Divine Intervention

Chapters

Prologue
1. Reunion
2. Curtains (The real one)
3. The Big Revealski
4. The Beginning Of A War
5. At Last, Ponyville
6. Castle Of Harmony
7. Pinkie Party
9. Shock And Awe
10. Setting Up Shop
11. The Brightest Minds
12. Twilight Of The Thunder God
13. Decisive Battle
14. Final Destination
Epilogue
2. Curtains (April Fools ending)
8. Friendship Conduit

Prologue

The sun was starting to set, casting its last rays of light over the world, painting the sky in a beautiful orange. The mountains that had stood there for eons were a dark grey, creating an astonishing contrast.

Inside one of them, a massive cave system riddled the interior like a giant ant farm. So massive in fact, the mountain was almost hollow. Tunnels connected caves of all shapes and sizes, creating a maze of natural stone. But if one were to look closer, he would notice that those hallways weren’t natural at all. All the walls and floors were smooth, looking as if someone sandpapered them to perfection, not a single jagged rock to be found.

But this wasn’t the only unnatural occurrence in there. Every bit of surface was covered in glowing runes. Some of them stayed where they were, others slowly moving in circles, or travelling along set paths every imaginable direction. To the uninformed spectator it looked like pure chaos, but every rune was placed perfectly.

In one of the smaller caves near the top of the mountain, Atlas was peacefully slumbering on a makeshift bed, which was the only piece of furniture present in the small space. The runes around him gave off a steady hum, which he had long gotten used to.

A small tremor shook the cavern and Atlas awoke from his comatose state, almost immediately dismissing the shaking as one of the smaller earthquakes, which were in no way unusual when one was living in a mountain. After all, a lot of mountains were directly atop of a fault line.

However he was jolted completely awake as a multihued blur literally tore a hole straight through the mountain, and more importantly, the cave he was sleeping in. Atlas was thrown across the enirety of his cave together with his bed, only to crash violently into the adjacent wall. All around him rubble fell to the ground, almost burying him alive. He coughed and stood back up from his prone position on the floor, shoving the bed, which had landed right on top of him, to the side with a burst of magical energy.

For a moment all was quiet with Atlas just sitting there, attentively watching the runes on the wall next to him. It started off as a slight flicker but eventually he had to watch them slowly sputtering out of existence. The giant hole in both cave walls must have disrupted the flow of magic he oh so carefully set up over the last millenium. With a huge sigh, he watched as his work slowly unraveled into nothingness, unable to do anything.

“What the actual fuck just happened?” He asked no one in particular, once the familiar purple glow all around him had vanished, rage evident in his voice.

He started to get up, intent on finding out just what decided to ruin everything. Finding whatever had the nerve to destroy his work, and adequately punishing it had now become his top priority. The possibility of one of the local tatzlwurms being the culprit was ruled out almost immediately, because some of the runes were there to keep them well away from his work.

Dusting himself off, he went to where whoever was responsible exited his mountain. The gaping hole in the wall was jagged on all sides, providing a strak contrast to the smoothness he got used to, and revealed the sun going down over the horizon, far off in the distance. Atlas furrowed his brow and, after hopping up and inside the hole, started walking towards the edge of the mountain.

As soon as he emerged, he had to shield his eyes. Even though the sun was pretty weak right now, he did spend quite a few years inside the mountain.

While his eyes adjusted, he could already hear the sound of a not-so-distant battle. As soon as he could see clearly again, he looked towards where the sounds were coming from, and almost couldn’t believe what he saw.

A giant red and black centaur was doing battle with a purple alicorn, the two of them flinging beams of pure mana at each other, which proved to Atlas that neither of them were trained in the art of magical combat

“A purple alicorn? That one’s new…” Atlas mumbled to himself.

The sight of the battle seemed familiar, and he almost remembered something, but for the life of him, he couldn’t place the memory. He watched them, shooting their inefficient laser-beams at each other for a while. Pondering if he should help the alicorn out or not.

“Nah, let her deal with it, not my problem,” Atlas said after a while. After all, they just ruined his lifes work, so he didn’t care if one of them lost their lifes while battling each other. Damage assessement was more important right now.

“Let’s just hope my fail-safes held up…”

Celestia was in Twilight's newly formed castle. The white alicorn with a tricolored mane was taking in every detail of the room she was currently in. She was so proud of her students newest achievement, defeating Tirek, an old foe from times past. Of course, she didn’t do this on her own, her friends being just as instrumental to their victory as Twilight herself.

Using the Elements of Harmony they once again imprisoned Tirek in Tartarus, and returned all the magic he had stolen to its rightful owners. Surprisingly it was all thanks to Discord, the draconequus having provided the last key needed to open the box of harmony. He truly seemed reformed now, having finally accepted true friendship into his heart. He even presented Celestia with some beautiful flowers, in an oddly genuine attempt to apologize.

Half the citizens of Ponyville were currently roaming the castle's halls, wondering about the newest addition to their small town, which made moving around a tad more difficult for Celestia. Usually, ponies tended to give her a lot of space wherever she went. It had become some sort of an unspoken rule, which a few of the Poniville residents happily ignored, much to her joy. She talked to Mayor Mare, her good old friend The Doctor, and even to the kinda ditzy local mailmare.

It took her quite some time, but eventually she reached her destination, which was the supposed throne room of the castle. Twilight and her friends stood in front of six crystalline mini thrones arranged in a circle around a table, each of them displaying the cutie mark of one of the elements.

Three pink butterflies, belonging to the element of kindness, Fluttershy. The pegasus’ coat was a vibrant yellow and her mane pink, building a stark contrast. True to her name, the mare stood slightly behind her friends, looking like she was a bit overwhelmed with all that was going on around her.

A tricolored Lightning bolt coming out of a cloud, belonging to the element of loyalty, Rainbow Dash. The mare, also a pegasus, hovered slightly above the ground. She was quite the athlete and prefered her gift of flight over walking. Her coat was a deep blue, and her mane multicolored, like a rainbow.

Three blue gems, belonging to the element of generosity, Rarity. She was a unicorn with a pristine white coat, and a royal purple mane which was styled to perfection, even after a hard-fought battle. The mare was actually quite a renowned fashion pony, excelling in creating garments for all kinds of ponies.

Three delicious looking red apples, belonging to the element of honesty, Applejack. An earth pony apple farmer. Having an orange coat and sporting a brown stetson on her blonde mane, she stood right next to Rarity, nodding along as the fashionista talked about how beautiful the castle was.

Three Balloons, two blue, one yellow, belonging to the element of laughter, Pinkie Pie. The earth pony was the pinkest thing Celestia had ever seen in all her hundreds of years of existence. Her coat was a bright lively pink, her mane also pink, albeit a bit darker. The mare seemed to, once again, break physics wherever she went. Darting from one place to the other, sometimes appearing from seemingly impossible places, and even going so far as to be leaving afterimages in her wake.

And finally a purple star, surrounded by five smaller, white stars, the element of magic, Twilight Sparkle. The unicorn turned alicorn was Celestia’s most prized student. She had a lavender coat and a purple mane, two pink highlights running along the middle.

Celestia took Twilight under her tutelage when she was a little filly. On the day Twilight took the exam to enter Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, she had a magical surge, turning the present examiners, as well as her parents into potted plants. It was so powerful that Celestia herself had to step in and stop the little filly. While Celestia stepped in before any real damage could be done, the lingering magical power was enough to hatch the dragon egg present in the room, giving birth to Spike. The little purple and green dragon had become her assistant since then, always helping her as well as he could.

Celestia had educated and guided Twilight in her studies. Almost caring for her as if she were her daughter. She watched as Twilight went to Ponyville to learn about friendship, still guiding her from behind the scenes, without her noticing, of course. She watched as Twilight and her friends overcame many obstacles and grew as friends, all leading up to today's events.

It was about half an hour ago, she had the privilege to officially pronounce Twilight the Princess of Friendship. But now it was time for her to return to Canterlot, her sister Luna having already done so. Tirek did quite a number on Equestria, and now they had to deal with the aftermath.

As Celestia walked up to the six mares and the lone dragon, Twilight noticed her approach and turned towards her.

“Did you need something Princess?” Twilight ask with a beaming smile on her face.

Celestia had to suppress a chuckle, since, even though Twilight now stood on equal footing with herself, she still treated her like a mentor and princess. She even did a little curtsey.

“Yes, Princess Twilight,” Celestia replied in her usual calm manner.

She was happy to finally be able to address Twilight as her equal, and made sure to call her out as such. She saw Twilight cringe a bit at the title, still not being used to it.

“I will have to return to Canterlot now,” Celestia explained. “There is a literal mountain of paperwork with my name on it waiting for me. Your new post will have to be made official, and there is still the aftermath of Tireks attack that has to be dealt with.”

“Is there anything we can do to help Princess?” Twilight asked with a concerned voice, her friends voicing their consent to the offer.

“You have done more than enough as is, please take some time to recover and settle into your new home,” Celestia said, stopping their enthusiasm in the bud. They had gone through quite an ordeal and as such, had earned their rest.

After all, the Golden Oaks library, in which Twilight resided, was destroyed in her battle with Tirek, so she had to move into the castle whether she wanted to or not.

“I’m sure it will take quite some time to properly make this castle into a place that feels like home,” Celestia said. “But I’m sure you’re all eager to explore all the nooks and crannies it has to offer.”

Twilight nodded sadly, she was quite fond of the library, and losing it was like seeing an old friend die. Her friends immediately closed in on her, promising to help her however they could. Celestia once again smiled, knowing her student… no, her friend, was in good hooves.

“Then I will take my leave here, have a wonderful day, everypony,” Celestia said.

Celestia was just preparing her teleport spell back to the castle, when a bright white flame appearing right in front of her disrupted her concentration. Everybody in the room gasped, as the flame was quite bright. Celestia looked stunned at the object now floating in front of her. A pure white scroll. Where usually the wax was used to hold the scroll rolled up, there was a purple glowing runic circle, that slowly rotated in place.

Every single eye in the room was on the floating scroll, since nobody had ever seen something quite like this. While Spike was able to send Celestia scrolls in a similar fashion by using his magic fire, this seemed different. It also didn’t help that the scroll was practically glowing with energy.

Twilight spotted the runic circle and Celestia could see a spark of hunger light up in her eyes, since Twilight was a sucker for everything even remotely related to magic. Runes being a dead magical art, only told about in tales and very, very old history books was sure to garner a reaction out of her.

“Is… Is that… Are those runes?” Twilight zipped next to Celestia, eager to learn something new. “Can I take a look at it?”

Twilight looked up at Celestia, puppy eyes armed and dangerous. Unfortunately for her, Celestia had grown immune a long time ago.

“I’m afraid not,” Twilight’s ears fell. “This is a letter from an old friend of mine, and when he sends me one, they are typically quite urgent, so it would be wise to respond right away.” Celestia glanced down at her disappointed friend. “That said, you’ll probably meet him soon, and there is no better pony to ask about runes than the one who invented them, right?”

Celestia watched with a smirk as her student’s jaw dropped, an incredulous look on her face. Ignoring her for now, Celestia tapped her horn on the runes. The circle started to expand, reacting to her presence. Shortly after, it dissappeared with a flash, the scroll unfurling before her. Inside were more runes, preventing anyone but the intended recipient to read what was written in green ink.

Celestia,

we need to talk.

I will come to you tomorrow morning.

Make sure the purple alicorn is with you.

Also, send the scroll back with a suitable meeting place, as I have no idea where you currently live.

Signed,

Atlas

Celestia smiled at the written words, Atlas apparently didn’t change at all, since she last saw him. Straight to the point, like always. She once again touched the parchment with her horn, a few runes lighting up.

“Canterlot Castle, Throne Room”

As she spoke those words, they were magically written down. She drew her horn back, causing the scroll to roll back up and incinerate itself with the same white flame in which it arrived. She turned once again to Twilight and her friends, intending to follow Atlas’ instructions, even if she had no idea what for, or how he knew Twilight.

“I would like to invite all of you to Canterlot Castle, as my old friend would like to meet with Twilight, and I’m sure he would like to see the rest of the elements as well.”

Twilight was just about to respond in the affirmative, as a faint boom was heard in the distance. A magical shock wave washed over all of them, surprising everypony and causing them to look around trying to locate its source.

Celestia recognized it for what it was: Atlas’ signature spell.

She smiled, eagerly anticipating seeing Atlas again. After all, it was over a thousand years ago that he disappeared without a trace. And now, he was finally back.

Celestia looked at the ponies gathered in the throne room of Canterlot Castle. While Atlas had technically only asked for Princess Twilight to be present in his letter, she thought it prudent to extend the invitation to the rest of the Elements of Harmony as well. As such, aside from the usual guards, six mares sat at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the throne, excitedly chatting amongst themselves. Spike had decided to stay behind to mind the newly formed castle, trying to familiarize himself with its layout.

On the outside, Celestia appeared to be as calm as she always was, but on the inside, she was quite anxious. While Atlas may not have looked the part last time she’d seen him, he was technically her senior by a good amount of years. She had done quite a few things he had specifically told her not to do in his absence, which would no doubt make him mad at her once he found out.

And Atlas always found out when Celestia did something she wasn’t supposed to do.

The giant set of red and gold doors to the throne room opened, silencing every conversation in the room, with the six mares expectantly looking towards them to see who was entering. Celestia knew it couldn’t be Atlas, since he had a tendency to show off a bit; his entrance would be a lot more interesting. Princess Luna stepped through the doors, closing them behind her with her magic before approaching the group.

“Thank god, I’m not late…” Luna said, much to the confusion of everypony present, sans Celestia.

“Thank god…” Twilight mouthed the words she just heard, never having heard the expression before.

“Your questions will have to wait, Twilight,” Celestia said, knowing full well that if she allowed Twilight to start asking questions now, there would be no end to it.

“Yes, Princess,” Twilight said politely, indicating a slight bow with her head.

“You are a Princess as well, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna reminded her as she passed the group of friends, ascending the stairs towards her throne. “You should join us at your rightful place.”

“Thank you, but I’d rather stay down here with my friends,” Twilight replied with a smile, receiving thankful approvals from the mares gathered around her.

“As you wish,” Luna responded before turning towards Celestia. “Any news yet?”

“Not yet, although I imagine the time draws near,” Celestia said, looking out one of the huge windows. “It should only be a matter of minutes now.”

Just as she finished her sentence, a familiar white flame erupted in mid-air before her, blinding everypony present and leaving behind a pure white scroll in it’s wake. Celestia smiled at the coincidence, while the girls at the bottom once again went silent in expectation. Celestia and Luna shared a knowing look before Celestia touched the small runic circle that held the scroll together with her horn causing it to unfurl.

Instead of the expected words, a drawing of a single, rather complex looking runic array greeted her. She was fairly certain that Atlas wanted her to draw the circle somewhere, but she didn’t really feel up to the task. It was entirely possible that this was a test and she didn’t want to disappoint.

“Luna? Would you like to do the honors?” Celestia asked, showing her sister the letter. “You were always more talented in the runic arts.”

“With pleasure,” Luna exclaimed happily.

She took the scroll from Celestia’s magical grip and scanned the array drawn on it. Excitement started to spread inside her as she saw quite a few runes she’d never seen before, meaning Atlas had made quite a bit of progress in the field.

Not wasting any time, Luna simply magically pushed away the heavy red carpet leading to the throne, freeing up some space in the center of the room and jostling the six mares seated on it in the process. Disregarding their protests, she started magically carving the runes directly into the floor, much to her sisters chagrin. While Celestia didn’t approve of her methods, she wouldn’t reprimand her now. Everypony present watched curiously as Luna worked on the array, first and foremost Twilight. Who was currently straining her neck trying to get a better look, seemingly forgetting that she now posessed wings, which would allow her to fly.

Luna completed her task in short order, before starting to pump magic into it as soon as she was sure everything was where it should be. The array started to glow a soft blue before pulsing once, signaling that it was ready. Twilight was just about to ask a question about it when she was once again cut off, this time by a quiet popping noise and the sudden appearance of Atlas.

Celestia smiled when she saw that Atlas hadn’t changed at all from when she last saw him, while Luna almost couldn’t contain herself in her seat from the excitement. He still sported that same old gray coat, his mane was messy and unkempt, as always, and his flank was decorated by a weird creature that was called a “Titan”, according to Atlas.

Atlas took in the room he found himself in, doing a full three-sixty and decidedly ignoring all the stares he was receiving. After he was satisfied with the evaluation of his surroundings he approached the thrones and the mares in front of it. He sat down at a respectable distance and for the first time since appearing, acknowledged the presence of other ponies.

“Your ceiling is way too high,” Atlas announced. “So much wasted space.”

Twilight and her friends, as well as every guard within earshot couldn’t believe what they just heard. They knew that Atlas was important in some way or another, but to address the Princesses so rudely without even providing the basic courtesy of saying hello dumbfounded them all.

“Well, it is supposed to uphold appearances, rather than being functional,” Celestia replied calmly, gesturing towards the entirety of the needlessly large room.

Atlas looked towards Luna and saw how on the edge of her seat she was, breathing a deep sigh. “I know you want to do it, so why don’t we just get it out of the way?”

With his words he spread his forelegs wide, as if anticipating to catch something. Before anypony could question his behaviour he was barrelled over by a blue blur. Luna had jumped into the hug a little too enthusiastically, sending Atlas and herself sprawling across the floor.

“I missed you so much, daddy!” Luna exclaimed happily, snuggling up to the gray unicorn who wasn’t phased in the slightest.

“Yes, yes. I missed you too, Luna,” Atlas replied, a smile spreading on his face as he patted Lunas back. “A thousand years is a long time to be gone after all.”

By now, Luna’s words had registered with everypony, causing several jaws to hit the floor.

“You as well, Celestia,” Atlas said from his prone position. “It’s nice to see you’ve managed without me. You’ve done well.”

By now, nopony knew what was going on, looking towards their princess for confirmation. Princess Celestia had always been their steadfast rock to hold onto when they didn’t know what to do, and now, once again, they relied on her to explain the current situation.

“Thank you, and it is nice to see you as well,” Celestia said adopting a mischeivous smile after taking in the rooms general expression.

“Father.”

Author's Note

Attentive readers may have noticed that this prologue seems vaguely familiar. It's mostly the same as you've already read on DE and DI, albeit with a few small changes. We've arrived at the "present" and are getting ready for that final showdown? Are you ready? I'm sure not! Let's see what happens next, shall we?

Once again, thanks to my editors [ScootalooFTW/ur ScootalooFTWl] and Alcatraz, as well as my proofreaders Kilobytes and Soren Mercer.

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song.

Come join us in the Discord channel! Lonk

Or the official Divine Entertainment group! Divine Universe

1. Reunion

The jaws of all ponies in the room were currently resting comfortably on the floor, except for the ones belonging to the three responsible for the general shock. While Atlas was too busy being smothered by Luna, Celestia was enjoying every second of it. Her guards were usually akin to statues, so seeing them this flustered was a welcome change of pace. Of course, seeing her former student and her friends in a shell-shocked state was quite a sight as well.

“Excuse me, Princess,” Twilight seemed to be the first to recover, her thirst for knowledge driving her forward. “Did you two just call this stallion your father?” she asked incredulously.

“Indeed, Twilight,” Celestia replied in her usual calm demeanor. “The one currently being cuddled to death over there is our father, even if he did adopt us.”

“I didn’t know you were adopted,” Twilight said, a twinge of sadness in her voice. “I’m sorry.”

“There is nothing to be sorry about, young Twilight. Our biological parents were sadly taken from us at a young age, and we were kindly taken in by Atlas, who was an old friend of our mother,” Celestia explained, casually dropping the bomb of their origin, which ponies had been wondering about for centuries.

“But.. but that means…” Twilight stammered. “Just how old is he?” She asked, turning around to look at the mess that was Atlas and Luna.

“I can hear you, you know,” Atlas said from underneath Luna, actually using his magic to lift the blue alicorn away and to the side of him, where she instantly sidled up to him. “I’m also quite a bit older than these two, even if it’s just by about fifty or sixty years.”

“But you’re just a regular unicorn,” Twilight said flabbergasted. “How could you possibly live for so long?”

“You’ll find out that I’m anything but a regular unicorn,” Atlas cooly replied. “Also, isn’t it common courtesy to introduce yourself before bombarding an old stallion with questions?” He added on, casually ignoring the fact that he hadn’t introduced himself either.

“Oh, yes, so sorry about that,” Twilight instantly went into a small panic attack upon hearing Atlas’ words. “My name is Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy,” she pointed towards her friends as she introduced them each of them giving a small wave once it was their turn, except Pinkie, who immediately zoomed up to an unfazed Atlas.

“Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie,” she said, their snouts being mere inches from touching each other. “Pleased to meet you!”

Pinkie held out her hoof in greeting, which Atlas took, just before immediately regretting his decision, as his whole body was rocked about at the energetic pony’s hoofshake.

“Miss Pie, please give our father a bit of space, he just arrived after all,” Celestia requested kindly, not wanting Atlas to have an unpleasant meeting with the bearers.

“Can do!” Pinkie replied, before returning to her former spot, doing it so fast that it almost resembled teleportation.

Atlas blinked a few times, trying to reorient himself now that his whole world wasn’t shaking anymore. “While I am pleased to meet all of you,” Atlas said lamely, “Celestia, I believe I only asked for the purple alicorn to be present, namely, Twilight Sparkle.”

“Well,” Celestia's poker face dropped slightly and a drop of sweat was running down her brow. “Twilight and her friends are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, after all, so I thought you’d might want to meet them as well.”

“So, the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, was it,” Atlas said, looking towards Twilight and her friends. “Care to run that by me again, Celestia?”

“Why, yes,” everypony besides Luna was wondering why Celestia got so nervous all of a sudden. “Twilight and her friends overcame many obstacles together and ultimately proving themselves worthy bearers of the relics, and they have valiantly defended Equestria and its citizens multiple times since then. By utilizing the Elements powers, they’ve defeated our mightiest adversaries time and time again.”

Twilight looked proud at how high Princess Celestia was talking about them and stood a little taller, a similar effect being displayed by her friends, excluding Fluttershy.

“So, in summary, what you are trying to tell me,” Atlas began calmly. “Is that you’ve pretty much done everything I told you not to do?”

Eyebrows were furrowed all around, with every onlooker glancing between the stoic Atlas and the unusually nervous Celestia, which was by now sweating bullets. Celestia seemed to frantically think of a way to talk herself out of the situation she found herself in before eventually giving up and letting out a huge sigh.

“Yes, father…” Celestia admitted, her head hanging low in apology.

This time it was Atlas’ turn to let out a sigh. “Some princess you are, can’t even follow simple orders to protect your citizens without relying on outside forces too much…”

“But, father,” Celestia interjected. “Luna was gone for so long and she has always been more versed in combat than I was! With her gone I needed somepony else to help me in this regard… there was nothing else I could have done without letting Equestria fall!”

Twilight looked at her mentor as if she had grown a second head. She had seen her standing tall in the face of intimidating ambassadors and even mighty villains, yet before her father she seemed to crumble almost instantly and was reduced to little more than a scolded filly. Just who was this stallion?

“Ridiculous,” Atlas replied sharply. “You banish your own sister, which I don’t blame you for, to the moon for a thousand years. And in the whole millenium that followed you didn’t even think for once that you had all the time in the world to train yourself into a magnificent warrior? To me, you sound just like you were running away from your responsibilities, young filly. And now that you’ve been caught you try to shift the blame on somepony else? Just what has become of you, Celestia?”

Celestia opened her mouth to reply, but nothing came out of it. She wanted to deny her father's words, but she knew he was right. After banishing Luna she had stagnated for almost a millenium, only remembering her father's words recently and starting to take action once again. Too late as it would appear. She had completely and utterly failed at the one task that her father had left behind for her.

“I have no excuse,” Celestia replied sadly, the tension leaving her body until she seemed to be slumping in her throne, feeling like she didn’t deserve to sit upon it at this moment.

Twilight and her friends watched the exchange happen with increasingly incredulous expressions. They were smart enough to know not to intervene or speak up in any way, lest they become a target of Atlas’ parental fury as well. That wasn’t even considering the fact that this was an unprecedented situation, where confusion was the only logical reaction to everypony present.

“What’s done is done,” Atlas sighed again. “We’ll just have to make do, just know that you’ve made my task infinitely harder with your foolishness.” Celestia seemed to shrink down in her throne, trying to make herself seem as little as possible. “Luna, please tell me that at least you did as I told you to?”

“Of course!” Luna exclaimed happily. “I’ve completed everything you wrote down in your letter just as you wanted it. It was pretty hard because the nightmare tried to resist my will, but I got it done!”

“At least one of you to can follow simple orders,” Atlas smiled. “Good job, Luna.”

Luna received a headpat, much to her enjoyment, causing her to really lean into it. Meanwhile, Twilight’s world seemed to be breaking apart. With one ruler reduced to a sad, scolded filly and the other acting like a lapcat in front of their father, everything she thought she knew about these two seemed to shatter and suddenly she saw them as regular ponies, instead of the all-powerful alicorn rulers they were.

“Which brings us to you, Twilight Sparkle,” Atlas suddenly called her out, causing Twilight to flinch back a bit. “Seeing as you are an alicorn, I assume you are the leader of this rag-tag bunch of friends?”

“Uh… I guess?” Twilight stammered out, slightly offended at how Atlas called them. “I am the bearer of the Element of Magic.”

“Good,” Atlas nodded. “You must know that the Elements are extremely vital for me to properly execute my task of protecting this whole world, I will have to inspect them as soon as possible to check their condition. I hope you brought them with you?”

“Uhhhh…” Now it was Twilights turn to start sweating bullets. “After we returned the Elements to the Tree of Harmony, a box was revealed before us with six key holes. We eventually managed to open the box, which caused us to absorb the Elements. The tree also changed location and has grown into what is currently my castle… So I’m afraid the Elements don’t exist anymore… at least not in the traditional sense.”

Atlas blinked owlishly at Twilight, trying to process what he was just told. He simply continued staring at her, causing Twilight to get even more nervous, but being comforted by her friends presence who seemed to move a bit closer to her, intent on backing her up.

“That’s… but… I mean…” Atlas stuttered for a bit. “That sounds stupid.”

“Excuse me?” Twilight asked, her mood switching from nervous to outraged. “How could you just call all the hardships my friends and I went through-”

“Hold it!” Atlas suddenly interrupted Twilight. “I think I just remembered something, give me a second.”

Twilights rant suddenly being so rudely interrupted caused her brain to grind to a halt once more, as seemed to become a habit at this point. Meanwhile Atlas horn flashed purple for a second and a small, worn, blue book appeared out of thin air, immediately being caught by Atlas’ levitation. He frantically flipped through the pages, apparently searching for something in particular before considerably slowing down and reading several pages of the book. Nopony really dared to disturb him through this weird display which rivaled even Twilight at her worst, but eventually the book slapped shut after a few minutes.

“Well, that certainly puts things into perspective,” Atlas said dumbfounded while the book disappeared once more. “I can’t believe I forgot all of this, I guess being focused on something else for more than a millenium takes a toll on some memories…”

“Is everything alright, dearest father?” Celestia asked, worried that even more scolding was just around the corner.

“No… I mean yes…” Atlas replied. “Actually, I’m not sure,” Celestia and Luna recoiled a bit, seeing their father insecure about something being an incredibly rare sight for them. “It would seem that I’ve forgotten some things that I’ve put into motion myself… like… a lot of things.”

“What do you mean, father?” Luna asked from his side.

“Well, as you know I’ve kind of been doing my own thing since the last time we saw each other,” Atlas explained. “I’ve pretty much been working almost non-stop for the past one-thousand-four-hundred years on a spell, so it would seem that I… forgot a few details.”

“One-thousand-four-hundred years on one spell?” Twilight mouthed, a glint of hunger appearing in her eyes while imagining the scale such a spell must have.

“Celestia!” Atlas suddenly called out.

“Yes?” Celestia replied, flinching back a bit.

“Seeing as how I’ve put some things into motion myself, for which I just scolded you, I see it prudent to apologize,” Atlas said with a little bow of his head. “I told you to not use the Elements unless you absolutely had to, and I’m still disappointed that you haven’t held up your training. But I’ll admit that the Elements being in the state they currently are in is also somewhat my fault.”

“Excuse me, Mr. Atlas, Sir,” Rarity suddenly spoke up. “You’ve been mentioning the Elements of Harmony a lot, as if you were intricately familiar with them. Would you happen to know things about them which we do not? They have been terribly vague in their use and how they displayed their powers, so knowing something more about their use would benefit us greatly, I believe.”

“Well, yeah,” Atlas chuckled. “I made them, after all.”

“YOU MADE THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY?!?” Twilight immediately shouted out while every other jaw in the room dropped once more. “You have to tell me everything!”

Finally having reached the end of her her patience, Twilights curiosity exploded in full force, the alicorn instantly teleporting in front of Atlas with a mad look in her eyes and a few strands of hair popping out of place. Atlas simply rolled his eyes, forcefully levitating the agitated alicorn back to her place, effortlessly overpowering the alicorns attempts to free herself, much to her confusion.

For the first time since meeting Atlas, Twilight was able to feel just how much stronger the stallion before her was than her. All her life she had been heralded as a prodigy, a magic caster like no other with a vast array of mana and spells at her beck and call, going even so far as becoming the Element of Magic. Yet, the stallion before her dwarved her abilities so much that compared to him she wasn’t even an ant.

Twilight froze as soon as she realized that she wouldn’t be able to escape his grip no matter what, her curiosity being replaced with fear. There was no doubt in her mind that this stallion could take over Equestria in the blink of an eye without even breaking a sweat. She grew docile, vowing to do her best not to get on Atlas’ bad side, whatever it took.

“Are you alright, darling?” Rarity asked, noticing Twilights discomfort.

“Yes, just…” Twilight stammered. “Just don’t get on his bad side… no matter what…” she whispered to her friends.

Her statement was met with confusion by her friends, which looked at the completely non-threatening looking stallion sitting before them. To them he looked just like a regular scientist who didn’t care to much to take care of his mane and coat.

“Sure…” Rarity replied slowly. “If you say so…”

“I must say, the chaos being emitted from this room is simply delightful,” a mirthful voice suddenly said from everywhere at once, causing everypony to swivel their heads and trying to locate its source. “Wholly unprecedented! Delightfully unexpected! Just what is it you’re doing in here?”

Discord floated in on his back, coming through a wall to their left, seemingly building himself from the marble it was made of. All sets of eyes fixated on him, all of them bearing different feelings. Most of them annoyed, Luna’s and Celestia’s worried, and in Twilight’s case, almost panicking. If there was something that could blow up the literal bomb in front of her, it was Discord.

“So? What’s the occasion?” Discord turned around in mid-air, properly taking in the room for the first time with a shit-eating grin, which immediately dropped when he spotted Atlas sitting next to Luna.

Celestia was looking between the two, afraid a fight was just about to break out. The two of them were staring each other down, apparently surprised to see the other. She was thinking of ways to mediate things between them, when they seemed to take thing into their own hooves.

“Discord,” Atlas said tensely, his eyes narrowing just a tad.

“Atlas…” Discord replied slowly.

Author's Note

Atlas when he heard the Elements were gone:

Once again, thanks to my editors ScootalooFTW and Alcatraz, as well as my proofreaders Kilobytes and Soren Mercer.

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song. I'm pretty sure I posted this before on a chapter, but it came up in the Discord and it's just a great song that everybody should listen to. Also, you can't kill suction-cup man!

Come join us in the Discord channel! Lonk

Or the official Divine Entertainment group! Divine Universe

2. Curtains (The real one)

Author's Note

So yeah, here's the REAL chapter 2. YOu'll notice that the previous one was basically a sneak peek with an alternate ending halfway through, which a few of you already correctly guessed how it would turn out in the end. Enjoy!

Oh yeah, guess what? Azriel is back!

Once again, thanks to my editors Azriel, as well as my proofreaders and Soren Mercer.

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song.

Come join us in the Discord channel! Lonk

Or the official Divine Entertainment group! Divine Universe

2. Curtains (The real one)

Celestia tensely glanced between Atlas and Discord, who were staring each other down with an odd look in their eyes. Atlas probably didn’t know that Discord had been reformed, so some kind of hostility on his part was to be expected. What confused her, though, was the fact that Discord seemed to know who Atlas was. No matter the reason for their standoff, Celestia felt the urgent need to step in and clarify some things for her father, before things started to escalate.

“Dear father, do not feel threatened by Discord’s presence here,” Celestia said, grabbing everyponies attention. “The Discord you knew is gone. He has been reformed thanks to Twilight and her friends.”

“I know,” Atlas relied casually, much to Celestia's confusion.

“Oh, who would have thought I’d see the day,” Discord said, slowly floating to the ground. “Celestia at a loss for words? You do like hiding facts behind smoke and mirrors, but don’t even notice when someone does it to you.”

“I’ve had more practice than her,” Atlas said. “I also know her pretty well, considering I raised her. She’s like an open book to me.”

“Is that so…” Discord said, biting his lower lip.

“Don’t act like you haven’t been leading her on ever since you got released from stone,” Atlas said. “You’re probably the best at hiding your cards out of everyone in this room.”

“I assure you, Discord has been completely reformed and has even helped save Equestria recently,” Celestia commented, in an attempt to mediate between the two. She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to mediate, but she tried anyway. “He’s good friends with Fluttershy, and has been on his best behaviour… well, mostly.”

“Not what I’m talking about, Celestia,” Atlas replied, not taking his eyes off Discord. “Now tell me, ‘Mad King,’ am I talking to the character, or am I talking to Discord?”

“I’d say a little bit of both,” Discord replied, his body coiling on the floor like a snake, until only his neck and head were sticking out of the pile. “Keeping up an act for a long time can cause the boundaries to blur you know.”

“I understand,” Atlas nodded. “Now then, Celestia, Luna. I think it’s time for you to learn about another secret I’ve kept from you.”

“Do you think he’s keeping a lot of secrets from the princesses?” Rarity whispered towards Twilight who was following the exchange with apathetic curiosity.

“Judging by their reactions,” Twilight replied, while observing Celestia and Luna's facial expressions. “They seemed to be interested, yet annoyed at the same time, as if this was a common occurrence when dealing with their father. I’d say: yes, most definitely.”
“Element Bearers, this doesn’t concern you directly, but since it will probably clear up some things, I’ll allow you to listen in on this as well,” Atlas stated. “My dear daughters, do you remember the conversation we had before I left?”

Both princesses gave their affirmations, still clearly remembering the day they parted.

“I told you about how I’ve been playing something akin to a game of chess. Moving pieces as I thought right, to manipulate the board in my, or rather, our favor,” Atlas said. “This might come as somewhat of a surprise, but Discord here,” Discord gave a little wave, “Was one of my pieces as well.”

“What does you mean, exactly?” Luna asked, after a few seconds of tense silence.

“It means, well probably, exactly what you think it means,” Atlas said, bracing himself for the inevitable outrage. “The one who unleashed Discord on Equestria was none other than me.”

“What?” Celestia whispered, a look of betrayal in her eyes.

Luna simply looked at her father as if he had grown a second head, her mouth slightly agape, while Twilight let out an audible gasp, which was mirrored by her friends. Something seemed to have changed about Atlas’ posture, although she couldn’t pinpoint what it was exactly. The fact that Discord was grinning like a madpony didn’t sit well with anypony either.

“It’s finally time to reveal what I’ve been doing and why I could never tell you before,” Atlas grinned, causing Luna to take a worried step away from her father. “I needed you two to become alicorns and make Equestria a country rich with magic, so ultimately, I could usurp the whole thing and drain it faster than an off brand battery. I’m sorry, but that’s the only way to power the spell I’ve been developing.”

“You… You can’t be serious!” Celestia cried out while every guard along the walls assumed defensive positions.

“Father..?” Luna pleaded silently.

“I hate to break it to you, my dear princesses,” Discord said, coiling himself around Celestia and booping her nose. “But I’m afraid you’ve been played. And dare I say? You lost spectacularly!”

“Come Discord, it’s time for us to go. The preparations are complete and time’s a wastin’,” Atlas said, getting up from the floor and dusting off his coat.

Discord teleported over to Atlas, but when he appeared he had shrunk down considerably, almost looking like a young child on Atlas’ back, similar to how Spike would ride on Twilight. “It was a pleasure doing business with you,” Atlas said, making a deep bow.

“And thanks for all the fish!” Discord called out, an instant before they both vanished in a bright flash, their manic laughter ringing in everypony's ears for a few more seconds.

Everypony in the room seemed to have frozen staring at where the duo vanished. Luna had a thousand yard stare, uncertain on whether she felt furious or sad at her father's betrayal. Celestia blinked a few times, a sinking feeling in her stomach before her thousand years as Equestria’s lone princess caught up to her. It pained her almost more than when Luna had turned into nightmare moon, but if nothing was done right now, Equestria would definitely fall.

“Guards!” Celestia barked, causing movement to explode around the whole room. “Atlas has gone rogue and turned against Equestria. Our sole focus should be on stopping him as fast as possible. He is possibly the most powerful mage in the world and he is cohorts with Discord. Taking them down will not be easy. I want every guard to be mobilized and his hideout to be found post haste. Knowing him, it will be protected by a plethora of wards, so send out scout parties with mages that can recognize them.

“Begin preparations for an emergency War Council, I will recall Shining Armor and Princess Cadence as soon as I can. We’re going to need absolutely everypony that is willing to help, so go and draft as many as you can. Twilight,” Celestia said, smiling down at her former student. “I’m afraid Equestria will have to rely on you and your friends once more.”

“This is all happening really fast...” Twilight replied. “But you can count on us! Right girls?”

Twilight and her friends all gave their consent, not all of them too eager on facing another villain after just defeating Tirek, but still willing to help. “Then, guards! Move out!”

Just as she said these words, another bright flash announced the usage of a teleportation spell, and everypony turned to face the intruders, which turned out to be Atlas and a regular sized Discord, which was still sitting on Atlas, much to his dismay, apparently.

“Oh my god!” Discord laughed out, causing everypony to be stunned once again, even the guards that were just about to run out of the throne room to relay Celestia's orders. “You should see your faces right now! Absolutely priceless!”

“I will admit that Celestia looks pretty funny right now,” Atlas said, chuckling. “Luna… not so much.”

“Atlas!” Celestia called out exasperated. “What is the meaning of this?”

“You could say…” Atlas said, playfully tapping his hoof against his chin. “It was an elaborate ruse, I guess.”

“A ruse?” Luna said softly, hope budding in her voice.

“Yes, now, if you’d please…” Atlas said with a sigh. “Would you mind calling off your lap dogs? If they don’t watch where they point their spears somepony might lose an eye.”

True to his word, the guards had reacted somewhat quickly and surrounded the chaotic duo, holding them at spearpoint, even if most of them thought it was probably useless anyway. Celestia glared at Atlas and Discord, seemingly thinking hard about what to do before letting out a huge sigh and slumping back into her throne.

“Guards, let them go and return to your posts,” Celestia said tiredly. “It would appear we have been pranked.”

“You call almost plunging Equestria into a war ‘a prank?’” Twilight deadpanned.

“Discord has done it at least three times since his reformation Twilight,” Celestia said while dragging a hoof over her face. “And I wouldn’t put it past my father to do something like that as well. I swear, living together with either of them makes you age prematurely.”

“You don’t really grow older, you know that right?” Atlas commented. “It’s physically impossible.”

“Mentally,” Celestia sighed. “I meant mentally, father.”

“Ah, yeah, I guess that’s possible,” Atlas shrugged. “Also, please stop looking at me like that, Luna. It was nothing but a prank and I’m sorry, okay? Come here.”

Atlas opened up his forelegs wide, inviting the seemingly thunderstruck Luna to another hug. He patiently waited for her to move, until she finally started to carefully move towards him, like a stray puppy whose trust Atlas was trying to gain. He wrapped her into a loving hug, into which Luna eventually seemed to melt.

“You’ll find out that there is more to my words than you probably think,” Atlas said cryptically, causing Luna to tense up a little in his embrace and Celestia let out a frustrated groan.

“Please, for the love of god and all that’s holy!” Celestia exclaimed. “Just for once in your life, could you just tell us what’s going on and what you’re planning instead of hiding behind smokes and mirrors and pulling stupid shit like just now?”

It was obvious that Celestia had reached the end of her patience, and everypony in the room could feel it. All decorum had left the body of their ruler and what was left behind was little more than a tired mare. Atlas seemed to consider her words for a few seconds, before finally nodding.

“Alright, after that stunt we just pulled, I guess I owe you at least that much…” Atlas said carefully. “Once again from the start then. The one who unleashed Discord upon Equestria was none other than me.”

“You’re repeating yourself,” Celestia said.

“Yes, but I was afraid you might be thinking that was part of the joke too,” Atlas replied. “I can assure you that this is one-hundred percent fact. Well, technically Discord unleashed himself, I just allowed him to do so.”

“Huh?” Celestia let out a confused noise.

“Yes, you’ve all heard that right,” Atlas confirmed. “In order for me to find you and for you both to become alicorns, Discord's reign was a necessary. So we made it happen.”

“Excuse me for a moment,” Rainbow Dash interjected. “You mean to tell us, just to lure out Celestia and Luna, you doomed an entire country to live in misery for years? Not cool dude…”

“Let’s be perfectly honest here,” Atlas countered. “We operated under the principle that nopony would die during his reign, and I’m proud to say that nopony died aside from natural causes. At most they were slightly inconvenienced during their day to day lives. Seriously. An upside down house might be weird to look at, but does it really matter if the gravity inside is reversed as well? It was basically little more than a nation wide, long-term prank that was mandatory for the entire population.”

“Oh… that’s…” Rainbow Dash staggered with her response. “Okay, it might not have been that bad, but still, not cool.”

“Nopony died? What about our parents?” Celestia said, barely loud enough that everypony could hear.

“You know just as well as I do that that wasn’t Discord’s fault,” Atlas deadpanned. “Your parents died because of a combination of Cockatrice petrification and Luna’s surge. I know it might sound a bit cruel right now, but it’s a fact and I can’t have you blame Discord for something he didn’t do.”

Celestia seemed like she wanted to retort, but realized that she only said that due to the shock of the revelation. She had been riding an emotional rollercoaster during the past half-hour or so and was just about ready to derail, which seemed to cloud her judgement

“Besides, Discord is your brother, so I need you three to play nice with each other from now on,” Atlas said.

For what felt like the tenth time since Atlas entered the room, everypony's mind was thoroughly blown, which almost seemed to become a regular thing when Atlas was present. Atlas received a plethora of blank, unbelieving stares, Luna lifted her head up and away from Atlas’ shoulder, glancing between her father and her ‘brother.’

“Discord is what?” Luna asked with a scrunched up muzzle.

“I adopted Discord, just like I did with you two, so he’s like an adopted brother,” Atlas said. “I love all of you like you’re my own, and I’d hate for you to continue an old feud, even if that is somewhat redundant, now that Discord has been ‘reformed’, I guess.”

“That’s… a lot to take in…” Luna replied. “And I’m not sure I can take a lot more of these life-changing bombs you seem to drop like candies today, father.”

“Don’t worry, there’s just, like, one more,” Atlas patted Luna’s head. “Maybe two.”

Luna took a deep breath at the revelation while a soft groan could be heard from Celestia's general direction. Twilight and her friends as well as the guards were starting to feel like they had become bystanders at some point, and without exception, were wondering if they should even be allowed to hear any of these important informations.

“Now that you finally know our dark and secret past, I think it’s time to drop the curtain on Equestria’s greatest stage play, don’t you think so as well, Discord?”, Atlas smiled towards his son, which replied in kind.

“I’ve been waiting for over a thousand years for this moment, dear father,” Discord replied.

“Then without further ado, might I introduce to you: Discord!” Atlas got up and presented Discord in an overdone fashion. “He has been playing his role as the God of Chaos, also known as the Mad King, for now well over a thousand years. He never broke character once, and everypony has been thoroughly fooled by his masterful performance. This concludes this play, and if you’d like, I’m sure Discord would be more than happy to autograph whatever you want once this discussion is over. Applaud!”

Atlas started to applaud Discords magnificent performance by clopping his front hooves on the floor. That is how ponies do. It took a few moments, but Twilight and her friends as well as the present guards, started to awkwardly join in, their applause seeming not too genuine. Yet, Discord was basking in it nonetheless, bowing for everypony and thanking them over and over again, while his sisters just looked on with a blank stare.

“Thank you! Thank you!” Discord said while bowing. “I’ll be here all week.”

“Truly a wonderful performance,” Atlas commented while the applause was dying down. “Now, it has been a long, long time, Discord, don’t you think? So, now that we don’t have to pretend to be mortal enemies anymore, why don’t you come over here and give your old man an big old hug?”

“There’s nothing I’d rather do right now, dad,” Discord said, a nostalgic smile on his face. “It’s good to finally be able to stop being the chaos god I’ve played for so long, yet I’m afraid that I’ve somewhat become what I’ve been pretending to be…”

“No matter, you’re still and will always be my son,” Atlas waved Discord off. “Now get over here!”

Happy that his father would accept him, even if he had changed a lot since they had last seen each other, Discord went in for the hug. Both of them were holding back some incredibly manly tears, and everypony looking on could really tell just how much they had to love each other, which was enough to prove to them that Atlas words were spoken true this time.

“I can’t believe you’d do something like this to your own son,” Twilight said baffled.

“You know, Twilight,” Celestia said. “He didn’t actually ask us if we wanted to be alicorns either, he just kinda made us.”

“Actually,” Atlas said with Discord now completely coiled around him, only his head sticking out from the mass of chaos. “This was all Discord’s idea… technically.”

“He’s right, you know?” Discord said while holding up a single talon on his claw hand.

“Also, I don’t think you’re in a place to shame me for making you alicorns without asking first,” Atlas commented with a raised eyebrow. “Hey Twilight, did Celestia ask if you wanted to be an alicorn or did she just go ahead and do it?”

“She…Umm…” Twilight stammered looking towards her mentor. “She kinda didn’t…” She added, letting her head fall a bit.

“See? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black, am I right?” Atlas let one of his hooves appear from between Discord’s coils, which was promptly high-fived by said Draconequus.

Luna smiled at the dynamic Atlas and Discord seemed to have, the two complementing each other perfectly, and got a little jealous.

“So to summarize,” Twilight spoke up. “You two plunged Equestria into an age of chaos in order to create the two alicorns, Celestia and Luna, just so that Equestria would prosper at a later date?”

“I’d say that’s a pretty accurate summary, yes,” Atlas confirmed. “While Equestria had united under the banner of harmony, it was still not truly unified. By giving them a common enemy and a saviour to rally under, the ponies finally put down their differences for good, which allowed Equestria to come into existence. Although, I’d say that Starswirl helped out a lot too. Where is the old badger anyway?”

“You knew Starswirl?” Twilight asked, a glitter appearing in her eyes, as always when her idol was mentioned.

“Well, yeah,” Atlas said. “He was kind of my partner in crime for a long time. So, what is it Celestia? Did he finally resolve his little issue and kicked the bucket?”

“His situation is a bit… special, to say the least,” Celestia said, trying to avoid the topic. “Suffice to say that he currently isn’t present. I shall tell you more once there are less ears in the room…”

“Starswirl is still alive?” Twilight exclaimed incredulously. “That’s huge news.”

“Well, is he?” Atlas asked. “Or did he just make his little problem into a big problem?” He added with a chuckle.

“A little bit of both I’d say…” Celestia replied, making it clear she wasn’t going into more detail at the moment.”

“So I trust he took good care of you two?” Atlas asked, kind of curious about this bit of information.

“Yes, definitely,” Celestia said, which was confirmed by Luna. “He was our court magician for hundreds of years and helped us out whenever he could. He actually developed a wide plethora of new spells in his time, so much so that we have an entire library dedicated to his works. There’s even a few scrolls that are only accessible by you, if he is to be believed. I’ll have to show them to you later.”

“Now that’s an interesting development right there,” Atlas said happily. “I’ll be looking forward to what he thought up in that crazy brain of his.”

“I’m sure whatever it is will make you really happy and cause a lot of trouble for us, considering what the two of you created before,” Celestia sighed. “But as much as I love all this small-talk, this whole conversation is starting to take a toll on all of us, I believe. Would you care to share with us the real reason why you’ve finally returned, and why you wanted to see Twilight?”

“I guess I can’t put it off any longer,” Atlas sighed. “The final countdown has begun, after all. Then, without further ado, the true reason for my return.”

Everypony sat up a little straighter, making sure to listen closely to what was about to be said. After the crazy revelations that lead up to this, the next one was bound to be a real doozy.

“Twilight Sparkle!” Atlas shouted militaristically, accusingly. “You are responsible for destroying everything I have worked for in the past one-thousand four-hundred and thirty-six years!”

3. The Big Revealski

“Twilight Sparkle!” Atlas shouted militaristically, accusingly. “You are responsible for destroying everything I have worked for in the past one-thousand four-hundred and thirty-six years!”

Every set of eyes in the room shifted towards the purple alicorn who was having trouble processing the words she had just heard. “Excuse me,” Twilight eye twitched. “Could you repeat that for me?”

“You are responsible for destroying my life’s work,” Atlas repeated. “And by proxy might have doomed us all.”

“So what you’re telling me, is that I somehow destroyed what was probably the most complex spell Equestria has ever seen… Without even knowing how I did it?”

“That is correct,” Atlas nodded.

“Huh,” Twilight smiled at Atlas before promptly falling over.

“Twilight!” Celestia and the rest of the element bearers called out, immediately swarming around the prone alicorn.

“Twilight, darling,” Rarity said, cupping Twilights head in her hoof. “Twilight, can you hear me? Are you okay?”

“It looks like she might have fainted from the stress the news brought unto her,” Celestia said from the sidelines, giving Atlas the stink eye.

“I knew she was an egghead, but come on,” Rainbow Dash said while rolling her eyes. “Just because she broke some kinda important spell.”

“While I will agree that she might be overreacting a bit,” Atlas said. “It is definitely an appropriate response to being told something of that magnitude.”

“Should we bring her to the infirmary?” Fluttershy asked timidly, looking worried at her friends' state.

“I don’t think that will be necessary, dear Fluttershy,” Celestia replied calmly. “Just make sure that she’s comfortable and that her legs are slightly elevated, here, you can use these pillows.”

Celestia levitated over some of the cushions that decorated the twin thrones and handed them over to Fluttershy, who promptly started working on her assignment. Before long, Twilight was comfortably resting on the floor, almost looking like she was asleep.

“Have you done something like this before?” Atlas asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“I have seen many a pony faint in the throne room, yes,” Celestia said. “As well as Twilight several times. If you make sure they didn’t hurt themselves during the fall and elevate their legs, most of them come right back to their senses, actually.”

Celestia’s statement was immediately followed by a low groan from Twilights direction, much to everypony’s relief.

“Oh, Twilight,” Fluttershy said. “Are you okay, how are you feeling?”

“I feel a bit sluggish…” Twilight moaned. “What happened?”

“I’m afraid you passed out, dear Twilight,” Celestia explained. “It would seem that my father’s news was a bit much for you to handle…”

“News? What kind of news?” Twilight lifted her head to look around, until Atlas entered her line of sight, causing her to remember. “Oh… right…” Her head dejectedly fell back on the pillow.

“Now that this little episode is behind us,” Atlas cleared his throat. “Why don’t we continue where we left off?”

“I think it would be in all of our best interest to wrap this up quickly, yes,” Celestia nodded. “I’d say we could all use a little bit of rest.”

“Alright then, that’s fine with me,” Atlas confirmed, shifting his attention once again towards the prone Twilight. “Now, I did say I that I do hold you accountable for the destruction of my work…” Twilight flinched a bit, not daring to look at Atlas. “Yet, it would be a bit unfair of me to put all the blame on you alone. Tirek is just as accountable for this as you are.”

“Tirek?” Luna asked. “What does he have to do with this?”

“I guess I’ll have to explain just what I’ve been doing before we can go to assigning blame,” Atlas said. “You could say that I was working on the biggest runic array that has ever existed, and possibly never will be recreated.”

“The biggest array ever?” Celestia said with a cocked eyebrow while Twilight’s ear twitched a bit in their direction. “How big are we talking here?”

“Do you remember the mountain range that is technically my land?” Atlas asked. “You know, the one you pretty much pushed on me without ever asking if I wanted it?”

“I do yes,” Celestia rolled her eyes.

“I pretty much hollowed out five of these mountains, riddled them with caves and then inscribed every bit of available wall space with arcane runes,” Atlas explained.

Celestia and Luna looked at Atlas incredulously and Twilight finally propped herself up with an agape mouth. “But… But wouldn’t that mean…”

“Yes, exactly,” Atlas nodded. “The rune array I created was several square miles big, if you add them all up.”

“And… And you say I helped destroy all that?” Twilight asked, already dreading the answer.

“Yes,” Atlas nodded.

Twilight seemed just about ready to faint again before a green glow surrounded her head for a moment, which seemed to rejuvenate her somehow. Twilight noticed the mana’s color and furrowed her brows, nobody in the room should possess an affinity for life, including Atlas who already proved that he had a magic affinity as well. But just before the spell ended, she caught a glimpse of Atlas horn which sported the same color.

“Can’t have you faint again,” Atlas said. “We already wasted enough time as is.”

“Thank you,” Twilight nodded gratefully. “Do you possess a twin affinity?”

“That would be putting it lightly,” Atlas chuckled, momentarily flashing every type of mana with his horn. “I got ‘em all. Also, are you emotionally unstable or something? If you faint like this often you should really go see a doctor,” he added after having to stop Twilight from fainting yet again. “This is getting old.”

“You must excuse her, she is very emotionally invested in her studies and you’re basically shattering everything she thought she knew about affinities,” Celestia clarified. “Also, she was already tested for any illnesses, but there seems to be nothing causing her episodes, aside from extreme emotional stimuli.”

“Alright, if you say so,” Atlas shrugged. “Twilight, I need you to understand that I am not even close to anything you think you know. I’d be grateful if you could just assume me the same as an alicorn, but better. That way we could maybe avoid any more… incidents?”

“I’ll try,” Twilight said baffled.

“Alright, then back to topic,” Atlas said. “The array I had been building had two main functions. The first one being the actual array which would execute the spell. The second was supposed to gather and store an absolutely ludicrous amount of mana, which would be needed to power the actual spell.”

“What kind of spell could possibly require this much mana?” Luna asked. “You once mentioned that the crystal tree which stored the elements mana could blow up the whole planet if misused. This sounds like you gathered more than enough mana to fill a thousand trees several times over.”

“What the spell actually is for, I am not willing to share,” Atlas said. “Just know that it isn’t intended to destroy, but much rather save the planet. Anyway, as you can imagine, an array of this size would be extremely intricate. And the more intricate something gets, the easier it will be to destroy. Of course I, had taken more precautions than you could possibly think of, amongst them, wards against the local fauna, like tatzelwurms, or even wards that would stop ponies from getting too close to the mountains, or, god forbid, actually start mining for ores there.”

“That would certainly explain why nopony seemed willing to settle over there…” Celestia murmured.

“The one thing I hadn’t thought of, was somebody actually simply ploughing straight through the whole mountain, punching a quite literal hole through the thing,” Atlas shook his head. “Of course I also erected barriers against physical attacks, but I didn’t think that Tirek and Twilight would just fling each other around like that, aimlessly shooting pure mana at each other like idiots. Which reminds me, considering how much you’re into magic, Twilight Sparkle, your combat spells are severely lacking to the point that a foal could probably outspell you.”

“I am not too fond of the school of combat…” Twilight pawed at the ground. “For some reason the spells just never seem to work for me.”

“Bullshit,” Atlas called her out. “You are an apparent magical genius with an affinity for magic to boot. There can’t be any other reason other than you simply not wanting to learn.”

“Alright,” Twilight sighed. “I absolutely despise violence, so I just didn’t want to learn, okay? Are you happy now’”

“No, I am not,” Atlas denied. “You seem to have inherited Celestia’s foolishness. Peace is an illusion and if you don’t prepare for war, you’ll be overrun once it comes knocking on your door. Similarly, if you had taken your study of the arts seriously, you probably could have overpowered Tirek like he was nothing and I wouldn’t have to stand here and tell you just how much you suck.”

Twilights mouth was agape. Never had somepony reprimanded her this harshly and what made it worse was that she knew that Atlas was right. “I’m sorry,” Twilight said, not knowing what else to say.

“A ‘Sorry’ isn’t going to fix my array and save the world from destruction, Twilight Sparkle,” Atlas said, clearly annoyed. “Instead I expect you to follow up with actions. I’ll need all the support I can get in the days to come, and you should be a valuable asset.”

“I understand,” Twilight said monotonously. “I’ll do everything in my power to make amends.”

“Good,” Atlas nodded. “Due to the massive hole that was punched in my array, it started to unravel itself at an astounding speed and I’m sad to say that the actual spell part was completely lost, with me unable to do anything. Fortunately, I was able to save at least a part of the mana storage.”

“At last some good news,” Celestia interjected.

“You bet it’s good news,” Atlas nodded. “If I hadn’t been able to contain it, there would have been a good chance that the massive amounts of mana that were stored would have started to expand and escape rapidly, which would’ve meant game over right then and there. But even if I managed to save about eighty-five percent of the stored mana, if you consider how much that actually is, I still lost a metric shit-ton of mana.”

“His language certainly is colorful…” Rarity whispered towards Applejack, which nodded with a slight smile.

“And with this we come to my problem,” Atlas said. “I originally had more than enough time to prepare my spell, but now, the deadline is way too close for me to simply gather the mana I need. I’m definitely able to recreate the spell-part in time, but if I don’t have enough mana to activate the array there’s no point in even trying.”

“I’m almost afraid to ask, but how much time do you have left?” Celestia asked nervously.

“I’d say three weeks… one month, at most, but I wouldn’t want to risk it,” Atlas replied.

“That is indeed not a lot of time,” Luna muttered worried.

“Is there any way to gather the required mana in time?” Celestia asked.

“There is a chance,” Atlas nodded. “But honestly, it’s little more than a gamble.”

“Whatever it is you require, if we can provide it, you shall have it,” Celestia said.

“Thank you,” Atlas said gratefully. “I know this might sound a bit insane, but I’m quite literally going to need every single sliver of mana I can get my hooves on. Which means I’m going to need the help of not only you two, Discord and the Elements, I’m going to need every single pony in Equestria to chip in or I’ll never have enough mana to support the spell.”

“What do you mean by every single pony in Equestria?” Discord asked.

“It means exactly what I said,” Atlas said. “Everypony has a mana pool, even earth ponies and pegasi. Collectively, the population of Equestria, combined with our own mana pools, should theoretically be able to supply me with the mana I need… barely.”

“That sounds almost impossible… How are we even going to organize something like this?” Celestia said with furrowed brows.

“Look, as long as you can gather everypony in one place, I can take care of the rest,” Atlas said. “If I have to travel from city to city and set up places for them to gather I’ll make it happen. I can redirect the mana towards one focal point, so not everypony needs to be exactly in the same spot. Although if you can gather mages that know how to share their mana into a spell at the actual spell location to support me when the time comes, that would be even better.”

“It’s going to be difficult…” Luna said, staring at the ground while running calculations through her head. “Organizing this many ponies at once will be just short of a bureaucratic nightmare…”

“I know I’m asking for a lot here,” Atlas admitted. “But the fact is if I fail here, we are all going to die, no exceptions. In fact the whole of Equus will be just… gone.”

Atlas’ proclamation earned him a few uneasy stares. Everypony clearly heard what Atlas just said, but none of them really processed it.

“Hard to swallow, isn’t it?” Atlas chuckled. “See, Celestia, Luna, this is why I never really wanted to tell you what I was up to. And if I could help it, I still wouldn’t. As things stand, though, I feel like I need to reveal at least this much for you to understand just how dire our situation is. We either give it out all in these coming weeks, or the world will quite literally end.”

“I’ll... We’ll make it happen…” Celestia said with a slightly pale face, which was an accomplishment, considering her fur was a pure white. “I doubt you’d lie to us about this, so whatever it is you’ll need, we’ll get it to you somehow, we’ll spare no expenses.”

“Definitely,” Luna confirmed. “Saving money would in no way help us if we’d just get wiped out afterwards…”

“If we can help in any way,” Twilight nodded determined. “Let us know.”

“Don’t even have to ask me,” Discord said.

“It’s good to know that I can count on your support,” Atlas said relieved. “I will most certainly need it.”

“We’re going to have to start organizing everything immediately,” Celestia nodded. “We should probably hurry and start on that as soon as possible. It’s probably best that we start moving things in the generally right direction today and start going more into the details of your plan tomorrow. Is there anything that you need immediately before we disperse here?”

“Not immediately no,” Atlas shook his head. “But I’ll need quite a lot of space next to major cities, and even more space for the actual spell location, please keep that in mind. I’ll have to do some slight terraforming at each location, so it’s probably best if these spaces are unused fields or something of the sort. The gathering spaces next to settlements will have to be big enough for every resident to gather there.”

“You could probably set down the spell array next to Ponyville,” Twilight said. “There’s a large field that is relatively flat behind my castle that isn’t used for anything. You could stay there as well, if you’d like, and Ponyville is pretty close to Canterlot, so traveling between them shouldn’t be an issue.”

“I’ll make sure to come check out that location then, and a place to stay right next to the array would certainly help,” Atlas said. “As for transportation, I have no problems teleporting all over Equestria, so that won’t be an issue.”

“Is there anything else you need?” Celestia asked, which Atlas denied. “Then I’d suggest that all of you get some rest while Luna and I start on getting things ready.”

“In that case, please excuse us,” Twilight bowed to Celestia out of habit and left, her group of friends close behind.

Atlas waited until they had left the throne room, before turning toward Celestia once more. “I’ll say this right now, if you can get any of the other races to come over here to help us, I would be grateful. They shouldn’t possess nearly enough mana in their bodies compared to us ponies, but in this situation we can’t really be picky about our sources…”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Celestia said. “But considering the situation, I can’t imagine they’d just sit idly by and do nothing.”

“Just make sure to not tell them too much,” Atlas nodded. “Also, now that the elements are gone, can you finally tell me where Starswirl is? Having him by my side would be invaluable.”

“Oh…” Celestia’s face fell a little. “You see…”

Author's Note

So there you have it. That's what he's been up to and what he'll have to do going forward. It will not be easy to pull off, but as Atlas already said: They have to, whether they want to or not.

Once again, thanks to my editor ScootalooFTW, as well as my proofreader Soren Mercer.

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song.

Come join us in the Discord channel! Lonk

Or the official Divine Entertainment group! Divine Universe

4. The Beginning Of A War

Hades stood inside of his intelligence room, together with his most trusted allies. The map table was taking up most of the room's floor space, forcing the gods to stand at a considerable distance from each other. Similarly, the walls were plastered with notes, pictures, and even more maps, albeit smaller and more specific than the one in the center.

The time of the final confrontation was just around the corner and they were going over their plans one last time to confirm whether or not everybody knew the part they had to play.

“Then the duty of defeating Zeus will fall to me,” Hades said with finality. “I trust that you’ll distract the others enough so that I will be able to focus on my battle with him, as I’m sure it’ll take my utmost to succeed.”

“That shouldn’t be too much of a problem,” Hyas replied while regarding the various small figurines on the map. “According to our spies, they still believe that the attack will come in two weeks time. They think themselves strong and superior to us, so they haven’t started their preparations yet. Instead they are wasting their days away, laughing at our expense while drinking the sweetest nectar.”

“Which will lead to their downfall, no doubt,” Apollo added. “Zeus is a foolish man that has grown complacent. He doesn’t care for the things he is supposed to protect and neglects his training to pursue easy gratification.”

“I believe we have harked on Zeus and his faults enough in these meetings,” Ares replied with an annoyed snort. “In these final days, we should lay off and just concentrate on what we need to do, lest we make a mistake and become the fools ourselves.”

“Ares is right,” Persephone said. “You always sway from the important topics in favor of trash-talking the enemy. Concentrate for once! We can’t afford to screw this up this late in the game.”

“I’m sorry,” Apollo replied. “Moving on then, whether or not you can defeat Zeus doesn’t rely on us alone. What if the young Atlas fails his task?”

“He shouldn’t,” Hyas immediately denied. “I taught him everything he needs to know, and he had more than enough time to prepare.”

“Yes, but let’s just assume that he does fail, for whatever reason,” Apollo rolled his eyes. “What then?”

“According to our information, all Zeus has to do to complete the soul-merging ritual is to touch the prison,” Hades said. “If everything is about to go downhill and it looks like we can’t stop him from doing this, our spy will be on standby to destroy it as a last ditch effort.”

“Won’t that violate our promise to Atlas?” Persephone asked.

“It will,” Hades nodded. “While I’d like to avoid doing something like that, technically his usefulness to us stops as soon as the attack begins, and the existence of his prison becomes a threat. I pray that he will be able to complete his task in time, but if all else fails, we can’t allow Zeus to succeed, no matter what.”

“While I do hope Atlas will be able to succeed,” Hyas said. “If the prison is destroyed and Atlas dies, the soul fragment will just search for a new host, and judging by how far their souls had merged when I saw him, there’s a good chance of both Atlas’ survival, in a convoluted way.”

“Either way, after we defeat Zeus, Atlas will finally find peace,” Hades said. “One way or the other.”

Persephone was about to say something when a knock came from the door. A very specific rhythm resounded, letting the room’s occupants know who was at the door.

“Enter,” Hades commanded.

The door was opened to reveal a figure completely clad in black clothes. No exposed skin was to be found, except for a pair of beady eyes that peered out from under the black mask it was wearing.

“Welcome, what do you have to report?” Hades questioned the newcomer.

“Pardon the lack of pleasantries, but I don’t have much time,” the figure said apologetically. “I’m supposed to run an errand for Zeus and I’ve got to return before he suspects anything.”

“Then make it quick,” Hades nodded.

“Just now, Zeus declared a full week of revelry in preparation of the attack,” the figure said urgently. “Starting in a few hours, all the gods will participate in a banquet never seen before… The alcohol will flow in quantities that will intoxicate even Dionysus.”

“That’s the chance we’ve been waiting for!” Hades said excited. “You may leave, we wouldn’t want anyone to suspect anything. Thank you for this message, I will make sure you’re properly rewarded.”

The figure gave a quick nod before hastily leaving the room, closing the door behind him.

“We won’t get another chance like this,” Ares said immediately.

“Indeed,” Hades confirmed. “They will all be drunk in a few hours and their guard will be at its lowest. I say we let them party for a while and then make our move. Let's give them twenty-four hours of fun before we strike.”

“One day will be enough to get everyone well and drunk,” Hyas conscented. “If we’re lucky, this won’t be much of a fight after all.”

“Don’t grow overconfident,” Apollo said. “Even a drunk god is a powerful god, at most, their aim and reaction time will be somewhat stunted. It might be enough to give us an edge, but it won’t make this an easy fight.”

“This might be a trap as well…” Persephone muttered cautiously.

“Considering who it was that delivered the message, I seriously doubt it,” Hades said. “But assuming that it is one and Zeus has gotten wind of our plans somehow, we’d have to strike fast anyway. Either way, the time to strike has finally arrived. I want all of you to gather your squads and meet me at the rally point C in ten hours sharp. There’s a lot to do and not a lot of time to accomplish it. Move out!”

At Hades’ command everybody started to move. Time was of the essence now. The confrontation was about to start. Hades looked after his commanders as they left, hoping this wouldn’t be the last time they’d act together like this. He stood therefore a moment, appreciating the friends he had, before he too, started to prepare.

Hades walked along the gathered gods before him, a black helmet being carried in his left arm. They were standing in rank and file, each of his commanders standing in front of their personal squad. Each of them was commanding six other gods, for a total of twenty gods that were going to partake in the upcoming battle, excluding Hades.

This amount could hardly be described as an army, yet, considering how powerful each and everyone of them was, there was not much difference. They were more like a highly specialized strike-force than an army. Although Zeus had a lot more major gods on his side, the advantage they brought him wouldn’t matter much if they were taken by surprise when they were at their weakest. The fact that at least two more major gods in Zeus’ camp actually worked for Hades as well certainly helped too.

Their preparations had all been completed, and all that was left now was to execute the plan. He looked into each and every present god’s eyes, his gaze being met with stalwart dedication to their cause. Hades nodded with satisfaction, taking a small distance from the group and facing them, as the commander should.

“Friends!” he called out to them. “The day has finally come!”

A cacophony of cheers responded to his call.

“For ages we have been preparing for this day!” Hades continued his speech. “We have endured under Zeus’s growing tyranny! Watched as he drove the pantheon into the ground and shirked his duty as the ruler of the pantheon! We have been subjected to his every whim, the ridicule and avoidance of those who follow him, and most of all, his uncaring nature!

“When he started to take away authority of the gods who opposed him, we endured! When he cast out those he didn’t like, we endured! When he killed the only one who openly dared to oppose him, we endured! And finally, when he started banishing some of you standing here today, to the underworld, what did we do?”

“We endured!” the gathered troops called back full of emotion.

“That’s right! But now the time has come, where we free ourselves from the tyrannical rule of Zeus! No longer will we have to lay low and accept whatever we’re told by him! Today is the last day Zeus will sit high up on his throne, and for one last time, we’ll endure. We’ll endure as we strike down those we called friends before! We’ll endure having to destroy the thing we wanted to protect, and we’ll endure the wounds that we’ll receive in the coming battle!

“We’ll burn down everything Zeus has built, so that a new era may rise from its ashes! So for one last time, I ask you to endure with me! The time has come! Forward, March!”

At Hades’ command a warcry resounded inside the cave they were standing in, as the small army began to move. Motivated by his speech, they moved towards the gate to the underworld, where for the first time in long while, something would leave, instead of arrive. They moved towards the Olympus, towards Zeus, towards their goal.

The final countdown had begun.

Author's Note

I'd like for you to know that these events aren't taking place exactly parallel to what Atlas is currently doing. I'll just be cutting over to the gods side of view until the two stories finally merge at the very end. Anyways, the attack has begun, Atlas' time is still running out. Let's hope he'll make it in time :V

Once again, thanks to my editor Alcatraz, as well as my proofreader Soren Mercer.

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song.

Come join us in the Discord channel! Lonk

Or the official Divine Entertainment group! Divine Universe

Support me on Patreon!!

5. At Last, Ponyville

Atlas looked out of a window, watching the scenery pass by. He was currently aboard a train heading towards Ponyville together with Twilight Sparkle and her friends. Despite the amount of time he had been cooped up in the mountain, very little had changed about Equestria in his absence. It was still a naturally beautiful place filled with all kinds of flora and fauna, and the ponies were living with them in harmony. In fact, the only notable difference he’s noticed since his return from his self-imposed exile is that small towns seem to have popped up everywhere.

Originally Atlas offered to simply teleport everypony to Ponyville, as this wouldn’t even put a strain on his mana reserves while being the fastest possible way back. For some unconceivable reason Celestia and the element bearers insisted rather vehemently on taking the train. Eventually Atlas gave in to their request and spent the time in the train looking out the window while running some calculations in his head in preparation for the main array he’d have to set up in Ponyville.

He was sitting a respectable distance away from the element bearers, so he could be undisturbed in his thoughts. Although he had made it a point to not interact with the other passengers, there were two among them that quite obviously wanted to talk to him. One of them was Twilight Sparkle.

Even though Atlas had done little more than berate her ever since they met, she seemed like she wanted to ask him at the very least one million questions. A fact that was supported by the little blue book he was currently levitating before him. A lot of time had passed since he had come to Equus, and while one of his original goals was to meet the mane six at some point, this particular objective became less important as time passed.

After all, they were technically only part of a cartoon-show he liked for just about three years as a human before coming here. Considering that more than a thousand years had passed since then, they became little more than a blip on his radar before eventually fading into the dark recesses of his memory. As such, he was now reading his notes to refresh his memory.

“Hey, why are you staring at a blank book?” A voice suddenly asked behind him as a tuft of pink hair entered his vision from above. “Doesn’t that get boring?”

“These might seem like blank pages to you,” Atlas sighed. He had just read about Pinkie Pies apparent physics defying feats, and how he shouldn’t question them, which seemingly summoned the pink menace. “But to me they hold much essential information.”

“Uhhh… Are they written with invisible ink or something?”

“Not quite, I just put a spell on this book so that only I could read it’s contents,” Atlas replied while closing his book. It seemed like his private time was now over, whether he wanted it to be or not. “It already caused quite a few problems when somebody else read it…”

“Could it be Hollow Mane’s private hiding spell you’re talking about?” Twilight asked, slowly trotting over to the two. Seeing Pinkie making the first move must have made her think that it was okay to come over as well and ask all the questions she had.

“Never heard of the pony,” Atlas denied. “I made this spell myself over a thousand years ago.”

“You made it yourself?” Twilight asked, reeling back a bit as she sat down opposite of Atlas. “But Hollow Mane only made the spell public around two-hundred years ago!”

“In my time I have created countless spells for my convenience, Twilight Sparkle,” Atlas explained. “And only a handful of them made it out of my labs, most of them published under Starswirls name.” Mentioning his name caused Atlas to remember what Celestia had told him yesterday. Truly a shame that he wasn’t here today...

“Countless spells?” Twilight mouthed in amazement. “But according to Celestia I ascended into alicornhood when I created new magic, how is it possible that you haven’t ascended yet?”

“Because Celestia lied to you,” Atlas chuckled. “Just creating new magic isn’t nearly enough to make a pony ascend, or how would you explain the fact that neither Starswirl or anypony else that invented a spell ascended until you did? You should really stop blindly believing everything Celestia tells you.”

“But… No wait… that actually makes sense…” Twilight muttered. “I can’t believe I never questioned Celestia's words on this… Wait! Does that mean that you know how the ascension process works?”

“That, I definitely do,” Atlas nodded. “After all it was me who caused Celestia and Luna to ascend.”

“Wow, that’s like, really cool,” Pinkie replied, at some point having sat down next to Atlas. “Do you think I could ascend a cupcake to taste even better?”

“Could you… maybe teach me how it works?” Twilight asked tentatively, her and Atlas decidedly ignoring Pinkies nonsensical remark.

“Definitely not,” Atlas denied harshly. “Wouldn’t want a bunch of Alicorns running around because you mess up somehow. Alicorns are powerful entities and if a villain could ascend all willy nilly you might just be done for. Not even Celestia and Luna know the exact details on this, so that’s probably why you didn’t get the full truth from her as well.”

“I suppose that makes sense…” Twilight said slightly dejected.

“To get back on topic, yes, I’ve used one of my original spells to make this book unreadable to others, and no, I won’t tell you anything about it’s contents, no matter how much you beg me to.”

“But I haven’t even asked…”

“I know you didn’t, but I also know that you really, really want to,” Atlas retorted. “Point is, this book is dangerous by just existing, so it is my responsibility to make sure that nopony else gets their hooves on it,” as if to prove his point, the book disappeared with a flash of light.

“He’s right, you know?” Pinkie said in an unusually deep, but not unpleasant voice.

“So how much longer will it take for us to get to Ponyville?” Atlas asked. “I would really like to inspect the possible array locations as soon as possible.”

“It shouldn’t be much longer now,” Twilight replied while taking a glance outside. “Maybe twenty minutes at most.”

“That’s good to hear,” Atlas nodded. “Now, if you'll excuse me, I still have some reading to do before we arrive in Ponyville, and I’d rather not postpone this. I promise to try and make some time to answer some of the questions you have at a later point in time, but right now I’d really like to focus on getting this show on the road, if you don’t mind.”

“That’s okay,” Twilight replied. “I’ll come and get you once we arrive, then.”

“If you need any help, I’m the best roadie you could imagine, so don’t hesitate to ask,” Pinkie added.

The two of them left their respective seats and went to rejoin the rest of their friends. Atlas looked after them for a few seconds, feeling a tinge of jealousy when he saw them interact with their friends. Shaking his head he resummoned his book, opening it to where he had left off so he could finish the chapter pertaining Ponyville.

If everything went according to plan, he might just be able to simply relax for the first time since coming here, without having to chase some immediate goal. Thinking about this, a small smile graced Atlas face, which didn’t escape Pinkie’s notice.

The train was starting to slow down a bit, causing Atlas to look up from his book. The landscape outside had become much more level since they had left Canterlot Mountain behind, and if he looked out the window across his aisle he could already see the first few houses that he assumed belonged to Ponyville. As if on cue Atlas spotted Twilight making her way over to his seat, causing him to store his book into hammerspace once again.

“We’re here, you’d best gather your belongings before leaving the train, lest you forget something important,” Twilight said with a smile.

Atlas took a quick sarcastic look around at all the personal belongings he didn’t have, before looking back at Twilight with a raised eyebrow. “I think I have everything, thanks for the reminder.”

“That’s... good,” Twilight said sheepishly. “Alright then, we better gather up near one of the doors then.”

Nodding, Atlas got up from his seat and followed Twilight towards the nearest exit where her friends were already waiting. They had entered Ponyville proper now, as could be easily seen by all the quaint houses zipping past the windows. It didn’t take long for the train to come to a full stop at the villages only train station and they spilled out onto the platform one by one.

“Welcome to Ponyville!” Pinkie shouted as soon as Atlas set foot on the platform, having exited the train last. She had procured a blue cannon from somewhere, blasting him with a plethora of confetti.

“Thank you,” Atlas deadpanned, dusting confetti off himself.

“Oh I just can’t wait to throw your party!” Pinkie bounced around happily. “It’s gonna be ginormous, because I have to combine like… five different parties for you together!”

“I ask you to please put that party on hold,” Atlas said with a sigh. “While I would very much enjoy one of your parties, there are several infinitely more pressing matters than holding a party in my honor.”

“Aww… but what could possibly be more important than a party?”

“Making sure the world doesn’t get destroyed?”

“Hmmm… yeah, that does sound pretty important….” Pinkie said while rubbing her chin with her hoof. “Alright then, I’ll wait, but be sure to tell me when it’s okay as soon as you’re ready. Anyway, even if it is postponed, there’s still a lot of things that I have to go and prepare! See ya later, alligator!”

After having vomited these words in just about two-point-three seconds Pinkie zoomed out of sight, presumably into the direction of Sugarcube corner. The rest of the elements and Atlas looked after her for a few seconds before Applejack cleared her throat.

“Well, it was mighty fine meeting ya, Atlas, but I gotta get back to my farm as well. Lot’s of work to do,” Applejack shot him an apologetic smile. “If there’s anything me or my family can do to help you, just say so and we’ll come running.”

“Likewise,” Rarity added. “I must return posthaste to my boutique. Twilight knows where to find me should you need my help, or you could just send Spike over to come and fetch me.”

With those words, the duo left the station towards their respective workplaces. Fluttershy was the next to excuse herself, apparently having to go and feed her animals, but promised to rejoin them once she was done with her daily chores.

“I’ll hang around for a while longer,” Rainbow Dash said finally. “Not like the weather needs much attention right now, and I might get to see something cool if I hang out with you, Atlas.”

“I’m flattered,” Atlas said while turning towards Twilight. “Alright, so if you wouldn’t mind, I’d very much like to go and check out that field behind your castle now.”

“Sure thing,” Twilight replied. “I already informed Spike beforehand, and once we’ve finished dinner and a room will be ready for you in my castle.”

“Thank you, now, please lead the way,” Atlas said, gesturing with his hoof for for her to take the lead, when a loud pop interrupted them.

Discord and Luna had suddenly appeared at the train station, looking around before locking onto Atlas’ group.

“Ah, how lucky. It seems we made it in time.” Luna commented idly to her brother as two approached.

“Aww, come on!” Atlas shouted exasperated. “How come you two get to teleport all over the place while I had to take the train?”

“We still had some things to take care of, so we had to stall you a bit until we were ready,” Luna stated matter-of-factly. “I do apologize for that.”

“You know, I don’t exactly need you to babysit me to fulfill my tasks, right?” Atlas said with annoyance. “We’ve wasted precious time.”

“Yes, you might not think us completely necessary for these first few steps, but just imagine this,” Luna said while rolling her eyes. “You just come here, nopony knows who you are and you just up and level a huge space of land in Ponyville. I’m sure that will go over just swimmingly. Thus, the need arises for either my sister or I to be present to at least alleviate some of the citizens concerns.”

“Isn’t Twilight a princess too?” Atlas pointed out.

“Well, yes,” Luna replied. “But she has only recently been crowned, and she does not yet wield the necessary authority. She may be a well known face around Ponyville, and the citizens here should trust her well enough, but we felt it still better for one of us to be present.”

“Coincidentally I’m just here to drop Luna off,” Discord said from the sidelines. “I’m about to head out and scout the array places at all the other towns.”

“That’s reassuring to know. Thanks, Discord,” Atlas nodded. “I assume you’ve received all of the specifics and requirements, right?”

“That I did,” Discord confirmed. “I will make sure to find a suitable place at each location for you.”

“Thanks,” Atlas nodded. “So Luna… Seeing as Discord had to drop you off here, is it safe to assume you can’t even manage to teleport from Canterlot to Ponyville?”

“Ermm… I am afraid it is just so, father…” Luna said while avoiding Atlas’ gaze.

“Weird, this much should be easy for you, seeing as you’re an alicorn and all…”

“Ah, you know, it’s because…” Luna faltered, “It’s because I’ve been banished to the moon for so long! My mana reserves have taken a great toll and haven’t been completely restored yet. I wouldn’t want to waste my mana just to get here if I could simply hitch a ride with dear Discord here.”

“Hmmm…” Atlas squinted his eyes at Luna, who was displaying a smile which couldn’t have been more fake if she tried. He lit up his horn and ran a quick scan on Luna before nodding in self satisfaction. “Discord! Phone me!”

“Coming right up!” Discord said with a mischievous smile before snapping his talon, making a rectangular, black object appear in Atlas’ outstretched hoof.

Everypony aside from Discord was eyeing the object curiously, and watched as Atlas pressed what looked like a button on it for a few seconds, causing it to emit a strange sound. “Siri, would you be so kind as to call Bullshit for me?”

“Calling Bullshit…” Much to everyponies surprise, the object actually answered him back with Discords voice. Atlas looked at Luna with a raised eyebrow, while the device was repeating a strange beeping sound a few time.

“Yes, this is bullshit speaking?”

“Can we not do this right now?” Luna asked with annoyance.

“Why, hello there old friend,” Atlas said, ignoring Luna's plea. “My daughter just told me that her mana pool hasn’t recovered yet and that’s why she couldn’t do a small jump from Canterlot to Ponyville.”

“Yeah, that sounds like bullshit alright…”

“Thanks, mate,” Atlas replied to the voice from the device before hanging up and throwing the thing over his shoulder, where it imploded on impact with the ground. “There you have it.”

“Alright, alright,” Luna relented. “I didn’t practice teleportation as much as I should have! There, are you happy now?”

“I’m sure Applejack would be more than happy upon hearing you speak the truth like that,” Atlas nodded. “Alright, then. Now that I have sufficiently embarrassed my daughter for the first time in over a millenium, why don’t we go and check out that field behind your castle, Twilight?”

“Umm… sure?” Twilight replied slowly, not entirely understanding what just happened. “Follow me.”

Twilight began to leave the station, her friends and Luna in tow, the latter still having an annoyed look on her face. Atlas and Discord made eye-contact for a second before bursting out laughing.

“It’s good to have you back, Discord,” Atlas said after he calmed down a bit.

“But of course it is,” Discord replied, equally as happy. “It must have been dreadfully boring without me around to lighten up the mood every now and again.”

“Truer words have never been spoken,” Atlas nodded. “Well, we better get back to saving the world.”

“Agreed.”

Without missing a beat, Atlas jumped, giving his son a mid-air high… five? Shortly after Discord disappeared with a flash, leaving behind Atlas as the lone occupant of the station. A smile still on his face as he made to follow the others.

Author's Note

Drawn by Algedor, the madman.

Once again, thanks to my editor ScootalooFTW, as well as my proofreader Soren Mercer.

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song... I guess...

Come join us in the Discord channel! Lonk

Or the official Divine Entertainment group! Divine Universe

6. Castle Of Harmony

Atlas’ group had finally arrived at Twilight's castle. It didn’t take too much time to get there from the Ponyville train station, but considering the long train-ride, it might as well have been forever in Atlas’ opinion.

All Atlas had written in his notes about Twilight's castle were the words: “Giant fuck-off crystal tree”, which left him slightly confused, but as soon as he got his first look at it, he immediately understood what his past self meant. The castle seemed to be made from a singular, gigantic gem, formed into the shape of a tree. Considering where the castle came from, it would probably be worth investigating whether or not it was made from pure mana crystal or not.

For now, Twilight led them past her “humble” abode. Just as she had said, there was a large seemingly unused field behind it, with nothing occupying it aside from the unnaturally green grass Equestria was known for. Atlas let his scrutinizing gaze wander over the open space, noting that it was quite uneven. In the distance to their left was what looked like Applejack’s apple orchard, the Everfree Forest looming just behind it, while to their right, Canterlot could be seen, resting comfortably on the side of it’s accompanying mountain.

The others patiently waited for Atlas to speak up as he was quite obviously judging the fields’ usefulness. He was currently running some mental calculations on whether or not his array would fit without disturbing too much of the local flora and fauna, but seeing as it was pretty much open space all the way to Canterlot, he had little doubt in his mind.

“Alright, this will do,” Atlas said while turning around to face the others. “It’s a bit uneven, but that’s nothing I can’t solve.”

“That’s good to hear,” Luna replied while Twilight seemed like a weight had fallen off her shoulders. “So how much space will you actually need?”

“As I’ve said before, this array will be big… and I mean really big,” Atlas said, turning towards the field while lighting his horn with a blue aura. “I’d say… about this big.”

Atlas horn suddenly started to glow a lot brighter. Twilight started to feel a bit uncomfortable since she could feel the ambient mana level jump to an unusually high level. Whatever Atlas was doing, it obviously required a lot of mana, and although she wasn’t completely sure, she felt like some of her mana pool was stolen to power the spell.

A small, blue circle appeared before Atlas, before being joined by five others that orbited the first one. An even larger circle was drawn around the whole formation, containing the first six. Shortly after the circles seemed to shoot up into the air and away from them, until they were so small they could barely see them. Twilight was about to ask what Atlas was doing, when the formation started to rapidly grow in size. A huge array of blue light was now floating above them, faintly illuminating everything with a blue hue.

Atlas slowly brought the circles down towards the ground, adjusting its position from time to time until they made contact with the ground, the closest part being just about six feet away from them. They could hear a faint sizzling sound, before smoke started to rise everywhere the magic touched, leaving behind blackened ground and burnt grass in its wake.

“Yeah, that looks about the right size…” Atlas said, critically eyeing his work.

“Could you do something like that?” Rainbow Dash whispered to Twilight, leaning in closer so the other two wouldn’t hear.

“Maybe… but I’d be pretty winded after using a spell of this magnitude…” Twilight whispered back. “He looks like he barely used any of his mana.”

“Thank you for conveniently marking it like this,” Luna said with a slight frown on her face. “But could you maybe refrain from stealing our mana to power your spells next time?” she added grumpily, a small shiver running through her body. “It feels unpleasant to have it forcefully taken.”

“Oh, I’m sorry about that,” Atlas replied, the two of them having confirmed Twilights suspicion. “I’m just so used to using the ambient mana from my array in the mountain that I probably did it unconsciously.”

“Well, it’s alright,” Luna waved him off. “Just take it into consideration, if somebody with a small mana pool was around, they might react adversely to having it emptied without so much as a notice.”

“Noted,” Atlas nodded. “Speaking of, are you two okay?”

“I’m fine, my mana pool is rather large and you didn’t take too much,” Twilight replied. “It did feel weird though. Kinda felt like what Tirek did to us, but less… aggressive, I guess.”

“I think I’m fine?” Rainbow said, inspecting her wings. “I honestly have no idea how large my mana pool is, but I guess if I’m not feeling weird. That’s good, right?”

“It is,” Twilight replied. “If you’re running low on mana you should start to feel a bit drowsy, like after a hard workout.”

“In that case, I’m good,” Rainbow smiled. “No harm done.”

“That’s good to hear,” Atlas said. “Now, I’ve marked the relative size of the array, but I can’t say this is final. I’ll have to make the final design tonight, or at the very least a first draft, and I should be able to tell you the exact size tomorrow. I’ll probably terraform this place tomorrow as well. Twilight, would you be able to set me up with scrolls and ink for tonight? I’m gonna need a lot.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Twilight confirmed. “We always keep our scrolls, inkwells, and quills well stocked, so feel free to take as much as you need.”

“Very good,” Atlas said with a smile. “Now, I believe you mentioned dinner earlier?”

Twilight checked the position of the sun in the sky to guesstimate the time. After confirming that it was well on it’s way towards the horizon, she spoke up. “I do believe Spike should have finished cooking by now. Why don’t we go back to the castle and discuss your further plans while eating?”

“That sounds great,” Atlas said. “I’m actually pretty hungry.”

“Alright then, Rainbow, are you coming too?” Twilight only asked Rainbow Dash, since it was already decided that Luna would stay at the castle as well.

“Sure thing,” Rainbow said with a smirk. “I’m not sure I could miss this dinner, even if I wanted,” she added with a shrug.

Having decided on what to do, they turned around and headed back to the castle. Since they weren’t that far away in the first place, it took them barely a minute to reach the front door, which was magically opened by Twilight. One by one they shuffled inside, Atlas admiring the formation of the crystal walls.

“You said this grew just like this?” Atlas asked Twilight. “With hallways, rooms, booksehelves and everything? You didn’t form it afterwards?”

“Yes, it grew just like this,” Twilight confirmed. “We added a few things like mana lamps, the kitchen and of course all the furniture, but otherwise we haven’t changed anything about it.”

“Interesting…” Atlas mumbled and went over to the closest wall to touch it. It was somewhat warm to the touch and as smooth as can be, the faint feeling of mana trapped within the walls, confirming his earlier suspicions about this being made from mana crystals. “Excuse me for a moment,” he said, causing is companions to stop and curiously look back at him.

Atlas lit up his horn, running a scanning spell on the crystal in front of him. The feedback he got felt extremely familiar. This was definitely the crystal tree that he and Starswirl had made together, although why it got so big and changed locations was a mystery to Atlas. Apparently gathering crazy amounts of mana in a small space caused more changes than just making it bigger, as was the case with the original elements, he’d definitely have to look into that a lot closer once he had the time to.

Atlas furrowed his brow as he felt something move past the part of the castle he was currently scanning. He redoubled his efforts, putting more and more mana into his spell, causing his horn to once again light up like a urban, white neighbourhood on christmas. Twilight and the others respectfully moved back a few steps, as they had no idea what he was doing exactly, but seeing as the whole castle was slowly starting to glow a little, two of them could make an educated guess while the third one looked confused.

Bit by bit, the whole castle was scanned by Atlas, and what he found would shock anypony! Although faint, he could feel runes moving about inside the walls. Runes he had carved himself over a thousand years ago.

It would seem like the castle was actually the original tree of harmony, although something caused it change rather drastically. It almost felt as if it had a will of its own, it felt… alive. What cemented this belief was that the castle was actually starting to react to Atlas’ spell, sending faint pulses of mana his way and redirecting his attention to a very specific part of the castle, namely the roots.

Once he focused his efforts towards what lurked below the ground, he felt the response of six, rather unique magical energies. A smile appeared on his face as he recognized the elements of harmony, safely tucked away in between the roots of the castle. It would appear Twilight had misunderstood a few things, and the elements were still here after all.

Just to make sure, Atlas scanned each of the elements in turn, curious to see in what ways they had changed. If the tree was anything to go by, it wouldn’t be strange to find them changed as well. Contrary to his theory, they seemed to be just about the same size as when he made them, although their form had changed slightly. If Twilights recollection was anything to go by, they changed form to resemble their wielders cutie marks.

Even though their physical change was negligible, what was inside them definitely wasn’t. Even more than the castle, the elements seemed almost alive. Every element seemed to recognize Atlas’ magical signature and they responded to his presence by sending magical pulses his way, the separate pulses having a vastly different feeling they wanted to convey.

It would seem that the elements hadn’t just matched their wielders cutie marks, apparently they also matched their personalities. One of the pulses seemed really happy and bubbly, while another was more refined and controlled, and the others similarly resembled the mane six’s personality.

As if to show off what they could do, the elements, once again, directed his attention elsewhere. A link went out from every element, connecting to various points within Ponyville, two of them standing very close to him. He followed the link towards what he assumed was Twilight and could briefly feel her emotions.

Wonder, astonishment, curiosity and respect all flowed back to Atlas through the link, before a slight shock went through the link. Apparently Twilight had felt the invasion of herself but didn’t know what exactly was happening, as confusion followed shortly after. Atlas chuckled and cut their connection.

The elements weren’t done yet though and Atlas could feel his attention being drawn towards the top of the castle. Now that he knew what to look for, he could feel the the whole castle was giving off a magical aura that was intermingling with the natural mana of Equestria. It mixed itself in and constantly sent pieces of itself all across Equestria, forming a connection with the whole country. When Atlas tapped into this connection, he took a step back with a short yelp, his closed eyes shooting open in surprise.

“Father?” Luna asked startled. “What happened?”

Atlas simply stood there, staring at the wall in front of him in amazement. It was only for a split-second, but he very clearly felt connected to every pony in Equestria, which assaulted his brain with sensory overload due to the many emotions flowing back into him. Atlas blinked a few times to re-adjust himself to not being a few million ponies at once, while the others were growing antsy and worry. Luna was just about to ask again when Atlas spoke up.

“This is fucking amazing!” Atlas almost-shouted. “This castle of yours is the most magically astounding thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life!”

“What?” Twilight asked with wide eyes.

“Have you not run any scans on it yet?” Atlas asked, semi-disappointed with the complete lack of excitement from his companions.

“I’m afraid I haven’t had the time yet,” Twilight responded matter-of-factly. “We departed for Canterlot the same day that the castle appeared here…”

“Oh…” Atlas said, his excitement sufficiently dampened. “Well, just know that this isn’t any old castle… I might even be able to use it for my array in some fashion… I would need to adjust a few things here and there and run some more scans…”

“Uhhh… Is he okay?” Rainbow asked. “He’s kinda starting to look like you when you had your smarty-pants incident,” she added towards Twilight, causing her to blush in embarrassment.

“I’m sure he’s just fine,” Luna said with a roll of her eyes. “He must have found out something rather amazing. He only gets like this when he has an epiphany of sorts. Father! Father!” Luna tried to get Atlas’ attention in vain, so she stepped up to him and lightly tapped his horn, causing him to flinch back.

“Hey! What gives?” Atlas asked undignified.

“I’m sure whatever you just found out is mind-bogglingly amazing, but why don’t tell us what you found over a nice meal? We were going to eat, do you remember?” Luna replied.

“Oh, yeah… that,” Atlas said sheepishly. “Sure, almost forgot about that.”

“Yes, you always did have a bad habit of skipping meals when you were neck deep in your research,” Luna said, turning around to once again head after Twilight towards the dining hall.

“He’s starting to feel more and more like a male you,” Rainbow jabbed at Twilight, whispering so Luna and Atlas couldn’t hear.

“Does not!” Twilight shot back with a hiss.

“Does too!” Rainbow Dash guffawed, taking to the air to avoid Twilight’s playful jab.

“Oh yeah, the elements are below the castle by the way,” Atlas casually said as they arrived at the door to the dining room.

“They’re what!?” Twilight squawked, spinning around to face him.

“Yeah, they’re just chilling down there,” Atlas said. “And they will remain there until I say otherwise. Don’t need you digging them up for no good reason,” he added, suddenly a lot more serious.

“I wouldn’t just go and dig them up like that!” Twilight replied back.

“Well, the last time I told somepony not to touch them unless completely necessary, they started fucking loaning them out like it was going out of style!” Atlas countered. “Can’t blame a man for making sure, can you?”

Twilight wanted to reply, but found here words failing her. After a few seconds of having an impromptu stare-off with Atlas she let out a huge sigh.

“I still wouldn’t have…” Twilight grumbled to herself while turning around again, opening the door with her magic and walking inside, closely followed by everypony else.

“Well, whether you would or wouldn’t have doesn’t really matter right now,” Atlas said with a confused face. “We’ve got lots to discuss and no time to lose. Also, why is it so god-damn dark in here? Could somebody turn on the lights?”

“SURPRISE!”

The lights turned on at his request, revealing a shit-ton of ponies present in the rather large dining hall they’d entered. Confetti was falling towards the ground, most likely having been fired from the blue cannon in the corner to his left. In the front of the mob, which almost certainly consisted of at least half of Ponyville, stood the pink menace herself, Pinkie Pie. Her hooves were thrown up into the air and a shit-eating grin was decorating her face, making it not hard to guess who was behind this “little” get-together.

“Ahhh, Fuck!” Atlas muttered to himself.

Author's Note

Once again, thanks to my editors ScootalooFTW and Alcatraz, as well as my proofreader Soren Mercer.

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song.

Come join us in the Discord channel! Lonk

Or the official Divine Entertainment group! Divine Universe

7. Pinkie Party

Atlas had lived for a great many years, and had encountered a wide variety of ponies. Each of them unique as can be, yet no matter what, common sense applied for each and every one of them. He knew he had specifically asked Pinkie not to throw him a party, at least not in the near future, but here they were. Pinkie stood before him, hooves reaching towards the air in her signature “SURPRISE” pose as confetti settled on his mane.

Atlas couldn’t do much else aside from blinking like an idiot as his brain came to a full stop as it attempted to reboot. One second he was reeling in his new discovery, which renewed his hope of actually being able to pull this gargantuan task off, eager to tell his new companions, and the other, bam, party.

Of course, he was used to shenanigans like this from living with Discord, but now that he currently wasn’t around, Atlas had lowered his guard. There was only really one course of action that he could take right at this moment.

“What?” Atlas asked owlishly towards the smiling Pinkie.

“Surprise!” Pinkie repeated with almost as much gusto as the first time. “Did we surprise you? Did we? Did we?”

“Umm… yes… yes, you did,” Atlas said much to Pinkie’s happiness. “Say, Pinkie, could I maybe have a word with you? In private?”

“Of course!” Pinkie said oblivious to Atlas’ awkward mood. “Everypony, now that our guest of honor is here, we can start this party for real!”

The crowd behind Pinkie erupted into cheers and activity as they started doing what ponies do while attending a party. Atlas companions awkwardly shuffled past Pinkie and him, Twilight and Rainbow shooting their friend a concerned glance, but going to mingle with everypony else anyway.

Meanwhile, Atlas lead Pinkie to a somewhat secluded part of the room, right next to where the pink menace’s party cannon was located. Atlas closed his eyes and took a moment to gather his thoughts, and when he opened them up again, Pinkie’s cannon had mysteriously disappeared. Momentarily thrown off course, yet again, Atlas just looked at Pinkie, dumbfounded.

“Well then, Pinkie” Atlas said after a moment. “I do recall having requested no parties being thrown in the near future, and especially not today…”

“You sure did!” Pinkie replied, much to Atlas’ dismay.

“So can you explain to me, just why exactly there is a rather big welcome party being thrown for me?” Atlas asked slowly.

“Of course!” Pinkie said enthusiastically. “After you told me to not throw you a party, I went home, already planning for when I’d finally be able to throw you one. It obviously had to be a surprise party, and then it hit me! The moment when you’d least expect it, and therefore the surprise would the most effective, would be tonight!”

Atlas magically pinched the bridge of his muzzle and closed his eyes for a second. While it pained him to admit it, Pinkie had a point in her reasoning. Yet, it still didn’t change the fact that he had asked her not to, since this was a rather crucial time. He thought about how to resolve this situation without anybody crying, and opened his eyes back up, once he thought of something.

“Pinkie, look, here’s what we’re going to do,” Atlas said to Pinkie, which had come uncomfortably close when he had closed his eyes. “You deliberately ignored my personal wish, which technically puts you on my shitlist,” Pinkie took a step back, her smile shrinking just a tad. “But I know that you throwing me a party was an unavoidable event from the beginning. I’m sure your desire would have eventually pent up and then released itself into something even more inopportune. Therefore, I’m willing to look past all of this and partake in the festivities, just for tonight.”

“Ohhh! That’s super duper nice of you, Atlas!” Pinkie responded, the smile returning with full force.

“BUT!” Atlas stopped Pinkie in her tracks by holding up a hoof. “I really won’t be able to waste any more time after this. Today at the train station, I asked you nicely, but this time, I will need an absolute promise from you, you understand? No more parties until this whole thing is over and done with.”

“I… I understand…” Pinkie replied, although somewhat saddened. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. I promise to not throw you any more parties until you’ve done what you need to do…”

“Thank you Pinkie,” Atlas said with a relieved sigh. “Now, I believe there is a party underway in my honor. Pinkie, would you please guide me through the festivities?”

Atlas made a feeble attempt at rescuing the mood that was developing between the two, doing his best to sound excited about what was about to happen. Truth be told, he really didn’t want to be here, yet, he had spent the past fifteen-hundred years in seclusion, living off rather shoddy food, even if he ate anything at all. Maybe a little party, with tons of actual, edible food would be a nice change of pace.

Even if his attempt at changing the topic had been rather poor, it was enough to get the pinkster going again. Before Atlas even knew what happened, he was dragged along by Pinkie and straight into the crowd of ponies, which were introduced to him at mach speed.

“Well… that was...something…” Atlas stammered as the duo emerged from the throng of ponies on the other side of the room.

“Yes! Isn’t it amazing?” Pinkie asked happily hopping in place a little. “So many ponies came here just to meet you!”

“I’d bet a few of them are here because of the food,” Atlas said with a raised eyebrow, pointing behind him with his hoof to prove his point. A turquoise unicorn was currently piling up food on a comically small plate. It was actually rather impressive just how much food she was able to stack, though Atlas suspected magic to be a supporting force to the precariously tilted tower of diabetes.

“Classic Lyra,” Pinkie said with a goofy smile. “Anyway! Moving on! How about some party games? I’ve prepared lot’s of ‘em just for you! Or would you rather like to dance for a bit, or mingle? Or maybe you’d like hold a speech? Ooohh, a speech right now would be amazing!”

“Pinkie!” Atlas interrupted the pink menace before she could be carried away even more. “I think I’d actually like to eat something as well. I haven’t eaten anything decent in a millennium and a half,” he finished lamely.

“Silly Atlas, you’ve eaten something just yesterday, at the castle,” Pinkie scrunched her muzzle. “Did you already forget?”

“Of course I didn’t,” Atlas said with a roll of his eyes. “But Celestia’s cooks are too fancy. I need something real to eat, something hearty.”

“I might not have what you’re looking for…” Pinkie said with a slight frown. “But I sure have a humongous array of baked goods for you to try!”

“I’ll settle for that as well.” Atlas turned and let himself be lead towards the buffet, which, true to Pinkies word, displayed every conceivable combination of flour, butter and sugar. He listened with mild interest as Pinkie rattered off the names of everything that was spread out before them, finding that he already knew most of the things that were available. Sure, baked goods had evolved during the last thousand years, but for some reason most things that were invented during his absence greatly resembled things from earth.

All of a sudden Pinkies head snapped to the other side of the room, and she started to have slight spasms all over her body. “I need to go… My people need me!”

With those words, Pinkie dashed off to god knows where and left Atlas standing alone in front of a mountain of diabetes. He shook his head in slight amusement and started piling a few things that seemed interesting on a small plate before going off to a nearby table to eat. He took the momentary break to ponywatch.

As he munched on a raspberry-chocolate cupcake, he watched the residents of ponyville thoroughly enjoy themselves at “his” party. They didn’t know that the world as they knew it was potentially coming to an end, and in Atlas opinion that was good. Everybody who knew about it had a stressful few weeks ahead of them, and keeping the details a secret as to why they needed literally everypony’s help would be hard, if not impossible. Preferably the general population would never learn of the true purpose of what was to come, but if they found out, it couldn’t be helped.

“What are you thinking about?” Luna asked, having appeared next to Atlas with her own small plate of tooth cavity wannabes.

“Nothing that I should say out loud,” Atlas sighed. “You never know who would listen in on us, especially in a crowded party like this.”

“I’m sure everypony is too distracted to pay us much mind,” Luna snickered. “Ponies are a lot nicer than they were when you left, Atlas. I don’t think anybody here would just eavesdrop on their princess and the guest of honor at his own party.”

“Oh yeah?” Atlas asked, upon which Luna nodded her head. “Then, what about the three fillies currently hiding under our table?”

“Huh?” Luna looked perplexed as Atlas pulled up the sheets covering the table, revealing a trio of fillies with sheepish smiles on their face. “The Cutie Mark crusaders… Of course.”

“Hello Princess Luna,” the trio intoned at the same time while shuffling out from under the table. “How nice to meet you here,” a white unicorn filly answered. If Atlas remembered correctly, Pinkie introduced them earlier as Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, three names that stood in his notebook as well.

“Care to explain what you were doing under the table?” Luna asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, thing is…” Apple Bloom started to explain. “This whole party is for a new pony called Atlas and he seems to be somepony important, so we just wanted to check him out…”

“And you thought the best way to do so was hiding under a table and listening to his conversations?” Luna asked flabbergasted.

“We thought we might get our spy cutie marks this way…” Scootaloo mumbled while digging at the floor with her hoof. “We’re sorry,” the crusaders said at the same time.

“I think you should probably apologize to Atlas, not to me,” Luna reprimanded them.

The trio suddenly seemed to realize that Atlas was present as well, the princess apparently having made them forget all about him. They turned around in shock to face him and started furiously apologizing for various things. Atlas had some trouble picking everything up that they said since they were all talking at the same time, so he held up a hoof to get them to stop.

“I understand that you were curious, and in the end there was no harm done,” Atlas put his hoof back down. “But next time, just come ask if you want to know something.”

“We’re really sorry Mr. Atlas,” Sweetie Belle said with a downcast head. “But how did you even know we were under the table? We were so sure to have been hidden perfectly.”

Atlas blinked a few times, taken aback by the unexpected question. “Well, there are certain spells that allow a unicorn to sense the presence of nearby ponies,” he explained. “I knew you were under there before I even walked up to this table.”

“If you knew they were here,” Luna interjected, “Why’d you come to this table then?”

“I was curious as to why three fillies were hiding under a table instead of enjoying this party,” Atlas said with a raised eyebrow. “As fillies are supposed to do at that age.”

The three fillies cringed away from the pointed look Atlas gave them. “We… uhh… should probably go and do that now…” Applebloom stammered. The other two vehemently nodded their consent shortly before they made a run for it with another apology staying in their wake.

“They’re so innocent,” Atlas stated while looking as the trio went back to mingling with the masses.

“I think the whole town would agree if I said that you could hardly call these three innocent,” Luna chuckled. “As I’ve been told, they’re responsible for quite a bit of property damage around here.”

“Cutie Mark hunting?” Atlas asked, which Luna confirmed. “Still, they’re still ignorant to the troubles of grown-ups, which allows them to search for their purpose in such a carefree manner. Compared to someone like me…”

“Well, compared to you, everypony’s innocent, even the most hardy of criminals,” Luna said in jest.

“Ouch,” Atlas cringed.

“You did plunge Equestria into an era of chaos,” Luna pressed further.

“Hey, it got better, didn’t it?” Atlas smiled. “Also, could you stop roasting your father at his own party?”

“My dearest father doesn’t seem to enjoy his party all that much,” Luna said off-handedly.

“Well, it did come at a somewhat inopportune time,” Atlas sighed. “I’m sure you can agree?”

“I most certainly can,” Luna said, watching Pinkie Pie as she cheered ponies on while they played pin the tail on the pony. “Yet, it is a very kind gesture. I’m sure Pinkie just wants to help in her own way. You are incredibly tense, and she probably just wanted to lighten the mood a bit before we all plunge ourselves into our respective tasks during the next few weeks.”

“I suppose you’re right…” Atlas replied, also watching the pink pony across the room. “I do believe just one night of revelry wouldn’t hurt…” he added after a moment of thinking. “I can still vaguely remember a time before all of this mess… a time where I probably would’ve started on fixing all this mess on the day before the deadline…”

“I can hardly imagine you being like that,” Luna snorted. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you as tardy as you describe yourself.”

“Well, I once was,” Atlas said with a forlorn look in his eyes. “Before all this mess started.”

Luna looked at her father as he stared into the distance, at something far beyond the confines of the room they were in and a twinge of pain resonated within her heart. Atlas was shouldering such a big burden on his own, and had done so for far too long. It was time that he opened himself up to the help of others.

“Come now, don’t get all depressed, you’re too old for that,” Luna jested. “This is a party, and you’re going to enjoy it,” she added with finality before magically grabbing Atlas by the neck and dragging towards the nearest social game. “You can worry about saving the world tomorrow.”

“But mooooom!” Atlas whined while letting his whole body go limp. He put up a childish resistance, but a smile formed on his face nonetheless. “I suppose I did earn myself a small break…” he muttered as he was being dragged along.

Author's Note

Ohhh! Two months in kitchen hell can give you such a crick in the neck!

Yes, you're seeing this right, I'm back. Didya miss me? It was a long two months, but I pushed through and now that I have more time on my hands than I know what to do with(wow TWO days off in ONE week? Madness I tell you!), I'm back to writing about Atlas' silly little adventure. Expect regular updates to resume, as we hurtle towards the end of the trilogy at full speed.

Once again, thanks to my editors ScootalooFTW and Alcatraz, as well as my proofreader Soren Mercer.

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song. Who else is Hyped up?

Come join us in the Discord channel! Lonk

Or the official Divine Entertainment group! Divine Universe

9. Shock And Awe

Hyas was lying in wait at his designated spot, behind him were the lesser gods that made up his squad. From their position, they had the perfect view of the party that was still going strong. Large party tables had been set down in one of Olympus’ many gardens, so the gods were surrounded by beautiful flora as they drank enough wine to kill the entire population of Earth several times over, all of it supplied by Dionysus.

The sound of revelry reached them easily, the noise being more than enough to mask their own hushed conversations.

“Will we even be able to hear the signal like this?” Eros asked while looking down at the party with disgust. “They are incredibly noisy.”

“I’m sure we will,” Hyas replied, keeping track of the major threats among the party-goers. “Hades will make sure of it.”

Satisfied with the answer he received, yet still nervous, Eros continued to survey the situation down below. Zeus was currently the furthest away from them, sitting at the seat of honor. He clearly was enjoying the festivities the most out of all attending gods, his booming laughter reaching even Hyas ears, even though they had to be at least six-hundred feet apart.

Hades was no doubt already in position right next to his victim, his helmet allowing him to stay completely undetected. Hyas could feel the time of attack growing closer, so he drew his bow from his back to give it a final once over. It had been crafted from the finest elm trees that grew in the underworld, which Hyas had then completely plastered with runes to enhance its strength and effectiveness against even the most resistant gods. The arrows resting in his quiver had received similar treatment, although their purpose was slightly different. Their effect would stun every god he’d hit with them, completely taking them out of the fight.

Hyas furrowed his brows, as he could feel the atmosphere change slightly. The party remained unchanged, but he could almost feel the anticipation in the air. Slowly, he drew a single arrow out of his quiver and loosely readied it against his bow.

“Get ready,” Hyas said, every muscle in his body tightening.

Behind him the other gods finished their own respective preparations. Shock and Awe was the core of their battle plan, so once the horn sounded they had to react immediately. The more gods they could take out before the enemy realized what was happening, the easier the fight would become. They waited in tense silence, until they could hear a horn being blown in the distance. It was barely perceivable, but even if they hadn’t heard it, the fact that Zeus’s throne literally exploded, sending the god flying away from the party, would have surely clued them in.

Similarly, Hyas and his squad exploded into action, bursting out from the foliage they were hiding in just moments ago. The partying gods hadn’t even had time to react to Zeus’ sudden exit, when Hyas arrow already hit his first target square in the shoulder. The god seized up completely and fell off the bench he was sitting on, garnering confused looks from the gods close to him.

Three gods had already fallen to Hyas’ well placed arrows when the first confused shouts and screams could be heard. The three squads of Hades’ faction had all attacked attacked at the same time from different locations, leaving gods paralyzed, or in some cases, gravely injured wherever they ploughed through. Their goal wasn’t to kill, as even the death of a minor god could have huge ramifications on the mortal realm, so they tried to incapacitate them wherever possible.

With the exception of Zeus, of course.

Hyas’ squad slowly fanned out from each other, so as not to be in each others way and to cover more ground. These first few moments of battle were crucial for them, so they had to raise the bodycount as high as possible. Hyas arms and legs moved without pause, the shooting of his arrows seemingly mechanical, every shot a hit.

It didn’t take long for the enemy faction to come to their still inebriated senses. The first few gods were starting to put up a fight as the reality of the situation started to sink in, although the fact that they were all extremely drunk worked against their favor. Most of their resistance was thus futile, and they joined the others on the ground, unable to move, forced to watch and listen to the carnage around them.

In his battle induced trance, Hyas shot at every god that moved and immediately moved on before even confirming whether or not his arrow had hit. A flash of bright red hair caught his attention, an arrow was fired, Hyas moved on. Or at least he would have, but shortly after having shot his arrow, a metallic clang reached his ears. Refocusing on his last target he recognized his mistake.

“Hyas!” Hephaestus, the god of fire and metalworking, shouted angrily. “Traitor!”

“Yeah, what he said!” Hestia, the goddess of the hearth, home and fire, meekly hid behind the towering Hephaestus.

The sight of Hestia hiding behind the hulking form of Hephaestus almost made Hyas laugh. Although Hestia usually kept to herself and appeared rather weak, Hyas knew she could handle herself in a fight… if she had to.

“I’m just doing what I have to, Hephaestus!” Hyas called back. “You were offered to join us, a long time ago, but due to your stubbornness, it would appear that we are on different sides today.”

“You have all gone mad! Hades has clouded your judgement with his sweet words!” Hephaestus said, brandishing the two smithing hammers he always carried with him. “Stop this madness!”

“On the contrary,” Hyas got into a fighting stance himself. “I do believe the ones with clouded judgement are all of you.”

A quick brush over his quiver revealed that there were just three arrows left before Hyas would need to switch to the daggers he had prepared, currently dangling from his belt. Just three chances to hit his adversary, who was well versed in the art of combat, and didn’t seem to be bothered by the alcohol in his system at all.

“Maximum effort…” Hyas mumbled under his breath, before reaching for his first arrow with a speed that only came to him after millenia of training.

The arrow was aimed at Hephaestus’ left leg, but Hyas had no doubt in his mind that it would get blocked. It’s purpose was merely to start the battle and keep his adversary busy, even if just for a second. Their matchup was a classic of speed versus strength, and Hyas planned to use every advantage his speed could get him.

When the his arrow was deflected with a loud clang, Hyas had already closed the distance between them, had drawn his dagger with his left hand and was aiming to strike at the arm that was busy defending from his arrow. Yet, although Hephaestus’ hammers were incredibly heavy, he was able to use them as if they weighed nearly nothing. As such, Hyas’ blade met with steel, instead of skin.

Already seeing the second hammer coming for his head, Hyas somersaulted backwards, sheathing his dagger midflip and exchanging it for another arrow. Immediately after landing on the table behind him, he nocked the arrow, aimed and let loose.

Hephaestus noticed the strange trajectory of the arrow, as it would have completely missed him where he stood. Thinking fast, he moved to impercept it anyway. Once again, the sound of metal clashing against metal resounded. He spared a glance at the cowering Hestia, which he had just saved, his anger boiling up even more.

“Hey, leave her out of…” Hephaestus turned back to face Hyas, angrily shouting out his feelings, realizing his mistake too late.

The first rule of combat was to never lose sight of your enemy, and for breaking it, Hephaestus had to pay the price now. Hyas had already closed the distance between them once again, and only instinct saved Hephaestus from getting stabbed. He raised both hammers in a panic, desperately trying to block the incoming strike. He barely succeeded, but the blow was enough to disturb his already unstable stance, causing him to fall backwards on his ass, his two hammers following after him and cracking the ground where they fell.

Panic filled his eyes when he looked up, only to see Hyas standing above him, arrow already drawn and aimed at him. In a desperate last ditch effort, Hephaestus went for a leg sweep, managing to throw Hyas off balance and miss his shot. The arrow struck the ground, inches away from Hephaestus’ arm, but this time he didn’t dare take his eyes off Hyas who fell to the ground.

Not intending to miss this opportunity, Hephaestus took hold of his hammers again and shot back up to his feet. Hyas was about to get up, when Hephaestus firmly planted his foot into Hyas’ back, pinning him to the ground.

“You really shouldn’t have done that,” Hephaestus said, his heart beating a mile a minute. “You know, Zeus permitted us to kill all the traitors… I didn’t feel like it was necessary at first… but you guys… you guys just make me so mad! You barely have any forces and still hope to achieve victory over us? And then you even have the gall to challenge me to a one on one? You’re not made to fight Hyas, and you had no hope of winning from the start!”

“Who said it was a one on one?” Hyas said with a dry chuckle.

“Huh?” Hephaestus could feel his anger ebb away, as the sensation of something stabbing his back took over his senses.

Slowly, Hephaestus turned his head to look what happened, just to see Hestia stand behind him with a triumphant smile. The arrow that had missed him earlier was now firmly planted in his back, it’s magical properties already denying him access to his most basic motor functions. He collapsed slowly, a betrayed look in his eyes, while Hestia guided his fall, making sure he wouldn’t fall on the arrow and push it in deeper.

“Thanks,” Hyas said as he got back up from his prone position, stretching a bit to relax his sore back. “You really came in clutch there.”

“It’s no problem, really,” Hestia said, shooting a look of pity at the motionless Hephaestus. “If there was ever a time to drop the act, this was it. He thought I was on Zeus’ side right to the very end and got cocky.”

“Seeing how you’re treated most of the time, anybody with two working brain cells should be able to realize that you’d betray them at the first chance you get…” Hyas said while collecting the arrows he used earlier from the ground.

“It’ll all be over after today,” Hestia looked at the fighting all around them. “Let’s just hope they’ll be able to adapt to Zeus’s absence.”

“Don’t say stuff like that, wouldn’t want to jinx it,” Hyas commented. “After all, Zeus is still alive, and until that changes, things will stay the same. His death will be the pebble that’ll eventually cause an avalanche.”

As if to prove a point, the sound of repeated thunder could be heard in the distance. A series of explosions followed shortly after, signaling that Zeus and Hades had properly began fighting as well.

“Looks like we’re growing short on time,” Hyas said as he watched the flashes in the distance. “You need any weapons?”

“I got some,” Hestia procured a small knife out of one of her pockets. “You know I don’t plan to stick around, so I don’t need much. I gotta go back to protect the flame, wouldn’t want any of these idiots getting any stupid ideas, after all.”

“Alright, best of luck to you,” Hyas gave a firm nod towards Hestia.

“You too,” Hestia replied.

Shortly after, Hestia sprinted off in the direction of the Olympus’ sacred flame, which was her assigned charge. Similarly, Hyas scanned the garden turned battlefield for any places that needed his help. Their tactic seemed to have worked, as seemingly most of the Zeus’ faction was paralyzed on the floor, or if not, otherwise incapacitated. Not seeing anybody of his squad really struggling with subduing their foes. Hyas took off in a random direction, helping anybody he came across.

For now, he focused on using his daggers, since he wanted to conserve his last three arrows for when he really needed them. He mowed down gods left and right, always keeping an eye out for any major threats. He made his way past a group of seemingly passed out gods when suddenly a fist came out of nowhere and smashed him square in the face, causing him to violently get thrown on the ground.

A small scream escaped Hyas at the unexpected pain, but even still, he forced his body to move, so as not to present an easy target for whoever assaulted him. He rolled backwards and got back on his feet in one swift motion, rubbing his nose in a futile try to alleviate some of the pain.

Eyes aimed forward he searched for who could’ve done this to him, but it appeared like there was no one even remotely close to his location. He turned around a few time, just to make sure no one was hiding behind him, but the result stayed the same… until he heard a hiccup behind him.

Hyas turned around to come face to face with Dionysus, who was currently struggling to stand up. He was swaying something fierce, obviously way too drunk to even think about standing straight. Hyas clicked his tongue in annoyance, the drunkard must have gotten in a lucky shot.

“I don’t have time to entertain a drunk, Dionysus,” Hyas said, his patience wearing thin. “Get out of my way.”

Dionysus, in turn, simply swayed on the spot, his eyes closing for a prolonged amount of time every few second. He seemed to at least make an effort of trying to recognize who stood before him, but failed spectacularly. Seeing as there was no point in talking to the god of wine, Hyas waited for when his enemies eyes closed again before dashing at him, intent on just grazing him with his enchanted daggers.

He aimed at Dionysus cheek and swung with practiced ease, only to lose his balance as he struck nothing but air. Before he could react in any way, he felt an extreme force connect with the side of his rib cage, causing him to exhale sharply and fall to the ground once more.

Dionysus just stood there, unstable as he was on his feet. No follow up attack came, as Hyas took his time to get back up and dust himself off. “Oh now you’ve done it…”

Hyas once again charged at Dionysus, but this time aimed straight for the chest. His attack connected and Dionysus fell backwards with a satisfying thump.

“Finally,” Hyas said, checking his dagger for any blood which he’d need to clean up before moving on.

Satisfied to find none had stuck to it, he scanned the battlefield once more. The fight was calming down, as only a few of Zeus’ supporters remained standing, and by now Hades group had the advantage in numbers. Just as he was about to take a step forward, his foot caught onto something, followed by a godly faceplant into one of the wine pitchers that was on the table he crashed into.

Cursing, Hyas tried cleaning off the wine as well as he could, but there was no doubt that this was gonna stain. Annoyed he turned around to see what he got hung up on, only to find Dionysus smiling at him from the ground, a mischievous smile on his face.

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me!” Hyas exclaimed. “You only acted like I hit you, didn’t you?”

Dionysus didn’t answer, but instead started spinning on the ground like he was breakdancing for a moment. Surprised by the nimbleness the drunk god displayed, Hyas didn’t react fast enough, as Dionysus launched himself off the ground, in a mocking variant of a dropkick. As he could do little more than to watch as two feet came straight for his face, Hyas realized that this fight wasn’t going to be as easy as he thought it would.

And then he got kicked in the face.

Author's Note

Another chapter with our good friends, the gods. Things are heating up on their side as well.

Once again, thanks to my editor ScootalooFTW, as well as my proofreader Soren Mercer.

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song.

Come join us in the Discord channel! Lonk

Or the official Divine Entertainment group! Divine Universe

10. Setting Up Shop

Atlas was cooped up in the room Twilight had provided for him. After setting a few things in motion and discussing a few of Twilight's questions, he had thrown himself headfirst into his work. Hundreds of years of training made his work process almost flawless, several quills writing down different things on their respective scrolls. Most of the groundwork had been done by him before when he made the array the first time, so now all he had to do was adjust it to fit the different method of execution.

Aside from integrating a mana relay, that would siphon the mana from Equestria’s citizens and deliver it to the central array in ponyville, he had to split and fuse his earlier design, as he was now using flat surfaces instead of perfectly shaped caves for his arrays.

He wasn’t sure how long he had spent working, since due to his incredible focus on his task, there was little time to question trivial things, like how hungry he was or how much time had passed.

“Atlas!”

Atlas flinched as someone shouted into his ear at full volume. Everything that was held in his magic clattered to the floor as he momentarily lost control, whirling around to face the assailant of his fluffy hearing organs. His field of view was filled with blue, as he came face to face with an uncomfortably close Luna. She seemed annoyed for some reason, her current mood obvious to read from her facial expression.

“Jeez Luna, could you not do that? Daddy’s working on something really important right now…” Atlas said, glad that he wasn’t being attacked.

“I tried calling out to you normally several times,” Luna said while Atlas picked up his notes in his magic and checking if he accidentally made a mistake because of the shock he received. “Yet, you were so absorbed into your work that I had to take some rather drastic methods to get your attention.”

“I was?” Atlas said with a raised eyebrow. “Sorry about that. Writing on four different scrolls without making mistakes tends to put a lot of stress on the mind, and unless I shut out anything unnecessary, I won’t be able to do it.”

“Yes, yes, very impressive,” Luna rolled her eyes. “But you’ve been in here for three days now and Twilight is growing worried.”

“Oh, has it been so long already?” Atlas set down the freshly checked and stacked scrolls on the large desk he was working with. “I should probably eat something soon.”

“Or sleep, for that matter,” Luna mentioned.

“There are spells for that,” Atlas said smugly. “How come Twilight’s worried about me? I heard she’s a bit of a bookworm herself and known to go on binges just like this.”

“Yes, she indeed does similar things, but when she does, she still takes some breaks to eat and sleep, and isn’t totally apathetic to other ponies entering her chambers, or their attempts to talk,” Luna explained, ripping open the closed blinds in the room. “Spike has also been bringing you food, all of which was completely untouched.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll apologize to them, and explain properly about my needs,” Atlas relented. “But I seriously doubt that’s all you’re here for. What’s up? Are there any news?”

“Everything is going according to schedule,” Luna nodded. “The ponies around Equestria are being informed of the situation, and most of them are more than willing to help.”

“Most of them?” Atlas asked with a raised eyebrow.

“There might or not be some crazy conspiracy ponies who are saying that we’re actually trying to destroy everything, but I’m proud to say that the trust of our ponies is strong enough that they put little faith in their claims,” Luna replied. “But that’s not why I’m here either.”

“What is it then?”

“Well, since you said that you’ll have to level the site for the array, I had to make an appointment with the Ponyville mayor. You’ll have to do your fancy large-scale spells today, or there might arise a few problems,” Luna finally revealed.

“You had to make an appointment for this?” Atlas asked with disbelief. “I can’t believe that we have to make appointments to save the world…”

“The problem is the citizens of Ponyville,” Luna explained. “They are a rather skittish bunch, and if large-scale spells are cast within their village without prior warning, there might be a panic. That’s why I came to an agreement with Mayor Mare that you’d do your spells today. This way the common folk can be informed of what’s to come, therefore minimizing the chance of ponies freaking out.”

Atlas sighed deeply before walking over to the door. “Alright, I get it. I wouldn’t say I’m far enough with my designs yet to start doing anything physical, but I guess if it’s just leveling the array site there shouldn’t be much of an issue. Just as a heads up though, since I found out that the elements are still intact and in fact right under our noses, I had to adjust the size of the array. It’ll be a bit bigger than what I marked on the first day.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem, we’ll just have to tell them to stand a bit further back,” Luna replied matter-of-factly.

“Wait a minute,” Atlas paused halfway through the door. “What do you mean?”

“Well, after the announcement was made, a lot of ponies expressed their desire to come and watch such a grand spectacle,” Luna smiled sheepishly. “I’m afraid there will be quite a crowd waiting for you.”

“Are you actually serious?” Atlas made a face as if he just bit into a lemon. “Please tell me you’re not.”

“I’m as serious as I can get. I believe a few of them already gathered outside early in the morning to secure themselves a good spot.”

“Fucking hell,” Atlas deadpanned. “I wasn’t really planning on this being a big show of some kind, you know? It should barely take more than two minutes to do this, you know? And it shouldn’t even look very impressive, just a big circle coming down from above and flattening everything. Short and efficient, and most importantly, boring.”

Atlas started walking again, now entering the crystal hallway proper, Luna following close behind. The door shut after them as they started their small trek to the field just behind Twilight's castle. Now that he was paying more attention, he could hear the quiet chatter of ponies floating up to them through the windows, giving even more credibility to Luna's claim.

“Oh come on, all these ponies came out here just to watch,” Luna complained. “Can’t you spruce it up a little? Just a bit? For me?”

“You didn’t promise them some grand spectacle, didn’t you?” Atlas asked, trepidation evident in his voice.

“I might have laid it on a bit thick when I told them about what you were going to do…” Luna said, making it a point to not look at her father. She could feel his eyes boring through her skull, the unspoken accusation lying heavily in the air. “I’m sorry, okay!? I was just so excited that you’re finally back with us and wanted everypony to know how amazing you really were!” Luna finally cracked, and even though she was incredibly old, she felt just like a filly again.

“Oh, Luna…” Atlas sighed. “Alright, I’ll see what I can do.”

“Oh, thank you!” Luna squeed. “This is gonna be so cool!”

“How old were you again?” Atlas asked with a chuckle. “I don’t feel like I’m conversing with an age-old being right now.”

“Hush, don’t act like you’re all that grown-up, you act more like a foal as I do at times,” Luna huffed, making her way down a flight of stairs with her father. They could see the doors leading outside now, where Twilight and Spike were waiting.

“I suppose,” Atlas relented reluctantly. “Before we meet up with the others, please tell me we don’t have to do this at every array location around Equestria? I was planning to have Discord set them up…”

“While Celestia has also set aside certain times for the arrays to be set up, there wasn’t any mention of who it’ll be that will make them. I’m sure it’ll be fine if you leave it to… my brother…” Luna said the last few words as if they were alien to her, her face contorting a bit when she did so.

“Good, I don’t think I have more than one of these performances in me,” Atlas said as he waved towards Twilight. “Gotta conserve my mana and all that jazz, you know?”

“I understand perfectly,” Luna nodded. “I’ll make sure to consult you next time before making a decision like this.”

“As long as you understand,” Atlas smiled, stopping in front of their host. “Good morning Twilight, Spike.”

“And a good morning to you too Atlas,” Twilight beamed, the greeting echoed by Spike. “Is everything ready?”

“I would say we’re still far, far away from being ready,” Atlas said and relished in Twilight's slightly panicked look. “But since I’m only going to prepare the site today, I’d say I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Great!” Twilight said relieved. “I think everypony has already gathered outside and is patiently waiting for you to start. I think they’ve been really looking forward to it.”

“Are you sure that it’s not you that’s looking forward to it the most?” Atlas chuckled. “Judging by what I’ve seen so far from you, I have no doubt that you’ll take enough notes to fill half a library.”

“I’m not that excited…” Twilight said with a blush. “I will take a few notes about the event, though. Could we maybe, if at all possible, go over them at a later point in time? Only if you want, of course.”

Atlas eyed the lavender unicorn for a few seconds, remembering what Luna told him earlier. “I’m sure I’ll be able to find some time,” he eventually said. “Also, I’m sorry for shutting myself in like that for the past few days. I’m not used to having ponies around me, so I just kind of shut everything out in order to concentrate better.”

“Don’t worry about it too much,” Twilight replied. “I know first-hoof how that can be, although you’d do us all a favor if you at least ate something. Spike and I started to worry for a bit there…”

“I’ll make sure to remind myself of that,” Atlas nodded. “Now then, I believe there’s a crowd waiting for us, due to my mischievous daughter…”

“Yes, I’m afraid this has turned into quite the spectacle,” Twilight shook her head. “I do believe I even saw a few food stands, out there, trying to capitalize on the event.”

“Alright, let’s get this done and over with then,” Atlas said, pumping himself up. “I don’t like crowds.”

Atlas magically pushed open the door and stepped outside, Luna, Twilight, and Spike following shortly behind him. As they made their way around the base of the castle, the cacophony of the gathered ponies grew louder and louder. When they finally made it to the other side, Atlas eye began to twitch slightly.

At least a few hundred ponies had come out to see him work his magic, evidently expecting a show like no other. Families had made themselves comfortable on blankets, eating an early lunch in the form of a picnic, while others simply decided to sit down together with their friends. Fillies and colts ran through the masses, playing among the adults and reveling in the excitement everypony was displaying.

Slowly but surely, the first few ponies noticed that Twilight and Luna had appeared and were making their way over towards a secluded spot, a secure distance away from the onlookers. An awed hush laid itself over the gathered ponies, as they patiently waited for something to happen.

“They’re all staring at me…” Atlas mumbled while he kept walking.

“Well, you are the star of the party after all,” Luna chuckled. “Right now you’re even more interesting than I am to them.”

“I wish that wasn’t the case…” Atlas sighed, surveying the area he’d have to work with. “Alright, I’ll set down a new marking first, since the old one is too small. Please make sure that nopony is inside the marking, or they might get hurt… or die…” Atlas muttered the last part to himself before taking a deep breath.

Atlas fired up his horn with purple energy, summoning a small circle before him. He flung the circle up into the air, similar to how one would throw a lasso, yet, the circle just kept on rising, the eyes of everypony glued to the slowly ascending light. About a hundred feet into the air, it suddenly jerked to a stop, before violently expanding with a loud bang. It grew to humongous size in the span of a second, the loud noise startling quite a few ponies.

The circle started to descend slowly, until it touched down on the ground, even going as far as phasing through a few ponies, who giggled at the sensation it evoked. When it touched down on the grass, it burned away the greenery, effectively marking the location with a giant circle of dirt.

“Citizens of Ponyville!” Luna announced with the royal canterlot voice, causing Atlas to cringe away from her. “We must ask that you retreat to behind the line that was just drawn, lest you risk getting injured.”

The ponies happily obliged with their princesses request, while Atlas rubbed his ringing ears. “Damn Luna, why don’t you warn me next time you do that?” His ears continued twitching as he shot Twilight and Spike a dirty look. “Besides, how come those two look completely fine?”

“Deafening spell,” Twilight replied nonchalantly. “I took the liberty of applying it to Spike as well.”

“Yeah, being around Luna can really do a number on your ears…” Spike added.

“And what exactly stopped you from applying it to me as well?” Atlas grunted. “Not exactly one of my most pleasurable experiences so far…”

“I assumed you’d do it on your own,” Twilight looked confused. “With Princess Luna being your daughter, I assumed you were already used to this.”

“Let me be the first one to tell you then…” Atlas turned back to face his soon-to-be array. “Back in the days, Luna didn’t have a habit of randomly shattering nearby ponies eardrums. What’s up with that anyways?”

“There was a time where Tia and I were required to speak like this when addressing nobles,” Luna explained. “It was considered regal. Nowadays we mostly use it to address large crowds. As you can see, it’s most helpful in that regard.”

Luna's statement was accompanied by her pointing towards Ponyville's residents, who, by now, had finished relocating. Even the ponies who were situated all the way in the back had apparently heard her just fine, as now nopony was left inside the marked circle.

“Alright, maybe it’s effective,” Atlas rolled his eyes. “Still, next time, a little warning, please? I’m old enough as is, I don’t need to add being deaf to the ever growing list of old people aches.”

“Nonsense, you’re just as young and fit as you’ve been a thousand years ago,” Luna tutted. “I know you’re not an alicorn, but you don’t age, just like us.”

“Where’s Discord when you need him…” Atlas grumbled. “All my jokes are falling flat…”

Just as he finished his sentence, letters materialized with a tiny explosion of green confetti in front of Atlas. They appeared to be made of cardboard, spelling out the word “Joke”. They hovered in front of him for a second, before falling to the ground, lying flush against the grass.

Atlas blinked a few times, as did everypony else who saw it. “Yeah alright, fuck you too, Discord.”

“Do you think he’s just always watching you, waiting for opportunities like this?” Luna asked, her eyes glued to the letters, almost afraid of the implications.

“Fuck if I know,” Atlas harrumphed back. “I wouldn’t put it behind him, though,” he added with a slight smile. “But that’s neither here nor there, let’s get this show on the road. I have an empty room in the castle that calls for me, and I must heed it by locking myself inside of it.”

Atlas closed his eyes for a moment, visualizing the sequence of spells he’d need to cast before actually doing it. Messing up wouldn’t only make him look unprofessional, but could also endanger innocent ponies at the same time. Satisfied, he nodded once before opening them again. “Alright, I’m about to start, please make sure that nopony disrupts me, or that anypony crosses over the line.”

Luna nodded before taking a few steps back, together with Twilight and Spike. A deep breath later, Atlas horn lit up with a brilliant purple. Twilight squinted her eyes, as she saw a few flickers of pink, red, and orange run along the runes carved on his horn.

At first, nothing seemed to be happening, except for Atlas’ horn to glow brighter and brighter, but then, the first earth ponies noticed that the earth began to shake. The small tremors grew in intensity as the audience started to shoot uncertain glances towards their princesses and the one responsible for the phenomenon.

Just as some ponies started having trouble standing up, cracks started appearing all throughout the marked area. They grew and grew, as something seemed to unearth itself slowly. It became immediately apparent just what it was when the suddenly one of the cracks violently started spewing lava everywhere. With explosions, the other cracks joined in on the spectacle, imitating miniature volcanoes.

Lava globs as big as a ponies head flew straight towards where the audience was, before crashing against a purple shield, erected by Atlas. They fell to the ground, joining the spreading lava until the whole area was covered in a sheet of molten rock.

After overcoming their initial uncertainty, the ponies soaked up the spectacle. They were watching the events unfold with a smile on their face while a few parents had to actively hold back their children from reaching out and touching the burning death right in front of them. Even though they were almost sitting on the force of nature in front of them, they barely felt any heat penetrate through the shield that was protecting them.

In short order, the miniature volcanoes stopped spewing their payload everywhere, but before the ponies could start cheering, Atlas already went to the next step. A low rumble announced the arrival of a single thundercloud at the center of the circle. It rapidly expanded until it couldn’t go any further, seemingly being squished against an invisible barrier.

Contrary to all laws of nature, a single snowflake could be seen falling from the clouds and onto the burning ground. Soon, more and more snow began to fall, and the wind began to pick up. A blizzard was forming right in front of their eyes.

The heat of the lava was fighting with the cold of the blizzard in a violent display of nature. Snowflakes evaporated as soon as they made contact with the ground, but the clouds and the winds didn’t relent, constantly chipping away at the heat. Slowly, the lava that had been roiling and boiling became more sluggish, a few patches already starting to cool down.

The fight continued for a while, but eventually, the lava had to relent to the cold. Crackling could be heard as the once molten rock solidified once more, blackness replacing the reds and yellows that had been predominant up to this point. More and more lava was converted, until the clouds above dispersed, and all that was left in their wake was a giant slab of volcanic rock.

Luna looked at what her father had produced in a never seen before display and furrowed her brows. Atlas had stressed again and again that the surface he needed had to be as flat as possible, and what she was looking at now, was anything but.

Her question was answered when Atlas’ horn switched from glowing a bright purple to a deep red. Shortly after, a shockwave sliced horizontally through the giant slab of stone, emerging from the other side seemingly undisturbed. The top half was then lifted up into the air, before being broken apart into smaller pieces, which Atlas neatly stacked behind them, close to the castle.

What was left behind, was a giant circle of perfectly polished obsidian, it’s shiny black surface reflecting the sun high up above. Another red shockwave spewed forth from Atlas’ horn, this one traveling along the circumference of the circle. All it did was cut the side of the stone at an angle, making the huge stone seem like a pedestal of epic proportions.

Luna squinted and saw that the edge had been rounded, most likely to prevent ponies from cutting themselves. “Well then, was that “epic” enough for you, dearest daughter?” Atlas asked when he turned around.

“It was certainly a sight to see,” Luna nodded. “I believe you’ve proven just how mighty you are. Don’t you think so, Twilight?”

No answer came from the lavender unicorn, prompting Luna to turn her head with a questioning look. Twilight was busy scribbling on a piece of parchment, so absorbed in her task that she probably hadn’t heard the question.

“I do believe that I should tell you all that you need to know,” Atlas said with a raised eyebrow. “Could you do me a favor and tell your citizens that they’re allowed to step on the platform I made? They seem awfully curious, but are holding themselves back for some reason,” he added with a devious smirk.

Luna nodded and turned around once more, seeing that the ponies indeed seemed to be enraptured by the new addition to their town. “Citizens of Ponyville!” A shriek could be heard nearby. “The stone has been deemed safe and you are free to explore it to your heart's content.”

Loud cheers erupted, as ponies spilled out on the platform, the foals being the first before any of the adults could even react. Once again, Luna faced her father with a bemused smile, finding him cackling like a madman. Upon her curious look, he simply pointed over towards Twilight, which had stabbed her quill straight through the parchment she was writing on and was rubbing her ears with a pained look on her face.

“Oh, sweet, sweet revenge!” Atlas called out.

“Ow…” Twilight winced while Spike was behind her snickering into his claws. He had seen it coming and wisely plugged up his ears beforehand.

“Well, I’m sure the purple one has just about a million questions that she wants to ask me,” Atlas calmed down a bit. “But before I do that, would you mind if I took a quick scan of the present populace? This would be a good opportunity to get a rough idea of what I’m working with, mana-wise, considering most of ponyville is present right now.”

“Go right ahead,” Luna gestured towards the masses sprawling over the obsidian slab. “I do hope they won’t be inconvenienced by this?”

“Nah,” Atlas said while firing up his horn and closing his eyes. “Won’t notice a thing.”

Luna couldn’t see it, but she felt a pulse of magic emanating from Atlas, which washed over her before continuing towards the mob. Atlas soaked up the information that his spell sent back to him, mentally recording the rough numbers. All in all, he was rather satisfied, as the amount of present mana equaled more or less what he had used to calculate up until this point.

He was about to cut the spell when two rather… unusual pings returned to him. He tilted his head, confused about what they could be. At first glance, the originators were definitely ponies, but something was… off about them. Their magical signatures seemed oddly familiar, yet appeared like some sort of caricature of what they were supposed to be. He magically attached a tracker on each of the signatures, resolving to investigate once all of this was over.

“Alright, I do believe my calculations are on the right track,” Atlas nodded. “Do you need anything else from me? If not, I’ll retreat back to my work.”

“That would be everything, thank you,” Luna smiled warmly. “What should we do with all that spare rock you stacked up over there, though?” She added, pointing at the offending rocks.

“Sell them,” Atlas smirked. “I heard obsidian is pretty rare and should sell for a pretty penny.”

With these words, Atlas left Luna, Twilight, and Spike alone to their thoughts, as they watched him walk off towards the castle, each with a different kind of awe in their eyes.

Author's Note

This one took a little longer to write. Because, you guessed it, I'm lazy. Updates may be slow in the coming months, because of games. You know? It's the season after all.

Once again, thanks to my proofreader Soren Mercer.

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song.

Come join us in the Discord channel! Lonk

Or the official Divine Entertainment group! Divine Universe

Support me on Patreon!!

11. The Brightest Minds

Atlas, Twilight, Spike, and Princess Luna were enjoying a nice breakfast in one of the castles private dining rooms. Over the past few days, Atlas had been working himself to the bone drawing arrays, crunching numbers, and dealing with minor administrative things such as coordinating the array locations together with Discord. Every now and again he would leave the castle for a few minutes to go set up one of these locations, albeit in a very unexciting and efficient manner.

Despite all of that, he had made it a point to at least show up for breakfast and dinner. Not only to quell Twilight and Luna’s worries, but to grant himself small breaks here and there as well. He knew perfectly well that he had the capabilities to go full steam for a measly three weeks if he wanted to, but recognized that if it came down to it, and his efforts weren’t enough, he’d just have to double down towards the end.

This had the side effect that the others didn’t come to check in on him every few hours and disturb his workflow. All things considered, he probably wasted less time like this.

“I’ve gotten word that the magisters and our archmage have all gathered in Ponyville,” Luna said between bites of sliced bananas. “They say that they are ready to talk, whenever you wish to do so.”

“Already?” Atlas cocked an eyebrow as he loaded his plate with a veritable mountain of pancakes. “I thought they were supposed to show up in three days…”

“Given the circumstances, they seem to have hurried here,” Luna retorted. “Can’t blame ‘em, really.”

“Huh,” Atlas drowned his pancakes with syrup, not really paying attention to what he was doing. “I guess I’ll talk with them later today. The sooner we get this over with, the better. I assume they’re all in the castle?”

“Yes, they should be enjoying their breakfast in the main dining hall,” Twilight chimed in. “Princess Celestia has sent over a few cooks and maids to help out with the increased load. I have to say, it’s interesting to see this place so alive.”

“Agreed,” Spike smiled broadly. “And I have less to do now that they’re here. Can we keep them when the world is saved? Please?”

Twilight shot Spike a conflicted look, seemingly ready to deny his request. “You are a Princess, you do know that, right?” Luna shot her a pointed look. “You’ll have to get some help at some point, not to mention some guards. Besides, leaving everything to Spike seems a bit cruel to me.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Twilight sighed. “I’ll think about it…”

“Make sure you do,” Luna nodded once. “So when do you want me to set up that meeting, father?”

“Well, since they’re here earlier than I expected, I still need to prepare a few things before talking to them,” Atlas rubbed his chin with a hoof. “I guess somewhere around three should be fine.”

“I’ll let them know and come get you when it’s time,” Luna confirmed, reaching for some flakes and milk with her magic.

“Much appreciated,” Atlas said, looking down at his plate and seemingly realizing just then that his crisp and fluffy pancakes had devolved into a sticky mess. “Shit.”

The tables other occupants shared a chuckle at Atlas’ misfortune before their attention was diverted towards Twilight. More specifically, her flank. Her cutie mark was glowing brightly and flashing at a steady interval, reminding Atlas of a smartphone receiving a phone-call. He was considering putting his ear against it and saying “hello”, when Luna disturbed the curious silence.

“Pray tell, does your cutie mark do that often?”

“Uhhh…” Twilight helpfully replied. “No.”

“Have you ever seen something like that, father?” Luna directed the next question towards her father, who was busy trying to un-fuck his breakfast.

“Yes, but no,” Atlas said cryptically. “Don’t worry about it, I’d rather not explain this six times in a row. Just continue eating for now.”

“Is it something serious?” Twilight asked, somewhat worried.

“I guess for you and your friends it would be,” Atlas shrugged. “But more on that later.”

Seeing as none of them would get any more answers out of Atlas, they returned to their regularly scheduled morning sustenance. Everypony aside from Atlas shot curious glances at the flashing cutie mark from time to time, but continued eating while holding somewhat superficial conversations.

“They’re here,” Atlas said looking up from his food, looking towards the door.

Twilight was about to ask what he meant but was rudely interrupted by the door flying open and a pink blur shooting into the room, almost bowling over Spike.

“Good morning everypony!” Pinkie Pie cried out, somehow being seated next to Spike, a plate full of food in front of her. “Great weather today, isn’t it? I made special “great weather Cupcakes” already to celebrate and, oh hey, your cutie mark is doing the thing too!”

“The thing?” Twilight looked down at her still flashing cutie mark, before noticing Pinkie's cutie mark flashing in the same manner.

“Yes darling, the… thing,” Rarity said as she entered the room as well, albeit in a much more controlled manner than Pinkie did. “I’m afraid all of us are experiencing whatever this is. Although, I do have to admit that it doesn’t look half bad…”

True to her word, the rest of Twilight's friends filed in behind Rarity, all of their cutie marks glowing and flashing as well.

“You wouldn’t happen to know what’s going on, would you?” Rainbow asked, hovering above the rest. “We got three of the biggest eggheads in Equestria in the same room, surely at least one of you can figure out what’s going on here, right?”

“Actually, my father seems to know something,” Luna said. “He was expecting you to show up, and refused to explain further until you were all here.”

“And you would be correct,” Atlas said, using a napkin, and failing, to clean some sirup away from his mouth, eventually resorting to magic. “Now that you’re all here, we should move to the… I guess it’s a throne room? Everything will more or less explain itself once we’re there.”

“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Pinkie giggled and shot out the door, snatching Atlas along the way and dragging him with her before anypony could react.

Luna stared at the space that was until just now occupied by her father with slight confusion while the others already started leaving the room as well, chattering about their current situation and speculating about the reasons for the weird glow. They were obviously used to Pinkies antics and not even fazed in the slightest. Deciding to not be bothered too much about what just happened, she sighed before getting up and following the mares towards Twilight Sparkles “throne room”.

When she entered as the last one, the others were already gathered around the table at the center of the multiple crystal thrones spread out around it. For some reason, a map of Equestria was displayed on it by means of magic, and the cutie marks of the element bearers seemed to float above a certain spot.

“Well, here it is,” Atlas said, waving his hoof over the map. “The reason your cutie marks are going haywire.”

“A map?” Twilight cocked an eyebrow. “Whatever is it for?”

“And why are our cutie marks floating around on it?” Rainbow asked, hovering above the table and swatting at her cutie mark like an airborne cat.

Atlas had long since confirmed that the map was indeed pointing towards Starlight Glimmers village out in the boonies. There was no doubt that the cutie map was calling Twilight and her friends to resolve their first friendship problem. Thing is, they currently had bigger fish to fry.

“You need to know that this entire castle is like a living organism, and its sole concern seems to be the spreading of harmony,” Atlas explained. “Since you six have become some sort of avatars of friendship, the castle is trying to send you out on a mission. It sensed that something is awry and it’s attempting to send you over there to resolve the issue.”

“That seems a little… far-fetched,” Luna commented.

“But aren’t friendship problems relatively common?” Twilight asked. “What makes this one so special that we should get called like this?”

“The problems pointed out by the map are usually of a greater magnitude than your usual small dispute between friends,” Atlas started pacing around the table. “And so is this one.”

“Do you know what this one is about? Is there a way to tell?” Rarity asked.

“I do know why the map is calling you, in this particular instance, yes,” Atlas grimaced. “But there isn’t really a reliable way to tell, other than go there and find out. As for why I know, let’s just add this to my list of secrets.”

“So we should go there and resolve… whatever is happening?” Applejack raised an eyebrow.

“Usually, yes,” Atlas nodded and stopped next to Twilight. “But since we’re currently trying to save the world from being wiped out, no, no you should not. I can safely tell you that this problem will still be there for you to solve after we made sure that everypony survives.”

“Why show us all of this then, if you won’t let us go anyway?” Rainbow touched down on the ground with a quizzical look.

“It’s still important that you know about this,” Atlas said. “That way you won’t be confused when it happens next time.”

“So what do we do now?” Twilight asked.

“We continue with the plan like usual,” Atlas put a hoof on the map and lit up his horn. He established a connection with the elements and coaxed them into turning off the map. “I turned off the map, so it won’t disturb us again until everything is… safe.

“Now, Luna, could you set up that meeting with the mages? I still have to prepare a few things, so if you’d excuse me, I’ll retreat into my office,” Atlas nodded towards Luna and trotted out of the room, leaving behind six confused mares.

“Is it weird that he seems to have more control over your castle than you do?” Applejack asked Twilight.

“It kind of is… maybe I can get him to teach me someday…” Twilight said, already thinking about all the fun she’d have, learning from Atlas. “I really do hope he is right about this not being an emergency, though…”

“My father really likes to be secretive,” Luna nodded. “But you’ll find that he usually is right. He knows a lot more about the things happening in this world than he’ll let on, and I’m willing to bet that he is right this time as well. So I’d suggest we do as he says and return to the task at hand.”

The element bearers reluctantly agreed and shuffled out of the room, one by one, closely followed by Luna, which was already mentally going over the details of the meeting she was about to set up.

Luna lead Atlas into one of the castles many, otherwise unused, meeting rooms. Inside, twelve unicorns of all ages were seated around a long table, their eager discussion cut short by the entrance of their Princess and Atlas. The two greeted the room as a whole while Atlas took up position at the head of the table, while Luna took her place at the last empty chair right next to him.

Silence permeated the room as Atlas took his sweet time organizing all the different papers he had brought with him. A quick glance behind him revealed a blackboard, which was brought in on his request. He was about to make extensive use of said board, and now that everything was in place, he finally addressed the patiently waiting scholars.

“Good afternoon, everypony,” Atlas made it a point to look at everyone present, curious eyes gazing back at him. “I called you here today to further discuss how you will be able to help out with my endeavor.”

An elderly stallion two seats down from Atlas gingerly raised his hoof, getting Atlas attention and promptly receiving permission to speak. “Yes, excuse me if I’m so blunt about this, but what exactly is this big and important project of yours? All we’ve been told was that it is paramount for the safety of Equestria and that we’ll need massive amounts of mana.” The stallion's voice betrayed his seeming age, revealing a sharpness behind it, that Atlas didn’t expect.

“Fair question,” Atlas nodded sagely. “During today's discussion, I’ll not only provide you with all the details you need to help, but also inform you a bit about why exactly we are doing what we are, so that you may better understand what’s at stake.

“But before we begin, I must ask this: Are you all familiar with the theories behind megaspells, and the large-scale mana sharing spells theoretically needed for them?” Atlas looked around the table, receiving nods and other affirmative actions from the other occupants. “I know for most of you those are just theories, since Starswirl banned any and all research concerning them. But to do what we need to do, we’ll have to create such a large scale spell. As such, it is reassuring to me, that you at least are familiar with the concept.”

“You mean to tell us that you somehow have the magical knowledge and resources to pull this off, even though nopony has come even close to finding a way to do it, not to mention the fact that research for these kinds of spells have been, as you already said, banned not only by Starswirl, but also the crown?” A younger stallion took a careful glance at Princess Luna next to Atlas as he finished his statement.

“Simply put, yes,” Atlas replied, much to the surprise of everypony else, aside from his daughter. “I do in fact possess the required knowledge, and as for the resources, the crown will be supplying and funding all of it, so you won’t need to worry about that.

“We are facing an unprecedented threat to this world as a whole, and to overcome this trial, we need spells of an equally epic scale, or, honestly speaking, we’re all done for,” Atlas said ominously. “As such, we need the cooperation of every equine in Equestria, as well as every creature willing to help us out, or we’ll never even come close to gathering enough mana to power the spell. Which reminds me, Luna, how is the effort to gather everypony going?”

“The last settlement has been informed as of three days ago…” Luna bit her cheek as she mulled the information over. “Everypony is starting to get ready to do what is needed of them. As far as I’m aware, the first few ponies designated to the Ponyville array are already beginning to show up here.”

“Very good,” Atlas nodded happily. “Well then, let me begin my explanation. You all best get comfortable, because this is going to take a while. There is much to discuss, and we only have eleven days left before we’re all toast.”

“Eleven days?!?” Multiple shouts of slight panic slammed into Atlas, which he replied to with a sweet smile.

“Yes…” Atlas’ smile slowly transformed into a evil smirk. “It’s crunch time!”

Author's Note

Incredibly sorry for the long wait for this chapter. Stuff was being happening and all that jazz, you know how it be... Aside from that, look at this cool picture somebody made for me :D

This was made by Avastin4, check out his other art, he's awesome :3

As for the chapter, the climax is creeping closer! Let's see how this goes for our four legged friends.

Once again, thanks to my editor Alcatraz.

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song. I wanted to put the opening, but for some reason Bump of chickens Gekkou is incredibly hard to find on youtube...

Come join us in the Discord channel! Lonk

Or the official Divine Entertainment group! Divine Universe

Support me on Patreon!!

12. Twilight Of The Thunder God

Zeus found himself hurtling through the air, away from the merry party he was at mere moments ago. His wine addled brain hadn’t quite caught up to his current situation yet, so he wasn’t quite prepared to cushion his inevitable fall. He hit the ground hard, ragdolling over an impressive distance before eventually slamming into a marble pillar of a building, leaving him sitting upright with his back against it.

The body of a god was naturally resilient, but even Zeus would feel some degree of pain after being thrown about so violently. He blinked a few times to clear his head, rubbing a few aching spots on his body while he processed the current situation. Even though he was drunk, he was still able to at least think straight, even if it was slightly delayed.

One moment he was enjoying himself with all of his friends, and the next, an explosion sent him flying through the air. There was only one reasonable explanation, which was that Hades and his posse were attacking sooner than anticipated. A sobering thought to say the least. Realising the need for immediate action, Zeus made to get up and back to the party grounds in order to organize a counter-strike, no matter how unorganized. Time was of the essence now.

He didn’t get very far, as an invisible force slammed into his face, effectively burying his head into the pillar behind him. Before he could react to the unexpected assault, a second hit connected with his gut, sending the rest of his body clean through the pillar and embedding him into the wall behind it.

Not wanting to give his assailant another chance, Zeus sent out a pulse of lightning all around him. To his satisfaction, he could feel a disturbance in the force right in front of him, confirming that he had hit whoever was assailing him currently.

“I must say,” Zeus grunted as he extracted himself from the wall, causing pebbles to rain down to the ground around him. “I truly didn’t expect this to go down this way… Hades.”

“I was counting on it,” Hades replied breathing heavily. He removed his helmet so he could talk properly to Zeus. “You always were overconfident, and now your high horse came back to kick you in the ass. As we speak, your entire faction is being suppressed, and seeing how out of control your party was, I’d say they didn’t stand a chance and are already mostly taken out by now.”

“That’s a shame,” Zeus patted himself down to get rid of some marble residue. “I was hoping to crush your little resistance with overwhelming power. But I must admit that you’ve outsmarted me in this instance. You were always the better tactician.”

“I’ll take that compliment for what it is,” Hades nodded. “I’d really prefer it if you would just give up, but I assume that this is too much to ask?”

“It certainly is,” Zeus sighed. “I may be cornered, but I’m not going down without a fight. Besides, you made one crucial mistake in your planning.”

“And what would that be?”

“Even if you take out all of my supporters, even if I’m the last one standing… Once I take you out, the rest of the other gods will be a piece of cake to defeat,” Zeus smirked. “And to be honest? I don’t think that’ll be so difficult.”

“I see,” Hades let out a guttural laugh. “It seems we think we are more alike than I thought. It just so happens that I was thinking the same thing. Taking you out…” Hades put his helmet back on, once again turning invisible. “Shouldn’t be too hard.”

A split second later lightning struck the ground where Hades disappeared, the following thunder working as the bell announcing the fights official start. Zeus realised too late that Hades had already moved, his mistake costing him dearly, as he was struck again, crashing through the wall he just extracted himself from.

Atlas’ hooves clacked as he walked over the obsidian platform he made to hold the array. Luna was slightly off to his side, doing the same thing as he did, which was checking the embedded runes for any discrepancies. The sun was shining down on them as they diligently worked. Luna was really the only pony who could possibly help him out with this task, and ever since Atlas delegated most of his more simple tasks to the mages of Equestria, there was little else than two had been doing ever since.

Setting up an array of this size was a monumental task, and they couldn’t afford to make a single mistake. Not to mention the fact that they had been teleporting all over Equestria to set up the relay arrays as well. They were mostly controlled and managed by a small horde of Discord clones, but his knowledge on runes was still far below Atlas’ and Luna’s.

They had been slaving away for days, albeit making sure to take frequent breaks. They couldn’t risk making careless mistakes due to being sleep-deprived, and as such slept for five hours each day, although not at the same time. They mitigated any leftover sleepiness with reinvigorating spells from Atlas’ arsenal, which allowed them to work tirelessly.

Only three days remained until the deadline.

Ponies and other creatures arrived in Ponyville from all over Equestria. The small town had become a huge center of activity over the past few days. Unable to accomodate all of the visitors, the outskirts were filled with tents.

Being able to provide enough food for this many ponies was nothing short of a miracle, only made possible by the crown splurging on their budget. Celestia had done some incredible work organizing this whole mess, and without her handling the logistics, giving Atlas some peace of mind, they would never even had made it this far.

“Dad?” Luna suddenly called, ripping Atlas’ from his thoughts. “Can you come over here for a second and check this part?”

“Sure thing,” Atlas made his way over to his daughter, finding her thoughtfully looking down at a set of runes. “What is it?”

“This sequence here seems a bit… off… to me,” Luna said. “I can’t really put my hoof on why that is though.”

“Let me take a look…” Atlas peered down at the offending carvings and studied them intently. “Hmm… they look okay to me.”

“Are you sure?” Luna asked insistently. “It still seems weird to me…”

Atlas took a glance at his daughter with suspicious eyes, something was wrong. “Luna?” he asked like a father who knew his child was up to no good. “When was the last time you slept?”

Luna’s eyes widened a bit and she made it a point not to look at Atlas. She mumbled something incoherent, which caused Atlas to groan. “How long, Luna?”

“About twenty-six hours ago…” Luna said, shrinking into herself a bit.

“I thought I made it clear that we have to get enough sleep,” Atlas said with a sigh. “You’re of no use to anypony if you start seeing things that aren’t there.”

“But, father,” Luna pleaded. “I have stayed up before for several days without any issues whatsoever, why would this be different?”

“Look, making rune arrays is something that doesn’t allow for mistakes. I know that you know that,” a slight annoyance crept into Atlas’ voice. “Doing what we are doing right now is extremely taxing on the mind, and if you don’t take some rest at regular intervals you’ll start to make mistakes. I’ve told you this like five times already since we started.”

“But there is just so little time left…” Luna pawed at the obsidian beneath her.

“I know you only have the best intentions in mind,” Atlas pulled her into a hug. “But you have to understand what I’m telling you. Also, you’re going to sleep, now. No ifs or buts, this is happening.”

“Auntie Luna!” A call from the castle’s direction disturbed the little moment they had.

“You’re not off the hook for this,” Atlas said as he released her, facing the speaker, which turned out to be a pink alicorn with a multi-hued mane, accompanied by a white stallion sporting a blue mane.

“Cadance, Shining Armor,” Luna called back as they approached, inadvertently introducing them to Atlas. “Such a pleasure to see you.

“It’s a pleasure to be here, even if it is due to some rather dire circumstances…” Cadance replied. “You must be Atlas then? I’ve heard so much about you already.” She turned towards Atlas with an extended hoof.

“Only good I hope…” Atlas bumped her hoof in greeting and repeated the motion for Shining Armor.

“Let’s just say it was rather mixed,” Cadance chuckled. “Though I must admit that I was rather surprised that Celestia and Luna’s father just suddenly showed up out of nowhere. The fact that you’re not an alicorn makes the circumstances of your long life very intriguing.”

“I may not be an alicorn, but at this point it would be crude to say that I’m just a simple unicorn,” Atlas nodded. “There are reasons for the way I am, but I’m not about to disclose them to just anybody.”

“It’s true,” Luna grumbled. “Not even my sister and I know the full truth.”

“There is only one being who knows the full truth about who and what I am, and I intend to keep it that way,” Atlas noted.

“There is? I just assumed you’d take that secret to your unlikely grave,” Luna questioned with a raised eyebrow. “Dare I ask who it is?”

“Discord, of course,” Atlas smiled. “I feel I’m somewhat responsible for the way he… is…”

“Ah yes, another revelation that no one saw coming,” Shining Armor chipped in. “Learning that he was never really evil and was just putting on an act as dictated by you… was a rather hard pill to swallow.”

“I had my reasons, and it all turned out for the best in the end…”

“It would seem like Celestia is taking after her father,” Cadance rolled her eyes. “Just as mysterious and unwilling to share vital information as her, if not worse, if I heard correctly.”

“Sometimes it is better to not know certain things,” Atlas said with finality. “Lord knows I certainly could do without some of the knowledge I’ve accrued.”

“Why yes, if leading the Crystal Empire has taught me anything, it’s that not everything should be shared,” Cadance looked thoughtful. “I do hope you’ll at least reveal to us why you have summoned us to Ponyville, I hope?”

“I’m sure that could be arranged,” Atlas smirked. “Although I’d suggest we discuss this over some tea and snacks, instead of standing out here in the open, what do you say?”

“That would be wonderful,” Cadance nodded. “Why don’t you lead the way?”

Cadance stepped to the side in order to let Atlas through, which the gray stallion immediately did, Luna trailing not far behind. It didn’t take long for them to arrive in the castle, where they decided to occupy one of the many meeting rooms that were available. Before entering, they tasked one of the maids to bring them the aforementioned refreshments. They sat down at the table, Atlas and Luna on one side, and Cadance and Shining Armor on the other.

“It sure seems weird to see Twily’s castle this bustling with activity…” Shining Armor commented. “I’ve gotten used to how empty it is usually.”

“I’m surprised this hasn’t happened sooner,” Cadance nodded. “She is a princess after all.”

“Young Twilight has refused to employ the aid of other ponies until recently. She only agreed to it due to the somewhat dire circumstances this time around, and only as a temporary measure,” Luna commented.

“It sure is growing on her though,” Atlas chuckled. “She might just keep them after this whole debacle is over.”

A knock announced the return of the maid, which brought them their requested drinks and foods. She efficiently distributed them and left the room with a small bow, leaving them to their talks.

“So, how much do you know?” Atlas asked, deciding to stop beating around the bush.

“Aunt Luna has informed us on pretty much everything as far as I can tell,” Cadance replied seriously. “We have been corresponding via letters for a while now, and Discord visited every now and again to tell us the breaking news.”

“Which also took some getting used to,” Shining Armor supplied.

“The one thing we don’t quite understand is why you need us to be here, if I understood everything correctly, we could just be located at the array Discord is setting up in the empire,” Cadance mused. “Or is there something I missed.”

“You could say so, yes,” Atlas stroked his chin. “Although the transmission from the various arrays is as effective as can be, there is some unavoidable loss of mana on the way from the location to here. As such we are gathering the most powerful entities in Ponyville, as to keep the loss to a bare minimum. And to be perfectly honest, among all of the ponies we’re gathering, you two have some of the biggest mana pools around, especially you, Cadance, seeing as you’re an alicorn.”

“I feel flattered to also be included in this upper echelon, then,” Shining Armor said with a slight grin on his face.

“Do you need us to do anything special?” Cadance asked after elbowing her husband's side.

“Not in particular, it is just better for you to be here instead of over there,” Atlas shook his head. “Although there is one thing I would like to discuss with you, maybe sometime tomorrow, if you wouldn’t mind. I’m afraid meeting you wasn’t exactly on todays schedule and Luna needs to go to bed, preferably, right. Now.” Atlas made sure to put emphasis on the last two words, shooting a glare at his daughter, much to the mirth of Cadance and Shining.

“But father, these two only just arrived, it would be rude to just leave them alone… like..” Luna started pleading but noticed her fathers look left no room for argument. “My apologies, you two, I really must retreat to my chambers.”

“Don’t worry about it Auntie,” Cadance suppressed her mirth perfectly. “We’ll have enough time to see each other in the coming days.”

“Then, if you’ll excuse me,” Luna nodded before getting up and leaving the room, three sets of eyes following her exit.

“I must admit, that was a lot funnier than I expected it to be,” Cadance said with her eyes lingering on the door.

“It might sound rude coming from me, but I also always quite enjoyed this part of parenting,” Atlas smirked. “Albeit in smaller doses.”

“I can imagine,” Cadance nodded, returning her attention to Atlas. “Before we go our separate ways again, might I at least ask what you would like to discuss with us tomorrow? That way we might be able to prepare better for the talk.”

“But of course,” Atlas smiled warmly. “It is about the power of love,” Cadance visibly perked up. “I heard that you have displayed a usually impossible feat when a certain changeling queen invaded Canterlot a few years back. And seeing as the crystal empire itself seems to function on love as its primary power-source, I assumed it would be at least worth looking into. As far as I can tell, love might serve as a sort of catalyst which amplifies the effect of mana under certain circumstances. Since you two are the only ones we know that have pulled off this feat, as well as you, Cadance, being the alicorn of love, I figured there was no one better to ask.”

“I… see,” Cadance replied, sharing a look with her husband. “What you say is certainly true. I fear we might have less input than you hope for, but we will most certainly provide all the information we can give, isn’t that right, honey?”

“Absolutely,” Shining Armor confirmed. “If love can help resolve this problem, all the better.”

The two shared a quick loving kiss, before returning their full attention towards Atlas. “At what time would you like to meet up?”

“I’m not sure yet myself, I’ll have to look into my schedule and move some things around. I’ll have somepony inform you as soon as possible with a time and location,” Atlas said as he got up. “For now though, I have a rune array calling my name. If you’d excuse me.”

With a last smile, Atlas left the room as well, leaving behind Cadance and Shining as the sole occupants of the room.

“Want to go and see what Twilight is up to?” Cadance asked, already aware of the answer Shining would give.

“Do I love corn-dogs?”

Author's Note

This is rapidly approaching the end ^^

Once again, thanks to my proofreader Soren Mercer.

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song..

Come join us in the Discord channel! Lonk

Or the official Divine Entertainment group! Divine Universe

13. Decisive Battle

Zeus tumbled into the building from the wall he’d just been thrown through. Judging by the seemingly limitless amount of wine pots and barrels, it must have been Dionysus’s storage room. Several pots were destroyed by Zeus’s smashing entrance, soaking him, as well as a good portion of the floor in blood-red wine.

As he came to a stop against a shelf on the far wall, he begrudgingly admitted that his adversary packed quite the punch. Zeus’s astronomical power resulted in him having an even more sturdy body than most other gods possessed, so circumventing his defenses to inflict actual wounds spoke volumes of Hades’ strength.

His musings were cut short when he noticed a small splash amidst the wine on the floor, revealing his invisible opponents position to him. Taking a shot in the dark, Zeus threw out a punch, which, much to his satisfaction, he felt connect with something hard. Moments later, another shelf exploded in a cloud of alcohol, revealing the Hades as a weirdly shaped mass of red.

“Ready to abandon your silly toy and face me like a man?” Zeus roared while shaking his hand in pain. It would seem he had hit the helmet, which was seemingly able to withstand one of Zeus’ punches.

“I wouldn’t exactly call this a ‘silly toy’, Zeus,” the amorphous wine blob said as it rose from the ground. “Although I must admit, this whole wine business makes it rather ineffective.” Hades shook his arms a few times in an attempt to get rid of the traitorous liquid.

Hades reappeared as he took off his helmet, slicking back his drenched hair which sent more wine flying behind him. He clicked his tongue in annoyance seeing as he had just effectively lost his biggest advantage. Silently thanking Zeus that he wasn’t immediately exploiting this momentary opening, he set the helmet down on a still intact shelf, partially hiding it behind one of the pots.

As long as he managed to keep Zeus busy, Hades forces could work on taking out the other gods, and the more time passed, the more likely he was to receive reinforcements. He sure could use every advantage he could get against Zeus.

“It would seem that we’ll have to finish this the old fashioned way,” Hades said, turning to face Zeus.

“So it would seem,” Zeus cracked his knuckles, which seemed even more intimidating since small arcs of electricity ran along his bare hands.

The two stared at each other for a few seconds, waiting for the other one to make the first move. Zeus, ever impatient as he was, exploded into action, which he soon found to be a mistake. Hades had waited for this and effortlessly countered the attack by simply sidestepping the right hook and jamming his elbow into Zeus’s ribs. Once again, Zeus was smashed through a shelf, including the wall behind it.

As he careened through the air, Hades appeared above him, slamming both feet down and ploughing Zeus into the ground below him. Hades used him as an impromptu snowboard to traverse the grassy field below them, hitting the occasional rock on their way. Not having any of it, Zeus called down a bolt of lightning from the sky, hitting both Hades and himself with it.

Seeing as lightning was his domain, Zeus was able to shrug off his own attack. Hades, on the other side, wasn’t as lucky and had to take the full force of the electrical onslaught. He fell off his improvised transportation, his whole body spasming as the current ran through him.

Desperately trying to gain back control of his own body, Hades writhed around on the grass. Zeus foot connected with Hades’ gut sending him flying into a nearby tree, causing his body to adopt a rather unnatural shape as it bent around its trunk. Hades coughed up blood as his body hit the ground with a thud.

“I think it’s time that we ended this facade,” Zeus spat while patting down the dirt that clung to his robes. “I won’t hold back anymore.”

True to his words, the clouds swirling above them turned nearly pitch black as an angry roiling could be heard emanating from within. Zeus was obviously done fighting and fully intended to simply overwhelm Hades by raining down the full power of the skies. Hades hacked and sputtered as he slowly got back up, his eyes flicked upwards to his impending doom, deciding that the only way to counter the following attack was by calling upon his own dominion.

The clouds above reached a crescendo as small bolts of lightning traveled between them, before releasing their charge with pinpoint accuracy, accompanied by a furious shout.

“DIE!”

A massive bolt of lightning struck Hades, completely obscuring the god from view for a moment and causing a huge explosion of dirt and wood. It was immediately followed by a deafening thunderclap and the accompanying shockwave, causing even Zeus to stumble back a few feet.

Once everything settled, Zeus glanced to where his opponent stood just moments before, pleased to find little more than a crater. Nodding once to himself, he turned away, fully intent to go and rout the other foolish gods who thought they could revolt against him. He barely took a few angry steps towards his party grounds when an immense feeling of dread slammed into him from behind.

Zeus whirled around as the hairs on his neck stood on end, coming face to face with a gruesome scene. What was once a flourishing garden of an immense variety of trees and flowers, was now an empty husk. Trees were withering and dying in front of his eyes, collapsing into heaps of ash, while the various other flora had long ago met their demise. What he laid eyes upon was a barren wasteland, a representation of death incarnate, and standing amidst it all was Hades. He was pretty banged up, but didn’t look worse for wear.

“H-how?” Zeus’s question was barely a whisper as he stared dumbfounded towards Hades. The sound carried surprisingly well, as seemingly all sound had been drowned out and the air was still. It almost seemed like the only reason the word was able to leave his mouth was because the entity before him allowed it to.

“You seem to forget in your arrogance, that I am the god of death, Zeus,” Hades cackled. “You may be strong and able to overwhelm other gods by sheer force… but not me.”

Originating from his fingers and traveling through his hands and arms, Zeus felt an unknown sensation spread throughout his body. A twang of fear made itself known for the first time in an extremely long while, the thought of his life being in danger entered his mind.

“You think your lightning to be all-powerful, and yet for all your ability to control and guide it, at the end of the day it still follows the unbendable rules of nature,” Hades explained. “As such, it is a simple matter to redirect it, if one knows how it works. And believe me, Zeus, I have studied your lightning for centuries. I will admit that the resulting shockwave is somewhat unavoidable, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.”

A wave of dread seemed to emanate from Hades position as all of Zeus’s instincts seemed to scream in fear, the prospect of death seeming just as tangible as the fury evident on Hades face. It was a humbling experience to say the least and it almost paralyzed him where he stood. The difference in power he witnessed sent his brain into overdrive in an attempt to figure out a way to defeat the very avatar of death. Going over thousands of possibilities in the span of a few seconds in a panicked frenzy, something clicked in his head and he immediately calmed down.

Yes, indeed. There was no reason to be afraid. After all, Zeus had already known that defeating Hades would be no easy feat and he had prepared for this eventuality long ago. A calm smirk spread across his face as he regarded his opponent.

“I must admit that you’re right,” Zeus said, raising his tingling arms above his head in a mock display of defeat. “I don’t think I’ll be able to defeat you as I am right now… In that case, all I have to do… is change.”

Having said his piece, Zeus turned on his heels and bolted, quite literally. He ran until he could feel himself leave Hades’ sphere of influence before vanishing in a flash of lightning. A cry of fury could be heard throughout all of Olympus as Hades’ prey escaped his clutches, and Zeus allowed himself a sensible chuckle as he reappeared in front of his own palace.

He rushed through the marble halls, making a beeline for his destination. Everything was dark, his own clouds blotted out the midday sun. Nobody had been around to light the torches lining the walls. Not wasting time on lighting them, Zeus relied on his own intricate knowledge of his palace’s layout, as well as the occasional lightning bolt that illuminated his path through the windows.

It didn’t take long for him to reach his destination, and he burst through the doors paying no mind to the needless destruction. His gaze frantically traveled along the room until they fell upon the object of his desire. At the far end of the table that dominated most of the room was a small, faintly glowing sphere.

The glass-like material sat upon a tastefully crafted statue of the one it contained. Atlas was kneeling on the table, his arms spread wide behind his back, holding up his own prison. Yet, to Zeus, this small sphere was so much more than a mere prison to contain his old adversary. It was the means to his victory over Hades.

Just a few weeks prior, after a lot of hard work, Zeus and his affiliates had finally finished the necessary preparations to transfer the powers of the one trapped within towards whoever wished. Obviously, the only one allowed to do so was Zeus himself and he had made sure to make it so that nobody else could, even if they wanted to. He regretted not having made the transfer sooner now, but it mattered little, seeing as he was about to do it.

He took a few steps when another lightning strike illuminated the room. Across the way, a shadow seemed to bleed away from one of the many pillars lining the room, stopping Zeus dead in his tracks.

“I’m afraid I can’t let you go any further than this,” the figure spoke in a familiar tone of voice.

“I must admit this is rather unexpected,” Zeus said, looking as if he had bit into a lemon. “But I guess I should have seen this coming.”

“I suppose you should have,” the figure replied sadly.

“While this is all quite shocking, I do not have the time to dwell on it,” Zeus shook his head. “All I have to do is touch the cage…” A lightning bolt materialized in Zeus's hand. “Do you feel confident enough to stop me?”

Author's Note

Oh wow, an obscured figure! Who could it be??? I feel like it should be obvious enough, but still, gotta be vague and mysterious ^^ I know I've taken some time to write recently, and that is in part due to me having too much time on my hands and because I'm going over stuff again and again, since I don't want to screw up the ending of this story. Gotta hammer these details down before writing them, or else I won't be happy with the outcome.

As such, the next chapter might also take a long time, since I suspect it could be pretty long. I might split it up though, depending on how I feel.

Once again, thanks to my editor Alcatraz, as well as my proofreader Soren Mercer.

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song.

Come join us in the Discord channel! Lonk

Or the official Divine Entertainment group! Divine Universe

14. Final Destination

Pre-chapter Authors Note

Due to this chapter being the climax of the story, I made it "slightly" longer, so that you can enjoy the whole thing without awkward breaks or cliffhangers. Please read the note at the end for more information on a few things happening in this chapter, as well as the future of this story. Now, without further ado: Please enjoy!

Atlas awoke softly, the first thing reaching his ears a cacophony of sounds coming from the sole window occupying his room. The sound was reassuring, as it implied that ponies had diligently continued to work while he retreated for some well earned rest. He took a few deep breaths and let the world be for a few seconds longer before opening his eyes and moving to get up from his comfortable bed.

As soon as his hooves connected to the crystalline floor a slight feeling of anxiousness threatened to take over. A feeling, that was wrestled down as quickly as it came. After stretching his limbs to get the blood flowing through them properly he trotted over to the window to see what was going on outside.

The window conveniently faced the field where the array was located, providing him with a position where he could easily overlook the whole thing. Ponies of all shapes, sizes, and colors flitted all over the place, setting up mana conductors at extremely specified positions along the runes. Others seemed to be gathered around tables which contained unfurled scrolls that showed them the details of what they were working on, and in the center of the multicolored maelstroem of ponies was a solitary blue speck.

Luna commanded the small battalion from the center of the array, unmoving amidst a stream of activity. She was practically surrounded by floating scrolls and books, barking out orders for her little lemmings to follow, and they did as their princess bid.

A smile appeared on Atlas face as he took a few moments to simply watch, trying to banish the feeling trying to make itself known in the back of his head. Being nervous would do nobody any good today, for today was where everything finally went down.

Eleven days ago Atlas had met with the top mages the country had, and for the eleven days thereafter, all of them had worked themselves to the bone for him. The activation of the array was now mere hours away and everypony seemed to be in hyper-mega-overdrive as they went over last-minute preparations. All of them, except for Atlas.

Seeing as today was the day where they either rang in a new era for ponykind or ended up as less than dust in the wind, it was universally agreed upon that Atlas would have to rest up properly in preparation for the event. Since all of the burden rested on his shoulders for actually casting all the spells required to activate the array, having him in anything short of peak condition was deemed unthinkable.

Taking his eyes of the busy anthill below him, Atlas turned around, intent on getting some food into his belly. Luna had practically forbidden him from lifting so much as a hoof to help until it was finally time, going so far as to threaten to magically tie him down somewhere and/or rolling him up in a rug should he not comply. A notion seconded by her traitorous sister which had arrived two days ago.

Breaking out of their spells would not have been hard, but he got the point and didn’t want to waste even a single bit of mana, lest he’d be short by one in the end. Thinking about it, he should really stop the ponies outside from using up to much of theirs.

Smirking an evil smirk, as evil ponies do, he sent out a small magical shockwave. The actual spell took barely any effort or mana to cast, and had an effective range of merely a few feet. What was amusing about it was that it caused a chain reaction all around the point of origin, displacing the mana in the air and causing it to vibrate in a way mana really… shouldn’t.

Similar to dominoes falling over, the reaction went for quite a way, give or take a mile. Funnily enough, this caused unicorn horns to tingle. The unexpected sensation was enough to make most unicorns drop the spells they were casting. It only applied to spells that were performed with minimal mental effort, though, which usually meant levitation.

He could hear numerous yelps from outside as he passed the halls on his way to breakfast, causing him to chuckle. Even if it was a bit mean spirited, there was no doubt in his mind that Luna would get the hint and make sure that magic use was cut down to a minimum from this point onwards, but just to make sure he sent a short mental message, alongside an apology, to confirm. The miniscule amounts of mana he just used would be replenished within the hour.

He finally arrived at the dining room closest to his room, strolling over to the nearest seat available as a maid already approached him, ready to take whatever order he had. The room was completely empty, save for the two. Everypony else was currently out and about going after their own tasks.

“Good morning Lord Atlas,” the maid addressed him. “How may I serve you today.”

Atlas grumbled a bit when he was addressed as Lord. Celestia had pulled a sneaky on him and added to his already existing titles at some point and it annoyed him to no end. He didn’t know what titles he held by now, only that he didn’t want any of them. Yet, making the live of a simple maid difficult by going off on a rant would help nopony.

“Just some cheese sandwiches and a glass of Apple Juice if you don’t mind,” Atlas replied.

“Certainly,” the maid didn’t waste any time, bowing curtly and excusing herself through another door, most likely leading towards the kitchens.

Atlas didn’t pay her much mind, his thoughts instead lingering on the task at hand. At this point he had done all he could, really, and all that was left for him to do was cast the spell and hope for the best. There was not a single shred of doubt in him about whether or not the spell would work. Luna and him had checked the array again and again to the point of exhaustion, and it was truly flawless. The only uncertainty at this point was the ridiculous amount of mana needed to power a spell of such magnitude.

According to the calculations, it should barely be enough. But seeing as these calculations relied mostly on guesswork and estimations, they had to be taken with a grain of salt.

The maid returned in short order with a plate holding his breakfast of choice, which Atlas accepted thankfully, before retreating towards the door again, ready to be called at a moments notice. Atlas bit into his first sandwich sighing inwardly. He should have specified that he wanted mayonnaise instead of butter, but it’s not like this was the end of the world.

Atlas chuckled dryly at his dumb sense of humor and continued eating at a leisurely pace while mentally going over his to-do list. Luna and Celestia may have forbidden him from working, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t thoroughly prepare himself. He would go back to his study after finishing his breakfast and go over the spells he would need to cast. After that he would make the rounds for one final check of everything.

Satisfied with his plan of action, he started on his second sandwich.

Atlas watched as various ponies filed into the meeting room he currently occupied. He was sitting at the head of a table, a blackboard behind him, chock-full of notes with barely any space left to write on. The first to enter were the various princesses of Equestria, with Luna and Celestia moving to take up their seats on either side of him, Cadance and Twilight not far behind. The rest of the table was split between the Elements of Harmony on one side and the strongest mages on the other, while Captain Shining Armor took up position next to the door.

Once everyone was seated and greeted, Atlas begun the meeting. “I know I already checked earlier, and everything seemed to be going smoothly, but just to be sure: What’s our status?”

“We have completed everything in an orderly fashion and triple checked everything, at the very least,” Luna answered, shuffling through a huge pile of papers in front of her while checking for everything she might’ve missed. “The citizens are currently being herded towards the array and their assigned positions in preparation for the spell and the task should be finished on time as well.”

“Good,” Atlas closed his eyes and nodded, breathing a sigh of relief. He took a moment to fight down the funny feeling in his stomach before opening them again, looking over the ponies who had helped him so much. “First off, I’d like to thank everypony here for their hard work and help.

“Each and every one of us has given this project all they got and then some, in order to see it come to fruition. I think it’s no secret that I never wanted to drag anypony else into this mess, so seeing all of you step forward so willingly and help, really means a lot to me. In just under an hour, I’ll start casting the spell that will decide our fate, and I just want you to know, regardless of the outcome that it was an honor having met all of you.

“Even if I might come over as pessimistic sometimes, I don’t want to do something stupid like saying goodbye “just in case”. I believe that we’ll pull this off and be able to enjoy a humongous party that Pinkie no doubt will throw for us,” the pink party pony nodded fervently. “I’m also not one for big speeches, so I’ll cut this short. We’ve all done what could be done, so I want you all to enjoy some well earned rest before we begin. Thanks again for all your help, and I’ll see you outside later.”

The room was filled with a subdued cheer, followed by everypony present acknowledging Atlas words and thanking him in turn. Not wanting to waste any time, the mages filed out the room first, which prompted everypony else to leave as well, until only Atlas, Celestia, and Luna remained in their respective seats.

“Father,” Celestia spoke after a few silent moments. “How do you feel?”

Atlas looked at the table in front of him while contemplating the question. “I’m nervous,” he answered slowly. “I might put on a show of confidence before everypony, but the truth is… I really have no clue whether this will work or not. In theory, everything is fine, but there’s just no absolute way of knowing if we’ll be able to gather enough mana to properly power the array. It’s a close shave no matter how you look at it.”

Atlas spilled his thoughts out now that they were in private. He was reluctant to let anypony know just nerve wracking this all was for him, but if he could tell anypony at all, it was his family. For a second everything was still, before he heard shuffling to either side of him, finding himself in the loving embrace of his daughters shortly thereafter.

“You’re not alone,” Celestia whispered to his left. “We’re all here for you, no matter what.”

“We’ll always be,” Luna added from his right. “No matter where you go.”

“For what it’s worth, I’m also here,” A tiny Discord appeared in Atlas mane and hugged his horn. “You know I’d never leave you hanging.”

Atlas chuckled at Disords antics while he could feel some of his anxiousness melt out of him. The embrace he found himself in was warm, in more ways than one, causing him to relax just a little bit. He let his guard down because he felt he could do so without causing anypony to worry or judge him.

He might have told himself time and time again that this was something he had to do alone, yet here he was. This whole plain of existence existed because of him, and now it faced total annihilation because of a tiny mistake Atlas once made. He fought alone to get to this point, using the ponies around him to further his plans. But now that everything came crashing down on him, his new family was there to reassure him that he was anything but alone.

They remained there until it was almost time to leave, and in the presence of the ones he loved, Atlas found the place where he belonged.

Zeus stared at the figure in front of him with a scowl, the lightning bolt he summoned illuminated the surroundings nicely so he got a good look at Hermes’ face. There seemed to be equal parts sadness and smugness present on it, which resulted in a rather impressive facial expression.

“Oh, I’m not confident at all,” Hermes waved Zeus’s statement away. “After all, you’re King of the gods, the allfather, the almighty Zeus. How could a lowly god, such as I, possibly hope to meet you in battle and do anything aside from perish?”

Taken aback by Hermes’ statement, Zeus lowered the bolt in his hand, but didn’t quite dispell it yet. He expected a fight and all he got was a god that wasn’t even on guard against him, almost as if he wouldn’t even try to defend himself, should he be attacked. Furrowing his brows he took one step forward, gouging Hermes’ reaction.

“What is your deal?” Zeus asked skeptically after a small smile appeared on Hermes’ face. “Are you going to stop me or not.”

“Oh no,” Hermes shook his head. “I wouldn’t think of standing in the way of your glorious plan. By all means,” Hermes took a step to the side and made an inviting gesture towards Atlas’ prison. “Go ahead.”

Zeus was still on edge, but time was of the essence here and he couldn’t waste anymore of it by talking to this idiot. He carefully started moving towards the prison, making sure to not leave Hermes’ ever-smiling figure out of his eyes. It didn’t take long for him to reach his destination, so he held out his hand above the sphere held by the miniature Atlas, once again looking for any reaction from Hermes.

Seeing that Hermes hadn’t done anything yet, aside from lean against the marble pillar behind him, Zeus took the plunge and set his hand on the sphere, giving the mental command to activate the inscribed array at the same time. He was prepared to feel power rush through him which would undoubtedly be accompanied by copious amounts of pain, a byproduct of forcefully fusing two powerful souls.

What he wasn’t prepared for, was the contraption below him to crumble into dust, so he stumbled as his weight wasn’t caught and his hand fell straight down and to the table. A look of confusion and shock crossed his face before being replaced with anger almost immediately.

“What is the meaning of this?!” Zeus bellowed towards the still smiling Hermes. “What did you do?”

“Oh, nothing much,” Hermes gestured towards the massive table as hundreds of identical looking statues appeared on it, some even sitting in the chairs. “I might have made a few fakes of the prison, though. I must admit they look quite convincing.”

Zeus’s right eye twitched as he looked at the statues overflowing on the nearly thirty foot long table. Filled with anger he swiped at the closest one, only to have it turn to dust as well. He tried a few times more, turning whole swaths of statues to nothing as he simply swiped his arms over the table only to come up empty.

“Stop this trickery at once!” Zeus shouted with bulging veins around his neck. “I don’t have time to play your games, Hermes!”

“Where would be the fun in that?” Hermes chuckled. “I assure you, the original is hidden somewhere in here, as I’m sure you can tell, since you’ve got that stupid tracking spell on it. I bet you regret not making it more accurate, don’t you?”

“Enough!” Zeus cried and summoned another lightning bolt, launching it straight at Hermes before he could even react. The resulting explosion shook the whole room and only left behind a crater where once a proud pillar stood.

“A valiant try, I give you that,” Hermes’ voice said behind Zeus. “But I’m actually over here.”

Shouting out his frustration Zeus turned around and immediately launched another bolt at Hermes.

“You know,” another bolt crashed into Hermes who reappeared somewhere else. “You really need to work on your temper,” another bolt hit. “It’s not healthy to be angry all the time,” another explosion.

Zeus stood at the head of the table, his breath heavy from anger. His eyes were scanning the whole room for Hermes’ form. Dispelling his illusions would be easy enough if he just knocked out his adversary, and at this point he didn’t care if Hermes’ died or not. He had betrayed him after all.

As he searched, Hermes stepped out from behind a still standing marble pillar, but to add injury to insult, multiple copies of the god emerged from every pillar in the room.

“You know, you might be a lot faster than Hades,” Hermes voice rang out from all around Zeus. “But as we’re talking, he is making his way here, and once he does, you lose. And every second you waste with me, is a second we get closer to winning.”

One of the Hermes copies sat in a chair before Zeus and idly turned one of the statues over in his hand, admiring the craftsmanship. A furious cry rang out before several explosions rocked the room as Zeus eliminated both copies of Hermes and statues in droves in a bout to find the original of either. He knew time was running short and he needed to find the statue soon, or he would be in serious trouble.

While this was happening, Hades ran towards the palace as fast as he could. The explosions he heard coming from it lightening his mood all the way, as he knew the plan they had concocted was working.

Atlas approached the edge of the rune array, overlooking the the location of his final stand one last time before he started. Behind him stood his daughters, his son, Princess Cadance and her husband, as well as the elements of harmony, all waiting for him to move, yet patiently giving him the time he needed to prepare.

The din of conversation rang out all over, as a massive amount of ponies casually held conversations on the array. The weather was perfect, thanks to the local pegasi, a warm breeze caressing their furs. He looked up into the sky, seeing the sun and the moon far above them, the celestial bodies being visible at the same time courtesy of Celestia and Luna and per his request.

The whole population of Ponyville was here, their numbers bolstered even further by renowned mages and notable ponies with large mana-pools. Over the span of the past few hours they had been herded onto the array according to the affinity to mana they had. Several circular arrays were spread around the larger platform which now contained a few thousand ponies, most of them not too happy about the cramped arrangements. Still, they didn’t complain, for they knew how important the procedure was and freely offering their help, time, and mana for the cause.

As soon as the first few ponies noticed Atlas’ group approaching a hush swept over the ponies, all conversations coming to a grinding halt as they all looked at the new arrivals. And even though Atlas knew most of them couldn’t even see him right now due to other ponies being in the way, he still felt their stares on his form, a cold shiver running up his spine.

He found two reassuring wings on his back, as well as a bear paw, causing him to look back. Celestia, Luna, and Discord stood around him, their warm eyes reassuring him that they were all there for him. Atlas took a deep breath, fighting down the severe anxiety that threatened to overtake him by taking solace in the presence of the ponies who loved him.

No words were exchanged between them, for everything that needed saying had already been said. With one final mental push, Atlas willed himself to take a step forward. Once he got moving, the act became a lot easier for him. He moved past scores of ponies that watched him like a hawk, making his way to the very center of the formation.

Once there, he took up residence in the center of an array that was about twenty feet in diameter. His entourage each moved to their own designated arrays around him. Theirs were a lot smaller, barely big enough to contain their forms. Seeing as all of them had vast amounts of mana at their beck and call, or were at least somewhat connected to something of the like, personal arrays had been made for them to ensure the proper extraction of their mana.

Atlas turned around in a circle once, making eye contact with each of them and getting a confident nod back, signaling that everything was ready. Satisfied, and aware that he could no longer prolong this, even if he wanted to, he signaled Luna to start, which she wasted no time in doing.

“Citizens of Equestria!” her magically amplified voice sounded out. Her voice was being broadcast to every array location throughout the country by means of Discord, so that everypony could hear her. “As well as everyone from foreign countries who so graciously offered up their help in these trying times! The spell is about to begin in earnest, so please prepare yourselves accordingly. To reiterate once again, most of your mana will be drained during the course of the spell, leaving you weak and maybe a bit nauseous.

“Contrary to the time Tirek ran amok through Equestria, not all of it will be taken and you should be back to normal within a few hours. Please do not try to leave your assigned arrays for whatever reason, as that could cause the spell to malfunction. We the Crown of Equestria, thank you for your service.”

Discord gave Atlas the go-ahead as he confirmed that the message had properly reached all of the arrays and that everything was ready to go at all locations. Atlas in turn, nodded his understanding and closed his eyes. A pit was present in his stomach and he had the nervous shivers, almost feeling cold in a way. Once more, he took a few seconds for himself, trying to calm himself down with some controlled breathing. Once he was reasonably sure that he was ready, his horn lit up, officially starting the spell that would change the course of this world forever.

Zeus was growing desperate as he eliminated fake after fake, seemingly making no progress whatsoever. His frazzled mind went into a state of panic as he threw bolt after bolt of lightning at everything he could see, leaving the once proud hall as a barren wasteland riddled with craters. The mighty pillars that held up the roof were on the verge of collapse, threatening to crash down their charge. The magnificent table was little more than sawdust at this point and fake statues littered the ground, each destroyed one seemingly leaving behind two new ones.

In a weird moment of clarity, Zeus realized that he needed to take out everything in one go, or he would be defeated without problem. He stopped his mindless rampage and focused on his powers. Lightning started dancing over his form as he practically began glowing with electricity. A dull thrum filled the hall, causing twenty Hermes’s to frown in unison, before Zeus discharged his full might into the room.

A massive explosion rocked the palace as a shockwave race along every inch of space in the hall, carrying with it the destructive might of Zeus’s wrath. What was left behind was a panting Zeus, as well as an unconscious Hermes, that got thrown into a nearby wall. Much to his satisfaction, no more copies popped up to annoy him.

Happy with the results, his eyes frantically scanned the vicinity for the object of his desire, smugly noting that the fake statues had vanished as well. Not finding it immediately, he bagan running around with cold sweat running down his back, looking in the shadows of the rare, still intact pillar and other possible places. Until finally, he spotted it. In the far corner of the hall, a faint glow could be seen emerging from some rubble that was pushed there from his outburst.

Giddy and panicked at the same time, Zeus ran for it, intent on digging out the statue and completing the ritual before Hades had a chance to show up. He practically blasted the obstruction out of the way, finally spotting the prison containing Atlas. Eagerly he lifted the statue at the base, put his hand on the sphere sitting on top and gave the mental command to start the process of transferring Atlas’ soul… Only for nothing to happen.

Confused he gave the command again, yet being met with the same results. “No, no, no, no, no… This can’t be happening…” Zeus gave the command again and again, being met with failure every time he did so. A resounding clap could be heard, and he watched in horror as a small crack formed on the sphere, soon being joined by others that snaked around the surface. It didn’t take long before the whole thing splintered into thousands of shards, falling to the floor in front of a gobsmacked Zeus.

He fell to his knees, unable to believe what was happening, and almost as if in a trance, started picking up the pieces, convincing himself that he could just glue it back together or something. His shaky hands tried fitting together two shards as he heard a small chuckle behind him, following by a hacking cough. Slowly he turned around, facing Hermes, who was limply sitting against the wall.

“You should see your face right now,” Hermes smirked. “Absolutely priceless.”

“What did you do?” Zeus asked weakly, feeling defeated, yet wanting to know how he was tricked so easily.

“Just a little bait and switch,” Hermes coughed while doing some peculiar movements with his hands, causing another statue to appear in them, the prison still intact.

Zeus couldn’t believe what he saw at first. How could he, after being so thoroughly played for the past few minutes. Hermes saw Zeus’s uncertainty and laughed again, much to the protest of his aching body.

“I assure you, this is the real one, I’m afraid I don’t really have the energy for an more shenanigans at this point,” Hermes said, causing a flicker of hope to appear in Zeus’s eyes. “But even if you know where it is now… I do think you have other things to worry about.”

Hermes pointed towards the door with a calm smile, causing Zeus to slowly look over. There, in the doorway, stood Hades. A grateful look was sent towards Hermes, before he focused on Zeus again. The two stared at each other for a few infinite seconds, as the realization settled in for both of them.

This was their final confrontation.

Atlas slowly powered up the array around him, taking care to not do it too fast or too slow. This first part of the spell was solely powered by his own mana, and although he had done this a million times before, he felt as if he was doing it for the first time. A purple glow spread out underneath him, slowly lighting up rune after rune to the “oohs” and “aahs” of the present ponies.

Once the array around him was completely lit up Atlas activated it with a gulp. From here on out, a lot of the spell would work on its own. Everything was automated, except the casting of the actual spell. Atlas would function as the funnel through which the collected mana travelled, empowering him to cast the otherwise impossible spell. Ideally, this part would also be handled by a different array, but there simply hadn’t been enough time, leaving Atlas to manually cast it as the only option.

Almost immediately, the rest of the massive array around him lit up as well, startling quite a few ponies as their world was suddenly bathed in purple. Atlas felt the connection being established as mana started to pour in, not only from around him, but from all around Equestria. Slowly, multi-colored tendrils of mana started travelling from each of the princesses and the elements, snaking their way from them to Atlas.

Each of them had agreed to work as funnels for the incoming mana, to lessen the strain on Atlas at least a little bit. Depending on the pony, they were funneling more or less, but every little bit counted in this scenario. Soon he was surrounded by a multitude of magical beams connecting with him and he felt power rushing through him.

Satisfied that the first stage of the spell had gone off without a hitch, Atlas finally re-opened his eyes, which were now glowing a blinding white. He, once more, directed his gaze upwards before a large beam of pure white magic shot out of his horn, travelling straight up at incredible speeds. It climbed up higher than any pony could imagine, ultimately slamming into the surface of the moon.

At this point, the only other uncertainty aside from the amount of mana came into play. Over a thousand years ago, when Atlas left the fletchling kingdom, he handed a small letter to Luna containing instructions. They predicted that Luna would eventually find herself on the moon for some reason or other, and if she did, she was to create an array on its surface.

After his return to civilization a few weeks ago, he had asked Luna again and again if she had managed to do so, hungry for confirmation that his back-up plan was in place. Much to his relief, Luna had seemingly been able to escape the nightmares control for short times every now and again, during which she managed to complete the array drawn on the instructions.

If she had made any mistakes during its creation, be it due to her simply misremembering a single rune or simple negligence on her part, mattered little. If anything was wrong, the whole spell would die right then and there and they would be doomed. Atlas currently couldn’t afford to care, though, so he soldiered on, completely trusting in his daughters words and abilities.

Even though the moon was far away, he could feel the feedback of the array slowly activating. He furrowed his brow in concentration as he felt for even the tiniest discrepancy during the process, only releasing the breath he was holding when it activated completely.

The array on the moon was technically out-dated, and all things considered not that pivotal in the success of the spell. But it allowed Atlas to use the moon as a sort of catalyst through which he could cast the spell, and since it was a lot closer to where Atlas assumed the “walls” of his prison to be, it would make things a lot easier.

With the preparations for the casting of the actual spell finally complete, Atlas went about his demanding task. Careful not to make any mistakes, he manipulated the torrents of mana passing through him expertly, just as he had theorized and practiced over and over again. For a few minutes seemingly nothing happened, which made the ponies around him worry that something had gone awry.

“Up there! In the sky!” An unknown pony shouted out, causing everypony to crane their necks upwards.

Next to the moon, a massive, purple rune was starting to appear, easily dwarfing both celestial bodies. Atlas had been feeling around for, and finally found his prison-walls, and had now started to etch an array into them.

As Hyas had taught him many, many years ago, the only way to escape the fate laid out for him, was to destroy the prison from the inside. According to him, destroying these “walls”, which were the connecting factor between Atlas’ old world and this dimension, would make it impossible for either side to interact with each other ever again. This, of course, would strand Atlas in Equestria, but would also protect the denizens of this world.

Slowly but surely, the first rune in the sky was joined by another, and the ponies watched in awe as the sky was being filled with the unfamiliar objects. Twilights jaw had been permanently unhinged ever since the spell started and had almost lost control over her task several times already. A sentiment shared by everypony with said task, aside from Celestia, Luna, and Discord which dutifully funneled all the mana they could, occasionally helping to stabilize the flow of others when it became unstable.

The amounts of mana that Atlas was channeling was mind boggling, and every second that passed meant an incredible amount of mana spent. It didn’t take long for him to burn through the mana he had stored in the mountains, or rather, what was left of it. Which mean he had to start draining the ponies of Equestria. As soon as he started supplementing some of the mana this way, a visible lurch went through the crowd.

Atlas was making good time on his spell, but seeing that he had to switch mana sources so soon just reminded him that he needed to speed it up a bit, or he wouldn’t be able to finish. More and more runes littered the sky, and it didn’t take long for them to fill up every visible piece of blue. Of course, he was continuing to add runes in places that couldn’t be seen from Ponyville, in order to cover the prison-walls evenly.

It didn’t take long before this source of mana ran dry as well, the ponies around him weakly lying on the floor while looking up at the spectacle. They were a bit winded, but no worse for wear, and Atlas switched over to the last available source he had. With their duties of funneling mana fulfilled, it was the princesses and the elements turn to supply what they had.

Aside from the alicorns and Discord who had massive mana pools to begin with, Twilight's friends still shared a connection with the elements of harmony. By exploiting that connection a bit and using Twilight’s castle as an impromptu lightning rod for mana, he was able to extract some of the ambient mana from all over Equestria, albeit in very limited quantities.

Atlas cast his spell tirelessly and as fast as he could, adding rune after rune to the array in the sky. With a scary efficiency the array grew, getting closer and closer to being completed. Yet, the closer he got to finishing his spell, a slow realization made itself known in the back of his head. The nagging feeling grew larger and larger, together with the array, until a cold hard fact washed over his entire being.

“There won’t be enough mana…” Atlas thought as a cold shiver ran down his spine.

Hades exchanged violent blows with Zeus, the force of their fists connecting with their targets causing the walls around them to tremor, endangering the already unstable roof. Both of them had mostly forgone using the powers of their domain directly, one for the fear of accidentally destroying the prison and the other for accidentally killing off the unconscious Hermes.

Still, every now and again lightning arced through the room when opportunity presented itself, which was usually dodged by Hades or swallowed by a vortex of pure darkness. No words were shared between the two opponents as fist after fist slammed into flesh. Nothing more remained to be said, and everything they wanted to convey would be transmitted through their fists.

The slugfest lastet for several tense minutes, the both of them seemingly equally matched. Their whole bodies ached and bled, but for all the pain inflicted, none of them showed any signs of slowing down or giving up. Right up until the moment Zeus slipped on a small puddle of blood on the floor. It was only a split-second, but he lost his balance, which was all the invitation Hades needed.

Putting all his strength into his next move, Hades rammed his fist into Zeus’s unguarded stomach, causing him to stumble and gasp for air. The presented opening was promptly exploited by an uppercut that sent Zeus flying into the wall behind him.

Hades eased up a bit, relaxing his stance, as he watched his adversary sail away and crumple to a heap where he landed, unmoving. Cautiously, Hades approached the body, keeping a sharp eye out for any suspicious movements from the thunder god. Just to make sure, he sent out a powerful kick into Zeus’s prone form.

Aside from the body ragdolling into the wall once more, nothing else happened, and after another few tense seconds, Hades relaxed and and sighed deeply. He had finally won and all that remained to do now was deal with Zeus.

The moment Hades relaxed, the prone Zeus exploded into action, using the last of his powers to give himself a boost. Having taken a trick out of Hermes’s book, he tried his hands at deceiving Hades, letting him think he had won. Desperately running towards the unconscious Hermes, and the prisons location, Zeus capitalized on the opening he had created for himself.

He heard a gasp behind him as Hades registered what was happening, but it was all too late. A smile spread over Zeus’s face as he got ever closer to his coveted price. Not wanting to take any risks, he practically threw himself the last few feet, diving towards the sphere with an outstretched arm.

With about as much grace as a stranded whale, Zeus flew through the air towards his victory as time seemed to slow to a crawl around him. A feeling of pure ecstasy spreading throughout him as he felt the tip of his middle finger make contact with the cold material of the cage. Mentally proclaiming victory with a maniacal laugh, Zeus gave the command to start the transfer.

Atlas felt the world around him lurch to a stop. At this point his awareness was spread out almost all over the world as he worked on the array, almost unable to register what was going on around his physical body. But when his worst fears came true and the steady supply of mana suddenly ceased to come, he almost threw up. His mind was rapidly being pulled back into his body, the sensation of it slamming back into its shell caused him to take a few steps back from where he stood. The world spun around him as another wave of nausea washed over him, causing him to close his eyes and sit down in an attempt to steady himself.

All the while the fact that he had failed seeped into his very being. The single most important moment of his life had come and passed, and left him standing on the losing side of history. A part of him was still in disbelief, his subconsciousness practically forbidding him from opening his eyes to meet the disappointed stares from the whole population of Ponyville, the elements… and his family.

The longer he took, the worse the feeling got. Feeling tears fighting their way out, he finally gave up and opened his eyes to face the ponies he had doomed.

The first thing he saw was Celestia, as her position in the array had been straight ahead of him. Meeting her gaze, Atlas felt a shock going through his body, causing him to reflexively avert his eyes, immediately followed by furrowing his brows in confusion.

Once again, Atlas looked up, this time taking in his surroundings. It seemed as if a black and white filter had been superimposed over the world, robbing it of all it’s wonderful colors and leaving it as a empty husk. A second glance revealed that time itself, had seemingly come to a complete stop, as not a single being around him moved. Even the mana streams connecting him to the others were frozen in mid-air.

Confused about what was happening Atlas got back on his hooves, despite still feeling nauseous, and took a few tentative steps towards Celestia. Upon reaching her still form, he prodded her chest with a reluctant hoof, the sensation being akin to touching a slab of cold, hard metal.

With a surprised yelp, he drew back his hoof and stumbled back over his own legs, falling hard. He scrambled back to a standing position, looking around in a panic. Nothing around him moved. He could feel no wind caressing his fur, and worst of all, it was cold.

Was this the cause of him failing his task? Had the world already been put to an end? Was his soul about to be ripped apart? Had he truly failed?

Thousands of questions raced through Atlas mind and he started to hyperventilate. He spun around in circles, frantically looking for any sign of movement, any sign of life, anything that would prove his suspicions wrong, really.

His heart threatened to jump out of his throat, hammering away in his chest, when suddenly, the world around him turned dark. Almost screaming due to the sudden change, Atlas froze in place. Assuming his end had come, he realized how unprepared he was for this eventuality, so there he stood, awaiting pain or worse.

As nothing more seemed to happen, his tense body relaxed a bit and he released a shaky breath. Slowly, Atlas turned around, looking for the source of darkness before coming face to face with a familiar form. There, behind him, towered a gigantic figure shaped like a human. He had seen this figure only twice before in his live, instinctively recognizing the titan before him.

“Atlas…” Atlas whispered.

A tingling sensation filled his body as he slowly morphed back into a human, albeit a tad bit more furry than he was used to. He investigated his strange new features for a moment, finding that he now was a mix between human and pony.

“Your soul…” a rumbling voice cut through the silence. “Has changed... a great deal. It has adapted… fused with... what you have become… gave itself a new form…” the titan spoke deliberately.

“Souls are weird,” Atlas chuckled dryly, craning his neck to look into the titans face. “Did we fail? Is that why you are here?”

“Souls… are a mirror of ones self…” Atlas spoke. “They reflect… what you are… change and grow… contain what makes you… yourself…”

“So I look like this because I’ve been a pony for so long that my soul began to accommodate?” Atlas furrowed his brow. “But at this point I’ve been a pony for a lot longer than I was human, how come I’m not a complete pony yet?”

“Body of a pony… soul of a human. A big change like that… very slow…” Atlas blinked as if in slow-motion. “Also fusing with my soul… retains some human shape…”

“I see,” Atlas nodded slowly. “Now that this is out of the way, let me ask this again, did we fail the spell?” he asked, already dreading the answer.

The titan looked around, as if realizing where he was for the first time. His gaze lingered on the ponies below him, before being directed towards the sky, where it remained. Finally, he looked back down to Atlas.

“Not… yet…” he said calmly.

A huge weight fell from Atlas shoulders as he breathed a sigh of relief. Taking a look around again he resolved himself anew that he’d do whatever it took to save this world. Going over the information he had available, a frown started to form on his face. He was sure that there wasn’t enough mana to complete the spell, so what else could he do?

“You say that as if there’s still hope,” Atlas said, looking up to his titan counterpart. “Do you know something I don’t?”

“I… know a great many things…” the titan nodded. “There is… still a way… but… it comes at a great cost… for both… of us…”

“I’m willing to do anything it takes,” Atlas said without hesitation. “I want to protect this world and its inhabitants, no matter what it takes.”

“You… are a lot… like me…” the titan replied, a ghost of a smile on his face. “You… are a worthy… successor…”

“Thanks, I guess?” Atlas smiled back. “So? What is this crazy plan you have?”

“Change of soul… slow… takes a long time…” the titan repeated himself. “I’ve studied the soul… for almost all… of my existence. I know of a way… to make it faster. Our souls… need to complete... their fusion. We’ve already… fused about sixty percent… can finish rest… in a matter… of minutes.”

“That sounds like a great plan,” Atlas nodded. “But how is that going to help me finish the spell, and what’s the catch?”

“Change… violent… unnatural… painful…” the titan replied forebodingly.

“I’ll just have to bite through it,” Atlas frowned. “So if that’s the catch, what’s the good news?”

“You become… akin to a god… become heir… to my domain…” the titan spoke. “Become stronger… and a true immortal.”

“I see…” Atlas replied. “But I don’t see how becoming stronger is going to help me… The problematic factor here is the quantity of mana at my disposal, not my physical strength.”

“Equus… has no gods… nobody who… manages the realm. With you ascending… the responsibility… will fall to you.”

“Alright, so I’ll just be able to gather as much mana as I want, whenever I want?” Atlas asked with a quizzically raised eyebrow.

“No…” Atlas denied. “But there is… a part of this realm… that has gone ungoverned… for a long time. Tartarus… the land of the dead. The souls of the deceased… have no guidance… no place to go. As such… they stagnate… wander the earth… doomed to rot for eternity. It is not our domain… but all they need is a helping hand. With a god installed… the task will fall to you. Guide them… to their final… place of rest. Collect… the mana… their lingering souls leave behind…”

Atlas was torn between learning of the terrible fate that awaits the creatures of this realm when they passed away, and the revelation of a potentially gigantic source of mana. Seeing as, since the dawn of time, every soul was caught in the limbo between the mortal world and their place of rest, the numbers must be staggering.

“You mean to tell me… everyone who ever died never got to find peace?” Atlas asked carefully, the faces of his friends haunting him, his heart aching at the implications.

The titan slowly shook his head, a sad frown on his face. “They… did not,” he stretched out an arm, pointing somewhere behind Atlas. “But… they are strong… they endure… they wait.”

“Yes, listen to the big guy, dear,” a female voice came from behind Atlas, causing him to freeze up.

He knew that voice. The sweet, calm voice that seemed to caress his ears, carrying a promise of love and comfort. The voice of his companion, his friend... his wife. His knees were shaking as he slowly turned around, ultimately coming face to face with Charity Belle.

“Belle?” Atlas asked with a shaky voice. “How are you… I thought… Why…?” he stammered unable to form a coherent thought. He slowly stretched out an unstable, furry hand, caressing the face of his long gone lover. The sensation was soft and cold, almost as if she wasn’t really there, and now that he took a closer look, she seemed to be slightly transparent as well.

“Still the bumbling fool I see…” Belle put her hoof over Atlas’s hand and held it tightly. “Even though you look a lot weirder than when I last saw you, I’d recognize you anywhere,” she added with a smile.

Atlas looked himself over again, temporarily having forgotten that he had turned into a weird pony-human hybrid and let out a small laugh. Memories came back to him of the, admittedly too short time he got to spend with Belle, throwing his emotions into turmoil. Collapsing to his knees, he pulled Belle into a loving hug while simultaneously starting to cry.

“I… I never got to say goodbye…” Atlas sobbed. “I’m so sorry! You died because of my carelessness! All because of me… I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”

Atlas continued to apologize over and over again, still blaming himself for what happened so long ago. A serene smile adorned Belle’s face as she returned the hug, stroking the crying Atlas back.

“Shhh… It wasn’t your fault,” she reassured him. “It would have happened eventually, it was just an unfortunate accident. It wasn’t your fault…”

The two spent a long time in each others embrace, one of them apologising profusely while the other offered up comforting words, patiently waiting until Atlas got his regrets out of his system. Eventually, Atlas calmed down and pulled back, Belle smiling at him all the way. She used her fetlock to wipe away the tears on Atlas face, receiving a quick, loving kiss for her efforts before being pulled into a hug again.

“Thanks,” Atlas said before letting go and sitting back with his legs crossed, now being able to make eye-contact without looking down. “How are you here?” he asked with a curious smile.

“I’m not sure, actually,” Belle shook her head. “But I’m relatively certain that he has something to do with it,” she added, pointing towards the titan watching them.

“I lead them here… as proof…” the titan replied, waving in their general direction. “There are many… there are enough…”

For the first time, Atlas actually paid attention to what was going on behind Belle. A massive amount of shadowy wisps had gathered, occasionally taking the form of a pony or other creature before returning to being without form.

“Uhhh… hi,” an old stallion that stood at the front said, his form much more defined than the others. His coat was of a bloody red, a purple, messy mane resting on his head. The color of both his tail and his mane seemed washed out, his advanced age clearly visible by the white hairs threatening to become the majority. “Long time, no see.”

“Crimson?” Atlas asked with a surprised expression. “Is that you?”

“Sure am, old friend,” Crimson chuckled as he took a few steps closer. “And I’m not alone,” the old stallion gesture behind him, where other ponies with solid forms stood and watched.

Crimsons wife, Blue Current, wasn’t far behind her husband. She seemed equally old and slightly uncertain on her hooves. Seeing the two like this filled Atlas with happiness, as they undoubtedly had a long and fulfilling life together. Coming up behind them was a young, purple unicorn, his head held high and pride in his eyes.

“Amethyst…” Atlas whispered, unable to avert his eyes.

“Save your sappy feelings for Belle, Atlas,” Amethyst chuckled as he drew closer. “You know I did what I had to do, because I wanted to. No point in crying over spilt milk, so be happy instead and give your old pal a hug.”

Amethyst didn’t wait for an answer and pulled Atlas into a brotherly hug. Being slightly overwhelmed with the current situation, Atlas returned it half-heartedly, but Amethyst either didn’t notice or didn’t care.

“I must say…” a middle-aged, green earth pony mare came up to them. Her purple hair neatly arranged in a top-knot. “Yours is a face I didn’t think I’d ever see again,” she chuckled.

“Vibrant Colors…” Atlas breathed out.

“Ah, so you do know who I am,” Vibrant chuckled. “And here I thought you forgot who I was, what with you never coming back to visit.”

“I… I don’t really have an excuse…” Atlas rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. “There was just so much going on… and you lived so far away…”

“Ahh, pish-posh,” Vibrant waved him off. “Don’t let my words make you feel bad. Besides, I know you’ve been taking good care of my daughters, and for that I can’t thank you enough.”

“You know about that?” Atlas asked surprised.

“Listen here, we may be dead, but we’re still around,” Vibrant winked at him. “We never really left, and we’ve been watching.”

“So you guys were watching over me?”

“Sometimes,” Blue Current interjected. “We all know that you would mess up without us around.”

“That’s… a bit hard to take in…” Atlas winced. “So you’ve seen all the things I’ve done? All the machinations I’ve put into place?”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” Amethyst clicked his tongue. “You’ve done some mean things, but you always had the best intentions. I’d say the end-result justifies your actions.”

“It’s not like we’ve watched you all the time, though,” Crimson commented. “Your life was pretty boring over the last millenium or so… Can’t say the same about Belle though, she stuck to you as if she was glued on.”

“You did?” Atlas asked with a raised eyebrow, causing Belle to sheepishly look away. “Thank you…” Atlas pulled Belle close again, planting a quick peck on her cheek. “It’s kinda reassuring that you guys were there for me, even though I didn’t realize it at the time.”

“Hey, that’s what friends do,” Amethyst shrugged. “We watch out for each other.”

“Say…” Atlas started, looking at his gathered friends. “Where’s Amber? I can’t see her anywhere…”

“She…” Belle looked uncertain as she answered. “I don’t think she ever joined us…”

“What do you mean?” Atlas scrunched his face.

“None of us have seen her since… well, we died,” Belle elaborated. “And although we’ve looked around, none of us ever found her in the world of the living, or the dead. And trust me, it’s rather easy to find somepony you know if you have spooky ghost powers...”

“Does that mean… she’s still alive somewhere?” Atlas splurted out.

“Possibly,” Amethyst shrugged. “Who knows, really?”

“That’s… interesting…” Atlas said slowly. “I suppose I should start looking for her if we make it through this.”

“I’m sure she would enjoy seeing you again, if she’s still around,” Blue Current nodded.

“Somebody… approaches…” the titan behind them suddenly said.

He was looking into the far off distance, as if seeing something they couldn’t. The gathered friends directed their gazes to the same direction, looking for anything out of the ordinary, but couldn’t find anything of the sort.

“I must say, that’s a pretty impressive set up you’ve got going on here,” a voice behind Atlas casually said.

Atlas spun around to face the speaker, the voice sounding oddly familiar. There, behind him, stood Hermes, nonchalantly inspecting the array they were standing on. His eyes were tracing the runes, as if trying to read their exact purpose.

“Hermes!” Atlas shouted, immediately recognizing the face that haunted him ever since he arrived in this world. “What are you doing here?! Are you here to destroy me?” he tried firing up his horn, which failed due to him not having one in this body.

“Destroy you?” Hermes shook his head. “Quite the opposite actually, I’m here to save you. Or just check up on you, I guess.”

“As if I’d believe anything you say!” Atlas shot back. “You’re the reason all of this is happening in the first place!”

“One could argue that the one at fault here is Zeus, and that I was only a means to an end,” Hermes commented. “I’m sure you understand, what with all the scheming you’ve done since you got here. In fact, you’re the most influential pony this realm has ever seen, yet barely more than ten people know you even exist.”

“Even if that’s true, what business could you possibly have with me, aside from my destruction, if you’re little more than Zeus’s pawn?” Atlas seethed.

Atlas’ friends watched over the exchanged with confusion. They all knew that Atlas had still been hiding various things about his curious existence from them, so all of this was news to them.

“Here’s the thing though,” Hermes held up a finger. “I’m actually working as a spy for Hades.”

“Very likely,” Atlas scoffed, still not able to believe the sudden revelations.

“Look, you’re free to not believe me, and for what it’s worth, I’m sorry for what I did to you,” Hermes rolled his eyes. “But that doesn’t change why I’m here.”

Atlas scrutinized Hermes’s face, looking for any kind of trickery for a few tense seconds. Seeing as he hadn’t attacked yet, Atlas came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t hurt to at least listen to what he had to say. “I’m listening…”

“I’m sure you are already aware of this, but you are massively running out of time here,” Hermes sighed. “The attack on Zeus has already begun, they are fighting as we speak.”

“Cutting it closer than I thought…” Atlas frowned.

“Listen, it is entirely possible that Zeus will run once he realizes there’s a chance of him losing to Hades, and when that happens he’ll come straight for you,” Hermes started pacing in front of him. “I’m charged with protecting your prison for as long as I can, to buy Hades time to catch up. That being said, I’m far weaker than Zeus, and all I can do is stall for time by playing to his impatient nature with a few tricks and illusions.

“I’ll say this again, your time is up, finish what you’re doing now, or we might be forced to destroy everything from the outside, and neither of us would like to see that happening, I’m sure,” Hermes stopped. “You might have stopped time in here… somehow, but outside it’s flowing perfectly normal.”

“So how much time do we have?” Atlas asked, putting aside his hostility in favor of getting more information.

“Maybe an hour at most, but the sooner you get done, the better,” Hermes replied.

“Damn!” Atlas stomped his hoof. “Anything else you wanna tell me?”

“Just that you need to hurry it up if you don’t wanna kick the bucket,” Hermes scoffed. “And… I know you probably won’t believe it, but I’m actually sorry for putting you in this position you’re in. I just did what had to be done.”

“I suppose it wasn't entirely your fault…” Atlas relented a bit. “Still mad at you, though.”

“I guess that’s all I can ask for,” Hermes nodded, turning around to face the titan behind him. “It was nice seeing you again, big guy… Even though this is a different kind of prison, I hope you will finally be free when this is all over.”

The titan Atlas nodded slowly, a forlorn look on his face. “Please… tell them… I’ll be alright…”

“Will do, big guy,” Hermes smiled and turned around. “Well then, good luck!”

With a flourish, Hermes disappeared from in front of their eyes, leaving behind two beings feeling the pressure of time, and a gaggle of confused dead ponies.

“Uhhh… who was that?” Belle asked from right next to Atlas, causing him to jump since he momentarily forgot they had company.

“That was…” Atlas winced. “I’d love to be able to explain all of this, but you heard him… We’ve run out of time.”

“Right, saving Equestria,” Belle nodded. “That takes priority.”

“I’m really sorry for keeping all these secrets from you… from all of you…” Atlas looked around at his friends. “I hope you can forgive me.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Crimson said sagely. “We all knew that you’re a weird guy, and your secrets are just a package deal. We wouldn’t hold something like this against you.”

Crimsons comment was met with a series of affirmations from everypony present, followed by a quick group hug. Atlas relished in the presence of his old friends before steeling his nerves. Feeling confident that he could face anything if he had his friends at his side, he turned around and faced his other self. “Do your thing.”

“When we do this… you’ll become a god…” the titan rumbled. “You’ll be truly… immortal… the only ones… who could end you… will be… forever cut off… from this realm. The realm will… expand… and you’ll need… to govern… forever. Are you… prepared?”

Atlas was faced with a few tidbits of information he hadn’t thought about before and could feel his resolve wavering a bit. Another glance backwards to the encouraging faces of his friends steadied his nerves a bit and he took a deep breath.

“I’m ready,” Atlas said, stepping forward and closing his eyes. “Please do it…”

“You… are going to carry… that weight…”

The titan raised his arm, his hand extended flatly, before bringing it down on Atlas’s form, seemingly crushing him like an annoying fly. Immediately, Atlas’s world turned white as blinding pain coursed throughout his body, a blood-curdling scream escaping his lips.

A loud scream pierced the air, startling everypony. One second they were enjoying the light show, the next, somepony started screaming their head off. It didn’t take long for them to find the perpetrator in Atlas, who stood in the middle.

“Father!” Celestia called out, not daring to move from her position, lest she mess something up.

Similar cries could be heard from Luna and Discord, while the others just wore worried expressions. Atlas just stood there, screaming as if in incredible pain, yet not moving a single inch from where he stood. Slowly but surely, a change could be observed, manifesting itself as a glow surrounding his form. Shortly afterwards the cracking of bones could be heard, each one accompanied by a change in pitch from Atlas scream. Before their very eyes, Atlas began to grow bigger.

Atlas had always been a slightly bigger than average pony, and when he returned a few weeks ago, he had grown even bigger than they remembered him to be. But now he was threatening to overtake Celestia in size as his form began to expand. Throughout the transformation, the unsettling screaming never stopped, conveying just how much pain he must be enduring, yet, there he stood, unmoving.

Atlas continued to grow until he was just about half a head bigger than Celestia, and to the relief of everypony present, the cracking of bones stopped along with his growth. The screaming died down as well, and was replaced with heavy panting from Atlas. Luna wanted to rush out and check on her father, but seeing as he still kept the spell going through all of this, she bit her lip and stayed where she was.

Slowly, the mana flow between them fizzled out, as they all threatened to run out of mana. Just as Celestia was about to ask if they had succeed, the beam connecting Atlas to the moon tripled in size, blinding her and everypony else. Atlas started screaming again, although this time it sounded determined, rather than pained.

They watched in awe at the display power put before them, as Atlas continued to weave his spell. After about two more minutes, a bright flash colored the entire world purple, causing everypony to look up.

“The array is powered up…” Luna muttered, recognizing the tell-tale sign of a sufficiently supplied rune array.

With a last grunt of effort, Atlas finished his spell, a big ball of magic detaching from his horn and racing up towards the moon at an unbelievable speed. It disappeared into the moon, and then, everything turned silent. Atlas panted heavily, collapsing to the floor. His eyes lost their magical glow and returned to their usual, cold silver. With the last of his strength, he rolled over on his back, wanting to witness the results in action.

“Father…” Luna asked tentatively, still remaining glued to her spot. “Have you succeeded?”

Atlas didn’t say anything and simply pointed a hoof skywards with a smile. Wanting him to elaborate, Luna wanted to ask again, but was interrupted by a loud crack akin to glass shattering that caused her to throw her hooves over her ears and wince in pain. Everypony else had a similar reaction, before looking skyward once again.

Far, far up above them a giant crack was hanging in the sky. They didn’t have much time to wonder at the seemingly impossible and out of place curiosity, as soon after, another crack appeared in the sky. Accompanied by the sound of glass being obliterated, the cracks spiderwebbed across the entirety of the sky, before it all collapsed.

Thousands of undefinable shapes and forms exploded outwards and away from them, disappearing into the afternoon sky, never to be seen again.

“It… it was successful, right?” Celestia asked tentatively, still looking up.

“I think so,” Luna replied, looking for any leftover runes in the sky, or anything out of the ordinary. Not able to find anything she looked back down to Atlas in order to confirm. “Father, is this what you wanted to… Pfft,” she barely stifled a laugh when she looked at Atlas lying on the ground.

“Oh… oh my,” Celestia added, she herself being struck with the odd sight of her father.

“What?” Atlas asked, gathering his strength and getting into a sitting position.

“You might have some… uhh… additional things to worry about…” Discord pointed at Atlas’s side, barely containing his laughter.

“What do you mean?” Atlas asked tiredly, looking towards where Discord was pointing. His eyes remained glued to his side as he regarded the new body he found himself in. Not only had he grown substantially, but a pair of grey wings decorated his new form as well. After checking if he still had his horn, the only logical conclusion was that he had ascended, not only into a god, but also an alicorn.

“Ahh, fuck.”

Zeus face lit up with happiness as he felt his finger make contact with the prison and immediately gave the mental command to start the process of transferring and fusing Atlas’s soul. His joy only lasted for a split second, though, as halfway through giving the command a foot slammed into his hand from above, almost crushing it under it’s force.

“No touching,” Hades seethed. “We still have unconcluded business.”

Zeus grimaced as the pain emanating from his hand got worse when Hades started twisting his foot on it. Seeing as his other hand was still free, he went for the cheeky option, and stretched out his other hand, hoping that Hades wouldn’t stomp on it as well. He had just begun moving it, when a crack appeared on the prison before him.

“No…” Zeus breathed as fear started to set in, accompanied by a cruel sense of déjà vu. More and more cracks appeared on the surface, threatening to break it all apart. “No, no, no, no, NO!”

Zeus’s hand shot forward, giving up on trying to be even remotely sneaky about his attempt, but just before he touched the glass, it shattered into a thousand pieces, causing his hand to not only reach into emptiness, the shards also managed to cut up his hand.

“Give it up,” Hades smirked. “Atlas was successful and I won’t let you run away again. We’ve won, whether you like it or not.”

“Ha,” Zeus stared at a glass shard that was embedded in the back of his hand, starting to laugh like a maniac. “That was your plan? Instead of breaking it yourself, you made Atlas break it from the inside? Just because you wanted to spare one soul, you risked everything?”

“We’re not the same as you,” Hades spat. “Atlas hasn’t done any wrong and didn’t deserve anything you did to him. At least, this way he’ll get another chance at a quiet life, like he always wished to have.”

“You’re all fools,” Zeus laughed. “Don’t you see the mistake you’ve made? I knew Hyas was on your side, but I didn’t think him to be this dumb.”

“What do you mean?” Hades asked suspiciously.

“I’m sure you know that the prison chained Atlas’ soul to its walls, securing him tight so that he couldn’t leave,” Zeus giggled, his hair fraying at the ends. “I’m sure he had to use massive amounts of his worlds mana to achieve his little stunt, and now that he broke it, his soul became untethered.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Hades paled.

“Don’t you get it?!” Zeus laughed. “Atlas’ soul is like a ship in a storm that lost its anchor. The violent waves he released will pull and tear at him until he can’t take the strain anymore. If he can’t stabilize himself, he will be torn apart and perish!”

Zeus began cackling madly, calling Hades and his posse all kinds of names, which was promptly stopped by a swift kick to the head. Hades mulled over the words of his mortal enemy, trying to gouge whether to believe them or not. His eyes came to rest on the glass splitters littering the floor as he pondered the possibilities.

“The rest is up to you…” Hades mumbled, seeing as even if Zeus was right, there was nothing they could do to help Atlas now. “I hope you pull through this…”

“Congratulations on becoming the first male alicorn,” Celestia chuckled, coming to a stop next to her father.

After Atlas had confirmed that the spell had worked, a huge cheer ran through the crows, slightly matted by the fact that all of the ponies present were exhausted. They slowly shuffled off the array, towards the food and drink that was prepared beforehand in order for them to regain their strength as fast as possible. The core members of the spell had decided to investigate Atlas instead.

“Well, I don’t think I ever consented to being one,” Atlas grumbled, pawing at his right wing with his hoof.

“Welcome to the club,” all of the present alicorns said simultaneously.

“Very funny,” Atlas grumbled. “This is gonna take some getting used to…”

Atlas’ left wing suddenly extended, accidentally smacking Twilight across the face. With her already being weakened, it was enough to send her tumbling to the ground.

“Oops, incredibly sorry about that,” Atlas apologized as he tried to get his wing under control.

“Don’t worry about it,” Twilight said weakly. “I had the same problems when I ascended… Besides, the floor is really cool…”

Her statement was soon followed by soft snoring, which caused the others to chuckle.

“So we’ve truly succeeded, did we?” Luna asked again, just to make sure. “This isn’t some sort of dream or something?”

“I feel like you would be the first one to know if this was a dream,” Atlas commented. “And yes, the spell succeeded. We’re in the clear.”

“That is great news,” Celestia breathed a sigh of relief. “So what now?”

“I’ll probably take a thousand year vacation,” Atlas grumbled. “I’m sick of runes.”

“I hope you stick around a bit this time,” Celestia scoffed. “Now that we finally have you back, I’m not too sure we can just let you go.”

“And give up on free lodging and food provided by my daughters?” Atlas chuckled. “Yeah, not happening. I’m stuck to you for a while, whether you like it or not.”

Luna squeed when she heard the good news and pulled Atlas into a hug. Just as she was about to go into a tirade of all the cool things they could do together, a massive burp interrupted them.

A few raised eyebrows found their way towards Discord, who was the source of the disturbance. “Terribly sorry about this,” Discord said, pounding on his chest a few times. “Not sure what came over me there.”

Discord seemed uncomfortable, as was blatantly obvious by his facial expression. His body seemed to contort at specific places, reminding Atlas of having a leg cramp or similar. After a few seconds his belly extended in ways bellies shouldn’t, albeit it wasn’t too weird, considering whose belly it was.

The weird phenomenon was shortly followed by another belch. “Ugh, what is going on right now?” Discord asked confused.

“You mean that’s not just you being… well, you?” Luna asked, slightly disgusted.

“No, something weird is happening, and I’m not sure what it is,” Discord said, watching as other parts of his body started to deform and contort in ways that they shouldn’t. His worried eyes found Atlas’s, who looked equally as worried. “I… I don’t feel so good.”

And then Discord exploded.

Author's Note

Hoo boy, if this isn't one long-ass chapter, I don't know what is, (yes I know longer chapters exist). This is it, we've done it, we've finally arrived at the climax of this whole story. The big bad has been defeated and Atlas is "free". But, oh my, what is happening to our dear friend Discord?

I'm relatively certain that some of you will be unhappy with Atlas' change into an alicorn and will want to contest the decision. Be assured that this crowd would include me and Atlas, as alicorn OC's are not the greatest thing in the world. Yet, I feel it justified in several ways. One could argue that being a now fully-fledged god with domain would warrant the change, but there's another glaring reason why he changed. If you remember, in my universe, a pony ascends once they find and rise up to their fate in every way imaginable, and cutie marks provide a hint towards what that may be. Now that Atlas is quite literally shouldering the whole realm, he has officially met all the conditions.

In last chapters author's note, I was of the opinion that the 'shadowy figure' was obvious enough to figure out, turns out I was wrong. While all of you made some veryinteresting guesses, no one got it right. I felt that, seeing as Hermes was the only other character on Zeus's side which appeared somewhat regularly, you'd have been able to guess. You know, aside from the fact that he is prime betrayal trope material. Hermes was the cloaked spy that reported to Hades as well, if you remember that part.

Next chapter will be the Epilogue, so we can finish up the story nicely. It will answer a few questions, resolve 2-3 of the hints that have been dropped during the stories course, and set up a thing or two. What these set-ups lead to, I'll reveal in the epilogue.

Just let it be said, although the Divine series is about to conclude, this isn't the last you've seen of Atlas. There's still more of this world to explore, please look forward to it.

Once again, thanks to my editor ScootalooFTW, as well as my proofreader Soren Mercer.

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song.

Come join us in the Discord channel! Lonk

Or the official Divine Entertainment group! Divine Universe

Concerning the chapters title: No items, Fox only.

Epilogue

“Discord!”

Several voices with varying states of concern called out when Discord quite literally exploded. Unlike a real explosion, Discord’s sudden departure sounded more akin to a big bubble being popped. His limbs flew off into different directions and started to dissolve mid-air.

“Was that one of his bits?” Luna asked slowly, unsure on how to proceed.

“No…” Atlas bit his lips while looking around for any sign of Discord, “I don’t think so.”

“Are you sure?” Celestia asked, her eyes wandering as well, “that seemed awfully Discord-like.”

“I’m pretty sure, yeah,” Atlas replied, “that was… It just seemed… serious. You know Discord doesn’t like being serious. Even if you think he’s like that, I know he wouldn’t pull something like this just for laughs…”

As soon as Atlas had finished relaying his thoughts, a light started appearing where Discord had been, commanding the attention of everypony present. The light grew in intensity, until everypony except for Atlas had to avert their eyes. He simply cast a spell to counteract the brightness, intent on witnessing what was happening.

Slowly but surely, a shadow could be recognized through the binding light. A shadow that was shifting and changing. As the brightness reached its peak, the shadow solidified and sucked in the light around it. What remained after the spectacle was a pony.

They had a brown coat and a messy white mane and tail. The horn sticking out of the mess confirmed the pony to be a unicorn. A wrinkly face revealed the advanced age of the pony, yet they were probably not far past their prime.

“Brown Diamond?!” Atlas recognized the pony before him with a start, “Doc Brown? Is that you, you?”

“Do you know this pony?” Celestia asked carefully, who alternated between looking at Atlas and the prone pony.

“Uh… I think so…” Atlas replied, still not entirely certain that he could believe his eyes. “If I’m right this pony’s name is Brown Diamond… One of the many ingredients that created Discord.”

“Created Discord?” Luna asked, confusion evident in her voice. “What does that mean?”

“A long, long time ago, Discord was just a pony,” Atlas explained, unable to avert his eyes. “But a spell went horribly wrong, and Discord was the result.”

“Ugh…” Doc Brown started to wake up. “What happened?”

“Brown Diamond? Are you alright?” Atlas asked.

“Brown Diamond?” Doc Brown's eyes fluttered open and he looked at the ponies gathered around him. “What do you mean? My name’s Disco… No… wait… This is confusing.”

“Discord?” Atlas asked tentatively.

“Yes, father?” Doc Brown replied immediately focusing on Atlas. “No… not father. Assistant... and partner.”

Doc Brown sat up, mumbling incoherent words as he tried to get his head straight. Something was very obviously wrong, and Atlas was intent on getting to the bottom of it.

“I need you to answer me as good as you can,” Atlas took a deep breath. “Who are you, and what do you remember?”

“I’m… Discord… I think…” The pony said slowly. “There are memories that don’t belong to me… or do they? I’m not sure. I can remember everything from my life as Discord… But there are new memories of a pony named Brown Diamond…”

“Which ones are more dominant?” Atlas asked curiously.

“Right now?” Discord asked. “Brown Diamond’s. I can remember everything so clearly, like it was yesterday, yet I know that they happened so long ago…”

“Damn…” Atlas bit his lower lip. “You think you’re gonna be okay?”

“I think… I just need some time to sort through this…” Discord smiled weakly at Atlas. “There’s a lot of new information and I feel very disoriented right now, but I think I’ll pull through.”

Atlas breathed a sigh of relief and fell back on his rump. It would appear that Discord was still Discord. Albeit with a new appearance and some mental issues. He had always been a strong-minded individual, and there was no doubt in Atlas mind that he’d be able to pull through somehow.

As he sat there contemplating his next move, he could feel his new wings move on their own once again. Mildly annoyed, he shot a glare backwards, only to find Pinkie Pie pawing at them like a cat.

“I thought the afterparty would be the biggest party I’ve ever thrown…” Pinkie said. “But it seems like I’ll have to make it even bigger to account for our newest alicorn.”

“I’m sure we’re all looking forward to it very much,” Atlas smiled, “but we should probably look to it that everypony recovers the necessary strength to properly enjoy said party, don’t you think?” As if on cue, Atlas’ stomach let out a loud grumble, “I, for one, could go for some grub right now.”

The situation caused everypony to let out a weak chuckle, as they found themselves in a similar situation, so they set course for the pre-set-up food stands. The other gathered ponies were already happily eating away and discussing the event in detail. Celestia made sure to levitate the sleeping Twilight along with her and Atlas kept a close eye on Discord, who followed them on unsteady hooves.

As Atlas walked at the spearpoint of their formation he let his eyes wander. The array which now lay dormant. The blue sky high above, free of the walls that were there before, and last but not least, the crowd of happily chatting ponies they were approaching. Just to make sure, Atlas sent out a weak scanning pulse, in case somepony had been drained more than it was supposed to.

Much to his satisfaction, everything seemed to be in order, aside from the two strange pings he felt when he scanned the population the first time. He had almost forgotten about them, and renewed his intention to investigate these two when the opportunity presented itself. Yet, seeing as they had all just survived a potentially world-ending catastrophe. These plans were put on the back-burner.

After all, tomorrow was another day.

Far away from other pony settlements stood a quaint little town. So far away in fact, that if you got off on the last train stop you still had to walk for about an hour before reaching it. The distance to other civilized areas was by design, as the ponies who inhabit said town felt like there was something wrong with society. Afraid that their different ways would brand them as outcasts, they retreated to a place where they could live alongside like-minded individuals.

The town was still in its early stages, and consisted only of two rows of houses that lined it’s singular street. At the head of the town rested one slightly smaller building, and the residence of the settlements self-appointed leader.

Usually, the town was filled with activity, as the few residents went about their daily business. Friendly faces everywhere, a community consisting of humble folks without temptation.

Not now, though.

Not a single sound could be heard in the town, even though it’s residents were out and about. A deathly silence ruled over the town, which had been unbroken for the past few weeks, or, depending on who you’d ask, a few seconds ago.

Not a single pony moved a muscle as they stood, rooted to the spot, frozen in time. A pony, frozen mid-wave, a baker looking into her oven, or friends chatting in the middle of the street. All of them were being watched by a pony, sitting on a nearby hill.

The pony sported an orange coat and a blonde mane with a unicorn horn sticking out of the messy hair. She watched over the frozen ponies with the patience of a saint, content in her task of vigilance, as a pop behind her announced the arrival of her friend and helper.

“Starswirl,” she said simply. “How’d it go?”

“I didn’t really approach. Just like you wanted,” Starswirl replied, sitting down next to her. “It took some effort on my part to not just go out there and hug the old coot, but I managed.”

“And I’m grateful for that,” the pony chuckled, “but we both know that I’m asking about the other thing.”

“As far as I can tell Atlas pulled it off,” Starswirl nodded proudly. “It was quite a sight to see, honestly. Oh, and he’s an alicorn now.”

“Everything as it should be then,” the mare nodded back.

“You know, for how much shit you keep giving me for messing around with time, I still don’t quite understand why you’re allowed to just up and stop the time of an entire town on a whim,” Starswirl complained.

“This isn’t on a whim,” the mare sighed, preparing to explain her actions yet again, “Atlas is a very powerful ally for ponykind, yet even he isn’t infallible. He helped me out in the past, and this won’t be the last time he will play a major role in this planets protection. So, just to make sure everything goes smoothly, I’ll help him out just this once. He’ll need me in the future, as well as you too, but for now, this is all we can do to help.”

“Didn’t you say that this was for the element bearers sake?” Starswirl asked.

“It is, for this town will help them grow,” the mare nodded. “And Atlas will need the bearers at their strongest if he plans to survive what is to come.”

“Alright, if you say so.” Starswirl shrugged, “Will you release them now?”

“Hmm… I think I’ll give Atlas and his friends a day or two to celebrate their victory,” the mare said happily.

“So we’re stuck here for a while, I guess,” Starswirl sighed.

“Time means nothing to you, as well as me,” the mare reminded him.

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Starswirl rolled his eyes. “Doesn’t change the fact that I’ll bore myself to death if I sit around doing nothing, I’m not as patient as you. So, what do you say to a few rounds of Magic: The Channeling?”

“A blast from the past, huh?” the mare raised an annoyed eyebrow. “I hope you didn’t go back in time to get yourself a deck?”

“I’ll admit to nothing,” Starswirl huffed. “So what will it be? You in?”

“I suppose we could play a few games,” the mare settled down on a relatively flat surface, so that they could properly play on the ground.

“Today, I’ll finally beat you,” Starswirl said smugly, settling down opposite of her. “I know the guy who made it after all.”

“So do I,” the mare ruffled her wings to get more comfortable. “And I’m proud to say he was the only one who ever beat me.”

“Let me guess. He was the only one who played with you?” Starswirl laughed.

“Shut up and deal the cards, Starswirl.”

“As you wish,” Starswirl rolled his eyes and started distributing the cards among them. “Don’t blame me if you lose though, Amber.”

Author's Note

Aaand, we're done! Truly a special moment for me, seeing how much time and effort I put into this project, and now it's finally complete. As I've hinted at in the last chapter, this isn't "the end" by any means, and there'll be more to come, with and/or without Atlas. If you're interested in what is to come check out my blog post here:

Blog Post

With a special guest appearance of the absolute madman, the one and only: Azriel, as an editor! As well as the elusive(now mostly Discord admin), Kilobytes, as a proofreader. As always, Soren Mercer helped out as well in the proofreading department. Love you guys :D

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song. This was the first song I've ever included in an author's note, and what better way to end it, than how it started?

Come join us in the Discord channel! Lonk

Or the official Divine Entertainment group! Divine Universe

2. Curtains (April Fools ending)

Celestia tensely glanced between Atlas and Discord, who were staring each other down with an odd look in their eyes. Atlas did probably not know yet that Discord had been reformed, so some kind of hostility on his part was to be expected, what confused her, though, was the fact that Discord seemed to know who Atlas was as well. No matter what the reason for their standoff was, Celestia felt the urgent need to step in and clarify some things for her father, before things started to escalate.

“Dear father, do not feel threatened by Discords presence here,” Celestia spoke up, grabbing everyponies attention. “He has been reformed and has sworn off from his evil ways, thanks to Twilight and her friends.”

“I know,” Atlas relied casually, much to Celestias confusion.

“Oh, who would have thought I’d seen the day,” Discord said, slowly floating to the ground. “Where Celestia is at a loss for words and is constantly being outplayed by one that is even better at the game of deception she oh so likes to play.”

“I’ve had more practice than her,” Atlas said. “I also know her pretty well, considering I’ve raised her. She’s like an open book to me.”

“Is that so…” Discord said, biting his lower lip.

“Don’t act like you haven’t been leading her on ever since you got released from stone,” Atlas said. “You might be the best at deception of all of us in this room.”

“I assure you, Discord has been completely reformed and has even helped to save Equestria recently,” Celestia commented, in an attempt to mediate between the two. She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to mediate, but she tried anyway. “He’s good friends with Fluttershy, and has been on his best behaviour… well, mostly.”

“Not exactly what I’m talking about, Celestia,” Atlas replied, not taking his eyes off Discord. “Now tell me, Mad King. Am I talking to the act, or am I talking to Discord?”

“I’d say a little bit of both,” Discord replied, his body coiling on the floor like a snake, until only his neck and head were sticking out of the pile. “Keepin up an act for a long time can cause the boundaries to blur, you know.”

“I understand perfectly well,” Atlas nodded. “Now then, Celestia. Luna. I think it’s time for you to lean about one more of the secrets I’ve kept from you.”

“Do you think he’s keeping a lot of secrets from even the princesses?” Rarity whispered towards Twilight, who was following the exchange with apathetic curiosity.

“Judging by their reactions,” Twilight replied while observing Celestia and Lunas facial expressions. They seemed to be interested, yet annoyed at the same time, as if this was a common occurance when dealing with their father. “I’d say, yes, definitely.”
“Element Bearers, this doesn’t concern you directly, but since it will probably clear up some things, I’ll allow you to listen in on this as well,” Atlas stated. “My dear daughters, do you remember the conversation we had before I left?”

Both princesses gave their consent, since they still clearly remembered the day they parted. A lot of important things were said in the week leading up to the event, and manyimportant hints dropped, that helped both of them through the ages, they couldn’t forget it that easily.

“I told you about how I’ve been playing a something akin to a game of chess, by moving pieces as I thought right, to manipulate the board in my, or rather, our favor,” Atlas said. “This might come as somewhat of a surprise and shock, but Discord here,” Discord gave a little wave, “was one of my pieces as well.”

“What does that mean, exactly?” Luna asked slowly after a few second of tense silence.

“It means probably exactly what you think it means,” Atlas said, bracing himself for the inevitable outrage. “The one who unleashed Discord upon Equestria was none other than me.”

“What?” Celestia whispered, a look of betrayal in her eyes.

Luna simply looked at her father as if he had grown a second head, her mouth slightly agape, while Twilight let out an audible gasp,which was mirrored by her firends. Something seemed to have changed about Atlas’ posture, although she couldn’t pinpoint what it was exactly. The fact that Discord was grinning like a madpony didn’t sit well with anypone either.

“It’s finally time to reveal what I’ve been doing and why I could never tell you before,” Atlas grinned, causing Luna to take a worried step away from her father. “I needed you two to become alicorns and make an Equestria a country thriving with magic, so I could ultimately usurp the whole thing, drying it empty of any and all magic. I’m sorry, but that’s the only way to power the spell I’ve been developing.”

“You… You can’t be serious!” Celestia cried out loudly while every guard along the walls assumed defensive positions.

“Father..?” Luna pleaded silently.

“I hate to break it to you, my dear princesses,” Discord said, coiling himself around Celestia and booping her nose. “But I’m afraid you’ve been played. And dare I say? YOu lost spectacularly!”

“Come Discord, it’s time for us to go, we don’t have any time to lose!” Atlas said, gettin up from the floor and dusting off his coat.

Discord teleported over to Atlas, but when he reappeared he had shrunk down considerable, almost looking like a young child that sat on Atlas back, similiar to how Spike would ride on Twilight. “It was a pleasure doing business with you,” Atlas said, making a deep bow.

“And thanks for all the fish!” Discord called out, instants before they both vanished in a bright flash, their manic laughter ringing in everyponies ears for a few more seconds.

Everypony in the room seemed to have frozen on the spot, staring at where the apparently criminal duo just stood. Luna had a thousand yard stare, a few tears already building up in her eyes, while Twilight and her friends, who already had problems keeping up before this, sat there slackjawed. Celestia blnkeda few times, a sinking feeling in her stomach before her thousand years as Equestrias lone princess caught up to her. It pianed her almost more than when Luna had turned into nightmare moon, but if nothing was done right now, Equestria would definitely fall.

“Guards!” Celestia barked, causing movements to explode around the whole room. “Atlas has turned against Equestria and our sole focus should be on stopping him as fast as possible. He is possible the most powerfu mage on the entire planet and he is supported by Discord, so taking them down will not be easy, if not, almost impossible. I want every guard to be mobilized immediately and his hideout to be found post haste. Knowing him, it will be protected by a plethora of wards, so send out scout parties with mages that can recognize them.

“Call a meeting between the highest ranking officers, I will recall Shining Armor and Princess Cadence as soon as I can. We’re going to need absolutely everypony that is willing to help, so go and draft as many as you can. Twilight,” Celestia smiled down at her former student. “I’m afraid Equestria will have to rely on you and your friends once more.”

“I don’t really get what is going on,” Twilight replied. “But you can count on us! Right girls?”

Twilight and her friends all gave their consent, all of them in various states of confusion, but still willing to help. “Then, guards! Move out!”

Celestia watched with trepidation as her guards ran out of the throne room at a break-neck pace, an uneasy feeling in her stomach. Atlas had always been an incredibly capable combat mage, and now that he had over a thousand years of constantly using his magic backing him up, his mana pool must have grown to unfathomable size, which would allow him to unleash devastating spells.

She still couldn't quite believe that her father would just do this, but if he was working together with Discord, anything was possible. Luna seemed to be in a similar position. She seemed to have entered an almost cathartic state, staring at where her father had just disappeared from. One way or the other, they had a trying time ahead of them, one, where Celestia wasn't too sure if they'd come out unscathed.

Author's Note

So yes, this is defnitely an aprils fools chapter, as most of you have figured out already. After sparing you guys the last two times, I decided to do something small this time. Didn't want to at first, but after being fooled like five times on reddit, I thought I'd make you suffer with me and threw some last minute bs together and made sure there's more than enough hints at the fact that it's an april fools chapter. Like the fact that it's not edited and it didn't release around my wednesday window.

Once again, thanks to my editors ScootalooFTW and Alcatraz, as well as my proofreaders Kilobytes and Soren Mercer.

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song.

Come join us in the Discord channel! Lonk

Or the official Divine Entertainment group! Divine Universe

8. Friendship Conduit

Atlas groaned as he woke up. His immediate surroundings were extremely comfortable, so he surmised to be in a bed. A small headache pained his existence, but was quickly taken care of with a spell. He couldn’t remember how he even got into said bed, or who the other pony was that was apparently sleeping next to him, since he had yet to open his eyes. No alcohol was served at the party, but apparently, an extreme sugar high could have similar effects.

Slowly, Atlas cracked his eyes open, discovering a softly snoring Luna next to him. The bed was unnecessarily big, so there was more than enough space between them, suggesting nothing unholy had taken place yesterday. She probably carried him up to their current room after Atlas passed out and he silently thanked her for not just letting him sleep on the floor somewhere.

The mana crystal that made up the castle didn’t exactly seem comfortable to sleep on, after all.

It didn’t take long for his nose to register the nice smell permeating the air, indicating that someone was cooking and Atlas stomach grumbled. He did eat a lot yesterday, but his dinner consisted mainly of sweets, so he craved something different today. He gently nudged Luna awake, intent on getting to wherever the kitchen was and filling his belly. Twilight would most likely be there as well, which suited him just fine, since he would be able to continue where he left off yesterday over breakfast.

“Hmm?” Luna's eyes slowly fluttered open, taking in the room she was in. After realizing that the sun was shining in through a crack in the curtains, she sat up in a panic. “I forgot to lower the moon!”

“Relax,” Atlas said. “I’m pretty sure Celestia did it for you.”

Either ignoring Atlas’ remark or just wanting to make sure, Luna magically threw open the curtains much to Atlas dismay, looking outside to verify the moon's position. She let out a relieved sigh after seeing the sun being the only heavenly body to occupy the heavens while Atlas wriggled like a worm and complaining about going blind behind her.

“Oh don’t act like that!” Luna said in a huff while turning around. “It’s not that bad.”

“I spent over a thousand years without any natural sunlight!” Atlas complained. “My eyes are very sensitive!”

“I didn’t see you complain yesterday, or the day before actually, how come?” Luna asked, genuinely curious.

“Magic, Luna,” Atlas said while rolling out of bed. “It’s the answer to everything in this world.”

“So, what? You used some kind of sunglasses spell on yourself?” Luna cocked an eyebrow. “Why not just wear actual sunglasses?”

“Ponies look stupid with sunglasses, dearest daughter,” Atlas sighed, magically combing his fur and mane in the span of half a second. “And keeping a low-level spell like that active neither requires any mental effort on my side, nor does it even begin to scratch at my mana reserves. You could say my natural MP recovery is higher than what I’m using.”

“You’re still calling the amount of mana you have MP?” Luna asked as they left the room, following the sweet scent towards the kitchen.

“It’s a way more accurate measurement of mana than just classifying it into five stages, that’s for sure,” Atlas nodded. “You guys still doing that?”

“We’ve switched to something called the Rosenwood scale,” Luna replied. “It’s a bit more accurate than the old system but nowhere near close to yours. It didn’t help that you never told anybody how you measured it, or otherwise we might be using that now too. A lot of your spells are still in use, even today, you know?”

“I didn’t?” Atlas said with furrowed brows. “Even if it wasn’t with the documents I gave Starswirl, I know he’d been doing it as well. If he didn’t reveal the method to the public, I’m sure he had his reasons, whatever they might have been. Not like we can ask him anyway…” he added with a sigh.

As they made their way through the crystalized halls of the castle, they started to hear voices, most likely coming from the dining area. Sure enough, they soon encountered an open door which seemed to be home to both the smell and the voices, so they simply entered without announcing their presence.

Contrary to the large dining hall they were in yesterday, this seemed like a more private kind of deal. It actually seemed more like something you’d find in a regular house, rather than a castle fit for a princess. The kitchen elements were located on the far wall, where Spike was currently stirring inside a pot with his back to them. Taking up the rest of the space was a simple, wooden dining table, able to accommodate around ten ponies. Currently, only two of them were occupied, by Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash respectively. Since Rainbow was the only one facing the door, she noticed the new arrivals first.

“Oh, hey guys!” Rainbow greeted them. “Sleep well?”

“You could say so…” Atlas replied. “Castle beds are way more comfortable than the shaggy one I had with me…”

“Good morning, everypony,” Luna simply said.

Both Atlas and Luna sat down next to Twilight and Rainbow respectively, while some morning pleasantries were exchanged between them.

“Breakfast is almost ready,” Spike informed everyone. “Just wait a little longer.”

“Thanks, Spike,” Atlas said. “Any news, Twilight?”

“Nothing in particular,” Twilight shrugged. “Neither Princess Celestia, nor Discord has been in contact with me. Although I’m not actually sure if they’d even contact me, or go straight to you.”

“Probably you, unless it’s urgent, they both probably assume I’d be too busy to react to them,” Atlas eyed the coffee that was in front of Twilight and Rainbow. “Can I have one ‘o those?”

“Sure,” Twilight levitated a coffee pot and two cups over to the table and filled them, giving one each to Atlas and Luna, the latter just nodding thankfully.

“How come you’re still here?” Atlas asked Rainbow Dash.

“Woke up on top of a bookshelf earlier, Twilight was kind enough to let me stay for breakfast,” she replied casually.

“Oh,” Atlas blinked. Sleeping on the floor here seemed unappealing enough, but actually sleeping on top of a shelf? Just thinking about falling off in his sleep made him wince.

“All done!” Spike proclaimed, starting to haul over the pot he’d been stirring in while Twilight helped by levitating over the rest of the stuff Spike had cooked for them. “Dig in!”

Spread out before them was less breakfast and more of a brunch. As it turned out the pot Spike had been fussing over contained a farmer style vegetable soup. In addition, there were pancakes, corn flakes, eggs and beans, toast, a cheese platter and a plethora of jams. The glaring absence of bacon irked Atlas a bit, but he could hardly blame the ponies for not making any.

“So, I’ve already said this yesterday, but time is of the essence over the next few weeks,” Atlas began after everypony had taken whatever food they wanted. “I made an exception for Pinkie Pie yesterday, but coming up is all work and no play, at the very least for me.”

“We understand,” Twilight replied on behalf of her friends. “I’m really sorry for what Pinkie did yesterday.”

“It’s okay, I already forgave her yesterday, as long as there are no more interruptions I’m sure that we should be able to make it… maybe…” Atlas said, adding the last part under his breath.

“I do believe you were just about to share some rather amazing news yesterday, weren’t you?” Luna asked while munching on a pancake.

“I was,” Atlas confirmed. “And unless there’s a follow-up party planned for right now, I’d like to actually do so right now.” He looked around for a few seconds, expecting the worst, before shrugging and continuing. “To make a long story short, the elements, as you call them, aren’t gone. They’re actually buried right under the castle.”

“They’re what?” Twilight spit out the coffee she was sipping, straight into Rainbow Dash's face, followed by heavily protesting exclamations from said pegasus. “How come I never sensed them if they’ve been right under our noses?”

“That’s probably because this whole castle is made out of pure mana crystal, which should jam your detecting abilities quite a bit,” Atlas answered.

“It’s what?” this time it was Luna that spit out her coffee, with Atlas being the unlucky pony sitting across from her.

Rainbow Dash was laughing her ass off while Atlas cleaned himself up with a flash of his horn. “While I’m sure this is very entertaining, I’d like to ask everypony to refrain from drinking coffee for a bit,” Atlas deadpanned, causing Twilight and Luna to sheepishly smile at him.

“Yes, you heard right, the elements are still whole and well, and this entire castle is made from concentrated mana crystal,” Atlas reconfirmed his words.

“How is this possible? What are they doing down there? How’d they even get there?” Twilight started asking.

“First of all, you need to understand that extremely large amounts of mana bring about change to whatever is containing said mana,” Atlas explained. “I first observed this effect on the elements themselves a few years after I made them. At the time, it was just something simple, like them getting slightly bigger than they were made. They continued to grow over time, but that’s basically all they did back then. It would appear that the high saturation of mana within them caused them to change more than I thought possible. At this point in time, I’m fairly certain that they’ve developed some crude form of conscience.”

“Do you mean to tell us that the elements have become self-aware?” Luna asked, the scholar within her getting curious.

“More or less, yes,” Atlas confirmed. “I suspect that they’ve been “tainted” by their wearers so to speak. By which I mean, they were influenced by the principles and ideals of those that used them over time, which they are now using as a base for their… personality? I guess?”

“That is fascinating…” Twilight mumbled.

“Which brings me to the truly amazing part, and also the one that will be the most useful for our needs,” Atlas said as everypony and dragon was hanging on his words. “I assume that the reason that they formed this castle was because the tree I made for them simply became too small to hold all the mana they were storing. In short, your castle is one giant mana battery, and there’s currently a huge amount of mana stored within it.”

“That’s great news!” Twilight exclaimed.

“It sure is, but what about it? Is it enough?” Luna added, a little skeptical.

“I wish I could say yes…” Atlas replied. “But I’m not sure yet. It will definitely bring us a lot closer to the required amount, but I don’t think there’s any way of knowing if we’ll truly have enough mana until the moment where I cast the spell. Ponies’ mana pools can just vary too much, so it’s basically impossible to make an accurate calculation.”

“We’ll just have to hope for the best then,” Luna sighed. “Did you find out anything else?”

“Yes, actually,” Atlas nodded. “Yesterday, I briefly connected with the elements, and what followed was nothing short of insane. For some reason, the elements are keeping up a self-sufficient spell that blankets most of the known world… They seem to be monitoring everything for some unknown reason by connecting with everything that possesses innate mana… which is to say, quite literally everything. I was almost overwhelmed when I shared in on their connection.”

“For what reason could they possibly be doing this?” Twilight surmised.

“Honestly?” Atlas said with a raised eyebrow. “I have no clue. What I can say is that we’ll probably be able to exploit this phenomenon and use the castle as a sort of conduit for all the mana we’ll be channeling on the day of the spell. Seeing as there is already an existing connection between everypony, one of my tasks just got a whole lot easier. Could I ask you to share this information with Celestia, Twilight?”

“Sure thing,” Twilight smiled stupidly, happy after having learned so many new magic related things. “I’ll write it down later and have Spike send a scroll.”

“Leave it to me!” Spike exclaimed, for some reason flexing his non-existent biceps.

“Okay, then I’ll tell Discord,” Atlas nodded, just as Spike let out a huge burp, followed by a green flame, from which a letter materialized itself. “Speak of the devil… You two really need to learn how to do this without Spike’s help, by the way.”

“I’d love to learn the spell, if you wouldn’t mind teaching me?” Twilight said with hopeful eyes as she absentmindedly unfurled the scroll.

“I suppose it’s inevitable, it’ll make things a lot easier in the coming days… for all of us,” Atlas relented. “It isn’t even that hard to learn, I’m sure you’ll master it in no time. What does it say?”

Twilight took a moment to read the scroll, the table falling into silence, aside from the occasional breakfast noises. “Celestia says that she’s making good progress on her assigned tasks. And she says she calculated how long it’ll take to gather up everypony at the assigned gathering points…”

“Well, that’s certainly good news,” Atlas nodded. “How long?”

“Three weeks…” Twilight said. “She says that this is already an incredible rush-job, and that it probably will be impossible to cut the required time any further… there’s also an apology to you at the bottom.”

“Talk about cutting it close,” Atlas said. If he still had fingers with nails, he’d probably be chewing on them right now. “It’s still within our time slot, so she doesn’t need to apologize. It’s a gargantuan task, and it’s incredible that she’s able to pull it off at such short notice. Please add that to the letter you’ll send later, if you don’t mind.”

“I’ll be sure to do so,” Twilight confirmed while rolling up the scroll.

“Excuse me, everypony,” a voice at the entrance to the dining hall made its presence known. “Terribly sorry to disturb you this early in the morning.”

Atlas and Twilight turned around to look at the newcomer, revealing Rarity to standing behind them. She seemed somewhat agitated and nervous, seemingly not bothering to sit down with them.

“Good morning, Rarity,” Twilight said. “What brings you here so early in the morning?”

“I’m afraid I come bringing a bit of bad news,” Rarity said with a sheepish smile.

“Please tell me it’s nothing too serious…” Atlas sighed. Everything seemed to be going too well, so something like this was bound to happen eventually.

“Well, as I’m sure you all know, I’m living somewhat close to the rumor mill, and I’ve heard some unsettling talks this morning. It would appear that the rather… unsubtle display of magic yesterday had unsettled quite a few ponies. Most of them just assumed it was just Twilight being Twilight, but others believe there is something a bit more sinister going on…” Rarity explained. “Especially after they found the weird markings spanning the field behind the castle this morning. They are of the opinion that Twilight would’ve announced a large scale spell like that beforehoof.”

“I guess that’s where I come in,” Luna said, finishing up her breakfast. “I really should’ve addressed everypony at yesterday's party. But now I’ll have to call in a town meeting just for this… Atlas, I’ll need you to be present for the meeting, probably later this afternoon.”

“Can’t say I’m looking forward to it, but if it’ll quell the conspiracy theories I’d rather make a short appearance there than let it escalate,” Atlas shook his head.

“Yes, Ponyville tends to get a bit paranoid about things like this,” Twilight confirmed. “It’ll probably better to nip this in the bud.”

“Agreed,” Luna said while getting up. “I’ll leave you to your tasks, father, I’ll let you know when your presence is needed. Miss Rarity, would you mind accompanying me to town hall?”

“Of course, Princess Luna,” Rarity confirmed. “I’d love to.”

Luna and Rarity left the dining room, leaving the other ponies behind. They slowly finished up their respective breakfasts one after the other. Rainbow Dash excusing herself shortly after finishing hers.

“Well, time to get busy,” Atlas said while letting out a satisfied burp. “Yesterday you mentioned that you’ve got a study prepared for me. Care to show me the way, Twilight?”

“Of course! Spike, can I leave the cleanup here to you?” Twilight replied, getting an affirmative from Spike. “It’s just upstairs, follow me.”

Author's Note

Hasn't received much editing love, you might find a few errors. Feel free to ignore them.

Once again, thanks to my editor ScootalooFTW, as well as my proofreader Soren Mercer.

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song.

Come join us in the Discord channel! Lonk

Or the official Divine Entertainment group! Divine Universe