As I walked out of the infirmary, I was furious. That thing that had controlled Seph’s Celestia was far crueler than I had originally thought. In less than an hour of Seph waking up from her time with Lance, we had found that Seph had been cursed and she wouldn’t be able to have children until her Cells got rid of it.

I lit my hand and scryed for Discord, I was going to need him for this. He was in Twilight’s room, cuddling her while she slept.

I was loathe to do this since they actually did make a cute couple, but I didn’t have enough magic to get there and back by myself. I risked a teleport and as soon as I appeared in the room I said, “Discord, I need your help getting to Sephiroth’s universe. And no, if this wasn’t important I wouldn’t be asking you to stop cuddling Twi.”

“Oh, fine,” Discord said. “But you owe me for this.”

“I’ll have Nightmare call you when I’m ready to leave so you can do what you want.”

Discord grumbled but snapped his fingers, transporting us almost instantly to the room where Nightmare was. Right into the middle of a group of ponies currently talking with the mare I wanted to talk to.

“Sorry to interrupt, Nighty, but something’s come up and I need to see your sister about something,” I said, scaring a few ponies and making the rest stare in awe at Discord.

The black alicorn’s eyes lit up for a brief moment and she lifted a hoof to pacify her ponies. “At ease. You have nothing to fear from them. These are Max Caulfield and Discord and they are visitors from another universe. Furthermore they are close friends and will bring no harm.” Her words did wonders to calm the ponies down, but now they were more curious than anything else. Ignoring that for the time being, Nightmare turned her attention to me. “Max. It is a pleasure to see you again. I will point you to my sister’s location, but what is the matter, if I may ask?”

“I want to know what curse that thing put on Celestia’s warhammer. And I want to know where it is so I can have Discord shatter its mind, tear its soul into tiny pieces, and then throw it into a space vagina where it can be digested for thousands of years.”

The alicorn jumped to all four hooves and her wings flared in alarm. “A CURSE?! What happened?! Is Sephiroth alright?!”

“She’s fine right now, just in shock that she can’t have children because of the curse for the next few decades. I came because it would help if my doctors know what the curse is and what it does.”

Rushing over to me, her horn already glowing, she addressed the assembled ponies. “I beg your pardon everypony, but a matter of utmost urgency has come to my attention. We postpone this meeting and will call for you when we are available again.” With that she grabbed me in a teleport, that made us appear inside what had to be the most gigantic library I have ever seen. Even the royal archives of my castle couldn’t compare.

“Whoa. This would be Twilight’s version of heaven,” I said in awe.

Nightmare herself was already trotting at a brisk pace down one of the hallways, her wings at her sides again but visibly tensed. “It’s the ‘Great Archive’. The being that possessed my sister neglected many things but its thirst for knowledge drove it to preserve every single book ever written. Even if it was more along the lines of a saying it misunderstood. Maybe you heard of it. ‘Wisdom is Power.’”

I caught up with her as I replied, “I’ve heard of a slightly different one, ‘knowledge is power.’”

She nodded curtly. “Concerning the whereabouts of the being, I’m afraid to inform you that it has been destroyed. While Sephiroth fought it, the former Elements of Harmony managed to reveal the true power of the tree of harmony and cleansed the being from my sister’s body, mind and soul alike. They completely eradicated it, leaving nothing behind. So, sadly, no one would be able to enact his or her revenge on it.”

I huffed and crossed my arms. “Dammit, I was looking forward to making it suffer.”

“I was as well,” Discord said suddenly from my side.

Nightmare didn’t even flinch by his sudden appearance and just rounded one of the titanic bookshelves, revealing a rather small, white pony with a pink mane, which sat at a large working desk and had books all around her. At first I thought she was a unicorn but then I noticed the wings at her sides, almost invisible on her coat. She was too engrossed in her literature to notice our approach. Well, until the black alicorn started to speak. “Celestia. We have to talk.”

The ears in her pink mane stood up and swiveled to face us, before she lifted and turned her head towards us, her eyes widening in surprise. “Sister. Who-” Then she saw Discord and froze.

I saw Discord wave and smile from the corner of my eye as I said, “What curse was on that warhammer?”

The small, white alicorn did not react to my question in the slightest as her purple eyes were fixed on the draconequus as terror slowly crept in her expression. “No…” She shook her head and backed up against the desk. “You… you can’t be here.”

Nightmare sighed. “Sister- Celestia. This is not him. He is from another universe. Remember? We talked about Max and the ‘Displaced’.” Her words did nothing to calm the white mare, though.

“I am not the one that being made you kill, Celestia. I am from a different universe, chauffeuring Max around for the moment because she overextended herself,” Discord said, popping over to put his eagle claw around the mare’s shoulders. “If I got mad over every Discord that was killed, I wouldn’t be able to cause chaos in my own universe.”

Celestia just shrieked and blasted him with her magic right in his face.

Discord, not expecting that, froze. Once Celestia's magic petered out all we could see of Discord’s head was his skull.

I smiled and shook my head as I said, “You had to scare her Discord?”

The tiny mare shrieked again and rushed under Nightmare, literally, and hid beneath her, while tightly hugging one of her legs. “Moonie-ie, he’s- he’s haunting me-e-e!”

“I do not haunt!” Discord said indignantly. “I creep and wait in ambush, but I do not haunt ponies.” As he was talking his snaggletooth wiggled loose and fell.

“Please put your face back on, Discord. It’s disturbing to see you talk like that,” I said, levitating the tooth over to my hand.

Sighing, the black alicorn used her wings to shield the one beneath her from the sight and tried to calm her with hushed whispers that I couldn’t quite catch.

“Oh fine... spoilsport,” Discord said as he snapped his fingers, making his bleached skull vanish under new flesh.

“So where’s that worm Chetyre? I doubt you kept him around after what he did,” I said, trying to turn the conversation back to the curse.

Nightmare turned her attention towards me, but kept her sister hidden beneath herself. Anger flashed in her teal eyes. “He escaped. Or more accurate was gone long before we returned to reclaim our castle. We have tried to find him, but something seems to suppress his powers, making it very hard to track him down.”

“Kat probably ran into him. If she did and he’s still alive, she must have placed a curse on him that’s worse than him dying.”

“That will have to suffice for the time being. But we will find him someday.” Returning her face under her wing she whispered again, but only for a few moments before her head shot back up, with a look of absolute horror on it. “WHAT?!”

“What? What does the curse do?” I asked, almost jumping on Nightmare.

The alicorn tried to regain her composure but failed. “Before I answer that. You said she was alright, yes?”

“Yes, her Cells are fighting it.”

“Good, good…” She sighed deeply and shook her head. “The curse is named calamitas. And is both, very ancient and equally vile.” Her throat moved as if she tried to swallow something. “It was forbidden to even mention it a thousand years ago, already. And punishable by death. Its original intent was to make its victim rot from the inside out… and inflicting as much pain as possible in the process, even going so far to turn the victim into a golem, temporarily, to keep it alive all the way til the end.”

My expression darkened to the point I was glad Celestia couldn’t see me as Nightmare explained. When I spoke, I was surprised I wasn’t spitting acid from how much venom was in my voice. “That thing’s death was far too quick and far too merciful.”

The area turned eerily quiet for a few moments, before Nightmare spoke again. “What I do not understand, though, is why it would make her unable to perceive if her Cells seem to prevent any decay. I’m assuming they do as you didn’t mention any beforehoof.”

“My guess is the curse knows it’s already inflicting the most pain it can by making her unable to have children. Besides, her Cells might be preventing her from feeling it to save her from the agony.”

“That sounds fitting, but I’m afraid the curse is solely revolving around physical pain.” The black mare sighed and shook her head. “We should be grateful that it doesn’t affect her more, even if it is a horrible fate for one like her, still. Though, she is immortal and will get her chance, as you said she would overcome the curse in a decade or two.”

I shook my head. “More like six or seven.”

Nightmare flinched and from behind her wings escaped a pained whine. “Oh Stars…” Her ears flopped down and her eyes filled with pity. “I would help if I could… even if it meant that I had to harm myself, but there is no way to lift the curse, not even one to weaken it. If I had to guess, the being had counted on her Cells to heal her eventually but not that they would be able to prevent its effects so thoroughly.” A shudder ran over her, making her wings ruffle. “She would have been in unimaginable pain if the being’s assumption had proven right.”

“So the only thing to do is wait for her Cells to consume it?”

“Sadly, yes…”

I turned, glaring at a random book as I said, “Thanks for the info. Discord, take us back. Make sure we’re near an air pirate ship, I want to shoot something.”

“You sure you don’t-” Discord began, only for me to turn my gaze to him and pull out my shotgun.

“I said I want to shoot something. If you want to volunteer, I won’t care.”

Nightmare decided to stay silent and let them be on their way, but another voice interjected itself into the conversation. Celestia had left the safety of her sister’s wings and was standing in front of me, head lowered in shame and tears in her eyes. “Please… take me with you. I- I have to see her.”

My gaze softened and I knelt down, pulling her chin up for her to look at me. “Alright. We’ll be making that stop before we go to Seph, though.” I set my shotgun down and pulled out my smg, holding the grip towards her. “Wanna blow some pirates out of the sky with me?”

She shook her head hastily. “I have destroyed more than enough in the past…”

“That wasn’t you, that was the thing controlling you. Besides, you’ll be working to help keep my Equestria safe. You aren’t destroying for the sake of destroying, you’re helping a fellow ruler keep her subjects safe.”

“I- I can’t. I won’t hurt anypony, ever again.” The small mare seemed to be near a breakdown, but kept herself together for the sake of the chance to visit the one she obviously thought she faulted the most.

I nodded and put the guns back in my bag, feeling a bit ashamed that I was trying to force her to watch. “Then let’s go visit Seph. Discord?”

Discord snapped his claws and the four of us were standing next to Seph’s bed before he snapped his claws again and vanished.

We arrived to the sight that was almost exactly like the one I had left behind. Sephiroth hadn’t moved an inch on her own and was just staring into space, still catatonic. Lance was right by her side and tried his best to comfort her, but it was not hard to see that his attempts were futile.

“Still not responding to anything?” Max asked Lance as she sat down on the bed next to them.

“Not at all. God, I really feel bad for her.” Lance told her, not turning around. “I mean, I wanted to help us raise a family, but to think that… she can’t have her own child… It’s just heartbreaking.” When he turned around, he noticed that Max wasn’t alone at all like he thought. “What the-?”

“Celestia wanted to visit Seph and I don’t know why Discord brought Nightmare along.”

The small, white mare rushed over to the bed and lifted her front half by setting her hooves on its edge. When she got a look at the woman, though, she just broke down into tears. Nightmare just stayed where she was and watched her sister with sad eyes.

Lance himself was still trying to think things through, until he realized that this was Seph’s Celestia. He felt sorry for the mare. But still thought that it was her fault that Seph ended up in this state in the first place. “Seph’s been staring off into space ever since we had to break the news to her.”

“I’ll stay with her then. You have stuff to do back in your universe, right?”

“Yeah, but-.”

“No buts. You have things that can’t wait, I only have meetings and planning to do.” Lance then sighed. He knew that I was right. But before he turned to leave, he looked at Celestia one last time.

“Maybe when I’m done, we can help Celestia just like we helped Seph and Shalltear.” With that, he vanished in a blitz of lightning, leaving behind a small singe mark on the floor.

I glanced at the pony and pulled her onto the bed, helping her take Lance’s spot. “Seph? Celestia and Nightmare came to visit.”

That actually got a reaction out of the woman, even if it was a flinch at the mention of the white mare’s name. Following the first, though, came more movement as she readjusted herself on the bed slightly, before very slowly blinking. After that she began to shake life a leaf.

Nightmare had sat down on the side of the bed where her sister laid, but seemed too shocked to do anything. The sight alone enough to lock her into place.

“Seph....” I wrapped both of my arms around her, rubbing her back as I whispered, “You know Celestia was being controlled during that. She’s here to try to show you how sorry she is for what happened.”

The shaking didn’t lessen, but Sephiroth lifted her own arms to hug me back. “Max…”

“I know. You don’t want to wait decades to become a mother. I don’t want to wait that long. But hey, it could be worse.” I glanced towards the nearest window and saw Murphy there. I gave him a glare and lit my hand, giving him an illusion that spelled out ‘You mess with her, I’ll make sure you never die.’

His eyes widened at that and he slowly withdrew from sight.

Celestia whimpered and looked like she wanted to hug and/or nuzzle Seph, doing at least something to comfort the distraught woman, but she didn’t. “I’m so so-”

One of Sephiroth’s hands practically blurred over to cover the mare’s mouth, while she tightened her grip around me with her other arm. “I said, no apologizing for its actions.”

“Come on Seph, it used her as well. Stop trying to push her away and accept her as your sister.”

She shook her head, burying her face into my neck in the movement. “I’m not pushing her away. I just won’t let her ever take responsibility for things she never did and under which she suffered at least as much as me.” The hand over Celestia’s mouth moved to pull the small mare in a hug, too.

I pulled the mare into our hug as well then and nuzzled Seph, barely registering that Golden had joined us somewhere along the way. “Still, you will be able to have children. It’ll be a long while, but you won’t be without foals. You’re the mother of my children, the same as Lance is their father.”

It took her a few minutes, in which Celestia broke down into tears again, this time not resisting the urge to nuzzle into the woman’s side, but eventually she nodded. “You’re right. I love them all. And I’m honored that I’m allowed to be their mother.”

“You aren’t allowed to be their mother, you are their mother along with me.” I felt two more small forms join us and nuzzle Seph around me.

A little confused, Sephiroth lifted her head from my shoulder to look at where the additional sensations originated from and smiled touched. “Hey there, li-” She cut herself off and teared up slightly, exclaiming in a hoarse whisper. “M-my children.”

“This might be... weird to me, but you and Lance are who Mom wants to marry,” Lucky said from the foot of the bed, slowly walking over to join the rest of us. “With us helping you the time will fly by, mama.”

A few tears escaped her eyes, but a growing smile was on her face. “I- Thank you. I love you all, so very much.”

“And we love you. Don’t ever forget that,” I said giving her a kiss afterwards.

Seph returned my kiss earnestly and touched her forehead to mine, afterwards. “We got this. It’s just a little while longer, right? In comparison to eternity, I’ll survive, as long as I have you all.”

“Heh, most of us will be spending eternity with you anyways.” I tightened my hug a bit. “I’m not ever going to leave you or any of my family.” After a short pause I continued, “That includes you as well, Nightmare, Celestia.”

The two alicorns had stayed relatively silent, not wanting to intrude too much. Nightmare blinked, a little overwhelmed. “Pardon?” While Celestia just busied herself with hugging Seph.

“Yeah, I consider the two of you my sisters. I’ve helped you some and you’ve helped me.”

The black alicorn chuckled quietly. “More like sisters in law, since we are already considering Sephiroth as our sister. It would sound a little awkward if you were about to marry your own sister.”

I giggled at that and said, “You’re lucky the foals are around and I can’t make a materia. I’d show you how I treated Kat on one of the times she was here.”

Nightmare just grinned. “I didn’t talk about such actions and do you really think, that we as immortal beings, have never been adventurous enough to tread in such territories? But I digress. I was referring to the marriage itself.”

I chuckled, letting go of Seph just enough to look at her directly. “True, but I would’ve thought that you and Celestia had played around with different personas. Maybe once saying you were actually a couple.”

The grin on the black mare’s face just widened. “I never said we weren’t one. But a marriage is to establish a bond, that between sisters already exists.”

“Who’s to say it wouldn’t strengthen it?” I chuckled, shaking my head. “But I see what you mean, I’m just not going to add on the ‘in-law’ part.”

“I’m not opposed to that.”

A rather frustrated groan from Sephiroth interrupted them. “Are you two sure that you aren’t actually one and the same person? And don’t think I didn’t catch up on what you were insinuating, Nightmare. I’m just saying this once. I won’t ever-” She paused briefly before finishing. “-engage in those activities with either you or Celestia.”

I glanced to the window again, and guess who was trying to quietly sneak in? “Murphy, don’t take that as a challenge.”

The mention of the stallion made Sephiroth tense up and she growled dangerously. “Murphy. I want, no, demand to know what you’re doing to me. And don’t you try to play stupid with me. Sombra already told me that you were messing with me in some way.”

“I’m not doing anything really, just letting my powers do their thing. Oh, I am trying to change the blessing I gave Nightmare though. I forgot to carry the five and, well, right now it’ll work for any time she has sex,” Murphy said, trying not to trip as he pulled himself in.

“Then check what your powers are doing or I swear I-” She was interrupted when a black blur tackled the thestral and trapped him in a death grip of a hug.

Nightmare actually squeed and nuzzled him affectionately. “Don’t you change a single thing about that! I want that blessing to stay exactly as it is!”

“Um... Okay?” He said uncertainly, but I realized exactly why when I noticed something growing on him.

“Take that to another room, Murph. There are foals present,” I said, making sure that the fillies were still nuzzling Seph.

“Hey, I’ve never had someone thank me for screwing up before!”

The black alicorn just chuckled and covered the stallion’s lower parts with her wing. “I couldn’t be any more thankful.” And then she actually kissed him on the cheek, making him blush deeply.

Another growl came from Sephiroth. “I’m really glad for you, Nightmare, but your cuddly toy owes me an answer. I don’t take kindly to anything messing with me.”

“I’ll do my best to keep my powers from harming you,” Murphy said in a rush.

“I am not referring to ‘harm’. And that was not my question. What are your powers doing to me right now.” She visibly struggled not to shout or sound too aggressive, mindful of the children present.

“I can’t tell my powers to avoid you all the time, but I’ll try my hardest. Right now, they aren’t doing anything to you.”

“So you call Sombra a liar? I’m sure he will be very interested to hear that.” She fully intended the last part as a threat and her tone supported that quite nicely.

“He was probably talking about the coincidences like everyone else does. I get blamed for every bad thing that happens to someone.”

Nightmare nuzzled him again. “Aww, you poor little stallion. I know how it is to be blamed for things out of our control. There are always ponies that blame me for the nocturnal predators.”

Huffing, the silver haired woman just looked back at the children. “Sorry. But if you absolutely have to mess with me, and I mean it in that way that your powers can’t be stopped from it, then inform me at least about it, okay? Then I will try not to get mad at you.”

“I’ll make sure to run the other way then,” Murphy said, his blush growing once more.

Sephiroth groaned. “I just told you that I won’t be mad, if - and only if - you inform me when and in which way your powers absolutely can not be stopped messing with me.”

“I-I’ll dOO tha-at then. I-I c-could try to- mmph... to help with... uh... whate-ever’s wrong ri-right now,” Murphy said, squirming a bit under Nightmare.

The latter stopping… whatever she was doing to him - albeit I had a strong hunch what this was - and stared at him. “Wait, you could?”

Right next to her face, another one appeared out of nowhere, though they both possesses almost the same, teal eyes. I blinked in confusion before looking at the bed and noticing that Seph had teleported herself over to him. “YOU COULD?!”

Murphy nodded his head and said, “Yeah, I could help... whatever’s fighting that in you a bit. Not really much in the long run, but-”

Sephiroth interrupted him. “I don’t care if you helping removes only a single day of the time I have to wait. If you can pull this off then I’ll give you a free pass for any future messing with me, if it stays in decent boundaries.”

“Okay.” Murphy closed his eyes and nothing happened for a few minutes, everyone waiting for him to do something. Once he opened his eyes, he said, “There, I wasn’t able to do as much as I thought I would, but it’s something.”

Hesitantly, the silver haired woman looked from him to me and back. “Is there any way to tell if it worked? Or how much time it cut off?”

“A few months, but that’s barely a drop in the bucket.”

She smiled down on him. “It’s more than I could have asked for. Thank you, Murphy. And I’m standing by my word.”

Nightmare shoved Sephiroth to the side and grinned in a big and fang-filled way. “I’m borrowing him for a bit.” And with that they both vanished in a flash of light.

“Huh.... Well, I hope he isn’t a total virgin still,” I said staring at the spot where they had been.

Sephiroth rose to her full height and scratched her head in confusion. “That was rude.” Then she sighed and turned to look at me. “And you are certain that she and you aren’t secretly the same person?”

“I’m kinda wondering that myself now.”

She burst into laughter and headed back over to the bed, where she proceeded to lean onto the edge of it and slowly calm down. “You know. I think I’m alright. With you, all, as my family, I’m really happy.”

I gave her a smile and pulled her in for a kiss. “You know, I’m gonna need your help for the next weeks or so. I’ve basically used up all my magic.”

After reciprocating the kiss wholeheartedly, Sephiroth rested her right hand on my hip and smiled. “It will be my pleasure. I don’t really have anywhere to be. Although, if I can get a little free time in, then I would like to take Sombra up on his offer to train with me, to work on my swordsmanship. And I’d like to meet this Barbaroi. He was recommended for fixing my lacking skill with my original abilities. I really should use everything I can in a fight and not try to capitalize on my sword alone.”

“Murphy might be able to get in touch with him for you. I’ve been meaning to talk to him anyways.”

“Great. Uhm…” Hesitating, she seemed to realize something right then. “Don’t you have things to do, though? I kind of interrupted you earlier.” With a sheepish look on her face she scratched Celestia behind an ear distractedly, making her blush and shy away.

I smiled and scratched behind her other ear when Mun decided to answer for me. “I have moved the rest of tonight’s schedule to the following night,” He said as he walked over.

Sephiroth nodded towards the thestral. “Thanks. So-” Looking back at me she lifted an eyebrow. “What do you want to do? I wanted to get to know Sol and Mun better after we came back. But seeing as I am the reason all your appointments have been cancelled, I could stay by your side. You said yourself that you need my help right now.”

“Not exactly right now, but I’ll need your help wading through everything until my magic recharges. Besides-” I give her cheek a kiss. “Family’s the most important thing to me. I can just spout off the old ‘family issues’ excuse if anyone asks why they were moved.”

“Well, okay. Can you join us, though? I don’t know if you have any of those that are after you, but I would feel better if I wouldn’t leave your side until you are able to defend yourself again.”

I give her a deadpan expression and pull out my shotgun. “You sure I can’t defend myself with this?”

The woman sighed deeply. “I didn’t mean it that way, Max. You know better than me that there are opponents that won’t be stopped by this. I just worry about you.”

“Maybe not a single shot, yeah. But this thing fires acidic rounds. And yes, it can eat through even pure Elementium which is harder than dragon scales.” I then muttered, “Wasted a lot of the metal, too.”

Pinching the bridge of her nose, she groaned, but Celestia was the one who spoke up. “Miss Caulfield, Sephiroth didn’t want to insinuate that you are not able to defend yourself, at all. She just worries and wants to be near you.”

“Please, call me Max, Celestia. I know she’s worried about me, I’m just trying to show her there’s nothing to worry about.” I chuckle a bit, cocking the shotgun. “Besides, no one wants to mess with an angry pregnant woman holding a shotgun.”

“Okay, okay. I get it. You can take care of yourself. Could you join us anyways?” The frustration in Sephiroth’s voice was palpable and she picked up Golden and Light, cuddling with them to quell her rising agitation.

“I was going to,” I said as I stood up. “I... kinda just wanted to show off a bit.”

“You can show off on a shooting range if you have one.” Seph gained a thoughtful expression. “I could use one to improve the accuracy of my spells.”

“There’s one near the barracks,” I said with a giggle as Rainbow landed on Seph’s head.

Chuckling, the now filly covered woman looked over to Mun. “You both want to join us? I’m extremely curious about those big tank-like bodies of yours.”

“Then you’ll be disappointed,” Mun said, pointing to his hull.

She blinked, confused. “Huh… when I saw them through the scrying spell I thought they were bigger.” Shrugging, her smile returned. “But size is not what counts. I’m more curious about the firepower. You are protecting our family after all.”

“Sol and I have the same weapons, but I’m more geared for protecting from physical damage and Sol from magical or electronic.”

“She’s wanting your specifications, Mun,” I said. “Zenith Sol and Zenith Mun have miniature Hell-bores as their main cannons, depth charges, torpedoes, missiles, machineguns, and at least one drone.”

“That sounds like much, but I have to admit that I don’t know what ‘Hell-bores’ are.” Sephiroth grinned and shuddered in excitement. “Don’t get that wrong, but I really have to fight you someday. That will be great!”

“You’ll have to fight Sol and I to get my full power,” Mun said. “Working together, Sol and I could possibly defeat Discord if we used Overdrive.”

“Hell-bore is just a fancy way of saying plasma cannon,” I explain, giggling as I remembered that one rap battle between MC and Leonidas.

The silver haired woman nodded eagerly, but still mindful of Rainbow, which had a blast due to it. “Both of you at once. I really like a good fight.” With that she began to walk towards the door. “Let’s go! I’m bursting with energy right now!”

Celestia hopped off of the bed and tilted her head. “I think I’ll wait here for Nightmare.”

“You don’t wanna watch what could very well be the match of the millenia?” I asked as I followed Seph. “You won’t see anything else like it for at least ten thousand years.”

The white mare flinched and her gaze drifted over to Seph for a second before she looked away again, muttering. “I think I have had my share of battles…”

I stop and turn back around, an annoyed expression on my face. “Then how will you get over the past?” My look softened a bit and I continued, “Forgive yourself. You were weak back then, yes, but you didn’t know what that thing would do. There was no way you could have. Now, though, you are stronger.”

She shook her head hastily. “Sorry, there seems to be a misunderstanding. I just can’t draw any form of entertainment out of watching a fight. I was forced to witness enough in the past.”

“Still, don’t let your past haunt you,” I said, turning back to resume following Seph.

Nodding this time, Celestia sat down. “I- I’ll try.”

When we arrived at the training grounds I noticed that there was a shield over the entire area being powered by an array and about twenty unicorns. Some bleachers were being erected outside of the shield-dome next to the unicorns.

This all made Sephiroth grin even wider. “Good thinking.” She turned to look at me and lifted the two fillies in her arms briefly. “To the grandstand first, I guess?”

“Sure,” I said with a shrug. “I’d rather be sitting anyways.”

She almost hopped over to the stands to set the fillies down, before her complete demeanor changed drastically. Crossing her arms in front of her chest and attaining an almost disinterested expression with just a hint of a frown on it, all of her former enthusiasm apparently gone.

I glanced over and saw that Sol and Mun were in the dome already with both of their bodies, only for Seph to appear the very moment I blinked next.

The woman gave her opponents a slight bow of her head, before she drew her sword, like every time, out of nowhere. Turning sideways, she lifted the hilt of it next to her head and pulled it a little bit more behind herself, so that the blade was on her eye level and pointing in the general direction of Sol and Mun.

“We haven’t been tested in true battle yet, but even so we are faster than anything,” Sol and Mun said together, two different colored shields springing into being around their hulls as they dropped into defensive stances.

“Shields, huh? You know I never tried this one.” Releasing the hilt with one of her hands, she lifted it in front of her. A second later a rainbow colored wall of light appeared in front of her, that leaned heavily on reds, only to vanish again. Sephiroth didn’t look disappointed, though, albeit it had looked like her spell had failed. “I would say ‘Prepare yourselves’, but you already did, so-” She exploded into movement, dashing towards Sol, with both hands back on her weapon.

Sol herself dodged as her turret fired off three quick shots, each slowing to half the speed when they passed the Wall spell but still hit their target. She came in close and scored two probing hits before being warded off by Seph trying to hit her again.

The woman stepped back, caressing where the shots had hit and nodded. “Fast, indeed.” Her body was encased in a red glow and she vanished, only to reappear when she swung her blade through Sol’s shield.

Mun’s hull moved forward even faster, his shield covering Sol’s hull right as Sephiroth’s blade was about to cut into the plating. His gun’s barrel end glowed with a red light and the woman decided it would be best to avoid the attack by dodging sideways. She was right as a blast came out as she moved, being absorbed into the shield.

She wasn’t expecting Mun to intercept her, though, as she was sent flying across the arena. She impacted the dome feet first and crouched down in the process to soften it, a small smile tugging at her lips. She lifted one of her hands, her palm facing the two, and without warning a giant block of ice appeared around them. “Let’s see how much strain your shields can take.” An equally large boulder ripped itself out of the ground and shot towards the block of ice.

Sol suddenly appeared in the boulder’s path, kicking it up and over the block of ice while Mun kicked the ice apart. After three kicks the ice shattered enough to allow their hulls to move once more and they quickly turned their glowing guns towards Seph, a volley of missiles taking off from their vertical tubes.

Sephiroth swung her sword multiple times, sending glowing blue edges towards the missiles that sliced right through them, continuing on their path afterwards and thus impacting the dome. She launched herself from her position and shot a cluster of fireballs at Mun’s hull.

The hull retreated to beside Sol’s while Mun himself charged forward, aiming for her head. When Seph tried to swipe at him he twisted and grabbed her wrist and pulled, flipping her over onto her stomach as he broke her wrist.

Crying out briefly, she seized the chance and rammed the hilt of her weapon right between his eyes with enough force to produce a sickening ‘crack’, before teleporting out of his grasp and proceeding to kick him into the ground.

She only got one kick in as Sol sprang forward and delivered all four of her hooves to the back of Seph’s head, knocking her onto the slowly melting spikes of ice.

Jumping to her feet again, she looked rather damaged. The spikes having cut through her clothes and skin, but she just grinned and covered her broken wrist with her hand that was still holding the sword.

The hulls fired their charged shots, knocking her against the dome and covering her with a cloud of dust.

When the dust settled it revealed a miraculously unharmed woman that was grinning widely, her hands still glowing a bright green, while the various cuts over her body closed themselves. Her eyes danced with glee and she struck her sword into the ground. “You’re really tough. I like that.” Both hands raised now, one pointing at Sol the other at her hull, two miniature novas flared into existence before them, but instead of releasing them, Sephiroth held them back, pumping more power into them and making them doubling their size. Chuckling, she shot them, making the ground melt underneath their paths with their intense heat.

Sol reacted as soon as the blasts left Seph’s hands, shooting backwards and following the curve of the dome away from the attack as both of the hulls went into Overdrive quadrupling their shields and firing off blasts just as big towards Seph. Mun appeared right in her face before smashing her face into the ground hard enough to crack the stone.

Sephiroth blurred upwards and grabbed Mun at his throat, looking unamused. “I thought I put you down.” Looking past him at the two hulls that obliterated her attack and then at Sol with a lifted eyebrow, she released the stallion and the second Flare dissipated. “This fight is over.”

“Yes, it is,” Mun said in both his and Sol’s voice as he hit Seph back into the ground, twisting both of her arms behind her back.

Sighing, the woman made no move to free herself. “I won’t fight longer. Sol’s reaction told me that she was protecting something. So if you think you really need to hurt me a little bit further, although I already proclaimed the fight over and did not defend myself, go ahead.”

Mun released her immediately, backing away. “Our apologies, we thought you had meant to end it with a final attack.”

The shields around the hulls flared and broke, a bit of electricity zapping from one to the other before the guns lowered to the ground, smoke pouring out of small vents on the back of the hulls.

Sephiroth picked herself off of the ground and dusted herself off, before looking at Sol. “So, mind to share of what you were this protective of?” Pulling her sword out off the ground, she let it disappear.

“That-” Sol began in both voices, stopping and shaking her head a bit before continuing in only hers, “That attack would have obliterated my organic body, had it hit.”

“Yeah, about that. If the thick head over there-” She gestured vaguely in Mun’s direction. “Hadn’t distracted me, I would have stopped both of them myself. I never intended for them to hit. But I truly am impressed that you managed to stop one on your own.”

“Ah, so it would seem that we would have won if you hadn’t called the match,” Mun said as he walked over to the hulls.

Chuckling again, the woman nodded. “You would have, yes. I can’t fight at full power right now due to an injury. I’m actually surprised that that last attack hadn’t hur-uuuuuurrrrrggggghhhh!” She clutched her chest and toppled over, positively vomiting blood on the ground like she had in the infirmary after sharing her Cells.

“Sephiroth!” I rushed into the dome and over to her saying, “I knew I shouldn’t have let you do this!”

She still clutched her chest and heaved a few times, her face a mask of agony, but she tried to smile nonetheless. “S-sorry, Max. Sol and Mun are really good and I let myself get carried away. D-don’t worry, I’m fine.”

“You’re coughing up blood.” I put her arm around my shoulders and stood up. “You’re going straight back to the infirmary so Home can try to help you heal.”

Sephiroth groaned. “That isn’t necessary. No one can heal this wound until it healed itself. I promise to take it easy and not overexert myself again, but please don’t bring me back to that place. The beds are just plain uncomfortable.”

“Fine, but if you throw up blood onto my bed you’re cleaning it.” I turned the both of us towards the castle, the fillies flying ove- I stopped and stared at Golden who had landed on Seph’s head. “Looks like Golden did get wings.”

Chuckling, she followed my lead without resistance. “That’s nice. But I missed it. Are they black like my wing or are they matching her coat? I really hope it’s the latter.”

“They’re a bit darker than her coat, but not black.” I resumed carrying Seph towards the door. “She hasn’t put them away yet, so you could just look over your shoulder to see.”

She did as much and smiled. “Neat.” Then she frowned slightly. “Sol didn’t answer my question.”

“I thought I had,” Sol said as she came up on our right. “I was protecting myself when I avoided that attack-”

“I heard that, but it doesn’t sound right for some reason.”

Sol grunted as she helped support Seph. “I was about to say that protecting Aurora’s new body was part of that.”

“Wait what?” I looked over at her, trying to figure out what that meant.

Seph blinked, thunderstruck, before roaring. “YOU FOUGHT ME WHILE BEING PREGNANT?!”

“It is early enough that there isn’t more than a small lump of cells, certainly no soul yet. The most we would lose would be three weeks,” Sol said.

I facepalmed and said, “Sol, Seph loves children too much to let your aloofness about this slide.”

One of the woman’s eyes twitched, but her voice dropped to a more decent volume, still managing to sound even angrier. “A lump of- Can you fathom what could have happened if I were able to fight earnestly?! And the most would be three weeks?! Would you just- could you- how- GAH!” I felt her shake by my side, too angry to even speak properly anymore.

Sol gave Seph an apologetic look and said, “Sorry, Mun and I get like that after we use TSDS. It usually wears off a few minutes after we untangle ourselves.”

All of Sephiroth’s wrath dissipated suddenly, taking almost all blood out of her face with it as she paled. “I fought a pregnant mare. I- I… threw a Flare at a pre-” Her now ghostly white face gained a distinct green sheen around her nose and she covered her mouth with one hand, while dry heaving into it.

“If you had known, Sol and I wouldn’t have had such a workout.” She shrugged. “It wouldn’t have made a difference, seeing as how I avoided your attacks.”

“I fu- I know attacks that you couldn’t have avoided in such an enclosed area! What if I had decided to use Beta instead?!”

“Then you would’ve taken out most of Canterlot,” I said, pulling open the door to the castle. “That shield would’ve shattered and the backlash of that would’ve made the explosion worse. That type of shield was made to use the energy of attacks that hit it as power....” I trailed off, knowing Seph knew what would have happened if the shield had overloaded.

“Ffffffffidles. Okay, never, ever use Beta.” Seph sighed and shook her head, slowly as to not disturb Golden too much. “Probably would have killed me to even try using it at the moment.”

“Look at it this way, if I or Mun had sensed something that powerful being used, we would have given up,” Sol said, leading us down a corridor to the right.

Suddenly a full-body shiver ran through the woman and she shook her head afterwards. “Let’s just say that I’m glad that you two are in charge of the family’s protection.”

“That’s part of why I bought them from Nono,” I said as I opened the door to my rooms. “Another was I wanted Nono to get out of my face about her debt to me.”

“Who’s Nono?”

“The one who Displaced me.”

Sitting down on my bed, Sephiroth looks at me with a raised eyebrow. “You know the one that sent you here?”

“Yeah, she’s real nice. If not for her figuratively trying to shove items down my throat because I paid too much for some things, we’d be the best of friends.”

After taking Golden from her head and hugging her, she let herself fall back on the bed. “The only memory I got left from mine is that he turned up in the castle’s garden and freed me from my imprisonment. Looked kind of shabby, with his giant trench coat and his rucksack that jingled like he got millions of little things in it.”

“Ah, that’s The Merchant.” I chuckled and shook my head as I sat down next to her. “Everyone calls him that because he looks exactly like the Merchant from the Resident Evil games.”

“Huh… Well he took my tears as payment for freeing me. Don’t know why, though. Could ask him who I was in my old life.” She began to absentmindedly stroke Golden and sounded exhausted.

“You’ll have to trade for any little bit of information, though. I’ve heard he can be ruthless in his dealings from the Displaced that have met him or remember him.”

I didn’t receive another answer and her form had relaxed completely, so it was not hard to tell that she fell asleep. I smiled and gave her cheek a kiss before lying down beside her.