A race of virtue
against monstrosity
I dismissed the dream-image of my bipedal form so that my newly-palliated succupire children can cuddle up to my pony form instead. Oh,
this was a good day.
"We do not understand. You put these.. young creatures in cages, and they embrace you."
"They're hybrids of two predatory species. The first subsists purely on human blood. The second feeds.. in a variety of ways, but mostly on the souls of their victims. These children were trapped on an island with nothing to feed on but each other." Luna looks increasingly perturbed. "Whenever one started puberty their starving younger siblings would devour them. I recovered the survivors and put them in cages so that they wouldn't be driven to either eat each other or anyone else. I left them in there until I learned enough about how they worked to create a potion to suppress their instincts, and then I enabled-"
There's a flash of purple as I gain a purple jewel from whatever mad process regulates Equestrian harmony magic.
"-them to live as normal children."
I press my muzzle into dream-Bethany's hair and
snort, eliciting a dream-laugh. Then I stand, their images fading away.
"
Why?"
"What do you mean, 'why'? Because I could. Because I had the resources. Because things like that shouldn't happen to anyone and I could fix it. As much as it
could be fixed. Okay, loyalty next."
What's the best example of loyalty..? Actually, when.. have I acted against my own interests due to a freely accepted obligation? I generally try to arrange things so that I
don't encounter that sort of conflict. Giving Talia to Batman? No, that was more because I didn't want to start a fight with him…
Ah.
I march down the corridor with Luna on my tail -metaphorically- and step out through the door into the gazebo of the Alan Scott Memorial Garden. As it will be once all of the plants have reached full size.
Luna spots the main statue even as I allow my memories of the visitors to cause the phantasms of playing children and sombre mourners to flicker in and out of being.
"Who was he?"
"One of my instructors. Good man, but… We didn't have much in common, and he was very old when we first met. I tried to secure the materials he needed to extend his life further, but regrettably I was a little late in returning. And to do
that-"
A red jewel appears on my barding.
"-I had to confront the one who gave me the Anti-Life fragment."
"And defeat him?"
"And ask nicely."
I look back and the statue has changed to one of Darkseid.
"Darkseid. The Apokoliptian New God of Tyranny.
He terrifies me." I
concentrate and Alan's statue returns. "Kindness, laughter, generosity and loyalty."
"Honesty is next."
…
Yes, it…
Is, isn't it?
"How about you take a turn?"
"You have but two to go. You can-."
"And you've got
six to go and I don't need your help to be honest!"
"It's true! He doesn't! He said so-"
A mauve mare with cauliflower ears prances through the ghost-crowd, a snake-tongue flicking between her lips.
"-himself, so it must be true!"
I brace for an attack, while Luna merely blinks and then nods.
"We suppose that it is not in his interests to lie."
I reach up with my right forehoof and shove her in the left shoulder.
"Luna, I was obviously lying. I don't know what these things
are, but they're affecting the way you think."
She
shudders for a moment, focusing her mind and incidentally picking up her green sigil at the same time.
"We demand that you tell Us who you are!"
"Yelling Fool!"
Hah!
Luna scowls. "You will regret insulting Us, oh baleful fragment of malediction!"
"I will?! Okay!"
"No, Luna, I think that's her name. And she's a distraction."
"I thought I was a pony! Can I be both?!"
"Luna,
pick-."
The ground -and Yelling Fool- drops away and the gazebo morphs into a chariot. Day turns to night as we descend through the sky and land in Ponyville.
"Nightmare Night." Fragments of the events of that evening flash before our eyes. "The first day 'pon which We dared to believe that
We might one day walk amongst Our subjects without engendering fear or contempt. Except intentionally."
There's a brief blue flash on her peytral as the blue sigil appears, and we watch her phantasmal self getting seen off by the Ponyville crowd.
"This leaves love, compassion, avarice and hatred, doth it not?"
"Hate and anger." I frown. "Do these Anti-Life inspired pony phantasms mean anything to you, or are they just trying to get you to reject the Elements?"
"We are uncertain. But We doubt that it changes Our approach." She flicks her mane and flaps her wings, rising into the air and flying towards… Whitetail Woods. The non-monster-infested woodland abutting Ponyville. "We will attempt love next."
I flap after her. "I've got plans tomorrow evening, but after-."
"Thy tiresome lechery amuses Us not."
"Not even a little? I got my laughter badge."
"For laughing at a child when he resisted your threats."
"No, that wasn't it. I put a fair bit of effort into acquiring those weapons, took some risks… And I didn't get them because of something I didn't even take into consideration. The joke was on
me."
She glances back over her shoulder for a moment before coming in to land. A small clearing and a small… Fort? Fortified house? I see a grey unicorn with a blue cloak and pointed wizard-hat. Both are decorated with stars and bells.
Starswirl the Bearded, then.
"And why would you lie?"
"To encourage you to see things a particular way. To see
me in a particular way. But in this case it's actually true. Heck, you can ask Richard about it once-"
The Starswirl phantasm glances back at the door as two fillies… Oh, that's what they looked like when they were younger. Young Celestia and Luna trot out and
nuzzle him before dashing off into the woods. There's a small violet flare as Luna gets the violet sigil.
"-we're.. done here. Starswirl?"
"We were being taught how to use the strongest magics in ponydom, that we might fight and overcome Discord, and secure this land for all harmony-loving creatures. It was needful, but
he was not blind to the fact that we were boisterous fillies. We felt much love in this house."
She shakes her head.
"Now, compassion."
