Moana adaption in trooper924 Pony POV Mirror Verse

Shamelessly "Inspired" by Moana, so naturally, major spoilers.
Takes place in Trooper's version of the Pony POV Series Mirror Verse.
trooper924.deviantart.com/art/…

100% Non-Canon with the Pony POV Verse. Basically, this is a "just for fun" story.

Oh! Hello Dear! Welcome to the house of Duchess Chrysalis of The Changeling Kingdom.

It's wonderful to have you again! What brings you here? Tea and sugar? ... You want to know about THAT tale? Whatever for? Very well, I shall tell you what I know.

This was before Thorax became Lord Thorax, declaring himself the King of the changelings who have chosen parasitism rather than symbiosis, like Kevin, becoming something new and terrible. There was always something wrong with him, but my love for him blinded me. You look like you've known somepony else who suffers that weakness.

Starlight too suffers this weakness, when her foalhood friend, the swindler and faux 'greater wizard' Sunburst, conned his way into the favor of Empress Cadenza, and she was so impressed by his cunning that she made him the mentor to her newborn foal rather than kill him for his deception.

Sorry for my rambling, I am here to tell you a different story, a surprising one. Tis but a brief tale, one I do not wish to spent days, months, or years telling, instead, I shall tell you a brief recant.

This story really begins ages ago, during the age of Empress Majesty. She was fair and reasonable abroad even to her enemies, but an absolutely brutal tyrant to her own ponies.  

During this time, there was the first born of the Dragonequi, the spirits of Nature's Law.

He was hailed as an even greater hero than his youngest brother is today. He gave many gifts to ponies. He was also the most powerful of his kind, created directly from his parents essence in his entirity rather than merging with Shadows of Existence, to ensure he never grew too proud, his parents divided his essence into a sword shaped with a moth crossguard, with which he could enact his miracles, and many miracles indeed he made.

He rose up islands for ponies, he crafted the rainbow berries, he guided and aided many a wise and just rulers to help the ponies in times of strife and need.

One of his gifts to the ponies was the Elements of Chaos to protect themselves from great evils. He bargained with Father Darkness for the essence to create the Umbrum Ponies, King Sombra's noble ancestors and protectors of the North.

Just as King Tirek ended Empress Majesty's horrid rule and cast his wicked brother down, he inspired Captain Goodguy to end Megan Williams and her Tartarus Ponies' reign of terror.

But the first born was not satisfied with the love and praise he was given, he wanted -more-. So he violated the sacred realm of the Alicorns, where no Draconequus should enter, and in his greed he stole the heart of Flora Luster, the bride of Father Darkness.

However, many beasts rose to claim the heart for their own, the Pleasure Demons, The immortal warlock and Tirek's eternal foe the Moochick, and worst of all, She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named --Spirit of Oblivion, Selfishness, and Tyranny descended upon him.

Meanwhile, the dreaded Father Darkness, the source of all evil, in his rage sought to destroy the Draconequus for what had been done to his mate, and all life.

What became of the first born I cannot say. Last anyone knew he faced She-Who-Will-Not-Be-Named when she confronted him during the War for the Heart. He and the Heart both vanished. For his crime, His Parents tore away most of his name, leaving only L___t in it's place. Where is he now, I don't know.

I've heard it said his parents erased him completely...others say She-Who-Will-Not-Be-Named ate him. Still others say he was struck with such force to be thrown into the void between worlds where he is still attempting to return from. Others assume he is wherever the Heart now lies. I'm sorry my dear, that is all I can tell you for certain.

+++

Thanks Duchess! Always a pleasure! ... Dang. I guess that answers a few things, but it doesn't really tell me what I gotta do any better. Yo! Name's Maud Pie! Element of Good Cheer!

My parents weren't exactly what you'd call 'traditional.' They were new age hippies who had completely abandoned our family's time honored traditions. Hay, they only even consulted the Pairing Stone to appease Grandma Pinkie.

We used to know so much about rock farming, the music of the stones, the original rock and roll, and now it's all gone. Forgotten about.

My sister Limestone practically runs the farm because they get so distracted sometimes. She's so friendly it sometimes rubs ponies the wrong way, but she means well.

Pinkamina... girl really has a healthfood obsession, you think that shouldn't be a bad thing, but she stresses so much about it she'll give herself a heart attack one day. To say nothin' 'bout those trouble makers she hangs out with.

There's Marble Pie who's the most sociable of us lot... she's also got her heart set on that blabber mouth Lord Big Machintosh. Most ladies can't stand him, but I think my sister likes the idea of somepony who likes to talk as much as she does. I'll admit, it'll be interesting watching her compete with that brutal school teacher Cheerilee for him... seriously, nurturing is the last word to describe that lady, she says her special talent is weeding out the inept and stupid.

Oh! Sorry! Didn't mean to get off track like that! Huh? This here is Boulder. My pet rock rocks! Ha ha! I've had him for a really long time, I was just out of diapers when I found 'em... I think. I honestly can't remember when I didn't have 'em! Just don't get'em started, he'll yak and yak all day if you let'em! And yeah, he's shiny. He'll insists on being all prissy up!

I found him one night exploring the old caves underneath the farm, I might have dreamed the part where was like the shadows themselves pushed him along to me.

Though, you know, it was weird. He didn't start talking back for awhile. Wonder if he was like a pony and had to learn how to talk?

What brought me here? . . . I know it sounds crazy, but recently, more and more ponies have been acting, preocular. Like they don't have a back bone, just doing what others tell them to do, while doing less on their own except what they're expected to do. But the real creepy part is, whenever I try to explain this to anypony, they ignore me, they don't even act like I'm crazy, it's like I'm not even saying what they're hearing! If I was nuts, at least they'd look at me weird, right?

I didn't think much of it at first, I figured ponies were just being strange. But then it reached the farm... And my entire family began acting like spineless doormats with little drive of their own.

So I'd come to Canterlot for help, only to find it was spreading here too. Still, I'd looked up about the spirit of freedom and willpower, and hoped I'd get some answers, but all I got was a tale I'd heard before.

Tartarus, Pinkamena didn't even lecture me on how unhealthy fun is when I went to check on her!

That was when real help finally arrived.

"Discord, I mean Captain Goodguy!" I honestly don't know why he bothers with that disguise, who actually buys it? I think he just thinks it makes him look cooler.

We exchanged hellos and all that jazz, then you don't get how happy I was when I explained what was happening, and asked if he could do his thing.

"If I could fix this with my super powers I'd have done so by now." That was when he dropped the bomb shell. "You see my dear, this hasn't been happening for days, weeks, months, or years... it's been going on for eons... spreading across creation... it just happened to now reach your little corner of it. I may have not noticed it due to the dimensional downgrade from 6+D to 3.5D that came with relocating down here."

"... So why doesn't it affect you, me, and Boulder?"

"Boulder?"

I showed him my pet rock. I think it was the first time I'd ever had.

His eye bulged and his jaw dropped literally through the floor. "Why couldn't I... I see... one of those 'I'm a draconequus, so can't perceive it unless it's been pointed out to me before' things... Dear. You've got a quest ahead of you. To save the world."

"Huh?"

"I can sense it, I can smell it... now that the 'camouflage' is gone... my dear, you have the Heart."

"I know I'm passionate and-"

"I mean the Heart of Flora Luster...Just our luck, we look all over for the blasted thing and it was LITERALLY under my nose this entire time!"

Dude, my eyes go wide now! Boulder was the heart of a goddess?! HUH?! HOW!? WHY?!

Like Duchess Chrysalis said, this here is a LOOOONG story, and I don't want to be an old lady by the time I finish telling it, so forgive me if I hit the fast forward button for all this stuff ahead.

Captain Goodguy told me that I had to return Flora Luster's heart to her to stop this disaster, except that wouldn't be easy, there were plenty of monsters along the way who WOULD be able to see it, and come after it. And that I needed to find his washed up, slimly big brother.

He told me to search the underground, and to use my talents as a rock farmer... to use my music... and that dark would guide the way. Yeah, sounds crazy to me too, but ya know what? Crazy works when Captain Goodguy was around!

Except... he wasn't around now. He'd told me,

"My big brother and I... don't get along well, at all, with any of us. And besides, even if we DID, I am kind of needed elsewhere to make sure ponies who are losing their free will and back bone don't get themselves hurt, killed, or enslaved by some eldritch horror seeking to take advantage of them not having the will power to drive it back. Search the underground underneath your family's farm, you'll find who you're looking for, ultimately. Follow the darkest path, the deeper the darkness: the brighter the light. Be careful. Don't give up. And don't let my brother be a slouch! Drag him by the tail, tell him who you are, and tell 'em he's gonna restore Flora Luster's heart! Tell him that! Now if you excuse me, I have ponies to save. Captain Good Guy AWAY!"

So I got plenty of supplies (mainly from my tour bus), into the dark depths I went. With my guitar I'd strum a few cords, and get an echo-location of the place. Maybe I was going crazy, but the deeper I was down there, the more it felt like the rock themselves were speak to me. The darkness should have been driving me crazier, but if anything, it felt comforting, encouraging, like the shadows were helping push me along, and saving me from walking over an underground cliff. But it felt like I was going in circles after a while.

Man, if I survived this I knew I'd have one heck of a song to write afterwards just from THAT.

But...I'd still been wondering for hours and may of gotten a tiny bit...frustrated...

"Hey, I could use some help here, some help! Any help!" I stomped my hoof, and the floor crumbled beneath me.

When I came to, I was happy to see my guitar and Boulder were still with me, and I didn't have any broken bones.

What I wasn't expected, was another Draconequus. He was like Discord, but not like Discord, more muscles, but also a little pot bellied (not sure if he normally looks like that or was just lazing around down here for so long and let himself go a bit), and he was made up of different creatures from Discord. Name the most noble and revered beasts you can, and he had parts of them.

"Whao. Somebody finally broke my way out of here! Geeze, they dig deep enough in the First Age to get the Lava Demons' attention but it takes them thousands of years to dig me up!" He said looking up at the hole I fell through, he hadn't noticed me yet. So I made him notice me, (Earth Ponies are tougher than we look).

"Who are you pretty lady?" He ask charmingly.

"I am Maud Pie of Equestria! You! First born of the Draconequus! Will Come with me! And restore the Heart of Flora Luster that you stole!"

When I showed him Boulder, he blinked. "What? That little thing?" he asked, then looked closer...then freaked.

"You, okay? Yes? Good! Thanks! See ya!" He had wings, but he had to scurry his way up the rock side. I grabbed him by the tail, and I wasn't letting go, no matter how much he resisted like a greased alligator.

He dragged me along the caves in the darkness, with no clue where I was going, and I was pretty sure he didn't either. Finally he smashed through a wall and we tumbled over each other.

"Leave me alone!"

"Not until you put the Heart of Flora Luster back where it belongs!"

"Not so loud! There are always THINGS listening! And if you keep pointing out you have it, they'll come to us like vultures to roadkill!"

I grinned. "HELLO! WE! THE TWO OF US! HAVE THE HEART OF FLORA LUSTER! RIGHT HERE! TWO! OF US! TOGETHER!"

And that was when the swarm of breezies showed up.

"Oh gee, I wonder what they're here for." He rolled his eyes.

"They look kinda cute."

They grinned at me and put on ghoulish war masks and let out a battle cry, and swarmed at it tiny spears pointed.

"You're kidding right," I said, he grabbed me by the tail and pulled me down.

"Those spears are poisoned! Watch out!"

We split up as the swarm came at us again, and a dozen tiny ropes wrapped around my mane and tail and began very painfully pulling me up with their cheers. Breezies aren't all that strong, at all, I've heard they lift weights with marshmallows, but when you have an entire swarm of them, and combine their efforts you'd be surprised.

"So long!" He gave me wave and ran away. THAT BUCKING HORSE APPLE STAIN! HE HAS ME PEEVED!

The breezies all had their spears aimed right at me. Their greedy eyes zoomed in on Boulder and began to pry him away.

"I AM AN IDIOT!!!" I heard him scream as he leapt at me, pulling me out of the swarm. "Time to go!"

"They have the Heart!"

"Who cares?!"

"I care!"

"I don't!"

"Everypony I know is doomed without it!"

"Dang it."

"You're like Discord right? Zap them!"

"See my sword? No sword! No access to my magic! I think it was my parents' idea of a joke, LOOK OUT!" The tiny spears came at us. We charged at the swarm... he protected me from their tiny spears with himself as I grabbed Boulder from the blue one with pink hair (was it a stallion or a mare? I couldn't tell), and began to outrun them... they tried to collapse the tunnel ahead of us, but they only ended up sealing themselves in.

After he finally tired himself out, and almost caused another cave in, we finally gave our proper introductions, and I gave him the 411 on what was goin' down.

Then he tried to lose me in the shadows, only for him to wind up back where he started like the shadows had turned him around themselves. Then he tossed me into the darkness, only for the darkness to send me right back and clonk him on the head with mine. I'm proud to say my head was harder.

After that, he began just pouting. Remember what Discord said, don't let him be a lazy bones! And believe me, I know how to motivate ponies! Comes with the territory as a rocker!

"... Ponies loved you before... now all they remember you for is stealing the heart... but if you put it back... now, you'll be saving the world... ponies will love you again."

"You really think so?"

"I know so. I mean come on, your brother gets big props for saving a CITY, right?"

And... that was when the poison kicked in for him... and he was paralyzed... So I was stuck carrying him for a while.

"So how do we get to Flora Luster?" I asked.

"My sword." His mouth still worked at least.

"We don't have time for you sword."

"Without my sword, no magic, no magic, no way to Flora Luster, no way to restore the heart, so yeah, we have time for my sword."

"Fine, where is it?"

"I don't know. Did I mention I literally fell here from beyond time and space and landed really, really, really, REALLY hard?"

"Great."

"But I know who has to have it. It's just a piece of tin to anyequus but me, but it still looks pretty, and gives off a lot of magic, and I left quite the volcanic crater when I fell thanks to She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named ... which means, if anyone has it... it's the Dragon Lord. Or someone the Dragon Lord killed to get it."

I blanched. "Please tell me you're joking."

"Does it look like I'm joking?"

So I ended up carrying the big lug through the under-dark. He apparently knew how to get along a lot better than I did.

"Who do you think introduced rock farming and geomancy to ponies to begin with?" He boasted.

Yeah, like I said, fast forward button. I might like my rocks, but Pinkamena's the one with the fancy vocabulary for talking about the same thing for a few hours straight. We finally arrived in the underdark of the Dragon Lands. Lava flowed everywhere and it was as hot as Tartarus (and stunk of sulfur so bad my eyes watered). And greedy dragons were everywhere. Most dragons knew how to keep a cap on their greed, guess this was where the ones that didn't went.

And it turns out the first born was sort of out of date... because it wasn't Lord Torch on the throne anymore.... instead, it was Empress Ember. Supposedly she'd suckered the dragon hatched by Pinkamina's friend into helping her steal the position from a red dragon who wanted absolute friendship with Equestria, during the rites of succession from her father. At least she didn't order Equestria burned to the ground. Instead, she'd rule with brute force. She also seemed to love her hoard so much she's stuck it into her scales to the point I thought she WAS her hoard when I saw her!

He hadn't known her, but she apparently had heard of him. And it turns out... she held a grudge against him for damaging one of her father's horns, that sort of humiliation wouldn't stand for dragons. So she tried to roast us. And being Dragon Lord, she was REALLY good at it!

Thankfully I remembered what they said about dragons (I've written songs about them, and trust me, you do NOT want to get details wrong about dragons if a dragon might hear you!): first, flatter them, this will distract them pretty much every time, like moths to a flame. You'll run out of breath before they get bored of hearing how great they are. Second, speak in riddles, and they'll want to 'own' the answer. It helped they didn't take us seriously.

Thankfully he was right about the Dragon Lord having his sword as part of her hoard. That look of terror in Empress Ember's eyes as he held his sword was kinda priceless. Dang it, didn't bring my camera. What? She'd just tried to fry me for the last five minutes!

"I HAVE THE POOOOOO-WER!"

UN-thankfully, he was out of practice. Like thousands of years out of practice...and I get rusty after a few weeks with a sore throat.

He waved his sword around like a busted remote. "Come on! Transform! Rock Biter! Rock Biter!"

What I said about riddles? Dragons consider it very bad taste to use a riddle as a distraction and get caught, disrupts the sacredness of it for them... and that equals a one way ride to a dragon's fiery belly.

Thankfully he transformed... into an Ice Orc.

Meanwhile, I took one of the gems from Empress Ember's hoard, covered it in soot until it looked like Boulder, and tossed it. And dragon greed ran its course.

We ran for it again, but Ember realized what was up and followed us. Finally, he transformed into a sea-serpent, blasted her with water from nowhere, and filled the entire place with steam... which cooled down the rocks... which caused rocks to fall... which pinned Ember's wings under one, and we escape as her dragons fought over a fake Heart, and the ruby sceptre she had around her neck fell away. I was surprised and bewildered Ember shrank down to the size of a teenage dragon, still pinned, but we didn't have time to gawk.

That was it. We were ready. Well, sort of ready. He had to spend some time practicing with his sword first. I laughed when he turned into a seapony... so many times. But... there was something I had to ask him while we headed out.

"Why did you steal the Heart? Power? Fame? Status?"

Now he looked at me angrily. "It was for you! I mean, you ponies! I wanted to give you the greatest gift of all the gifts I'd given you before! I'd seen what you'd done with what I'd given you before. I wanted you to reach even greater heights. I sought to give you the power to reject Creation's will, to forge your own paths, and to bring about a world made by mortals for mortals. To give mortals the power to rise up to our level..."

"Except?" I asked holding Boulder in my hooves. I knew there was a but in there somewhere.

"Too late, I found out that ponies weren't able to even use, let alone CONTROL the Heart. So I tried to use it for them, but found that I couldn't either. Then good old Mom and Pop, before they gutted my name, decided to explain things to me. Ahem."

He used one of his claws to shadow puppet a pair of giant...snakes? Draconequi? Sorry, even in shadow puppet form I don't know...

"'Imagine a being in a two dimensional plain trying to comprehend something in the third dimension. Now imagine how much harder it would be for the two dimensional being to comprehend a SIXTH dimensional being without any better understanding of the third. You trying to use or understand the Heart's power was an equal or perhaps GREATER gap. For mortals, it was a one dimensional being trying to understand something in the 12th dimension. It was, simply put, beyond them in every way.'

"Basically, ponies can't move about on the right planes of reality to operate the thing... and neither can I... I wanted it to be what would be my ultimate gift to everymortal... instead all it did was screw things up and attract monsters like She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named."

"... We'll fix this... and you'll be a hero again, you'll see."

We were both surprised... when the dark itself opened a portal for us. The First Born seemed to know where it went instinctively.

"What's Father Dark really like?" I asked as something hit me.

"Eh?"

"A father protects, punishes, and provides, he doesn't just destroy without any reason, that's energy wasted that could be better spent towards his kids. He doesn't kill willy nilly. If he really was the enemy of all life, he wouldn't have created life when he made his foals, and I've seen Princess Trixie, she isn't evil. Which means the Alicorns aren't automatically, Princess Luna started OUT good before she turned evil. So it doesn't make sense."

"... When I stole the heart... Father Darkness was... really ticked off... he said I'd endangered the free will of every living thing, that I should go poof for what I did. My family thought me living with the shame would be enough. So they fought it out. His Avatar he used for the fighting ... became just his wrath... and with the damage Celestia was causing... you can see how ponies jump to conclusions. They figured he was angry and peeved-off ALL the time, and that Pops fighting him was just the way things were when they heard about it from Dissy, who was kinda young in those days, he saw things from a kinda bias view..."

"... I see."

We entered the portal, not afraid of the dark. And we arrived in this super trippy hyper dimensional space or somethin', not falling but no ground, black storm clouds, lightning everywhere, the ENTIRE PLACE felt angry!

"Where's Flora Luster?" I asked.

"Technically, she's everywhere. In a real sense, this entire place is her."

"So we just drop Boulder here and ponies get their mojo back?"

"Not quite how it works, the idea of a heart, is something that belongs in a special place...  if you want to get her attention, to interact with her properly, she'll be at... I guess you could call it the center."

"How do we find the center in this?"

"Ugh! How to explain this? Guess I get what my Folks meant by trying to comprehend higher planes of existence now. What you're seeing here, is yer brain tryin' to find somethin' to compare this all too. Ideas appear differently to other people ...Just... THINK where the center is... picture yourself there... decide where the center is and be there... Be careful... she's around here too don't forget!"

The portal stayed open behind us, it felt kinda... ya know, stupid to leave a portal to a lair of a distant unspeakable evil... but I kinda selfishly wanted an escape route open just in case something went wrong.

I tried to visualize Flora Luster, not exactly easy since I'd never seen her, but he had and was able to 'show me the way'. But you can guess who showed up to rain fiery death on our parade.

She was like a swirling black vortex in the shape of an Alicorn outlined in fire. I'd describe her better, but I think my mind stopped 'rendering' her at that point to protect my sanity. She came almost out of nowhere, forming right out of the storm clouds all around us, wailing like a mad pony. Flame covered blackness balls were thrown at us like a crazy pitcher machine, and I didn't want to know what would happen if one scored a hit.

We didn't even try to fight it, L__t told me even he wasn't nuts enough to try THAT. We just ran. He led me along, but everywhere we turned, there was fiery blackness herself ready for a Barbecue!

"Split up! She can't be everywhere!" I shouted, and we did, like we had better ideas. Except she was everywhere, when we split up, so did she. "There's two of them?!"  

"No! She must be moving on dimensions we can't see,  so it just seems like there's more than one of her! She shouldn't be able to do this!" He explained. Except, exposition in the middle of a one sided fight with an unspeakable horror turns out not to be all that smart, dudette. I was totally paying attention to him, instead of the fiery goddess of doom in front of me.

I turned to see one of her fireballs of oblivion headed right for me, he moved faster than I'd ever seen him move, and brought up his sword to block it and everything exploded.

Yeah, not too proud of this next part, and the part after that is super trippy, so totally gonna hit the fast forward button thank you very much, dudette.

When I came to, we were outside the portal. And there he was, with his sword with a giant crack in it. He didn't look happy, dude, he was like totally grim!

So yeah, one more go with his sword against Won't-Name and boom, no more sword, no more able to use his magic ever again, he'd be a guitar without strings. And for him, that was a big big big problem.

"Well...can't your folks just make another one?" I asked, naively.

"Yeah, right! Like they WOULD! Wake up, they ripped my name up because they're ASHAMED of me! Like they'd give me a new toy to break!"

So yeah...no dice there.

"I'm not spending eternity in that thing's belly just so you can play hero!"

"I'm not playing!"

"There are plenty of creatures in Equestria who could be doing this, with a lot more world saving experience than you, but you came along because Dissy told you to! Trust me! I would know given how many of them I had a hand in making!"

"Hey! That's like totally not fair! Somepony had to do it!"

"And what made you think it had to be you?!" He snapped poking me in the chest.

"... Boulder came to me. It wasn't just dumb luck. I was chosen." I whispered.

"... You were chosen wrong," He said flatly.

He turned into a diamond dog and burrowed away faster than I could follow. I looked back at the portal, still open, the dark itself looking expectantly around me.

...And I was alone...Look, I'm reckless sometimes. I do some crazy stuff...but I'm not THAT crazy.

"Look, I'm, like, totally sorry. But I couldn't do it with his help. I can't do it alone. I... I appreciate you had so much faith in me but... maybe... maybe this is a job for somepony else."

I'm sorry, Boulder. I placed 'em down on the ground for the dark to take him back. Can ya write a big sad face there right there? I think I was cryin' maybe.

"So that's it then? Nothing could stop you before! And when you get right to the finish line, you give up! Is that the kind of rock farmer you are?"

On the freak out scale of 1 to 10, yeah yeah, totally scored an 11, ya know the routine.

"GRANDMA PINKIE PIE?!"

"So you do remember me. Happy somepony in my family does." Snarked the freakin' ghost in front of me.

She spread her wings, and hugged me with them. Oh yeah, grandma's a pegasus, might have left out that part.

"Missed you," I whispered, a shock wave running through me.

"Missed you too. At least you listened. Now listen to Granny Pie more last time. I was a pegasus, I was told that I had no business rock farming, that I didn't have the natural gift for it. And they were completely right, I DIDN'T have a natural gift for it, at all. But I learned everything about I could,  every stone, every detail, the way the mana flows. Ground, air, sea, I saw how everything has its own currents and flows. I had my own way ... And you have yours. Everything has its own music, doesn't it my little rock star?"

So yeah, like, totally good mojo goin' all over the place, I think even the dark joined in the hug! No givin' up here! I reached out and picked up Boulder and... Grandma Pie was gone.

"Thanks Granny," I said.

I breathed in deep. "Okay, Flora Luster is everywhere in there right? I just need to get her attention right? Well, if there's one thing I'm good at! It's getting attention! Let's go Boulder!"

= Battle for Everyone's Souls - Persona 3 =

I stepped through the portal. And channeling the strength from the earth, even if I couldn't see it, I could feel it all around me, I rocked like there was no tomorrow.

And Won't-Name showed up again.

"You're never gonna bring me down,
You're never gonna break this part of me!"

I can't really remember all the lyrics I sang, but they were totally awesome! Won't-Name began spitting fireball again, but I am nimble little pony when I have my head on straight! Though thinking back, it was probably lucky for me she didn't have HERS on straight from the looks of it!

I kept singing. Won't-Name grew a lot of heads, all already to flash-fry me at once!

Dodging one, I tripped (don't ask how) and dropped Boulder, sending him sliding. I don't know if Not-Said NOTICED since she kept aiming at ME with her second shot instead of going for him!

And that was when my hero arrived right in the nick of time, in the shape of a big purple and gold dragon, the first born draconequus swooped in and began clawing at Won't-Name's face!

"Miss me?"

"Nice to see you too! But your sword..."

"Let me worry about that! You just focus on Flora Luster!"

No time to argue! Or ask why he changed his mind (I have my guesses)! I just picked up Boulder and DID! I kept playing, thinking of Flora Luster, but Not-Name just kept popping up.

I trusted in him and the dark to protect me from her, to think, to feel, to hear, to understand, to let it all flow through me, this place, and let me find the center of Flora Luster where the heart belongs.

And as things went, I realized as all the flows and currents here, of this world, as I played my music and listened and it listened back, I could feel them like they were a part of me. This wasn't like when I felt the leylines in the earth, this was something much better. I didn't let the fear consume me, I didn't let my worries cloud my thoughts, or my feelings. It was everything as everything faded away, yeah, total trip.

And then I realized the truth. This is the kinda truth you'd normally spend forever sayin' 'couldn't be' or 'that's crazy' or just go 'whao' for a good long while. But me, dudette? I heard, I understood, and if anything, I'd learned that just sayin' no to somethin' ain't gonna make it not so, change what ya can, and accept what ya can't, and have the wits to tell the difference.

That, and I didn't HAVE time to waste doing that horseapples.

"Yeah, I'm gonna miss you too, Boulder."

Remember what I said about trippy? This here is what I meant.

I remember the idea of telling everypony how they could do better, that they had their own paths they could forge, that they could be pioneers and trailblazers, that they future was theirs for making. I remember all the choices being created, and how beautiful they were. Then I remember something else, sudden, painful, unexpected, intrusive, violating, and the feeling that I was being ripped out of myself.

"L___t, I get it... Boulder... he's not a heart... he's a key."

He looked at me I've gone nuts, I don't respond.

I only hold Boulder, and press him against my forehead. And I feel like I'm splitting out of an invisible skin a size too small.

= MLP Rainbow Rocks - Welcome to the Show (Rainbooms only) =

And it happens... I can see everywhere around me. I feel my body change. I gain a pair of pretty wings and a fancy horn, hey don't you start looking at me weird too!  I also got the most rocked out dress you'd ever seen! So the deal is, in that moment, I understood.

He was looking at me like he'd gone crazy.

"Did you just eat the heart or something? No! Wait! You're-! No way! All this time! You were all along-!" He rambled.

I speak to Dark. "Let me come to her."

= Know Who You Are (From "Moana"/Audio Only) =

A tunnel of the dark spirals around me, leading me straight to Not-Named. The Dark suffers for my sake as Not-Named wildly bashes against him. I sang.

I have pierced the horizon to find you


Finally, Not-Named sped down the tunnel herself, straight towards me, a firestorm towards a wicker mare.

I know your name

L___t rushed towards me from the other end of the tunnel, I felt his fear, worry, concern, totally thinkin' she was gonna eat me.  I wasn't sure he was wrong.

They have stolen the heart from inside us

But this was what I had to do. And, for all the cosmic mojo, I understand why I was here, I understood why I was at all. She crashes right in front of me, looking like a wild animal.

But this does not define us
I'm not nearly as scared as I thought I'd be. I'm not here to fight. I never was. I'm here to set things right. She looks down me at me, and I feel the wounds on the world, scabbed over but not healed.

This is not who we are

And... some part of her hears me... the beast becomes ... not docile, but she looks at me, like some part of her finally recognizes me.

I reach to touch her... She lowers her head.

You know who we are

We touch horns. A star shines. And we'll never, be afraid of the light.

So yeah... Let me spell it all out now. She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named was the Tatarigami (don't know what that means? Look it up, it's a good movie) form of Flora Luster: spirit of peacefulness, self-determination, and willpower.

And since all of her children are linked to her, her losing her heart caused them to lose theirs. And since she's a timeline force, rather than a linear entity, this corruption became all retroactive and stuff (yeah, big words, but connecting with a capital G God tends to give you a bigger vocabulary). The world was broken, making all the concepts act like lunatics. Too bad Empress Cadenza was evil to begin with, so being corrupted or not corrupted didn't mean much to her.

Just be happy First Born Dude is the only one who could have ever pulled off this mess due to what he embodies. And, let's just say there is such a thing as learning from mistakes.

I'd heard by now about the extra-reality clone of my sister from another world who helped purify Princess Luna and give Queen Celestia a cold hard dose of reality. An inverted world, doesn't have birds dig underground and holograms as living ponies. So why should the laws and furies of reality be twisted about? Something in this world had been broken. The Alicorns and Draconequui weren't forces of good versus evil, they were forces of balance, the imbalance were entities of evil. Or some Tao junk or stuff like that.

The greater whole took measures to prevent similar theft. A Heart now guarded by a creation made for the job. Imagine an immeasurable living nebula in the shape of a gigantic white spider with the super power to...reset any being that is not an Elder in an instant and send them to be reincarnated innocent. I'll just call it 'Webula' because mortals can't comprehend its real name. Yeah, it's a pun, but I like puns!

And... there was me... a heart is life, a heart is yours feelings, it's what makes you you. Who's more you? A you who remember being you but doesn't act a thing like you, or a you who doesn't remember being you, but does what you would do when push comes to shove?

So yeah, kinda nutty ain't it? First Born Guy's well meaning act of thievery resulted in yours truly. Looks like my role is inverted in another way. I think I MIGHT have given a soul to Boulder, but don't quote me on that. Hey! I said not to quote that! Geaz!

Where was I? Oh right, white flash, big cosmic realignment and all that jazz. Never really loved jazz, nothing wrong with it, just prefer rock and roll.

But first, let me change the channel just a spell, I think yer gonna like this.

+

A world away, yet also close by, Diabolous Ex Machina cackled, "Fools think that's it? That's your happy ending?! Well, you're in for a rude awakening!"

"No. You are."

"Huh?"

Princess Fidlitas kicked Diabolous Ex Machina in the face, Diabolous' head split apart down the middle like a broken mask, falling away and revealing the black mass of tendrils underneath.

"Meh. Another of Nythy's avatars playing dress up."

"I was created actually explicitly to play this role, how did you know I wasn't a variance of Twilight Sparkle?" It said matter of fact.

Princess Fidelitas, AKA Rainbow Dash, former Nightmare Manacle of Nightmare Eclipse said, "If you were really were another evil Alicorn version of Twilight Sparkle who could twist events and outcomes... I'd have kicked your flank already. There's never going to be another Nightmare Purgatory, Nightmare Dusk, or whatever she wants to call herself skipping around timelines or time loops causing things to go miserable. I've made sure of that."

Rainbow snorted. "Besides, Dues Ex Machina is a completely separate version of Twilight Sparkle from the one who became Princess Amicitia. And since there weren't vile versions of the rest of HER story telling pantheon around, I realized you couldn't be an evil version of that Twilight. And MORE to the point? ... Twilight? When she was an Alicorn,  she made a point to never brute force a happy ending, to never introduce an outside factor that didn't exist before to bring it about, so 'Princess Amicitia's' evil opposite being Diabolous Ex Machina made even less sense. If you'd been subtly nudging ponies to make worse and more selfish choices, you'd have at least been in character. Now get out of my sight."

"You think you have the authority to-"

"I've brawled with ponies a lot more unfairly overpowered than you. Kicking asses of evil overpowered Twilight Sparkles is my job. And I'm not about to lose to a redundant parody. So let me say again- GET LOST!!"

+

Whao! And away tentacle-head goes, along with the rest of that avatar's spirit! I'd give that buck to the face a 10 out of 10, Princess Rainbow Crash looks like she got inspiration from somepony. Oh come on, even I think mooning an avatar of an ancient evil Outer Concept created in mockery of your dead best friend as it sails out of the universe from the impact of your punch is crass. What am I saying, you go girl!

So yeah, I'm back to regular old me, no wings or horns here. I'm the heart of Flora Luster, but I'm still Maud Pie, I'm reconnected to the rest of me, somehow I get the feeling that's ironic. It didn't erase the brawl between Father Dark and Halcyon, nor did it fix up the ruined reputation of Alicorns thanks to Cadenza and Celestia. And poor Luna still has a lot of apologies and mending fences to do with her old student, ya know, Princess Trixie? I think what makes her even more sad is how she wasn't there for old Trix's coronation.

And there's Nobody... and he's not dead. And he wasn't named that out of scorn. That was the corruption talking. He's just that freakin' humble. He's the spirit of imperfection and beauty, after all, if everything's perfect, what would Bonnie Zacherle do with all her spare time?

There was also some epic fight between a invisible cosmic coyote and an invisible cosmic bat and the coyote eating the bat, and finally getting back to his job of spam-filtering the universe, where the cosmic bat who stole his job just wanted to randomly delete mail for horseapples and giggles.

Oh right, I guess ya wanna hear how the rest of the stuff went. Well, not really much else to tell that ya can't already guess. Boom, the whole place was a whole lot nicer, a white void with black stars, it was all actually really beautiful. Father Dark thanking us for savin' his wife. Him accepting me as having my own life to finish living on Equus, and not really wanting the whole princess thing anyway (neither did Trixie, but that's a story for somepony else). And then... there's Flora's Luster...

She was beautiful. Just beautiful. Like an infinite crystal figure whose horns and wings and tail all went on forever, she was a contradiction, she was kill or be killed and love begets love, she was life. And since I was linked back to her, I could actually COMPREHEND her, but...uh...can't describe it due to...well, imagine describing depth to a pencil drawing...

Oh, and First Born Dude got his sword repaired, no fuss, no muss, bet you saw that coming a mile away. He'd have to go to His Parents to get his name back though.

Was Father Dark still ticked? Oh yeah. But it turns out that concepts are actually rather forgiving more often than not when you give a sincere apology and don't try to pretend you've got excuses to hide behind. Plus his wrath consumed evil Avatar got reabsorbed off a while ago.

Oh, and I got to keep Boulder, come on, you didn't think he wouldn't get out of this too didn't you?  . . . Okay I didn't. So... maybe I kinda ... maybe just a little brawled that he got to continue to exist as his own being too.

So yada-yada, eternal thanks of the gods, yada-yada. And bada-boom, me and First Born Boy do lots of hugging, saying how we're pals for life and beyond. We promise to see each other again. I'll admit he grew on me. Heh! Nope. Sorry. Not interested in him that way... besides, it turns out I was a married mare and never even knew it.

And bada-bang, I'm given a free ride right back home where every pony is back to normal... in fact the bad stuff that set me out on this quest didn't happen in the first place given how concepts exist outside of time and all that. which makes things slightly awkward since that means almost no one knows I helped save the world... That look on your face kiddo, you look like you know just what I'm talking about.

Captain Goodguy dropped by, and made some excuse, and made it so the family's pet rock business would be booming as his own personal thank you for giving his big brother a good kick in the tail to get out of his funk.

It was a crazy adventure, but personally I was just happy to have my life back and my friends and family all back to themselves.

THEN on Mother's Day, there was a knock at the door, it was a Princesses Luna and Celestia, grinning, with bundles of flowers. And lots of big carts of crystals and other gifts behind them.

Princess Luna asked, "Uh, can we come in mother, I mean Miss Maud Pie?"

No I didn't faint! Okay, but only a little, I swear. Guess stories never really end, it's just the point where the narrator stops writing down what happens next.

Hey, you wanna stay for some traditional Pie family rock soup? It's a lot better than you think. We have the Princesses as dinner guests. Got somewhere else to be? Man what a drag. Okay, see ya around. Whatever story you've got ahead of ya kiddo, make it a good one.

(Interviewer's Notes (Architect): Ah promise, Ah will. There's somepony else who needs savin' from the emptiness inside 'er too.)

~Fin