The Legend of Fauna

Light crept in between the small split in the violet curtains of the girl's room. The beam was soft and cast an orange hue into the chamber. The white stone of the walls glistened in their polish, the smooth marble floor reflected the beam onto the girls bed. Seconds passed, and then the girl began to wake. She sat up, still groggy and stretched her limbs. When she did, she noticed that the last feather of her left wing touched something.

She turned to find what was a sleeping Celestia in a chair next to her bed. Startled by the presence of another person, the girl let out a small yelp. In mere seconds, the seven foot woman was up with sword drawn, very quickly scanning the room for an enemy presence. “Whose there!?” The woman was standing on the girls bed, and looked ready to pounce on anything that moves.

“Oh, goodness, It's just me... You know. In my bed... and you... um... standing there...” The girl said in her now alert but tired voice. The woman turned her head to look at the girl, and stared at her with her killer's eyes for a good long second. Her intensity dropped after a moment, and she relaxed herself. She returned to the floor and replaced her sword in it's black and gold sheath on her waist. She never went anywhere without it.

There was a story behind the weapon that Sombra liked to tell the kids around Nightmare Night when they were all younger, but Celestia was never around when he did. At one point, Athena had found Celestia the next morning and asked her about it, but she'd refused to acknowledge the story existed. Something about that led Fluttershy to believe there was some truth to Sombra's story about the odd Gold and white sword that carried the name Tyrfing. “I'm sorry about that. Ten, one hundred, one thousand years, and I still can't kick this habit of mine.” The woman sat back down in her large arm chair and rubbed at her face. The normal morning grogginess that was usually Celestia's appearance had set in. All the same, in the moment she was in her stance with those wings flared out in that single beam of morning sun, the woman looked to glow herself, with each feather shining out in the dark room.

The girl realized she was still in a defending position, so she uncurled herself and got out of bed. It seemed the butterfly print pajamas were last night's choice of dress. Another day, another morning in clothes she didn't put on. Celestia was still trying to recover from her sudden movement when Fluttershy started to get ready. Today was Saturday, the 22nd of March, and Celestia was off. As to why she decided to sleep in her room instead of her own bed was a mystery to the girl, but as soon as she actually woke up, she was sure she would be told.

Shower complete, yellow tank top and blue basket ball shorts on, the girl was ready to go eat breakfast. As she exited the bathroom she stopped to stretch her limbs once more. Before she knew it, she heard Celestia snap, and she was wearing something completely different. It was tight and very stretchy like some sort of exercise material. The top was teal, and it covered from her waist to her shoulders and cut off around the middle of her neck. Thankfully it was warm, but the girl was just itching to put a bra on now. The shorts were a bright red and hugged her body just as tightly as the shirt. Around her waist was a thick tan leather belt that carried her new sword.

The thing that most concerned her though, was the armor plates everywhere. The first piece was a shoulder plate on her right shoulder.  It was silver and rounded to her form. It cut off just as it reached her bicep going downward and formed something close to a neck guard just above that. The next piece was a series of smaller silver plates that ran across the top of her wings, just like the gold ones that Celestia wears. After that was a plate on her left elbow that felt... incomplete. Like there was more to this somewhere that she wasn't wearing. Like the first piece, it was silver and very rounded to shape with her body. Her left hand was now wearing a teal fingerless glove that had a metal plate across it's wrist with her name engraved in Harmonian runes. On her right hip was a curtain hip plate. It was large and covered down to about the middle of her thigh. Her left leg had a knee plate that, like the elbow, felt incomplete. And finally, her right ankle had a metal band around it that covered the outward facing part of her ankle.

With that in place, she was almost a mirror for the Queens, Sombra, and Athena. Tentatively, the girl decided to see just how far Celestia had gone, and with her new gloved hand, she pressed on the shoulder plate. A flash of light went off, and just like her foster mother had done once before her, she was completely armored. Her entire body was now covered in a sterling sliver, round plates all around her limbs and torso, without a single weak spot. She quickly realized that she was also wearing a helm now, and her eyes were covered by a visor with some kind of heads up display to it.

“That didn't take long. It took Athena half an hour of inspecting every plate before she actually tried to put the rest of her armor on. Tap the gem on the back of your helm to remove it. It's much easier to speak that way.” Doing as the woman said, the girl searched her head for a protrusion, and once it was found tapped it with her left hand. “Why...? Why do I have this? I'm not...” The woman stood and approached the girl.

“I told you I would never send you away when you were a child, and now I have to reconcile my own lie, even if it was unintentional. I never thought I would, really, but unfortunately, fate had another plan. But I'll be damned if I send you out there unprepared. For the next month, you and I will be undergoing training in a special kind of permanent pocket dimension that I've developed with Light. For one day every week, we'll train in there. In reality, we're going to get about a year's worth of training done, but time will only pass at a minimal rate. In three days, we'll have three hundred and sixty six days worth of training”

The woman's fingers began to glow, and she snapped once more. Now they were underground again, but where this was in the castle, Fluttershy couldn't guess. “How big is this place?” The girl asked, unsure what kind of answer she would get. The woman nodded her head and then turned to the girl. “If I had to make an educated guess, this castle reaches about ten miles below sea level.” To put this in perspective, the castle the Iscandors lived in was at the peak of Dragon Spine Major, the largest mountain in Fauna major, which was three miles above sea level. Fluttershy had never been past the third underground floor before two days ago, and the living space that they occupied ran only just a few thousand feet above the rest of Upper Canterlot. From what Celestia said, that makes the 'castle' about thirteen miles tall overall.

“Right now, we're not anywhere near the mines, so we're just three miles below sea level, or what's known as sector 6. the mines start at sector 10. The castle only occupies the top half of sector 1 for reference.” The woman turned away from the girl and started to walk down the corridor of steel that made this area. As they moved further in, there were windows all along the walk way which showed that they were actually at the top of a chamber of some kind. It was a very, very large cavern that looked like it had it's own ecosystem. There were trees, a lake, grass, animals, and a small wood crafted cottage just in the center of it all before the lake.

“Time wise, we're about to spend twenty-four hours in here. In reality, we're about to spend one hundred and twenty two days in here. This is Asgard.” The woman stopped to take in the scenery of the cave under the mountain. Fluttershy stopped with her to get a better look at the giant place. There were even clouds overhead, and some kind of false sun hanging at the top of the cavern. If each sector was a mile high, this was likely all of sector 6. The two reached the end of the long walkway that was embedded into the side of the cavern, the girl clinking and clanging as they went along. They reached an elevator with a screen pad. The Ascended woman's hand began to glow, and then was placed on the pad. It ran a check of some kind, then it started to speak in a computerized voice. “Celestia Iscandor confirmed. Please register new entrants.” The woman turned to the girl.

“sigh. This system is redundant and needs to be updated. But, things are as they are. Go ahead and take the armor off if you will. It needs your hand print.” The girl realized she was still wearing her armor, and then pressed her left hand against her right shoulder plate. The armor flashed away, but the girl thought she didn't feel any lighter. “Does that... armor weigh anything? I'm not wearing it, but It feels like nothing's changed.” The woman put her hand to her chin to think for a moment.

“Yes and no. You see, It's an Aerolite alloy. When Starswirl crafted our armors for us, he found a way to incorporate the otherworldly metal into it, but he ran off before we could figure out how he did it. More than a thousand years went by, and we still had no clue as to how to replicate the weightless armor effect like him, even after discovering all the texts he'd written about his magic.

It wasn't until Light showed up did we figure this stuff out. In the dimension he's from, there is a similar material that they've used for centuries. While this isn't quite the same, he can still manipulate it in ways that we wouldn't have even thought of for another thousand years. After a while, I found a way to reverse engineer my own armor using his techniques, and split this alloy down to it's elemental level. As it turns out, the only way to get Aerolite into another form is to bash it with neutrons until it separates into two compounds, which we still don't know what are composed of, then super heat that with the metal of choice.

The odd compounds will then bind with the new element, and stop the Aerolite from floating away from gravity, while creating a unique space suspended alloy. If force is applied, it will move, however, it's quite odd in the fact that gravity doesn't seem to affect to the material. But more on that later. Go ahead and put your palm to the scanner.” This was beginning to reach quantum physics, and it was still too early in the morning for that. The girl dropped her line of inquiry and placed her hand on the scanner. The machine then said “Fluttershy Heron – Iscandor recognized. New security clearance granted. Sector 6: Asgard, is now open.” The octagonal metal plate that didn't previously seem to exist slid back into the wall an opened up to an elevator. The woman walked inside, and then the girl followed closely behind.

“The reason that not everyone is allowed in here is because one needs an armor set to get in. The armor I make is pressurized, air tight, and lined with magic, but the magic that keeps this place running is not safe for terrestrials like you to enter. Once we're inside, you will be fine to take it off as the field of this pocket dimension is what will kill your average being, human or otherwise. With that said, go ahead and reequip.” Fluttershy pressed her plate again, and the armor flashed on once more, then Celestia did the same. This was the second time she'd ever seen the woman in all her golden armor, and the first she'd seen her with the helm. She then noticed the woman's bright white wings. They weren't covered, save for some gold plates that ran along the top of each wing to the last joint in the appendage. Then she realized her own wings were the same.

“W-wait a minute, what about our wings? They're not completely covered, wont they... um... disintegrate or something if we enter?” The woman then raised a gold clad hand to poke Fluttershy's wing with. Instead of feeling the metal finger, it touched some kind of field that sent a teal ripple all over her wing and back to the plates. “Have a little faith in your Mother please.” She said in a sarcastic tone. Satisfied with that, the girl kept quiet and the woman pressed a button on the elevator. The door slid back into place, and then they started to descend. A few seconds passed, and then the woman grabbed the girl.

Surrounding her in her embrace, and shielding her with her white wings, the elevator started to rumble. They were enveloped in some kind of field, that was of all kinds of colors at once, and seemed to strip away the world around them. The sight was disorienting, and the shaking only increased as they continued to descend. The woman kept a tight grip on the silver clad girl, who thought she was going to vomit into her helm. Then suddenly, everything stopped. All was silent, and the elevator door slid open again.

“Welcome to Asgard.” The computer said. The woman released the girl, then slapped her shoulder plate, sending the majority of the gold armor away. In standard dress for the Day Queen, she walked out of the elevator, and stretched. She then turned to the girl who was still trying to catch her balance in the elevator. “It's quite the ride for your first time, but come now. It's time to get to work.” The girl had found the ground, and crawled out of the elevator. Once she made it to grass, she stood. “Oh, gods, that was awful.” The woman nodded.

“We'll get settled today, and tomorrow in Asgard time, We'll begin the real training. The entry ride is more than enough for one day.” The woman winked at the girl then started toward the lake, and the young Angel followed quickly behind. For the next 'year', this would be home. Days, weeks, and months passed, and finally the time to leave the first session of training in Asgard had come to a close. Upon returning to the 'real' word, Fluttershy found that she was far stronger than she had ever been in her entire life. She went so far as to challenge Zephraim to test her new strength to see just how much she'd grown over the past four months, or really single day as everyone else kept correcting her to. The match was intense, but the brother still had her beaten. With a new goal in mind, the next week passed and the 29th arrived. She woke to Celestia in the morning, and then the two set off for sector 6 again.

This time, the goal was to increase her ability to perform counters. While she was decent before, one of the major reasons Zephraim would win is because he could accurately and effectively predict the girl's movements and react to deal decimating blows. In terms of physical strength and speed however, Zephraim was the closest match she could get. The months go by, and the girl once again improves by leaps and bounds. Another match comes along, and this time, Celestia watches to see what would need to be done next. This match is even closer than before, but in the end, It came to who was better with a sword, and that turned out to be the male Angel once again.

April 5th arrived and Apollo was home for his and Zeus' birthdays this weekend. The schedule had been interrupted, but the eldest of the Iscandor Children decided that the girl in Asgard would be a great opportunity to test some theories he'd been working on, so he joined the two in Asgard for the last four months Celestia intended to be there. The session ended, and Fluttershy had learned a great deal from her eldest brother. As it turned out, he was masterful with magic in ways that most could never imagine. Using secret magic that Fauna has kept from the world, he was able to mimic the flight of an Angel, and become the girl's sparring partner within Asgard.

Armed with new techniques, the three exited Asgard, and later that night, Zephraim was put to the test once again. The room that all the Iscandors sparred in was known as the safety net. It was a large solid box that was thirty feet cubed. Each face of the cube had a magic circle inscribed on it that did one thing or another. The circle on the floor kept the people who enter from dying, the result of Celestia's little lapse in sanity a few years ago after an accident with Zephraim.

The north facing wall also held the viewing room, so this wall had a circle that kept magic from passing through. It could be broken with strong enough magic, but none of the Mages are allowed to cast level seven or higher spells in the safety net. Provided any of them could do that. If anyone of the Iscandor Mages could, it would be Apollo, or once again, the 'adults'. There is another room for that, which is where the 'adults' sparred. The ceiling bore the circle that kept the structure from collapsing. Most, if not all physical sparring was done in here for that very reason. However, nothing of this level could keep Celestia and Luna from breaking it.

The other three circles were of Sombra's design and if at any point one asks what they do he replies with 'Look, you don't wanna know, and if you find out, you'll regret it.' Most of us guess that they have something to do with soul magic, and Apollo says that when he found out, he admitted that father was right. None of them could tell what was more frightening. The fact that the most ornery son of Celestia and Sombra admitted to being wrong, or why he admitted to being wrong.

“Now then, little brother, let's make a wager.” The entire family had gathered to watch this round of the fighting among the standard Angels of house Iscandor, and Apollo had decided to stroke his younger brother's ego. “At this point, I haven't seen you in long enough time to test your skills myself, but I'll make this bet anyways. My proposition; defeat Fluttershy, and I'll let you take my jet to Anya for a week.” He had always wanted to go back ever since the family trip, but never had the chance to. However, this was Apollo he was dealing with.

“And if I were to lose, what would you be getting then?” The Orange headed man smiled. “Oh, you know very well what I want.” The younger brother stepped back. “Ha! Ten years, and you still can't get over it. I'll take your bet, and you better know you won't get it out of me!” The brothers shook hands and looked deep into each others eyes, trying to crush one another during their hand shake until the both let go. The girl had no idea as to what had just happened, but then Apollo took her away from the arena to talk immediately after.

“Alright, Fluttershy, I need you to listen very carefully here. You aren't just fighting for your own pride, but for a relic of my childhood that that little shit stole from me ten years ago. You remember that thing I taught you a few weeks ago?” The girl thought back to her last time in Asgard, then pinpointed what he was talking about. “Oh, you mean the thing where I spin-” The man covered her mouth. “Perfect. You do that and you're guaranteed to win. Good luck, little sis.” The man snapped his fingers, and then popped up to the viewing room just above the arena. He liked to warp from place to place as much as his mother did. A snake eyed Celestia caught her eldest son.

“What did you just do?” The man took a step back, still clearly afraid of his mother's wrath. “I simply decided to make this a little more interesting. That's all.” The woman rolled her eyes. “I spend four months with you in Asgard, thinking that maybe you grew up, but the moment you're around your brother you prove me wrong. Well done Mr. CEO. Well done.” The mother sarcastically clapped and the son took a bow. “I only aim to please.” The eldest son then took the com device at the viewing room console.

“When I cast the signal, begin. And remember, don't let him beat you. Good luck!” From inside the room, Zephraim started to yell something at his brother, which was clearly obscene, judging by the girl's now reddened face, but was muted before then. The man's hands started to glow a bright orange, and then an orb of light appeared in the center of the arena. The number three spun around inside of it, then changed to two after a full rotation. One came around, and finally the word GO came up.

Immediately, the battle started. The two Angels were already sword to sword in seconds. A clash of sparks flew and then the Angels were jumping from wall to wall, clashing swords in the center of the room one after another. If it weren't for their wings being so large and bright, the younger Iscandors likely wouldn't be able to keep up with the fight. The male Angel had managed to catch the female's foot and toss her to the ground. He then tried to dive bomb her, but was kicked in the ribs before he could land his attack, and sent into the wall.

The man jumped off the wall he landed on back at the girl with a full arc swing of his blade ready. Seeing that now was the time use the new trick Apollo had taught her, she blocked the attack as it came, then used her position to spin the man around her body and send him into the ceiling. Following this, she took his falling body in her empty hand, and then drove his face into the floor. However, as she took hold of his head, the man smiled at her. Before they crashed to the ground, he said the words “Got ya” and suddenly, he wasn't there anymore.

The girl then realized he was behind her, and with a quick swipe of his sword, the girl had a good sized slash in her back. “Game over.” The man said. He was standing triumphantly in the center of the arena over the girl, but then something was wrong. While in the Magic circle that kept them alive during a fight between each other, wounds wouldn't heal until after the fight was over, or someone had reached the point of death, at which point the circle would take over immediately and heal it.

However, now the girl's wound was glowing blue and healing itself. The only problem being: one, it wasn't a death blow, and two, Celestia's magic was yellow, not blue. The male Angel turned to the box with a confused look, staring directly at Luna. Her hands were on her arms, there was no way this could have been her. On top of that, the safety net was on. Unless she was out to kill, her magic shouldn't be able to make it into this room.

“Wait a minute. What's happening?” The man turned to his mother, unsure as to what was going on. However, the next words spoken didn't sound like anyone they knew. “You who dares attack my vessel! Prepare for your death, at the hands of Mizuli!” Inside the safety net, the girl's entire body began to glow blue. Her skin became pale until it was almost periwinkle in color, and right on top of her right shoulder plate, a mark appeared. It was a Harmonian rune to be sure, but one that neither Queen recognized. Celestia and Luna both put their hands to their chests at the same time.

“What is this... burning I feel?” The Night Queen began to brace herself against the window to the safety net. The others could see that a mark of similar shape was glowing a bright white from her chest like the one on Fluttershy. The now glowing girl began to float with her wings spread out. “Fluttershy? is... is that you?” The other Angel said tentatively.

“Feel the wrath of your god, human!”  She raised her hands just above her head, and then crossed them. At the same time, two bright blue circles of runes appeared on the wall, and then a torrent of water cascaded into the room, sweeping the man into it's whirl pool. “Everyone, get out! Mizuli is going to flood the castle if we don't do something!” The Day Queen had applied her armor as soon as she finished speaking, and the wave was beginning to reach the window.

“The minute this breaks is the minute my circle will crumble! Luna, grab the boy! I'll deal with her.” three seconds passed, and those present with it were armored. The eldest son collected the younger Iscandors, and warped away with the two boys. The former king took the older Iscandors and did the same. All that remained was the unarmored father, and the two Queens. “If we intend to save the boy, then we must move now. I will break this window, then you rush to get him.” The two armored women nodded, and let the giant do his work. The man shot his left hand out, and the small silver charm on his wrist turned into a large silver hammer about as tall as he is. He took one step forward and let the hammer slide back in his hand just enough so that there was about half a foot of length for his right to grab onto. He then took the hammer in both hands and twisted his torso, bringing the hammer across himself to the window. The ornate gold lines on the hammer began to glow with a bright white light, and as if it were nothing, the three enchantments and the window itself were shattered.

In a second, Luna dashed to Zephraim, took hold of the Angel and warped back to light with the boy in hand. After assuring that her son was safe, Celestia then jumped into the watery vortex. As she moved, all the water around her evaporated. Each droplet that touched her armor was super heated to the point of turning into pure oxygen. “And what would the great Divinity want with the goddess of water?” The girl's body said. “I, am not Divinity, and You are in possession of my daughter! Release her at once!” The goddess looked shocked for a moment, the let out a hysterical laugh.

“Then you are his chosen? I must say, he picked quite the woman to give all his power to! Fine then! If you wish to receive this girl, then you will have to take her from me!” The two water spewing circles stopped and then the water settled to the bottom of the room. The girl raised one of her arms and a column of ice formed from the floor to below her feet. She then spread her left arm out, and water cascaded around it. The water froze into the shape of a gauntlet with a large blade coming out from the side. The gauntlet was then surrounded with what could only be described as a void of black nothingness, for nearly an inch around it.

“I don't know when she received your powers, but clearly she is not ready for them. I have one condition before we begin, Mizuli.” The girl raised a seat from the ice and sat down, crossing her legs and keeping a smug smile while staring down the golden armored Queen. “Oh? And what might that be, daughter of Divinity?” The golden woman removed her helm and returned the smile.

“When I crush you, I want you to tell the other gods to stay out of my girls.” The Ascended raised her left gauntlet, and it began to change. Above her wrist spawned a deck, and outside of her arm, a gold matterwave. “Cocky, little demi-goddess! Let us begin!” The girl stood and crushed her chair of ice with a wave of her hand, and in unison the two yelled, “Duel!” Then the goddess took the first turn. “Ah, it seems as if I should simply test you here for now. Pray to me, and maybe I'll let you live.” The woman quickly sank to her knees and put her hands together. “Oh please, lady Mizuli... may my foot in your ass not hurt nearly as much as I'm going to make it...” She said not taking her rage burning eyes off the goddess possessing her daughter.

“Insolent fool! You'll regret your words soon enough! To begin this game, I activate The Chasm Abyss!” From every where around the two players, the room seemed to vanish into an underwater pit of some kind. Below them was nothing but black empty space, and now it looked as if the entire place had filled with water, only, no one needed to gasp for air. “Ooh, a field spell. Scary.” The sarcasm seemed to swim over the goddess entirely. “As it should be!” The day Queen continued to cross her arms and roll her eyes.

“You are now in my territory! While I control this card, water monsters I control gain 500 attack, and further more, those in my hand whose levels are four or lower may be special summoned at no cost! With that said, I summon Bringer of the Chasm!” From the ice made disk, a mist of some sort was cast out. Then the water around it looked to crystallize into this strange fish-man looking creature. It had blue scales and teal gray clothing that all looked to be ancient ceremonial garb of some fashion. It carried a sort of staff with a strange ornament around it's neck. It resembled a mirror, but... there was something inside. Celestia thought she'd heard of a person who held this same kind of creature, but couldn't place it.

“When my servant is brought to the field, he fetches me any spell with the word Chasm in it's name. As such, I will bring myself the Mirror to the Chasm!” The creature raised it's hands in the water and started to freeze it into a circular shape. The ice then shattered into a larger version of the ornament that he wore around his neck. He then tossed the mirror to the Angel behind him, and as soon as she touched it, it turned into a card.

“Thank you, my servant.” When the goddess spoke that time, it was not in her own voice, but Fluttershy's. The woman at the other side of the chasm nearly lost her balance. “Odd. Never once have I thanked a servant. In any case, he is no longer of use to me! I activate the effect of Mirror to the Chasm! Using the effect of my servant, Bringer of the Chasm, who allows himself to be tributed for the entire sacred Ritual! From the deepest depths of the third plane, the beast of my own creation rises to his throne under the sea! Come forth, level 8, Chasm Leviathan!”

The false water in the air began swirl and gather around the mirror that reappeared on the field. On the other side, the beast that was seen in the monster's mirror was beginning to swing it's massive claws. It punched once, and the fish-man was starting to be pulled toward it. The vortex swirled faster and faster dragging the creature in as it struggled against the current. Finally, the creature was absorbed by the mirror, and then the beast inside began to smash the mirror that kept it locked away. One crack. Two cracks. A circle of cracks. The mirror lit with a blue light, and out of the shattered glass came the sea monster. The beast filled most of her side of the room, and was covered in deep blue scales of bright sapphire with teal fins as sharp as razors running along the apex of every curve and limb. The beast Coiled itself around Mizuli, and then lowered itself to a resting position with it's head near the girl's body. The girl then began to stroke the beast's chin with her finger.

“Oh, if it isn't my favorite widdle pet!” The Day Queen's jaw almost dropped. Fluttershy was clearly still there, but just wasn't in control of herself. On top of that, Mizuli didn't have a full grasp of what was going on either. “Hmm... this is concerning... But no matter. Dealing with you will be time long enough to take my vessel under my control. When Leviathan is summoned, you take damage for each card in your hand by times 800! This is the end, daughter of Divinity!”

The goddess realized, she was still petting the beast, and then slapped the creature. The sea monster roared, then turned it's head toward the woman, and began to suck in water. A shard of ice came off of each card in the Ascended's hand, and flew into the creature's gaping maw. Once five were obtained, the beast then fired a giant chunk of ice at the woman. However, the ball was set aflame and simply melted before it reached her.

“My dearest Mizuli, she who is so very out classed right now, you must do better than that pathetic display. At this rate, I'm afraid that any one of my children, let alone the one you're possessing, could trump you right there. It would be a shame if I were, say, my sisters second son. Why, you'd have already been beaten, and he'd have yet to take a turn. Now, why don't you run along and leave my daughter alone, hmm?” The girl's hair began to gain dark teal stripes, and her eyes changed from their normal shade of blue to a deep indigo.

“You DARE, mock me again, wench!? By what sorcery are you still alive!?” The Ascended simply rolled her eyes. “If you must know, you triggered the effect of my Alchemist of Helios. If I were to take effect damage, I may discard him to gain that amount of life points instead. So you've failed to kill me once, now why don't you try and kill me twice? Or rather, give up now, and spare me the trouble of humiliating you?” A quick look to the woman's life point counter proved her true.

“You, wretch! If you think this is over, then the snake has already bitten you! I activate the second effect of Leviathan! Once per turn, I may banish a spell card from my hand to retrieve a monster from my grave! Return to me, Bringer of the Chasm!” The girl tossed one of her cards into the chasm below, and let the thing sink until it was no longer visible, then the fish-man jumped up in it's place. It did a flip off the chasm's edge toward the possessed Angel and turned into a card that floated into the girl's hand.

“And once again, I summon him with the effect of The Chasm Abyss! Then I'll have him fetch the Chasm's call from my deck!” The fish-man reappeared and this time, he made a horn out of ice. He then tossed the instrument to the girl, to which she said “Thank you, Mr. Scales.” The girl then proceeded to make a confused face. “Mister... Scales? But... this is the Bringer? I have never given my servants a name! Is this your doing, Divinity's Wretch!?” The Ascended let out a whole hearted laugh.

“You... you still haven't figured it out? Sweet Divinity, some goddess you are.” The woman continued to laugh at the goddess in the girl's body. “Such insolence! I shall kill you a thousand times over!” The woman's laugh continued, even harder now. “Good luck with that. I hope you have another 'vessel' lying around somewhere to come at me with, because next turn, I'll be taking you out of my daughter.” The girl raised her nose at the woman and smirked. “Be that if you make it to your turn! I activate the effect of Chasm's call! I may add two monsters to my hand from my deck by discarding one card. I add Carpenter of the Chasm, and Monarcha, Kind Servant of the Chasm.”

Upon saying the last monster's name, the girl's voice and eyes went back to their original color, then reverted to Mizuli's. I see. This isn't a full possession at all. Mizuli barely has any hold over her body, and much less of her spirit. I need to have Luna prepare a shield next turn to keep from hurting her. The Ascended thought. The horn that the fish-man had thrown to her reappeared on the field, and made a few tones sound out, echoing down into the chasm. From somewhere within, two things came up. One was a steel hammer that was decorated in a very similar manner to the mirror she used to summon the sea dragon, and the other was an exact replica of Fluttershy's pendant. How...? Was the one she had the original? And if that's the case...

“I will now summon my carpenter using the Chasm.” The next thing to appear was a more bulky looking man-fish thing wearing a bandanna over the top of it's head, and holding that same hammer that came from the chasm. Like the Bringer, the Carpenter wore very tribal, ceremonial style teal-gray garb, and a sort of half dress and shorts thing that was found in the third world countries around the world. This ones scales were closer in color to the beast the looked to protect it's master, but not nearly as beautiful as the sheer sapphire like scales of the snake like thing.

“And now that I have assembled enough creatures, I activate the effect of my servant, Monarcha.” Once again, at the mention of the Harmonian's name, the girl's voice was used rather than the goddess'. Likely chances are that the pendant she holds and Monarcha herself are good enough together to keep Mizuli out. Hmm... I need to find a better way to integrate that thing into her armor then... the sheer fact that she was possessed just a few hours after taking it off means that Mizuli has enough of a connection to actually take her body for herself. If I don't this could happen again, and that could end poorly. The Ascended thought.

“When I control three or more monsters, I can special summon Monarcha from my hand! Um... wait. What am I doing here?” The girl said just before the card left her hand and took a spot on the ice disk. But just as it did, her eyes returned from their blue to the deep indigo of the goddess. The goddess then reached up to place a hand on her fore head with a look of pain on her face. On the field, the water began to swirl around a spot on the goddess' side of the chasm, and in the blue light that she always appears in, the Harmonian descended. Like the other two, she wore a similar teal and gray set of clothing with tribal markings everywhere. As she usually does, she carried a standard length longsword aside her tower shield. However, now the object more resembled the pendant that Fluttershy has. Actually, It was almost a human sized version of it.

“Celestia? Why are you dueling Fluttershy?” Said the pale winged scantily clad Harmonian. The Ascended rolled her eyes for a third time. “How do you not already know? If you haven't completely checked out for the day, you'll notice that your incarnation is currently being possessed by your boss.” The Harmonian looked at herself, realizing what she was wearing, then turned to look at the currently ever growing more blue Angel behind her. “Lady Mizuli!?” The girl raised an eyebrow at the Angel woman. “You... why... do you look so familiar? You... you are not one of mine...” The girl continued to inspect the Angel in front of her. Then she shook her head.

“I am afraid I do not know you, however, your spirit seems to reside within this girl, who is my current vessel. In any case, you are my servant now.” The Angel woman's face deadpanned. She then turned to Celestia. “I... think I know what happened now... Please, please tell me you can fix this?” The ascended smiled and nodded. “Yes, I'm working on that. However...” The woman's face showed signs of irritation. “Making it to my turn is taking ages, so if the princess would ever so kindly GET ON WITH IT, that would be much appreciated.” The goddess giggled at the woman.

“You really think I'll let you see your turn, do you? Your misguided beliefs will be your end! I activate the effect of the mirror! By tributing the Bringer once more, I will perform a ritual summon! The beast of my darkest emotion, creature of rage, be released from your dark prison down beneath the depths and answer my call! Come forth, level 10, Kraken of the Chasm!”

Once again, the mirror began to suck the poor fish-man inside it. This time though, he didn't struggle, but bowed to the girl, then he simply walked inside. Once again, the kindness of that girl warms the hearts of even the goddess' creatures. The newest beast didn't struggle to break the mirror in any fashion, and the thing glowed blue just quickly enough to shatter shining glass along the seafloor. This creature was far larger than the other, and Celestia was surprised that it even managed to fit in the room. It resembled a wingless dragon more than it did any sea creature, yet it's spines kept in line with that of the Leviathan, and it's claws were webbed rather than being separated. The dragon's scales far out shined that of the smaller beast, and looked more like pale blue diamonds. The girl then flew herself up to the face of the dragon.

“There's my big snuggle bear! Aren't you just the cutest?” She began to scratch under the dinosaur's chin, to which it started to wag it's tail. This girl could reduce any animal she came across to an obedient dog if she set her mind to it. This did not last long though, as Mizuli gained control again. “Blast this infernal interruption! Why do I keep calling my creatures as if they were children!? Gah, I do not understand! When I defeat you in the next moment, you will tell me how to fix this! I activate the effect of my Kraken! By sending any number of monsters I control to the grave, I can inflict damage to you equal to their combined highest stats! Monarcha, Leviathan, and the Carpenter are all sacrificed for my Kraken! Take the wrath of the water goddess Mizuli!”

Monarcha managed a quick look of shock to the Day Queen before being swallowed by the sea dragon, along with the other beast and the bulky fish-man. In total, the highest stats of Monarcha and Leviathan reached 6500, but with the addition of the Carpenter, it came out to 8200. The Reptile had taken in as much as it could, and then a blue light started to come from the back of it's gullet. It reared it's head back away from the Fluttershy who was still affectionately petting the beast, and then released a large blast of energy from it's mouth.

“It seems you have yet to understand just who I am. So allow me to put this in perspective for you!” The woman discarded something, then raised her hands to the energy blast. It collided with her, and she collected the entire column of energy into a single ball in her right hand. She raised the ball and crushed it, like it was nothing. The Angel was stunned. “How...!? How is this possible!?” The woman flew up to reach eye level with the goddess. “End your turn, whelp.” The goddess had nearly a look of fear on her face. “A-as you wish...” The Ascended closed her eyes and smiled.

“Oh? What's this? Is reality setting in? Has the goddess realized that the children of Divinity are more powerful than she could ever hope to be? Oh my, this is quite the development. To begin your demise, I will first draw. Twice in the last turn did you active effects that could have taken out any mortal, this I assure you. However, it was the same card of mine that returned those points to my life instead. You see, the Alchemist can also use his effect in the grave by banishing himself and discarding another card from my hand. And now, my life has reached 16200. Now, my dear, naive, goddess, I have a simple question for you. What is 16200 minus 4000?” The goddess felt a chill run down her spine. Is this what his chosen can do? Did he give them all of his power? How... how could this woman be stronger than I? The raised a hand to her ear.

“Hmm? No answer? My, it was quite a simple question. However, seeing as you are in a state of shock, allow me to tell you. The number in question is 12200. but worry not, this information will come in handy later, seeing as you have nothing left in your hand, and your monsters are merely fodder for your, ahem, big snuggle bear over there, there isn't much you could do now to avoid an attack. To start my turn, I will first special summon my own vassal, the Vassal of Helios. When he arrives on the field without tribute, his attack is reduced to zero, but in return, I am allowed to add a cosmic spell to my hand.”

The man that took place on the field looked like a scribe one could find in the Canterlot library. He wore a simple white robe that only covered a strip of his chest and everything below his waist. His skin was bright orange, and his eyes looked to be made of fire. His hair was also that of flame, yet settled like normal medium length hair. He carried a golden bowl of some sort with a bright glowing flame inside it. The fire in the bowl flickered and a large ember was sent toward Celestia. She took hold of it, and the fire faded away to reveal a card underneath. “You can-!” Mizuli was cut off by Celestia.

“Ooh, she finally says a word! Goodness, I'd thought you'd gone mute. But didn't you hear me earlier? I used the word mortal. However, not in a way that would suggest I was speaking of myself. And I am not alone either. I have a sister with the same power, a budding princess in the north who has recently come into this power herself, and a young student who, with time, may very well supersede my own power. I am no mortal, Mizuli. With that said, I think It's about time to be rid of you. I activate the effect of the Cosmic Time Relativity my vassal has retrieved for me. I may special summon one monster from my banished by discarding one monster from my hand. Hmm... I think Helios Draconis would be the best decision. And with that, your favorite of my monsters comes to the field.”

Another flame headed man arrived on the field. Like the other, he wore a white robe and carried a single bottle of some bubbling concoction in one hand, and a book in the other. This one appeared far younger than the first. “And now for the climax of this little scuffle. To irritate you just a little more, my Alchemist just so happens to be a tuner. I tune the level 2 Alchemist and the level 7 Vassal. Through the flames of the sun, the champion of the scorched earth rides down to defend the people. In times of need and times of glory, restore the balance of the burning plane, Gladiator of Helios!”

The Alchemist transformed into two burning rings, and the Vassal became stars that lined up inside them. A large column of flame shot through the burning rings and stars, and the room was flashed with light. Out of the bright light came an orange skinned man clad in red and gold armor. His face was obscured by a gold helm with deep blood red plumage jutting out from the top. He wore a gilded chest plate that conformed to his muscles and carried a large sword nearly two thirds his own height. He wore a red leather skirt over a chain skirt that covered the upper part of his legs and had belt sandals that ran up his calves. On his right arm was a shield that bore Celestia's Ascended mark, but... something about it was different. In the center of both the Ascended's marks were two diamonds that crossed each other and changed the colors of the parts of the mark that it crossed. However, this mark was missing that.

“This mark has no bearing of Divinity! How could something of your own soul beat anything of mine!?” The Ascended shook her head. “I guess you still don't understand, so allow me to spell it out for you. I inherited Divinity's power! Our powers are one and the same! You failed to realize that in being a goddess yourself, you challenged another! This creature is of my soul, and that alone will be enough to rid myself of you! My gladiator gains attack points equal to the difference in our life points, which puts him at 14700 attack!”

The ball of light the woman had crushed moments ago returned and was absorbed by the Gladiator. His entire body was covered in flames that radiated in the water. Luna, protect her body! The armored woman who was watching from the other room reapplied her helm and then hid herself from view. “When Gladiator attacks, my opponent cannot activate cards or effects in response until after the damage step! This is the end for you! Return to whence you came, Mizuli!”

The gold clad woman stretched her arm out, and as if she had given a command, amd the monster brought his flame clad sword back. He started to run in the pool below toward the sea monster the girl controlled. “No! This can't be possible!” The sea creature shot a beam of energy at the gladiator, who quickly sent it away with his shield. The gladiator charged at the beast and once it reached the chasm's edge, he jumped at it. With a single swipe, the man cut the dragon in two and it's body was engulfed in flames. The Kraken's two halves started to fall, and one was primed to fall directly on top of Fluttershy.

The girl simply fell to her knees ready to accept her demise. “I see... so this is the force of Divinity's wrath...” The girl's body began to regain color, and the monster had crashed to the floor. Her life point counter dropped to zero, and the field began to disappear. Where the monster's corpse would have lain was now the armored Night Queen and the unconscious Angel. The girl hadn't been harmed at all. “Gladiator? My, I have not heard that name in quite some time.” The woman returned her armor to it's pocket dimension and began to walk toward her sister with the girl in hand.

“I haven't had a chance to use him in a long time. However, I would have much rather done so under different conditions.” The blue headed Ascended nodded in agreement. “I'm not fool enough to let you use that against me any more, but this makes me wonder. Are the other five going to be this susceptible to possession by the gods?” The white winged Ascended took her hand to her chin.

“I can't say. But considering the fact that she was already possessed once by another spirit, I feel like she's more prone to it than most people should be. I also think that her pendant has something to do with this as well.” The Night Queen looked at the girl in her arms. The Angel was wearing her under armor and the standard plates that she herself was wearing, but noticed that the pendant she always seemed to have wasn't there. “And what would that be? And for that matter, where is it?” The day queen took the girl's hand and pressed it against her shoulder plate. Upon the flash of light, the girl was armored in her smooth round silver armor. But one piece stuck out. In the center of her breast plate just under her neck was a small silver rectangle with an old marking on it.

“She told me she wanted to be able to see it whenever she put the armor on to remind her of what her father did before her. I didn't think there could be any problems with it considering the caliber of this metal, but now I realize this has an enchantment on it.” The woman lowered the girl's head back and removed the rectangle from the girl's chest plate. Then she pressed the girl's hand against her shoulder again to remove the armor. Fluttershy always sleeps so peacefully. Even when she was a child she always looked happy when she slept. The Day Queen then took a string from her pocket and tied it through the hole at the top of the silver, then knotted it into a necklace. She wrapped it around one hand, then snapped the girl into her pajamas.

“I honestly do not believe I can count the number of times I have seen you put your children in clothing like that. And this one even more so than the others.” The Queens exchanged the girl and the Day Queen placed the pendant around her neck. “I can't say I could either. Hell, I even dressed up Twilight a few times just because I wanted her in girl's clothes for a change.” The bat winged woman called forth her magic and began to suck the water filling the heavily damaged safety net into a portal to somewhere. After that was done, the two queens exited the now ajar door.

“Ugh. This mess is going to take weeks to repair.” The white winged woman nodded. “I know that. I had your husband break my circles. Redrawing those is going to be a bitch and a half. And while we're on the subject, how did he do that so easily!? I would have at least had to use a level eight spell to do it, or pull out Tyrfing, and even then, I'd need a couple of slashes per circle! He just broke three like they were nothing...” The Night Queen smiled and raised her nose.

“Believe it or not, my dearest could likely take down the castle, provided he put his mind to it. That is to say, the whole castle. Sector 13 through 1. However, using that kind of strength is very taxing on him... He has the ability to be as strong as we are at full power, but he... isn't immortal...” Celestia bit her lip. The two remained silent until they reached the elevator, and the Night Queen didn't raise her head the rest of the hour.

Several hours passed and April the 7th arrived. The moon was a full in the night sky, and Luna had taken to watching the Heron girl sleep. The Ascended felt more at rest now than she did earlier. Most every one else had either gone to sleep or left for work, namely the night walkers, also known as her and her kids. The jobs they filled were usually protective in nature, save for Eclipse taking an interest in the special intelligence gathering agency, or SIGA as it's known, that Celestia started centuries ago.

The Night Queen sat by the window with it's curtains drawn so she could watch the moon as it rose and fell in the sky. It had been a long time since she simply sat and watched it like this. She then noticed her ears flicking, and thought she heard the sounds of movement. In the bed, the girl was beginning to stir. The Ascended decided it would be a good idea to check the time, so she took the disk from her pocket and unlocked the screen. 03:22, the clock read.

Odd, the Night Queen thought to herself. She tried to think back to the last time she'd remembered Fluttershy ever being up this late, and the memory of her entrance into the core last month was the only thing she could think of, and even then, Celestia took her away before the clock struck midnight. The girl's eyes opened in the pale moonlight and she sighed.

“The same ceiling again...” The girl sat up stretched her wings and yawned. She started to exit her bed, then felt at her arms. “I wonder what Celestia put me in this time...” To which the Night Queen decided to answer. “Is it not the bunny ones? Sister said that you typically prefer those to sleep in.” The girl left her bed and walked toward the bathroom. “While I'll say that's true, she always does it. Sometimes I like variety. That's why own other pajamas. If I don't have to, why would I wear...” The girl stopped dead in her tracks and looked at the woman sitting by the window.

“L-L-Luna?” The Night Queen stood from her chair. Her blue eyes glowed almost brighter than the moon in the dark of night, while the moonlight poured in from the room outlined her and passed through her wings, giving her a violet blue shade to her body. “Is there something wrong, dear?” The girl relaxed a little. This wasn't nearly as much of a startle as Celestia suddenly being on top of her last month. “Oh, no, uh... you're just... here is all.” The woman raised her hand like she was going to say something, but then decided against it and put it back down.

“Oh, well... I see the you are fine now, so if you wish it, I will go.” The girl shook her hands at the woman. “I didn't mean it like that, um... I just didn't expect to see you, I don't mind it though.” The woman sat back down and looked back out the window. Her hair flowed down the back of the chair like a waterfall of violet blue and silver light. Much like her eyes, the woman's hair had little flecks of silver in it everywhere. “Ah, very well then.” A hint of a smile crept up the woman's face.

“Tell me, dear Fluttershy, would you like to hear a story?” The woman turned her head away from the window to look a the girl. Fluttershy wasn't quite sure what to think. The Corona Iscandors always liked to tell everyone that the minute their mother says that famous line, Luna puts her story telling talents to work, and they usually last a good hour or so. The girl wondered what time it was, but it felt like she wasn't going to get to sleep any time soon.

“Oh, uh, sure. Just let me go to the bathroom first.” With that, the Night Queen nodded, and the girl set out to accomplish her initial goal from waking up. The Ascended drifted her gaze back to the moon and watched it as it shone in the night sky. Before she knew it, the girl had pulled up a chair and sat down next to her, shuffling her wings in her light pink bunny print pajamas. “Okay, I'm ready.” The woman let out a small laugh.

“Is... is there something wrong?” The violet blue headed woman waved the question away. “No, no dear, everything is fine.” The girl had brought a blanket, moved the most comfortable chair in the room to the window, and had obtained a cup of something warm and sweet that drifted steam into the air. She looked like she expected to be here for a long time. “Very well then. You know the story of what happened to me around two centuries ago, right?” The girl nodded in response. “You mean the banishment?” The Ascended nodded.

“Yes...” The girl felt she wanted to retract that word after the face Luna made. “Well, this story takes place just after I returned from the other world. You see, one hundred years is quite a long time for the average human. In that time, a person can be born, have a family, watch their children grow, and die all before it is complete. And as such, with the passing of generations, information fades, yet, some how, stories still remain. Tales of heroes and legendary people seem to stick in the minds for generations, one after another, only becoming more embellished with time.

A month had passed from when Light and I made it home, and that was enough time for us to settle into the flow of this world. It was time that I returned to my duties as the Queen of Fauna to help take a load of off my sister's shoulders, and... it was hard to say the least. At first, no one recognized me. All the ones I had known had been long dead, and their children's children had taken their places as the staff in the castle. And this generation of attendants almost seemed to share the faces of those I once knew. Each day I would always mistake one of them for their great grand parent only for them to correct me with language I seemed to have been left behind by.

When the time came to announce my return to the public, even those in Canterlot questioned if I was really the person that all the statues and pictures across the country depicted. You see, you have known me in this appearance all of your life, but before I had been possessed, I actually resembled my sister far more than I do now. My wings were just like yours, covered in beautiful dark blue and silver feathers. The first nickname I ever received was the raven of Fauna, oh so many years back, just after we gained our powers. I carried that name all up until that point. The 'raven' who was nearly the spitting image of her mother, had become the pale skinned, bat winged, pointed ear, and fanged woman who suddenly came out of nowhere and declared herself a Queen from the past that so few remembered.

To put it lightly, I wasn't well received. I looked like a mixture of my former self, and someone entirely different, even if that is who I was not but a hundred years prior. The people grouped into factions as to whether or not I was who I claimed to be, and after time passed, the argument simply faded. I was ashamed of what had happened, and to be honest, It was my own fault too. Had I never tried to interact with that monolith that the Elements warned me about, I would likely still be the same as I was so many years ago. But, that is not what happened, and as much as I would like to have not become this way back then, I am who I am.

It wasn't until the day, or night really, that lower Canterlot was attacked by a rouge faction of Mages that declared the government to be corrupt that this opinion was given the chance to change. You see, at the time, there was a general in our army who went by the name Daeta. He fervently insisted declaring war on Tenshen from the very moment he earned his position a few years before I arrived home. He was a survivor of one of their attacks on the Aliatus peninsula that his parents fled to Fauna from, and he had been gathering followers after Tenshen's second attack on the peninsula thirty years ago.

He positioned his group to assault several district buildings in the name of Tenshen in an attempt to encourage us to take the fighting directly to them. But as you know, a war with Tenshen would have caused massive destruction to the planet, and there is simply no reason to waste life like that. I had positioned the core in the western part of Lower Canterlot where we had determined the false Tenshens to be and eventually closed in on their whereabouts. In that time, I had come into the habit of keeping the streets clean of thugs and drug dealers, and a little legend about me started to grow among the citizens. The lady of the night, the vampire of district 86, the heroine count, they called me. I would hear all of these names passed around as I patrolled at the end of the day.

Soon enough, we located the base of our 'Tenshen infiltrators' and that night, stormed it. And then, I was presented with the face of the man who had been attacking my city. He greeted me as a name that had long passed. 'If it isn't the Raven of Fauna' he said, as he laughed at my lonesome entrance. With him were four other Mages dressed in ridiculous, over stereotypical, outfits that resembled Tenshen culture when I was a child.

At the time, I couldn't help laughing at them, and feeling a little of that hopeless, haughty, arrogance that Celestia likes to play on when she deals with a foe who is far out classed. Of course, the general had a few nasty things to say to me about that, and after I dealt with his men, it came to reveal who the man truly was underneath the facade. He held a child hostage in hopes of escaping, and this is when I learned what the people of the district thought of me. The little boy yelled to me, 'please, aren't you the Queen of the Night? Save me!' I couldn't very well ignore the boy, but at the same time, I couldn't simply kill the general in front of him.

In the end, I managed to stop the general and save the boy, just as any story book would tell you, but when I returned that boy to his family, they didn't call me any of the foul things that people had once said when I had returned, nor did they call me by any of the old titles I used to have. They simply called me, 'Night Queen.' The internet was fairly new at the time of my banishment, but now, the entire world was embedded in it, and over a single day, the public view changed its opinion of me. I was finally the person I used to be known as before I became who I am now, and suddenly, I felt better than I ever had.”

Now this was interesting. Luna was quick to avoid talking about what went on around her banishment years ago, and suddenly, Fluttershy was now aware of how the Night and Day Queens thing all started. Celestia had said that Luna was the reason the either of them had those titles, but never elaborated on it. She would always say 'That's her story. I'll let her tell it.' Then usually the topic was either dropped or forgotten. However, Fluttershy wondered what this had to do with her.

Luna likes riddles, and more importantly, to be cryptic when giving advice. The girl thought what this might have to do with her, and then she felt a certain line in her story stick out. “Um... you said something about playing on Mother's arrogance right?” The woman raised her left brow. “After all that, the first thing you ask is about is my sister? Truly, there is no spotlight for the Night Queen.” Fluttershy immediately reddened and covered her mouth with her hands. “Oh, no, I didn't... I mean, um...” The Ascended had retrieved the reaction she had hoped to get from the girl, giggled at her, and then brought the topic back.

“I simply jest with you, dear girl. Yes, I did mention something along those lines.” The girl suddenly realized she was pulling at her wings again, then tried to return to the conversation. She coughed in her hand once. “Ahem. Well, I ask about it because I don't think I've ever heard about this before. But... I have this weird feeling I've seen it first hand at the same time. Before I woke up, I was having this strange dream. It was so surreal, and... wet. Like, everything was underwater, and you were there, but in all of your armor, and so was mother, but she had her helmet off... and I just remember her face and... I couldn't tell you what she said, but every last one of them was either a furious taunt or a truly mean spirited remark.”

The Night Queen bit into her thumb. I wonder what I should tell her... would it be best for the girl to know the truth? Or rather... no, Celestia did all of that to try and rescue her. Surely she will understand. “Hmm... to be completely honest with you dear, that actually happened around seven hours ago.” The girl sat back in her chair in shock, nearly spilling her drink all the while. She reacted quickly to catch the cup and set it down gently on to the plate she brought, then moved it to the window sill without breaking eye contact with the liquid. “Are you sure? I mean, she was dueling me. I don't know that I would have survived if she was really as angry as she was...” The woman sat back in the little chair made of her own magic that she'd occupied for the past few hours and rolled her finger over her chin.

“I see... tell me, Fluttershy dear, do you know where your little family heirloom is? The silver pendant?” The girl immediately slapped her hand to her chest to make sure it wasn't there, then she jumped out of her chair and glided to her night stand next to her bed. There sitting just beside a lamp base, was a small thin silver rectangle with her father's crest carved into it. The girl let out a sigh of relief, then walked back to her chair by the window with it.

“Well, I guess you know where it is now, if not then.” The woman said with a hint of laughter in her voice. The girl felt her ears begin to redden again. “Here we are. Now, do you know what kind of metal this is?” The Ascended said as she took the pendant and held it up in the moonlight. “Hmm... I... hadn't really thought about it, but if I had to guess, I would say silver based on it's size and weight.” The Queen shook her head. “You are... almost correct. There is more than a high chance you've never tried to do this, but watch as I bring a flame near it.”

The woman snapped her right thumb and a small flame brightened up the area around it. She then brought the flame to the pendant, and as the flamed climbed up the object, it turned a very intense, bright jade green. The girl was astounded by the color. There weren't many elements that produced it, and out of the few that did there was only one that could make this color that she knew of. “So... this is actually made of Antimony?” The woman nodded.

“Strangely enough, this metal was used in place of silver back in my childhood. During the early days of Fauna, the continent didn't actually know what real silver was. This land is unnaturally devoid of it for some reason, and without any way to establish what shiny object we were really trading with, this is what came to be.” The woman had put out the fire, then gripped the metal object in her hand tightly to take the heat away. She next handed the pendant back to the girl. “But... isn't this stuff kinda dangerous?” The woman rocked her head.

“While I can not say no, it is not quite as scary as the health department would like to make it. When we were children, Gaia, Sephira, and Archea, all traded it as currency. It was the equivalent of a bit back then. It was noted that one should not swallow the coins, and sometimes, children would become ill doing so, but it was never a death sentence. However, because the coins had the potential to make one ill, after we rose to power, we had the metal phased out of out currency over time. It still has many practical uses though, and jewelers like to fashion trinkets with it.

All the same, your pendant has magic on it too. Ancient magic. Magic that predates the country at that. For what ever reason, you are very easily susceptible to spiritual possessions, and apparently someone further back in your line than we can trace knew this. This pendant has the ability to keep you in control of your body, and keep other things from taking it. There are those out there that are willing to shove you aside to protect you, even if that means taking control away from you. Never be without this object if you can.” I'm easy to possess? The girl thought. But... does that mean I was dueling mother or... was some one else?

“I think I'm beginning to get it... but... if not me, who was dueling mother?” The Night Queen looked out the window, and then had a shallow smile creep up her face. She stood, and the chair she'd been sitting in dissipated from the world. “Unfortunately, I no longer have the time to discuss this with you. My shift is just about up. But, give it five minutes, I'm sure you'll have someone else to talk to. Until next time, dear Fluttershy.” The Ascended raised a blue glowing hand above her head, then snapped herself away from the room. The girl slumped back in her chair.

“Five minutes until Mother arrives huh?” She noticed that the moon had faded away from view and the sun was beginning to creep up into the sky. Had it really been almost three hours? And then there's this thing. The girl took hold of the pendant around her neck. I'm sure that my own father wouldn't hand a ten year old a poisonous metal for no reason... The Angel decided it was about time to finish her hot chocolate, which was likely cold now. If she'd really ignored it for all that time, there was no way it was still warm now. She picked up the cup from the window sill, and took a large drink from it. She shivered. Yep, very cold. She'd decided to finish it off anyways, no since in wasting it, then went back to thinking on Luna's words.

The girl sat in her chair in silence for exactly five minutes before Celestia silently warped into the room. Even though she had been anticipating the woman's arrival, her sudden appearance still got the better of the Angel and she yelped. “Oh? I didn't expect you to be awake. How are you feeling sweetie?” The girl pushed the hair that moved over her face back to where it belonged. “I'm fine. Just a little wired. I thought this was coffee when I decided to make it, but as it turns out it was hot chocolate.” The Ascended turned her head to give the girl a slightly confused look, but decided it better not to question. Instead, the woman moved exactly to the same spot her sister had been sitting, made a chair of almost identical design to her sister's, and then took a seat by the window in the same position her sister had been sitting in.

“Mmhmm. Definitely related.” The girl said under her breath. “What was that?” The Angel had forgotten who she was dealing with for a moment and then proceeded to follow up with a quick lie. “Oh, um... hot chocolate? Yeah, I think I'm going to go make some more. Do you want any?” The woman gave Fluttershy the same look from earlier, likely suspecting bullshit this time around, but simply nodded her and let it slide. “Oh, sure. But... if you're going to make more, I'd prefer mine without cream and sugar.” The woman smiled at the girl, who bit her lip and stood to make her way to her coffee maker. As she walked away, coffee cup in hand, the Day Queen then turned her gaze to the slowly rising, drowsy, red sun on the horizon. It looked like she was thinking of something else.

The bunny clad Angel ripped open four packets of hot chocolate mix and poured them into the pot. The brown, sugar filled, sand like granules covered the surface of the pot and then the machine came to life. With a press of a green glowing button, hot water instantly started to fill the pot and combine with the sugary mix. As the water began to rise, the girl wondered if she should ask about the dream, or the reality that had happened when she was only half conscious. She was about to turn when the Day Queen spoke.

“Do... you have plans today?” The girl started to twirl her fingers around each other. That was a bad omen. Those words only came out of Celestia if she had errands or chores for whoever it was being said to. But it's not like she's still in school like Zeus and Nebula, so she was simply on call with the core right now. “Um... not really...” The girl turned around to see the concerned face of her mother looking back at her. “Then... would you mind running an errand for me later today?” The girl sighed. She knew this was where it was going.

“Sure. What do you need me to do?” The machine had finished dispensing hot water and the clear glass pot was half full with a sweet smelling brown liquid. The girl poured herself a glass, and then filled an empty coffee cup for her mother. She returned to her arm chair and presented the hot to the touch cup to the Ascended. “Thank you. For this and for that.” She said as she raised the cup.  “I'm quite over scheduled today with several meetings with one diplomat to another, and it's so bad that I can't even keep an eye on my student today. All the same, I needed to retrieve a package that arrives in Middle Canterlot from the Central Bank. It's... not something I could have my attendants get due to the... fragility of the object in question, but I trust you to be able to handle something like this.” Another thing Celestia liked to do was avoid talking about something dangerous when she needed someone to do something for her. Last time Fluttershy ran an errand to the CB for Celestia, she wound up carrying a bomb into Canterlot castle.

“Okay, but I would really like to know if it's going to explode this time. I don't know that I can handle it if don't know what it is.” The woman went to biting on her thumb. That's another red flag. She's thinking hard about something. She sighed. “Very well then. Due to the nature of this object, you mustn't tell anyone else what it is, alright?” The girl nodded her head. Celestia's demeanor had gone from apathetic to serious in a second. “Yes ma'am.” The woman sat forward in her chair. “Recently, there was an expedition into northern Symphona.” As in the country at the top of the world? The one covered in Ice?

“Their archeologists have found a very peculiar stone that radiates an energy unlike any they have ever seen. Or really, absorbs it. They couldn't identify what the substance was made out of, meaning that it was not of this earth, and touching the object had... unforeseen consequences. However, because of the location of the stone, after my SIGA agents learned about, I bought it personally under a pseudonym for a rather unfortunate price. Rest assured, it will not explode. As a matter of fact, it will do the very opposite of that. The bank has very specific instructions to not use magic anywhere near it, nor are they to touch it with their bare hands. Same goes for you.” The girl nodded. Okay, this is a weird one... she thought to herself. “When do I need to be there?” The woman took an oval shaped orange duel disk out of her pocket and flicked the screen awake. She flipped through a few pages until she found the information she was looking for.

“Noon on the dot. When you get there, show them your badge and say that you're here for the afternoon special. After that they'll ask you what time of day the sun is at it's laziest, to which you answer, dawn.” A code? First she buys it personally, then she sends it to the most secure place in the country, and finally, she uses a code to retrieve it on top of all that? What in the world is this thing? “Do... do I need to wear my uniform?” The woman scratched her chin.

“Hmm... Not sticking out would be in your best interest here, but I would also rather you take your sword with you too, just in case. There are some crazies that like to snoop around the lower rings of the city. I honestly wish I'd this place built in this part of the city, but it needed to be available to everyone. Take the coat at the very least to hide your sword. You might be able to get away with it because it matches your feathers.” The girl twisted her shoulders to look at her wings. She'd never thought about it until recently, but the coat she received did in fact match her feathers. She wondered if every angel in the core had a special coat made to match like that. Zephraim usually wears white, so it's possible. But then again, Nebula's is red. However, he also wasn't a normal Angel either.

“Okay then. When do you think I should leave? I'm still not the greatest flier around. Especially in this house.” The girl spoke the truth. Regardless of whether or not her marionette had been cured, she wasn't a strong flier to begin with. Both the other Angels in the house could out do her with relative ease. A sixty mile trip over standard elevation would take either of them about half an hour at full speed. Her best time was around an hour for that distance at most.

“Given the elevation of the castle relative to the location of the bank, even you should only take few minutes to get there. Just go from the roof whenever it gets close to noon. It's getting back that has me worried. Word of mouth is the least secure form of communication, and I don't know who else knows what is inside the box. To be honest, I'm more concerned about what would happen to anyone who attacks you rather than you being attacked. If someone does touch that thing... the consequences. might just cost more than their life.” Once again, the girl found herself holding the tips of her wings.

“In any case...” The woman downed the hot liquid in her hands. “Be ready around then for anything you can think of to happen. And if anything goes wrong, call Sombra. My schedule starts in a couple of minutes, so I have to go. I'll talk to you when I get home, okay?” She set the cup down on the window sill and stood as her chair faded away. “Yes ma'am. I'll see you when I get back.” Celestia patted the girl's head, then warped away. The girl leaned back in her chair and raised her cup to finish her drink. “What in the world is this thing?”

Like the Day Queen had said, everyone was busy this morning. She didn't show it earlier, but Luna was a few seconds away from passing out at the breakfast table this morning, Light was... omnipresent and not there at the same time, if that was even possible. The man's body was there, that's for sure. He was the only reason his wife didn't fall into a plate of waffles. However, he didn't say a word, and his eyes were closed the whole time. He was also wearing something over his left ear that looked like something out a scifi show. She was wondered if he made that himself, or if her brought it here with him after his last visit home.

The younger two Iscandors were here and gone minutes after destroying whatever they had decided to eat. The eldest four didn't show, and Zephraim grabbed something and left without saying a word. Celestia was never there, and Sombra only walked in just to leave after he saw what was being served. As far as Fluttershy could tell, the man only ever ate meat. And meat alone. At no point had she ever seen him consume anything green or sweet, even if either of the two were served with his meal. They just went somewhere else on the table.

Shortly after the sleepy Queen managed to finish eating, the non-present body of her husband carried her back to their chambers, and then Fluttershy was the only one at the now empty table. The girl leaned back in her chair to look at the impossibly high ceiling in the marble room. The windows were letting in more sunlight than she could remember seeing in the castle as a whole, and the bright light seemed to get swallowed right before it reached a certain point on the western wall. The pointed arches with their golden lined embellishments that made the doorways glistened in the sunlight just as bright as everything else in the room did. The violet drapes that dressed the tops of each window looked to glow everywhere they took light away from the room, and the golden ropes that kept them from expanding further did the same.

The sun was just beginning it's ascent above the horizon, and the orange glow from earlier this morning had been replaced by the bright ball of white and yellow she was used to. The Angel smiled to herself. It was hectic at times, but this was home. She returned to her room later to tend to her birds, and after a few hours of reading, the time had arrived. Her alarm went off at eleven forty five, and she was already dressed in her uniform to go. She made her way to the roof, and stood there for a moment.

There was still an imprint of Jupiter's nose that didn't quite repair after their fight last month. She looked around the area and more memories of her years here began to flood back. A slash mark on one of the pillars that lined the roof from when she was thirteen and got in a fight with Zephraim. At the time, they were both shorter than Sombra, and when the father came to break up the fight, he picked up either by the collar and threw them against the wall. 'Fine, you wanna fight? Come and get me.' he said as the two angry teenagers charged him, hopelessly out classed.

The more she thought about it, the more she realized that almost all of her sibling spats happened up here. Most of the time it was Nebula still trying to beat her, getting ever so close to doing so, and then failing right near the end. One time with Zeus over what to name a new bird, another time with him about how a book should end. In what little memories of her childhood, she couldn't ever think of a time when she was so... active, or happy. Even when she lived with her father and brother, and all those other people of whom only three remained, she was never quite this... alive

As not normal as the people around her are, she felt normal, for once in her life. Her duel disk started to vibrate and generate a tone again. Eleven fifty five. Time to move out. The girl took a running leap off of the building, and spread her wings out to catch the air. The strong winds that flow along the Dragon Spine range made this place great for down hill travel, she barely had to do anything. The wind over Canterlot took the girl down past the upper ring and into the large trading center that is Middle Canterlot. As per usual, the streets of the mountain were alive with people from all places of the world trying to get ahead in life using Fauna's large competitive market.

The largest building in this district would be the Central Bank, and it covered two entire street blocks within the Grid based city, but one wouldn't be able to tell that just by looking. This building sticks out in Canterlot because, unlike most other buildings here, this one was made specifically of a dark polished stone. The original owner of this building had the dark material imported from the Crystal city in the north to celebrate the city being annexed into fauna six centuries ago, and this place has been maintained ever since.

Rather than expand vertically, when Middle Canterlot became as populated as it did over the last century, the bank started to dig into the mountain for more space rather than build upon it. Ever since the 2900's, Canterlot has expanded almost four times it's original size. Middle Canterlot was actually Lower Canterlot about a century ago, and most of the buildings here were living spaces before Kiebzen built their second headquarters here. However, once the tech giant moved in during the 2890's, it wasn't long before the whole of this district was absorbed by it. Other companies followed suit over the next fifty years, and just like that, the City wasn't just the home of the two Queens any more.

The girl decided that being aerodynamic was uncomfortable and unbuttoned her coat to give her legs some more freedom. Unfortunately for those that train to be fast, nature decided against making Angels very aerodynamic, so to combat this, they made clothing that could reduce drag when flying. However, without a helmet, the coat can only do so much. The girl jumped from the roof of the bank and landed just in front of the two glass doors. The Angel scanned the area for anyone of note. She was taught to always look for those who looked as if they didn't want to stick out, and met the four C's, or Caution, Color, Canter, and Credibility.

As far as she could tell, there was only one person who met all of them. He stood to the right corner of the bank away from the tellers, near seats but not sitting down, and kept his eyes from making contact with anyone. That's Caution. He wore almost entirely black in the mostly black and gold building, and at the right angle, he might just blend in. There's Color. He didn't move much in the minute or so that she observed him, but when he did, he made very slow, deliberate movements. If she weren't looking for him specifically, she might not have noticed him yet. That's Canter. Finally, he looked like someone of the lower working class based on his style of dress. This bank serves more often than not people with at least six figures stored away in this very bank. There's Credibility. Unless he was a child with an adult, there's no reason to believe he has any business being here. Of course, he could just be a poorly dressed inconspicuous rich man trying to avoid being seen. But, the chances that were far lower than him planning something along the lines of theft.

There was also a single guard by the opposite corner of the bank who seemed to take note of the man as well. It struck her more odd that there was only one guard on a busy day like today. Something didn't feel right. The girl decided to ignore it for now, but keep herself aware of her surroundings just in case. There were six tellers, and during this hour of day, all of them were open. It was just before noon on a Monday, specifically, April the 7th.

Most of the work force gets paid at the end of the week and retrieves their gold the following business day, which of course, is when Celestia's package would arrive. There was a line of about seven or eight people at each booth, so Fluttershy decided to take the shortest one and wait. Luckily, she didn't mind waiting and had 'saintly patience' as Sombra liked to say. She'd expected something like this given the time and the day, so she took out her duel disk and opened her Manga app and turned on her headphones. As much as Zephraim likes his Anyan stuff, everybody else is just kinda pulled into it. Before she knew it, He'd addicted her to the stuff, and now it's all she does in her free time.

What's more unfortunate is that lately she'd been thinking she wanted to draw like her favorite mangakas, and once her brother got wind of it, he's offered her a drawing lesson nearly every time he's seen her. About half an hour and one full volume later, it was finally her turn. She was glad she'd got there when she did. She had at least ten people behind her. Looking back, she saw that the man she'd been keeping an eye on had sat down, but was still watching the tellers... waiting for something.

“Excuse me, miss?” the teller said behind her. The girl turned around as quickly as possible “Oh, I'm sorry. Um, yes. I'm...” the girl reached into her pocket and picked up her silver coin. “Here for the afternoon special.” She said as she slid the coin into the drop slot for the teller to inspect. It clanged against the metal a few times before the teller took it. She inspected it, then returned the coin to the slot. “Oh, I see. You know, It's been quite the nice day outside. I wonder what time the sun is at it's laziest...” the woman had leaned up against the desk and lowered her eyes without breaking eye contact with the girl.

“I imagine it's dawn.” The woman stood from her chair. She wasn't very much taller than Fluttershy, but was older by about six or seven years. She had brown eyes and dark red hair hair, but she was also very pale. Upon further inspection, the girl could see that the teller's name was Velvet, and her ears were pointed. V-strain people were fairly rare, but one could find anything in the streets of Middle Canterlot. The woman flashed a fanged smile to the girl, then took a bow. “Very well Ms. Heron. You package arrived a few minutes ago due to an interruption at the air port. If you'll excuse me while I retrieve it.” The woman took a turn and disappeared behind a wall. The girl stood and waited at the booth, whistling a tune.

She couldn't remember where she'd heard it before, but for some reason, she was very fond of it. “Ms. Heron?” Velvet had returned and she was holding a black box, and was now wearing white gloves. The woman reached under the green-gray polished granite counter top and slid open a metal door on her side of the window. She gingerly placed the box inside and then closed the door. The girl opened her side and took the box. “Thank you for doing business with us. We hope to see you again.” The woman took another bow, then returned to her seat. “Thanks. And, on a side note I'd also like to withdraw two thousand bits from my own account while I'm here.”

The woman nodded. She turned on her computer, and pulled up Fluttershy's account. “Certainly ma'am.” Now that she was employed by the core, the girl made a rather hefty sum. Compared to those who manage to get a good job straight out of college, she was making a little more than them at sixteen. The woman opened a drawer on her side, and removed four pieces of long thin gold that had the words, Five Hundred Bits engraved on one side and the number engraved on the other. She then typed something into her computer, and then slid the four pieces of gold into the drop slot. The girl picked them up and threw them into her pocket. When she got back to Upper Canterlot, she expected to buy a new computer for herself with her own money for the first time.

The girl turned to walk away, but just as she did, the entire room went dark. A bright red light siren came on, and then was quickly shot out by some bright green bullet. Immediately, the door to the bank was sealed by a metal wall. The other windows were similarly covered with an iron wall, and now the entire room was dark. The screams of several people rang out, and then more gunshots sounded off. The light's came back on, and at the back of the building were four people, and to her surprise, none of which were her suspicious character. They were all wearing sandy white cloaks, two men, two women, and four automatic rifles, one of which was magic powered. In the midst of all this, Her suspicious character had disappeared. The guard started to charge toward the group, but was just as quickly gunned down by one of the women in the group.

“Yeah, that's right you bunch of rich little shits! You're about to get robbed!” Said a woman with the magic rifle. She had most of her head shaved, and the rest was medium length almost red, dark orange hair that fell to one side. She had a few scars along her face, one running just past her cheek, and am other under her eye on the left side that was shaved. She was very tan, like she was from Leviathinos to the south, but didn't sound like it. She had an accent, not a Levian one, but one like she was from Heartland. She raised the rifle at the crowd of scared civilians.

“Now, now, little golden geese, no need to be afraid. You won't end up like Mr. mall cop here if ya do what I say, got it?” One man started to raise his hand, and it began to glow with an intense dark blue. As soon as the leader saw it, she nodded her head to the biggest guy in her group, who then sent a bullet through it. The man yelled out writhing in pan and fell to the ground clutching his now three fingered hand. The woman robber walked toward the man on the floor and then stepped on his injured hand. She ground her boot into it.

“Ya shouldn't a done that.” She said with a wicked smile on her face. “Now then, I think we've all learned something here. This big guy's name is Rampage.” She said as she pointed to the largest man in her group. “And when he was a kid, he killed his dad for beating up his mom. Noble, ain't it? His dad was a mean ol' Mage, so he really, really, don't like magic. So, if ya wanna keep your hands, I suggest you don't try anything stupid.” The Leader looked to the woman and the two children behind the injured man. “Now then... I'm guessing you three are the family of Mr. stupid over here, ain't ya?” The frightened children pulled closer to the mother.

Fluttershy felt a tingling in her left hand. She just now realized she was gripping her sword's hilt as tight as she could. She could feel her blood boiling. This woman was threatening children. In her mind she knew it was a bad decision to step in right now, but this was starting to walk on thin ice. She could likely take three of them before they could fire their weapons with the enchantment on her sword activated, but she also had precious, and dangerous cargo. If she wasn't careful, she could end up hurting one of the innocents in the room, or worse, losing the cargo. She pried her hand off her sword and then ever so slowly, started to move toward the exit.

One of Celestia's swords could easily cut through most metals on this planet. With the enchantment on, Fluttershy could destroy the gate that's keeping the people here trapped, and let the police force in. But before anything though, she decided that now was as good a time as any to call Sombra. She turned around slowly and reached for the duel disk in her pocket. She swept her thumb four times, then pressed in on the screen with it. The core had a code word to say at any time they needed help, and if another member hears it, they'll rush to aid. The call rang in her headphones five times. No answer. The girl swept at her disk again, keeping close watch on the woman.

“Now then, would all the adults in the room pull out their cash and come hand it to my pal Rampage over here? O'course, ya don't have to, but it's either your cash now, or a bullet in your head, and your cash later. And if you have less than a thousand on ya, I'm sure our lovely tellers are willing to get it for ya. You tellers met Rod right? Come on everybody, turn around and give Rod a wave.” Crap, there were five of them, the girl thought to herself. Sombra didn't answer again. Behind Velvet was another man with a magic rifle like the woman's. Where did they get these? The specific kind of rifle they have is slated for military use only, and isn't sold in the state. As a matter of fact, under the leaders cloak, she was wearing standard issue boots and pants... was she a defector?

“Did you find that thing we were told to get?” Thing? Oh gods, they were hired to take this. “Naw, there ain't nothin' where Ah can find it. But there's somethin' weird about the room over there. Ah think somebody already has it.” This man had a particular kind of southern accent. Great. Now it's only a matter of time. “Oh, do they? Go check again to be sure. We don't get paid if we don't get the box.” She said as she looked around the room. The man disappeared behind the walls, then the lead robber started to speak again. “How about it then? Whose got the box?” No one answered the woman.

“Come on people, I ain't got all day here!” The woman shot the bleeding man's hand again, this time, destroying it entirely. The magic shot sound echoed through the room and the man screamed again. The people started to file in and drop money into the bag that the other female robber was carrying, and one of the two children started crying. The other robbers were checking each of the civilians for the box as they went. Fluttershy thought it best to simply fall in line and put her gold in the bag. They were doing pat downs to check for the box, and luckily it was small enough that if she put it in the right place, they wouldn't find it. Ten minutes, and the force would bust down the door, and stop the robbers. If she could just hold on that long...

The leader left the man she'd shot on the floor, and walked toward the woman with her kids. The sat down on her heels and raised the crying child's face. Sombra didn't answer again. The girl felt the tip of her pommel with her thumb. In her mind, the words back away started to repeat themselves, slowly clouding her thoughts and memories of Namiva started to flood back all at once. “Oh, come on, big man. You're a boy ain't ya? Boys don't cry.” back on the floor the man with one hand started to get up.

“You get the hell away from my son!” He said through gritted teeth. The robber woman put her hand on the little boy's shoulder. “Hey big man. Your daddy is about to do something stupid again. Last time, he got his hand shot off. You should tell him to quit, huh? Otherwise, he might get hurt again.” The little boy nodded. “Daddy please, don't!” the man had already made it to a kneel. “I said-!” the robber cut him off, her grin now as wide as it could be. “Too late!” She fired a bolt through the man's head. He collapsed on the ground, and blood started to pool on the floor. Fluttershy could feel tears start to well up. This can't be happening. How can this be happening? But more than sorrow, she was beginning to feel rage burn deep in her stomach. The woman stood up.

“Any of you other dumb fuckers wanna try something fucking dumb!? I got plenty of bullets to go around!” both children were crying now, as was the mother they were clinging to, who screamed out the word, “NO!” The robber gained an irritated look. The robber grabbed the crying mother's face and stood her up straight. Sombra didn't answer again. “Listen here, you little bitch. I really don't like crying, m'kay? So if ya don't shut your damn mouth and make your kids quit, I'm gonna kill the three of ya, got it!?”

The woman instantly stopped, and then tried to calm the children down. Fluttershy had had enough. The purest rage she could feel was building in her heart that she couldn't suppress any longer. She was likely to get hurt, but she couldn't let this continue. “Back away from the children...” Said the girl in the back of the line as she drew her sword. Her words were soft, but filled with anger. “Oh ho ho, lookie what we got here. Some dumb little, dairy-cow-bitch tryin to be a hero. Take another step and the kid gets it.” The girl gritted her teeth. She wouldn't let the child die if it cost her her life. “I said get away from him!” The woman turned the gun to the girl.

“Oh, so the cow want's to die huh? Alright. No skin off my back.” the woman fired a green bolt in Fluttershy's direction. The girl said something in a language no one else understood, and then she cut the bolt in half with the sword in her left hand, sending it into the walls. “Shit, this bitch is for real! She's gotta have the box, kill her!” The three other robbers threw the people they were checking on the ground and started to fire at Fluttershy who yelled “Get down!” to the people in the bank.

Faster than the first could fire, she reached her, knocked the gun out of her hand, then sliced it in two. She then bashed the woman in the head with her sword to knock her unconscious. “You damn bitch!” said the big bald muscle head whose name was apparently Rampage. He swung the gun at her, likely trying to avoid killing his comrades with the weapon.

However, once again, Fluttershy was far faster than him. The girl cut the gun in half, then flipped her sword around in her hand and moved behind the hulking man. She turned the blade facing her, then slammed it into his head three times. The giant then fell to his knees, and collapsed on the legs of the unconscious woman. That's two.

The smaller man in the robber group didn't waste any time firing his weapon at the girl. Luckily she reacted quick enough to deflect the bullets away from herself, but two of the innocents were hit by ones she missed. Even more angry now, she turned the blade on his gun and sliced it in half horizontally. She then spun around and delivered a palm to the man's nose promptly breaking it. She flipped the sword around again and knocked the man out.

When she turned around, the leader was holding the child by the neck with a pistol barrel touching his temple. The girl stopped dead in her tracks. “Bravo, little miss dairy cow, bravo indeed. Rod!” The lead robber yelled toward the teller stations. “What is it!?” a man's voice yelled back. “Get your ass in here! We got a bitch from Eclipse, and she killed three of our guys!” The girl objected the statement. “Killed!? I didn't use enough force to kill anyone!” The leader returned her smile. “Oh, you didn't? Ha! HAHAHA! That's fucking rich. Yeah you did. Look.” The woman shot her pistol three times, each bullet landing in the heads of her comrades.

“One, two, three. All dead, by your hands, little dairy cow bitch.” The girl was shocked. This woman was... evil. If she was going to kill off her own comrades anyways, why would she wait until now and not shoot at me while I was dealing with them? By now the other man had made it into the room. “Oh, shit, Gem! Oh, no, no, no, no, no!” The man ran to the pile of bodies leaking blood into the floor from their gun wounds. The man turned to the girl and raised a pistol. “You bitch! You killed my wife!” Crap! He's too close! The girl thought. The man pulled the trigger on his weapon, and the girl juked the bullet. At the same time, she tried to jam her sword through the gun, and while she managed to do just that, she also cut deep into the man's hand. The sword absorbed all of the blood that was left on it, and then the runes on it turned a deep crimson.

The girl pulled the sword back, and flipped it again to knock out her target. Before she could do that, a gunshot fired. The man collapsed, now with a fourth hole in his skull, and his body fell to the ground. The girl felt her stomach churn, and she wanted to vomit. “Hot damn, that's four for four! I outta thank ya, dairy cow, now I'll get all the money.” The girl felt tears begin to form in her eyes again looking at all the dead. “WHY!? Why would you kill your own friends!? What purpose does it serve!? No one had to die today!” Liquid was streaming down her face. The woman scratched her head with the pistol barrel.

“You deaf, or just fucking dumb? Look, I'm gonna take all this here gold, and I'm gonna boot. I ain't no match for you. But you're just a little skim milk dairy cow bitch who ain't got the guts to kill. You touch me, and this little guy dies, got it? I don't even care about the damn box alright. You keep it, It's waaay outta my pay range for dealing with Eclipse.” Fluttershy couldn't bring herself to act. If she did, this monster would kill the boy, and she didn't have the reaction time to deal with that. The robber moved to the bag of Gold under one of her now x comrades bodies and hoisted it over her shoulders with her magic.

“You've been a real help dairy cow. Here, I'll give ya this as a reward for my buddies here.” The woman's finger started to move on the trigger. The girl was paralyzed, her eyes widened. no. she began to squeeze. NO! The woman fired. “AHHHHHHHHH!” The girl screamed in tandem with the gunshot. She watched as the projectile flew out of the child's head. The robber dropped the child's body, and before she knew it, there was a sword in her chest. The girl's eyes had changed to a bright red color, as did the sword's runes. The robber dropped her bag of gold and her eyes went wide.

“You... you bit-” The girl dug her sword further into the robber's body bringing her face as close as she could to the robber. Blood started to flow out of the robber's mouth. She then pulled the weapon out of the robber's side, cutting a crescent ark in the woman's body. The robber started to fall to the ground, and said one final phrase.

“I guess... you were whole milk... after all...” The lifeless body collapsed. The girl's eyes reverted back to their normal color and she looked at everything before her. Her hands were covered in blood, she had it on her face, and her sword was just as red. Her coat was stained red, and there was a body of a woman on the floor who had been killed by a deep gash that went through most of her body, starting at her chest. Next to that was the body of a little boy, around seven or eight, bleeding out on the polished stone floor. The girl dropped her sword, and sank to her knees in silence.

She let out an agonized scream that filled the building. Shortly after that, the metal wall that had deployed over the door was lifted by several people in police uniforms. The officers all ran in and started taking care of the wounded, and the Angel simply sat on the ground in a ball, crying to herself. An officer of a higher rank approached her not long after the rest of the force had filed in.

“Ma'am? Are you alright?” The girl bit harder into her lip, trying her hardest to keep the tears in. she managed to stop long enough to look at the red sword she'd done the deed with, and then into a crouch and continued to cry again. “Come on, I'll help you up.” The man tried to pick up the girl, but she pushed him away. She grabbed the sword and threw it into it's sheath. She ran out of the door, and started to fly away. She didn't know where she was going, but she would never come back. “I ki-” She felt her stomach churn again.

“I've done something awful... I could never face them again after what I did... I'm sorry... mother...” Tears flowing, eyes blurry, and sand in the wind from the west, the girl fought the wind as she went down the mountain toward the red forest. She had sinned. And sinners belong in the place where the most heinous of sinners died. In the Red trees of the Everfree. The place where it all began.