One winged Angel

Chapters

Interlude - Sephiroth's Spheroid 0
Chapter -1 - Echoes
Chapter 2 - Breaking the Shell (not edited)
Chapter 3 - Breaking Bonds (not edited)
Chapter 4 - Max, the not so serious encounter
Chapter 5 - Issues, both old and new
Chapter 6 - Sneaking in and harsh truths
Chapter 7 - Sisters on the run
Chapter 9 - Breaking Trust [Sex]
Chapter 10 - Gravity of the Situation
Chapter 11 - A Rescue Mission gone Awry
Chapter 12 - Never mess with Gravity
Chapter 13 - Final Confrontation
Chapter 14 - Aftermath
Chapter 15 - Family Bonding
Chapter 16 - Showery Capers [Sex]
Chapter 17 - Of Succubi and Fire Elementals
Chapter 18 - Doubts and Denial [Sex]
Chapter 19 - A vile Farewell Present
Chapter 20 - Freeing Elementals and Diplomatic Discrepancies
Prolog - Weeping Stone
Chapter 8 - The City beneath the Mountain

Interlude - Sephiroth's Spheroid 0

Author's Note

Due to the review of Scootareader I decided to take the convention-part out of the prolog and make it into it's own chapter.

The idea behind the style it is written in is that you, the reader, found one of Sephiroth's sound recording spheroids and are now listening to it.
If this is well received then I will use this style for future retellings of her past.

So I hope you enjoy.

P.s: As always thanks to my editor Golden Script for not only makeing time to look over this chapter but also to encourage me to try this thing with the spheroid.

Interlude - Sephiroth's Spheroid 0

“Wait. You really want to record this? Oh come on! I just wanted to tell you how I got sent to Equestria. There is absolutely- Why are you grinning like that?”

A rather girly gasp could be heard, followed by an amused and definitely way too deep chuckle to belong to the same woman that had been talking. A distinctly male sounding voice answered.

“Aww. So I don’t get to play with your little prized possessions?”

A sigh echoed out of the little blue crystal you’re listening to.

“Let me guess. It’s already recording?” Only another deep chuckle answers. “Alright, alright. I’ll just get it over with then.”

The woman cleared her throat rather loudly and took a deep breath.

“To whoever listens to this. My name is Sephiroth, a being created to wield unimaginable power, a monster created by scientists and overall a pretty badass looking villainess.

“Yes, you heard right. Despite the original Sephiroth being a guy, I’m more than certainly a woman.”

Again the female voice was interrupted by the male one.

“And I can certainly attest to that.”

A slap resounded from the little, glowing device followed by a soft grunt of pain. Then the woman continued after a false cough.

“Nevermind him. He’s just feeling a little playful as of late and tries to get under my skin so he could test how far he can go before he really pisses me off.”

A shocked gasp, obviously fake, from the male silenced her.

“I’m not trying to get under your skin, but under your clothes would be nice.”

Silence. Whatever the male voice seemed to expect, it was not the silence that lasted for a while.

“Wait… are you blushing?”

“Stop it…”

“Don’t you look away from me. I saw that blush!” singsonged the male voice only to chuckle again, but this time it was cut short by a shrill and strangely resonating sound. A sound like the one a blade makes when it’s dragged across steel, but with an otherworldly humming tone surrounding it and a light addition of a, barely audible, flaming blast.

“Woah woah woah! Seph, please keep that thing out of my face! Alright, I’m sorry. Please don’t slice me up. It’s rather bothersome to put myself together after that. Geez, summoning your sword makes my skin crawl. Just feels… wrong. And that is something, coming from me.”

The woman sighed again; and shortly after, the sound of what seems to be the summoning of Sephiroth’s sword could be heard again. Then her voice sounded out of the crystal.

“So, where was I? Ah yes.

“Everything had begun after my friends convinced me to go to a games convention with them and even forced me to do a cosplay. Well, what can I say? Sephiroth always was my favorite villain. For one, he looked absolutely badass; his silver hair alone had my heart pumping faster than a hummingbird’s. Not to speak of his more than appealing form. He has just the right amount of muscle to be eye catching, but not as ugly as the towering masses of flesh on body builders. On top of that was his personality. He was always cool and always in control. He could slice a goddamn dragon in half and make it look like he just swung his ridiculously long sword through nothing but air! But he never boasts or rubs his superiority in the face of anyone.

“Well… before he goes all crazy-world-destroying and stuff.

“So I surrendered to the continuous pestering of my friends and actually dressed up as a female version of the guy. Black cloak, silver dyed hair, and even fluorescent contact lenses with slitted holes in the middle for the pupils.

“But there was one thing missing. I couldn’t make a sword for my costume. Every attempt ended with disastrous results. It would always break or bend--and one even caught fire (don’t ask).

“When we eventually appeared at the convention it was understandable that I was not satisfied with my cosplay. That, in turn, had the interesting side effect that my expression seemed to match the unamused one Sephiroth always wore when he was not half grinning.

“Needless to say, I received a lot of compliments. There was even a man dressed as Cloud who pleaded to take a picture of me and him. I never once thought of refusing, but before I could answer him my eyes fell on something on one of the merchant stores; or, more accurately, on something behind it. There, on a pedestal, encased in glass, rested an exact copy of Sephiroth’s sword.

“It called out for me, it was positioned exactly in the right way to gleam magically in the artificial light of the convention center. I simply had to get it--but the pricetag destroyed any hope of my obtaining it. I joked to the Cloud cosplayer that if he wants a picture of me then he had to buy me the sword.

“And he actually did it.

“Every attempt to argue with him over how this was way too expensive for me to accept or that I was just joking or him going and getting his money back failed utterly. He just kept on smiling, stating that he would have bought me the sword even if not for the picture, cause, in his words, I just looked so much more complete.

Reluctantly I took the sword out of its case, which apparently went with the thing, and... that was my last memory before waking up in this world…”

Again there was a brief silence before she asked in a surprised tone.

“Nothing? Really? You didn’t even interrupt me this time around. Hey. Are you ill or something?”

Shuffling could be heard.

“Wh-what are you doing? Hey! Get off of me! What has- hmpf!”

What silenced her this time was revealed instantly as the last sound the crystal replayed was that of a kiss…

...and a slap.

Chapter -1 - Echoes

Celestia, the great and benevolent ruler of the land full of colorful little equines and--to her unadulterated pride--many other species, was often pictured by her subjects as an unfailing, downright perfect creature of unimaginable beauty and might. She was the very symbol of grace and justice, her words soothed the most aggressive fighters and her will literally moved the sun.

So it came as no surprise that her loyal subjects viewed her as something more, as something to behold and worship.

Naturally, she hated every single moment of it.

A very exhausted and quite not-so-perfect mare came into the chambers of the so called sun goddess. A crown and regalia of the purest gold floated off her burdened form and she slipped out of shoes of the very same material. She did not bother to move them to their appropriate places and just moved on to the comfortable heaven that was her favorite seat cushion in front of a crackling fireplace.

The heat it radiated helped to relax her tired and sore body and coaxed a little sigh from her lips. But, instead of getting to enjoy the simple happiness of relaxation, she lit up her ivory horn in her usual yellow aura and closed her eyes, as she did not need them for what she intended to do.

A little oval crystal of the most mysterious shade of sea blue with literal and moving waves of white over its surface lifted itself out of its hiding place beneath a little tea table right next to the alabaster mare, and with a resounding click began to gently glow from its inner depths.

After a few seconds of silence a voice could be heard coming from seemingly within the crystal itself.

“Is this working?”

It was a very unassuming voice that could have belonged to any mare on this world. Sadly, the only mare present knew just too well who this voice belonged to. A rich and almost too low of a voice for a female but its tone and usage unmistakably so.

”Hi. My name is Sephiroth-” It said with forced calm but that changed immediately to a high pitched fangirlish screech.

”Can you believe it? They got spheroids! Okay, so not the actual ones from Final Fantasy ten, but still! This is so~ awesome!”

A little smile worked its way onto the tired features of the mare listening. A cough and clearing of a throat later, the voice continued more calmly, but undeniably happy.

”So how shall I go about this? Dear diary? No, that would be kinda dumb. Ah, fuck it. I’m going with my starting line from before.” Silence followed but did not remain for long. ”So, this is Sephiroth speaking. Yeah, I know. Sephiroth is supposed to be a guy; but, you see, I dressed up as a female version of him, and after being transported here--oh yeah, just so you know it, I’m in Equestria right now--I woke up as my costume.”

This was the part Celestia never understood, regardless of how often she listened to it. Regret flooded her heart over the fact that the one being she could ask to clarify it would never be able to speak again.

But, before she could dwell too much on it, the voice continued.

”Man, was I spacy after that trip. I actually considered if some jerk had drugged me and carried me all the way to some forest. But--get this--after the world decided that it had been spinning for long enough and I got the first good look of my surroundings, I saw an actual timberwolf! No kidding! It just sat there, at the edge of a clearing I seem to have landed in, and blinked at me! Can you believe it?! Obviously, it did not know if I was a meal or a danger.”

Again there was a pause. The voice got gradually more excited over the last few sentences. Now all that could be heard were a few deep breaths. A calming technique that was so basic that it worked for every living being. Even the ones that don’t actually needto breathe, such as herself.

Much calmer, the voice carried on.

”I know how foolish my next action might sound, but I just couldn’t stop myself. In the blink of an eye--and that is no exaggeration, cause I saw it blinking--I was in front of it and proceeded to cuddle the living hell out of the cute little pup.

“Okay, so it was not really that small, actually a little longer than I was tall, but it was so taken aback by my action that it just hung in my hug.”

Conflicting emotions of amusement and even more regret twisted the mare’s heart. If only she had found this ‘spheroids’ sooner. She would have--no, could have--acted differently. A lone tear rolled off her left eye and she caught it with her hoof. On former sessions of listening to the spheroids, centuries in the past, she would have bawled her eyes out over her biggest mistake.

Second only to the banishment of her own sister.

The voice sounded through the room, still. But Celestia had stopped listening.

She knew the tale by heart for more years than most of her subjects could ever hope to live. The thought that she had coaxed Sephiroth’s love to betray her made her sick.

She was not perfect, and would never be.

Full of regret and sorrow she declared the statue of the ‘One winged Angel’ to be the very symbol of love. It was a pitiful attempt at redemption and she knew it.
She never visited it herself because she felt like she did not deserve to be in its presence, even if Sephiroth herself would not notice it.

She was gone.

The tall and powerful alicorn felt her hooves tremble with sorrow, despair and self hatred. She had killed an innocent mare, ended a supposedly immortal life before it even reached one full lifespan. And she used her beloved one to do it!
She did not deserve the admiration of her little ponies, but they did not know any better. Once, only once, she tried to abdicate her crown. To go into exile like she deserved.

It not only caused an enormous uproar all over the world, but plunged her beloved ponies into a civil war. The common inhabitants of Equestria believed that the nobles somehow had forced the princess to step down only to seize her power as their own and thus invaded the homes of nobles all across the country.
Too much blood was shed on that day. Too many honest lives were lost.

And again… it was her fault.

So she did the only thing that she could do. Donning a mask of serenity and benevolence, she took her throne once more and led her ponies to an age of peace, prosperity and harmony.

But under her pristine outer appearance, her snow white hooves were soaked red in blood that she never could hope to ever wash off. Her calm and motherly smile was forced and warped into a wicked grimace that screamed for salvation, and her kind and loving eyes were dull and lifeless.

But she kept it up. For the sake of everypony, even her sister’s.

She would not fail because she must never fail.

Otherwise…

Her beloved subjects would pay for her sins...

Author's Note

Special thanks go to Golden Script, as he took the time to edit this chapter.

Chapter 2 - Breaking the Shell (not edited)

Author's Note

I think I waited long enough to publish this.
It's not edited and as such will, very likely, contain grammar and spelling mistakes.

Hope you still enjoy it.

Chapter 2 - Breaking the Shell (not edited)

A tall, bipedal figure, form hidden beneath a long black cloak strode through the beautiful gardens of canterlot castle. Under normal circumstances it would have been spotted by the guards and due to its appearance resembling only one other being that trod the grounds of Equestria in the entire history, Celestia would have been alerted of this situation immediately.

But somehow not a single guard was around as the being strode on confidently. No haste was in its steps but they were directed nonetheless. This creature knew exactly what it was looking for and where it could be found. Despite this it took its time to appreciate the beauty surrounding it, the care that obviously was put into the well-being of flora and fauna.

The sound of countless little objects hitting each other came from the folds of its cloak and the heavy looking rucksack on its back but it didn’t seem bothered in the slightest by it.

Step by step it neared its destination and a few moments later stood in front of the statue of the weeping one winged angel. Folding its arms in front of its chest the figure just remained standing for a while, examining the seemingly dead stone.
A deep, rumbling chuckle rolled off the creature.

“Greetings my friend. I see that you are in quite the sticky situation.”

The obviously male voice was filled with glee and mischief but at the same time covered in silk and sounded like its owner was used to talk customers into buying. It did not take a genius to assume that this was the very same merchant from the convention.

“But you are oh so lucky. I’ve got something for you.”

Slowly he reached into his cloak and when he withdrew his hand again he held a big, gleaming, silvery needle with a small oval shaped red gem embedded in its rear end. A grin formed on his face as he waved the needle in front of the statue.

“You know what this is, don’t you? Oh yes, you do.”

He then took the needle in his fist, hiding it from view.

“It’s a silver needle, also called a supersoft. I’m willing to let you have it but I have to ask for something in return. After all, what merchant would I be if I would just go around giving away everything.”

He then literally ripped the bowl with the crystalized tears off of the foot of the statue, seemingly counting its contents until he nodded.

“That would be enough. Always a pleasure making deals with you, Sephiroth.”

In an instant he stuffed the whole bowl into his cloak, mysteriously not losing a single gem in the process, and rammed the little needle right into where Sephiroth’s heart had been. It pierced the stone effortlessly and slowly sank into it on its own accord. Cracks began to spread from the point of impact and the merchant took this as his clue to leave.

“So. Till we meet again. Tata!”

And just like that he ceased to exist. No flash of teleportation, no interdimensional gate. He just vanished.

Meanwhile the cracks ran faster and faster through the stone, spread wider and eventually began to break apart. Small chunks of stone came loose and dropped to the ground below but instead of breaking free violently, the former statue remained unmoving till every last piece of stone had fallen off. Slowly the woman started to shake and if there were a single soul around to witness this it would have thought she was crying.
But this assumption would prove wrong just mere seconds later, because the sound of low, rumbling laughter rolled off her and when she finally removed her hands from her face a manic grin came to light, showing more teeth than could be deemed friendly. In her wide open eyes danced a whole inferno of hatred.

Strangely lacking any haste, considering that she would gladly have her revenge sooner than later, she rose from her position. Behind her flared a single enormous wing, feathers as black as the darkest night sky. A single, quietly uttered phrase escaped her lips, carrying enough hatred inside to make the white Alicorn in the throne room cower in fear for the first time in a whole millennium and confusedly looking around for the source.

“Celestia~, I’m coming after you~.”

In the afore mentioned throne room a pegasus, clad in the golden armor of the royal guard, cleared his throat to regain the attention of his princess. The action he witnessed just a few seconds prior unsettled him greatly, but he tried to hide it behind a mask of stoic determination. The white mare was not easily fooled, though. For uncounted generations nopony had seen her act so out of place, so… afraid.

“Your highness?”

She took a moment to compose herself, centuries of experience aided her to recover in an instant. Her gaze drifted to the stained glass windows that were in the general direction of the gardens, an impossible cold clawing at her heart.
Suddenly she recalled this feeling to be similar to something her subject wrote about, claiming it was the exact thing you felt if you knew your life was about to end.
Shaking her head at the impossibility of her feeling something like this, she focused her attention back towards her guard, only to blink in confusion at his expression of pure terror.

The cold in her chest seemed to expand slowly, prompting her to look down only for her eyes to widen slightly. There, sticking out of her spotless white chest and embedded in the floor a little in front of her hooves, was a gleaming and slightly curved blade. A blade she recognized at once.
But all that registered in her mind, which was frozen in fear, was that there was a concerning lack of blood, considering the blade spearing through her. Her only reaction was a surprised “Oh.”

Her ears alerted her of the presence behind her as they swiveled back to focus on what seemed to be footsteps, muffled by thick boots. A sound she never thought hearing again as there was only one creature which they could belong to. This in itself caused the cold in her chest to expand tenfold, now creeping through the entirety of her body. White ears followed the slow and measured pace but she dared not to face what she knew to be the only human in this universe.

The tall figure of Sephiroth finally entered her field of view, facing away from her and taking a position to her right, like an adviser would. Although she could not see the woman’s face she could tell that she had to be smiling in sadistic satisfaction. Hands in black leathery gloves folded behind her back, only partially covered by the single folded wing on her back.

Again Celestia’s eyes widened slightly and snapped back to her guard, who had recovered enough to take an offensive stance, spreading his wings wide in a threatening gesture.

“What have you done, you monster?!”

The white mare wanted to say something, to prevent the poor fool from rushing to his certain demise, but right then her mouth filled with a vile tasting liquid. She recognized the metallic taste of her own blood right when a small dribble of it ran out of the corner of her mouth, staining the pristine white fur on her jaw.
The urge to cough filled her throat, but her body refused to obey.
So she was unable to do anything when her loyal and righteous guard charged towards the being that hurt his princess. She could see it in his eyes.

He was ready to die for her and again the only thing that brought her was guilt.

Sephiroth lifted a single hand from behind her back and extended it towards the attacking pegasus. With a lazy wave the pony was whisked out of his path and right into the next wall, where he impacted with a loud enough crash that his scream could not be heard. If there even was one to begin with, she could not tell.

Powerless, she had to watch the events unfold without a chance to interfere. With a slight upwards twitch of the corner of her mouth, born from morbid amusement, she realized that this must have been how Sephiroth felt when she was cast in stone.

Silence settled in the large room as none of the other guards dared to attack after that. And for what felt like an eternity nopony moved. But that was about to change as Sephiroth waved her hand again, causing every guard to flinch, but nothing happened. Her voice sounded strong and unforgiving, filled with burning rage.

“Out!”

Celestia could not hold it against her little ponies that every single one of them hurried away, nearly smashing against the big golden doors of the throne room.
With another wave of the black hand the doors slammed shut and they were left alone.
After another, way too long, silence, Sephiroth finally turned around to face the white mare and the threatening scowl on her face turned into the sadistic grin Celestia had expected to see. They were nearly at eye level with each other, magenta rings meeting the predatory dragonlike turquoise.

“Greetings, Celestia. Rest assured that I have not mortally wounded you. If you don’t struggle you will survive. For the time being, at least.”

A low chuckling sound escaped Sephiroth’s lips. She extended a hand towards the alicorn’s face, scooping up a little of the blood on the tip of her finger and showing it to the princess.

“This… is the first time I hurt a pony on purpose.”

For a brief moment she fell silent while she examined the drop on her finger, conflicting emotions flickered across her face but vanished as fast as they came.
She wiped it on the pony’s chest before fixing her with a glare that spoke promises of agony and death.

“I have one simple question for you and if you answer me truthfully, I may let you live.”

Not able to control the maelstrom of emotions inside her, she began to tremble, while the air in the gigantic room cracked with raw power. Despite all this her voice was clear and cold.

“Where. Is. He?”

Chapter 3 - Breaking Bonds (not edited)

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 4 - Max, the not so serious encounter

Author's Note

So here it is. My first crossover in the Displaced-Multiverse. It's with the story Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Wimey? Nope, Just Max from Moon_Fire. I really had a lot of fun writing with him, in fact I still am. He wanted to say a few things himself so I'll just leave it at that for now.

Moon_Fire: I started this crossover not knowing much about the universe and at the time I thought it would be the same as the show, except the capital didn’t move. I was dead wrong. My naivete continued for the rest of this chapter because I never had reason for Max to ask what happened and “he” didn’t want to pry too much onto Sephiroth’s life.

Chapter 4 - Max, the not so serious encounter

“You dare slapping random pictures into faces of others! Just come over here and I will teach you not to cross me!”

“Ah great, I’m being summoned again,” A male voice said from all around her before a portal looking like a butterfly opened on the ground and someone rose up out of it. “So what was that about pictures and slapping?”

That… actually caused her anger to cease and be replaced by utter confusion. She had not expected anything to happen, really. Blinking she contemplated the man in front of her, blinked again, and then compared him to the picture. Completely at a loss she just turned the piece of paper around and showed it to him.

“ ‘Tis your girlfriend or something?”

He looked at the picture and said, “Ah, that’s what you mean. I’ve had lots of complaints about my Token hitting people in the face.” The man leaned forward a bit, looking for something in her face. “You look familiar.... Have we met back on earth?”

Instead of answering his question Sephiroth’s anger returned with a vengeance and with a slow and steady motion of her hand she ‘drew’ her sword out of nowhere.

“So… it was you then that hit me in the face with this thing?”

Completely oblivious to the danger he was in, the man leaned over and put his elbow on air like he was setting it on a counter. “Nope. I sent it into the Void, to be sure, but it isn’t my fault it hit you in the face. The blame for that lies on the Void itself. Am I your first Summoning?”

A deep frown settled on her face but she could not deny that some of the things this guy mentioned were worth a little attention. So she relaxed her pose, if just a little, and opted to stare a hole through his head instead.

“Explain yourself!”

“Ah, I see who you’re dressed as now! A female Sephiroth. My second favorite Villain from Final Fantasy-” Her sword made its way under his chin, barely touching his skin. “.... Please put that away before I have to take it from you.”

A downright evil grin spread across her face. “Take it from me? I’d like to see you try. No being has ever succeeded in doing so, ‘cause it’s not a simple object.”
The grin vanished shortly after and she began to put just the littlest pressure behind her blade.

“I asked you to explain yourself, not me.”

All of a sudden her blade was pressed to her throat and the man wasn’t in front of her anymore. “There is more to me than a simple explanation can cover. The ability to manipulate Time in every form being one of them. To me, we just had a lengthy conversation and I became enough of a friend that you let me hold your sword for a moment.”

Absolutely stunned she just stood there for a moment, staring uncomprehendingly at what should be impossible. There was no denying it. He held her own sword, which by nature could not be held by any other being if she didn’t allow it to. And she meant it, even Discord himself had tried to… and failed. Slowly she let the blade in her own hand sink, while one of her eyebrows rose.

“I’m all ears.”

The blade against her throat burned away in a burst of life force as the guy walked into her vision from her right. “So, what do you want to talk about first this time? Displaced? How I’m master of Time? How to make your own Token?”

Scepticism was edged into her features but she followed his example and let her blade vanish in wisps of green flames. Several questions raced through her mind but she could answer some of them herself already. Seeing as he mentioned earth earlier she assumed that he, just like herself, was human once. A plain old NON-magical human from plain old earth.

So the ‘Displaced’, as he called them, most likely were humans that got sent to other dimensions, with some kind of powers, which were dependent on the costume they wore. So that left only one of the three questions. She waved the picture in front of his face.

“So this is your, how did you call it, Token? Then why does it show a woman and not, well, you?”

He chuckled, putting an arm around her shoulders. “I’m going to guess you haven’t heard of My Little Pony at all and just say that a powerful wizard in Equestria made a mirror into a portal to a different universe. He placed a spell on that mirror that changes any that pass through it into a native of that universe. Unfortunately for me, that meant turning me into my old self.”

She stiffened at the contact and barely held a growl behind her teeth. In a low and threatening tone she spoke to him.

“Do. Not. Touch. Me.”

“Okay then.” His arm fell from her shoulders and he took a step back. “Any other questions?”

It took a few moments but she managed to suppress her anger again. Her curiosity helped and the fact that she wanted to avert his attention from the subject of her not wanting to be touched. “I remember something about a crazy colt who would bug others with his ideas of mirrors and portals to other dimensions. At first he did arouse my curiosity but he was just so… unbearably nerve-racking. But that’s beside the point. So he did succeed in the end?”

“Somewhat. He only made one working prototype in my universe before he died. It’s only open for forty-eight hours every two and a half years. Here, though? I suspect that since he got an early start on the subject he was able to make more than one.”

Shrugging she took the time to really look at the man, who still lived after provoking her so much. Unassuming was a word that came to mind. He wore simple blue jeans and a grey hoodie. Even his brown hair and blue eyes did not strike her as something unnatural. Everything considered he did certainly not look like what she would have thought of a ‘master of time’.

“I wouldn’t know.”

“Ah, just got out of stone. I hope you weren’t petrified for something more stupid than just using all of Celestia’s favorite shampoo like me.”

Not even the attempt to make light of the situation from him could prevent her mood from dropping into a bottomless abyss. Her face darkened so suddenly that the transition from one into the other itself could not be seen.

“I was cast into stone because I could have been a threat.”

He tapped her arm with the back of his hand. “See? It was out of fear, not out of an impotent tantrum. I didn’t hold it against Celestia, though, since there was a small chance I might’ve pushed her and her sister down that path. Self-fulfilling prophecies and all that.”

Again her anger spiked and she took hold of the hand that dared touch her. She squeezed with enough force to pulverise a stone while her whole body began to tremble in rage. Despite that her voice was eerily calm and cold.

“No. It wasn’t a tantrum. She schemed against me because she and her sister combined were no match for me and she knew it. No. Instead she twisted the only one I thought I could trust with everything against me. She made him betray me.”

“I was referring to my situation with that. I know they would never be able to combat you because I have their combined might on top of my powers and you attacked me once and I had to resort to using Time to get out of that situation. Like I am now to make sure you don’t permanently harm my writing hand.” The grip tightened a bit and he continued, “I have petitions to sign and a country to run where I was Displaced to, you know.”

Letting go of his hand she glared at him and this time did nothing to suppress her growl. “I warned you. Do not touch me.”

Shaking her head she turned away from him and let her gaze wander over the horizon. Why did she tell him all that? It didn’t concern him and she didn’t want to talk about this. On that note, why did she even waste her time with him? She had a certain individual to find.

“Sorry, I’m trying to limit how much I sleep with others and wear less revealing clothes so my fillies will have a good role model to look up to.” He sighed and leaned back, falling halfway to the ground before floating up to around her height. “Doesn’t help that you are sexier than Tsunade and carry a big sword.”

Looking at him again she could do nothing but wear a deadpan expression on her face. “You just compared me to an old woman who just uses illusions to hide her age. Do you really believe that you could get a rise out of me?”

“I was trying to give you a compliment. How about this: you’re sexier than Masane from Witchblade and carry a big sword.”

Her expression didn’t change in the slightest, with the exception being an eyebrow that rose on its own. “What’s with the fixation on long and hard objects? Are you secretly gay or something?”

“Nope. You just caught me at a party before I could head back through the mirror to my Equestria.” He flipped over onto his stomach and gave her a bored look. “You’re looking at Equestria’s Queen, Maxine Caulfield. Soon to be Maxine Walker.”

Crossing her arms in front of her chest Sephiroth leaned back a bit and her eyebrow rose even higher. “Should I be impressed now?” Sighing she shook her head. “See, I can appreciate that you tried to compliment me and all but I just cannot take anything good out of it at the moment. Maybe I’ll never be able to trust somebody in this way ever again.”

Max closed his eyes and turned upright, facing away from Sephiroth as he landed. “I’m gonna ignore that since I’d be prying too deeply if I didn’t and just ask if you were searching for something earlier.”

With an irritated huff she braced one hand against her forehead and closed her eyes. “Yes, I was about to begin my search, but for someone, not something.” She paused for a moment to think but the only thing that brought her was another surge of rage. She breathed deeply and tried to bodily swallow it again before she continued to speak, more to herself than Max. “Something changed…”

“So who are you looking for? I could help find them if they’re a pony and point you to a few places you could look if they aren’t.” Max pulled a map out of a shoulder bag that had gone unnoticed by the woman so far.

She decided not to question where the bag had come from and instead focused on something that came to her attention in the course of their conversation. After she had confirmed it for herself, she began to chuckle quietly. This lasted for but a few moments before she stared at Max again.

“Say… do you remember? Your old self, I mean.”

“Yeah, I was a complete loser who couldn’t get a girlfriend. I was going to join the navy, but then I went to a ‘con in Austin dressed as Max from Life is Strange, met a Moogle, bought a camera, and here I am. I do know someone that could find my home universe, but why go back to that life of missed chances?” He turned to face Sephiroth. “Here, in Equestria, I have four children and a fifth on the way, I have a fiance, and I have friends spread across the multiverse.”

Closing her eyes once again she nodded ever so slowly. Going back was not the thing on her mind but Max remembered. So, after a few more moments, she nodded again. “Yes, why indeed.” Again she let her thoughts drift for a bit before she came to the conclusion that she would have to come to terms with not remembering. Just like before she tried to avoid the topic by addressing something he said earlier.

“Think you could really help me find the one I search for? Because he certainly is not a pony.”

“If he got on the wrong side of Celestia, yes. And even if he didn’t I could probably point you to a location or two that would help. Unless it’s Discord. I can point you right where he is currently.”

“And why would that be? Discord can be hard to find if he wants to.”

Max left the map floating in front of him and made a few gestures with his hands, somehow pulling a flip phone out of thin air and opened it. He pressed a button and said, “Hey Dissy, mind helping me find yourself? ....No, different universe. ....Oh, okay then I’ll let you get back to Fluttershy. Don’t forget to send me some pics when the children are born.”

Bewildered, Sephiroth followed the brief exchange. Apparently Max just called a Discord from another, maybe his own, universe and said something about children? Shaking her head for what felt like the hundredth time, she just let it drop. Wouldn’t do her any good to think about it.

Closing the phone into a wisp of magic, Max turned an apologetic expression towards her. “Sorry, looks like we won’t be able to find him if he’s already free.”

Confusion clear on her face she tilted her head. “What do you mean… already free?”

“What do you mean ‘what do I mean’? Discord was imprisoned here, right?”

“Not that I know of. I did not learn of it at least. While I was imprisoned I was aware of my surroundings. And I think if something like this happened I would have learned from it.” An angry snort left her as she furrowed her brows. “He is the hero that saved Equestria from me after all.”

Max’s eyebrows rose into his hair as his mouth fell open. After a few seconds, he shook himself and said, “Well, that changes a lot of things. Certainly puts a new spin on what I assume to have happened.” He turned and began to pace, muttering to himself.

Convinced that she had said too much already, Sephiroth kept quiet and just observed the man, waiting for him to speak again. Half an hour later, he looked at her again. “I have absolutely no idea where he would be or where I am in relation to my own universe.”

“That’s… not very helpful. But am I right to assume that the chain of events in our universes are too different for you to take an educated guess?”

“Yours is too different for anyone but a Discord to make a random guess. The only thing I can think of is that he has a pocket dimension somewhere, possibly in an actual pocket just for laughs.”

“Actually I know of his, how he calls it, little haven of chaos amidst all the order. That is why I don’t think that he’d be there in the first place. But he could have made an indefinite amount of such dimensions just to lead me astray.” She sighed and let her gaze wander once again. “I told you he can be elusive if he wants to.”

“He can’t escape someone that thinks exactly like him. That’s why I was calling the one from my universe.”

“Well…” Sephiroth hesitated, then shook her head. “It can’t be helped. Then I have to search him the old way.”

“I could give you something for tracking chaos magic if you like.”

For a moment she thought about his offer before she answered. “Try it. I think it may have a little trouble working here. This dimension has chaos everywhere. At least I assume that it will be more difficult than in other universes, if Discord was imprisoned in most of them for even half as long as I have.”

“A plain chaos tracker wouldn’t work in any universe since change is considered chaos,” Max said, digging in his bag. “This tracks Discord’s unique magical signature, so you’ll be able to find any distortion caused by him. It’ll move on to the next closest until you find him or reset it. Twilight wanted Mun to make seven of these so she and her friends would be able to find him in our universe and had me hold onto the seventh one just in case.”

It was tempting for sure. A device with which she could track Discord down. Even if there were several areas where he left behind huge amounts of magic just to make himself harder to find, she at least had something to work with.

“What would I owe you in return?”

“Nothing. I’ve been helped like this so many times that I don’t think my karma would let me accept anything without making my life miserable. Besides, that’s what friends do.”

A carefully sceptic expression on her face, Sephiroth crossed her arms again in front of her chest. “Friends, huh? You just met me. I had friends once and I don’t think that I really want some nowadays. Associates, that I can get behind.” She held her left arm in front of herself while she slid two fingers of her right hand over the length of it until they came to a halt on a seemingly random location somewhere between her elbow and her wrist. Concentrating for a moment the spot under her fingers seemed to blur as they sunk into her own flesh, only to reemerge seconds later with a little spherical crystal in her grasp. It shone with a dormant red which seemed to be far purer than any ruby ever had a right to be.

“Yeah, I consider every new Displaced I meet a friend. Some I even consider family.” His searching slowed as his face took on a more grim expression. “Though the one I consider a sister thinks she isn’t supposed to be happy at all.” He stopped and looked up at Sephiroth, catching her eye and giving her a pained look. “You saying that you don’t want friends reminds me too much of her. Please, don’t let Discord’s actions stop you from believing that you can find people who care about you. There’s an entire multiverse out there waiting for you to take your first steps into it, all you have to do is send out a Token of your own.”

She took her time to examine the little orb that she had just pulled out of her arm and nodded in satisfaction. “I don’t say, that I don’t deserve to be happy or that I don’t want to be. But my last, so called, friends locked me away for more years that I bothered to count. And then I return just to learn that they turned on each other and that Celestia brainwashed her sister into believing that Nightmare was just a dark episode of her past, created through jealousy. So excuse me if I’m just not for being friends at the moment.”

The crystal disappeared into her fist as she enclosed it into it and raw magic poured from between her fingers as she set to craft it into something more. It took but a few moments before she opened her palm again, revealing the now dimly glowing sphere. Turning it around to look at it in every angle and even going so far as to look at the sky through it she nodded again. Then she proceeded to throw it over to Max. “Take it.”

He caught it and turned it over in his hands. “What am I to do with this? It’s the only copy of your Token.”

“It won’t stay the only one. I haven’t messed with the Void in the past but if it will do as I intended it to, then it will spread through the Void the instant you enter it again to return to your world.”

Max shrugged and put it in his bag, resuming his search. “Well, at least you know what you’re doing. Me though? I’m having to guess at what gets done and how fast. I can’t even rewind if something gets messed up right now!”

“You have to excuse me if I cannot pity you for something every being without power over time has to deal with.”

“At least you can still use the full extent of your powers, is what I was trying to say. I have to wait until my son is born before I can even think of rewinding a week or two.”

With an impassive expression Sephiroth shook her head. “I can just repeat myself. No pity for you.”

“Wasn’t trying for your pity, I was voicing a complaint about being pregnant. I- Ah, here it is! Hidden under the sniper ammo.” Max pulled out a small, grey PDA with an antenna coming from the top. “The DTD.”

Putting her hands between them she made a motion as to stop something. “Wait wait wait. You-” Waving one hand in his direction. “-are pregnant? Do I even want to know how?”

“I believe we went over this before.... Eh, why not explain it again? When I was Displaced, I was turned into a girl.”

Annoyed she tried to cut him off. “I KNOW that you changed genders! But you said you are pregnant NOW. And you are clearly not female at the moment.”

“Oh that. Yeah, as far as I can tell going through the mirror somehow freezes my female self in time in between universes and gives me this body. It’s a bit more complicated than I can understand, but that’s the most basic translation of the portal’s effects I’ve been given.”

Blinking a few times she stared at him. “Okay. If I were you I would worry my ass off right now if my kid is alright. That can not be healthy.”

“First time I went through I was worried and immediately went to find a doctor to see if he was okay. My son was completely unharmed and healthy. I will be going back through the mirror before the portal closes, though.”

“Okay, good. Because if you wouldn’t then I fear I would have to kill you for endangering him due to such silly reasons.”

Max put his hands on his hips and frowned. “You think I’d harm my children on purpose just to go to a party? It’s true that I’ll let them get hurt a little as part of them growing up, but I would never leave them to d-... die.” He was silent for a moment, his breath growing a bit more ragged. Finally he whispered, “You don’t know how many foals I personally saw that were dead because their parents didn’t want them.”

Carefully considering her next words for a few moments, she felt like she should do something to elevate the mood again, but decided against it. It wouldn’t be appropriate in the slightest. “I can not say, that I know how it is to go through something like this and I will not pretend to understand what it is like. But if I were to witness the suffering of children, regardless of species, then there would not be much left of those that caused it. Not even enough to bury.”

Max snorted in amusement. “That’s what I was wanting, but I was advised against it so as to not be seen as a merciless tyrant by Cadence and Twilight.”

“That’s the advantage of not being something akin to a hero. I’m already shunned as a monster. My statue was labeled as romantic by Celestia, can you believe it? Of all things-” One more time rage overtook her features. “-she dared to convince her little ponies that the very picture of the greatest betrayal between loved ones. Would. Be. Romantic!”

“I’m not a hero. I’m just someone with questionable morals that doesn’t want to be seen as a terrible ruler.”

“So you actually care about how you are seen by others. I do not.” Calming herself down she proceeded to let her gaze wander once again.

“Not by choice. I was given my place by Celestia and Luna right before they died and I’m expected to be at least half as tolerant as them! For every pony that brings a trivial matter to my attention, I find myself wanting to strangle something. And every single criminal that goes through the courts I would rather have dead.” He tossed the device to Sephiroth who caught it. “I’d rather leave Twilight and Cadence to sort everything out and go live with my fiance in his universe than deal with the drained-of-common-sense mess that is Equestria.”

Turning the device in her hand to get a good look from every angle she stayed silent for a while. Then, as if something caught her attention, she redirected her gaze to him. “Celestia and Luna? So there actually are universes where Nightmare is not the original princess of the night?”

“Yeah. In mine Celestia was the one to get banished.”

Nodding she returned her attention towards the device. “How do I use this?”

“All you have to do to calibrate it for this universe is to press the red button once. Press it any more and you’ll reset it.”

Without further ado she pressed the button and waited for the device to do anything. It took a few seconds but she was rewarded with an easily notable direction from it. She turned around until she was facing this direction and her head tilted in confusion. “Wait… that’s the direction of the castle. I just was there! Is this thing working?”

Max patted Sephiroth on the shoulder and said, “He fell for the one thing no guy can resist. Just make sure Celestia sees his crotch after you’re done.”

It took her more time than she would ever admit to process the words that were spoken right now. “Did you just… imply that he… and her…?” She wasn’t even able to finish her own thoughts. Something hurt, she didn’t know what, but something did not take too kindly to the implications.

“That’s the only reason I can think of for a disturbance large enough to leave a trace for the DTD to find. Either they’ve been seeing each other since you were imprisoned, or there’s a bastard child living in the castle. Or the doorway to his dimension is in there. Either way it does not look good for Discord.”

Numbness spread through her chest at an alarming rate. “A… a child?” Her left eye began to twitch slightly and the corners of her lips lifted in slow motion, but not to show a normal smile.

“I could be wrong and there’s just an artifact made by him. Like the Alicorn Amulet. The DTD can’t tell the difference between Discord and the things he made.” Max paused and came around in front of Sephiroth, searching her face for something. Apparently finding it, his expression saddened. “Seph. If there is a child, don’t harm it because of its parents.”

Her shoulders began to tremble, at first it was barely noticeable but the motion grew in intensity until her whole upper body shook. It wasn’t until then that her laughter became audible. A deep, menacing sound which contained not a single bit of joy in it. “He… hahaha… he has the guts… hehe… to… ohoho that is rich.”
And just like that her laughter was gone, her posture changing abruptly as she frowned, only cold death in her eyes. “I’m gonna end her.”

“And then what? Their child grows up an orphan? The world gets thrown into chaos? I know for a fact that Luna will regain her old powers just to hunt you down, regardless of how close the two of you were. Discord would as well.”

Heedless of his reasoning Sephiroth began to walk in the direction that the device pointed to. She was beyond reason. The betrayal, the imprisonment, the erasure of her best friend and now this. Mad did not even begin to describe her feelings at this moment. The world could fall before her wrath and she wouldn’t care.

Before she could react she was hit from behind, a hole through her right shoulder. She turned to look back at Max and saw he was holding a sniper rifle. “You’re going to destroy yourself,” He said, chambering another round into the sniper rifle. “Step onto this path of revenge and you condemn an entire planet. You’ll have every single living thing’s blood on your hands. Even those you don’t kill yourself will be dead because of your actions.”

Standing as if nothing happened, she slowly lifted her left hand and pressed two fingers on the hole, not even flinching. Her fingers came back wet with blood. For a moment she just examined the red fluid on her gloves as if it’s very existence was a mystery to her. A deep chuckle escaped her and her eyes snapped to Max’s while her mouth turned into an excited smile. “You attacked me.”

“You wouldn’t listen to what I was saying. Besides, you said for me to not touch you.” He lowered the rifle. “Please, listen to me. Do you want to kill innocent children? You will if you go down this road.”

This gave her pause and her smile vanished. “I would never hurt a child. Regardless of their origin or who their parents are.”

“Who do you think is protecting Celestia? Ponies as old as you?” He shook his head. “Compared to you all but dragons are children. Sons and daughters of ponies who have done nothing to you. I’m not saying forget what happened, just to bide your time until you can kill them without harming anyone else.”

Annoyed again she turned around, facing the direction she had before, but she did not move forward. “I would have felt if there was something like a child of those two around. Such a union is bound to bring forth a being which in itself is very powerful.” Hesitating for a few seconds she shook her head. “Maybe your other options are more likely.”

“Then why not put off the hunt and train? You have been stuck in stone for who knows how long and don’t fully know what you’re up against.”

She waved her bloodied hand dismissively. “I already faced both princesses at once. They’ve grown weak. Nightmare is nothing but a shadow of her former self and Celestia didn’t even notice my approach. I admit that I don’t have a full grip on my powers and that I seem to be… unfocused. But why postpone their punishment? Why give them the time to prepare themselves?”

“You don’t know of the third, then. Or Celestia’s plans for her student. Even if they didn’t train, you wouldn’t be able to stand against four alicorns and a draconequus as you are. You need time to prepare, same as they do otherwise you won’t survive.”

She paused to let his words sink in, not just the recent ones and began to really consider what he said. There was no way to make sure in this moment if there even was a third alicorn in her universe but the possibility stood and she couldn’t know if she would be able to beat them all. Even more so if Discord decided to join in. She never experienced his full power after all. Then there was the fact that they did not even have to defeat her. They just had to hold her down long enough to petrify her again. And even if she could overcome them all at once what would happen to the surrounding area? To the capital? To all the innocent ponies, ponies that, even if it was a bit sick, prayed at her statue, who begged for her guidance or asked for her blessing. Max was right, of course. They were but children compared to her.

Her eyes widened. The guard. That brave fool that tried to stand up against her to protect his princess. She had wiped him away as if he was nothing, like he was a plaything for her wrath.

She had hurt him. A child.

Nothing else mattered anymore. She would have her revenge in time but this could not wait. With determination in her voice she spoke. “I have to go back, now.” She motioned with her hand in his direction that he shouldn’t interrupt her. “That is not up to debate. I slammed a guard into the wall when he tried to engage me in combat, when he only tried to protect. Before I can leave to train I simply have to make sure that he isn’t-” She tried to swallow the knot that had suddenly formed in her throat. With little success. “That I didn’t… “

With an exasperated sigh her shoulders slumped a little. “Do not try to stop me or stand in my way. Otherwise I will force you out of this universe, even if I have to harm you.”

“I wasn’t going to. I was going to ask if I could accompany you.” She noticed him coming up on her right, his rifle resting on his shoulder and a pistol in his left hand. “And whether you like it or not, I’m a friend to the end.”

A small smile played around her lips but she just shook her head and began to walk back the way she came.

Chapter 5 - Issues, both old and new

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 6 - Sneaking in and harsh truths

It took the two females only a few minutes to reach the outer walls of Everfree City but just as the city’s gate came into view the pegasus of the two abruptly stopped. “You got to be kidding me…” There on both sides of a gate big enough for even the biggest dragon to fit through and then some, stood the very two guards that had stumbled upon her first attempts at walking.

“Oh hey, I can try to seduce them again!” Max commented, shuddering shortly after. “That didn’t go well. Don’t these ponies know what an STD is?”

Sephiroth blankly stared at the gryphon next to her. “...what?”

“Rewind power. I think the best way for us to get through is for you to make a scene about the guards harassing me.”

Sighing, a black hoof reached up to rub between teal eyes. “I will never get used to this.” Without further questioning she just began to walk up to the gate, a deep scowl firmly into place on her face.

“No, you have to smile. Come on, didn’t we go over this on the walk? Hot Blade - you - are a slightly ditzy, happy-go-lucky adventurer with a bit of a temper and Talos, your body guard, has pulled you out of at least ten situations where you would’ve died. Not to mention I walked over fifty miles across a desert just to get you to the nearest doctor to get your wing patched up.”

“So what you are saying is that I-” Sephiroth turned around to face Max and glared at her. “-should just smile for no reason whatsoever? Do we even know each other?”

“Not just for no reason. This is Hot Blade’s hometown and she hasn’t seen it for at least fifteen years. I know you’d rather not smile, but it’s part of your cover. We can drop it as soon as we’re away from the gate.”

Closing her eyes, the mare wondered why she put up with this, but the memory of the stallion’s face when she just wiped him out of the air steeled her resolve. “I’ll try.” She remained silent for a few seconds in which she pulled several faces in her attempts to put a simple smile on.

“... Now I’ve seen everything.” Max shook her head and pulled an unmarked book from her bag. “Let’s see... Ah, here’s one. Why’s air a lot like sex?”

Instantly Sephiroth stopped to glare at the gryphon. “I told you my reasons and you still don’t refrain from bringing up sex?”

Max smiled apologetically and turned the page. “Sorry, first joke I found. Ah, here’s a better one. I had a broken vacuum, then I put a One Direction sticker on it and it suddenly sucked again.”

Completely unphased the pegasus just pushed to book in the gryphons face. “That won’t work.” Again she rubbed between her eyes with a hoof. “Look just… let me try something.” Closing her eyes she relaxed her pose.

Max pulled the book off her face and turned the page. “Okay, but these were about to get even worse. Like this one: Two blondes fell down a hole. One said, ‘It's dark in here isn't it?’ The other replied, ‘I don't know; I can't see.’”

The mare tuned the gryphon out and instead tried to concentrate. At first she began to shake heavily and even winced a few times, but managed to calm down again. Then she remained still. So still in fact that, if not for the subtle raising and falling of her sides, she could have been a statue.... again.

“Is something the matter here?” One of the guards asked as he walked over.

“No, Miss Blade is trying to calm down from earlier,” Max replied. “Between you and me though, I think she’s secretly an exhibitionist.”

Sephiroth was still unmoving, showing that she didn’t even listen to what was said. The guard though was not really swayed by the gryphon’s antics and even managed to hide the blush on his cheeks. He approached the black mare and was about to reach out to touch her shoulder when she suddenly swung around. A single tear ran down the side of her face while she was smiling with a nostalgic look in her eyes. “Home at last.”

“Wait wait wait. this is where you’re from? In all the twelve years you’ve payed me to be your bodyguard, you’ve never came back here on my days off?” Max - now in her Talos persona - shook her head and put her arm around the guard’s shoulder. “This is why I’d rather join the guard, but... well, you know.”

The guard was about to open his mouth to say something, but was beat to it by the mare. “Well, Talos, you could join the guard, but then who will pull my flank out of traps?” With a noticeable spring in her step she attempted to walk past the guard, her single wing ruffling a bit in obvious excitement.

“True, I have gotten fond of the one thing you won’t let me grab. Heh, remember when I had to rescue you from that mob boss back in Manehattan?”

Sephiroth shook her head with an exasperated sigh. “Talos you know already that my flank is already spoken for. And even if it weren’t, a relationship such as this would be highly inappropriate. And yes I do remember. How could I forget something like that?” Completely dumbfounded the guard just stood there, not knowing what to say anymore.

Talos put her claw back on the ground and turned towards the gate. “You might be taken, but that doesn’t mean I can’t dream about what it would be like.”

The mare performed a fake swoon and ended across the guard’s back. “But you already had a taste of me.” Dramatically she flapped her single wing. “And look what it gained me, or rather what I lost about it. At least you didn’t starve.”

“I only did that after I ate my own wing and only because you told me to.” Talos shuddered. “Never gonna like snow because of that.”

The poor guard gained a noticeable green tint to his face but all the pegasus did was laugh. “Oh come now. I think we had our fun. The poor little fella is gonna be sick otherwise.” Raising herself off the guard’s back she trotted over to the gryphon and then turned towards the guard again. “Hot Blade, at your service. And no she did not actually eat our wings. We are adventurers, or me at least. She is my hired body guard. No, we actually lost our wings in a dungeon due to way too sharp traps. Not in the same cave, mind you, but that is the risk of my line of work.” She gestured to the sheer amount of scars on Talos’ body. “As you can see, she does her job quite good. As my wing is the sole major injury I managed to attain in our endeavours.”

Now absolutely confused the guard just glanced between the two females, not sure how he should proceed.

The gryphon giggled, running her tail under the guard’s chin as the two walked past him. “You know, with the guard watching over the city, I might have the week off.”

Stuttering the guard just remained in place, not even following the two with his gaze. The black mare snickered quietly. “I think you broke him.”

“Aw, and he’s probably the most handsome stallion in the guard,” Talos pouted. Once they were a few blocks into the city, Talos was pulled into an alley and slammed against a wall. Narrowed teal eyes met blood red ones, the former filled with fury.

“We did not agree on something like Talos chasing Hot Blade’s tail! I almost slipped!”

“I had to improvise! You know how it is: ‘no plan survives first contact’.”

Sephiroth let go of Talos and turned back to the entrance of the alley. “Just to make this clear. One. More. Time. Never, ever, regardless of what you do or try, will I even consider it.”

The gryphon rubbed her throat as she got back on her feet. “I know. All that was just me slipping a bit too far into Talos’ character. Anyone would like to spend time with someone as undeniably hot as you.”

“For the love of- could you just drop it? I don’t care how I look at the moment. I just want to make sure the child is alright.” The mare trotted briskly out of the alley and promptly stumbled back in, with enough momentum to fall onto her back. The cause of this became apparent when a literal wall of a stallion came into sight, already leaning over the black pegasus which was in too much shock to do something about it.

“Hey pal, leave my employer alone,” Talos said as she leaned against the wall, sharpening her claws with a nail file. “I won’t get paid for this month if you continue.”

The brown bulk just looked over to the gryphon without lifting his head and just proceeded to nip at the black mare’s neck, pausing only long enough to state in a deep voice. “You just remain over there. When I’m done here I’ll show you a good time too. No need to be jealous.”

She just raised an eyebrow and let the file slip from her talon. “Seriously? I’d rather do it with a pig than you. No, I won’t get paid if she kills someone. You might want to get out of here. Right now.”

A creepy grin stretched across the stallion’s face and he was about to retort when his attempt was cut short by a strangled gurgle, coming out of his own throat. A black hoof had reached up and around his neck. Fear and hesitation flew across his features as his gaze snapped back to the mare beneath him, only growing in intensity when he saw her smile. “You… touched me.” Without any visible effort on the mare’s part, the stallion’s front lifted as she stood up under him. “I do not like being touched.”

Talos walked over to the mare and brushed her shoulder with the file. “Miss Blade.” Sephiroth’s head snapped to look at her. “Remember what we talked about? What we agreed everypony was?”

Ignoring the other ponies attempts to free himself from her hoof the pegasus just stared at the gryphon for a while but then her gaze drifted back to the stallion. She pulled him in until she could stare into his eyes. “Scram!” And just like that she let go of him. Now free he coughed a few times then shot the both females a terrified look before he stumbled away as fast as his hooves carried him.

After another while Sephiroth spoke. “Satisfied?”

“... Well, at least he won’t force himself on other mares now?” Talos faceclawed and shook her head, walking to the mouth of the alley. “Let’s just find the guard you hurt.”

The mare followed with a sigh. “You know. In the old times I would ask Nightmare to make sure of that. She and her dreams had a way with… convincing ponies to play nice.”

“Well, you can leave an anonymous note for her to watch that stallion’s dreams and turn them into nightmares if they involve holding a mare down and ravaging her.”

A sad look overtook the features of Sephiroth. “I suppose that would be the correct term nowadays. Did you know that bad dreams weren’t originally called ‘nightmares’ in this universe? When I… interrogated Celestia and she confessed the altering of her own sister, she shouted something about Nightmare’s name becoming the word for bad dreams and the greatest fears of ponykind.”

“Ouch. Talk about completely erasing everything good.”

She shook the thought away and raised her head again. “I was kind of surprised to hear that she went mad with rage after she heard of my imprisonment. She was my best friend, yes. But that she attacked her own sister over it?” A sigh escaped her. “Well nothing I can do about it now. The guard should be in the castle’s infirmary.” She hesitated before adding. “If he is still alive.”

“Then let’s get there!”

The rest of the walk to the castle was spent in companionable silence. But getting into it proved to be a little more difficult.

“Halt!” One of the guards in front of the castle’s own walls stepped forward and even did not hesitate to level the tip of his spear to point at the gryphon, as he viewed her as more of a threat. “The castle grounds are closed until further notice! Turn around and leave this instant!”

Max gave him a soft smile and leaned forward, the spear slowly going all the way through her neck. A flash of fear went across his face, his shock and horror freezing him long enough for her to tap his forehead right under his horn and say, “Sleep.”

The guard’s eyes rolled up into his head and he fell over, his snoring indicating that he was still alive. Alarmed by this the second guard, a unicorn, already lit his horn, obviously to send some form of signal. Only for him to wobble slightly before he hit the ground, joining in the snoring of his comrade. The black mare coming into view as she was not longer hidden by the second guard’s body. “Seems we had similar ideas.”

The gryphon popped out of existence and the spear clattered to the ground as Talos materialized in the shadow of the wall with an almost childish pout on her face. “Mine was more terrifying.”

Teal eyes rolled as Sephiroth turned towards the gate, key ring hanging from the tip of her wing. “Whatever. Let’s get this over with. Celestia may be distracted by her own problems but I have actually no idea if she can track my magic.”

Talos walked over to the gate as a golden glow enveloped part of it. “She can’t track her own magic though.”

Examining the glow critically, the pegasus frowned in thought. “But would it be her own? I understand that it is your Celestia’s magic, but are the different versions of her really that similar that their magic would be the same?”

“The only way Lance’s Celestia and Luna knew I was- oh crap. Celestia’s going to be able to sense that there’s two Luna’s here. We need to get in the castle now.”

The mare used the key to unlock the gate. “You said you had both Celestia’s and Luna’s magic but I wouldn’t have thought that it would be recognizable in the whole mix of all your powers. And if it was, wouldn’t we already be found out long ago?”

“No, I keep them all separate. The only way she’d be able to sense me is when I use Luna’s magic - which I just did - or I’m close enough for her to be able to tell that I have her magic which I don’t know how far I have to be from her for her to start senseing me.”

A new voice joined in on their conversation. “Actually, it took me some time to figure it out. But as you stated yourself, using my sister’s magic outright is a little obvious. To that regard, mind telling me where you got a hold of her magic?” Shocked, Sephiroth slowly turned to face the new voice only to confirm that it, indeed, belonged to Celestia.

Max sighed and transformed back into himself. “Well, I was very close to you and your sister in a different universe and when they were assassinated they gave me all their magic and power and crowned me as their heir. I’m only in this universe for a little while.”

There was an unshakable smile firmly in place on the white alicorn’s face, but a slight widening of her eyes betrayed her surprise, followed by a barely noticeable narrowing in her anger. But as she spoke she did it with the same warm and polite voice that she always used. “A dimension traveling individual, you say.” Her gaze flickered to the, at the moment, smaller mare. “Then who might you be?”

“She’s my partner. We were both summoned by Sephiroth to deliver an apology to the guard she hurt since her returning here would mean imprisonment again,” Max said evenly. “The only ones she wishes to hurt are you and Discord for betraying her.”

Examining the fake-pegasus, Celestia continued. “Is that so? Why don’t you revert her to her original form then?” To the mare herself she said. “Funny thing that you would possess a single wing and those colors are quite peculiar.”

Max moved between the mares, giving Celestia a glare. “She’s the captain of my guard. We were surprised to find that they had similar colors as well and spent at least half an hour explaining to Sephiroth the nature of the multiverse. Her wing, however, she lost as a foal and dedicated her life to joining the guard because of it.”

The white alicorn fixated Max with her eyes, as the human had blocked her line of sight anyway. For a few moments she seemed to let the matter slide but then the corners of her mouth twitched slightly upwards. “You said Sephiroth was concerned about the wellbeing of the guard she carelessly slammed into a wall?”

“Yes. I convinced her to view your ponies as children compared to her and she told us about the guard she hurt. She wants to make sure she didn’t accidentally kill him and to tell him that she is sorry.” His expression hardened and he shook his head as he continued, “But she told us to not harm you or Discord if we saw you. I cannot believe that you - you! - didn’t think of teaching her how to control her powers before imprisoning her in stone for a thousand years.”

Celestia didn’t even flinch at the accusations. Instead she concentrated on the parts of the black pony that were visible. “So she didn’t tell you? Can not say that I’m surprised.” Something flashed behind her magenta eyes. “Discord is no more. He passed on shortly after Sephiroth was imprisoned. Or, to be more precise, he literally ripped his own heart out of his chest, still beating, and cursed her name on his dying breath.” That got exactly the reaction she was waiting for as she could see the black mare flinch hard.

“Huh. And here we’re from a universe where he’s redeemed.” He took a notebook out of his bag and, as he was writing, said, “Celestia ripped out Discord’s heart after imprisonment. Okay, I got it. I’ll tell Sephiroth what you said when we see her again.”

Surprisingly the white alicorn sighed sadly. “I may have made some grave mistakes, but killing Discord is not one of them. He regretted his actions and I think that was when he realized that he may have truly loved her. His sorrow destroyed him to such an extent that he couldn’t perform his duties anymore. He knew that the whole world would fall out of balance if he allowed it to remain as such and thus he killed himself to allow a new god of chaos to take his place. He resides in the castle if you wanted to know.”

Sephiroth felt only numbness, staring ahead without really looking at anything. Lacking a target, her anger just faded into nothingness, leaving behind a bottomless abyss. Nothing mattered anymore.

“Damn. That’ll absolutely crush Seph if she hears that.” Max rubbed his chin in thought. “Unless that’s what you want. With all this deception centered around you, I can’t discount that.” He turned around and ushered the black mare through the gate. “Anyways, we need to go apologize to that guard before we can go home. It was nice talking to you.” With that the gate slammed shut, leaving the alicorn alone outside her own castle.

The black mare let herself be guided through the gate without any resistance and Celestia did not reappear beside them. She was guided through several rooms until Max gently pushed her into a waiting room of some sort and pulled her into a hug. She was creepily calm, too much to be considered natural. Even in the embrace she didn’t shake and didn’t try to escape the contact. Her voice was devoid not only of emotions but seemed to lack even any traces of life. “He’s dead…”

“Yes. He is. But would he want you to neglect yourself and stand at his tomb for the rest of time?”

Sephiroth stayed silent for a long time before she trusted her voice enough to speak again. “I don’t know. Knowing him he would want me to smile. He always tried to make me smile. He… I should have smiled more often…”

“Then smile. Remember how he lived and keep it in your heart. Celestia knows I will keep her in my heart next to Lance until the end of everything.” He squeezed Sephiroth a bit tighter. “I can tell you from experience that the pain won’t fade, but you can find a way to continue.”

Lifting a hoof to her chest, right where her heart beat underneath, the black mare’s eyes drifted close. “Why? I thought I hated him. I even wanted to kill him myself. Why does it hurt?”

“Because even though he hurt you, you still loved him. I’ve had moments where I wanted to kill Celestia, certainly, but she always found a way to get me to realize I still loved her.” Max leaned back and tilted Sephiroth’s head to look at him and said, “But like Robert Frost said; Nothing Gold can stay. The poem tells of loss, but also says to treasure those we love even after they’re gone.”

The ghost of a smile played around Sephiroth’s lips, but never reached her eyes. “It’s kind of ironic. Discord was supposed to be immortal, so technically I could have had all eternity to spend with him…” Finally the first tear fell, soon to be followed by uncounted more as the dam broke.

Max caught her as she fell and pulled her into his lap, putting her head on his shoulder and stroking her mane as she cried. He seemed to be a little lost, furrowing his brows he looked like he tried - and failed - to come up with anything.

It took the remainder of the day and even a few hours of the night for Sephiroth to move on her own again. The tears themselves had run out not even an hour after she started crying, but she needed the time to bring herself to do anything. If she was awake through the whole ordeal, she could not say. But she couldn’t remember any instance where she felt like falling asleep. The hours just blended into another and it didn’t really matter to her.

Groggily she tried to extricate herself from the hug, albeit not with much force behind her action.

Max helped her to her hooves and kept a hand rested on her back to steady her. “Come on, let’s finish what we came here to do, sis.”

The mare swayed a little on her hooves but managed to remain standing. She nodded weakly, not really reacting to Max calling her ‘sis’. Slowly she took a few steps but stopped almost instantly. “I… honestly don’t know where to go.”

“Well, we can ask someone to point us to the medical wing.” A guard leaned into the room just then looking partially relieved. “Hey, can you tell us where the guard that got hurt by Sephiroth is?”

Nervously the guard hesitated for a moment before straightening his posture. “I can guide you to him, Sir.” Admittedly confused the black mare examined the guard but keeping the question as to why to herself for the moment.

Max nodded and gave Sephiroth a nudge towards the door. “Come on. Do I have to mention that one thing you don’t want me to?”

Black ears splayed back for a moment before simply hanging down while she began to move towards the door. The guard turned around and led them, like he said he would. She was so immersed in her thoughts that she almost missed the six mares standing in the entrance hall of the castle. All of them didn’t seem to know what to do with themselves as they glanced between each other as if someone of them would eventually come up with an answer. Shaking her head Sephiroth just walked past them, following the guard into a hallway and away from the mares.

Max paused though and said, “Sorry about earlier. Seph just needed to get that out of her system.” He turned back and caught up to the black mare, leaving five jaws on the ground behind him. He grinned as he heard one of them gasp. “That was a secret?!”

It didn’t take them long to reach the infirmary as it lay near the hall for better accessibility. The guard stopped in front of the door and turned to face the two following him. “Lieutenant Swift Strike is the only occupant of the infirmary at the moment.” He extended a foreleg to open the door for them.

Sephiroth hesitated a moment before nodding towards the guard and heading in through the open door, Max following behind. Identifying the bed in which the guard lay was easy enough. It was the only one where the curtains were drawn. Feeling as if her hooves were filled with more and more concrete with every step she made her way over to Swift. Before long she reached the blinds and hesitated again.

“Wait,” Max whispered. “I think you should do this as yourself.” A hand grabbed her shoulder and she began to grow. It wasn’t as overpowering as before, but she knew she was returning to her human self. Once she returned to normal, Sephiroth looked over her shoulder and saw Max smiling. “There. Now let’s go give him some unsanctioned healing.”

After smiling gratefully for a second she closed her eyes and let herself adjust to her altered figure for a while. An uncomfortable numbness had settled on her back, a feeling she always got when she let her wing fade away. Breathing deeply she opened her eyes again and stepped through the curtain. Immediately her gaze fell on the bandaged form of a pegasus she didn’t recognize, which caused her to blink uncomprehendingly. “That’s not him.”

“Well, he’s the only one in here. Either he’s the one you punched through a wall, or the guard wasn’t injured enough to need medical attention.”

“You don’t understand. His coloration is completely off. That can not be the same pony.” She gestured wildly in the direction of the pegasus trying to escape the bed.

“Well, they did take off his armor.”

Confused the woman raised an eyebrow. “What has that to do with anything?”

“Oh right. The armor’s enchanted to make all the guards look alike.” Max levitated the pegasus back onto the bed. “You need your rest, don’t get out of bed until you’re fully healed.”

The guard managed to save his dignity by quickly biting back his frightened whimper and opted to stare at the figure which seemed to have prevented his escape. “Assault on a member of the royal guard is a major crime against the crown. Release me this instant.”

“Hush, the adults are talking.” Max turned back to the woman beside him. “It’s more of a respect thing, but it has gotten some guards a fun night or two.”

Swift was about to demand his freedom once again but was cut off by a sigh from Sephiroth. “Look… Swift Strike was it? I am not here to cause any more trouble. I want to apologize for hurting you.”

The guard stared slack jawed at the creature that had landed him in hospital. “Are you kidding me?! You slam me into a wall as if I was a mere fly and then came by and think that a simple apology will make do?! If I were any other kind of pony I would be dead!”

“We were going to heal you, but if you’re going to be like this I guess we can just leave it at this.” Max turned Sephiroth away from the bed and started pushing her towards the door. “Hope lots of your friends come by to sign your cast!”

The guard stayed silent sturbonly. Sephiroth for her part sighed again and evaded Max’s pushing. “You claim to be an adult and behave like a child yourself. Even if he doesn’t accept my apology, I’m going to heal him.” With that she stepped towards the bed once again.

“I was actually hoping he’d call us back before we left.”

Shaking her head in actual amusement she pointed to the guard. “Max, he’s a pegasus. They are the very embodiment of pride. Even if it’s misguided and stupid.”

Swift huffed in agitation. “Hey!”

Max crossed his arms and looked away, saying, “The pegasi in my universe wouldn’t scorn someone trying to apologise and they were discriminated against until they were thought extinct just because they loved Celestia instead of Luna.”

Sephiroth rolled her eyes. “Well he wouldn’t chase someone away who wants to apologize if it were anyone but me.” She looked to the guard for confirmation. “Am I right?”

The pegasus huffed again, glaring daggers at the woman. “You’re evil.”

“See? Told you.”

Max sighed and walked over to the bed again. “Would you rather I be the one to heal you?” He asked the pegasus.

He got a snarl in response. “You’re obviously an accomplice.”

The woman sighed again. “You know I begin to see it more and more that you were right. They are mere children.”

Max nodded sagely and said, “Scared by strange things, but easily succored by mother’s teat. I doubt he’d even understand the concept of different worlds that look the same.”

Swift didn’t understand everything that was said but what he understood was that he was being labeled as a foal. “HEY! Why are you insinuating something like this?! I’m a grown stallion!”

Sephiroth placed her hands on her hips and spoke to Max as if the pony wasn’t even there. “See? Little kids always claim to be all grown up.”

“Mhm. Well, philosophically speaking, none of us are ever grown up. We all learn new things every day and are constantly bettering ourselves.”

The pegasus seemed to have reached the end of his patience. “Stop ignoring me!”

Grinning the woman turned towards the pony and shrugged. “He even cries for attention.” She raised a hand which was covered in a green glow. “Now hold still. Isn’t really necessary but I always wanted to say that.” After she said this the guard was wrapped in the same green glow. Fear flashed across his features and he tried to struggle free from the aura which just followed his movements not restricting him in the slightest.

An annoyed grunt escaped Sephiroth. “I think we need to hold him down anyways. My spell doesn’t require it, but he will be hurting himself further if he keeps this up.”

Max waved his hand and the guard froze. “There you go.”

“Thanks.” Focusing on the guard it only took her a few more moments before the glow disappeared. “There, done.”

The guard yelped and sprang back, looking himself over when he noticed a distinct lack of pain. “W-what did you do to me?”

“Simple. I did exactly what I said I would. Healed your injuries.” With a dismissive wave of her hand Sephiroth turned away from the bed again. “Well I finished my business here. So we can leave now.”

“Stop right there, Sephiroth!” A voice said from the door. The two humans stopped, looking towards the one who had spoken. Standing just inside were the six mares from before, led by a purple mare with both wings and a horn.

“Oh hey, Purple Smart’s gone Super Saiyan already,” Max quipped.

The silver haired woman raised her hands defensively. “I won’t fight you, so please just let us pass and we all are leaving unharmed.”

“Oh yeah? Since when did the Angel of Destruction back down from a fight?” A rainbow maned pegasus demanded.

Shaking her head, Sephiroth locked her gaze with the pegasus that had spoken. “Since never. But that doesn’t mean I have to want to fight. Look, I got some of my views corrected over the course of this day. And not always without being beaten either, or at least shown that I can not win. I never wanted to hurt anyone besides the ones who wronged and betrayed me.” She took a step to the side so they could see the guard behind her. “I even healed the one I harmed and tried to apologize.”

“Enough!” The purple alicorn in front of the mares stepped forward and extended her wings in a threatening display. Her violet eyes burned with righteous anger as she snarled at the woman. “You are charged for assault on a member of the royal guard, for direct assault on royalty and you. Bucking. Impaled. Celestia. With. Your. Sword!” While the mare spoke her mane and tail, literally, caught fire and her coat bleached until there was only a stark white left. Her eyes shone with a fierce power and her presence itself weightened on all around her. Even the very mares that just stood by her side backed away with varying looks, from utter fear - in the case of a canary yellow pegasus - to unadulterated awe - from the rainbow maned mare that had spoken earlier. “Surrender yourself to justice, or face punishment!”

Sephiroth sighed and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “You won’t listen to reason. I don’t want to fight you but I won’t face any justice that is sworn to Celestia. They could never be impartial. And please do me and your princess a favor and stop calling her Luna. Her name is Nightmare, has been for her whole life.”

A very unequine growl came as a reply from the still burning mare. “You had your chance. Girls!” Without so much as a glance back the alicorn’s crown began to shine in a blindingly bright light which seemed to reach out to the necklaces of the other mares. Sephiroth herself wasn’t really able to follow what they were doing any further because she had to shield her eyes from it, but she could tell that the power radiating off of them felt all too familiar. Instantly her blood turned to ice. And what was even worse was that it kept growing more and more powerful.

Without warning a rainbow beam of energy shot towards her. Just as it was about to hit her, everything slowed down to a crawl and she noticed Max standing in front of her an instant before he was surrounded by light.

When she could see again, Max was laying face down on the floor. Not moving.

Author's Note

Moon_Fire: Instead of a note from me this time, a little deleted scene. :twilightsmile:

“Surrender yourself to justice, or face punishment!”

Max darted forward, holding up a single finger. The six mares stood there in shock for a moment before letting the elements charge up.

Right before they could release the Elements’ power, Max stopped right in front of Twilight and touched her nose, saying, “Boop.”

For a few minutes everything stopped because of the absurdity of what just happened. When Twilight blushed, Sephiroth’s hand met her face.

Dream Quill: Yeah~... not gonna say anything to that :facehoof:

Chapter 7 - Sisters on the run

Silence. Everything there was was silence. Not a single sound could be heard in the whole infirmary. Time itself seemed to hold its breath. Sephiroth just stared at her fallen comrade, no, friend. Her entire perception had narrowed down on the human on the floor but at the same time she couldn’t see clearly. A shrill sound screamed in her ears and she felt numb all over.

For a few horrifying moments she thought they succeeded in turning her to stone again but then the pain started. Like a wildfire it spread through her chest, burning its way to every corner of her soul. She lost someone again. She was powerless to do anything about it, AGAIN.

She clenched her teeth, baring them in an expression that was beyond furious in every sense of the word. Her fists shook in a feeling that was so much more than mere rage and the very air began to vibrate with promises of untold power and eternal wrath. The stone beneath her feet crumbled to dust, looking more like sand then anything else.

And then… it all just stopped.

Silver hair fell down to hide her eyes and her figure seemed to relax the tiniest bit. Slowly she took a step towards Max. He wouldn’t want her to slay them, he would be disappointed or even angry with her if she hurt them. Ignoring every other being in the room she just made her way over to the human on the floor. Step by step. A journey that seemed to stretch across two whole eternities.

When she finally managed to reach the still form of her friend she let herself fall to her knees and leaned over him to lift him in her arms. As soon as she touched him, though, he moaned, “Five more minutes, Lance.” And rolled over.

Sephiroth blinked a few times unbelievingly before she punched the man in the stomach hard enough to sink him into the floor a few inches.

He yelped in pain and curled on himself, looking around for a moment until his gaze rested on the woman kneeling beside him. “What was that for!?”

Her face was hidden behind the silver strands of her hair as she suddenly dashed forward and hugged Max. “Don’t dare to scare me like this, ever again.”

He hesitated a moment before returning the hug. “I wasn’t trying to. I did have a peaceful nap until you punched me, though.”

A shocked yelp from across the room alerted them to the presence of the mares that had barged into the room earlier. The purple alicorn was the one to voice their collective thoughts. “That’s impossible! The elements didn’t work?!”

Max sighed and said, “No, they worked alright. I can feel my magic coalescing into one pool.”

Completely ignoring his words the alicorn tried to assemble her companions again. “We must have missed girls. Get into formation, we’ll just try it again.” She seemed to be in a bit of denial and panic.

He sighed again and stood up, turning to the six mares. “I teleported myself into the line of fire, Twilight. Sephiroth wasn’t the one hit.”

Hearing her name finally snapped the alicorn out of it and she turned towards Max. “How do you know my name? And why would you do that?”

“I know who you are because I’m from an alternate Equestria. One where I married Celestia and watched her die. I protected Seph because-... because I view her as a sister. I don’t want any more of my family being hurt.”

Sephiroth’s breath hitched in her throat, but Twilight just continued without noticing. “An alternate Equestria? As in another dimension? But that is forbidden knowledge as per the decree of princess Celestia in the year 36 after Nightmare.”

“No, as in a whole new universe. Different dimensions can be accessed in the same universe with less power than an alicorn’s upper limit, but it takes immense power - such as Discord’s - to break out of a universe into what is known as The Void.”

The purple mare quizzically tilted her head. “Who is Discord?”

At this point Sephiroth decided to interject as she finally stood up off the ground. “He was the former god of chaos… and my lover.” A chorus of gasps sounded through the room, one of them not of the female kind. “He betrayed me by order of Celestia, essentially breaking me so she could imprison me.” Without giving the mares a chance to interrupt she continued. “After I was freed, I tried to pry the information of where he was out of Celestia. You can not even begin to understand how angry I was. That was when I hurt Swift Strike. The brave fool tried to attack me to defend his princess.” From the back ringed an irritated “Hey!” but Sephiroth just kept going. “When I came back to apologize to the guard and heal him, Celestia told me. She told me how the one I loved couldn’t take his guilt anymore. Because he realized that he actually loved me back.” She paused shortly. Nopony dared to interrupt her, in fact they all waited for her to finish. When she spoke again there was no life left in her voice. “He took his own life. Ending it full of grief and agony.”

Everyone was silent for a moment, absorbing what she had said. “I couldn’t do anything either,” Max finally whispered. “Th-they told me not to save them.” His back was to Sephiroth, but she knew he was crying anyways from the sheer amount of sorrow in his voice. “I sat there between them as they faded, watched the pain and light leave their eyes. Because they said it would’ve happened anyways...”

The woman looked helplessly at the form of her friend, the one who even considered her family. She wanted to help him somehow but a simple hug just seemed to be insufficient. Just when she decided to, at least, do that she was beat to it by a canary yellow blur which turned out to be the pegasus of the group which had tried to hide behind the others constantly. A soft sobbing could be heard from the mare desperately clinging to Max, accompanied by repeating whispers of “I’m so sorry.”

Max returned her hug for a moment before teleporting her back to the others. “I’ve lost something to remember them by because of your rage, Twilight. Their magics have formed something new because they mixed.” He turned his back on the mares and walked over to the nearest window, not paying attention anymore.

The small alicorn shrank back, her eyes darting around as if searching for something. When she didn’t came up with anything she let her head sink in shame. “I… I’m sorry. I couldn’t have known.” Desperately trying to rectify her actions at least a little she stated defiantly. “You shouldn’t have taken the elements head on then. Their power was not meant for you.”

Sephiroth, for her part, had followed Max to the window. She was in no way comfortable with physical contact but she managed to bring herself to rest a hand on his shoulder, hoping to show at least some kind of support. God she was horrible at this. She felt a stab of pain in her chest when he didn’t react but let her hand remain there when she turned to look at the other occupants of the room. Her voice was so full of authority when she spoke that there was no room for argument. “Begone.”

Every single pony in the room flinched but obeyed. Surprisingly it was the shy and timid canary pegasus that hesitated the longest and thus was left alone with the two humans. Even the formerly hurt guard had fled from his bed. Eventually she withered under the woman’s glare and scurried away.

After they were left alone it came to her way more easily. She just leaned forward and eclosed Max not only into a simple hug from behind, she even wrapped him in the black feathers of her wing. For the first time she noticed that he was actually smaller than her. Small enough that she could comfortably rest her chin on his head. Somehow that only caused the pain in her chest to grow. He had carried a presence with him that just prevented her from seeing this sooner. He just had seemed to be taller and way more experienced than her. But now… the difference just made her heart ache all the more.

Finally, Max reached up and put his hand on her crossed arms. “Their power was the last thing they gave me,” he whispered. “I-I thought I’d have them close to my heart for the rest of my life because I could feel both of them...”

Not really knowing what to say to that, she could only hope that the words she chose wouldn’t make everything worse. “You don’t need it. They will always be in your heart as long as you won’t forget them. As long as you remember their smiles, their tears, and even their snarls. Remember the good as much as the bad and they will never leave you. Holding onto their magic might have helped but look into your heart and tell me that they aren’t there anymore.”

“I know they’re still there. I just... I feel like I let them down some how by combining their magics.”

Slowly Sephiroth shook her head. “I don’t think so. Just think about it. They were sisters and they loved each other dearly. I think they would be ecstatic to hear that their magic became one. Something that Nightmare told me was supposed to be impossible.”

Max looked down, deep in thought. After a few more minutes, he nodded. “I suppose that’s true. I was trying to get them in the same herd, anyways.”

A small smile graced her lips. At least she hoped that what she said really did help him. Suddenly an idea crossed her mind. “Can you give me my Token back? Don’t worry just… trust me on this one, okay?”

Max pulled the token out of his pocket and held it over his shoulder.

She took it with one hand, keeping the other arm around him, and proceeded to just toss it out of the window, where it was quickly swallowed by a tiny portal into the Void. After that she used the fingers of the same hand to comb through the black mass of her wing. That continued for a little while until she seemed to have found what she searched for. With a determined pull she extricated a single, long and slender, black feather. “I don’t want that my connection to you would be a Token that everyone in the multiverse has now. I want for you to have this instead.”

Hesitantly, Max reached for the feather. He gripped it lightly in his hand as he tied it into the hair on his left side. “Thank you. F-for this and for helping me realize that I’d rather not keep Celestia and Luna from each other.”

Now that her hand was empty again she put her arm back around him. “You’re welcome, but you helped me just as much, if not more. The feather is directly bound to my life force. It will never be damaged by simple means and never age. I have to thank you too. You were there for me through my darkest hour and even jumped in the path of the very power that bound me to stone for so long. But it doesn’t stop there. I had nothing left but you just took me in as part of your family. I was so close to succumbing to my wrath and hatred and then your Token slapped into my face.”

“Heh, I can’t resist helping someone in need. And you needed someone you could count on.” Max opened his bag and pulled out a silvery dagger and a sheathe as black as a moonless night. “This is my promise to you; If you ever need someone to talk to, or just feel down, or need help, all you need to do is unsheathe this blade and I shall come to your side.” Slipping the blade into the sheathe, he handed it to Sephiroth. “This was made from the slivers of Luna’s sword, Aeanea and it will belong to you alone. It will never break because I infused it with moonlight while it was forged and if you lose it or drop it, it will find its way back to you.”

For a few moments she thought about declining the offered gift but ultimately decided against it. “I will always keep it close to me.” Silence returned while she continued to hold him. But it wouldn’t last long as another thought crossed her mind. “I don’t even know if I should call you brother or sister, seeing as you seem to change your gender like it’s nothing.”

He chuckled, “I identify as a mother now.” He sighed and pressed forward, out of Sephiroth’s embrace. “Why don’t we get out of here before they come back and blast us again?”

Chuckling the woman turned towards the door before freezing on the spot. “Oh fuck… I just realized something.”

He turned and looked at her. “Yeah?”

She gulped as if what she was about to say could be either world ending or at least changing. “If I’m your sister…” Turning her head around to look at Max he could clearly see the shock in her eyes. “Does that mean I’m an aunt now?”

Max stood there staring at her for a few minutes before doubling over in laughter. Once he calmed down a bit, he looked back at her with a smile and said, “Don’t worry, you won’t be on the list of people to call to watch over them. You will be able to meet them when you come to the wedding, though.”

Badly faking a relieved laugh she began to walk to the exit. “Yeah. Phew, dodged a bullet there. Oh the wedding. You never told me when it will be.”

“It’s in about three months since I kinda blabbed to my Equestria that I was engaged,” Max said as he followed after her, noticing that she was a bit disappointed. “I can call you every once in a while so you can play with them, if you want.”

Sephiroth didn’t slow down as she shook her head. “Nah, it’s okay. I… didn’t really present myself as a great role model so I can understand that I probably won’t be a good choice to watch over kids.”

Max floated to in front of her. “No, I actually think you’d be a great role model. The reason I said that you wouldn’t be on the list was because I thought you wouldn’t like to watch them, but if you want you can watch them while Lance and I are on our honeymoon.”

Barely restraining herself from chewing on her lower lip she averted her gaze. “Well… if you insist. But I’d rather like to meet the rest of your family sooner than later. Three months is a long time and it would be awkward if I just appear at the wedding, not knowing anyone.”

“Yeah, but then again I don’t know if all the guests will know each other. Tell ya what; I’ll summon you in two weeks’ time so you can get your dress measured and meet everyone.”

They reached the entrance hall of the castle and Sephiroth instantly turned her walk in the direction of the exit. “Two weeks? Well I have to sort some things out here but I think I could make it nevertheless.” Her gaze snapped back to Max. “Concerning this ‘dress’. I won’t wear anything frilly or-” She shuddered. “-pink.”

“I’ll make a note of that so I don’t forget it when I summon you, but it’s really up to Rarity what your dress looks like,” Max said, writing something down in his notebook. He paused and glanced at Sephiroth. “By the way, would you like it to be a bit revealing?”

Narrowing her eyes to glare at him she didn’t really pay attention as she shoved the doors of the main gate open a little too hard. “I said to you-”

Only to be promptly interrupted by a loud and distinctly male voice in front of them. “Halt! You are under arrest by order of princess Celestia!” Sephiroth was about to give the stallion a piece of her mind but as she turned to face him she couldn’t really miss the whole army standing behind him.

Frustrated, she shouted to the heavens. “OH COME ON!”

“Hold up there, Sweetie Belle, you wouldn’t want to spook them,” Max joked, chuckling a little. “besides, we can get through them without hurting any of them, remember?”

She sighed in exasperation and rubbed the bridge of her nose between two fingers. “Yeah, I know. Doesn’t mean that I’m happy to be an officially chased criminal now as it would seem.” Fastening the dagger on a strap of her coat she took a step towards what seemed to be the commanding officer. “Can you do me a favor? I have a message for Celestia. If she wants to see me imprisoned again, she will have to do it herself. I won’t fight anyone but her.”

Either the stallion was dumb or very brave because he did not back away or even flinch as Sephiroth advanced on him. “Cease this foolishness and surrender yourself peacefully. Then you can face trial before the court and receive a just punishment.”

Before anyone could react, Max appeared on the guard’s back and said, “‘A just punishment.’ Hah, where’s Celestia’s for making Discord betray her, then? I’ll tell you where: shoved up her fat plot.”

Predictably this caused a raging uproar in the ranks of the soldiers. Sephiroth shook her head and shrugged. “Don’t provoke them, Max. They are just trying to follow orders that could get them killed if I were the monster Celestia thinks I am. Maybe she even wanted them to fall before me to prove it to everypony. Let’s just leave.”

“Aw, fine.” Max floated off the guard’s back to stand next to Sephiroth.

Clapping her hands in front of herself, which actually got a few guards to flinch, she exhaled deeply before taking in a breath again. “As fun as that was we have places to be. So please deliver my message. On second thought I have another one for you. But to be delivered to the princess of the night. Say to her that when she wants to talk then she knows how to find me. That would be all. See ya next time.”

As they were leaving, Max reached over and plucked a guard’s helmet from his head and inspected it. “Huh, not using the regulation-standard polish.” He placed it backwards on the guard’s head and floated after Sephiroth again. “Someone’s going to get in trouble~.”

The guard who received the impromptu inspection just stared after them but soon the others shook themselves out of their stupor and blocked the path of the two. Countless spears pointed right at them the next moment. The woman just sighed. “I’m getting tired of this. New theory. Celestia sends her guards because she actually believed that I won’t hurt a child.”

“Like I said, Only a single tap to their foreheads and they’re down. We’ll be able to make them look like fools and us like bad asses, on top of grinding through some training.”

Sephiroth considered his words for a moment. “Technically… knocking out without doing any lasting damage won’t count as ‘hurting’. Or would it?”

“Nah. As long as you make sure they don’t land on something pointy or fall too hard, that is.”

Nodding her head a red glow encompassed her body. “Okay. We asked nicely, now we have to teach them.” And just like that they both vanished from sight.

In the blink of an eye the entirety of the guards fell, almost in synch, while Sephiroth and Max reappeared at the outer wall of the castle grounds. Grinning the woman placed a few strands of her silver hair behind her back with a wave of her hand. “Two hundred sixty five!”

Max smirked. “Three hundred thirty four.”

The woman huffed in mock agitation. “Aw shoot. And here I thought I was ahead of you.” In the next moment she blinked in confusion. “Wait. Did you say thirty four?”

“Yeah, we need to leave one to tell Celestia that all her guards were beaten in less than a second, right?”

Turning to look over the fallen battalion it didn’t take her long to spot the one guard that remained standing and even less time to realize it was the commander. When he realized that she stared at him he froze and looked like he was about to piss himself. “You’re right. Huh… didn’t think of that.” Facing the gate to the castle grounds again she just shrugged. “Well let’s get out of here.”

“You know, he should’ve had some snipers hidden away in some of the towers. Would’ve made them last a bit longer.”

Sephiroth paused with a hand on the gate. “I just thought of something. I can not walk through the city as I am now. That would cause a panic.”

“And that would help our escape. With Celestia and the Elements working to make sure no one hurts themselves, we’ll make a clean getaway. Besides, you have to tell the world you’re back somehow.” With that Max pushed the gate open, revealing Celestia standing there. “Or she could’ve emptied the streets and have been waiting for us.”

Crossing her arms in front of her chest, the woman just sighed. “What do you want, Celestia? You already know that you can not defeat me.”

Celestia opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by Max. “It’s probably because I lied earlier when you were a pegasus. Just so you know, ‘Tia, I was wanting you to call BS on that.”

The alicorn shook her head. “I was not fooled for a single second. Her reaction gave her away very clearly. However that is not why I am here.” She fixated Sephiroth with a fierce look. “Leave. Go with him for all I care, but you can not be allowed to stay in this universe. You have nothing here and if you were so foolish to decide to stay here anyway, all you can expect is persecution. Face it, you are a danger to this world and all of its inhabitants. And make no mistake-” Celestia paused shortly. “-we will be able to enforce justice upon you. You may be stronger than me and my sister, but there are more. Are you really so insane that you believe you could face four alicorns and a deity of chaos at once?”

Max floated forward, putting his face right up in hers. “Give her a break! You already punished her for whatever happened back then, so why pursue her? Yes, she wants you gone, but that is just because of your actions. Other than that, she has no ill will for anybody. Don’t try it, you won’t even hit me.”

Sephiroth stayed silent so the white mare chose to continue. “I do not have to hit you. You are from another universe and as such will be expelled from this one if I destroy the anchor that is holding you here.”

That got a reaction from the woman, namely a raised eyebrow. “Wait. I thought research in the field was prohibited by you. So how could you know that this holds true?” The second eyebrow joined the first as she slowly realized something. “You… tried to destroy anything that could have been an anchor for myself. You just assumed that this was how it worked, that my presence here had to be unnatural and that I would disappear if you found something you don’t even know exists?!”

“We aren’t ‘anchored’ here. In terms of the Multiverse, where we’re sent by the one that Displaced us is our home port,” Max explained. “Trying to get rid of her won’t work, and I doubt Twilight or Cadence would want murder on their hooves.”

Not giving the princess a chance to speak, Sephiroth stepped forward and frowned. “You, Celestia, are insane. What have I ever done to you that you hate me so? I didn’t choose this existence and I never hurt a single one of your ponies. Hell, I even was friends with your own sister! Tell me Celestia!”

For a few seconds the alicorn stayed silent but then her face twisted into a grimace of hatred. “You didn’t deserve it.”

Shocked and admittedly a little confused the woman took a step back. “What?”

That was when the calm and loving facade of Celestia broke away, revealing something twisted in madness and hate. “You didn’t deserve to find love, you didn’t deserve to befriend my sister. You… didn’t deserve to live.” The colorful mane of the alicorn seemed to fade before their eyes and her whole figure shimmered like the air around it suddenly heated to a massive extent. Slowly the edges of her mane and tail caught fire, which spread like it was fueled by a highly volatile substance. And all it took to be put out was a single slap from Max that sent her through several buildings.

“Okay, time to run,” Max said calmly before taking Sephiroth’s hand and teleporting away.

Blinking to fight the disorientation that came with a teleport when you didn’t expect one, it took Sephiroth a while to notice their location. “Max… why are we on top of a mountain?”

“Because this mountain is riddled with caves that have crystals in the walls that can effectively hide an entire army’s magical signature. There should be an entrance to them around here somewhere.” Max picked up a boulder that was leaning against the cliff face, only to toss the rock away as there wasn’t a hole behind it. “Luna said that the cave was visible when construction started on Canterlot.”

“Canterlot? I know I’m a bit outdated but I never heard of a city like that. On that note-” She took a deep breath. “What the fuck happened to Celestia?!”

“Don’t know. Looks like in this universe she succeeded in her plot to overthrow her sister and make her complacent. I’m suspecting that mine and yours were taken by the same entity, but yours is more crafty than mine, so I can’t rule out that she’s just crazier than Screw Loose.”

Sephiroth stared dumbfounded at Max. “Taken? You mean as in possessed? There is something that overtook her and parades her body around like a sick trophy?!”

“Yeah.” Max paused to throw another boulder off the mountain before continuing, “I read through some of my Celestia’s diary and... well, what was written in there a thousand years ago made me believe that the Nightmare took her instead of Luna.” He stopped and looked at Sephiroth. “Not trying to insult your old friend, but that’s the only name I know the being by.”

Overwhelmed she had to sit down on a nearby stone and rested her head in her hands. “My whole life… was destroyed because of an entity that possessed Celestia. Wow. Now I can’t even hate her anymore.” She stayed silent for a little while before speaking again. “But what to do about it? I don’t know the first thing when it comes to exorcism. And I really doubt that I could convince the elements to imprison her in stone this time until I found a solution.”

Max chuckled and shook his head. “You think the Elements are a one trick pony? In my universe they sent Celestia to the sun and exorcised her. Not only that, but they canceled their own effect. No, I believe they’re sentient. Well, yours at least. I know mine are because they’re part of the ponies that wield them.”

“But if they are sentient, why did they brainwash Nightmare? How was the entity able to wield them against me? Assuming that it was the one to imprison me. Wouldn’t they be some kind of higher power to bring harmony or something? Can they be fooled so easily?” She grunted in frustration. “That doesn’t make sense!” When her own words registered in her mind she flinched and fell silent.

“I think she had them fooled up until she sent Nightmare to the moon. It would explain why they don’t work for her anymore.” Another boulder flew off the mountain. “Now all you have to do is show the current bearers that you aren’t in the wrong and that will make them suspicious of Celestia at least partially. If they fail, there’s always the fallback plan.”

“Have you seen them? The leader of their little group seemed to be this purple alicorn and if I understood it right then Celestia practically raised her. She ruled this country for a millennium and had enough time to instill all sorts of silly thoughts into her subjects. I really doubt that we can convince a single pony.” Shortly after she added. “Wait. Fallback plan?”

“Yeah. lopping off her head and sticking a wooden steak with a silver tip in her heart. It’ll make Nightmare hate you for killing her, but at least you don’t have a power mad possessed being running around in the world.” A boulder was flung from the mountain again, only to pause in mid air and slowly return. “Found the cave.”

With another grunt Sephiroth lifted herself from the stone again. “I get it. Convince the bearers or kill Celestia. I’m not sure if I could forgive myself if I had to resort to the latter.” She walked over to Max and examined the ‘entrance’. “Not that I don’t want you here, but when do you have to return? You’re on a schedule if I remember right. I wouldn’t want for you to be trapped into this other dimension in your universe.”

“I don’t know. Time doesn’t flow the same for every universe. So I could be several thousand years late for my wedding, or it could just be a few minutes since I left. Either way, I can spend another hour helping you get a house set up.”

The woman furrowed her brow. “Okay. But that would mean if I were to visit you in two weeks time in your universe then you would have to summon me. Because I have no way of knowing how much time passed. Then we can figure something out as we should know the difference in time by then.” Hesitating, she turned her gaze towards Max. “I never had to build a house so how are we going about this?”

“We could go with a single room cottage - not something someone would expect an evil ultra powerful person to live in - or we could go with a gigantic castle with traps everywhere. Or just take the entire mountain and make it fly.”

Bursting into laughter her whole body shook so hard that she actually had to steady herself with a hand on Max’s shoulder. It took her longer than she would admit later on to calm down again. “Making the mountain fly? That would be hilarious. But if I may be a little demanding I would rather go for two rooms than one.”

“I can have Discord come over and do it for you if you want, but if you just want a two room cottage I can make that happen. Do you want it to just be on the side of the mountain or deep in the caves in a glade with happy little animals?”

“I thought the sole reason we came here was to hide in the caves. So why would I want my home being on the side of the mountain?” Sceptically she raised an eyebrow. “What was that about happy little animals? Do I look some kind of druid to you?”

Max stared at her for a few seconds before snickering. “Imagine them going through the dank, dark caves expecting you to be living in a dimly lit corner only to stumble upon your cottage surrounded by grass, flowers, a few trees, maybe a shrub. And all kinds of small animals frolicking around with sunlight coming through a hole above the whole thing.”

“You know, that does sound like a nice place to live.” A thoughtful look overtook her features. “I’m not really the type for gloomy caves with hundreds of traps.”

“That’s an even better idea! Have the caves leading up to your cottage be filled with all kinds of traps and skeletons hanging off of some of them - not real ones, mind you - just to further their own expectations and then completely crush them when they get through them all.”

“No. Just no.” Sephiroth sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose between two fingers. “I’ll never get some of your humor. It would just make them more convinced that I’m deceiving them in some way.”

“Well... Actually, I can see your point. In fact, hiding your house in the caves would be suspicious as well.” Max turned and began pacing. “Maybe have it on the opposite side of the mountain in a hidden valley?”

“Doesn’t sound half bad. But would that be enough to hide my magical signature?”

“Well, we could make part of the cottage out of the crystals just to make sure-” He stopped, turning to face Sephiroth. “How do you feel about dragons?”

Confused she just answered. “Can not say anything to that. I had fun with a few of them before my imprisonment but I don’t know about the dragons nowadays.”

“Well why don’t you go see if you can find them after we’re done. See if they remember you.” He straightened a bit, then continued, “I have a good place in mind for your cottage, but it’s a bit more exposed than I’d like.” He lit his hand with a white aura.

Her eyes widened slightly. “Wait. Can you at least let me prepare for a teleport this time?”

Max nodded but kept his hand lit.

She nodded in appreciation and began to steel herself for what was to come, even going so far to close her eyes to prevent the sudden change of what her eyes perceived. “Okay, I’m good.”

The world shifted under her and her left foot fell a few inches before she caught herself. When she opened her eyes, she gaped at the scenery before her. In front of her lay a beautiful, green valley, nestled between snow-capped mountains. Several rivers flowed through it, springing from a large and crystal clear lake. Not a single fleck of civilization tainted its natural charm. If she were to describe it with three words she would call it the womb of nature. Thunderstruck she just couldn’t stop staring.

“Yeah, it’s beautiful, but there’s tons of ways in and out. Too many to watch all at once,” Max said, pointing at a few passes in the mountains.

Shaking her head to clear it she followed his pointers and nodded thoughtfully. “It would make a really nice home, though. Maybe I can settle down here someday.”

“You can settle here now if you find some of those dragon friends you mentioned. They’ll be able to help you protect this place and possibly make the ground a bit more fertile as well.”

“That could work, but I don’t know if they are still alive. Back before my imprisonment dragons used to be a very martial race. They could reach ages way past a few thousand years but there wasn’t one older than three hundred. They just kill each other too fast.”

“You could always pay some to live in the area,” Max suggested. “The crystals are supposedly tasty to dragons.”

Unsure, she swayed a bit on her feet. “I think I’d rather make some new friends than to live with mercenaries. If they stayed true to their ways then it won’t be very difficult. I just have to beat them into the ground and not kill them afterwards.”

“You ever heard of a dragon named Barbaroi?”

Sephiroth shook her head no. “Can not say I have. Why?”

“Back on my world he was part of the first generation of dragons. He’s been alive for the past... eight thousand years I believe was Holo’s estimate?” He shook his head. “Ah well, I guess he died long ago here. Anyways, let’s get started.”

“A dragon with such a high age would be extremely powerful. But as I said, more than just unlikely in this world. And even if there was one he would be known by everyone, maybe even viewed as a god among his kind.” She let her gaze wander through the valley. Suddenly she just started walking. “I think I’ve found the place where I would want my home to stand.”

Max followed, keeping pace by floating next to her. “He kinda is in my universe, but the wyrms view him as a demon and want him dead. Not really a surprise there since they want all dragons dead.”

“You trying to say to me that wyrms are not dragons themselves in your universe? Here the land dwelling dragons without wings are called wyrms.” Without any sign of haste Sephiroth walked through the valley, enjoying the sight and even the peaceful walk itself after being immobile for so very long.

“In mine dragons were created when a wyrm flew south to the badlands with his mate in search of the south pole. Both of their ‘snow flurries’ melted and when they drank from a sulfuric pool of molten rock to try to kill themselves, they gained the ability to breath fire instead of ice.”

“Huh… sounds poetic. In this universe the dragons divide into two big groups. Like I said, the ones with wings and the ones without. There are several more sub-groups but they do all identify themselves as one race.” Deep in thought she tapped her chin with a finger. “Now that I think about it. Dragons are the species with the biggest variety of subspecies in this world.”

“Not in mine. Sure they come in all sorts of colors, but there’s only one flightless dragon and one flightless wyrm. That anyone knows about. I’m gonna see about having ‘fate’ push the two of them together.”

Sephiroth shook her head and shrugged helplessly. “I can only hope that you will never try to play matchmaker with me.” The chuckle that followed was more bitter than she intended and she quickly tried to cover it up by rambling on. “Well as far as I know there are not only fire and ice breathing dragons but poison spitters, lightning breathers and even the kind that can kill you with just their voice alone. They vary in their diet too. Some eat stones, others prefer gems and others are carnivores. There were rumors about a very peculiar subspecies that is supposed to be herbivorous, but I never saw one and even in the ranks of the dragons their existence was not more than a myth.”

“You know that purple alicorn, Twilight? She raised one from an egg.” Max said conversationally.

This surprised the woman. “She did? Well that’s sad. The poor little one will be a laughingstock among his kind.”

“Not in my universe. Everyone takes him seriously. Especially after Twilight was cornered by four dragons and he literally fed them their own wings.”

“Heh yeah. That would gain him some respect. I don’t know about the one from this universe, if there even was one to begin with. A dragoness would go berserk if anyone tried to even touch her eggs. Not even the fiercest fighters dared to enter the cave of one with eggs. Actually that was part of some of their jokes.” The chuckle that escaped her this time sounded way more sincere.

Max thought for a moment before saying, “Wouldn’t put it past the Celestia here.”

Sephiroth stopped dead in her tracks. “That… would actually make a creepy amount of sense. Taking one of their eggs, even more so if it would be one from a clutch of one of their eldest, to ensure that they won’t ever try to touch equestrian territory.”

“That or...” Max trailed off, letting the implied elephant in the room have its moment in the spotlight.

A grim expression edged itself into her features. “Say… Max. Would it be possible to give this entity its own body?”

“Don’t know. It might be in this universe, but from what I could gather from my own universe it just burns away when the Elements are used on it.”

“Then we don’t use the elements on it. Wouldn’t Discord be able to pull it out of Celestia?”

Max opened his mouth to say something but closed it and put his hand on his chin. After a while, he said, “It... might be possible? I don’t know how his powers work, but if there’s a chance it can happen he’ll be able to make it happen. With a bit of help from Murphy, of course.”

With a downright evil grin she bared her teeth. “Good. Because then I can make this bastard suffer!”

“You can make yourself a big thorn in its side until then. And I happen to have a good idea of how to do that. First though, Let’s get your cottage built.”

“Let’s do that. And while we do that you can explain how I could make myself as much a pain as possible.” She continued in the direction of the lake but with much more determination in her gait as before.

“Simple. You build a small town, don’t even try to hide, and be friendly with whoever comes to investigate. It’ll make you seem like you were the victim all those years ago and infuriate Celestia. It’ll take a bit of time, but if you can find the ponies that slip through the cracks you’ll have a town in less than a year.”

“Building a whole town? Well this would be a lovely place for a little settlement but-” And suddenly the woman vanished from sight.

Max looked where she had been walking and saw a hole just big enough for Sephiroth’s slender frame to slip through. Looking down into the hole, he saw the woman laying on the floor of what seemed to be a cave. “What was that you were going to say?”

Grumbling to herself she struggled to her feet only to pause the moment she stood, slowly raising her hands in a surrendering gesture. “Erm… Max? I think I know now why there aren’t any ponies around these parts.”

“Why’s that?” He asked right before feeling the prick of a blade on the back of his neck. “Nevermind, I just found out.”

“You wouldn’t believe me when I said it to you, but… have you ever heard of rats that are bipedal? ‘Cause I certainly never heard of them before.” She backed off a little as a dozen blades of what seemed to be glaives came into view. “Oh and they have these little toothpicks too.”

“Ah, Burmecians. They’re a race in Final Fantasy nine and those are actually called glaives.”

Annoyed Sephiroth interrupted Max. “I know that they are called glaives!” Only to be interrupted herself, by a gruff female voice. “Who are you and what brings you here?! Speak quick or die!”

“Well, I’m Max and that’s Sephiroth down there. We’re in this valley because I thought it was empty and she was going to build a little house in here somewhere,” Max explained calmly.

Following an impulse Sephiroth added, “We’re kind of on the run from the ponies, because their princess went insane and tried to kill and or imprison me.”

A short silence followed before the female voice spoke again. “If you say the truth then you are welcome here. But I have to ask you to follow us peacefully so we can bring you before the king. He will decide if your statements will be believed.”

The blade on Max’s neck removed itself and a male voice spoke beside him. “Move.”

“Okay,” Max said, dropping down the hole and landing lightly on one of the glaives pointing at Sephiroth. The rat holding the weapon tried to hold it steady, but dropped it. Max stared at him with an appalled expression. “I am not fat!”

“Short advice. Never insinuate that a woman is fat, even more so if she’s pregnant.” Sephiroth crossed her arms in front of her chest, smirking at the rat that dropped his weapon.

Who in turn blinked confusedly and turned to his comrade next to him. “But isn’t that a male?”

“I identify as a woman, thank you very much. And in the universe where I’m from I am indeed pregnant,” Max said, crossing his arms and snootily raising his nose in the air.

The gruff female voice sounded again, belonging to an armored rat in the background who was clearly in charge. She hefted a long halbert on her shoulder and her hairless tail whipped around behind her. Her mail was of a crimson red, almost making her appear like she was bathed in blood. “Cut it out! Before the king decides that you can be trusted, you are our prisoners!”

Sephiroth sighed in exasperation. “What is it with this world and my constant imprisonment? Can’t I just stay free for a single day?” Despite her complaining she began to follow the rats through the tunnels, again accompanied by Max.

Author's Note

Moon_Fire: I was planning on keeping the magics separate, but decided that something had to happen when the Elements hit Max.

I must say, I never knew about the rat people being in a FF game. Might be because I’ve only ever played 12. Doesn’t make for a good thing since Max has played all of them

Chapter 9 - Breaking Trust [Sex]

Author's Note

WARNING!
This chapter contains unconsensual intercourse, or for the more dense, RAPE.
If you are offended by this you should skip this, starting at the ~~~+++~~~

Furthermore this is the last chapter of the first (and huge) crossover, so enjoy.

Chapter 9 - Breaking Trust [Sex]

Awareness was slow to return to her. She wasn’t asleep anymore but somehow her mind refused to wake up fully. Something was wrong, so very wrong, but she couldn’t recall what it would be. Honestly, she didn’t even know if she wanted to. Echoes of pain emanated from the thought alone. And she didn’t like pain. Briefly she wondered if she could just stay the way she was now. It felt comfortable, warm… secure. But just as she thought that, it all began to slip away, as her body forced her unwilling mind to awaken.

The first thing she noticed was that the warmth, she felt, seemed to have its source right in front of her. Curious she cracked open an eye and was rewarded with the view of a very toned - and bare - chest. A human chest, she realized. Confusion seeped into her brain but seeing as it offered her comfort, she sorely needed, she just closed her eye again. Maybe she could find her way back to sleep.

She turned her head, accidentally putting her ear right over where the person’s heart was. For reasons beyond her at this moment, the sound of a beating heart only served to calm her even more. The motion in itself had felt familiar and the position she found herself in just as much. Had she done this before? She… just couldn’t remember. But it was important to remember, for some reason. Tears spilled from her eyes, only confusing her more.

Arms wrapped around her comfortingly and a hand started to stroke her hair as a voice rumbled through the chest below her. “Don’t worry, your sister’s here for you. Just let it out.”

The voice caught her attention. She knew the one it belonged to, but why was it so hard to recall the name belonging to it? She lifted her head from the chest to look at the face of the human, her eyes still unfocused and still leaking. It took her a long while to finally recognize him and the name came to her. But when she spoke, all that came was a hoarse whisper. “Max…”

“Ah, you’re awake. I thought you would sleep until noon,” He said with a smile.

In that moment, everything came crashing back down on her. The previous day felt like it should have been a whole week, with how much had happened. Instead of breaking down again, she just let her head sink down on Max’s chest and sighed in utter exhaustion.

Max frowned and pulled her up a bit, resting his chin on her head. “You had an extremely rough day yesterday. We can stay as long as you need.”

After a few minutes, Sephiroth shifted slightly to raise her hand, enveloped in a green aura, to her throat. When she finished, she just let her arm slump down. She stayed silent for another while, before she spoke again. “How? How am I supposed to carry on after all this?”

“You will. Your indomitable will is too strong to be broken by this and your heart will heal from these wounds. All you need is time.”

She contemplated his words and his own experience with loss before beginning to lift herself off of him. Wiping away the last remnants of her tears she nodded. “Okay. I’ll try.”

Max averted his eyes and pulled a blanket out of his bag. “You might want to cover up with this before we leave.”

Sephiroth blinked uncomprehendingly and let her gaze lower to her own body. And then she realized that Max’s clothes weren’t the only ones obliterated by her burst. A raging blush enveloped her face and she quickly grabbed the proffered blanket to cover herself. When she was done wrapping it around herself to improvise a toga, she glared at Max. “Not. A. Single. Word.”

“I would’ve wrapped the blanket around you before you woke up, but you wouldn’t let go of me.” Max stood and offered a hand to her. “At least the dagger and everything in my bag survived.”

She took his hand and let him help her to her feet. But she noticed another thing that had withstood her power. “Well, the dagger, your bag and my feather.”

“The feather was a given.” Max dug a shirt out of his bag and put it on before lighting his hand for another teleport. “Besides, it’s tied to you. If it faded it would mean you did as well.”

“You have a point there.” Then she sighed again and, surprisingly enough, began to pout. “I really liked that outfit…”

“Yeah. Looked like just the perfect mix of modest and revealing.” Max shook his head before offering his elbow to Sephiroth. “I would’ve loved to have that in a different color.”

Chuckling quietly she instead rested her hand on his shoulder. “You can still have one, but I doubt that ponies are comfortable working with leather. I just have to see if I can find someone who can make me a new one. If I would succeed then I thought about instilling it with my magic, so that something like this won’t happen again.”

“That would fail, seeing as how you don’t actually have magic,” Max said, teleporting them back to the throne room shortly after.

Sephiroth was just about to question what he meant when she noticed their surroundings. As luck would have it they appeared to a room full of various different burmecians. On one wall there was a long table with several official looking rats with stacks of paper in front of them while there were rows of banks set up on the other side of the room, which were currently full with commonly clothed people. All of which stopped everything they were doing to stare at the two of them. For the second time a blush overtook her features and she opted to stare a hole through the head of the man beside her.

Noticing the king on the throne, Max turned to him and said, “Would you happen to have a set of clothes lying around that Sephiroth can have? She kinda destroyed the side of a mountain and our clothes in trying to calm down last night.”

The woman felt extremely self-conscious, because of an unsettling amount of eyes staring at her. She could swear that she caught at least three of the rats actively devouring her with their gazes.

Even the king had to shake himself from staring when Max spoke to him. “Ah, yes yes. Just wait in the room to my left. I’ll send a maid to fetch her something.”

Max nodded and led Sephiroth to the indicated door, not paying any attention to the stares they were receiving. Once the door closed behind them, Max said, “I am so sorry about that. I thought it was close enough to lunch that the throne room would be empty.”

A few soft thuds sounded through the little room, caused by Sephiroth hitting her head on a wall. She kept on doing that for a bit before she let her forehead rest against the cool stone. “I never…” She paused, not really sure what to say, but tried it nonetheless. “I can’t be… that beautiful. It felt like every single male AND female in this room wanted nothing more than to free me from the blanket! I mean- What the fuck?!”

“I might be the wrong person to say this but... aside from Celestia, you are the sexiest human I’ve met so far.”

“Isn’t Celestia a pony?” She shook her head. This was just ridiculous. “Nevermind. I’m a warrior. Not some kind of model or something. Back in the day I fought with dragons and Nightmare for fun!”

“And what’s sexier to a warrior race than someone who can whip you fifty ways to Sunday? I wouldn’t be surprised if you were part of everyone’s wet dreams. Plus, you’re built like an Amazonian princess.”

A loud groan escaped her and she hit her head on the wall again, this time leaving a dent in it. “Hardy har. I’m not interested in a relationship with anyone if I could break them between two fingers!” Her eyes widened in shock and she whirled around to face Max. “Don’t you dare to even think about it! I’m not interested in ANY relationship!”

“I wasn’t going to. Besides, you’re the only one who can tell if you’re ready for another relationship.” He averted his eyes. “You let the blanket slip.”

She covered herself again in a hurry and then crossed her arms in front of her chest. When her anger subsided she lowered her head in shame. “Sorry for yelling at you. I just assumed you were going to say something like this. That wasn’t fair.”

Max put a hand on her shoulder, causing her to look at him. “I don’t care if you rage at me or hit me, or even hate me. I’m your sister and I’ll stay by your side no matter what.” He pulled her in for a hug and whispered, “You’re family, and I won’t ever give up on family.”

Right at that moment a door on the wall opposing the one they entered through opened and a female rat came in. She froze at the sight before her, blushed and turned around again. “I’ll be back later.”

Sephiroth groaned in exasperation and buried her face in Max’s shoulder. There had to be some unspoken rule in this universe that lead to her being embarrassed at every chance.

“... I’m just making things worse now, aren’t I?”

The woman gave his unoccupied shoulder a shove, but without any strength behind it. “Don’t be ridiculous. As if you intended this situation. You just tried to help me.”

“True. So how about we call her back so you can get your clothes? And to try to stop the rumors in their tracks?”

She nodded and extricated herself from his hug. “Yeah, we should do that. But would there be rumors after you called me your sister in the throne room? I don’t think so.”

“They can tell we aren’t truly related, though. I think. But if they can’t, there might not be any,” Max said, walking over to the door and opening it. He saw the maid standing right outside the door holding what looked to be a set of armored clothes.

The maid had a look on her face as if she was caught with her claw in a cookie jar and had the decency to lower her gaze in shame as she handed over the clothes. It seemed like she had been eavesdropping.

Max took the offered clothes and said, “Thank you.”

The rat bowed, closing the door when Max walked over to Sephiroth.

“Yeah, there’s definitely going to be rumors spread now.” He handed the clothes to the woman and turned away to give her some privacy.

She took the clothes from Max and was relieved that he had turned around. Eager to get dressed she shed the blanket and began to don the curiously shaped piece of clothing. It almost looked like a light summer dress in the shape of a bell, only that it was out of a sturdy material, which she couldn’t identify at the moment, and had armor plates on the shoulders, that covered the outside of her upper arms down to the elbows. The lower part of the skirt was reinforced too and she got some leg guards with it. Not really something that would cover her legs all the way up but at least the top piece was long enough to hide her privates from view. Shrugging she began to close the armor in the front but soon encountered a problem. Burmecians didn’t really have breasts. And she realized quite strongly in this moment that their clothes wouldn’t be designed with the necessary space for them. “You got to be kidding me…”

“Wha-” Max’s eyes widened as he turned and noticed that Sephiroth’s breasts weren’t exactly hidden and were in fact smushed together by the dress. “Whoa, that’s a definite problem.”

Sephiroth quickly covered her breasts with her arms and glared at Max. “Would you kindly turn around again? Otherwi-” She was just about to avert her gaze when she noticed a distinct tent in his trousers. It was just so surreal that she couldn’t help herself and stared for a moment, too shocked to look away.

“Um....”

In an instant the woman had her fist firmly buried in his face hard enough to bash him through the solid stone wall and out into a hallway, where he proceeded to be imbedded into the next one.

“This is part of why I don’t like being a guy!” Max yelled as he pulled himself from the wall. “It always makes me think with my dick instead of my brain. ‘Oh hey, is that someone you think of as a sister, or is it a hot woman flashing you?’ GAH! THAT’S IT!” His hand flashed white and he turned back into his gryphon disguise.

Sephiroth didn’t really give a flying fuck about what he said, instead she tried to find anything to cover herself with and picked up the blanket again. She drew her sword and cut down a narrow length of material from the blanket, which she bound around her chest after she let her sword fade away again and loosening the straps around her breasts so that they weren’t squashed anymore. After that she was properly covered and didn’t have any problems while trying to breathe.

“I am so sorry about that, Seph. It was just my body screwing around with me,” Max said as she jumped back through the hole shaped like her human self.

Sighing she turned around only to blink in confusion when she saw the gryphon, but shook her head when she recognized the disguise. “I can not say that I know how it is to be a guy. Let’s just forget about it.” To change the subject she added. “Where is the dagger, by the way? I assume you took it with you after I destroyed our clothes.”

Max dug in his bag and pulled it out, tossing it to her as he said, “Seriously, this entire time I’ve caught myself either staring at your assets, or thinking of ways to get you in bed. I’d rather not tell you this, but it’s better to know now than to have it slip out later.”

She caught the dagger and searched her new attire for a suitable place for it. She found a strap under her left arm. It was a little too high for her liking, but it would do. So she fastened the dagger on the strap, taking her time to make sure it was secure to stall her answer. Eventually she returned her attention to Max. “You burned that bridge when you started calling me sis.”

Max shrugged. “Didn’t stop Kat from pushing me onto a bed and having her way with me.”

“No, just no. I’m not copulating with my family. Ever!” Again she tried to change the topic. “They could have given me shoes or boots at least. I’m not used to have almost nothing to cover my legs.”

A faint smell reached Sephiroth’s nose, one that seemed slightly familiar for some reason as Max said, “I have some sandals you could have.”

Curiously the woman sniffed the air but she just couldn’t place the scent so she just shrugged it off. “That would suffice. At least I won’t have to walk these halls barefooted.”

As Max dug the sandals out, Sephiroth couldn’t help but notice the scent had gotten stronger when Max stuck her entire front half into the bag. That was when she realized what it was. Her eyes widened before narrowing in aggravation again. “Hey Max. I think it would be best if you head home soon.” She didn’t really resent the gryphon for her bodily reactions but she was glad that the next time they would meet Max would be female again.

“Maybe. I just need to get you the...” She slowed a bit, pulling her head out of the bag and turning partially glazed eyes towards Sephiroth. “What was it I was looking for again?”

Something in the gryphon’s eyes unsettled the woman. “Actually sandals aren’t that important. Why don’t you return to your universe, like right now? You were away for almost a full day and we still don’t know if there is a temporal difference between our universes.” Nervously she took a step back, not really comprehending the situation she was in.

Max shook her head and put a claw on her forehead, obviously trying to think through her lust. “I... don’t know how. I know there’s... something we’re supposed to do... Ugh, I need someone to fuck me.”

Taking another step back, Sephiroth quickly jumped to what she thought could be an escape. “Well that certainly can’t be me. So what about this thing we need to do to send you back?”

Max’s gaze returned to follow Sephiroth, her eyes twitching as she battled to stay lucid. “I... can’t...” Then Max whispered, “Please, help me.”

When the woman caught the whisper her whole demeanor changed instantly. She rushed forward with concern in her eyes. “Max! What’s wrong?!” She grabbed the gryphon by her withers and started to shake her cautiously. “Talk to me!”

Max suddenly grabbed her arms and said, “I-I... Too long. Too much.” Max’s eyes glazed over completely and she let go of Sephiroth, frantically fingering herself.

Shocked, Sephiroth jumped back from the gryphon, hitting the wall with her back. Staring unbelievingly at the scene in front of her she couldn’t think of anything to do at the moment. “What the- Max!”

That drew Max’s attention and she turned her lust-filled bedroom eyes on Sephiroth. “Oh, someone wants to join in~?”

Dread filled her and she quickly shook her head. “Nope. I don’t really swing that way- I mean- nope!”

Max stood up and took a step towards her. “Come now, I don’t bite. Unless you want me to~...”

Instinctively she tried to take a step back, but instead pressed herself more firmly against the wall. “No! Max, snap out of it!”

“Oh, you want the hard approach... Not really what I like, but.” Max was suddenly holding Sephiroth’s hands against the wall with her claws. “I can be for my partners.”

The woman reacted more on reflex than anything else and tried to ram her knee in the stomach of the gryphon. Her knee connected, but didn’t do anything as Max just giggled and dispelled the transformation. “Like it rough, huh? Or are you just wanting some straps to hold you down?”

Fury ran through her veins and she struggled to free her hands, but his grip didn’t budge in the slightest. It didn’t help that she could feel her cheeks burning with a bright blush. “Take your hands off me this insta-” She was silenced by him forcefully pressing their lips together and her eyes widened in shock.

In the corner of her eye she saw Max’s hand flash and not only felt his chest on her bare skin, but something hard poke her in the stomach. She froze and tried to say something, but Max’s tongue took that as an invitation and curled around hers.

~~~+++~~~

She whimpered helplessly and tried to shy away from the thing on her stomach. But her body began to betray her. She could feel it starting to heat up and form an increasingly uncomfortable tightness in her abdomen. She crossed her legs and seriously contemplated just biting his tongue but she didn’t want to hurt him. Sure, she had bashed him through a wall, but she knew that that wouldn’t actually hurt him.

Max moved his hands down to her hips, leaving her hands stuck somehow against the wall. Sephiroth thought he would just pull her legs apart, but was surprised when he started massaging her thighs while he moved his mouth to her neck and began kissing and nibbling down to her sternum.

She found it increasingly hard to breathe for some reason and her mind began to swim with something akin to oxygen deprivation. But she didn’t really feel like she was suffocating. She shuddered under his actions. It felt so good- No, no she had to end this. With that thought she renewed her struggles against the bonds holding her hands.

She managed to free her left hand but forgot what to do with it as Max for some reason decided to bite her neck a little more firmly, eliciting an involuntary moan of approval. Max’s magic took hold of her hand then and placed it on his back, her fingernails digging in slightly as she stiffened at the sensation of Max’s mouth closing around her right nipple.

She vaguely remembered that she had to do something. Something was wrong but she just couldn’t think clearly enough. Every coherent thought was shattered briefly as the man started suckling on her nipple, gaining him another moan. Her body just started to relax on his own, causing her legs to slowly open. The tightness in her decided to start convulsing sending shivers across her. A primal need began to claw at her mind but she ignored it for now as her right hand was suddenly freed. Without anything to do with it she just put it on his back too.

She felt his mouth slowly move to her other breast, a ragged line of kisses connecting her nipples as he took her left one in his teeth. Pleasure consumed Sephiroth’s thoughts again, making her moan and coo as Max nibbled and sucked on it.

A stubborn thought nagged at the back of her mind. There was something she should do and once she thought about it it became obvious. Here he was, making her feel good, and she didn’t even do something for him. At first she drew a blank as to what she could do but that was answered as she was poked in the stomach again. Smiling almost triumphantly she let her right hand glide down his back and to the front, softly closing around his manhood.

He gave a soft moan into her breast as her hand started moving along his dick, making her shudder and squeeze him a bit tighter before she felt his hand slide across her leg and circle around her lovepot, which caused her to open her legs more.

The heat in her body focused on her insides more and more. It made her uncomfortable but at the same time she felt so good. The conflicting feelings didn’t really clash but instead seemed to enhance each other and made her forget what she was doing for a moment.

That was all it took for Max to move his mouth back to hers and move one of her legs around his back, giving him more room to tease her.

A flash of white and a soft blanket under her told her that he teleported them somewhere more private. His weight on her felt reassuring and made her whimper in need. A white hot little something had settled in her abdomen and it bothered her. Her lust crazed mind told her exactly how she could get rid of it and so she tried to guide his manhood lower.

He let her guide him lower, leaving a trail of kisses down her neck. When she tried to pull him into her, however, he continued to go lower, continuing his kisses down her stomach and around the inside of her thighs.

She cooed in approval as he began to lower himself but that turned into an annoyed groan when he continued on where she didn’t want him to. She moaned in approval as his kissing turned into licks and suckling, giving an extra loud one when she felt his teeth graze her clit.

Deciding that she could cope with the burning a little longer, in favor of the pleasure she was receiving, she began to relax and enjoy the sensations flowing through her. Occasionally small tremors shook her body when he hit a particular sensitive spot, almost always accompanied by little moans, which kept growing more strained over the time.

Slowly he began to move up her again, stopping briefly to give each of her breasts a few more kisses before leaning back and grabbing his cock. He slowly rubbed it along her slit, eliciting more groans and gasps.

She thrust her hips upwards in an attempt to stop his teasing and would have told him so if she would remember how to speak.

He gave a small chuckle before pushing towards her, the tip penetrating her and causing her to gasp again.

Her breath hitched every time she tried to inhale. It didn’t satisfy her in the slightest. It was like giving a drop of water to someone who was about to die of thirst. She managed an impatient growl and wrapped her legs around him, trying to force him to go faster.

He suddenly hilted in her, drawing a passion filled yell from her that turned into a groan as he pulled out, leaving an aching emptiness behind that threatened to drive her mad.

The emptiness was filled again and again as Max sped up a bit, letting her feel him hit several sensitive spots. She found herself unwillingly breathing in rhythm with his thrusts only that him hilting in her forced the air out of her, more often than not in the form of a moan. Jolts of sweet pleasure shot through her and she eagerly met his movements with her own.

She felt his speed slowly increase again as his mouth found hers again and their tongues twined around each other. She gasped into him as she felt one of his fingers touch her clit, sending a crash of lightning up her spine.

Expecting the feeling to fade into the increasing amount of pleasure she was in for a surprise. It did fade somewhat but left a constant tingling behind which caused the pleasure to swell in her until it felt ready to burst. But it didn’t for some reason.

Max broke the kiss and left a trail of nibbles down her neck and to her nipples, gently massaging the one he wasn’t currently focussed on as if it would feel left out if he didn’t. She felt him brush her clit once more, pushing her over the edge.

She cried out in ecstasy as her orgasm came crashing down on her. Her whole body tensed under him making her clench down on the manhood inside of her. She felt him twitch inside her before a flood of liquid filled her depths, sending her even further into pleasure with each spurt that escaped him.

A little voice in the back of her mind screamed in panic but was drowned under everything else. She would have screamed but she mysteriously lacked the air to do so. Her whole body began to convulse before going limp, leaving her a panting and sweating mess.

~~~+++~~~

Max fell to her side, twisting to land on his back and accidentally pulling Sephiroth on top of him. He wrapped his arms around her to keep her from falling off.

“Damn it,” Max muttered as he pulled his dick out, sending a few more jolts of pleasure up Sephiroth’s spine.

She answered with a tired groan, not able to understand what happened. But sleep sounded really good right now. She felt a soreness in her but for some reason it was very comfortable.

Max sighed, shaking his head. “We’ll talk when we wake up.”

Her mind was forced into motion by his words and shock coursed through her, waking her more effectively than any other thing could. Her head shot up and she stared dumbfounded at the man below her.

“Really? I tried several different ways to try to keep you awake and that’s what gets you to react?”

She opened her mouth to say something but nothing came to mind. How was she supposed to react? He had essentially forced himself upon her. Why wasn’t she angry? Should she be furious, or not?

“I tried my best to calm down, but none of my previous methods worked. Not even thinking of Celestia and Luna’s deaths or thinking of Hurricane and Scourge. I-” He sighed again. “I’m sorry. At least I see myself for what I truly am now. All you need to do to send me back is say ‘our contract is complete’.”

“I…” Pausing to at least attempt to sort her thoughts, which failed miserably, she lifted a hand to rub the bridge of her nose. Conflicting feelings raged in her heart. She sighed deeply. “I need time to think about this.” Rolling off of him she sat up in the bed, facing away from him. “We’ll talk… when you summon me in two weeks. Our contract is complete.”

For some reason she felt a burst of magic and something else that she couldn’t identify before Max whispered, “I’m so sorry for this.” Then the odd feeling left along with Max.

Knowing that she was alone she fell to the sheets and curled up as much as possible, silently crying.

Chapter 10 - Gravity of the Situation

Sephiroth stared at the wall next to the bed she was lying in. Her tears had dried for a while now and left only a painful feeling of betrayal behind. Why had this happened? One moment he was calling her a sister and in the next he had jumped her like a sex crazed beast. Anger filled her being as she remembered how her own body had succumbed to his advances, how she was completely helpless to stop any of it. She was Sephiroth. She was supposed to be strong!

So why? Why was she feeling like she was the one to blame?

He had warned her that he has been on some kind of abstinence and that it did bother him. Why hadn’t she thought of asking how to send him back in the first place?! She could have avoided this! She should have…

With a deep sigh she turned around in bed, facing the place where he had been for the first time since he left. Blinking in confusion she noticed something where he had been. It was small, black jewel softly glittering in the dim light. The diamond was roughly the size of her fist and had been left right where Max had once been. Thankful for any distraction she extended her hand and took it in her palm. It was obvious who left it there but for what reason eluded her until it suddenly clicked. Stunned, she stared at the gem in her hand. He left behind an expensive looking diamond right after having sex.

And just like that she exploded in rage. He had dared to pay her like a common whore. She clenched her teeth and her whole body shook as she tried her very best to crush the offending piece of glittery stone with her bare hand. When that didn’t work she threw it at the wall, where it embedded itself, only to be struck by a massive lightning bolt. “THAT SON OF A BITCH!!!”

"Hey! Watch the merchandise! Yer sending sparks all the way over here!"

Dumbfounded she ceased her spell and stared at the blackened hole in the wall and spoke words of such a high grade of creativity that they would be used for generations to come. “What the fuck?”

"Please stop blasting the diamond. I don’t need my troops thinking my phone is possessed.” A sigh came from the gem. “I’d better settle this out now before any more questions arise. Hang on."

Before Sephiroth could react, a swirling red and black portal opened up in front of the wall. A woman stepped forward, the portal disappearing behind her. She was moderate in height with long blonde hair draping over her back. Her black jacket was trimmed with red, but there were green splotches in certain spots, going down her dirtied khaki pants. She looked at Sephiroth with unamused, red eyes. “So you’re the one blasting my little, black gem?” She eyed her up and down, “Little under dressed, dontcha think? Not complaining, but this is strange time for a booty call.”

The silver haired woman contemplated if she should blast the other human instantly or give her the chance to explain herself, at least, while she drew the comforter around herself. Her eyes burned with wrath as she tried to bore a hole through the skull of the human in front of her. “You have one shot at explaining yourself before I will kill you.”

She stared at Sephiroth for a moment before smirk slowly formed on her lips. A low chuckle emanated from the woman, getting louder and louder before she was practically roaring with laughter. Each moment it went on, Sephiroth’s glare only grew colder and colder. After several long moments, the woman had finally calmed down enough to look at her with an equal glare. “I am Kat Shifter, the Queen of Gravity, and someone you have no chance in enfer to kill. You’re far too weak.”

Kat’s last words rang in her mind over and over again, taunting her and overriding any sense on their way with pure rage. “We’ll see about that.” A red aura enveloped Sephiroth and she vanished from the bed, leaving a shredded blanket behind. Not even a second later she stood in front of Kat and tried to slice her clean in two with her sword. Faster than she could even see, Kat stopped the sword mere centimeters from her head with two fingers.

“Your rage will not help you to stop me. Now stop acting like an enraged animal and put some satané clothes on.”

Sephiroth stared incredulously at the fingers holding her blade in place. That couldn’t be happening. No, she wouldn’t accept this. With all her strength she tried to push through the hold, growling dangerously.

Kat just stared at her as if she was bored. “I don’t want to snap your sword in two, so please stop this futility. I usually prefer to find out who is trying to kill me before they do so, so I’m finding your whole thing here rather rude.”

The silver haired woman wasn’t paying attention to what was said instead her struggle grew more and more desperate, while her expression morphed into one of despair and primal fear. “No! I-I can’t be the weaker one.”

Shaking her head, Kat yanked the sword back, pulling Sephiroth forward and decking her to the ground. “Normally, I would have let you off due to simple fear,” she said, popping the bones in her knuckles. “But you obviously weren’t going to stop until you were shown otherwise. For that, I apologize. Can we speak like civilized human beings now?”

Instead of answering, Sephiroth proceeded to curl up on the ground as tightly as she could and started shaking like a leaf, all the while whispering, “No… not again…”

Kat blinked, looking at the shaking woman. “Maybe I went a little too far,” she muttered to herself. She lowered herself down to crouch. “Hey, I’m sorry for hitting you like that. I should have gone with something less violent to stop you. Let’s start over, shall we? What’s your name?”

Haunted, teal eyes snapped to Kat’s and the owner of the former tried her best to distance herself without giving up her posture. Kat winced, now truly feeling upset. She sighed deeply, running her hand down her face. “Good going, Shifter. You went and traumatized an innocent. Stupid changelings, they’re screwing up all my good vibes. This is just like what nearly happened with Maxie… but in reverse surprisingly.”

She flinched hard at the mention of that name. Kat knew Max. And now that she thought about it Max had mentioned he had a sister named Kat. Sephiroth’s eyes widened in utter terror and, not caring if anyone saw her naked, she jumped up and over the bed in direction of the door. She had to get away as fast as possible.

An invisible force grabbed her from behind and yanked her right back to the far wall. She tried to get up, but that same force was now against her chest, pressing her there. “Okay, I get it,” Kat sighed. “I’m sorry for scaring you and for insulting you. Really, I am.”

Panicking, Sephiroth struggled against the force holding her. Images from being pinned to a wall flooding her mind and she began to scream. But what was noticeable the most was that she desperately clenched her legs together trying to move her thigh away from some unseen invader.

Kat was really unsure of what was happening now. She only had one last trick up her sleeve to end the situation before having to resort to… other methods. Walking right up to Sephiroth, she released the restraining force on the other woman. Before the silver haired woman could take advantage however, Kat wrapped her arms around her and pulled her in close. “Shh, please, just calm down.”

Suddenly feeling the comfort of the hug, she could do nothing more than to latch onto it and breaking down into tears once more. The pair slowly sank to their knees, neither letting go as Sephiroth cried her heart out. Kat just held on, softly rubbing the other’s back and saying calming words.

Being reminded of her own powerlessness broke down the last remnants of restraint and she stuttered between sobs. “H-he r-r-raped me-e.”

“It’s alright,” Kat cooed. “You’re safe now. No one can hurt you.”

Feeling the need to somehow justify herself she carried on. “I tr-ried t-to s-stop h-him… bu-t I-I couldn’t…”

Kat tightened her grip, but only slightly. “I know, I know. But it doesn’t matter now. It’s over and there’s nothing anyone can do to hurt you right now.”

Burying her face in Kat’s shoulder she cried for a while longer before she slowly began to calm down. It had actually felt good to say it out loud, to share her pain, so after another while she continued. “He said we were sisters… invited me to his wedding even. And then… he just jumped at me.” She tried to swallow the lump in her throat. “H-he was my first summon… so I didn’t know how to send him back…”

“Tell me,” Kat said, her voice dripping with venom. “Who… who would dare to do this?”

It took her a few moments to work up the courage and when she spoke she was shaking again. “Max… Max Caulfield.”

Her eyes went wide. “Wh-what? N-no… Maxie would never…” Kat started to tremble, but when Sephiroth looked, it wasn’t fear or disbelief in her eyes. It was just emptiness. “Max isn’t male. How could she have done this?” Her voice was completely void of emotion, somehow making it even more frightening.

“He told me… that he was male before… he got displaced. And then went through some kind of mirror portal into another dimension inside of his universe. He got turned into a male from it and that’s when I summoned him.”

“And he did this to you?” Now her voice was empty. “He forced himself upon you? My Maxie raped you?”

Sephiroth’s body somehow managed it to slump even more and she nodded. “I-it’s all my fault… he said he was suffering from sex deprivation but I just thought… he called me sister, how could it have been directed at me?” She gulped again. “I… accidentally obliterated our clothes and seeing me… naked or barely covered… seemed to drive him mad.”

Kat pinched the bridge of her nose, making sure not to let go of her embrace. Desperately she tried to calm herself down, but it wasn’t working. Kat snapped her fingers, opening a portal in front of her, but behind Sephiroth. She clenched her fist, causing the star on the other side of the portal to completely collapse into itself. Kat closed the portal before any of the feedback could burst forth.

With her anger subsided for the moment, she sighed softly. “I’m so sorry, miss. I am so so sorry for what he did to you. I can assure you that there will be consequences for this.”

Panic settled over Sephiroth once again and she screamed. “NO! He-she’s pregnant!” Suddenly she fell deathly silent with an expression of unadulterated shock on her face, going completely rigid in the process.

“I know very well of what my ‘sister’’s condition is. This, however, will not excuse her from punishment nor judgement.” Kat was trembling again, this time releasing Sephiroth before punching the wall and nearly destroying it in the process. “I grew up learning many things from my father, and one of those things was that rape is unforgivable. Where I came from, your life was forfeit if you committed such a heinous act.”

Not paying attention to Kat, again, she muttered, “H-he… pregnant… he… he c-came inside…”

“You’re not pregnant, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Kat stated offhandedly. “Maxie, no matter what state she’s in, would never get someone pregnant without consent. … it wouldn’t hurt yourself to get checked, though. This is as little faith that remains in her at this point.” She stood up and started pacing around the room, muttering and rambling to herself.

Sephiroth felt cold all of the sudden causing her to hug herself, but something Kat had said caught her attention and dread flowed through her. “No. Don’t… don’t blame him. H-he has so much to care for… it’s alright… I’m alone, learned that my supposedly immortal lover took his life after my imprisonment just yesterday.” She let her head sink lower. “I’m not worth it…”

“‘Not worth it’?” Kat parroted, stopping in her tracks. She looked right at Sephiroth and repeated even louder, “‘Not worth it’?! Don’t you dare say you’re not worth it!” Kat’s voice got even louder as she continued. “There isn’t a single living being out there that deserves to be raped! Not you, not Chrysalis, not even putain de Tirek! Max will not be getting off with a warning on this, not one bit! He, or she as I know her, is completely at fault and none of it is on you. I don’t care how you see yourself or what the people of this world consider you to be, this. is. un. EXCUSABLE!” Her voice practically shook the entire mountain to its core.

Muffled shouts of alarm were audible through the door accompanied by the clatter of armor, but they didn’t seem to come closer. Sephiroth, for her part, felt the corners of her mouth twitch upwards slightly. “What they consider me…?” The titles listed by the king came to her mind, one in particular. “The Whore of Chaos… maybe they were right after all…”

A burning pain suddenly shot across Sephiroth’s cheek, finding herself on her side. She looked up, seeing that Kat had struck her. “ENOUGH! I will not hear you degrade yourself anymore! You are not a whore. You are not a waste of life. And you are NOT at fault.”

Shocked, she slowly lifted a hand to her cheek, before looking away. What was she doing here? She wasn’t the type to cry and drown in self-pity. Returning her gaze to Kat she felt some of the fire reignite in them. Without so much as a word she struggled to her feet and made her way over to a set of armored clothes, neatly folded on the bed. The ones she had gotten from the maid before this had happened. She put them on and bound a strap of cloth around her chest to cover what the bell shaped skirt could not. After getting that done she walked back to Kat and extended a hand for her to take. “Sephiroth.”

Kat smiled genuinely and firmly clasped the hand offered. “A pleasure to meet you. And I am sorry for what my ‘sister’ has done. We will be having words, that I can guarantee.”

Her gaze grew firm and she withdrew her hand. “Actually, no. And before you hit me again, hear me out. I’m more worried at the moment than angry.” She rubbed the bridge of her nose between two fingers and clenched her eyes shut. “Thanks for that, by the way. I couldn’t think clearly.”

“No problem, but I will be having words with her. This is something that will not be allowed to happen again. In repayment for what she has done, allow me to assist you in any endeavor you please.”

“I’m being serious here. I think he is not to blame.” She sighed and contemplated how she could explain what she thought. “I haven’t known Max for all that long. A day, at most. But I had the chance to get to know him enough to notice something now. He did not act like himself. In the moments before he… forced himself on me, he seemed to struggle with himself. He was very distracted and couldn’t even answer in full sentences anymore.” She hesitated a moment before raising her gaze to the ceiling. “And then there is what he said right before I sent him away. He said he tried to forget that I was even there. As if he had to fool himself into believing that he could only engage in masturbation.”

“It excuses nothing, and I will hear no more upon this subject. I still offer my services to you to make up for what has been done. I can assure that I can assist in anything you may need. Need taking down a higher power? Easy enough. Robbing a bank? May take a little time, but doable. Murder is out of the question, but an assassination is simplistic.”

“I do not decline your offer. But think for a second. I only learned yesterday that Celestia was possessed by a being Max called ‘Nightmare’. And I just can’t shake the thought that something forced him to… well force himself on me.”

“I will cross that bridge when I get to it. Leave the family matters to me. But, if you have a plan to strike at something that may have been a factor upon this… Well then my dear, allons-y.”

Sephiroth smiled for a moment. “If you’d allow me to answer your former question again. I’m Sephiroth, Godmother of all Children. And, as I see this, the newest member of Max’s family. So these so-called ‘family matters’ concern me too. Sadly I do not have any kind of plan. If there is a being possessing Max, or trying to, then I’m powerless.” Behind clenched teeth she added. “Again.”

“Hmm,” Kat rubbed her chin. “I am not the best expert on magic, I’ve always prefered the logic of physics, but… I think I might know someone who could shed some light on this. Barring she’s alive in this reality.”

“Well, I was more on the lines of something Max had said when I asked him if it was possible for the being in Celestia to be removed and put into its own body. He said that his Discord might be able to do that. So why not let him rip the being out of Max.” Her face darkened. “And then it belongs to me.”

“Because I highly doubt it’s in Max, for starters,” Kat told her in a stern tone. Almost as if she were reprimanding a child. “If this… thing has been in Celestia for what I’m guessing to be a thousand plus years, then suddenly removing itself for Max is nigh implausible. More than likely it simply extended its will into Max, possibly through a point of contact. I’m more concerned with the original source than whatever influence it pulled over Maxie. I also have little trust over that chaotic connard. A Discord’s loyalties are never so simple and almost always play out as a deal with the devil. No, if we want this handled, we need to stop the source that has infested your Celestia. And to do that, we’re going to need an expert on such magicks.”

Blinking confusedly, the silver haired woman lowered her gaze again. “No, the being in Celestia never left her. And I wasn’t referring to it either. Max’s universe has had his own version if I remember correctly, and his Celestia is dead. But consulting an expert would help us either way, so who is this you’re talking about?”

“We need a pony who knows the mind, inside and out. One who knows what lurks within the darkness of ponies’ and other creatures’ minds and what can affect them. A certain special pony who can destroy that darkness.” Kat smiled. “We need Luna.”

Sephiroth stared at Kat for a while before averting her gaze. “Yeah that could be a problem in more ways than one. First, Luna never existed in this universe. Nightmare Moon was the original princess of the night. And second, she is held captive by Celestia, who used the bearers of the Elements to brainwash her into an artificial persona, called ‘Luna’.”

She chuckled darkly. “Brainwashing, eh? Very simply to undo. All we need is to get in and out. We don’t even have anything to worry about, there’s no one to stop us.”

The silver haired woman lifted an eyebrow. “Even if it’s done by the Elements? And please, refrain from hurting anypony other than Celestia.” She sighed. “Man that’s weird calling the being Celestia. But I just can’t get myself to use this name Max had for her. ‘Daymare Flare’ or something. Thanks to Max I view every being, which is not an immortal or at least three hundred years old, as a child now and I have a really protective streak concerning children.”

“I don’t need to harm them. I have many ways to knock a pony out or keep them out of the way. And try ‘Solar Flare’ if you don’t want to say Celestia. That other one just sounds lame. And yes, the Elements can be cancelled out. I have a tool that can completely negate it; I’ve used it before so I can confirm that it works.” Kat smiled a little. “Don’t take me for a novice, Sephy. I have been at this for quite a while now.”

Groaning she facepalmed. “Great, a nickname.” Then she shook her head and actually blushed a little. “About that. How can you and Max be so freakishly strong? I can beat this world’s Celestia and Nightmare at the same time but for you and him, my power seems to be no more than a joke.”

Kat chuckled under her breath without mirth. “I cheated. I stole a fair amount of my power from enemies I killed. Mix that with certain portions of my power, it makes me nearly invincible. Plus, it helps that I started out on a military world where Celestia only gained power over the years. It took most of my strength just to beat her into the ground way back when.”

Contemplating something she gained a faraway look for a few moments before cautiously selecting her words. “Say… hypothetically. If a planet were about to come crashing down on the one you are on, could you stop it?”

“I could shatter it into small enough pieces that they would burn up in the atmosphere. And without touching it,” Kat smirked with that addition.

Sephiroth shook her head and shrugged. “Don’t think I’ll just accept my defeat. Max learned the hard way that I’m a sore loser.” Then she began to grin. “Someday I will provide you with a real fight.”

“You’ll need speed as well as power for that, but let’s focus here. Shall we, hmm?”

“Yeah, you’re right. So you can actually get Nightmare back? She was my best friend once.”

“Oh definitely. I just need to get in close. Oh, but there is one small problem and it’s considering the Elements.”

The silver haired woman tilted her head slightly and lifted an eyebrow again. “That being?”

“I can’t harm one of them. I can’t bring myself to do anything harmful to Fluttershy, even with words. Even if she isn’t here, I cannot harm my own granddaughter.”

She waved it off before halting in the middle of the motion. “I know it doesn’t change anything but I just have to ask this, considering Max had foals for himself. Granddaughter by blood?”

“No, I can’t give birth. I adopted her ancestor in the olden days. I hope Celestia is keeping an eye on her back home, they are family now after all,” Kat mused to herself aloud.

Without any visible prompt, Sephiroth sat down on the bed and buried her face in her hands with a long and deep sigh. “Shit. I just realized something.”

“Hmm?” Kat asked, quirking an eyebrow. “What? We have someplace to break into at the moment.”

“I had one revelation after another since I was freed from my prison. And that was yesterday. Cut me some slack, okay?” She sighed again, then rose to her feet. “It’s not important right now. You don’t have to worry about the Elements. Fluttershy actually tried to console Max and that was when he was known as an accomplice to me. Also I think I gave their leader enough to mull over in that lavender head of hers. She seemed to be very bright, at least.”

“That would be Twilight Sparkle, Celestia’s private pupil,” Kat informed her. “Be careful with your assumptions. She’s strong headed, but has been known to do anything to appease her teacher.”

Sephiroth groaned. “Great. Another alicorn that hangs on her every word. That’s exactly what I needed right now. Also I think I should inform you of another possible threat.” She breathed deeply, trying to steel herself. “Discord is dead in this universe, but it needed a god of chaos to balance the order, so a new one took his place. And that’s the problem. I know nothing of this new god and he has lived with Celestia for the last 8 centuries as it seems.”

Kat scowled. “A variable, not good.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a strange cylindrical device with four prongs near the top that surrounded a green bulb. She started fiddling with it, causing it to glow and make some strange noises. “Chaos magic is a hard thing to play with. But I should be able to keep us safe from it for about… 90 seconds at most. So if we run across this being, we’ll have to move quickly.”

A stern expression overtook her features. “If we come across the new god, leave him to me and concentrate on Nightmare. Discord-” She flinched.”-was a very close acquaintance and I’m practically immune to chaos magic thanks to him.”

“Then we’re set.” Kat’s signature evil smirk came out. “Allons-y, Sephy. Allons-y.”

Sephiroth blinked uncomprehendingly. “All on- what?”

“It’s French, okay? I can only say certain things in French. When you’re brainwashed, not everything can be reversed, okay?”

Her face darkened. “Not everything? So I can only hope it will be enough for Nightmare to become her old self again.”

“It usually just strange quirks. Maybe she’ll just randomly spout off ‘praise the sun’. It’s never anything to worry about.”

A chuckle escaped her. “More likely ‘praise the moon’, but I digress. Can you teleport? Because I can’t.”

Kat snapped her fingers, opening a portal that showed… an empty mountain. “What the? Where’s Canterlot?” she asked, rubbing her head.

“Canter… ahh I think Max said something about this. You see the capital had never been moved from the Everfree. Maybe due to the fact that Celestia was possessed for a thousand years and managed to stay hidden for just as long.”

“Oh, that’s so lame. Canterlot at least looked nice, mountainside view that let’s you see the whole of the kingdom? Sounds like a good idea to me. Ugh, making a castle in the middle of a cursed forest just made no sense at all.” She snapped her fingers again, the view switching to the grandness of Everfree City. “....mountainside city is still better.”

“What’s that about a cursed forest? The Everfree is a nice piece of art from nature itself. No Pony has ever had to fear any dangers in it.” She went over to the portal and examined it. “That’s really a neat trick.”

“Gravity is one of the oldest forces in existence and a major power of creation,” Kat beamed. “It can be used in a multitude of ways, including making powers like Maxie’s worthless.”

“Way to make me feel underpowered. At least you don’t talk about sex all the time and tease me to no end.” Looking back over her shoulder she smiled. “I think I like you.” Then she hopped through the portal.

Kat stayed behind for a moment. “As long as you don’t want to be like me, Sephy.” She walked through, closing the portal behind her.

Chapter 11 - A Rescue Mission gone Awry

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Chapter 12 - Never mess with Gravity

A swirling red portal tore into existence again, Kat rushing through. The mare looked around, trying to find her friend. “Sephy! Where are you?!” Kat groaned, rubbing both hooves on her head. “I was so stupid. She was acting way too weird to be normal. And Sephiroth would never kiss me… though she is rather good at it.” She slapped herself. “No, bad Kat, this is not the time for that.”

Kat found herself in a dark and humid catacomb with cells on one side of the hallway, closed off with heavy iron bars, but what was the most disturbing was the smell that hit her full on. A smell she knew more than she’d liked and this place was practically overflowing with it. The metallic smell of blood. When she whirled around to find the source, her eyes fell on one cell a little down the hall, widening in shock. The floor in front of the cell was crimson with the same fluid she smelled.

“Oh mon Dieu, Sephy please don’t you die on me,” she pleaded to herself and gallopped down the hallway only slowing down when she threatened to slip. She came to a halt in front of the cell and the sight took her breath away.

The whole cell was painted red, fresh blood still dripping from the ceiling. In the back there was a figure, chained to a bar on the wall that was so heavily enchanted that it glowed through several layers of fluid and already hardened life essence. The figure itself was dripping with blood, too. Limply hanging from the bar, crimson stained hair hiding her face.

“Sephy,” Kat said with pure shock and fear on her face. “Dear dieu what did they do to you?” She ripped the cell door off its hinges and raced into the cell. “Just hold on, I’ll get you out of here.”

The woman on the wall didn’t respond, the only sign that she had to be alive a barely noticeable sway of the hair in front of her face, showing that she was breathing, albeit shallowly.

Kat flicked her hoof, severing the chains the held the bar up. Sephiroth’s body crashed to the floor, save for her upper body which Kat caught deftly. “Oh Sephy, I’m so sorry,” Kat said, fighting back tears.

Hanging limply in the ponies forehooves, the only movement that could be noticed was that, the moment Kat had touched her, her lips had started moving, if barely. Her voice seemingly lost long ago.

“Come on,” Kat groaned, dragging the woman out of the cell gently. “Let’s get you out of here and get you healed.”

The ghost of a whisper reached Kat’s ears, barely even recognizable as words. But it seemed to repeat itself over and over again, so she was able to piece together what was being said with some difficulties. It sounded more like a broken record then anywhere near the boastful and strong voice she knew.

“Please… don’t touch me… leave me alone… please…”

“Not until you’re safe,” Kat said after piecing together what Sephiroth was saying. “I failed you once, I won’t let it happen again.”

Regardless of what Kat said, the woman on her back just kept on whispering her plea. She sounded so hollow, almost dead in its own way. Kat shook her head, walking down the dark, dank corridor. “There has to be some place around here I can get you patched up safely.”

They came to the end of the corridor, barred with what would be more fitting in a high security bank. A giant, heavy door of a tresor, glowing with its own set of heavy enchantments.

Kat sighed. “Of course. Enchanted door.” She gently put her hoof against the door and pushed. “Hmm…” Her hoof pulled away and she placed Sephiroth on the floor gently. She stood up on two legs and got into a stance, pulling back a foreleg. With a grunt, she shot the hoof forward, slamming into the door. There was silence… then the door deftly fell back, slamming loudly against the floor. “And that’s that.”

The woman had stopped her whispering when she was laid down but did not move in the slightest, not to protect herself, nor to cover her more intimate parts. When the door crashed to the ground it caused the floor to tremor under its weight and it wasn’t long after that that shouts could be heard echoing through the dungeon.

Kat set back down on all fours, levitating Sephiroth onto her back again and trotted off.

A few moments later they came across some more normal looking doors, heavy dungeon doors, but still simple doors rather than giant tresors. While the shouting in the distance had ceased, and the woman had begun to whisper again.

“Geeze, how many doors are in this place?” Kat muttered to herself. She flicked her hoof to the side, causing the doors to slam open.

It took three more doors of varying thickness until the hallway turned into a bigger room. By the looks a gateway, connecting the dungeons with the castle itself. There were three more cells on one side of it, likely for drying-out or some troublemakers in bars, and a desk on the other. A desk currently occupied by a smirking changeling king. “Ahh, Miss Shifter. Welcome back to this humble abode.” He sat there and just grinned at the mare, leaning back in the chair as if he had not a single care to give. Then he tsk’ed. “I fear I can not allow you to take my little plaything with you. We were having so~ much fun.” His grin widened even further.

Kat didn’t even pay him any mind. She just began walking by, not even looking at him. Though she did tighten her telepathic grip on Sephiroth.

The king followed them with his eyes, chuckling darkly, before, with a flash, Kat’s hooves became one with the ground up to her middle joint. “Now, now. That’s just rude, ignoring me.”

“If you want to live, then you will undo my legs and leave,” she said simply.

“Oh, you can leave anytime you want. I won’t dream of standing in the way of gravity.” Suddenly the whole room turned upside down with him standing on the former ceiling. “Whoops. My bad. But I was serious you know? I just can not allow you to take your cargo with you.”

“I don’t care if you’re serious or not, you Discord knock off,” Kat said with no emotion in her voice. “If you dare try to take her, then I will destroy you.”

The god of chaos laughed loudly. “‘Discord knock off’? Well you might be right there.” He then licked his chops. “His heart certainly was quite the taste. And imagine the little playthings face when she thought he was the one to betray her! Priceless!”

Before the changeling could react, Kat grabbed his left arm and tore it right off his body, a horrifying ripping sound echoing down the hall.

The changelings grin was back in full force. “Oh, ouch. What will I do? The horror.” He chuckled crazily and waved the stump where his arm has been only for a new one to pop into existence. “Come on. I’m chaos. I’m beyond the physical plane.”

“You’re also a pathetic waste of space that isn’t even worth my time with your exceptionally weak powers. You’ll never be as great as Discord, that much is obvious. Now, out of my way before you join the rest of your kind I’ve killed.”

The room turned right side up again and the king stood in front of Kat, almost lovingly stroking her cheek. “If you kill me, and that’s a big if, you’d upset the balance of this world leading to its ultimate demise. So I would advise against it. But who am I to tell the great gravity queen what she should or should not do. Go ahead. I don’t fear death.”

“This wouldn’t be the first world I’ve destroyed, nor will it be the last,” she told the chaos lord, looking at him completely serious. “I have no problem dooming it and it’s citizens to an untimely end. I would rather not, but if it comes to that then so be it. Now, out. Of. My. Way.”

For the first time the grin on the face of the king vanished. “You’re serious, aren’t you?” Only to return with a vengeance. “As much as I’d love to see that, it isn’t worth it for a simple little plaything. Celestia be damned.” With another flash, Kat’s legs were free again. “But still, I would advise against going through the castle. Not that I think anything can stop you and I certainly would enjoy the view, but for besting me without a fight, I’ll bring you everywhere you want to be.”

“You want to reward me? Fine, you stay away from Sephiroth for the rest of your existence and you never go near her again. This is not negotiable.” With that said, she started walking into the castle.

The changeling sighed in exasperation. “Give them a little and they try to take it all. Nope, no deal.” He clapped his hooves together and the floor under Kat’s hooves reached up to swallow them whole, only for them to appear in a large, and seemingly fresh, crater on the side of a mountain, which Kat recognized as where Canterlot should be.

Kat was visibly shaking now, but not from the sudden transportation. She gently set Sephiroth down and then reverted to her human form. “You wanna play games with me, changeling?” she asked to the open air, burning energy forming around her. “Fine then, let’s play.”

In an instant, Kat reappeared in the air above Everfree City. She took a deep breath and bellowed in the Royal Canterlot Voice, “CELESTIA!! GET YOUR FAT FLANK OUT HERE WITH YOUR ANNOYING PET!”

Predictably this caused a huge panic in the city below her. But before any other thing could happen the air in front of Kat began literally frowning, as two serpentine eyes and a mouth appeared out of nowhere. “I take offence to that. Here I try being nice and you start shouting. Fine, I’ll give you this, too.” Between them a full and new outfit just like Sephiroth’s original one appeared. “Take it and leave. I’m getting tired of your face.”

Kat stared at the being for a moment before lifting up her hand. In it, an orb of red energy built up, glowing brightly. Before he could question it, she flung the orb into the city below, exploding on contact with the ground. The blast took up several city blocks, leaving a giant, smoking crater with the ponies screaming in terror. Kat’s eye bore into the chaotic being, showing rage and power.

“I said it was nonnegotiable, as in you don’t get a choice in the matter.” She floated slowly towards the being. “Your kind think you’re invincible when I have proven that incorrect time and time again. You have no power over me, you are weaker than me, and you will fall before me if you continue along this path. I will rip your power from you and crush you underneath my boot. If you think any of this is a farce then I dare you to strike me down.” With every word she had spoken, cracks grew larger and larger before, making it seem as if the entire city were breaking apart.

“Killing innocents now to convince me?” The disembodied frown turned to a grin. “You know that their lives couldn’t concern me less, do you? In addition to that I already told you that I do not fear death. Quite the contrary. I lived far too long.” Slowly a body faded into existence to match the grin. “So go ahead, kill me. Take my powers or just keep on killing those dainties down there.” Finally the grin vanished again like a crumbling mask, revealing a tired look in the green eyes. “I stopped caring centuries ago.”

“Then you will receive a punishment worse than death.” She instantly stabbed two fingers directly into his skull and poured her own energy in. “I place a curse upon you that I learned long ago. Your powers will never be at full strength again, your mind will never allow you to feel enjoyment again, and your life will live on until this planet is dead gone and even beyond.” She yanked her fingers back, wiping the blood off. “And as for those innocents, you can go explain to them how the successor to the ‘hero’ of Equestria allowed them all to die when it should have been him.”

Terrified the king reared back with wide eyes. “No! NO! You can’t do this to me! I’m Chaos, I don’t follow rules by nature! YOU. CAN. NOT. CONTROL. CHAOS!” With that he tried to rip reality apart around the human in front of him.

“And I am she who controls one of the very forces that allow you to exist.” She poured energy into her fist and socked him right in the jaw, causing him to plummet into the city below. “When you mess with people’s lives, you will have to face the consequences. Now ‘enjoy’ your life, you connard!”

The city under her was barely recognizable as one anymore. Thick plumes of smoke rose from where the cracks had caused fires to break out. Shouts of terror and despair filled the air while a completely overwhelmed guard tried to evacuate the citizens and rescue their fellow ponies out of collapsed houses. For them it was like the world was ending for no reason.

Kat looked down upon the utter destruction, her cold eyes glaring without any remorse. She slowly turned away from it all, finding herself back upon the mountain where Sephiroth lay. She gently landed on the destroyed rock and walked over to her friend. Kat noticed that she was still awake, yet muttered to herself.

“Shh, sleep now,” she said softly, gripping Sephiroth’s shoulder tightly. The other woman flinched, but was out cold the next second. Kat took out a green crystal and broke it over her friend, the shards healing all of the physical wounds. Looking up at the dreary sky above, Kat made the decision to hide Sephiroth in one of the nearby caves, starting a fire within to keep the other woman warm.

As the fire grew, Kat began scratching out a letter on a piece of parchment that she had on her. Once it was written, she left it and the fresh set of clothes near Sephiroth and started for the cave exit. She stopped there, looking back for a moment with tired eyes.

“Maybe one day, one day we can see each other again. But I know it won’t be any time soon.” Another portal appeared, Kat stepping through and disappearing entirely from the world.

Awaking was not really a big affair. One second she was enveloped in darkness the next she was awake, staring into what seemed to be a dying campfire. Confused she blinked. When did she go camping? She had to forfeit finding an answer to that question when she shivered suddenly, just now realizing that she was cold. Casting her gaze around she found her trusty old outfit and a note, but ignored the latter for now. She was about to put her clothes on when she noticed that she was covered in blood, hardened long ago. Disgusted she scrunched up her face and laid down the outfit again to go to a free place in the cave. She reached her hand up, summoning a block of ice out of thin air, only to encase it in a ring of fire, which made it melt and created a makeshift shower. Sure, the water was cold, but it did its job and she scrubbed herself clean. She couldn’t remember where the blood had come from, but she really hoped that it was not any pony’s. Had she gone berserk or something? That would explain why she didn’t remember anything.

Being done with the shower left her an even stronger shivering mess, but she could do something against it. Focusing her magic she let herself be swallowed by a pillar of fire only for her to come out of it completely unharmed. Not even a single singed hair, but completely dry. Going over to her clothes again, she lifted them only for something to fall out of the leather. Curiously she reached a hand to the hilt of a sheathed dagger, glinting in the twilight of the cave, but stopped right before she could touch it. It was his token, she realized and flinched back, almost making it a full jump.

Her heart was racing and panic clawed at her very being, while she found herself shivering for an entirely different reason. Confused as to why, she shook the feeling away and opted to get dressed instead.

Finally not being naked anymore, she sighed in relief. She was always wary of being nude but now that it was gone, she noticed that she had felt absolute terror at being exposed. Flexing her hands a little bit left her confused again. The gloves, the whole outfit for that matter, felt new. The leather stiff and not broken in anymore. Could… could everything have been a bad dream?

That was when her eyes landed on the dagger and note again. No, it was no dream. Then the token wouldn’t be here. Stalling her time she looked around the cave. That’s right. She was in the castle with… Kat.

“Kat?” She waited for a minute before calling out again. “Kat, are you there?” When she didn’t receive an answer for several more minutes she tried to recall what had happened, only to be met with a flood of pain and utter fear. She gripped her head in a vain attempt to lessen the agony shooting through her very essence. An ear splitting scream tore itself from her throat and she collapsed onto her knees, bending over to make herself as small as possible.

The attack lasted for what felt like an eternity before finally subsiding. Slowly she managed to stand up again, shaking like a leaf. “What the…?” Her cheek felt damp and wiping at it with her hand revealed tears. “Why… was I crying?”

The note came to mind again and she finally took it. Maybe it could explain what had happened. Wiping at her eyes again to clear her vision she began to read.

‘Dear Sephy,

By the time you read this, I will already have been long gone. I know you’ll be wondering why I left, but… you’ll find out soon enough. I did something terrible, much more so than I had ever intended. I know you’ll hate me for it; for leaving so soon and for doing such terrible things. You’ll probably never want to see me again when you find out and I couldn’t blame you for it.

This is not the first terrible thing I’ve done, nor will it be the last. It would be safer for you to stay away from me from now on, for your own safety as well as my own if you saw what I do on a daily basis. I want you to know that no matter how much you despise me, I will always consider you my friend. Please, live a long and fulfilled life, that’s all I ask of you.

With love, your friend,
Kat Shifter

P.s. I left some instructions for you on the back of this note so you can fight that Nightmare or whatever that’s affecting Max. It should be thorough enough you should have no problem getting through the Void.’

Sephiroth stared at the lines as if they were the greatest riddle in the world. Turning the note around she tried to find some kind of answer, but found none. “That’s it?” Confused she read the note again but found nothing more than in her first try. “She couldn’t even write what she has done? She… wouldn’t even stay to take responsibility?” The woman hesitated and looked to the entrance of the cave. What could have been so terrible?

Almost in trance she went to exit the cave, leaving the dagger behind. She recognized the crater that was in front of the cave and instantly knew where she was. Then she noticed the smoke over the Everfree forest. Dread filled her as she neared the edge of the platform she was standing on staring down upon the still smoldering remains of Everfree City.

“No.” She shook her head in denial. “No. That’s-” Hastily she rose the note again to read it. Her hands began to shake and she clenched her teeth in rage, her frame enveloped in a bright red aura, as was the wing that sprouted out of her back hard enough to actually knock some feathers loose, which ignited and burned away the moment they left her wing. “You won’t just get away with this.”

She launched herself with enough force to cause the piece of the platform she was standing on to explode. She flew with a speed suffice to break the sound barrier several times but instead of causing a loud boom the air in front of herself just burned away, letting her slice through a vacuum left behind. Her entire purpose was to reach the burmecian castle and find the gem embedded into the wall of one of its rooms. She roared soundlessly in rage, there being no air to carry her voice.

It took her a little time to find the valley again and she did a little math from where she had fallen into their tunnels to where they had taken her. Instead of entering the tunnels again she burst directly for the mountain where she thought the cavern would be and slammed into the ground at full speed. Not a second later she emerged into the cavern of the burmecian city, descending on it like a meteor. The gates to the castle were, lucky for them, open and she didn’t care that she scared the shit out of the guards. Touching down she opted to run instead, moving faster than the rats could follow, breaking several doors in the process until she finally found the room with the cracked and blackened wall.

She didn’t notice in this moment that there was a familiar dagger on the bed, she just rushed over to the wall and punched her fist in the hole she had created enclosing her prize in her fist, ripping a good portion of the wall with it when she withdrew it.

“KAT! ANSWER FOR YOUR DEEDS!”

“The number you have reached is temporarily unavailable. Please leave a message after the beep.” The first part sounded strangely like Kat’s voice.

Nothing. It was so surreal that she actually dropped the diamond in shock, staring at the all but destroyed wall. She was at a total loss. And it took long enough to restart her thought process that she hadn’t noticed the other being entering until much later. Her eyes were still widened in shock when she turned and found a very unamused looking Fratley staring back at her. The moment he opened his mouth, probably to ask what was going on, she silenced him with a motion of her hand. “Don’t. Ask. I’ll explain later.”

A very large part of her had strongly suggested ripping the rat’s king apart, but she managed to crush those feelings. “Leave.”

The rat stayed, obviously considering something, before he shook his head and left. Fixating her glare towards the token she reached down to pick it up, debating with herself if she should try to send one of her more destructive spells through it like she had seemingly done with the lighting when she first summoned Kat. But she let the thought fall almost instantly. She wouldn’t be able to hurt Kat and even worse could maybe hurt someone in close proximity.

After several minutes of just staring at the diamond Sephiroth sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed. Channeling her energy into the fist, holding the diamond she started again. It had said something about leaving a message, after all. Not knowing how exactly this would work she tried to pour the feelings of hurt and disappointment into it.

“Kat-” She hesitated, trying to come up with the right words but ultimately failed to do so. Instead she went with what she felt she had to say. “I can’t find words for how disappointed and angry I am. I saw what you did and I-” She paused again swallowing. “I can’t begin to describe how much I’d like to make you pay right now. The events after we headed into the castle are lost to me and when I try to remember them I feel nothing but intense pain and fear. Whatever happened you obviously dragged me out of there and for that, I will try to overcome my anger to hear your side of the story. Until then…” Her voice grew cold and distant. “I can not call you friend.”

Sephiroth cut the flow of power to the diamond, not even knowing if Kat would get this message or if it was too long and she got only the first part. After staring at the black gem a little longer she sighed and let herself fall backwards on the bed, noticing the dagger in the process.

Only thinking about taking it and going through with using it to see… Max again instilled a primal fear in her heart. But she had to do this. She wouldn’t just run away like Kat did.

The gem glowed lightly in her hand. Kat’s voice poured out. “A great man once said, ‘the needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few’.” There was a long pause. “I chose the need of a friend.” The light cut out.

Following an impulse she sent another wave of power into the diamond. “You are a fool if you really think this way. The greatest saint can not help anyone if he can’t help himself, first.”

This only reinforced her decision and she grabbed the dagger firmly. She would help herself overcome this unfounded fear. And in the same time she would help one she cared about. Belatedly she realized that her answer to Kat’s words could be misunderstood greatly. But she couldn’t take them back anymore. Instead she extended a metaphorical olive branch. “I’ll carry your token close to my heart and I would be proud if I could call you friend someday again.” With that she cut off her power. She didn’t really expect another answer so she put the diamond in one of her pockets. She would see to finding a goldsmith later to make it into a necklace. After all, she had promised to keep it close to heart and she would keep her promises.

Author's Note

That ends the crossover with Kat.
Details about what happened to Seph in the dungeons will be revealed in Moon_Fire's next chapter.
I'll add the link here when he published it.

And here it is:
Chapter 38 - Unexpected Visitors
And the next one:
Chapter 39 - Mending a broken Bond (There will be Sex in here. Ye be warned)
Next:
Chapter 40 - Revelations and Giving a Hoof
Another one:
Send offs and Pirates and sex - OH MYYYYY~! (Sex duh!)

Chapter 13 - Final Confrontation

Author's Note

Chapters that happened in between Chapter 12 and Chapter 13:

Max's universe:
Chapter 38 - Unexpected Visitors
And the next one:
Chapter 39 - Mending a broken Bond (There will be Sex in here. Ye be warned)
Next:
Chapter 40 - Revelations and Giving a Hoof
Another one:
Chapter 41 - Send offs and Pirates and sex - OH MYYYYY~! (Sex duh!)

In the last one, Sephiroth actually appears twice. At the beginning she heads back and that is where this Chapter starts. This and the next chapter take place before Sephiroth appears for the second time in Moon_Fire's 41st one.

So I'd recommend not reading through the whole 41st Chapter before reading Chapter 13 and 14 of One winged Angel, first.

Chapter 13 - Final Confrontation

Stepping out of a portal framed by wisps of intervening, flowing strands of pale green Sephiroth was greeted with an empty room in the burmecian palace. Nightmare and her new suitor seemed to have left already and that was fine by her. Looking over her shoulder she observed the portal fading into tiny dots of light before disappearing altogether. She was very glad that she could help Max, even if she herself was not integral in the removal of the being that possessed her. The very being that was reincarnated right now as Nightmare’s foal.

With a sigh, she shook her head and sat down on the bed in the room, her eyes growing distant as she recalled everything that had happened since her release. She was so furious and wanted nothing more than drawing blood in revenge for the betrayal. A betrayal that never existed to begin with.

Discord had never turned on her and he had loved her back. Slowly she lifted a hand to look at her palm, lighting it in a gentle and warm shade of pale green. Max had showed her how to use magic, she already had but never knew of. Magic she gained from Discord and Nightmare due to her Jenova Cells absorbing and implementing it into her very being. She smiled and admired the beautiful sheen of her aura, reveling in the thought that, through her, a part of him would never die. It did both, hurt and relieve her at the same time. Having lost him had been easier when she thought that he had betrayed her, when she could hate him.

And then there was Max.

Her cheeks burned with a bright blush and the aura enveloping her hand vanished, while her eyes grew distant once more. Together they had overcome her fears and when they had united in intercourse, consensual this time, she had fallen for the other woman. She hadn’t noticed right away and it took a shared memory of her mumbling in her sleep to break her denial. Despite realizing her love she was afraid more than anything. Max was spoken for, after all. Not only that but she was already engaged with another Displaced and albeit they having agreed to an open relationship, a three way one was a whole other thing. The other woman had essentially promised her to propose, no, to include her in the marriage if her fiance gave his consent. She even had created a ring out of pure sun- and moonlight right in front of Sephiroth’s eyes.

The silver haired woman sighed and then grimaced, putting her hand above her heart. She had hidden it from Max but she was in pain, still, from cutting off a portion of her very life. There had been no choice, she had to. After sharing her Cells with one of Max’s daughters, Golden Spark, in order to regrow the forelegs the child had lost due to an assassination attempt and to cancel the remnants of the curse still lingering inside her, it was unavoidable to infuse her with some of her own life, so the Cells would accept the filly as their rightful host and not kill her from the inside out. It would take time for the wound in her essence to heal and no spell would be able to alleviate the pain it caused her, but it was so worth it.

Shaking her head she drew on the new knowledge of using her magic to create a shield, effectively sealing the room she was in, before closing her hand in front of her. Like every time she had done what she was about to, an overwhelming feeling of dread, danger and wrongness flooded through her and when she opened her fist again there was an unnaturally black sphere resting in her palm. It sucked in the light around it, giving it the appearance as if it was actually glowing black. How could she have been so blind? This was what the being in Celestia was after, this and- She closed her other hand and repeated the process, but this time when she opened it, there was a pale green orb. In an instant the sensations from before vanished, countered by the new spheres own powers. For a few moments she indulged in the urge to just look at them.

The Black and White Materia.

How the being had found out about them was beyond her but everything made sense. In a moment of weakness it had seized control over Celestia, because it was unable to possess Sephiroth herself and then proceeded to try and break her. Agitated she closed her fists and tried to crush the things that were responsible for everything. She knew that it was futile and that she couldn’t so much as scratch the spheres but it did help her feeling better.

They were gone by the time she relaxed her hands again, not destroyed but merely back, hidden beneath every ounce of her essence she was able to pile on top of them. She would rather die than let the Materia fall into the wrong hooves, hands, claws, paws or whatever.

The seal on the room stayed in place as she didn’t really feel up to the task of interacting with anyone. Despite that her gaze wandered to the place where her portal had been and a strong longing filled her, accompanied by fear. She had tried so hard to keep her distance, emotionally speaking, and now here she was, afraid of rejection. Afraid that she lost her heart to one who could not keep it. Sure, she had said that she didn’t want for them to break up over her, that she was content just being Max’s sister and nothing more, but… Would it be enough?

With a frustrated groan she shook her head and jumped to her feet. She could do nothing about that at the moment, except waiting for the time she would be summoned again and they could talk it out. There was no use in dwelling on it and she had other things on her mind that she actually could do something about.

Cancelling her shield she walked out of the room and made use of the new knowledge again to conjure up a scrying spell and track down Nightmare. Which she promptly regretted as she stumbled and planted her face on the floor. Deciding that the cold stone did wonders for the raging blush on her face she just remained there for a while. That things like this kept happening in Max’s universe she could chalk up to some machinations not known to her, but now she just had to peek in on Nightmare fucking her new consort. Even worse, it alerted her to an aching need in her own nethers. “Of course Max somehow infected me with her addiction to sex.” She started hitting her forehead on the ground. “Of fucking course.”

After hearing an ominous crack coming from the stone beneath her she finally stopped and lifted herself up off the ground, seeing that she had hit her head hard enough to make the floor snap. “Uhm…” She then sighed. “I have to stop damaging this castle. I already ruined a room, bashed Max through a wall, destroyed several doors after the incident with Kat, flew straight through the dome of this city and now this.”

With Nightmare… occupied, she had to kill some time before they could begin to plan the attack, which would hopefully lead to the two of them subduing Celestia and ripping that thing out of her. Groaning she placed her head in one of her hands. “Great. Nightmare is pregnant, so I have to beat Celestia on my own and hold her down for her to exorcise the being.”

Deciding that she would just practice her newfound magic she changed course to find a guard or servant to ask for directions to some kind of training field.

A boulder twice her size flew right at her and she grinned in exhilaration. Not budging an inch she just drew her fist back and proceeded to smash it right into the oncoming piece of rock, pulverizing it without gaining so much as a bruise. Magic was fucking awesome! It coursed through her veins and muscles alike at the moment, actively enhancing everything about her body. She was already stronger than any dragon and more resilient too, but with this magic she didn’t even feel it when one of those boulders hit her full on. And it was really thrilling.

Almost hopping around in excitement she shouted over to the rats occupying the katapult which had launched the boulder at her. “COME ON! THAT ALL YOU GOT?!”

The training grounds were littered with rubble of varying size and covered in a fine layer of dust from her latest pulverization of the projectile. She had gradually increased the amount of magic she poured into her muscles to test her limits but she felt like she hadn’t even scratched the surface as of now. To her utter disappointment the guards at the katapult nodded thunderstruck, signalling that she wouldn’t be able to further her experiment. She couldn’t hide the pout on her face when she drifted back to the ground. Feeling the magic flow through her was something she couldn’t even begin to describe, but it left her with an abundance of energy that just begged to be released, making her squirrelly and tickled nicely. Breathing deeply she cut off the flow and was relieved that she felt herself calm down without having to force it.

Her attention was drawn to the entrance of the field by a clapping of hooves and her eyes fell on a black alicorn. “Impressive. Exerting enough force to grind such a boulder to dust with just one punch and not even breaking a sweat. Seems that you’re taking to magic like a fish to water.”

“Nightmare.” Sephiroth walked over to the mare, a serious expression on her face. “I think it’s time to confront Celestia. I already was stronger than her and with this new power I will have little to no problem besting her.”

The alicorn nodded but held up her hoof as to stop her. “That is likely. But have you decided what we are to do with the being? Due to Max’s version of it we know that we can not give it its own body so our only options would be obliteration or reincarnation. And I don’t plan on inviting another life into my womb, making it triplets I would be carrying.”

The woman’s expression grew dark. “This thing has forfeited any right on a second chance. I’m not as forgiving as Max. I just hope I can make its demise as painful as possible.”

“Alright. I will respect your decision.” Nightmare rose to her four hooves and we began to walk, leaving the training grounds. “Any idea on how we would be able to lure it out without endangering others?”

“Actually, I have.”

Breathing deeply she enjoyed the sensation of the wind gently caressing her face and stroking through her hair, kissing each and every feather in her wing. It brought a heavenly calm with it like nothing else could. Sadly it would be the calm before the storm. She opened her eyes and let her gaze sink on Everfree City below her, causing her to cringe. A whole portion of the town was erased from existence and the rest of it didn’t look all that good either. Only a small part went completely unharmed but there were already signs of reconstruction. She lingered for a bit and bowed her head slightly, paying her respect to the fallen. “I will make Kat answer for her crime. Rest now.”

After that she straightened her posture again and took out the Black Materia, filling the area with its sickening aura. She didn’t have to wait long before a white figure appeared before her in a flash, wearing a triumphant grin on its face. “Ah~. So you have come to surrender finally.” Sephiroth stayed silent, watching Celestia approach, the grin turning into an almost hungry stare as her eyes were fixed on her prize. Just when she was about to reach the thing she had lusted after for so long, Sephiroth snapped her hand close and let the Materia vanish again, making Celestia reel back in surprise.

Now it was her turn to grin. “Who said anything about surrendering?” And proceeded to slam a glowing fist into the mare’s face, launching her with an audible bang. Not waiting for the being to catch itself she was enveloped in a red aura before disappearing only to intercept its path and reversing its direction with another punch, actively putting more and more distance between them and the City. She appeared in its path again but when she attempted to bash it even further away her fist was met with an unassumed resistance, which caused pain to explode all the way up to her shoulder and she only succeeded in halting the alicorn.

White coat tinted orange and heat blasted into her when the being in front of her literally erupted into flames, making her jump back. “Fuck.”

A strangely distorted chuckling came out of the ball of fire and it flickered out revealing the tall figure of an glowing orange mare with hell - or was it sun - fire as her mane and tail, fully clad in a heavy looking full plate armor that had several sharp looking edges to discourage direct blows, lest the aggressor would want to hurt herself. Along with that came a gigantic warhammer, which the being hefted on its shoulder like it weighed nothing. “Fool. Do you really think I spend the last thousand years just sitting on my flank?” Without further ado it dashed forward, swinging the hammer in a wide arc to crush her under it. Reacting quickly, Sephiroth drew her sword out of nowhere and lifted it to block the blow, but was overwhelmed by the sheer force behind the attack and launched like a bullet. The world flew by in a blur and she tried to catch herself but before she could she crashed into the ground hard enough to be buried deeply. She broke out of the ground with a challenging roar but froze when she heard panicked screams behind her. Looking over her shoulder she saw that her flight path had ended on the outskirts of a rather small town, whose inhabitants were now in a panic. A sense of danger overcame her and she turned around barely fast enough to block the next blow, prepared this time to stand her ground. Growling into the being’s face with gritted teeth she cursed herself.

This just had to spiral out of control, now had it. She just wanted to subdue Celestia and hold her down but now she had a whole town of ponies behind her and had to do everything in her power to prevent even a single one of them coming to harm. Pushing their weapons apart she striked at the pony’s legs to incapacitate it, but it brought the hammer around way faster than should be possible, blocking her blade. How could the being be so strong all of the sudden? Roaring again she launched in a flurry of strikes and swipes trying, and failing, to land a single hit, while the being just grinned and slowly forced her in the defensive instead. Back and forth their weapons flew, connecting with growing force and frequency.

Frustrated, Sephiroth poured more and more magic into her muscles but for every raised ounce of strength she was met with an equal amount of resistance from her opponent. Their blows created tangible shockwaves, each accompanied by a sound that could be mistaken for a cannon, but neither gaining ground. By the time she felt like she was making progress, the first windows on the edge of the town shattered, breaking her concentration long enough for a devastating strike to hit her right in the stomach, katapulting her into the air and forcing the same out of her lungs.

When she managed to catch herself she had to spring into action without a chance to get her bearings as Celestia was instantly upon her, swinging its hammer down with a roar on its own. Sephiroth met the blow with raising her sword, supporting its blade with her second hand, only to be almost deafened when the resulting shockwave hit her. Her ears rang painfully but she had succeeded to stop the hammer in its path only for something to slam in her back, hard. Having forced the air out of her lungs a second time she was about to whirl around and strike at whatever had hit her but her sword froze in mid movement, resting on the neck of a snarling and furious looking cyan pegasus with a rainbow colored mane.

Broken out of her concentration again she never saw the hammer coming as it slammed into her side and send her flying with an explosion of agony where it had hit. She flew straight across the town and was embedded into a mountain near it. This time she coughed up blood. Fuck. The whole reason for luring it out was to prevent innocents from getting involved.

Freeing herself from her makeshift hole, she spotted the being dashing towards her, but what worried her more was that she couldn’t see the pegasus. Without chance to look for it she prepared to intercept the being, dashing forwards herself and readying her sword behind her to get more force behind her next strike. If she couldn’t get around the hammer, then she had to slice through it! But before they crashed into each other something struck her on the top of her head, snapping it downwards and disturbing her balance, but giving her a view of a rainbow contrail that rushed past her. That fucking pegas-

Her vision flashed when a crushing blow connected with her from above and caused her to plummet into the ground, leaving a sizeable crater behind. Every attempt to get to her feet again was quickly discarded as four armor clad hooves impacted into her chest and stomach hard enough to widen the crater, forcing a swell of blood out of her mouth and made her sight go blank for a moment. She felt how the alicorn lowered its body down on her and speak, but it was hard to make out the words over the consistent ringing in her ears. “Surrender already.”

Sephiroth just spat a glob of blood in its face and gained another blow with the hammer that crushed the arm holding her sword, shattering her bones and coaxing a high pitched scream out of her. The being frowned down on her in agitation. “What are you even fighting for?! You have nothing! Even your so called ‘love’ betrayed you!”

The woman forced a shaky smile on her lips. “No he didn’t. I know the truth. You will never break me.”

If the alicorn looked agitated before, now it was downright pissed. It lifted the hammer again and brought it down hard on her other arm, shattering the bones in it, too, eliciting another agonized scream. But the being wasn’t satisfied, not in the slightest. Raging it began to slam its armor clad hooves into Sephiroth’s face, again and again. “We’ll see about that! I have all of eternity to torture you! Where are your friends now?! You have nobody! You have nothing!” With another resounding roar it drew its head back only to slam it back down on Sephiroth’s already blood soaked face.

It was about to do that again when a terrified shout interrupted it. “STOP!”

Confused both of them turned their attention to the voice. The lavender alicorn stood at the edge of the crater, tears in her eyes, which were intently staring at the being incredulously, turning into fear instantly when the being launched a searing fireball in her direction, melting the ground in its path with its intense heat. But in doing that it was distracted enough for Sephiroth to slam her head into Celestia’s, lifting her off of her with the force behind it - and cracking her own skull further - before she was enveloped in a red glow and instantly appeared between the miniature sun and Twilight, taking the blow full on, vanishing in the resulting explosion and consequently kicked up cloud of dust and smoke.

When the smoke cleared it revealed the still standing, albeit slumped and smoldering, form of Sephiroth. Her breathing was strained and ragged, blood pooling out of several wounds and dripping on the ground beneath her. “I… won’t let you hurt… any more children.” When the being readied itself into a stance the woman shouted over her shoulder. “Get away from here, now! That is not Celestia! She has been possessed!”

That finally got the lavender mare moving and she teleported away in a flash. Relieved, Sephiroth turned around to face the being again, blinking in confusion when she saw her sword fading into a sphere of light and flying away in a seemingly random direction. “The fuck?”

Before she could continue wondering, though, the being had had enough and launched itself at her. Unable to use her arms anymore, Sephiroth dodged the hammer and spun herself around in the movement, kicking it in the side of its head and sending it crashing into the ground a few feet away. She had to get away for a bit and use her abilities to heal her arms. Like she was now she didn’t stand a chance. Whirling around she jumped and then flew to put some distance between them, but just when she thought she could risk beginning to heal, she felt the disturbance in the air caused by the hammer swinging through it and ducked under it in the last moment.

She backed away but the being followed up with more blows, forcing her to keep dodging. Sadly she didn’t get any more openings to counter and her evasions grew closer continuously. And again she cursed herself for her own arrogance. Max would have certainly helped her if she had just asked her, maybe she could have called upon Kat or any other Displaced. But no, she had to do this on her own and was now paying the price. A resigned smile pulled at the corners of her lips when she thought about how this would probably spare Max from potential heartbreak right before she misjudged and another devastating blow smashed into her side, planting her firmly into the ground once again.

She did not cough as blood pooled into her mouth this time, running out of the corners of her lips while she kept her smile. The being rushed towards her and she just closed her eyes, thinking what she expected to be her last thought.

I’m sorry… Max.

Chapter 14 - Aftermath

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 15 - Family Bonding

Author's Note

Now, to make the confusion complete:
This chapter takes place right after Sephiroth's second appearance in Moon_Fire's Chapter 41. (Sex-Warning)

I try not to let such a confusing mess of chapter-jumps happen again in the future.

Chapter 15 - Family Bonding

Awareness was slow to return to Sephiroth. The events of the past… actually she didn’t know how long it was since the fight with Celestia, caused her to be rather exhausted already and the sex, her introduction to Lance had led to, left her completely drained. So it came as absolutely no surprise, that when she felt something poking her and then her breasts, that she was unwilling to give up on sleep. Lazily, she made a half-hearted attempt to wave, whatever was causing her discomfort, away, as enough of her mind emerged from the depths to remind her just with who she ended up in bed. Of course, Max would try to tease me awake…

She gathered all strength she would dare, as to not cause herself to drift away from heavenly slumber any more, and mumbled. “Not now… Max…”

Through her muddled state of mind, she just heard a muffled droning that vaguely resembled what could have been a voice. She tried to concentrate, but only caught the tail end of what was said. “-fore they start biting.”

Now confused enough to irk her curiosity, she felt herself slowly waking up. “Who’s biti-” Only to have that process jump started when something did bite her. Right. In. The. Nipple. With a yelp she sat up abruptly, feeling several fuzzy weights gliding down her body.

Wide awake, she felt her anger rise when Max’s voice chimed from next to her, with amusement in it. “Well, they seem to like you even more now.” Seph was about to yell at, what she still thought was the cause for her lost sleep, when Max continued. “Lucky, come join your sisters and say hello to your mom.”

Confusion took hold of her once again and she tried to see what was going on, but her vision was still blurry when the young and still a little high pitched voice of a colt answered. “O-okay.”

Then everything clicked. Max’s children. Rubbing at her eyes to clear them, she thought she knew what exactly happened, and mumbled. “I thought you told me that you are weaning them. Why would they just latch onto me?”

“I dunno how foals think. Maybe they just wanted to imprint on you as their mother as well as me?”

Every, single thought process came to a screeching halt.

Wuzzat? Ru- uhhhh… bluh? MOTHER?!

Completely and utterly shocked, not to say quite overwhelmed, she looked down on the assembled foals. There were four. A light blue alicorn filly with a two toned red and white mane and tail that reminded her of peppermint sticks every time she saw it. Her name was Light Sweet. Next to her, like almost always, was her twin sister. An orange coated unicorn filly, with a purple mane and tail. But her most prominent feature were her eyes, her teal eyes with slitted pupils. They resembled Sephiroth’s own and for a reason at that. This was Golden Spark. The foal she had shared her Cells with, in order to give her her front leg back and free her from a curse that would have slowly killed her from the inside out. Max told her that the little one had lost her foreleg to a crazy guard which had attempted to kill her daughters with a cursed blade, after she ‘disgraced’ his family of vermints for the abandoning of not one but two foals. They left the two to die on the streets.

After hearing that and after what Max had done for her, Sephiroth decided to go through the process of sharing her Jenova Cells with the filly. They were the reason that her eyes were now like her own and that the foal had four fully functioning legs again. That was what had caused the wound in Seph’s life that bugged her at the moment, as she had to cut a piece of it off to give it to Golden, so her Cells would accept her as their new host. Basically it made the little filly at least part her daughter.

And that brought her back to Max’s exclamation. Sephiroth had settled with a rather unorthodox method to share her Cells to make it easier on Golden and stressfree. She had deliberately and actively filled her breast with milk and infused it with them so the filly had nothing else to do than drink them from her. It was an indescribable sensation, nursing Golden. Just the memory of it almost brought her to happy tears. Of course seeing her sister get something, Light wanted to feed, too and after Max had allowed it, Sephiroth had filled her other breast with just milk, making extra sure that there weren’t any Cells in it, before letting Light join her sister at her breasts.

The realization hit her pretty hard. She wanted to experience that again, but unfortunately Max tried to wean them at the moment, so that would be out of question. To distract herself, she looked at the two other foals. One of them was basically a filly version of the very cyan blue pegasus, that had interfered in her fight with Celestia and ultimately caused her to lose. Rainbow Dash. And the other was a pale blue colt with a grey mane and tail. Sephiroth remembered that Max had shown her a picture of her family and told her his name was Lucky. Also hearing his name earlier helped to remind her.

Oh wait. Shit, how long was she staring already? She needed to come up with something intelligent, and fast. “Huh…” Oh yeah. Fucking smooth, you idiot! Okay, backup plan! Casting a sidewards glance at Max she asked. “I… guess it would be counterproductive to, you know… give them what they want?” A~nd screwed. Of course Max wouldn’t want-

“Not really, they haven’t been trying to sneak a sip ever since I got back from the mirror. I’d say it’d actually help to reinforce that good behavior.”

Huh…

Restricting herself to a small smile Sephiroth nodded. “Okay.” Before she did anything, though, she felt herself blush and averted her gaze. “Thanks. For that.”“Morning Max. Morning Seph-.” Lance’s voice sounded from across the room but Sephiroth was too enraptured by the sight of the two foals in her arms to look up at him.

“Morning, Lancie. Just letting Seph bond with Golden and Light.” Max said, putting her arm around the filly-covered woman.

The latter just inclined her head in greeting. “Good morning.”

Lance sighed. “Yeah… Bonding… Hang on, if the kids are here… then that means-”

He was interrupted by an annoyingly hyper voice. “Hiya Lancie!!”

“Gah!” Lance reacted, followed by a thud. Probably, he fell to the ground out of surprise. To Seph though, it was off putting, so she kept to herself and decided to ignore them for the time being.

Only for that plan to go to hell, as she was practically yelled at. “OOH!! Who’s the new pony?”

Reluctantly, Sephiroth lifted her gaze to look at the source of all the noise, blinking in surprise. Wasn’t that the pink mare from the elements? Well she was in another universe, so it could be possible that this mare was a completely different pony. “And who would you be? It’s quite rude not to introduce yourself first if you want to know who I am.”

“Oooh!! I’m Sorry!! I’m Pinkie Pie!! Super Duper Party Planner and Filli-Second of the Power ponies!!” She cheerfully replied to Seph.

The uber hyper behaviour of the pink pony caused the woman to frown. “I’m Sephiroth. And since you seem to like titles, I’ll share a few of mine. Angel of Destruction, Dragonslayer and - my favorite - Godmother to all Children. I’d like to ask you to turn down the shouting a little bit, if possible.”

Max gave the mare an apologetic smile and nodded. “Yeah, we just woke up and Seph is obviously not a morning person,” she said. Actually Seph rather enjoyed mornings, if they were quiet. “Besides, she isn’t really a fan of your usual attitude.” Now that hit the mark.

“Right,” Lance sighed, getting his coat off of the coat rack. “Well, Pinkie and I should get going. I still got some work to wrap up in Centrail City and also some members of a Suicide Squad to track down-”

Sephiroth was about to interrupt him, but was beat to the punch by Pinkie. “Ooh! Ooh!! You mean the group that has your father be part of it?”

Great, the pony has completely ignored her request to tune down her shouting. Wait, father? She opened her mouth to voice her thought but was beaten to it, again, this time by Max. “Wait, father?” The brown haired woman shot Lance a questioning look. “Your father is in your universe? How come this is the first I’ve heard of him?”

Sephiroth decided to stay out of that conversation, since she technically still knew almost nothing about Lance, and focused on the two foals again, only half listening to their conversation.

“That’s the thing. It’s the first I’ve heard of him too. I thought he was dead because he committed suicide. Now he has a mechanical arm, is a bounty hunter, and is known as McCree.” He explained.

Max answered him after a few seconds, while Seph decided to nuzzle the two little fillies alternating between Golden and Light. “Huh, I wondered if I’d ever meet a Displaced from that game.” A small pause. “What’s he done to get on something called a ‘suicide squad?”

A relaxing warmth had settled into her heart and in that very moment, she realized. She would die for these foals. Not just Golden and Light, but all four of them. It took a mountain full of willpower not to break into tears at that, so she missed the following exchange.

Deciding to distract herself, she added her piece into the conversation she lost track of. “If I’m understanding this right, you’ll have to leave, soon?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” Good, she hadn’t made a fool of herself. “Centrail City and the Cutie Mark Crusaders need my help in catching a group of Vigilantes. It’s all in a day’s work.”

Max turned slightly to look at her, while her gaze was fixed on Lance and without any warning whatsoever, her black wing flared into existence out of nowhere, missing Max in the process, so that it was spanned behind the other woman’s back. “Max? Would you do me a favor and select one for Lance? My hands are a little occupied at the moment.”

Sephiroth looked down to the fillies again while she waited for Max to pick one of her feathers for Lance. They had stopped to drink, seemingly satisfied and snuggled themselves into her arms. Should I try to burp them? They don’t look troubled or as if they needed it.

Smiling down at the two she hugged them a little tighter to her chest before her eyes went wide. Max had started to stroke through her wing and, if she felt that right, actually was straightening a few feathers. A blush threatened to appear on her face, but she managed to subdue it. She’s just looking for a suitable feather. Certainly she wouldn’t start preening me in earnest… or would she?

Max just continued at a slow pace, combing through her feathers, but Sephiroth shook the thought away and looked back at Golden and Light. It was a rather… distracting feeling and she lost her train of thought. It took her so long to find it again that she hadn’t noticed Max finishing with the entire front of her wing before finally deciding on a feather. “Okay, time to let me get to the other side.” While Max said that, she floated the feather towards Lance and fixed Seph with an expectant stare.

Which she promptly returned with a glare, although the blush she felt on her cheeks would probably lessen the effect. Sighing, the silver haired woman pulled her wing to her side and, before she really thought about it, extended it again, to show the backside to Max. Mentally adding another sigh, she just left it there. It had felt really good, after all. Where was I? Oh yes.

Turning her gaze back to Lance, she decided it would be the best to explain. “It’s directly bound to my life, and as you saw, I gifted one to Max, so I’m offering you the same. If you ever need my help, or just want to see me, you can use it to summon me, as it doubles as a token. But it is also my promise to the both of you, that there will always be a deeper connection between us.”

Taking the token, Lance decided to add it as an accessory to the hilt of his energy blade as he looked back at them. “Thank you. Now, it would be kind enough for me to provide you with the same thing.” He told her as he formed one of his tokens in the palm of his hand. “Use it to call on me or just for any purpose you see fit. Max uses it as a Hairpin to keep her hair tied down so maybe you can do the same thing.” With that, he threw it to Seph and left the room with Pinkie Pie.

Sephiroth caught it and waved him goodbye, supporting Light in her magic for the time being, before looking at it. It was basically a small metal plate in shape of a yellow lightning bolt with two white wings attached to it. Her brow creased. Not that is was bad looking, but it wouldn’t really fit with her usual style. She carefully replaced her arm under Light and instead floated the token over to her coat.

Max broke her out of her musings, saying, “You really need to take better care of yourself. I’ve pulled about forty feathers so far because you went up against RD and Celestia by yourself.”

Guilt pierced through her heart when she remembered her, what she thought at that time, last moment. How it had hurt more to know that she would never see Max again, than her actual wounds. The thought, that had flashed through her mind then, seemed so utterly pathetic, so ultimately insufficient, now. Her head lowered in shame. “I- can’t rectify what I have done and I won’t even try to. You’re right. Because of my arrogance I nearly got myself killed…” What she didn’t add was, And almost made you go through losing another lover.

Her breath hitched in her throat out of surprise when she suddenly felt her own wing being wrapped around her and being hugged. “Just next time you’re being tossed around, call me or Lance. Please. We’re here to help you, and we don’t want you to die.”

The white hot knife of guilt in her heart twisted painfully, but was soon soothed by a realization that pulled her emotions in several directions at once. The most prominent being appreciation and… love. Closing her eyes, she leaned a bit more on Max. “I will. You showed me that I’m not on my own, anymore. And I won’t let my pride get the best of me again. There is no shame in calling for help.” The last part was more meant for herself, to drill it into her mind.

A sigh came from next to her and she felt Max shake her head. “At least you get that.” It was obvious that she was talking about another, and equally obvious about whom. Kat.

“Speaking of her. You wouldn’t happen to know of a master goldsmith that can turn her token into a pendant?” She had a promise to keep, after all.

“Sure, just go to the forge here in the castle and tell the smith what you want done. If he says anything about paperwork, just tell him I said he could shove it up his-”

Sephiroth swiftly interrupted Max by gently lifting her wing to cover the other woman’s mouth. The mother of the two should know better than to swear in front of her children. “I get what you are saying. I have to speak with him later.”

Suddenly Sephiroth felt something slide between a few of her feathers, something that felt even better than what Max did with her fingers before. She shuddered and closed her legs a little tighter together as she felt Max’s teeth caressing one of her feathers before grabbing and, oh so gently, pulling on it to set it straight.

Forcing her voice to attain a warning tone instead of quiver with her rising arousal, she spoke, “Max… we’re not exactly alone right now. And you shouldn’t start what you can’t finish.”

The teeth left her, drawing an almost inaudible, needy whine out of her, that was, luckily, drowned in the ruffling of her wing as Max pushed it out of the way. “Oh, fine. I’ll wait until I can, but trust me. You won’t be able to walk straight once I’m done.”

Successfully suppressing another whine she desperately tried to hide her growing desire behind a smirk. “Is that a promise or a threat?”

Max giggled, but when she answered, the deep and reverberating voice of her male self made Sephiroth’s insides clench in anticipation. “Both.”

Chapter 16 - Showery Capers [Sex]

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 17 - Of Succubi and Fire Elementals

After that they had wrapped up the shower, finally, but not without them getting into an argument revolving around proper wing care and, confusingly enough, Succubi. Max had called Sephiroth her ‘little succubus’, which had irked her to no end. Trying to prevent further use of the nickname, she had brought up the demons from her universe and the one succubus she actually met, but that only ended in Max pointing out that this demon had tried to use its magic on her, failing, and resulting in her Cells absorbing it like Discord’s and Nightmare’s.

In other words, she was a fucking part succubus, magically speaking, and that seemingly led to her recovering rather fast after sex and be ready for potential further rounds. She didn’t even want to consider if this could entail even more. And just because she provoked the thought, an overwhelming sense of doubt fell on her like a whole mountain. What if that was the reason that Lance had accepted her so quickly?

Groaning, she rested her head on one of her palms, standing in the middle of a hallway. After getting dressed and eating breakfast, she had left to find the forge, but then these thoughts had clouded her mind. She absolutely had to find a way to prevent her Cells from just up and implementing every magic that came into contact with her. She already had that of an Alicorn, that of the God of Chaos and now she had to deal with a demon’s, and not just any demon, noooo. It just had to be a sex demon!

Swirling around she hit her head against the wall, leaving an indent and a few cracks behind. “Fuck!” Instantly she regretted swearing with this particular word. Considering her luck, she had just cursed somepony to think of nothing else but to get laid. But it didn’t work this way, now did it?

A deep sigh forced its way out of her throat. She needed to relax and the best way to do that would be to practice, or even better fight. The goldsmith could wait a little longer, so she used the scrying spell, Max had taught her and started in the direction of the training grounds a few seconds later.

After a while she was considering taking back when she cursed her luck, because she actually made it to her destination without further interruptions. And just when she entered the field, she witnessed something that stirred up her blood.

Sombra had just tapped a cadet’s flank, tipping him off of the raised platform and onto the hard ground only two feet below. “You overbalanced,” Sombra said calmly. “You should never fully commit to an attack. There is no way to be completely certain your opponent isn’t just playing with you.”

He glanced up, obviously a bit peeved that someone was trying to interrupt, but that changed to surprise when he saw that Seph was the one in the doorway. “Ah, Sephiroth, if I’m not mistaken.”

With an inclination of her head she hinted at a bow. “Greetings, and you must be Sombra. We met briefly in the infirmary the other day but we had no chance to be properly introduced. If I remember correctly then you have bested Nightmare in combat. I, myself, crossed weapons with her more times than I bother to count, every time in a friendly competition, mind you. So I’m a little curious how well I could hold my ground against Max’s chosen Captain.” A smirk crept onto her lips. “Be warned, though. I managed to beat Nightmare every single time and that was before I had magic empowering me.”

A confident smirk appeared on his face. “Heh, I’d be glad to fight a warrior such as yourself.” He walked to the opposite side of the raised circle of wood and waited for Seph to climb up.

She followed him and hopped up to the platform, beginning to loosen up her shoulders by rolling them around. “I’m a little handicapped as of now, but that should make the fight more interesting.”

“Suggesting that I’m frail in my old age?” He chuckled, drawing his scythe from his shadow. “That’s not very sporting of you.”

Chuckling, Sephiroth shook her head and drew her sword out of nowhere, encased in green flames that flickered out a moment later. “Not in the slightest. I’m fully expecting to lose this fight, but it will be thrilling.”

He chuckled darkly, his voice echoing. “Then come. You issued the challenge, you move first.”

Raising her sword to point at him, she stood sideways, with the hilt drawn behind her head and the blade on the same height as her eyes. A small smile played around the corners of her mouth and her eyes danced with glee. Without any warning she exploded into motion, dashing towards him and swinging her sword in a wide arc downwards.

Instead of trying to block Sombra shifted to his left, losing a few hairs from his coat to the humming blade. He retaliated, swinging his scythe up between Seph’s legs.

Using her own momentum, she let her weapon slice through the wooden floor, making a cut appear that ran through the entirety of the platform and even the ground below, and proceeded to jump over Sombra with a somersault to dodge his strike.

As soon as she landed, though, she felt his blade against her throat. “You should really not turn your back to your opponent.”

Sephiroth chuckled. “And you should not assume that I let myself be surprised like this.” She lifted her blade slightly which then tapped against Sombra’s stomach. “I could have sliced through you within my motion.”

“Then let us see who can react fast enough,” Sombra said, pulling his scythe towards him, only for it to stay stuck in place.

With one hand Sephiroth had gripped the shaft of his scythe, swirled around and sliced through where his throat should have been.

He gave another echoing chuckle and lunged forward over her shoulder, tearing his weapon from Seph’s grip as he twisted to land facing her on two hooves. “You know, I have been wondering if my skills would be diminished if I fought on two legs.” He twirled his scythe, ending in a low, wide stance with his weapon being gripped by his right hoof.

Her smile widened a little as she returned to her first stance. “You can turn into shadow? That’s great. I can see the various uses in offence and defence alike. But I learned something in my battles with Nightmare. Shadows may be intangible, but that does not mean that I can’t slice through them. This fight has just become way more interesting.”

“Indeed.” He jumped back, a runic circle made of shadows appearing just inside the raised platform’s edge. As his hooves touched it glowed with darkness, letting him stand on it for a moment before he shot forward.

Instead of moving towards him, Sephiroth just swung her sword, which gained an almost unnoticeable luster at its edge, in his direction, creating a brilliant blue blade of some unidentifiable energy, that freed itself from her weapon and dashed to intercept his path.

Another shadowy circle appeared in front of Sombra, shattering as the energy slammed into it. But Sombra was nowhere to be seen.

Staying on guard, she held her sword in a defencive stance and tried to find his current location. Maybe I should have taken the time to learn how to feel for magical signatures…

She caught flashes of him around the circle, but as soon as she turned to fully face him he vanished. A few minutes went by like that with her getting more frustrated until she noticed that she could feel two hooves on her back and another blade at her throat. “Seems like this is actually more like training than a duel.”

“Quite arrogant, are we?” Every trace of her former enthusiasm was gone from her voice. Her teeth clenched and her eyes narrowed as she felt her body flare with magic, answering to her rising agitation. With a bright flash she disappeared, reemerging at a decent distance above the ring. I’m not going to lose, again! Lifting one of her hands, so her palm faced Sombra, she gathered her power, not producing any kind of visible aura, but creating a palpable thrum of force. “You want to play with magic? Try mine!” With that a miniature nova appeared in front of her and shot in his direction, hot enough to transform the air around it into plasma.

It exploded as it hit his shield, scorching the entire arena and burning the wood under him to vapors. Once the flames sputtered out, Sombra lowered his shield and let his scythe sink back into his shadow.

All this caused was stoking the fire of her wrath. “What is it?! Are you going to make a smartass comment about how I’m not even worth your while, now?!”

“No, that was the killing blow. My next shield wouldn’t be able to block enough of another of those to let me live.” He calmly walked over to the edge of the hole he was in and pulled himself up back onto the ring. “And here I was wanting to keep my streak going until I could fight Nightmare again.”

Caught off guard by his statement she could just stare for a moment, before her head lowered in shame, drawing a sigh in the process. She teleported to the ground again and let her sword vanish. “Sorry about the yelling. I was beaten a few too many times as of late and not used to lose in the slightest. It wasn’t fair to take my frustration out on you. And I had to use one of my most powerful spells. One that I haven’t used in more than a millenia.”

“Come now, you having to use everything you have is a good sign. It means you were being pushed beyond what you were comfortable with.” He held out his hoof for her to shake. “Good match.”

With a small smile, she took the proffered hoof and shook it. “I prefer to use my sword and refrain from using my ‘spells’. I always have been more of the close quarters fighter, you know, up and personal.”

“Limiting yourself to only part of your power is not a good way to win.” Sombra turned towards the barracks, chuckling. “I know because I didn’t use my full power.”

Deciding not to mention the two slumbering orbs inside her that could both destroy the world in their own way, she instead called out for him. “Hey, Sombra?”

He stopped and looked over his shoulder at her. “Hmm?”

She frowned deeply and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “This might seem like completely out of the blue and indecent, but please answer me honestly. You’re not feeling any kind of sexual attraction towards me, or do you?”

“Well, I do find your body to be enticing, but I really doubt you’d consent to rolling in the hay with me. Unless that’s what you’re leading up to and in that case, I’d rather point you towards Max.”

Shaking her head, she sighed again. “No. I’m not in that mood. I just asked because Max told me earlier that I apparently have a little bit of succubus magic in me.” She lowered her head again, hiding her eyes behind her hair. “And I’m uncertain if I unknowingly influenced Lance to accept me into their relationship…”

“If you really had that power you’d affect everyone, not just Lance. My guess is the magic is where you got your figure.”

Forming a little blush, she rested her head on one of her palms. “Actually my body looked like this as long as I can remember.” She lifted her head and shrugged. “Nevermind. There is another thing I’d like to ask of you.”

“Train you?”

“That would be fun, but no.” Sephiroth reached into her coat and pulled the black diamond from Kat out of it. “When you turned into shadow, I had an idea. I’d like to visit the forge to make this into a pendant, because I promised to. And for the material of the chain I wanted to ask you if you are able to condense shadow like Nightmare, to make it mouldable?”

“I can, but... I haven’t been able to perfect it yet. I have to be concentrating on it the entire time, like with my scythe.”

“So it would dissolve the moment you stop?”

“It won’t immediately turn into smoke, but it will slowly dissolve in light unless you melt it in a forge and cast it into the shape you want.”

Smiling she motioned for him to follow her. “It’s good then that I was headed to the forge originally. If you have a few minutes, I would greatly appreciate it if you would assist me in fulfilling my promise.”

Sombra smiled and nodded. “I would be glad to help.” He motioned for her to follow him instead and walked over to a small door set right beside the barracks. “This is a shortcut to the castle’s forge.”

Sephiroth started to follow him, seeing as he knew his way around and she would have to scry the location first, anyways. “Would it be possible to embed a substance into the forged shadow? I kind of got the inspiration for the chain from the sight of the power that belongs to the one I made the promise to. It’s black with red swirls in it.”

“Ah, I’ll have to infuse the forge with my power temporarily to get the right mixture for that. I’ll need some blood as well,” Sombra said as he walked down the cramped hallway.

“That sounds like it will work to me. A little bit of blood will not phase me in the slightest.” She answered while following him. “I just have to make sure that there won’t be any of my Cells in it, as they would slowly chip away at the magic holding the chain together.”

“Magic doesn’t hold the metal together, it just strengthens it a bit.”

“Well, I still think that living Cells don’t belong in a forged material of any kind.” Sephiroth remarked shrugging. “Oh, and before I forget. I would like it to train with you someday. Preferably when my wounds are healed and Max won’t have my head for not going easy.”

Sombra suddenly stopped, glancing down the tunnels in the intersection they had came across nervously. “Um....”

Confused, the silver haired woman halted, too, looking down on him. “What’s the matter?”

“You won’t tell Max about our duel, will you?”

“Well… I won’t, seeing as she would chew me out, but… my last attack might have been a teensy little bit, you know, flashy. Somehow I don’t believe she hasn’t noticed.” Sighing she slumped a bit. “All I wanted was to have a little fun and now I’ll be scolded like an irresponsible girl.”

“At least you don’t work for her. I might be demoted to private for fighting you.” Sombra picked one of the tunnels and trotted down it. “Or worse, used as target practice.”

Following him again, Sephiroth waved it off dismissively. “Nah. I’ll make sure she knows that I did not inform you about my state first. And it’s not like you could have made a wound in the very essence of my life worse, or could you?”

His ears folded, but he kept walking. “No, I could’ve made you live your worst fears if I used my full power.”

She shivered a bit. “Already lived through them hundreds of times, courtesy of Chetyre and Celestia, or more precise a being that formerly possessed her.” Closing her eyes for a bit, surprisingly not bumping against anything, she breathed deeply. “I have thought about countermeasures, something to keep others out of my mind and seeing as I have Nightmare’s magic, it would be rather difficult to force anything in my mind anymore. But I admit that my defences are lacking, still. I’m practicing.”

Sombra shook his head. “No, that isn’t your greatest fear. If I were truly evil, I wouldn’t have held back from showing it to you.”

“Now I’m curious. What could be more terrifying than reliving being raped by the only one I trusted in that moment or to get my child ripped out of me?”

“Killing thousands of children with your own sword. Not being able to control your body as they ran, only to be cut down by your blade.”

Sephiroth froze and her eyes lost every flicker of life in them. It took a while, but when she recovered she looked towards Sombra with sympathy. “Did you guess, or are you really able to see the worst fears of everyone you come across?”

“I see everyone’s fears whenever I look at them because of the pact I made with Grogar. And even I can’t bear to look at your absolute worst fear. Don’t ask, by the way.”

Gulping, she shook her head hastily. “I won’t. But how can you live with that?”

“I do because I had asked for it,” Sombra sighed. “Besides, Grogar’s dead. I killed him with the power he gave me.”

The woman sighed and marched on. “Sorry for bringing that up. Sometimes I’m just too curious for my own good. Fun Fact: I actually gained the succubus magic because I wanted to understand them instead of just sealing them away.”

He snorted in amusement. “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard someone do. It barely beats out my own failure.”

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and mockingly pouted. “Well excu~se me. I had a civil conversation with a sex demon and just learned today that it apparently tried to seduce me with its magic, only to fail. My Cells nullified and integrated it into myself.”

Sombra grinned wide. “Well, I’m not surprised that Max ended up with someone who is part sex demon.”

That got Sephiroth to burst into laughter almost making her stumble and fall to the ground. When she finally calmed down enough to speak again, she patted Sombra on his head. “I can totally see where this came from.” Wiping away an imaginary tear, she added. “But I’ll never share in her… very open mind about sexual relationships. I just don’t feel comfortable hopping into bed with anyone besides her and Lance.”

“I could help her change that, if you’d like.”

Out of shock she did fall this time, only to jump to her feet in an instant with a bright blush on her cheeks. “Nope! I mean I’m flattered and all, but so totally no!” She shook her head harshly. “Never, ever.”

He gave her a smile that had a hint of fun times to come. “Come now, I’ve been told I’m almost as good in bed as Max. Plus I can change my body to more suit yours, if you’d like.”

With a full body shiver her blush flared across her whole face. “Not interested.” Then her slightly widened eyes turned into a hard glare. “Wait… you’re just messing with me. You already stated earlier that you wouldn’t want to bed with me.”

He chuckled and shook his head, resuming their walk. “I wondered if you’d remember that. Besides, I didn’t say I was opposed to it, just that I’d point you to where Max was.”

Grumbling, she followed along. “I’m tempted to make you eat those words.”

“I’m tempted to see that myself.”

Sephiroth’s eyes widened again and she stuttered nonsense for a few seconds, before yelling. “I DIDN’T MEAN IT THAT WAY!” With an exaggerated roar she slapped both of her hands over her glowing face. “Fuck! Is everyone in this universe such a tease?!” Furious she lifted her fists to the ceiling and shouted to the metaphorical heavens. “I’m not going to fuck anyone besides Max and Lance! Got it already world?!”

“Come on, don’t give Murphy more ammo. Aren’t you trying to do something?”

Letting loose a growl dripping with murderous intent, she said, “If Murphy dares to mess with me in any way, I’ll rip his immortality out of him with my bare hands.” Stomping with every step, and almost breaking the floor, she went on.

“From what I can gather he’s already messing with you. If he wasn’t sweet on Max, I’d say he has a crush on you as well.”

“HE’S WHAT?!” Literally bursting into flames, Sephiroth stared at Sombra out of glowing, teal eyes.

“Max didn’t tell you that?” Sombra asked as he opened a door, a gust of hot air rushing into the passage. “Could’ve sworn she’d tell at least you that he likes her.”

She breathed deeply for a few seconds, extinguishing the fire in the process. “He likes Max. Big deal. But why does he mess with me? I’m not someone who takes lightly to that and I will make him regret it the next time I see him!” Noticing that she was getting loud again she shook her head and let the matter drop. She entered the room and called out. “Someone in here?”

“Great, another visitor. Here to ruin my hard work!” A voice called from the other side of a huge forge that dominated the middle of the room.

“I’m not here to ruin your work but to offer you a unique opportunity. How would you like to work with condensed shadow?” Sephiroth had crossed her arms in front of her chest again and was on a really short fuse already. The urge to hurt a particular stallion was almost overwhelming.

“Murphy messes with everyone, sometimes he does it on purpose, other times it’s just because it’s bad luck,” Sombra said before looking over at the forge. “Hey Calcifer, still bound to the forge?”

A pony appeared floating in the middle of the forge in a blast of flames. That wouldn’t have phased Sephiroth much, but then she noticed that the pony was made of fire and metal. “If I wasn’t, this place would be colder than a tomb.”

The woman blinked incredulously. “A fire demon? Seriously? Whose heart is powering your flames?”

The fiery pony crossed his hooves and gave Seph a glare. “I’m not a demon, thank you very much. I’m an elemental. I agreed to be bound here by Luna, but now that she’s gone...” The stallion looked away, sadness creeping into his expression.

Sephiroth sighed. “Sorry. It wasn’t my intention to bring up painful memories, but this whole universe seems set to annoy me at the moment. I have to seriously injure a certain stallion of bad luck later and then think of a way to bring an end to the constant attempts of almost everyone trying to make me uncomfortable or bed with me.” She stepped towards the Elemental. “Also, there are no ‘Elementals’ were I come from, so I jumped to conclusions. For that I apologize, too.”

Calcifer smiled and looked back at Seph. “Don’t give Murphy too much grief, he’s only doing his job.” He sighed and motioned for her to step over to the forge. “You didn’t bring up bad memories, just good ones that hurt a bit right now.”

“I would just settle for another form but I have a hunch that this won’t help in the slightest, as I only can transform into a pegasus or a gryphon right now. And in both of those forms I got even more flirting and lecherous looks.” Facepalming she muttered. “Now that I think about it, the succubus magic may have a greater influence on my body when I change it. My original body stayed the same, after all.” She then followed his gesturing and walked over to the forge, not bothered by the heat at all.

Sombra snorted and said, “Why don’t we see real quick?”

Raising an eyebrow at Sombra, she hesitated. “Okay. But only for a moment and just because I have to know what is going on.” She closed her eyes and her whole form seemed to crumble to black dust, only to gather into the shape of a sleek, black pegasus mare with one big wing at her side. She was on the tall side for a pony and the silver of her mane and tail flowed almost mockingly around her curves. When she opened her eyes, they were the very picture of Nightmare’s, only that they seemed to promise untold pleasures in their normal state, already. Her flanks practically sung ballads of fertility and her coat glimmered mysteriously in the flickering light of the flames from the forge. And to top it off, she emanated an aura of sexyness that may be able to turn the most convicted straight mare, and even the most convicted homosexual stallions.

“Huh. Well, you are even more attractive now. What do yo-” Somba said, turning to look at Calcifer only to cover his mouth in an attempt to stifle his laughter.

Following Sombra’s gaze, the mare turned to look at the fire pony, only to hurriedly avert her eyes again with the cutest little blush on her black cheeks.

A stream of red-hot metal came from Calcifer’s nose at that and his already erect dick gave a twitch.

“W-well, we kn-know how you affect others now,” Sombra said through his chuckles.

With a rush of black dust, the pegasus changed back to her human form, still blushing and keeping her eyes on Sombra instead of looking in Calcifer’s direction. “So, are you interested in working with condensed shadow?”

“Oh, I’d love to be your slave,” Calcifer said dreamily. “I want you to tell me how bad of a colt I am...”

Slapping a hand to her forehead, she groaned. “Okay. This time it’s my own fault.” She walked over to Sombra. “Could you bring him back to his senses? I’ll be waiting outside.” With that she turned towards the door and made a beeline for it.

“Don’t worry, we just have to flick some water on him,” Sombra said, holding a wet sponge in his magic. “You want to do the honors?”

“Oh Holy, no. Who knows how he’ll interpret me spraying him with anything.”

Sombra raised an eyebrow and tossed the sponge in Calcifer’s face. The floating unicorn yelped in pain and jolted accidentally knocking the sponge onto his erect penis. He screamed and batted the sponge away, holding his hurt pride and whimpering.

Sephiroth flinched empathically. She couldn’t help but be reminded how sensitive her artificial dick had been. Clearing her throat, she turned back towards the forge. “So… Calcifer. About the thing with forging shadow?”

“Y-yeah, just... Let me get back to my normal temperature,” He squeaked out. They waited for a few minutes while Calcifer slowly uncurled and resumed floating. “Okay, so. You’d like to make something out of shadows?”

“Yes. It’s nothing overly flashy, but I’d like to make this-” She took out Kat’s token once more. “Into a pendant. The chain should be made out of shadow with inlaid swirls of crimson. I’d like to use my own blood for them.”

“That’s more than doable.” His horn flashed and a stack of papers appeared in front of Seph wrapped in a fiery aura. “I’ll just need you to fill out form number forty-three dash X, sign form three-fifty, and keep the pink copies until the next time taxes are due.”

Blinking at the documents she examined them for all of two seconds before looking back at him. “Actually, Max told me if you say something about paperwork I should nicely inform you that she’ll shove it up your ass.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “I was going to eat them anyways. I do all this stuff with the paperwork because it’s funny seeing everyone try to appease the great Spirit of the Forge. Everyone trips over the Q&A section since I’m mostly asking about them and their preferences.”

The woman groaned and rubbed at the bridge of her nose. “I won’t even-” Changing the topic back to the pendant, she said. “I want the chain to be at the length, so that the diamond will rest next to my heart. That’s a promise I made.”

“That’s all? I thought you would want a chestplate to hold it,” Sombra said, lighting his horn and pulling shadows from all around the room, shoving it all into the shape of an ingot. “This should be enough.”

He floated it over to a clay pot looking thing and set it in the coals.

“Now, you add the blood,” Calcifer said, moving a bit closer to the pot.

Removing the glove of her right hand revealed the ring, which made her pause for a second, just losing herself to the sight. She shook her head and drew her sword, walking over to the shadow-ingot. “Just say when it’s enough.” With that she dragged her wrist across the blade, which parted her skin with ease. Blood ran down the length of her sword and dripped from its tip right onto the ingot.

After a few seconds, Calcifer motioned for her to stop. “I will have to have half of my payment before I start work.”

Fuck. She had completely forgot to think of paying for his service. Before freaking out though, she decided to ask. “Which payment would you prefer?”

He gave her a hopeful look. “Can I lick the blood from your sword?”

Chuckling internally, she held her blade towards him. “Sure, go for it.”

He floated closer to the middle of the blade and tentatively licked some off. He froze as soon as the blood touched his tongue before wrapping his mouth around the blade and zipping down to the tip, leaving a spotless shine behind. “That-” Calcifer licked his lips, and continued, “Was so delicious! Even more so than Luna’s!”

Not really knowing how to react to being told that your blood is delicious, Sephiroth just blinked. “Thanks, I guess?” She shook her head to clear her mind. “How long will it take for you to finish? I’m assuming that you want your second half of the payment rather sooner than later.”

“As much as I wish I could, you can’t rush craftsmareship. I’ll have it ready in three hours.” With that he turned and melted into the coals of the forge as he started singing a strange song and using his tools to make a sort of melody.

Three hours is not rushed? She decided against voicing her thoughts and just nodded, letting her blade vanish and putting on her glove again, her wrist already healed. “Alright. I’ll be heading back to Max then. She wanted my help with something and I don’t want to disturb your work.” Turning to Sombra, she hinted at a bow by inclining her head. “I’ll keep your offer for training in mind. I strive to perfect the skill with my sword, but something is telling me that I should search another to hone my magic. The ‘spell’ I used against you could destroy the whole castle if powered up properly and it’s not my most powerful one.”

“You might want to seek out Barbaroi, the Dragon of the Hunt, then,” Sombra said, vaguely pointing south. “His scales can withstand even the coldness of outside the atmosphere and the heat of reentry.”

Thoughtfully, Sephiroth tapped a finger to her chin. “Wait… I think I’ve heard this name before.” After a few moments she nodded to herself. “Ah yes. Max mentioned a dragon named Barbaroi when we talked about the ones from my universe.” She nodded again, this time to Sombra. “Maybe I will pay him a visit, then. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. I’ll have to stay here and wait for Calcifer to tell me when to add in my magic.”

“‘kay. See ya then.” She left the forge and used a quick scrying spell to pinpoint Max’s location and disappeared in a flash.

“Rainbow! Now I have to rewrite the guest list,” Max said right after Sephiroth had teleported in.

The filly in question was hovering in front of the desk now, but it was apparent that she had been flying around the office and the wind of her passage had blown the guest list into the fireplace, burning it to ashes in seconds.

“Sorry mama,” The filly said dejectedly as she slowly got closer to the ground.

Sephiroth stayed out of Max’s reprimanding and just waited until she would be addressed, as she still thought she would be scolded, next.

Max pulled over another piece of paper and, without looking up said, “Lucky, may you please take that quill away from Light before she swallows it?”

Blinking in confusion, as she could not see the filly in question, the silver haired woman looked around, but wasn’t able to find the little alicorn. Until she heard something from behind her and glanced over her shoulder, finally spotting the kid on what looked to be a coffee table with Lucky holding his hoof out to her for the quill that was already in her mouth.

She pouted, but spat the quill out onto his hoof and went over to where Golden was messing with a few books on the floor.

Smiling slightly Sephiroth spoke up, “Need a little help with the small ones? Not that I want to insinuate anything.”

“What I need help with is deciding how this event will work out. I don’t know most of the musicians on this list, and I don’t think everyone will be happy if I give catering to the Apple family.” Max sighed and shook her head. “I’m in over my head and Twilight hasn’t had a lick of sleep since we got back from beyond the mirror, so I forced her to sleep. Sol and Mun are taking her to her rooms now, so I can’t ask them for suggestions...”

“Well…” Uneasiness entered Seph’s voice. “My knowledge about musicians is a little bit outdated and honestly, I don’t have a clue as to who this ‘Apple’ family is.” Sighing she shook her head. “Sorry, but I hadn’t the chance to catch up on anything since I was freed.”

“You know that orange mare that wore one of the Elements? That was Applejack, a member of the Apple family.” Max pulled over a scroll and held it out for Seph. “I know you haven’t gotten caught up on everything yet, that’s why I was going to have you look through the list for ones that caught your eye.”

“Yeah, I remember her. Hadn’t really stood out, though. I could pay her a visit and get to sample a few of her meals, if you give me a location to teleport to.” The taller woman suggested.

“You’ll be able to see the orchard next to Ponyville from the edge of Canterlot. By the way, what was that explosion earlier?”

Sephiroth was in mid-movement to turn towards the window when she froze. “One of my original ‘spells’, why?”

“Ah, I thought it was Murphy making something Sweetie Belle tried to cook explode. Hope your little sparring session with Sombra went well.” Max said, placing the list of invites near a folder marked ‘rich ponies Gala’.

Sighing, she turned back to Max. “I needed to vent a little, so yeah. Was a good fight. Except for the way I ended it. I kind of overreacted a little.”

Max sighed and looked up at Sephiroth. “Please tell me you didn’t accidentally kill him.”

“No. He was able to shield himself from the blast, but ended our fight right after that, stating he wouldn’t succeed in blocking another one.” She scratched at the back of her head in embarrassment. “I didn’t really power up the attack that much and no one was injured. Promise.”

“But there’s a crater in the training grounds.” Max smiled and shook her head. “As long as no one got hurt I guess I can’t get mad at you.”

“I’m sorry, nonetheless. Sombra is a very strong opponent and I shouldn’t have been so reckless. And I may have forgotten to mention that I’m injured at the moment.”

“As long as what you do doesn’t make your injuries worse, I can’t scold you for trying to stave off boredom.”

Sephiroth smiled at that. “You’re just too good to me. Thanks.” Then she made her way over to the window. “Oh, and just to make sure. You aren’t going to punish Sombra or something?”

“Why should I? If I’m not going to get mad at you, I can’t get mad at him,” Max said, pulling open a few scrolls. “Besides, he would stop before he actually struck a mortal blow.”

Nodding, she jumped out of the window.

It didn’t take her any more than ten minutes to reappear in Max’s office, with a sick look on her face and both hands protectively clutched over her stomach. “Urgh… so. Much. Food.” With a mighty heave, she collapsed onto her knees, bending over and resting her forehead on the ground. “Holy… please kill me now.”

Max giggled and looked over the edge of the desk. “I guess I should’ve warned you she likes stuffing her guests,” Max said, giving Sephiroth a smile.

She got a groan and a burp in response, the silver haired woman withering on the ground in pain.

“So how long until your Cells kick in?”

“You know-” Sephiroth was interrupted by another burp. “My Cells don’t see food as a threat, right?”

“You could try to tell them to help digest the food?”

“Thanks for your concern, but I think I’ll pass. It would just make me lose my respect of eating too much.” Deciding to stay on the ground for the moment, she just continued. “Also if that event you’re planning is something for the ‘high society’, then I would suggest against hiring the apple family. Their food is awesome, but their presence wouldn’t sit right with the rich and snobby.”

“I was saying for the public part of the event. I suppose I could also use their food for the ‘exclusive’ part as well.” Max sat back down in her chair and started writing something.

“If the snobs haven’t changed in the past thousand years, tell them to make ridiculously small portions and all of the rich ones will believe it’s from a high end restaurant. Their food is really-” The silver haired woman was interrupted, as a giggle forced itself out of her mouth. Something was tickling her and further investigation revealed that Golden and Light had seized the chance and climbed on top of her while she was lying on the ground. Their little hooves tickled her sides and when the former tried to sneak up on her face, she had to stifle another giggle.

“You have baby, too?” Rainbow asked, walking over to Sephiroth and poking her stomach.

The woman’s heart melted at that and she hugged the cyan filly close to her chest. “Sadly, no. I just gone and ate way too much. Now I have a tummyache.”

Rainbow giggled and hugged her back.

“I know Applejack can help with that. She went and spent some time with her aunt and uncle, trying to fit into ‘high society’ before she got her cutiemark,” Max said, pulling over another piece of paper.

Lifting one of her hands, so it would be visible over the table she gave a thumbs up. “I vote for the Apples, then. Is there more I can help you with?”

Max looked over at the clock and stood abruptly. “Schist, I have to start court in fifteen-”

“Max, Seph, if either one of you can hear me, I need your help. I found a Displaced who was hurt and torn apart by the events of the past and was a victim like Seph. If you can hear me, please. Help Shalltear.”

“And we were just about to start actually doing something...” Max said, disappointment evident in her voice.

“Am I interrupting anything important?” Lance mentally asked out of curiosity.

“Nah, not really. We were just sitting down to plan out a huge annual party. We’ll be there in a minute.”

“Wanna take a break and help a Vampire that reminds me of you and Seph calm herself down? She’s tempted to go on a massacre after almost becoming a rape victim after being asleep for over 1000 years.” He asked.

Floating Rainbow and Lucky over to her, Max opened her portal, but paused to look back at Sephiroth. “Could you please get Golden and Light to Sol and Mun? I know you want to help, too, but they need to be supervised.”

Sephiroth was already on her feet, with the two fillies that had climbed on top of her in her arms and nodded, a determined look on her face. “I’ll follow you as soon as I can.”

Max nodded and jumped through.

Scrying the positions of the two was a little unnerving to Sephiroth, because she forgot to fine tune her spell, so she was bombarded with the locations of all four of their bodies at once, which caused her to get a little dizzy. “Woah.” Shaking it away, she tried again, only this time she specified on the pony versions and teleported to them.

Mun whirled to face Sephiroth, dropping into a defensive posture before realizing who she was.

Sol, though, was carrying Twilight and merely turned her head. “Max needs us to watch them for a little?” She asked, spotting the two fillies in Seph’s arms.

The woman nodded and waited for one of them to take the children. “We got called by Lance and it seems like it’s urgent. Max already went ahead and asked me to take the two to you.”

Mun walked over to her and motioned for her to set the fillies on his back. “You might want to hurry then,” He said.

She did as instructed and stroked the little fillies’ manes after that. “Behave you two.” Then she whirled around and opened her own portal, but stopped before heading through, to look back at the guardians. “We hadn’t really the chance to get to know each other, yet. I would really like to change that when we come back. After all, you two are the guardians of Max’s family if I understood that right.”

Sol smiled and said, “I prefer to think that we’re Max’s siblings.”

“All the more reason, as that would make me your sister in law. But I really have to go now, so later.” With that she waved them goodbye and rushed into the void.

Author's Note

Crossover with ElementBrigade's The Blood Countess between this and the next Chapter.

Chapter 18 - Doubts and Denial [Sex]

Upon entering the room, the door to it was soon closed shut and locked. Sephiroth removed herself from Lance’s side and looked around to make sure that there weren’t any fillies hiding inside the room, before lighting her hand and soundproofing it. She didn’t really want a repeat of what happened with Nightmare and the guard.

“I see that Max had taught you a few new tricks.” Lance smiled, unzipping his jacket and setting it on the nearby coat rack.

“Yeah, she used that memory sharing spell to teach me how to use magic.” She hesitated and turned her face away to hide the blush that was forming due to what had been added to those memories.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m guessing that’s the same thing she did to me to show me your… time together?” The Adept asked, noticing the blush as it grew on her face.

Sephiroth nodded. “Nightmare developed that spell on the base of my Materia and taught it to Max.” She grimaced. “And she has abused the hell out of it to prank people.”

“Memory in itself can be very powerful,” He replied, now starting to take off his shirt. “If used properly of course. Speaking of which… are you ready to make some new memories?” The shirt was fully off by the time he got to the bed where Seph was and now was hanging with the Jacket that he tossed onto the coat rack.

The blush on her face deepened a bit, but she nodded and opened the straps in the front of her coat, biding her time. A little agitation nagged at the back of her mind when she noticed that she was still hesitating. She didn’t really want to, even trying to force herself to stop, but for some reason that just made it worse. For Lance, he himself was undoing his pants and removed them and the undergarments he was wearing, revealing to her his prize that was beginning to harden as he waited for Seph to finish undressing.

Biting her lower lip in an attempt to use the pain to clear her head, her hand wandered to her shoulder but she just wasn’t able to remove her clothes further. With a heavy sigh, she let her arm drop. “I’m sorry Lance… I- I just can’t. I trust your judgement about my magic influencing you but-”

Lance soon got up and put his arm at her shoulder. “It’s okay Seph. I’m here for you. Now… How about I help remove those clothes for you? I don’t want to keep a lady waiting.” He smiled as his hands caressed her body and slowly assisted her with removing the jacket, exposing her breasts during the transition.

She felt her arms twitch to prevent him from undressing her, but she managed to suppress the urge. Taking a stagnant breath she closed her eyes and leaned against the man next to her. He held her close, hugging her tightly. “You look very beautiful tonight. The moonlight definitely helps.” The Adept mentioned. The light from the moon was the one thing that served as a source of light in the room. Not to mention that the bed was by the window that had the light shining through. “Now… do you need help with the other half of your clothes? I don’t want to tease you like how Max did earlier.”

Chuckling a little at the mention of Max’s teasing, she felt herself relax. “That would only work if you were a professional at preening.”

“Oh, so she was ruffling your feathers I see? Damn, she’s good.” The Adept cracked a grin and lowered his hands to the sides of Seph’s chest, pulling her in for a kiss. During the kiss, he lowered his hands, slowly pushing against the leather pants that Seph still had on.

Reciprocating the kiss, she shuddered a little, but did nothing to stop him. She broke the kiss and the blush on her face was almost radiant now. “Didn’t help that Sombra tried to make me uncomfortable by flirting with me and Calcifer practically begged of me to make him into my slave while standing at attention.” She sighed. “This world is dead set on teasing me constantly.”

“Well, now you have me here to help you.” He smiled again while nodding his head in the direction of the bed as the two of them went towards it and fell on top of the comfy mattress. “So, do you need me to help prepare you for the main event?”

She averted her eyes in embarrassment. “I’m aroused since Max’s teasing and most of the situations since then didn’t really help. So… no.”

Lance looked down, noticing that her honeypot was already leaking with juices. “Heh… Alright, I guess we’re just diving in then. Is there a specific way you want to do this or should we do the same thing like last time?”

“Actually… I told you that Max used the spell to prank others. She kind of gave me one of you and Celestia. And you were practically rutting her…” She trailed off, way to nervous to continue.

“Well… something tells me you liked that…” Lance leaned in closer, using his tip to rub it against her slit. “Tell me Seph… Do you like being dominated?”

Her whole body shivered in excited desire and she let lose a quiet whine of need. “M-maybe?”

“Something tells me yes… Do you want me to fuck you the same way?” He asked, teasing her again with the tip against the slit again.

Tensing for a second, she bit back another whine ineffectively, making it sound like, “Mmpf.”

“Was that a yes? I can only help you if I hear a yes.” He grinned, teasing her again.

She felt her anger rise again just in time to give her enough of a push to almost scream in frustration. “Fuck me already!”

Now, there was no more teasing. With one swift push, he entered her moist depths as both of them moaned from the initial entrance. “Just relax and enjoy yourself.” He told her, starting to pull back a bit before thrusting back into Seph’s honeypot, starting off a bit slow before increasing his tempo. The pleasure that both of them were feeling was outstanding. This was exactly what she had needed after a long day of being teased by Max and almost everyone else that she had met. Now, Seph was getting the satisfaction that she desired.

After the initial thrust, she was so lost in the pleasure that she actually forgot to breathe. Which caused her to fall silent while her lungs tried in vain to provide the air needed to voice her approval. All she could do was hold onto Lance to not completely drown under the waves crashing through her.

Lance himself was in heaven. Fucking Seph now without Max watching them allowed for him to pay special attention to the Silver haired woman as he kept on thrusting his lance into her vagina. To his surprise, the two of them were lasting a lot longer than they were the last time they did this. Bending over, he kissed her on the lips, providing some air into her lungs as he kept on thrusting at the same speed he started with. However, he was beginning to think that she wanted him to go harder. But couldn’t tell because Seph was completely lost in the overall pleasure.

His quiet question was answered, though, when the air he provided was used to scream by her. “Faster! Harder!”

Now with the answer he was looking for, the Adept quickened his pace, thrusting into her as hard as he could as she remained lost in the heat of the moment. He kissed her again, giving her more air to breath as his dick slid in and out of her every few seconds. He wanted to say how amazing this was, but worried that he might kill the mood if he did. So, he just continued to push into her depths. Getting closer to her womb with each thrust.

Not really capable of any resemblance of a coherent thought she proceeded to abuse the repeatedly provided air to cry out in pleasure with growing volume and urgency. The constant level of arousal over almost the whole night had left her in a state in which it didn’t really took much to drive her over the edge. She could never have been prepared for the onslaught of ecstasy her very sudden peak brought with it, though.

Lance felt her peak and the tightening walls around his pride grip him like a vice. As he felt her warm fluids around his cock, he kissed her again as he quickened his tempo even more. Seph’s orgasm had now driven him over the edge and he was on the verge of his own release. “S-seph. I’m close-.”

She didn’t even register his words, as she was too far gone. His continuous thrusts prolonging her trip to nirvana. Seconds after her release, Lance went over the edge, releasing a torrent of seed into her depths as he felt her arms and legs wrap around him to prevent him from letting go.

He took some time to catch his breath and let Seph do the same. But he didn’t pull out yet. Lance wasn’t sure if she wanted to go another round or just snuggle and sleep by each others side. He waited for Seph to catch her breath and let her decide on what she wanted. After all, he was here to make her feel safe. “I love you, my little angel.”

The woman just stayed like she was, except for letting her legs slide down from their position around him. After hearing him speak, she blinked a few times, struggling to focus enough to actually process what he had said. When she did, all her sex addled mind could produce, totally gave not a single fuck about dumb reservations and she just smiled. “Love you, too.”

The Adept smiled, hugging her and holding her close. Snuggling her and holding her close. Unaware that he had not pulled out of her at all yet.

Sephiroth was content. There was no other word for it. Finally being granted her release after a whole day of teasing and still feeling her lover inside of her left nothing to wish for. The glorious exhaustion of the act disappeared way too suddenly and left her confused. The content was still there, she was feeling incredibly good. More than just good. She could get behind that, but not how… energetic she felt.

Something didn’t feel right. Something stirred in her, bursted and consumed her like a wildfire. Her mind was overwhelmed with a sudden clarity and everything that mattered anymore was to experience more. A tiny voice in the back of her head tried to point out to her that all of this was wrong, but she didn’t care. With renewed vigor she rolled on top of Lance and relished in the fact that he was still inside her. She repositioned herself on top of him and traced his toned chest with her fingertips, while fixing him with a sultry stare.

The last thing she would remember later was her saying, “Ready for round two?”

Upon waking, Sephiroth felt heavenly. Not really conscious enough to remember what exactly transpired, she cuddled up on the man beneath her, the movement alerting her that his flaccid member still resided in her depths.

Soon though, her lover’s eyes began to open as he looked back at her. “H-hey there, beautiful.” He yawned a little as he looked back at her. “Did you enjoy my company?”

She grinned in satisfaction and kissed him briefly. “Certainly. I’ve never felt this good before.”

“Did you enjoy the second round?” He asked her.

Confusion nagged at her but she decided not to be bothered by it and just ask, “What second round?”

“After we went the first time, you decided to climb on top of me and ride me again.” He told her. “I’m surprised that you don’t remember. You were just as lost in the pleasure and begged for me to cum inside you.”

That finally got her to break through the haze over her thoughts and she stared down at him, after she sat up. This caused his dick to move inside her but she was too distracted to notice. “I what?”

“You were telling me to fuck you until no tomorrow and breed you with my children. You even were begging for me to make you a mother.” He told her, propping himself up on his elbows.

She just stared at him blankly for a bit before her last memory of the former night returned to her, making her shake and hold a hand over her mouth. What… what happened? The sensations had been hinting that there was something wrong, and she saw it in hindsight. She was influenced and downright overwhelmed by some kind of power, after feeling energized, empowered even when they finished their first round.

Realization hit her hard enough to make her sick. Succubi fed off of the energy produced through intercourse. That could only mean- wait. How long had she been unconscious? She remembered how Lance came in her the first time and if what he said was true then- “Lance! How long was I- I mean, how much time has passed since our first round?”

“Like four hours. You just finished the second round three hours ago.” The Adept told her, lifting up the sheet that covered them to reveal the cum soaked bed spread that they were on top of.

Staring slackjawed, she couldn’t find the strength in her to move from her spot on his groin. “Lance…?”

“Yes Sephy?” He asked, noticing her change in expression. “Is something wrong?”

“That… I- I don’t remember…” How should she phrase something like this?! This was exactly what she had been afraid of. “M-my… Succubus magic overwhelmed me…”

Hearing that, Lance raised an eyebrow, just as surprised as she was. “Are you sure? You were lost in the pleasure like before and made me cum inside you four times.”

Thunderstruck, she stammered, “F-f-f-four t-t-hu…” Her shoulders sagged before she completely froze and straightened up again. “That’s not- I’m- A-and.” Panic gripped her heart and she literally jumped off of him and the bed in one go.

“Seph?! Wait… Just… don’t leave yet…” He told her. “Let’s just talk. You asked me to be here to help you and I’m here now. So talk to me.”

Sephiroth paced up and down frantically, gesturing wildly with her arms. “Don’t you get it?! This is exactly what I was afraid of! The succubus’ magic is overwhelming me, controlling me!”

“Hey… Don’t stress out. We can find a way to handle it.” He told her, remembering the magic canceling gem he had in his jacket. “Calm yourself… You still have control over yourself. So don’t give in to your fears.”

Halting in her pacing, she looked at him out of haunted eyes. “You’re… you’re right. I’m in control, again.” Only to freak out again and snapping her fingers in quick succession, returning the room - the bed mostly - to pristine condition, cleaning herself and making the full set of her clothes appear on her, the same going for Lance. “We have to find Max! Right now! I don’t know if there is a time limit in which she has to cast her spells to prevent a pregnancy.”

“H-hang on. Don’t you know the same spells Max has?”

“I’m in absolute no state to find the spell in my memories right now!”

“What about from the book?” Lance asked, pointing at a nearby worktable that had a huge spell book on top of it. It was titled The Sorcerer’s secret. Special spells for special minds and from the looks of it, Max had placed sticky notes on certain pages for her to review when she had the time.

“Are you kidding me?! I won’t search through a book now!” Lighting up her hand she instead used a spell she was already familiar with and pinpointed Max’s location. “I found her and I’m going there, now. With or without you.”

“Look Seph, just calm down. You’re just overthinking this… Max could be anywhere right now. She could even be at the night court.”

“Don’t care! I won’t get pregnant!” Sephiroth paused slightly, her agitation and energy vanishing for an instance, “... not this way.” Before returning with a vengeance. She disappeared in a flash, teleporting straight to the dining room. Leaving Lance on his own and yelling, not caring who heard her besides Max. “Max! I need you, now!”

“I told you, you need to accept that part of yourself,” Max said as she sat down at the table. They were in the dining room and the clock on the wall stated that is was close to midnight. “You want me to cast the anti-pregnancy spells?”

Completely bereft of the wind in her sails, she visibly deflated, before whispering. “Yes, please?”

Max sat there for a little obviously thinking of something. After a few minutes she said, “Look on my bookshelf for the one with the most sticky notes in it. You’ll want pages fifty-six and one hundred, forty-one. I don’t have enough magic to safely cast them.”

Now utterly floored, Sephiroth just stared. Her mind was already in disarray due to her panic and just could not cope with this any longer so it shut down. Her vision going black before she even hit the floor.

The first thing to return to her was a splitting headache, making her wake up rather forcefully, which only caused it to flare up even more. Her body tensed and she groaned out loud, lifting a hand to her forehead as if she could physically prevent to pain from growing bigger.

“H-hey… Max, she’s awake!” The voice that was speaking - and making her flinch with its volume - she soon realized was Lance as her vision took some time to readjust. “Seph? Seph, are you okay?” Now looking at him, he was fully dressed and in his normal clothes, but her surroundings were a LOT different this time around.

Her own voice was barely above a whisper when she hissed through clenched teeth, “Oh, Holy. Please tone it down a little.”

“I-i’m sorry. I just heard that you collapsed and we tried to get you to the infirmary as best as we-.”

Instantly she shot upright in the bed and bent over, clutching her head as it exploded in agony due to the movement, but she didn’t care right now. “Fuck! The spells!”

Max pushed her back down gently as she said, “I had Home cast them and see if there was anything we could do about your magic. There isn’t but...”

Lance looked back at Max and nodded before looking back at Seph in the eye and speaking to her in a calm manner. “Seph, Home found something else that you need to know about. Something VERY important… He did a full body scan of you and found that you have a curse.”

Sephiroth grunted as she tried to lighten the headache by massaging her temples. “What do you mean, curse? My Cells would nullify any such thing.”

“Well, this one is different. Your cells right now are fighting it, yes. But the effects of the curse are what may bother you…… Until the curse is gone… You can’t have children.”

Not really grasping the severity of his declaration she just shrugged. “That sucks, yeah. But that can’t last for that long-”

“It’s going to last for decades since you were weak when it was put on you and because of how powerful it is,” Max interrupted, trying to keep her tears from falling. “I-if n-not for your Cells, you’d already be dead and buried.”

Seph’s eyes widened and she stared uncomprehendingly at Max, then she began to chuckle weakly. “You… you’re kidding, right? O-okay. Joke time is over. I-I admit you got me good.”

Lance just shook his head, closing his eyes. “I’m sorry Seph… This isn’t a joke.”

“I would never fool around with something like this, Seph,” Max said, leaning forward and giving the taller woman a hug. Lance soon joined in as well, hugging Seph as the emotional walls in the room were beginning to break.

Teal eyes watered but she shook her head in denial, pleading with them. “C-come on… t-this is really not f-funny, anymo-ore.” Trying to talk some sense into the two, she continued a little more stable. “I was overwhelmed by the succubus magic inside me, Sombra flirted with me just to make me uncomfortable and Calcifer downright begged for me to make him my slave. That’s enough for one day, don’t you think?” She chuckled weakly, again.

“Seph, I know how much you want a child- hell, I was looking forward to giving you one. I’m so sorry, Seph. It’s the truth.”

“No!” The silver haired woman tried in vain to shake her lovers off, her voice growing frantic. “This is Murphy’s doing, right?! I- I challenged him with proclaiming that I would never bed with anyone besides you two! Sombra said I shouldn’t give him ammo!”

“Seph, he can’t use curses. They’ll kill him if he messes with them for too long. They’re the only things that can kill immortals in this universe.” Seph felt Max shake her head. “Besides, this curse is unknown to everyone. It has to be from your fight with Celestia.”

“That’s the most likely thought,” Lance replied, before he came up with an idea. It might have sounded good in his head, but he needed to ask for Seph’s approval of the plan first since it involved her and her memories. “Seph, would it be okay for us to see your fight with Celestia? That way, we can find what’s causing this.”

Sephiroth was grasping for straws, now and took the chance to grab onto a new lifeline that presented itself to her. “Yes. Do that. You’ll see that there isn’t any curse involved, at all. And then we can stop freaking me out!”

Lance sighed, placing his first two fingers on Seph’s forehead and calmly breathing. It took him a little while, but soon, he found something that he had to share to Seph with a expression of shock on his face. “It was Celestia’s weapon. The Warhammer that she was using had the curse on it as an enchantment. Since you got beaten up by Celestia and that hammer, the weapon hitting you applied the curse. Not only that, but since you were in a near death state, your cells weren’t able to immediately protect your body. Still… I can’t believe you went through something like that.”

Seph saw rage flash across Max’s face, being replaced by concern less than a second later. “I think we know who to question, then,” Max said as she stood up.

Lance looked at Max with a look of concern on his face. “Max, what are you trying to imply?”

Having the last sliver of hope taken from her, Sephiroth was filled with an unbearable sense of numbness. “I… I’m really…?”

“I’m not implying anything Lance, I’m just going to have a chat with Celestia. I think the doctors will be able to help more if they know what kind of curse this is,” Max said, turning towards the door. “Don’t worry, I won’t do anything beyond talk.”

“Just be careful. I’ll stay with Seph until you get back.” He told her, trying to comfort Seph. She had grown completely catatonic after hearing the sudden news.

Chapter 19 - A vile Farewell Present

(Max Caulfield)

As I walked out of the infirmary, I was furious. That thing that had controlled Seph’s Celestia was far crueler than I had originally thought. In less than an hour of Seph waking up from her time with Lance, we had found that Seph had been cursed and she wouldn’t be able to have children until her Cells got rid of it.

I lit my hand and scryed for Discord, I was going to need him for this. He was in Twilight’s room, cuddling her while she slept.

I was loathe to do this since they actually did make a cute couple, but I didn’t have enough magic to get there and back by myself. I risked a teleport and as soon as I appeared in the room I said, “Discord, I need your help getting to Sephiroth’s universe. And no, if this wasn’t important I wouldn’t be asking you to stop cuddling Twi.”

“Oh, fine,” Discord said. “But you owe me for this.”

“I’ll have Nightmare call you when I’m ready to leave so you can do what you want.”

Discord grumbled but snapped his fingers, transporting us almost instantly to the room where Nightmare was. Right into the middle of a group of ponies currently talking with the mare I wanted to talk to.

“Sorry to interrupt, Nighty, but something’s come up and I need to see your sister about something,” I said, scaring a few ponies and making the rest stare in awe at Discord.

The black alicorn’s eyes lit up for a brief moment and she lifted a hoof to pacify her ponies. “At ease. You have nothing to fear from them. These are Max Caulfield and Discord and they are visitors from another universe. Furthermore they are close friends and will bring no harm.” Her words did wonders to calm the ponies down, but now they were more curious than anything else. Ignoring that for the time being, Nightmare turned her attention to me. “Max. It is a pleasure to see you again. I will point you to my sister’s location, but what is the matter, if I may ask?”

“I want to know what curse that thing put on Celestia’s warhammer. And I want to know where it is so I can have Discord shatter its mind, tear its soul into tiny pieces, and then throw it into a space vagina where it can be digested for thousands of years.”

The alicorn jumped to all four hooves and her wings flared in alarm. “A CURSE?! What happened?! Is Sephiroth alright?!”

“She’s fine right now, just in shock that she can’t have children because of the curse for the next few decades. I came because it would help if my doctors know what the curse is and what it does.”

Rushing over to me, her horn already glowing, she addressed the assembled ponies. “I beg your pardon everypony, but a matter of utmost urgency has come to my attention. We postpone this meeting and will call for you when we are available again.” With that she grabbed me in a teleport, that made us appear inside what had to be the most gigantic library I have ever seen. Even the royal archives of my castle couldn’t compare.

“Whoa. This would be Twilight’s version of heaven,” I said in awe.

Nightmare herself was already trotting at a brisk pace down one of the hallways, her wings at her sides again but visibly tensed. “It’s the ‘Great Archive’. The being that possessed my sister neglected many things but its thirst for knowledge drove it to preserve every single book ever written. Even if it was more along the lines of a saying it misunderstood. Maybe you heard of it. ‘Wisdom is Power.’”

I caught up with her as I replied, “I’ve heard of a slightly different one, ‘knowledge is power.’”

She nodded curtly. “Concerning the whereabouts of the being, I’m afraid to inform you that it has been destroyed. While Sephiroth fought it, the former Elements of Harmony managed to reveal the true power of the tree of harmony and cleansed the being from my sister’s body, mind and soul alike. They completely eradicated it, leaving nothing behind. So, sadly, no one would be able to enact his or her revenge on it.”

I huffed and crossed my arms. “Dammit, I was looking forward to making it suffer.”

“I was as well,” Discord said suddenly from my side.

Nightmare didn’t even flinch by his sudden appearance and just rounded one of the titanic bookshelves, revealing a rather small, white pony with a pink mane, which sat at a large working desk and had books all around her. At first I thought she was a unicorn but then I noticed the wings at her sides, almost invisible on her coat. She was too engrossed in her literature to notice our approach. Well, until the black alicorn started to speak. “Celestia. We have to talk.”

The ears in her pink mane stood up and swiveled to face us, before she lifted and turned her head towards us, her eyes widening in surprise. “Sister. Who-” Then she saw Discord and froze.

I saw Discord wave and smile from the corner of my eye as I said, “What curse was on that warhammer?”

The small, white alicorn did not react to my question in the slightest as her purple eyes were fixed on the draconequus as terror slowly crept in her expression. “No…” She shook her head and backed up against the desk. “You… you can’t be here.”

Nightmare sighed. “Sister- Celestia. This is not him. He is from another universe. Remember? We talked about Max and the ‘Displaced’.” Her words did nothing to calm the white mare, though.

“I am not the one that being made you kill, Celestia. I am from a different universe, chauffeuring Max around for the moment because she overextended herself,” Discord said, popping over to put his eagle claw around the mare’s shoulders. “If I got mad over every Discord that was killed, I wouldn’t be able to cause chaos in my own universe.”

Celestia just shrieked and blasted him with her magic right in his face.

Discord, not expecting that, froze. Once Celestia's magic petered out all we could see of Discord’s head was his skull.

I smiled and shook my head as I said, “You had to scare her Discord?”

The tiny mare shrieked again and rushed under Nightmare, literally, and hid beneath her, while tightly hugging one of her legs. “Moonie-ie, he’s- he’s haunting me-e-e!”

“I do not haunt!” Discord said indignantly. “I creep and wait in ambush, but I do not haunt ponies.” As he was talking his snaggletooth wiggled loose and fell.

“Please put your face back on, Discord. It’s disturbing to see you talk like that,” I said, levitating the tooth over to my hand.

Sighing, the black alicorn used her wings to shield the one beneath her from the sight and tried to calm her with hushed whispers that I couldn’t quite catch.

“Oh fine... spoilsport,” Discord said as he snapped his fingers, making his bleached skull vanish under new flesh.

“So where’s that worm Chetyre? I doubt you kept him around after what he did,” I said, trying to turn the conversation back to the curse.

Nightmare turned her attention towards me, but kept her sister hidden beneath herself. Anger flashed in her teal eyes. “He escaped. Or more accurate was gone long before we returned to reclaim our castle. We have tried to find him, but something seems to suppress his powers, making it very hard to track him down.”

“Kat probably ran into him. If she did and he’s still alive, she must have placed a curse on him that’s worse than him dying.”

“That will have to suffice for the time being. But we will find him someday.” Returning her face under her wing she whispered again, but only for a few moments before her head shot back up, with a look of absolute horror on it. “WHAT?!”

“What? What does the curse do?” I asked, almost jumping on Nightmare.

The alicorn tried to regain her composure but failed. “Before I answer that. You said she was alright, yes?”

“Yes, her Cells are fighting it.”

“Good, good…” She sighed deeply and shook her head. “The curse is named calamitas. And is both, very ancient and equally vile.” Her throat moved as if she tried to swallow something. “It was forbidden to even mention it a thousand years ago, already. And punishable by death. Its original intent was to make its victim rot from the inside out… and inflicting as much pain as possible in the process, even going so far to turn the victim into a golem, temporarily, to keep it alive all the way til the end.”

My expression darkened to the point I was glad Celestia couldn’t see me as Nightmare explained. When I spoke, I was surprised I wasn’t spitting acid from how much venom was in my voice. “That thing’s death was far too quick and far too merciful.”

The area turned eerily quiet for a few moments, before Nightmare spoke again. “What I do not understand, though, is why it would make her unable to perceive if her Cells seem to prevent any decay. I’m assuming they do as you didn’t mention any beforehoof.”

“My guess is the curse knows it’s already inflicting the most pain it can by making her unable to have children. Besides, her Cells might be preventing her from feeling it to save her from the agony.”

“That sounds fitting, but I’m afraid the curse is solely revolving around physical pain.” The black mare sighed and shook her head. “We should be grateful that it doesn’t affect her more, even if it is a horrible fate for one like her, still. Though, she is immortal and will get her chance, as you said she would overcome the curse in a decade or two.”

I shook my head. “More like six or seven.”

Nightmare flinched and from behind her wings escaped a pained whine. “Oh Stars…” Her ears flopped down and her eyes filled with pity. “I would help if I could… even if it meant that I had to harm myself, but there is no way to lift the curse, not even one to weaken it. If I had to guess, the being had counted on her Cells to heal her eventually but not that they would be able to prevent its effects so thoroughly.” A shudder ran over her, making her wings ruffle. “She would have been in unimaginable pain if the being’s assumption had proven right.”

“So the only thing to do is wait for her Cells to consume it?”

“Sadly, yes…”

I turned, glaring at a random book as I said, “Thanks for the info. Discord, take us back. Make sure we’re near an air pirate ship, I want to shoot something.”

“You sure you don’t-” Discord began, only for me to turn my gaze to him and pull out my shotgun.

“I said I want to shoot something. If you want to volunteer, I won’t care.”

Nightmare decided to stay silent and let them be on their way, but another voice interjected itself into the conversation. Celestia had left the safety of her sister’s wings and was standing in front of me, head lowered in shame and tears in her eyes. “Please… take me with you. I- I have to see her.”

My gaze softened and I knelt down, pulling her chin up for her to look at me. “Alright. We’ll be making that stop before we go to Seph, though.” I set my shotgun down and pulled out my smg, holding the grip towards her. “Wanna blow some pirates out of the sky with me?”

She shook her head hastily. “I have destroyed more than enough in the past…”

“That wasn’t you, that was the thing controlling you. Besides, you’ll be working to help keep my Equestria safe. You aren’t destroying for the sake of destroying, you’re helping a fellow ruler keep her subjects safe.”

“I- I can’t. I won’t hurt anypony, ever again.” The small mare seemed to be near a breakdown, but kept herself together for the sake of the chance to visit the one she obviously thought she faulted the most.

I nodded and put the guns back in my bag, feeling a bit ashamed that I was trying to force her to watch. “Then let’s go visit Seph. Discord?”

Discord snapped his claws and the four of us were standing next to Seph’s bed before he snapped his claws again and vanished.

We arrived to the sight that was almost exactly like the one I had left behind. Sephiroth hadn’t moved an inch on her own and was just staring into space, still catatonic. Lance was right by her side and tried his best to comfort her, but it was not hard to see that his attempts were futile.

“Still not responding to anything?” Max asked Lance as she sat down on the bed next to them.

“Not at all. God, I really feel bad for her.” Lance told her, not turning around. “I mean, I wanted to help us raise a family, but to think that… she can’t have her own child… It’s just heartbreaking.” When he turned around, he noticed that Max wasn’t alone at all like he thought. “What the-?”

“Celestia wanted to visit Seph and I don’t know why Discord brought Nightmare along.”

The small, white mare rushed over to the bed and lifted her front half by setting her hooves on its edge. When she got a look at the woman, though, she just broke down into tears. Nightmare just stayed where she was and watched her sister with sad eyes.

Lance himself was still trying to think things through, until he realized that this was Seph’s Celestia. He felt sorry for the mare. But still thought that it was her fault that Seph ended up in this state in the first place. “Seph’s been staring off into space ever since we had to break the news to her.”

“I’ll stay with her then. You have stuff to do back in your universe, right?”

“Yeah, but-.”

“No buts. You have things that can’t wait, I only have meetings and planning to do.” Lance then sighed. He knew that I was right. But before he turned to leave, he looked at Celestia one last time.

“Maybe when I’m done, we can help Celestia just like we helped Seph and Shalltear.” With that, he vanished in a blitz of lightning, leaving behind a small singe mark on the floor.

I glanced at the pony and pulled her onto the bed, helping her take Lance’s spot. “Seph? Celestia and Nightmare came to visit.”

That actually got a reaction out of the woman, even if it was a flinch at the mention of the white mare’s name. Following the first, though, came more movement as she readjusted herself on the bed slightly, before very slowly blinking. After that she began to shake life a leaf.

Nightmare had sat down on the side of the bed where her sister laid, but seemed too shocked to do anything. The sight alone enough to lock her into place.

“Seph....” I wrapped both of my arms around her, rubbing her back as I whispered, “You know Celestia was being controlled during that. She’s here to try to show you how sorry she is for what happened.”

(Sephiroth)

The shaking didn’t lessen, but she lifted her own arms to hug her fiancée. “Max…”

“I know. You don’t want to wait decades to become a mother. I don’t want to wait that long. But hey, it could be worse.” Max’s head shifted but she couldn’t see where she was looking. Seph wasn’t really curious enough to see for herself. All that mattered right now was holding onto her love and not let go. It felt good and it soothed the pain, somewhat.

A whimper came from her other side, one that she identified as Celestia’s. “I’m so so-”

One of Sephiroth’s hands practically blurred over to cover the mare’s mouth, while she tightened her grip around Max with her other arm. “I said, no apologizing for its actions.”

The latter spoke up. “Come on Seph, it used her as well. Stop trying to push her away and accept her as your sister.”

She shook her head, burying her face into her fiancée’s neck in the movement. “I’m not pushing her away. I just won’t let her ever take responsibility for things she never did and under which she suffered at least as much as me.” The hand over Celestia’s mouth moved to pull the small mare in a hug, too.

Max nuzzled her. “Still, you will be able to have children. It’ll be a long while but you won’t be without foals. You’re the mother of my children, the same as Lance is their father.”

That gave Sephiroth pause. She thought about the little bundles of unsurmountable energy, about Rainbow, who lived her life in joy and mischief, despite her past and how she was already faster than most adults, about Light, who showed signs of a protective streak towards her twin, that have not gone unnoticed by Seph. The little alicorn cared greatly about her sister but didn’t hesitate to show when she wanted something. Golden… Golden, with whom she had shared her Cells and who shared her eyes in return. She had freed the little, orange filly from her curse and gave her her leg back.

She would lie to herself if she said that she didn’t feel like she was the little unicorn’s mother, already. Golden carried a part of her inside her and she wasn’t referring to the Cells. Then there were Lucky and Aurora. It pained Sephiroth that she hadn’t taken the time to get to know them better.

And the newest addition to their family. Shalltear Bloodfallen. Max had adopted the girl in an instant when she heard what happened to her, but Seph didn’t know how she should feel towards the abused girl. Sure, she had been likeable from the start and her personality somewhat appealed to the silver haired woman, but the kid had stated herself that she wouldn’t want to call her mother and she wasn’t one to demand it.

But she had to admit, and did so accompanied by a nod. “You’re right. I love them all. And I’m honored that I’m allowed to be their mother.”

“You aren’t allowed to be their mother, you are their mother along with me.”

That was when Sephiroth noticed a few additional muzzles that stroked her. A little confused, she lifted her head from Max’s shoulder to look at where the sensations originated from and smiled, touched, when she sa few of the very children she had thought about just now. “Hey there, li-” She cut herself off and teared up slightly, exclaiming in a hoarse whisper. “M-my children.”

“This might be… weird to me, but you and Lance are who Mom wants to marry,” Lucky said from the foot of the bed, slowly walking over to join the rest of us. “With us helping you the time will fly by, mama.”

Sephiroth’s heart melted at that. The small colt had just stated that he accepted her as his mother, out of his own free will. A few tears escaped her eyes, but a growing smile was on her face. “I- Thank you. I love you all, so very much.”

“And we love you. Don’t ever forget that,” Max said, giving her a kiss afterwards.

Seph returned the kiss earnestly and touched her forehead to her fiancée’s, when they broke it. “We got this. It’s just a little while longer, right? In comparison to eternity, I’ll survive, as long as I have you all.”

“Heh, most of us will be spending eternity with you anyways.” Max tightened her hug a bit. “I’m not ever going to leave you or any of my family.” After a short pause she continued. “That includes you as well, Nightmare, Celestia.”

The two alicorns had stayed relatively silent, not wanting to intrude too much. Nightmare blinked a little overwhelmed. “Pardon?” While Celestia busied herself with hugging Seph.

“Yeah, I consider the two of you sisters. I’ve helped you some and you’ve helped me.”

The black alicorn chuckled quietly. “More like sisters in law, since we are already considering Sephiroth as our sister. It would sound a little awkward if you were about to marry your own sister.”

Max giggled at that and said, “You’re lucky the foals are around and I can’t make a materia. I’d show you how I treated Kat on one of the times she was here.”

Nightmare just grinned. “I didn’t talk about such actions and do you really think, that we as immortal beings, have never been adventurous enough to tread in such territories? But I digress. I was referring to the marriage itself.”

The brown haired woman chuckled, letting go of Seph just enough to look at the mare directly. “True, but I would’ve thought that you and Celestia had played around with different personas. Maybe once saying you were actually a couple.”

The grin on the tall mare’s face just widened. “I never said we weren’t one. But a marriage is to establish a bond, that between sisters already exists.”

“Who’s to say it wouldn’t strengthen it?” Max chuckled again, shaking her head. “But I see what you mean. I’m just not going to add on the ‘in-law’ part.”

“I’m not opposed to that.”

A rather frustrated groan from Sephiroth interrupted them. “Are you two sure that you aren’t actually one and the same person? And don’t think I didn’t catch up on what you were insinuating, Nightmare. I’m just saying this once. I won’t ever-” She paused briefly, remembering that there were kids present, before finishing. “-engage in those activities with either you or Celestia.”

“Murphy, don’t take that as a challenge.”

Max’s mentioning of the stallion made Sephiroth tense up and she growled dangerously. “Murphy. I want, no, demand to know what you’re doing to me. And don’t you try to play stupid with me. Sombra already told me that you were messing with me in some way.”

“I’m not doing anything really, just letting my powers do their thing. Oh, I am trying to change the blessing I gave Nightmare though. I forgot to carry the five and, well, right now it’ll work for any time she has sex.” Murphy said, trying not to trip as he pulled himself in.

“Then check what your powers are doing or I swear I-” She was interrupted when a black blur tackled the thestral and trapped him in a death grip of a hug.

Nightmare actually squeed and nuzzled him affectionately. “Don’t you change a single thing about that! I want that blessing to stay exactly as it is!”

“Um… Okay?” He said uncertainly, the cause becoming apparent when something grew on him.

“Take that to another room, Murph. There are foals present.” Max said, checking that the fillies hadn’t seen.

“Hey, I’ve never had someone thank me for screwing up before!”

The black alicorn just chuckled and covered the stallion’s lower parts with her wing. “I couldn’t be any more thankful.” And then she actually kissed him on the cheek, making him blush deeply.

Another growl came from Sephiroth, slowly losing the last grains of patience. “I’m really glad for you, Nightmare, but your cuddly toy owes me an answer. I don’t take kindly to anything messing with me.”

“I’ll do my best to keep my powers from harming you.” Murphy said in a rush.

“I’m not referring to ‘harm’. And that was not my question. What are your powers doing to me right now?” She struggled not to shout or to sound too aggressive, mindful of the children present.

“I can’t tell my powers to avoid you all the time, but I’ll try my hardest. Right now, they aren’t doing anything to you.”

“So you call Sombra a liar? I’m sure he will be very interested to hear that.” She fully intended the last part as a threat and her tone supported that quite nicely.

“He was probably talking about the coincidences like everyone else does. I get blamed for every bad thing that happens to someone.”

Nightmare nuzzled him again. “Aww, you poor little stallion. I know how it is to be blamed for things out of our control. There are always ponies that blame me for the nocturnal predators.”

Huffing, the silver haired woman just looked back at the children. “Sorry. But if you absolutely have to mess with me, and I mean it in that way that your powers can’t be stopped from it, then inform me at least about it, okay? Then I will try not to get mad at you.”

“I’ll make sure to run the other way then.” Murphy said, his blush growing once more.

Sephiroth groaned. “I just told you that I won’t be mad, if - and only if - you inform me when and in which way your powers absolutely can not be stopped messing with me.”

“I-I’ll dOO tha-at then. I-I c-could try to- mmph… to help with… uh… whate-ever’s wrong ri-right now.” Murphy said, squirming a bit under Nightmare.

The latter stopping… whatever she was doing to him - albeit it was not hard to guess what that was - and stared at him. “Wait, you could?”

Out of surprise, Sephiroth teleported over to the two and pressed her face next to Nightmare’s to look at Murphy intensely. “YOU COULD?!”

Murphy nodded his head and said, “Yeah, I could help… whatever’s fighting that in you a bit. Not really much in the long run, but-”

Sephiroth interrupted him. “I don’t care if you helping me removes only a single day of the time I have to wait. If you can pull this off then I’ll give you a free pass for any future messing with me, if it stays in decent boundaries.”

“Okay.” Murphy closed his eyes and nothing happened for a few minutes, everyone waiting for him to do something. Once he opened his eyes, he said, “There, I wasn’t able to do as much as I thought I would, but it’s something.”

Hesitantly, the silver haired woman looked from him to Max and back. “Is there any way to tell if it worked? Or how much time it cut off?”

“A few months, but that’s barely a drop in the bucket.”

She smiled down on him. “It’s more than I could have asked for. Thank you, Murphy. And I’m standing by my word.”

Nightmare shoved Sephiroth to the side and grinned in a big and fang-filled way. “I’m borrowing him for a bit.” And with that both vanished in a flash of light.

“Huh… Well, I hope he isn’t a total virgin still.” Max said, staring at the spot where they had been.

Seph rose to her full height and scratched her head in confusion. “That was rude.” Then she sighed and turned to look at her fiancée. “And you are certain that she and you aren’t secretly the same person?”

“I’m kinda wondering that myself now.”

She burst into laughter and headed back over to the bed, where she proceeded to lean onto the edge of it and slowly calm down. “You know. I think I’m alright. With you, all, as my family, I’m really happy.”

Max gave her a smile and pulled her in for a kiss. “You know, I’m gonna need your help for the next weeks or so. I’ve basically used up all my magic.”

After reciprocating the kiss wholeheartedly, Sephiroth rested her right hand on the hip of her lover and smiled. “It will be my pleasure. I don’t really have anywhere to be. Although, if I can get a little free time in, then I would like to take Sombra up on his offer to train with me, to work on my swordsmanship. And I’d like to meet this Barbaroi. He was recommended for fixing my lacking skills with my original abilities. I really should use everything I can in a fight and not try to capitalize on my sword alone.”

“Murphy might be able to get in touch with him for you. I’ve been meaning to talk to him anyways.” Max answered.

“Great. Uhm…” Hesitating, she realized something. “Don’t you have things to do, though? I kind of interrupted you earlier.” With a sheepish look on her face she scratched Celestia behind an ear distractedly, making her blush and shy away.

Max smiled and scratched behind her other ear when Mun decided to answer. “I have moved the rest of tonight’s schedule to the following night.” He said as he walked over.

Sephiroth nodded towards the thestral. “Thanks. So-” Looking back at her fiancée she lifted an eyebrow. “What do you want to do? I wanted to get to know Sol and Mun better after we came back. But seeing as I am the reason all your appointments have been cancelled, I could stay by your side. You said yourself that you need my help right now.”

“Not exactly right now, but I’ll need your help wading through everything until my magic recharges. Besides-” Max gave her cheek a kiss. “Family’s the most important thing to me. I can just spout off the old ‘family issues’ excuse if anyone asks why they were moved.”

“Well, okay. Can you join us, though? I don’t know if you have any of those that are after you, but I would feel better if I wouldn’t leave your side until you are able to defend yourself again.” Seph wanted to flinch at her own wording. As if Max would ever admit being defenseless.

The deadpan expression confirmed her thoughts and when her fiancée pulled out a shotgun it was obvious. “You sure I can’t defend myself with this?”

She sighed deeply. “I didn’t mean it that way, Max. You know better than me that there are opponents that won’t be stopped by this. I just worry about you.”

“Maybe not a single shot, yeah. But this thing fires acidic rounds. And yes, it can eat through even pure Elementium which is harder than dragon scales.” Adding in a mutter, “Wasted a lot of metal, too.”

Pinching the bridge of her nose, she groaned, but Celestia was the one who spoke up. “Miss Caulfield, Sephiroth didn’t want to insinuate that you are not able to defend yourself, at all. She just worries and wants to be near you.”

“Please, call me Max, Celestia. I know she’s worried about me, I’m just trying to show her there’s nothing to worry about.” Her fiancée chuckled a bit, cocking the shotgun. “Besides, no one wants to mess with an angry pregnant woman holding a shotgun.”

“Okay, okay. I get it. You can take care of yourself. Could you join us anyways?” Sephiroth felt her frustration growing and decided to pick up Golden and Light and cuddle with them to quell her rising agitation.

“I was going to,” Max said as she stood up. “I… kinda just wanted to show off a bit.”

“You can show off on a shooting range if you have one.” A thought shot through her mind. “I could use one to improve the accuracy of my spells.”

“There’s one near the barracks.” The brown haired woman said with a giggle as Rainbow landed on Seph’s head.

Chuckling, the now filly covered woman looked over to Mun. “You both want to join us? I’m extremely curious about those big tank-like bodies of yours.”

“Then you’ll be disappointed,” Mun said, pointing to his hull, that just barely reached the height of Seph’s knee.

She blinked, confused. “Huh… when I saw them through the scrying spell I thought they were bigger.” Shrugging, her smile returned. “But size is not what counts. I’m more curious about the firepower. You are protecting our family after all.”

“Sol and I have the same weapons, but I’m more geared for protecting from physical damage and Sol from magical or electronic.”

“She’s wanting your specifications, Mun,” Max said. “Zenith Sol and Zenith Mun have miniature Hell-bores as their main cannons, depth charges, torpedoes, missiles, machineguns and at least one drone.”

“That sounds like much, but I have to admit that I don’t know what ‘Hell-bores’ are.” Sephiroth grinned and shuddered in excitement. “Don’t get that wrong, but I really have to fight you someday. That will be great!”

“You’ll have to fight Sol and I to get my full power,” Mun said. “Working together, Sol and I could possibly defeat Discord if we used Overdrive.”

“Hell-bore is just a fancy way of saying plasma cannon,” Max explained, giggling at something but Seph was just too excited to care right now.

She nodded eagerly, but still mindful of Rainbow, which had a blast due to it. “Both of you at once. I really like a good fight.” With that she began to walk towards the door. “Let’s go! I’m bursting with energy right now!”

When we arrived at the training grounds there was a shield over the entire area, being powered by an array and about twenty unicorns. Some bleachers were being erected outside of the shield-dome next to the unicorns.

This all made Sephiroth grin even wider. “Good thinking.” She looked at Max and lifted the two fillies in her arms briefly. “To the grandstand first, I guess?”

“Sure,” Her fiancée said with a shrug. “I’d rather be sitting anyways.”

She almost hopped over to the stands to set the fillies down, before her complete demeanor changed drastically. Crossing her arms in front of her chest and attaining an almost disinterested expression with just a hint of a frown on it, all of her former enthusiasm apparently gone. She prepared herself mentally for the fight.

Sol and Mun were in the dome already with both of their bodies, so she teleported over and gave them a slight bow of her head, before she drew her sword, like every time, out of nowhere. Turning sideways, she lifted the hilt of it next to her head and pulled it a little bit more behind herself, so that the blade was on her eye level and pointing in the general direction of Sol and Mun.

“We haven’t been tested in true battle yet, but even so we are faster than anything,” Sol and Mun said together, two different colored shields springing into being around their hulls as they dropped into defensive stances.

“Shields, huh? You know I never tried this one.” Releasing the hilt with one of her hands, she lifted it in front of her. A second later a rainbow colored wall of light appeared in front of her, that leaned heavily on reds, only to vanish again. Sephiroth didn’t look disappointed, though, albeit it had looked like her spell had failed. “I would say ‘Prepare yourselves’, but you already did, so-” She exploded into movement, dashing towards Sol, with both hands back on her weapon.

Sol herself dodged as her turret fired off three quick shots, each slowing to half the speed when they passed the Wall spell but still hit their target. She came in close and scored two probing hits before being warded off by Seph trying to hit her again.

The woman stepped back, caressing where the shots had hit and nodded. “Fast, indeed.” Her body was encased in a red glow and she vanished, only to reappear when she swung her blade through Sol’s shield.

Mun’s hull moved forward even faster, his shield covering Sol’s hull right as Sephiroth’s blade was about to cut into the plating. His gun’s barrel end glowed with a red light and the woman decided it would be best to avoid the attack by dodging sideways. She was right as a blast came out as she moved, being absorbed into the shield.

She wasn’t expecting Mun to intercept her, though, as she was sent flying across the arena. She impacted the dome feet first and crouched down in the process to soften it, a small smile tugging at her lips. She lifted one of her hands, her palm facing the two, and without warning a giant block of ice appeared around them. “Let’s see how much strain your shields can take.” An equally large boulder ripped itself out of the ground and shot towards the block of ice.

Sol suddenly appeared in the boulder’s path, kicking it up and over the block of ice while Mun kicked the ice apart. After three kicks the ice shattered enough to allow their hulls to move once more and they quickly turned their glowing guns towards Seph, a volley of missiles taking off from their vertical tubes.

Sephiroth swung her sword multiple times, sending glowing blue edges towards the missiles that sliced right through them, continuing on their path afterwards and thus impacting the dome. She launched herself from her position and shot a cluster of fireballs at Mun’s hull.

The hull retreated to beside Sol’s while Mun himself charged forward, aiming for her head. When Seph tried to swipe at him he twisted and grabbed her wrist and pulled, flipping her over onto her stomach as he broke her wrist.

Crying out briefly, she seized the chance and rammed the hilt of her weapon right between his eyes with enough force to produce a sickening ‘crack’, before teleporting out of his grasp and proceeding to kick him into the ground.

She only got one kick in as Sol sprang forward and delivered all four of her hooves to the back of Seph’s head, knocking her onto the slowly melting spikes of ice.

Jumping to her feet again, she looked rather damaged. The spikes having cut through her clothes and skin, but she just grinned and covered her broken wrist with her hand that was still holding the sword.

The hulls fired their charged shots, knocking her against the dome and covering her with a cloud of dust.

When the dust settled it revealed a miraculously unharmed woman that was grinning widely, her hands still glowing a bright green, while the various cuts over her body closed themselves. Her eyes danced with glee and she struck her sword into the ground. “You’re really tough. I like that.” Both hands raised now, one pointing at Sol the other at her hull, two miniature novas flared into existence before them, but instead of releasing them, Sephiroth held them back, pumping more power into them and making them doubling their size. Chuckling, she shot them, making the ground melt underneath their paths with their intense heat.

Sol reacted as soon as the blasts left Seph’s hands, shooting backwards and following the curve of the dome away from the attack as both of the hulls went into Overdrive quadrupling their shields and firing off blasts just as big towards Seph. Mun appeared right in her face before smashing her face into the ground hard enough to crack the stone.

Sephiroth blurred upwards and grabbed Mun at his throat, looking unamused. “I thought I put you down.” Looking past him at the two hulls that obliterated her attack and then at Sol with a lifted eyebrow, she released the stallion and the second Flare dissipated. “This fight is over.”

“Yes, it is,” Mun said in both his and Sol’s voice as he hit Seph back into the ground, twisting both of her arms behind her back.

Sighing, the woman made no move to free herself. “I won’t fight longer. Sol’s reaction told me that she was protecting something. So if you think you really need to hurt me a little bit further, although I already proclaimed the fight over and did not defend myself, go ahead.”

Mun released her immediately, backing away. “Our apologies, we thought you had meant to end it with a final attack.”

The shields around the hulls flared and broke, a bit of electricity zapping from one to the other before the guns lowered to the ground, smoke pouring out of small vents on the back of the hulls.

Sephiroth picked herself off of the ground and dusted herself off, before looking at Sol. “So, mind to share of what you were this protective of?” Pulling her sword out off the ground, she let it disappear.

“That-” Sol began in both voices, stopping and shaking her head a bit before continuing in only hers, “That attack would have obliterated my organic body, had it hit.”

“Yeah, about that. If the thick head over there-” She gestured vaguely in Mun’s direction. “Hadn’t distracted me, I would have stopped both of them myself. I never intended for them to hit. But I truly am impressed that you managed to stop one on your own.”

“Ah, so it would seem that we would have won if you hadn’t called the match,” Mun said as he walked over to the hulls.

Chuckling again, the woman nodded. “You would have, yes. I can’t fight at full power right now due to an injury. I’m actually surprised that that last attack hadn’t hur-uuuuuurrrrrggggghhhh!” She clutched her chest and toppled over, positively vomiting blood on the ground like she had in the infirmary after sharing her Cells.

“Sephiroth!” Max was at her side almost instantly. “I knew I shouldn’t have let you do this!”

She still clutched her chest and heaved a few times, agony searing through her, but she tried to smile nonetheless. “S-sorry, Max. Sol and Mun are really good and I let myself get carried away. D-don’t worry, I’m fine.”

“You’re coughing up blood.” The smaller woman put Seph’s arm around her shoulders and stood up. “You’re going straight back to the infirmary so Home can try to help you heal.”

Sephiroth groaned. “That isn’t necessary. No one can heal this wound until it healed itself. I promise to take it easy and not overexert myself again, but please don’t bring me back to that place. The beds are just plain uncomfortable.”

“Fine, but if you throw up blood onto my bed you’re cleaning it.” Max turned them towards the castle, the fillies joining them, but something made her fincée stop. One of the fillies had landed on Seph’s head again and she just assumed it was Rainbow, at least until Max spoke. “Looks like Golden did get wings.”

Chuckling, she followed the smaller woman’s lead without resistance. “That’s nice. But I missed it. are they black like my wing or are they matching her coat? I really hope it’s the latter.”

“They’re a bit darker than her coat, but not black.” They resumed their way towards the door. “She hasn’t put them away yet, so you could just look over your shoulder to see.”

Sephiroth did as much and smiled at the sight of the small orange feathers, that looked like they were fading into being out of the fur, colorwise. Matching the coat at the base and darken slightly on the way to their tips. “Neat.” Then she frowned slightly. “Sol didn’t answer my question.”

“I thought I had,” Sol said as she came up on our right. “I was protecting myself when I avoided that attack-”

“I heard that, but it doesn’t sound right for some reason.”

Sol grunted as she helped support Seph. “I was about to say that protecting Aurora’s new body was part of that.”

“Wait what?” Max questioned.

Something clicked inside Sephiroth’s mind and rage poured through her veins, which caused her to roar. “YOU FOUGHT ME WHILE BEING PREGNANT?!”

“It is early enough that there isn’t more than a small lump of cells, certainly no soul yet. The most we would lose would be three weeks.” Sol said.

Max facepalmed and said, “Sol, Seph loves children too much to let your aloofness about this slide.”

Sol’s words ticked her off enough that her eye began to twitch, but seeing as there were children with them she forced her voice down to a more decent volume, still managing to sound even angrier. “A lump of- Can you fathom what could have happened if I were able to fight earnestly?! And the most would be three weeks?! Would you just- could you- how- GAH!” Words failed her and she shook in rage.

The mare gave Seph an apologetic look and said, “Sorry, Mun and I get like that after we use TSDS. It usually wears off a few minutes after we untangle ourselves.”

All of Sephiroth’s wrath dissipated suddenly, taking almost all blood out of her face with it as she paled. “I fought a pregnant mare. I- I… threw a Flare at a pre-” Her now ghostly white face gained a distinct green sheen around her nose and she covered her mouth with one hand, while dry heaving into it.

“If you had known, Mun and I wouldn’t have had such a workout.” Sol shrugged. “It wouldn’t have made a difference, seeing as how I avoided your attacks.”

“I fu- I know attacks that you couldn’t have avoided in such an enclosed area! What if I had decided to use Beta instead?!”

“Then you would’ve taken out most of Canterlot,” Max stated, pulling open the door to the castle. “That shield would’ve shattered and the backlash of that would’ve made the explosion worse. That type of shield was made to use the energy of attacks that hit it as power…” She trailed off, but it wasn’t hard to put together what she meant. The shield would have overloaded and… she didn’t even want to end that thought.

“Ffffffffidles. Okay, never, ever use Beta.” Seph sighed and shook her head, slowly as to not disturb Golden too much. “Probably would have killed me to even try using it at the moment.”

“Look at it this way, if I or Mun had sensed something that powerful being used, we would have given up,” Sol said, leading them down a corridor to the right.

A brief image of total destruction flashed through Seph’s mind. The Black Materia running wild and she would have to watch her loved ones die without being able to do something about it. She quickly shook her head to dislodge the terrifying thought. “Let’s just say that I’m glad that you two are in charge of the family’s protection.”

“That’s part of why I bought them from Nono,” Max said as she opened the door to, what Sephiroth considered, their rooms. “Another was I wanted Nono to get out of my face about her debt to me.”

“Who’s Nono?”

“The one who Displaced me.”

Sitting down on the bed, Seph looked at Max with a raised eyebrow. “You know the one that sent you here?”

“Yeah, she’s real nice. If not for her figuratively trying to shove items down my throat because I paid too much for some things, we’d be the best of friends.”

After taking Golden from her head and hugging her, she let herself fall back on the bed. “The only memory I got left from mine is that he turned up in the castle’s garden and freed me from my imprisonment. Looked kind of shabby, with his giant trench coat and his rucksack that jingled like he got millions of little things in it.”

“Ah, that’s The Merchant.” Max chuckled and sat down next to her. “Everyone calls him that because he looks exactly like the Merchant from the Resident Evil games.”

She could already feel herself slip away but just had to tell Max for some reason. “Huh… Well he took my tears as payment for freeing me. Don’t know why, though. Could ask him who I was in my old life.” She began to absentmindedly stroke Golden to stave off sleep a little while.

“You’ll have, to trade for any little bit of information, though. I’ve heard he can be ruthless in his dealings from the Dis…” Listening to Max’s voice while falling asleep had something very soothing and Sephiroth drifted off.

Chapter 20 - Freeing Elementals and Diplomatic Discrepancies

A blast of hot air greeted Sephiroth when she entered the forge. After what happened the last night, Max had practically ordered her to rest and she had watched over the children with Nightmare and Celestia until now. Then she remembered though, that she had completely forgotten to visit Calcifer to retrieve her necklace. Leaving the foals in the very capable hooves of the princesses, she had decided to do that now.

“Hey, Calcifer. Sorry for being late, but here I am.”

The fiery pony appeared in the flames and lit his horn as he said, “Ah, my new master. Come for her necklace and her slave.”

Crossing her arms in front of her chest, she deadpanned at the Elemental. “Necklace, yes. Slave, no. You have been influenced by demonic magic, Calcifer. All and every feeling you think you have for me are not true.”

“Heh, then you don’t know Fire Elementals.” He smiled and floated the necklace over to her, which she put on immediately. “Nothing can tamper with our passions or lust. I want to serve you, not because of your ‘demonic’ powers, but because I liked what I saw.”

Sephiroth facepalmed. “What you saw was the result of demonic magic. My other forms are tempered with by my succubus powers. And even then, I’m not the kind of woman that wants slaves.”

Calcifer’s ears drooped and his face turned forlorn. “Not even a servant?”

Her expression softened a little, but she shook her head. “Calcifer… you’re bound to the forge by Luna so you have to be a capable Elemental. But I’m a warrior, not a leader. And, other than Max, I’m not willing to bed with anyone but her and Lance.”

He looked down and melted into the forge. “I’m not... I’m bound here for my protection. I’m the weakest of my kind and turned from the path they followed because I gave my heart to her....”

Biting her lower lip, her expression turned to one of sympathy, but she forced herself to return to a more neutral one. “You gave your heart away?”

The forge dimmed a bit as he said, “Yes... S-she gave it back, but by then every other Elemental knew what I had done.”

“You know, I did something similar not too long ago. I cut off a piece of my life to share it with Max’s daughter, Golden Spark. I gave her her leg back and eradicated the curse that had befallen her.” Waving her own thought off, she continued. “But I can’t claim to know what it means for you Elementals to do something like this. By what you told me it seems to be considered as something really hideous, though.”

“T-to give your heart to someone that can’t return the favor, yes.”

“I’m afraid I couldn’t return such an act, too. My heart is already spoken for. But you didn’t even insinuate something like this, sorry. I’m getting ahead of myself.” She sighed and rubbed at the bridge of her nose. “What I do not understand is why you want to be a servant to begin with. Why not a partner, or a comrade in arms? I think Nightmare would be very glad to get to know you. She likes to forge herself and often uses the most exotic materials. She is the one that gave me the idea to use the condensed shadow for the chain of the necklace.”

“I wasn’t asking for you to give me your heart, I was asking if you could protect me. I-... I like being ordered around...”

Sephiroth really began to feel uneasy about this, but didn’t show it. “I kind of can relate to that, but you live in the castle’s forge. What is there that you need protection of, that can reach you here? Max calls this place her home, Sol and Mun managed to beat me and Sombra really knows how to fight.”

“.... Okay. But... can you visit every once in a while? It’s lonely here and barely anyone actually comes here besides to pick up orders.”

“Isn’t there a way how you could move around more freely? Without setting everything on fire, preferably.” She asked, increasingly feeling bad for the fire pony.

“I can move around anyways, I just lose heat when I’m away from the forge... Once you give someone your heart, it can’t be put back.”

Sephiroth stayed silent for a little while, her eyes fixed onto a suspicious looking lump near the middle of the forge. “Calcifer? What exactly would you gain from it if I’d accept you as my servant?”

“Being able to leave here and travel while still being protected. I don’t want to die in this forge, but I want to be able to live for centuries more. I-I can do that if someone is my master.”

She lapsed into silence once more before cautiously asking, “And what would that entail? For both of us? I really don’t want to bend you to my will unintentionally or something.”

“I will be bent to your will regardless. I will have only as much freedom as you want me to have. That is all this comes with.”

“What of privacy? And don’t try to lie to me so you can peek every time I have sex.” Her voice gained a threatening edge to it and she shifted her weight onto her other foot. “Also, if we find a real partner for you along the way, one that actually can give you her heart in return, would it be possible to end our pact without harming anyone of us?” She began to pace in front of the cauldron. “How would we be bound anyway? Would you gain your own body or would you ‘inhabit’ mine?”

Calcifer’s head formed out of the forge, a hopeful look on his face. “I would give your privacy as much respect as I could while following your orders and our pact can be revoked at any time without damage to either of us. I would still have my body as you see me now, but you would be able to will me to change.”

“Every time I come by the forge you form your body first before interacting with me. What I want to know is, would you be somehow ‘residing’ in my body and just coming out when you want to? Or would you actually have your own, not needing to ever sink into mine?” She stopped her pacing and facepalmed. “Holy, that sounded so wrong right now.”

Calcifer grinned. “I would reside in whatever you wanted me to. A gourd, a pouch, some revealing armor-”

“You are so not helping your case right now!” Sephiroth huffed. “The question that would actually interest me is, would it not matter to you in what you reside or would it be more comfortable to actually be in something organic. And if I can will you to be what I want, could I just will you to be whole again and your own pony?”

Calcifer pulled himself fully out of the forge and floated above it. “That... has never been done before, but my true form is nothing more than a floating ball of molten metal. I was never a pony, and only chose this form because Luna liked it.”

“You haven’t answered my question. What would you prefer to reside in? It doesn’t matter to me if you aren’t used to actually be asked for your opinion, but if you want to form a pact with me, you’ll have to get used to it.” Seph stood in front of the forge, leaned to the side a little and tapping her index finger on the upper arm of the other arm. “But I would try to make you whole again first thing after forming our pact. Then you wouldn’t need to be anyone’s servant.”

“Pony, ball, elephant, dragon, doesn’t matter to me. But trying to make me whole using our pact?” He shook his head. “Never has there been someone as kind as to do that for a fallen Elemental.”

“That still does not answer the question in what you would prefer to reside. A knife? A glove? My shoulder guard? Or if I turn you into a living being, can you leave my side without losing… erm ‘heat’?”

“.... I’d suggest somewhere private, but I know you wouldn’t let me near there.”

Her hand met her face with a resounding slap. “What about the chain you forged for me? that’s my absolute limit concerning any ‘intimate’ areas. But let’s worry about that later, after making you whole again didn’t work. Also I have to talk to Max about this first. I can’t just render her forge useless without her consent.”

“Oh, I can enchant the forge so it’s always at the right temperature. One of the supposed helpers I was given can take over making things. You sure I can’t inhabit your undergarments? I could always keep you warm.”

“Erm… Calcifer? I don’t have undergarments.”

He melted his lower body back into the forge, a dopey little smile on his face. “Oh, okay. Yeah, how about the necklace then?”

Slowly nodding, Sephiroth had to make an active effort not to shout in frustration. It did not elude her why he had hidden his lower body. “If I succeed in making you whole again you can just be on your own, yes?”

“After you break our pact, yes. But that’s if your plan even works.” The fiery unicorn pushed the lump Seph had noticed closer to her. “For regular Elementals it’s a bit harder than for those of us who have fallen. You simply have to merge my heart with the item you want me to be bound to.”

The woman did not move to grab the lump. “Just out of curiosity, what would happen if I merged your heart with myself?”

“I’d be bound to your body and would change to better represent it. I’d still be male in mind, but no matter what I do, anything I change into would always look female.”

A deep frown appeared on her face. “I wouldn’t want that. Do I just pick up your heart and hold it onto the chain?”

“To avoid absorbing it into yourself, it would be better to hold the chain in your hand and press it into my heart. you’ll have to say ‘with this, I bind you to my will’ as you do so.”

Nodding she took off the necklace again and sighed. “I can’t believe I’m actually doing this.” Lowering the chain to the heart, she recited. “With this, I bind you to my will.”

The heart beat once, blurring before it lurched upwards and started seeping into the necklace. She just held still and watched what transpired, locking her own expectations for the Elemental and not allowing herself to think otherwise than that he should just be himself.

Once the heart fully merged with the necklace, Calcifer chuckled. “Really? You mean I can tease you when you’re trying to sleep?”

“Actually, I wouldn’t outright force you not to, but ask of you to refrain from it. If there is something that will never change, is that I want you to have your own, free will. And now to try and make you whole again.” Seph closed her eyes and closed her hand around the necklace, trying to will the heart to merge with the Elemental himself again.

Calcifer shook his head and fully formed himself, reaching out to try to stop Seph. “That’s-” His hoof brushed the necklace and he was blasted backwards, hitting the far wall and dripping down into a formless puddle.

Shocked, the woman stared at the puddle. “Calcifer?! Are you alright?!”

He groaned and pulled his head up. “Damn, feels like Luna hit me in the chest with a boulder.”

She shot him an apologetic smile. “Sorry. I did not intend to hurt you. But what exactly happened? I just focused on reuniting you with your heart.”

Calcifer pulled himself together and rubbed his chest. “I don’t know, all I did was try to stop you from hurting yourself. Okay, why-” His eyes widened in shock and he stopped moving.

This worried her and she took a step in his direction, not being bothered in the slightest that she was almost climbing into the forge now. “Is something wrong?”

Suddenly he shot forward and set his lips on hers, wrapping his legs around her.

Sephiroth’s eyes widened in complete bafflement and tried to break the non-consensual kiss. “Hmm! Mpf!”

Calcifer ended the kiss and nuzzled her neck, giving her a constant stream of “Thankyou!”

Not really understanding what happened, she frowned. “Calcifer. I may be heat and fire resistant… but my clothes aren’t.”

“Oh, well here, let me do that for you,” He said as his horn flashed, her clothes flashing the same fiery color. “There! The least I can do for you returning my heart to me.”

“Wait, it worked? Wow, I’m really glad for you- MPF!”

He interrupted her with another kiss and then flew off around the room, laughing.

Seph just sighed and rested her forehead in her hand, noticing that she had the necklace still in it and just put it back on. Murphy said he wasn’t the one to blame, but she had a hard time not cursing at least some being responsible for such situations. Well now she had kissed Lightning and Fire, and she had to admit that it was an interesting experience. She shook her head hastily and frowned. Where had that thought come from? Deciding not to dwell on the matter for any longer, she instead tried to focus on Calcifer again. “You’re welcome.”

He stopped and turned back to face Sephiroth. “I won’t ever forget this. Whatever you need, I’ll make it free of charge.”

“Erm… that’s nice but don’t you need that payment? Also I still have to pay the second half for the necklace.” She tilted her head slightly and raised an eyebrow.

“No, you don’t. With my heart not bound or in me I was slowly dying. I was prolonging my life by consuming anything that would burn.” He looked away, shame evident on his face. “I didn’t have the courage to tell Luna that.”

Sephiroth shrugged. “Well, I certainly won’t hold it against you that you tried to live on. Now you can do whatever you want, wherever you want. But I’m afraid that I don’t really need anything right now.”

He looked back at her, excitement in his eyes. “You sure? I could make you a complete set of armor. Fully covering your assets, too!”

Chuckling at his enthusiasm and kind of happy that she was the cause for it, she gave it an actual thought. “That’s tempting, but I rather like my attire.” Absentmindedly she played with Kat’s token on its chain and suddenly a sharp pain lanced through her head. It was gone in the next moment, too briefly there to even make her flinch, but somehow she knew what she would like. “I kind of can think of something. Say, could you add something to my necklace?”

“That’s childsplay. What would this addition be?”

She opened her mouth to answer him, but was at a loss. The image was there, but she just couldn’t put words to it, didn’t know how to describe it. Shaking her head she closed her mouth and her eyes, too. Sorting through the memories Max had given her and searching for something that could be of help. Finding one spell, she nodded and looked back at Calcifer, her right hand glowing in her pale green aura briefly before the image in her mind appeared floating over her palm. It was a strangely formed oddity, that looked like a combination of a sword, a key and a star, while its hilt was framed by two flared wings. Seeing it in front of herself brought up a single word.

“Oathkeeper. That is its name. I want it to be of silver or a likely colored metal that is resilient and added under the diamond.”

Calcifer pulled over a few shards of metal and immediately formed the miniature blade, flash cooling it and hooking it through a one link chain on the bottom of the necklace in under a minute. “Ah, it’s good to be back in top shape! That ‘Oathkeeper’ will not be broken nor will it be melted by anything that isn’t hotter than a Fire Elemental’s heart.”

Sephiroth lifted the new addition to examine it and smiled dreamily. She didn’t know why, but it seemed to be incredibly important for some reason. Ripping her gaze away from it, she looked at Calcifer. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome! Just come on back if you need something made. Hell, tell Max that I’ll make anything for free.”

“Heh. I will.” She was about to leave, when she paused. “Actually I do have another idea. The fight with Sol and Mun gave me this idea. Would it be possible to forge new shoulder guards that are enchanted to block incoming attacks? A magical full-body armor so to speak, that only activates when needed?”

“Giving me my first challenge, eh?” Calcifer chuckled. “I’ll call you back once I’m satisfied I fulfilled your quota.”

“I would prefer it if they looked just like my current ones. And I’ll be here for at least another week or so. You could just inform Max though, she can summon me anytime.”

He nodded and leapt into the forge, levitating metals and tools over and beginning his work.

Chuckling again, she charged up her teleportation spell. “See ya around, Calcifer.” And with that her surroundings changed to the hallway in front of her rooms. But instead of entering, she paused. “Better tell Max right away.” She scryed her fiancée’s location and her brow creased, when she didn’t receive one at first only for it to suddenly appear. “How…? Well I’ll just ask her myself.”

With another quick teleportation she appeared in Max’s office. “Hey. Everything alright in here?”

“Yeah, we just got back from helping someone with a bar fight,” Max said, sitting down in the chair behind her desk. “And no, I didn’t actually fight. I just broke up the fight with my shotgun.”

“I thought you asked if we should get some lunch?” A changeling queen said as she picked herself up off the floor.

Instantly Sephiroth’s whole body tensed up and with the screeching sound of metal against metal, her sword flared into existence. Images of Chetyre flashed in front of her inner eye and before she knew what she did she already had the vile creature’s mane clenched in one fist while her blade rested against its neck.

“Sephiroth, please don’t kill Chrysalis. She’s an ally and nothing like Chetyre,” Max calmly said as she stood back up.

It took a few moments for Max’s words to seep through the haze of bloodlust that had clouded her mind, but when they did she blinked. The images of the king fading away, revealing another changeling. Reluctantly she let go of the bug’s mane and lifted her sword away from its neck, but didn’t let it vanish, as she took a step back. Grumbling, she said with a forced neutral tone, “Apologies. I… confused you for another.”

“It’s okay, I don’t take it personally,” Chrysalis said as she rose to her hooves. Only to punch Sephiroth in the gut and continue. “Now we’re even.”

The silver haired woman didn’t so much as flinch, but her eyes narrowed dangerously. “Careful. You might break something.” Not really in the mood to further the conversation, she instead focused her gaze towards Max. “Calcifer wants you to know that he will offer his services for free from now on.”

Max gave her a confused look as she said, “Why the sudden change?”

She just gave a curt answer, due to her deteriorating mood. “I reunited him with his heart.”

Max sighed and shook her head. “Seph, the changelings here are not like back in yours.”

“I don’t know of your universe’s changelings, but I can assure you we only did what is necessary to survive,” Chrysalis said, walking over to the door. “That is the only reason why I did not try to escape your grasp.”

Sephiroth growled. “Yeah, stay by your delusion, changeling.” The urge to just beat that arrogance out of that bug was almost overwhelming, but she managed to hold herself back. The cold and utter hatred she felt was another matter entirely.

Chrysalis stopped when she reached the door and turned around. “You coming, Max?”

“I’ll join you for lunch in a little,” Max said looking directly at Seph, an expression of disappointment on her face.

When she noticed the look on her fiancée’s face, a searing pain cut through her heart and all that prevented her from flinching was the numbing hatred.

Once the queen had left Max continued, “I know what Chetyre did to you was unforgivable, but you don’t have to hate more than just him. None of the changelings in this universe have done anything to warrant your rage.”

Her sword finally disappeared and she turned her head away, hiding her eyes behind her hair. Max was right, she knew that, but the freezing hatred wouldn’t just go away. Even now it whispered into her ear to chase that vermin and just make her feel pain, not kill her, but make her suffer. Break every inch of her shell and pour liquid fire in the cracks.

She heard footsteps and felt a hand on her shoulder. “Seph...”

Max was there, and sounded worried. Sephiroth struggled with herself, but managed to take a cleansing, albeit shaky, breath. “I didn’t intend to attack one of your allies. And I won’t try to make excuses for what I did.” She paused briefly, before adding. “But I can not promise you to let that bug live if I see her again.”

“Sephiroth. Chrysalis- changelings in general in this universe didn’t get their chance at peace until I convinced Luna and Celestia. I wouldn’t have let them stay more than a month if I thought they would hurt anypony they didn’t absolutely have to.” Max pulled her in for a hug. “They hate their past as much as you hate them, but they’re trying their hardest to change what everyone thinks of them.”

She stayed still, not moving to return the gesture. “I know that you are right. I know that Chetyre is the only one that deserves my hatred. But knowing this doesn’t change my feelings. They just won’t listen.”

Sephiroth felt Max nod. “It takes most of my willpower to stay calm around pegasi, if I’m honest. I can only hold back because I know I’ll be seen as a monster if I destroy every last pegasus on the face of this planet like I want to.”

Finally her hatred subsided, chased away by another feeling and she enclosed the smaller woman with her own arms. “It’s because of what happened to Celestia and Luna, right?”

Max started shaking, barely enough to be felt. “Yes... and I hate that I can’t truly love Rainbow Dash and Lucky just because of their race.”

Seph tightened her grip around her fiancée and wrapped her wing around her, too. “I don’t know if we can, but we should try to overcome this ill feelings.” She used one of her hands to lift Max’s head, so she would face her and smiled. “Together.”

Max smiled as she nodded and buried her face into Seph’s chest. “Y-yeah... why don’t we go get some lunch?”

Sighing, she returned her arm around Max and stayed in the hug a little longer. “We have to confront our feelings sooner or later and ideally on as many occasions as possible. So yeah, let’s. And I try not to be aggressive towards the changeling. Although her personality certainly didn’t help.”

Max broke the hug and led the way out the door. “Well, you did shove her down and threaten her with your sword. That would sour anyone’s mood.”

“Well…” Sephiroth decided against letting her wing fade and folded it on her back, while following her fiancée. “You have a point there. There is something I don’t quite understand. Why had nobody thought to return Calcifer’s heart to him?”

Max looked over to Seph, linking their arms. “Wait, he didn’t have his heart? When did that happen?”

The taller woman gained a thoughtful expression and instinctively walked a little closer to the one next to her. “I think he didn’t really mention when exactly, but he did say that he wanted to give his heart to Luna, at least I assume he meant her, but she wasn’t able to give him hers in return. For his kind this seems to be a great shame and he became, what he called, a ‘fallen’. His heart was in the forge ever since, bound there for his own protection. He practically begged for me to accept him as my slave or servant, but I reunited him with his heart instead.”

Max looked up in thought. “I think I remember reading something about a stallion giving Luna his heart, but I thought that was just an expression.” Her face turned troubled and she looked over her shoulder in the direction of the forge. “I didn’t know her diary was talking about Calcifer.”

“He was infinitely ashamed about it. Actually, I’m a little confused as to why he told me about it. We tested a little theory of mine and ever since he begged to be my slave.” Seph shook her head, realization filling her eyes shortly after. “Oh yes. I never told you. Since you transformed me into a pegasus I can do it myself, using my Cells. And when Kat was in my universe she used some strange badge to turn me into a gryphon. I didn’t try to change into a gryphon since, but my pegasus-form seems to be heavily influenced by my succubus magic.”

“Oh? Well why don’t you try turning into a gryphon? If you can’t do it using your Cells, you could use the transformation spell. After you learn it of course. I’d like to see what you look like as one.”

She shrugged. “Sure, why not? But let’s eat first.”

“Okay,” Max said as she opened the door to the dining room, revealing Chrysalis and a random guard making out in one of the chairs around the table.

Sephiroth instantly tensed, but forced herself to remain relatively calm. Seeing as the bug was occupied, she just strode over to her usual place at the table and sat down, careful not to bend her wing or something.

“Chryssi, I thought I told you to do that in a bedroom.” Max sat down next to Seph as the queen broke the kiss and looked over.

“Well, you did ask me if I wanted lunch,” The queen replied, not looking very steady. “Besides, I thought you would be longer than that.”

Max raised an eyebrow. “Does Straight Shooter know you’re cheating on him?”

Chrysalis waved her off. “He was busy, so he sent one of the privates from his squad.”

“Ah, I forgot Sombra promoted him to Corporal.”

Crossing her arms in front of her chest, Sephiroth caught herself glaring at the changeling. So she shook her head and looked around for the waiter-like servant. What was his name again? Silver Platter or something. She saw him waiting politely next to Max’s chair and told him to bring her just something real quick. She needed to distract herself from the bug.

“Before you go, Silver, could you bring me something as well?” Max asked, turning to face him finally.

“Yes, Grandmother,” He said, pointedly not looking across the table as he turned to enter the kitchens.

“Announcing, His Majesty, King Grey Talon IX,” A herald said from the door suddenly.

“Ah fuck, I forgot he was arriving today,” Max muttered before standing and motioning for Sephiroth to do the same.

Foreign dignitaries. Another reason to be a warrior. With a roll of her eyes she relented and lifted herself up to stand by Max’s side, still with crossed arms. “I rather liked gryphons before my imprisonment. They always said what they had on their mind outright and as blunt as a brick to the head.”

Before Max could respond a large, grey gryphon walked in. He had on a red cape and a plain, but obvious crown on his head. His eyes, though, were what drew Sephiroth’s gaze. He didn’t have any pupils, just two white, featureless orbs beneath two bushy brows.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, King Grey Talon,” Max said, gesturing for Silver to bring out another meal for the king. “I and my lover were just about to sit down for some lunch with Queen Chrysalis.”

Seph remained silent at first but decided to at least introduce herself, as to not seem impolite. “Greetings, King Talon-” That was when she remembered a way in which the gryphons in her universe often greeted their kind. “May your talons be sharp and your beak soaked in the blood of your prey. My name is Sephiroth and you have to excuse my lack of etiquette as I’m a warrior at heart.”

One of his eyebrows raised as he tilted his head. After a few moments he smiled and said, “That’s a very old greeting you used. I’m more of a warrior as well, so no harm there.”

“I’m afraid my knowledge of your kind is very outdated, but I’m very glad that there is still a rooster with honor in his heart on the throne.” A genuine smile tugged at the corners of Sephiroth’s lips.

“Bah! A ruler without honor is just a coward hiding behind his country.” The Gryphon walked over and sat on Seph’s other side.

Max smiled and said, “I agree. The rulers from my home universe... Let’s just say they weren’t always truthful about why they wanted power.”

Sitting down herself, Sephiroth grew silent again. Being reminded of her lost memories, she began to play with her Oathkeeper absentmindedly.

“So what kind of warrior are you, Sephiroth?” Grey Talon asked, chewing a piece of his raw steak. “A brute? A berserker? One with a noble quest?”

“That’s a good question. A few days ago I would have said that I’m a swordsmaiden, but I’m actually more of a wielder of both, a sword and powerful arcane arts. I prefer my blade, though.” She began to eat her own meal and was a little surprised that she got something like a medium steak with onions on top. With fried potatoes, and a serving of salad.

“A well rounded arsenal, I assume.” He sighed and shook his head. “I have wished a lot in my life that ponies weren’t the only ones that could wield magic.”

“Actually, you can. You just don’t know how to use it,” Max said as she swallowed a bite of- Seph looked away before she could turn green.

Suddenly not feeling very hungry anymore, she tried to swallow the bile rising in her throat and decided wisely against mentioning anything to Max.

“Oh? What is this mysterious way, then?” The gryphon king asked, leaning a bit towards Seph.

“Well, I could change how you take in magic and process it, but it might make your wings... not work anymore.”

Sephiroth didn’t want to take any chances with her demonic magic and swiftly stood up, distancing herself from the king in the process. “Excuse me. I have to leave for a little while.”

“Never mind that, we gryphons are about to gain magic!” Talon said, waving Sephiroth off.

“Why don’t you go see if the foals would like some lunch?” Max asked.

“Can do.” She went over to the door, before turning back a last time and bowing slightly in the direction of the King. “It was an honor to meet you, King Talon.”

The king didn’t reply, mainly because he and Max were discussing how he could gain control over magic.

Shrugging, she left through the door and teleported in front of her rooms. Opening the door revealed a scene that made it really hard not to break into laughter. The princesses were hopelessly outmatched by the foals in what looked like a pillow massacre. Down feathers were practically everywhere and the sole reason Celestia was even visible in all the white was that Golden and Light teamed up on her to tickle the living daylight out of her. Nightmare had a feather on the tip of her snout and was trying to get it off by scrunching up her muzzle and creating the funniest faces in the process.

When the black alicorn finally sneezed and thus sent a whole cloud of downs flying, Seph couldn’t take it anymore and dropped to the floor, laughing her ass off.

A chorus of three fillies said, “Mama!” and jumped on top of her, tickling her accidentally with the feathers stuck in their manes as they nuzzled her.

That caused her to laugh even harder, trying to hug all of the fillies at once. Which wasn’t that hard when she remembered to use her wing for it. Nightmare and Celestia decided to fix the mess of downs and with a few smaller flashes of their magic the slaughtered pillows were made whole again.

Rainbow stopped her nuzzling to look at Sephiroth and say, “Auntie Nighty and Celly started it!” The other two nodded furiously for a moment, wide smiles on their faces, before going back to nuzzling the woman.

Sephiroth managed to calm down enough to talk. “Is that what happened? Really?” Glancing over to the black alicorn told her everything she needed to know, but she wanted to give Rainbow the chance to confess.

“Yep! Nighty tossed a piwwow at me. Then Celly got hit when I threw it back.”

Forcing herself to adapt a serious expression, she cleared her throat. “From what I saw it was a truly epic pillow fight which puts all the other pillow fights to shame and whoever started it should be proud to have brought so much fun and pillowness to the realm of the sleepy chamber.”

Rainbow’s head tilted in confusion. “Huh?”

She nuzzled the filly and smiled. “What I meant is that it looked like it was fun.”

The filly giggled and nuzzled her back. “Uhuh!” Her stomach rumbled and she giggled again.

“Sounds like you’re hungry.” Posing the question to the entirety of the present ponies she raised her voice a little. “Who wants something to eat?”

The two adult alicorns had finished cleaning up the room and came over to the door as the three fillies cheered and tried their hardest to pull Sephiroth onto her feet. Or so she thought.

Sephiroth felt her coat slip from around her front and Light immediately latched onto her nipple while Golden waited with an expectant look on her face. Chuckling, she carefully lifted Light away from her breast and used her other hand to close her coat again. “Not that kind of food.” Softly stroking Light for a second so she wouldn’t be so upset, hopefully, she stood up, making sure to support every filly with her arms. “We’re joining mother Max for dinner.”

Nightmare grinned as she walked into the hallway, a deeply blushing Celestia by her side. “I see that your teats have already been in use, considering the familiarity the foals have shown towards them and them assuming that with ‘food’ you were referring to milk.”

Her cheeks almost burst into flame and she glared at the black mare. “Got a problem with that?”

“No. It’s rather cute.” A chuckle escaped the taller alicorn when the blush on both faces, that of Celestia and Sephiroth’s, only intensified. “Now let us be off. I could use something to eat myself.”

The trip back to the dining room went by without further incident, for which she thanked Holy greatly, and soon she entered it again with three fillies and two mares in tow. “I’m back. And I brought company.”

“-That’s how you - hey Seph - create a basic shield,” Max said, her example fading from around her. Across the room standing on the opposite end of the table was a grey, wingless gryphon with yellow eyes that shone with excitement.

Sephiroth stopped dead in her tracks and stared, leaning over to Nightmare after a few moments and whispering, “You see that too, right? Because I’m certain that gryphons are supposed to possess wings and that this particular one had a pair when I left to get the foals.”

The mare blinked in confusion, before whispering back. “I just assumed that he lost his in a fight, but if what you say is true, then I’m not sure if there wasn’t an illusion placed on him. Granted I can’t feel one, but that could be because it’s really subtle.”

“Ah, Sephiroth I presume. It is nice to finally be able to see you,” the grey gryphon said with a wide smile, making Seph realize it was the king.

Going over to Max, she placed the fillies in their usual seats and signalled Silver to bring them something to eat, while Nightmare sat down by the foals as if it was the most natural thing in the world, shortly after followed by Celestia. When she arrived at where Max and the king were… practicing, she bowed her head slightly. “May I ask what happened while I was gone?” She had a hunch with what her fiancée had said before she left but it was better to confirm her suspicions.

“He wanted me to make him able to use magic, but I decided to give him sight as well,” Max said as she stepped onto a chair and then the floor.

Seph nodded in understanding. “I’m happy for you, King Talon and welcome to the world of magic.”

“You don’t have to pretend that you care, Dame Sephiroth, An old warbird like myself should learn new tricks every year or so to keep up with the dang youngin’s,” Grey Talon said, waving her off.

Lifting an eyebrow, she did her best to not sound insulted. “I always care about children, King Talon. And before you state that you aren’t one anymore, let me tell you that I’m more than a thousand years old, so even you would classify as a child compared to me.”

He grinned and shook his head. “That may be true, but I still have the aches and pains that come with being old.”

“True, but all I said was that I actually care and do not pretend to. I always had a soft spot for children but Max is the reason I view every living being that is less than 300 years old as a child. That prevented me from committing acts I would have greatly regretted.” Sephiroth smiled down at the king.

“Then it’s a good thing I’m over four hundred!” He slapped Sephiroth on the back in a friendly manner as he chuckled. “Though I still have the stamina of a thirty year-old.”

She chuckled and returned the gesture. “Pardon me. You don’t look a year older than 103.”

“Hah! A flatterer as well as a warrior.”

“I hate to break this up, but you said you’d show me your gryphon form, Seph?” Max said, sitting down at the table.

Freezing, Seph let her gaze wander over all occupants of the room, before she returned her eyes to Max. “Don’t you think we should do that in a more… private environment? Considering what happened with my other form.”

Nightmare’s ears perked up and she looked at the silver haired woman with burning curiosity. “Now, I absolutely have to see what you are referring to.”

“Come on Seph, it isn’t like anyone’s going to do anything with the fillies here,” Max said as she rolled her eyes.

“I am intrigued as well,” The king said, a small bit of mischief in his eyes.

Sephiroth groaned and lifted a hand to her forehead. “I am not taking responsibility for anything that happens after I transformed, you got me?”

“Wasn’t saying you had to,” Max said after giving Seph’s cheek a kiss.

“Alright. You called for it.” The taller woman’s body looked like it crumbled to black dust, which then gathered in the general form of a gryphon before almost melting into the form of a jet black griffin with the front half more looking like from a crow than an eagle. Her talons were the grey of polished steel and her cat like, teal eyes seemed to glow, which, combined with her unnaturally black feathers, made them look like a predator was looking out of the shadows all the time. On her back were, indeed, two large black wings, neatly folded to her sides at the moment. She was of a slender build but with every movement the toned muscles under fur and feathers alike became more than obvious. Taller than the King, she gave off an aura of authority and power, marking her as a fierce warrior and predator.

The king’s jaw dropped as his feathers flattened a bit, his posture lowering somewhat. She could tell, though, that he was more than excited to see her from how she could see his dick slowly hardening.

“Whoa. You definitely are my little succubus~.” Max pulled Sephiroth close and gave her beak a kiss.

The chick reciprocated the kiss as best as she could with a beak, but reared back when she heard the catcall from across the table, originating from Nightmare. “Shame that you don’t want to share my bed.”

Groaning the gryphoness faceclawed, but her blush was vibrant enough to show through her feathers. “I knew the dumb magic would mess with all of my transformations.”

“I’ve met a succubus or two in my time, this isn’t at all like their magic,” Grey Talon said, finally shaking himself out of his stupor. “I had blinded myself the first time to get away.”

Nightmare chose to answer in Seph’s stead. “That would be for more than one reason, your highness. First my friend has adopted this brand of magic from the Succubi of our universe and second it’s underdeveloped. On top of that, she is making an active effort to suppress its effects, but obviously fails at that.”

The black gryphoness snapped her head around to look at the similar colored mare. “Hey!”

“Like I keep telling you, you have to accept this part of you,” Max said, a finger trailing down Seph’s wing. “That’s the only way you’ll gain control over it.”

Shuddering from the unexpected wave of pleasure, Sephiroth felt how it impacted her mind, threatening to roll over and drown it. She shook her head to clear it and clenched her beak. “Not going to happen. I’ll fight this and I’ll overcome this, even if I have to find a way to order my Cells to purge it from me.”

“It’ll just fight all the harder to gain control,” Grey Talon said. “That is why I had to resort to blinding myself.”

With a frustrated growl she transformed back into her original body and crossed her arms in front of her chest, a scowl firmly set on her face. “I just have to refrain from using my other forms and from sex until I gain control or get rid of it.”

“Aw... So no fun tonight?” Max asked, a pleading look on her face.

Cursing inwardly, she suddenly found herself between a rock and a hard place. But she could at least try to find a way out of it. “Shouldn’t you take it easy for the kid?”

Max’s expression turned into a pout. “Yeah, I should... Doesn’t mean I like it, though.”

She bit back a relieved sigh and put on an apologetic expression instead. “Sorry, but I could never forgive myself if I somehow hurt a child.”

“I know...” Max sighed and gave her a small smile. “I could possibly wait until Lance gets home, as long as it doesn’t take him two weeks or something.”

“Err… how exactly would needing to take it easy change with who you bed with?” Genuinely confused, Sephiroth blinked down on her fiancée.

“Because I’d be waiting longer between every bedding. I’d love to be able to sleep with someone every night, but...” Max gestured to her stomach. Her eyes widened and she pulled Sephiroth’s hand to her stomach right as the baby kicked.

A big smile stretched across Seph’s face and she hugged the pregnant woman with the unoccupied arm and her wing alike, while keeping the hand on her belly and gently stroking with it. “Seems like he’s pretty healthy and active.”

“Yep. Heh, you should’ve seen Home’s face when I told him nine months was normal for humans.”

The taller woman chuckled and felt her resistance crumble as the content and happiness eroded her reservations. “Look, Max. I don’t want you to suffer because I have silly problems with some demonic magic. It would be doable that I give you some fun, but it would be solely for your enjoyment.”

Max leaned out of the hug and looked at Sephiroth. “I can wait. I’m supposed to be anyways so I can try to set a better example for our fillies.”

“Okay. But don’t refrain from telling me if you are uncomfortable, please?”

Max gave her a knowing smile. “You’ll know when I can’t stand it any more.”

Nodding, the silver haired woman turned her attention back towards the table, noticing that Nightmare and Celestia were busy helping the children. Feeling a little brave, she chanced a glance in the direction Chrysalis had been. If she was honest with herself she hadn’t really paid attention if the bug was still present when she returned. She was relieved to find that the changeling had apparently left, so she just leaned back and stayed silent.

“So you said something about this affecting my children?” the gryphon king asked.

“Yes, from now on the children of yours that are hatched will be able to use magic, but will not have wings.”

The king clapped his claws together and rubbed them, a big grin on his face. “Then it’s time I took my leave, my wives aren’t hatching right now so...” He waggled his eyebrows at Sephiroth and turned to leave.

Seph just gave a respectful bow of her head. “Have a safe journey home.” But she couldn’t help it to add in her mind, This world is way too kinky.

Prolog - Weeping Stone

Sorrow, betrayal, hatred, rage… and above all that… agony. A shattered soul mad with a burning desire for revenge.

I never hurt a single one of them, yet they feared me. They despised me.
Not because of what I actually did, but what I could have done.

I’ll show them…

I’ll give them reasons to fear me.

“...aren’t supposed to be here this late.”

“Aww. My little scaredy cat wants to run home and hi~de.”

“Hey! Don’t call me that! I’m not afraid, not a single bi-”

A voice caught in a throat. Stunned into silence by whatever caught its attention. I would have said that I did not care, but that would be wrong. Standing, or more accurately kneeing, in the same position for more than a millenium tends to get boring enough so that you lapse on to everything that can distract you for whatever short period of time.

It sounded like a young couple. Sneaking into the castle gardens at night, thinking they were not seen. I would have laughed if my lungs weren’t petrified.

The castle guards were never unaware, especially when something or somepony comes near me. Urgh. Things ponies think they can do when not watched. Somehow I really liked the thought of how my stomach would churn at the thought of what happened not a meter away from my prison.

And at a regular basis at that!

Celestia saw fit that my statue, kneeling on the ground, leaning forward, both of my hands in front of my face while I weep helplessly in them, was to be labeled as something romantic.
The nerve!

I will fucking kill that bitch when I get out!

The fact that my stoned (ha!) eyes leaked out small, green gems that were thought to be a good luck charm for couples didn’t help in the slightest.

It always made me remember this heartbreaking scene in Final Fantasy VII. Where Nanaki howls towards the statue of his father which then in turn begins to leak said gems like I do.

Oh how I wished I could sigh in exaggeration. Only for that wish to turn from sighing to slapping my forehead with my palm, hard. The cause of this were the ponies now standing in front of me, each of them fetching one of the gems out of the bowl in front of my knees.

I mean, that’s totally sick, isn’t it?

They take my fucking tears and wear them as luck charms for their relationships.
The irony was so hard that it actually hurt.

Or, I wish it did.

What they didn’t know that those tears had been shed because I was betrayed by the one being that I thought loved me! Unfortunately, this brought memories back. Memories I had tried so hard to bury, burn or ANYTHING that would get rid of them!

How could he?! I actually really loved him! And that bastard even had the nerve to say that he, too, love me! In the very moment I realized that they were about to bring me down! He even was so cruel as to sound like he meant it!

“Oh look! It’s weeping even more. That means we’re blessed by the one winged angel!”

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!

Author's Note

Special thanks go to Golden Script, as he took the time to edit this chapter.

Chapter 8 - The City beneath the Mountain

After they ventured through seemingly endless tunnels for a few minutes, the only source of light being little holes in the ceiling in random intervals, Sephiroth whispered to Max. “I get that you said they were supposed to be a race from a video game. But what are they doing in Equestria? Are they a common existence, the similarities being coincidental, or what?”

“No. This is the first I’ve heard of them being in an Equestria,” Max whispered back, continuing to hum some sort of song.

She hadn’t really anything to say so she just listened to the somewhat familiar song. It irked her memories but wasn’t enough to bring to mind where she heard the tune before. But for some reason it reminded her of her time with Nightmare. Which caused her to frown and lower her gaze to the ground in front of her. Nightmare was still with her possessed sister. Could she really just build a home and lay low while her former best friend was likely being brainwashed again?

So lost in her thoughts she didn’t really notice that the tunnel had widened significantly and that they had come across a few smaller ones that branched off. In addition to the holes in the ceiling, which actually had grids in them now, there were now torches on the walls.

“Dangit, now I have that song stuck in my head,” Max said, pulling out a phone and some headphones.

Sephiroth didn’t notice until one of the guards raised his glaive in alarm to point it at the man. “What is that?!” This caused her to look over and frown even more. Something told her that she should know what the things were that Max had in his hands but she just couldn’t draw it from her memories.

“Just something from my universe that plays music,” Max explained, tapping something and a song started playing.

The guard looked surprised but pulled his glaive back in a kind of ready stance before simply ignoring the two beings again. The woman of the two directed her gaze back to the front and examined the leader of the group. And for the third time she had this feeling that she should be familiar, but again she drew a blank.

“Wait, Freya is their leader?” Max whispered to her.

The woman stared uncomprehendingly at the other human and whispered back. “How do you know her name? I don’t recall her introducing herself.”

“Video game. She joins the player’s party in Final Fantasy nine.”

Sephiroth looked to the leader and then back again. “So she looks like this Freya character. But that doesn’t have to mean that she really is her.”

“There’s one way we can find out.” Max raised his voice and asked, “Is your name Freya, by any chance?”

As one the whole group of rats froze. For a few moments none of them did so much as twitch until the female in front of their group slowly turned around, her expression unreadable. “How can you know of that name?”

“It’s a name from a story where I am from. The character that was described sounds like how someone would describe you.”

Surprisingly a bright blush covered the leader’s face and she averted her gaze. “Flattery won’t help you. But I must admit that I was not aware of the fact that her legends spread beyond our borders.” She took a minute to calm herself and then continued. “Freya is the patroness of all dragon knights and said to be the very origin of our profession. The history of our kind states that she was one of the first of us in this world.”

Sephiroth nodded and tried to pry a little more information out of the rat. “So you designed your armor with hers in mind?”

“That is true, yes. Now stop stalling.” The leader turned around again and they began to walk again.

Max leaned over to Sephiroth and whispered, “I think if we get out of this I’m gonna show her a good time.”

In response the woman just groaned and slapped a palm to her forehead.

“Oh come on, you know I’m a horndog. I haven’t had any in a month and before you summoned me I watched my fiance dominate an alternate of my previous wife! My mind has been in the gutter this entire time and I have kept a lot from leaving my mouth.”

“Look. Do whatever you want, but do you have to tell me every single time? In case you didn’t notice. I’m not comfortable with this topic!” A slight blush had crept on her face despite her attempts to prevent it and she groaned again. “Thanks for the mental images by the way!” She spat with enough sarcasm to draw the attention of several rats.

“At least you know why my pants have been tented all this time.”

“What are you talking ab-” She couldn’t avoid lowering her gaze when he had said it and jumped back so forcefully that she accidently slammed one of the guards into the wall. “What the FUCK?!”

The guard who was launched into the wall just slumped on the spot, out like a light, while the others sprang to action raising their weapons again.

“I’m just glad I was downwind from you when I was a gryphon.”

Completely ignoring the rat’s angry glare, Sephiroth fixed one of her own at the man. “Seriously?! The whole time?! Even when I tried to comfort you?! Oh gosh, I embraced you like this?!”

“No. In fact it came back during the fight with the guard when I glanced your way.”

Her glare grew fierce before devolving into a sick expression. “You get turned on by me?! You call me your sister and get. Turned. On?!”

He raised his hands defensively. “Hey, whoa. It was the guard you had just put to sleep, not you. He was completely ripped, but didn’t have too much muscle.”

With a sigh, half born out of exasperation and half from relief, she lifted her hand in the direction of the unconscious guard and wrapped him in the green aura of her healing spell. That caused the other rats to attack. At least six glaives hissed through the air to stop the woman. But all they hit was air after she began to glow red and vanished.

What she didn’t anticipate was the cold steel she felt against her neck when she appeared in front of the guard on the floor. The leader had moved almost as fast and had awaited her approach. “If I were you, I would think my next action through very carefully.”

Sephiroth locked her gaze with the leader and slowly lifted an eyebrow. “I admit I’m impressed. But all I wanted was to heal him in case I somehow managed to hurt him.”

The eyes that were staring into her own were sharp and intelligent and seemed to judge her. After a few tense moments the blade of the axe part of the halbert withdrew from her throat. “You are the Angel, are you not? The one the ponies call Angel of Destruction.”

After making sure that the guard on the ground wasn’t hurt Sephiroth just turned around and took her place in the middle of the group again, not answering the leader.

At first the leader seemed like she would demand an answer, but then she just picked up the guard herself and slung him over her back, piggyback style. His weapon was collected by another guard and soon they were walking again.

From there it didn’t take them long before the tunnel gave way to a gigantic cavern which actually contained what looked to be a whole city in it. Complete with distinct buildings of varying sizes and shapes, all stretching out from a huge one in the center that was unmistakably the castle. As they neared the outer limits of the city they could see that the buildings were out of plain, beige stone, which was smoothed to an extent that the individual pieces weren’t visible until you looked for them. Almost too normal sounds for a city reached them and they could even see a few more rat people on the flat land surrounding it.

“Wow. You’re like this universe’s version of dwarves,” Max commented, nodding in approval.

The rats just kept to their pace and didn’t react to Max. As they closed the distance to the city, most of the people that noticed their group either scurried away or gave them a wide berth. Those that stayed behind openly stared at the hairless beings that were escorted into their city.

The leader of their group didn’t take kindly to being slowed down by the gapers and any rat, that hadn’t thought of clearing their path before, certainly did after being subjected to her glare. Murmurs and pieces of conversations flowed around them but not enough to make out anything in particular. As they advanced further there was a noticeable change in regards of clothing. While the rats in the outskirts barely wore enough to be considered decent, the more they neared the castle, that changed to real clothes at first and to fine attire later on.

At the castle itself the most prominent wear was armor worn by a multitude of guards, most of them armed with glaives and standing around… guarding. Whereas a few single individuals possessed an obviously custom-made armor, strangely all of them having halberds as weapons, seemingly marking them as some kind of elite.

They only stopped once they passed a building on the castle ground where the leader of their group handed the guard on her back over to some unarmored rats, which proceeded to carry him into said building. The infirmary, if Sephiroth guessed right. After that they continued on through a big gate leading them into the castle itself and into a rather plain entrance hall. No expensive decorations, not even carpets on the ground. The single prominent feature were two statues that stretched all the way to the ceiling. The one on the right looked a lot like their current leader, which made Sephiroth believe that this was Freya. The one on the right was clad in a similar attire but instead of it being coat like, it kept more to the form of the one who was wearing it and was completed by leg guards in form of trousers. Both of them hefting two gigantic halberds which doubled as pillars for the ceiling.

She would have liked to stay and examine the statues further but their escort kept pushing forward. They paused at two big doors of the same plain stone like the buildings of this city, their entourage standing at attention while the leader of their group talked to a guard next to the door. The woman noticed that this guard too held a halberd at his side. It made sense that the throne room was guarded by the elite, but what did strike her as odd was that only one guard stood before the door.

A minute later the doors opened and they were ushered in by their escort, but stopped again right as they passed the threshold. The throne room followed the very spartan theme in interior design and as such only contained a few featureless columns and a raised dais which held the throne. The only sign of luxury was the red carpet covering only the stairs in front of the throne itself, not even stretching any further than the dais. The throne was as plain as the rest of the castle and - to Sephiroth’s aggravation - empty.

She almost growled but then she noticed movement in front of her. At the foot of the dais stood a rather studious looking rat, compete with thick glasses and a clipboard, well without an actual clip on it. This was where the leader of their group headed to and another hushed conversation took place before the rat with glasses nodded and left through a door on the right of the throne. Then there was silence.

Over the course of the next ten minutes Sephiroth grew more and more annoyed. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and tapped her foot on the ground impatiently.

“I like this guy’s style! yeah, it makes him seem a bit more important than he really is, but us waiting here means that he’s more informal than what I thought,” Max whispered as he leaned over. “Not to mention he doesn’t bother with ostentatious decorations.”

Through clenched teeth the woman answered. “I never was very patient. And it seems I have grown used to people not making me wait.” She sighed, annoyed. “Am I that stuck-up that I can’t even wait for a few minutes anymore?”

“It’s just that you would rather be doing something other than waiting. I’m the same way, so I’m trying to wade through part of Equestria’s budget while I wait.”

“I just feel so arrogant for being affronted by waiting.” Her fists rhythmically clenched and relaxed again, making the leather of her gloves groan. “I’m almost inclined to ask for a little sparring while we wait. But I think they wouldn’t take too kindly if we would begin to fight in their throne room.”

“Well, you could pretend I said something that angered you and I could use that to turn it into a training session,” He offered, still whispering. “You’d be able to hit me.”

Sephiroth really considered his offer but the decision was taken from her when the door to the right of the throne opened again, revealing a rat not clad in what she would have expected from a king, but a simple armor. The only thing depicting him as the king was that he wore a simple crown in place of a helmet. He looked more like a fierce warrior than a noble and was even missing half of one ear. Scars littered what was visible of his hide beneath his armor, which creaked with the flexing of the bulk of his muscles under it. With no sign of hesitation or a limp he headed for the throne but didn’t take place in it. Instead he opted to stay in front of it and examined the newcomers as if awaiting something.

As if taking that as his cue, Max walked forward out of the circle of guards and bowed. “It is an honor to meet you. I am Max Caulfield a visitor from a different universe, much like how your race isn’t native to this planet.”

Sephiroth hesitated for a moment but swallowed her pride and followed Max’s example. “And I am Sephiroth. But I fear that I don’t have to say anything else for myself.”

The king, on his part, continued to examine the two, but a little smile on his face showed that he was pleased by their greeting. When he spoke, the depth of his voice surprised the woman. “I am Fratley. Leader of my kind but you already knew that.” His gaze fixed the silver haired human first. “If I’m not mistaken, you wear a few titles, but as you refrained from naming a single one of them I take it that you don’t want them. Angel of Destruction, Whore of Chaos-”

“Insult my sister again and I will slap you. Those were bestowed on her by the creature possessing Celestia,” Max warned, snapping his gaze up to lock on the king’s.

He bellowed with laughter for a moment before he continued. “Bane of the Sun and Companion of the Moon, Conqueror of Dragons and - my favorite title, I must admit - Godmother of all Children.” Sephiroth’s eyes widened at the last one, completely caught off guard and unable to say something to that.

“Heh, wasn’t expecting that last one, I must say.” Max stood up fully and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

Again the king’s laughter bellowed through the room. “I take it that she herself didn’t know of this title. It’s one rarely used in these days and nearly unknown to the ponies, due to the efforts of the sun. It was chaos himself that created it before he decided to follow his love. Every race knows of it but last I heard we burmecians are the only ones directly using it. So, in a way, she is the godmother of every living burmecian.”

Floored was a way too weak word to describe how Sephiroth felt right now. Still too shocked to do anything but stare at the king.

“Well, it seems I overestimated how formal you were even after I lowered my expectations. You see, I call a different Equestria my home and have... basically been railroaded into being the sole ruler.” Max sighed and continued, “I kinda wish you were in my universe, now.”

“We burmecians tend to be straightforward but a lot of us can be very thick headed. Just ask the Sun. We refused to die for almost a thousand years now. Honor and a strong arm are what we value the most. But enough of that. What brings you to my lands?”

“We were trying to find a place for Sephiroth to build a home, maybe even a town of those who don’t like Celestia. In my universe, the valley above this city is untouched by everything but squirrels and other woodland critters.”

The king clapped his hands in front of himself. “I already stated that she is considered the godmother of all burmecians, so she will be welcome to stay. Maybe we even could begin to expand to the surface with her being here. The stories tell of her strength and that she could rival the Sun. So we won’t have to fear her anymore.” A sad sigh escaped the great warrior. “You have to understand that we weren’t meant to life underground. But we were forced to in order to hide from the Sun’s watchful eye.”

Sephiroth finally managed to gather her thoughts for a whisper. “Discord… did this? He…” She couldn’t begin to describe or even understand what she felt in this moment. The one she thought betrayed her, the one she hated for all those years in stone, the one she was dead set to kill... the one she found she still loved. Had tried to redeem her name and took his life to follow her into whatever afterlife they believed in here. She felt an overwhelming urge to cry, to scream to the heavens until her voice gave out, anything to somehow create an outlet for the pain that overtook her, that burned her insides to ashes.

Max glanced at her and stepped a bit closer, putting his arm around her shoulder as he whispered, “Don’t bottle it up. No one here will judge you for showing emotion or crying because Discord gave you one last gift before he died. I’ll even put shields around us if you want.”

Slowly Sephiroth shook her head. Her voice still not more than a whisper. “C-can we just… leave for a while? I… can’t in here.”

Max nodded and turned back to the king, raising his voice to normal levels, “I’m sorry, but would Sephiroth and I be able to leave to somewhere private?”

A trace of confusion entered the king’s features. “You are free to come and go as you please. But I admit that I don’t understand. Over eight centuries have passed since then. I can not say that I know what it is like to be immortal but wouldn’t that be enough time to move on?”

“She learned of his death only within the last day. The fact that he did any of this is a huge shock.”

Sadness entered his eyes and he waved them off with his hands. “Then go. I’ll make sure that you will be welcomed here when you return. I would offer a room at the castle but I have a hunch that she won’t want anyone around.”

Max nodded and lit his hand, letting Sephiroth close her eyes before he teleported them to the plateau where Canterlot should have been.

Sephiroth didn’t move for a few moments and even when she did it was just to whisper again. “Max? Could it track us if it were present when you teleport?”

“If it was conscious when I teleported, yes. But with that hit, the only one who could’ve stayed conscious would be you or Discord.”

The following nod was barely recognizable as such. “Then we may have to knock it out again… I would ask you to leave, but you’ve already shown me that I’m not able to hurt you. But maybe… you should be prepared.”

“That’s why I’m suppressing my magical signature with my powers and limiting how much I use magic.”

A single tear ran down the side of her face and instantly the air cried with power. Visible in a display of frozen drops that fell out of thin air. Her face contorted in agony and something seemed to build deep within her. Something that could level the mountain they were standing on and was growing still.

Max wrapped both arms around her and let her cry, not paying attention to the stones that fell on him as he tried to comfort her.

Cracks began to form over the side of the mountain as more tears spilled from her eyes. She lifted her gaze to the sky and in one great wail of despair let it all burst from within her. Her power easily pulverising everything around them, grinding it into nothingness.

“Let it out. I’ll still be here when you’re done. Just let it all out,” Max whispered in her ear.

With a second wail, they were swallowed in a blinding sphere of power that strained against an unseen force to break loose.

For the better part of an hour the sphere shone from the mountain, not once wavering, until it eventually began to dim, then flicker and ultimately fade away. Revealing two figures, only one of which was upright figure and the other one, the taller of the two, hanging limply on his shoulders.

“Shh, there you go. Let it out,” Max whispered again.

Sephiroth’s face was hidden behind her hair but her soft sobbing told enough. Unfortunately her assumption was right as they found themselves surrounded by hundreds of armored pegasi, commandeered by none other than Celestia herself. This time she was covered in a thick, golden armor and hefted a ridiculously huge warhammer in her magic.

“You, any of you. Do you really think that this is what an evil creature looks like?” Max asked, looking around at the individual ponies. “What do you see? A monster with no heart, or a mare that had her heart ripped out by a monster?”

The pegasi showed no sign that they even heard Max at all and Celestia just grinned. “Do you really think that I would allow my little pawns being turned against me?” In a more serious tone she yelled. “The demon is weakened. Seize her!”

A harmless shock wave of white magic raced outwards from Max and he gained a ball of magic around him, releasing a fraction of his full might for everyone to see. He turned his rage-filled gaze to her and the sphere of power grew to consume the tips of the spears held by the pegasi. “She may be, but I am still at my full potential, Daymare Flare. I want nothing more than to rip you out of Celestia’s body and consume your essence. But. I will leave you for my sister to take care of.” He turned back to focus on the pegasi again. “Stay out of this fight among gods, or you will be caught in the crossfire. Only fools think themselves able to best beings of our caliber.”

A manic laugh rang through the area. “You just don’t get it. Speak all you want, they will engage you anyways. If you don’t want to kill them all, then you will have to surrender.”

Another wave burst forth from Max, this time disorienting most of the guards and making them look around in confusion. “Your princess doubts your loyalty. Enough that she would rather bend you to her will with Black Magic, than let you think for yourself! I ask you once more to look at this woman and think: is this a monster, or just someone wanting to be left alone?”

Despite her shattered control over the guards, the princess continued to grin. She didn’t even have to say something as shouts rose from the ranks of the pegasi. “Lies!” “Blasphemy!”

Celestia donned a mask of concern. “Troops, retreat. They won’t hesitate to end your lives.”

“Listen to her, then. Follow that parasite blindly and close your eyes and ears to what happens around you. But know this: we will show you only mercy.”

Cries of outrage were his answer but they followed the order to retreat, leaving the three alone. Celestia smirked at Max. “Well played. But eventually I will get her.” Without waiting for an answer, she teleported away.

Max glanced down at Sephiroth and noticed that she was unconscious. He sighed and said, “You might transfer to Sephiroth, but as long as she thinks of me as her sister, you will never win.” Tightening his grip on the woman and resting his chin on her head, he set them down on the side of the mountain. “Sleep and dream of wondrous things, sis. I’ll remain here to fend off your bad dreams until you awaken. ....After I get another outfit on.”