It was nighttime. Celestia had just finished raising the moon. She hadn't gotten sleep for nearly a thousand years after she had banished Luna. Raising the sun and moon for that entire time definitely didn't help.
"Luna..." Celestia said sadly, a single tear rolling down her cheek. "Why...? Why turn on me and our subjects? Why force me to banish you?"
"You seem upset." Came a voice.
Celestia turned to see none other than Faust herself.
"M-Mother!?" Celestia nearly screamed. "B-But you died, didn't you?"
Faust chuckled a bit.
"Tia, I'm a goddess." She answered. "We don't die. I simply... moved on. Other worlds need me, you know."
"Oh, right..." Celestia said sheepishly. "So, what brings you here?"
Faust's brow furrowed.
"The timeline is being corrupted." She said bluntly.
"What?"
"I looked through the timeline once more and noticed something... unusual." Faust shook her head. "I don't know who, or what, is causing it, but something gave Nightmare Moon more power than she should reasonably have. The Elements of Harmony failed."
Celestia had a look of shock plastered on her face.
"Impossible..." She uttered.
"Oh believe it, princess." Came another voice.
Out from the shadows came a human male with long red hair covering his right eye. His eyes were the same color as his hair. He was about seven feet tall. He also wore a pitch black cloak wrapped around him, making it impossible to see anything else other than an evil grin on his pale face that sent shivers down Celestia's spine.
"Ah, Faust!" He said. "How long has it been? A year?"
"Two thousand." Faust corrected.
"Ah, yes. An honest mistake. Time flies when you're having fun, especially if it's meaningless!"
"Who is this?" Celestia asked. "Is he a friend of yours?"
"No, quite the opposite." Faust responded with a scowl.
"Is this about when I tried to kill everything on Equus?" The man asked. "Are you still pissed about that?"
"Why are you really here, Loki?" Faust asked.
"Why, to end Equus, of course!" He said with a smile.
Celestia glared at Loki and charged up her horn before Faust stopped her.
"Let me handle this, Tia." She said before trotting over to Loki.
"It's just like old times!" Loki said, clearly ammused.
"I don't know what your reasoning is for playing with the timeline, but I am not ammused by your games!"
Faust delivered a powerful buck while Loki delivered his own kick. Their legs collided and the resulting shockwave broke the throne room doors, shattered every window in Canterlot, destroyed nearly ten buildings, and even blew Celestia out of her seat and through the wall.
Both Faust and Loki jumped to opposite sides of the room.
Loki eventually started chuckling, which eventually turned into full blown laughter.
"What a rush!" He yelled. Eventually he calmed down and put up five fingers. "Five days, little ponies. Five days to find a way to counteract my new and improved Nightmare Moon! Ciao!"
And just like that, Loki vanished, leaving Faust and Celestia, who just flew back in through the wall, alone in the throne room.
"This is much more serious than I could've ever imagined." Faust stated glumly. "If we don't act soon, Equus is doomed."
"What will we do?" Celestia asked. Then, an idea struck her. "Mother, you said you regularly visit other worlds, right?"
"Correct."
"Then why not bring some otherworldly beings to help us with our problem?"
Faust pondered the idea for a moment.
"Well, I did go to a planed called Earth at one point. I wouldn't have been able to save it if it weren't for the help of the strangest team I had ever seen. Despite their looks, however, they were extremely powerful."
"That's perfect!" Celestia said with glee.
Faust nodded.
"I'm going to go and see if they will save us, I am their friend after all." She smiled and disappeared in a flash of light.
"Princess Celestia!" A lavender mare called as she galloped into the room. "I heard a loud bang and everything got knocked around!"
It looked like Celestia had a lot of explaining to do...
---Line---
Faust had appeared in a small Western town. It looked even smaller than Ponyville.
"You would think that a powerful team of heroes like them would choose to live in a place more grand than this." She said to herself.
"Hold my beer."
Faust heard that familiar voice followed shortly after by a guy being thrown through the window of a nearby building with a visible footprint on his face. Faust looked at him with slight pity.
"Don't feel bad for him. He started a bar fight." The same voice said.
Faust looked up and saw a man around 6"1 in his mid twenties. He had dark brown hair and lightly tanned skin. He wore a straw hat and a red scarf complete with jeans, black boots, 5 o'clock shadow, and emerald green eyes. He wasn't wearing a shirt for some reason.
"Jason Sake." Faust spoke to nobody in particular.
"What's up, horse goddess?" He asked.
Faust never really liked that nickname he gave her.
"I... just have a request to ask of the others and yourself."
"Yeah, sure. Wait here while I go get them." He said as he actually slowly sunk into the ground. "Remember, if you need anything just stomp on the ground. See ya later hor-mmphm." The last part was cut off by his mouth sinking below the ground.
"I wonder how the others are doing?" She asked herself.
A few minutes later Jason had returned and insisted on waiting in the same spot so the others could find them more easily.
The first one to arrive, not that it surprised the two, was a man with light brown hair, sunglasses, and light skin. He wore a white hoodie that was unzipped, revealing a plain white undershirt. He wore black shorts and shoes. He also had a katana sheathed at his side.
"Faust? That you?" He asked, lifting his sunglasses to reveal his light blue eyes.
"It's been awhile, Mike." Faust smiled.
"Sure has!" Mike smiled. "So, what did you call us here for?"
"Well, to save my breath, I am going to wait until you are all here."
"Makes sense." Mike nodded. He looked over to Jason, who was chugging a beer bottle.
"Huh? What?" He said.
"It's rude to drink in front of a goddess..." Mike deadpanned.
"I'm nicer when I'm drunk." He said, falling over. "Naptime..."
Faust chuckled.
"He hasn't changed much, has he?"
The next one to arrive was a guy with a dark purple hoodie. He wore dark brown shorts and black shoes. He also had piercing dark green eyes pale skin, and a serious air around him that just screamed 'Don't f**k with me.'
"Hello, Ace." Faust greeted warmly.
.....
" 'Ello Faust!" He greeted happily.
"Dude, don't be all scary like that and then act like nothing is wrong..." Mike said glumly. "Honestly, I have known you for nearly three years and that still freaks me out..."
"Sorry," Ace responded. "but it's just to deter anybody who might try to attack."
"How are you?" Faust asked.
"Fine, I'm becoming an even better archer, too!"
"Wonderful!"
The next one to arrive... wasn't even a person. It was a large light purple blob in the shape of a human. His defining feature, however, were his two large, white eyes.
"Faust... friend..." It said slowly.
Faust chuckled at the creature saying her name.
"It's nice to see you, too, Gooey." She said.
The creature in question pulled Faust into a slimy hug. She will never get used to the fact that Gooey's hugs never actually left slime on her.
The next person to arrive was relatively short, only about 5"5. He wore a plain blue t-shirt and black shorts. He had short blond hair and pale skin. The oddest part about him, though, was that his right eye was red and his left eye was covered by medical tape that Faust could sense great magical power from. He also didn't wear shoes for some reason.
"H-Hello Gladius..." Faust greeted. She would never forget the first time she witnessed Gladius take off his eye coverings. It was terrifying.
"Hello, Faust." Gladius greeted. "Why so scared?"
"I think it has something to do with your eye." Ace said. The rest nodded in agreement.
"I see..."
Faust snickered a bit at the bad pun.
The next person to arrive actually shocked everyone else there. He had messy silver hair, half lidded brown eyes, and lightly tanned skin. He wore a light blue jacket that was unzipped to reveal his chest, dark blue shorts, and basic brown sandals. He also decided to drop in on a pair of wings covered with a deep crimson flame.
"Theodore!?" Mike finally spoke.
"What? Too dramatic?" He asked, dispelling his wings.
"Never mind that!" Mike yelled. "You're actually not the last one here!"
"Ha, ha. Very funny."
"Seriously," Gladius spoke up. "We all thought you would be the last one to arrive. You even actively admit that you're lazy. You have also been late to every meeting thus far."
"You know, 'lazy' is such a strong word. I prefer 'selective participation'." Theodore said with a smug look on his face.
The rest slightly chuckled.
The next member to appear did so even more dramatically.
"AHHHHHH!!!!!"
"Anyone else hear that?" Faust asked. "It sounds like-" Before Faust could even finish her sentence, a pillar of water crashed down, soaking all of them.
From the water pillar emerged a young boy no older than fourteen. He had brown eyes, pale skin, and light purple hair that was in a bowl cut. He wore a red t-shirt, dark blue shorts, and black shoes.
"YO!" The boy yelled, not noticing the angry glares he was receiving from nearly everyone, including Jason, who he just woke up with his little stunt. Even Faust was a bit annoyed.
"WHAT THE HELL, SQUIDDY!!!" Jason yelled.
"Oops, sorry!" He said, laughing.
"What the hell is so funny, shithead!?" Jason yelled, picking up Squiddy and violently shaking him.
"I think we should let them work this out..." Faust said, the rest nodding in agreement.
The next member to arrive was wearing a classy suit and tie complete with black shoes and long, straight, black hair. He also had crimson eyes and was... Moonwalking for some reason.
"Hey." He said.
"Raphael!" Mike yelled. "Why the moonwalking?"
Raphael gave a swift kick to Mike's jaw.
"Don't question my methods of travel!" He yelled. "Walking forwards is too mainstream." Raphael pulled a comb out of his pocket and started combing his hair.
"Jackass..." Mike whispered under his breath as he rubbed his sore jaw.
The next guy came running. He had long, messy blond hair, blue eyes and slightly dark skin. He wore a a plain white undershirt and grey shorts, giving him the appearance that he just woke up and took about five seconds to get ready.
"Sorry I'm late!" He said, panting.
Faust chuckled.
"There was no time limit, Jiraya." She said.
Jiraya looked to all the others that had arrived.
"Oh, come on!" He yelled. "Theodore got here before me!?"
"We're shocked, too." Ace said.
The next to arrive was taking his sweet time walking towards them. He had dark blond hair styled into a pompodour with relatively dark skin. He had green eyes and wore a black t-shirt and long black jeans with a leather coat draped over his shoulders, giving him the appearance of a gangster.
"About time." Gladius said. "I was getting worried you wouldn't show up, Ben. You don't want to miss my puns do you?"
"Can I go home now?" Ben asked. "His puns are a date worse than death."
"Oh, come on." Gladius said smugly. "Are my puns really that PUNishing?"
Ben pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Motherf***ing son of a shit weasel." He said as everyone swore they could see veins popping in his forehead.
The next to arrive was a man wearing a black coat and black pants complete with black shoes. He had dark skin, short black hair and dark brown eyes that Faust swore were staring into her soul.
"Hey, Leo!" Raphael called over. "How's it hanging?"
"....." He didn't respond.
"Still not much of a talker, huh?" Mike asked.
Leo shook his head and pointed behind himself. Sure enough, there was a lone figure walking towards them.
He had spikey black hair, light skin, and purple eyes. He wore a blue sweatshirt with red stripes running horizontally across it. He wore basic jeans and white shoes.
"Hiro!" Squiddy yelled as he squeezed out of Jason's grip and ran over to hug the teen.
"We saw each other just yesterday, Squiddy." Hiro chuckled.
"Hello, Hiro." Faust greeted.
"Hey, Faust! It's been awhile!" Hiro greeted back. "So I'm guessing you didn't just call us here to hang out, right?"
Faust shook her head slowly.
"As much as I wish that were the case, it is not."
"Oh! Oh!" Squiddy yelled. "Do we gotta save the world again?" He asked energetically.
"Actually, yes." Faust said, a little dumbstruck that Squiddy guessed correctly.
"Neato!" Ace fist pumped. "So, what is it this time?"
"Well, I have told you all about my home planet, Equus, right?" She asked.
"Of course." Jason answered. "That's the place fulla talking ponies and shit, right?" He asked, downing another beer.
Faust nodded, ignoring Jason's profanity.
"Well, someone is changing it, and I need your help to fix it." She said. "I could not think of anybody else I could ask!" Faust pleaded. "Please, help..."
Hiro put a hand on her shoulder.
"Of course we'll help." He said. "Right, guys?"
The rest of the team cheered.
"She helped save our world, time for us to return the favor!" Ben shouted.
Faust had tears of joy in her eyes before she quickly wiped them away.
"Excellent!" She said. "I will send you off tomorrow afternoon. Please come prepared to this area." She said before vanishing in a flash of light.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Hiro said. "Let's get ready and meet back here tomorrow afternoon!"
The rest of the team cheered and split up to go to their own houses.
This is their story that will be passed on throughout Equus for generations to come.
The tale of these twelve hero's hardest journey yet.
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.