “You may be all of that, but you are also a person who lost her home and family, even if not forever. Celestia is the leader of an entire country, and led military campaigns, and yet she allows herself to mourn the fall of her sister; I am, under several definitions, what amounts to a god, and yet I cry for my lost friends and loved ones. Being kind with yourself is not weakness”

He then gulped; what was going to follow could come across as a low blow.

“... one would think that being Fluttershy’s family would have taught you that.”

The tears finally broke free, but Kat was still fighting out right sobbing. “No, no, no, no, no, NO!” With that final scream, Kat disappeared from sight with a flash.

The ponies didn’t have words, not that he needed them to say anything.

“I’ll go get her.” He said, opening the door with a flick of his wrist.

“She’s cracking, and she’s just putting so much pressure on herself.” Fluttershy sighed, with Rarity offering a small handkerchief to dry her tears.

“Maybe she should have a minute for herself, dear.” Rarity suggested, to which the human reluctantly agreed.

“I’ll wait until she calms down some more; she’s a whirlwind of emotions, and her control over them isn’t all that great.” With that, he closed the door again. “Could you make some pants or a skirt for her?”

Matters of Levity

(Sweet Apple Acres)

It was just another hard day on the job for Applejack. Harvest season was almost upon them, so she was busy bucking away at her trees, getting some apples ready for selling. She wiped away some sweat on her brow after knocking all the fruit from the tree, just like always.

“Nothin’ better than a hard day’s work,” she commented to herself with a smile. She moved over to another tree and got just ready to kick when she heard something. It was a good ways away, but the sound was familiar. It was the same sound she could hear her little sister making after a hard day at school from bullies. There was somepony crying in her orchard.

Moving swiftly, she checked behind several of the nearby trees, finding nothing. The sound was getting louder, though. Further and further she walked, until just over the hill she could see a golden mare seemingly bawling her eyes out under the shade of one of her larger and healthier trees.

She didn’t recognize the mare, but that didn’t matter; she was hurting, and was trying to hold back, hissing through clenched teeth as if willing the tears away.

“Hey there… sugarcube.” Applejack inhaled deeply; let nopony say she would turn a blind eye to a pony in need. “Do Ya mind if Ah keep you company?”

The pony let out a short gasp, before laying her head back down on her hooves. “No,” she sniffled. “I suppose not.”

“Well then.” Applejack gave her the same comforting smile she would give her little sister as she laid down next to her.

She waited half a minute, waiting for the mare’s breathing to even out a little.

“First day in town?” She started with something less blunt, trying to get her to open up a little.

“You could say that,” she said without looking at the farm mare. “I was asked here by… an acquaintance, but… some things were said.”

“Nuthin’ rude or nasty, Ah hope.” Applejack raised an eyebrow, scooting a little closer to the downtrodden mare in case she needed something more comforting than words.

“No it just… brought up some bad memories and feelings.” She sniffled. “You should probably go. I’m not the kind of pony you want to associate yourself with. I’m just a monster.”

“Now don’t go an’ talk down on yerself like that.” Applejack said, now stern. “Ah heard enough of that from both princesses already, an’ Ah won’t let somepony else start that kinda horseapples again. What yah did in the past is in the past, and Ah can tell you regret it, else yah wouldn’ shrink like so; stop hangin’ on to it that fierce.”

“I can’t!” she nearly screamed. “It’s not something that can be forgiven! I can’t take it back, I can never undo it, and I can’t even say I’m sorry!” The mare looked Applejack with hurt, tear-filled eyes. “I can’t fix it!”

“If yah can’t fix it, then work on makin’ it never happen again.” Applejack nudged the mare with a hoof. “Either yer thinkin’ too much about it, or not enough. Why did yah even do… whatever it was that you did?”

“I… I… I… I’m a murderer,” she admitted, no longer able to look at Applejack. “I killed my own sister and destroyed an entire species.”

The silence grew heavy, and Applejack couldn’t even start to think about what she had said, much less form a reply.

“That’s sumthin’ really heavy; no wonder yer like this.” She finally said. “Say, Ah still dun’ think yer a monster. Yah say yah dun’ feel sorry fer doin’ it, but yer sad yah were put on the spot anyways, right?”

“I… I don’t know,” she admitted. “I thought I had moved past this. It’s been over five years and… and I just want to stop crying! I don’t want to be that weak little girl I used to be. I have others who look up to me and depend on me. I can’t be weak, I just can’t!”

“Yer not made of stone, girl.” Applejack frowned. “Yer gonna crack… crack more, Ah mean. Princess Celestia was exactly like that, an’ it was killin’ her on the inside. Yer never gonna move on if yah hang on to it like that; either yer a monster an’ don’ care about it - which Ah doubt - , or yer hurtin’ because yah didn’t want to do it, even if yer not sorry yah did it in the end.”

She sniffled even more, giving Applejack a little smile. “Why do the farm girls always know how to help someone?”

“Clean livin’, close-knit family - an’ lots of it - and havin’ a student of the magic of Friendship right in town helps.” Applejack returned the smile. “Yah didn’ hear this from me, but Rarity - one of them fancy socialites - also said some pretty darned smart things to the princess, made me think, yah know?”

“I miss those things,” she said with a sad sigh. “I lost my parents when I was young and I missed out on so much. But the one thing that always hurt me the most was sitting down at that big dining room table… and being all alone. That’s all that ever seems to happen to me. I always end up alone.” She sniffled again, a fresh wave of tears starting to form.

“Ah’m gonna let yah in on somethin’ a… friend once told me.” Applejack reached a hoof and pulled her a little closer. “Nothin’ gone is gone completely, nothin’ lost is lost forever. It may feel like a chunk got ripped right outta yer heart when they left, but they gave yah their time - however short it was - an’ all of their love; that is gonna stay with yah forever.”

“Thanks Applejack. Some down home logic always used to calm me down.” She looked at the mare thankfully. “Thank you very much.” The mare’s stomach chose that exact moment to make itself known with a loud grumble. She blushed, laughing nervously. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. Yer body wants what it wants.” She nodded. “But Ah don’t know where that tidbit came from, an’ Ah never told yah mah name.”

She just shrugged it off, though; it wasn’t like she was that obscure a figure.

“Come, lemme treat yah somethin’ at Sugar Cube Corner - one of mah best friends works there.” Applejack stood up, offering a hoof to the newcomer.

“That would be nice. Would you mind if we take a short cut?”

“What kinda short cut?”

“Promise you won’t freak out?”

“Sugarcube, unless yer ‘shortcut’ involves the Everfree or worse, yah won’t freak me out.” Applejack smirked.

“Okay.” The mare lifted her hoof and it began to glow with red and white energy. She swirled it around and a portal formed in front of them. “Neat trick, huh?”

“Darn right!” Applejack cheered, rearing up in excitement. “An’ yah got no staff or wand or nuthin’! Yah must be top-class in the princess’s school fer ponies gifted in magic!”

She giggled. “I don’t know any magic.” She moved the portal past them, instantly dropping them into Sugar Cube Corner. “I’m a superhero.”

“SUPRISE!!” The place exploded in cheers as confetti rained on the arriving pair. There was a banner that read ‘Welcome-ish to Ponyville, Kat!’

Rainbow Dash, floating above most of the crowd, winked at Kat.

“Gah!!” Kat shrieked, her body coating protectively in aura. They all gasped at the mare before them transforming into an alicorn.

“Oh!” Pinkie pronked over to Kat. “Our new friend is super special! Not that other friends aren’t super-awesome-special, but really-” Applejack forced an orange on Pinkie to stop her rambling.

“Lemme guess, yah had a trauma-based Awakening an’ that’s why yer so… like that?” Applejack asked, as Twilight crept ever-so-close, mind already bursting with questions.

“She’s a transformed human.” Typhon offered. “The mechanics are complicated, but my kind doesn’t really exist here; she is what she is.”

“Then why aren’t you-” Twilight began, only to get her question fade away as he waved his ringed hand, wiggling the finger bearing the red stone. “Ah, that thing.”

The rest of the crowd began gathering in groups, some whispering, others simply enjoying the treats and waiting their turn more politely.

“It’s just kind of how my power manifests. In this pony state, I kinda go alicorn. I’m not really one, though. It’s just energy. Personally, I blame my adoptive mother for this state.”

“That’s what an Awakening is.” Twilight said in an academic tone. “The concentration of energy inside a pony can fluctuate wildly, but if it is harnessed in a-”

“Alicorns aren’t gods in this plane.” Typhon interrupted. “Just rare, since you need a whole lot of Harmony magic and the right conditions.”

“Trust me,” Kat scoffed. “I know alicorns aren’t gods. You saw what happened.”

“Of course I saw.” Typhon scoffed back. “And I also saw worlds where alicorns are embodiments of natural forces or even abstract concepts - although that is usually reserved for draconequui. There are all kinds, you know? Hell, I am an embodiment of concepts and natural forces!”

“I am too,” Kat said a little quietly. “I embody gravity, which is one of the most underrated forces of nature.”

“Tell me about it.” Typhon rolled his eyes. “Wind also gets smack-talked from time to time, and then I show them what I can do with vibrations. And then there’s Friendship and Love, too, for being too ‘hippie’ and ‘childish’.”

“Why would being happy be bad?” Pinkie asked, bouncing in place.

“I’m talking about those ponies with the tie-dyed shirts, unkempt hair and the ‘far out, dude’ attitude.” Typhon clarified. Rarity shivered.

“Are you feeling better now?” Fluttershy asked from right next to Kat, having sneaked past the other ponies due to her natural quietness.

“A little bit. Applejack talked me out of most of my funk.” Twilight caught Kat’s eye causing her to smirk. “Lemme guess, ya got questions, am I right?”

“You mentioned powers over gravity..” Twilight ventured, thinking about possible parallels between Typhon and ‘Kat’.

“Mm hmm,” Kat nodded. “I am Kat Shifter. I have three titles, though the last one is known only to dragons. I am General Shifter to the Equestrian army, the Queen of Gravity to all others, and the Goddess of Battle.”

“Oh? You were a general in your Equestria?” Twilight gasped - that was quite a prestigious position! She suspected the second was similar to Typhon’s ‘Heir of Breath’, while the last… well, she figured she must have beaten the Fear of the Shaper into the dragons to get it.

Typhon adjusted his collar.

“Yeah, during the Dragon War,” Kat said with a hint of pride. “My companion and I were pivotal in ending that century long war. It… actually had a very funny end.” Kat couldn’t help but giggle at the memory.

“Wow, a war with the dragons…” Twilight mumbled. “We had problems with some of them, mostly the… faction that decided that all other races were inferior.”

“They ran into a problem that they couldn’t torch, smash, nor fly away from.” Typhon gave them a few dark chuckles. “Of course, their ‘leader’ would not stand for it, but then again the princesses just wouldn’t let such an insane monster roam free and rampage through the country, would they? That… wasn’t that funny, and Celestia had to be dragged out of the sea.”

“Huh, I just threw their emperor down a mountain,” Kat said with a giggle. “And then back up. And back down again. And back up again. Thirty times if I remember right.”

“That is funny.” The girls giggled, and Typhon recalled some of the times he had done similar, although never with something as large as a dragon and a mountain.

“I saw Fluttershy suplex-ing a bear once.” Typhon added, making the pony shrink and blush as her friends gaped at her.

“Oh, but Harry had thrown his back while remodeling his cave - I-I couldn’t let the poor dear suffer like that.” She said in her usual stage-whisper tone. “He’s a sweetie, honest.”

“He is!” Kat agreed. “It’s fun watching him get honey. He’s like a Pooh Bear, but with more teeth. But to go back to your question Twilight.” Kat suddenly floated far above them, rotating one eighty and stood on the ceiling. “This answer it?”

“Yes.”Twilight spoke quietly, her eyes racing from side to side reading an imaginary parchment, formulae and principles going through her head at high speed. “A reaction… but coming in response, not being the origin…”

“Whelp, she’s broken; we’re gonna need a new brain for this one.” Typhon smirked, making Rainbow and Pinkie giggle.

A grumbling stomach let itself be known again, causing Kat to blush again. “Ehehe, um, about that lunch?”

“Incoming!” An energetic shout made everypony turn to the source, finding Pinkie atop a table with a homemade catapult of popsicle sticks and glue, with a cupcake for ammunition.

“Fire!” With the pull of a string, the stone counterweight fell, propelling the pastry through the air and at Kat’s upside-down face. She smirked using her power to keep its aim straight and true. Kat opened her mouth, letting the cupcake soar right on in, eating it up with bliss.

“Mm, yummy cupcake,” Kat said as she chewed.

“Yay!” Pinkie cheered, jumping into the air.

“Lucky ponies.” Typhon smiled. “Eating cupcakes wouldn’t be considered lunch for a human, and you’d need a whole lot more than bread and veggies, too.”

“Let’s get into the spirit of the PARTY!” Pinkie bumped a record player with her hips, and a little tune started.

Kat chuckled as she floated back down. “You get used to it. Besides, I haven’t had Pinkie food in years. Sue me for missing out.”

“I didn’t say anything.” He gave her a conspiratory wink, then lifted a pale magenta, almost-pink unicorn. “You need to meet my adopted family.”

“At least use Dinky for this.” Sparkler grumbled and blushed, looking more like a shy puppy than an angry pony, however.

“Ah, but you are so precious in your own way!” He pulled her close and hugged her like a big stuffed plushie.

“Is it really smart to be hugging a unicorn like that? It does have horn after all.” Unfortunately, at that very moment, Pinkie’s crazy dancing caused her to bump right into Kat, causing something to fall out of her jacket.

“Oopsies,” Pinkie apologized.

“Gah! Get it, get it, get it!” Kat cried, trying to get through the parting ponies after her device. “Oh no! I need that!”

“It’s not like I can get hurt that easy…” Typhon pouted as deliberately childishly as he could, making Sparkler grin. “I can get that.”

The object was wrapped in a blue aura and lifted off the ground, the device turned out to be a sonic screwdriver, which Kat pounced out of mid-air, crashing back on the floor and rolling along until she bumped on the wall.

“Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!” She kissed the little device. “I’d be lost without my sonic these days.” And then it was ripped right out her grasp by a familiar magenta aura. “H-hey! Be careful!”

“What is this thing?” Twilight asked as she looked over the strange cylindrical device.

“It’s a one of a kind, that’s what is!” Kat whined. “Please be careful, it’s very important to me!”

“Alright, alright!” She held it a little further from herself - she knew better than to go around pushing random buttons on strange devices. “But what does it do?”

“A little bit of everything except actually drive screws.” Typhon said, petting the mane of the squirming unicorn in his grasp.

“Pssh, screws are soo last year, darling,” Kat said, mirroring Rarity’s accent. “Besides, who needs ‘em when I’ve got my sonic. It’s made stealth missions oh so much more efficient. I don’t have to go blasting through walls anymore. Plus, it was a gift, so it’s got sentimental value.”

“I can appreciate something that makes sneaking around easier; my own abilities works miracles in that regard… it’s only when fighting breaks out that there’s a chance a wall or four are going to come down.” Typhon rolled his eyes, at some point having picked up Dinky and giving her a ride on his shoulders.

“Ooh, any chance of getting a fight soon?” Kat asked with a slightly malicious grin. “I could go for some good old fashioned cul kicking! Bring it on!” She started miming punching and kicking, looking ready for a fight.

“No fighting - not right now, anyways.” Typhon smiled at the annoyed look on the mare, then waggled his eyebrows. “If you just go around swinging your hooves like that, you’ll scare away any potential suitors.”

“Hey! I’ll have you know I get around quite nicely. Not like I’m looking for marriage. I’ve already started a family, I don’t intend to do it again the hard way.”

“If you say so.” Typhon sing-songed, letting the unicorns back down on the floor. “I still think you’re going to catch some eyes, and who knows? Maybe somepony else will catch yours.”

“Are you trying to seduce me, Mr. Typhon?” Kat gave him a sexy little took, swishing her tail. “Mm, you are quite… strapping for a man. Decent fashion sense and, mm, I love a man who can make a girl think.”

“I wouldn’t mind taking off this ring.” Typhon tapped his hand, smirking. “The question is, are you?”

"Oh Mister Typhon, you certainly are a charmer. Perhaps we should retire to someplace more... private." She got up against his shoulders and whispered sultrily in his ear. "If you can handle me that is, big boy."

He slipped the ring off of his finger, flinching for a moment.

“Ow. It kind of burns.” He huffed the annoyance away. “I’ve studied magic too much not to know how to do something like this.”

He placed the ring to his forehead, which let out a bring red light.

When it died down, a brown unicorn stood in Typhon’s place, ring around his horn. His mane was the same deep dark brown, and equally windswept, and his eyes remained brown as well.

“I’m of the impression that my blue clothes don’t match my body anymore.” He muttered as Twilight gaped at him (so did the others, but her staring was more noticeable).

“Is that how you were able to sneak around the country?!” Her question came out a little shriek-y at the end, since Celestia herself had expressed so much frustration that it rubbed off on her student.

“Well, I did say that I was not born with magic, and that everything in Tellus has magic. Not my fault that… well, the only research is esconded in the special vaults of a dragon’s cave, so I can forgive the oversight.”

“Wait, does that mean that Whistler had two stallions for herself? Kinda unusual in a herd...” Pinkie asked. “Whose foal was hers?”

“Are my eyes blue?” Typhon deadpanned. “I can assure you that Whistler’s foal was from her only formal marriage.”

He shifted his eyes over to Kat for a second, then turned back to Pinkie.

“And believe me, she was still looking for an addition.” He continued. “Or two, but nopony had the right… pull.”

Kat, though, hadn’t heard a single word. The bad thing about being in a pony’s body for Kat was the occasional tendency to have pony urges. And one in particular was acting up when she caught sight of Typhon’s new form. His tall stature along with his impressive build made her eyes go a bit wide, and she even, absentmindedly, licked her lips lustfully. “Oh my,” she muttered near silently to herself.

“May I go back to the matter at hoof?” He said, turning to Kat. Now that he wasn’t human, the same pony sensations running through Kat’s mind had kicked into gear in Typhon’s. She was around Twilight’s own height, albeit more mature than the scholar, and her curves were now much more alluring than they had been adorable to his eyes. “May I have this dance?”

Then something else started playing.

Taking her foreleg in his own, they rose to their hind legs, stepping to the rhythm to keep their balance. She proved deft on her own as he let her go for a spin, then they resumed their swaying.

Her coat was soft, and the music carried them away from the crowd, if only for a moment. Kat felt light as a feather, this time not because of her powers. The way they moved had so much grace and romance, she just got so swept up in it all. For the first time in a long while, Kat was loving the little things.

For his part, Typhon was loving the subtle energy just bubbling under the surface. He felt a future, something more than just his plans; this all had been so spontaneous and surprising, he loved every second of it.

The song ended, but he didn’t feel like letting go just yet, and she, too, seemed to let her touch linger for a little longer than ‘decorum’ would deem necessary.

“Are you enjoying your party?” He asked in a whisper. “I hate seeing others sad, you know.”

“I’m enjoying myself immensely,” she said quietly. “Nothing like this has happened in a long while. Thank you, Typhon.”

“You have no need to thank me.” He chuckled. “If anything, I should have done this ‘sooner’, relative to you, given that Gilgamesh just told me about you few days ago.”

“Well, what are you waiting for, sillies?” Pinkie clapped her hooves. “Kiss!”

“If that is what the lady wants…” Typhon let the question hang into the air. Kat didn’t say anything, just planting a kiss right on his lips.

He felt the warmth of her breathing, the beating of her heart. It was a blissful pause to any thoughts he might have had at the time. It was like when he connected to the sky, which told him that yes, it was happening, and it was beautiful.

They separated very slowly. He smiled as her breath swept over his coat.

“An unexpected development, but I think it wasn’t exactly unwelcome, was it?” He smiled, not caring that they hadn’t moved since the end of the song.

“Not in the slightest,” Kat sighed. “You...wouldn’t mind if I stayed a little while… would you?” she asked ever so hopefully.

“Kat, you are brave, loyal to a fault, and passionate. I wouldn’t mind at all.” He replied, seeing her bashful smile. “The way you have spoke, it seems to me that you have been drifting for far too long. I know your family isn’t in this world, and you will want to go back to them; I support that, and I have experience in travelling through the Void. I want to help you, and will accept your choice, no matter what that is.”

For the first time in a very, very, very long time, Kat had a deep blush. Not one of embarrassment or due to a, ahem, biological reason. No, this was one of true affection. She looked into his eyes, the blush only deepening further. “Merde, you really know how to push just the right buttons, don’t you?”

“I pride myself in my ability to hear the faintest whispers, and things that cannot be heard by normal ears.” He straightened slightly, puffing out his chest. “Hearts are hardly silent, yet they go ignored… but not by me.”

He brought a hoof to caress a lock of hair out of her face. She was so… relaxed, content, and it made him feel great.

Kat smiled at him again, shyly looking away before muttering. “Oh, ce que l'enfer.” She kissed him again, surprising Typhon with the intensity yet it was very blissful.

He embraced her, running a hoof through her mane, feeling the softness of her coat, the little ebbs and eddies of the energies contained within, and the not so-subtle flows as well. Her intensity, her courage… qualities that would go unnoticed at a glance screamed out at his ears, and he could not help but go with that flow, curious as to where it would lead.

After she pulled back, he kissed her again, more softly yet confidently.

“I guess there is so much that we have to tell each other, but I think there are other things you’d like to do first…”

“Well, I may not be an easy mare to get,” she said with a hint of her confidence back. “But, you certainly have me now, Mr. Typhon.”

Pinkie clapped her hooves, managing to bring them back to Sugar Cube Corner.

Typhon liked to just let go of his powers and allow himself to be surprised, but maybe he could have done so somewhere with less ponies, or when he wasn’t part of the center of attention.

“Well, there is food, drinks, and the day is far from over.” He said. “We can pick this up… later.”

Kat nodded. “I’d like that,” she whispered to him. “So Pinkie, got anything else planned for my ‘Welcome’ party?”

“Well~” She sing-songed. “I was going to introduce you to aaaall my friends to help make you happy, but you are happy - which is good! Everypony deserves to smile. There’s the dancing, and I have a piñata!”

She produced a papier-mache sun with a smiley face on it.

“Is there a reason that looks like Celestia’s cutie mark?” Kat asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Huh?” Pinkie turned it over. “Well, it’s popular with foals, maybe because she’s so motherly? And who can say ‘no’ to free candy?”

“Ponies recovering from pancreatic disorders?”

“Well, other than them.”

“Ponies with diabeetus?” Kat said, using the weird saying on purpose.

“Almost, mostly preventing it.” Typhon chuckled. “Still, it’s mostly the races without as much magic as ponies. Ponies are very durable.”

“Then why don’t you stay a pony?” Twilight asked.

“Because, as a human, my powers aren’t related to my physical stamina, for one.” He replied. “And pain tolerance is the same no matter how drained I am.”

“Should I put this up?” Pinkie lifted the piñata over her head. “I mean, if that’s OK with your pancreas.”

“Sure, I cheat on my health care anyways. Thanks Obama!” Kat shouted out of nowhere.

Typhon busted out laughing. “Oh God, I got that one!”

“Yes!” she cheered. “Finally someone who gets my references!”

“You will love my little Prospit, then, she’s been on the Internet a lot.” Typhon chuckled.

And like that, Kat passed the day surrounded by ponies that loved her. It wasn’t quite her family, but Typhon told her to think about it as getting to know wonderful ponies all over again, doubling the size of her family.

Author's Note

Neither of us could have foreseen this outcome, just so you know.

I believe my precise words were "Did we just accidentally a ship?" about half-way through the party.

Interlude: Celestia, Luna, anypony! THIS IS IMPORTANT.

(From the desk of Twilight Sparkle)

It's the ring again! The ring is the key!

I am perfectly aware that you warned us of the powers of the ring, but there is more.

Another human appeared, only she wasn't human anymore; she turned into an earth pony mare upon arrival. Typhon said it was because she had nothing to protect her Morphic Resonance Field from the influence of the world - humans do not exist in their natural form in this world because the world cannot make sense of them! It's the reason so many magic spells do not work on him!

The other examples either had enough power and know-how to protect themselves, or their field was 'human' nominally, yet compatible enough.

This new human is called Kat Shifter, and possesses powers over gravity. Circumstances forced her to leave her home, and has been drifting through the different realities. I do not know what kind of circumstances, although it appears that Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy know more - I don't intend to pry, however, as everything was said to them in a moment of trust.

Her power is great, and flare-ups seem to take form of an aura in the shape of an alicorn.

Then things escalated.

Typhon poked fun at her aggressive behavior, then she teased him, he teased back, she asked if he was trying to seduce her, then he said that the real question was if she was. However, both of them seem like they really would back their words with actions, and I think they unintentionally seduced each other.

Typhon can turn into a unicorn after removing the ring, slightly taller than the average Ponyville stallion with - as is the case with his human form - defined musculature (although not nearly enough to explain his great physical strength). It helps explain things, and clarifies many questions I had, like how was he able to speak of so many events like he was there personally - I am aware that he can see things that have already happened, even bring guests with him, but some times he speaks like a participant, not a mere observer.

He cares for her, and he seems different, somehow. Brighter? Happier? And Kat herself looked less tense; before, she was always guarded, stressed, and Typhon said that it was as if she expected somepony to snap at her.

He favors his human form due to a variety of advantages, and he said that he doesn't need the magic that urgently - he can get it from the air, and the volume under his 'influence' is much larger than ever before. This explains why it's incredibly difficult to sense anything from him, as the air of Ponyville and beyond is already saturated with his presence.

As part of the 'deal' for his reformation, he had to acquire a permanent address, and he had bought a house. Kat is currently staying there, and seems like she will be for the foreseeable future. I will send more letters at a more reasonable hour tomorrow.

Your faithful student

Twiligth Sparkle

*****
(Celestia's room, Canterlot)

Celestia stared at the letter, blinking.

Her horn was glowing softly as she absent-mindedly worked the knitting needles for the sweater she intended to give Luna. She wouldn't be keen on manipulating magic while distracted like so, specially after such a metaphorical bomb of a revelation, but the book made knitting seem easy - she even used a sub-space pocket to hold her yarn to keep it out of the way.

"Oh my." She finally said, scratching the side of her muzzle.

After letting down her hoof, she found out that she couldn't move it.

*****
(Hallway to Celestia's room, Canterlot)

Luna trotted to her sister's chambers in a bit of a foul mood, levitating the grass bracer and the fiery rapier. She had tried everything she could think of, short of actually trying them out in a duel, and had decided to ask her sister for ideas.

Opening the large, sun-emblazoned doors revealed a horrifying sight - a monster of impossible biology was attempting to devour her sister!

With a battlecry, she directed her magic to thrust the rapier into the mass furthest from her sister, feeling the warmth bound in the metal of her weapon, and feeling it burst through the wound to the hideous beast from Beyond, provoking its rough material to become aflame for an instant.

The other blade unfolded as she struck swiftly at the creature, the light-yet-sharp weapon being so easy to guide, it appeared that it was liberating Celestia from her bounds on its own!

As she gave one last flick of the Scarlet blade, severing the last piece of the Eldritch Being from the twisted portal bored into their world, the Grass-cutter returned to its dormant state.

"Foul creature! Attempting to entrap my sister?!" She bellowed, wings spread wide and eyes glowing with raw power. "Harm her with your filthy appendages?! Know thy place! Know thy shame!"

"Luna... that was a sweater." Celestia sighed at the antics of her sister.

"Huh?" Luna's eyes quickly faded back into her usual turquoise, and gave her sister a confused glance. "Well, sweater or no, it was winning the battle and dragging you into non-Euclidian space, dear sister. Looking at its geometries strained my eyes as well."

"Oh, don't be so dramatic, Lulu. I was just using a sub-space pocket to store... hmm, but if I was under such a... yes, that could provoke a bleed-off of... never mind, Lulu, I'm grateful for your assistance." Celestia pointedly looked away, hoping her blush wasn't noticeable.

"Have you been exercising magic that bends reality without paying attention to it again, Cicy?" Luna asked with a mischievous smile spreading through her face.

"Never mind that, I see that you managed to get those blades to cooperate for a moment." Celestia answered with all of the grace of centuries of practice in changing the subject into something more immediately fetching.

"Hmm... that much is true." Luna mumbled, inspecting the red- no, the Scarlet blade, and remembering the mesmerizing tongues of flame that seemed to dance along the edges, and the confident warmth that she could feel radiating from her grip.

"It appears that that is precisely the key; cooperation." Luna nodded as she announced her discovery. "I could feel something else, too, as if a spell structure was bound within the weapon."

"Oh my!" Celestia leaned closer. "Fascinating!"

"And this other one appears to help guide itself." Luna regarded the Grassy sword with new eyes. "It responded quickly to my desires to free you from Yarnthulhu, the Homemade Sweater from Tartarus that you unwittingly created, dear sister."

Celestia flinched; Luna would not let her live that down for decades...

A Study of the Strange

Author's Note

Somewhat info-dumping, but I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive me.

A lot of this are things I have wanted to say for a while, too.

A Study of the Strange

(Day after, just before dawn)

Consciousness returned to Typhon like a light bulb turning on. Click, and he was awake, not blearily confused about his whereabouts, not groggy and wishing to extend the period of rest, just awake.

He felt the warmth of the mare keeping him company, and smiled; her mane was messy, and she let out soft little neighs as she slept the last of the darkness away. He ran a hoof at her sides, feeling her breathing.

He knew how to wake her up, too.

A while later

“Now, I’m pretty sure you miss some of the comforts of Earthen cuisine…” Typhon, fresh out of the shower, guided Kat to the kitchen. “But it just so happens that I have access to a matter-replicator.”

He inhaled, rising on his hind legs and held something on high as a fanfare sounded out.

“I have HAM. Also, bacon.” He announced.

Kat blinked. “Did you say bacon?” Her mouth began to water at just the very thought.

“I did, yes.” He smiled. “Don’t tell my daughter, though; she goes a little crazy.”

He placed a black pocket watch, shaped like a turtle’s shell, on the counter, as he levitated a bowl and some eggs. He also used his inventory to near-instantaneously put on a blue apron with the blue symbol of his clothes.

“Cheese and ham omelette with bacon on the side is OK?” Typhon asked, although there was something strange on his voice - it was higher, and it looked like he had shrunk slightly.

“Yeah that sounds good,” she said as she moved to take a seat at the nearby table. “Are you feeling alright? You seem… different.”

“Hmm? Oh! I’ve been doing this so long, I stopped noticing.” Typhon giggled. “Sorry if it’s weird, but I haven’t cooked as a guy since I left Earth.”

The brown unicorn turned her head, showing off her shorter, rounded muzzle, then twirled in place - the stockier, straighter lines had been replaced with curves…

“I asked Genbu - that would be the clock, or a fragment of him - if he could do something like this… and then I began experimenting.” Typhon smiled at Kat. “I can go back if it bothers you…”

“No, not really,” Kat said with a little blush as she noticed Typhon’s flank. “I’m… um, well you could say I go both ways, as it were.”

The cook smiled and batted her eyelashes. “I should tell you some of the things I was up to… and that I still fit into the lingerie.”

With a bubbly giggle, she began to work on the breakfast, leaving a deep red-faced earth pony in her wake.

“The Sisterhooves Social is coming up, did you get to see it back in your own timeline?”

Kat shook her head. “No, don’t even know anything about it.” To busy herself, Kat got up and decided to make herself some coffee. She always thought better with caffeine.

“She has a bit of an argument with Sweetie Belle, or will have anyways, and I kinda need magic from Rarity to finish an artifact, and after she learns a lesson in generosity would be the perfect time.” She poured the first omelette into the pan. “And there is milk in the fridge, bought about two days ago, although I have to warn you - I don’t have cow milk after I drank the last with yesterday’s breakfast.”

“Thanks. One question though: who’s Sweetie Belle?”

“Wait, you lived in Ponyville and did not run into the Cutie Mark Crusaders?” Typhon asked, shocked - her emotions were more pronounced than as a guy. “Sweetie Belle is Rarity’s little sister, and one of the cutest little mini-corns ever, with a pink and purple swirly mane and Rarity’s marshmallow-white coat.”

“To be fair, I didn’t live in Ponyville. I lived in the old castle in the Everfree. I mostly only visited the outskirts or Sugar Cube Corner when I was in the mood for something sweet. Sometimes the library, too. I didn’t even know Rarity had a sister.”

“There’s also Applejack’s sister, Applebloom, who wear a huge pink bow, or a ‘diabeetus’ inducing blue bonnet.” Typhon sighed. “And a little pegasus filly named Scootaloo, who, as you might have guessed, rides a scooter; she idolizes Rainbow Dash.”

“Never would have guessed,” Kat said as she mixed her coffee to just how she liked it. “The things you learn everyday.”

“They are… enthusiastic, about getting their cutie marks, and might attempt to rope you into their schemes.” Typhon shuddered slightly. “I suggest emergency teleportation. There are going to be a few… events centered around them, and I’m planning on keeping an eye on them.”

“Duly noted,” Kat replied with an affirmative nod. “Guess that’s one benefit of being a human-turned-pony, thinking on it. We already have our marks.” Kat indicated the starry cat mark on her flank to emphasize it.

“Well, I got turned back into a thirteen-year-old, and my powers didn’t come with an instruction manual…” Typhon glanced at the Breath symbol on her side. “And my body is fluctuating - this is the first time I blatantly use the Breath symbol, since the sisters would have noticed a pony wearing the insignia of the guy knocking down houses.”

Breakfast was served, two omelettes with four crispy strips of bacon each.

“I still feel weird - a Breath character that relies on others for direction… way too passive.” Typhon sighed. “How do you do it? How do you get yourself to move like that? Even my magic research was spurred on by my friends, then continued simply because it was interesting.”

“I’ve just gotten used to it,” Kat answered simply. “I’ve always felt like I was on my own, so I just did what I needed to still have a good life. I did have others there to help me, but it just wasn’t the same as having my family by my side. Rita and the Masters’ family were as close I came to having an actual one again. I suppose I just... fell in whatever direction I thought would work.”

“Huh… not that different, yet, I’m the one filling sails.” Typhon poked at her food with a fork. “I like helping others, but if there’s no-one, I just fall into habits.”

“That’s what I like the most about these powers,” Kat said as she munched on her bacon. “I can finally help people. I don’t have to let bad things happen anymore. I can… I can make a difference for the better. Or at least, that’s what I want to use them for.”

“Power is just power. Power can neither corrupt, nor does it come with any responsibilities that you didn’t swear to uphold to gain it. That you can see people as… as others that are walking the roads of life with you, and want to help them... “ Typhon let the words drift away, and placed a hoof on Kat’s shoulders. “I love you just that bit more for it.”

Kat’s cheeks burned red. “Y-y-y-you love me?” she managed to squeak out.

Typhon blushed as well. “I think that, while you might find it abrupt, I really like what is inside your heart.” She caressed the other mare’s shoulder. “I’m still willing to try a traditional approach, of course… first of which would be treating you to something nice.”

Typhon gestured to the breakfast table.

“Something nice.” She smiled, sighing in contentment.

Kat blushed even more, turning her head away and reminding Typhon of Fluttershy for a moment. “I… I’ve never felt like this,” she admitted. “Sure, I’ve been with a few people, but… none of them ever felt like this. I.. I think… I think I love you, too, Typhon.”

“If that is what you choose, I respect it.” Typhon nuzzled her cheek, holding her closer. “I might seem pushy when others are hurt, but I really do respect the choices of others… they are just finding their way through the roads of life, after all.”

Kat returned the nuzzle. "My choice, huh?" She whispered to her. "Then I choose..." Kat booped Typhon's nose. "You. Just so long as you choose me, too." Kat gave her sweet little kiss on the cheek.

“For as long as you want me.” Typhon brushed her lips against Kat’s, nothing heated or passionate, but nonetheless affective and pleasant. “I’m not leaving your side, however; I’ll always be there to help you out when you need it.”

Kat smiled at her, perfectly at peace. “So, what’s on the agenda for today?”

“Well, other than checking on Twilight, I was just intending to check on the Leylines of Whitetail Woods… we could turn it into a picnic.” Typhon smiled, then squinted. “Huh, I forgot I’m not wearing my glasses; I’ve gotten used to seeing through my powers, I guess.”

“That sounds lovely,” Kat said as she ate the last of her breakfast. “It’s always fun to see what Purple Smart is up to.”

“She must hate me right now.” Typhon said as her glasses, now larger and rounder, landed on her face; she had to put on a long coat, as she needed the pockets for Genbu’s clock, and somewhere to pin the tiger’s badge. “And I just know she’s dying to ask me more things… let’s see if she can get over the fact that I’m a girl. Oh, and this arrived for you.”

With a flick of her horn, a green sundress and hat flew in from another room.

“Courtesy of Rarity.”

Kat took it in her stasis field, eyeing it up and down. “Hmm, it’s not my usual style, but at least it goes past my flank.” Kat teleported out with the dress, coming back after a minute wearing it under her black leather jacket, the hat placed nicely on her head. “How do I look?”

“Absolutely adorable.” Typhon smiled, nudging her with her shoulder. “And you shouldn’t be ashamed - your flank is very nice.”

“Not shame, exposure,” Kat corrected. “I don’t exactly like everything being visible, whether it’s common or not. Now then, let’s get a move on, we’re burning daylight.”

“Very well; after you.” Typhon replied, not only out of politeness, but because the coat framed her… figure.

*****
(Library)

“Alright, I have the list read- is the list ready, Spike?” Twilight paced back and forth, ready to go there and demand some answers - as soon as Spike made sure her list of questions ordered by relevance was ready.

“Sheesh, yes.” Spike huffed, carrying a really, really long scroll in both arms. “You went over it three times already, and rewrote it twice.”

“Because it’s important! He’s had access to a powerful magical artifact for over a thousand years, and he’s studied it - just think of all of the wonders we could learn from that!” Twilight would have spoken about the possible outcomes in greater detail, but was interrupted by a knock on her door.

Either it was one of her friends (most likely), somepony looking for a book (sadly not as likely as she’d have wanted), or - maybe, just maybe - Typhon.

Closing her eyes and concentrating for a second, Twilight teleported right in front of the door, list in tow. Spike overcompensated from the sudden lack of weight and fell on his rear.

“This is a public libra-” Twilight’s words died as she opened the door to reveal a brown-eyed unicorn mare wearing a very peculiar ring on her horn, accompanied by a red-eyed earth pony, whom the brown unicorn gave a kiss on the lips.

“Hello, Twilight.” The brown mare said in a voice remarkably similar to Typhon’s. The mare tapped her glasses. “You should see your face.”

“You are a mare now - why are you a mare?” Twilight asked, not changing her expression too much.

“Because I wanted to be.” She sauntered inside, followed by a smiling Kat. “I’m the magician of Yin and Yang, and how better to experience it than to switch between states?”

“Hi Purple Smart,” Kat greeted as she walked in.

“Purp- wh- huh?!” Typhon could hear the gears of Twilight’s mind grinding against each other as she tried to understand two different situations at once. “I’m not purple, I’m lavender.”

Typhon busted out laughing, remembering when she used to say that as a filly.

“Of all the things, you answer to that one?” Typhon laughed, as Twilight puffed her cheeks in annoyed embarrassment.

“Well, excuse me! I’m not used to seeing somepony changing genders overnight!” She huffed, poking him- her with a hoof. “How did you even do that? Is it the ring?”

“Nope, my pocket watch.” She answered sincerely.

“Geez, she was right - it’s weird.” Spike mumbled from the stairs.

“Hi Spike,” Kat waved.

“Umm… hello. Kat, right?” Spike waved back; he remembered from the day before, but he was still disoriented from the surprise.

“Want a gem?” she asked.

“Do I?!” He quickly descended the stairs and passed Typhon without even a second thought to her situation. “Do you have turquoise or ruby?”

“Spike, you’ll spoil your appetite.” Twilight, too, managed to briefly ignore Typhon in order to enter a motherly mode.

“Gems are healthy for dragons.” Typhon remembered her… and simultaneously slightly disturbed her as she sounded far too much like a doting mother for her image of Typhon to handle.

“How about something a little more… exotic.” Kat wove her hoof, opening a tiny portal. She reached in and pulled out a slender purple crystal. “Here ya go, full of nutrients.” She floated it over to Spike, dropping into his claws.

“What kind of-?” Twilight couldn’t even finish her question as the gem disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, albeit inside Spike’s mouth this time.

“MMmmm…” Spike held his claws to his face, astonished over the flavor, the texture… it was a super gem! Right up there with the magical crystals in terms of quality…

“Spike, you’re drooling.” Typhon gave a step back. “Did you even taste it?”

“Of course!” Spike shouted, full of enthusiasm as he waved his arms about. “It was amazing! Kind of smooth like a Snow Diamond, but with this energizing feeling like a Storm Sardonyx, and- and- it was great!”

“Wait, how did you know what those taste like?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow; those things were rare, and valued for many of their qualities - she knew of the Fire Ruby he was aging, but it seemed he was more of a gem connoisseur than she had thought before.

“Oh, well, back when I was little- well, younger, the princess sometimes gave me gems after she was done with them.” Spike awkwardly made circles on the floor with his foot. Princess Celestia raised him for much of his life, and was the mother he didn’t have - Twilight was more of a big sister, but she, too, looked out for him.

Kat smiled at Spike’s enjoyment. “Most dragons enjoy my gravity crystals. Though I still get a little defensive around them, I’m practically an expert on their culture.”

“That would be your worl-” Typhon was knocked to the side by a rush from Twilight.

“You made those?! With your powers?!” She asked with an eager smile and glittery eyes.

Kat nodded. “Mmhmm, I can make three different forms of rare crystals. The one I gave Spike is called a gravity crystal. They don’t really have any uses, but if harnessed right they could be used as a power source.”

“The formation of some crystals reflect…” Twilight began muttering, listing of principles and formulae… again.

“Well, I should say that I don’t make them.” Kat pointed a little bit away from them and a little, crab like monster warped into existence. “They do.”

“Dear Christ, I forgot about those.” Typhon moaned, trotting up to it. “Before I forget and seem rude, do you want to? Or should I get it?”

“What are those?” Twilight gasped, feeling something was… wrong about that creature. It was dark, with a strange aura or coating around its body, and seemed skittish… and then it turned to them, and began to aggressively run at them. Just before it lashed out, Kat drove her hoof right through its massive red eye, destroying it and dropping a bright green crystal.

“Sorry about that, still some glitches in that power.” She levitated the crystal over to Twilight. “Dropped a heath crystal though.”

“Health- crystallized healing magic?!” She gasped, again. “But that is incredibly difficult! And these things just have it inside of them?!”

“Not sure if ‘magic’ is the right term, but yes.” Typhon nodded. “I think it might be a special, command-structure-like piece of the fabric of reality, kind of like my powers and some of my weapons, but in crystal form.”

“I need to study this.” Twilight gave a one-eighty turn and screamed at the top of her lungs. “SPIKE! Get the notebooks! I will be in my lab!”

Then the door to the basement slammed shut.

“Do you want the stamina one too?” Kat called out, holding a blue crystal in her hoof.

The door opened again, with a disheveled-looking Twilight poking her head out. “What does that one do, refresh the body, or does it work for magical stamina too?”

“It’s been, what, ten seconds?” Typhon whispered to Spike. “And she’s already like that?”

“I think you humans are going to break her forever.” He whispered back.

“I… don’t know really. Never attempted to see if it refreshed magical stamina. Never had a unicorn test that aspect. Hey, I have an idea! Why don’t we find out together?” Kat suggested getting a look from all of them. “See, I was recently exposed to some very… potent energy. I haven’t had a chance to make sure there were no complications. So if Twilight is willing to run some tests, I’ll give her a QnA in exchange.”

“Then we have no time to lose!” Twilight pointed to the skies with a hoof. “There is science to be done!”

“And we’re still talking.” Typhon said, chuckling. “Let me warn you, I reserve the right to make comments or nuzzle Kat if I so much as see restraints, be they medical or not.”

Kat chuckled while rolling her eyes. “Typhon, I think you and I have a real future ahead of us. Let’s get going Twilight. Before somepony else decides to take your subject of study.”

“Enter at your own peril, past the bolted door, where impossible things happen that the world has never seen before.” Typhon said in a dramatic, low tone - slightly spoiled by her sweet voice.

Down in the lab, Twilight prepared her machinery - most was donated from discontinued equipment from the Royal Canterlot Academy of Magical Studies, but it had been seriously overhauled by Twilight and Vinyl.

“If you would please put your hooves here.” Twilight pointed to a blue device with blinking light on the side and hoof-cuff-shaped sensors at the top. She then levitated a helmet lined with electrodes on the inside and lights on the outside.

“This would be a bad time to remind you that, as a pony, I am into a little bit of everything so long as it’s sanitary.” Typhon commented. “Which is weird, since I’m almost asexual as a human. Almost.”

“I’m still not hearing anything that’s a turn off,” Kat said with a sly smirk in Typhon’s direction. She did as Twilight instructed and put her hooves up.

Twilight coughed into her hoof, trying to ignore the burning blush on her cheeks as she strapped the… restraints…

“Dang it.” She grumbled, seeing them flirt with each other was something she would rather not think about… yet- EVER! Not ‘yet’, ‘ever’.

She cleared her throat, breathed deeply, and flicked a switch on another device, which began to spit a ream of paper it draw some waveforms on.

“What was the nature of this ‘energy’ to which you were exposed?” She asked in her best professional tone.

“I believe it’s called artron energy,” Kat explained. “It’s a form of time energy. I was given a high intensity dose when my body was recreated.”

“Oh? I heard of that one.” Typhon said. “I don’t know if this piece of reality uses it, or even can exists in it, although it should. It makes your immune system stronger.”

“Really?” Twilight said without taking her eyes off from the readings.

“I believe it can also be used to make toast and helps your body heal faster.” Typhon nodded. “My own body is linked to a form of energy that oversees Eternal things, although I’m not too keen on obtaining any information on that.”

“What?!” Twilight shrieked, turning to him- Her. “Why not?”

“Because it only manifests if I get killed and not die.” Typhon deadpanned. “You might see why I’m not eager to find out more, even if there is the possibility that I don’t need to ‘resurrect’ and merely use it to regenerate.”

“Please don’t talk about regenerating,” Kat said, her whole body shaking. “Bad memories.”

“Believe me, I don’t plan on doing something like that any time soon.” Typhon pressed her side against Kat’s, giving her a gentle nuzzle. “I’m not going to put that to the test.”

“So… you can’t die?” Twilight asked in a low voice.

“Only if my death would be Heroic or Just, or going against something more in control of those energies than I can handle.” Typhon scowled. “Thankfully, the one method I know of is impossible to achieve in this reality.”

“Uh, can we please stop talking about this?” Kat said, certain memories coming back into place. “You’re reminding me of a certain stallion I met during my travels. And I would feel much better if I never remembered him again.”

“Shh… it’s alright.” Typhon cooed. “I’m here. I’m not going to let you get hurt.” She then turned to Twilight. “Please, we can talk later.”

“Um… OK.” Twilight swallowed, the forceful tone reminding her that, for all of his peculiarities, Typhon was still more than what the entire Equestrian army could handle. “The… the readings don’t show anything hazardous to your health, and this energy just seems to have amplified some of the natural energy fluctuations in ponies - or that could be a secondary effect of your own powers, even though I’m trying to filter out any anomalies caused by gravitational disturbances.”

“Well, as long as there’s nothing bad. Just had to make sure.” Kat let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding. She had secretly been worrying there would be side effects to how her body was reformed. “And Twilight, before we start the QnA, I have a little request of you.”

“Oh, sure- I mean, sure!” She tried to sound less apathetic, remembering she hadn’t been too nice lately. “What is it that you need?”

“Could you send a letter to Celestia for me? I’d like to meet her because I have a question for her.”

“Hmm? Very well, although I am not sure how fast she will reply or be able to see you.” Twilight scrawled a quick letter, choosing to wait until later to tell the princesses that Typhon was apparently immortal and simply going to the point.

“I can take you to her dreams, or I can also deliver the letter.” Typhon pipped in, taking the letter and folding it into a paper airplane. “And here it goes.”

She blew on it from behind, and a blue breeze carried the plane through the door, the nearest window, and off to Canterlot.

“Is there something else?” Twilight simply didn’t acknowledge the strange method of delivery and turned to Kat.

“Not that I can think of, so ask away Twilight. I’m an open book.”

“Alright; first off, what was that creature? That crystal eye was far too flexible and organic, and that aura was just… wrong.” She added to last word in a small voice - it had been odd, being in that thing’s presence.

“A nevi,” Kat answered. “Gravity monsters that are basically mindless beasts. They’re a part of the more… darker aspect of my powers.”

Twilight shuddered. “Can’t you… control them? Make them peaceful? Princess Luna said that Light and Dark aren’t even on opposite side of the coin; they just have to be in balance.”

“There’s a reason the symbol for Yin and Yang is a neat circle.” Typhon mumbled to herself. “I have the feeling it’s not that easy, though.”

“If I focus, I can to an extent. It’s more like I just point them in a direction and they take it from there. I don’t dare trying to create the more dangerous ones just yet. The one you saw was a Minion, the weakest of the nevi.”

“Wait, a direction? That’s…” Typhon was pacing about excitedly. “That could work better than you think! That’s what I do for most of my magic! Instead of controlling it like- like a sword or wrench, use the energy as if you are drawing a bow, directing it like you’re aiming it, instead of willing them to act, give them a will to move, coerce them if you can; I align myself to the weave of things, and then work from that!”

“Hmm,” Kat put a hoof to her chin, thinking on it. “That… could work. It would still require a lot ideal testing before I implement it in the field. I take it that answers your question, Twi?”

“And some I hadn’t gotten around to asking yet.” She replied, scrawling notes on some parchment. ”But how can you do that without magic of your own?”

“Well, the Chinese and Japanese have this concept called ‘Chi’ or ‘Ki’, which means ‘Breath’, and is suffused into Everything.” Typhon smirked as Twilight dropped her quill.

“That is a little scary.” She admitted. “Kat, have you used magic personally?”

Kat shook her head. “No. You see, my powers have actually replaced the magic that would normally be in an earth pony. When I first turned into a pony, I was unable to use my powers until I learned how to access earth pony magic. Took a fair while, I’ll admit, but as you can see I did it.”

“Interesting; my own powers are translated from- and to a kind of mental energy when I’m human.” Typhon chimed in. “That’s the reason so many spells cannot even register me - save for mental magic -, there is nothing to find.”

“So… you’re psychic?” Twilight asked.

“Kind of.” Typhon nodded. “I can’t outright read minds, but the construct of reality I call The Breeze can, to a degree, receive information like that, which then is relayed to me. It’s the reason I can dodge and block pretty much everything thrown at me with ill-intent. Well, that, and the fact my body doesn’t rely on the chemistry of neurons; similar to pegasus magic, only with mental energy.”

“So, Kat, can your powers make you faster or stronger than a pony - or human - of your physical complexion?” Twilight asked as she scribbled some more.

“Yes, actually. Even when I was just beginning, I fell from the stratosphere, landed on a rock. I was completely fine the next day.”

“I think your powers protect you from fall damage.” Typhon pondered as she put a hoof to her chin. “It’s not the fall, or even the sudden stop - it’s that the parts of you that are still moving hit the ones that are stopped too fast, and your body essentially crushes itself.”

Twilight looked a little green at that, and stuck out her tongue in disgust.

“Maybe what your powers do is that they help decelerate the rest of your body, making you seem - from the perspective of physics - a lot smaller, mass-wise, than you really are. I do something similar with my own levitative powers to help mitigate blows, and my ‘defense stat’ protects me in the same way.”

“That’s a ‘yes’, in summation.” Twilight nodded. “Typhon mentioned his- her- whatever powers having a physical impact on… the bodily aspect of things as a pony, possibly because of the conversion of energies within him. Do your powers have a similar impact on yours? And is it any different as a pony than as a human?”

“When I first started out, my powers required a cool down time, but over the years I’m able to use them so long as I can remain focused and standing. And, like I said, it’s harder to access my powers as a pony due to not being drawn out the same way. As a human, I just had to think about my powers and they would work, but as a pony I needed to learn the basics of earth pony magic to do so.”

“Have you seen any interesting developments in earth pony magic while out there?” Twilight asked, but Typhon put a hoof on her shoulders.

“Ah, Twilight, lemme warn you. I interfered big time on the development of magic in this planet. While you and everyone else has been aware of the magic of ponies in general, and the myriad ways to draw it out and use it, there are others that are… behind. Mostly, because, by the time a reliable means of detecting and measuring magical power came out, the ‘unicorns are the only ones able to do magic’ way of thinking had become sooo rooted into mentality, that the thought of an earth pony mage was either ridiculous, or even wrong, leading entire worlds to instill a form of secrecy upon the practitioners of earth-shaping, should it even exist.”

Twilight stared at Typhon with wide, watery eyes. Magic was her life, an integral part of her; to think of a single place, not to mention a world, where magic was limited like so, made her feel queasy. Celestia herself had repeatedly told her to always look at things from several angles, and to take care when talking to others, as their approach might not be like hers, and might even be better.

She was slightly aware that the princess had not taken her own advice at times, but that was neither here nor there.

“I- I don’t know what to say.” Twilight gulped. “I need to think about this some more. I… I’ll see you later for other questions I might still have.”

Twilight took her notes and trotted out of the basement, shuddering still.

“Spike!” She could be heard through the door. “Could… could you help me take a letter?”

“What was that about?” Kat asked, a little surprised by Twilight’s reaction. “I haven’t seen Twilight so shaken since my own found out about Celestia’s warmongering.”

“Well, in this world, thanks to my interference, the branch of the Royal Academy that teaches ponies about spells and other applications of will is called ‘Princess Celestia’s School for Ponies Gifted in Magic’, and is open to everyone.” Typhon began. “Magic is something to be shared with everyone, and the studies of the nature of pony magic are something… special; magic use is centered around that piece of your soul touched by magic itself, so, when she found out that there are whole worlds out there that deny other ponies it, when her own special talent and Element is Magic…”

“Oh… wow. My own world never really had much focus on magical study. It was at war every other century, even without me around. Equestria was more of a military country than anything else.”

“Hmm… while this one has had her own share of armed conflicts, there was never a shortage of ponies trying to discover the mysteries of magic, even if it was to help protect themselves from… external threats. Which reminds me of something, and it’s important.” Typhon turned to Kat with an unusual intensity. “I need you to remember this one.”

“Okay,” Kat said with a little unease at Typhon’s change in attitude. “What is it?”

“Never call a pony a gelding, or imply it. It might seem silly, but in this world, you’re not only calling them cowards or impotent, you’re also calling them puppets, and cripples, and saying that they are inherently untrustworthy. Back on Earth, geldings were such because it made them easier for a rider to manipulate, and less prone to distractions and tantrums… here, it’s the same, yet worse, as it leaves them at the mercy of mentally-altering magic and substances; a pony who becomes damaged there is thus unable to hold a position that requires reliability or secret-keeping… thankfully, knowledge of cellular structures and… other things relating to the body and alchemy, even restoring it is not impossible save for the foulest of magics being involved. The reason I was reminded was because a Minotaur Warlord decided to usurp his father, saying that he had gone weak in his old age, and enslaved the ponies within his borders and… I guess you can imagine what he did to the ponies to keep them from fighting back.”

Kat gulped. “Point taken. I don’t plan on causing any trouble here, so thank you for letting me know.” She gave Typhon a little kiss on the cheek. “So… about that picnic?”

Typhon sighed in contentment. “Sure, let’s go to Whitetail.”

Out of the Woods

(Whitetail Woods)

The blue jade pendant shone intermittently, relaying information to the wearer.

“I love it here in Tellus.” Typhon commented, laying down on a classic checkered blanket, smelling a warm muffin from Sugar Cube Corner. “The nature is just… eager to help, you know? There are no spirits because the Tellurians themselves are the spirits, and it just makes everything so… peaceful.”

Kat inhaled the nice country air, loving the time she was having. “I can see why. There’s no wars, no crises, just… life. It’s nice, very nice.” She laid right next to Typhon, simply enjoying the close contact.

“‘Life’ is right, and I should really show you what I’ve done with it.” Typhon closed her eyes and leaned into Kat. “I have so much to share with you… and do, as well.”

A swing of her tail produced a soft smack, telling Kat a little more than just words did.

Kat let out a tiny squeak from the swat, her cheeks blushing lightly. “I was right, you are a charmer.” Kat kissed Typhon on the lips, lasting for several good seconds before pulling back. Kat sighed contently as she leaned right back into Typhon.

“You should see the seasonal heat without Genbu or the brew.” Typhon chuckled. “This is one of the most relaxing experiments I have conducted in a while; just looking at the rivers of light flowing under the ground…”

The disturbance in the air signaling a pony flying through a space under her influence made her aware of the visitor far earlier than sight did. A powder-pink pegasus with a bubblegum pink mane and rose eyes landed not too far away from them.

The recent arrival looked every which way, as if making sure they were alone, before approaching… and rubbing her eyes upon her sight landing on a mare wearing a very familiar ring on her horn.

“Am I interrupting something… intimate?” She asked, leaning her head away from the scene with apprehension.

“It hasn’t gotten quite to that point, yet… Sunny,” Kat said with a knowing smile.

“Kat Shifter, I presume.” She - still warily - approached the couple, extending a foreleg towards the earth pony and trying to ignore the pair of smiles directed her way.

“That’s me,” she met the pegasus’ hoof with her own. “Thank you for coming out here, Celestia.”

“I have been trying to keep myself better informed as of late.” Celestia stood more confidently. “And I would like to extend a warm welcome to a weary traveler; your letter - rather, Twilight’s letter about your desire to meet - made me more than willing to… leave paperwork in hooves that do not tire so quickly.”

“You never thought of that one before, did you?” Typhon smirked, making the disguised princess let out an undignified huff.

“Well, the letter said you had something to ask, and I have reason to believe it’s going to be important - at least personally.” Celestia said, not bothering to fuel that fire.

“Yes, I did.” Kat took a deep breath and let it out slowly before looking at Celestia. “Your highness, I would like your permission to stay here.”

Celestia blinked as her mind worked overtime - she had been doing that a lot recently - and waited a second before continuing.

“I do not see why not - it would be treated as a migration, and require the… proper paperwork.” Celestia grimaced at the word, but managed not to spit it out. “Typhon is, technically, already a resident, and he has papers from the country of Mexicolt.”

“It helps to know the higher-ups of the government.” Typhon nodded.

“Oh, believe me, there are still many questions to answer, miste-Missy.” Celestia glared at her, but only caused her to giggle. “Yet, I have the feeling that that is not all there is to your request, is it?”

Kat just looked down. “I just wanted your permission. If you don’t want me to stay, then I will leave.” She looked back up at Celestia just a bit. “Your blessing is all I wanted.”

“Equestria was founded on the principle that everypony… and non-ponies… could find a home to call their own, to live in peace and harmony surrounded by their loved ones.” Celestia closed her eyes, speaking softly. “As a princess of Equestria, I do my best to make sure it remains that way; all that would be needed is the papers to make it official - it wouldn’t be much different from moving, or even an accidentally-created life.”

“Animating a bottle of Doctor Pepper is quite the surprise, much less her managing to have twins.” Typhon chuckled. “One of the involved was Flitter, who helped me make my familiars’ bodies, so it wasn’t that much of a surprise to me.”

Mixing magic from so many different ponies without a common goal tended to either be a catastrophic failure, or something worthy of Discord.

“Hmph, is that truly it?” Celestia asked, puzzled. “You could have asked through the letter itself, or asked the Mayor for a residence form.”

Kat sighed before looking at Celestia again. “I’m sorry if this seems like a waste of your time, but since you are the leader of the land, I felt it better to ask before overstaying my welcome in your land. Plus…” Kat looked away, a little ashamed. “I just wanted to hear your voice again. I hadn’t heard any kind words from that voice in a long while.”

“I’m s… I’m sorry; I never meant to imply something like that.” Celestia stepped closer still and laid down on the blanket, nuzzling Kat along Typhon. “I will not ask about what kind of problems you have faced, but I assure you that nothing done for love is ever a waste of time.”

“Thank you,” Kat said, brushing away a small tear. “You have no idea how much that means to me.”

“I might not, yet that does not stop me from seeing how much you appreciate it.” Celestia smiled at her. “It certainly explains why you asked to meet in person.”

Typhon then rolled Kat on her back, laying atop her girlfriend. “Don’t be sad.” She planted a kiss on her lips, holding it for a few seconds. “I’m going to help you.” She kissed her again, and ran a hoof through her hair and shoulders.

Kat smiled at her girlfriend in turn. “Somepony’s getting fun all of sudden.” Unfortunately, a loud beeping broke the mood. Confused, Kat reached into her jacket and pulled out her sonic screwdriver, the source of the beeping. “Well, that was quick. Can’t believe it’s done already.”

“What is done?” Typhon asked. “I hope it’s good news.”

“Well, yesterday, before our… little fun, I set the sonic to decode the magic resonance frequency of this world. Now that it’s done, I should be able to match it with my own powers, using a special item, I should be able to turn human whenever I want to here!”

“Oh.” Typhon expressed her surprise, although Celestia noted that it was rather neutral. “I could have helped - well, not quite with that, but with the magic resonance, if you wanted… I’m happy for you; I listened when you said how much you miss being human.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

Kat blushed a little. “I was actually saving it to surprise you. You said it was better being human and since I do want to be with you, I decided to take matters into my own ha...er...hooves.”

Typhon chuckled. “I have some advantages, yes… but, I am guessing that unlike you, my mentality changes rather noticeably. As a human, I’m almost asexual. I love you, and nothing can change that, but- well, I’m- excitement is going to be… sporadic.”

Celestia noted that it was one of the few times she had ever seen Typhon embarrassed. She could count those with her hooves. Typhon had always been rather shameless.

Kat gave her a sultry smile. “I love you, too. So, how about we continue where we left off?”

Celestia’s spell shattered the disguise from the sudden build-up of energy, leaving behind nothing but some floating sparks in her place.

“I would love to, Kat.”

Feet on the Ground

(Residence of Vincentia Dalia Scarlet and Octavia Harmonía Filarmónica Von Clef)

Vinyl Scratch was about to open the door, when she caught her flatmate pointing at her own eyes.

"Oh! Right!" With a pale blue flash, her red eyes turned into a more common magenta pair.

Now ready, she opened the door to find a morose Twilight Sparkle.

"Hey Twilight, you look terrible." Vinyl observed, stepping aside. "Come on in."

"T-thank you, Vinyl; I was hoping to find you, Octavia." Twilight said as she entered, getting a confused look out of the mare. "I just wanted to say that- well, I love your music, and I think that what you do with your magic is nothing short of amazing; I'm glad I met you, and it makes me really happy that you consider me your friend."

Twilight then threw her forelegs around the speechless pony in a hug, which took her a few seconds to reciprocate.

Vinyl saw that, whatever had happened to Twilight, this was important for her. She shrugged, and joined in.

"Yeah, Tavi's pretty good with those strings of hers." Vinyl stepped back and nodded, grinning as Twilight recovered her smile.

Twilight was about to say more, but was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Twilight? Are you there?" The worried voice of Princess Celestia startled the other ponies, making Vinyl fumble the doorknob twice before her hooves found enough purchase to turn it.

On the other side of the door stood Celestia, devoid of her regalia, and holding a scroll in front of her.

Celestia herself didn't notice the pair of ponies reflexively bowing to her, nor did she remember that her disguise had shattered - she did not remember leaving behind her crown! No, all of her attention was taken by the same little filly she had taken under her wing, looking up at her with teary eyes before throwing herself at her neck and crying her tender little heart out.

The first time she had done so, it had been in the gardens, after the princess had explained to her that there was nothing either of them could have done - the bird was dead, and Twilight was heartbroken, thinking it had been her fault. It wasn't; she had just made the bird be shaken off the branch it had died on, but she still held a funeral and even gave an eulogy.

Twilight's heart was just so full of love and compassion, Celestia couldn't help but feel the need to comfort her, reassure her, and tell her that everything would turn out alright in the end.

She held her gently within her wings, softly nuzzling away her tears as Twilight held her tightly.

"Shh... I'm here." She cooed. "My dear Twilight; I'm here."

She held her little student until her choked sobs became sniffles, patting her back to let her know she was there, and she would work tirelessly until she recovered her peace.

"Twilight, my dear student, what happened?"

"I learned something... shocking." She sniffled, feeling safer now that her mentor was present. Safer? It was more like... her sense of reality was reaffirmed.

"Remember that you can talk to me about anything that weights on your mind." Celestia smiled as Twilight's grip on her turned more affective and less desperate.

Octavia wordlessly guided them to the couch, which Celestia let Twilight take, as Vinyl served some juice to drink.

"I... I talked to Typhon." Twilight sniffled, then took a sip of juice to soothe her throat. "He told me... that there are alternates of Equestria that... that are more ignorant of magic than I could stomach."

"Must have been one heck of an understatement." Vinyl pursed her lips. "You look like your puppy just died."

"Well, he also told me that there are worlds where they think only unicorns can use magic... or are the only ones that should be able to." Twilight shuddered, and Celestia simply nuzzled the side of her face. "That non-unicorn casters are... well, Prosperity said that they were thought of as 'deluded', or 'unicorn-wannabes', and earth-shapers hide their abilities out of fear - if they even exist."

A look of understanding, then of sympathy, crossed the faces of the other ponies.

"That's what that was about... huh, yeah, I can see how that would be upsetting." Vinyl commented. "I had a few pegasus teachers back in Mareachusetts; just thinking they wouldn't be there makes me feel icky."

"And Professors Sprout and Heartwood wouldn't be on my school, and they are merely the youngest ones." Celestia frowned at the thought. "Clover The Clever always said that you had to keep your mind open, that preconceived notions are the locks on the door to wisdom. The purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows, and I simply cannot complete the thought of a world were I turn a blind eye to the developments and achievements of ponies simply because their tribe does not align to 'tradition'..."

"Prosperity said that that reminded her of a quote: 'Begin challenging your assumptions. They are the windows on the world; scrub them off every once in a while or else the light won't come in'. Or something like that." Twilight sighed. "But there's worse, too..."

"Sadly, you cannot concern yourself too deeply with the affairs of others - all you can do is offer your own insights and your hoof in friendship." Celestia felt herself deflate slightly, and the other ponies in the room followed.

She got a small idea.

"You could also provide evidence." She pipped in. "Miss Filarmónica could give us a demonstration of her magical prowess."

The mare brightened up, and, with a bow, quickly left to retrieve her instruments.

"We should get Carrot Top and BonBon in on this." Vinyl added, starting to grin. "Nopony better than an Earth pony to get those who point their noses at the air to put their hooves on the ground."

Twilight smiled. When ponies worked together, they could do amazing things. It was like magic, or friendship.

She giggled at the silly thought.

*****
(Canterlot)

Blueblood stepped into the train with confidence and dignity, which was good, as he had managed to hide the incredible anxiety that he was currently feeling.

He had chocolates, though.

Aunt Celestia loved chocolate. It was a good gift.

And how could it not? Chocolate was... it was like velvet and fine silks for the palate. Chocolate slid smoothly through the senses and comforted them; a warm chocolate during a cold winter night brought comfort to the core of one's being, punctuating the peace felt radiating from the hearth...

Aunt Celestia also loved hot sauce, however, and had the strange habit of combining them.

He... he could think of reasons. The spicy bite ignited something more... primal. A burning in one's will that pushed and excited the mind and sent the body into a frenzy.

He could not let himself fly away too far from reality, though. Twilight Sparkle had named her terms, and he would not dare think he had a chance with her if he left that disastrous impression on one of her close friends.

The world did not work like that.

Twilight Sparkle was too grounded to let herself be carried away by his title, some gifts and pick-up lines.

Which was exactly part of what made her so enticing. She could see him for - well, for him. He would show her the best him he could be, and win her affection through his own actions.

Prince Blueblood simply sat himself inside a regular car, not willing to break the little charade he was putting on for the other nobles... they wouldn't be caught dead in anything less than a private cart of the Canterlot Express. The Friendship Express was much less expensive, even though quality didn't suffer - bah, he would let them waste money. No skin off his nose.

Not too long after he boarded, North Star did so as well. She wore her dress... the same one she had worn that night of the gala.

That pink pony, with that cute little hat reminiscent of the ones from ponies working in ice cream parlors and soda shops...

Why couldn't she stop thinking of her? She had been very rude, nudging her... her rump... nopony else had made her feel like that.

She breathed slowly to disguise her growing anxiety and fight off her blush.

She would have waited for the Canterlot Express, but the Friendship Express would make the wait shorter, and there was no use in delaying it. The train itself - and its cars, of course - were relatively new, having been made in honor of the Bearers, after their triumph against Discord. There was need of a new train, and it was as good a reason as any.

She didn't feel like taking a private car - what Cloud Bank had said stuck with her, and now she was just uncomfortable separating herself from ponies, even if they were outside of her usual social circles.

She needed this.

Whatever 'this' was, but she needed it regardless.

Nopony else had dared touch her like that, and nopony had shown so much honest feeling in front of her until that moment.

Cloud Bank and Silver Lining notwithstanding. They had changed a lot recently... so had others, but they were the most marked.

She wouldn't worry herself about appearances.

(Too much)

If she could get a ride towards Ponyville, cheaper and without a noticeable drop in quality, then why waste money? No skin off her nose.

Moving

The following day

Keep moving and don't dare to stop.

Or he'll end you.

Forward, backward, in circles, it didn't matter.

A claw to the head was ducked under with the barest of margins, returning to a stance quickly in order to throw a punch that was swatted aside by a wing, causing him to follow his own momentum to dive away from the follow-up kick.

Faster, fluidly.

'Silver Shine' lamented not being there to meet the new human, but work could not wait forever. And now? She had left for some other world.

Twist.

Stomp.

Twilight was absorbed by the delicate but oh-so-deadly dance happening in front of her. The pulses of energy invisible to the untrained eye but so very noticeable to the discerning one.

Fluid. Smooth.

Beautiful from a mechanical standpoint, an aesthetic one, or even a philosophical one. Typhon was like his name implied, a whirling storm against whom trying to strike was like trying to claw the air. Prosperity was like a raging fire, constantly surging forward, or in circles, and the onlookers were sure that, were she not so nice, they would have been in danger even at their distance.

She gave a slight hop over a sweeping kick, answering with a downwards claw swipe he rolled away from, making her use the claw on the ground to push herself up and away from a rising kick, landing just in time to swipe her tail to prevent him from closing in.

He moved, being everywhere and nowhere. Like the wind. The slightest hint of resistance sent him on an alternate approach, gracefully leaning away from the patch of a kick, or gently nudging away a wing or her tail, then simply moving elsewhere to exploit the slightest gap in concentration. She was solid, like a mighty oak, but also swaying like a candle flame - flickering as she weathered the many blows thrown her way as she answered with a few of her own.

He, too, was solid. Acrobatics, fun as they were, were not the point of the sparring session, and would not work very well against an opponent such as his adoptive daughter. Hence, he kept his body ready to react at the slightest provocation.

The mood changed. He became wrapped in the blue aura so familiar to Twilight, and Prosperity was wreathed in a ghostly dragonfire.

Not quite actual fire, like Spike did when he was too angry, but more like the sensation of the power residing within her. Understandable. She had had centuries to master herself.

Typhon gained aggressiveness, becoming a furious tornado, while Prosperity started moving faster still.

It came to a close as he apparently took a hit to the shoulder, rolling much faster than the dragon would have anticipated.

There was a hand resting against the side of her head.

"Sheesh dad, did that hurt?" Prosperity asked, looking at her fist.

"A little." The now-human Typhon said, rubbing his shoulder where he had taken the blow. "If you had actually thrown your energy through it, I'd have taken damage."

He turned to the spectators - the girls, Spike, 'Silver Shine', and assorted ponies - and clapped.

"That was the sampler." He said. "I can go faster still, but that gets kind of hard to follow."

"That's kind of the whole point, dad." Prospit jabbed him with a claw. "You wanted to see if you could get as fast as people from the source material, and you can."

"In any case, that was an application of 'Ki', as I promised Twilight I would show... it's just that my body allows me to be unnaturally fast."

"The psychic powers again?" Twilight pipped in, scrawling some notes now that her attention was not being taken by the display.

"Kind of - normal people cannot physically react to something that is faster than point-fifteen seconds, give or take a hundredth." Typhon nodded, floating a rock the size of his palm in front of him. "Needless to say: I'm faster."

The rock exploded into dust without much discernible movement. Rainbow caught his fist moving, but then again, her own magic was centered on speed.

It was the very core of her essence.

"Much faster."

Rarity nodded with wariness.

"Which leaves us with the next order of business: Black King Nware." Prosperity extended a poster of the white-furred creature - a note said 'Actual size' at the side.

"Compared to the others, he's not much bigger than a pony." Dash scowled at the image of the white-furred creature wearing a deep blue robe and a wide-brimmed pointed yellow hat, with large ears shaped like a cat's - if much, much larger. "With that red pom-pom antenna and those whiskers, he doesn't fit with the human, the two rabbit girls with the eyes sharp like a Gryphon's, and that dog-like creature with the obvious 'old wizard' vibe."

"He's got the Reflex ability, allowing him to sense any 'regular' attack and dodge; in the workings of this world, his heightened awareness is going to be really painful to get around. He uses two shields and a robe that allow him to turn the elemental energies he wields into life-force, and thus he's not afraid of catching himself within the blasts of his own magic. He can turn you into a frog and likely has a lot of other very inconvenient abilities, not to mention his other equipment."

"I still don't get it." Pinkie said with a pout. "Why can't they just play nice?"

"Well, there is something special about a fight - you learn about your opponent's heart in a minute, and how serious they are about their intentions. He's that kind of guy, loving a good fight and winning it." Typhon nodded. "But some people... some people aren't happy unless they are hurting others; sometimes, it's because they were hurt so badly they want everyone else feel the same, but sometimes... some people just want to watch the world burn."

Pinkie was downtrodden, and she simply walked away.

"I... I guess we could talk about it later - I mean, they agreed to not come in uninvited."

*****
(Later)

Prince Blueblood knocked on the door to Carousel Boutique.

"I am here to collect the Royal Commission." He announced, deepening his voice to buy himself a few more seconds of anonymity.

"Oh! But of course!" Came the reply, still in the same refined tone that sent unpleasant tingles across his spine. "I- You!"

The sheer rage in her glare made the back of his neck start sweating, and it took all he had to clear his throat and start speaking before she could slam the door on his face.

"I came here personally to apologize for my behavior - it was most unbecoming." He said as she angrily turned around and pointed towards a set of boxes ready at the back of the store.

"While my friend already... informed me of the reasoning behind you atrocious behavior, I feel I must reiterate the fact that it is a most despicable conduct for somepony of your supposed stature." She angrily tore open the top of the box and (curiously enough) levitated the first winter exploration uniform with the gentleness of a mother holding her foal.

"I grew bored of subtlety; it tends to be ignored by... particularly determined ponies, or those... not as gifted on the uptake." He was mildly pleased when all Rarity did was shake her head in lamentation.

The articles of clothing themselves were thick, and the inner lining was delightfully comfortable, and the exterior tough and water-proofed. He could feel the slight trickle of magic from the point of contact towards whatever enchantments had been woven into the cloth.

"I am willing to let bygones be bygones." She announced with - to his chagrin - formality and a sense of cold detachment. "However, I would be remiss to forget another important moment of your reprehensible conduct."

He avoided swallowing merely because his mouth was bone-dry. Rarity had taken to levitate a surprising - and thus, worrisome - amount of needles and pins as she pretended to work on one of the many half-finished dresses she had on display.

"I recall with particular clarity the affront against a rather good friend of mine merely because of her choice of stock." She spoke calmly even as the pointed implements surrounded a bare dummy like a hurricane. "While I have never hidden my lamentations over her refusal of my ministrations, she nonetheless holds respect over my choices whenever they do not interfere with the task at hoof - likewise, I respect her way of life, and admit that the edibles her family produces are marvelously-crafted and simply exquisite, disregarding the origin of the recipe."

'Oh, manure.' The prince trembled slightly as he recalled his attempt to get rid of Rarity by making her pay for the food; then, upon discovering that she was acquainted with the pony who was silly enough to attempt to sell food to the guests of an event with a free buffet, decided to increase the pain by insulting her and her food.

Clearly, not one of his better-thought plans.

"I am prepared to withstand all manner of scathing comments and vicious rumors, but I am displeased when the same are directed at ponies that have been so supportive of me and my choices." All of the needles and pins were driven into the dummy in what looked like purposely-chosen spots.

He knew of acupuncture. He knew what magically-charged needles could do to a pony. He knew he did not want to be on the other side of that.

"I assure you, I have no intention of following the same path I have been threading so far." He replied, unable to hide the small shaking of his voice. "I am turning a new leaf, and I am going to be more considerate and direct in the future."

"Hmph, I will keep my attention on you, then." She replied as she passed along the boxes.

For some reason, he was even more nervous about announcing his love for Twilight Sparkle

*****

"Oh, you." Spike said.

Just what was with him and getting confronted as soon as a door opened?

"Spike! What are you- oh! Blueblood!" Twilight appeared from the door to the kitchen, and all of his rehearsed lines and gathered courage evaporated and drifted like smoke. "What brings you here?"

"I am pleased to inform you that I have made peace with Miss Rarity." He announced with pride, then muttered. "For a given value of peace."

"That's wonderful!" Twilight clapped her hooves in happiness, making his heart flutter at her adorable innocence.

'Now! Do it now you fool! Waiting too long never ends well!' His brain yelled at him, prompting him to clear his throat and ignored the scowl from the baby drake.

"There is something I have been meaning to ask you." He managed to speak without breaking his voice, which already counted as a small victory. "I... well, my aunt and I have been planning to get some of the less considerate nobles to turn a more... harmonious leaf, and I would be honored to have your help."

'While that was nice and all, that was not what I wanted to say.' Blueblood chastised himself.

"I also wanted you to have these." He produced a heart-shaped box of chocolates with a flash of light. "I think you're pretty, and I'd like to take you to dinner once I get back from my expedition - maybe we could study the meteor together."

"I- but- dinner sounds- an extra-Tellurian object!" Twilight stammered as her mind tried to process all of its requests at once; Spike was doing similar, if only because his adoptive sister-figure going on a date was an image too bizarre to compute, doubly so with the clashing of what he thought of as a romantic date with a geeky mad-science study session happening both at once.

"I shan't occupy your time further; please, if you would decide to grace me with your presence, send word to my aunts." He bowed and, holding one of her hooves on his own, politely kissed it. "It would fill my heart with joy for you to accept."

Twilight stood there, unresponsive (as did Spike), as Blueblood's panic built up enough for him to simply close the door and hurriedly trot back to the train station where the supplied clothes were waiting for him.

*****
(Elsewhere)

North Star couldn't help but feel over-dressed. The most she had seen was Octavia (who knew she lived in this town?) wearing her bow-tie and a rich-looking stallion wearing a necktie.

She did not have the slightest idea of where to find Pinkamena Diane Pie, however.

She spotted somepony who could be able to help her - her friend, Ditzianna, was sitting in front of a little home with her daughters and a bubble in the shape of a muffin in between them.

It was odd, seeing her without her pearl necklace, but she was glad she had found a friendly face. She even remembered the story behind the muffins! A local bakery had a sale, then, during one of the cravings due to her pregnancy, she bought a whole bunch of them... then, her husband's brother, Written Script, joked that her bun would turn into a muffin.

A joke about loving 'her little muffin' forever, the nickname for the filly stuck.

With tender love having replaced anxiety, North approached the ponies.

"Don't push it too hard - bubbles like to take the shape with the most surface, so you have to convince them..." Ditzianna gently encouraged her filly, who was closing her eyes in concentration, horn glowing gold.

"Oh! Hello, Miss North!" Sparkler waved at her, making Ditzianna turn around and Dinky accidentally popped her bubble. "Oops."

"North!" Ditzianna swooped through the air and gave her a hug. "I'm so happy you decided to visit!"

"Ah! Well, hello to you as well, but, I came for something else, actually..." She sheepishly replied - not that she wasn't happy to see her friend, no! But it was just incidental to the exploration of Ponyville. "I was looking for a mare called 'Pinkamena Diane Pie', actually, and was wondering if you knew where I could find her."

"Of course! She's at the bakery called 'Sugar Cube Corner' - the giant gingerbread house - and lives and works there!" She cheerfully pointed her in the right direction, and released her.

"Thank you, Ditzianna." North Star nodded. "I might stop for a prolonged visit later, girls - there is just so much I would like to talk about with your mother."

"Bye!"

"I hope she makes you happy!" Bright Eyes called out at the retreating unicorn, making her pause for a moment before simply shaking her head in dismissal.

"Mom, did you use your bubbles this morning?" Sparkler asked.

"Nah! Mamma Bright has been seeing that a lot these days!" Dinky replied, preparing her bubble wand again.

*****
(Sugar Cube Corner)

The smell was heavenly, and the stallion working behind the counter had a honest smile despite his apparent tiredness.

"Welcome! My name is Carrot Cake; what can I get you?" The stallion, Carrot Cake, spoke with infectious cheer.

"I was told I could find a... 'Pinkie Pie' in here." She asked, using the name most would refer to her as.

"Oh." His smile faded into a look of... worry? compassion? "She's been feeling a little down, and the missus and I don't know how to get her back up... If you'd like to wait, or if you have any idea..."

"Ah, well, I just wanted to talk to her. I-"

"Is there a new pony?" Came a voice from up the stairs. "I heard a new pony."

The pony descending the stairs did have a resemblance to the mare she remembered from the Gala - but her coat was darker, and her mane was completely straight.

"Yes, Pinkie, Miss...-" Mister Cake answered, pausing to turn at her.

"North Star." She supplied, standing tall yet oddly worried.

"Miss Star was asking for you."

"Goodie!" Pinkie smiled softly, and whatever weighted on her seemed to become lesser already. "I'm not really feeling well right now, but we can have a small party now to tide you over to when we can get your big, official 'Welcome to Ponyville' party."

"That... sounds..." Weird? Unnecessary? "Delightful."

She smiled and followed the pink pony upstairs.

"This is my room; that is Gummy." The room was very, very pink, full of balloons and stuffed animals. 'Gummy' was a small alligator with a vacant expression and no teeth.

"Greetings... Gummy." North forced a polite smile, while the tiny reptile blinked one eye then the other.

"He likes you already." Pinkie announced, cantering to a small table with a teapot. "Tea?"

"I would be delighted." She replied, sitting on a stool that would be more at home in a filly's room than a mare's. "I doubt you remember me, but we met-"

"During the Grand Galloping Gala; you were talking about your father's renovations to the Observatory of the Academy of Canterlot." Pinkie recited with a soft smile, making North gawk inelegantly at her.

"Bu- how can you remember all that?!" She kept her tone of surprise polite, but it was a near-thing.

Pinkie giggled.

"I remember all sorts of things about my friends, silly! Because something might just make them happy, and I love making my friends smile!" She answered, serving North a cup of tea and passing her some cookies.

"Friends? But I did not even know your name!" North said, incredulous.

"But we are friends forever, and forever goes both ways, therefore, we have always been friends!" Pinkie retorted, giggling still.

North tried to respond that things did not work like that - relationships end, ponies grow distant, her views were unrealistic...

Yet, she couldn't say it. It was said that a relationship was only successful if one of the involved died... but princess Luna, despite having a fight with her sister, not only did not die, but returned.

Sometimes... sometimes things really did last forever. More so with magic involved.

"How can we be friends if we know nothing of each other?" She managed to spit out.

"That's why we're having this party right now!"

"Can't argue with a logic like that." North mumbled, whether cynically or honestly, she wasn't sure. She tried one of the cookies... and it was really good! It complimented her tea very well!

"So, Pinkie, tell me about yourself." She felt slightly-emboldened by the other pony's words.

"Well, I grew up on a rock farm; my dad, Clyde Pie-"

"Wait a second, Clyde Pie?!" She interrupted, glad she had not been taking a sip of tea at that moment. "But then why are you working here?! In this small-town bakery?! You could have a huge chain of bakeries all over Equestria!"

"Teehee! Don't be silly - my friends are all here!" Pinkie smiled. "I've heard this a lot: Why stay in Ponyville, when I could be surrounded with ponies like me!"

North Star nodded dumbly.

"Well, what is being like me? What separates us? Are you sure it isn't an illusion?" Pinkie continued, pausing for a moment to see North trying to come up with an answer.

"Why do you have to think 'unicorns' or 'earth ponies',or even just 'ponies'?" Pinkie smiled as she sipped her tea, lowering another cup for Gummy. "I just see us as 'Us'. We all can smile, and feel happy, no?"

That... that wasn't too different from what Cloud Bank had said - granted, she was wasted at the time, but...

"Just 'us', huh?" She whispered at her reflection inside her cup.

"What else have you found in other ponies?"

*****
(Elsewhere)

He felt it before he could truly see it. She appeared in a swirl of red and black, walking through without a care in the world. Kat smiled at her boyfriend quite nicely.

“Welcome back, Kat,” he said with a returned smile. Though he could feel something was wrong; Kat was not alright, despite how she appeared. “Are you alright?”

Before she could even move, Kat’s eyes went wide as she began to heave on to the ground. But it was not bile that she spat out, but blood. Kat fell to the side, unconscious before she even hit the ground.

The last thing she heard, was a frantic shout. “KAT!!”

Author's Note

Kat was doing her crossover with Majin Buu, something that at the time of this writing the chapter isn't posted.

Heavy Wind

(Canterlot Hospital)

“Jeez! She went through a grinder!” Flitter exclaimed as she looked over the broken mare on the table; she had gotten the message on her glasses that Typhon desperately needed her help, but never expected to see Kat on the table. “It would be faster and safer to recycle what’s left!”

“Then let’s get to it.” Typhon stood next to his friend. “Don’t worry about energy - use mine.”

“I can match mine to hers already; there is no risk of rejection.” Flitter warned him, trying to get him to step back - more for everyone else’s safety than his, though.

“This is high-level healing, and I’m not going to stand by and let you do all the work.” He said with a finality that made her roll her eyes… and remind her just why she thought of him as the leader of their little group.

They matched breathing rhythm.

They both stepped forth.

“I’m going to need line-of-sight to work this fast.” Flitter said as her white magic became tinted with blue flecks. She gripped her staff tightly, feeling it compress the spell, taking some of the load off of her...

Typhon nodded, allowing his mind to slip away. He let emotion leave him. Empty. No thought, no emotion, just his Heart guiding his actions.

Open.

A Heart and Mind opened wide, very wide, to allow magic to flow. Just like what Clover had done that time, back when Windigoes still roamed the land.

Clover nearly died that first time, however, and had only managed to reach that state out of sheer desperation… Typhon, however, had better instructions.

Flitter reached, and grasped. A cut here, here, and here. Just Heart and knowledge. Touching the mare’s energy, accepting it, becoming one with it. Rebuilding broken pathways and channels, making the body remember its proper state of being; breaking down the old, damaged structures and letting the body tell them, restore them as to how they had been.

Knowledge helped - it saved plenty of energy and time, like knowing the path in a maze.

Raw material, in the form of protein supplements, was transmuted directly into the building blocks of life thanks to that knowledge.

Outside, Luna waited with as much decorum as she could muster to hide her impatience. Not only was Kat a guest from another world, but now there was magic on par with an alicorn’s going on to save her.

Not that she had not seen such before, but rather, its source was what surprised her.

The energy - and light peeking through the gaps - crescendoed, and then died down to a trickle, before simply fading into the background field of the hospital. She had felt it turn into the patient’s signature, something notoriously difficult for most doctors, and felt how both Typhon’s and Flitter’s had merged like so to cast the same spell - something notoriously difficult for most everyone else.

She had done so, with her sister, and she was sure her niece would be able to do so with her beloved… not to mention that was the very operating principle of the Elements.

She shared the hallway with a rather upset white pegasus, who kept bristling and huffing. He was, apparently, a magical copy of Typhon, who had been quite… vexed himself.

The doors opened - Luna felt slightly disappointed they hadn’t been slammed open - and Typhon was standing there.

“I have no intention of fulfilling social expectatives - I want coffee, and you know how I like it: as much cream as there is coffee, and with six spoonfuls of sugar.” He commanded his clone, who grumblingly trotted away to hunt for the brew.

Luna noticed that Typhon’s clothes shifted differently, and raised an eyebrow. She chose not to comment, right away at least.

“I take it the operation was a success.” She observed, as Typhon sighed explosively.

“Whatever she did made a number- several numbers on her. And in her.” He turned around, Luna taking the silent invitation inside.

There was a white-haired changeling with dragonfly wings, wearing white robes with red trimming and heavy traveling clothes, leaning against a wooden staff that glowed faintly in the darkness of the room.

“The lights would have bothered us, so we simply turned them off and moved them away.” Typhon said as he made the normal lights flick back on. “I’m sure you have questions, but… but I don’t have the answers.”

Luna watched as his eyes started to water, pushing his muzzle against Kat’s head, nosing her as if he tried to wake her.

She simply neighed softly in her sleep.

“I have distracted the doctors, for now, but they are going to make a ‘fuss’ over allowing somepony without a license assist with an operation.” Luna warned them, only for Typhon to scoff.

“What can they do? Grab that pony who can stop me? Oh wait, there isn’t one!” He grumbled, scoffed, and taunted at once. “Besides, I do have one, although it’s not valid for my human form outside of emergencies. Seriously, I make all kinds of golems, and the bodies of my familiars, too; there are few who can surpass me, and I contacted the one that outdoes them all.”

Flitter laughed tiredly from her position, sitting down on the floor.

“The golems and familiars are the fruit of our joint efforts.” She smiled, chuckling hoarsely - although it was hard to tell with that strange, scratchy tone of voice of hers. “And your license only covers magic procedures, not medicine - that’s the area of other doctors.”

“What would be the difference between a golem and a familiar?” Luna asked, not willing to let the two tired ponies vent on each other.

“Golems were made from scratch - most of them - , while most familiars are spirits we gave bodies to.” Typhon answered, climbing into bed next to Kat. “Golems don’t need somepony to feed them magic more than once - when they were ‘activated’, and they can stay here in Tellus just like you and me. I was going to show her some.”

“You should sleep.” Luna said, noticing his declining mood. “We can talk more once she wakes.”

“I don’t need sleep.” He huffed. “Haven’t since the second month of my stay.”

“You should, regardless.” Flitter commented. “I know how you feel about passing time like that, but there is little you can do.”

“Fine, but only after sundown; I still haven’t gotten that coffee.”

*****
(Later)

The night was calm, not even a single breeze blowing through the trees. It was slow and agonizing for Kat, but eventually she was able to finally open her eyes.

‘Wh-what happened?’ she thought to herself. She tried to move her head, but there was still too much pain for her to do so. Looking around as much as she could, Kat was able to pick up that she was in a hospital. And there was something next to her.

Her eyes panning over to her companion, Kat was a little surprised to see Typhon there.

‘Typhon? He… he stayed by my side the whole time?’ She noticed a slight difference in the fur just below his left eye. It was a single straight matted line, making her heart skip a beat.

Kat’s eyes moved to look right up to the ceiling, thinking things over. ‘He really does care. Nopony… no person has ever cared like this. He was serious; he does love me.’ She felt a small tear fall from her eye with a light sniffle.

‘And I’ve made him worry. Because I couldn’t come back safe. I was weak.’

Kat’s eyes hardened. ‘No more. Typhon deserves someone who can stand on their own legs. Someone who’s always gonna come back. And merde, I’m gonna be that girl!’

Painfully, Kat slowly lifted up her foreleg, drawing as much energy as she could muster. She drew a line with the energy, opening up a portal. She smiled as a green crystal fell towards her.

‘Let’s get started.’

****
(The Next Morning)

“Typhon! Typhon!” Twilight practically shouted in an attempt to awaken the slumbering stallion, her friends standing nearby.

Pinkie landed on him, something that felt far more solid than on another pony, making him open his eyes right away.

The air within the room was already under his control, which told him-

“Kat is missing.” He said, extending his senses through the building and the surrounding area.

“We jumped into the next train as soon as we heard, but only you are here!” Twilight trotted in place. “What happened?”

“I don’t know.”Typhon shook his head in irritation. “She popped in, but her breathing wasn’t right, and then she let loose a lot of blood from her mouth just as I started to sense that she received serious internal injuries. Then I contacted the best doctor I knew and had her work with me… and now she left.”

The haunted look on his face made them flinch; they knew him introspective, pensive, borderly-irreverent, and playful… but now looked far too empty and still.

“Why would she leave?” He whispered. “Did I do something wrong? Did she need me and I wasn’t there?”

There was a beeping sound, and Typhon took his glasses out of his inventory and put them on.

“Prospit saw an explosion in the Everfree; says it felt off, and it could be Kat.” He jumped down. “We’re teleporting there.”

“Wait a second!” Twilight screeched. “That’s too far! It’s impossible!”

“The concept of ‘impossible’ and I have a peculiar relationship; we both politely ignore each other. If reality differs from my goals… that’s too bad for reality.” He pulled the power, twisted it, shaped it… words and symbols from his memories engraved into the weave, seeking other words and symbols without giving distance any importance. The old chambers in the Everfree castle hummed with magical power, even after having been abandoned due to the construction of Canterlot - and thus Starswirl changed labs - the runes worked just as well as when they had been first forged. A few adjustments and he could change the destination, getting them out of the old laboratory and into the main halls.

“Buckle your seatbelts, ladies, because this is going to be… actually very smooth, but you never know.”

Pinkie produced a black belt from her mane, and snapped it close in a loop.

Then they vanished with a pop.

They appeared with the walls of the Castle of the Two Pony Sisters, just near the exit. The sounds of explosions coming from outside.

He didn’t bother waiting, he simply took all of them in his magic and blurred forwards, half-jumping, half-floating across the chasm… but there was nothing in sight. No sign of any living creature around.

“There’s nothin’ here,” Applejack voiced.

“But then what was making all that dreadful racket?”

“Um… girls?” Fluttershy whispered meekly, facing the opposite direction they were.

“Maybe it’s gone?” Rainbow suggested with a shrug. “Probably saw us comin’ and ran for the hills.”

“Girls?” Fluttershy tried again, only slightly louder.

“But wouldn’t we have heard somethin’? Ah mean, somehin’ makin’ all that noise had to ‘ave been mighty big.”

“Girls!!” Fluttershy nearly screamed. They all turned to see what Fluttershy was so worried about only to blanch at the sight. Standing there was a massive monster, green energy pulsing all around it. Typhon staring right at it, snorting, but saying nothing.

“That’s why he was so quiet.” Rarity gulped nervously.

“A nevi,” Twilight whispered in awe and horror. “But it’s… different.”

“It’s a rare one.” Typhon growled out. “That is not going to save it.”

Suddenly, the nevi shot forward… but over them instead of at them and crashed into the castle wall. Typhon instantly noticed something was pressing into its back, that same thing pulling the nevi out of the wall and slamming into the ground, shattering its eyes and dissipating it.

Through the smoke of the dead nevi, the ponies could see a long haired biped, crouched with its fist in the ground where its opponent once was. It stood tall, it’s slender and curvy form covered only by a white t-shirt, tight fitting khaki pants, and combat boots. Its long, blonde hair billowed gently in the morning breeze and its blood red eyes could tear through even the harshest of souls.

This was the true Kat Shifter. Or, in Typhon’s opinion, Kat’s human form.

From behind the castle, several more rare nevis jumped from strategic points, converging on Kat. The girls gasped in fright, but Kat simply looked at the monsters with a fire in her eyes. Quick as a fly, Kat moved out the way with a double back flip, then using the momentum to launch herself at the central monster, knocking it out instantly.

A Minion lashed out with its tentacles, but Kat dodged each strike, getting close with each one and dealing a fatal blow to its eye. An octopus-like nevi began firing several blasts at Kat, but she simply struck each one away into the other nevi. She charged forward, blasting right through it’s one eye.

Behind that Star, though, was a Spike Bomb which fired out as soon as Kat was in range. She was swift enough to dodge most of the explosion of spines, but one stabbed right through her shoulder. Kat stifled a scream, deciding to grab the spike and chuck it down to the ground, destroying it in on impact.

Kat settled down to the ground, ignoring the bleeding hole in shoulder as she looked around, no more nevi in sight. Until a massive roar echoed through the Everfree and a rare Nushi reared itself from behind the castle.

Kat got into a fighting stance as the monstrous nevi began to charge its powerful laser attack. She cupped her hands and put them together to her side, energy beginning to flow into it. “Ka...me...ha...me…” With each word, the energy in her hands grew and grew, the Nushi’s own readying to fire. With a final burst of energy, turning the normally blue-white attack red, Kat shouted the final word, “HA!!!”

She fired the powerful attack at the same moment the Nushi did, the two blasts connecting and battling out in front of the onlookers. They seemed to be evenly matched, but Kat’s fury and determination increased her attack’s power substantially and began to overpower the Nushi. With a final scream, her attack overtook the nevi, blasting it away to nothingness with in moments.

Kat gasped for breath, exhausted from the strain on her body. She fell to one knee, her staff appearing in her hand and extending into the ground to keep her from collapsing all the way. “Not good enough,” she muttered to herself. “Still not good enough.”

Typhon cantered up to her, unsure as to what to say besides the obvious.

“You’re hurt; let me see that shoulder.”

Kat blinked, looking over to see Typhon, the girls not too far behind. “Typhon? Girls? When did you all get here? And why are you here?”

“You disappeared from the hospital!” Twilight said, giving a tentative step forward.

“Was it something I did?” Typhon looked up at her. “What happened? Your energy is all screwed up and… and you almost died in front of me... I can’t stomach the thought of going through that again.”

The girls grimaced, remembering Wind Whistler.

“What were those things doing here?” Twilight asked. “Are we in danger? Do you need help?”

“Of course there’s no danger,” Kat waved off. “They were my sparring partners.” She looked down at Typhon and gave him a light kiss on his forehead. “I’m sorry I scared you, all of you. I made a mistake and I’m trying to make sure it never happens again.” She stood up tall. “Next time I see that god again, I’m gonna kick his cul.”

Typhon sighed in relief, before focusing on her once more.

“What god?” He asked with an unusual heat to his words. “Because I’m feeling really tempted to show them one of my titles.”

The girls flinched as the wind started swirling harshly around the woods…Twilight in particular, as she had heard accounts of his larger fights.

“God of destruction, believe it or not,” Kat said as she crushed a health crystal, healing her shoulder. “His little goons were destroying the changelings, so me and that world’s Displaced beat the merde out of them. Beerus showed up a moment later, I threatened him because he put all those little ones in danger. Next thing I know I’m vomiting up blood, I cut off his tail in revenge, then I’m flying more than a mile away and a mile into the ground.” Kat clenched her fist. “Salope.”

“Who does that bastard think he is!?” Typhon shouted. “I have half a mind to show that purple shaved cat god-wannabe bitch just who I am!”

*****

“Sister!” Luna threw open the doors to the throne room, disregarding anyone else. “The black rain has appeared again!”

Celestia felt her blood run cold as she stood up and flew overhead.

“Court’s dismissed - please stay inside your homes and do not leave anything important outside.” She said as she landed, following her sister towards the nearest south-facing window. The guards started escorting the supplicants out in an orderly fashion, guiding the servants to their quarters, and securing the gardens.

“There!” Luna pointed, watching a blackened cloud with disturbingly solid-looking tendrils grow larger and larger, blue lightning dancing within and without.

“Typhon is enraged.” Celestia whispered. “He claimed that he was incapable of producing killing intent… unless it was like that.”

“Sister, I shall investigate matters.” Luna said, making Celestia turn at her incredulously.

“No! you stay here-”

“Celestia, the ponies of Canterlot need your guidance; I am experienced with these kinds of energies.” Luna interrupted, grasping her sister’s shoulders. “I will investigate - there have been no letters from young Spike, so I believe it to be more isolated… please.”

“I- fine, I trust you, Luna.” Celestia relented with a heavy heart, but nuzzling her sister as a show of faith. “Please be safe.”

“I intend to.”

*****

Kat was utterly surprised by Typhon’s rage. Frantically, she pulled out a pocket watch from her pants and activated it, returning to her earth pony state.

“Typhon,” she said, getting close to him. She lifted up his forehoof and put it against her chest. “Do you feel that? It’s my heart, it’s still beating. I’m not dead, I’m right here. Just calm down, please. I’m perfectly alright.”

“I know; I am still in control of myself.” He replied, not letting the tension through the rest of his body show in his voice. His eyes had been shimmering slightly, and his coat darkened noticeably. “I am, however, actually angry. I do not like it when gods think they can thread upon people without consequence just because they are gods.”

The girls huddled close to one another, watching as the clouds bled ink-black rain.

“I... I’m going to calm down the rain, but I’ll need some way to sate my thirst for blood.” He huffed out as he took out a white katana out of its ivory-white scabbard.

Had the steel been able to cry for mercy, it would have done so.

“Oboro Muramasa likes cutting gods… and everything else, for that matter, but it shall not cut anything its master does not allow it to. Or else.” He growled out as he glared at the demon blade, sheathing it and allowing its bloodlust fade away into nothing as if it was never there.

In a sense, it wasn’t.

Then he made the sword vanish into a green card.

“Girls, I’m sorry if I scared you, but I just cannot stand this injustice.” He sighed. His coat remained dark, and the whites of his eyes yellowed. “If-”

He was interrupted as Pinkie wrapped him into a tight hug, prompting the girls to actually get close to him.

“At least yer honest with yer intentions.” Applejack added. “Yah got angry on behalf of ponies yah ain’t even met yet…”

"Ahem," Kat coughed. "Uh, Pinkie?" She was looking at the party mare with a raised eyebrow. Pinkie had been hugging Typhon much longer than Kat was comfortable with.

“Yes?” She spoke sweetly, oozing with innocence... it was hard for Typhon to tell if she was being honestly ignorant or doing it on purpose.

Kat coughed again, slightly more forcefully.

“Either she’s jealous, or wants a hug.” Typhon quipped, smirking for a change.

“She can join in!” Pinkie extended the taffy she called foreleg to hook Kat and press her against both Typhon and herself.

“She might not refer to this~.” Typhon sing-songed, his eyes returning to their natural state.

“Oh I know.” Pinkie replied. “But she gives off that ‘I need a hug’ aura. And really, I know humans might not work the same as ponies - you said they work more like Gryphons - but how can you two turn into a herd if she doesn’t find the room?”

"HERD?!" Kat screeched. "Unh uh! Not happening! No!" Kat grumbled to herself for a moment before looking at Pinkie. "Pinkie, while hug is nice, could you please stop. I don't like hugs."

“Aww…” Pinkie dislodged herself from the pair.

“You know, I also reacted like that.” Typhon said. “I was told pony-me would have to fend off suitors left and right… and then the dynamics were explained to me. And now I don’t care.”

“Wait, Kat, are you saying that if Typhon had managed to keep Wind Whistler alive, it would have been a deal-breaker?” Twilight asked, confused at the notion. “I mean, I don’t know if I could add somepony else, but if I… well, I don’t know how I would feel if I were invited, but I don’t think that merely another pony would have…”

Twilight grew redder and quieter as she spoke, until her own embarrassment made her keep silent.

“Twilight, a little more sensitivity, please.” Rarity chastised her friend.

“Please, Rarity; I already told you girls, ‘impossible’ and I do not mix.” Typhon sighed, his colors slowly brightening. “I might think strangely as a human, compared to you, but I might just be even stranger as a pony.”

"To answer you, Twilight, yes," Kat said with a nod. "If Typhon was in a herd with another mare, I wouldn't have been interested. If I'm gonna have a man, or woman, in my life, then I'm not gonna share. I was raised as a proper American girl and merde I'm gonna stick to it."

“I was raised traditionally, too, and yet I don’t think twice… bah, I’m still too mad to switch gears this quickly.” Typhon snorted steam, swishing his tail in irritation. “I don’t know what to think any more - I’m going to screw over the fabric of space time and see what I can do from there.”

"No you will not, mister!" Kat commanded. "You will not go anywhere near Beerus, am I understood?"

“Fine, I’ll let the bastard live.” He grumbled. “I’m just going to turn time and space on their heads to rectify my moment of weakness, alright?”

“Wait, what?” One of the girls asked - he couldn’t tell who, trying to rein in his thoughts as he was.

“I was presented two options: Keep going with my failure, or correct it but subject everyone else to the same loss I felt. I said ‘screw it’ and took a third one: Make it seem like it was the first choice, because it had events of significance, but having it be secretly corrected.”

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Kat asked, looking doubtful. "I mean, I know every universe works differently and all, but messing with time and space usually causes more problems than it fixes. I speak from experience that it is not fun."

“Kat, this is way too different from usual experiences.” Typhon said with confidence. “This isn’t Umbra’s multiverse - errors and wrinkles either self-correct, or self-stabilize. Time is much more…malleable; this isn’t TARDIS-based travel, so there are no fixed points, and… well, let’s say that I spoke with some Horrible, Terrible things, who relayed that choice to me - I can do nothing, or I can produce a new timeline where it appears to everyone else that I died. I say screw it, and make a stable loop; it’s part of the very source of my powers.”

He grumbled lowly. “Would have been easier to dress as a Time player, or keep Starswirl from killing himself with his spell-”

“Oh that insolent know-it-all bastard!” He yelled out, causing a few bolts of lightning to light up the skies. “Screw that guy! And me for coming up with it! Now I know I can succeed, and I’m pretty sure I already did so. Damn. Now I need to find out how in a way that doesn’t create an ontological paradox.”

Kat rubbed her head, thoroughly confused. "Where's the Doctor when you need him?" She moaned. "I hate time travel."

“Screw the Doctor - he can’t help with this one.” Typhon grumbled as he stomped around the small clearing Kat had blasted during her training. “I still don’t know how he managed to do it, but once I find out, I’m going to drop a hint, have him set-up everything, wait until I have him in front of me in the present, and punch his bells out!”

“Hey! You are not going to hurt Starswirl the Bearded!” Twilight stomped in front of him and poked him in the chest. “You are not!”

“Friends’ prerogative, Twilight.” He replied. “I will have made him make me think he’s dead! Which means that he did die in the original. The least he could do is let me tell him how stupid he was.”

"I am so confused," Kat moaned now holding her head with both hooves. "But don't insult the Doctor. He's my friend. If it hadn't been for him, I'd still be..." Kat shuddered. "I don't even want to think about it."

“Agh! Sorry. I know, I know, it’s just that… well, everyone thinks the Doctor will help them out of their Time Pretzels! He has limits too! He can do things few others can even imagine, but so there are others that can do things he can’t!” Typhon huffed and panted. “I don’t need the Doctor, I need a Time-Aspected player! I already exist outside time, I’m eternal; I need someone more like me to help me. I’m sorry I said something bad about him.”

Kat was silent for a moment. "...I just wanted him here to explain to me what was happening. He's good at dumbing things down for me."

“I’m sorry.” Typhon lowered his head and ears. “I- I just woke up from almost losing you, then I find out someone tried to kill you, and I still feel Whistler’s loss as if it was yesterday because I walk the Void so often, and- and I am bad at forethought; thinking ahead of my own actions takes a lot out of me, and I’ve been planning this ever since Starswirl wrote the spell that makes you learn it. I’m sorry.”

Kat nuzzled him affectionately. "I'm sorry I scared you. I really am. But that's why I left last night." She hung her head slightly. "You deserve someone you don't have to worry about not coming back. So I need to become stronger, then there'll be nothing that I can't handle. And I'll always come back."

“Not training like that you aren’t.” Typhon straightened suddenly. “Your energy is all messed up! Your body is hemorrhaging power because your mind can’t get a grip on it! You got it from one of those muscleheads, didn’t you? They treat Ki like drunken monkeys wield a hammer! Unlocking it through pure muscle and dumb destructive spirit, without regard to the spiritual significance!”

“Alright, dude, you need to pick a mood and stick to it.” Rainbow Dash commented.

“I’m the wind! And I’m old, and faceted my own mind in order to be able to study and employ opposing disciplines, and I walk the void! Going by the definition of ‘normal’, I’m insane.” He retorted. “Nopony else would see a fifteen-century-long stable time-loop as the perfectly-reasonable solution to keep their vows.”

He hugged Kat. “I’m sure everything can work out well.”

"You," Kat said poking his chest with a hoof, "are weird." She kissed his cheek. "Just be glad I like weird. Normal is too boring."

“Amen.” He chuckled. “Mind if we get out of this place? I’m pretty sure ponies saw my little display, and I’m going to find one or both princesses waiting for me…”

"It's just the princesses. No reason to fear them. But, I suppose I could portal us back to Canterlot."

“It’s not fear - it’s just awkward to argue with them, you know? They are so nice and motherly that it gets jarring when you are, yourself, jarring them out of that mode with your mere presence. Let’s just get back to Ponyville and see if Spike would take a letter - less awkward unless they are already there.”

Kat looked at her boyfriend weirdly for a moment before rolling her eyes. She used her hoof to open a portal to Golden Oaks Library. "Talking to the wrong girl, Ty. I broke my Celestia and Luna, remember? The awkwardness is kinda gone."

“Let me put it this way - I feel like I’m arguing with the school’s principal even though I already have my degree.” He supplied, stepping through the portal to find Princess Luna waiting for Twilight Sparkle.

“Typical.” Typhon sighed.

"Not to pry," Rarity started as the girls walked through as well, stopping when she saw Princess Luna. "Oh..."

"What did she mean 'broke' the princesses?!" Twilight screeched as she walked in.

Kat looked at Typhon. "I thought they knew," she shrugged.

“Kat’s power output is larger than mine.” Typhon admitted. “However, I do not have to actually exert myself in order to make things like that storm, because that was simply Rage and Void reacting to one of the few times I have produced a meaningful amount of killing intent. Which I did because I found out that Kat’s injuries were made by a god-wannabe that endangered innocents, and she would not stand for that.”

“Nicely summarized.” Luna frowned. “You need to be more careful.”

“Oh come on, like you don’t do the same, Miss ‘I am the night’!” He riposted, pointing a hoof at her. “Besides, what the Breeze does or does not do is no-one’s business but mine! You don’t tell the wind it has to control itself just because it blew away your monthly tax report.”

Luna felt a shiver course through her spine at the idea.

“Excuse me, you haven’t answered me yet!” Twilight shook the infuriating stallion from side to side.

“A series of misunderstandings and a dastardly plot resulted in them and her fighting, alright?!” Typhon said as he was being shaken, only for Twilight to stop so abruptly he was sent to the floor.

"I beat up Luna and destroyed Celestia's horn," Kat clarified.

“I don’t know how they and these scale, though.” Typhon made his addendum from his position laying on his side. “I mean, Celestia did glass that camp-slash-town during the Minotaur wars (after having it evacuated), and she didn’t seem particularly winded.”

Luna eyed Kat warily as Twilight simply fainted on the spot... followed by Rarity.

“And Kat has already beaten herself up over it.” Typhon commented as he stood back up. “Really, it made everything worse, as revenge schemes against the sisters are wont to do unless They are undeniably evil.”

“You really need to tell Us more about those alternate realities.” Luna closed her eyes and massaged her forehead under her horn. “Any other surprises? Is that god trying to get here? Does my sister crown Twilight Sparkle princess in a neighbouring reality? Do I get assassinated?”

Kat raised her hoof. "No, yes, and yes. In that order."

“Do I organize Twilight’s ‘Hurray-you-are-a-princess’ party?” Pinkie appeared in front of her, nose-to-nose.

“Usually.” Typhon nodded.

"No," Kat said, making the pink pony sad. "You called it an Alicorn party."

“Well, of course becoming an alicorn is reason to party, but why would I not call it ‘Hurray-you-’?”

“Because becoming an alicorn is cause for princedom in most other Equestrias.” Typhon interrupted what was surely going to be a really long-winded name for a party.

“Now that’s just silly.” Applejack chuckled. “We’ve got enough princes and princesses as it is - how would we deal with hundreds of ‘em?”

“Because they are also much rarer.” Typhon countered. “Although some tend to hide, or are actually extra-planar beings and Twilight got transfigured… usually without her actual consent.”

“And I just accept this?!” Twilight screeched - again - as she started pacing, causing Spike to grumble about grooves being worn into the floor.

“Most of the time, yes, because Celestia said so.” Typhon nodded, making her thump her head against the table several times in frustration. “It doesn’t help that it has an appallingly-low success rate, a worryingly-high failure rate, and the rest of the time it condemns you to a life of stress or mediocrity where you never achieve anything that you wouldn’t have done better in a different position. Sometimes, it even destroys your personal life, or gives you the tools necessary to destroy it yourself in a bout of stupidity and abuse of power due to impaired judgement.”

“What would constitute a ‘failure’.” Luna asked, mentally ordering the information to present it to her sister.

“In the absolute best-case scenario, Twilight actually manages to prevent the situation that would have Awakened her, causing Celestia to get… pushy, until Twilight demands being told what would have happened, then is told, politely declines, and shows Celestia that she over-estimated her ability to read ponies; tender moments are had, everypony continues their lives, and Celestia ponders on how unfair she had been by relying so heavily on her student, she starts training, and so does your counterpart. Things go rather well.”

“And in the worst-case?”

“Celestia, Twilight, Cadence, and yourself get assassinated with smuggled Zebra poisons that kill you in an agonizing way, making you waste the last of your energy in setting a stable orbit for the sun and the moon, although the moon’s was botched so that it would fall in some decades because your reduced size was particularly-susceptible to the poison; meanwhile the unicorn-supremacist-organization that poisoned you four tried to use a civil war to cover it all up and gain the favor of the people, only to botch that because the invasion of the zebras happened far too fast for them to be prepared, causing most of Equestria to be destroyed and not leaving enough unicorns to try to restore the orbits. Please note that Twilight really was a good choice, as she was precisely what the country needed to grow; the problem was that Celestia simply didn’t give the group much importance despite there having been assassination attempts on Luna’s protegé, a little earth-pony filly with a magic talent.”

Twilight said nothing, instead letting a low, dangerous growl.

“There was some time travel involved, and you, Twilight, personally interrupted one such attempt.”

(http://www.fimfiction.net/story/23609/never-judge-a-book-by-its-cover it’s in the sequel to the sequel)

“Ain’t that low? Going after a filly.” Applejack clenched her teeth.

“Yeah! That’s awful!” Rainbow added her own indignation, and even Fluttershy tried twisting a napkin in anger. Not that she managed to damage it or anything.

Kat rubbed her chin in thought. "Hmm, Zebraican poison, huh? Reminds me of that plan Celestia had for the Griffin King." She got disgusted looks back and she frowned. "Oh, back off. My Equestria was military minded. Stuff like that happened every other decade or so."

Twilight threw her hooves in the air. “That’s it! I’m done. I’m going to have to plan for all sorts of contingencies and prepare against anything that could remotely pose a threat!”

“Way ahead of you, sister.” Typhon laughed, waving a hoof. “What do you think I’ve been doing these centuries? Let me tell you, I didn’t just stop at medical-magic advancements.”

"That does beg the question, Ty," Kat began. "Where are we in the timeline? Or did you putain it up so much it's no longer recognizable? Has the wedding happened yet? Or Sombra? Has Discord been reformed yet?"

“Discord?!” Was the general response.

“Oops.”

“Well, now that’s out of the bag!” Typhon smiled. “I kicked certain somepony into asking the question sometimes soon, but that’s still far, and I’m taking Sombra on myself since he is different from the other timelines, not to mention a hundred times more deadly. If I have anything to say about it, the wedding is going off without the usual hitch, although I wouldn’t put it past the Timeline to make it something else go wrong. I need Sombra alive, as he’s actually the fusion of one of my best friends and his ‘I’m-full-of-issues-nopony-understands’ teenaged colt.”

"Satané," Kat commented.

“Why would we free Discord?!” Luna very nearly slipped into the Royal Canterlot Voice, as it was, she just shouted.

“Discord’s insane!”

“Nope!” Typhon pipped in, making the others turn to him as if he were the insane one (despite having admitted to being). “Discord is ‘insane’ only in the form of his complete lack of interest in the emotional well-being of his fellow sophonts, preferring his own brand of fun no matter who might take offense to it. He is capable of empathy, and he’s capable of understanding the points of view of others; he just doesn’t care.”

“Yet.” Spike pointed out with his index finger held high into the air.

“Precisely. If he were a true spirit… it would have been harder.. although the ponies themselves are like spirits… hmmm, that bears further study, as the Valkyrie and Angel class golems are pony-like.” Typhon started muttering to himself as he started going over the runes and diagrams in his head.

Kat chuckled at her thinker of a lover. "So...the changelings aren't going to be a problem? Merde, I was hoping to cross another off."

“To be fair, they haven’t been a problem save for one.” Typhon offered. “You know who.”

“There’s that word again.” Twilight said. “What are changelings?”

“Some of my friends.” Typhon smiled. “I’m best buds and boss of the Empress of Mexicolt.”

“You delight in confusing ponies, am I correct?” Luna observed, to which he nodded frantically.

“But of course! That way, they forget to ask the important questions! Like, ‘what are you doing in my vault’, ‘how did you know which warehouse the deal would be carried out in’ and one of my favorites: ‘how did you sneak that much food colorant on me’. That one’s a riot two-to-three hours later.”

"I usually get: 'please don't kill us'," Kat commented. "Though sometimes it's: 'please don't kill us with that rock'. Speaking of rocks, Pinkie! You're a former rock farmer, think you go find me a nice sized rock that I could engrave into? It's important."

“Oh alright.” Pinkie pouted. “I haven’t done that kind of work in a while, but I can get something.”

Pinkie trotted to Twilight’s broom closet and closed herself in.

“I have this.” Pinkie walked in from the kitchen balancing a rust-red stone on her head.

Rainbow wondered if that had been part of Rocky once.

Kat levitated the rock over to her, grabbing a chisel and a hammer from a portal. "Thank you, Pinkie. With this, I can finally call this place home."

“I’m not even going to ask.” Spike said as he waddled into the kitchen. “I’m going to get a mid-morning snack.”

“Oh no you don’t, mister!” Twilight trotted after him, even as her stomach growled from her skipping breakfast.

“I think nopony ate anything since dinner last night.” Fluttershy barely managed to say before her stomach let out such a tiny grumble it was almost inaudible; her cheeks turned pink regardless.

"You girls get something to eat," Kat said as she began to chisel into the rock. “I'm gonna be a while."

“I am almost afraid to ask.” Luna rubbed her temples in circles. “But apparently I have not learned anything. What are you doing?”

“You see,” Kat began, her eyes beginning to water as she worked. “Ever since I was eight, I carved a stone to keep near where I lived. I did so…” she sniffed, “So I’d remember.”

“Ah, sentimental reasons.” Luna relaxed and allowed herself a smile. “Rest assured, you can find a home in Equestria.”

“I’m sure they would have loved to see you… and your adopted family.” Typhon gently patted Kat’s shoulder. “My own mother couldn’t stop pinching Prospit’s cheeks, although it doesn’t help that she looked like she was five.”

Kat let a lone tear fall from her cheek. “It just hurts… especially having to add more names.”

“They gave you their time; remember that…it’s hard to be missed when you never left.” Typhon looked to the roof, beyond it, reminiscing. “I can do something about it, though. Say, it may not be the same, but we could hunt for memories.”

“Ah!” Luna gained a look of recognition. “Exploring memories during sleep is part of my duties; I help ponies come to terms with their past, and it can be used to remind them of the love they have experienced.”

But Kat didn’t hear them, staring down at her work. Several names were scribbled into the rock’s surface, each one opening a wound in her heart.

Mother 1960 AD - 2004 AD
Father 1958 AD - 2004 AD
Brother 2003 AD - 2004 AD
Flitter Bee 1453 EQ - 1545 EQ
Rita Masters 1991 AD - 2470 EQ
Dusty 1186 EQ - 2470 EQ
Fleur Shifter Age 10

Kat sniffled again as she tried to keep from sobbing outright as she stared at the last name on the rock. Tears cascaded down her cheeks and she forced herself to set the rock down, unintentionally allowing all to see it.

Luna spreaded a wing to cover the despondent mare. She knew she had faced plenty of difficulties, but to had forgotten the name of her parents?

Typhon figured Flitter Bee had been the pony that her version of Fluttershy descended from, while Dusty and Rita…he had seen himself. The last addition was a surprise but then again, plenty could happen in five years, and the loss - specially when the lost one was so young - was still cutting deep into her.

“Kat, let’s find it a good place back… home.” Typhon suggested, softly nudging her as to prevent her from stopping. Stopping was dangerous for those who lived so much longer than others, and more so for a girl that had gone through so much.

Kat brushed her hoof over the last name, getting ever so much closer to breaking. “She was so young. So much life to live. I was going to take her away from all that devastation. But… I failed her. I tried to save her, only for it to kill her in the end. Do you know what her last words were? ...with her last breaths… she… she…” And Kat broke. “She called me ‘mommy’!” Her tears and sobs echoed through the library, no pony quite sure how to help the grieving mare.

“There are times when situations conspire against our intentions.” Luna whispered as soothingly as she could. “If they are unstable to begin with, there are times when all of the care in the world is not enough to overcome them. That you feel like so, and that she said so even in the end, is a sign that you reached within each other deeply.”

“Even in failure we learn.” Typhon added. “Usually more than in victory... remember her; live for her. Show her you can be happy, that you were honest, that there really are better things; she would have wanted that for you as much as you did for her.”

Kat cried even more, lunging at Typhon and wrapping him a hug. “I lose everyone I ever care about,” she sobbed into his fur. “Please… please Typhon… please never leave me. I… I… I can’t take it anymore!”

“It’s hard for me, too.” He embraced her gently, running a hood through her mane, letting his wind act as a comb. “I’m not going to put you through that. I’m here, and I work hard to stay right here. I wouldn’t let anything take me away just like that, you know.”

“Wind Whistler was a friend to me as well.” Luna gently caressed her back with a wing, letting her feathers run over her coat. “Her loss was very difficult to overcome.”

“And you are here now.” Typhon whispered, sighing. “It wouldn’t have been as meaningful if it had been me…”

“Typhon?” Kat whispered through her sobs.

“Yes? Is there anything you need?” He turned to look at her, relieved to see she was turning to face him as well. She reached up and kissed him passionately on the lips. It last for several blissful seconds before she pulled away.

“Please… take me home. Our home.”

“Right away.” He touched his forehead to hers, and both ponies and stone disappeared into the light.

“I do not know how to even begin to explain this to my sister.” Luna groaned… she would wait for Twilight Sparkle, or perhaps go join her - she could use something to eat right now.

Zero Gravity

One Month Later

“Hmm, no that won’t do,” Kat muttered to herself as she scratched out her previous writing on the parchment in front of her. She sighed, leaning back against the tree she was sitting in. “Why does this have to be so difficult?”

“What is difficult?” Dash asked, landing on the same branch Kat was, looking down at the reversed mare. “You’ve been at it for a while, Kat.”

Kat looked down at Rainbow. “Oh, hey Dash. I’m working on a little surprise for Typhon, but I just can’t think of anything special to do.” She looked back at her parchment, chewing on the feather of her quill. “I thought that maybe the fresh air could help my thinking, but so far no luck.”

“I’ve talked to the guy - he’d probably say something about anything you do being special or somesuch.” Dash rolled her eyes, but smirked. “Rarity has special, ‘behind the scenes’ stock, you know? Or you could take him clubbing; Vinyl’s been working in secret doing something music-related, and her latest sets are awesome.”

Kat shuddered. “Nope! No clubs, never again. Not after what happened last time.”

“If it’s embarrassing, let me tell you that that duplicate of his has done some weird things without being drunk.” Dash’s widened her smirk. “I’ve seen some of the colts go crazy… but, if you are still not convinced, you could try a fancy dinner or somesuch.”

“Yeah, I thought of that, but it just doesn’t seem special enough. Typhon is the first boyfriend I’ve had since Earth. Which was almost thirteen hundred years ago. I want it to mean something.” Kat glanced down at Rainbow Dash. “And the club thing is not out embarrassment. It’s out of fear of nearly being killed. There are somethings out there that put the fear of dieu in ya.”

“I get it.” Dash shrugged her wings. “You know, I heard that he likes music, but he’s been too worried or sad, and Octavia is also working something secret… maybe they are in cahoots? I dunno, but you could try going to a fancy concert.”

“A concert?” Kat thought aloud, rubbing her chin. She let out a gasp with a smile. “A concert! That’s it! Thanks Rainbow, I know exactly what to do. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some music mares to visit.” Kat floated back to the ground and ran off.

*****
(Casa de Scarlet)

“Whew!” Vinyl slumped against the couch inelegantly, as opposed to her friend’s gingerly approach to resting.

“Made the thing grow a full inch!” Vinyl laughed, making her friend nod. “Not sure if I’m helping that much, but the cloud’s holding together.”

In the space above the table, there was a small sapling on a cloud. Cloud hydroponics weren’t new, but anything that would help them grow strong and/or quickly was a great help.

BonBon made the formula (with help from several references), Carrot helped with the sapling, and now they were trying to tie it all together simultaneously, instead of just stacking things one over the other as usual.

There was a loud knocking at their front door. “Uh, hello? Do Vinyl Scratch and Octavia Melody live here?” a voice shouted from outside.

Vinyl lowered her glasses onto her face, then opened the door from the couch.

“Come on in! Mi casa es tu casa.” She said, only to receive a bowtie to the head from a tired Octavia. “I mean, we’re here.”

“Oh thank you,” Kat said as she walked in. “Ooooh, so you’re Vinyl Scratch. I’ve noticed you before in other worlds, but I never bothered to know what your name was. Didn’t even know you were famous.”

“Hay yeah!” Vinyl whooped, pumping a hoof into the air. “I’m also crazy popular with humans, and my human counterpart from another universe helped save the world.”

Vinyl grinned widely, completely ignoring the balled-up napkin Octavia threw at her head.

“You want an autograph or something?” She asked, still grinning like a fool.

Kat shook her head. “Sorry, techno isn’t my thing. My name is Kat. I was wondering if you could help me out with something.”

“Don’t let the sheer awesome fool ya; my songlist is long.” Vinyl bobbed her head to some inaudible beat. “And sure! What’s on your mind?”

Kat was about to say something, but she just couldn’t ignore the elephant in the room anymore. “First… okay, seriously. Why is there tree growing out of that cloud? I’ve seen flowers, but a tree?! Kind of putain magic is that?!”

“Neat huh? Finest cloud hydroponics outside of Las Pegasus with the finest tree-magic from our resident mad-botanist, all wrapped together with our very own music to make everything simultaneous.” Vinyl leant back on the couch, crossing her legs like she had seen Lyra and Typhon do.

It was uncomfortable, especially on her… others, but dang did it look good.

“Never been touched by a unicorn spell, well, not directly, anyways. Proof-of-concept stuff right there.” She said, trying to hide her grimace - easy thanks to her glasses, but she tried to discreetly return to a more natural position. “What’s on your mind?”

Her hoof clipped the table, producing a loud banging noise like she had hit it with a rock.

“Oops… sorry about that, Tavi.” She gave her friend a nervous chuckle - that was her favorite table, and there would be hell to pay if she managed to damage it.

Kat’s eyebrow raised slightly at the sound her hoof made. “That sounded like a rock. I don’t mean to be rude or pry, but is that a false limb?”

“Nothing false about it!” She grinned as she held it into the air, turning her hoof. “Golem replacement - faster and easier than other stuff, and lets me win the inevitable bar brawls that come in my line of work. Plus, I can put stuff inside of it.”

Octavia hid her face behind a hoof, sighing at the antics of her flatmate.

“Installed by the original developer, if you can believe it.” Vinyl threw herself back, laying belly-up on the couch.

“Interesting, but back to why I am here. Well, I was hoping I could ask you to help me do something special for my boyfriend. He’s done a lot to help me lately so I wanted to do something really special for him.”

“Wait, isn’t that Typhon?” Vinyl propped herself up, making her glasses become skewed.

“That’s him!” Kat said with a smile.

“Count me in!” Vinyl cheerfully jumped off the couch; Octavia smiled tenderly. “I owe the guy a lot, too. What’s on your mind?”

“Well…” Kat blushed a little. “I wanted to sing to him. I’ve been told I’ve got a good singing voice, so I thought I’d sing him a song or two about what he means to me. I know it sounds a little stupid, but it’s better than nothing, right?”

“You kidding? See this lovely-shaped haunch?” Vinyl said, turning to show Kat precisely that. “There’s a music note on it. I don’t know how much importance you humans give or not give to music, but here? It’s a pretty big deal - ponies burst into song every couple of days! Of course we’ll help you!”

Octavia nodded demurely.

Kat nodded graciously. “Thank you. It means a lot. Now then, let’s get to work!”

*****
(Ponyville park)

Typhon cantered to a spot next to Rainbow Dash, who he was sure knew something, but wasn’t talking. He shrugged, internally, since being wingless didn’t lend him the flexibility to do so while walking.

He could correct that, but being a unicorn was less troublesome, and allowed him to be more physically-affective without having to consciously remind himself of so.

He was aware that his first trip through the Void had messed up his mind, and Kat didn’t deserve to deal with that.

Prospit was sunning on a roof, but attentive regardless.

Vinyl was placing the finishing touches on her “rig”, similar to the one she used during Rarity’s improvised fashion show. The crowd wasn’t huge or anything, so she didn’t need the… larger sets of equipment.

She was setting up a microphone with Octavia’s help.

Typhon looked at his invitation again. According to it, the pair were preparing a surprise performance... He looked around and saw the girls gathering with Rainbow Dash to his side.

“Boss.” Kenner whispered from behind. “I’m still up for our surprise for Kat... are we sure she won’t freak out?”

“We may not be sure, but who knows? Maybe she’ll be open-minded about it.” He replied. “Do make sure you have the clothing ready.”

“Right away, boss.” The white stallion nodded and slipped through the crowd like water through rocks.

“So many duplicates over the centuries, everything starts blurring together.” He muttered, frowning slightly. “If it weren’t for the Void and all those trips to my own mind, I’d be either crazier, or develop memory problems.”

He looked to the stage in time to see Octavia adjusting the mic to the right height - not that he needed his eyes, or even used them that often outside of using his devices, but it was respectful.

Octavia tapped the microphone to test it, causing everypony to turn at her. Maybe she was going to do an introductory speech? She could get long-winded when speaking…

She bowed to the audience and stepped aside, letting a very peculiar golden mare take the stage.

“Hello everypony,” Kat said into the microphone. “I’d like to dedicate this concert to a very special pony here tonight. He’s been by my side for some time now, the shoulder to which I could finally let my pain fall away. Typhon, this is for you.”

Typhon’s eyes widened, and his heart started beating faster, warmth filling him.

She put this up for him? Whoa…

Kat cleared her throat and, as Lyra and Octavia began playing the music, she began to sing a beautiful song. As she sang, Kat danced and bobbed her head to the tune, smiling as she let her heart out. Though, the whole time, her eyes focused right on the object of her love: Typhon, himself.

He closed his eyes in enjoyment, feeling the beats and the soundwaves and every little bit of emotion in them. It soothed him deep within, and that made the wind itself soothing in return; everypony could feel it, the surrounding air turning pleasant like a Spring breeze…

It was, indeed, the way he loved things and people.

As the song finished, Kat looked out, smiling as the crowd applauded her in her song, a few tears of joy from some. “Thank you! But we’re not done yet. How about something a little more danceable, eh? Vinyl, crank the tunes, my friend!”

The song, were it played to a human audience, might have been considered slightly raunchy, but for a society so accepting of their nature as that of Equestrians, it was merely very forward. Of course, ladies like Rarity or North Star still cringed at the ‘uncouth’ language, but could appreciate the sentiment.

There were some rather good-looking ponies around them, after all.

Ponies moved and bounced to the beat, the couples in particular bumping on each other.

Kat danced as she sang as well, giving Typhon a sultry wink as she ended the song.

“Alright, everypony! That sure was fun! But, before we start our final song, I have a few things to say.” Kat looked out to the crowd, right at Typhon, and spoke from the heart. “When I came to this world, I was expecting just another typical meet n’ greet with a fellow Displaced. Share some stories, maybe some laughs, maybe even learn a thing or two about the Multiverse at large. But what I didn’t expect to find… was love. And that’s exactly what I found. After over thirteen hundred years, I’ve found someone I can truly love. Someone who I know will be there for me, who will care for me, and I know will never hurt me. Typhon, my true love, thank you. Thank you for being with me. Could… could you please come on stage?” she asked, wiping away a happy tear.

Typhon smirked and dissolved into the wind, causing it to dance around the mare for a moment before he reformed at her side.

“I have you to thank, as well.” He said. “I have found many friends along these years, both from this world and not, but I couldn’t find another one to share myself like this with. I could feel their companionship, and their love… but it was not the same. There’s something deeper, a pull, that just makes it so easy to be with you, and around you.”

He leaned on her slightly, letting his body brush against hers. Closing his eyes and just drinking in her presence, he continued.

“I will always be there. I want you to know that you can always find me in the wind, and in words. Whenever you feel the breeze brushing against you, and enjoy it, making you feel alive, that’s me, loving you and loving being around you.”

Kat stared at Typhon, too stunned from his words. Then, she grabbed his neck and pulled him to a deep, passionate kiss right on stage. The audience enjoyed it almost as much as the two lovers did. She broke from him after a while, panting slightly.

“Typhon, I love you. Oh god, how I love you. So, will you do this poor old girl a favor?” She floated another microphone over to him. “Sing with me, big boy.”

“But of course.” He took the microphone, then did something a little unexpected.

He touched his horn to her forehead, leaving a trail of static-like energy run through her body from head to tail. He could feel her, making aligning himself to her intentions nearly instinctual. He breathed like she breathed, he moved in her direction.

Vinyl didn’t let her grin fade as she put the needle to the record. She applied the lights through a well-practiced spell, and kept ready to apply the proper effects. As the two began singing they floated off of the stage, flying above the crowd and performing an amazing aerial acrobatic display, staring into each other’s eyes the whole time as they danced.

The turning of a dial and their voices echoed, or a repeated word became another instrument in the melody.

As the song progressed they held and released hooves freely, floating with a dream-like freedom that few had ever experienced even among the pegasi in the crowd.

As the song came to its end, they slowly touched down on the stage, sharing another kiss as the crowd applauded the performances, both of voice and air.

Kat smiled at Typhon. “Did you like your surprise? I just felt I needed to do something special because of all you’ve done for me.”

“Like it? I loved it.” He nudged her with his nose. “Anything you do is special, and never let anyone else tell you otherwise... and my own surprise might seem a little less heartfelt after all this.”

Kat giggled while blushing. “A surprise for me? You really are better than my exes. None of them ever did anything special for me.”

“Well, while I don’t think much of the passing of time, I’m aware of the… nuances of its use as a frame of reference.” He said, coughing into a hoof. “I like to show little things each day, making sure you know I’m thinking of you... but there are times with more significance than others. It’s been a month on this end.”

Kat blinked. “Oh, so that’s why it felt weird. I’ve been gone for a year.” She leaned closer whispering in his ear. “A whole year without our little… ‘fun’, too.”

“Have I got something for you then.” He chuckled conspiratorially. “If it were up to me, you wouldn’t have to go a day without knowing how much I…appreciate your company.”

“You had my curiosity, but now you have my attention,” Kat gave him a sultry smile. She turned out to the audience. “Thanks for coming out everypony. I’m glad I was able to entertain you! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got plans with my hunk.” She nuzzled Typhon lovingly.

“I hope you remember what I can do with ink.” He teasingly hinted as he took her in a side hug and floated down from the stage. “And remember the only ponies that call me ‘boss’.”

The gears in Kat’s head began to turn as she thought over what he was planning, her face flushing deep red when she figured it out. She started to stutter a little, before grabbing his hoof. “Lezgo!”

“Somepony is eager!” He laughed all the way home, getting weirded-out glances from whoever they managed to pass.

Opening the door to their little home greeted them with a peculiar sight. Kenner and Questant, wearing something that looked right out of Rarity’s ‘behind-the-scenes’ special catalog.

Kat’s face reddened even more as her breath caught. She kissed Typhon hard on the cheek. “Let’s have some fun.”

Author's Note

The second song was taken down because the account was deleted, but I've put another link.

Family's Bonds

“I can’t believe Sweetie Belle used my gems without permission.” Rarity grumbled as she pulled a small cart with her magic. “And right on top of this important deadline!”

“I, for one, feel the need to point out how sweet it was for your reaction to be ‘I have to get more’, instead of taking them off her picture.” Prosperity commented, walking on all fours as she wasn’t wearing her dress right then.

“Hmm? She is just a filly - it might not seem like much, but things like that are very important to them.” Rarity flipped her hair about. “I simply... didn’t think it was an option. I can get more, after all.”

“I’m still not sure what do you need the box for.”

“That is a surprise, darling.” Rarity smiled and straightened her posture. “I do not know if this is the result of our altered timeline, our divergence, or simply an idea that crossed my mind, but this is part of an arrangement.”

“If you say so.” Prosperity quirked an eyebrow at that - well, her brow, at least.

They arrived to the middle of a barren field, although there was a faint scent in the air.

“Shampoo?” Prosperity asked, sniffing the air.

“Neutral-pH, hypoallergenic, no-fragrance shampoo, darling.” Rarity clarified as she opened the mystery box, revealing a black dress and a makeup kit.

“Did you do what I’m suspecting you did?” She asked as Rarity slipped on the dress - a high-collar dress with several diamond lozenges in the pattern of her cutie mark all over it.

“If your suspicions include becoming ‘Empress of the Underdark’, then yes.” Rarity’s expression was neutral as she applied black markings to her face in very specific shapes. “I find gems for them, they dig them up, and I keep a portion.”

“Then why take over?”

“It was not like I intended to do so, but there are many things that pony society uses that make the dogs’ lives much easier.” Rarity stowed her makeup kit back in the box. “Things ascended when a different tribe thought I was taking over - they became offended, you see - and worried that I would do the same to them. A civilized meeting was necessary, but we managed to come to an agreement.”

“You literally kicked their tails with some secret martial arts move from a ‘forgotten’ civilization?” Prosperity teasingly flicked one of the diamonds on the collar of the dress.

“Well, someponies are brutish and impulsive.” Rarity turned with a huff. “But then another tribe heard of my… accomplishments, then another. I became a de-facto leader when I made my deal with the Diamond Dogs of this place, then it turns out I had… persuaded the leaders of other tribes to see things my way.”

“Did you use your secret weapon?” Prosperity allowed her voice to break as she raised it as high as it could go - surprisingly high, thanks to Breathing training with her dad.

“... I might have been in the need once or twice.” Rarity admitted as a mound of dirt rose from the ground and burst into a hole, revealing a little bulldog - who was tugging at his collar in worry.

“Ye-” He stopped to clear his throat. “Miss Rarity, we were not expecting you.”

“I won’t be long, Spot; I need a refill, and my friend here has agreed to help in our little lighting project.”

“Is she here for gems, too?” Spot asked with a tone of uncertainty.

“Nah, I’ve got all the gems I could want.” She waved away his concern. “I may even have a deal to make with you.”

*****
(The day of the Sisterhooves Social)

“... And then I arranged for some alchemized bacon and assorted meats to be traded for metal ores.” Prosperity said, hugging her now-much-smaller father figure and his girlfriend.

“Neat, if we can get a little more silver, we could get Luna to make a familiar of her own. Moonsilver would be ideal, of course, but I think she’d feel better if it wasn’t imported metal - she is a princess of Equestria.” Typhon nodded, brushing against the wing holding him in place.

“You know, Typhon?” Kat said, not exactly sure why she was sitting in a dragon’s lap. “The more I hang out around you, the more it reminds me of being around the Doctor. Only less humorous… and a lot more sex.”

“Well, there is an inherent risk of confusion when dealing with Void-walkers.” Prospit mentioned.

“And a little spice helps all relationships.” Typhon added. “If you catch my drift.”

“Dad, I really don’t need you to remind me of your non-existent gender-identity.” Prosperity jabbed him on the crown of the head with a claw. “Bad enough that you’ve been getting dresses from Rarity…”

“What? I’m Pan- as a pony, and there is no risk to my health or risk of getting stuck like that.” He shrugged. “I like to demonstrate my love through sensations just the same as any pony, and the repertoire is wider than as a human.”

“I take what I can get as long as it’s the same species,” Kat said with a shrug. She gave Typhon a loving nuzzle. “Typhon just has a lot of options for me to try.”

“You know, while Twilight is brokenly-overpowered, I’ve got more than enough control to try… Gryphon.” He said, receiving a bonk to the head from his daughter.

Kat gave him a deadpan stare. “Don’t push it. I barely tolerate being a pony, why on Earth would I want to be a griffon?”

“I’m aware of that; wasn’t talking about you...” He let his words hang in the air. “My body is a condensation of dream magic turning me into a living legend - or something - and I can manipulate that. It’s why I find mental stuff so… easy nowadays.”

“...no,” Kat said simply. “Same species, or you’re going without. Now let’s just watch the event, I heard Applejack is competing.”

“Alright.” He shrugged, turning to the starting line. “For a moment, I thought about letting that other pair of sisters know, but I heard Cicy is busy taking knitting lessons. Something about string-theory, knotted realities, or botched sweaters.”

The competitors were gathering, but, instead of Applebloom, Sweetie Belle was wearing the green neckerchief that matched Applejack’s.

“That’s odd. I thought Sweetie was Rarity’s sister. Why is she with Applejack?”

“They’ve been having a sisterly spat.” Prospit said, scratching Kat’s ears.

“It’s alright, though.” Typhon chuckled. “It’s like scissors - they work best when they are so tight, they scrape against one another without actually crashing.”

“Careful with that analogy,” Kat muttered with a slight blush, swatting Prospit’s claw away. “I’m guessing you know what’s gonna happen, eh? Are you from one of those worlds that had the show?”

“Yup, and I’ve walked all sorts of worlds, too; I’ve built lots of things to help in case we find something really awful, like an evil Conversion Bureau.” Typhon said, making Prosperity shiver. “Oops, wait a second.”

As Granny Smith was about to signal the beginning of the race, her megaphone was moved by a stray breeze, making her smack herself in the forehead instead of jabbing herself in the eye.

“Did you do that?” Kat asked Typhon with a slight glare.

“Alternative is getting a mouthpiece to the eye.” He replied. “And need I remind you she spits as she yells? I’m trying to be discreet.”

Kat nodded sourly. “Alright. You’re off the hook. But watch it, if it wasn’t for that granny, Applejack never would have stuck by me.”

“But of course - she makes the best pie I’ve ever eaten, and she did help found Ponyville about three hundred years ago.” He added. “Bad enough she has a bad hip.”

"She did what?!" Kat asked, fully surprised. "H-how?! Ponies don't live that long!"

“Maybe yours don’t.” He replied as Applejack fell into the mud. “In here, magic sticks to stable things, sound-mind sound-body kind of deal, in reverse. DNA damage due to age is much slower in more magical ponies, and Granny Smith? Well, her grandson can pull a two-story house without slowing down.”

His senses picked the distinctive signatures of the contestants, making him grin.

“Not to mention it can be reversed, even if it’s only by powerful and experienced casters.” Prosperity added. “And become good enough and you basically stop aging for a time. Starswirl the Bearded was already old when he drew the attention of the unicorn courts.”

“If Twilight wasn’t born near-immortal, she became so when she got her cutie mark, or when she picked the Element of Magic - and she knows. She might be a little crazy, but she’s an harmonious pony, after all.”

Kat blinked. "Magic, huh? May need to look into that more."

“Get in contact with Flitter, she’s in charge of medical research - how do you think a changeling would live a thousand and five hundred years? And there goes Sweetie just pronking over the obstacles - Pinkie must have taught her.”

She stifled a laugh. "Heh, pronk. Ah, fun with words. Wait, should she even be able to do that? I thought that was just a Pinkie thing?"

“She is a filly, and pronking is an actual word for a prancy, jumpy sort of walk.” Prosperity commented. “It doesn’t matter if you’re black and white, or descended from a pony made from Taffy.”

"Como se what?!" Kat asked, confusion etched in her face.

“Discord is of the opinion that there is nothing more chaotic than life.” Typhon supplied as the pair they were watching climbed the stacked crates. “And he’s also a nutball. Story goes, that when he heard a pony couple worried about being safe enough to go through a pregnancy during his reign, he took some hairs of the stallion, a bit of saliva from the mare, tickled her for her laugh, and took a portrait of him for his eyes… then stuck his claw in a portal and took out some candy. The wrapper was of Wonka’s Laffy Taffy. I can twist like that, but it leaves me sore after a minute.”

Kat blinked before rubbing her head. "Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey, spacey wacey. That's what I'm chalking that up to."

“Not really - I mean, when we are a separate timeline we have free access to the other ones. He can - and has - gotten things from other universes.” Typhon shrugged, and then pointed. “They are getting to the pie section, then the haybale-pushing race.”

"Ooh, a pie eating contest? Mmm, yum. Reminds me of Family Day on base."

“Those are Granny’s, too, so you know they are magical enough to drop a buffalo at thirty paces.” Typhon said as the green team tossed the pies high into the air, then gulped them down with ease.

"How the... What the... Why the... How did they do that?! Sweetie's not even that much bigger than the pie!" Kat rubbed her aching head. "The more I see, the weirder these places get!"

“Ponies are elastic.” Typhon waved his hoof up and down. “How do you think this one is possible? It’s a cartoon, girl, don’t sweat the small stuff. Unless it’s about to eat you, then you can worry all you want.”

"Not where I come from, they're not! The only one like that is Pinkie. It's already weird enough having pockets like this, don't need to be elastic too."

“I doubt most would ever be like that without serious training, but there’s got to be enough give just to even carry the foals... and I’m sure you just missed them, because this scene happens in all Season 2-compliant universes.”

“Dad, you did the ‘speaking symbols’ thing again.” Prosperity pointed out, making him gasp and cover his mouth.

“Damn it, having a computer program shape your body screws up everything.”

"Season two?" Kat reached back into her pocket, hoof disappearing behind her cutie mark, and pulled out a scroll. She levitated a pair of glasses from her jacket and put them on. "Let's see... Season 2, starts with Discord, Twilight's freak out, Luna and Nightmare Night..." She continued reading through, catching a glance at Typhon and Prospit staring at her. "What?"

"I'm used to being the only one that does stuff like that." He replied. "Be warned, though; the relation is not perfect, and things aren't in the same order, nor are all of the plot points valid - Season four is mostly impossible, since we do not have a physical Tree of Harmony, and thee Big Bad is actually one of the caretakers of this Multiverse."

"Word of advice." Prosperity commented in an unusually-serious voice. "Ea, and by extension, Enuma Elish, are gimmicks even inside their home multiverse; in this one, using them is an instant loss - breaking space-time to the time of the formation of the world will only get the Caretakers to kill you instantly at best, destroy your gimmick of a weapon, and forcefully close the rift you create."

Kat looked at Prospit and tilted her head. "I didn't understand a lick of that."

"Just talking about a weapon people treat like it is the greatest, most broken thing ever - buck, the natives aren't the sharpest tools in the shed! And lots of those things don't work under the rules of other universes. Space-time manipulation isn't that rare in other worlds." Typhon groaned. "Hell, you can block it with the sub-space pockets ponies use to enlarge their homes on the inside!"

Kat looked at the two of them, still confused. “I really don’t understand you two at all. Ugh,” she groaned, slumping and hanging her head. “This is what I get for finishing my education at a medieval-style college back home. That degree of mine is probably worth less than a GED.”

"To be fair, most of this was pieced together by ourselves, or investigated from a parallel universe - and dang, Sweetie is strong." Typhon pointed at where the green team had finished the haybale-pushing in first place.

“Impressive,” Kat nodded. “Though, why is Applejack still covered in mud? Doesn’t seem like a good idea for a race.”

"Meh, she gets her beauty products from Rarity; a good shake and the mud just slides off." Prosperity buffed her scales with a rag. "She's got some scale polish imported for me, too."

Typhon merely chuckled and gave a knowing smirk.

"Also, she said she had a dress for me... to, well, to compliment my scales." She finished softly, looking at her palms with a look that was hard to place.

“Oh?” Kat glanced at the dragoness. “Getting all pretty for a special somedragon are we?”

"Hmph." Prosperity huffed, turning away. "What I do or do not do with Seiryu is none of your business..."

She looked at her claws again, and sighed.

"It's just - well, being this color made things so hard... but I wouldn't have met mom and dad if it weren't for that. I don't know how to feel."

“Color?” Kat looked to Typhon for clarification. “What does color have to with anything?”

She pursed her lips and looked away.

"Well, she's leucistic - but that makes her look like a white, which were very... prone to become feral; something Tiamat's white head did." Typhon commented in her stead. "Feral dragons are usually put down, and her parents would rather leave her to her luck than see her descend into madness while so young - she had a temper before living in the wild took it out of her."

"And Typhon was the only one in the world who knew what leucism even was." Prospit whispered. "Still, that saved me from other dragons taking matters into her own claws, you know?"

Kat nodded. “I can understand why you care about him.” She looked at Typhon for a moment. “It seems he is always saving someone from something, even if it’s from themselves.”

"It's my personal Myth Arc." He replied. "Heirs are leaders, or potential leaders at the least, and have their own particular style of doing things - we like doing things our way, although we usually have to grow into our role or outgrow certain... mistaken notions about our perceptions. Going against that nature, or refusing to acknowledge mistaken perceptions... has consequences - it doesn't matter if it's conscious, or if others force us; things can end badly. In my case, I hate seeing people like that, so Fate steers me to where I am the most needed - and I allow it. That's why my powers are so quick to react - I am accepting of my nature, putting me in tune with them like only successful players can."

"Heirs value their freedom, and Breath players have a lot of that." Prospit added. "He lucked out with that one."

“Oh, so now I’m a consequence am I?”

"What the what now?" Typhon asked. "I was thinking more about that... moment of mine in front of the old castle, or what happened to Luna - she's pretty much an Heir, being railroaded into insanity. I would never say that you are something bad for me - you are, even if you were to reject me, a friend, and I'd still help you."

She nuzzled him lovingly. “I’m only teasing, andouille. And don’t worry about me rejecting you. Rita always said I would end up falling for my therapist one of these days… though that time my therapist was her dad... Rita was weird.”

"The Nightingale effect? It probably doesn't help that I can summon nightingale spirits that use healing magic." Typhon chuckled. "And you are helping me just as much, you know. And- oh! They were so close!"

Kat tsked a little. “Close, but no cigar. Surprising it was Berry Punch who won. Must be one of those few times she’s not drunk… or that’s not how she is in this world and I’m sounding rude.”

"Getting a pony drunk is quite a feat, but she is responsible with her drinking." Prospit gave Kat a brief noogie, pulling her claw away before she could swat it. "Did you know Piña Colada is two years younger than her niece, Ruby?"

“Who and who?” Kat said, confused. “I don’t know that many ponies in this town. And… wait a second, why is Applejack’s fur white?”

"Because she's Rarity. Didn't you notice her eyes were blue?" Typhon said as Rarity merely shook off the mud. "Those are some beauty products."

"Piña is Berry's sister, and Ruby is Berry's daughter." Prosperity said as Applejack climbed out of the mud pool and likewise slid off the mud. "I'm gonna collect the magic with my dress, dad, you just keep doing whatever it is that you feel like."

As Prosperity walked off, leaving Kat and Typhon on their own. “She’s an interesting character, Ty,” Kat commented. “She really takes after you.”

“She had nothing. Nowhere to go or return to - all she had was us, and I was the only meat-eater… well, the only one that had her kind of disposition, since changelings like stuff like fruit-bat and the like, but infuse emotive magic on the dishes.” Typhon sighed tiredly. “They were not apex predators, though - humans are, and so, she learned from me. My mom loves her to bits, too, but we stay in Tellus for much too long at a time.”

Kat nodded, then something caught her ear. “Wait… your mom? Typhon say what now?”

“I can find my way anywhere, and anywhen, but it has to be my way.” He replied. “I have the nature of Mu, or 無. Void-dwellers and their related phenomena are harmless to me - well, mostly thanks to the Truth I glimpsed when the veils of reality thinned, but Mu-training helped. I’m also protected from those that could actually hurt me by means of those that have a…positive disposition towards me. I could take her with me because she actually fit in my arms, and I could use just one to carry her.”

He shrugged.

“Explaining why I looked ten years younger and was built like an athlete was much harder than explaining that I travelled through the packing peanuts of Reality. Then mom wanted to meet my new family.”

“Don’t suppose I’d get to meet her one day, too?” Kat asked with a twinge of embarrassment.

“Once you have better control over your Void-travel, sure. I bet you’ll love the chilaquiles she makes, even though I use Chi-enhanced cooking… must be because I love my mom.” He nodded. ”I’d like to succeed in my plan first, though - one less thing to explain…or three more, since I have to tell her that they died, only they didn’t, because I made them make me think they did so the timeline wouldn’t be screwed over.”

Kat smiled at that, then seemed to remember something. “Hey, uh, Typhon. There’s something we need to talk about. But not here, I think it would be better in private at home.”

“Sure - I’m gonna need help crystallizing Rarity’s magic into magicite, although managing auracite would be ideal…anyways. We really should get going, huh?”

Kat nodded. “Yeah, it’s, uh, really important.”

"I can see it's bothering you." He spoke cautiously. "We'll take the express."

His horn began to glow blue, and then, lines started to travel across his body.

There was a faint pop, more of a 'fwop', and then they were inside the living room of the house. Typhon unlocked the door to the basement with a pulse of magic; the door connected to the underground base he had been constructing, but turned to Kat first.

"Are you fine speaking here, or do you want to use one of the more secure rooms?" He asked. The walls hummed slightly with the runes and wards, and the paper charms let out the faint fragrance of the aromatic solutions they had been soaked in, but there were safer rooms still.

“We’re fine right here,” Kat waved off the concern. “I just don’t want anypony… misunderstanding what we were going to talk about.”

"I hear you." He nodded. "Bad enough when Luna caught Windswept talking to me about how annoying it was that most medicines don't work on her..."

“Why would that be bad for Luna to overhear?” Kat asked, momentarily caught by her curiosity.

"Because Questant is just like me, but as a mare, so she has a certain seasonal problem; the normal medicines do not work on her ink body, so she needs to have her mind isolated from the resonance that causes her to have said problem." Typhon then clenched his teeth. "That is effectively the same as having the source in a pony... removed, or rendered inert for a time. It wouldn't need to be as extreme if I didn't have such a strong hormonal response as a girl, or if I didn't need Genbu to stay with me at all times. The upside is that my powers make me independent enough that the difference is minimal, save for the long periods of staring off into space."

He produced a red collar from his inventory, and gave it to Kat. He allowed his disguise to drop further, making his wings show... now, if only he hadn't had to get a hole in his chest to get the whole package...

"If you see her, put this on her. The waves of solar energy are the weakest in winter, but my hormones are so messed up it makes little difference... I go through the potion like it's water already..." He sighed. "Luna was upset over that, but she can understand."

Kat game him a deadpan with a raised eyebrow. She looked between the collar in her hoof and Typhon. "You seriously just did that. Please tell me you realize what you just did."

"I asked the most independent female pony I know to use a special binding magical artifact to prevent my copy from doing things twenty-four/seven with just about anything in her path." He deadpanned as well. "I have PMS as a woman, and I have hormonal counts fitting a pony twice my weight as a mare - why else do you- no, I can't think about it right now, because my dream-self is now my real body, and remember - it's a representation of my self-image. Why would I see my girl-self as anything other than a good mother? Now tell me you realize what that implies, for ponies."

Kat lifted up the collar. "You handed your girlfriend a collar, a collar, to put on another girl. Let me put this in better perspective. I grew up with a girl who felt compelled to try every satané kink in the book. Where do you think my mind is gonna go when you do something like this?"

"The exact same place my mind goes; I'm a pony now, with a mind as ever-changing and adaptable as the air. The collar is, in a sense, for me, remember?" He poked it with his hoof. "However, this is going to prevent her from doing it out of her own initiative - she (and therefore, I) wants foals, and the hormones are going to make it worse; besides, it might have been a year for you, but remember that day you met this world's Celestia? It won't be much different from that, anyways."

She sighed, shaking her head. "This isn't the conversation I wanted to have right now."

"Well, it's not something I wanted to do, either, but it's better than getting memory-uploads every few hours of having to bite a lamppost or mailbox to stop 'myself' from trying for something that can't even happen to a simulated body. Maybe it wouldn't be that hard if we didn't need to contain ourselves, but she would still become effectively useless as an independent agent." Typhon planted his rump on the floor. "I can't give her Genbu's clock, because I might need its other, much more useful properties."

"Fine, if I see her, I'll give her the collar."

"Thank you." Typhon breathed out in relief. "It's better this way, trust me... so, about that thing you wanted to talk about?"

"Oh, right." Kat took a deep breath. "Typhon... how would you feel about being a... well, being a father again?"

Typhon's eyes widened, as his face turned into a huge grin. "I- Well, of course! I- I'm so- wait..."

He took a deep breath, trying to get his excitement under control.

"I thought you weren't- well, there is also the dangers you go through... but we can always get a surrogate... hell, I can be- you know, I'm constantly amazed about how much the Void screwed up my mind, and how much my training messed up with my identity." He forcibly shook his head clear of the tangents. "I'd love to."

Kat smiled. "That's great! Because...well, um, it's kind of... already... happened..."

"I- you- you adopted?" He asked, smiling more softly. "Huh, well, that's still great. There is something about raising them from being little..."

He smiled forlornly at the window.

"I'd know if you were... well, I can tell if someone's got kidney stones, so..." He chuckled, then coughed into his hoof. "Where is the little bundle of joy?"

Kat motioned for him to follow and stopped at a blank wall. She lifted her hoof and opened up a portal, walking through. Typhon followed, finding himself in a nursery. Kat walked over to the crib and pointed at the lone egg that was wrapped tightly in a blanket.

"Ah, that explains a few things." He whispered, touching the smooth egg with great care. "Is there a story behind this?"

Kat looked down at the egg, a touch of sadness in her eyes. "It's a changeling egg. A queen egg to be precise. The last of her hive."

"I gathered the changeling part, but the last?" He sighed. "I don't know how much I can help with her - I can feel the differences already... but I'm still going to try."

He ran a hoof over the egg's surface, a blue aura around it.

"I'm feeling it - she's going to be great, I can tell."

"That's what I hope for," Kat said, rubbing her moist eyes. "She's mine. I tried giving her to another hive to look over, but it can't be done. When her mother gave her to me save, she was imprinted on me. As far as Kuna is concerned, I've always been her mother."

"That explains some other things." He nodded softly. "I don't see why not? As long as she has you, she's not going to run out of love; even if she were a bit more... tiresome with her feeding habits, I could just do this:"

He inhaled deeply, reaching far and wide.

"I ask for a tiny bit of energy - just a little, enough to sate this little filly." His horn was glowing. "Nature's energy, which I use as a human to use magic, can feed a changeling so long as there is love. Although the ones that feed directly on magic are easier still to feed."

"See, this is why I need you for this," Kat said as she nuzzled him. "With what I need to do, I can't raise her on my own. But..." Kat have Typhon a sad face. "There's something you should know."

"You are never on your own, Kat, remember that." He returned her affection, still feeding it into the egg as well. "What is it?"

She sighed and decided to tell him her secret. "A long time ago, back when I was still young, I was injured during the Second Griffin War. It was a deep wound and the doctors were forced to operate."

"You cannot bear a child of your own." He said, nodding. "As you were."

Kat's ears folded. "I should have known you'd notice. I was just hoping you hadn't. I know some guys can be turned off by it, so... I was afraid you would be too."

"Kat, unless I was babbling more than I thought I was, I remember having just said that I could bear it - if you can stomach the thought of being a guy for a... while." Typhon reddened very slightly. "Also, when you came back from... Beerus..." He resisted growling, but the tightening of his jaw was noticeable.

He inhaled, and then exhaled very, very slowly.

"You were pureed, Kat; I had to call the white queen just to make sure we could heal you fast enough... even then, she decided it would be easier to just alchemically-deconstruct your organs and re-construct them from the left-overs and protein supplements. I have also have had my hands cloned more than once..." He slumped back, trying not to press against the crib. "The body contains all of its instructions, you know... although I'm not going to have you do anything you don't want to, of course."

She shook her head. "I've tried, Typhon, I have. My whole body was recreated, but they still weren't restored. It's what happens when you let a field medic with next to no experience magically operate a hysterectomy on a species he's never seen before. And with medical knowledge that was just barely above medieval."

"Well, we cloned your stomach from pulp, and yet I don't see you vomiting more blood... unless the re-creation wasn't so much of a recreation and it screwed up your DNA... I'm- We are not simply wizards, Kat, we're thaumaturges. My golems I am so proud of? I didn't just magic a statue animate - I designed them from their smallest possible part. Unless your recreation erased your past from your body, I'm not giving up; even if it did, I'm going to scourge the Void for a memory of an earlier time--".

Kat put a hoof to his lips, a sad smile on hers. "Thank you, Typhon, really. But some things are just meant to be. I've accepted this fact of my body a long time ago and I'm able to live with it. But it means the world to me that you would go that far. So thank you, but this is the way I am. I only ask that you are able to accept that and still love me the same way."

"Well, of course." He replied without hesitation. "It was just that it sounded more like you had given up more than having accepted it... but that is alright, then. I'm just prone to thinking - if a traditional method doesn't work, I just go and find something that does give me the result; it's who I am... nothing has ever stopped me yet, you know." He tapped his chin in contemplation. "Kind of like Discord, but empathic - and I already told you what he has done."

He blinked, then shook his head.

"Sorry - pony mind. Once I started thinking of foals, I kind of become unable to stop." He chuckled. "It's worse when I'm a mare during a season; probably would have one already."

Kat giggled a little. "Ya know, we don't have to be ponies. I know how to stay in human form now."

"Ah- well, I tried, you know? I do get.. huggy... as a human, and I still think you're lovely, but the physical side of things is just... I feel like I don't- I've kissed, but something feels lacking, you understand? I'm a better fighter, but I feel like I'm too cold as a lover." He rubbed a foreleg in shame. "I get passionate about my research, about fights, about helping my friends, more aggressive, too... but I just want to sit besides you and see the sunset... and that's it."

"I make fully-functioning bodies for spirits, and yet I feel like my own is not all that connected."

"Typhon," Kat cooed, rubbing his cheek with her hoof. "What kind of girlfriend would I be if I couldn't accept all of you? I'd like to get to know who the man who captured my heart really is."

"That... that is a complex answer." In a flash, he was back to standing on two legs, wiggling his fingers. "The answer is that 'I' am more like multiple instances of myself more than a single individual. Like how a cut gem has facets, so does the existence called 'Typhon' have more than one facet; we share characteristics, but - think of it as a dichroic crystal, or some variety of tourmaline. It's the same gem, but the change in color can sometimes make it seem like it's another one entirely."

He sat on the floor of the nursery.

"Like back in the forest. That is also me. The mare who just wants a foal, that is also me... the stallion that is even now thinking of asking Flitter to produce an egg, even if it would mean having to 'carry' it himself, that is also me. I am all, just carefully filtered over through one path, in order to produce a single me, or a single expression of my power. I'm a Primordial being now."

"Uh huh," Kat muttered. "Well, while that is a good and dandy, Typhon, you are forgetting something rather important."

"I am also the guy that is willing to give everyone a chance, and feels at peace having you around." He smirked. "And the guy who raised a dragon, ponies galore, a few changelings, and is now going to add one more - from another dimension, to boot."

"There's that, too. But not what I was talking about." Kat slowly advanced on him, using her pocket watch to turn back into human as well. A mischievous little smile made its way on to her face as she pressed Typhon up against the wall. "Can you guess what you're forgetting?"

"I most certainly am not forgetting 'your boyfriend'." He chuckled, resting a hand on her hip. "The beds back home are larger, you know?"

She smirked even more. "Cute. But you're close. You, mister, are forgetting that I'm the possessive type. So I'm not going to be satisfied until each, and, every, one, of those facets are thinking of me." She poked his chest lightly to accentuate each word. "Got a problem with that?" Kat teased.

"Problem? Well, do remember that a few of those are thinking of getting revenge in your behalf... frankly it was sweet, but you really should be careful with what you ask." He surrounded her with an arm. "Things can get weird."

He sighed, but just held her closer.

"I look human. Cut me, and test it, and it comes back human. But this?" He gently took her head in his hands, pressing their foreheads together. "I am human, and I am a god; I am a player in a game, and I am also the avatar in it; I am flesh and blood, and also a dream; I am Yin, and I am Yang; I am writing my own story, and I am already a legend... make no mistake - I want to give you everything you want... but there is only so much I can give, because I love like the winds of Spring love you. I wish you luck, as much as it is mine to wish - I love you, and I want you to have that love I'm giving you, but do remember I have other things inside me, like anger, and duty."

Kat have him a quick kiss. "Challenge accepted. You know something else? You're cute when you get long winded and preachy."

"Well, after all, I would hate it to be thought of as an 'airhead'." He laughed as he held her up by the hip. "I'm the patriarch of one of the most influential families in the country, and friends with queens, and by Jove, I'm willing to show it!"

"You're also dating a force of nature, windhead."

"Back at you... you know, there are obvious cracks about your weight, but I like my spine where it is."

"Joke like that and your spine isn't what you need to be worried about."

"See? Feisty." He chuckled. "You know, I can see those lovely muscles flexing and filling with Ki from miles away - not that I would have it any other way."

"Smooth," Kat commented.

"It's your fault for eating that guy." He placed her back down. "He's as unhealthy as a deep-fried and battered Double-Coronary burger; he didn't grasp the concept of 'brain food'."

"You have been doing Breathing exercises, right?" He said, before frowning and rubbing his forehead. "Sorry, sorry... I've been switching too fast lately. I just started worrying you'd come across another Saiyan... on another note, that is what happens when you get all of me thinking about the same subject at once. Sorry if I ruined the mood - I have a harder time as a human."

"I was about to ruin it anyway," she replied, before putting something in his hand.

"Huh?" He - out of habit - brought it to his sight. "A key? Where to?"

"To here," she said, motioning around the nursery. "It's enchanted to where all you need to do is put it in any lock, and you'll find your way here,"

"Clever." He said, thumbing his dragon pendant. "It's not that different from the teleport I used to get home, actually. I'm going to keep the egg safe, and watched, too."

"Good, because I still have at least six more worlds to visit, so I'm counting on you to keep my child safe."

"My pony selves just danced a jig with that phrase." He informed her. "I'm also sure Wind Whistler would have kissed you for that. Don't worry, I have more than enough love to sustain her - and I don't even know her yet."

"Alright, but watch yourself. She's my daughter so don't go trying anything. Until there's a ring on my finger, she's mine and mine alone."

"Quick question; is this room outside of normal Tellurian space, or is it just a room hidden somewhere?"

“Personal pocket dimension,” Kat clarified.

"Would you mind if I get the familiars and golems to watch over this place? Normally, they stay in the representation of my mind and soul, but, well, this is kinda valuable." He gave the egg a gentle stroke... it was much better with hands, for sure.

Kat seemed hesitant. “I don’t know… kinda have this thing against nannies…” She thought on it a little more, stroking her chin as she did. “Well, I suppose having a constant watch would be beneficial… alright. I guess one or two golems in here would be nice. In case Kuna starts to hatch and all.”

"I have a watcher in mind - I think you might get a kick out of this, too." He grinned as he made a large scroll appear on his hand. Unfurling it partially, they were met with a complex circle, full of geometric figures and some drawings of a pony and rainbows.

"Now, for the symbol of the contract/bind." He muttered, and his palm started bleeding slightly. "'Wind is a wimpy element' my tail- wait, I no longer have one... bah."

He pressed his hand to the middle of the circle, and channeled just enough energy from the Four to open a way.

In a puff of smoke, there was a unicorn made of interlocking plates of metal - albeit flexible, to the point of looking more like plastic of a very convincing metal color. Her mane and tail was like a curtain of intense colors that shifted freely like waves, and currently draped over her form.

"Hi 'dad'." She giggled - her voice sounded synthetic, but made of pleasant sounds and bits of musical instruments.

"Irida, it's creepy when you pause like that." He frowned as he cleaned his hand with some tissues - it always pays to be prepared. "Take off your eye-covers, this is important."

The golem shrugged, then the aqua-green covers that gave her face a slight changeling look receded, letting her eyes show. As Typhon was partial to colorful things, he had made her irises out of crystals from the Crystal Empire, enchanted to shift colors just like her mane and tail - only without looking like plasma, since that would totally ruin her night vision, or even her regular vision.

"This is the last egg of a hive, currently under the care of Kat here present." He gestured to her like the announcer of a talk show - a habit he had picked up because ponies weren't very good at picking-up human facial expressions. "I want you to take care of this place like it's back in my mind, alright?"

"Sure, 'dad'." She saluted, the hoof making her head ring melodiously.

"I really have to stop adding things just because I can." Typhon rubbed his eyes tiredly. "This is Irida, she can run from Canterlot to the heart of the Empire and back in less than a day, never tires unless things are going wrong, and is more like a pony-shaped missile that likes to sing than a golem - that likes to sing."

"'Dad' made me because he couldn't stop thinking of the game." She said. "A pleasure to meet you."

"Starswirl played day in and day out trying to beat all my records." He muttered angrily.

“Uh huh,” Kat nodded slowly. “I’m not too sure of this plan anymore.”

"Believe me, she'd rather explode than let something harm that egg."

"It's true! I like kids." She offered.

"And she's insanely strong, and flash-steps faster than I can with magic." He petted her head, making Irida snicker. "She's very cost-efficient, too."

"I don't need much."

"You better not - that Sunblood core of yours is a first-class combat model now; I scrapped your old one to make it."

"It's not my fault you are so paranoid you planned for an invasion of... everything, really."

"It's not paranoia if they really are after you." He nodded sagely.

“Yes it is,” Kat snarked with a smile. “It’s called practical paranoia. Still paranoia though.”

"Semantics." He waved it away, but Irida-

"Don't you thrive on semantics, 'dad'?"

"I much prefer the term 'reasonable cautiousness', since nearly everything has happened that I made one of you for - save for a big war, but Equestria can actually handle that one, despite the human-like training regime for the guards."

“Ooh,” Kat muttered with awe. “You know, next time a bad guy shows up, I want in. I’d like to see how the monsters of this world can fight.”

"The monsters are... aggressive, but it's the Nightmare Corps what should have you worried." Irida warned. "They are, obviously, amalgamations of fears and nightmares, but, unlike boogeymanes, they need something to give them a defined identity, and almost-never turn away from causing fear and negative feelings."

"They want me for my capacity to be a dream, yet remain physical on my own merit." Typhon scowled. "They have little-to-no forethought, as Nightmare Moon exemplified, so their plan will never work... but, until we recover the Crystal Empire, they will throw the dream-projections of would-be conquerors, destroyers, and even gladiators at me."

"Say, Kat, do you know what a 'moogle' is?" Irida asked. "Or a 'Black Mage' that isn't a synonym for 'evil mage'?"

“Of course,” she nodded. “Well… only through Kingdom Hearts, but same concept, right?”

"Same one, yes." Typhon nodded. "We are about to receive a visit from a moogle called Nware, one of the Five Color Kings; he's the Black Magic wizard, with a magic stat through the roof, insane reflexes, and the ability to use his own attack magic to heal himself through his equipment."

"He can also turn you into a frog. By singing." Irida added. "I suggest wearing Gilgamesh's gauntlets."

"That's true. Although I also have a Ribbon - not the KH one, though; original flavor."

“Um… yeah, I don’t know that stuff. I wasn’t much of a gamer and Final Fantasy was just boring to me,” Kat admitted. “Please don’t tell Gilgy I said that. Disappointed him enough already.”

"Well, it's like this: He's short enough to ride the ponies without trouble, but packs enough fire magic to turn sand to glass, lightning enough to hurt a pegasus that hasn't trained extensively in its use, and his ice magic... well, ice magic is more like freezing your internal life-force and making damage through that, but I wouldn't doubt for a second he can use it 'normally' to make steel brittle like glass."

"And trying to punch him is going to be a nightmare and a half, because he will explode himself to heal any damage you inflict. And he's a boss-type, with a special accessory, so he's immune to instant-death effects."

“Ooh, sounds like a fun challenge. Always wanted to fight a wizard. Not many existed as enemies in my Equestria. And there was a surprising lack of them traveling with the Doctor. Well, there were one or two, but let’s not go into them.” Kat looked down and muttered to herself. “Tordus.”

"Then you are in for a treat, sister!" Irida cheerfully proclaimed. "Once that one is done, we'll get an even stronger White King, with the ability to power his spells with life-force, access to powerful Sage spells, and... well, he's going to be less dangerous overall due to his spellcaster-squishiness, but then we get to fight all five of them at once!"

"I plan on inviting them to the Desert of Glass Sand, where I can just go nuts and hit them with everything without having to worry about either side reducing Canterlot to rubble."

“Well then, I want in.” Kat looked down at the egg, brushed it lovingly with her hand. “Come on, windhead. Let’s let the baby rest.”

Irida saluted - much slower this time - and saw the human pair leave.

"Being a geek has never been so rewarding." Typhon said as he slumped in mid-air back in his own living room. "You get to know a lot of different contexts and, with the right friends, apply them in new ways. I've seen what happens when you put one outside-context thing in Equestria - it wasn't pretty."

Kat floated right up next to him, smiling lovingly. “Just tone it down a bit for my sake. Not every reference you make I get, so at least make it simple.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure no references get you.” He nodded sagely. Kat gave Typhon a deadpan before flicking his forehead.

“Andouille.”

Heavy Pondering

Rainbow Dash was currently harassin-questioning Windborne Kenner about the kind of fighting he did.

For his part, the imitation pegasus was replenishing energy after a loooong night of making sure the magic sample obtained from Rarity didn’t increase its energy density by accident.

Magically-charged glass shrapnel is a safety hazard, after all.

“So, what do you use, Gale King? Storm Hoof? Was it pieced together from the most awesome moves you could find?” She spoke and spoke and spoke as she flittered overhead.

Kenner slowly munched on a sandwich, waiting for his other guest. The day was slow - besides the energetic pegasus on the air - and eating at the café was relaxing. Nothing better than a cup of (decaffeinated) coffee with a cup of cream and six spoonfuls of sugar to get some warmth and peace…

Being able to block sound helped.

“Hey! Hello, Rainbow, Kenner.” Twilight Sparkle - right on time - greeted the pair as she held a notebook and pencil in her magic. “You said something about having a ‘delicate arcane control’ exercise for me to try out?”

“Of course, and Rainbow here is going where we are, so she can tag along if she wants.” He said as he left some bits on the table for the waiter’s tip.

“Where are we going?” Twilight asked, as her own memories of training her magic were all of Canterlot.

“That waterfall near Windsome Falls.” He replied. “The one with actual water; I’ll cart you, so you won’t have to worry about taking a whole day.”

“Really? It’s such-” Twilight was interrupted as a pair of white hooves were wrapped around her barrel.

“Not so much cart as ‘carry’, but you get the idea.” With that, he blasted off in the direction of the forest, with Twilight screaming the whole way… and Rainbow laughing during the same.

A few minutes later, Twilight had her hooves back on solid ground, and was glaring at him.

“What? I may be weaker than the original, but I should remind you that the original can levitate… no, wait, you don’t have those in Tellus.” Kenner stopped his own ranting to think of something, poking his head, trying to get something to come out.

To Rainbow’s amusement, it produced a sound not unlike striking a watermelon.

“Back before this boost, we could have gone everywhere by means of a levitated ship, if we were not trying to be inconspicuous.” He finally said. “And all on him-slash-me, without those little crystal-floater rooms.”

Really, the Crystal Empire had floating crystals on a welcoming gate, and couldn’t think of a better use for them other than aesthetics? Sadly, the airships were going to have to wait until the issue of the patents was solved…

’How do you make a decision on royalties when three-quarters of the developing team is trapped inside a space-time rift too unstable to fix from the outside?’ He frowned, hoping that Celestia had a better idea of what to do.

“So, what are we gonna do here?” Dash said, bringing him out of his mental wandering. “What’s first; smash a boulder? Instant Knock-out kick? Shoot lightning?! No, that’s not it, isn’t it? It’s all going to be different from the usual, so I’m guessing making solid basic stuff and build up from there - agility training weaving through the trees? Do you have a sandbag? No, wait, you are all philosophy and stuff… meditation under the waterfall?”

“Those are excellent ideas for training a pegasus of a lower lever, Dash.” He nodded, turning to Twilight. “While you are going under the waterfall; you, Dash, are more magical and of a higher… level… than other martial artists.”

He closed his eyes and caressed his chin.

“We start with the basics, yes, but for you the bar is set a little bit higher.” He then pointed at the water.

“Now, punch that river in half.”

“What?!” Both mares screeched.

“Come on, it’s not like I asked her to reverse the flow of the waterfall!” He defended himself, crossing his forelegs. “Prospit would try to strangle me for making that reference…”

“And what does a waterfall have to do with magic, anyways?” Dash tried to stall, knowing how much Typhon (and his duplicates) liked to talk.

“Many parts of magic use are extensions of yourself - you internalize it, or put it to use as just part of your own nature expressed into and through the world - which then reacts to it.” He began.

“They’re cute when they get all teachy, no?”

Both mares jumped, startled, and whirled about to face Kat, who just smirked at them.

“Spooking ponies is fun.” Kenner nodded.

“How long have you been there?!” Rainbow pointed a hoof accusingly, trying to make it seem like she was indignant at being spied on rather than ‘spooked’.

“Long before you three showed up. Winsome falls is a great napping spot. Speaking of which, I’d like to get back to it. If you need me,”she said as she began floating up towards one of the few clouds in the area, “I’ll be on my cloud.”

“Hey, that’s my thing!” Dash shouted up at her.

“No, it isn’t.” Kenner interrupted. “Your ‘thing’ is, for now, finding a way to punch a river in half.”

“Just keep it somewhat quiet,” Kat called from her cloud. “Your boss kept me up late last night… and if any of you make a remark on that, I’ll show you why I keep a pocket dimension full of anvils!”

“To re-enact the ‘anvil chorus’ on demand?” Kenner smirked. “Only with heads instead of hammers, I’d bet.”

"Exactly. Tom and Jerry were great teachers of hilarity and pain." With that little comment, Kat curled up on her cloud.

“What does Rarity’s rock have to do with anything?” Twilight asked, getting sidetracked.

“Not that Tom.” Kenner snickered.

He cleared his throat.

“Spells, though, are different.” He never lost track of his conversations, so it was easy to continue. “You have to use your will, knowledge, perhaps some trickery, and brute force. Dinky has an aptitude for a very peculiar variant of ‘Come-To-Life’ spells, but it is merely extending her own nature and mind into the world, not an actualized spell.”

He stood still for a moment, then some blades of grass were blown into the air.

“That, was more like a spell. I tune into my affinity for the air, then use my spatial awareness, training, and energy to coax it into… well, let us say that some of the applications of that skill are actually against my nature.” He chuckled darkly. “Some.”

“Natural and instinctive magic depend on how you see yourself, how you perceive your place in the environment, or simply allowing it to act through you - the work is divided between you and the world. Most spells require you to have the sheer chutzpah to impose a piece of your mind onto the world, or, on the other side of the coin, bring a piece of the world into yourself.”

He walked to Twilight, seeing her straight in the eyes.

“I’m sorry if this seems too forceful.” He whispered.

“Huh?”

“You have reached beyond that which you found safe and familiar.” He declared, as if in possession of authority or judgement. “Have you not?”

“Yes.” She replied before her mind had the time to ponder the question.

“The incident with Trixie made you better understand your standing both in the eyes of others, and your own. Did it not?”

“Yes.” She blinked as once more the words jumped out of her voice before she could command them.

“You have faced your fears, and overcame them, be it thanks to your friends, or in their behalf. You stared Nightmare Moon and Discord, and confronted them, bested them, despite knowing of the difference between them and you. Did you not?”

“Yes.” She was better prepared, standing to face whatever trial she had to face.

“You understood the way you were connected to the world; you knew of your place in existence. You did not need friends.” At this, Twilight almost flinched, but between the daze of whatever spell Kenner wove, and her own determination, she stood her ground. “You then learned a new connection - a new place was offered to you. You sacrificed your old stance, that old connection; you valued it, you invested your time and emotion into it. You left a gap in your soul, and filled it with something new; you gathered your desires and determination where that old part of the world once stood, reaching through the hole left in your heart, using your willpower to push- to pass through the loss, no longer leaving it hollow. You altered your old mentality, and changed how you perceived reality itself. Now, feel it; sense yourself as you do your magic and touch the world through it.”

Twilight wobbled on her hooves, almost falling down, if not for Dash having supported her.

“IT is no longer just a feeling in your heart.” Kenner spoke solemnly, but without the imposing tone. ”You can’t do much, yet, but now you should feel a little more like when you used the Elements both times, right?”

“Uh… huh…” She mumbled, eyes not focusing on much of anything.

“What the hell was that?!” Dash whispered harshly.

“She’s the Bearer for the Element of Magic!” He replied, in the same harsh whisper. “She’s different from other ponies in nearly everything, but she’s… I don’t- Look, remember Clover the Clever? Clover was basically ‘Twilight-lite’, and purged the whole continent of Windigoes! And nearly died - something that the plays and carols don’t really mention, by the way - and Twilight could very well have something similar happen to her if she doesn’t leave the knife-edge and leaps into the vast mysteries that make up Magic at the wrong time!”

“What did you do to her?” Dash pressed a hoof against his chest, although she couldn’t actually push him.

“I… kind of stole her Breath away to get her to respond from the heart.” He confessed, using a hoof of his own to get Dash to stop poking him.

“I am so going to get you for that.” Dash scowled at him, pressing her head against his.

“Good, maybe you can get to use your Element without actually wearing it, again.” He nodded, making Dash stumble for a second.

“Whu-huh?”

“The Element of Loyalty always has a chance; if you are smart, dedicated, or simply surround yourself with ponies like that, you will always find a way.” He replied. “What did you feel when you saved Rarity from falling?”

“Oh…” Dash stepped back as Twilight pulled herself up.

“You are the Bearers, Dash, and that alone puts you a level above; everyone has an Element, whenever they know it or not, but only you can direct it like you do.” He said. “After all, ‘Magic’ can’t be the rarest if there are always just one of each.”

“Discord… ugh…” Twilight groaned, remembering her first encounter with the mad…being…all too well.

“The jewels are just that, a convenient body. You hold their spirits, and you should start thinking a little more about what that means.”

“More often than not it means she gets blasted by them and turned into an alicorn,” Kat snipped from her cloud.

“There are more complicated circumstances than those.” Kenner shot back. “She made a spell.”

“So, wait, I write a spell, then I get an Awakening powered by the Elements?” Twilight asked incredulously, feeling like she was about to fall down again.

“Yeah…it is sometimes... a little bit of a…suboptimal course of action.” Kenner grimaced as he spoke. “Particularly in the worlds where alicornhood means automatical immortality, and being a Bearer doesn’t, or getting the special powers of the little locked box of plot-significance doesn't make you immortal, either.”

“How… ‘suboptimal’?” Twilight asked with clear trepidation.

“I... I’ve seen you in a coffin far, far too many times, Twilight.” Kenner sighed and slumped, making him look and sound older by decades. “In many, many cases... you actually forget, if not outright ignore the very lesson that granted you your Awakening, and things go downhill from there. I have seen versions of you that were more worthy of the power, titles, and station after Discord’s defeat than the week after your… crowning achievement.”

The way he spoke those last words tickled something in the minds of the ponies, but decided to inquire other things.

“What could I do… what could I become that made my counterparts so unworthy?” Twilight whispered, dreading the answer, but fearing the ignorance much more.

“You become little else than the dumping grounds for tiresome paperwork, and given stressful situations to resolve with little-to-no-forewarning of the proper procedures. Heck, it can be interpreted that your counterparts aren’t actually trusted to make decisions on their own! You were tricked into Awakening, transformed against your will - as I already said -, gotten so many titles and responsibilities to go along the non-consensual rewriting of your destiny that your meager social and personal life often gets wrecked... mostly by your own hoof from wielding powers you might have deserved but were unprepared to wield, and your opinion is ignored.”

Kenner turned up towards Kat.

“If you see the so-called ‘Friendship Castle’, that is actually a result of a really stupid plan that was pushed into Twilight, without giving her the option to come up with one better, and that endangered not only her friends, but the whole world.” He spoke in anger, making Dash and Twilight fear he would darken the sky again.

“The Celestia of this world would never approve of such a thing, and, please, try to get that world’s Twilight to start thinking for herself, and act more as the equal she is supposed to have become.” He pleaded, perhaps a little desperately. “Not that she should ignore what the others say, but rather, have her use her own mind…Most Twilights have prodigious minds to go along their great hearts, and it’s a waste that they shut them down to be bucking Yes-mares.”

“I’ll let one know when I come across them,” Kat assured him. “Still, alicorn Twilights can be fun. Especially that one I saw. She tried taking off and it sounded like that weird car from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” She burst into giggles at the memory.

“I’m not saying they aren’t good, but that not all of them should become princesses, or that, even those that are perfect material might not grow into the role…or even be accepted.”

“You mean…Twilight gets killed.” Dash said, swallowing a lump. “And just because she woulda made something change that some... some morons wanted so badly that they would-”

Dash’s heated ranting was stopped by Twilight grabbing her into the tightest hug her quivering legs would allow her to give, making Dash simply shed hot tears of impotent rage.

“Aw see what ya did?” Kat griped. “Ya made the children cry. That’s it, you are so not going near Kuna when she hatches, mister.”

“Kuna has her destiny as a clean slate.” He frowned at Kat. “Twilight and the girls, however, are more vulnerable to external influences, and they need to know in case they find themselves face-to-face with an alternate. I was not joking when I compared Twilight to Clover - this filly gave a funeral and an eulogy to a dead bird, and yet stared down Discord and wanted to go after Nightmare Moon solo; Twilight Sparkle is one of the greatest ponies I have had the pleasure to meet, and I am going to do my absolute best to keep this one from becoming exhibited in a crystal coffin!”

He was huffing and grumbling...

“Bah, now I need a smoke, but they don’t do jack to ink bodies.” He muttered.

“You know smoking is bad, whether you feel the ill effects or not. It’s not healthy~!” Kat sing-songed.

“With my loadout of healing abilities, it’s not that different from your chocolate ice-cream.” He riposted with a smug grin.

“Don’t you dare bring my ice cream into this!” It didn’t help her case that she was holding an ice cream bucket near her… or the spoon that was in her mouth.

“But I can use the smoke to banish demons and spirits! All ice-cream ever did to me was go to my thighs…” He gripped much in the same way Rarity did, which helped the girls’ mood improve some.

An anvil appeared next to Kat’s cloud. “That better not be a fat joke,” she threatened.

"Don't you push your insecurities on me, missy! You refused to tell me if that skirt made my butt look big!" He paused to clear his throat. "Sure... your opinion of it lead to something nice, but you still dodged the question!"

Of course, his teasing led to tsundere rule number three: there will be pain. And there was as the anvil materialized above his head and subsequently landed on it.

"Crétin!" Kat called through her deep red face. She huffed and curled back up on her cloud.

"You know, this is just as fun as when I'm on this side." He commented. "Of course, I do prefer to be the girl, since I look cute in glasses."

"So... you're not hurt." Twilight stated, seeing how he was supporting the weight of an anvil with his neck.

"Nah, although the Joke gauge is currently in her favor." He gently pushed Twilight towards the river. "Get under the water, and, hopefully using some of the restraint techniques you already know, gently allow your energy to trickle into the water - picture it as letting ink flow into the water, and follow it, taking note of the shapes it takes, and try to note the smallest, sharpest of strings possible as they dissipate. Hold them as long as you can, make them as large as you wish, maybe even create patterns yourself."

Twilight allowed the water to splash on her, not unlike a cold shower - although that freshwater smell was relaxing.

She tentatively touched the water - that is, ‘touched’ with magic. She had enough to turn the river black, if she so desired, but that would be defeating the point. The princess had always emphasised restraint when trying new spells - her font was enormous, far larger than any other pony the princess had met, excluding a smattering of alicorns, and Twilight having her own Awakening was never out of the question.

She was always careful - controlled. A small flow could turn into a geyser in but a moment, just as had happened during her entrance exam. She had power such that no spell was truly beyond her, but lacked the focus and control that the grand masters of the Academies had; that put her at a disadvantage, as she had to learn to control that wild firehose first, tame it into the shape intended, instead of having the shape of her will ‘grip’ reality, then working on her strength until it became able to ‘soften’ the world’s state-of-being into the desired spell.

She ‘touched’ the water…and the water parted ways as if she had been trying to hold it. That was not the way, then. She then tried something a little different.

When a pony touched something with their magic, they essentially touched it with a part of their beings - the font. That day she had consciously levitated her first object, a simple page in a book, had made a little miracle happen inside of her.

Her mind had touched the page, focused on it - its texture, its weight. She felt its essence in the world. The ink absorbed into it. She could feel the tree it once was, and the trees it once called ‘neighbors’. The essence of the forest, and that of the birds flying through and resting in. The water upon the leaves and the water drank through the roots - it tasted divine. The ground upon the roots was soft/comforting/stable, the stone beneath the soil was tough/enduring/nigh-eternal.

Then her mind... put it to the side. Celestia had explained that the conscious mind had a hard time trying to ascend beyond the physical realm, that the unbridled exposure to Magic was mind-boggling even when it was described to another - how much more overwhelming would it be to the one experiencing it? It touched them and left its mark eternal, however, and that was something that nothing would ever take away, for the beauty and the depth of the experience was something that the soul would fight to keep.

And when it comes to the mind and soul, size is meaningless.

Few were the ones that truly touched the Astral Realm, or the vortex that is Magic, with their conscious minds. She could try; she had felt the sheer... uniqueness of the spoon she used to eat, and could recall the faint smell of heat, likely from the very fires that had allowed the unassuming tool to be shaped into its final- no, current form.

The way Typhon spoke of the wind, she suspected his mind was one of those.

So, now she had to allow her magic to seep into the water like dripping ink to feel the flows and better understand them in herself. Magic which, according to Celestia, was part of the very essence of herself. It was as much exercise as it was meditation as it was self-discovery.

Clever.

So, she had to put her nature/essence/spirit/self into the water, but without getting herself lost into the history of the water, the rocks it touched, the soil it ran through, or the sky it fell from.

What was the spirit/nature of water, in the context of this exercise?

What was water? What did it represent? Well, she saw the ripples produced by the fall itself and the wind. Sensitivity? Grace, fluidity. Typhon had already said some of those things: Adaptability - pour it into a cup, it becomes the cup. Depth? Size hidden from view. Ice was water made solid. It changes, but doesn’t change. It takes different forms, but the essence remained the same. In a steam engine, it conveys the power. In the blood, it carries the substances that fuel the body - she was not about to go on a tangent of medical knowledge. Water rarely was the power itself, instead being its conduit - that which made it reach its target…or that which washed it away, to dilute it like sugar.
Well, when she had used the Elements, she knew she had touched the hearts of the others as they had hers, and everypony else whose hearts they had touched, and so on and so on.

She just allowed her magic to touch the water, but the way she had her friends' hearts.

'Hmm. The water looks very nice.'

Outside, Rainbow Dash and Kenner stared at the river, seeing how the water sparkled and shone in a variety of colors.

About half a mile long.

"Dang, Twilight is better at concentration than I though." Kenner said with an impressed whistle. "She's holding it very well, although she could have tried starting smaller - that's kind of the whole point."

"No kidding." Dash deadpanned. "Say, how does that compare to you?"

"No contest, I'm nowhere near close to that. She's doing this on accident - I took a whole lot of inner peace and Genbu's help to get ten meters of visible change, and I still don't have that much raw power; by myself, anyways."

"And how fast are you, then?" She asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Very much so, but the way you train had you pretty much catch up really fast. And you can go faster, anyways - speed like that isn't my style." Really, Dash wasn't still nearing the three-quarters mark in her ladder and she was faster, although he had other advantages to go with his level.

Not to mention, y'know, actual training in combat.

Still Rainbow circled her intended target, like an eagle.

'No, wait; I'm pre-tty sure those are vultures... I need Fluttershy in here.' Dash frowned.

She could do it, for sure. Kenner had admitted he was, at the moment, at his old hundred-percent; he had done things like that much, much earlier than that point.

She wasn't just some... some lazy jock! She could figure it out!

Alright. Pegasus magic, her body, and water. He said she had the ability to work it out.

For starters, clouds were made of water - clouds for building and living had other stuff, and her own mother made a fortune with cloud hydroponics, but she had to start from the basics.

Cloud = Water and a whole lotta air.

She busted clouds, sliced them right in half with just a brush of her pinions. It was easy! Just reach beyond herself, making the field of magic she used to fly sharper than any knife in her kitchen, and let nature take care of the rest.

She ascended, then, at the apex, just allowed herself to feel that brief moment of weightlessness.

The sky. Herself, wings spread wide. A total lack of gravity.

Freedom.

Surrendering to the moment.

And then it's gone. She felt gravity tug at her, and she slowly turned to face the river.

A sharp movement from her wings, and she rocketed towards the earth like a missile. Feeling the air rub and snake around her body, keeping it from messing up her path with rapid-fire adjustments from her wings and the energy in her body; some subtle, others more forceful.

Typhon said it all the time: Presence, absence, and everything in between. It gave her wings lift; it gave her the sharpness she needed. Typhon made it dance and cut and bludgeon with his mind, so putting her body to it should do something really great.

Twilight was doing something really, really sparkly with her brain! Rainbow herself made tornadoes and even her namesake without having to push herself!

So now she would.

She couldn't Rainboom, not with Twilight right under the waterfall and all that forest, but she could push other things than just her body!

Feeling the speed, she flapped her wings, again, again, and then turned parallel to the river, going with its flow without touching it.

She could feel it radiating from the water - Twilight's touch. Very well, she would add her own.

She twisted, letting her own momentum carry her forward, as she extended a wing and pushed with her will.

Being the most magical pegasus in Ponyville - and a whole lot of other places - she left an invisible trail almost as long as her own colorful contrail.

Briefly leaving a gap that divided the river in halves.

"Alright; I knew they could do things like that, saw a few myself, and it still surprises me a little." Kenner mumbled to himself. "Hopefully it'll help them should they come across some of their less-pleasant alternates."

From up above, a Kat’s typical portal appeared and vanished, the mare floating down the ground. Before any of them could say a word, she ran past as fast as she could, tears running from her eyes.

“She’s a whirlwind of emotion.” Kenner whispered. “I need to get in touch with the boss.”

He sat down, closed his eyes, and inhaled as deeply as he could before blowing out everything outside of himself from his focus.

*****
(A hidden lab deep within the earth beneath Ponyville - no, not Twilight’s, and not BonBon’s either… nor Vinyl’s… or the Cake’s)

It was the size of a penny, and about as thin. It was crystal-clear and the faintest light produced a dazzling glittering from within - sparks of all colors that he could just look at all day.

Shaped like a lozenge, because why not? A glass’s worth of Rarity’s magical essence, plus a heaping of nature’s own, and large amounts of ‘pressure’ and reagents later, he had a thumbnail’s worth of Rarity-natured auracite…

Really wanted something more neutral, but it was meaningful, and meaningful magic was more potent and easier to wield. Cheaper on the long run, too.

He inserted it into the metal tube he had been shaping with his will - and a modicum of Byakko’s assistance - and prepared it for the next step.

Which would have to wait, as his presence around town detected a very distraught Kat running at full gallop towards the house.

Just as he made an ear twitch towards the hallway, the security wards registered a great impact devoid of malicious intent. The wards activated, and the hinges gave in to prevent damage to the door or the poor pony that rammed into it.

’Kat.’ It was as much a thought as it was the signal that made his body turn into wisps of wind and reform inside the living room, where Kat was sobbing as she clutched her memorial stone.

He cantered closer and leant his neck so that it would gently weight on hers, making her turn around and wrap her arms tightly around him, still crying.

The air around the stone told him something fascinating, and maybe even uplifting.

One of the carvings, that of her brother, had been crossed out.

Intermission: Over-engineered golems

Author's Note

Since we need the Gravity/Ten crossover chapter to discover more, I am going to have to take the focus away from Typhon and Kat for a couple of chapters.

Intermission: Over-engineered golems

Golems: A primer

A golem is a creature made of mud or clay and brought to life with magic, given orders to follow.

Nowadays, it extends to all materials so long as magic is the driving force behind its animation. A clockwork body using magic as 'fuel', or even just for its mind, counts.

Consciousness makes things a little more complicated, as a being with a mind shaped by magic but a body operating solely on scientific principles (like the aforementioned clockwork) might think it insulting to be called a 'golem'. 'Construct' is often better received. This can also happen to entities more based on magic than science, like pure clay bodies; it's a matter of personal preference and/or culture, as hearing the word 'golem' might make people think of a mindless automaton instead of a person with feelings that might get hurt.

Some of said 'advanced' golems can become little different from a regular flesh-and-blood being, with only a few key differences in mind and body: There is a world were Celestia attempted to create an advanced golem - one capable of housing a consciousness - in order to separate her sister's spirit from the Nightmare's and return her before the thousand-year exile was over and not having to worry about fighting her little sister... she succeeded in one thing; she made the golem, one made of an array so complex, it imparted unto her clay body the structure of a pony's body, with real blood pumping through her very real heart... but due to a small mistake she had made earlier, then corrected, made much of the original matter be wasted, leaving the end result no larger than a filly.

And one with a life all her own.

Celestia abandoned her plan, but gave the filly to a couple of ponies that would love her as she deserved.

When the filly obtained her cutie mark, it only confirmed what Celestia thought then: She had a soul of her own, one that did not come from any 'program' written into the spell - because the creation of 'advanced' golems did not include one. Not that the 'basic' one did, anyways, as the 'basic' golem was supposed to understand given orders as to avoid crippling over-specialization.

Some kinds of golems, such as those, have the spell shaping them so ingrained into their bodies that they can repair damage that doesn't kill them outright; after suffering damage, even severe one as the loss or near-loss of a limb, they can have the body stabilized within minutes, and functional within hours. Proper medical procedure helps advanced ones, as they possess tissues and organs as any pony's, and that makes self-repairing incredibly draining since they have to remake the damaged portions all the way back from the cellular scale.

Imagine Twilight Sparkle's surprise when a nasty fall, one she clearly saw resulted in her hindleg dangling from a few muscle chords before blacking out, was told 'merely' broke her leg.

Even the advanced versions do not deal well with mental stress and things outside of their parameters - although, for the advanced ones, replace 'parameters' with 'expectations', 'mental projections' and occasionally 'comfort zone'.

We have studied those golems as well. For the sake of being informational, however, and avoid overwhelming the reader, this document will simply contain descriptions of the more common golems and animate objects, including simpler variants of the 'Come-to-life' spell. Unusual or complicated golems, like those made of liquids, spells, specifically-programmed bodily-functions or parts separate from the 'main' program, or even capable of modular bodily adapations, will appear in different documentation; if a common variant has one such exotic version, or is the base for others - as in a combination of techniques - then this primer will refer the reader to the relevant section of the appropriate documents.

Example: One can make use of an ice golem technique to patch a rock golem's broken/missing appendage so long as the ice is not subjected to inadequate strain. Such combination, however, requires careful managing of the parts and their programming, and will be covered in a book about creating said golems.

No information about Ironwing's body will be in any documents save the hospital's medical history database, though. Do not even bother to try.

*****
Study of the Leylines and Empyrean Currents

... come to our attention that there is no difference save scale.

The main difference between a clay golem and a being such as a pony or human (besides the artificiality of the former) is that the latter have flesh-and-blood and their 'programming' resides in the physical entity that is their brains and nerves - save for the cases that manage some exotic 'mind-backup', conscious or unconscious access to a level of 'Collective Unconscious' (such as some variants of hive-mind) or become spiritual entities that allow their minds to become actually separate from their brains.

In a classic golem such as clay, the signals and orders that move their bodies are magical; the flow of magic inside them is what causes a part to move. Instructions can be imparted from programs written in runes, or careful arrangements of magical energy not unlike circuitry (which some kind of runes are); some cases use a connection to a Collective Unconscious, allowing the golem to understand words and concepts without having to actually map out said words in the form of commands, or without having to teach them as one would a toddler.

Now, the world has no neurons, but it does possess water and air currents that move resources around akin to blood and Breath, and Leylines that are the flow of raw magical and life energies. The beings living in such worlds then are not unlike the various microscopical organisms that live withing the body, including the cells that make up said body.

If you want to meet/become the greatest, most powerful magic user 'of/on/in the world', that is one thing. Just don't forget that the world itself technically holds more, including your own, and uses it constantly. Even Trascending the world isn't much help unless you either leave it, or push your own personal reality into it - but if you are capable of doing it, why would you desire to? You can become friends with the world itself! And remember - magic done with, and for, friends is the most powerful.

An amoral person (or someone really desperate) may decide to attempt 'rewritting' the program of the world by redirecting the Leylines as they wish. Just remember; there are right, and there are wrong ways of doing things.

I can, through careful study, cause forests and even housing to appear where there were only plains - days, weeks of study, but only an actual day of action, but note that it is not through brute force and sheer magic - even the higher-end variants of Twilight Sparkle would be hard-pressed to do something like that! True, there are ones that create their own worlds, but those go to the Void first, which has no rules, including lacking a rule about you having any limits beyond the ones to your thoughts.

Careful understanding of natural energy, nature magic, and various separate means of spellcasting are required to create what is essentially a covenant with nature - you get a forest, and nature gets a new, easy flow for the Leylines - , and there will be parts keeping everything nice and stable.

That is the right way of doing it. The wrong way, that which amoral and/or desperate people might attempt, would be like cutting open a golem and attach magically-conductive materials in order to hard-wire a new program, and that is the least-horrific means of doing so... and yet with one of the greatest potential for large-scale environmental magical disasters.

Earth ponies (and just about any pony with a nature talent, like most variants of Fluttershy), can produce this covenant just by being there, being who they are and loving being who they are. The other ponies help, too, but the difference is like giving someone who is cold a warm chocolate and a blanket, and just some lukewarm water. If a pony can cast a spell to produce an effect upon the world, it could be said that this 'covenant' is the spell, in such a way that the ponies ARE the spell; they make the Leylines move and dance, and they do so in just the way needed for the region they are in, because they - being such a complex, self-aware 'spell' - receive feedback (be it consciously or unconsciously) about the state of the land.

Ponies are like Doctors to the whole world, Planet Healers that increase both the flow and production of the Leylines beneath their hooves, and stabilize the flow of the Empyrean Currents. This actually happens with most Tellurian species, actually, but odds are that, either the variants you know do not have the effect to the extent of the ponies, or your frame of mind is still getting used to Tellus and its... peculiar way of doing things.

I have studied that effect, and shrunk it back down to the scale of a golem. It also helps some with my familiar spirits, as - while their bodies are simpler - it allows them to stay in Tellus for much longer and be much more stable without the world rejecting them or transforming them into something they do not desire upon entry. (Compromises had to be made, though, as Undine having human features makes her spend more energy than simply having Tellurian-borne features; she likes the merpony look, so it's OK).

*****
Golems: Pillars of Typhon style

If the words "Oracle Cell", "God Eater", "Aragami", "Bias factor" and "God-Arc" mean anything to the reader, this is the part where they proceed to panic, curse science in an overly-dramatic shout to the heavens, and haul ass to the nearest Fenrir facilities - either for self-preservation, or to become one of the defenders of humanity. That is also the point where I roll my eyes and sigh at those antics. You can proceed to Section II: Imitation Oracle Cells and stop sweating in dread - it's unsightly.

For those who do not have such knowledge, think of a less aggressive, more adaptable, self-sufficient 'Blacklight Virus' from outer space - only not a virus, of course. If that still doesn't tell you much, think of an organic "Grey Goo" scenario mixed with a bit of SCP 682, only that instead of leaving only grey goo, it leaves a bunch of entities composed of Oracle Cells as they eat everything else (and occasionally each other), adapt the form/materials they find useful to incorporate into their own anatomies, and are only truly vulnerable to each other and things that imitate the energy signatures and/or chemicals. Proceed to Section I: Homebrewed Nanotech and Microorganisms and how to prevent screwing up the world.

If you still do not know about the terms, and Google either doesn't exist, stopped existing, or your Internet connection is down/incapable of establishing a connection to human databases, I will proceed to explain to the best of my ability.

All baseline human beings start as a pair of cells, each containing half of the genetic information of a full human being. They join, and then they divide into two, each the same as the other, then they divide again, each new cell identical in composition to the others and containing the same information. After a certain stage in the development of this new human being, the genetic instructions contained within the cells start telling them to differentiate. Some cells become neurons, some of those neurons become brain cells, some cells become skin, some become a kidney or a lung.

The Oracle Cells, those which I am basing the bodies we create for the golems, are different. Each cell can do the same as any other, and their purpose is to 'eat' things and gain information through the absorption of the material - even each other. But! The chemical and energetical signatures of some of these cells are similar to one another, and they abstain from eating things similar to themselves (in most cases, see Section IV: Learning oneself, part 2: Abnormal behavior of the study material).

Think of it as a group of people, gathering through their similarities, and using their vast advantages against lesser organisms which they hunt. Instead of just stopping at nourishment, the cells analyze the structure and makeup of the organism, and copy it themselves. A group of cells become the 'core', which tells another group of cells to 'form bone', 'skin', or even 'take this iron and apply it to the outer skin cells'. It is thus incredibly difficult to damage the organism as a whole, as blades and bullets mostly become absorbed and any damage dealt is quickly repaired thanks to their amazing ability to change roles quickly according to the directions of the core, and if they separate, their special makeup allows them to simply glue themselves back together. Even the loss of the core to another one of these creatures is not that big of a deal, as, while the current body melts into goo, getting rid of those cells is nigh-impossible and they will very likely group back and form a new core, or be absorbed into other beings and give them their information to strengthen it!

Some eat concrete, others abstain from it, some ate plants and gained the ability to photosynthesize, keeping the atmosphere at the same proportions it had always been. They have even incorporated machinery into themselves! Needless to say, if the word 'Tank' means something other than 'container' to you, you can see why this is both fascinating, and horrifying. The ones that attempted to eat lava, however, managed to self-destruct from the sheer overload of energy - because they never stop eating and trying to integrate the energy into themselves.

The people fought against them using powerful explosive devices to blow small, dog-sized creatures to pieces and quickly retrieved their cores, analyzed them, found the chemicals that make the cells accept human cells as their 'similar', and essentially reprogrammed the core to accept and power weaponry.

Thus bonded to a human, the cores responded to the wielder's mental commands, allowing humanity to fight back and down larger beasts, possessing larger cores, and thus allowing better, more powerful weaponry to be made.

Essentially, we have made microscopic golems with a similar degree of adaptability. The first is not much different from the last, and it is the instructions which they use to form themselves that differ. I have made some with robotic appearances, yet those are more likely plaques of alternating layers of 'skin' cells and 'metal-covered' cells to give the illusion of a sheet of metal - illusion which is shattered once the scale-like composition makes the 'sheets' bend.

The most powerful golems I have ever designed are the 'Valkyrie' and the 'Angel' class, however. The materials involved are the best, and the design of their abilities is, too, the best. There is nothing preventing an earlier golem from using Angel equipment, save that there would be a need to make sure the energy-generation isn't exceeded in such a way the golem harms him- or herself, and maybe get the appropriate information into the golem... but those two classes are the combat models. The others can fight, sure, in their own ways... but some of them are too peaceful, or their abilities make them more suited to other roles.

Besides, both classes are made to work together - one is great, sure, but they work better in teams. It doesn't matter if it's two Valkyries, or one of one and one of the other, or all six of them together... actually, I can't even get the energy to summon all six of them at once. I think I have to Ascend before thinking of that.

Not that that is happening anytime soon - we need them in the Void to protect interlopers from our mindscapes. That is not a typo, though; wandering either through the Astral Realm or the Void into our minds is... inadvisable. And the Nightmare Corps might trace the summoning back to our minds if one is called out during a Phantom incursion.

As of this writing, there are plans to make another of each, a male 'Einherjar' for the Valkyrie class, and a lady Angel. Once I am on better terms with the sisters, though, as I'm likely to need their help with the supporting magics we plan to add.

Soul-Searching Travel

(Last night)

Luna took a step, beckoning her sister to follow.

The way was a river of stars, and the distance - for all the meaning that word had there - was composed of nebulous colors and glinting lights.

Celestia tentatively stepped onto the star-road, seeing to the sides in hopes of seeing a comet or something that would distract her from the sometimes-empty places her hooves were standing on.

In her defense, she was still half-asleep because she had once again just popped every duplicate at once and had twenty different petitions, four court cases, and at least two novels land in her mind at once.

Still, sleep had never been more restful since her sister had been returned to her side. Even now, Luna was laying down next to her back in the waking world, and that alone comforted her.

Luna took out the mirrored scroll - that is, her own memories of having it - and held it in front of her as if a portable window to see what she intended to see.

“You choose what you want to see.” Luna said, holding the mirror towards her. “And I choose to see the way to Typhon’s mind.”

She started cantering forward despite holding a completely-blackened scroll, startling Celestia, who trotted slightly more hurriedly to be side to side.

“I do not think that was the intended meaning, sister.” Celestia commented, making Luna chuckle.

“I have said the same to him on occasion.” She replied, and the scroll presented a scene upon its surface.

”While We appreciate the containment of the flood, that was not the intended meaning of Our call to ‘freeze’.” The projected Luna said to a younger Typhon.

”Words, semantics, and loose definitions are my tools, Luna.” He answered, breaking off a spike from the frozen wave that held back the rest of the river that had suddenly risen to three times its usual flow from a freak storm blown in from the sea. ”Check this out - transmutation, so now it’s grape juice. Ta-da! Instant popsicle!”

He had slapped it with a glove that appeared on his hand as quickly as it vanished, making a light and leaving the icicle purple in color.

“It was a refreshing treat, to be sure.” Luna awkwardly commented as the scroll returned to a black, featureless ‘map’.

“That was why you were so glad when you received an ice-box full of them after your first day back.” Celestia was surprised by another realization. “And he probably had them sent in the first place.”

“I think there is something here.” Luna said, approaching a vaporous bubble giving off a flowery scent. “It is not what we are looking for, but it is in the way.”

The sisters entered, only to see the human form of Kat Shifter, planting flowers along a pony - a pegasus mare. They were ‘far’, however, so whatever the human had said that made the mare laugh was lost to the ‘distance’. The world around them blurred, Kat remaining on her knees with a spade in her hand - once everything focused again, they were in front of the small cottage belonging to Fluttershy, with the usually shy pony happily chatting as she lowered a few seeds into the upturned earth.

Then everything started to fade to nothing - Fluttershy faster than the scenery, leaving the human alone on her knees, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Celestia moved closer, but before she could offer words of comfort, or just be there, they, too, faded back into the ever-changing realm of dreams.

Luna wordlessly drapped a wing over her sister.

“Everyone always has a chance at happiness.” Celestia said resolutely. “She does not have to sit in the dark forever.”

“Sister, do remember that the Dark is much more forgiving, allowing us our weaknesses and tears.” Luna held her sister tightly as the scroll turned into a scene of Celestia blowing out a candle, leaving her in the darkness of night to cry for her lost sister.

“I know, I just-” She was interrupted by Luna nudging her chin with her muzzle, leaving the two of them in the silence of the land between dreams.

They continued like that, Luna using her own nature and bond with Celestia to hide her, as her Light might attract unwanted attention. Celestia, for her part, allowed herself to be guided, blanking her own mind with the training she had gained in magic, while trying to ambush Typhon, and while relaxing after a stressful day dealing with unpleasant petitioners.

Anything looking for them would have to run into them by chance, and so they were not putting Typhon himself at risk.

“Maybe if I were to think of the familiars it would help bridge us closer.” Luna said, and the scroll once more changed into a screen.

“Oh, Kind Fluttershy, it is lovely!” The Luna from the past spoke with the shy mare, who was cradling a pink spider the size of a rugby ball.

”Isn’t he a cutie?” She responded, snuggling the arachnid and nuzzling him fondly. ”He came out of one of those papers.”

The representation of Fluttershy pointed at something beyond the reach of the screen, causing it to pan to the right and focus on a small stack of papers.

”Ah, these are Typhon’s spells.” Past Luna clarified, holding one in front of her. ”The ways he mixes runic languages and makes them mingle are interesting, but I never had the chance to examine one up close like this.”

”Yes; he said I could have some, that I would like them.” Fluttershy replied as she snuggled what Celestia thought was a huge pink monstrosity that she would never want to see Live.

”Hmm… I cannot read this - too many different runes.” The Luna from the memory pursed her lips. ”I understand small parts that speak of ‘bring the spirit-heart into the world’, ‘refer to the scroll of the body’ and what is either ‘anchor to the honorable tag’ or ‘centered on the divinely-respected note’... runes are nuanced like such.”

”What do you do, little one?” Fluttershy asked the spider with a motherly tone, making Celestia shudder and grimace - she thanked she was merely looking at a memory, and not actually there.

The spider spat - spat! - a pink wad at the door, which made it become wrapped in pink silk all over, and likely glued it shut.

Celestia was really glad she was not there.

”Remarkable.” Of course Luna would think that - she had managed to give huge tarantulas their own section of the Royal Gardens! Those ‘Goths’ that kept Luna company during the night… Celestia would never understand them.

“Those spells are more like citations - footnotes calling for a bookmarked place in another document.” Luna added. “They direct the magic to the true spell elsewhere, then retrieve it, apparently without regard to distance.”

Celestia was just grateful she didn’t have to look at the huge spider any more.

They walked some more, Luna directing through the strange whims of her apparently-blank map.

They came across several black… things - according to Luna, those were objects exiled from their world into the Void (Celestia was slightly worried that they had managed to cross over to there without her noticing). However, the Void does not play by the usual rules - in regular ‘space’, the odds of something with the size of the black spheres hitting something at all were minimal; something of importance, even fewer… something that might be in actual, direct danger from the exiled artifact? Infinitesimal…

But the Void has no rules, and probability was no different.

After dodging a sphere that whispered ‘crystals’ or somesuch, things became much quieter, making it easier for Celestia to keep herself from ‘shining’.

Sometimes, she could have sworn they were doubling back…

Still, no rules - so no rule saying that tracing back your steps will actually lead back where you started.

“Is there something more that could get us closer to wherever, whenever he hides his mind?” Celestia whispered; having lost track of time had always bothered her more than her sister.

“I think he once spoke of crafting golems…”

The scroll’s blackness twisted.

*****

It was never focused much.

Move.

Movement.

Nothing else had much importance, or place; just movement for the sake of movement. It did not think to think of ‘place’, actually. Just Space, which was filled with movement, but with movement… moving… there was always space to fill, because movement lacked where it had moved from.

That was OK, because there was still movement.

Just movement.

Then there was ‘other’.

Other movement. Movement not It, but movement all the same.

It moved with that other movement, and attention was brought to other things. The movement was many things - speed, direction - that were identified. Distance, that which made the not-It movement not-It - Separate! Another concept. Coordination - one moved in one ‘way’ while the other in a different one, maybe with the same ‘speed’, maybe not; after speed, came ‘timing’ and after ‘timing’ came ‘rhythm’.

Dance.

The space was filled with dance, and movements gained meaning.

Then the other stopped.

It was moving around Other, having learned of distance, to measure the size of Other.

This other movement was so much more than It. And it gave It a choice: Move away, dance through the space with all It had gained already, or become more like Other.

Other was not yet clear, but It could feel Other. Other taught. Movement not of body, but information - another new thing. There was communication, words, but not ‘voice’, not yet…the little shaking of space was ‘noise’, and it was a form of movement - sometimes noise had meaning, but other times it did not.

Confusing, but Other was smart, and patient - another thing! How could Other resist moving for so long? How could Other decide to repeat the same movements over and over just to help It understand them? Other was smart, and Other had words - many, many words with meanings.

‘Noise’ became ‘sound’, and sound could become ‘music’ using rhythm. Music moved something besides space, just like dancing did; besides It or space, that was. It was shaken, deep ‘inside’ - the shaking was felt, but not felt.

Time was a thing. Time did not ‘wait’ like Other did; Time waited for nothing, making It think that maybe Time was not able to wait. Other said Other could make Time wait for Other, but there was ‘risk’. Danger, risk, so opposite to that shaking that came from music and dance that it was hard to comprehend.

Still, appreciation of Time was learned.

There was movement within Other. A beat with a very special rhythm.

Th-thump. Th-thump. Th-thump.

Time became important, as Time was the measure of the beat. This beat was part of Other, and it was important to Other, and... and Other was important to It, so Time was important. If the beat was fast it meant one thing; slow meant another thing - but too fast or too slow was a problem, as the movement would be all wrong for the space within Other.

There was another choice; go away with the knowledge already gained, or get even closer to Other.

After the choice, Other taught more difficult things. Light, Darkness, things so much, much more difficult. Color became something, and it was fascinating. Color was Light that moved in a specific way, and colors could be moved, then placed, so that they would cause that ‘shaking’ inside; colors could move, too, and with colors and dance and music Other and others like Other could make magnificent things.

Color and Light and Dark became ‘Picture’; moving pictures became ‘Animated’.

Other taught affection - something It could now understand, because It held Affection for Other, and now could tell what the shaking was. The lessons that came later sometimes helped understand the lessons that came earlier. Other cared for It - Other cared for a lot of things.

The inner-shaking from music and dance became Emotion, Fun. Fun was great! It wanted more emotion.

It wanted to become more like Other, because Other made It more than something that just moved. Other cared for a lot of things, and It wanted to know those things, maybe even care for them as It was cared for.

Other gave 'voice'.

"I want to learn."

"You have to change."

"All these wonders you teach; what change would that be?"

"You need to come with me."

"What would happen to me?"

"You would become something amazing. You would become part of a World."

It agreed.

Mind. Heart. Knowledge... that and more was given.

She opened her eyes for the very first time, coming face-to-face with Typhon.

"Hello. Your name is Irida." She heard, and she knew; it was written in her as was his name.

I-ri-da… colors being called forth in a name.

"Hi, Typhon." That, too, was written. Her voice was a ‘melody’, composed by being written first, then turned into a pattern, then that pattern engraved in her.

It was written on the things that made her- in the things that made her; she was made of things! Lots of little things, with some of those telling the others how to make her, and told her how to make herself do things. She was made of the things, and she told the things what to do - some things they did on their own, because it was easier that way. Numbers, the things she was seeing! So much to do! Where to start?

"Let me show you your home."

'Home'... it was something special; being in a home, and being accepted as part of that home, was...

There was a response - a procedure, almost.

"I'm home."

“Welcome home.”

*****

“Alright, that’s enough of that.” A familiar voice, if slightly deeper, said as the scroll was lowered and taken from the sisters by a gloved hand.

“Typhon?” They both asked, turning to the human.

He was wearing a radically-different kind of glasses, as the current pair was round, smaller, orange - almost yellow - and covered the sides in such a way there was no angle in which his eyes could be seen; his hair was longer (huh, it was a very open wave, not completely straight, Celestia noted) and one of his bangs covered part of his face; he was wearing a scarlet Ulster coat with the cape not quite reaching the elbows, while he wore a suit of a deep, dark grey underneath with a large red cravat - of the bow variety - and black boots; crowning his head - and they somehow thought it was appropriate to describe it as such - was a wide-brimmed hat of the same color as the overcoat, a center dent and with white bands instead of a more-traditional ribbon.

“No, I’m Carmen Sandiego! Guess where I am!” He grinned, revealing that his canines were abnormally-long for some reason.

He patted his cheeks sharply, as if trying to rid himself from sleep.

“Sorry, sorry. Couldn’t resist - I’m just a fragment, you know? One of the myriad Facets that comprise the whole, see?” He relaxed, inhaling deeply to calm down.

“What do you represent, then?” Celestia asked with trepidation - she was dealing with a rather-uncomfortable variant of someone that took her by surprise often, so it was easy to guess why.

“I am his desire to take enthusiastic walks through the woods.” He happily replied, with a grin to match.

“And find somepony to sink your teeth into, I take it.” Luna deadpanned.

“Very enthusiastic walks.” He responded, and started chuckling for a moment, before breaking into roaring laughter, unsettling Celestia even more, and making Luna feel awkward.

“I cannot believe I got to say that one!” He guffawed. “I mean, I even dress the part!”

He abruptly put a hand over his mouth, forcing back his laughs - even if he had to choke on them for a bit.

He coughed - politely - into his hand, and once more tried calming himself through a breathing exercise.

“I apologize; I am, as you could have guessed had you recognized the reference in my wardrobe choice, Typhon’s darkest Facet.” He made a grand, sweeping bow and scrape, taking off his hat and placing it over his heart. “Bloodlust, at your service.”

“Dark- I see.” Luna muttered under her breath. “It does make sense.”

“Doesn’t it?” He smiled more gently, and offered his arm to the princess he had the closest; Luna. “May I escort you so that you don’t reveal memories unnecessarily?”

“How would we walk like that?” Celestia asked with a raised brow; she recognized the gesture, but it was an awkward one for a quadruped.

“You don’t; it was a distraction.” He chuckled again and turned around, grabbed at something like he would a doorknob, and twisted.

They walked out of was apparently a supply closet, if the label on the door was to be believed; Celestia thought it wasn’t.

The place was, contrary to expectations, an attic with large windows that let in large amounts of sunlight. It was full of boxes with labels such as ‘Crystal-Floater airship: Eureka - pronounced eu-RE-ka, not jui-REE-ka-’, and ‘Angel-class, Defense-intensive, (Remember to pick a name) (Alexis, Mimi, Gwendolyn, Rachel) (Remember to get the sisters’ help for this one)’.

“So! What can I do for you?” Bloodlust asked, twirling in place and letting himself fall backwards - a high chair rose from the ground to intercept him, however. He crossed his legs as he slouched sideways, propping himself up with his elbow.

“You are awfully cordial for someone that threatened to cut down a god and overshadowed the spirit of a demonic sword.” Celestia pointed out, feeling somewhat confused given that it was odd even by his standards.

“I am still me; I just loathe to hurt people, but there is only so much one can take, you know?” He shrugged. “Still, I do not walk too far away from Mercy... it’s just that I enjoy breaking my enemies thoroughly, pushing them to the edge both physically and mentally, breaking apart their worldview piece…by…piece…”

He stopped to inhale as if savoring some phantom scent, and his throaty chuckles of satisfaction made the princesses remember how much of a threat he could have chosen to be.

“Still, if they stop being a threat, then my work is done and I pass them over to Mercy and Kindness. They build them back up.” He turned to the side, using the throne-like chair’s armrests for his legs and back. “My job is looking for the fatal lapses in concentration and defense, not babysitting the stuff I beat.”

“We just wanted to be sure everything was stable, mentally…” Celestia mentioned. “It is hard to be sure when you are like, well, like that.”

“You want stable? Fine, you got it.” He snapped his fingers, and then both sisters found themselves on a cloud, overseeing a forest; in the distance, they could see a mountain with some structures on it not unlike Canterlot, but more fortified.

Opposite to the mountain - well, there was Typhon, the complete one if his choice of apparel was any indication; behind him, however, was an impossibly-large tree with several accesses built into its trunk, and likely inhabited, if the tiny dots flying in and out were any indication. Large forests lay at the tree’s base, some on mountains, some with tiny structures poking through their canopies, rivers and lakes crossing and dotting the green sprawls, with the occasional snowy area thrown in for good measure.

To one side, ’South’, something told them, mountains were much more common - although none as tall as the mountain that that ‘something’ told them lied at the ‘center’. Forests gave way to jungles, then hotter and hotter climates, until ‘South’ became desertic and volcanic areas. Even then, there were signs of life.

To what could only be ‘North’, snowy areas became more frequent, until the climate, too, changed back into tropical expanses of nature…side-to-side with glaciers and polar areas. The land opened into a sea without any visible end, with islands of all imaginable varieties and sizes on it. Neither sister had any doubts about finding inhabitable structures there, given that it looked like there were massive ships both upon the water and the skies... and they were reasonably sure that some of those islands were moving.

Cloud structures were ubiquitous, although most of the ones they could see - and largest and most elaborate - were close to the central spire-like mountain.

“Hey there.” Typhon waved at them. “Sorry for that, but making golems is our little personal recipe, and I’d like to keep it like that for a little while longer.”

“Like that box that said ‘Familiar for Luna’?” The very intended addressee asked.

“Kinda - look, when I left Earth, we didn’t even have the tools necessary to create the tools required to create nanotechnology; real tiny factories that assembled the required microscopic product. Then again, magic hadn’t progressed that far, either... so I did as I am prone to doing, and cheated. I went to 'more advanced' worlds, I also had computers to make the calculations, and magic to assemble the golems - you can see why I want to keep that secret.”

“While having a golem crafter playing around with the building blocks of life is just one more in a long list of concerns, the current one seems more relevant.” Celestia gestured with a wing towards the tree - a large cluster of dots more specifically. “I question the wisdom of splintering your mind and soul in so many fragments.”

“What, those?” Typhon turned around, even though he did not need it. “Nah, those are... Tulpas and spirits and yokai and all sorts of crazy things.”

“Wait, is this not your mind then?” Luna asked in bewilderment - she had come across complex mindscapes, so this was not that much of a surprise, but then-

“It is! It is; those are mostly... representations of friends and spirits I’ve contracted and such.” He rolled his shoulders. “I’ve worked with many of them, after all; both here and inside the Void.”

“Mostly?” But of course the princesses were perceptive enough to notice!

“It’s what we do.” He shrugged. “We let people in - we trust them. My mind just... has a different level of malleability, that’s all.”

“And is it still sound?” Luna asked, with a heart-warming amount of concern, it should be noted.

“Of course! Why wouldn’t it be?”

“There were reports of strange storms deeper into the Badlands.” Celestia stated. “Lightning doesn’t strike in quite that way outside of some of the Anomalies.”

“I’m being compared to wild, wild magic and space-time distortions now? I’m flattered.” He spoke with a kind of half-sincere, half-mocking cheer that reminded the sisters way too much of Discord to be entirely comfortable. “I was training, girls; that’s going to be the site for my all-out with the Kings, and I need to make sure everything is kept contained.”

“And you are certain nothing is troubling you?” Luna asked.

“Not really - if anything, I’m much better than both of you.” He shot back in reply, making them blink.

“What?” Celestia grimaced; that had sounded a lot less intelligent than she wanted to appear.

“Excuse me, but We do not have representations of our inner darkness proclaiming they are our desire to exercise.” Luna deadpanned.

“And that is why you are bored all the time.” Typhon tuted and shook his head. “But now, seriously; this is nothing to be worried about.”

"We would like more than simply your word." Celestia's deadpan expression simply reinforced what Typhon already had guessed.

"Well, how about going through the experience?" He asked, pulling a sword out of nowhere - the one with the brush on its hilt, the same he was holding when he had 'died', they noted.

"And what would said 'experience' entail?" Luna asked, carefully watching how he reversed the sword, holding it by its scabbard.

"Why, the trials of character I went through, of course." He spoke as he passed the brush over the cloud; stone greeted their eyes where the brushstrokes passed, and then, while they were focused on that drawing, it expanded to cover everything around them.

The scene was that of a large cave, every stalagmite, wall, and rock looking as if it had been painted into existence like his familiars did.

"Please, sit down, let's open our chakras." He plopped down on the ground, legs crossed and hands resting upon his knees.

"I've heard about them." Celestia mumbled to herself as she sat on her haunches. She 'removed' her regal attire, which, being simply a mental projection of herself, merely involved thinking about it.

"I remember hearing about them, as well." Luna replied, more for her own ears than anything, but following Celestia's example. "Were they not supposed to be difficult to open?"

"Ah, that is the beauty of living in our world, and for so long, as well. Here, take this." Typhon smiled as he offered them a pair of bowls with something... weird in them. "You have been through everything already - you need simply to acknowledge it and to realize it. Besides, ours is a world of fantasy; internal conflict can be externally-represented and dealt with much faster than in the world of my birth, as magic is the... semi-tangible expression of our spirits - at the least, you can feel it and interact with it, as opposed to Earth, where it can and has taken people an entire lifetime to find the kind of self-realization and fulfillment that foals go through when they find their cutie marks."

"If they find it at all, you mean." Celestia said as she took her own bowl.

"Bingo."

Luna took a mouthful from the bowl, only to spit it back out the next moment.

"It tastes like pureed bananas with onions!" She exclaimed, making Celestia take a tentative taste only to spit it back out as her sister had done.

"Because that's what it has!" He cheerfully gulped down from his own bowl, then upended it to show it had been drained. "Yum yum!"

"You did this yourself, right?"

"Of course."

"So there's no chance you'll give us anything else until we're done." That was a statement, not a question.

"None whatsoever."

"Fine."

"We'll start with the Earth chakra; it's located at the bottom of the spine... well, for ponies would be below the dock, I guess." He rubbed the back of his head. "It has to do with survival instinct, mental stability, sense of security, and it's blocked by fear."

Both of them flinched slightly.

"What is it that you fear? This is the realm of mind and spirit; let them show themselves clearly before your eyes."

Luna's seat broken and empty, vacant. Twilight/ /Sparkle lying down on the cold stone floor, lifelessly, body/ /broken and limp between her hooves, the task having been too much for the young/ /mare. The only living soul in a desolation of eternal starlight.

"Remember, this might be your mind, but it is not real. You are worried about the survival of others, over your own; that is proof of your love towards them, but you need to have more faith. Have faith, both in yourselves, and in their own abilities; Twilight Sparkle is an exceptional pony, and you need to let go of that fear. Acknowledge it, but do not let fear cloud your mind and choke down your magic."

Celestia wiped away the tears on her eyes, taking a calming breath; opening her eyes, she was greeted with the image of Twilight, smiling up at her and wearing her Element. Blinking, even that vision disappeared, but Luna remained at her side, as she had been since that day.

Luna was not alone, nor consumed by the forces she herself had invited in her grief. Celestia was beside her, and that would not change without either sister fighting it.

After Typhon drew on the floor, they saw water through the window of 'ink'. They sat on a rock by a riverbed, with a large waterfall to their left, and the ocean further to the right.

"Next is water, at the sacrum; it deals with relationships, basic emotional needs, and pleasure; it governs reproduction, creativity, joy, and enthusiasm. It's blocked by guilt... what do you blame yourselves for?"

"I... I nearly wiped away the life of the world." Luna whispered.

"I've hurt so many po- people; you included." Celestia said. "I-I banished my own sister, without thinking-"

"There, there. All that is in the past - learn from it, but do not allow it to poison your mind. Celestia, while there truly were other options, all of them were much riskier, both to you, other ponies, and even Luna herself; you might have had problems, but you truly wish for the betterment of everyone, without regard as to how they have hurt you or could hurt you - that is something that is very rare, and I want to extend that same courtesy to you, not to mention that that involved my own failings which I have to correct. Luna, while that was one of the possible outcomes, you didn't; you didn't, and that is what matters; you were in pain, alone, lost, and confused, but if you are to truly learn from it, help your sister, and become the princess you were - and are meant to be, then you need to forgive yourself."

Luna smiled and sighed at the same time. That was not too different from what she had been told over and over by both her sister, and Twilight and company - the ponies most in direct danger from her weakness and delusion.

Celestia wondered what he meant, or how he intended to correct his own failings.

Next, they were in the middle of a vast, rocky plain, with columns of steam rising from cracks and holes on the ground.

"Fire, sitting around the level of the stomach. This is the transition from simple and base emotion to more complex ones; willpower, personal power, expansiveness, and all matters of growth. It's blocked by shame - tell me, when did you disappoint yourselves?"

"When I allowed myself to turn into Nightmare Moon. I lost sight of the ponies that loved me and needed me in my jealousy and pain."

"When I found out just how much troubles I caused because I didn't allow myself to admit my mistakes. Luna paid for them, and you yourself have seen...-"

"You can't grow if you deny parts of yourself; to change, you need to recognize that which you are trying to change. Luna, it is not that simple; you endured many years of loneliness, and the Nightmares did everything to make things worse - the average person is ill-prepared both mentally and emotionally to endure such abuse, let alone for so long, and even at your darkest all you desired was love. Celestia, you were aware on some level, because you surrounded yourself with ponies that would give you honest advice, and you have already started with the process of healing just as Luna has."

"I do feel... lighter." Luna commented. "Ever since I visited Ponyville the second time, I truly felt... accepted."

They were now in the middle of the clouds. Each cloud was a collection of brushstrokes like wisps, yet with that thick, inky outline around it and each curve that was there only if you looked at it tangentially.

"The chakra of air, residing in the middle of the chest... needless to say, it's easy to see when something is wrong with this one in a pegasus or Gryphon. It involves complex emotions, compassion, tenderness, rejection,well-being... It governs love; unconditional love for both yourself and others, passion, devotion... Did you know that, the first time I looked at you - after having awakened my senses, that is - it actually hurt a little?"

Celestia blinked.

"Really?"

"You are one like few others. Others? They do not bother to build up Equestria according to the Elements - they find it easier to be dishonest, to make terrible things then just sweep them under the rug, all for the sake of the 'greater good' - yes, I do remember warning you against that, but even so... would it be in your character to exile the Pookas because it was easier than keeping them as a part of Equestria?"

Celestia made a face like she had been doused in ice water, and Luna briefly tensed.

"There you are. You take the higher road, because you love the country more than you want to take the easy way out; after all, if the roots are rotten, how will the tree stand, let alone grow?"

Typhon, producing another pair of bowls, gave them away.

Both ponies simply drained them in silence.

"This is more for your sake, Luna, but Celestia should take note regardless. This is blocked by pain. Remember, however, love. Luna, your sister loves you dearly, even if she forgot to remind you of this; you have plenty of people who love you, and the love of those who have passed lives on within you, becoming new love and new friendships. The pain of loss should not be allowed to distract you from finding love."

Celestia wrapped a wing around her little sister, cooing soothingly as she sniffled.

"I am, myself, not letting my own pain blind me. I have, just recently, found out that my plans already succeeded - I need merely find the way."

"I remember..." Celestia said, making memory. "You said Starswirl did not truly die..."

"I need to find out how is that possible, but until I do, we cannot even meet - if a paradox were to happen... well, the least invasive 'corrective' measure would be for the timeline to erase whatever caused the paradox; the most drastic would be eliminating the whole divergence, taking everyone living in it with it, then trying again in a duplicate without said divergence."

"I have mixed feelings."

"I promised, Celestia." He twirled his brush, making the scene shatter and turn into the three of them in the middle of a mountain road, a cliff on the other side of the sharp drop.

Typhon inhaled.

"Sound chakra; located in the throat. It's communication, truth, growth through expression... governing fluent thought, independence, and a sense of security." He paused, feeling at his own throat for a moment. "It's blocked by lies - the ones we tell ourselves."

"I... we both have been there." Celestia breathed out, ears flat against her head.

"In a sense, Luna went at it strangely." Typhon said as he waved a hand. "She felt alone, yes, and did not acknowledge the need for balance - even though that was more the work of the Nightmares than hers - but she never once denied her nature, or her needs and desires. Her problem was of a different nature. You need each other, and the world needs both of you; we are beings of balance, your highnesses, and both of you make the balance that was missing in the ponies for the past thousand years."

"Is... is that the reason the nobles did not..."

"Give you two as much trouble as they could have? Most likely." Typhon nodded. "Even back then, when things were at their worst and the echos of Sombra's magic still roamed the leylines of Equestria, your absence made quite the waves, Luna; ponies did not feel safe at night, even in their own homes, and rest was not as invigorating. This was fixed almost miraculously when you came back - there is a reason half the day is night, after all. We did what we could, of course, but your horseshoes are too large to fit just like that, even if you were not aware of it, Luna."

With another twirl, the three of them were inside a large hall, with the light of dawn pouring in from large windows. It was plain and unadorned, but it just emphasized the sheer volume of the place, and the light coming in and bouncing from the clouds gave it its own ambience.

"The sixth is the chakra of light, located in the middle of the forehead. It deals with discernment, balancing of the selves, and trusting inner guidance. Its visual consciousness, and clarity on an intuitive level. It's blocked by illusion... Pinkie is actually an expert on this one."

"Oh?"

"Really. See, one of the biggest illusions in this, and many other worlds is that of separation."

*****
(Canterlot, night, North Star's room)

The unicorn who the room belonged to was writing in her diary, having received yet-another letter from Pinkie.

That mare had given her a lot to think about, even back them. It had been, what, five seconds? Ten at most. Ten seconds of contact, and a childish song to go with the scandalous act, but it was enough to change everything.

Speaking to her was even... not worse, per se - more different?

'In her letter, she speaks of how she had always felt like she did - amidst some rambling in strange tangents - but it was not until she met Typhon that she could put words to the feeling.'

She dipped her quill, and allowed her eyes to roam back to the letter. She then kept writing.

'Separation is an illusion; earth ponies, unicorns, pegasi - we are all ponies. Even the nations, or the races, we are one world. A smile is a smile, and she does not care about the "what" or "who"; we are all connected, and if I hurt, that hurts her, too.'

The more she talked to the living sugar rush that was Pinkie, the more she felt... silly... for distancing herself like so from her fellow ponies just because of their economic status. Spike, the young dragon that followed Twilight Sparkle everywhere, was of a similar mentality - perhaps from that childhood sincerity most ponies have but forget once they 'mature' - and made friends both with Ditzianna and Applejack, the farmer mare from the Gala.

And he could go and Speak to Hoity-Toity just like that, with the same ease...

*****
(Elsewhere)

"One has to be careful with this one. Being too open without a clear goal in mind can lead you to waste energy thinking about things that don't matter, thus distracting you from the present. Pinkie has some trouble with tangents, even as she throws around impressive feats as, literally, party favors."

"It's also associated with seeing the future." Celestia commented with a dainty eyebrow lifted high.

"Well, Time and Control are illusions at times. Time is the reference frame, and control... well, all you can truly control are your choices - the effect those choices have on others and your surroundings, well, that is something we have to learn ourselves." Typhon fingered the hilt of the sword in contemplation. "But yes, I can 'see' things, some of which have not yet happened."

"Figures."

"I can see, sometimes, the direction of things; I cannot see in a direction I do not understand, however, and some choices - both of others and myself - that I do not understand are similarly obscured on occasion. I can see and read attacks, even if I sometimes do not understand why I am getting attacked, for example."

"So... if you did not understand what was happening..." Celestia spoke softly, although with much more confidence that the previous times the topic had turned to- "That day; you didn't know what was happening, or how it was possible, didn't you?"

"A complete blank, yes. To be fair, I knew how I could do something about it, but then again, that involved creating a stable loop, which brings us back to the part where I cannot see a direction I do not understand."

"Is that the reason Pinkie..."

"Pinkie is an enigma wrapped in a mystery, sprinkled with comedy and baked in the oven of cartoon logic. I. Don't. Know. Seriously, there are dozens of completely-plausible, equally-probable explanations: She's got powers from a construct like I do, or she's been touched by fate, or simply being that good with earth-pony magic." Typhon shrugged, leaning on his sword.

"So, it's still a mystery." Luna tilted her head.

"Mh hmm."

Then they were on a flat, circular rock. Stairs spiraled down from it, until an uniform cover of clouds swallowed them. Both the sun and the moon were in the sky, which was midmorning in one half, and starry night in the other.

" The last one is at the crown of the head, or 'above' it. It's the one that has to do with Universal consciousness and unity in mental action, and 'Being', emotionally-speaking. It connects us with the cosmos like the Font connects you with Magic. It's blocked by earthly wants, which many... misinterpret, and makes this one one of the hardest to open."

"I was wondering about that, given that the first one is about bodily preservation, the second is pleasure... but then again, 'Love' isn't exactly 'earthly'." Luna mused out loud.

"Thank you!" Typhon raised his arms to his sides, then let them fall against his body. "You've just earned a diploma on the matter. I'll sent it to you on the mail."

"I take it you had a speech prepared?" Celestia smirked.

"Not really; I had a scene of a movie in which a little green man with strange speech patterns said how we are 'luminous beings' instead of just sacks of flesh, nothing too fancy." Typhon sat down on a familiar stone bed that rose from the floor to meet him on his way down. "It has to do a little bit about this, and how I can fly now."

"That's- that's the stone slab with your symbol on it!" Celestia gasped. "I just thought it was- I don't know, a meeting place!"

"See, I used to have two bodies - my 'normal' body, and a 'dreamself', which was originally only supposed to be used while I... well, dreamed." He said, then pointed to the side.

Another 'him' appeared, wearing golden-and-purple clothes with the same crescent moon Prosperity's dress had. Typhon himself was wearing a simple black shirt, green jacket, denim pants, and red tennis shoes.

"Dreamselves awaken fully after the dreamer faces something they refuse to acknowledge about either themselves or their surroundings. Normally this is harder for teens, but I was in my twenties... then got age-regressed." Typhon shrugged, then his other self started talking. "Eh, I started dreaming lucidly, which made things get strange. Dreamselves are precisely like dreams - unconcerned by earthly things, and driven mostly by the subconscious. I could make my regular body nearly-weightless, either by my powers or some weird mechanic of reality... still, it wasn't until I died that I became this."

Typhon changed back into the blue clothes he wore so often nowadays, while the princesses stared at him blankly.

"You died?" Luna asked.

"My 'real' self, upon this bed. It's a special mechanic to grant the 'user' the totality of their power - a real self doesn't have the degree of control of one of 'me'. It also grants me conditional immortality."

"Heroic or Just." Celestia muttered.

"Exactly." He nodded. "I became 'one', gained conscious use of what unconscious powers I hadn't already, and got boosted on all my abilities. You can draw the obvious parallel, I'm sure."

"That was the event? The day your body escaped the stone..." Celestia grew quiet, but Typhon threw an arm around her.

"Don't be like that - let me tell you something: The original, intended way was for the user to give their own life, for various motives." He said. "I'm not going to let something like this stop me, you know."

"I suppose that... that your mind is as sound as it can be, given the circumstances." Luna stated with some uncertainty - not about what she had said, but about how to process everything.

"Yeah. The Nightmares want my body, but it doesn't work the way they think - it's not going to become the perfect host or anything, and they can't replicate this. I just need to recover the Crystal Empire, then set up things, and we aren't going to be bothered by them again."

"I suppose you would want assistance?" Celestia asked with a quirked brow.

"Nope. In fact, don't send anyone; the guards already 'there' have the wrong location altogether, and Cadence should be well away from there." He crossed his arms in an exaggerated gesture, but spoke slowly and darkly. "If you send Cadence or Twilight, Sombra won't hesitate to go for the kill - this one is different from others; he knows who you would send."

Celestia swallowed, hard.

"I know it's asking a lot, but the Empire is better off without your intervention. Once things calm down again, then Cadence can reclaim her legacy. To ensure that your remember this, you are going to wake up now." He then threw some sparkling powder at their faces.

When they opened their eyes again, it was to a dark bedroom.

Hearing Voices

Author's Note

This is a crossover with DJ's other story, with Kat's brother as the main character.

This also marks the last of Kat's major chapters until... later.

Hearing Voices

“Ooh hoo! This is going to be so much fun~!” Discord said happily as he spiraled around the throne room. “Another world and I finally get to join in the fun! What should I bring? What should I wear?” He poofed on a skin tight, cyan dress. “What do you think? Too much? Does it make my butt look big? Come on, be honest, I can take it.”

“It makes your butt look big,” Rainbow said with a deadpan, noting that Discord’s rear end was now comically large, almost looking like two watermelons had been shoved into the bottom of the dress.

Discord burst into tears. “You’re so mean, Rainbow!” He disappeared in a flash. “I’ll be back~!”

“Nutcase,” Ben muttered to himself. He sighed, rubbing his neck as he popped it a few times. “It’s gonna be interesting seeing what place Ally has settled on. I know she said it wasn’t her true Equestria, but should still be fun. You doin’ alright, Twi?”

Twilight gulped, trying to keep her nerves under control. “Y-yeah. Hey… you don’t think she’s still mad over…” she couldn’t even force herself to say it.

“Nearly killing her?” Twilight silently nodded. “I’m sure she’s fine,” he waved off. “Ally seemed just as chipper as ever when she left. She’s probably already forgiven you.”

“I certainly hope so,” she muttered under her breath. “Otherwise, this might be a short trip.”

Discord reappeared with a flash, wearing a bright orange Hawaiian shirt, a straw hat, and sunglasses with a little palm trees on the edges. “I couldn’t decide, so tropical it is! Is everypony--”

“Ahem!”

“ And human, ready?” Twilight and Ben both nodded, making Discord smile even wider. “Off we go! Ta ta, Celly~, I’ll miss you!”

“The feeling is not mutual, Discord,” Celestia smirked back.

“Ooh, you’re getting good at this. TTFN!” He stretched out his paw and talon, literally pulling reality apart to create a swirling vortex. “Ladies first.” He held out his talon as Twilight moved forward. “I said ladies, first.”

“Oh screw you, Disc!” Ben shouted. He simply shook his head as Discord let out a hearty laugh. “Alright, let’s get this show on the road. Come on, Twilight! Geronimo!” Ben took off for the portal, diving through.

Twilight took a deep breath, letting out slowly. Not only was she traveling to another world, something she swore off after the last one, but she was also going to deal with whatever repercussions of her anger and fear had caused. “Oh goddess, I hope this ends well!” Twilight booked it for the portal, rushing right through.

Discord looks at you with a wild grin. “Don’t blink, this is gonna be a wild ride!” He cackled madly, slithering into the portal as well. Just as his tail went through, the gap closed itself, as if it was never there in the first place.

*****
(Meanwhile miles and miles away in another universe)

“And at that point you just couldn’t hold it, I guess.” Typhon sighed. “That’s…Ugh…possessions, mental tricks... not the best way to find out about your brother, but at least he’s OK. I just wish I could have done something, you know?”

Kat brushed against her stallion playfully with a smile. “Oh stop worrying. You know very well I can handle myself in the field… Beerus was just a small set back. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds, anyway.”

“I can’t help it.” He sighed again. “It’s... it’s like I’m on this road, and there’s all sorts of obstacles... that I can’t just push my way through. The challenges picked for me are like…like trying to keep sailboats safe in the middle of fighting a sea monster - I can do that! I have done so for a long time... but then you come across a situation without nearly as many oh-so-delicate variables - just beat the hell out of this guy, or a battle in the center of the mind? I’m good at that, and I feel- I feel like all that training and all of those troubles aren’t helping the ones I have close to me.”

Kat nuzzled his cheek with a soft smile. “Hey, you have a duty to protect this world, so you can’t go gallivanting off like I can. This is my mission that I need to do, and I feel it would be much better for me to handle them on my own. These are my mistakes that need rectifying, it’s my job to do this. Your job, however,” she said running her tail underneath his chin, “is to make sure I have something special to come back to.”

“But of course.” He allowed tension to melt away from him. “You are always welcome here, and don’t forget, okay?”

“As if I could.” Kat noticed something not too far away at a nearby restaurant. “Oh hey! It’s Twilight! Hey Twilight!”

“Oh, hello!” She waved at them from her table. “I haven’t seen you since you... well, since that time at the falls yesterday; are you alright?”

“Oh, sorry about that. I had gotten some news and it was just overwhelming,” Kat said with a sheepish smile and rubbing the back of her head.

“Oop. Message.” Typhon tapped his glasses, which turned dark after that. “Apparently, someone, we don’t know who, is trying to find our world. They are using your token, though, so I’m just going to let them in.”

A vortex of swirling colors opened in the alley besides the restaurant, and a pegasus with an emerald-green coat and disheveled brown mane stepped out of it, followed by an alicorn version of Twilight Sparkle, and a grey tinted unicorn with a light blue horn, deep black mane, and wild red and yellow eyes floated in after them.

“Ooh, my unicorn form, how delicious!”

“Oh quiet Disc,” the pegasus groaned. He looked up at Twilight with a deadpan. “Get off me.”

“Oops, sorry,” she apologized, flying off her friend. “Hey, it looks like we’re in Ponyville. That’s convenient.”

“And our favorite lavender unicorn is not too far~,” Discord said with an eerie grin.

The pegasus leaned out of the alley just enough to see this world’s Twilight talking with two other ponies, one of which looked very familiar. And with that image, Ben got an idea. He looked over at the unicorn with a smile. “Ready to have some fun.”

“Always dear boy… always.”

*****
Back with our heroes!

Kat looked around expectantly. “I don’t see anyone, Typhon. You sure those glasses are working?”

“But of course! I gave the approbation message, and they let them in near our position.” He pondered something for a minute. “The companionship is certainly interesting, and they are of the ‘unusually-familiar’ kind.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Twilight asked with a furrowed brow.

“They’ll let you know in a second or two.” He replied.

Before Twilight could ask what that meant, her order arrived. “Your food, miss,” the unicorn said as he set down the covered silver platter. “Be careful… it’s a very odd dish.” He chuckled to himself as he returned to the main building.

“But I just ordered a…” She trailed off as she eyed Typhon with suspicion. “You know something, don’t you?”

“The fact that you recognize that nothings escapes me means that nothing escapes you, Twilight.” He replied with a ‘way-too-innocent-and-trying-to-show-it’ smile. “Why don’t you try it? Variety is the spice of life, after all.”

Slowly, Twilight lifted off the dome and,

“We’re tiny!”

“We’re toony!”

“We’re more than a little loony!”

The unicorn screamed and slammed the dome back down on the tiny black and white creatures that were singing and dancing on her plate.

“Oh mon dieu,” Kat groaned as she slammed her face on the table. “...ow.”

“Ah!” Typhon happily exclaimed. “That was the other energy!”

He pumped a hoof into the air, and muttered. “The addition of a cartoon from my childhood was a nice touch.”

He turned to Kat.

“So... you said your brother had an Omnitrix?”

“Indeed,” she muttered through the wood.

The dome lifted up on one end, one of the little aliens leaning out towards Twilight. “You know, hon, if you were gonna eat me, then at least take a guy out to dinner first.”

Another leaned out, blowing you a kiss. “Goodnight everybody!” They both slid under the dome.

“But you are the dinner.” Typhon said. “Now come out and present yourself properly.”

The dome lifted off, revealing a large and delicately wrapped present. “Hey, you said to present ourselves properly.”

“And it was masterfully done.” Typhon nodded. “But do remember that there is a water tower here in Ponyville, conveniently located in such a way I can lock you in there until you agree to behave… or your timer runs out.”

“Alright fine, ya spoilsport! We’ll unwrap the present… even though it clearly says to wait until Christmas. But you obviously don’t have any sense for tradition, so!” The present spun in the air and exploded open, a familiar lavender mare falling to the table.

“There’s no Christmas here,” Kat said through the wood again.

She picked her head up and looked around. “How did you even do that? Curse you, Ditto! I will discover your secrets one day!”

“But that’s obviously not today, snooty!” A Ditto appeared out of her mane and booped her nose. “Boop!” And then bounced away like Daffy Duck.

“I really hate him sometimes,” the Twilight muttered.

“Oh.” Twilight - the one still waiting her food - blinked. “Oh! Wow! one of my alternate selves! This is amazing! This requires further study…”

As the native Twilight muttered to herself about the variables she would have to ask about, Typhon patted the visitor’s shoulders.

“There, there; the ways of Comedy are not for everypony.” He said in a soothing tone.

“Dying’s easy, Comedy isn’t!” The voice of Pinkie shouted from somewhere off into the distance.

“I like that mare’s attitude!” Ditto shouted from the other direction.

“I like Tabasco!” She shouted back.

“And here I thought that she wouldn’t appear today.” Typhon shrugged. “But what can I do? I’m but a humble Primordial being - she is outside my purview and Authority.”

The alicorn sighed, but then froze as she saw Kat there. “H-Hi Kat.”

Kat finally pried her face from the table, giving Twilight a tired smile. “Hello Twilight.”

“H-How are you?” she asked with some hesitance.

“Just fine… save for what’s happening right now.”

“Oh… that’s good… So, you’re not still mad at me are you?” Twilight finally forced herself to say.

“Mad at you? Why would I be?”

“You know for the whole: ‘I’m gonna choke the life out you, you dirty little bitch’ thing?” The alicorn shied away shamefully, getting looks from both her alternate and Typhon.

Kat on the other hoof just waved it off. “Nah, we’re cool. You weren’t in full control of yourself anyway. Don’t beat yourself up about it.”

She let out a relieved sigh. “Hoo, that anvil’s off my chest now…” She felt something strange on her back, seeing Ditto sitting on an anvil that was on top of her. “...really?”

Ditto shrugged. “Expect the unexpected because all the scripts were rejected. Just making it up as I go along.”

“Weirdo.”

“Coming from the pastel colored winged unicorn, I’ll take that as a compliment. Now, if you'll excuse me, I’m on the hunt for some prints! A crime has been committed!”

“Crime? In Ponyville?” The native Twilight asked, shocked for a moment…before remembering what the little white and black creature had said. “I think I don’t really want to know…”

“It is a crime of the most horrible caliber!” Ditto said dramatically, donning a classic Sherlock Holmes disguise. He pointed over to the counter, an empty plate with crumbs sitting there. “Someone stole the last slice of key lime pie!”

“The horror!” Pinkie shouted from somewhere in town, sobbing being heard.

“Hey!” Ditto looked to see another of himself. “I found prince!” He was holding Prince Blueblood.

“Unhoof me!” he shouted.

“No, no, no! Finger prints!” he said wiggling his little digits.

The ditto looked back and forth between his double and the Prince before giving a weird look. “I don’t think so.” Then he tossed Blueblood into the air, landing in a passing wagon.

“I wonder if he found something interesting up north…” Typhon mumbled.

“Are you quite done yet?” Twilight - the unicorn - asked with a deadpan expression. “I’m not finding this very funny.”

“You need to lighten up, Twilight.” Typhon said, allowing one of his wings to materialize for a moment to give her a wing-hug. “Things will be better once you get to Earth magic training with Applejack and Pinkie, I assure you.”

For some reason, she wasn’t reassured by his near-silent, devilish chuckling.

“We could help!” Three Ditto’s appeared, a can of helium and a hose in their hands. “We’re good at lightening things.”

“I wouldn’t trust them,” Kat uttered with a deadpan. “I don’t think the hose goes where it’s supposed to.”

“No need to do anything.” Typhon silently agreed with her. “I can levitate things very well on my own, and I have these.”

Typhon waved a hoof into the air, making a green card appear. Sticking his hoof into it, he pulled out Cooperation.

“I just remembered how bad it is to try to use this thing with hooves.” Typhon said as the rosy white/deep blue scissors began to levitate, apparently on their own. “That’s the neat part of having something with wings, though.”

“Ooh,” Alicorn Twil..let’s just go with Twi for short, said in awe of the weapons. “They look like they belong to the other princesses. Very pretty.”

“Girls and pretty things,” Ditto said with a shrug.

“Hey!” all three girls shouted at him, but Twi took it a step further by dropping a very large wrench on his head out of nowhere. With nuts and bolts spinning around him, Ditto dropped to the ground with the wrench in his hands.

“Where’s the leak, ma’ams?” he said deliriously.

“Nice reflexes.” Typhon said, resting the weapon on his shoulder. “Keep that up, and you’ll be fine - just remember to hit the bad guy in the middle of his monologue if it seems too long-winded.”

“But you even chat with them!” Twilight replied.

“Well, not…exactly - I lured a Nightmare to a position advantageous to me, then squeezed the information I wanted, then turned it into a pooka while it was busy trying to get me to sell my autonomy.” He gave her a predatorial smile. “I make my enemies come to me, Twilight; I can dictate the terrain, and work my magic as I wish that way.”

“You really are something special,” Twi said as she finally got down from the table. She looked towards the restaurant with a deadpan. “Hey! How long are you gonna hide in there? The bit’s already over!”

“As long as I want to!” came a whiny reply.

“Don’t you make me come in there, buster!” Twi warned.

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“Try me, Discord!”

“Oh alright, fine!” With a white flash, the unicorn Discord was standing in front of them. “Momma Twilight, always ruining my fun.”

Twilight’s hair stood on end for a moment, but a quick glance towards the others - particularly the combat-capable, people-reader Typhon - made her infer that this discord was an alternate self that wasn’t looking for trouble.

Not that she knew what they could have done in this situation, but she was sure he wouldn’t have allowed it to get too out of hoof.

“Erm… hi?” She squeaked.

“Hello, Discord.” Typhon said with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile. “Please be on the better part of your behavior; Twilight isn’t the only one that disapproves of the…rowdier half of your fun.”

“Oh, but my Twilight loves my rambunctious side!” Discord grabbed Twi’s hoof and did a short tango with her, a rose in his mouth as he dipped her. “Don’t you my darling?”

Twi just deadpanned again. “It was one date, Discord… and it was awful.”

“Details, details,” he said, dropping the princess to the ground. “Well, if you need me, just call! I’m gonna go bug this world’s Tia and Lulu! Ciao!” In a flash, he was gone.

“Why do I surround myself with weirdos?” Twi asked aloud. “I mean, is it so much to ask just to have some normal friends for once? Or at least someone who makes good impressions on my kids?”

“Ki-” Twilight began before a fuse blew out in her mind.

“Discord should learn to pick his fights better.” Typhon mumbled. “He of all people should know that to assume consistency in alternates is an exercise in futility.”

He shook his head.

“Besides, what would you consider a good impression?” Typhon asked the non-catatonic Twi. “Your alternate selves... do display a little bit of a tendency to be judgemental when it comes to small children, making it difficult to gauge your response to - say, asking them if they want to see something ‘cool’. No consistency, I tell you.”

Twilight shook herself out of her stupor, deciding to inhale deeply as she had under the waterfall.

“What kids? Are they eating healthy? Is-?” She got her mouth invaded by the sandwich she had ordered, and glared at Typhon as she munched at it angrily.

“Oh… that’s right, other Twilight’s don’t see them as I do. Well, there’s my son, Spike who you hopefully have here. And the other is my daughter, Nyx, who is Nightmare Moon reborn… it’s a long story.”

Twilight stopped trying to set Typhon on fire with her mind (because his ring was absorbing it all, anyways) and slowly turned to her counterpart.

“I think she’s about to have another attack.” Typhon sighed. “Spike is more of a little brother - the age difference is a little…sheesh…”

Twilight nodded with a small grimace.

“Still, I hope you learned your lesson: Princess or not, she’s still a pony, and she has the capacity for stupidity as much as any of us.” Typhon nodded sagely, while Twilight slumped tiredly, but nodded weakly. “Say, you look like a princess - if Celestia ever tries to hide her magic from a creature with sensing capabilities by stuffing it inside of you and telling you to go home, tell her to get bent--”

“To be fair!” Twi interjected. “Celestia and I had a long talk after that.”

“You are a smart mare, Twilight; you, too, are a princess, meaning that - experience or not - your opinion should matter, and thus you have to use your brain more often.” Typhon said in a genteel tone. “Far, far too many of you allow your brains to turn into mush in the presence of Celestia.”

Twilight - having noisily gulped down the enormous bite she had been forced to take - coughed roughly.

“Excuse me, but I-... It wasn’t that... I- Fine!” She threw her forelegs up into the air, exasperated. “Still, now I feel like…”

“Like it’s the closest you two have ever been since you were little?” He asked, and lifted a hoof to forestall the reply. “Celestia told me the same once. She also told me that, should you have something to say, to just do so; she wouldn’t feel like a good teacher if her student had the solution to one of her problems and kept quiet like that.”

“She told you about the scheduling disaster, didn’t she?” Twilight hid herself behind her hooves and shrunk down. “I was still in ‘she must have a reason for everything’ mode.”

“Well, not that she didn’t, but there were better ways - trust me, I’m the resident Displaced; I know her very well.” He buffed a hoof on his chest as the scissors twirled in the air. “I was one of the very, very few who had the heart to tell her off - or the head to do so. She can still surprise me, though.”

“She surprised me well enough,” Twi grumbled.

Kat tsked at her. “Now, Twilight, you said you’d try to get over your racism.”

“I’m working on it!” Twi snapped.

“Ah, right.” Typhon’s tone became flat, and his face expressionless. “Do remember, however, that two of my very best friends are queens, and one of them helped me save Kat’s life, and that in the event changelings do disappear completely... well, let’s just say that there have been numerous events that can make you wish to have them back.”

“I’m not even going to ask.” Twilight sighed, then grumbled herself. “Bad enough that my alternate selves forget what it means to be Magic”

“Magic?” Twi asked. “Oh, you mean my Element? Wow, it’s been so long I’d practically forgotten about those things. We haven’t had those in over a year, not since we had to get rid of them.”

Twilight’s face met the table, not unlike Kat’s had done.

“So you mean to say that you equated being an Element of Harmony with having the jewel?” Twilight threw herself backwards and barely managed to suppress her desire to shout. “You forgot!”

She failed to suppress that one.

“You forgot... Wow, you forgot literally the first friendship lesson I ever learned.” She was starting to sound pretty agitated, but one glance at Typhon - holding a glass of water - made her try harder to calm down. “Being an Element of Harmony is more than having the jewel to- to parade around like it’s some sort of trophy - I know the workings of some worlds, I know about the Tree. Still, being chosen is something more... more... I can’t even begin to explain!”

She let out an explosive sigh, and turned to Typhon.

“Now I know what you meant when you said princessdom made me disappointing.” She sounded defeated, but Typhon promptly held her in a side hug. “How could a me forget something that important? That special and wonderful?”

“Now, now. Not all ponies can remember that there’s more to the Elements than the crystals - do you remember when I said that ponies can forget that everypony has an element, whenever or not they were chosen to Bear it?” Typhon rubbed her shoulders soothingly. “You are the Bearer of Magic because you are special, not the other way around - as long as you remember that, you’ll always come out on top no matter how many other Twilights you meet.”

"Hey!" Twi shouted with indignation. "I am NOT disappointing! I'm just a little hard headed. I do whatever it takes to keep my friends and family safe. It's even nearly cost me my life a few times. I don't wear this necklace for decoration ya know."

Ditto was standing to the side, munching away on popcorn. "I love dinner and a show."

“I can see it in the flows of life about and within, Twilight.” Typhon said. “But you still have much to learn - or relearn in this case - if you think that, just because the focal gem rests within the Tree again, you are no longer the Element of Magic. If the Elements cannot be destroyed by breaking the jewels because the holders of their spirits yet live, what makes you think the Elements are beyond your reach now?”

“I could have answered that one... well, now, at least.” Twilight said, still remembering what happened with-

“Discord is a different case - he’s just that strong, and you that inexperienced.” Typhon once more overtook her train of thought and went straight for the issue that bothered her. “But don’t worry, soon enough you’ll be like Carrot Top - casting spells without her staff.”

"Earth ponies can cast spells here? Wow, I'd love to study that sometime. Ooh, maybe Nyx and I can make it into a mother-daughter project! So many possibilities."

Typhon rolled his eyes - typical of Twilight, really. Few were the alternates that didn’t take interest in the academic.

"Besides, we don't need the Elements anymore. We have something better."

“Twilight, take a second to turn on your brain, please; you are embarrassing yourself.” Typhon planted a hoof to his face even as he took a basic book on magic out of his inventory. “That power is still based on Harmony and the Elements thereof, only in a different form of use. You got it from the Tree of Harmony after obtaining all of the keys that appeared after a great expression of each of the Elements.”

He nonetheless passed over the book on ‘Pony’ magic, and a small book on wand-making. The proper, high-end foci were expensive and difficult to make, and so were books on them, but Twilight was Twilight - she’d find the way after getting all the facts.

Twi took the books, but not without sticking her tongue out at him. "My brain is on, but I prefer to have some fun when I'm not studying. It doesn't do any good to be a stick in the mud all day. Ask Ben if you must."

"She's a troll," Ditto confirmed with a nod.

“Typhon, have I ever been a stick-in-the-mud?” Twilight turned to him with watery eyes, making him almost flinch.

"Don't do it, it's a trap," Kat whispered.

“I can’t lie to that face!” He whispered back. “Not really - maybe overly-adhering to established procedure, but you can improvise well enough - marvelously so, actually. Just... I think Celestia herself has told you that protocol isn’t perfect and not all answers come in books.”

Twilight’s eye twitched once, but she relaxed.

"Now," Twi continued, "When I need to, I'll definitely be who I need to be and do what needs to be done. And I know my friends will always be there for me and I'll be there for them. The magic of friendship is still alive in us all, and soon we will be spreading it to the rest of Equestria."

Ditto stood up clapping and cheering as a crowd, some weeping openly. "So beautiful!"

Kat and Twi rolled their eyes.

“Well, at least the core is good.” Typhon said more to himself than in reply. “Just don’t forget yourself again, alright?”

Twilight, hunger sated and wanting to know more about her counterpart and the new Displaced, suggested they head to the library.

She just hoped that Discord wouldn’t be causing much trouble.

*****
(Meanwhile)

“You are delaying the Royal Court!” An aged unicorn with an enormous mustache blasted some more of the mass of cheese and chocolate fondue that threatened to spill past the valiant line of defense formed by the maids and janitors.

Discord himself, though, was learning that the local variants of the princesses had been... occupied by the local Discord’s tricks for far longer than his reign alone, and thus found himself having to resort to take off his ears in order to avoid hearing more from the lacteus magical constructs that were reciting the local tax code, the labor laws, and the nuances of post-stamp collection.

"And you're no fun. Go play with fondue piranhas." He so wished he could say that aloud. "Why me?"

*****
(At the library)

Typhon allowed his wings to stretch to the point they popped. The girls knew, but he still didn’t feel like explaining it to all - after all, who wanted an Awakening powered by their own deaths? Really depressing, in normal conversation, and they would still need something more; Tellurians didn’t have dream-selves, after all, and merely trying to explain the concept of having two bodies was weird enough. Having to explain that one of them was made of dreams?

“So! Since there hasn’t been any screaming... correction, panicked screaming, I assume that this is a more social visit?” Typhon asked as he adjusted his hoodie - not that it needed much, as it simply floated in the air like Celestia’s hair.

"Oh yeah," Ben nodded, back in his pegasus form. "See today, at least in our world, is my birthday!"

Kat blinked. "It's December there now?" Ben nodded. "Oh, sorry I didn't send a card."

"Nah, this is my present! To see my little sister!"

"I am not your little sister! I'm your big sister!"

"But I'm older."

"Putain you!"

“Time spent as an unconscious statue doesn’t count, so you know.” Typhon pipped in, holding back Kat from mauling her little brother. “And, much to my dismay, neither does ‘time’ that was ‘spent’ in the Void, so please subtract the adequate amount of years and state it out-loud, to settle this once and for all.”

"Around three hundred," Kat said, scratching her head in thought.

"Around twelve hundredish," Ben said, wiggling his hoof a little.

“Now I feel icky.” Typhon said. “Nearly the fifteen hundred... I feel like the old guy dating the girl half his age.”

He shuddered.

"Wait.... What do you mean dating?" Ben asked with a cold glare.

Kat whispered to Typhon, "Um, I might not have told him about us before I left, hon."

“Well, there are worse ways to find out, that’s for sure.” He shrugged off his glare. “I mean, really, really worse.”

Twi grumbled her agreement.

“Still, you should be happy for your sister!” Typhon nudged Ben’s shoulder. “She’s got a boyfriend that cooks, sews, brews tea, can fight, and even shapeshift and duplicate!”

Ben's glare didn't lessen. "I'd feel better if she was dating an actual pony."

Again, Kat whispered. "Also, Ben's a misanthrope."

“No kidding; he can’t hide it as well as he pretends to.” Typhon whispered back. “Meh! What can you do? I doubt showing him anything, even those Conversion Bureau videos with ‘mighty Solar Empress Sunbutt’ and everything, could make him change his stand, so I simply don’t care much about his opinion - concerning humans, anyways.”

He sighed deeply, noting Kat's smile as the two talked. "As long as you keep her happy, though, that's all that matters. I don't want to lose my sister again, so you'd better keep her safe."

“But of course! Anything that wants to hurt her needs to go over me first. “He floated lazily as if on an invisible hammock.

Twilight, for her part, gulped down the vile at the words ‘Conversion Bureau’. Shaking her head, he cleared her throat before addressing the otherworlders.

“Please, Equestria was founded on the principles of equality among the tribes, which then expanded to everyone, pony or not.” She recited. “Please refrain from attacking others, if at all possible.”

“Hoo... I remember the time your alternate became part of the PHL.” Typhon grimaced. “It was the final straw, though.”

“Excuse me for a minute.” Twilight simply became green and wobbled over to the kitchen.

"My other seems to have a weak stomach for strangeness. I've gotten used to it over the years, especially with all those living in my castle."

“It’s not so much ‘strangeness’ as it is... well, if... less ‘strangeness’ and more ‘Oh-my-God-how-could-they’; the words ‘Conversion Bureau’ have become near-synonymous with misanthropy and hypocrisy - around ninety-something percent of the time, the ponies decide that humanity is ‘unclean’, or ‘unworthy’, or some other ‘un-’ words and decide to literally scour them off the face of existence with a potion that clamps down souls in chains and turns them into obedient, ‘perfect’ little ponies ready to join the ‘perfect’ ponies that converted them in the first place... the other percentage consists mostly of an inevitability, as the dimensional barrier kills-slash-destroys everything not Equestria-formed, and the tiniest percentage of them all is where both worlds actually live in harmony and you have the choice to convert - but those are called things like ‘Project: Harmony’ or the like.” Typhon said. “Needless to say, This Twilight is- she’s too nice for that kind of worlds; she gave a touching eulogy for a bird she found as a filly, just because everyone deserves to be thought of fondly.”

"Wow, even I don't hate them that much. Then again, I don't kill, so I'm already against it. I'm what is known as a borderline pacifist," Ben explained.

“Tell me about it.” Typhon groaned. “I like a good spar, and roughhousing is fun and all, but hurting people? Bleck! I just hate that. Doesn’t stop me from hunting dangerous monsters or mindless undead, though.”

Ben smirked. "Heh, maybe I might like you after a--" Ben's sentence was cut short as he gasped out in pain, clutching his head.

"Oh no," Twi whispered, moving away from her friend.

There was something more than the readily-apparent.

Something was pushing against Ben - Typhon could hear it.

Something capable of thought, of... of feeling. It cried out for its freedom.

Typhon didn’t know what to do - there was no malice in the air, but Ben was down on the floor, clutching his head in pain.

He floated about, various possibilities floating about in his mind in turn. Twilight came back from the kitchen during the commotion, just as a green light engulfed Ben.

“Humungousaur!” The creature bellowed. Twilight stood agape at the immense alien who...coughed politely? "Oh oh dear," he said in raspy voice. "Does anypony have a lozenge per chance?"

"Oh," Twi said, magicking up a pill and a glass of water. "Here Hum."

"Ah, thank you your highness," the creature said as he downed the pill and water. "Ah much better."

“Interesting.” Typhon muttered from his place in the air. “You are entirely different from Ben, are you not?”

"That I am," Hum nodded in his deep British voice. "Now where did I...?"

"Third pocket from the top,"

"Thank you again, your highness." Him pulled out a pair of very tiny glass and affixed them delicately on his massive nose. "Much better. Can't see a thing without my glasses."

“The only indication that I still need my glasses - or, indeed, that my eyes work at all - is that my non-pegasus duplicates get to see the world as blurs for the first few hours.” Typhon adjusted his own glasses. “I’ve gotten so used to using my other abilities to sense the world and its colors, that I’m surprised I’m not blind.”

"Could you repeat that last bit?" Hum asked, both he and Twi were writing in their respective books. "I didn't quite catch it."

“Sure.” He happily agreed. “I have a host of sensorial abilities - the majority being through wind, air, and ‘Ki’, but including water, heat, and vitality - that have supplied me with information of the outside world; the use of which has become more than instinctual, and only a few events remind me that my eyes were not damaged during… I don’t know, an ancient-magic spell or an accident that I forgot to heal from.”

"Very intriguing," he and Twi both muttered.

"Oh mon dieu," Kat sighed. "They're in sync."

“You think that’s bad?” Typhon chuckled. “Try teaching a duplication technique to Clover - Clover was so interested, so absorbed into the idea, that Clover split off right in half and always left a colt-clone and a mare-clone… it doesn’t help that Clover was really androgynous, or that Clover’s psyche got a teeny tiny itsy-bit knocked off-kilter by the whole ‘Fire of Friendship’ thing, either.”

He coughed.

“Well, Clover wasn’t above pranks, and even before meeting me Celestia thought Clover was ‘that polite, mild-mannered colt that studies magic’ while Luna thought Clover was ‘that determined, diligent filly that put up with Starswirl’s oddities’.” Typhon scratched his head. “I don’t think they ever noticed whenever Clover switched, what with that ever-present cloak.”

"You have strange historical figures," Twi commented.

“Look, historical or not, they were still ponies; you’d do good to remember that more often.” Typhon shrugged. “I just happened to stumble onto the bits that enabled the stranger bits to surface more often. Or all the time, with Clover. Still, give the poor pony a break! Clover was ready to sacrifice life and self to save two near-strangers, and in the process saved the continent; Clover’s sense of self-importance was always nigh-inexistent.”

"Huh, intriguing. Not much is known about Clover the Clever personally. Only her works."

“If it were not for the others and me, that could have very well been the case in this world - Clover would - and did - gladly put life and self on the line to save another.” Typhon sighed. “I still didn’t let certain things be known, though; the carols? See, many speak of finding the warmth and sharing it, or unity... The happy tone and cheery beats belie the intent; slow them down, some of them really slow, like… half-tempo…and you can see it more clearly - they are dirges. Laments as Clover was half-awake and falling into a sopor from such an extreme expulsion of energy, and Cookie and Pansy were trying to... in part ease Clover away, in part keeping Clover from sleeping that last sleep.”

Twilight went over some of the carols - easy with her memory - and slowing them down. They were less about being together in adversity and more about thanking those that were there. Taking away the bells and the fast paces made them memorials.

“You can tell which ones were written as Clover regained strength - they are the ones that speak of ‘breathing spring into the coldest winter’ and similar themes, or, as you might have guessed by now, Twilight, putting a soul back together using sheer gratitude.” Typhon said, precisely as Twilight had moved from the songs encouraging wakefulness to the ones celebrating it.

Twilight remembered when Typhon(‘s duplicate) had compared her to Clover. Was she really like that? Would she have done what Clover did?

“You would.” Typhon said, startling her out of her self-reflection. “You really would.”

"Quite interesting," Hum acknowledged. "You are very wise and knowledgeable."

“My powers are based on the abstract and the metaphorical.” Typhon said in way of reply. “I can listen to unspoken words and unvoiced concerns; I had illusions forcibly torn away from me when the Veil of Reality thinned in answer to a question I had. What else can I do, but to ensure that the people I care about know how special they are?”

"Very wise words indeed. You humble me, good sir. Even as a voice, I have yet to hear such words as those you speak."

“Oh, you flatter me.” Typhon chuckled. “When someone has an advantage, it is only natural to discover its uses and limitations. Granted, that question I asked had the possibility of turning horribly wrong, so I do not recommend asking anything of the Void - the only one I can picture getting away with that is a native Celestialsapien.”

“Is that what I think you are implying it is?” Twilight asked, writing something down herself.

“Pretty much.” He nodded. “Living, conscious dimensional distortions-slash-corrections. Like the Breeze, but even less limited.”

“I would love to pick your brain sometime,” Hum said thoughtfully. “It would be a jolly good time.”

“If you dream when you are not active, then it might very well be a possibility.” Typhon replied. “I would like to speak with you some more as well.”

“Oh Ben would never allow that. It’s more like… suspended animation. We are only truly active when Ben himself dreams and wishes to speak with us. Rarely happens but there have been times when he wishes to yell at us. A lot of times he and Anger get into shouting fights.”

“That is more than close enough.” Typhon shrugged. “So long as you can, you know, actually be. Just... wait, I remembered something; Ectonourite samples have their consciousness linked to their DNA - is yours going to be a problem? Because they can get into the dreams of people, and I’d rather not have to spend any effort on that.”

Hum growled slightly. “You’re too late. Fear was the ectonourite sample, and he now roams Equestria, searching for a new host. He has been an evil thorn in our side since the beginning. He was freed by the Elements of Harmony and has done much damage since then. He created King Sombra as well as Nightmare Moon and is responsible for more than half of the problems that happened while we were encased in stone.”

“Sheesh. It’s always the Omnitrix sample, isn’t it? It can’t just be an overdramatic mansion-haunter, or even a simple felon - no, they must go for maximum cruelty, don’t they?” He grumbled and shook his head. “Things like that are what gives ghosts a bad name.”

“Well, tis more the fault of the dear boy. We only exist because his psyche is fractured,” Hum clarified.

“And he keeps rejecting you and generally making things worse, because Heaven forbid someone figure it out that quickly.” Typhon groaned as he let his head fall back. “There’s a time and place for everything, and - unless he got possessed or something and you all forgot - acceptance can heal a lot of ills.”

“Didn’t the princess say that you faceted you own mind on purpose?” Twilight interjected.

“To be fair, those are things I recognize in myself, and I work with them or - in case I’m not happy with said aspect of myself - work to better it. Rejecting it outright would likely make me go the way of Freakazoid, while fracturing my psyche and likely playing hell with Reality.” Typhon conjured a fresh pot of tea, seemingly out of thin air. “Would someone like?”

Hum and Twi both chuckled a little. “You obviously haven’t talked with Benjamin much. The lad is too stubborn to ever accept the creatures that turned him into a lab experiment. We have little care for him as well, in all honesty.”

“And that is why he has so much trouble with you - and you with him in turn.” Typhon shrugged as he served the cups. “He sees you as guilty, he pushes you away, it all spirals down and people end up getting killed. Yeah, sometimes the only option is expulsion, as I’m guessing happened to ‘Fear’, but even in those cases, you have to deal with them in the proper fashion. Fear came from Ben, even if he was split off into his own being; only by beating Fear in a manner appropriate to dealing with fear will end the menace, so no ‘seal it in stone with magic’ cop-outs or ‘use Alien X and wave away all of my problems’ - you’ll just make it worse, believe me.”

He tapped his chin in contemplation as he passed along tea and spoons made of honey.

“Unless confronting him turns him to stone, or he turns to stone at the end, I guess. It happens, seldomly, but it does; toss him into the sun in that case.”

“Well, the boy is dead set on actually destroying Fear.” Hum then growled slightly. “We all are, really. That monster has been a thorn in all our sides for far too long. He’s a wicked creature, he is. But now, if you will excuse me, my time is just about up for now.” Indeed, the Omnitrix on his belt was beginning to flash red. “It has been a very good to meet you, sir. I hope we may talk again sometime.”

“Same here; just remember what they say about those who hunt monsters.” Typhon managed to say just as the light engulfed Hum, leaving Ben behind. “In the immortal words of the beloved American actor and visionary, Bugs Bunny, ‘What’s up, doc?’”

“Ugh, I hate when that happens,” the pegasus moaned as he rubbed his head. Twi teleported in an ice pack, setting it down on his head. “Thanks, Twi. Can always count on you.”

“Anything for a friend, Ben. At least it was a lesser Voice this time around. Celestia knows what would have happened if one like Laughter, or Hades forbid, Anger got loose.”

“Who are those two?” Kat asked, still trying to comprehend her brother’s multiple personality disorder.

“Goop and Rath respectively. Oh gods, if Rath got loose…” A shudder ran down his spine. “There isn’t a force known that can stop that monster. And don’t try countering me on that, I’ve seen his work.”

“I’ve seen ‘The Hulk’ and it’s derivatives, thank you.” Typhon said, nodding. “The best one can do is just keep them in the air and-slash-or toss them into the ocean - it’s harder to break the water, although I personally took that as a challenge.”

He hummed.

“Goop... there are ways - I’ve seen Goop, and he has more weaknesses than Rath.”

“Goop’s crazier than the Joker and…” he looked dead serious at Typhon and Kat. “If I ever turn into Rath around you, do not fight him. No matter what, you have to get everyone as far away as possible. Every time he gets out, he only grows stronger and stronger, destroying everything in his path. His only purpose is destruction of everyone and everything.”

“What do you take me for?” Typhon asked, although there was no harshness to his words. “I know this sort of things; if something like that happens, there are measures, ways to get time. Besides, it’s not like he’s the strongest possible threat - no, Ben, I’m serious, there are worse things, and I know you know it and I also know you are worried because Rath appears where you once stood. Still, if there were more people of my… particular empowered disposition, it would be easier to keep him contained for the fifteen minutes.”

He mumbled something that could have been ‘another reason I shoulda picked Space’.

Ben actually chuckled. “If you have any sense, you would run from him. But, you should thank whatever deities that watch over this world that I probably will never visit again. I don’t like straying too far from my world.”

“Dude! I’m immune to physical damage!”

“That’s exactly what a few others have said in the past,” Ben laughed with no tone of humor in it. “I’ll take your word on it, but you should head mine as well. But enough with the contesting, I came here to be with my sister for the day, and that’s what I’m gonna do.”

“I didn’t live this long ignoring warnings.” Typhon muttered to himself as he simply passed some cookies he had stored. “Meh, to each their own, I guess.”

“Well, to be honest, Ben, there isn’t really much we could do around here,” Kat said while munching on a cookie she stole. “It’s just like any other Ponyville.”

“Ah, but there is one thing!” Ben shouted with his hoof high in the air. “I brought Discord along for a reason; and not to just to shut up his whining. When that goofy maniac is around, there is no such thing as a boring day.”

“I thought we were talking about Discord,” Twi snarked.

Ben deadpanned. “Oh ha ha, very funny.” The alicorn just giggled to herself.

“Just... One little, very little - almost insignificant, really - detail.” Typhon chuckled nervously. “Did the Plunder-seed thing happen in your universe? Because that’s a common one - anyways, this Discord left a lot of things like that, and the princesses are... not of the ‘sits on the throne all day doing nothing’ variety, even in times of relative peace. They are smart, sharp, and I might or might not have been playing pranks on them as well.”

“Oh!” Twilight pipped in, almost clapping happily. “Princess Celestia once showed me one of her own training session! She was great!”

Twi pointed at Ben. “He is Celestia and Luna’s old training sessions. I’ve been taking some pointers off mister diplomat here for the past year.”

“They certainly were an interesting pair, way back when,” Ben mused. “Anyways, it’s not like Disc is gonna cause any harm. He’s just out for a good time and doesn’t want to step on any hooves. He’s actually a nice guy to be around now that we’re not constantly fighting it out to get rid of one another.”

“I know; I just meant to say that…well, they might - just might - pay him back in spades.” Typhon tapped his hooves on one another. “And, for my part, I was, too, considered ‘training’. This ring on my horn? Isn’t decoration; it’s part of a set of four.”

“There are other three?!” Twilight shrieked, alarmed.

“Yup. Together, they are the Japanese equivalent of the Ee-oh-Aitch.” He nodded, and his ring blinked twice. “Well, not just Japanese, but really, I can’t list every individual country that has you.”

He cleared his throat.

“Anyways, since I am in alignment with them, I can use their magic to keep myself human… and pretty much ignore ninety percent of all non-mental spells the sisters know, and my own mind is something you do not want to attack, seriously - all warnings you gave me? Those apply to this.” He tapped the side of his head. “And I’m not the only one guarding it, either.”

Kat just shook her head, too used to her coltfriend’s overly talkative tendencies. Then she thought of something. “Hey Ben?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you have an alien that can manipulate time?”

“Time? Well, Clockwork can. Why?”

“Sweet! Come with me!” She grabbed her brother by the hoof and dragged him out of the treebrary. “We got some training to do!”

“Why do I fear for my life?” Ben asked dumbly as he was dragged away.

Twi sighed, shaking her head for a smile. “I’m sorry about him,” she said with a tired sigh. “Ben can be a little… pushy about the Voices.”

“I’m aware.” Typhon shook his head slightly. “I felt the anger, fear, and even some hate... maybe dulled with age, but it’s there.”

Twi nodded sadly. “He’s traumatized by them, from what we’ve gathered. I’ve read some of the ancient reports about Rath and the others. They’ve taken the lives of thousands, no doubt destroying a lot of Ben’s psyche in the process. Recently, Power got loose in another world and killed five thousand people in less than fifteen minutes… and Ben just shrugged it off.”

“The fractures are more like chasms, then.” Typhon said as Twilight trembled; he took her beneath his wing to help her calm down. “He’s distancing himself from them, but that…that could very well break him; they were made from him, and thus they need to be dealt with - if not by him, then by someone he would trust with his life.”

“I wish we knew how,” Twi said, wiping away a tear. “I can see it in his eyes every time he reverts; the fear, the anger, all of it. Ben just tries to keep moving forward, never worrying about the past or his future… if he believes he has one that is. We all want to help him, but he’s just so darn stubborn and thick headed!” She lets out an exasperated sigh. “He always wants to handle things on his own, no matter how hard we try to help. He’s just too used to being alone.”

“Determination and integrity are great, but being stubborn?” Typhon shook his head again. “I’ve seen what that does to good people - it has gotten them to lie to themselves, often with fatal results.”

Twilight gasped, and she was sure that the thought that just ran through her head had coursed through her alternate’s as well.

“If Hum is any indication, Ben’s smart - he has the potential to be scary smart... but as long as he remains that stubborn, his intelligence is meaningless.” He hummed, thoughts bouncing around on his head. “If- no. It’ll take work, but you could try nudging him along, instead of trying to outright-break-through. If you don’t have that much time, though, you might need actual manipulation. I am guilty of having to push a few buttons and step on some toes to advert self-destructive behavior, actually.”

“I wouldn’t say he’s self-destructive, just not self-constructive. Ben is more lazy than anything else. Just lounging around unless I make him do something. And he’s more stubborn than anything I’ve ever met. He wouldn’t even believe me about Nightmare Moon until actually meeting Luna again. Despite the storybook, Nightmare Night, Nyx, ugh! I tried many things, until I just gave up. Ben can be a pain sometimes, at least he’s kept in line most of the time.”

“Do you have a water bottle?” Typhon asked, making Twilight look at him quizzically - she was already expecting the weirdness. “Spray him. It works even better when he’s not human.”

“Tried that,” Twi nodded. “He broke the bottle over Rainbow’s head.”

“You didn’t use a projected bottle?” Twilight asked. “You should have seen that coming - if you had projected the bottle, instead of conjuring it or using a regular one, then he’d be splashed every time he tried to take it away from you.”

“We don’t want him angry, me,” Twi chided. “He gets angry very easily, and I would rather not have him mad at me. I’ve seen him mad… and I don’t want to again.”

Typhon slapped a hoof to his face.

“Another problem, then.” He sighed - he had been doing that a lot, lately. “What use is trying to help him if his anger is that scary? I can certainly be scary when I’m actually angry… but I never take it out on my friends. Hell, my brother is the same sort! I simply stopped doing stuff to anger him… then I realized that was the wrong way to go about it. He needs to learn to reign in that temper - non-negotiable - or else he… I dunno, he has to find room and board somewhere outside of your castle. YOUR castle, YOUR rules.”

”That would mean kicking out two other ponies, too,” Twi added. “Lyra and Scootaloo only live with us because of Ben.”

“A complication, then, but you still have to make your own Voice be heard. Not just the ones inside his head. He needs to remember that there are worlds outside of just him, and that there are things that are not tolerable.” Typhon huffed. “Did I get into more fights with my brother? Of course! Did he learn? You bet.”

“I’ll admit,” Twi sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time, “Ben can be irritating at time with his laziness, but when he works, he really works. Doesn’t stop the commentary, but he does very well at whatever we throw at him. He’s fairly decent and more often than not I’d take Ben over Discord any day. But, if you’re telling me to help him with how he deals with other Displaced, then you’re on your own with that. I’m not gonna tell him any differently.”

“When did we get to other Displaced?” Typhon’s confusion was genuine. “I was talking to you about not allowing yourself to fear Ben’s anger, and letting him know that his anger, justified or not, is no excuse - he needs to learn to tame that temper, or it will... well, I think you have studied Gryphon culture? They tend to be very human-like in behavior... and that includes the consequences. If he wants to treat other Displaced with the barely-disguised contempt he kept directing at me like I wasn’t going to notice, then that’s yet-another problem to be tackled at whatever time it’s appropriate - I just hope that it’s soon enough to avoid something nasty.”

He shrugged, and Twilight tried to hit him - but being pinned as she was, she couldn’t.

“How can you say that?”

“His words and anger are nothing to me - he tries so desperately to rid himself of what he dislikes that he’s damaging himself, and the opinion of me that comes from someone like that is meaningless.” He tapped her nose. “He is, eventually, going to run into someone that cannot rid themselves of such empty words with the same ease as I, and it will bring consequences... I just hope that they remain personal instead of dragging down innocent people with him - I’ve seen it happen, and I’ll see it again many more times.”

“To be fair, he’s not alone in his thinking on Displaced,” Twi added with a sour look. “They aren’t exactly looked upon kindly where we come from. Sure, I’m eager to learn about them, but I don’t want them around any more than Ben does. We have our defences as well, but I’ll leave that alone. As for Ben’s anger… I’d like to think he’d never use it against us, but… I just don’t know.” Twi hung her head. “There’s just something different about him when he gets so angry. Something… dark. I don’t know what it is, but somehow, he always calms down before he hurts any of us. The only time where it got out of control, the special Voice took control.”

“That’s what I’m talking about: Being friends is never being afraid of each other.” Typhon harumphed. “When Moonshadow wielded light enough to fuse sand into glass, or darkness enough to tear apart nearly any spell, I didn’t fear him. When Clover wove a storm of flying metal, I didn’t fear. When I tore down my own boundaries and made the sky weep black rain, my own daughter did not fear me.”

He released Twilight and floated to a nearby window.

“As for the Displaced themselves... you cannot lump them all under one single category and be done with that--

“Don’t even start,” Twi held up a hoof. “Heard it before, refusing it now. We’re sticking --”

“And that, princess of Friendship, is the point that I’m making. I’ll jump straight past the ‘not all of them are bad’ spiel and land to my point: Keep your mind open; preconceived notions are the locks on the door to wisdom. The purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows. You cannot judge them as a group - you, less than any other pony, or Gryphon, or human!” Typhon glared at Twi, unfazed by the glare he got back. “If you are going to keep the title, you are going to have to deal with the responsibilities you took… and the circumstances that awarded you the title.”

Twi actually snarled a bit. “Listen mister, I don’t know where you come off telling me how to live my life, but I think you should learn to be a bit more like us. A little isolationism goes a long way. Just because I am the princess of friendship, does NOT mean I need to be friends with everypony I meet. Would that be nice? Yes, yes it would. Is it going to happen? No way in Tartarus! We’ll keep to our world just as we always have. Will we be outright cruel to any who come our way? No, but that doesn’t mean we have to like having them. Don’t try to push your ideals on others just because you think it’s right. I don’t care what kind of powers you have, just back OFF!”

“Fine.” He replied, far too neutrally for Twilight’s comfort. “I’m not trying to push my beliefs - like that - but I just want to know you will be fair. Making friends with everyone is impossible, but it is very, very possible to make unnecessary enemies; that, dear Twilight, is the biggest problem among Displaced. On the pony side, even - it looks different, we are scared of what is different… we hate what is different. I’m a rather staunch advocate for freedom - in the words of a certain president: ‘Among individuals, as among nations, respect for the rights of others is peace’. I do not think, however, that anyone has the right to make someone else’s life miserable. Stay isolated if you want; it is actually a good defense. Just try not to brand them as evil upon first sight, if you please.”

“Never said I would,” Twi huffed. “Doesn’t mean we have to like them. You may talk a lot, but sometimes that all it seems like: talk.” She stood up and made for the door. “I’m gonna go check on Ben, you’re welcome to come with, it’s your world after all.” She made her exit.

“That went better than I expected.” Typhon said as the alicorn Twilight made her way through the street - by now word had spread of a second Twilight, so she only got congratulated on her recent Awakening twice before she got out of view.

“She accused you of not knowing what you are talking about.” Twilight deadpanned.

“She could have done a lot of other things, Twilight.” He replied. “I have seen things. I speak from personal experiences. I have lived and traveled places where Time doesn’t have a meaning. I know, I’ve seen, and I’ve done. It can grate on people - that, too, I know… and yet? I still risk these talks.”

He laid down on the windowsill, looking tired and worn.

“But remember one of my powers - I have spoken, so my words will be remembered a little bit better, recalled a little bit easier, found again a little bit faster. Other than her thinking I was pushing a belief of Universal Friendship, did we differ that much in opinion?”

“In aggressivity, perhaps.”

“Then she will remind herself that she said that they won’t be hurtful, with a bit more ease than before. It might help, or might not even make a difference.” He closed his eyes, a small headache starting to set in. “I’m part of the winds and viceversa; we act, and people might like it, might not, or it might not make a difference in their lives.”

“You- it- people being rude and getting into a debate with an alternative version of one of your friends doesn’t faze you at all?” Twilight asked, slightly-incredulous.

“No, because you just called me your friend.” He managed a small, smug smile through his headache.

“Ugh!” Twilight tossed her forelegs into the air. “That’s not the point!”

“Of course it isn’t; still doesn’t make me feel any less glad.” He spoke softly. “We may have argued, and I might have angered her, but that doesn’t mean I wish her ill, nor will it stop me from wishing her the best of luck - she’s going to need it, with someone as complicated as Ben around.”

“Is that how you deal with stubborn ponies, then? Talk at them a lot and hope they remember your words?” Twilight asked, making him scrunch his face as he pulled himself back from his almost-sleep.

“When they are so unlikely to be seen again? Then yes.” He replied, as if groggy. “To be frank, I wouldn’t like Ben to be around that much, and your alternate is a little more like him than she realizes... they are difficult, and Ben- well, you heard me; intelligence so restrained by stubbornness is limited, and his Voices, and with the Omnitrix... no, I wouldn’t like him around, but Kat deserves to be happy, and to have her brother - even if she didn’t have him around back when she was simply ‘Allison’, even if he has changed so much. I’m not going to get between that, no matter how much I’d like it if Ben stayed in his own world.”

His ear twitched, and he just opened the window, letting a song come inside.

“She deserves to be happy, Twilight.” Typhon whispered, watery eyes staying closed just a tad longer each time. “I cannot gather the will to even tell her how... how dangerous it could be.”

“Dangerous?” She parroted, quietly, though, in respect.

“For her own recovery.” He breathed out. “They both are more vulnerable than they let on - you have seen Kat, and Ben’s Twilight admitted so for him. The make each other so happy… yet they can hurt each other so very, very much…”

Twilight simply looked at him in silence, watching as he slept uneasily on her windowsill. Whatever he had done inside his own head, it had cost him.

“I wonder how is it that he hasn’t caught his death from worry yet.” She whispered as she shook her head, simply leaving him behind to keep an eye on the other arrivals.

As Twilight walked outside, she found them leaning against her home, still in conversation. “...so they’re actually real?” Kat asked, oblivious to Twilight’s approach.

“Yep. Each of the gods are alive and well in Equestria. And, honestly, they just make my life more work than I need. Especially lately, what with Voice running amok,” Ben replied with a none-too-happy grunt.

“Oh, so that’s where you disappear to,” Twi said with dawning comprehension. “Kept wondering why I kept seeing golden flashes in my castle.”

“Yep,” Ben nodded. “I’m their crummy errand boy, that’s all. Only human in the world, automatically the only hero of the gods. It sucks.”

“Hmm…” Twilight began to think about the situation. “Do they repay you? I mean, if there is no such thing as a ‘free lunch’, then the opposite also applies - no free work. There is charity, but you sound like you’d rather not bother. What are the limits? What are the rules?”

A little thing she recalled. Ponies- err, people, yes, people sometimes lack imagination, and dig with spoons for centuries thinking that digging must be hard... so, she had to learn to step back, think, perhaps admit that she will never be able to out-spoon the dangerous individuals that decide to make digging easier by changing themselves, and just build herself a shovel.

“It is a bother,” Ben said with a sigh. “And my repayment is that they let me keep living. I’m still bound by the laws of the universe, so if Hades says I die, I die. I’m ageless, not deathless.”

“Yetch.” Twilight made a face. “That’s outside my area. Figuring loopholes and making everypony stand on the same level isn’t my thing.” Although deep inside, she added ‘yet’. “Still, I thought that even gods had rules... so they can just lord around their titles? Doesn’t sound very harmonious, or… Equestria-like.”

“Well, they don’t run Equestria,” Twi answered. “Equestria has no faith system. Such teachings were abolished thousands of years ago. They are more revered in the Griffin Kingdom and the Minotaur Tribes.”

“Their only rules apply to not being able to directly interfere with one another unless in a dire circumstance. Can’t steal from each other, either. The only thing they care about is making sure nothing exists to usurp their rule or that would cause untold damage to the planet. The last time that happened… well, you’ve already seen it, actually.”

“You mean ‘you’ as in your Twilight, or ‘you’ as in ‘this could have happened to you already’?” Twilight asked, then there was a flash of light, and Discord appeared in front of them.

“Nevermind, I think I got it.” She groaned.

“Bennyboyo!!” Discord cried as he clung to Ben tightly. “Save mehehehee~!! Tia and Lulu are so incredibly BORING here!!” He sobbed into the deadpan stallion’s shoulder. “It’s torturous!!”

“They turned your tricks back on you, I take it?” Twilight glared at Discord - it still wasn’t so long ago that she had tangled with the mad draconequus. She knew he could turn good - after all, life without friends or positive interactions was an incredibly dull prospect - but she still didn’t have much taste for his particular brand of ‘fun’.

“I thought they would like my fondue flood,” he replied, sounding completely honest. “I even brought surfboards for them to join me! And what did they do? Forced me to sit with some bore of a politician!! WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU PONIES?! It’s like you have no concept of fun!!”

“I think they would have appreciated it more if you waited for a spot in their schedule instead of just barging in.” Twilight kept her stare even. “I bet you tripped every last ward they had in case the native Discord escaped, too. Be glad boring you was their limit.”

Discord pouted at her with levels rivaling the CMC. “I just wanted to have fun with other princesses. Is that so wrong?”

“Considering how you used to be, Disc, the answer would be yes.”

“Quiet you,” Discord said back to a smirking Ben.

“You know, I think I remember Typhon saying that he’s got the attention of Karma and Justice since the beginning, more so now.” Twilight began, turning away but keeping a sideways glance on Discord. “It stands to reason that others, too, would be in their... interest. I heard that Karma is a lady of particularly-unpleasant disposition, and doesn’t care if you are a worm or a god, and always collects on a debt - I wonder, do you really want to accrue such a debt, Discord? I think your friends would have told you not to mess around in a world that isn’t yours...”

Discord looks at Twilight for a moment, then turns to look at Twi, just staring. He switches back and forth for about two minutes before looking fully at Twi. “Who put the stick up her plot?”

Twi shrugged in response.

“Hmph!” Twilight fumed. “And I even considered telling you! Well, I’m going to keep it to myself, then.”

The chaotic draconequus looked at Twilight with a face of intrigue. “Tell me what?”

“Oh no, mister; do you think I’d tell you after that?” Twilight pretended to scowl - it was very good, from all that practice around Typhon. “No way I’d help you to get away with... things.”

“Things? What things?” Discord slithered out of Ben’s hooves and wrapped slightly around Twilight. “Come on, you can tell old uncle Discord. I won’t tell anyone. I’ll be your best friend.”

Twilight could feel how the words flowed like treacle, although that could be just a side-effect of hearing Discord’s voice - that serpentine body of his was definitely a fitting appearance.

“Well, must everything you do be so... bombastic?” Twilight gave him her best conspiratory look. “Be more subtle; maybe not an outright prank, but change something that’s usually taken for granted. Leave ponies wondering.”

“Don’t sign every painting.” Typhon walked out of the library, squinting. “It works best on skeptics and stressed people. Also, I have to tell Celestia that the sunlight it too loud.”

“The princesses followed me here, btdubs,” Discord said nonchalantly. “I think they’re after me. But to your point… I don’t want subtle! That was my old job! I want everypony to know I’m there! Something to be looked upon in amazement!”

“Have you tried an amusement park?” Celestia spoke from behind Discord himself, causing him to turn his head back very, very slowly without actually moving the rest of his body. “I, and thus, likely her, are rather busy, but would gladly give you a plot of land if that meant not having to re-do two hours of paperwork.”

“Have you even spent two hours in your study this week, Celestia?” Typhon asked as pointedly as he could with the gongs ringing inside his head.

“That is besides the point.” She retorted, much more sharply than he had.

“Does everypony have a stick up their plot in this universe?” Discord commented. “Because if so, I never want to come back.”

“Reminds you too much of your original job?” Ben asked.

“...I don’t remember.” Discord took off his scalp and scratched his brain. “My past is still pretty blurry. Even when you tell me things, I can’t recall them from before I went cuckoo for cocoa puffs.”

“That’s right!” Twi spoke up with a hoof in the air. “You said Discord was a god once, didn’t you?” she asked Ben.

“Yep,” he nodded. “Ponies, meet Thanatos. God of the Dead.”

“Whelp, there goes my headache.” Typhon gritted his teeth as Twilight struggled with the concept and Celestia raised an eyebrow. “It’s a migraine now; I hope you are happy. Do- you know what? I’ll keep it to myself.”

“I can’t- you- how does a psychopomp turn into you.” Twilight’s voice broke a little. “I can’t-”

Celestia calmed her down brushing a wing over her.

“I admit to have some trouble connecting the two.” Celestia added. “Typhon has told me of the variations - you and your alternates very rarely let somepony die, even with the wildest of your antics.”

“That’s why he went crazy,” Ben replied. “He got tired of death and tried to undo it or something like that. He’s not exactly well liked by the others anymore.”

Kat shook her head. “The crazy merde you get yourself into Ben, I swear.”

“Language,” he chided.

“Va te faire foutre,” Kat responded.

“Meh, even Death can die, you know?” Typhon shrugged, his eyes closed pretty tightly. “God knows I’ve twisted my fair share of ‘laws’ and ‘rules’.”

“In the pursuit of Understanding?”

“Nope. I thought that you of all ponies would have figured it out by now, princess.” Typhon smiled, and his features softened. “I’m arrogant enough to be humble - I am more about perception than understanding. That’s Auric’s gig, anyways.”

“Ah, right. That is both the why and the how of your development of skills most would consider mutually-exclusive.” Celestia made a thoughtful hum. “Still, gods? I hope they won’t bother us all the way here…”

The pointed look and the way she trailed off were more than enough clues for Typhon, who just began to grin evilly despite himself and his headache.

“No worries from us, Tia,” Ben waved off, not even looking at them as he toyed with the token he gave to Kat. “Our universe tends to keep to itself and the gods want it to stay isolated as much as we do. Now just a few more tweaks and… there! Ha, I knew I could do it!”

“Oh Celestia, what did you do now?” Twi sighed, the solar princess smirking slightly at the alternate alicorn.

“Watch this,” Ben replied as he pinned the token on his sister. “Now, this may tingle.”

“As long as you don’t do anything too stupid, Ben.”

“Oh hush.” He tapped the badge, setting off a green flash. When it subsided… “Wrong button.”

“That just fills me with confidence.” Typhon chuckled.

Kat looked over the new her, frowning. “I am not amused brudder,” the now very young filly lisped.

“What’s the problem? You look adorable!” Typhon snickered and hugged the mini-pony. His wings were gone now, being in public, so he had to squeeze the stuffing out of Kat with his own forelegs.

“Dis is not helping, Ty,” she groaned. “I’d wadder be sexy den cute and adowable.”

“My bad, sis,” Ben apologized. “I hit the wrong button. See, I modified your token so you can change into your pony form whenever you need to. Apparently, it added an age feature as well. Guess stealth will be even easier now, eh?” Her glare was enough to shut him. “Right, sorry.”

“Aw, don’t be so angry!” Typhon smiled that mischievous smile that schemers and plotters put on their faces when they find a nice, straight road without any traps. “Adults forget how perceptive children can be, or how smart; they tend to think they are cleverer and more discerning on pure virtue of the number of candles on their birthday cake. Take Applejack, for example!”

“Wait, what?” Twilight began but was ignored.

“I’ve pulled my own share of heists and tricks with the guise of a child, you know.” He continued to ignore Twilight even as she poked him angrily. “Walk in, ask a few questions, then steal... I don’t know, the keys of a warehouse. And no-one wants to admit they got bested by a ‘runny-nosed brat’, either, so the humiliations are a nice bonus.”

“Maybe so, Typhon, but now age weawy is factow,” Kat pointed out with a smirk. “Now change me back.” Ben hit the button, turning Kat back to normal.

“Sorry Ally.”

“That reminds me of Professor Clockwinder.” Celestia closed her eyes thoughtfully. “I still have yet to find an appropriate way to congratulate him on his...third fiftieth birthday, although he’s glad that he doesn’t actually have to get one-hundred and fifty candles.”

“Professor Clockwinder is oddly prone to mistakes with basic math.” Twilight scratched her head. “I’m not sure how he can, though, since he’s fine when dealing with all those other calculations first; it’s only when he starts with a simple sum when he trips.”

“Still, if Discord here is not about to fill my room with dairy products again, I cannot see why he shouldn’t stay.” Celestia added, under her breath. “Or I should.”

“I’d have liked to be there.” Typhon said. “I have a surfboard, and wind at-will, so…”

“Unfortunately,” Twi broke in, “we really should be going back home. I have to make sure Nyx is in bed by ten for school tomorrow.” She then gives Ben a sly smile. “And Lyra’s gonna be missing her Benny-wenny.”

“Stop with that!!” he shrieks. “Stop egging on my stalker!” The alicorn just giggles as Ben fumes. “One of these days, Twilight, one of these days, BANG! POW! ZOOM!! STRAIGHT, TO THE MOON!”

“It’s not that far.” Twilight said. “And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t joke around with what’s likely the most traumatic event in the life of one of the most important ponies in my life.”

“I find it…oddly calming, Twilight.” Celestia let out a content hum. “It makes me feel like Luna’s return is…”

“Easier to accept?” Typhon added, getting a nod in return. “Besides, stalker or not, at least you have somepony that will always listen to what you say…of course, the downside is that they will always listen. Forever.”

The glare lands on Typhon. “Not. Helping.” Ben turned to Kat. “Seriously, what do you see in this guy?”

“It’s complicated,” she responds simply.

He shrugged. “Whatever. So long as you’re happy and he’s a good guy, I won’t say nothin’.”

Both Twilights had a slight twitch of the eye at the double-negative, particularly at what it ended up as.

“I’m aware I have that effect.” Typhon pursed his lips. “I think oddly, and often speak what’s on my mind; not the best of combinations, I admit.”

“That’s an understatement; I saw you have three conversations at once, the three of them with Pinkie.” Twilight pipped in. “I’d say that keeping up is like trying to catch The Breeze by running.”

“What you did there. I see it.” Typhon chuckled. “Anyhow; Ben, Twilight from another universe, Discord from the same, nice to meet you... say, is there anything you need? Before you go, I mean.”

“I’m alright,” Twi waved off. Discord just shrugged while peeling a grape that revealed a kiwi.

“I think we’ll be fine.” Ben put out his hoof to Typhon. “I’m trusting you, Typhon. I trust you understand what would happen if you break my sister’s heart?”

“I’d hand you the stick, Ben.” Typhon knocked his own hoof against Ben’s.

“Good man… stallion… whatever.” Ben turned to Discord. “Alright, take us home, chaos maker!”

Discord flashed on a turban and poofy pants. “As you wish!” He twisted and twirled his snake-like body round and round before creating a portal. “See you on the other side~!”

Twi just sighed and shook her head. “I really need to start hanging around the girls more. My brain can’t take too much more of this. Nice meeting me for a change!” she waved to Twilight before jumping through.

Kat and Ben hugged tightly, Ben placing a soft kiss on his sister’s forehead. “Stay safe, alright?”

“Always, Ben. And don’t do anything too stupid, okay?”

“No promises.” He just laughed as Kat slugged his shoulder. “It was very nice meeting you all,” he bowed to the others. “But learn to take it easy every now and then, eh? Y’all got too many sticks stuck up there.”

“I was in the middle of something delicate, so I take it you would understand if my disposition towards Discord was less-than-favorable.” Celestia frowned slightly, thinking of the fondue on her yarn.

“It’s an off-day.” Typhon shrugged.

“I’m trying to get something useful out of him.” Twilight pointed at Typhon.

“Maybe join him and Ally some night. You’ll get something useful alright!” Ben cheered as Kat blushed, Typhon politely coughed into his hoof. “Ben 10 is out! Peace suckers! See ya later, Ally!” Ben lunged for the portal. “Geronimo!” he shouted, disappearing along with the portal itself.

“He’s related to you, alright.” Typhon nodded. “I’ll send him an email sometime, even if I have to hack into a typewriter to do it.”

Kat deadpanned at her coltfriend. “One, they have computers there. Two, you’re sleeping on the couch tonight.”

“You know, the house is mine, and I don’t sleep.” Typhon was still nursing a headache, but it was mild enough. “I’ve done nothing to you that warrants that highly-offensive cliché; I get that you’re mad, but still... you didn’t have to use that line…”

“Typhon, you know I love you, very much so. But from the way you acted today, I don’t think anything less would have gotten through to you. I can’t exactly punish Ben or his Twilight, but I sure as enfer can for you. All three of you got into fights with each other, not physical but with words, and you didn’t do anything to stop them, only made them worse. You’re all at fault, so you’re either on the couch, or I’m sleeping on a cloud.”

“I... I know I can’t say this justifies it, but I had to make absolutely sure I knew where they stood. The timeframe was short, so I had to make do.” Typhon scratched the back of his head. “And I still find it offensive that you’d imply it’s just... physical. I understand your point and all, but... meanings, Kat. I’ll stay up if I have to, but…”

He simply kept quiet, letting his eyes wander to the ground.

Celestia just shook her head - She didn’t fully understand what that phrase meant for a human, but could puzzle it out the way it was spelled to her. She simply vanished in a puff of smoke.

“I’ll just be home if you need me.” Twilight quickly cantered out of there, for much the same reasons Celestia went away.

Kat stared at the colt for a moment before letting out a deep sigh. “Satané.” She wrapped her hooves around him, keeping him close as she nuzzled him. “It’s not about the physical parts of our relationship, Typhon. But I have nothing else to get through to you when you let your paranoia control your actions. I get it, you’re trying to keep everyone safe, but you need to be careful of how you use your words. I could feel Ben and Twi’s anger and I’m not even empath. I’m not all that mad, I just don’t want you to keep acting like this.”

“I... I can feel it.” He returned the embrace, and tightened it after a few seconds. “Their words - they told a lot more than the pure meaning of them, and that worried me - worries that Twilight’s alternate didn’t quite put to rest. The odds were already against me; I had to make sure. Ben is... is broken, but there is good in him, no matter how much he tries to hide it - but he’s trying to hide it, the other Voices are breaking him further. Twilight is wavering, too, and I had to see how honest she really was. Ben doesn’t want help, and Twilight is scared to help, I looked at a thousand things and everything felt wrong.”

Kat slowly ran her hoof up and down his back. “Typhon, can you do something for me? Right now, just stop thinking. Just for a moment, just shut down that overpowered brain.”

Typhon blinked rapidly, his beating heart was making him feel way too warm... and he exhaled. Clear everything. Breathing deeply, helped along by Kat’s voice. His ears felt like they were burning, and his face was much warmer than usual. He shut his eyes and groaned slowly - his headache was back. He just focused on the hoof upon him, and his breathing.

“My head hurts.” He moaned the obvious, but didn’t concern himself with being simplistic. “I’m sorry.”

Kat shushed him, clinging just as tight. “You’ve done a lot today, I’d be surprised if you didn’t have a headache. Ben’s attitude gave me one at first, too. But I need you to not focus on him or the other Twilight, or any other world at all. Just what is happening right here, right now. Focus on me, and your daughter, and all your friends. We are safe because of you, and right now, that’s all that matters.”

“Thanks.” He smiled as he breathed out. “It’s so easy, being around you.”

“I just like to help. And what kind of girlfriend would I be if I didn’t help the man I love?” She kissed his cheek lovingly. “Feeling better?”

“Lots.” He let it out like a weigh. “Can’t believe I got myself so lost in probabilities so quick after coming back from one. I- Your brother is a good man, but he worries me.”

“It’ll be fine. I trust Ben fully, despite his outlook on things. I just want you two to get along. After all,” she softly ran her tail under Typhon’s chin. “I’m planning on a nice future here.”

“Believe me.” Typhon chuckled as the strands of hair tickled at him, and the scent met him right on. “I have laid some foundations already.”

“Hmm… well, how would you like to something else down?” Kat asked, looking at him with half-lidded eyes. “Or someone?”

“You won’t find me objecting.” He replied.

Intermission: Writ Keeping 2 and Searching for the Star in the North

About me. (Draft No. 3)

As an example of one of the uses I give Message: The movement of a pony disturbs the air, so, if I load the air with my 'presence', it is equivalent of me being there, and the displaced air would be like a touch; the Message I give the air reacts to the pony and his or her actions, and effectively creates a feedback Message. There is no expenditure of magical energy, only mental effort - granted, it can be tiring just the same, and at the time of this writing my influence (without assistance) is neither powerful nor developed enough to make conscious use of the tornadoes that ponies like Storm Shadow can make.

(Draft No. 7)

As I (am intended to) control all that is the air through Message, I am trying to see if I can access the Magic floating in it, just like ponies can touch upon Message with their own Magic; so far, all that I have obtained is problems - the lack of control over the magic makes reigning in the more powerful of applications of Breath difficult, because The Breeze tries to assist me and makes complete containment almost impossible. I can contain cyclones so that only the funnel is the dangerous bit, but trying to pull my punches so that the sideways wind doesn't bore a hole clean all of the way through rock is pretty much a dream at this point.

Ponies, with their magic, simply do not have that problem; if they only intend to hit the target, unless they really overpowered the technique, the use will only affect the targeted area, dissipating quickly. Thanks to the fan Storm Wand and its variations, however, I can now move much more air than a pony - although making precise use of it is difficult as said before; if Ascension is a real possibility, it might just provide me with what I'm missing.

The Alchemiter works based on psychic/space-time patterns, 'data', producing plenty of things that I can use easily; it has trouble working with magical things. I need the assistance of a pony to get magical objects to work (or wait until my own studies in magic have progressed far enough to do it myself). That will have a document of its own - if I have truly failed, then just follow The Breeze back to one of the Alchemiters, there is going to be a document pertaining to its use there - if you have not yet received the card with a computer, a tablet, or Plex-i-Glasses in them (or simply you do not know how to operate them).

Again, if you are a friend, then it is highly likely that you know why I would be so prepared in the eventuality of my demise. If the scenario has occurred, or if there isn't enough time, or simply if speaking of it is too difficult for me, then let me say it simply:

Equestria is in danger.

Before you roll your eyes and say 'when is it not', I meant to say an external danger, outside even Tellus. Right now, the world is still recovering from Discord's influence, and the dragons are getting rowdy... it's going to get worse in the future - some things I cannot explain for fear of interfering with the solution, so I am going to be discreet about it if possible.

And yet, the danger I am speaking of is different in nature.

Remember when I said the three components? Message is the component of thought, and thought and data can travel with much less restrictions than matter or magic.

Much, much less.

By sheer virtue of their existence, ponies have garnered the interest of... things beyond. Nothing new here, we all knew this already. If you have access to my 'Computers', or come from a world similar to my, you know a part of this.

The problem is that some of these spectators aren't content with staying that.

The good news! Thanks to some sources both local and... foreign, I have concluded that this world, and, in fact, all of this reality and those similar to it, have nothing to worry about from winners of the Path of the Conqueror of a Dead Session. Do not concern yourself with the meaning - all there is to say on them is that they obtained unconditional immortality and nigh-unlimited power to destroy what they want... but not here. They might still posses powers far surpassing those I expect to have, and some form of conditional immortality, but I doubt that they would risk themselves like so - Discord should be enough to match them in power, even with their assistants, but he is definitely going to be more devious and refined in battle.

And once you take Discord's mastery of Message and Magic into account? I wouldn't bet against him.

As such, none of them will expose themselves like that. The source of our powers falls outside of the purview of this place's 'regulators', so they will be way too vulnerable. Elements of Harmony For The Triumph!

The bad news is that anyone else won't have to face that sort of risk. The risks for the rewards aren't going to be so disproportionate.

Nightmares, in particular. My 'dream-self' is a dream with physicality, and they want that - badly. They can, if they work together, just about make an astral projetion of another dreaming being, or data beings, too... but they won't last; like a newly-minted Bogeymane, they have no hold on this world save a handful of memories.

Thus, they are trying to kill me with these phantasmagorical things so that they can overtake my hold - but they need to be the kind of things that would fight me - irrespective of the reason, just that I lose consiousness/my life to something channeling Nightmare power.

It doesn't work like that, though, so all they are doing is wasting energy. Still, I don't think that letting the likes of 'Griefers' and 'Trolls' gallivanting about Equestria is a good idea no matter how temporarily, and doubly-so when the gryphons from the north-east country are getting... antsy.

Hopefully, I'll be able to refine some kind of psychic power by extrapolating from my current powers - that should help with magic casting as a human.

*****
(Middle of the Dock of Nowhere, West of where the Crystal Empire is supposed to be)

'Bluey' was checking his compass for the hundredth time that day, waiting until he had his fill of 'exploring' the blizzard that had made them stop and set up camp for the night. They were under a dome of magic, courtesy of the unicorn that insisted on travelling with the lithologist he had been recommended.

Then he appeared. Just there, but a few paces into the snowfall.

"Hello." The faceless bogeymane spoke, with that voice of mashed-together glass and tearing things. "You seem... stressed."

No kidding. The only way to be a hunderd-percent sure he was still there was because of his crazy-stupid height and his black suit with a red tie standing out.

"I don't fancy having to look over the rest of our sleeping partners all by myself, during a blizzard that doesn't let me see past our shelter." He replied, making sure to not react too visibly to Slender's (actually quite decent) attempt at walking as if he had a real skeleton.

"Hehehe, then I have good news!" The sounds were less violent, so Blue knew he was speaking jovially. "There used to be some creatures of frost near our little party... the fear of predators has a great taste."

The cheeks bulged slightly, like he had an actual smile underneat that blank skin.

"You are in a good mood for somepony who spent three whole nights grumbling about stopping." Blueblood gently placed his compass inside on of the many pockest of his belt, thanking the thick cloth for the thousandth time. "Speaking of that, I never had the chance to ask you: How can you stay out during the day?"

"Oh, I am far too strong and real for simple sunlight." Slender's smile started doing... something. A thin, black line was revealed, like drawing his smile onto his 'face'. "Most of my kin are content with simpler hauntings, jump-scares, things of that nature."

He started leaning forward, and Blueblood stood his ground even as the smile widened, revealing sharp teeth of the blackest void and a thick, forked tongue.

"Filling, I admit, and quite delicious." He grinned, his jaw closing in such a way that Blueblood saw only a black wedge sharp as a cutout on a white face otherwise blurred to indistinction by the swirling snow.

The thick coat stopped the chill before it made it to his head, and Blueblood swore to send something nice to Rarity once everything was over. He thanked the clothes once more.

"I, however, go for something a little... stockier." He said, and he moved. He was gone, but Blueblood could feel him standing just beside. Slendermane aligned his head next to Blueblood's, whispering with the sounds of rustling leaves and silky curtains. "Respect is far superior, and the fear of predators is exquisite."

"You stalk criminals." Blueblood stated, with a calm he didn't know where he was drawing from.

"So, so many ponies and bogeymanes think of power as an end, or as something big and flashy - long lists of spells, large amounts of cash, military might, raw physical strength..." Slendermane chuckled as he walked away and turned back to face Blueblood. "I just need to be there, when I need to be. A glimpse, that odd sense that I do not 'belong' in the picture they see, but gone if they stop to look more closely... minotaur and gryphon smugglers and robbers stand out, and all I need to do is appear at just the right spot."

Two black tendrils stretched to the air.

"My stories have been spread far and wide, and part of it is that I can be out in the sunlight..." That black wedge of a smile was back. "The showmare has heard quite a few of them, I'd wager."

"Well, it's almost time for Beloved and Dagger to start their shifts; I'd better get my rest - don't want the navigator to be to tired to tell north from south, after all." Blueblood changed the subject - he had heard a few himself, and he had dismissed a few as 'convenient accidents'.

Convenient, maybe. Accidents... not so much.

Author's Note

Slendermane and Slendermare are like Nurarihyon, but with tentacles. His best powers are 'to be there', 'to be noticed', 'to not be noticed' or 'not be there', and he rarely needs anything else.

It makes far too much sense.

Wake-up Call Dreaming

(Arrival Era, one week after the adoption)

I stomped my way through the house. Starswirl was... Gah! He was really annoying! Exuberant like Pinkie, inquisitive like Twilight, and an insane scientist/wizard.

"Is there a problem, Typhon?" Wind Whistler said, peeking out of the kitchen. She'd taken a lot of interest in my world's food, and from the smell I'd say she was cooking something with bell peppers. “I heard indecipherable grumbling.”

"Starswirl is starting another of his lectures." I said, and one of her eyes and ears twitched. "I slipped up and mentioned dream-based magic altering reality—because being awake and in two places at once twenty-four/seven is confusing me—and he just went into a huge fanboy-slash-wizard tirade about discovering the way to use it. He's excited that there's so much new stuff to learn, and mad that I keep breaking his perception of the universe. I get it, he's excited, but seriously! At this rate, I think that the only way to make being around him tolerable is to become a mad scientist myself."

"I, too, shall join you." She deadpanned, before adding in a more upbeat tone. "This foreign magic you study seems like it can accomplish great things if combined with what we already have, and what we can research in other worlds."

"I think we have to progress on our mindscape-building before that, though."

“More meditation and self-discovery?” Whistler raised an eyebrow. “How much more enlightenment do you seek?”

“You know, it’s getting harder and harder to tell if you’re actually complaining or making fun of me.” I replied, crossing my arms and pursing my lips.

“Then everything is going as I wish.” She smiled before sticking her tongue out at me.

“I fear for the sanity of the stallion that ends up with you.”

*****

(The Present, Ponyville)

Rarity knew there was something off about the two ponies she was looking at, but for the life of her she couldn’t rightly tell what.

“How could you just take the last ProtoPony action figure for yourself like that?” The unicorn of the pair, a bubblegum-pink mare with a blonde mane and cutie mark of a smiley-faced sun, half-whispered angrily to the other pony. “I thought I told you that I was going to gift the MegaMare figure!”

“And I distinctly remember saying that it was just the one missing from my collection.” The other mare replied with a huff; her mane was a midnight blue, and her coat and wings a very light cornflower blue, with a purple heart for a cutie mark. “Did we not agree to handle the gifts separately, in any case? Going back and forth every other one?”

To that, the unicorn bit her lips. It appeared that she forgot.

They kept their bickering fairly quiet, even as the party was winding down so that the party colt and his family had the chance to go to the train station to celebrate his birthday with the rest of the family in Las Pegasus.

Rarity may not have had much dealings with Ditzy or her family in the past, but it seemed that she was more appreciative of the dress than she thought. Little Crackle Pop was simply ecstatic to travel all across Equestria with his siblings, if not by train then likely courtesy of Typhon taking them in a carriage thousands of meters up into the air. He just loved spoiling all the foals in Derpy’s family, and even her from time to time, and her sisters… the list was going to be rather long, all things considered.

The pair from earlier was still at it, though, now arguing about how intense each other got about their hobbies.

They were obviously familiar with each other; their discussion just had that feel of two ponies that loved each other deeply yet drove each other up a wall. Really, she thought they might even be sisters, despite being as different as night and day!

Night and day?

But that- and they-! would they just-?

They would!

It was—paradoxically—simultaneously sudden and as if she had always known. The world broke apart like glass, fell away in shards, and left behind… pretty much the same scene—save for the two alicorns that stood at the very peak of the Equestrian Government, that is.

Princess Celestia looked very strange with the proportions of the average mare, although her solid-pink, non-flowing mane helped Rarity distance what she was seeing from what she knew (or thought she knew) of the world. Luna, for her part, looked like an even shorter version of the pony she had met that fateful day of the Thousandth Summer Sun Celebration.

In hindsight, she felt like she should have expected something of the sort to happen after everything that had already happened. All that you could really know was that you knew nothing, or something of the sort that Twilight had said somepony famous had said.

She would have approached them, had she been the pony she had been before the second coming of Discord; as it was, however, she figured that they were simply hiding who they were to attend little Crackle Pop’s party in peace.

Something felt slightly odd about the whole day—that is, besides the fact that royalty had apparently decided that they should have a sisterly spat during a foal’s birthday party—and she couldn’t tell what. Derpy and her husband were as love-dovey as always, and their colts and fillies were full of energy (and cake)… what, if anything, could be wrong about this day?

For a moment, she thought about maybe the number of foals was off, but counting them in her head and listing their names revealed nothing yet made her think she may have been on to something. Crackle, Amethyst (or Sparkler), Dinky, Dipsy, Chirpy, Dizzy, Twerpy… nopony was missing, so why did she feel something had changed?

Before that thought could truly start bothering her, she had spotted her quarry.

A pegasus she was sure had never seen the particular color combination before, nor the cutie mark, but the other tells were there: wings, hairstyle, odd lack of certain body language and exaggerated gestures to compensate. He was currently talking to Pinkie Pie.

“Sorry; without everything going on full, this is the best I can give—” he gave her a relaxed smile and pointed at his own face “—and not look fake. See?”

He was right, as he tried smiling more widely, which made his expression seem plastic. Odd, but then again, he was indeed projecting a different feel to him, almost like he had stopped being Typhon and was… she didn’t know who, but maybe he was the pony who had decided to become Typhon, like in Spike’s comics.

“I’m an introvert using a lot of tricks to make myself more expressive.” His ears fell flat against his head.

“Oh, don’t you worry about a thing.” Pinkie placed a hoof over his shoulders. “I have a sister somewhat like that.”

With a gentle hug, they went their separate ways.

Which meant Rarity had the moment she needed to get some questions answered without needing to get Pinkie involved.

Seriously. Just because she loved her friend did not mean she wanted the Pony of Mass Distraction herself near while she tried discussing things of a delicate nature.

It appeared that Rainbow Dash had the same idea, because she was coaxing Fluttershy in the same direction.

And she really shouldn’t have been surprised to see the royal sisters had something to say, too, but she still was. A little, but still.

With a nod of his head towards the door, they headed outside for a bit of peace.

There had been a quick drizzle during the night, compensating for a brief dry spell caused by Everfree’s winds disrupting the schedule; the wind felt chilly despite the clear skies, although it was not quite scarf weather just yet, even with the slush on the ground.

Soon after, they were talking next to the fountain in the middle of the plaza.

“Before we begin…” he held up a hoof, then brought it and his other one around Luna in a bone-crushing hug.

“Thank you.” He closed his eyes, sounding greatly relieved about something.

Luna, for her part was struggling and squirming, trying to wiggle out of the hug that—Rarity could plainly see from the princess's expressions—was actually crushing something.

By the look of surprise on Luna’s face, he had gotten much stronger and was doing a lousy job of holding back.

Whatever the princess had done, it had to have been quite something to make this new form of his react like that. He was even less expressive than normal, and she could tell even if she had only been around him for a few minutes today.

Just as she felt like saying something and just as she saw princess Celestia move as if about to interfere, Typhon released the mare, who for her part rolled her shoulders and hissed slightly.

There were tears in his eyes, and he was smiling like a fool as he ran a hoof through his mane.

“You- I don’t know how you did it, but you changed things!” He chuckled and looked dazed; Rarity thought he actually looked overwhelmed. “You saved Runic Script!”

Alright, now Rarity was simply confused.

“How so, darling?” She thought back to the party as she spoke. Crackle Pop was with his parents, Amethyst was running herself ragged trying to keep up with the others, Ditzy was… well, being herself, if overly affectionate with her husband, while Runic was not much different from other times outside of keeping his brother Written Script close whenever he wasn’t with Carrot Top. They were not giving any kind of indications that any of them had had a brush with death in the short period of time since she saw them, but who ever knew anything for certain nowadays? Typhon himself bounced back from nearly anything with an ease that would have concerned her were it not for him acknowledging that his mind had been altered by the Void somewhat.

Right, his words had been “even more”, so maybe she should be concerned anyway.

“Sorry, sorry.” He ran his hoof through his mane again as he breathed in, clearly trying to see where to even begin. “She did something, something that changed the past; it concerned me, in a way, but because my personal timeline has always been muddled in relation to this one… I remembered. Sort of.”

“I tried to see if I could help, see if time itself could be bent to recover that which should have never been lost.” Luna, melancholic, stared off into the ripples of the water. “Lucky Clover and Wind Whistler were my friends, and I had the need to know if I could have done something more. Could do? ‘Tis confusing to explain.”

“There had been an accident.” Typhon drew a deep breath, steeling himself before continuing. “It’s likely what would have made Applejack follow the same path as many of the other alternates of her. Runic had been keeping an eye out; he stepped in… he didn’t get out.”

Rarity flinched, now understanding slightly better what had happened earlier. Whatever Luna had done, it caught up to them sometime between the last time she had seen Ditzy, or whichever name she wished to be called, and that very morning.

“Anyone native to this world is less likely to even notice, unless they have enhanced perspectives or the like…” Typhon sighed and looked downcast, pausing for a moment. “Like Bright Eyes- well, like Ditzy.”

And now, all of the present either winced in sympathy, or froze as the horror struck full-force.

“I’m sorry if I brought the mood down.” He once again reflexively ran a hoof through his mane.

“Never apologise for grieving.” Celestia said with conviction.

“Thank you, Sunshine.” Typhon replied in gratitude and hugging her lightly.

“So there is something I want to know….” Typhon began and paused as he sniffed.

“I want to know, how did you know who I was that fast?”

Fluttershy perked up. “Well, your tail is longer than most stallions, your wing and remex size is relatively-unique for your height, your body language is subdued in places so you exaggerate gestures, you never bump into anypony even when you’re not looking, and Rainbow Dash noticed you don’t make puddles splash when you step on them.”

The sisters (plus Rarity) turned back on the path they had taken, and noticed that there were, indeed, a few puddles leftover from the quick winter sleet the previous night.

“I, uh…” Rainbow Dash was about to say more, but she was hesitating too much and looking at the disguised sisters. “I think anything I say can wait, your hi-I mean, prin-”

She slapped a hoof over her own mouth to keep quiet, her eyes darting from side to side.

Rarity wondered if she could make fedoras that fit Fluttershy’s and Rainbow’s color scheme without being overly bright; they deserved it.

“Thank you, Rainbow.” Celestia smiled warmly and nodded to the speedster. “My sister woke up this morning with symptoms curiously resembling those of a hangover, compounded by the fact that she actually woke up during the morning. She insisted on asking something of you before she told me the reason.”

“I wished to inquire as to the nature of Twilight Sparkle’s more recent development.” Luna said, slightly flustered. “Our recent encounter in the psychoplanes emboldened me, along the creation and stabilization of this minor if highly-successful time loop, it thus gave me an idea—”

“Confessing in dreams is a little cheesy.” Typhon pointed out, making Celestia burst into laughter while falling to the ground with Rainbow Dash following soon after, Luna began sputtering incomprehensibly, and her cheeks acquired a pink tint to them. Fluttershy made a somewhat neutral expression by biting her lips, refusing to comment or show a reaction.

The sound of a hoof striking somepony else’s forehead resounded in the plaza.

“Huh, that’s the first time you actually managed to hit him.” Celestia commented before bursting into giggles again.

“And now you’re not as worried as before.” Typhon said, with Luna’s hoof still on his forehead. "Also, you hit like a cannonball. Ow."

“Yes, well, I would rather keep this from becoming a puerile comedy; let us move on before my sister starts talking about her pairing charts.” Luna evidently took no small satisfaction in the speed with which Celestia stood up and went quiet.

“Just because I like romances that doesn’t mean I want to imitate my niece.” She pouted as she replied, making Typhon chuckle a little.

Luna raised an eyebrow in suspicion, but muttered that it had been centuries. That and a quiet "Maybe she changed?"

“That is not what I meant, sister.” Luna narrowed her eyes, leaning forward just enough to make Celestia understand that she had to make a better effort to remember what Luna originally meant. “I seem to recall some unsolicited advice in romantic partnership?”

The wince told her that Celestia finally remembered.

“Your question, Luna?” Typhon cleared his throat, and gestured to the other three mares, now awkwardly trying to make it seem like they were not feeling awkward with being sidelined by (yet another) sisterly spat.

“Ah…” Both sisters had the decency to look ashamed before getting the conversation back on track.

“I wish to know the particulars of this ‘Hope’ Aspect that you say Twilight Sparkle possesses.” She said, making Typhon give a low whistle, and getting Celestia’s (and Rainbow Dash’s) full, undivided attention. “You spoke of its immense capabilities, and that she has been the most attuned to it you have seen in this world.”

Even Fluttershy was extending her neck to listen more clearly, watching intently as Typhon pondered something.

After a few seconds of keeping quiet and stroking his chin, he asked.

“She did something, didn’t she?” He then added. “More importantly, you did something, and she blindsided you, didn't she?”

“Yes.” Luna lowered her gaze in admittance. “I wish to better understand her growth.”

Rainbow raised her hoof. “Uhm, excuse me-”

“Moonlight Raven, in public.”

“... Moonlight… what is it that you did?” She asked with some confusion, and Rarity understood; Twilight had been with them through the previous day, and even if Rarity hadn’t been there for most of the morning, when she saw Twilight last near the end of the day, there weren’t any signs of a royal visit, nor anything grand enough to surprise the lunar princess.

Granted, after thinking about it some more, it did not necessarily have to be great in size, nor dazzling…

“I must confess that, after our own meeting and subsequent philosophising over our ‘selves’, my worries over the future and my ability to instruct Twilight Sparkle in the arts she… requested became much lessened.” She tapped the tips of her hooves together. “I sent her a letter through young Spike to meet during her dreams for the first of her lessons.”

“Do we get to see the flashback?” Celestia asked with a sly smirk. “It sounds like it went awry in quite a spectacular way.”

Luna let out a quiet huff, looking thoroughly unamused.

“Fine.” Luna looked around quickly, then her horn glowed for a moment before there was just a small *pop*.

“Was that-”

*****

Last night

I had just finished scouring the dreamscape for nightmares-

”Ahhh! Princess, what the hay!?”

”Oh my, Rainbow?”

”This is mildly disorienting...”

”Sister, please, some warning might have been appreciated.”

My apologies, it is simply that these… these are events beyond my ability to describe, as I do not yet understand the nature of what transpired during her dreams; I was hoping that you could enlighten me as to how she accomplished these feats.

Typhon nodded at Luna, watching as the see-through ponies looked at themselves or each other. The black blank space they were in was replaced by the starry field of the realm of dreams, with another, solid-looking princess Luna entering a wooden door marked with a candle.

I had, through the night, simply carried on my duty of keeping ponies’ rest peaceful, while also thinking of the ways I would instruct Twilight Sparkle in the arts of the dark safely. It is imperative that one be mindful of what they are doing, as these magics are not as forgiving as the light’s, which have the decency to tend towards preserving the mind of their users unless they were already willing to make those mistakes.

”Typhon just blunders through. The light doesn’t blind him, and neither does the dark… yet, he is not well suited for the harsher side of either.”

”Not without extreme conditions, no.”

I realized that.

Stars above, I am aware of it.

I arrived at her mindscape, most likely developed actively by herself during her time as your student, sister, with many other subconscious changes through her recent ordeals.

”Whoa…”

A statue of princess Luna in stone and silver, rearing proudly, broke apart to reveal the actual pony underneath. Stepping down from the platform she glanced about the garden she found herself in, bordered with trees and dotted with statues, just then noticing that she had her own place with a plaque that read simply “Resolve”, her own cutie mark placed to the side. Her sister’s statue featured prominently, the pink-tinted white marble and shining gold managing an amazing likeness of her, with a plaque that read “Teaching” and displayed her sister’s sun.

”This is absolutely gorgeous!”

Beautiful, I am aware.

”Twilight thought all of this?”

Not quite as prominently as the enormous statue that she was at the back of, recognizing the group as Twilight’s family thanks to her father’s head being in profile respective to her position in the garden, with the statue of young Spike sitting on what could be lady Velvet’s shoulders.

The group of spectators briefly dissolved as Rainbow Dash and Rarity were unable to resist looking more closely at the statues that bore the forms of the residents of Ponyville and Canterlot. Fluttershy kept close to the actual princess Luna narrating the events, while Typhon and Celestia simply admired the solidity of the mental construct.

It was not hard to see the five platforms that held places of honor among the other statues.

Rainbow Dash’s statue, rearing as Luna’s had been yet this one with an intense, confident expression, bore a plaque marked “Determination”; Applejack stood with her legs crossed and a warm smile, bearing a plaque of “Diligence”; Fluttershy was lying down, partially curled around what would have been empty space were it not for a freshly-built nest with eggs in it, protected from above by the statue’s extended wing, eyes closed with a serene smile on her face and “Affection” written on its plaque; Rarity had one leg lifted into the air, pride and elegance rolling off of her with “Insight” engraved on her plaque; Pinkie Pie-

Pinkie Pie’s statue was not there, where she would have expected it if the other statues and the plaque of “Passion” with three balloons were any indication. Walking more closely, the memory’s princess Luna stroked her chin in contemplation at seeing nothing but perfectly smooth stone. Turning around to the other statues in search for clues, she was mildly startled to see Rainbow Dash’s statue missing, and the plaque changed to read “Bravery” instead.

It was not like the statue had decided to simply leave, I had thought at first, immediately before my mind recovered from the surprise and realizing that, as a dream and mental construction, they very well might have—After all, we all have had moments where we ask ourselves “What would this pony do?” and picture them in our minds, giving us advice or reassurance.

And that, everypony, should have been my first clue; had I not dismissed it as an indication of a normal occurrence, I would have changed my approach. Regardless of whether or not I understood the significance of the statues appearing and disappearing, it explained why the inscriptions and epithets were changing like so, as no pony can be described using one word alone.

I decided to approach the center of her mindscape, but I heard—it was not strictly “hearing”, more like her thoughts being left exposed—a conversation.

“Am I going to do well?” A little filly asked, clearly nervous. Her Inner Foal.

“I can do anything, if it’s for the sake of my friends.” From the sheer warmth of her voice, I deduced it was lady Sparkle’s Dam—the fragment of her psyche, not her actual mother.

“Hay, yeah!” That would be Rainbow Dash’s part inside her heart. “You have this in the bag!”

“What if I’m not good enough?” By this point, I had gotten close enough to find the source.

The princess, having walked through the garden towards one of the edges, peered around one of the massive trees to find a scene she had seen many times before.

A little filly was clinging to a mature mare, both of them completely identical in color, identifying them both as Twilight Sparkle. The filly’s cutie mark faded in and out of view with her confidence, and the mare’s heart glowed through her body like a tiny star had decided to reside within.

Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash flitted about, speaking reassurances or reminding the filly of past deeds and simply showing their love.

What had surprised her slightly, and convinced her more than ever that Twilight Sparkle was ready for her lessons, was the pony that had spoken last before Luna found them.

A pony composed of shadows and blackness, looking pained and vulnerable, that nonetheless got a brief nuzzle from The Dam.

The Shadow. Our weaknesses, our fears, all we dislike in ourselves.

”Countless people just bury them in the dark, or send them away, slay them temporarily, or even rip them out of themselves. Me? I simply change what I don’t like, and tell myself to be good. It’s that simple, even if it isn’t easy.”

Indeed; not many have the inner strength to reassure those fears and work with themselves like Twilight Sparkle was doing right before my very eyes.

…

I did not.

”Sister, please, enough of that.”

I know, I know. I drank the same swill as you did, Celestia.

”What?”

”It’s the personal recipe of a famous guru.”

”This guru could not have been human, or maybe ascended beyond the need of functioning taste buds.”

I decided to turn around and head for her consciousness, not without first managing to hear my sister’s voice speaking more reassurances, of course.

It did not prepare me in the slightest.

Princess Luna went the other way, walking in between the statues of the bearers, through the treeline, to come out the other side to a massive library. The surface of the building rippled like water until it settled in a baroque façade, regular generic statues bordering the roof and magnificent architecture that had tree branches coming out of the windows.

The lobby was wide and decorated with the very trees whose branches peeked out of the front of the building, although there were more windows from the inside than the outside, which Rainbow quickly zoomed about to look out as well. There was a fountain of a merpony water carrier, which Rarity couldn’t help but admire from all possible angles—an easy task when somepony was an incorporeal mental representation of their own self. Behind the statue, the bookshelves towered over all, spreading into the distance.

A sound from the reception desk got past-Luna’s attention before she could get too distracted pondering about the books and other sources of knowledge stored in the building.

“Ah, princess!” Twilight Sparkle, wearing glasses, waved at her for a moment before suddenly shaking her head.

“This is a little confusing, even if I expected it.” She rubbed her eyes, glasses poofing into nothingness as she tried to use physical sensations to make sense of what was happening in her mind.

“I must say you are adapting quickly, nonetheless.” I replied, glad to see her dominion over herself be like such. “This is very impressive for one your age.”

She blushed as I pondered adjustments to my lessons, based on what I had just seen.

“Our first lesson shall be more of a demonstration.” I could feel the curiosity already beginning to boil in her mind, which solidified my decision. “You shall learn the dangers of the power that the darkness represents.”

The princess pulled out her memory of the scroll once more, weaving her magic as the image of the blankness within, a likeness of the place between dreams, was pulled out and replaced the library they had been inside of.

A floating scroll that helpfully read ‘Twilight Sparkle’ was in front of the unicorn, facing towards Luna.

I have been experimenting with some spells, like illusions and transformation spells, trying to replicate some of the phenomena that have happened when you are around. Spells that mediated the effects through a magical construct as an interface were priority.

”Did you research spells that make that arrow thing appear?”

They were the focus; of particular interest was a modularity spell… the near-ancient scroll had a note scrawled on the side that read “Pony Customize/Create, alpha version?” in what I believe to be your writing.

The ponies of the audience watched in mild confusion as Typhon chuckled and tried to hide a wide smile, not getting the joke that was far too likely a reference to something out of their world.

Except Fluttershy, but her mild, if ever-present, embarrassment made her keep quiet and not say anything about any imported ‘graphic novels’. Definitely not comic books.

Luna was pacing around her past self, evaluating her own posture and aura.

I then said: “You need to be prepared to face the wonders and terrors that come in the dark.”

”Please, Luna, for the love of all that is sacred, please tell me you aren’t going to do what I think you’re about to do.”

“I shall use the darkness to test you to your limits, your goal shall be to land a single blow on me before that happens.”

”Luna, you issued a despair-based test, on a Hope-aspected Element of Magic with some Mind and Light for good measure, inside her own mind?! Were you high?”

”Goodness! That hardly seems like the way to beha-”

”Luna, you are my sister, and I love you; you have my support in anything you need, but times like these make me wonder if you have, indeed, accidentally consumed more of that ‘Moon Sugar’.”

I did not know what it was! I just found it inside a memory in the Void!

”Well, can you blame her? I have yet to meet anyone, scratch that, anything with the power to make that kind of test actually go as intended.”

”Yeah! I mean, Discord tried something like that, and he failed, and he was out there!”

”Umm… what happened next? I- Is it scary?”

It… depends. I did attempt to scare Twilight Sparkle.

The blackness of her shoes seemed to snake about the air, stretching and gathering in a shape the length of one of Typhon’s arms; the dark substance broke away and left behind a straight pole shaped like a spine, vertebrae and all, with a hoof-sized skull on one end and an equally-small sacrum on the other, all of it the color of bleached bones. The skull’s jaw opened slightly, and a triangular blade slid out, the width of the mouth and less than half as long as the shaft—then the black returned, filling out a much larger, straight darkened metal blade that was wide enough for a pony to hide behind, and longer than most ponies were from nose to tail, ending in a triangular point; there was a bone-white accent along the very center, with a pair of horn-like extensions to the sides both near the furthest end, making it look like a trident, and near the base, looking like antlers. The only normal thing about the weapon was the edge, which looked like simple polished steel.

One of the few blades Typhon is wary of, even now, despite his ability to dissolve into the very air.

”It’s a sealing sword! It literally eats a lot of energy! That being said, even Necromancer can’t help you—”

”It’s called WHAT?!”

Sister, please, if We judged everything by name alone—

”Equestria would be a pretty boring dump populated only by ponies and without a lot of modern commodities?”

”I admit that there are many products with unflattering names, and most chemicals sound...”

”Nasty? Even if they are something nice?”

Precisely.

Twilight’s eyes were staring directly at the skull on Luna’s weapon, tensing in either fright or sheer anticipation. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Don’t let fear clog your system.”

I recognized the voice as yours, although it was not necessary to understand those had been your words.

“Now is time; see how the Mistress of Dreams commands her realm."

The princess of the moon closed her eyes, and her armor seemed to meld into her coat, turning black and smooth as the crescent shone with a pale light as did her cutie mark, and glittering stars dotted her new appearance and her eyes shone with moonlight as her mane appeared to turn into a thick nebula sprinkled with stardust.

Celestia felt a little uncomfortable, trying very hard to remind herself that Twilight had, somehow, surprised her sister even when she was like this. The girls stared in awe at the princess’s transformation. Typhon nodded in appreciation, before igniting his cigarette with a spark of lightning between his primaries and easing into a sitting position.

”Ooh~!”

”Always a treat to see things like this with my actual eyes.”

He let out a ring of smoke, then placed his cigarette back in his mouth. Nopony knew where he had gotten it, it was just there.

If it had had any effect, it was more awe than the fear I expected. Not that it was immediately apparent.

“Do be prepared.” I said in arrogance. “Darkness and the unknown go hoof in hoof; only fools are devoid of fear towards them.”

I knew I miscalculated something when she giggled.

“Princess, you of all ponies should know that in old times it also meant simply reverence and respect.” She surprised me by scowling, and widening her stance for a charge. “And many, many things are much, much greater than fear. Music, for example; remember, I live in the same town as Pinkie.”

The mental construct that was to be our battlefield shuddered, control of it having begun to shift towards Twilight without my notice, and a song began to float about us and I felt how she was going to use it to bolster her spirit. The construct that was the identification scroll changed with her self-perception, before disappearing to get out of the way.

Faithful Student

Twilight Sparkle

I see how - this is going to be. She stared directly at Luna’s eyes.
I’m not going to let somepony else dictate the pace for me.
Sorry, princess, there’s too much at stake, and I’m not afraid of what it could take.

Luna’s perception of Twilight changed, as evidenced when the construct reacted to her change in mentality.

I’m not going to let you set up the rules
I learned not to let others think me a fool

Luna almost took her eyes off Twilight when she felt that there was a layer of water covering the floor of their arena.

So let’s go, let’s get this going
You won’t scare me because your eyes are glowing

Water burst forward and Luna answered by throwing a star from her mane, sending the water every other way. The princess countered with a swipe with the flat of her blade, magical hold sending it flying towards Twilight, who laid down to let it swipe over her.

Go ahead and try to scare me if you’re able
You should know by now my heart is much more stable.

Jumping over the return swipe, Twilight sent a flat arching blast with a swipe of her own horn, which Luna avoided by flowing into a sphere the size of a baseball and floating above it.

I can see the smokescreen you are spreading
Like I won’t see the road I am treading

A spherical shield blasted outwards and smacked Luna’s sword hard enough for the feedback to starle her, almost getting hit by a column of water blasting into the sky from below her.

You think I’ll forget because we are not together
My friends are going to stay with me forever
Simply being apart won’t be enough to scare me
That won’t get the better of me, please spare me

Luna threw dozens of ink-black blasts, forcing Twilight to roll, shield and all, away. When she stopped, the shield winked out and was replaced by a smaller one that Twilight began to wave about to bat the sword away once more, waves following her motions instead of just the bursts of magic.

Magic is made of Lo~ove. Love. Love.

Luna used her own hooves to hit the shield and deny Twilight her attacks with her blade, allowing the mare to get so distracted with dodging the blasts of shadows to avoid getting hit with her tail.

“Fear of pain alone will make the energy spike a good cushion” Celestia’s words from before floated through the mindscape as Twilight splashed and rolled along the floor before managing to get her hooves back on it, skidding for a brief moment.

Twilight charged, but Luna anticipated the feint by letting two blasts and a star fly not against her, but each other; the explosion sending Twilight tumbling into the air for a few seconds. The water almost seemed to reach for her to soften her fall with its motion.

This is who I am. This is where I stand.
If you think you can scare me then you’d better change your plan.

Twilight stood up from where she landed, her heart filled with her inner strength which was reflected in their mental battlefield. Every stray hair aligned itself back in place, staring intently at Luna’s eyes.

The magic of our friendship, it shall shine as proof
I won’t let your words distract me, I won’t end beneath your hoof.

Twilight sent blast after blast, watching the sword turn them away or outright cut them.

Go ahead and try to scare me if you’re able
You should know by now my heart is much more stable.

Surrounding herself in a spell, Twilight endured another swat with the sword’s flat, then hitting a star with a burst of her own magic followed immediately by a second one.

I see you think you make me feel afraid
Even if you try I’ll remain unswayed.

Luna barely had time to move her head from the way, eyes widening at how much faster Twilight was starting to move. She called the shadows, a great mass of them forming a snake beneath her that Twilight stared at intensely.

I am even more now that I have friends
Everything they care for I do as well

She braced herself, horn lighting up as the snake lunged forward with a snarl.

The jaws were stopped by a wall of water. Twilight closed her eyes as a second layer formed around her horn.

That is our power, that’s integration
Through socialization.

Raising her horn into the air, a bright beam of light speared the construct and made it melt, the distraction, however, did not make her lose track of Luna, who once again hit a small, mobile shield with her hooves instead of its conjurer.

I am made, of love, lo-o-ove, lo-o-ove~
And I’m stronger than you.

Twilight’s face had a brief look of realization before getting swatted away by another swipe of Luna’s blade, which she did fail to keep within her sight, being sent flying once more; the unicorn didn’t seem to lose her spirit, much to the princess’s annoyance, and even chuckled as the music wound down and she rolled on the ground of their imaginary arena, thoroughly soaked.

“I get it!” Her jubilant exclamation confused me, because I hadn’t. “It was an even greater distraction than I thought! Devious~...”

”OK, that pretty much answers the question about what she’s been practicing to do.”

”I am glad this is all mental; those would be simply dreadful bruises.”

”Um… was hitting her so hard necessary?”

”Sister, couldn’t you have been more gentle?”

“I won’t let you get the better of me, for this test I have my friends with me. And together there is friendship in magic.” This one was more a thought than a voiced statement. “It’s like the scroll, again.”

”And this, ladies and gentlemen of the rea- well, just ladies of the audience, is the part where Luna realizes she’s completely screwed.”

”Typhon!”

”I dunno, it sounds like it’s about to get nasty.”

That is correct.

“No matter where we are. No matter what happens. Time and distance. It does. Not. Matter.” She was rambling, or so I thought. I of course recognized the many things you have said previously, but I had no idea what was her destination, particularly once she started to think about our friends reaching into and touching our souls.

In hindsight, that I did not understand it at that precise moment makes me feel foolish.

“All a clever distraction—much more so than I gave it credit.” She ‘said’, and I prepared myself for a fiercer confrontation; I may have not been able to discern the nature of her epiphany, yet I did understand that it represented a dangerous unknown. “I guess it was silly to think I saw through everything; I mean, a princess and everything.”

Her nervous, embarrassed chuckle and a muttered apology just made me stand further on edge.

“Princess Luna, you may be the Princess of Dreams, but this isn’t your realm.” At this, I was simply confused, particularly once she seized control of even the greater aspects of the construct I had made and altered it to her liking, like the scroll I had used to label visitors.

”I have a selection of boss battle music that might accompany this.”

”I think… this one looks good.”

”Nice choice.”

“It’s mine.”

Element of Magic

Twilight Sparkle

Luna flung herself backwards on instinct as a wall of water exploded from the place she was standing, obscuring her vision for a moment.

Bringing her sword forward she swatted a- it was a cupcake, and the water revealed Pinkie Pie behind the mists, cannon at the ready. Luna twisted away just as there was an explosion of light and sound that tore through the air and felt like it almost tore out her mane from the pull of the wind.

Staring incredulously at was was unmistakably the trail of a Sonic Rainboom, she almost missed all the myriad hats, boxes, and other various things that flew around her.

Deciding to not risk it, she discorporated and flew to the side as mist just as Big Macintosh landed with a resounding slam where she had been standing, the earth itself blasting upwards and nearly hitting the crescent moon that floated inside her ‘form’.

A party hat fell on the stallion and, for lack of a better word, swallowed him before Pinkie appeared from underneath the diminutive cone, holding a top hat towards the cloud that was Luna. Avoiding once more staying in the line of fire, she dodged Rainbow Dash with a more comfortable distance once she burst from the hat, only to nearly get ensnared by a lasso coming from Applejack. Trying to fly higher did not help her as a guard, armor and all, jumped from inside a jewel box and threw a spell at her, before being caught by one of the pegasus ponies from Ponyville and redirected at her for another pass.

The ground rumbled as a tree sprung from just in front of a row of earth ponies and unicorns, making the plant grow and shoot its branches forward like arrows and swing like whips at her, with Luna swinging her blade quickly and precisely to open a path to herself, as the tree healed faster than what little black mist she could conjure could eat away.

An odd whistling sound made her shield herself from an attack on the ground, just on time for a white-hot fireball to explode against her blade, with Rainbow Dash reminding her that being between any two objects that lined up was a bad idea.

Fireworks exploded around her along the fireballs, gemstones and spears and arrows that whistled by as Luna extended as much of her dark cloud to have breathing room as she darted through the battlefield. Spike was the source of the fireballs, and Rarity was shooting gems at her. The curious thing was that one of her eyes was different.

”Wait, is that Trixie with the firew-”

”Is that Rainbow’s eye on my-”

Bolts of lightning slammed into the cloud that Luna made and started to eat away at it instead, making Luna hurry along and simply rain blackened stars to break up any formations on the ground. The hats made it hard to even aim, with a single breeze sweeping them away and taking with them any possible targets they flew over.

Luna could tell that allowing the pegasus ponies to gather more rain clouds would not end in her favor; if the lightning didn’t get her, the magic she could feel gather in the water would weaken both her attacks and her defenses.

It was then that I decided that Twilight Sparkle deserved all I could offer. I had to consider her as I would a peer. I was glad that she was neither this proficient nor this powerful back in the waking world.

Luna dove to the ground and impacted with tremendous force, sending a shockwave of shadows in every direction and dispersing the hats and boxes.

I did wonder where she was, only to receive an answer immediately.

The shadow fog parted around a brilliant dome with the silhouettes of a group holding tight to each other within.

Her family has always had many magically-talented ponies.

Luna, back in an equine shape, reared and made a black sphere grow around her, pouring her strength and intent into blasting everything and break through any defense.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I was reminded the hard way that there is another talented pony in her life.

The wall of the expanding dome burned away as a bright golden light pierced through with ease, her expression reflecting the horror she felt as her sister stepped through the darkness in a frightfully-accurate phantom of her glory; pearlescent coat shining and eyes glowing intensely, surrounded in motes of light and hair a white flame with an aura of rainbow colors much like an aurora.

I could see through her; she was nothing more than a mental ghost, naught but an idea of your radiance and splendor, sister.

Luna wasted no time in pointing her horn at the apparition, a small void appearing in front of her; she wove the spell, gave it instructions, then loosed it as one would an arrow. The dot became a line in an instant, turning slightly to strike the largest gathering of magic inside the ghost as the void sought to be filled according to the limits from the spell.

The phantom dispersed into sparks, but just as she was coming down from the rush...

“Hello.” The all too familiar voice sent a chill through her body. “My name is Brain-Ghost Typhon, and I am your Coordinator for the battle.”

It made sense, in a way. You did explain some of the aspects your powers covered, and all strikes had been too well-timed, too unified for Twilight Sparkle to achieve on her own without any practice.

The ghostly pony duplicate of Typhon, corresponding to his friendship with Twilight, saluted, then dispersed into the air.

I would not be taking any chances.

The shadows crept from under her, reaching upwards in the forms of beasts and birds of prey.

Sweeping the field with her sight made her eyes come to a stop by two piercing cyan somethings that her mind belatedly told her resembled Fluttershy’s eyes. She was unprepared for the intensity of the gaze boring into her, and flinched.

”Bwa ha ha! Fluttershy, you’re awesome!”

”The Stare always makes me feel the chills.”

”Eep!”

”Sweet Faust...”

I should have recognized those tactics by now.

A gigantic lavender hoof pressed on her, startling her and momentarily making her forget to even move.

Technically, it should have ended right there and then, yet emotions were high, thoughts were plenty, and we were both caught up in that mental storm.

“Nightmare Moon made me admit how amazing friends could be, Discord taught me to never give up on them; I learned that if I fell, then my friends would be left exposed. They have taught me so much about life, and even myself, that I can never repay them. They have given me so much, I should show you just how much!”

The entire exchange took mere moments, still, the abundance of ideas and feelings made it seem like minutes.

A lilac star descended and approached Luna, who was far too dazed from the light’s magic.

“Our love, our joy, our sorrows, our hopes! Take them all!”

The light chased away my own thoughts, my emotions. This was a mental attack of a kind I had only seen from the wrong end once, as Nightmare Moon. The recognition, too, faded into soft light and warmth coursing through me.

I stood there for an indeterminable amount of time. I was barely aware of Twilight Sparkle cantering around my immobile form, looking sheepish.

“I-I’m sorry! I wasn’t trying to use that much magic! I just-!” I interrupted her apology by giving her a hug, as strong and warm as I could muster. She squeaked as I physically lifted her.

I stood there some more time, unable to form much coherent thought as she had buried me with the psychological equivalent of an avalanche.

Slowly, my faculties returned. She never had the intention to harm me, so the momentum of my recovery hastened with each passing second.

“Do not apologize.” I muttered, my mind taking a few additional moments to piece together a conversation. “‘Twas an amazing performance; I should have remembered you have trained yourself all this time as well.”

“Ahh… princess? Are you going to be OK?”

“I shall be. Before performing my duties and preparing our first lesson, I employed the same spell Nightmare Moon tried to use to tempt Rainbow Dash, in case I needed to remain with you for more time than there would be before dawn. I shall simply remain in rest and let any secondary effects pass on their own.”

Luna released Twilight, looking her in the eye. The princess was smiling, mostly because she doubted she had anything else inside of her that wasn’t warm and comforting, but she did indeed feel that Twilight would progress quickly and perform admirably.

“The real question, Twilight Sparkle, is if you are going to be. That was an intense performance, and even if your body is currently a mental projection, there are reflections and echoes upon the body; there is also the end, where you spent large amounts of mental energy and overall magic, even if the cost was greatly reduced by being inside the land of dreams; it may feel like you never slept at all tonight.”

“Oh don’t worry, I’ll be fine!” Twilight waved off the idea. “I’ve done my fair share of all-nighters before, this is nothing.”

*****

(Breakfast time, Golden Oaks library)

Spike swallowed the bite of his sapphire pancake as he looked at Twilight.

She had claimed to be perfectly fine, in between yawning, but now she was snuggling her pancakes and snoring.

Deciding he could leave her be for a little while before going to attend the party, he wanted to experiment. Would the blueberry syrup work better than condensed milk for his pancakes?

Author's Note

This fought me all the way.

I had the whole thing in my head, it just didn't want to get down into words. At least, not without lots and lots of details added and removed all over.

Starting to move

(Throne Room, Present)

"Luna!" Celestia exclaimed, mind momentarily unable to do anything else from the shock.

"Tch! I followed his trail, only to find a spell!" She stomped her hoof, huffing.

"He left a fake trail to trick you into breaking the spell." Celestia scolded her, but Luna was too focused on her hunt to care, or notice.

The ponies hadn't seen Luna since her release, and thus her increased stature took them by surprise.

"What did he mean with 'mistakes'?" Pinkie, ever so quick to adapt to new situations, asked the princess.

Celestia was about to answer, but Luna interrupted.

"He is sly and manipulative; he is attempting to break apart our trust." She said, thankfully in 'command' mode, not in the Royal Canterlot Voice. "Because of the danger he represents, you shall all be under watch of the royal guard."

"Wrong." Celestia said, a small twitching of her mouth being the only signal of how much she was cursing herself for not telling Luna the whole story before. "I have made mistakes when handling his situations."

"Inconsequential." Luna waved her off.

"No, Luna, my mistakes have caused much grief." Celestia forced out the words. The six were confused, but didn't dare interrupt the angry Luna nor the explanations.

"'Tis not thine fault thou could not stop him from killing Wind Whistler, sister."

"He didn't. She was standing next to him when my spell misfired."

*****

(Typhon)

I shook my head and gave my neck a gentle roll.

I was standing in the dead center of an array that had been carved into the floor in stone with enough preservation spells to keep an orange fresh for a thousand years.

The orange would have been rendered inedible from being the target of that much magic, but it wouldn't grow mold, go soft, nor smell funny.

To prevent interference from the preservation spells, the actual medium for the array was the ink that my brushes produced. The ink stabilized the spell without allowing the the safeguard spells to seep into the array and mess it up.

This was a special chamber in Starswirl's secret lab - well, it was his lab, back in the day. He was decent, and very open-minded, too; he was actually one of the few that could even think about the possibility of Celestia being wrong about something. He studied my situation, and made the array from it; I could go in and out of the Everfree castle at my leisure.

Speaking of which. The reason the castle hadn't been reclaimed to date, or had its treasures plundered, was simple.

The dark magic that transformed Luna was stenching up the place something fierce.

The main chamber (where the Elements were kept) and the outer towers were fine, but the library, dungeons, and the like? A thousand years, and the place still wasn't safe for a regular pony... you'd need to bring in a master of dark magic, and one of those that wasn't evil or insane to begin with was hard to come by. The attitude of most towards dark magic was difficult enough to overcome... so many possible candidates for dark wizards preferred to do other things, or shunned the darkness thinking it was 'evil' by default.

A master of LIGHT magic could possibly do it, provided they were good enough, but I would bet that he or she would whine all the time. Ponies were that type.

An adept of both... sheesh. Twilight could do it, but she'd need training that Celestia simply couldn't (and wouldn't) give her (out of her misconceptions), artifacts that the precious 'princess of light' would mistakenly believe to be evil (or at the least attempt to lock up like she did the freakin' ELEMENTS), and training that the unnecessarily cautious princess would deem too dangerous. Well, of course it would be dangerous! But, wasn't it dangerous to let Twilight go against Nightmare Moon, even if doing so was entirely of her own initiative and the original plan was for her to wait before doing anything?

Twilight could handle it, for sure, but Celestia would rather erase a risk than take it.

The lab was protected enough, the Four helped, the Elements' use on Nightmare cleared a bit of it, and my little romp through the in-between gave me what I called 'forced enlightenment', the combination of all made me immune to the whispers and most of the sickness that came from the tainted air. My little trip forcibly tore through all illusions I held - well, it would be more proper to say 'delusions', including those that were brought about by the so-called 'general knowledge'.

Essentially, I had been pushed off the deep end, but I knew how to swim and built a boat out of the stuff I found, so it was OK.

Now, swimming/sailing so far one lost sight of the shore... I would gladly admit to that, but hey! My personal belief was that 'things man was not meant to know' was quitter talk - one of those 'delusions of general knowledge' I talked about (granted, not just anyone actually had the mental fortitude to even accept the fact). I knew where the shore was well enough, I just had a different way of thinking from what others considered 'sane' (when they actually meant 'average').

So had Starswirl, but the guy really did have a couple of squirrels in his attic. Both metaphorical and literal.

In case it wasn't obvious, I was still mad that he ignored my warnings and got himself killed with his last work because he kept misinterpreting what I tried to teach him about friendship.

Meh, at the least the array could-

Wait a second. I was in the middle of the active array, that meant that the Four were each on a specific circle on it, which meant that I wasn't wearing them. To retrieve them I had to break the array, but the array protected me just like wearing them did. If I broke the protection, I would change (not that I cared), but I would also be exposed to magic fueled by jealousy and despair, which felt rancid and bitter to my Wind Control.

...

I hate my life.

*****

(Typhon, Arrival era)

"That... that is quite the tale." The mare said, and I was suddenly reminded of the fact that I didn't know her name.

"I know. If I hadn't seen all of that with my own eyes... alright, I probably wouldn't have acted much different, but I am still waiting for disaster to strike." I shook my head, 'eating' a clump of cloud for moisture. "I am sorry, I didn't introduce myself-"

"Will you assume the identity of the fictional character you were pretending to be?" She asked, much more comfortable with the idea of me being an interdimensional traveler than I would have thought.

"I... don't think so. Should I use my name? Or make up a new one?" Having said so, a prompt appeared in front of me.

'Assign Alias?'

"Now that's convenient." I said, turning to her. "User's interface is asking me for an alias. The made-up powers from that story I told you about? It seems they are real now."

"Perhaps something of significance?" She asked, and then I knew.

"Typhon." I knew a thing or two about mythology, and let me tell you, it fit. The naming box solidified and turned into metal, I took out my wallet and pulled out an empty card, placing the Placronym into it.

I was grinning like a madman through the whole thing.

Then I put my palm to my face.

"Aww... I should have dressed as Berserker Lancelot, then I would have even cooler powers." I said with a chuckle, while the mare just looked at me strangely.

"What manner of powers?"

"Well, I would have a power that, anything I got my hands on would, so long as I could recognize it as a weapon and I wished to wield it, then become my 'Noble Phantasm'. Essentially, a solidified mystery of the imagination of people. The embodiment of the ultimate mysteries of a hero that symbolizes his existence through historical facts and anecdotes. Take a twig, swing it like a club, and now it's capable of facing legendary magical artifacts because it, too, would be one."

She looked at me with wide eyes.

"See? Cool."

"I do not see how such an awe-inspiring ability would relate to the temperature, save for wielding objects carved from ice."

"Hmm? That was slang... wait a second, you are taking all of this with too calm an attitude."

"The reign of Discord implicated-" She began, but I interrupted her in a mild panic.

"Whoa, whoa WHOA! The reign of Discord?!" My panic seemed to make her tense, and only nodded softly. It was a good thing I was already sitting, I only had to lean backwards to end on the ground. "I am so far into the past, I am probably going to end up in the history books and screw everything up."

"The past?" Oh, so now she was doubtful!

"The way this multiverse works, I was able to see the events happening in the future. Me being here? I pray that the timelines are resistant to changes, because if I cannot prevent certain disasters, then I hope I won't interfere with their solutions." I ran a hand through my hair, shaking.

The pony cantered over to me, and... nuzzled me.

"I am certain everything shall turn out for the better; you are a good man." She told me, laying besides me.

"How can you be so sure?" I asked as I held her a little closer, glad that she would comfort me like that.

"Because a bad pony would not be worried about mistakes." She said, smiling at me.

"Thank you... say, I never asked for your name." She blushed adorably, and looked away in embarrassment.

"My name is Wind Whistler."

A fateful... sneeze?

(Everfree cave)

I appeared as quietly as I left.

Sadly, I forgot to take Void before leaving, so I had to endure this Reality's version of the Horroterrors for however long it took. I could see the Truth of them, and I don't see how could anyone lose their sanity over that.

They were just scaled-up, non-Euclidean versions of anything that can be found in a world. They had their own set of (admittedly, usually very alien) morals (and believe me, if they didn't, there wouldn't be ANY worlds), their own problems, and even their own bullies.

They tried to get me to do them favors... and, I hate to admit, some of them were actually reasonable - namely the ones that simply asked me to prevent the world-bubble from collapsing into itself/being 'blown up'. The problem being that their alien viewpoints made their ideas of payment... strange. They said they would pay me, but most told me were things like they were 'working on it' and that 'the wait will be worth it'.

Hmm? 'Quest Rewards Enabled'? 'Quest: The missing princess - Status: Complete'...

Oh great! I was getting grist for doing stuff, not just battling things! That was going to be useful, since I didn't really have the reserves an endgame player such as a god-tier should have. Although now I felt kinda bad that I kept ignoring those guys, even if they are interdimensional horrors...

Still, if the rumbling in the air was any indication, there were still quite a few hours left in my draconic friend's nap. Her leucism meant that she was white with purple eyes and claws, making her stand out a lot. It was nothing short of a miracle that she lasted all those years on her own before we found her...

And now... it seemed like she took to Clover's "Knowledge is a treasure" thing seriously. Well, I knew that, because she kept in contact for several centuries, but it seemed like she was understating her growth.

I should prepare a shrink spell; at her current size, she'll take a whole bottle of Space (refined, not drinkable) and a ten feet by ten feet sheet of paper even with my smallest shorthand.

*****

(WQ, Ponyville)

The mare, now noticeably less bruised, made her way to a secluded booth in a restaurant.

Her horn shimmered, and a blue sphere appeared for a second before fading from view.

She opened a book, which had runes and diagrams inside.

"WQ-two here, I got- what? Of course I'm a mare!" She hissed, but with the book, the only clue of her displeasure was hidden from view. "Why are you asking 'why'? You are me, we have the same logic! Ugh, because having a male with the initials of WQ would be weird, that's why! And what about you? You are a disgusting shade of green! We don't like green that much, remember?"

She placed her order, face smiling cordially as if nothing was ever wrong, and continued 'reading' her book.

"Oh, that makes sense... continuing with my report, though: I've found Shining Armor, disguised as 'Silver Shine'. No, his disguise is actually pretty good - it seems like he used a hair-growth spell or potion, then used something a little more sophisticated than dyes, probably used some odor neutralizer, gave himself a mud bath close to here, a regular shower, rolled on the park's grass, allowed his little surfer accent to show more strongly, and went window shopping through the market, so he smells faintly of cologne samples and fresh produce on top of his stronger 'local' smell; the only things that gave him away were behavior things - still walks like a guard, uses the occasional high-society word or term, and his reactions at seeing the pictures. Yes, I matched Silver's shape to Armor's anyways, I was just saying that his disguise would be very hard to discover for others."

She smiled politely as she was served. Her vichyssoise smelled absolutely delicious.

"And something new. Us 'clones' can survive getting hit even when our reserves are depleted, even get out of it without suspiciously-serious injuries; I'd go as far as saying that we can take almost as much as a normal flesh-and-blood pony would without their magic, but we will bruise like a soft summer peach. Hurt a lot, however, and to top it all off, it was in uncomfortable spots. I'm sure the original is not looking forward to the unification, or me dispelling... although I got a free milkshake out of it. As such, all clones coming from this variant are to keep enough magic in reserve at all times; Breath and the other Essences are for absolute emergencies only. I couldn't fulfill objectives two and five, but WK-three made successful contact with Whisper Wind's daughter and should be talking with her right about now; possibilities of recruitment for the Pillars are high - which is good; her thing with bubbles is freaking awesome. Heck, maybe we could get Shining Armor to cooperate; I bet that he can do that shield-spear thing at the very least."

The soup really was absolutely delicious.

"And Rarity has agreed to make the dress, and able to work with only measurements, and not weirded out by the request."

She then got another milkshake.

*****

(Typhon, distant past)

It was a day when I was as my waking self in Cloudsdale when it happened.

I finally met Whistler's dad, Storm Shadow.

Yes, like the ninja, and yes again, he's pretty much one. Like lightning - by the time you hear him coming, it's already too late.

Military, because of course he's in the guard, he's the link to Hurricane!

I was really glad that I had gotten down the sensing ability by the time he came back from monster watch duty - thinking him a surprise guest, I snuck around the house, avoiding him. I asked The Breeze, as well as sent some of my 'energy' (or whatever it was that helped me control the air) and I could tell were ponies were; in open air with breezes of its own the range of some meters only prevented someone from sneaking behind my back, but the halls? With their quieter air and all those doors? I managed to hide in a closet which, being barred for him under pain of a really ticked Meadowlark, meant that he would never find me.

Turns out that that really impressed him.

Oh, and that I was strong enough to do all of the woodcutting on my own really helped (there are like three chimneys, four ovens and three stoves in the cloud mansion). And that his 'little baby girl' could now put a full-grown guard stallion in traction if she really wanted to meant that he all but kissed me.

As it turns out, he's really protective of family, and those that would protect family are alright in his book. Again, having superpowers, and granting them to his little baby girl, helped.

It would seem that that was a factor on getting him on our side in my plan to get a more suitable... well, suitor for Wind Whistler. He would usually approve of somepony like Storm Chaser, but he saw the fit that Whistler had thrown after coming back from meeting him.

I had no magic, and, in fact, was always surrounded by a distortion that more or less meant that I was a world of my own. The differences in the rules, or so the Four explained, were not that large per se, but the changes cascaded and meant that, among other things, I was able to 'dodge' the effects of magic if so I wished. Useful. It appeared that my connection to The Breeze was something not quite magic; I would dare call it something more... fundamental, like it was just a fact of reality itself.

And I had chosen the alias 'Typhon'; ain't that a neat coincidence? Now all that was left was to be able to make monsters at will. Wait, in the game 'Lost Magic' it is possible for a magician to make monsters. Hmm... not exactly something I'd like to do, but now it was going to bug me for days.

I was able to teach how to connect with The Breeze, though. It could be done through pegasus magics by regular pegasi, as it had been demonstrated. Storm Shadow was proud that Wind Whistler got it down so quickly.

I had to explain the levels thing, though.

"As a reward for performing difficult tasks, you are granted an increase of ability, so that one would seek greater challenges."

He blanched once he realized that Meadowlark had gotten a few after helping us train... and training herself.

If I was interpreting the barely-there hints correctly, he might have angered her when they met, and she kicked him in the unmentionables. The way his hind legs tensed was a big tip-off.

Her father was a guard, too; who would have guessed? (Oh God, the sarcasm, it burns).

As such, I had the honor of being the first human to watch a pony editing a door out of existence in real time. I had to tell him and point out the door I hid behind just to get him to acknowledge it was there. He then made me swear that I would bear witness that he never came within ten feet of it.

My own training was going along great! I was developing different forms of my Aspect... although that made me wonder. I was both taking control of my Aspect, and allowing it to act around/through me; I was using it to my exclusive benefit and helping others with it.

I was being both active and passive...

I had to hide while Starwirl and Clover did their studies, though.

*****

(Starswirl)

The old unicorn could not help but smile and trot with a touch more pep in his step than ever before. His bells jingled happily, and the runes engraved onto them almost seemed to spark.

Finally, vindication! And he still lived! Ha! Those goats from the castle would be eating their words by the time he finished the day!

Now, Clover was with the two young ponies, talking to them.

That this 'Windstorm' was able to teach his ability to 'Wind Whistler', and that...

He shook his head, the jingle of his bells centering his mind. The overflow of thoughts nearly made him walk into a decorative armor... but it was just so much to take in! It meant that is was actual, honest-to-goodness magic! He knew he was right! But now he had proof!

All birds had certain proportions, a wingspan for their weight. Pegasus ponies would not be able to fly if the rules were the same.

And their ability to manipulate the weather like so? There was something there; now he had living, breathing proof that he was right.

The door to the lab was opened by an intense gust of wind, and a gray colt was propelled out of it. Before the colt managed to hit the wall and, indeed, before the unicorn managed to call upon his magic to stop him, the colt flared his wings and a second gust of wind slowed him down... no that was not the right thing to say; it was more like a cushion of air, which deflated upon impact to arrest his flight.

"Oh my goodness!" A filly cried out. "I assure you it was not my intention to provoke such a-"

"No! That was amazing!" The colt interrupted, laughing. "You've gotten very good with that! And you are so strong!"

It took a couple of moments for Starswirl's brain to start its functions once more, but he grinned after that.

"Young colt, It appears that there is much to discuss." He chuckled, making his bells jingle once more.

*****

(Typhon)

Regardless of the periodic trips to the castle, things continued as 'normal'. I didn't gain many levels, since it seemed that I was still getting the bottom tier of Underlings - generic knights, the occasional troll that just wanted to cause havoc...

Oh, well, there was one thing. Wind Whistler was interested in knowing what was considered romantic in the future, and... other things. I just gave her another pair of glasses - modified for ponies obviously - and let her explore the Net on her own. I had already explained everything to her, and, well, pony society was much, much... actually, I couldn't even describe it. Liberal? The views were way different.

And, again, a good deal of those that made it through Discord's reign were much more open-minded; those who found/were saved from some horrible fate by one of the many new things that were suddenly everywhere more than others.

I couldn't help but worry for whoever wound up being the subject of her affections, though, given the way she made trips to the Alchemiter for 'surprises'.

A couple of phantoms appeared, but we smashed them good in moments. It was such a horrifyingly one-sided event, that I won't release the identities of the invading phantoms as a sign of respect. I made ice-cream bars with the grist, and made myself a little cabin with the overflow. I was accumulating a lot of the stuff, actually, since I didn't have much to work with - the lack of importance of frogs in here meant that things alchemised from them merely had a frog theme... maybe if I started using things like Equestrian flags and the crowns of the princesses.

We were a happy little family, kicking flank and taking names.

Then, when a wolf was attempting to stalk me, I accidentally sneezed it into the forest. The wolf wasn't the problem... it was that princess Celestia was visiting the town whose gates took the young tree I tore off with my sneeze.

Author's Note

Leucism is a condition where the skin pigments are reduced, resulting in a white animal, but not quite albino. It doesn't generally mess with eyes and such; leucistic pigeons still have normal-colored eyes and legs and some dark feathers, for example.

Vichyssoise is thick, creamy soup made from potatoes, leeks, onions, and usually chicken stock, although vegan variants exist.

If the name Caesar Zeppeli means anything to you, then you know that bubbles are freaking awesome and will totally wreck your **** for mocking them.

And for neat Shield-based tricks, go read Kekkaishi.

Typhon is also called the "Father of all monsters" in mythology.

Intermission: In defense of our dreams

Ditzy Doo.

Pegasus. Mailmare. Mother.

As a pony, she was, naturally, magical. She was physically fit, as well. She might not train as hard as Rainbow Dash, but her job, and the training she did do, meant that she was nonetheless exceptional; Rainbow herself complimented her on her skills flying through poor weather.

As so many others of the Wind family, she was proficient in the use of Wind Shaping practically from birth, and further helped along by Typhon himself and the older members of the family.

All of that meant that, as a mother, endangering her foals was beyond foolish and downright suicidal. After a heated discussion with one noble, his bodyguard overreacted.

Ditzy reacted.

He stopped acting for a while.

The noble learned that there was more to a pony than his or her appearance, and cleaned up his act rather nicely, eventually falling in love with a humble waitress of Manehattan, the first mare of the herd.

Ditzy Doo.

Seven names, seven bubbles, a heart seven times as big and strong...

Seven fears to each name.

For, while she was courageous, she was not without fear - and what great fears they were! It was a testament to her spirit that she could smile so honestly and stand so firmly while beset by such horrible thoughts and nightmares. For, while she feared losing her children like any mother, each name could be connected to a different one.

Derpy Hooves was known for her fear of being a burden, Derpamina for her fear of being trapped underwater and drowning, Wandering Eye for her fear of becoming lost and never finding her way home, Ditzianna for her fear of being crippled and never flying again, Whisper Wind for her fear of never feeling the voice and the kiss of the skies again, Bright Eyes for her fear of being blind in more than just the literal sense of the word, and Ditzy Doo for her fear of her children losing her.

It made her quite the prize for bogeymanes.

Bogeymanes were relatives of the Nightmares and the Pooka. Whereas the Nightmares twisted dreams and visions as a way of both being born and manifesting themselves, bogeymanes were an existence of their own after the distortions of fear had ran their course through whatever it was that started it.

A shadow in the night.

A rumor of ghosts in the alleys.

A tale of haunted mansions.

They became creatures such as:

A horse with no head.

A creature pretending to be a victim, only to attack you no sooner your back is turned.

A monster in the shape of the mad killer that used to be the owner of the mansion.

Not all of them were bad... the Olden Pony... most of them were content with finding old, rusty horseshoes, or receiving a blanket to ward off the cold.

Yet, they thrived on fear.

Bogeymanes scared others, that was the plain and simple truth of it. They were the creatures of fear and darkness. Fear. It gave them life, it gave them strength, and as such their mere presence made knees rattle. Even if they had no ill intentions. They paid it no mind, though. Being faced with the embodiment of fear itself, it was natural.

It was possible for them to thrive on other definitions of fear, some even preferring it for moral reasons...

But horror was just so sweet and delectable, so decadent and piquant, that it was hard to resist, more so with others spurring them on. After all, those that were born of ponies had some elements of the mentality of a pony.

And those great fears had such an irresistible smell...

Perhaps they could stay during a small nightmare, maybe two. No more than some haunting.

Nightmare Night was close; the borders were thin, and even the play-pretend scares and surprises were still a valid source of nourishment. They grew restless, and numerous.

The shadows reached for the sleeping mare, who shivered under her covers as her uneasy dreams darkened further.

A barrier of water separated her from her foals, who cried in her absence. She moved her legs and pumped her wings for all they were worth, but the light grew distant and dimmer with each passing moment...

She could not see their faces clearly any more, and the lack of air was making her panic.

She wanted to call out for them, to tell them not to be sad, to tell them that she was near; she sank deeper into the dark waters and her limbs grew heavier.

"Stay away from my mommy!" The light pierced through the shadows and made them retreat in a hurry.

Magic reacts to emotional states; it makes what you want to happen... happen. If one believes in something with all of their being, all of their strength, and all of their heart... it might just become real.

The heart of a filly, so full of love and determination, really, really wanted to help her mother.

And, in the eyes of a little filly, a pony wearing the armor of the Royal Guard was exactly what it was meant to be - a symbol of the desire to protect loved ones from harm, the stalwart heart that does not give in to fear, the unyielding wall which no danger can overcome.

And lastly, toys. Such a simple concept - objects meant to entertain a child - and yet they represent the sweetness and the innocence that so many adults thoughtlessly discard or foolishly think they have lost. They are things that never go away, for true innocence was the measure of how far would one go to keep the happiness of others.

Three spectral guard ponies lunged at the shadows, their eyes like fire shining white and dispelling the blackness.

A small unicorn filly stood in the middle of the formation, glowing lines like ropes connecting her tiny frame to the heart of the constructs - a hoof-made stuffed bear with buttons for eyes, a tin guard missing a rear hoof, and construction blocks.

Her fierce expression, while diminished by her harmless appearance, nonetheless gave the dark pause. There was no fear in her, not one they could feed or feed from, and her heart and mind were open to the magic of the light she used - and she was not lost to it.

She was a foal they could not scare. A foal much too brave for her minute stature.

But they could overcome her.

She was but one, and young. They were more, they were strong, and they wanted that mare.

To the outside observer, they would only see vague shapes coming from the shadows, molded from the shadows themselves, trying to snap at the ghostly golden guardians, while the defenders prodded at them with hooves holding white fire in turn. They were but testing the fringes of her protection.

Occasionally, a larger shadow would lunge, only for it to be driven back by a powerful blow.

It hurt, and it burned worse than red-hot iron... but they knew. She could not hold forever, not against so many.

The eyes of the specters were dimming, and her eyes darted from side to side too much - she was losing focus and energy.

They all burst forward at once.

She screamed.

The door opened once more and two more ghostly figures, the color of fresh raspberries, dove into the black and broke apart the offense, scattering the shadows.

"Dinky!" Amethyst Star, or just 'Sparkler' to her sister, jumped into the room.

One figure was a female guard, her heart being a pegasus ballerina, while the other was a tiger with a white plush animal of the same kind.

The darkness knew the battle was lost. The new arrival loved the filly and the mare just the same as they did each other, and was older and stronger.

The figures oozed away through the windows, yet two stayed behind.

"My head..." A voice of cobbled-together sounds broke through the stillness, it was vaguely feminine and consisted mostly of pained grunts. "Did we get swept up in a Pandemonium?"

"I... I think so." Another voice, much like the first, yet masculine, replied. "I hate scaring ponies that don't deserve it."

"Who are you, that you don't scare others?" Sparkler asked the black blobs, while the dancer specter helped the guard, embracing each other and shining brighter together.

"Ah..." The female voice wavered. "Forgive our intrusion - it was not our intention."

Two figures were there, where once there were nothing but shadows.

"I am Slendermane."

Author's Note

Here is the inspiration pic.

Intermission: Guardian

The heiress was... different.

She was unlike any other member of the family. She was different.

She was softer than the clouds, and gentler than a breeze.

Different.

She would come home crying because foals could not appreciate her uniqueness. This upset them; even grandmother, for all her steel, could see her and love her for the sweet blossom she was - yet, they did not dare raise a hoof against her detractors, becuase she would not bear the thought of causing others pain.

Soft, but delicate.

But not alone. Never alone.

There was one other - a younger foal, but in some ways much wiser than even some of the adults. At first glance obsessed with her image and absorbed in her own 'greatness'... yet capable of recognizing the greatness of-and-in others, never putting them down for the sake of her own ego. Somepony who doesn't 'get' bullying - and yet so young! Somepony willing to admit the talents of others, even where they surpass her own!

It was heartening.

But the young heiress still required a protector.

He was chosen among many. He was everything she would need in a protector - stern, but caring; aggressive, but loyal.

He was turned into a familiar by some of the older friends of the family; a couple of retired Academy professors that studied arcanobiology. He had been a humble Category One creature - if an exceptional specimen of one, nearing Two of his own merit; he was elevated to a high Category Two, and had his mind sharpened further, and lifespan expanded a hundredfold to better match that of the heiress - should nothing strange happen to her to lengthen it, and he had been chosen precisely so that nothing will threaten to shorten it.

He had trained among others, and he was chosen, for even a pony (Category Seven at the minimum) would find it difficult to contend with him. He was accepting of this destiny, because he knew that, if Friendship really was the Magic that permeated the tapestry of the world, he would see them again.

To the determined one, he... might have been less-than patient, but his wisdom and strength (both of character and body) were always appreciated.

To the wise one, he respected his intellect, and would miss the passionate discusions of philosophy, no matter how much he groaned and complained about how long he could talk with the others.

To the aggressive one, he would miss the sparring sessions; she really was the only one who could give him a run for his money.

To the silent one, he never understood him and thought he was weird, but he was fun to be around.

He was chosen for her, because her own nature was ill-suited for a more traditional means of protection (well, traditional for the family, given that familiars were another old tradition).

She loved him with all of her tender little heart, as was her nature, and brought him with her to her abode - another peculiarity of hers, as her chosen residence was so unlike those of the rest of the family. He, in turn, loved her, as her own shining soul was a beacon of peace that made him feel content.

She even gave him the name that should have been hers. He knew he did not deserve such a name, it suited her better than it did him. Her purity of spirit and deed had earned her that name thousands of times over.

Nonetheless, she called him Angel.