It took the two females only a few minutes to reach the outer walls of Everfree City but just as the city’s gate came into view the pegasus of the two abruptly stopped. “You got to be kidding me…” There on both sides of a gate big enough for even the biggest dragon to fit through and then some, stood the very two guards that had stumbled upon her first attempts at walking.

“Oh hey, I can try to seduce them again!” Max commented, shuddering shortly after. “That didn’t go well. Don’t these ponies know what an STD is?”

Sephiroth blankly stared at the gryphon next to her. “...what?”

“Rewind power. I think the best way for us to get through is for you to make a scene about the guards harassing me.”

Sighing, a black hoof reached up to rub between teal eyes. “I will never get used to this.” Without further questioning she just began to walk up to the gate, a deep scowl firmly into place on her face.

“No, you have to smile. Come on, didn’t we go over this on the walk? Hot Blade - you - are a slightly ditzy, happy-go-lucky adventurer with a bit of a temper and Talos, your body guard, has pulled you out of at least ten situations where you would’ve died. Not to mention I walked over fifty miles across a desert just to get you to the nearest doctor to get your wing patched up.”

“So what you are saying is that I-” Sephiroth turned around to face Max and glared at her. “-should just smile for no reason whatsoever? Do we even know each other?”

“Not just for no reason. This is Hot Blade’s hometown and she hasn’t seen it for at least fifteen years. I know you’d rather not smile, but it’s part of your cover. We can drop it as soon as we’re away from the gate.”

Closing her eyes, the mare wondered why she put up with this, but the memory of the stallion’s face when she just wiped him out of the air steeled her resolve. “I’ll try.” She remained silent for a few seconds in which she pulled several faces in her attempts to put a simple smile on.

“... Now I’ve seen everything.” Max shook her head and pulled an unmarked book from her bag. “Let’s see... Ah, here’s one. Why’s air a lot like sex?”

Instantly Sephiroth stopped to glare at the gryphon. “I told you my reasons and you still don’t refrain from bringing up sex?”

Max smiled apologetically and turned the page. “Sorry, first joke I found. Ah, here’s a better one. I had a broken vacuum, then I put a One Direction sticker on it and it suddenly sucked again.”

Completely unphased the pegasus just pushed to book in the gryphons face. “That won’t work.” Again she rubbed between her eyes with a hoof. “Look just… let me try something.” Closing her eyes she relaxed her pose.

Max pulled the book off her face and turned the page. “Okay, but these were about to get even worse. Like this one: Two blondes fell down a hole. One said, ‘It's dark in here isn't it?’ The other replied, ‘I don't know; I can't see.’”

The mare tuned the gryphon out and instead tried to concentrate. At first she began to shake heavily and even winced a few times, but managed to calm down again. Then she remained still. So still in fact that, if not for the subtle raising and falling of her sides, she could have been a statue.... again.

“Is something the matter here?” One of the guards asked as he walked over.

“No, Miss Blade is trying to calm down from earlier,” Max replied. “Between you and me though, I think she’s secretly an exhibitionist.”

Sephiroth was still unmoving, showing that she didn’t even listen to what was said. The guard though was not really swayed by the gryphon’s antics and even managed to hide the blush on his cheeks. He approached the black mare and was about to reach out to touch her shoulder when she suddenly swung around. A single tear ran down the side of her face while she was smiling with a nostalgic look in her eyes. “Home at last.”

“Wait wait wait. this is where you’re from? In all the twelve years you’ve payed me to be your bodyguard, you’ve never came back here on my days off?” Max - now in her Talos persona - shook her head and put her arm around the guard’s shoulder. “This is why I’d rather join the guard, but... well, you know.”

The guard was about to open his mouth to say something, but was beat to it by the mare. “Well, Talos, you could join the guard, but then who will pull my flank out of traps?” With a noticeable spring in her step she attempted to walk past the guard, her single wing ruffling a bit in obvious excitement.

“True, I have gotten fond of the one thing you won’t let me grab. Heh, remember when I had to rescue you from that mob boss back in Manehattan?”

Sephiroth shook her head with an exasperated sigh. “Talos you know already that my flank is already spoken for. And even if it weren’t, a relationship such as this would be highly inappropriate. And yes I do remember. How could I forget something like that?” Completely dumbfounded the guard just stood there, not knowing what to say anymore.

Talos put her claw back on the ground and turned towards the gate. “You might be taken, but that doesn’t mean I can’t dream about what it would be like.”

The mare performed a fake swoon and ended across the guard’s back. “But you already had a taste of me.” Dramatically she flapped her single wing. “And look what it gained me, or rather what I lost about it. At least you didn’t starve.”

“I only did that after I ate my own wing and only because you told me to.” Talos shuddered. “Never gonna like snow because of that.”

The poor guard gained a noticeable green tint to his face but all the pegasus did was laugh. “Oh come now. I think we had our fun. The poor little fella is gonna be sick otherwise.” Raising herself off the guard’s back she trotted over to the gryphon and then turned towards the guard again. “Hot Blade, at your service. And no she did not actually eat our wings. We are adventurers, or me at least. She is my hired body guard. No, we actually lost our wings in a dungeon due to way too sharp traps. Not in the same cave, mind you, but that is the risk of my line of work.” She gestured to the sheer amount of scars on Talos’ body. “As you can see, she does her job quite good. As my wing is the sole major injury I managed to attain in our endeavours.”

Now absolutely confused the guard just glanced between the two females, not sure how he should proceed.

The gryphon giggled, running her tail under the guard’s chin as the two walked past him. “You know, with the guard watching over the city, I might have the week off.”

Stuttering the guard just remained in place, not even following the two with his gaze. The black mare snickered quietly. “I think you broke him.”

“Aw, and he’s probably the most handsome stallion in the guard,” Talos pouted. Once they were a few blocks into the city, Talos was pulled into an alley and slammed against a wall. Narrowed teal eyes met blood red ones, the former filled with fury.

“We did not agree on something like Talos chasing Hot Blade’s tail! I almost slipped!”

“I had to improvise! You know how it is: ‘no plan survives first contact’.”

Sephiroth let go of Talos and turned back to the entrance of the alley. “Just to make this clear. One. More. Time. Never, ever, regardless of what you do or try, will I even consider it.”

The gryphon rubbed her throat as she got back on her feet. “I know. All that was just me slipping a bit too far into Talos’ character. Anyone would like to spend time with someone as undeniably hot as you.”

“For the love of- could you just drop it? I don’t care how I look at the moment. I just want to make sure the child is alright.” The mare trotted briskly out of the alley and promptly stumbled back in, with enough momentum to fall onto her back. The cause of this became apparent when a literal wall of a stallion came into sight, already leaning over the black pegasus which was in too much shock to do something about it.

“Hey pal, leave my employer alone,” Talos said as she leaned against the wall, sharpening her claws with a nail file. “I won’t get paid for this month if you continue.”

The brown bulk just looked over to the gryphon without lifting his head and just proceeded to nip at the black mare’s neck, pausing only long enough to state in a deep voice. “You just remain over there. When I’m done here I’ll show you a good time too. No need to be jealous.”

She just raised an eyebrow and let the file slip from her talon. “Seriously? I’d rather do it with a pig than you. No, I won’t get paid if she kills someone. You might want to get out of here. Right now.”

A creepy grin stretched across the stallion’s face and he was about to retort when his attempt was cut short by a strangled gurgle, coming out of his own throat. A black hoof had reached up and around his neck. Fear and hesitation flew across his features as his gaze snapped back to the mare beneath him, only growing in intensity when he saw her smile. “You… touched me.” Without any visible effort on the mare’s part, the stallion’s front lifted as she stood up under him. “I do not like being touched.”

Talos walked over to the mare and brushed her shoulder with the file. “Miss Blade.” Sephiroth’s head snapped to look at her. “Remember what we talked about? What we agreed everypony was?”

Ignoring the other ponies attempts to free himself from her hoof the pegasus just stared at the gryphon for a while but then her gaze drifted back to the stallion. She pulled him in until she could stare into his eyes. “Scram!” And just like that she let go of him. Now free he coughed a few times then shot the both females a terrified look before he stumbled away as fast as his hooves carried him.

After another while Sephiroth spoke. “Satisfied?”

“... Well, at least he won’t force himself on other mares now?” Talos faceclawed and shook her head, walking to the mouth of the alley. “Let’s just find the guard you hurt.”

The mare followed with a sigh. “You know. In the old times I would ask Nightmare to make sure of that. She and her dreams had a way with… convincing ponies to play nice.”

“Well, you can leave an anonymous note for her to watch that stallion’s dreams and turn them into nightmares if they involve holding a mare down and ravaging her.”

A sad look overtook the features of Sephiroth. “I suppose that would be the correct term nowadays. Did you know that bad dreams weren’t originally called ‘nightmares’ in this universe? When I… interrogated Celestia and she confessed the altering of her own sister, she shouted something about Nightmare’s name becoming the word for bad dreams and the greatest fears of ponykind.”

“Ouch. Talk about completely erasing everything good.”

She shook the thought away and raised her head again. “I was kind of surprised to hear that she went mad with rage after she heard of my imprisonment. She was my best friend, yes. But that she attacked her own sister over it?” A sigh escaped her. “Well nothing I can do about it now. The guard should be in the castle’s infirmary.” She hesitated before adding. “If he is still alive.”

“Then let’s get there!”

The rest of the walk to the castle was spent in companionable silence. But getting into it proved to be a little more difficult.

“Halt!” One of the guards in front of the castle’s own walls stepped forward and even did not hesitate to level the tip of his spear to point at the gryphon, as he viewed her as more of a threat. “The castle grounds are closed until further notice! Turn around and leave this instant!”

Max gave him a soft smile and leaned forward, the spear slowly going all the way through her neck. A flash of fear went across his face, his shock and horror freezing him long enough for her to tap his forehead right under his horn and say, “Sleep.”

The guard’s eyes rolled up into his head and he fell over, his snoring indicating that he was still alive. Alarmed by this the second guard, a unicorn, already lit his horn, obviously to send some form of signal. Only for him to wobble slightly before he hit the ground, joining in the snoring of his comrade. The black mare coming into view as she was not longer hidden by the second guard’s body. “Seems we had similar ideas.”

The gryphon popped out of existence and the spear clattered to the ground as Talos materialized in the shadow of the wall with an almost childish pout on her face. “Mine was more terrifying.”

Teal eyes rolled as Sephiroth turned towards the gate, key ring hanging from the tip of her wing. “Whatever. Let’s get this over with. Celestia may be distracted by her own problems but I have actually no idea if she can track my magic.”

Talos walked over to the gate as a golden glow enveloped part of it. “She can’t track her own magic though.”

Examining the glow critically, the pegasus frowned in thought. “But would it be her own? I understand that it is your Celestia’s magic, but are the different versions of her really that similar that their magic would be the same?”

“The only way Lance’s Celestia and Luna knew I was- oh crap. Celestia’s going to be able to sense that there’s two Luna’s here. We need to get in the castle now.”

The mare used the key to unlock the gate. “You said you had both Celestia’s and Luna’s magic but I wouldn’t have thought that it would be recognizable in the whole mix of all your powers. And if it was, wouldn’t we already be found out long ago?”

“No, I keep them all separate. The only way she’d be able to sense me is when I use Luna’s magic - which I just did - or I’m close enough for her to be able to tell that I have her magic which I don’t know how far I have to be from her for her to start senseing me.”

A new voice joined in on their conversation. “Actually, it took me some time to figure it out. But as you stated yourself, using my sister’s magic outright is a little obvious. To that regard, mind telling me where you got a hold of her magic?” Shocked, Sephiroth slowly turned to face the new voice only to confirm that it, indeed, belonged to Celestia.

Max sighed and transformed back into himself. “Well, I was very close to you and your sister in a different universe and when they were assassinated they gave me all their magic and power and crowned me as their heir. I’m only in this universe for a little while.”

There was an unshakable smile firmly in place on the white alicorn’s face, but a slight widening of her eyes betrayed her surprise, followed by a barely noticeable narrowing in her anger. But as she spoke she did it with the same warm and polite voice that she always used. “A dimension traveling individual, you say.” Her gaze flickered to the, at the moment, smaller mare. “Then who might you be?”

“She’s my partner. We were both summoned by Sephiroth to deliver an apology to the guard she hurt since her returning here would mean imprisonment again,” Max said evenly. “The only ones she wishes to hurt are you and Discord for betraying her.”

Examining the fake-pegasus, Celestia continued. “Is that so? Why don’t you revert her to her original form then?” To the mare herself she said. “Funny thing that you would possess a single wing and those colors are quite peculiar.”

Max moved between the mares, giving Celestia a glare. “She’s the captain of my guard. We were surprised to find that they had similar colors as well and spent at least half an hour explaining to Sephiroth the nature of the multiverse. Her wing, however, she lost as a foal and dedicated her life to joining the guard because of it.”

The white alicorn fixated Max with her eyes, as the human had blocked her line of sight anyway. For a few moments she seemed to let the matter slide but then the corners of her mouth twitched slightly upwards. “You said Sephiroth was concerned about the wellbeing of the guard she carelessly slammed into a wall?”

“Yes. I convinced her to view your ponies as children compared to her and she told us about the guard she hurt. She wants to make sure she didn’t accidentally kill him and to tell him that she is sorry.” His expression hardened and he shook his head as he continued, “But she told us to not harm you or Discord if we saw you. I cannot believe that you - you! - didn’t think of teaching her how to control her powers before imprisoning her in stone for a thousand years.”

Celestia didn’t even flinch at the accusations. Instead she concentrated on the parts of the black pony that were visible. “So she didn’t tell you? Can not say that I’m surprised.” Something flashed behind her magenta eyes. “Discord is no more. He passed on shortly after Sephiroth was imprisoned. Or, to be more precise, he literally ripped his own heart out of his chest, still beating, and cursed her name on his dying breath.” That got exactly the reaction she was waiting for as she could see the black mare flinch hard.

“Huh. And here we’re from a universe where he’s redeemed.” He took a notebook out of his bag and, as he was writing, said, “Celestia ripped out Discord’s heart after imprisonment. Okay, I got it. I’ll tell Sephiroth what you said when we see her again.”

Surprisingly the white alicorn sighed sadly. “I may have made some grave mistakes, but killing Discord is not one of them. He regretted his actions and I think that was when he realized that he may have truly loved her. His sorrow destroyed him to such an extent that he couldn’t perform his duties anymore. He knew that the whole world would fall out of balance if he allowed it to remain as such and thus he killed himself to allow a new god of chaos to take his place. He resides in the castle if you wanted to know.”

Sephiroth felt only numbness, staring ahead without really looking at anything. Lacking a target, her anger just faded into nothingness, leaving behind a bottomless abyss. Nothing mattered anymore.

“Damn. That’ll absolutely crush Seph if she hears that.” Max rubbed his chin in thought. “Unless that’s what you want. With all this deception centered around you, I can’t discount that.” He turned around and ushered the black mare through the gate. “Anyways, we need to go apologize to that guard before we can go home. It was nice talking to you.” With that the gate slammed shut, leaving the alicorn alone outside her own castle.

The black mare let herself be guided through the gate without any resistance and Celestia did not reappear beside them. She was guided through several rooms until Max gently pushed her into a waiting room of some sort and pulled her into a hug. She was creepily calm, too much to be considered natural. Even in the embrace she didn’t shake and didn’t try to escape the contact. Her voice was devoid not only of emotions but seemed to lack even any traces of life. “He’s dead…”

“Yes. He is. But would he want you to neglect yourself and stand at his tomb for the rest of time?”

Sephiroth stayed silent for a long time before she trusted her voice enough to speak again. “I don’t know. Knowing him he would want me to smile. He always tried to make me smile. He… I should have smiled more often…”

“Then smile. Remember how he lived and keep it in your heart. Celestia knows I will keep her in my heart next to Lance until the end of everything.” He squeezed Sephiroth a bit tighter. “I can tell you from experience that the pain won’t fade, but you can find a way to continue.”

Lifting a hoof to her chest, right where her heart beat underneath, the black mare’s eyes drifted close. “Why? I thought I hated him. I even wanted to kill him myself. Why does it hurt?”

“Because even though he hurt you, you still loved him. I’ve had moments where I wanted to kill Celestia, certainly, but she always found a way to get me to realize I still loved her.” Max leaned back and tilted Sephiroth’s head to look at him and said, “But like Robert Frost said; Nothing Gold can stay. The poem tells of loss, but also says to treasure those we love even after they’re gone.”

The ghost of a smile played around Sephiroth’s lips, but never reached her eyes. “It’s kind of ironic. Discord was supposed to be immortal, so technically I could have had all eternity to spend with him…” Finally the first tear fell, soon to be followed by uncounted more as the dam broke.

Max caught her as she fell and pulled her into his lap, putting her head on his shoulder and stroking her mane as she cried. He seemed to be a little lost, furrowing his brows he looked like he tried - and failed - to come up with anything.

It took the remainder of the day and even a few hours of the night for Sephiroth to move on her own again. The tears themselves had run out not even an hour after she started crying, but she needed the time to bring herself to do anything. If she was awake through the whole ordeal, she could not say. But she couldn’t remember any instance where she felt like falling asleep. The hours just blended into another and it didn’t really matter to her.

Groggily she tried to extricate herself from the hug, albeit not with much force behind her action.

Max helped her to her hooves and kept a hand rested on her back to steady her. “Come on, let’s finish what we came here to do, sis.”

The mare swayed a little on her hooves but managed to remain standing. She nodded weakly, not really reacting to Max calling her ‘sis’. Slowly she took a few steps but stopped almost instantly. “I… honestly don’t know where to go.”

“Well, we can ask someone to point us to the medical wing.” A guard leaned into the room just then looking partially relieved. “Hey, can you tell us where the guard that got hurt by Sephiroth is?”

Nervously the guard hesitated for a moment before straightening his posture. “I can guide you to him, Sir.” Admittedly confused the black mare examined the guard but keeping the question as to why to herself for the moment.

Max nodded and gave Sephiroth a nudge towards the door. “Come on. Do I have to mention that one thing you don’t want me to?”

Black ears splayed back for a moment before simply hanging down while she began to move towards the door. The guard turned around and led them, like he said he would. She was so immersed in her thoughts that she almost missed the six mares standing in the entrance hall of the castle. All of them didn’t seem to know what to do with themselves as they glanced between each other as if someone of them would eventually come up with an answer. Shaking her head Sephiroth just walked past them, following the guard into a hallway and away from the mares.

Max paused though and said, “Sorry about earlier. Seph just needed to get that out of her system.” He turned back and caught up to the black mare, leaving five jaws on the ground behind him. He grinned as he heard one of them gasp. “That was a secret?!”

It didn’t take them long to reach the infirmary as it lay near the hall for better accessibility. The guard stopped in front of the door and turned to face the two following him. “Lieutenant Swift Strike is the only occupant of the infirmary at the moment.” He extended a foreleg to open the door for them.

Sephiroth hesitated a moment before nodding towards the guard and heading in through the open door, Max following behind. Identifying the bed in which the guard lay was easy enough. It was the only one where the curtains were drawn. Feeling as if her hooves were filled with more and more concrete with every step she made her way over to Swift. Before long she reached the blinds and hesitated again.

“Wait,” Max whispered. “I think you should do this as yourself.” A hand grabbed her shoulder and she began to grow. It wasn’t as overpowering as before, but she knew she was returning to her human self. Once she returned to normal, Sephiroth looked over her shoulder and saw Max smiling. “There. Now let’s go give him some unsanctioned healing.”

After smiling gratefully for a second she closed her eyes and let herself adjust to her altered figure for a while. An uncomfortable numbness had settled on her back, a feeling she always got when she let her wing fade away. Breathing deeply she opened her eyes again and stepped through the curtain. Immediately her gaze fell on the bandaged form of a pegasus she didn’t recognize, which caused her to blink uncomprehendingly. “That’s not him.”

“Well, he’s the only one in here. Either he’s the one you punched through a wall, or the guard wasn’t injured enough to need medical attention.”

“You don’t understand. His coloration is completely off. That can not be the same pony.” She gestured wildly in the direction of the pegasus trying to escape the bed.

“Well, they did take off his armor.”

Confused the woman raised an eyebrow. “What has that to do with anything?”

“Oh right. The armor’s enchanted to make all the guards look alike.” Max levitated the pegasus back onto the bed. “You need your rest, don’t get out of bed until you’re fully healed.”

The guard managed to save his dignity by quickly biting back his frightened whimper and opted to stare at the figure which seemed to have prevented his escape. “Assault on a member of the royal guard is a major crime against the crown. Release me this instant.”

“Hush, the adults are talking.” Max turned back to the woman beside him. “It’s more of a respect thing, but it has gotten some guards a fun night or two.”

Swift was about to demand his freedom once again but was cut off by a sigh from Sephiroth. “Look… Swift Strike was it? I am not here to cause any more trouble. I want to apologize for hurting you.”

The guard stared slack jawed at the creature that had landed him in hospital. “Are you kidding me?! You slam me into a wall as if I was a mere fly and then came by and think that a simple apology will make do?! If I were any other kind of pony I would be dead!”

“We were going to heal you, but if you’re going to be like this I guess we can just leave it at this.” Max turned Sephiroth away from the bed and started pushing her towards the door. “Hope lots of your friends come by to sign your cast!”

The guard stayed silent sturbonly. Sephiroth for her part sighed again and evaded Max’s pushing. “You claim to be an adult and behave like a child yourself. Even if he doesn’t accept my apology, I’m going to heal him.” With that she stepped towards the bed once again.

“I was actually hoping he’d call us back before we left.”

Shaking her head in actual amusement she pointed to the guard. “Max, he’s a pegasus. They are the very embodiment of pride. Even if it’s misguided and stupid.”

Swift huffed in agitation. “Hey!”

Max crossed his arms and looked away, saying, “The pegasi in my universe wouldn’t scorn someone trying to apologise and they were discriminated against until they were thought extinct just because they loved Celestia instead of Luna.”

Sephiroth rolled her eyes. “Well he wouldn’t chase someone away who wants to apologize if it were anyone but me.” She looked to the guard for confirmation. “Am I right?”

The pegasus huffed again, glaring daggers at the woman. “You’re evil.”

“See? Told you.”

Max sighed and walked over to the bed again. “Would you rather I be the one to heal you?” He asked the pegasus.

He got a snarl in response. “You’re obviously an accomplice.”

The woman sighed again. “You know I begin to see it more and more that you were right. They are mere children.”

Max nodded sagely and said, “Scared by strange things, but easily succored by mother’s teat. I doubt he’d even understand the concept of different worlds that look the same.”

Swift didn’t understand everything that was said but what he understood was that he was being labeled as a foal. “HEY! Why are you insinuating something like this?! I’m a grown stallion!”

Sephiroth placed her hands on her hips and spoke to Max as if the pony wasn’t even there. “See? Little kids always claim to be all grown up.”

“Mhm. Well, philosophically speaking, none of us are ever grown up. We all learn new things every day and are constantly bettering ourselves.”

The pegasus seemed to have reached the end of his patience. “Stop ignoring me!”

Grinning the woman turned towards the pony and shrugged. “He even cries for attention.” She raised a hand which was covered in a green glow. “Now hold still. Isn’t really necessary but I always wanted to say that.” After she said this the guard was wrapped in the same green glow. Fear flashed across his features and he tried to struggle free from the aura which just followed his movements not restricting him in the slightest.

An annoyed grunt escaped Sephiroth. “I think we need to hold him down anyways. My spell doesn’t require it, but he will be hurting himself further if he keeps this up.”

Max waved his hand and the guard froze. “There you go.”

“Thanks.” Focusing on the guard it only took her a few more moments before the glow disappeared. “There, done.”

The guard yelped and sprang back, looking himself over when he noticed a distinct lack of pain. “W-what did you do to me?”

“Simple. I did exactly what I said I would. Healed your injuries.” With a dismissive wave of her hand Sephiroth turned away from the bed again. “Well I finished my business here. So we can leave now.”

“Stop right there, Sephiroth!” A voice said from the door. The two humans stopped, looking towards the one who had spoken. Standing just inside were the six mares from before, led by a purple mare with both wings and a horn.

“Oh hey, Purple Smart’s gone Super Saiyan already,” Max quipped.

The silver haired woman raised her hands defensively. “I won’t fight you, so please just let us pass and we all are leaving unharmed.”

“Oh yeah? Since when did the Angel of Destruction back down from a fight?” A rainbow maned pegasus demanded.

Shaking her head, Sephiroth locked her gaze with the pegasus that had spoken. “Since never. But that doesn’t mean I have to want to fight. Look, I got some of my views corrected over the course of this day. And not always without being beaten either, or at least shown that I can not win. I never wanted to hurt anyone besides the ones who wronged and betrayed me.” She took a step to the side so they could see the guard behind her. “I even healed the one I harmed and tried to apologize.”

“Enough!” The purple alicorn in front of the mares stepped forward and extended her wings in a threatening display. Her violet eyes burned with righteous anger as she snarled at the woman. “You are charged for assault on a member of the royal guard, for direct assault on royalty and you. Bucking. Impaled. Celestia. With. Your. Sword!” While the mare spoke her mane and tail, literally, caught fire and her coat bleached until there was only a stark white left. Her eyes shone with a fierce power and her presence itself weightened on all around her. Even the very mares that just stood by her side backed away with varying looks, from utter fear - in the case of a canary yellow pegasus - to unadulterated awe - from the rainbow maned mare that had spoken earlier. “Surrender yourself to justice, or face punishment!”

Sephiroth sighed and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “You won’t listen to reason. I don’t want to fight you but I won’t face any justice that is sworn to Celestia. They could never be impartial. And please do me and your princess a favor and stop calling her Luna. Her name is Nightmare, has been for her whole life.”

A very unequine growl came as a reply from the still burning mare. “You had your chance. Girls!” Without so much as a glance back the alicorn’s crown began to shine in a blindingly bright light which seemed to reach out to the necklaces of the other mares. Sephiroth herself wasn’t really able to follow what they were doing any further because she had to shield her eyes from it, but she could tell that the power radiating off of them felt all too familiar. Instantly her blood turned to ice. And what was even worse was that it kept growing more and more powerful.

Without warning a rainbow beam of energy shot towards her. Just as it was about to hit her, everything slowed down to a crawl and she noticed Max standing in front of her an instant before he was surrounded by light.

When she could see again, Max was laying face down on the floor. Not moving.

Author's Notes:

Moon_Fire: Instead of a note from me this time, a little deleted scene.

“Surrender yourself to justice, or face punishment!”

Max darted forward, holding up a single finger. The six mares stood there in shock for a moment before letting the elements charge up.

Right before they could release the Elements’ power, Max stopped right in front of Twilight and touched her nose, saying, “Boop.”

For a few minutes everything stopped because of the absurdity of what just happened. When Twilight blushed, Sephiroth’s hand met her face.

Dream Quill: Yeah~... not gonna say anything to that