62: On the East and West Beaches

THE SEAS OF OLYMPIC GREECE

The Olympians knew they had quite the mess to clean up, but not before giving proper dues to the heroes that had helped them. As Athena said, "The VERY least we can do is give you a ride back to the mainland."

To a mortal, riding in a god's chariot was a breathtaking experience. The chariots rose dizzyingly high so that all of Greece and its surrounding oceans and islands was laid out below in gorgeous glory. The divine steeds charged forth at a breakneck pace, giving all non-divine passengers a feeling of a rush in the stomach and heart areas.

"So…Dad," Hercules asked Zeus, with whom he rode. "What happens now?"

"Well, I guess we put as much order back as we can," Zeus replied.

"Dad?"

"Yes, son?"

"Um…I kinda know you lied to me. Mom…Hera came out and said it. Alcmene is my birth mother. Not Hera. I'm not really a god."

Zeus sighed. "You know, Hercules, there's this saying. 'To err is human, to forgive is divine.'"

"You're saying I should forgive you."

"Well, I'd LIKE you to forgive me, but the point is that everyone always forgets that gods make mistakes too."

"What part was the mistake? Marrying Hera? Cheating with my mom? Lying to me? Because, I gotta tell you, cheating on your wife, that was WRONG! But I don't want to hear that Alcmene was a mistake! She's one of the kindest women in all of Greece!"

"Why do you think I selected her to have you?" Zeus asked. "The greatest hero in all of Greece couldn't just come from any old woman. Say, do we absolutely have to talk about this now? Can't we talk about how great a team we made, kicking Hades back to where he belonged, smashing Titans in the face, sticking it to the Fury queen?"

Hercules sighed. He knew his father was never going to take the discussion seriously. Whether it was out of sheer ignorance or a desire to avoid the subject at all costs, he couldn't tell.

"I know exactly how it feels," Poseidon told Rarity. "They all laughed at my trident, too! Well, you saw what I was able to do with it! Tridents, arrows…they'll mock anything that isn't an old-fashioned sword."

"I'm guessing," Hebe told Rainbow Dash, "that you will be hailed as a great heroine. They will paint you on vases."

"Oh…they already have," Rainbow Dash replied, thinking back to the Demigod Hall in Hogwarts.

"So, Pit," Palutena asked. "Did you find what you were looking for in the mortal world?"

"Yeah!" Pit nodded. "I found a lot of things. Like some really good friends! And the REAL Icarus. I did lose my bow, though."

"Well, then." Palutena smiled. "We'll just have to see about getting you a new one."

"It's kinda funny," Twilight told Apollo, whose chariot remained unburdened with the sun parked on Olympus for the night. "Back in my homeland, I have a really good friend…a mentor, actually…who raises and lowers the sun."

"Might I ask her name?" Apollo inquired. "I happen to know most of the sun gods."

"Ever heard of Princess Celestia?"

"Celestia!" Apollo smiled. "Incredibly young, as goddesses go. But still a shining example, pardon the pun. If you know Celestia, then I'm guessing what I'm looking at isn't your true form."

"You could say that," Twilight confirmed.

"If you see her," Apollo bid Twilight, "give her my blessing."

"Sooooo," Icarus asked Ares, "does this mean I'll be immortalized as the one who saved the god of war from a grisly demise?"

"Not even close," Ares growled. "Keep in mind that I could throw you over the side at any second."

"Were you not frightened," Athena asked Meg, "to enter a battle with no way to fight?"

"Eh." Meg shrugged. "You get used to it, you know?"

"Did you think it was a little strange that Phoebe, Pain, and Panic were so easily scared off?" Cupid asked Cassandra.

"It might come back to bite us later," Cassandra said, "but for now, let's not look a gift Pegasus in the mouth."

"So what are you going to do now?" Hestia asked Zoë.

"I shall find a way to live on the mortal world," Zoë stated confidently. "I shall not lie; I will miss living in the garden. However, I am prepared to face my new fate. I shall find what is worth living in a mortal life. I am sure there is much."

"You like PARTIES?" Dionysus asked Pinkie Pie. "Well, let me tell you, you haven't been to a REAL party until you've been to one of my Bacchanals!"

"Ooh!" Pinkie squealed. "Do you think I could come to one if I come back?"

"Well, it all depends on if I have a reason to schedule a shindig on the mortal plane, but you'll be on the guest list for sure!"

"And the thing about Chimaeras is," Artemis told Fluttershy, "they ain't half as scary as they look. Forgettin' about the one that's Echidna's daughter, if ya approach one slowly with a bit of food, it'll warm up to ya right away."

"And anyway," Phil bragged to Pan, "the six Kentaurides are all my trainees. Meaning you can put them down on my record. I am one Tartarus of a trainer, ain't I?"

Applejack looked down over the side of Demeter's chariot to see a great rainbow shockwave burst over Greece. "What was that?" she asked.

"I feel as though something is missing…" Demeter thought it over. "Yes. I feel it. The Order Apple trees. They've all withered up and died."

"What?" Applejack was shocked. "But…without them, how…"

"It couldn't very well last forever," Demeter reminded her. "You can have everything be in order all the time about as much as you can have everything be in chaos all the time. That was always the problem with Nemesis. Thinking she could get everything to follow the rules all the time! At least the chaos apples are finally gone from the mortal plane."

"And I guess that's good enough," Applejack sighed.

The fleet descended rapidly toward an island off the far end of the Greek coast. After a dizzying rush, the chariots landed, hovering slightly above the shores of Chryse.

"Well," Hercules said, "this is our stop."

"Thank you all," Athena said as Hercules, Pegasus, Pit, Icarus, Meg, Cassandra, Zoë, Phil, Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash disembarked.

"Don't thank us," Applejack told her. "Everything we did, we did 'cause we wanted to help out and stop everypony from gettin' hurt."

"Although we wouldn't mind a LITTLE thanks," Rarity broke in.

"Good luck," Hercules said, looking at all the gods before him. His stare lingered a moment on Hera. He smiled at her. He couldn't read her expression at all.

"Well?" Zeus looked around at the members of his court. "We've got a lot of work to do! After all, we lost a lot of time because of…" The opportunity struck him. "DAYLIGHT SAVINGS!"

There was a mass rolling of eyeballs as the Olympian fleet turned to ride back to the mountain, leaving the group of heroes on Chryse. All present on the islands waved to see the Olympians off.

Then Pit turned to the others. "Hey, guys…it's been great down here. We had one of the best adventures I've ever been on! The thing is, though, Lady Palutena needs me. I got all the time off I needed. I hate to just fly off, but…"

"We understand," Zoë told him. "Your place is by your commander and friend."

"You should go!" Twilight encouraged him.

"We'll remember you," Hercules promised. "You're kinda hard to forget."

"Well, thanks!" With two flaps of his wings, Pit was airborne. From above, he turned and waved to his friends below. "Bye, everyone!"

"GOODBYE!" they all chorused.

As Pit took off into the sky, Applejack remarked, "There goes the Kid Icarus."

"Well, nothing can measure up to the original," Icarus bragged, "but he's a good kid."

"Now, I dunno about you, but it's been a REALLY long day for me," Applejack continued. "I'm 'bout ready to hit the hay."

"A.J., truer words were never spoken," Phil agreed. "I've had about enough heroics for one day."

"You can stay with us for the night," Hercules told Zoë.

Zoë was glad that the newly regained moonlight wasn't enough for him to see her blushing. "Thank you."

As the group moved back to Phil's home, Twilight wondered out loud, "What do you think Discord and the Titans are doing?"

"I'm not sure if we even want to know," Fluttershy replied.

BARDO, THE UNDERWORLD

Hecate and Mozenrath materialized in the middle of the crystal hall. Mozenrath wasted no time in letting Hecate have a piece of his mind. "I HAD it!" he screamed at her. "I was about to take that sun BACK when you showed up and RUINED IT!"

"You think you were playing in the same league as ANY of them?" Hecate countered. "I don't care how much Dark power you have! You were up against almost all the Titans, every Olympian in Zeus' military fleet, and to top it all off, that do-gooder Hercules and a crop of his friends! And trust me. Hercules may only be a demigod, but he somehow always manages to be more annoying than any full-blooded god there is. And if you think about how many gods I have a grudge with, that's SAYING something! If I hadn't shown up, you'd be dead right now."

"No, I – "

"Do you think you stood a chance against them all on your own?"

Mozenrath was about to argue yes, but then he realized he had something even more convincing for leverage. "You may not have noticed, but I wasn't on my own."

"That Kentauride? What's your story with her?"

"She and I have a complicated history. We're not always on the same side, but in this case…"

"In this case, the two of you were barely able to avoid being sliced by Nemesis."

"I've had about enough of this," Mozenrath snarled, turning to storm away.

"WHERE are you going?"

"Don't worry your three-faced head off. I'm coming back. There's just somewhere I need to – "

When he entered the hallway and turned the corner, he went silent. Hecate quickly caught up to him in order to see what had interrupted his train of thought.

Three semi-spheres of pure darkness were attached to the floor. Two were as high as Hecate's waist, while one was about to the height of Mozenrath's knees. Neither of them had left those there, and they knew it.

They struck the spheres with bursts of pure plasma energy, and in a shower of blue sparks, the spheres broke open, letting Lukos, Aetos, and Xerxes emerge. "WHAT happened here?" Mozenrath cried.

"Mozenrath!" Xerxes babbled. "Hecate! Strange person in black! Didn't see face!"

"To translate the idiot," Lukos added, "while you were out, some guy – or maybe it was a woman, I couldn't tell – came in here. Dressed completely in black. Had a hood over his head. Or her head."

"We get it," Hecate interrupted. "You don't know what the intruder looked like."

"He, or she, trapped us over here when we tried to stop her, or him, from getting in here," Aetos finished.

"And you don't know what they were in here for?" Hecate asked, an angry panic rising in her tone.

"No!" Xerxes shook his head worriedly. "No, no, no!"

Hecate turned to face Mozenrath. "Wherever you were going, you're not anymore. I'll check over my inventory, and – "

"You think I was going to run off after hearing something like THIS?" Mozenrath replied. "I'm looking after my room."

Mozenrath and Hecate turned to run in opposite directions. Lukos, Aetos, and Xerxes followed their respective owners in concern.

Hecate searched everywhere. Nothing looked disturbed. Not the library, not the laboratory, not the vault, not even the kitchen. "Well, this rules out most of the usual suspects," she sighed. Most of her enemies would take something she'd notice right away; hit her where it hurt.

She returned to the great crystal hall to find Mozenrath sitting up against the wall, arms folded across his knees, head down and face hidden. "What was it?" Hecate asked.

"My sketchbook," Mozenrath answered, not looking up. "They took all my writing, all my ideas, all the information I collected." He paused before asking: "And from you?"

"Nothing," Hecate answered. "Looks like our perpetrator was just after your sketchbook and nothing else. So, what do you have in terms of enemies?"

"Well." Mozenrath looked up at Hecate, frustration replacing the devastation on his face. "I'm sure Jafar isn't too happy with me right now. Aladdin NEVER is, though I doubt he could so much as get down here, let alone know where I was keeping it. Blondie from Corona would love to take something important to me, but I somehow don't think she would come down here either. Most of my other enemies were either present and accounted for at the Prison, or I drained them of their humanity a long time ago."

"So we're looking at Jafar as our prime suspect?"

"Hades could have given him access to the Underworld…" Mozenrath thought out loud. "And he knew we were working together. Put that with the fact that he wasn't accounted for while Hades was at the Prison…"

"They want us to be sure war's on," Hecate stated.

"Well, if they think this makes me down and out, they're wrong." Mozenrath stood. "There was a lot of important writing in that book, but the real power will always be in the hand that wrote it. I'll just have to make sure to make them pay for this later."

"You're not going to challenge them now?"

"Well, APPARENTLY I can't handle that much of a battle on my own!"

Hecate nodded. "Good. You're finally getting the point."

"Well, then we're just back to where we were before," Mozenrath said. "I have somewhere to be on the mortal plane of Olympic Greece."

"It's the middle of the night up there."

"Then I'll go in the morning."

"What are you even planning to do?"

"Talk things over with one of the few people I trust," Mozenrath admitted.

"And you can't trust me?"

"Oh, I trust you. But do you actually want to listen to what I have to say?"

Hecate sighed. "Fine. Go talk to whatever little friend you have in the morning. But if you take too long, I'm coming to get you so we can make our next move."

"And that move is?"

"Finding you allies," Hecate stated. "Once you get powerful people under your command and NOT remove their life force, THEN you can stand a chance against the bigger fish in the ocean."

Mozenrath rolled his eyes. "I don't play well with others."

"Except apparently one mortal."

"And now you see why it's so important that I talk to her."

Hecate couldn't argue with that.

"We…were so…CLOOOOOOOOSE!"

Hades stormed around the throne room, raging, completely aflame. Facilier and Dark Danny pressed as close to the wall as possible, though they were fairly certain Hades wasn't about to hurt either of them.

"What even came over me?" Hades ranted. "If those Zeus-forsaken apples hadn't turned up, WE WOULD BE WINNING RIGHT NOW! WE WOULD HAVE WON! Those STUPID apples had some kind of STUPID spell that made me come back HERE instead of finishing them off!"

"In all fairness," Facilier pointed out, "you didn't want the Underworld to fall into the wrong hands."

"I KNOW!" Hades yelled. Then he let out a long breath, trying to, so to speak, cool off. "Kind of in that place where I'm trying to have my cake and eat it too. Next plan we make has a failsafe for the Underworld, got it?"

There came a knock at the door; momentarily, the death god flared bright orange. "WHAT. Is it."

Pain and Panic entered the room. "Um, maybe this is a bad time," Pain said, "but everybody's outside wanting to know what their cut is? You know, for being in your plan?"

Dark Danny and Facilier flinched in advance.

When the column of flame receded, Pain and Panic were riddled with burn marks. "Tell them," Hades seethed, "I'm working on it."

CHRYSE, OLYMPIC GREECE

Relief washed over Twilight, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Hercules, Phil, Pegasus, Cassandra, Icarus, Meg, and Zoë when all saw the sun rise the next morning. They gathered for breakfast and for a discussion of what came next.

"I hate to say it," Applejack pointed out, "but we did what we came here to do. I think it's about time we moved on."

"Awwww, do you have to?" Icarus moaned.

"Awwww, do we have to?" Pinkie echoed.

"We could at least spend a LITTLE more time here," Rainbow Dash argued. "One last training session?"

Applejack nodded. "All right. One last trainin' session."

"That'll mean everybody out to the arena," Phil demanded.

"Actually," Twilight said, "if it's okay with you, I'd like some time to myself. I just need to think about some things."

"If anyone's earned time to rest," Meg pointed out, recalling the disaster on Colchis, "it's you. Go ahead."

"Thanks." Twilight rose from the table. "I'm just going down to the east beach if anypony needs me. And I'll be back." She then left.

The others finished a leisurely breakfast before moving down to the arena.

They began by pitting Zoë against Rainbow Dash; each was given a dummy weapon – padded arrows, a wooden sword – and Zoë darted about, loosing her arrows at random, while Rainbow Dash deflected as many as she could.

"Just wait till Chiron hears about this!" Phil practically squealed. "The genuine article! Six new heroines!"

"You're gonna have to be faster than that!" Rainbow Dash boasted, batting away three shots in succession.

Before Zoë could retort, her attention was turned to all of her arrows suddenly snapping in midair, falling uselessly to the ground. Rainbow Dash's wooden sword also cracked, half the "blade" falling to the ground.

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash cried.

"What trickery – " Zoë began.

"That was just to get your attention." Mozenrath strode casually onto the field.

No sooner had he done so than he found himself pinned up against the wall; Hercules, enraged, had rushed him, grabbing him by the throat and slamming him against the stone. Mozenrath sighed, rolling his eyes. "And what's THIS temper tantrum about?"

"This is for what you did to Meg," Hercules seethed, clenching his fist tighter around the sorcerer's throat.

Mozenrath coughed a couple times before he was able to say, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"Give me one good reason not to, after what you – "

Hercules then reeled back, feeling as though a two-ton weight had rammed him in the stomach. Mozenrath dropped to his feet, observing his gauntlet, the blue aura of which was cooling off. "Please," he mocked. "I would have thought you'd know better after I took on Apollo and stole his chariot."

"That was YOU?" Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy chorused.

Then Meg herself was angered beyond the point of containment. She rose from the stands, marching down them, balling her hand into a fist.

Mozenrath snapped his fingers; Meg's feet were encased in ice, binding her to the ground. "We can play this game all day," he sighed, "or you can just tell me what I want to know and I'll be out of your hair. For the time being, at least."

"Fine," Rainbow Dash grunted. "What do you want?"

"I would have thought it was obvious. I'm looking for Twilight Sparkle."

"If you DARE hurt her," Meg growled.

"Now, why would I do that?" Mozenrath asked with a shrug of innocence. "Trust me, I had my chance a long time ago."

"I don't believe it's best that she sees you right now," Rarity asserted. "There are certain extenuating circumstances."

"Hold up." Applejack stepped forth. "We all know he ain't gonna hurt her, and maybe it's actually best if they clear the air between 'em."

"Well…" Rarity paused to think on it.

"She's down at the east beach," Applejack told Mozenrath. "But you better make good on your promise and scram once you're done talkin' to her."

"Oh, trust me." Mozenrath shot a glance toward Hercules and Meg. "You'll probably have plenty of chances to try and take your revenge on me later." He fixed his gaze on Hercules. "Maybe you and my brother can continue your little bromance on an epic quest to try and defeat me!" On that note, he turned abruptly and walked away.

Rainbow Dash struck the ice at Meg's feet with her sword; it shattered. "Was that really the best idea?" Meg asked.

"This is kinda just how things happen," Rainbow Dash explained. "We try to stop a big disaster, he tries to make a big disaster, and the two of them just end up talking about it."

"And you really think he won't hurt her," Hercules questioned.

"Strangely enough, yes," Rarity admitted. "My only concern was her mental state, given, well, you know."

Another set of footsteps was heard approaching the field; all eyes turned to see who would enter next, expecting either Twilight, Mozenrath, or both. When they beheld the newcomer, Icarus stood up, pointing at him, bellowing, "YOU!"

"Heyyyy…everyone…" Panic, in his guise as Thanatocrates, waved nervously.

"WHAT KINDA NERVE DO YOU HAVE COMING AROUND HERE AFTER WHAT YOU DID TO CASSANDRA?" Icarus yelled.

"He didn't do anything to me," Cassandra sighed. She got up, approaching Panic. "If you wanna talk, we should get out of here before Icarus decides to get homicidal."

"You…go on ahead," Panic told her. "Find someplace we can…um…talk."

Cassandra shrugged. "All right. Well, east beach is taken, so I guess we're going down to the west beach." She exited the arena.

Hercules quickly rushed to grab Icarus by the back of the collar; Icarus struggled against his hold, throwing punches in the air, screaming, "LET ME AT HIM! LET ME AT HIM!"

"Sooooo…" Panic rocked back and forth on his feet nervously. "I was wondering if I could get some advice from – "

"Dear sweet CELESTIA!" Rarity cried. "WHERE did you get all those burn marks?"

"Burn…marks…" Panic looked down at his human body. All the marks Hades had left on his imp skin had transferred over. "I thought I got rid of those when I…I mean…um…" He swallowed nervously. "There was an…oil lamp accident? Anyway, since you're all renowned for knowing everything about friendship and all…"

"Where did ya hear that?" Applejack asked, suspicious.

"Oh, you know…through the grapevine…"

"Well, we never turn down helping out a friend, especially with advice," Fluttershy piped up.

"What's your question?" Applejack inquired.

"Well…it's kinda complicated," Panic answered. "A lot of you might have guessed that I sort of…LIKE Cassandra, in the, you know…romantic way…"

"I KNEW IT!" Icarus yelled. "LET ME AT HIM!"

"…And I'm not exactly sure where it's going," Panic continued, "or if it can go anywhere, but I…haven't exactly been the most honest with her…about…some things…like where I'm really from or what my real job is…aaaaand I'm pretty sure if she knew the truth, she'd kill me."

"I think I know what you're askin'," Applejack interrupted. "You're afraid your secret's gonna blow the relationship you have, but you don't wanna lie to her either."

"Basically."

"This is just my humble opinion," Applejack went on, "but I think whatever it is, if it's really that big, ya gotta tell her. You can't keep buildin' whatever's between you on a lie."

"But we've all seen that Cassandra feels the same about you," Rarity added.

"MY ONE TRUE LOVE WOULD NEVER SWAY FROM ME!" Icarus bellowed.

"Well, almost all of us," Rarity amended. "Now, I'm no expert, but I'm fairly certain that whatever your secret is, if you tell her, she won't give up on you for it."

"And if she does," Applejack concluded, "well, it wasn't meant to be."

Panic took their words into consideration. "Well…I guess it's time to go talk to her, then…um…happy training!" He darted off.

"DOES ANYONE ELSE WANNA INTERRUPT WITH THEIR RIDICULOUS DRAMA?" Phil yelled at the door. After no one else came through, Phil returned his attention to the field. "Okay! Back to business!"

Twilight sat on the beach, all four of her equine legs laid down to rest while her humanoid torso was upright. She looked out over the calm waters touched by the rising of the sun. She thought of Apollo, riding through the sky to bring the sun to that position. She thought of Celestia back home, engineering Equestria's – or Fourth Equestria's – own sunrise. She thought about all the suns that rose over all the different worlds, and who was in charge of all of that.

And of course she thought about Mozenrath. Whether she'd played right into his hands; whether she was just a tool in his plan. Whether she'd ever see him again now that he'd gotten what he wanted. If the battle against Nemesis had meant anything or was just meant to be their final act together. But she worried that thinking on it too long would only bring her sadness. She tried to stuff all those thoughts into a box at the corner of her mind, tape it shut, set a rock on it so the lid couldn't open.

She turned her attentions again to thinking about the vast expanse beyond the sky at which she stared. Soon she would be aboard the Starlight, careening through the stars and colors of the space between worlds, leaving Olympic Greece so far behind it would only be a drop in a vast ocean. And across that ocean lay more strange new worlds. What, Twilight wondered, would she find next?

Her reverie was interrupted by soft footfalls against the sand. As she turned to see who was approaching, she heard an all too familiar voice say, "So I take it you're angry with me."

Startled, Twilight nearly toppled over into the sand. "Mozenrath!"

"Now," Mozenrath continued, striding onto the sand, "I don't doubt I did SOMETHING to deserve it. This time, though, I'm not exactly sure what you're referring to. Given my record, you're going to have to be a little more specific. Stealing the sun, attempting to assassinate the heir to the throne of Corona – "

"Stealing the SUN?" Twilight interrupted. "That was YOU?"

"Everyone's surprised," Mozenrath sighed, settling into a sitting position on the beach. "Why is everyone surprised?"

"Well, looking at the circumstances, you can see why everyone thought Hades or one of the Titans would be behind it."

"True." He turned to face her directly, and though the question he asked was dead serious, his face was decorated with his signature smirk. "So exactly what are you angry at me for, again?"

"This…is probably going to sound really ridiculous," Twilight answered. "Did you fix everything so that I'd end up trading my soul for you to have longer to live?"

"So you talked to Megara."

"Yes. I did. So did you?"

"No," Mozenrath answered simply, "and I wasn't planning on it."

"Since the last time I saw you," Twilight went on, "my friends and I were visited by a creature called an Incubator. He offered us each the chance to have greater power in exchange for making a wish that he would grant. But he twisted the wishes so that when they were granted, they'd cause us so much misery that our souls would…sort of explode. It was supposed to turn us into monsters that had to be killed so that energy would be released into the multiverse for the Incubators to collect. Yesterday…my wish backfired on me when Meg told me her story. And I turned into a monster witch. My friends and I figured out a way to undo the transformation a while back, so…I was okay in the end."

"And this is relevant because…?"

"My wish was for you to have longer to live."

At this, Mozenrath was stunned. He and Twilight looked silently toward the rising sun for a moment. Then Mozenrath said, very simply, "You're not allowed to do that."

"Do what?"

"Risk your life to save mine."

"You can't just FORBID me to do that. I have my own free will."

"Twilight, there are very few people in the entire multiverse I can trust. Right now, I can count two. And one of them is you. Almost everyone else I know wants to kill me. If you can't trust me, I lose one of the only two confidantes I have. And between you and me, you know a lot more than the other one. Ergo, next time you have to risk your life to save mine, don't."

"What about – "

"Megara was a pawn in a plan that worked successfully. I got what I wanted from her, and then I didn't need her anymore. I don't actually care about what happens to her from here on out. It's different with you. You know you're my…" He almost choked on the word, though it was true. "Friend."

Twilight couldn't help but giggle a little at that. "That was hard for you to say, wasn't it?"

"Don't make me do it again."

"Ooooo-kay."

"But in all seriousness," Mozenrath reiterated, "DON'T try to trade your life for mine. After all, that just leaves me to destroy everything and without you to protect it."

"Good point." Twilight grinned. "All right. I'll try to hold back."

"So, I take it that's a little closer to what you REALLY look like."

Twilight took a moment to look over her Kentauride body. "It's halfway there," she admitted. "It's a little weird, you know. I mean weirder than usual. Getting to talk with you again after not seeing you for a year."

After a stunned silence, Mozenrath repeated, "A year."

"Yes. A year. Since Corona. My friends and I have been studying magic."

"A year," Mozenrath said again.

"Okay, so I'm not counting the summer months!" Twilight huffed. "Now we're just splitting hairs!"

"It hasn't even been CLOSE to that since Corona, Twilight."

Suddenly, realization struck; Twilight recalled Medea's words about always knowing where one was in time. "Time passed differently for us," she thought out loud. "It hasn't actually been a year for you. Just for us." She paused. "How long has it been for you?"

"Two weeks."

"TWO WEEKS?" Twilight's jaw dropped.

"Mostly spent drifting in space, trying to pick out the next territory for conquest. The last few days training with Hecate."

"It's only been two weeks for you…" Twilight reiterated.

"In all fairness, you don't exactly look a year older," Mozenrath pointed out. "Aside from being a Kentauride, you look pretty much the same as when I left you in Corona."

"Well…there's kind of a reason for that," Twilight admitted. "We found out that as bearers of the Elements of Harmony, we're kind of…ageless. We're not immortal, but as long as nopony gets sick or fatally hurt, we'll live forever, and we'll always be like this."

"I don't believe it!" Mozenrath whined. "I try to find ways to live forever and none of them turn out, and agelessness just drops into your lap? Not fair."

"Rethinking making me promise not to trade my years for yours?" Twilight asked teasingly.

"No."

"You mentioned you were studying with Hecate. THE Hecate? Goddess of magic?"

"What can I say?" Mozenrath shrugged. "She liked what she saw in me."

"What has she been teaching you?"

Mozenrath described the various things he'd learned under Hecate's tutelage. This transitioned naturally into Twilight detailing everything that had happened to her at Hogwarts and all she'd studied there. As the sun rose higher in the sky, it saw the pair of them demonstrating their various new favorite spells right there on the beach; Mozenrath formed a small copy of the sun out of fire, and it hung in midair, causing the ice sculpture Twilight had summoned and bent into being – a replica of herself – to begin to drip water down the sides.

"This ought to make our face-offs more interesting," Mozenrath commented, grinning.

"I'm game whenever you are," Twilight replied, flashing a similar smile. "By the way…what did we even DO to Nemesis?"

"I'm guessing your Light magic clashed with my Dark magic and made something somewhere in between."

"Like…Twilight magic?" Twilight recalled what the centaurs of the Forbidden Forest had said of her name and how it tied into the bridge between Light and Darkness. "I've never heard of anything like that."

"Neither have I. It's possible Hecate has. I'll get back to you on that."

"You've never come across it and written it in your sketchbook?"

"That," Mozenrath stated, scowling, "was stolen."

"WHAT?"

"While we were battling Nemesis at the Prison, someone broke into Hecate's palace in the Underworld and took it. It was all they took."

"Any idea who did it? I mean…you did say the entire multiverse was out to get you."

"I'm sure it's Jafar," Mozenrath stated. "He already tried to kill me once yesterday, but I humiliated him satisfyingly enough. He isn't going to take that quietly."

"I'm not so sure," Twilight countered. "If Jafar tried to kill you, why would he step down to the level of stealing your things? Wouldn't he just try to kill you again, or leave some kind of curse behind? It doesn't really make sense."

"I don't have many other enemies that can break into the Underworld."

"Hmm…" Twilight thought it over. "I'll keep an eye out for it while I'm traveling."

"It could be ANYWHERE in the multiverse."

"You never know," Twilight replied. "The mists of Avalon will always bring us where we need to be, remember? It's not impossible that we're going to NEED to get that book back from whoever has it. After all, when something like that falls into the wrong hands…"

"…You feel the need to put it back in the other wrong hands."

"Well, basically."

There was suddenly a blue shimmer between them; Hecate materialized on the beach. Twilight gasped, bowing deeply on one knee before the goddess. Hecate looked to Mozenrath, gesturing at Twilight. "Your friend?"

"Yes," Mozenrath answered. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"Not at all," Hecate replied. "But we can't afford to waste any more time. We need to make our move."

Mozenrath gave a sigh of frustration. "Fine."

"Excuse me…your highness…" Twilight addressed Hecate. "What move, exactly, are you making?"

"I've turned this once pathetic sorcerer – " Hecate began.

"I resent that," Mozenrath muttered.

" – Into a powerful warrior of darkness," Hecate went on. "But the only way we stand any chance at taking any of the territory we want or striking back at any of our enemies, ESPECIALLY the…Overtakers…" Her teeth clenched upon the word. "What we need is an entire army."

"Hecate," Mozenrath moaned, "look around! There's you and there's Twilight. Throw in Xerxes and you have the extent of my friend-making ability."

"Well, you're going to have to at least play nice with someone else," Hecate demanded, "or you're going to be fighting a losing battle for eternity!"

"The fate of the multiverse doesn't depend on me making friends," Mozenrath grunted.

At that, Twilight couldn't hold in a laugh. She covered her mouth with both hands, trying to muffle it, keep it quiet.

"What's funny?" Hecate barked.

"It's just…that is EXACTLY what I said when my mentor Celestia told me to go find friends," Twilight explained. "When the six of us became friends, we turned out to be the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Turned out, the fate of the world did depend on me making friends. And as of recently, the fates of some other worlds, too." She turned her gaze to Mozenrath. "I think you know what you have to do."

"Fine," Mozenrath sighed. "I'll play along and find an…alliance."

"I'm guessing you're too busy with your own destiny to join us," Hecate told Twilight.

"Afraid so," Twilight replied. "You probably already know this, but my friends and I actually have to stand against you if you're going to be attempting more conquests."

"How did a goody-two-shoes hero wannabe like you," Hecate asked, "become friends with a psychopath like him?"

"I resent that too," Mozenrath grumbled.

"It's a complicated story," Twilight answered.

Hecate looked at Mozenrath in confusion. All he said was "I've learned to just go with it."

"Well, it's too bad," Hecate remarked, looking back to Twilight. "You would make a powerful ally. If you joined with us, you could have EVERYTHING."

"Thanks," Twilight said, "but I'll pass."

"Then we're leaving," Hecate told Mozenrath.

"I guess I'll see you in anywhere from two weeks to a year," Mozenrath told Twilight.

"I'll be waiting," Twilight replied.

Hecate groaned. "I'll just teach you a long-distance communication spell," she told Mozenrath. "Now, are you going to waste any more of my time?"

"No," Mozenrath answered firmly. Hecate strode into the woods, and he followed. Twilight watched them leave, smiling slightly before turning back to the vista of sea and sun.

"If I didn't know better," Hecate hissed, "I'd think you were in love with her."

"Then you'd be delusional," Mozenrath replied.

"Good," Hecate snapped. "The last thing we need is your feelings for a wannabe do-gooder messing up your better judgment!"

"Trust me. My priorities are in order. When I get a hold over decent territory, she's just going to have to deal with it."

"You really do have a connection with her."

"And you're going to have to get used to THAT. Oh, don't worry. I'm sure there's eventually going to be a downside to being stuck with you that I'll have to put up with in exchange, and then you won't be able to say a thing."

Hecate resigned herself to acceptance.

On the other side of the island, Cassandra waited. Though her eyes too were turned to the ocean, her thoughts were not deep. She was just hoping Icarus hadn't gone full psycho and murdered the closest thing she had to a significant other.

When Panic caught up to her, she turned to greet him: "Hey, I was – where did you get all those BURNS?"

"What?" Panic looked to his arm in frustration. He'd tried to alter his appearance to cover the burns three times. Apparently the marks of Hades' rage were determined to show through any façade.

"Seriously, are you okay?" Cassandra asked.

And then she had placed her fingers over his face, lightly brushing along the side of one of the burns, and that was enough to make Panic have second thoughts about the truth. So he gently took hold of her wrist and brought her hand down, away from his face.

"There might be one or two little things I have to tell you," he said weakly. "Things that…are different…from what you thought they were…"

"What does THAT mean?"

"Well, basically, the truth about…me…and where I come from…and who I am…I'm not actually a Thracian at all…not even close…"

"Hey," Cassandra interrupted. "Everybody's got a dark secret. I end up seeing the outcomes of them sooner or later."

"So you've…seen…mine?"

"Not yet. But if you don't tell me, I'll find out in some horrible vision sooner or later." She shrugged. "So if you're not from Thrace, where are you from?"

He took a long moment of silence. "Okay, so I don't know if you feel the same AT ALL, but I kind of…like you. A lot. Maybe even love you. I think you're the most beautiful woman in the cosmos. I've never met anybody so brutally honest or casually cynical! And believe me, I run with a morbid crowd! And I just KNOW that if I tell you the truth, it's all going to be over, and you're never going to want to speak to me again, and – "

"Whoa, whoa!" Cassandra put up her hands to stop him. Then she grinned. "So you actually like me? I was almost afraid that I'd be stuck with that whole unrequited love song and dance. I mean, that's about how my luck runs anyway."

"So…you…" As realization sank in, Cassandra nearly laughed when she saw Panic's face, his eyes close to watering. "You really like me?"

"Yeah. Duh. I don't know that I'd call it love yet, but that's not out of the question."

"Then…I really have to tell you," Panic said, voice trembling. "I'm…from…exactly the place you've been fighting the whole time."

"Wait, what?" Cassandra tried to make sense of that.

"And I've…been working for…exactly who you've been trying to stop this whole time."

"You don't mean…" An edge crept into Cassandra's voice.

"And this…isn't…what I really look like either."

Cassandra watched, stunned, as "Thanatocrates" shifted forms until the teal-colored imp hovered before her. "This is the real me," he said.

"You," Cassandra said in shock. "I KNOW you. You're one of Hades' little lackeys."

"Yeah…I – "

She struck him across the face, and he landed in the sand of the beach, half buried. "Ow."

"So this WHOLE TIME," Cassandra reiterated angrily, "you've been screwing up every single city-state we risked our lives saving? THAT'S why you turned up in all of them?"

Panic stood, brushing off the sand, flying back up to Cassandra's eye level. "Well, technically, I did help you. I sabotaged the Gorgon that petrified you, AND I threw the fight against Cupid in your favor."

"That fight suddenly makes a LOT more sense," Cassandra realized.

"You said everyone had dark secrets!" Panic pleaded. "You even said you liked me!"

"I did," Cassandra growled, "until I found out that you've been trying to kill my friends, ruin my home country, sabotage the gods that keep it in order…and worst of all, you made Icarus RIGHT about something! AUGH!"

"So…you…"

"GET OUT," Cassandra commanded, stamping her foot. "I don't care where you go. Back to the Underworld to polish Hades' torture devices! Just GET AWAY FROM ME!"

"But – "

"I said GET OUT! I DON'T EVER WANT TO SEE YOU NEAR ME AGAIN!"

It struck Panic in the heart like a corrupted arrow of Cupid. Wounded, he conceded, "If you say so."

Then he vanished. It was as though, physically, he'd never been there.

If only it was that easy, Cassandra lamented. He was still burned into her memory. And she hated that.

Furious, she made her way back toward the arena.

Chapter 62:

· I swear to the gods, in the original Kid Icarus, the bow and the blades are separate weapons. I only found out later that the version of Pit's weapon we all know (the "Palutena Bow") is a bow that breaks into two blades. So let's just take the opportunity to retcon this by having Palutena get him a new one, okay?

· Ah, yes. My favorite part of the storylet: when Twilight and Mozenrath have an awkwardly flirtatious conversation. Actually, after we leave Olympic Greece, Mozenrath is surprisingly going to take a bit of a break because I need to get other villains and love interests up into the spotlight.

· However, as you can see, when he does return, he's going to make some new friends…or one new friend, at least.

· Okay, so I kind of have a thing for one half of a ship tending to/dealing with the other half's injuries. I took the burn marks as far as I realistically could.