The Legend of Fauna

        When Redheart was on her way out, of the stadium, she saw an Angel with monochromatic wings descend toward Celestia he didn't look very old, but the one thing that bothered her was that he looked like Celestia. Redheart had heard rumors of the queens having children, but had never seen them. Back in 2988, she remembered that Celestia had started to gain weight, then suddenly was not seen again for six months.

        Of course, this is when the rumors started, but as there was no evidence of a father, or child, so it was dismissed. But consecutively, for four years apart for the next twelve years, she seemed to disappear from the public, for exactly half the year. The same thing happened with Luna as well, around the same time. Supposedly, there are seven children belonging to the queens, each two years from the other. But, Twilight was injured, and now was not the time to be bothering her. She'll get her call later. Redheart would make sure of that.

        The Monochrome boy in white, gray, and black, descended upon the Day Queen in the stadium.

        “You want me to what!? Are you out of your damn mind!?” Celestia grabbed the boy by the ear, and teleported the two. When they landed in the announcer's box Luna had left moments ago, she slapped him across the room.

        “How many times do I have to beat you before you learn not to curse at me outside of the castle!? Geez. Why can't you understand the necessity of tact? YOU'RE AN ASSASSIN! My own son, the assassin, doesn't understand the need for silence. Geez.”

        Celestia slapped her right shoulder piece, and most of the gold armor she was wearing disappeared in a white light, returning her to her olive skin tight tank, and brown skin tight pants. The boy picked himself up and stood up a few chairs Celestia had knocked over.

        “Fine, whatever, can we just talk about this? I have other assignments! I can't just drop everything to go be this girl's body guard!” He was sitting in the swivel chair, his wings almost spread in stress. Zephraim really was her only option right now, and she knew he still had other people to take care of.

        “Look, honey, you are the only one who can do this right now. Your older brother and father are off on some expedition in the south, your cousins are either too far away and already on missions, however, Eclipse will be joining you soon for sure. Your sister is on the other side of the planet, and your younger brother is still in school. You know I can't teleport across the country every day, and neither can your aunt.” His crossed arms seemed to loosen, and his wings sank. He sighed.

        “Literally, no one else is here. Great. I guess... do you want me to take care of the kingpin later or...?”

Crap! That's what I had him doing! I guess I'll just take care of that... “Oh, uh, right, yeah, don't worry about him. We'll keep monitoring him and I'll take care of it, if need be. I just need you to protect Twilight, okay? There's something serious going on, and Twilight and these five,” Celestia took six pictures out of her pocket and handed them to Zephraim. “Are the only ones who can deal with it.” He flipped through the pictures, stopped on one, then put them in his coat behind his throwing knives. Celestia smiled and leaned in on him.

        “Oh? What's this? Did we see something we like?” The boy stood, and put his hands on his head.

        “It's the freckles. She's kinda hot too. How old are these girls?” The Queen wrapped her arms and wings around her son.

        “Oh, look, he's finally admitting he has feelings to his mother. I'm so proud!” He struggled underneath his mother's godly strength and slipped out under her arms.

        “And you killed it. You totally killed it. Dad would have just given me a high five or something, but you? You killed it.” Her smile grew more wicked.

        “What's wrong honey? I'm only 2000 years, old, could you explain to me what exactly I killed?” The boy dropped his arms and stone faced himself.

        “Nine o clock train tomorrow? Got it. Bye mom.” Celestia grabbed him by the last feather on his left wing before he could retreat.

        “Not so fast, boy. I'm not done with you yet. Under no circumstances are you to let her out of your sight. You may do as you please, as long as you know where all six of them are. Avoid intervening if you can, and if you must, leave no trace of any one or thing you kill. Understand?” The boy landed after his mother released him.

        “Thing? What the hell do you have these girls fighting?” Celestia puffed out her nose, and sent him flying with a crash across the room.

        “HOW MANY TIMES! HOW MANY TIMES, ZEPHRAIM BLACK ISCANDOR, HOW MANY TIMES!?” The boy dusted himself off, being used to the abuse after twenty years of it.

        “Beats me. You. You beat me. Good thing you hide us from the public, otherwise, CPS would be all over this. Anyways, I'm going to go contact Cobalt. He's been on his own mission there for about two weeks, so I might as well see if we can hang out. This... Twilight girl, is she the one you took in a few years ago?” Celestia nodded. “Great. Now I get to deal with the angry teenager. Thanks Mom.” Celestia hugged her son.

        “Please be careful. And call me when you can. I can't lose you again.” She released the boy and he stepped back.

        “Don't you go worrying about me. I know I'm not immortal now. I won't do anything that I can't handle. I'm gonna go see if I can't kill the kingpin before tonight. I'll call you after we get off the train tomorrow, okay?” Celestia stepped away.

        “Alright then. Do as you must.” The boy opened the door, and took off. “Just... quit quoting my younger self, you silly boy.” Celestia Flew away from the room, and watched the last of Luna's closing ceremony from above the seating areas at the top of the stadium. While there, she took out her custom disk from it's sheath on her side to check the time. 10:00 am. Spike Sparkle would arrive at the station in 45 minutes, so she had some time to kill.

Might as well call Redheart now. Better yet talk in person. She stood up from the spot she was sitting, and started to use her magic to find Redheart. She was leaving the girls dorm. She must have dropped off Twilight in her dorm room. Celestia warped to her position, but silently. When she appeared behind Redheart, she used her wings to hover, and followed the Terran doctor. After two minutes of it, Celestia almost let out a giggle, but restrained herself. The pink haired woman stopped and turned to her.

        “Congratulations, Celly, you managed to sneak up on me.” Celestia let out her giggling, and sank to the ground.

        “I- I'm sorry, I just, couldn't *pf-ft* stop myself.” She calmed down, and then put a hand on the woman's shoulder. “Did you drive here? Or do you still walk like you used to?” Redheart sighed.

        “You know I can't drive.” Celestia clapped her hands.

        “Great! Lets have a chat at the bus stop.” The queen snapped her yellow glowing fingers, and away the two went. They landed on the empty bench in a sitting position, and Redheart started to look around.

        “I don't think I could ever get used to this. No matter how many times you teleport me, I will never be able to not be nauseous afterward.” Celestia leaned back and spread her wings out, putting one in Redheart's face, then returning them folded on her back.

        “You have forty minutes, Sang. What do you want to know?” The other woman sneezed a white feather off her nose, and then wiped at it with a handkerchief.

        “You know I'm allergic to your feathers! Would you stop doing that!?” Celestia yawned.

        “Clock's ticking.” Redheart put her handkerchief back in her purse, and scratched her head.

        “Fine. For starters, who was that other Angel you were talking to?” Damn it. “Oh, uh him? Uh... damn it. Fine. That was my son.” Redheart reeled back.

        “The rumors were true!? How many kids, whose the father, and what are their names and genders?” Redheart had moved closer to Celestia, and it was too close for her. She slid the woman away with her wing, and then reluctantly answered her questions, but issued a condition first.

        “Before I tell you anything else, you must swear that no one will ever hear any of this information from you, on the net or otherwise. Because if it does happen, then I might just have to kill you, mmk?” Redheart nervously nodded.

        “I have Three sons and a daughter. I do have a husband, and his name is Sombra Black. I'm sure you know who Apollo Sombra is, correct?” Redheart thought for a moment, and then something clicked.

        “You mean the CEO of Kiebzen? The Apollo Sombra?” Celestia nodded.

        “His full name is Apollo Sombra Iscandor, and he was our first. He was born on April 6th, 2988. You remember that year? When I suddenly wouldn't see anyone for about half of it? That was because I was pregnant. Athena Black Iscandor, my daughter, was born on September 16th, 2992. Currently, she's part of my special ops team in the Fauna army. Zephraim Black Iscandor, the boy you saw me talking to, is my third child and second son. He was born on December 26th, 2996. He is the leader of my Assassin team. Ever heard of the angels of death?” Redheart's eyes widened again.

        “They're real? Celly, people are afraid of them. Is that their purpose? Just to scare the public, or were they actually involved in those cases a few years ago?” Celestia crossed her arms.

        “No and Yes. If I wanted to scare the populace, I could do it easier than that. As for the big vein case, that was Zephraim's first big mission. I... almost lost him that year...” Redheart thought she saw Celestia's hands tremble, but then she was back to talking. “and finally, Zeus Sombra Iscandor, my last son, was born on April 5th, 3000. I'm sure you know him. He's a Mage who goes to this school.” Redheart thought for a second, then realized who she was talking about.

        “My assistant? Zeus is your son? You've got to be kidding. He doesn't look anything like you!” Celestia leaned in.

        “Oh, ho ho ho, no, he is definitely mine. You know what child birth feels like. Now imagine your non-Terran son comes out weighing in at fifteen pounds. Just let that sink in. A fifteen pound baby passed through my body.” Redheart looked at Celestia's hips. She was wide, but no one was fifteen pounds wide. None of Redheart's own kids were even close to that big. And she'd worked in the maternity ward enough to see what children can do to a woman's bones. Sometimes, when twins would come out, the pelvis would fracture.

        Angels had it the easiest. Even the giant ones weighed at most four pounds, and it was really weight that contributed to pain and broken bones in childbirth the most. Terran children were the worst to deliver. Even less than a day old, and the child can rip cloth to pieces. They typically weighed in around seven and eight pounds, and when alone, would not cause too much strain on the mother. But the heavier they were the stronger they are from the get go. Non-Terran mothers giving birth to Terrans were the most frequent case of maternal death.

        “I'm so sorry. It must have, or at least came close to breaking your bones.” Celestia felt the sudden need to scratch her hips.

        “Yeah well, being immortal makes it pretty hard to feel too much pain for a long period of time. Poor Luna had it worse her first time around. When Jupiter, her Terran son, came out in 2990, that kid was sixteen pounds and some change. I honestly thought her body was gonna rip on top of her pelvis being shattered. And she's not as wide or tall as I am either.

        After being in battle a since then, she just doesn't feel pain anymore. Every time she gets stabbed in the chest or through the wing, she just laughs, and says 'You could never hurt me the way Jupiter did!' Hell, that's why she named him after the largest planet in the solar system. Jupiter Corona Iscandor is the largest baby unofficially on record in Canterlot.” Redheart put her hand to her mouth.

        “Dear god. And then she went and had more!?” Celestia nodded.

        “Oh yeah she did. Two more sons, four years apart. When I decided to have my first, Luna wanted to have one too, so they could play together, but I realized we would need to hide them from the public. If people knew about our kids, they could become political targets, or be used to get to us, so I made a plan.

        I knew I would want four, and Luna said she didn't want to go that far, and neither did Light, so we planned that one of us would run the country while the other was pregnant, and hide ourselves away while it was our turn.

        After I had Athena, Luna imagined that Nothing could ever top Jupiter's level of pain, so she went along with the original plan. And she was right. Nothing ever did. I had my neck cut open before I had kids, and now that I think about it, I have not experienced anything more painful before or after Zeus was born. Anyways, her kids are, Jupiter, who was born on November 28th, 2990. Eclipse Corona Iscandor, born on October 21st, 2994. Mage. And Nebula Corona Iscandor, born September 14th, 2998. Angel.” Redheart nodded, but then she asked a question that Celestia was waiting for.

        “Okay, but there's something that's been bothering me. You said your husband was Sombra Black, right? You don't mean the Tyrant from the history books do you?” And there it was. Someone was paying attention in their history class.

        “In 1060, Sombra Black was born to the northern demon queen. Little is known about her, even to her son, but she raised an even more terrible tyrant, who then took over and enslaved the Crystal empire to the north of Fauna's borders. During his 50 year rule, Sombra was cursed with immortality by a wandering shaman (who I believe to be Starswirl, but he died in 1235, so I didn't find out until much later, and I can't know now.) in 1094.

        His body does not age, his abilities cannot increase naturally, he cannot gain or lose strength or weight, and any wound is returned to the state he was in when he was cursed. In 1131, we were asked to set the empire free in exchange for it's land. Seeing as it was a good deal, Luna and I flew to the empire and battled with Sombra.

        Our powers were stronger than his, but he had one last gambit before he was defeated, and that was to return the land to darkness. We watched him perform the spell, and I hope to the gods that no one ever does it again. Time froze around us, and started to spread from underneath that black castle around the City. We managed to escape, but the empire vanished off the face of the earth.

        2530, the empire returned to the planet. Sombra then began a plan to spread into Fauna, and take over. This time, when we caught wind of his return, we didn't waste time in fighting him, and just sealed the bastard's magic immediately. Sombra was imprisoned in Canterlot castle, and the empire was annexed into Fauna, where it's now known as Crystal City, which I’m sure you already know.

        Now, what no one knows, is that in 2866, Luna found an ancient magic artifact that started to corrupt her soul and take over he body. By some horrible turn of events, Luna was lost to another dimension, and I never thought I would see her again. I had been alone for almost 100 years. The only person on the planet I could actually talk to like I did Luna was currently locked away in a prison cell under the castle, and so I took a visit, albeit out of desperation more than anything.

        Of course, he wasn't the happiest person around, but with his magic sealed, he was just a weak Terran. Eventually, I managed to get him to talk to me, and I found out that he's wasn't completely terrible, just the product of a bad childhood. I started to take him around the city, and he began to open up to me. He had never seen a place with this much activity or happiness. All he knew from birth was to cause misery or receive it, because that's how his mother raised him.

        Even if he was a Tyrant, He knew a lot about how to make a city more efficient, and so we remodeled Canterlot together, as you might know it, the remodel of 2960. We got close to each other, and soon enough, he tried to take me out on a 'date' if you could call it that. The 'Black Demon King' was a total spaz, he didn't know what to do with himself around me now the he had 'feelings', but man, did he try his hardest to win me over. Eventually, he started to get it right, and his silly persistence caused me to fall for the old fool.

        Shortly after what seemed like the most perfect evening, he told me he wanted to confess something. He said that the spirit of his mother visited him in a dream, and told him that, If I really loved him, I'd let him have his magic and take my place with me at his side. I wanted to say yes. But I knew I couldn't. If his existence was let known to the public, there would have been outcry, and riots.

        So I made a plan. I told him, 'I will release your magic, but in exchange, you must then duel me. If you win, I will say yes to your proposal. However, if you lose, then you're my bitch, until death, do us part.' The game began, and then he started to win. But then, I pulled back. We came down to the wire. I had 500 left, and he had 1000. I was in position to finish him off with Caesar, but he had some cards set, and I couldn't get rid of them. I bet on it, and took the game.

        Then I ran over and picked him up bridal style with all the joy in the world, and he said to me, 'until death do us part' and we kissed. It wasn't until later that I found out he could have won. Had he activated his trap when I attacked, I would have lost, and your current ruler would Sombra Black. But I was too happy to care. He chose me over everything else, and I wouldn't have it any other way.” Redheart was touched by the story. She'd never seen Celestia with such a warm look in her eyes. Pure happiness, is what that was.

        “Aw. Celly, that's so sweet.” Celestia playfully punched Redheart in the shoulder.

        “Remember, If you tell anyone, I'll have to kill you~” she sang.

        “Oh, whatever, you old bird. Well. I think I only have the obvious one left. What do you plan to do with Twilight?” Celestia stood up with her orange Disk in her hand and turned to Redheart.

        “Ooh, sorry, time's up. Better luck next time. You'll just have to wait and see on that one.” Redheart tried to get it out of her

        “Wait a minute! Celestia! That's what this was supposed to be about in the first place!” The bus had come and Celestia was waiting at it's door. After a single child with lime green hair, a purple hoodie, beige shorts, and tennis shoes got off, she took his hand and they started in the other direction. The Tall woman turned and winked at the doctor, then warped away.

        “Ugh! Damn it!” Redheart stormed on the bus, paid her toll, and took a seat. The next stop, right across the street from her house.

        “So, Spike, how was the trip over here? Not too uncomfortable, was it?” The ten year old looked up at the giant Queen. He was almost 4'6” but that was merely half as tall as the queen, it seemed. His head was just above her hip.

        “Oh, uh, it was okay I guess.” the boy was silent for a moment. After he arrived at Celestia academy III, the day queen and some pink haired woman were talking, and she grabbed his hand and warped them to some room he'd never seen before. The ceiling was high and formed a dome. If he had to guess, this was likely her office, on the top floor near the back of the building. In class today, the teacher was teaching about archetecture. The feature on the top of the school was a spire, and right under that was a dome.

        “Is there something wrong, dear?” Celestia brought the boy's wandering eyes back to her face in the violet leather chair she was sitting in across from him. The room was decorated in ornate violet and gold rugs, drapes, and curtains, while the tables and desk were made of white marble.

        “Well, I was kinda expecting to see Twilight. It's been almost three months since I last saw her.” Canterlot, the capital city, was divided into three major parts: Lower, Middle, and Upper Canterlot. Upper Canterlot, ranged from halfway up to the top of Dragon spine Major, the largest mountain in in the Dragon spine range. In it were the Celestia Academies, several headquarters of Fauna's major corporations, a few high class stores and Canterlot Castle, the home of the Queens.

        Middle Canterlot was past the wall of Upper Canterlot at the middle of the mountain, to the wall of Middle Canterlot, which surrounded the mountain base. Middle Canterlot was more or less a giant shopping district with public schools dotting the mountain side here and there. Wears from all over the world were sold here, along side the very first Kibitz market, the leading company in consumer technology.

        Lower Canterlot is the residential section of the city. Houses and Living complexes were very rare in Upper Canterlot, and uncommon in Middle, but made up most of Lower.

        The Sparkle family was relocated there after an explosion that took Twilight's father, Night Sparkle's legs. Night worked for a small 'energy company' known then as Magica Igna. This however, was just a cover. In truth, Magica Igna was actually an underground base for the mafia known as the Ignis family. The Ignis family is known for violent, but untraceable crimes, illegal drug trade, and human trafficking. This mafia had more or less complete control of Canterlot's underground for a very long time, and this didn't change until two years ago.

        The original Angels of Death were sent to Magica Igna after they received an anonymous tip concerning the family's whereabouts. The tip was a trap and three of the six members of the Angels were killed in the explosion that nearly blew the Magica Igna office to smithereens.

        Night was unfortunate enough to have come to work right after the raid of the building had started, and was caught in the explosion. His right foot and left fore leg were vaporized in the fire, and he sustained severe burns on most of his lower body. He reacted quickly enough to put up a barrier to his chest, which is most likely the reason he lives to this day. The three remaining angels found Night outside of the ruins and brought him to the nearest hospital, where he was then treated for his burns.

        No longer being able to walk, Night and Velvet Sparkle had few options to them. The treatment to have his legs regrown on top of healing the damaged skin on his lower body would have cost a new house in middle Canterlot and then some.

        Night working for a false company didn't help either. When he was hired, he was given a dental and health plan, a house in Middle Canterlot for he and his family to live in, and a new vehicle to drive to work in every day. Now that Magica Igna was destroyed, the records that it existed were gone completely, the car was found to be stolen, and the house had been put on the market three days prior. In short, the Sparkle family was screwed. With the savings Night had put away, the five had managed to find an apartment in Lower Canterlot where they would live while Velvet and her fourteen year old son, Shining, would work to try and pay for everything.

        Some where in that year, Twilight Sparkle, the nine year old daughter, ran away from home while she was attending school in Middle Canterlot. Eleven months passed before Twilight was found and returned home. Shortly after, an invitation to Celestia Academy I was sent to the Sparkle family. Due to her prowess in class, in dueling, and uniquely strong magical ability, she had been selected to be given a free full ride through school until she finished.

        This had sounded too good to be true for the Sparkle family, until they found the condition for her entrance into school. Twilight must duel a proctor that is selected to match her skill and magic level, then come out of it victorious or with a draw. Without much thought to Twilight's protests, the parent's went through with the exam.

        During that duel, Twilight was nearly defeated without so much as denting her proctor. Her emotions were unstable, and the record shows that she was muttering about someone named black or otherwise, and she simply had a melt down during the ordeal. Toward the end of the duel, a display of color and sound was heard and seen across all of Fauna, just to the west of the Dragon spine range.

        When the near blast level noise hit Canterlot, Something awoke within Twilight. An Ascended-level surge of magic started coursing through the girl. Her Mage's mark appeared on her back and shone with a brilliant white light, and the cards she was using to play with morphed into her own soul cards without so much as an incantation.

        Seeming to be absent of mind, Twilight's body continued to duel and defeated the proctor against all odds, but in the process, the girl nearly killed the man. Her uncontrollable magic fed into the game to make her monsters more real than matter waves ever could, and the proctor was finished by Twilight's Fusion monster with a stab to the chest.

        Upon completion of the duel, Twilight was rendered unconscious, and the bleeding proctor was left on the floor writhing in pain. The proctor was rushed to the hospital, and the Queens were notified immediately. This would be the second case of a child displaying the power of an Ascended in the third millennium, and the fourth in history, including the Queens themselves.

        About ten days after the incident, Twilight woke up in Upper Canterlot Hospital to her father standing beside her. The Day Queen had declared the day after the incident that she would take in and train this girl personally, and the family in question would be accommodated accordingly. As such, Night was given his legs back, a job with the city government, and a house was prepared in Lower Canterlot for the family to live in, free of charge.

        Since then, Twilight has been taking private lessons from the Queens and attending the Celestia Academies. She visits her family every three months for a week, then returns to Upper Canterlot to continue her schooling. Last she had visited home was in the beginning of April this year, so her next break would be in two weeks.

        “Well, you shouldn't worry about her. She's had an eventful morning, so there's a good chance that she'll be asleep until seventeen or so. Did you have any plans as to what you wanted to do before you leave for Pony Ville with her tomorrow?”

        Earlier that week, the Sparkles received a letter from Queen Celestia. Due to his unique position as the only half dragon human known to man, Spike was to be trained by the Queens alongside his older sister. His mother was a cousin of Night Sparkle who died due to an unknown diseased at the young age of twenty eight, shortly after giving birth to Spike.

        Night was her only living relative, so the child was given to him. He and his wife were thinking of having another child of their own around the same time, but decided against it, and took Spike in as their own. Spike was a unique thing to deal with. He grew with pale scales rather than skin, but kept the appearance of being human.

        His 'skin' was ten times harder than the average human's and could stop bullets. He has the young wings of the vampiric strain of angles like Luna, and a small reptilian tail. When angered, his scales turn a violet color, and his eyes become like that of a reptile, changing his vision to heat and motion hyper sensory.

        As an infant, when he was burped, fire would come out of his mouth. As he grew, he could spout flames on command. It wasn't until recently that it was discovered that the fire he produced has a magical property that can transport material through other fires.

        When Spike burned a paper during class in the winter, the same page materialized itself out of the embers of the fireplace at his home. Velvet discovered the page, and Shining, who was home from his military training at the time, decided to test out the theory. After proving true, Shining wrote a report to the Queens, and since then, they've been watching Spike's progress.

        “Well, I did want to go visit that famous comic shop here in the Upper level. They say that there's nothing like it anywhere else, and they have the rarest printed editions of any comic anywhere! Man, if I could get my hands on a copy of the Devil Summoners series...” Celestia took her Disk from her side and opened a search menu. She had visited every building in the city on multiple occasions in one of her covers or another, and she believed he was referring to the Ivory Pages book shop just a few blocks from the school. After pulling up a picture of the store front she handed the disk to Spike.

        “Is this the place?” The boy took hold of the device and scanned the image.

        “I think... so? Twilight said she goes there all the time, but I can never remember what the place is called.”

Definitely Ivory Pages. Twilight spends almost as much time there as she does at her dorm. The allowance I give her never seems to be enough to buy every book she wants, so she always sits in the coffee shop within the store and reads whatever is available to her.

        “I'm sure this is it. Why don't we take a trip over there?” The boy handed her the disk back.

        “Really?” He was visibly excited to go, but tried to show some restraint in the presence of the Day Queen. She smiled and stood up.

        “Sure, why not? Have you ever flown before?” The boy looked a tinge depressed at the question.

        “Uh... no. The doctors say that I'm too heavy to fly on my own, so the best I can do is glide with what I have.” Celestia took the boy by the waist, tossed him on her back, and put his legs around her waist.

        “Hold on to my shoulders. We'll be there in a few minutes.” The boy was surprised to be where he was, but did as he was told. Celestia opened the large window to the balcony from her office, and leapt from it with spike on her back.

        The jump itself could have cleared the near mile long school, but after flapping twice, the two had risen high in the sky. The air was clear, and the noon sun was bright. From their vantage point, Spike could see all the way past the wall of Lower Canterlot to the Everfree forest a few miles past it.

        “Wow! I've never seen outside the walls! Is that the Everfree forest over there?” Celestia almost cringed at the name. That blood drenched forest was the sight where countless acts of dark magic had taken place. Hundreds upon thousands were sacrificed for the 'soul arts' as the Mages liked to refer to them back in the early days of Fauna when the races were still privy to prejudice.

        The genre of horror was started because of the events that took place there. People today take it for granted, but back when we had to deal with it... No one should have to witness those kinds of atrocities more than once in a life time.

        “That's a dark place, Spike. If you can avoid going there ever in your life time, please do.” The boy shuffled his position on the Queen's back as they descended toward a white marble faced store.

        “Why is that? I thought it was just a big forest that had red trees.” He asked.

        “Do you know the legend of the red trees of the Everfree?” Celestia replied after thinking it over.

        “There's a legend about it?” The ground began to creep closer, and at the same time the two descended slower, and eventually landed softly. Celestia helped Spike off her back. She took the boy's hand, and walked in to Ivory Pages. The two had found a couple of large leather chairs near the café, and then Celestia began.

        “I suppose, I should start from the beginning then. This story isn't one they normally teach fourth graders.” She shuffled her wings and crossed her legs, then put her hands together in front of Spike like she was about to pray. They began to glow with her golden magic, and she opened them like a book. Inside, a golden colored story book began to show images of lands and kingdoms.

        “Long ago, there were three kingdoms. Archea, the land of the Mages, Gaia, the land of the Terrans, and Sehpira the land of the Angels. Gaia's border was everything east of the drowned river, and the Dapple desert. Sephira's border was north of the Dragon spine range, the Everfree, Cloud sea, and the drowned river. Everything else belonged to Archea, including the Everfree.

        Now, back then, Mages would experiment with magic in any way they wished. Many of them believed it to be immoral to experiment with other Mages, but this didn't stop a few of them who didn't care. Among magic, there is a kind of magic known as Dark or Black magic. This particular magic strain typically deals in using the souls of humans to accomplish various things, such as creating new souls, animating objects or corpses, and sometimes, creating creatures.”

        Her hands continued to display pictures of the things she would describe, albeit a more child friendly version of some of the more gruesome topics.

        “When I was young, Mages believed themselves to be above the other two races, thinking that they should rule all of Fauna, and then the world over. Even if they believed that though, It could never be true because their magic would be ignored by the Terrans, and avoided by the Angels. For the most part, this caused them to always be on even footing with the other two races. However, this changed with the discovery of dark magic.

        In this land, there exists a feature known as the soul vein. Deep within the ground, magic flows naturally through the earth, sometimes giving a Mage a boost in their abilities, Terrans a jump in their strength, and Angels more speed in their flight. One of these soul veins runs straight under the Dragon spine range, where it then pools under the Everfree forest. When the Mages discovered the soul vein pool, they discovered dark magic with it. Using the free flowing souls within the vein, they could animate things, restore life to plants and trees, and heal the sick.

        But over time, and after countless battles with the other two races, the Mages could never accomplish the one thing they truly yearned for. The ability to bring back the dead and cheat death himself. Then, something changed. While exploring the forest, a group of three Mages came across an extraordinary beast, with a magnificent hide. When the Mages went to slay the beast, the beast said to them,

'If you never return to my home, I will teach you that which you yearn for most.'

        The Mages agreed to the beasts terms, and each Mage was taught something different. The first Mage learned how to use magic to fly, for he wished to be born an Angel. The second Mage learned how to increase his strength, for he wished to be born a Terran. But the last Mage was taught something else. The other two Mages returned home and passed along the knowledge they had gained, but the last was never seen in the cities of Archea again.

        When a group would enter the forest after that day, regardless of race, they would never come back. The last Mage would kill the group and use their souls to extend his own life, and create monsters to serve him. From then on, he obtained followers who he passed his art of the damned on to, and slowly, the group of black Mages increased over time.

        Luna and I were granted our Ascension and ended wars to unite Fauna, but in truth, we simply united everything outside of that forest. A time came when the Necromancers of the Everfree tried to invade Canterlot. Hundreds were slaughtered before we could take action to end it. Their tainted magic was strong enough to repel even my magic, and our people were being killed left and right. With no other options, the only way to save the ones we were sworn to protect, was to kill.

        A day passed, and the necromancers had all been ended. The walls of Canterlot were then built to protect my people and the blood of the thousand necromancers of the Everfree stained it for eternity, and that, is why the forest is red.” Celestia closed her hands and the little magic projection ended, just like closing a book. By the time Celestia had finished her story, the two had been sitting in the Ivory Pages for half an hour.

        “Wow... that's... kinda dark...” the boy said nervously. “Did you really... kill them all?” Celestia scratched the back of her head.

        “To tell you the truth, I could never know. Even after that awful massacre, dark magic still seems to rear its ugly head somewhere. Even now, there's something evil going on in the underground here. So many have died because of it's practice...” The Queen had a distant look on her face as if she were seeing something far beyond the field of view Spike could comprehend. She turned back to him with a much brighter look on her face.

        “Anyways, since we're here, you wanted to look at the comics right?” The boy perked up at the word.

        “Oh, yeah, I wanted to see if they had the Devil summoner series here!” Celestia grimaced at the title.

Really? After what I just told him, he still want's that?

        “Oh, uh... I bet ya they have it. What's it about?” The boy thought through what he wanted to say.

        “Okay, so, there's this guy who moves to his uncle's house for school because his parents are doing business over seas, but when he's there, this weird string of murders happens! He makes some friends and one night, when the clock strikes midnight on a rainy day, Some crazy thing involving the next victim shows up on his T.V.! Then he feels compelled to touch the screen, and his hand just sinks in.

        The next day, he tells his friends about it, and they go to the mall to see if he can actually go in the T.V. From then on, they find out that there's an other world inside of it, and that's where both the first victims died, so they start rescuing the new targets that appear every night. I think that's about a summary of it, or at least the first few comics. There's like, twenty six in the series.”

Oh. That... doesn't sound like the title at all. Never judge a book by it's cover I guess.

        “Interesting. Well, the comic section is on the second floor. Lets go head up there and see if we can't find it.” Ivory Pages was a large store with book shelves lining the walls. The coffee shop was to the right of the main entrance, and at the back of the store was a large stair case which lead to the upper floor, which was also lined in bookshelves.

        After climbing the stairs, the two moved to the far right corner where the comic books, manga, and omnibuses were kept. After reaching the section Spike found several titles and read a few pages in each of them. After a few minutes of looking, Celestia received a call on her disk. It was her Daughter.

        “Spike, do you mind staying here for a bit? I have something I need to take care of outside.” The boy nodded and continued to read what he was holding. Celestia flew off the second floor to the main entrance and then flew to the top of the building. Once on the roof, she answered the call.

        “Hi honey, what's up?” She said as sweet as she could. Athena hadn't called for a week and Celestia was worried.

        “Hey. So yeah, I'm done here. Threat neutralized and all that jazz. The warring Islands have settled on a compromise, so the metals we receive from them will continue to come, but in larger quantities for the same price. I think. At one point, I think I almost started another war, but I guess we resolved that too. I really just hate that I can barely even speak this language.”

        Celestia put her hand to her forehead. Athena was likely the least gentle of her four children biological. Zeus would have likely solved that issue faster, but he's still in school, and there is no way around that. Celestia almost expected to make a personal appearance in the Anya islands because Athena was known for getting into fights. It's a wonder how the girl is such an expert leader whilst being a terrible people person. Genetics, maybe.

        “That's great honey. Will you be home soon?” Knowing her daughter, this would be a meandering answer.

        “Well, that's kind of a yes and no.”

And there it is.

        “Ya see, I think one of the princes thinks I’m gonna marry him or something, and I have zero plans of that happening, so I need to straighten that out. The knights are saying I should wait for them to come up with a plan before I do that though, but I just don't feel like I should lie to the dude. I mean. What do I do?”

        The fourth time. This is the fourth time Athena has been proposed to by a prince while doing a mission over seas. Sometimes, Celestia just wished she would marry one of them to get it over with. Two of the previous encounters have put Fauna on sketchy terms with the country in question, and the other one put them at war. It didn't last long, but war that Celestia and Luna have to participate in is never a good thing. If only Anyanese came to Athena as easy as it did Zephraim. But somehow, he's even worse with diplomatic situations than Athena is, if that's possible.

        “I would...” What would I do? Something like this has never happened to me. I was too much of a hardened killer to be approached by anyone before I changed. My presence still strikes fear into those that look into my eyes. Anyone with experience can tell. No one proposes to me out of the blue. Think of something!

        “Try and... invite him here! Yes... show him around, get to know him. Then you can turn him down.” Excellent decision Celly. Stallthe inevitable conflict. Oh gods, I can hear Sombra complaining already.

        “You know, that's a good idea mom. I really don't know the guy. He doesn't look half bad either. Alright, I'll bring him home. I'll be back in about a week. We've still got some paperwork to take care of, and then we gotta clean up. When we did fight, It was not pretty.”

Great. I just hope the body count doesn't break the hundreds this time. Athena has always had this competitive drive to 'get more kills' than anyone else, so sometimes it turns into a game for her. And she inherited my Terran strength. The girl could crush boulders with her fingers as a child.

        “That's great honey, can't wait to see you home. Try not to start another war while you're there okay?” She heard muffled voices over the phone.

        “Oh, Marx is back. I'm gonna go tell him about the plan. Later.” And she hung up.

        “Please... Just come back to me...” Celestia said as she clutched the disk to her chest. Celestia had seen many she was close to die over the years, and she began to reminisce. Her first general served her until he died of age. Many of her comrades fell in battle, and even more so in war. After nearly 1900 years of it, death stopped bothering her. Until one day, she had a close call with a monster herself.

        All at once the full strength of the fear of death came rushing back to her. To ease her mind, her husband suggested they have kids, and for many years, it worked. They all came out with no complications, healthy and happy. But, as parents would influence their children, they all wanted to be warriors just like the demon king and the sun goddess.

        Sombra and Celestia fought for years over the subject before she finally gave in to the kids demands. They were all trained by the two sisters and their husbands to be the best in the country with their respective talents, and as time passed, Celestia grew more comfortable with their situations. She trusted her kids, and they never gave her a reason to not in training.

        Apollo eventually gave up and grew out of playing hero to pursue more technological and intellectual interests around twenty. Athena went on to join Fauna's army despite her mother's protests, and now leads the Solar knights, Celestia's personal task force. There were no problems until Zephraim decided he wanted to take up the more dangerous position of in house assassin.

        His Angel's mark appeared shortly after he picked up a sword for the first time and trained with his father. A sword, a Lance and an Ax crossed over three hexagons in black, gray and white. Unfortunately for Celestia, she had seen a similar mark before and knew what it meant for the person who bore it.

        Her first general, Dante Scudo, bore the same weapons over a shield on his left shoulder, was unmatched in his ability to use nearly anything he picked up as an expert weapons master, and this talent served him through all his life. He was only ever bested by the two sisters themselves in straight combat, and never so on the battle field. He was a strong man who was built upon his morals, truly serving the nickname, the white paladin.

        Zephraim however, was already showing signs of surpassing Dante. The boy could literally kill armed with anything from shoe to nothing at all. With standard weapons, he nearly matched his father, and with the special sword Celestia crafted for him, he could match him, in terms of raw power (even if Sombra would never admit it).

        The biggest problem Celestia had with Zephraim is that he wasn't only gifted with weaponry. Ever since he was a child, Zephraim liked to draw. He was good too. With a few classes and a point in the right direction, he could become a great artist. But adamantly, he refused that that path, every and any time she would try and put him on it.

        Two years ago, Zephraim was put on his first mission as part of the Angels of death after his exceptional performance during his entrance exam for the group. The Angels were started ten years after the unification of Fauna. An Angel named Bora Lancia was elated to finally be no longer at war, and he devoted himself to the Queens. From then on, he was used as an assassin to remove potential uprisings by the still prejudiced and those wishing to rule themselves. Eventually, Bora started to grow his unit, filling it with people from all the races so they could use their unique talents to fight as the Queens' hidden blade, protecting the peace without the people knowing.

        The group has never exceeded six, two members from each race, all with a different set of strengths to help contribute to the unit. As they grew older, they began the training of a new unit to take their place when a large group of Mage extremists started to gather in Canterlot.

        Naturally, Bora saw it upon his unit to end the leader of the group, and so he set out to do exactly that. The night fell, and the Angels descended upon the extremists head quarters, only to find that it was a trap. The entire building had been rigged with an incendiary spell to go off as soon as a non Mage entered, and one Mage Terran and Angel were killed in the fire. The remaining three angels set out and slaughtered the entire group, enraged at the loss of their fallen comrades.

        Eons passed and new angels rose one after another, and every other generation would suffer loss of members to traps. When Zephraim's turn finally came around, He was a replacement for the last Angel who died in an explosion five years prior in the Magica Igna incident. Zephraim had officially joined the Angels, and their next target was a repeat attempt at Enrique Igna himself, the last head of the family.

        After disposing most of Igna's forces, the Angels finally came across Enrique and his men. Celestia wanted to tag along for the event herself, but that would only complicate things for them with a member they weren't used to trying to lead, as Sombra said, but that didn't stop her from hanging back and watching the event go down.

        She did it for Apollo and Athena's first missions, so she would definitely watch her third child's first. The showdown began and all the members took on one of Igna's forces each, with Zephraim taking on Igna himself. Using the sword Celestia forged for him, there was little chance he could lose, but a chance none the less. Igna was a dangerous Mage who was well versed in incendiary magic, and tried to burn Zephraim to death. The boy was fast and gifted with a high resistance to magic on top of the strength and speed the sword gave him, and quickly, he severed Igna's hands, stopping him from casting ever again.

        Right before Zephraim was to finish Igna off while the other members had detained Igna's forces, one of them freed himself, and put a knife in Zephraim's back near it's center. Before Celestia could jump in herself, the boy used a single swing to decapitate both men. Upon sheathing his blade, the boy passed out. Before the other angels could move, Celestia jumped in and grabbed her son.

        In a moment of rage, she ordered the angles to end the entire Igna family, save for the children, and make sure the name was never spoken in this world ever again. She teleported to the castle, and immediately began healing her son. The blade had pierced his lung, and blood was beginning to fill it. Her boy was dying. In a fit of frantic desperation, she used all the magic she could gather to save her son. The wound sealed, and he had began to cough up the blood. It looked like he was saved. But then he stopped breathing. Using everything she had, she performed CPR. After two repetitions, the boy started to cough up blood again, but continued to breathe. Tears running down her face and anxiety fading, Celestia simply sat on the floor, holding her son.

        For the next week, the Day Queen post-poned or suspended any and all appointments she had, and did not leave her son's side, much to his dismay. When his cracked ribs were finally healed and he was walking again, Sombra finally convinced his wife to let the boy be for some time. Months passed, and Celestia would not allow him to leave the castle. With his whole body finally healed, he would try to escape.

        However, no attempt was ever successful as Celestia put an Angel barrier around the Castle that even Sombra couldn't break. Finally, Sombra confronted Celestia about keeping Zephraim trapped at home.

        “You can't keep this up! You're running yourself ragged just to keep this insane spell active, and the boy is losing his mind! You have to stop.This cannot continue.” Celestia turned to the man, sleep still present in her never aging face.

        “And what!? Let him back out there so he can die!? I will not! Never again will I let this happen. These are my children, and they will never be hurt again!” Sombra shook his head in disapproval.

        “You just don't get it. This isn't about your children, this is about our children! He is my son too, and you're keeping him prisoner! All these years we've been together, all these years we've raised our kids, you have never gone this far off the deep end to try and protect them. There is no reason to do this anymore. He's eighteen, and he is an assassin. He's gonna have close calls. But you can't keep him here. This is insane.” Celestia was enraged.

        “Oh, I can't keep him here, that's just rich Sombra, rich. You kept an entire city captive for a thousand years, but I can't protect my own son. Why don't you just do do that again, and leave me and my son alone?” Sombra pulled his hand and back and slapped the woman across the face. At no point before in their years together had Sombra ever raised a hand against Celestia outside of training, and she was thoroughly shocked by it.

        “Are you out of your FUCKING MIND!? You went so far as to bring up something that happened nearly 1500 years ago just to justify keeping your son under house arrest!? You did not marry the black demon king of the north, and I married Celestia Iscandor. But as far as I can tell, neither of those people are here right now.” He took hold of her hands and looked her directly in the eyes.

        “I love you. But you've gone too far. He's okay. If worse comes to worse, I'll take responsibility for it. But I will not stand by and let you keep him prisoner. You can take him off the unit for a while, and force him to do something else for the year. But one day, they'll all out age us both. And no matter what we do, we'll end up staring at their graves eventually. Maybe one hundred years from now, earlier, or later. But you have to let them live their own lives. They aren't your pets, and they certainly aren't mine.” Tears began to roll down her face, and she sank in to Sombra to cry on him.

        “It's alright. Let it out.” After half an hour of holding each other in the foyer of the Castle, Zephraim marched down the stairs armed with a duel disk.

        “Celestia Iscandor! I challenge you to a duel! If I win, you will free me from this prison! If I lose, I will be your servant for the rest of my life!” Sombra turned his head to the boy and gave him a look that could kill.

You, IDIOT! I finally brought her around and then you pull a stupid stunt like this!? Celestia let go of Sombra and turned around. She wiped at her face, sniffed hard, and slapped her shoulder plate. In a white light, the rest of her body was armored. She snapped her fingers and a tiara appeared above them. She placed it on her head, and turned to face the boy. Her cape spun in dramatic flare, and her face was clear again.

        “Very well then. I, the Day Queen of Fauna, accept your challenge, my son.” Sombra put his hand to his face. He sighed.

        “Great going Z. You done fucked up.” The boy called back to his father from the stair case.

        “What? I can beat you in sparring, surely I have a chance against mom in a duel.” The older man simply shook his head. His hands and feet began to glow a crimson red, and he floated up to a ledge on one of the white marble columns that lined the foyer.

        “A duel will now commence between Zephraim Black Iscandor and Celestia Iscandor. When I create a sphere in the center of the room, the first to reach it will take the first turn. Ready! Begin!” A large crimson sphere of light equidistant from the mother and son appeared in the foyer. Zephraim made a jump for it, but Celestia warped in front of him, and kicked him down to the ground. She flapped into the sphere and it turned gold. Sombra sighed. She was going to beat his sorry ass.

        “Celestia Iscandor will take the first turn.” Zephraim began to pick himself back up.

        “Nice one mom. Dirty tricks from the get go.” The woman floated back down to where she stood, never breaking eye contact with the boy.

        “Sorry dear, all's fair in love and war.” the boy rolled his neck and shot back at her.

        “So which is this?” Celestia raised her arm and a golden matter wave appeared just outside her gauntlet.

        “Oh honey. This is war. And you declared it.” Sombra sank back against the column, his black coat slowly folding itself as he did.

She's gonna kill him.

“DUEL!” The players drew five cards, and Celestia began immediately.

        “To start us off, I believe I'm going to make sure you can't do anything. You think you have the power to beat me? Allow me to show you that you don't. First off, I summon Caller of Helios. While he is the only monster I control, I can special summon one level five or higher Helios monster from my hand. With that, I special summon Mathematician of Helios. While I control a tuner, I can increase or decrease this card's level by that card. I change the level 5 Mathematician to level 4. Now I tune. Betrayer of the king, Blaze across the field, Helios Cassius!”

        Sombra scratched his head as the orange skinned, tunic wearing, fire clad soldier descended to the field. She's using Cassius against her own son? She reallyisn'tgoing to let him do anything.

        “When Cassius is summoned, I can add a level 5 Helios monster to my hand. I add Bard of Helios. While I control Cassius, My opponent cannot special summon level five or higher monsters, and once per turn, I can negate the effect of a card that would destroy cards on my field.” Celestia made a quick wink to Sombra.

Hold on a minute here. She's planning something.

“While I control a synchro monster, I can special summon Bard of Helios from my hand. Now that I control two level 5 monsters, I activate the effect of Mathematician in my grave. When I control two monsters of the same level, I can special summon this card. Then I activate the spell card, Offerings to the Cosmic deity. I tribute Bard of Helios to add monsters with levels equal to or lower than the total of the tributed monster. I add the level 3, Oracle of Helios, the level 1 Time keeper of Helios, and the level 1 Scribe of Helios.

        Next, I activate the effect of Oracle. While I control Two or more Helios monsters, I can special summon this card from my hand. When Oracle is special summoned, I can conduct synchro summons with monsters in my hand. I then use the effect of Mathematician to lower his level by 3. When Mathematician is special summoned by it's own effect, It is treated as a tuner monster. I tune, the level 3 Oracle, and the level 1 Time keeper in my hand, Misleading betrayer, hand of the conspirator, Descend, Helios Cinna!” Sombra crossed his arms after hearing the name.

Now I get it.

        “Next, I tune the level 2 Mathematician and the level 1 Scribe! Attractor, betrayer, Take the eyes of the field away from the darkness, Helios Metellus! Now, Zephraim, honey. Do you know what happens next?” The boy began checking the screen on his disk. He read he cards one by one until he came across Metellus.

        “Oh shit.”

        “This is exactly the kind of shit I was talking about.” Sombra called out. Celestia's entire body began to glow the same gold as her magic, and she began a chant.

        “Carrying the power of the sun, the betrayers gather with a chosen king at their side, together the betrayers assassinate the king they once served and take his place! I tune the level 3 tuner Metellus, the level 4 Cinna, and the level 5 Cassius! Take your new throne, Over-limit Accell Synchro Summon! The True King, Helios Brutus!”

        The fires of the three monsters grew until they consumed each other and formed three rings of red fire around a giant column of orange fire in the center. A lightning bolt shot through the center, and white light consumed the room. When Zephraim could see again, a giant stood before him.

        Nearly as tall as the foyer, the gigantic monster was at least 30 feet. He was fully clad in golden armor identical to Celestia's and wearing a helm with a brush top. A gold leaf crown was attached to the helm, and in his orange skinned hand was a sword that was similar to his mother's own legendary Tyrfing. The man was more or less a true approximation of what his mother could actually do on her own. Flatten a country with just her feet. The heat in the room had been slowly increasing ever since Celestia had started playing monsters, and it had reached about 95 degrees by the time Metellus had come out.

        After the synchro summon was performed, the room temperature had increased to 115. After recovering from the initial shock of witnessing the summon of a monster that he didn't even know existed, on top of never even hearing of a synchro summon performed with only synchro monsters, he noticed that he was surrounded in a red tinted barrier, and the air around him was at normal room temperature. The ceiling of the foyer began to form water droplets, and steam started to fly off the ground as the droplets landed. Celestia had likely pulled out the strongest card in her deck, and he still didn't even know what it's effect was.

        “Now, my darling boy, When Brutus is synchro summoned, he gains the effects of all the synchro monsters used for his summon. Cassius' effect, you cannot summon level 5 or higher monsters, and I can add a level 5 Helios monster to my hand, and just for fun I'll add Servant of Helios.

        Next is Cinna's effect, You cannot activate the effects of trap cards while I control this card, and this card cannot be targeted by card effects. Then, Metellus' effect, You cannot activate the effects of Spell cards while I control this card. Speaking of, if Metellus (and Brutus in this case) is used for a synchro summon, I can add one Cosmic card to my hand. So I'll add Rules of the Cosmic Deity to my hand.

        Then, Brutus' own effects, my opponent cannot activate cards in response to the summon of this card. Once per turn, during either player's turn, I can negate the activation or summon of a monster or monster effect, and if I do, I can inflict damage to you equal to half this card's attack points, which would be 4000.

        Finally, just for the additional taste of salt in your mouth for challenging your mother, I'll activate that card I added with Metellus' effect. While Rule of the Cosmic Deity is in play, my opponent cannot inflict damage to me unless I control no monsters. And with that, I'll end. Have fun, honey.”

        At this point, Zephraim didn't know if it was possible for him to make a move. He couldn't activate spells, or traps, if he tried to summon a monster and start a combo, his mother would know exactly where to stop it. If he wanted to remove it, he'd have to try and fail once while using something else to keep the burn from killing him before he could even get anything off, and he had to use some form of non-targeting removal on top of every thing else.

        He could try and negate it's effect so he could use spells to try and get rid of it that way, but the negation would still have to be global. Even if he set monsters, she could just keep killing them until she got a card that could pass through defense. And he couldn't go around it with the Rule card she had on the field. There was nothing he could do to get out of this situation. He didn't have enough monsters in hand to summon through and try and defend himself. It was over before it began. The boy dropped his cards and sank to his knees.

        “I... I can't even fight back... how am I supposed to... do anything?” The Queen straightened her body, and took her cards off the matter wave, then put them back where the belonged in her gauntlet. Brutus disappeared, and the room lowered 50 degrees in temperature. Sombra jumped down to his wife's side and followed the armored woman. He slapped the shoulder plate he was wearing, and then was completely armored after being covered in shadow.

        He was wearing pitch black Armor covered in sharp warped spikes. His sharp black helmet was adorned with several horns and a single red one above the center of his forehead that was emanating a black smoke around it. His cape was a different kind of black, as at one point it may have been red, but was so drenched in blood over time that the color was eaten by the darkness that it created.

        These people were his parents. One immortal Queen who could likely conquer the world over on her own, and an old immortal King who could likely do the same. And they married each other. What they could do together was boundless.

        “Get up. You challenged my wife, and now I need to beat some respect into your dumb ass. You beat me in sparing, please. You win sparring matches because I let you do so. If you never won, you'd get discouraged.” The queen took her turn next.

        “Has it even crossed your mind that you almost died three months ago? Don't you get it yet?” She grabbed the arrogant boy by the belts across his chest and pulled his face close to hers so he looked her in her tear filled eyes.

        “You would be DEAD right now if I hadn't been there to save you! Don't you understand what this did to me!? I have watched countless people die over my life time, friends, parents, citizens that I ruled over with your aunt. I became numb to it. And one day, I had a run in with death, and I made me doubt whether or not I could be killed! I nearly went insane over the thought that even I might not be able to escape death's grasp, but you know what finally brought me back around?

        Your dad suggested we start making you four. I thought that maybe, just maybe, because we will live forever, that you four might too. And you know what? Your dad never did. He kept trying and trying to get me to look at the truth, but I ignored and denied it's existence as long as I possibly could. But what happened three months ago? YOU DIED! Your heart stopped beating for an entire minute! YOU WERE LEGALLY DEAD FOR AN ENTIRE MINUTE!

        I was losing my mind trying to keep you breathing after your heart stopped and I managed to accomplish restarting you only after I broke your gods damned ribs! You are not invincible! You are not the best there ever was! You are not us! We will always be the best because no one will ever surpass the experience we've gained over the multiple thousand years we've been alive!

        There is a girl in crystal city, and I will see your grave before hers because she is just like me! She's a year younger than you, but she's stronger than you could ever be, she's faster than you could ever be, and eventually, she'll be smarter than you can ever be! And do you know why? Because she IS immortal! She has the potential to be the best there ever was! And she will be, JUST. LIKE. US!” She took the boy and pulled him as close to her body as much as she could without breaking him.

        “You cannot be dead any sooner than age will let you! I won't let it happen! You have to give me grand kids to fuss over and worry about! And you have to see grand kids so you can worry and fuss over them! You have to live! Don't you get it...?” At this point Celestia had sank to her knees with the boy in her arms still.

        “Do you understand yet? We will watch you die. We will watch your casket go in the ground. We can't do anything about it, and we'll look the same way we do now as it happens. We can't make you immortal, and we cant keep you as our little boy forever. All we can do is hope we raise you to be smart and happy so you enjoy the life you've been given. And we will prevent anything from shortening that if we can.”

        The boy was dumb founded. He didn't know what to say. He never thought much of the event, just that he got hurt and came back from it. He didn't even realize that his mother was the one who saved his life. And she used everything she had to do it. He almost died.I almost died.

        “I... almost... died...?” The realization had finally sank in. His life would be over right now if she hadn't been there. They will be the same as they are now when he's old and wrinkled, hopefully with kids and grand kids of his own. This was the reality he lived in. he hugged his mother with tears in his own eyes.

        “I'm so sorry... I... I didn't even think about that... I just...” The father put his hand on the boy's back in between his wings.

        “It's over and done with, son. Just rest easy. We're going to have you suspended from the unit for the rest of the year until I feel you're trained and ready for everything that could happen in any situation. The reason your mom dueled you like that was to show you that there are some situations that you can't even make a move in without killing yourself. And I'm going to make sure that those situations don't exist by the time we let you back in the Angels, alright?” The boy looked over his mother to see his father's green eyes. The same green eyes that he himself had.

        “O-okay... dad...” Sombra managed to pull Celestia off of Zephraim, but she just latched to him instead.

        “Now get up and go get your sword. I wasn't joking. You still need an ass kicking, in a more physical sense.” The boy looked at his father, already defeated.

        “What? For real?” Celestia let go of Sombra and wiped at her eyes, then sniffed hard once. She snapped her fingers and the sword in it's sheath was levitated into his lap on the floor.

        “Yep... sniff*... I only beat the arrogant teenager out of your brain. Now we need to finish the job and have your dad beat it out of your body.” the boy simply looked at the sword in his lap, his fearful expression only growing.

        “Can't I have some plate mail or something first!?” Celestia took her hands and placed them firmly on her hip plates, while adorning a 'matter of fact expression'.

        “I've already told you, your body is just not old enough for your set. I... may or may not have almost made another set for you to use now earlier in the month, but have since been reconfiguring that for the other ascended girl when she reaches adulthood. You'll just have to learn how to not get hit until then.” This time, a crimson glow surrounded the three, and Sombra snapped his fingers. They warped to the Fighting room under the castle, and suddenly it was just him and his father inside a ring of runes Zephraim had never seen before.

        “This is a little something your mom cooked up while she was losing her mind over the past few months. In an attempt to try and make you kids immortal, she found a way to keep you from dying in a fight. These runes here will allow me to put an ax or a scythe through your little neck, and all you'll get from it is a burn! Isn't that neat? Now smile and wave to your mom over in the corner while I cut your head off... metaphorically.” The boy looked to his mother who had adopted the 'You done fucked up' smile she had when she accepted his challenge a few minutes ago. He then turned his head, and let his legs give out so his father's ax didn't take it.

        “Holy shit! Dad what the fuck!?” The man jumped back a step and raised his ax over his head.

        “Rule number one; never fall on the ground!” Then proceeded to bring it down on the boy. The boy put his arms over his head, and felt an intense burning sensation run from his left shoulder diagonally to the end of his torso. When he opened his eyes, the ax was in his body, but there was no blood or sign that he'd been injured at all.

        “Come on, you don't think I'd actually kill you after all that's been said in the last twenty minutes, do ya? We tested it first dummy. We took each others heads off for fun.” The older man opened his mouth but the words he spoke that day didn't come out. Instead, the voice of someone else did.

        “Um, your highness? Are you out here?” The voice of the boy she was supposed to be watching brought her back to reality. She'd been daydreaming of the events of two years ago ever since she ended her call with Athena. It was almost sixteen forty five. “Oh shit!” she exclaimed, then covered her mouth trying to pull the words back in. She jumped off the building and landed in front of spike.

        “Oh, there you are. I finished reading all the comics I picked out, and I noticed you still hadn't come back yet. Must have been a long call huh?” Celestia giggled to herself.

        “Yeah, it felt like it lasted two years. Well, did you find what you were looking for?” The dragon boy put his hands behind his back. He did, but it was likely more expensive than he was anticipating, so he didn't want to say yes.

        “Don't worry about the cost, kiddo. I'm the Queen of the country. I have more money than I could ever need. Come on let's go get you that set, and then I'll drop you off in Twilight's room. Oh, and before I forget, give this to her when she wakes up.” The woman pulled an old fashion letter with a wax seal engraved with Fauna's emblem on it.

        “A letter?” The boy opened one of the pockets on his beige cargo shorts and carefully placed the letter inside.

        “Yeah. It's important, so make sure she reads it, alright?” the boy nodded his head.

        “Yes ma'am!”

        The two walked inside, and Celestia Collected the boxed set of the 'Devil Summoner' manga he'd been going on about earlier and the mountain of comics he read to take to the counter. She purchased them all with the swipe of her duel disk across the counter, and put them in a bag for Spike to keep. She took the boy's hand and teleported to Twilight's room where she was still soundly sleeping. She placed the bag of comics on Twilight's desk silently, and began to speak to Spike in a hushed tone.

        “She'll be up in about ten minutes, so it won't be much longer okay? And don't forget-”

        “-the letter.” Spike finished her sentence.

        “Attaboy.” She rustled his hair and waved to the dragon boy, then warped away. Spike pulled the chair at the desk out and took the wrapped box set. He removed the plastic and cracked open the first volume of Devil Summoner.