Equestria's Saviors

After Faust had talked to the team of humans, she had returned to Celestia's throne room.

"How did it go?" Celestia asked, with a hint of worry in her voice.

"It went well." Faust smiled. "They are willing to help, and I will bring them here tomorrow."

"Excellent!" Celestia beamed. "Thank you so much!"

Faust smiled back, but noticed that Celestia seemed to be lost in thought.

"Is something the matter, Tia?" She asked, snapping Celestia back to reality.

"W-Well..." Celestia stuttered. "If it's not too much trouble, I have one more request to ask of you."

"Go ahead."

---(Line)---

The next day, in the human world, the team of humans are all walking towards the center of the town.

"So, when did Faust say she would be here again?" Raphael asked.

Hiro shrugged.

"No idea. She said said sometime in the afternoon, but she didn't give specifics."

"Faust wouldn't lie..." Gooey said.

"He's right." Ben stated. " She won't just leave us hanging."

"I don't think she's coming personally." Gladius said. "Look!" He pointed to a swirling pink portal.

"Isn't that a bit risky?" Mike questioned. "I mean, what if someone else stumbled upon it?"

"It appears that nobody else can see or interact with it." Theodore observed. "Interesting. She really planned this out, didn't she?"

"I'm starting to have second thoughts about this..." Jiraya said, looking nervously towards the rest of the team. "I mean, going to a whole new world? I don't like the idea of that..."

"Don't be such a downer!" Squiddy said, wrapping his arm around his shy teammate. "What's life without a little risk? LET'S GO!!!"

Squiddy jumped into the portal, still holding a screaming Jiraya.

"I guess we're going in sooner than expected..." Jason said, walking into the portal, the rest following suite.

---(Line)---

The portal had lead to what appeared to be a garden just outside of a... castle? Needless to say, nobody expected that.

"The hell?" Ben said as he and the rest looked around.

"Welcome."

The humans turned towards the source of the voice to come face to face with... another alicorn.

"This is now in the top ten strangest things I have seen and/or done." Ace said.

She chuckled.

"I am not surprised." She said, observing all of them. "So, you are the team mother has told me so much about."

"I would assume so." Hiro stated.

It took a few moments for her words to sink in.

"WAIT, MOTHER!?" The entire team shouted.

"Oh, did she not tell you?"

"I had forgotten." Faust spoke up, walking towards them, her horn glowing a brilliant red aura for some reason.

"Sup horse goddess." Jason said nonchalantly.

Ignoring the nickname, Faust moved on.

"Allow me to introduce you to my daughter. This is Celestia, the one responsible for raising the sun and Moon on Equus."

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance." Celestia greeted.

"Question." Mike spoke up. "Why is your horn glowing?"

"Excellent question, Mike. Have a cookie."

"Yay!"

"As for my horn," Faust continued. "This ties into your first Equestrian test."

(Flashback)

Not many things took Faust off guard, but this was an exception.

"You want me to do what?" She asked, making sure she heard her daughter correctly.

"I request that you raise the sun and moon tomorrow when the humans arrive." Celestia reiterated.

"Why this all of a sudden?" The goddess asked.

"Well, it's not that I don't believe in this team, quite the opposite, actually." Celestia paused for a moment. "I just wish to see their power first hoof."

"Tia... Are you saying that you want to battle them?"

She nodded.

"I want to see their power and teamwork. How well they work together will determine how much they trust each other. As you know, friendship is very important in Equestria."

Faust caught on to her plan.

"So, you want me to raise the sun and moon tomorrow so you can focus your full attention on the battle?"

"Can you do it?"

Faust nodded.

"Of course. Just be careful out there, Tia."

(Flashback end)

"So, you're telling us that the pony, essentially a goddess, wants to fight us?" Raphael asked.

"Correct." The two alicorns replied.

"I don't know..." Jiraya said. "I know she's basically a goddess and all, but twelve on one seems kind of unfair."

"Yeah." Ben agreed. "Also, I'm not sure how comfortable I am hitting a female."

"What, are you scared?" Celestia teased.

..........

"I'm over it."

Without warning, Ben rushed forward to deliver a punch. Celestia barely managed to put up a barrier to block the punch.

"Wolf Nail!"

Ben delivered a devastating punch that Celestia could tell was much stronger than the first.

"If I don't think of a way out of this soon, it could be bad..." She said as her barrier began to crack.

She came up with an idea.

Pouring more magic into her barrier, she expanded it to push Ben back.

"Let's go, Ace!" Mike shouted as he rushed forward at blinding speeds.

Said teammate nodded and trailed behind him. Celestia shot a beam that managed to hit Mike in the leg, causing him to fall over.

"Shadow Pin!"

Ace shot an arrow next to Celestia's left back leg. Celestia, letting her guard down, attempted to fly and gain an advantage, only to find that the arrow was pinned to the shadow of her leg, preventing it from moving.

"What!?" She gasped.

"Now, Mike!" Ace yelled.

Mike quickly got up and rushed forward, sword drawn.

"The 5th Demonic Skill: Draining Slash!"

Mike's sword had turned transparant. He made a clean slash straight through Celestia's body. However, instead of cutting her in half, like what would normally happen, his sword actually phased through her. When it emerged from the other side of her body, it was bathed in a bright yellow aura.

Celestia started to feel a little sluggish afterwards.

'Did he just drain some of my energy?' She thought to herself.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Mike dashing towards her.

"The 6th Demonic Skill: Sealing Lock!"

Thinking quickly, Celestia teleported just in time to avoid a powerful sword thrust from Mike. She appeared several feet in the air.

"Shit, now how are we gonna reach her?" Jason said.

Everyone looked at Theodore.

"What?"

Ben picked him up and hurled him at Celestia.

"ASSHOLE!!!" He shouted before summoning his burning crimson wings.

He quickly flew over to Celestia and gave her a strong kick to the stomach, sending her back a few feet.

"Phoenix Buster!"

Engulfing himself in crimson flames, he made a full charge towards her. Celestia put up another barrier to block the attack.

"Hang on, Theodore! I'm coming!" Raphael yelled as he jumped high into the air.

Using Theodore as a footstool, Raphael propelled himself towards Celestia.

"Tempest Kick!"

He delivered a powerful kick, sending Celestia into the ground. The winds that were created by the impact increased her speed.

She slammed into the ground, creating a small crater.

"Well, that's disappointing." Ben said.

A few seconds later, Celestia appeared in front of them in a flash of light.

"My turn!" Squiddy said cheerfully. "Let's go, Gooey!"

"He seems to be treating this like a game." Celestia said.

"Tsunami Boost!"

Celestia looked to her left to see Squiddy surfing towards her on a rather large wave of water. Celestia shot Squiddy with a beam, knocking him down and causing the wave to splash onto the ground.

Meanwhile, Gooey put his hand on the ground, causing his arm to turn into grass. His arm extended and entangled Celestia.

"Nice job, Gooey!" Squiddy said. "Let's go, Jason!"

"Duo Attack: Compact Sand!"

Jason used his ability to shoot a large ball of sand straight at Celestia. Squiddy covered the sand in water, compacting it.

Once again thinking quickly, Celestia quickly replaced herself with a clone. The ball of wet sand destroyed her clone instantly.

She then noticed some sort of strange energy surrounding the field. The next thing she noticed was that she could no longer move.

"I got her!" Gladius said. "Leo, now!"

Leo nodded and grabbed the ground and started molding it into stairs. He quickly ran up the stairs and jumped. He seemed to be holding something when nothing was there. He jumped high into the air, coming back down with a tremendous amount of force.

Celestia managed to teleport away just in time to see Leo create a large crater with his attack. She looked on in awe, but it was short lived as Jiraya finally decided to attack by punching her in the face. Surprisingly, even with all of her injuries, it didn't hurt much. Hell, it didn't even knock her back a foot.

"Are you holding back?" She questioned.

"N-no..." Jiraya responded meekly. "Oh, for Pete's sake!" He suddenly said more aggressively

Celestia was confused by his sudden change in behavior. She looked into his now serious eyes.

"I'll beat you down myself!" He said as he made a full charge at her.

"Pain Wheel!"

Jiraya grabbed Celestia by the face and jumped high into the air, spinning several times as they fell. Eventually they reached the ground, where he slammed her face into the ground, making yet another crater.

'He's much stronger now. What happened to him?' She thought to herself.

"I think that's enough, guys." Hiro said.

Everyone looked at him.

"You're not going to fight?" Ben questioned.

"You know I prefer to avoid conflict." He looked towards Celestia. "Besides, she looks like she needs a break."

"True..." Celestia panted. "That was an excellent battle!" She began to walk away. "Oh, I also have a personal guard just inside to escort you to your temporary rooms in the castle." She walked through the castle doors and out of sight.

"One of the nicest beings I've come across." Hiro smiled.

"You should all go get some rest." Faust stated.

The rest nodded and walked into the castle to get some well deserved rest.