Twilight gasped from the shock of cold air hitting her when she emerged from the portal. She'd been expecting some fantastical, psychedelic display like the portal to the human world, but it hadn't been much different from walking through a door, which left her unprepared for the chill on the other side. As she thought about it though, it was more the contrast from the sun blasted desert that made it feel colder. In reality it wasn't that bad.

She'd emerged into a stone built, semi circle shaped room, coming out from one of the many mirrors that lined the curved portion of the room. The dozen other mirrors were either deactivated or cracked, as the one they came through seemed to be the only one working. It also had to be the reason why the room was half full of sand, the wind having blown plenty through the mirror over the centuries.

"Ah!"

Twilight turned around at the exclamation to find Sunset shivering on the spot. She grinned at the unicorn, "Bit of a shock, isn't it?"

"You can say that again." Sunset blinked at the sight of all the sand, then followed on to look at the rest of the mirrors. "Huh. Guess it's a good job that mirror was working then, because trying to create a mirror out of all those fragments would never have worked without a mirror to connect it to."

"I know." Twilight pouted at Sunset, "Still annoying though."

"Aah-ah-ah! Damn that's cold!"

"And there's Trixie."

"I never thought I'd say this so soon, or ever, but I miss the desert."

Twilight snorted with mirth, then lit her horn to drag Trixie out of the way as Moondancer came through, followed by Mayfly and Daring Do. All of them gasped at the change in temperature, and all of them looked at the sand as though it had offended them.

Trixie turned on the spot, taking in the chamber, "So this is it then, Starswirl's secret retreat."

"I suspect there's a little more to it than this," said Moondancer.

"Obviously. Still, we're here, soooo... now what?"

"That is an excellent question," Twilight muttered. "I guess we should just look around and see what we find."

Twilight led by example, walking up the singular exit to the chamber. The sand grew less and less as they went, and it was only a short path until they exited into a much larger room containing a rather large library built into two layers. Golden orbs emitting a soft light lit the place with a warm glow, and Twilight, along with Moondancer, lost control of her jaw as they stared at shelf after shelf of ancient knowledge in Starswirl's private library. The others managed to be at least a little impressed. Mostly.

"I wonder how many trees died for this place?" Trixie asked out loud. "I mean, between the shelves and the books..."

"Don't ruin this for me Trixie!" Twilight gasped breathlessly. "Not in front of the books."

Sunset smiled at Twilight's behaviour, then approached the nearest shelf. She picked a book at random and read the cover, "Mistmane's treatise on mass preservation. I'm pretty sure you can pick that up in any library though." She opened the cover, and raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"What is it?" Twilight asked as Sunset continued to stare at the inside cover of the book.

"To my good friend Starswirl," Sunset read out loud, "I figured I'd get you a first edition for your library since you're a stickler for them, signed... Mistmane? She's supposed to be a legend, but here she is giving friendly messages to Starswirl the Bearded. I figured somepony else was just using Mistmane as a pen name."

"It seems not." Twilight let her gaze wander off around where they were, and up the walkways above them. The entire place felt like a library built into a cathedral, with grand pillars, arches, and the massive space required to fit all this within. To the right of them she could see another hallway leading off somewhere, while the left was open like where they were now, except lit up with a cold blue light.

Twilight shrugged and started heading left, hoping for the light to be a window that could show them where they were. Frankly she was more than a little interested in where Starswirl had managed to hide this place.

The library ended and opened out into a big, round open space that had a large armillary sphere hanging from the ceiling, constantly turning as it depicted the dance of the sun and the moon around the world. Work benches covered with stacks of paper and discarded experiments bordered the sides of the room, while at the end was a big, concave window held together with solid lattice of iron-work. This was the source of the cold blue light, and quickly caught Twilight's attention. She ran over to the window and pushed her face up against it, trying to figure out where they were. There wasn't much to see as a blizzard was blowing outside, but she could just about make out nearby mountains. Judging by the way she was looking down at their bottoms, she could only conclude that they were inside another mountain.

"This is the frozen north," Moondancer stated flatly. "We're actually in the frozen north. We were going the wrong way the entire time!"

"I think it's unlikely we would've found this place by searching around the frozen north," Sunset said smoothly before Twilight could snap a reply back at Moondancer. "This really is the frozen north though. Why would Starswirl build his retreat here?"

"To observe the windigoes," a male voice replied. "Of course, that became redundant after they were destroyed in the events concerning the Exodus."

All of them turned from the window, searching for the source of the voice, but seeing nothing. Twilight was about to demand the speaker show themselves, when a mote of blue light zipped through the air towards them. It stopped, then started moving in a pattern, leaving a trail of light behind it that started to form the shape of a stallion. The mote ceased being visible as it moved faster, adding more and more detail to the stallion. It was literally like he was being sketched out of thin air.

It wasn't until the beard was added that they suddenly knew what they were looking at.

"Starswirl?" Twilight gasped. "Starswirl the Bearded?"

"No," the stallion replied primly, "not quite." Twilight swore she could hear a melancholic note to his words then. "I don't know who you are, nor do I particularly care; you need to leave the way you came this instant."

"But- but-" Twilight spluttered, "but we need your help!"

"I said I don't care. Leave the way you came, and take some of that damn sand with you. The changeling too."

Trixie snorted a laugh as the others dithered at the illusion's stern words, "And what if we refuse? What are you going to do about it?"

"I am in possession of deadly weapons and spells I shall have no choice but to use if you refuse to leave. This is your only chan-"

"Perfect! That's exactly the kind of thing we're looking for, so if you want to show us your deadly weapons and spells, that would be great."

This time it was the illusionary Starswirl's turn to be taken aback. "I beg your pardon? You wish to have my arsenal used upon you?"

"Yep."

"...Oh darn. I never thought that would happen. Uh..."

"You don't actually have anything, do you?" Trixie smiled as the illusion sighed and shook his head, "That's a shame for all of us then, now if you don't mind, we have a lot of stuff to do."

"But you can't! This is the Master's private library! Not just anypony can go poking around in here to their heart's content!"

Trixie started taking exaggerated steps back towards the library, "Just you watch me."

"Trixie, wait." Twilight smiled apologetically at the illusion, "I'm sorry to impose ourselves upon you, but the world is in danger, and the knowledge you have here could help us. I'm not sure who you really are, but-"

"I am the curator of this library, and it is my duty to keep it clean and organised for the Master, as well as to act as a helper when he requires me to be so."

"So, we can call you Curator then?"

"The Master called me Starsy."

Twilight went blank for a moment, as she tried to put the cute nickname together with the image of Starswirl she kept in her head. "Yeah... I'm not doing that. Look, Curator, I know we're intruding, but we are on an important mission to protect not just Equestria, but the world from a serious threat. You know Starswirl wouldn't refuse to help in such a situation."

"No, but I do know that he and the other Pillars would never let such a threat exist before their passing, so I think you must be lying to me."

"The Pillars?" Sunset asked. "What are those?"

"What are- How could you possibly not know who the Pillars are? We are a team of the greatest heroes Equestria has to offer, champions of the tenets of Harmony. You cannot possibly be ignorant of them as well?"

Sunset cocked her head to the side, "You just said we."

"No I didn't."

"Yes you did. 'We are a team of the greatest heroes Equestria has to offer.' You're the real Starswirl, you have to be."

"No I am not. What I am is a construct built from Starswirl's very being. I just get confused sometimes."

Twilight jumped on the opening the Curator gave her, "You have Starswirl's memories? Does that mean you know what happened to him?"

The Curator sighed sadly, "I'm afraid not. I haven't seen the Master, or any of the other Pillars, for seven hundred and sixty eight years, four months, twenty three days, and fifteen hours. I can only say that they have likely passed away in that time."

"Where were they going when you last saw them?"

"One of their fellows that assisted the Pillars by the name of Stygian had gone rogue. They departed to put a stop to his nefarious schemes, and never returned."

Twilight cursed, a line of thought she had coming to an abrupt stop with the news that not even Starswirl's own curator knew where he was. She had no idea who these Pillars were, but they might have come in useful against Faust. Although... "Who were the Pillars?"

"Starswirl was one, and their leader. He represented the Element of Sorcery. The others were Flash Magnusson, representing Courage, Somnambula representing Hope, Mage Meadowbrook representing Healing, Mistmane representing Beauty, and Rockhoof representing Strength. There was also Stygian, but he represents only betrayal if the Master's last words to me are to be believed."

"Are those supposed to be the Elements of Harmony?" said Sunset. "That's not exactly how I remember them."

"And how would you remember them?" the Curator asked, raising his muzzle to look down on Sunset, which wasn't hard because he was already taller than her.

"Magic, Laughter, Loyalty, Honesty, Kindness, and Generosity. And whatever I am, but I'm kind of an outlier." Sunset nudged her head towards Twilight, "The alicorn here is the Element of Magic."

"Those do at least align with the Pillars as I know them," the Curator said haughtily. "I'm not aware of any other alicorns though. Does Celestia no longer rule alone?"

"No, Luna's returned," Twilight told him, "and then there's Cadence and me who ascended, and Flurry Heart who was recently born an alicorn." Twilight shrugged at the Curator as his mouth hung open. "We have no idea how either. Anyway, the point is that there's a few of us, including one which we need your help with."

"I suppose this is the threat to the world you were speaking of?" The Curator rolled his eyes, "Let's hear it. I suspect that the actual Starswirl would've at least listened to your problem."

"Faust," Twilight said, dropping the name like a stone into a still pond. The reaction from the Curator was enough to warrant the comparison as his composure broke into a mess of confusion.

"Excuse me? How could Faust be a danger to the world? She's been missing for centuries, and my attempts to locate her have never even found a hint of her whereabouts! You best explain yourself quickly, young lady."

Twilight did so, starting at the point where she found Faust, and explaining how she came to be imprisoned. She trailed off halfway through the story as the Curator started act strangely, staring at the floor and at least appearing to cry. It was then she worked out that he may have inherited more than Starswirl's memories. He may have had Starswirl's feelings too, including his love for Faust.

"All that time spent faithfully serving Platinum... and she could do that to me? Imprison the most loving and caring pony I had ever met? She's fortunate to be beyond my retribution for this act. My poor Faust..."

His outburst ended, and Twilight cautiously continued her tail, but stopped again as the Curator's anguish grew with her describing of what Faust wanted, and what she was doing.

"That sounds nothing like my Faust. She would never harm others, let alone start a war for the express purpose of wiping out everything Platinum built. You have to be lying to me! You have to!"

"It's more than wiping out Platinum's memory," Twilight said, "she wants to enact something called 'the plan.'" Twilight recoiled as the Curator started to laugh. "What? Why is that funny?"

"The plan? The plan is a long distant dream at this point. There's no way she could make it happen."

"And what exactly is the plan?"

The Curator ceased his laughter, then started to try and explain, but never made it past the first syllable before stopping. "It's complicated," he said after a few false starts. "The simplest way to explain the plan is to say that it's the natural order, like how the animal kingdom works with plants feeding prey, feeding larger beasts, and so on."

Trixie pulled a face at what the curator said, "So everypony would just be dumb animals?"

"More or less. The point was that it was meant to be the blueprint of a world living in perpetual harmony. There was no hatred, anger, or anything that sapient creatures like us might feel. There was life, death, survival, and procreation, leading to new life adapted to the changing demands of the world. It was supposed to be a perfect vision of a world in balance."

"But that didn't happen," said Sunset. "Why?"

"Discord," the Curator said simply, "although he was known only as Chaos back then. He changed the plan early in its conception, just as life was budding on our world. He changed many of the creatures of this world to what they are now. Ponies, and so many others, exist only because of his meddling, although ponies were his favoured creation."

"But he told me he only changed ponies colours!" Twilight shouted, surprising herself. "He lied to me?"

"I'd say he only neglected to tell you the entire truth, although I'm more surprised to learn that you've spoken with him. Last I checked he was a rather fetching statue in the grounds of Canterlot Castle."

"He's free now, and we're sort of friends." Twilight shrugged at the Curator, "The point is that he not a danger to anypony now, and can be quite helpful when it suits him. I wish he was feeling more helpful about Faust."

"He wouldn't dare," the Curator said with a chuckle.

"Why not?"

"Because of what Faust is. I know she models herself as the pinnacle of Harmony, but that isn't the truth, not entirely. Where Discord is the spirit of Chaos, Faust is the spirit of Order. He and Faust are natural enemies, or so they think. Even after Faust realised that they could create harmony by working together, they were still massively at odds, which is why the Golden Tree failed. Faust tried to create it from the singular standpoint of order, but order alone is not harmony. She introduced chaos to the Tree of Harmony, striking a true balance, which is why it succeeded."

Twilight's brow creased in thought, wondering where 'the plan' really stood in the harmony stakes. "And that's why Faust champions harmony? Because she knows order alone doesn't work?"

The Curator nodded, "To create true harmony though, she and Discord would need to work together, although I doubt that would ever happen. The simple fact is that Faust hates Discord for destroying the plan and forcing her to adapt to the demands of the new world he made, and Discord despises her, because no matter what he did he could never overcome Faust. No matter what he tried, order was always there to beat him. I rather suspect that was why he did what he did a thousand years ago. Without Faust to counter him, he was able to do as he wished for the first time ever. It may have gone to his head a little."

"You talk about Faust and Discord like they're gods," Moondancer said with a hint of disgust. "They don't seem like gods to me."

"They're not gods, not in the traditional sense, but they're more like primal forces made manifest. They helped shape this world, but after Chaos changed the design, Order grew desperate. That's when she created the physical form you know now, so she could interact directly with the world to try and contain Chaos' changes. She modelled herself after the ponies of this world, since they had access to flight and magic, which she needed to use to enact her will." Starsy smirked to himself, "She never could see the irony of basing herself on the ideal version of something Discord created."

"So she limited herself?"

"Very much so, and so did Chaos when it became Discord, although he used a very different body, one more suited to his nature. There was one major flaw with creating physical avatars for themselves though. They developed personality. With the bodies they became people, and capable of everything people can do."

"They learnt to hate each other," said Sunset.

"Yes, yet also no. Faust hated Discord for breaking the plan, and always would, but she quickly came to love his creations, even with their inherently chaotic natures. Then on the other hoof, Discord became frustrated with Faust for always trying to control everything, and for the most part succeeding. He also became jealous as Faust gained the world's love for seeming to help them, while he became a monster to everyone for changing what they were familiar with, when he was only trying to bring change to the world, as was his nature. Change we should all be thankful for, as we wouldn't be here without him."

"Wow," Twilight said, shocked at what she was hearing. The entire revelation about Discord's true nature was enough, but to learn that you owed your very existence to him was something else. It made you wonder who the bad guy was in this story, because it really didn't sound like Discord was. As for 'the plan,' it sounded terrible. An entire world trapped in perpetual stagnation, relying on chance mutations to increase survivability.

"How would Faust enact the plan now?" Moondancer asked, her own thoughts similar to Twilight's, except without the familiarity that made Twilight look at Discord in a new light.

The Curator shrugged, "She can't, plain and simple. The nearest she could hope to get would be to destroy civilisation and return us all to the stone age. Even then, she couldn't possibly hope to stop us being intelligent and sociable creatures. Minotaurs won't stop existing, or griffons, nor any of the creatures of this world that Discord had a claw in creating."

"Destroy civilisation, and stop anypony being a threat to her..." Twilight murmured. "That couldn't possibly be her plan, could it?"

"Does it matter?" Trixie said to Twilight. "She's still mad as a box of frogs, and we need to stop her." Trixie gave the Curator her most charming smile, "I don't suppose you happen to know of a way to stop, and-or destroy her?"

"Destroy her? Even if that were possible, what in the world makes you think I would want to do such a thing?"

"You mean you agree with what she's doing?"

"Of course not!" the Curator snapped back.

"Then help us so we can stop her."

"But- but-"

"Please and thank you."

Twilight smacked Trixie on the side, and pushed her away. "I'm sorry to ask you to do this. I know you love her, but Faust has become dangerous, and she needs to be stopped before she does irreparable damage to the world. The war she's planning against the world would result in the deaths of millions on its own, let alone what she planned to do after. Please, we need your help."

"You know he can't actually stop us if he refuses," Trixie pointed out.

"Not helping!"

"Actually I am, but whatever."

The Curator stammered, his face etched with indecision and anguish. You could see his desire to protect Equestria was fighting with his love for Faust, and it seemed his love was winning as he shook his head more and more.

"No, I can't. She- We're- I can't do it, I can't hurt the pony I love. Leave this place, and never come back!" Upon his last words, the Curator reverted back to a mote of light and raced away into the upper levels of the library.

"Shit," Twilight swore. "Nice going, asshole," she said to Trixie.

"Me? What did I do?"

"Asking him for a way to destroy the pony he loves? Yeah, that's going to go over well."

"Pfft, whatever. It's not like he can stop us, or that we actually need his help."

"No, but this would go a lot faster with his help, not to mention that he has Starswirl's mind! You know, that genius sorcerer of old? Sounds useful doesn't it?" Twilight growled as Trixie huffed at her, "I'm going to go find him and convince him to help us." She didn't even make it three steps before Sunset stopped her.

"You aren't going to do anything," Sunset said, pushing Twilight back with a hoof. "I think this requires a more delicate touch than yours, so I'll go talk to him and see if I can get him to see things our way."

"Alright then," Twilight said with a shrug, not arguing the point. "What's the matter with you," she asked Mayfly a moment later, once Sunset was gone.

"I get the feeling he doesn't like me because I'm a changeling."

"Maybe you should try calling him daddy?" Trixie jokingly suggested.

Twilight groaned at Trixie, "Again with the not helping."

"Oh you are just no fun today."

Sunset teleported up to the higher level of the library, having given up on finding the stairs after a few minutes. Even though she was searching for the Curator, her eyes skimmed over the shelves she was passing. There were books here she'd never even known existed, and that was just in one small section of the library. The sheer knowledge this place had to contain was astounding.

Sunset refused to let herself get distracted though, and kept searching, finding herself coming to a central section of the library with a cosy nook for reading in. A soft blue glow emanated from the enclosed space, but she couldn't find the Curator. She could only assume he was there somewhere.

"I'm sorry about all of this," Sunset said, searching around the nook as she spoke. "We invade your library, then ask you to do something you don't want to. You're right to be angry at us."

"I thought I told you to leave."

Sunset followed the voice, and finally found the small mote of light nestled between two books on one of the higher shelves. She smiled apologetically at him, "I wish we could, but it's not that simple."

"It never is," the Curator sighed. "I suppose you've come to make a sad attempt at getting me to side with you?"

"Not at all," Sunset lied, as that was exactly what she was hoping to do. "You told us what Faust is, but you never told us how you see her. I don't want to know about the force that helped to shape the world, but rather the pony she was."

Sunset smiled nervously as the Curator floated down off his shelf towards her. Again he started the process of forming a body, growing more solid as he stood before her, a faint frown marring his features. "You really want to know about her?"

"Please? I can see she means a lot to you, so if we can find a way to end this without anypony getting hurt then all the better. But to do that, we need to know about her."

The Curator said nothing for a while, then sighed out through his nose. "You have no idea what this is like for me, and I don't just mean this situation you've thrust me into. Logically I know I'm just a magical construct, but in my heart I'm Starswirl. It hurts to think that Faust loves me, but not... me."

"I'm sure she would love you just as equally as she loved the... uh..."

"Real me?" The Curator released a bitter laugh, "See? That there is entirely my problem. I'm just a shadow of the real Starswirl, cursed to forever roam this blasted library."

"I hate to say it, but you do seem to be rather... alive, for a construct."

"Another case of Starswirl acting without thinking. He wished me to be more creative in my work, but only the living are gifted with talents like creativity. Are you aware of the Gift of Life?"

"It's magic Faust gave to youuu... Starswirl, whatever. You used it to create the changelings."

The Curator winced, "And wasn't that yet another mistake. Seeing one of my own misbegotten creations here before me is a reminder I didn't want. Anyway, as I was about to say, Starswirl used the Gift of Life upon me, granting me thought, creativity, and feelings." He pouted at the wall, "I can honestly say I wish he hadn't."

"I can imagine." Sunset took a moment to climb onto one of the plush seats in the nook, her rear sinking into the first real comfort she'd found since leaving Saddle Arabia. "Speaking of changelings though, why did you create them? And the windigoes, and all of those things?"

"To manage the negativity in this world. Of all the greatest and worst things Discord gave to this world, the ability to harness magic was chief among them. Thoughts became actions, feelings became power, and divides became... deadly. Faust and Discord learned to hate, but they were not the creators of the concept."

"You mean ponies came to hate each other?"

"The three tribes were different, and the fear of the other is strong. Faust sought to create unity between the three tribes with the Golden tree, but when that failed the divides between ponies grew wider than ever, leading to wars between ponies that you couldn't believe the destructive scale of. It wasn't until they realised that no one tribe could win that a truce was called, leading to the rather chilly situation that preceded the Exodus. Negative energy was rife, and threatened to push ponies over the edge into another war if not managed."

"So Faust tried to find a way to fix that."

"Not at all," the Curator said, surprising Sunset. "She didn't know what to do, having put the death of the tree, and the wars that followed down to the chaos of Discord, not realising he had nothing to do with starting the conflicts. Not intentionally anyway. Actually, it was a much younger and more foolish me that sought Faust out, to beg her help in taming the negativity driving ponies apart."

"So it's true then, you did create the windigoes."

"We did," the Curator said sullenly. "Our first, but not last failure. The principal was simple, create something that could remove the negativity from the world, making it harmless, which we did. Unfortunately we kept the windigoes in a rather bestial state, and all they knew was hunger. They were ravenous, and proved to be more of a danger than a benefit, so were banished to the frozen north and kept there by Faust's power. It's somewhat ironic that in the end it was the windigoes that brought ponies together."

"And friendship."

Starsy nodded slowly, "Indeed. Something so simple, yet a common bond was all it took. Too bad we didn't know that yet, so we continued our search for a solution, although the task fell on me as Faust had to keep the windigoes contained. She gave me the Gift of Life, and off I went to find a solution."

"I'm guessing the changelings came next."

The Curator nodded and rubbed a hoof against his forehead, sighing. "They were supposed to feed on negativity and spread love, nothing more. They certainly weren't supposed to feed on love."

"Primus blames you, you know."

"You've spoken with her?"

Sunset nodded, "Sort of. It was a puddle of goo containing her memories, or something? I don't know, but she told us you left the changelings broken and unfinished."

"She's not wrong. I had not yet finished shaping them when I learnt of Faust's disappearance, and I abandoned them for years while I searched for her, during which the Exodus occurred. By the time I had returned to the changelings they had already become what they are, and there was nothing I could do to help them. I've always regretted that."

Sunset sat quietly while the Curator appeared to become lost in thought. She thought of Mayfly, and what she could've been if Starswirl had finished his work. Spreading love felt like much more noble a goal than feeding on it. At this point Sunset wasn't entirely convinced that Mayfly really needed to do that. Still, that was one thought out of many, and Sunset had questions aplenty.

"What about the Sirens?"

The Curator winced again, "You're aware of them?"

"I've been on the world you banished them too for a while, and had a bit of a run-in with them."

"But that world was supposed to make them harmless!"

"And it did, until I introduced Equestrian magic to that world by accident by taking one of the Elements of Harmony there. We did stop them though, and they really are harmless now."

"Oh good. If those three made their way back to Equestria, there'd be no end to the havoc they could cause. I should never have given those three the gems."

"I guess they worked on the same principal as the others? Feed on negativity?"

"Yes, but there was an unforeseen complication with the magic I gave them. The more negativity they consumed, the more powerful they became, and so they started spreading more and more negativity, and feeding more and more. If the Pillars and I hadn't stopped them, who knows what would've happened? Clearly I gave those gems to the wrong sirens."

"You could say that, although is it possible that feeding on all that negative energy changed them?"

The Curator hummed thoughtfully, "I suppose. I hadn't considered the effect that feeding on such energy might have upon them. It is possible that it changed them, made them cruel and uncaring." He shrugged disarmingly, "Yet another reason it was a failure I suppose. Good job they weren't very quick to work it out."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that I gifted them the gems centuries before I was forced to banish them. They'd rather forgotten about the enigmatic unicorn that had granted them their gifts by that time."

"What about the crystal ponies then? Apparently you had a hoof in their creation too."

"Actually they existed before I came across them. Remarkable ponies every one of them. Their innate magic could be harnessed to spread love across the land with the right tools, rendering the negative energy null and void, although the three tribes were starting on the first steps of unity by that point, meaning there was less anyway, but if I'm anything, I am cautious."

"You wanted to be sure there would be no going backwards."

The Curator nodded, "There would always be ponies that hate each other somewhere, but with the tribes working together it was negligible. That didn't mean it wasn't impossible that things could go wrong again, so I wanted a little insurance against that possibility, just in case. I was also going to be smarter about it this time, and leave the Gift of Life well out of it, as it had only caused trouble in my hooves. I designed the Crystal Empire, and created the Crystal Heart, then approached the crystal ponies with an offer of giving them a safe place to live from the frozen north in exchange for a small favour."

"I thought they'd always lived in the frozen north?"

"Yes, but it wasn't always frozen. I'm afraid that the windigoes had a rather unfortunate effect on the icy north, making it expand as Faust's absence allowed their influence to spread. The events of Hearths-warming may have eradicated the windigoes, but the frozen north never recovered, and the crystal ponies suffered for it. The Crystal Empire benefitted everypony in that regard."

"Wow," Sunset said, and meant it, although not in a way that was very flattering to anypony. To her it felt like the world was little more than a playground to the mad gods and sorcerers that inhabited it.

"Indeed," the Curator said, totally unaware of Sunsets thoughts. "It was my greatest work, although nopony save you and a few others know about it."

Sunset nodded, not disagreeing that the Crystal Empire was a masterful piece of work, even if it was the end result of near constant meddling, but there was something she still hadn't heard off the Curator. "You still haven't told me about Faust."

The Curator opened his mouth, then paused for a second for a single laugh to escape. "No, I suppose I haven't. I'm not sure what to say that isn't already clichéd at this point anyway."

"Even if they are clichéd, I still want to hear it."

The Curator quietly considered it for a moment, then smiled faintly. "She was kind, often to a fault. She refused the notion of taking a life, and even spared the windigoes destruction, even though they were barely self aware. That wasn't to say she was weak though, and would beat you to within an inch of your life if you deserved it, but she would spare that life all the same. She's half the reason Tartarus exists, because she needed somewhere to put the more dangerous beings of this world, having been unwilling to destroy them."

"Then there was her wisdom. I learnt so much about our world from her that I could never have discovered elsewhere. More than that though, was her ability to see all ends of things. Strength is nothing without the wisdom to apply it properly."

"And she was loving too?" Sunset said, egging him on.

"She was. Even though she gave her love to everything, she still had more than enough left for me." The Curator chuckled, "She was organised too. Boy could she organise. I'm not saying she was perfect, as she was often quick to anger, and lacked a sense of humour at times, but her flaws only made her more... like a pony."

Sunset hummed and nodded, but again found herself thinking rather negatively of what she was hearing. Being kind and loving were certainly admirable traits in a pony, but they weren't necessarily traits of the Spirit of Order. Sometimes love was chaotic, and sometimes order was cold hard logic. She knew she was being unfair though, as she was also basing her thoughts on what she knew Faust was doing right now. She was probably a lot different before her lengthy captivity.

"She sounds like a wonderful pony."

"She is. Or at least she was." The Curator sighed sadly, "I know you want to convince me to help your cause, but I'm not sure I can bring myself to harm the pony I love, not after she's suffered so much."

"I know," said Sunset, who bit her lip as she prepared to lay down what was hopefully a trump card. Twilight hadn't brought it up, perhaps with a reason, but Sunset felt the Curator had a right to know. "If you won't help us to help Equestria, then perhaps you might help us to protect your daughter?"

"My daughter? I don't have a daughter."

"Yes, you do. Faust was with foal when she was imprisoned, and according to her, you're the father."

"I-I am? Who? Who's my daughter?"

Sunset breathed in, knowing she was about to drop a bomb on what the Curator, and also Starswirl, thought he knew. "Celestia. Celestia is your daughter."

"Celestia? But Celestia was Platinum's daughter!"

"Adopted daughter, stolen from Faust to raise as her own. That's why she wanted Faust, to get her child to raise as the ruler of a unified nation of ponies. Celestia was never Platinum's."

The Curator was silent as he stared straight forwards, his eyes unblinking and glassy. Sunset gave him the time to process the information, but grew concerned as the Curator continued to stare blankly. She was a little shocked when he spoke at last.

"I had no idea. The entire time I was around Celestia, and I had no idea. But what about Luna?"

"Luna... wasn't yours. She was Sombra's."

The Curator leapt to his hooves, "She was the child of that fiend? How? How is that possible?"

Sunset swallowed nervously before the Curator's sudden rage, "He forced himself upon Faust early in her captivity, likely after Celestia's birth. Luna is the result of that. Platinum took Luna as well as a mercy to Faust."

"Faust did not want her?"

"Faust despises Luna with a passion."

"But she was just a child, she's blameless."

"I know." Sunset got up and moved to sit next to the Curator, "Look, Curat- no, Starsy, I know this is hard for you, but Faust isn't the pony you knew. She seeks to end Equestria, and she wishes to harm your daughter, her own child. I can't even begin to imagine what she plans to do to Luna. Please Starsy," Sunset begged, "help us to stop her."

"How much hurt must it take to turn you against your own child?" Starsy asked, not expecting an answer. "I didn't even know Faust had the capacity to hate a child, let alone turn against one she wanted. And poor Luna... how will she take this news?"

"She knows, and seems remarkably not bothered by it if Twilight is to be believed. After the way Platinum treated her, she was rather relieved to find that Platinum wasn't her actual mother."

"I can believe that," said Starsy. "Platinum always did treat Luna as an inconvenience. I couldn't have been prouder of Celestia when she declared Luna would rule by her side. She knew they were sisters, she knew they should rule together." Starsy sighed and nodded, "If Faust can do this to her own children, then clearly the mare I loved is no more. I'll help you, but I'm only helping you my way. Faust has suffered enough, and I shan't be responsible for having her suffer more."

"So that's Faust?" Daring Do asked as she intently studied the statue of the alicorn they'd found in the observation area. The statue was standing in the reared up position familiar to them, leaving Twilight wondering if there existed an image of Faust where she wasn't doing that.

"That is indeed Faust," Twilight confirmed as she scowled up at the figure. "I would say that doesn't quite do her justice though."

"And you say she's as big as Celestia, if not bigger?"

"That's right."

Daring Do nodded once, "Okay, good luck with that as I am out."

"Excuse me?"

"Fighting deadly beings with phenomenal powers is princess business, not mine. Good luck, have fun, see you when it's over."

"Just like a pegasus to be chicken," said Trixie, standing on her hind legs to flap her front ones. "Buk-buk-bucawk!"

"Okay, I'm no chicken, but I'm not exactly equipped to fight alicorns either-"

"Hence why we're here," Trixie reminded Daring. "And do any of us look like a princess except Twilight? No, we don't, and yet here we are, so quit being such a chicken."

"Will you all shush?" Moondancer hissed at them, her nose not rising from the book she was reading.

"I'm pretty sure reading things is only going to antagonise the Curator if he catches you," Twilight said to Moondancer.

"Maybe, maybe not, but if he's going to make us leave, I want to read as much as I can. Of course that'd be a lot easier without you talking all the time!"

"Actually you'll have plenty of time," Sunset said, sauntering out of the library towards them. "Starsy's agreed to help us."

Twilight beamed at Sunset, "He has! Wait, he has? How did you convince him?"

"I talked to him, and may have told him that Celestia was his daughter."

"Sunset! I wasn't telling him that in case it freaked him out!"

"And I thought he had a right to know. Since it got him to help us, clearly I was right. End of argument."

Twilight rolled her eyes but nodded, aware that there really wasn't any point of arguing over it. "Okay, so where's the Cura-"

"His name is Starsy."

"Oh come on! I can't call him that!"

"Too bad, because his name is Starsy."

"Fine," Twilight groaned. "Where's Starsy now?"

"Is he finding us a sweet weapon we can use?" Trixie asked excitedly.

"Absolutely not," Starsy said as she floated into the area they were standing in. "Even if there was such a weapon that existed to permanently destroy an alicorn such as Twilight, the chances of it working against Faust are slim." Starsy changed into his pony form, and pressed a hoof against Trixie's chest, although she felt nothing as it passed through her. "I'm also informing you now that we won't be destroying Faust, even if the opportunity arises."

"So... what then? Are we going to try and imprison her again?"

"No, we won't be imprisoning her either. Faust has suffered enough, and we will not be killing her, or putting her back in a cage!"

Trixie raised an eyebrow at Starsy, "Okay, so how do you intend that we stop Faust? Give her hugs until she feels better?"

"If that were truly an option I'd say yes." Starsy scowled at Trixie, then turned to the rest of them, "I'm not sure how we're going to stop Faust without killing or re-imprisoning her, but not treating her like such is the one condition of me helping you."

Twilight stared coolly at Starsy. As far as she was concerned there was probably no way they could stop Faust without hurting her, killing her, or containing her. If there was then she'd happily acquiesce to it, but until then she intended to research actual methods of stopping Faust. Unfortunately that meant lying, which wasn't her strong point, but in this case it only took a few words to make it believable.

"Alright, if we can find a way to stop her that you find acceptable, that's what we'll do." Twilight felt dirty for lying to her childhood hero, even if he was only a knockoff, but needs must.

"Thank you," Starsy said, appearing to have bought the lie. "I shall get to work immediately if you want to get settled in, although I would appreciate your aid as soon as you are able."

Twilight smiled at Starsy, and held it as he reverted to his smaller form and zipped away. She continued to hold it when she felt both Sunset's and Mayfly's eyes on her. "What?"

"Why did you lie to him?" Sunset asked. "I saw the way Mayfly winced when you did," she explained without being asked.

"Look, if we can find a way to stop Faust that, ugh, Starsy is comfortable with, then I'm all for it. The problem is that we don't have months to research a way to do that, so if he doesn't find anything we might have to find a different way to stop her that's quicker, even if we imprison her until we do have a proper solution. I'm just being practical Sunset."

"So you're going to be researching ways to fight her?"

"As a back-up plan, yes."

Sunset held her gaze, then sighed and nodded. "I don't like it, but you're right. Fine, find ways to fight her, and I'll try and keep Starsy from working out what you're doing. I'm telling you now though, if he does think of something, that's the plan we're using. He's not wrong that Faust has suffered more than enough, and doesn't need to suffer more."

"I know, and I do agree, but I can't- we can't, place Faust's wellbeing over that of the world. Equestria could well be running out of time, and we might not even have weeks, let alone months to find what we need." Twilight sat and grunted, "If only we had a way to contact Celestia, to ask how much time we had."

"That shouldn't be a problem," the voice of Starsy said again, making Twilight shriek, and not just from the shock. She was suddenly very aware that the Curator might have heard everything she just said. "The portal mirrors, although deactivated, should for the most part be operational. There's one that goes straight to the Castle of the Two Sisters in the Everfree forest."

Twilight carefully worked her jaw to utter the single syllable that occupied her thoughts. "What?"

"I said that there's one that goes to the-"

"I know what you said!" Twilight felt anger bubbling up inside her, tempered with frustration. They'd travelled halfway across the world to find a way to this place when there'd been a way from Equestria under their very noses the entire time. It was enough to make her want to scream, and judging by the looks on at least Trixie's and Moondancer's faces, she wasn't alone.

The small light that was Starsy floated into view, "I don't see what I could possibly done to have upset you."

"You- Nothing, just... nothing. Take us to the portal please."

Starsy bobbed in the air and zoomed off, leaving a blue trail for them to follow. A couple short minutes of internal swearing later they found him fussing about the piles of sand in the portal chamber.

"I really wish Starswirl had given me the ability to move more than books. Look at all this sand! It's everywhere!"

"Starsy, the portal?" Sunset said to the fretting hologram.

"Hmm? Oh yes." He pointed to the middle mirror in the crescent, onlt half of which was left above the sand, "It's there, behind all this awful stuff. I'm afraid you'll have to dig... your... huh." Starsy went quiet as a purple glow surrounded most of the sand in the room and threw it out of the Circen desert portal. "That'll do it," he murmured as he started to inspect the previously buried mirror.

"Where do all these go?" Daring asked as she looked at the other mirrors.

"Oh, various places. The Dragonlands, Griffonia, Zebrica, Equestria, obviously, the Circen desert unfortunately, and a few others I forgotten as I don't exactly need to use them since I can't leave this place. The broken ones here mean their counterpart is broken, as is the case with the Badlands, Tenochtitlan basin, Mareitania, and Saddle Arabia portals as you can see. The others should still be operable though, with a spark of magic at least."

Above each mirror, nestled in the frame was a large gem that Twilight figured had to act as a power source. Even more proof that their original plan would never have worked since without that power source, and a connecting mirror, all they would've made was a dud. The mirror in the Everfree forest was just the icing on a very frustrated cake.

"If you would charge the gem, the portal will open."

Twilight obeyed, and started feeding magic into the gem which started to glow brighter with the more magic she put into it. It seemed a little flawed that if these mirrors stopped working Starswirl would've trapped himself out of this place, but considering how long the Circen desert mirror had been working, they had to be quite robust.

When the gem reached its maximum charge it flashed and started emitting faint wisps of magic that fed down into the other gems. Nothing else happened for a moment, then the mirror lost its reflection, instead appearing to look like liquid mercury before solidifying to show an image of what was opposite the connected mirror. It showed a rather dark stone passage.

"There we go. So long as that gem remains active you should be able to return to Equestria at your leisure. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must return to my work."

Twilight glared at the mirror like it had offended her, then stepped through to the stone passage beyond it. It felt strange to say it, but she somehow knew she was back in Equestria. It just felt right.

"So this is the Castle of the Two Sisters huh?" Sunset said as she passed through the mirror, which Twilight had to note as being entire unremarkable. No wonder Celestia had never suspected its true purpose. "Guess I can knock coming here off the bucket list."

"That's all you have to say about it?"

Sunset shrugged at Twilight, "It's cold and creepy, and I don't really want to be here. I wouldn't mind seeing the throne room though. Y'know, since we're here." She smiled hopefully as the others piled out of the mirror behind her.

"Nice place," Trixie said as she observed the decor. "Hey, I don't suppose we could see the throne room where Celestia banished Nightmare Moon while we're here?" she added, inadvertently mirroring some of what Sunset had said.

"Oh my goodness, fine. It'll only take a minute anyway." Twilight swiftly led them up to the throne room, not bothering to give the tour that the others might have wanted, even as they walked on the mouldering carpets of the throne room. In a strange way it was a relief to see it unchanged, with its ragged tapestries, and missing bits of room, and the twin thrones in the rear.

"Alright," Trixie said, nodding approvingly, "not bad. Trixie could throw one hell of a Nightmare night party in here. The right lighting, a few illusions to scare some ponies, it'd be great!"

Sunset looked up at the two thrones, and the hole in the wall above them. "So this is where it all happened, where Luna became Nightmare Moon... and broke Celestia's heart. No wonder she abandoned this place after that."

Moondancer adjusted her glasses, then turned to Twilight, "Is there a library here? I've heard there was."

Twilight laughed and pointed through a doorway, "Third door on the left. Watch out for the booby traps," she added as Moondancer started trotting.

"You are joking, right?"

"I wish I was. The young Celestia and Luna had funny ideas about fun when they lived here."

"Come on," Daring said, gesturing for Moondancer to follow her. "Booby traps happen to be a specialty of mine."

"Poor Luna," Sunset said once Daring and Moondancer was gone. "All she wanted was to be loved."

"All she ended up being was feared," Twilight said back to Sunset, making the amber mare frown. "I get the feeling you're comparing yourself to her."

"Tough upbringing, overbearing authority figures, a desire to prove ourselves, and a foolish fall to darkness..." Sunset laughed once, but it was far from happy. "No, nothing relatable there. We even both got magic rainbows to smack the evil out of us."

"What about the realisation that you were wrong, and the redemption you've both given yourselves? I hope those are at least good comparisons?"

"I guess." Sunset smiled at Twilight, "Thanks."

"You're welcome... eh?" Twilight perked her ears at a distant sounding pop. Seconds later another one followed it. "What in Equestria?"

"You may want to see this," Mayfly said as she buzzed around up near the ceiling, looking through one of the holes. Twilight flew up and joined her, and gasped as she saw Canterlot surrounded by smoke from the various flashes taking place in the city.

"What is it?" Sunset asked.

"Canterlot's under attack," Twilight said weakly. "How though? They couldn't possibly have reached Canterlot already, could they?" Twilight shook it off, "I'm going to go find Celestia and Luna. You guys stay here!"

"Twilight, wait!" Sunset shouted as Twilight flew up through the hole in the roof. "Damn it Twilight!"

Trixie pulled a face as she trotted over to Sunset, "So, the fuck we supposed to do now?"

Sunset shook her head and frowned as she watched Twilight shrink into the distance. "We wait. It's the only thing we can do."

"Great, so Caterlot's under attack, and I'm stuck here as an observer." Trixie kicked a piece of fallen masonry, and threw herself into Luna's throne. "Just my luck."

Author's Notes:

Posting this at 2 in the morning, because reasons, but I'm on holiday so I can post this late without consquences, for once. Sorry about the talky nature of this chapter, but I had no way to get through it all as show, don't tell, would fill a pretty big story in itself. Hopefully it's all interesting enough as it is.

Anyway, new season, off to a pretty feeble start in my opinion, but from the synopsises I've seen of the other episodes, it'll continue better than it started. At least we got another opportunity to see Celestia as a weak and inneffective ruler, letting some silly racist continue as the head of the entire education system, instead of chewing him out and firing him like any sane person would. Make's Councellor Neighsayer's position look stronger than Celestia's if he can act like that in front of two princesses with zero concerns of princessly retribution. Good work ya big dumb horse.