Even though the weather wasn’t cold at all, Lauren could feel chills running through her entire body. It was a sensation that she had felt before. It was moments ago, when Celestia first showed her evil side. But now it was different, so different. This time, her sixth sense was plucked by Faust's presence; the one who everypony branded a saviour, who would free Celestia from the curse. But who would have thought that malevolent external force was none other than Faust?

Luna, much like Twilight, was dumbfounded, unable to speak. It was too much of a shock to do anything about it. It probably was as shocking as when Lauren revealed herself as the creator of Equestria. However, something was still not correct. Something was out of place.

Faust spread her wings as her horn glowed. Her blood-tainted eyes were wide open and she was staring directly at Celestia. “I will end you, Celestia!” she yelled, pushing her hooves off the ground and flying towards her.

Celestia immediately jumped in front of everypony, her face frowning in anger. It was just a matter of seconds until Faust impacted Celestia. The battling alicorns' horns met, each struggling for control over the other. Celestia did not move an inch, empowered by more than her innate strength. She fought to secure her true mother's fate; she fought to save her family, home and country from a perversion of her world's creator.

Lauren, Luna and Twilight were witnessing everything from a short distance behind Celestia. They had to do something. They couldn’t just stay there and do nothing like they had been doing a lot recently. Celestia had told them that once they opened their eyes, they had to stop the culprit. And that was exactly what they were going to do.

“Don’t you dare hurt the Princess, you monster!” Twilight exclaimed, building magic on her horn, aiming directly at Faust. “Get away from her!” she shouted, still harboring a speck of hope that this conflict could be resolved by more or less peaceful means. She was still unprepared to use a school of magic designed exclusively for bringing grievous harm to others; maintaining her moral standards served as a bedrock of sanity in a world newly uprooted and upturned. She did not wish to create a second monster to match the first, so she only used a simple knockback beam.

Faust cringed, and Celestia seized the opportunity to push her away, violently throwing her across the room. She rolled and impacting a wall, groaning in pain. Meanwhile, Twilight ran next to the Princess, her horn pointing at the Faust, ready for any attack that the evil alicorn might bring to the table.

Luna and Lauren looked at each other and nodded, running next to Celestia, their horns shining with magic. Celestia glanced at them and smiled, looking back at the other side of the room where Faust was.

“So if you’re the real culprit,” Twilight said. “That means, thousands of years ago—”

“Yes, Twilight… I was the one who caused Celestia to go mad and attack Luna,” Faust replied from the other side of the room. She grinned and raised herself from the floor, getting back on her hooves. “When Celestia first raised the sun, I drove her mad.” She took a few steps closer, thing that caused everypony to ready their horns.

“It was you who forced me to attack Luna. I was always right.” Celestia bowed her head. “Back when I blamed you for attacking her, I wasn’t just spitting nonsense. I knew it was you all along!” she exclaimed.

“Indeed, Celestia, you were right when you accused me of attacking your sister. Even though you physically did it, it was me the one who forced you to do it. I was the one who locked away your harmony, causing the pink color on your mane to fade away.” Faust shook her head, still a bit dazzled because of the impact. “After the incident happened, I tried to take away your memories. However, it didn’t go as planned, and you ended up remembering a bit about me, as you can recall.”

“So, the spell which you inflicted upon my fair sister?” Luna interrupted.

“It was combined with my amnesia spell. My curse would force her to act like that again if she ever met me again,” Faust explained. “I altered her sanity locks to break if they ever saw my face again. You can see why she went mad after meeting you, Lauren.”

“But, she didn’t break right away!” Twilight protested.

“It was because my spell didn’t activate right away. It was Celestia’s own will which avoided the locks from breaking any faster, but in the end, they broke anyway.” Faust smiled and let out a chuckle. “With Celestia under my power, I was sure I could make you disappear, Lauren.”

“Celestia was under your power?” Lauren asked. All the pieces were slowly starting to fall together. However, there were still a few loose ends which still were bugging Lauren.

“Indeed she was. In fact, she has been under my power since that day when I cast the spell on her.” Faust voice wasn’t showing any doubt or fear. “At least, she was up until I made the foolish mistake to split her into three.”

“What does that mean?” Luna asked.

“Celestia’s mane. It didn’t have the pink color. I had assumed her harmony was locked deeply within my spell, so I foolishly split the other colors on her mane into three entities, unaware of what she had done.” Faust took a step closer to them.

A smirk appeared on Celestia’s face. “You thought I was still under your control. But splitting myself into three just weakened that lock that you had cast on me.”

“Indeed,” Faust replied, playing around with her mane with a hoof. “It was only a matter of destroying those phony Celestias to awaken the real one, and surprise, you all managed to free Celestia from my spell, and at the same time, free yourselves from my illusion.”

“Well, seems like we’ve wrecked your plans,” Lauren said. Everything Faust said was shocking, sure, but it seemed that she failed. Celestia was now free of her spell. What now? What could she possibly do now?

“Oh, have you?” Faust said, with a smug smile on her face. “Do you think it’s already over only because you have Celestia on your side?”

“No. It was over the moment Lauren arrived in Equestria. With her, we will destroy you once and for all!” Celestia struck a hoof against the floor. “I won’t let you threaten my subjects and all the living creatures who co-exist in Equestria!”

“I couldn’t care less about Equestria, since this is not the life I want,” Faust claimed, looking at Lauren.

Lauren raised an eyebrow in confusion. Not the life she wanted? Suddenly, she remembered something she had heard before. Something that was bothering for a while now. Hold on… ‘I want your life’? Wait! Don’t tell me — she wants to have my Craig!

“Yes, Lauren! I do not want this life in Equestria. Not this life as the creator of Equestria. I don’t want this world, I don’t want this body. What I desire, is your REAL life, and your special somepony will be MINE! ALL MINE!” Faust exclaimed, licking her lips in anxiety. “I will become the real Lauren Faust! And you shall perish along with this imaginary land!”

Lauren’s eyes were wide open. She tried to analyze everything she had heard so far. “So… so that’s what you meant when you said you wanted my life? You want to steal my life back in the real world!” She only received a chortle from Faust. “No way! I won’t let you! My life is my life! I won’t give it away to a simple technicolor pony like you!”

Faust chortled, her grin as wide as a mile from ear to ear. “Too bad for you. There is no escape now. Now, be a good filly and cooperate.” She spread her wings again, ready to launch herself at them with another attack. She couldn’t be careless, though. She first had to do something about Luna and Twilight, who would probably be an annoyance for the fulfillment of her goal.

“Don’t drop your guard, and be ready for anything,” Celestia said, fixing her gaze at Faust. “If she tries to launch herself at us like she did, back off and aim at her horn.”

“Her horn? Why?” Lauren asked.

“If we can block her magic, it’s all over. A horn is the weak spot of a unicorn, much like wings are the weak spot of a pegasus.” Celestia took a step forward. “However, she is a sneaky foe. She might have plenty of tricks under her hoof, so be extremely careful.”

“Understood, Princess.” Twilight nodded. Even if she was only a unicorn, she had to help as much as she could. She was the Element of Magic, after all. Not only that, but the most skilled unicorn in all of Equestria. Or at least that’s what Celestia claimed the day of her entrance exam. Regardless, Faust was not a foe that could be taken slightly. If she could easily control Celestia and force her to battle the way she did, she could certainly be more of a threat.

“I will first take care of you two, little pests!” Faust looked at Twilight and Luna, taking a step forward and disappearing from sight with a single flash of light from her horn.

Heads turned around wildly as everypony tried to spot the recently vanished mare, who was even more dangerous out of sight. They looked at the ceiling, at the walls, even at the floor, but there wasn’t any sign of a power-hungry, cream colored alicorn.

“Don’t drop your guard! Stay alert!” Celestia commanded, rolling her eyes to look at every single corner of the room.

It was only a matter of seconds until a burst of light emanated from the other side of the room, opposite to where Faust was originally standing. The first pony to notice it was Luna, who recklessly threw herself towards the origin of the light. Twilight, Lauren and Celestia couldn’t help but just watch as the light took the form of Faust.

“Got you!” Luna threw her body and slammed Faust, causing both alicorns to roll over until they hit a wall. Faust grunted, taken by surprise. Luckily, for Luna, she ended up on top on Faust, allowing her to punch Faust right on the face with a hoof. The bone cracking sound of Luna’s punch caused Faust to let out a groan, followed by a snicker, as if nothing really touched her at all.

“No, I got you,” Faust said, arching her hind legs and violently bucking Luna off from her. The sound of her hooves slamming against Luna was a pleasant melody for her.

“Waah!” Luna flew across the room. The strong buck from Faust caused her to lose her breath, not to mention that she might now have a broken rib, since she felt a very strong pulsation within her chest area.

“Luna!” Celestia spread her wings and jumped in the air, just in time to catch her sister before she hit the ground. However, the speed of Luna’s body was too fast for her to contain. Celestia, unwilling to let her sister to suffer any further damage, swiftly managed to roll her body, holding Luna by her back to cushion the impact for her.

“Princess!” Twilight ran to Celestia’s aid. She almost moved by reflex, leaving Lauren all alone and forgetting everything about Faust. Right now, she only cared to check on the Princess.

“T-Twilight! Stop!” Celestia exclaimed, moving from under her sister to get back on her hooves. However, the heavy impact from just moments ago was still holding her down.

Before Twilight could step any closer, Faust appeared in front of her, with her trademark malevolent grin displayed on her face. Twilight gulped, jumping back to avoid contact with the alicorn. She lit her horn, ready to attack at any moment, but Faust was quicker, much quicker than her. The last thing Twilight noticed was a blinding light against her eyes. In just an instant, her world went black.

“Twilight!” Lauren couldn’t do anything but stare at the scene. Twilight was lying on the floor, with a few sparks of magic were running in frenzy all around her body. Celestia, desperate to help her student, struggled from under Luna, still unable to raise herself from the floor.

“Heh, that was rather easy. Element of Magic, yeah, right,” Faust chortled and turned her head to Lauren. “Now, let’s—”

“S-shut up!” a faint voice said.

Everypony rolled their eyes towards the origin of the voice. Faust took a few steps back as the unicorn started to sloppily trying to get back on her hooves. Faust did not expect for Twilight to be conscious after that magic attack. She was sure that bolt of magic would have been enough to take out a puny unicorn like her.

“T-There’s a severe problem w-with you,” Twilight said between gasps. “You just love to underestimate us, don’t you?” She was a bit hurt by the potent shock that ran through her body, but nothing she could not withstand. The shock was nothing compared to the botched magic spells that would fire back at her when she was studying magic with the Princess.

I have to do something! I have to help. Lauren looked around the room, looking for something that could possibly aid her. Luckily, for her, there was something. Something that amazingly had survived the atrocious battle held right in that very same throne room. Aha! The chandelier! It’s just above Faust. If I could only shoot a beam of magic towards the chain, it would squash her!

“I’m impressed, wimp. Not just anypony manages to stand up after a shocking magic spell.” However, that was not Faust’s biggest concern.

Twilight frowned, her legs still shivering because of the shock. She didn’t say anything, instead, she only focused on recovering from that brutal shock.

“Heh, you seem to have a very impressive resistance. No wonder why Celestia chose you as her own protégé.” Faust gave one of her fake smiles. The ones she had been giving all the time before everypony discovered she was the mastermind behind what was going on with Celestia. In just a second, she replaced that fake smile with her wicked grin. “Let’s see if you have resistance for this!”

In less than a second, Faust arched one of her hooves and swung it at Twilight from under her chin. The uppercut connected, causing the unicorn to groan in pain and jump in the air for a brief seconds. Faust swiftly spun her body and thrust her hind legs against Twilight, bucking her as hard as Applejack would buck an apple tree in applebuck season.

“Oof.” That was everything Twilight managed to say. The potency of the uppercut was strong enough to break anypony’s jaw, but it didn’t seem that hers was broken. However, the buck was the fatal blow. She felt as her chest burnt in pain while she flew across the room.

“Twilight!” Celestia cried. This time, she wasn’t able to jump and catch her. She couldn’t do anything but watch as her faithful student crashed violently against the wall. Tears began to flow from her eyes as she squirmed from under her unconscious sister. What if she was badly hurt? She had to go and check on her right now.

“Ah ha ha, that felt SO good,” Faust laughed, but it was not a common laugh. She laughed like a maniac would do; mouth agape and eyes looking at the ceiling. She couldn’t contain herself. It was too rich. She had gotten rid of Twilight and Luna, and now it was time for Celestia to join them. “Well, Celestia. Now you’re going to—”

A shattering sound was heard from above. The sort of sound a rope would make when snapped. It was the chandelier. Lauren had fired a beam of magic directly to the chain, which was holding the enormous chandelier on the ceiling. The round, golden chandelier was right above Faust. Lauren’s plan was going to work. Once she got crushed with that chandelier, it would be all over. She was only waiting for Twilight to move away, even though she didn’t want her to back off like she did; a buck right to her chest.

Lauren looked as the chandelier began to fall upon a clueless Faust. She was going to get crushed. It was just a matter of seconds. However, something happened. Something that made Lauren gasp in shock. No… no! Her eyes went wide open as she witnessed what just happened.

Just before the chandelier hit Faust, she had cast a force field around her, causing the chandelier to shatter in thousands of pieces against it. Faust turned her head to look at Lauren and grinned. “Foolish little Lauren. I can read your thoughts! I knew what you were planning to do!” she claimed, mocking her for her ignorance.

“You sick monster! First you cause all this mess by dragging me to Equestria.” Lauren took a step forward.

“Hah, you little—”

“Shut up!” Lauren yelled. She was not in the mood to listen to any more of Faust’s arrogant claims. She was totally not going to let a cake-colored cartoon pony to insult her. “First, you cause all this mess with Celestia. After that, you come and drag me to Equestria, and then you go and reveal yourself and claim to be our friend just to backstab us by making us believe Celestia was the evil one.” Lauren kept walking forward to Faust, not caring about the crystal shards scattered all over the floor due the chandelier. “Then, you have the guts to physically assault Luna and Twilight, and you actually enjoy it!”

Faust was quietly listening to Lauren with a smirk on her face, amused by the little alicorn’s outburst. Was she finally going to do something productive, instead of spouting baseless accusations?

“Just what kind of sick monster are you!?” Lauren stared at Faust, anger built within her eyes.

Faust let out a faint chuckle. “Oh, the irony…” she whispered. Lauren raised an eyebrow in confusion. “You are me! I am you! I am not a monster. You are the monster!” Faust exclaimed.

“No! You’re wrong! I would never do this!” Lauren’s eye twitched. Her fuse was about to run out. She just needed another word from Faust. Any sound emanating from her mouth would suffice. “I will end you!” Lauren bowed her head, pointing her horn at Faust. However, she did not shoot any kind of beam or anything, instead, she ran towards her, with a single impulse to tackle her and possibly impale Faust on her horn on, assuming it was sharp enough.

Faust’s grin was no longer displaying on her face, and instead, it was replaced with a face of surprise. Just before Lauren would contact her, she didn’t think twice to spread her wings and soar to the air. “F-fool!” she said while letting out a gasp of relief, looking at her alter ego from above.

“Get down here! It’s not fair! I don’t even know how to fly well!” Lauren complained, but was it really the time to be complaining about not being able to fly? Sure, Rainbow had taught her some basics of staying airborne, but today, she was supposed to take lessons with her, instead of battling for her own life.

“Once I get your real life, you will have plenty of time to master the art of flight in this forsaken land of technicolor equinoids.” Faust fully spread her wings, ready to take aim for her next attack. However, she stopped as she felt a presence behind her. She had forgotten about somepony, and she would soon regret in doing so. She wanted to turn around and see for herself, but the only thing she could do was stand there as she heard a cracking noise, followed by a calamitous pain exploding in her wings. In all the millenia of experience that Faust had meticulously collected in her capacity as Equestria's puppetmaster, she never experienced physical pain.

“Yeaaargh!” Faust screamed, losing control of her body and crashing against the floor. She kept squealing in agony as she rolled on the floor, trying to stop the burning sensation in her wings. She was prepared to rip them clean off, if only to stop the horrible, searing pain and be over with it. The pain was just increasing and increasing the longer she kept moving them around.

Lauren looked up at Celestia, who was flying right behind where Faust was. She took a few steps back, looking at the agonizing alicorn moaning in pain. It took her a few seconds to realize what just happened, but it was as clear as water. D-did Celestia… break her wings!? She couldn’t believe it. Even when faced with the most evil pony in the whole world, Celestia would never break their wings or do something as atrocious as that. Or would she?

“Lauren! Go check on Twilight and Luna, please. I will deal with her now,” Celestia requested, pointing a hoof towards the two mares lying on the other side of the room.

“You… you broke her wings!” Lauren exclaimed. The high-pitched moans of Faust still echoed through the whole room, making communication between the two alicorns a bit difficult.

“I have never used physical violence in thousands of years, but I had no choice. We must stop her at all costs, even if that means tearing apart every piece of her body!” Celestia was determined to finish Faust with her own hooves. Not only she attacked Luna, but Twilight, and she was going to pay for that. “Please, go now and check on them!”

Lauren didn’t really have much of a choice. She simply nodded and ran towards Luna, who was still knocked out. If that violent thrust on the chest was strong enough to defeat Luna, an alicorn Princess, how bad would it be on a simple little unicorn like Twilight? That question haunted Lauren’s mind as she tried to avoid thinking about the worst scenario.

“M-my wings!” Faust kept squealing. She knew that just screaming wouldn’t fix her wings. She had to react soon or Celestia could make the next move and finish her off. “C-curse you… Celestia,” she gasped, clenching her teeth to focus her mind on anything other than the unstoppable pain.

“You… you dared to attack my sister and my student, you horrible monster.” Celestia slowly began to descend until her hooves touched the floor. She looked down at the damaged alicorn. A single lock of her pink mane ignited into a small flame, suddenly followed by other flames appearing around not only her mane, but her tail as well.

Faust groaned. “T-those flames… n-no!” As much as she wanted to attack Celestia, she was restricted by the pain.

“You will pay for everything you have done, demon.” More and more tiny bubbles of flames began to emanate from Celestia, some of them fusing with other bubbles to form a greater flame. The room started to get warmer as the flames completely replaced both mane and tail from Celestia. She was literally on fire.

Lauren arrived with Luna and Twilight, turning her head for a second to look at Celestia. “What the?” She looked at the blazing alicorn, whose mane and tail were replaced with burning streaks of flames. She looked like Twilight would look when angered, and Celestia wasn’t exactly the happiest mare in Equestria.

“You shall meet your fate!” Celestia yelled, spreading her wings to soar into the air once again. “You will taste the fires of the same Sun, whose image you corrupted on that fateful day, many centuries ago!”

Faust closed her eyes for an instant, opening them immediately to reveal the same flashy, red eyes from before. “You will not defeat me, Celestia!” She jumped from the floor, as if the pain drilling within her broken wings was gone. She stood and looked up at Celestia “This is when the real fun begins!”

Lauren dragged both Luna and Twilight as far as she could from Celestia and Faust to avoid a close encounter with the upcoming battle. However, Lauren knew that she would have to join the battle eventually and strike the finishing blow to her deranged alter ego. Oh, how I wish I were at home, drinking a hot cup of green tea, instead of fighting for my fate, and the fate of so many others, pony and human alike. “Why did I ever create this show in the first place?” she spoke barely above a whisper, yet everypony in Canterlot and Ponyville alike heard her quite clearly, and all bowed to their world's true creator, unseen by the subject of their supplications.